WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: The Viewing 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:08.239 Hello, and welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. My name 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.200 is Joe McCormick. This week, Rob and I are out, 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:14.040 so we're bringing you an older episode of Weird House 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.920 Cinema for this Friday. This was the feature that we 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:22.119 did on Panos Cosmodos's The Viewing, which was an entry 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.400 in a short film in Germo del Toro's Cabinet of 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:31.840 Curiosities series. This episode originally published on August eleventh, twenty 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:38.040 twenty three. Let's get right in there. Welcome to Stuff 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.280 to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.320 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.159 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.400 we've got something a little bit different for you today. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.920 Today on Weird House Cinema, we're going to be talking 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:03.440 about The Viewing, directed by Panos Cosmodos, which is not 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:08.480 a feature film, but an anthology episode in the twenty 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:14.600 twenty two Netflix series Germo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. Rob, 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.000 this was your pick. How did you end up bringing 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:18.679 us into this zone? 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.959 Well, you know, I certainly of modern directors, Panos is 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:27.080 one of my favorite weird directors and certainly someone who's 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:28.839 always been in the back of my mind with weird 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.959 house cinema. I think one of the reasons I dig 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.400 this selection so much, though, is that it kind of 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.400 fills a vital gap in modern genre cinema. I don't 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:39.959 know if this will make sense or if this is 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.000 just like me thinking too long and hard about it, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:47.080 but I feel like this, this movie of the viewing, 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.640 is in many ways like a B movie creature feature, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.880 only without the B movie budget limitations and with everything, 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:56.040 you know, some being somewhat subjected to a kind of 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.880 like cinematic reduction, you know, and concentration of the flavors. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.560 As we've discussed on the show before, B movies of today, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.120 at least to me and I think to us to 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.560 some degree, they lack the luster of those twentieth century 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.960 B movies. And we've discussed some of the possible reasons why. 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.040 You know, is it the technical proficiency or lack thereof 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.079 sometimes in the modern B movies. Is it digital film 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:26.440 and digital effects versus practical and film, or do these 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.000 recent films just feel too contemporary. 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.040 I think a lot of modern B movies are too 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:38.320 self conscious and not distinctive enough they kind of lack 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.360 some of the character of the B movies of old 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.760 and have a level of self consciousness that takes some 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.760 of the fun out. Like I don't know, I mean, 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.840 I've never gotten deep into the Sharknado series, but is like, 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.560 I don't know how much of a drive I feel 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.000 to watch Sharknado five, but I do kind of want 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.560 to watch Jaws four again. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:05.359 Yeah, you mentioned fun, and I think that's another key thing, 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.320 Like a lot of B movies from the past, that 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.160 they're fun to watch. This selection. The viewing is, at 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:18.280 least to my taste, a very fun viewing experience. Every 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.160 time I watch it, I laugh a little bit, I 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.880 geek out over some of the visuals and the sounds, 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.160 and I ponder over some of the strange choices that 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.240 are made, and I think all of those things kind 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.679 of match up with the sort of suite of experiences 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.360 you tend to have with older B movies, though obviously 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.880 to create this nowadays, you've got to spend a lot 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.240 more money. You've got to throw in, you know, sort 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.160 of a mixture of retro esthetics, absurdism. In the case 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.040 of Panos's film, certainly a heightened commitment to style, and 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.160 I guess it's understandable when we don't see more films 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.560 of this nature, because yeah, it's clearly expensive to generate. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.360 And I guess at the end of the day, there's 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:00.520 kind of like a who is this. 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.880 For a question? Yeah, I mean, I don't really know. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.440 I feel like his most recent feature film, Mandy, was 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:10.960 moderately successful, was it not? Or am I wrong? 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:14.640 Oh? Yeah? Yeah, Yeah, Mandy was successful at least as 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.120 far as my understanding of its metrics go. You know, 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.240 it had several different things that sort of propelled it 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.880 and got people into theaters or certainly checking it out 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.720 digitally later, be it you know, the whole you know, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.120 cage rage aspect of it. You learned to see this 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.640 really walked out performance from Nicholas Cage or certainly the 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.520 face melting visuals and sounds of the of the picture. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:45.440 And also it had a very I guess, dependable subgenre 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:49.200 styling to it. It is a revenge film, which is 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.200 not my favorite genre of film, but it's something that 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.920 you go into a movie like that you kind of 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.520 know what sort of ride you're in for, and that 0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:58.840 helps propel you through it. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.880 Yeah, So maybe the revenge film or other genre trappings 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.600 might explain part of the success there, but I feel 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.920 like there is an audience for Panos Cosmodos, oh and 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.000 for his style driven approach. I mean, so I've seen now, 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.400 I guess, all of the major film projects of Panos Cosmotos. 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.760 So he's done two features Beyond the Black Rainbow from 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.480 twenty ten and Mandy from twenty eighteen, and this Cabinet 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.880 of Curiosities episode. I've seen all three now, and I 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.800 don't know of anything else he's really released. One thing 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.760 I think they all have in common is that they 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:38.400 are primarily texture driven rather than narrative driven. So whereas 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.800 you assume most filmmaking projects start with the story idea, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.560 they start with a script or a story concept, and 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.800 then they come up with the audio visual elements that 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.640 are necessitated by that. They come up with sets and 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.240 costumes and lighting schema and music and other visual and 0:05:55.279 --> 0:06:00.000 auditory motifs to serve and enrich the story. I think Panos, 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.320 I mean, I don't know about the process if it 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.880 really works this way, but it feels like Panos's movies 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.400 start with the texture. They start with maybe a vision 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.320 of a room with sunken couches in a circle with 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.840 a strange sort of pipe organ chandelier hanging above them, 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.440 and a revolving table covered in lines of cocaine, surrounded 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.560 by like mirrored orange radiance and AK forty seven silhouetted 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.720 in gold light. And then there's a specific soundtrack to this. 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:29.800 You can you know he's hearing it in his head. 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.360 There's like a chord progression playing in a dark, saturated 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.960 moge synthesizer tone. Oh. And then you know, for another movie, 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.080 it's like I'm seeing a biker that's only in shadows, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.320 surrounded by pink light, covered head to toe in spikes 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.599 like a pufferfish, but they're not spikes, they're made of rebar. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:47.160 Oh. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.680 And there's like a battle between two men wielding ten 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.880 foot long chainsaws, and so forth and so forth. And 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.960 it feels like they start with the images and the 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.120 color palettes, the lighting, the music and all that, and 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.200 they just kind of fell in a story or the 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.919 suggestion of a story to link together all of that texture. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.039 I'd say, of the three things, maybe Mandy is the 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.480 most story driven of his works, followed by this episode 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.960 somewhere in the middle, and then Beyond the Black Rainbow 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.240 seems the least story driven in the most kind of 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.560 texture driven. But in all cases it seems to me 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.760 like the plot content is secondary to the sites and 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.840 the sounds. And let me know in a minute if 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.120 you disagree with that characterization. But I'll say, at least 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.760 as far as my perception of his style goes, it's 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.040 interesting to me that this is not the only film 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.080 we've covered that feels like it operates this way. But 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.240 in other cases we for one thing, no, it actually 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.560 did operate that way in terms of how the film 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.280 was made, and we know why, and it was because 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.800 of ruthless concerns about budget and efficiency. So maybe Roger 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.640 Corman says, oh, hot Dog, we got some stock footage 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.720 and some leftover sets and costumes from another movie. We 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.200 got them on the cheap. Let's throw together a script 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.720 that can use this footage of a rocket launching and 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:06.000 these sparkly coats and this rented mansion in La and 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.960 et cetera, et cetera. Panos's movies do not feel like 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.920 this at all, to the extent that it is actually 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.760 guided by an ethic of texture first, or production elements first, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.280 rather than story first, it feels like a result of 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:26.040 a lavish, indulgent passion for the project, completely opposite from 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:30.440 the sort of mercenary or efficiency focused attempt to wring 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.080 every last drop of value out of your rentals and 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:33.880 your commissions. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.880 Yeah, there's a real commitment to vision with these pictures, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.320 and I love that it has thus far been sustained 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:45.679 because when Beyond the Black Rainbow came out, I loved it. 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.280 It's just a film you can just breathe in. And 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.280 then came Mandy, and then came this, and like each time, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.280 I'm afraid things are going to get less weird, They're 0:08:55.320 --> 0:09:00.319 gonna maybe become more concerned with these other aspects of 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.000 cinematic storytelling. But thus far, no, it's been It's been 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.920 the weirdness, the visuals and you know, the sites and 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.200 sounds well beyond anything you've tested that come first. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.480 And to be clear, I don't know that this is 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.000 how Panos operates. It's just that's how the product feels 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.559 in the end. I mean it's it's entirely possible. They 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.240 do start with the script and then just something about 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.320 the way, you know, the way he realizes the sights 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.640 and sounds of that story are so strong they sort 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:33.000 of take take the pilot's chair in the actual viewing experience. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.000 But then this got me thinking about, well, what are 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:40.520 the common themes in the narrative content the stories of 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.920 panos Cosmodoss movies, And they seem to me to all 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:52.320 represent a dual infatuation with, but also deep suspicion of 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:57.359 the mini strands of the psychedelic and New Age American 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:02.119 counterculture of the sixties and seventies. So you've got murderous 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:06.720 cults of Manson type hippies. You've got demonic bikers that 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:11.920 deal drugs from hell. You have utopian alternative healing institutions 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.120 that turn into psychotic prisons, like the premise of Beyond 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.640 the Black Rainbow is sort of like an Esslin Institute 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:23.760 workshop took hostages and turned them into psychic assassins. You've 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.320 got hallucinogen use that is portrayed with a kind of 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.920 glamorous horror. It's a double edged sword. It's very alluring, 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.120 but it also causes people to lose their minds and 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:39.520 sometimes their souls. And the viewing in particular has a 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.839 character who seems to me to be modeled on personalities 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.360 associated with the Stanford Research Institute, which we've talked about 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.839 on the show before, but basically, you know, a sort 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.320 of research program famous for claiming to have found scientific 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:59.480 evidence of paranormal powers like telekinesis and remote viewing, sometimes 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.360 associated with other figures in the broader New Age movement, 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.520 and this character in the Viewing is explicitly portrayed as 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.760 a charlatan. And in general, it seems like Panos's vision 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:14.080 is one that's like obsessed with these sort of hippie 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.720 and New Age concepts, but also views mind expansion in 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.679 all its forms as something that is beautiful and appealing 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.840 but often is a false promise that leads to suffering 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.400 and chaos and destruction. Yeah. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.400 Yeah, I think that's very fair. I guess some of 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.520 it is also probably rooted in an exploitation cinema, Like 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.240 certainly when you think of Beyond the Black Rainbow, instantly 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:42.840 reminded of Blue Sunshine, which is very much a you know, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:49.160 post hippies sort of aging out hippies, the exploitation film 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.559 about Oh, well, you know that that acid you took 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.199 years ago, Well it turns out it'll make you into 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.920 a bald psychopath. Now, so watch out and think twice 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.320 about all the things you did ten or fifteen years ago. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.640 We may have to do Blue Sunshine one day on 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.360 Weird House. One of my favorite aspects of it is that, 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.320 if I remember right, doesn't all your hair fall off 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.120 at once? Yes, it happens in an instant. It's like 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.559 a wig that comes off. It's not gradual. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.440 Yeah. That's an interesting film starring Zalman King. 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.680 Yeah, but I like that once it becomes clear in 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.360 that movie that it's the acid that's turning people into 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.400 to like kill zombies, then you're trying to do a 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.800 kind of detective thing of weight. Can we remember who 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.480 took the acid at this party like twenty years ago? 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.920 Yeah. The big difference between Blue Sunshine and the works 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:41.440 of Panos because Modos, though, I think, is that Blue 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.480 Sunshine doesn't really, as I recall, doesn't really do much 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.360 to give you, like even a semi glamorous idea of 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.120 what the psychedelic experience could be like, like not even 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.120 like an exaggerated dreamlike cinematic quality to it. Whereas Panos 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.520 is going to dip into both wells. As you said, 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.480 you know, there's going to be something alluring and other 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.040 worldly about it all, but also there's going to be 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:04.959 this dark side. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:09.680 Though interestingly, at least to me, while the narrative content 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:14.880 has this kind of tight obsession on like sixties and 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.880 seventies hippie and new age themes, I feel like the 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.840 texture that he's drawing from is time shifted a little 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.760 bit later than that, Like there's overlap, but it goes 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:30.560 a little bit further into like the eighties. The kind 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.600 of sights and sounds that he seems to be most 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:37.320 sourcing from sort of a late seventies and eighties club 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.679 lighting and synthesizer bath in a way, kind of a 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:41.920 tech noir element. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.160 Yeah. Yeah, and you certainly know you're watching a Penisklismatos film, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.360 certainly thus far based to a large degree on the 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.160 colors and the light and this like searing sense of 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.120 the lights, so like it's like the dead lights, you know, 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.840 shining out of his pictures at you. I think some 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.280 of these are called panos flares. I think that's his 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:04.880 his I think I picked it up somewhere. That's his 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.560 name for some of these these flares you see in 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:08.240 his films. 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.960 I don't know specifically what that refers to, but there 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.760 are very distinctive types of panos shots like he loves 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:20.240 a car racing through the dark in the night with 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.800 the dials illuminated, glowing in the dark, and like synthesizer 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:28.200 music playing, or like a character in silhouette just like 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.800 just absolutely washed and colored light from behind so you 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.000 can't really see their features, but you just see the 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.480 outline and behind them. It is like an orange sun 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:39.560 or a pink sun. 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.520 Yeah, and another big aspect of is a certainly in 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.200 play and beyond the black Rainbow, and also in play 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.040 in this film to a large extent, is a kind 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:55.680 of I would say, very like Queludian pacing at times. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.680 And I think maybe that can be that can maybe 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.960 be a barid entry for some viewers who really want 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.680 something that's gonna really snap and move quickly, like things 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.160 are not necessarily gonna move quickly in one of these films. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.680 It's gonna it's gonna be like a slow burning feeling. 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.640 There's gonna be maybe some some some time spent like 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:20.520 watching a weird character actor like calmly emote for a while, 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.400 which which I love, but yeah, may not be everyone's 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:24.040 cup of tea. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.040 Oh, I totally agree. No, that's another distinctive panos thing. 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:32.880 His films, I would say, in comprehensively lack momentum, both 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.800 in terms of the overall plot and in terms of 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.640 the moment to moment experience of the scenes. Like in 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:41.840 the individual scenes. Uh, there's a lot of so like 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.120 when characters are talking to each other, there's a lot 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.680 of kind of stopping and starting dialogue. A lot of 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.480 dialogue scenes do not really kind of like build an 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.320 intensity and have an exchange of power like you know, 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.800 your dialogue writing coach would say you're supposed to have, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.800 but they work in a totally different way. They're more 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.960 just kind of painting a weird picture of interactions rather 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:07.760 than escalating drama. That's not true of every scene, but 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.040 that's very often true. And then I would say overall, yeah, 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.720 there are the movies do build up towards something, but 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.240 they don't have that kind of relentless, snowballing feeling where 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.120 it's like, oh, I've got to see what happens in 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.800 the next scene. You you have to kind of like 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.640 submit to one of these films and say like I'm 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.080 just ready for it, and I think it's a very 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:33.560 fun and rewarding experience. But it Yeah, they don't pull 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.480 you with that like Page Turner thriller quality, whatever the 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:37.720 movie equivalent of that is. 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:40.720 Yeah, this one, I have to say. When I saw 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.360 it for the first time, I went in without I think, 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.800 even having seen a screenshot from it. I just I 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.680 knew that it was Panosco's mottos and that I was 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.080 going to be on board for it, but not knowing 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:52.880 anything about even what the plot was or what the 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:57.240 viewing referred to, it did feel very unsafe, you know, 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.560 like I just really didn't know what kind of story 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:03.200 this was going to be, and it's not entirely clear 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.960 for a large portion of the runtime what kind of 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.800 story it's going to ultimately be. It's not really into 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.120 the last say, twelve minutes of the like just less 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.520 than an hour runtime, that things really come to a head. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.240 I Mean a lot of this thing is just characters 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.520 doing drugs. Yeah, it's true. 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.360 So yeah, that kind of brings me to my elevator 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.040 pitch is that this is essentially House on Haunted Hill, 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.440 except instead of money and ghosts, it's drugs and face 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:31.760 melting encounters. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.719 Now, Rob, is this one where you were saying that 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.440 the trailer spoils the ending. 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.719 I wouldn't say the trailer spoils anything, per se. I 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.760 just I kind of wanted for you something akin to 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.879 my experience with it, where you didn't know exactly what 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:49.600 was going to happen. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.520 Well, based on your recommendation, I did not watch the trailer. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.920 I just went in cold, and I'm glad I did. Yeah. 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.480 I liked not knowing where it was going. Yeah. 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.920 So this is gonna be twenty five seconds of trailer audio, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.160 So if you want to skip it, skip ahead about 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:15.240 twenty five seconds. Let's have a listen, good evening tonight. 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:20.240 I'm going to gift you in eight Transcendence at the 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:24.880 greatest expense asmarizing. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:42.119 All right now, if you would like to experience the 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.440 viewing before we proceed with the discussion here well as 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.280 of this recording, the only way to experience it is 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.840 as the seventh episode of Germeal Do Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.240 as you mentioned earlier, on the streaming platform Netflix. But 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.240 I really hope it does get a physical release at 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.720 some point, either on its own or as part of 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:04.280 this series, which, as we were just talking to JJ about, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.440 I think it's I think it's it's rather good. It's 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.720 it's varied, it has some has a couple of other 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.800 high points as far as my taste go. And also 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.800 I think there's there's a nice variety. Like some of 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:20.439 the the episodes are more thoughtful and character driven. A 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.000 couple of them are certainly more tales from the crypt 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.240 ish in their you know, their basic structure. You know, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.400 here's a terrible person. He's become involved with some sort 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.080 of supernatural element and he's going to get his. 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.560 This is the only episode of this I've actually seen, 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.639 so if I watch more, I may come back to 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.840 it in October. Be good seasonal viewing. I don't know 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:42.040 if they're going to do another one. 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:43.960 I don't know that they've said one way or another. 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.920 I think Del Toro has said that he's interested in 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.120 heading it up, but I think I saw a quote 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:51.800 where it was like, but if it doesn't happen, I'll 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.480 also be a little bit relieved because it's a lot 0:19:53.480 --> 0:20:06.560 of work, So fingers crossed. All right, let's talk about 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.760 the people involved here. So we'll start at the top 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.359 here with Panos Cosmotos, the director and one of the 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.680 writers on this piece. Born nineteen seventy four Italian Canadian 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.719 film director and screenwriter. He's the son of director George P. Cosmotos, 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.280 who lived nineteen forty one through two thousand and five, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.480 who himself gave us such weird films as nineteen eighty 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:30.600 threes of Unknown Origin and nineteen eighty nine's Leviathan. 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.040 I didn't realize that connection until right before we came 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.480 into record, but that'll come up again in a minute. 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.240 Yeah, he's also he's also he also brought to brought 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.880 us some some mainstream action films like Rainbow Rambow rather 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:52.560 First Blood Part two. Yeah, Cobra from nineteen eighty six, 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.879 that's another stallone, and Tombstone from nineteen ninety three, the 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.119 popular Western Panos, by the way, who would have been 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.320 I think eighteen at the time, has a credit on 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.280 that film some sort of like assistant video operator in 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.360 the second unit. So, as we've been discussing, Panos's own 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.560 writing and directing debut was twenty ten's Beyond the Black Rainbow, 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.080 followed by the Nicholas Cage helmed revenge horror movie Mandy, 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.399 And then comes the Viewing, which I feel takes a 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.359 slightly more absurdist approach and also dials down like the 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.680 number of things he's trying to accomplish in the picture 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.439 while still going just all in and all out on 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:30.680 its main set pieces. 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.159 Yeah, I would say, And this may just be in 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:35.960 part due to its shorter run time, but the viewing 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:40.280 takes us on fewer wild turns on the journey than 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:44.880 his other two movies do, but the turns that are 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.480 taken are just as wild. Yeah. 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.560 As for his next film, I believe it is set 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:55.679 to be something titled Necrocosm. I don't know that we 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.600 really know anything about what this is going to consist of, 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:00.280 except that it's supposedly going to be more of a 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.359 sci fi film, So I'm excited to find out what 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:04.360 it could possibly be. 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:05.040 Now. 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.840 His co writer on this is Aaron stuart On. I'm 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:12.280 not sure about the dates for this writer, but he 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.600 was one of the co writers of Mandy, alongside Panos 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.040 and one Casper Kelly. He was also a staff writer 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.840 on the twenty twenty two series The Witcher Blood Origin, 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:24.480 and as a director, he directed a couple of Decembrist 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.080 videos as well as a video for Death Cab for Qtie. 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.639 Now getting into the cast here, Yes, heading this up, 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:36.840 playing the character Lionel Lassiter is Peter Weller born nineteen 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:41.320 forty seven American actor and director who's acting or goes 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.720 all the way back into the early seventies and he's 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.840 still active today. He started out on Broadway, then did 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.320 some TV, did a little bit of film, and then 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.080 starred in George P. Cosmatos's nineteen eighty three psychological thriller 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:55.960 of Unknown Origin, a movie I have not seen, but 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:58.880 I've heard good things about. It's a psychological horror film 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:01.680