WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Spookies 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.760 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.840 is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and uh 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:20.960 to set us up for the movie that we're gonna 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:25.360 be talking about today, I wanted to discuss a problem 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.960 that often arises when you're making a monster movie, and 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.880 that is the problem of picking which kind of monster 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.480 to commit to. You know, it's like, uh uh, maybe 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.520 the family is going out to dinner and everybody's trying 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:40.680 to decide, oh, where should we go? You know, somebody 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.239 with you know brother brother Daryl wants to go to 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:47.280 the steakhouse, and and Grandpa wants to go to the 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.760 Mexican restaurant, and so forth. Everybody wants something different. They 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.040 can all have it at the same place, unless you 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.720 go to the king size buffet where you can get 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.040 a little bit of everything on your plate. And that's 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.000 what's going on at the movie today. They decided why 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.200 commit to just one kind of monster? You know, why 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:10.360 make a movie just about a like monster baboon hagbride 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:16.919 or a little diminutive rubber merman, goblin or fart zombies 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.840 or a cast member from Cats that has a hook hand. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:22.760 What if you could just put them all in the 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.800 same movie and let them all run wild. Yeah, and 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:28.959 that is very much the case with the movie we're 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.560 talking about here today. This is gonna be Spookies from 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:37.800 six a great year for genre films, though I can't 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.520 lay I we can't credit Spookies for really being a 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.399 part of that. This is this is not a great movie. 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.120 This this may be one of the worst movies we've 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.520 we've discussed for for Weird House, But you know, we're 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.040 still gonna We're still gonna focus on the positives. It 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.320 does have some positives, and I think the monster Buffet 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.160 is the big one, because, Yeah, when you mentioned this, 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.680 I was trying to think of other films that really 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.520 hit the same caliber, uh, you know, of of just 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.360 having multiple different types of monsters. And I mean I 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.200 thought of Gremlins too, but then again, even though those 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.880 are diverse types of Gremlins, they're still gremlins. I thought 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.240 of Monster Squad, but that is still a case where 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.240 those are all like universal monsters that are that have 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.200 been historically paired together, so it's not that weird, it's 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.520 established um or. I thought of say, thirteen ghosts. Both 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.080 versions of it, but especially the later version of it 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.560 was a lot of fun. Had thirteen very different types 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.320 of ghosts, but they were all still essentially ghosts. I 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.480 keep meaning to watch that one, Rachel, and I love 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.520 those like late nineties terrible monster movie remakes, you know, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:45.160 the nineties, Uh, what's it called? House on Haunted Hill 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.079 and all that, and thinking we're gonna watch thirteen ghosts. 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.639 Maybe this is the year it is? It is. I've 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.040 heard it's loud and the scriptor I've heard a plaed 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.600 to it. It's loud, it's got a good cast, and 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.360 it's some neat ghosts in it. But but but okay, yeah, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.640 I see the point you're making. So, yeah, monster Squad, 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.040 and and that combines all of the classic universal monsters 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.760 into one thing. So you've got like a uh an 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.440 Off brand creature from the Black Lagoon, you got a Wolfman, 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.840 you've got a Mummy, you gotta Dracula and so forth. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.359 But this one, yeah, I like that. This is like 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:21.080 a Monster Squad, but for obscure or previously unknown monsters 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.400 or monsters that you would not think of is going 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.320 in a monster movie. So it does have sort of 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.359 uh sort of like dirt caked fart zombies that the 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.880 just uh, the just exude flatulence as they chase people 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.800 around in a room. And it does have this like 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.200 baboon bride creature. It does have a like a lady 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.680 who turns into a giant spider. I think maybe she's 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.200 supposed to be a certain kind of yokai um. But 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.080 it's also got like a if you bought a one 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.640 of those grim reapers that goes on your lawn for 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.920 Halloween and raises the scythe up and down and goes 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.200 whoa when people walk by, but it came to life 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.520 and started attacking people. It has that, And it's also 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.280 just got a Jawa, yeah, sort of a yeah, kind 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.720 of a child vampire jawa running around. Yeah. There, there's 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.840 there's a lot of a lot of stuff here, and 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.800 there's not really a good reason why it's all there. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.360 This is not a movie that's really concerned why people 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.120 or monsters have any reason to be in the same 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.880 place at the same time, and yet there they are. Well, 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.200 this movie did get me thinking about one thing. I 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.159 think maybe maybe maybe the weird structure of this film 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.839 gave me a sort of insight into a curiosity, a 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:37.200 type of curiosity that powers the construction of certain horror movies, 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.760 and it is I think the same type of curiosity 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.240 that leads people to make those Um this might be 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.680 overly nerdy and obscure, but have you ever seen those 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.360 videos people make on the internet where they just take 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.160 like some like real time strategy video game and they 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.799 just keep pairing different kind of units from the game 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.320 against each other and seeing which one wins. What I'm 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.360 talking about, Okay, so here's my you know, power Mac 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:07.719 marine versus the the alien screamer queen, and uh, you 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.000 know which one will be victorious. You just do that 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.440 a hundred times, the different types of units. I think 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.760 sometimes eighties horror movies especially kind of work that way. 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.640 But they work with a certain kind of monster or slasher, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.919 and then with certain types of human stereotypes or or 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:29.680 personality archetypes. So it's like, what does a nerd versus 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.680 hockey mask slasher look like? Or what does preppy rich 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.560 kid versus merman grimlin look like? You know, it's like 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.400 the bug fights, but with with human stereotypes on one 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.200 side and different types of monsters on the other. Does 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:47.040 that make any sense. Yeah, yeah, I can see that 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.520 that definitely being a part of the alchemy going into 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.119 some of some of those pictures, But in this case 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.440 it's not. This does not feel like the product of 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.080 an alchemy lab. This seems like the lab has been 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:01.479 ransacked and all the liquids are are mixing together on 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.000 the table and making random explosions. Oh, this movie does 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:12.440 have some really good random explosions. You don't see him coming? No, um, so, spookies, 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.719 I guess we should talk about what the basic Elevator 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:21.880 Vader pitch here is. Um. Basically, the plot, such as 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.200 it exists, is that people, random people are drawn to 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.640 a weird house in a graveyard where Warlock is trying 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.839 to bring his brideback to life, and equally random monsters 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.279 rampage through the shambles of what is essentially a kind 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.080 of resurrected film. I also was thinking of it in 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.840 terms of what if Troll Too had lacked vision and 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.560 just featured more monsters, what a Control Too was more 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.480 of a hodgepodge instead of like one one director's clear 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:54.920 artistic vision realized to its fullest extent. Right, So yeah, 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.680 I think for me this film was worse control to this. 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.400 I think this is the worst film we've we we've 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.440 looked at on Weird House and uh and I think 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.880 ultimately I would like not to return to its level. 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.720 But there's still some fun stuff to talk about here. 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.920 Well wait, then, how did you end up on this one? 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.600 What what led you to Spookies? Um? I was familiar 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.360 with the title, and I had signed up for Shutter 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.480 to watch a previous film that we had covered. I 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.160 forget which one, and I was slipping around and there 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.600 was Spooky, So I thought, well, I'm gonna start watching it. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.320 Let's see what this is like. Okay, So that's that's 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.480 how it came to be. And oh, in the other 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.520 part this is important too. This was right before the 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.160 Labor Day weekend, and I knew we had a shortened 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.040 week coming up, and we were talking about doing, um 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.600 another movie that I think we're gonna be doing for 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.680 next week that is a much better film and has 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:52.400 some more uh I don't know discuss It has some 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.640 some plot points in that they're gonna be worth discussing more. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:56.800 And I thought, well, let's save that for next week 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.480 when we have a little more time. Spookies is perhaps 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.200 the that the right amount of movie for what we 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.720 have time to put together. Okay, I got another question. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:09.200 The title Spookies. Does it refer to the buffet of 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.800 different kinds of monsters? Are they? Are they the titular spookies? 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.520 I guess, I guess so. I mean I've never heard 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.480 of spooky as a now and that's an adjective, right, 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.080 I think the title sometimes it makes me think of 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.600 things like the jeepers creepers, or phrases like that, or 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.200 the hebe gebes or something where I'm like, oh, well, 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.400 maybe the ideas this film is supposed to give me 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.120 the creepies, Like I have the creepies now because I 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.200 watched this film. Do you mean the spookies the spookies? 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.400 What I say, the creepies, Okay, creep Okay, yeah, I 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.720 have the spookies because I watched the film. I don't know. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.040 That's That's as much as I could figure out. Well. 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.680 I wondered also though, if it was um if it's 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.280 a little like shortened kind of short cute word with 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.200 an S at the end, because it's in the era 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.800 of the Gromlins type movies, so you know, Gremlin's critters 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.520 and all that if it was trying to cash in 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:10.040 on that, uh Google, is that sort of thing? Did 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.080 they think, Okay, we need something like that to get 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.679 the people picking up the box in the video store? 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:20.400 How about spookies? Yeah yeah, it was probably something like that. 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.479 All right, Well, let's let's give everyone a taste of 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.000 the trailer audio here so you'll you'll know what you're 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.600 getting into a little bit more. What's this supposed to be? 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.040 Sort of like a part cheesy game or something. I 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:35.800 know what this is. I mean, I've never seen one 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.920 like this before. It's wegi board. Well, how do you play? 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.480 Don't you need? Dice? Is something you don't play? Board 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:58.400 is a tool for communication, communication with the dead? All right? Well, 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:00.720 one way you know this is going to be a 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:05.080 really good movie is that it has three directors. Yeah. Yeah, 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:10.040 and and from the get go it apparently had two directors. Um. Now, 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.120 when you get into the production history of this film, 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:14.760 we're not going to really get into it a lot. 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.360 There's there's a whole documentary that is a special feature 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.240 on the Vinegar Syndrome Blu ray for this and that 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.679 feature is that that that making a feature is longer 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.080 than the film itself has a lot of interviews and 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.640 if you're if you're super into all the nitty gritty 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.480 of of the production of this sort of film, then 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.680 I would say go check that out. But ultimately I 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:38.720 feel like a lot of it was maybe maybe too 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.160 much for me. Like I ultimately I love a movie 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.880 of this caliber, but I don't necessarily need all the 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.800 ins and outs of how it has made. But you know, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:52.640 you're my lege will vary, but essentially the key factors 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.679 to keep in mind here is you had you had 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.600 these two directors who had Thomas Dorian and you had 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.200 Brendan Faulkner, and they were the initial directors. And the 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:06.240 producer was this guy Michael Lee, who was has been 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.760 described as as like a video nasty millionaire who made 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.240 a lot of money importing films into Britain during the 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.200 period where a lot of these were banned. His company, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:19.480 I think was was v I Pico Vera VIPKO, and 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.560 he wanted to produce a film. These guys already had 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.640 sort of a pre existing vision and then as a 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.000 producer he had a certain amount of insight into what 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:31.240 he wanted. Um they shot this film that was going 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:37.400 to be titled Twisted Souls, and then that a relationship 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.640 fell apart and another director was brought in to finish it, 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.880 and that's this director, Genie Joseph. She ended up directing 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.560 additional footage and completing the picture. And so what we 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:53.800 have on screen here is is one picture, but there 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.240 you can tell where stuff was added. There's this whole 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.480 additional plot where where there are characters who you never 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.200 see on screen together, so you you can tell. I 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.200 think what the framing narrative is. So if I understand correctly, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.760 the plot about the party kids who drive around in 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:12.920 the woods and then end up at a house, a 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.880 random house in the woods, go into the house and 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.000 then are attacked by a buffet of different kinds of monsters. 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.240 That was the original film. And then the framing narrative 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.120 where there is an evil old warlock who is who 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:31.080 is sacrificing people who wander into his house to the 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:35.840 monsters in order to revive his dead bride. That is 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.560 the framing narrative that was that was later added to 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:44.920 sort of boost this up to feature length, right, And yeah, ultimately, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:46.160 like I said, don't want, I don't want to get 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:48.480 into all the ins and outs of the production. Um. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.040 I did watch the feature att but uh or the 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.679 feature rather, it's it's pretty too long to be a 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:58.000 feature atte. But I would say that the features simo 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.520 featurissimo here. Uh. You know, I don't think the film 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.520 was ever going to be good. This is not like 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.240 this was on track to be something and and it 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.280 was changing into something else. I don't think there's a 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.880 case to be made for like release the Twisted Souls 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.520 cut or anything of that nature. Um I, I don't. 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.440 I think the film is as fun and memorable as 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.920 it is because you have so much weird stuff going on, 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:26.000 and you have these two different energies involved in it. Um. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.000 So yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be Spooky's if it 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.400 wasn't this ridiculous. I gotta say it does make for 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.480 some extremely funny moments, uh, the inner cutting between the 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.880 different plots, because first of all, it gives it an 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.439 energy similar to Pod People, where it has at the beginning, 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.800 like the A, B and C plot, and it's frantically 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.040 cutting back and forth between them at such a pace 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.480 that that you're constantly trying to figure out which movie 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.760 you're in. Um. But then also to to stay on 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.800 the mystery science theater theme for a second. It sometimes 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.080 seems almost as if the Warlock in the framing narrative 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.120 is sort of riffing the movie in in the middle, 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:07.840 So like the the kids will be walking through the 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.480 house and one of them will make a comment to say, like, uh, wow, 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.120 the so the lights in this place still work? Maybe 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.720 somebody lives here, and then it'll cut to the Warlock 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.120 a different room, different place. You're not even sure where 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:26.200 he is, but he'll go someone does still live here. Yeah, 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.120 I that was a moment that I definitely laughed out. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.440 Lad Uh. Yeah. The resulting energy is is is weird 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.520 and wonderful. It also feels a bit like the stuff 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.800 with the Warlock that was at it. It's it's it's 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.560 like you decided to make a horror anthology, but you 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.080 only had the one picture to draw upon. Because there's 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.760 certainly been cases where you have like different productions that 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.960 were unfinished or or were recut, and then you have 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.640 them rereleased as part of a horror anthology. Was some 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.800 sort of a framing framing narrative in place, but in 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.000 this case, it's just one the one picture. Yeah, Yeah, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.120 it's a framing narrative around one movie that was not 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.080 going to make it to feature length. I'd say that 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.840 core movie is what maybe sixty minutes? Yeah, yeah, I mean, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:11.840 I'm not sure how much stuff got got cut. I 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.840 know some stuff got cut, but um, is it stuff 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.920 that would have really that I really wanted to see 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.280 instead of this wizard and his strange cat creature? I'm 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:30.480 not sure. All right, well, let me let me go 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.040 ahead and mention some of the other projects that some 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.640 of the other folks were involved in here. So Thomas 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.960 Duran again co director co writer on Twist the Twisted 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.440 Souls portion of this UM. Interestingly enough, he was the 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:49.880 voice of the monster in Devil's Express, starring Warhawk Tanzania. Yeah, 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.880 so I gotta give him credit for that. He also 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:56.200 worked on a spattering of other genre pictures. Brendan Faulkner Uh, 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.600 also the co director co writer on Twisted Souls, wrote 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:05.240 in direct Killer Dead. Genie Joseph, who finished the film UM. 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.640 She wrote and directed the horror like Mind Benders. I 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.840 have not seen this, but I looked it up. Apparently 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.840 it's also known as Invasion of the Mind Benders, and 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:18.160 the VHS cover definitely made me laugh out loud, so 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.560 it says invasion of the mind Benders. And then it 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:25.240 has like a lady on fire and she's shooting rays 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.680 of light out of her eyeballs over a guy who 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.200 who's looking up in enraptured at a bunch of clouds. 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:34.680 And then next to it, it's got a tagline says 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:39.600 controlling a mind is a dangerous thing. I like how 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:43.440 this does look like a a horror paperback from the eighties, 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.360 So oh yeah, it's got looks more like book art 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.640 than the movie art um and a plot description from 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.720 IMDb on Mind Benders says two teenagers noticed a sudden 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:57.960 change and their fellow students. No one is able to 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.920 explain this zombie like behavior, which, at the command of 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:08.920 an unseen alien, makes them punish transgressors with merciless violence. Alright, 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.440 so most of the there are a lot of people 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.200 involved in this. There's a lot of there's a lot 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.360 of of loving attention pay to the monsters, and we're 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:19.680 ultimately not gonna be able to mention all of them 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.000 by name, but I want to mention a few of 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.480 them as well as the writers involved here. So Jennifer 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.960 aspin All was in the makeup department, went on to 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.640 work on a on a lot of projects including Westworld, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.600 Captain Marvel, and Saturday Night Live. There's a Frankie m 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.639 Ferrell who who was one of the writers on the screenplay. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:42.520 He also produced N seven Street Trash. That's a melt 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.879 movie that we've discussed before, and Burgund was a writer 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:51.160 additional material plus costume design. She was also associate producer 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.080 on the Mask. Yes, the one with Jim Carey in 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.959 a green cartoon face. So did Anne Bergend do the 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.000 costumes and the because we're gonna have some commentary on 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.320 the costumes, she at least did some of them. But 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.240 also you have this guy Tom Malinelli, who is credited 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.720 with art direction, art department and costume design. This is 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:16.439 another individual who worked on Street Trash. Okay, there's a 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.399 guy by the name of al Maglioschetti who plays Lewis 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.040 Wilson in this. I don't remember which one Lewis Wilson was, 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.879 but he also did special effects photography. He went on 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.840 to do visual effects and a lot of big pictures 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:33.000 including Star Trek, The Undiscovered Country, Water World, uh T two, 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.680 Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. The Adams Family, Jason goes 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.919 to Hell and many others. Oh. In fact, so I 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.560 see the connection to uh T two there. But the 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.399 camera operator, the steadicam operator in this movie j Michael Murrow, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.240 I think, also did steady caam for a lot of 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.479 James Cameron movies, including Terminator Too. Yeah, this is an 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.400 individual that I believe Michael Weldon pointed out as being 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.840 involved in this picture in his right up in one 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.720 of the psychotronic uh in the Psycotronic Video Guide or 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.879 the Psychotronic Video Guide or the Guide to Film, I 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.760 can't remember which one. Now, getting into the actors a 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:09.359 little bit, there are a number of actors in this 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.320 who didn't really have any other credits. But my favorite 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.680 actor in in this whole picture is Peter Assillo Jr. 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:20.720 He plays rich is uh Oh, I would say the 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:25.760 richest character in this film. Um, how would we describe him? 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.480 He's the he's the cut up, He's the He's a Ham, 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.960 He's a Ham, He's constant Ham, glorious Ham, He's a ham. 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.560 Who's You get the sense that he's improvising a lot 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.920 of his lines. There are scenes of just um where 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.600 where it feels like what happened is they just turned 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.639 the camera on him and they're like, Rich, come on, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:45.680 you know, just riff a little bit. And so he'll 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.000 like wander around kind of bumping into the other characters 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.520 and be like, hey, hey, how's your sinuses and stuff 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.760 like that. He also, uh is it plays a character 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.600 who loves beer. Uh, And it's clear he loves beer 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.959 because even after the monsters started attacking and all everything 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.160 goes crazy, he's still always got his beer in his hand. Yeah, 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:08.800 he's he's a lot of fun in this. He's like 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.760 them tall mustachioed guy that was apparently in real life 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.280 was just always on just was always the goofy cut 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.639 up and was much beloved. Um and and so he 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.960 brings that exact same energy to this role. His character 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:27.560 Rich has a puppet named Muck, and so he's off. 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.160 He's constantly interacting and harassing the other characters with this puppet. 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.040 And he wears a T shirt that pit ficture features 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.680 an image of himself and the puppet mouke on it. Right. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.480 So uh, he lived ene through two thousand and seventeen. 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.280 He uh, he played an uncredited zombie and Don of 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.080 the Dead and then went on to do a lot 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.880 of bit parts, um and things, often freaks and crazy, 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.320 sometimes background work. I noticed he pops up even in 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:59.240 an episode of thirty Rock playing paparazzi character, so you know, 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.320 just somebody click the camera in the background. But then 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.920 we also have this character, Duke, This Duke so interesting. 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.320 How would you how would you describe Duke to everyone? 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.919 Duke is a is a fabulous bully. He's sort of 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:18.119 the like tough guy, bad guy, bad boy of the group. Um, 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.520 it's hard to convey by describing, but a lot of 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.280 the scenes with Duke in them have this bizarre rhythm 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:27.159 and logic that you sort of get, you get a 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:29.840 feel for as the movie goes on, but it can't 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.320 really be compared to anything else I can think about. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.320 Gonna try to describe one scene just to give you 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.760 an idea of like of duke rhythm, and it goes 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.320 like this, So like they're in the house and Duke 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.560 just pulls a box off the shelf and he opens 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.160 it and an amulet flies out of the box onto 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.320 the floor. And then this other character named Carol picks 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:54.120 up the amulet and she says, isn't it wonderful? And 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.760 he goes, pretty damn weird. If you ask me, what 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:59.680 is it art or something? I think it's worth any money. 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.760 And then he immediately from saying this line, turns his 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.440 head to the side and sees a door that has 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.400 just been behind him the whole time, and then he goes, 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.440 what the hell is in here? And he starts jostling 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.000 the lock frantically, and then he breaks a chair across 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.399 the door and starts shoving a board into the door jam, 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:22.840 trying to pry it open. This is duke energy, would 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:27.159 you agree? Yes, yes, very much so, he um. I. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.639 In my notes, I've noted that he was essentially a 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:35.840 discount Fonzie in a trash bag because he's wearing this 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:39.560 weird cost him. He's wearing plastic clothes like a shirt 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.640