WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Zaat 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.479 Hey, welcome to Weird How Cinema rewind. This is Rob 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.880 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In today's episode was originally 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:16.560 published on April. It's that baby, that's right. I mean, 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.520 because this is this is our Turkey Day break. So 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.440 I think last last year we were thinking about Mystery 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.400 Science Theater three thousand, the traditional Mystery Science three thousand 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.680 celebration of Turkey Day. And so this is a great 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.680 time for us to turn to a beloved episode of 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.320 MST three K because of course they did z as 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.360 the Bloodwaters of Doctor Z and uh yeah. So so 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.440 it's a perfect time to to really wade into this 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:50.159 Florida movie. Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production 0:00:50.200 --> 0:01:00.160 of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird How sent him. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.160 This is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and I 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.399 regret to inform you right at the start here that 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.720 the Weird House Cinema tour bus has broken down in Florida, 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:13.040 so we are still stuck in the Sunshine State. That's right. 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.840 We're continuing our look at Florida movies from the nineteen seventies, 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.200 movies filmed in Florida and certainly in the case of 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.720 today's film, and also Nine two Frogs, which we've covered previously, 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.120 set in Florida as well, they capture a certain Florida 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.200 This both real and imagined. Uh. And this week we're 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.280 gonna look at the Florida movie par Excellence nineteen seventy 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.760 ones Z. You might know it as the Blood Waters 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.440 of Doctor Z. Some of you might even know it 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.040 as Hydra basically, as we'll get into it had a 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.600 number of various releases over the years under different titles, 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.440 but uh, for the most part, the one that's stuck 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.560 is z Z a a t. This movie has some 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.640 thematic overlap with other movies that we've looked, including a 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.440 sort of like Nature strikes Back movies, though this is 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.200 not exactly Nature strikes Back. This is more of a uh. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:09.919 This is more of a sort of cheap body horror, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:15.120 mad science movie with some ecological themes to it, rather 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:20.080 than just like animals attacking for revenge on humankind. Yeah, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.920 it's I guess at heart it's a creature feature. But 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.760 like like a lot of films that you encounter like this, 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:31.639 certainly like like the first big independent efforts from from filmmakers. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.320 It it tries to do a lot of things, so 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.400 it's it's it's a creature feature, but it's also like 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:42.120 a science team adventure. It's also um, you know, it 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.640 also tries to be uh in the heat of the 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.720 night a little bit it uh. It also has this 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.480 nature strikes back element to it. It's also a kind 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.480 of a hippie folk musical, so it it kind of 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.160 bats itself around a lot and um. Depending on where 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.480 you are in the film, you might get something that 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:05.720 is totally different from another portion of the film. It 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.240 also has a little bit of overlap with Boggy Creek two, 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.760 and the legend continues. We can talk about some of 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.440 the similarities as we go on, but uh, but I 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:19.080 appreciated the the similar pompous voiceover narration, though in this 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.200 case it is the voiceover of a of a crazed 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.320 uh spurned scientist who wants revenge on the world, whereas 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.639 in Boggy Creek Too, it's just a kind of uh, 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.200 I don't know, like the town smart guy who wants 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:37.200 to to show off all his knowledge about the river. Yeah. Yeah. 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.720 The voiceover narration and this is um is sardonic to 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.520 the max, Like if you took Vincent Price's voice and 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.760 you reduced it overheat for a little bit until it 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.800 was it was just extra ikey and gooky. That's what 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.080 you'd have in the Bloodwaters of Doctor Z. The voiceover 0:03:55.200 --> 0:04:00.600 narration wears joker makeup. Yeah. Now, um, if you mentioned 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.680 Boggy Creeker earlier, and I think this is a good 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.160 point to mention that this film was was riffed in 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:11.040 a episode of Mystery Science Feed or three thousand under 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.720 the title the Bloodwaters of Dr Z. And if you're 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:18.040 like me, that might be where you discovered the film. Um, 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.320 and it that's a great MST episode. I don't want 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.040 to take anything away from that, but as I would 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.280 watch and rewatch that episode, I found that, like a 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.800 lot of MST episodes that really called to me, there 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.320 was something in the underlying film. There was an awkwardness 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.880 to it, a kind of loneliness to it. And I've 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:39.080 also grown to really appreciate the Florida no of it 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.720 as well. So for this episode of Weird House Cinema, 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.040 this was the first time I watched an unriffed version 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:51.559 of that which rented from Atlanta's Videodrome Video rental store. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.120 And uh, you know, ultimately I encourage fans of the 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.800 MST episode to do the same because, like a lot 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.479 of MST films, it was really edited, really cut down 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.120 for time, and so there's a there's a lot of 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.640 stuff that you're missing out on, some really um walky 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:10.160 and at times grotesque details and sometimes just ludicrous um 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.080 additions to the film. This is not of the attack 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.799 of the Crab Monsters School of Creature feature run time. 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.400 You know, it's not your sixty three minute abs this one, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.680 I think is it's it's actually getting close to two 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.080 full hours, isn't it. Yeah, I think it's the it's 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.599 a hundred minutes long. It's a it's it's plus size 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.479 this one. Um, so you can you have to set 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.680 us out a little bit of time for it. Um. 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:36.960 And again the pacing is is at times kind of 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:42.280 weird but also hypnotic um quite ludic at times. Uh huh. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.440 Now we mentioned the MST episode. I think a lot 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.400 of people did discover it through that. But the film 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.599 has has had a cult following outside of MST as well, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.400 despite only having a limited release in Jacksonville, Florida, and 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:01.679 New York's Fort Street back in ninety two. The uh 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.039 you have the version we watched. It begins with a 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.920 statement from the director where he's like people were coming 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.520 up to be and saying, don don You've got to 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.440 release this movie? Yes, so yeah, I think it was. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.760 It was people really wanted some sort of release for 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.039 a long time, and luckily in recent years it has 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:24.159 been available. Um. But yeah, this this film, like the 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:29.200 Scorpion Fish uh and the Sargassum Fish is it's been patient. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.680 It knew that it would one day conquer the universe. Um. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.719 And and it has its super fans, one of which 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.200 is the Atlanta artist and Jacksonville native our Land, who 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.680 I know, we're both the fans of. Have you seen 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.880 any of our lands Zat pieces, Joe? Oh, I don't know. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.240 I've seen a lot of his stuff around town, a 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.599 lot of you know, restaurants and coffee shops and stuff. 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.000 We'll have our Land pieces up on the walls. I 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.040 think some of his work also, though I don't quite 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.440 recall how was featured in some adult swim shows. I 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.760 could be wrong about that, but no, I don't know 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.359 the za ones are. I know his I know his 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.240 piece that's like the divers with the spear guns. Is 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.200 that that related? Um, that one might not be. I mean, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.120 he's he works Florida into a lot of his pieces, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.240 but he did. Um, he did create a number of 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.760 art pieces that actually feature that he did. He did 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:20.480 a show as part of a two thousand nine screening 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.120 of the film at the Plaza here in Atlanta, and 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.400 at least some of the pieces I assume from that 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.000 show were that they used to hang out over at 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.280 Joe's Coffee in East Atlanta. Uh. And I would go 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.760 there and bring my laptop and work. Uh And UM, 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:35.320 I don't know, there may still be some pieces there. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.160 I haven't been there in a in a spell, but uh, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:41.400 you know images of za and uh. He had some 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:43.640 some spinoffs over the years as well, Like there was 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.360 one that was like a real estate sign that says 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.640 that did it again. Um, and then he's he recently 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.440 did did one at least online that was a zat 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:57.000 or day uh thing. It was pretty amusing. But yeah, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.680 he's he's apparently a zat Mega fan. And you know 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.000 a lot of people like him out there, you know 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.920 where you see this maybe when you're younger, and something 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.880 about it that it sticks in into your brain. And 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.360 you can't quite get it out all right, what's the 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:13.960 elevator pitch? On this film? A lonely mad scientist in 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.000 Florida hatches a plan to raise an army of giant 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.640 walking catfish and avenge himself over his colleagues, and also 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.720 conquer the planet, perhaps the universe. Uh, and we're left 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.360 to follow him and see how it works out. Let's 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:37.480 hear that trailer audio and now coming to this theater. 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:45.480 One of the most incredible stories of modern time sat 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:55.520 Invasion of the Walking Catfish. A crazed scientist Dr. Leopold 0:08:55.679 --> 0:09:01.800 is convinced he can turn to humans into fish. He 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.040 proves it by transforming himself into a horrible for them 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:19.400 full that tells it all. You won't want to miss 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:37.800 zat positively. No one admitted during the last minutes. Okay, now, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.200 you would not have expected a movie like this to 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.719 have major folk music themes. And I don't know if 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.120 the trailer audio we just played have the folk music 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.040 in it. Uh. If not, maybe we should insert a 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.200 clip right here, just because like you've got to have 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.839 this in your head to understand everything that comes after. 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:55.760 Oh yeah, I mean we can go straight to the 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.679 music here if you like uh this, Uh, what we're 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.600 about here is um is a is a bit from 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:07.120 a song titled World War two Boy, which is a 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:11.280 very strange, strange title. But this is from Barry Hodgen 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.319 and Jamie Defrates. They were the composers. And this is 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:29.960 Jamie Defrate's performing the song. Alright, that's just a clip, 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.240 but this song is performed in its entirety at the 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.000 top of the film um and it's and I actually 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.760 love it. I listened to this song quite a bit, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.720 especially in the last couple of weeks leading up to 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.200 this episode, because you can. You can find this on 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.440 Spotify and various other streaming places. If you just look 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:51.760 up Z songs or or Jamie Defrates you will find it. Uh, 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.400 there's a B side and we'll get to the B 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.760 side track in a bit. But these tracks are featured 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.840 in the film in full no cuts. It's almost it's 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.520 almost a rock opera. I mean not quite, only only 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.440 a couple of songs in the movie, but like it 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.719 has musical numbers. Yeah, And I have to say, I 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.000 mean we'll get into this a little bit when we 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.360 start rolling through the plot, but yeah, the music music 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.080 always elevates the film. If you have quality music, it 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.880 can really create dimensions that would not be there otherwise. 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.160 And I legitimately think that the music and that both 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.040 the folk music and some of the other music will 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.480 get to does a great job of that. Like it 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:36.559 takes this this sort of awkward, fumbling creature feature and 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.240 and elevates it to to this level where it does 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.200 legitimately get caught up in your brain. Do you ever 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:44.640 hear that story? It was by somebody who worked on 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.120 Halloween with John Carpenter. It might have been Donald Pleasants 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.720 who told the story about going to see a preview 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.760 screening of the movie where the music had not been 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.760 added in yet and thinking like, oh no, what a disaster. 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.120 I'm so embarrassed, and then seeing another cut later when 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.120 the music had been finished and added in, and suddenly 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.200 everybody thinks this is a horror masterpiece. Yeah, yeah, I 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.040 mean it. It really does it? It? Uh, It can 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.080 really elevate things to to new levels. Though shocking that 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.520 Donald Pleasants would find embarrassment in a film at that 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.520 stage of his career, because it's not like this would 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.120 have been the first the first bad movie he was in. 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.480 This come before after Puma Man Uh, I don't recall, 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.480 but either either way, there were definitely some Puma Man's 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.800 in there before Halloween. All Right, we'll come back to 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.920 more about the music in a bit, but let's uh, 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.319 let's start with the screenwriter, or one of the screenwriters 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.679 and the director, Don Barton, who lived nineteen thirty through, 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.640 so he was he was very much alive to see 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:55.360 the renaissance of of Za, the resurgence of that, and 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:59.960 in fact, the disc that we watched featured introductory commentary 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:05.200 by Don Barton thanking everyone for their support of the creature. Here. Yeah, yeah, 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:06.920 he shows up right at the top of the film. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:08.920 And I should point out this disc it like it's 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.400 one of those that doesn't even have a menu in it. 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.280 It just you just put it in and it just 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.440 plays that the only option is play. Um. But it 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.920 starts with him talking and he Don Barton says, uh. 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:24.360 In nineteen seventy one, my film production company in Jacksonville, Florida, 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.360 decided that the time was right to make a feature film, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.440 meaning this was his first feature film. He'd only done 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.760 one other movie before this, which we'll talk about in 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.520 the second, which was a short film. But he says 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.080 he sat down with his staff to discuss ideas quote, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.760 and we decided that our first motion picture should be 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.640 a creature feature. Uh so this turned into an idea 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.160 I think talking with some writers and associates of his 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:53.439 about a man catfish creature that terrorizes a small town 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.079 in his quest for revenge. And then Don Barton says 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:01.040 that the initial theatrical release was very promising. He doesn't 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.720 elaborate on what exactly that means, but he says that 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.280 due to unspecified mishaps, the film had been unavailable for 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.199 like thirty years at the time that it was rereleased. 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:13.920 So I wonder, I mean, there must have been some 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.439 way people got it, because the they must have gotten 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.080 a tape of it for Mystery Science theater. I'm not 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.280 sure what. Yeah, I think even that there was some issues, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.840 if I am to understand correctly, like there was some 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.840 there's a situation where a sci fi channel I think 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.880 at the time, aired it and then Barton's people got 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:32.560 in touch with them and there was some back and 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.000 forth about like the rights, but it eventually got worked out. Okay, 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.480 that that that makes sense, But um man, when I 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.760 was watching this preamble by Don Barton. At the beginning 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.720 of the movie, I kept thinking, who does this guy 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.800 remind me of his something about his voice and the 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.200 way he talks, And then I realized, he reminds me 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:55.120 of the TV news host Bill Moyers, who used to 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.720 do like I think he worked for Uh, he did 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.320 his specials for PBS, and then I think you worked 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.680 for CBS for a while. Um. But so like I 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:05.960 got that feeling like, oh no, this is like Bill 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.840 Moyer's introducing a PBS special on that that's going to 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:15.200 feature interviews with Joseph Campbell. Yeah, it does have that 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.760 kind of vibe. Now, yeah, we mentioned Jacksonville already, h 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:23.200 and we will mention Jacksonville some Moore Barton was Jacksonville based. 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.840 He was a producer and director. This was his second 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:31.320 and last directorial credit, following They're Out to Get You. 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.600 But he was apparently involved throughout his life in the 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.560 Florida film industry, having co founded the Florida Motion Picture 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:42.600 and Television Production Association, and he also produced documentaries, training films, 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.560 TV commercials, etcetera. And this is actually more of the 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.160 genre that They're Out to Get You was, So They're 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:50.920 out to get You? I was really looking for an 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.760 online copy of it, and I couldn't find anything. But 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.960 but if somebody out there has better sleuthing capabilities, please 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.960 send this our way. Um, this is not an entertain 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.480 mint film. They're out to get you from nineteen sixty 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.400 nine is an educational short that I think was supposed 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:10.040 to be shown to retail employees. So it's like one 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.920 of those you know, harassment or ethics training video workplace 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:15.920 videos they show you on the first day at a 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:20.560 new job, except it is about shoplifting, and the plot 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.520 of it is that there's this young criminal, or at 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:25.560 least this is the alleged plot. I had to find 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.080 a summary. Somebody wrote online. There's a young criminal named 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:33.120 Tony Alto who steals cars for a living, and he 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.320 gets caught and sent to prison, and in prison, his 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.080 cell mate turns out to be this, uh, I don't 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.040 know this the smooth guy who's going to tell him no, no, no, 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.800 stealing cars, you're doing it all wrong. Here's what's up shoplifting, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.000 And he explains to him why shoplifting is a much 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.440 better way to to make a living by stealing, And 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.400 so as you go through the narrative, I think it 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.200 shows the tricks that shoplifters could be using in your store, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:04.439 or your store or yours. So it also sounds like 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.160 it's just in general, a shoplifting training video for very 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.520 either side of the equation. Well, it's kind of like 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.959 how Dare was supposed to scare kids away from doing drugs, 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:15.640 but instead it was just kind of like, you're all 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.200 the different kinds of drugs you could do. All right, Well, 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.480 let's talk very briefly about the additional story credits UM 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:29.560 Ron Kivitt and Arnold Stevens and also Lee oh Lar LaRue. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.359 Not much to report here though. Ron Kivitt was apparently 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.960 an investigator on History Channels ancient aliens at one point. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:41.560 So was he investigating aliens? I guess or pyramids? One 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.639 of it was, you know, one of the two, probably, um. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.919 But that that's the main creative force behind the picture 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:49.880 that we're going to discuss here at the top. It's 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:54.080 time to get into the cast. And the film is 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:58.439 initially concerned with only one human being and devotes a 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.439 good twentysomething minute to just him. Uh, and that is 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.119 our our signature character, our our our main character. Dr 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.280 Curt Leopold played by Marshall Grower. Now this is his 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.080 one and only film role, and for a long time 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.320 I assumed that he only did the physical performance that 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.520 we're seeing Marshall Grower and somebody else's providing that just 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.440 overly sardonic voiceover that we're talking about that again. It's 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:28.639 just like Vincent Price turned up to eleven Vincent Price 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.560 without any uh you know, humanity left in it at all. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.320 The you know, the the voice of just a uh 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:40.760 an overacting demon. But he apparently did the narration as well. 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:46.320 Um Leopold, the character, the human character never speaks on cameras, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.320 not a single time, but we have just this voiceover 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.879 at length describing what he's planning to do, what he's doing, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.880 um what you know, his ultimate aspirations are. Uh it's 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.320 it's a lot of fun. But I would say Marshall 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.399 Grower is is just delightful in this film because the 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.280 voiceover is just it, it's so rich, it's just so overdone. 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:14.640 And then physically he has this weird combo of sinister 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.720 awkwardness and this kind of outsider sadness, which when you 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.679 throw in the sort of film quality of Z, it 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.880 feels like you're watching a window into someone's personal hell. 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.439 You know, Dr Leopold is a human with the personality 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:36.000 of a car that's having maintenance problems. He's having trouble accelerating, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.440 he's releasing dark, foul smelling exhaust, like he needs to 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.640 get his catalytic converter replaced. But also the thing that 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.480 I realized about him that there's a scene early in 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.720 the film where he's walking along a beach, but he's 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.359 not dressed for the beach. He's wearing long slacks and 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.439 the shirt tucked in and his heads hanging down and 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.840 this kind of like sad like puppy dog way, except 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.200 he's he's a little he's more drabbed than a puppy dog. 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.199 And you know, there's this acoustic guitar strumming in the background, 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.240 and he's just this beacon of shabbiness. In some shots 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:16.360 he's giving off strong, hairy Dean Stanton fumes. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.840 I think that's a that's a good comparison, that kind 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.720 of drawn haggard appearance. Yeah, But on the other hand, 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.040 he has a haircut that doesn't quite match. Because I 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.680 don't know how to describe his his haircut. It's very 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.960 strange it's kind of messy and mappy in the front, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.400 but also to make it weirder. So it's a haircut 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.199 that I think I've basically only seen on women before. 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.240 It's a cut style that's kind of puffy up in 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:46.119 the back and raises up towards the back or the 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.240 crown of the head, and then goes flat down toward 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.840 the front. Do you do you know what I'm talking about? Um, 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.280 I'm having a hard time picturing his hair in my head. 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.199 All my picture is that face and then later that 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:05.440 that bod uh we'll get to um. Uh. Well, anyway, 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:09.959 he's a he's a profound screen presence. Imdbat is not 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.600 list birth and death dates for Grower, but I was 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:17.399 looking around and I think I've found him as being listed. 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.760 Is buried in a cemetery in Jacksonville, and he lived 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.719 nineteen two through And uh, if I have the right 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:27.000 guy here, and I'm pretty sure I do, he was 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.960 he was pretty active in the Jacksonville theaters, so uh, 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.320 and I would not be surprised if that's where. Ultimately 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:34.879 a number of these actors come from, actors that in 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.360 many cases have no other movie credits listed to them. 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.400 Thinking about this guy being active in Jacksonville theater got 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:44.320 me off on a tangent that I actually think about 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.200 a good bit when we're watching these B movies, especially 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.440 locally produced B movies, movies that are, you know, not 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:54.880 a product of l A but you know, come out 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.520 of Florida or somewhere else in the country. Uh. And 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.200 it got me thinking about how acting talent translates across 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.640 from stage to screen and and the disconnect that can 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.760 occur when somebody spans these two worlds. Because I was 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.960 thinking about a story where a longtime close friend of mine, 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:15.080 he used to do some local theater directing in Tennessee, 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:19.040 and he was at one point directing. This was years ago, 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.240 but at one point he was directing an adaptation of 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.280 a Tennessee Williams play, I think, and he ended up 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:27.359 working with this actor who, according to him, was just 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.120 magical on stage, you know, one of the best actors 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.320 he had ever worked with, and and was it was 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.800 spell binding. But we found out this guy had also 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:38.199 been in a few movies and I don't recall the 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.359 exact titles, but they were just like Z grade horror movies, 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.640 you know, Choo, p Acabra, Rampage nine or something like that, 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:49.640 and so we we watched these and this amazing local 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:53.560 theater actor was, you know, just not especially impressive in 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.200 a direct video horror context. And I remember having a 0:22:57.280 --> 0:22:59.679 kind of revelation at that point that like, oh, you know, 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.320 stay age talent and screen talent are not always interchangeable, 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.000 and context really matters. Like somebody who can be a 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.080 very good actor when they've got good material to work with, 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:11.440 Like a lot of a lot of the people who 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:13.680 do these Z grade horror movies are probably a lot 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:17.119 of times doing Shakespeare or something, you know, in local theater, 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:20.159 or they're or they're they're doing Tennessee Williams plays or 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.080 something like that. But then when you put them in 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:27.880 in a catfish monster movie, the whatever talents they've developed 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:33.560 for those other acting contexts just don't really translate. But 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.240 there's a good chance in any given B movie that 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:39.320 there are plenty of members of the cast who are 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:41.760 no names in the film world, but they're like the 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:44.960