1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird How Cinema rewind. This is Rob 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,880 Speaker 1: Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In today's episode was originally 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: published on April. It's that baby, that's right. I mean, 4 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: because this is this is our Turkey Day break. So 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: I think last last year we were thinking about Mystery 6 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: Science Theater three thousand, the traditional Mystery Science three thousand 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: celebration of Turkey Day. And so this is a great 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: time for us to turn to a beloved episode of 9 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: MST three K because of course they did z as 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: the Bloodwaters of Doctor Z and uh yeah. So so 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: it's a perfect time to to really wade into this 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: Florida movie. Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird How sent him. 14 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: This is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and I 15 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: regret to inform you right at the start here that 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: the Weird House Cinema tour bus has broken down in Florida, 17 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: so we are still stuck in the Sunshine State. That's right. 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: We're continuing our look at Florida movies from the nineteen seventies, 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: movies filmed in Florida and certainly in the case of 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: today's film, and also Nine two Frogs, which we've covered previously, 21 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: set in Florida as well, they capture a certain Florida 22 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: This both real and imagined. Uh. And this week we're 23 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: gonna look at the Florida movie par Excellence nineteen seventy 24 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: ones Z. You might know it as the Blood Waters 25 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: of Doctor Z. Some of you might even know it 26 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: as Hydra basically, as we'll get into it had a 27 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: number of various releases over the years under different titles, 28 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: but uh, for the most part, the one that's stuck 29 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: is z Z a a t. This movie has some 30 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: thematic overlap with other movies that we've looked, including a 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: sort of like Nature strikes Back movies, though this is 32 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: not exactly Nature strikes Back. This is more of a uh. 33 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: This is more of a sort of cheap body horror, 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: mad science movie with some ecological themes to it, rather 35 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: than just like animals attacking for revenge on humankind. Yeah, 36 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: it's I guess at heart it's a creature feature. But 37 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: like like a lot of films that you encounter like this, 38 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: certainly like like the first big independent efforts from from filmmakers. 39 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: It it tries to do a lot of things, so 40 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: it's it's it's a creature feature, but it's also like 41 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: a science team adventure. It's also um, you know, it 42 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: also tries to be uh in the heat of the 43 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: night a little bit it uh. It also has this 44 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: nature strikes back element to it. It's also a kind 45 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: of a hippie folk musical, so it it kind of 46 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: bats itself around a lot and um. Depending on where 47 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: you are in the film, you might get something that 48 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: is totally different from another portion of the film. It 49 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: also has a little bit of overlap with Boggy Creek two, 50 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: and the legend continues. We can talk about some of 51 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: the similarities as we go on, but uh, but I 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: appreciated the the similar pompous voiceover narration, though in this 53 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: case it is the voiceover of a of a crazed 54 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: uh spurned scientist who wants revenge on the world, whereas 55 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: in Boggy Creek Too, it's just a kind of uh, 56 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: I don't know, like the town smart guy who wants 57 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: to to show off all his knowledge about the river. Yeah. Yeah. 58 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: The voiceover narration and this is um is sardonic to 59 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: the max, Like if you took Vincent Price's voice and 60 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: you reduced it overheat for a little bit until it 61 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: was it was just extra ikey and gooky. That's what 62 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: you'd have in the Bloodwaters of Doctor Z. The voiceover 63 00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: narration wears joker makeup. Yeah. Now, um, if you mentioned 64 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: Boggy Creeker earlier, and I think this is a good 65 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: point to mention that this film was was riffed in 66 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: a episode of Mystery Science Feed or three thousand under 67 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: the title the Bloodwaters of Dr Z. And if you're 68 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: like me, that might be where you discovered the film. Um, 69 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: and it that's a great MST episode. I don't want 70 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: to take anything away from that, but as I would 71 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: watch and rewatch that episode, I found that, like a 72 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: lot of MST episodes that really called to me, there 73 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: was something in the underlying film. There was an awkwardness 74 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: to it, a kind of loneliness to it. And I've 75 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: also grown to really appreciate the Florida no of it 76 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: as well. So for this episode of Weird House Cinema, 77 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: this was the first time I watched an unriffed version 78 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,559 Speaker 1: of that which rented from Atlanta's Videodrome Video rental store. 79 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, ultimately I encourage fans of the 80 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: MST episode to do the same because, like a lot 81 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,479 Speaker 1: of MST films, it was really edited, really cut down 82 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: for time, and so there's a there's a lot of 83 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: stuff that you're missing out on, some really um walky 84 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: and at times grotesque details and sometimes just ludicrous um 85 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: additions to the film. This is not of the attack 86 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,799 Speaker 1: of the Crab Monsters School of Creature feature run time. 87 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: You know, it's not your sixty three minute abs this one, 88 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: I think is it's it's actually getting close to two 89 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: full hours, isn't it. Yeah, I think it's the it's 90 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: a hundred minutes long. It's a it's it's plus size 91 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: this one. Um, so you can you have to set 92 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: us out a little bit of time for it. Um. 93 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: And again the pacing is is at times kind of 94 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: weird but also hypnotic um quite ludic at times. Uh huh. 95 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: Now we mentioned the MST episode. I think a lot 96 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: of people did discover it through that. But the film 97 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: has has had a cult following outside of MST as well, 98 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: despite only having a limited release in Jacksonville, Florida, and 99 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:01,679 Speaker 1: New York's Fort Street back in ninety two. The uh 100 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: you have the version we watched. It begins with a 101 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: statement from the director where he's like people were coming 102 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: up to be and saying, don don You've got to 103 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: release this movie? Yes, so yeah, I think it was. 104 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: It was people really wanted some sort of release for 105 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: a long time, and luckily in recent years it has 106 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: been available. Um. But yeah, this this film, like the 107 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: Scorpion Fish uh and the Sargassum Fish is it's been patient. 108 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: It knew that it would one day conquer the universe. Um. 109 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: And and it has its super fans, one of which 110 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: is the Atlanta artist and Jacksonville native our Land, who 111 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: I know, we're both the fans of. Have you seen 112 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: any of our lands Zat pieces, Joe? Oh, I don't know. 113 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of his stuff around town, a 114 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: lot of you know, restaurants and coffee shops and stuff. 115 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: We'll have our Land pieces up on the walls. I 116 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: think some of his work also, though I don't quite 117 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: recall how was featured in some adult swim shows. I 118 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: could be wrong about that, but no, I don't know 119 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:02,359 Speaker 1: the za ones are. I know his I know his 120 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: piece that's like the divers with the spear guns. Is 121 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: that that related? Um, that one might not be. I mean, 122 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: he's he works Florida into a lot of his pieces, 123 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: but he did. Um, he did create a number of 124 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: art pieces that actually feature that he did. He did 125 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: a show as part of a two thousand nine screening 126 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: of the film at the Plaza here in Atlanta, and 127 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: at least some of the pieces I assume from that 128 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: show were that they used to hang out over at 129 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: Joe's Coffee in East Atlanta. Uh. And I would go 130 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: there and bring my laptop and work. Uh And UM, 131 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, there may still be some pieces there. 132 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: I haven't been there in a in a spell, but uh, 133 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: you know images of za and uh. He had some 134 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: some spinoffs over the years as well, Like there was 135 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: one that was like a real estate sign that says 136 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: that did it again. Um, and then he's he recently 137 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: did did one at least online that was a zat 138 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: or day uh thing. It was pretty amusing. But yeah, 139 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: he's he's apparently a zat Mega fan. And you know 140 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people like him out there, you know 141 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: where you see this maybe when you're younger, and something 142 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: about it that it sticks in into your brain. And 143 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: you can't quite get it out all right, what's the 144 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: elevator pitch? On this film? A lonely mad scientist in 145 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: Florida hatches a plan to raise an army of giant 146 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: walking catfish and avenge himself over his colleagues, and also 147 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: conquer the planet, perhaps the universe. Uh, and we're left 148 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: to follow him and see how it works out. Let's 149 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: hear that trailer audio and now coming to this theater. 150 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: One of the most incredible stories of modern time sat 151 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: Invasion of the Walking Catfish. A crazed scientist Dr. Leopold 152 00:08:55,679 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: is convinced he can turn to humans into fish. He 153 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: proves it by transforming himself into a horrible for them 154 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: full that tells it all. You won't want to miss 155 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: zat positively. No one admitted during the last minutes. Okay, now, 156 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: you would not have expected a movie like this to 157 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,719 Speaker 1: have major folk music themes. And I don't know if 158 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: the trailer audio we just played have the folk music 159 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: in it. Uh. If not, maybe we should insert a 160 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: clip right here, just because like you've got to have 161 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,839 Speaker 1: this in your head to understand everything that comes after. 162 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean we can go straight to the 163 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,679 Speaker 1: music here if you like uh this, Uh, what we're 164 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: about here is um is a is a bit from 165 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: a song titled World War two Boy, which is a 166 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: very strange, strange title. But this is from Barry Hodgen 167 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: and Jamie Defrates. They were the composers. And this is 168 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: Jamie Defrate's performing the song. Alright, that's just a clip, 169 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: but this song is performed in its entirety at the 170 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: top of the film um and it's and I actually 171 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: love it. I listened to this song quite a bit, 172 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: especially in the last couple of weeks leading up to 173 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: this episode, because you can. You can find this on 174 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 1: Spotify and various other streaming places. If you just look 175 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: up Z songs or or Jamie Defrates you will find it. Uh, 176 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: there's a B side and we'll get to the B 177 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: side track in a bit. But these tracks are featured 178 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 1: in the film in full no cuts. It's almost it's 179 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: almost a rock opera. I mean not quite, only only 180 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: a couple of songs in the movie, but like it 181 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,719 Speaker 1: has musical numbers. Yeah, And I have to say, I 182 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: mean we'll get into this a little bit when we 183 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: start rolling through the plot, but yeah, the music music 184 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: always elevates the film. If you have quality music, it 185 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: can really create dimensions that would not be there otherwise. 186 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: And I legitimately think that the music and that both 187 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: the folk music and some of the other music will 188 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: get to does a great job of that. Like it 189 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: takes this this sort of awkward, fumbling creature feature and 190 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: and elevates it to to this level where it does 191 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: legitimately get caught up in your brain. Do you ever 192 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: hear that story? It was by somebody who worked on 193 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: Halloween with John Carpenter. It might have been Donald Pleasants 194 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 1: who told the story about going to see a preview 195 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: screening of the movie where the music had not been 196 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: added in yet and thinking like, oh no, what a disaster. 197 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: I'm so embarrassed, and then seeing another cut later when 198 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: the music had been finished and added in, and suddenly 199 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: everybody thinks this is a horror masterpiece. Yeah, yeah, I 200 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: mean it. It really does it? It? Uh, It can 201 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: really elevate things to to new levels. Though shocking that 202 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: Donald Pleasants would find embarrassment in a film at that 203 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: stage of his career, because it's not like this would 204 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: have been the first the first bad movie he was in. 205 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: This come before after Puma Man Uh, I don't recall, 206 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: but either either way, there were definitely some Puma Man's 207 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: in there before Halloween. All Right, we'll come back to 208 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: more about the music in a bit, but let's uh, 209 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,319 Speaker 1: let's start with the screenwriter, or one of the screenwriters 210 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: and the director, Don Barton, who lived nineteen thirty through, 211 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: so he was he was very much alive to see 212 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: the renaissance of of Za, the resurgence of that, and 213 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: in fact, the disc that we watched featured introductory commentary 214 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: by Don Barton thanking everyone for their support of the creature. Here. Yeah, yeah, 215 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: he shows up right at the top of the film. 216 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: And I should point out this disc it like it's 217 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: one of those that doesn't even have a menu in it. 218 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: It just you just put it in and it just 219 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 1: plays that the only option is play. Um. But it 220 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: starts with him talking and he Don Barton says, uh. 221 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, my film production company in Jacksonville, Florida, 222 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: decided that the time was right to make a feature film, 223 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: meaning this was his first feature film. He'd only done 224 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: one other movie before this, which we'll talk about in 225 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: the second, which was a short film. But he says 226 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,080 Speaker 1: he sat down with his staff to discuss ideas quote, 227 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: and we decided that our first motion picture should be 228 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: a creature feature. Uh so this turned into an idea 229 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: I think talking with some writers and associates of his 230 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: about a man catfish creature that terrorizes a small town 231 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: in his quest for revenge. And then Don Barton says 232 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: that the initial theatrical release was very promising. He doesn't 233 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: elaborate on what exactly that means, but he says that 234 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: due to unspecified mishaps, the film had been unavailable for 235 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,199 Speaker 1: like thirty years at the time that it was rereleased. 236 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: So I wonder, I mean, there must have been some 237 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,439 Speaker 1: way people got it, because the they must have gotten 238 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: a tape of it for Mystery Science theater. I'm not 239 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: sure what. Yeah, I think even that there was some issues, 240 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: if I am to understand correctly, like there was some 241 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: there's a situation where a sci fi channel I think 242 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: at the time, aired it and then Barton's people got 243 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: in touch with them and there was some back and 244 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: forth about like the rights, but it eventually got worked out. Okay, 245 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: that that that makes sense, But um man, when I 246 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: was watching this preamble by Don Barton. At the beginning 247 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: of the movie, I kept thinking, who does this guy 248 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: remind me of his something about his voice and the 249 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: way he talks, And then I realized, he reminds me 250 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: of the TV news host Bill Moyers, who used to 251 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: do like I think he worked for Uh, he did 252 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: his specials for PBS, and then I think you worked 253 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: for CBS for a while. Um. But so like I 254 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: got that feeling like, oh no, this is like Bill 255 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: Moyer's introducing a PBS special on that that's going to 256 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: feature interviews with Joseph Campbell. Yeah, it does have that 257 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: kind of vibe. Now, yeah, we mentioned Jacksonville already, h 258 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: and we will mention Jacksonville some Moore Barton was Jacksonville based. 259 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: He was a producer and director. This was his second 260 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: and last directorial credit, following They're Out to Get You. 261 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 1: But he was apparently involved throughout his life in the 262 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: Florida film industry, having co founded the Florida Motion Picture 263 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: and Television Production Association, and he also produced documentaries, training films, 264 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: TV commercials, etcetera. And this is actually more of the 265 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,160 Speaker 1: genre that They're Out to Get You was, So They're 266 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: out to get You? I was really looking for an 267 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: online copy of it, and I couldn't find anything. But 268 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: but if somebody out there has better sleuthing capabilities, please 269 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: send this our way. Um, this is not an entertain 270 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: mint film. They're out to get you from nineteen sixty 271 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: nine is an educational short that I think was supposed 272 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: to be shown to retail employees. So it's like one 273 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: of those you know, harassment or ethics training video workplace 274 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: videos they show you on the first day at a 275 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: new job, except it is about shoplifting, and the plot 276 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: of it is that there's this young criminal, or at 277 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: least this is the alleged plot. I had to find 278 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: a summary. Somebody wrote online. There's a young criminal named 279 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: Tony Alto who steals cars for a living, and he 280 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: gets caught and sent to prison, and in prison, his 281 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: cell mate turns out to be this, uh, I don't 282 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: know this the smooth guy who's going to tell him no, no, no, 283 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: stealing cars, you're doing it all wrong. Here's what's up shoplifting, 284 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: And he explains to him why shoplifting is a much 285 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: better way to to make a living by stealing, And 286 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: so as you go through the narrative, I think it 287 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: shows the tricks that shoplifters could be using in your store, 288 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: or your store or yours. So it also sounds like 289 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: it's just in general, a shoplifting training video for very 290 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: either side of the equation. Well, it's kind of like 291 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,959 Speaker 1: how Dare was supposed to scare kids away from doing drugs, 292 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: but instead it was just kind of like, you're all 293 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: the different kinds of drugs you could do. All right, Well, 294 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: let's talk very briefly about the additional story credits UM 295 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: Ron Kivitt and Arnold Stevens and also Lee oh Lar LaRue. 296 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: Not much to report here though. Ron Kivitt was apparently 297 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: an investigator on History Channels ancient aliens at one point. 298 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: So was he investigating aliens? I guess or pyramids? One 299 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: of it was, you know, one of the two, probably, um. 300 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: But that that's the main creative force behind the picture 301 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: that we're going to discuss here at the top. It's 302 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: time to get into the cast. And the film is 303 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: initially concerned with only one human being and devotes a 304 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,439 Speaker 1: good twentysomething minute to just him. Uh, and that is 305 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 1: our our signature character, our our our main character. Dr 306 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: Curt Leopold played by Marshall Grower. Now this is his 307 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: one and only film role, and for a long time 308 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: I assumed that he only did the physical performance that 309 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: we're seeing Marshall Grower and somebody else's providing that just 310 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: overly sardonic voiceover that we're talking about that again. It's 311 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: just like Vincent Price turned up to eleven Vincent Price 312 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: without any uh you know, humanity left in it at all. 313 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: The you know, the the voice of just a uh 314 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: an overacting demon. But he apparently did the narration as well. 315 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: Um Leopold, the character, the human character never speaks on cameras, 316 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: not a single time, but we have just this voiceover 317 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: at length describing what he's planning to do, what he's doing, 318 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 1: um what you know, his ultimate aspirations are. Uh it's 319 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun. But I would say Marshall 320 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 1: Grower is is just delightful in this film because the 321 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: voiceover is just it, it's so rich, it's just so overdone. 322 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:14,640 Speaker 1: And then physically he has this weird combo of sinister 323 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: awkwardness and this kind of outsider sadness, which when you 324 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: throw in the sort of film quality of Z, it 325 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: feels like you're watching a window into someone's personal hell. 326 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,439 Speaker 1: You know, Dr Leopold is a human with the personality 327 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: of a car that's having maintenance problems. He's having trouble accelerating, 328 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: he's releasing dark, foul smelling exhaust, like he needs to 329 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 1: get his catalytic converter replaced. But also the thing that 330 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 1: I realized about him that there's a scene early in 331 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: the film where he's walking along a beach, but he's 332 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 1: not dressed for the beach. He's wearing long slacks and 333 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: the shirt tucked in and his heads hanging down and 334 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: this kind of like sad like puppy dog way, except 335 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 1: he's he's a little he's more drabbed than a puppy dog. 336 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,199 Speaker 1: And you know, there's this acoustic guitar strumming in the background, 337 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 1: and he's just this beacon of shabbiness. In some shots 338 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:16,360 Speaker 1: he's giving off strong, hairy Dean Stanton fumes. Yeah, yeah, 339 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: I think that's a that's a good comparison, that kind 340 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: of drawn haggard appearance. Yeah, But on the other hand, 341 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: he has a haircut that doesn't quite match. Because I 342 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,680 Speaker 1: don't know how to describe his his haircut. It's very 343 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: strange it's kind of messy and mappy in the front, 344 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: but also to make it weirder. So it's a haircut 345 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,199 Speaker 1: that I think I've basically only seen on women before. 346 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: It's a cut style that's kind of puffy up in 347 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: the back and raises up towards the back or the 348 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: crown of the head, and then goes flat down toward 349 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,840 Speaker 1: the front. Do you do you know what I'm talking about? Um, 350 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: I'm having a hard time picturing his hair in my head. 351 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,199 Speaker 1: All my picture is that face and then later that 352 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: that bod uh we'll get to um. Uh. Well, anyway, 353 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,959 Speaker 1: he's a he's a profound screen presence. Imdbat is not 354 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: list birth and death dates for Grower, but I was 355 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: looking around and I think I've found him as being listed. 356 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: Is buried in a cemetery in Jacksonville, and he lived 357 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,719 Speaker 1: nineteen two through And uh, if I have the right 358 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: guy here, and I'm pretty sure I do, he was 359 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: he was pretty active in the Jacksonville theaters, so uh, 360 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: and I would not be surprised if that's where. Ultimately 361 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,879 Speaker 1: a number of these actors come from, actors that in 362 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,360 Speaker 1: many cases have no other movie credits listed to them. 363 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 1: Thinking about this guy being active in Jacksonville theater got 364 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: me off on a tangent that I actually think about 365 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: a good bit when we're watching these B movies, especially 366 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:52,440 Speaker 1: locally produced B movies, movies that are, you know, not 367 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: a product of l A but you know, come out 368 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: of Florida or somewhere else in the country. Uh. And 369 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: it got me thinking about how acting talent translates across 370 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,640 Speaker 1: from stage to screen and and the disconnect that can 371 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: occur when somebody spans these two worlds. Because I was 372 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: thinking about a story where a longtime close friend of mine, 373 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: he used to do some local theater directing in Tennessee, 374 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: and he was at one point directing. This was years ago, 375 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: but at one point he was directing an adaptation of 376 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: a Tennessee Williams play, I think, and he ended up 377 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: working with this actor who, according to him, was just 378 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,120 Speaker 1: magical on stage, you know, one of the best actors 379 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: he had ever worked with, and and was it was 380 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: spell binding. But we found out this guy had also 381 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 1: been in a few movies and I don't recall the 382 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,359 Speaker 1: exact titles, but they were just like Z grade horror movies, 383 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,640 Speaker 1: you know, Choo, p Acabra, Rampage nine or something like that, 384 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 1: and so we we watched these and this amazing local 385 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: theater actor was, you know, just not especially impressive in 386 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: a direct video horror context. And I remember having a 387 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,679 Speaker 1: kind of revelation at that point that like, oh, you know, 388 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: stay age talent and screen talent are not always interchangeable, 389 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: and context really matters. Like somebody who can be a 390 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: very good actor when they've got good material to work with, 391 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: Like a lot of a lot of the people who 392 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,680 Speaker 1: do these Z grade horror movies are probably a lot 393 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: of times doing Shakespeare or something, you know, in local theater, 394 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: or they're or they're they're doing Tennessee Williams plays or 395 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: something like that. But then when you put them in 396 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 1: in a catfish monster movie, the whatever talents they've developed 397 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: for those other acting contexts just don't really translate. But 398 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 1: there's a good chance in any given B movie that 399 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: there are plenty of members of the cast who are 400 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: no names in the film world, but they're like the 401 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: best actor in their local theater group and they're used 402 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: to doing Shakespeare or whatever. Yeah, I mean, I guess 403 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:49,439 Speaker 1: that there are so many different ways you can cut it. 404 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: I mean, on one hand. It's the difference between the 405 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: stage uh and being told by director, yeah, we're filming 406 00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:00,200 Speaker 1: this next scene in the basement of this building. Um 407 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: or or just walk on the beach for a little bit. Yeah, um, now, 408 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: I don't know what your motivation is, just you know, 409 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,439 Speaker 1: just just walk on the beach and we'll fill you 410 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: in a bit. We're still writing that part, you know, 411 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: stuff like you can imagine that the distance between the 412 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: two projects. On top of just how you know, colossal 413 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: and undertaking any level of film is not to take 414 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: anything away from a stage production, which of course is 415 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: also a colossal undertaking in in so many regards. But 416 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: um but but but yeah, yeah, the the tools that 417 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: that aid you in one dimension, uh might not aid 418 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: you as well without some re tinkering uh in the other. Yeah, 419 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: certainly true. But I mean, just I think it's important 420 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: that people should always keep in mind if you are 421 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: a fan of z grade horror movies and and the 422 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: kind of stuff we talk about on this show, should 423 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: always remember that whenever you're watching one of these films, 424 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 1: there's a good chance that the actor who is completely 425 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: failing in front of you right now is actually great 426 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: in some other context. Now, Um, Leopold will eventually turn 427 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: into a monster and will detail that at length. But 428 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: when he is a monster, he is played by someone else. Uh. 429 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 1: The monster is played by Wade Popwell, who lived through 430 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: two thousand and six. This was his only film role, 431 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: and he apparently answered a newspaper call for tall actors 432 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: who were also experienced scuba divers. Oh yeah, this was 433 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: a funny thing I read as one of the mini 434 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: trivia facts claimed about this movie. I guess I'll cite 435 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: several of these throughout the episode. There are a number 436 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,439 Speaker 1: of interesting facts that are claimed on the IMDb page 437 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: for this uh for this movie that are unsourced, so 438 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,959 Speaker 1: I can't verify them. But at least the claim is 439 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,920 Speaker 1: that he was recruited through a newspaper ad. Like you say, 440 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: it was basically like, we need a really tall person 441 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: who's going to play a monster, and they got like 442 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: tons of responses, like people were Florida was into this alright. 443 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: The next acting credit to highlight here, Gerald Cruz played 444 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,719 Speaker 1: marine biologist Rex. He doesn't have a last name as 445 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: far as I know. Um. This was his only film role, 446 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: which ultimately surprised me because I thought he had a 447 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: nice screen presence in this as the the African American 448 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,199 Speaker 1: marine biologist who is the first to realize that something 449 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: is wrong. Yeah, this movie does something that a lot 450 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: of these creature feature nature strikes back type movies do, 451 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: which is there's somebody who's like the voice of reason, 452 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: you know, the the cooler head who's putting together the 453 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: evidence while everybody else around them is just sort of 454 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: like reacting erratically and emotionally. And he plays the cool 455 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: head in this movie like he's some He's the person 456 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: who's out there saying like, oh, there's pollution in the water, 457 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: and oh, here's this report of a catfish and this 458 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: wound on the victim looks like a giant catfish claw mark. 459 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,120 Speaker 1: I think he at one point concludes, I'm not sure 460 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: that really lines up with reality, but like that's the 461 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: role he plays in the movie, and he's set opposite uh. 462 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: For example, this sort of like redneck sheriff who's always 463 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: got a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth 464 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: or guess, piece of hay, and he's always like, well, 465 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: I don't believe in monsters up. And that is Sheriff 466 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:08,360 Speaker 1: leu Krantz played by Paul Galloway who lived through um 467 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: like everybody, and this wasn't in a tremendous much else 468 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: but he played garage man, which I assume as a 469 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: bit part in the in J. D's Revenge from nineteen 470 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: seventy six and New Orleans crime drama starring Glenn Turman 471 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: and Louis Gossett Jr. Um In this film, however, yeah, 472 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: he plays the small town sheriff who is lazy, um 473 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:37,159 Speaker 1: and largely incompetent, but in the later portions of the 474 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: film shows a little bit of hustle, but not quite enough. 475 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,239 Speaker 1: He's one of those characters who is uh not the 476 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: antagonist of the film. He's not a bad guy, but 477 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 1: he's just sort of he's a roadblock. He's just sort 478 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: of getting in the way of what what needs to 479 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: happen happening. Yeah, Now, another thing I should point out 480 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: is that this is one of those movies where you 481 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: see a few repeats during the credits. For example, Paul 482 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: Galloway here, who plays the sheriff, he was in the cast, 483 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: but he was also a unit manager. And then I 484 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: saw in the credits that Ron Kivitt, who was one 485 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: of the writers of the film, was also the technical 486 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,120 Speaker 1: director and did some of the costuming. And I think 487 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: there were a few others like this, So it's not 488 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:18,199 Speaker 1: all the way to Neil Breen or Coleman Francis Tire 489 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: where the directors also getting credits for catering and events, 490 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: security and stuff. But the but there is some some 491 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: repetition going on alright. A couple of other actors that 492 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: will mention uh. Santa Ringhr plays h Agent Martha Walsh. 493 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: Dave Dickerson plays Agent Walker Stevens. Both of these actors 494 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: these were their only film roles, but these two will 495 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: come back to them. There are Molder and Scully and 496 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,560 Speaker 1: that they know they work for a shadowy organization known 497 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: as in Pit. Yeah, they get called in by Rex, 498 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,720 Speaker 1: the marine biologist. I could not have told you these 499 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: characters names that for me. They were just Inpit Agent 500 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: one and Inpit Agent two. Yeah. Now another character that 501 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,719 Speaker 1: the character is barely worth mentioning. And there's a deputy 502 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: sheriff in this but it's played by an actor by 503 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: the name of Rich Valerie who lived fifty two through 504 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: was only in eight films, but they included small roles 505 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: in Jaws three, The Road to Wellville and Night of 506 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: the Hunter. Well, he was a Knight of the Hunter. 507 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: Wait that Night of the Hunter Joe made for TV 508 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: Night of the Hunter starring Richard Chamberlain and featuring Burgess 509 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: Meredith and Ray McKinnon in a small role. Okay, that 510 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: would make sense. Now for him to have been in 511 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: the original Night of the Hunter, he would have to 512 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: have been I guess three years old when he started 513 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: in it. The original Night of the Hunter is is 514 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: a scary movie, man, talk about spell binding actors. That 515 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: that is one of the old time greats for me 516 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: in terms of a screen presence that you cannot take 517 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: your eyes off of. Robert Mitchum in that movie is 518 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: scary as hell. Yeah, But what if we remade it 519 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: in the early nineties with Richard Chamberlain in the role? Okay, 520 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: that's supposedly awful. Um Okay, Now that's enough with the cast. 521 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: That's enough with the humans uh and the monsters. Uh. 522 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: We we need to talk to us a little bit 523 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: about the music and then the next few people of 524 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: note are responsible for the music of that and the 525 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: music is that is is pretty great, even if it's 526 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: a bit all over the place as well, which is 527 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: kind of suitable. Uh. It encompasses more traditional late sixties 528 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,760 Speaker 1: early seventies film score work, um, which some of that 529 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: I suspect is um is stock music. Um. But but 530 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: then it also has um uh like folk rock. It 531 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: has ambient synth in there. Um. Yeah, so there's some 532 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: uncredited stock music and there periam dB by Trevor Duncan. 533 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: So Um, it's kind of all over the place, but 534 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: there's some some really interesting stuff in there. I was 535 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 1: not really won over by the electronic music in this one, 536 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: which mostly just took the form of like kind of 537 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,719 Speaker 1: painful high pitch noises and screeching. Oh really, I I 538 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: ultimately really like, yeah, what it is like that it 539 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: is kind of noisy at times. It kind of gets 540 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: into that Doctor X territory where, uh, you know we 541 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,320 Speaker 1: discussed in that film there are these these these scenes 542 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: that have ambient mad science noises in the background. It 543 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: sounds a lot like it is some manner of like 544 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: modern post industrial electronic score, and so that definitely has 545 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: that vibe going on. Um. But but I actually really 546 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: liked it. It's um in my opinion, I thought it 547 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: was pretty effective. It synthy, kind of noise ambient and 548 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,480 Speaker 1: the electronic music like this in the film, and I 549 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: suspect some of the background electronic weirdness is the work 550 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: of Jack Tamill, a Floridian synth musician, and um, if 551 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: you look him up on Spotify and other digital platforms 552 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: like that, you'll find some rather haunting nature ambient recordings 553 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: that he's done, such as Voices of the Everglades of 554 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: Everglades State Park and Gator Bellows and the Everglades, both 555 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: the collaborations with James T. Miller. But he also also 556 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: put out some excellent space music in the nineteen eighties 557 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: and nineties, including the Referee Has Vanished from nine eight six, 558 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:24,959 Speaker 1: meditative Massage from synthe Synthis Syntheist, I think it is 559 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: from nine two, and then that's a religious affiliation. I'm 560 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: a syntheist. And then there's a nineteen eighty album you 561 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: put out titled Electroacoustic like Electro Slash Acoustic, which was 562 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: released on Spectrum Records. UM, I can't. I couldn't find 563 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: any of these available on in the normal places online, 564 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: but I did find a YouTube upload that consists of Electroacoustic, 565 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: The Referee Has Vanished and sounds from from from Zat's audio. Uh, 566 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 1: and you can also look like you can still pick 567 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: up electroacoustic used on vinyl. UM. I was listening to it. 568 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,680 Speaker 1: It's uh, it's it's pretty good. I enjoyed it. UM 569 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 1: also not surprising the number one YouTube comment on that. 570 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: On that track that I mentioned, it's our land chiming 571 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: in and say thank you for coming with his real name. Yeah. 572 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,760 Speaker 1: If you know another Jack Tamill track, if you can 573 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: look up um on band camp, there's a comp titled 574 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: Escape from the Cage Volume two Into the Underworld, originally 575 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: released by Oracle Music in nineteen nine. If you look 576 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: that up, he has a track on there. It's called 577 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: Ember Days and I thought it was rather nice. Anyway, 578 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: that's Jack Tamill. That's the the electro uh, you know, 579 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:48,240 Speaker 1: synth noise background that you hear. But again the folk 580 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: music that comes to us from Barry Hodgen and and 581 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: Jamie de Frate's um and and that their story is 582 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: kind of interesting as well. According to to the blog 583 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: Bill Etric's Place, Bill is an o'calla based writer and 584 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: blogger in Florida. Uh Defrate's lived in Jacksonville at the time, 585 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: and he was a traveling musician having a supposedly open 586 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,320 Speaker 1: for the likes of Willie Nelson, Uh, Janice Ian, uh 587 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: Little River Band. You know, it's said various people that 588 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,080 Speaker 1: were making the rounds in those days, and he ran 589 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,359 Speaker 1: a recording studio in Jacksonville and is still active. I 590 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: looked him up. He has a or had a website. 591 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: Uh some of these guys, their websites kind of come 592 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: in and out, but uh, yeah, Jamie defrates. So you 593 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: can look him up on on Spotify and you can 594 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:38,439 Speaker 1: find the music from Zach. It's pretty it's pretty nice. Interesting, Well, Rob, 595 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,320 Speaker 1: I regret having having yucked your your your your delicious 596 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,399 Speaker 1: synth music, and maybe I should give it another shot. 597 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: I just recall when I was watching it, there was 598 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:51,280 Speaker 1: frequently like a just high pitched noise that was starting 599 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: to kind of make me feel a little woozy. Well, 600 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: but but then again, you have to remember, like that's 601 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 1: kind of what the music is supposed to do in 602 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: a film like this. It's to build that sense of 603 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: unease and uh an alienation and fluid ian weirdness. Well, 604 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: I'm there, Seth. Give us just a little taste of 605 00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: some of that Jack Tamil music before we move onto 606 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: the plot. All right, Joe, let's get into the plot 607 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: of this baby. Yes, let us tell the story of 608 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 1: of a man who dreamed he was a catfish? Or 609 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,840 Speaker 1: was he a catfish dreaming he was a man? A 610 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: true tale of metamorphosis of mythic proportions. Absolutely, So the 611 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: movie starts, of course, the version we watched has that 612 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 1: that great intro from Don Barton again with the Bill 613 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 1: Moyers energy for me. But uh, then it gets right 614 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: into the film with stock footage. I doubt this was 615 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,320 Speaker 1: shot for the film. It was. It looks like something 616 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 1: from a nature documentary where he's showing off sargassum seaweed 617 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 1: as we have just discussed on the core episode from yesterday, 618 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: and uh and in a real nice prickly looking fish, 619 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: and we we get voice over that at first I 620 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 1: thought was a poem. It really sounded like he was 621 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 1: reciting a poem because he says, sargassum the weed of deceit, 622 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:26,399 Speaker 1: sargassum fish, mighty hunter of the deep. Okay, so that's 623 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: almost like a close and near rhyme there, so you 624 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:31,719 Speaker 1: think he's developing a poem. But then the stuff he 625 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: starts saying after that doesn't really fit. He starts saying, 626 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: what an inspiration you have been in my plot, your 627 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:41,640 Speaker 1: life of hiding, waiting, stalking your prey at just the 628 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: right moment attack. I love you. What are you the 629 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: poetry police, Joe? You're saying this isn't poetry. Oh I 630 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: don't know. I mean I I What I was trying 631 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,600 Speaker 1: to figure out was whether the movie thought it was 632 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,760 Speaker 1: a poem or just talking. I mean, yeah, anything, anything's 633 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: a him. If you say it is, now it is. 634 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: It is such a startling start to this picture because 635 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 1: again it's it's clearly stock footage, and then the voiceover 636 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,279 Speaker 1: is just amazing. And I do love the idea of 637 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: somebody on early nineteen seventies forty two Street in New 638 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: York City walking into this picture, um, you know, thinking 639 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 1: they're getting some sort of sleazy monster movie, and they're 640 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: hit with documentary footage right off the bat, and just 641 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:29,240 Speaker 1: the guy who sounds kind of like Vincent Price telling 642 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,200 Speaker 1: this fish that he loves it. Yes, I love you, 643 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,799 Speaker 1: and then he goes on to admire various other species 644 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 1: for minutes at a time. You know, the shark, I 645 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 1: admire you. Soon, I'll swim with you. They'll be afraid. Yeah, 646 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: very good. And the scorpion fish and objectively ugly, beautiful fish, 647 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,000 Speaker 1: like a fish that is beautiful in how ugly it is, 648 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,839 Speaker 1: and he's like, you are gorgeous. They think I'm insane. 649 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:02,800 Speaker 1: They're the ones who are insane. Yeah, it's it's pretty tremendous. 650 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,480 Speaker 1: Another thing that's cool, though, is that actually the stock 651 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 1: footage they select, I don't know what it's originally from, 652 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,840 Speaker 1: but whatever nature documentary it is, they got some cool footage. 653 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: Because monster Science moment here they catch a sargassum fish 654 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: eating another fish whole, like just spreading its mouth wide 655 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: and clamping down over this fish's body, and the fish 656 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 1: that it eats is almost as big as the sargassum 657 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,280 Speaker 1: fish itself. This reminds me that in the actual science 658 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: episode we recorded yesterday about this organism, I neglected to 659 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 1: mention that apparently sometimes when it eats another fish, uh, 660 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,320 Speaker 1: it's since it's it's you can actually see the prey 661 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:47,239 Speaker 1: inside of it through its semi translucent skin. So yeah, 662 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: I've seen that. So that's so wonderful. I love it. 663 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: I don't want to be it like like Dr Leopold here, 664 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,480 Speaker 1: but but I do like it a lot. Oh, I 665 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:57,319 Speaker 1: don't know if we mentioned that's how he follows up. 666 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,479 Speaker 1: So he's looking at the sargassum fish and he's saying, 667 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: I of you, but then he says, I hope I'll 668 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:08,320 Speaker 1: be a good imitator. Yes. Um. Basically he's he begins 669 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,320 Speaker 1: to lay this out through you know, ultimately like twenty 670 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: minutes of narration, uh that that he is going to 671 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: draw inspiration perhaps behavioral but also genetic uh inspiration from 672 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: these organisms as part of his master plan. I think 673 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,839 Speaker 1: you already mentioned this, but we should stress it's like 674 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: twenty three minutes into this movie before you see a 675 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: human being who is not a mad scientist. Up until 676 00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:40,240 Speaker 1: up until then, it is exclusively uh Dr Leopold looking 677 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:43,200 Speaker 1: like Harry Dean Stanton shuffling around on the beach and 678 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,759 Speaker 1: through the ruins of a marine park and uh and 679 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: like stock footage of animals from the sea, and then 680 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: a monster just sort of rambling around. Yeah. Most films, 681 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 1: you know, they'd probably start off with like a teenage 682 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: couple meeting they're relatable, and then they're killed by a 683 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,719 Speaker 1: monster or something like that. Not this film. No, it's 684 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: just it's Dr Leopold in stock footage of fish. From 685 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:09,359 Speaker 1: the get go, we do get a teenage couple fooling around. 686 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 1: Later in the movie when the monster is on a rampage, 687 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:13,840 Speaker 1: there's this, uh, this young couple that are like on 688 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,319 Speaker 1: a porch swing and they're making out and the guys like, 689 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,400 Speaker 1: I don't believe in monsters. And then of course a 690 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: good hour and a half there you get what's probably 691 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: an opening segment in most films. Yeah, um, but yeah, 692 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,719 Speaker 1: how to describe that? There is there is a powerful 693 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,920 Speaker 1: emotional resonance to the opening of this film when you 694 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,080 Speaker 1: first see Dr Leopold wandering around. I mean, I guess 695 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,680 Speaker 1: we've already tried to describe it nine different ways. But yeah, 696 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:44,280 Speaker 1: it's it's Harry Dean stanton Ish, it's it's shabby, it's drab, 697 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,879 Speaker 1: it's sad, it's lonely. He is failing and and he 698 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,319 Speaker 1: is going to do science to fix it. Oh and 699 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:54,600 Speaker 1: of course we should mention that while we see him 700 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 1: wandering on the beach, this is when the World War 701 00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:59,240 Speaker 1: two Boys song is playing, and one of the lines 702 00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 1: in the song this just a kiss on the top 703 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: of the head from the sun God. It's the part 704 00:41:03,239 --> 00:41:09,840 Speaker 1: where he says saget sace through the sarcasm. Yes, the 705 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,360 Speaker 1: I could go on and on about just how wonderful 706 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: that song is because the lyrics at once, the lyrics 707 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,839 Speaker 1: sound like lyrics that were composed after half watching part 708 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: of the film, you know, just sort of like trying 709 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: to loosely figure out what the plot is like it 710 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,240 Speaker 1: refers to your um, your calendar research, which it seems 711 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: like a strange description of what appears to be going 712 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: on in the in the motion picture. But also it ultimately, 713 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 1: like I don't know, it ends up giving Leopold more 714 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:41,480 Speaker 1: depth because he's talking about you know, you know about 715 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,640 Speaker 1: you know, how he's wanting to change himself, um outside 716 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: you change yourself to be inside what you already see, 717 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: you know, which I guess it is kind of like, 718 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: you know, which is a catfishy he's already a giant catfish. 719 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: I don't know, it like it it ends up working 720 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:58,719 Speaker 1: for some weird reason, it just works very well. The 721 00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: true catfish was in eyed you all along. Uh Now, 722 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: so I've got a question about how a filming location 723 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: here matches up with reality. I don't know if you 724 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: have any insight on this, but I'm wondering. So, after 725 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,080 Speaker 1: we see Harry Dean Stanton here wandering through this desolate 726 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,520 Speaker 1: beach landscape while the World War two boy plays, he 727 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:22,640 Speaker 1: wanders into a place that looks to me like the 728 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:26,839 Speaker 1: ruins of an off brand sea world. Like if if 729 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 1: a Marine World type attraction was abandoned for years and 730 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,279 Speaker 1: just you know, things collected all over it as as 731 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: the seasons came and went, that's what we'd be seeing 732 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:39,880 Speaker 1: that he walks through. I know that part of this 733 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,000 Speaker 1: movie was filmed at Marine Land of Florida, but from 734 00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:44,759 Speaker 1: what I can tell, I think it was actually in 735 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: operation at this time, not like an abandoned ruin. So 736 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly what we're seeing. Yeah, Like there's 737 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,000 Speaker 1: a scene where he's walking around or through what looks 738 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:57,400 Speaker 1: like what's previously a tank of some sort. Uh, and 739 00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,440 Speaker 1: now it's just empty and as leaves and clutter in it. Um, 740 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:02,640 Speaker 1: I guess my thinking is is too fold on this. 741 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:06,440 Speaker 1: First of all, Um, just because Marine World was up 742 00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: and running didn't mean there were parts of it that 743 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,840 Speaker 1: maybe had fallen into disuse or weren't being used, you know, 744 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: the outskirts of the facility, that sort of thing. Um. Like, 745 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:16,640 Speaker 1: I think if you go to any any play, you 746 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:19,000 Speaker 1: go to your local zoo or botanical garden, there's going 747 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:20,520 Speaker 1: to be a part of the property where you could 748 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: probably film a scene for a monster movie, you know. 749 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: On the other hand, it could just be off season. 750 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:28,280 Speaker 1: I mean, maybe it looks that bad just a winter 751 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: that's well, that's the other thing. Like, we have to 752 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:35,160 Speaker 1: remember that Florida is Florida and it is a jungle, so, um, 753 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:37,799 Speaker 1: you know that we're talking about just like a few 754 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,319 Speaker 1: months without anybody paying attention to the maintenance of a place, 755 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:44,359 Speaker 1: and it will look like absolute ruin, you know, um, 756 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,680 Speaker 1: which I think is one of the appeals of certain 757 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 1: Florida movies as well, the Florida Ruins. Yeah, okay, so 758 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to guess that this is actually part of 759 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: Marine Land, Florida, um, which which is a place that 760 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,920 Speaker 1: has operated off and on and I think was also 761 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:03,320 Speaker 1: a filming location for Revenge of the Creature. A very strange, 762 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,880 Speaker 1: very strange floor to movie. Indeed. Yeah, probably the best 763 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,399 Speaker 1: uh Creature from the Black Lagoon movie, if one can 764 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:13,840 Speaker 1: can say such a thing about Creature from the Black Lagoon. 765 00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,640 Speaker 1: It's the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, and 766 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:21,000 Speaker 1: I think it's the one where the creators have realized that, like, oh, 767 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:25,799 Speaker 1: in the original Creature, the humans were definitely the bad guys, right, 768 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:28,280 Speaker 1: Like the creature didn't do anything, it was just living 769 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: in its own place, and then humans showed up and 770 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,200 Speaker 1: they were like, let's shoot at it. And we're supposed 771 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:35,400 Speaker 1: to think that the humans are good for just going 772 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,959 Speaker 1: to a place where a monster lives and and killing it. Yeah. Yeah, 773 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,000 Speaker 1: I mean the Creature was the character that we we 774 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,799 Speaker 1: all relate to and associate with then, and I think 775 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,040 Speaker 1: a certain similar thing is going on in this film 776 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:50,760 Speaker 1: as well. I mean the Creature from the Black Lagoon 777 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,720 Speaker 1: or that they are both literally fish out of water. 778 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,720 Speaker 1: You know, they're they're they're they're they're literally outsiders, and 779 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: you know that's that's the sort of thing you often 780 00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:04,640 Speaker 1: relate to in a film like this. Though, I will 781 00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 1: say I will make a strong distinction, which is that 782 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:08,920 Speaker 1: I fully side with the creature because he's just hanging 783 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:11,000 Speaker 1: out in his place and they come there and start 784 00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:15,880 Speaker 1: attacking him. That is the aggressor that that is is 785 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,480 Speaker 1: trying to work out scores in a way that is 786 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: not productive. He could have like, if he was mad 787 00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:23,840 Speaker 1: at his former co workers coworkers, he could have written 788 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:25,880 Speaker 1: them a letter saying like, here's what I think are 789 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: are unresolved issues. Instead, he's like, no, I'll turn myself 790 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,640 Speaker 1: into a catfish critter and and come to your house 791 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,600 Speaker 1: and kill you. Right. He's very clear on this. It's 792 00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,440 Speaker 1: not just I want to restore ecological balance. No, No, 793 00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:41,479 Speaker 1: he wants to basically all but wipe out the human race, 794 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 1: um hunt the remaining humans for sport, and proclaim himself 795 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:51,120 Speaker 1: ruler of not merely the Earth, but the universe. Uh 796 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:55,040 Speaker 1: so he has some grandiose plans here, Dr Leopold, you 797 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:57,480 Speaker 1: you are asking for more than as your due? Yes, 798 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:00,680 Speaker 1: But of course, so we see Dr Pold still in 799 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:02,959 Speaker 1: human form at the beginning. He goes back to his lab, 800 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,440 Speaker 1: which I think are probably some some places at Marine 801 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:08,760 Speaker 1: Land of Florida. I'm not sure, but there are places 802 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:11,600 Speaker 1: with like who's is attached to the ceiling and stuff 803 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,080 Speaker 1: like that kind of equipment that you would imagine might 804 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: be in an actual marine biology lab or and I 805 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:21,759 Speaker 1: don't know, an animal marine veterinary clinic or something. Yeah, 806 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,120 Speaker 1: and I think they coppled together a lot of stuff too. 807 00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,000 Speaker 1: Um like there's a black light some black light stuff 808 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:29,799 Speaker 1: back not black light dark room, um equipment in the 809 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,120 Speaker 1: back and went at one point, you know, so clearly 810 00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,400 Speaker 1: you know they took some initial clutter. They filled it 811 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:37,839 Speaker 1: up with some other technological stuff. But it ends up 812 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,720 Speaker 1: looking looking good. I felt like it if I feel 813 00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 1: like this is an adequately lonesome and mad science e layer. 814 00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:48,880 Speaker 1: Yes it is. It is very dingy, it is very damp, 815 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,560 Speaker 1: it is very dank. It is it doesn't look like 816 00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:54,680 Speaker 1: a place you'd want to sleep. Uh. And of course 817 00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:57,920 Speaker 1: we get some classic mad scientists dialogue while he's fiddling 818 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:01,640 Speaker 1: around with his equipment. He he says, the formula. They 819 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:05,919 Speaker 1: all laughed at my little jim Z. And we find 820 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:09,839 Speaker 1: out that that is a it's like a formula. It's 821 00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:15,800 Speaker 1: like Z sub a a sub t. I think, yes, okay, 822 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:17,759 Speaker 1: so it's like a it's a it's a mathematical or 823 00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:21,320 Speaker 1: chemical formula of some kind. Um. But he he tells 824 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:25,080 Speaker 1: the through the voice over. He says, it's very powerful. Uh, 825 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,759 Speaker 1: they'll have fish the size they've never seen before, walking 826 00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:34,440 Speaker 1: fish who like human flesh. So he wanders around the 827 00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:37,359 Speaker 1: labs a lot. He stops to tickle an octopus, which 828 00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:39,719 Speaker 1: I liked. He just reaches into the tank and kind 829 00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:42,560 Speaker 1: of like touches it a little bit um and then 830 00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,239 Speaker 1: he starts doing voiceover about this one species of catfish, 831 00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:50,239 Speaker 1: the walking catfish, which according to this is another one 832 00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:53,120 Speaker 1: of those claims that was listed on IMDb unsourced. But 833 00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:58,839 Speaker 1: according to the claims of the Kivett, one of the writers, uh, 834 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,600 Speaker 1: he got the idea of for this movie by reading 835 00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 1: an article about this species of catfish, the so called 836 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:09,440 Speaker 1: walking catfish or clarius. But track us. But anyway, this 837 00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:13,360 Speaker 1: voiceover about the catfish, I wondered if this was actually 838 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:16,200 Speaker 1: written for the film, because it sounds like he is 839 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:20,560 Speaker 1: reading from an encyclopedia or a field guide entry. Uh. 840 00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:22,520 Speaker 1: And I was wondering if somebody could find the text. 841 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:25,720 Speaker 1: But I was googling sections of what he says in quotes, 842 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,439 Speaker 1: and I came up with nothing. But I wonder maybe 843 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:30,479 Speaker 1: I'm just not looking for it quite the right way. 844 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,399 Speaker 1: But then he goes on a rant about how there's 845 00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 1: a problem with the walking catfish, which is that it 846 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,880 Speaker 1: is too small, and he tells it that you are 847 00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:42,479 Speaker 1: not ready to battle humans. But then he says soon 848 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:46,279 Speaker 1: the whole world will know and respect us. Uh and 849 00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:48,480 Speaker 1: I saw. I'm a little confused about his plan because 850 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,759 Speaker 1: he's he's going on about how all the humans will 851 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:53,439 Speaker 1: be killed, but then he also says that they will 852 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:56,400 Speaker 1: finally respect him. So I don't know, Maybe it's that 853 00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:00,279 Speaker 1: they'll respect him before they are killed. Um, yeah, I 854 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,160 Speaker 1: guess at the very least. But also, you know, he 855 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,080 Speaker 1: does allude to the fact later on that some humans 856 00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:07,359 Speaker 1: will be alive, possibly, so maybe those are the ones 857 00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:10,440 Speaker 1: who will respect him. All right, well, no more screwing around. 858 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,640 Speaker 1: It's just time to inject myself with the giant needle. 859 00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,640 Speaker 1: And that's what he does. He grabs this needle that 860 00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,120 Speaker 1: is huge. It's like a you know, it's like a 861 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:21,719 Speaker 1: feather duster sized handle, you know, so it looks like 862 00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:24,480 Speaker 1: it was designed for saltwater crocodiles, and it's full of 863 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:27,120 Speaker 1: some kind of green gatorade looking liquid and he just 864 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,000 Speaker 1: jams it straight into his arm. But that's just phase 865 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:33,880 Speaker 1: one of the transformation. First is the injection. Next comes 866 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:37,120 Speaker 1: the kind of a baptism. Yeah. Yeah, He's got to 867 00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:39,600 Speaker 1: get into a tank. So he gets undressed. He's wearing 868 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:42,000 Speaker 1: these huge blue box or shorts with his butt kind 869 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,600 Speaker 1: of hanging out and that's funny. And then there's this 870 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:47,879 Speaker 1: pool of water and uh, I think there are there 871 00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: is some blood mixed in with the water, and then 872 00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,520 Speaker 1: there are these Geiger counter sound effects in the background. 873 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,319 Speaker 1: So I think, suppose something is supposed to be radioactive, 874 00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:59,920 Speaker 1: that this pool of water may be It could be 875 00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:04,160 Speaker 1: that it's supposed to be heavy water, because later on, uh, 876 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:08,000 Speaker 1: some characters talk about how his laboratory. Dr. Leopold's laboratory 877 00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,240 Speaker 1: used to do heavy water experiments, ties right into previous 878 00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:14,239 Speaker 1: episodes of Stuff to ball your mind. Yeah, I mean, 879 00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:16,440 Speaker 1: as we discussed in that episode, as soon as you 880 00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:18,919 Speaker 1: get into a pool of heavy water, you turn into 881 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:24,239 Speaker 1: a catfish creature. So the science checks out. But then 882 00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,359 Speaker 1: he he gets himself into this kind of winch gurney thing. 883 00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,239 Speaker 1: I don't know how best to explain this. It's like 884 00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,680 Speaker 1: it looks like a device that would be used for 885 00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:39,400 Speaker 1: airlifting comatose dolphins. Yeah. Yeah, it's fittingly awkward and ritualistic. 886 00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,480 Speaker 1: It's um it's an unsettling scene because he didn't just 887 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:46,680 Speaker 1: climb in. Yeah, he lowers himself into it on this thing. Yeah, 888 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:49,319 Speaker 1: So he gets in the gurney he lowers himself into 889 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,120 Speaker 1: the water with a rope, and then we get electronic 890 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,880 Speaker 1: beeps and Geiger counter clicks, and then finally he emerges 891 00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:59,279 Speaker 1: and he is the creature. Uh, and then we will 892 00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,640 Speaker 1: never want will never again the rest of the movie. 893 00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:05,239 Speaker 1: See the actor who plays Leopold, he's just gone, that's right. 894 00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:08,759 Speaker 1: All we have is this this fabulous monster. So it's 895 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:11,919 Speaker 1: not like a where catfish movie where he's changing back 896 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:15,600 Speaker 1: and forth. He's just he's just this creature permanently. Yeah. 897 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:17,560 Speaker 1: And I think this is one of the things I 898 00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:20,279 Speaker 1: always that always captured my imagine a nation imagination about 899 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,719 Speaker 1: the film is that instantly we look at this and 900 00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:26,200 Speaker 1: we're like, oh, sweetie, you have you have really done it? Now? 901 00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:30,279 Speaker 1: This is this is not good? Um. But but he 902 00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:32,439 Speaker 1: has different thoughts about it. Oh yeah. So as soon 903 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: as he gets out of the water, he looks at 904 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,360 Speaker 1: himself in a mirror and he you think for a 905 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,680 Speaker 1: second he's upset, but but no, he turns it around. 906 00:51:39,719 --> 00:51:45,480 Speaker 1: He says nothing at all like a catfish. But it's beautiful. 907 00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,600 Speaker 1: And what is he talking about? Well, I would say 908 00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:52,080 Speaker 1: that he looks like a cross between Grido and Alf 909 00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:56,600 Speaker 1: except he's got a sort of like dirty or texture 910 00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:58,279 Speaker 1: than either one of them. So it's like if you 911 00:51:58,360 --> 00:52:01,959 Speaker 1: cross Grido and Alf, but then have that creature fall 912 00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:04,920 Speaker 1: into a puddle of mud and dead leaves that gets 913 00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:08,320 Speaker 1: stuck to him, and then uh, and then he's also 914 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:12,120 Speaker 1: got green fur around certain parts of his upper body. 915 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:15,000 Speaker 1: I think it's the parts where the sort of shirt 916 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:17,920 Speaker 1: part of his suit comes together, because it's it's similar 917 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:20,640 Speaker 1: to the white fluffy parts of a Santa suit. Yeah, 918 00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,240 Speaker 1: he looks a little bit like the Grinch at times, 919 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:26,319 Speaker 1: you know, and he has kind of like Grinch physique. Yes, 920 00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:28,600 Speaker 1: he does. That. That's a very good comparison. I didn't 921 00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:30,640 Speaker 1: think of that. Some parts of his body have a 922 00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:34,960 Speaker 1: kind of peter pan garment shingled leaf texture, or maybe 923 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,000 Speaker 1: the Green Giant has some clothes that look like this, 924 00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:42,400 Speaker 1: the shins in particular. But also he has a snout 925 00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,960 Speaker 1: that ends in a leech mouth. Well, it's kind of 926 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:49,160 Speaker 1: like a leech mouth. It's like a red circle with 927 00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:52,120 Speaker 1: with teeth in the middle, but they're not those circular 928 00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:54,560 Speaker 1: leech like teeth. They're more just kind of like a 929 00:52:54,640 --> 00:52:58,959 Speaker 1: dog's teeth with canines. It is not even remotely articulated though, 930 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:04,239 Speaker 1: like you know, painted on teeth basically, and according to 931 00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:06,200 Speaker 1: the writer Ron Kivitt, this is another one of those 932 00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:10,160 Speaker 1: IMDb trivias. Uh. The monster has this mouth that looks 933 00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:12,920 Speaker 1: kind of like a leech's mouth because in an earlier 934 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:16,400 Speaker 1: version of the script, he was supposed to suck blood 935 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:18,080 Speaker 1: out of his victim, so he was going to be 936 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:22,759 Speaker 1: a vampire catfish monster. But I think they scrapped the 937 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:26,840 Speaker 1: sucking blood, but the costume was already made, I suppose. Okay, 938 00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:29,120 Speaker 1: so he's transformed. And then we get to a part 939 00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:31,880 Speaker 1: that I legitimate laugh out loud part of the movie, 940 00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:34,360 Speaker 1: which is when he goes to his big to do 941 00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:38,000 Speaker 1: list on the wall. He's got this wall how did 942 00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:43,560 Speaker 1: It's like this giant disc shaped wall calendar that he's 943 00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:47,319 Speaker 1: got his upcoming tasks written on. And we see him 944 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,720 Speaker 1: go up to the cell on this calendar labeled self 945 00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:54,839 Speaker 1: transformation and he crosses it off like oh, there's one 946 00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:57,400 Speaker 1: thing off my to do list. And then the next 947 00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:00,480 Speaker 1: item on the list is another in stants of the 948 00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:04,279 Speaker 1: word transformation, but it is next to a drawing of 949 00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,600 Speaker 1: the outline of the state of Florida, and this this 950 00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:11,520 Speaker 1: drawing is labeled F L. A period, which is which 951 00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:15,439 Speaker 1: is the correct AP styling of abbreviation of Florida, Which 952 00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:18,000 Speaker 1: makes me think we may have a journalist decorating this 953 00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:21,120 Speaker 1: set um because I don't know if you remember, I 954 00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:22,840 Speaker 1: mean that we we used to have to know AP 955 00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:25,120 Speaker 1: style when we were writing for How Stuff Works, and 956 00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:27,399 Speaker 1: uh yeah, yeah, I still I mean it's it's hard 957 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,759 Speaker 1: to shake. Yeah. Everybody just uses the postal abbreviations now, 958 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:33,720 Speaker 1: or maybe they didn't have the postal abbreviations in nineteen 959 00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:37,120 Speaker 1: seventy one. I don't actually know what any rate. This 960 00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:40,960 Speaker 1: is the calendar research that Jamie Defrates was referring to, 961 00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:43,120 Speaker 1: and I don't know too. I think this is just 962 00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:46,400 Speaker 1: how you had to do things before modern project management 963 00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,080 Speaker 1: software have to keep track. You just had to have 964 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:54,640 Speaker 1: a giant, uh circular uh calendar chart on the on 965 00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:57,239 Speaker 1: the wall taking up enormous real estate and your mad 966 00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:00,120 Speaker 1: science layer. Yeah, you had to draw a picture is 967 00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,920 Speaker 1: of the state that you're going to transform. So as 968 00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:07,000 Speaker 1: he draws Florida transformation, I guess of Florida. Another hilarious 969 00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:10,080 Speaker 1: thing about this is that next to the drawing of Florida, 970 00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:13,280 Speaker 1: there's a label of the ocean and it's just labeled 971 00:55:13,360 --> 00:55:17,400 Speaker 1: Atlantic Ocean. But like, who was going to be confused? 972 00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:21,680 Speaker 1: Wasn't he just making this for himself? Well maybe he 973 00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:24,719 Speaker 1: wasn't sure, you know, after the transformation, you know, his 974 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:29,239 Speaker 1: brain might be a little foggy. That that's a good point. Yeah, 975 00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:32,400 Speaker 1: Like he couldn't predict his future mental state, so he's like, 976 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:34,440 Speaker 1: maybe I will be confused and I will need to 977 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:38,479 Speaker 1: relearn geography at any rate. It looks it looks weird 978 00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:40,880 Speaker 1: and um, and I like it. I actually made a 979 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:44,120 Speaker 1: Christmas tree ornament based on it. At one point. Oh 980 00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:47,879 Speaker 1: that's good. So the Leo, the Leopold catfish monster goes 981 00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:50,200 Speaker 1: out on the town. He goes out equipped with a 982 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:53,480 Speaker 1: spray bottle and just starts spraying nature I think with 983 00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:57,920 Speaker 1: the ZA formula. So sprays snakes and frogs, and he 984 00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:01,359 Speaker 1: sprays reads. At the water's edge, he goes swimming and 985 00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:04,920 Speaker 1: then uses the spray bottle underwater to spray an octopus 986 00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:06,880 Speaker 1: and a crab. You see him literally with the spray 987 00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:10,839 Speaker 1: bottle like under the water, squeezing it. And now, yeah, 988 00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:14,200 Speaker 1: so we have some some underwater photography going on in 989 00:56:14,200 --> 00:56:16,560 Speaker 1: this sequence and then in some sequences to come, and 990 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:18,000 Speaker 1: I don't know if you noticed, Joe, but we have 991 00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:22,680 Speaker 1: some very clear underwater sequences here, and I believe that's 992 00:56:22,719 --> 00:56:25,759 Speaker 1: because they were filming in the various springs of Florida, 993 00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:29,239 Speaker 1: which which even today they're not as clear as they 994 00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:31,759 Speaker 1: used to be due to environmental reasons and runoff and 995 00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:36,200 Speaker 1: so forth. Um, which is uh, you know, depressing, but 996 00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:38,480 Speaker 1: but but even now, very clear waters and back in 997 00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:41,359 Speaker 1: seventy one, Yeah, perfect place to shoot your monster movie, 998 00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:43,879 Speaker 1: even if you were doing so on a budget. Okay, yeah, 999 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:46,279 Speaker 1: I should have noticed that they really did not look 1000 00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,359 Speaker 1: like the cloudy, stagnant pond water I would imagine in 1001 00:56:49,360 --> 00:57:00,920 Speaker 1: in most of North Florida. Yeah. So yeah, we are 1002 00:57:00,960 --> 00:57:04,440 Speaker 1: twenty three minutes into the film before we finally introduced 1003 00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:09,600 Speaker 1: non Leopold humans and actual dialogue one Carrick human character 1004 00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:13,600 Speaker 1: talking to another human character. Unbelievable. So here we introduced 1005 00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:16,920 Speaker 1: the sheriff and Rex the marine biologist. And if it's 1006 00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:20,080 Speaker 1: not clear at this point, it becomes clear that they 1007 00:57:20,120 --> 00:57:22,200 Speaker 1: were sort of going for in the heat of the 1008 00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:25,280 Speaker 1: night thing here. Uh. This is based on a novel. 1009 00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:29,480 Speaker 1: Nineteen sixty seven movie directed by Norman Jewison saw a 1010 00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:33,240 Speaker 1: small town southern sheriff played by Rod Steiger teaming up 1011 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:37,000 Speaker 1: with an African American homicide detective from up North played 1012 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:41,480 Speaker 1: by Sydney Potier, And um, yeah, that is nowhere near 1013 00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:44,120 Speaker 1: in the heat of the night in terms of serious 1014 00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:47,320 Speaker 1: drama and cultural commentary. But it seems to be like 1015 00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:49,880 Speaker 1: that's what they were going for here. Uh they were 1016 00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:51,600 Speaker 1: they were they were thinking, hey, what if it was 1017 00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:53,400 Speaker 1: like in the heat of the night, except there was 1018 00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:56,200 Speaker 1: also a giant catfish. Yeah, this is something we've seen 1019 00:57:56,240 --> 00:57:59,560 Speaker 1: in in the number of these other like ecological monster 1020 00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:02,280 Speaker 1: movies from the seventies. They also seem to try to 1021 00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:06,000 Speaker 1: inject some social commentary in there. It's often kind of 1022 00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:08,160 Speaker 1: light and not super deep, but yeah, I think that 1023 00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:10,840 Speaker 1: is probably what they're attempting, is is Rex the marine 1024 00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,720 Speaker 1: biologists also supposed to be from out of town. I 1025 00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:16,160 Speaker 1: don't recall if if that was the case, but I 1026 00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:19,160 Speaker 1: don't remember if it's expressly stated that it. It feels 1027 00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:22,200 Speaker 1: implied that he's he's not from around here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1028 00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:25,480 Speaker 1: And so there's a general suggestion that there's this this rigid, 1029 00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:31,560 Speaker 1: uh parochial, local white conservative infrastructure that does not process 1030 00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:37,800 Speaker 1: the introduction of knowledge about pollution causing monster attacks, uh being, 1031 00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:42,160 Speaker 1: it does not incorporate that information well, and it sort 1032 00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:47,440 Speaker 1: of requires the expertise of somebody who provides a different perspective. 1033 00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:50,200 Speaker 1: And so it's got in this case an African American 1034 00:58:50,240 --> 00:58:52,760 Speaker 1: scientist who may or may not be from out of town, 1035 00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:56,360 Speaker 1: but at least as reacted to that way. And of course, 1036 00:58:56,360 --> 00:58:59,200 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, the redneck sheriff and this is 1037 00:58:59,280 --> 00:59:01,760 Speaker 1: literally trueing on a on a hay stock when we 1038 00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:05,000 Speaker 1: first met him, and generally seems to be derisive of 1039 00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:09,800 Speaker 1: the concept of science and expertise. Yeah. Yeah, he's kind 1040 00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:13,800 Speaker 1: of a he's kind of a Floridian wig hum from 1041 00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:16,680 Speaker 1: the Simpsons. Yeah yeah. In fact, the sheriff, there are 1042 00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:18,960 Speaker 1: a lot of people in this movie that the sheriff shows, 1043 00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:24,360 Speaker 1: um he does not respect, and that includes hippies, the press. 1044 00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:26,640 Speaker 1: At one point we have a reporter who's trying to 1045 00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:29,280 Speaker 1: cover the issue, but the Sheriff's just like somebody ought 1046 00:59:29,360 --> 00:59:31,960 Speaker 1: to smash you flat. And then of course he's not 1047 00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:35,240 Speaker 1: fond of out of town or as scientists. I think 1048 00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:41,640 Speaker 1: he represents um Southern cultural rigidity. But that's enough human stuff. 1049 00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:44,920 Speaker 1: Then we come back to Leopold once more. That's right, Leopold. 1050 00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,760 Speaker 1: He comes back to the lab after he's been out 1051 00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:50,960 Speaker 1: there spray and stuff, and he he goes up to 1052 00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,640 Speaker 1: another thing on his big wall calendar and he says, 1053 00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:57,880 Speaker 1: Matts and your days are numbered again. I think this 1054 00:59:58,040 --> 00:59:59,880 Speaker 1: is voice over, and we have no idea who ma 1055 01:00:00,040 --> 01:00:02,600 Speaker 1: Utson is. But I think the point is he's got 1056 01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:05,280 Speaker 1: a grudge against some scientists who we worked with who 1057 01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:08,800 Speaker 1: told him that his theories were too extreme. I think 1058 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:10,680 Speaker 1: this other scientist told him he was taking it too 1059 01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:12,680 Speaker 1: personal and he didn't like that. So he's going to 1060 01:00:12,760 --> 01:00:15,560 Speaker 1: get his revenge. Yeah, and this is where you begin 1061 01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:18,400 Speaker 1: to I mean, it's it's already been an awkward transformation. 1062 01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:21,880 Speaker 1: We've watched him move around that the month. I mean, 1063 01:00:22,040 --> 01:00:24,240 Speaker 1: his name is not Zat. Sometimes I think of him 1064 01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:26,520 Speaker 1: as that, though again Za refers to the chemical, not 1065 01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:30,400 Speaker 1: the monster. The monsters just Leopold giant fish. But he 1066 01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:34,439 Speaker 1: moves around so awkwardly, certainly on land, it's really hard 1067 01:00:34,480 --> 01:00:37,280 Speaker 1: for me to buy that this is better than your 1068 01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:39,720 Speaker 1: human form. And in the water, Okay, I guess he's 1069 01:00:39,760 --> 01:00:41,840 Speaker 1: marginally better in the water than the human would be, 1070 01:00:41,880 --> 01:00:46,160 Speaker 1: but um, it's already seeming to go and kind of rocky, 1071 01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:49,000 Speaker 1: and then he's like, you know what, I also, revenge 1072 01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:50,800 Speaker 1: is part of my plan. And then it's like, so 1073 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:54,160 Speaker 1: he's not only going to attempt to unbalance the ecosystem 1074 01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:57,600 Speaker 1: and bring upon a new age of fish, he also 1075 01:00:57,720 --> 01:01:00,040 Speaker 1: has some petty revenge agendas in there. He also and 1076 01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:02,680 Speaker 1: we needs to commit murder crimes. Oh, he's got several. 1077 01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:04,520 Speaker 1: He gets sidetracked on a lot of stuff. So yeah, 1078 01:01:04,560 --> 01:01:07,040 Speaker 1: he's got revenge murders. And then at some at some 1079 01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:09,520 Speaker 1: point later on, I think he becomes lonely and he 1080 01:01:09,600 --> 01:01:13,040 Speaker 1: wants he wants a fish wife. Yeah, he goes the 1081 01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:16,840 Speaker 1: classic of Frankenstein's monster route, and yeah he wants a companion. 1082 01:01:17,160 --> 01:01:19,360 Speaker 1: And so that's addition. You know, it's just the budget 1083 01:01:19,400 --> 01:01:22,040 Speaker 1: on this plan is just getting blown out of proportion. Right. 1084 01:01:22,120 --> 01:01:24,880 Speaker 1: He decides he needs to at the last minute adding 1085 01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:28,880 Speaker 1: a bride of catfish action item and that that that's 1086 01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:31,960 Speaker 1: how things really go off the rails. Um. But so 1087 01:01:32,120 --> 01:01:34,720 Speaker 1: at first we just see him creeping around on various people. 1088 01:01:34,760 --> 01:01:37,560 Speaker 1: He creeps on Rex, the marine biologist, while Rex is 1089 01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:41,120 Speaker 1: out taking samples of nature. He creeps on a woman 1090 01:01:41,200 --> 01:01:44,960 Speaker 1: who's painting beside the lake, he creeps on a family 1091 01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:47,640 Speaker 1: while they're fishing, and then he ambushes them, sort of 1092 01:01:47,640 --> 01:01:50,400 Speaker 1: flips over their boat, and I think kills the dude. 1093 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:53,520 Speaker 1: And I think the dude who was fishing was one 1094 01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:57,480 Speaker 1: of the scientists who doubted him. Yeah, yeah, that that 1095 01:01:57,520 --> 01:02:00,160 Speaker 1: seems gonna be the case. One of the problems is 1096 01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:03,360 Speaker 1: that we get less and less narration from Leopold as 1097 01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:05,680 Speaker 1: we go. And I don't know if that's by design, 1098 01:02:05,760 --> 01:02:08,040 Speaker 1: like he's becoming less and less human so there's less 1099 01:02:08,040 --> 01:02:10,600 Speaker 1: of that voice in there, or if they just ran 1100 01:02:10,640 --> 01:02:13,600 Speaker 1: out of time. I don't know, but we're increasingly on 1101 01:02:13,600 --> 01:02:15,800 Speaker 1: our own to figure out what he's doing and why 1102 01:02:15,840 --> 01:02:19,600 Speaker 1: he's doing and and even if he's doing something successful. Yeah, 1103 01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:22,920 Speaker 1: and so at some point he Leopold attacks another one 1104 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:25,240 Speaker 1: of the scientists who doubted him, but he attacks him 1105 01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:28,320 Speaker 1: in his house, not in the water. And I was 1106 01:02:28,680 --> 01:02:31,520 Speaker 1: just noticing at this point, like, wait a minute, does 1107 01:02:31,640 --> 01:02:35,040 Speaker 1: Leopold even really have any catfish powers? I mean, I 1108 01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:36,880 Speaker 1: guess you were sort of alluding to that minute ago, 1109 01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:39,400 Speaker 1: but like, this murder could have just been done by 1110 01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:42,040 Speaker 1: a big human. He just attacks the guy in his 1111 01:02:42,080 --> 01:02:45,480 Speaker 1: house and chokes him. I think, Yeah, the only possible 1112 01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:48,480 Speaker 1: answer I can think of there is that human Leopold 1113 01:02:48,520 --> 01:02:51,960 Speaker 1: does look kind of shambily and puny. I'm not sure 1114 01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:53,520 Speaker 1: if he could have pulled this off. So I guess 1115 01:02:53,640 --> 01:02:58,800 Speaker 1: arguably monster form is better, okay. But also at some 1116 01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:02,520 Speaker 1: point here evidence starts mounting that something weird is going 1117 01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:05,680 Speaker 1: on with pollution in the water, and the Leopold attacks, 1118 01:03:05,720 --> 01:03:08,240 Speaker 1: and Rex is on the case. Rex starts putting the 1119 01:03:08,280 --> 01:03:11,680 Speaker 1: pieces together. At one point he's out collecting data with 1120 01:03:11,720 --> 01:03:15,080 Speaker 1: a net and Leopold is swimming in the water underneath 1121 01:03:15,080 --> 01:03:18,680 Speaker 1: his boat and he tears up the net, and Leopold's like, 1122 01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:22,320 Speaker 1: nets are harmful to fish, we will use them for 1123 01:03:22,600 --> 01:03:26,880 Speaker 1: humans if any survive. Yeah, it's like, let's not get 1124 01:03:26,880 --> 01:03:32,760 Speaker 1: ahead of ourselves, Leopold. Yeah. But Rex ends up summoning 1125 01:03:33,040 --> 01:03:36,760 Speaker 1: these uh people we talked about before, the INPIT agents. 1126 01:03:36,840 --> 01:03:39,400 Speaker 1: INPIT I think is an acronym. I don't know what 1127 01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:41,760 Speaker 1: it stands for. I tried to look it up, and 1128 01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:44,040 Speaker 1: there is something called INPIT, but I don't think it 1129 01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:47,000 Speaker 1: is what is being referenced here, So I really don't 1130 01:03:47,040 --> 01:03:49,120 Speaker 1: know what it is. Rob. What would you say is 1131 01:03:49,160 --> 01:03:54,240 Speaker 1: the deal with them? International Nature Police Information Technologies I'm 1132 01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:57,560 Speaker 1: not sure. I guess they're kind of like they feel 1133 01:03:57,560 --> 01:04:00,640 Speaker 1: like they've arrived from a TV show. There's a TV 1134 01:04:00,760 --> 01:04:04,120 Speaker 1: show where they investigate strange nature happenings. They have their 1135 01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:07,480 Speaker 1: own van, they have jumpsuits. By god, it's like the 1136 01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:10,680 Speaker 1: A team is here. Yeah, they're the professionals. They're here 1137 01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:12,880 Speaker 1: just to get stuff done. But it does it does 1138 01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:15,840 Speaker 1: feel like they're coming from an entirely different television show 1139 01:04:16,240 --> 01:04:19,440 Speaker 1: and in in in indeed, they may feel like this 1140 01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:21,960 Speaker 1: if you're watching it unriffed for the first time, because 1141 01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:24,920 Speaker 1: a lot of the inpit stuff was cut from the 1142 01:04:24,920 --> 01:04:30,400 Speaker 1: bloodwaters of Dr Zu. Addition, on MST three k Okay. Now, 1143 01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:34,640 Speaker 1: they yeah, they arrived in this big camper like RV basically, 1144 01:04:34,760 --> 01:04:39,160 Speaker 1: and they are dressed in these red uniform jump suits, 1145 01:04:39,320 --> 01:04:40,800 Speaker 1: so they look kind of like they stepped out of 1146 01:04:40,840 --> 01:04:44,960 Speaker 1: Flash Gordon or something. And they compare notes with Rex 1147 01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:47,080 Speaker 1: and they talk about all the pollution he's found and 1148 01:04:47,080 --> 01:04:50,520 Speaker 1: how this might be affecting the mutant marine life attacks 1149 01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:54,480 Speaker 1: and uh, and so they start putting the pieces together 1150 01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:58,800 Speaker 1: along with Rex. Now we mentioned that unfortunately Leopold gets 1151 01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:03,080 Speaker 1: distracted from his transform everybody into fish. Well, I don't 1152 01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:05,320 Speaker 1: know if that's what he's ultimately his whatever it is 1153 01:05:05,360 --> 01:05:08,360 Speaker 1: he's doing. He gets distracted by deciding that he must 1154 01:05:08,440 --> 01:05:11,439 Speaker 1: make a bride of catfish. Um. So he goes back 1155 01:05:11,440 --> 01:05:14,400 Speaker 1: to the lady who's painting by the lake, who's still 1156 01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:17,480 Speaker 1: there it seems like maybe days later, and he kidnaps 1157 01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:19,880 Speaker 1: her and takes her back to the lab to turn 1158 01:05:19,960 --> 01:05:23,400 Speaker 1: her into bride of catfish. And it doesn't work. Yeah, 1159 01:05:23,440 --> 01:05:28,960 Speaker 1: it is um a lonesome and disastrous episode in the 1160 01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:33,440 Speaker 1: ascent of Dr Leopold here where. Yeah, she dies half 1161 01:05:33,480 --> 01:05:38,880 Speaker 1: transform still in the baptism cage thing and uh. And 1162 01:05:38,880 --> 01:05:40,960 Speaker 1: then afterwards he has to get rid of her body. 1163 01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:43,280 Speaker 1: And this is another This is another sequence that was 1164 01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:45,680 Speaker 1: cut from the MST version. What does he do to 1165 01:05:45,720 --> 01:05:47,520 Speaker 1: get rid of her body? Does he feed her two 1166 01:05:47,520 --> 01:05:50,080 Speaker 1: fishes or anything like that. Nope, He dissolves her in 1167 01:05:50,080 --> 01:05:54,440 Speaker 1: a big old vat of Hollywood acid or old friend. Ye, 1168 01:05:54,800 --> 01:05:57,320 Speaker 1: it's a great sequence. We have some like weird you know, 1169 01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:00,320 Speaker 1: the weird Tamil electronic music going on in the back ground. 1170 01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:03,000 Speaker 1: We see him test the acid on a fish. He 1171 01:06:03,080 --> 01:06:05,520 Speaker 1: dips fish in the ascid and it eats away half 1172 01:06:05,560 --> 01:06:08,520 Speaker 1: of it. This film is not concerned with wasting anybody's 1173 01:06:08,560 --> 01:06:11,320 Speaker 1: time there there that we're gonna we're gonna do some 1174 01:06:11,600 --> 01:06:14,320 Speaker 1: an acid scene and we're going to spend about fifteen 1175 01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:16,640 Speaker 1: minutes doing it. We've got to make sure that our 1176 01:06:16,680 --> 01:06:21,400 Speaker 1: catfish monster is doing quality assurance on his acid. Um. 1177 01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:24,560 Speaker 1: So we see Rex and the inpit agents set up 1178 01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:27,120 Speaker 1: traps for the monster. I guess at this point they 1179 01:06:27,160 --> 01:06:30,480 Speaker 1: suspect there's a giant catfish monster somehow, and they set 1180 01:06:30,520 --> 01:06:32,800 Speaker 1: up traps and then they chill in a camper. And 1181 01:06:32,840 --> 01:06:35,280 Speaker 1: this part also reminded me of Boggy Creek two. And 1182 01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:37,800 Speaker 1: the legend continues where they will set up traps in 1183 01:06:37,840 --> 01:06:41,640 Speaker 1: the woods and then chill in an RV. But eventually 1184 01:06:41,920 --> 01:06:45,280 Speaker 1: the catfish monster attacks them and they somehow scare it 1185 01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:48,120 Speaker 1: away I think with a camera flash. Uh. They end 1186 01:06:48,200 --> 01:06:50,840 Speaker 1: up getting photos of it, and it's a really good photo. 1187 01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:53,880 Speaker 1: If this is another place where that I mean, duck 1188 01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:56,560 Speaker 1: of Leopold is just really messing up, like, oh my goodness, 1189 01:06:56,840 --> 01:07:01,600 Speaker 1: now you're come being completely photographed. It's crystal clear. Yeah. Yeah, 1190 01:07:01,640 --> 01:07:04,880 Speaker 1: So they get perfectly good photos of him. Uh. And 1191 01:07:05,160 --> 01:07:07,840 Speaker 1: there's one part somewhere in here where Leopold is I think, 1192 01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:10,320 Speaker 1: sad and defeated, and he goes back to his lab 1193 01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:13,080 Speaker 1: and you see that he is sad. I think about 1194 01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:16,840 Speaker 1: the fact that he failed to successfully turn the woman 1195 01:07:16,880 --> 01:07:20,000 Speaker 1: he kidnapped into into bride of Catfish, and so he 1196 01:07:20,080 --> 01:07:22,920 Speaker 1: starts drawing her. But the picture he draws of her 1197 01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:25,360 Speaker 1: does not look like the woman that he kidnapped. It 1198 01:07:25,400 --> 01:07:28,600 Speaker 1: looks like Elvira. Or maybe he was supposed to be 1199 01:07:28,680 --> 01:07:30,880 Speaker 1: drawing somebody else. And did he have like a long 1200 01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:33,680 Speaker 1: lost love? Is that implied in the movie. I don't 1201 01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:36,640 Speaker 1: think that's even implied, Okay, but but you know, we're 1202 01:07:36,720 --> 01:07:38,680 Speaker 1: left to figure out a lot of this on our own. 1203 01:07:38,680 --> 01:07:40,480 Speaker 1: So maybe it is. Or maybe he just was like, 1204 01:07:40,520 --> 01:07:43,680 Speaker 1: this is my this was my one shot had romantic happiness, 1205 01:07:43,800 --> 01:07:47,000 Speaker 1: and the kidnapping and forced transformation did not work, so 1206 01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:50,280 Speaker 1: I've got to do this alone. Maybe it was Elvira, 1207 01:07:50,440 --> 01:07:51,840 Speaker 1: or I guess at this time it would maybe it 1208 01:07:51,880 --> 01:07:56,160 Speaker 1: was Vampira. He was like Vampira, Yes she could have 1209 01:07:56,320 --> 01:07:58,680 Speaker 1: she could have been my companion in the fish world. 1210 01:07:58,760 --> 01:08:04,160 Speaker 1: But but alas at any rate, the main experiment continues, right, 1211 01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:07,520 Speaker 1: so Rex and the inpit agents they end up making 1212 01:08:07,520 --> 01:08:10,960 Speaker 1: the connection to Leopold one of the inpit agents, I 1213 01:08:10,960 --> 01:08:17,479 Speaker 1: guess Agent Walsh. She figures out that Leopold was working 1214 01:08:17,600 --> 01:08:21,160 Speaker 1: on a lab that was conducting secret experiments with heavy water, 1215 01:08:21,840 --> 01:08:25,040 Speaker 1: and he is attacking his former co workers from the 1216 01:08:25,120 --> 01:08:27,839 Speaker 1: lab he worked at, and so they asked the sheriff 1217 01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:31,640 Speaker 1: to check on those researchers. And uh. Then then, so 1218 01:08:31,720 --> 01:08:33,679 Speaker 1: I guess they're doing that. But then we spend a 1219 01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:37,519 Speaker 1: long time with the monster going out for a walk, 1220 01:08:37,960 --> 01:08:42,000 Speaker 1: just wandering around the streets at night. His posture as 1221 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:44,799 Speaker 1: he walks, you've you've mentioned that his posture is awkward, 1222 01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:47,360 Speaker 1: and it really it's amusing in a way that's difficult 1223 01:08:47,400 --> 01:08:50,360 Speaker 1: to describe. It's kind of like a drunk guy trying 1224 01:08:50,400 --> 01:08:52,920 Speaker 1: to walk through the sand and flip flops, you know, 1225 01:08:53,040 --> 01:08:56,280 Speaker 1: where it's like hard to get solid footing and you've 1226 01:08:56,320 --> 01:08:59,000 Speaker 1: got things coming off your feet. So it's that kind 1227 01:08:59,040 --> 01:09:02,320 Speaker 1: of walk. Um. But another thing about this movie is 1228 01:09:02,360 --> 01:09:05,960 Speaker 1: that it does not follow the Jaws rule, you know, 1229 01:09:06,040 --> 01:09:08,439 Speaker 1: the rule that you should not show too much of 1230 01:09:08,479 --> 01:09:11,719 Speaker 1: your monster until the final act. This movie, the monster 1231 01:09:11,920 --> 01:09:16,400 Speaker 1: is on screen constantly, full view, bright lights. You see 1232 01:09:16,439 --> 01:09:19,720 Speaker 1: the whole thing for minutes at a time. It's just 1233 01:09:19,920 --> 01:09:23,799 Speaker 1: alf Grido, uh, front and center, wandering through the empty 1234 01:09:23,840 --> 01:09:26,559 Speaker 1: streets at night. You see him break into a drug 1235 01:09:26,600 --> 01:09:28,880 Speaker 1: store to get some kind of medicine. He smashes a 1236 01:09:28,880 --> 01:09:31,439 Speaker 1: bunch of stuff, I think, because that's because he's yeah, 1237 01:09:31,479 --> 01:09:34,720 Speaker 1: well he's um. He becomes injured at one point, so 1238 01:09:34,720 --> 01:09:37,280 Speaker 1: so so not only does the experiment seem to be failing, 1239 01:09:37,400 --> 01:09:41,799 Speaker 1: he becomes perhaps mortally wounded or at least like heavily 1240 01:09:41,800 --> 01:09:44,000 Speaker 1: wounded to where he's having to break into a pharmacy 1241 01:09:44,040 --> 01:09:47,920 Speaker 1: and wrecked the place and steal some drugs and so like, 1242 01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:51,200 Speaker 1: the whole plan seems to just be going completely off 1243 01:09:51,240 --> 01:09:54,120 Speaker 1: the rails at this point. Now one of my favorite 1244 01:09:54,120 --> 01:09:56,120 Speaker 1: scenes and this one I I laughed out loud at 1245 01:09:56,160 --> 01:09:58,800 Speaker 1: this one. Uh. This is a scene that that was 1246 01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:01,240 Speaker 1: cut from the MST Treat into the film. Uh, and 1247 01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:04,120 Speaker 1: it's ultimately a lost because it's hilarious. There's would have 1248 01:10:04,160 --> 01:10:06,000 Speaker 1: probably been a lot of fun riffing on this one, 1249 01:10:06,400 --> 01:10:09,120 Speaker 1: but it's it's what I think of as the hippie parade. 1250 01:10:09,400 --> 01:10:11,920 Speaker 1: So the sheriff here he goes to check on folks 1251 01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:16,080 Speaker 1: in town and find the youth enjoying a little folk 1252 01:10:16,200 --> 01:10:19,479 Speaker 1: music clearly and like some sort of abandoned building, and 1253 01:10:19,479 --> 01:10:22,320 Speaker 1: they're hanging out with none other than the actual real 1254 01:10:22,400 --> 01:10:26,479 Speaker 1: life Jamie de Frate's who is performing a song the 1255 01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:29,720 Speaker 1: B side to World War two boy Running Don't Make 1256 01:10:29,760 --> 01:10:33,680 Speaker 1: You Free. And so anyway, the sheriff, you know, he 1257 01:10:33,720 --> 01:10:35,679 Speaker 1: comes under in the midst of this. He sets down 1258 01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:38,320 Speaker 1: and he listens for a spell, you know, perhaps proving 1259 01:10:38,360 --> 01:10:40,560 Speaker 1: that he can hang you know, and and he's like 1260 01:10:40,640 --> 01:10:43,040 Speaker 1: he's enjoying the music. Yeah, it looks like he's enjoying. 1261 01:10:43,040 --> 01:10:45,160 Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, this is good. I can I'm seeing 1262 01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:48,759 Speaker 1: eye to eye with the young folk. Now. Um, but quickly. 1263 01:10:48,800 --> 01:10:51,000 Speaker 1: Another thing that made me laugh in the scene is 1264 01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:54,400 Speaker 1: that for just a moment, Leopold arrives and is watching 1265 01:10:54,400 --> 01:10:58,000 Speaker 1: through the window the monster, and he's also ambiguously kind 1266 01:10:58,000 --> 01:11:00,679 Speaker 1: of grooving, but then he just moves on. It's almost 1267 01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:02,360 Speaker 1: like it was meant to be a music video for 1268 01:11:02,400 --> 01:11:05,840 Speaker 1: this song, you know, because again, uh this these songs 1269 01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:09,439 Speaker 1: are featured in their entirety. Nothing is cut. Um. So 1270 01:11:09,600 --> 01:11:11,479 Speaker 1: the sheriff, you know, he enjoys it for a bit, 1271 01:11:11,520 --> 01:11:13,479 Speaker 1: but he's there with a purpose. He has to he 1272 01:11:13,520 --> 01:11:17,519 Speaker 1: has to protect these hippies. So the sheriff, uh you know, 1273 01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:21,439 Speaker 1: gets up and leads the hippies all mid song on 1274 01:11:21,520 --> 01:11:25,840 Speaker 1: a police escorted parade through town with with the with 1275 01:11:25,920 --> 01:11:28,799 Speaker 1: Jamie de Frate's playing the guitar the whole time and singing. 1276 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:31,400 Speaker 1: And then so they have this procession through the small 1277 01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:36,160 Speaker 1: Florida town and then right into the sheriff's um office 1278 01:11:36,320 --> 01:11:40,719 Speaker 1: and then right into a jail cell and um. It's 1279 01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:43,120 Speaker 1: then explained that this is to keep them safe and 1280 01:11:43,120 --> 01:11:45,240 Speaker 1: that the hippie seem okay with it, but it's not 1281 01:11:45,320 --> 01:11:47,040 Speaker 1: clear for a moment, and it I found it kind 1282 01:11:47,080 --> 01:11:50,080 Speaker 1: of perversely humorous. It's like he he you know, the 1283 01:11:50,120 --> 01:11:52,240 Speaker 1: old sheriff. You think he's uh, he's you know ce 1284 01:11:52,320 --> 01:11:54,120 Speaker 1: an eyed I with the young folk, and he's looking 1285 01:11:54,160 --> 01:11:57,480 Speaker 1: after them. Now he's just arresting all of them. Uh. 1286 01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:00,479 Speaker 1: So they don't seem bothered by it, like they they 1287 01:12:00,479 --> 01:12:02,200 Speaker 1: all just go into the jail cell and they're just 1288 01:12:02,240 --> 01:12:05,479 Speaker 1: like cool man. Yeah, yeah, pretty much, and they're locked 1289 01:12:05,560 --> 01:12:09,360 Speaker 1: up and you never see them in the film again. Yeah. 1290 01:12:09,520 --> 01:12:11,080 Speaker 1: So a lot of the rest of the movie is 1291 01:12:11,160 --> 01:12:16,240 Speaker 1: just Leopold stalking around looking at things and menacing people, 1292 01:12:16,520 --> 01:12:20,040 Speaker 1: and then Rex and the Inpit Agents trying to track 1293 01:12:20,120 --> 01:12:22,880 Speaker 1: him down. That they're on his trail at this point 1294 01:12:22,880 --> 01:12:25,879 Speaker 1: and they're trying to find him. But at one point Leopold. 1295 01:12:25,880 --> 01:12:27,760 Speaker 1: A lot of what Leopold does is like look through 1296 01:12:27,800 --> 01:12:30,519 Speaker 1: the windows at people and spy on them. And at 1297 01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:34,400 Speaker 1: one point he observes the two Inpit agents kissing. He 1298 01:12:34,479 --> 01:12:36,680 Speaker 1: spies on them through a window, and I guess he 1299 01:12:36,720 --> 01:12:40,559 Speaker 1: gets jealous, so he decides at this point to kidnap 1300 01:12:40,640 --> 01:12:44,320 Speaker 1: Agent Walsh, one of the two Inpit agents, and create 1301 01:12:44,400 --> 01:12:47,960 Speaker 1: another bride of Catfish. Bride of Catfish two point oh right, 1302 01:12:48,320 --> 01:12:52,439 Speaker 1: So again really veering off schedule here with with with 1303 01:12:52,479 --> 01:12:55,760 Speaker 1: the whole plan because he's again heavily injured at this point, 1304 01:12:55,760 --> 01:12:59,400 Speaker 1: having to self medicate with stolen uh pharmacy drugs. But 1305 01:12:59,439 --> 01:13:01,320 Speaker 1: then he's like, gonna, I'm gonna try it again. I'm 1306 01:13:01,320 --> 01:13:04,400 Speaker 1: gonna try and transform this woman who is hunting me 1307 01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:08,519 Speaker 1: into my bride. Yes, So he kidnaps her from her house, 1308 01:13:08,600 --> 01:13:10,599 Speaker 1: takes her back to the lab and then and then 1309 01:13:10,680 --> 01:13:14,439 Speaker 1: Rex Walker and the cops Walker is the other Inpit agent. 1310 01:13:14,920 --> 01:13:17,479 Speaker 1: They figure out what's going on and they're chasing the 1311 01:13:17,520 --> 01:13:20,360 Speaker 1: monster down and that they split up to chase him 1312 01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:24,439 Speaker 1: and the other Inpit Agent, Walker uses this hilarious looking 1313 01:13:24,479 --> 01:13:27,479 Speaker 1: amphibious vehicle that looks kind of like a power wheel. 1314 01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:30,720 Speaker 1: It's very small. It's very cool, I assume from the 1315 01:13:30,760 --> 01:13:33,800 Speaker 1: non existent in Pit television series that I'm imagining in 1316 01:13:33,840 --> 01:13:36,439 Speaker 1: my head. Yeah, and and coming up as a scene 1317 01:13:36,439 --> 01:13:38,800 Speaker 1: where you see this Inpit Agent sort of wading through 1318 01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:41,599 Speaker 1: a swamp and he gets bitten by a snake. And 1319 01:13:41,640 --> 01:13:44,599 Speaker 1: this is another one of those IMDb trivia claims. It 1320 01:13:44,640 --> 01:13:47,920 Speaker 1: claims that the snake bite was not scripted. It was 1321 01:13:48,000 --> 01:13:51,000 Speaker 1: just something the guy actually got bitten by a snake 1322 01:13:51,080 --> 01:13:53,400 Speaker 1: while they were filming the scene and they just left 1323 01:13:53,439 --> 01:13:56,759 Speaker 1: it in the movie. Well, I don't know, I feel doubtful, 1324 01:13:56,800 --> 01:13:59,000 Speaker 1: but it looks kind of real. It looks it looks 1325 01:13:59,040 --> 01:14:01,880 Speaker 1: realistic and and but I also really like the way 1326 01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:04,960 Speaker 1: it plays into the ending of the picture. So so yeah, 1327 01:14:04,960 --> 01:14:06,800 Speaker 1: for a bit here we have this kind of double 1328 01:14:06,920 --> 01:14:11,559 Speaker 1: chase where where one agent is trying to chase down 1329 01:14:11,600 --> 01:14:15,000 Speaker 1: the monster and then we have Rex and marine biologists 1330 01:14:15,240 --> 01:14:18,000 Speaker 1: UM and the sheriff. Uh. They they are going to 1331 01:14:18,080 --> 01:14:20,880 Speaker 1: check out the laboratory to see what's up. See what 1332 01:14:20,880 --> 01:14:23,479 Speaker 1: old Doc Leopold was up to and then and then 1333 01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:27,719 Speaker 1: of course we also have Agent Walsh who has been kidnapped, right, 1334 01:14:27,840 --> 01:14:30,240 Speaker 1: So they go to the monster's lair. The sheriff fights 1335 01:14:30,280 --> 01:14:33,879 Speaker 1: the monster and loses and is strangled, so bye bye Sheriff. 1336 01:14:34,360 --> 01:14:38,240 Speaker 1: And then Rex he comes across Leopold's notes and he, 1337 01:14:38,560 --> 01:14:41,200 Speaker 1: I think, wants to understand them so we can understand 1338 01:14:41,200 --> 01:14:43,280 Speaker 1: what was going on here. You wonder if it's like 1339 01:14:43,600 --> 01:14:47,840 Speaker 1: that scene in the movie where where one scientist discovers 1340 01:14:47,880 --> 01:14:50,640 Speaker 1: what the mad scientist is doing, Like the good scientist 1341 01:14:50,720 --> 01:14:54,040 Speaker 1: is momentarily tempted. It's the last temptation of the good scientist, 1342 01:14:54,240 --> 01:14:59,400 Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, it's it's genius. Yeah. Um, but 1343 01:14:59,479 --> 01:15:02,960 Speaker 1: of course that shows up and uh and in violence 1344 01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:07,040 Speaker 1: and sus he he ultimately tries to save Agent Walsh, 1345 01:15:07,120 --> 01:15:10,600 Speaker 1: and I guess to a certain degree succeeds because what 1346 01:15:10,680 --> 01:15:12,120 Speaker 1: Za tries to do is he puts her in the 1347 01:15:12,160 --> 01:15:15,000 Speaker 1: cage as well. He forced he injects her with the 1348 01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:17,439 Speaker 1: green stuff. Uh, and then he's going to lower her 1349 01:15:17,479 --> 01:15:22,519 Speaker 1: into the za baptismal font um, but Rex disrupts that 1350 01:15:22,920 --> 01:15:26,679 Speaker 1: and then Rex is injured, possibly killed by the monster. 1351 01:15:26,960 --> 01:15:30,679 Speaker 1: And the monster. Yeah, it's so I wonder do all 1352 01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:34,200 Speaker 1: the main characters die, because we have this chase at 1353 01:15:34,240 --> 01:15:37,200 Speaker 1: the end where Rex tries to save Walsh. You see 1354 01:15:37,280 --> 01:15:40,280 Speaker 1: him get injured and then fall down, but I guess 1355 01:15:40,280 --> 01:15:42,879 Speaker 1: you never see him after that. A similar thing happens 1356 01:15:42,920 --> 01:15:45,120 Speaker 1: to the other in Pit Agent. He sort of gets 1357 01:15:45,160 --> 01:15:47,400 Speaker 1: injured and falls down, and at the end of the movie, 1358 01:15:47,400 --> 01:15:49,320 Speaker 1: I think we see him not moving, but it's not 1359 01:15:49,360 --> 01:15:52,080 Speaker 1: clear if he's dead or alive, And you think, well, 1360 01:15:52,120 --> 01:15:54,800 Speaker 1: at least Agent Walsh has been saved, as she did 1361 01:15:54,800 --> 01:15:58,960 Speaker 1: not get turned into a catfish, but something bad happened 1362 01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:00,519 Speaker 1: to her. I don't know exactly what it is. She 1363 01:16:00,640 --> 01:16:04,000 Speaker 1: is not upgraded to fish level, but she is sort 1364 01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:07,479 Speaker 1: of turned into a zombie human. Yeah, so I think 1365 01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:10,479 Speaker 1: she got half the treatment right. She's injected with with 1366 01:16:10,520 --> 01:16:13,080 Speaker 1: the ZAT, but then she's not actually lowered into the 1367 01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:18,160 Speaker 1: zap baptismal font to transform her body. Um and so yeah, 1368 01:16:18,200 --> 01:16:20,400 Speaker 1: the the ending of this film, I think is is 1369 01:16:20,439 --> 01:16:23,599 Speaker 1: actually pretty effective. It's it's haunting and kind of pitch 1370 01:16:23,680 --> 01:16:27,240 Speaker 1: perfect because throughout the whole film, we've watched Leopold stumble 1371 01:16:27,280 --> 01:16:32,320 Speaker 1: awkwardly around his grandiose dreams and voiceover so mismatched with 1372 01:16:32,400 --> 01:16:37,080 Speaker 1: his new body, his actual abilities, his focus, his mixed results. 1373 01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:41,040 Speaker 1: But in the end, against all odds, he achieves his goal. 1374 01:16:41,200 --> 01:16:44,400 Speaker 1: For the most part, he he wants. He strugg struggles, 1375 01:16:44,439 --> 01:16:47,880 Speaker 1: and stumbles into the ocean with his zap formula, like 1376 01:16:47,920 --> 01:16:51,200 Speaker 1: two tanks of it. Meanwhile, one of the male agent 1377 01:16:51,240 --> 01:16:53,519 Speaker 1: that was Snake that is like shooting at him with 1378 01:16:53,560 --> 01:16:56,519 Speaker 1: a rifle and seems to at least wing him, possibly 1379 01:16:56,640 --> 01:16:59,799 Speaker 1: kill him. But he gets that z into the ocean. 1380 01:17:00,600 --> 01:17:04,400 Speaker 1: And then meanwhile, even though he's unable to completely transform 1381 01:17:04,520 --> 01:17:08,639 Speaker 1: Agent Walsh into his catfish princess, she does. She wakes 1382 01:17:08,640 --> 01:17:11,760 Speaker 1: in the zombiefied state. She she wanders out onto the 1383 01:17:11,800 --> 01:17:14,320 Speaker 1: beach and the other agent tries to call to He's like, oh, 1384 01:17:14,320 --> 01:17:17,320 Speaker 1: thank goodness, you're all right, But she just wanders into 1385 01:17:17,320 --> 01:17:21,679 Speaker 1: the water, just just like a like a zombie. And yeah, 1386 01:17:21,720 --> 01:17:24,200 Speaker 1: we're left to pieces together because then we we kind 1387 01:17:24,200 --> 01:17:27,920 Speaker 1: of zoom out and some haunting music plays. Uh, so 1388 01:17:28,360 --> 01:17:30,840 Speaker 1: we just don't know, like did she is she? And 1389 01:17:31,040 --> 01:17:33,599 Speaker 1: uh she transformed enough that she'll survive in the water 1390 01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:37,320 Speaker 1: or she about to drown? Um, did enough Zach get 1391 01:17:37,360 --> 01:17:39,439 Speaker 1: into the ocean to bring about this new age of 1392 01:17:39,439 --> 01:17:43,200 Speaker 1: giant fish and bring down humanity. Um, I don't know, 1393 01:17:43,280 --> 01:17:45,120 Speaker 1: but it seems like that might be the case. So 1394 01:17:45,160 --> 01:17:50,120 Speaker 1: it seems like, uh, you know, despite everything, Dr Leopold 1395 01:17:50,120 --> 01:17:53,240 Speaker 1: has one. Yeah. I think the implication is that all 1396 01:17:53,280 --> 01:17:56,600 Speaker 1: the human characters die and he succeeds in throwing his 1397 01:17:56,680 --> 01:17:59,559 Speaker 1: formula into the ocean to create a race of atomic 1398 01:17:59,600 --> 01:18:03,160 Speaker 1: super fish that will conquer the world. Yeah, it's it's 1399 01:18:03,200 --> 01:18:06,200 Speaker 1: quite an ending. It ends on a really good note 1400 01:18:06,240 --> 01:18:07,760 Speaker 1: where you were you kind of forget some of the 1401 01:18:08,040 --> 01:18:12,439 Speaker 1: awkwardness and weirdness and mismatched tonal choices. Now. Another one 1402 01:18:12,439 --> 01:18:14,800 Speaker 1: of the many claims about this movie online is that 1403 01:18:15,439 --> 01:18:20,800 Speaker 1: apparently the movie was originally supposed to end with, or 1404 01:18:20,800 --> 01:18:23,000 Speaker 1: at least include I think this would be at the ending, 1405 01:18:23,800 --> 01:18:27,160 Speaker 1: giant fish attacks like a giant catfish that was like 1406 01:18:27,320 --> 01:18:31,599 Speaker 1: rampaging around and destroying the town and uh, And apparently 1407 01:18:31,640 --> 01:18:35,000 Speaker 1: they filmed some versions of this, I think with miniature 1408 01:18:35,040 --> 01:18:37,679 Speaker 1: models of the town. But then they realized this does 1409 01:18:37,720 --> 01:18:39,519 Speaker 1: not look good, so they cut that part out of 1410 01:18:39,560 --> 01:18:43,639 Speaker 1: the movie. But one shot from the sequence allegedly made 1411 01:18:43,680 --> 01:18:46,360 Speaker 1: it into the film, which is yeah, which is where 1412 01:18:46,360 --> 01:18:49,280 Speaker 1: a catfish like a little catfish is squirming next to 1413 01:18:49,760 --> 01:18:53,200 Speaker 1: a fence. Yes, I I I saw this when I 1414 01:18:53,280 --> 01:18:57,559 Speaker 1: did my recent viewing of of that uncut, and and yeah, 1415 01:18:57,680 --> 01:19:01,240 Speaker 1: like suddenly there's this brief sequence that looks like like 1416 01:19:01,360 --> 01:19:05,679 Speaker 1: poor effects test footage of a walking catfish flopping around 1417 01:19:05,720 --> 01:19:09,360 Speaker 1: on a model of of like some landscape. So yeah, 1418 01:19:09,720 --> 01:19:11,880 Speaker 1: that seems to match up with what we're seeing here, 1419 01:19:12,320 --> 01:19:15,080 Speaker 1: but there's no context for it. When it actually shows 1420 01:19:15,160 --> 01:19:16,720 Speaker 1: up in the film, you just go like, what what 1421 01:19:16,800 --> 01:19:20,120 Speaker 1: was that? So I guess we mentioned the fact that 1422 01:19:20,560 --> 01:19:24,799 Speaker 1: when uh Dr Leopold first transforms and looks at himself 1423 01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:29,320 Speaker 1: in a mirror, he says, uh, nothing like a catfish, 1424 01:19:29,560 --> 01:19:33,880 Speaker 1: but it's beautiful. And I wonder was it intended that 1425 01:19:33,920 --> 01:19:36,600 Speaker 1: he would look nothing like a catfish even though he 1426 01:19:36,720 --> 01:19:39,719 Speaker 1: is half man half catfish, or did they just get 1427 01:19:39,760 --> 01:19:42,479 Speaker 1: whatever costume they could get and then they're like, oh, 1428 01:19:42,479 --> 01:19:44,760 Speaker 1: we better add a line and here sort of acknowledging 1429 01:19:44,840 --> 01:19:47,800 Speaker 1: it just doesn't look like a catfish. Yeah, maybe that's 1430 01:19:47,800 --> 01:19:50,479 Speaker 1: how it went down, or maybe that's what they told themselves. 1431 01:19:50,520 --> 01:19:52,240 Speaker 1: You know, they're like, no, this isn't quite what we 1432 01:19:52,280 --> 01:19:55,519 Speaker 1: went for, but it is beautiful. Let's devote oodles of 1433 01:19:55,520 --> 01:19:58,320 Speaker 1: of screen time to it. So weirdly, this is not 1434 01:19:58,439 --> 01:20:02,120 Speaker 1: the only killer catfish fish movie that I've ever seen. 1435 01:20:02,360 --> 01:20:04,639 Speaker 1: I It's been many years now, so I don't I've 1436 01:20:04,640 --> 01:20:06,400 Speaker 1: forgotten a lot of the details about it. But I'm 1437 01:20:06,479 --> 01:20:10,599 Speaker 1: pretty sure that I watched a killer catfish movie about 1438 01:20:10,920 --> 01:20:14,679 Speaker 1: six or seven years ago called Beneath that's about people 1439 01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:17,040 Speaker 1: trapped on a boat who are being stalked on a 1440 01:20:17,120 --> 01:20:20,240 Speaker 1: lake by a killer catfish, and I recall it having 1441 01:20:20,439 --> 01:20:22,439 Speaker 1: a really good, subtle sense of humor. I think it 1442 01:20:22,479 --> 01:20:25,599 Speaker 1: might have been a Larry Fessenden movie, but oh yeah, 1443 01:20:25,640 --> 01:20:27,000 Speaker 1: I just looked it up and it and it is. 1444 01:20:27,240 --> 01:20:30,760 Speaker 1: Larry Fessenden h quite a filmmaker. He's made some very 1445 01:20:30,760 --> 01:20:34,000 Speaker 1: interesting genre pictures. The main moment of this movie that 1446 01:20:34,120 --> 01:20:36,960 Speaker 1: stuck with me is that there's one point where I 1447 01:20:37,280 --> 01:20:39,520 Speaker 1: think one of them has just been attacked by catfish, 1448 01:20:39,520 --> 01:20:42,559 Speaker 1: and the people remaining alive on the boat. Uh, one 1449 01:20:42,600 --> 01:20:45,000 Speaker 1: of them gets up and yells in the direction of 1450 01:20:45,040 --> 01:20:51,360 Speaker 1: the catfish, what do you want from us? Well, clearly, 1451 01:20:51,360 --> 01:20:54,559 Speaker 1: it's muck. They're here for the muck catfish one. Why 1452 01:20:54,560 --> 01:20:57,160 Speaker 1: would catfish want to eat humans, aren't they? They just 1453 01:20:57,200 --> 01:20:59,040 Speaker 1: sort of like suck up mud and I don't know 1454 01:20:59,120 --> 01:21:01,920 Speaker 1: it should have looked up some thing about catfish feeding 1455 01:21:01,920 --> 01:21:04,360 Speaker 1: behaviors before I opened my mouth on that. But but 1456 01:21:04,400 --> 01:21:08,479 Speaker 1: it's not a sequel to that, not that I can tell. Okay, No, 1457 01:21:08,680 --> 01:21:11,360 Speaker 1: it's just like it doesn't look anything like the Grito elf. 1458 01:21:11,479 --> 01:21:16,320 Speaker 1: It is just a gigantic Google eyed catfish. Well in 1459 01:21:16,360 --> 01:21:19,000 Speaker 1: the end that there's there's nothing else quite like it. 1460 01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:22,840 Speaker 1: It is. Uh. It is quite an impressive film, all 1461 01:21:22,880 --> 01:21:27,240 Speaker 1: the everything, and it comes together awkwardly but kind of perfectly. 1462 01:21:27,320 --> 01:21:29,599 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's like it's it's it's the monster 1463 01:21:29,680 --> 01:21:32,720 Speaker 1: itself as film. Now you might be wondering where can 1464 01:21:32,760 --> 01:21:36,040 Speaker 1: I watch that? Well, that has been out on DVD 1465 01:21:36,120 --> 01:21:38,519 Speaker 1: and Blu Ray for years, but it's sadly looks like 1466 01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:41,880 Speaker 1: it's out of stock everywhere at this moment as we're 1467 01:21:41,880 --> 01:21:44,920 Speaker 1: recording this. Hopefully that will change in the future. It's 1468 01:21:44,920 --> 01:21:47,400 Speaker 1: also been available I think on Amazon Prime in the 1469 01:21:47,400 --> 01:21:50,800 Speaker 1: recent past, but it's not there right now. But you 1470 01:21:50,960 --> 01:21:55,360 Speaker 1: can watch the MST version Bloodwaters of dr Z. You 1471 01:21:55,400 --> 01:22:00,759 Speaker 1: can digitally obtain that most places, including Amazon Prime. Uh. 1472 01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:02,920 Speaker 1: For for our copy again, we rented our copy from 1473 01:22:02,960 --> 01:22:06,080 Speaker 1: Atlanta's own Video Drome and if you're in Atlanta, you 1474 01:22:06,120 --> 01:22:09,240 Speaker 1: can go there and rent various DVDs and blue rays 1475 01:22:09,840 --> 01:22:11,800 Speaker 1: or buy some cool merch And you can also check 1476 01:22:11,840 --> 01:22:15,280 Speaker 1: them out online at video Drome dot tv and you 1477 01:22:15,320 --> 01:22:17,280 Speaker 1: can buy stuff and they'll ship it to you, which 1478 01:22:17,280 --> 01:22:21,360 Speaker 1: is pretty cool. They should make Dr Leopold head motorcycle helmets, 1479 01:22:21,640 --> 01:22:24,200 Speaker 1: so you know, it's it's the zap Monster, but it 1480 01:22:24,240 --> 01:22:26,599 Speaker 1: goes on for the bike ride. In fact, you can 1481 01:22:26,640 --> 01:22:28,479 Speaker 1: do the whole thing, like the leather jacket is a 1482 01:22:28,560 --> 01:22:31,439 Speaker 1: zat jacket. Yeah. Well, you know, speaking of that, because 1483 01:22:31,479 --> 01:22:33,240 Speaker 1: that sounds like exactly the kind of thing that our 1484 01:22:33,360 --> 01:22:35,840 Speaker 1: Land would potentially do. If you're listening to this and 1485 01:22:35,880 --> 01:22:38,080 Speaker 1: you don't know the art of our Land, you can 1486 01:22:38,120 --> 01:22:41,519 Speaker 1: go to our Land art dot com and you can 1487 01:22:41,600 --> 01:22:44,400 Speaker 1: check out some of the stuff that he creates. All right, 1488 01:22:44,479 --> 01:22:47,479 Speaker 1: So there you have it. Um, that's episode two and 1489 01:22:47,600 --> 01:22:51,760 Speaker 1: uh and and what maybe a Florida movie trilogy we'll see, Um, 1490 01:22:51,800 --> 01:22:53,439 Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sure if we'll be back next 1491 01:22:53,479 --> 01:22:55,880 Speaker 1: week with another Florida movie or the week after that. 1492 01:22:55,960 --> 01:22:58,760 Speaker 1: It kind of depends on Joe's tolerance for all the 1493 01:22:58,800 --> 01:23:03,000 Speaker 1: Florida nests. These these motion pictures. Oh, you know, I'm 1494 01:23:03,040 --> 01:23:05,280 Speaker 1: generally game. All right, we'll see, but you know, sometimes 1495 01:23:05,320 --> 01:23:08,160 Speaker 1: it's nice to have a palate cleanser sometimes between films. 1496 01:23:08,160 --> 01:23:09,960 Speaker 1: So I don't know. Well, we'll see, we'll figure it 1497 01:23:09,960 --> 01:23:12,519 Speaker 1: out in the meantime. If you would like to check 1498 01:23:12,520 --> 01:23:15,200 Speaker 1: out other episodes of Weird How Cinema, we published this 1499 01:23:15,520 --> 01:23:18,320 Speaker 1: every Friday in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast 1500 01:23:18,439 --> 01:23:22,280 Speaker 1: feed were primarily a science podcast, uh, and so are 1501 01:23:22,360 --> 01:23:28,120 Speaker 1: our primary episodes on scientific topics like the sargassum, seaweed, 1502 01:23:28,439 --> 01:23:31,640 Speaker 1: the organism, and the the environment. Uh. Those published on 1503 01:23:31,640 --> 01:23:35,840 Speaker 1: Tuesdays and Thursdays. We published Listener Mail on Mondays, and 1504 01:23:35,840 --> 01:23:38,560 Speaker 1: the listener Mail covers like everything Weird How Cinema, but 1505 01:23:38,640 --> 01:23:41,200 Speaker 1: also stuff to Blow your Mind. And then on Wednesdays 1506 01:23:41,240 --> 01:23:45,880 Speaker 1: we publish the Artifact, a short form bit about particular 1507 01:23:46,479 --> 01:23:49,479 Speaker 1: artifacts in the moments, in time, et cetera. So check 1508 01:23:49,479 --> 01:23:51,559 Speaker 1: all that out. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can 1509 01:23:51,600 --> 01:23:53,439 Speaker 1: find us and we just ask the you rate, review, 1510 01:23:53,479 --> 01:23:56,559 Speaker 1: and subscribe, give. The website allows you to do that 1511 01:23:57,240 --> 01:24:00,200 Speaker 1: huge things. As always to our wonderful audio produce Sir 1512 01:24:00,280 --> 01:24:02,640 Speaker 1: Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in 1513 01:24:02,720 --> 01:24:05,320 Speaker 1: touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 1514 01:24:05,439 --> 01:24:07,360 Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 1515 01:24:07,439 --> 01:24:10,400 Speaker 1: say hello. You can email us at contact at stuff 1516 01:24:10,439 --> 01:24:20,040 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your 1517 01:24:20,040 --> 01:24:22,959 Speaker 1: Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts 1518 01:24:23,080 --> 01:24:26,120 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 1519 01:24:26,200 --> 01:24:28,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.