I look like Steve Jobs right now.
(laughs)
- A very sexy Steve Jobs.
- Thank you. - You're the Rock.
- Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, it's the Rock.
- The Rock.
- When he had the curls, I'll take that.
- I like the fancy ball. - I like the fancy tank.
- Yeah. (laughs)
(upbeat rock music)
(singing)
- Hello, and welcome to another episode
of the Pop Culture Junkie Podcast,
where we are getting ready for the Marriest of Holiday Seasons.
But it's not just me, I'm joined by my holiday helpers.
- Nicole. - And Shauna.
- You know, for some, Christmas really isn't about
all the cookies and the candy canes.
For me, I've been recently really obsessed
with some fairy books.
But before I jump into my undying love for fairy book romances,
I'm curious, what have you guys really been up to
the last couple of weeks?
- Oh man, I've been watching a lot of Korean films.
Netflix has an amazing array of Korean movies.
And we also just started a Korean show called Sweet Home.
We're only like two episodes in, but it's kind of like a zombie apocalypse vibe.
I love a good end of the world, zombie apocalypse thing.
I have been obsessed recently with just end of the world movies in general.
- Okay. - Interesting.
- I know. Well, it'll tie into the rest of the theme of the episode once we get to that.
But I recently watched Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley.
- Okay. I haven't watched it, but I've heard of it.
- Yeah. And you know, it's dark, but I really enjoyed it.
I love like day after tomorrow in zombie movies
and just kind of doom, you know, the world's gonna end.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- I love the aftertomers so much. - Especially that time of his life.
He was just, oh, so good. - He was so cute.
And they were all going into academic to Catholic competition.
And as the former academic to Catholic law in class of 2017, Captain,
I love that. - No, Captain.
- Oh, I was the team captain, baby. I was head, Matthew.
- Okay. - Very popular.
- I'm sure. - I'm sure you were pretty.
- Very popular.
- Into a tan potion.
- No, that wasn't till college. That wasn't that kind of popular till college.
- Oh, you'll see.
- But yeah, lots of Korean films and into the world movies.
And I do have the fairy book that you gave me.
I promise I'm gonna read it. - I'm gonna read it.
- Yes. - Yes.
Nicole, have you ever read a court of thorns and roses?
- No, I haven't. - Okay, have you heard about it?
People call it like Akatar.
It's really popular on TikTok. - Wait.
Stop. I was actually looking, I don't know if you saw my Instagram story today,
but I put on their mysteries, slash their book recommendations.
And this was coming up. No one said this one, but I googled books
because I'm just in the mood to read a book.
This came up as one. So this was actually when I was interested in reading.
So it's really funny that we're actually talking about this book.
- Yes. - I haven't read it yet.
- Oh my gosh, you should read it. - Okay.
- Everyone should read it. It's really, really good.
I read all five 400 page books in seven days.
- Oh my gosh. - So, I--
- Of course, you do. - Of course.
If you can't tell by just listening to this,
I have like a hyper obsession personality.
And like, I just have to see it through.
Like, I just have to. It was so good.
It's a court of thorns and roses by Sarah J. Mass.
And at first, I was like, oh, I'll read the first one.
And I stayed up to like 4 a.m. the first night reading that.
And then I was just like hooked.
So I would definitely say watch it.
The sixth book should be coming out soon.
- Read it. - And--
- Yeah. Read it.
- Probably make a movie at some point, I'm sure.
- Right. No, they are. That's where my brain was like two thoughts at once.
So Hulu has the rights to it.
And so during the writer's strike and everything,
like, stop casting and all that.
But yeah, Hulu has optioned it.
So it will be a series eventually.
- We should all three. So you've already read it.
Nicole and I can read it.
And then we can do a, you know, episode two of the junkie book club.
- We'll do that next year. - Yes.
- Have an episode breakdown. That would be fun.
- Yes. Very, very good.
We're in our smart girl era.
- Reading books. - I know.
- Look at us. - I know.
- And if anybody else likes very romance books,
I've just finished fourth wing and started Iron Wing.
- She's-- I'm deep-- - I'm deep--
- I'm deep-- - I'm deep.
- I'm deep-- I'm hot.
It's scratching a niche that I can't stop.
But no, I've literally, like, all I've done is be in very romance line.
- Live is joining the thing.
- It's a physical-- - I wish.
- I wish. I wish.
- You're going to find me in mushroom circles all over the country.
- Oh my god. - Oh my god.
- Like doing mushrooms or growing them or sitting on top of a mushroom.
- No, so, "Fae" lore, like, actual, like, in real life, not in these books,
is that if you find a circle of mushrooms, it's like a fairy ring.
- That's so cool. - It is what it is.
- But, like, "Fae" are, like, mischievous creatures
so that you don't want to walk through them.
- Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. - It's like a fairy circle.
That would just be rude.
- Yeah. - They were--
- They were all that time building it.
- Like, portals or whatever.
But, yeah, there's some crazy testimonials from people on TikTok.
I don't know.
You know, it could be attention seekers, but it is entertaining.
- I love that. - Yeah.
- Yeah. - But--
- Have you been transported to a fairy world, Nicole?
What have you been reading and watching?
- There's two things that I want to talk about.
One of them is I actually went to the movie theater,
which I haven't done in-- I don't know how long.
- I'm like, I should-- - I'm gonna get to the barb.
- I'm gonna put it in forever. - Yeah.
- Oh, true.
I guess that wasn't that long ago then, but--
- Before then. - I went--
- Yeah. - Before then, it wasn't so--
- It was like a pretty good thing. - That was time--
- That was the-- - The barb andheimer was July, right?
- Exactly. - Yeah, I guess so.
- Gosh, it went-- - This whole year
went by so fast, it's insane.
I can't believe it's December already.
- Seriously. - One movie, though.
- Hunger Games.
- Did you always do so good? - Did you like it?
- Yes. - Yes.
- I want to see it.
- It was good, it was good, but it was way too long.
It was like two hours and 40 minutes.
- Say, I've heard very mixed reviews where people are like,
"It wasn't long enough," and they would have sat
if it was longer, but yeah, I think it's just kind of like
a book to movie argument, you know? - I have the book,
but I haven't read it.
It's just sitting on my shelf, but I know--
I've read all the other, like, original Hunger Games books
and I just re-watched one and two, actually.
And so now I really want to go see it.
What was your review, Nicole?
Did you think, did you like it, despite it being too long?
- I did like it.
I didn't read the book and I don't know
the last Hunger Games movie that I watched.
I know I watched the first one.
- This one's a prequel, though, so at least you don't really have to read it.
- Yeah, you don't have to really watch the other ones,
but I did like it.
The storyline is really, really good.
It got to a certain point for me personally,
where I was just like, when is it going to end?
- Maybe it is because I didn't read the book,
but also to it was later at night.
I think the show we went to was 805 shows,
so by the time it was over, it was almost 11 o'clock at night.
- I can't see.
- Yeah, I can't say up that late anymore.
So I was just like, "Okay, what time is this over at?"
But other than that, I thought it was really, really good.
The storyline was really good.
I did like the girl who played, oh my gosh,
I think her name's like Lucy Bird or Lucy.
- Yeah, Lucy Gray.
- She was really good.
I loved her acting and then the main actor, I liked him a lot too.
I thought they played really well together.
- Yeah, he's hot as a blonde.
- I would recommend it.
- Rachel Segaler, that's who the actress is.
- I think she's gonna be the new Snow White too,
and the live action.
- I was just about to bring that up.
You can tell she's like a big fan of the Hunger Games.
But the first interview she or pressure she did
for the Hunger Games, everyone was like,
"Well, Rachel Segaler learned her lesson
about how to talk about a movie with fans."
Because the internet came for her whenever she said
that Snow White was not going to be about the prince saving her
in the adaptation and the internet.
- Not for bad.
- It's just this poor, like 20-year-old girl
who's a Broadway kid at Harvard.
- It's poor girl.
- It's so beautiful.
- The whole premise is Snow White,
all of those original Disney stories.
- It's like, I've passed out woman.
- There's zero consent in these.
- And I know they're based on Christian Anderson.
- Yeah, but those are about murder.
- They've adapted them.
They went from murder to just misogyny.
And now people are clutching their pearls
that they're trying to make it.
Like a woman has agency over herself.
- But you know what I'm saying?
- We went off on a tangent.
But yes, I want to go see "Ballad of Snakes" and "Songbird,"
"Songbirds," and eventually I will read the book too.
- Say that 10 times fast.
- "Ballad of Snakes" and "Songbirds."
- "Ballad of Snakes."
What was the second thing you said, Nicole?
- The second thing that I've been watching,
I just started it.
So I'm pretty fresh into it.
But it is the reality show of Silver Estors,
Solone Family.
- Oh, that's a family stone or something.
- Yeah, it's like the stone family or something like that.
And it's on Paramount Plus.
I just renewed my subscription.
- Ooh. - She got money.
- I did it.
I literally didn't have it for months
because I was like, I'm not watching anything on it.
And then I saw it on there because his daughters
are just dropped out gorgeous.
And I was like, you know what,
they're making me want to watch it because of how pretty it is.
- Is there so pretty?
- Yeah.
So I was like, and they're talking about their voice problems.
- That's what people would say to this podcast.
- It's just so pretty.
- 'Cause they can see us.
- But they're just talking about their voice problems
because of their dad is.
And I was like, this is intriguing to me.
- That is intriguing.
- I think I'm in like three episodes.
And it's actually pretty good.
They're whole family is really funny actually.
So if you want to watch a new reality show
and get to know more about his family,
I'd recommend it to you.
- She's probably-- - Yeah, I'm only like three episodes in.
And the episodes are like 20 minutes long.
So they're not even that long.
- So are a sister podcast or one of our podcasts
on the network called That Movie Is Fine?
The host, Laura Knight.
Did you guys see?
She just got to meet some of us.
- I did.
- And she's obsessed with him.
Long time listeners have popped culture junkie podcast.
But we'll remember that Lauren was on our show
a couple years ago in talking about her love of sliced alone.
So I was so happy to see she finally got to meet him.
- I know.
- You know, dreams do come true.
They're really, really do.
- So maybe that means one day I'll meet Alexander Skarskard.
- You already did it, never mind.
- No.
(laughing)
- We don't talk about that one.
- We don't, he must not be named.
- I love that.
- No.
- After the Britney episode, I was kicking myself.
I gotta say this.
I kept saying her name was Felicity.
Her name was Felicia, which was the--
(laughing)
- I said Alisha the first time and then I was like
listening back to it and I was like, oh my god.
I'm not acting like I didn't even read the book.
- Correction corner.
- Correction.
- Felicia.
- Quick note from last time.
- Oh, no.
- Of the correction corner.
- Oh yeah.
- Did we fuck up more than once?
- No, I just have an update.
- Ooh, love an update.
- I read right before we came on.
- I know what it's gonna be.
I'm so excited.
Go ahead.
- Update.
Britney Spears' father's leg was amputated.
- Yes, it was, bitch.
(laughing)
- Oh.
- The lips hit me this today and she's like, see, this bitch is dying.
- Okay.
- Karma is my boyfriend.
- Karma is a cat.
Karma is your leg being amputated.
(laughing)
- We're all going to hell.
- Oh my god.
- You need to tell us.
- But we don't-- - Heart will be down there.
- We'll be in the fun area that would like Lil Nas X just like on the stripper pole.
- I would love that.
- If hell was Lil Nas X giving me a show, I would not be mad.
(laughing)
- But it is a figurative place.
- Yeah.
- So we will, we will leave it at that.
- Yeah.
- Pouring out for Jamie Spears.
- Yeah.
- And no pourin' out for his leg.
- Pourin' out for his body leg.
- Yeah.
- Pourin' out for his disembodied leg.
(laughing)
- Oh, well, you know, Britney, your karma is coming.
Let's hope you win your court case.
I did see it's coming in like May of next year.
So we'll pray for you guys.
We're gonna take a quick break and then we'll be back.
(dramatic music)
- So Christmas can be really dark.
It comes very close to Winster Solstice, which is the darkest day of the year.
And so that's probably why we've seen so many different movies enter into this Christmas horror genre.
And we kind of mentioned about Hans Christian Anderson Christmas tales earlier.
- Yeah.
- Or the folklore.
- Folk lore.
- Yeah, that's a pretty crampus monsters.
- Yeah.
And so the legend of Crampus really kind of comes out of that European folklore era.
And that's really kind of the earliest that we see it.
But, you know, the Christmas horror genre has been around ever since a Christmas Carol,
which was the first movie to really kind of feature the spookiness to Christmas with the ghost apparations.
But holiday horror really started to become really popular in the early 1970s.
And so, you know, kind of looking at this Christmas horror genre,
like what do you think it is that draws people into watching this?
So, I think we are just also accustomed to Halloween being the spooky time of year,
that mixing a joyous occasion like Christmas or just winter holidays in general,
with a story about murder or ghosts, it kind of seems like it would be...
I don't know that juxtaposition there doesn't make the most sense.
And then when you put it together, it's just so satisfying that I think
because we don't expect it to make sense is why it's so good, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
You think that Christmas movies all have to be about happiness and family and falling in love,
and Hallmark makes us think it's about two white people in Christmas sweaters
saving the town square with cookies.
And then when you watch you see one come out and it's about ghosts and murder
and Santa slaughtering people, you're like, this isn't intriguing, it kind of mixes it up.
Yeah. I agree. I think two people are just obsessed with true crime and stuff,
so the more these types of movies come out, the more people you will have that want to watch it.
Especially nowadays I feel like true crime, not saying that these are true crime,
but it's in that genre. True crime is just becoming more and more popular.
And people are psychologically into true crime.
I know me and Olivia R into true crime or true crime fanatics.
Well, she is more than me way more than me.
So I used to be in one of my favorite podcasts besides this one, of course, they're breaking up.
They just, you know, wine and crime pour one out for a wine and crime podcast.
But I have to get to a new true crime.
But no, I agree Nicole, like we all have a blood lust.
We're all blood lusty and thirsty. We want that. Gore.
Yeah, I also think Nicole went said, I wish I could see real dead bodies.
She's a real dude. She was reviewing some of the side for the holidays.
Yeah, homicide for the holidays. And she's like, it was okay.
And you either liked it because it did show the dead body.
I did. Yeah. Yeah. They show the real dead bodies.
They do. They show the real crime scene photos.
You sick fuck. I love it.
That's good. That's good.
Blood lust. That's why we want it.
It's a blood lust. Yeah, I think I think it's also like people are expected to be happy
during the holidays. And like, you know, if you like even if you are a part of like a really tight-knit family,
they are stressful, like just being around immediate family, extended family can be a really stressful time,
where it's not the Christmas we knew as children.
And so that kind of like those children's movie rewatching those movies and those stories
necessarily might not resonate. So it's, I feel like it's also like these people seeking out kind of like an
aged up version of holidays or kind of putting the silliness of Christmas, but putting it into a horror one.
So yeah, I think it's been really, really interesting, you know, like some really early examples of these movies were like
whoever slew anti-rew, silent night, bloody night, black Christmas, and some of the other ones.
The one that I remember as a kid and I'm not sure if you guys have seen this, it came out in 1997.
It's Jack Frost. Now I will just claim here. This is not the one with Michael Keaton, right?
It's not the Michael Keaton one. It's not the Michael Keaton one.
It's not the Michael Keaton one. Yeah, no, it's not the Michael Keaton one.
With the sad dad who like isn't there for a child.
Turn to a snowman or something. Yeah, why are all Christmas movies about absentee fathers?
Side down. That's weird. Yeah, that's suspicious.
So it's the one with Shannon Elizabeth, so the girl from American Pie and 13 Ghosts.
Okay.
And so I don't know why they all have the same name. It's probably because it's like an older material that's like re-adapted.
So it can't be copyrighted. Like Jack Frost has been around. So it's like what? The 20s?
I mean, so many of these movies have the same title as we'll get to later. Like Silent Night.
There's tons of movies with that name. And I think that's just, you're trying to go off a holiday trope in the state of that set.
Yeah, the trip.
Yeah. And they came out similar times. But if you've never seen the horror Jack Frost, it is so good.
It's got the crap out of me as a kid. But it's the story is it's about a serial killer Jack Frost.
He's being driven to be executed. And so his caught and the truck carrying the murderer encounters a blizzard accident.
And he gets transformed into a mutant snowman as what is want to do. Yeah.
So it is like the Michael Keaton Jack Frost. But instead it's a really evil person.
And so it follows the story of the sheriff who like caught this guy originally. And he somehow knew that he would return.
As a snowman. No, just that he would come back like after he caught him. But you know, they think he died in that accident.
So it's kind of like them finding this killer snowman. But I just remember him like for can murdering someone with his nose.
Like his little carrot. And I was afraid of it forever from the Olivia could need carrots for years.
She gets wings and she's like celery only my god. Only baby carrots, you know, only baby.
Yeah, he can't stab them over the baby. I mean, maybe, but that'd be harder.
It's not as like a sharp. More pressure. Yeah, it's more rounded.
You can shove into an ice socket or an ear.
You can just back it. Yeah, you can show someone. If you like throw a bunch of baby carrots at the back of someone's throat.
The baby bunny, the chubby bunny until they die. Yeah, okay, like my tilde.
But with baby. Oh, yeah.
Just who?
Baby carrot. Baby carrot murder.
Hashtag baby carrot murder.
I love that. That's amazing.
Well, I'm gonna have to watch that next. That's my god. You've never seen it.
No, and you know, there are so many cheesy ones like as I was looking through Netflix for these.
I just gingerbread men that turn evil Santa turns evil all these B horror movies, which I'm sure would be amazing after a few drinks.
So I want to have like a holiday B horror movie.
I tried to choose some good ones, but they all are shit.
Yeah, it's just varying degrees of shit. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I love it.
What are the movies I watched, which we've already kind of mentioned briefly a little bit was Black Christmas,
which I watched the night, the 1974.
That's the good one. Yes.
Yes. And thanks for the recommendation, Sean.
I was lost. I was lost. I was like, I don't know which ones to watch because there were a lot,
but I was like, these all look kind of goofy.
You feel so like which looks a good one.
So I watched this one and actually was really good.
And it is about a group of sorority girls that are being stalked on their Christmas break.
And the main girl, Jess, she keeps getting phone calls at the sorority house.
And it's kind of just like your typical, if you know the movie scream from Halloween,
it's kind of like those types of phone calls, which is someone on the other end kind of like talking kind of scary voice.
Three big heavy breathing.
Yeah. That type of phone call.
That was more bringing sexy breathing.
I'm just sexy. You know, I can't help that stop breathing so sexual.
This is just a Britney 2.0.
It really is.
It really.
Or 3.0 since you already had a 2.0.
There we go.
And so it kind of starts off with a girl in the sorority being murdered.
And she's kind of chilling up in the attic from what I remember.
And the father of this girl that's murdered comes to the college campus and he's supposed to be meeting her at like one o'clock in the afternoon.
So just kind of hang out with her meet up with her and she is not there to meet up with him.
So he starts getting a little worried.
He ends up going to the sorority house, kind of look at for her and everything on campus.
This is not finding her.
They don't really think anything about it.
They're like, oh, she's probably just with the boy.
The police.
Like a slut.
Say that.
Please.
Boy.
This is 1924.
Yeah.
Oh, dare she have a boyfriend.
I brush it off like it's nothing.
And then as they have a search party later come out trying to look for her.
They find another girl murdered in the park by the sorority house.
And this kind of gets their worries up a little bit more.
So then the police put a bug on the sorority house phones every time that phone rings.
The phone at the police station will ring.
So they could find out the location of where the person on the other end is calling from.
They figure out that the person calling is in the sorority house.
The guys are coming from inside the house.
They try not to freak out Jess, but the police officer says it's in the house.
It's in the house.
And obviously they figure out don't bring Jess.
Yeah.
Jess is very calmly.
And Jess is dating a guy named Peter.
And this is at the beginning I should have mentioned this earlier because this is actually a pretty big part.
Jess is pregnant and her boyfriend Peter is a part of the monastery I believe it's called.
Or he's a part of the church or something.
Is it a place religious?
Religious.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's a religious boy.
And so she wants to get an abortion and he's telling her no don't get an abortion.
And she's like, you can't tell me what to do with my body.
And I'm like, yes, queen.
Girl, yeah.
You tell him.
But anyways, this kind of triggers him.
So then it leads to him never being there when the phone calls are coming in.
And then she is putting it together that it might be Peter, which is her boyfriend, blah, blah, blah.
That's that movie.
And really, really good.
I really enjoyed it too.
Yeah.
It was really good.
This is bad of me, but I've only ever seen the 2006 version with Michelle Trashnberg.
And I've heard that that is the worst one.
So I wanted to watch that one just because I do have a soft spot for Michelle Trashnberg.
It's our girl.
It's really.
Yes, it's our donny.
I don't know her.
I didn't see the doner.
Shit reviews.
So it's so bad, but it does have all of our Hudson in it.
Definitely recommend the 70s version.
It has that perfect 1970s aesthetic, you know, just the old school telephone ringing on the wall
and all of their outfits are just so groovy.
I think it makes it stickier.
And then the scene and the attic.
I don't want to not just spoil a movie that came out.
What was the 40 years ago?
Yeah, I agree Nicole.
It's really good.
It is really good.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
I am going to describe a movie that I watched that it's been sitting with me for a couple
days since I viewed it.
And it's funny because another movie by the same title just came out recently.
So the one that I watched is called Silent Night.
It stars Kira Knightley, Matthew Good, Lily Rose Depp is in it.
Looking so hot.
Right.
A movie just came out called Silent Night.
Gosh, and December within the last month or so.
And I think it's also set in the holidays and it's a silent film.
Oh.
Yeah, so I think nobody, the whole chick is that there's no lines or very little lines in
the movie.
So haven't watched that one yet.
It's got Joel Cannonman.
It looks pretty good.
This one is the Kira Knightley film.
It was filmed in 2019.
And that's important because it is in the before times in its pre-COVID.
So the just of the movie in the beginning, you don't really get what's going down.
I knew because I had read the synopsis and I did describe it to my husband and I just said,
oh, we're going to watch this movie.
It seems really interesting.
And as they're gathering, all these friends are coming back from college at somebody's house
in the mountains, huge snowy, gorgeous.
They're all showing up and they're very overdressed, very glamorous.
But then they keep saying things like, oh, we're out of water.
I'm sorry.
The store didn't have anymore.
And well, the kids had to rob a convenience store to get the last pie and they're like letting
the kids cuss.
They were like, yeah, it's fine.
You can cuss for the rest of the day.
We don't care.
And so it's like these little nuggets kind of sprinkled in like, what's going on here?
Come to find out it is the end of the world.
The apocalypse is happening on December 26.
It is never really described what is happening.
It's like a toxic fog coming.
They're killing people.
Exactly.
They make a joke like Greta warned us.
So it's something to do with global warming, you know, the environmental apocalypse.
There's going to be a fog that engulfs the earth and no one can survive it.
You breathe it in.
You're going to bleed from the eyeballs and anus and die.
It's like a Christmas that happening by M. Knight Shumulamalong.
Yes.
It's like a Christmas version of it.
Yes.
Better actors.
Exactly.
And so this group of friends are gathering it to celebrate their one final Christmas before
they all die the next day.
They do have the option to take a suicide pill if they don't want to experience the gas,
which is promised to be an excruciatingly painful death.
So most of the people in the house agree they're all going to take the suicide pill, which
is supposed to just kind of lowly to sleep.
I don't want to spoil the movie too much.
But there are some characters who don't want to take the pill.
And so there's kind of a back and forth there.
The ending of the movie comes off as extremely anti-vax, which is hilarious.
I wouldn't agree with that though.
Really?
I wouldn't agree.
I thought it came off as anti-vax because thought, okay, spoilers for this movie that came
out in 2021.
Yeah.
The kid who doesn't take the pill on the end survives the gas.
Everyone else.
No, he doesn't.
Oh, yeah, he does.
Yeah, he does.
Sorry, I remember.
Yeah, he does.
Oh my god.
He survives his eyes open in the end.
So I look at it and I was like, that kind of reads as a little anti-vax.
Like he was the one who was right.
Everyone else who took the pill died and he didn't.
So I read an interview with the director who is a, she's a feminist director.
Camille Griffin, written and directed.
She's making fun of conservatives for a lot of the movie.
Even the main kid is saying things like, well, why don't the poor people or like the immigrants
get the suicide pill and they're like, that's just the way it is.
We get it and they don't.
So they're speaking a lot to like white privilege and rich privilege in this film.
But then in the end, it does kind of smack of anti-vax.
And she said in the interview, she's like, that was not my intention in the slightest.
She said, I made this movie before COVID.
I'm very pro-vaccine.
Like, and she goes, the fact that it came out after COVID and that's what everybody's like,
oh cool anti-vax film.
She's like, I'm fucking kicking my self-friend.
That was not the whole point of the movie was.
But like one thing that they say in the movies is like, if you survived, you would become
like a weird zombie thing.
Yeah, like they say.
That's what I thought it was.
I am a catch man.
I kind of caught that like they said that no one could survive and he ends up surviving.
Like the guy who was a doctor was like, this isn't something you can survive, but he
we're all going to die.
And then it kind of does.
I mean, he's all alone and there's no resources in his family's all dead.
So yeah, yeah, he's going to die.
He's going to die.
It is definitely, it's a dark film.
It's got its funny points to it.
It's got kind of a dark comedy undertone.
And as it gets closer to the point where it's like, okay, they're all going to have to die
soon.
They're all going to take the pill.
Then you kind of start getting that kind of anxious feeling in your chest and your gut.
And they're all dealing with like the leftover drama that they have, you know, his friends
at the end of the world.
And I don't know, overall, I really liked it.
I thought it was very well done.
It is kind of depressing and dark, but also Christmassy and scary.
Yeah.
I liked that one.
That was good.
I was very happy when I watched this on Sounder.
Like he lives girl with the fuck.
Well, no, I remember in my mind being like, well, I think he's like a zombie thing because
how do you have a brain?
How do you have a brain aneurysm and then like have cognitive thought?
Yeah, he was definitely bleeding a lot.
He was bleeding out the brain like a zombie.
I mean, he's not going to do well.
That's what he might be.
He might be alive for a little bit, but he probably should have taken the pill.
Yeah.
Dive his family.
Yeah.
Right.
At the whole time during the movie, I was like, what'd I take it?
What'd I do?
And then I was like, I would definitely take it because I have for like most of my life when
I've watched a zombie movie, I've just been like, if people were eating people around
me, I'd just headshot baby.
Yeah.
So I would definitely take the pill.
Definitely.
Like I would definitely do that.
Absolutely.
I don't want to live through this shit.
I want to die of noxious gas points.
I'd be like the blonde bitch and just buy a really nice dress and be like, I'm dying in
a dress.
I did like how everyone would kind of wore y'all their expensive jewelry's and dresses
that they never got to wear.
Yeah.
That was kind of a trope in seeking a friend for the end of the world to where characters
shows up and she's wearing like a tiara just dripping with all of her jewelry.
She owns it.
And she girls like, why are you wearing it?
She's like, oh, it's everything that I've always wanted to wear but was saving for a special
occasion.
And then they all do it.
Yeah.
I would probably do that at the world designing.
Most of the honest.
I don't think I would.
I would be afraid I would do the wrong amount and die before it.
The world has ended, babe.
I know, but like there's so much more I want to I just want to eat as much as I can.
I just want to eat food.
I'm not caring about the calories.
I'm eating all the gluten.
I love that the world has ended and the only thing you can think is like, I'm not going to
be body shaming myself anymore.
I'm not going to be body shaming myself anymore.
I'm going to just be naked and eating and so happy.
I love that for you.
Let's let's achieve that goal before the world ends.
Naked and eating anything I want.
You know, I'm not body shaming herself.
Not body shaming.
That's a good one.
Yes.
Do not wait till the end of the world to not body shame yourself.
Yes.
Naked.
Yes.
And where are that jewelry?
Maybe with a fork.
Maybe not naked because then at the past is high.
It'll burn you.
Yeah.
Well, it definitely burning off your hands.
It was, it wasn't that bad.
Okay.
We're on a tangent.
I digress.
Okay.
The next one that I watched is, you know, a real holiday classic, the crampus from 2015,
which is one of the most ridiculous things ever.
Crampus, we kind of talked about it before, but it's this lore.
It's like the opposite of Santa.
And so like, people used to say, "Cranpus came when you were bad."
Like, they made it a naughty list, but, "Cranpus is this really fricking scary looking
devil-like creature from Eastern Alpine folklore."
So it kind of looks like the Yeti and the Devil combined is how I would describe him.
But this movie is about, like, is so silly.
So it has Tony Collette, Adam Scott, David Keckner.
And it is so silly.
So it's like this little kid who still believes in Santa.
And he's, his grandmother is like German.
And so she used to live in Germany, like, back in the day.
And she convinces him to, like, still believe in Santa.
But his cousins are like bullying him and making fun of him.
And they find the note.
They don't work.
They find the note.
And they're like, "Santa is even real."
And so he rips up this note and throws it out the window, like, disregarding Santa in his
life.
And like, Santa's not real.
And so that, like, sends in this invite for Crampus to come.
And so the story is just like Adam Scott versus David Keckner.
It's like a gun loving Republican, super ridiculous.
And it's like, "I've got to defend the flock."
And Adam Scott is just like, you know, Adam Scott in every movie.
And, you know, I would really love, like, a very serious Crampus movie where it, like,
really makes it, like, scary and in the olden times, like, things like the witch, but
Crampus, like, I would love that.
Like, an actual, like, Crampus horror movie that takes itself seriously.
And it's not this movie.
They literally have, like, these little, and merry bands are, like, gingerbread men that
are, like, tea bagging people.
I want to see the rotten tomato scores for those.
I'm going to assume it's low.
It's 66, which just feels right.
Oh.
Yeah.
66, that's fresh.
Oh, and then the next one for Google users is 69.
It's nice.
I don't think it's, yeah, I don't think it's that good.
I think people were just determined to make the movie 69.
I think that's that was what was happening here.
But they have, like, these, it's just really, really silly, but the ending is pretty good.
And I think it's, like, a good horror movie where, like, the ending doesn't turn out the
way that you think it's going to, and it kind of, like, flips the whole, like, Christmas
movie, like, everything's great and everything will be fine, like, trope.
And it gets a little, like, black mirror-ish at the end of it.
But, yeah, I really liked it.
It's very, very silly and pretty funny if you want to see some Keckner jokes.
It's very, like, his style comedy.
Yeah.
But there are a ton of crampus movies as well, but this one is the 2015 one.
What was your next one, Nicole?
My next one was Better Watch Out.
And I don't know if there's multiple of these, but if there is, I watched the 2016 version.
I've seen that one too.
I still don't know how I feel about it.
But I'm interested to hear your take on it.
Also just putting it out there.
I watched both of my movies on peacock.
You were interested in watching either of those, especially the black Christmas 1974 version.
It's on peacock.
Crampus is also on peacock.
Oh, hell yeah.
It is about a quiet suburban street babysitter, and she must defend a 12-year-old boy from
intruders, only to discover it's far from a normal home invasion, which, like,
is a great description because for me, I was very shocked by the twist that was taken
place in this movie.
Me too.
It has, I'm going to butcher her name, so I apologize to John.
Olivia De Jong.
Yep, I was like, never enough with that way.
Olivia De Jong.
Olivia's got her stick out for other Olivia.
For downstairs names, right?
Yeah.
I actually liked it.
I think because of the twist that it had, it starts out with the girl, the babysitter,
babysitting the 12-year-old boy, and just like any babysitter and boy, a female babysitter
with the boy, he has a little crush on her.
Oh, yeah.
He's trying to get her interested in him.
She's like, no, this is a little weird, like, I'm your babysitter.
And this kind of triggers him.
I don't know.
I should leave a little bastard.
Yeah.
Yeah, do we want to give away the twist?
Yeah.
It's going to get a little bit.
I'm just going to give it away because I can't talk to you.
The twist is coming in.
The twist is coming in in three, two, one.
Okay, go.
The 12-year-old boy is the home intruder.
He's the one that is killing everyone.
And he's a fucking psychopath.
This kid is a little serial killer in the making.
She is insane.
The way it ramps up, I mean, he's a creep from the beginning.
He tries to kiss her.
And they try to kind of write it off.
He's like, oh, he's just a silly boy.
It's will be boys.
And I think that is the interesting kind of trope in this movie is how far can we take
boys?
We'll be boys.
Because he goes from trying to kiss her and then eventually committing lots of murder
and like, fondling her breast and like, I mean, luring people over to kill them.
And he doesn't understand like the scope of what he's doing.
It just keeps ramping up so violently.
I feel like it's like such a common trope in like movies where like plays on you expecting
like the babysitter and the kid to like live and win.
But he's evil.
Yes.
He's crazy.
But Ashley, who is the main character, she has a boyfriend.
The boyfriend comes over and she's kind of locked up.
She's trapped to a chair in the kitchen.
And her boyfriend is searching for her in the house and the boy Luke, who is the trope
girl boy that she's babysitting is kind of following him around the house.
And he's like, you're not going to find her.
She's on her period.
She's not feeling well.
And the boyfriends like, well, I don't really care.
That's nothing for her to be embarrassed about.
I don't want to help her make her feel better.
And it comes to a point where he's just annoyed so he gets his baseball bat hits him.
That doesn't really do anything to the boyfriend.
He gets back up.
The boyfriend ends up getting locked up with the girl with Ashley in the kitchen.
Then he ends up getting murdered, which they quote in the movie, which I love because
Homolone is my favorite movie.
Homolone style with the paint can to the face from the banister.
Homolone, which I wish honestly as bad as it sounds, I wish we could have like sought
happen.
Yeah, they definitely cut away very specifically, but I do think yeah, I really like that
eerie shot with the blood dripping down mixed with the paint like you know, something.
It reminds me almost of in her red itary when her head hits the pole, but it doesn't show
it and you just hear it and you know what happened is really bad and you're kind of left to your
own imagination.
Yes.
But I will say my favorite part is the ending when he's in his room and the pencils are on
his little door.
And well, I guess that's not my favorite part, but very adamant.
They're like the police are like, we have one alive.
We have one alive.
Oh, yeah.
And you see Ashley getting into an ambulance and she just sticks a permit of finger at him
right in his window.
And I'm like, yes, queen.
You tell them exactly what happened.
So I see I was really not root.
I when it got to the end where it looked like he was going to get away with it.
And yeah, we're spoiling this entire movie.
Sorry guys.
Yeah.
When it got to the point where it looked like he might get away with it.
I was like, I don't think I like this movie.
Like it's really sick that this kid is getting away with this.
Like yeah, boys will be boys.
He's getting away with all of this shit.
He's going to be a little serial killer.
But then when she ends up being alive.
And I'm like, okay.
All right.
Yeah.
I feel a little better even though we're poor.
We won't give away all of the kills because there's multiple in this film.
But within in the very end, did you see the after credit scene?
Where he goes to his mom.
He's like, I'm really worried about Ashley.
I think we should go visit her in the hospital.
And I was like, no, come on man.
Come on.
Yeah, it's like hinting that like the mom might drive them to the hospital to check on
her.
Yeah, they probably did it as like a let's do a second one kind of thing.
It's like knocking her in the hospital.
Like let's try the night after Christmas or something.
Yeah.
Like even a little open in the end.
I like to think that she got this kid put away and never received a light of day again.
Yeah.
Definitely is a good twist.
I agree.
I was very surprised with the twist.
I love that.
Well, we will end this with a movie that I won't go into too much detail in because we talked
about it on the podcast before and it did just come out last year.
It's Violent Night starring our daddy favorite David Harbour as Santa Claus.
I wildly recommend this movie.
So it is about Santa Claus.
He's kind of disillusioned with Christmas at this point.
The Christmas magic is going out of the air.
It opens and he's at a bar and he's like, and there's like a Santa person there and they're
like, how long have you been doing this shit?
And he's like too long going to think he ends up going to a house.
It's a very wealthy house and it's being broken into by a gosh.
How do you even describe them like hitman?
Hitman mercenaries.
Yeah.
Breaking into the house in order to steal this $300 million cash fortune.
The daughter in the house is hiding.
She has a walkie talkie that she was given to from her dad.
The he promises will connect her to Santa.
And it works.
So there are some amazingly gory scenes in this movie.
And Christmas themed kills involving candy canes and light bulbs and reindeer.
David Harbour is just incredible as Santa.
I mean, we get into Santa's Viking past and towards the end of it, he kind of rediscoveres
what makes him love the same thing.
The meaning of murder.
The meaning of Christmas is murdering to save children.
Murdering John Leguizamo for the sake of Christmas.
I watched that movie on Christmas last year with my family.
It was great.
It was really brought us together.
I loved it so much.
I mean, it's so gory.
And there is a little homage to home alone in it as well.
Just kind of setting up those little Christmas traps to take people down and take the bad guys
down.
The little girl in it is so adorable in her relationship with Santa's, you know, just
kind of the crux of the film.
And she kind of helps him as he defeats all of these bad guys that are all named after
Christmas tropes as well.
And Mr. Scrooge.
John Leguizamo's character, the main bad guy is Mr. Scrooge.
Yeah.
I definitely recommend it if you guys haven't watched it yet.
Again, it just came out last year.
I know it's still kind of, it was during the Stranger Things renaissance of David Harbour.
Lily Allen's husband.
That's right.
I don't remember what I watched it on to be.
Totally honest with you, but I'm sure it's widely available because it is relatively new.
Yeah.
I love it.
Well, I think that about wraps up another naughty and nice episode of Pop Culture Junkie.
We hope you have the best holidays whenever you are listening to this.
But before we take our long winter naps, go hibernate like the chubby little bears that we
are.
Nicole and Shauna, where can the listeners find you on social media?
You can find me on Instagram and on TikTok @nicole_eldridge
You can find me, Shauna, on Instagram, Threads and TikTok @shaunatrinidad S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D.
And you can find me, Olivia, on Instagram @livimariez L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z, or on TikTok
@livyolife420
And the best holiday present that you can gift us junkies is a five star review.
But you can find the Pop Culture Junkie podcast, social media links on our website, popculturejunkey.com.
Follow us on platform, subscribe, give us some love and come back next time for another hit
of pop culture.
Pop Culture Junkie is part of the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
So entertain me, entertain me right now.
I need it bad, I need it bad.
'Cause I need it bad, I need it bad.
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