WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Black Sabbath 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.040 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. My 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.160 name is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.920 it's that old anthology feeling once again. Rob. I know 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.680 you're a horror anthology man. What is it about you 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.040 that that makes you gravitate towards the anthology? Well, I 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:30.960 mean you're talking about two different things, of course, when 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:35.400 you're talking about horror anthologies on TV and those in 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.320 the film, Because on TV s it's like it's a 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.400 different generally, it's a different story every week. And with 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.160 anthology films like the one we're gonna be talking about today, 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.159 you instead of getting one complete film, you get like 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.320 three or four shorter pieces that are stitched together and 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.920 been presented to you. Uh So, I guess maybe part 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.080 of it is just out of love for for creepy 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.000 short stories, in the fact that that short stories don't 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.840 have to obey the same rules as novels, and they're 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.039 in also short films don't have to obey the same 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.080 rules as as complete films. Um. I guess it's also 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.119 nice that they're only going to be They're only gonna 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.520 feel so long, you know they're going to get to 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.360 the point they can only be so drawn out. And 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.240 and it's also like a little sampler box. Like if 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.560 if if an anthology film is coming at you and 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.640 you know it's going to present you with, say three 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.040 to four tales, well you can figure there's gonna be 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.800 maybe one dud in the bunch. Uh, but at the 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.240 very least still have one that's pretty good. Right, There's 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.120 gotta be like like one central pillar holding up the 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.640 roof of the thing. Well, another way I would come 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.959 at it is that even if they're all bad, it's 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.760 more fun to have bad variety than bad monotony. Yeah. Yeah, 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.320 I would say so, like you're you're into the badness 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.640 and then you're out again, and then you're into some 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.600 fresh badness. Yeah. I think I would really come back 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.560 to what you were saying about the compare Harrison to 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:02.800 the lengths of horror fiction. This came up in a 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.040 recent episode where we were talking I think it was 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.320 in The Thing from Another World where we were talking 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.839 about how, Uh, it's hard to survey to be sure 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.639 about this, but my feeling is that horror novels tend 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.720 to gravitate more towards some semblance of a quote happy ending, 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.679 maybe not happy, but some way in which the protagonist 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.920 is at least partially victorious or escapes or something, whereas 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.440 horror short stories tend more toward uh, bleak and cruel 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.600 endings or endings that are that are a really mean 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.520 and ironic twist of fate. And obviously I think there 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.880 are a lot of reasons why people who enjoy horror 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.320 fiction are drawn to endings of that sort, but they 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.840 they're harder to pull off at the end of a 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.720 really long narrative where you're more invested with the characters, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.040 You've spent more time with them, and it hurts more 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.600 to see them just sort of like ruined at the end. Yeah, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.120 And I think another thing that you certainly see in 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.920 short fiction is it's sometimes short fiction exists in a 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.680 space where it doesn't have to concern itself with the 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.600 ins and outs of a complex plot or some sort 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.080 of fantastic character arc. You know, their characters don't have 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.799 to evolve and change and learn lessons about themselves. It 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.160 can be more about trotting out and interesting idea or 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.760 you know, or or or in the in the case 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.880 of of of horror, just just a fun monster or 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.600 some you know, diabolical scenario. That's sort of thing, right. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.200 I think you're correct. I think that the um the 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.760 horror genre especially really does lend itself well to the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.360 anthology format. I mean, there are plenty of movies that 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.920 are not horror that you could argue are in one 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.920 way or another anthology films of a sort. Uh. I 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.080 think one thing I've read is that, uh, is that 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.680 pulp fiction was actually the concept for pulp fiction was 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.760 partially inspired by the movie that we're going to talk 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.280 about today. Of course, pulp fiction is not horror, but 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.120 today's movie is today's selection for weird house Cinema is 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:01.480 the Mario Baba nineteen sixty three Italian anthology horror series 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.240 Black Sabbath, or in Italian it's called etre Voulti dela Para. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.040 I had to look up what that means. It means 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.360 the three Faces of Fear, which is a more accurate 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.920 title because if you're if you're checking out Black Sabbath 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:19.560 expecting witchcraft and you know, Satan worshippers dancing around a 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.119 fire or some sort of like pagan ordeal or something 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.640 going on, you're going to be disappointed because there is 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.359 no actual Black Sabbath, real or imagined in this picture. No, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.400 I would say the closest we come to that and 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.640 it still doesn't really get there, but that there's sort 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.440 of that vibe in the middle segment of this movie, 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.839 and by far my favorite the WORDU Lac, which is 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.240 I think just an absolutely tremendous segment and I can't 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.800 wait to talk about it. But yeah, at least the 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.919 other two really don't have anything to do with that 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.479 at all. Now, another interesting thing about the title for 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.200 this film is that this is um that this is 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.000 said to be where the band Black Sabbath got their name. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.359 Oh yeah, And I think I could be wrong about this, 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.440 but I remember hearing It's not even from them necessarily 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.040 seeing the movie. I think it was like they walked 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.480 past a movie theater and this was on the Marquee 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.000 and they're like, right, yeah, I think there's a there's 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:13.800 another version of the tale. And I don't know how 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.520 much this sounds almost too perfect, so I it sounds 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:18.680 like maybe it was embellished. But there I read a 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.000 version where they were playing at a theater and then 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.840 across the street Black Sabbath was playing, and the line 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.159 was was far longer to get in to see the 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.880 movie as opposed to getting in to see them play. 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:32.800 And they're like, what we need to do is change 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.720 our name. We need to be Black Sabbath, and then 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.520 the people will line up for us. It's like when 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.560 Patty and Selma proposed changing the name of Springfield the 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.000 sign fell. Do you just look at what's popular now 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.600 and and try to leach up. Yeah, so, I mean 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.440 I don't know. So I don't know which of those 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.839 stories is true to what extent, but uh, certainly it 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.560 would be. It's hard to imagine the band Black Sabbath 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.320 without the name Black Sabbath because that the theme runs 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.840 so deep through all of their music. Um, before they 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.760 were called Black Sabbath, they were called Earth. Uh that 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:07.960 was not very convenient because I think there was another 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.800 band at the time in that area called Earth. It 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:16.120 has a different taste on the tongue. Initially, Yeah, if 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:17.919 you're if you're thinking about going to hear Earth, you 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:22.520 have totally different expectations versus Black Sabbath. Well as a 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.240 huge fan of the at least like the first six 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.320 Black Sabbath albums, that I don't really get into the 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.479 d O years verty much, but the but like the 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.600 first six Sabbath albums, I think, are they're a megalith, 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.880 you know, they're they're like one of those stone monuments 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:38.080 from the ancient world and uh and and it's really 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.920 hard to get under them. But I can't imagine how 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:42.800 I would feel about them if they weren't by a 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.520 band called Black Sabbath that's so wrapped up in the feeling. Yeah, 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:51.040 can you imagine Nativity and Black by Earth? It just 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:55.080 doesn't make sense war Pigs by Earth. However, I could 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.719 propose an alternative, which is that if they wanted to 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.120 drill in and get to the heart of what makes 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.320 Mario Baba's Black Sabbath really great, they could have changed 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.039 the name of their band to the word las. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.240 that's that's that's a fun name for a band, and 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.760 it would imply that they've been in the mountains for 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.320 five days and come back in a state of God 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:18.120 knows what. All right, Well, let's go ahead and give 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.080 everyone a taste of the trailer on this one, because 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.160 this is a pretty good trailer. I love the narration here. 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:37.080 Do you believe in Ghosts, This is the Night twin 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.280 fear and Horror of Walk hand in Hand, This is 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:52.800 Black Sabbath, starving the incomparable Boris Karloff, the personable Mark Damon, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.760 and lush and lovely women, even though one is from 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:03.600 the nether world, a vampire, a burderlack. Black Sabbath as 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:08.080 ancient as superstition, as modern as the telephone. So it's 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.040 obvious from the trailer, but I don't think we mentioned 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:14.560 that this movie has Boris Karloff in multiple capacities, so 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.480 he is not only the star of one of the 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.640 three segments in the anthology, but he's also sort of 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.400 the the pitchman. He is the company spokesperson at the 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.520 beginning and end of the film. And of course this 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.240 is perfect because in later years he also served as 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.920 a horror host on television shows such as Thriller and 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.719 Out of This World. As as I think we've often 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.680 driven home though, like, there's such a wealth of of 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.280 of TV horror anthologies out there, so for instance, um, 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.920 if you just glance at listings for Boris Karloff's Thriller, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.199 you'll see, oh, it only went two seasons, but it 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.800 went two seasons in the nineties sixties. So those two 0:08:54.800 --> 0:09:00.480 seasons consist of sixty seven episodes. Wow, yeah, it's it's crazy, 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.440 And man, I thought it was long seasons. When you 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.360 go back and watch a show from the nineties or 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.760 something where there's like twenty episodes in the season, that 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.560 seems like a huge amount. But wow. Yeah. Now, to 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:16.199 be clear, Thriller aired uh sixty one, I mean sorry, 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:20.360 sixty two, so it actually aired in America at least 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.679 before Black Sabbath came out, So that might have been 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.600 part of the rationale here is like, well, audiences are 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.440 are used to Boris carl Off presenting material to them. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.880 He's already in it. Let's also get him up on 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.440 the screen introducing this stuff for us. Well, you can 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.400 hear it right in the narration of the trailer. There's 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:40.080 the part where it says like, uh, starring the incomparable 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.000 Boris carl Off. I guess he is incomparable. But then 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:47.680 the other cast members they introduce are the personable Mark Damon, 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.360 which I thought was hilarious. And then they say and 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.200 lush and lovely women gone unnamed, come on, duds, and 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.040 we will list some of their names here in a 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.960 bit Um, there's some nice performances in here. Oh wait 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.480 I left off, though, I think the trailer qualifies that says, 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.760 uh so the women in this movie, Hey, we got 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.200 beautiful women, even though one of them is from the 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.920 nether world. I was trying to think back after having 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.120 seen it, which woman is it talking about. I'm not 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.719 even sure. Uh yeah, there's not really one that's definitely 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.560 from the nether world. I mean a lot of bad 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.520 supernatural things happen um to people and to some women 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.719 in this, uh this motion picture, but I don't think 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.400 any of them are from the nether world. All Right, Well, 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.160 I guess before we talk anymore about the actual contents 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:31.880 of the movie, we should we should discuss some of 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.280 the connections, and obviously the place to start is with 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.760 the director, Mario Bava. Mario Bava who lived nineteen fourteen 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.839 through nineteen eighty. Um, he was the director, but also 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.559 collaborated on the screenplay. He was the cinematographer, he did 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:51.000 matt paintings, he did special effects. Uh. This is the 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:57.079 legendary Italian director with an unmistakable obsessive and phantasmagorical emphasis 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:02.600 on visual composition. So if you can just look up 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.640 stills from his from his movies, and I feel like, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.800 once you've gotten a taste of of how Baba directs 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.000 and how he composes a shot, a strong still from 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.680 any of his films is just instantly identifiable. Um it 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.920 just it pops with a certain um. It's not only 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.880 the color hue, because I want to stress it's not 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.360 just a matter of oh, well, Mario Baba used some 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.760 cool gels here and there, like, No, it's the complete 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.480 it's his use of light and reflections and just the 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.280 overall composition of of every every shot in the film. 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:37.040 You ever see one of those animated movies in which 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.280 there is a magical gym or artifact that glows with 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:47.000 magic power, Mario Baba's movies are like that. There's something 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.520 about the way they look that the frames from the 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:56.600 movie glow with magic power. Yeah, even when there's there's 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.480 less of a reason for it to be glowing. So, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.000 like I was thinking as I was watching this particular 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.160 picture that it's it's like an alien civilization that that 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.439 communicates through like synesthesia is trying to speak through the picture. 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.600 You know. It's like it's that obsessive. Like the colors 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.480 are are clearly of of of great importance to Bava 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.960 and all of this, though I will say that I 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.520 totally agree with you. Color is a big part of it, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:31.280 and Bava frequently used sort of expressive colorful lighting, color 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.960 colored lighting in in his movies that is not strictly realistic, 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.080 meaning it's not reflecting a color you would actually expect 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.080 to see if this scene were taking place in the 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.920 real world, but rather colors that sort of reflect feelings 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.400 coming through uh and and reflects sort of other worldly, 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:52.360 unseen influences. But there are also visual sensibilities he has 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.720 where that kind of glowing comes through even when it's 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.600 not in color. Like the example that comes to my 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.120 mind is his earlier movie Black Sunday, which is in 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.040 black and white, and yet it still glows with magic power. Yeah, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.440 that one was from nineteen sixty and it is interesting 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.679 to imagine this, this leap from black and white to 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.920 color from Mario Baba, where they're like, oh, by the way, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.640 you can shoot in color now, and uh and and 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.320 and and and you can imagine his excitement at being 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:24.320 able to do so. So um. Baba's background is interesting. 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.359 He was the son of an early Italian cinematographer Eugenio 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.640 Bava and Mario trained as a painter, venturing into the 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:37.120 world of cinematography as well in the late thirties in 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.560 the early forties, but then he eventually started directing as well. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.440 It began with some documentary shorts and some uncredited directing 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.600 work on some various genre films. But then in nineteen 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:51.640 sixty that's when Black Sunday came out that he directed that, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.599 and that was a very well regarded and financially successful film, 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.720 and so Black Sabbath is very much the color follow 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.320 up to that. Thus the similar release title again kind 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.920 of coming back to the like studio thought here, it's like, well, uh, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.560 black Sunday did pretty good, welcome and called the next one, 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.880 let's call it a Black sap There we go. Well 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.560 this maybe if that is indeed where the title comes from. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.880 I gotta say this is the rare case where I 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.680 would go with the marketing over the original because once again, 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.240 the three faces of fear, that may be more literally 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.640 descriptive of what you're getting with the movie, but it 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.560 doesn't really have the same punch to it. Yeah, So 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.640 Mario Baba directed into the nineteen seventies. Initially he retired. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:36.600 Then he came back at the behest of a new 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.040 generation of the tag in horror filmmakers, including his own son, 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.720 director Lomberto Bava. Um. He came back to direct nine Shock, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.360 and this would prove to be his last feature film, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.640 as he then died in nineteen eighty. But uh, he 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.480 directed a number of pictures, so we're not gonna touch 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.640 on them all, but I thought we might talk about 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.680 a few of them here. One of them is Planet 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.480 of the Vampires from nine teen Rob Can you see 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.040 the Planet of the Vampires poster right behind me on 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.320 the wall? I do? I see that you have it 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.160 right there up on the wall behind you, so you 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.920 know obviously you're a fan. Um I. I finally got 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:17.120 around to watching this in full this year, and um, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.720 I have to say it wasn't the most enthralling motion 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.880 picture when it came to acting and the and the plot, 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.280 but uh, such a gorgeous science fiction film to watch. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.240 Like all of the visuals in it, um he does 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.240 an amazing job and devotes the vast majority of the 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.680 film's energy and limited budget have to add to create 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:45.680 highly effective and colorful alien landscapes. Haunted Spaceship Hallways also 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.240 has just some incredible costumes. Absolutely so, I love Planet 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.000 of the Vampires, but I usually watch it without sound. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.000 It's a movie that I love to put on, like 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.520 in the background while I'm hanging out with friends and 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.600 listening to music. That's that's the ideal Planet of the 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.560 Vampire's experience for me, because it's one of those movies. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.680 It's a rubbed the fur movie. It's a movie that's 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.880 not really about the plot or what happens in it. 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.600 It is about the visual textures on screen, and that 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.520 includes everything from like you you single out the costumes. 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.160 The space farers in the movie are wearing these bizarre 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:26.080 black leather space suits with these leather helmets, um and 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.560 and yeah, the lighting and the sets are are just 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.160 absolutely wonderful. Yeah. And it reminds me of a quote 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.600 that I ran across from Mario Baba where he said 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:39.840 that that horror films are sevent lighting and and I 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.240 think he has a strong point. I mean, you definitely 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.520 see that in his work. But you we've we've talked 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.800 about various examples on the show before where we say 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.120 things like, oh, well, the monster costume wasn't great, but 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.160 in this scene, the lighting is amazing, so it absolutely 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.920 works well. Like in the Thing from Another World. Yeah, 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.720 there was like if you look at the costume James 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.720 RNs is wearing, like actually, in full lighting, it doesn't 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.240 look very impressive, but they found a way to make 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.440 it look good within the narrative by either keeping him 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.160 in silhouette backlit so you can't really see him, he's 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.720 just a frame, and or just by giving you quick 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.360 glimpses of him where you can't really understand what's going on. 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.520 Like that, they make do in a very effective manner, 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.800 with some some limitations in terms of costuming and makeup effects. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.640 Of course, the Planet of the Vampires was highly influential. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.280 You know, it's sometimes been asked, would we even have 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.120 Alien and all the films that came after Alien had 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.880 it not been for Planet of the Vampires, Um, and 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.840 uh and uh and perhaps not. You know, certainly Baba 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:43.200 was a very influential filmmaker. Yeah. I mean one of 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.679 the big things I think that's called out with respect 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.720 to Alien is there's a scene in Planet of the Vampires, 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.040 and Planet of the Vampires came much before it was 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.600 the nineteen six five Is that right? Yet there's a 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:58.399 scene where the astronauts are on this on this desolate planet, 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.119 and they go into a cave and they find a 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.760 giant alien skeleton stretched out on this surface, and they're 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.120 very much like with the discovery of the Derylic spacecraft 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.480 with the bizarre sort of alien skeleton fused to the 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.960 chair in in Alien. So ultimately, I think Black Sabbath 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.840 moves moves along a lot, a lot better. It has 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.919 better pacing uh than Planet of the Vampires Um. But 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.760 there were still times in this film as within as 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.280 as in A Planet of the Vampires, where I felt 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.080 myself disconnected from whatever was happening or supposed to be 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.280 happening in the plot, But I was still completely drawn 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.359 in to the visual world presented on the film, you 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.560 know what I mean? Yeah, totally. I mean I really 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.840 appreciated the plot, especially in the word you lack, But 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.879 through and through it looks pretty great. Another Baba film 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:52.199 that I'm a fond of is danger Um Diabolique from nine. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.720 This is a stunning, stylish spy crime yarn starring John 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.240 Philip Law and Udall False Silly Uh. People might remember 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.560 him as the villain from Thunderball Uh to James Bond film. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.800 Terry Thomas is also in it. This was featured on 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.280 Mystery Science Theater three thousand back in the day, and 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.800 it is indeed quite ridiculous, but stunning from a visual perspective. Basically, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.120 it has that sixties Bond vibe, focused you know, all 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.440 on comic book crime and then turned up to about 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.399 a thousand Baba style. I think it was actually the 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.800 very last episode of the main run of Mystery Science Theater. 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.919 That's right, it was, uh And it's kind of a 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.080 strange choice there, because I don't know, I would actually 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.080 argue that movie is not all that bad. I mean, 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.520 it's silly in in a way that a lot of 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.119 these movies would be silly, but it's also I don't know, 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.720 it's it's stylishly executed in a very pleasing way. I mean, 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.520 the best films on Mystery Science Theater three thousand, and 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.359 often the best episodes of Mystery Science three thousand revolve 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.800 around movies that are on their own very watchable. I 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.680 know you're thinking about Jack Frost. Oh yeah, I think 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.879 that's a that's a great example. They're multiple example. I 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.080 think when I think of my favorite episodes, they're often 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:08.120 films that that I can and sometimes have watched on 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.800 on on my own, you know, without without the riffing. Now, 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.679 Mario Baba was was again highly influential, and one of 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.880 his most famous students was Dario Argento. If you've ever 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:23.360 seen Argento's nine seventy seven classics Expiria, then you've certainly 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.600 bathed your eyeballs in a very Baba inspired color scheme. Yeah, 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:31.480 I think it's it's pretty much unquestionable that Argento picked 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.840 up where Baba left off with the expressive colorful lighting, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.199 especially for his Jalo films. M h uh, And I 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.719 mentioned Mario's son, Lamberto Bava Uh. He directed such films 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.280 that went on to direct such films as Demons, which 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.080 is excellent, along with a couple of sequels to that 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.479 US devil Fish, which is not so excellent. It's basically 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.479 a Jaws cash in, one of one of many. But 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.680 Lamberto Bava is still making movies. He had a horror 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:06.400 movie starring Gerard de Bardu come out this year really yeah, 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:09.919 called Twins, I believe, and I had to jack it 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:14.240 has nothing to do with the Arnold Um movie. Okay, 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:25.120 I gotta look that up, all right, let's let's see 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.520 a few other people involved in this film. Marcello Fondato 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:33.080 has a screenplay credit, lived two thousand and eight, Italian 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:35.240 screenwriter and a direct and director, though I don't really 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:40.919 know any of their films. Um. Then there's Alberto Bivillakua, 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:44.439 who lived ninety four through two thousand thirteen, has a 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:49.399 screenplay collaboration credit. Also was a screenwriter on Planet of 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.680 the Vampires, as well as the satanic Panic documentary Witchcraft seventy, 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.879 which was narrated by Jack Palace. Now the film, and 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.640 certainly this comes out in the trailer. The film claims 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.840 that the three stories in it are based upon fictions 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.800 by check Off, Tolstoy, and Snyder. Uh and specifically it's 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:12.240 supposed to break down like this, uh the drop of 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.240 Water by Ivan Chekov uh, though seemingly connected to a 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:21.760 story by Franco Lucentini, and then the Telephone by F. G. Snyder, 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:26.560 And then a story not by not by Leo Tolstoy, 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.120 as that might uh legion to believe, but one by 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:34.399 Alexei Tolstoy. And this would be the one allegedly by 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.439 Alexei Tolstoy, would be the word lack the one that 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:40.439 is the one with Boris Karloff in it. Yeah, well 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:43.879