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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

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Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This

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Speaker 1: is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. So last year

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Speaker 1: around this time, we watched the highly influential Chinese supernatural

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Speaker 1: horror comedy Mr. Vampire from so we're returning once more

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Speaker 1: to the genre with another important eighties Hong Kong film, Uh,

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Speaker 1: this time with romance thrown in amid all the martial arts,

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Speaker 1: spookiness and comedy. It's Seven's a Chinese ghost story. This

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Speaker 1: was a great movie. I was surprised how much I

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Speaker 1: loved this one. And Uh, much like The Laurelized Grasp,

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Speaker 1: this is another monster romance movie, except in this one

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Speaker 1: the romances perhaps not as tragic and doomed as usual.

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Speaker 1: It basically has a happy ending. Yeah, yeah it does.

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Speaker 1: When we when we were looking for a film to

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Speaker 1: follow up Mr. Vampire here, I was looking at this

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Speaker 1: and we were also looking at Encounters of the Spooky Kind,

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Speaker 1: which is another big film in this this area. U

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Speaker 1: ended up moving towards this one after we watched the trailer.

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Speaker 1: They're a number of of amazing elements to it. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Though we may get back to spooky encounters in the future.

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Speaker 1: You know, much like Mr Vampire, this movie also has

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Speaker 1: just a rad butt whipping Daoist priest, But unlike Mr Vampire,

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Speaker 1: the Daoist priest in this movie has a musical number,

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Speaker 1: and it is a rap about the dow. I'm not kidding. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I thought you were talking about another scene and exaggerating

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Speaker 1: a bit when you texted me about this, because you

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Speaker 1: you were watching the second half of the movie before

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Speaker 1: I did. And uh no, there's it's it's it's as

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Speaker 1: close to a full on wrap as you could possibly

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Speaker 1: expect in an eighties period peace Chinese supernatural romance comedy.

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Speaker 1: And it's the only musical number in the movie. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the movie has songs in it that have like lyrics,

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Speaker 1: but they're not sung by the characters. This is the

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Speaker 1: only song I think in the entire runtime that a

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Speaker 1: character on screen sings, aside from one little song that

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Speaker 1: our our lead character sort of sings, kind of a

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Speaker 1: whistling in the dark sequences he's running through the woods

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Speaker 1: and trying to keep himself from being completely terrified by

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Speaker 1: all the wolves and ghosts that are about I carry

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Speaker 1: the six classics in my heart that nothing. Yeah, well, okay,

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Speaker 1: what's the elevator pitch on this one? The elevator pitch

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Speaker 1: is pretty simple. Life is tough when you're an impoverished

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Speaker 1: scholar with impossible dreams, and also when you have a

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Speaker 1: ghost for a girlfriend. Oh yeah, it's rough. I like

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Speaker 1: how you picked up on direct lyrics from those songs

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Speaker 1: that the play in the background. That's not from the

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Speaker 1: dow wrap, that's from UH. There's like a recurring sort

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Speaker 1: of lyrical motif about how you must pursue impossible dreams passionately. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: One thing we will drive home here is that the

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Speaker 1: version we watched, which was as of this recording streaming

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Speaker 1: on Amazon Prime is UH is in Cantonese with subtitles UH,

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Speaker 1: and the subtitles were were at least good enough, but

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Speaker 1: there were some obvious errors here and there, as well

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Speaker 1: as sort of the traditional thing you might run into

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Speaker 1: a subtitles where you might question whether this was the

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Speaker 1: most elegant translation possible. And also you get into the

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Speaker 1: issue of okay, what is this comedic line actually translating through? UH?

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Speaker 1: Most of the time, it doesn't matter. Most of the

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Speaker 1: comedy in this film shines right through the barrier of language.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I found it extremely funny. I think the

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Speaker 1: comedy totally works across culturally. But uh yeah, So what

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Speaker 1: I would say is that this the subtitles in this

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Speaker 1: movie seemed wrong in a way that had nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with translation errors. Like there were a lot of

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Speaker 1: errors that look like the kind you get from scanning

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Speaker 1: in a printed document into digital text, where things like

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Speaker 1: lowercase o's and a's being exchanged for one another. So

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Speaker 1: I remember one line in the subtitle said evil will

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Speaker 1: never overcame goad. Yeah, I'm curious what process led to this.

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Speaker 1: Could it be? Could somehow there'll be a scanning of

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Speaker 1: a paper document to create the English subtitles. I don't know. Yeah, alright,

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Speaker 1: well let's go ahead and here at least some of

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Speaker 1: the trailer. We probably won't play the entire trailer this time,

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Speaker 1: but it will give you just a taste of the

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Speaker 1: sonic world of this film all any google alright? That,

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Speaker 1: of course, that can only partially prepare you for the sites.

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Speaker 1: Uh and the sequences, because this is this is a

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Speaker 1: really fun film with a tremendous flair for the fantastic

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Speaker 1: uh some great martial arts sequences, some solid slapstick. It

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Speaker 1: has just about everything he could want. So I've read

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Speaker 1: that this movie it actually has sort of a cult

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Speaker 1: following among young people in mainland China, even though it

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Speaker 1: was not released in theaters in mainland China when it

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Speaker 1: first came out. Yeah, yeah, you sent me a paper

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Speaker 1: about this. I was looking at that and yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: it's it's interesting this one. This one is one that

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Speaker 1: definitely pops up in Michael Weldon's books here in the West, uh,

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Speaker 1: the Psychotronic Film Guides, where he was a big fan

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Speaker 1: of it was like, yes, go out and see this film.

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Speaker 1: So it sounds like it's it's a film that uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't get released the way they might have wanted

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Speaker 1: to release it initially in mainland China, but subsequently the

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Speaker 1: seeds grew in both the East and the West, with

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Speaker 1: people coming to appreciate all the things this film has

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Speaker 1: to offer. I think there's a lot about it that's

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Speaker 1: more subtle than you might expect, Like this movie is

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Speaker 1: uh is totally weird, but in a very nice way,

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Speaker 1: Like it's uh. It walks this strange boundary between being

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Speaker 1: earnest almost to the point of being sappy, but also

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Speaker 1: being very ironic and and sort of making a mockery

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Speaker 1: of authority and tradition at the same time. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is a nice balance like it There's there's definitely slapstick,

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Speaker 1: and there are definitely some just outrageous comedic performances sprinkled

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Speaker 1: here and there, but it's done in a way where

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Speaker 1: were Yeah, like the parts that are serious and the

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Speaker 1: parts that are romantic. Uh, they're they're allowed room to

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Speaker 1: breathe and feel authentic. Yeah, this is this is not

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Speaker 1: a movie that is sucking up to the powerful. It's

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Speaker 1: like it's full of bosses, policeman, magistrate. It's basically anybody

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Speaker 1: in a position of authority in this movie is viciously mocked. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so you can see how it would appeal to the

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Speaker 1: young people. And we'll get into some of the examples

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Speaker 1: of the of this in a bed because yeah, they're

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Speaker 1: they're they're numerous terrible mortal authorities and you know, I

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Speaker 1: guess the the supernatural authorities are pretty corrupt as well.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about some of the people involved

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Speaker 1: in this because it does have some interesting connections and uh,

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Speaker 1: and it is a it is a pretty big film,

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Speaker 1: like a lot of the people involved in this were

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Speaker 1: names at the time or certainly went on to become

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Speaker 1: big names in Hong Kong cinema and and or international cinema.

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Speaker 1: So first of all, let's start with the director. This

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Speaker 1: is Uh Sutong Ching born nineteen fifty three, also one

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Speaker 1: of the martial arts directors on the film Hong Kong

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Speaker 1: action choreographer, actor, film director and producer. Probably best known

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Speaker 1: for this film, but he also directed such movies as

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighties six Is Which from Nepal, a supernatural film

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Speaker 1: starring Chao Yan fat Is, The Mad Monks starring Stephen Chow,

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Speaker 1: An Empress and the Warriors starring Donnie Yan and two

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Speaker 1: thousd and eleven's The Sorcerer and the White Snake starring

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Speaker 1: Jet Lee. So clearly he's worked with some of the

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Speaker 1: biggest names in Chinese cinema at different points in their career. Wait,

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Speaker 1: I thought I saw him. Maybe did Su Tong Ching

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Speaker 1: also do Hero the Jet Lee movie? I think he

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Speaker 1: was an action coordinator on that one. Yeah, because yeah,

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Speaker 1: because there are a number of credits that he has

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Speaker 1: it are pretty impressive that in which he didn't direct them,

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Speaker 1: but he was involved in choreographing the martial arts because

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Speaker 1: he's a guy who his father was actually a Shaw

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Speaker 1: Brothers studio director and uh and so he kind of

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Speaker 1: came up in the system, I'm to understand. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: he even his just stunt directing credits are pretty pretty interesting.

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Speaker 1: So you have two thousand two Hero, and according to IMDb,

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Speaker 1: he was an uncredited stunt coordinator on two thousand two

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Speaker 1: Spider Man, the Sam Raimy film. UM, I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if IMDb is accurate on that account, though you're right.

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Speaker 1: I just double checked. He did not direct Hero. He

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Speaker 1: did action choreography and also also did action choreography for

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Speaker 1: House of Flying Days. Oh yeah, that's a solid one too,

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Speaker 1: So big name this guy. He has at least one

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Speaker 1: American film, though filmed with a notable American presence, and

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Speaker 1: that is two thousand threes Belly of the Beast starring

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Speaker 1: Steven Seagal. It is almost it almost makes me want

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Speaker 1: to scream imagining someone of the talents of Suetung Ching

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Speaker 1: being wasted on a vehicle for Steven Seagal. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: pulled up a clip of this, um an action sequence

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Speaker 1: from this film, which I mean as far as action

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Speaker 1: sequence goes is not bad, but it's not great. It's

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Speaker 1: not great, but there's the Steven Seagal presence is almost

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Speaker 1: too distracting because it's in this film. I think he's

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Speaker 1: playing uh the basic, the basic Steven Seagal character where

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Speaker 1: he's he's a CIA agent, but he's also a Buddhist master. Uh,

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Speaker 1: and he's really great with martial arts also guns. Like

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Speaker 1: that's that's most Steven Seagal roles, if not all of them.

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Speaker 1: He's ex black ops, I'm retired now and they needs

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Speaker 1: back for one more job. There's an IMDb trivia piece

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Speaker 1: about that film, Belly of the Beast, which says that

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Speaker 1: that basically they shot everything without Steven Seagal um and

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Speaker 1: then we're just going to bring him in at the

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Speaker 1: very end to do his shots, a lot of close

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Speaker 1: up shots and all that sort of thing, which I

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Speaker 1: guess you could interpret interpret one of two ways, right,

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Speaker 1: Either a Steven Seagal has a busy schedule or is expensive.

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Speaker 1: You're only gonna have him for a short, short amount

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Speaker 1: of time. I know sometimes it's been said that he

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Speaker 1: doesn't like actually work very long during a given shoot. Uh,

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Speaker 1: So you know they're just being economic about the whole thing,

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Speaker 1: or perhaps there was a certain reputation in place and

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Speaker 1: they thought, well, we need to be prepared to use

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Speaker 1: this little Steven Seagal as necessary. And according to this

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Speaker 1: bit of IMDb trivia, if it is accurate, is like

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Speaker 1: he showed up this last day. Everything else has been shot.

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Speaker 1: They just need to shoot some scenes so that they

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Speaker 1: can insert Seagal in. Uh. You know, the rest of

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Speaker 1: the stuff is be done with stunt doubles. But he

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Speaker 1: had ideas about how things needed to be shot that

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Speaker 1: of course would just rack everything else. So Chang says, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's fine, you can just you can shoot it yourself.

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Speaker 1: We'll leave and they can't. Kind of like a standoff

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Speaker 1: in a studio put enough pressure on him that he

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Speaker 1: he was like, okay, I'll go along with this, with this,

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Speaker 1: and so the film is actually finished. That's a that's

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Speaker 1: a heck of a bluff. You deal with somebody who

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Speaker 1: you know is an egomaniac, but it's also lazy, and

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Speaker 1: so you're hoping the latter will win out over the former.

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Speaker 1: But to be to be clear, I have not seen

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Speaker 1: Belly of the Beast in its entirety, so I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you if you have out there, if any

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Speaker 1: of you are Steven Seagal's the connoisseurs, feel free to

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Speaker 1: correct us on the quality of this motion picture. You know,

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Speaker 1: my feeling is Steven Seagal is you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: you always know what you're getting with that. So really

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Speaker 1: the quality of one of his movies has to do

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Speaker 1: with how zany is whoever they cast as the main villain,

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Speaker 1: and so like you can really achieve a certain peaks

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Speaker 1: of of of greatness in like Under Siege two, Dark Territory,

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Speaker 1: just because because Eric Bogosia and he's going going crazy

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Speaker 1: on the computer. Yeah, I remember enjoying that one way

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Speaker 1: back in the day when I saw it on BHS orse.

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Speaker 1: It's still pretty hilarious. All right, Well, let's get into

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Speaker 1: the writing on this when this is this because it

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Speaker 1: is a pretty interesting. First of all, the screenplay was

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Speaker 1: written by Kaichi Yun. Dates unknown, or at least I

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Speaker 1: wasn't able to pull him up, but he was seemingly

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Speaker 1: active three through so may still be active. Screenwriter who

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Speaker 1: went on to work on Is the Legend of Drunken

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Speaker 1: Master and Once Upon a Time in China and also

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Speaker 1: twenty twenties The Enchanting Phantom, which seems to feature, like

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Speaker 1: this film, a scholar who falls in love with a ghost.

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Speaker 1: Uh as as well discuss like this. There have been

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Speaker 1: multiple adaptations of the source material here. Oh right, so, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't aware of this when I when I was

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Speaker 1: first looking at the movie, but you told me this

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Speaker 1: is based on a story by Poosh song Ling from

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Speaker 1: the original The Tales from a Chinese Studio. It is. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so Pooh song Ling, who we've discussed on the show

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Speaker 1: before both I Think Weird House and Stuff to Blow

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Speaker 1: your mind was a Ching Dynasty writer who lived sixteen

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Speaker 1: forty through seventeen fifteen, and he mostly worked as a

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Speaker 1: tutor during his own lifetime, but along the way he

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Speaker 1: collected and wrote down a number of weird stories that

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Speaker 1: he heard and he picked up, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: these stories that were later published after his death as

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Speaker 1: Strange Stories or Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio in

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Speaker 1: seventeen forty A lot of them have that air to

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Speaker 1: them where he'll be writing and he'll say, so and

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Speaker 1: so told me this tale. I heard this tale from

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Speaker 1: such and such a so and so swore that this

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Speaker 1: was the truth and and and the like. Every time

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Speaker 1: I've read one of these stories, I find it very

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Speaker 1: exciting because they, um, they don't usually conform to like

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Speaker 1: the standard narrative structure that you expect from uh like

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Speaker 1: stern fairy tales. They they're just full of surprises, at

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Speaker 1: least to me. I don't know if you um are

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Speaker 1: more familiar with with Chinese traditional stories, if the structures

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Speaker 1: are more predictable, but at least to me, everyone's that

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Speaker 1: just full of surprises. Yeah. They vary tremendously, and some

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Speaker 1: of them are are scary, some of them are are funny. Uh,

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Speaker 1: some of them are both. There. There are at least

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Speaker 1: a few they are a little bit body um there's uh.

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Speaker 1: There are some that are essentially like, hey, this weird

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Speaker 1: thing happened. How about that? Uh, that's the whole story.

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Speaker 1: They just kind of abruptly end. Like there was there's

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Speaker 1: one where it's like there's this old guy that would

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Speaker 1: travel around and he had these mice in his backpack

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Speaker 1: I think they were mice, uh, and they would come

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Speaker 1: out and basically do like a flea circus. They would

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Speaker 1: do like a little circus and perform, and then he

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Speaker 1: would carry on his way, and there's no story. It's

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Speaker 1: just a a small tale of wonder or an account

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Speaker 1: of something marvelous that was experienced or seen. Now, from

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Speaker 1: what I gather, the main elements of the pooshong Ling

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Speaker 1: story are carried over into the movie, but it's probably

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Speaker 1: worth discussing the differences because from what I understand, the

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Speaker 1: Poosh song Ling story is not quite as sweet as

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Speaker 1: the movie is. It's well, there's I guess there's less

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Speaker 1: room for sweetness in it, but it's not unsweet. Well,

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Speaker 1: I just remember something about the scholars like already married

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Speaker 1: when he meets the ghost woman and he has to

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Speaker 1: wait for his wife to die or something. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: but he's he's very polite about it, so yeah. The

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Speaker 1: original story is sometimes titled the Magic Sword or the

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Speaker 1: Magic Sword and the Magic Bag. That's the title in

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Speaker 1: the Penguin edition of of Strange Tales, which is definitely

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Speaker 1: worth picking and picking up and has some nice notes

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Speaker 1: on it um. But the basic bones of the movie

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Speaker 1: are present in that story. A traveling scholar is too

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Speaker 1: poor to stay in town, so he goes out to

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Speaker 1: an old temple just to sleep, and he encounters both

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Speaker 1: a magical swordsman and a ghost who reveals that she

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Speaker 1: haunts the temple due to improper burial and is and

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Speaker 1: it has been forced to do the bidding of a

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Speaker 1: yaksha demon that's sort of like a corrupt in this case,

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Speaker 1: a corrupt nature spirit, a malevolent nature spirit, though I

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Speaker 1: don't think all yakshas are are necessarily malevolent. Um. The

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Speaker 1: magic sword in question is a miniature sword that gives

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Speaker 1: the swordsman his power. And he also has a bag,

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Speaker 1: the magic bag from the title, which he gives to

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Speaker 1: the scholar and we later find find out that this

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Speaker 1: was the swordsman's head bag. And so yeah, he ends

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Speaker 1: up falling in love with this ghost woman. Uh. He

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Speaker 1: digs up her grave, takes her remains home to his

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Speaker 1: own home, buries them there, and as a as a

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Speaker 1: way of thanking him, she says says, well, why don't

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Speaker 1: I be a servant here? And uh, and He's like, yes,

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Speaker 1: that that would be great. So she's a servant. Then

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Speaker 1: eventually his wife dies of consumption or its translated his

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Speaker 1: consumption in the version I read, and at that point

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Speaker 1: he marries her. Uh. They have a child. Uh. He

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Speaker 1: also gets a concubine and has a child through the concubine. Uh.

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Speaker 1: These are the details that were that are given. But

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Speaker 1: then she also has another child, so you know, it's

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Speaker 1: essentially a happy ending. Especially as far as tales about

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Speaker 1: marrying a spirit or or a fox spirit or a

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Speaker 1: ghost or something. A lot of times there's a there's

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Speaker 1: a twist at the end that's there to get you.

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Speaker 1: So as far as those sorts of stories go, I'd

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Speaker 1: say it's a happy ending. Yeah, why don't you take

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Speaker 1: that ribbon off your neck kind of kind of twists, Yeah, exactly. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: it's a fun story. Sometimes you think on IMDb in

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Speaker 1: some places you'll see it credited as a novel. Uh,

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Speaker 1: it's not a novel. It's it's like a ten minute read.

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Speaker 1: If that, well, I should, I should go read it.

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Speaker 1: I have enjoyed literally every post on link story I've read.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's get into the cast a little bit.

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Speaker 1: At the top of this, playing our impoverished scholar with

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Speaker 1: impossible dreams, it's Leslie Chung playing the scholar ling choice son. So.

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Speaker 1: Leslie Chung was born nineteen fifty six died in two

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Speaker 1: thousand three. Uh. He was a huge star of music

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Speaker 1: and was apparently a canto pop pioneer. So that's like

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Speaker 1: like Chinese Hong Kong pop music of the time. UM.

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Speaker 1: I believe. His first album came out in nineteen seventy eight,

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Speaker 1: and he started appearing in films that same year. He

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Speaker 1: was especially big in the UH in the eighties, noted

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Speaker 1: noted for his androgynous style. After immigrating to Canada in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties, he famously came out as bisexual in

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Speaker 1: Time Magazine a Time Magazine interview, which was quite a

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Speaker 1: move at the time. Uh, you know, especially in the

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Speaker 1: within the Chinese film industry. Now, this is a fun fact.

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Speaker 1: He chose the Leslie moniker. You often see this, especially

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Speaker 1: with Hong Kong actors. You know, they'll choose soil, those

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Speaker 1: sort of western first name. He chose Leslie as a

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Speaker 1: tribute to the British actor Leslie Howard, who's probably best

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Speaker 1: remembered in general for being the you know, the star

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Speaker 1: of such films as Night Pig, Million, for appearing and

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Speaker 1: Gone with the Wind. But I imagine you and I

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Speaker 1: probably know him best from the UH. I think, in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, pretty excellent nineteen thirty six film The Petrified Forest.

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Speaker 1: Oh who was he in that? He's the he's the lead. Well,

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Speaker 1: he's actually a traveling scholar in that. Uh, Leslie Howard

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Speaker 1: is he's been traveling across these the British character. I

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Speaker 1: thought I'd like to see the Pacific Ocean perhaps, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, so he's he's the star opposite Betty Davis. Okay,

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Speaker 1: as soon as you said that, it makes it. I

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Speaker 1: can hear his voice that. Yeah. But this is also

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Speaker 1: the guy who played like Ashley Wilkes and and Gone

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Speaker 1: with the Wind and on all that stuff. Yeah. It

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Speaker 1: kind of kind of classic looking, uh dry, handsome dude. Yeah. Now,

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Speaker 1: Leslie Chung sadly took his own life in two thousand three,

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Speaker 1: and the two thousand eleven remake of a Chinese Ghost

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Speaker 1: Story was dedicated to his memory, but he left behind

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Speaker 1: a pretty extensive filmography, including Days of Being Wild, Ashes

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Speaker 1: of Time and Nomad, a lot of you know, serious dramas.

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Speaker 1: Uh so this one. I'm not an expert on his filmography,

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Speaker 1: but I get the feeling like this is kind of

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Speaker 1: more of a standout and that it's an action comedy,

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Speaker 1: because it seems like most of the films he's really

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Speaker 1: well known for. Our serious dramas, including two key Chinese

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Speaker 1: lgbt Q films of the era, Farewell My Concubine and

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Speaker 1: Is Happy Together. His co star in that film was

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Speaker 1: Tony Long, another huge name in Chinese cinema who many

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Speaker 1: of you may know from in The Mood From For Love,

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Speaker 1: Internal Affairs, The Grand Master, and most recently Shang Chi

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Speaker 1: and The Legend of the Tin Rings, in which he

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Speaker 1: played the title character's father, which is a really great

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Speaker 1: role in that movie, in my opinion, great Marvel movie,

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Speaker 1: perhaps my favorite Marvel movie that's come out. Well. I

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Speaker 1: think Leslie Chung is excellent in this movie, and I

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Speaker 1: can see that he wouldn't have normally been in um

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Speaker 1: in like action or horror related movies because he's he

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Speaker 1: is the hero of this film, but he's not an

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Speaker 1: action hero. Like, he doesn't do a lot of physical fighting.

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Speaker 1: He really only had a few moments of physical heroism.

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Speaker 1: Mostly he's he's a hero by being a sort of

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Speaker 1: meek nerd who finds courage by falling in love. Yeah exactly. So, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you're not going to see him do huge action sequences,

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Speaker 1: we have other characters to do those scenes. Yes, all right,

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Speaker 1: Well let's let's mention his romantic interest are our lady

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Speaker 1: ghost Uh. This is uh. This is the the character

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Speaker 1: Uh Susan played by Joey Wang Borne. She's great too.

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Speaker 1: I'd say the whole main cast, the three main characters

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Speaker 1: of this movie, all three are fantastic. Yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: think one of the great things about Joey Wang in

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Speaker 1: this is that you might expect a character like this,

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Speaker 1: who again is a ghost woman in a Chinese period piece. Essentially,

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Speaker 1: you could expect this to be be very one note,

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Speaker 1: very passive in many ways, and we we do see

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Speaker 1: some other examples of female ghosts that very much match

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Speaker 1: that template. But but she in this she's delightful and funny. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, she's being ghostly and haunting and sort of

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Speaker 1: distant as needed, but throughout it she's also just you

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Speaker 1: can see the charisma shining through. Oh yeah, and the

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Speaker 1: scenes where she's supposed to be scary, she is pretty creepy. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So she was active in film through from three through

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four, probably best known for this film,

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Speaker 1: but she was also in it two of its sequels.

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Speaker 1: Maybe these were the only two sequels. There's Chinese Ghost

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Speaker 1: Story two and three. She was in God of Gamblers,

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Speaker 1: which I'll mention again in a minute, and also various

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Speaker 1: supernatural films, including The Beheaded one thousand and The Painted Skin,

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Speaker 1: which is also based on a story recorded by Pouss Only.

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Speaker 1: So you mentioned the Chinese Ghost Story has two sequels.

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Speaker 1: At least do you know anything about these? Are they

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Speaker 1: supposed to know that some of the same characters come back,

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Speaker 1: if not all the same characters, like yeah, so um.

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Speaker 1: Beyond that, I'm not sure, but I think that at

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Speaker 1: least the first sequels is also streaming on Prime, if

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Speaker 1: not the third one as well, same director, I believe. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: all right, now it's time for to discuss our swordsman. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Swordsman Yon played by Wuma who lived nineteen forty two

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Speaker 1: through two thousand fourteen. This is our irreverent, wise cracking,

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Speaker 1: tough Taoist priest. Yeah yeah, yeah, he's he's amazing. Uh

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Speaker 1: the the actor here, mam. He appeared in Righting Wrongs,

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Speaker 1: the Dead and the Deadly Iron Monkey two Once upon

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Speaker 1: a Time in China. He was also in at least

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Speaker 1: the first sequel Chinese Ghost Story too, and this is fun.

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Speaker 1: He was the rice seller in Mr Vampire Do you

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Speaker 1: remember this role. Yes, there's a scene in Mr. Vampire

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Speaker 1: where to repel the evil spirits they have to use

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Speaker 1: glutinous rice, and apparently other types of rice will not

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Speaker 1: do so they're going to get the sticky rice and uh,

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Speaker 1: and the rice seller corruptly is trying to mix in

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Speaker 1: some plain rice with the sticky rice to to pull

424
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 1: one over on the kid they sent to buy the stuff.

425
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 1: And I think this has disastrous consequences. This is fun

426
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 1: because it reminds me of a line that swordsman Yen

427
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 1: has later on in the film, where he's getting very

428
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 1: emotional about the fact that in the spirit world everything's

429
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,240
Speaker 1: black and white, you know exactly what side they stand on,

430
00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: but in the human realm, everything's complex, everything's potentially corrupted.

431
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 1: So even though in this when you're dealing with the

432
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 1: spirit world, you know exactly what sort of rice you need,

433
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,399
Speaker 1: you know, you know which side of of ordering chaos

434
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 1: everyone stands on, but the human realm, who knows the

435
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 1: rice seller might give you what you're paying for, or

436
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: he might be cheating it. This is a great point

437
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 1: and something I wanted to come back to. I would

438
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,119
Speaker 1: say this seems to be a major theme of the movie,

439
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: like the part where um So swordsman Yin gives this

440
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: speech about how he was he wants a magistrate. They

441
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: said he was like a judge or magistrate, judge or

442
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,760
Speaker 1: something else. Yeah, and so he was a judge, but

443
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,119
Speaker 1: he said he he became um sick of that job

444
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: because you know, there was all this ambiguity and people

445
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 1: were always dying and you could never know what's true.

446
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,360
Speaker 1: So instead he gave that up to go like kill

447
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,640
Speaker 1: ghosts because there you always know what's right and wrong.

448
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: You never have to wonder if you did the right thing. Now,

449
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,120
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's something that you can really

450
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 1: live by, because of course, you know, people, we do

451
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 1: have to make judgments all the time in situations where

452
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 1: the facts are ambiguous. But uh, it's interesting that this

453
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 1: is expressed and sort of related to a couple of

454
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: other things that come up in the movie, like the

455
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: questions about um, uh, you know, shoot who what is

456
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,120
Speaker 1: scarier mortals or ghosts? This this comes up a few times.

457
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: I think there's some kind of thread running through the

458
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,240
Speaker 1: movie about how I don't know, maybe the most um

459
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 1: treachery or danger is not always in the place you

460
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,680
Speaker 1: would expect it to be. Yeah. Absolutely, Now Wuma, I

461
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,800
Speaker 1: should also note he has um he has numerous other roles.

462
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: I think he has something like two acting credits on IMDb,

463
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 1: so I'm probably missing something else that stands out. But

464
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,040
Speaker 1: he also has forty three direction directorial credits, including the

465
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: Chinese Ghostbuster and My Cousin the Ghost So I guess it.

466
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: It goes for for any film scene. Then once you've

467
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: been a part of a successful genre film, that genre

468
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,879
Speaker 1: or subgenre kind of becomes a part of you, at

469
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: least professionally speaking. You know, you know those stories about

470
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 1: a certain big Hollywood celebrities have who have their own

471
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 1: like script doctors or agents who go through any script,

472
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,399
Speaker 1: you know, to like make sure that it's more it

473
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 1: has lines that are sort of tailored to their personality.

474
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,359
Speaker 1: Um I I imagine that Wuma has got to have

475
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: a situation like that where like anytime he takes a role,

476
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,400
Speaker 1: they gotta work a rap about the Tao in there,

477
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: because once you've done that, you can't go back. It's like,

478
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 1: that's that's got to be what people are looking for

479
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: every time exactly. Now they are those are the three

480
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 1: main actors in the film, but there's some other performances

481
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: of note I'm going to mention them a little more briefly,

482
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 1: but we have why Lamb playing swordsman how uh dates unknown,

483
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: but this guy, I believe it's still active. This is

484
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 1: a brash swordsman that's encountered early in the picture. Fun

485
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 1: role um. This guy's been in a lot of stuff

486
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 1: over the years, including nineteen eighty three's The Boxers. Omen

487
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,439
Speaker 1: This is a shob Brothers picture that's often held up

488
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,439
Speaker 1: as a prime example of a of a psychatronic film.

489
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: Has a lot of really you know, kind of psychedelic

490
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: imagery in it. So he's he's fun in this stern

491
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: character while we lasts. Uh. He's on the original Chinese poster,

492
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: so I guess he's worth mentioning here, though he doesn't

493
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,879
Speaker 1: really factor into the plot all that much. Yeah, he

494
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: dies I think like fifteen minutes into the movie. But

495
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: he's very cool looking, so yeah, yeah, you gotta put

496
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: it on the poster. We also have Suming law born

497
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: one who plays the Tree Demon, one of our main antagonists.

498
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 1: He was also in a bunch of films, including other

499
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 1: Chinese ghost story movies. I think of this in the

500
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: same character role, as well as a couple of big

501
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 1: Jackie Chan movies. He was in the Legend of Drunken

502
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: Master and The Medallion. Uh. Then this, this last acting

503
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: credit I'm going to mention is just it's a small,

504
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 1: outrageously over the top role a crooked magistrate, crooked judge. Um.

505
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 1: It doesn't have a name, um, but just just so

506
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 1: over the top, played by this actor Jing Wong born Nintive.

507
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: It's worth calling out because jing Wong himself is a

508
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: huge name in Hong Kong cinema, with over a hundred

509
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: producing and directing credits across multiple genres, including the gambling genre,

510
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 1: which I've I've read is one of his specialties. So

511
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 1: he's responsible for that film God of Gamblers that I

512
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, and he was apparently especially a big deal,

513
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 1: big moneymaker in the nineteen nineties. He he is funny

514
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,040
Speaker 1: in this, but it's not dry humor. He is like

515
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: over there, he's like Jim carrying it up, you know,

516
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: full body. Uh, just like wet wet acting and basically

517
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 1: every line in his scene as him demanding a bribe

518
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: from someone. Yeah, it's one of these roles where it's

519
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: just how how over the top and how corrupt. Could

520
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: we have a portrayal of a of a local magistrate

521
00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: and let's just have him say all the quiet, quiet

522
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: things out loud, just blatantly talking about being lazy and

523
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: wishing that we could just get a bribe and finish

524
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: this early. Uh. It's it's it's fun, but it is

525
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: it's it's the hammiest part of the film. It's like,

526
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 1: should I have you beaten and then demand a bribe?

527
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 1: Or should I demand a bribe and then have you beaten? Exactly?

528
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: All right? And finally, the music on this one, it's

529
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 1: credited to Romeo Diaz and James Wong. H James Wong

530
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 1: lived through two thousand and four, and uh, he's a

531
00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 1: particular note here because not only did he score a

532
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 1: bunch of films, he also was a cantopop lyricist and songwriter,

533
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: and he acted in a bunch of films, including Iron Monkey. Um.

534
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: The music and this I actually quite enjoyed. I would

535
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 1: have to say, there may be a few cheesy parts

536
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: here and there, but it has kind of this blending

537
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 1: of a little bit of synth but also in traditional

538
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 1: music to invoke a dramatic, historical Chinese cinema feel. Yeah.

539
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 1: I don't know what the term for this is. This

540
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: might be technically like a sub genre of into pop,

541
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 1: but it's Yeah, it's a type of Chinese popular music

542
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: that has kind of, uh, like a lyrical ballad quality,

543
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: very very broad themes about love and dreams and stuff,

544
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,959
Speaker 1: and then like a flute in the background. Yeah. If

545
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 1: there any canto pop fans out there, feel free to

546
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: write in. We'd love to hear your thoughts on these

547
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: names that we've referenced regarding cantopop please. All right, Well, well,

548
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: shall we get into the plot of this one a bit?

549
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: All right? Well, so this movie begins with our our hero,

550
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 1: a good natured young scholar and debt collector. And I'm

551
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,959
Speaker 1: a little curious about the historical notes, like is it

552
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 1: common for a young scholar to also be a debt collector? Or?

553
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: Is that a strange pairing? I wasn't sure, But this

554
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: is master lying choice on and would I think I

555
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: already said this, but I would describe Ling as in

556
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: many ways kind of your classic film nerd hero. He

557
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: is initially timid, he's meek, frail, unlucky, but he's also

558
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 1: kind hearted and through falling in love. He discovers an

559
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,959
Speaker 1: inner courage that he never knew he possessed before, and

560
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: that's sort of the arc of his heroism. But he

561
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 1: he acquires friends along the way who will sort of

562
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: complement his abilities when they when they face the big

563
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 1: demons at the end. Young scholars like this are pretty

564
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: much doomed to be seduced by ghosts or fox spirits

565
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: and tales like this, And I guess, I guess that

566
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: troupe kind of transcends Chinese tales in general. You know,

567
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: you're probably having lonely scholars in various cultures writing fictional

568
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:50,040
Speaker 1: tales about lonely scholars being seduced by um, you know,

569
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: invisible lovers and so forth. So anyway, at the outside

570
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: of the story, Master Ling is roaming through the countryside.

571
00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 1: He's on a journey. He seems to be headed for

572
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: a particular town on a mission to collect debts for

573
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 1: his boss. I've also seen him described in some sources

574
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 1: as a tax collector, though the movie makes it seem

575
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: more like he's supposed to be working from a ledger

576
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: of private debts. I mean, maybe there's some overlap of

577
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: these things within the historical setting. I'm not sure. Yeah, Like,

578
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: there's that one scene where I guess I'll probably describing

579
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 1: a bit here where something happens to the tax ledger

580
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 1: and the individual he's visitings like, oh, I don't owe

581
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: you anything now, then get out of here. And granted

582
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 1: this is a broad comedy, but one wonders if that

583
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 1: is the response you would have towards um, uh, towards

584
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: the you know, the state debt versus private debt at

585
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: this time. Right. Um, So, anyway, we watch young Master Lane.

586
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,719
Speaker 1: He's sort of traveling around the forests and the byways

587
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: and uh, the movie's weird sense of humor immediately comes through,

588
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: even in this opening montage, because there's a part where

589
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: we see lings sit down to eat lunch. I think,

590
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 1: and um, when he tries to bite into something, is

591
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 1: this a piece of bread? It's some kind of food.

592
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 1: It might be a roll or something, um, but I'm

593
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: guessing yeah. And he bites into it and it's too

594
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: hard for his teeth to pierce, like he almost cracks

595
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 1: a tooth on it. And then he bashes the bread

596
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 1: against a rock and the rock cracks in half. And

597
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: then he kicks the bread and frustration and it punches

598
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: a hole in his shoe and we see his toe

599
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 1: poking out all of this stuff here. It has this

600
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: kind of almost silent era like Buster Keaton or where

601
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: Charlie Chaplin kind of vibe to it totally. Yeah, like

602
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,240
Speaker 1: h like modern Times or the Kid. Oh and the

603
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,720
Speaker 1: whole time there is this this sentimental song playing about

604
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: how you must pursue beautiful, impossible dreams, though clearly he's

605
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: just having problems with this mundane aspirations like can I

606
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: have shoes without holes in them? Can I have an

607
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 1: umbrella that's not already shredded? That sort of thing. Yeah,

608
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,280
Speaker 1: is collecting debts in rural townships his impossible dream. I

609
00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 1: don't think so. But ling he gets lost because he

610
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 1: doesn't he reads a sign thats like the town is

611
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: three miles south, but then he's like which way is south?

612
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 1: And his compass needle is just spinning wildly all over

613
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 1: the place, and he gets caught in a storm and

614
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 1: he tries to open his umbrella and it's riven with holes.

615
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 1: So he's just having a bad, bad day. And he

616
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:24,919
Speaker 1: eventually takes shelter under an abandoned pavilion, and uh, let's

617
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,880
Speaker 1: see at this point suddenly, oh, this is a swordsman

618
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,359
Speaker 1: runs up. You hear somebody saying don't run away, and uh,

619
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: I think this is the first instance of a theme

620
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: repeated for comedy throughout the movie, which is people shouting

621
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: don't run or don't go, which is later Well, we

622
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 1: can say the Keystone Cops thing until we get to

623
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: the town, but yeah, it'll be a common thing that

624
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 1: the police respond to once we get into town. Um.

625
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 1: And uh So there's a swordsman chasing down a bunch

626
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,399
Speaker 1: of thieves and he chases them to right in front

627
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,959
Speaker 1: of a little hut where master Ling is hanging out

628
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 1: and he and then master Ling just stands there. So

629
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: he catches them, he beats them up, and then the

630
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,880
Speaker 1: last thief there says to the swordsman, please, sir, forgive us.

631
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,360
Speaker 1: I'll return your money to you. And Ling is just

632
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: standing there, frozen and fear watching the swordsman execute the

633
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: thieves who stole from him. Yeah, their heads top toppling

634
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,839
Speaker 1: through the air. It's one heads are rolling, and then

635
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,400
Speaker 1: when the swordsman slashes the very last guy, it's squirts

636
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:32,439
Speaker 1: blood directly into Ling's mouth. Yeah, he's like, he says, yeah,

637
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,799
Speaker 1: just horrified. So he's standing there terrified, and and then

638
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: there's a moment where the Swordsman seems to take pity

639
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 1: on Ling. He tosses him a bun. It's a soft

640
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: bun this time. Uh, and he kind of makes this

641
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 1: face that I took a screen grab up for you

642
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: to see, rob because the swordsman face here is really good.

643
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,760
Speaker 1: It's it's almost like it could be the new Robert

644
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,919
Speaker 1: Redford nodding meme. Yeah, yeah, I can see it. Yeah,

645
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,719
Speaker 1: I mean, this guy's this guy has made a fabulous

646
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: and violent introduction. He looks really cool. I have to say.

647
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 1: He's dressed all in black with some gold and a

648
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,320
Speaker 1: little bit of red, so you know, he looks fierce.

649
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 1: And now he's just sitting down casually having a bun,

650
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 1: and he's like, hey, yeah, you're all right here, I

651
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 1: have a bun too. He has a profound jaw, it's

652
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: possibly because he has part of a bun in his

653
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 1: mouth in this shot. But as soon as the Swordsman

654
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: walks away, Lyns spits out his bun all over the

655
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 1: place and he scrambles in fear and gets stuck in

656
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 1: the mud as he strength lye um. But next we

657
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,640
Speaker 1: come to Ling's arrival in town, and there are a

658
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: number of things to discuss here, because he'll return to

659
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,720
Speaker 1: town several times and uh, and there are these running jokes.

660
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,520
Speaker 1: I think one is sort of the Keystone Cops. So

661
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:46,719
Speaker 1: there are uh police or soldiers in town. Who are

662
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,920
Speaker 1: they are trying to catch criminals? I think because there

663
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 1: are bounties for criminals. But what this turns into is

664
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,760
Speaker 1: anytime they hear somebody say like don't go or don't

665
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 1: run or don't leave, they immediately start chasing and just

666
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 1: grabbing people because they they say, anytime someone says don't go,

667
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: that's because they're saying it to a thief who has

668
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,040
Speaker 1: stolen something. Yeah, And then here they come running in.

669
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,760
Speaker 1: They're like who said that? Who said that? They're chasing

670
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,800
Speaker 1: after them. And so one of the things that happens

671
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 1: is these these incompetent policemen like grab poor poor Ling

672
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,720
Speaker 1: and they they like shove him up against a wall.

673
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 1: And then they're looking at all of these drawings of

674
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: criminals unwanted posters and they're like, ah, he's not any

675
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 1: of them. Get rid of him. But as they shove

676
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:36,320
Speaker 1: him up against a wall, they press him against the

677
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,399
Speaker 1: front of a stall of Um, I'm not sure what

678
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,760
Speaker 1: this profession would be, like an undertaker or funeral arts master. Anyway,

679
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:48,439
Speaker 1: somehow ling gets pressed against a wall covered in um

680
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 1: josh paper or money for the Dead, some kind of

681
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: funerary uh printed material. Yeah, paper talisman, ceiling spells, that

682
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Uh. These of course we're also featured

683
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 1: in or or very similar talisman's were featured in Aniture

684
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 1: Vampire as being something that you could use to sort

685
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:11,799
Speaker 1: of deactivate a vampire, to deactivate a junk shi. Right, Yeah,

686
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 1: you'd put the kind of like yellow receipt on their

687
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 1: forehead and then they would power down. But yeah, he's

688
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 1: been pressed up against them, so initially he has them

689
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,319
Speaker 1: stuck to his back, and later on, once they've been

690
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: peeled away, they've still stained the text onto the back

691
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: of his shirt. So his back now has warding magic

692
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 1: power that he's completely unaware of. Yeah, but like you

693
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:37,839
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, when he goes to collect his debts, um

694
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 1: he Oh, so he shows up like a tavern and

695
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 1: he's talking to the tavern owner and he's like, hey,

696
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 1: you know, it's time to pay up, And the tavern

697
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,759
Speaker 1: owner says, why a different debt collector every time, and

698
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 1: Ling is like, ah, the last one was murdered. And

699
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: then the By the way, this movie is just it

700
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,760
Speaker 1: takes place in a world where everybody is constantly getting murdered.

701
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 1: Like basically half the characters that are encountered or mentioned

702
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 1: at some point are murdered. Yeah, it's a it's a

703
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: lawless land. But but so the tavern owner then says

704
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 1: to Ling, he says, well, since you're gonna be murdered anyway,

705
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 1: why don't you do me a favor and not collect

706
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 1: the debt? Uh? And Lings like, don't make jokes. But

707
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,240
Speaker 1: then when he opens up his account books, they're ruined

708
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,360
Speaker 1: because they got soaked I think in the rain or

709
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: maybe when he got stuck in the mud somehow. They're

710
00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 1: all wet and now the records are destroyed. And when

711
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 1: the tavern owner discovers this, he is overjoyed. He's like,

712
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: as there's no record in the account, so that means

713
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,839
Speaker 1: I don't owe any money, which Ling has no come

714
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:42,200
Speaker 1: back to this. He's just like, oh man, yeah, that's

715
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,359
Speaker 1: that's I've got nothing. That's how Fight Club ended. Right

716
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 1: to think about that, that's good. Um, so the poor scholar,

717
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: he gets thrown out on the street. He can't do

718
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,319
Speaker 1: his debt collection. He has no money and not a

719
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,439
Speaker 1: friend in this world, so what's he gonna do? While

720
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 1: he starts asking around, is there any where I can

721
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 1: sleep for free tonight? And one of the locals tells him, yeah,

722
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 1: there's only one place around here where you can a

723
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: free shelter, and that is the land Yuk Temple. And

724
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 1: as soon as that word is uttered, us, who's that

725
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 1: name is uttered? All the locals are like and they

726
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 1: all turn and lean in. Uh that you know they're

727
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,280
Speaker 1: they're telling him here, like, yeah, go through the woods

728
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 1: with the killer wolves until you see a creepy looking

729
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:28,359
Speaker 1: temple and that'll be where you should sleep. So at

730
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: this point in the film, and I have to say,

731
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 1: it's very well paced, like there's not really a dull

732
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:33,880
Speaker 1: moment in the entire film, but at this point you

733
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,480
Speaker 1: know you're after the races because he's gonna have to

734
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,759
Speaker 1: travel through haunted woods, get too inevitably haunted temple, and

735
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,439
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be fireworks from from there on out.

736
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,320
Speaker 1: So he goes through the haunted woods, he gets menaced

737
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 1: by wolves with yellow eyes. Uh, and then When he

738
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 1: arrives at the temple, he happens to stumble into the

739
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 1: middle of a brutal fight between two master swordsmen. Now

740
00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,680
Speaker 1: is one of them the guy who got the blood

741
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 1: and his mouth earlier? Yes, one of them is the

742
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: strong jawed, bun eating swordsman from earlier. The other one

743
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,520
Speaker 1: is a new character who will turn out to be

744
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:15,760
Speaker 1: our our our Dallas superstar Swordsman slash Sorcerer Uh Swordsman

745
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:20,359
Speaker 1: Yin Right Swordsman Yin Chika, who is again also a

746
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: former law man. But this is an awesome fight scene.

747
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 1: It's like dark and foggy and windy, and the they're

748
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,840
Speaker 1: like flying around and flipping in and out of buildings

749
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: and onto balconies uh and uh and at one point

750
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:35,839
Speaker 1: and like it seems pretty evenly matched. But then at

751
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,640
Speaker 1: one point the swordsman we saw earlier sort of loses

752
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 1: track of where the new guy is, and then the

753
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,319
Speaker 1: new guy like explodes out of a wall at him

754
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:46,520
Speaker 1: and seems to get the better of him. Oh but

755
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:49,240
Speaker 1: right when he does this, they're both standing there holding

756
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,000
Speaker 1: their swords out, and then right between them is Master

757
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: Lang like his head is between their two sword tips

758
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: and the new swordsman. Uh. Swordsman Yin says a brother Ha,

759
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 1: how you've been fighting me for seven years and lost

760
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: for seven years. Uh. And then we learned in their

761
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: exchange that Swordsman Yen has been living for six months

762
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,399
Speaker 1: at the lan Yuk Temple and they taunt each other.

763
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: But Swordsman Yen tells brother Ha how that by being

764
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:18,799
Speaker 1: overly concerned with worldly titles, with fame and glory as

765
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 1: a swordsman, he actually let his skills go to seed,

766
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 1: and that is why he has always beaten. He's too

767
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,280
Speaker 1: concerned with being seen as the best rather than actually

768
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: being the best, and he's too hot tempered. So they

769
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,320
Speaker 1: both got their swords pointed each other. Master Ling's throat

770
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 1: is right between them, and then master Ling Uh is like, hey,

771
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 1: why not be nice to each other? I think it

772
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 1: really says that, and then he says, you have to

773
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:46,280
Speaker 1: know that the universe is infinite and true love lasts forever.

774
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,840
Speaker 1: So he's got a good heart. Um. And eventually I

775
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 1: think the other swordsman gets so annoyed that he just leaves,

776
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 1: and uh Ling is accidentally he's like standing on the

777
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: swordsman's cloth because he's leaving and it rips part of

778
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:04,239
Speaker 1: it off. He tries to hand it to him um,

779
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,360
Speaker 1: and the swordsman just yells at Ling. He says, go

780
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:11,160
Speaker 1: love it so that guy brother? Ha how split swordsman

781
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 1: Yen warns master Ling not to stay at the temple.

782
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,279
Speaker 1: Uh that he sort but he warns him in a

783
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,440
Speaker 1: very in a bunch of kind of rebold ways, like

784
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 1: he says, you know, if a tiger appears, you'll probably

785
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:25,840
Speaker 1: want to hide in my trousers. At one point, Lings like,

786
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 1: why do you keep yelling at me? And he says

787
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:30,239
Speaker 1: it's because I have bad breath and I want you

788
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 1: to go away. Yeah, that's a great, great line too.

789
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 1: But Ling doesn't listen. He has nowhere else to go,

790
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 1: and so he picks a room in the temple to

791
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,319
Speaker 1: put down his things. Uh. Now this goes into a

792
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: sequence that is uh, I guess it's followed up on

793
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 1: it multiple points, But this is master Ling in the

794
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,840
Speaker 1: Bark Zombies, and I loved this whole thing, Rob. Do

795
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,480
Speaker 1: you want to describe what's going on here? Yeah? So

796
00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:55,799
Speaker 1: we we start getting these shots of what seems to

797
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:58,719
Speaker 1: be the attic of the temple or part of the

798
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 1: temple complex here and it has these desiccated corpses up there. Uh,

799
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:06,960
Speaker 1: you know, perhaps past victims, because I believe that the

800
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 1: film opens up even with a sequence where somebody is attacked, um,

801
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 1: whilst being loved up and on grounds that look like

802
00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: this temple and um, so eventually we see these remains

803
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: start to move around. Uh. And so yeah, they're partially

804
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:29,320
Speaker 1: rendered with stop motion effects that definitely have a nineties

805
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 1: tool video vibe, you know, like it's it's not quite

806
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,200
Speaker 1: you know, Harry Housing level, but it still looks really cool. Uh.

807
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:39,160
Speaker 1: And I loved every bit of it. Later on, they're

808
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:43,120
Speaker 1: also played the creative via puppetry and also costumes and

809
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:47,360
Speaker 1: at times legitimately creepy. But it's a great there's a

810
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,920
Speaker 1: great The great thing about this sequence is that Ling

811
00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: is completely unaware of them. Um. They start off in

812
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 1: the attic, they end up falling through into the basement.

813
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:00,319
Speaker 1: UM at times. At one point, Ling Fault partially falls

814
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,480
Speaker 1: through the basement and his his his rear end is

815
00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 1: down there and they're like trying to grab his butt

816
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 1: and they tear off part of his clothing. Um, and

817
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,359
Speaker 1: then he winds up in the basement later on and

818
00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:15,600
Speaker 1: they're creeping up on him. You think they're gonna get him,

819
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,279
Speaker 1: but then he opens some shutters and the sunlight just

820
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: melts them away and he never knows they were there

821
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,880
Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, it's it's very much the Baby Herman

822
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 1: cartoon at the beginning of Roger Rabbit. He's just fumbling

823
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:32,720
Speaker 1: about and constantly in peril but just devating them by accident. Yeah,

824
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,560
Speaker 1: so it's just really fun. And then and again, the

825
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:38,319
Speaker 1: bark zombies look incredible. I thought there were a lot

826
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 1: of fun, excellent bark zombies. But but meanwhile, while he's

827
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 1: doing all that, um, we learn about something that's going

828
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:50,280
Speaker 1: on at this temple, the plot of the Seductive Ghost Ladies.

829
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,839
Speaker 1: So the forest around this temple is swarming with these

830
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 1: beautiful ghost ladies who one of our main characters will

831
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:02,120
Speaker 1: be one of them that seduce men and then suck

832
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:05,480
Speaker 1: out their life force and turn them into these screaming husks.

833
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:08,560
Speaker 1: And this happens to the other swordsman, the brother ha

834
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: how uh he's like made a campfire and then a

835
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:15,919
Speaker 1: beautiful woman uh like shows up and she's like, oh hey,

836
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:20,480
Speaker 1: and they start kissing, but she she unfortunately sucks out

837
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:25,400
Speaker 1: his life force and leaves him a shriveled, dry, dry corpse. Uh.

838
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:27,360
Speaker 1: When I watched this part with Rachel, she said that

839
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:33,320
Speaker 1: she she diet Tomacious earthed him. Yeah. In the in

840
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: the original story by pussong Ling, the the the ghost

841
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 1: woman will do one of two things. Either she will

842
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:42,520
Speaker 1: come up to you and ask if you want to

843
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: make love, and then when you do so, she will

844
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:49,839
Speaker 1: eventually poke a hole into your heel, I believe, with

845
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 1: some sort of a spike so that your essence can

846
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 1: be drained out of the hole. Or if you say

847
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:57,360
Speaker 1: no thank you to the love making, she will offer

848
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 1: you what seems to be like a golden coin, and

849
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 1: if you accept that, then you'll be overcome by the

850
00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:05,480
Speaker 1: magic as well. So like one of the two vices

851
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:07,760
Speaker 1: will get you. It's a great time to is shoe

852
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 1: lust and greed in favor of gluttony. Oh but we

853
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,759
Speaker 1: we do uh see some like magical implements of this

854
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,399
Speaker 1: kind in the scene, because like um, in the scene

855
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:19,800
Speaker 1: where the ghost woman is is seducing the swordsman, we

856
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,640
Speaker 1: see that she has a sort of a magical ankle

857
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:26,120
Speaker 1: bracelet on that seems to have charms hanging off of it.

858
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:31,359
Speaker 1: And then also when swordsman ha how is is lying

859
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:35,200
Speaker 1: there shriveled. He is discovered by Swordsman Yin, who's like, oh,

860
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 1: look what they did to you. But then he like

861
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 1: wakes up as a corpse and starts attacking him and uh,

862
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,720
Speaker 1: and swordsman Yon is like, even in death, you attack

863
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:45,759
Speaker 1: me again, and then said he has to pull out

864
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:49,279
Speaker 1: a holy needle and plunge the needle into the into

865
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 1: the corpse's i and that like shuts him down. These

866
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:57,879
Speaker 1: needles frequently are used against unholy spirits. Yeah, I love

867
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:00,800
Speaker 1: swordsman Yon's arsenal here because of he has his sword,

868
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,799
Speaker 1: his magic sword. But yeah, he has these needles that

869
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: it can also be thrown as projectiles and I understand

870
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:13,240
Speaker 1: basically throwing implements like this are used in different martial arts,

871
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: but not as effectively and clearly as Swordsman Yen is

872
00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:19,920
Speaker 1: using them here. He also has uh several magical spells

873
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 1: that he uses. He's he's able to He does this

874
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:25,280
Speaker 1: wonderful bit later on where he like cuts into his palm,

875
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:27,400
Speaker 1: does some sort of a symbol there and then is

876
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,799
Speaker 1: able to like shoot out essentially like magic missiles and

877
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,719
Speaker 1: fireballs and the like. But in a way that is

878
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 1: super cool, especially within the confines of a of a

879
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:40,719
Speaker 1: martial arts sequence. He also has a Sanskrit phrase that

880
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,760
Speaker 1: he says that's the opening line of a of a book,

881
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:47,600
Speaker 1: like a holy Sanskrit book. Though it's interesting because there's

882
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,799
Speaker 1: a scene later in the movie where he's finally he's

883
00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:53,319
Speaker 1: sort of teaming up with the scholar and he's like,

884
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 1: if you need to save yourself, you know, say a

885
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,400
Speaker 1: line from this book. And the scholars like, but I

886
00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:00,239
Speaker 1: can't read Sanskrit, and he says, well, just in your

887
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 1: heart to the Buddha, and the Buddha will tell you

888
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:04,839
Speaker 1: what to say. Yeah, yeah, just just be relaxed and

889
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 1: uh and then you'll be able to do it um

890
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 1: and also ring this beout like he basically he ends

891
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:11,799
Speaker 1: up the whole plot ends up being like I need

892
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:14,520
Speaker 1: to get this this big bad that's responsible for all this.

893
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,600
Speaker 1: I need to get these ghosts. You're going to be debate,

894
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: but that's later on. So before we get there, we

895
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,200
Speaker 1: have to actually get the love story, which is uh

896
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:27,160
Speaker 1: so master ling. Being afraid out in the forest eventually

897
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 1: encounters the ghost woman U nips Hu Sin and Susan

898
00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:34,640
Speaker 1: is a vampiric ghost. So she's she's not just like

899
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:39,080
Speaker 1: holy innocent. She is draining people's energy. She's seducing you know,

900
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 1: hapless dudes in the forest. They end up turned into

901
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,480
Speaker 1: a bark zombie. It's no good. Uh. And it seems

902
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:48,040
Speaker 1: like she's going to do the same thing to Ling

903
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:51,279
Speaker 1: when they first meet, but Ling ultimately just turns out

904
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 1: to be too nice a guy. Did you read it

905
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,560
Speaker 1: that way? Also that like, yeah, he's like so sweet

906
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:00,440
Speaker 1: to her that she can't really do it. Yeah. It's

907
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:02,560
Speaker 1: kind of a fun twist from the original because in

908
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:05,160
Speaker 1: the original story, she basically is like, hey, do you

909
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:06,600
Speaker 1: want to make love? And he's like, no, I would,

910
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:08,399
Speaker 1: I would never, And she's like, well, do you want

911
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:10,160
Speaker 1: this gold coin? He's like, I'm not taking that kind

912
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:12,960
Speaker 1: of money from you know, someone hanging out in a uh,

913
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: you know, temple ruins and she's like okay, um, But

914
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 1: in this one it's less. I mean, part of it

915
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:21,879
Speaker 1: is that he's um, you know, he's moral and it's

916
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:23,960
Speaker 1: good moral fiber. But the other part, yeah, is that

917
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: he's just a sweet guy and as she is not,

918
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:31,160
Speaker 1: you know, herself completely a creature of evil, like she

919
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:35,359
Speaker 1: herself is uh ensourcefuled by another force that will discuss here.

920
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:38,360
Speaker 1: Like part of her like recognizes that, and so we

921
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,520
Speaker 1: do have room for like this legitimate, believable love story

922
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,839
Speaker 1: to to to blossom here. I think one of those

923
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 1: it is funny. One of the things that first indicates

924
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:50,840
Speaker 1: to her how kind he is is that he says

925
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 1: to her, he's like, wow, you don't look so good.

926
00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:54,719
Speaker 1: Do you need to go to a doctor? I think,

927
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:57,200
Speaker 1: referring to the fact that she's pale because she's dead.

928
00:50:57,680 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 1: It's like, you're really pale, and he's talking about her

929
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:02,279
Speaker 1: skin being cold and all this. We need to get

930
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:05,240
Speaker 1: you some medical attention. Yeah. The script, it really feels

931
00:51:05,239 --> 00:51:07,359
Speaker 1: punched up, like they really they really got in a

932
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of comedic jabs here and sequences

933
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:22,040
Speaker 1: like this. But of course, at first, I think when

934
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 1: when Shuson likes master Ling, you know, she understands it

935
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 1: as like a love that cannot be right. She's not like, oh,

936
00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:32,600
Speaker 1: stay here and be with me forever. She's like, oh,

937
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: you know, this is bad for him. Yeah, And so

938
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:37,200
Speaker 1: a lot of it ends up being a situation be

939
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:39,120
Speaker 1: where she's like, look, you don't need to be here.

940
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:42,480
Speaker 1: When when my master shows up, when the others come.

941
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:43,920
Speaker 1: You need to get out of here. You need to

942
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:46,160
Speaker 1: leave these grounds. You're a good dude, you don't need

943
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 1: to be here. But she doesn't seem to think that

944
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:50,879
Speaker 1: that she has any kind of a future with him.

945
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 1: Now we should be clear though, that when Ling first

946
00:51:54,560 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: meets her, he has no idea she's a ghost. He

947
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,680
Speaker 1: doesn't understand. He's not picking up on the clues. Yes,

948
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:02,879
Speaker 1: this is something he has to be convinced of. I

949
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 1: think swordsman Yin tells him. He's like, no, no, no, everybody,

950
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,600
Speaker 1: everybody at this temple is a ghost except me there,

951
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:11,680
Speaker 1: they're all just ghosts. Yeah. Yeah, Because there's a scene

952
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:13,840
Speaker 1: where one of the other ghosts gets cut in half

953
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:17,880
Speaker 1: by by by Master Yan and uh, and he's like,

954
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:19,879
Speaker 1: you killed that woman, right, I mean that was that's

955
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,719
Speaker 1: the long and short of it. And he's like, no, no,

956
00:52:22,760 --> 00:52:25,760
Speaker 1: that was a ghost. I didn't kill anybody. So eventually, uh,

957
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:28,439
Speaker 1: he learns the whole plot and we do too. So

958
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 1: so what is the whole magical hierarchy here? What's the

959
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 1: org chart for the ghosts and demons at this temple?

960
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 1: So basically we have this malicious nature spirit, this tree

961
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:44,160
Speaker 1: demon or this Yaksha demon is it's described in the

962
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:49,399
Speaker 1: original story. Is this the figure they're calling the old Dame? Yes? Yeah,

963
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:52,799
Speaker 1: which is this? Um? You know? This is this kind

964
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:58,160
Speaker 1: of royally dressed individual who shows up um. And they

965
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:01,960
Speaker 1: kind of speak simultaneously with like a like a gravelly

966
00:53:02,719 --> 00:53:06,719
Speaker 1: masculine voice but also a feminine voice, kind of one

967
00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:10,680
Speaker 1: superimposed over the other. And uh. And this character is

968
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:14,920
Speaker 1: is ordering around both um, but both Susanne the our

969
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:18,960
Speaker 1: our our ghost love interest, but also some other female

970
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:23,399
Speaker 1: ghosts that are being used as agents of seduction by

971
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:27,240
Speaker 1: this demon. So the demons the one harvesting life energies

972
00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 1: and life forces, but he's using these ghosts to do it,

973
00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:33,319
Speaker 1: or at least to lure them in, to get them

974
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:36,800
Speaker 1: in a in a in a position to where the

975
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: tree demon can creep up on them in vine or

976
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:42,960
Speaker 1: tongue form, as we later find out is the case

977
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:46,120
Speaker 1: and sap their life force. Oh yeah, there's a lot

978
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:49,200
Speaker 1: of creepy tree demon morphology later on, especially when when

979
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:52,839
Speaker 1: the all tongue emerges. Um. But yeah, so we learn

980
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:54,439
Speaker 1: a lot of this in a in a great sort

981
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:59,200
Speaker 1: of comedy scene where Master ling Is is visiting um

982
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:02,560
Speaker 1: to send when like the boss shows up and he

983
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,880
Speaker 1: has to hide underneath the water in a wash basin

984
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:09,959
Speaker 1: while while the while the demon is there, and while

985
00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 1: the other ghosts are there, and they're all like talking

986
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:16,279
Speaker 1: about how that Susan has been pledged in marriage to

987
00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:20,719
Speaker 1: this horrible monster, the Monster of Black Mountain, and I

988
00:54:20,719 --> 00:54:22,840
Speaker 1: guess their marriage is coming up soon. It's like a

989
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,000
Speaker 1: week away or something. And so she's just trying to

990
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:26,759
Speaker 1: get him out of there so they don't catch ling

991
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:28,680
Speaker 1: in there and kill him. And there's a bunch of

992
00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:30,840
Speaker 1: a bunch of this is played for comedy, yeah, and

993
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:34,560
Speaker 1: also for you know, the romantic angle. It's like, oh,

994
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:37,600
Speaker 1: we're both hiding in the same place at the same time, uh,

995
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:39,799
Speaker 1: and we're almost kissing that sort of thing. Well, she

996
00:54:39,840 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 1: does kiss him at one point, she like hides him

997
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:44,480
Speaker 1: by leaning into the wash basin and then kiss him

998
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: under the water and he's like, wow, jeez. Yeah, that's

999
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:53,319
Speaker 1: a key scene that is that we revisit uh later

1000
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 1: on with like a musical motif. Yeah. So he she

1001
00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:00,160
Speaker 1: is falling hard for this uh, this lonely sky or

1002
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:04,560
Speaker 1: mortal and he is falling hard for this female ghost

1003
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:08,359
Speaker 1: even though he doesn't know she's a ghost at this point, right,

1004
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:12,520
Speaker 1: but he eventually discovers basically what's going on. Um, like,

1005
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:14,560
Speaker 1: there are a bunch of different things. Well, he doesn't

1006
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:16,280
Speaker 1: discover it at this point, I think, but I remember

1007
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:18,560
Speaker 1: there's one point where I think he like does some

1008
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:21,480
Speaker 1: kind of like harm to her by like accidentally showing

1009
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:23,720
Speaker 1: her his back which is where all of the warding

1010
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:27,160
Speaker 1: magic was printed. Yeah, yeah, which he recoils from, you know,

1011
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:30,200
Speaker 1: because these are holy scriptures and she cannot look upon them.

1012
00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:32,440
Speaker 1: But there's also a conflict because he's been kind of

1013
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:37,080
Speaker 1: friendly ish with swordsman Yin um uh and swords mag

1014
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:39,480
Speaker 1: Yin is there. He's like, no, no, no ghosts are

1015
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:44,040
Speaker 1: to be beheaded and destroyed. Uh and uh and this

1016
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: lady is no good. But then uh Ling also becomes

1017
00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:51,640
Speaker 1: convinced that swordsman Yin is a murderer. So so he

1018
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:54,400
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's getting bounced back and forth between

1019
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:57,800
Speaker 1: between alliances, and at one point he ends up taken

1020
00:55:57,840 --> 00:56:01,440
Speaker 1: before a magistrate in this really funny san where uh

1021
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:04,040
Speaker 1: where he's I think he's trying to be like, yeah,

1022
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:06,799
Speaker 1: he's a murderer, You've got to stop him. Uh, and

1023
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:10,120
Speaker 1: the magistrate is just totally uninterested. Yeah, there's a great

1024
00:56:10,160 --> 00:56:13,600
Speaker 1: vent where where he calls in the guards and they're like, like,

1025
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:15,759
Speaker 1: what's he talking about? Like, no, no, we already we

1026
00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:18,960
Speaker 1: already captured the guy on the warning poster. Wheready caught

1027
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,840
Speaker 1: that guy. And then they're like, but of course we

1028
00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,640
Speaker 1: do catch the wrong guy, like most of the times. Yeah,

1029
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:26,200
Speaker 1: so they're like, all right, let's hear it out. But

1030
00:56:26,239 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 1: then there's a lot of discussion about, yeah, should we

1031
00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:31,080
Speaker 1: beat in first or except a bribe first. And then

1032
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:33,520
Speaker 1: eventually it's like when they find out the ghosts are

1033
00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:35,560
Speaker 1: involved in it, they're like, oh, well, that's good. We

1034
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:37,560
Speaker 1: don't have to weigh in on this. We can just

1035
00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:40,360
Speaker 1: leave early because we we're tired of even pretending to

1036
00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:43,719
Speaker 1: work before. So okay, so we're barreling towards the end,

1037
00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,640
Speaker 1: but before we get to like some of the final confrontations,

1038
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:48,520
Speaker 1: we we need to take a moment to discuss the

1039
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:52,960
Speaker 1: dow rap. Oh my goodness, it's so good. Um yeah,

1040
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:55,719
Speaker 1: I almost want to include a sample from it here,

1041
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:59,959
Speaker 1: because whatever you're imagining can't quite equal what you get there.

1042
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: One part where the subtitle at least of what he's

1043
00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:07,399
Speaker 1: wrapping is I spit, I spit, I spit spit. Yes,

1044
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:12,759
Speaker 1: Oh it's so good. Um. Yeah, and he's the whole time. Yeah,

1045
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:15,359
Speaker 1: he's going through these different martial arts true teams too,

1046
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:18,160
Speaker 1: so it's like he's really getting, you know, revved up

1047
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:21,680
Speaker 1: for battle. Uh. It's it's you have to see it

1048
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:24,560
Speaker 1: to believe it. And of course we could play part

1049
00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:26,240
Speaker 1: of the audio, but you wouldn't have the subtitles, so

1050
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:28,120
Speaker 1: you wouldn't get the full experience and you wouldn't get

1051
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:31,240
Speaker 1: to see him moving around, so it has to be seen. Okay,

1052
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:34,840
Speaker 1: But eventually, so we're skipping lightly about over much that

1053
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:37,160
Speaker 1: happens in the middle of the film, but eventually it's

1054
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,440
Speaker 1: going to progress toward a big showdown with the demons

1055
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:43,960
Speaker 1: because we learned the backstory of Susan. What what is

1056
00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:47,400
Speaker 1: going on with her? Why has she been uh? Why

1057
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:50,160
Speaker 1: has she been trapped in this cycle of of seducing

1058
00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 1: men in the forest or at the temple so that

1059
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:55,760
Speaker 1: their their life force can be sucked out? Uh? And

1060
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 1: basically what we discover is that Susan was murdered many

1061
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:02,520
Speaker 1: years ago traveling once she was when she was immortal,

1062
00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:07,640
Speaker 1: and her father gave her a temporary burial under an

1063
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:11,400
Speaker 1: old tree in the forest, but then he was murdered

1064
00:58:11,480 --> 00:58:15,360
Speaker 1: before he could move her bones to holier ground, So

1065
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:18,439
Speaker 1: now nobody else knows she's there, so she's stuck there

1066
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:22,520
Speaker 1: and her spirit is trapped in servitude to the demon

1067
00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:24,520
Speaker 1: that lives within the tree. I think this is the

1068
00:58:24,520 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 1: Old Dame, and now the Old Dame is her boss.

1069
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:30,640
Speaker 1: The Old Dame makes her seducement so that she can

1070
00:58:30,720 --> 00:58:34,760
Speaker 1: kill them steal their energy, and Susan has been pledged

1071
00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:38,440
Speaker 1: to marry against her will the Old Monster of Black Mountain,

1072
00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:41,280
Speaker 1: and the only way she can escape from being a

1073
00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:45,240
Speaker 1: ghost and finally be reincarnated again is if someone digs

1074
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:47,960
Speaker 1: up her ashes and her bones and takes them to

1075
00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:52,200
Speaker 1: her village to be reburied there. And it's interesting how

1076
00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:55,800
Speaker 1: this is a recurring theme in a lot of the

1077
00:58:55,800 --> 00:58:59,160
Speaker 1: the Chinese horror comedy martial arts movies we've watched, because

1078
00:58:59,520 --> 00:59:03,080
Speaker 1: proper an improper burial was It was also a major

1079
00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:06,600
Speaker 1: theme of Mr. Vampire. Yeah yeah. The the idea and

1080
00:59:06,640 --> 00:59:08,560
Speaker 1: really tied up with the idea of the of the

1081
00:59:08,640 --> 00:59:11,400
Speaker 1: Chinese vampire. The change hi is the the idea that

1082
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:14,440
Speaker 1: that this person was not properly buried. Their spirit is

1083
00:59:14,480 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 1: not at rest, and the only way to to really

1084
00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:20,080
Speaker 1: defeat them is to make sure they're they're moved to

1085
00:59:20,120 --> 00:59:22,160
Speaker 1: a place of proper rest. And that's that's the case

1086
00:59:22,200 --> 00:59:24,560
Speaker 1: here as well. But of course you can't just dig

1087
00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:27,160
Speaker 1: up her bones and and get away with it, because

1088
00:59:27,200 --> 00:59:31,040
Speaker 1: there's a demon involved here. Um oh man and uh,

1089
00:59:31,080 --> 00:59:33,600
Speaker 1: and so you get in the movie version, here, you

1090
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 1: get a big throw down between the demon and our

1091
00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:40,360
Speaker 1: heroes and the I was totally surprised by the form

1092
00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:42,400
Speaker 1: I was expecting. You know, it's a tree demon, right,

1093
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:45,040
Speaker 1: so it's going to be some sort of ant like creature.

1094
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:48,240
Speaker 1: But no, the true form, or at least one of

1095
00:59:48,280 --> 00:59:51,040
Speaker 1: the true forms, is revealed as being this just this

1096
00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,080
Speaker 1: endless tongue, this all tongue as you described it. Yeah,

1097
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 1: I was thinking about the doors that ride the tongue.

1098
00:59:57,360 --> 01:00:01,440
Speaker 1: The tongue is long seven miles. It's it's just like

1099
01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:04,800
Speaker 1: this gigantic tongue that wraps all the way around the

1100
01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 1: temple and can like wrap around people. So it's like

1101
01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:11,480
Speaker 1: a giant, you know, octopus arm basically, And and it

1102
01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:15,040
Speaker 1: has like multiple tongues within the tongue. Yeah, And I

1103
01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:17,280
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of like it has a beginning because

1104
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:20,880
Speaker 1: it does shoot out of the human form of the

1105
01:00:20,960 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 1: of the of the dame's mouth at one point, but

1106
01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:26,120
Speaker 1: then in another scene, the dame just becomes the tongue.

1107
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:29,200
Speaker 1: So it's it's almost like there is no beginning to

1108
01:00:29,280 --> 01:00:31,440
Speaker 1: the tongue, and it's just this endless tongue that's just

1109
01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:35,440
Speaker 1: lashing about throughout this entire action sequence. And there's like

1110
01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:38,400
Speaker 1: a tongue versus mouth mechanic because the tongue will try

1111
01:00:38,400 --> 01:00:41,640
Speaker 1: to grab people and then go into their mouths, and

1112
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:44,480
Speaker 1: so like swordsman Gin is yelling at at Ling, He's like,

1113
01:00:44,520 --> 01:00:46,720
Speaker 1: be careful, don't let her tongue into your mouth, and

1114
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:49,400
Speaker 1: so they're they're trying to fight it off, and the

1115
01:00:49,720 --> 01:00:52,720
Speaker 1: uh and uh you eventually ends up like chopping off

1116
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:56,600
Speaker 1: pieces of the tongue to prevent them from from getting

1117
01:00:56,600 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 1: in people's mouths. Yeah, there's there are a number of

1118
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,520
Speaker 1: sequences in which people get wrapped up in tongue or

1119
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:04,919
Speaker 1: later on wrapped up in tentacles and uh and then

1120
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:07,840
Speaker 1: usually swordsman Yon has to jump in with his sword

1121
01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:10,720
Speaker 1: and slash through those tentacles and splash goo all over

1122
01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:14,040
Speaker 1: the place. Oh, there's so much Google. Later on, well

1123
01:01:14,240 --> 01:01:17,360
Speaker 1: there's so much goo in general. But uh, there's there's Google,

1124
01:01:17,360 --> 01:01:20,360
Speaker 1: there's slime. And then we get to see Swordsman Yen's

1125
01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:23,880
Speaker 1: arsenal again, so he uses his Holy needles. In fact,

1126
01:01:23,960 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 1: a Ling has to come through in the pinch because

1127
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:28,680
Speaker 1: Jen gets grabbed up and Ling has to get the

1128
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:31,240
Speaker 1: needle and come save him, and at one point he

1129
01:01:31,280 --> 01:01:34,560
Speaker 1: accidentally stabs him in the butt, right in the butt. Yeah,

1130
01:01:34,600 --> 01:01:36,680
Speaker 1: and then Yen has to has to pull the needle

1131
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:38,400
Speaker 1: out of his own butt and then use it to

1132
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:42,720
Speaker 1: stab the demon. It's great, Yeah, but they do eventually

1133
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:45,720
Speaker 1: defeat the Old Dame. Yeah, we see some sort of

1134
01:01:45,720 --> 01:01:49,520
Speaker 1: a final form that's just this monstrous amalgam of like

1135
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:54,840
Speaker 1: tentacles and plant and I don't know, alligator and human face. Uh,

1136
01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:57,760
Speaker 1: you know, it's a real monstrosity. But they are able

1137
01:01:57,800 --> 01:02:03,120
Speaker 1: to defeat it. Unfortunately, Susan is dragged away into the underworld. Yeah,

1138
01:02:03,360 --> 01:02:05,880
Speaker 1: and so in the very last act the Code of

1139
01:02:05,920 --> 01:02:09,320
Speaker 1: the Final Confrontation, it's not our world anymore, buddy, You've

1140
01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:12,200
Speaker 1: got to go into the underworld to save the princess.

1141
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:14,880
Speaker 1: That's right, And it's I really like the way they

1142
01:02:14,880 --> 01:02:19,000
Speaker 1: created this underworld uh sequence, because it's it's a lot

1143
01:02:19,000 --> 01:02:22,680
Speaker 1: what you might expect in a dark realm. There's there's

1144
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:27,600
Speaker 1: mist and smoke. Uh, they're like hands grasping out of nowhere.

1145
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 1: There are disembodied heads, their mountains of skulls, and of

1146
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:37,640
Speaker 1: course we encounter uh, the dark individual who Susan is

1147
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:41,200
Speaker 1: betrothed to. Right, this is the monster of Black Mountain.

1148
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: And oh man, how this guy is really cool? How

1149
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:47,320
Speaker 1: would you describe him? Just kind of like imagine a

1150
01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:51,080
Speaker 1: a gloomy dark lord uh in armor, and that's basically

1151
01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:55,000
Speaker 1: what you've got here. I could say, maybe a point

1152
01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:57,880
Speaker 1: of reference for for the young folks these days. Elden

1153
01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:01,479
Speaker 1: Ring boss He's got elden Ring bosses. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,

1154
01:03:01,520 --> 01:03:03,920
Speaker 1: like you kind of like kind of like the outline

1155
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:07,720
Speaker 1: of a of an armored individual, right, but then they're

1156
01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:11,960
Speaker 1: they're increasingly more monstrous elements the deeper you dig into that. Right.

1157
01:03:12,040 --> 01:03:13,560
Speaker 1: One of the big things. In fact, one of my

1158
01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:16,320
Speaker 1: favorite images or effects in the entire movie was when

1159
01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:19,560
Speaker 1: like his cloak is peeled open and his entire form

1160
01:03:19,760 --> 01:03:23,560
Speaker 1: is made of faces. Yeah, it's like a pile of

1161
01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:27,320
Speaker 1: of disembodied heads or faces in there. Yeah, and they're

1162
01:03:27,360 --> 01:03:33,160
Speaker 1: all screaming. Yeah. Really good arms their arms coming out

1163
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:36,320
Speaker 1: of the walls. Like the Underworld sequence is just great, uh,

1164
01:03:36,320 --> 01:03:38,840
Speaker 1: and they're great heroic moments for our characters. There's a

1165
01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:41,960
Speaker 1: there's a wonderful part where like Susan is uh flying

1166
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:45,560
Speaker 1: through the air with a sword in her hand, and um, yeah,

1167
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:48,200
Speaker 1: it's it's it's really cool, and we get a nice

1168
01:03:48,200 --> 01:03:52,160
Speaker 1: climax where like tentacles are lashing out the dark lord

1169
01:03:52,200 --> 01:03:55,880
Speaker 1: here is wrapped everyone up. The tentacles are holding our

1170
01:03:55,960 --> 01:03:58,680
Speaker 1: hero up and they're starting to rip his clothes apart

1171
01:03:58,720 --> 01:04:00,960
Speaker 1: and will probably soon start ripped in his flesh apart.

1172
01:04:01,040 --> 01:04:03,800
Speaker 1: But didn't we remember what does he have underneath his

1173
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:06,920
Speaker 1: his his cloak, underneath his robes, he has that Holy Sutra,

1174
01:04:07,320 --> 01:04:11,800
Speaker 1: which then immediately it's mere presence starts, you know, incinerating

1175
01:04:12,160 --> 01:04:14,960
Speaker 1: the villain here. It's red hot. It's so good. And

1176
01:04:15,120 --> 01:04:17,919
Speaker 1: oh there's a detail I forgot that I really liked though,

1177
01:04:18,400 --> 01:04:22,320
Speaker 1: Um that when uh, swordsman Yan and Mr. Ling first

1178
01:04:22,520 --> 01:04:26,160
Speaker 1: arrive in the Underworld, they're sort of able to walk

1179
01:04:26,200 --> 01:04:30,600
Speaker 1: amongst the dead without being disturbed at first because swordsman

1180
01:04:30,680 --> 01:04:33,520
Speaker 1: Yan says, when ghosts are in the mortal world, they're

1181
01:04:33,520 --> 01:04:36,360
Speaker 1: invisible to us, but when mortals are in the ghost world,

1182
01:04:36,400 --> 01:04:39,440
Speaker 1: we're invisible to them. Yeah. Oh, but in the end,

1183
01:04:39,680 --> 01:04:41,760
Speaker 1: we we do get a happy ending. They are able

1184
01:04:41,800 --> 01:04:44,360
Speaker 1: to all make it out of the underworld and uh,

1185
01:04:44,400 --> 01:04:48,560
Speaker 1: and they do, and they are able to relocate the

1186
01:04:48,600 --> 01:04:52,760
Speaker 1: mortal remains of Su Sin and so it's it's pretty

1187
01:04:52,840 --> 01:04:54,800
Speaker 1: much a happy ending. And and it makes you think, like,

1188
01:04:54,840 --> 01:04:57,840
Speaker 1: are there more adventures to come? Well, they say, they

1189
01:04:57,880 --> 01:05:01,440
Speaker 1: basically say, like, let's go on adventures now, yeah, and uh,

1190
01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:03,520
Speaker 1: and clearly they do. There are two more films in

1191
01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:06,800
Speaker 1: the in the series at least. Um, so, yeah, I'm

1192
01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:09,800
Speaker 1: interested to eventually check out the next one. Uh. And

1193
01:05:09,840 --> 01:05:11,440
Speaker 1: there's again I have to drive out there. There's so

1194
01:05:11,480 --> 01:05:13,920
Speaker 1: many sequences we didn't even mention here that are so

1195
01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:16,560
Speaker 1: well executed. There's not really a dull moment in the film.

1196
01:05:16,600 --> 01:05:19,280
Speaker 1: It's a very well paced uh. So it's it's a

1197
01:05:19,320 --> 01:05:21,920
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I highly recommend it. Totally agree that

1198
01:05:21,960 --> 01:05:24,520
Speaker 1: this is this one is really a highlight Chinese ghost story.

1199
01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:28,080
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, it's truly weird. It's it's up there with

1200
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:30,080
Speaker 1: the best. And again this is a this is a

1201
01:05:30,080 --> 01:05:31,800
Speaker 1: big picture. This was a this has been been a

1202
01:05:31,840 --> 01:05:36,720
Speaker 1: very successful film. It's generated a cult following around the world. Uh,

1203
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,840
Speaker 1: it's been remade, as I mentioned earlier, but also the

1204
01:05:39,920 --> 01:05:42,480
Speaker 1: story about the Magic Sword of the Magic Sword in

1205
01:05:42,520 --> 01:05:45,640
Speaker 1: the Magic Bag. Uh, this was adapted at least a

1206
01:05:45,640 --> 01:05:48,560
Speaker 1: couple of other times, nineteen sixty nine The Magic Sword

1207
01:05:48,920 --> 01:05:52,400
Speaker 1: and nineteen sixties The Enchanting Shadow, which I've read was

1208
01:05:52,440 --> 01:05:55,960
Speaker 1: also kind of an inspiration for this film. So um,

1209
01:05:56,680 --> 01:05:59,080
Speaker 1: there are probably some other movies out there that you'll

1210
01:05:59,080 --> 01:06:01,720
Speaker 1: find that have some of the basic elements, you know,

1211
01:06:01,800 --> 01:06:04,920
Speaker 1: traveling scholar, spending the night in a temple, falling in

1212
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:07,720
Speaker 1: love with a ghost. Uh, it's a it's a winning formula.

1213
01:06:07,960 --> 01:06:10,480
Speaker 1: Now since this is a major motion picture, Yeah there,

1214
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:13,600
Speaker 1: It's been out in various formats over the years. So

1215
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:15,560
Speaker 1: you want to watch it on VHS, you can find

1216
01:06:15,560 --> 01:06:18,920
Speaker 1: a copy somewhere. DVD, it's out there. There are blue rays.

1217
01:06:19,040 --> 01:06:22,680
Speaker 1: I can't really speak for the various regions and so forth, LaserDisc.

1218
01:06:23,680 --> 01:06:27,720
Speaker 1: Probably probably on a LaserDisc, go for it. Um. But

1219
01:06:28,680 --> 01:06:31,560
Speaker 1: we watched it streaming on Prime and as of this recording,

1220
01:06:31,560 --> 01:06:33,760
Speaker 1: it is streaming on Prime in the States, and it

1221
01:06:33,800 --> 01:06:39,280
Speaker 1: may be streaming some other places as well. Two tongues up. Yeah,

1222
01:06:39,280 --> 01:06:40,680
Speaker 1: this this one is a lot of fun. We'd love

1223
01:06:40,680 --> 01:06:42,760
Speaker 1: to hear from anyone out there who who is also

1224
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:44,800
Speaker 1: a fan of this film or have If you have

1225
01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:48,640
Speaker 1: experiences with this film, or if there any other films

1226
01:06:48,640 --> 01:06:51,560
Speaker 1: in the same genre that you think we should be

1227
01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:54,040
Speaker 1: aware of or should cover in the future, let us know.

1228
01:06:54,480 --> 01:06:56,640
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, if

1229
01:06:56,640 --> 01:06:59,040
Speaker 1: you want to check out other episodes of Weird House Cinema,

1230
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:01,880
Speaker 1: it publishes every Friday in the Stuff to Blow your

1231
01:07:01,880 --> 01:07:05,840
Speaker 1: Mind podcast feed. We are primarily a science podcast, but

1232
01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:09,000
Speaker 1: on Friday's we set aside most serious concerns and we

1233
01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:13,520
Speaker 1: just talk about a strange film. Um, let's see. If

1234
01:07:13,520 --> 01:07:16,760
Speaker 1: you want to follow everything that we're doing here, let's

1235
01:07:16,760 --> 01:07:18,880
Speaker 1: say there over at some New to Music dot com.

1236
01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:22,520
Speaker 1: I do blog posts about each film and if there's additional,

1237
01:07:23,120 --> 01:07:26,760
Speaker 1: uh information, additional media in bed that there. We also

1238
01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:30,440
Speaker 1: have a letterboxed page. If you just look up Weird

1239
01:07:30,480 --> 01:07:32,960
Speaker 1: House on there, you'll find us. You can follow there

1240
01:07:32,960 --> 01:07:35,360
Speaker 1: and we just have all the movies listed that we've covered.

1241
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:38,280
Speaker 1: So if you just want to like a single visual

1242
01:07:38,920 --> 01:07:41,320
Speaker 1: layout of the films we've covered on Weird'll Cinema. You

1243
01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:43,880
Speaker 1: will find them there which thanks as always to our

1244
01:07:43,920 --> 01:07:47,320
Speaker 1: excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you would like

1245
01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:49,480
Speaker 1: to get in touch with us with feedback on this

1246
01:07:49,520 --> 01:07:52,160
Speaker 1: episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future,

1247
01:07:52,240 --> 01:07:54,440
Speaker 1: or just to say hello, you can email us at

1248
01:07:54,640 --> 01:08:04,800
Speaker 1: contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff

1249
01:08:04,840 --> 01:08:07,040
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio.

1250
01:08:07,360 --> 01:08:09,480
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i

1251
01:08:09,560 --> 01:08:12,360
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

1252
01:08:12,360 --> 01:08:13,200
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.