Black Friday

12/08/23 • 61 min

2 Guys And A Chainsaw - A Horror Movie Review Podcast

We kick off the beginning of our holiday horror season much the same way many people kick off THEIR holiday season: Frantic Holiday shopping!

A movie based on the Black Friday shopping phenomenon holds a lot of promise. With this 2021 film, unfortunately, it’s another case of “great concept, poor execution”. Even Bruce Campbell couldn’t save this uneven and mostly un-funny horror-comedy. But at least there’s a ton of holiday spirit in there!

We sure enjoyed chatting about it, and discussing OUR memories of Black Friday madness. Enjoy!

Expand to read episode transcript Automatic Transcript

Black Friday (2021)

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

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, here we are, Craig, the first Christmas movie of the season. Just finished, uh Hittin up a couple, uh, Thanksgiving ish movies. I don’t know, this movie we chose for today is maybe a little more appropriate for Thanksgiving,

Craig: huh?

I know! We talked about doing it for Thanksgiving, but I watched the trailer, and there was so much Christmas in the trailer. I’m like, let’s, let’s save it. But it’s, it’s Apropos, like, you know, we just had Thanksgiving, now Black Friday, and then we’ll move into, like, the real Christmas stuff. That’s right.

Todd: So the, so the one we’re doing right now is a movie I had never heard of before.

It’s 2021’s Black Friday, so it came out a couple years ago. And, uh, I was really impressed because, number one, it was a Zomcom, and I think a couple weeks ago I told you I’m kinda sick and tired of Zomcoms. But, here we are doing one yet again. Because, I’ll just be forever cursed to watch these things because they keep making them.

I know! What is it? Ever since Shot of the Dead, like, every year, there’s like five of these things. And, uh This

Craig: one’s a little different. Like, it, it, it basically is a zombie movie, but the zombies are unique. They’re not, like Yeah. I mean, I guess they kind of are Walking Dead, but this is, it’s more like they’re possessed, or, like Infected by some kind of parasite or something that it’s very unclear and it doesn’t it’s very unclear.

Yeah And nothing is ever explained. So don’t be waiting for the explanation because it doesn’t come

Todd: I was really looking forward to this movie because it looked like it’d be a lot of fun and because bruce campbell is in it I thought okay. This is gonna be cool and the trailer made it look real funny I was just looking for a big bowl of laughs with it and uh I have to say I was a little disappointed.

Craig: Yeah, it’s not great. Ultimately, that’s gonna be my judgment. Like, it’s not great,

Todd: but I was actively mad at this movie, man.

Craig: Oh, man. See, I kinda had fun watching it. And, which is It’s impossible. It’s impossible that I could have because I had to watch this surreptitiously at work on my phone. Oh, are you kidding

Todd: me?

No. Wow, we were really cramming it in. We tried to get two podcasts in this week to get a little ad for the holidays and I guess that put you in a rough spot, huh?

Craig: Right, right. Like it was the very last day of school before break. And so there, there’s not even any sense in really planning anything. It’s not like we didn’t do anything, but I knew that they were going to be in vacation mode.

I was in vacation mode. So, uh, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in Mr. Higgins’s class that day.

Todd: Why’d you just turn it on for the kids?

Craig: I almost could have, but no, I, I like hid my phone behind my desktop computer and like sat there and pretended I was. Doing something nice

Todd: That might have been the best way to watch this honestly because I’m here in a In a little bungalow, and I plugged my laptop into the TV here.

So I saw it full screen, with the lights off, kind of proper movie style, and maybe it would have been better on a phone, maybe it would have gone down easier. No, I

Craig: don’t, I don’t recommend watching it. On a phone during the day backlit by natural light coming through huge windows because I I only saw about a quarter of this Because because it’s so dark and I’m watching it on a phone So a lot of the time I was just looking at my reflection in the phone.

Oh god, so dark but I kind of saw what they were going for and I don’t know, I did enjoy, I enjoyed things about it. What I, what I wrote at the very top of my not...

We kick off the beginning of our holiday horror season much the same way many people kick off THEIR holiday season: Frantic Holiday shopping!

We sure enjoyed chatting about it, and discussing OUR memories of Black Friday madness. Enjoy!

Expand to read episode transcript Automatic Transcript

Black Friday (2021)

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

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Craig: huh?

Todd: So the, so the one we’re doing right now is a movie I had never heard of before.

I know! What is it? Ever since Shot of the Dead, like, every year, there’s like five of these things. And, uh This

Yeah And nothing is ever explained. So don’t be waiting for the explanation because it doesn’t come

Craig: Yeah, it’s not great. Ultimately, that’s gonna be my judgment. Like, it’s not great,

Todd: but I was actively mad at this movie, man.

Todd: me?

No. Wow, we were really cramming it in. We tried to get two podcasts in this week to get a little ad for the holidays and I guess that put you in a rough spot, huh?

I was in vacation mode. So, uh, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in Mr. Higgins’s class that day.

Todd: Why’d you just turn it on for the kids?

Craig: I almost could have, but no, I, I like hid my phone behind my desktop computer and like sat there and pretended I was. Doing something nice

Todd: That might have been the best way to watch this honestly because I’m here in a In a little bungalow, and I plugged my laptop into the TV here.

So I saw it full screen, with the lights off, kind of proper movie style, and maybe it would have been better on a phone, maybe it would have gone down easier. No, I

Oh god, so dark but I kind of saw what they were going for and I don’t know, I did enjoy, I enjoyed things about it. What I, what I wrote at the very top of my not...

Previous Episode

Five Nights at Freddy's

Just 12 years ago, Scott Cawthon was making mildly successful Christian videogames. Now, he’s at the helm of the biggest horror box-office hit of 2023, and what is sure to become the next big horror franchise.

This week, we couldn’t resist discussing Five Nights At Freddy’s, along with the video game series that inspired it. Despite negative critical reviews, it seems to be a hit with audiences. How many of you have played the games? If you’re a fan of the games, how did you feel about the film? Let us know, because it seems like there will be at least two more coming down the pike.

Expand to read episode transcript Automatic Transcript

Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023)

Episode 370, 2 Guys & A Chainsaw

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

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well this week we are back with, uh, another new movie. This one is fresh off the grill. Five Nights at Freddy’s. Maybe one of the first PG 13 movies we’ve done in a while. You think? Maybe, I don’t know. When was the last PG 13 movie we did?

I have no idea.

Well, um, you picked this movie, right, Craig? What made you decide to do Five Night at Freddy’s? Suggest it for today. Well, I kind of picked

Craig: it. I just, I like doing new movies and I like seeing new movies and I like talking about them and I feel like when something just comes out, you know, it’s on people’s minds.

People are excited about it. They’re going to see it. They may want to talk about it or listen to us talk about it. Yeah. So last week when we were talking about what we were going to do this week, I just said, you suggested something, a tribute or something, I think. And I said, well, there’s a bunch, there’s a lot of new stuff out.

Right now and I just started listing stuff off and as soon as I said five nights at freddy’s you were like, oh, let’s do that So I didn’t so much pick it as as uh Suggest it but I was excited because i’m not even really sure why I think it’s just because I Have known i’ve been aware That, um, they’ve been trying to make this movie for a long time.

Like since 2014, 2015, something like that. It’s gone through different studios. It’s gone through different directors and stuff. And I remember reading, you know, all the times that it was supposed to happen and it just, things fell through. And then, so when it finally happened, I was like, Oh. Well, I’ve been hearing about this movie for years.

Yeah, right. There must be, there must be something to it. And I know that it’s based on a video game, but I’m hoping that that’s where you can inform me more because I know nothing about. Ah. And I know that it’s not just a video game. Now it’s like a whole world of

Todd: video games. Yeah, there’s like nine main video games and a bunch of smaller ones that are offshoots and some fan ones that...

Have kind of been funded by the author of the original game. So you you’ve never played it. No Actually, this wasn’t even on my radar I also knew it they’ve been talking about pretty much ever since the game came out and got popular I never imagined that it would ever come out I mean, I figured it would probably come out eventually because it’s become such a Infamous video game and kind of a cultural touchstone.

I feel like even people who aren’t into gaming at least have heard of this at some point. I think people are

Craig: familiar with the imagery. Yeah. The images of those animatronics. Um, I’ve seen it around. Like, I feel like It’s in the pop culture zeitgeist and I think that you’re probably right that some people don’t even know where it’s from But the imagery is familiar

Todd: Yeah And I didn’t even know this movie was finally coming out until I was in Thailand a couple months ago And I saw the the previews for I was like, holy crap Where have I been like I didn’t realize it was actually happening the video game has a very interesting History behind it.

I remember when it came out in 2014 because I’m a bit of a gamer and yeah What happened was basically there’s this guy named Scott Cawthon, a devout Christian, was actually making Christian oriented games Founded a software company to do it. It was kind of a one man show more or less Uh, I think he had some friends from time, time and time again, but mostly all on his own.

He was making Christian themed RPGs and things, not really making enough to pay the bills. He, he kind of went to just doing real quickie, like mobile games or flash games and stuff online. But they’re all family oriented and, and um... had this kind of message behind it. He came out with this game called Ch...

Next Episode

All The Creatures Were Stirring

For the second in our holiday horror series, we decided to try this anthology that LOOKED promising due to the recognizable faces in it. But the only thing more baffling than the number of talented actors like Constance Woo and Stephanie Drake in it were the number of missed opportunities, cheap effects, and utterly baffling plots. So yeah....you can bet we had a lot to talk about! How’s YOUR holiday season going so far?

Expand to read episode transcript Automatic Transcript

All The Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

Episode 372, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw

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

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Alright, hello and uh, welcome to our second Christmas episode of the month. Last week we did Black Friday, and uh, that was, you know Was a little mixed as far as things go, and I, it was my turn to pick, and I said, let’s find, uh, an anthology.

Yeah. We’ve done a couple Christmas horror anthologies. Maybe we’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel, because this was all I could find. But it was 2018, and I have to admit, Craig, I had you in mind when I picked this, because I was really leaning towards this, like, cheesy 80s movie, but I thought, no, Craig would much rather watch something more modern.

So, this movie is 2018’s All the Creatures Were Stirring.

Craig: Yeah, don’t underestimate me on the cheesy 80’s movies. I can get down with those. It’s more your, like, 70’s thrillers that aren’t my cup of tea. Cheesy 80’s are always good. But, I do also love an anthology movie, and I love Holiday anthology movies.

Unfortunately, when you sent me the title, I knew immediately, Ah, crap. I’ve seen this, and it’s bad. I should have just texted you right away. You should have. Because I knew, as soon as you said it, I knew.

Todd: What is the deal with people online? Like, I read, you know, this came up in one of the lists or something, and it got a decent little review.

I go onto IMDB, and the very first user review says, Solid anthology of holiday horror, 7 out of 10. And then I look at the cast list, and I see a few familiar people, like Constance Wu is in this? Yeah,

Craig: which one was she in? Like, she’s top billed, obviously, because she’s the most famous. I don’t even remember now which one she was in.

Todd: She was in the one that was kind of like a Twilight Zone episode.

Craig: They’re all kind of like Twilight

Todd: Zone episodes. Well, it’s the one where like, uh, there’s like, I don’t know, aliens or something in their house. Oh, okay. The guy’s like celebrating Christmas. And, and what’s her, the other girl was in there too, uh, Stephanie Drake.

Who I, I was like, God, I know this woman. What is she from? Oh, she was in Mad Men. She was Meredith. The um, kind of ditzy I really liked her in that. And so I saw that she was in here and I was like, Oh, that’s great too. You know? The

Craig: movie is riddled with people that you will be scratching your head wondering, Where do I know them from?

There’s just And, and none of them, aside from Constance Wu who Has gotten pretty big. The rest of them are people that you have seen before, but they’re not huge stars or anything. And we can kind of point them out as we go along. Constance Wu

Todd: was in, uh, Fresh Off the Boat, uh, Crazy Rich Asians.

Craig: Crazy Rich Asians was the thing that I know her most from and she’s beautiful and she’s fantastic.

I’m, I’m not at all surprised they give her top billing because she is a rising star. She’s great. But even though I knew I had seen this before, I remembered. That I was excited to watch it that first time, because I really do love, uh, Christmas anthologies. Yes. And, I don’t really understand where this one misses the mark.

Uh. But it just does. Like, I was talking to Alan last night, and I was saying, uh, he was asking about, you know, what time are you podcasting or whatever. And I said, I don’t know, but I don’t know how long it’s gonna take us to talk about it, because it’s bad, but not in that way that’s fun.

Todd: Yeah. That’s the sad thing.

Craig: In the way that you’re just kind of rolling your eyes and looking at your watch like, Oh my god, is this still on? And it’s only an hour and 20 minutes long and I felt like it took me all day to watch it. It felt so

Todd: long! 30 minutes in I was like, All right, well we’re probably at least close to the end.

And I looked