The Sacrifice Game (2023)

Episode 470, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd. 

Craig: I’m Craig.

Todd: Oh my God. You scared he shit outta me.

Craig: I wanted to jump in on you because I can, because I’m right here. We’re in person. 

Todd: It’s crazy

Craig: When was the last time we were in person? I think 2022. Oh my God. I looked back at my pictures and, and, uh, you and I and Heather got together.

At, at your hotel room in Kirksville. That’s the last time you were there. Did 

Todd: we 

Craig: record 

Todd: an episode 

Craig: that year? I think so. We, I know we at least did a mini, so. 

Todd: Okay. I don’t remember. Oh yeah. It was one where I think we actually went to the theater. It was something that was in the theater. Yeah. Violent night.

That was it. It was Christmas time. That’s right. Oh yeah. Mer Christmas. Christmas. It is our Christmas episode this year. Now. Craig flew into Chicago. It’s where I’ve been staying, uh, to see family here and, uh. He just hopped a quick plane, did a very spontaneous trip, which is so unlike him, but you know, he had to come see me, so, 

Craig: and I am so glad I did.

Uh, I’ve been here for, I don’t know, a little over 12 hours, something like that. And we’ve already had a great time and I have to leave this afternoon, but I feel good about it. Like, I feel like we had a really nice catch up. I feel like hopefully I didn’t keep you away from your family for too long. Oh God, no.

Um, yeah. I’m here for weeks. It’s been a lot of fun. We went out, we had pizza. Yeah, we talked about deep personal shit. We sure did. Wandering 

Todd: around downtown Chicago, uh, spilling our hearts. What’s been going on over the last few years, I guess. Yeah, more than that. It’s 

Craig: been a lot of fun. Yeah. And then, uh, today we got to go have breakfast with Todd’s son.

Mm-hmm. Which is amazing. I haven’t seen him since he was a baby. Literally. Yeah. Uh, pictures and that was great. And I got to hang out with him and we played and he shot toy guns at me and. Came up with a slingshot outta stuff he found on the walk back home. Yeah. Made it himself. He’s a creative, smart kid.

And funny, clever. He was joking at breakfast. It was 

Todd: crack me 

Craig: up. Oh man. He’s a cool kid. Uh, and then we came back here and, uh. Watch this movie, and I don’t know how Todd felt about it, but it was so like we were commenting on it as we were watching how it’s an entirely a hundred percent different vibe to be able to sit and watch it together like we used to.

Yeah. Back in the 

Todd: day. Back in the very early days. Yeah. Which really was only like the first, like five or six months of this podcast. 

Craig: I know. Isn’t that weird? It is 

Todd: weird. Because that was our, our habit was we would go to my place and I had a little man cave set up with a big projection screen and we’d get a couple beers and we’d sit down and we’d chat and then do what we’re doing now.

It’s just immediately after the movie, take a quick break and then set up a microphone between us and be able to chat back and forth. And, uh, it’s just a different vibe. Yeah. It’s 

Craig: entirely different. It. So much fun, uh, to be able to sit and watch this movie. And I realized maybe about 10, 15 minutes into it that I’d seen it before, but I was like, oh, no dude.

It’s good. I think you’re gonna like it again. We haven’t talked about it, so I don’t know where he’s gonna land on it, but it was just so fun. Not, I mean, it was, it, it was cool to like reconnect with you or whatever, but it, it’s just cool to be able to sit and watch a movie like this with somebody else who enjoys this kind of thing.

Yeah. Like Alan tolerates it, you know, like he’ll sit and watch these movies because he loves me and he tolerates those types of things sitting with you and. Joking and like, it’s totally different, right? Laughing at the, at the movie and, and making comments. Making comments and making fun of it in a lighthearted and, and fun and not serious or critical way.

Just, just having a good time, like just being able to share that good time with somebody else who’s also having a really good time. Mm-hmm. That’s fun. I miss it. It’s what 

Todd: Christmas is all about. It 

Craig: is Every Christmas.

Todd: The movie we’re talking about is, uh, the Sacrifice Game, which is a 2023 film. So it’s not too old. It premiered, uh. At a film festival and then immediately went to Shutter. And so, um, I hadn’t really heard of it before, but it had been a request from our patrons as a suggestion for something we could do for Christmas.

And as we had explained last week, Craig had put up a little poll Yeah. And asked them What Christmas movies do we want to do? And this was one of the, th. Three. So the one we did last week was one of the three. That was the one that won out. It won. 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: And we were like, well this one was runner up and I’d kind of like to see it.

So we’re like, me, me too. And I, 

Craig: I said, well, we didn’t say we wouldn’t do the other ones. We just asked them which one they wanted us to do next. And then we did exactly. So we, 

Todd: we held up our end. We just eliminated one. Mm-hmm. From the list. So, uh, here we are, sacrifice game 2023. I honestly had never heard of it before, but I’d also don’t have shutter, so.

Right. If I had shutter, maybe I would’ve seen it pop up. But you had seen it. Was playing in the background while you were grading 

Craig: papers or something? Maybe something, I just know that I have seen it, but I was telling Todd, like, I just really keep up on this stuff. Like I keep up on the new horror releases, especially ones that, um, are shutter originals because, or, you know, when I say shutter originals, like sometimes they produce the film themselves, but more often than not they just buy the rights to it.

So it’s a shutter original. I imagine that’s probably what, what is going on here, but. They do get quality content like most of the shutter originals are. Quite good. Yeah. And so I, I, I keep up with them. Um, and I don’t remember when I saw this, um, and it was just among one of the many movies that I watch all the time, so I didn’t immediately remember it.

Even watching it, I, I knew that opening scene, that opening scene where I was like, okay. Seventies, uh, slasher. Uh, okay. You got it. That opening scene, I’m like, God, this seems familiar. Ah, 

Todd: yeah. Well, it also seemed familiar because like you said, it had the feel uhhuh of a, like a 1970s cult slasher movie up to the font.

You know, when at the end when they do like a freeze frame on the title and all that, and you’re like, oh, okay, they’re going for this vibe. And I think that the movie, actually, I think the movie actually delivered on that vibe. Um, most of the, the way through until it got toward all the action in the middle, and then it was pretty modern.

Craig: Yeah, I was gonna say, there was a point where, I don’t know, there was some historical reference and I was like, oh shit, I forgot that this is taking place like in the seventies. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: Um, and I don’t remember cell 

Todd: phones, 

Craig: nothing like that. Yeah. I don’t remember. They, there, there was some historical reference about something.

Vietnam War maybe. Yes. That’s what it was. Yeah. One, one of the characters is a veteran. Yep. Um, and, and somebody talks about that and I was like, oh yeah, I. Because initially I was like, wait, my grandpa was in the Vietnam War. He couldn’t be this young. Yeah, right. Yeah. But no, it is, it’s set in the seventies and it does, I mean, I, I think especially.

In that opening sequence. Mm-hmm. That violent, I don’t even remember who kills. I I don’t remember who they kill. It. It, it’s a, it’s, it’s just 

Todd: a couple in a house. It’s a, it sort of like slowly pans in on a house at Christmas and a few people are leaving what it looks like. They just left a Christmas party or something like that, and they were like.

Four guy people in shadow in the foreground who then go up to the house, approach it, knock on the door, a guy answers, and immediately one of ’em just pulls out a knife and stabs him in the chest. 

Craig: Right? Yeah. Right. And then goes in and kills the wife. This is all unsuspecting and seemingly unprovoked, and we’re watching it from outside, right?

Mm-hmm. The camera is panning across the house. It was awesome seeing things through the window. 

Todd: Yeah. Like you’re going around the house and you’re looking in each window, and as you pan through, you’re kind of seeing what’s happening. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Because they carry the wife away to the kid to like the dining room table, lay her down.

And I thought, oh God, are we gonna get like a, a rape scene or something? I was 

Craig: worried about that too, because it felt like that vibe. You and I mentioned multiple times that this gave us last house on the left vibes. Mm-hmm. Um, it’s not. As brutal, though it is violent and gory. It’s not as difficult to watch as that movie is, but Right.

I, I think you would be hard pressed to say that this movie wasn’t, at least in part, inspired by 

Todd: it. Oh, a hundred percent. It’s a gang of four people. Uhhuh one woman, uh, who kind of, well, not in this case, she’s at some, at some point, seems to be running the show, but a guy who’s really running the show right.

Uh, who’s clearly the crude character, right? Uh, and his name was Jude. In this, who, by the way, uh, his name, uh, the actor’s name is Mena Ma Mossad Mossad, and he played Aladdin. I know you told me that in the Disney Aladdin movie with Will Smith is the Genie, which I haven’t seen, but uh, it’s weird. To go from that to this.

I would’ve thought that, guess I would’ve thought that doing like the Disney movie would’ve opened up all these doors for this guy. I don’t know how well that movie was received it, I was in China when that came out. But, uh, people like to, I don’t know. I don’t know. You know, he’s hasn’t been doing a lot since then.

He, but this, this, he, he’s done obviously since then, a few, several years since then, so. Yeah. So yeah, you got him as kind of the leader of the gang, and he 

Craig: is good. He’s a good, bad guy. Yeah, he is menacing. He’s not a big guy at all. He’s, uh, he’s got some muscles, but he’s toned. He’s sly, but he’s wiry. Like he’s a smaller kind of wiry type, uh, guy, but definitely, uh, intimidating.

And then there’s, uh, a hot girl. Mm-hmm. I don’t remember her, was her name Maisie. Maisie? Yep. Maisie. Who I think. It had to have been styled after Penny Lane from, I won’t be able to think of the movie. Uh, Goldie Hans daughter. Help me out. Goldie, Hans daughter, Goldie ha’s daughter was, what’s her name?

Alright, fine. Whatever. Penny Lane from that movie the Goldie ha’s daughter is in. Okay. Um, totally styled after her with the long blonde hair and, and the Penny Lane coat. Uh. And, uh, then I, uh, two other guys. Uh, a bigger guy who seems to kind of be like the muscle. Do 

Todd: you mean almost famous? Yes. Okay. Sorry.

Alright. Almost famous. Yeah. Mm. I never saw that. I know it’s 25 years old. I know. I’ve seen the poster a lot. That is one of the best 

Craig: movies made in the last 30 years. Like Yeah. Really? Yeah. Okay. I’m so sad that I’m only here for another four hours. We would watch the director’s cut of this movie. Oh really?

And I would sit next to you and look at you while you cried. It’s over two hours long. Man. The director’s cut is even, even more than that. I don’t know, but oh, anybody in the sound of my voice? If you have not seen Almost Famous, it is one of the best movies over the last 30 years. Period. Wow. So good. And she’s amazing in it.

So there’s a girl that looks like her, and then there’s, and then there’s a, uh, bigger guy who’s like the muscle, and then there’s like kind of a nerdy guy. Um, but yeah, you’ve got, like this, we’re established is the very first thing that’s established is that we’ve got this gang of criminals. We then leave them behind for a while.

Mm-hmm. 

Todd: Quite a while. There’s a, into a history class, right? In a boarding school. It’s a girls’ boarding school. Where they don’t apparently turn the lights on for anything. And, uh, they’re the teacher’s giving a lecture about a witch’s coven and this whole town history, which has something to do with a big fire that happened and, uh, burned down most of the town and they rebuilt the town a little further away.

Again, something to do with witches. Right? And that’s about all we know. Um, and at the same time. There’s a Christmas killer on the loose, right? All this is delivered very quickly. When, when we have this girl, Samantha, who is, um, I don’t, she, she kind of Indian or black or mixed? She, she’s not white. She’s not white, yeah.

Yeah. And she’s, and like, unlike most of the other characters in the movie, so she’s, she’s kind of a, I don’t wanna say outcast, but she’s separated. She’s a little different from the rest. She’s a little quieter, uh, and. There’s another girl there too, who’s a little quiet as well, and the one that the other girls make fun of, uh, and that was Clara.

Mm-hmm. You know, so they’re like sitting at the table in the cafeteria and Clara is the kinda like mousy one, right? Yeah. With like the 

Craig: weird 

Todd: bob and like Yeah. The one that everybody kind of stays away from and seems to keep to herself anyway. Yeah. And 

Craig: like, I don’t know, she, she seems weird and mousy, and I don’t know if this was a choice or not, but.

I felt like that actress looked younger than the other actress. Oh yeah, for sure. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s the weird girl. That’s what I kept saying, Todd. Okay. Here comes a weird girl again. Yep. I mean, it’s 

Todd: typical. Mm-hmm. And, and, and so, you know, there’s this like a. Uh, the newspaper slapped down.

They talk about this Christmas killer who’s, you know, slowly approaching, apparently has killed people in neighboring towns, is up to three or four by this point. Uh, and of course, it’s time for everyone to go home except for the couple of girls who can’t go home. How often have we seen this before? Right?

In a lot of movies. And so, uh, it turns out that Samantha gets a phone call from her father for her stepfather and is like, um, yeah, you can’t, I’m gonna, I’m gonna be asking you to stay at school. She thought she’d be able to go home. She thought she was only gonna be here for like a semester to try it out.

And now she’s stuck there during the holidays with this other kid, Clara, and one teacher. 

Craig: And I 

Todd: think that’s it. 

Craig: Yeah. And that teacher looks. The same age as the girls, basically. She’s pretty young. Basically. Pretty. And, and that’s believable. I mean, there are very young teachers who look kinda like the kids, but it was later when you kind of see them together in peril, they all just kind of seem like young girls.

Like I kind of found myself forgetting, oh yeah, this is a, a grownup. 

Todd: They all looked like peers. Yeah. You know, as far as this goes. And she had a boyfriend also named Jimmy. Yep. Who was there and, uh, you know, there’s a little bit of byplay with Jimmy and at one point Jimmy takes a ring and puts it in his pocket.

So he’s clearly planning to propose to her. Uh, and uh, also, you know, you know that the mousey Clara is a little disturbed because at one point Samantha walks into the bathroom and opens up a stall door and sees that she’s cutting herself. 

Craig: Oh, I think I missed that. 

Todd: Yeah. On the toilet. So like, she runs away, so you know, she’s gonna be here and they’re gonna be here at the holidays, but nobody’s really comfortable about it.

They don’t know each other. They’re the, the weird kid and the sort of like quiet new kid, and then the teacher’s trying to hold it all together. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and Jimmy, so, uh, in the meantime, the, the, the gang is out there and they found some priest in a. Um, what’d you go name the church and they pull up his belly and they see that there are marks on his belly, and they decide they’re going to cut the marks off of his belly, like the skin flap or whatever.

Well, they 

Craig: decide, I mean, it’s not like they just walked up to somebody random, just like checking their belly. Like Yeah, they apparently they knew they, yeah, they have some kind of objective, like it’s not clear what their objective is. I mean, even at the end it’s kind of contrived or whatever, but. They, they, you know, they found this guy, they have to cut this thing off of his skin.

I think so at some point later the girl calls it, she, she’s like explaining all the things that they did and like, we killed the, so and so we put together this skin puzzle. Like they’ve got multiple flaps of skin. This is the last piece. Yeah. And they’re making their way. And you guys, this is so funny.

I’m sitting right in front of Todd and he’s desperately looking at his notes. ’cause we have no idea like where we are in the movie or whatever. I, I don’t care. I I took notes too. I, I, I just don’t care. Eventually they get back, uh, to the school or whatever. Um, but the, they just have to get back. I can’t remember, oh gosh, I lost my train of thought.

Something about when do we find out that they are. Summoning a demon. It’s 

Todd: later. Right now we just know that they’ve showed up at the school. Okay. Um, there’s this whole deal where, you know, um, uh, rose, who is the, the teacher mm-hmm. Is trying to make the other girls comfortable, especially Samantha and is like, you know, I can make some pie.

You know, the best pie crust has vodka in it. Why don’t you go down to the basement? That’s where we keep the vodka. Oh, right. You’re a teenager. That should get you excited. And so Samantha goes. To the creepy ass basement where they store their vodka and nothing else really, except a bunch of books. 

Craig: Yeah, we were talking about how it looked like catacombs or like, like ancient wine cellars.

Under Paris or something like, and it was all dark and very dimly lit. Yeah. And they go, they go down there for vodka, I guess. Is that when they find Clara down there? 

Todd: Yeah. She sees Clara down there too. She picks up the vodka, but she also wanders a bit and then she finds Clara. And it looks like Clara has been doing a lot of studying because there’s a room down there, a 

Craig: huge table full of books and like, it’s like this, there’s a little library nook in the catacombs.

Yeah. Uh, story and she’s down there just hanging out, like, hi. And we were laughing, like, yeah, hi, I’m weird Clara. I live in the basement, so there’s that. And I’m like, okay, alright, cool. What’s she shoot some 

Todd: vodka go upstairs. I don’t 

Craig: remember what they do. What did they do? What? Just 

Todd: chat. 

Craig: What, what 

Todd: Does she have the book open?

What does, does she say anything about it? No, she doesn’t. But there’s, there’s a lot of, um, kind of. Dumb. I, I, I, you know, I’m not gonna criticize the movie too much because it’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. But the, some of the dialogue is a bit on the nose, you know, where we can see how this girl is and how Matt, how she’s a little quiet, and how she’s clearly socially awkward.

And then as they come upstairs and they’re putting things together, she’s like, I’m sorry, you can, I’m just a little socially awkward because, you know, blah, 

Craig: blah, blah. There were some really great lines and scenes where both of us were like. Oh my God. Why did that, why did you say that This is bad, but in a fun way.

Like I, I. I told you that I was excited that I had seen it before and that you were gonna see it because I thought ultimately that you would like it. I remembered, I was surprised. We’re not gonna get there yet, but there is a big twist ending and I think you saw it coming. Mm-hmm. I, I didn’t. The first time that we watched it.

Oh, okay. Not at all. Uh, it, it caught me off guard. And in hindsight and watching it again, I’m like, okay, you’re a dumb dumb. Like, it’s pretty obvious. Um, but I, I didn’t get it at the time. Um, you know, I don’t, oh, I did say, uh, that Claire says to somebody, Claire, is that right? Clara? Clara, uh, says to somebody at some point.

I am not good with human interaction. Oh. It’s like, oh,

interesting. Ah, I didn’t catch that bit, but yeah. And then I have in my notes, and then the killers show up in all caps. Good part. I don’t remember what happens. 

Todd: Well, it’s really, it’s, it’s, again, it’s, it’s sort of like, um, your classic home invasion bit where the, the gang comes to the door and they’re trying to talk their way in and, um.

And, uh, rose shows up and she’s very uncomfortable. She looks very uncomfortable, and I, we are very uncomfortable. And they’re, these guys have basically the gang hit a deer on their way to the school and that, that made them stop and deal with it. And at the same time, a cop showed up and they had to take out the cop.

And in the process of taking outta the cop Yeah, by killing him. The cop’s gun went off from his hand and he shot, right? He shot, uh, Doug, the, the kind of 

Craig: nerdish one nerdish 

Todd: guy in the shoulder. So they were like, uh, yeah, we need to, our friend has, has been injured. We need just, you know, to help him out.

Can you just help us? And he, she really doesn’t want to help them. She even offers to drive him to the hospital or something. And then Maisie pops in from behind and is like, well, you can just go to this room here and grab the stuff. And Rose is like, what are you talking about? Maisie’s like, oh yeah, I was a student here and don’t such and such girls, don’t.

We stick together and help each other out? So now it’s interesting, like at this point before that moment, I didn’t realize they were actually making their way to the school. I thought they just Oh, that’s right. Stumbled into the school. Right. You know? But no, it was part of their plan. They needed to end up at the school and Maisie was a key part of that.

And it turns out Maisie has the plan. So, uh, they, they enter and then again, I turn to Craig and this whole scene in the kitchen was very last house on the left vibes, like when the girls go to bi pot and they’re in the apartment with that gang of people and they’re trying to sort of act normal and friendly, but they’re super sinister and the girls were immediately uncomfortable and that’s exactly what was going on in this kitchen.

And yeah, at that point you realize this Jude guy is the crude character. Yeah. ’cause that’s exactly how he’s acting. Yeah. And they’re all, you know, playing back and forth, but eventually things come to a head and uh, the girls run out and run away. 

Craig: Yes. Gosh, I don’t remember exactly what happens at some point.

The teacher lady who again looks the same age as everybody else, tells the other girls to run and they do. Mm-hmm. Gosh. And I just don’t remember. Well, um. Uh, okay, so Samantha, the blonde, what’s her name? Whatever the blonde name is, Maisie. She, and she says she’s alum and she says, you can even check the picture.

Now, I don’t even think that they ever did, but it doesn’t matter. I believe her. Yeah, I think she really, uh, was an alum there, and at that point she says to Claire, do you have an older sister? You look familiar. Did you 

Todd: catch that? Yeah, that’s right. I did catch that when she said she looked familiar. And 

Craig: the, yeah, and the, and the teacher, uh, tells them to run and they do.

Um, and you know, then, uh, uh, Jimmy, the boyfriend comes back and gets knocked out right away. Yeah. And then they set up. The magic, 

Todd: the Ma Texas 

Craig: Chainsaw Massacre 

Todd: dinner? Yes. They do this. Well, it’s not magic yet. Okay. But the Claire, Claire and Samantha had run away and there’s, you know, they get caught. But the interesting part about this is that there is a point where Clara has a knife.

Um, one of the guys who is, is it Krug in this point? I think it’s Krug. I’m gonna call him Krug. Yeah. Um, the Jude, yeah. At this point. Has, um, Samantha by the neck, and he had dropped his knife on the floor, and Clara has stood up and is brandishing the knife. And he’s like, give me the knife. Give me the knife.

And Clara comes up. I mean, she could probably stab him. He’s, he’s unarmed, although he’s got Samantha in his arms and instead she just hands the knife over to him. That’s right. And so, like you said, in the next moment. We are all set up around the dinner table checks this chainsaw massacre style where everybody’s tied up with a black duct tape and um, got gags in their mouths.

And the dinner that had been cooking in the oven is laid out and the gang is all like being cool and serving each other food and making comments about the girls. And, oh, you, you, oh, this is so delicious. And all these potatoes are so good. You want some of these potatoes, don’t ya? And so they make, um, rows eat the potatoes like a dog.

Craig: Oh yeah. I forgot about that. There’s, but that was such a weird part. It was like they did, they, did they give her an ultimatum, like, if you don’t do it will kill somebody or something. I don’t remember. There’s a lot of these kind of implications, you know, it seemed like such like. If that’s all they’re asking, if you just do it, just eat the potatoes.

Just fucking potatoes. Yeah. And eventually, like he pushes her face down in it and makes her eat it that way. But that’s it. Like it’s just, I mean, potatoes are good. I mean, eat it. It’s not that big a deal. Um, and then. They kill Jimmy. 

Todd: Yeah, that’s pretty, that’s pretty intense. It’s pretty brutal. Yeah. They pull out the ring so that she knows that he’s gonna propose to him, kneel him down in front of her, and then they slice his throat right in front of her.

They 

Craig: stab him right in the throat. We talked about this multiple times. There are so many like stabbings, oh God, in this movie or like. Throat’s getting slit or whatever. Everyone’s 

Todd: throat gets slit at some 

Craig: point. Yeah. Or chest gets stabbed. Uhhuh and whoever was in charge of the blood effects did a great job.

Yeah. The 

Todd: blood is just pouring out of these wounds. Just shoots out. Yeah. There’s no CG in this one. There’s a, it’s totally great. It looked really good. I was impressed. Yeah, they put the ring on her finger and everything. That was really humiliating and and mean. That’s 

Craig: what I think I said. Yeah. Sitting next to you, I was like, that’s mean.

You’re like, yeah, that is mean.

And we find out, I don’t know, I feel like Jude maybe monologues or something. He does. He’s got all the girls in like the, the living room now, and we find out that there’s some kind of cult. Doing something. That’s how helpful my notes are. Dude, there’s some kind of, we just watched this half an hour ago doing something.

I know. I’ve seen it before. 

Todd: I don’t remember. Yeah. He monologues forever and the girls are kneel down and they are tied up. And I turned to Craig and I because at one point she starts to, uh, rose, starts to, um. On to cut her bonds Uhhuh with the diamond. The diamond ring. Ring, right. Craig’s like diamond ring’s, not like a razor, like, you know, we know diamonds are strong, but it doesn’t work that way.

I thought this would take a while, but yeah, he monologues forever. And he says 

Craig: something like the universe runs on s. Okay. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Uh, and they have to do some kind of ritual stuff. Yeah. They’ve got a demon ritual. Maisie has a, 

Todd: Maisie has a big page, it looks like it was torn out of an ancient book, and she brandishes it and says, we are summoning a demon.

And he, you know, the demon requires sacrifice of innocence, mm-hmm. Of innocence. 

Craig: So they kill the teacher. She’s supposed to be their sacrifice of innocence. And it seems like at that point that they expect something to happen and nothing does happen. That was a good moment. 

Todd: Because the music is all dramatic and the lightning and thunder is coming up right.

And then suddenly like he kills her and he looks up at this guy and then it’s just silence and they’re looking around and it’s actually funny. Yeah, this was where the movie really. And I think there was, there was some humor sprinkled throughout before this, but at this point, the, the gang feels much more like not in control, like a little bumbling, a little bit.

Like they’re just go, they all realize at once, they’re like, we’re really just going off of what Maisie said here, right? Like, this might all be bullshit. 

Craig: Well, this is how it always is. We’ve seen this before. Uh, I love this movie, but you remember that movie, the Babysitter with Samara Weaving? Yeah. It’s the exact same thing.

It’s just a bunch of dumb bumbling idiots with an evil book and like they don’t know what they’re doing. Yeah. And then this is the same thing here. They don’t know what they’re doing really. It’s true. And ultimately as it turns out, they genuinely do not know what they are doing. Yeah. Because it turns out differently than they, uh, expected.

But for whatever reason, they expect something to happen and nothing does. And then. They saw, they’re like, let’s split up. Like I know. I know. I don’t even remember what, it didn’t even seem like they had anything to do. Yeah. Like it was just like, 

Todd: well, we don’t know what else to do, so let’s all go our separate ways.

Well, Maisie was like, I need to go find the book. And it’s questionable why she didn’t do that in the first place. I mean, what we find out later is that Maisie, as a student at this school, was like just locked in the basement for a while. Because she was bad. And so she stumbled upon this book and found this ritual right, and she tore a page out of it and I guess planned two years later, return and make this demon thing happen.

It’s, it’s quite a, when you really think about it, it’s kind of dumb. I may have missed all of that. What do you think about it? It’s pretty contrived and it’s a little silly, but she’s like, okay, well we must have missed something, so I need to go back and find the rest of the book. So that’s why she goes down to the basement.

Jude also ends up down there as well with her as they’re going through and he finds and, and he. Slowly starts to convince himself that he has actually been possessed by the demon. Right, right. Like maybe he’s, maybe it did work and now he’s incarnate. And so they kinda, you know, have a bunch of back and forth and she finds the book and she puts the page in.

But then, you know, as people do in these movies, they have, they want to have sex a little bit. You know, take a little sex break. And then, uh, Doug comes down and they split off. And I think at some point in here is when she realizes, when she’s looking at the book, she says, oh, wait, there is more here. And what we’ve been doing is not a demon summoning ritual.

It’s a demon. Unleashing. Unleashing 

Craig: or something like that. Yeah. I, I wrote it down. Un unbinding. Yes. Unbinding. Unbinding. Yeah. And meanwhile, upstairs, the two girls. Yeah, that’s right. Um, I, I can’t remember their names, but Clara and Stephanie, is that her name? What’s the Maisie? Oh, the two, the, the two. Oh, Claire and Samantha.

Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. CLA and Samantha. They are upstairs and they’re being held by, I don’t remember his name. Doug and 

Todd: Grant, 

Craig: yeah. The, the bigger guy. And Clara is talking a lot and she’s talking a lot to the guy. Mm-hmm. And the guy that’s. You know, keeping them captive or whatever. And I don’t remember exactly how it happens, but she’s talking and talking and talking ahead and, and as the viewer, something’s going on.

Yeah. Like she, 

Todd: she’s too good 

Craig: at this. Yeah, yeah. Right. Like, w what, what is some, this, this isn’t just normal. Um, and, uh, eventually she leans and whispers in his ear. Hell is waiting for you. Mm-hmm. Right? Yep. And, and then we see a montage of all of the other bad guys hearing that as though it’s being whispered into their ear too.

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: So we’ve learned that they weren’t doing a summoning, they were doing an unbinding, and now this girl and it, you know. Yeah. At this point now I was a big, dumb dumb and didn’t see it coming before this, but at this point, if you don’t see it coming like you, this, you’re missing, you’re, you’re napping.

You should know what’s going on. Right? Yeah. Um, so she’s it, she’s the thing. Mm-hmm. And I don’t know who the actress was. I, uh, didn’t look it up. Um, the one who played, um. Clara Clara, right? Yeah. That’s her name, right? Yeah, Georgia Aiken. I don’t know anything about her, but what I will say was I might have made a snap judgment about her performance if I had only seen the first half of the movie.

Mm. Seeing. Second half of the movie where her personality changes. I think that the shift and the contrast works, right? I think that initially early on in the movie, she had honed the skill over decades, if not centuries were led to believe, right of. Fading into the background. 

Todd: Yes. 

Craig: And, uh, that’s what she was doing.

And now here when she’s reestablished and regained her power, it’s not like she all of a sudden becomes like, Wanda, you know, like, you know. Yeah. It’s not like she’s floating up in the air, but, but she becomes much more. Confident and, um, doesn’t seem to be particularly worried, like 

Todd: Yeah, she’s like, she’s been in control.

She’s one. Yeah. And she’s been in control this whole time, right? I mean, it turns out she has actually attracted them there. Yes, she has had some influence, but she’s trapped there, obviously as a demon in the building or whatever. Um, well, I mean, later we find out that it’s because it, it’s all back to that whole historical thing where the, the townspeople apparently had tried to do a summoning ritual, had second thoughts about it, didn’t quite complete it, or ended up binding the demon, and that’s what started the whole fire.

And then, and, you know, that’s, that’s, and that’s why she’s 

Craig: trapped there. Mm-hmm. And what the bad guys. The group of bad guys had done was the first part of it. And what they had known that they had to do was that they had to sacrifice, make a sacrifice of an innocent. Mm-hmm. We find out later that there’s a second part of it, 

Todd: part two, 

Craig: and they have to sacrifice the guilty.

Yeah. And I don’t remember in what context, but she tells somebody. I can’t kill you. I, I, I think some, yeah. This is later. I think somebody says to her, are you going to kill me or something? And she’s like, no, I can’t kill you. You either have to kill yourself or you have to kill each other. 

Todd: Yep. Yeah. It, it’s, it’s a good moment here actually when she sort of reveals this.

At the same time, we learn in a different way because, uh, Doug and. Maisie, I maybe Maisie sees the yearbook that, that, um, that Jude had pulled off the shelf to look up her picture and is like, but I recognize this girl. And she’s like, oh my God, she was in my class. And then she goes back and they look at all the photographs on the wall and they see that she’s in every single class picture all those years.

And first I’m like, oh my God, come on. This is not, 

Craig: I liked it. It was cool and it’s 

Todd: a demon and she can cloud people’s minds, right? She’s like the shadow. So you know, she just kind of made it happen. So it was a cool concept. I actually really liked that concept. At the same time, Maisie ends up stabbing Jude, I believe, right?

Yeah, upstairs. JI 

Craig: mean, Jude. 

Todd: Jude comes back upstairs. He’s acting like he’s hot shit. Yeah. 

Craig: He thinks that he is the vessel or whatever, and I feel like he like carves some stuff into his, yeah. Chest upstairs stuff. He does all stuff. I don’t know what he’s doing. He thinks he, like you said, he thinks he’s hot shit.

He thinks that he’s the dude or whatever, but he’s not. Mm-hmm. Um, 

Todd: and she kind of takes him out temporarily. And she does this weird dance thing. Oh yeah. And this, this seventies era music is playing in the background. It had with, with a little bit of those, those, um, those vocalizations that sounded very much like a goblin soundtrack, I thought.

And this was a part where. I’d sort of forgotten that they were kind of going for this vibe of the seventies, because it doesn’t really, stylistically it’s not really shot that way. No. But, uh, this music bit came in and when she did this weird dance and she’s exposed her ch her stomach so that she can see that she has all these markings on her stomach, right.

And her, her arms and everything and, and all that. Now you see? Okay. Like she’s creepy as hell. And that was a good moment. Yeah, I really liked that. Um, and again, it was like a 

Craig: throwback to that kind of stuff. I feel like it’s a thing right now. Like, uh, you know, there’s the viral Wednesday dance, like Wednesday Adams, oh, uh, thing.

The Megan dance. Oh. I, I feel like these moments where weird girls dance, they gotta fit it in. Now it’s a thing. 

Todd: But I liked it too. I did, it’s like the early aughts when you had to do like the sica walk, you know, remember? Yeah. The jumpy people crawling across the floor, the long hair. This is like the new, the new version of that.

Yeah. So she does the creepy dance and then, um. Like you said, they find they end up bound magically. Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And it took us a while to sort this out. Todd noticed it right away. He’s like, why are there binding sparkly? And I was like, I don’t know. Dumb dumb. Like just the light reflecting on 

Todd: it or whatever.

And it wasn’t until we got to closeups that we saw that the duct tape or whatever that they were wrapped with, or at least it looks like duct tape is literally shimmering and sparkling. Yeah. There is no comment made about this at all. I 

Craig: know. But then when the scene ends, it just magically disappears.

Yeah. Like you, you see it like, like dissipate. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So this demon girl 

Todd: has 

Craig: the power to do that, apparently. 

Todd: So now the tables have turned and we got kind of a bookended scene. Now the bad guys were all bound there, right? Right. She’s the one in charge. They’re at the table. And she’s, that’s when she says to them, like you said, uh, the second part of this is that the guilty needs to die, and that’s you guys and I can’t do it.

Meanwhile, we haven’t seen Samantha in a long time. 

Craig: I know. Both of us forgot. She was in the movie was crazy. 

Todd: They’re like, oh yeah, there she is outside. Stumbling around in the snow, going to the guard tower, finding the guard, the dead guard 

Craig: calling 9 1 1. You know, we may have mentioned it, but I don’t remember, and if we didn’t, I think that it’s important that there came a point where Clara said to her, you go.

I have to stay, but you go. Yeah. And 

Todd: And she did. She did. And she did everything she should do. She called 9 1 1. Right. You like you mentioned, the 9 1 1 didn’t insist she stay on the phone, which is, you know, not accurate, but Right. Or whatever. It’s typical for these movies. And then she grabs an ax that was sitting in a tree.

And slowly starts to approach the house. And we were going very slowly, come on, you know what’s in there? You’ve been here before. Just get in that house 

Craig: and fix things. She makes a hero’s approach to the bottom of the steps, like in inside people are like almost getting killed and she’s just like standing down at the bottom of the steps, acts in hand, like, I’m gonna go in in a minute.

Todd: And I have to say, it was around this point in the movie that I turned to Craig and I was like, this is getting a little long for me. I mean, at this point we’ve we’re at least five, maybe 10 minutes into knowing exactly what’s happening. Yeah. We know this girl’s a demon. We know the Unbinding spells, you know, has happened.

We know the bad guys have been caught, um, and everything. And it just is, it’s just a lot of. Her dancing them, figuring out what we already know, her, finding them there, her giving a speech, and then Samantha going through this 9 1 1 call. And then I was just like, okay, come on. Just like, get, let’s move. I felt like it, it really slowed down here for me a little bit.

Yeah. And uh, but anyway, she, yeah, she ends up making it in there and at the meantime. She says, you each have to sacrifice something Clara does to the, to the, to the group. And now she has sort of like mentally messed with Grant. Um, 

Craig: yeah. Yeah. He’s like her minion basically at this point, or henchman or whatever.

Todd: Yeah. And so he’s just kind of willing to continue and go through with all this. And so he goes to Maisie and he cuts her hair off and he cuts his own hand as like a blood sacrifice. And he, 

Craig: that, that moment, I’m sorry, I like. They made it like he was going to cut her head off. Yeah. And then he just cut her hair and then she wears this janky wig for the rest of the movie.

But like, I feel like we’re supposed to be like, oh my God, I can’t believe that happened to her. She got a bad haircut. Oh, the horrible thing. It’s really not that 

Todd: big 

Craig: a deal. 

Todd: It’s like, yeah, it’s like eating the mashed potatoes, you know? Right. This is all you gotta do. It’s not too shabby on like people would pay for that.

Yep. Jude gets, uh, his ear cut off and then, um, yes. Yes. And, and, and then when it comes time to kill everybody, uh, he starts one by one killing them, but then he won’t, he doesn’t end up killing the last one. Jude, was it Jude? No. Maisie. Maisie doesn’t end up killing Maisie. So he has stabs himself in the neck.

Uhhuh instead. Mm-hmm. Again, all this I just thought took way too long. I also didn’t understand the whole hair ear. I mean, I guess it’s part of the ritual, but we didn’t need all that, 

Craig: you know? Well, I mean, the hair thing was just stupid and boring. Like, I mean, if you’re gonna go for like. Torture porn.

Like go, like, don’t cut some girl’s hair. Yeah. It’s like the other guy got his fingers take cut off, you know? Right. I, I don’t know. Yes. It was 

Todd: silly and prolonged and unnecessary and they all get killed anyway. Right. So, like, what? Come on. So anyway, he kills himself before Maisie dies and she, and, and you know, Claire’s like, well that’s inconvenient.

And then magically releases all their bo the bonds. 

Craig: Yeah, 

Todd: so that Maisie can run off. I don’t really know why she did this at this moment. Uh, Samantha shows up with the ax and she’s talking with Clara and Clara’s like, yeah, this is what has to happen. I. They’re still friends, 

Craig: you know? Yeah. Like, I get that you’re a demon, but you’re a sweet girl.

Like, I like you and I’m sorry that you’re like a big loser or whatever. Like, I’ll be your friend. The, and and, and this is the part of the movie where I think that you and I didn’t really understand what was happening, because you’re right. Like they, she releases the blonde girl. Mm-hmm. And the blonde girl runs away.

And what we have. Learned up to this point is that they have to, the guilty have to kill themselves or kill each other, and she run, the door has been magically locked before, but now it’s magically open and she opens it and is like, I’m free. And then blood shoots out of her mouth. Yeah. And she falls forward having been axed in the back by Samantha, Samantha.

Todd: Yeah, I, and I, I, I was confused because I thought the guilty themselves had to either kill each other or kill themselves. But I think what she was actually saying was, I can’t kill you guys. So you either have to kill each other or kill yourselves. ’cause you’re the only ones left. Okay. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: I think that’s what it was.

I think that’s right. So eventually, like when Samantha shows up, it’s, it’s more convenient. Oh, she could actually do it too, right? Even though she’s not a guilty person. 

Craig: Well, and like, it, it, it, it’s not even as though Clara necessarily. Sets her up to do it. No, it’s just a happy accident She showed back up.

Well, I think that it’s just like Samantha or whatever her name makes that choice. Like she likes that demon girl. Yeah. She wants to set her free. Yeah, she wants to set her free. Yeah. Fuck that blonde girl. Who cares?

Todd: I don’t know. And, and that’s what’s interesting about this movie is it ends, you know, you think, okay, a demon is being set free. What’s gonna happen now? World’s gonna end bad. Shit’s going down. He’s gonna like unleash. No, I think she’s just happy to be out of the house. Yeah. You know? 

Craig: Yeah. She’s just probably gonna travel.

Todd: Yeah. And with Samantha, have a good time. Yeah. Now that she’s free, she’s So, thank you for that. She seemed kind of nice. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was an ending I didn’t quite expect and it was, uh. Fine. Yeah, it was, there was nothing wrong with it. Well, 

Craig: but then the end, the very, very end, like we see like a bunch of cops or people or something outside. Mm-hmm. And Samantha and Clara are just standing like at the tree line and we just see them from behind.

Yep. And I said, I was like, so are they, they’re just gonna like live in the forest now. Like I don’t, 

Todd: it seems like it, they hold hands and they literally walk off into the sunset. Yeah. 

Craig: Okay. 

Todd: You know, sunrise. 

Craig: I hope they have a good time. I, I’m waiting 

Todd: for 

Craig: those kids. 

Todd: I, I, um, I thought it was a fine movie.

There’s nothing wrong with it. Um, again, I, it slowed down a little bit for me, like, once you kind of establish what the stakes are, once you know what’s going on, and a lot of the movie, you don’t know what’s happening, you know, and that’s good. You don’t know why this gang’s out doing there. You don’t wanna know what their motivation is.

Now you find out their motivation, they’re taking action, but then the tables turn and it turns out there’s more to this than even they realized. And at that point, like, it just like, I don’t know, 10, 15 minutes of it I just felt was kind of unnecessary. Like, okay, now let’s get to it. Now let’s let this demon, you know.

Get, get, get to her part. And it took a little while to kind of tell me in three different ways something that we already knew, which is like some of the dialogue in the movie. Yeah. You know? Yeah. 

Craig: I think that may be situational. I, ’cause it’s a short movie, like it’s under an hour and a half. Yeah. Isn’t it?

It is. I think it’s situational. I could tell that you were distracted and getting a little bored and that’s okay. It happens to the best of us and I, and I understand why, but I think that you were just. Thinking about other things, what,

and that’s fine, but I, yeah. I, uh. I liked it. It’s not great. Like, again, before we sat down to watch it, I had for completely forgotten that I had seen it. Yeah. And it took me a good 15 minutes. I, I think it’s when, um, the girl who ends up being the demon girl, I think it’s when she showed up, I’m like, oh, fuck yeah, I remember that.

Yeah. That it’s her. She, you were very, very excited about this, but you didn’t tell 

Todd: me. But yeah, you are like, oh wait, oh yeah, this movie. It’s, it’s good. You’re gonna like it, you’re gonna like it. You’re gonna like it. 

Craig: And I did. I, uh, it was, uh, a, a twist that I didn’t necessarily see coming, even though I don’t think that it’s shrouded in mystery.

I think that most people would probably see it coming, but I didn’t. And, uh, uh, I liked it. I, I act, I kind of like, honestly, like the whole, I’m a demon who’s been trapped. In this prison forever and I am lonely. Like I’m not opposed to rooting for her, like Right. I kind of want her to win. Well, you kind of do because 

Todd: I mean, who are the bad guys here really?

Right? It’s these people who have, who are going out on a murder spree. I love that bit where, where they’re starting to question, uh, if they were, if they’ve been falling Maisie wrongly, and I think Doug turns to grand and is just like. Have we been going out on a murder spree for nothing? 

Craig: That was good.

That was good. 

Todd: The, the movie, kind of like the babysitter, as you said, as dark as some of the stuff is that’s happening in here. I mean, people are getting killed in pretty gruesome ways. Yeah, yeah. It’s also pretty light hearted. It, it mixes the dark with some lightheartedness and he gets more light. As the, as it goes on.

And that, I think, is setting you up for that ending where, again, this isn’t like a catastrophic world ending thing. This is literally just a demon getting outta the house. Mm-hmm. Right? And so, you know, it, it, it makes sense. And as a Christmas movie. It works too. Yeah, because it’s very cozy. It is. There’s a 

Craig: lot of Christmasy stuff in it.

I love that set piece we’re in. They’re in that like big, I don’t even know what you would call it, like a lobby or something, and there’s the fireplace and the huge Christmas tree and it’s all just lit by the firelight and they’re in there for a while. Like it was He hands 

Todd: them presents to 

Craig: open. Yeah.

Yeah. Very cozy, very Christmasy. That was a lot of fun. 

Todd: Yeah. And I think it kind of maintains that spirit throughout. There’s always just a coziness, a Christmas eness to it out, even outside in the, the snow. Mm-hmm. And all that stuff. So, um, as a Christmas movie, it really, really works. Uh, and. Again, it’s lighthearted enough that you don’t take it very seriously.

So I can’t be very critical about it. Right. And I think it’s, yeah, it’s a fine little film, you know, for you to, it’s, it’s not, I don’t think it’s gonna win any awards in my mind, but, uh, it was fun. Well acted well shot. Yeah. It looks great, I think. Mm-hmm. And I liked the, some of the characters. I thought that the guy who played, who we keep calling the crude character, Jude was 

Craig: really quite good.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, I thought they were all. Fine. Yeah. Like I, I didn’t think there was a weak link anywhere in there. And the one who played Samantha, 

Todd: um, I could see how she, she was underwritten. She was, you’re right. She could have done so much more Uhhuh and she, she was hard to root for as a char, as a hero, because we don’t know her, but at all.

And what. What did she do? She’s very kind of tentative about everything she’s doing. I can’t say there’s a moment even when she picks up that ax, you know, this is the point where you want this character to have a change where you want her to be like, alright, screw this. I’m gonna get over my just kind of timidness and my shyness and whatever, and I’m gonna go in, I’m gonna take care of business.

But what did we say? She’s like so slowly approaching. It’s still quiet. She goes in and she just kind of cozies up to the other girl, right? And it’s like, oh, you need me to ask somebody or let me, let’s hear your story first. Okay. Yeah. Maybe I’ll ax her. You know? That was kind of a shit. Got you fam.

She hasn’t been in any much of anything before this. Just a couple movies I’ve never heard of. She’s good. I wish her the best. She did a very nice job. 

Craig: Yeah, she’s a pretty 

Todd: girl. Yeah, so I hope so. But yeah, it was a great, it was a great fun time and probably the most fun of, of all this was sitting next to you and being able to watch a movie.

Oh man. For the first time in years. 

Craig: It’s crazy and like it’s, it’s, it’s been so wild. We do this like every week for years, but sitting in your kids’ room face to face with you and being able to. Look you in the eye and have a conversation with you. It’s just a world of difference and I have a feeling that people will hear it.

Yeah. I really think that you’ll hear the difference. ’cause it’s just, oh God, it’s so nice and I am, uh, it’s sad that we don’t get the opportunity to do it more often. Thank God we live in a time when. You can live on one side of the world and I can live on the other and we can still chat. Do this. Yeah. Uh, live.

And, and, and thank God for you too, because you’re, you know, one of my very best friends. Um, and it, I, uh, it’s, I, it’s unfortunate we don’t get to see each other as often, but when we do, it just feels like it’s wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just. 

Todd: We, it feels like home. It does. It’s been really nice. Yeah. And, and downtown Chicago with the lights and all that.

Oh, beautiful. It was just great. Beautiful. I’m sure Todd will post the pictures, but it was, yeah, it was, uh, gorgeous. I had cozy a great time. Yeah. Just a cozy time with you, Craig. I’m sorry. I have to say goodbye to you in a couple hours. 

Craig: This was a short trip for you? It was, but it was a good one. Yeah, and I feel good about it.

We, we squeezed a lot of quality time into 20. Three hours. Yeah. We we’re still, those of you out there listening, we’re still a bunch of old men. Like we were in bed by 11. Oh yeah. Don’t get me wrong. 

Todd: We were not out to the wee hours of the morning partying in downtown Chicago, admittedly, on a Sunday night.

True, 

Craig: true, true. But still. But it was good. We got up early. We had a good breakfast, had a good day. Uh, I’m really glad we had the chance to do this. 

Todd: Yeah, and then you know what? I hope you guys are doing the same. I hope you’re out there. You know, as I said, I think in the last episode, we just feel like we’re talking with family.

Even when we’re talking into a mic and talking with you guys, hearing from you on the website and, and having you chat with us, it just, it feels like home as well. We’ve made so many great friends through this podcast, through this year. New friends this year. Yeah. We know we’re gonna make new friends next year.

If you want to come in the back behind the scenes and join our book club or any of those places where we do talk a little more intensely with our listeners, join our Patreon, patreon.com/chainsaw podcast is where we meet up with those people. But you don’t have to do that. You just message us on the website.

Yeah, gene horror.com. Send us a note of the message. We love to hear from you, and we’re so grateful for you at the end of the year here, just that you’re listening with us, that you’re out there giving us a reason to keep doing this year after year, and I’m excited to see what 2026 is gonna break. Thank you.

Until next time. I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy holidays from Two Guys and a Chainsaw.