WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Shocking Dark 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.959 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.200 today on Weird House Cinema we're going to be talking 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:26.160 about the nineteen eighty nine Aliens ripoff Shocking Dark, which 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:28.880 has got to be a new favorite for me. I've 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.760 never seen this before and it is top tier schlock. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.040 This movie is it was such a good time. 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.000 That's right, I mean, this is bad movie. Caviat from 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.240 the screenwriters behind Troll two and the director of such 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:49.599 films as Zombie three and Robo War's Shop Door singular 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.360 rob ro wor singular my mistake. Yes, Robo War. There 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:55.959 was only ever one Robo War, but. 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:58.440 They didn't yet have James Cameron to come along and 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:00.920 write Robo War with a dollar sign after it. 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.760 Yeah, this this one. I have to say, this is 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.440 a film that I actually absolutely has to be seen 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.480 to be believed. We we don't talk about bad movies 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.119 so much on Weird House. Were generally, you know, very 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.119 I would say, we're pretty forgiving. We're we're here to 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:24.800 to lean into films and find find what works and 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.920 celebrate what works in a movie. So it may have 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.360 been a while since we watched something this schlocky this, 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:38.039 but in its own way, this this perfect because I think, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.119 you know, one would be tempted to cast a film 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.679 like Shocking Dark as the mere antithesis of great filmmaking. 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.120 But I think you could also argue that this is 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:51.240 the reflected reverse image, and as such it's that same greatness. 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:56.280 It's just reversed, you know, it's Shocking Dark. Is is stupendous, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.760 and as such, I would argue it's more captivating than 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.240 most motion pictures. There's no lukewarm movie here to be 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.280 spat out and forgotten half finished. The experience no matter what, 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.239 is going to be absolutely memorable. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.600 I totally agree with that this is not a middle 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:17.079 of the road, boring hack exercise. This is a jewel 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.360 of badness. It's the kind of badness that takes on 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.200 a form of genius, like other films of this caliber 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.839 we've talked about before, like troll To like Plan nine 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.760 from Outer Space, like Highlander two. In many ways, yeah, 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.239 I think it's right up there. This movie is so pleasurable, 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.480 and I think there will be a bunch of reasons 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.760 that we can get into. Some are harder to describe 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.040 than others, but we'll try to sort of lay out 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.000 a roadmap of the pleasures on offer here. But first, 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.640 since this movie is widely acknowledged to be a shameless 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.000 ripoff of at least one James Cameron movie, actually two 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.880 two James Cameron movie, I thought we should try to 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.920 place it within a kind of taxonomy of different ways 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.919 a movie can be thought of as a copycat or 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.119 a ripoff. All right, So, the first way I want 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:14.560 to think of a movie being a knockoff is the 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:19.440 marketing clone. And in this case, the actual substance of 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.799 the movie may have nothing to do with the film 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:28.359 that's being copied, but the market facing information about the film, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.560 such as title, poster, or trailer, tries to make the 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:38.360 movie seem related to or identical to another more successful movie. 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.120 And there are actually a few different ways you can 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.480 do this. One example is sequels in name only. An 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.240 instance here is Troll two, which is connected to the 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.680 very same creators of Shocking Dark. Troll two had nothing 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:51.720 to do with the. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:52.880 Movie called Troll. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:58.400 Movies like this are in neither form nor function actual 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:03.280 sequels to the original. They just illicitly slap a title 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.680 and they're like Zombie two or Terminator two. In this case, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.920 they put it on the poster without permission and they 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:11.000 opened the box office. 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.640 Yeah, and so like with this film. This film was 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:18.120 apparently shot as shocking dark, and it was a producer 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:22.280 level choice to then try and sell it as Terminator too. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.280 So I think if everyone involved in making the film 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.320 realize like that was, that was maybe even a step 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.400 step too far. You're not just not It's one thing 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.640 to call your film troll too, but to go after 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.080 to go in the wake of Terminators. They're like, hey, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.600 here it is Terminator too. I know there's another Terminator 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.560 two coming out in a few months. I'm not going 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.040 to say anything about that one, but why don't you 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:44.359 buy this? 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.160 Yeah. Another way you can have a marketing clone is 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.080 mockbusters movies that you know, as far as I can tell, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.640 are trying to confuse people into buying the wrong DVD. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.880 These were very popular in the late two thousands and 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.640 the twenty ten. So imagine a movie called Transmorphers with 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.800 DVD box art that looks very similar to Michael Bay's Transformers. 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.440 You can think of other examples like Atlantic Rim and 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.599 The Da Vinci Treasure. These movies may or may not 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.440 be similar to the target blockbuster in terms of plot, character, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.080 or style. The point is that they can be hard 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.960 to tell apart before you watch them. They're hard to 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.159 tell apart like at the store, especially maybe to like 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:34.360 a grandparent buying a DC for their grandchild or something. Yeah, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.160 so that's a kind of crass way you can approach 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:42.400 trying to steal the artistic or entertainment credibility of another film. 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.360 Another way you can have something that could be thought 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.640 of as a knockoff is the premise lifter. A lot 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.520 of copycat movies are like this, and I think it's 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.680 one of the most benign forms of copying in storytelling. 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.720 In this type of movie, you take the basic premise 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.880 or elevator pitch of a pre existing movie, but then 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.279 you take it in your own direction. So, for example, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:08.440 a premise clone of the original Terminator might be a 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.960 movie about a killer robot that is transported from a 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.040 dystopian future back to the present to carry out a mission. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.960 So you could have the same setup as the Terminator, 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.960 or at least the same setup as far as you know, 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.200 as far as it would sound in a sentence long pitch. 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.000 But then maybe the plot and the characters and execution 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.760 could be totally different, And there are even some quite 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.520 good movies in this category. I think a fresh take 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.480 on a familiar premise can be exciting and sometimes can 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.640 even be great art. Lots of examples of this category 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.800 don't even feel like copying. They might just be variations 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.240 on a theme or further exploring a new niche subgenre 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.120 in the example of Terminator. At this point, does Dangerous 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.599 Robot from the Future even really belong to James Cameron? 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.400 Or is that more just kind of a very specific 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:58.760 subgenre of sci fi? 0:06:59.279 --> 0:06:59.440 Yeah? 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.680 Yeah, Now, another way a movie might be thought of 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.359 as a copycat is what I would call the vibe repeater. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.560 A lot of Star Wars copycats are in this category. 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:14.400 They don't exactly lift all that much directly from Star 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.720 Wars in terms of semantic plot content, but instead they're 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.920 trying to copy like the texture and the feeling of 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.880 Star Wars. So it's more the world, the ensemble, the 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.760 look and sound, the emotional range, and so forth. So 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.320 in the case of Star Wars vibe repeaters, you'd usually 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.960 get some kind of swashbuckling space adventure with a cast 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:42.480 of zany characters and morphologically diverse aliens, droids, bad guys 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:47.960 in scary helmets, rebels fighting against the odds, space battles, mysticism, 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.400 and things like that. So these movies try to copy 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.960 the texture and the feeling of another movie that's been successful, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:00.720 more so than explicit details of the story or or 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.120 explicit designs or anything like that. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.200 Yeah, and a lot of the times, a lot of 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.120 the time it falls flat. To be honest, I guess 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.200 it depends on what you're copying. Like I would say, 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.800 in general, I've never seen a Star Wars vibe repeater 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.120 that gets the job done. But if I were to 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:22.480 look at, say, the various Conan the Barbarian inspired movies, Okay, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.800 certainly none of them are on the level of Conan 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.760 in terms of cinematic quality, but like, the general vibe 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.840 might be there. It's like, all right, you know, muscle Barbarians, 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.480 and some of the similar themes might be explored. It 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.400 can work kind of like some of your better Mad Macs. 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.400 Vibe repeaters can essentially get the job done. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.400 I agree, Yeah, yeah, okay, And then the final category 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.320 I would talk about is just the all out ripoff, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.720 and this is the territory we're in with Shocking Dark. 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.439 Shocking Dark is indeed a marketing clone of Terminator. Specifically, 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.880 it is a sequel in name only that uses a 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:03.880 poster that looks exactly like the poster for Terminator. It 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.160 is both a premise lifter and a vibe repeater of Aliens. 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.199 It's taking the basic plot pitch, and it's also trying 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.160 to copy a lot of the texture and feeling of Aliens. 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:20.079 But it goes beyond any of these categories into outright 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:26.200 reproducing whole characters, situations, and scenes from Aliens, but with 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:31.200 a much lower budget and less finesse in terms of acting, writing, sets, costumes, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.360 and effects. And so it's actually a pretty interesting question 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.720 to me, why would you want to do that? I 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.640 can understand. I think all of the other categories, like 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.640 I understand the mercenary money making appeal of the marketing 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.360 clone that is a cash grab. I understand the creative 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.800 appeal of taking a crack at a story premise that 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.120 has been done before, but doing it your own way. 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.640 It can be fun to work out your own unique 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.360 version of an idea. I understand wanting to capture the 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.840 vibes of a movie that you liked in the past, 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.840 but just do something different with it, you know, so 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.880 create a similar feeling that you have enjoyed yourself. But 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.640 I don't quite understand what is the appeal of just 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.360 taking the scene from Aliens where Burke leaves the face 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.599 hugger in the room with Ripley and Newt and reproducing 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.200 it essentially the same but less well within another movie. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:25.600 That is a head scratcher for me. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.400 Yeah, I mean, my only guess is that it basically 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:34.720 comes down to like a producer level understanding or misunderstanding 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.040 of what cinema is, you know, where it's just about 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.199 the cash grab. It's not about what emotions the movie 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.440 can summon. It's not about the stories they can tell. 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.040 It's just like, what how much money can we make 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.480 tomorrow using the limited resources we have today? 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.960 But I don't even understand, So, like, what kind of 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.199 appeal do you think you're gonna sell more movie tickets 0:10:57.440 --> 0:10:59.920 if you have a scene in your movie it's the 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.200 same as a scene from the other movie that made money, 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:05.480 do you know what I mean? Like, I don't even 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.600 know how that you think that translates into getting people 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:10.640 into the theaters or getting people to rent it. 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.000 Yeah, I mean, I can only assume it was just 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.160 kind of a product of the time, right it. It 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.240 must have worked right because they did it all the 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:23.319 time in like B and C budget Italian cinema. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.960 Yeah, I guess so. But by the way, I don't 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.839 mean to say any of this to detegrate the experience 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.040 of Shocking Dark, because despite what you might regard as 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:37.680 its creative failures or crimes, it is an absolutely brain 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.280 melting good time. I can't recommend this movie enough to 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.000 people who like schlock movies. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.160 Absolutely, this is definitely so bad it's good territory. I couldn't. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:49.920 I couldn't get my wife to watch it. She was like, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.760 she kind of scratched her head with why I would 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.640 watch this in full. But if you, if you enjoy bad, 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.920 schlocking movies, movies that are very rough around the edge, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.160 is then Shocking Dark is the film for you. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.800 It feels like a movie built entirely out of first takes. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.800 There are parts where actors literally screw up their lines 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.360 and then correct themselves, or they like miss a queue 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.880 and leave a long, awkward pause before responding to someone 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.160 and just leave it in. That's in the movie. 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.000 Yeah, we'll get into some specific examples of this too, 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.280 where it's just kind of like the camera's rolling, we're 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.520 gonna get what we're gonna get, and yeah, it's in 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:28.040 the movie. 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.560 Yeah, I love it. And then there are otherwise where 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.040 it's just hard to describe what is so funny and 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720 pleasing about it. You just have to see it for yourself. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:40.000 It's a lot of little details about timing, editing, framing, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.720 line delivery that are difficult to translate into words, but 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.680 you should see this once again. It is top shelf shlock. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.280 All right, I have a quick elevator pitch, and I 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.120 think you have a longer one, but mine is simply, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.000 we have aliens at home. This movie is aliens at home. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.280 Yes, it's like what if aliens, but instead out of 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.920 a terraforming colony on LV four twenty six, it's tunnels 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:08.400 allegedly underneath Venice. Does that even make sense to have 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.840 tunnels underneath Venice? Sounds like a flooding risk? But okay, 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.439 so it's tunnels underneath Venice, the city of Venice in Italy. 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.520 And then instead of colonial marines, you've got the Mega Force. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.240 More on them later, and then instead of xenomorphs, you've 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.880 got bug eyed Ooze hippos. And then instead of Whale 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.880 and U Tanni, you have the Tubular Corporation, And instead 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.479 of James Cameron, you have the guys who made Troll. 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.240 Too and Robo War. All right, let's go ahead and 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.720 just listen to a little bit of the trailer audio 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:41.840 for Shocking Dark. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:58.360 They thought they were fighting only against aliens. They were 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:02.520 sure that they had won their but they were mistaken. 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:12.880 Shocking Dark. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:25.840 Full ferocious, indestructible, ruthless terminator. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:37.560 Shocking Dark. 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.000 Hey there, this is Joe with an insert from the future. 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.240 After we finished recording the episode, just thought back about 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.800 how Shocking Dark has a pretty unbelievable plot twist in 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.200 the last fifteen minutes or so, and we end up 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.800 talking about it without much warning in the episode. So 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.760 if you want to see the movie without having a 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.560 pretty bizarre surprise spoiled for you, you should watch it 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:05.800 before listening further. 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:11.680 That's all all right, So at this point in the podcast, 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.760 you might be wondering, all right, how can I see 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.920 Shocking Dark? Then, well, Shocking Dark did not receive a 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.480 proper release in the US for a very long time, 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.480 I think for some obvious reasons. But in twenty eighteen, 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.760 the excellent Severin Films put out the definitive Blu ray edition, 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.240 scanned in two K from the director's cut negative discovered 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.440 in a Rome Lab vault. Plus there are some There 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.000 are a couple of fun extras on the disc that 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.440 I'll reference later. You can buy this in most places, 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.640 but you can also get it off their website. Severin 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.440 dot com. They do great releases in general. Shocking Dark 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.240 is probably a film where you can get by seeing 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.000 it in a grungy format, but I still think it's 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.680 worth seeing in the best quality available. I know that 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.440 some of the streams you'll find out there are on 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.600 the official services that offer them. These are also the 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.240 seven restoration, or at least you know the restoration that 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.640 Severn Films used in their release. Okay, this is what 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.440 I watched. I rented it from Video Drum here in Atlanta. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.960 I am soon to own a disc of this, but 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.760 I watched a stream of it that was available through 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.000 I think scream box and it looked good. 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.480 Yeah, I bet it's the same restoration, because it is 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.800 worth stressing that it's a film with some things that 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.560 I think are worth seeing in high detail. The locations 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.600 they used and the I think one set that they 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.520 utilized late in the film. I think these are great. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.400 I enjoyed seeing them, these performances, you know, respect the 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.400 actors involved here and see them in the highest format possible. 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:52.840 All right, let's talk about the people who made it. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.560 The director's chair occupied by Bruno matte who of nineteen 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.400 thirty one through two thousand and seven Italian director of 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.760 B movies, exploitation films, and yes, shameless knockoffs. His story 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.800 is pretty endearing in a number of ways. Though his 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.080 father owned a film editing studio, so he grew up 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.320 in and around the business, and he has various technical 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:18.880 credits to go all the way back to the Night 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.240 to the early fifties. In sixty nine and seventy, he 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.520 worked as an editor on two Jess Franco films, ninety 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.440 nine Women and Count Dracula. That's the one that had 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.359 Christopher Lee in it with a mustache, and he apparently 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.920 did some uncredited directing on ninety nine Women. After this, 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.320 he directed a string of Italian sex comedies and exploitation 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.680 films leading up to nineteen eighties Hell of the Living Dead, 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.040 a Dawn of the Dead inspired zombie film featuring a 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:50.320 score by Goblin. Oh wow. Yeah, Now, don't be mistaken. 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:53.960 All of the exploitation projects continued in the background here. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.760 But he also followed this up with eighty three's The 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:01.119 Seven Magnificent Gladiators, which starred Luferi No and Sybil Danning 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.800 who guess we're also in a Hercules movie that we watched, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.879 and Brad Harris so I think was also in that 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:07.919 Hercules movie. 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:12.960 Wait, they're trying to get some Magnificent seven juice into 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.520 the title of this gladiator. Is this a future gladiator's movie? 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:21.399 Ooh, that's a great question. I would say given the timeframe, 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.320 there's like a seventy five percent chance that it takes 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.960 place in a post apocalyptic future. But I don't know. 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.840 This could be This could be a Sword and Sandals picture. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:33.840 I mean, he does have Luf Rigno in it, so 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:35.879 come the Hercules connection. 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.320 He could be a Roman gladiator or he could be 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.359 a cyber gladiator. Both maver sense. 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:45.919 There's also eighty four's Rats Night of Terror that is 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.320 a post apocalyptic film with like rats overrunning a post 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:54.640 apocalyptic city, and I think they used decaying sets from 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.720 more exterior sets from a Once upon a Time in 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.600 America for that one. And then there's eighty seven's Double Target. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.600 This had Miles O'Keefe in it, and Donald Pleasants is 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.240 Miles O'Keefe, the guy from Atour Yes Okay. Eighty seven 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:14.040 Scalps and Strike Commando was starring Reb Brown. Eighty eight 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:18.280 Zombie three, the nineteen eighty eight Predator ripoff Robo War 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:19.280 starring Reb Brown. 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:21.480 Oh, that's one of my favorites. I used to put 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.760 Robo War on when I was like hanging out with 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:25.320 my D and D friends. I'd put it on on 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:29.240 mute because something often silly looking was happening on screen. 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.000 But if you watch that one, I don't know if 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:34.159 that's fun to sit through the entire time because it 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.359 gets rather monotonous. There's just a lot of like running 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.120 around in the jungle and stuff, but there are some 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.159 quite funny dialogue moments in it. 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.280 The alien does not look as good as the predator 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:48.120 in our Predator franchise. I have to. 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.560 Say, no, it does not. I would say that the 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:55.800 monster costumes in shocking Dark are much better than the 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.640 monster monster suits and designs in the other Bruno Matte 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.119 and Claudio Fragoso movies I've seen. 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:05.720 I agreed, agreed, We'll come back to those monsters in 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:10.600 a bit. But let's say following Robo War, there's eighty 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:16.359 eight Strike Commando two, which has Richard Harrison, and then 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.679 there's the nineteen ninety five Jaws knockoff, cruel Jaws and 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:21.240 much more. 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:24.320 No nice jaws around here. 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.600 Yeah, I guess by ninety five you got to come 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:30.159 up with new angles on your Jaws knockoff. Anyway, what 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.280 your angle is that the shark is mean? Yeah, yeah, 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.199 he wouldn't mean enough. Further, it's just an animal now 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:39.000 he's mean. Okay. So Mittea continued working in low budget 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.800 horror until his death in two thousand and seven, and 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.200 I've read that he was, you know, working pretty much 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:45.840 extensively in the Philippines by that time. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.720 I think Robo War was shot in the Philippines. 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.760 From what it is, a jungle movie, right, yeah, all right, 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.880 Now onto the screenwriters. It is the husband and wife 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:59.720 duo of Rosella Drudi and Claudio Fragasso. He was born 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:04.600 in fifty one they also wrote nineteen nineties, often exceeded 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.640 but never equaled Troll two, which was our second selection 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:09.680 ever for Weird House Cinema. 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:10.560 A classic for a reason. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.480 For Grosso's credited screenplays go back to around seventy four 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.879 and hers to nineteen eighty, but they frequently worked with 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.399 Bruno on such films as Hell as a Living Dead, Rats, 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.480 Night of Terror, Zombie three Strike, Commando two, and Robo War. Now, 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.760 of their pictures, I've mainly just seen Troll two and 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.560 The Night Killer, as well as some behind the scenes 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.159 interviews with them, and it's always very interesting and it 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.240 always strikes me that they take their films very seriously. 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.760 So Troll two had aspirations of being a sort of 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:48.360 cutting critique of vegetarianism got them, and Night Killer aspired 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.080 to be some sort of like serious psycho sexual thriller. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.359 In some respects Night Killer is very funny but also gross. 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.359 Yeah. Yeah, I can't. I can't recommend. I can't recommend 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.800 Night Killer to the average film viewer. It's more of 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:04.920 it's a deeper cut. Yeah, But I was curious, Okay, 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.240 there's going to be an interview on this disc from Severn, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.040 and I was like, what's their takeing it beyond it? 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:12.000 Are they going to be you know, very serious about 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.439 it or are they going to be upfront about it 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:17.639 being a knockoff. It's more of the latter. They stressed, 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.439 the producers put a put some very strict parameters on 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.440 this project. It needed to be a combination of Aliens 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.080 and The Terminator, and it needed to use character names 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:31.480 from those films. So, yeah, have a Sarah, for instance, 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:32.600 in this picture. 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:38.119 Except she's the Ripley, right, yeah, yeah, so the Sarah 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.359 Connor is the Ripley. And then there's a Drake in it. 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.399 Drake is one of the colonial Marines in Aliens, but 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:48.400 instead they make him like a scientist who has been 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:52.160 driven insane by the monsters and like has a scream 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:53.679 from beyond space and time. 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.280 Yeah, And they said that they actually pushed back as 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.120 much as they could, trying to inject some originality into 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:05.400 the script, but that neither they nor Bruno had any 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.160 control over the switch to the title Terminator too, when 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:09.840 the producer turned around and tried to sell it. 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:13.600 Okay, I think maybe the direct copying of scenes from 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:17.439 Aliens makes more sense if like these are just hired 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:19.920 guns and they are doing what the producers tell them 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.399 they have to do. Yeah, that makes sense. It's like 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:27.800