SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hello, my fellow Dreadites. Welcome back to the Dread Alert Podcast. Today I'm joined by a whole crew of people. We're talking about The Huntsman today, which is hitting video on demand on February 10th. I'm joined by director Kyle Kawika Harris, actor Brent Bailey, who plays Detective Reynolds, and the executive producer Frank J. Malinowski, who is married to the author that this movie was adapted from, uh, Judith Sanders. We're really I'm so excited to have everybody here. Thank you for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Thanks for having us. Glad to be here. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

First and foremost, uh, this first question is for Frank and Kyle, and you can divvy up who answers first. I'm curious about the process of adapting a novel into such a tight and methodical thriller film. There there wasn't a moment of screen time wasted, and there were some really creative ways of executing backstory and things like that that we'll talk about later. But let's dive in with what was the process like of unpacking this novel.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Frank, you go first, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Yeah, well, I I uh you know, Judith wrote this with an audience in mind, with a particular uh set of people, and and really when she's thinking and writing, she's talking to the screen and she's imagining actors in the roles, uh, has pictures around her of various actors she thought would fill the fill the role. And and basically once it was finished, I read it and I put the knives away in the kitchen. I said, let's find a screenwriter. And we happened to have a connection uh to Steven Rittner, uh and we then had the connection to Kyle, and that that's how that happened.

SPEAKER_04 1:45

Well you ended up in good hands. Uh Kyle, you also co-wrote the script. Am I correct in saying that? Yeah. What was the process like? What what was your philosophy there?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

I guess you know, when it first came to me, um, it was introduced by my partner Nick Clement. And this would have been early 2023. And he had had a relationship with Steven Rittner and who had co-wrote it and ended up producing the film. And when it got brought to me, I was just sort of struck, I guess, by the the ambiguity sort of like woven into the characters and their circumstances. I guess for me, I'm just drawn to stories where answers aren't always obvious. Um, where the audience is asked to lean in and and actively participate and interpret what they're seeing. I think the dis the script defied uh the usual genre expectations of a serial killer thriller. I had I had never tackled that genre before. So and some of my favorite films are in that space, and I'm gonna I got I'm gonna have a couple of titles for you at by the end of this. Um, but the subversion of that uh familiar was what hooked me. I think I knew there was something in this world and in these characters that I wanted to explore. And so that was the first thing that that was really interesting to me when it came to me. But like co-writing, you know, he had our he had adapted from Judith's novel. And then when it came to me to do rewrites, it it was because we were already set up in Oklahoma with the way productions have kind of, you know, we've designed our productions and whatnot. And so bringing it from the Northeast and then setting it in sort of the Midwest, and that that took uh some rewrites there. And uh I think in addition, what I wanted to do was there was a couple of characters that Judith already had in her novel, like Sam Miller, and uh they ended up being the sort of a bigger red herring in the movie itself. I think I just wanted to elevate on that a little bit and just kind of miss misdirect, you know, and like one of the biggest things for me was everybody's a suspect until they're not, even Reynolds in some ways. There's like there's little bitty ways that we can just like pepper it in where they're just like, is that the guy? Is he is he really secretly the bad guy here? And I like stuff like that. And so just elevating little things here and there and you utilizing all the characters to the to the to the most, you know, that we could. And uh yeah, I mean and then just you know, trying to stay true to my own sensibilities as well. I I'm I'm a big sort of crime crime thrillers and mysteries and stuff like that. And um but um the book was already there, like the foundation was all there, and it was just it was a lot of fun to just kind of add a little bit of stuff to it. It's like it's like improvising in music, you know. Somebody's gonna go off on a little solo over here or something, you know. It's fun stuff like that. I think David Lynch called that room to dream. Well, it's crazy. Okay, so you said David Lynch. And when I was talking to the production designer specifically, we were talking a lot about David Lynch because of the world this sets in. So if you notice in the film, there's a lot of these sort of uh Lynchian uh uh the big drapes and the curtains and stuff. It's in the hospital rooms, it's in the art studio, and so we kind of added those little things in there too. So that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

But you're speaking my language with that. I I also think you didn't spoon feed the audience anything. I found myself having to visually connect dots quite a bit, and I thought that added to the efficiency of a of a film that you were pacing extremely methodically. Uh at the opening of the film, I was like, oh, he's taking his time with everything. But it was more used to runtime. Yeah, it was it was extremely efficiently used. Brent, I'm interested in your process as an actor. Did you have an approach to playing Reynolds? He is a detective, and he uh maybe, I don't know. I found him to be a little morally questionable at some points, but possibly having the best intentions at the same time. Did you have an approach to playing him?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

You know, uh what's interesting is I got brought onto this project uh relatively late because I was uh they originally had somebody else in the Reynolds role that had to go out for scheduling reasons, and so I I came in like very, very last minute. So the first time I ever even read the script was on the airplane two set. And uh I was like, man, this is a great like you know, who done it, but mixed with so many dark undertones, and I just loved the whole feel of it. I already knew who the cast was that was attached, I'd already looked up Kyle. So I was excited just to be working with these people, and I was thrilled when I got to read the script, and it was actually really good. And then once I got there, I obviously had brought some of my own thoughts and feelings to the role. Um, but I trusted Kyle on where where he ultimately wanted Reynolds to go because I think sometimes I would play him a little friendlier, especially in scenes with Jesse, because I was like, Well, and you know, I haven't seen the final cut of the movie, but that there was this like little kind of love triangle with Jesse and Reynolds in there. And so I was like, Well, she's gotta like him for some reason. And uh, so I would always try to be a little nicer, and Kyle's like, no, no, you're your guy is like stone cold, and I kind of just chucked that up to like at the beginning, he was probably a great cop, he probably wanted to do the right thing, but he got so tired of seeing things not go the way that they should that he almost turned into a little bit of a vigilante and started making things happen and kind of deciding that he was like judge, jury, and executioner. And so once I got that mindset, it was a lot easier. And then if I ever went back to being too nice again, I trusted that Kyle would rein me back into the good uh stereotype for that role.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

You had this moment when you were leaving the hospital uh and somebody's approaching uh the crowd who's leaving, and you were like, get back! And I was like, Oh my god, I bought that. I bought that hook, line, and sinker. Uh, it was it was so powerful. It was a good moment. But there are so many there's so many intense moments on this film across uh you know, across characters, across scenes. What was the vibe like on set, at least where where when you were on set, Brent?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

It was always uh that's the funny thing about making movies, and I guess it's everybody had their own different approach. Um between takes Jesse and I were having a great time getting to know each other, laughing. Kyle was awesome. Everybody was just excited to be making movies. Um, I think that like the overall morale was just like, hey, we're all so lucky to get to do this for a career. And then, you know, obviously when the camera's rolling, we all we all lock in and do our jobs. But that's the wonderful thing about when you get a cast and a crew that's so good at what they do is every moment on set doesn't have to be so serious. You can have a whole lot of fun, and then you know that everybody's gonna turn on the professionalism as soon as that camera starts rolling. So it had a really good, healthy mix of like everybody being grateful and at the same time everybody being so good at their job that it made it easier for the entire process.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Well, I want to compliment you. As a as a former actor myself, I want to compliment you and say that you you found a way to make him a human being who thinks he's doing the right thing, not uh uh an antagonist or a supporting antagonist or anything like that. He was a real fully formed human being, and I think that's a really solid choice and a really nuanced performance. Uh I very much so enjoyed it. I hate you.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

I give all the credit to Kyle. It's a great direction.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Well, I and I wonder, Kyle, do you have a philosophy when you're working with actors? Is there a specific approach you take? Uh, are you more lazy affair? Are you hands-on in developing the performance? I'm curious how because every single performance in this film is noteworthy and solid. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

I think I think my philosophy is this. I like grounded realism. I I'm not really big on the kind of caricature acting. Like when actors show up and they act for me, I'm not really interested in acting. Just like be you and lean into sort of the once we understand the character, it's like lean into the disposition and essence of the character in the most realistic way. And I feel like then you're not pushing a rock uphill on set. Sometimes when casting, I look for that in the actors. So it's like I I nothing against Jim Carrey, he's a great actor, but I don't think he would have fit for playing to play Lincoln, like Garrett Dillahunt's character. You know, um, so like I I don't want to be on the set and then and not honor their ideas and then their ideas come across like a little more caricature or something. And it's like I I'm not really interested in that type of storytelling. Um, but yeah, I mean, like I I think you know, the market of Oklahoma is still kind of small and people don't really know that we're making movies out here. And so to piggyback off what Brent was saying, is that you know the crews here work really, really well because it it's not that they're trying to prove themselves, but they're they're they're like, look at us, we can do what they're doing over there in Hollywood, but we can do it out here, and we're gonna love what we're doing. And I so I feel like filmmaking here is so much fun, it's like a family um unit. Like uh, and we've got different crews, radar, rock and roll, and any different type of project, and we can handle everything from pre-production through deliverables to distributor at this point. So it's it's I'm very lucky to be able to work where I'm at and work with people I love and continue to tell stories with people also that I love and that are great.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

I always say that a good director is only as good as the team of designers he assembles around him and the production team around him. And so hearing you talk about that and give credit to your community of artists, it it's not lost on me. Frank, I wonder, as a producer who's enabling uh who's enabling some of these creative choices, um you have firsthand knowledge of the novel. Of course, uh it was written by your wife. Do you feel like you were able to capture the true essence of that novel in in a film with a one hour and 43-minute runtime?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah, no, absolutely. I think I think the the final product, uh, and it was, you know, to the points that have been made, this was collaborative through the whole process. You know, we were going back and forth in the various edits that that Kyle had after we had settled with Stephen on it. Uh, and then uh, you know, the the actors themselves were, you know, uh other than Brent having to come in late, they were providing uh feedback along the way, and and it truly made for you know what was going to be best for the cinema. You know, there are bits and pieces that are in the book that are best in the book, and they set, you know, various things uh in play, but all in the same direction, uh with that same concept of, you know, you've got a serial killer who's in a coma. How do you solve this crime, right? And uh it would it was just fantastic, not only to see what the product was, but to be there uh for the filming and and interact with folks and see them turn switches on that you wouldn't believe in terms of the acting. Uh true, truly amazing. So uh yeah, you know, uh uh I would be remiss if I said people shouldn't read the book. They absolutely should read the book uh in addition to the film. Um uh but it it turned into a great project, and thanks to everybody who was on the team.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Well, I'll be honest, my audible subscription renews tomorrow, so I'll be using my credit on this book. I can't wait. I have not read it yet, and uh the film has absolutely teed me up to want to go deeper into this world.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

There's this whole whole beginning part of the book that we had to sort of crunch into the movie, and so we had to like do this sort of opening title sequence to sort of time crunch, you know, a lot of time there. Um so that you know, when you're when you're approaching screenwriting or or adapting something like this, taking from the novel, from Steven's version, and then going further with it and trying just to real trying to figure out like where do we begin, where do where does this start, and how do we how do we give the audience some context, right? And stuff like that. So it's I would definitely recommend reading the book because it goes into more depth and you see a bigger scope of the world. For sure.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

I thought you were really meticulous with delivering backstory and exposition in a way that wasn't bogged down for the audience. Uh Reynolds did a bit of it in the interrogation sequence. Um you had just brief flashes. I was like, oh, he served in the military. And then as it unfolds, uh, you know, the those cut-ins were paid off later in the film. It was really interesting. I I wonder, was that a choice made in the edit, or was that a choice made when you were adapting the script?

SPEAKER_02 14:18

I think it was in the script. I think the flashback stuff was all included in the script. And uh we didn't know how exactly we were gonna pull it off. Being Afghanistan or whatever, the the location was set in, so we just did our best. We found a llama farm, right, Frank? A llama farm. It's movie magic. Uh yeah, it was in the script.

SPEAKER_04 14:41

It's always so interesting to me when I hear people with such a strong vision, they've laid it all out, not only on the page, but then in storyboards. Um I wonder, Frank, how how much were you involved when you were on set? How much was Judith involved on set? I know she has a story credit on this as well as she should. Um, but was it was it a collaborative process from the production end too?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Well, you know, for us, because this is frankly our first foray into in the film world, uh, it was really observing more than anything and being there uh to see it you know blossom as it did. Um so uh but yeah, and I have to say Judith got along fabulously with with the cast in particular, as well as a number of members of the crew, um, just because some of them were her idols and she saw some of these people and and I would go back to our you know just a uh shout out to our casting director, Mark Rutman, again who we all worked with to come down with the cast uh that came in. Um and uh it was uh yeah uh just great to be there and see it and to be uh behind the video to uh as it as it extended. There was one spot uh where it was interesting, they were filming a scene coming out of the uh hospital or the rehab center, and and the first time they shot it, I leaned over to Judy and and Stephen and said, you know, they need to tackle one of these uh protesters. And the next time they shoot it, they're tackling a protester. Now, I don't know if Kyle was listening in or we were just thinking the same way. Uh, but it all came out, you know, and it was truly uh uh a wonderful experience for us.

SPEAKER_04 16:31

That moment really stuck with me. I was like, ooh, they got a stunt in there. That was awesome, for sure. Uh speaking of fun things to shoot, Brent, I wonder, you you have a range of things to do in this from uh SWAT style scenes to interrogation style scenes to, you know, just straight dialogue scenes as well. Was there a moment or a sequence that was the most fun for you on set? Something you really enjoyed doing.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

I mean, the scene with, and I mean, spoilers, I don't know when this comes out, when the movie comes out, but there is that interrogation scene that you're talking about. That one was a blast because that was like my kind of meaty scene. I love Sean. I think he's fantastic. I've watched him on the rookie forever and obviously back to X-Men. So I was like, oh, this is gonna be fantastic. I get to work with Jesse Schram and Sean on this really good, meaty interrogation scene where I get to be a total prick. Um, aside from the fact that that scene is literally me carrying all the weight with just a ton of dialogue. So, like, once I got past the nerves of that, I was like, this is gonna be my favorite scene in the movie just because for me in particular, just because I I loved how it was written and I love how it goes, and I love how like Reynolds has the upper hand, or at least he thinks he does. Uh, and he really gets even like a small moment with Jesse when she tries to chime in, and it's like, nah, zip like zip it. So that one was fun for me. Because I'm also in real life a very, you know, mild-mannered and like kind person. So when I get to play these like really rude, arrogant, mean people, it's really fun just because it's so different than who I am as an individual.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

I remember I was having those conversations that because it was a morning shoot when we started the scene, and I remember Sean came in and we we shot things out of order. And so I remember Sean came in, he was just like, Kyle, I'm I'm I'm I haven't I'm having an issue with the scene. I I don't know what I'm supposed to do in this scene, you know. Reynolds is leading this scene, what am I supposed to do? I'm like, just listen. Just you know, and then we did a take, and I think he he came, he said something like, I don't know, I don't know, I'm not responding good enough, I'm not responding good enough. And I remember right before we said action, I just I tapped Brent on the shoulder, I think, and he looked at me. I was like, just be an asshole. Be just go in and like lay down the law, just do it. And he went in and it and everything was a little louder when he opened folders and stuff like that, and it kind of got the reactions out of them, you know. So it was a fun scene to shoot.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Yeah, that was awesome. You sat down with like such big dick energy. Forgive me for saying it, but that was I mean, that was what it was. You sat down at that table, and I was like, oh my god, here he comes. That's awesome. No, that was the great sequence.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Big dick energy.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

Um, Kyle, I wonder if you had a favorite sequence. Now, seeing the final project as as I'm sure you have, uh if I've seen it, you've seen it. Um do you have a favorite sequence that you shot in this?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah, I do. I uh sequence yes. Uh so I think when I did my draft of the script, I added the SWAT team stuff in there. I just knew that, you know, I'm I'm from ex-military, and a lot of my stuff has sort of those types of elements in the in the movies, and so I thought these are this is always cool for audiences when they're sitting there and it gets a little bit, you know, we've been in these sort of zoned-in rooms talking and just living off emotions and tone. They needed like a way to zoom out and just kind of be physical. And so I think it was the SWAT team thing. I think those scenes are always really fun for me because there are physical, and you can spend an entire night shooting it, and I think we only had half a night, you know, because we had to go, then we had to move to another location to wrap out Garrett, and then we had to move out to another location at five in the morning to do Brent and Jesse's opening scene where the first body is found. So we shot three different scenes in one night, and so it was a brutal night of filming. And I remember it's the only night on set where I said a cuss cuss word, and um, and my second AD heard it, and I and she was like, Are you okay? And I was like, No, I was just I'm just really stressed. I'm like, we just gotta move, we gotta move, we gotta move because it's you know, it's just so much logistical things happening, a lot of people, a lot of advisors and gear, and just a lot of things. And so, but it's I love having that pressure and just kind of getting there and just going for it and doing it. And I'm very proud of the sequence. And then in in addition to that, that would be my most fun in as far as filming during production. But in post-production, my favorite thing is I love the montage sequences a lot. That you know, me and Corey, we did we worked a long time on the score and just trying to find this sort of kind of eerie vibe and score to it. And so I really loved editing sort of a lot of montage sequences because a lot of the stuff we we shot, once we get on the location, we shoot a scene and we're done with that scene. Sometimes I might ask the actor just to do something else. I could tell, you know, like Garrett wanted to do something more, or maybe Sean had something left in him to do. And if we weren't pressured under time to move, then we'd try things. You know, creating these sort of montage sequences in the edit room were a lot of fun and and and doing it with music. And uh there's the one I think well, that'd be a spoiler. I don't want to give spoiler. But yeah, those are the fun things for me. It's like uh taking stuff that you I call it the JFK shots. You don't know where they come from, and you're you're shooting them in on the day, and and uh and then you get in the other room, you have all this other stuff, and you're just like, let's just try this, let's try that, and let's put the music here. Oh, there it is. You know, you lean back and you get the goosebumps feeling, and that's when it's fun. Uh so I I love being part of all processes of filmmaking. So that's anyways.

SPEAKER_04 21:54

It it reminds me of the end of uh Halloween, where they just took whatever lead in they had from stuff and just Combined up montage at the end of the film. And that leads me to my next question. Do you have uh any visual influences? I know we talked about David Lynch. Uh, any other visual influences or or uh directors you look to for inspiration?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Yeah, I mean, obviously being a serial killer thriller in some ways that again defies genre expectations, I thought, well, it's not one of these movies where we're out there just people are getting slashed up left and right, right? So it's kind of in between moments. So how do you keep that eerie vibe consistent throughout? And I didn't want to when I was just looking at all the films that it might be comparable to it, I I've always been a huge fan of Jonathan Demi. And so, like, not just Silence of the Lambs, because that's the classic go-to, right? But like um The Manchurian candidate and something wild. And then there's something really interesting, like in the Manchurian candidate, and all these sort of unspoken moments where they'll shoot traditional coverage and then the last take, he'll move the camera and have the actor look right into the lens. And I think that's just to me, it just gets me. And um, and right before we started filming, I saw this sort of compilation somebody made with Jonathan Demi's movie. So they were all just looking into the lens and doing this thing, and I shared it with Sam Calvin, the DP. I was like, man, uh, let's incorporate this because there's something interesting to me about this because it'll add that eerie vibe to it without us saying, Hey, look at us, we're eerie, you know. You know, it's just a subtle way of doing it. And and you it it sows like distrust in in they're all suspects, and you don't know why the cameras why the audience should pay attention to this, but maybe there's something there. So I think it's a you know, it's a misdirective as well. But um, Jonathan Demi was a huge influence for me.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

I caught a straight down the barrel uh right at the right at a pivotal pivotal moment in the in the movie. I was like, oh, that's awesome. And it it it felt like an homage, it felt like you know, paying respect, but it also absolutely worked for that scene, 100%. So really nice stuff. Frank, I wonder, speaking for yourself, speaking for Judith, what do you think her intentions were for this for this novel? What does she what does she maybe want the audience to leave with? I I think thematically we're looking at themes of guilt, of um suspicion, of uh of love, of toxic love. Uh there are a lot of things that are that are happening in this. It's a it's a a thematic layer cake. Is there something that maybe you could speak for her and say what you want the audience to maybe do or think or feel uh after reading the novel?

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Well, I I I think in the book that you know the the one thing that stands out is if you if you look at the history, and she's done loads of research on serial killers, including watching some very disturbing real-world interviews with these folks, right? Who which would put Brett to shame here in terms of him thinking he's so much out there. But uh the point is that these people can can can be out there living a life and no one knows about it for such a long period of time. And and they can hide in plain sight, you know, with this. And and the the the key is you know, what's driving them? So one of the things that that Judy latched on to uh was uh uh her her reading of Shakespeare and Othello, uh which is about extreme jealousy. Okay, and and I'll just leave that there, um, because uh all of these characters have something in in that regard uh that that you know could make them suspect in in many ways. Um and so I think those those two things. I mean again, uh Judith loves her research. She just you know dove into this and then wanted to be unique, you know, to Kyle's point about how he shoots and and what he how he directs the scenes. You know, it this wasn't just going to be another you know mystery novel. It's going to have something incredibly unique. One of her interviewers during the the book promotion said, I bet Stephen King wished he had done uh a series with uh uh uh someone coming out of a coma. And now I guess there's a there's another serial killer who's coming out of a coma in another series right out of uh uh you know the history here. But uh those those were two very important things for her, and really showing the human side of all these people and how they were affected by these events. Uh and one of the things I think that came out in the film that you know didn't come out as much in in the movie because it was all about the people, these individuals, was the you know, psychology in the community. And Kyle, we had conversations about that, and maybe he'll come back to that. But you know, the the community on fire here, uh, and then how that interacted with the police side of that was just just I think truly uh truly well done.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah, we added that stuff in too, I think. A lot of the big protest stuff became like a side thing because it's all it's all in like the building of your world. If if the audience doesn't understand what world we're sit playing in, why now, and and what is this world, and how does the world around the characters responding to this? You know, if it were a small town, I I think there was some research I had done where it was on these Oklahoma murders, Girl Scout murders that happened in the 70s, and after this guy got away, you know, everybody in the town showed up to help. Like it wasn't just like, oh, there's a police investigation, you guys stay at home with your doors locked. Everybody was walking in the fields looking for the person. Like, you know, ever it was just insane how much the town came out to help and and in some ways turned against people that you know they thought were guilty. And so I thought layering that in, you know, I wish we'd have spent more time, honestly, like building sort of more of a town perspective on it, you know, build the world around it, and then the characters feel that pressure.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

So yeah. It's interesting how some of those tensions are extremely relevant today without going too far down that rabbit hole, but how good art is always reflective uh and in con in the context of the world out of which it arises. I think you did that beautifully without a heavy hand and really built a nuanced world.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

I just wanted to say you didn't ask you didn't ask me what my favorite scene was.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Oh, yeah, well, what is your favorite scene? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So so Judith and I didn't have the stamina of the rest of these people, right? You know, we're we're older than most of them there. Uh and uh so we weren't up for some of these late night shots. But I I think the scene uh where Garrett, you know, confronts Sean, uh and it's and it's just a face-to-face thing here. But Garrett really shone in that, you know. I mean, here's a guy who's coming out of a coma and you know, slowly getting around, but he has so many good lines in that, and that dialogue in that one seed, just like, yeah, this is this is powerful.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

I I still had not pinned down the ending at that point, but my heart broke in that scene. It was one of the and that, and I will say, without spoiling it, the last shot of this film is one of the most beautiful things. It just it it it broke and restored my heart, if that makes sense. Yeah. Uh since we're talking about favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

That was crazy. That was the first scene we shot with Garrett, too. Really? Yeah, that we were shooting in the hospital first. The first week of filming was in the hospital stuff, and I think it was like the last day of filming in the no it was the first day Garrett showed up on set and his first scene before he got into uh the wig and stuff like that. Yeah, so it was interesting that he he I remember him saying something to me, like, yeah, I'm shooting the ending scene first.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

So I'm gonna I'm gonna pivot to some questions that we ask everybody who comes on the podcast. Uh and I'm gonna go through all three of you. I would love to know what your favorite mystery or serial killer movie is. It could be a thriller, it could be horror. We tend to traffic in horror movies here, but uh mystery or serial killer movie. Uh Kyle, why don't we start with you?

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Favorite? I don't know, I don't know if it's favorite, but it sticks in my head. I'm I'm I'm drawn to movies that aren't just super big that says, hey world, come see me. I like to be sort of discover things too at the same time. So there was this movie called Prisoners that came out with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Not really a serial killer film, but it had some sort of like those things in it. And it just that movie is still, it's two and a half hours long, and it and there should be no reason why that type of drama thriller is like that, but for whatever reason it works, and I'm immersed in it from the beginning to the end. And I prefer like smart movies. I I don't want to be I don't want to watch a movie that I mean I watch all movies, but like I want something that I can sit down and it's like a good novel, and I'm going to put forward my time into it, and I'm gonna get more out of it, and I'm gonna appreciate it more. And so like Prisoners to me is like that movie when I think about serial killers or mystery thrillers, that was just something that didn't fly big, it flew under the radar a lot, but like it sticks with me. And I just watched um The Girl with a Dra The Dragon Tattoo, Fenture's movie. I just saw it last night and I hadn't seen it in many years, and uh and I was sitting there thinking about The Huntsman afterwards. I was like, oh well, you know, this I could see how Fincher was thinking with his shots and stuff, and I just really thought that movie was very well done and so misleading, and and the characters go off this way for a while, and then they come back to the central narrative, and then and then it ends at one point, and it's just a false ending, and then it goes on for another 20-30 minutes chasing down this Venerstrom character. I thought it was just so interesting to me that filmmakers are have the ability to sort of try things in their storytelling, and it just doesn't have to sit within this sort of standard traditional framework, you know. I like movies that challenge me a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, you can't go wrong with Fincher. If you talk about horror, I guess Seven stands out from way back. Right. Um, but I I have to say after going through this that you know, and I'm sucking up here, the Huntsman film is probably my favorite to this point.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

Oh but if you ask me, that's a fine choice.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

If you ask me about mystery uh beyond that, I I have to add that I I'm also a fan of comedy, so Clue is one of my best uh favorite, you know, who donuts out there.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Brent, how how about you? You got a good mystery or serial killer film?

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Listen, The Huntsman was such a great answer. That was the right answer. Good job, Frank. Uh Steven's also fantastic. When it comes to like psychological thrillers, I love um like when you don't really know what's real and what's not real. There's a movie way back, I think it was in like 2006, called Stay with uh Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, and I think Brian Gosling's even in it. Um that movie I remember at the end, it like melted my brain, and I just was like, oh my gosh, the acting was all so great. I actually feel like it's a very underrated kind of like um psychological thriller. So I would probably go with that. I'm always really bad at favorites because there's so much that that depends on like my mood. Uh, I love just sitting down, turning on the TV and seeing what's already playing, and I just kind of jump in. Because if I have to sit down now with current technology and pick a movie out of the like billion that are available, then I end up spending more time trying to figure out what movie to watch than I do watching the movies. So that's why I still love like you know, linear television.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

I watched more movies last year when we started heavily reviewing upcoming films because I had a I had a content plan, I had to get these out. When I'm left to my own devices, I'm just gonna be watching Halloween or Scream or the Blair Witch Project again. That's just my favorites.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

I remember there was I I mean, I grew up in Arizona and the Blair Witch Project was like talked about for so long because it was the biggest argument of whether it was real or not.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Real or not?

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Yeah. And I was like, oh, that was real, and I was terrified, and then eventually found out like that it was all you know, obviously a movie or like paranormal activity was like another one of those ones you're like, gosh, you guys did such a good job of making this feel real.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Yeah, absolutely. Well, that brings me to my next question. Uh, since we are tend to be a horror first channel here, do you uh, Brent, do you have a favorite horror movie?

SPEAKER_01 34:50

The one that I uh again, another tough one, but uh there's a movie. I'm sure hopefully I'm gonna make this sound like it's such a small movie, but it's called It Follows.

SPEAKER_03 34:57

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

I love it. Oh, It Follows is so good. And then maybe uh one that I've watched way too many times is The Descent. It's where like top 10 movie for me too.

SPEAKER_04 35:09

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Oh, and I get real claustrophobic, and I felt like that movie did such a good job of making me feel like I was trapped in that cave. And I love spoiler, but this movie came out forever ago, so it's your fault. But I love the ending where you didn't really know like if she got out or not. Like, those are my favorite types of movies where the audience afterward gets to have a conversation say, Yeah, like what what what was your interpretation? Is she out? Is she not out? Like, I love those where you know you go with a buddy like Kyle, and afterwards you can be like, Hey, what did you think? Like, what was your opinion of what happened? And it's not so spoon-fed of like this was the movie, this was the ending with a little bow on it. So that would be just great.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

We we even did that with too. Like at the end of it, it's like, hmm, let's just have the audience think this. He is he is he complicit in this, you know? It's like, what do we think? And I think it's like up to the audience to think that. I think the more they think about it, the more it stays with them, and the more they appreciate those types of movies, versus like he gets arrested at the end of it, and then there's like words on the screen that says Lincoln Raider was arrested for murder.

SPEAKER_04 36:10

You know, it's like, yeah, come on. You know, it's like I have major thoughts on this that we can't get into because they're spoilery, but I have major thoughts about the ending of the movie. But like I said, it it broke and restored my heart all at the same time. Uh Frank, do you have a favorite horror movie?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Uh that's a that's a tough question to answer. It is I have to tell you that when I when I was much younger, I was uh um exposed to the exorcist, and it left a bad impression in my head, right? I mean, you know, so so I avoid those things. But uh, you know, and and um and I and I'm not the movie addict that my wife is. I've had a career in medicine and I'm uh so I don't watch as much. Uh so uh right now there's there's nothing that stands out for me other than uh you know some of the things that were mentioned.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Yeah. I I will say being traumatized by The Exorcist, uh that that speaks highly of that film. That is uh one of the most frequent things we talk about on this podcast with authors and directors uh are when they saw The Exorcist, oftentimes way too young, and the lasting impression it had on them. Uh it so that is like one of the that and The Shining is the this is probably the second most uh referenced movie on this podcast. But yeah. Kyle, do you have a favorite horror movie?

SPEAKER_02 37:35

I mean, this is I guess cosmic horror, but it's Alien the Thing, Predator. Um, even though that's not traditional horror. I mean, like, I feel like there was a movie that scared me when I was a kid. I was probably in the late 80s. I would I might have been like six or seven, and we we'd always rent VHS tapes on a Friday and watch them on the weekends. And I remember staying with my grandparents, and they were like, I I rented um uh Pet Cemetery, and they were like, don't watch this one. And I was like, No, I'm gonna watch it. And they're they all went to bed and I stayed up by myself and I watched it. And I remember like sleeping in the bedroom floor next to their bed at night afterwards. Like it just it freaked me out. And uh it scares me like to this day. There's something attached in my psyche with that movie, it's weird, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

I just want to highlight one more time, Kyle, your balanced establishing shots. Like the symmetry that you show, it's just absolutely gorgeous. Uh and the the coloration, I I could go on for hours. I love this film. I highly recommend all of you out there check it out. Uh, Kyle, do you want to tell us where we can see this movie, when we can see this movie?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah, February 6th, it's dropping on uh theaters um throughout the United States. Um it's not not nationwide, but it'll be in select theaters. Um it's come to LA, it's come to like probably New York, it's come to Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Um but then also on February 10th, it drops on VOD platforms pretty much everywhere for rent and purchase.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Again, thank you all for joining us. I can't thank you enough. This has been a blast, and stay spooky, my friends.