RFYL 273: Scare Me

You're listening to the Run for Your Lives Podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Daphne. And I'm Pake. And this is the Run for Your Lives podcast.

This episode we are talking about the comedy horror film Scare Me, written, directed, produced, and starring Josh Rubin, and released on October 1st, 2020.

Ooh, anytime we get to do anything that Josh Rubin is associated with, I mean, I know we've only done the one episode for his hard eyes movie, but I'm always excited when we get to talk about any of his projects because he's just such a fun guy, and this movie reminded me of all the fun things. Like I had a hard time taking him seriously at times because I just kept thinking, this is like make some noise on acid or something.

Yeah. I have so many notes that are like that. Uh yeah, because it's just he he's someone who can make basic sounds and facial expressions.

Yeah.

He's he's a noise boy.

Yes.

Through and through. Um he's yeah, one of my favorite comedians, but also, yeah, the one of the noise boys, uh, Josh Rubin, which of course is a dropout series. Um, make some noise where different comedians, uh improv comedians and impressionists and all kinds of people come in and just get surprise prompts of like mini impressions or weird little like improv scenes that take like 10 seconds for them to do. And it it's it's hilarious, but it's just on the spot, see if you can do these comedic things and sound effects and all kinds of stuff. So he's perfect for that. So you see all of that really like come through in this movie. You he really got to just show off his noise boy skills um a lot, which is awesome. And I will say, because we talk I talk about dropout a lot on Buffalo Buffalo, especially, but even on here sometimes when we just did Hundreds of Beavers, which is streaming on Dropout, they got the rights to it, which is the reason we did it, honestly, at least that's why I picked it. Uh so Josh Rubin's on all kinds of shows. So make some noise or uh Game Changer. He's done there's hilarious bits he's done on Game Changer and some other stuff. Drop out six bucks a month. So if anyone who's listening to this decides to give it a shot, let me know and I will give you the list of Josh Rubin must-watches. I will tell you what to go, I will tell you what to go watch and what to see for him because he's phenomenal.

Yeah, it's so entertaining. There were things that happened in this movie, it made me think of Sam Reich and Game Changer and make some noise, and how I feel like everything is set up to entertain him. Like all of these things make him laugh. And I feel like this movie was set up to make Josh Rubin laugh. Like he got to do a bunch of things that maybe he'd wanted to do and hadn't had the opportunity because it didn't really fit into something. And it made me laugh so much at a time that I really needed the laughter. So I'm really glad that we covered this one. Thank you, Wheel, for giving us this.

Yes. Yeah, no, this was definitely just, I mean, a passion project, but selfish just for him to have fun. Because also with it being released in October 2020. So this was like a COVID thing, which is probably why there are three people, four people in the movie, you know, really. Is it's all just kind of, I'm sure they had to social distance and then like pod together, then they can film and like remember all those things back in those days?

Oh my gosh. That seems like twenty years ago now.

I know. Uh so it gave him an excuse to force some of his favorite other like improvisers and comedians and impressionists to live in a cabin with him for however long and film this thing, I'm sure.

So like Oh man. There's so much to with the character of Fred that it kind of is like peeling things back throughout the whole movie till we get to the end, which honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending. So I think that when we talk about it, that will help me kind of process through like what I was thinking. But there were so many things that made me laugh, and he's just such an animated guy, and he's a great storyteller. Even when he's playing a storyteller, he's great, and so that's what I kept taking from it. So before we deep dive into the movie, uh let's do our production notes. It was filmed in Woodstock, New York. It is the first film from Hard Eyes director Josh Rubin. We did cover Hard Eyes in episode 208, which was in season nine of Run for Your Lives. There's No Budget or Box Office. It was released by Shudder after it had premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. 104 minutes long, pake. Give us a synopsis.

Alright. During a power outage, two strangers tell scary stories. The more Fred and Fanny commit to their tales, the more the stories come to life in their Catskills cabin. The horrors of reality manifest when Fred confronts his ultimate fear. Uh, maybe. I don't know.

I don't know about that. I don't know about his ultimate fear.

Like It's the only one IMDB had, and I couldn't think of anything different to the end, because it's like, I mean, I guess he's confronting the fears that manifest in his head that create whatever he is.

Uh he's a complicated guy.

And they leave it very amb ambiguous at the end to where even you still don't know who he really was or what he would be capable of, because I mean some of his last words are still like I was just kidding. So it's like, what but were you? But d you don't know.

And they never answer that, which Yeah, I have questions regarding his ex-girlfriend and exactly how intense things got for her to get a restraining order. Yeah. Although he says it wasn't a restraining order, it was a protection order. And Fanny tries to talk about it being a restraining order. And I do have to wonder, I mean, how much of this was a fever dream in his head? Did Fanny really exist? Like, I started to wonder if she was just someone in his head that was antagonizing, or maybe it's the part of his personality that was the imposter syndrome.

Yeah. Of this famous, successful writer that's constantly belittling him in a fun way. Yeah.

Yeah. And I mean, imposter syndrome is a real thing. Whenever you start something new, especially you're learning, and it can get real easy to get deep in your head and thinking that you don't belong, or that you're not good enough, or that no one's gonna listen, or you know, any of those things. And then you have to come to terms with it yourself and saying, you know what? My reason for doing it isn't for all of that. It's for me, for my own personal reasons, not to impress anyone else. You have to do it for yourself. You can't do it for everyone else. Because if you can focus on that, then it will be a lot more fun. At least it has been for me. I've had more fun since I started letting go and just really letting myself be more fun and quirky and just letting more being more relaxed during recordings. And then again, maybe nobody's noticed any difference, but I feel like over time, especially maybe the last couple of years, I've really felt more relaxed. This season, especially, I feel like I have just allowed myself to be more of who I am and less of worrying about what someone's gonna think if I say something or what the right thing to say is, and just saying what I'm feeling at the time instead.

Um, yeah, I mean, I always figured it was real, but like I didn't even think about that theory until you just brought it up. But then it is kind of like because it is left so ambiguous that like she just kind of walks out and disappears, and then there's like the whole thing is like, well, he recognized who she was, but then he hadn't read the book, and like everybody else knew who she was, but only after the name was said. So there's like there is, I guess, a theory, which again it's left open-ended in a lot of movies are in these regards, which is perfect for theorizing and letting yourself think about those things. That it could have been you know, he he could have been having a full mental break, uh, dealing with everything with his ex, and then being here secluded in this cabin and trying to write and realize he hitting writer's block. Uh and then just he could have had a full mental breakdown of I'm completely unworthy, I'm a shitty writer, I'll never amount to anything. And this all could have been a full mental breakdown with nobody else actually in that cabin. Because there are some weird things. It's like, why would she show up? Because she seemed to have no interest in him when they first met, and yet she showed up anyway and was like, okay, let's hang out. And then what kind of pizza guy just walks into the back door without knocking? No, but there are a lot of, you know, there's a lot of things that then make you wonder. Yeah, that I didn't think about until you say that, and I'm like, huh, that is a good theory. And if I ever got a chance to meet Josh Rubin, it's now something I would be asking.

I have to say, too, like, why would she leave the notebook there? Like, she left the notebook there. Why would she do that if she was real?

But then but then we get like the little quick post or mid-credits thing where it's like, well, if that's real, then the notebook was real and then it all was real, so who knows?

Um Well, again, though, if he thought if he was having a breakdown or he was fighting with himself. Unless yeah, he wrote it all down. He may have written it all down. I mean, it's it's like those movies where they think someone else is doing all the things, but you realize it's been them the whole time that's done it. And that's been a clever way of like telling the story and then revealing the truth.

So, yeah, this could be that, just that we don't ever actually get that confirmed. But again, I don't mind I don't mind that because I I I I don't mind open-endedness. I like to make your own theories on a lot of stuff. Yeah.

Because you can end it in a good way if you want to. Like you can make something positive happen. I'm not sure he was a good guy or a bad guy.

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Yeah. It it is interesting. I know we're we've because all of my notes are in uh chronological order, and so we've skipped fully to the end, but we'll circle

(Cont.) RFYL 273: Scare Me

back, we'll get to stuff. Because why not talk about something when it's on you know on the train of thought we're on?

Yeah.

But but yeah, I mean, because he has that when he finally when it it's only in the last like 20 minutes of the movie that it really switches to like full horror, full thriller, and you're like, oh, now even the funny faces and voices are fucking terrifying. Like he is switched on a dime.

Yeah.

I didn't know Josh Rubin was capable of that, so bravo. Um love that he can be scary.

Yeah, the devil faces were so like une they they were unnerving the way that he was doing that.

So that he could switch like that was really great, but you know, when he's telling the story to Fanny, the last story before she leaves about the serial killer. You know, that he refers to himself as that, as the bad man, that then forgot that he was bad for a little bit until he realized that it was all that this woman was making fun of him and that she thought she was better than him. And you see the like mental break that he's through where then it's like if then you take that all this was real, then it's like, oh, then we see why he's getting a restraining order filed against him because his ex felt like her life was in danger. Like clearly, if this is the kind of person he is where he is mentally unstable, and I mean he says he wrote hundreds of letters with violent language and threatened to kill her. So if you take that at face value, it's like, yeah, no, this guy is unhinged, he's unwell. There's a problem here.

Absolutely. In their first interaction, I thought she could really dish it back to him. She didn't take his shit, but like you said, she wasn't very interested in anything. She didn't want to come to his house, she didn't want him to come to her house, she didn't even really want to give him her name.

Yeah.

And so it seems kind of odd that she would go to his house. Other than I think she may have just been in his head.

That or there's the other side of her character where as wrong as he was, as far as like the way he went about things, he was also fully right about her that she was very ego maniacal and very narc narcissistic. And I think I mean she's there for the same thing. She's trying to write a new book and she's trying to find what to write about, and she sees this lonely, depressed loser, and in her own way could be like, well, I'm gonna go over there and like hang out with him and then take notes, and he's just the kind of tragic idiot that makes a great character for me to write. Because in the notebook it was everything that they were talking about and notes about him, which we never saw her writing anything down, which is another reason I think some other than what I do know one moment that I noticed, but then they they call it out because they have the conversation, is uh Carlo has like the the title that he gives, and she goes, Oh, I'm gonna write that down. And then he kind of snaps at her a little bit. It was like, you just stole his idea. Is that what you do? You know, like there was this Yeah.

But it also could be him inside thinking about how he goes about writing, and maybe he steals the ideas.

Well, yeah, we see him because yeah, he's which I thought was funny. The writer, director, actor of this movie plays a writer, director, actor in the movie. Uh I mean he's no James Cameron, you know, from the Titanic movies. Uh but yeah, he's he's getting a ride from a very talkative uh Uber driver or you know, whatever, this this driver.

Bettina. Uh Bettina. And honestly, I've I kind of saw the flip side of everything because the way he's being around her reminds me of the way Fanny's being around him. Yeah. And it's kind of a full circle moment because he doesn't really want to listen to her, and she's talking a blue streak, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, the whole time.

She's going, but she, you know, because oh, you're a writer. Well, I have a thing that I'm going to write. And then she's going on and on about this story she's thinking about or this movie she wants to do with James Cameron. Um about, yeah, like the biblical epic of Korra and all of this, and going on, and he's like half listening. He's like, whatever, I don't care. I'm better than this, I'm better than you. And then he gets to the cabin and he's like, Alright, well, let's do my work. All he has is werewolves have guns. Get revenge. And I was like, Well, that's definitely a start to nothing. Who knows? But he's he sits there and then drinks and sits there and drinks, and then he's like, Googling Cora, and he starts to immediately he's like trying to rip her off because he's like, All right, well, is there something there? Because cle obviously she's never gonna go anywhere with that, so maybe I'll take that idea.

Yeah.

So you're right, yeah, it's like he's very much the same.

Yeah, he is. And it didn't hit me really until we got much further in the movie, and I'm thinking, man, especially when he gets to the point where the jealousy hits in, because we get the amazing, wonderful Carlo Pizzaman of the year. Um I think he was j he was jealous of that. That Carlo was a fan of hers and they were getting on so well. I think it bothered him. Like he didn't like it, and it made him start to feel left out and made him unhappy, it made him jealous, and he did not react well after that. Because as soon as Carlo, who had a pizza watch, did you notice that? His watch was pizza. I'm just like, okay. So after Carlo goes.

Oh, I just I'm sorry, I don't want to cut you off, but something flashed in my head, and I was like, oh my god, because again, your theory I didn't even consider.

So now it's going through your head.

And now there's little things. It's like, yeah, like again, because I mentioned why would he walk in the door? But even like having the pizza watch. It's like because in somebody's brain, it's like, what is pizza guy? He does pizza guy things. Because also he's like, oh, you need plates. What pizza guy has plates available? But like little things. But then I was remembering, what was the company he worked for? The Overlook Mountain Pizza Company, which could be, I mean, that's clearly a reference to The Shining, where everything was in Jack's head. So god damn it, Daphne. I love it.

And you know what? The funniest thing is I didn't think of that until we started talking and started recording.

Okay, now I need to, now I need to talk to Josh Rubin. I gotta find a way to Okay, you gotta clear this up for me because my Daphne blew my mind, and now I need to know what were your intentions.

I don't know. I it just hit me that you know the similarities, and then once we started talking, I was just thinking, what if this was all in his head? Because we've had movies like that, and so I'm always thinking and looking for the signs. Now I want to go watch it again and see and see if I can pick up anything else that solidifies this theory. But yeah, I definitely want to know. I I need Josh Rubin to tell us the truth about it.

Reach out to him. I mean, like, I've had some back and forth with him on Blue Sky in previous times. So who knows? Maybe I might have to reach out to him. I'm like, okay, I got so I might I might message him and just be like, well, maybe I'll follow up if I hear bag from him on this podcast. I don't know.

That would be great.

So now I'm like, okay, now I gotta know.

Yeah, you gotta know the truth. You gotta know the truth.

But uh, yeah, where yeah, I I do like, yeah, he's doing the writer thing. Right? You know, seclude yourself in a cabin somewhere to try to force yourself to focus on your work and block out the outside world. Which is nice, but then immediately, yeah, with the the power outage, it's and his battery was down to nothing.

And so it wasn't like you're not. You should have had that plugged in the whole time. What are you doing? I know. I don't know why they don't plan ahead for that. I try to keep mine plugged in because, well, especially now, it's October, we're gonna be heading into, you know, colder winter weather, and there are power outages and internet outages, and I like to have my electronics charged up just in case.

Yeah. Uh but yeah, yeah, he's sitting there working whatever. I again I'd you know putting the noise boys skills to use use a little bit. The banging on the door sound is him at first, and then the zombie growling and all that. Which is which is again, because it's like you see like the doors opening and lights coming on and things, but it's all because of things that they're saying in their story. So it's again, it's like the imagination kind of dupe making things happen.

The shadows, the shadows that they did. It w it was great. And I love those effects how they would amp up the music or amp up the ambiance, and then all of a sudden it was quiet. It's like they were in storytelling mode and then they they came out of it and they would like derail it with a joke.

Yeah. So he's dead in any way, so then you know Yeah. Yeah.

I liked that. I thought it was fun.

I do like when he goes checks on that basement and he just like looks at it and nope, closes the door. He was like, yes, that's the correct spot to Mysterious Dark Basement. Thank you. Yes, Josh.

Please, if more people would recognize it, we'd have a lot less horror movie death. Yeah.

And then the basement is never seen or used again in the rest of the movie. It's literally, he goes, Nope, and then we're done with that. Which, yes. Uh but yeah, goes out on a run, meets Fanny, which I Akash. I love her. It was because again, I don't look into things beforehand on like we're like covering a lot of these movies. I like to go in blind on stuff, so I did not realize she was in. This and oh, it's so fun to see her. I mean, she was despicably brilliant in The Boys, that's really what I most know her from. But get to see a lot more of her comedic side, uh, and not just a villain uh in this show, which is really cool because yeah, she's playing Fanny Addy, this best-selling horror author. Uh, that yeah, we get like the whole gambit is like Fred's got like a semi-professional crush, kind of at first, it seems, and then you see like the jealousy and stuff come out, and by the end, he is like loathing her because she's the anti antithesis of everything that he is, basically.

She's a benchmark that he holds up to himself and just feels worse and worse as he goes along.

So, yeah, it was fantastic. So it was great to see her get to to play around with stuff. Uh yeah, so they're talking about their work. Uh he's working, like he's like, I'm working on something with werewolves. And I was like, it's funny that like he brings that up because I was like, yeah, because actually the next film that Josh Rubin releases in real life a year after this one was called Werewolves Within. Um it's got a fun cast, including Harvey Guian. And what we do in the shadows.

Does it fit us? Can we cover it?

I think so. Oh, wonderful. Josh Rubin does his horror, so that's gotta be a next season thing. I think we need to do his other movie.

Yeah.

So yeah, he released one one in 2021 called Werewolves Within, so Oh, then we have to do it. Yes.

We have to do it.

For sure. Uh but yeah, yeah, Fanny comes across a little aggressive, like, very judgmental.

Yeah.

Not just his work, but a lot of it, but even like other, like when they're talking about other movies and stuff, like, well, that movie sucked, and that book wasn't, it was all derig, you know, derivative and this. Yeah. She's just very like, again, like you see kind of like the narcissistic, but then she plays off like the humble brag, like, I'm not, you know, when when Carlo was there and she was, you know, is like you know, he's like best-selling author, and she's like, Well, I wouldn't say best-selling author. I mean, Variety did, and New York Times did, and Vulture did, but I, you know, it's the like, you know, trying to play off humble, but like clearly you're not.

Yeah, no, I don't think she is. And again, I f this just makes me think she could be the voice in his head.

Yeah.

And I also conceivably can see him falling down the stairs, stabbing himself and dying. Like, why didn't he call 911?

Yeah. Or if she was real, then it's like, why wouldn't she? Like the whole like I mean, yeah, I get that he was just threatening to kill you and you really felt your life was in danger then, but it's still, it's like, well, at that point, it's like, okay, call an ambulance and then leave.

Yeah. I mean, your fingerprints are all over the place.

Yeah. Because that's what I got when he's just like, well, finish me off. And she's like, okay. And before she, I mean, she ended up not doing it, she just walked off to leave him. But I was like, you know, that's probably a better choice to not do that, because then what the yeah, the police are gonna buy your story. He told me to bash his head, I promise. Like, what?

Yeah. The ending, I uh there were some things about it, and so I think it will help me as we talk through the movie and get through to the end. I'll feel more settled with it. And I think that's why I just kept thinking she can't be real because of the ending. The way that it ended just seems so strange.

Just kind of wanders off.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. Uh, but I do love the big, you know, meat of the movie. Uh is just yeah, her pushing this idea of making up and telling scary stories to each other. Um which is just so much fun. There's a lot of the comedy that comes in there. You get to really see the character work and impressions and voices and sound effects. I get it it felt like just an extended make some noise prompt a lot of times.

I felt like Josh was trying to entertain himself.

Yeah. Uh which which I love that because I mean, you know, they're doing the scenes, acting stuff out. So you're getting that, and then it's like, well, you know, Fred kind of found the the female version of himself. She matches his weird uh a little bit. Yes. Because she's also a little pretentious, but you know, the sound effects and the voices and the character work, and so they they work off of each other really well. And then you said then there's the kind of horror extra special effects and the shadows and the sound effects and the music and stuff that gets added that makes it builds the scenes out even more. I'm so in. I was just like, if this is just if I just get to watch Josh for almost two hours, two sound effects and voices, I'm good with it.

Yeah, I'm in. I'm in. That's what made me so excited. Because I when I watched this, I actually had to split it into two parts because I had to do uh a work assignment tonight. And so I left when it was just really getting good. It was like 40 minutes in, it was hitting a stride, and it really was like, yeah, like make some noise on acid.

Yeah. Ah, but with so much like a love letter to horror as well. Yes, there's like so many references that they make to things and like call-outs, even just like Fanny calling things out while he's doing his werewolf thing, where it was just like, oh, like, and then you go get the revolver from the closet and it's like it's been done a hundred times.

Yep.

And then he's explaining, he's like, and then Sam's hiding in the closet trying not to make a peep, and she goes, like Lori Strode in Halloween.

Exactly.

Like it's just you know.

Exactly. I love when she said to him, when he comes out and he trips and he hits his knees, like, did the whaler fit his knee, or was that just you? It was those little bits of humor that just I think added so much to how you feel when you're watching this.

Yes.

Uh she's like She's pushing him too. Like, what if Sam's a girl? Well, he's a boy. No, what if it's a girl? And she pushes him so that he says, Okay, she's a girl. Like he gives in.

Yeah. But yeah, it seems like she's wanting him to do better. Because like when he's a he doesn't feel sure of himself, but then he starts, and then he just like, and then this character, or then like this, and she's like, Well, why? Details. Stretch it, like, tell me, fill in the gaps, fill in, you know, actually write, fill make your characters believable. Which is I was like, oh, she's like kind of a mentor as a writer, you know, like, okay, like make it make sense. Fill out, you know, fill out that, flesh it out. What's the story behind that? What are the details? What's this person's name? What's their job? What's their deal? Make me see them and believe in it in some way. And then even changing the words a little bit. He's like, and then he lurked up the stairs, and she's like, Lumbert, how about Lumberd? He's like, Lumberd's better. She's laying there gargling blood, gurgle, gurgle's the word, you know, it's like giving him these like little rider tips, and it's so they kind of keep you on that as like she rides the line of like being over pretentious and annoying to then like actually feeling like, oh no, she's helping him, and like she's being a mentor and like a friend. So that's it kind of balances back and forth.

It's why I think that she could be in his head. Because it's his way of processing through as he's writing, is this voice in his head saying all of these things. I will say that when when the pizza came, I wondered if Bettina was also delivering pizza and doing all the things in the town because it just to me seemed like it's something that would happen. And again, why didn't Bettina know Fanny was in town? She seems to know everything.

Right, if she's a big old like fan, and right, yeah.

So again, I'm just saying there's a checklist of items that continue to add up to my theory.

Yeah.

Uh-huh.

And if I find out that that is exactly what it was, I'm gonna be so proud to have actually figured out what was happening.

Yeah, that's it's impressive. I would never thought about it for a second until you said it, and now I can't get over it. I really need to like try to get in contact with Josh Rubin because it's gonna drive me crazy.

Uh man.

Although I was like, yeah, Fred, I'm not sure if I'm sold on the werewolf revenge story. It's missing a lot of details from the whole middle of the movie, I guess. It's like the cops busting up the werewolf slaughter, and then he's shooting the guy in a diner years later. It's like, okay, we need a lot more to fill in those gaps. I don't know if I would like that movie, but um either way, now it's Fanny's turn, and uh Fanny Addie presents Grandpa.

Uh which I Oh man, that was something. I loved it.

I loved it though. Because again, in real life, I've never seen this side of Aya Cash because I'm just used to her and the boys, is what I really know her from. And so I was like, oh, in real life, like Aya Cash can match Josh Rubin on voices and sound effects, and I was like, I did not know that she could do this. It's it's a new side that I hadn't seen. I was like, well, it makes me more of a fan of her because I was like, oh, she's got the the comedic chops too. That's incredible.

The casting was fantastic, they play well off each other, and it just made it even more fun. Like, I would love to watch them in another movie together, whatever the topic is, because I think that they have such a good chemistry and connection that it needs to be a good story, but other than that, I just feel like they work well together.

Yeah. It is a much more gripping story. Um, I was like, well, no wonder she's a bestseller. Yeah, you get this little girl tries to poison her creepy grandpa. The logic on that was still a little thin, admittedly. Uh, but but ends up killing the dog instead, and then on the deathbed, the grandpa threatens to enact his revenge on the little girl after he dies, and then the the ghost dog, and I I knew she was gonna bring back the like of the oxygen tank. Yeah, I was just like, oh yeah, that's great. Fred's impressed by the constant perfect timing of the lightning and thunder, which yeah, now I'm like, well, maybe that's for a reason. Uh and then I like what he's trying to do the same thing she was doing for her, where she would be like, and then later she's in high school, and he goes, Well, show me those details. She just goes, Don't interrupt me. Which I thought was so funny.

She dished it back to me.

And then she sits down and watches some innocuous movie, Howard the Duck. Don't interrupt me.

Uh but she gives in and makes it Howard the Duck.

She does. Uh and then I think the And then the phone rings.

Hello? And then she just goes.

Cassie's voice and body are stunted from the trauma. It's a psychological disorder. Yes. That that's the one. That was the funniest line I think of the movie. That one got me. I cracked. Uh, just the way that she threw that out there. And then so it's like Aya Cash on Make Some Noise Win.

Um Please, Sam Reich, please. Sam Reich.

Thank you.

How about her and Josh Rubin on the same episode?

Yeah. Well, honestly, Josh Rubin, Aya Cash, and Chris Red.

Absolutely.

As your, as your as your guests of Make Some Noise. Just Sam Reich to make that happen. These three. Because when Chris, when Chris Redd, when Carlo comes in later, he works so well off of them too. Like the whole Beth, the devil-possessed singer bit where Josh. Because I don't even say like the Fred like Fred and Carlo. Like, I'm just thinking of the improvisers that I'm familiar with. So I'm just like, Josh and Chris. Just the way that they just like. Oh my god, is she there's something wrong with Beth. Like the way that they just play off each other is so great.

I wonder how much of this was actually improvised because we know that it's something that they can do and excel at. So I feel like some of it had to have been.

Um Yeah, I mean, because Chris Redd is another incredible improviser and impression, sound effect, comedic bit kind of guy. He mean he was an SNL cast member. Yep. Uh 2017 to 2022, which means he was on the SNL cast at the time that he was in this movie, which is a big deal, a big game. Yeah. Honestly, for this. Uh, and then also he's done Dropout as well. He uh is on an episode of very important people. Um that's very improv led. His is very he plays jukebox on VIP, and it's very wonderful. Wonderful.

I'm gonna have to watch that.

Yeah. So the three of them together, I'm like, okay, I need I need a make some noise episode where it's these three. Yeah. It's gonna be Ayakas, Josh Rubin, Chris Red. Thank you, Chris. Sam Rice on it. Please, please.

Please, we need this. Uh such a great idea. I know it's too late to get it in this season, but next season. Then we would get Josh Rubin on two episodes because he always does one with Brennan and Zach.

Because that's every season they bookend. The noise boys are the first episode and the finale. They bookend with the noise boys.

Okay, so we'd have them three times. That's fine with me.

Yeah.

The fisherman thing. I can't get it out of my head. From uh Game Changer. I it kills me. It just kills me.

He's great. Again, like I said, if any of our listeners haven't watched dropout stuff and want to see what we're like referencing and see Josh Rubin in his incredible natural habitat in there, then six bucks a month. Do it, and I will give you all the recommendations on what to watch for Josh Rubin perfection.

Yep. Yep. You won't be disappointed. I had never heard of Josh Rubin. I had never seen anything until Pake showed me, and now I watch Dropout. Me, the person who doesn't like comedy.

Ugh, you have so many good lines and stuff. Fanny says with her face white as a Japanese toilet. I was like, I can definitely say that's a new descriptor for me.

Never heard that before. Like, uh is that true?

Yeah. Yeah, and then the door actually like opening on its own in perfect timing with the story was very creepy. So you see.

Yeah.

And then next thing you see, they're talking about the troll, they're doing the weird troll. Oh, the troll arrangements story. And when there's like, you know, and then from the darkness, these yellow eyes, beady yellow eyes glow, and then in the kitchen behind them, you see the two yellow lights come up, and it actually derails them for a second. They're like, is that the oven? Well, the power's not on. And then they're like, stay in it, stay in it, and they just ignore it, but it's just like Yeah.

How much is real, how much isn't real? It's it's a question for sure.

Yeah. Yeah, but the first like little tinge of like, okay, there is a real horror thing, like there's something that's going on, is of course, with you know, she orders the pizza, she takes his phone to order the pizza. And then when he comes back, you know, she's like, the text messages are coming up. She's like, Who's Meredith? Well, that's that's my ex. And he's like, Well, she says you're a monster. And then it was like, this also, what'd you do, monster? And you can see like it's a very sore spot for him, and he like snaps at her, and it's like okay, like oh now I'm curious, like, what is the story behind this? Like clearly something going on.

Yeah.

Uh which then he explains to her after. I was like, well, you know, she said, you know, oh, you can't scare me. And then be fair, when he kind of sneaks up behind her while she's like writing in her so that is another time you see her writing, because she's out like smoking her vape and then like writing in her notebook, and then he's just like behind her, I'm done. Did scare her there. That did make her jump. So that is a success.

Yeah.

Uh yeah, then he admits, yeah, that like he lays out the situation with his ex. Then there's like, okay, so he clearly has some obsessive issues and anger issues that he said he went to therapy and got it work done. So like, well, that's good.

Yeah. He's trying to do something about it. Although this is some kind of therapy, too, I think. Because he kind of gets unhinged at the end.

Yeah. Just a little.

And he does Josh Rubin plays Unhinged really well. Because it plays into the comedy, and we've talked about how comedians there's been an influx of comedians that have been making really good horror movies, and so I feel like with this, the way he played it, he was able to use some of that comedy to make himself creepier.

Yeah. I was, yeah, I've been doing like the the Flanagan watch party things with the the group. So we've been doing Hill House right now, and we were talking about that. It just kind of came up randomly. Last night when we did that with their episode, was we got into the conversation. You have like comedians into horror writers and stuff, and just how well it works. Or also um Last Meals with Josh Cher. I don't know. I've mentioned that on here before. I love watching that show on on YouTube. Uh I'm going back and trying to rewatch all of the uh backlog of episodes I haven't watched. And so last night I watched the one with Marlon Wayans, and they were he was promoting him. So he was talking about it like working with Jordan Peel, and like that kind of came up and was taught they talked about that a little bit. I was like, yeah, see, it's like that's the It's the thing.

I I think that you know the comedians have really been coming forward with ideas that are fresher than what we've seen, and they're implementing them in a way that is making it enjoyable and exciting to be a fan of scary movies right now. Because it's kind of reinvigorating or refreshing the how everyone is looking at horror, and I'm really excited and happy about it because as a longtime fan, I admit the ideas were drying up and we weren't seeing a lot of original stuff. A few movies here and there would deliver, but I feel like we'd have these periods of time where things were really, really good and then they'd peter off again. So now I think it's a great time. We've talked about it on this podcast, how this year alone has been phenomenal when it comes to the movies that we're getting. We're very lucky and we're very spoiled to have what we have.

In the past few years, we've definitely been. I mean, with Jordan Peel and his stuff, but then I mean, yeah, like this year with having Obsession is definitely and backrooms, which we haven't covered yet, but we We will. You hear it, hear her first. Next season we will. We will uh which get a lot of of love. But then even, yeah, I mean, last year was seeing the stuff that we talked about uh with between weapons and sinners and bring her back and all of these movies are like incredible for the genre.

And before that with A Quiet Place and John Krasinski, like bringing that to the table, we're very lucky, and I'm excited when I see any of those names as associated with the project. I get really excited because I feel like we're gonna get something that's high quality. Now, yes, there will be times that the movie may not be as good or as well done as some of the others that they that they have previously done, but that's to be expected in any director's catalog of films. It's gonna happen. But I feel really excited about you know what comes next. Like what are we getting? Because it seems amazing.

Yeah, for sure. Uh yeah, so the storytelling, they go back and forth and then they kind of start working together on stories. Uh a little impromptu team-up for the wonderful tale of the troll in the walls and the ceiling of the baskets you can eat gift company. Uh now Fanny's original character before she changed the character of the voice she was doing was definitely played by Kristen Wig. Uh I was like, that's the I immediately picked up on that. I was like, that's the right like impression she's doing. Uh but yeah, we get Devin the Troll um and his deal for new girl Karen, you know, kill the boss, kiss the troll, live for three hundred years. A lot of that needs prompting by Fanny. But but then once they get the story going, they're rolling, they're gelling, they're riffing, they're jamming. It's a fantastic moment throughout that. Like you really see them like feeding off of each other. Uh and then by the end of it, where they're sitting on the floor, and I was like, is it something is it possible something a little more is happening between these two? And you're seeing it's like, so whether they're it's real or not, like there's this fascination, there's this like affection from Fred that I don't think is uh returned by her, even if she you know is real. But it's like it could just be this piece of like what he wants to be versus what he is. And then that's when pizza guy Carlo shows up to interrupt. Yeah. No knocking, just walks in the back door. Uh what is this? But he's very into scary stories. Um and he's he's great at the because it's Chris Red, uh great at the impressions and the sounds and stuff too, so they just invite him to join and partake in the pizza he just delivered.

Yeah, the whole retelling or imagining of Venus, which is her story, was kind of hilarious.

Yeah. Uh which it was weird because Fanny seemed to be annoyed at first that Fred kind of like outed her as this famous author to it, like to the horror fanboy. Uh but then you know he's excited, but then they start like working off each other. He gives some ideas, Fred turns that down, and then it turns into what become you know, then he leads into Venus. But I was like, don't shoot it down so fast, guys. I was like, Carlo definitely might have been onto something with you know baby scabies, the musical. I oh my god. I would have been down for that.

Oh man. Oh man, baby scabies. Oh my god. That you know what that reminds me of? When I was a teenager, one of my friends wrote to Stephen King and sent the idea of uh an epidemic of scabies as a plot line. And he wrote her back. He he sent her a postcard and he wrote her back and physically wrote out a message about it. And he said, It it seems like it would be too itchy. And so I always remember that. And it's funny now because m the friend that uh wrote it, she's actually a librarian. She's a head librarian at a at the local library, so it's interesting.

Uh yeah, Fanny busts out the Coke. Uh just kind of comes out of nowhere. Fred gets peer pressured a little bit into partaking, and that fuels her with the assistance to uh you know, Fred's continued behest, uh insistence there to do Venus, and so she does with the help of Carlo.

Um Josh Rubin's faces during the part where he's like starting to be high from the cocaine.

Yeah, it makes his reactions and experience to this story a little more visceral.

Yeah.

Uh it's very funny. But then I love that you're at the end, now that he's finally familiar with this great story that his new friend is so praised for, his reaction is just kind of, eh man, I'm not that impressed. I just don't see it.

No.

But yeah. And then that's where I have the note that I already said it was like, this just became an incredible extended prompt on make some noise, and with players, Josh Rubin, Aya Cash, and Chris Redd. And now we just need that full episode. So please, thank you.

Please.

Uh and they keep working together, so yeah, we get the devil-possessed singer on the uh Oh god, I wish I would have written it down. What was it? Big talent show alive. Uh I mean, I don't know. I gotta say, Kill All the Children by Beth might be the hit song of the summer. It's a banger.

Um I mean, the music sounds like it's gonna be a completely different song, and then the lyrics are just so terrifying. It's like, okay, yeah, this is something. I don't think it will get much airplay, but you go, Beth. You go. She played possess so well during that. It it just, you know, how she starts feeling it like she eases into and then she's fully possessed. It yeah. When the arm comes out of her chest and all of that, I'm I'm just shaking my head like, okay. It's not like we haven't seen crazy possessed things happen. I mean, we did cover late night with the devil.

Again, just I need these three on make some noise because they work so well together in this. I love it.

Yeah.

Uh but then Carlo does have to go. You know, he's had more pizza he used to deliver the whole time. Um, so you should probably get on that. Uh, but it was a magical night, as he says, you know, one of those nights where you go to deliver a pizza and you end up making new friends and tell ghost stories with and do blow. One is your favorite author and the other one is a Fred.

I mean, that just made Fred feel worse.

Right.

Because after Carlo leaves, he you can tell he just feels really bad. He feels like he's not as good as her. And then he finds the notebook and starts the realizing she's written all the things down in it, and even made notes about him.

Yeah, and that's where it shifts. Because she comes back from the bathroom and she's about to leave, and then yeah, Fred found the notebook, all those notes, and he just kind of snaps a little bit, you know, this well, I'm gonna tell you one more story before you leave. And then you start realizing immediately, like, oh, he's talking about himself and his ex, and then the feelings he has towards her. And it's like, as soon as he starts monologuing, I was like, there's no I put the remote down. I was like, I'm not pausing for notes until this is over. Because I was so hooked in. I was like, I could physically literally like build the like feel the tension building. I'm like on edge. I was like, okay, Josh Rubin can actually be terrifying. That's awesome. Like now he's he's flipped that switch, he's scary now. Yeah. Voices and the stuff. I'm like, okay.

Yeah.

Which then kind of then whenever he's like, no, then you know, I'll chase you. And then if I find you if I don't find you, you get the book. But if I find you, you know, and he's on this edge of like It makes you question Am I just kidding? Am I not? And then when he just screams at her, run, run, and she does, it that switch. Which then I was like, it's kind of random. Uh they have loosely similar vibes, but it made me think, I was like, ah, we need to do the creep movies at some point as well.

Yeah, I think so.

Absolutely need to do creep. I love I've seen two. Did he do a third one?

I'm trying to No, he's doing the creep tapes or something.

He did the two movies and then the creep tapes. I haven't watched Creep Tapes, but I've seen the movies. Uh Mark Duplass is so good. Anyway, yeah, so we need to do those because it reminds me of that to some extent. It's different but similar.

Because Mark Duplass has a very commanding way of conveying this stalker-ish character that seems innocent and quirky at first, but then becomes terrifying. So yeah.

Yeah. So that once we got to like that, the scenes of him like kind of chasing her around the house and she's hiding under the bed and he's looking for her. Then I was like, it just like popped into my head. I was like, oh, we've got to do creep. We have to.

Well, Fanny does try to talk to him. She's like, you just need to do the work. She tells him, I've had struggles with people, you know, coming in and and wanting to be better than me and doing better than me. And I just made myself better. Like I pushed to be better than them. That fueled me. That you know, lit a fire under me. And he doesn't really listen to that. He doesn't. And it results basically in them falling and rolling down the stairs.

Yeah, he drunkenly chases her downstairs, yeah, and falling, and now he's impaled himself on the fire poker. So I didn't expect that. I probably should have, but I was like, oh man, that reveal was just like, oh shit.

Yeah. Yeah, I didn't understand why no ambulance was called. Or why she left the notebook there. But I had this feeling the whole movie that Betina was gonna come back into play. The way that it ended with her taking the stories and turning them into her own and releasing them was very ironic. Scare me.

Yeah. Grandpa's Werewolves and other spooky stories.

Yeah. I mean, it was ironic that that's what happened because she was able to capitalize on that because it looked like a lot of people were going in to the store.

Mm-hmm. I mean, we knew she was an aspiring writer herself. She made it abundantly, abundantly clear on the drive at the beginning of the movie. So um she struck gold here. She got in, she got the notebook, she got some pizza, somehow missed the dead body in the stairs, but that I don't know how you do that, honestly, but but okay. And then that's the end of the movie. Cue the Huey Lewis, as Fred would say. Except Josh Rubin definitely does not have the kind of budget for Huey Lewis. So instead we get the original song Mama Look A Boo-Boo, which was still great.

Oh man. Weave it to Josh Rubin. Yeah, this was such a fun one to do. I had so much fun with it. I think that there's a lot of the comedy in it. I wasn't surprised by the comedy. Because it says, you know, horror comedy or comedy horror movie. I'm thinking, oh, okay. For some reason, every time I hear that, I think of two movies. Tuckerendale vs. Evil and Cooties. I always think of them whenever someone says, oh, we're gonna do a funny horror movie, or let's watch this. It's a funny horror movie. That's where my mind goes.

Yeah. Well, those are my go-to's. Again, that the conversation at uh the the flan club uh last night was because we had finished talking about the episode and then it just kind of became, oh, what movies? And so we were whatever it led to. Because I think we were talking about um obsession and backrooms. Both and then, you know, so like because that's Curry Barker and uh I can't back rooms. We haven't covered it yet, so the director's not stuck in my head yet. I can't think of his name, but that is all it's just YouTube sketch comedy and like YouTube videos and like these stuff. And so that's where that you know we started talking about, yeah, within Jordan Peel and John Krazyski and Zach Crager. And we we you you know, get into that. It was like this this comedy thing. But then so yeah, we were talking about like you know, comedy and horror, then mix is like sometimes you can do both really well, and so that was like the three movies that I go to. My three recommendations as far as like comedy, horror, the top ones on that list for me. So Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Cooties, both of those are also in there, and then I include Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon, as well. Oh my goodness, which we covered because that's a great movie as well. For like it starts as just like kind of a pure comedy with some horror like references and elements, and then it hits that point where it fully switches on you into just like a classic slasher, and I will forever love that movie for that.

And you know that they're doing a sequel.

I'm s they they've been doing it, quote unquote, for a decade and a half now, but I do know it is officially in the works. Yes, I'm excited.

When I saw that, I thought of you immediately because I know that Leslie Vernon, the character, the movie, are two of your favorite things.

Honestly, the hard cardio is important because honestly, the hardest part is you've got to, you know, chase after them while they're running. You've got to run like a fucking gazelle, and anytime you turn around, you gotta be walking.

Oh my god. Oh man. Well, you know when that movie comes out, we'll be covering it.

Oh yeah.

As quickly as possible, as soon as it hits streaming, we will cover it. I think we did it, Peg.

I think so.

I think we did.

I don't have anything else.

Nope, not another note.

No notes. Alright, perfect. There goes the feedback phone. Perfectly. Or is it? Maybe it's all in our head. Either way, I'll answer it anyway and see if we got some feedback on this one. All right, we do have a little bit of feedback for this week. Um, for Scare Me, but before we get into that, we do have a couple of pieces for last week's uh Halloween movie. Uh um hundreds of beavers, um, which we didn't plan that way, but it worked out weirdly. So you know what? I'll go with it. Um, but yeah, first Tony comes through with just what is this? LOL and a bunch of beaver emojis.

She didn't follow it up with anything, so I'm not really sure she was able to finish it, or she I don't know. Maybe she doesn't want to share her opinion on that one. Uh Catherine is back with more feedback for Hundreds of Beavers. She said I watched it again with my 77-year-old dad, who still regularly enjoys Looney Tunes with my seven-year-old, just like he did with me. Oh, that's so sweet. We also watched a lot of Abbott and Costello. He laughed so hard and had a great time.

That's awesome. I love that so much. And see, that's why it's worth it that we did that movie, because we created this beautiful family moment. Uh yeah, so let's get to this week's movie here, Scare Me. Uh, the first one comes from Laura, who says, saw this a long time ago, thought it was really good, can't wait to hear you guys cover it.

Well, we hope yeah, we hope you enjoy the episode. Jason says, I haven't seen this movie, and I didn't even know Josh Rubin was a serious actor. But I've been watching a ton of the improv series make some noise, and he's super funny on there, which I'm sure you guys already know. Yes, we are already members of the cult of dropout.

Yeah, and if you've lit now that you've listened to this episode, yeah, we talk about make some noise and drop out plenty. So yeah, that is where we know Josh Rubin from, and uh definitely I've I've already I I couldn't state enough uh, you know, any more. They're like, yeah, if you're not aware of that, then go check that out because he's hilarious. And then lastly from Catherine on Scare Me, uh, she says, I kept waiting for Scare Me to take a sudden turn and find out that one of the main characters had a different plan the whole time. I kept waiting for Gollum to attack or Fanny to shift from singing to killing. Instead, I enjoyed this um instead, I enjoyed the suspense and found the ending appropriately tragic. Yeah.

Yeah, I spent a lot of the movie thinking something else, and it just ended up being different. Josh Rubin does scary really well. There have been times that he's been on uh make some noise, not necessarily make some noise, but I know he's been on Game Changer before, and I've kind of questioned if he's good or evil from that. But um I always enjoy pretty much whatever he's doing. Peg got me into dropout, and now it's just a part of me. It's part of my life. Well, if you'd like to leave feedback, you can find us on the Podcastica Discord server. We have a channel there called Run for Your Live, so you can join us there. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Run Fear Lives Podcast, or you can email us at RunFearlies Podcast at gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show, tell your friends we're available on all the podcast players, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and more. As always, you can go to RunFearlies Podcast.com for all the links that you're ever gonna need, and give us a review on Apple Podcasts as that is the best way to share the love and get us out there even more. We really appreciate it.

We absolutely do indeed. And of course, speaking of sharing the love, you know I gotta give those shout-outs to things going on in the Podcastica universe around us and beyond. A lot of great stuff for people to check out uh while you're waiting another week for our next episode, our final movie of the season next week, but we'll get to that in a little bit. Um yeah, if you need something to do in the meantime, then definitely a lot of great stuff to check out. Bake Tastica is back this week with Greg, Wendy, and Jamie talking about the Great British Baking Show. They've got episodes five and six of this current season or series. Uh 17, uh, dessert week and pastry week, so you can check out those over there. And then on Wax Episodic, uh Sean and Jason reuniting for a little surprise episode as uh HBO's It, Welcome to Dairy, dropped a surprise Halloween uh prequel episode. Um you can go check that out, a little unexpected drop there, and they've covered that. And uh you can go if you have watched that, and if you haven't, well then do, and then go listen to their uh coverage of that over there. Also on Still Slaying, Penny and Cara continuing on with their Buffy verse coverage of all their favorite episodes of uh Buffy and Angel this week. They've got Buffy season five, episode eight that they're doing, so you can go check out that episode there. Uh the Cast of the Rings will be coming back soon. Season three of Rings of Power is coming back on November 11th, so very, very soon. Uh so they've got a preview episode up now before the season comes out to kind of get caught up, talk about what they're expecting, what they're excited about, all the things of that nature. So definitely go check that out and get ready for the new season with them. And then, of course, you can check out Jason and Karen covering Widow's Bay over on the Everything's Fine podcast as they're going through that first season, came out earlier this year. Uh, great, so they're catching people up. Uh, you can re-watch or watch for the first time, spoiler-free with them. Uh, and it got a lot of awards love, so it should it'll be back for a season two, hopefully sometime next year. So get caught up with that. It's a great show. So if you haven't watched it, get on that. It's awesome. Love me some widowspace.

It's easily bingeable. Absolutely easily bingeable.

And then outside of Podcastica, the and beyond part of my spiel, um, you can always check out our friends over at Pirate Core Entertainment Pi uh Podcast Network. A lot of fun stuff over there. What's on tonight, which mostly well known for the coverage of the pit, which does return in January, so we're getting closer and closer for season three there. But they are staying busy before we get to the next season of the pit. They've been uh covering Crystal Lake over there, so that season is done, so you can get all of their coverage and stuff over there. But then Dexter Resurrection is back and they'll be covering that for that time, so they're staying busy. So definitely some stuff to check out over there before the pit comes back. Get some Dexter coverage over there right now. And then Panels to Pixels, it will be covering season two of Dark Matter. So if you're watching that, then definitely make sure to check out panels for that. And then our good friends over at TV Podcast Industries love the Marvel stuff. So if you're watching over on Disney Plus Vision Quest, which has been fantastic, loving it so much uh for many different reasons. Uh, some of them I don't want to talk about because I don't want to spoil things, but if you know me, then you know why I'm loving certain casting elements and things. Uh so it's been awesome. Um, so definitely check out TV Podcast Industries cover coverage of Vision Quest. Uh they've got episodes five and six up now, um, and then some feedback episodes as well. So a lot of great stuff to talk VisionQuest over there. So give that a listen as well. If you want more of me and Daphne, of course, you can check out the Buffalo Buffalo podcast that we do with our friends Jeff and Jerry. Uh a little different, not all the movie and TV show breakdowns, although we still have some movie and TV show game related games that we do. But uh, but it's a lot of just different games uh of all kinds, and us hanging out and trying to make each other laugh and just having a good time. Uh well, if you ask me Jeff or Jerry, it's always a good time. I don't know if Daphne's gonna give you the same answer, but uh that's up to her.

That depends on the day of the week, the time of the day, and whether or not I have been teased, or just yeah, it's just how it goes.

Yep. Uh, but yeah. Then all of that is great to listen to until next week, when, as I said earlier, we will be back with the final movie of the season, and then in two weeks we'll be wrapping up the season with our Riffle Awards, as we always do. So uh, looking forward to that. But we do got one more movie to get to. We can't just jump into the awards yet, because who knows, this last movie might shake some things up, might get mentioned a bunch. Who knows? So, uh Daphne, what are we doing next week?

Well, when a booking mix-up lands for drag queens at a biker bar where the crowd is anything but welcoming, the queens must trade lip syncing for vampire slaying and help the patrons survive the night. Thanks to our fellow Buffalo Jerry for this suggestion as we cover Jim Gerard's 2024 film Slay as our final movie of season 11.

Yes. Slay Queens.

Oh man.

It's a great one. Uh it's on Tubi, I know for sure, to point you in that direction. So there's that. Uh and then when the post comes up next week, then if there's other places to find it, then I'll list them on there when I do my research on that.

Uh he definitely will. And with that, we've reached the end of another fun episode of Run for Your Lives. Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Daphne.

And I'm Pate.

And if you have to run, you better run for your lives. Bye-bye.