The Witch Movie Project. The Witch Movie Project. Oh my gosh, I'm scared already. Are you scared Courtney? Oh yeah.

The violin, the witch, witch laughing, like what in the world have we started here? Like what is this? What is this? Why are we here? This is the Witch Movie Project as you probably have figured out by now.

If you've clicked on this, you've seen it, you saw the logo, you saw our amazing pictures. We got those taken down at the mall. Remember that Courtney? Yeah. I had to polish my horns.

So let's tell people out there how this project really came about. You know what, I'll just tell you that this is my selfish project and basically these were the movies I was going to watch anyway. I just was looking for a sucker to talk to me about them with. And instead of a sucker, I found a real witch who could actually bring some insight to these movies that I really do love the horror genre period and then the subgenres of witch, folk horror, you know, all these other things. And Courtney, Courtney here, Courtney Pearl, host of Practically Magic on Ride The Wave Media.

I'm just playing by the way, host of Radio Daybreak, CEO of Ride The Wave Media. But Courtney, the witch, tell me when I asked you how did you think this was going to go? Well, I love movies and I thought to myself there's probably a lot of movies made about witches that are portraying them in a certain light. Maybe I can bring some insight into paganism and also share my love of the movies and how they're made. You do that very well as we've been working on this.

Now, this is, we've been talking about this all summer long and we had a list of probably 40 movies and then we narrowed it down and then we decided to pair these movies up. Courtney, tell us how this is actually going to work for the people out there. This is the first episode. So you haven't missed anything yet. Oh, yeah.

And you can always go back. We have two movies we're reviewing every episode. Well, sometimes there's a little bonus third one. I'll just tease that out there. But we have two movies each week we're reviewing, picking apart, going into detail about and even sharing some of our experiences with this movie and watching the movies.

And it's all leading up to a final event, a live broadcast podcast of our show while watching a witch movie with us. I cannot wait. Listen, this event is going to be on October 26th presented by Novel Daybreak by Crescent Communities. We love this place. There's their logo and their card.

Listen. We love them. I fell in love with this location the first time I ever walked there. And we've been at Novel time and time again now. And I can't wait to go and partner up with them and have this event because literally this is going to be us doing a live podcast taping and showing the movie that you guys vote.

We're going to let is that how it's going to work? We're going to let them vote between two movies and we're going to break it down. Yeah. I can't wait. And this is kind of inspired.

I'm not going to say it kind of. This was inspired by Joe Bob Briggs and what he's done for 40 plus years of keeping the drive in alive. And we're just going to have to do a drive in inside because we don't have one yet. But yeah, this is a passion project. And I'm super excited about it.

Courtney, I know you're amped up about it. Like, how can you not be? I'm all in. All in. All in.

The first episode, stick around for it right now. The first two movies were not witch movies, but they were folk horror movies. And I think it was a great I think it's going to be a really good setup and foundation for the rest of what we talk about later on as this series progresses, takes you through September, October, and who knows? It might go forever. For eternity.

What do you think, Courtney? Could you do this forever? Possibly. We should get, I hope we get not only invited to host some more movie screenings, but hey, maybe we end up in our own horror movie at some point. What do you think about that?

Hey, and I'd be open to doing a rom-com series for Valentine's Day or something like that. I love that idea. Let's go see this first episode. Make sure we get some people hooked here before we start planning the rest of it, alright? Alright, Courtney, let's get to our first two movies.

I know we set this thing up as like the witch movie project. Our first two though don't necessarily involve witches, am I right? Per se, per se, right? Not on the surface, not on the surface. We are actually going to start with the folk horror genre.

Am I right there? That's what this is. It's kind of the folk horror and we don't want to give away the movies just yet, even though you probably just read the show notes or the title and figured it out. But let's just say that one of these folk horror movies started this whole thing. It started the genre, it very much inspired the other one.

Now, I'm not talking about Blood on Satan's Claw, that was 1971, that was a little bit earlier. Or The Witchfinder General, that was probably your first folk horror movie in 1968. This one was a couple years later, but it really put on the map this genre. Courtney, I brought you into this and said, hey, you got to check this movie out. I don't think you'd ever seen either one of these movies that we're going to talk about.

No, and I love horror movies. I mean, I love movies. I'm a movie buff anyway. So I'm a little torn because when you look at themes of paganism and witchcraft in horror movies, I'm torn with the idea of the propaganda against witchcraft, but also the movie is so good. So you got to love it.

Now, the first movie we were talking about, we'll tell you the name in a minute. You've probably already guessed it. The next movie very much took inspiration from this movie. There's no way it didn't. I believe the directors even said that, yes, absolutely.

And it's a pagan festival. Now, this thing, these two movies are disturbing. Let's just set that up. We should say that up front. This is disturbing content.

So it's going to be fucked up. That's the way to put it, right, Courtney? Oh, yeah. And I even read that the studio execs wanted the makers of this movie to write a happy ending. I'm going to assume that we can spoil things.

This is for an audience that watches the movie or who will watch it spoiled. So they wanted rain, basically, to end the movie. And the creators, director, writers of the movie were like, nope, nope, we're ending it just like it is. They stood the ground. And that's even back, you know, that's hard to do in Hollywood.

That's hard to do anytime in Hollywood. The first movie we're talking about is The Wicker Man. Point blank Wicker Man, you've already guessed it. And our second movie, Courtney? Midsummer.

One of them, 1977. So not the more recent Wicker Man, right? 1973, 1973. Right. Yes.

We've got a movie from 1977 on another show. That's Suspirious. Oh, yeah. I got it mixed up. So that's a teaser for the next one.

There you go. But let's start with Wicker Man. Yes. Now this thing, you got some heavy hitters in this movie. You had oh, Christopher Lee.

Yes. Who said this was his favorite movie to be in, which I was a little shocked. I mean, he's been in a lot of really good stuff. And he said that not only was this his favorite movie to be in, but he thinks he did the best in this movie. Yeah.

Of all the movies that he's been in. Yeah. He like praising his own performance. So I'm like, that's a big deal. No, I don't know.

I know Christopher Lee even would take interviews with anybody and everybody to talk about this movie. He didn't take one with us. You know, we didn't ask him. Maybe we'll check it out. But he would.

So it would be really weird for farmers out in Iowa to turn on their morning TV. And there's Christopher Lee there. You're talking about in the 70s. This is before social media. So it's not everybody doing a selfie.

So to see a bonafide celebrity on your local television channel, mind-blowing, right? Like, that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And he must have really wanted to do this project because he actually did not accept payment for it.

I love it. That's insane to me. Is that amazing? He was so eager to step away from the sort of Dracula villain that he had played. He was sort of getting typecast and he was so willing to do something different than that, that he was like I'll do this project for free.

Hey. Amazing, right? Another all-star performance in this movie is Edward Woodward. Now each one who from the very beginning of the movie, he goes to the island. He's Sergeant Howie.

And he goes to this remote. Let's just set it up. He goes to this remote Scottish island because there's a disappearance of a girl named Rowan. Now when he gets to this island, right off the jump, you already know like something's not right. It's sure it looks bright and cozy but even when he looks at the dark across the way something's off.

Something's off. A group of elderly gentlemen standing there waiting for him to arrive. I also note that the boat that brought him from the plane had the evil eye on it. A symbol of protection or perhaps even depending on how you use it, it could be towards someone as like a curse. Like someone's eye is on you or there's someone's jealous or envious eye on you.

So just a quick shot I took note of. Let me give you a little trivia on that boat. So that boat was actually owned by a resident there. That was not a problem. It was owned by a resident there and they used that boat.

That boat stood until about 2004 or somewhere in there. I think it disappeared or got destroyed but that was not a problem. The evil eye boat was actually there. Oh that is interesting. Yeah that means that that was still a pretty prevalent tradition there and I know there are a lot of like remote areas of Italy and you know islands that's still very much in the tradition of using the evil eye.

I think it's making a comeback too. The evil eye is making a comeback. I mean everybody hits that evil eye sometimes. You gotta lock it in on people. So the movie though from there you just feel this you can it's almost like it's like the roller coaster and it just goes straight down because you start delving into this you get encapsulated by this atmosphere that's crazy.

I describe this movie when you watch this movie you it's one of those that you're not just watching a movie you're like oh my god there's something special here this is something different. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing you get this sense of dread. Both these movies do this. Yeah and aren't you just as frustrated walking through interviewing these towns people when Sergeant Howie is interviewing people he cannot get a straight answer out of anybody. The first group of men on the dock it's like have you seen this woman have you seen this little girl do you know who she is?

They're like nope no idea we don't know who that is. And then they're like do you know this woman? Oh yeah we know May. She works the post office and then they're like well does she have a daughter? Oh that's not her daughter though.

Everywhere he goes it's like does this girl exist? And people are like no maybe she may be dead. We don't know. All along you can see Sergeant Howie slowly driving himself mad. Like there it's taking its toll on Sergeant Howie and it takes its toll on you as a viewer watching this it takes its toll on you because you're like give me a straight answer.

Yeah. Because as a viewer you don't know what's going on. You really don't know well who is this rowing girl? You're not really sure. Although when he opens up the casket later on in the movie which we'll get to it's but this atmosphere bright sunny yet dark disturbing stuff happening.

You know it's too giant contrast of how to make this thing come together. It's wild how the it's crazy how the director put all this together and thought this out that I can make it this happy looking place but there's this real dark underbelly. Robin already did a good job of doing it. Isn't that just similar to Midsummer? It's the same idea and I'll kind of get to this later when we talk about that movie but in Harrison they're both like kind of idyllic places on the surface right?

Like the sunny community feeling. Everyone knows everyone. It seems like this community really does know how to come together and support each other and there's cycles of death and rebirth and they're all kind of involved in it. So it's I mean on the surface without the dark underbelly of what's really going on you kind of get a sense of like well this wouldn't be a bad place to live. I don't mind this.

Absolutely. Absolutely and they paint that picture very well. You're like oh it's not that bad but if you really look there are tiny details that in both movies that show you that things are not as they seem. You have in The Wicker Man they're going wild in the bar. Like that bar scene is already crazy.

And what they're singing about it's like like dirty old men talking about the singing some kind of Scottish folk song about the landlord's daughter and how promiscuous she is. Yeah it's crazy. Willow played by Brett Eklund. Willow the barista. You got the naked dance from her.

Yeah. Which I have some info by the way. Oh yeah go ahead with that. I want to hear that. Yeah so when doing some research on the kind of background I looked at Mental Floss had done Mental Floss magazine or Mental Floss website did some background on this movie and it was really fascinating because Brett Eklund who plays Willow the landlord the innkeeper's daughter she did she did not do her singing and voice.

She had someone dubbed someone dubbed over the singing and voice because she didn't quite get the Scottish accent. Couldn't quite get it right. So that was dubbed over. She had a a butt double. So when it shows her dancing from behind it's not her.

I think she had you can actually see when the dancer does the head turn you can actually see the face in one shot and it's not her. You're like yeah that's not that's not her. No I think the hair is even like way longer than her hair. It's a blonde woman for sure but it's like it doesn't quite match up. But what's interesting is that because she did kind of semi nude scenes in that dancing part.

She's kind of trying to seduce the main character. I guess she had dated Rod Stewart later and he was very jealous of her having done those scenes and he tried to get the negatives from the film and burn them or destroy them because he didn't like the fact that that image and her nakedness was out there in the world and things like that. He wasn't able to get the the originals. That's interesting. I do think that the movie was banned for just a little bit when it first came out because of that.

Even though it was a butt double not even it wasn't even Brie Eklund. It was just the type of scenes with her. Anything by the way was not her but they still he still he still held it up which is that's wild. It's a 70 different time. I know it was interesting.

It was interesting because I'm not I had seen many movies from that era. But I did make note as we were watching the opening sequence and he gets to the sweets shop to talk to what's supposed to be the missing girl's mother and the the woman's daughter is there and she's painting a rabbit and I just took note of the aesthetics in that scene. I was like why are all the sweets in the sweets shop? It seems like the sweets and stuffed animals made around that time are all so hideously ugly and creepy. I had to write it down.

I was like why are they always so weird looking? They weren't cuddly or sweet or delicious looking. They all look a little gross to me. Maybe it's just my when I was born time period but that's just me. But we gotta talk about that.

We gotta talk about just the background stuff. The set. There's hidden stuff all throughout both movies. Wicker Man like I said the bar scene. I mean the hotel itself is called the Green Man Inn.

Green Man Inn. Yep. Like that's got some relevance. The God of the Forest. Green Man is something that even in today's neo-pagan circles are very well known.

He's the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Which is a theme that you see a lot in this movie. So Green Man Inn fits definitely what I have to say about in the making of this movie, both movies actually, is I'm impressed with the research done. I actually expected a lot of things to be incorrect and made up because I don't know I just thought a movie being made in 1973 would be like, we'll just throw a bunch of stuff that looks pagan or that looks like what we think pagan is but we don't have to be real about it. But I'm impressed.

They did their research and a lot of the stuff in this movie is from actual pagan influences. So the apples. I mean is an apple not a symbol of something that's pagan? Tell me. Do you know what that is?

Like what is it? Because there were every one. And even very early on in the movie you start seeing apple pop up. Yes. And the apple is a very prominent symbol of the Isle of Apples, which is the Isle of Avalon in King Arthur tradition or in the legend of King Arthur, Arthurian legend.

Arthurian legend, yep. Yes. The Isle of Apples is the island shrouded in mist that is, you know, from the other world and it's where the witch of Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's sister lives and he gets taken there for healing. So, you know, a place of evil, a place of magic or a place of healing. It can be all of those things.

It's referenced as all those things. And so apples and apple orchards are you'll see a lot of that symbol. What other? The star that you make when you cut an apple, the seeds are in a five star. There's symbology in that.

So. That's really interesting. Now, what other symbology or symbolism did you capture, did you catch in this movie that I might have missed? Because my non, you know, my non Celtic priestess I didn't what did I miss? Oh, that's what I was looking for.

I was like in into it, looking in all of the like corners of everything, looking for symbols. I did notice that some of the lyrics in the songs as you're listening, I always read I always watch a movie with subtitles. So I got to write down like some of the symbols. One of the symbol one of the lyrics in the song said fair made white and red. I believe it's Willow singing it.

She's sitting the sergeant and with her little naked dance that she's doing in the other room. But she talks about fair made white and red and white and red are symbols in England of like the black and the white or the dark and the light. The colors on the English flag or on the royal crest are usually white and red. In Glastonbury they have the sacred springs, which are the white spring and the red spring. Interesting.

Part of it symbolizes like divinity, some of it and then the red symbolizing like the blood and the bloodline of royalty. And I think it's really interesting that and I'm going to kind of skip around a little bit because I'm talking about the ending a little bit for a second. They needed somebody who was a virgin, right? And if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean when I say they needed someone. she's trying to seduce him here.

She's trying to see like she's testing him. And in a lot of Celtic folklore there are sovereignty goddesses. And the sovereignty goddess's role is to test someone to make sure they're worthy of something, to be worthy of kingship usually. you know, here we have Willow kind of playing the part of this sovereignty goddess. She's kind of testing him with her like, I thought you were going to come to my room last night and he's like, oh, well, I actually don't believe in that before marriage.

And she's like, too bad. And we find out later that was actually an important part. Like they needed that, right? So it's just interesting. If he had a fallen for the siren Willow, would that have, would the movie just ended there with a nice sex scene and we're out?

Because they wouldn't have had a virgin anymore, right? Yeah. I wonder that. I thought about that. I'm like, maybe it would have saved his life.

If you will. A crazy sex will save your life. I don't think we can actually promote that, but sure, you know. I mean, in most horror films, sex is usually the thing that gets the people killed, right? That's typically the theme that we see.

So in this case, we're on to something. There's something there. Now, we got to talk more about this music because one of the main symbols in this thing was the maypole. Yeah. I got to talk about this.

Is that not interesting? Now, when we see Sergeant Howie walking through and he walks past the maypole with the kids dancing around him and they're singing that song. The first time I saw, I had to run it back. I had to run it back and hear this song again, but it's, I've got the lyrics. I did too.

I wrote them down. I'm like, ooh. It's the one where it says, in the woods, there grew a tree and a fine, fine tree was he. I might have to go out into song here. And on that tree.

Could be musical. Yeah. And on that land, there was a branch and on that branch, there was a nest and in that nest. Now, this thing just goes on and on and on. And it goes all the way through from that grave, there grew a tree, which is the whole cycle of it, right?

Yes. You see symbols of death and rebirth all through this movie everywhere, including when the sergeant has a flashback of his Christian sacrament. They're talking about resurrection and the death of Christ and the rebirth of Christ. And so even in his Christian come from, we're seeing those same symbols come through this movie over and over and over again. Which is fascinating.

The maypole that hung the shirt. It's talking about like the cycle of death. It says on the tree made a bed. On the bed laid a woman. On the woman there was a man.

From the man there came a seed. From the seed there came a boy. From the boy there grew a man. And from that man there was a grave. So you're like birth and death cycles again, right?

And then that's just a, you could loop that over and over and over. That's what it is. It was that 18 year cycles or something is what they lived on. Seasons, they called it. They even say what happens at 72?

Well, we're going to go. They don't it's wild though, right? Yeah, we find out what happens. So what I thought was interesting about the maypole in this scene. The seasons were in midsummer, right?

Yeah, the seasons were midsummer. Yeah, but same themes. The same themes are running through each movie kind of in their different way. But I thought it was interesting that they had young boys doing the maypole. That's not typically what you see in pagan situations.

I mean, like just from what I know about the tradition is that it's usually the maidens or the young women of the village that are doing the maypole because the pole is itself a phallic symbol of fertility. We see that in midsummer. We see nothing but females of the maypole in midsummer. So that's a great point to point out. Was there something there?

Yeah, I was kind of wondering about that. That's interesting because I never noticed that. Thank you for pointing that out. There is this huge clash though of the religion and culture. Basically, I just call it culture because they even tell them this is the culture.

Both movies tell you this is the culture. This is what we're raised in. This is what we're happy with. But the religion side is like, no, no, no, no, you can't be happy with that. That's not how it works.

When Lord Summerisle and Sergeant Howie meet and they have the discussion and he says, you've got fake biology. You've got fake religion. What is this? And he says basically, he said, he doesn't even know who Jesus is. And he hits him with that one line basically where he says wasn't Jesus born a virgin and by a ghost?

Yes. I wrote that too. I was like, perfect. You see his face. You see Sergeant Howie's face.

And then Lord Summerisle even says sit down to absorb the shock. But it's, when you put it in that context, he just made those, he made, he made their culture, their paganism, even with that first world religion, we'll just call it, because right here the stories without the names on it was no different. And he showed him that that was a hard hit. That was right in the middle of the movie. To me, that was one of the hardest hitting moments in that movie to share together.

Yeah, because it shows you that it doesn't make, like even if they're all just stories, or let's say they're all made up, these gods, these deities, these whatever it is, or Jesus born from a virgin, conceived by a ghost, it doesn't make any of them less sacred. You, I mean, you can argue that they could all be just as sacred, it's the meaning we put behind it, it's the devotion. And obviously, Sergeant Howie is very devoted to his faith, and very devoted to his values. But what we're seeing, even in today's culture, is when does that, you know, perpetuate onto other people and what they should or shouldn't believe? I love the way that the school teacher explains death, and she's like, well, when we die, we become the trees, and we become the plants, and we become the air.

And I'm, it reminded me of when an interview with Neil Tyson DeGrasse, the famous scientist, most people know. He's kind of, kind of our modern age Einstein. We all look to him for scientific expertise. And I saw an interview where they asked, so what, do you believe in life after death? What do you believe happens after we die?

And he basically said almost the exact same thing this teacher just described, which is our energy gets reformatted into the, into the earth and into the sky and into the consciousness of all beings. And like energetically, this is what we know. Scientifically, this is what we know about energy. So it's like, what's really the difference here? I mean, one comes with a story.

The other is a scientific explanation. But is anyone really wrong or right or, yeah. So. It's very interesting. And I love how, I honestly, in the 70s, I wonder how this went over.

You know, I wonder in that era, were people open to this idea? Were they like, oh yeah, I'd love to live on this island. Who cares? Like that sounds like my kind of living. Or is it terrifying?

Like, do you see that Wicker Man? The only modern day thing I can think of for that here is Burning Man. But they don't put a person in that statue when they burn it. How about that reaction? That he, when he walked over the hill.

Yeah. Did you see that? I noticed that too. They did not prepare him. He had not seen the actor had not seen the Wicker Man until they pulled him into that scene.

So the recording, the reaction was perfectly genuine, right? Yeah. And also, when he got in that thing, here's a funny note. When he got in there, they actually had a goat above him and the goat peed on him. So that's real.

Yeah, I can't believe that too. Yeah, no animals were harmed in the making of this movie. However, the goat did pee. The goat did pee. So.

He was a little bit Edward Woodward gives a hell of a performance right there. I guarantee he had to be terrified out of his mind. Because they actually burnt that thing. And I don't know what that consisted of. I don't know if that's a couple of guys drinking a six pack of beer saying, I'm here.

I don't know. That's how I would run it. But I'm not arsonist or whatever. What do you got to have a legal license to do that? Yeah.

Well, I do want to note one thing about the scene when he comes back to talk to Lord Summer Isle. When he's playing the piano and they're kind of discussing was the second time I think they came back around. He is wearing a lace collar. I think they called a rabot or jibot. I'm not sure how you say it.

But I said if he wanted to get away from the Dracula performances, this maybe wasn't doing him any favors. He was wearing this very Dracula like outfit but with a Scottish kilt that was Royal Stewart plaid. It was the red plaid kilt. If anybody wanted to know what the name of that specific Scottish plaid kilt he was wearing in that scene. That's what it was.

Royal Stewart. I love that. Hey, well I might have to have that for my Halloween costume this year. That's a good one. I'll have to do that.

So this movie to end, it really just boils down to it's a a powerful commentary on in the time it was a powerful commentary on the clash of beliefs where it was pagan, where there was religious and the power of community because that community there's no change in what they were doing. And I think that's a very key takeaway to take from this as a overlying theme. It was clash of beliefs versus the power of community. Yeah, and they did stick together and they would have to because obviously this man was a sergeant a police officer in Scotland. He's going to go missing.

He says at the point he has a fiance. So I think that the community is going to have to stick it together to close the community and be like this, we take this to our grave. If someone comes looking for him we don't know where he went. And they all stuck together with the story of Rowan, the missing girl, so that they could trap him. And they did it.

But I would argue one thing that is something to think about when it comes to these beliefs is I don't know many pagans personally that would actually sacrifice neither animal nor human for any reason whatsoever. But I mean, which is the worst crime in that a human sacrifice once in a while versus the damage done in the 1500 to 1700s by Christians who were colonizing and burning witches and taking over and genocide. And yeah so I mean you could kind of like outweigh the evilness there or the sin which beliefs have the worst of it. I don't know. Something to think about.

Final thought on Wicker May and then we're going to get the midsummer. Yeah. What do you got? So my biggest takeaway is going to be in both movies the comparison of the of the main characters. So you have Sergeant Howie he's sticking to his Christian beliefs even to the very end.

He's like I will be resurrected in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean this is a very big deal for him. This is like he's thinking these people are all crazy and mad and I'm the right one. I'm the one who did you know, stuck true to my faith. He's a mortar.

And then you have the main character in Midsummer who I believe the theme of that movie is similar to this outsider coming to a community and it kind of is her story of embracing it more than it is her being like no this is wrong. I'm sticking to my guns about Christianity or my other beliefs or whatever beliefs I have it's a different kind of a story that we end up with. Right? Yeah, it's totally opposite honestly like the way you lay it out right there so let's get into it. You want to get into Midsummer?

Oh yeah. I love this movie. I actually I enjoy this movie but not in like a joyful way. You know? It's tough to watch.

It is tough to watch. I'm going to lay this out though a little bit different than the horror movie that it actually is but I'm going to also say that this is a revenge movie. This is a break up movie. It is. You really watch this thing in the arc that it goes.

This is a break up movie because right from the very beginning you see that Danny's boyfriend is shitty. Like this guy is just Yes. Thank you. Oh my gosh. And I Okay so I have to say first when the movie starts because if someone hasn't seen it yet or if they're watching it like in in tandem with what our comments are, pay attention to the mural in the opening sequence.

And any murals like on tapestries, on the walls, they're all foreshadowing. And the mural in the opening sequence when I paused on it and really looked at it I was like oh my gosh this is the entire movie. Basically they've laid out the entire movie. And it's goes from right to left. Like it goes the opposite direction.

And I wanted to note also on that, that mural is bright, it's colorful and then what happens, it opens up in the middle to the darkest, most dreary looking scene. It's slowy. It's isolated. We haven't used that word yet. Isolation was both of these movies was the biggest thing.

Going back to Wicker Man, when Sergeant Howie when he finds out his plane can't start, that sense of isolation and alone, you felt you're like oh no he's trapped. Same thing, same thing from the very opening shot there's that symbolism that Ari Aster the director, there's no I can tell you right now he did not not plan this. To go from this bright mural who told the whole story to this underneath it dark, damp. Wicker scene, yes. And filmed in Utah by the way.

Whoa! Yes. This was filmed in Utah? I might not have known that. We should have went That opening scene with Danny Danny's the main character.

Her parents and sister and their home The home was a home in Draper and that scene the winter scene is is a Salt Lake Valley. We may have to go out there and get some footage over there. I might have to go tour the house. We may have to go see that. Yeah.

I don't know bad stuff happened in that house in the very opening of this movie. We see some we see something that's so disturbing that you're like oh yeah this is this this movie's gonna fuck me up. Like it's Yeah. Yeah. Definitely has to set the stage for the grief, right?

There has to be this intense traumatic heavy grief that the main character Danny is coming from. Yeah. Like right from the beginning, right? And this is all within the first 12 minutes of the movie. This is before the opening credits.

You basically get to see how shitty her boyfriend is blowing off her basically worrying about her sister not texting her back calling her back. She can't get a hold of her parents. You can see the dread in her and her boyfriend just he's smoking resin or something whatever he's doing. And the the weird thing is is that he's such a piece of shit that he doesn't notice that she is completely disturbed. And if somebody's acting like that they've got some intuition.

Something's wrong. You know, so Yeah. Yeah. Not being there for her sets up some stuff for later. Yeah.

And I have to say all of that, all of that. And there are several points throughout the beginning probably the first half of the movie that set this up. But the experience that she has with boyfriend and his friends, it was so triggering to me. And I'm not alone. This is why I'm mentioning it because I am sure there are going to be other young women or even middle aged women like me who understand that feeling because I was coming from a space in my youth where I didn't have a lot of friends of my own.

And so when I met my husband who was my boyfriend, he and his circle of friends became my social group. Completely. Like I was I was alone otherwise. And so there were times when you know he would want to go hang out with his friends and I would be the tag along girlfriend, right? That awkwardness that's like and they make her feel so crappy about herself.

It was like oh I know this is all too familiar. I know this feeling. Not that anyone purposely made me feel that way, but I know that feeling. And I felt for her because she was just trying really hard to just be as small and unburdened, not a burden to her, to this group as possible. And yet she still was made to feel like she was the burden constantly.

Ugh. After going through the biggest tragic events that you could possibly think of. And they literally she walks into their room and they're like oh she's. Yeah. They're like oh I guess you can come to Sweden with us.

Sure. If you think her boyfriend Christian isn't bad, or is it bad enough? There's his friend Mark. He's a shithead too. I hate Mark.

I am so okay with what happens to Mark. Okay? I want to go back to before the opening credits where you even see who Ari's name and the name of the movie. It's this awful and they don't stare away from showing you any of this. You see the holes in the mouth of the girl, of her sister.

The crying that is unedited. You can. Yeah. Florence Pugh. She played Danny.

This is a performance. I don't know how she got in. Like she's gotta be. She could have got an Oscar for this awesome performance. And you.

Like I picked up. I hurt. I hurt for her. She's in crying. Yeah.

The grief that she shows. Oh my gosh. You can feel it in your body. You can feel it. In the rest of the movie.

She's incredible. It really sets the tone for the rest of the movie because you know this is not gonna go good. They go. Before they get to land in Sweden, what about that transition that the Pele, the Rico Suave here trying to swoop in. He's the only one that likes Danny being around.

And he gives her those seductive eyes right from the get. Yeah. That's really setting something up. This is setting up the theme of belonging. Like she does not feel and she's made to feel like she does not belong here.

She does not belong on this trip. She does not belong with Christian. Christian is kind of like not even really hiding the fact that he was gonna break up with her and now he feels like he can't because she's gone through a tragedy so he kind of has to stay with her. He's not hiding it well. He's definitely treating her like I'm going to a party but you don't have to go if you don't feel up to it.

Yeah. And then gets there and then she finds out oh you're going to Sweden? In two weeks? Yeah. And he's like well I was gonna think about it.

Well Pele it does not he does not have to work very hard to go to look at her and to just feel you know have a conversation where she feels like I see you. I'm sorry for what happened to you. Happy birthday. Like all of these moments where he gets a chance to be like you deserve to be seen Danny right? Yeah.

Draws a picture of her like a beautiful picture. Like oh it's just something I do for people's birthdays. Yeah right. Come on man we see through this. But the transition from when they I'm gonna talk about the actual film transition before they get to Sweden when she's talking to Pele and she gets upset and she goes into the bathroom and then it does she's in an airplane bathroom.

Did you notice it? Yeah I do. I love that. Ari did a great job of somehow putting that together where you as a viewer you didn't have a choice to get out of this trip. You're there now.

You're already on the plane. You're going to Sweden. So it's almost like that isolated viewer. Yeah. But it makes you feel everything from her perspective because you're feeling like her like bam all of a sudden she's on the plane.

I mean this is probably what it feels like. In grief there's like weeks and months. It's just like everything is happening right now and she's propelling forward based on just momentum. Not really because she's got any energy to go through it. And I was gonna say lots of foreshadowing in the beginning.

If you notice in the parents bedroom there's a picture of Danny on the nightstand and then there's a crown of flowers right over the picture of Danny. So lots of cool foreshadowing going on in the beginning in the opening sequences. I don't want people to miss that. What else is in that opening? Because I love that.

I want to know more about that kind of stuff. Yeah. So let me see. I wrote down some things that there's a picture and I'm not sure if it's Christian's room or Danny's room but she's in grief and she's kind of sleeping. There's a picture on the wall of a bear and a princess kind of like hugging the bear or kissing the bear.

There's a name for that painting. I can't remember what it's called but that was also an intentional foreshadowing there. So you want to watch out for stuff like that. I love that. So they land in Stockholm and then have a four hour drive.

I didn't even know you could drive four more hours after you land in Stockholm. Anywhere. I thought it was, you know, I've never been over there. I love the Swedes. I do.

I have some friends who live over there and I've always wanted to go over there but I don't know about going to one of these things but it does look fun from the beginning. Yeah. They get their Pele shows. I mean they bring them down this dirt road. It looked a lot like where I grew up.

Until you get up there and you see these, you see the he's like the young kids or whatever it was and this is the beginning of the Harger community. The Harger community I believe it was. Yeah. Cool. They get off.

They're like oh we're on vacation. Oh here's the rooms. Yeah. Sounds amazing. Again, another opportunity to make Dani feel like a burden because she's like you know what I think I maybe want to get settled in before I do all that but that's fine.

You guys go ahead. And then Christian's like well now I feel like I can't do it right now and then he's like we're going to wait. I'm going to do it with Dani later. And then Mark's like what do you mean later? And it's like ugh.

That scene was just again another reiteration of like here's Dani tagging along the girlfriend. Christian won't go on a trip without her. All that kind of yeah. His friends aren't the best people anyway. Josh.

Josh is not a bad dude. Josh's going over there for his thesis. Like he's going over there taking in the culture. He gets into a little trouble later but we'll get to that. Yeah.

Literally. This is fun. Like we're tripping balls. Yeah. Then it starts.

You're like wait a minute. Something's not feeling right. Even when she looks down at her foot she sees the grass growing through. You're like ugh. Yeah.

The grass is going through her hand. So again you're seeing it from her perspective. So she's like and then someone mentions family and it triggers her and she's you know having a bad trip because she's like you know but you're feeling that disorientation with her aren't you? Like you're feeling like how I imagine I would feel on shrooms when I'm like not feeling so good and I'm like oh my gosh where am I? I just I want to feel normal.

She just flew to the middle of nowhere halfway around the world. On top of that you got the sun. Yes. Is to a viewer to who's there. It's crazy because he asked one of them asked they say when they're on the shrooms what time is it?

And he says nine o'clock and that's when Mark freaks the fuck out. It's like no it can't be nine o'clock. And they freak me out because it's broad daylight. I did notice there's a little I don't think it's an Easter egg but maybe it is. But in Wicker Man he asked what time is it?

And she says a little after nine. So I noticed it was 9 p.m. for both Wicker Man and Midsummer. So I thought that was kind of cool. Yeah.

That disorientation because It is disorienting. I don't know if you've ever been up north but I remember going to Alaska visiting Alaska and when we arrived it was like 10 p.m. we were going to check into our hotel. Total daylight outside. I was so disoriented.

I'm like I mean Mark isn't wrong there. That's disorienting. That's uncomfortable when you're not used to that. And you're like wait people are out mowing their lawns right now. It looks like the middle of the day and it's your mind is like it's supposed to be night bedtime or something.

But I wrote down in my notes just it's just funny that you said the friends I just wrote Mark is an asshole. It's just because he's like everybody lay down. We all need to lay down because I want to lay down so everybody lay down with me. Come on everybody. We're doing it with me.

I love how he was the one that was like all about everybody do this. Everybody do this. And he's the first one having a bad trip and bitching about. Yeah. Yeah.

Everybody lay down. Like that's yeah. That's what I expected from a guy like that. We've all known people like that. Yeah.

So that's just it. That's in my notes. Just Mark is an asshole. Like we're just agree on that. Moving on.

The next day so after they get there they get set up. They trip balls. They have all that. 30, 35 minutes in. 35 minutes in is when they actually arrive.

Yeah. At the horga. You see the big open arch whatever that thing is. Is that symbolized anything or was that just art? The sun.

Yeah. They talk about it a lot in this movie. Like we are making these offerings to the sun. The sun is really important at this summer solstice. It's midsummer so their festival is all about the sun.

It's going to be a ritual like in order to have bountiful harvest which again is like in Wicker Man the rituals are all about coming from a place of survival. We won't survive winter without this. So we are doing everything possible including rituals and offerings and singing and festivals to honor the gods of the sun the earth, fertility anything that's going to feed us our food throughout the winter and make sure we survive. That's what it's all about. So yeah, yeah, they're doing all of the the all the stuff.

So the festivities kind of began when I get there and you start seeing some of that foreshadow come in even when they say, you know what when he says what are those kids doing is like all they're playing skin the fool in a lap. Yeah. I noted that second. That's not a that's not a sure. It's a game for kids, but that's because they're going to do that later in life.

Like it's that was for shadowing there. Oh, they're playing skin the fool. There's one of their party that is going to play the part of the fool and it's exactly who you think it's going to be. Exactly. And then you see their school and you find and this is when it's really I mean, we've already seen all these red flags of this is something something weird going on here.

But this is a real big one when they go by and they're like, oh the kids are doing their school. Oh, what are they learning? Oh, it's room carving class like. Yeah, that's nice. That's not actually school.

You know, you're thinking oh, they're doing math by the Creek. No, no, no, no room carving which comes into play. Consider that the runic alphabet is and by the way, just to clarify because this movie did make up its own runes. They call it the elder and the younger Futhark or something like that. They talk about it when they look at the stones.

It's based off of Scandinavian and Nordic runes, but it's not like they made it up for the movie. I think probably because they didn't want to associate like these negative connotations with actual culture that exists but the runic alphabet is that it is just that it's an alphabet. It's letters. So it would be essentially the same as children sitting around learning their alphabet carving their letters into stones and wood to learn how to read and write. So yeah, we could take it in context with like, okay, so this is just their cultural alphabet.

This is their cultural school. I think for me most of the movie until you get to certain practices that are inhumane. I think that this commune and society are quite wonderful. I'm looking at it much like the community in Wicker Man beginning. You're like sunshine and roses.

These people have it figured out. They're a community. They take care of each other. They take care of their young together. They take care of their old to a certain point.

I say that with an asterisk, right? Like now to a certain. Yeah, I'll accept that Courtney. But I'm going to have to call you out a little bit on that because I think he specifically says something along the lines of their carving runes. It's their it's their form of power, you know, so he does give that extra piece to that.

Yeah, you trying to say it's okay. It's okay. Yeah, it could be taken that and also just so everyone knows the Nordic runes are a power that Odin sacrificed nine days hanging from a tree to get the wisdom from the from the fates. So that is also power and I don't know in that context. They're both they're one in the same.

They're an alphabet a reading and writing system, but you could dare say that our modern-day alphabet in English has power as well. If you decide to put power to it, so cool. So cool. I love it. Yeah, after the after they walk this is on their way to their their their room and I walk up to this this fucking barn.

It's just a barn right like that's what it is. Yeah, and you're like, oh my God, they're gonna be sleeping in there with like a hey and let's get what's happening here. You know, this ain't no best Western. That's what they're thinking and they open the doors and what do they see? Is this the the where all of the children sleep?

Yeah, where they're sleeping. Yeah, it's like it's like this. I don't know like massive bunk bed and it's the wall loft ceiling and it's beautiful. It's a mural. It's all these.

Oh, yeah, the carvings and paintings and murals all over the wall that tell stories. I think that's amazing and incredible, but they're also pointing out that like there's fertility symbols on these walls or like kids sleep here. There's pictures of dicks everywhere. Yeah, I know it was like all over. It's just sexual positions.

I saw stuff. I didn't even seen before like it's oh, yeah. Yeah, could you imagine being a kid they sleep in there from zero to 18? He says in the movie so you're like you're a kid in there and a teenager and this is what's all over the walls. Would you be more or less sexualized if this was your upbringing?

I guess less desensitized to it, but also that comes into play later when you're just having casual sex out in the park with everybody. I don't know. Yeah, so yeah, it's dancing naked out there. You know, they maybe it does. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't live in those communities. I don't know if I ever will after watching this, but you mentioned right there the seasons in the zero to 18. We get this info right here from their home. Yeah, we get it.

He tells them. Yeah zero that we look at it as seasons and that's what's talking about Wicker man and I'll confuse the two but he says zero to 18 is like what spring and then 1836 is summer 3654 is fall and then yeah 54 72. That's your winter they right here right here a key moment. Yeah, what happens at 72? He looks at them looks so much.

He tells me out here across the neck. Yeah, he tells them right there. What's going to happen? They laugh it off like it's a joke. Exactly.

Now it begins to come into clear view for Josh right about here because they talk about the what is it the s stupul? It's how do they how do they say this? Oh, yeah, I wrote this down. I have to go back. Is that whatever I can't even pronounce it.

There you go. A test to pot is a ritual of elderly being let go from this life on purpose and this was in the research of the film. It is a it is something that has done in Norse mythology. So this wasn't something they made up for the film because they wanted to make this commune seem really brutal. But this is an idea that exists in Scandinavian countries or at least in mythology.

It does. We can't say for sure that this is something that they practiced necessarily, but I guess we can assume that if it's written in the mythology and if you know from ancient times that there was at least at some point some truth to this. Yeah, I'm truth. That's crazy because they don't necessarily know what this is. He says it's going to happen tomorrow.

Now Josh you see all of a sudden he's like, like yeah, he's like wait. He's already bring it out. He's like a real a real one and he knows and they're like, is it scary? And he's like now this foreshadows a lot because you wait at home if you let you Google this or you already know, you don't know what's happening either. You don't know what this word is.

Is that the stupu? I can't even pronounce it much less know what it is. They even say it's too hard to explain. You tell them that he's like, oh yeah, you'll have to see it for yourself. And then okay, so now let's get to that.

So or do you have something else on that note? Well of the seasons 0 to 18, 18 to 36, 36 to 54. These are multiples of 9 or associated with the number 9 and that's something to note that because Odin hung from the tree of life for nine days to gain wisdom. The number 9 is really significant in mythology. So she does say in the opening ceremony the what is her name Siva the kind of like high priestess lady.

She says it's 90 years between great feasts. So this is this is a great feast that hasn't happened for 90 years and it'll be not still do their Midsummer Feast, but they're saying something about this particular one is only happens every 990 years and then it lasts for nine days. So the number 9 shows up a lot cool. That's all I know too. I mean that's that that will be looking out for on other rewatches because I will I will rewatch.

We're not done with this yet. We're halfway through this movie is all if halfway and we get to the we get to the dinner we get to the next day. This is really this is when you really like, yeah, this is this is going downhill like you you just feel like yeah, this is not normal from the the setup of the table. It's in it's in the shape of a rune. Yes is I wrote down the rune actually.

What what yes, I have a card here. See that's the room. That's it right there. Looks like a Jesus fish. Yes, it does from the yeah, if it was tilted to the side to be a Jesus fish.

So it's called Othella this particular rune in Nordic runes and I started noticing them everywhere. I started to like pause the film and look in the background. There was so I was looking them up all through the movie, which is so fun and exciting to me. I'm studying the Nordic runes, but I don't know them. So this was actually kind of helpful for me to kind of look at them.

But this one particularly means home. So this is the they're all sitting at a table built into this shape, but it means inheritance property family responsibilities. All of this are associated with this rune. So it fits perfectly. Now we still see these two old people and I just like, okay, so so watching this first time not, you know, I'm like, I something crazy gonna happen something fucked up.

Sure. I've seen all this before, but I'm still kind of like is it though because are they like a king and queen because they look it was like royal. Yeah, they put them in the chairs. They pick them up. I want to start.

Yeah, you don't start eating until they start until they pick up eating and then the rest of the table gets to eat so that you're noticing like they're in a very honored position, right exactly. And even when they stand up, that's it. You're done. The food the dinner was over and that's when they got the chairs. Hey, where do I hire a crew to start carrying around in a chair like that all the time because didn't look too bad.

Oh, yeah, looks very relaxed. I love how this scene is so stretched out because it could have been boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, you know, you get to watch him March you get to see the faces of the Americans who were there and they're like, I don't know what's about to happen. You got the other people they met Simon and his girlfriend out out in the crowd. They walk up. Yeah, there's a few more outsiders there.

So this is why 58 minutes 58 minutes in and this scene lasts for a while. Yeah, when yeah, they get up and they start chanting and throat singing. From their own you're like you kind of sit up. You're like, what the fuck's happening? They keep showing this cliff.

You're like, what the fuck's that they zoom out when they're on that cliff you see. You see all them stones up there. I guess those are runes rune stones. But what yeah, like you like a very sacred ceremony. I imagine in fact they they I can't remember exactly how it happens, but they white blood they have a rune on their tunic and they wipe it off with blood on the stone somehow and then yeah, so it's important to note that because if you're seeing this movie again, if you've already seen it you're watching again pay very close attention to those runes those runes show up later on Danny and Christians tunics the same ones that the couple who meet their demise if that's a kind way to say it.

I like your the way you said it. Right here. I got to say that when you see the shot of the cliff and then they walk out you're like, oh man, and then they start dancing. You're like, okay, okay. Uh-uh.

Yeah, there's there's no cutaways. This is no this they show everything. This is one of the if not the most disturbing scenes you'll see in a movie ever or yeah, and it doesn't stop like it's it doesn't cutaway continues and then for several scenes later you get to see the bodies in different, you know what they do with the bodies later and stuff. So they they I mean, it's just just right there and I'm imagining like children in the village are seeing this. I mean, they're all happy.

They're all happy and then in Simon and the broken are freaking down and then yeah, oh my gosh. He jumped he fell. He you know, they're they're freaking no it was by design and then you've got the head of the the what's her name? Sif Sif you've got her calming them down. Say hey, no, no, this is okay.

This is okay. Yeah, and it's like hang on. How did she just calm me down as a viewer thinking? All right. I just saw two people die like look.

Yeah, it's even when a guy jumps and then they and he doesn't die and they have to bring the hammer. I'm like, I know I remember watching the first time being like, oh no. Oh, no. I'm like cringing on the couch next to my husband. We're both like, you know what this scene does is make you forget that only less than an hour earlier you saw a woman with a hose in her mouth and all them people dead in the bed like that you thought that was gonna be the worst thing you ever saw.

No, this is awful. This this this rattled me for a while. No, go. Sorry have a little a little friend peeking in on us to talk about the horrific scene of this movie. So so after this you're like, I will.

I don't know what's gonna happen for now, but you know, it ain't gonna be good like yeah, and you're right. They have to calm us down just like they have to calm Danny and Simon and Chris, you know, they have to calm the foreign people down because the movie is not over and I remember thinking well, that would be all I'd have to do to all I'd have to see to be like I'm out of here. Get me out of here as fast as you can get me out of here, but they have to somehow keep these characters. So, you know that the director writer the script they they knew what they were doing cuz they're like, okay, we can't alienate the audience yet. This is horrific, but we have to figure out a way to keep everybody there and then having Christian and Josh writing a thesis about this community was another good way to do that because it was like well now they're interested now they're like we got to learn more about these people, especially when they set it up like no, no, no, no, you can't have any access and then all of a sudden you get access of course, that's going to be like you're going to be like oh my God, I'm special.

I'm staying I'm doing yeah, because it was yeah cut off at first and then they got the permission and that's got to give you some sort of I don't want to say ego or something but yeah, you're not going anywhere. Yeah, things start getting a little weird cuz Simon left Simon left and you're like wait a minute. Now. I don't know about this. We see him later.

Yes. Yeah. There's some historical context to that as well when we get to when we find out what happened to Simon when he goes missing and they're told he left he caught a train and yeah, well, but we do have a conversation between Pele and Danny there. Yeah, when she's upset that again, it's just him being like hey, you know Christian forgot your birthday. Like you deserve he tells her this when my parents died this became my family.

This is my family. They this is a community that makes me feel held and you deserve that Danny you deserve to feel held and I have some theories about her growing up in her family. She probably didn't have she wasn't allowed to have space or be held at all in her family. If her sister had mental health struggles, she says she was bipolar always in a crisis. I mean, how does that how does that?

Meet Danny as a person coming into this community sure. She just witnessed something really horrific. That's really disturbing but he's telling her like this is a place where you will feel held you're allowed to take up space and that's really significant. I think that's really significant to point out that Danny is going to go through a sort of transformation here where she's like, I'm not allowed to speak. I'm not allowed to need things.

I'm not allowed to you know, especially with the way Christians friends have treated her thus far, but how she grew up in her family possibly is like I'm not allowed to take up space. I'm not allowed to have needs right? So that's important to note. So she went from being. Unwanted isolated undrafted to to a team.

It was like, oh these people like they want me. You find out how much they want her later not not long from here. But before we get to that there's the book the Ruby Ruby Ratter Ruby Radar. Well, I don't know. Yeah, I guess is good as mine.

But this book is made up right? This is not a real book. Yeah. Yeah ancient wisdom about emotional states of mind and the elders translate it. This is where you get into some of the more inhumane practices not just the the cliff jumping ritual for those that meet 72 but the purposeful inbreeding so that they have an oracle of an unclouded mind to be able to make these books for them.

And I'm there's part of me that goes well, there is something to be said for people who have an unclouded mind probably are more connected to source and divine inspiration. There's part of me that agrees with that but purposely inbreeding so that you can get people who will be able to do that. Yeah. Yeah, bill Icky. I'm like, yeah.

So they got the disabled people basically they got the inbred disabled to be the oracles and paint the pictures and write the runes and you see Josh and I guess what is he the keeper something you see him they're going through the book together and it's yeah, he's giving him access to learn about it. But he's like you can't take pictures of it and you have to keep our names out of your out of your thesis, right? Like be respectful dude, but I'm 99% sure that they knew Josh was going to come back in there. They know it's going to happen because they set it up for that. They were tempting him.

They tempted him big time. It was another one of those it was a different type of seduction he was looking for to be seduced by info. He wanted it. He wanted to know what was in that book. Yeah, there's 19 versions.

Oh, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, Josh was seduced by information. Mark was seduced by idiocy draw. I'm not sure.

Whatever else a good time or whatever. Yeah, right. Oh, yeah. Good point. And then you have Christian who was seduced literally to become a foreign seed to implant into their community.

Danny was seduced to become a part of this community to belong a part of this community. Yeah, she is a big part of this. I mean even when you have will get to it, but there's love rooms that that that they slip under the bed before that though. The the end of Mark we got Mark peeing on the tree. This is when in this movie these people the Horgan people are calm polite night.

Yeah. He pusses on that tree the the Rotvalta tree the Rotvalta tree and he pees on that and you finally see the villagers freak out. Now, yeah, for sure that one guy who was like swearing at him in Swedish. He's screaming at him. He's like what an idiot.

How could you do this? He peed on our sacred tree this and the tree that represents our ancestors and you can see them take the ashes from the couple that met their demise and they sprinkle it onto the roots of the tree in the background. So in the background you can see the background before and then the camera pan you can actually see Mark walk off towards that tree before he does it and then they go. It's a beautiful beautifully shot. Yeah interaction.

It's almost like there's a like a stage play going on. They had to set that up nicely in the and it's that moment though to me. You're like, all right. Well. I've already seen these people kill people happily.

What's going to happen when they're pissed off like that's what my mind went to it's like, yeah, this ain't gonna go good for Mark and yeah, well, he's been branded the fool. So we all know what happens to the fool from the children's game in the beginning. This is what he's gonna get. He gets he does he gets his he gets skinned and someone wears his skin as a mask later. Yeah, I do on the second time I deposit and like really pay attention because the first time I remember watching it.

I was like, wait, what just happened? Like I am when Josh gets caught trying to take pictures of the of their sacred book and there's Mark that's not Mark. I was really confused the first time I saw it. I was like, wait, what's happening? Who is that?

Is that Mark or is that somebody else? Pretending to be Mark. Yep. So at this time really clarified some things for me because I was like, oh, I get it. I see what's happening.

Wars skin like a mask like it was. Yes, not pretty not pretty at all. You get to you get to that dinner. After Mark P's industry you got you got to another dinner and it just feels awful. It feels they put this meat tart in front of them.

Yeah, you already kind of said you're like, wait a minute Simon's missing and his fiance Connie Connie you find a she goes miss you find a pub in the food a hair. Yes, which was forced out of by the tapestry earlier. If you watched that tapestry and what happens the love rune under the bed and then the pubic hair and the meat pie and it tells the whole story of how they are wrapping Christian, right? It does and and it's just it's all there for you to see what's really happening and what's going to happen. It's the foreshadowing is incredible.

Yeah. Yeah, this is definitely movie. You got to watch twice you have to at least and we're building we're actually if you think it's not we are we're building to a climactic end. If it hasn't been enough already like it's this movie really takes you on this. It's an emotional journey that it hits you it sticks with you stick this movie sticks with you after you watch.

Yeah, you know, and I'm just remembering to there's a nightmare that Danny has while she's there after Simon and Connie the Connie. I think it's Connie when they go missing. She has this nightmare where they're driving away without her. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

They're getting in a car and they're driving away and she keeps having visions of her family dead and you know the trauma that she's been through this isn't surprising, but it all leads back to this idea that Danny doesn't have a place where she belongs. Yeah. And then when she's called in to wear a white tunic and be a part of the festivities to dance at the Maypole competition, she is hallucinating these roots growing from her feet, which is very very heavily symbolic in planting roots and belonging. So it's you know, it's all tying back to like where is Danny finding her place where she feels like she belongs where she's being. Now I didn't notice I didn't think about that.

Now. She's literally growing roots right there. This is after she so she so let's just set this up first because she drinks they give her a drink. Little shot of yeah, and I'm guessing it's more that mushroom tea. They all drink together.

Yeah, all the girls all the maidens that are participating in the dance and then they get up and they start tripping. I'm guessing it's that mushroom tea or something again, some sort of source like a dough. Bunch of girls are in a pole dancing over and over and over and yeah, the way you win is to be the last one standing. Yeah, it's like an endurance test while hallucinating on whatever the tea was right? Yeah, it seemed to me the whole time that Danny was just getting pulled along like I don't know if she really would have won but it seemed like they were just like pulling her along and they're like just keep going just keep going.

So do you think they let her win? I think it's possible. I think that they were all along kind of trying to recruit her right like it picked her out and by the way, it is also important to note that the costume designer. I didn't write down her name but the costume designer in this movie. She purposely put Danny in very heavy baggy ill-fitting clothes for the beginning of the movie.

So all up until she goes into wearing the white tunic that they all wear when that fits her perfectly and looks good on her and makes her feel like she belongs. This was all on purpose. So that's something to note too. Andrea Flesh is the one who did the costume design for Andrea Flesh did Florence's costume design for that and I did not notice that but I will really look at that again because I love when people put that much detail that much effort that much work and oh make it us have a conversation like this about it like it's it's there. It's a reason really in sitting accidentally.

We didn't even that this is an a24 movie. Should know from the beginning if you watch an a24 movie you're about to get something different. You're about to get an experience. I love that. You don't you don't get the happy endings.

Yeah, they don't I'm going to give it to you and some people don't like that, but I love that and this movie right here. You either see it one of two ways you either got a happy ending or you didn't get a happy ending. I got a happy ending. You know happy ending for who is what I now Danny definitely got a happy and this is what goes back to what I said. The genre of the movie could be a revenge a breakup movie because the very last thing she gives you that little smile.

Yeah, and you're like everyone's weeping and wailing. It's it's very dramatic and she you think she's falling apart at first you think she's like reliving her trauma or you know, she's going to completely fall apart, but she stands there very still and smiles. Yeah, looking to make first time I watched it. I was like, what is what is she going to do? Is she going to leave?

Is she going to go home? Is she going to you know, I was like dying to know the rest and then the movie ended and I was like what like I said, you don't get those happy endings, but you got an open open-ended ending there. I don't think she left that island. There's no way there's no. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, she's at home now. She went. Yeah deepest darkest shit she can and now she's a Queen. Yeah, you got to sacrifice someone who had been hurting her the entire time. Piece of shit.

She saw him cheating on her. Yeah, like come like he and and she had a choice. She could have sacrificed the villager that was chosen and they gave her as May Queen. It was her right to choose who would be the last of the nine. Yeah, by the way, yeah, the number in nine sacrifices for the feast and she they don't show her choosing.

But you see that Christian is the one who gets prepared for the sacrifice. I think all the way until you see him. You're like shit. There's no way she's picking him. There's no way she's going to she's going to pick him and like, oh, maybe she maybe she should maybe like yeah, like her final final stand.

Like there's no going back after this right like for her to be able to go. Yep. This is my community. This is where I belong. I wanted to point out to you on her tunic her rune which was the old lady's rune is this one and it is the rune to translation for it is wagon.

So it's about travel. She does ride in a wagon. But the spiritual meaning of it is destiny. So it's almost like this is really fitting for her because this is like her destiny. This has been her entire story up until now.

Like she's led to this place these people and the one on Christians tunic which was on the man is one of them is this one and it's Taiwan's. The translation is authority justice. Righteousness is the spiritual meaning. I feel like this is like really pointing to I don't know if this was all intentional, but I had to go look this up just to see like what connections are there, but I feel like it's so fitting that his tunic would have something about justice and righteousness on it and authority. Please right like he's.

Yeah, he said he's a piece. He's a piece. That's all you say and I hate to say you got what's coming to him, but they I mean honestly, they kind of did like it. They yeah, I mean it lets it open for interpretation in that there's not anything that's completely wrong or completely right. Yeah, and like I said at the end of Wicker Man, it's like well, okay, obviously this is very inhumane to sacrifice a human being and even the animals to make sure that their crops grow better next year.

But then considering all of the damage that has been done in the Christian God's name, I don't know you could kind of you can kind of argue it either way the friend that pulls her into the dance is wearing this on her tunic. Okay, this is kin as and it's translation is the torch. And it's meaning is enlightenment knowledge and new outlook. Okay, this is the one pulling her into the dance and dancing with her next to her. So very, you know, I would love to ask the director if that was intentional, but for me, it doesn't matter.

I think it's really cool. Anyway, super cool. I'm glad that you caught a lot of stuff that I didn't and these two movies though. Like I said at the beginning one was the beginning of this and then one is basically to me was a new version. It was like, let's let's let's get some folk or I know there's been a lot between here between Wicker Man and Midsummer.

There's sure there's tons of folk horror movies, but these two stand out to me. What's your final thought on that? Probably even more so than Wicker Man, although I think it's a theme in both Midsummer having that lore of intense support and community. That's really significant to me. I mean, whether you call it evil and like all the things that they did evil this community obviously has some twisted ideas about death and murder.

But the the lore of the community is pretty look how strong that was. Look how powerful that was for Danny to go from, you know, the tragedy she came from the world. We know the culture. We know and to go into that and be like actually this is what I want and when Christian is going through the ceremony or ritual of what do you call it copulation? He's going through impregnating the young maiden that's lured him right and he may have been drugged during all that probably but when he's going through that there's a room full of women almost as if they're going through the sexual experience as well.

All of them are going through it together. These older women all of them were probably Crone Age. If you're kind of looking at it in that sense, their mothers or Crohn's and they're all going through it with this maiden who's getting impregnated. Which I know he had a moment where he was like, this is weird. What's going on?

But in the meantime, while that's happening Danny who sees what he's doing and is going through again another moment of extreme grief. She goes into the other barn and she's wailing in grief, which we've seen her do before in the movie. She did that isolated and alone and now she's doing it with a group of maidens around her. They're all holding her and they're not just like going through it. They're not just like shoosh shoosh.

They're there. They're wailing with her. They join her in grief. I think that's really significant. That to me is kind of the epitome of the entire movie.

This is about a girl who is looking for belonging. She is looking to be held. She's looking for a space where she takes up space and is allowed to take up space. And yeah, you can put it all with all the horror and gross and you know entertainment that goes along with it. But to me that is the central theme of this movie.

I love that. I think what I got to do now is since you're the expert on this kind of stuff out of both of these movies. Is this real? Can this is this happening somewhere? Did this stuff happen?

Like what? What's the real context here? Do you think this is kind of stuff? It's because if you go to Sweden midsummer right now, it's not this and I know for a fact that the Swedes laugh at this movie. They look at this as a black comedy.

They think it's they they really do because it's nothing like what a midsummer is. But is there somewhere doing this kind of stuff? Did they used to do this? I would say anything's possible. I mean there are some ancient traditions that have like upheld and there may be we were not unfamiliar with cults and cult risings everywhere on Earth.

I mean everywhere there are extremists. There are fundamentalists. There are people that take their beliefs too far into actually causing harm to people. So my take was yeah, it's absolutely possible. But my personal belief in Christianity and paganism is that what I would want people to take away from this is that some of these traditions that you see in these movies like the hobby horse and the those May Day celebrations.

So they're celebrating May Day in the Wicker Man and you see some of those traditions still done. Some of the the meanings behind it have changed and adapted and even Christianity coming in and kind of making it Christianized like we did with Christmas and taking Yule and Yule solstice and making it into a Christian holiday. But the hobby horse in the and the parades that they do at May Day those still exist in England in small towns and Morris dancing and you know, a lot of it is making a revival. We're trying to go back to like well, what were these? What were these traditions that they used to do?

You'll notice in Wicker Man. They have these braided wheat things that kind of hang in the schoolhouse and they kind of you notice it throughout the movie. Those are things that I and my friends do at we just did it at LaMasse or Lundestad our Wheel of the Year celebration. We braided wheat into a sun and to honor the wheat that is harvested right now. So you see a lot of it.

And so if you're asking if these movies are real, I would say yes, there's a lot of real to these movies. Hopefully not the horrific parts. But yeah, a lot of the traditions and stuff are still very real. Well, they make it feel real. I mean even in Wicker Man the very opening you got that opening thing that says thank you to the Lord.

Summer Isle for allowing us to and I'm like you're like, wait, yeah, this is a true story. Is it some documentary? Like what is this? Right. Well, I do find it very strange and there's one one thing that in Wicker Man I forgot to mention is the the more English hierarchical role that Lord Summer Isle plays.

He lives in an in like a castle almost like he has been Lorded by the King. It's like that's a little bit contradictory to the pagan kind of way of life that they have on this island. So I don't know where that was supposed to play a part in this, but it's like having him live in a castle and be Lord over everyone kind of contradicts that idea. But you know, maybe they're just kind of marrying those ideas together. It was Christopher Lee though.

So we didn't second-guess anything. Yeah, I mean he yeah, let me. Amazing time. What else we got to say about this anything? I think we covered it really well.

We've got a lot going on in these movies. So whoo, whoo. Two bangers right out of the gate, Courtney the Wicker Man. Yeah, like it's on my screen right now and it just I just there was a trailer playing for it because I had I had the IMDb and all that and it was when he was in the man and burning up like yeah, the internet for listening to you in summer just as just as disturbing like this. There's nothing else to say.

We said it all now. We picked these movies apart pretty well. We've got we went right down through each and every infamous scene. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun.

First of all, and I can't wait to see what else comes in this which movie project series and I really can't wait for October 26th. At Novel Daybreak by Crescent communities. They are proud to present the which movie project live podcast taping and movie screening. This is where the people at home can vote on a movie. So today for instance, you would vote between the Wicker Man and Midsummer which yes you like.

Where do we where they voting at Courtney? You can contact us on either of our social medias. So if you come to mind Prism Healing I have Instagram at prism underscore healing and my Facebook Courtney Pearls Prism Healing so you can direct message me your vote or on Ride The Wave Media. That's right at Ride The Wave Media across the board Instagram tick-tock Facebook Twitter slash X I think is at RTW podcast and then you got the YouTube channel. That's where you can see our our beautiful faces.

I don't know about hours. At least one of us we won't pick who we won't pick who but it's at right. Yeah at Ride The Wave Media podcast on YouTube. We also got to thank our sponsors Novel Daybreak by Crescent communities and also Stacy Milhorn at pure sweat and float South Jordan. Love you.

Yeah. Thank you so much for everything. We'll see you guys next week.