WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Spontaneous Combustion 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:15.319 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.680 Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we're entering 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:25.240 door if Topia because today's film is the ninety fire 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:30.000 themed horror movie Spontaneous Combustion, directed by Toby Hooper. And 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.199 I'm so excited about this one because this is one 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.240 that that I watched a long time ago, back when 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.519 we were doing those live stream of the trailer talk videos. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.960 And I don't remember what the context was. We were 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.000 talking about Pyrokinesis movies or something. We end up watching 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.240 fire Starter too. Ah yeah, I don't. I don't remember 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:49.800 exactly how we happened upon it. Maybe we were celebrating 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.680 Toby Hooper in general. I'm not sure. That might have 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.400 been around the time that he had passed. Oh yeah, 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:57.920 but but but yeah, it was. It's it's fun to 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.160 come back to this one. My my inspiration for this 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:03.280 was I just I just got it really excited about 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.360 Brad Dorrith Pictures, and so I came to you and 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.560 I said, Hey, what what do you think we could 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.560 do Graveyard Shift, We could do Wise Blood, we could 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.280 do spontaneous combustion. We ended up deciding on some spontaneous combustion. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.560 But I watched all three this week anyway, so I'll 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.600 refer back to those since those are those are fresh 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.399 on my mind. But yeah, I'm excited to revisit this 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.399 one and just to talk about Brad Dorriff in general, 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.640 because I think he's he's one of the more amazing 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:36.440 weird actors, uh, of earlier of that we have today 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.440 that's still working today, of certainly of of recent decades. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.200 I think I would I would be tempted to compare 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.800 him to Peter lorii uh to a certain extent. I 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.800 mean they're not, you know, not not a similar physical presence, 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.280 but in terms of actors who were capable of creating 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.760 a certain weird aura, were drawn to weird parts and 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.320 we're able to really bring them alive on screen. But 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.440 so you've watched all three of these movies and what 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.040 the last like forty eight hours, so you're you're grail 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.840 overflow with with dorif juice right now. Yeah. I was 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.400 pretty lucky to have to take my automobile to the 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.560 shop two days in a row, and for whatever reason, 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.720 the lounge there was just the perfect place to watch 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.240 Brad Dorriff movies as opposed to doing any kind of 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.560 like rigorous research instead of reading what kind of magazines 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.639 they gotten there? They don't have any magazines. It's all. 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.000 It's a it's a brand new facility, so this is 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.480 it was like being in a brand new airport. I 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.200 just had TV screens and stack machines and no magazines. Well, 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:38.960 that sounds like a barren waste. I'm glad you were 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.880 able to bring Brad Doriff with you. But but we 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.440 should also not ignore the fact that once again, this 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.680 is a film that was directed by Toby Hooper, and 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.600 yet most people, probably even most horror fans, have never 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.320 heard of this movie. Uh and so this is actually 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.960 one of my favorite kinds of movies to talk about 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:00.400 the bizarre, lesser known works of somebody who is amos 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.160 for other stuff. Now, I think it's undeniable that Toby 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.800 Hooper was one of the most revered and influential horror 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.359 filmmakers of all time. You know you've got He made 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.480 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which the influence of that movie 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.280 on the generation of horror movies that followed really cannot 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.120 be overstated, but he was also very versatile as a filmmaker, 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.360 so he made that, But he also made Poultergeist. And 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.280 it's really hard to think of two horror movies more 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.480 different in style and tone than those two. But they 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.200 were certainly very, very influential, and I feel like each 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:38.160 one had its its impact generationally. You know, like people 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.640 older than me, we're very much in the blast zone 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.960 of of the original TCM, whereas I I was just 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.480 old enough to be in the blast zone of Poultergeist. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.640 So so I was I was more scarred by poulter 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.280 Geist and then came to appreciate a Texas chainsaw massacre 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.440 at a later point. But it's funny because I think 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.440 this movie combines elements of both. So Texas Chainsaw Massacre 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.480 is shocking, brutal, disgusting. In terms of cinematography, it's very 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:10.279 cold and detached. People often compare it cinematography to documentary filmmaking, 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.160 while Poultergeist is is almost in the Spielberg ea zone. 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:18.800 It's warm, familiar, lived in almost kind of sentimental um. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.839 It has that that suburban you know, bikes on the 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.680 sidewalks at dusk, kind of Spielberg thing. Going on, Yeah, 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.040 Craig T. Nelson throwing his TV out to the sidewalk. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.040 But so you've got those two movies and then you've 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.640 got Spontaneous Combustion released in nineteen nine, so this would 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.679 have been eight years after Poultergeist, starring the Wild Eyed 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.760 jack Rabbit virtuoso Brad Dorriff as a man who cannot 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.080 stop setting things on fire with his brain. Yeah, and 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.800 and we'll talk about about Dora that length, because I 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.720 think one of the great things about this film is 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.440 that it it does present something of a showcase for 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.520 Brad Dorriff. That's not to say that that this is 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.640 a perfect film or that his character arc is perfectly structured, 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.360 but you get to see a fair amount of range 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.880 from him in this. You get to see him play 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.360 a serious and relatable human being. You get to see 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.760 him dealing with just extreme outbursts of emotion and by 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.240 the end of the film essentially becoming a movie monster 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.240 as well. These are all things that he that he 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.960 has done, uh, you know sometimes in Isolation and other pictures, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.200 but in this, yeah, he gets to do the whole thing. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.000 I think it might be good to introduce this one 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.400 if you're cool with this by reading a short review 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.960 of the movie from film critic Tie Burr in Spin 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:40.799 in Okay. Burr writes, quote, no one makes bad movies 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.120 as deliriously entertaining as Toby Hooper, whose career continues at 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:50.279 spectacular downhill slide with spontaneous combustion. The man who reached 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.160 a genre peak with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:57.800 commercial peak with Poltergeist now offers this completely incoherent tale 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.599 of David Bell twitchingly play by Brad Duriff, the son 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.960 of a couple subjected to radiation experiments in the fifties. 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.560 Apparently the tests lower the human bodies immunity to perfectly 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.800 natural spontaneous combustion, or, in the words of the German 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.240 scientist with an eye patch, the human body is the 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:22.520 most complex electrically spoked combustion engine Vinov, and that is 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.680 a quote directly from the film I checked. Burr continues 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.560 that means that whenever things get tense, Brad spouts flames 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.360 from his elbow. He can also make enemies burn up 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.400 over the phone. Spontaneous combustion is a lot of fun. 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.279 It's got far too many subplots, a nice sense of 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.640 paranoia effects that are both ikey and ridiculous, and it 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:46.480 moves too fast for logic beat that trauma. I gotta say, 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.360 I think I think Burr's kind of dead on here. 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.919 Um this I don't know, he manages to I. I 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:56.440 agree with him completely, and I also disagree with him. Okay, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.440 so I'll cut Tie some slack because he's he's not 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.320 the kind of critic who is you know, just about 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.960 the art films. I looked. I looked into, like, well, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:09.280 what he admires, and he does list Reanimator as as 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.560 one of his favorite films, quote one of the secret 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.000 best films in the nineties. So I can't I can't 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.200 argue with that. Like he he does have an appreciation 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:19.880 for the weird. But um, I mean, on one hand, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.840 as I've said before, I feel like we've we've kind 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:24.080 of reached the point where I think we have to 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.760 rethink what we mean when we say bad movie. Um. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.160 And then and then also, I've seen this this critique 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.840 a few different times. That's that spontaneous combustion doesn't make 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.240 any sense. Um, you know where that is, you know, 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.240 completely illogical. I don't think that's the case at all. 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:44.200 I I think it has Oh well, I can explain 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.680 the first I can explain aspects of it. It's just 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.600 not completely confusing. It has a kind of a train 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:54.080 wreck of of of a third act. But um, you know, um, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:56.320 I don't know. Maybe maybe part of it is I'm 0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:02.080 used to watching films that are, I don't know, logically challenged, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.320 and I know that I need to bring my own 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.680 logic into it. I need to help unravel it a bit. 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.000 So I mean, it's it's it's basically one of these 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:14.160 stories of of a of an individual looking at his 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.760 own his own past, his own upbringing, and then on on, 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.600 you know, revealing the conspiracy of it all, and and 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.120 it will get into into what all that means in 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.000 the plot of this this film. But yeah, I don't 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:30.160 think it's completely illogical, um well, nor incoherent. I mean 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:35.520 it it's it's got its problems, but but complete incoherency 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:37.839 is is not one of them. Okay, well, I'm ready 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.360 to hear you preach its virtues. I have an open heart, 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.680 in an open mind. And by the way, no, I 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.800 mean I'm with Burr on the fact that this movie, 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.840 I mean, I think in some conventional senses my reaction was, well, yeah, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.800 this is a bad movie, and that it has some uh, 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.000 elements of the plot just don't really gel together, and 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.959 it feels like multiple different movies sort of crammed together 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.280 as one, and it doesn't really embrace in of the 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.959 directions fully and I think there was a strange mismatch, 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.760 and just in terms of the raw sort of mechanics 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.400 of filmmaking, Like, in some ways this movie has some 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:15.439 like really good and effective set pieces and and special effects, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.320 and in other cases it looks really cheap, like daytime 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.160 TV kind of stuff. Yeah, I guess here's my criteria 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.120 for for truly bad film in the in the sense 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:26.600 that it is bad and we're not just saying, oh 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.319 I love bad movies. Is can I drive it off 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.120 the lot? Does it? Does it function enough? Is there 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.320 something that is that is actually going to bring this 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.480 baby to a stop? Um? And you know, like for 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.839 an example, that would be something like like Trouble in Mind, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.560 which is a film I watched in recent months, and 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.720 it has so many wonderful aspects of it, uh to it, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.560 some some great performances in it, some great style, some 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.280 great music, but it has what was for me as 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.680 a viewer like a real tragic flaw and in the 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.320 establishment of one of its characters in his motivations, just 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.200 left me unable to drive this picture off the lot. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.679 You know, this one's easy to drive. I mean, this 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.840 one will drive for you. This is a self driving car. Yeah, 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.160 So I guess that's how I tend. I tend to 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.720 look at things. Um. Likewise, there's some there's some perfectly 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.520 fine cinematic automobiles out there, and you know that there 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.040 they have all the parts, but they just they have 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.160 no momentum. For me. I can't drive him off the lot. So, uh, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.560 that's that's where I fall in the matter. Fair enough now, 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.840 um it was to be fair though when it comes 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.640 to criticism, all this picture it's critics do include Brad 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.959 Dorriff himself. Um and and I like the way he 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.200 looked at it. Sometimes it's I think a little uh, 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:46.920 it can be a little more authentic, I guess to 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.560 you know, to look at from the inside out, you know. 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:54.439 Um and Uh. Dora apparently wasn't pleased with the final results. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.360 He spoke about it in the edition of Fan Gloria. 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:02.240 There's an interview in that he cited on the IMDb page, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.480 but we looked up the full interview as well, which 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.880 can be found at archive dot org. Uh, but but 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.080 I want to read what he had to say. He says, quote, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.160 you see me playing my heart out and scenes that 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:14.680 are not working, and the reason they're not working is 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.440 that movie doesn't make sense. Okay, So so he would 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.400 agree that it does make it. I I disagree. I 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.080 think it makes a certain amount of sense. He says, 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.440 it's almost funny. As a matter of fact, the better 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.200 my acting was in some of the later scenes, the 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.120 funnier of the film was I found myself at the 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.400 mercy of people who didn't know what they were doing. 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.600 I probably shouldn't be saying this, but my feeling is 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.840 the producers destroyed it. Toby could have made three different 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.520 movies with the material he had, and each one would 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.679 have worked. But by the time he got it, it 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.040 had changed from a love story to a suspense thriller 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.080 about my character's paranoid fantasy, to a guy goes crazy 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.840 film about this insane killer who becomes a destructive force. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.440 It's going to wipe out mankind. We went back and 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.520 kind of restructured it as a love story, but it 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.040 didn't really help. The beginning of the film was great, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.400 and a certain portion of my stuff was fine, but 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.040 then it became stupid when all the stuff started out 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:06.760 and all the flame stuff. But uh, so I think 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.680 he's too hard on him on himself certainly, I think 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.400 I think Brad Dorff is great in parts of this 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:17.800 film and and is able to to do far more 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.240 with this part and tries far harder with this part 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.120 than a lot of other actors would have been capable of. Um. 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.520 But but he's also he's also right. The beginning is 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.280 is really really good, and I wonder what it might 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.079 have looked like had they actually had a coherent vision 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.080 for the picture, if they had like stuck to the 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.200 love story aspect. You know, well, to whatever extent there's 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.680 anything wrong with spontaneous combustion, it is not Brad Dorriff. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.000 So I I don't I don't think anybody would say 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.440 that the problem with this movie is that Brad is 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.600 not up to par. Right, Like my elevator pitch for 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.439 this is it's a conspiracy movie, it's a love story, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.760 it's a rage flick. It's it's all over the place, 0:12:54.840 --> 0:13:00.160 and it has these extreme pivots and Brad Dorriff is 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.000 able to keep the car on the road at those pivots, 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:08.760 at those those extreme you know, turns uh to an 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:13.319 amazing degree. There's a towards the end, it's it's very difficult. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.240 I think he probably you know, he does as well 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.880 as he can. But but yeah, the plot really veers 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.120 in the final act of this film. Can I give 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.760 my alternate elevator pitch? Okay, go for it. It's The 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:30.200 Incredible Hulk, except instead of green muscles, it's just fire. Yeah. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.160 I think that's good. And you know what, I think 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.160 this is the concept here is ultimately better than The 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.720 Incredible Hulk because with with Hulk, his rage is both 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.360 a curse and uh in a in a superpower. It's 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.560 literally the way he defeats his enemies. And I think 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.000 one of the things that does work in this film 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.199 is that you have you do have some really terrifying 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:58.040 pyrotechnic u effects with with fire shooting out of people 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.920 and being digitally placed people. And then you have Dorris 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.319 performance which is as as he often isn't in films, 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.280 just very explosive and emotional. And so there is the 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.480 combined there is this element of just um, you know, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:18.800 extreme emotional outburst. Um, in a way that is that 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.360 is uncontrollable, that is that is not beneficial, that cannot 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:26.560 be utilized, that can't be claimed as a positive attribute 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.880 of himself or controlled by other people. And um, and 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.440 I don't know, there's something about that that feels more authentic. 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:37.320 You know. It's like, this is the extreme emotion as 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.720 as a pure detriment as opposed to something that you 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:43.800 know is bad, but also is the way you defeat 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.240 the enemy like that the there is no defeating the 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.400 adversary using this superpower. Well, yeah, I agree with you 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.520 in spirit and the but he does in fact use 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.880 his his pyrokinesis to defeat the villains at the end 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.720 of the movie. Well, but not the way that doesn't 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.440 feel meaningful. I mean, not in a way that feels 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.880 meaningful and not in a way that it really redeems 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:10.480 his character, him and everyone around him. Yeah, should we 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.640 hit some trailer audio? Yeah, let's hear the trailer. Toby Hooper, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:19.200 the director of Poltergeist, Toby Hooper, the modern master of 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:25.960 the maccabre, now brings you his greatest achievement In the 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:32.240 Spring of n Okay. Bryan Peggy very soon, Ready Ready, 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:46.640 A secret experiment began, an experiment that left one survivor perfect. 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.960 There's no size of radiation. Now the child has become 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:58.200 a man can live a slight favor a man who 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:08.480 doesn't know the secret of his pasked Spontaneous Combustion starring 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:13.000 Academy Award nominee Brad do Reef, Melinda Dylon, and Cynthia 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:33.080 Baine Damiel. Spontaneous Combustion wait to Actually haven't listened to 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.560 this thing? Does it have a good narrator voice? I 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.040 think it has a pretty good narrator voice. Yeah, in 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.360 a world where a man can call you on the 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:45.000 phone and make fire come out of your nose, it 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.720 does have some pretty good phone sequences right right up 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.360 there with which Freddie movie had the phone in it. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.440 Freddie the first movie. I think a tongue comes out 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.560 of the phone. Okay, that was the original original nightmare 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.080 then okay, but it also this movie has a few 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.840 things in common with scanners, you know, and scanners. When 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.320 there's the part where he calls the computer on the 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:08.000 telephone and then reads the computer's mind. Oh yeah, I 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:09.840 mean that's that's something we have to keep in mind 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.320 with with psychic pictures is that, Yeah, we we often 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.639 hold Scanners up as a as a great example, but 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.000 I always always had a problem with with that, like cool, 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.399 why is his mind working on the computer? Why is 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.359 he able to psychically do computer things? But yeah, I agree, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.080 I mean Scanners is great, but it also has parts 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:36.760 that do not make any sense. All right, Well, let's 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.760 talk about the people involved in this, so we'll get 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:40.919 back to door in a second, but first let's just 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.560 briefly discussed Toby Hooper, one more time director screenwriter on 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:50.040 this who live nine through and uh, yeah, he's probably 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.639 best remembered for ninety four is the Texas Chainsaw massacre. Um. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.720 You often see this argument that his subsequent work like 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:01.080 never achieve that level, that even though even Poulter Guys 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.840 being a commercial hit was like was part of an 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:08.200 artistic descent. But you know, he he worked a lot. 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:10.640 He did a lot of TV and film projects, and 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.960 I think the quality is maybe up and down. I 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.959 think that's fair to say. But he put out stuff like, Uh, 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:18.960 in addition to Poulter guyst and TCMI did Life Force 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:23.080 Invaders from mars Um, Texas Chainsaw Masker, Too, which I 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.359 would argue is pretty close to pure genius. Texas Chainsaw 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.399 Masker two is a disgusting horror comedy. It's almost a 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.439 satirical reimagining of the first movie, kind of in the 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.119 way that, um, have you ever seen Evil Dead and 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.679 Evil Dead Too? You know, the similar relationship with Texas 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.359 Chainsaw and Texas Chainsaw Too. Yeah, I mean, I I 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.600 ultimately think t c M Too was was a great direction. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.960 He seemed on some level to realize, Okay, we we 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.720 can't just reproduce what we did before, we need to 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:57.119 lean more into the grim gallows humor aspects of the 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.280 first film and creates something that takes on old really 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.560 a more comedic um air. Uh So yeah, TC him 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:06.040 is a lot of fun. That's one we could come 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.080 back to on the show because it's certainly weird now. Um. 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.720 The co screenwriter and this was Howard Goldberg born in 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:16.520 n not a ton of film writing credits. He'd written 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.240 apple Pie in Nive in a series of this is 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.520 kind of a series of vignettes I'm to understand with 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.320 kind of a secret wild life of Walter Middy kind 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.760 of vibe. Um. He wrote and directed it, and I 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:30.439 was looking at the people involved in it, and I 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.720 did notice it. Brother Theodore was in it. Yeah, well 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.320 your gods are dead and the rats are screaming. Yeah. 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.399 So I don't know if that comes that just virtue 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:41.200 of it being like a New York picture of that day, 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.480 or if you were filming out in the open in 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.399 New York, brother Theodore would just appear and start screaming. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.119 I'm not sure which. He went on to write and 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:53.080 direct two more films, Eden in nineteen six and Jake 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.840 Squared and Eaton was part of a Sun Dance Institute fellowship. 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:00.919 Uh So, Goldberg's done quite a bit of work, some 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.439 commercial work, but also off Broadway musicals. So this, you know, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:07.520 he did a lot more, but this seems to be 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.679 his only foray into paranormal thriller screenwriting. Okay, but I 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:13.760 think we need to get to the main attraction here. 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:18.480 What's the reason to watch spontaneous Combustion? It's Brad Dorriff baby, Yeah, 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:22.199 Brad Dorriff born nineteen fifty. Still still very active. It 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.879 seems like a guy who who works a lot. I 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:26.639 don't know if it's too much, that's that's not for 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.640 me to judge, but but he works a lot. He's 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:32.639 been in a lot of projects over the years. Um, 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.199 and he is. He is openly. I've seen him describe 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.880 himself in interviews as an odd duck who often gravitates 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.800 to disturbed and strange characters. Uh, and into a certain extent. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.159 Is also you know, he's been so successful in certain 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.600 roles that people keep coming back and offering him those 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.880 parts too. Uh. But uh, he's able to bring these 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.640 weird characters to life in an amazing way. So he's 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.280 been in, He's been in great films and TV products. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.640 He's been in he's been in heavily flawed films. Um, 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:05.680 he's been certainly been in worse films than this. You'll 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.240 find him an independent and international motion pictures. You'll find 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.399 him in major blockbusters. You'll find him in various horror 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.040 and sci fi films of just about every caliber. Did 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.280 you realize that this came out the same year as 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.520 The Exorcist three? Um? I think I didn't realize it 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.160 until I was reading that Fangoria interview, because I think 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.720 that was to promote Exorcist. And then they also asked 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:33.080 him about this picture. Oh okay, yeah, he now he 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.000 placed the Gemini killer right, and he's captivating in in 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.280 Exorcist three. Exorcist three is a movie that, um, you 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:42.320 might just assume if you haven't seen it, well, it's 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.680 the third sequel to a movie that did not need 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.280 a sequel at all, how could it be good? But actually, 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:48.879 I mean I haven't seen it in several years, but 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.280 I remember the Exorcist three actually being quite good. Yeah, 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:54.320 I think if I was to rewatch an Exorcist film, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:57.080 it would be three. I think I think I've I've 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.239 I've done Exorcist Part one enough I would probably come 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.359 back for three. But yeah, Doriff is great in it 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:07.080 and is captivating. I would say that he is often 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:10.360 one off, if not the most captivating things about any 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:13.080 picture he's in, you know. I mean, sometimes he's in 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.760 there with a lot of talented and or weird actors 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.600 that are you know, competing for that that honor. But 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.840 there are numerous examples that come to mind where it's like, oh, yeah, 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:23.760 Brad Dorriff's in it. He will make you he will 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.399 make you remember his part if you forget everything else. 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.880 For the past couple of days, I just haven't been 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.439 able to think about anything really except Brad Dorriff leaving 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.240