There’s something ironic about reviewing a film due to its titular tie in to beaches only to discover upon viewing that it takes place almost entirely in snowy Colorado. After Jim apologizes for that, he implores the Internet to help him stop getting Twitter notifications about The Snyderverse (4:18) and delves into the world of hurt people hurting people with a discussion of his recent obsession, Vice TV’s phenomenal Dark Side of the Ring(12:43).
At 26:39 comes the discussion of A.T. White’s Starfish, a film that Jim initially wrote off because of “how hipster it is.” This episode is a rarity in the lifespan of The Cast of Cthulhu, one in which Jim actually walks back a few of his criticisms in real time after listening to James’s interpretations! Unlike so many starfish with severed limbs though, he doesn’t emerge from this episode newly formed since Starfish’s meager budget and half-baked world building lead to a film about an emotional journey that is oddly emotionally muddled and not at all Lovecraftian.
Are the creatures real or imagined? What does the voice on the radio want? Is Aubrey’s journey across town real or metaphorical? Is the giant creature in the sky an inadvertent callback to the discussion of The Snyderverse because it’s actually DC supervillain Starro? Listen to our mixtape to find out!
The film does NOT take place decades ago. Aubrey finds a movie ticket dated 2014. It really is an insufferably hipster movie.
The tape actually DOES have writing that says “THIS MIXTAPE WILL SAVE THE WORLD”.
If the scattering of the tapes was to PREVENT them from being played together, why not just destroy the tapes?