1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 3 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House 4 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 3: Cinema we are going to be talking about the nineteen 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 3: eighty one Italian slasher movie Absurd, directed by Joe Demato 6 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 3: and starring George Eastman. Now, Rob, I understand you wanted 7 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 3: to talk about how this movie typifies a movie subgenre, 8 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 3: maybe not defined within the movie itself, but the sort 9 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 3: of meta subgenre of the video nasty. 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 2: That's right. We've referred to video nasties before on the show, 11 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 2: and those of you know what we're talking about, you know, 12 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 2: probably not in your head. And if you don't know 13 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: what a video nasty is, you might have just you know, 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 2: picked up on context and on. But basically, it's essentially 15 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 2: you can slang for films, usually low budget horror and 16 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 2: exploitation films that were highly controversial during the nineteen eighties 17 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 2: as they were able to enter the UK distribution market 18 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 2: through a loophole that allowed the distributors to avoid official classification, 19 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 2: part of a video gold rush that came with VHS technology. 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 2: At the time. This is the description given by David 21 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: Coreki's and David Slater in the twenty twenty three book 22 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 2: Cannibal Error, Anti Film Propaganda and the Video Nasties Panic 23 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 2: of the nineteen eighties. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 3: So this would be sort of an informal list of 25 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 3: films that what were not necessarily illegal, but were singled 26 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 3: out for being obscene or terrible or just worthy of 27 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 3: moral approbate, approbation in some way. 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: Well you kind of get both things. There's like it 29 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 2: does become formalized, but then there's also kind of like 30 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 2: an informal list as well. So basically the short version 31 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: of how this went down as you had and again 32 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 2: this is a you're involving like new technology, new distribution patterns, 33 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 2: and also changes in you know, what the public wants, 34 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 2: and then public anxiety about obscenity. So basically you haven't 35 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 2: had an advocacy group called the National Viewers and Listeners Association, 36 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 2: and it made a big outcry about these these films 37 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 2: that we're making it into the UK on VHS, and 38 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 2: it led to just a whole saga of politics, moral panic, 39 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 2: censorship discussion, and the end result was the imposition of 40 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: state video censorship in the UK in nineteen eighty four 41 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 2: and the creation of a Director of Public Prosecutions DPP 42 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 2: list of films that would come to be known as 43 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 2: video nasties. Though I think this term also ends up 44 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 2: becoming especially outside of the UK and in just sort 45 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 2: of VHS horror exploitation film circles, it becomes something of 46 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 2: a you know, a loose term that is you for 47 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 2: various sort of grimy, low budget often euro films of 48 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 2: the time period. 49 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 3: Oh okay, So thus my confusion. So some of the 50 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 3: things referred to as video nasties were actually targeted by 51 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 3: the law in the UK and other things just sort 52 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 3: of informally get that title as a kind of descriptor 53 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 3: of what these movies tend to be. 54 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 2: Like, Yeah, because you definitely had a list, you had 55 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 2: like section one. Prosecuted films included actually a few different 56 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 2: films we've discussed on Weird House, nineteen eighty's Cannibal Apocalypse, 57 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty one's The House by the Cemetery, and today's 58 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 2: film Absurd, which is also from nineteen eighty one as 59 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 2: His House by the Cemetery. Now, naturally there's some really 60 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 2: grimy exploitation fodder in that list as well, But there's 61 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 2: also plenty of stuff that I don't know. It's all subjective, 62 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 2: but it feels, at least to me, kind of tame 63 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 2: by today's standards. But naturally, the line between art and 64 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 2: obscenity is always going to be subjective to a certain extent, 65 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 2: and there's gonna be a point of disagree in figuring 66 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 2: out what is what. But apart from these official classifications 67 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 2: and uproars in the UK, the term video nasty again 68 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 2: kind of becomes kind of comes to be a badge 69 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 2: of honor for many horror films from this time period, 70 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 2: especially in later decades. By the time many of us 71 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 2: were looking these up in books like the Psychotronic Film Guide, 72 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 2: or buying bootleg VHS tapes off of eBay back in 73 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 2: the day, or learning about them online, you know, browsing 74 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 2: Internet movie data base, looking at various blogs forums, or 75 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 2: today venturing around on letterbox dot com. You know, it 76 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 2: adds that extra bit of intrigue to a title. This 77 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 2: is a video nasty, this is a curse tape. You know, 78 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 2: watch at your own risk. 79 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 3: Now that might lead you to wonder, okay, if this 80 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 3: is one of those films that was considered so bad 81 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 3: as to be you know, targeted by the law in 82 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 3: the UK. Is there like, what's it about? What goes on? 83 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 3: Is you know, is it a Texas chainsaw massacre kind 84 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 3: of thing? I think the best way to describe obs 85 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 3: third is that it must have been pitched as a 86 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 3: Halloween clone. Halloween came out in nineteen seventy eight, Is 87 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 3: that right? Yeah, just checked, it was seventy eight, So 88 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 3: this is a few years after that, and there were many, 89 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 3: many Halloween clones. Halloween was a big hit, and so 90 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 3: a lot of movies tried to copy it. In fact, 91 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 3: some of the big slasher franchises in the American market. 92 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 3: I think you could argue began as Halloween clones. One 93 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 3: might sing, one might point to like Friday the thirteenth, 94 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 3: and so forth. You know, it even picks like a 95 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 3: day of the Years as the title. But anyway, so 96 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 3: I think absurd. It was imagined as a kind of 97 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 3: Halloween clone, but much more gory and disgusting. Halloween is 98 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 3: actually fairly light on the blood and gore. You don't 99 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 3: see a lot of explicit consequences of violence in it. 100 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 3: It's more, you know, Halloween is much more focused on 101 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 3: the building of tension through proximity and terror and perspective 102 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff. Absurd gets into a 103 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 3: lot more just gross, explicit sort of meat exercises, but 104 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 3: it has very similar plot dynamics. So both movies are 105 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 3: about a seemingly indestructible killer who escapes from a facility 106 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 3: of some kind and strikes out with random murders in 107 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 3: a nearby neighborhood. Well, actually no, in Absurd it's not 108 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 3: a nearby neighborhood for some reason. He goes to a 109 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 3: different country. But in both cases strikes out with random 110 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 3: murders in a neighborhood with no discernible motive. 111 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, just random killings. 112 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 3: Both movies follow babysitters as the sort of the victims 113 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 3: and protagonists in a way. Both movies have a kid 114 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 3: who refers to the killer as the Boogeyman. You remember 115 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 3: that's in Halloween, and they really emphasize that in Absurd 116 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 3: as well. And in both cases the killer is pursued 117 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 3: by a sort of eccentric, obsessive foreign cleric, and in 118 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,600 Speaker 3: the case of Halloween that's Donald Pleasant, says Doctor Loomis 119 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 3: in this movie, it is a Greek priest. So you 120 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 3: can see a lot of similarities, but you can see 121 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,799 Speaker 3: differences as well. And one that I think is interesting 122 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 3: is exactly what makes Halloween so so effective as horror 123 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 3: in a way is its restraint, the way in which 124 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 3: it really like takes its time, the way in which 125 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 3: you know, it plays with as I was saying, distance 126 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 3: and perspective, you know, showing things in the background of 127 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 3: shots instead of just going for immediate jump scares and 128 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 3: so forth. Absurd is the exact opposite. It does not 129 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 3: play with restraint. It plays to excess. 130 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 2: Though it does take its time in some of the sites. 131 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 2: That's true, yeah, but not necessarily in a good way. 132 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 3: I mean, it'll like really take its time showing how 133 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 3: long a murder takes to complete. Yeah, but no, it 134 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 3: also does take its time. I mean, yeah, it does 135 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 3: have the killer lurking in the background sometimes as well, 136 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 3: so in some ways you've got that element going on. 137 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 3: It's kind of a Halloween clone, but with Italian excess sensibilities. 138 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 3: On the other hand, I would say this is an 139 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 3: Italian horror movie of the early nineteen eighties. And while 140 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 3: Absurd does earn a number of superlatives, I'm not trying 141 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 3: to put it down here. One thing I do think 142 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 3: it kind of makes it stand out is it does 143 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 3: not manage to be as visually exciting as a lot 144 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 3: of the Italian horror movies of this period that we love. 145 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 3: In fact, I would say it almost has a pointedly 146 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 3: intentionally drab, lifeless and colorless visual style. The sets all 147 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,079 Speaker 3: seem to be various shades of white, brown, yellow, and tan. 148 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 3: There's not much, really any use of colored lighting that 149 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 3: I can recall. There aren't any beautiful vistas or stained 150 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 3: glass effects or anything like that. It is an almost 151 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 3: intentionally quite drab looking film. 152 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean de Motto gets into he gets into 153 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 2: some creative territory with some of the shots, and he 154 00:08:57,960 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 2: makes I think he makes pretty good use of the 155 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 2: location in some scenes. But yeah, this is not a 156 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,079 Speaker 2: movie you seek out for its rich colors or its 157 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 2: amazing production design. There's not even any monster makeup, just 158 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 2: no grimy gore. And I think most people who seek 159 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 2: it out aren't going to seek it out for its 160 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 2: reputation as a low budget video nasty and stick with 161 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 2: it for some of its well absurd choices. You know, 162 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,079 Speaker 2: because despite its reputation. It's not the gorious film from 163 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 2: this time period, nor is it the most disturbing by 164 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 2: any stretch. It's worth noting, especially with Dematto here, that 165 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 2: there's no nudity in this film at all, virtually no 166 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 2: sexual content of any kind. So it's amazingly tame on 167 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 2: that side of the exploitation scales, I would say. Yeah. Also, 168 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 2: despite the American title, it's worth noting that it's I 169 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 2: don't know, you could make a strong argument that this 170 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 2: film is not really absurd. It's not a surrealistic film, 171 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,679 Speaker 2: it's not psychedel But again, I think three things help 172 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 2: it to stand out from a lot of the other 173 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 2: slot films of the time period. It's got a fun score, 174 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 2: there are some weird choices that are made, I think 175 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 2: some deliberately and some just via the speed of the production. 176 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 2: And then you've got the screen presence, near constant screen 177 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 2: presence of George Eastman. 178 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,119 Speaker 3: Which alone puts this film in a kind of rare category. 179 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 3: I mean, everybody, even if you don't know anything about 180 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 3: like these Italian exploitation movies and you don't know who 181 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 3: George Eastman is, I think if you see a movie 182 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 3: with George Eastman in it. You're gonna remember him. You're 183 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 3: gonna be like, who was that guy? 184 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, A lot of times it's a small role. 185 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 2: He's come up in films before. He pops up, for instance, 186 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 2: in The Hands of Steel that we watched a while back, 187 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 2: and here he gets a chance to shine. 188 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 3: Now, regarding the question you said, the movie is not 189 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 3: even that absurd, I was wondering if maybe the absurd 190 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 3: title refers not to the more common usage like you 191 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 3: were saying there, comparing it to something that is psychedelic 192 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 3: or surreal. Maybe we often use the word just to 193 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 3: mean like weird, illogical, or unreasonable. I was wondering if 194 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 3: it is not that usage of absurd, but the philosophical 195 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 3: usage a lah absurdism, the core tenets of which are 196 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 3: that the universe is meaningless and our lives are meaningless, 197 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 3: and that much of the struggle of human life and 198 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 3: so many of our conflicts and contradictions arise because people 199 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 3: are trying to find the meaning in meaningless things. 200 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 2: All right, all right, I hear what you're laying down. 201 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 3: Well, yeah, so I think the movie Absurd is quite 202 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 3: The plot is quite compatible with the view that life 203 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:44,079 Speaker 3: is meaningless. You know, the attacks are completely random. And 204 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 3: I wonder if George Eastman's problem as a character is 205 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 3: that he is engaged in a futile search for the 206 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 3: meaning of life, and that search involves power drills and 207 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 3: bandsaws and so forth. 208 00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 2: It is interesting that he does not have a signature weapon. 209 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 2: He just makes use of what is immediately around him 210 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 2: and doesn't carry anything with him. 211 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 3: It's usually powered mechanisms, isn't it Not in every case, 212 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 3: but that's kind of strange. He likes like a he 213 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 3: likes a weapon you can plug into the wall. 214 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:13,839 Speaker 2: Yeah, and he'll drag you through the house to get 215 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 2: to it. It's not just a matter of like what's 216 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 2: immediately around me. It's like did I see an oven earlier? Yeah, 217 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 2: there's got to be a kitchen around here somewhere. We'll 218 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 2: spend five minutes searching for it. 219 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,559 Speaker 3: So if we haven't warned you enough already, do be 220 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:30,560 Speaker 3: warned that this movie does have some really gross violence 221 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 3: in it. So if you're going to watch it, be prepared. 222 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I also, I don't want to oversell this 223 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,719 Speaker 2: movie like sometimes, you know, I'm big on really championing 224 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 2: a film and saying like there's this is a hidden gym, 225 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 2: or there's some there are some diamonds in this one. 226 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 2: This is a film that a lot of people don't like. 227 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 2: Even we're into into horror, you know, we'll give it 228 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 2: maybe like mediocre reviews. So if you're on the fence 229 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 2: about seeing absurd there's a very strong chance you're not 230 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 2: going to like it. So fair warning. This might be 231 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 2: a case where you just want to hear us talk 232 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 2: about it. But if if you're into this sort of thing, well, 233 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 2: you know, dive in because there's there is some absurdity. 234 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 2: There is some weirdness here that I thought was pretty fun. 235 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 3: Speaking of the absurdity and the weirdness, just a few 236 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 3: things I want to call out at the beginnings, these 237 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 3: these strange contradictions in the movie, where there are things 238 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 3: where I don't even know how to characterize them really 239 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 3: because they contain contradictions. One of them is the sets 240 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 3: in this film which have this They are simultaneously opulent 241 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 3: and squalid, do you know what I'm saying. 242 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Like the one of the key, the key 243 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 2: set in the film, the key location is this obvious 244 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 2: Italian villa, you know, and it's clearly has old bone 245 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 2: spacious interiors, but the way that the space is decorated 246 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 2: at times feels very sparse and slapped together. And it's 247 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 2: also we'll get back to this more, but this is 248 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 2: essentially presented to us as an American home where Americans 249 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 2: live and are ready for some American football. And i've 250 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 2: this with suits of armor inside that. Yes, yes, so 251 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 2: it's it's a weird missmash And I think this is 252 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 2: ultimately one of its charms, you know, you know, at 253 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 2: least watching it as an American, you know, it is 254 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 2: seeing the sort of mismatch of things. 255 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 3: Another thing, what is going on with people's accents in 256 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 3: this movie. The babysitter is a great example. She seems 257 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 3: to go from I've heard I hear English accent at 258 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 3: some point, like a very a very formal kind of 259 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 3: received pronunciation accent. Sometimes I hear Irish, sometimes I hear Italian, 260 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 3: sometimes I hear American. It is all over the place. 261 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 2: Well, you have to remember Absurd as a prestige picture 262 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 2: with an international cast, so you know it was you know, 263 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 2: it's not, but it was conceived and produced not so 264 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 2: much for native Italian audiences, but to be shipped out 265 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 2: to various international markets, each of their own particular and 266 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 2: shifting censorship standards, And so we have a predominantly Italian cast, 267 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 2: but with some like UK and I guess, and I 268 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 2: guess largely UK talent thrown in there as well as 269 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 2: this American setting, though again everything was filmed in Italy. Okay. 270 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 3: I was just thinking before we get to the elevator pitch, 271 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 3: I was thinking of like three different ways of categorizing 272 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 3: mad slasher villains in movies like this. One is the 273 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 3: question we already addressed of is there a motive or not? 274 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 3: Sometimes the motive of the slasher is like revenge or something, 275 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 3: and other times there is no motive. This is a 276 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 3: case of no motive, firmly on the random violence into 277 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 3: the scale. 278 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, this is on the Halloween end of the spectrum, 279 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 2: as opposed to say the burning or Nightmare on Elm Street, 280 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 2: where there is some symbolans of vengeance bound up in 281 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 2: the motives of the killer. 282 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, or the original Friday the thirteenth. 283 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that's right. I kind of forget 284 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 2: because he kind of becomes just a mindless killing machine 285 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 2: and the franchise later on, certainly by the time he 286 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 2: takes Manhattan. 287 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Okay, that's criteria number one. Criterion number two 288 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 3: is the form, the form and costuming of the slasher villain. 289 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 3: Do they wear a mask or are they physically altered 290 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 3: in some way this case, no, he's just Georgie Sman. No, 291 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 3: no makeup, no mask, no nothing. He's just a guy. 292 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 2: Yeah. 293 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 3: I mean an interesting looking guy, but just a guy. 294 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 2: Yeah. For much of it, Like he's just wearing like 295 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 2: jeans and a shirt. Like, he's just wearing like and 296 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 2: I'd assume he's just normal clothes. Okay. 297 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 3: Third distinction I would make is is this mad slasher 298 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 3: the beneficiary of any kind of supernatural intervention or magic? 299 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 3: And in this case, I would say, once again, no, 300 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 3: this is a super powered slasher. But it's not like 301 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 3: in the later Halloween sequels where we discover that Michael 302 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 3: Myers is some kind of like reincarnated Celtic deity or something. No, 303 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 3: he's just a guy, except we get a science fiction 304 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 3: explanation for why he is so strong and why bullets 305 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 3: do not stop him. It's it's because he was the 306 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 3: result of some experiment in a lab or. I think 307 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 3: they say there was a contamination. They don't get deep 308 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 3: into the explanation. But he is a product of science, 309 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 3: not magic. 310 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, The explanation is a little garble. There's some 311 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 2: contradictions there we'll get into, but essentially it's like a 312 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 2: weapons X program. He has a mutant healing factor. It's 313 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 2: explicitly stated. He's kind of like the Italian or I 314 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 2: guess the Greek saber tooth here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 315 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 3: So I feel like all three of these distinctions push 316 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 3: it more into the philosophical absurdism side of the scale, right, 317 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 3: that he is just a man like he's not physically 318 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 3: represented in any unusual way, that his motives are non existent, 319 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 3: it's just random, and that there is no magic or 320 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 3: supernatural intervention of any kind. He's just a product of 321 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 3: a science experiment gone wrong. 322 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 2: Well, building on that and in lieu of an actual 323 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 2: elevator pitch, I'm going to read a quote from Albert 324 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 2: Camu the myth of Sisyphus. Thus, I draw from the 325 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 2: absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and 326 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:21,879 Speaker 2: my passion. Bravo wow, I mean it is revolting. So, 327 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 2: and I think we're gonna we're gonna skip trailer audio 328 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 2: on this one. In part because the trailer is just 329 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 2: music and screaming. I believe, oh yeah, I would be 330 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 2: inclined to include it if we had a narrator saying absurd, 331 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 2: but they don't. 332 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 3: I'm going to go on record here and say, even 333 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 3: for horror movies, I do not like trailers that are 334 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 3: just full of screaming. Not a fan. I like a 335 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 3: narrator or at least some clips of dialogue and ominous music. 336 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 3: This is the screaming. Save it for the climax of 337 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 3: the film. I'm I'm not interested in hearing just three 338 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 3: minutes of screaming to preview a movie. 339 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,560 Speaker 2: Absolutely all right. So if at this point you're like, okay, 340 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 2: and I do actually want to watch Absurd before finishing 341 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 2: this episode, well, then more power to you. Now. The 342 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 2: thing is Absurd has circulated under various titles and with 343 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:13,119 Speaker 2: various cuts for a long time. The region free severin 344 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 2: Films BLU ray is hard to beat, though, featuring both 345 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 2: the original Italian cut that comes in at eighty eight 346 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 2: minutes and the uncensored US cut, which comes in at 347 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 2: ninety four minutes. The discs also features a handful of 348 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 2: informative interviews which I'll refer back to, and it has 349 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 2: the whole the entire score on CD as a bonus disc. Now, 350 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 2: if you are not into the physical media, you don't 351 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 2: have access to it, don't have time, and so forth. 352 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,360 Speaker 2: You can also stream the US cut and it has 353 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 2: the box art for the Severeign release, so I guess 354 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 2: it's connected to that. You can stream it on TOV currently, 355 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 2: at least in the United States. I own the disc. 356 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 2: It's great. I think once I'm done with it, I'm 357 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 2: going to be donating it to Videodrome here in Atlanta, 358 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 2: so if you're local, you can rent the disc there. 359 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:06,879 Speaker 2: All right, let's get into the folks who made this film, 360 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 2: starting at the top with the director, the producer, and 361 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 2: the cinematographer. It's Joe Tomato, who lived nineteen thirty six 362 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 2: through nineteen ninety nine, a truly legendary name in the 363 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 2: realm of Italian exploitation and trash cinema. We have mentioned 364 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 2: him numerous times on the show, often in connection to 365 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 2: other actors who are working in eurocinema or in Italian cinema, 366 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 2: sometimes also for things that he did besides directing. For instance, 367 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 2: he was at least one of the producers on troll Too. 368 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 3: Was he involved at all in Shocking Dark? 369 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 2: You know, I don't think he was, but we will 370 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 2: have a Shocking Dark connection here in just a bit. Okay. So, 371 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 2: Joe Tomato is one of the many monikers that he 372 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 2: used for his directorial work over the years. It's just 373 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 2: the one that seemed to stick the most. But his 374 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 2: birth name was Artista day Masa Chesi. We're going to 375 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 2: keep referring to him as Joe Tomato though. So Joe 376 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 2: Tomano did everything in film at one point or another, 377 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 2: in part because, you know, based on an interview, the 378 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 2: interviews that I've seen with him, in interviews with George Eastman, 379 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 2: who worked with him multiple times, he's a guy who 380 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 2: loves cinema and you know, love the craft of cinema. Anyway, 381 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 2: I think he often said that he was not an 382 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 2: artist and did not see himself as an artist, but 383 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,359 Speaker 2: he clearly, like you know it, was really into the 384 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 2: craft of making films and all. But also he was 385 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:29,400 Speaker 2: notoriously cheap and was generally operating on a shoe string budget. 386 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 2: You know, make it fast, make it cheap. Eastman has 387 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 2: pointed out in interviews that like if they could do 388 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: it with one take. They would do it with one take, 389 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,159 Speaker 2: you know. And he wasn't the type of director to 390 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 2: instruct the actors at all. So if it was a 391 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,159 Speaker 2: good actor, you know, you might get a good performance. 392 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,640 Speaker 2: If they were green, it was going to be as 393 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:49,879 Speaker 2: green as it came out, you know. It just wasn't 394 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 2: his thing, Eastman says, And to instruct and build upon 395 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 2: the performance. 396 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 3: One take, that's what I love that. That's like the 397 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,640 Speaker 3: ed would rule, right, you know, why do it again 398 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 3: when it's perfect? 399 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, And we've got to We've got to crank 400 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 2: this out, you know. Yea. So yeah. These were the 401 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 2: defining qualities of his work, you know, is that he 402 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 2: really loved the craft. He wanted to do everything, and 403 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 2: he wanted to do it cheap. But he was also 404 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 2: said to be pretty easy going, humorous about his productions, 405 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 2: gave collaborators room to do their thing, but would, as 406 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 2: Eastman put it, far, rather do ten cheap films than 407 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 2: one film with a bigger budget. De Motto himself for Variety, 408 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean demto himself would say, like the 409 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,239 Speaker 2: pay is the same, Why would I do that one 410 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 2: big film and put all that work into it. I'll 411 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 2: just do ten cheap films and it'll be the same 412 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 2: for me at the end of the day. Wow. Now 413 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 2: he's been observed that this this also really held him 414 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 2: back because he thinks that Dematto could have had more 415 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,159 Speaker 2: success if he'd specialized as a producer and as a 416 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 2: cinematographer and like let other people direct. But he kept 417 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 2: on directing, and when the demand for Italian genre films 418 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 2: went south, he worked on what was internationally marketable, and 419 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:00,719 Speaker 2: that's something to keep mine with a lot of these 420 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 2: films like this, this film in particular, it was not 421 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 2: really made for Italian audiences. I think it did, you know, 422 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 2: show in theaters very briefly. It was mostly to be 423 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 2: shipped out to other markets in various cuts, And when 424 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 2: the demand for those sorts of films went away, it meant, 425 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 2: you know, he had to turn to other things that 426 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 2: were internationally marketable, which meant mostly adult films. But during 427 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 2: his prime he shot pretty much everything, like every type 428 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 2: of B movie anyway, from you know, from gladiator flicks 429 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 2: to post apocalyptic gladiator flicks. And there's a lot of 430 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 2: garbage in there, to be sure, But if the various 431 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 2: video nasties and cult classics worth mentioning. Here you have 432 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 2: the likes of seventy three's Death Smiles and a Murderer 433 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 2: seventy nine Beyond the Darkness. Oh and also there's a 434 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 2: tour the Fighting Eagle that one. I believe that that 435 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 2: or one of the a tour films was featured on 436 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 2: the Mystery Science Theater three thousand, twenty twenty Texas. Gladiators 437 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 2: and Endgame from eighty three also very Emmanuel films in 438 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 2: the erotic genre. In nineteen eighty he collaborated with George 439 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 2: Eastman on the film and Throwpophagus, the predecessor to this film, 440 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 2: and it was enough of a hit internationally that they 441 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 2: came back for a kind of spiritual sequel, spiritual successor, 442 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 2: and that is this film absurd. 443 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,479 Speaker 3: That is one I've heard warnings about, even from people 444 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 3: who are like hardened low budget gory horror movie fans. 445 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 3: They're like, that one is disgusting. 446 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,119 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's gross, it's you know, it's it's shot 447 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 2: in grease. That it's very really grimy. So it does 448 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 2: have Eastman as the villain, as the cannibalistic monster, though 449 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 2: in that film he has like a bald cap and 450 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 2: some monster makeup on, and that film famously ends with 451 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 2: the monster being like partially disemboweled, and then Eastman's character 452 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 2: pulls out his own guts and takes a big bite 453 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 2: out of them and dies. So that's that's the kind 454 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 2: of film it is. And it had various titles as 455 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,879 Speaker 2: where like like the Grim Reaper. 456 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 3: And so forth, and they're like, for absurd, what if 457 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 3: you take the ending of that movie and start there exactly? 458 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's essentially what they do. We have a fun, 459 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 2: fun callback to that disemboweling sequence, all right. Yeah, getting 460 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 2: to the star, we lveray talked about him a little bit, 461 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 2: but Georgie'sman born nineteen forty two still with us as 462 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 2: of this recording. Not only does he play our central 463 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,719 Speaker 2: monster who this is one of those films where this 464 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,200 Speaker 2: character has both a first and last name in the credits, 465 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 2: which is ridiculous. Mikos Stinopolis. Never is I think either 466 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 2: name referred to? 467 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 3: No, they do? 468 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,360 Speaker 2: They do? Do they? When they refer to Mikos Stanopolis, 469 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:44,120 Speaker 2: where the. 470 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 3: Detective is, oh, I can't wait to talk about him. 471 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,199 Speaker 3: But the detective is interviewing the Greek priest who you 472 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 3: don't know was a priest at this point, and they're 473 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 3: talking about the killer. They say his name is whatever, 474 00:25:55,840 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 3: Mikos or Nicos, Stenopolis, whichever it is, and so they 475 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 3: say his last name. But it's not the only time 476 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 3: we have a slasher movie villain with the first and 477 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 3: last name. I admit it also did sound funny here, 478 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 3: But then I thought, wait a minute, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, 479 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 3: Freddy Krueger, we know their first and last names. Why 480 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 3: does it feel weird here? I'm not sure, but it 481 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 3: did feel really funny when we got his whole name. 482 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 3: It just seems like a character who should not have 483 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 3: a name or something, or you wouldn't know what his 484 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 3: name was. They would just call him the being or something. 485 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:33,480 Speaker 3: And yeah, it also I think is especially funny because 486 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 3: it's George Eastman, and something about the way George Eastman 487 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 3: looks in this movie is corrupted by knowing that he 488 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 3: has a full name. Does that make any sense? 489 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, so obviously the name George Eastman is also 490 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 2: a moniker. This is the stage name, one of many 491 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 2: stage names about ultimately the one that's stuck for Luigi Montefiori, 492 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 2: and he is but He's always going to be George Eastman. 493 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 2: This is the name that's going to be written in 494 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 2: b movie lore forever. And you just have to see 495 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 2: him to know what we're talking about. He pops up 496 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 2: in a lot of things, Spaghetti western, certainly at first, 497 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 2: horror films, post apocalyptic pictures. At least in his prime 498 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 2: he was he was at least six ' six, but 499 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,600 Speaker 2: I've also seen him promoted as six ' nine. It's 500 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 2: sometimes hard to tell and show business how tall someone 501 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 2: actually is, but very tall. Man looks very tall on 502 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 2: the screen, lean but muscular, you know, handsome guy. But 503 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:41,639 Speaker 2: also there's like a fairal you know, like in quality. 504 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 2: You know, there's a lean and hungry look to him 505 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,360 Speaker 2: that he's that allows him to like naturally lean into 506 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 2: villain and heavy rolls. 507 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,679 Speaker 3: He does not look trustworthy. He has a face that 508 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 3: looks like a like a predatory mammal kind of wolfin. 509 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so you know that's what you get Oodlezov 510 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 2: in this film. But he was in a lot of stuff. 511 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 2: We already mentioned eighty six's Hand of Steel, Hands of Steel. 512 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 2: He was also in let's see nineteen ninety The Bronx Warriors. 513 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 2: Then there's twenty nineteen, after the fall of New York 514 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 2: Blast Fighter Rabid Dogs. He had attended film school and 515 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 2: his acting credits go back at least in nineteen sixty six, 516 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,719 Speaker 2: but he also wrote screenplays, and if I remember correctly 517 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 2: from past interviews I've watched, he was sometimes asked to 518 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 2: work over bad scripts and make them like at least 519 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,160 Speaker 2: less bad. And De Motto and Eastman first worked together 520 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 2: on Cormac of the Mounties from nineteen seventy five. This 521 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 2: is a film where the lead actor apparently rejected the 522 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 2: existing screenplay, but it was but after they had already 523 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 2: set the shooting schedule for the picture based on the 524 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 2: old script, and so Eastman had to be brought in 525 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 2: to write a brand new script to please the lead 526 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 2: but also appease the shooting schedule that was already agreed upon, 527 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 2: and it ended up at least working to some degree. 528 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 2: So this led to an extended writer director partnership on 529 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 2: various exploitation films, some of them really grimy in various countries, 530 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 2: including the aforementioned Greek cannibal film, in which Eastman starred 531 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 2: and also was the writer. And yeah, that was enough 532 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 2: of a success. They came back and made this film. 533 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 2: Eastman went on to direct the nineteen ninety film Metamorphosis, 534 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 2: but quit acting around the same time to focus on 535 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 2: his screenwriting, and apparently enjoyed a fair amount of success 536 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 2: writing for higher budget Italian television projects. He also had 537 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 2: a couple of There are also a couple of non 538 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 2: exploitation acting credits worth mentioning in his filmography. He played 539 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 2: the minotaur in nineteen sixty nine's Fellini Satirricon, and he 540 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 2: plays the giant Goliath in the nineteen eighty five Biblical 541 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 2: epic King David, starring Richard gear. 542 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 3: Hmm, I wonder if they reused because David's got a 543 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 3: Chopcali It's head off. I wonder if they reused the 544 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 3: head prop from absurd in. 545 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 2: That I don't know. I was wondering whatever happened to 546 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 2: the head prop from here, Like, I hope somebody has it. 547 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 2: It could go for a pretty penny on the open, 548 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 2: you know, exploitation fan cinema market. 549 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 3: So we already mentioned earlier that this is a slasher 550 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 3: movie villain who does not wear a mask or any 551 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,479 Speaker 3: special makeup. He's just a guy. And I think it 552 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 3: was before we started recording that we were talking about 553 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 3: actors who can actors who can pull this off where 554 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 3: just their their unmodified look is enough to be a 555 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 3: movie monster. You know, you got Tour Johnson, And of 556 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 3: course sometimes they would give him like contacts in his 557 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 3: eyes or something, but you know, mostly unmodified look can 558 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 3: be a monster. You got Tour, you got George Eastman. 559 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 3: I know there are other people like this, but I, 560 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 3: you know, I sometimes I kind of wonder, like, what 561 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 3: did that feel like for these actors like tor and that, 562 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 3: Like I can be a movie monster without changing the 563 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 3: way I look. 564 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 2: It's interesting, you know. One, this is a a very 565 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 2: strange comparison to make because we're talking about just an 566 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 2: entirely different stratosphere of acting ability. But I also can't 567 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 2: help but think of Anthony Hopkins in the Silence of 568 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 2: the Lambs. You know, they definitely, you know, they definitely 569 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 2: use makeup on him, but it's not monster makeup, and 570 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: a whole lot of it. Of course, hinges on Hopkins' 571 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 2: fabulous performance in that film. Yeah, he is a tremendous actor, 572 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 2: but he is just he is a monster, and you 573 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 2: buy it completely in that film with minimal I would 574 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 2: say as far as monster makeup goes minimal makeup effects 575 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 2: to make it come of the life. 576 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 3: I also realized there's a fairly i think famous image 577 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 3: of George Eastman doing this absolutely satanic grin as he 578 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 3: like looks down at something, and that comes from this movie, 579 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 3: in the scene where he is putting a bandsaw to 580 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 3: illicit use. 581 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, he doesn't maintain this energy throughout the entire performance, 582 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,360 Speaker 2: but in key moments it really pops. Yeah. All right, 583 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 2: let's get into the church and state elements of the picture, 584 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 2: because we got it. We already mentioned the claret who 585 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 2: is chasing after our killer, and then of course we 586 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 2: also have to have some local law enforcement. The priest 587 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 2: who's discredited as father is played by Edmund Perdome, who 588 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,719 Speaker 2: of nineteen twenty six through two thousand and nine English 589 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 2: born Italian actor with extensive stage credits on Broadway and 590 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 2: in the Royal Shakespeare Theater. Apparently, he had a leading 591 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 2: role in the nineteen fifty four twentieth century Fox epic 592 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 2: The Egyptian and was also in fifty three's Julius Caesar. 593 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 2: He worked steadily in various Italian and euro genre pictures, 594 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 2: including Pieces twenty nineteen. After the Fall of New York, 595 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 2: a tour night Child from seventy five, and in nineteen 596 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,920 Speaker 2: eighty four he directed and starred in the British horror 597 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 2: film Don't Open Till Christmas. 598 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 3: I think what they were going for with this guy 599 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 3: in Absurd is Greek Gregory Peck. Yeah, so he's playing 600 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 3: a Greek priest character. And certainly I think there are 601 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 3: elements of Doctor Loomis from Halloween in the here too, 602 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 3: but I think they're also trying to get a bit 603 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 3: of the the Gregory Peck vibe from the Omen and 604 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 3: it helps that Edmund Purdham looks a decent amount like 605 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 3: Gregory Peck. 606 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he does. And this is I think probably 607 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 2: the best actor in the picture. I don't know how 608 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 2: much evidence of that we see. I don't see if 609 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 2: this is not a picture that really asked much of 610 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 2: the actors present, But you know, he does bring a 611 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 2: silent dignity to his scenes as much as is as 612 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 2: possible in a Joe Tomato picture. And in interviews, Eastman 613 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 2: spoke highly of him, saying that you know, they were 614 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 2: surprised they were able to get him for the picture, 615 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 2: for a picture like this, and they pointed out that 616 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 2: he's one of those actors that took his craft so 617 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 2: so seriously and was so professional that you know, he 618 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 2: was just super professional on set, even in a low 619 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 2: budget genre piece like this. Like we've heard similar things 620 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 2: about like say Peter Cushing for example. 621 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, almost nobody in this movie has really given 622 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 3: much of a chance to actually act. He may get 623 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,839 Speaker 3: the most opportunity of anyone. There are other actors who 624 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 3: get the idea that if they had a role to 625 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,560 Speaker 3: do something with, they might be quite good. I kind 626 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 3: of felt that about Hanya Kochansky, but she who plays 627 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 3: the mom in the family. But again, you know, this 628 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,760 Speaker 3: is not a movie that's written for dramatic performances, right. 629 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,359 Speaker 2: Right, Oh yeah, the law end of the spectrum here. 630 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:37,600 Speaker 2: Charles Burromo plays Sergeant Ben Engelman. He lived nineteen thirty 631 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 2: three through two thousand and seven. Scottish actor who worked extensively, 632 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 2: if not exclusively, in Italian cinema and in Italy based productions. 633 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 2: He also did English voice dubbing. He does appear in 634 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,200 Speaker 2: Lady Hawk as insane prisoner. 635 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 3: I thought this guy was and this sort of is 636 00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 3: a class of actor, if you know what I mean. 637 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 3: Rob the kind of actor who reminds you of about 638 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 3: fifteen other different actors, you know, who keeps giving you 639 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 3: notes of like, oh here, he's kind of reminding me 640 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 3: of so and so. I would say the two most 641 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 3: prominent likenesses for me were Robin Williams and Darren McGavin. 642 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,279 Speaker 3: But like a haggard Robin Williams. 643 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that works. Yeah, Yeah, he is very haggard. 644 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:25,879 Speaker 2: He's one of the stereotypical horror film police chief type 645 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 2: character who is just really tired, but also only devoted 646 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 2: to clearing cases. That's all he cares about. 647 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, though I think he's also prone to 648 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 3: taking it too personal. 649 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 2: If you know what you mean. Yeah. Now you mentioned 650 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 2: Hanya Kochanski playing the mom. She plays Carol Bennett. So 651 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,320 Speaker 2: the Bennetts are like the key threatened family in the picture. Yeah. 652 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,879 Speaker 2: So she plays Carol Bennett, the mom and her two 653 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 2: of her real life children play the daughter Katya and 654 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:01,840 Speaker 2: the son Willie. So it's really interesting when I was 655 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 2: looking into this. So she is a former like Croatian singer, 656 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 2: model and actress, just a handful of credits, but she 657 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 2: was married at one point to American actor who worked 658 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 2: extensively in europroductions. William Berger. We talked about him in 659 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,560 Speaker 2: our discussion of the nineteen eighty three Hercules film. He 660 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 2: plays King Minos in that. And so the two kids 661 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 2: in this, one of them is is Burger's biological son 662 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 2: with Kochanski, and the other child, the older child, he 663 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 2: was her stepfather. So yeah, the children Katya Berger and 664 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:46,720 Speaker 2: Kazimir Berger. Katya born nineteen sixty six, Kazimir born nineteen 665 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 2: seventy four. And as I was looking, I saw that, okay, 666 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,920 Speaker 2: she's apparently a singer. Maybe I can find some information 667 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 2: about her singing career. So I was doing some searches 668 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 2: on her name and I ended up running across something 669 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 2: on the UK's National Portrait Gallery. And it turns out 670 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 2: there are a series of nude portraits that photographs that 671 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 2: were taken by Russian born fine art photographer Idakar, who 672 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 2: have nineteen oh eight through nineteen seventy four. And in 673 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,920 Speaker 2: these photos, which you know, very tasteful, you know, art photography, 674 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,839 Speaker 2: here we have Hanya and she is pregnant with her son, Kasimir, 675 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 2: the boy in this film at the time, and in 676 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,120 Speaker 2: one of the pictures Katya is also present. 677 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:34,440 Speaker 3: I would not have expected absurd to have, you know, 678 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 3: like one degree connections to fine art photography. 679 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. And then on Getty Images, I found some images 680 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,960 Speaker 2: from the opening of a presentation of these images, and 681 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,399 Speaker 2: here we are. There's Hanya and her son Kazimir from 682 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,720 Speaker 2: twenty eleven. So here's the little boy from this picture 683 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 2: as a grown man. 684 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,640 Speaker 3: Well, this is so sweet. Mother and son here pictured 685 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,279 Speaker 3: in twenty eleven. They both look very proud stand by 686 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 3: the photos. I guess this is it some kind of 687 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 3: gallery showing or something. Yeah, yeah, so that's great. But 688 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,640 Speaker 3: I have to say this is the case always pretty 689 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 3: much in Italian movies of this period, if they have 690 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 3: a child character, the dubbing is so creepy. And the 691 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 3: same thing here, the dubbing of this kid's voice, the 692 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 3: son Willie, the character in the movie, it's so unwholesome. 693 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,960 Speaker 3: I don't know how to explain. I don't know in 694 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 3: this case if it was dubbed by an adult. It 695 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 3: may have actually been dubbed by a child voice actor. 696 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 3: I don't know if it was Casimir himself. But why 697 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,600 Speaker 3: is it that the dubbed voices of children in these 698 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,480 Speaker 3: movies just always sounds so wrong? 699 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:42,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think they are often done by 700 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,080 Speaker 2: like adult women, as is the case of the House 701 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 2: by the Cemetery, so similar vibe here. Also generally, you know, 702 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,360 Speaker 2: with child actors in general, I mean there's sometimes a 703 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 2: certain there's they are children. Yeah, sometimes there's just kind 704 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 2: of a wild element too. So you know, you have 705 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,279 Speaker 2: a kid in this picture, you're maybe getting one or 706 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,280 Speaker 2: two takes and then you're having somebody dub the voice. 707 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,799 Speaker 2: So the boy does feel a little bit almost fair 708 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 2: all at times in this picture. 709 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to watch the game. Oh we haven't 710 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:15,879 Speaker 3: even talked about the game yet. 711 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,399 Speaker 2: They can't wait to get to the case about the game. 712 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 2: The dad, Ian Bennett is played by not William Berger, 713 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,960 Speaker 2: but an actor by the name of William of Ian Dandy. 714 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 2: And yeah, he just had some minor parts in a 715 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,320 Speaker 2: few different Italian productions and did some English language translation 716 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 2: on some pictures. 717 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 3: So the actor is named Ian, the character is named Ian, 718 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,120 Speaker 3: but in this movie he is referred to by at 719 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 3: least one other character as Ion. 720 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,759 Speaker 2: All right, three victims to profile here really quickly. I'll 721 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:51,040 Speaker 2: try and streamline these a bit. We have Annie Bella 722 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 2: playing Emily, the nurse she lived nineteen fifty six through 723 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,399 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four French actress with a at the time 724 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,440 Speaker 2: distinctive shortcut blonde hair style that work and a lot 725 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:05,680 Speaker 2: of Italian erotic and exploitation films before I believe if 726 00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 2: I'm reading correctly, earned a degree and ended up going 727 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 2: into social work. Her films include nineteen eighty's House on 728 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:13,880 Speaker 2: the Edge of the Park in nineteen seventy six Is 729 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 2: Black Velvet. Then we also have Peggy the Babysitter, played 730 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 2: by Cindy Leadbetter, American model and actress whose credits include 731 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,120 Speaker 2: seventy eight, Star Crash, nineteen eighty four's Rats, Night of Terror, 732 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:25,719 Speaker 2: and The Adventures of Hercules. 733 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,360 Speaker 3: Wait, was was George Eastman in Star Crash? If not? 734 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:31,399 Speaker 3: Why not? They could have used him? 735 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 2: I know, yeah, if he's not in there, a missed opportunity. 736 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 2: And then finally, I'm not going to go into the 737 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:39,920 Speaker 2: depth lines. We'll come back to this guy when we 738 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:44,479 Speaker 2: look at one of his pictures. But Mikaelay Suave born 739 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,760 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty seven plays a biker in this, a biker 740 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 2: who is brutally murdered by George Eaestman. This is the 741 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,319 Speaker 2: man who would go on to direct such films as 742 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,120 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine's The Church and nineteen ninety four Cemetery Man. 743 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,200 Speaker 2: At this time, he was just an up and coming 744 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,880 Speaker 2: a young man who just wanted to be involved in films. 745 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 2: And if you were, if you had this kind of 746 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,280 Speaker 2: enthusiasm and you didn't mind not being paid, Joe Tomato 747 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,839 Speaker 2: was here for you. And so Joe Tomato is one 748 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,200 Speaker 2: of several different directors that he worked with early on, 749 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 2: including others included like Dario Argento and the Burgo Bava, 750 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,440 Speaker 2: And of course he'd also gone to work some with 751 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 2: Terry Gilliam. So just kind of a fun little ultimately 752 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:28,640 Speaker 2: a cameo. We get to see Suave and his motorbike 753 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 2: in this picture. 754 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,880 Speaker 3: He's one of a gang of motorcycling youths that feel 755 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 3: almost quite lightly directed. 756 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,600 Speaker 2: Yes, all right, and then finally the music here is. 757 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 2: It's another score by Carlo Maria Cordillo born nineteen fifty two. 758 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:48,439 Speaker 2: We talked about him recently because he did the score 759 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:49,360 Speaker 2: for Shocking Dark. 760 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 3: Ah. Okay, there you go. 761 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:52,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm not going to go into the full 762 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,440 Speaker 2: profile on him, but I will say that the I 763 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,359 Speaker 2: think the score for Absurd is a lot of fun, 764 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 2: you got some synth, you got some prog rock elements. 765 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:05,279 Speaker 2: You can find the track Absurd on streaming currently. This 766 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:09,280 Speaker 2: one starts off with kind of like a wonderful, atmospheric 767 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 2: kind of vibe and you know it very ambient, but 768 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,520 Speaker 2: then you know, get some organs thrown in there before 769 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:20,880 Speaker 2: transitioning into this heavy, overly dramatic prog rock build towards 770 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 2: obvious on screen violence. 771 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,280 Speaker 3: The use of music in the movie is occasionally funny 772 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 3: because of the way it pairs this soft, melancholy melody 773 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:38,200 Speaker 3: with George Eastman just wandering around at night looking for victims. Yeah, 774 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:40,800 Speaker 3: Like it makes it almost kind of like, oh the sadness, 775 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 3: he's so lonely. 776 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,440 Speaker 2: The sever in Blu Ray, as I mentioned, includes the 777 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,600 Speaker 2: whole score as a CD bonus disc, and then the 778 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,799 Speaker 2: excellent Death Waltz Record Company put the score out on 779 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:56,360 Speaker 2: a beautiful double vinyl back in twenty fifteen, with this 780 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:01,279 Speaker 2: really grotesque and beautiful bit of cover art by Wes 781 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 2: ben Scotter, combining two of the grisliest moments in the film. 782 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:06,000 Speaker 2: Oh You're right. 783 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,800 Speaker 3: So here we have George Eastman with his guts hanging 784 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 3: out and he his intestines are spelling the word absurd. 785 00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:14,000 Speaker 2: Beautiful. Wait beautiful? 786 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 3: Did we look at the I think Severn Films also 787 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 3: puts out a sticker of George Eastman with his guts 788 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,479 Speaker 3: hanging out, but in the sticker they're spelling chow. 789 00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 2: Also brilliant. Also brilliant. 790 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:36,479 Speaker 3: All right, you ready to talk about the plot, let's 791 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:38,960 Speaker 3: do it. So after the credits we get a montage 792 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,960 Speaker 3: of different opening images. First of all, we see some 793 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,800 Speaker 3: action inside a house. There is a young woman tracing 794 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:49,319 Speaker 3: out circles on drafting paper with a compass tool. So 795 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,400 Speaker 3: she you know, she's got one of those, it's like 796 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,040 Speaker 3: the spike and the pencil attaches, so she's she's making 797 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:58,279 Speaker 3: perfect circles on paper. But she's actually lying in a 798 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,200 Speaker 3: hospital bed, and so she what she's drawing on is 799 00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,319 Speaker 3: like this pad that sort of set up over her 800 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,480 Speaker 3: hospital bed. And she's in a room in a large house, 801 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,400 Speaker 3: restrained to the cot with straps and some kind of 802 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,200 Speaker 3: brace around her neck, jaw and chin. I guess we 803 00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,560 Speaker 3: could go ahead and mention the house and the other 804 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:17,280 Speaker 3: people present. 805 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:18,920 Speaker 2: So this is sort of. 806 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,680 Speaker 3: The house the villa that we were alluding to earlier. 807 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 3: That is big full of open spaces. I think is 808 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:28,640 Speaker 3: supposed to be an American home, but it's this strange, 809 00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 3: huge Italian mansion with suits of armor and roaring fireplaces 810 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:38,839 Speaker 3: and stuff, but also just weird, as I said, kind 811 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 3: of squalid touches. 812 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:40,520 Speaker 2: Like the. 813 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:45,279 Speaker 3: Dad's liquor collection we see later is like up on 814 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 3: a mantle over a fireplace, and it just looks like 815 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,040 Speaker 3: a dorm room stash. I don't know. 816 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was like, I haven't seen this before. Am 817 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,120 Speaker 2: I supposed to be doing it like this? Should I 818 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:56,960 Speaker 2: have a mantle for my liquor bottles? 819 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,320 Speaker 3: So anyway, the girl in the hospital is named Katya. 820 00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:06,080 Speaker 3: She is in traction to treat a spinal disorder. Her 821 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:10,160 Speaker 3: mother is Carol, her little brother is Willie, and their 822 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:15,600 Speaker 3: babysitter is Peggy. Now, meanwhile, somewhere else outdoors, someone is 823 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 3: running in the woods. Why that's George Eastman running through 824 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:23,120 Speaker 3: the woods. He's looking massive, shaggy, covered in sweat. He's 825 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,560 Speaker 3: got the beard, long hair and with the beard in 826 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,600 Speaker 3: the mop like haircut, he looks kind of like a 827 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 3: giant seventies era beetle or maybe one of the begs. 828 00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:36,799 Speaker 2: Do you see that? Yeah, he looks like like the 829 00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:38,160 Speaker 2: scariest dude in the disco. 830 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, killer Beji, And he is being chased through 831 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,040 Speaker 3: the forest by an older man in a black trench coat. 832 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,160 Speaker 3: They're going to play up a mid story reveal that 833 00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:53,520 Speaker 3: the guy chasing George Eastman is actually done Dundune a priest. 834 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,520 Speaker 3: They show that by ripping open his coat and revealing 835 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,239 Speaker 3: the clerical collar. But I got that he was a 836 00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 3: priest from the very first time we saw him. I 837 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 3: don't know, He's like he's dressed in all black and 838 00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:05,680 Speaker 3: his collar is hidden. There's like, you know, coming up 839 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,440 Speaker 3: his neck. This was never in doubt for me. Did 840 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:09,160 Speaker 3: you feel the same? 841 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 2: Yeah? And plus he also he doesn't pull out a 842 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,880 Speaker 2: gun or anything, right, So yeah, he doesn't seem like 843 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,160 Speaker 2: he's law enforcement. Why are you chasing an adman? 844 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:19,759 Speaker 3: Yeah? So, but also the priest, he sort of he 845 00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:22,360 Speaker 3: clutches at his chest as he runs, so it's like 846 00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:24,919 Speaker 3: he's not cut out. He's not cut out for this. Now, 847 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,719 Speaker 3: back at the house, the mom comes into Kachia's room 848 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:31,960 Speaker 3: and sees her drawing circles upon circles with her compass 849 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 3: and encourages her to do something else. It's like, oh, Katya, 850 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,719 Speaker 3: you're you're making drawing hundreds of circles? Again, wouldn't you 851 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:43,200 Speaker 3: rather watch television or something? And I was wondering, does 852 00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,480 Speaker 3: this ever pay off in any way or do we 853 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:48,359 Speaker 3: get any kind of explanation about it? I know there 854 00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:52,280 Speaker 3: is a payoff with the compass tool, like a something 855 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:55,040 Speaker 3: is done with that later, But I mean the drawing 856 00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,520 Speaker 3: circles part. Is there a reason she's drawing hundreds of 857 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,160 Speaker 3: circles on top of each other? Or do the circle 858 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:02,920 Speaker 3: patterns ever connect to anything? 859 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:05,799 Speaker 2: No? I don't think. I don't think the circles actually do. 860 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,080 Speaker 2: It made me think about that moment in The Simpsons 861 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:11,359 Speaker 2: about kids being obsessed with spirographs or how they should 862 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:14,400 Speaker 2: be obsessed with spier graphs and they're not anymore. Oh yeah, 863 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,759 Speaker 2: but yeah, this doesn't quite come I guess it kind of. 864 00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:18,799 Speaker 2: I guess the idea is maybe it connects to other 865 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:23,120 Speaker 2: moments and other films where children drawing things does connect 866 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:26,239 Speaker 2: into the plot. But I kind of liked it as 867 00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:27,760 Speaker 2: texture even if it doesn't go anywhere. 868 00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:30,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well it just made me think, wait 869 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:33,680 Speaker 3: a minute, is Katya is she into geometry or is 870 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 3: she obsessed with I don't know. I don't know why 871 00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:39,680 Speaker 3: she's doing this. She likes circus, I guess so, well, 872 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:40,560 Speaker 3: who doesn't. 873 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:42,360 Speaker 2: One of the best. 874 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,000 Speaker 3: I agree. Back outside, the chase is still happening, but 875 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:51,800 Speaker 3: eventually the crypto priest chases George Eastman onto the wrought 876 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,160 Speaker 3: iron gate surrounding a big mansion, and this is the 877 00:47:55,239 --> 00:47:58,600 Speaker 3: house with the people we just saw inside it. George 878 00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,680 Speaker 3: Eastman seems to be frantic escape. I don't exactly know 879 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:04,359 Speaker 3: why he's running from the priest because, as we come 880 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,960 Speaker 3: to see, he's basically invulnerable, so he should I don't know. 881 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,400 Speaker 3: It seems like he would be doing the chasing, not 882 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:13,640 Speaker 3: the running away. But he runs away. He climbs the gate, 883 00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 3: but he falls and ends up impaling his midsection on 884 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:21,400 Speaker 3: the cold iron spikes of this gate. After this, George 885 00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:23,920 Speaker 3: Eastman what we see inside the house and there's a 886 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 3: knock on the door and the little boy goes. He's 887 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,760 Speaker 3: like hanging out with his babysitter. I think they're eating breakfast. 888 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 3: And it's sort of confusing because in this interior shot 889 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,400 Speaker 3: we see out the window and it's pitch black outside, 890 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:38,759 Speaker 3: totally dark, but it was just daylight when we were 891 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:42,640 Speaker 3: so it doesn't match. But anyway, the little boy goes 892 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:45,719 Speaker 3: to answer the door, opens it up, and oh no, 893 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:50,239 Speaker 3: here's George Eastman standing here with his intestines hanging out 894 00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:50,880 Speaker 3: of his stomach. 895 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:58,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, with eyes wide, Yeah, sweaty. It's wonderful. This is 896 00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:03,279 Speaker 2: our shocking callback to the disembowment scene at the end 897 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,840 Speaker 2: of the previous film. That is again just this is 898 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:10,400 Speaker 2: just a spiritual successor. I don't think we're to connect 899 00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:13,040 Speaker 2: these characters in any other real sense. 900 00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 3: Now, after this, we go to a surgery scene, a 901 00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:21,400 Speaker 3: long surgery scene, one of multiple and George Eastman is 902 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:24,600 Speaker 3: on a hospital. He's on a hospital bed being operated on. 903 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:29,040 Speaker 3: His intestines are still hanging out. And this scene is 904 00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:33,480 Speaker 3: an interesting mix of what feels realistic and what does not. 905 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,279 Speaker 3: So it's a full surgical setup that has a lot 906 00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:40,040 Speaker 3: of authentic looking props and apparatus. But then whenever they 907 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,120 Speaker 3: show a close up of the surgical action, which they're 908 00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:45,880 Speaker 3: going to show quite a few, the doctors and nurses 909 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,200 Speaker 3: just appear to be like poking and tossing the guts 910 00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:51,600 Speaker 3: around like they're moving food in a frying pan. 911 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're essentially just pushing around pig flesh and calentestines 912 00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:59,480 Speaker 2: here on Georgie Sman's stomach, I believe. So wow. Yeah, 913 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,000 Speaker 2: it is a mix of of something that looks real 914 00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:05,839 Speaker 2: and is reel and in some respects, but yeah, it's 915 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:06,920 Speaker 2: also like fake. 916 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:10,000 Speaker 3: Oh and Eastman wakes up during the procedure and they 917 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:11,600 Speaker 3: get him to go back to sleep. I think they, 918 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:13,439 Speaker 3: you know, give him give him higher dose. 919 00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:14,680 Speaker 1: Uh. 920 00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,759 Speaker 3: Meanwhile, elsewhere and now it's nighttime. So this is one 921 00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:20,000 Speaker 3: of those movies just cuts back and forth between day 922 00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,239 Speaker 3: and night all the time. Uh, it's nighttime and we 923 00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:27,880 Speaker 3: see bikers harassing an old man named Shaughnessy. There's this 924 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 3: old man like wandering in the middle of the street, 925 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:34,279 Speaker 3: swigging from a giant green bottle. These these young bikers 926 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:37,440 Speaker 3: circle around him and yell at him and then motor away, 927 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:40,440 Speaker 3: and then the cops come. Have a turn. A police 928 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:43,520 Speaker 3: car pulls up and we first meet our police detective 929 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:48,120 Speaker 3: Sergeant Engelman. Engleman, leaning out of a car window, says, 930 00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:50,439 Speaker 3: if I catch you drunk just once more, I'm gonna 931 00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,680 Speaker 3: have to lock you up. And Shaughnessy, in a quite 932 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:59,360 Speaker 3: unconvincing way, says, I'm not drunk, and then takes a 933 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:03,200 Speaker 3: big swig of his green bottle. But before this situation 934 00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:05,759 Speaker 3: can resolve, Ingleman gets a call on the radio that 935 00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:08,480 Speaker 3: there is a badly wounded man at the hospital, so 936 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:10,759 Speaker 3: he has to go check that out. This leads back 937 00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:13,480 Speaker 3: to more surgery. I hope you like this, there's plenty 938 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,839 Speaker 3: of it. And then after the surgery is done, one 939 00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,880 Speaker 3: of the nurses who is assisting with the procedure talks 940 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,759 Speaker 3: to the doctor. This is Emily, who we will meet 941 00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:25,640 Speaker 3: again later in the movie because she moonlights as a 942 00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,480 Speaker 3: home care nurse for the main family, taking care of 943 00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:32,920 Speaker 3: Kacia and helping with her attraction. Emily and the doctor 944 00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:35,920 Speaker 3: talk about this dude they were operating on. It's one 945 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:39,280 Speaker 3: of those I've never seen anything like it conversations. Apparently 946 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:43,000 Speaker 3: the issue is that quote his blood coagulated while I 947 00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:46,960 Speaker 3: was in the middle of operating on him. So yeah, 948 00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:49,120 Speaker 3: I don't know. His blood's clotten up really fast. 949 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:53,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of mumbo jumbo as they're describing 950 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:57,000 Speaker 2: what's up with his mutant healing factor. But it's either 951 00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,239 Speaker 2: this scene or a subsequent scene where the doctor gives 952 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 2: us the official medical diagnosis of absurd. 953 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:06,120 Speaker 3: That's right, now next, we have a scene where Sergeant 954 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,759 Speaker 3: Engleman is interviewing He's back at the house and he's 955 00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:12,279 Speaker 3: interviewing Carol the mom about the guts incident at her 956 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:15,799 Speaker 3: home earlier. He's smoking a cigarette in her living room 957 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,400 Speaker 3: with Willie on the couch next to him and gruffly 958 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:21,680 Speaker 3: explaining his guts were all destroyed. They don't think he'll 959 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:25,240 Speaker 3: pull through with the kids right there, and the mom 960 00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:27,840 Speaker 3: says she thinks that he was a thief intent on 961 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:31,440 Speaker 3: robbing the house. Engleman doesn't seem sold on that, but 962 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:33,440 Speaker 3: she also explains their plans. 963 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:33,480 Speaker 2: For the night. 964 00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:36,560 Speaker 3: This is, oh boy, this is exciting. She and her 965 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:39,560 Speaker 3: husband are going to go to a neighbor's house to 966 00:52:39,719 --> 00:52:43,920 Speaker 3: watch the game, the first of many references, and we 967 00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:47,960 Speaker 3: get evil glares from Willie during this conversation. But they're 968 00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:49,319 Speaker 3: going to Yeah, they're going to go over to the 969 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,759 Speaker 3: forest's house to watch the game. And they don't say 970 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:54,479 Speaker 3: here that they're going to eat spaghetti and watch the game, 971 00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:55,520 Speaker 3: but that is the plan. 972 00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,120 Speaker 2: Oh yes, Oh my god. This is one of my 973 00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,439 Speaker 2: favorite elements of the film. And we get this scene 974 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:05,719 Speaker 2: later on of Americans in this American home, which is 975 00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:10,240 Speaker 2: actually an Italian villa, watching American football, actual American football 976 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:13,919 Speaker 2: on the telly and chowing down on spaghetti. And it's 977 00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:17,120 Speaker 2: either one of these things that is like a fun 978 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:19,720 Speaker 2: little bit of humor that he's been in the motto 979 00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:23,200 Speaker 2: slid into the picture, or it's a complete accident it 980 00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:27,120 Speaker 2: just happenstance. In either case, it's amazing. I am not 981 00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:30,879 Speaker 2: really a football watcher a football fan, but if there 982 00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:34,520 Speaker 2: was the prospect of absurd style spaghetti and football parties, 983 00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:37,080 Speaker 2: I would be interested. Oh. 984 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:40,680 Speaker 3: Absolutely, this is an amazing party. It takes place in 985 00:53:40,719 --> 00:53:46,040 Speaker 3: this another weird interior. There's a couch that Ian ends 986 00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:48,520 Speaker 3: up sitting on later when he's brooding about the fact 987 00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:50,799 Speaker 3: that he ran over George Eastman with his car and 988 00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:51,760 Speaker 3: didn't tell anybody. 989 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:54,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 990 00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,920 Speaker 3: He's sitting there brooding on this couch. That is the 991 00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:00,720 Speaker 3: pattern on the couch. It's more ornate than any picture 992 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:05,719 Speaker 3: frame in the louver. And they're just all wolfing down 993 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:10,640 Speaker 3: spaghetti with these plates. They're standing around holding plates of 994 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:14,040 Speaker 3: spaghetti in their hands, not sitting at a table watching 995 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:19,520 Speaker 3: football and shoveling the spaghetti. It's so good. Anyway, that's later. 996 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,359 Speaker 3: The next thing that happens in the movie is that 997 00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:25,880 Speaker 3: the police find the priest, right, so you got Engleman 998 00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:28,600 Speaker 3: finds the priest who was chasing Eastman at the beginning. 999 00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:31,560 Speaker 3: He's wandering along a dark road in the night, and 1000 00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:35,000 Speaker 3: Engleman pulls up and questions him. The priest, who we're 1001 00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:37,279 Speaker 3: not supposed to know as a priest yet, claims his 1002 00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:40,839 Speaker 3: car broke down, and Engleman says, it's a good thing 1003 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:46,400 Speaker 3: you ran into me. Everyone else is watching the game tonight, oh, 1004 00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,080 Speaker 3: and he says it's Rams versus Steelers. Is that a 1005 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:53,760 Speaker 3: good game? I don't know. Is that an especially compelling game? 1006 00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:55,600 Speaker 2: I don't know in the early eighties, I don't know. 1007 00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:56,719 Speaker 2: Football fans let us know. 1008 00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:01,760 Speaker 3: So next, Engleman goes to the hospital and he finds 1009 00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:06,000 Speaker 3: Greek Drakmas in George Eastman's pants. They just bring him 1010 00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:09,600 Speaker 3: Eastman's pants and he's going through the pockets and he's 1011 00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:12,080 Speaker 3: like Drakmas and he connects that to the dude he 1012 00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:14,760 Speaker 3: just ran into who was Greek as well. It's all 1013 00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:17,160 Speaker 3: coming together now, and don't know what it means, but 1014 00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:21,680 Speaker 3: he thinks this is significant. So Engelman is talking to 1015 00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:25,600 Speaker 3: a nurse and he asks to see Eastman he can't, 1016 00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:28,840 Speaker 3: not until he's recovered, and then he asks the nurse 1017 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:33,279 Speaker 3: for a description, to which she replies, he's huge, not 1018 00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:40,560 Speaker 3: my type at all. What that's some writing. And then 1019 00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:44,040 Speaker 3: also there's an incredibly awkward flirting scene between the cop 1020 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:48,080 Speaker 3: and the nurse some inappropriate comments. He hands back George 1021 00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:50,120 Speaker 3: Eastman's pants and then leaves. 1022 00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love the handling of the pants. Here, 1023 00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:57,160 Speaker 2: these gross pants that were worn by this psychopath here 1024 00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:01,239 Speaker 2: that maybe they've been longered, hopefully they've been lunder. 1025 00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:04,200 Speaker 3: So the nurse goes back to the operating room where 1026 00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:06,680 Speaker 3: Eastman is still on the table, and like another nurse 1027 00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:08,719 Speaker 3: comes in to check on Eastman and he says, they 1028 00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:13,000 Speaker 3: indicate his blood is reproducing itself at triple the normal rate. Wow, 1029 00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:15,040 Speaker 3: that's that's a lot of blood. 1030 00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:15,480 Speaker 2: I don't know. 1031 00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:21,359 Speaker 3: Exactly, And then you know it's safe somehow. Now the 1032 00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:24,239 Speaker 3: Greek guy, the other Greek guy is here at the hospital, 1033 00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:26,840 Speaker 3: and he makes his way to the room that the 1034 00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,480 Speaker 3: cop wasn't allowed to go to, and he's looking in 1035 00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:32,840 Speaker 3: through a window in the door at Eastman and Eastman 1036 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:36,239 Speaker 3: wakes up, sees the dude and starts raging and has 1037 00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:39,040 Speaker 3: to be restrained by hospital staff until they can get 1038 00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:43,919 Speaker 3: him sedated, and this leads to two simultaneous scenes. One 1039 00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:46,840 Speaker 3: of them is the scene where Sergeant Engleman gets the 1040 00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:49,080 Speaker 3: Greek priest into a room and he interviews him about 1041 00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:52,960 Speaker 3: what's going on. He's like, so you decided to come 1042 00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,600 Speaker 3: to the hospital to get your car fixed? 1043 00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:56,399 Speaker 2: Is that it? 1044 00:56:56,840 --> 00:56:59,680 Speaker 3: What are you up to, mister? Are you responsible for 1045 00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:04,080 Speaker 3: the wounds? He's got some great delivery in here, and 1046 00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:07,319 Speaker 3: so the beginning of the explanation is coming out here. 1047 00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:10,319 Speaker 3: But meanwhile there is nurse murder going on. 1048 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:15,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a grizzly sequence, quite disturbing, with the 1049 00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:19,720 Speaker 2: shirtless Eastman emerging from the table here with the white 1050 00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:23,720 Speaker 2: sheet following off of him, grabs a surgical drill and 1051 00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:27,800 Speaker 2: uses it to slowly drill through the nurse's head, killing her, 1052 00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:30,120 Speaker 2: skewering her brain with a drill coming out on the 1053 00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:31,560 Speaker 2: other side of the head. Right. 1054 00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:33,960 Speaker 3: So the cops hear the commotion, they come running, but 1055 00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:37,120 Speaker 3: by the time they get there, the east Man is 1056 00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:39,760 Speaker 3: already gone, and instead there's just like a nurse hanging 1057 00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:42,880 Speaker 3: out dead with a drill through her head. So here 1058 00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:45,640 Speaker 3: we get the first of many scenes of George Eastman 1059 00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,120 Speaker 3: just wandering through this village in the dark, and he's 1060 00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:51,320 Speaker 3: back in his original clothes somehow, so he got his 1061 00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:54,720 Speaker 3: jeans and Charity's not in his hospital scrubs anymore. He 1062 00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:58,560 Speaker 3: walks the streets and we get this melancholy music, and 1063 00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:02,120 Speaker 3: there's more interrogation between the police and the Greek priest. 1064 00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:06,040 Speaker 3: So Engelman tries to intimidate him by he does this 1065 00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:08,920 Speaker 3: whole routine with I'm just a dumb small town cop. 1066 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:12,600 Speaker 3: You better make me understand, and the priest explains. First 1067 00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:15,080 Speaker 3: of all, he says there is a reality we do 1068 00:58:15,240 --> 00:58:19,400 Speaker 3: not see that. This does not really satisfy the cop, 1069 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:24,120 Speaker 3: and so eventually they call in the doctor who operated 1070 00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:26,440 Speaker 3: on George Eastman to help explain. So we get a 1071 00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:30,280 Speaker 3: scene of the doctor putting up putting up X rays 1072 00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:34,960 Speaker 3: of George Eastman's brain and saying it's extraordinary. I've never 1073 00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:37,560 Speaker 3: seen such an extensive cerebral mass. 1074 00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:39,920 Speaker 2: And yeah. 1075 00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:44,200 Speaker 3: So we learn his name is Nico Stenopolis or Miko Stonopolis, 1076 00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:47,880 Speaker 3: whichever it is, and he is functionally immortal. His body 1077 00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:51,360 Speaker 3: can regenerate dead cells, and his blood coagulates quickly to 1078 00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:54,760 Speaker 3: heal any wounds. We also this is the scene where 1079 00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:57,840 Speaker 3: the cop rips open the priest's coat to reveal his 1080 00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:01,960 Speaker 3: priestly collar. But the priest says, I serve God with 1081 00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:07,400 Speaker 3: biochemistry more than with rights and sermons. And apparently George 1082 00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:13,120 Speaker 3: Eastman escaped from his laboratory quote after the contamination, so 1083 00:59:13,200 --> 00:59:16,240 Speaker 3: they organized a great hunt, and that's how we got 1084 00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:19,000 Speaker 3: to where we are now. But the one piece of evidence, 1085 00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:22,680 Speaker 3: the one piece of useful information that the priest has 1086 00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:25,680 Speaker 3: is it is his brain that is his weak point. 1087 00:59:27,200 --> 00:59:29,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, this of course makes very little sense because like 1088 00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:31,560 Speaker 2: we're looking at scans at the brain and was like, oh, 1089 00:59:31,560 --> 00:59:35,000 Speaker 2: look at that cerebral mass, Like his brain is doing stuff, 1090 00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:37,600 Speaker 2: his brain's healing or he's healed wrong. But the brain 1091 00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:40,200 Speaker 2: is also the weak point. He destroyed the brain, you 1092 00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:43,760 Speaker 2: destroy the creature, which of course is true of everything. 1093 00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:47,560 Speaker 3: All right, well, this reduces very much to ramiro zombie logic. 1094 00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:48,760 Speaker 2: Yeah no. 1095 00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:52,840 Speaker 3: And also the priest says he is a creature of evil. 1096 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,920 Speaker 3: The spark of God was smothered the moment the devil 1097 00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:59,200 Speaker 3: took possession of him. I think this is just metaphorical though, 1098 00:59:59,240 --> 01:00:02,760 Speaker 3: because there's no indication of devil magic in the movie. 1099 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:05,880 Speaker 3: It's more like saying when I did these experiments on 1100 01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:09,280 Speaker 3: him and he was contaminated, that also the devil took 1101 01:00:09,360 --> 01:00:10,240 Speaker 3: possession of him. 1102 01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:16,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, also probably you know, a less effective shadow 1103 01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:19,400 Speaker 2: of some of the dialogue that we get in in 1104 01:00:19,480 --> 01:00:20,320 Speaker 2: Halloween from. 1105 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:33,040 Speaker 3: Loomis Yes, exactly. The evil has escaped, so we get 1106 01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:36,720 Speaker 3: more of the Eastman walk about the slow music, and 1107 01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:41,200 Speaker 3: eventually this leads up to him wandering into I believe, 1108 01:00:41,360 --> 01:00:44,640 Speaker 3: an abattoir where there is a guy here who's some 1109 01:00:44,720 --> 01:00:47,880 Speaker 3: kind of night janitor at the slaughterhouse, cleaning the floors, 1110 01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:53,000 Speaker 3: and Eastman first tries to attack him with a butcher knife, 1111 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:58,120 Speaker 3: but then this slaughterhouse janitor runs and retrieves a gun 1112 01:00:58,280 --> 01:01:02,360 Speaker 3: from his apron at work and tries to shoot Eastman 1113 01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:05,400 Speaker 3: but that doesn't work, and then there's a long set 1114 01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:07,480 Speaker 3: up to Eastman like putting this guy on a big 1115 01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:10,000 Speaker 3: butcher block, and then he's like, yep, gonna get you 1116 01:01:10,040 --> 01:01:12,479 Speaker 3: with the band saw right through the top of the head, 1117 01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:13,600 Speaker 3: and he does. 1118 01:01:13,560 --> 01:01:15,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, eventually does. This is a scene that manages to 1119 01:01:15,880 --> 01:01:19,880 Speaker 2: be boring and gross at the same time, but we 1120 01:01:19,920 --> 01:01:21,560 Speaker 2: do get that iconic smile. 1121 01:01:22,080 --> 01:01:24,880 Speaker 3: Oh I just made a connection. It's the Aphex Twin 1122 01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:28,320 Speaker 3: album cover. It's the George Eastman smile is quite similar. 1123 01:01:28,400 --> 01:01:31,640 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he loves his work. Then the next thing 1124 01:01:31,640 --> 01:01:33,800 Speaker 2: we get, of course, is that the biker murder that 1125 01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:37,080 Speaker 2: I think we alluded to earlier. And then so this 1126 01:01:37,160 --> 01:01:41,960 Speaker 2: is when one one of the biker gang members gets 1127 01:01:42,600 --> 01:01:47,000 Speaker 2: killed by Eastman. And then pretty much right away we 1128 01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:49,240 Speaker 2: get the hit and run out of nowhere where the 1129 01:01:49,320 --> 01:01:54,960 Speaker 2: dad accidentally clips Eastman with his car and just keep throwing. 1130 01:01:55,400 --> 01:01:57,600 Speaker 3: So eventually the dad is going to come back to 1131 01:01:57,640 --> 01:02:00,400 Speaker 3: the house that Ian or Eon will come back, and 1132 01:02:00,440 --> 01:02:02,600 Speaker 3: he's preoccupied by the fact that he did a hit 1133 01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:06,200 Speaker 3: and run on east Man, and that leads to the 1134 01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:09,160 Speaker 3: scene where he goes to his liquor collection on the mantle. 1135 01:02:09,240 --> 01:02:11,760 Speaker 3: But eventually the mom and the dad are going to 1136 01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:14,840 Speaker 3: go out to the friend's house to watch the game 1137 01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:17,640 Speaker 3: and have spaghetti, and so that leaves the kids home 1138 01:02:17,680 --> 01:02:21,400 Speaker 3: alone with first the babysitter and later the nurse, who 1139 01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:25,000 Speaker 3: will huge surprise, become the next victims of east Man. 1140 01:02:25,200 --> 01:02:28,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, because Georgie Spen is for some reason drawn back 1141 01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:30,120 Speaker 2: to this house. There's no lot reason for him to 1142 01:02:30,160 --> 01:02:32,520 Speaker 2: come back here, but he's back here to get inside 1143 01:02:32,560 --> 01:02:35,040 Speaker 2: and do murders, and I mean then and again. That's 1144 01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:36,840 Speaker 2: pretty much what the rest of the film consists of. 1145 01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:41,200 Speaker 2: Let's see some one fun little There's a scene where 1146 01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:44,640 Speaker 2: the boy is watching television. There's some really boring looking 1147 01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:50,520 Speaker 2: like living room dialogue scene that he really wants to watch, 1148 01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:53,520 Speaker 2: and the babysitter likes is done. You're done, and he 1149 01:02:53,520 --> 01:02:54,400 Speaker 2: gets a little upset. 1150 01:02:54,920 --> 01:02:56,760 Speaker 3: I thought the boy wanted to watch the game. 1151 01:02:56,880 --> 01:03:00,440 Speaker 2: Oh, really wants to watch the game. Is at some 1152 01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:04,560 Speaker 2: point watching some drama on TV and it's actually tame 1153 01:03:04,640 --> 01:03:09,919 Speaker 2: scenes from a really grimy nineteen eighty Dematto film, which 1154 01:03:09,960 --> 01:03:12,560 Speaker 2: is not a family movie. So I guess this is 1155 01:03:12,560 --> 01:03:14,640 Speaker 2: another sort of in joke from Dematto. 1156 01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:17,720 Speaker 3: So it's not an explicit scene that we're watching, but 1157 01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:20,520 Speaker 3: the joke is that this is from a Demato porn film. 1158 01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:23,960 Speaker 2: Yes, let's see from there. Yeah, we get so basically, 1159 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:26,080 Speaker 2: we're gonna get a babysitter murder, and we're then we're 1160 01:03:26,080 --> 01:03:30,120 Speaker 2: gonna get the nurse murder. The babysitter murder is one 1161 01:03:30,160 --> 01:03:33,840 Speaker 2: of these what's that sound outside? Oh, the dog got outside. Peggy, 1162 01:03:33,920 --> 01:03:36,800 Speaker 2: the babysitter goes outside and gets a pickax to the head. 1163 01:03:37,120 --> 01:03:40,200 Speaker 3: Now, this is one of those movies that would absolutely 1164 01:03:40,360 --> 01:03:44,520 Speaker 3: grotesquely violate the Gene Siskel test for movies, which is 1165 01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:48,479 Speaker 3: he could not stand movies that ever depicted children being 1166 01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:51,480 Speaker 3: in danger. For the second half of this whole movie, 1167 01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:54,760 Speaker 3: just children are constantly in danger. Fortunately, neither of the 1168 01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:57,960 Speaker 3: kids in the movie are ever harmed. They both make 1169 01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:01,080 Speaker 3: it to the end, but it's just George Eastman running 1170 01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:05,600 Speaker 3: around the house ominously threatening both of them and killing 1171 01:04:05,680 --> 01:04:08,240 Speaker 3: babysitters and nurses until the end. 1172 01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:10,880 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean de Cisco's the whole thing was like, 1173 01:04:10,920 --> 01:04:14,480 Speaker 2: it's a cheap trick. Yeah, and yes, of course, yeah, 1174 01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:19,240 Speaker 2: de Motto is going to use cheap tricks. He's cheap. Yeah, 1175 01:04:19,280 --> 01:04:21,760 Speaker 2: so yeah, it's it's it would be a solid criticism 1176 01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:22,320 Speaker 2: of this film. 1177 01:04:22,760 --> 01:04:25,840 Speaker 3: But the kids get away. Who does not escape is Emily, 1178 01:04:25,920 --> 01:04:28,360 Speaker 3: the nurse we met earlier. There's a weird scene of 1179 01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:31,520 Speaker 3: she's like wandering in the woods on the what she 1180 01:04:31,560 --> 01:04:34,480 Speaker 3: has an encounter with somebody in the woods on the way. Oh, 1181 01:04:34,520 --> 01:04:36,880 Speaker 3: it's with Shaughnessy, the drunk guy. 1182 01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,600 Speaker 2: Ye. Yes, he's like you drop this back there. 1183 01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,760 Speaker 3: But anyway, so she wait do I actually I don't 1184 01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:46,400 Speaker 3: remember now does anything happen to Shaughnessy. Does he get 1185 01:04:46,480 --> 01:04:47,320 Speaker 3: killed by Eastman? 1186 01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:49,040 Speaker 2: If he does, I don't remember it. 1187 01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:51,560 Speaker 3: I don't remember it either. If he doesn't, that would 1188 01:04:51,600 --> 01:04:54,959 Speaker 3: be an unusual choice for a film of this kind. 1189 01:04:55,080 --> 01:04:58,680 Speaker 3: I mean, the old drunk man wandering around singing in 1190 01:04:58,720 --> 01:05:02,600 Speaker 3: the dark. Is the is your classic you know murder 1191 01:05:02,680 --> 01:05:04,160 Speaker 3: victim in these slasher movies. 1192 01:05:04,320 --> 01:05:06,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like the sort of thing that might 1193 01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:07,880 Speaker 2: have been in the script, but they didn't have time 1194 01:05:07,920 --> 01:05:09,880 Speaker 2: to film it, or gotten left on the cunning room 1195 01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:12,840 Speaker 2: floor for some reason because you needed more surgery scenes. 1196 01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:13,320 Speaker 2: I don't know. 1197 01:05:14,720 --> 01:05:17,320 Speaker 3: So anyway, there is a there's a whole setup to 1198 01:05:17,360 --> 01:05:21,120 Speaker 3: another big murder scene where Eastman kills Emily, the nurse. 1199 01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:25,480 Speaker 3: This scene, this scene is so gross and dumb. 1200 01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:30,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, it takes forever, and it had it's it generally 1201 01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:34,080 Speaker 2: walks that line between just padded tedium and legitimate shock, 1202 01:05:34,200 --> 01:05:37,200 Speaker 2: like it's it's disturbing, but also it's like, man, we're 1203 01:05:37,200 --> 01:05:40,240 Speaker 2: still doing this. Let's let's get it over with here. Yeah. 1204 01:05:40,360 --> 01:05:43,240 Speaker 3: This, So the short version is that Eastman decides to 1205 01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:46,440 Speaker 3: cook her in the oven while she's still alive, but 1206 01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:49,760 Speaker 3: she somehow survives this process. And then comes back and 1207 01:05:49,840 --> 01:05:54,360 Speaker 3: saves the kid from from Eastman. She like she's all 1208 01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:56,439 Speaker 3: burned up as she runs out and saves the kid, 1209 01:05:56,480 --> 01:05:58,959 Speaker 3: and then Eastman, I guess, kills her a second time. 1210 01:05:59,280 --> 01:06:01,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, because you can't just stab him in the neck 1211 01:06:01,760 --> 01:06:04,880 Speaker 2: and expect to seal the deal. You've got to destroy 1212 01:06:04,920 --> 01:06:05,280 Speaker 2: the brain. 1213 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:08,880 Speaker 3: But the final showdown is between Katcha who has been 1214 01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:13,080 Speaker 3: in traction in this hospital bed and an Eastman who 1215 01:06:13,120 --> 01:06:15,200 Speaker 3: finally you know, he comes in there. He's still raging, 1216 01:06:15,560 --> 01:06:18,320 Speaker 3: but we get a great payoff with the compass tool, 1217 01:06:18,440 --> 01:06:23,760 Speaker 3: right because she jams it into George Eastman's eyes, and 1218 01:06:23,800 --> 01:06:26,880 Speaker 3: then we get the blinded cyclops sequence. 1219 01:06:27,400 --> 01:06:29,920 Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, yeah, and this, you know, I have 1220 01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:33,520 Speaker 2: to say, I feel like this big sequence here is 1221 01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:37,360 Speaker 2: actually quite tense because you end up with the scenario 1222 01:06:37,440 --> 01:06:43,320 Speaker 2: where the playing field has been largely leveled, though George 1223 01:06:43,320 --> 01:06:47,840 Speaker 2: Eastman's killer is still very much an overwhelming threat. So 1224 01:06:47,880 --> 01:06:50,400 Speaker 2: he's were like in the living room, this big, expansive 1225 01:06:50,560 --> 01:06:53,440 Speaker 2: Italian villa living room with a suit of armor and 1226 01:06:53,440 --> 01:06:58,280 Speaker 2: all the furniture, and he is blinded, you know, bloody 1227 01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:02,480 Speaker 2: eye sockets, and he's listening for her and grasping around 1228 01:07:02,560 --> 01:07:05,439 Speaker 2: at the slightest sound, and she is on her feet now, 1229 01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:07,520 Speaker 2: but is you know, not one hundred percent like she's 1230 01:07:07,560 --> 01:07:11,040 Speaker 2: been in traction this whole time. And she is trying 1231 01:07:11,080 --> 01:07:14,560 Speaker 2: to stay out of his grasp but get away from him. 1232 01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:17,000 Speaker 2: And he's hurting her by sound. Yeah, he's hunting her 1233 01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:19,080 Speaker 2: by sound in some very tense moments. 1234 01:07:19,960 --> 01:07:22,720 Speaker 3: And she she does clever things like turning on music 1235 01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:23,760 Speaker 3: really loud. 1236 01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:27,920 Speaker 2: But also inevitably trips, inevitably makes an accidental sound and 1237 01:07:27,960 --> 01:07:28,760 Speaker 2: he gets closer. 1238 01:07:29,200 --> 01:07:31,240 Speaker 3: Okay, but then the payoff, if you want to know 1239 01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:34,960 Speaker 3: the very ending, uh you know, spoiler alert, is they 1240 01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:38,400 Speaker 3: somehow they like fall into this suit of armor that 1241 01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:42,600 Speaker 3: has a battle axe and caughtya she gets the battle out. 1242 01:07:42,640 --> 01:07:44,280 Speaker 2: Oh wait wait, but first the father shows up. 1243 01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:46,479 Speaker 3: Oh that's right, yes, well the parents arrive. 1244 01:07:46,560 --> 01:07:48,960 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, well yeah, and the priest. The priest does 1245 01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:51,480 Speaker 2: a run in and bites it when he tries to 1246 01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:52,400 Speaker 2: start the killer. 1247 01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:56,520 Speaker 3: So Eastman, well it's like the ending of Halloween, except 1248 01:07:56,560 --> 01:07:59,120 Speaker 3: if Michael Myers killed Donald Pleasance. 1249 01:07:59,360 --> 01:08:00,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yes, So the. 1250 01:08:00,200 --> 01:08:05,200 Speaker 3: Priest shows up and he saves her momentarily, and he 1251 01:08:05,400 --> 01:08:08,720 Speaker 3: is killed by George Eastman. But then while that's going on. 1252 01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:13,240 Speaker 3: She retrieves the battle axe from the suit of armor 1253 01:08:13,320 --> 01:08:15,160 Speaker 3: and then goes to work on him. We don't see 1254 01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:19,960 Speaker 3: exactly what happened until her parents arrive home. And her 1255 01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:23,320 Speaker 3: parents arrive home with the cops, and Willie's there and 1256 01:08:23,360 --> 01:08:26,400 Speaker 3: everybody's there, and Katya's standing in the doorway, and we 1257 01:08:26,479 --> 01:08:29,280 Speaker 3: pull back to reveal that she is holding the severed 1258 01:08:29,320 --> 01:08:30,480 Speaker 3: head of Eastman. 1259 01:08:31,080 --> 01:08:33,800 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, she holds it up. And this is just 1260 01:08:33,880 --> 01:08:37,679 Speaker 2: this is great, this is just grade a shlock as young, 1261 01:08:37,760 --> 01:08:42,160 Speaker 2: bloodied Katya healed by violence here lifts up the decapitated, 1262 01:08:42,360 --> 01:08:45,320 Speaker 2: overtly fake head of the blinded monster and then we 1263 01:08:45,360 --> 01:08:47,519 Speaker 2: close and that's the end of absurd. 1264 01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:51,559 Speaker 3: So now I've got to know if that had problem, 1265 01:08:51,560 --> 01:08:54,599 Speaker 3: I mean, it would be a shame, a historical filmmaking shame. 1266 01:08:54,720 --> 01:08:57,240 Speaker 3: If that head prop was not reused in the biblical 1267 01:08:57,280 --> 01:09:00,080 Speaker 3: film where he plays Goliath, it had. 1268 01:09:00,200 --> 01:09:05,639 Speaker 2: Be Yeah, I hope. I mean, if not that film, 1269 01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:07,599 Speaker 2: surely it shows up in another film. Because they've gone 1270 01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:09,720 Speaker 2: to the trouble to make it. There's gonna be some 1271 01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:12,479 Speaker 2: other film where you might want to cut Eastman's head 1272 01:09:12,479 --> 01:09:14,760 Speaker 2: off or just reuse it. I mean, there are examples of, 1273 01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:17,160 Speaker 2: you know, from other I think there was a whole 1274 01:09:17,720 --> 01:09:19,840 Speaker 2: kind of a minor stink on Game of Thrones at 1275 01:09:19,840 --> 01:09:24,519 Speaker 2: some point, right, because they were reusing heads or something. 1276 01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:27,240 Speaker 2: And then sometimes, yeah, sometimes head cast get reused for 1277 01:09:27,280 --> 01:09:30,200 Speaker 2: different things. I mean, actually, we go back to John 1278 01:09:30,240 --> 01:09:33,040 Speaker 2: Carpenter's Halloween and we have a pretty classic example of 1279 01:09:33,080 --> 01:09:35,920 Speaker 2: the reuse of head molds. Right. 1280 01:09:36,200 --> 01:09:38,040 Speaker 3: Oh, do you mean that it's a Shatner mask. 1281 01:09:38,280 --> 01:09:39,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. 1282 01:09:39,360 --> 01:09:43,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, Michael Myers wears a Captain Kirk mask spray painted white, 1283 01:09:44,040 --> 01:09:46,960 Speaker 3: which is you can't unsee it once you see it. 1284 01:09:47,160 --> 01:09:50,479 Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's become iconic. Mm hmm. All right, so 1285 01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:54,000 Speaker 2: there you have it. Absurd I think probably the only 1286 01:09:54,320 --> 01:09:56,519 Speaker 2: Joe Tomato film we're going to do on Weird House. 1287 01:09:57,360 --> 01:10:00,040 Speaker 2: But I'm sure George Eastman will pop up again in 1288 01:10:00,160 --> 01:10:02,240 Speaker 2: some form or another, but there probably won't be as 1289 01:10:02,320 --> 01:10:05,760 Speaker 2: much George Eastman as there was in this picture. All right, Well, 1290 01:10:05,760 --> 01:10:07,680 Speaker 2: we'll close it out there, but we'd love to hear 1291 01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:10,680 Speaker 2: from everyone out there. If you have thoughts on Absurd 1292 01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:14,360 Speaker 2: or other, or the video nasties of phenomena in general, 1293 01:10:15,120 --> 01:10:16,800 Speaker 2: write in. We would love to hear from you. Just 1294 01:10:16,840 --> 01:10:18,719 Speaker 2: a reminder that Stuff to Blow Your Mind is primarily 1295 01:10:18,720 --> 01:10:21,160 Speaker 2: a science and culture podcasts with core episodes on Tuesdays 1296 01:10:21,160 --> 01:10:24,320 Speaker 2: and Thursdays, but on Fridays we set aside most serious 1297 01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:26,719 Speaker 2: concerns to just talk about a weird film on Weird 1298 01:10:26,760 --> 01:10:29,160 Speaker 2: House Cinema. And you can get the full list of 1299 01:10:29,360 --> 01:10:31,200 Speaker 2: films that we've covered on Weird House Cinema if you 1300 01:10:31,200 --> 01:10:33,160 Speaker 2: look us up on letterbox dot com. That's l E 1301 01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:36,400 Speaker 2: T E r boxd dot com our handle there is 1302 01:10:36,439 --> 01:10:40,000 Speaker 2: weird House. You can find the whole list there. And yeah, 1303 01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:43,200 Speaker 2: with this episode, we're kind of launching into the Halloween season. 1304 01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:47,200 Speaker 2: Halloween is always a big, big month for us, a 1305 01:10:47,240 --> 01:10:51,000 Speaker 2: little month and some change often, so look you can 1306 01:10:51,040 --> 01:10:53,160 Speaker 2: look forward in the month ahead to a lot of 1307 01:10:53,640 --> 01:10:57,840 Speaker 2: seasonally appropriate core episodes, short form episodes, and of course 1308 01:10:57,880 --> 01:11:00,240 Speaker 2: Weird House Cinema selections. 1309 01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:03,559 Speaker 3: Thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. 1310 01:11:03,720 --> 01:11:05,320 Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us 1311 01:11:05,360 --> 01:11:07,879 Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 1312 01:11:07,880 --> 01:11:09,960 Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1313 01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:12,960 Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1314 01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:20,640 Speaker 3: your Mind dot com. 1315 01:11:20,760 --> 01:11:23,720 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1316 01:11:23,800 --> 01:11:26,599 Speaker 1: more podcasts, from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1317 01:11:26,720 --> 01:11:29,479 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.