SPEAKER_01 0:00

Obsession is the 10th highest grossing film of 2026. Wow. The fifth highest horror of all time. I think when you're totally ready and willing to lean into that and you got you feel like you got nothing to lose. Like look at look at Sly and Rocky. It's probably the greatest story of that ever, of all time. Right. And so that risk taking, right? And and for you know, for Sly. Especially when you're younger or nothing. Yeah, it's this, or I'm in the sewer. And for you know, Curry Bark, it's a little bit different, but they're willing to put themselves out there. And I just, yeah, I have a lot of respect for that. You're listening to the O Brother Podcast. Real Brothers, Real Talk. Welcome to the O Brother Podcast. I'm your host, Dan Smith. Alongside me as always, my brother from the same mother, Mike Smith. Do you have the old logo there? No, that's the new logo, brother.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Are we matched?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

And mine actually says Halloween Fest. As we were coming on air, you said it's you were singing it's the most wonderful time of the podcast. Got my shirt. Yeah, I'm still in a construction zone, so this is not what I would have anticipated. I think maybe by mid-Halloween fest, I might be ready to have the full studio under uh operation. But uh I've got a couple of things on the wall here, but it's pretty bare. So my apologies to those tuning in to Mike. Another Halloween fest on the Yo-Brother podcast. We've been doing this for the last several years, and I was kind of enjoying going back and looking at not just what we've done like last Halloween Fest, which was a great lineup, I think, because we did some new, some classic, some in-between, what have you, different sort of sub-genres within horror, which is what this Halloween Fest at O'Brother is all about. It's all about celebrating and leaning into all things horror, as those watching can certainly see that from Mike's background here with the posters he's displaying tonight. I love it. I see the shining, Halloween, Halloween 2. Now, is that Halloween 2 new? It's brand new. Nice. And that might be relevant during this uh season. Might be, might be. We'll see. We got a little something for everyone this year, I think. I think so. I think so. And what I like is maybe we'll go from new to old, but tonight it's all about obsession. We're talking about obsession, and uh this came out. Mike's holding up the 4K Ultra Disc. Uh I inherited the digital code, which was great because this is one where it's got there's a featurette on there and it's got a director's commentary on there as well. So this came out in the theaters, Mike, May 15th, 2026. And this was the talk of the town this year. And it's uh it's kind of an amazing story when you think about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

It is. It was made for a shoestring budget of six, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And it did what, eight hundred plus million?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

No, no, no. It's as of today worldwide, it's done over 500 million.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

But but again, 500 million folks on a budget of less than a million dollars.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

And I know like this is a blumhouse feature. At least they're one of the executive producer. He got 17 million. So where's the rest of that money? Did these kids get paid? The ones who it's basically a YouTuber that makes was making films for YouTube. Somebody saw one of his films and said, Hey, we'd like to make it a feature. He said, Well, I'm writing this thing right now called Obsession, which would be and he sold it.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, yeah. It and that's to honestly, I think more than the film, this uh the story behind the making of it, how it comes to be, is is more interesting and enjoyable to me, honestly. I didn't I didn't 500 million plus I didn't see it. It's not a $500 million plus film. But I'm gonna let I wanna I wanna get into why I think that is. Right. Now it's not a bad, it's okay. Right. It's not the greatest in this genre I've ever seen. And I I should point out, too, at least for me, and you speak to your preferences, but for me, I'm more of a slasher horror guy. I like the Michael Myers type and those kinds of things. I like the psych psycho. Yeah, the psychological thriller, psychological. Last Halloween fest, we did Final Destination, things like that that don't really lean heavy into the gore.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

That's pretty interesting because this is kind of like Final Destination, only rethought. Because there was a kid obsessed with planes going down and people getting killed. Here it's it's a couple, but yeah, they become obsessed with each other. Well, one really comes with it.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

But but but we'll get into that and let's not get off track. So so let's get let's talk for a minute about what you were just saying, the the YouTube piece. And and so Curry Barker, who wrote and directed it, uh, along with uh he didn't co-write it, but his comedy partner, if you will, Cooper Tomlinson, who stars in the film as well as Ian. As Ian, right, they have a YouTube channel, and I don't know if it's still active at this point, they probably ditched it, but it was called That's a Bad Idea. A lot of comedy videos. It's it's it's pretty funny. I I've seen some of the content they put out there, millions of views on all their videos, right, millions of subscribers, and so on and so forth. And so they both uh they've they've they're friends, they go way back, even though they're still relatively young guys, and they drop out of film school together, which I found interesting.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Because when you watch the interviews, well, these sound like C it sounds like Spielberg talking, well, actors prefer this, and and I'm like, come on, man, you're a YouTube filmmaker.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Well, but not to dismiss it's just a different level. But that's the whole point, though, right? If you see the short that you kind of referenced, which was called by Curry Barker, which was called The Chair, you can see that on YouTube, and it it does kind of captivate you. You you kind of get sucked in, and for a low budget short on YouTube, like it's pretty decent. It's pretty good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

I hope he got paid for this. I hope that money didn't just go into A24 or Blumhouse budget. I hope the kids, and I call them kids, they're like 30 years old, but I hope like one the one, the main uh female lead in it, already has a part and a marvel in the new X-Men.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, we don't know what that is, but you're right. You're talking about Indy um Navaret, yeah, who plays um Nikki in this film. But but it's this whole thing of them being YouTube content creators, that blows up, right? And so this is where I was most fascinated, right? Because I look, I say again, 500 million plus. After having seen it, I'm like, like you said, I don't see it. So I wanted to explore that a little bit. And what's what's most interesting is that you've got this YouTube base, this really significant YouTube base, and all in addition to a a pretty young demo. So you're talking about an audience between 18 and 35, okay? And what they're looking for is something that they feel a part of, something that they feel some ownership with, right? And what better than sort of an independent DIY kind of a filmmaker than Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlins?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Isn't this like the new independent film? Yeah, it is. Make a film, put it out there. However, we talked to a guy, we were gonna interview him, and then his schedule got kind of busy, who made a Halloween film. Yeah. He kind of made a film to fit somewhere in the timeline, and he got a hell of a lot of views. A huge reception for that. Yeah, yeah. A lot of support. Yeah. So this is kind of to me the new independent. You can start on a shoestring, 750,000 to us sounds a lot, right? But to make a movie on that is absurd.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

It's crazy. And and now while the Rotten Tomatoes scores, again, for whatever credence you give that, while those are quite high, they're both in the 90s. Wow. 93 from the critics, 94 from the audience, the IMDB score is a bit more in line with where where I am. It's a 77, and I think that's fair. Yeah, me too. But but again, it goes back to this idea that that demographic, that audience consuming content in the way they do on YouTube, it's this homegrown grassroots kind of feel, I think. And so they wrap their arms around, oh, now this guy I love who's got this that's a bad idea channel on YouTube, it's got a film coming out. It's a built-in audience. It's a built-in audience.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

This thing sustained itself for like a year because of the word of mouth.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Well, now, okay, so Mike, talk about this. So you we often talk about it when we get into the box office conversation, and you always talk about the second week. Right. What's it gonna do that? Well, this is one where week three, week four, it's make it making money.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Correct. It's going the opposite way of every other film. That's unheard of. Even big films like Spider-Man, which is the most successful film of the year, that dropped substantially after week one. Now it sustained the number one spot for five or six weeks, but that's because nothing was out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So you got content like this that appeals to the demographic that's perfect for theaters, and one friend tells another friend, and we got the shampoo commercial.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

That's it. And you did great reference. You also don't need such a an expensive and overblown marketing campaign. In fact, this is another ingenious approach, which is what they do, is they there's this whole uh device in the film called the One Wish Willow. Right. And basically describe it. So it's it's this you go into one of these shops where you can get like marijuana pipes and whatever else you might find in the.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Where they would have had these, Mike, at the Infinite Mushroom. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Remember the Infinite Mushroom in Florida? Absolutely, in Orlando, yeah. So it's this, it's this like stick-like device or thing, uh uh, whatever you call Tchotchke. And you snap it in half and you make you get one wish. And it's really as simple as that premise is that you get the one wish. And and uh lo and behold, it comes true. Yeah, Michael Johnston, who plays Bear, who really is what like a perfect casting. He's you'd never heard of him before. Right. He's got the right look, he's got the right acting chops for this kind of thing. He's kind of perfect for this casting.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

He's very likable. Very likable, yeah. Um he plays a part in this, though. He's sometimes protagonist.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Well, yeah, and so let's get to that. But let me finish up on the one wish willow thing that you asked me to try to describe. So he what they do, it let me read the plot and then I'll follow up with this whole marketing campaign. So after breaking the mysterious one wish willow to win his crush's heart, so this is Bear and Nikki is his crush, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for, but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price. Okay, so that's the setup. Now, what they do is his Curry Barker's mom is a graphic designer. She comes up with this concept for the one wish willow device thing, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, it's like something you snap it in half.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Right. And so they make uh they make some of these, they create a commercial for it and they sell it. They promote the film that way so that you, this demographic, this audience that's looking for something more, don't show me a teaser trailer or promo that I can watch. Give me something that I can touch, that I can, that's tactile, that I can engage with, right? This experience. Right. And they're off to the races. Mike, these things were selling on eBay for like, I think hundreds of dollars or something. And they were selling for like $6.99. You could get one. And what a great gimmick, though. Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

So it's mentioned by him. I listened to the commentary. On the commentary, yeah. And it that didn't come up at all.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yeah. So it it's again a pretty ingenious approach to marketing the film. Now, we mentioned Michael Johnston as as the lead character, Bear or Baron, is his actual name. Right. Indy Navaret, who's kind of exploded, as you mentioned, she's now going to be in the Marvel X-Men film as an untitled character right now. Um, she plays Nikki, his crush, Cooper Tomlinson, who is again Curry Barker's sort of uh comedy duo filmmaking partner. He plays Ian, who's a buddy of his. Megan Lawless plays uh a friend named Sarah, and then I just had to mention the very brief cameo by Andy Richter as the music store manager.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Didn't who who was it gonna be? The dad? Or no, the guy that actually owned the store. They asked him to do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Which he didn't want to. And the store went out of business shortly after they filmed, I heard. Did it? Yeah, I didn't know that. Which is weird.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

But one of the houses they filmed in burned down in the Palisades fire.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

That too, right? It was all of this kind of thing. Yeah, we talked about the budget. Now, this uh has been most successful overseas, and but once again, too, m horror is bulletproof. It's just bulletproof, right? So this this proves that point again. They shot the film in like less than 30 days back in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And six days of reshoots.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Yes, that's right. That's right. But the film is so my my now I I think this is what he's going for in the film, but for me it didn't work. Like it's it's this where the you're expecting a jump scare, right? And then it never comes. Right. But I think that's actually where Curry Barker is trying to create the tension is the anticipation of something coming and it doesn't come, which I I get that, that's fair. Right. But but that that that's not what I'm looking for. I want the jump scare. I want the timing of it, I want to be good. Right. But I don't want the cat jumping off the windowsill necessarily unexpectedly. That kind of silliness. Those tropes. But um, but but it it rang almost more humorous to me than it was scary.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Well, it's funny you mention that because he he talks about there's a sequence where he wakes up and you can barely see her. She's in the corner, his girlfriend. And he he's like, What and she starts kind of throwing a fit and says, Go back to sleep, just go back to sleep. And he just lays down and go back, goes back to sleep, and she stands there watching him. And I guess in the theater, every time that gets a laugh. Now, I don't I didn't find it funny.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Well, I found it creepy. You can laugh all the way to the bank with $500 million. I I don't care if you laugh, you cry.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

I hope they got, but right, right. I hope they had some back end money.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

I'm sure. And again, I think they were making a little bit of current off of the YouTube channel at that point already.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So And that One Wish Wonder, there's one sequence I think. One Wish Willow. One Wish Willow. One Wish Willow. He called there's a phone number on it. And one point in the film, he's in the car and he calls the phone number, and it's Curry Baker that's doing the voice. Barker, but Barker. What did I say?

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Baker.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Um he's doing the voice, and he's like, Is there a problem? Do you want to take the wish back? That was pretty funny. It was pretty funny. It was. And uh, I'm trying to think of why I brought that gimmick up. Using himself as Right using himself, and also that's something you would see on one of these things. I can remember in the comic book days, you could buy a UFO called a number of cents.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yeah, send in three stamps and this. Right. What did they call them? The the you'd rip it out of the actual magazine and send it proof of purchase.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

The proof of purchase, like on the cereal boxes and so forth. You you were talking about the the his YouTube short, The Chair, his short film there that came with that he uploaded to YouTube in 2023. This producer, James Harris, I think it was, approaches him about developing that into a film or doing something as a film. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yeah, no, a full-blown film.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah. And as you said, Barker takes advantage of that opportunity to pitch him this obsession idea that he's been working on. And what's even crazier is they premiere this at the Toronto International Film Festival. Focus Features buys it for the most money ever paid for a film at a festival, $14, $15 million, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

And there was a bidding war.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

They're already off to the races with the money, with the income, right? So that's incredible. Right. Who got that money?

SPEAKER_00 18:57

That's what I wanted to know. Well, wouldn't it be them? It's their content. Literally. It's his content, but uh I'd love to ask him this question.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Not to be curious, anybody in the know, drop a comment on the video and let us know. But um also I had told you this because we we talked a little bit about obsession. I we didn't do a first look, but I know we talked about it on one of the previous episodes, because I remember saying to you he was inspired by watching the Tree House of Horror 2, the Simpsons episode. That's right. That's right. And he was apparently Curry Barker was in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He then goes home and watches the Tree House of Horror 2, and he gets this idea, but he decides not to use the monkey's paw device that's in the Simpsons episode. He goes with this one wish willow idea, which is kind of brilliant, makes it original, etc. Um, now, Mike, Obsession is the 10th highest grossing film of 2026. Wow. Okay. And look at the films that we've been reviewing over the last year. Um, the fifth highest horror of all time, Mike, behind I read second. No, you got it and first, you got Sixth Sense. Sixth Sense signs. What no, one of your favorites, I am Legend. Okay. And then I'm gonna, spoiler alert here, I'm gonna tip our hand, Mike, a film that we're gonna be covering this Halloween fest, World War Z.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Wow. So I don't know why I read something on IMDB. It said it was it it overtook signs to be on second. And of course, those both those films were M Knight Shyamalan. Sha Shaloman? Shyamalan, Shyamalan Ding Dog, close enough. But it kind of has that feel to it, right? Where I really was into this for the good first hour, but it starts to get a little bit old, it starts to get a little over the top, and a little it's a little slow.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Like to me, it never really comes. You don't really get anything deeply hard. Well, that's not exactly true. I mean, there's some graphic stuff in it for sure. And we should point that out. I mean, there are parts where it's quite violent. Right. For those that that want to know it. It's got some blood, but minimal. They made some adjustments in one sequence we won't describe because it's probably the most graphic in the film. Yeah. This death scene that that's in the latter part of the film. They did that to to get an R rating and avoid the NC seventeen rating. Really?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

This you're kidding me.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

No.

unknown 21:50

No.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Why would this be NC seventeen? I can't even think of I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Yeah. Well, one too many blunt force shots to the head, uh type thing. Hour and forty-nine minutes. That's kind of a bit of a sweet spot there.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And it was very dark and I think that goes to the budget. They just didn't have the budget to kind of light proper.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, yeah. And and again, I I didn't dislike the film. I just didn't see it as a $500 million plus, aside from all of the things that I spoke to at the the the start of the conversation, which I have mad respect for. I mean, we're sitting here doing this low budget, very independent podcast, and uh cripes. We were making videos like so many people with uh eight millimeter in the backyard years ago. Imagine if we had the tech back then. Yeah. But isn't it isn't even that though. Great, sure. That's absolutely part of it. Right. Just the I mean, uh Curry Barker, too, is credited as the editor here.

unknown 22:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

So he writes it, directs it, and edits the film, which I know a little something about.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

And but it's And he was shooting it with the editing in mind. So I don't think it was a major part of the process. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah. He's got he visualized the whole thing, which is another interesting point, right? Is how they storyboarded it. He had storyboarded everything, but then he he gets with this other um I forget who you who uh he was working with that did this, but the to storyboard it they used Unreal Engine, which is like a game, a gaming developing system that you use a 3D kind of gaming uh system.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Also, every scene in the movie is indoors, which maybe even surprises you. I don't know if you listen to the commentary.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Well, there's some driving sequences there. There's some driving sequences. They use the Yeah, the LED technology. Correct. Like the volume, but but not everything. I mean, there's some that they're literally outside for sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Well, he said they shot it all on stage.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Well, if that's true, that's that is impressive, then. That's very impressive, actually. So okay, kudos if that's true.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Um you know what what bothered me a little bit is sometimes um the female lead would go a little too over the top. And and again, it works sometimes, like when they're they're in a restaurant. Well, hold on, because we really didn't even set it up super well.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

So he makes this wish for her to love him more than anyone else in the world. That's the wish he makes. That's his wish. And that's exactly what happens to an extreme degree. And so when you talk about some of the over-the-top performance, I think that's obviously intentional because she was obsessed.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I thought there were times where it was like, oh, it's just a little too much. Like a good great scene, I thought this. Yeah, yeah, the smile, right? Like anybody who's seen that movie probably was like, that's right out of smile. Why smile? You didn't really need that shot. But there's one scene they're in a restaurant and with friends. It's like a like a local pub or something. Or librarie. Yeah, it's out of yeah, they're at a bar, I guess. Yeah. Like an Applebee's or something like that. And at one point she stands up and she's like, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Oh, that scene, yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

And I thought that was good. That was good.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Right. He talks about the the filming of that scene and how that she just sort of not improv that, but that she sort of found that rhythm on the day during the take.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

And uh And then the the kid that played the boyfriend, Michael, he didn't know what was coming many times, which made his reactions genuine.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Well, I thought you were gonna talk about this other sequence where they're out with friends again. She sort of crowbars herself in at this point to any place he's going or gonna be. And she gets up and she does this Hansel and Gretel monologue that's it is quite creepy, actually. Yeah. Her doing that by his father. Was it written by his father? I didn't know that. And most of the cast didn't hadn't heard it before. Some of the cast had never even heard that dialogue.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

They had some extras in there that he was catching for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

I think it made it even more unsettling and and got it garnered a more authentic reaction from the supporting cast in that sequence. But yeah, so it see that's the thing. There were things I enjoyed. There there were things that were creepy, a bit disturbing, and but then there's just other things that just didn't land for me.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Yeah. And I I I'm I right with you, I think. Um again, I I'm really impressed by this group of young college kids or whatever that well have the wherewithal to make this film.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

And that's where I was going. You said if we had the tech back in the day, what I was gonna say is Yeah, it's also though something that we just didn't activate at a certain point was the risk factor, the the willingness to put it all out there and completely fall on your face and risk failure and rejection and all of those things. I think when you're w totally ready and willing to lean into that and you got you feel like you got nothing to lose. Like, look at look at Sly and Rocky. It's probably the greatest story of that ever of all time. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

And so I I I read today he's begging Amazon to remake he wants to not re-edit Rocky V. Sly? Yeah. Why would you re-edit it? He thinks there's a better film there. He you mean he wants to re-edit? He wants to re-edit. Oh, really? Okay, okay. Oh, Winchester. He says that's like that film haunts him.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

She only made Rocky Balboa because he was unhappy with that. Remember, that's where we met Tommy Morrison and uh I like Rocky Fox.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

So apparently there's footage.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

I love that street fight between the two of them. And again, yeah, I'm a sly loyalist chap, but uh but but but that that again, that risk taking, right? And and for for sly, especially when you're younger. Yeah, it's this or I'm in the sewer. And for Curry Bark, it's a little bit different, but they're willing to put themselves out there, and I just yeah, I have a lot of respect for that.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Like for me, I worked my way through most of college as a quote unquote actor. I always self-deprecated and said, uh just a guy that yells boo. But we went to Japan, probably the most money I've ever made in my life over three months.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Well, it doesn't exist anymore. Give it uh give it some credit. The name of it.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Where you it was called it it was a standalone attraction at downtown Orlando called Terror. Terror on Church Street, and we made a show called Terror and took that overseas to Japan.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

And I don't think that I don't believe Halloween horror nights existed yet. No, they totally ripped us out. Well, I don't know if that's true, but well, they did.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

They saw us packing people in at Halloween.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

How do you know they? I mean, I don't know that to be true. But regardless, it was very cool. I went there and saw you many, many nights. Right. Yeah, yelling boo. Yelling boo I'm an actor. Exactly. Yeah. It was good. It was for I don't know how big it was, but it it you felt like you got your money's worth, and I think back then it was pretty cheap to get in there. I love the story. Can you tell the story real quick about the celebrity encounter that that you had there?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

I had a few actually. You thinking of Gloria?

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Okay, because I had a few. Shaq came through, other people came through, but uh Gloria Estefan came through, and I was in a cage that's totally pitch black, and I could see them because my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but they couldn't see me. And I would whisper things and I'd stick my hand in front of their face and it would freak them out. Well, Gloria Estefan's sister, I went and I put my hand in front of her face, and she went back like that, scared, and broke the nose of I think her maybe another sister or her cousin or something.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

But you said they were like very understanding about it.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

They were like so nice. Oh and and I was a uh here I am, I caused it, and I'm like, I'm so sorry. And they're like, no, they used to come every month. Not even kidding. Every month they would come through.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah, I remember seeing her on tour back then, too. She's great. Love Gloria Estefan.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

And Shaq, man. That's funny. I wish I had a camera for his reaction. He looked like a six-year-old kid.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

I could imagine helping. That wouldn't surprise me, yeah, as big as he is. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, again, I just I'm fascinated by, and I didn't even mention that you you've got another example in the same year in the same genre with backrooms. And that's over 400 million.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

And and that that kid's only 20 years old.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Yeah. It's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I think I'm gonna I want to see that one. Yes. We're not gonna cover it for Halloween Fest, but I'm curious. I want to pit it kind of against this one and see if there's similarities to kind of their styles or what.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Yeah, yeah. It would be worth checking it out. And uh I'm glad we've seen this one, and it was I think it was a good pick to kick off with. It's the newest of the films that we're gonna cover. Right. I I would have liked to have gotten Resident Evil in, but we just couldn't find room in the slate. I mean, I don't know. You know, look, it things are wild and expect the unexpected on Halloween Fest, uh, as they say. Right, you never know. You never know, but uh, it's not in the plans right now. But I was so pumped for that when I saw the trailer drop at uh Comic-Con. Yeah. So uh and it's doing very well. It did very well. Yeah, he's doing very well. River Oaks, all that shit. Little Glengarry for the folks out there. Any other tidbits, Mike, about this? Like I didn't get to listen to the full commentary. I saw the featurette, but I just kind of ran out of time during the week. So, any other tidbits there that you found uh that are noteworthy?

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Um Yeah, not really. Nothing that you know shocked me or surprised me, other than the fact that it was all indoors. Because I really bought that, and he was kind of talking through the sequences in the car, and he would say, Yeah, that's totally on a set. And I'd be like, Wow, if you didn't say it, I wouldn't know it.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

One of the things that stands out to me, I'll just kind of end on this, is the sequence they're filming, and they've got a one of the characters has to break through some glass. They have this candy glass in Hollywood, right? This breakaway glass. They had three sheets. That was it, right? First one didn't work. Yeah, well, they dropped it. The guys in the department, the art department, drop it and they break it. Second one, they smash it, but then this piece of foam comes down into the shot. The shot's ruined, they can't use it. So here it is. It works or we're done. It was one and done. And they were lucky. So miracles happen. But uh yeah, again, I'm just I'm impressed by it. I have respect for it, and um, it'd be interesting to see what they go on to do next. I just got some. Yeah, some upcoming things you can see on the IMDB there, like they're gonna blow up. So, and that's it. It's not just obviously it's everything comes down to money these days, but it's also about this sort of catapults you into another stratosphere in terms of more and more freedom. You're you're already an independent filmmaker, really. You're not beholden. Well, now you are because you're in the studio system, basically.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Yeah, and that's what they have to double care for. They have to protect their content.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Will they? Their stories, or will they just sell out to the highest bidder? I probably would sell out, but we would never do that on the Yo Brother Podcast. I mean, everything has its price, but well, there you go, Mike. It is, as the mug says, Halloween fest here at the O'Brother Podcast. And this was obsession, folks. Hopefully, we can get you to be obsessed with the O'Brother Podcast and hit that subscribe button on the YouTube channel, like the videos, download the uh audio podcast episodes. You can find us on all major podcast platforms. Appreciate it. Uh Mike, we had I want to I want to thank uh just earlier as we came on uh Nathan Pillman is our latest subscriber of the YouTube channel. Appreciate that. Continue to see uh the the channel grow. And so when you do those things, it kind of helps get the the podcast out to more and more people.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

And uh so if just like us, getting this film out to maybe a few more people, yeah, it's reached a lot.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

500 million plus is pretty good, but we want to hit that uh billion mark for the uh Curry Barker uh troupe. So yeah, yeah, again, it's I thought it was a good one, a good pick to kick off with uh per your recommendation. And uh we get it in the Halloween Fest archives, Mike. I mean, I look back just last year, Final Destination. We did weapons, we did Night of the Living Dead. I mean, it just And then you went on to meet her. I still Judith O'Day, yes. It was a fantastic encounter. We had a Comic-Con. So, but uh, we're excited to be back here at uh Halloween Fest of the Over Brother Podcast. We'll be back with much, much more this Halloween Fest season. But Mike, that's gonna do it for this episode of Halloween Fest of the Over Brother Podcast. I've been your host, Dan Smith, alongside me as always, my brother from the same mother, Mike Smith, and we will see you next time. Bye, everyone.