WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Demon Knight 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.239 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.280 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And of course it's vault 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.240 time here on Weird House Cinema. This episode is about 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:19.159 the movie Demon Night. It originally aired February. You're in 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.319 for such a treat. You're gonna be dancing with Billy 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:28.080 Zane in your dreams. Welcome to Stuff to Blow your 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:37.760 Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:41.400 House Cinema. This is Rob and I'm Joe, and today 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.800 we are going to unscramble the cable signal and tune 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.160 into some Tales from the Crypt. That's right, Uh yeah, 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.000 we have. We have another slice of nineties genre cinema 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.440 for you this week, except this one's far cheaper than 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.560 Free Jack Um, I think, ultimately a more enjoyable film. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.640 But it is, of course, the the initial cinematic spinoff 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.400 of HBO's Tales from the Crypt. It is Tales from 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:10.160 the Crypt Demon Night. From what that sounds right? It 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.960 looks very mid nineties. Uh so, I guess this one 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.760 and last week's are a little bit more mainstream than 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.240 than we usually go. Yeah, yeah, they're they're more mainstream, 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.479 but Demon Knight is also one. I mean, Free Jack 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.520 is definitely a film that that did not perform to 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.440 expectation and was kind of just thrown out there and 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.480 died and was forgotten by many. Uh. Demon Knight is 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.920 a film that I think also is, you know, we're 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.280 talking about this before we started recording, you know, maybe 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.840 a little under underappreciated, though it certainly has its following 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.520 and and you know continues to be popular to this day, 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.199 but you don't you don't hear it championed that often 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.080 as being like a great, uh piece of horror or 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.680 horror comedy from the nineties. I guess it's hard to 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.600 argue that it's great, but it is really fun. This 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:03.720 is a really fun, r rated, frisky piece of horror comedy. Yeah. Um, 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.400 it's it's essentially a siege movie. So the basic structure 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.280 is pretty uh, pretty nailed down. You know, like you're 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.119 gonna have characters go somewhere, they're gonna hold up there, 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:14.920 and then things are gonna try and get in and 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.799 get them. It's the basic Night of the Living Dead scenario. 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.360 It's Night of the Living Dead, evil Dead assault on 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.920 Precinct thirteen that that kind of thing. Yeah, so well, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.040 let's just jump right into the elevator pitch on this one, 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.040 just now. This is the elevator pitch for the basic 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:33.200 movie itself. The Unholy Demon Lords have six of the 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.840 seven keys they need to drag the universe back into darkness, 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.080 and the only thing standing in their way on planet 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.560 Earth for that last key is one immortal drifter and 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.720 a rag tag bunch of losers in a rundown hotel 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.240 in the middle of the desert, uh huh, in a 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.440 place called Wormwood, New Mexico. I looked it up. Not 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.160 a real place. It sounds nice and biblical, though, which 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.280 is good because there's a lot of biblical uh nonsense 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.760 going on in this particular movie. Yeah, and this movie 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.200 is just jammed with drifters. Yeah, yeah, it's it's all. 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.919 It's braisically all drifters. I mean, and i've i've I've 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:09.880 actually seen it discussed in the sense that it's like 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.040 the meek shalling hair at the Earth, and this is 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.919 the meek. These are all the sorts of losers that 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.359 Jesus Christ himself would have hung out with in life. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.880 Maybe not Thomas Hayden Church, He's not that meek, but 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:27.520 he's a scumbag in this. So yeah, that's true. So 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.400 the Pharisees come to Jesus and they say, hey, you 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.520 sit down to eat with the sinners and the tax 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:38.000 collectors and even with Thomas Hayden Church. All right, well, 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:39.400 let's look ahead. Have just a little bit of the 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:41.600 trailer audio here, and there's probably gonna be a little 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.120 crip keeper in there. You have a little. Pictures is 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.120 proud to present the motion picture directing debut of one 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:58.040 of America's most talented and respected artists. Oh hello, kiddies, 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.280 so glad you could join me, your pal, The Cryptie 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.120 has gone Hollywood in a big way. I'm directing my 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:13.960 first feature film, Care for a Little Shrink preview for 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:24.200 my big Scream premiere. I wanted lots of suspense, special effects, sex, violence. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.960 It's the kind of thing you could really sink your 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:41.280 teeth into. Fights, camera hatcha and ladies, if you think 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:57.680 deep nights to browsing, yucky, thank you? All right? So yeah, 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.160 basically the idea here with the whole Tale from the 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.480 Crypt thing is, you know, Tales from the Crypt was 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.800 was like the show on HBO back in the day, 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.480 and We've talked about it on the show before here 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.599 on like, um, some of our horror anthology specials around Halloween. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.560 You know, it's basically it's based on the old horror 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.760 comics and each each little story in the horror comic 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.159 would be about some horrible person getting their come upance, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.640 and so each episode of Tales from the Crypt generally 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.040 revolves around that as well. Yeah. To me, the opening 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:28.040 theme music of Tales from the Crypt, I think it's 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.560 composed by Danny Elfman. It just sounds like the nineties, 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.760 and it sounds like being a kid in the nineties 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.599 trying to watch stuff that you're not allowed to watch. 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.320 It's like it's the sound of I think we may 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.560 have made this comparison before, but it's the sound of 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:46.440 a scrambled cable channel that you don't get that shows 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.920 are rated depravity all night and every day. Yeah, yeah, 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.760 it really does. Um And I guess one of the 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.479 interesting things about this is, like you can imagine the 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.800 studios came in there, some folks behind the scenes were like, Hey, 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.760 the show is really successful, we should do a movie. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.640 The thing is, Tales from the Crypt. It doesn't really 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.400 lend itself well to that kind of format unless you're 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.240 gonna do an anthology film with just a bunch of 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.400 little stories. Um, much like the original tales from the 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:18.040 Crypto film the nineteen seventy two anthology picture from Amaricus. Oh, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.359 I don't think I even knew that existed. Yeah, it 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.240 has the crypt Keeper in it, but the crypt Keeper 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.080 is played by Sir Ralph Richardson in like a hood. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.599 That's nice. Um. Yeah, But so, as you mentioned, the 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.480 the standard format of the tales from the crypt episode, uh, 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.799 and you know, there's some variation, but the most common 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:41.720 format is that you have basically a sleazy salad of 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:46.159 gratuitous gore and nudity in which a morally bankrupt person 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.279 does something evil, they think they're going to get away 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.920 with it, and then they get their just desserts via 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.400 the the vengeful wrath of a monster, demon, ancient curse, 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.200 haunted scarecrow, chainsaw freak or whatever. Yeah, it's in a way, 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.800 it's it's like horror in a very simple form, fulfilling 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.839 a societal need. You know, we need the villains in 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.239 our world, in our life to suffer, and these little 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:16.200 stories provide that suffering along with some you know gratuitous violence, 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.080 maybe a little nudity, uh and and maybe a few 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.080 laughs as well. A lot of gallows humor finds its 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.720 way into these episodes, and a lot of puns. I mean, 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.920 the crypt Keeper loves to make death related puns. That's right, because, 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.800 of course, the big thing about the the HBO series 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:36.400 is hosted by the crypt Keeper. This wonderful puppetry creation 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.760 of a of a reanimated corpse that just gleefully uh 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.600 takes you on this journey to hear all of these tales. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.560 You know who the crypt Keeper is. It's the preserved 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:51.400 remains of Jeremy Bentham. I couldn't stop thinking about that 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.400 this time. I mean, like god, that that rotten looking head. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.400 It's almost perfectly the crypt Keeper. Well, let let's start 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.840 with the crypt Keeper talking about people involved in this one. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.960 The crypt Keeper's voice is, of course John Casser born 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.280 in nineteen fifty seven. Uh. He a longtime actor and 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.480 voice actor, but he's most well known as the voice 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.640 of the crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt on 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.400 HBO from eighty nine through as well as the cartoon 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:21.840 Tales from the Crypt Keeper three uh three Tales from 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.440 the Crypt movies we'll get a touch on that in 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.240 a bit, but basically, just uh, with the Crypt Keeper, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.800 we have a great voice coming together with an amazing puppet. 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.800 At least for most appearances, and all this based on 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.640 one of the EC comics horror hosts. You know. Other 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.360 hosts included things like the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch, 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.719 but those were just in the comic, right, They were 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.240 not on on the TV series. I don't think so. Though. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.280 Occasionally the crypt Keeper has a guest that's not a 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:50.600 corpse in those little segments. Um. Uh. And we'll touch 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.840 on some of those examples as we go here. But 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.520 of course in this movie Tales from the Crypt Demon Night, 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.480 the crypt Keeper is just there to set things up 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:00.520 to say, hey, we can hear it is for you 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:05.840 a movie. Um. And the movie itself is pretty self contained. Uh. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.120 It has a few nods to tails from the through 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.840 the crypt within it. Uh. But but but still, you 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:13.880 could watch it in and on it on its own, 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:15.920 without the intro or the outro, and you'd get it. 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:18.640 So I guess the first person we should talk about 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:23.199 is the director. This was directed by Ernest Dickerson. Dickerson 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.840 was born in nineteen fifty one, and he was a 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.080 classmate of Spike Lee at the Tisch School of the Arts, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:31.280 and so he went on to work as a frequent 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.960 collaborator with Spike Lee as a cinematographer on various Spike 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.960 Lee joints including School Days, Do the Right Thing, Moment 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.839 Or Blues, Jungle Fever, and Malcolm X. He also worked 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.520 as cinematographer on films from John Saylis, the film Brother 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.520 from Another Planet, and Jonathan Demmi, and more recently, you 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.360 might have noticed his name as a director on a 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.079 number of TV projects, including multiple episodes of The Walking Dead, 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.760 Tremay The Wire. He se like one of those TV 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.240 directors that just works all the time, and he's also 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.040 done a lot of work in the horror genre. He 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.959 was He was cinematographer on the TV series Tales from 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.640 the Dark Side, an anthology series, and while Demon Knight 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.439 was his first horror or sci fi film as a director, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.559 he went on to direct Future Sport, which looks interesting, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.000 and the two thousand and one Snoop Dogg ghost movie Bones, 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.360 which I haven't seen, but I was reading a little 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.200 about and it it seems like it has its following, 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.800 so maybe it's worth Yeah, Okay, I mean it's snoop 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:35.240 is always entertaining, so so. Demon Knight, though, follows up 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:41.000 on Dickerson's film Juice, which started Tupac Shakur, and also 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:46.240 the exquisite film Surviving the Game. Do you remember this one, Joe, 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.560 of course I do. Surviving the I don't think Surviving 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.160 the Game is as good as Demon Night, as comparing 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.520 Dickerson's violent thrillers here surviving, but one thing that is 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.199 great about Surviving the Basically, it's an adaptation of the 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.480 short story The Most Dangerous Game about a group of 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.079 about like a rich guy on an island who hunts 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.360 human beings for sport. Uh. This adapts that to the 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.080 modern world, and it's a movie about a character named 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:17.000 Mason played by iced T who is like homeless and depressed, 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.840 and he gets offered a job by a guy who 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.480 he meets somewhere I think maybe at a like a 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.600 like a place where they're feeding the homeless, and he 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.400 gets recruited for this job to be a wilderness guide 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.960 for a bunch of rich dudes played by people like 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:37.120 Rutger Howard, Charles Stutton, Gary Busey, F Murray Abraham, John C. McGinley. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.199 It is a real powerhouse cast, like every person who 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.960 could have played like, you know, the cocaine king of 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.400 the week in an eighties crime movie. Uh, they're one 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.440 of these, one of the party of the hunters in 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.440 this movie. And then of course the twist is once 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.760 they get out in the woods there they tell I see, okay, 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.800 well we're gonna hunt you now, but I see outsmarts 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.280 them all. So I remember catching this one on Able, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.040 I think, and uh, and I remember finding it irresistible, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.480 just drawn right into it. Yeah, And I I gotta say, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:10.000 Iced Tea has a very weird charm in this movie. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.360 It's hard to describe exactly what it is, but he 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.559 he plays a He plays a very rude and sympathetic 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.120 protagonist as he's like chugging along through the forest while 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.800 they're chasing him on a t v s. Yeah. So um. 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.600 So it's some some notable films so from Dickerson there 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.400 now coming back to Demon Night, Uh, there's a there's 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.400 an excellent shout factory slash screen factory, uh blu ray 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.080 of this film that came out, and that's that's what 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.160 I watched for this. But it also includes some some 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:45.080 really cool features, including interviews with Dickerson among others, and 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:46.679 one of the things that came out of it, aside 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.680 from him just being really chill and apparently easy to 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.160 work with um and open to some of the lunear 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.160 ideas that the actors brought to the table. Um, he 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.959 was also a major force behind having a more diverse 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.680 cast on this film, including the casting of African American 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.720 actors Jada Pinkett, c. C. H. Pounder, and Mark David 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.880 Kinnerlely who plays a very small part towards the end, 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.520 but also presumably First Nations actor Gary Farmer, who will 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.600 touch on here in a bit. And it's worth noticing 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.200 that even our secondary minority characters in this film survive 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.800 quite far into the picture right. The cliche long being 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.320 that in many horror movies it is common for the 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.800 cast to be all white except for one black character, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.120 and the black guy dies first. So so yeah, it 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.000 seems that having having a black director at the at 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.240 the front of this thing really helped out in that regard. 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.640 For instance, the main character to character the Jada Pinkett 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.200 plays Jada Pinkett Smith plays in this UM like that 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.360 was I think the studio wanted Um. I forget which actor, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.840 but they wanted a white female actor for the role um, 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.520 and he would he insisted on this, so and I 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.920 think it's a better film for it. Yeah. Now the 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.400 screenwriters on this were Ethan Rife, Cyrus Voris, uh and 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.880 Mark Bishop. That this trio they had written a post 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.200 apocalyptic movie called Escape from safe Haven in and that 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.560 was directed by Bishop, and Bishop didn't didn't seem to 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.000 go on to do much else in film, but Rife 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.080 and Voris went on to do quite a lot, including 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:18.160 two thousand and eight Kung Fu Panda. Yeah, they they 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.400 wrote that, uh, and you'll find their names attached to 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.640 anything involving Kung Fu Panda. They also wrote two thousand 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.880 tens Robin Hood. That's the Ridley Scott version starring Russell Crowe. 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.960 I didn't see um and Demon Knight was apparently a 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.040 spec script that they had out there and people were 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:39.920 you know, excited about it, and it got picked up 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.680 by this Tales from the Crypt trilogy idea, like they were. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.080 The basic idea was like let's do three Tails from 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.160 the Crypt films will find the screenplays and we'll we'll 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.240 just you know, put to some Crypt Keeper at the beginning, 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.280 some crypt Keeper at the end, and you got yourself 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.800 a franchise. Now. Unfortunately, being a feature film instead of 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.840 being made for TV, it does not have commercial breaks 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:01.720 for the crypt Keeper to come in in the middle 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.360 of the movie and comment about what's currently going on 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:06.680 in the story. He's just at the beginning and the end. 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.400 But even with the only the beginning and the end 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.680 of Brackets, the crypt Keeper is a very welcome presence now. 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.680 Apparently I was watching some of the making of and 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.480 apparently there was some push and pull on the idea 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.000 of like what the the movie itself was going to be. 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.960 The screenwriters really thought, this is more of a hero movie, 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.800 this is about a hero's journey, etcetera. And then everyone 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.400 else was like, well, but it's a monster movie. It 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.400 needs to be a monster movie. It's Tales from the Crypt. 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.040 And then you know, ultimately goes back to what we 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.840 said earlier, like this is not a come uppance film. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.200 It's not a film about a horrible person getting their 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.760 come uppance. It ends up really being more of a 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.840 hero's journey kind of a story with monsters, but with 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.160 the Tales from the Crypt branding. But also I mean, 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.240 I think Dickerson handles it exactly right, and that it 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.600 is not overly serious in any way, Like it is 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:00.680 a very loose, fun, frisky movie that does not ever 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.120 stop to take itself too seriously. And the scenes that 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.560 do get kind of serious addressing, like the you know, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.320 the recurring hero Boti for whatever those are, those are 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.840 brief enough to be kind of welcome, and then it 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.960 quickly gets back to goofy gory jokes. Absolutely, Well, let's 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.720 start talking about some of these heroes. Um again, Jada Pinkett, 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.960 who would become Jada Pinkett Smith later on she plays 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.560 our hero. And this is um Jerry Jerry Line, Jerry Lynn, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.880 like jer Lyne Jerlen. It it's one of those where 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:32.720 I got prepared for it to be pronounced a certain 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.200 way and then it was not in the film. Well, actually, 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.920 I think different characters in the movie pronounce her name 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.680 different and you might say, hey, that's not consistent, but 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:43.880 then hey, if you have you ever known somebody whose 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.400 name as written could be pronounced different ways, people pronounce 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:53.160 it different ways. But we're going with Jerlyne Jerylene. Okay, Jerylene. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.880 I'm gonna trying to be consistent. I may just say 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.840 Jada pinkett Um anyway, Yep, she's in this. She had 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.120 not yet married will Smith, but she was on the 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.440 rise here. She was coming off of the Hughes Brothers 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.800 Minister Society as well as Jason's lyric and she would 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.600 apparently go on to like really break out. Uh in 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.000 is the nutty Professor. Then she was in Scream to 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.400 the Matrix sequels, just to name a few. I saw 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.320 that she's going to be in the upcoming New Matrix movie, 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.639 so I forget who her character is, but whoever she is, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.200 she must survive the third film. Yeah. Now, let's see, 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.640 this is not a hero. This is our main antagonist 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:35.320 in the film, but we have Billy Zane as the collector. 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.800 Billy Zane is just wonderful in this movie. He is 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.720 he's I mean, Zane has a very punchable face and 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.560 a lot of roles and oh he's so punchable in 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.160 this he's he he just he hands it up so 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.800 much like he's great, playing like a smug, privileged s 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.160 ob and in so many other films, I mean, especially 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.040 Titanic comes to mind. Uh but yeah, he's he's like 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.760 a loony Tunes character in this in all the right 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.760 ways that would be in the appropriate Um, in the 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.240 appropriate ways. He was just like a cartoon character. Oh well, 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.760 you included a detail that he I think revealed in 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:13.600 one of the making of features. You said you were 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.320 watching that once. Once I read it, I was like, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.880 oh my god, it's absolutely right, the one about a Laddin. Yes, yeah, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.479 he He says that he approached the role like he was, uh, 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.960 playing the genie from a Laddin, except evil, And then 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.760 you see it in everything. It's exactly what he's doing. 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:35.280 He's almost Robin Williams, but a little bit less manic 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.960 and more smooth, but smooth in a very sinister and 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.760 silly way. He he's perfect in this role. Yeah, this 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.840 is This is apparently one of his favorite roles that 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.520 he did, and yeah, he really shines in it. Um. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.720 You know, no matter what your opinion is of of 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.320 Zane in general, you know he's he's been in some 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.560 real some real stinkers for sure. Um. But yeah, this 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.160 has just the right amount of Billy Zane. And oh 0:18:58.240 --> 0:18:59.840 and this was fun too. This was revealed one of 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:03.480 the treats. This was apparently Zane's first film without a hairpiece. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.640 Uh so, yeah, apparently he came in to meet Dickerson 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.159 and he brought in like a little suitcase and he 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.639 opened it up, uh, and he was completely bald, you know, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.960 and shaved down, and he showed him the hairpieces. He's like, 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.880 which one do you want me to wear for the film, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.880 And Dickerson's like, I don't know. I like what you've 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.120 got going on there, And so that's what they went with, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.320 which is bald, which yeah, um yeah, his bald head 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:32.399 is exquisite. And I wonder if that inspired the scenes 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:34.919 in the film where he's carrying around a suitcase or 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.240 maybe that was part of the script anyway. I mean, 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.000 he so we should say that in the movie we 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.000 said he's the villain, but he is the titular demon Knight. 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:47.400 He is a hell beast who's a kind of uh 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.320 smooth talking prince of the Infernal Realms who wants to 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.640 do some kind of apocalyptic magic and it involves him 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.520 frequently getting out a suitcase and asking people to put 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.639 a thing inside it. Right yeah, yeah, so he does 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.199 have case around, so presumably a very similar suitcase that 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:06.840 that held his many different hairs. Now you've got a 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.360 lot of films listed as Billy Zane credits that almost 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.840 none of which I had any idea Billy Zane was in. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:16.159 Oh yeah, he was in Back to the Future. I 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.800 didn't know that he was in Night six is Critters. 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.600 I had no clue on that one. Yeah, no idea. Um, 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:24.879 I guess he really stood out. I guess one of 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:26.639 the early roles where he really stood out would be 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:31.200 the nine thriller Dead Calm, alongside Sam Neil and Nicole Kidman. 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:33.600 And he's he's quite good in that. I've never seen it. Oh, 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.000 it's good. It's a really really good, solid thriller. Huh. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.320 Was that the one where he plays like a he's 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.440 like an evil guy on a boat. Yeah, it's a thrill. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.399 That's probably oversimplifying it, but yeah, yeah, I mean I 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.199 haven't seen it forever, but I remember it as being 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.199 quite good. Um, it's like you take the end of 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.760 Cape Fear and make it a whole movie. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.879 I guess so. Yeah. Um. Zane of course did a 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.600 lot of TV work as well. He was on Twin Peaks, Um, 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.199 he was in the film Tombstone, And of course we 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.600 can't forget his starring role in Nine Is the Phantom 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.000 um because there was that whole period in the nineties 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.760 when Hollywood decided that old timey characters like Dick Tracy 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.439 and the Shadow were the next big thing, and that 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:18.040 was a weird time. I kind of wait, so was 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.680 the was the Phantom an old property that was being 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:25.360 revived or was it a new property in the style 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.160 of the old adventure cereals? The Phantom was an old character? Yeah, 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.760 oh okay, yeah, I know the Shadow was. Didn't Alec 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.720 Baldwin play the Shadow? And there? Yeah, that one. I 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:38.399 do not remember that one as being good, but it 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.359 had Alec Baldwin and it was directed by Russell McKay. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:43.080 So I'm sure if I were to watch it again, 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.399 I would I would find some some lovable, weird things 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.080 in it, but I don't know. Uh, there are other 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.800 Moquet films I would rather see. Now. I know you 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:55.320 have unspeakable love for Dick Tracy. Do you want to 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.639 talk about that? Uh? Well, I wouldn't say it's unspeakable 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:00.560 love because I haven't seen it since I was a kid. 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:05.200 But it it was one that was not as good 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:09.600 as anticipated, perhaps, but it had such weird mobsters in it, 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:12.680 Like all the mobsters. You know, in a way they're 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.560 they're trying to create the kind of the rough characteratures 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.040