02x01 - Animal Attacks

[bunniefuu]

[Haunting music]

[howling]

NARRATOR: Can nature go crazy?

Can animal violence and madness
create bloodthirsty K*llers?

Can nature take revenge?

The answers are yes.

Whether they're B-movies
or elevated studio pictures...

There's something
strange in the woods,

and I don't know what it is.

I feel like every animal
out there is watching us.

...when the director's vision
is firing on all cylinders,

you as the audience member
are seated right there with

the character that
you're watching

as they're experiencing this
horror, and it's f*cking great.

[trumpeting]

What the hell is that?

Elephants!

And they just
don't seem to stop.

That's what makes these greatest
moments or these greatest films

so special, so powerful.

[screaming]

JOSH MILLER: An
animal attack movie

is definitely a monster movie.

It's the dragon in the cave that
we should just not have gone

to mess with or
movies like Cujo,

where it's like
your best friend,

and they become a monster.

We're drawn to
animal attacks movies,

and we love movies about
being the prey hunted

by a natural predator, because
on some level, we know it's true.

If you plop us in the
woods or on the ocean,

and you put an apex predator
in the picture, suddenly,

we look like what we are,
which are vulnerable,

not very powerful little monkeys
just waiting to be eaten.

What are the must-see
animal attack movies?

The Birds, I remember
the birds being

terrifying when I was a child.

The idea of taking day time
and such mundane things

as just regular birds.

This k*ller is coming at
you from every direction.

Yeah, it was scary.

Obviously, a bird can't
really do that to you,

but at the time, it
seemed believable.

Thing I love about the
Birds is Tippi Hedren's

performance, which is unhinged.

I think you're the
cause of all this.

I think you're evil, evil!

Just somebody who
is clearly terrified,

and in fear for their life,
and in legitimate danger.

It is such an iconic
horror performance.

The lasting impact of
Alfred Hitchcock's the Birds,

especially on animal
attack movies,

is you can see in anything where
the idea is the slowly mounting

number of animals, where
there's inevitably going to be

that shot where
someone's looking around

and you see all these
animals that, on their own,

you would never be afraid of.

And it's the idea that if
there's enough of any species

of animal, the
sheer volume of them

becomes very either unnerving
or inevitably terrifying.

You see a movie a hundred
times, and then at one

point, you go, what?

We've got to get the
children out of here.

They're in the school,
and outside the school,

there's a bunch of birds.

So the teachers go, we
got to get out of here!

No, you're right where
you're supposed to be.

[screaming]

It's like Hooper,
Brody, and Quint going,

maybe we should think
about this, Quint.

Let's take a dip, and we'll
talk about it in the water.

JOE HILL: It is
a gripping vision

of social breakdown in the face
of an unexpected and unexplained threat.

It's Jaws before there was jaws.

Willard, an animal attack movie

that came out before Jaws,
ended up with its own imitators.

Maybe that was trying to go
for a Birds vibe, but I think

it's a very original movie,
looking back at it, of just...

it's almost like a drama
that had this weird element

of the k*ller animals.

His dad died; and
Ernest Borgnine

is running his dad's company,
and doesn't respect him,

and seems to actually
take pleasure in teasing

him and pranking him at work.

I carried your father
on my back for years,

and now I'm carrying you.

Like a lot of children who
grew up in the '70s I was

terrified of Ernest Borgnine.

What's the matter, Tiger?

Got a little nervous stomach?

So to see him attacked
by rats was actually

something quite pleasant.

Tear him up!

No, wait.
No, no!

No, wait, wait, no!

No, no, no, wait, no, no, no!
No!

Let me out!

Let me out!

[screaming]

I loved Willard.

It was the perfect
amount of rats.

It was creepy.

It was fun.

Willard felt like he could
really have happened anywhere,

if you just pissed off a kid
who was friends with a rat,

and the rat decided, you
know, I got friends, too,

and we're going to get you.

[screaming]

Do something!

No, don't!

Don't leave me.

It was like a g*ng.

It was like the
Crips but with rats.

Oh, god!

Emma, Emma, get
something on his body.

It'll neutralize the venom.

These nature strikes back
movies culturally caught

the wave of
environmental awareness

in the late '60s or early
'70s, where you got Willard,

Ben, Frogs.

And the underlying
score was that mankind

has pushed nature
around, and now

nature is going to push back.

And then it just became,
what animal haven't we done?

Billions of dollars have
been spent to make these

nuclear plants safe, fail-safe.

The odds against anything going
wrong are astronomical, doctor.

I appreciate that,
doctor, but let me ask you...

in all your
fail-safe techniques,

is there any provision against
an attack by k*ller bees?

[beeping]

The Swarm should
have worked, but

people aren't afraid of bees.

Every sort of animal
was running amok

at some point over the '70s.

Squirm is another
movie where it's

not about mutated,
over-sized whatever.

It's basically taking a creature
that people are grossed out

by anyway and saying,
well, what if there were

lots, and lots,
and lots of them,

and they all turned on humanity?

Very few things in horror
movies that disturbed me.

Squirm is one of them.

Directed by the
great Jeff Lieberman,

and I believe he had the
idea for the story when

lightning struck the
ground in his backyard,

and all the worms came up.

But he witnessed this as a
kid, and it stuck with him.

There's an homage
to Psycho, which

is insanely disturbing, albeit
so ridiculous, it's funny.

He had Rick Baker
doing his effects.

It's an early Rick Baker film.

The whole worm face thing
where you see them burrowing

into the guy's
flesh, there's lots

of great kind of icky, scary,
gross moments in that film.

So these movies were
well-intentioned and all about

the consequence of treating
the environment poorly,

And then comes Jaws.

And Jaws becomes not only the
most important and influential

animal attack movie of all time,
but potentially the biggest

game-changer in
Hollywood history

in terms of the
trajectory of movies

moving forward from 1975 on.

JOE HILL: As far as, what
is the greatest animal

attacks film of all time?

This one, there's not
a lot of suspense.

It's pretty clear the greatest
animal attacks film of all time

is Jaws.

I think everyone
in my generation,

when you ask them about
their favorite movie,

they go for Jaws, because that
film is absolutely perfect.

It's like, what did he do there?

It's insane.

It's like he took
a B-monster movie

and changed cinema forever.

What is so brilliant about Jaws

is obviously Spielberg at
the beginning of his career.

And we've all heard the
story, and the shark

named Bruce didn't work,
and all that stuff.

It is a perfect example of
how mistakes and failures

are often the doorways to gold.

The solution is
what becomes iconic.

The terror of Jaws
is the confidence

that this genius
director had in just

showing as the camera comes in.

Roy Scheider sitting on
that beach looking like,

that is the horror.

[screaming]

...the office and a garbage
truck next to the office.

It's like, you can
build the coolest robot

shark of all time, but
they don't strike fear

into my heart the way that
those really excellently

ex*cuted ones can do.

I can go slow ahead.

Come on down and chum
some of this sh*t.

I think I saw Jaws
when I was about 10...

You're going to
need a bigger boat.

...and I was sitting
next to my cousin.

You have that scene where they
go out to the little boat,

and he sees the big shark
tooth, which already had me.

And I was like, get
out of that water.

And then when the head comes
rolling through that open spot,

I was so jarred, I jumped out
of my seat into my cousin's lap.

So Jaws holds for me some
of the biggest scares

I ever had as a horror fan.

It's the sound of
it that's so awful.

It's just like that first grab
down, and she goes, [gurgling]..

You go, oh god, you know.

And as a kid, you're
believing, well, she

can grab on that buoy,
and she's going to be OK.

No, she's not going to be OK.

God, please, no!

Nobody wanted to
go to the beach.

Nobody wanted to
get in the water.

It was just like,
everyone was convinced

that a gigantic shark could
come up in water this deep

and just bite your legs off.

It caused such a weird
psychological crater

in America in particular.

People just got
it in their heads

that beaches weren't safe
unless we made them shark-free.

And it became popular
for people to just

go out and k*ll as many
sharks as possible on trips.

Some scientists say that only
now are certain shark species

recovering from the
over-harvesting and excessive

hunting in the wake of Jaws.

For Christ's sake,
tomorrow's the 4th of July,

and we will be
open for business.

The movie holds up
after so many years.

I had a couple of
friends who had

never seen it, which you always
go, who hasn't seen Jaws?

And we had three people with
us that had never seen Jaws,

and they were just horrified.

So I was just like,
oh wow, OK, so you can

still scare people with this.

MAN: Have they
pushed him too far?

WOMAN: Clovis.

[screaming]

TED GEOGHEGAN: My
favorite animal attack

movie is Joe Dante's Piranha.

It had come out
shortly after Jaws,

and they knew exactly what they
were doing with this movie.

The water is filled with
carnivorous fish, piranha.

And they had a movie
that, essentially, it was

just Jaws with a thousand jaws.

The craziest thing about Piranha

is that it was written by the
great American screenwriter

and novelist John Sayles.

Nice night, huh?

And finding out that John
Sayles wrote the script

for Piranha is a little bit like
learning that John Steinbeck

wrote the script for Porky's.

There's a huge cognitive
dissonance there.

One of the things I
love so much about Piranha

is that it's so shameless
in what it does.

The movie literally
starts with a character

playing a Jaws video game.

And it never lets up
throughout the entire thing.

This is early Joe
Dante, pre-Gremlins,

when he is just going nuts.

Joe Dante does what
Steven Spielberg would

never dream of doing,
and he actually

has POV shots of the piranha.

We actually follow
the piranha as they

skimmer, skimmer, skimmer
right up to people's butts,

right up to their boobs.

It's pretty crass, but it's
silly, wonderful 1970s crass

that everyone is having
a good time with.

HEIDI HONEYCUTT: I think I saw
the movie for the first time

when I was very little,
and I didn't ever

think about piranhas
biting my butt before when

I was in an inner tube.

But I thought about it
every day since then

because of this film.

Help me!

The other thing about Piranha is

it's the second best animal
attacks movie written by John

Sayles, and he only wrote two.

Alligator, which is another
John Sayles bad animal movie,

in the '70s and '80s, you
could buy baby crocodiles,

and bring them home, and
keep them in your aquarium.

But then when they
started to get too big,

people would flush
them down the toilet.

And so this imagined a
alligator getting flushed down

the toilet in the 1970s,
and encountering some kind

of toxic slime, and eventually
becoming massive, feeding off

derelicts and stray children.

Alligator is brilliant.

It's treated as a
very serious crisis,

but of course, you have a
cop that no one believes,

and then until it
starts to go wrong.

An when it starts to go wrong,
that's really where it becomes

really fun.

And it has, I think, one
of the all-time great animal

attack moments, especially,
you see it at a young age,

and it just fries
in your mind, which

is a kid at a birthday party.

They're dressed up as
pirates, and they're

making him innocently
walk the plank,

which is the diving board
of his swimming pool.

And they turn on the lights,
and the alligator's in there.

It took a lot of
inspiration from Jaws.

Our city needs us
in this moment.

We've got to not let anybody
know that there's this problem

right under the surface.

And if we can keep it a secret
and we can hire some yahoos

with shotguns to take
care of this for us,

we're going to be OK.

I've flown in Colonel Brock
to take charge of the operation.

Take charge?

Yeah, well, he's hunted big game

animals all over the world.

It's about power, money,
greedy, gross people that

don't want to utilize
science or education as a way

of helping let people
know what's going on

and taking care of a problem.

Bring in the big
g*ns, and guess what?

They get f*cked.

Sometimes, I love
a film that makes

it real hard to watch a
character suffer or be k*lled.

But sometimes, that's really fun
when this person's a real piece

of sh*t, and you
get to watch them

get chomped by an alligator.

[screaming]

Animal attack movies
push all sorts of buttons.

It's the classic
storytelling structure.

For man versus man,
man versus nature,

you either have an animal that's
pushed too far because of man's

abuse, or you have
animals that are

lashing out due to
environmental changes,

like Day of the Animals.

That movie is literally about
the ozone layer being depleted.

The ozone layer is
of profound importance

because it protects us
from the harmful effects

of the sun's radiation.

RYAN TUREK: And the
animals lose their minds.

You have pretty much every kind

of animal imaginable
that's local to that area

going after the characters.

It's like they all got
together, and it's like, OK,

the wildcats are going
after these guys,

and the eagles and hawks will
take this girl out, and so on.

One thing for sure,
a lot of well-fed

animals running around.

Girdler gets these
great shots that...

pre-CG compositing
is really amazing.

He does a great job of doing
these shots where they'll just

have a bear walk by in the
background and an eagle land

all in the same shot.

And just imagining what they
were doing behind the scenes,

I think now, that you wouldn't
think twice because you're just

like, none of those animals
were in the same frame

at the same time.

Oh god, no!

No!

In the story, they just keep
getting attacked by animals,

and as happens with
any of these movies,

they start to turn
on each other.

You lily-livered punk, I'm
running this camping trip!

That one is also
memorable because it

features Leslie Nielsen who, at
the time, was a dramatic actor.

This was three years
before Airplane.

But it's one of the great
comedic performances

of his career.

Shut up, you little
c*ck, or I'll

shove you off the cliff!

He plays this
alpha male-type who,

when things start going
crazy, starts going a little

nuts himself and
starts leching after

this young girl in the group.

He has this memorable
line where he says...

I take what I want, and I give
you what I want to give you.

And right now, I want that.

And then, he eventually,
in the middle of the night,

in a raging thunderstorm,
strips off his shirt

and wrestles a bear.

And it's one of the
great camp moments

in horror cinema of the '70s.

RYAN TUREK: There's one that
I would love to mention,

and it's tricky,
talking about some

of these Italian
animal attack movies,

because there was
suspected animal abuse

or just mishandling of animals.

Yeah, that's the way.

RYAN TUREK: But there is
this film called Wild Beasts

from the '80s that is basically
what happens if PCP gets

into the water supply of
a bunch of zoo animals

and they go crazy.

[screaming]

WOMAN: Tommy!

RYAN TUREK: There was
one scene I remember,

it was like a big cat, and
it was chasing this cab

through the streets of Italy.

And I just like,
what is going on?

It's so beautifully
shot, the way

this animal is chasing this
convertible down the street.

And the music, and the
way it all comes together,

and where all the planets came
into alignment to make what

is a perfect
cinematic chase scene.

It's definitely the greatest
"animal chasing after a car"

chase scene in cinema history.

Hey, look at that.
She's not crazy.

She's being chased by a cheetah.

Don't sh**t him!

[whimpering]

Cujo, what's the matter?

Cujo!

Cujo!

It seems like cats are
the worst horror pets,

but that's only because of
our prejudice towards cats

and our favoritism towards dogs.

Dogs are wonderful
in horror movies

because they'll
often be helpful.

But what about Cujo?

That's a bad dog.

He's a very bad dog.

There is nothing
wrong with Cujo.

Cujo was a good boy.

He just got pushed into
a cave chasing a rabbit,

and he got bit by a bat.

He was never bad.

He was just a victim
of this circumstance.

And that movie is heartbreaking
to watch, as well.

k*ller dog movies,
I think, they're

always unnerving because they're
supposed to be our friends,

and people love getting big
dogs because they're so cuddly.

But every now and
then, you got to think,

could I take my own dog in
a fight if it came to it?

And I think if you
own a Saint Bernard,

the answer is always no.

The reason that
Cujo is so intense,

somewhat unusually for
an animal attack film,

is that it's so claustrophobic.

Dee Wallace and
her son are trapped

in this car on a sweltering
day, and there's nowhere to go.

And Cujo is just so
scary, and drooling,

and vicious, and
relentless, you really

feel the dog's merciless rage.

And that, combined with how
trapped they are in the car,

is... it's very hard to watch.

I want to go home.

It's not a monster.

It's just a doggy.

The thing about Cujo is that it

has this towering performance
by Dee Wallace in it,

where she explores about a
thousand shades of grief,

and pain, and resilience.

Please, God, get me out of here.

The fact that it was never
recognized with any award

nominations or serious
critical notice

is a reminder that horror
films can't get no respect.

A similar performance in a
straight drama, I would think,

would have instantly put
her into the conversation

for Best Actress for that year.

Well, come on, then!

If Cujo has lasted,
it's because of that Dee

Wallace performance.

Supper's ready.

Come and get it.

DANA GOULD: I love
Arachnophobia.

It's really scary...

Rock and roll.

DANA GOULD:... and really funny.

It's bad luck to k*ll
a spider in a new house.

Just made that up,
didn't you, dear?

Those

Are not easy to do in tandem.

There are four or five
ways to do it right

and 400 or 500 ways
to do it wrong.

Arachnophobia takes place
in Spielbergia, you know,

where Poltergeist took place
and where ET took place.

Come on, we live
in the country now.

It's time to work through this
irrational, paralyzing terror.

It's not irrational.

But the people
behave in a way that's

normal as opposed to in a
stylized acceptance of a horror

movie.

And that's why it's funny.

Chris, I'm scared to death.

Yeah, we all are, but our brains

secrete a neurotransmitter that
enables us to deal with them.

I don't think I have that
particular neurotransmitter.

It is a classic product
from the years when the Steven

Spielberg machine could produce
fun, funny, scary family

entertainment that
included a spider crawling

out of a corpse's nose.

I took my sister and my
cousin to see Arachnophobia,

and they were very little.

And I drove, and what a mistake.

We could not even get
back on the highway.

They were freaking
out like there

were spiders and
eight-legged crawlies coming

from every corner, screaming.

I'm like, you're going
to make me crash the car.

In the last decade,
there has been

some really interesting writing
about why we love horror films.

One of the reasons
we are drawn to them

is because they give us
an evolutionary advantage.

We are able to experience
stressful, frightening

situations in the safe
playground of our imagination.

We can explore terrifying
scenarios without actually

having to live through
them because we can

live through them in a story.

There are some primal,
ancient dangers to your life

and to mine...

snakes, sharks, spiders.

So Arachnophobia
plays to those fears

that are deeply ingrained.

And when you ask
yourself, why would

we want to face that fear?

We face it so if we
ever were confronted

with a big, hairy, poisonous
spider in real life,

we would know how to act.

We wouldn't just be paralyzed
with terror, because we've

already faced that spider
a few times already

in films and in stories.

Nature run amok movies
can go through cycles.

The '70s, obviously,
very serious-minded.

What in hell are you?

RYAN TUREK: And the '80s,
went a little more crazier.

Keep moving up through the
'90s, you've got Lake Placid.

That was a little bit more zany,
because at that point, when

you're dealing with
nature run amok movies,

the audience is just straight
up expecting some sort of tongue

to be planted firmly in cheek.

Come and get it.

Ugh.

[mooing]

I like the writing.

I like the relationships.

Well, your husband, Bernie,
you didn't by any chance

lead him to the
lake blindfolded?

If I had a d*ck, this is
where I'd tell you to suck it.

Felt like the kind
of whip smart humor...

Crocodiles can't
swim in saltwater.

Yeah, well, that'll
be your little secret.

You got Brendan Gleason
playing this snarky sheriff.

Oh, god!

Oh!
Are there two?

I think there's two.

There's two.
- I can see that.

You all right?
- He bit me!

You OK?
- He bit me.

There's two.
There's two.

I can count.

Back to one.

And so by the time
you get to Cocaine Bear

and Elizabeth Banks
directing, that pairing...

you can't be serious.

I am a city person.

When I go in the woods,
when I go hiking,

one of my biggest
fears is bears.

So Cocaine Bear, it's
a bear and her cubs,

but the bear is on cocaine,
which makes it way more

scary than just a typical bear.

[screaming]

A bear did cocaine, dad.

f*ck this!

And I did not know
until I watched this movie

that bears can climb trees.

Bears can't climb trees.

Of course, they can!

Then why are you up here?

Is that even real?

I don't know, but
a bear on cocaine

seems like it'd be
able to climb a tree.

Oh, no, no, no, oh, no!

No!
No!

I didn't know that it was
going to be as gory as it was.

It's like, I knew
it was going to be

about a bear that takes
cocaine, and then the bear

goes crazy and chases people.

I figured some people will die.

But I didn't realize
that the deaths

were going to be so funny,
and good, and over the top.

They do not hold back
at all with the deaths.

I think we went in like,
OK, let's go see this,

because we see everything.

And wow, what a surprise.

Did it use cocaine?

It was so wacky and really fun.

I think the campiness
of the bear really added

to the effect of the film.

If it was too
realistic, it probably

wouldn't have been as funny.

It might not be the best
animal attacks film ever made,

but it certainly is
the best movie ever

made about a bear on cocaine.

That's a f*cking bear.

One problem, I guess,
morally, you could say,

with animal attack movies
is I know a lot of people

are sensitive about
the mistreatment

of animals on screen, even
with our best intentions.

And so it is nice that
special effects have gotten

to the point where
they maybe didn't need

a real bear in Cocaine Bear.

But I'd be lying if I said that
I don't miss seeing a really

good animal performance,
because when it's really good,

it's so much scarier
and more impressive,

because you're just
like, how did they

get this animal to do that?

And a perfect example
to me is the movie,

the Edge, starring Anthony
Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.

The whole middle
section of that movie

is just them being
stalked by and eventually

realizing they need to
k*ll this bear, played

by one of the great
animal actors of all time,

Bart the Bear...

The bear is going to chase me.

JOSH MILLER:... who I
grew up with knowing

as the Bald-Headed
Bear from John

Hughes's the Great Outdoors.

He's the bear that they
get to bounce up and down

on supposedly John Candy, but it
was his trainer, who also plays

Alec Baldwin and Anthony
Hopkins in the Edge anytime

he has to fight with Bart.

He does real acting.

If you watch the movie, the
first time Anthony Hopkins

and the bear see each other,
they just get this shot of Bart

where he makes the most
menacing, angry face.

And I'm sure in real
life, his trainer just

said something to him, and
put his ears down, and then

gave him an apple after.

CHARLES: Come on, son of a...

JOE BEGOS: That has, I think,
the best man-versus-bear fight

ever put to film.

It is very smartly
done, and it's

big, wide, anamorphic
lenses, huge, huge budget.

And yeah, there's a bear fight
in it where it's 95% real bear.

I don't think
there's any CG in it

and stuff that isn't real bears,
close-ups of animatronics,

but it looks phenomenal.

Bart the Bear just
looks so giant,

and he's getting up on his
hind legs and hitting the book,

and it's awesome.

If you compare that
with any CG bear,

I don't know how you
couldn't agree that Bart

has that something special.

Same reason you
don't want to replace

humans with too much CG.

There's a natural
quality in there.

Come on!

CHARLES: Come on!

Oh, god.

I've had it with these
m*therf*cking snakes

on this m*therf*cking plane!

So one of the rules of Maitua is

that you have only
one chance to complain

about the heat and the flies.

Rogue is the crazy crocodile
movie by Greg McLean, who

is an Australian director,
who I don't think

gets enough credit
for his contributions

to the horror world.

We're on Bush time
now, so should have

us back around 5:00 or 6:00.

Radha Mitchell plays
the really beautiful

Australian Outback tour
guide, because of course,

she could have been a supermodel
or an Australian tour guide.

She chose Australian tour guide.

KATE: Northern Territory
is home to the biggest

population of saltwater
crocodiles in the world.

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN: It's
like Night of the Living Dead

or Gilligan's Island,
where you've just

got all the different
personalities crammed

onto this little space together.

Please don't film me.

And mid-journey, they are
suddenly slammed by this

unseen force under the water.

OK...

[screaming]

And they are stranded on
this little tiny inlet island.

This, this is a
bloody tidal river.

WOMAN: What?
What does that mean?

Well, see that bunch
of trees up there?

Well, that's how high the
tide will be when it comes in.

Yeah, the whole bloody
place will be underwater.

The first couple
of kills, you don't

even see the way that the beast
is interacting with its prey.

Sometimes, all you see
is bubbles of water.

You turn around,
and someone's gone.

That, to me, is scary as all F.

Oh, my god.

There's something about
watching a woman who

looks to the water and realizes
that her husband has just been

swallowed up by a crocodile and
losing her mind as the camera

comes in on her face.

Somebody do something!

Everett!

Everett!

Everett!

Everett!

Everett!

Stand back.
- No!

All right, they'll back.
Move away from the water.

You get the f*ck away from me!

KATE: Come back,
they'll come back!

All of you, stay
away from the water!

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN: I
believe the importance

of reaction shots in
animal attack movies,

in chamber piece dramas, in any
piece of cinema are everything.

What's wrong with the boat?

The humans are scared.

They're frightened.

They're anxious.

They're letting their
interpersonal histories

get in the way of survival.

I'm not going to
let my daughter die.

And the crocodile is patient.

He's watching, he's waiting,
and he knows he's going to get

them, because they're fools.

[screaming]

It's utilizing an actual,
real thing about crocodiles

and alligators, which is,
whereas most animals just

eat when they're hungry,
crocodiles and alligators will

attack something whenever
they get the option,

and they'll store the
food so they can eat it

later next time they're hungry.

They tag you as a food supply.

They don't stop.

It's like a vicious dog.

Then, they take you
back to the place

where it stores its kills, and...

Which I think they're
using as a bit of a loophole

to explain why this crocodile,
even after eating someone five

minutes later, is
coming back and just

taking them out one by one.

Every k*ll is so painful,
and so sad, and so terrifying,

until finally, our hero is
deep in the bowels of this cave

in Australia, and it's just
the classic story of a hero

having to face themself
and face their fear,

going into the
heart of darkness.

[muffled screaming]

I like the Shallows because
it's girl versus shark.

And it stars Blake Lively, who
is a really likable actress.

Is this the one?

Let's see.

She's a surfer, and
she goes off by herself

because she's very adventurous.

She's in this area
that's dangerous.

She's all by herself.

She does have a cell phone
which she uses to communicate

the premise to her family.

Oh, my god, no way.

Mom's beach, right?

Just as beautiful
as she said it was.

HEIDI HONEYCUTT: And she
goes to this isolated cove,

and she gets trapped.

So there's a shark, and
then there's the shore,

and then there's this
island, and she doesn't

have her phone with her.

She cannot get to the shore
because there's a shark.

It's going to k*ll her
if she gets in the water.

And that seems like, well,
where do you go from there?

But they go all kinds
of places from there.

It's literally like one actor
in the middle of an open plain,


shark, and the shark CG.

And they do it really
smart in that movie

where it's very much just
little things that you see.

You see fins.

You see it knocking stuff over.

So there's very few
actual shark shots

so that when they are there,
they're f*cking awesome,

because they put all
the resources into doing

those specific shots.

It all hinges on Blake
Lively, and it all

hinges on how good the
shark's going to look,

and it all hinges on how it's
going to be shot and ex*cuted,

because literally, the
plot is as simple as a girl

sitting on a rock
by herself for 90

minutes with a shark
circling around,

and it's f*cking tense as hell.

There are two ways
to tell a story.

A woman is trapped on a rock.

There is a shark.

But the other way
to tell that story

is the Shallows,
and that's the art.

That's the art of
filmmaking, and that's

the art of storytelling,
is that you

take a beautiful, clean concept,
and then from that soil,

you grow something, and
you have to follow it.

And that's why it can be
successful or unsuccessful,

or someone likes it or
somebody doesn't, because art

isn't about just
point, to point,

to point, to point, to point.

That would be narrative.

I think it's unfair
to any shark movie.

It's after Jaws.

But the Shallows, I think
it's a great shark movie.

It's just that the bar is
so high that, even when

you have a good one,
the bar is so high

that you can't even see it.

But it's great.
It's great.

I'm not complaining.

The Shallows is great.

f*ck you.

I love movies when there's
already something really

intense going on, and
then there's some kind

of monster that shows up.

In Crawl, there's
already a really

intense hurricane happening.

[screaming]

And then there's an alligator
that shows up in the basement.

sh*t!

And our main character
has to navigate

dealing with this alligator.

Her dad is there, too, and
they have to watch each other

almost get eaten several times.

You look good.

You look like sh*t.

JOE BEGOS: That one's more
of a contained thriller

because it's mostly in a
house with very tight quarters

and everything's closed off.

I can't see what's going on.

I can't see where things are.

I can't see around
me, and it's almost

like an escape room
of trying to get out

of f*cking giant crocodiles.

Not only are they
trapped in the space

with the two alligators,
but the water level

is rising the entire time.

And so there's this
ticking clock of,

are we going to be
able to get out of here

before we drown to death?

This movie is relentless.

It never stops, and it's
perfect screenwriting.

The level of danger just keeps
ratcheting up higher and higher

to the point to where you're
like, how the f*ck are

they going to get out of this?

The opening of Nope
with that chimpanzee

is one of the scariest
first five minutes

I've seen in a very long time.

It's very disturbing
and highly unsettling.

And also, kudos to the editor
when the chimpanzee looks up

at the camera and then it cuts.

It's both horrifying
because you're questioning,

what just happened?

How bad is it?

And then at the same time,
in the back of my brain,

at least, I was like,
that's really sad.

Especially when every
once in a while,

there will be a
terrible animal attack.

And you read about
it in the news,

whether it's a poor woman
who had her face bitten off

by a chimpanzee or some
other unfortunate incident,

and he basically showed
us the aftermath of that.

And it's horrifying.

They had a suit
performer who worked

on planet of the
Apes playing Gordy,

which I think is really cool.

I almost like when you can
tell an animal in a movie

is fake, because then, I
don't have to think about how

they got an animal
to do certain things

while I'm watching a movie.

Nope is about
trying to play God.

In this case, it's
filmmakers and artists

trying to manipulate animals for
their own benefit for screen.

The use of animals
in movies and TV,

ever since the
medium was created,

you read so many horror
stories about the treatment

of the animals.

And beyond that, the way that
the exploitation of animals

and the exploitation of maybe
people who can't stand up

for themselves behind the
scenes, like children in films,

it's a really seedy side to
the art form that we all love.

[screeching]

HOST: Lost River Lake,
pure horror fibs.

Film in 11.

MAN 1: We are going to beat
these pea-brained lizard shits.

MAN 2: Just what the
world needs, more bugs.

CHILD: I want to go home.

WOMAN: It's not a monster.

It's just a doggy.

Shark! Shark!

Here's to swimming
with bow-legged women.

Horror and romance

have a long-standing
relationship with one another.

It's been there
since the beginning...

[Screams]

...the intersection of horror,

sex, sexuality, romance.

Going on a date

is one of the most vulnerable
things you can do.

You'll remember tonight forever.

♪

[Haunting music]

Did we finally beat them, or is

this just a temporary victory?