WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Ravenous 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:09.000 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. Today we are 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.920 re airing our July fourth episode from last year. It 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:18.799 is the nineteen ninety nine Frontier cannibal horror film Ravenous. 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:22.759 It was a real joy to revisit this film. I 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.200 feel like it is just as strong today as it 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.640 was back when it came out, and has just as 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.800 much to say, some strong performances throughout. Big fan of 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.199 this movie and happy to share this episode with you 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:34.840 once more. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.320 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.640 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.120 and this is Joe McCormick. Today is July the fourth 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.960 Independence Day in the United States, as many of our 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.200 American listeners can attest to, and I think our international 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.560 listeners can also attest to to varying degrees and understand, 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.440 national patriotic holidays like this can be really weird to process. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.640 They are at their they're very least a time of 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.360 celebrating certain ideals while often ignoring the more complex or 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.720 even problematic elements of a nation's history and place in 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.760 the world. I often find myself just like end up 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.480 with a day off on the on the fourth, and 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.640 I'm just like, what am I doing? What? What's the 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.160 game plan? I guess I'll watch some fireworks and you know, 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.280 this year I made some space for today's. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.480 Movie, oh, on the fourth of July itself, or just 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.280 an advance of like are you gonna watch it again 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:38.039 on the fourth? 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.679 Who knows what I'll do? But I mean, you know, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.600 given publication delays, you know, I couldn't actually watch it 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.040 on the fourth, but in anticipation of the fourth. 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.200 I see, typically if we watch a movie on the 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:53.800 fourth of July, it's Jaws, that's you know, for obvious reasons. 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.520 Fourth of July is a big holiday. In the narrative 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.120 of Jaws, It's very much a summer movie. And I 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.280 don't know, it just kind of feels right, especially if 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.120 the day involves, like otherwise being outdoors or barbecuing or something. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.000 At some point you come inside, sit down and watch Jaws. 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.519 I think we we haven't really done this fully and 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:14.040 in a few years since my daughter was born, But 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:15.960 I don't know, I think we're working our way back 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.440 up to it at some point. And another tradition we 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.160 used to have. This may sound a little bit cheesy, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.919 but so we used to like read Walt Whitman out 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.320 loud in our house on the fourth of July. It's 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.680 it's a good thing to do. I recommend that nice. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.000 Nice. Well, these are both solid, solid choices, especially Jaws, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:38.480 and because again the greatest primordial summer blockbuster in many respects. 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.600 I mean, it's set the set the blueprint for blockbusters 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.280 to follow. But also, you know, Jaws, in its own 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.120 interesting way at least dips its toes into some contemplation 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.120 about America. 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.840 Hmm, I have to think about that. Okay, yeah, I. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.919 Think it's it's in there. But the picture that we've 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:04.320 selected here is nineteen ninety nine's Ravenous. Of note, this 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.839 is only our second nineteen ninety nine film. The only 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.919 other film from nineteen ninety nine that we've watched is 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:11.880 Deep Blue Sea, a shark movie. 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.320 Oh okay, interesting connection. You know, maybe it's not just 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.960 the narrative of Jaws that ties into the Fourth of July. 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.880 There is something very American feeling about the subgenre of 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.919 the shark film that's just part of the national identity. 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.720 Looking for connections between Deep Blue Sea and Ravenous. Not 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:35.160 a huge amount in terms of I don't know the 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.560 feel or content, but I guess they're both very much 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:38.240 about eating. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.360 Yeah, Deep Blue Sy very much feels like a nineteen 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.000 ninety nine film. Ravenous in many ways just really feels 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.240 out of place, Like it feels like maybe its soul 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.960 is more seated I don't know, in the nineteen seventies 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.040 or or in a way it's almost like a blueprint 0:03:58.080 --> 0:03:59.920 of things that might come later. And as well as 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.600 I don't think anybody knew what to do with this 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.760 film when it came out in nineteen ninety nine, no 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.480 one knew how to market it, and no but and 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:09.600 a lot of people didn't really know how to receive it. 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.600 It is one of those artifacts like floating outside of time. 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.760 It feels like it doesn't really fit in exactly anywhere. 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.680 It is a strange. There are strange anachronisms within it, 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.800 like this is a period movie set in the eighteen forties, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:31.159 and something I think, especially about the sound track leans 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.520 a little bit into the sound of a nineteenth century music, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.400 you know. It involves like some accordion voicings and banjos 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.159 and fiddles and things like that, but also has these 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.960 electronic elements that kind of pull it out of the 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.880 time space in which you're supposed to be imagining it, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.760 and it as a result, it does kind of feel 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.440 like this this alien object that's just kind of like 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:58.440 inserted randomly into the last one hundred years of culture. Yeah. Yeah. 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.039 The soundtrack, the score, especially as we'll discuss, gives it 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.680 this kind of vibe of something ancient that is clawing 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.560 its way up into the modern world. So I originally 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.440 saw this one back more or less when it first 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:11.920 came out. I did not see it in the theaters. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.440 I don't know how many people actually did. I caught 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.159 it on home video, maybe even VHS, I'm not sure. 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.480 Probably it's probably DVD. This was a time when DVD 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:25.320 was really getting into the vibe. But I have to 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.760 say it really impressed me back then. I was a 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.919 rather different person back then, but it still impressed me 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.800 when I rewatched it today. I think it certainly has 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.640 its flaws, and we'll touch on some of those, but 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.520 it's quite exceptional in its rumination on its central thesis, 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.760 which it rolls out I think with enough care and 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.160 nuance that it invites us to further ruminate on what 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.800 this film means and what it's saying without transforming the 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.280 picture into a kind of blunt instrument of social or 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:55.400 political commentary. 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.520 You know, something about the setting in time and place, 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.560 and the fact that it takes place among kind of 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.800 military officers within, you know, a couple of decades of 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.960 the US Civil War makes it feel like it should 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:16.680 have some kind of political historical commentary. Whatever political historical 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.560 commentary is there, feels kind of subtle to me. I 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.320 would say overall, the main themes are more of a 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:29.599 classic morality struggle, but with Gonzo Freddy Krueger elements. 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.400 Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, I think it ultimately 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.440 strikes a nice balance in its commentary. I do think 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.080 if it had been made ten years ago instead of 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:42.560 twenty six years ago, I think it would have been 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.800 more aggressive in its critique. I think it might have 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:49.120 been a little blunter and and I don't know, it's 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.120 these are big what ifs, but I can easily imagine 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:58.320 a picture that was ultimately less successful. So, if you're 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.800 not familiar with nineteen ninety nine Ravenous, this is a 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.520 weird one. Ravenus is a frontier cannibal movie set in 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:10.000 eighteen forties California. It draws clear inspiration from both the 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.560 Donner Party and then and the confessions of alleged cannibal 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.480 Alfred Packer, And there's also a dash of Windigo of 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:24.160 lore from Algonquin folklore. Now, given this premise, you might 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.080 well expect a couple of different possible treatments. You might think, Okay, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.240 this is gonna be an exploitive horror movie. This is 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.120 gonna be like a gonzo maybe even euro cannibal film 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.560 like we saw in the seventies and eighties, including Cannibal Apocalypse, 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.520 which we've covered on Weird House Cinema, partially filmed right 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:42.440 over here in Decatur. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.480 I'd say there are some special effects sequences that are 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.760 similar to Cannibal Apocalypse. Yeah, there's some kind of shoving 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:51.600 of organs into the mouth. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.679 Yeah, they definitely. They definitely get in there and paint 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.480 with those brushstrokes. But at the same time, it doesn't 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.520 really go overboard there either. I wouldn't set so if 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.720 you come into this wanting like a complete gore fest, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:08.520 it might not deliver, certainly by sort of like fangoria standards. 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:09.200 Yeah. 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.480 At the same time, yeah, you might think, well, this 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.880 is about cannibalism, and cannibalism is inherently funny. There's no 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:21.280 denying it. No matter how serious your treatment of cannibalism is, 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.360 you can't help but get a yuck in there, you know, 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.360 somewhere or another, in part because cannibalism is such a 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.760 dark topic. But then there it also there are just 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.120 so many potentially humorous wrinkles to the concept. 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:40.959 Cannibalism really lends itself to puns and word play, a 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.320 little double on tondras in sentences. Have you noticed that 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.120 I feel like almost more than basically anything except sex, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:52.079 cannibalism is just like the double on tundras leap out 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.520 of the language for you, right, and. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.400 Then they often go back into sex as well. So 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.280 it's just it's all over the place. And so you 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.040 might well think, well, this is going to be a 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.160 you know, a grizzly comedy, maybe along the lines of 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.640 Trey Parker's Cannibal the Musical, which came out in nineteen 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.559 ninety three, based in part on the Alfred Packer account 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.080 which I just referenced. And it to be clear, this 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.280 film does have its intentional laughs, but it also shows 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.120 a great deal of restraint here as well. 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.480 Yeah, there is I would say a good bit of 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.120 humor in this movie, but it's way less overt than 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.000 in Cannibal the musical. I mean, this is not, in 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:32.480 any sense played for comedy. Instead, it's one of those 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.440 It's a dark story that is through and through dark 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.560 on its face, and I think the viewer is expected 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:45.440 to find little ironic amusements throughout it, you know, like 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:49.960 you're having a little chuckle, but there's nothing, no juicy 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:51.320 comedy happening on screen. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.240 Yeah, so I think it's generally on the money to 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.800 think of Ravenous as a horror film. Absolutely. I'm not 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.480 going to make an argument that it doesn't belong in 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.760 that section of the video rental store, but I think 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.720 when you look at it, yeah, it also tends to 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.680 defy categorization in other ways, and I think the studio 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.120 clearly didn't know what to make of it. Audiences and 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.240 critics also tended to respond as such. I believe Ebert 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.199 really liked it, but I think a lot of people 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.000 just didn't know what to make of it. No one 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.920 really knew what to do with a serious minded cannibal 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:31.120 slash sort of vampire frontier film, reflecting on, you know, 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.640 to a certain extent, on the dark side of American 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.160 destiny and capitalism or at least human nature. 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.320 Yeah, I mean nothing marketers hate more than something that 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.280 takes too many words to describe. Yes, it's just like 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.080 hard to market something that doesn't really fit its jenre 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:47.120 tropes very well. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.199 Yeah, and as such, the original marketing for this film 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.720 is just I mostly just hate all of it. I 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.880 hate all the posters in box art for it. All 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.200 of it's just kind of like ugly looking. I don't 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.080 like the trailer, and I don't think any of this 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:02.800 has changed. It's weird, like, this is a film that 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:07.600 has definitely developed its own cult following over the years, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.960 and it's readily available. It's been re released, you know, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.439 in Blu ray and so forth, but the packaging is 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.280 still more or less the same. I picked up the 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.800 box at at Video Drome here in Atlanta, and it's 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.440 on the recent Shout Factory release, which is very nice 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.160 as all these extras that were originally on the DVD release. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.480 And it's the same description the box states quote it's 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.040 a recipe for NonStop action and excitement when the inhabitants 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.280 of an isolated military outpost go up against a marauding 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.600 band of cannibals in a deadly struggle for survival. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.720 That doesn't even accurately describe the plot. No, but then 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.360 it also gets the tone roll. 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:48.960 Yeah, yeah, the tone is totally incorrect here, Like, I 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.200 love this film, but it is not a recipe for 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:52.840 NonStop action and excitement. 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.160 It is Also it's not that this makes it sound 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.559 like it's like a bunch of soldiers having a shootout 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.240 with a cannibal gang that had like it's mad Max 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:01.760 or something. 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.280 Yeah, or maybe the thing. You know, there's some comparisons 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.560 to be made there, but yeah, totally different vibe. 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.200 It's actually closer to the thing than what this makes 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:10.720 it sound like. 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:15.720 Yeah, yeah, So my alternate elevator pitch for this would 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.880 be cannibalism American style. But even that makes it sound 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.360 like it's going to be more of a comedy than 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:21.040 it actually is. 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.080 If I could give it a slightly pretentious elevator pitch, 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.360 I'll cite a line from the movie. The characters in 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.360 the movie discuss a believe a Benjamin Franklin quote where 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:35.600 they say, eat to live, don't live to eat. Now, 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.520 that's an interesting aphorism. This movie explores what that aphorism 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.240 means when you have to interrogate the meaning of both 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:44.400 live and eat. 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.200 Yes, all right, I'm gonna skip the trailer since I've 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.160 already established that I don't really like it. I would recommend, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:53.920 I even if you've not seen the film, I'd recommend 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.920 just going in cold and experiencing it. And you know, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.520 don't even look at the box, don't even look at 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.000 the posters. But but if you want to watch it 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.400 on your own, it is widely available for digital rent 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.160 and purchase. The Shout Factory Blu ray is definitely the 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.720 pick for physical media. It contains numerous extras, including no 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.520 fewer than three commentary tracks. I believe these were on 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.280 the original release. This is just that period I believe 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.240 for excitement for regarding disc extras, so they just went 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:23.720 all out. 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.520 Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the original release 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.560 of this movie on DVD had little like little Easter 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.840 eggs in the menus. Oh yes, something you could like 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.040 navigate over to and click and it would play like 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.120 a I don't know, you'd have like a dancing Robert 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:38.880 Carlyle and. 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.920 Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, this is when they did all 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.800 of that stuff, and I have to admit I haven't 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:46.680 really gone into the extras on the disc. I feel 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:48.640 like this is sometimes I really like to do that 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.120 with the film for a weird House and get more 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:52.840 of the backstory. This, I really feel like, is a 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.880 film that just speaks so well for itself as itself. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.840 But you know, sometime down the line, I might really 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.680 get into the extras because they look really good. You've 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.520 got Carlisle and Bird doing a commentary track, You've got 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.040 you know, various other individuals involved in the production, and yeah, 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:09.400 I'm sure it's all really good stuff. 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.200 One thing I would say before we go any further 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.000 is that, of course, always on Weird House Cinema, we 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.200 end up talking about the plot in some amount of 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.960 detail as we go on, and that will include spoilers 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.080 for the story. In cases where I think, you know, 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.040 you might want to go in without anything spoiled, I 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.520 throw a warning up. I think this is probably one 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.520 of those. This is a movie where you might want 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.720 to watch it without any of the surprises ruined. So 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.760 so fair warning, folks. If you haven't seen the movie 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:47.280 you feel like you want to, this might be a 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.080 good place to pause and go check it out before 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:49.760 listening further. 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.040 All right, we've given you the warning, so now we're 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.000 going to get into the meat of the people involved 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.200 in this production, starting at the top. The director to 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:04.120 hear is Antonia Byrd, who lived nineteen fifty one through 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.680 twenty thirteen English TV and film director and also occasional producer. 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.600 Her TV credits go back to the early eighties, working 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.960 on various series and TV movies, including some work in 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.640 the long running series EastEnders. In ninety four, she directed 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:23.520 the film Priest starring Linus Roach, Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.120 which earned her a BAFF denomination among other honors. She 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.880 followed this up with nineteen ninety five's Mad Love, no 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.400 relation to the Peter Lourie picture. This one starred Chris 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.920 o'donnald and Drew Barrymore. But what if it had been 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:37.960 a remake of Mad. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:42.040 Love starring Chris O'Donnell Andrew Chris O'Donnell as. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.680 In the role of a lifetime in the Peter Lourie role. 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:45.280 Amazing. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.840 She also did nineteen ninety seven's Face, a crime drama 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:54.680 starring Robert Carlyle alongside ray Winston. Ravenous would be her 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.440 last feature film, but she continued to work in television, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.160 directing a handful of TV movies and episodes of show 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.280 like I five and Cracker. She was one of the 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.280 UK's leading female directors by many estimates. She sadly passed 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.040 away following a battle with cancer. Now it is important 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.160 to include a brief note about the production here. So 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.280 first of all, just incidentally, this movie was filmed primarily 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.400 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, So I think all 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.280 of these scenes that are supposed to be the American 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.280 Frontier are actually Europe. And then the scenes that take 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.000 place in Mexico were actually filmed in Mexico. 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:29.640 Okay. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.800 Bird was apparently a last minute replacement for a different director, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:39.800 a Macedonian director, Milt show Manchewski, And I'm not sure 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:45.000 on the details there ultimately not important, but amid discussions 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:46.760 of who are we going to get into who's going 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.080 to step in and direct this picture? Now we're getting 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.520 down to the last minute. You know, the cast, everything, 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.320 all these these expensive pieces are in place, and it's 0:16:55.400 --> 0:17:00.320 Robert Carlyle who reportedly suggested that they get Bird done. 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:01.480 His previous work with her. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.639 It was clearly a good move. You can feel something 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.679 about something that is really working in this movie is 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:13.639 a kind of playfulness and a freedom to experiment that 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:15.760 I think you can feel coming from the top. At 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.520 least that's my sense in watching it. 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.800 Yeah, and I believe that's the sense that you get 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:25.400 when you read interview pieces from Carlisle about the picture. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.200 So he had worked with her on episodes of TVs 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:32.600 The Bill Cracker, as well as an anthology series called Screenplay. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.320 The episode that Bird directed was a nineteen ninety three 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.560 episode titled Safe that centered around homelessness and also feature 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:45.080 Aidan Gillen and Kate Hardy. So yeah, he always he 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.800 seems like he always spoke very highly of citing her 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.919 collaborative spirit and her on set demeanor. In a nineteen 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.800 ninety nine interview with The Guardian that, to be clear, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.879 was promoting this picture, he said the following about power 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:03.159 dynamics on productions, Antonia is very different from most directors 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.440 in thinking that way, the more you do in your 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.200 career and the more success you get, you can pick 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.880 and choose. But I've been confronted with a power thing 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.240 from directors before and that's what makes Antonia refreshing because 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.120 she doesn't have that. It's a collaborative thing. It's about trust, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.679 and you build up trust over a period of years, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.120 and therefore you will do anything for each other. 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.080 Oh okay, yeah, So if I'm interpreting that right, that 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.480 does match the feeling I get from watching the movie 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.560 where it is. You get the sense that this is 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.080 the kind of production where people were just trying things. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.880 People might do something weird, and then it's like, oh, 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.480 that kind of works, let's go with that, yeah, instead 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.560 of a director just draconian ly to you know, bossing 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:46.720 everybody around and saying, no, I've got a vision, do 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:47.320 it this way. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.200 And of course all that makes sense when we get 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.560 into the cast here in just a minute, because it's 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:56.760 a great cast of character actors and experienced the stage 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.159 and screen actors, and so you can really feel it 0:18:59.160 --> 0:18:59.760 all come together. 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:01.560 Yeah, all right. 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.720 The screenplay is by Ted Griffin born nineteen seventy. This 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.560 was his first produced feature film script, but he followed 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.440 it up with two thousand and one's adaptation of Ocean's Eleven, 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:16.199 based on a previous film from many years back. He 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.200 also did two thousand and threes matchtick Men, the twenty 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:24.120 ten series Terriers, twenty eleven's Tower Heist, and twenty ten Solace. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.360 He also got into producing and co produced twenty thirteen's 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.600 The Wolf of Wall Street. All Right, heading up our 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.520 cast top build is Guy Pierce playing the character BOYD. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.760 Born nineteen sixty seven. And I think everybody knows who 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.120 Guy Pierce is, big name Australian actor who really broke 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.120 into the mainstream with his supporting role in nineteen ninety 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:45.600 seven's La Confidential. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.480 I would argue Guy Pearce is really playing against type 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:53.359 in this movie. He again and again throughout his career 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.680 he plays characters that are very driven, the kind of focused, 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:03.399 competent people who are always the active party in the scene, 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:07.040 always the agent, And here he plays the exact opposite, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:11.960 a character whose main vice is cowardice and indecision. 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.160 Yeah, I think that's a great read because whether he's 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.639 playing heroes or villains, which and he does both terrifically, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.800 it is generally a very driven character. And in this 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.080 film the character is intentionally presented is very passive for 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.200 much of the film, resigned to whatever fate has seemingly 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.879 for whatever fate has seemingly chosen for him, and you 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:34.520 know as such, he doesn't even seem to have much 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.359 agency at first, and on the whole speaks very little 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:37.879 in the movie. 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.360 Yeah, it's a weird choice to have a protagonist this way. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:46.240 He's like, there are multiple scenes where he is an 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.200 officer in the military in this film, but he has 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:51.840 like men underneath him who are having to kind of 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.119 like give him orders essentially because he's just frozen and 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.160 he doesn't know what to do. Yeah. 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:01.480 So, prior to Like Confidential, his Australian credits included the 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.280 cult favorite drag film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:08.320 the Desert, alongside Hugo Weaving and Terrence Stamp. So this 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.040 film pretty much follows up on the La Confidential boom 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:15.560 and proceeds a string of early two thousand films Christopher 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.920 Nolan's Memento in two thousand, of Course, two thousand twos, 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.760 The counta Monte Crisco, two thousand and two's The Time Machine. 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.440 Subsequent credits included such films as two thousand and five's 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.200 The Proposition, two thousand and eight's The hurt Locker two 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.399 thousand and nine is The Road twenty twelve's Prometheus, twenty 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:34.840 thirteen's Iron Man three, in which he gets to play 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.960 the chief villain, twenty sixteen Brimstone. I believe that's another 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.600 grim sort of Western frontier picture. Twenty seventeen's Alien Covenant, 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.919 small but memorable roll. There a turn as Scrooge in 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:52.199 twenty nineteen's A Christmas Carol. I haven't seen that, but 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:56.879 I'm imagining it as Peter Wayland as Scrooge, so I 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:58.919 hope that wouldn't disappoint. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.760 Dan Ackroyd did nothing but trouble as Scrooge. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:05.800 And then oh, he's in twenty twenty fours The Shrouds. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.400 That's I believe the latest Cronenberg film. Haven't seen that one, 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.320 And he's also in The Brutalist, for which he was 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.000 nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:17.119 Yeah, I always like Guy Pearson. He is great in this, 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.400 but once again a very different kind of role for him. 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.000 All right, now, coming back to Robert Carlyle. Robert Carlyle 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.040 plays we're past spoilers at this point, so we can 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:28.800 go in and say that it's kind of a double role. 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:33.840 He plays a character that it's initially identified as with 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.920 the name Calhoun, but we come to know as ives. 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.000 There are a lot of great things about this movie, 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.080 but I would say Robert Carlyle is the hub around 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:45.840 which the spokes revolve here. He is the core of 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:48.159 this movie, and he's like the best thing in it. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.680 He is driving this train and he's driving it right 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.800 off the tracks and it's great. He is fantastic. 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:58.159 Yeah, he really gets to shine here. He gets to 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.840 go in various directions. It's in many ways a Dracula 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.240 role in all the great ways that it's a Dracula role, 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:07.600 but with all these other layers in place, Like he 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:09.600 gets to play a frontier mad man, he gets to 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.639 play a cold, pragmatist villain. He gets to be this 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:16.800 kind of embodiment of predatory capitalism and empire. And there 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:20.359 are also subtle homoerotic layers to the character as well. 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:22.960 I don't think those are as pronounced, or at least 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.640 they didn't jump out at me as much, But based 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:30.439 on interviews I've seen with Carlisle, he does stress that 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:32.560 that it was part of the calculus of the character. 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:36.680 So Carlile is of course a noted Scottish actor whose 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.080 credits go back to the late eighties, starring in TV 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.640 with some small roles before starring in nineteen ninety one's 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:46.520 Riff Raff, which earned him earned him a BAF denomination. 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:49.199 And it wasn't long after this that he worked with 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.280 Byrd Unsafe and then worked with her again on Priest 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.119 the same year, nineteen ninety four, he also appeared in 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.840 a supporting role in the Robin Williams film Being Human. 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:00.600 In nineteen ninety six, he appeared in Dan he Boils 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:03.840 Train Spotting, playing the sadistic Oh, it's been a while 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.080 since I've seen this. I think the character's name is Bigbie. 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:10.399 It's been forever. Yeah, Franco Begbee, I think. And this 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:13.640 is a role he'd reprise in twenty seventeen's T two 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.240 Trained Spotting. He followed this up with ninety seven's Face 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:19.520 and The Full Monty, and this was another role he'd 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.240 later reprise in twenty thirteen The Full Monty TV Project. 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:27.000 He was a ninety nine's Plunkett McClean ninety nine's The 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:29.280 World Is Not Enough. I forgot about this one. But 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:30.160 he's a Bond villain. 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.240 Oh, he's the villain of it. I've seen this movie, 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:34.600 but I don't really remember he. 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:37.040 Is either this is Yeah, I'm not a big fan 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.159 of this era of Bond pictures, but he either plays 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:42.920 the main villain or the chief henchman. 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:48.200 Okay, the world is not. Oh is this the one with? Yes? Sorry, 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:51.120 just had to look it up. She's doctor Christmas Jones. 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:57.280 Yeah, I'm I think I saw this, but I maybe 0:24:57.320 --> 0:24:59.760 I didn't because I don't really remember any of this. 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:03.000 I notice it's a forgettable one. It's got a showdown 0:25:03.000 --> 0:25:05.400 in a nuclear submarine I think in the end, and 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:09.640 Robert Carlyle is he's a villain called Renard. I had 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:11.600 to look this up to jog my memory. I truly 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:13.320 did not remember any of these details. 0:25:13.880 --> 0:25:18.080 Goldie is in it, the UK DJ musician. But yeah, 0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:20.640 maybe I haven't seen this one at all. Well, it's 0:25:20.680 --> 0:25:24.879 not Robert Carlyle's fault. That's like good no, but you know, 0:25:25.000 --> 0:25:27.680 more power to him forgetting that Bond villain pay day. 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:31.160 Let's see that same year, though, he was in Angela's Ashes, 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:33.080 and then in two thousand he was in the Beach. 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:35.760 He played Adolf Hitler in the two thousand and three 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.080 mini series Hitler The Rise of Evil. Other credits include 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:42.040 two thousand and seven's Aragon and also twenty eight weeks 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:44.639 later from the same year. And he also played the 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:49.320 role of sort of an updated version of Rumpel Stilskin 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:52.080 on TVs Once Upon a Time, which ran from twenty 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:56.760 eleven to twenty eighteen. All right, third billing for this 0:25:56.840 --> 0:26:00.000 picture is David Arquette playing the character Cleaves. 0:26:00.200 --> 0:26:01.680 Billing that's a strange choice. 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:04.439 Yeah, yeah, I think I guess they were capitalizing on 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:09.080 his sort of like MTV era Scream franchise celebrity status 0:26:09.119 --> 0:26:11.800 at the time. But this is a very minimal role, 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:14.679 kind of a mild comic relief stoner character. 0:26:15.240 --> 0:26:17.199 I mean, he's good in his scenes, no offense to 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:22.080 David Arquette at all, but he's more unhinged than I 0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.359 would have expected David Arquette to get, like his hysterical 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:29.359 laughter at absolutely nothing and h and also like while 0:26:29.400 --> 0:26:30.280 he's getting gutted. 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:34.520 Yeah, yeah, I guess they, you know, they when they 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:36.840 were marketing it, they're like, you liked Scream, right, well, 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.359 enjoy Ravenous because ye at this point, Scream one and 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:43.240 two had already come out the same year he starred 0:26:43.240 --> 0:26:46.280 and Never Been Kissed. Subsequent films include two thousand and 0:26:46.280 --> 0:26:49.439 two's Eight Legged Freaks, two thousand and fours Never Die Alone, 0:26:49.480 --> 0:26:52.720 and also twenty fifteen's Bone Tomahawk, which you know is 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:57.840 another weird Western frontier movie. 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:01.679 Oh. I remember having mixed feelings about that one, because 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:04.679 I thought like, in some ways it was well made, 0:27:04.800 --> 0:27:07.840 but also it just made me feel so nasty. 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:10.760 Yeah, it's it's kind of a kind of a nasty one. 0:27:10.800 --> 0:27:14.879 I'm I'm like, again, only twenty fifteen, and I'm not 0:27:14.920 --> 0:27:17.520 sure it has aged well, but and I haven't gone 0:27:17.520 --> 0:27:20.120 back and rewatched it, but I enjoyed the experience when 0:27:20.119 --> 0:27:21.840 it came out. You know, Kurt Russell was great and 0:27:21.880 --> 0:27:24.760 everything and solid supporting cast in that one as well. 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:28.000 Yeah, who is it? Oh Man who plays Richard Jenkins. 0:27:28.080 --> 0:27:29.920 Richard Jenkins is outstanding in that. 0:27:30.000 --> 0:27:31.760 He's great in it. Yeah, but I remember that one 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:35.560 just being particularly just mean and vile. 0:27:36.280 --> 0:27:38.520 Yeah, all right, let's get into the more of the 0:27:38.560 --> 0:27:41.960 supporting cast. Here. We have Jeremy Davis playing Toffler. Born 0:27:42.040 --> 0:27:44.879 nineteen sixty nine, American actor who the same year was 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:47.800 part of the cast of Saving Private Ryan. He'd already 0:27:47.800 --> 0:27:51.320 appeared in ninety six's Twister Subsequent films included two thousand 0:27:51.320 --> 0:27:54.320 and two Secretary as well as Solaris, and he played 0:27:54.400 --> 0:27:57.639 Charles Manson in two thousand and four's Helter Skelter that 0:27:57.760 --> 0:28:00.400 was a TV film, and he also had roles on 0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:02.680 TV's Lost and Justified. 0:28:02.880 --> 0:28:06.080 It's weird to imagine him playing Charles Manson because he 0:28:06.200 --> 0:28:09.439 usually played it once again against type there he usually 0:28:09.440 --> 0:28:16.280 plays these kind of quiet, frightened, timid mouse like characters. 0:28:16.600 --> 0:28:20.720 Yeah, yeah, he's a he's like a sweet but weird 0:28:20.800 --> 0:28:25.200 dude in this very religious if we haven't mentioned it already, 0:28:25.520 --> 0:28:27.639 one of the whole things here is that all of 0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:29.679 the people that have been kind of exiled to this 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:33.320 remote outpost in Ravenous they are all outcast of one 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:35.879 sort of or another. They have been put here to 0:28:35.920 --> 0:28:40.520 be forgotten. This is the ubliette of the American Frontier. Yeah, 0:28:40.600 --> 0:28:42.560 all right, and then we have we have a major 0:28:42.640 --> 0:28:46.640 supporting character by the name of Heart, played by Jeffrey 0:28:46.720 --> 0:28:50.000 Jones born nineteen forty six, and is kind of This 0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:51.560 one is kind of a tough one to write about 0:28:51.560 --> 0:28:53.680 and to bring up here because Jones was one of 0:28:53.760 --> 0:28:56.240 I think the most beloved weirdo character actors of the 0:28:56.240 --> 0:28:59.200 eighties and nineties, noted for roles in such films as 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:02.200 eighty four's On It of Course, nineteen eighty six is 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:04.960 Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which he is the principal. 0:29:05.720 --> 0:29:07.840 He also has a fun villain role in Howard the 0:29:07.960 --> 0:29:11.400 Duck the same year, He's in eighty eight Beetlejuice, ninety 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:14.680 two Stay Tuned, and nineteen ninety four's ed Wood, in 0:29:14.680 --> 0:29:16.320 which he played the amazing Chris Well. 0:29:16.440 --> 0:29:17.000 That's right. 0:29:17.400 --> 0:29:20.520 On TV. He had a regular cast role on HBO's Deadwood, 0:29:20.960 --> 0:29:23.160 but of course legal problems in two thousand and two 0:29:23.920 --> 0:29:26.360 with some really rough charges that I don't even want 0:29:26.400 --> 0:29:28.120 to get into here on the podcast, but the info 0:29:28.280 --> 0:29:31.920 is readily available on Wikipedia and everywhere else. This essentially 0:29:32.000 --> 0:29:34.960 ended his career. At any rate. His on screen work 0:29:35.120 --> 0:29:38.000 was always terrific, and he's great in this His Heart 0:29:38.040 --> 0:29:38.760 is it Colonel Heart. 0:29:38.760 --> 0:29:39.040 I can't. 0:29:39.280 --> 0:29:43.200 I don't necessarily remember everybody's military rank, but Heart is 0:29:43.200 --> 0:29:45.680 a very likable character and it has a very nice, 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:47.840 it perhaps a bit rushed character arc. 0:29:47.960 --> 0:29:52.479 Which sets up a late movie twist that is I 0:29:52.520 --> 0:29:54.880 remember back in the day, was like a real gut punch. 0:29:55.600 --> 0:29:58.400 Yeah, yeah, and yeah, it hit the same way, even 0:29:58.400 --> 0:30:00.760 though it was knowing it was coming. All right. We 0:30:00.840 --> 0:30:04.560 also have General Slawson. Great choice of a name because 0:30:04.560 --> 0:30:07.680 it sounds like it goes with barbecue, played by John Spencer, 0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:09.960 who lived nineteen forty six through two thousand and five. 0:30:10.040 --> 0:30:12.920 Noted American actor best remembered for his role as Leo 0:30:13.000 --> 0:30:16.480 McGarry on TV's The West Wing. Other credits include eighty 0:30:16.480 --> 0:30:19.640 three's War Games, eighty nine's Black Rain, nineties Presumed Innocent, 0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:22.960 ninety six is the Rock in ninety seven's Copland. This 0:30:23.160 --> 0:30:24.880 was his last theatrical appearance. 0:30:25.640 --> 0:30:28.920 I was thinking of this character as General Cole Slawson. 0:30:31.000 --> 0:30:34.720 Yeah, they do those nicknames. Yeah, he's really good at this. 0:30:34.920 --> 0:30:37.960 You your gruff authority figure. Everything that you would ask 0:30:38.040 --> 0:30:40.880 about that character, he does a good job, all right. 0:30:40.920 --> 0:30:43.720 We also we have a return of a character actor 0:30:43.840 --> 0:30:47.120 that we previously talked about on the show. Steven Spinella 0:30:47.600 --> 0:30:51.960 plays Knox born nineteen fifty six, American actor of stage, screen, 0:30:52.000 --> 0:30:54.720 and TV. We previously talked about him because he was 0:30:54.760 --> 0:30:58.120 in nineteen ninety five's Virtuosity. He played the creepy doctor 0:30:58.240 --> 0:30:59.000 Lynden Meyer. 0:30:59.200 --> 0:31:02.240 Is this the guy who In Up, he creates Sid 0:31:02.360 --> 0:31:06.960 six point seven, Yes, the Russell Crow virtual reality murderer, 0:31:06.960 --> 0:31:08.640 but then like starts worshiping him. 0:31:08.960 --> 0:31:14.520 Yes, okay, yes, yeah, so yeah, great creepy performance in Virtuosity. 0:31:14.880 --> 0:31:18.840 Totally different vibe here as he plays brash, terminally alcoholic 0:31:18.880 --> 0:31:23.120 major knocks. His other main film credits include two thousand 0:31:23.120 --> 0:31:26.560 and eights Milk, twenty tens Rubber, and twenty twelve's Lincoln. 0:31:27.200 --> 0:31:30.920 Solid performance here. All right, then we also have Reich. 0:31:31.680 --> 0:31:35.120 This is the character played by Neil McDonough born nineteen 0:31:35.200 --> 0:31:38.720 fifty six. Stealey, American tough guy actor whose first role 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:41.480 was a dock worker in nineteen nineties Dark Man. He 0:31:41.560 --> 0:31:44.640 also popped up in ninety six's Star Trek First Contact. 0:31:44.920 --> 0:31:46.960 Really busted out with a role in two thousand and 0:31:47.000 --> 0:31:49.200 one's Band of Brothers, followed by a key role in 0:31:49.240 --> 0:31:52.000 two thousand and two's Minority Report, and he got to 0:31:52.040 --> 0:31:54.800 play m Bison in the two thousand and nine Street 0:31:54.840 --> 0:31:55.520 Fighter movie. 0:31:55.800 --> 0:31:58.520 Oh okay, that's the later movie, because yeah, for me, 0:31:58.920 --> 0:32:01.440 m Bison will always be Roald Julia. Oh. 0:32:01.480 --> 0:32:05.000 Absolutely, Once Raal Julia has played a role, it's his forever. 0:32:05.800 --> 0:32:08.800 So mcdod is good here it's kind of one note role, 0:32:08.840 --> 0:32:09.840 but it's a good note. 0:32:10.000 --> 0:32:11.040 Yeah, all right. 0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:14.200 And then we have a couple of Native American actors 0:32:14.200 --> 0:32:18.160 to round everything out. First, we have Joseph Running Fox 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:22.480 playing the character of George born nineteen fifty five, Native 0:32:22.520 --> 0:32:25.080 American actor of the Pueblo Nation whose credits go back 0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:27.680 to nineteen seventy eight. He played the lead in the 0:32:27.760 --> 0:32:31.440 nineteen ninety three Geronimo TV movie and since Ravenus has 0:32:31.480 --> 0:32:34.640 continued to work steadily, appearing in two thousand and two Skinwalkers, 0:32:34.680 --> 0:32:38.960 the Navajo Mysteries, TV's Sons of Anarchy, and also TV's 0:32:39.040 --> 0:32:39.800 Dark Wins. 0:32:40.400 --> 0:32:43.160 The character George is the scout who works at the 0:32:43.200 --> 0:32:46.240 four Tier, and he is also the character who delivers 0:32:46.280 --> 0:32:48.360 the movie's core lower dump. 0:32:48.680 --> 0:32:51.480 Yes, so a minimal role, but an important one, and 0:32:51.800 --> 0:32:56.560 he's good. And then we also have Sheliah Talzi playing 0:32:56.600 --> 0:33:02.760 Martha born nineteen sixty She's a Monomine and Stockbridge, Munsey 0:33:02.840 --> 0:33:06.280 Native American actress whose credits include nineteen ninety two's Thunderheart, 0:33:06.680 --> 0:33:09.960 nineteen ninety five's Lord of Illusions, the Clive Barker film. 0:33:10.160 --> 0:33:12.040 I don't remember her from that, but that's one i've 0:33:12.160 --> 0:33:15.360 been tempted to revisit. In recent years. She pops up 0:33:15.360 --> 0:33:18.040 on TV's The X Files. She was in two thousand 0:33:18.040 --> 0:33:20.680 and two skin Walkers and two thousand and fives Into 0:33:20.720 --> 0:33:23.280 the West. She was active from about ninety two through 0:33:23.320 --> 0:33:24.200 two thousand and five. 0:33:24.960 --> 0:33:28.560 Her character's presence is limited, but she does play a 0:33:28.640 --> 0:33:30.720 kind of central role in giving one of the core 0:33:30.880 --> 0:33:34.920 like moral exhortations in the movie. Especially. It's interesting watching 0:33:34.960 --> 0:33:38.880 the movie multiple times because you might not fully understand 0:33:39.440 --> 0:33:42.320 what she's saying to Guy Pearce's character the first time 0:33:42.360 --> 0:33:44.200 you see it, and then it kind of makes more 0:33:44.240 --> 0:33:46.120 sense when you know the whole arc of the story. 0:33:46.880 --> 0:33:47.120 Yeah. 0:33:47.200 --> 0:33:47.440 Yeah. 0:33:47.480 --> 0:33:53.120 Martha and George have important roles in being the characters 0:33:53.120 --> 0:33:56.480 who have some degree of understanding of what's actually happening. 0:33:56.760 --> 0:33:59.960 They provide a certain wisdom that has thus far been 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:04.360 elusive for the Western characters in the picture. All right, 0:34:04.400 --> 0:34:08.360 briefly getting behind the camera here. Anthony B. Richmond was 0:34:08.400 --> 0:34:12.120 a cinematographer on this Born nineteen forty two. His work 0:34:12.160 --> 0:34:14.560 goes back to the nineteen sixties and includes such films 0:34:14.600 --> 0:34:17.799 as seventy three's Don't Look Now and nineteen seventy six 0:34:17.880 --> 0:34:20.400 is The Man Who Fell to Earth. Wow. Yeah, he 0:34:20.440 --> 0:34:22.840 also worked on ninety two s Candy Man and ninety 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:25.800 five's Tales from the Hood and apparently is still working today. 0:34:26.520 --> 0:34:29.440 That's a good resume for a bunch of great looking films. 0:34:29.719 --> 0:34:32.560 Yeah, Nicholas Rogue connection there. And you know, I'm not 0:34:32.600 --> 0:34:34.120 going to get into the producers, but I think there 0:34:34.160 --> 0:34:39.280 is a producer executive producer perhaps connection to some Nicholas 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:42.200 Rogue pictures as well. Okay, but now look, we should 0:34:42.200 --> 0:34:44.440 talk to just a little bit about the score. In 0:34:44.480 --> 0:34:47.759 my opinion, Ravenous boasts one of the most original, un 0:34:47.760 --> 0:34:50.000 effective scores that I can think of, certainly from this 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:55.560 time period, painting a rich sonic tapestry that includes discordant 0:34:55.640 --> 0:35:00.799 renditions of patriotic anthems and American frontier banjo, some of 0:35:00.800 --> 0:35:04.000 which I've read was performed by non musicians that were 0:35:04.040 --> 0:35:07.160 gathered together for the project. You have tape loops, you 0:35:07.200 --> 0:35:11.960 have brooding primal beats, electronic distortion, in addition to some 0:35:12.000 --> 0:35:13.799 more traditional movie score flourishes. 0:35:14.200 --> 0:35:17.959 Yeah, that's right. The score is extremely varied. It's all 0:35:18.000 --> 0:35:22.520 over the place and all different kinds of genres and textures, 0:35:22.640 --> 0:35:26.000 and it comes together quite well. This is I would 0:35:26.000 --> 0:35:28.200 agree with you. The score is one of the strongest 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:31.880 elements of the movie, which is overall very strong, and 0:35:32.080 --> 0:35:35.240 it really stands out to me. I think the music 0:35:35.320 --> 0:35:39.439 is fantastic, especially because there are so many moments where 0:35:39.480 --> 0:35:43.000 the music it seems like it doesn't quite fit in 0:35:43.040 --> 0:35:45.520 one way or another, like it doesn't fit the time period, 0:35:45.640 --> 0:35:48.239 or it doesn't fit the mood of the scene. But 0:35:48.280 --> 0:35:51.279 then it kind of does, like it just continues and 0:35:51.320 --> 0:35:55.320 then it resolves and reaches this state where it does 0:35:55.440 --> 0:35:59.160 feel right in a way that it kind of rewards 0:35:59.200 --> 0:36:03.960 your earlier trust in this tension created between sound and picture, 0:36:04.239 --> 0:36:07.360 and I don't know, it's it's a very interesting feeling 0:36:07.400 --> 0:36:09.879 that it creates in the film. And this is one 0:36:09.880 --> 0:36:11.840 that I would like to have music from this movie 0:36:11.880 --> 0:36:12.640 just on a record. 0:36:13.239 --> 0:36:16.279 Yeah, it's this. It was released on CD, and I 0:36:16.360 --> 0:36:18.799 know that I either had the CD or some MP 0:36:18.880 --> 0:36:20.799 three's ripped from the CD back in the day, But 0:36:21.239 --> 0:36:23.319 as of this recording, I don't think it's available to 0:36:23.320 --> 0:36:26.319 stream anywhere aside from YouTube, as you know, probably a 0:36:26.440 --> 0:36:30.319 user upload a situation, and as far as I can tell, 0:36:30.360 --> 0:36:32.400 has never been released on vinyl. It seems like this 0:36:32.400 --> 0:36:35.400 would be a no brainer for a really cool like 0:36:35.480 --> 0:36:38.120 blood red vinyl release, but you know, I don't know 0:36:38.160 --> 0:36:41.040 how the rights for those sorts of things work. Apparently 0:36:41.080 --> 0:36:43.320 the music here was a so the music here is 0:36:43.320 --> 0:36:46.960 a joint composition of two different musicians, though it's sometimes 0:36:46.960 --> 0:36:48.719 a tangled web to try to figure out which one 0:36:48.719 --> 0:36:51.760 did what. Apparently it was ultimately like a sixty forty split, 0:36:52.480 --> 0:36:55.400 and the credit order depends on whether you're looking at 0:36:55.400 --> 0:36:59.120 the film or the published album. But the two gentlemen 0:36:59.200 --> 0:37:04.240 involved here are Damon Alburn and Michael Nyman. Damon Alburn 0:37:04.320 --> 0:37:06.920 born nineteen sixty eight is, of course the illustrious English 0:37:07.000 --> 0:37:09.600 musician best known for his work with the British band Blur, 0:37:10.200 --> 0:37:13.080 who had a string of hits that I mostly know 0:37:13.120 --> 0:37:17.440 from their inclusion in various DJ mixes from the nineties. 0:37:17.840 --> 0:37:19.719 But then he would go on to be the key 0:37:19.800 --> 0:37:24.239 creative force and lead vocalist on the Gorillas Project. I 0:37:24.280 --> 0:37:27.640 believe his only other film score or soundtrack work is 0:37:27.719 --> 0:37:30.840 a two thousand and one film called one Oh one Reykivic. 0:37:31.440 --> 0:37:35.680 That's another collaboration, so really not much that's directly film 0:37:35.680 --> 0:37:38.319 oriented outside of that. In ravenous, but he's worked in 0:37:38.360 --> 0:37:41.680 all manner of musical projects, including things like operas, throughout 0:37:41.680 --> 0:37:46.040 the course of his career. If nothing else, you're familiar 0:37:46.040 --> 0:37:48.400 with Gorillas, and yeah, his work is fabulous. 0:37:48.520 --> 0:37:51.479 There are actually moments in the movie where I don't 0:37:51.520 --> 0:37:55.120 know if he's using exactly the same electronic instruments or voicings, 0:37:55.160 --> 0:37:57.840 but there are moments where I hear bits of the 0:37:57.880 --> 0:38:03.440 first Gorillas album, Like there's a kind of electronic piano 0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:07.040 tone used in a loop throughout the hit, their hit 0:38:07.080 --> 0:38:09.920 Clint Eastwood that I hear that same tone in the 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:14.960 soundtrack here. And there's just stuff like that that feels 0:38:15.040 --> 0:38:16.840 very familiar to Gorillas fans. 0:38:17.080 --> 0:38:19.920 Oh yeah, that would make sense now. As for Michael 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:24.839 Nyman born nineteen forty four, English composer, pianist, filmmaker as 0:38:24.880 --> 0:38:27.279 well in his own right, His best received scores in 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:29.560 addition to this one include his work on nineteen eighty 0:38:29.640 --> 0:38:31.439 nine's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, 0:38:31.960 --> 0:38:35.280 nineteen ninety eight's Gatica, two thousand's The End of the Affair, 0:38:35.400 --> 0:38:38.960 in twenty fourteen's The Piano. His other scores include nineteen 0:38:39.000 --> 0:38:42.680 ninety one's Prospero's books ninety four's mesmer In nineteen ninety 0:38:42.719 --> 0:38:43.560 six is the ogre? 0:38:52.000 --> 0:38:53.800 All right? Is it time to talk about the plot? 0:38:54.200 --> 0:38:55.200 Yes, let's do so. 0:38:55.680 --> 0:38:58.600 Okay. We get a couple of epigraphs right at the start. 0:38:59.160 --> 0:39:03.640 One is a quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche that says 0:39:03.680 --> 0:39:05.840 he that fights with monsters should look to it that 0:39:05.920 --> 0:39:09.120 he himself does not become a monster. The relationship of 0:39:09.160 --> 0:39:10.960 that to the plot will become a parent as we 0:39:11.000 --> 0:39:13.120 talk more. And then you get a second quote that 0:39:13.160 --> 0:39:16.759 comes in which is attributed to anonymous, and it is 0:39:16.880 --> 0:39:19.880 eat me this. 0:39:20.840 --> 0:39:26.200 I like this, but this also maybe feels like a 0:39:26.320 --> 0:39:30.120 late studio attempt to sort of try and control how 0:39:30.120 --> 0:39:33.600 people are going to consume this picture. But I don't 0:39:33.640 --> 0:39:35.880 know exactly whose choice this was. I don't know it 0:39:35.880 --> 0:39:36.400 still works. 0:39:36.640 --> 0:39:38.640 Is this the chef coming out and telling you how 0:39:38.640 --> 0:39:39.480 to eat your food? 0:39:40.000 --> 0:39:44.000 Yeah? But overall I love this because we're instantly hit 0:39:44.080 --> 0:39:52.160 with that squeaky, perhaps non musician Frontier band rendition of 0:39:52.200 --> 0:39:58.000 the American patriotic song Hail Columbia, which sounds fabulous here, 0:39:58.239 --> 0:40:00.560 but when you look up the lyrics, it's it's pretty 0:40:01.280 --> 0:40:04.000 It fits pretty well. To what we're about to see. 0:40:04.120 --> 0:40:08.320 Hail Columbia, Happy Land, Hail Ye Heroes, heaven born band 0:40:08.560 --> 0:40:11.560 who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, Who fought and 0:40:11.600 --> 0:40:12.960 bled in Freedom's cause. 0:40:14.360 --> 0:40:16.560 Yeah. So we start with, of course, that kind of music. 0:40:16.600 --> 0:40:20.360 It's patriotic military marching band kind of music. And we 0:40:20.400 --> 0:40:23.960 see a waving American flag and that with fewer stars 0:40:24.000 --> 0:40:26.080 though than the flag you're used to because this is 0:40:26.120 --> 0:40:29.040 the eighteen forties. And then we see a banquet hall 0:40:29.120 --> 0:40:33.360 with a long table, bunch of place settings, patriotic regalia, 0:40:33.760 --> 0:40:36.920 and it's lined by officers in full uniform, so this 0:40:36.960 --> 0:40:39.960 is some kind of ceremony. And we hear a voice 0:40:39.960 --> 0:40:43.759 saying for heroism beyond the call of duty, for successfully 0:40:43.840 --> 0:40:48.360 infiltrating the enemy's ranks and securing victory independently with cunning 0:40:48.480 --> 0:40:52.080 and honor. We see Guy Pierce here in uniform as 0:40:52.160 --> 0:40:55.880 Captain John Boyd, and he is ready to receive a 0:40:55.960 --> 0:40:59.240 medal for his meritorious service. We also get a glimpse 0:40:59.280 --> 0:41:02.239 of John Spence is the general presiding over this ceremony. 0:41:02.280 --> 0:41:05.200 This is General Slawson, and then we cut back to 0:41:05.239 --> 0:41:08.240 Boyd looking kind of uneasy as we get a sudden 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:11.400 flashback to the midst of battle, so we see him 0:41:11.440 --> 0:41:14.440 in a very different place. There's gunshots ringing out on 0:41:14.480 --> 0:41:17.600 this hillside, smoke everywhere. This is supposed to be the 0:41:17.600 --> 0:41:20.919 Mexican American War, so it's a Mexican kind of landscape. 0:41:21.360 --> 0:41:23.840 And then Guy Pearce is kind of falling to his 0:41:23.920 --> 0:41:27.799 knees in the middle of the battlefield, as if his 0:41:27.880 --> 0:41:30.560 strength has left him, And of course we get a 0:41:30.600 --> 0:41:33.160 title telling us it's the Mexican American War. The year 0:41:33.160 --> 0:41:36.759 is eighteen forty seven. A chaplain says a blessing, and 0:41:36.800 --> 0:41:39.239 then all of the officers here at this banquet sit 0:41:39.320 --> 0:41:41.640 down at their places at the long table, and they 0:41:41.680 --> 0:41:45.399 dig in and the meal appears to be steak and 0:41:45.640 --> 0:41:51.400 nothing else, not even a little salad, baked potato, some cream, spinach. Nothing. 0:41:52.440 --> 0:41:54.879 But of course then I remember that this film takes 0:41:54.920 --> 0:41:56.880 place before vegetables were invented. 0:41:58.200 --> 0:42:00.360 I was reminded of that in this of of the 0:42:00.480 --> 0:42:02.680 later film two thousand and sevens There Will Be Blood, 0:42:03.080 --> 0:42:06.560 in which Daniel day Lewis's character Daniel Plainview. At one 0:42:06.560 --> 0:42:08.640 point he is in a restaurant with his son and 0:42:08.680 --> 0:42:13.000 he orders quote two steaks, a whiskey and water for him, 0:42:13.120 --> 0:42:16.360 and we never get to actually see that meal, but 0:42:17.080 --> 0:42:19.680 I always I had a false memory that I had 0:42:19.719 --> 0:42:22.560 seen it because I just imagine it coming out just 0:42:22.719 --> 0:42:26.600 like that, just two steaks, no vegetables, one glass of whiskey, 0:42:26.600 --> 0:42:29.320 one glass of water. Though I believe there is a 0:42:29.400 --> 0:42:31.960 later key scene in which plaine View is enjoying a 0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:33.120 plate of just steak. 0:42:33.760 --> 0:42:36.319 I mean, I don't know steak. How steakhouses worked back then, 0:42:36.400 --> 0:42:38.879 maybe that was a more normal kind of meal to eat, 0:42:39.080 --> 0:42:41.120 but I know I have to imagine even back then, 0:42:41.160 --> 0:42:45.200 people would probably want some more variety. You want some starch, 0:42:45.320 --> 0:42:48.680 some sides, some vegetables, something in there, like just a 0:42:48.719 --> 0:42:49.520 plate of steak. 0:42:50.080 --> 0:42:53.200 The last time I went to a like certified steak 0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:56.840 restaurant before I gave up steak, I do remember it 0:42:56.880 --> 0:42:59.359 being a situation where you order the steak and then 0:42:59.400 --> 0:43:02.080 you have to pay extra for anything else, any sides, 0:43:02.440 --> 0:43:04.480 which kind of I mean, I guess the idea is 0:43:04.560 --> 0:43:06.120 that that's just how it's priced out and all. Maybe 0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:08.960 that's tradition, but it also kind of felt like like, oh, 0:43:09.000 --> 0:43:11.080 if you want to get anything in addition to the meat, 0:43:11.160 --> 0:43:13.800 you better pay for it, you're paying extra for that, buddy, 0:43:13.840 --> 0:43:14.960 the steak stands alone. 0:43:15.440 --> 0:43:18.040 Yeah, I think that that sort of makes sense, like 0:43:18.200 --> 0:43:20.719 because you can choose, like you get to pick your 0:43:20.719 --> 0:43:22.840 sides all the carts, so you pick your favorite. So 0:43:22.880 --> 0:43:25.080 it's not just like you know, oh, this is what 0:43:25.200 --> 0:43:29.279 comes with it. But yeah, I see what you're saying there. 0:43:29.880 --> 0:43:32.640 You know, the cream spinach is the classic steakhouse side. 0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:34.719 I feel like, at least in the I don't know 0:43:35.080 --> 0:43:37.160 how far back that tradition goes, but I would think 0:43:37.160 --> 0:43:38.880 even in the eighteen forties you got to give them 0:43:38.920 --> 0:43:40.240 some cream spinach or something. 0:43:40.560 --> 0:43:43.120 In this case, they were not able to requisition some 0:43:43.280 --> 0:43:44.680 cream spinach for the troops. 0:43:45.480 --> 0:43:48.960 So everybody noisily digs into their steak and nothing else, 0:43:49.360 --> 0:43:53.200 and you can really just hear them making sounds. Like 0:43:53.280 --> 0:43:58.040 the movie plays up the disgustingness of the eating noises, 0:43:58.200 --> 0:44:04.719 and it's like, and as this happens, Boyd is sitting there, 0:44:04.760 --> 0:44:07.360 the only person not eating. All his peers are shoveling 0:44:07.400 --> 0:44:09.160 the meat into their mouths, and you can see him 0:44:09.200 --> 0:44:12.600 feeling anxiety, like his breathing is shallow and he's looking 0:44:12.640 --> 0:44:16.399 around nervously. And then they also show Boyd's plate, which 0:44:16.440 --> 0:44:20.400 looks disgusting. It's got this gross looking gray cut of 0:44:20.560 --> 0:44:24.720 I think this is beef shank, which also is confusing 0:44:24.760 --> 0:44:27.640 because that is not typically prepared as a steak. That's 0:44:27.680 --> 0:44:29.960 going to be tough as rubber. If you need shank, 0:44:30.000 --> 0:44:31.960 you have to cook it a long time, like in 0:44:32.000 --> 0:44:35.920 a stew or something. So it's just like a steak 0:44:36.080 --> 0:44:38.560 of beef shank sitting in a puddle of juice that 0:44:38.600 --> 0:44:42.040 has clearly been modified to look less like regular steak 0:44:42.120 --> 0:44:44.680 juices and more like fresh red blood. It looks like 0:44:44.840 --> 0:44:49.480 thick and bright red. Here Boyd has another flashback to battle, 0:44:49.520 --> 0:44:52.160 this time too, lying pinned down on the ground in 0:44:52.200 --> 0:44:55.800 a pile of dead bodies, covered in blood, gasping for breath, 0:44:56.200 --> 0:45:00.560 and eventually the association overwhelms him. He bolts up, gets 0:45:00.600 --> 0:45:03.520 up from the banquet table, runs outside, and vomits, and 0:45:03.560 --> 0:45:05.680 then we get the title Ravenous. 0:45:05.680 --> 0:45:09.040 Yeah, And I think this is where that unsettling banjo 0:45:09.160 --> 0:45:13.560 music begins to kick in a ditty that will continue 0:45:13.600 --> 0:45:16.400 to hear over and over again throughout the picture. So really, 0:45:16.480 --> 0:45:19.560 at every key moment in the film, the music is 0:45:19.680 --> 0:45:23.280 right there, amping everything up, and at times like subtly 0:45:23.280 --> 0:45:24.680 twisting your expectations. 0:45:24.960 --> 0:45:27.760 Yeah. So the next thing we see is John Spencer 0:45:27.840 --> 0:45:31.440 as the General, giving Boyd a real dressing down in private. 0:45:31.640 --> 0:45:34.160 He tells Boyd that he is not actually a hero 0:45:34.560 --> 0:45:36.920 and he wants him as far away from his company 0:45:37.040 --> 0:45:40.359 as possible. So Boyd is sent away on a new 0:45:40.480 --> 0:45:45.560 assignment to a remote frontier fort in California called Fort Spencer, 0:45:46.320 --> 0:45:49.439 and we see Boyd in a few little scenes making 0:45:49.480 --> 0:45:53.080 his journey across a background of these huge, black, snow 0:45:53.120 --> 0:45:55.040 covered mountains. I think these are supposed to be the 0:45:55.040 --> 0:45:59.280 Sierra Nevadas and millions of acres of dark green forest. 0:45:59.680 --> 0:46:04.799 This wild landscape, so Fort Spencer is sparsely occupied. It's 0:46:04.840 --> 0:46:08.160 this outpost in a meadow in view of the mountains, 0:46:08.200 --> 0:46:12.200 built mostly of woods, surrounded by palisade wall, and the 0:46:12.239 --> 0:46:15.800 accommodations are pretty grungy. Boyd gets shown his quarters. He 0:46:15.920 --> 0:46:18.600 sort of like tests the give of the bedroll and 0:46:18.640 --> 0:46:21.600 then looks at it, looks at himself in this dim 0:46:21.680 --> 0:46:24.960 spotted mirror. In this sequence, we also briefly meet the 0:46:25.040 --> 0:46:28.840 character Martha played by Sila Tauci, and this is a 0:46:28.920 --> 0:46:31.560 Native American woman who works at the Fort and she 0:46:31.640 --> 0:46:35.480 brings boyds and blankets here. Eventually, Boyd has to go 0:46:35.560 --> 0:46:38.720 for a meeting with the commander of the fort, Colonel Hart, 0:46:38.880 --> 0:46:44.240 who is at least at first portrayed as kindly, mild 0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:47.879 mannered and a bit odd. We see him dressed up 0:46:47.960 --> 0:46:51.400 with a large blanket or cloak kind of covering his uniform, 0:46:51.400 --> 0:46:53.359 and he's often like this when we see him. He's 0:46:53.400 --> 0:46:56.320 got something kind of draped over him that just turns 0:46:56.360 --> 0:47:00.440 him into a kind of mass. And he's hearing what 0:47:00.520 --> 0:47:03.919 looks like two different pairs of eyeglasses at the same time, 0:47:04.040 --> 0:47:05.879 one set up on the bridge of his nose and 0:47:05.960 --> 0:47:08.600 another down near the tip. I guess for reading. I 0:47:08.640 --> 0:47:11.160 don't understand if that was like a thing people commonly 0:47:11.160 --> 0:47:12.279 did back then or. 0:47:13.000 --> 0:47:15.920 But I don't know. I haven't caught myself doing that 0:47:15.960 --> 0:47:17.120 with my own reading glasses. 0:47:17.200 --> 0:47:20.600 Yet it does contribute to making him seem kind of odd. 0:47:21.160 --> 0:47:23.319 Well, no, I have to back that up. I do 0:47:24.080 --> 0:47:27.720 frequently find myself painting miniatures with a pair of reading 0:47:27.719 --> 0:47:33.399 glasses and my magnification loops, so I have essentially done 0:47:33.400 --> 0:47:35.359 this a time or two. So maybe that's what's up. 0:47:35.400 --> 0:47:39.600 Because as we learn, like his passion is reading various texts, 0:47:40.040 --> 0:47:43.360 reading books in their original language, So who knows, sometimes 0:47:43.360 --> 0:47:46.400 maybe he has to really bust up the optics in 0:47:46.520 --> 0:47:48.200 order to handle certain font sizes. 0:47:48.440 --> 0:47:51.719 Yeah, so when Boyd gets in, he's like trying to 0:47:51.760 --> 0:47:55.400 frustratedly pry into a walnut with a knife, and this 0:47:55.480 --> 0:47:58.319 is unsuccessful. So he's telling Boyd about what you were 0:47:58.320 --> 0:48:00.879 talking about, how he fights the boredom the outpost by 0:48:00.880 --> 0:48:03.920 reading these old texts in the original languages. And then 0:48:03.960 --> 0:48:06.239 he goes and gets this giant leather bound book from 0:48:06.280 --> 0:48:09.160 the shelf and uses it to smash his walnuts open. 0:48:09.680 --> 0:48:12.279 I wonder if there's a kind of implied joke here that, 0:48:12.560 --> 0:48:16.120 like he tells himself the way he fights the frontier 0:48:16.120 --> 0:48:20.360 boredom is through reading these ancient tomes, but really the 0:48:20.440 --> 0:48:23.080 way he fights the boredom is through eating. Yeah. 0:48:23.239 --> 0:48:28.440 Yeah, possibly it's there's a strong time enough at last 0:48:28.640 --> 0:48:31.120 vibe to this character, you know, Yeah, like he is 0:48:32.040 --> 0:48:34.279 like everyone here, he's an outcast, but he's found the 0:48:34.280 --> 0:48:37.279 place where he can mostly just set around and read. 0:48:37.640 --> 0:48:40.080 Hart asks Boyd if he has a hobby, and Boyd 0:48:40.120 --> 0:48:44.239 says swimming. Probably not much opportunity for swimming here in 0:48:44.280 --> 0:48:47.880 the mountains. Heart explains a bit about the history of 0:48:47.920 --> 0:48:50.239 the ford. It was originally a Spanish mission. Now it 0:48:50.280 --> 0:48:53.120 serves as a way station for travelers moving through the 0:48:53.120 --> 0:48:56.200 Sierra Nevadas, and he says, of course, there are very 0:48:56.200 --> 0:48:58.520 few travelers in the winter, so the ford only has 0:48:58.560 --> 0:49:01.000 minimal staff for the season, and then we get a 0:49:01.040 --> 0:49:03.920 brief introduction to each of them. There's Private Toffler, who 0:49:04.040 --> 0:49:07.160 is very religious. This is Jeremy Davies. We see him 0:49:07.200 --> 0:49:10.160 praying before meals and like heaving wooden crosses up to 0:49:10.200 --> 0:49:13.120 the sky. He's also in many scenes trying to compose 0:49:13.160 --> 0:49:15.600 a hymn. You can see him working on the melody. 0:49:15.200 --> 0:49:18.240 And the lyrics. It's not coming together. 0:49:18.880 --> 0:49:22.240 Yeah. We see Major Knox played by Steven Spanilla, who 0:49:22.360 --> 0:49:24.880 likes to drink. That's his main character trait. He likes 0:49:24.920 --> 0:49:27.759 the whiskey bottle. He used to be a veterinarian, so 0:49:27.800 --> 0:49:31.360 he is the forts medic. We see Private Reich played 0:49:31.360 --> 0:49:33.959 by Neil McDonough, who is the tough guy, and there's 0:49:34.000 --> 0:49:37.160 this brief flash of him standing naked up to the 0:49:37.200 --> 0:49:40.319 waist in a mountain stream surrounded by snow, and he's 0:49:40.360 --> 0:49:42.520 just screaming and flexing his muscles. 0:49:43.400 --> 0:49:48.640 Yeah yeah, this is some troubled masculinity here. 0:49:50.239 --> 0:49:53.799 I am hard man. Yeah yeah. And then of course 0:49:53.840 --> 0:49:57.120 there's George played by Joseph running Fox, who is Martha's brother. 0:49:57.320 --> 0:50:01.200 He's a Washo scout. And then there is Private Cleaves 0:50:01.200 --> 0:50:04.640 played by David Arquette. Hart calls him the over medicated 0:50:04.680 --> 0:50:08.319 Private Cleaves. He likes drugs, and he's the cook. We 0:50:08.360 --> 0:50:10.960 get a short little dinner scene with everyone assembled. The 0:50:11.040 --> 0:50:15.560 vibes are pretty cursed, especially since Cleaves is seized with 0:50:15.680 --> 0:50:19.640 crazy laughter at apparently nothing the whole time. And then 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:23.120 we get some more of Boyd's backstory. We like flashback 0:50:23.880 --> 0:50:26.800 to what happened during the war, and we learned the truth. 0:50:27.400 --> 0:50:30.600 The truth was Boyd was in the middle of battle 0:50:30.840 --> 0:50:34.120 and he became so terrified that he froze, and he 0:50:34.280 --> 0:50:36.960 just laid down on the field and pretended to be 0:50:37.040 --> 0:50:40.200 dead while his men were slaughtered all around him. And 0:50:40.200 --> 0:50:42.680 then after the battle was over, the enemy came and 0:50:42.719 --> 0:50:44.800 collected the bodies from the field and put them in 0:50:44.840 --> 0:50:47.400 a cart. Boyd was at the bottom of the cart 0:50:47.440 --> 0:50:50.399 with the blood of his commanding officer running down his 0:50:50.440 --> 0:50:54.440 face and into his mouth. Then he says, after this 0:50:55.000 --> 0:50:57.319 he had a change of heart. Something came over him 0:50:57.360 --> 0:50:58.959 while he was lying at the bottom of that cart. 0:51:00.040 --> 0:51:02.480 He regained his courage, and he sprung from the pile 0:51:02.520 --> 0:51:05.840 of bodies, and he single handedly captured the enemy command. 0:51:06.239 --> 0:51:09.359 And this was the act that won him his commendation 0:51:09.480 --> 0:51:13.480 for heroism. But when General Slawson found out that this 0:51:13.520 --> 0:51:16.440 whole thing started with the dreadful act of cowardice, you know, 0:51:16.520 --> 0:51:19.600 playing dead on the battlefield, he decided to punish Boyd 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:22.680 by sending him out here to California. So back in 0:51:22.719 --> 0:51:25.719 the present, it is winter time, snow is falling, and 0:51:26.040 --> 0:51:28.640 Heart sends Cleaves and Martha out on a journey to 0:51:28.680 --> 0:51:31.680 the nearest trading post to get the stuff you need salt, 0:51:31.719 --> 0:51:34.440 pork and flour and all that. And it's going to 0:51:34.480 --> 0:51:36.959 be a three day journey. So it's only the rest 0:51:36.960 --> 0:51:38.839 of the crew there left at the fort. And while 0:51:38.840 --> 0:51:42.560 they're gone, we see Heart and Boyd bonding sharing some bourbon. 0:51:43.280 --> 0:51:46.720 There's an interesting little moment where Heart talks about how 0:51:46.840 --> 0:51:49.759 he wanted to escape the world by coming here, but 0:51:49.840 --> 0:51:53.440 now he wants to escape this place. Quote frightening thing 0:51:53.480 --> 0:51:56.400 about escape is the chance you might end up someplace worse. 0:51:57.480 --> 0:51:59.560 I don't know if this is one of the major 0:51:59.600 --> 0:52:02.120 themes movie. I have to think about it, but it 0:52:02.239 --> 0:52:04.480 is a little interesting in the context of the story, 0:52:04.560 --> 0:52:08.320 that the observation that we can be deceived into thinking 0:52:08.400 --> 0:52:11.560 that everything would be better if we could just change 0:52:11.560 --> 0:52:15.279 some particular set of external circumstances, like where we are, 0:52:15.480 --> 0:52:17.239 what our job is, or what we're doing, or something 0:52:17.239 --> 0:52:20.080 like that, but that sometimes, you know, maybe sometimes that 0:52:20.200 --> 0:52:21.920 is really the problem, but a lot of times it's not. 0:52:22.160 --> 0:52:25.720 Sometimes you manage that change and discover that wasn't actually 0:52:25.760 --> 0:52:29.400 the problem, and your new circumstance is not actually the solution. 0:52:29.600 --> 0:52:32.920 The new circumstance is something you once again desire to escape. 0:52:33.440 --> 0:52:38.000 Yeah, yeah, I think that idea does weave itself rather 0:52:38.120 --> 0:52:40.640 nicely through through many aspects of the plot. 0:52:41.120 --> 0:52:45.160 But this moment is suddenly interrupted by a boo scare outside. 0:52:45.160 --> 0:52:48.760 Through a frosted window, Boyd sees a figure in black 0:52:48.880 --> 0:52:51.840 looking in at them from the cold. So the soldiers 0:52:51.920 --> 0:52:54.960 run outside and they find a man collapsed in the snow, 0:52:55.080 --> 0:52:58.840 apparently dying of hypothermia, and they bring him inside and 0:52:58.840 --> 0:53:01.200 they're able to warm him up and save his life. 0:53:01.960 --> 0:53:05.200 The next day, the man wakes up and he looks 0:53:05.239 --> 0:53:10.080 to me surprisingly healthy. He introduces himself as F. W. Colhoun, 0:53:10.440 --> 0:53:14.279 servant of God, and he's like, I don't know, like 0:53:14.320 --> 0:53:15.960 you get to look at him and like he looks 0:53:16.120 --> 0:53:19.040 like pretty well fed, Like he looks like he's doing great. 0:53:19.560 --> 0:53:24.160 He's worth noting to hear that both Calhoun and Boyd 0:53:25.120 --> 0:53:27.759 they both kind of look like Jesus, you know, they're 0:53:27.800 --> 0:53:30.839 both shaggy, long hair and either a beard or a goate. 0:53:31.200 --> 0:53:34.160 Yeah. So Colhoun explains that he had been stuck in 0:53:34.200 --> 0:53:37.000 the mountains for three months before he found the fort, 0:53:37.960 --> 0:53:41.239 three months without food. And Heart is incredulous at this, 0:53:41.560 --> 0:53:46.480 but Colhoun clarifies. He says, I said three months without food, 0:53:46.880 --> 0:53:48.720 not three months with nothing to eat. 0:53:49.120 --> 0:53:51.640 Yeah, and he's going to explain. But you also get 0:53:51.640 --> 0:53:54.560 the idea here that that's all he really needed to say, 0:53:54.640 --> 0:53:57.800 Like everyone knows what he means by that. Everyone's familiar 0:53:57.840 --> 0:54:01.279 with the idea of cannibalism. 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:04.839 So here Colhoun launches into his backstory and he gives 0:54:04.840 --> 0:54:07.879 a whole monologue. I'm not gonna quote the entire thing here, 0:54:07.880 --> 0:54:10.680 but basically he tells a story of how he was 0:54:10.800 --> 0:54:14.520 part of a traveling party with five other people and 0:54:14.719 --> 0:54:18.000 a There was a guide. They had, a military man 0:54:18.080 --> 0:54:22.200 named Colonel Ives, who he calls a detestable man, a 0:54:22.280 --> 0:54:26.760 disastrous guide, who professed to know a new shorter route 0:54:26.800 --> 0:54:30.479 through the Sierra Nevada mountains. But in fact, it turns 0:54:30.520 --> 0:54:32.720 out they took the route and then they got stuck 0:54:32.960 --> 0:54:36.520 in a snowstorm in the winter, and they were stuck 0:54:36.560 --> 0:54:39.080 in a cave and they couldn't get out. This, of course, 0:54:39.120 --> 0:54:43.880 mirrors real incidents in history, like the quote shortcut that 0:54:44.040 --> 0:54:46.440 was taken by the members of the Donner Party. This 0:54:46.680 --> 0:54:49.080 was a path that others had taken in the past. 0:54:49.120 --> 0:54:52.120 But basically the Donner Party, when they took a different 0:54:52.200 --> 0:54:54.640 path through the Sierra Nevada has got delayed and then 0:54:54.760 --> 0:54:57.400 got stuck up in the mountains in the winter. So 0:54:57.440 --> 0:54:59.560 he describes them getting stuck in this cave, and then 0:54:59.600 --> 0:55:02.240 Calhoun and says, quote, we had run out of food. 0:55:02.520 --> 0:55:05.840 We ate the oxen, all of the horses, even my 0:55:05.920 --> 0:55:09.680 own dog, and that lasted us about a month. After that, 0:55:09.800 --> 0:55:13.680 we turned to our belts, shoes, any roots we could 0:55:13.680 --> 0:55:15.920 dig up. But you know, there's no real nourishment in 0:55:15.960 --> 0:55:20.080 those we remained famished. The day that Jones died, I 0:55:20.160 --> 0:55:24.080 was out collecting wood. He had expired from malnourishment, and 0:55:24.120 --> 0:55:27.080 when I returned, the others were cooking his legs for dinner. 0:55:27.600 --> 0:55:29.799 Would I have stopped it had I been there, I 0:55:29.840 --> 0:55:32.720 don't know, but I must say when I stepped inside 0:55:32.719 --> 0:55:36.720 that cave the smell of meat cooking, I thanked the Lord. 0:55:37.239 --> 0:55:43.799 I thanked the Lord. And then things got out of hand. 0:55:43.640 --> 0:55:48.080 And he goes on to describe how he, you know, 0:55:48.239 --> 0:55:51.200 only ate you know, the meat from the people who 0:55:51.200 --> 0:55:55.640 had died naturally, and he ate sparingly. But the others 0:55:55.680 --> 0:55:58.600 something changed in them, something came over them, and they 0:55:58.640 --> 0:56:03.480 had to eat a special Ives became insane, and he 0:56:04.000 --> 0:56:07.000 just kept killing other people from the cave so he 0:56:07.040 --> 0:56:11.480 could eat them. And at last, Calhoun says that his 0:56:11.600 --> 0:56:14.719 courage failed him, and he fled the cave, and he 0:56:14.840 --> 0:56:18.840 wandered out and eventually came across this fort. But the 0:56:18.880 --> 0:56:22.719 way the story trails off, it is alleged here that 0:56:22.840 --> 0:56:25.239 Colonel Ives is still alive up in the cave with 0:56:25.280 --> 0:56:28.759 at least one other person, innocent person stuck up there 0:56:28.800 --> 0:56:32.800 with him, a woman named McCready. Is she still alive 0:56:33.200 --> 0:56:37.280 as far as Calhoun knows, possibly she is. So Heart decides, 0:56:37.600 --> 0:56:39.959 based on the story that they immediately have to send 0:56:39.960 --> 0:56:41.120 out a rescue party. 0:56:42.360 --> 0:56:45.600 Yeah, nobody really wants to go, but Heart is, you know, 0:56:45.640 --> 0:56:48.560 he's dedicated to what is right here, and he says, 0:56:48.640 --> 0:56:50.360 it's our job, it's our job. We have to do it. 0:56:50.400 --> 0:56:58.360 There's no choice. 0:57:00.000 --> 0:57:02.880 Everybody's getting ready to leave. But George comes up to 0:57:02.920 --> 0:57:06.480 Heart and Boyd and stops them to warn them about something. 0:57:07.080 --> 0:57:10.000 And it's based on Calhoun's story. What he wants to 0:57:10.040 --> 0:57:14.120 warn them about is the wind to Go being spoken 0:57:14.200 --> 0:57:17.160 of by some of the people of the north. In reality, 0:57:17.360 --> 0:57:21.120 I believe the Windygo legend comes from Algonquin folklore, which 0:57:21.160 --> 0:57:24.960 would have been further north and east. But here George 0:57:24.960 --> 0:57:29.680 explains and Heart translates for Boyd. The gist of it 0:57:29.760 --> 0:57:33.320 is a man eats another's flesh, usually the flesh of 0:57:33.360 --> 0:57:37.320 an enemy, and in doing so, he steals the man's strength, 0:57:37.520 --> 0:57:42.120 his essence, his spirit. His hunger becomes insatiable. The more 0:57:42.160 --> 0:57:44.560 he eats, the more he wants to and the more 0:57:44.560 --> 0:57:49.440 he eats, the stronger he becomes. And Heart is, like George, 0:57:49.480 --> 0:57:53.000 people don't still do that, do they? And George responds 0:57:53.040 --> 0:57:55.480 by telling him that white man eats the body of 0:57:55.560 --> 0:57:57.040 Jesus Christ every Sunday. 0:57:57.520 --> 0:58:00.920 Yeah, and he flips the high that he's been reading 0:58:00.920 --> 0:58:03.320 the soft ov and it has Christian iconography on the 0:58:03.320 --> 0:58:03.800 other side. 0:58:04.000 --> 0:58:08.080 Yeah, it's a nice moment. So the party sets out 0:58:08.640 --> 0:58:12.920 on the rescue mission. The party is Hart, Boyd, Reich, Toffler, George, 0:58:13.040 --> 0:58:17.320 and the stranger Colhoun. They pack up provisions, they bundle up, 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:19.440 and they head into the mountains, and so we get 0:58:19.480 --> 0:58:22.440 a little montage of their journey. I like one little 0:58:22.440 --> 0:58:25.040 moment on the journey where Colhoun helps Toffler find a 0:58:25.120 --> 0:58:30.040 rhyme when he's composing as him like he says, he 0:58:30.160 --> 0:58:32.400 ends a line with the word servant, and he's going 0:58:32.440 --> 0:58:41.200 like leervent deervant, and Calhoun is like fervent. And Toffler 0:58:41.280 --> 0:58:46.959 is very, very helped by this. He's appreciative. But anyway, 0:58:46.720 --> 0:58:49.800 they are making their way along through the mountains and 0:58:49.840 --> 0:58:52.200 at one point they stop in this high mountain pass 0:58:52.240 --> 0:58:55.880 in the snow, and Boyd kind of questions Colhoun. He's 0:58:55.920 --> 0:58:58.600 clearly he's curious. He says, when you ate the flesh 0:58:58.600 --> 0:59:01.360 of the man, afterwards, you said your hunger was different, 0:59:01.920 --> 0:59:07.560 more wanton. Did you feel physically different, stronger? And Calhoun 0:59:08.080 --> 0:59:12.360 kind of mildly says, I seem to recall something like that, 0:59:12.960 --> 0:59:18.200 feeling some kind of virility. He's being very reticent about 0:59:18.200 --> 0:59:22.760 it now, but this will become funnier in retrospect. Also, 0:59:22.920 --> 0:59:26.800 I just have to comment on everybody's nineteenth century sunglasses here. 0:59:28.160 --> 0:59:31.160 They've all had these shaded goggles of various kinds that 0:59:31.240 --> 0:59:33.960 look like, I don't know, they look like Vin Diesel 0:59:34.000 --> 0:59:34.760 and pitch black. 0:59:35.040 --> 0:59:37.640 Yeah, Robert Carlisle here reminds me a little bit of 0:59:38.440 --> 0:59:41.320 Kurt Russell. And the thing actually with the sunglasses and 0:59:41.360 --> 0:59:43.000 to a certain extent with the hat. He does not 0:59:43.080 --> 0:59:46.600 have the full the full hat situation going on. 0:59:46.680 --> 0:59:50.280 But still so somewhere in here Toffler falls down and 0:59:50.280 --> 0:59:52.560 gets injured, and so he's got like a bloody wound 0:59:52.640 --> 0:59:56.240 that they have to bandage up. And later that night, 0:59:56.320 --> 0:59:59.920 after Toffler's injury, everybody's asleep in their tent when suddenly 1:00:00.440 --> 1:00:03.520 Toffler comes away can he starts screaming, and it's dark 1:00:03.600 --> 1:00:06.680 and you can't see what's happening. But then somebody lights 1:00:06.680 --> 1:00:09.840 a lamp and Toffler is backed up against one side 1:00:09.840 --> 1:00:12.360 of the tent, terrified, and on the other side of 1:00:12.360 --> 1:00:15.920 the tent is Calhoun looking pale and kind of crazed 1:00:16.120 --> 1:00:19.480 with blood on his lips, and Toffler says, he was 1:00:19.720 --> 1:00:26.480 licking me. And this is interesting because rob if you 1:00:26.520 --> 1:00:33.760 know what I mean, Robert Carlisle plays Calhoun very straightforwardly 1:00:33.880 --> 1:00:37.640 before this, like there's nothing to indicate really that they 1:00:37.640 --> 1:00:40.040 would should have any concern about him. He seems like 1:00:40.080 --> 1:00:45.080 a wronged, victimized man who is frightened and in search 1:00:45.120 --> 1:00:50.400 of justice, Like there's nothing about him that reads as abnormal. 1:00:52.080 --> 1:00:56.160 But that starts falling apart on this journey. So Calhoun 1:00:56.240 --> 1:00:58.919 pleads with hard on the others he's apologizing. He says 1:00:58.960 --> 1:01:01.800 he was having a nightmare and then he woke up 1:01:01.840 --> 1:01:04.880 to find himself crouched over Toffler licking the wound, and 1:01:04.920 --> 1:01:07.360 then he asks them to restrain him for the rest 1:01:07.400 --> 1:01:10.000 of the journey, so they do. They tie his hands, 1:01:10.040 --> 1:01:13.480 and then the next day they come to the cave, 1:01:13.720 --> 1:01:17.000 the cave where there should be ives and missus McCready 1:01:18.240 --> 1:01:22.320 and I still have strong memories of how freaky this 1:01:22.440 --> 1:01:26.760 scene was. The first time I saw it, such a 1:01:27.120 --> 1:01:31.280 powerful sense of unease and menace, and things just steadily 1:01:31.320 --> 1:01:34.040 becoming weirder and more chaotic by the moment. 1:01:34.920 --> 1:01:38.920 Yeah. Yeah, the editing is superb here. The music is 1:01:39.120 --> 1:01:42.200 incredible building that tension. We get these kind of like 1:01:42.760 --> 1:01:46.960 rumbling rhythmic beats, like there's some primal force welling up 1:01:47.480 --> 1:01:48.520 through the whole situation. 1:01:49.240 --> 1:01:51.840 Yeah, exactly. And so as they approached the cave, Calhoun, 1:01:51.960 --> 1:01:55.640 who had been again, he was fairly composed and sympathetic 1:01:55.680 --> 1:01:58.960 at first, I mean, frightened, but that's all. He starts 1:01:59.040 --> 1:02:04.160 acting increasing erratic, not just afraid, but like quaking and 1:02:04.240 --> 1:02:07.720 moving his body in bizarre ways and making these weird 1:02:07.760 --> 1:02:11.840 little like yipping and whimpering noises again at first like 1:02:11.920 --> 1:02:16.360 he's afraid, but then just more and more weird, like 1:02:16.400 --> 1:02:21.720 some kind of trapped wolverine that's tipping from fear into 1:02:21.800 --> 1:02:26.800 a kind of threatening playfulness. And so Reike and Boyd 1:02:26.920 --> 1:02:30.280 go into the cave to investigate, and everybody else waits outside. 1:02:30.600 --> 1:02:33.720 And in this scene, Reich makes his contempt for Boyd 1:02:33.800 --> 1:02:37.520 clear while they're searching, like obviously he views Boyd as 1:02:37.600 --> 1:02:41.920 gutless and unworthy of command, and inside the cave, they 1:02:41.960 --> 1:02:45.560 find some kind of pit like a natural ubliet, and 1:02:45.640 --> 1:02:48.280 they go down and investigate this, and what they find 1:02:48.320 --> 1:02:54.320 inside is too many skeletons, too many skeletons to Magicalhoon's story. 1:02:54.760 --> 1:02:59.280 And the piles of clothes inside include a military uniform. 1:02:59.840 --> 1:03:02.640 So if the colonel ives of the story was not 1:03:02.800 --> 1:03:06.360 the eater and was instead eaten, who was the eater? 1:03:07.200 --> 1:03:09.200 And then the guys inside the cave are like, oh no, 1:03:09.440 --> 1:03:11.160 and they scream it's a trap. 1:03:11.560 --> 1:03:14.120 And this whole cave. To drive this home, this this 1:03:14.200 --> 1:03:18.840 is this is like a wonderful like cannibal cavern situation. 1:03:19.000 --> 1:03:21.200 We're right out of an episode of Tales from the Crypt. 1:03:21.440 --> 1:03:25.120 Disgusting. Yeah, the skeletons all have this kind of melted 1:03:25.360 --> 1:03:27.960 fat looking thing over them, like they look they're kind 1:03:28.000 --> 1:03:32.640 of waxy. It's really gross. And then so Boyd and 1:03:32.680 --> 1:03:35.920 Reich rush back outside, but Colhoun is already on the attack. 1:03:36.480 --> 1:03:40.000 He first he starts frantically digging in the dirt outside 1:03:40.040 --> 1:03:43.520 the cave and he digs up a knife. He attacks 1:03:43.600 --> 1:03:46.840 and stabs Heart. A heart lays on the ground dying. 1:03:47.120 --> 1:03:50.600 He shoots George, and then he chases Toffler out into 1:03:50.640 --> 1:03:53.080 the woods, and this is where I was saying Colhoun. 1:03:53.520 --> 1:03:56.920 He gets into full like late sequel Freddy Krueger mode. 1:03:56.960 --> 1:03:59.960 He is having fun, like he tries to shoot top 1:04:00.400 --> 1:04:03.280 but the gun jams and he goes that is so annoying. 1:04:04.080 --> 1:04:07.480 And then he's like playing with him. He's brandishing the 1:04:07.560 --> 1:04:09.760 knife at him and kind of dancing, and he says, 1:04:09.840 --> 1:04:15.400 run run. So the chase breaks out, and interesting music 1:04:15.480 --> 1:04:18.160 choices here once again. The music at first in this 1:04:18.320 --> 1:04:22.520 chase is not like a threatening, dissonant jabs. It's not 1:04:22.720 --> 1:04:26.360 minor key chase music. It's a hodoun It's like a lively, 1:04:26.560 --> 1:04:29.360 upbeat major key fiddle and banjo music. 1:04:29.800 --> 1:04:34.960 Yeah, yeah, you don't expect it to go with this direction, 1:04:35.120 --> 1:04:38.000 but it, you know, looking at it, this was the 1:04:38.360 --> 1:04:41.160 obvious choice, Like it breaks the tension and we get 1:04:41.200 --> 1:04:42.360 to go in a different direction here. 1:04:42.800 --> 1:04:46.040 So Boyd and Reike run after them again, even though 1:04:46.640 --> 1:04:48.959 Boyd is the officer and Reich is the private. Reich 1:04:49.080 --> 1:04:51.720 is giving all the orders and Boyd is lagging behind, 1:04:51.800 --> 1:04:56.840 barely complying. They find Toffler's body disemboweled. Colhoun is a 1:04:56.880 --> 1:05:01.000 bit like Jason Vorhees here, seemingly disappearing and reappearing through 1:05:01.040 --> 1:05:05.200 the woods. Kind of an arcane trickster. At one point here, 1:05:05.240 --> 1:05:07.760 Boyd tries to chicken out. He's like, I'm going back, 1:05:07.800 --> 1:05:10.200 I've got to go back, but Reike kind of bullies 1:05:10.280 --> 1:05:14.560 him into staying. Reike is killed by Calhoun with a 1:05:14.640 --> 1:05:16.880 knife to the chest and he falls off a cliff. 1:05:17.880 --> 1:05:21.919 Boyd panics and then to escape Calhoun, he jumps off 1:05:21.960 --> 1:05:25.360 the cliff. He survives the fall, but he falls into 1:05:25.400 --> 1:05:28.480 a bunch of trees, breaks his leg, and then tumbles 1:05:28.600 --> 1:05:31.480 along with Reike's body, into a hidden pit in the 1:05:31.520 --> 1:05:35.400 earth covered by pine branches, and then he falls down 1:05:35.440 --> 1:05:39.480 in there along with Reike's body, and time begins to pass. 1:05:39.680 --> 1:05:43.960 So we get a little montage showing kind of I 1:05:44.000 --> 1:05:47.080 don't know, maybe days going by, and we see Colhoun 1:05:48.480 --> 1:05:52.560 transformed into a free roaming master of the wilderness. Now 1:05:52.600 --> 1:05:54.800 he's just sitting on a shoal of pebbles in the 1:05:54.840 --> 1:05:58.120 middle of a river, eating lustily from a big joint 1:05:58.120 --> 1:06:01.240 of human meat and then laid. He's skipping rocks in 1:06:01.320 --> 1:06:03.960 the stream with his shirt covered in blood and blood 1:06:04.000 --> 1:06:04.840 all in his beard. 1:06:05.360 --> 1:06:06.480 Yeah, just loving life. 1:06:06.480 --> 1:06:11.120 At this point, back in the pit, Boyd sets his bone. Yeah, 1:06:11.120 --> 1:06:13.800 so warning folks, there is a self bone setting scene 1:06:13.880 --> 1:06:17.400 in the film, and it seems like he's clearly done 1:06:17.440 --> 1:06:22.560 for unless he could get some nourishment. And there's Reich 1:06:23.000 --> 1:06:23.959 right there. 1:06:24.200 --> 1:06:26.560 And I love right how Right's body is presented here. 1:06:26.600 --> 1:06:30.040 Reich has like just wide open dead eyes, like just 1:06:30.160 --> 1:06:33.600 continuing to judge him for his cowardice. 1:06:33.200 --> 1:06:37.120 These horrible cloudy eyes, but this horrible, huge grin, this 1:06:37.320 --> 1:06:40.880 dead rictus and he's covered. 1:06:40.520 --> 1:06:42.280 In dried, like blackened blood. 1:06:42.680 --> 1:06:45.720 Yeah, and it's interesting to see how Boyd works his 1:06:45.800 --> 1:06:48.120 way up to it, Like it starts with him taking 1:06:48.320 --> 1:06:50.880 Reke's coat off his body because he's cold. He's like, 1:06:50.920 --> 1:06:53.280 can I borrow this? You don't need it? And then 1:06:53.320 --> 1:06:56.040 he's like, well, I already took the coat, and he 1:06:56.120 --> 1:07:00.600 gets the knife, and it's mostly implied what he does next, 1:07:00.640 --> 1:07:03.840 But sometime later we see Boyd emerge from the pit 1:07:04.440 --> 1:07:08.480 somehow healed, like he's good, he's all right enough to walk, 1:07:08.520 --> 1:07:11.439 and he makes the track back to the fort. When 1:07:11.440 --> 1:07:14.800 he arrives, he's received and taken in by Martha and Cleaves, 1:07:14.800 --> 1:07:17.520 who have returned from their trip, and Knox, who was 1:07:17.880 --> 1:07:20.560 passed out drunk the whole time there while everybody else 1:07:20.680 --> 1:07:24.680 was doing the things in the previous scenes. So there's 1:07:24.680 --> 1:07:27.240 a scene here where Boyd goes to Martha. Now he's 1:07:27.280 --> 1:07:30.560 clearly he's turned on to the idea of the Windigo, 1:07:30.800 --> 1:07:32.760 and he goes to her to ask if she knows 1:07:32.800 --> 1:07:36.240 anything about it, can it be stopped. She gives a 1:07:36.280 --> 1:07:39.360 different kind of answer than he was expecting. She says 1:07:39.400 --> 1:07:43.440 the Windigo always takes, never gives, and to stop the 1:07:43.440 --> 1:07:46.560 wind to go, she says, you must give yourself, you 1:07:46.680 --> 1:07:51.680 have to die. Implicit in this is that she understands 1:07:51.960 --> 1:07:55.919 Boyd to be part of the Windigo, and the only 1:07:55.960 --> 1:07:58.640 way to truly beat it is to admit that you 1:07:58.680 --> 1:08:02.400 are part of it. For sake, cure hunger, and die. Yeah. 1:08:02.480 --> 1:08:05.880 And Boyd doesn't say I'm asking for a friend. Yeah, 1:08:05.920 --> 1:08:06.960 I didn't try to cover it. 1:08:07.400 --> 1:08:11.160 Yeah. So as time goes on, General Slawson and his 1:08:11.360 --> 1:08:14.480 entourage arrived at the fort. They hear Boyd's story and 1:08:14.520 --> 1:08:17.559 they investigate the cave, but they find nothing there, no bodies, 1:08:17.600 --> 1:08:20.120 no bones. There's not a scrap of evidence to back 1:08:20.200 --> 1:08:23.240 up the story Boyd has told. And Slawson tries to 1:08:23.240 --> 1:08:27.400 get Boyd to amend his statement, but he won't anyway. 1:08:27.479 --> 1:08:30.479 General Slawson has brought in a new commanding officer to 1:08:30.560 --> 1:08:33.360 serve as a replacement for Heart. It's a colonel Is. 1:08:33.520 --> 1:08:35.880 So step into the room, Colonel, let's let's see your 1:08:35.920 --> 1:08:40.920 new captain Boyd here, and it is a colonel named Ives. Uh, oh, 1:08:40.960 --> 1:08:43.840 it's him. It's Colhoun. He's all cleaned up now he's 1:08:43.880 --> 1:08:47.759 in uniform. And it turns out Colhoun is Ives. 1:08:48.360 --> 1:08:52.360 Yeah, gone is the is the prospector's beard and the 1:08:52.400 --> 1:08:55.880 crazy eyes. Now we have this like steely calm that 1:08:55.960 --> 1:08:58.760 is over him. He looks very professional. He has establishment 1:08:58.800 --> 1:08:59.920 cannibalism at this point. 1:09:00.240 --> 1:09:03.479 Yes, so Boyd immediately he freaks out and he tries 1:09:03.520 --> 1:09:05.960 to tell everyone, but the story doesn't check out because 1:09:06.000 --> 1:09:08.919 in his story he got a shot off on Coolhoun, 1:09:09.000 --> 1:09:11.599 like he shot him in the shoulder. So they're like, okay, well, 1:09:11.600 --> 1:09:13.519 if your story's true, he would have a scar. So 1:09:13.560 --> 1:09:16.120 they look on ives body and there are no scars. 1:09:16.240 --> 1:09:18.880 They find nothing, just like well fed, unblemish skin. 1:09:19.640 --> 1:09:22.759 Yeah, so Boyd's stock here. He continues to go down 1:09:22.840 --> 1:09:25.639 in the generals the general's view. 1:09:25.560 --> 1:09:28.280 Here, that's right, So everybody settles in with the new kernel. 1:09:28.479 --> 1:09:30.759 There's like a dinner scene where they're all having ribs, 1:09:30.840 --> 1:09:34.880 except Cleaves discovers that neither Colonel Ives nor Boyd will 1:09:34.920 --> 1:09:38.559 eat meat. Ives never eats meat at all, since he 1:09:38.600 --> 1:09:41.000 can't forget it used to be an animal, and Boyd 1:09:41.040 --> 1:09:45.320 says he will only eat meat as a last resort. 1:09:46.200 --> 1:09:48.920 There's a later scene where Boyd is looking out the 1:09:48.960 --> 1:09:53.360 window at Cleaves as he's setting up some kind of sculpture, 1:09:53.439 --> 1:09:58.080 like a big cow skeleton thing, and Boyd fantasizes about 1:09:58.160 --> 1:10:00.640 killing him and eating his organs, and Boyd kind of 1:10:00.640 --> 1:10:02.600 snaps out of it. It's like, what's going on with me? 1:10:02.720 --> 1:10:05.360 Why can't I stop thinking about eating people? 1:10:05.600 --> 1:10:07.320 Yeah, It's like it's kind of a version of the 1:10:07.360 --> 1:10:09.920 Looney Tune scene where you know, one character looks at 1:10:09.960 --> 1:10:12.160 another and they just just see a giant turkey leg. 1:10:12.479 --> 1:10:12.759 Yeah. 1:10:12.840 --> 1:10:17.040 Yeah. So later there's one night alone, Boyd is like 1:10:17.160 --> 1:10:20.320 he's paranoid. He's sitting outside clutching a big kitchen knife 1:10:20.520 --> 1:10:23.800 with a blanket around him, and Ives comes out. He's 1:10:23.960 --> 1:10:28.240 very suave and dapper, and he's smoking a cigarello out 1:10:28.280 --> 1:10:31.400 in the cold, and Ives breaks the tension by essentially 1:10:31.479 --> 1:10:35.160 now admitting it because they're alone. He says to Boyd, 1:10:35.280 --> 1:10:37.760 I found your private reichup there, or what was left 1:10:37.760 --> 1:10:42.200 of him. You didn't finish. I can't blame you. He 1:10:42.320 --> 1:10:44.760 was tough, but then a good soldier ought to be. 1:10:45.320 --> 1:10:47.080 And then he takes a big drag out of his 1:10:47.160 --> 1:10:50.679 smoke and he says, you know, not too long ago, 1:10:50.880 --> 1:10:53.760 I couldn't do that. Could barely take a breath without 1:10:53.840 --> 1:10:58.240 coughing up a pint of blood. Tuberculosis. That along with 1:10:58.320 --> 1:11:03.759 fierce headaches, depression, suicidal ambition. I was in pretty horrible shape. 1:11:04.000 --> 1:11:06.400 In fact, I was on my way to a sanatorium 1:11:06.439 --> 1:11:10.680 to convalesce or more likely die, when en route, this 1:11:10.840 --> 1:11:14.600 Indian scout told me a curious story. Man eats the 1:11:14.600 --> 1:11:18.560 flesh of another, he takes the other man's strength, absorbs 1:11:18.560 --> 1:11:23.280 his spirit. Well, naturally, I just had to try it. Consequently, 1:11:23.360 --> 1:11:25.880 I ate the scout first, and you know what, he 1:11:26.040 --> 1:11:31.839 was absolutely right. I grew stronger. And then he launches 1:11:31.880 --> 1:11:34.960 into telling the wagon train story is sort of a 1:11:35.000 --> 1:11:37.360 different version of the story he told at the beginning, 1:11:38.160 --> 1:11:41.360 but now he is colonel Ives. He manages to get 1:11:41.400 --> 1:11:43.280 people stuck in the mountain, so he can eat them. 1:11:43.320 --> 1:11:46.080 He says he ate five men in three months. And 1:11:46.120 --> 1:11:50.040 he says tuberculosis vanished, as did the headaches and the 1:11:50.080 --> 1:11:55.440 black thoughts. I returned that spring, happy and healthy and virile, 1:11:57.080 --> 1:12:01.720 And here I've shifts shifts to kind of tempting, to 1:12:01.720 --> 1:12:05.160 being the satan figure tempting Boyd. He's like, you know 1:12:05.200 --> 1:12:08.680 what I'm talking about. You've done it too. You know 1:12:08.760 --> 1:12:12.719 its power, So why are you resisting? And Boyd says, 1:12:13.040 --> 1:12:16.000 what's wrong? It's wrong to eat people? But Ives mocks him. 1:12:16.000 --> 1:12:19.360 He says, morality is the last bastion of a coward. 1:12:19.880 --> 1:12:22.519 It's like a man says he cannot do something because 1:12:22.560 --> 1:12:25.600 it would be wrong. The real reason is because he's afraid. 1:12:26.760 --> 1:12:28.479 And then he keeps tempting him, like he gets a 1:12:28.520 --> 1:12:31.120 cut on his hand and he's like, sniff my blood. Mmmm. 1:12:32.200 --> 1:12:35.639 It's a great see this and a subsequent sequence. We're 1:12:35.640 --> 1:12:39.120 going to get a subsequent temptation segment sequence between Ives 1:12:39.560 --> 1:12:44.120 and Boyd. Just tremendous here, especially from Carlisle. Just just 1:12:44.200 --> 1:12:46.880 great acting, love every of the way the scenes are 1:12:46.920 --> 1:12:47.439 put together. 1:12:47.680 --> 1:12:51.880 Tremendous, fantastic. Yeah, and Boyd here tries to attack Ives, 1:12:51.920 --> 1:12:54.679 but they are interrupted by Martha and then by Knox, 1:12:55.160 --> 1:12:58.839 who they quickly discovered that Cleaves has been killed along 1:12:58.840 --> 1:13:01.920 with all of the horses, and Boyd is put under 1:13:02.000 --> 1:13:14.000 arrest on suspicion for that killing. So the next day 1:13:14.000 --> 1:13:16.320 Martha volunteers to make the journey by foot to San 1:13:16.400 --> 1:13:19.880 Miguel to get General Slawson for you know, I guess 1:13:19.960 --> 1:13:23.960 to come back and investigate crimes once again. So that 1:13:24.040 --> 1:13:27.600 just leaves Knox, Boyd and Ives at the fort, and 1:13:27.680 --> 1:13:30.360 so Boyd is under arrest, and there's this scene where 1:13:30.439 --> 1:13:34.559 Ives is cooking a stew and Knox is like can 1:13:34.640 --> 1:13:37.000 I help? And Ives is like, not right now, perhaps 1:13:37.120 --> 1:13:40.519 later you can contribute. Yes, yes, So. 1:13:40.439 --> 1:13:42.120 We get a little bit of the comedy here, but 1:13:42.160 --> 1:13:44.400 they you know, they underscore it's it's. 1:13:44.280 --> 1:13:48.200 Nice, yeah, and Boyd listens. So in this scene there 1:13:48.200 --> 1:13:50.439 are things happening in the other room, and it becomes 1:13:50.479 --> 1:13:53.599 apparent that somebody in the other room has killed Knox 1:13:53.680 --> 1:13:56.599 with his own sword. But then when the door swings open, 1:13:56.720 --> 1:14:02.519 it's not i'ves standing there, it's Colonel Heart Yep. He 1:14:02.560 --> 1:14:05.960 smiles and he says hello, Boyd, and he's covered with blood. 1:14:06.040 --> 1:14:09.400 Now he doesn't have any of his glasses on. There's 1:14:09.439 --> 1:14:11.920 a new energy to this man. It's clear that he 1:14:12.000 --> 1:14:13.640 has engaged in the cannibalism. 1:14:13.960 --> 1:14:16.120 That's right. So he tells the story of how he 1:14:16.280 --> 1:14:19.639 thought he was dying, but he found himself being nursed 1:14:19.640 --> 1:14:23.599 back to health in the cave by Ives, and he 1:14:23.720 --> 1:14:28.040 was healed from his mortal wound because he ate man flesh. 1:14:28.680 --> 1:14:31.040 He says, by the time I regained my senses, there 1:14:31.120 --> 1:14:35.880 was no turning back. I feel terrific. So now Heart 1:14:35.920 --> 1:14:39.439 and Ives are part of a cannibal conspiracy, and Heart 1:14:39.479 --> 1:14:43.519 makes a pitch Boyd should join them. 1:14:43.479 --> 1:14:46.960 And this is where we get this other temptation scene 1:14:47.000 --> 1:14:50.200 that is just excellent. This is where we get another 1:14:50.320 --> 1:14:55.240 just tremendous monologue from Carlisle, and it really kind of 1:14:55.360 --> 1:14:58.000 drives home I think the central thesis of the whole picture. 1:14:58.560 --> 1:15:01.080 Yeah, so Boyd is taken out to where Ives is. 1:15:01.240 --> 1:15:04.080 I think they're grilling outside maybe now are they grilling 1:15:04.400 --> 1:15:07.360 parts of Knox or butchering him? I think, I don't know, 1:15:07.360 --> 1:15:10.960 They're doing some kind of cannibalism stuff outside and Ives 1:15:11.000 --> 1:15:15.680 looks at the mountains and he says, manifest destiny, westward expansion, 1:15:16.280 --> 1:15:19.680 you know, come April, it'll all start again. Thousands of 1:15:19.720 --> 1:15:22.840 gold hungry Americans will travel over those mountains on their 1:15:22.840 --> 1:15:27.760 way to new lives, passing right through here. We won't 1:15:27.840 --> 1:15:31.920 kill indiscriminately, no selectively. Good God, we don't want to 1:15:31.920 --> 1:15:35.360 break up families. And then oh yeah, horrible, And then 1:15:35.400 --> 1:15:39.040 he talks about how they want to recruit somebody else. 1:15:39.560 --> 1:15:42.960 General Slawson. They want to convert him to the religion 1:15:43.360 --> 1:15:47.240 of cannibalism because it would be useful to have somebody 1:15:47.280 --> 1:15:50.439 that powerful, right, He says, we don't wish to recruit everyone. 1:15:50.479 --> 1:15:53.040 We've got enough mouths to feed as it is. We 1:15:53.160 --> 1:15:56.479 just need a home. And this country is seeking to 1:15:56.520 --> 1:16:00.240 be whole, stretching out its arms, consuming all it can. 1:16:00.720 --> 1:16:01.839 We merely follow. 1:16:02.320 --> 1:16:04.839 Oh and that line there just gives me chills. 1:16:05.439 --> 1:16:08.960 So Boyd tries to resist them. He says he's not 1:16:09.000 --> 1:16:12.320 going to be like them, but the bids continue. Carlyle says, 1:16:12.439 --> 1:16:15.120 you're already one of us almost. You hunger for it, 1:16:15.560 --> 1:16:17.960 you just won't resign yourself to it. 1:16:18.439 --> 1:16:20.320 Oh yeah, and we get that other line that's always 1:16:20.320 --> 1:16:22.719 stuck with me. It's not courage to resist me, Boyd, 1:16:23.000 --> 1:16:24.360 it's courage to accept me. 1:16:24.840 --> 1:16:28.439 Yes, yeah, yeah, but this makes me think, like when 1:16:28.479 --> 1:16:31.000 are you really part of a conspiracy, like when you 1:16:31.080 --> 1:16:33.960 do the crime, or when you accept that doing the 1:16:34.040 --> 1:16:35.280 crime is all right? 1:16:36.120 --> 1:16:39.800 Yeah yeah, And there's a lot to chew on here, 1:16:40.240 --> 1:16:45.479 Cannibal puns aside, but yeah, it's like this idea that 1:16:45.560 --> 1:16:47.800 like there is this gravity that is pulling all of 1:16:47.840 --> 1:16:51.759 them down and there's inevitability to it, And like, Boyd, 1:16:51.760 --> 1:16:55.960 you're not doing yourself any favors by fighting against the tide. 1:16:56.400 --> 1:16:59.200 You'd make things so much easier for yourself and for 1:16:59.240 --> 1:17:01.559 everyone around you if you just gave in, if you've 1:17:01.800 --> 1:17:05.599 just accepted the world as it is, the world as 1:17:05.640 --> 1:17:08.680 we've made it, if you just accept that you're a 1:17:08.720 --> 1:17:11.080 part of it. And that, of course, has been part 1:17:11.200 --> 1:17:14.679 of Boyd's moral failing thus far. He's just proceeded through 1:17:14.720 --> 1:17:19.920 life like a thing encased in mud or almost fossilized 1:17:19.960 --> 1:17:24.719 in his environment and has just been generally just unwilling 1:17:24.720 --> 1:17:28.599 and unable to attempt to counteract that flow. 1:17:28.800 --> 1:17:33.760 Yeah, he has acted upon, he does not act against. Yeah, yeah, 1:17:33.800 --> 1:17:37.000 though he is trying to resist here. And it's interesting 1:17:37.040 --> 1:17:41.160 the way that Carlisle, the way that i'ves is like 1:17:41.280 --> 1:17:45.360 papering over distinctions. Like, He's like, you've already done the 1:17:45.360 --> 1:17:49.120 same as us, But Boyd hasn't unlike them. He has 1:17:49.160 --> 1:17:52.400 not killed to eat man flesh. He's just eaten of 1:17:52.400 --> 1:17:55.320 those who already died. But I think they're trying to 1:17:55.439 --> 1:17:59.360 make that transition for him easier. It's like not observing 1:17:59.400 --> 1:18:03.200 the distinction. Yeah. So then Ives tries to persuade Boyd 1:18:03.240 --> 1:18:06.240 by stabbing him, So he stabs him. He's like, all right, 1:18:06.280 --> 1:18:08.120 now you know the rules. You've either got to eat 1:18:08.200 --> 1:18:11.559 human or die from your wound. So Ives and Heart 1:18:11.560 --> 1:18:14.160 like sit around the table enjoying a major Knox stew 1:18:14.680 --> 1:18:17.240 and at first Boyd resists, but then the pain of 1:18:17.240 --> 1:18:20.320 his wound becomes too great and his fear of death 1:18:20.360 --> 1:18:22.479 overwhelms him and he begins to eat. 1:18:22.880 --> 1:18:25.040 I like, how, Yeah, the answer heres for him to 1:18:25.040 --> 1:18:26.840 give in and eat the stew too, which is like 1:18:26.880 --> 1:18:30.479 the completely civilized version of the cannibal feast, which I 1:18:30.520 --> 1:18:32.680 don't think we've had it up into this point. It's 1:18:32.720 --> 1:18:35.880 been more like bone nawing. But here is the sanitized 1:18:36.000 --> 1:18:38.640 version of it, which I think is also rife with 1:18:38.720 --> 1:18:42.080 so many different interpretations. When you start analyzing this picture 1:18:42.160 --> 1:18:44.639 like here, here's the refined version of the thing you're 1:18:44.680 --> 1:18:47.639 afraid of. Give in to it, be become a part 1:18:47.720 --> 1:18:49.280 of this operation. 1:18:49.720 --> 1:18:52.599 Yeah. So the next day, of course, Boyd is all 1:18:52.640 --> 1:18:56.200 healed up. The cannibalism does wonders, and there is a 1:18:56.280 --> 1:19:01.240 conversation between Boyd and Heart while ives is outside. Heart 1:19:01.240 --> 1:19:03.880 talks about how he misses his books. They were taking 1:19:03.880 --> 1:19:06.040 off his shelf, I guess when he was presumed dead, 1:19:06.680 --> 1:19:09.679 and he muses about how even thousands of years ago, 1:19:09.800 --> 1:19:12.760 Plato and Aristotle were thinking over the same problems that 1:19:12.800 --> 1:19:16.240 they can't solve today, like what is happiness and how 1:19:16.280 --> 1:19:20.080 to get it? And Boyd says Aristotle wanted to get 1:19:20.120 --> 1:19:24.800 to truth, not happiness, and Heart kind of rebels against this. 1:19:24.920 --> 1:19:27.000 He says, I spent my whole life trying to do 1:19:27.040 --> 1:19:29.559 what I thought was right and true, and now here 1:19:29.600 --> 1:19:33.960 I am. But some cracks appear in Heart's conviction. Boyd 1:19:34.000 --> 1:19:37.160 reminds him of all the people they killed, cleaves knocks, 1:19:37.720 --> 1:19:41.040 and Heart kind of he fights his conscience off. He's 1:19:41.040 --> 1:19:43.800 screaming about how you have to kill to live, But 1:19:43.840 --> 1:19:46.400 Boyd eventually gets through to him, and Heart kind of 1:19:46.520 --> 1:19:50.400 collapses and decides you're right. I don't want to go 1:19:50.439 --> 1:19:52.960 on living like this, Boyd, You've just got to kill me. 1:19:53.120 --> 1:19:56.760 And Boyd does this scene here, which is intercut with 1:19:56.800 --> 1:20:01.559 a few things concerning Calhoun and other characters. But this 1:20:01.640 --> 1:20:04.599 scene I think is pretty admirable because a lot has 1:20:04.680 --> 1:20:08.599 to happen, particularly with Heart's character, in a very short 1:20:08.640 --> 1:20:14.320 amount of time, and I think it was done even 1:20:14.360 --> 1:20:18.080 slightly incorrectly, it would have felt really rushed as it 1:20:18.160 --> 1:20:21.439 is here, like it feels ultimately feels, you know, a 1:20:21.479 --> 1:20:24.600 bit on fast forward, but also completely earned. And I 1:20:24.640 --> 1:20:28.360 think it comes down to the direction, to the performances 1:20:29.000 --> 1:20:30.760 and just the way they've cut it all together. Like 1:20:30.760 --> 1:20:32.800 I end up completely buying it. But man, they do 1:20:32.960 --> 1:20:34.639 so much in such a short scene. 1:20:34.800 --> 1:20:37.360 Well, I mean, I think because it comes across that 1:20:37.479 --> 1:20:40.519 Heart was also just kind of weak willed, and he 1:20:40.720 --> 1:20:46.559 was allowing Ives' confidence in the cannibalism conspiracy to sort 1:20:46.560 --> 1:20:51.280 of allow him not to consult his own soul about 1:20:51.280 --> 1:20:54.240 whether this was right. He was just like going along 1:20:54.280 --> 1:20:57.439 with the justifications that i'ves gave. But now that somebody 1:20:57.479 --> 1:21:00.559 else from the outside is pressuring him kind of does 1:21:00.720 --> 1:21:04.000 break through the facade and the real heart comes out 1:21:04.040 --> 1:21:08.160 and his guilt and grief are unleashed and he can't 1:21:08.160 --> 1:21:08.880 deal with it. 1:21:09.240 --> 1:21:14.000 Right, And so now the line is clearly drawn. Ives 1:21:14.360 --> 1:21:17.720 sees this happen through the blood splattered window, and so 1:21:17.840 --> 1:21:19.720 now it's going to be it's gonna be a standoff 1:21:19.760 --> 1:21:21.639 between Bloyd and Ives, right. 1:21:21.680 --> 1:21:25.639 So the rest of the movie is basically this grueling fight, 1:21:25.760 --> 1:21:29.759 this duel between Boyd and Ives. They sword fight, they slash, stab, 1:21:30.000 --> 1:21:32.840 bash across the landscape of the fort, and then they 1:21:33.000 --> 1:21:35.000 end up at the end of this fight in a 1:21:35.040 --> 1:21:37.320 bear trap together, which is just perfect. 1:21:37.600 --> 1:21:40.080 Yeah, it's an enormous bear trap, Like I'm almost like 1:21:40.160 --> 1:21:43.960 Acme level of bear trap, but it feels earned and 1:21:44.000 --> 1:21:46.960 it's a surprise I think they do. We do see 1:21:46.960 --> 1:21:49.520 a bear trap earlier in the picture, so it is established. 1:21:49.720 --> 1:21:51.679 But when it goes off, yeah, just get. 1:21:51.600 --> 1:21:56.040 Them both, I've says says to to Guy Pearce, if 1:21:56.080 --> 1:21:58.880 you die first, I am definitely going to eat you. 1:21:59.400 --> 1:22:02.880 But if I first, what will you do? Good question, 1:22:02.960 --> 1:22:06.559 because we actually don't know at this point. Boyd's character 1:22:06.600 --> 1:22:11.040 has been portrayed as weak willed enough, and the story 1:22:11.400 --> 1:22:14.000 is bleak enough that you could believe it would end 1:22:14.040 --> 1:22:18.200 with him just embracing the cannibalism eating him and becoming 1:22:18.240 --> 1:22:19.080 win to go again. 1:22:19.400 --> 1:22:22.439 Yeah, because that thus far, that's how he has proceeded. 1:22:22.960 --> 1:22:25.040 Those are the choices which brought him to this moment. 1:22:25.520 --> 1:22:29.479 But Boyd does have a moral victory in the end 1:22:29.600 --> 1:22:33.320 by resisting the temptation. Ives does die first and Boyd 1:22:33.360 --> 1:22:37.120 does not chow down. He dies as well. But then 1:22:37.200 --> 1:22:41.720 General Slosson arrives with his retinue and they wander in. 1:22:41.800 --> 1:22:45.000 They're looking around and he finds a stew bubbling over 1:22:45.040 --> 1:22:47.200 the fire. I guess this is still the knock stew, 1:22:47.600 --> 1:22:51.439 still left over from the day before, and he decides 1:22:51.479 --> 1:22:55.120 to taste it, and he tastes it. He's like delicious, yummy, yummy. 1:22:55.640 --> 1:22:58.639 Yeah, So it seems like maybe the cycle will continue 1:22:58.680 --> 1:23:01.479 with General Slosson. And then we see Martha show up 1:23:01.520 --> 1:23:04.200 and Martha finds the bodies of Boyd and Ives and 1:23:04.200 --> 1:23:07.680 the bear trap and she sees what's happened and she 1:23:07.960 --> 1:23:09.320 runs off into the wilderness. 1:23:10.040 --> 1:23:13.040 Yeah. Thinking about this slows in question like if he 1:23:13.160 --> 1:23:15.080 eats the stew, does he become the wind to go? 1:23:15.600 --> 1:23:18.320 Within the logic of the movie, are you a wind 1:23:18.320 --> 1:23:21.400 to go? If you don't know that you're eating human 1:23:22.040 --> 1:23:24.720 I think that's a real question. Like it comes back 1:23:24.720 --> 1:23:27.519 to one of the questions that we raised earlier, like 1:23:28.120 --> 1:23:33.040 does the monstrosity arise from eating human flesh physically? Is 1:23:33.080 --> 1:23:36.040 it the physical processing of it with your digestive system 1:23:36.080 --> 1:23:38.400 even if you don't know what it is, Or is 1:23:38.400 --> 1:23:42.320 it the conscious awareness that you are eating human flesh? 1:23:42.960 --> 1:23:46.880 Or is it the moral acceptance of yourself as one 1:23:46.960 --> 1:23:50.280 who eats human flesh. So the distinction between those last 1:23:50.280 --> 1:23:53.639 two being like being aware that you're eating human flesh 1:23:53.680 --> 1:23:57.080 but not feeling okay about it, versus feeling like, all right, 1:23:57.120 --> 1:24:00.320 it's okay that I'm doing this, versus the final thing 1:24:00.479 --> 1:24:03.640 is killing, the act of killing someone in order to 1:24:03.640 --> 1:24:07.200 get more human flesh. They're all like different points on 1:24:07.240 --> 1:24:10.680 a continuum, and I guess you could ask at what 1:24:10.880 --> 1:24:13.920 point does one become the monster? And does each step 1:24:14.040 --> 1:24:15.960 kind of lead to the next step. 1:24:16.560 --> 1:24:19.000 That's a great question. Yeah, the movie leaves it ambiguous, 1:24:19.040 --> 1:24:22.799 Like we can I think reasonably think that, Okay, Slawson 1:24:22.920 --> 1:24:25.760 is going to eat this stuff. It tastes great. He's 1:24:25.760 --> 1:24:28.519 probably going to just really pig out on it and 1:24:28.560 --> 1:24:30.680 maybe have like a really great week. He's going to 1:24:30.680 --> 1:24:32.280 take up new hobbies, he's going to get a lot 1:24:32.280 --> 1:24:34.400 done at work. But will he be able to make 1:24:34.400 --> 1:24:37.920 the connection? And maybe he will, Maybe there's enough essentially 1:24:37.920 --> 1:24:41.000 forensic evidence at the camp that he'll realize what he 1:24:41.200 --> 1:24:46.439 ate and then start making increasingly horrific choices. But maybe not. 1:24:46.880 --> 1:24:48.519 But then also it does kind of tie into some 1:24:48.560 --> 1:24:50.840 of the questions raised, like what happens when you come 1:24:50.880 --> 1:24:53.200 along and you eat this stew and you don't know 1:24:53.439 --> 1:24:56.920 how the stew was made. It's just presented to you, 1:24:57.080 --> 1:25:00.400 and now what are you for having participated in this meal? 1:25:01.280 --> 1:25:03.120 All right? Well that's ravenous? 1:25:03.600 --> 1:25:06.479 Yeah, yeah, I think it really holds up. I think 1:25:06.479 --> 1:25:10.160 it's a great, great film, really stands out. Hard to 1:25:10.160 --> 1:25:12.280 think of another film from nineteen ninety nine that really 1:25:13.880 --> 1:25:16.479 that I keep coming back to. But this is the one. 1:25:17.120 --> 1:25:19.800 I mean, it's not it's not End of Days, it's 1:25:19.800 --> 1:25:25.280 not Blair Witch Product product, Blair Witch Project that should 1:25:25.280 --> 1:25:26.879 have been the sequel Blair Witch Product. 1:25:28.160 --> 1:25:31.080 My memory is actually the Blair Witch Project is pretty good. 1:25:31.280 --> 1:25:34.320 I think, Yeah, I think it might hold up pretty well. 1:25:34.520 --> 1:25:37.280 I think with that one, it's it really impressed me 1:25:37.320 --> 1:25:39.519 at the time, but then we saw so much found 1:25:39.560 --> 1:25:43.360 footage material that I've just been so resistant to going 1:25:43.400 --> 1:25:45.960 back and watching anything from that year. I don't know. 1:25:46.000 --> 1:25:47.639 I look at a list of other nineteen ninety nine 1:25:47.680 --> 1:25:50.040 films that was the year we had audition. I'm in 1:25:50.040 --> 1:25:52.719 no hurry to rewatch that, but that was pretty strong 1:25:52.760 --> 1:25:53.800 as well, with. 1:25:53.960 --> 1:25:57.000 That remake of The Haunting with Liam Neeson and Catherine 1:25:57.040 --> 1:25:58.439 Zeta Jones. How about that. 1:26:00.520 --> 1:26:03.840 That's not on the list from the rewatch anytime soon? 1:26:04.600 --> 1:26:06.400 All right? Does that do it for today? 1:26:06.640 --> 1:26:08.479 Yeah, we're going to go ahead and close it up here, 1:26:08.560 --> 1:26:10.519 but we'd love to hear from everyone out there. What 1:26:10.560 --> 1:26:13.960 are your thoughts on Ravenous or other cannibal films or 1:26:14.000 --> 1:26:16.360 other films from nineteen ninety nine. It's all fair game, 1:26:16.439 --> 1:26:18.559 right in. Let us know we would love to hear 1:26:18.600 --> 1:26:21.559 from you. You can get this show wherever you get 1:26:21.600 --> 1:26:23.840 your podcasts. Get it either in the Stuff to Blow 1:26:23.840 --> 1:26:26.320 your Mind podcast feed where it publishes every Friday, or 1:26:26.360 --> 1:26:28.840 on its own in its own standalone playlist, which you 1:26:28.880 --> 1:26:31.040 can currently get wherever you get your podcasts, as well, 1:26:31.200 --> 1:26:33.680 wherever you get Weird House Cinema rate and review. That 1:26:33.720 --> 1:26:37.240 really helps us out. If you were on letterbox dot com, 1:26:37.320 --> 1:26:39.439 look us up. Our username there is weird House and 1:26:39.479 --> 1:26:41.040 we have a big old list of all the movies 1:26:41.080 --> 1:26:43.680 we've watched over the years, and sometimes we get a 1:26:43.680 --> 1:26:44.800 peek ahead at what's next. 1:26:45.080 --> 1:26:48.640 Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. 1:26:49.000 --> 1:26:50.559 If you would like to get in touch with us 1:26:50.600 --> 1:26:53.000 with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 1:26:53.000 --> 1:26:55.040 a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1:26:55.439 --> 1:26:57.960 you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:26:58.000 --> 1:27:05.520 your Mind dot com. 1:27:05.720 --> 1:27:08.680 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:27:08.760 --> 1:27:12.600 more podcasts from my iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 1:27:12.680 --> 1:27:14.479 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.