Eye On Horror

Horror in Summer Blockbusters

August 01, 2022 iHorror Season 5 Episode 13
Eye On Horror
Horror in Summer Blockbusters
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In this episode, the boys review Jordan Peele's NOPE, Jay and Jacob review Dashcam, Correia gets sidetracked by comic book movies, then they move into the topic of Horror and Summer Blockbusters. From the origins of Summer Blockbusters with Jaws, its evolution into spectacle features, and how horror still plays a part in them (even though studios don't have faith in the genre). 

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James Jay Edwards:

Welcome to Eye On Horror, the official podcast of iHorror.com. This is episode 91 Otherwise known as season five episode 13. The lucky 13. I am your host James Jay Edwards and with me as always is your other host Jacob Davison, how you doing, Jakob?

Jacob Davidson:

Doing pretty good. I'm broadcasting from New England. So there is a time and audio difference if you notice. When I was ending, I was attending a friend's baby shower and it's been a hell of a day.

James Jay Edwards:

You're three hours in the future so don't tell us what happens. I hate spoilers. So also with us yet again is your other other host Jon Correia How you doing Korea?

Jonathan Correia:

Pretty good. You know, Quantum Leap is still kicking my ass but a you know, it rents being paid, so I'm happy.

James Jay Edwards:

We had to start late. We're recording late anyway than usual. But we had to start late because the dang CFL game went late. So CFL is kicking my ass. But hey, like you say the rents getting paid. The mortgage is getting paid and the dogs are getting fed. So

Jonathan Correia:

hey, is it is it really bad because everyone loves to root for a Rough Rider?

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, the Argos took them now.

Jonathan Correia:

I've been making the joke all week. And none of you have realized I was making Letterkenny references and that, that upsets me I feel like I failed you.

James Jay Edwards:

You have to watch Letterkenny to get the Letterkenny references.

Jonathan Correia:

See, this is why I feel like failed you. You haven't watched it yet. Okay.

James Jay Edwards:

This is kind of horror related. So I'll start with this. My wife and I, the SEC that Better Call Saul is coming to an end. Right? And I don't know if you guys watch Better Call Saul.

Jacob Davidson:

Oh I do.

James Jay Edwards:

But um, I don't. I watched like a few episodes. And I was kind of I didn't get hooked. But my wife and I just binge through the first five seasons. And so we're all set for when the sixth season ends. We're going to, you know, pound through that one as well. Yeah, it is. I mean, I It's no Breaking Bad, but it's pretty close. And I find myself I mean, Mike Irvin trout was my favorite breaking bad character. So I'm so glad that they that he is in it so much and I find myself when they're following his plotlines. I'm like, oh, okay, all right, here we go. Here's some Mike. It's yeah, I'm all in I'm Better Call Saul. Now. It did take me two starts to get through though. But Game of Thrones took me like three or four starts until I started getting into it. So I think some shows just take a while to grab me.

Jonathan Correia:

I like I got I watched it when it first premiered. But the problem was is at the time, it was through the AMC app, which was only on phone and so I was watching it on my small smartphone and there was like 10 minute commercial breaks every two minutes. And I was just like, I had to bail after four episodes on that format and just never got back to it.

James Jay Edwards:

We were watching on Netflix, but we what what brought it up was a couple weekends ago, there was a Breaking Bad marathon. And you know, I could just put that on just as background noise and you know, have it play through but they kept playing commercials or local it's all coming to an end. And I'm like maybe I should give that a try. And we did and we're all in

Jonathan Correia:

been working my way through M*A*S*H

Jacob Davidson:

well, you're you're going with America's original binge. Yeah. And and also I do feel like Better Call Saul is horror related. I've been caught up to the entire series and there have been some incredibly tense scenes which I can't talk about because I would be spoiling them but rest assured there are some scenes of just pure terror intention that they really do feel like they would fit right in and horror movie.

James Jay Edwards:

Just like Breaking Bad. I mean breaking Yeah, I mean it's the same kind of stuff but yeah, it's I was glad that I got into it the second time through because once it hooked me I'm like okay, I'm it but nothing about Better Call Saul. Let's move on to something I think all three of us have seen and this is the big release this week. Nope.

Jonathan Correia:

I thought we're gonna talk about M*A*S*H again. Dammit. Sorry. I've been wrong prep wrong. I

Jacob Davidson:

mean, it's the horrors of war. That's pretty scary. Yeah. But But yeah, Jordan Peele's Nope. Yes on an IMAX and it was amazing. That's

James Jay Edwards:

the only way to see it. Our press screening was in IMAX as well. And that's the only way to see it. If you have not seen nope yet which by the time this posts it will have been out for two weekends. So if you haven't seen it, what are you doing with yourself? But if you haven't seen it, see it on the biggest screen you can possibly find because that's the kind of movie it is Like, my issue with it, and this isn't really an issue because Jordan Peele is expanding. It's not as so much of a horror movie as it is like a sci fi epic. So it's, it's closer to me to like Independence Day or Close Encounters or Arrival than it is to get out or us. But it's really well made really well written, really well acted.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah, I would say it's kind of his Fire in the Sky, you know, especially that first scene where you get to see inside, you know, the ship, you know, and try not to try not to spoil here. But yeah, there was definitely some like very Fire in the Sky as moment. But it I compared to that more so because fire in the sky was less trying to be a horror movie than it was like a character study of this town and these people and be more of a drama that just happened have that don't get me wrong, Fire in the Sky has some of the most terrifying scenes ever. But yeah, I enjoyed the shit out of it, just because it was a close encounters movie that did things very different. With a lot of it. I'm very interested in exploring more academically through like interviews or academic essays on it on the themes of it, because it it felt, I don't know if it's just I didn't get a lot of them. But it felt like there was a lot of ambiguity with

James Jay Edwards:

it. thing. And I have a feeling that the three of us need to do a spoiler minisode on this because the thing is about Nope. Is you can't really talk too much about it without giving away I mean, the, for lack of a better word, the twist, because it's not really a twist. But you know, it's Jordan Peele so you know, that it's not just flying saucers and aliens, there's something bigger at work. And what's bigger at work is pretty jaw dropping. It's pretty awesome. So we don't even want to come close to spoiling that, unless you've already seen it.

Jacob Davidson:

I will say though, I do think it's funny that, you know, it seems like one type of movie and then it turns into something else, which is just kind of become a signature Jordan Peele move.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, it does do that. Yeah, it does kind of take a right turn. But they're like, like Correia was saying about the themes, like I mean, there are, there are themes of like, spectacle and exploitation. And then there's like family, bonding, you know, and loyalty. And, yeah, I think we need to do we need to do a minisode at some point on this.

Jonathan Correia:

But definitely, at its core, there's, there's an overarching theme about kind of the ambition of greed. And yeah, we have different angles between, you know, Steven Young's character, and the others, you know, everyone's you know, as they keep saying it, like, one of my favorite moments in the movie, just because of how dramatic it is, is when they're trying to get that cinematographer to join on their mission. And they're like, Yeah, we're trying to get the impossible shot. And it just pauses and he just goes, well, that's impossible, like, so dramatically. You know, I think it kind of sums up a lot of it, but God damn, that sound design was insane. And that's the thing too, because I went to a late screening on Friday night because of my weird hours with this new show. And I and I got sleepy because I think movie theaters need to not show 40 minutes of fucking trailers, especially after at 11pm screening because that movie didn't start till almost midnight. But I digress. So I saw it a second time at the drive-in. And when I was less sleepy on Saturday night, and just like in the theater, the sound just popping everywhere. And like, when the saucer is like going past the screams Oh, that noises that they made was just so good. Like, if that doesn't win for sound editing and sound design, across the board, like I'm going to fight

James Jay Edwards:

I think they combined the two categories of people. editing and mixing into just best sound, didn't they? For the Oscars. Probably they do. I feel like they did which is fine because most people don't know the difference between sound design or sound editing and sound mixing anyway. Especially Christopher Nolan. Oh, does that out loud. Anyway, yeah, you're right. The sound design is amazing. He Jordan Peele got sound guys who knew, Who know the difference between frequency and amplitude, which Chris Nolan never gets those guys, but I'm, I'm taking shots at Nolan down I well,

Jonathan Correia:

I don't know about you. But I I was pissed at Nolan because after sitting through 40 minutes of fucking trailers and then Nicole Kidman talking about theatres and then celebrating 100 years there certainly was another fucking trailer. For Oppenheimer before the movie started. I was just like, God dammit just start the movie.

James Jay Edwards:

You know, I've been spoiled because they hardly ever have trailers at at press screenings. So the only times that I ever really see trailers, but the only time I would see trailers was when I was using movie paths. But every once awhile they will show a trailer before a press screening and I kind of get pissed. I'm like, Ah, Oh, what the fuck is this? Show us the movie? So yeah, I've been spoiled by that. But going back to what you're saying about greed, you are absolutely right. That is definitely a central theme too. Because when all of the alien stuff is going on, OJ and M, those are the two main characters. They their first reaction is, let's get this on film so we can sell it. You know, they I think they're calling to get the Oprah shot. But, um, and then Steven Youngs character, which I don't want to Ricky part. Yeah, yeah.

Jacob Davidson:

There's a Ricky Juppe

James Jay Edwards:

part. Yeah. Joop. Yeah. Because Jupiter's claim is his he owns like a not really

Jacob Davidson:

western themed town.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, it's kind of an amusement park, but it's like a western themed tourist attraction. And I don't want to go in too much into what he does, but he wants to exploit the aliens for cash too. And also,

Jacob Davidson:

he's, he's got such a like, like, tragic backstory as a child actor.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, but but that is, that's kind of part of what I mean that that relates to the whole thing. I mean, it yeah. See Nope,

Jacob Davidson:

see? No, yeah, Glory seeking. And see and, ya know, it's, it's worth seeing and it's worth seeing.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, I that's that's what actually I put in my written review. I said, Look, you know, pandemic be damned. Find a time when your theater is not going to be full. You know, if you have to do it at 11am on a Thursday, go see Nope in a theater because you know, and this is yeah, see it in the biggest screen you can because it's it's a spectacle movie, which is part of the point when you know, if you get into the themes of it spectacle is part of the movie so

Jonathan Correia:

100% And also I just want to say between Nope, Scream Queens and her now being the guest judge on are the one of the main judges on Legendary, Keke Palmer is absolutely killing it. Oh, yeah. Like I can't I'm excited to see where she goes with this momentum she's had especially these last few years with that.

James Jay Edwards:

See, it's kind of weird because at first her character on Nope, kind of bugged me. But then it's weird because like it grows on you it becomes endearing at first I thought she was kind of abrasive. But then I'm like all Nah, she's just badass. It was it was kind of weird. But speaking of abrasive main characters, he liked the segue. We are the goes,

Jonathan Correia:

we're going to talk about Morbius No.

James Jay Edwards:

That's not where I was going. But we're, we will talk about that after I saw Dash Cam. Oh,

Jonathan Correia:

I am seeing this yet. But I've heard there's a bit of controversy.

James Jay Edwards:

Oh my god. Okay. So the quote heroine, and I use that in quotes because she is super annoying. Like, and the thing is, she's a total MAGA you know, with her, Make America Great Again hat and she wears a sweatshirt that has like anti liberals. And you know, and she anti Vax stuff. Yeah. And she and she goes and preaches anti mask stuff. And she like gives, like, at one point, she goes into a restaurant and the guys like, can you put a mask on? She's like, Oh, why are you impeding on my right? You know? And like, yeah, and she was in England at the time. So it's like, you know, go home, the Oh, she was just so abrasive and annoying. And the thing is, I'm trying to tell her I don't think it was the fact that she was just a maga person, it was just that she was so abrasive and unlikable about it. You know, she was which I think a lot of MAGA people are that way anyway, but I feel like they would go into the extreme with her. But then Jacob tells me that the real because it's basically a girl playing herself Annie Hardy, I think is her name.

Jacob Davidson:

But apparently it's not too far off from the real thing.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah. Oh, that's I mean, it doesn't surprise me because she acted it pretty well. She she was pretty committed to the bit. But that's unfortunate that it's unfortunate. There are people like that, I guess.

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah, no, I mean, not yet. I've only heard about it recently, myself, you know, just because, you know, like, when I first saw it, I just, you know, kind of interpreted like, Oh, she's playing a character, but apparently she's not really so. It's very unfortunate.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah. Now, the movie itself though I found really good. It it's, it's direct about a guy who did Host, Rob savage. So it's kind of that same, like screen horror kind of a thing. And, um, basically, she and this is the kind of person she is she goes to England to visit her old bandmate who is a liberal, so they you know, and he gets into it with her with his girlfriend. She gets into it with his girlfriend, but anyway, she steals his car. And then he starts getting he's like a, whatever Britain's equivalent of Uber Eats his or DoorDash because he starts getting food delivery apps. And she's like, well, I don't want him to lose his job. I better take his job. And so she steals his car and starts doing his job for him. And he's begging her the whole time. He's like, please bring the car back. Don't do this. Don't do this. And she, of course gets into trouble doing it. But um, what I found I found a little confused. I think the first time through, and then I watched it a second time and read, the whole thing is presented as a live stream. Because she live streams, and he she has commenters. And if you read the comments, they kind of fill in the gaps and what's going on. So, I mean, it's weird to say, you know, watch dashboard twice if you can once watch the movie and once read the comments, it's a pretty short movie, it's like less than 80 minutes, I think it's like 78 or 79 minutes. So it's not, you know, you're not killing your say, you're not going through whatever it is RRR twice, you know, which is like, you know, over three hours. But yeah, I found the second time through when I read the comments. Okay, got it. Got it. And there's also some cool things in the comments. That kind of like, there's one point in the comments, one guy goes, Did you guys see that thing that happened on Zoom last year, and it talks about Host it's pretty funny that that he throws in little easter eggs toward toward Host in it. So anyway, Dashcam, it's kind of a cool little zombie movie, I guess. I mean, that's the the short way to do it. But man is that main character annoying, and it's unfortunate that it wasn't a character that it was like actually here because

Jacob Davidson:

and as for me, with home video releases, I got two very interesting titles. For one, I finally got the Dawn of the Dead 4k boxset. Like I was, I was lucky to DiabolikDVD had a couple of damage units available. So it's a little bit but you know, it still plays them all fine. And, you know, now they got a 4K TV to actually play it on. The only downside is, you know, special features of region locks. But I mean, it's just the most comprehensive download that said possible. So it's, I would say it was worth it. And the other one was decided about and I know I talked about this on the show, but I can't believe it actually got a Blu ray release. Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell, aka the Japanese Evil Dead is now on Blu ray. And it's such a fun title say Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell. And ya know, it did a good job of clean, you know, clean transfer. Got some commentators, including stuff with Adam green and Joe Lynch. And I'm glad it's now available to a wider audience because it's a fun batshit Japanese homage to Sam Raimi.

Jonathan Correia:

Nice. You need to get a region free player now dude, you got you got the 4k TV player, you gotta you gotta free yourself from, you know, these landlocked old ways of region coding And

James Jay Edwards:

Have you even seen the Director's Cut of Midsommar yet? It's no.

Jonathan Correia:

Well, that's available in 4k. From if you get it from the A24 or 24. Yeah. Which is a gorgeous, you know, set there, so I highly recommend it. I think it's back in stock now. Yeah, they did another one.

James Jay Edwards:

They did reorder of it. Yeah. All right, Korea. Let's do it.

Jonathan Correia:

It's Morbin' Time!

Jacob Davidson:

Oh Boy.

Jonathan Correia:

So

James Jay Edwards:

somehow Korea is under the impression that I've been too positive about Morbius. Just because I said, I like it as a vampire movie. More than a superhero movie. So he's here to rain all over me

Jonathan Correia:

see, here's the thing is, yeah, I feel like you're because you're the only person who has said positive things about Morbius. And so I had enough credits. And so I got Morbius for like two bucks digitally. And you know, but it helped me get another free digital movie from Sony rewards. So that's, that's a positive thing about the movie. It got me another movie. Now, here's the thing is that Morbius it's not a it's not a good movie. Let's just put that out there. But it's not terrible. There's, there's the makings of a good movie in there somewhere. I think its main problem is that the character Morbius did not need that big of a budget. It really didn't. Morbius was always more of a low key character. I think like a mid budget more Gothic, modern Gothic style would have been great. Jared Leto is insufferable which was surprising me because like yes, in real life, he's I view him as insufferable but he gave me one of my favorite performances in the last couple of years with House of Gucci so I mean, you know, I can't hate the guy when he does good but man dude, they just he- Morbius also doesn't need to be a character that has one liners and that movie is just like every other thing that comes out of his mouth is trying to be a one liner like in the movie opens up with him getting out of a helicopter on a cane. It sounds like someone called a doctor and just turns the camera and he's like, I am a doctor like fuck off.

James Jay Edwards:

stating a fact. He is a doctor.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah, but present as like a one liner, the Venom line. Like there's just like all these parts where it's like you're trying to be cool, but like Morbius isn't cool. Like that's what like what he's he's a Spider Man villain to its core or like, Spider Man reluctant villain. Do you know where it's it's sad everything about Morbius is sad, you know, he's got the typical Spider Man villain backdrop of like, trying to do good and it backfiring. And, you know, it's a tragic story. And so like trying to fit it into that mold was just like not working, Matt, but I did like a lot of the stuff of like, what they were doing with like Matt Smith's character and like, normally I complain about too many superhero movies doing the Iron Man formula where, you know, the main villain of the origin story, it has the same powers as the hero, like how boring would an art Batman origin movie be if someone was very powerful and had money and was influential, you know, also really good at martial arts. I'm just describing Batman Begins. I'm sorry. It's just done too much. But I thought it worked. Well, you know, but that dance scene with Matt Smith was just really weird. I don't know, just overall. Yeah, I think I think Morbius has deserved a lot of its meme-ification and kind of wrap it being kind of dragged on. But I needed it there had a few moments where it was fun. It's just, it's just a silly movie. And it's a silly thing to try to fit this character into that mold and it just doesn't work.

James Jay Edwards:

I see it kind of the same way I see Venom, which is basically Sony trying to make the most of the Spider Man villains they have. So I mean, that's kind of they are kind of trying to shoehorn it into the Spider Man universe mold. But But I don't think it's going to transition over to the Marvel Universe,

Jonathan Correia:

but it's just not working that well. Cuz I mean, like, even with the news that Kraven is an animal rights activist. And it's like, this is Kraven. He's the ultimate hunter. The whole reason why he goes, Oh, I can hunt Spider Man is because in his mind, he's the ultimate Spider Man is basically an animal and is the ultimate game because he can't hunt people. And it's the hit to make that you're fundamentally going after throwing out what is at that character's core. I mean, like, obviously, I'm gonna see it again. See that one too, because I'm the comic book, you know, movie lover, but like, god damn, dude.

James Jay Edwards:

Now you're getting into the differences between the comic and the movie, and I didn't read the comic. So maybe, maybe that's what's killing it for you if you're comparing it.

Jonathan Correia:

Well, I mean, it's just again, it's just it's it didn't meet we could have had like a really fun mid budget. You know, modern Gothic. There's a lot of visual stuff that was going on in there. That was really cool. But also, why did why did they go with CGI faces on them so hard? Because it's terrible. Like the CGI face thing was worse than an episode of Buffy, you know? Yeah, like there's that one scene where he's like, oh, man, I can fly but it takes like five minutes. And it's just slow motion Matt Smith running in slow motion with like, terrible CGI face and like the train's coming in it's slow motion is Jared Leto. And he's like, I can feel the wind. I can feel the wind and they spent five fucking minutes on it for some reason. Like,

James Jay Edwards:

the CGI, like the CG where we're like, his face starts turning but then turns back real quick. And that can only be done with CG so I mean, that's, that's what I like. But when they're like talking

Jonathan Correia:

and stuff, and they have like the CG vampire face, it just, it just doesn't look good. I mean, Star Wars hired the deep fake guys. Why couldn't Sony you know?

Jacob Davidson:

And let me ask you this. So do you think that Morbius was meme worthy? Like, you know, just because the whole reason it became so notorious was because of the memes?

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah, I think it is because it's it's a silly movie. And it's there's so much to just kind of like groan and giggle at like, I could see it being like a good like, you're drunk midnight watch with some friends just kind of poking fun at

James Jay Edwards:

Mr. Policeman. I gave you all the clues.

Jonathan Correia:

Man, it's yeah,

James Jay Edwards:

uh, you know, it's funny because Sony actually misinterpreted the means to think that people wanted to see their movie again. So they put it back into theaters. Second,

Jonathan Correia:

which is beautiful. It is.

Jacob Davidson:

It is what it is funny in an ironic way.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah. I do gotta say I did watch good comic book movie that this week that is that is horror related. And it's the new Constantine movie The House of mystery, which kind of works as an epilogue to DCs animated universe because they did a run where it was like 12 or 15 animated movies that were loosely connected starting with Justice League Flashpoint Paradox and ended with God I can't remember the title of the last one Oh, Apokalypse War. And basically like Constantine helps to like reverse all the effects of like what the Apokalypse War brought onto the World. And now he's dealing with like, the consequences where he's like locked inside his house of mystery. And throughout the whole, it's a short film too, it's like, but half hour, 45 minutes, but throughout the whole thing he keeps encountering those that he loves, and they, they turn into demons and brutally murder him. And then he wakes up in a different part of the house and it happens again, it just keeps going and going and he ends up spending. He said, like Time moves differently days become weeks, weeks, months, years into decades, and he was just like, basically doomed to spend an eternity there. And it was really brutal. The animation was really good. But in the end, it turns out that like, it wasn't a punishment, he was put into the house to be sickly, be safe and like not cause any more chaos with his magic. And they're like, Yeah, we put you in the house with your loved ones. And it's your own, like, basically self hatred that has turned this good thing into a punishment. And I thought that was really brutal. So and it's yeah, I always love Constantine. So it's good stuff there.

James Jay Edwards:

If speaking of brutal I saw this movie, it's a couple of years old. It's called Aquaslash. Are you guys familiar? Oh,

Jacob Davidson:

yeah. The one with the killer waterslide

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah. Have you seen it?

Jonathan Correia:

No. What?

James Jay Edwards:

Have you seen it Jacob.

Jacob Davidson:

Um, I didn't watch the whole thing. But I did see clips.

James Jay Edwards:

At first you think it's just like a slasher because there's like, you know, a killer that wants to it's basically there's a high school graduation party at this waterpark. And it's like a weekend at this waterpark. And it actually which this kind of goes back to Nope, but it has a pretty rockin version of sunglasses at night. Which Nope, also has, but um, there there was 35 years ago or 30 years ago, there was something at this water park that said there's a killer, that's valid revenge on it. And the only problem with it is is like I thought it was going to be like saw at a waterpark, where you know, all of the rides are trapped. At the risk of spoiling it, they only booby trap one waterslide. And there are three water slides. So any so the people who go down that one, get run into this trap. And it is it turns into a carnage fest because there are communication issues where they can't turn the thing off and all but it's it takes a while to get where it's going. But it is. It's a movie. It is. It's also short. It's like 70 minutes. So it's it's it's pretty. It's a pretty quick watch. You know, this is going to be my Dude Bro Party Massacre. I think we're like, you know, I you know, I'm admitting this isn't a great movie, but I had a lot of fun with it. And I can see myself rewatching it a few times.

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah, nice. Yeah, it does seem like a fun summer movie. Yeah,

James Jay Edwards:

my one problem with it was that there wasn't enough carnage. Which is weird because by the end, it's a bloodbath. But I was expecting more like every ride in this waterpark to be booby trapped, and it's really only part of one ride. But no one knows. So they keep going down. It

Jonathan Correia:

sounds like a great double feature with that documentary about Adventure Park.

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah. Class Action Park.

James Jay Edwards:

Yeah, class action. The thing is the waterslide that they the reason that nobody knows it's booby trapped is because it is completely enclosed. It's not like a halfpipe one that you know, you're used to seeing. So, which is like the one at class action Park, the one that does a loop to loop

Jacob Davidson:

breaking their legs. And also

James Jay Edwards:

if you don't make it through the loop, how do you get out out of the hatches at the top so Yeah, throw a ladder down to you if you're at the bottom. Bad. Oh, no. I mean, it was a sign that

Jonathan Correia:

they send a bigger kid down to just like slam into you and push you through.

Jacob Davidson:

Just like The Simpsons.

James Jay Edwards:

See, ya see? See Aquaslash because that's not unlike some of the things that happen.

Jacob Davidson:

Oh, God. And speaking of summer horror movies, and New England, I saw this New England folk horror movie. It's in my voice last week called Dark August set in Vermont. And it's interesting because I've seen some comparisons to it some kind of more modern psychological and supernatural horror is basically about this dude from New York and moved to the small Vermont town and he accidentally kills the granddaughter of this local hermits in a car accident but he's found now get not guilty because you're in front of his car. So the the old hermit Man places a curse on him, and he starts having all this weird stuff having like, he starts having chest pains and he started seeing this hooded figure, stalk them through the forest and you kind of see the hood of In the background, certain scenes, this is surprisingly effective is from like the mid 70s. And it's like a very regional, very independent type of film. So it's on that arrow, American American Horror Project box at volume two. So if you've got that, I would definitely recommend it for a taste of what it's like to live in New England.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah, dude. Sorry, guys. I'm gonna keep talking about comic book movies. This episode because I went and

saw Thor:

Love and Thunder tonight. Did you guys check that one out yet?

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah, I saw it.

Jonathan Correia:

Oh, man. It's great. Taika Waititi continues

James Jay Edwards:

I have not. to make visually fun movies that have an overarching humor that can only be described as dumb bisexual, which I love. Because I don't know if you guys saw the meme that went around where it was like, what if we What if pirates were dumb and bisexual? You know, and then that's one shown. It's great. But yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. I thought they adapted the the Mighty Thor storyline of Jane Foster kind of taking the mantle and getting the powers really well. It was great seeing all them back. But the main thing I want to talk about because this is a horror podcast is Gorr the God Butcher. Oh, yeah. I was really worried because, you know, one thing that kind of bothers me is that modern superhero movies try too hard to do this Spider-Man 2 thing where the villain is sympathetic. There's a reason why, you know, there's a horrible thing that happened and it made them that way. But at the end, they're good. And they redeem themselves. And they kept saying in interviews that this is the most sympathetic supervillain in Marvel movies. And I was just like, I just want evil to be evil. You know, sometimes, you know, it's okay for why is this guy evil? Because he was, you know, just an evil bastard. And I really dug I did really, I think they nailed it really well, because they had a whole thing about his sword kind of corrupting him. And when he was in his corrupted state, he was a scary motherfucker. There's some really great scenes. There's even a jumpscare during one of the the initial fight between him and Thor, where he's in one spot, and today's another and, and then it got us got me thinking about our main topic today, which is horror and summer blockbusters, because

Thor:

Love and Thunder is very much so you know, a Marvel movie, and very much so it's summer blockbuster. But there's a lot of elements of horror in there. And so, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I guess this is a segue are we segwaying into our main topic now?

James Jay Edwards:

Hey, you're the king of segways.

Jonathan Correia:

Oh, wow. Look at this, guys. We nailed enough one.

Jacob Davidson:

perfect segue.

Jonathan Correia:

It's over time. We're hot. We're sweating. And yeah, we wanted to talk about summer blockbusters, because as we all know, the original summer blockbuster is, drumroll, a no drumroll. It's Jaws.

James Jay Edwards:

I found this article in USA Today where it talks about summer blockbusters. And basically it's going by box office draw. So I mean, you know, box office numbers. So this isn't, you know, it may not be completely what we think of when we think of summer blockbusters. But let me go through some of these ones starting with 1975, which was the year this The term was coined summer blockbuster because it was Jaws 76 Is The Omen. Yeah, movie. Fuck Yeah. But 77 was Star Wars, not horror. But there are elements and you know, who doesn't love Star Wars? 78 Grease. I mean, I love Grease. But there's more. There's

Jonathan Correia:

more fIying aspects of Grease, I will argue and that those people are way too old to be high school.

James Jay Edwards:

That is terrifying. Absolutely. Yep. Yes. Yes, that's true.

Jonathan Correia:

And that car at the end? How did they not hit like mess up some air control? Like, come on? That did not end well.

James Jay Edwards:

79 The Amityville Horror, 80 The Empire Strikes Back at one Raiders of the Lost Ark. I'll fight anyone who tells me that they didn't get scared when that guy's face melted and Raiders Lost Ark 82 E.T. 83. Return to the Jedi so you know you're going through 84 blog Ghostbusters. 85 Back to the Future. So basically,

Jonathan Correia:

Spielberg made a lot of money back in the day.

Jacob Davidson:

Oh, he did.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah, that's I think that's that should be the new topic is like wow, Spielberg really dominated the summer for like a solid decade or two didn't he? But ya know, going through those titles, there's not only some horror films, but there's movies with horror horror aspects to it. Indiana Jones especially was always one franchise that never was scared of dipping their toes into their Raiders Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, especially as some of I mean, guy gets his heart ripped out. No, yeah. And it's because of that and Gremlins that they did the peach started the PG 13 Because they're like, there's definitely like a middle ground here. And you know, Spielberg and CO didn't want to lose out on money with movies being rated R so that was the compromise PG 13

James Jay Edwards:

I thought the first PG 13 was Red Dawn.

Jonathan Correia:

It was but it was, it was the those movies you know, Indiana Jones and Gremlins and a few others that were like this really shouldn't be PG.

James Jay Edwards:

Oh, I guess they're the ones who started the discussion. Red Dawn's the first one that got the label. Okay. I think I want to say Red Dawn and Bear Island. I think were the first two that I remember seeing as PG 13. But anyway, so with these, I mean, summer blockbuster. I mean, JAWS is. Jaws is a horror movie. Oh, yeah. doubtedly. But summer blockbusters now are more sci fi or comic book movies. I mean, you otherwise the Blackphone would have been this year summer blockbuster. Why do you think that that shift is made? Do you think it's because the summer blockbuster now is seen as more of a spectacle more of like, like the wow factor. And that might be movies like Jurassic Park or Independence Day that bring that along? Because you want to be wowed when you see

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah, I would definitely say that's a factor them? especially because, you know, like, summer blockbusters tend to be the highest budgeted movies capable of exhibiting such spectacle, which is why a lot of blockbusters these days are Marvel movies. But I do feel like it does tie a lot back into horror, because yeah, you know, like, Jaws was definitely a horror movie, in part. And so many other horror movies were considered summer blockbusters, and I would even argue that many summer blockbusters even today, or even going back at least have a route or influence in horror, like, I just rewatched, The Mummy remake from 1999 with Brendan Fraser. And that is, it's mostly an action movie, but it is definitely also a horror movie. Because, you know, like, I remember seeing as a kid and getting kind of freaked out, you know, like that. It's like, you know, they want to create spectacle, but they also want to, they also need to provide thrills, they need to, you know, hook the audience and a lot of times that involves doing something particularly shocking, and which also, you know, another example, Independence Day, those aliens can be pretty creepy. There's a, there's a whole scary scene where the alien awakes during the autopsy, and like attacks, the president, the scientist, so, you know, you look at a lot of different blockbusters, you will have at least a few scary scenes, which, you know, a lot of ties into, you know, just adrenaline, but, you know, either way, I feel like the DNA of horror is so intrinsic to summer blockbusters, that, you know, it's in one form or another.

Jonathan Correia:

Well, it's it goes back to there's so much that goes with it. I mean, horror is ingrained in our is it's ingrained in our blood as a species, you know, we've evolved to the point where we don't have something else hunting us. And so we tell stories by the campfire, or we love the thrill of of seeing gladiators fight in the Coliseum, you know, modern, modern horror movies are still you know, a continuation of all that. And, you know, when you go to see a summer blockbuster, you're, you're going for the spectacle, you're going for the big effects, you're going for the thrills you're going to see, you know, crazy stunts and whatnot, and horror lends into that, because fundamentally, it's that build and release that happens with the, you know, the tension building up, and then the release of the kill or of this of the jumpscare. And it, so it does lend itself into it. And it is interesting that, you know, we see threads or trends all the time when it comes to this, you know, before superhero movies were the big thing. There was, you know, in the 90s it was the erotic thrillers that were like the big box office ones. And then for a while it was musicals. And before then it was, you know, westerns, you know, going back in the 80s, it was slashers, dominating, you know, so, I mean, we all go it all goes through threads on what's popular at the time. And I do think that there is a big connection between these spectacles and horror. I mean, we see it all the time. How many of these superhero movies are being held by people who got their start in horror? Shazam was you know, directed by one. John Watts who held the last three Spider Man movies got to start doing you know, Cop Car and Clown. So there's always that aspect that wild and release and I mean, he I would even argue, superhero movies inherently have that. built into it, because it's always good versus evil. And that's basic thread in horror as well. Right?

James Jay Edwards:

Did you would you say Shazam was directed by Oh, I

Jonathan Correia:

didn't mention who Shazam was directed. Oh, okay.

James Jay Edwards:

No, it's the guy who did. David F. Sandberg who did Lights Out? Yeah. Oh, yeah, did I thought that you said that? The guy who did Shazam did cop car.

Jonathan Correia:

No that that was John Watts who did this Spider Man's Yeah. Oh,

James Jay Edwards:

got it okay. Yeah, well also I mean even Aquaman was James Wan Oh yeah, you know who absolutely started in horror?

Jacob Davidson:

And as Scott Derrickson you know, yeah, Sinister and he did Dr. Strange the first one

James Jay Edwards:

and James Gunn, as well with Guardians. So it's kind of cool actually, that the horror directors who have gone on to do these big spectacle movies.

Jonathan Correia:

Well, you also mentioned some of the, you know, top tier ones. You mentioned The Omen earlier that was directed, The Omen was directed by Richard Donner, who did Superman and Superman 2 i don't recognize the theatrical cut of Superman 2, theres only the Richard Donner Cut. But I mean, that's that was the start of it. And even you know, the creation of summer blockbuster with JAWS. It is a horror film, they'd say, very much. So a student of Hitchcock film, you know, but

James Jay Edwards:

what also he had done was this after he did Duel. Yeah, so, I mean, Spielberg started in horror.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah. There, there's no denying that the DNA is there in summer blockbuster, I just find it interesting that we don't see horror films getting put in that slot as much anymore. I mean, now, for the most part, they're relegated to, you know, around Halloween, or the rougher ones are going in January, you know, but no one really takes that risk with horror in the summer blockbuster, which is interesting, because so many horror summer blockbusters do, you know, take influence and take bits of it. Like I said,

with Thor:

Love and Thunder, there's not only the jumpscare and the general creepiness of Christian Bale's character, but there's a great scene where the kids are in a cage and they're telling stories about Thor and how Thor is gonna come and save him. And he's like, Oh, you want to hear some stories? And he's real creepy throughout the whole thing very unsettling, like, ends up ripping a demon's head off in front of the kids. He's like, Oh, what you like the story of Thor decappitating someone?

Jacob Davidson:

So because of that, I would love to see Christian Bale. You know, I know he did American Psycho but I'd like to see him be kind of more of a Freddy Krueger as a horror villain where he you know, he says a one liner. If he kills people,

Jonathan Correia:

I would I would watch Nightmare on Elm Street movie with Christian Bale. But I want to watch a British Nightmare on Elm Street. I want him to use his actual accent in a movie for was I think that would be that would be interesting.

James Jay Edwards:

My take on horror in summer blockbusters, I think you're right. I don't think that the studios have enough faith. And they're, there's so much money at stake in the summer months. And I don't think they have as much faith in something like the Black Phone. That's for it to go on to make billions. You know, so they, they use movies like, like Marvel movies, or like, you know, the Harry Potter movies, you know, they're going to use movies that they know, people are going to come out of the and I think Nope, is actually a good example. Because there's such a push to get people to come to the theater to see it, including from me. I mean, I'm telling people to come to the theater to see it. So I think there's almost stealthily putting hor into these summer blockbusters, because that's what's gonna keep the thrills there. But they don't want to call them horror movies. Because, yeah, that might turn people off from them.

Jonathan Correia:

Kind of I mean, if you look at the two trailers for Nope, Nope, the first trailer for Nope, came off very horror movie, I would even say that they kind of did that thing that they did with Midsommer that annoyed me where they made you know, the trailer for Midsommer that made the Oracle seem like a bigger deal than it was in the movie. Then they kind of did that with Nope, with a couple of shots where it's like, Oh, what's this very interesting person or thing that's going to be integral to the movie and then it's, you know, it was still great. It was used the movie but it wasn't a big factor. You know,

James Jay Edwards:

I don't watch trailers generally. But I think I know the character you're talking about. That seems like the same thing as the Oracle from Midsommar That seems like it might be a bigger deal and the movie and it's not it's a bit part but it is used the thing with Nope is and the reason that the first trailers were probably more horror related is it was Jordan Peele, and that's what people were like, okay, you know, he's got a transition. And I think he successfully made the transition to Blockbuster if you feel and he's gonna be getting bigger budgets now. Because he knocked it out of the park with Nope. And Nope, is more than just a just a subversive horror movie is this summer blockbuster. I mean, it's See, you know, I mean it does it is smarter than your average, you know, Independence Day thriller. But when you look at it, you're like, Okay, this is, you know, Jordan Peele is doing it.

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah. And he's showing it at the box office to like, I'm just reading that. Nope a 44 million had a debut, and it's the highest opening weekend at the domestic box office for an original movie since Jordan Peele's Us in 2019. So Jordan, Peele is making the magic happens.

James Jay Edwards:

But the last two weeks, it's been Thor number one at the block at the box office. So I think there's a certain kind of movie that gets that gets people's blood pumping. And, and they almost have to sneak the horror into them to keep it exciting. You know, because, like I said, Everybody remembers from Raiders Lost Ark that guy's face melting. Everybody remembers large march from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Everybody remembers Dan Ackroyd turning into that crazy Gremlin thing in Twilight Zone, the movie at the beginning, you know, I mean, those are the memory builders, the horror parts. So, you know, Christian Bale chopping demons head off might be what gets the kids to remember Thor blood and thunder in you know, 20 years. You know, Love and Thunder, love and thunder. Yes.

Jonathan Correia:

The sequel is gonna love even more heart into horror. It's gonna be called Blood and thunder. Yeah.

James Jay Edwards:

The next Spider Man movie should be like, can I just go home already? Take me home.

Jonathan Correia:

It's just going to be no, it's going to be called Spider Man. My Baby's Taking Me Home. And it's just going to be scored by Sparks. And it's going to be amazing.

Jacob Davidson:

Well, let me ask you guys this. So where do you think the future of summer blockbusters could be going? Do you think they'll lean more into horror? Or do you think it'll still be superheroes for a while? Because, frankly, you know, between The Black Phone which wasn't exactly you know, a huge summer blockbuster but proportionally to its budget to gross it did very well. And of course, nope. Which is massive box office opening? Do you think that horror is going to shine more? Or do you think it will go to more glitzy or types of movies?

Jonathan Correia:

It's interesting, because even before Thor the number one movie, was that Top Gun, absolutely dominated the box office for months straight, pretty much. So it's, yeah, it's an interesting one. Because I mean, we are still kind of in the middle of that hybrid, you know, people are still viewing a lot more from home people. Not as I think people are getting more comfortable. We are in the middle of a six wave, which we're, you know, working in COVID on set, I can tell you, it's not great out there at all. And we really shouldn't be doing all these things. But hey, you know, that's just one person's opinion. But I don't know, it's a little hard to predict, I think on where the trends are going. I just know that horror is always going to be a part of it. Because it's a part of everything really.

James Jay Edwards:

I think the summer blockbuster has changed. Partially because a lot of people and myself included are still kind of sketch and go into theaters right now. So I mean, you're not going to ever see Star Wars or Raiders, the Lost Ark kind of numbers. Again, you know, I mean, even Top Gun Maverick and Thor love and thunder, they aren't doing nearly the box office, they would have been if there wasn't a pandemic, you know, so I think people are still kind of sketch on, go into theaters. I like to think that horror is going to be more active in the summer blockbusters, you know, picture. But also, I think the fact that that so much horror is going directly to VOD so quickly, I mean, The Black Phones already on VOD, the theater at home. So in those numbers don't get put into the box office. So, you know, as far as money goes, I don't think they're showing that kind of a profit. So the thing is, even if it doesn't get the money, the quality movies because I know everyone's lovin Nope. And everybody loved The Black Phone. I think from a quality standpoint iHorror is where it's at because they save the big Oscar bait movies for you know, like September through the end of the year. So summer is basically where they want to put their spectacle movies, and I don't know if I think that the horror has to be more stealthy in the spectacle movies, you know?

Jacob Davidson:

Yeah, you know, firstly, I do feel like blockbusters may take a closer stance toward horror just because horror consistently has proven to be both profitable and entertaining, you know, as far back as the Universal Monsters. So yeah, I I'm not exactly sure how but you know, or with what is to come but I you know, like, movies like Friday the 13th were summer blockbusters in part for their day, you know, not the huge ones, but the fact that they were in guaranteed make big box office. So I feel like there'll be kind of a similar sentiment and you know, it'll depend but I do feel like we'll be seeing some summer blockbuster type core more in the future.

James Jay Edwards:

The future of horror is Morbius

Jacob Davidson: is Morbin 2:

Morblectric Boogaloo more.

James Jay Edwards:

More Bugaloo Yeah. No, actually the future for it would be better if it was Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Let's call it Yeah, then.

Jonathan Correia:

Yeah. Oh, you mean Evil Dead 4?

James Jay Edwards:

it? Yeah, exactly. Alright, let's, uh, let's cut it here. Call this one in episode. Yeah. What do you guys think about summer blockbusters? Do you like your summer blockbusters with this little smidge of horror in them like we do? Do you already think that horror movies or summer blockbusters you know when they're put out? Let us know hit us up. We can be reached G's on any of the socials. We're Eye On Horror on Twitter, Insta Facebook, just find us.

Jonathan Correia:

But seriously, guys remember that scene in Independence Day when the alien kills everyone in the room and then wraps its tentacles around Data from Star Trek Next Generation and is communicating through them and it's just like, like that shit was terrifying as a kid. Let's bring that back to the summer blockbusters?

Jacob Davidson:

My sentiment? Exactly. Yeah.

James Jay Edwards:

All right. Our theme song is by Restless Spirits. So go give them a listen. And our artwork is by Chris Fisher. So go give him a look. And we will see you guys in a couple of weeks. So keep going to the movies for Nope. But do it responsibly and wear a mask, get your jab and find a dead screening. And we'll see in a couple weeks. So for me James Jay Edwards.

Jacob Davidson:

I'm Jacob Davison

Jonathan Correia:

and I'm Jonathan Correia.

James Jay Edwards:

Keep your Eye On Horror.

Intros
The Boys Review Nope
Jay and Jacob Review Dashcam
Jacob's Bluray Corner: Dawn of the Dead 4K and Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell
IT'S MORBIN TIME FOR CORREIA!
Correia Reviews Another Comic Book Movie, Constantine: House of Mystery
Jay Reviews Aquaslash
Jacob Watch Dark August, Which is Set in New England While In New England
Correia Continues to Forget This is a Horror Podcast and Reviews Another Comic Book Movie, Thor: Love and Thunder
Horror and Summer Blockbusters
Spielberg and Co. Made So Much Money They Convinced The MPAA To Create PG-13
Summer Blockbusters and Spectacle
Superhero Blockbusters Directors Who Have Origins in Horror
Why Aren't Studios Having Summer Blockbuster Faith In the Genre That Created It?
Where is the Future of Summer Blockbuster Going?
Outros
Restless Spirit Goes Hard ASF