Cursed Friends (2022)

Episode 462, 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: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, here we are, week three into our, uh, Halloween Horror series of movies. Try to pick from different eras and different kinds of movies. This would be our second horror comedy that we’ve done. This is a little more recent than Idle Hands that we did last week.

This is right, 2020 Two’s Cursed Friends, I think. Is, was this like one of those sort of Saturday Night Live sort of produced things or It 

Craig: was Comedy Central.

Todd: Uh Ah, that’s it. 

Craig: Comedy Central, I read at the time was kind of trying to branch out from just producing like standup specials, which Comedy Central standup specials are.

Great. Yeah. But they, they were trying to branch out. They wanted to do some original content and some original films, and I think that this was one of their first goes, so it was specifically made for cable television. And you can tell because there are clear cuts for commercials. Yeah, I noticed that. And that, that honestly doesn’t bother me.

It’s actually kind of nostalgic to me. Hmm. A lot of. Movies that I really liked when I was a kid were made for TV movies. I feel like the Made for TV movie has gone very hallmark. And, you know, there are certain, I, I don’t know what I’m trying to get at. You know, these, these romance like trope like Yeah.

Tropes, you know? Yeah. Kind of like they churn ’em out. Yeah. This city girl in the country boy. Or the country boy in the city Girl. Or the city Boy in the country. Boy. And you know, like it’s, yeah. Around Christmas time 

Todd: usually. 

Craig: Oh, for every holiday they have ’em. And Yeah. You know, we’ve even done one, I think that was, you know, kind of a horror spoof on that, which was fun.

I don’t have any problem with those kind of, they’re not my cup of tea. Sure. But I know that a lot of people, those are people’s 

Todd: comfort movies. Like, oh, they’re wildly popular. It’s like the books, you know, romance is just such a huge genre and, and people can never get enough of them. 

Craig: Yeah. And that’s great.

So I don’t, I have absolutely no problem with. TV movies, which this is, but you know, I’ve seen this before. I don’t remember if going in the first time I knew that, but it is pretty apparent. I, I, I wouldn’t say that that’s also necessarily any commentary on its quality. I mean, it’s right, the, the production is fine.

Production value’s good. 

Todd: It’s not amazing, but it’s, it’s, it’s not poor either. The acting’s fine. I mean, it’s silly. So the acting’s gonna be kind of silly. You suggested this one though. What, what was it that drew you back to it? Did I that made you, did I Yeah. You did. You don’t remember? No, I don’t remember honestly.

Craig: Uh, maybe just pulled it from a list, probably behind the scenes. I have been super. Crazy busy. Yeah. All month. There’s been a lot going on for me at work and in my personal life and we’ve been trying to coordinate this and Todd’s been, initially, I think I shot some titles and then you shot some titles back and then I was just.

Checked out. Yeah. You kept, you kept sending me things like, what are we gonna do? And I’m like, I don’t care. 

Todd: It’s been a weird season for both of us, honestly. Like the last few months. I know. We even missed a week because of it, so, uh, it’s okay. We’ll give ourselves a break every now and then, I suppose.

Craig: Yeah. It’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s too bad because I know that both of us. So enjoy this month. Like we look forward to it every year and we talk about, you know, all year long we talk about, oh, maybe we should think about this for Halloween. It’s one of our favorite months, but both of us have just been, there’s just been a lot going on.

Todd: It’s been overshadowed by a lot of other shit. 

Craig: Yeah. So when you sent me this title, I was like, cool, great, whatever. And then you were kind of having difficulty finding it, right? So I found it, and when I found it. I realized that I had seen it before. I see. But I didn’t really remember anything about it.

And in fact, I had it confused with something else. I remembered that it was a horror comedy, but for some reason, and it doesn’t make any logical sense, but for some reason I had it confused with a horror comedy that I saw recently called The Blackening. Oh yeah. Which is actually funnier and. I think you would’ve enjoyed more 

Todd: probably than this one.

So you, it’s so funny you sent me a, a text saying, you’re gonna hate this movie. I watched it See you one Sunday. I just, I just thought, man, you know me so well. I, I didn’t hate the movie. You set me up to hate the movie. Maybe that was a little unfair. I shouldn’t have done that. But no, it’s fair. I, I didn’t hate the movie, but you’re right in your sentiment that this is not really, I don’t wanna say this isn’t my cup of tea.

What do, do I sound like a grouch If you know there’s some wacky comedy, I say I don’t like it. No, I don’t know. It’s just not what I am kind of in the mood for most of the time. This is just one of those, again, a Saturday night lifestyle, a joke, a second kind of movie where everybody’s quippy and everybody’s funny.

Yeah. And lots of people are overacting. Scary movie. Yeah. Yeah. Really, what do you call it? Stereotypical characters, wacky situations, physical comedy, all that. I love all that stuff, don’t get me wrong. Sure. But you put it all together in one package and there’s no gore. There’s no. Yeah. Is there, I don’t think there’s any gore.

I don’t remember there being any gore. No. 

Craig: And, and to be fair, this movie is very halloweeny, which is great, and I love that about it. Yeah, it’s a good choice for that. Yes. But it, it’s a Halloween comedy. Yeah. You know, not scary. It’s not scary and it’s not intended to be scary, but it is a comedy very much in the spirit of Halloween.

Yeah. So if, if you’re just a, if you’re a big horror hound and, and you’re looking for horror, you’re not gonna find it here. I mean, there, you know, there are Halloween costumes and there’s. Spirits and there’s a curse and there’s a big snake and there, you know, like there’s all these fun Halloween things.

Yeah. But it’s like Halloween party. It’s like, it’s like, it’s like your elementary school Halloween party. It’s, it’s just covered in Halloween, but it’s not scary. 

Todd: Yeah. It’s just kind of fun. Halloween. Yeah. Traditional type stuff and things in the background and the setting. Yeah. It’s not a trick our treat or anything like that.

Right, right. It’s. Not dripping with Halloween atmosphere in that way. It’s just, yeah, like you said, like going to Walmart and walking down the aisle and seeing those plastic masks with the right plastic bag, you know, outfits underneath them. That kind Halloween, it’s festive. Yeah, it’s festive and 

Craig: it’s fun and it like, it really does feel celebratory of.

The holiday and the season, and it seems like they were having a good time with it, and I like that. I ultimately agree with you that it, it’s funny and there are funny bits and it’s got good actors and it’s well produced. It’s just to watch an hour and 25 minutes of it or whatever it is. It just, it, it’s kinda like, okay.

I, yeah. Like too much. Let’s, let’s move it along. Huh. But that’s not to say it’s not fun and it is just absolutely chock full of comics and comic actors. Yeah. Very, very, very talented. Yeah. Working comic actors and comedians, many of whom I am big fans of. And it’s fun to see all of them in it. And each of them is very funny.

In it. Mm-hmm. It’s just kind of as a whole movie, it just kind of starts to feel like a lot. I I, I, I feel like I’m talking it down too much. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. I did, I, I thought it was fun. It’s just not nec, I don’t think it’s something that necessarily warrants repeat viewing. 

Todd: Right. Anyway.

Yeah. You see the joke once and. You laugh at it and you don’t really wanna see it again. You know, it’s a one trick pony. It’s not that kind of, yeah. For me, it’s not that kind of comedy. I’m gonna be coming back to and, and being, oh, remember that part? You know, kind of thing. It, there’s just so much. There’s so much, yeah.

Just thrown at you and it’s all very, very light and tone, which is nice. Yeah. And it moves. I mean, it really does move. It’s not like it gets boring, it just gets almost overwhelming after a while, you know? Right. 

Craig: And I, I, you mentioned before that there’s no gore, there’s not, there’s nothing shocking or scary.

I would say that this is probably appropriate for kids. Yeah. Except for like, if, if you were to nitpick and, and if anything it wouldn’t be the scary stuff or the gross stuff or anything. There’s language and innuendo. That would be the only thing. Yeah, there’s a lot of sexual humor 

Todd: in here. 

Craig: Yeah, I, I mean, I don’t know.

A lot could go over your head. I think would just go over kids’ heads. Yeah, I’m, I’m thinking specifically the, the subway scene. That’s exactly what I was gonna say. So one of the main characters is played by, okay. So her name is Mikayla and she’s played by Nicole Byer. And I’m a big fan of hers. She’s very funny.

I’ve seen her in standup, I’ve seen her in sitcoms. She’s guest hosted the, how did this get made podcast? Several times. She’s hilarious. She’s doing a lot. Oh my god. She works all the time. She’s hilarious in this movie, and we’ll talk about the premise in a second, but part of her premise is that Joy Fatone playing himself is under a love spell, basically, and is super into her.

And she works in a submarine shop and he comes in. And the second he sees her, it just starts flirting with her. Their flirting is just filled with innuendo about his big hot Italian sub. And how much meat? Oh, there’s lots of meat. This is just full of. She ends up squirting mayo all over it. Is it fat? Oh man.

Make it fat. Do do you like it wet? Oh, yeah, baby. Meanwhile, I mean, they’re looking at each other. I, I, she’s. You know, I ing am and probably like licking her lips and shit. And then she starts squirting the mayo and he’s like, I like a lot. I like, oh yeah, keep going. Uh uh, it, it was funny. So it was, there are funny scenes like that.

And I will also say that I’ve seen Joy fatone in a lot both. Playing himself and acting as other characters. He’s talented too. He’s a funny guy. 

Todd: And if you don’t know who Joey Fatone is, he’s one of the members of NSYNC from back in the right, in the nineties. Yeah. He’s talented. Yeah, he’s cute. He’s, he still looks the same, just a little, you know, like all of us.

Put on a little weight, got a little older, but, 

Craig: oh, well, he, I mean, he’s handsome. He. He was, you know, they make a joke about it in the movie. That’s another thing that I like about Joey Fatone, is that he can totally take a joke and he is totally down at making jokes at his own expense. Mm-hmm. And I love somebody like that, you know, that guy’s got NSYNC money, you know?

Yeah. If I, if I had NSYNC money, I’d be like, yeah, I can make fun of myself. That’s cool. But like, you know, he was of the guys. It just so happens that his name is F-A-T-O-N-E, so he was Joey Fat one because he was always heavier than the other guys back in those days when he was in his twenties. He was pretty lean These days.

He looks like a typical healthy. Middle-aged guy, but he’s happy to lean into the jokes and I appreciate that. And I feel like that’s true of all these people. It’s one, it’s one of those deals where it kind of opens in the middle of the movie and then we cut back, so Right. The first thing we see is Will Anette leading a seance and he calls out to.

Some spirit or something, and purple smoke goes in his mouth and he gets possessed. And the possessed voice says, you bitches are so, and then one of these four friends who are sitting there at the seance say, we never should have played that fucking game. Then it cuts to 20 years earlier, Sherman Oaks, California, and we’re introduced to these four friends and they’re dressed as nsync and it’s cute.

Another positive thing about this movie that I think a lot of people, especially people our age are, you know, within a 10 year younger range of us would appreciate is it’s really nostalgic. You know, these kids are millennials and so they grew up in the late nineties, early two thousands, so they’re dressed as nsync and some kid is dressed as.

Borat or something like, yeah, there are tons of references and there are tons of great music cues and music throwbacks that are really nostalgic in a way that I thought was really fun. There are so many good elements of this movie to the point that, and I, you know, I usually wait until the end to say this.

I would never steer you away from this, especially at. Halloween time, right? Like it’s a fun movie, especially if you’ve never seen it before. It’s fun and you’ll have a few laughs and you could maybe watch it at a little cocktail 

Todd: party at your house. It’s, it’s that kind of thing. You can duck in and out of it, it’s fine.

Yeah. But 

Craig: you kept saying SNL and it is like that in that it’s basically vignettes. It’s, it’s little scenes. I guess the exposition in the beginning is important and then it kind of devolves into little vignettes, right? But the exposition is that they go to this big spooky house and they knock on the door, and a crazy spooky lady answers the door and her name is something Sunshine, something.

Sarah, friendship. Sarah Friendship, Sarah Friendship played 

Todd: by Kathy Griffin. 

Craig: Yeah. I am a big Kathy Griffin fan. Huge. And like I’m, I’m kind of going through a Kathy Griffin Renaissance right now. Oh really? Are you? Yeah, I am. What is the Kathy Griffin Renaissance? Well, she recently. Launched a podcast called Kathy Griffin.

Talk your head off. Do you get it? It’s hilarious because she got in big, big trouble for that silly picture that she posted with her holding a a Halloween mask of Trump’s. Head. Ah, yeah. Covered in fake blood. Forgot. And she was, I forgot about that. She was like holding a knife or something and she was just holding up.

Oh my gosh. Well, if you’re a fan of hers, you wouldn’t because she just got canceled. The president, the president and the federal government tried not only to destroy her career but her life. Wow. They tried to charge her with conspiracy to assassinate a president. Like legitimately, they were pursuing these charges.

Of course, they couldn’t put it all together. I think that they were also, you know, the threat of it was intimidation. You know, she was on the no fly list. You know, worldwide, all, all kinds of stuff. It was ridiculous. It was meant to be a joke. And I got the joke. It was dark, but I thought it was kind of funny.

But they also tried, you know, they tried successfully to cancel her career. She was canceled, and not only was she canceled, I mean she was on a huge tour. The entire tour got shut down. Not only was she canceled, but her s her. High profile celebrity friends who had been very, she hosted New Year’s Eve at CNN with Anderson Cooper for years, and they were close personal friends and he dropped her so fast and, and that happened with almost everybody.

There were only a few. Anderson Cooper. Wow. Yeah. Oh yeah. Anderson Cooper and the other Andy. Andy Cohen. ’cause she used to do a lot of work on e and Anderson. Andy Cohen dropped her like a hot potato too. And now. When he’s asked about her, he pretends he doesn’t know her. Like it’s so petty. Oh, weird. Wow.

And, and I’m, I’m a fan of both those guys too, but I think that was shitty. I, I don’t think you abandoned a friend like that, but I’m, I’m sure they were concerned for their own careers as well. But, and I know this isn’t the Kathy Griffin episode. I, I think I’m gonna like. I think I’m gonna like tweet her and tell her that we talked about her on this episode and I bet a million dollars she’ll listen to it and maybe she’ll, maybe she’ll mention us on her podcast and she is a lot more listeners than we do.

She is in her renaissance. Yeah, but they did. Okay. So they did effectively. Cancel her career. She couldn’t, I mean, up until that point, she literally held the Guinness World Record for the largest number of standup specials produced, I think. Wow. Period. Certainly by women, a hundred percent by women. But I think period, she has done so many.

She works all the time. She’s a hard worker. You know, that’s what she loves to do. She loves to work, and they took that away from her. Ugh. And she couldn’t get work anywhere. For like five or six years, and it’s only been in the last couple of years that people have been coming back slowly and she’s, she’s getting some gigs and she’s got this podcast now and, and she’s gaining some popularity on the podcast and she’s still just doing the same thing that she always did, which is just tells stories.

Hmm. She’s an interesting comedian. She’s not a joke teller, she’s not a joke writer. She just tells stories about experiences that she’s had with celebrities and she’s got good ones. But, so she’s back and, and she. Produced herself, funded herself a new special and shopped it around, couldn’t sell it. So last week she released it for free on YouTube, and Alan and I watched it.

It’s two hours long. She said that’s one of the reasons that she couldn’t sell it was because any place that bought it would’ve forced her to cut it down to 50 minutes. Oh. And she didn’t want to. So it’s a, it’s two hours of her live on stage. If you are a fan or have ever been a fan of her comedy, watch it.

It’s. Hilarious. And I’m so happy that she’s back in the game back. ’cause I think that she’s hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. I think that she’s hilarious and, and she didn’t deserve to be canceled for something so stupid. No. Gosh, it’s, it’s terrible. I don’t want to get too political, but that was stupid. But she’s in this movie and she’s very funny.

Yeah. Oh, I should also mention that in that time she got lung cancer and she never smoked a day in her life. She doesn’t drink, she’s never had a drink of alcohol. Wow. She got lung cancer and they had to remove half of one of her lungs. Oh my God. And in doing that, in doing the surgery to remove half of her lung, her surgeon, this reputable Hollywood surgeon, accidentally sliced her vocal cord.

What? And left. And left her virtually unable to speak at all. 

Todd: What? She could only talk like this for about two or three years. 

Craig: Oh my God. And so, not only had her career been destroyed, but then the instrument that she uses for her job. Was taken from her too, and she got into a really dark place. You should watch her special.

She talks all about it. Wow. But she’s also very good friends with the singer Sia. And Sia being a singer, knows all the best voice people. And she said, she told Kathy, there’s this surgeon, this female surgeon that can put an implant in your vocal cords and you’ll get most of your voice back. And she did.

She still sounds a little bit different than she did before. Her surgeries, but so much better than it was before and she’s able to work again. And that’s my Kathy Griffin tribute. I’ll wow. If we’re still, if we’re still doing this in 30 years. Knock on wood. When Kathy Griffin dies, I’ll talk about her again, but she has a bit part in this movie as the villain, A recurring bit part, I mean, kind of villain or whatever.

She, they go to her house and she’s like, oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have any candy. And she’s all weird and witchy and fun and funny, and she’s like. Let me see what I got. And she’s like, oh, how about a book? And they’re like, oh, that’s lame, whatever. But she gives them this book and they go on their way and I don’t know, she looks ominously honest.

As they leave, they, when at the end of the night, they all go back to the main girl’s house. Erica played by Jessica Lowe, who I know I’ve seen in things, but I can’t think of anything specifically. They all go back to her house and dump out their candy and they’re like, oh, what’s this weird book we got?

And it turns out it’s mash. Something. Something 

Todd: by Sarah. Friendship. Yeah. Mansion apartment, Shaq house. Have you heard of this before? It’s a real game. Oh God. We played this all the time. Yeah. Okay. Sure. Didn’t you play this whole time when 

Craig: you were a kid? 

Todd: I mean, I remember it. I, I did not play it all the time.

I, I always felt it was kind of a, kind of a girly thing, Todd. It was, it was dumb, but it was, it still time stupid. We, we didn’t have phones. No. It’s the kind of thing we would play all the time. Yeah. 

Craig: Yeah. We, we were forced to be creative and actually do things together rather than just be. On our phones all the time.

Now 

Todd: we sound like grumpy old guys. 

Craig: It was silly, but it was something when you were bored that you would just sit around and do with your friends. I mean, it would be the equivalent of, I don’t know, playing tic-tac toe or something. It was just, yeah, a little bit more interesting and And fun like Mad Libs and stuff.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Like that. And it was. Kind of, I don’t know. In hindsight, I feel like it would be a good game for kids to play together because it would be a good way to kind of get to know each other. Mm-hmm. Like the things that you’re interested in. That’s true, because what it is, it’s like a square.

And each square, or, no, it’s I, it’s I what? It’s a spiral, I think. But anyway, there are four sides to it, and it’s like you have four slots that are places that you could live. And if you go by the actual rules, it’s a mansion, apartment, a shack, or house. But we bent the rules all the time. And then one of the four was who you’re gonna marry.

So you would list four people and you could list people you actually knew, or celebrities or whoever you wanted to. And then one was what your job was gonna be, and then. I think I remember the other side being like, how much money you were gonna make or something. Yeah. But I feel like in this movie, they make it how you’re gonna die.

How you’re gonna die. 

Todd: Which I thought was gonna be a bigger thing in the, in the movie. Yeah. It’s not at all. It’s not at all. It especially because at one point, you know, one of the characters goes back to this book as an adult, you know, we’ll talk about that in a minute. And he sees that what his, that bit is smudged off.

So the running gag is, he doesn’t know how he’s going to die. I thought that would be a bigger deal and it just kind of. Pops in as a joke once or twice, and 

Craig: only with him, which is kind of weird because it seems like everybody else finished the game too. But that never plays in, it never plays into anybody else.

Todd: To me, that would be the whole, the whole horror of the movie would be, I know everybody would be focusing razor sharp on that bit. How am I gonna die? What was this preed? Because everything else comes true. And then I think the whole thing would be like a big ass final destination deal, you know? Well, 

Craig: and, and maybe that’s why they chose not to do it because they wanted the other.

People, I don’t know. The other stuff is coincidentally funny ’cause they all play the game or whatever, and then Erica’s like, oh look, there’s a poem. And she starts to read it, but she gets interrupted by her mom. So cut to a bunch of years later and we come back to all these people as adults, 20. And Erica is like, Erica’s like an ad exec or something.

I don’t know. Mikayla works at a sub shop. She’s a single mom. Andy, who’s the gay one? He’s played by Harvey. I don’t know how to pronounce his last name, Gian, maybe. He is an up and coming guy too. I’m seeing him in a lot of stuff and he’s very funny. Yeah, he’s funny. I guess I shouldn’t make presumptions, but I would assume that he’s gay because he typically plays a somewhat flamboyant gay character as he does here.

They’re the core three, like they’re the best friends. But Erica’s brother Josh, who’s played by. Andre Andrew, Andrew Lewis Caldwell. 

Todd: Did he become French all of a sudden? Andrew, Andrew, Luis Andrew

Craig: again. Another guy that I’ve definitely seen is Stephanie. He’s funny, but I don’t really know him from anything in particular. He isn’t part of the core three, which is kind. It’s, you know, it’s. A part of the plot that he wants to be, but they let him hang out, but he’s not, and spoiler alert, by the end, they become the core four.

Okay, whatever. So it’s the four of them and we just kind of get a little bit of insight into their life, the good and the bad. Erica’s boss is played by Nikki Glaser, who is super hot right now. Have you ever seen any of her stand up? No, you should. She’s very sharp, she’s very smart. She’s also very beautiful and, you know, has blonde hair and so she makes a joke of, of being a stupid, oh, I’m just a stupid woman, but she’s obviously very bright and very sharp, and very, very funny.

Her comedy is really cutting and fast. It’s really good. 

Todd: Oh yeah. Okay. Maybe I have seen her, actually. 

Craig: She’s doing very well right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you had seen her somewhere. And I’m glad that she’s doing well, but she’s very talented anyway, as adults now, they meet at the bar and they get drunk and they go back to Erica’s house and her door is open and like all of this, you know, they try to do spooky stuff.

Like we are in a spooky Halloween movie. Like, oh no, the door’s open. I hope nobody’s in there. But it’s always really just a setup for a joke and, and when they go in, they hear. Sex noises. Mm-hmm. They’re like, is it a sexy ghost? What’s happening? It’s just her brother, adult brother Josh jerking off and they talk for a second, and then the power goes out.

So Erica goes down to like flip the breaker or whatever, and Kathy Griffin, Sarah, friendship. Appears briefly and then disappears. Yeah. And Erica finds the book again and they are like, oh look, do you guys remember this? And they look at it and they review everything for us so that we can remember and know what the setup of the movie is.

So here, here’s how their games, here’s how their games turned out. Oh, you wrote it down. I’m proud of, it’s, IM, it’s important. I mean like, because it’s, these are the things that keep happening to them and it takes them a little while to realize it. It’s clever. I like it. Ultimately they’re like, oh, no, it’s happening.

Todd: I think the whole concept is actually very clever. Mm-hmm. It was a really good idea. Honestly, it’s executed pretty well. Like I said, I thought they missed a, you know, missed kind of an opportunity there to make it a little more horror to kind of focus on the death thing. But like you said, I think, I guess I can understand why they didn’t really want to Right.

That could kind of overtake everything else. That’s what I think too. So, yeah, it was a great concept. 

Craig: I, I, I do too. But the way things turned out is Erica lives in a shack. She’s a plumber and she married Eddie Fish, Bain, who was this boy that she had a crush on when they were kids. But I guess as they grew up, he kind of became a nerd and she’s gonna have a hundred kids.

That was what the other one was. How many kids are you gonna have anyway? Oh, that’s it. And you’d always be like 

Todd: 1, 2, 4, a thousand.

Craig: Okay, so Andy, the cute, lovable gay guy, he lives in a house. He drives a segue. He’s a cult leader and he marries their geography. Teacher Mikayla is gonna live in a mansion. She’s gonna be a pro wrestler. Now, me just saying all these things, listing them off, I’m thinking about the things that come up later and I’m like, this is funny.

It’s clever. She holds the record for the longest fingernails. And she’s married to Joey Fatone. The reason it’s funny is because all of these things come true, right in really hilarious ways. Josh is a grave digger. He’s got a pet snake and he’s gonna die. It’s smudged. Doesn’t know, so we don’t know. It’s smudged.

Yeah. So unlike the time when they were kids, Erica finishes reading the poem a lot aloud. And in the night while they’re all sleeping, the book glows and we see it glowing purple from outside the house. And then they wake up the next day and they start going about their days and just. By coincidence and circumstance, all of these things that were predicted by the MASH game start to happen in really funny ways.

And I knew that talking about this was gonna be difficult because it’s really difficult to explain comedy, you 

Todd: know, like 

Craig: Right. Yeah. It, it’s not gonna be funny when I say it. It like it, it’s funny in the moment because it, it pops up kind of out of nowhere and you don’t know what’s coming. Me just telling you what happens isn’t gonna be that great.

So maybe we should just highlight a few things. I don’t know. 

Todd: Yeah, I think that’s better. Just kind of hit the things that stood out to us. And honestly, this is a perfect time to tell everybody if you really are interested in seeing this movie, and I think you should if you’re into, if you wanna see a nice, fun comedy for the.

Holiday season with a lot of great comics in it and good performances and everything. Just stop the podcast and go watch it. Yeah, don’t listen to us. Rehash the shit you’re gonna, you’re gonna see. 

Craig: Yeah. You know, it would, it would be it like Todd referred to before. It would be like if at the Monday morning water cooler, I tried to tell you about all the Saturday night Live ski.

Like Right. And people do that and it’s annoying and like, I mean, sure, you’ll kind of get the gist of why it’s funny, but then if you go back to watch it, you’re already gonna know what to expect. So it probably won’t hit the same way. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: So I agree and it is a funny comedy and if you’re into horror comedies, especially silly, goofy horror comedies, like you might actually really like this because again, there are great people in it and there are like fun surprise cameos of people popping up.

Todd: I’m kind of sort of thinking of it as like the parenting light. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Remember when we did the parenting? 

Craig: Yeah. It took me a second, but yes. 

Todd: Yeah, it is like that, but far lighter. Agreed. You know that that one actually had a, a lot of references to horror movies and horror itself in it. It was a dark, it got dark at places, even though it really kept its comedic tone, had a lot of comedians in it and things like that.

I think if you liked that movie and you were looking for, for example. The Hallmark version of it. This is what this one is, in a way. You know what I mean? Yeah. Except for the 

Craig: swearing. The swearing is there. Yeah. No, except for the swearing and sexual innuendo, and I don’t know. I mean, they were targeting a particular audience.

They were targeting the comedy central art audience, which is not, which is why in broader, yeah. These are people who typically watch, you know, if they’re going to Comedy Central, they’re probably going to Comedy Central for standup specials, or you know, really irreverent. Sketch comedy or, or whatever. So this, it’s not, it’s not targeted towards kids, but it, it is lighter.

It it, mm-hmm. It definitely feels lighter. Okay. So, you know, some, some funny things. E the first thing Erica goes to, she, she’s already announced to her friends that she’s gonna be Princess Peach and she goes to open her. Luggage to get her costume out. And she’s like, oh, darn it, I’ve never messed up packing before.

That’s kind of her main character trait is that she’s the straight edge one and she is the problem solver and kinda Type A. Type A totally. And she’s like, I never screw up packing. And she pulls out a costume and apparently she switch and her boyfriend calls and he’s wearing the Princess Peach costume and the costume that she pulls out is Mario.

Very clever. That’s funny. So she becomes the plumber. She becomes the plumber, Uhhuh. And then, you know, other, I don’t remember the sequence of things because the sequence of things barely matters. But at some point there’s a problem with the toilet. And I think her brother comes in, is like, well, you have to lift up the tank, you know, to really see what’s going on.

And he lifts it up in a giant snake. Jumps out and attacks her and you know, she throws it in the tub or whatever. And then there’s a big gag about how McKayla’s on the phone or somebody’s on the phone and was like, if it’s a venomous snake, you have to suck it out. So get to sucking. So the brother has to like give the sister a hickey.

It’s all very silly. Yeah. Sketchy comedy that, like I said, is not gonna sound very funny. When I’m talking about it, I actually thought that scene was really funny, but it, it just introduces the fact that these things are coming true. She’s a plumber, she’s working on a toilet. She’s dressed as Mario, who is a plumber.

A snake pops out of the toilet. So now her brother has a snake, which was one of the predictions. Mm-hmm. And it just keeps going on like that. I don’t know. Were there other things that you specifically remember? Like we already talked about Mikayla and Joy Fatone. That starts to come true at some point.

She’s dressed as a werewolf. I love her werewolf costume. I’m a big fan of Nicole Byers. She’s hilarious, but she’s dressed as a werewolf and at one point she takes off her gloves and she’s got these crazy long fingernails, and then she has them for the rest of the movie, and at some point. Because eventually they figure out what’s going on and they’re like, we have to figure out how to undo this or break the spell, or whatever.

But there’s also some kind of going back and forth because McKayla’s stuff isn’t that bad. Like yeah, Joey Fatone is super into her. He’s invited her to his Halloween party at his mansion, which 

Todd: they go to. Mm-hmm. 

Craig: Which they go to. She, you know, she’s got these. Giant fingernails, which is kind of gross or whatever.

But also later in the movie, she’s able to put, to use her professional wrestling skills in a moment that I thought was hilarious. Like it just comes out of nowhere. Like they’re in a pickle and all of a sudden she just body slams somebody and she’s like, I’m a professional wrestler bitch. And even, and even at one point when they’re talking about like, you know, if we can’t break the spell, what does that mean?

She’s like, I don’t know. I’m kind of, okay. I’m even kind of getting used to these nails. Like, she’s fine. It’s funny, 

Todd: but at some point they, they do wanna break the spell and they do some research online and they find that there was a woman, what was her name? Emily or Erica? Something. I don’t know. Erica.

And this is, 

Craig: they find, right, they find out. That it’s happened before. They do the classic trope of horror movie library research. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. Yep. They search, um, and they search the 

Craig: newspapers, 

Todd: the Emily Sunshine or whatever friendship, Emily. Friendship or whatever, 

Craig: Sarah. Friendship. Defense, like the Twine defense or whatever.

Mm-hmm. And they read this case about this girl who killed her friend. Or something. And she was a beekeeper and her friend was like a, 

Todd: what was he? 

Craig: A chef? Celebr or something? Something, yeah. Celebrity chef or something like that. And, and she killed him. And they’re like, oh my gosh, a beekeeper and a chef.

Is there anything more mashed than that? And they’re like, we gotta find this girl. So they go and they find her at a mental institution. That has a specific name that I didn’t write down that’s important later, but they go to visit her and she’s played by Nicole Richie. Yeah. I’m also a big Nicole Richie fan.

Nicole Richie isn’t an actress. I mean, she’s really an heiress. She’s Lionel Richie’s daughter. She’s a nepo baby, right? Um, but she’s also a business woman. I think she’s in fashion and retail and she does very well for herself. I like her. I, I think she’s very smart. I think she’s got a very shrewd personality and a very funny sense of humor.

And she’s also somebody who is happy to be self-deprecating and make fun of herself and, and be really silly in this type of thing. Alan and I watched The Simple Life that really dumb Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Oh yeah. Reality show from show, the nineties show. That was a classic and we thought it was the.

Funniest thing we had ever seen. Like it was so stupid. It was so vapid and stupid, but she was hilarious on it. And I’m still a fan of her. So she placed this crazy lady, and basically all she tells them was, yeah, I had to kill my friend. That’s the only way to stop it. And they’re like, are you sure you stopped it?

And she’s like, does it look like I live in a shack? 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And they’re like, no. And she’s like, well, unless you see my best friend driving around in a monster truck and having triplets and something else, I don’t know. Yes, it works. So they think they have, so they think they have to kill somebody. 

Todd: Yeah, that’s what she says.

They gotta kill somebody. So then they kind of, and she’s, they’re like, well, we gotta kill all of our husbands or whatever. Or significant others. Or one of ‘

Craig: em, I 

Todd: think. I think it’s like, no one of them. Yeah. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Now it’s just sort of a case of, well, who are they gonna choose? And they kind of zero in on the one that I think the one girl kinda likes the least.

Right. The dorky guy. Fish Bain. Yeah, fish Bain. That’s right. Well, I mean, 

Craig: none of them want to do it. None of them wanna kill anybody. No, of course not. But he’s the most convenient. He’s, he’s already popped up, you know. And he was their Uber driver a couple of times. So 

Todd: that’s how he gets to them. Yeah. 

Craig: Yeah.

We know that he’s around and this is a possibility or whatever, and so they, they also know that they can find him and, and nobody wants to do it, but she, I guess, decides that she’s gonna take one for the team. So. Well, what’s kind 

Todd: of cute about this whole thing is that she actually gets kind of into him.

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: She goes over to his house to kind of pretend, to be like to a, a date, like immediately is what she does. And she’s guzzling down wine so that she can kind of get through it and, you know, she’s supposed to lure him out to this cabin in the woods basically, that they’re all gonna be at. And as he’s talking, she’s like laughing at his jokes and you can tell it’s sincere, you know?

And, and so there for a while. Yeah. She’s like kind of into him and, and it’s cute. I thought that was kind of a cute, sweet twist. So, yeah, I, I, what’s his name, ends up becoming a grave digger. Right. Because he digs the hole that they’re going to, they’re planning to put his body in. 

Craig: She sets up this date to lure him to camp.

Wanna bang me? Yeah. So that they can, and, and her brother digs the grave. So he’s a grave digger now, and they’re waiting there. For her to bring him back. But in the meantime, like you said, she’s charmed by him and he is charming. Yeah. Is he a nerd? A hundred percent. Is he charming? Absolutely. And like she’s even charmed.

Like he does. He says he does impressions and she’s like, you should show me. And the impressions that he does are so random and obscure. Like I don’t even think I knew the references. And they’re so goofy, but she’s clearly charmed. Mm-hmm. But she, well, and is it, it’s before they go to camp, wanna bang me?

I think that he’s like, do you wanna see my Shaq? And she’s like, what? That’s right. Because she’s supposed to live in a shack and he takes her out back and he’s like, this is my shack where my goat lives, Uhhuh. And he’s like, I’m gonna be a cheese maker and I’m gonna make you know, the greatest cheese. And, and he gave like, that’s, that was their date.

Like she was sampling his cheese and like, apparently it was really good. Like she was like shoving it in her mouth, Uhhuh. And he’s like. Uh oh. Like the goat makes a noise and he’s like, uhoh, she’s early. And Erica’s like, early for what? And he throws on some big rubber, rubber gloves and he’s like, get suited up.

We’ve gotta do this. And then it cuts back to the people at camp wanna bang me just being silly and joking or whatever, and then it comes back and he’s shirtless. I’m not sure why, but whatever. And he’s kind of tending to the nanny goat and she’s like, cradling this baby. I don’t know. It’s very cute. And she thinks the little baby goat is super, super cute.

And he’s like, it’s our first kid. And she’s like, what? And he’s like, yeah, it’s just our first one. We’ve gotta have a bunch more, like a hundred 

Todd: uhhuh. Cute. 

Craig: So if she marries fish Bain, she’ll have a hundred kids. Kids. It’s adorable. 

Todd: I mean, the whole byplay of kid being the word for a baby goat, I, I think that’s genius.

That, that, somebody thought of that. 

Craig: I thought it was super cute. Yeah. I, I hope that wasn’t too much of a spoiler, that it wasn’t so much that it was funny. It was just clever and sweet and then mm-hmm. I thought it was sweet, but that kind of freaks her out. So she’s like, okay, we gotta go to camp. Wanna bang me, and she takes him there.

But the other three below their cover. And he gets mad because Fish Bain gets mad because he thinks that they were just playing a mean joke on him. He really liked her and he really thought that maybe he had a chance and he thinks that’s really mean. So he just leaves and she calls after him, you know, that she’s sorry and she, you know, wants to explain, but he just leaves.

So then they’re in a pickle. But the geometry teacher or geography or whatever it was. Shows up. The one that the gay guy is supposed to marry? 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: Is he there 

Todd: in a cloak? I don’t know why he was there. It’s just one of these things that happen in these silly movies. It’s just people show up for some dumb reason.

Craig: Right. He’s there in a cloak and. The, I, I, I shouldn’t just call him the gay guy. He has a name. Andy kills him. Yeah. Like hits him in the head with a shovel and he falls into the grave. They’ve also, you know, they’ve run into each other several times before this. We have glossed over a lot. Oh yeah. Yeah.

There’s so much intentionally. Yeah, intentionally. But they’ve run into, so, so he’s been trying to avoid this guy anyway, and now here he is and they have to kill somebody, so he kills him. But we see in the background these other cloaked figures, and I won’t spoil that one, but that has something to do with the prediction for Andy’s future later too.

Yeah. Ultimately, I don’t know. Oh, they end up at Joey Fat’s party. It’s at a big mansion, and Joey Fatone is still big time into Mikayla. She’s big time into him. They’re afraid that they’re not gonna be able to. Break the curse. I really don’t remember how all this happens, but what do they just decide?

Joey Fatone gets behind like the DJ booth and he’s like, here’s a hit from a blast from the past or something, and he starts playing an NSYNC song. I don’t remember which one. Yeah, bye bye bye. Or something. I don’t remember. 

Todd: No something else. But you’re right, 

Craig: they’re like. Hey, this is our song, and they’ve got like a whole choreographed thing.

I don’t remember if at this point they’re just kind of resigned to, you know, right. They’re not gonna, I, I don’t remember. Yeah, 

Todd: it does kind of fizzle a little bit like this. It’s kind of an abrupt ending that’s not as satisfying. But there was some, somebody, I can’t remember who it was or where they found it, but it was something, some clue as to how they were supposed to be able to break the curse and had something to do with friendship.

Right. Yeah, of course that woman’s name was Sarah Friendship, and so they thought it was referencing her, but what it was actually referencing was their actual friendship. 

Craig: Right. But, but there’s also a part where, again, through some sort of exposition, maybe the crazy beekeeper tells them that Sarah friendship is actually an ancient demon.

And there’s kind of a, yeah, it’s very brief, but there’s kind of a cool little animated part that gives us exposition a lot. Oh, I liked that. That was cool. Yeah. How this demon like. You know, targeted young people. And, and she especially went to like slumber parties ’cause that’s where young friends would gather and stuff, and she would curse them.

And her ultimate objective was to break their friendships. And, and that, that kind of happens here. Like at some point they, they get into an argument and, and the other two confront Erica and basically accuse her of not being a good friend. And they’re really, you know, they, they feign this connection, but really they’re not.

Friends that they were when they were kids, and they kind of have a falling out and then they go their separate ways and then they end up back together at this party. And when they’re all on the dance floor, they’re like, this is our song. Let’s do this. And so they do a little choreograph number and it’s cute, it’s silly and simple.

It looks like something that kids would make up. They’re not very far into it. When the brother starts like retching and barfs up this purple sparkly smoke, and they’re like, what’s going on? And they’re like, wait. Uh, maybe this is it. Maybe you know, the power of our friendship can. Beat this or whatever.

So they keep doing their routine and eventually they all start barfing up this purple stuff and it turns into like, you know, the demon head and smoke or whatever. And, and then it’s gone. 

Todd: Mm. 

Craig: Yeah. And they defeated it. And, and then, you know, we get a little, it’s not really an epilogue. The movie continues where they, you know, go about their lives and Erica gets the promotion that she hadn’t got before, so she doesn’t have to be a plumber.

And it’s implied that things pretty much. Worked out. Mm-hmm. For everybody. Everybody’s okay. I think Joey Fatone is still into Mikayla, so she’s cool. 

Todd: Well, and Erica’s wants to rush home and see a fish, Bain, you know, ’cause she was so into him. So yeah. So she runs to his place and. Expects to start things back up with him.

And it turns out he’s there with all of the, I guess the dorks that they kind of hated in school. Yeah. The guy who farts all the time and whatever. He is like, oh, well come over the whole gang’s here. And she’s like, what, what, what? And then they say, yeah, we’ve just been playing this game match. It’s an app now.

Here, check it out. And she looks at it and screams and. That’s the end, 

Craig: right? Like they tell her that she’s gonna end up marrying the fart guy. Right, right. That’s right. Because they’ve been playing match. Yeah. And she’s like, ah, yeah. Right. So, and it ends that way. It’s funny, I, again, I, I. There is so many other things happen.

Todd: Oh, of course. Yeah. It’s a gag a minute, honestly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Craig: People that we didn’t mention, you know, other cameos pop up, people that you will certainly recognize and all of that is fun. It’s just not, it’s not something that you really need to pay a lot attention to. Alan and I sit every night and like play card games while we’ve got TV on in the back and, and you know, you don’t have to be, you don’t have to have your eyes glued to it.

Right. You’re really not gonna miss much. And if you miss anything, doesn’t matter. You’ll catch up. Yeah. You’ll catch up. It’s, you’ll figure it out. You’ll figure out what’s going on. So, I don’t know. I, I like, I, I would give it like a six and a half, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s fine. I didn’t love it, but I had a.

Fine time watching it. I laughed several times. There were some funny gags. All of these people are people who I think are really funny. Nikki Glaser’s part is small, but she’s funny in it. Kathy Griffin’s part is small, but she’s funny in it, and I’m a huge fan of hers. Nicole Byers, again, I’m a big fan of, so I, I definitely wouldn’t steer you away from it.

Just know what you’re getting into. It’s not a horror movie. It’s a goofy comedy, but goofy comedy can be fun, especially, you know, if you just, if you need something light, if, if the world feels heavy, this is light and it might be good. 

Todd: Yeah, you’re right. Just light, goofy comedy. A bunch of comedians in it.

And it’s about what you’d expect. And, uh, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just, uh, yeah. You know, go for it, check it out. And 

Craig: it is, again, it is just, you know, Halloween barfed all over this movie. 

Todd: Yeah. That bit. There’s always Halloween in the, in the, in the frame. And yeah, it takes place during Halloween.

There’s Halloween decorations. They’re walking down the street and the witch is showing up in different places, like by a tree that’s all decorated and things like that. It’s, yeah, it’s cute. It’s fun that way. And they end up in a big Halloween party. In, uh, Joey Fat’s house. 

Craig: Yeah. And you know, if, if your kids are the kind of kid that I was, I think that you could watch this with your kids.

If, if your kids aren’t, if swearing isn’t a big deal in your house and, you know, some, not gr you know, sexual innuendo is what it is. I, I think when I was a kid, I, I probably would’ve got that. It was supposed to be something about sex, but. That’s, it wouldn’t have known Exactly. Right? Yeah. I, I, I would feel if I had, you know, an eight, nine, 10-year-old, I would feel comfortable showing that’s, you know, that’s a personal preference thing.

But anyway, I, I recommend it. I, I think that the people that we talk to about these kinds of things are open to lots of different, we, I’ve, we’ve heard that recently from people that they appreciate that we do different types of stuff, a wide variety of stuff. And so I think a lot of you who appreciate that wide variety will enjoy this.

Todd: Well, speaking of people we’ve heard from, as I always often say, if you go to our website, you can click talk to us at the very top of the screen and you can record us a little message. And we love to hear from our fans that way. And we will play you on the air. And, uh, we wanna hear right now from Paula who sent us a message just a little while ago.

Paula: Hey guys, this is Paula Renner. I am a huge fan of yours. I’m a huge horror fan. I too am in Missouri. I’m up in St. Peter’s. Um, my, one of my dreams is to actually be. Uh, a guest on your show. I know that’s lofty, um, but why not? You only live once. Um, I was hoping you might be able to add a movie to your list.

Uh, the, let’s see. It’s called The Legend of Hell House. Uh, Roddy McDowell. Not sure if you’ve done that one. I don’t think so. I think I’ve listened to all of your podcasts, but, uh, anyway, I’m hoping this spooky season you guys can do it. And, um, yeah, let me know. Other, another one would be, um. Oh gosh, I’m drawing a blank.

I’m actually nervous ’cause I’m a huge fan of you guys. Anyway, sorry for spazzing out. I hope you guys are. Well, thanks for doing what you do and keep up the good work and I hope to hear the legend of Hell house on your show soon. Thanks. Bye. 

Todd: Legend of hell house. 

Craig: We haven’t done that yet. I love that. Yeah.

If you’re listening and you’ve ever, you know, Todd says that you can leave us a message and you thought, oh, I don’t want to do that. You should, if you have any inclination. To do it at all, don’t hesitate. I love to hear those things and it’s, it’s, it’s, of course, it’s really nice to, and, and please do leave us nice reviews, reviews online.

Please do, do that. But it is also nice to hear people’s voices. Like, I, I had a wedding and a funeral this weekend and lots of people in from out of town and I talked to some people from St. Peter’s. So it is, it’s, it’s not far from here. The world is, thank you Paul. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Thank you Paula. I, uh, I, I, we’ve not done that movie.

I’m not familiar with it, but we are always more inclined to do movies that people, you know, reach out to us about. So we’ll for sure, put it on the list, and I would imagine we’ll probably get to it sooner rather than later. 

Todd: Yeah, and thank you for the cutting words, Paula. We’re really glad that you’re a listener here.

And who knows, maybe we’ll have you on the show one of these days. Yeah, well, we’ve got one more to go and that’s gonna be on Halloween day, so I’m so excited for that one. And I hope you guys are all gearing up for a great Halloween day this year. No matter where you are in the world, you don’t have to be American to celebrate it.

Carve a pumpkin, whether your pumpkins are big or small, you know, when you’re overseas, sometimes the pumpkins are really small. Craig, I didn’t realize how large American pumpkins are compared to the rest of the world, till I started living abroad and trying to carve a pumpkin on Halloween. And it’s, it’s a challenge when they’re, you know.

Like the size of a large grapefruit. Yeah. 

Craig: I, uh, I actually decorated this year. I typically don’t decorate, but our local grocery store, our local Aldi had great big pumpkins for just like three bucks a piece. So I bought a bunch and put ’em out in the yard. Nice. It’s cool. It, it, it, it does, it, it, it sets the mood, it makes me feel good every time I pull up to the house.

Hmm. 

Todd: Little things like that really help, don’t they? Well, thank you guys so much for listening. Again, our website is chainsaw horror.com. That’s where you can leave a message like that. You can also just write us an email, post, a comment on there. You can post a comment on our Facebook or Instagram, anywhere you find us.

So you can just Google two guys in a Chainsaw podcast and you’ll. See all the little bits and places that we are online, including Patreon, which gives us you a little bit more access than everybody else for just five bucks a month. patreon.com/chainsaw podcast, you can have access to mini sos little things that we post the uncut versions of our phone calls, which often gets.

Very personal about our lives, just in case you’re interested in that, right? But we also have this wonderful book club where we are meeting wonderful people who are coming and going and reading all kinds of great books and discussing them once every couple weeks on a Zoom call. All if all, any and all of that sounds interesting to you, just go to patreon.com/chainsaw podcast for just five bucks a month.

Get access, and we would love to see you back there behind the curtain. Well, until next time, I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.