HOW DARE YOU - Silent Night (2021)

You iron the shirt one more time, just in case. Your partner watches you from the corner of their eye, pretending to be distracted by the news. You've had it on for a week straight now, muted with the subtitles on. Barely able to leave the couch save for the essentials. You keep waiting for the moment it turns out to be a mistake. Of course it's a mistake. And then very suddenly it's the the night, and not until you sit in the car with the cardboard containing your pill in the breast pocket of your jacket that it becomes real.

The gang see out the year with the only Christmas Apocalypse film David could find, Silent Night, a blistering black comedy.

Glossary: https://zeroindent.com/apocalypse/

D.C. McNeill: So, I picked this film because I can't tell if it's good or not. And I think it's really funny. And I kind of have predictions for what everyone thought.

Like I think that Darth and Eric probably loved it and had a bunch of stuff to wax lyrical about. I think Patrick thought it was mid. I think Alex still has not fully decided whether it's good or not.

I think Daniel probably hated it, was my guess. Those are my, that's the gifts I've brought in my Christmas sack, as it were. But let's go to, let's go to Darth first.

Yeah, what did you think?

Darth: Overall, I adored it. I almost immediately rewatched it, especially because like right when I finished watching, Eric was beginning to watch it.

And so I was like, oh, let's get on the phone and we can watch it together because I really want to watch it again. There's a lot that I would, I think that the film would have been a lot stronger had they made different decisions.

Some of the backstory stuff, if they had moved that to on screen, it would have heightened all of the drama way more. Like all of the parents go into the film already having made the decision.

If all of that had taken place on camera, I think it would have been an overall stronger thing. But aside from that, I absolutely adored it.

D.C. McNeill: Okay. Interesting. Sort of what I thought you would say. Yeah. It's... okay. Interesting. Patrick, vibe, vibe check.

Patrick: I loved it, actually. I thought it was hilariously unhinged. I thought a lot of the events and scenarios that take place were very relatable and raw.

Like, last day on earth, confessions and stuff like that. I thought that was all really inspired. Yeah.

In terms of apocalypse stuff, it was quite... The whole thing with the pills and the government, that was an interesting premise. I don't think I've really seen that before.

Overall, I was pretty warm in this movie. I thought the script was really sharp. I thought all the characters, or rather all the lines of dialogue were just funny or interesting or kept to the story moving in some capacity.

Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good film.

D.C. McNeill: Okay. Glowing, almost. The second most positive path has been all year about anything, I think.

It's been that kind of year. Danielle, you were kind of, I assume, the one that was going to be the biggest hater of this film. What did you think?

Danielle: Yes, so for full transparency, I have not seen the full movie.

I only watched till, I don't even know where I ended up stopping, probably forty some minutes in, I want to say.

D.C. McNeill: So you got the hook, at least, the twist on the...

Danielle: Yeah, and it's funny because I did know the twist, I just forgot what it was, and I was like, because I saw when this movie came out, like what, in 2021, I remember watching the trailer and being like, hmm, I don't know how I feel about this, but

okay. But you know, so far, I wasn't a huge fan of it. I thought it was a little on the nose. And just, I don't know, everybody like talks so fast.

Like it reminds me of like Gilmore Girls, like of just like constantly going, like there's no time to process anything. But you know, it's just hard for me to give a definitive rating since I haven't seen it all the way through.

But so far, like I ended up being like, okay, well, maybe I'm glad I don't have to watch the whole thing.

But you know, I feel like that's a lukewarm take considering like I quite literally like watched like an hour before this, because time has just unfortunately been crazy.

D.C. McNeill: Yeah, it's this time of year. Look, I mean, you can see where the film is going, I assume.

Danielle: Yes. Yeah, it does

D.C. McNeill: If I think it's the my general reading on this is like, if you're a genre person, you basically get to like about where you're up to and you go, okay, I know how this is going to go. I know what the moves are.

I think to Pat's point, it's twisted enough that it does continue to make jokes about stuff. And you're like, I don't know if you should be joking about that. And I do think that's quite an admirable trait. Like it's willing to push some lines right up to the end.

Danielle: I mean, if I could say one thing real quick, like I did think the acting was very good. Like I thought everybody was doing an excellent job. And hats off, I generally think the kids.

D.C. McNeill: Yeah, it's a film with like annoying kids, but like the characters acknowledge they're annoying.

So it doesn't like, you know, like a normal film where like they get like a kid actor and the kid actor is really annoying. And then everyone pretends the kid's like delightful. I like in this film that everyone's like, Kitty, shut the fuck up.

Like that's really fun. That everyone hates this fucking kid. That to me is, that's storytelling.

Patrick: You're harshing the end of the world vibe.

D.C. McNeill: Yeah, be chill.