Trees and Nature in Scary Movies!

Michael Cassidy, sales arborist at Davey's West Columbus office, shares his list of scary movies featuring spooky trees, eerie forests and creepy plants just in time for Halloween. 

In this episode we cover: 

• Doug's favorite horror movie (1:22)
• Doug and Michael's Halloween traditions (2:40)
• Scary movies with scary trees and plants  
  • Pumpkinhead (4:34)
  • The Wicker Man (5:01)
  • Ernest Scares Stupid (6:02)
  • Blair Witch Project (7:26)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (8:13)
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (11:39)
  • Color Out of Space (12:06)
  • Moonstruck (12:38)
  • Midsommar (13:14)
  • Jumanji (14:02)
  • Predator (15:01)
  • Alien (15:44)
  • Wrong Turn (16:41)
  • The Watchers (17:02)
  • The Evil Dead series (17:35)
  • Gaia (19:57)
  • The Wizard of Oz (20:27)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about scary trees and plants, read Davey's blog, Zombie Trees: What You Need to Know. 

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company 

Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com. 

Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!

Transcript

Doug Oster: Welcome to The Davey Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer. We're going to have some fun today. I'm joined again by Mike Cassidy. He's a sales arborist in the West Columbus Davey Tree office. Last year, around this time, we talked about trees and pop culture, and today, Mike, all about scary trees. Welcome back. [chuckles]

Mike Cassidy: Good to be back, Doug. I got a few impressions. I got some movies to go over, and I just want to ask you, first and foremost, do you like scary movies?

Doug: [chuckles] I do like scary movies.

Mike: Got you. All right. I got a list again. These are all horror movies, Halloween movies featuring trees. I got some woods as the setting, and I'm excited to get into it. Halloween's my favorite time of year. We get the fall leaf color. We get the cool, crisp weather. It's the best. The smell's everything. Let me ask you this before we start. What's your favorite horror movie?

Doug: Let me think. Exorcist, I think.

Mike: Oh, gruesome. I don't know if there's much nature in that movie. It's pretty much all indoors, huh?

Doug: [chuckles] Yes, not many trees in that one.

Mike: You see some street trees when they're out front when he's defenestrated. You see a couple street trees in the [laughs] background, maybe.

Doug: That movie freaked me out. That was something wild for its era.

Mike: I wish I could have been there in theaters. That and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I wish I could have been there in theaters.

Doug: I saw Exorcist in a drive-in, actually. [chuckles]

Mike: So cool. Did you sneak anybody in your trunk?

Doug: Not for that movie-

[laughter]

Doug: -but I had a friend that had a '60s Galaxie with a big trunk. I don't know how dumb we were. One 16-year-old kid driving into a drive-in, they were all in the trunk.

Mike: [laughs] Yes, you could have played that a little better. It's like changing your D's to A's. My parents never believed that I was getting A's. Is there anything you're doing for Halloween this year, Halloween tradition? Anything coming up that you're excited about?

Doug: See, we live in a place where we can't get trick-or-treaters. First off, the house is up on a hill way back in the woods, so nothing there. I'll carve a pumpkin with my daughter, probably. She loves to carve pumpkins, and so that'll be probably it. I assume you've got a big Halloween celebration coming up.

Mike: Well, I got a three-and-a-half-year-old, so we're developing these traditions as they go. A big one for me is making his costume. I'd love to ask him whatever crazy thing he wants to be and set it up. Last year, he was a robot and just looked awful, but he had a good time. [chuckles] It was fun to go, we live in a neighborhood, so we got a good trick-or-treating route. Yes, carve pumpkins. I'm playing a little jam band, and we always do a Halloween show around this time.

Doug: Now, will the songs be Halloween-themed, or just be like your normal set list?

Mike: We have no songs. We just get up and start playing. I just make up the words, and they will absolutely all be spooky.

Doug: Oh, boy.

Mike: [laughs]

Doug: It sounds spooky in many ways.

Mike: You come down to Columbus, and I'll show you a good time.

Doug: All right, that sounds good.

Mike: Let's get started. Okay. First couple on the list are a little bit of a genre or a common theme. It's the nature witch, the woods witch, where our intrepid hero goes into the woods. We're in the setting of the woods, and that sets the scene for a witch that maybe draws power upon the area around her. Number one with the bullet for me is Pumpkinhead.

Doug: No, I don't know the movie.

Mike: I thought I was going to get you with that one for sure. Just fabulous swamp scenes. They got the dry ice and the smoke blowing up when he comes out. He's walking across the boards to get to an old shack in the woods, where a witch can help him get revenge, but maybe with unintended consequences for our hero. All right, well, this one's going to get you. This one is my first-- I got a quote here for you, and you're going to tell me the movie. I'm going to give you a toss-up here for the first one.

Doug: Oh, jeez, you're making me work.

Mike: You're going to get this one. "It's time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man."

Doug: I have no idea. [laughs]

Mike: The Wicker Man. Oh, man, there's the original. It's like a British flick, and then Nick Cage did a sequel. Well, not a sequel, a remake of it. It all ends up with this massive wicker effigy that they put him in, and they're out in a bucolic island, where he's trapped trying to find out what happened to his daughter. The natural setting plays a big role in trapping him there.

Doug: If you're going to quote movies and you're going to expect me to come up with them, you're going to have to go back a ways. [chuckles]

Mike: All right, I might have some in here that are back a little bit further. I thought you were going to say if I'm going to quote movies, you're going to do some impressions. [laughs]

Doug: I could do that, depending on the movie.

Mike: All right, now this one, I got two here that absolutely horrified me as a kid. First one, Ernest Scared Stupid.

Doug: Now, we're talking.

Mike: That troll and that tree. First of all, the treehouse is the goal of all treehouses, right? They have these movie treehouses that are two, three rooms up top, and you can just imagine being able to escape there with your friends. Then that troll is absolutely horrifying. That also includes your nature witch that comes out through the woods and warns them not to disturb the ground, which the troll is trapped under, which eventually gets out and, of course, is thwarted by Miak. That's one for all my Ernest heads out there.

If I watch an Ernest movie, I will be on YouTube watching old Jim Varney clips for hours. I absolutely love him.

Doug: Guy's funny as heck.

Mike: He was just doing commercials before that.

Doug: Yes, I remember the commercials. They were great. To roll it into a movie career, that's awesome.

Mike: Yes, good-looking guy, too. There's some scenes of him doing Shakespeare, and he's just beautiful. Then he puts on the hat and the vest, and he's Ernest for the rest of his life. I think you got this one, cultural phenomenon.

Doug: Uh-oh.

Mike: "I'm so scared." Camera in the face, sound footage, cultural phenomenon, The Blair Witch Project.

Doug: Oh, that's probably the very end of my era of those movies. I remember somebody came to a Halloween party dressed as The Blair Witch Project, which was cool.

Mike: What did they do? Just stand in the corner all night?

Doug: No, they just had a flashlight. I forget what they were wearing, but it was obviously Blair Witch Project.

Mike: What a movie. That's not one you can go back to.

Doug: I've never seen it, actually.

Mike: All the found footage stuff makes me motion sick.

Doug: Yes, that's what I heard, actually.

Mike: [chuckles] All right, now this one's on my list. I don't care what you say. I think this one fits. No voices, but the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Doug: Okay, which version?

Mike: That's what I was going to ask you. Okay, we got three versions: '50s, '70s, or '90s.

Doug: I go with '50s, and number one would be the '70s. I love the Donald Sutherland version of it. I often say when I'm in a neighborhood that I shouldn't be in, like a fancy neighborhood, that's what they're looking at me like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Mike: [laughs]

Doug: They're pointing and making that noise.

Mike: The pods are super effective, and it plays into our fear of nature, our awe of the natural world. There is an aspect to what we do as arborists and what we talk about when we're talking trees where we have to be respectful, and anything could happen. They're incredibly powerful. A massive tree in front of your house, it's so beautiful. You take care of it with the knowledge that it could be in decline and drop on your house, but it's worth it, right?

Doug: Definitely.

Mike: You live in the woods. I guess you're a little bit of a Woods Witch out there yourself, I guess.

Doug: There's no doubt about it. The Woods Witch is after all my oak trees.

Mike: [laughs] When I think about the woods as a setting, I think like-- you go on hikes in nature, and it helps you reconnect yourself or center yourself. Also, you can imagine if you turn around in four directions and don't know where you are anymore, you are lost in a way that we don't experience much in day-to-day life, right? I think that's interesting to think about, the fear of a primal evil or not being in control that you feel with the woods or when you're climbing a tree or anything that's involved in the natural world.

Doug: Back to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which one is your favorite? Do you even know the '50s version?

Mike: I was huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 head growing up, huge American International fan. I don't know, I had all these packs of DVDs that I would get for super cheap that are all the old '50s, Attack of the Gila Monster, Attack of the Giant Shrews, Carnival of Souls, all these movies. I think if I was having a party, I would watch the '70s version because it's the most fun, it's the most effective. I have seen the '50s version the most.

Doug: Oh, cool. That's interesting. I saw that '70s one in the theater and certainly knew the '50s version back then. It was scary. It was really scary.

Mike: Oh, and it's that classic unsettling ending where it's just a guy with his hand out, [makes monster sound] and you're like, [gasps].

Doug: That was an unsettling ending.

[laughter]

Mike: That's the kind of movie where later on people are like, "Well, it was an allegory for something," and I just didn't get it. They talk about Texas Chainsaw Massacre as an allegory for Vietnam. Boy, I didn't get it.

Doug: There's another one that I've never seen. I've read about it, I've heard about it, but I've never watched it.

Mike: It's terrifying. It's gruesome. You can imagine. It's all there in the title, really. [laughs]

Doug: I think that pretty much lays it out.

Mike: All right. Now, this is one I know you're not going to get. It's another Nicolas Cage movie. This one's new, but it's in reference to HP Lovecraft's old story, The Colour Out of Space. In this one, all of the plants and landscape are getting turned a different color and they're affecting everything around them. It's almost like The Happening style movie where the first things to change is the landscape and the fear comes from just what's happening all around them. They notice first with the plants. Great movie if you haven't watched it, but super cheesy.

Doug: You must love Nick Cage.

Mike: Love's a strong word, but who doesn't love to see a good Nick Cage freak out, right? Him going through the alphabet, screaming at his secretary, "A-B-C-D-E-F-G."

Doug: My favorite is Moonstruck.

Mike: I've never seen it.

Doug: Oh.

Mike: [laughs]

Doug: That's a crime. That's a crime.

Mike: I'll watch Moonstruck if you watch The Colour Out of Space. The next time I talk to you, we'll see what we got.

Doug: All right. That sounds good to me.

Mike: All right. Another new one for all the A24 heads out there, Midsommar. You know anything like--

Doug: What is that?

Mike: This is a girl and her friends go on a trip to a-- It's always sunlight there, Dutch or something. It's another bucolic landscape, a cult-y vibe where they're terrified. The point is, it all ends up, and she's in this massive suit of flowers and plants that she can't get out of, but it's a really effective scene. It all centers around their connection with nature and them being out there. It's a great movie. All right. Another one that scared me as a kid, not a horror movie, but some terrifying elements, Jumanji.

Doug: I know the movie, but again, I don't think I've ever seen it.

Mike: Oh. You got Bonnie Hunt, Robin Williams. Specifically, I'm talking about when she rolls the dice for the first time, and she comes up with, "They grow much faster than bamboo. Take care, or they'll come after you." Nothing for you, huh?

Doug: Boy, I'm really striking out on this one.

Mike: [laughs] Oh, I love it. Last time we talked, you're a heck of a movie buff, so I really wanted to come here and mix you up a little bit.

Doug: Yes, you definitely are mixing me up. I'm realizing that my pop culture references basically date from about 1930 to about 1980.

Mike: Yes. Okay. I'm seeing that.

Doug: After that, unless it's a kid's movie or something else, I guess I didn't see it.

Mike: This one is just outside, but I think you're going to get this one. "If it bleeds, we can kill it." Predator.

Doug: Let's hear the impression, though. You need to do a better impression.

Mike: Okay. Now, okay. "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

Doug: Predator.

Mike: [laughs] Just edit that out. Well, that'll look good for you.

Doug: Yes, I'm leaving it in.

Mike: [laughs] Oh, man.

Doug: Because I love Predator. I love Predator.

Mike: From first shot to last shot, it is like a total thrill ride, quintessential '80s action.

Doug: Yes, it's an awesome movie.

Mike: Then running through the jungle. Now, okay, where do you land on Alien vs. Predator? Which one? Which franchise?

Doug: Aliens.

Mike: Yes. [laughs]

Doug: Again, Alien, that first Alien. I saw that in the theater, and I'd never seen anything like it. I like sci-fi, but that was when that Alien pops out of his chest, whoo.

Mike: Classic fabulous horror movie, too, or you could argue just sci-fi, where at the beginning, you just want to be there. Just like The Thing, when they're hanging out in the cafeteria, when they're hanging around that table, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, you're just like, "What a great group of folks. I just want to be there." By the end, you change your mind, but the point stands.

Doug: No scary trees in Alien, though.

Mike: No. I'm going to land on the side of Predator just to be the good arborist here. A big one for me as a kid, but just an absolutely awful movie. Wrong Turn. A couple of woods--

Doug: Never heard of it.

Mike: Yes, that you can imagine. They crashed their car. They're getting terrorized by woods people, running through the woods, getting the fall traps and everything. Not watchable. Just awful. Had to make my list. Another one on that same train is The Watchers. I think it's M. Night Shyamalan's daughter made it. They're trapped in a box in the woods, and they look out, and every night, stuff comes and clicks around. It's a classic, what a twist, M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Doug: Boy, you've gone deep in this. You've really done your homework.

Mike: I actually sat down with a notebook and just wrote these down. [laughs]

Doug: Seriously?

Mike: Yes.

Doug: Wow.

Mike: I was very ready for this. Let me ask you this. Did you do any homework? You got any for me? You got any Universal monster flicks that I'm forgetting?

Doug: No, but I'm going to go into, I think, the '80s with the Evil Dead series, Evil Dead 1 and 2, and then Army of Darkness.

Mike: I specifically left that one out. [laughs]

Doug: Why?

Mike: It's a pretty rough scene to that movie. I actually just got a chance to go see that in theaters, though. We have a local theater that puts on old movies and stuff. Man, was it fun to see in theaters.

Doug: The third one is my favorite because it's more comical. Army of Darkness is more of, I don't know if you'd say, a Three Stooges look at a fantasy movie.

Mike: He really went with it. Sam, the director who ended up doing Spider-Man.

Doug: Sam Raimi.

Mike: Yes. You can absolutely, even from that first movie, see that this guy was ready to film a modern action movie. The beats, the shots, everything is just right ahead of its time.

Doug: An Evil Dead when they're going through the forest, and it's at ground level really quickly, that's a filming trick that I've used for garden stuff. Sam Raimi taught me a good way to shoot that sort of shot.

Mike: I'd say send him $100, but he's probably okay.

Doug: Yes, I think he's doing okay after the Spider-Man movie.

Mike: You know that most of Evil Dead, the original, was filmed in a gym, and they rebuilt that entire cabin inside of a gymnasium so that they could set up all their cameras.

Doug: Jeez, I had no idea.

Mike: Movie magic.

Doug: Yes. You're the movie man.

Mike: What a face on that one. I guess. I don't know. I think you know more than you let on. It's a good host. You're giving me the props here.

Doug: No, I'm lost in a lot of these movies. Again, I guess I aged out of a lot of those movies.

Mike: It's never too late to go back. Start buying tickets.

Doug: That's true. That's true.

Mike: I need you now more than ever, honestly. All right, let me give you one more.

Doug: All right.

Mike: It's called Gaia. In this movie, it's a full-on mushroom monster movie. That's homework for everybody. That is one that really, totally just jumped on it on a whim, and it was a fabulous movie.

Doug: How new is that?

Mike: 2020s.

Doug: You're definitely a movie buff. There's no doubt about it. Those were a lot of scary trees. When we talked about pop culture, I know we talked about one of the scariest tree scenes ever was Wizard of Oz, and we're jumping off from there on this. I feel I was lost, though. Like I said, I think I aged out of your look at the movies.

Mike: I'm going to send you a list, Doug. That's all there is to it. I'm going to send you a list. Get back to me and tell me how fabulous my recommendations were.

Doug: Then we'll both watch the movies, the Nick Cage movies, and the next time that we do this, we'll compare notes.

Mike: [laughs] All right.

Doug: All right, Mike. Thanks again. That was fun.

Mike: You got it. See you at Christmas.

Doug: All righty. Well, there you have it. Something completely different. As you can tell, we were having a lot of fun there. I'll say it again. I've aged out. I'm too old. All right, fellow tree lovers, tune in every Thursday to this Talking Trees podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster. As always, I want you to subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a show. Do you have an idea for an episode? You can send us an email to podcasts@davey.com. That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S @ D-A-V-E-Y.com.

You can also click the link at the end of our show notes to text us a fan mail message. I promise you, your ideas could be on a future show, and we'd love to hear from you. As always, we'd like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast, trees can be scary, but they are the answer.

[00:22:11] [END OF AUDIO]