It has been a few weeks since I saw Friendship, and now that the layer of uncomfortable cringeness has been washed away from my skin, there is something I feel like I have to discuss about one of the best A24 movies in some time. No, it doesn't have to do with Tim Robinson or Paul Rudd’s gonzo performances, that absurd Subway scene, or the fact that this 2025 movie led to a minor meltdown.
Instead, it’s more to do with the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia that came over me during a couple of scenes. Specifically, it uncovered a long-forgotten millennial memory of mine that involves Dragon Ball Z and Slipknot. Your eyes aren’t fooling you… I said Dragon Ball Z and Slipknot. As crazy as this all sounds, it’s not some bit from I Think You Should Leave, but it is a ridiculous story.
Friendship Features Slipknot's 'Wait And Bleed' A Couple Of Times, And It Took Me Back
When I went to see Friendship, I expected the movie to make me laugh, and I suspected that it would make me want to crawl out of my skin. I had no idea the movie would send me down memory lane after hearing Slipknot’s popular track, “Wait and Bleed,” from the nu-metal outfit’s 1999 self-titled album.
The song, which is still pretty awesome after all these years, is featured in a couple of scenes throughout the movie, including early on when Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) and Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd) are hanging out. Like the awkward Craig, I, too, was blown away by hearing this track back in the day. Hearing that song after all these years took me back to being that sixth grader all over again.
Hearing That Song Made Me Think About These Dragon Ball Z Nu-Metal Videos For The First Time In Years
I don’t know if younger readers, those Gen Zers out there, will remember this, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s, fan-made compilations, or anime music videos, for shows like Dragon Ball Z set to nu-metal songs were all the rage. There were classics like tributes to Vegeta set to Limp Bizkit’s “My Way,” absurd power-up videos (remember all those ridiculously long sequences?) set to Korn’s “Falling Away from Me,” and so much more. But the one that came to mind after watching Friendship was a long-forgotten DBZ AMV set to Slipknot’s “Wait and Bleed.”
All of a sudden, I was flooded with memories of downloading this two-and-a-half-minute video on LimeWire or Kazaa back in middle school. Mind you, this wasn’t with broadband or high-speed internet, but instead a tried-and-true 56k modem, meaning it took many hours to watch the clip in full. Simpler times!
I've Said Friendship Made Me Uncomfortable, But It Also Made Me Incredibly Nostalgic
I’ve told pretty much everyone who’ll listen that Friendship made me extremely uncomfortable, both in the theater and long after the credits rolled. However, I can’t deny the fact that this movie also made me incredibly nostalgic, especially when it came to my childhood obsession with one of the best animated shows of all time. I don’t know how the late Akira Toriyama would feel about this, but he’d probably get a chuckle out of this odd connection. I have to admit, it’s wild what triggers a nostalgia trip like this. And I didn’t even have to lick any toads to experience it.
So, there’s that… my strange experience of remembering an absurdly pixelated video that I spent hours downloading, which probably put my parents on some list with our internet provider a quarter-century ago. Good times!
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