RFYL 274: Slay

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 is the final movie of the season. And we're gonna end this season here with the horror comedy film Slay, directed by Jim Girard and released on To Be March 22nd, 2024.

To be or not to be, that is the question. Jerry actually suggested this or brought this movie up to us because we had another idea originally for the last episode of the season. But with travel and vacation, we didn't really have time to do the prep for it, so you'll get to hear it next season.

Yes.

So Jerry mentioned that he had watched this with a group of friends and said it was great. And he knows that we love the whole horror vibe that has comedy elements. So this was really right up our alley, and I think it was a great way to end the season.

Yeah, definitely a fun way to end the season for movies. Uh we love the vampires, we love the horror comedy, we love some drag queens. Uh I was gonna yeah, mention that as like randomly. We've we've been to a drag show together before. I have um just happenstance uh in Salem, Massachusetts, of all places. Uh that was that was a lot of fun. And then like the like local brewery here in my town does drag shows and events from time to time that I would like to go to. But similarly too, in Salem, for some reason all the drag queens love getting up and doing brunch events, and I don't want to get up and go to those things. Do more stuff in the evening and I'll be there. But why what is the drag queen's obsession with brunch? Because I don't want to do that all the time. That means I have to wake up and get dressed and go somewhere to do that, and I don't want to do that.

I think we determined a long time ago that you're a vampire, that you're very nocturnal, and getting up in the morning is not something that you'll do, even for the best food available, because you're such a foodie, and I know that would draw your interest, but you are not a morning person. No, I am not a morning person either. So I totally relate to that. Our friend Jeff is the same, and when we're recording this, I just got back from Texas, uh, where I got to hang out with Paik and Jeff and Jerry, and we did a music festival. It was super fun. So it's cool to be back recording this week, and then I'm already looking forward to next week's Riffle Awards, even though I believe it's probably gonna be the toughest one we've ever had.

Yeah, I've tried not to think about it too much because I want to just like go in on it next week whenever I'm breaking everything down and trying to make my my picks and nominations. But yeah, it's I'm sure it's gonna be tough. Uh I noticed that we ended this season on a more goofy comedic note with three movies in a row.

Yes.

Like that, you know, because it's and I was like, why why are we j we doing so much comedy just to book into the season? It's not like there's anything going on in the world currently at this time that makes us really need to lean into the levity or s of stuff or something.

Nothing at all. Nothing at all. Let's hope that maybe by the time this episode comes out things are looking a little better.

Yeah, that's that's hope. Yeah. Um, so we'll hit you with some more deeper and darker stuff when we return next season. Yes. We got some stuff.

We do. We have a list already that's kind of like, okay, we're gonna do this one, we're gonna do this one, we're gonna do this one. Yes, for sure. There's gonna be lots of great discussion coming your way when we return after our little break. So there's not a ton of information on this movie. I should have asked Jerry if he had any tidbits for me. But uh no. It was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, which I am quite sure one of the vampires I heard an accent.

Oh, yeah. Uh I I have a note about that near the end because I was just like, I it didn't even bother me. It was like it's fine because it was still very fun, but like I definitely heard a few South African accents slip their way through uh from time to time.

Yep, that was a given. Seeing that it was filmed there, it all made sense why the accents were slipping through.

Yep.

So there's no budget or box office information because it was released on Tubi. The thing is, the only thing I ever saw about it online was it's low budget. I don't know what that means in the scheme of what the range is for what the budget or the box office could have ever been, or how things are charted on streaming versus other outlets like released into the theaters or whatever. I'd love to see this on the big screen because it was absolutely ridiculous. And I came back a little not sick, but my allergies are definitely in full flow. Um, probably from being outside in kind of a dust bowl for the festival. So that's probably why. Not a complaint, a general statement, because the festival was fantastic.

So just for both of us, if we sound a little nasally or we're sniffling throughout this episode, that's why. We're still recovering from uh a music festival onslaught on our bodies.

Absolutely. The fatigue. I wasn't ready for the fatigue, but we did fare better than Jeff.

Yeah.

Because he he got a full-fledged cold from this, but we managed to get through it. The movie was 99 minutes long. Pake. Give us the synopsis for our final film of the season.

Alright. After a booking mistake, four drag queens find themselves performing for a mostly unwelcoming crowd, but when vampires attack, the crowd looks to the queens to save the day.

Because they slay. I mean, let's be honest. And they do. Like, they're pretty great.

Yes.

I wasn't sure about this movie when I first started it. I I something about it, I was thinking, what on earth made Jerry think this was a good movie? And then we got into it and I fully understood why he said it was good. Because it was fun. It was campy and it was fun.

Yes. Um, you know, I I I do really enjoy drag queens, and there's certain drag queen media that I will take in and watch that I really enjoy. However, the biggest one, which is RuPaul's drag race, obviously, I don't watch. I've never seen it's not something that's on my radar. So I I'm not familiar with any of these queens. Uh they were a lot of fun. Uh, they are all drag race contestants. Uh again, I've never watched that show, so maybe people who do would be familiar with some of them. Or yeah uh all of them, hopefully even. But but I like them. Yeah, Trinity the Tuck, Heidi in Closet, Crystal Method, and Caramel. Oh my gosh. So much fun. And even their characters have great drag names as well. They played Mama Souffle, Robin Banks, Bella Du Bois, and Olive Wood.

Oh man. And they're each wonderful in their own unique ways. Absolutely.

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Yeah, love the the drag stuff and then the names, the characters, their personas, all of it was a lot of fun. The only cast member

(Cont.)

I was familiar with, at least I thought, was Neil Sandalins, uh, who plays Dusty, the bartender and owner of the bar, because he is a great South African singer, songwriter, actor. Um, he was in The Flash, he's done a couple of different like superhero things, but then also he is General Abbott from one of my favorite shows, uh, Sweet Tooth.

Oh my god. I could not believe that. He played and he played such a fun character here. Little by little things came out about him that I just loved. And you just you try to look at him here and then remember that he's General Abbott, and it's just like, no, how can that possibly be? They have the same beard, kind of. Although it all reminded me of Tommaso Ciampa, a wrestler. But to have him in this movie, oh my gosh. It was great to see a different side of him because again, General Abbott was terrifying.

So yeah, he was great in this. And then it took me a little bit, and then I it clicked. I was like, okay, I have to look into. We have seen another actor from this movie uh before. It took me a little bit to realize the actor who played Travis. The like super redneck guy that was kind of the main adversary that kind of becomes a somewhat ally by the end. Um, Daniel Jenks is the actor who plays him. We have seen him before, also a South African actor in a movie that took place in South Africa. He played uh the character of Van Wick in Tremors 5 Bloodlines.

Oh my gosh, you're right. I love how these things connect. It makes me want to get a pegboard and start drawing disconnections. Oh my gosh. I did not realize that. That is wonderful.

Yeah, there's a lot of South African cast in this movie, which, as we talked about, it was filmed in Cape Town, so that makes a lot of sense.

Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I don't think any of the queens are from All American drag queens, except for one.

I think Caramel is from the UK. And I don't know if I don't know if she herself is from the UK, but when just doing a little digging, she was on Drag Race UK.

Okay. Yeah, I think one of our friends, Des, has watched RuPaul's Drag Race. And I know that there was an ice dancer that was on the US version and his drag name is Milk. And that's all I could tell you. I've never s I I've never seen it. This was a great one. And then because I watch it on Tubi, so some uh other movies, like horror comedy movies, popped up like to be recommended to me, and I'm like, maybe I need to go down a rabbit hole because this was a ton of fun.

Yeah.

And I'm down to see more. Yeah, it was just great.

For sure. Uh yeah, I think we'll we'll do this one in the more just chronological notes way instead of trying to break down one character because they all are together in a group for the movie for the most part. They do break up into little duos that you know, briefly, that I loved. I love the way that they split those duos. Um it was very fun. Uh, having Mama souffle with Travis a lot, which was kind of very fun. You know, the enemies two friends arc a little bit.

I feel like he came to respect her.

Yeah.

I do. I feel like Travis saw that she was not going to just be a pushover. Like, she's pretty, they're really tough. All of them were tough in different ways.

Yeah.

And they definitely had each other's back as much as they could. And that I think just really signals how close their friendship was. And that things weren't always easy, though. They had a dynamic that was somewhat frustrating, probably for them, especially between Mama and Olive. Because they seemed to be arguing about who's right. And Mama was trying to lead the way. And Olive was going against mama's decisions a few times. And I think that happened throughout the movie, but I also think that in the end, Mama realized that she needs to allow Olive to have more input into things.

Yeah.

That she's really smart and she understands things and she has great ideas. So Mama doesn't have to be the control freak. She can relax a little bit and let Olive kind of take a bigger role in things. But it did push them both in different ways in this, especially with one catalyst moment, which we'll get to.

Yeah. Uh there's some great, like, yeah, story arc stuff in here. Uh, we'll talk about more in detail in the storyline. We'll get back to it. But yeah, like those duos that I enjoyed. Uh Robin and Steven have their little like love story going on throughout the movie, which is great. Like, you're just uh rooting for that. And then on a like platonic level, I loved Bella and Jax as a duo throughout the movie. It was a lot of fun, too.

Oh my gosh. The the connection during not a straight makeover scene, but more of just like bonding over just I don't even know how to describe it. They just really bonded through just like talking and makeup and cool jackets and cool clothes, and it wasn't really a makeover that she Bella gave Jax. It was just a kind of a glow-up, a little bit of a little bit of like shine to go with how she already looked. And that I loved that too.

The the eye black and stuff. And then they found all the forks and and stuff. I I had at one point Jax just became uh jump ahead because we're talking about it's like um Jax is out here looking and fighting like some kind of non-binary Wolverine bullseye hybrid.

Um I put ninja in my notes because she was kicking and throwing the force made me think of the mystery men. It was another movie. It doesn't really fit our genre, but it involves a group of superheroes with powers that are not necessarily, you know, common. Like the bowler, I think one of them is called the bowler and the shoveler, and yeah. So she was flinging silverware and Roundhouse.

I don't know, they never mention it specifically for the character uh pronoun-wise and stuff, but I do know I do know Dania Cash, the actor who played Jax, is non-binary they-them pronoun. So I kind of assume with the character that is probably also that is pro they them.

Okay. Yeah. I wasn't sure how to use the correct pronouns with this. So if I, and I'm saying this to you, Peg, if I misgender someone, please point it out to me. The queens I'm referring to is she. Yeah. Yes, if I misgender someone, please tell me. I don't want to do that.

Yeah. I think the only one that would be is just like I made a note to just like even though again it's not specifically pointed out, but using they them for Jax because of the actor playing the role, I assume.

I think in this case, normally you would have the character and they may have a different designation or gender pronouns and they tell you what it is. But where they didn't, we can defer to the actor's pronoun and do they them, and that makes perfect sense. I love that there were two queer characters that were fans of the girls and wanted to come and see it because they initially were not gonna even stay, because well, there were a few mistakes as to how they ended up at this at this place. I will say this before we get into more of the characters why don't people learn to double tap ever? It's like they just don't know. And the guy at the beginning, Rufus, he would have been fine if he had double tapped or paid attention, not just kind of walked away. I mean, the guy had a vampire face. What do you think is going on? You it's a supernatural being. You need to to step up, you need to realize that it may not be knocked down the way you think it is, because it's a supernatural being.

Yeah. It was an interesting way to start, because it became more vampire as the movie went on. But at first I was like, this is a very zombie approach to vampires. Yeah. So it's like somebody gets bit and then like dies and then turns and becomes a bloodthirsty vampire. And I was like, and also it's this this this was in the daytime, so the sun's not an issue. So I was just like, um, are these more like zombies that act and look like vampires? It's like, well then just do a zombie movie. Uh but I guess you want to make it a little bit more unique. But then they are able to play off of the vampire tropes a little bit more throughout the movie.

So I was like, okay, no, I'm glad that they There were some they did not use, though. Like, it used to be that, or at least in some movies, if you consume, and we just did Daybreakers not that long ago. If you consume, if you're a vampire, you consume vampire blood, it's poisonous to you. And that is a trope that has showed up in a few movies that I've watched before. So that was one they didn't play into, and I thought that was cool, and I liked that they didn't really play into the sunlight one.

Yeah, like there was just they were able to pick and choose a little bit. So like the sunlight thing wasn't uh yeah, there's uh the line I can I love Jack's in their one-liners, um, with the whole like crucifixes don't work, and then they go, What? The church lied so unlike them.

Um my god, the one-liners in this movie were amazing. There are so many quotes. If we were looking at quotes, of all the movies we've done for the season, this movie would have several in contention for the most fun because it was crazy. One other thing I'll point out is I loved that when they staked the vampire, they turned into like glitter. Like it wasn't just dust, it was glitter. And that was so fitting for a drag vampire movie.

It's the most fabulous of vampire deaths poofing into glitter. Yes, honey.

It was amazing. I loved it. Fantastic. I just I thought it was great.

Yeah. Ah, it was a lot of fun. Uh, I love their RV. That was really cool.

Oh my gosh.

Um but but yeah, Robin books the wrong venue.

Uh oh, Robin.

And now they're stuck performing at this very redneck like biker bar somewhere. And it's like, well, maybe they're open-minded here, and then you meet Travis and Fat Boy, and then some of these others like Or not, but then you do meet uh Dusty, the owner, and he gives off the vibes almost immediately. We're like There's more here. Uh, because he's you know, at first say, well, I I, you know, must have been the person working the day shift that booked you, but they was like, no. Because then once they start, you see him kind of like doing his own little sachets, and he's kind of enjoying it. It's like, no, you you booked him.

Uh Him and Earl both were into it. Like they were into it, and I loved it because they were helpful, they were supportive. Even though at first Dusty, I feel like tried to hide it. Through this, we learned more about him and understand him until he makes a grand entrance at the end that I was cheering in my seat.

Yeah, it was it was cool because yeah, they were going to bail on it, and then Well, I except for Bella, I don't think she ever knew they were going to bail because my favorite thing about Bella is she's just the right level of completely clueless uh about everything, and I love Oh man.

Oh, Bella.

Um

Protective of her with certain things because she felt like Bella was naive and often clueless, and so she needed a minder, she needed someone to kind of protect her and pay attention.

Yeah. But then before they can bail, that's when they meet Jax and Steven, the local diehard fans, and seeing how much like of the world this means to them that this group is here doing this show, and they're like, well, alright, for them, we have to do it. Um, it was quite the opening performance.

Oh my god. Um never knew we would ever cover a movie where WAP was featured in it. I'll be honest, I had never heard the song. Ever. I have avoided it. Listening to it, I just kept thinking, oh my gosh. My nieces, oh man, Lori would have oh, she would freak if they ever knew the words to this song. Oh man, but the performance was great, and Olive did her split the way she wanted to.

Yeah, put did her own tweaks against mama's wishes. You know, mama said not to, she did it anyway. We could change her name to Miss Behaven, possibly.

Yes, possibly. I see what you did there.

Uh-huh.

I saw someone at the concert with a t-shirt from of what's the guy's name? The brother?

Uncle Baby Billy?

Yes, him. I'm like, I know exactly what that's from.

Yep.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Yes. Uh, yeah. Not the warmest reception to this performance, but again, not a full dud either. We have the two fans. Uh, drunk Sheila was shocked and appalled, and then immediately switched into Impressed and loved Sheila as well. Sheila was so fun.

Oh my gosh, she was great. You find yourself thinking, oh no, people are gonna die, but I hope it's not Sheila. Like, you hope it's not people because you grow to like some of them.

Yeah.

The side characters.

Yeah, Earl the light guy seemed to be having fun, and then yeah, Dusty is feeling himself a little bit during that performance.

Definitely.

So I was already trying to like figure out his his story. Like, right then, that first performance, I was like, okay, I'm making assumptions about Dusty's character. His story arc is gonna be he's a closeted queer man who finally feels comfortable with himself after meeting the queens.

Yep.

Which, yeah, basically, again, but I like the way that they handled it because it was like sexuality had nothing to do with it.

No.

You know, like he it's still within like kind of the queer spectrum a little bit, you know, because even at the end where he's like, I'm gonna do more queer events and stuff here. But like they don't really talk about his sexuality much, because that conversation he has with mama, mama's like, straight men can like drag too. That's fine, it doesn't make you more less of a man. He goes, I know. Uh, and that's where he reveals like he didn't he did drag in quotation marks, more of just like he expressed himself and like to dress in feminine clothing when he was a small boy, uh, until his father beat him for it and and ended that. Uh but he's also always had this kind of desire, you know, in him, so he's always had this interest in drag because it's something he was never able to to see. And so I think him booking this show was kind of finally being tired of just like the oppression that he put on himself and his family and stuff, and he was like, My dad's dead, he can't beat me anymore for this, I run this place now, almost as like his own little treat for the child and himself to do that and have that here.

Yeah, I found that very endearing as he explained the story and then took control of the situation himself and was able to express himself that way. When he told the story about his dad beating him, it made me really sad because I can imagine that is still happening today.

Oh, yeah, for sure. And so we see kind of a mix of the crowd, mostly just a lot of these. It's like they hate it that much, they're still here, they're not leaving.

Uh yeah. I thought Travis would be the first one out the door.

Mm-hmm. But they're they're heckling and using slurs and and saying some hurtful things to them. One thing I'll say about mama is she doesn't take no shit. She can hold her own. She's snapping right back at them and puts Travis in his place. It's great.

Absolutely. I love that. I love that. I love too that Olive was the one you couldn't convince to stay. Everyone else kind of, well, Bella, just because Mama was like, okay, we we can, I guess we can do this. And um and then Robin was agreeing to it, but it really took Jax and Steven and showing their adoration that kind of especially Jax telling Olive that they'd seen her on something, yeah, and that she should have won.

Yeah.

That got into her ego, and so she decided, okay, we can do this. We we'll we'll do this, we're we're gonna put on this show. I would have been disappointed if they didn't because so much got talked up about this performance and the arguments over the split and all of the things, and I wanted to see what was so special, and it was just it was super fun.

Yeah. Uh yeah, so you get the performance, and then Vampire Rufus wanders in. Things get a little crazy, one dude gets bit, uh, fat boy. Uh, but then that's seemingly it for them. They throw Rufus back out. But it's like, well, obviously things are gonna get a little bit crazier, and then that's where we kind of get the escalation of Fat Boy turning uh and starts attacking people. Travis is one of my favorite characters, not like my favorite people, like not as a person, like, but I mean, yeah, he's a homophobic douchebag, but he's a great character because he's hilarious. Like, oh my god. There's a lot of great comedy at his expense. The line is again, the one line is just out of nowhere. Because it's like again, you play up this like expectations, and then when Fat Boy turns and he starts biting people, and Travis goes, What do you why are you trying to eat meals? Like, you're a vegetarian. It killed me. It's like, what of course it's just the the idea of like this like biker dude is like gluten intolerant and a vegetarian, and he's tells like, that's so funny.

I've loved too when Fat Boy tells the guy in the bathroom, your high blood pressure smells real good. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, this is crazy.

Yeah, but when Fat Boy first turns, because he's like kind of he goes up to the stage to like go for Bella and Olive steps up and punches him, and then Travis tries to like get up in Olive's face to like fight, but Olive towers over him and immediately just backs down, like, never mind. So funny.

I love it. I love the visual that that created because Olive didn't back down, she was up in his face. She was gonna dish it out to him, and he backed off. I like that. I like it that they showed just how tough the queens were, that they weren't just pushovers.

Caramel is one tall drink of Frappuccino.

Uh holy cow. Absolutely.

But yeah, the they're smarter vampires, I guess. They still have a lot of humanity to them, which sucks because this kind of area, the humanity that they've taken over, is just shitty people in general anyway. Uh, but so they they're smart enough to where, yeah, there's no cell service, the phones are down, even like landlines and everything, so they kind of just black them out and keep them trapped in this place. So you got rednecks and drag queens having to fight and survive together.

Yeah, it's not two groups that you would ever put together, but they did okay for the most part, at least for a while.

Mm-hmm.

Um I felt like there were several levels of vampirism where they first turned, and then Fat Boy later, when he'd been in the freezer for a little while, he his face had changed completely, and he had really like leveled up to the highest level of being a vampire.

Yeah.

And he was really strong at that point.

Yeah. I also loved uh Travis and another group of rednecks all decide we're just gonna go out there and fight him in the parking lot.

Oh my god.

And then you have the the drag queens and some of the other people just standing in the doorway watching.

Yeah.

And it's very meta, because I I remember like I was gonna be like, well, they don't have the budget for a whole vampire massacring redneck scene.

No.

So they just have the characters reacting to and narrating the events that are going on. He just threw a motorcycle and oh my god, that thing happened. And that you don't see any of it, it's all off-screen, but they just have the characters narrating it. Uh, and then a few things crossing in front of them, the head in slow-mo and like stuff.

Oh, yeah. The quote for that was that dude just got decapitated in slow motion.

Yeah.

And then the head just goes rolling by.

Oh my god. But the the line that really killed me in that that was very funny was it got very meta, is because Olive goes, you need a huge ass budget to adapt this story because this shit is insane.

You're right, Olive.

You're right.

It's like that's funny.

I did like the focus too in this movie on consent.

Mm-hmm.

That was brought up multiple times.

Yeah, definitely.

And I appreciate that, especially with the way the world is today. I mean, they kept coming into the bar, and I guess it's because of a sign that made them feel welcome. I don't know. Like they it wasn't like sinners where we saw them have to be invited in.

Well, they they have that trope. Like the trope is there. They say that they have to be invited in, and then that's when Dusty is like, that's gonna be a problem, and it cuts to the neon sign that says, Come on in, the beer's chillin'. Because then later we have Olive back in the RV, and Rufus is like, Oh, you think you're it you know, because you didn't invite me, and that won't keep me from coming into a car. And then she goes, This is a mobile home. It's got a kitchen net and a octopus, and then he immediately is like, Oh shit, I can't get in.

It's great. I love it. I loved uh have the put-downs, yeah. You know, and he was still trying to find a way in.

Yeah.

It's like, no, she told you it's a mobile home. This isn't the bar. You can't just come on in.

Yeah, it's great. Uh mentioned, yeah, Robin and Steven love story, kind of they just keep getting interrupted every time they're about to kiss, and it was pissing me off. I'm like, just let them have their moment.

Yeah, I wanted that too. They get interrupted twice, and it was two times too many.

Yeah. But it it made the final payoff that much better. So I loved the conversation about vampire tropes where they're like, what kind of vampires is it? Is it this or is it that? Is it like Twilight? Is it and was it Bella? This is definitely like Twilight, because those movies were based on books, so you know they did their research.

No, I don't think so.

And then Sheila goes, Don't they turn into bats like that foot fetish movie? And then they go, Oh, from dusk till dawn. I was like, Oh god, that's such a great joke. I I appreciate a good Tarantino day.

I love it. Oh man. That's a movie we haven't done.

We haven't.

I just realized we're giving Tony another vampire movie.

We are.

So she should be very happy. I I hope she likes this one. It was super fun.

Yeah, I do have a lot of like one-liners and stuff in my notes. Not all of them, but but a lot. Uh one that was great is is Mama putting Olive on babysitting duty. You can watch the kids as she's looking over at Bella and Jack. Uh but then Olive's response that don't be Mary Poppins in your Laura Croft.

Uh no, it's true because Olive was very strong.

Yep.

And that is part of a discussion that happens later. I loved the part where Robin had the garlic bread. I'm like, that's not gonna work, and it did. It did.

Yeah. I I have, you know, some of the weapons are interesting. I said, I don't think a skillet or a loaf of garlic bread are gonna do much. And then later on, I have a note where I was like, okay, I take it back, Robin. The garlic bread was pretty peak. But then her line, I think the vampires are celiac.

And I was like, no, I think it's more than the garlic, not the garlic.

So good. Uh also Bella with the costume changes twice throughout the movie. Oh uh all you can't do all this vampire fighting without at least one costume change.

So oh my gosh, she slayed it multiple times with the clothes. Even helping Jacks pick out what they wanted to wear and making suggestions.

Yes.

It was I loved that bonding time. It was really special.

And then the whole team works together to get Dusty's drag persona going.

Uh that was fantastic. Watching him come out and just be fierce. And so much taller than I think I even realized he was. Especially, you know, because of the shoes.

Put some lifted boots on him and he's gonna Yeah.

The commanding presence that he had. It was it was great. He just owned it, and I loved that so much.

Fantastic. Uh yeah, talked about Yeah, again, the weapons. Olive's stiletto stick was great. Earl's antlers were a good one, good one. I think that was a good way to go.

They all found something. I did have trouble with some of the vampires like not knowing what their names were. So in some cases, I made up names like Glitter Mullet Boy who was chasing Jacks in the bathroom.

Yeah, which with that I uh finding the note. Where'd the note go? Where's the note? Yeah. It would take a lot more than a vampire uprising to get me to crawl around on the floor of a dive bar bathroom.

Absolutely. All I could think of was train spotting, and there's a scene in that movie that is just disgusting. It's like, nope, nope, nope.

No, not doing that. We'll say Jack's their fork murder skills are very badass.

Oh, absolutely.

But I I wouldn't have been crawling around on the floor in there.

That's no more power to you. Oh my god. You're gonna need a garlic water bath after that.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, Mama Sue and Travis storyline. Uh this whole ordeal is gonna create one hell of an ally if he survives. Which, I don't know, little things. Because even at the end, his big ally moment is going, now I ain't gay or anything, but y'all are alright by me. And I love Jack's. Like, why would that make you gay? I said I ain't gay.

Oh my god.

It just shows you that he's still there's he's learning.

He's learning, he'll get there.

Baby steps. I will say too, the way that they were putting the wood in the windows, thinking that that was gonna keep them out. Those were so rickety. Oh my god. That there's no way that was gonna keep anyone out.

Yeah. Now now me and Sheila, I think I I I resonated with her on a spiritual level. Uh because I feel her I I I too have gone to a place with a craving for wings, and then they were out of them.

And she's real mad.

Maybe it is a good thing. I didn't I didn't have a a shotgun nearby whenever that happens to me.

Uh she's not a bad shot. It's just that that shot was not gonna put Rufus down, like take him out. Which she did great.

Yeah.

Pulling the trigger, and her aim was good.

Which then was that maybe the most tragic ending in this movie is for Sheila. Even though she lives, she could never have garlic palm wings again.

Nope. You'll have to introduce her to the buffalo barbecue wing. Garlic free.

Yeah, I can't do those anymore.

Although I don't know because vampires can't eat. Or can they? We don't know about that one. Yeah, I don't know about that trope. She was chewing on a hand of a vampire. She she, you know, what did she call it? Uh to go item or something. Yeah, she just carried it with her and was grossing Jackson, Steven out.

Uh yeah, I wasn't expecting a queen to die in this movie.

Uh oh, that made me so sad.

R.I.P. Bella. Yeah, she does come back. Uh it's great. But but in that first moment where you don't realize that, because it's you don't realize she'd been bitten, so you just think she was stabbed and bled out. And I was like, well, things just went from all silly to very sad for a moment there. Uh and leaning into then Mama and Olive arguing and Olive leaving, I was just like, my girls are falling apart.

I just kept thinking, it's not too late. Go get some vampire blood and make her ingested so she can still live as a vampire. I did not know that they were going to bring her back a little bit later, and I loved the little backstories, like stuff we didn't see. Yeah. Something would happen, and then they'd show you like a little backstory of what happened in order for that to come to life.

Yeah. Yeah, so that that scene was actually really like rough because it was like her death and then their argument. And I was like, I kind of felt bad for Dusty too. Him and his family bar catching strays. I was like, worse than New Jersey. Damn, Olive. That's he's like, I'm right here. This is my bar. Stop talking shit about it. Uh, but I did like a line that came out of that exchange because then Olive is going off on like people like Travis, and it's just like I face this all the time, and all this stuff. So and Jax has the line, they say, hatred is more exhausting than hope. And I really did like that line.

Yeah, I agree. I thought that was great.

And then I had a little bit more faith in Earl at first. I was like, Why why'd you have to be the hide your bite guy? Nobody likes the hide your bite guy. But then we see something else is up with him, and I was very curious about that, and then we get the reveal with Bella, and then him, and then Sheila just also as a like the third just to like the the rule of thirds uh to make it really funny. But it's just like, oh, so they you could be a vampire, um, but then you can fight it, so they still have free will. It's just, oh, the other vampires are just kind of shitty people already. Um that's where they do the other consent kind of thing. I was like, yes, kids, listen to the vampire drag queen. She knows the truth. Consent is always key. Uh always.

And Earl, you could see him visibly fighting it. Like he went into the bathroom even to get out of sight, and he was visibly trying to fight the urge. He even I didn't even think he was gonna eat the rat. He just kept looking at him like he didn't want to.

Yeah.

And his little face, and he nope, he he did it. I'm like R.I.P. rat.

Mm-hmm. And then yeah, we get the vampires changing their tactic to full killing instead of biting and turning, so we have the war full blast. But the humans have three non-asshole vampires on their side.

So that's They do.

That's great.

The other trope that they did not do is if you kill the head vampire, everyone else turns to normal.

I do have a note about that because when Olive is fighting, I said, okay, Olive's taking on the OG vamp after running off. And then in my notes, I say, if the rule of sires is in place, then killing him should stop all the other vampires. And then a little bit later I go, okay, so sire rule is not an effect. Um but Olive can return with a bunch of garlic, so at least there's that.

Well, and she used that pin in her hair. I knew when she put it in there earlier. I'm like, that's gonna come into play at some point later. It has to. And it was mama one of mama's pins.

Yep.

And um she used it very well.

Yeah. Uh love, yeah, dusty. Having his transformation getting to come out in the drag. I was like, yes, take the moment. Let your inner killer queen out.

Absolutely. Everyone should.

And he truly was slaying. And then all I could think of, because there's a comedian that I enjoy named Dusty Slay. Very different person, very different personality, but it's all I could think about. Completely different version of Dusty Slay. And then one thing that got me a lot is then when Dusty comes out and drag and everybody's like, oh. And even Travis has this kind of like, okay. But then he goes, So does you got pronouns now or something? And I think it was Mama that just cuts back, everyone does. And he goes, not me. Which cracks me up. It's one of my favorite uh stupidities of bigots. Um the whole, I don't do that pronoun shit. Oh, you don't use pronouns, really? Because you just did. Um it's one of my favorite things. Uh there's a guy on TikTok that I really enjoy. I don't use TikTok often, so most most of the time it's through Facebook reels and stuff. I end up seeing clips, but he does lives on TikTok.

Mm-hmm.

Guy by the name of uh Jovan Bradley.

Okay.

Uh and his whole shtick is he debates a lot of like conservatives and different people or whatever, but like I think I've seen him before. He likes to debate political and social issues on live streams. Um, and before you start debating with him on a stream, he says, Okay, before I let you on, before we can debate or we can have a discussion, I just need you to tell me your name, your age, and your pronouns. And it's one thing just to like have an understanding of the people he's talking to, but there's another reason he does it because it baits those kind of people. The amount of people who say variations of that different phrase, I don't do pronouns, I don't use that stupid. And every time, I love watching those videos, and I might have to show you some if you go, he goes, Okay, cool, I'm gonna respect that, but I'm gonna keep you at your word. And so while we're having this debate, every single time you use a pronoun, I'm gonna hit this buzzer. And the meltdowns that could that happen from it's glorious. The people just lose their minds with the buzzer.

Oh my gosh.

And he's like, Well, you said you, you said I, you said we, you said us. And they just it's like they don't get it. It's hilarious.

Maybe they need to take remedial grammar.

I know. It's like you said, and then they get mad at him. Stop hitting the buzzer. I don't and he's like, you told me you don't use pronouns. So I'm just trying to hold you accountable to that. I'm trying to make sure that you are truthful. So every time you use one, I'm just it's a nice reminder that you used a pronoun.

So it's so great.

It's the best, like trolling. God.

You'd think they'd have figured it out by now.

Stop buzzing me. It's so good. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Oh man, that's great.

So they yeah, with the like, I bet you got the pronouns now. Uh everyone does it, not me, immediately thought of Joe Bond. I was like, that's so funny. Um my god.

I had uh an English teacher and a French teacher who both, you know, really explained well pro like the use of pronouns and sentences and so whenever anyone does that, it just makes me laugh. It's like, don't you remember? I know it was a long time ago, but he did learn that in school.

Yeah.

He and her and she and him are not the only pronouns that there are. They, them. Those are not the only pronouns. There are so there are so many more.

So Yeah. And then you get the people it was like they them. It's like, well, it's only one person, you can't use they them. It's like again, if you've have any basic understanding of the English language, the singular they pronoun has been used only since the 1300s. You know, uh Yeah.

I mean, maybe we do have a problem with education.

Well, yeah.

An ongoing one. Someone should take out a billboard.

But anyway, off of that, um Yeah, so yeah, Olive has the fight with the the uh OG vampire out there. Uh the fight's continuing on back at the bar. Steven and Robin finally get their kiss. And then get back to slaying. Uh was great. Yeah, Jax's Wolverine bullseye fighting blades all over. They said they wanted to go for the blade thing. That also was really what they were doing.

Uh yeah.

Avenges Earl.

R.I.P. Earl.

Yeah, with the help of Sheila and Travis, which was cool.

Yeah. I was so sad when Earl died because I just thought that he was a fun character who seemed to be into them coming to perform from the beginning. Like he was fine with it. He had bonded with Robin and about the lighting, especially, because he she's telling him what she needs, and he's like, Well, I got a light and I can turn it here.

You got a spotlight and I can move it by pushing it.

It was great. It was great. I was bummed. I was bummed. RIP Sheila's boob.

I Sheila's the fucking best. Uh goes to sacrifice herself for Bella and then survives it. Fucker got me in the titty.

Oh man. She was one that I did. If she was from South Africa, I did not really hear her accent come through. She really sounded like, you know, she was from the area that this was set in.

Let me look. You're looking it up too. So I will look. Uh I assume probably, because it's it's very low budget, so they had to cast local, I'm sure. She's got a South African agent, so I assume so.

If I go into contact. She did a great job.

Looks like she does a lot of like Shakespeare in the park, stuff like in London.

Really?

So it looks like she does a lot of work in London, but but I think she is South African based originally. Yeah.

Well, it didn't. She was a hoot right from the beginning. She just you couldn't help but hope that she was gonna make it to the end. There was also a point where someone said, Oh, it can't get any worse than this. I'm like, no, don't ever say that in a horror movie because it absolutely can get worse and will get worse.

Yeah, uh, Olive returns still stealing the show, not following orders, but that's okay. This is time it helps out. She's making it rain with garlic water. Yes.

And she left really because her and mama got into a fight because she laughed to go try to be, you know, to go try to save the day. And mama specifically wanted her to watch Bella and Jack because Bella is clueless and needs the protection. Although I think Bella got a lot more smart when she became a vampire.

Yeah.

I was like, oh, okay. She's much more commanding as a vampire.

Yeah. Yeah. The the battle is won. They did it. The the sun gag, again, because I had made the note early on, because that the first vampire attacking Rufus happened in the day. So I was like, well, there's the sunlight issue. But still, you know, they open the door and everybody's like, ah, the vampires that are in there. And you see uh Bella sparkling, and it's like, it is like twilight, and she's like, No, I just put on a bunch of glitter foundation. Like, uh it's really funny.

Uh always about the style. Always the style.

So we can go back out into the sun, uh, and our queens are back on the road. And dare I say they actually left this place better than they found it.

Um I think they did. Hearts were more open, and a lot of radical homophobic jerks are no longer there to spread that hatred.

They'll come back and do shows at Dusty's new and improved bar once he updates it and upgrades it and makes it fabulous.

With a capital F. And I mean Robin has to come back to see Steven because they are obviously together. Um and I don't always ship romances, but that that romance I absolutely would ship.

But yeah, so really at the end of this, the thing that I'm mostly taking away from this is I really want garlic parm wings for dinner tomorrow. I think that's gonna have to be the plan now.

I think you're gonna have to talk a certain Riley into that.

He will have no problem with that. He'll probably want them too. He loves them as well, so I think that's an easy sell.

Uh one thing I really like about this movie is that we come full circle with the mama and Olive relationship, where Olive leaves because Mama is blaming her for the death of Bella. And Olive's just had enough. I think she doesn't feel valued. Um and I think she's right in blaming mama for the death as well, because she could, mama could have stayed if she was that concerned, she could have stayed and protected her. And I love that at the end they've come full circle, and mama is giving her more responsibilities and opportunities to do choreography and different things and showing that she trusts her. And that meant that their relationship had reached a different level, especially when you see them in the beginning and they were arguing about the split. But yeah, tons of great lines, just a really fun experience. I'm glad that Jerry shared this with us because I thought it was a great way for us to end the season.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

And next week we're gonna come to you with our riffle awards, and I am not ready. It's gonna be contemplation.

I'm excited to see how it all shakes out. It's like, do I even want to wait till next week to do that? I kind of want to just start now, be like, okay, well, technically you can.

I know you like to do things in a certain order, and now that we have recorded this episode, you're technically free to start thinking about next week. It's gonna be a fun discussion, it always is, but I just have a feeling it's gonna be harder. And I also feel like I'm gonna fight hard for some of my picks. So it won't be as easy as some of the previous seasons have been. So I think we did it.

We did, indeed. There goes the feedback phone. Perfect timing. So the phone lines are back up uh so I can go get that answered. See if we have some thoughts on this one. All right, let's get to the little bit of feedback that we do have this week that I'm excited for here. Uh we do have one for last week before we get to this uh finale movie. Uh we do have some feedback for Scare Me. And definitely I'll be so kind to let you take that one.

Okay. Well, Connor says, you definitely need to check out Werewolves Within by Josh Rubin. I think you'd love it.

Yeah, we probably would. I it's it's been on the list. It's it's a guarantee. We'll do it next season, I think for sure.

So And you don't have to tell us or ask us twice. We're in. If it's if it's Josh Rubin, we're we're gonna be in. It's it's how it goes.

I also like just before we started recording this, I was like scrolling on Facebook, and uh of course I follow Josh Rubin on all the things, and he has he just posted a a picture of the uh script uh for Heart Eyes 2. That he's got at least the draft he's on now, but he's got like a full draft of the script. So it's it's it's they're working on it. It's improved pre-production.

So I'm so excited.

Yep.

Alright, and then for this week for Slay, of course we're gonna hear from Catherine, who says, Slay, Slayed! The fast vampires were terrifying, especially the first one. It was nice to see so many of the rednecks coming around to the Queens before they showed that they were also badass vampire killers. My favorite effect might be the slow motion decapitated head, but there were so many awesome blood sprays. I appreciated all the references to other vampire media and lore, and loved that they added something a little different. Consensual versus asshole vampires. The barman Dusty was amazing. I love that he got to be his true self, especially that Winifred Sanderson hare. I replayed the last song and killing montage at least four times and had a few happy tears, especially when Bella survived. I don't know how you two are going to pick this season's Run for Your Lives winners. Riffle winners.

Yeah. That's gonna be a great episode.

Yes, uh again, the t the timey whimey of everything. At this point of recording the feedback for this, we've already recorded the Riffle Awards, so we've we survived it. Uh, you'll have to wait another week to hear them, but we made it through. There was only a few times we tried to kill each other, so I think we did okay.

Yeah, and as always, we want to know who your award winners are. So feel free to send those to us. We are on the podcastic discord on the Run for Your Lives channel. You can email us, run for your livespodcast at gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Run for Your Lives Podcast. Um, if you're enjoying the show, be sure to tell your friends. We are available on all the podcast players, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and more. You can go to RunFoyourLives Podcast.com for all the links you're ever gonna need and give us a review on Apple Podcasts as that is the best way to get us out there even more. We really appreciate it.

Absolutely we do. And of course, speaking of sharing the love, you know, I gotta give those shout-outs to the things going on in the Podcastica universe around us and beyond. A lot of great stuff for you to check out and listen to while you're waiting another week for our season finale, and then we'll talk about it, I'm sure, then a little bit. But uh then yeah, we'll be off for a little bit, we'll take a little bit of break. Again, uh maybe a little bit longer break than we usually do. Hopefully not by too much, but it's not necessarily like the just like downtime like reset I needed last time, but more of like I'm gonna be in the process of moving, and it's also the holidays, and there's a lot of stuff. Life stuff gets crazy, but we will be back as soon as we possibly can, and we have a slate of stuff already planned for the next season that we're excited to get to.

Yeah, I think we're building next season to be even more difficult to give awards to than this season was. Because we've actually been talking about different movies, and I've made a list and we're slating them in, and we figured out what we're doing. So it's happening.

Excited for yeah, we've got plenty of movies already lined up to go, including Connor, werewolves within. Uh so we'll do that. But while you're waiting for that finale, of course, a lot of great stuff you can check out on our network that we are a part of here, Podcastica, plus some other stuff. Of course, the Walking Dead cast, uh, now that Crystal Lake is over with, they are back to doing the rewatch of The Walking Dead. And so Jason and Carissa this week doing season seven, episode five on that rewatch. So you can go check that out there. And then also Bake Tastica going on with a great uh great British baking show, bake off, whatever you want to call it. Uh Greg, Wendy, and Jamie doing episode seven of that this week. And then uh Everything's Fine, the Widow's Bay podcast, continuing on on their watch and going through with that. Jason and Karen have episode six this week. But then also we've got a few things for you to check out that are warming up and getting ready for uh new seasons of shows coming back. Uh the Cast of the Rings, Penny and Anwin have uh episodes uh actually, no, season three has started, so episode one there. So you can go ahead and get the coverage of the season three premiere on the uh Rings of Power with the Cast of the Rings. And then Yellowjackets WTF actually has a little uh something for you to prep and get ready. Uh Yellow Jackets season four is right around the bend, right on the horizon. And so Jason, Wendy, Penny, and um uh some someone else, somebody else whose name is escaping me for some reason right now. Uh yes.

We recorded basically, it's a look back at the first three seasons of Yellow Jackets, what our hopes are for this season, and it's very exciting. At the end of the episode, Jason and Penny logged off, and Wendy and I talked a bit about the trailers that have come out, and there's spoilers in there, but we're talking about you know what we saw and what we think things mean. And as always, we're excited to see what's gonna happen with this show. Since it's the final season, I mean, pretty much all bets are off, and it looks like they're gonna focus a lot on the timeframe where the teens get back from the wilderness, and that's something I've really been interested in since season one. So I'm super stoked. I just hope that they land the plane the right way, and that it ends as strongly as it began.

Yeah. So, Yellow Jackets fans, make sure to tune in on that and get caught up, prepped up and ready to go for the final season. And then, yeah, check out the coverage over there once that starts. Because they'll be doing putting in the work and doing some great stuff over there and having great conversations. Uh, and then outside of Podcastica, of course, our friends over at Pirate Core Entertainment Podcast Network have some fun stuff going on. Uh, over on What's On Tonight, they've been covering Dexter Resurrection. That season's been off to a start, got a few episodes under the belt there, and they've been covering those, so go check that out. And then over on Panels to Pixels, they've been doing season two of Dark Matter. So if you're watching that, then make sure to go check out that as well. And then our friends over at TV Podcast Industries Love All Things Marvel. So, of course, you have you've been watching Vision Quest, if you've been watching that over there, which might be. Oh man. Fantastic. Incredible. Yeah, yeah. What a finale. Stick around for the post credits because it might have something big coming up for what's coming in theaters next month.

Anyway, uh I'm so ready now. And I'm so glad that we saw the finale, and now we only have like a few weeks to wait until the the movie comes out, and we'll see where it goes from there.

And I I just realized I was talking to some friends last night that with Doomsday, because they already have their doomsday tickets for that. And I was like, oh, I should buy my ticket. What day is that again? Oh, I might be out of town that night. And then I was like, do I postpone my driving home that night to go to a movie theater in Houston and watch it there before I drive home? I might have to do that.

You absolutely do. It's traditional.

I might have to get home even later and go find a theater and get a ticket to go watch that before I drive back home. I don't know. We'll see.

It's tradition for you to go see it on Thursday nights. You're gonna have to do it.

I might. I just might have to. Yeah. So definitely check out their Vision Quest stuff over on TV Podcast Industries. And I'm sure once Doomsday comes out, they'll have some thoughts and coverage and uh review and stuff over there as well for that. So a lot of great stuff for you to go check out. And if you do want some more of me and Daphne while you're waiting for our finale for the season, then you can always go check out the Buffalo Buffalo podcast that we do with our friends Jeff and Jerry. Just something a little different. We're hanging out, having fun, torturing Daphne while making each other laugh, uh, playing all kinds of ridiculous games and just having a good time.

It's always fun, even when it isn't.

It's a blast.

It is. It was so great to be with you guys in person. I just wish we could hang out more.

Yeah.

We're lucky if we get to do it once a year, the four of us together. And yeah.

Get to planning on the next one.

I know. I know what I want to do. Like, I feel like we should do the festival again.

Yeah.

At least that's my one idea.

Announce lineups and stuff for it. It's getting even though it just happened, it's it's getting to the point where they're gonna have to announce stuff, hopefully, before too long for next year.

Yeah.

So we'll see.

If it's a good lineup, then we do it again. Maybe we can even get the same house.

Yeah. I love that house.

It was so great.

Yes. But yeah, um, other than that, yeah, usually I would ask Daphne, what are we doing next week? But you you know we've talked about it a bunch already. We've got the Riffle Awards, the season finale coming up, all the movies we've covered, all the episodes we've had, breaking all of that down in a way and talking about our favorite movies, our favorite episodes, characters, side characters, threats, directors. Having a good conversation there. So um again, as Daphne mentioned earlier, we want to know your thoughts as well. So go ahead. This is the call to feedback a little early. If you've listened to all the episodes this season, what were your favorite movies? What were your favorite episodes? What were your favorite characters and villains and things from from this season? Who are your favorite directors? Let us know all of those things.

I feel like there's a lot to talk about, and I think this season provided something for everyone. So, yeah, we would love to be able to talk about what your feedback is, what you're thinking on our next episode, our final one of season 11. I can't believe season 11 peg. 275 episodes.

Man, yeah.

We're almost to 500.

Yep. Just right around the corner.

And with that, we've reached the end of another, and I think this episode was especially fun. Episode of Run for Your Lives. Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Daphne.

And I am Peggy.

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