Episode 162: The Quiet Ones

Tag[]

Dan: Hey, Flop House listeners. Around now is where you would normally hear me make a mild witticism about the film that we're doing this week before introducing the show. But before we get to that, I just want to introduce on behalf of our new podcast network, Maximum Fun, the capo di capo of Maximum Fun—Mr. Jesse Thorn.

Jesse: That is actually on my business cards, Dan.

Dan: Great!

Jesse: How are you, man?

Dan: Uh, I'm doing all right. Just hanging here, trying to pretend it's not awkward to talk on a cellphone and record it.

Jesse: Yeah I'm in L.A., you're in New York. Um, but yeah, I felt like I should be here to sort of explain what it means that the Flop House is joining Maximum Fun, and that kind of thing.
Basically...I guess I'll start with sort of what Maximum Fun is. We're a network of podcasts that is driven by the themes of culture and comedy—of which, of course, The Flop House is both—and all of our shows is owned by their creators.
And so, essentially what we do as a network is provide support for those shows in the same way that, you know, maybe a public radio station provides support for the shows that it carries on its air. You know, we do sometimes have a little bit of advertising, but we're mostly focused on listeners and listener support for our shows.
Yeah, I mean, our goal is to make shows like this one a success and make sure that the people who, the people who make them, can earn money from them. At least enough money for them to be able to continue doing them. Does that make sense, Dan?

Dan: Yeah. And, uh, listeners of the show probably, if they like me at all and aren't just listening for Elliott and Stu, heard me appear[1] on your podcast JJGo. And obviously, our friend at The Daily Show, Judge John Hodgman (John Hodgman) has his podcast over with you guys. So it seemed like a good fit for us.

Jesse: Yeah, I mean we're a group of a dozen or so (it's now up to fifteen or so) likeminded shows, that have banded together under one umbrella to raise money for all of us and, because we share a common vision and common goals.
So the big news here is that there is a new way to support The Flop House. If you're a big fan of The Flop House, you want to see it continue and you want to see these guys get paid. The way to do it is become a member of MaximumFun.org. It's easy to do: you just go to MaximumFun.org/donate. When you donate, you will decide an amount of money per month to give, and when you do that you will tell us which shows you listen to, and the money that you donate goes to the shows that you listen to.
It's easy, and it's fun. It's great. MaximumFun.org/donate is the place to do it. You even get, like, thank you gifts and stuff. I don't want to go too far into them, because we usually only have one pledge drive a year. But we thought, you know, this is a new thing. These guys could use some, some continuing support, you know? Some money that they can count on. And that's why we're going to you, the audience. Just this one time, and then we won't be back at you until the annual pledge drive, which isn't until late Spring.

Show Notes[]

BOOOOOGENS! Welcome to the first episode of SHOCKTOBER 2014 (and the first episode officially under our new podcast network, MaxFun). And because we would never Halloween trick you, instead we’re treating you to a guest appearance by Hallie Haglund, sitting in with the OP’s, to discuss The Quiet Ones. Meanwhile, Elliott lists all the great MaxFun podcasts, Stuart once again shows his ignorance of all things Internet, and Hallie puts Dan in his place.

Movie Summary[]

Premise[]

A university professor and a team of students conduct an experiment on a young woman, uncovering terrifyingly dark, unexpected forces in the process.

Story[]

An unorthodox college professor leads his best students off the grid to perform a dangerous experiment to create a poltergeist. Operating under the theory that paranormal activity is triggered by negative human energy, the group uses a series of tests to push a young woman to the edge of sanity. Frightening occurrences with unspeakable consequences subsequently unfold, leading the researchers to the realization that they have unleashed a force more terrifying than they could have imagined.

God's Not Dead @17:25

Elliott: It's your classic blond-brunette divide: Betty and Veronica. Except in this case, the Betty is the mean one because the blonde is the mean one, and the Veronica is the one with telekinetic demon powers.

Stuart: A classic Thelma and Louise situation.

Elliott: It's a real Scylla and Charybdis.

Dan: It's a classic Cagney & Ghosty.

Elliott: Yep, that's how it goes! Laverne & Poltergeist.
@18:10

Dan: I mean, it was—there was not, like, Parkinsons shaking. But it was shaking.

Elliott: Daniel!

Stuart: Take it easy!

Dan: All right.

Hallie: Hey.

Elliott: Please! Michael J. Fox is a national treasure!

Hallie: I apologize to all our Parkinsons listeners.
@20:10

Final Judgments[]

Totally Snorifying (unanimous) @44:10

Episode Highlights[]

Tangents[]

Cole "Cole As Ice" FlopHauser @07:55
The Cryptkeeper @22:40
Strife of Dreyf @24:50
Sound Effects @25:20
Episode 48: The Chaos Experiment @29:35
Other Maximum Fun Podcasts @48:36
- Fishbowl
- Meat Talkin'
- Up In the Sky
- Fliegerbombers
- Who Brought That Sandwich?
- French Braids
- World of Gorm
- Fan Blasters (A ceiling fan review podcast)
- Is That a Wart? (It turns out that most of the time it is. It has a visual component, but you don't want that.)
- Doorcats ("Can a cat and a door be the same? We find out in Doorcats."–Elliott)

Other Maximum Fun Podcasts (cont'd) @51:00
- Floorstompers
- TV, or Yes TV?
- The Radiator Talks
- The Guinness Podcast of World Checkers
- Rugs (with Hallie Haglund)
- Bagfuckers ("The only podcast where they review the sexual possibilities behind different bags." -Elliott)
- Punch Pullers
- Jesus Christ, I've Got More Letters (A guy reads letters to Jesus, who answers them)

Movie Pitches[]

Dr. Pepper and Mtn. Dew, Cops on the Run: Caribbean Queen A doctor and a mountain have to team up to solve the mystery of the missing oceans. @30:25
The Quiet Buns or The Silence of the Buns A movie about a deaf baker. @35:15
Medicine Man, Pizza Man A reboot of Medicine Man. @55:11

Quotes[]

Elliott: Welcome to the hellish maelstrom of Shocktober! When all evil walks the Earth, and the veil between the other world and this is at its thinnest.

Stuart: Can you—can you hear that sound? ("Boogens!")

Hallie: Ow! It shocked me!

Elliott: The curtain between the spirit world and ours is so thin that you can see a ghost's nipple sticking through it.

Dan: Yep. When ghosts, and goblins, and gooblins, and—

Elliott: —and gorblins. When ghosts and ghasts and Ryan Ghostlings...

Dan: Uh, it's terrifying. It's a living hell. But funny.

Elliott: Anyway, the point is: the world is a blasted nightmare, and its name is Shocktober.
@08:45

Elliott: So Dan, what happens in Shocktober?

Dan: Well, we watch horror movies with a slightly larger frequency than the rest of the year.

Elliott: Cause we do watch horror movies in other times of the year.

Stuart: But sometimes horror movies are bad.

Dan: Yeah.

Elliott: That's true, sometimes horror movies are bad.

Stuart: Sometimes they're good too, though.

Dan: Yeah, sure. Thanks.

Stuart: That's fun facts, from Stuart.

Elliott: That's on the bottom of your Stuart Trading Cards.
@09:33

“Do you guys know that every October first, I start praying that I will see a ghost this month?”
—Hallie @10:45

“The scariest of garments.”
—Stuart (regarding sweaters) @11:50

“Guys: let's meet back here in twenty years, if we're still all not on fire.”
—Dan @33:25

Stuart: Like a regular Frankenstein...

Elliott: ...'s monster.
@36:15

Elliott: Maximum Fun, of course, was founded by Maxwell Funenstein. He named it after himself, Max Fun.

Stuart: German? Okay.

Elliott: Yeah, Maxwell Funenstein, of Stuttgart.

Stuart: Oh, interesting.

Elliott: And he had a—he had a vision.

Stuart: And that's a southern town, so he should have visions.

Elliott: He had a simple vision. A world with only Germans in it.

Stuart: Oh weird, that's uncommon in Germany.

Elliott: Luckily, Max Fun has kinda changed its uh, precepts over time. Now it's more about fun podcasts.
@50:32

Listener Mail[]

Mailbag Song[]

@54:18

Letters[]

"3 Questions" from Listener Lastnamewithheld @55:37
Stuart claims that rock is the best genre of music for the end credits of mid '80s through early '90s creature features, citing "Dream Warriors" by Dokken in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N' Roses in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

“There's nothing better than a movie that ends with a guitar squeal.”
—Stuart @57:34

Elliott describes his difficulty choosing a favorite between Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and says that The Black Cat is his favorite of their movies, since they're both great in it.

Dan chooses Tail Sting, and after reconsidering, Emmanuelle, as the movie he would watch on a plane that was going to Hell.

"The Flop House Wives" from Dan Lastnamewithheld @1:02:34
The Peaches discuss the relationship that their wives have with each other and with the other hosts of the podcast.

"First Movie Memories" from Batman Realnamewithheld, Wayne Manor, Gotham City, USA, Earth-2 @1:05:46
Hallie talks about finding her parents' instructional sex videos, watching Pet Sematary and smoking cigarettes with a childhood friend, watching horror movies at sleepovers with her friends, and walking in on her brother and his friends watching a porno.

Dan remembers watching Never Cry Wolf with his parents in the theater, and being forced to watch Poltergeist and Aliens by his older brothers.

Stuart's mom covered his eyes during the library ghost part of Ghostbusters, and later described the ghost to him as looking like Skeletor.

Elliott and his sister watched Atlantic City when they were one month old. His sister cried and had to be taken to the library, while Elliott was a "gentleman" and watched the film. He also remembers being shocked watching Ed-209 blast a guy's chest to pieces at the beginning of Robocop, which he claims helped turn him into the sociopath that he is today.

Recommendations[]

The Returned (2012-) by Fabrice Gobert (Dan) @Time
The Hidden (1987) by Jack Sholder (Stuart) @Time
The Haunting (1963) by Robert Wise (Elliott) @Time
From Beyond (1986) by Stuart Gordon (Elliott) @Time
Witchboard (1986) by Kevin Tenney (Hallie) @Time

`Dan:`	Hey, Flop House listeners. Around now is where you would normally hear me make a mild witticism about the film that we're doing this week before introducing the show. But before we get to that, I just want to introduce on behalf of our new podcast network, Maximum Fun, the capo di capo of Maximum Fun—Mr. Jesse Thorn.
`Jesse:`	That is actually on my business cards, Dan.
`Dan:`	Great!
`Jesse:`	How are you, man?
`Dan:`	Uh, I'm doing all right. Just hanging here, trying to pretend it's not awkward to talk on a cellphone and record it.
`Jesse:`	Yeah I'm in L.A., you're in New York. Um, but yeah, I felt like I should be here to sort of explain what it means that the Flop House is joining Maximum Fun, and that kind of thing. Basically...I guess I'll start with sort of what Maximum Fun is. We're a network of podcasts that is driven by the themes of culture and comedy—of which, of course, The Flop House is both—and all of our shows is owned by their creators. And so, essentially what we do as a network is provide support for those shows in the same way that, you know, maybe a public radio station provides support for the shows that it carries on its air. You know, we do sometimes have a little bit of advertising, but we're mostly focused on listeners and listener support for our shows. Yeah, I mean, our goal is to make shows like this one a success and make sure that the people who, the people who make them, can earn money from them. At least enough money for them to be able to continue doing them. Does that make sense, Dan?
`Dan:`	Yeah. And, uh, listeners of the show probably, if they like me at all and aren't just listening for Elliott and Stu, heard me appear[1] on your podcast JJGo. And obviously, our friend at The Daily Show, Judge John Hodgman (John Hodgman) has his podcast over with you guys. So it seemed like a good fit for us.
`Jesse:`	Yeah, I mean we're a group of a dozen or so (it's now up to fifteen or so) likeminded shows, that have banded together under one umbrella to raise money for all of us and, because we share a common vision and common goals. So the big news here is that there is a new way to support The Flop House. If you're a big fan of The Flop House, you want to see it continue and you want to see these guys get paid. The way to do it is become a member of MaximumFun.org. It's easy to do: you just go to MaximumFun.org/donate. When you donate, you will decide an amount of money per month to give, and when you do that you will tell us which shows you listen to, and the money that you donate goes to the shows that you listen to. It's easy, and it's fun. It's great. MaximumFun.org/donate is the place to do it. You even get, like, thank you gifts and stuff. I don't want to go too far into them, because we usually only have one pledge drive a year. But we thought, you know, this is a new thing. These guys could use some, some continuing support, you know? Some money that they can count on. And that's why we're going to you, the audience. Just this one time, and then we won't be back at you until the annual pledge drive, which isn't until late Spring.

`Elliott:`	It's your classic blond-brunette divide: Betty and Veronica. Except in this case, the Betty is the mean one because the blonde is the mean one, and the Veronica is the one with telekinetic demon powers.
`Stuart:`	A classic Thelma and Louise situation.
`Elliott:`	It's a real Scylla and Charybdis.
`Dan:`	It's a classic Cagney & Ghosty.
`Elliott:`	Yep, that's how it goes! Laverne & Poltergeist. @18:10

`Dan:`	I mean, it was—there was not, like, Parkinsons shaking. But it was shaking.
`Elliott:`	Daniel!
`Stuart:`	Take it easy!
`Dan:`	All right.
`Hallie:`	Hey.
`Elliott:`	Please! Michael J. Fox is a national treasure!
`Hallie:`	I apologize to all our Parkinsons listeners. @20:10

`Elliott:`	Welcome to the hellish maelstrom of Shocktober! When all evil walks the Earth, and the veil between the other world and this is at its thinnest.
`Stuart:`	Can you—can you hear that sound? ("Boogens!")
`Hallie:`	Ow! It shocked me!
`Elliott:`	The curtain between the spirit world and ours is so thin that you can see a ghost's nipple sticking through it.
`Dan:`	Yep. When ghosts, and goblins, and gooblins, and—
`Elliott:`	—and gorblins. When ghosts and ghasts and Ryan Ghostlings...
`Dan:`	Uh, it's terrifying. It's a living hell. But funny.
`Elliott:`	Anyway, the point is: the world is a blasted nightmare, and its name is Shocktober. @08:45

`Elliott:`	So Dan, what happens in Shocktober?
`Dan:`	Well, we watch horror movies with a slightly larger frequency than the rest of the year.
`Elliott:`	Cause we do watch horror movies in other times of the year.
`Stuart:`	But sometimes horror movies are bad.
`Dan:`	Yeah.
`Elliott:`	That's true, sometimes horror movies are bad.
`Stuart:`	Sometimes they're good too, though.
`Dan:`	Yeah, sure. Thanks.
`Stuart:`	That's fun facts, from Stuart.
`Elliott:`	That's on the bottom of your Stuart Trading Cards. @09:33

`Stuart:`	Like a regular Frankenstein...
`Elliott:`	...'s monster. @36:15

`Elliott:`	Maximum Fun, of course, was founded by Maxwell Funenstein. He named it after himself, Max Fun.
`Stuart:`	German? Okay.
`Elliott:`	Yeah, Maxwell Funenstein, of Stuttgart.
`Stuart:`	Oh, interesting.
`Elliott:`	And he had a—he had a vision.
`Stuart:`	And that's a southern town, so he should have visions.
`Elliott:`	He had a simple vision. A world with only Germans in it.
`Stuart:`	Oh weird, that's uncommon in Germany.
`Elliott:`	Luckily, Max Fun has kinda changed its uh, precepts over time. Now it's more about fun podcasts. @50:32