Send Help (2026)

Episode 487, 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: We’re going pretty modern today. This, this movie came out this year. I think it’s something that Craig saw, really enjoyed, and thought we should do. And I think you guys’ll be happy to hear us talk about it as well.

It, it involves one of our all-time favorite directors, Sam Raimi, with his newest movie. And, you know, Sam Raimi doesn’t direct too many movies these days, so- Mm-hmm … it always perks my interest very quickly the minute I see that he’s got something new on his plate, because I’ve always loved… Oh, I, I don’t… I think I’ve probably loved everything he’s ever done, honestly.

He’s just a very reliable director. He’s got a good vision. He’s got good knack for picking stories to tell, and he tells them well. This is 2026’s Send Help. Yeah, and it’s streaming right now on Hulu, right? Is it a Hulu exclusive? 

Craig: I believe so. Well, I mean, y- I think you can rent or buy it elsewhere, but- 

 Todd: No

Craig: yeah, as far as streaming is concerned, I think it’s on Hulu or Disney Plus with Hulu But yeah, it just came out this year. As of this recording, which I have no idea when this will come out, but as of this recording, it is the number one streaming film on Hulu and has been for a while. 

 Todd: Oh. 

Craig: It did surprisingly well.

It’s shot on a small budget. I wanna say it shot on a budget of, like, $40 mill- million, which is really impressive ’cause it looks really good. 

 Todd: Yeah, it does. 

Craig: Yeah. And, and $40 million is a relatively low budget for a studio film like this. 

 Todd: Nowadays. 

Craig: Yeah, nowadays. It’s Sam Raimi’s first horror movie since Drag Me to Hell, which- Wow

came out a long time ago. Sure did. Geez. Like, I don’t even remember. Like you said, he just doesn’t do as many movies as he used to anymore, but he was interested in this movie for a long time. I wanna say, like, since 2019 he had been pitching some variation of this movie. But pandemic era, they wanted to take it direct to streaming, and he didn’t want to.

He wanted a theatrical release, and so they just kept pushing it and pushing it and pushing it. And eventually he got around to it after Doctor Strange and the Multitude of Madness, or Multiverse, excuse me- Ah … Multiverse of Madness. 

 Todd: Did he direct that? 

Craig: I- yeah, I think so. Oh. And he, in that film, he worked with Amy Adams, who’s very famous for many things, but I know her mostly from Mean Girls and The Notebook, but she’s been working consistently since she was young.

She’s fantastic. And he agrees with me and recognized that, and felt like she was underutilized in Doctor Strange, and, and he really, really wanted to work with her again. She was kind of his only choice for the lead role in this film. It did great. At the box office it far exceeded expectations. Even opening weekend I think it was projected to get, like, $14 million or something, and I think it got closer to 20, like 19.1 or something like that.

Hmm. And then, I believe it opened at number one and held that position for three weeks, which is really rare- 

 Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: for horror movies because horror fans are so rabid that if there’s something that they wanna see- 

 Todd: We go see it … 

Craig: nine out of 10 times they’re gonna go see it opening weekend, right? Yeah, 

 Todd: right away.

Craig: And so then usually at least by the third week there’s a huge drop-off, and I think by the third week they had only dropped, like, I don’t remember if it was, like, $1 million or something in, in revenue and, and they still held on to that number one spot despite some other pretty big openings, so- Yeah, I, I think it kind of surprised everyone, and it surprised me because I had seen the trailer, and I really like Amy Adams.

Not only have I enjoyed her performances, but I’ve heard other professionals speak about her, other actors, other directors, and, uh, I’ve never heard anybody have a bad word to say about her. I’ve, I’ve seen her, you know, in, like, talk show appearances as herself. She seems very confident. She seems to n- really know who she is and what she wants to do.

And from very early on in her career, like after the success of Mean Girls, she probably could have gone on to do a bazillion romantic comedies, generic romantic comedies just based on her looks and obvious talent alone, but she didn’t wanna limit herself to that. She wanted to stretch herself and, and push boundaries.

And, and I think that that shows in this movie. But there are lots of things that we can talk about. One of the reasons it surprised me was because I saw some of the horror elements in the trailer, but I also saw some comedic elements, and I thought, “I’m not really sure what this is going to be.” 

 Todd: Yeah.

Craig: Going in, watching it, I was surprised, and I think that it really is a movie that blends genres really, really well and, and kind of Keeps the audience on its toes and messes with the audience. 

 Todd: It does. 

Craig: When you’ve got such a limited cast, basically these two actors, Amy Adams and Dylan O’Brien, who was the lead, I believe, in the Maze Runner film series- Oh, 

 Todd: was he?

Okay. I only saw the first one of those, and that was years ago. 

Craig: Yeah, he was al- well, he was probably a kid then. Uh, he was in another horror movie, I think, called Love and Monsters, which was a big monster effects movie, which was good. I like him too, and I think he’s a great cast for this role. But when you’ve only got two characters, typically it’s fairly established y- the dynamic and who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy.

Right. And this movie messes with you. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed … There’s so much. There, there’s so much Raimi in it. I had forgotten since the first time I watched it how action-packed it is in places, and then also how intimate and quiet it is in other places. I had kind of forgotten about all of the Raimi throwbacks, and I think a big part of that is because the first time I saw this, I had seen the trailer before the theatrical release, then I kind of forgot about it.

Then I was just flipping around on Hulu and it had just released. I was by myself and, uh, I was like, “Well, I, I may as well just watch it.” So I watched the whole thing. I liked it. Then I went to look it up on IMDb to read stuff about it, and it was only then that I realized that Sam Raimi directed it. Hmm.

So I didn’t even know until after the fact. So seeing it a second time, I was picking up on a lot more of the stylistic things that are typical of his films. And I think one of the reasons that we like him is that he is familiar in some ways. 

 Todd: Hmm. 

Craig: His filmmaking style is familiar. You know, people have various opinions on this, but I feel like Sam Raimi does fan service, and as a fan, I like fan service.

 Todd: No, as we’ve said before, we like to be serviced.

Craig: So if you can’t tell already based on my enthusiasm, I really enjoyed this movie, and I’m excited to hear what you thought of it and what you found interesting about it. 

 Todd: Well, I agree with everything you said. The other thing that I think I really like about Sam Raimi is there’s always An element of humor in everything he does.

He’s got a wicked sense of humor, and that translates through the camera. You know, it comes through the cinematography, the camera moves and things, a lot of which he developed way back when he was doing the, the first Evil Dead movie. And his colleagues on that were all childhood friends, grew up making Super 8 movies together, were remarking like, “What got into this guy?”

Like, “What is all this crazy stuff he’s suddenly coming up with now on this movie?” And so he’s just a real creative dude, and he knows how to shoot a lot of different things. And, you know, he’s done horror, but then he also did Spi- the original Spider-Man movies. Yeah. So he did superhero. He did Darkman before that, actually.

And he’s also done really sweet things. He’s done, um, A Simple Plan. Oh m- oh my God, that movie is insane, and that’s a real tense drama. And you’re right that this one has all those Raimi-isms in the filmmaking itself, but then the story also messes with us quite a bit. It, the story’s funny. In fact, it’s darkly comic.

And- 

Clip: Yeah … 

 Todd: I think that probably leads to its broad appeal. This maybe of all the movies he’s made might be his most, I mean, putting Spider-Man aside, might be his most broadly appealing film because it’s got a little bit of everything in there. It’s got a little bit of adventure. It’s got the promise of a romantic comedy.

Craig: Uh-huh. 

 Todd: It has, uh, horror elements. It has thriller elements. It, it keeps you on your toes guessing like a thriller does. You just don’t really know exactly where it’s going to go. And if… Honestly, I was a little pissed at you for the first, I don’t know, half of this movie because I was like, “Craig, we’re a horror podcast.”

“I, I know, I know Sam Raimi directed this, but come on, man. Like, we’re supposed to be doing horror movies. And just because, like, a woman thinks she sees a zombie behind her head or something like that doesn’t make this a horror movie.” But, uh, after a while, yeah, it, it became very much a horror movie, and then you could kinda see all along how it got there.

A- and it’s also really believable. There’s nothing terribly fantastic about this. I liked the characters. I thought they came across as very real, maybe a little stereotypical in the, in the- 

Craig: Sure, especially in the beginning, yeah … 

 Todd: in the beginning. Uh, you know, they’re, they’re playing it up considerably in the beginning to give you this contrast between this woman who is Linda Little, played by Rachel McAdams- 

Craig: Amy, no.

Amy Adams, right? No, no, I have it wrong in my notes. 

 Todd: Yeah, you had it wrong. 

Craig: I, I corrected it earlier. Sorry, I said it wrong the first time. Thank you. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: That’s terrible because I, I was just getting ready to go on and on about how great she is and how honestly I think that she probably- Was a huge draw.

‘Cause I think that she, if, if not necessarily as obviously, ’cause I just messed her name up with Amy Adams. I do that all the time, I mix up both up, and I, I think they’re both great actresses. I, I 

 Todd: like them both. Well, just the name. I mean, you had, you had everything else right- Right … what you were saying.

She was in Mean Girls- Right … and yeah. 

Craig: Right. But Rachel McAdams, I think is such a familiar face, especially to our generation. But because of Mean Girls cross-generationally, I think that anybody our age or younger knows that movie. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Or almost everybody knows that movie and, and, and loves that movie. I suppose I could be wrong, but I think the production may owe a lot to her appeal for at least how well it did initially.

I think she was a big draw. 

 Todd: You’re right, she does have that cross-genre appeal, cross-generational appeal. You’re right, that probably is a big, a big thing. She’s playing a, a woman who… I, I mean, it’s interesting because she comes across as just another person at a cubicle in this company, until you realize that everyone is in a cubicle at this company, except for the douchebag nepo-bros at the top.

Craig: Right. 

 Todd: The four or five high-power executives who are high-fiving each other, they’re all men, having their meetings in their glass conference room, taking credit for everything that the people below them do, disdainfully in some circumstances looking down on everybody else out there. But she actually has been at the company for a very long time.

Apparently she’s got this role to play in just doing a lot of very, very hard work. 

Craig: Well, she, she was like the president of the company’s right-hand gal. 

 Todd: That’s what I mean, yeah. 

Craig: But he died. 

 Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And, and though he had assured her that she would be getting a promotion to VP, the nepo son comes in and he’s just this, you know, dude bro.

This is… I, I was gonna say one of the few criticisms I have of it, and it’s really not a criticism because Sam Raimi is not known for subtlety necessarily- True … necessarily. And I understand that he’s establishing this contrast. So it’s easy to see the young guy, Dylan O’Brien, uh, hi- his character’s name is Bradley, of course it is.

Yeah. Bradley Preston. 

Clip: Bradley Preston. 

Craig: Right. It’s 

 Todd: a good character name, just like Linda Little. 

Craig: Yeah, yeah. It is. Yeah. It, it’s initially fairly easy to see him in that role, exaggerated as it is, but he’s condescending and nasty. On the other hand, Rachel McAdams, they try to make her a frump. They try to make her very dowdy They put a couple of prosthetic, like, warts on her face, and they’ve got her dressed in, you know, I don’t know, like an oversized sweater over, like, a men’s shirt and, like, a knee-length brown skirt and these- Yeah

you know, she points out- Crazy 

 Todd: cat lady clothes, you know? 

Craig: Y- yeah, crazy cat lady clothes. Which you can’t… Y- I mean, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder to ugly up Rachel McAdams. 

 Todd: Yeah. Well, so you didn’t, you didn’t, uh, buy it. You saw right through that. I, I thought it, she- 

Craig: Well- 

 Todd: I thought they did it… I sh- thought she came across as pretty awkward and- 

Craig: Oh, no, her performance is fantastic.

I’m just saying the appearance, even though the performance, she’s ridiculously awkward. Like- Yeah. … sh- it, it just- Yeah … you can’t argue that she’s not awkward and potentially a little annoying and, you know? 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Some people are a little awkward and annoying, and that’s fine. That doesn’t mean that you should belittle and be mean to them.

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And you, you immediately feel for her because he’s not judging her based on anything other than her appearance and the awkward interaction that they initially have where she has tuna fish on her face and accidentally spits it onto him, and he’s just actual- he’s r- revolted, repulsed, whatever. And in fact, he wants to get rid of her altogether.

But his advisor, who I think was kind of his dad’s advisor, too, says- 

Clip: Your father promised her a promotion from manager to vice president. Did he? A big bump in title and salary. Yeah. She’s been waiting for it. Right. Well, Donovan’s getting that job. Your father relied on Linda. Real workhorse. I dumped everything on her.

Does it look like I give a shit? It doesn’t, right? ‘Cause I don’t. My father’s not here anymore. It’s Donovan’s. Plus, I already told him. And move her. Satellite office maybe, somewhere far. She makes me sick. Really. We have Bangkok coming up, and we haven’t even cracked appendix D. Donovan will drown on his own.

The whole thing could fall apart without him. Okay, fine. Bring her. She’ll get Dono up to speed, and then we’ll ship her out. 

Craig: And when she finds out that she’s not getting the promotion, she confronts him, which was a l- a little bit unexpected because she seems so mild-mannered, and she is very friendly, but Rachel McAdams’ performance is great.

You can see the anger and the tension in her face and in her performance. She’s really good at expressing emotion in her face. But then the conversation between the two of them is infuriating because he’s completely condescending. He’s patronizing of her, and ultimately it’s like, “Well, you know, sometimes we gotta make hard decisions.”

Like- 

 Todd: Mm-hmm … 

Craig: he’s a real prick. 

 Todd: But then he comes in with, “But, you know, I tell you what. Why don’t you prove me wrong? Come join us on the Bangkok merger, and let’s see what happens.” And this is very much setting us up for a very particular kind of movie. We have seen this movie 1,000 times, right? At least this setup we’ve seen 1,000 times.

All right, now she’s gonna go headstrong. She’s gonna try her best to prove herself to the boss, and she’s gonna have awkward funny moments along the way and- 

Craig: And she’s going to, and then they’re gonna fall in love. 

 Todd: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 

Craig: He’s gonna realize the error of his ways. She’s gonna prove herself.

They’re gonna fall in love and live happily ever after. Yeah. 

 Todd: And that is exactly how this feels for the first, like, almost 20 minutes really of this two-hour movie. It feels like we’re diving right into that, and that’s when I was like, “Oh, Craig, come on. Tell me this takes a turn.” “Tell me this takes a turn.”

Craig: Really the only other, the only other important golfing or golfing, the only other important office moments- 

 Todd: There is golfing in the office. That is an office 

Craig: moment Yeah. Yeah, because he and his dude bro, Donovan or whatever, who he’s promoting over her who has no experience, they, like, talk about golf and are, like, putting in the office and, and stuff and- Yeah, 

 Todd: she doesn’t even golf, man.

Craig: Yeah, she doesn’t even golf. And he tells her, Bradley tells Linda, “You know, I know you’re really great with numbers and everything, but we need somebody who’s good with people, somebody who’s charming who can watch, walk into a room and, like, turn heads, you know, somebody who plays golf.” S- he’s such an idiot.

A- and that’s the only reason that I thought- It didn’t really necessarily strike me as the setup for a romantic comedy just because of how bad he is, and, like, he, he’s such an asshole that I think if this is a romantic comedy, you’re gonna have a really hard time getting me on board with this guy. Yeah.

To be fair, later in the movie I started to reconsider. 

 Todd: Yeah, ’cause there’s that role reversal and then that, you know, that’s when this becomes a very different kind of movie altogether, which we’ve seen before. 

Craig: True. 

 Todd: He really does flip back and forth with these m- I mean, kind of like chick flick genres in a way, right?

Like, in the, in the very beginning. And I love it. It’s skillfully done and it, it’s a jolting when it happens, but in a very good way. 

Craig: And, and I wanna get right back to that, but we also meet his gorgeous fiancee, Zuri, and she comes about later, so I just wanted to toss her name in there. 

 Todd: And damn she’s tall.

Craig: Oh, and gorgeous, wow. She could do way better than him, and he’s a good-looking guy. Mm-hmm. But to be fair, he is super rich, so he’s got that going for him. That back and forth, when you said there’s kind of a role reversal, I think ultimately that’s largely what the movie is about. It’s about power dynamics.

And in the beginning he has all the power and she has none. When circumstances change, that dynamic shifts, and so our perception of them starts to shift, too. And all of that happens because while the dude bros and her, first of all, after that confrontation she has to walk out fighting tears and she try, it, she tries to give herself pep talk in- the car.

And I just, I, I, I, I so felt for her. I’ve felt that way in my own personal experiences so many times. Like- Mm … don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. Mm-hmm. Don’t like, don’t let them see you cry. And I just, I, I really empathized with her, and then when she was trying to build herself up and say, “We’ll make the best of this,” and, you know, she lives alone with her bird.

She’s the sad, pathetic bird lady- … who shares toast with her bird like Lady and the Tramp. And I’m like, “This poor girl, I like her. I’m rooting for her. I’m on her side. She’s the protagonist. She’s gonna come out on top.” 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: So when she goes to the plane and they all ignore and dismiss her and are acting like assholes, and she gets on the plane, and she’s doing the work she’s supposed to be doing, trying to save them a bunch of money and time- 

 Todd: Yeah, thinking she’s really gonna impress them.

Craig: Yeah. Right. She’s giving it the old college try. She wants to prove herself. Meanwhile, they’re all up in the cabin in front of her, and Donovan, the, the best friend who’s getting the promotion’s like, “Hey, I’ve got something to show you.” And he pulls out his laptop and he pulls up this video, and it’s her Survivor audition tape.

 Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: She is obsessed with Survivor. Yeah. We saw that because she watches it at home with her bird, and she’s got, she… I don’t know if you noticed, but they panned across her bookshelf, and it was largely survivalist- 

 Todd: Yeah, that’s right … uh, 

Craig: manuals that she had there. And they’re all just laughing and laughing and laughing.

They’re such assholes. They’ve got the screen pointed at her. So- Yeah, 

 Todd: and looking over their shoulder to see that she’s seeing. 

Craig: And l- and laughing and pointing. Ugh. They’re such dicks. Good for her than when she has finished this project and is gonna save them a bunch of time and money, and in the last minute she just deletes it.

I was proud of her for doing that. 

Clip: Uh-huh. 

Craig: And then there’s a quick burst of turbulence, and the flight attendant says, “Everybody needs to sit down and put on their seatbelts.” Now, Bradley, they were all gathered around his seat, standing watching over his shoulder. So he’s already in his seat, but he just laughs and says, “Yeah, sit down and s- strap up if you’re a bunch of pussies.”

And then immediately- … we go into this huge action scene that especially watching it for the second time, I was like, “Wow-” 

 Todd: Yeah … “

Craig: this is fantastic.” 

 Todd: It, it’s, it’s classic Raimi too. It doesn’t pull any punches. These guys are getting thrown around the cabin, they’re whacking the ceiling. I thought one of them just broke his neck right off the bat.

Uh- And, and you know what? I actually, as a guy who flies really frequently, I’m, I’m often pissed at people who don’t take the fasten your seatbelt stuff seriously because I’ve been on turbulent flights before, and I know that, you know, and it’s been in the news recently, you can seriously get injured- 

Clip: Mm-hmm

 Todd: by just a little bit of turbulence that, you know, if you’re in your seat with your seatbelt on, everything’s fine, but if you’re standing or, you know, you get up to go to the bathroom even though they, everybody including the flight attendants are strapped down, you have no idea the danger that you could be putting yourself into, as well as the people around you, and that always irks me.

So I loved seeing those guys get whacked around after he said that. And this sequence is so great. It’s so great because she’s strapped in, and all of a sudden, I don’t even know how it happens, but there’s like a failure or something in one of the windows. Does something hit the window? 

Craig: I don’t know if something ex- like, a, an engine exploded or what.

Mm-hmm. But like you said, his friends, like, hit the ceiling and then hit the floor, and then yeah, one side of the plane goes out, gets… I mean, you see it get sucked out, and one guy gets immediately just sucked out with it. Donovan grabs onto her foot. She’s strapped in, and he’s like, “Help me, help me,” and then he starts saying, “Give me your seat”- Yes

and starts reaching for her seat belt. What 

 Todd: an asshole, this guy. 

Craig: I know. And then th- uh, some other asshole grabs Donovan’s leg and is holding on, and then they start fighting each other. Like- 

 Todd: Yeah, Donovan’s kicking him in the teeth … 

Craig: his teeth are flying out, and the guy, you know, before he got his teeth knocked out, he took a big chunk out of his leg.

Like, it’s just to show what terrible people these guys are. They’re not friends. Oh. They don’t care. They’re only looking out for themselves in any given moment. They’re dicks. 

 Todd: It was so satisfying seeing them get sucked out, especially Donovan, ’cause when he gets sucked out, like, his tie gets caught. 

Craig: It’s suspenders.

He’s a douchebag who wears suspenders. 

 Todd: Oh, suspenders, that’s it. And like, he, he’s, like, up against the side of the plane, and he’s getting whacked continuously. His face is getting whacked against the window right next to, to Linda, and he, he turns, he’s like going, “Do something, do something,” and she just closes the window.

And I- … laughed out loud at that moment. I, I rarely laugh out loud at movies, and I laughed out loud when she shut that window on his face. 

Craig: I thought it was very funny. And then the plane crashes. It, you know, it’s a dark and stormy night in the rough ocean, but it goes, you know, down kind of nose first, and it starts to sink and, you know, she struggles for a while, but she gets out, and they’re, we see in the dis- you know, a dark silhouette of an island in the distance, and then she wakes up, having washed up on shore.

And then we’re in a new movie. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Now we are in, you know, a island survival movie. It’s Cast Away with two people. Uh-huh. Two people with very different views of the world, two people who come from very different experiences and backgrounds. And so now it’s a, a character movie- … for a very long time. 

 Todd: With the potential of a romantic comedy coming up, because that’s immediately what you think when you see this.

A man and a woman stranded on an island who are a bit at odds at first, and now she’s got the advantage over him because he’s, he’s- his leg or something is- 

Craig: It’s injured. She says it’s not broken … 

 Todd: but it’s injured enough that the guy can barely move. 

Craig: Right. 

 Todd: And, and now she b- uh, as we know, has all the survival skills that she can’t wait to put to use, and he’s incapacitated.

Now the tables have turned, and this is perfect fodder for a Hallmark romantic comedy that you’d see- 

Craig: Uh-huh, uh-huh … 

 Todd: on TV, along with this little survival adventure thing. It’s like Romancing the Stone, you know? Or- 

Craig: Right, that’s exactly what I thought. 

 Todd: So yeah, again, I’m thinking, “Craig, come on. When, how is this possibly gonna turn horror?”

Craig: Well, I mean, there was some pretty graphic violence and gore in that plane scene. There 

 Todd: was, 

Craig: of course. I mean, Donovan smacking up against, and there’s blood everywhere, and then- His 

 Todd: face … 

Craig: I think the other douchebag, like when she, when she actually finally gets out through the side, the other dead douchebag, who’s all messed up too, kinda pops down in front of her and is a, a jump scare.

But- Mm-hmm … I get what you’re saying. It, it’s genre-bending, and up until this point, it doesn’t feel much like a horror movie. If anything, really more like a thriller up until this point. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And you could argue that it kind of remains like a thriller through most if not all of it. Just depends on how you define the genres, I guess.

 Todd: Well, we’ve done this before too, and I mean, you… A slasher is really just a murder mystery, but it’s just extremely gory, right? 

Craig: Right. 

 Todd: So I mean, you know, this is, this is… It’s fine. You… I, I see this as horror as well because there is extreme violence in here. There’s some deep, unsettling psychological things that are happening much later.

You know, one of her first orders of business is she sharpens a stick and goes out and kills a boar, and that wild boar looked like a demon-possessed crazy thing. And I loved that sequence because it sh- it’s not easy for her to kill it, and we have serious Evil Dead vibes here- 

Craig: Oh, yeah … 

 Todd: where even though she stabbed, there’s blood going all over her, and it’s like climbing on her, and it’s like spitting- It’s spit-

blood in her face. 

Craig: And snot, like thick green snot in her face, in her open mouth. 

 Todd: Oh, God, she’s digging out his eyeball, and it’s still coming. It like, yeah, that was a- That was a rabid, that’s all I can say, rabid wild warthog going after her, 

Craig: so- It would 

 Todd: be- Yeah, at that point 

Craig: I was like, “Okay.” Yeah, that surely weighs at least as much as her.

 Todd: Oh, God, yeah. 

Craig: But I mean, that’s, that’s jumping forward to kind of the extreme, but she proves from the beginning that she is self-sufficient. She can take care of herself. Like you said, she, she immediately goes to the task of making fire, collecting water, getting food. 

 Todd: Making a shelter. 

Craig: Creating a shelter.

He- for him f- first. Meanwhile, he’s being a big baby, crying over his best friend who didn’t make it apparently, and eventually when she, you know, gets fire made, she immediately makes some fish and he… She has to force-feed it to him like he’s a child and- And he’s 

 Todd: bitching about it. 

Craig: Right. But, you know, after all this, after she’s got everything all set up, there’s this…

And, and she’s fed him, there’s a scene where she’s sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean, and she’s kind of just giggling, and it seems like she’s happy- For the- … and proud of herself. 

 Todd: Yeah. Like, she’s finally in her element. She’s finally in- Uh-huh … a place she can have a degree of control, you know?

And that’s- 

Craig: Right … 

 Todd: like you said, that’s what this is all kind of about, is power dynamics and control and, and this is probably the first time in her life that, uh, she’s in this kind of position, and you can tell she’s really loving it. And he’s still treating her like a dick, so she just up and leaves for a couple days.

Craig: I think that’s my favorite part of the movie when she gets really excited. She finds a conch and she’s gonna bring it home and eat it, and he starts telling her what her priorities should be. 

Clip: We have to locate the crash site first- Hmm … and then see if there’s any survivors. So many little islands around here.

Right. Well, have you tried making a distress signal? What’s that? A distress signal, like, uh, you know, put your little bamboo sticks in the sand to spell out help. Something like that. Or a bigger fire. Get the smoke really roaring, you know? That could work. Sorry, that just wasn’t on my, top on my list of priorities.

I was busy trying to keep us alive, you know? Food, water, shelters Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right. But what about, like, GPS tracking or equipment from the plane that could’ve washed up? Have you been on the lookout for any of that? That should be your focus, okay? Yeah, but that’s not gonna- Getting us out of here, not being freaking Suzy Homemaker over here.

Craig: She never really becomes impolite, but she kind of talks back to him, I guess, and eventually he says something like, “Watch how you speak to me.” And she leaves, and it shows him sitting there just waiting for her to come back. Like, “She’ll come back. She’ll come back.” Yeah. Um, and, and time just continues to progress until he realizes she’s not coming back, and she hasn’t left him any water, and she doesn’t come back for a couple of days You know, in the meantime, he’s had no water, his shelter is blown away.

He’s, you know, just been laying there in the sun, and she comes and she gives him some water, and he wakes up, and she says, “We’re not in the office anymore, Bradley.” And like I just love that line because it conveys a much larger message, but she is making it very clear you’re not the boss here, and you need me.

I think she even… That’s what it was. She said something like, “You know you would’ve died on the beach if it weren’t for me,” and he kind of scoffs and I don’t know, he’s just really ungrateful and condescending, and that’s what sets it all off. But I love that, and it’s clear from that point on that she, the power dynamic has shifted.

And that’s when she goes and kills that huge boar, and it’s a, again, a great action piece and, and she’s sneaky. She tricks it somehow and ends up being able to jump down on it from a tree, and she 

 Todd: sp- Yeah … 

Craig: and it sprays blood all over her face, and then she comes back and just drops the severed head by Bradley, and blood shoots all over his face to his horror as well.

 Todd: It really establishes here now that not only does, is she smart enough, like not only does she have the knowledge to be able to work through this, but she’s got the, the drive and the stamina and the physical ability to get out of scrapes, to kill a boar, things like that. I mean, you know, it might be a little hard to believe, but again, this is what we see in these kind of movies.

You know, everything gets just a little bit heightened and… It’s a comedy. Most comedies are like that. Yeah, 

Craig: yeah. Raimi is not subtle. This, this boar is crazy. It’s a, it’s kind of a crazy Evil Dead boar shooting out blood and snot and, you know, chomping towards her face and stuff. And it, it… I, I, I thought it was very tense and scary and very, very bloody.

She even kind of comments on that when they’re sitting eating. She roasts at least part of the pig right away, and they’re sitting there at night eating it, and it’s so good, and they’re just, you know, like moaning, enjoying it, talking about how good it is. And they’re giggling and laughing and, and kind of having a good time.

And she says, “Just think, while you were here sitting on your pathetic butt, poor little old me was out there bringing home the bacon.” 

 Todd: No. 

Craig: And they laugh and laugh.

But it’s also at this part that you think, “Oh, here it comes. Here’s where the romance is coming,” like- 

 Todd: Yeah, ’cause he’s softening up … 

Craig: Right, he’s softening up. But then she finds a beautiful waterfall, and she is just, like you said, she’s just in her element. She is soaking this up. She’s, you know, uh, bathing in the, in the pool and putting a flower in her hair, and she just looks like she’s absolutely in paradise when- She sees a boat right offshore.

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And initially she’s super excited and runs, and she almost starts to call for it, but she doesn’t And then under her breath she says, “Not yet.” And then she goes back to camp and she doesn’t tell him. 

 Todd: Yeah, that’s where that really started to get interesting. 

Craig: Right, right. ‘Cause on the one hand, I understand where she’s coming from.

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: This is a much better life for her, and she really is in her element and it, you know, gives her agency, not only over herself, but a little bit of power and authority probably that she’s never experienced before. I get it. But if I were him Oh 

 Todd: yeah, I’d be pissed. 

Craig: Right. 

 Todd: But this is the kind of thing those dude bros would do.

The, the- Probably … take advantage of your opportunities- It’s selfish … man. When life sends you this thing, like take advantage and, and do it for yourself. You know? Don’t worry about anybody else. Like, a- and so in a way, that becomes her undoing as well, is that she is now so into this that she’s getting a little bit of this selfish dude bro mentality.

Craig: Yeah. True. But he’s getting restless, you know? They’ve been there for two weeks at this point, and he wants to build a raft, but she says that’s a bad idea. And she says something like, “Haven’t I taken good care of you?” And he gets all upset and says, “I could do it by myself,” and, “You’re fired,” and he leaves to make his own camp and there’s a whole montage of him trying and failing to em- to emulate the things that he’s watched her do.

Meanwhile, within… Th- they’re only about 100 yards down the beach from each other. They can see each other perfectly clearly, and meanwhile she’s thriving. She’s, like, making hats for herself and she’s like- 

 Todd: She’s like a total Swiss Family Robinson over there. 

Craig: Definitely. Making herself, like, gourmet meals and stuff and- On, 

 Todd: like, banana leaf plates and things.

Craig: Yeah. And the comedy, the comedy comes in here because, like, he’s doing so poorly and he has to, like, eat a disgusting bug, and like, he tries to write help on the beach and even spells it wrong. And like, come on. But ultimately it leads to him crawling back to her, tail between his legs. Yeah. And the first thing he says is, “Where did you get that knife?”

‘Cause she has, like, a, what looks like a nice kitchen knife. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And she says she found it. She said it, it washed up on shore. She’s like, “You never know what’ll wash up on shore.” And there’s a whole thing where she basically makes him- Beg … humiliate, beg- … humiliate himself. She’s sitting- It’s cute, though

there eating this feast. Yeah. It is cute. I mean, she’s putting him in his place. And, and one could argue that he deserves to be put in his place. For sure. But she’s funny. You know, she’s, she’s taunting him. She’s eating this beautiful food that she’s prepared in front… All these beautiful fruits and she’s got sushi.

She’s even made a dipping sauce for her sushi and- Oh my God, it’s 

 Todd: so funny. But, but what she’s doing is she’s throwing back at him exactly what he gave to her. She’s basically quoting his lines from way back in the office- Uh-huh … when he was patronizing her And telling her that, “Well, you know, you just need to buck up and try, and maybe I’ll give you a chance,” and blah, blah, blah.

And he sees it, and he recognizes it, and eventually he capitulates and even kind of laughs about it. 

Craig: Yeah. 

 Todd: You think, “Okay, this guy’s kind of coming around.” 

Craig: Well, but he also knows, I think, there are multiple places in this where she asserts her dominus and h- dominance and he just has to concede to it. One of the last things that she says to him is not something that he said to her, but something that he overheard her- overheard him saying to another female employee, a stereotypically beautiful woman.

He said the last question in her interview was, “How above and beyond are you willing to go for me?” 

Clip: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And she says that to him in this moment, and knowing fully what that means, he stands up and starts to undress. And she says, “Oh, stop, stop. I would never do that. I’m not like you.” 

 Todd: Yeah. So interesting, that moment.

Craig: I know. And, and I wondered, I thought maybe for a minute she would take advantage of him because- Mm … she is into him. Mm-hmm. I mean, it’s very clear that she’s attracted to him and that she’s hoping that he will come around. 

Clip: Yeah. 

Craig: At this point, I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew that something was up Because she takes him on a walk.

She says, “I wanna take you on a walk.” She takes him up this dangerous cliff. Along the way, she gives him a little lesson out of nowhere on poison berries. She’s like, “Oh, look, never eat yellow, orange or something berries, but if you’re ever unsure on if they’re poisonous, just do this,” and she smacks a- she smashes a berry on her arm, her forearm, and rubs it in, and an allergic reaction pops up.

She’s like, “That’s how you know if it’s poison.” 

 Todd: Do you- 

Craig: That seemed out of nowhere … 

 Todd: do you think that’s true? I mean, I know that they- I have 

Craig: no idea … 

 Todd: I know that they consulted actual survivalists, uh, for this- 

Craig: That’s 

 Todd: right … and was trying to make everything accurate. But that seems like… I don’t know if every poisonous berry is gonna have a skin reaction necessarily.

Craig: I almost wonder… Y- you know, I almost believe it to be true because it’s really not necessary. 

 Todd: Yeah, she could’ve just said, “These berries are poisonous, I know.” 

Craig: Right. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Right. So I, I, I don’t know, but- Huh … why put it in there if it’s not? True. Who knows? I don’t know. But anyway, she gets him up to the top of this peak and she says, “Okay, I’ve explored the whole island.

Look over there. That’s us” And then, I don’t know, she tells him where a couple of other things are, and then she points him in the other direction and she says, “You see those two big rocks that form the shape of an X?” And he said, “Yeah.” He’s like, “That whole area is just surrounded, uh, you know, covered in poisonous thorns, so don’t go over there.”

And the first time I saw the movie, I was like, “Now, wait a minute.” 

 Todd: Yeah. “

Craig: We haven’t seen her go there.” It just seemed weird. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: What, what’s happening? 

 Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: Even… I feel like even if I were him, I’d be like, “Uh, okay. Sure, I won’t, I won’t check out to see what’s over there at all.” 

 Todd: I thought I even saw on his face a little bit of what, what are you d- you know, disbelief.

Craig: Well, maybe. Maybe. A- a- and obviously it’s a setup for something and, and it, it pays off later. But on the way back, part of the cliff falls out from underneath her and, and she’s hanging very precariously by a vine and, and he saves her, and had he not been there, I, I don’t think that there would’ve been any way that she could’ve saved herself.

So I don’t know. I mean, at least… I, and I suppose if you really wanted to get analytical, you could say he needs her for survival. But it, it really appears at this point that they are growing some sort of affinity, if not romance, at least an affinity for one another. Mm-hmm. And then she tells him that she’s made some toilet wine with fermented fruit, and they get drunk on it.

And I think she accidentally calls him sweetie, but, and he calls her out on it, and she says, “Oh, that’s the name of my bird,” which I think is true But they’re drunk. And this is a really interesting scene around this campfire. Because they are intoxicated, I think both of them are a little bit looser in sharing things about themselves, and we find out some interesting things about both of them.

 Todd: Well, for his part, you can talk about her, but for his part, it turns out that he’s had a kind of a shitty upbringing. He said his dad was not great and available. He 

Craig: said, “I couldn’t tell you a thing about him.” Yeah. Mm-hmm. “I, I didn’t know him. I couldn’t tell you a single thing about him.” 

 Todd: And, you know, all this kinda tracks.

You know, I think that a lot of these, these types of people are the people who are aggressive and hyper-masculine and stuff in this way often didn’t have a good father figure around, and also are dealing with resentment from their childhood that they’re trying to overcome. And so again, this is like a typical romantic comedy moment where this guy who originally seemed unreachable or arrogant or dismissive or something like that, you find out that there’s a real good reason for it, and so now he gets a little bit of sympathy.

Craig: Yeah, and not, not only was his dad absentee, but his mother was also abusive- 

 Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: uh, emotionally and physically, so he really did have it bad. I, I think if he had just had an absentee dad, I would’ve been like, “Oh, poor rich boy. Daddy’s off making your money.” But the fact that he was also abused, you know, I, I did feel bad for him.

Clip: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: We find out she was married for 10 years, and she says, “He died.” And the guy says, “Oh, I’m sorry.” And she says, “Oh, no, no. It’s okay. He wasn’t very nice.” And we find out that he died in a car accident, and she tells this story about how whenever he would get really drunk, she would hide his car keys. But one night he got really drunk, and this is a uncomfortable scene to watch- 

Clip: Hmm

Craig: because sh- she says he got really drunk and he did some really bad things, even for him, things he had never done before. And she said, “And then, you know, he was freaking out looking for the keys. I took them out of my purse, put them on the table, poured him his last drink, and sent him on his way, and he was killed in a car accident.”

And she says, “God, I can’t believe I, I told you that. I’ve never told anybody that before.” And I don’t remember which of them brings up the line, I think it’s her, and I think it’s in reference to him. She says, “You’ve heard that old saying, ‘Monsters aren’t born, they’re created.'” And he says something like, “Yeah, I was kind of a monster.”

And she says, “Well, at least now we know it’s not your fault.” I think that’s an interesting line, and I think that it’s interesting that it comes up at this point. 

Clip: Hmm. 

Craig: Because I think right now they’re both kind of attributing it to him, but I think it applies to her as well. We just don’t have the full context to know that yet.

Clip: Right. 

Craig: At this point she makes the mistake, I think, of telling him that they should never leave, that they should stay there. 

Clip: Yeah. 

Craig: And as soon as she has done that, she wakes up on the beach sick, and I thought, “Oh, he poisoned her with those berries.” But no, I think she’s just really hungover. 

Clip: Yeah. 

Craig: So she gets up and watches him, I don’t know, stand naked on the beach, and he sees that she sees him.

So again, here we’re getting it… They’re getting more comfortable with each other. The, the romance is heating up. 

Clip: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And then there’s a big storm, and a, the tree falls, and it ruins their shelter so they have to run to a cave, and then they have to snuggle for body warmth. Afterwards she’s like, “Well, our, our shelter’s all destroyed.

I guess I was an idiot for building it so close to the, the shore.” And he’s like, “No, it’s, it’s okay.” we can build a new one. We’ll do it together.” And they do, and they work together. And he says that he wants to take a walk, and she goes with him. She starts to send him off by himself for a second, and then she kind of pauses and says, “Oh, wait, and don’t forget, don’t go over to that big X area.”

And he’s like, “Okay.” And she’s like, “Oh, you know what? Never mind, I’ll just go with you.” Yeah. So something’s going on. 

 Todd: Something’s up. 

Craig: But he’s being really nice to her, and she is receiving it. I don’t know how else to say it. Like, he’s being nice, and she’s, I guess for lack of a better word, believing it. But I was feeling a lot of tension because I didn’t know what was happening.

Is he really warming to her, or is there something else going on? Because we also saw at one point very briefly when she’s looking for him, and he kind of pops up, and it’s obvious that he’s doing something, like working on something, but we don’t get any indication of what it is. But he says that he’d like to make her dinner, and she says, “Well, that’d be nice.”

And he puts together this romantic dinner, and he’s got, like, sashimi with, uh, you know, he says it’s, like, apricot top or something. And she eats it, and she immediately starts to feel funny. She falls over in agony, and as soon as she is incapacitated, from the shoreline that’s been hidden by the foliage, he pulls out this raft that he’s apparently been making.

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: So I guess all of this has been a ruse. 

 Todd: This kind of shocked me, actually, because I thought, “Oh my God, the dickishness of this guy.” It’s back in character for who he was, but I really felt like there was some change, some appreciation, some something. I mean, if you’re gonna build a raft, why not build a raft for two people?

Craig: Well, to be fair, he had brought up the idea of building a raft- Yeah, she shot it down … for both of them together. That’s true. And she, she rejected it. She said, “Nope, that’s a last resort. We’re not doing that.” 

 Todd: And to be fair, yeah, he probably by now figured out… He, he seems to maybe have figured out she really has no intention of leaving the island.

Craig: Right. Right. Exactly. But he goes out, and, and, and it doesn’t… It also doesn’t look… I would have to go back and look again. He did take his cup. They both have cups with their names. But… And it looked like he took a couple of coconuts, but it didn’t l- look like he robbed her dry or anything. But he gets out there, and he gets over one big wave, and he yells back, “Ha ha, you, Linda.”

And then immediately another wave hits and, and totally destroys- Yeah … the, the raft, and he nearly drowns. And as he’s nearly drowning, he’s like… It’s that classic shot where he’s sinking, you know, facing upwards, and the light of the moon is illuminating from above. And he sees, like, this angelic vision of his fiance- His girlfriend.

Yeah … calling to him, but then it cuts immediately to him on the shore and Linda pulling him up, and she barfs on his face four times- Yeah. … while giving him mouth to mouth. ‘

 Todd: Cause she’s sick. Oh my 

Craig: God. From the- It’s 

 Todd: so funny. 

Craig: Oh my God. It was so gross. Like, when she barfed the first time, I’m like, “That’s disgusting.”

And then the second time I started writing in my notes, “Two times.” And then the third time, and then, “Four times.” Yeah. Full-out barf all over his face. It was so disgusting. 

Clip: Mm. 

Craig: But the next day he is apologetic and says he swears he wasn’t trying to kill her, and she says, “It’s okay, you don’t have to say that.

I believe you.” She’s being really nice. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And then she gives him a shish kabob. In two days we have watched two movies where a shish kabob has been used- … to victimize someone. 

 Todd: We sure have. 

Craig: Also in those two days we have seen movies where somebody has either drowned or nearly drowned in a submerged vehicle of some sort, which is really my worst nightmare.

Mm. And it’s just such a weird coincidence two literal days in a row. So okay. Shish kabob. 

 Todd: Same movie too. 

Craig: He’s also, he’s also a dummy because he just poisoned her and so she poisons him. She, uh, paralyzes him with a blue-ringed octopus, which they really are poisonous. But then there’s this whole scene where she does this whole thing where she’s like, “I, I grew up on a farm and, you know, any time we had dogs that wanted to roam my dad said, ‘Well, you know how you fix that.'”

And he’s completely paralyzed and she’s heating up the knife. She’s threatening to castrate him. Have you seen the movie Hard Candy? 

 Todd: Yes. 

Craig: It’s almost the exact same scene. 

 Todd: It really 

Craig: is. Really. 

 Todd: Oh. 

Craig: Because she, she take, she takes his pants off. She goes down with her hands on the knife. He can’t move, so he can’t see what’s happening.

One of my favorite lines is, “Oh, don’t be a crybaby, you’ll never miss this stuff.”

And then at one point a bunch of blood sprays up in his face, and he’s kind of moaning and crying a little bit and- Oh, we got 

 Todd: a bleeder. 

Craig: Yeah. And then she pulls up into his sight line a rat, and she says… 

Clip: No help is coming This is the way things are now and you need to just accept that You are stuck. No power, low end of the totem pole, with some asshole boss.

Just like I was. Although I’m betting I am a much nicer boss than you ever would’ve been

Except for maybe this part 

Craig: next time it won’t be a rat,” and she says, “Don’t ever mistake my kindness for weakness.” 

 Todd: Yes. 

Craig: S- and, and again, I mean, what d- what, what can he do? She does have the power. But it’s interesting then after that she tries to just carry on as though, you know, like, “Well, that happened.

Let’s carry on.” But he’s giving her the silent treatment, so she, in an effort to make nice, tries to go collect a bunch of fruit, and as she’s collecting fruit on the beach, another boat appears, and there’s no, there’s no getting out of this one. It sees her, and she knows it saw her. But she’s even more horrified when as it’s approaching she realizes that the person on the boat is his fiancee, Zuri.

And Zuri arrives, and she’s so excited, and she’s asking, you know, she’s like, “I finally found you,” and, “Is he okay? Is he okay?” And she’s like, “Oh, yeah, he’s perfectly fine.” And it’s, it’s Zuri and a guide, one guide. And she says, “Is it just you guys, or is there, like, a whole search party?” And, and the guide says, “Oh, no, it’s just us, but there are gonna be a lot of people back on the mainland excited to see you.”

They’re like, “Is the camp just over this way?” And she’s like, “Uh, uh,” and the guide says, “Well, should we just follow you?” And she says, “Yeah, just follow me. I, I know this shortcut.” And she takes them back to the danger cliff. 

 Todd: Yep. And you know exactly what’s gonna happen 

Craig: here. Yeah. But I, but I like the way that it’s done- 

 Todd: Yes

Craig: because she knows where the weak part of the cliff is, and so she just kinda sets it up that Zuri has to walk by that part. And she does, and it falls away below her, and she falls in exactly the same way that Linda had earlier. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And in exactly the same way that Bradley had earlier, the guide tries to help her, and they’re both begging Linda to help, and she’s just kind of backing away, and it’s a close-up on her face, and she’s distressed.

Cut. 

 Todd: Yes. 

Craig: And the next thing we see is her walking back to camp alone, and then she tosses the fruit down and then walks to the ocean and, and falls to her knees in the water. 

 Todd: She’s very upset, yeah. 

Craig: And then she’s morose. She’s very upset for the whole day, and, and that night she hears somebody from the beach calling her name, and when she goes out there, she sees Zuri crawling up on the beach.

“Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill me?” And she’s saying, “No, no, I didn’t try to do it.” You know, Zuri approaches her. The first time I saw it… What did you think of this the first time you saw it? Did you immediately think- 

 Todd: That it was 

Craig: her … dream, she’s crazy, she really did survive? 

 Todd: I honestly wasn’t sure.

As she started to approach her, I thought, “This is very zombie-like,” you know? And I thought, “Okay, maybe this is a dream.” And they were really making a point of, you know, how she crawled up on the beach and- 

Clip: Uh-huh … 

 Todd: and also, again, I think is another opportunity, remind us of her big, fat diamond ring Which they show us early in the movie and over and over again because it’s gonna be important later.

I love a skillfully written movie because they constantly are signposting things and setting things up for payoffs, but also making sure that you didn’t miss it. Right. I just, I love that about very competent director and, and writer. Yeah, and of course she comes up to her and she takes a swipe at her, and, uh, she disappears into nothingness.

And then suddenly a sort of a decomposed version of her shows up over her shoulder, and she screams. And of course, it’s all a vision. It’s just her guilt coming at her. 

Craig: It, it’s a dream or it’s in her head. Mm. Right. But she’s still, you know, in a bad way. Uh, but Bradley’s like, “We’re out of food. I, I saw a boar.

Will you come hunt it with me?” And, and she still, she doesn’t want to. She’s taking a day off. “

 Todd: I’m taking a sick day,” she says. 

Craig: He go- Yeah. He goes out to look for the boar, and he finds it on the beach. I don’t remember if he tries to shoot it and it runs or if he just startles it and it runs, but it had been eating something, and when he gets up to see what it had been eating, it’s Zuri’s arm sticking up out of the ground Evil Dead style.

Yes. Did you think about that? I sure did. 

Clip: I sure did. 

Craig: I didn’t the first time ’cause I didn’t realize it was Sam Raimi, but, like, it’s totally the woman’s hand reaching up out of the ground, but it’s- it’s Zuri’s hand, and we know this, and he knows this because of the huge rock on her finger. And he rage screams, which he does a lot of really great face work in this movie too.

Clip: Hmm. 

Craig: And he runs back to the camp, like, he’s clearly furious, but he confronts her calmly on the beach, and she’s like, “What- what’s- what- what’s going on? What is happening?” He- he says, “Did you kill her?” And she’s like, “What are you talking about? Who?” And he shows her the ring. And he- she knows that he knows, and she says, “It w- was an accident.”

And he says, “Well, why didn’t you tell me?” She said, “‘Cause I- I knew y- I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” And he’s like, “You’re right, I don’t believe you.” 

 Todd: No. 

Craig: And when she says it was an accident, he says, “Oh yeah, just like your husband’s death was an accident?” And when he says that, she goes for her knife, but unbeknownst to her and us, somehow he has gotten it away from her.

We’ve seen he’s had his eye on it forever. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: But she wouldn’t even allow him to use it. But when he realizes… Or excuse me, when she realizes that he has the knife, she runs, and eventually they end up in this big kind of clearing where there is a huge fight. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Like, a major incredibly brutal… You know, I always see in movies when people have these big fights, especially, like, fights that are, like, to the death presumably- Mm-hmm

in movies, they always pull punches, and in this, they don’t. These people really look like they are fighting for survival or fighting to the death. 

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: He is not afraid to gouge her eyeball almost completely out. 

 Todd: Oh my, that was gross. 

Craig: She, after that, she gets… She bites his finger, the one that he’s wearing the ring on, and gets the ring in her mouth and, like, smiles at him with it between her teeth and then swallows it.

And he attacks her and- and she gets ahold of the knife that has, you know, fallen to the ground, and she stabs him in the side. And he starts running, and she realizes that he’s running towards that rock formation, the X formation. And when he gets there, he finds a huge, gorgeous glass mansion- … overlooking a cliff.

And he makes his way inside, and she starts taunting him through the PA system or intercom system in the house, and basically she tells him, “You’re gonna be kinda mad because we could have been rescued a long time ago.” And we get some flashbacks where we see that first time that she had seen the boat, she had followed it to this mansion, and she’s known about it since then, and it’s been a while.

And she has broken into the house. She’s gotten food. That’s where she got the knife. Basically, she gives the villain monologue here. Yeah. Like, “Ha ha ha, here’s how I did it all.” Which I actually found to be a little much, but whatever. We also see what happened with Zuri. While Zuri was hanging over the cliff and the guide was trying to help, she came up, Linda came up from behind with a big rock and smashed the guy’s head in, so they both went over the cliff.

Clip: Yeah. 

Craig: But she claims she never wanted that to happen. She never wanted any of that to happen. And then she confronts him with a shotgun, and he gets down on his knees and begs. 

Clip: You were right. You were right, okay? I was, I was a piece of shit. I was a terrible person. Uh-huh. I was, uh, I was, I was a monster. I was.

I was a monster.

The way I treated everyone.

I’m so broken. You broke me. I’ve changed Really? I have. I can feel

Because of you, because I

Most incredible person I’ve ever known 

Craig: And eventually he says, “I love you.” Now, I would imagine to any thriller or horror fan, you know that he’s 

 Todd: Lying 

Craig: Full of shit. 

 Todd: Yeah, of course. 

Craig: To, you know, to try to save his own butt. The, I’m, again, it’s not a criticism because I think it’s typical. I, I, I do think that she’s out of her mind.

 Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And so it, it doesn’t seem unreal to me that she buys into it. And when he says, “I love you,” she very softly says, “Why did you make it so hard?” And he says something like, “Oh, because I’m an idiot,” or something, and she starts to smile. She starts to lower the gun, but then she notices that behind him there are two large art pieces that kind of look like- Bull heads?

bulls, kind of. Yeah. Bull heads. Abstract kind of, but they’ve got these big horns, and from one of them, one of the big horns is missing, and we see that he has it behind his back. So he kind of jumps her and he gets a hold of the gun, but when he tries to fire it, it doesn’t work, and she in the meantime had grabbed…

I don’t play golf, so I don’t know, but one of the big golf clubs. Are those drivers, the really heavy ones? 

 Todd: Yeah, one of the woods. Yeah, the drivers. 

Craig: Yeah. Yeah. And she has grabbed one of those off of a display on the wall. So when the gun doesn’t work, she hits him in the side, he falls to the ground, and then he’s standing over her, and she says something quippy and then swings it at his head, but it cuts away before.

 Todd: Oh, gosh, it’s such a great transition. 

Craig: Yeah. Oh, it’s excellent. 

 Todd: Is she swings it at his head. It’s a close-up of that club going to his head, and then it immediately switches to an actual club on a golf course whacking a ball into the distance. It’s so nice. 

Craig: It is really great. 

 Todd: Now we’re forward a year, and she is on this golf course golfing, and she’s surrounded by people.

She’s being interviewed, and someone’s asking her, “Oh, we’re here with this famous, uh-” 

Craig: Real-life survivor. 

 Todd: Yeah. The, the successful person. She’s got a book, a, a best-selling book out. Yeah. And she’s clearly 

Craig: like- She became famous when she was found alone at sea, the only survivor of that plane crash. She’s written a book.

The book’s al- It’s only been a year, but the book’s already been turned into a movie, and her next project is she’s writing a self-help book because she thinks that it’s really important that people should know no help is coming- … so you better start saving yourself. And then it’s the classic, you know, drive along the seaside into the sunset in your white convertible while her favorite song, One Way or Another by Blondie, plays.

Yeah. And also, by the way, she’s had a major Cinderella glow-up. Like- Yeah, she has. … her hair is blonde. She looks actu- ac- And that was… I, I meant to say it very early on and I kinda got off track. Again, it’s not a criticism, but it’s such a silly trope in movies. A lot of people call it the Janie Briggs trope.

“Oh, look at this girl. What a dog. What a…” You know, she’s frumpy and she’s nerdy, and she wears glasses, uh, uh, and- Right … wears her hair in a ponytail. And then there’s that montage with like Weaver. And you know, she, she takes off her glasses and pulls down her ponytail, and all of a sudden she’s a supermodel.

Yeah. Like, come on. Nobody is buying this. Um, she was gorgeous all along. Yes, she needed to wash her hair, but- That’s about it … it was fine. But I, I did find it satisfying. Now, I read somewhere, even though it, I didn’t see any Indian, any indication of it in the movie, I read somewhere that she Had taken his job.

Like, she had been made president of the company 

 Todd: That’s the impression I got, yeah. I- 

Craig: Maybe I missed something 

 Todd: I just, I don’t know, I thought I just kind of assumed it because, you know, that was her goal ultimately was to rise high in this company, and now I see her- Yeah … golfing, ’cause he was like, “You don’t even golf,” and now she’s golfing.

Craig: Yeah. 

 Todd: Just seemed like she had slipped into that role. 

Craig: I don’t know if it was for this part or another part, but they, they wanted Jeff Probst from Survivor to make a cameo. I would imagine it would probably be in this last sequence. 

 Todd: Hmm. 

Craig: But, uh… And, and he w- would’ve been happy to do it, but schedules just didn’t work out.

He was filming in Fiji with, with Survivor, so he couldn’t do it. 

Clip: Oh. 

Craig: I really liked the ending of the movie. It felt very satisfying even though… Uh, b- again, I like movies that blur the line of who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. 

 Todd: Yeah, because she’s kind of the villain here. Then again, it’s the whole she got revenge over the douchey dude bros who dismissed her earlier.

And so yeah, it’s definitely- Well, 

Craig: it’s nice. It’s, it… Even though- It’s satisfying, anyway … she kind of l- she kind of lost her mind along the way. And it’s ambiguous whether or not she literally devised her husband’s death. Right. She con- she conceded that she contributed in it by handing him the alcohol and handing him the keys.

Was there more to it than that? Was it an accident? Did she set it up? I don’t know. She certainly seems like the kind of person who would be capable of doing something like that, technically speaking. Right. You know? She could learn how to cut somebody’s brakes or something if she wanted to. 

 Todd: Sure. 

Craig: I also just think regardless of the terrible things that she did, I still am rooting for the underdog.

Like- Yeah … I don’t think you’re, I don’t think you’re ever gonna get me to root for Bradley. No. I certainly sympathized with him at points, 100%, but I’m rooting for her. 

 Todd: But he never grew. 

Craig: Not… Well- 

 Todd: That was the thing. If he had grown at any point during this, then this would be a little more nebulous. But at almost every turn, when he had the opportunity to screw her, he did.

Craig: Yeah. 

 Todd: He grabbed the raft. He had the big fight with her. He… Well, I mean, he was mad about his girlfriend at that point, but still, like, he lied to her, you know, that, “We can stay.” And of course maybe he… Of course he’s trying to save his skin, but still, when he grabs that gun from her, he goes, “Goodbye, crazy bitch from- Uh-huh

accounting.” 

Craig: Uh-huh. 

 Todd: Oh, that was her line. She’s like, “It’s…” What was her actual title? ‘Cause he could never get her title right, 

Craig: right? I don’t, I don’t know. Yeah. Something about research and development or something. I don’t- 

 Todd: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But my point is, like, if he had actually shown growth throughout this, then yeah, you know, you, it would be a little more of a blurry line.

But because he, he just kinda seemed like a douchebag throughout who none of this experience really hit him in the way… None, none of this humbled him In the way that he should’ve been humbled, then yeah, it, it definitely leans more towards, yeah, I, I’m glad that- Yeah … she, the underdog, got what she deserved.

Craig: Well, and, and- It was that kind of movie … Dylan O’Brien, the guy who played Bradley, agrees. He said that he’s Team Linda all the way. And, and I think you’re right. You know, I hadn’t really thought about it. In those momies, in those moments where I kind of sympathize with him, I think that you could argue that any time that he humbles himself in front of her, it’s out of necessity.

It’s not out of true humility. 

 Todd: Yeah. It’s, yeah, it’s for his own gain. 

Craig: Right. Right. 

 Todd: And especially early on, it’s devious. 

Craig: Yeah. So he’s a douche. I’m not saying he got what he deserved necessarily, but it’s, it’s still nice to kinda see the underdog come out on top, and not just out of luck, out of skill and strength.

 Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: You know, she’s a tough bitch. She may not look like it, but don’t mess with her. 

 Todd: Don’t try to take her j- her promotion away. 

Craig: Right. Right. So a- again, I mean, overall I really liked it. I think the success that it’s had thus far suggests… You know, a- and also because this is original IP. Is that what you call it?

Like- Mm-hmm … it’s like, like it’s, it’s not a franchise. It’s not Marvel. It’s not one of those things that already has wide audience kind of locked in. This isn’t part of a franchise. It’s not a sequel. It, it’s not based on familiar characters. And, and that’s a struggle for a lot of movies, and I think that pretty much everybody involved was pleased and surprised by how this came out, and I was pleased with it and surprised by it too, and I, I thought it was a good time.

I, I, I thought it was a lot of fun to watch. Oh my God, yes. And, and, and great performances. I think everybody involved, but specifically the two main actors, and more specifically Rachel McAdams, I think really kind of carried this movie successfully. I thought it was really good. 

 Todd: Yeah. It really was. And filmed in Thailand, not too far from…

It looks like any one of those beaches that are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from where I live. Mm-hmm. So, uh, it’s, uh Reminds me of, of home. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Thailand. Thank you guys so much for listening to us here. If you enjoyed this movie, please let us know. Just find us at chainsawhorror.com or search Two Guys and a Chainsaw Podcast.

Find us on our socials and shoot us a, a message there. We also have a Patreon, patreon.com/chainsawpodcast. For just five bucks a month, you can get instant access to us, uh, access to our complete unedited phone calls, a book club, a bunch of stuff we have going on behind the scenes. And, uh, the best thing you can do is leave us a review.

If you really enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, find your favorite review site, maybe on Apple Podcasts or something, and let us know what you thought of this episode and what you thought of our banter and our witty conversation, as long as, uh, you indeed th- found it witty. If not, uh, keep your opinions to yourself.

Until next time, I’m Todd. 

Craig: And I’m Craig. 

 Todd: With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.