You know what that sound means? It's another
episode of Game for a Movie where we ask, are
you game for a movie? My name is Mike. I will
be your host this evening. I am very excited
to bring a very special bad movie near and dear
to my heart to you guys. It's one that not a
lot of people know about, but it's one that for
a lot of reasons I've had on my list for a long
time. And I want to present it to you. You do
not have to see this movie. I'm actually encouraging
you not to. So I'm going to tell you all about
it just so you don't have to go through the same
pain I did. But of course, first, I've got to
tell you about what I am drinking. This is the
Changemaker. It comes from Sugar Creek Brewing,
which is a very good brewery. They have the Big
O, which is a blood orange IPA. This is the Changemaker.
It is a 7 % IPA. can. It got my attention at
the Harris Teeter, or the Teet, as we like to
call it. And yeah, it is a very good beer. I'm
actually really lucky I stumbled upon it. It
is definitely one I will have in the house again.
We always have a beer on the show, or at least
something to drink, because obviously we watch
bad movies, and especially this one. It hurt
because I was pretty sober to watch this movie
that I'm talking about, and it was kind of a
choice. to be sober for this one. A lot of times,
sometimes it's just I got to watch a movie and
I don't have time to drink or anything like that.
This one was a choice because I wanted to see
what it would be like sober. And I wanted to
point out things that I definitely needed to
have a keen eye for. So a fun fact about me,
I don't know if this is actually a fun fact or
not, but I am from a small town called Downers
Grove, Illinois. Why is that important? You might
be asking yourself. Well, they made a book called
Downer's Grove and it became a movie. That is
the movie in question that we are talking about.
It is The Curse of Downer's Grove. The Curse
of Downer's Grove was released in 2015. It is
about an hour and a half and it is a mystery
thriller slash horror movie. Perfect to get us
started for spooky season or spoopy season, whatever
you like to call it. It is an 8 % Critics score
and a 12 % audience score. I can't say it deserves
much better than that. So here's my thing about
The Curse of Downers Grove, and obviously I'm
going to get into details, tell you all about
the movie, especially because I don't want you
to watch this one. I want to make that abundantly
clear. Obviously do it if you want, if you like
to suffer like I do, but truthfully what the
problem is with this movie is the first three
quarters of the movie was okay, and then the
end just completely shot itself in the foot.
And that's what I'm going to talk about as I
go through the details of this movie. One of
the critics' reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which
again, it got an 8 % from critics' reviews, basically
describes it perfectly. A messy hash of teen
soap opera, stalker thriller, and whatnot, whose
titular, possibly supernatural aspect is basically
irrelevant. That kind of fits. That's kind of
perfect in the aspect of that. So what do you
say let's get started talking about this movie,
about my hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois,
that takes place nowhere near Downers Grove,
Illinois. The first thing I wanted to point out
that the director, his name is Derek Martini,
and that feels about right for this movie. I
don't know anything about Mr. Martini. All I
know is that he makes a mean cocktail and that
I should have had a couple watching this movie.
From the very beginning, it's obvious this town
is a southern town. Like it is not anywhere near
Chicagoland area. And this film was partially
filmed in New Orleans. So it does make sense
for a lot of that in the houses you see and everything
like that. And you got to remember that I grew
up about 40 minutes from Chicago. We are very
much like an affluent. suburb of chicago we have
a pretty decent population not nearly as much
as our neighbors naperville if you've heard of
that but very much the same kind of people except
for naperville's a little more snooty is that
what i would say so it's very it stands out immediately
that these houses are like this southern charm
kind of houses One of the first quotes is whoever
named this town Downers Grove has a sick sense
of humor. That is because it is named after a
founder, Pierce Downer. Just so you know, it's
not actually somebody who's just like, wow, this
place sucks. I'm going to call it Downers Grove.
It is four days to graduation and is also in
black and white. So obviously this is a flashback.
This kid is climbing the water tower and then
all of a sudden falls to his death. That's all
we need at this part of it. It is a year before
our action takes place, but it just shows this
kid climbing the water tower and falling to his
death. It also talks about how Downers Grove
is on an ancient burial ground, which is not
true. But, you know, ancient burial ground causes
curses, I guess. And it also has like this farmland,
like rows and rows of farmland that we don't
have either. And then we get the news position.
News position, if you've never heard me talk
about it before, news position is when a character
is like watching the news or it's like a news
report that kind of says, oh, this killer is
free. And you get all of the setup of the exposition
of the story. This is kind of done that same
way except for its Google searches. And then
I've called it Facebook position. Facebook position,
there's a lot of like it shows the people who
died and just like. people commenting saying
like, oh, I miss you so much, everything like
that. And we learn through a monologue that the
curse of Downers Grove is basically every year
before graduation, a senior of the high school
class dies somehow, some way. And it's always
right before graduation. And the monologue itself
is done by our main character, Chrissy. Who questions
if the curse is actually real or not. Or if it's
just dumb kids being dumb. It also doesn't go
and say how far back it goes. It only seems like
there's four or five people. So it could be very
well that it is just dumb kids being dumb. Happens
to be the same time four years in a row. So there
is a question. Is this curse actually real or
not? This is where we meet our main characters.
Our main characters is Chrissy. Who's played
by Bella Heathcote. I'm hoping I'm saying that
right. I'm going to say a lot of names, and as
always, I'm probably going to say them wrong.
Bella Heathcote is from Melbourne, Australia.
She's actually been in a lot of stuff. She was
in The Neon Demon. She's been in Dark Shadows,
Pride and Prejudice, and Zombies, and In Time,
that Justin Timberlake movie with the currency
being time left of life and everything like that.
She has a little brother, David. David is played
by, this is going to be an interesting one, Martin
Spaniards. Spaniards, maybe? Martin Spaniards
has been in a couple episodes of True Blood,
but the main thing that you may know him from
is he was in Eight Simple Rules, the TV show.
He was in 76 episodes of that. So the people
in this movie are actually pretty decent. You
might know them from something else. Obviously...
This is one of those early stops in their career.
This is 2015, mind you. And we also meet their
mother. Their mother is not a big deal in this
movie at all because she is single and she is
dating an astronaut. This astronaut has come
to pick her up and they are going to go to Vegas
for the weekend. It is five days until graduation
and basically she's just leaving. Chrissy and
David on their own. She acknowledges the curse.
And it's mostly because Chrissy is talking about
it. And she kind of says, don't worry, it will
be fine. I will also say at this point, it's
very obvious to me, Chrissy is not in high school,
this actress. She actually looks 30 in this.
I think it's just because of the way she dresses
or whatever, that kind of thing. It doesn't matter.
That's just kind of what it is. But I will say,
one of the things I think they got right, She
was reading Catcher in the Rye, and we definitely
read that in high school, so I think that was
a good attention to detail there, at least, for
one positive thing about this movie. Chrissy's
friend is Tracy. She comes over, and David is
interested in Tracy. David really wants to get
with Tracy, who is played by Penelope Mitchell.
Penelope Mitchell, another person from Australia.
She was in the latest Hellboy. She's been in
Star Trek Picard. She was in 13 episodes of Hemlock
Grove. Again, these are people that have been
in things. May not be like everything on their
list may not be great, but they have been in
things. Which is good to know that this hasn't
killed all of their careers. But yeah, so David
is interested in Tracy. Tracy kind of flirts
with him a little bit. even though he's supposed
to be 15 in this movie and she is definitely
supposed to be like 17, 18. You know, it works.
Whatever. It's fine. David also seems like he
has a little bit of a little brother syndrome
where he's just going to be annoying in this
movie is what I thought originally. I am happy
to say that David is actually kind of one of
the better little brothers in a movie like this
that I've seen before. Chrissy goes inside to
get something and they're about ready to go to
school. Tracy asked David if Chrissy has seen
the Facebook page yet. And David says, no, I
don't think so because she hasn't brought it
up. I don't know what they're talking about with
the Facebook page, but it's obviously something.
So Tracy and Chrissy are getting back to school
and they drive past the local auto body shop.
And inside the auto body is the young mechanic,
Bobby. And Bobby is played by Lucas Till, probably
the most famous of this whole thing. Lucas Till
was in Monster Trucks. He's been in the X -Men
movies as Alex Summers. He also was in he was
MacGyver in the MacGyver reboot. That is the
important thing. He is a guy you'd recognize.
And of course, I'm skipping this one, but he
was Travis Brody in the Hannah Montana movie.
So obviously a big deal. Bobby kind of sees the
girls looking at him and he kind of gives a little
wave and. Chrissy kind of admits that she's kind
of been talking to him. So Tracy is just like,
you slut. Oh, my God. I can't believe this. You
probably slept with him already, you slut. Like
that kind of stuff. You know, normal girl talk
and everything like that. But it's very apparent
Chrissy has a crush on Bobby the Mechanic. And
looking at Lucas Till, I'll admit it, I might
too, you know. Chrissy and Tracy get together
with their girl group at the diner in town. There's
like four other girls and it really doesn't matter.
They're not important to the story because they
have the one conversation and then they leave.
But they're talking all about the curse and they're
trying to figure out who is it going to be this
year. And Chrissy basically then admits that
she's skeptical of the whole thing. And Tracy
is just like, you can't be skeptical. Like this
is totally true. And it's probably going to be
somebody of this group because we're the popular
ones. We're the popular girls, everything like
that. They're talking about how last year, though,
basically Chrissy was saying last year's accident
was blamed on him being a meth head. Basically,
that's enough proof for her. She's just like,
well, he did meth, so it obviously was just an
accident, that kind of thing. And they're saying,
no, God has this curse set out for people and
everything like that. She admits that she doesn't
really believe in God because her dad was addicted
to meth, left them, and her cousin has bone cancer
and all of this stuff. Basically, the four girls
that don't really matter to the story anymore
are just like so depressed by the statement and
they just leave. While they're at the diner,
one of these guys is just staring at Chrissy
and just kind of looking at her. And it is these
three guys from Willow Creek. I'm laughing at
this because there's a town not far from Downers
Grove called Willowbrook, and they decided to
protect that town and call it Willow Creek instead.
It's very obvious what it's supposed to be, but
it just makes me laugh that they wanted to protect
Willowbrook and not Downers Grove. They're just
like, yeah, Downers Grove's perfect for this
kind of movie. These three guys play for the
football team. One of them is Chuck. He is one
of the main guys we're going to care about. There
also is Guy. He's one of the guys. And then there's
Ezra. Ezra doesn't really get introduced at all,
but Ezra is there as well. So they get invited
to this party and Tracy and Chrissy both agree
that they're going to go to this Willow Creek
party. And so it's a big high school party. And
remember, this is a high school party. I will
also say this is something that never happened
in Downers. As far as I know, we didn't have
big, like extravagant high school parties that
were. all the rage or maybe i just wasn't popular
enough for them it felt like it was always like
a group of people that got together hung out
in a basement and drank their dad's like vodka
they found this is like a full -blown party like
where people are hanging out outside the house
in front of in like the front yard openly drinking
it's obvious they're high schoolers and everything
like that i also love at this point that as they're
walking into the party all of the liquor is labelless,
like there's nothing on it because obviously
they didn't get the rights to it or whatever
it was. Just labelless liquor, but it's very
obvious bottles like, hey, who wants some rum?
And it's very obvious like a Captain Morgan bottle,
but there's no label on it. So that definitely
made me laugh. Chuck, the quarterback for the
Willow Creek football team, he's played by Kevin
Zagers. Kevin Zagers. Again, another person that
you'd recognize from some other things. He was
in 10 episodes of Gossip Girl as Damien. He was
in the 2004 Dawn of the Dead. He has been in
22 episodes of The Rookie Feds and then three
episodes of The Rookie, you know, just because
The Rookie Feds got. canceled and everything
like that he was in six episodes of fear the
walking dead again he's been in a bunch of stuff
that you're just like okay i may recognize him
from something and he was also in i forgot about
this one uh the mortal instrument city of bones
that's probably one of the more well -known things
besides like gossip girl and stuff like that
so he plays chuck he's the quarterback and he
is doing like 14 lines of cocaine like they keep
showing him They keep showing the interspersed
shots of the girls slamming some shots and Chuck
doing like lines of coke. Like every shot was
a line of coke. It was like one for one. I'll
also say that Chuck looked 40 compared to some
of the other like extras. It seems like the extras
they actually got looked like high schoolers.
And then our main characters are not high schoolers.
So they just look older by comparison in this
situation. It's not that Chuck looks 40 on his
own. Chuck looks 40 compared to these high schoolers
that I think they got as extras, which they also
probably only had like 15 extras because I think
it's the same five people that you see every
now and then. So Chrissy tells Tracy because
Tracy is about to go get more drinks. Chrissy's
just like, I'm going to go to the bathroom. Well,
coming out of the bathroom at the same time is
Chuck. And Chuck kind of like feels this electricity
and starts making out with her immediately. And
she's kind of like, OK with it. They also have
like these shots of like it's like cross shot
thoughts kind of thing. I don't know exactly
what happens, but it feels like she's like seeing
the future or something or seeing the past. Like
it's a little bit of everything. Like all of
a sudden she just starts doing it. And then Chuck
starts getting really handsy. And so Chrissy
is trying to get away because she's like, stop,
stop, stop. And finally, Chuck. basically is
trying to force himself on her and she's like
stop and finally she sticks her thumb in his
eye and blinds him and like pushes through and
just absolutely blinds his one eye and as he's
howling in pain she runs away she calls tracy
to get out of there and luckily tracy listens
and picks her up in the car and Tracy says, you're
fine. And she goes, I just poked some guy's fucking
eye out. It's far from fine. So that was just
a line I thought was pretty funny because it's
not a very good read. All these lines are very
melodramatic reads and everything like that.
I think it's just, I don't think it's the actors.
I really don't because, like I said, all these
people have been in a ton of other stuff. But
because this writing is so ham -fisted, I feel
like the lines are kind of red, like a little
wooden. And it's just more so because the lines
are written poorly, not because the actual acting
is bad. So they begin getting chased by the Willow
Creek Boys, like they're trying to catch up with
them. And Chrissy chucks something outside the
window at their car to run them off the road,
and they can get away. The next scene, Chuck...
is seeing his dad and his dad is played by tom
arnold and i'm not joking it's that tom arnold
like and i i was kind of oh god i can't stand
tom arnold i he is definitely one of those actors
and i think a lot of people would actually agree
with me on this um i can't stand tom arnold i
think everything he does is kind of just hokey
and bad and everything like that well Luckily
in this movie, you don't have to deal with him
much, but he's Chuck's dad and he's just the
essential football dad. Like he's, you ruined
your whole career. Now you're never getting out
of this crappy town. You know, and instead of
helping Chuck, whose eye is bleeding profusely,
he just starts beating up on him because he's
a dumbass that ruined his whole career for one
night of pussy. That's. Essentially what he said.
I don't remember the exact quote, but I do remember
it being something to that effect. So Chrissy
is now sleeping and she starts dreaming of the
Native Americans because Downers Grove was built
on stolen land and everything like that. And
David knows this and is a decent brother and
is there to help her out. I thought this was
still going to be that trope of like the. annoying
little brother and everything like that i think
david again was a decent brother in this film
i don't think he was the i don't think he was
the little brother trope that is in so many of
these movies so it's the next day at school and
chrissy is talking with her friend ian ian has
been friends with her since kindergarten definitely
has a crush on her you can kind of feel that
and they went to prom together as friends And
she got drunk and kissed him. So there's a little
unrequited love there. But they're like talking
about what happened. And Ian's trying to make
her feel better. He also laughs like Jonah Hill
from War Dogs. So he's an interesting character.
He's a very weird character. He's played by Mark
L. Young. Mark L. Young has been in Sex Drive,
We're the Millers, Movie 43. Two of those three,
meh. One of those three pretty damn good. So,
you know, that's that's him. That's Ian. So Chuck
shows up to the school and he's wearing an eye
patch. And Chrissy says to Ian that she's going
to handle it. And David also sees what's happening
and comes up and joins Ian to like kind of keep
an eye on the whole situation. Basically, Chuck
blames her for everything. She ruined his life,
everything like that. And Chrissy's just like,
you tried to rape me. And he goes, I didn't try
to rape you. I remember it completely differently.
Well, David steps in between, asks for a ride
from Ian. And David's basically just trying to
get Chrissy out of that situation, everything
like that. Chuck calls him David and knows he's
David. And then also to add insult to injury,
apologizes about their father being a meth head
and walking out on them. So he's learned a lot
about this family. So it gets a little creepy.
Like he's done his research and knows a lot about
them. This is enough that David's just like,
no, we're getting out of here. So they leave,
they get a ride, and basically somehow Chrissy
ends up at the auto body shop. And she actually
knows Bobby a lot better than we originally thought
because she goes over to tell him what happened
in the whole situation. And we get we find out
they've been talking for months. But Bobby is
just kind of like, well, why did you go to this
party if we've been talking for months? And she's
like, well, you never asked me out. So I didn't
feel like I was off the market. That's the end
of that scene. That was the important stuff for
that scene. There was more to the situation talking
and everything like that because they have been
talking. They've been having intimate conversations.
But that's the only thing you really need to
know. He's never asked her out out. With that
scene done, we go to Chuck, who is doing steroids,
because of course he is. He injects himself and
then immediately starts lifting. It works immediately.
It gets your whole body going. This is going
to work right away. And it's just to show that
he's very unhinged. And him and his boys, they
end up going and jumping Ian, the friend. Chrissy
is so sorry for Ian and just saying how she didn't
want him to get involved, but it's just because
he was there to protect Chrissy. When Chuck showed
up at their school. After Chrissy is done like
mending Ian or making him feel better, at least
she goes back home. And guess who's there? Tracy.
Tracy is there with David. Yep. They're hooking
up now because Tracy is into David. And he also
is kind of like a little pot dealer. So they
also smoke a ton of weed from this point on.
And this is the part where she finally shows
Chrissy the Facebook. Because what did this movie
need? We're teen drama. Of course we need to
have a party at their house. There's no parents,
and there's only a curse that they're all dealing
with that's barely a part of this movie. But,
you know, there's a curse. And Chrissy loses
it. She's so mad. She's just like, no, we can't
have this party, especially not with this whole
Chuck thing. Cancel the party. Make sure it's
canceled. Don't let this happen. Everything like
that. So David and Tracy are like, we'll try.
Then the doorbell rings after that. And who's
at the door? It's Bobby. Bobby shows up after
this big announcement of the party and finally
asks Chrissy out. Great. This is awesome. So
they're going to go on a date. So for their date,
they go to basically the team cliche of like
a lookout point. That's like on a mountain above
the city looking out and everything like that.
There's a big CGI star sky, and they're talking
about the curse and everything like that. One
of the things I wanted to get into on this was
that there's really nowhere in Illinois that's
like that. The second tallest point in the state
of Illinois, and I wish I was joking about this,
and it may have changed since I've been there,
but for the longest time, it was a trash dump.
The highest point was Sears slash Willis Tower.
The second highest is a trash dump. We don't
have these like mountains that overlook everything
and that kind of thing. It is very flat so that
they have this lookout point and that they're
hanging out with this CGI star sky. You know,
it's just teenage cliche kind of thing. They're
talking about the curse and everything like that.
And Bobby is just kind of like, I don't really
believe in it. And Chrissy and him kind of like.
You know, they're they're vibing over this fact.
And this is enough that they start making out.
And Bobby is actually very like he's not trying
to take it too far. That kind of thing, because
he knows what just happened with Chrissy and
Chuck. We can't just have a makeout session,
though. Now Chuck shows up. How does he always
know where Chrissy is? There was no clue even
that Bobby was in the picture, let alone. that
he was taking her out on a date, but somehow
Chuck knows exactly where they are. Chuck wants
to talk to Chrissy, and Chrissy agrees to talk
to Chuck, but mostly just to figure out what
happened to Ian. Chuck claims he didn't do anything
to Ian or anything like that, and also claims
that he's had this dream, and he sees Chrissy
in it, and that she is the one for him, and that
she's supposed to be with him, and that they're
supposed to be together and everything like that.
Basically, Chrissy tells him to stay away, hops
into Bobby's car, they drive away. And they go
to the police to try to report him for the rape,
also that he is following them. Problem is, they
aren't going to do anything about it. And you're
probably thinking to yourself, why? Well, because
Chuck's dad, Tom Arnold, is Charlie Whitmore,
a cop. And not only just a cop, like a famous
cop, like he is one of the be -all end -alls.
And so they're going to watch out for their own.
So they really can't do anything because it's
a he said, she said situation. And because they
don't want to press charges against a cop's son.
By the way, that sheriff is played by Stephen
Martini, who I'm going to guess, I haven't looked
it up and I don't really want to. I'm guessing
he's related to Derek Martini, the director.
I'm not going to look it up. I don't really care
enough, but I'm just going to guess so. Well,
Tracy agrees to stay over and watch over Chrissy,
and so does Bobby if she wants him to be there.
Bobby does have to work late, but Bobby will
come back. After work and everything like that,
Bobby comes back, and Bobby and Chrissy, they
stay in the same bed, and they have the stipulation,
no sex. And I just wrote that down for some reason.
It really doesn't make that big a difference
because truthfully nothing happens. So the next
day when Chrissy goes to school, she's walking
up to her locker and she sees that it's just
been blown to smithereens. Like there's nothing
in it. It is just absolutely a crater blown up.
And so she's kind of starting to believe that
maybe she's the one. That is going to be the
victim of the curse. It's starting to feel that
way. Where there's these signs and everything
like that. So she's starting to think that. At
this point I guess though. I said that I think
it's going to be a curve ball. I think this whole
movie has been trying to get us to focus on Chrissy.
And then all of a sudden it's going to be like
Tracy. Or it's going to be Bobby. Or somebody
else. I don't feel like it's going to be Chrissy
at this point. Who knows? I don't know if I'm
right or wrong. But that's just what it is. because
she's still a little shaken she asks ian to drive
her home and this is the second time he's kind
of mentioned that he's known her since kindergarten
like it just feels like come on i've known you
since kindergarten and like it's just he keeps
bringing up he knows her since kindergarten and
like it's just again that unrequited love puppy
of just like bringing up oh we've known each
other for so long obviously we can date now that
kind of idea Well, she finally starts like she
basically is just like, Bobby, we we started
dating and the rest on my mind is the rest is
PMS and just walks into the house and away from
Ian. So after this whole ordeal, talking with
Ian and everything like that, Chrissy is talking
with Bobby and Bobby basically convinces her
that they should have the party. and it's mostly
because there's going to be witnesses like they'll
stay sober but they feel like if chuck does something
he'll probably do it at the party if he knows
the party's happening and there will be people
to see it and then they can handle him and get
the police there david is like happy about it
and was talking about and basically this sets
up one of my favorite exchanges in the whole
movie and i don't know what exactly it was but
bobby does something to chrissy that like makes
david really like him and david goes your your
boyfriend is rad chrissy goes your girlfriend's
a slut i don't know why that's funny but it just
makes me laugh uh bobby that night because it's
it's before the party still it's a different
night bobby is working at 3 a .m at the garage
which what garage is open that late whatever
So she's alone besides Tracy and David and they
all get woken up in the middle of the night by
dog barks. So they're worried about their dog.
They go outside and their dog is fine. And he
like comes in immediately and everything like
that. But like every other dog that's in the
neighborhood is dead on their lawn. Like there's,
there's eight or nine dogs in this neighborhood
that are just dead. And again, it feels like.
To Chrissy that maybe this curse is real. Maybe
this is a sign, everything like that. So I feel
like dead dogs is a perfect spot to take a break.
Not a perfect spot, but you know, the best spot
I can do. So I'm going to give a shout out to
our friends that got it correctly. So the people
that got this correct is. our friends X radio
X, the music podcast. Uh, they have one before
on the show. If you've not checked them out yet,
why haven't you come on, get on it. Uh, you can
find them on Twitter slash X slash whatever the
fuck we're calling it at X radio X one. Basically
they want to know, or they want you to know that
they are radio nerds who talk about all things,
music and radio. It is Jason, Matt. Um, they
are great guys and we are absolutely, um, Very
happy that they were able to guess it again.
So Jason Matt from the X Radio X podcast, creators
of Radio X News, The Show, and former hosts of
All Requests Saturday Night, Thrash and Trash
Tuesdays, and more. You can find them, as I said
before, at X Radio X1 on X. That's funny enough
that that's what it is. So literally putting
the X in X. X Radio X podcast, Jason Matt. Thank
you guys very much for playing. Matt always is
guessing along with this one, and he was the
first one to guess The Curse of Downers Grove,
which I'm actually kind of surprised that anybody
guessed this one. Like I said, this is important
to me. It's not important to a lot of other people
because it's just not that big a movie. After
the whole dead dogs thing, yes, that is still
a thing that happened, Chuck and his boys wearing
balaclavas show up and... And basically they
are there to threaten Bobby. And Bobby is definitely
like a force to be reckoned with. He's definitely
the most in shape out of these guys besides maybe
Chuck. Chuck and him, it's a little bit more
fair. And Bobby's just kind of like, stay away
from Chrissy. This is not okay. Like you've taken
it too far. Chuck is just like, she's the one
who took it too far. She's the one who ruined
my life. And the entire time he's wearing this
eye patch and just, I keep thinking pirate Chuck,
but Chuck wants to fight Bobby, uh, like, like
men do where it's no weapons or anything like
that. And it's just the two of them. And Bobby
really has the upper hand. Like he is, he is
crushing Chuck, but all of a sudden it is also.
an incredibly dumb fight like it's a lot of holding
and he throws him down and he's just it's like
they they got the choreography and they're still
testing it out like they're still kind of working
through it like okay and this part is where i
punch you and that kind of thing like it seems
like a slow dance in a fight scenario where they're
working on this choreography together and it's
one of the dumbest fights i think i've seen in
a movie because it just doesn't work but chuck
cheats and gets the upper hand on Bobby and breaks
a couple of his ribs. And then his boys start
kicking him too. So one of the biggest allies
for Chrissy is going to be dealing with broken
bones now. And then it goes to Chuck and his
boys. They got back and now they're snorting
a bunch of cocaine and they are ready. Basically
Chuck makes this decision because Chrissy took
his life. Chuck's going to take hers. And, like,
the boys are, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and
everything like that. And one of them's just
like, I'm going to fuck her friend and her faggot
brother, too. Wait, what? What'd you just say?
I have that as an exact quote, too. This is not
words that I made up or anything like that. This
is exactly what he said. I'm going to fuck her
friend and her faggot brother, too. This is a
weird way to find out your bi, dude. Like, this
is really weird, but okay, whatever. And so after
sniffing cocaine and are snorting cocaine and
deciding that they're going to do this, they
also confront Dave and Tracy at the store. Downers
Grove is not a big town, but it's also not a
very small town. Like there's two sides to it.
There's two different high schools, everything
like that. Obviously, in this movie, they've
made it so it's just one high school and that
it seems like this small ass town and everything
like that. Dave is really like. Or Dave. Chuck
is easily able to find these people wherever
they are at all times of the day and everything
like that. So they confront David and Tracy.
And David's just like, Tracy, get in the car
and lock yourself in the car and don't open the
door. Do not open the door. Basically, they're
yelling at Tracy while they all hold David down
and they break his arm. This is. This is the
part where I say that I like David. And usually
I hate little brothers. But in this movie, he
didn't give up Chrissy. He protected Tracy. And
he's still throwing a fucking party. Even though
there's a curse and this stupid guy following
his sister. Like this dude. Okay, he's got a
good head on his shoulders. Look at him. So David
now has a broken arm. The cops who are in the
hospital with him. By the way, nobody called
the parents or anything like that. Whatever the
cops who are inside the room and even though
David can identify them still aren't going to
do anything about it because he can't tell exactly
who they were because they were all wearing masks.
But Chuck took his mask off to make sure that
he knew this was coming from Chuck. Like you.
Even if it was that you can't identify them because
they were wearing masks and you can't prove it
was them, whatever you can still prove. It was
Chuck. Like, that is the only one that you can
definitely prove. And that one is probably the
big one because once you take care of him, the
rest of these guys, they don't seem like they
lead themselves. They follow the quarterback,
Chuck. So why don't we try to arrest Chuck and
stop this big issue? I don't know. I guess that's
what... They're not going to do it because Chuck
is dad of cop. I don't get it, but whatever.
Well, Chrissy and David are in the hospital and
they're basically like, we need to take this
into our own hands. And David goes, you remember
when dad taught us how to shoot with the shotgun?
And she's like, yeah, like, yeah, I remember
everything like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. David's
like, I still have the shotgun under my bed.
perfect they've got a shotgun now and so it's
a montage of chrissy messing with the dad's shotgun
and learning how to shoot it right even though
she was taught by her dad so it didn't take much
to work on that and everything so chrissy is
now prepared with this shotgun we are one day
to graduation so somebody is gonna die for this
curse Plus, there's going to be a big old showdown
at this party they're having. So Chrissy goes
to Chuck's and throws a brick through the window.
The way she threw it, either it was going to
go way over the target or it was just going to
bounce off because it wasn't thrown with very
much force and it was thrown very high. But that's
beside the point. Essentially, the brick has
a note that says, come get me, motherfucker,
essentially. Obviously, it doesn't say that,
but I'm going to make Chrissy more of a badass
that they tried to make her be, even though she
definitely wasn't. So Chuck and his boys, they
get ready, and they're going to go to this party,
and they're going to take Chrissy's life. That's
what they're going to do. So they're once again
wearing their balaclavas, and Chuck shows up
to the back door. Where he's immediately tased
and beaten down by David. And that has to feel
good. So he's like tasing, holding Chuck down
and everything. And then one of the other boys
cold cocks David right in the face. And David
is knocked out. Chuck, after getting past getting
tased, fires two shots in the air with his pistol.
And the party goers all leave. They all disperse.
Remember, those were going to be your witnesses.
So now all they've done right now is they've
seen Chuck and they've seen him fire. The other
another two guys are coming in from the front
way and Bobby is taking on two of the others
while Chuck holds Chrissy at gunpoint because
she doesn't have the shotgun at this point. So
Chrissy is talking to Chuck and basically says,
I see it now. I see your dream. I know where
I'm supposed to be now. I know where. I need
to be I need to be with you Chuck I'm so sorry
that I put you through this everything like that
and Chuck is just like yeah you definitely did
and puts the gun down and or like puts the gun
to his side and everything and then of course
she knees him straight in the balls and runs
off and then she grabs the shotgun so one of
these guys is on top of Tracy Chrissy is able
to take care of him with the shotgun he done
So Chuck kind of gets the drop on Chrissy, but
she's able to get to the bathroom and slam his
arm in the door. So she like slams his arm in
the door. He's like dispatched for a second.
There's another door she's able to get through.
Bobby is being held down by two of these thugs
and Chrissy drops them both. And he's just like,
who taught you how to shoot like that? And then
Chuck turns the corner. She realizes she's out
of bullets, but he also dropped the gun because
his arm was slammed in the door. So he doesn't
have anything either. He's unarmed. What does
she do? She just nails him with the gun and then
keeps beating him over and over and over. Just.
And. That's it. They're all dispatched. This
is this is like five minute scene of five people
getting just taken out by one shotgun, one girl
and. Two guys that are kind of fighting, kind
of not, and Tracy, who definitely was the damsel
in distress. This is also another reason why
I thought, oh, Tracy's going to get accidentally
shot in the crossfire or something like that.
I'm still thinking Tracy is going to be the one
that falls to this curse, but nope, she's fine
too. The police show up, and now they can actually
do something. Because guess what? The cop's son,
he dead. He gone. So they can actually do something
now. Which is nothing. Because all these guys
are dead. And so. After the whole party. And
everything like that. Ian and Chrissy. Ian the
friend. That's known her since kindergarten.
Remember. Ian and Chrissy are on the swings outside.
Just talking about. Really they're talking about
the curse. And saying like. Are any of these
guys from Downers Grove. Because maybe the curse
is over. Because one of them. is from diners
grove and is dead now no all of them are from
willow creek and she also talks about the fact
that she basically got away with all this because
it was self -defense good for you so this is
where the movie loses me and mind you i didn't
think this was this good a movie the entire time
but this is where it literally went so far downhill
that it absolutely may have killed my soul a
little bit Ian thinks that's his opportunity
to make a move on Chrissy and tries to kiss her
but basically she's like no I'm into Bobby like
we're dating everything like that and Ian's just
like no you don't understand I love you and she's
like Ian go away I'm into Bobby and then he goes
and snaps her neck and it's like a second not
even she just is alive talking about she's into
Bobby and then she dead and it shows us that
ian is the one that blew up her locker ian is
the one that killed all these dogs and left it
on her front yard because he wanted to make it
seem like bobby was the one that was going to
kill her and that the curse was real and the
closing monologue by the way he was able to run
away and even though the police are on site dealing
with the aftermath. There's still police sirens
and everything. He's able to walk away just fine
because nobody's looking at him. And so the closing
monologue is just like, I guess the curse is
real. What? What? And that's the end of the movie.
And then they tease it like a sequel is coming,
like what's going to happen next year? I'm in
pain from this movie. It is not as bad as a lot
of other movies I've watched. The last one especially,
The Crow Wicked Prayer, is definitely like the
worst movie I've seen. This one was just okay.
It was like mediocre. It was bad, but it was
like okay bad. And then completely out of nowhere.
It never deserved this twist. It never set up
for it. Ian is on screen for maybe five minutes
total of this entire hour and a half movie. And
all of a sudden he's just dispatches our heroine
because he loves her. And if like, I can't have
you, no one will like that's, that's the reasoning.
That's what it is. And that's not a curse. Because,
like, the curse before was all these people,
I mean, like, the one kid crawling on the top
of the water tower and falling off, yeah, that's
dumb, but it's an accident, and that's what a
curse is. It's not like a person getting killed
by another person is a curse. If he was taken
over, maybe, okay, if that's your argument, but
he wasn't taken over by anything. This was a,
I won't say sane man, but this is a person who
decided, That if I can't have you, no one will.
And I killed you. And now he can just blame it
on the curse. While all these cops are there,
there's got to be some kind of DNA evidence because
it's not like he was wearing gloves or anything.
He had his fingers on her and like twisted her
neck, snapped it quickly. And we see her funeral
and he's there, not in handcuffs. He's obviously
like still free. I just don't get that. I don't
get that. That is not a curse in my mind. And
that is a lot of what goes wrong with this movie
for the most part. It is not a curse movie. It
is a teenage drama home invasion movie. I think
that is more so what it is. And the fact that
you call it a curse just because you think it's
a curse like this, that's not a curse. It's not.
That would be like saying somebody like Jeffrey
Dahmer is a curse. I get it if you say something
like he was possessed or something like that.
He was possessed by the curse. Okay, yeah, that's
something. No, they never even alluded to that.
This is just a man who decided to kill this girl
for no reason. And then they just chalk it up
to, well, it's the curse of Downers Grove. So
all that work that Chrissy had to go through,
all of the people she had to take out, and she
dies at the hand of a guy she knew since kindergarten
because he couldn't handle his unrequited love.
Like I said, this movie was okay bad. It's not
a good movie. I'm not asking anybody to watch
this movie. I actually encourage you not to watch
this movie. But that ending that they just tacked
on at the end. I would have been happier. I really
mean this. I would have been happier if all of
a sudden she's walking away from the carnage
and then her mom and the astronaut come home
from Vegas and run her over accidentally because
they didn't see her in the road. I would have
much rather had that because that's a curse.
That's an accident. That's something that happened
that was a freak thing that is part of the curse
of Downer's Grove. Did I just create a better
ending to this movie? Like legitimately, did
I just create a better ending to this movie?
I don't know what to say at this point. Like,
I don't know what to say about it. Like I said,
the acting was mediocre, but I think it's more
so a script issue, not an acting issue. Because
I think when you have to read these lines, it's
not great. When it comes to things like CGI,
they had that really CGI, like starry sky, which
I didn't even talk about that. We're so close
to Chicago that we never had a night like that
where you can see all the stars in the sky and
everything like that. If you saw three bright
stars, that was a good night for stargazing.
And especially somebody like me who likes to
do that kind of stuff. I never saw very many
stars. I had a telescope and would look for hours
and all that light pollution and everything from
Chicago being only 40 minutes away. You didn't
see shit up in the sky like that. that was so
fake and you know it's just it's part of the
hometown charm it's supposed to be like a small
town that kind of thing they did all these small
town tropes that just drove me insane because
it's not my small town and truthfully we're not
that small a town so it's even worse to see these
things we don't have just like a one stoplight
town it's not like that that's definitely the
part of the reason why i wanted to watch this
When you have a movie about your hometown, you
kind of have to, just by nature. So I was very
willing to watch this one. I've had it on my
list for a long time because it is about my hometown,
even though it was filmed nowhere near it. And
even though I've heard the book about Downers
Grove, the book that was created that spurred
this story, wasn't very good either. So, you
know, I mean, it's just what it is. That is The
Curse of Downers Grove. Which is not a real curse.
I don't think I ever knew a senior that died
once a year in my classes. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe
it's the other class. I don't know. Because there
was another high school in that town. So maybe
it was the Northside High School. What to give
this movie? That is the question. What to give
this movie? Because truthfully, like I said,
it was okay bad. I think I want to give it out
of five. A .75. I want to give it a little more
than half a star because for the most part, it
didn't keep me entertained, but it didn't lose
my attention is what I'll say. So .75 cursed
Facebook posts out of five. .75 Facebook posts.
That's interesting. They gave up three quarters
of the way through on this post. Just overall,
because I can't stand that it's my town, but
it's really not my town and all the things they
did to change it. We're not a farming town. We're
not really a we don't look like the southern
town that was definitely used as inspiration
for the filming. And we don't have big old parties
like that. It was a lot more basement things
where you just like stole a bottle of vodka from
your parents and just drink it all together and
passed out. you know, or threw up and then passed
out. So as far as I know, again, I wasn't, I
guess I wasn't popular enough for the popular
parties. So maybe that is what it was like with
the popular kids and everything like that. I
was popular enough and I didn't drink. So I don't
think I missed any parties that were like, oh,
we're going to party outside, out front drinking
in front of cops and it'd be just fine. That
is the Curse of Downers Grove. It is the first
episode of our spoopy season, spooky season,
whatever you want to call it. I am trying to
get because there's five weeks this October.
I'm trying to get five done. Obviously, there
are going to be some hiccups along the way. So
if you don't know anything about me, if this
is your first time tuning in, whatever. My wife
and I are pregnant and we are expecting our first
kid. This week as this episode is getting dropped.
And that's another thing why I wanted to release
this this week. It is a hometown episode. It
is. I'm just in my feelings about getting our
first kid and everything like that. So I'm going
to be a very tired parents in the next couple
of weeks. I'm trying to get ahead of it ahead
of time so that I can release these. I'm going
to try for five bad horror movies. There's a
million and a half. So during October, especially.
I like this where I try to get as many as I can
get done during the month of October. So I'm
trying to get that done. I have some well -known
ones on the list that are ready to go that are
bad, bad horror movies, including I've already
watched two of the other ones. So I'm going to
try to record those two and get those done so
that you can enjoy five bad horror movie episodes
during the month of October. this is the first
one this is the curse of downers grove which
is not a real curse but you know tried to be
a curse movie that's not a curse movie that's
a home invasion teen drama yeah so curse of downers
grove i'm glad that this curse didn't hurt any
of the actors or actresses in this movie they
all got work it seems like after this so good
for them they all escaped downers grove without
uh without being curse affected so This has been
Game for a Movie Podcast. I've been your host,
Mike, from beautiful Downers Grove, Illinois.
I will see you guys next time on the Game for
a Movie Podcast. We have another bad horror movie
coming out next week. I hope you enjoy that as
well. And thank you guys very much for tuning
in to Game for a Movie where we ask, are you
game for a movie? I'll see you next time.