Kevin Bacon

Made films the shows talk about.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Animal House (1978); Friday the 13th (1980); Footloose (1984); The Toxic Avenger (1984); Flatliners (1990); Tremors (1990); JFK (1991); A Few Good Men (1992); Hollow Man (2000); In the Cut (2003); Mystic River (2003); Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011); Quicksilver; Sinister; The Big Picture; Trapped; Wild Things.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): 4 lines

  1. unmapped (template) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). The imposing masked killer and the final girl in Chainsaw became the slasher template Friday the 13th and Halloween used.
    “We have that, that ends up in Halloween, Friday the 13th, everything else.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan · 0:04:06 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (final girl prototype) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). Sally is the ground-zero prototype final girl later ripped off in every Friday the 13th and most Halloween movies.
    “she's the prototype ground 0 final girl that then gets ripped off.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan · 0:06:46 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (rip-off) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). The final girl running to Jason's mom for help copies Sally running to the gas station guy.
    “Friday the 13th rips it off.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan · 0:41:15 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). Friday borrowed the seemingly friendly helper who turns out hostile and the killer who keeps getting back up.
    “a seemingly friendly helper who ends up being not friendly, the Texas chainsaw move.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:46:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Meatballs: 2 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Meatballs ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). Meatballs was as much an influence on the camp setting and look as Halloween was.
    “I think carrying meatballs were equally influential as Halloween is on this.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:11:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Meatballs ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). The pitch was Halloween crossed with the summer-camp comedy Meatballs.
    “And it was basically Halloween crossed meatballs, ends up getting the money”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:18:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Carrie (1976): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Carrie ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). The final-scene jump scare is directly influenced by the hand coming out of the grave in Carrie.
    “it's directly like influenced by Carrie, right?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:43:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Halloween (1978): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Halloween ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). Friday the 13th was an openly shameless Halloween ripoff, built on Halloween's success.
    “We have to talk about how this was the most unabashed ripoff movie probably of all time.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:17:45 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

Jaws (1975): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Jaws ⇒ Friday the 13th (the host's read). Friday took Jaws' device of music for a villain you cannot see.
    “the Jaws music for the villain you can't see.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:46:35 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Kenny Loggins: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Footloose (1984), which they acted in: Kenny Loggins ⇒ Footloose (the host's read). The speaker's read is that Loggins wrote the song first and the film took its title from it.
    “I feel like Loggins did Footloose. He wrote the song and then they were like, good song. We should name the movie Footloose.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Weird Science’ With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt · 1:14:27 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

Susanna Moore: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through In the Cut (2003), which they acted in: Susanna Moore ⇒ In the Cut (the host's read). Campion had been developing the film since the mid-90s, when she read Moore's novel.
    “Campion had been working on this movie since the mid 90s when she read Susanna Moore's novel, which came out in 95.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:24:44 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)

The Verdict (1982): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through A Few Good Men (1992), which they acted in: The Verdict ⇒ A Few Good Men (the host's read). You cannot have A Few Good Men without The Verdict; everything on the courtroom checklist comes from it.
    “you really, really cannot have a few good men without having the verdict”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:07:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Old School (2003): 2 lines

  1. lineage (genre lineage) · through Animal House (1978), which they acted in: Animal House ⇒ Old School (the host's read). Animal House started the habit of a winnable conflict set-piece that comedies copied for ten years, and Old School revived it.
    “I think Animal House started it and then the next 10 years of comedy is ripped off”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Old School’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:34:48 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (genre lineage) · through Animal House (1978), which they acted in: Animal House ⇒ Old School (the host's read). Old School is the latest in a frat-movie cycle that returns every 10 to 15 years, starting with Animal House.
    “It is in keeping with the kind of every 10 to 15 years frat movie that we now get.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Old School’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:05:23 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)

A Time to Kill (1996): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through A Few Good Men (1992), which they acted in: A Few Good Men ⇒ A Time to Kill (the host's read). A Time to Kill blends every earlier trope: country lawyer, big-shot prosecutor, cranky judge.
    “puts them in a blender and it gives you every single thing”
    The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:28:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Friday the 13th ⇒ Friday the 13th Part 2 (the host's read). Part 2 essentially redoes the first film with a better bad guy and a little more money.
    “I think the 2nd one almost stands in as like, let's redo the 1st one, but make the bad guy even better.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:03:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Gillian Flynn: 1 line

  1. lineage (inspired her approach) · through Mystic River (2003), which they acted in: Mystic River ⇒ Gillian Flynn (the maker said so). After failed attempts at novels, Flynn read Mystic River and took from it the idea of a crime that is a red herring for a character story.
    “She said she had many failed attempts and then read Dennis Lahain's Mystic River, which, in my opinion, is an incredible piece of writing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:31:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Hollywood Nights: 1 line

  1. unmapped (knockoff) · through Animal House (1978), which they acted in: Animal House ⇒ Hollywood Nights (the host's read). Hollywood Nights is called an Animal House runoff set in the past.
    “That was like an animal house runoff”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Shining with Timothy Simons (Ad-Free) · 2:41:00 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Sharp Objects (TV): 1 line

  1. unmapped (template (crime as red herring)) · through Mystic River (2003), which they acted in: Mystic River ⇒ Sharp Objects (TV) (the host's read). Sharp Objects and Dark Places are described as Flynn's attempts at the Mystic River-style crime-as-red-herring structure.
    “And so sharp objects and dark places are both kind of like attempts at that, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:32:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Friday the 13th (1980), which they acted in: Friday the 13th ⇒ Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (the host's read). The in-film franchise is very much Friday the 13th while also running through the paces of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
    “It is very much Friday the 13th, but it's also gone through some of the same paces as Scream, and I know what you did last summer and things like that.”
    The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ With Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, and Jane Schoenbrun! · 0:21:40 · Adam Nayman (0.50 sure it was them)

Toxic Crusaders (1990): 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through The Toxic Avenger (1984), which they acted in: The Toxic Avenger ⇒ Toxic Crusaders (the host's read). A kid-friendly cartoon was spun off a transgressive Troma film, and a revival died because the contracts could not be found.
    “Toxic Crusaders, which was the weird Saturday morning version of Toxic Avenger, uh, a movie that is super transgressive and the least child friendly thing in the world.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind with Lulu Wang · 0:18:36 · Griffin Newman (0.55 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (25) everyone in acting

Other (3) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (6)

  1. career (career): Kevin Bacon → Animal House. Bacon's earlier Rewatchables appearances are listed, starting with Animal House.
    “JFK, this is for Animal House.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:48:40 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Kevin Bacon → Tremors. Bacon is praised as the perfect mid-level leading man in 80s and early 90s movies like Tremors, The Big Picture, Quicksilver and Flatliners.
    “where he's the lead, like tremors or whatever.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:49:12 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Kevin Bacon → Mystic River. A hope of doing Mystic River on the show, but it is doubtful it is rewatchable.
    “Will we ever do Mystic River?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:49:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. career (career): Kevin Bacon → Friday the 13th. Bacon says he signs more screenshots from Friday the 13th than from any of his other movies.
    “Then Kevin Bacon apparently claims that he gets asked to sign screenshots from his destine in this movie more than all his other movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:28:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Bill Paxton → Kevin Bacon. Paxton belongs to the Kevin Bacon, Bill Pullman, Kiefer Sutherland tier; the third guy in the cocktail with Tom Hanks in Apollo 13.
    “Apollo 13 tanks.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:21:03 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. career (career): Kevin Bacon → A Few Good Men. Bacon chose to be a character actor, wanting a part like A Few Good Men over the Tom Cruise role.
    “I want like, I want the fucking part in a few good men rather than being turned down for the Tom Cruise role.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:59:38 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)

industry (1)

  1. industry (industry): Blumhouse → Kevin Bacon. Blumhouse pairs unknown-director micro-budgets with name stars like Kevin Bacon on profit participation.
    “we'll have Kevin Bacon star in this movie, like sinister”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 0:16:09 · Chris Ryan (0.60 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

  1. verdict (verdict): Kevin Bacon → Mystic River. Bacon is far and away the best performance in Mystic River.
    “he's far and away the best performance in the movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 1:52:44 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)

what-if (2)

  1. what-if (almost cast): Kevin Bacon → Christine. Carpenter wanted Bacon for Christine but he chose Footloose.
    “Carpenter wanted him for Christine and he chose Footloose instead.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:09:48 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (almost cast): Kevin Bacon → Starman. After Footloose made him a star Carpenter wanted him for Starman and he nearly did it.
    “So then Carpenter wanted him for this, and he almost did it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:09:54 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Kevin Bacon: Bacon reportedly signs more screenshots from this film than any other of his movies.
    “Then Kevin Bacon apparently claims that he gets asked to sign screenshots”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:28:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Kevin Bacon: Bacon plays the worst New York boyfriend: his scenes read like an Instagram screenshot of a text from a single Tinder date.
    “He feels like a fucking Instagram screenshot of just like, this is this insane thing this guy sent to me after one fucking Tinder date.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:57:43 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Kevin Bacon: A profile said Bacon decided he was ninth on the list and would rather be a great character actor than chase the lead.
    “how he just made the choice where he's like, I'm ninth on the list.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:59:12 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)