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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to Binge Watch,
00:14 giving you our picks of what's happening
00:15 in the world of film and TV.
00:18 And in honor of spooky season,
00:19 this episode we're diving in
00:21 to our favorite frightening flicks.
00:23 - Horror is a notoriously hard genre to get right.
00:26 So Jacob, what do you think makes a good scary movie?
00:29 - Well, firstly, I think if this image was in it.
00:33 (laughs)
00:33 - I agree.
00:34 - Yeah, you agree.
00:35 - Terrifying.
00:36 - Well, you haven't got away with it
00:37 because I've got a little gift for you.
00:38 My Halloween present to you, Annabelle.
00:40 - Oh my gosh.
00:41 - It's something equally as scary.
00:42 - It's beautiful.
00:43 - Yeah, look at it.
00:44 - Thank you.
00:45 - Watch you absolutely pull it off
00:46 and me look even more of a fool.
00:49 Yeah, there we go.
00:51 - Terrifying.
00:51 - So, apart from us two being in that film,
00:54 I think what scares me more than anything is like,
00:57 you know how everyone just like,
00:58 I don't know, my mum's like, "Oh, I don't wanna watch this.
01:00 "It's too jumpy," or whatever.
01:01 I'm like, "Jumps aren't scary, not for me."
01:04 They make you jump and it's like kind of been and gone.
01:05 It makes me laugh, if anything.
01:06 (screams)
01:09 To me, it's like creeping malevolent dread
01:11 for our film.
01:12 It's atmosphere, right?
01:14 And I feel like, I don't know,
01:16 like in terms of themes or what horror films are about
01:19 that scares me, cults.
01:21 - Cults, classic.
01:23 - Don't like cult.
01:24 And like witches.
01:27 Just like when done well,
01:29 I'm not talking like Ryan Murphy,
01:30 American Horror Story style witches.
01:33 I'm talking like really kind of evil, scary,
01:36 just like Robert Eggers' film, The Witches.
01:37 - Historical witches.
01:38 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:39 Like that's like a folk film.
01:41 It gets its influence in folk,
01:43 which is like even scarier, if it's set back in the day.
01:47 And also something that's set in the home,
01:50 like Paranormal Activity, right?
01:52 I know people kind of roll their eyes,
01:54 especially 'cause it went on for so many years.
01:57 But like the first film is one of the scariest films
02:00 we've ever seen.
02:01 - I still haven't seen it.
02:02 - You still haven't seen it?
02:03 - That's because I'm so terrified.
02:04 - I would like to watch a review
02:05 because you love horror.
02:06 - I do love horror.
02:07 - And it's truly one of the,
02:08 because it's like obviously filmed in a video camera,
02:10 but it's like set in the home.
02:13 - Yeah.
02:13 - And when I'm at home,
02:15 I think of that because it could,
02:17 I don't know, I can get possessed by a ghost.
02:19 Something that scares sparingly
02:21 and doesn't just like,
02:23 it's like hammer it over their heads.
02:24 - Yeah.
02:25 I do think, you know that film Relic,
02:27 that Australian film?
02:28 - Yes.
02:28 - That was set in the home
02:29 and that's a really good example
02:30 of where it was just like really haunting atmosphere
02:34 for about three quarters of it.
02:36 And then just one final act
02:37 that was just like absolutely terrifying.
02:40 - Really mind bending.
02:41 - Yeah.
02:42 - This is another thing where I, you know,
02:45 get really creeped out.
02:46 It's something you can't really explain.
02:49 Again, in a, not like in the house in Relic,
02:51 not to go any way,
02:52 but something goes on where it's like,
02:54 like this isn't physically or scientifically possible.
02:57 - Yeah.
02:58 - And yet you buy it,
02:59 but it's really eerie.
03:00 It's here,
03:01 under the bed.
03:03 - There's nothing under the bed, Mum.
03:05 - Will you check for me?
03:06 - We get stuck into some of our favourite spooky flicks.
03:09 - Let's do it, let's do it.
03:10 So my one, my pick is a film
03:12 that I think doesn't get enough mention or love.
03:15 In fact, people, it got really like bad.
03:18 Yeah, at the time,
03:19 it's built up a bit of a cult fan base along the way.
03:21 It's called The Empty Man.
03:23 And it's on Star Disney Plus.
03:24 And it's a really funny one,
03:27 the story behind it,
03:28 because it was made in 2016, 2017,
03:31 when 20th Century Fox,
03:33 before they were acquired by Disney.
03:35 So now Disney owned Fox.
03:37 And Fox were like,
03:38 before they released it theatrically,
03:41 they did loads of test screenings for the film.
03:43 Now the film is about an ex-cop
03:45 who investigates the disappearance of a girl,
03:48 and he uncovers a cult.
03:50 - Cult. - That kind of worship.
03:52 Cult.
03:53 It worships this entity called The Empty Man.
03:56 So think like kind of Candyman,
03:57 you know how people look in the mirror
03:58 and say Candyman, like sleepovers.
03:59 Oh, it's gonna go again.
04:01 It's a bit of that vibe going through it.
04:03 But it actually also is like a crime procedural.
04:04 So it's horror, but it's horror thriller.
04:06 - On the first night you hear him.
04:07 (gunshots)
04:09 And on the second night you see him.
04:11 - And on the third night?
04:14 - Well, on the third night he finds you.
04:16 - But this is it, right?
04:17 It's got this dread.
04:18 It's everything I mentioned earlier.
04:20 It's got this dread creeping throughout it.
04:21 Two and a half hours long.
04:22 It's got like an extended prologue
04:25 that seems to be really unrelated
04:26 of what comes later that lasts for 20 minutes.
04:28 And you're watching, you're like,
04:29 wait, is this The Empty Man?
04:31 'Cause like the poster of the film
04:32 doesn't really marry up with what I'm watching.
04:34 And the test screens were so poor
04:37 that they were just like,
04:38 this is rubbish, but let's just put it out there,
04:41 or whatever.
04:42 Then I think it got like a tiny release
04:44 and kind of panned.
04:45 But now people are now watching and going,
04:47 this is actually really decent.
04:48 - You love an underdog film as well.
04:51 - What can I say?
04:51 Root for the underdogs.
04:53 It's directed by a guy called David Pryor
04:55 who didn't really direct anything prior to this.
04:59 And hasn't really got anything lined up.
05:01 And I think he was so bruised
05:02 by the experience of making The Empty Man.
05:04 So maybe me praising Empty Man,
05:06 he'll be sat watching this somewhere
05:08 and be like, ah, I'm inspired to make another one.
05:10 Just not The Empty Man 2
05:11 because we don't need a sequel to it.
05:13 - We don't like sequels.
05:14 - But it's just really,
05:16 you know, it's not the best film,
05:17 but it's really eerie, really ominous.
05:20 And I think people at Halloween love to watch
05:22 like a scary film,
05:23 but they get so excited about watching something scary
05:26 that it doesn't live up to the hype.
05:27 Well, this one will
05:28 because it's not primarily a horror film.
05:30 (whispering)
05:32 (explosion)
05:36 - My pick for this Halloween is Talk To Me,
05:39 which is arriving on Netflix just in time
05:42 for spooky season.
05:44 And I'm sure it will be like number one when it does
05:47 because there has been a lot of hype around it.
05:49 And I do think that's the one thing
05:50 that it has going against it
05:51 'cause you're going into it expecting a lot.
05:53 It's basically an Australian horror film
05:55 that was premiered at Sundance
05:57 and then it was picked up by A24,
05:59 the kind of indie powerhouse production company.
06:02 But it definitely isn't like an artsy film.
06:05 There's elements of it.
06:07 It feels like a more refined, like popcorn horror movie.
06:11 The premise is really familiar.
06:13 There's a teenage girl in a suburban Australian town
06:16 and her mom's died and feeling lonely,
06:18 she wants to do a seance.
06:20 And you know, she gathers her friends
06:22 and they all kind of take turns with this embalmed hand
06:25 that whoever's talking to it, whoever holds it,
06:28 like a spirit possesses them.
06:30 And you can only do it for like 90 seconds
06:32 or like the portal stays open.
06:35 And so yeah, it's very much just like
06:37 familiar horror territory.
06:38 - Talk to me.
06:40 (scary music)
06:43 - There's a scene, I mean, you know,
06:45 we talk about that hereditary scene all the time.
06:47 If you know, you know like that scene.
06:49 And there's one in this that kind of rivals that
06:52 in terms of like gore and shock.
06:55 And I think it's really well placed
06:56 and it's a twisty film.
06:59 And the main actor, Sophia Wilde,
07:02 is a really good scream queen.
07:04 I feel like we're gonna see her in a lot of things.
07:06 She's in another Netflix show right now.
07:08 But yeah, I think this was just such a good showcase
07:11 for her and what she can do.
07:13 It's also a first time director or directors.
07:17 They were YouTubers turned directors actually,
07:19 twin brothers.
07:20 - Good for them.
07:21 - Yeah, Danny and Michael Philippou.
07:23 But yeah, I think they've already greenlit
07:27 Talk to Me, the sequel.
07:28 - I mean, it had to happen to be fair.
07:30 I don't like sequels, but that had to happen.
07:32 - Yeah, and I mean, fingers crossed that one's just as good
07:36 because I did just have a really good time watching it.
07:38 And I think it kind of balances that artsy, refined
07:43 take on horror with just like popcorn fare.
07:47 Just like, you just love to be scared.
07:49 I was like scared and got the adrenaline going,
07:52 everything you want from a horror movie.
07:54 - I'd agree with that.
07:55 I have to ask you, if you were at one of the gatherings
07:59 that the teens have in the film
08:01 and that hand was presented to you,
08:03 'cause they were like- - Absolutely not.
08:05 - Would you do it? - No way.
08:06 - The hand is there looking at you.
08:07 - I wouldn't even watch.
08:08 I'd be out the room. - Really?
08:10 - I don't mess with that stuff. - You wouldn't watch?
08:12 You'd watch, surely.
08:13 Yeah, no, I wouldn't.
08:14 But they're now selling that hand, aren't they?
08:16 Like off the- - I mean, just playing with fire.
08:18 - Yeah. - That's what you expect.
08:19 That's what the sequel's about.
08:21 - They like you.
08:23 - Thanks for watching Binge Watch.
08:24 That should be enough to give you nightmares.
08:26 Until we see you next time.
08:27 - Like and subscribe to us on YouTube
08:29 and follow along for all the latest trailers
08:31 and updates on Instagram and TikTok.
08:33 (upbeat music)
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08:38 (upbeat music)
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