We’ve been meaning to do this one for a while. In celebration of April Fool’s Day next week, here is another 80′ slasher film starring none other than Biff from Back to the Future. Stick around for an important announcement from us at the end of the podcast.

Episode 120, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig:  And I’m Craig.

Todd:  Well, Craig, we’ve been doing this, 2 or 3 years now. Has it been 3?

Craig:  Oh, my God. I don’t know. It’s been a long time.

Todd:  Well, however long it’s been, we’ve gone this long without ever doing April Fools’ Day. And we just could not let that stand this year. And Every time it seems like you like we get we get like in the middle of april or we get to may or June and I’m thinking Oh Craig why did we miss april fools day? I I just I have an affection for this film and So we’re doing it this time yep. It’s a 1986 production We recently talked about frank minusco jr. Who produced the Friday 13th series and he produced this film as well he was looking for a little bit of a departure from the slasher movies he was famous for and this is in the same baileywick but it it’s slightly different than your average slasher little bit I had seen this movie once before and was pleasantly surprised by it this is one of those films that I don’t know about you but the the cover art is iconic Absolutely. You know, this is on every single rental shelf. I think it had a better life. It did pretty well actually in the theater, but I think it had an even better life on the VHS shelves in the rental stores than it than it did on its initial run.

Craig:  Yeah. I mean that that box art from the time I was a little kid, I remember seeing that box art. You’ve got kind of a table of I don’t even know. I mean, because it’s it’s in the background. That’s not what you pay attention to. Like, there’s a table of partygoers in the background or whatever. But in the foreground, there’s a girl standing facing the partygoers, and she’s got a braid that’s braided into a noose, and she’s got this big knife behind her back. And it’s just, I don’t know.  You know, in the eighties when I was a kid, I just thought it was like the coolest thing I’d ever seen. And for whatever reason, I don’t think I ever saw this when I was a kid. I think it wasn’t until I was an adult that I actually sat down and watch this, but I always remember that box art. It’s definitely iconic.

Todd:  Oh, same here. I’m surprised my buddies and I never picked this up because we pass by it all the time. I think we’re always interested in it but, didn’t see it until, oh shoot, probably 10 years ago. And I don’t know, Craig, I just I really liked this movie when I first saw it. It has a really cool twist in it, which we’ll get to later. So spoiler alert, if you’re interested in watching this movie, don’t listen to this podcast first. Yeah. For sure.  But then, also, I don’t know. It just has a charm. It has a charm that really gets to me. And and I wondered as I was watching it the second time if it would retain that charm even though I knew where it was going and I have to say I think I liked it even more the second time around. I really did. I don’t know if you like it as much as I do.

Craig:  Yeah. It’s I don’t know. I frankly, I don’t even remember it. Like, I remember that I had seen it, but I didn’t really remember what my feelings were about it. And watching it again this time around, I liked it and part of what’s fun of it is that it’s just a hodgepodge of these eighties actors that you’re gonna recognize from something. Like, there’s this whole group of they’re supposed to be, college age friends. I think, you know, like either near graduates or or recent graduates of college, and they all get together for this big hurrah, I guess. Many of them appeared in lots of other iconic eighties movies, and so you’re gonna recognize a lot of these faces and that’s fun.  And and there is a big twist at the end, which really distinguishes it from a lot of the other slashers of the era, because without the big twist, it would be, you know, very similar to many of the other, slashers of the day. But with the twist, it’s it’s different and and unique and and kind of fun. I don’t know that I like it as much as you do, but I I get where you’re coming from. It does have, kind of a distinct charm that the other slashers of the day didn’t have, and and for that I appreciate it at least.

Todd:  Well, I think that the thing that distinguishes it the most for me is that, you know, we usually start these out, especially you guys. Okay. So a bunch of assholes arrive at an island. But I have to say, like, these are cool people. I think what makes this compelling and what what probably what really saves it and keeps it for me anyway being compelling is it’s not a bunch of assholes. It’s just a bunch of college age people. Some of them have just graduated. At least they’re the right age.

We’re not seeing older Right. People playing teenagers. And, the first, I don’t know, 20: 30 minutes of the movie at least is just hanging out with them. You’ve got a huge cast of characters which makes it makes a little wieldy at the beginning because you don’t know who is who, and you can’t remember all their names. True. But when you say people that we recognize, maybe the most recognizable one that you’ll just kinda jump out at you when you first watch this Todd Wilson who plays Arch who also played Biff in the Back to the Future movies. Yeah. Yeah.

Todd:  And how many movies do we get to see with Biff in it? You know.

Craig:  And And he’s kinda cute and charming in this movie which is a departure from what we know him as. And and then there’s also Amy Steele who we just recently talked about. She was the final girl in, Friday 13th too. She plays Kit. And then, there’s Deborah Forman who plays Muffy. She was in a couple of things. She’s got kind of these icy Craig eyes, which is what I always remember her from. She’s she had larger roles, but I always remember her as the sexy girl from Real Genius, which is one of my favorite movies, from the eighties.  Oh. And then there are a couple of other guys too. The guy that played Rob, I think, Ken Allant. He was the lead in Just One of the Guys. Another great eighties movie. Like like like, it’s a terrible movie, but it’s so great and so eighties. Oh, that used

Todd:  to come on cable all the time, and I I used to watch it all the time. Deborah Goodrich is in this too, and she was also just one of the guys. Yep. Yep. Yeah. You’re right. None of these people none of them really. Maybe Thomas Wilson, he has a ton of credits to his name.  He’s been doing a lot of voice acting. He’s been

Clip:  Yeah.

Todd:  A lot of video games and things. But aside from him, there aren’t many of these people who went on to illustrious careers, but like Right. You said, you recognize them. They did a few things here and there, did some television work. What my understanding is, and I don’t know, I went and I read a bunch of interviews and things of the cast, is that they really had a good time making this.

Craig:  Well, yeah. I think I think I read that didn’t they get together, like, before they shot and they, you know, they like to spend a weekend together or something. Like, they really wanted to make it believable that these guys were all really friends. And that comes through, you know, when you say it’s not just a bunch of assholes. This this does seem like a group of people that could really be friends, that does come through. Like, I I really kinda got a big chill vibe from the first 30 minutes. And again, The Big Chill, one of my favorite movies from the eighties. Great movie.  This pales in comparison, but you get kind of the similar vibe that these really are people who are having fun together and who who could legitimately be friends and so that’s different. You don’t see that so often.

Todd:  And I think the other aspect of it too as it was described is that the movie takes place on an island. It’s an island owned by Muffy, the Mhmm. Dimmer form and plays Muffy. And it’s set up pretty early on from the beginning that she’s a pretty rich, well off person. At least her family’s really well off. And we’re gathering on the dock of a ferry, And apparently, this island is isolated. There’s only one ferry that goes to it, and it only goes there during the week, and then on the weekends, there’s no ferry access to it. So all these people are gonna be getting on this ferry, going to this party that Muffy is hosting, and they’re not gonna have ferry access for the rest of the weekend.  So it’s again, it’s it’s it’s sets up that classic Agatha Christie mystery atmosphere where all we’re all locked in a mansion, isolated, and and brought together at a house for a party, and there’s, like, a 1,000,000,000 of them.

Craig:  1 of the yeah. 1 of the characters even says that. I mean, there’s stuff that goes on the dock that we’ll need to talk about, but when they actually get there, it’s this big, you know, beautiful I don’t wanna say mansion, but, like, you know, a very wealthy Large house. Home. Yeah. Yeah. Large house on on this, island. They’re looking around, and one of the characters, I think it’s Rob, I don’t know, opens these big sliding doors, and it’s this big dining room, and the whole table is set, and the place settings are, you know, set up.  Little dolly.

Clip:  This is like Magatha Christie.

Craig:  I’m like, yes, Nan. Yes. It is. Thank you. It is just like Agatha Christie.

Todd:  Very pointy.

Craig:  And it does the whole movie plays out like that. I mean, it plays out just like an Agatha Christie novel. Like, was it, 10 Little Indians or or something like that? I think was the Agatha Christie novel, and it plays out very much

Todd:  like that. It’s practically the same plot in many ways. And, apparently, they stayed on this island together, and they shot it there. I mean, it’s really an island, and they actually shot it in a house on this island. Instead of, you know, normally you’d be in LA, you’d be shooting on stages or on the set, but everybody would go home or go to their hotels or whatever at night. Well, these guys hung out together even in the evenings. That added to that sense of camaraderie and stuff on the crew. So, anyway, I thought it was interesting how it started with what almost like every found footage movie starts.  Mhmm. Mhmm. It doesn’t go any further with it, but there’s a v h, you know, one of them, Chaz. He has a video recorder, and he is videotaping Nikki.

Clip:  Mhmm. Why don’t you tell us something, hey, about yourself?  Oh, alright. Something about myself. Yeah. I wanna work with handicapped children. My parents are my best friends. Oh, and I I start convent school next semester and I on the first day. April Fool.

Todd:  And others come and join them. You know, Arch comes and join them. Kit there’s a guy named Kit. There’s Skip or a gal named Kit, that’s Amy Steel. Skip, Rob, Buck, Harvey, Claire, all these people you find out don’t really know each other. They all go to the same college, I think, and they’re some of them know each other, but

Craig:  Yeah. Most of them know each other, but some of them are new. Like Buck was new and and Nate and Nan is new. Mhmm. And I don’t remember how they explained Buck’s involvement there, but Nan, Muffy met in her, like like, a drama class, like a costuming class, I think, which it it should be should be a clue, but ultimately doesn’t end up being like, it kinda feels like it kinda feels like a lost opportunity. Like, oh, well, you coulda used that, but okay. Whatever. Yeah.

Todd:  Well, she makes mention. She talks about Buffy, and and the one thing she knows is she’s such a great actress. And and and if you know what’s coming later, you know that that’s a subtle hint. I think that the dialogue here is really quite good, throughout the whole movie. I think it’s believable banter that college age people have. They’re all really easy going with each other, and they’re pretty fast and loose and free. For me anyway, right from the beginning, just these first 10 minutes, I just there’s not like, oh, this guy’s the dick. This guy is the the cool man.  This you know, there’s none of that. It’s just a bunch of pretty normal fun people. Does that make sense? No.

Craig:  It does. It does, and I agree. I mean, you know, there’s silly stuff going like, you know, they’re playing pranks on one another and they’re joking around because it’s around April Fools’ Day. There’s, you know, some flirting going on between the guys and the girls and it’s pretty overt and over the Todd, but that almost even kind of adds to the concept that they know each other and they’re comfortable with each other. So they can kinda get away with kind of like this almost aggressive sexual

Todd:  Kit and Rob are a couple, and it’s Nikki and Chaz. Right?

Craig:  Yes.

Todd:  Also a couple. So Nikki Nikki is a little I won’t say slutty, but she’s just a little more on that edge kinda girl. Chaz is the closest to the cool guy, that

Craig:  you’re gonna get. Right. Spiky hair, sunglasses, right?

Todd:  Kind of aggressive and whatnot and always, you know, joking around. And they get on this ferry and there’s a ferryman and everything kind of Todd grizzled ferryman guy, and he takes them over and they’re goofing off on this ferry, and I think it’s Arch and Skip Skip who are playing around, and they’re playing some game I didn’t quite understand. I think they were just chucking a switchblade or a knife.

Craig:  Well, the yeah. Like, they were throwing a knife in the ground. They said the game was named Stretch, I think. And so, like, I think that they, like, throw a a knife and it sticks in the ground, and they, like, they have to reach for it. And, like, whoever can stretch the farthest and reach for it without falling over wins. Oh, okay. But but then it gets ugly.

Clip:  They start arguing and causing

Todd:  a big scene, and Arch got the knife. And he finally he tosses it over to Skip who and he tosses it quite carelessly and quite forcefully, and it goes right into Skip’s stomach. And it’s pretty shocking, and Skip falls backwards and falls into the water, and everybody’s panicking, but it turns out it’s a prank.

Craig:  April fools. April fools. Yeah.

Todd:  And there’s gonna be a lot of this coming up. Right. As they’re, pulling the ferry into the dock, one of the guys has jumped into the water. Buck. The ferryman calls to Buck and is like, hey, get out, you know, so that you can tie it up and he’s like no I can do it from the water so all the kids are talking and whatnot in the meantime we keep cutting back to buck who’s waiting next to the ferry and as the ferry is approaching slight sidling up to the dock, and trying to grab the rope and toss it up, and he’s having trouble tossing it tossing it and the fairies getting closer. It’s clear that it’s gonna smash him into the dock, which it does. And he screams and there’s all this panic and as he kind of surfaces in the water, this whole side of his face is messed up. It’s like his whole eye has been taken out.

Craig:  Yeah, like he got squished between the dock post and the boat.

Todd:  And it’s it’s gross and and they’re all screaming and and they pull them out of the water and there’s I guess is it a cop on the island who has a boat?

Craig:  I can’t.

Todd:  I’m not

Craig:  I just kept right they keep calling him constable, so that’s what I

Todd:  told him. Constable Potter. Tom played by Tom Heaton, who I don’t really know, but apparently, he’s been in quite a few things. And, he died in January of

Craig:  this year. I didn’t know that.

Todd:  Yeah. Anyway, fun little trivia.

Craig:  It’s it’s kinda funny because it happened, and it’s pretty gruesome. Like, you know, the I I didn’t write down who did the effects, but whoever did them was was pretty Todd. You know, his his face is messed up and he’s screaming and he’s in pain, but, like, they literally throw him in a boat. Like, they throw him in this little speedboat, and then casts a shadow on, the weekend at least momentarily and especially for Skip because Skip kinda feels like he was the one that started this prank that got the guy in the water, and so he he feels bad. And so then he’s kinda mopey and drinky for the

Todd:  next half hour. Mopey and drinky. Now, one of them is actually, Muffy’s cousin. Right?

Craig:  Yeah. Is it Skip? I think it was Skip.

Todd:  Yeah. You’re right. So Skip is actually reveals that he’s Muffy’s cousin, early on. Anyway, they don’t let that get them down for long.

Craig:  Not long. Yeah. They get over it. Yeah. They get over they didn’t know him very well anyway.

Todd:  It It doesn’t really matter. So as you said, they go into the house and they’re probing around and they see the table and all that. And, and then it becomes a nice little montage of friendship and, toasts around the table, and then it, you know, as they make the toast, it turns out they all have dribble glasses. Then they all kind of go off to their different rooms. This is so classic, you know? Like Yeah. So it’s it’s like Agatha Christie. It’s like every Honda House movie you’ve seen. It’s like Clue.  All these people just go off to their various rooms and get settled. And as they do, they just they discover all these different pranks. There’s a, an exploding cigar on one of them that he finds, eyes in a painting that look like they’re moving left and right until they lift the painting off. It’s one of those, Felix, the cat clocks behind it that’s going left and right. There’s a water tap that one of the girls turns on in her bathroom that sprays at her, a collapsing Craig, and and weird stuff with light switches. But then, there’s some kinda disturbing pranks as well. Arch opens up his medicine cabinet and there’s drug paraphernalia in there. And Nan, here, as she’s coming out of the shower, hears a baby Craig, and it seems to really bother her, and she goes to the wardrobe and opens it up, and there’s a tape recorder inside that’s playing a tape of a baby crying.  Mhmm. And later on, we find out that this is pretty pointed. This is a reference we find out later to an abortion that apparently she had.

Craig:  That that was kinda one of the things that bothered me about these gags is because, like, it seemed kind of pointed and, like, it was a big deal, and then it was just kind of a throwaway. Like, oh, sorry. By the end? Yeah. I know. Like, lighten up. I didn’t know you would be so upset about your abortion. And some other things that I didn’t even necessarily understand, like, Harvey finds all of these, articles in, like, his dresser drawers and behind cabinet doors about car accidents. And, like, it’s never really even explained what’s going on there.  And and Nikki finds, like, bondage sex gear in her room. Yeah. But it is. I mean, it’s so Agatha Christie. It’s so, like, how are these little things tied to each individual character? Like, what is their backstory? Yeah. But it but at the same time, it’s fun and, like, and it it is fun and and that’s the fun thing about the first half hour is that it really seems like it’s all in good fun. Like, at when they’re having the dinner party, Arch Archie sits in his Craig, and it’s a really cool chair that has trick legs that, like, he flips over in. And, like like you mentioned, Muffy gives them all champagne and they drink and it’s dribble glasses.  And so, like, initially, it’s just all in good fun. It’s good times. It’s pranks. It’s April Fools stuff. And, like, you’re really kind of proud of Muffy for, like, setting all this stuff up. Like, good for you. You are a really good April fools day host. And we had seen her, again, I I mentioned it just because I feel like the first time I saw it I didn’t really pay much attention, but watching it again, like, when you very very first see Muffy, even before anybody arrives, she’s setting stuff up and her maid’s like, can I help you? And she’s like, no no no.  I just gotta get everything set up. And, like, she’s messing with

Clip:  mannequins in the basement and stuff. And, like, there’s all these

Craig:  little things that if you know what’s going on, you can kinda piece together, you know, ah, I see what she’s doing. But so then, when things kinda start to take a turn for the more dangerous, then it’s a little bit more surprising and it gives the characters motivation to question, well, you know, is it’s it’s probably just a prank. Right? Mhmm. It’s probably, you know, it’s probably nothing. Don’t worry about it, which is is kinda believable.

Todd:  And us too because we know we’re watching a movie called April Fool’s Day.

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  It’s worth pointing out too since you mentioned it that scene with Muffy, in the basement. At one point, she picks up a Jack in the Box, and she has this sort of flashback moment. And this is while the credits are rolling to, I guess, her childhood where this Jack in the Box had some significance to her. And so we get this really dreamy sequence where she’s alternately flashing back to that and turning the the knob on the music on the Jack in the Box. That comes into play later which is why we had to mention it.

Craig:  Well, and again but even that scene is kinda weird. I’m not really sure what it’s meant to signify because as she’s a kid, she, you know, turns this jack the box, and then when it pops out, it’s like this little monster. Like, it’s not like a it’s not like a fun cute jack in the box. It’s like the alien for alien pops out of it or something, but Yeah. Whatever. Anyway

Todd:  Yeah. Exactly. It almost is just a tie to the end or or

Craig:  or maybe just a setup that she has kind of a twisted humor.

Todd:  That’s how I took it. Then there’s just a series of things that happen. You know, they’re out playing soccer in the front yard and hanging out, and Nan’s reading, blah blah blah. She sees Molly go into the shed, and and that seems a little mysterious and

Craig:  Muffy. Muffy. Sorry. You’re really good with things.

Todd:  Oh my god. This is me and the names. And this is, like, 10 people. It’s almost impossible.

Craig:  It needs so many. It’s really hard.

Todd:  And I don’t remember care who’s who and how they’re related, you know, it just kinda Right.

Craig:  Doesn’t matter.

Todd:  Yeah. Skip goes into the shed for something. There’s a big shed on the ground.

Craig:  A boat house. Yeah.

Todd:  Boat house. Yeah. And and he steps inside, and he’s looking around, and then somebody grabs him from behind and pulls him into the shadows.

Craig:  And Only not before there’s a jump scare with the cat. And the only reason that I bring that up is because you said that the guy that produced this also produced, the Friday 13th movies. And I guess there are a couple of nods to Friday 13th part 2, which Amy Steel was in, and she’s in this movie too. And in the beginning of Friday 13th part 2, there’s a cat jump scare. So there’s the cat jump scare here. He’s attacked, but as will become a trend, you know, we kind of get a shot of them, you know, with a look of terror on their face, and then we kind of see them attack is the only word I can think of, but then it cuts away. We don’t actually see what happens to them. We just see them kind of get attacked and then ultimately we end up seeing the aftermath, which is kinda cool and kind of cool for a slasher movie too that there’s really not a whole lot of overt violence.  You just see kind of the beginning of the attack and then the aftermath, which, is a little bit different, but at the same time, I kind of appreciate it. And I read that because that was the case, this movie got a lot more late night TV time than a lot of the other slasher movies of the day because they didn’t have to edit it so much. There’s just really not a lot of blood and gore and that’s part of the reason why it became, you know, kind of such a late night popular movie.

Todd:  Did you ever catch us on TV?

Craig:  No, I didn’t. But I read that. So Yeah. And it was it it was on the Internet. So It wasn’t I

Todd:  know what you mean. It’s just like this is perfect USA up all night fair and to me not to for me and not to caught it on there to catch it on there was just, you know, so it’s mind blowing. So, anyway, yeah. And then later on, I’m I don’t think I’m skipping over too much here. Kit and Rob end up going into the shed, right, to make out. And as they’re laying down, they Kit Kit kinda turns her head to the side, and she can see through the floorboards to the water below, and who should float by underneath, but, Skip’s dead Todd. Skip’s pale gaunt body sliding under, which obviously freaks them out. They run outside and, try to look for it, but, you know, it’s it’s it’s not there.  And, that’s the first thing that really kinda freaks everybody out. You know, Skip has been missing, they’ve been commenting on it, and then these 2 think they’ve seen his body. At this point I think Nan confronts Muffy Muffy about the baby tape.

Craig:  Mhmm. And Hal overhears it. Now, and something else that I feel like we need to mention is that in the beginning, Muffy is this great hostess. They almost overdid it with her look, I think, but I think that they were doing that on purpose to try to have a clear distinction later on because she’s very WASPy in the beginning. Like, if you think about a movie from the eighties where they’re depicting rich eighties, like, business people in New York, like, that’s what she looks like. Like, shoulder pads and, like, you know, this very fancy outfit, and her hair is all perfect and quaffed. And, she just acts kind of waspy, like, she’s seductive, but very cool and you know, very well spoken. And then after the first night when really it’s all just kind of fun and games, they all get up in the morning and a few of them go down stairs, and Muffy’s in the kitchen and, like, she’s cooking breakfast, but she’s she looks very different.  Like, her hair is all frizzy, and she’s wearing, like, these mopey clothes. And Yeah. As soon as they come in, she’s like

Clip:  I’m not worried about those 2, Skip and Art. They’re probably playing some kind of stupid trick.

Craig:  So I just have down in my notes, Muffy is acting really weird. Like, what happened overnight that Muffy is all of a sudden so weird? Yeah. So so then when this stuff starts going down and like you said, Nan confronts her and she’s like, I didn’t think that was funny. How did you know? Did you know that one of his or like, did one of his fancy friends tell you or something? And they have this kind of terse exchange that Hal slash Harvey, overhears. But then that’s kind of the last we see of it until Kit goes to get some water for something and for some reason the water’s not working and Muffy says, well, it’s probably the water main. It breaks every once in a while. And they’re all like, oh, so we don’t have any water for the rest of the weekend? And she’s like, no, there’s still the well. So Nikki and Harvey go to the well.

Todd:  Yeah. But but before this, Arch was had been poking around the woods. I think he had been looking for, Skip, maybe? Skip.

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  Yeah. And, he he gets another nod to Friday 13th part 2. Yeah. Yeah. He gets caught in one of those weird traps that I have no idea how they even work to the point where I think they’re fake. You know? It’s like Right. Loop of rope on the ground that somehow, if you step in it, like, closes on your leg and lifts you in the air. Right.  I don’t think this is a real thing.

Craig:  I don’t know, but I loved that scene because it’s so funny because he’s walking around in the woods, and, like, then you just see, like, there’s this snake. Like, he keeps walking back and forth in the same pattern, like, right in front of this huge snake right in front of this huge snake that’s, like, like, rearing up to bite him. And, like, he’s just not like, he just doesn’t even see it. He walks in front of it, like, 4 times until he finally gets pulled up in the rope trap and, then

Todd:  Dangled in front of it.

Craig:  Then the snake is, like, pouncing at him. Like, every time he swings back towards it, it’s pouncing at him. But then some mysterious boots show up in the frame and kick the snake away. And again, he gets that very scared look on his face, and then it cuts away.

Todd:  I read, an interview with Tom Tom Wilson online about this scene, and he mentioned that, he was really nervous about the snake. And the snake wrangler, he comes up to him with his z’s, like, oh, it’s okay. It’s, you know, it’s not gonna bite you. And as soon as he opens the box with the snake, Todd the snake jumps out and bites the snake, wrangling his hand. Apparently, eventually, what they did is they put, like, a pane I did did the same thing with the cobra and Indiana Jones where they put a pane of glass between the snake and him. So it was, you know, lunging at him, but hitting the

Craig:  glass. It it was funny and and pretty scary because I’m scared of snakes.

Clip:  Oh, yeah.

Todd:  And he’s swinging back and forth and coming close to it and away from it. There’s not a lot you can do when you’re in that compromising position. And then like you said, Harvey and Nikki end up at this well to get water.

Craig:  So it’s it’s kinda goofy at first. Like, he lowers the bucket down and starts to bring it up, but it breaks. And he’s like, oh, the rope was rotten, whatever. And it’s so stupid. I don’t even know how it happens, but somehow she ends up like, he’s like, look down there and see if you can see it. So, like, she looks down there with her flashlight, and then somehow she drops her flashlight down there. Just Todd. Yeah.  Yeah. And they’re like, oh, no. What are we gonna do now?

Clip:  Well, look. There are little rounds leading down the side. So? So you better get a move on.

Craig:  Are you crazy?

Clip:  I don’t exactly relish the idea of spending the entire rest of the weekend without water.

Craig:  Well, I’m not going down there. So she starts crawling down there, and she ends up falling in, like, one of the rungs breaks or something, and she falls in. And he’s thinking about how to get her out, but then all of a sudden, Archie’s head floats up in the water. And she’s freaking out and, like, thrashing around, which then also causes Nan’s body to to rise to the top. So she’s down there with those Todd. And I thought for sure that Hal was gonna well, he he crawls down in there to to get her out. And I thought for sure somebody was just gonna close-up the well and just leave them there.

Todd:  Yeah. Yeah. It looks like

Craig:  it doesn’t. But, but no. Actually, in fact, they both get out and they, you know, go back up to the house. And at this point, they’ve seen enough dead bodies to know that they’re in trouble. So Yep. They call the

Todd:  constable. Call the constable on the phone.

Craig:  Which is which is another one of my fave like, at first, they can’t get through, but then eventually they do.

Clip:  Yeah.

Craig:  And my favorite I say that all the time. My favorite part my favorite part of the movie is that the the guy gets off the phone with the constable. It’s Rob who’s on the phone with him. And it’s funny, because when he’s on the phone, he’s like, wait a minute. What? Muffy? Oh, okay. And then he hangs up and then he doesn’t say anything about it.

Todd:  No. I didn’t get that either.

Craig:  But anyway, he’s like, the constable says we should stay together. Just wait and he’s gonna come and he’ll fire off a flare, and then we should all go down to the dock together. Since the constable said we should all stay together, let’s all split up. So that’s what they do. They all split up

Todd:  to go, like, secure the house. Todd, not yeah. They’re going up, and they’re they’re locking windows and things like that. And, Kit ends up in the study, and she sees a picture on the desk, and it’s a picture of 2 little girls, you know. And this this is the point where if as long as you’re not really stupid, you know, watching this movie, you’re starting to put you’re starting to go down the road that the filmmakers want you to go down. There’s something odd about Muffy, in case you hadn’t noticed. And she interrupts her, says some creepy stuff. We find out that Harvey brought a gun so that adds some intrigue.  All of these, these are just such classic, you know, tropes really.

Craig:  Yeah. And and there’s a moment when everybody is converged except for Muffy, and they start talking about how weird she’s acting and how she’s wearing different clothes. And, like, Nikki’s like, did you see her shoes? They’re like nurses’ shoes. What’s up with that? And they’re like, she’s acting really weird. And I don’t know. One of them says something pretty not nice about her. Kit’s like, do you understand what you’re saying? You’re saying that one of our best friends has brought us here Todd and then Muffy just kind of appears out of the darkness like she’s heard all of this. She’s like, I’m going upstairs and they’re like, we’re supposed to stay together and she’s like, this is my home.  I’m going to my room. And then they’re all like, okay. Well, that sounds like a good idea.

Todd:  Let’s just all go to our rooms. Do it.

Craig:  And and so they so they all go up to their rooms, and I feel like Muffy follows Kit or somehow they end up together.

Clip:  I just came in to make sure that everything was secure and Todd lock those windows. Good idea. Sometimes, with the tides, it could take somebody all night to get here from the mainland. And even then sometimes, they don’t make it.

Craig:  Which I thought was hilarious

Clip:  Yeah.

Craig:  Because when they made the trip from the dock to the island in the beginning of the movie, it took less than 5 minutes.

Todd:  Oh, yeah. Like like like you could almost toss a stone from the dock to the island. Like, you could see it. It seems that close.

Craig:  Like, in that beginning scene, Nikki, like, takes off her clothes to sunbathe and she has them off for, like, 1 minute before she has to put them back on because they’re there, like, but apparently at night, the tides are crazy. But meanwhile, like, Kit and Rob at some point are looking out like over the bay like watching for the for the boat, and, like, it’s totally calm. Like, nothing is

Todd:  different at all. Oh, man. Anyway, Nikki and Chaz, they argue, and, you know, they’re goofing off in the bedroom, but but they have fight. He is playing with her, and he’s putting on the different masks or whatever that they found, the s and m, like, leather mask or whatnot that that he has, and, he puts it on and flops down on the bed, and she leaves. And then she comes back, and he’s just laying there motionless, but he has his hands, like, folded over his crotch. Yeah. And she’s like, oh, cut it out. And she’s sitting next to him.  And this is a pretty creepy cool scene, I thought, because we know what’s going on. Like, he’s completely motionless, but she’s putting her shoes on. And that takes her a while to realize that he’s not moving. And then she’s like, come on. What’s going on? And, she pushes his hands away, and I guess is his dick missing?

Craig:  Yeah. I think that’s what it’s supposed to be. It looks weird. It almost looks like there’s, like, a big burn hole, like, in his Yeah. Crotchal area, but I think it’s supposed to be that his dick is cut

Todd:  off. Okay. And she freaks out and and then the closet door opens. And, again, it’s another one of those moments where we see from the the killer’s perspective towards her. Her eyes get wide, and she looks at the closet, and then it cuts away. And then, in the meantime, Kit and Rob are perusing around. And Rob Rob this is kinda stupid. Rob’s, like, I’m gonna go to the attic.  And and kids, like, why? And he says, so I can get a better view of when the constable comes. Okay. So he decides to go to the attic and she follows him, and when they’re up in the attic they find these dolls set up. Like, one sitting in a bowl just like, one and then then there’s a just a head floating in there. I guess it’s like supposed to be the, you know, representing the well or whatever. I don’t know. They’re like, look at it and they’re like, well, this is weird.

Craig:  And we find out that the constable robbed warm Todd, excuse me, the constable warned Rob about Muffy. He said, you know, don’t don’t trust her and is it at that point that they find a let- no, it’s later. It’s later that they find a letter, but we know that that the constable said don’t trust her for whatever reason. And I was kind of confused about those dolls. I thought that it was supposed to be all of them, but then the last ones that she picked up looked like a couple and they were all bloody in bed. Mhmm. Was that supposed to be Chaz and Nikki? I don’t know.

Todd:  Yeah, I think so.

Craig:  I think it was just a plot device and it made sense. And again, very Agatha Christie, you know, just these kind of clues. But yeah, so anyway, they’re still looking around.

Todd:  And they they end up going back downstairs and they find the bodies in the bed or they see blood all over the bed, I guess. And, then they stumble around. It’s it’s that classic, oh my gosh, here’s some Todd, and then they run to Muffy’s room, and they can’t get in. And when they open the door, there’s, what’s his name hanging in there? Harvey. Harvey. So then they’re like, we gotta get out of here, and they run out to the boat. And it’s when they get into the boat, that they find this letter. Right.  It’s just so funny, you know, they get there. I guess there’s no key, so they can’t quite go. But in their panic, then they Todd to to read this letter.

Clip:  Pursuant for our previous communications, please be advised that the patient in the discussion is still not been found in return to custody, is now believed to be attempting to return to a home in your jurisdiction. If encountered, exercise extreme caution and notify some new Miss Saint John has been a patient here for 3 years and is still considered incorrigibly and stable and extremely dangerous.  Miss Saint John, Muffy hasn’t been in an institution for 3 years. She’s been at Vassar.

Craig:  Hilarious. That’s so funny.

Todd:  There are a lot of great lines in this movie, I have to say. So many funny little things. But, I mean, at this point, my gosh, you know, you gotta you gotta be putting 2 and 2 together that Muffy has a twin. Right. Right? And, they look up at the house and they’re like, the doors are all closed. But they look down at the window and they say, Ah, the wind but the, you know, the window to the basement is propped open. That’s how we’re gonna get inside. And if you’ve been paying attention, earlier on, you would have seen that one of the first things Muffy was doing when she was downstairs was propping open the window to the basement.  Right. So, anyway, she they they crawl into the basement, and they have flashlights, and they see a blood trail on the floor, And it and it leads up to an area where on the wall, there is a height chart. And there’s on one side, it says Muffy, and on the other side, it says Buffy. And they’re both the same height all the way up. Right. Exactly. It’s funny. It’s like where the where the where the writer’s sitting around thinking, now what visual representation of identical twins could we present? I know a height chart.  So and and then they look up in that painting that was in their room that had the eye holes and is there, but their eyes behind it, and they go up and they pull it off the wall, and sure enough behind it is the head of Muffy, which falls falls down into her hands, and she screams and drops it, And at that point, they get pursued by Muffy. Or Buffy? Or Buffy. Yeah. Who is it, right? Must be Buffy. So, yep, they run around and they run into the kitchen. And this is a really good scene. I remember, especially when I first saw it, this this scene really freaked me out. Buffy is at the door, pounding on it and she’s inserting her knife in the crack and it’s jabbing through.  In the meantime, they’re in the kitchen. They’re they’re going through all of the the thing. They’re looking for knives or anything they can use, and they can’t. And Muffy’s like, Muffy’s like right there. And Rob ends up locking himself in the pantry. Accidentally, right? Yeah. So he’s pounding on the door. Hey, let me out, Kit.  Let me out. But but buff Buffy is coming through the the kitchen door, and so, Muffy Kit runs into the the dining room. And this is I mean, it’s a pretty standoffish scene. She’s got this big nasty looking knife and she’s coming at her and she just looks crazy.

Craig:  Yeah. She’s scary. Her hair is all frizzy and, like, she’s got the crazy eyes. And this knife is huge. It’s like a 12 inch blade knife, a little bit. She’s just kind of menacing. Like, they like they they kind of dance around the table for a while and then, Buffy gets up on the table and like, I don’t know really why Kit doesn’t just run Run. Somewhere.  She’s got

Todd:  her kind of backed up against that sliding door. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the room for her to run, to be fair. The I think that sliding doors that lead into there were the only other exit unless she tried to leap out a window or something.

Craig:  Okay. Alright.

Todd:  But, yeah, she does. It’s that classic slowly backing away from the killer, which you should never do. You know. Right. You should really just run. She swings, you know, pulls open the doors to come through the other side, and it’s just so shocking. It’s it’s so surreal. She comes into the room and there is everybody else, like everybody who was dead.  Just chilling. Just chilling, standing around silently, like, quietly chatting with each other. Nikki is there reading her Cosmo. They they have drinks. And it’s just so weird. It’s it it just jolts you.

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  And, of course, Kit stops at her tracks from behind. Muffy just stands there and lowers her knife and it turns out the whole thing was a big joke.

Craig:  It was all a big joke and it Oh Todd, it’s so funny. And then, I also love that now, okay, the first time that I watched this, for some reason going into it this time, I had it in my mind that everybody was in on it except for Kit. Like, I had it in my mind that everybody was just playing this big joke on Kit, and that’s not true. No. I I like in this moment when we know that it’s a joke and it’s dawning on Kit that it’s a joke, even though she’s pissed off about it, poor Rob is still, like, back here in the pantry and he’s he’s pounding on the door like, kid, I love you. And then Buck, from the very beginning of the movie, the guy that got smashed by the boat, Buck, like, grabs him and he starts screaming like a girl, like like he’s terrified and Buck, like, peels what turns out to be a prosthetic, that injury, off of his face and slaps it on his face and then pushes him through the door.

Todd:  And he just keeps screaming and running through the house with this prosthetic gutted face. Like, it still hasn’t dawned on him what’s going on.

Craig:  It’s really funny as it turns out. Okay. So, Muffy then explains this, and it’s a little bit like, alright. Let’s take a minute to explain the whole plot of the movie. But it goes by pretty quick, so it’s not that big a deal.

Clip:  It’s a script for weekend special. It’s gonna help me keep the house. Look. Next month, I get the house as part of my mother’s inheritance. It’s true. But only if I could show my father that it could carry itself with, taxes and expenses and all. However, the way she’s gonna sell it to the family. So I decided to turn it into a country inn.  But not just stuffy, old, run of the mill country inn. One that specializes in offering a once in a lifetime who done it weekend.

Craig:  So this was her test run for that and nobody who was there knew what was going on until they got killed except for Buck. Buck is her friend who just happens to be clearly an amazing makeup artist and the boatman was in on it. He was just playing the creepy old boat guy. He is the ferryman, but Skip, who they told everybody or who she told everybody was her cousin is actually her brother. And he even wasn’t in on it fully. He kinda knew what was going on, but wasn’t in on a 100%. So like this whole thing was a plan. It was a setup.  It’s funny. Kit and Rob are pissed about it for a second, but then they get over it and then they have a huge party.

Todd:  They’re spraying champagne all over each other and everybody’s just getting wasted.

Craig:  It’s a it’s a really fun scene and, like, the the song mama told me not to come is playing in the background. And, like, they’re they’re, like, pouring bottles of champagne over Muffy’s head and, like, they’re all having a great time. It’s and and they’re all playing with the shoving the champagne bottles into the prosthetic Muffy’s head. Like, it’s it’s really a it lasts probably all of a minute, but it’s really a fun Oh, yeah.

Todd:  Fun scene. It is. I read about this scene too. You know, the the cinematographer on this movie, which, by the way, looks beautiful. Like, the movie

Craig:  It does look great.

Todd:  Is is a gorgeous, gorgeous film. The cinematographer on this movie is, Charles Minsky, and he is a very, very accomplished cinematographer. This was actually his only his second movie, but the director said that the stuff that he was saying on the set and the suggestions he was making to the lighting guys and and all this stuff was stuff that this director then used forever after that. And he said on subsequent movies, he would make similar suggestions, you know, based on what he learned from this guy, from this movie to other people, and they’d be like, wowed. I’m like, oh, wow. Thanks. That’s really, really good. But he went on he went on to do Pretty Woman, Dutch.

Craig:  Oh, yeah.

Todd:  Yeah. Just, a lot of these movies, up to now, like, Almost Famous, You, Me, and Dupree.

Craig:  Oh my Todd. Almost Famous is an amazing movie. Yeah, right?

Todd:  That’s awesome. Very cool. Anyway, he was say he was saying during the scene, one of his ideas was we gotta go handheld and just get in the middle of this party, which is why it it kinda has that tone, that wild raucous Todd, because the camera’s just in there and it’s suddenly handheld spinning around in there and he said that the crew was a little nervous about it because they’re just spraying the champagne everywhere. And if the camera got wet, like, they’d have to send it back to the rental house and everything, and they just have to pay for it, but they were willing to do it to get the shot, and it and it worked out really well.

Craig:  It did. It’s fun. And and I I wasn’t even really paying attention, but as soon as you said handheld, yeah. I mean, obviously it is. And and that kind of makes you as the viewer feel like you’re there, you know? Like it it seems like, you know, you’re part of the party. It was it’s fun. It was a fun scene. Yeah.  And then so it leads then into the final scene where a very drunk Muffy, goes up to her room and there’s like a noose hanging on the other side of her door and she pulls it down like it’s clearly just a gag or whatever. But then she sees a gift on her bed and she opens it up and it’s the jack in the box again and she spins it right up until it should pop out and then she puts it aside. But then apparently she decides she wants it to pop out, so she grabs it again and and spins it. And I don’t remember if it pops out or not, but the point is, like, right when it should, Nan appears behind her and grabs her hair and pulls it back and slits her throat. And there’s all this blood and Muffy is freaking out, but then Muffy realizes that she’s not actually injured and, Nan comes, like, around her shoulder and shows her that it’s a fake knife and fake blood and to joke. The end end of movie. Which is, you know, kind of silly, but in keeping with the rest of the movie. What I didn’t know until today when I was reading about the movie is that there was an entire there was a whole other act Yeah.  Filmed. Like, 20 minutes long. Right. For the end of this movie that they ended up not using. And I don’t know. I, like, I don’t even know it. Can you find it someplace? I don’t

Todd:  think they said most of it’s lost, and no, you can’t really find it. I mean, the point of it, I think, was that then they all all the people left the island back on the ferry, but then they secretly looped back around and played a final trick on Molly. And I think there are a couple different versions of that. In 2 seconds. But, yeah, and and then there are a couple different versions of that too. There’s a version of that where it’s kind of benign, kinda like this ending where they play this joke on her, and it’s all funny. And then there’s even another weird apparently version that was the original version where Skip ends up getting killed in this

Craig:  prank. See, and I thought that I read that Skip kinda, like, lost it and then killed Muffy. Right?

Clip:  Oh,

Todd:  he killed her. I was thinking he lost it, and they and in the scuffle, he got killed. I don’t know. But, yeah, what a weird way to end it. It would just be the thing about the the ending that is there that I really like that I really like is that Nan is the one is the only one here who’s really been pained, you know, because Yeah. And Muffy even, like, laughs it off, which is almost like I twisted her back Todd. And she’s, like, talking with the group at the end. She’s like, I’m really sorry about all the jokes I played.  Clearly, some of them just went a little too far, and Nan just kinda gives her a look. But anyway

Clip:  Come on.

Craig:  Right. And that’s it. Like, oops. Sorry. God. Todd anyone would kind of have

Todd:  a reason to come back and actually kill her at the end, not that that’s an excuse. But, you know, in the in the in the realm of the movie, it would be Nan. And so Right. It makes sense, but then it’s nice because it’s still in keeping with the tone of the film that, uh-huh, it’s a final joke. But we are kind of on edge because we still don’t really know how it’s gonna turn out. And Sure. There’s always that moment at the, again, at the end of a slasher film, and I think this is really where the screenwriter does a great job because they’re they’re alternately they’re parodying slasher films in a way. They’re parodying Agatha Christie kinda movies in a way.  And with this ending tacked on, you’re really expecting, in many ways, the same thing as, like, at the end of Friday 13th, where there’s gonna be some actual kill or something that that that sets it up for a sequel, you know, or tells you, oh, no, the things aren’t as good as you think they were, and then ends it. It doesn’t end up being that, but I don’t know about you. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something terrible to happen to her at the end. Sure. Sure. And up until she reveals that knife is a fake, you know, you got me hook, line, and sinker.

Craig:  Well and you’re you’re kind of waiting for it because in a way, she kind of deserves it. That was a really mean trick. Like like,

Todd:  you know,

Craig:  when she explained when she’s explaining that it’s gonna be this murder mystery thing, they’re they’re, like, are you crazy? This is dangerous. And she’s, like, well, obviously, when I do it in real life, the stakes won’t be as high and the people will know. Well, like, yeah. I mean, that’s when you go to one of those murder mystery things, you know what you’re getting into. You don’t just trick your friends into thinking that people are dead. Like that’s mean. Like you are a horrible person.

Todd:  Well, yeah. Todd not only that but she’s putting people in actual peril.

Craig:  Right. And she brush she brushes that off too because somebody says that, like, you know, we were in actual danger. And she’s like, no. No. I made sure that you weren’t except for I didn’t know that Harvey had a gun and except for I didn’t know that snake would be there. I mean, like, I didn’t mean for anybody to get hurt. Oh, well, in that case fine.

Todd:  It’s it’s a movie. It’s also improbable anyway. I mean, if you look back at it, one of the first things I was thinking about this time around, because I knew, you know, the ending Yeah. Was how in the hell does Buck in the water dive underneath and

Clip:  put on

Craig:  her amazing put on a set.

Todd:  Put on some prosthetic and come back up again in the course of, like, 3 seconds. This is a prosthetic the guy’s gotta peel off his face. There’s there’s no way. And and all of these other things are just you know, again, it’s one of these deals where really? So you happen to, bet on the fact that Arch was gonna walk in that exact same spot in the woods where you’d set a trap Mhmm. Or, that Harvey and Nikki were gonna have to descend into the well because she tossed her flashlight in, or they weren’t just gonna give up getting you know? So many of these things are just, convenient. Or or the the one that’s gonna lock himself in the pantry, you know. Right. But, you know, it’s a movie.

Craig:  So One thing that I will say for it though is that the, effects, the prosthetics and the makeup are actually really Todd. And so, you know, okay. So there’s like bodies in the water in the well and then at some point Kit finds, Muffy’s head or whatever. And yeah, when you’re looking at it in the movie, you can tell that it’s a prosthetic. You totally forgive it because it’s a movie. It’s the eighties, whatever. But they’re good enough that I can almost believe that if I were in those people’s position, I might believe it.

Clip:  Oh yeah.

Craig:  Like, if I was in that well, if I was in that well and that head and that body had come popping up, heck yes. I would have been freaking out and thinking that was real and trying to get the freak out. So that says something for the people who did the effects and makeup and prosthetics. I I thought it was Todd. And you know, overall, you know, again, I miss the days, Todd, when you and I lived in the same place and we could sit together and and drink a couple of beers and watch a movie and then talk about it right after. Because now I sit in my living room, sad and alone. You and me both, buddy. And watch and watch these movies on my computer.  And, like, it’s just not the same. You gotta at

Todd:  least hook it up Todd the TV, you know.

Craig:  I know. I know. But, like, I think that if you sit and watch this movie with some friends, it’s a really fun movie. And and I think that, people who enjoy slashers, people who enjoy horror, eighties movies, whatever. You know, it’s it’s a fun movie. It’s it’s worth giving a shot. Is it a great movie? No. Is it better than a lot of the slashers that came out of the eighties? Oh, yeah.  Way better than a lot of them. I enjoyed it and it’s it’s, frankly, it’s been more fun talking about it with you than it was watching it, but it was, I liked it. It’s good. It’s it’s worth a shot.

Todd:  I don’t know. You know, like, for me even and I think this harkens back. First of all, I totally agree with you. Would have been so much more fun to watch this in person with you. But there is also you know my wife and son are visiting the states right now and so I’m here alone And I put this movie on the big screen, and I just I had to pause it after the first 5 minutes because I was just getting this vibe back to my childhood where I would stay up late on a Saturday night, just

Clip:  me Yeah.

Todd:  Laying down on the sofa under a blanket, popping some popcorn or something, and watching USA up all night. And this was like that movie, you know, this was that kind of movie. It just it was fun. I like spending time with the characters. I thought it was beautifully filmed. It just the daylight scenes, everything just gives you this warm feeling, and there’s just such a jokiness to it that really works. You know. The jokes aren’t cheesy and cool.  Some of them are, but most of them are just they’re just clever and fun, you know. It’s it’s definitely a cut above, I think, a lot of these comedies that you see, that are more groaners from these parts, and it manages to touch on all these different elements and make a pretty unique film. I mean, it didn’t have to be this unique, this high concept, but it really works. And I’m actually surprised. I guess there’s a remake. Right? Somebody did a remake or No.

Craig:  No. No. They they they made another movie. I think it was in 2,008. I don’t quote me on that, but I think it was in 2008 with the same title, but it was not a remake

Todd:  of this movie.

Craig:  I don’t think I don’t think that there has been a remake.

Todd:  Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know if a remake’s necessary really, but,

Craig:  No. I mean, I don’t know. It’s a fun premise. So Yeah. I mean, if they were if they were gonna do a remake, you know, kinda maybe keep some of the same elements, but do something different with it. But it’s a really it’s a clever idea. And it holds up, like, as

Todd:  a movie, except for a couple of the outfits. This could have been shot today. I mean, the fact that nobody has cell phones is the only other thing, but it it there’s nothing dated really about it, I think. Fun movie. I really enjoyed it.

Craig:  Me too.

Todd:  Thank you again for listening to another episode. If you enjoyed this one, please share it with a friend. I’m sad to say that we do have some bad news for you. Our loyal listeners, we have been going together for this long. But, quite frankly, as we might have alluded to here, as you could hear, we’ve, I don’t know. We’re just not quite the same when we can’t get together anymore.

Clip:  Right.

Todd:  And so this will actually be our final episode. I’m sorry, guys. We feel bad. Yeah. It’s just we’ve been trying to make it work, but, you know, life gets in the way. So April fools.

Craig:  Poor you. We’re not going anywhere. You’re not getting rid of us that easy.

Todd:  No way. You kidding me? Next month, we have a whole theme for you, and it’s don’t. Don’t. Please, stay right where you’re at. Please keep downloading our episodes. Please keep checking us out on Facebook. Please keep sharing us with your friends. We love having new listeners.  Until next time. I’m Todd. And I’m Craig with 2 Guys and a Chainsaw.