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A retirement home horror movie shouldn’t make us laugh this much, but The Home gives us plenty to fight about. One of us thinks it’s a secretly solid horror thriller with a nasty little twist and an ending worth the wait. The other thinks it’s a clunky mess that spends an hour dangling fake clues, then tries to talk its way through an explanation no human would ever say out loud. Either way, we go full spoiler mode and pull the whole thing apart. 

We talk Pete Davidson as Max, the “bad boy” community service setup, the off-limits fourth floor, the hurricane that hangs over the story, and the movie’s obsession with eyes that finally pays off in the Dia eye-juice reveal. We also get into why mysteries feel satisfying when the pieces click, and why they feel insulting when the movie admits the pieces never mattered. Along the way, we shout out the strong practical effects, the veteran supporting cast, and the one stretch of the film that turns into pure cathartic revenge. 

After The Home, we pivot to Curry Barker’s short Mama Bear and why its perspective and storytelling choices don’t land for us, then wind down with comfort TV updates, including heartbreak over Finding Mr. Christmas getting canceled and a few quick takes on what we’ve been watching lately. We close by teasing next week’s movie pick, Matchbox. Subscribe, share the episode with a fellow horror fan, and leave a review so more people can find our hate-watching chaos.

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Dan: @shakybacon
Tony: @tonydczech

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 Happy Halloween from Dan and Tony! This week on Hate Watching, we’re strapping on our clerical collars, hopping onto a vintage Lambretta scooter, and heading to Spain to tackle 2023’s The Pope’s Exorcist starring Russell Crowe.
Is it a gritty demonic possession thriller, or is it an accidental buddy-cop MCU setup where the Vatican assembles an Exorcist Avengers initiative to fight 200 demons worldwide? Tony argues Crowe’s deadpan quips make it a secret comedy masterpiece, while Dan tries to make sense of broken horror rules, priests who refuse to pray when they're supposed to pray, and a plot twist that casually blames the Spanish Inquisition on a horny demon named Asmodeus.
Plus, stick around for Dan’s vastly superior rewrite of the ending, a mini-debate over Curry Barker and Hokum, and a preview of next week's movie: Pete Davidson's The Home! 

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Dan: @shakybacon
Tony: @tonydczech

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A movie can look amazing and still feel weirdly empty, and Super 8 is our favorite kind of argument because it sits right on that line. We are supposed to be doing Halloween movies, but we take a detour into the mind of J.J. Abrams and pick apart why his Spielberg-style nostalgia machine works in flashes, then falls apart the second you ask it to make sense.

We talk through the big comparisons everyone makes: Super 8 versus Stranger Things, and why “kids on bikes” stories only hit when the kids actually seem like friends you want to hang out with. We dig into what feels off, from characters missing real arcs, to clues like maps and the water tower that get teased then ignored, to a third act that solves problems by skipping the satisfying steps. Then we get into the set pieces: the train crash, the space cubes, the too-visible monster, and the military plot logic that never adds up.

It is not all roasting. We give credit where it is due: the movie is beautifully shot, and Michael Giacchino’s score rules. We also swing through Abrams’ broader track record, including a quick Lost debate, and close out with what we watched this week plus our next pick, Russell Crowe in The Pope’s Exorcist. Subscribe, share this with a fellow movie nerd, and leave a review. Are you Team “Super 8 Is Fun” or Team “Super 8 Is Broken”?

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Dan: @shakybacon
Tony: @tonydczech

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A quiet Midwest suburb in 1982 gets cut out of the world and dropped into dinosaur times. That pitch should print money. Instead, we spend this conversation picking apart why a great high concept can still collapse when the movie refuses to build clear geography, believable survival behavior, or any meaningful setup and payoff. We keep it spoiler-heavy, because the details are the whole point: the “two-mile perimeter,” the random wandering, the missing sense of destination, and the way tension keeps getting teed up and then ignored. 

We also get into what we think genre stories owe the audience. If your premise is time travel and prehistoric monsters, we can absolutely suspend disbelief about air quality or dinosaur biology. What we can’t forgive is a story that breaks its own internal logic, shrugs at the consequences, and then asks for an emotional landing anyway. That takes us straight into the ending: the payphone, the pizza call, the timeline implications, and why it turns the final act into a moral mess the film never addresses. 

Along the way we nerd out on craft and tone: the attempt at an authentic 1982 vibe, the film grain slapped on in post, and a very heated rant about split diopter shots used like a film school party trick. We shout out the moments that do work, too, especially some striking dinosaur-in-the-neighborhood imagery and one genuinely heroic beat that belongs to the dog. 

If you enjoy movie reviews, horror and sci-fi criticism, screenwriting talk, and the difference between “implausible” and “badly written,” hit play. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves creature features, and leave us a review with the one change you’d make to fix this movie.

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Dan: @shakybacon
Tony: @tonydczech

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A castle in the Carpathians. Edgar Allan Poe name-drops. Secret doors, earthquakes, torture devices, and a title that promises haunted hills. So why does Elvira’s Haunted Hills feel like it forgot to include a story, or even a consistent joke? We put on our bad movie review hats and hate-watch our way through the 2002 horror comedy, calling out the dead-air pacing, bits that vanish for an hour, and scenes that play like everyone is waiting for their turn instead of actually playing together.

Along the way, we untangle a big misunderstanding: what Elvira is supposed to be. We talk about her roots as a classic TV horror host (think Svengoolie energy), why that persona can work on late-night television, and why it’s harder to stretch into a feature film without clear character motivation. If you like screenwriting and improv craft, we get nerdy about the core rule that makes comedy land: either the character is absurd in a grounded world, or the world has one clear broken premise. When everything is equally “wacky,” nothing has contrast, stakes, or payoff.

We also compare the movie’s approach to parody touchstones like Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Austin Powers, and even the shadow of Young Frankenstein, then we wrap with what we’re watching for real: Josh Hartnett’s Netflix series Below and Mike Flanagan’s Carrie. Subscribe, share the show with a fellow Halloween-movie addict, and leave a review. What’s your favorite “vibes only” October movie that completely forgets to be scary?

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Dan: @shakybacon
Tony: @tonydczech

And follow the podcast on IG: @hatewatchingDAT