1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is 3 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And today we're 4 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: gonna be talking about the nineteen fifty eight British sci 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: fi horror classic Fiend Without a Face. Uh, this is 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: truly a kind of international venture because this is a 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: British film about an American Atomic Air Force base in Canada. Yeah, 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: this is This is also independently financed if I remember correctly. 9 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: And hey everybody, we're classing it up a bit here 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 1: today because this is a Criterion collection. Um. I think 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: the only previous Criterion collection film we've watched was Godzilla 12 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: versus Hidora. Um. And now, if you're wondering, well, what 13 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: is the Criterion collection criteria, it is quote unquote important 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: classics and contemporary are films. So today's film is about 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of dudes shooting brain monsters with handguns in 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: a truly marvelous fashion. I will say that the special 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: effects of the last like fifteen minutes of this movie, 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: it's hard to believe that they were released in a 19 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: movie of nineteen fifty eight, Like, uh, this is a 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: movie mostly about invisible monsters, but once you finally see 21 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: the monsters revealed in their true form at the end 22 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: of the movie, they are these amazing stop motion brain 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: creatures and they are Ray Harryhausen level. It's like top 24 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: notch stop motion effects. And also gore that is absolutely disgusting. 25 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: It's like when the when the military buzz cuts are 26 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: shooting these brains, there is just chunky salsa flying out 27 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: of the bullet holes. It is gross. Yeah. Yeah. And 28 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: the sound effects are wonderful to lots of squeaky sound 29 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: effects for these guys when they're crawling around, but also 30 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: when they're inevitably shot or busted up with an axe. 31 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: Uh yeah that the effects here really feel ahead of 32 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: their time. Um, you know, there may be some I'm 33 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: sure there are some other films you can compare them 34 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: favorably to. But like, just for my own part, I'm 35 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: thinking Brainstorm Monster. I also think of The Tingler. The 36 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: Tingler came out the following year in nine nine, and 37 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: I love The Tingler. That's a great film, great monster 38 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: but and and and it's it's effectively portrayed on the 39 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: on the screen. But the like the the effects gap 40 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: between how we see The Tingler and how we see 41 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: these creatures. Uh, it's it's pretty pretty wide. Yeah. I 42 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,399 Speaker 1: would also say a major difference is that the main 43 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,239 Speaker 1: actor in The Tingler is Vincent Price, who I mean, Yeah, 44 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: I gotta love Vincent Price. The main actor in this 45 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: movie is much more down the middle of the kind 46 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: of guy who was always the stock hero in these 47 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties sci fi horror movies. Absolute flat top dolt, 48 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: just a gray bucket filled to the brim with skim milk. 49 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: What is it about these fifties movies having the most 50 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: boring square hero almost every time? Oh? Yeah, I mean 51 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: it very much seems to have been the style of 52 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: the day. I mean, I'm instantly reminded of fifty ones, 53 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: the Thing from Another World, which is just wall to 54 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: wall with interchangeable guys that look like this. But in 55 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: terms of characters, I did enjoy a bit of the 56 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,799 Speaker 1: character texture in uh Fiend without a Face, because this 57 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: central rectangle man is surrounded by a really interesting cast 58 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: of weirdos. There's this guy named either Gibson or Gibbons 59 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: I don't remember, but he's like the town constable who 60 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: has this baffling accent. He sounds like he's from Mars like. 61 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes he sounds Irish, sometimes he sounds Canadian, sometimes he 62 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: sounds like New York. I really could you tell what 63 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: was going on with this guy? I could not. In general, 64 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: the accents in this this movie, we're we're kind of varied. 65 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: At times, you felt more like you're in a European 66 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: setting supposed to a Canadian setting. But yeah, you've got him. 67 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: You've got the sandwich man. I don't know if you 68 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: noticed the sandwich man, the guy who's in the military 69 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: base trying to sneak bites of bologna when the commander 70 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: isn't looking. Uh. And then you've got the psychic scientists. 71 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: This is our second movie in a row with an 72 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: awesome crank. And then finally, of course all the atomic 73 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: radiation stuff with the workers in the reactor corps who 74 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: look like they're wearing oiled up leather trench coats. Yea, 75 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: So is this a great movie all around? Not? Really 76 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: does have some really great monsters in it, But does 77 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: it meet the criterion criterion? Is it an important classic? Uh? Yeah? Sure? 78 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: Why not? Sure? Why not? I mean I find it 79 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: comforting that Criterion collection has a film like this in there, 80 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: because again, otherwise, you know, I love Criterion Collection. I 81 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: think they you know, they do a great job, and 82 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: some of their additions are fabulous. But either we're all 83 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: just um, you know, awesome Samurai films and Fellini pictures. Uh, 84 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be the same. It's nice that you have 85 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: room for not only Cronenberg, but also a picture like this. 86 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: You gotta let the camp in. Yeah, and those middle 87 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: category movies too, that they do a lot of the 88 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: ones that are kind of artsy but also kind of 89 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: pulp trash, Like I feel like Night of the Hunter 90 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: is kind of in that middle category. I've got the 91 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: Criterion of that and it's great. Oh yeah, I mean 92 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: they also a Son of the White Mayor. The first 93 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: time I watched it, I watched it on the Criterion channel. 94 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: They're streaming product. So yeah, they have a lot of 95 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: animation on there. There's a lot of weird stuff in there. 96 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: So if you if you know, they don't don't assume 97 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: that it is just Samurai films and Fellini. There's there's 98 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: room for a lot of other stuff. Not to say 99 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: Samurai films and Fellini are not awesome and cannot be 100 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: super weird as well. Now, before we get into discussing 101 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: some of the themes of this movie, what what's the 102 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: elevator pitch? I believe it is. Your brain is gross, 103 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: your brain is a monster? Oh man? How best to 104 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: quickly summarize this? There is like an atomic air base 105 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: somewhere in northern Canada. It's like way up in Manitoba, 106 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: and it's being operated by the US military. They're running 107 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: some kind of radar experiments and they've got a big 108 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: nuclear reactor, and people in the local town or mad 109 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,720 Speaker 1: because of the nuclear reactor. Their cows are giving sour milk. 110 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: People start mysteriously dying when they're being attacked by some 111 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: kind of invisible creature. And eventually the culprit is linked 112 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: to the psychical experiments of a crazy old crank who 113 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: specializes in what was they call it psychic investigations or something. Yeah, 114 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: and he's kind of leeching radiation off of the research 115 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: facility to further these ends. But I think this movie 116 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: actually gives us a great opportunity to talk about a 117 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: problem faced by many horror movies that go this route, 118 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: which is how do you handle an invisible monster? Uh? Now, 119 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: even in a movie with a generally visible beast, the 120 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: question of how much you should show and how early 121 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: you should show it, I think it's a very important one. 122 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: I tend to air more on the side of showing 123 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,039 Speaker 1: less of your monster, especially early on, even though I 124 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: love to see a good monster. You know, it's good 125 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: for the pacing of the film, keep the mystery alive long. 126 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 1: But at the same time, you've got to have some 127 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: interesting imagery in the movie to to excite the mind, 128 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: to sort of titillate the your your sense of horror. 129 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: You know, you need some swatches of fur to rub, 130 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: So you've got to show a little bit of the monster. 131 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: A movie with an invisible monster can't exactly do this 132 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: by showing you like bits or flashes of the monster, 133 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: so they have to provide that texture some other way. 134 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: And maybe this can be through sound design, like we 135 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: can't see it, but we can hear it. Uh. Sometimes 136 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: this is through using environmental effects, like seeing things moving 137 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: around because of the monster or monster, or seeing footsteps 138 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: or something. And I think this movie, uh, it's most 139 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: memorable once you can finally see the brains that are 140 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: attacking everyone, But it actually has some earlier scenes that 141 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: do work very well with this invisibility criterion. One image 142 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: that really worked for me was the scene where the 143 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: Invisible Monster cuts a slit in a screen door, which 144 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: I think is all done with stop motion, but it 145 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: looks fantastic and it's very creepy. Yeah, that's a great sequence, 146 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: and it's it's our first I think it's our first 147 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: real taste of the stop motion mastery to come well. 148 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: I was trying to think about movies that do invisible 149 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: monsters really well and thinking what techniques do they use, 150 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: how do they do it. One recent example that came 151 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: to mind is the remake of the universal horror classic 152 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: The Invisible Man. This version started Elizabeth Moss, and I 153 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: think this is a fantastic example. This movie works especially 154 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: well because the invisibility of the villain is not just 155 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: a blunt, practical aid to his evil plans, but it's 156 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: sort of a cohesive theme that's interwoven through the story. 157 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: Like it poses questions that people, you know, many people 158 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: would face at some point. What do you do when 159 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: the thing that is threatening you is something that nobody 160 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: can see, and if you can't see it yourself, how 161 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: do you know it's real? And not just a figment 162 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: of your imagination. Uh. And this place directly into the 163 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: mechanics of the film, like they're they're really scary scenes 164 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: in it, and they work by creating lots of uncertainty. 165 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: There's a lot of did we really just see that? 166 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: Or did I hear something weird? There are several memorable, long, 167 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: uneasy shots of empty rooms that there's nobody in the room, 168 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: nothing is moving. You're just seeing the empty room for 169 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: it for a long time, and you keep wondering, is 170 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: something going to happen? Am I going to see anything? 171 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: Am I gonna see something move? And the tension created 172 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: by that ambiguity is horror gold. Yeah, I've heard great 173 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: things about about this one. I haven't seen it yet, 174 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: and I have to have to say I was probably 175 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: a little bit turned off of the idea of invisible 176 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: man movies in general because of Paul Verrhoven's Hollow Man 177 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: Pictures years and years ago. Uh that is. I love 178 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 1: Paul Verehoven, but that movie is a travesty. It is horrible. 179 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: But I love Elizabeth Moss, So you know, some some 180 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: solid invisible man effects I'd be in for that. It's 181 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: it's weird to think about invisible man movies because I 182 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: don't know that it's very it's a very appealing concept, 183 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,199 Speaker 1: obviously we keep coming back to it. Um. But then 184 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: to have a non visual enemy, you have to have 185 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: these visual clues to really drive home what's happening. And 186 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: then I also think about various ghost films and hologram 187 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: people movies where you have somebody who is invisible to everybody, 188 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: but the viewer can see them. And for some reason, 189 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: I was just wondering, like, does that work just as 190 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: well as having some sort of really cool invisible person affect? Um, 191 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: could you do an adaptation of the Invisible Man and 192 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: just say, actually, we're going to see the invisible man 193 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: the whole time, um, and that will just be our 194 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: point of view for things. Oh yeah, I see what 195 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: you're saying. Just so like it's understood that the characters 196 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: can't Well, actually, I can think of a movie that 197 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: is sort of like that, which is Predator. Uh you know, 198 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: so in Predator there are scenes where the alien has 199 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: its invisibility cloak on, and like we the audience can 200 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: see there's something there, it's not I mean, we can't 201 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: see the full design of the creature, but we can 202 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: see a kind of blurry humanoid outline. The audience is 203 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,839 Speaker 1: able to see this in a way that the characters can't. Really. 204 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: I think there's only like one character in the movie 205 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: who can kind of see something when none of the 206 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: others can. But there's actually a way. I would say 207 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: that Fiend Without a Face and Predator have something very 208 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: similar in common. Both are movies with invisible monsters that 209 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: create a kind of boundary crossing revelatory moment in the 210 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: final act of the film when the invisibility is is 211 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: turned off. Basically like for most of the runtime in 212 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: both movies, the monsters are invisible, but then in the 213 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: last fifteen minutes or so, the invisibility fails and we 214 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: get to see their true form, and that transition is exciting. 215 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: It makes it feel like the movie is kind of 216 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: ascended into a different place, at different level of steaks. 217 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: It creates this escalating sense of horror that I think 218 00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: would not be the case if the monsters had just 219 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: been fully visible from early on. Yeah. Yeah, and it 220 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,319 Speaker 1: works well like that because that's like you said earlier, 221 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: that's that's often the case with monsters in general. Uh, 222 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: don't show a lot of the monster early on. Maybe 223 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: you even rely on a lot of like monster point 224 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: of view shots and uh, and shots that sometimes obscure 225 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,960 Speaker 1: completely the creature that will be revealed in full later 226 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: on in the picture. Yeah, it's nice to get little 227 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: glimpses or clues, like I think in in Predator, there's 228 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: a scene early on where we don't see the creatures 229 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: full form, but we see I think, like we see 230 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 1: from its point of view and we see like it's 231 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: arm after it's been injured or something. And then with 232 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: the brains in this movie, we never see them in 233 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: full but like at one point we see one I 234 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: think moving through a puddle of paint or something, and 235 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: and you see the trail that it leaves. Yeah, Predator 236 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: and Fiend Without a Face are are also similar in 237 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: that some movies put off as long as possible showing 238 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: you that monster because, let's face it, the monster effect 239 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: is not that great. But both Predator and Fiend without 240 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: a Face have amazing monsters, you know, given the time 241 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: periods that these films were released in, and also like 242 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: the budgetary constraints, uh, certainly on Fiend without a Face. Uh, 243 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:13,720 Speaker 1: Like both both of the effects look amazing when they're 244 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: finally revealed, which is almost something of a surprise in 245 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,200 Speaker 1: a film. It's kind of like in Um Friday the 246 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 1: Thirteenth New Blood when the mask comes off Jason and 247 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: it looks so amazing. Okay, there's part of me that 248 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: doesn't expect the sub mask makeup to be that good. 249 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: You might expect something more like in Jason Takes Manhattan, 250 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: where he's like a cute gray muppet. Okay, Well, before 251 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: we go any further, maybe we should hear some trailer audio. Brain, 252 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: let's go. That's not all The entire spinal cord is missing. 253 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: It's incredible. This is if some mental vampire at work. 254 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: Does it come from another country or another world? This 255 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: terrifying menace that G two must destroy before it's too late. 256 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: Image is fading, Sir, There it goes again. Central, How 257 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: can they stop this invisible force whose only warning is 258 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 1: a weird, blood chilling sound. Only two people still alive 259 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: can help this agent find the answers, the girl who 260 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: could be a spy and the scientist who could be 261 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: the destroyer of the entire human race. We're facing a 262 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: new form of life, but nobody understands. I believe it 263 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: feeds on the radiation from your atomic plants, and that 264 00:14:52,960 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: it's evil to stop him. There's only one way shut 265 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: down your atomic If I can get through, I can 266 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: blow out the control room. All right. Yeah, that's a fun, 267 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: fun trailer um including the phrase science gone wild, which 268 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: I guess is more more of a pure statement at 269 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: the time. Um. I mean, another thing I think it's 270 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: worth appreciating about this is I think Fiend Without a 271 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: Face was really pushing what you could get away with 272 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: in terms of mainstream film content, in like the level 273 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: of terror and explicit gore and stuff. And this is 274 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: really unusual for the time period. I can't really think 275 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: of any other movie like it. No, No, it definitely 276 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: stands out. So let's get into some of the people 277 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: responsible for this baby. So the director was Author Crabtree, 278 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: who lived nine hundred British filmmaker who learned his craft 279 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: under a young Alfred Hitchcock. Um. Hitchcock wasn't that much 280 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: older than him, but but that's what we apparently learned 281 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,720 Speaker 1: to learn his craft. His first film was Madonna of 282 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: the Seven Moons, and after a string of pictures in 283 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: the early nineteen fifties, he switched to directing TV, directing 284 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: episodes of such shows as the Adventures of Lancelot Uh 285 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: and The Adventures of Robin Hood even nine Ivanhoe starring 286 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: Roger Moore. What wow, that sounds dry. That sounds like 287 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: a dry cracker. Yeah. So towards the end of crab 288 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: Tree's career and he retired by he moved into B 289 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: Pictures for just hand full of pictures to sort of 290 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 1: round out his career. But as psychotronic film scholar Michael 291 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: Weldon points out, Crabtre really hit it out of the 292 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: park with the last two two hits in a row 293 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: from Mr Crabtree, Michael Weldon writes, because he directed Fiend 294 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: without a Face in nineteen eight, followed in nineteen fifty 295 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 1: nine by Horrors in the Black Museum, a hypno murder 296 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: film starring Michael Goff. Now, I have not seen that 297 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,160 Speaker 1: other one, and also I can't vouch for this because 298 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: I don't remember what the source was. But sometime a 299 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: while back, I know I was reading about this movie 300 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: somewhere and recall the claim that Crabtree was not exactly 301 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: happy to be working on Fiend without a Face and 302 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 1: may have tried to Did he try to abandon the 303 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 1: production or something. Um, I don't I don't have details 304 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: on that. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me. This is 305 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: a guy who had not been doing B movies most 306 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:50,640 Speaker 1: of his career and was just kind of, I think, 307 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: finishing things up career wise. Uh. But you see, that 308 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: is sometimes the case with with directors actors. You know, 309 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: you look back on on some of some of these 310 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: individuals and you might say, remember them for a certain picture, 311 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: but that picture wasn't really big on their radar at 312 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: the time. It was just like the next step then 313 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 1: before they moved on to this or that. Uh. So's 314 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: it's always interesting, like what pictures really stand out in 315 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: the filmography? Uh, you know, even though they might not 316 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: have been super important to that individual at that time. 317 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: But there's no arguing with the results. This one's this 318 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: one's fun. Yeah. All right. Now, as far as the 319 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: screenwriter on this goes, we'll get to the source material 320 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: in just a second, but the screenwriter was Herbert J. Later, 321 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 1: who was born in nineteen twelve died in ninety three. 322 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: And Joe, do you remember when we were talking about 323 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: the Nazi zombie movie shock Waves from seven and we 324 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: discussed the weird subgenre of Nazi zombie movies, and we 325 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: pointed to two earlier films with Nazi undead stuff in them. 326 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this seems to be a a rich vein 327 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: of exploitation movie material undead Nazis in one way or another. There. Yeah, well, uh. 328 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,639 Speaker 1: One of the films we mentioned was the nineteen forty 329 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: three John Carradine film titled Revenge of the Zombies, but 330 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: the other was the nineteen sixties six film titled The 331 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: Frozen Dead, in which a mad scientist keeps the heads 332 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: of Nazi war criminals alive so he can reattach them 333 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: to new bodies. Well, Herbert J. Leader wrote and directed 334 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: that movie. He also directed episodes of Meet the Press 335 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen forties, and wrote and directed nineteen 336 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,479 Speaker 1: sixty seven's It, starring Roddy McDowell. That's it with an 337 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 1: exclamation point, not to be confused with it with a period, 338 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: right or it or the question mark or the thought 339 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: provoking Lee open ended it with the semi colon. Oh yes, 340 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: all right, But like I said, this was this was 341 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: an adaptation of a of a existing work. That existing 342 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: work was was a short story titled The Thought Monster 343 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: by Amelia Reynolds who lived nineteen o three through nineteen 344 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: seventy eight. She was a groundbreaking female classic old author 345 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: who pinned the Thought Monster in ninety She wrote numerous 346 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: works of short fiction, many of which I'm to understand 347 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: or detective stories, though I have to admit I don't 348 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: think I've read any of her work unless I am. 349 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: You know, it's possible, given she wrote a number of things. 350 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,360 Speaker 1: Maybe I read something in a in a compilation at 351 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 1: some point and I've completely forgotten about it. Yeah. Her 352 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 1: story was originally published in Weird Tales, and I think 353 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: you mentioned detective stories. I haven't read it in full, 354 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: but I found the full text and I did quickly 355 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,360 Speaker 1: scan through it looking for some how some scenes might 356 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: align with scenes in the movie. And it looks to 357 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,400 Speaker 1: me like the original story is more sort of detective 358 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: oriented than the movie is. I mean, the movie has 359 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: your standard military square as the leading man. In the movie, 360 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: he's named Major Cummings. In the original story, it seems 361 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: like Cummings is not a military dude, but a quote 362 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: psychic investigator who arrives in town to get to the 363 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,160 Speaker 1: bottom of these strange murders. Yeah, now that sounds are 364 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 1: like a like a weird tale sort of story, and 365 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: get a psychic investigator in there, Rob, do you mind 366 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: if I read an exerpt from this story featuring a 367 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: trope that has come up on this show a number 368 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: of times before. Oh, all right, so this is from 369 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: the Thought Monster. That afternoon, Cummings called upon Dr Bradley, 370 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: who was the coroner. I am going to make a 371 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: strange request, doctor, he began, I'm going to ask that 372 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: you permit me to photograph the eyes of this poor man. 373 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,720 Speaker 1: The doctor, greatly mystified, gave his consent. In the case 374 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,479 Speaker 1: of a violent death, Cummings explained, as he set up 375 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: his apparatus, an image of the last thing seen is 376 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: usually photographed upon the retina of the eye. I want 377 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: to see whether a carefully developed enlargement won't show us 378 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: that image. At Bradley's interested request, he promised to let 379 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,880 Speaker 1: him know the results of the experiment two or three 380 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: hours later. Therefore, he returned to the doctor's office. I 381 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: have drawn a blank, he confessed. The eye shows absolutely nothing, 382 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: but objected the doctor. I thought it was he saw 383 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: that killed him. Your theory didn't work, then asked Bradley, sympathetically. 384 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: No Cummings answered, And yet I don't see how it 385 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,239 Speaker 1: could have failed in a case of this kind. There 386 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: is one alternative. Perhaps there was nothing for the dying 387 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: man to see. M hmmm, oh yeah. This is a 388 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,679 Speaker 1: fun um bad science concept that famously pops up in 389 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen two film Horror express uh Spanish horror film 390 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: that we've referenced a couple of times on the show, right, 391 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,120 Speaker 1: the idea that you could find the killer's identity by 392 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: looking at the retina of the dead person, because the 393 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: killer was the last thing they saw. But here, uh, 394 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: they try to use that, but then it doesn't work 395 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: because I mean, in actuality it doesn't work, but also 396 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: because the monsters themselves are invisible. And this connects to 397 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:49,919 Speaker 1: a recurring theme that's in the movie and the story 398 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: as well, which is that the people who died die 399 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: with expressions of such terror on their faces. It appears 400 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,119 Speaker 1: they have been scared to death. All right, now, I've 401 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: already had a lot of talk about the military square 402 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,640 Speaker 1: or the psychic investigator, Major Cummings. Who who's the actor 403 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: who plays this guy? This is Marshall Thompson who lived 404 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: nineteen five through nine all American actor. You couldn't get 405 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: more all American for the nineteen fifty cinema than this guy. Um, 406 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: he's like a football hamburger. Yeah, he's kept thinking of 407 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: him as his major milk died here. He's just just 408 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,479 Speaker 1: I don't know, but um, yeah, he's uh. Looking at 409 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: his filmography, he's not a guy who's really familiar with 410 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 1: but he seems to have two major wings to his filmography, 411 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: cult films and family movies about animals. Oh boy, So 412 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: first the cult stuff. He appears in Cult of the 413 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: Cobro from nineteen fifty five, this movie. Of course, he's 414 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: also from It, The Terror from Beyond Space from nineteen 415 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: fifty eight and First Man into Space nineteen fifty nine. 416 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 1: Way is that the same IT with Roddy McDowell. I 417 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: think it might be the same IT as as before. 418 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: I can't imagine there are two IT exclamation point movies. 419 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: I just didn't have the But weirdly enough, it's not 420 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: IT colon, so it exclamation point colon The Terror from 421 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: Beyond Space. Wait a minute, the years don't match up. 422 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: These might be two different IT with an exclamation points. Yes, 423 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: you were correct, it's pretty separate. Movies that have it 424 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: exclamation point. Well, all right, I guess you know it's 425 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: a solid title now that it exclamation point with Rody McDowell. 426 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 1: I will say, I have not seen it, but it 427 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,360 Speaker 1: has a great looking monster in it. The monster costume 428 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: looks like something. Um, it's it's pretty pretty intimidating, looks 429 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: kind of like a space money anyway. So those are 430 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: those are Thompson's more cult of films. Now onto the 431 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: animal movies, and this is probably where some of you 432 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: probably know this guy if you're if you're familiar with 433 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: some of these older films. He did a horse movie 434 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: called Gallant Best and forty six, and then he went 435 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: on to star in nine Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion, 436 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: and then the TV series he spinoff of That Doctor, 437 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 1: which ran for eighty nine episodes, um, which I mean, 438 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: of course, major TV show like eighty nine episodes is 439 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: like half a season, So I don't know how long 440 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: it actually ran, off the top of my head, but 441 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: eighty nine episodes by today's standards, certainly substantial. He later 442 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: directed some Flipper episodes and pops up as the character 443 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: just referred to as director in Samuel Fuller's Serious two film, 444 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: White Dog, starring Christy McNichol and Paul Winfield. Okay, but 445 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: but other cast members I mentioned This movie also has 446 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: a crank, and it much like the loyalized Grasp, is 447 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: the loweralized grasp. Remember had the the Professor who had 448 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: a lab just full of animals wandering around, and he 449 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: figured out that if you inject a severed human hand 450 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,359 Speaker 1: with something and then shine a light on it, it 451 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: will turn into a lizard hand. But then if you 452 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: stab it with a radioactive knife, it turns into a 453 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: pile of nothing. And that was his breakthrough. This movie 454 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,440 Speaker 1: has a crank who discovers that you can turn your 455 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: thoughts into an external zombie like creature that goes around 456 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: sucking out people's brains. Yeah. Like, basically he develops a 457 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: tool pa. You know. It's kind of like psychic projection monster. Yeah, 458 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 1: which I do have to stress again, you know, the 459 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: plot leading up. It's not like one of these movies 460 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: where oh, just skip to the last third team minutes 461 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: because the rest is direct like they do. It's stuffy 462 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: by too many of today's standards, But I feel like 463 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: they do a pretty good job establishing uh conflict within 464 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: a given environment, you get a feel for where this 465 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:39,360 Speaker 1: movie is happening, uh and so forth. So I ultimately 466 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: like all of this stuff, even though watching it or 467 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: sort of rewatching it. Uh the other day, I was. 468 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: I was excited to get to the Brain monsters, but 469 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,120 Speaker 1: I still had to appreciate the path that we took 470 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,680 Speaker 1: to get there. Yeah. Like I said earlier, I mean, 471 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: so the main military characters are kind of boring, but 472 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: they're also kind of weird in certain ways. That will 473 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: sin when we talked about the plot and the broader 474 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: cast of characters, including the scientists and some of the 475 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 1: townspeople I think are positively wacky by by standards. Oh yeah, 476 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:15,880 Speaker 1: and this guy playing Professor R. E. Wallgate uh Naston Reeves. Oh, 477 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: this guy's a lot of fun. He live through nine one. 478 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: I think it's my favorite performance in the whole film 479 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: because he has this great, weird kind of crunch jaw delivery, 480 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: and he comes off as kind of a protagonist slash 481 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: sort of antagonist blend of JR. Tolkien and Chancellor Palpatine. 482 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: That's good. Yeah, And I have to say the Palpatine 483 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: thing connection here for me came largely from a line 484 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: he has in which Barbara, his assistant, uh, says, I 485 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:47,959 Speaker 1: didn't know you had a laboratory. He mentions he has 486 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 1: a laboratory, and he's like, it's not a story the 487 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: Jedi would tell you. But anyway. Reeves had a hundred 488 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: and fifty two credits according to IMDb, and acted from 489 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,719 Speaker 1: one through nine seventy. He appeared in The forsythe Saga 490 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: in the sixties and is also known among you know, 491 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: some classic film fans for his role in house Master 492 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: from thirty eight. He also pops up on The Avengers, 493 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: The Prisoner and the film School for Scoundrels from nineteen sixty, 494 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: which I believe was remade in recent years the Dennis 495 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: the Menace Academy of of Pranks and Hijinks. Yeah, I 496 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: think he played a lot of like stuffy, upper crust characters. Well, 497 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: I found him quite lively and enjoyable in this movie, 498 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: even though his character is supposed to be I think, 499 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: like physically and mentally depleted. He's sort of on his 500 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: last legs when we meet him. But yeah, he has 501 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: this very pleasing mixture of uh, you know, a kind 502 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: of jovial, benign British aristocratic personality kind of like the 503 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,800 Speaker 1: way Bertrand Russell talked, h if you've ever seen tapes 504 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: of him, but then also mixing yeah, like you say, 505 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: some Palpatine, like a little bit of edge of sith. Yeah, yeah, 506 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 1: which is a good line to walk with this character, because, 507 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: like I said, he turns out being responsible for the 508 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,479 Speaker 1: mental vampires that are going around invisibly sucking people's brains 509 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: out through holes in the back of their head. All right, now, 510 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: I mentioned Barbara. This is the character's name. Is Barbara Grizzle. 511 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: Grizzle Grizzle, Um, Barbara Grizzle. That would be that'd be 512 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: more of a Cronenberg character. But anyway. She's played by 513 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: Kim Parker, who lived nineteen thirty two through two thousand 514 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: and ten. She was an Austrian refugee who acted in 515 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: a number of mostly I think British films between fifty 516 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: four and fifty nine, including The Good Companions, The Man 517 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: Without a Body and a number of you will know 518 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: this film nineteen fifty six gave us fire Maidens from 519 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: outer Space or fire Maidens off outer Space. This was 520 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: featured on Mystery Science Theater three thousand back in the day, 521 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: and I remember it as being pretty fun. Not a 522 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: good film by any stretch of the imagination, but but 523 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: very enjoyable as a as as a bad movie. I 524 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,600 Speaker 1: don't know if I've seen this episode. It was in 525 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: one of the early seasons. This was. This was a 526 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: Joel episode and who I only vaguely remember. Like it 527 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:09,640 Speaker 1: had fire maidens in it. They were from outer space, 528 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: and there was some sort of poorly executed beast man 529 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: who was kind of like a charred skinned monster. Okay, 530 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: now you're gonna have to help me, Joe with some 531 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: of these others because I'm gonna name some people. I'm 532 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: gonna name some characters, and I don't necessarily know which 533 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: interchangeable military dudes some of these people were. Okay, I'll 534 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: do my best, but I'm not sure about any of this. Okay, 535 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: So there's a captain, Captain al Chester in this film, 536 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: and that character is played by Terry Kilburn. I think 537 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,400 Speaker 1: maybe this is like the little the Jimmy Olsen guy 538 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: who's Major Cummings little buddy. Yes, I think that would 539 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: make sense. So this this is actually a really fun connection. 540 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: So this guy was born in and as of this 541 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: recording is still alive at age. I think gonna turn 542 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: this year. Um and uh. He started out as a 543 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: child actor in Hollywood. He acted on screen from nineteen 544 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,719 Speaker 1: thirty eight through nineteen sixty nine. Um. He famously played 545 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: Tiny Tim in nineteen thirty eight at Christmas Carol. Yeah. 546 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: Other film roles of note include ninety nine is Goodbye Mr. 547 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: Chips in nineteen sixty two is Lolita. And he was 548 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: a longtime partner of American actor Charles Nolty, who lived 549 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 1: ninety three through two thousand and ten. Well, if he 550 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: is the character I'm thinking of, he appears to be 551 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: having a great time in this movie. Again, not a 552 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: super not a superior part on the page, I would say, 553 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: except for right at the beginning he gets to accuse 554 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: our leading man of abusing drugs like it's the first 555 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: line in the movie. Yeah. Yeah, we'll get back to 556 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 1: that all right now. Now I do remember this character. 557 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,239 Speaker 1: We also have Dr Bradley. Dr Bradley is played by 558 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: Peter Madden. Madden lived nineteen o four through nineteen seventy six, 559 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: British actor who appears in nineteen sixty Reads from Russia 560 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: with Love James Bond film is the Message, and he 561 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: also pops up on The Avengers, and he plays the 562 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: Undertaker in the opening sequence of The Prisoner. Other films 563 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: of note in his filmography include Frankenstein Created Woman, The 564 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: Kiss of the Vampire, and Doctor Shivago. Okay is this 565 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: guy that wait, which doctor is this? Is he the 566 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 1: local doctor or is he the military doctor? That is 567 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: a good question that I am not prepared to answer. 568 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: But he's one of those two doctors. Okay, yeah, there, 569 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: I believe they're both both of the two doctor characters 570 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: are kind of like these locals, what can you do? Yeah? Well, 571 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: is he the doctor who gets to say, Okay, here's 572 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: what happened to this dead man. His brains and spinal 573 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,080 Speaker 1: cord were sucked out through two holes in the back 574 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: of his head. I think that's the military doctor who 575 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: says that, Yeah, this is the one of the very 576 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 1: gaunt face. Oh okay, So I think he's the local 577 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: doctor and who like counters that guy by saying, but 578 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: I don't know of any animal in these parts who 579 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: would suck out someone's brain and spinal cord through their neck. Alright. 580 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: One other actor of note, and it's this characters Sergeant 581 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: Casper played by Michael Balfour, who lived nineteen eighteen through Again. 582 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure which military dude this was, but 583 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: he has two very notable credits. He plays a scientist 584 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: and Tim Burton's batman, and he was the first murderer 585 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventy one adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. 586 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: The two murderers are not huge roles in Macbeth, but 587 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: it's solid Hinchman work, and I have to say I 588 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: was delighted to see in the one Macbeth adaptation from 589 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 1: Joe Cohen um B movie action star and former Shall Khan, 590 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: Brian Thompson plays one of the murderers. So but one 591 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: of the many great reasons to check out that film. 592 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,880 Speaker 1: Oh wow, you just reminded me that I haven't seen 593 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: this yet. Uh, and I would like to. Is Francis 594 00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 1: mcdormandes Lady Macbeth. Yes, awesome. Yeah, you've got Denzel washing Ten. 595 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: Just just a wonderful cast top to bottom and beautifully 596 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: shot in black and white, very dream like. I loved it. Yeah, 597 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 1: I gotta see that now. As far as the music 598 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: goes on this one, This was composed by Buckston Or 599 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,239 Speaker 1: who lived nine n Scottish born composer who did nine 600 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: film scores for various genre films, including The Haunted, Strangler, 601 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: Corridors of Blood, First Man Into Space, Doctor Blood's Coffin, 602 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: and The Snake Woman. He also did some soundtrack work 603 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,960 Speaker 1: on Doctor Who in nineteen sixty four and nineteen sixty five. Okay, 604 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: now we should probably mention whoever did the stop motion 605 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 1: effects in this movie because they are tremendous. Yes, yeah, again, 606 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: tremendous effects of these stop motion brain monsters and a 607 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 1: few other stop motion effects. Peter Nielsen also has a 608 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,799 Speaker 1: special effects credit on this But for the most part 609 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: we're looking at the Austrian duo of Rupele and Nordhoff. 610 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: So that never heard of him? Yeah, I had not 611 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,400 Speaker 1: heard of them either, But uh, the this is Flow 612 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: Nordhoff who of nineteen fourteen through nine eight seven and 613 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,960 Speaker 1: Carl Ludwig Rupal born nineteen fifteen. I'm assuming Ruple is 614 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,320 Speaker 1: deceased because he would be a hundred and six or 615 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: a hundred and seven by now, but I'm not sure. 616 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: I couldn't find a date for his death if he 617 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 1: is in fact dead. So these two were apparently based 618 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: out of Munich, and I was looking into their bios 619 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: a little bit. Ruple apparently directed a trio of short 620 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,319 Speaker 1: propaganda films for the Nazis under the Third Reich in 621 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: the late thirties and early forties. I could not find 622 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: out much about them, but his name comes up three 623 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,720 Speaker 1: times in the book Hitler's Third Reich of the Movies 624 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: by Rolf Geeson. Uh though kind of in passing. It's 625 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: so at least based on what I was. You know, 626 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:47,080 Speaker 1: when I was looking through this book, it doesn't seem 627 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: like he was a major figure. But he did. He 628 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 1: did direct a few things. Now, Nordhoff does not come 629 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 1: up in that book, and according to IMDb, wasn't active 630 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: in film until nineteen fifty three, and Nordov actually directed 631 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty seven anti totalitarian animated short film titled 632 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 1: Hands Up, Mr. Ras Nici, for which he was also 633 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: an animator. He also directed a short animated film in 634 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:17,279 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty titled uh d Un, and then Rupel and 635 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,320 Speaker 1: Nordhoff worked together on the Star of Africa and fifty 636 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:26,680 Speaker 1: seven by director Alfred uh Weidenmann. Nordhoff was also a painter. 637 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: Nordhoff's full name was Florence Fuchs von Nordhoff, and there 638 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,160 Speaker 1: is a short bio about him on the website for 639 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,759 Speaker 1: the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Uh. It mentions that he 640 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,439 Speaker 1: served in World War Two. Uh, it does not say 641 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:42,760 Speaker 1: it does. It does not give any details on that service. 642 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:44,719 Speaker 1: But based on what I was looking at, I don't 643 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: think it's like it's not like these two seem to 644 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 1: really go on from this film to do like a 645 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: lot of special effects work. But like again, the stuff 646 00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 1: the work in here is is tremendous, like I can 647 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: only imagine, like this stop motion animation inspired other stop 648 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: motion artists future. Okay, well, so are you ready to 649 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:12,880 Speaker 1: talk a bit about the plot? Let's do it. Okay, 650 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,439 Speaker 1: so let's zoom in on the opening. Uh. Interesting way 651 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: of approaching it, since the opening for this film is 652 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:24,319 Speaker 1: incredibly bland but also abrupt abruptly bland. Yes, yes, uh 653 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 1: silent ominous opening on military airfields and airplanes. Uh. I 654 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 1: got a note for if you are going to go 655 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 1: back in time and make movies in the nineteen fifties, 656 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,919 Speaker 1: here's one way to mix it up. Don't pad your 657 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 1: movie out with shots of airplanes flying around, landing and 658 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: taking off. It's not that interesting. I don't I don't 659 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,360 Speaker 1: know what people were into about this. That stock footage 660 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: is one way to pad it out. You don't need 661 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: to pad it out though, I mean, like shorter movies 662 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:53,839 Speaker 1: are good. This movie actually we haven't mentioned this yet, 663 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,920 Speaker 1: but this is great, great uh in the range of 664 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,880 Speaker 1: drive in movie link. This is a seventy four men 665 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,279 Speaker 1: it movie, and I give it credit for that. There 666 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,359 Speaker 1: is absolutely no reason to make your movie longer than 667 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,280 Speaker 1: it needs to be. It should be exactly as short 668 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: as you can get it with it doing what you 669 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: wanted to do anyway. Okay, so back to this military airfield. 670 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 1: So we see a soldier. He's like a guard with 671 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,080 Speaker 1: a rifle, having a smoke by a fence. And there's 672 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,400 Speaker 1: a sign on the fence that gives us some that 673 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 1: gives us some set up. It says US Air Force 674 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: Interceptor Command, Experimental Station number six, Winthrop, Manitoba, Canada. So 675 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: Winthrop is the name of this small local town. And 676 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: there's no music, almost no sound effects really. In the beginning, 677 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,799 Speaker 1: there's like a spy plane flying overhead, and we see 678 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: radar antennas swiveling around above the base, and then the 679 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: guard begins to hear something a sound. We will we 680 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,319 Speaker 1: will hear many more times throughout the film, kind of scuffling, crunching, 681 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,720 Speaker 1: sound like somebody walking around in a vat of kick cereal. 682 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: Rachel and I were calling it captain crunch noises. She 683 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:04,239 Speaker 1: she was saying, like, man, this movie is making me 684 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: hungry for Captain Crunch. And I get what she's saying, 685 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: because every time the monsters show up, it's crunch crunch. 686 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: But it was it's good branding. It's like, when that 687 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,319 Speaker 1: sound occurs, you a know that is it is unnatural. 688 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 1: It doesn't really sound like anything you should be hearing 689 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,319 Speaker 1: in the woods or in a barn or wherever the 690 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: action is taking place. And then when you hear it subsequently, subsequently, 691 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: you know what's up. Right, So the guard goes to investigate. 692 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,040 Speaker 1: There's a scream, and then he comes across there's a 693 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:33,799 Speaker 1: dead guy in the woods. And then we get the 694 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 1: title fiend without a face. For some reason in the 695 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:40,879 Speaker 1: title screen, fiend and face are done with like electric 696 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,360 Speaker 1: electric bolts. U. I was wondering why that is, Maybe 697 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,560 Speaker 1: because the the the atomic power station in the movie 698 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,320 Speaker 1: plays a role. Yes, this is these are atomic radar bolts, 699 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,279 Speaker 1: not not lightning bolts or thunderbolts. It's easy to make 700 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 1: that mistake. So we get the credits, and then a 701 00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:00,680 Speaker 1: lot of footage of military aircraft s seaming around at 702 00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 1: high speed and taking off and landing and stuff on 703 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: the local runways. And we learned some stuff about the setting. 704 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 1: This appears to be a foreign US military base up 705 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,320 Speaker 1: in northern Manitoba. We learned it's very rural, far away 706 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 1: from the nearest big city. Uh. And then we meet 707 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: our lug hero with a flat top haircut. This is 708 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 1: Major Cummings and his little buddy. Again, we couldn't remember 709 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 1: which character this is, so maybe this is Captain somebody 710 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 1: or Sergeant somebody that it's his buddy here and his buddy. 711 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:30,840 Speaker 1: This is nearly the opening line of the film. I 712 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: think there's like maybe some little comment right before it, 713 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,360 Speaker 1: but pretty much the first thing said by a human 714 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: is cummings buddy saying, you ever think of trying sleep 715 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:43,720 Speaker 1: instead of benz adrine. You might like it. And while 716 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,480 Speaker 1: he's saying this, he is like pouring Major Cummings a 717 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,760 Speaker 1: drink of some clear liquid out of a Florence flask, 718 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: like a boiling flask you would use in a lab. Yeah, 719 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,840 Speaker 1: this is great. I immediately chuckled. And from the context, 720 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: you don't have to even be told what benzadrin is. 721 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: But bensador was a brand name for amphetamine soul fate, 722 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,839 Speaker 1: which was used and I think ultimately abused from the 723 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,399 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties through the nineteen seventies. So major Cummings here, 724 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,279 Speaker 1: though portrayed, is like a straight lace baby face. Uh, 725 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:18,319 Speaker 1: is just tied on speed through presumably most of the film. Uh. 726 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,880 Speaker 1: There's there's a later scene where he's doing his research 727 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 1: and he's just pounding Benny's and speed reading books on 728 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 1: experimental neuroscience and psychology. It's a It's the kind of 729 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,040 Speaker 1: thing where I guess, this is just like I said, 730 00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,239 Speaker 1: he's just supposed to be a normal military guy, but 731 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: by today's standards, like this is this is kind of crazy. Yeah, 732 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,279 Speaker 1: before we learn literally anything else about him, we learned 733 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: that he is jacked on bensadrin and uh, and I 734 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,840 Speaker 1: think this is I think the way it's positioned in 735 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,759 Speaker 1: the movie is to is not to say, hey, this 736 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 1: guy is abusing drugs and isn't in his right mind. 737 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,360 Speaker 1: It's to show us, Wow, he's really busy. You know, 738 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: he has a lot of work to do. This is 739 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 1: his his his his work. At think it's just so 740 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:04,319 Speaker 1: strong that he just hasn't slept in weeks. Okay, so 741 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:05,960 Speaker 1: we got to find out who is this guy who 742 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: died in the woods, that's what they're talking about, and 743 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:12,200 Speaker 1: we learned that it is a character named Jacques Grizzle. Uh. 744 00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 1: In fact, Major Cummings knows all about him here because 745 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:19,000 Speaker 1: they immediately had the FBI send over a file on 746 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 1: this guy. This happens multiple times in the movie. It 747 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: basically presupposes that the FBI, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, 748 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:33,600 Speaker 1: has just files they can send over on random Canadian citizens. 749 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,879 Speaker 1: The same thing happens later with Dr Walgate. Just send 750 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,440 Speaker 1: over the FBI file. But yeah, there's neither of these 751 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 1: people are implied to have any criminal record, and they're 752 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,719 Speaker 1: not even Americans. They're like just random Canadian people. But 753 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,600 Speaker 1: the FBI know all about them. And you know, this 754 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: is something that again kind of like the Benza draina. 755 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,239 Speaker 1: It could be played up is weird later on, like 756 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:56,720 Speaker 1: there's this Canadian town where the FBI has elaborate files 757 00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:00,160 Speaker 1: on everyone. Isn't that crazy? But in this film just 758 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,719 Speaker 1: presented as yep, this is how it works. Yeah, that's 759 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 1: just that's the way of the world. There's nothing remarkable 760 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:10,600 Speaker 1: about it. So the military men are all immediately suspicious 761 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:13,200 Speaker 1: of this dead guy of Jack Grizzlee. What was he 762 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:15,560 Speaker 1: doing out in the woods at three in the morning. 763 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 1: They're like, what was he doing out there farming? Um 764 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,279 Speaker 1: and uh? And they're talking about him. They're saying, who 765 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,280 Speaker 1: can forget the look on that dead man's face? Again, 766 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,280 Speaker 1: it's implying that there was an expression of such horror 767 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:33,919 Speaker 1: that that his death is implied to be understood as unnatural. Uh. Here, 768 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:35,960 Speaker 1: I just want to remark, we get our first meeting 769 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,400 Speaker 1: while in a thrilling scene of them walking across the 770 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,160 Speaker 1: office to go talk to the coroner, we we meet 771 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:45,920 Speaker 1: sandwich Man, the man who is trying to hide his 772 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,120 Speaker 1: bologna sandwich from the commander. Yeah, he's quite a specimen. 773 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 1: Sandwich Man is later killed by the brain creatures in 774 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:57,120 Speaker 1: the last act of the movie. Tragically. I wanted sandwich 775 00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,799 Speaker 1: Man to make it, but so they have. They have 776 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,960 Speaker 1: a talk with I guess the the um doctor on 777 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: the base or the corner or something, and they're like, hey, 778 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:08,480 Speaker 1: was this death caused by radiation? Well, they need an 779 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:12,800 Speaker 1: autopsy to find out, but the locals don't want an autopsy. 780 00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,280 Speaker 1: Uh So Cummings has to go meet with the colonel, 781 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,239 Speaker 1: and the colonel is already in a meeting with the 782 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 1: local town's mayor who was named Hawkings and the sister 783 00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,480 Speaker 1: of the dead man, Barbara Grizzle played by Kim Parker, 784 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:29,560 Speaker 1: who you could barely tell is there because her brother 785 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 1: was killed by a monster in the woods. She she's 786 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,759 Speaker 1: very matter of fact about everything. Well, maybe she had 787 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,000 Speaker 1: a Mark Hamill character come up to her and break 788 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:38,959 Speaker 1: it to her and say, I'm sorry, but your brother 789 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:42,480 Speaker 1: died in the woods and it was weird. Oh yeah, yeah, 790 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,240 Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, what did he know about the giver? 791 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:49,640 Speaker 1: But actually no, they do suspect to the brother of 792 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,320 Speaker 1: having a forbidden knowledge because the colonel during this meeting, 793 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,879 Speaker 1: he brings up the fact that Kim Parker's brother here 794 00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,600 Speaker 1: had a notebook with him containing notes on the flight 795 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:04,480 Speaker 1: time of airplanes leaving the base. Okay, so that this 796 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,279 Speaker 1: raises a serious specter. Was he some kind of communist 797 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:11,919 Speaker 1: spy hiding in Manitoba? Well no, Barbara ends up making 798 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:15,080 Speaker 1: the colonel look absolutely foolish by showing how this was 799 00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: part of her brother's attempt to document a connection between 800 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,680 Speaker 1: the fighter jet flight times and his cows being unhappy. 801 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 1: So all the local farmers are irate at the military 802 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:27,480 Speaker 1: base because they think that the airplanes are making their 803 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,640 Speaker 1: cows spew nasty milk. So the Colonel is sort of humiliated, 804 00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:35,600 Speaker 1: and then Cummings gives Kim Parker a ride home. He 805 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:40,160 Speaker 1: is obviously like romantically interested in her, which is weird 806 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:44,480 Speaker 1: given the circumstances um but he's like, at one point 807 00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 1: on the right, he's like driving her in a jeep 808 00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,480 Speaker 1: down this road through the woods, and he's talking about 809 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:52,200 Speaker 1: the guys at the military base, and he's like, we're human, 810 00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:56,120 Speaker 1: we're not monsters from outer space. Now Here we have 811 00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,880 Speaker 1: sort of the opening of the mystery, and more characters 812 00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:03,040 Speaker 1: will be attacked by unknown creatures throughout the film. But 813 00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,440 Speaker 1: I guess here, I'm not going to go scene by scene, 814 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,160 Speaker 1: but maybe we can focus on some things that were interesting. 815 00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,960 Speaker 1: One thing I want to talk about is the nuclear 816 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:15,120 Speaker 1: reactor scenes. So for example, there's a scene later where 817 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,240 Speaker 1: the Colonel and Major Cummings are trying to use radar 818 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,200 Speaker 1: to like I think they're trying to scan the entire 819 00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:23,839 Speaker 1: globe so they can get you know, use this one 820 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,840 Speaker 1: radar station to see every flight going on in Russia. 821 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 1: But something is draining the power from their atomic reactor, 822 00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:33,960 Speaker 1: so the radar isn't working the way it's supposed to be, 823 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,000 Speaker 1: and they're like, what could it be. Well, they call 824 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,319 Speaker 1: up their friend who works in the reactor core, who 825 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:41,480 Speaker 1: again is wearing what looks like I guess this is 826 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:43,560 Speaker 1: supposed to be some kind of radiation shielding, like a 827 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,840 Speaker 1: leadline suit or something, but he it looks like a 828 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:51,240 Speaker 1: kind of slick leather trench coat. I don't know. It's interesting. 829 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,680 Speaker 1: And there there of course, like push it for more power, 830 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:55,920 Speaker 1: take out those rods. We want the reactor at a 831 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:59,360 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty percent, and the guy is like, okay, 832 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,600 Speaker 1: that's danger us, but I'll do it. Meanwhile, local farmers 833 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:07,920 Speaker 1: are repeatedly just attacked by invisible monsters. We see, uh, 834 00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:10,880 Speaker 1: we see a lady going to feed her chickens and 835 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,440 Speaker 1: then she's like attacked by something we can't see in 836 00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:16,000 Speaker 1: the barn. And then her husband comes and then he's 837 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,560 Speaker 1: attacked as well. They finally do an autopsy on these people, 838 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:24,759 Speaker 1: and the scientists confirm they say, the brain is gone, Yes, 839 00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:28,279 Speaker 1: sucked out like an egg through these two holes. Uh. 840 00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,480 Speaker 1: The spinal cord is missing too, And the doctor at 841 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:34,360 Speaker 1: the army base says, I'm a doctor, not a detective colonel. 842 00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:37,279 Speaker 1: There's nothing about this in the books. Major Cummings had 843 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:42,480 Speaker 1: the best explanation so far, mental vampire. And I think 844 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:45,040 Speaker 1: this is where the doctor we were talking about earlier 845 00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:47,600 Speaker 1: comes in and he's like, rubbish, there are no animals 846 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,640 Speaker 1: around here that suck out people's brains. I mean, it 847 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,120 Speaker 1: is really hard to imagine how this works. Two holes 848 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:56,200 Speaker 1: in the back of the head and the entire brain 849 00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,360 Speaker 1: and spinal column are somehow sucked out through that hole 850 00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:03,560 Speaker 1: and then but are not like liquefied presumably in the process, 851 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:06,800 Speaker 1: because we see these brains and spinal columns crawling around 852 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:10,479 Speaker 1: later in the film with just like extra tentacles coming 853 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: out of them. Yeah. We get more scenes of Major 854 00:48:13,239 --> 00:48:17,719 Speaker 1: Cummings uh being overly friendly with with Barbara. There's one 855 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:19,480 Speaker 1: scene where he goes to visit her house and he 856 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,000 Speaker 1: just like knocks on the door and it's open and 857 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,000 Speaker 1: he comes in and oh, she's getting out of the 858 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:26,760 Speaker 1: shower and a towel and and he and it's oh, 859 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:30,359 Speaker 1: it's so embarrassing, but she's unfazed by it. She's just like, oh, 860 00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:33,680 Speaker 1: let me put something on. And meanwhile, you can peruse 861 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,760 Speaker 1: this book called the Principles of Thought Control that's sitting 862 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:40,520 Speaker 1: on my table here by our e Walgate, who again 863 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,640 Speaker 1: is our our our, our, our our brain expert that 864 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,799 Speaker 1: we'll be getting to in a minute. Right. So wal 865 00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:50,360 Speaker 1: we find out that Barbara works for Walgate. She like 866 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,759 Speaker 1: transcribes all of his notes and helps him write his books. Oh. 867 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:57,000 Speaker 1: Also this very same scene, so like she leaves the 868 00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:58,680 Speaker 1: room for a minute, he's looking at these books. She 869 00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:02,120 Speaker 1: comes back having put a row open everything on and uh, 870 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:05,319 Speaker 1: and they're like being very flirty and then he I 871 00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:08,680 Speaker 1: think he's leaning into to kiss her, but then some 872 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 1: guy barges in and it's this guy, Constable Gibbons or Gibson, 873 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:16,800 Speaker 1: and this is the guy with the the baffling accent, 874 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,080 Speaker 1: and he's a little bit Scottish sounding, yeah, a little 875 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:24,600 Speaker 1: bit yeah, And he's immediately totally hostile to this guy. Um, 876 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:27,680 Speaker 1: he's like, have you found that g I killer yet? Uh? 877 00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:29,760 Speaker 1: You know it was probably one of you guys, probably 878 00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:32,600 Speaker 1: some some wacko from this base. Oh, and then they 879 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:37,279 Speaker 1: immediately start punching each other. Now, eventually Gibbons ends up 880 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:41,120 Speaker 1: leading like a posse to go find the He again 881 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:43,840 Speaker 1: thinks it is a g I from the U. S 882 00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:46,400 Speaker 1: Air base that has gone rogue, and so they're like 883 00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:50,200 Speaker 1: looking for him in the woods with the posse. Uh, 884 00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:53,160 Speaker 1: so they're on the hunt. And then Gibbons disappears from 885 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,560 Speaker 1: the hunt, and then later he returns stumbling into a 886 00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:01,200 Speaker 1: town meeting, apparently having had his brain and partially sucked out. 887 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,680 Speaker 1: He's just like vacant died and like, oh yeah, just 888 00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:07,759 Speaker 1: kind of stammering. It's it's actually kind of a disturbing 889 00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:10,480 Speaker 1: scene because it's just like, oh, this this guy. We 890 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,799 Speaker 1: didn't like this character particularly, I mean he was kind 891 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:16,600 Speaker 1: of violent and possessive, but now we I mean, we 892 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:18,799 Speaker 1: didn't want to see this happen to him. Yeah. Now 893 00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,840 Speaker 1: there's another scene where eventually I don't remember how he 894 00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:26,480 Speaker 1: gets there, but uh, Major Cummings is investigating something and 895 00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:29,720 Speaker 1: he ends up at the tomb of someone in town 896 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:33,640 Speaker 1: and he gets trapped inside a crypt. Yeah, he wanted 897 00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:35,680 Speaker 1: to check out it's a body of one of the victims, 898 00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:37,799 Speaker 1: and he ends up going into this crypt. And so 899 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:40,600 Speaker 1: this is wonderful sequence in the film, which feels like 900 00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:44,320 Speaker 1: we have accidentally trespassed into some sort of a gothic 901 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,480 Speaker 1: horror movie, you know, because and it's playing into the 902 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:50,560 Speaker 1: whole mental vampire thing, you know, the two wounds on 903 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,279 Speaker 1: the back of the neck. Because suddenly we follow him 904 00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:55,920 Speaker 1: down into what seems like a perfect setting for a 905 00:50:56,000 --> 00:51:00,279 Speaker 1: vampire's tomb. There is even a sarcophagus with a lidded jar, 906 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,040 Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, we're just we're like, okay, I guess 907 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,799 Speaker 1: it's a vampire movie. Now it's vampires, and one is 908 00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:09,280 Speaker 1: surely going to jump out, but no, Instead what happens 909 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 1: is somebody locks him in the crypt, which I think 910 00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:14,919 Speaker 1: actually it provides a pretty interesting I mean, I don't 911 00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,759 Speaker 1: really buy this crypt his air tight maybe, but he 912 00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:20,160 Speaker 1: starts like running out of air and it's a desperate 913 00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:22,399 Speaker 1: scene where he's trying to get out. Uh he only 914 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:24,600 Speaker 1: barely makes it when his friends come and open the 915 00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 1: door up from the outside. Yeah. I really like this 916 00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:29,480 Speaker 1: sequence too. There's some great stuff with the candle. The 917 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,480 Speaker 1: candle is fading because it doesn't have enough oxygen, and uh, 918 00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:34,880 Speaker 1: you know, that goes out there he's gonna be in 919 00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:37,920 Speaker 1: this lightless, airless environment. He's going to be entombed as 920 00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:39,759 Speaker 1: a corpse. But yeah, then they free him at the 921 00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:43,279 Speaker 1: last second. But how do we find uh, we got 922 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:45,360 Speaker 1: to find out who locked him in the crypt. Well, 923 00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:48,719 Speaker 1: eventually it is discovered to have been doctor Wallgate, and 924 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:52,879 Speaker 1: this leads into the revelation of the nature of the monsters. 925 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,239 Speaker 1: So so what's basically what's the scheme, rob can you 926 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,440 Speaker 1: lay it out? Okay, it's he has a whole sequence 927 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:02,320 Speaker 1: where he explains that he's doing these experiments, essentially creating 928 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,239 Speaker 1: Tulpa's like I can if I focus my brain and 929 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,480 Speaker 1: I make this face, I can create this thing that 930 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:11,600 Speaker 1: goes about doing my bidding. And you know, as is 931 00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:14,840 Speaker 1: often the case with things like tupas and thought projected monsters, 932 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:16,560 Speaker 1: they start getting out of hand, they get a little 933 00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:19,160 Speaker 1: too powerful. And the whole time he's doing this by 934 00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:23,040 Speaker 1: sort of timing his experiments with some of the radiation 935 00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:26,840 Speaker 1: based radar experiments that are going on. Like he's I 936 00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:31,160 Speaker 1: don't think he's actually doing any um like capital e 937 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,440 Speaker 1: espionage here, but he's he's a smart dude, and so 938 00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:37,359 Speaker 1: he he reads scientific journals. He's able to figure out 939 00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:39,640 Speaker 1: what they're doing there and able to figure out how 940 00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:42,160 Speaker 1: to time his experiments just right. So he's benefiting from 941 00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:45,360 Speaker 1: that radiation I think before. Yes, so he's trying to 942 00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:48,960 Speaker 1: harness the radiation from when the reactor is at maximum 943 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:52,160 Speaker 1: capacity for their radar experiments. He's trying to use that, 944 00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:56,520 Speaker 1: I think before he's creating these tulpa like things. He's 945 00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:59,279 Speaker 1: just trying to do telekinesis, right, like the first time, 946 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,479 Speaker 1: just try some thing with his brain, Like he's trying 947 00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:03,480 Speaker 1: to turn a page in a book with his brain, 948 00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:05,920 Speaker 1: which he eventually is able to do. And then he 949 00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:10,360 Speaker 1: keeps ratcheting that up to bigger and bigger acts of telekinesis, 950 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:14,080 Speaker 1: and then eventually the thought escapes his head and becomes 951 00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,360 Speaker 1: its own entity. And then it starts going around and 952 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:20,800 Speaker 1: sucking out people's brains, and then there's just brains of plenty, 953 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:23,600 Speaker 1: their brains all over the place. Right, And so these 954 00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:26,840 Speaker 1: are as we've been saying invisible for most of the film, 955 00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:30,840 Speaker 1: but when made visible, which they do by cranking up 956 00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:34,440 Speaker 1: the radiation, I believe, yes, they just okay, they think 957 00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:36,960 Speaker 1: we can see them if we push the reactor to 958 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:41,800 Speaker 1: even more beyond maximum capacity, so fantastic. It's such a 959 00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:45,759 Speaker 1: characteristically nineteen fifties movie trope by the way, you know, 960 00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:48,040 Speaker 1: it's like Charles B. Griffith saying, does it have to 961 00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:52,040 Speaker 1: be atomic radiation and Corman says, yes, I guess that 962 00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:55,760 Speaker 1: was the case here, So it's atomic radiation plus. Also, uh, 963 00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:58,360 Speaker 1: it's it's a psychic powers thriller. It's one about the 964 00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:01,560 Speaker 1: occult manifestations of human and thoughts, which I would say 965 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:04,560 Speaker 1: that sub genre is less confined to a particular time 966 00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:07,359 Speaker 1: and place in history. It's less the nineteen fifties thing. 967 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:09,520 Speaker 1: You know, there's always horror about the idea of what 968 00:54:09,560 --> 00:54:13,239 Speaker 1: if thoughts were more powerful than we imagined? Yeah, and 969 00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:17,040 Speaker 1: these when made visible, these again look like squirming brains 970 00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:20,880 Speaker 1: with the spinal column is like like a worm's body 971 00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,560 Speaker 1: or something. And it has added tentacles and kind of 972 00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:27,560 Speaker 1: antenna on top of it. It's a fabulous stop motion 973 00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:30,799 Speaker 1: creature and it does like true I joked about the 974 00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:34,160 Speaker 1: the the elevator pitch being your your brain is gross, um, 975 00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:37,319 Speaker 1: but it is kind of that. It's kind of this 976 00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:39,920 Speaker 1: this monster design that's just like, look at the brain 977 00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,959 Speaker 1: and this attached spinal cord. Look at this. This anatomic illustration. 978 00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,719 Speaker 1: This is disgusting. Uh, and this is apparently what we are. 979 00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,360 Speaker 1: We are this brain. What if that brain was just 980 00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:55,520 Speaker 1: crawling around, uh, trying to break through shutters and leaping 981 00:54:55,600 --> 00:54:58,400 Speaker 1: onto women, the back of women's necks and wrapping their 982 00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:01,759 Speaker 1: spinal cord around their neck. X wouldn't that be horrifying? 983 00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,440 Speaker 1: Oh it's like the face hugger an alien, except it's 984 00:55:04,440 --> 00:55:06,480 Speaker 1: going for the back of your head instead of the front. 985 00:55:06,760 --> 00:55:09,239 Speaker 1: I didn't think about that connection. I wonder if you know, 986 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,680 Speaker 1: there are all sorts of papers talking about just how 987 00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:16,080 Speaker 1: the design of the xeno morse varying forms come into being, 988 00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:18,319 Speaker 1: and you know, and you know, of course they're very 989 00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:21,920 Speaker 1: key individuals involved in that process, including the late h 990 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,480 Speaker 1: rug Eager. But I wonder, I don't remember anyone ever 991 00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:28,000 Speaker 1: pointing to fiend without a face. But yeah, the face 992 00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:30,919 Speaker 1: huggers and the fiends have a lot in common. But yeah, 993 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:34,520 Speaker 1: basically this this scene turns into a Night of the 994 00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:37,440 Speaker 1: Living Dead style siege on a house where all the 995 00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:41,560 Speaker 1: human characters barricade themselves inside and the brains are attacking 996 00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:44,240 Speaker 1: from every from every angle, trying to get through the windows. 997 00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:47,799 Speaker 1: I think at one point they come down the chimney 998 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:50,360 Speaker 1: um uh and uh. And this leads into that great 999 00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:53,480 Speaker 1: line from that clip you shared for me where the 1000 00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,319 Speaker 1: movie it came from Hollywood, where dan Ackroyd shows a 1001 00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:58,360 Speaker 1: clip from this movie and says, we just sprayed for 1002 00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:02,200 Speaker 1: brains last week. Yeah, that that was the first place 1003 00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:05,880 Speaker 1: I saw any of these sequences that was in. It 1004 00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:08,880 Speaker 1: came from Hollywood, where there's a There are different sections 1005 00:56:08,880 --> 00:56:12,520 Speaker 1: in that film about different types of old movies, and 1006 00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,120 Speaker 1: one of them that probably my favorite, is the brains 1007 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:19,080 Speaker 1: section where dan Ackroyd plays this mad scientist character kind 1008 00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:22,960 Speaker 1: of like hosting this segment and it's just a super um, 1009 00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:26,839 Speaker 1: just a super intense performance. But then he sets up 1010 00:56:26,840 --> 00:56:30,400 Speaker 1: all these wonderful clips of brains and brain monsters from movies. 1011 00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:32,879 Speaker 1: So yeah, again, these brains just run a muck. They're 1012 00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,040 Speaker 1: trying to break into the cabin. They're breaking into the cabin, 1013 00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:39,439 Speaker 1: they're attacking people, They're they're murdering people. Meanwhile, they're trying 1014 00:56:39,480 --> 00:56:41,919 Speaker 1: to get over there to shut the radiation off. Right, 1015 00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:46,000 Speaker 1: isn't that the idea? Well shut it? I think this 1016 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,319 Speaker 1: movie has a very poor understanding of how atomic reactors work. 1017 00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:53,799 Speaker 1: So I think their idea is if we blow up 1018 00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:58,359 Speaker 1: the control station of the nuclear reactor, then it will 1019 00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:02,120 Speaker 1: stop going and the power will stop, and these things 1020 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,400 Speaker 1: will lose their their power because they're being fed by 1021 00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:09,680 Speaker 1: the radiation somehow. I'm not a nuclear engineer, so you know, 1022 00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:11,759 Speaker 1: if I'm wrong about this, right in and let me know. 1023 00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:15,920 Speaker 1: But I I'm pretty sure that destroying the control station 1024 00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:20,000 Speaker 1: of a nuclear reactor would have the opposite consequences. It 1025 00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,680 Speaker 1: would be more likely that the reactor would like continue, 1026 00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:26,040 Speaker 1: would go out of control and melt down, rather than 1027 00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,560 Speaker 1: it would like stop running, and then they would be 1028 00:57:28,720 --> 00:57:31,320 Speaker 1: even more visible and more powerful. But of course you 1029 00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:33,480 Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen ultimately, Yeah, they do get to 1030 00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:36,200 Speaker 1: blow up the reactor or whatever shuts it all down, 1031 00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:40,080 Speaker 1: the brains will really lose their power, and they don't 1032 00:57:40,080 --> 00:57:42,040 Speaker 1: just fall to the ground lifeless, and you know, then 1033 00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:43,880 Speaker 1: somebody has to come around and collect the brains. No, 1034 00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:48,320 Speaker 1: they melt away into basically just greasy spots on the floor. 1035 00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:52,720 Speaker 1: And it's a stop motion effect. And it's wonderful, wonderful 1036 00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:55,360 Speaker 1: stop motion sequence. And I think it's saying something because 1037 00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:59,520 Speaker 1: sometimes these transition effects and stop motion even in much 1038 00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:02,600 Speaker 1: later films can look a little awkward, but I thought 1039 00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,320 Speaker 1: these look tremendous. Oh yeah, yeah, I totally agree. The 1040 00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:09,120 Speaker 1: dissolving is it looks so gross. So there you have it, 1041 00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:11,600 Speaker 1: fiend without a face. Uh yeah, it's a fun flick. 1042 00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:14,520 Speaker 1: It's worth worth checking out. Uh. And like I said, 1043 00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:17,920 Speaker 1: it's Criterion Collection. Um, there's so there have been a 1044 00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:20,000 Speaker 1: number of DVDs of this put out over the years, 1045 00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:22,600 Speaker 1: but the two thousand ten Criterion Collection Edition is as 1046 00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:24,640 Speaker 1: I think definitely want to pick up. It's not out 1047 00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:28,280 Speaker 1: on Blu Ray, but the the Criterion Collection Edition is 1048 00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:31,600 Speaker 1: also available to rent or buy digitally, and I watched 1049 00:58:31,640 --> 00:58:34,640 Speaker 1: the Criterion Collection version as part of the AMC Plus 1050 00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:37,240 Speaker 1: subscription on Prime at least here in the States as 1051 00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:39,640 Speaker 1: of this recording. Uh. You can also stream it on 1052 00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:42,760 Speaker 1: the Criterion channel, which I mentioned earlier, which I have 1053 00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:45,480 Speaker 1: subscribed to in the past, and I highly recommend if 1054 00:58:45,480 --> 00:58:48,000 Speaker 1: you want to dive into a lot of films again, 1055 00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:51,360 Speaker 1: Samurai Pictures, Felini Pictures, but then also all sorts of 1056 00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,880 Speaker 1: weird and wonderful things you didn't even know existed. So 1057 00:58:53,920 --> 00:58:55,560 Speaker 1: we're gonna go ahead and close it out here, but 1058 00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:57,120 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from everyone out there if you 1059 00:58:57,160 --> 00:59:01,200 Speaker 1: have thoughts on fiend without a Face, brain, monsters in general, 1060 00:59:01,280 --> 00:59:03,400 Speaker 1: any of the people or things we mentioned in this 1061 00:59:03,440 --> 00:59:06,000 Speaker 1: episode right in we would love to hear from you. 1062 00:59:06,760 --> 00:59:10,600 Speaker 1: Reminder that Weird How Cinema publishes every Friday in the 1063 00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:12,800 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed were primarily a 1064 00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:15,440 Speaker 1: science podcast, but this is our data set aside most 1065 00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:18,080 Speaker 1: serious concerns and just talk about a weird film. I 1066 00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:21,800 Speaker 1: blog about these motion pictures at Samooda Music dot com. 1067 00:59:22,160 --> 00:59:23,520 Speaker 1: You can also go to Stuff to Blow your Mind 1068 00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,760 Speaker 1: dot com and go to the store tab and you 1069 00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:28,080 Speaker 1: can check out the stuff to Blow your Mind merch section, 1070 00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:31,160 Speaker 1: which also has some Weird How Cinema merching there, including 1071 00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:34,880 Speaker 1: the new rub the Fur key shirt or like rub 1072 00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:37,520 Speaker 1: the fur toe bag. Whatever you want to put rub 1073 00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:40,120 Speaker 1: the fur on, you can do it. Hich Thanks as 1074 00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:43,800 Speaker 1: always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If 1075 00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:45,480 Speaker 1: you would like to get in touch with us with 1076 00:59:45,600 --> 00:59:48,320 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 1077 00:59:48,360 --> 00:59:50,680 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 1078 00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:53,480 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 1079 00:59:53,480 --> 01:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 1080 01:00:03,400 --> 01:00:06,160 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 1081 01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:09,040 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 1082 01:00:09,080 --> 01:00:10,440 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.