SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

Who’s the final girl?

First thing I asked myself while watching this movie is who’s the main character? If I’m watching a campy horror/thriller movie, im a piece of shit that likes to see if I can guess whats going to happen next. Since my dad saw this already I was in the clear to be annoying about it.

The short preview clip I saw before starting the film had a blonde girl waking up first so I thought it was her.

(My dad mentioned the main girl is hilarious too so I knew it was a girl. Thanks dad.)

So when the movie just flashed through an absolutely slaughter of every character we followed, I gave up any attempt at guessing what happens next. Which I was very excited to do! Only thing that’s better than outsmarting a campy movie is being along for the ride in a crazy fever dream.

Even when Crystal became the focus, I was expecting her to get taken out by SOMETHING at any second because of the constant motion of the opening. The movie does a really good job at making you as the audience distrust any new character that’s introduced.

Also though, Crystal revealing how she figured out the old couple’s ruse by knowing exactly how much cigarettes cost in Arkansas was so fucking funny.

Betty Gilpin’s facial expressions and comedic timing throughout the whole film were PERFECT!! It was an amazing performance that really brought the atmosphere together. Especially the part where she’s talking with the consultant and she just says “I’m a little” and makes the best face to represent an indescribable rage.

self-fulfilling prophecy

to me, the whole movie is about a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I don’t think it hides this idea especially near the end.

They made all the CEO’s liberal purists so afraid/resentful of criticism that it’s just turned into feeling entitled to now punish those they feel are doing the same things they are being “cancelled” for.  And then they do the entire hunt they were ‘joking’ about in the first place.

That wasn’t the twist I was expecting tbh. I thought it would just be average rich people being disconnected from humanity and wanting to feel like gods. Which I guess it still is, just with red/blue sprinkles on top. And also it’s their first hunt?? I really thought it would end up being their actual yearly routine but it was a literal joke from the start?

For their first hunt, they really make a production of it all. The movie really keeps you guessing with the location and it just keeps getting BIGGER. I had no idea what was going on when the train stopped at the refugee camp. The rich guy pretending to be an refugee was acting like it was real but the American Embassy guy was with the rich people the whole time. And the officers at the refugee camp just laughed at Crystal when she was guessing their location and never confirmed.

The gas station was a good twist and a “woah, they’re really making a production out of this” moment that made me question what would happen next but the refugee camp was a huge jump.

The flashbacks to before the hunt reveal that the guy thought of the plot point to stand in with the refugees, so it was fake the whole time. but DAMN that’s a lot of effort to put into situations the people may not even encounter. Or even if they do, it’s only going to be one or two people unless they keep resetting the train and running the ploy again.

Which meant Gary was right about the crisis actors ;-; again, self-fulfilling prophecy confirming a conspiracy theorist’s delusions

But also the camp wasn’t real so was he really right? Or is he still just delusional because it was all fake? I really don’t think this is what you’re supposed to focus on but it’s sticking with me lol

Life updates

So ive officially moved back in with my parents and this is the third time ill say im going to do more on this blog. And I mean It just as much as every other time I’ve said it! But I’ve been watching a lot of movies and I don’t want to forget them. And I want to put effort into articulating my thoughts about movies and media.

I’ve still been reading land of the lusterous but a media log is so hard to keep up with when im reading like a volume at a time. I need to adjust the pace at which I log thoughts. And I want to add so many screenshots of panels I like but I don’t have a consistent compression app to make sure I’m not using all my space FOREVER with the blog on a single manga log

So continue to expect movie reviews! And my danganronpa fangan!!! When 2x2 comes out there will be a resurgence of people and Infinity WILL be seen! Maybe ill rename it to Stranded or Space Odessey lol

Until next time

Amber :)

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