Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the final girl on 6th Avenue podcast. My. My name is Carolyn Smith Hillmer, and I am 6th Avenue's very own Final Girl. And today we're going to be talking about a film that truly I somehow had no knowledge of until I was, you know, researching what to talk about next, you know, for. For the show. And recently I've been into a lot of Danish films, which I know is not everybody's cup of tea, but it is certainly min, and I was on letterboxd, as you do, and under a film that I was looking at, for whatever reason, under a Danish film I was looking at, this film was suggested. So today we're going to be talking about Take Shelter.
Take Shelter was actually a Sundance release in 2011, also came out in 2011, I guess, to all theaters. And it's rated R, two hours long. It also was at Cannes. Didn't know that either. So this is a relatively accomplished film if you ask me.
Looking at IMDb.
Our description for this film is plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions. A young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm or from himself.
Yeah, it's heavy.
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, who I absolutely adore.
And so, you know, this film is long.
If you have never seen it, it's available to be rented on Amazon Prime. I rented it yesterday in preparation for this episode and absolutely fell in love with it. I actually can't wait to watch it again.
I found myself deeply moved in pretty much every aspect of it, especially the relationship between Curtis, the main character, or the main male character, I should say, and his family.
So let's just jump into it. There's a lot of. A lot of stuff here, and I want to make sure that I highlight all of it the best I can. And, you know, save that for our discussion. So, title screen from the jump. We love to see it. There is a storm blowing in. The clouds are huge and dark. And as it passes over, you know, the clouds pass over the house.
Curtis is standing outside and he, you know, it starts to rain. So he looks down at his hands to see the rain, and it's like a orange color. It's not clear or gray or blue. It's like an orangish color, which he later describes as fresh motor oil covered. Can't say I'm intimately familiar with the color of any age of motor oil.
He keeps standing in the rain. And then, you know, I can only assume that this was a dream because he then goes inside to take a shower and make breakfast. So, you know, unclear here. He has a wife and a daughter. His wife's name is Samantha. His daughter's name is Hannah, and their daughter is deaf. But luckily, mom and dad know sign language, thank fuck.
This guy is, like, clear as he leaves to go to work. So it's almost like that, you know, beginning scene never happened. And he has a construction job. So Sam, while, you know, Curtis, is at work, she has some, like, Mommy and Me friends over. And she notices that while the kids are playing outside, there's a huge storm cloud rolling in and it starts to rain. So it's, like, super dark and raining where Curtis is. This is like, not important to the story at all. I just want you to know this about me. So at this point, it's, like, really dark and raining where Curtis is at work. So they call it a day because, like, you know, they're using equipment and machinery and metal and it's fucking storming.
But at home, where Sam and Samantha are, it's bright and the sun is out and it's raining.
I hate that. There's nothing I hate more in the entire world than when the sun is out and it's raining. It gives me the heebie jeebies in a way that I cannot articulate. I've always been unsettled by that. I really wish that would go away for me, but I don't think it will.
The son ends up going away anyway in the scene, but. And again, that had nothing to do with anything. I just wanted you to know that.
So after work, Curtis decides to go out with his friends for, like, happy hour.
And he drops his co worker, Dewart, off at home afterwards. And while they're in the car, he confides in Curtis that he and his wife have been talking to some woman online to try to find someone to have a threesome with. And Curtis admits that, you know, this is something that he and Sam are not really interested in. But Dewart tells him, like, hey, you have a really good life. That's the best compliment I think, that you can give a man, is that you have a great life.
He goes home afterwards to see Sam and Hannah, and he asks Sam how Hannah did today with, you know, the playdate. And she tells him that, you know, Hannah's still not really connecting with the other kids when it comes to playing, which I, you know, imagine is something that is slightly difficult or probably incredibly difficult actually for, you know, a deaf child to navigate.
So, you know, they're a Little concerned about that. And they're still kind of living life like they were before they knew about her hearing loss. So he, you know, tells her that he still takes off his boots when he comes in the door so that he won't wake her up. And Sam says that she still whispers, even though they both know that their daughter can't hear them.
That night, Curtis has another dream that he's cleaning up the trash and scrap pile in the backyard. They kind of have, like, you know, what I would describe as, like, a.
When you look in somebody's backyard in the middle of the country, down a long dirt road, and they got shit piled up in the back of the yard. Like, that's kind of what I imagine. Although this is a much smaller version of that.
So he's cleaning up the trash and scrap pile in the backyard with Hannah and their dog Red. And they're watching this enormous storm, you know, run. Run over the house, right? Like, it's rolling in. And the dog, Red, attacks Curtis in the arm.
And then he wakes up. But he wakes up, like, frazzled and agitated, which, like, I mean, I don't know. I don't have frequent nightmares, but when I do have nightmares, I have them, like, every night for, like, a week. So I can definitely understand waking up that way.
But at breakfast, Sam tries to talk to him, you know, about their plans for the evening. And he is, like, insanely fixated on the fact that Hannah is playing with the dog but isn't actually eating breakfast.
And Sam reminds him that it's okay because she had toast already.
And he huffs and puffs like all men do when they're being annoying and breathing, and leaves for work.
So he gets scolded by his boss for his sight, basically not being on schedule due to the rain yesterday, even though it apparently only rained for two hours.
So it almost makes you wonder, like, how long it actually did rain. Because at home it was bright out and it rained, like, into the night. So you kind of wonder, like. Or into the evening anyway, like, how long that actually was.
So he goes to his job site, and he looks up in the sky and he sees this ginormous swarm of birds flying in this, like, insane swirling formation. And he asks Dewart if he had ever seen birds fly like that before. But Dewart has no idea what Curtis is talking about. Like, it's like he didn't see it at all.
So Curtis gets home. He's running late. He gets in the car to drive Hannah and Sam to a parent Child ASL class so that, you know, they're talking about her development and learning of sign language and stuff like that. And they're also learning themselves another dream. There's dreams, like, all the time. I'm really sorry, but at least I'm telling you when there are dreams, because wouldn't that be annoying if I didn't do that?
So anyways, this dream, it's raining, and Curtis is in the car with Hannah, and it's raining so hard that he literally can't see anything.
And they're driving, and the windshield wipers are going as fast as they can, but it's literally not doing anything. Like, it's raining so hard. But he sees, like, a glimpse of a person in the middle of the street. So he slams so hard on the brakes that he hits his head on the steering wheel and, like, passes out. And when he comes to, there's two people, one person on each side of the car breaking through the windows. And one person steals Hannah out of the car. And there's another person who's trying to take Curtis, too. So he wakes up, another bad dream.
No big deal, right? Because he seems to have them every second of his life. But he's actually incredibly troubled by these dreams. Like, he can't shake them. So Sam notices that he's literally soaked in sweat, and he looks so sick, but he won't tell her about the dreams, so he just, like, basically lets her continue to think that he's sick.
So Sam and Hannah go out for the afternoon. He tells her he feels fine and not to worry, but, like, he doesn't look fine at all.
Sam, she works, like, from home, basically, and she, like, embroiders and sews and, like, does, like, pillows and blankets and all the things you can make. She, like, does tailoring for people, too. Like, she sells them at these, like, craft show flea market situations. So while she's out doing that with Hannah, Curtis brings out and builds this giant dog house surrounded with a fence. So that red, you know, he puts red in it, and that red can't actually get out.
He's also decided that they have a storm shelter.
But, like, the structure's there, and it's, you know, like a very basic storm shelter.
And he's going to want to improve that and expand that here shortly. So stay tuned. So he goes inside the shelter and he sits down, and he's looking, like, so relieved and safe while he's in there.
But later that night, he watches the news, and there's a story on about a chlorine spill and so Sam is trying to, like, question Curtis about the fact that the dog that was always inside the house is now outside.
But he basically tells her to be quiet so that he can keep listening to this chlorine spill story on the news. And apparently, you know, the people in the story died because they had no way out. There was wreckage that, like, blocked their escape path, so they weren't prepared.
Another dream again.
Curtis sees Hannah staring out the window of, like, the living room. And as he approaches her, he sees that there's a man outside.
So he grabs Hannah to take her away from the window. And the man is trying to open the front door, and the whole house is shaking. And during all this chaos, all the furniture in the home begins to levitate.
And then it drops. And he starts gasping for air, like, as if that was, like, strangling him.
And so he wakes up this time sweaty again, but he wet the bed this time.
So he gets short and snippy with Sam, and he's asking her for the phone number to the family doctor. But she reminds him that, like, the doctor is closed because it's Sunday.
So Sam leaves Hannah with Curtis and goes to church. She makes it a point to tell him that, like, hey, you know, like, you're really sick and we're supposed to be hosting, like, Sunday lunch this afternoon, and so I can. I just need to cancel that basically, if you're not well enough.
So he's like, okay, I'm sorry. Like, I'm sorry for taking my temper out on you. My throat is sore.
So she leaves to go to church, and Curtis takes Hannah to the library, and he picks up books on mental illness.
They also stop by the grocery store on the way home and get a cart full of non perishable food items.
When he comes home, he's extraordinarily late to this lunch, like it's in his own house. And he's beyond late.
And he gets a smile, small scolding from Sam, but he sits down to eat and he tells everyone that he's thinking of fixing up the storm shelter in the backyard.
So sometime later that night, he goes and sits inside of the shelter well into the night with a lamp and reads his books from the library on mental illness. And he still, to this point, has never told Sam anything about what's going on.
He goes to the doctor and he basically tells the doctor that, you know, the doctor's like, oh, okay, like, I see, like, you have a cold. And Curtis is like, yeah, I. I don't have a cold. I Just told her that so I could, you know, get an appointment. But I. The real reason I'm here is because of these dreams that I'm having. And I'm having trouble sleeping because of these dreams. And he tells the doctor, like, he. You know, he urinated in the bed, and that after the dream he had about Red attacking his arm, it took all day for the pain in his arm to go away.
Like, think about that. That was a dream.
It didn't happen.
And because of this dream, he puts his dog, who had always lived inside, outside so that he doesn't have to be around the dog.
And a dog bite that never happened resulted in pain that took an entire day to go away.
So he asks for a sleeping pill, and the doctor's like, hey, when have you. You know, when's the last time you went out to see your mom?
And Curtis admits that he had not been to see her in, like, a month.
So the doctor's like, okay, well, you should probably do that. And then he gives Curtis a prescription for a couple, like, mild sedatives. Like, just a few pills to get through a couple days. And the phone number for a really good friend of his who is a psychiatrist.
Sam, meanwhile, is at an insurance office speaking with an agent for help.
She is trying to get her daughter a cochlear implant procedure covered. And she makes it a point, the agent does, to note how good Curtis's health insurance is because they're gonna cover the procedure.
That's. That's incredible.
And then the dichotomy is so funny, because then he goes to pick up his pills from the pharmacy, and it's filled $50, and it's like, a couple pills. I mean, I would be upset, too.
And he's like, no, what's the copay?
And the tech is like, like, $50 is your copay.
So they sit down, they have a nice dinner together as a family. They're on cloud nine, as any parent would be, over Hannah's approval for her procedure. And he takes a sedative and goes to bed. Still has not told Sam or anyone else about anything that he's going through.
So he goes to work the next day after not having any nightmares, and he asks Dort, how much food do you think it would take for someone to survive for one week?
Dort's like, dude, I have no idea.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: What do you mean?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: I've never thought about this.
So Curtis is like, oh, well, how have you never thought about this? This is ridiculous. And he hears these, like, loud claps of thunder. So he tells Dort, you know.
You know, hey.
And it's. You know, it's. There's another storm rolling in. And do. It is like, really? I didn't hear anything.
So Curtis freaks out and throws up, and he leaves work. Not at work anymore. And he's driving, and he's gasping for air. He's basically hyperventilating. And he pulls over on the way to wherever he's going because it's hard to drive when you can't breathe. And he sees these, like, enormous shipping containers for sale.
He decides that he's going to go visit his mom. She lives in, like, an assisted care facility, a really nice one at that. And his mom is, like, medicated out of her mind. She's, like, not even present. And so he comes in to visit with her and sits down, and he's like, hey, mom, do you remember what year we, you know, our family, like, brought you to live here? And she doesn't really remember, but Curtis is like, Well, I was 10.
And she was like, oh, that's right, because Your brother was 17, and he was about to graduate high school. And so he asks her when she was diagnosed and how long the symptoms started before she had to leave the family home.
And she can't remember, but she does remember that it was really stressful and that her husband was gone a lot and that she couldn't handle things on her own. And she says that she never had any bad dreams, but there was always this, like, panic that took hold of her and that she always thought that people were watching and listening to her.
So he gets gas, and he calls to talk to the doctor again. This time, he calls the doctor at home. He tells the doctor he can't make the trip to see this psychiatrist that he recommended and asks for somewhere local.
He comes home to Sam and tells her that he went to see his mom. And while his family sleeps, he writes down an estimate of all of the things that he will need to buy and the price to build out his dream storm shelter.
So the next day, he goes to the bank to get a loan for the materials.
And the loan officer is like, dude, this loan is super risky. I have, like, I have done your house. I've done your cars. Like, I really just don't. I can't, like, advise this.
It has a variable interest rate. It's going to be tight. You know, your house is going to be the collateral. And Curtis is like, dude, I need it. So it's fine.
I can't imagine a world where I'm like, oh, my God, I need a storm shelter so bad that, like, I'd be willing to put my house up as collateral so I could have a fucking storm shelter. But that's where Curtis is.
So he goes to work, and he asks his good old pal Dewart to help him build out this storm shelter and that they're gonna borrow equipment from work to do it.
So he agrees to help Curtis, and Dewart asks him if he's okay because he doesn't want to see Curtis, you know, fuck up, basically his job. And he's like, no, dude. Like, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. But thereafter, he goes and sees a counselor. This local place that was recommended to him by the family doctor. It's not a psychiatrist, but he goes to see a counselor. And she can't really tell him what exactly to do, but she can recommend places to go. So she's simply there for him to talk. And she's like, you know, I don't want that to steer you away. Like, sometimes that is really helpful.
And he tells her basically, like, he has these books and these notes, and he's like, look, I took a quiz at the back of this library book that says that I don't have schizophrenia, but, like, I've been experiencing two of the five symptoms that you need to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. And so since this quiz at the back of a library book says I don't have it, they're saying or thinking that, you know, it might be a brief psychotic episode.
So she, you know, is like, hey, I see here that your mom has schizophrenia. Like, let's talk about that.
So he basically tells her, like, I can't remember my mom's symptoms, but one day she left me in the car at a grocery store. And the next time we found her, she was eating garbage from a trash can in Kentucky.
I.
Whatever. It doesn't matter. So anyway, the counselor asks about the dreams. I just, like, can't imagine how terrifying something like that must be.
Driving home from another ASL session with Hannah and Sam.
Hannah and Sam are sleeping in the backseat, and he hears thunder. And he pulls over and he gets out of the car, and he looks at this guy and he sees lightning. He asks out loud to literally no one because there's no one else around. If anyone else is seeing this.
His co worker, Dewart, comes over that weekend, and he's helping build out the storm shelter with, you know, heavy machinery, equipment from work, by the way.
And Sam is out selling her. Her. You know, her Items that she. She crafts and she makes. And so she and Hannah come home to find the backyard a literal disaster with Curtis, you know, jackhammering something. So Sam is pissed, and she leaves with Hannah.
That night, she comes back, and she asks him and confronts him why did he not respect her enough to ask her about this? And also, how is he paying for this?
So he admits that he got a loan from the bank. And she flips because they have a lot of expenses coming up, you know, with Hannah's procedure. And they take a family vacation every year. And he says that he's doing. And, like, he's basically completing this project of building this shelter for the family, even though no one gives a shit about the shelter except for him. So she freaks out again and demands that he tell her why he is being so weird lately. But he tells her there's nothing to explain, and he leaves her to go put Hannah to bed while she cries.
And it's at this point in the movie that I hate him, because why is he lying?
So that night, instead of the recommended dose, he takes six.
Okay, six pills of the sedatives. And he has a nightmare that wakes up Sam. So she is freaking out because her husband is next to her.
Obviously not okay. She calls 911 to tell them that he's having a seizure while he's gasping for air and, like, tensing up his body, he's bleeding. Like, his mouth is bleeding. And he finally wakes up and, like, you know, stops seizing. He grabs the phone from Sam to tell the operator not to send an ambulance. I mean, come on.
So they come anyway, obviously, and they offer to take him to a doctor for all the cuts in his mouth if they. If, like, he wants to get it checked out, but he refuses.
And at this point, he's literally, like, ashamed to be around Sam. So they sit at the kitchen table, middle of the night, he finally tells her about the dreams. He tells her about the dream tonight was that Dewart was attacking him at work with a pickaxe.
And he tells her that these are not just dreams. They're more like a feeling that something bad is coming, but that he just needs her to trust him. And he also tells her about the counselor. So we're finally at the point where, like, there's some stuff on the table. Thank God.
They go see a doctor to confirm Hannah's surgery and her eligibility. And they schedule it for six weeks out.
And at work, Curtis literally cannot focus on anything because after his dream about Dort, he wants Dort taken off of his crew.
So he goes and asks his boss about it, and his boss is like, well, I understand that he's your friend, but, like, this is kind of part of managing people, so you should probably, like, deal with it.
But his boss admits, you know, and tells him, like, look, okay, fine, I'll move him.
But, hey, why are you missing so much work?
So he tells his boss that Hannah's been having a lot of appointments, you know, and that nothing's fallen behind, so everything should be fine.
Dort's wife is telling Sam that Dort has been telling her how strange Curtis has been acting lately, and Sam just dismisses her completely.
But then Curtis, every time somebody tries to come to his defense, like, he fucks it up again. So, like, Sam is like, oh, no. Like, he's fine. Meanwhile, he's at a hardware store buying a gas mask.
Like, come on.
Sam actually takes the initiative to call Curtis's brother Kyle to come by and check on him. Curtis is not pleased with Kyle's appearance or visit at first, but, you know, they end up talking it out a little bit. And Curtis is like, hey, did you ever get your girls a dog?
And Kyle's like, no, I didn't.
So Curtis is like, well, how do you just want to take my dog, Red? You could just have him.
He literally gives his brother the fucking dog.
Like, I can't. Like, I can't. So Curtis has another dream where it's raining, and he finds Sam soaking wet, standing in the kitchen with a knife nearby. And she's staring at him. And then she kind of, like, glances back at the knife and then looks back at him, and he shakes his head no at her. So it's like he. The tones are that, like, she would want to harm him.
So the next morning at breakfast, he can barely look at her, and he panics immediately when she tries to touch his hand to ask him if he's okay.
Hannah notices that there's a man in the backyard and gets, you know, mom and Dad's attention. His boss is outside, so he tells him that Dort and him, you know, I. You know, basically that he knew that they took the equipment from work, and he scolds him for it, and he's like, dude, do you have any idea what could have happened? Like, something like this could bankrupt me. What would happen if, after you picked up the equipment, you were driving and, I don't know, you ran someone over or got in a car accident or killed somebody because you guys were operating this machinery in a. You know, basically an uncontrolled environment. And Curtis just is like, whoa, thank God that didn't happen. Like, who says that?
So anyway, he gets fired on the spot, and his boss is like, look, you get two weeks of benefits and you did this to yourself.
So he comes back inside to Sam and Hannah, and he tells Sam that he got fired, and she asks him about the health insurance because, you know, hey, Hannah's surgery kind of depends on it.
He confirms with her that they got two more weeks. And so she slaps the shit out of him and leaves with Hannah. I honestly can't say that I blame her. I really, really can't. I probably would.
There's probably not words to describe what I would do in that situation that I could say on here.
So I think the slap was fine.
He goes back to see a counselor, his counselor. But, you know, this time it's somebody new because his previous one transferred. Transferred out of the facility. And so the new one is, like, getting familiar with his file and, you know, basically asks him a question that, you know, the other one had asked him on their first meeting together. So he just gets frustrated and he leaves. Just. He doesn't want to deal with it.
So, of course, what does he do instead? He goes back home and he keeps working on the shelter because that is.
Fuck, my daughter's cochlear implant. I'm building a storm shelter.
So Sam comes home.
She gives a, you know, a friend or whatever a pair of pants that she tailored, and she takes cash as payment. Now she's been keeping cash in a cookie jar, saving for their, you know, annual beach vacation. And so she takes the cash out of the envelope basically to mean that they're not saving for that anymore because now Curtis doesn't have a job.
So.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: So she comes up with a plan.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: She puts Hannah to bed. She goes outside to talk to Curtis because, you know, he's still working on the shelter because it's very, very, very important that the shelter gets built for some unknown reason.
And she, you know, is like, hey, I was in one of your dreams.
And he says, are you gonna leave me? And she said, I don't know. Can you deal with the fact that.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: I was in one of your dreams?
[00:33:24] Speaker A: And he's like, you know, yeah, I think I can.
So here's a new game plan. Sam is gonna find a job, and Curtis is ordered to look for a new job. They're going to take the money from the beach vacation savings and use it to help out. They need to find out how much it costs to extend the health insurance policy to the end of the year so that Hannah can get her procedure done. And then she tells him that they have this, like, cookout coming up and that she expects him to go so that they can do something normal. Now, this is cookout, like, organized meal event where a lot of his former co workers will be. And he doesn't want to go, but he reluctantly says that he will. And she also demands that he sees a psychiatrist and that they're gonna find out, you know, what they need to do to get the money so that he can go.
God bless his soul. He's losing his mind. And he still goes to this cookout. So they go, and they see Dort, who does not look happy to see Curtis at all. So do it, by the way. So Curtis got fired, but Dewart just got two weeks of unpaid leave, which, like, okay, you got two weeks without money. Like, I'm.
I don't want to sound insensitive, but, like, dude, your. Your friend got fired.
You should be lucky and thankful that you didn't get fired, too.
So Dirt comes over and interrupts, you know, Curtis's family dinner and attacks him.
And Curtis is like, dude, please, not here. And, you know, do it. Doesn't care. So they start fighting. They get in a physical altercation, and Curtis basically takes him down with just one swift kick to the shin, which, you know, must have been a pretty powerful kick.
He then proceeds to flip their table that they were eating on and scream at the whole party.
And he's like, look, you guys think I'm crazy.
There's a storm coming that not a single one of you are prepared for.
And after he's done, you know, being angry and yelling, he basically breaks down in tears into Sam's shoulder, and they all leave together. And you can tell that, like. You can tell that he knows, like, rationally that there's nothing like this coming at, like, any time. But, like, he cannot use that to rationalize his thoughts that there is something coming.
Okay? It's really sad. Like, it's. It's absolutely heartbreaking. So another dream. He's working on his truck outside, and he's with Hannah. And Hannah runs out into the street. So he runs to go grab her because we've all seen Pet Sematary, and we know what happens when your small child runs into the street. And so he goes to grab her. And when he does, he sees that she was looking at another swarm of birds in the sky that are in this, you know, crazy formation.
And then the Birds all fly, you know, in their, you know, huddle at him and Hannah. And then they start to, like, drop from the sky. They're dead.
He wakes up, there's sirens going off.
Like, you know, when there's a tornado or, like, a big storm there, sirens going off. And now is his time to shine. He has been waiting for this moment. So they all run out to the shelter, and this is the first time that they're seeing what he's built. Okay? And this thing is like a house.
It has cots, it has a toilet. It has water. It has, like, pretty much everything you could think of.
And so they all get inside, and he gives himself and his two girls. Well, he's sorry. He gives himself and Sam each a gas mask. And then he gives Hannah a, like, oxygen mask. Because when he went to buy the gas masks originally, the guy was like, you know, we don't have any sizes for kids, because for them to be used by children for, like, with any degree of, like, certainty, they have to have, like, a hood and, like, all these other things. Like, I just don't sell those. So he gives everybody these masks, and they're all hooked up to a tank so that they can breathe pure oxygen, which is like, okay, they could breathe anyway. But, like, he really thinks that this is, like, you know, gonna be the saving grace. So they all fall asleep, and they wake up sometime later, and it's still storming. So he goes back, and he falls asleep again, and Sam wakes him up, and she and Hannah took off their masks. And he, like, panics at first because he's like, oh, my God, you have to put it back on. And they're like, hey, it's actually, like, fine. Like, we can breathe fine. You can also take yours off. Like, it's really not a big deal.
Like, not to be that guy, but you're overreacting. So she finally is like, because, you know, the door is locked inside from the inside of the shelter. So Sam is like, hey, you know, the storm is over. Like, can you please open the door so we can leave? Because it's locked. So, like, I need you to unlock it. And he's like, well, what if it isn't over?
So she tells him, like, no, it's over. And so please get the keys and open the door. And he is terrified to open that door. He, you know, he gets to the door, he approaches it, and then he's like, ah, I can hear it still. It's still storming. And Sam is like, no, can't hear anything.
So he goes to ask Hannah and he is asking her, you know, can you feel the thunder? Like, can you feel the storm? And she's like, no. Can't feel anything.
So he tells Sam he's sorry, but he just can't open that door. And he, he cries and he gives her the key and she's like, in order to stay with me and Hannah, you have to open the door.
I can do it for you. But it won't. This will, you know, it won't fix anything. Like you have to do it.
So. He's so afraid, he can barely hold the key. Like he is shaking with fear. And he, he finally opens it. And to his surprise, there is no more storm.
The sun is bright shining. He looks confused but relieved at the same time. There's, you know, it's. It's normal, like nobody died. Linemen are fixing the electrical wires. The neighbors are alive. They're outside picking up tree branches and fixing their patio furniture. Like, pretty mild storm if you ask me.
Maybe high winds, but, you know, people didn't lose their houses or anything.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: So.
So Sam and Curtis go see that.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Recommended psychiatrist that they should have seen in the first fucking place. And the psychiatrist is like, ok, you need to get away from the storm shelter.
And Sam is like, okay, well, that's fine. Because, you know, we, we take a, you know, week long, like trip to Myrtle beach every year for vacation. And so, you know, we can just. We were gonna cancel it, but we can just go. It's fine. Like, we'll just figure out the money part later. And the doctor is like, right, but even after you come back, you're still gonna need to be away from the storm shelter.
And so they're kind of like, okay, Doc, we're tired of reading in between the lines. Like, what are you talking about?
So the doctor's like, yeah, so basically what we're looking at is you can go on this vacation and that's fine. But as soon as you come back, you're gonna have to be in a facility because you need hands on treatment. You need to commit to this treatment to get better.
And the one thing that he never wanted to do was leave his family. And so now he's devastated, both in many ways.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Like, physically too. He didn't want to physically leave his family because his mom had to do that, but he doesn't want to mentally leave his family either because then he won't be able to enjoy the joys of, of having this family because he's gonna be gone.
So they Go to the beach and they're building sandcastles and Sam is inside and Hannah stops building with Curtis. And Curtis doesn't hear anything, but Hannah stops and she makes the sign for storm.
So Curtis stands up and he picks her up and he looks into the sky and he sees that there's like a big storm.
And so Sam comes outside to find them. And you know, Curtis is like kind of in a panic, but he's like kind of frozen. And so Sam is seeing it, they're all seeing this storm.
And he nods at her and she basically looks down at her hand and sees that there's this motor oil colored rain on her hand and the literally the biggest storm ever in the distance. And he's like, sam.
And she says okay, and nods. And that's where the film ends.
So I'm sure you're probably wondering what the hell does that mean? And we're gonna try to figure it out together. So let's start with one thing.
So it's really, you know, unfortunate that our character here, Curtis, is dealing with such a profound experience in life of having a disorder of schizophrenia, even though he basically hadn't gotten a true diagnosis that we see on camera. But you know, his mom had it and, and you know, he's. They confirmed through dialogue in the film that he's developing symptoms at like roughly the same age as her. And so he's obviously very, very worried. And so let's talk about schizophrenia a little bit more. There's five types of schizophrenia.
And the one that, you know, we're going to use WebMD. We love WebMD, okay. And we're gonna use WebMD to explore these. So the first type we're gonna talk about is paranoid schizophrenia. So paranoid schizophrenia is a term that was used to mean a type of psychosis, which means that your mind basically doesn't agree with reality. And so the American Psychiatric association actually has declared this to be an outdated term. And so now it's just described as schizophrenia.
This involves two things. Paranoia, which means you feel distrust, suspicious and fearful of someone without any good reason, okay. Evidenced by the fact that he basically has dreams about things and then like, can't live life anymore. He, you know, couldn't talk to Dort anymore or have him on his crew because in a dream he was attacked with a pickaxe. Like that didn't happen also with like the dog, right? Like he was distrusting of the dog after a dream in which the dog bit his arm, even though, like, again, that never happened. So good, good examples There. The second thing is delusions. And delusions basically are like, you believe something that, you know, people without this condition know is unreal. You think that's real?
Yeah.
Again, like, this storm, we almost have to wonder, was the storm that we see at the end of the film even happening? Almost. It's kind of like, we're not really sure.
And, you know, all the other times that, like, he's thinking or, you know, hearing thunder or seeing lightning or hearing rain and feeling rain or seeing these, like, swarms of birds, and, like, that is not happening. Right. He's having these dreams as well, and the dreams are not real, and he can't make that, like, distinction.
It's really sad.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: This.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: This is really, really sad.
You know, further symptoms, like, describe, you know, delusion of persecution, which is like, this, you know, really intense fear that maybe, like, you're so important that you think that these are happening. Like, people are out to get you, even though they're not. So this could be like, the government is spying on you, or, you know, there's a group of people in your neighborhood that are plotting to harass you and ruin your life.
And these beliefs are very, very real.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Very real.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: Even if there's evidence that there's. They're not real and they're not happening, like, to this person, they are real. That's evidenced by this storm. He is like, nobody can tell me that this storm is not coming, because I know it's coming, and there's no evidence to support it. But, like, I know it's happening.
And, you know, I want to highlight that people with this disorder are not usually violent, but sometimes these delusions can make them feel angry or threatened.
And if someone with this disorder is pushed over the edge, any action that they take thereafter is typically focused on family members and not the public. So it would definitely happen at home.
You can have related hallucinations to that delusion as well. So, like, you can have delusions and hallucinations that are related to one another. So, you know, you might see things that aren't there. You might basically, like, your senses are not working in the way that they should. They're disordered in that way. You might, like, hear voices, things like that.
It's not as common as other, you know, mental health issues, but, you know, it's still a thing. And the causes of it are it's a biological problem, and no one knows exactly what causes it, but it can happen or be caused by, like, brain problems that started before you were actually born. So something like, in Utero or that your brain has difficulty communicating in different areas, or that you have imbalances in certain chemicals in your brain that you know, your brain uses to communicate.
And yeah, it, it's very unfortunate. It's the, the main, you know, the, the main groups of people that get this. Like you're more likely to have it if it runs in your family, which like, for Curtis, God bless. Like it does.
If you've used certain drugs that don't, you know, don't vibe with you, if you've been exposed to certain substances in the environment, if you've had a brain infection, if you've had birth related problems before, during or after your actual birth, like not having enough oxygen during delivery, you're lonely or isolated, or maybe you're unemployed, maybe you're low income, maybe you live in an extraordinarily stressful environment.
And it is noted that people assigned male at birth are diagnosed with this condition almost twice more often than others. So that is something to think about.
And it's almost like it, my understanding is that like it kind of lives in you, but it's, it's not actually triggered until it's triggered. So it could be triggered by a stressful life event, right? Like this very well could have been triggered by dealing with his daughter's deafness and loss of hearing. It can also be triggered by brain infections or again, use of particular drugs.
Just to highlight the other types of schizophrenia and how they differ, we'll talk about them briefly. But the second type is called catatonic schizophrenia, which is a lifelong condition, right? And it's basically a feature, right, or a subcategory of schizophrenia. And this can show up in many different ways. But there's a, one core sign, which is that you don't move normally even though you are physically able to do so. So common symptoms would be not moving, saying only a few words or nothing at all, being slow to respond, staring, not blinking very much, grabbing someone's hand if they touch your palm, not making eye contact.
Odd behaviors that like, you know, suddenly running down a hallway or taking off all your clothes, repeating certain words or phrases, tapping your feet or other repetitive movements and doing something normal like waving your hand, but doing it at the wrong time.
To make a diagnosis for this one, doctors look for at least three of the following 12 features.
Mutism, like you don't talk, Stupor, you're, you know, still mannerisms that are like odd or over the top.
Catalepsy, which would be retaining like the position that somebody puts you in whatever it may be negativism, like ignoring instructions or doing the opposite of what someone asks you to do. Agitation. Moving a lot for no reason. Posturing. You sit or stand in ways that look like they would be uncomfortable.
Waxy flexibility. This would be like holding a body position even if somebody tries to move you.
Copying other people's movements, copying other people's words.
Repeating a movement or making tense or strange faces. Maybe like smiling when you shouldn't be.
And research shows that many people with this are aware of what's happening around them, and they can remember details, but they can't respond at the time that it's happening.
So it's interesting. You may not be able to fully realize what's going on or have memories of the state afterwards. But, like, you are aware of what's happening, you just can't do anything about it.
So there are other conditions, by the way, that can trigger this.
Like, there can be, you know, if you've had a stroke or tumors or like an autoimmune disorder, a brain disorder, a metabolism disorder, low levels of sodium. Like, there's a lot. This one is really like.
It's relatively rare.
The third type would be disorganized schizophrenia.
And this typically shows up with disorganized thinking, speech, and behavior. And people with this have trouble organizing their thoughts, which lead to behaviors that seem random or out of place. Like, an example would be like laughing during something sad. And it can also impact your speech, which would make it harder for you to communicate and harder for others to understand you. So, you know, some symptoms of this would be disorganized thinking or speech patterns. Unusual reaction to situations.
These are called negative symptoms where a person seems emotionally flat or disconnected. Their facial expressions don't match. Certain situations, like, you know, smiling, doing something sad. They struggle to focus or complete tasks and behaviors like wandering aimlessly or laughing to oneself.
So you might be wondering, like, what is an example of disorganized thinking?
So this is an example. Somebody might start talking about what they had for dinner and then suddenly switch to an unrelated topic.
Their responses can also veer off topic. So if they're asked a direct question like, hey, what did you do this weekend? They might answer with random or unrelated details. And this can also, you know, lead to people to speak in ways that sound like word salad, where they mix a bunch of words together that don't form clear sentences.
So, you know, the diagnostic criteria would be that you have to have two of the main symptoms of schizophrenia for more than a month. And so this would be Delusions and hallucinations, along with disorganized thinking or speech, unusual movements, or the ability or inability to handle daily tasks. So they also need to, like, significantly impact your relationships in day to day life.
There's also undifferentiated schizophrenia, which is kind of like your diagnosis has some signs of each, you know, subtype of schizophrenia, but they don't fit solely into one type. And then there's residual schizophrenia, which, you know, is like, if you were having a history of psychosis, but you only experience the negative symptom, like slow movement or poor memory or lack of concentration or poor hygiene, you could be diagnosed with this.
So there's a, there's a lot of different types, right? And they're all, they're all just, I, I can't imagine having one or all of them or any of them. And I just, you know, it's, it's a lot to handle.
So I think it's clear, based on what I've told you and the evidence that I presented you with, that in the film, Curtis is experiencing paranoid schizophrenia. Now, with that being said, it's pretty evident, right, that we're watching Curtis fall into this and it's with something that he really can't control.
He cannot control the weather. Like, no matter how badly he wants to or how much someone around him would love to because they know that it would make life easier. You can't control the weather. Like, it just, it simply cannot be done. So that makes it that much harder for him because he really cannot differentiate most of the time without thinking, like, okay, is that storm actually happening in the sky right now? Is it actually raining? Or am I the only one who sees that it's raining?
And at first you kind of see that. Like, he is hanging on to reality because he's asking Dewart, for example, at work, like, he's saying, like, oh man, there's another storm rolling in. And Curtis is like, oh, I didn't hear anything.
Well, like, thunder is like, not something that you can't hear, right? Like, I mean, if you're of hearing right, if you, if you don't hear or are deaf, then you obviously will maybe not hear it like a normally hearing person would. But, you know, he throws up after Durrett says, like, oh, I didn't hear anything.
Because he's terrified because why is he experiencing this if no one else is?
And he at first, like, hides a lot of these things from his wife because he, at first, like, he knows that they're dreams. But, like, you see his Internal struggle by him being like, okay, like, I know that it was a dream that my dog bit my arm because nothing is wrong with my arm except the pain in my arm is really, really real. And, like, I am so suspicious and skeptical and afraid of this dog now that I really, like, can't have this dog in the house.
So it's like he both knows and does not know that these are delusions.
Now when it comes to him not telling his wife, he's not telling her because how do you explain that to somebody? How do you explain to them that, like, I know that my dog never bit me, and I know that my co worker never attacked me with an axe, but that felt really real, like it was really happening.
You almost can't explain something like that.
It's. It would be incredibly difficult and terrifying, I think, especially if I don't know what someone's reaction is going to be to what I'm about to say. Like, I can honestly understand where he's coming from. But then towards the end, you see that he's slipping away because it's like he gets up in front of this whole entire cookout full of people and is, like, yelling at them about this storm that's coming, and no one is prepared for it except for him.
And that he's gonna somehow, like, outlive them because he is smarter than them.
It's also like, this delusion thinking that. Or disordered thinking that, you know, my daughter needs a cochlear implant because she's deaf, and who wouldn't want to give that to their kid?
But I'm gonna build a storm shelter because that is more important. He, like, can't prioritize anything except for this obsession with building this storm shelter. And then it's almost like for a moment, he feels vindicated because when a storm actually does happen to them needing to take shelter.
Right.
He already has it built. And the reason why we know that that.
Well, actually, let me think about that.
We're not sure of whether or not that storm happened because we're not sure at that point anymore if we're dreaming or we're not. Because at first it was very evident that we were dreaming. But as his mental illness evolves, it becomes less easily discernible as to whether or not he is actually dreaming. So in the scene leading up to them going out to the storm shelter, Sam is the one who hears the sirens and wakes him up.
So it almost makes you think, like, you know, it's not. It's not a dream because she Heard it, not him.
And he's the one who's ill, so it's not a dream because she's the one who heard it, and she woke him up.
And then we see that people are picking up, you know, the next day, like, tree branches and stuff off the. Off their lawn and fixing their, like, outdoor furniture.
So it's like, maybe there was a storm of some kind, but certainly not one bad enough to take shelter over. And additionally, the way that after they've spent, like, the night in the storm shelter and Sam is pleading with him with, like, the uttermost desperation in her eyes for him to unlock the door, feels to me that, like, this didn't happen.
Like, maybe there was some rain and maybe there was a storm of sorts, but that maybe it really wasn't that bad. And he's now just, like, keeping them down there. And so it's hard to tell. It's really hard to tell if her waking him up because of these sirens was a dream or not, especially given, like, how little damage was really done the next day after the storm.
But in that moment, he feels so, like, oh, my God, I can't believe it, because I told you that a storm was coming, and I was right. And see, now we have this storm shelter, and I built it to keep my family safe.
But if it were the storm to end all storms right then no one would be alive the next day except for them.
So when you think about it like that, it's almost like he's not even relieved in that aspect that it didn't. That's not the storm that came, because that is what he thought he was preparing for.
Okay, I digress.
So we're ultimately watching a man descend and succumb to his own illness, and the part where they still go on the family vacation really, really got me, because how beautiful is that that he was still able to go on this family vacation, even though he has a doctor telling him, like, you need to be, because how beautiful is that? Like, he literally has a doctor who's telling him, you need to be away from this storm shelter, and he's able to be away from it to go on this vacation.
And, like, he's still able to, like, build sandcastles with his daughter. And it's really troubling. Like, he knows that he's gonna have to do the one thing he never thought in his wildest dreams he was gonna have to do, which is go to a treatment facility. And he still manages to go on this vacation and provide a good experience for his daughter and for his family.
And it's. I, like that type of strength is, is crazy to me. I've not, I don't know that I'm capable of that emotionally, but he did it.
And, you know, looking at the end of the film, it's kind of like, are we talking in a way, like, are we talking about schizophrenia or are we talking about climate change? You know, regardless of what you think about climate change, it's a, it's a very real fear for many, many people. And talking about things like this, this giant storm that's coming and it's going to be the worst storm you've ever seen, and it's, you know, there's nothing that we can do to stop it.
Like, is that what he's afraid of? Or is, are all of his delusions just focused and hallucinations focused on weather and storms? Because he just, that's what his brain is choosing for him. Right? It's really hard to tell to a lot of people who fear climate change and who fear, you know, just the weather patterns. Honestly, like strange and unpredictable weather is very scary. It's very, very scary. And I think that we can all agree that it's frightening.
Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, these are all tornadoes. These are all very real things that are potentially, they potentially decimate entire communities and cities. And it's just horrific, the disaster that it causes and the chaos that it causes. And it really emphasizes the importance of being prepared for things like this. Like, I don't know if you guys out there listening have ever heard of something called like a go bag.
A go bag. The idea is essentially that you have a bag that is easily accessible, that if a state of emergency or anything like that, or a take shelter order or an evacuation order were to be in place, everything you need is in that bag. So for example, you might put a couple things, a couple items of non perishable food, a flashlight with batteries, maybe a lamp. Depending on how big your bag is and what you need, if you have pets, people will often put pet food cans inside of theirs and any vet paperwork.
Additionally, they'll put in like their Social Security card and their birth certificate and any like, vital documents that they may need because. And sorry, one more thing. Cash.
It is relatively common for people to put cash in there. So it's basically a bag that if I needed to leave my house right now, I could take that bag and I could run and I would have everything that I need to survive. Oh, and water bottles, duh.
[01:11:25] Speaker B: So those are definitely things to think about now, he basically just built a second house for himself in a shipping container under the ground to kind of circumvent that.
And anyway, I would recommend something similar to a go bag to all of you out there, especially, you know, those of you that may live in, I don't know, like a major city, for example, or even.
Even in the middle of nowhere, like, really anybody. You need these types of things, right? They're important to have. So I just. A recommendation out there. And this can go for anything, really. Terrorist threat, literally anything.
But when we think about the terms, the term take shelter, we're talking about finding a deliberate act to find safety.
And it is like the proactive choice to avoid potential harm or, you know, a loss or, you know, finding protection with some sort of barrier. And so this is what we're thinking about, right?
And for. For Curtis, that means, quite literally, building a storm shelter. But for his family, what does that mean?
His family. Family doesn't really give a. About the storm shelter.
Like, they really don't. For whatever, you know, magical monstrosity of a storm is coming their way. They really don't care about that. What they do care about is the male figure of their household creating a storm. He creates a storm in their life because of this illness.
You know, he's taking out loans from the bank with variable interest rates, and he's getting fired from his job and making careless decisions, and he's only focusing on himself. And he won't tell his wife anything that's happening until she has to call an ambulance for him. And he's, you know, stealing equipment from work to build out this shelter. And like all these things, he's creating this mess for them that is gonna land him in an institution or a facility for him to receive care. And he didn't get intervention early enough because he wouldn't tell anybody.
So for him, this is a literal storm. And for his family, it's the storm that, you know and the disaster that's left in the wake of all of the chaos that this is causing for them. And this is not to say that people that are diagnosed with schizophrenia of any kind cannot live long, happy, fulfilling lives with proper care and management, because they can. But in this case, he's simply not getting it. He's not getting that proper care or management of this disorder, and it is causing his life to be in shambles almost, really.
So at the end of the film, when we see this storm rolling in, he's not the one that notices it first. Hannah is.
So is it Real.
I don't know.
I'm kind of thinking no, because in order for, if we were to say yes, like, okay, that storm was really coming in, and Sam looking at, you know, nodding and saying, like, okay, was her acknowledging that she believes him, that this really was coming.
It seems strange because of all the things that he did to prepare for the storm that he claimed that he knew was coming.
They're in another state. They're in, they're in Myrtle Beach. Like, they're nowhere near the shelter that he built. And he's not really that panicked. Like, he looks shocked, but he doesn't look panicked.
But if that were the case and that storm was real, I feel like that's a cop out.
And I feel like that's just, like, too easy. So my interpretation is, and you don't have to agree with me, and you're certainly welcome to have your own, is that the storm that Hannah was referencing was not a literal.
It was the storm of the life that they're, they're now living together that he has inadvertently and intentionally in some aspects created and what life will maybe look like from now on for their family.
And I think that s Samantha saying at the end, like, saying okay and nodding, is her acknowledging that, yes, this.
[01:17:10] Speaker A: Is going to be, this is going.
[01:17:13] Speaker B: To be really hard because it very well might be, and more than likely it will be.
So that's my take. I, I, again, you don't have to agree with me. That's how I feel.
If you want to know what the director said, he's actually in an interview with Creative Screenwriting, he actually said, I had a very strict idea of what the end of Take Shelter was. I know exactly what happens. And it's fascinating to see people respond to it in their own ways. The beautiful part of storytelling is that you're not just telling people a story. They're also telling you something about themselves, too, through their reactions.
In that situation, you're in a conversation with your audience. I really can't think of a more rewarding or fulfilling result for something you've written. It's active, kinetic, and really humbling.
In a separate interview with Chase Whale, the director said, for me personally, the moment that matters, dream, not dream. Real, not real, whatever it is, is these two characters looking at each other and connecting. The fact that they're both seeing it. That's what matters. Because if this is a film that is a meditation on marriage and commitment and communication, then what the ending has to be is that these people are on the same page again. They had this wedge put in between them from all of these various factors. And now at the end, they're looking at each other, they're seeing each other and they're together and the circumstances that surround that. Please open to interpretation.
So this film is very much a meditation on marriage and commitment and communication and the dynamic between this family and this married couple and what it means to be someone with a mental illness and be in a relationship and be, you know, a patriarch of a family and try to hold it all together and balance everything. In a way that I really feel like the end is just them all recognizing that, like what's happening is he's ill.
What's happening is he's going to leave this beautiful vacation and go home, back to, you know, their home state and go through with this therapy because he needs to do it. And even though they all desperately don't want it to end, they all have to face it together as a family unit because if they don't, they're going to fall apart.
So that's my take.
All that being said, because as you all know, I could talk for forever.
I'm gonna wrap this up. So thank you so much for listening. I really enjoyed this film. Please give it a watch if you haven't already. The final girl on 6th Avenue is part of the incredible morbidly beautiful network. Please go to morbidlybeautiful.com to check it out. Show us some love. There's podcast mine, many others like it.
There's film reviews, there's quizzes. There's anything you could want with regard to horror in any way, shape or form is there. And we want you all to join us. You can find this podcast on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music. If you enjoyed the show, it would mean the world to me if you left me a five star review and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. For any questions, comments, suggestions, concerns or requests, you can email me at finalgirl on6mail.com or send me a message on Instagram @finalgirlon66. Thank you so much again for listening and I will talk to you very soon. Never Forget that I'm 6th Avenue's very own Final Girl.
[01:21:20] Speaker A: Bye.
