WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Psychomania 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:13.240 I smell exhaust, the hot breath of devils in the 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:17.239 fog of dawn, the noise of a great cat purring 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.880 underneath the earthen mound. They're waking up. Can you see it? 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:27.760 Through the mist? Pale sprigs of mistletoe entwined with greasy 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:33.120 drive chains. The high Priest watches his reflection stretched to absurdity, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.680 across the curve of the mirrored chrome. He is as 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.720 tall as the cliffs. He is as long as the 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.919 worm of dreams. The purring of the cat grows deafening. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.680 The Priest's grin is wild with that twist of his hand, 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.440 flexing the wrist. Is he wringing a hen's neck to 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.080 adorn the altar of spring? Or is this the spell 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:09.880 that brings the iron hog to life? Welcome to Stuff 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:19.240 to Blow your mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:22.520 welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamp and 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.440 I'm Joe McCormick and Robert I'm so excited today. I'm 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.640 so excited because you you out there. You know if 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.040 you've been listening to Weird House Cinema, that we love 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:35.800 our implausible genre crossover films. One of my favorite examples 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.839 we've done so far is the niche sub genre represented 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.720 by our back catalog entry Santo and The Treasure of Dracula. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.200 Of course that would be the supernatural wrestling film. Well, 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:51.280 today we're finally doing a supernatural biker film, a niche 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:55.800 subgenre that really holds a strong, powerful, revving place in 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.800 my heart. It gets my motor running. I love it, 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.480 I love it, I love it. Yeah, this one, this 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.280 one is a lot of fun. And I it'd been 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.720 on my list to watch for a while. I know 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.160 you've been talking about it for years, and we we 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.520 occasionally talked about biker films and supernatural biker films, but 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.160 I had not actually watched until this week and it 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.320 was just a total of the light. Just such a 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.880 wonderfully weird film, um and delightfully so. Now you have 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.120 seen other supernatural biker movies, right, Like you've seen Werewolves 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.639 on Wheels. Oh yeah, Werewolves on Wheels, a very American 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.919 supernatural biker film from the same time period. But this, 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.560 this is a very British film we're talking about here today. Yes, yes, 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.440 We're Rolves on Wheels is a grosser, sweatier, more guttural 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:48.760 American Western style, uh supernatural biker film. This supernatural biker 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.200 film is a bit more tweedy and uh, I don't 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.480 know has the the English morning Fog on its back today. 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.000 The movie we're talking about is the nineteen seventy three 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:05.639 Dish supernatural biker movie Psychomania a k a. The Death Wheelers. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.840 And uh So, whenever you have a great genre crossover movie, 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.640 you want to identify, like, what are the main streams 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.480 feeding into this? And Robert, if you disagree, let me know. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.560 But I think the main two things we're getting as 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.359 inputs here are, on one hand, outlaw biker movies, which 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:23.960 we can talk about in a little more detail in 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.120 a minute, and then the other hand would be like 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:32.520 British witchcraft horror films allah, the hammer horror movies of 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.920 the late sixties and early seventies. Yes, I think those 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.080 are those are probably the two primary influences. But I 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.000 think it's also worth noting the Avengers DNA in this 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.400 we have some people connected to the Avengers and the Avengers. 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.800 If you're not familiar with the Avengers TV show, A 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.040 it was it was pretty fun, but being it also 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.320 would it generally featured this sort of idea of contemporary 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.720 weirdness in the world. Uh not unlike what the X 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.400 Files would do later, And I think there's a hint 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.800 of that in this film. Okay. I didn't think about 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.400 that input at all because I've never actually seen The Avengers, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.720 though I know what it is. This is very different 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.480 than Marvel's The Avengers. This is the British TV show, Yeah, 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.200 the one that was eventually made into what one of 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.560 Sean Connery's last films, if not his last film, um, 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:20.040 one of the last films that they tried to do 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.360 a reboot of it decades ago and it was not successful. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.039 But the original TV series was often a lot of fun. Yeah. 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.120 Another way of thinking about this movie is, Okay, if 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.000 you've got the precedent of werewolves on wheels in America, 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:38.159 this is sort of like, uh, druid lytch kings on wheels, 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:43.400 like undead stone hinge magic demons revving their engines and 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.400 and uh and and doing all the outlaw biker stuff, 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.159 but from beyond the grave. Yes, now. I often turned 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.719 to Michael Weldon's psychotronic video guides for a little guidance 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.520 in the films that we We We we We turned 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.599 to Sometimes I discover a film by looking it is work. 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.600 Other times we'll will be thinking about one and I'll 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:05.960 see what he had to say about it. Um. I'm 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.440 not going to read his entire mini review for this one, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.640 but it but one of He basically kicks off his 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.000 review of Psychomania by saying incredible. To say the least, 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.600 I disagree. I think it's quite credible. I would let 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.280 this co sign on a loan. Now I want to 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.600 I want to put a note about the title. So 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.120 I think we already alluded to the fact that it 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.200 was also released as The Death Wheelers um, which in 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.760 some ways is a better title for the film. Like 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.279 Death Wheelers, it's you know, death and motorcycles. We're not 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:43.160 actually sure what Psychomania means in context of this film, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.920 but I wonder if the title situation here it might 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:47.560 have to do with the fact that there was another 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.800 film titled Psychomania that was released in nineteen sixty three, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.160 so ten years earlier, also known as Violent Midnight, who 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.479 was directed by the guy who wrote Horror at Party Beach. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.760 In that movie is just a murder picture. The nineteen 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.200 seventy three Psychomania is so much more, and that that 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.479 is definitely the film we're talking about here today, a 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.480 supernatural biker film. Okay, well, I guess we need to 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.720 dwell on the concept of a biker film for a moment, 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.640 because before you had supernatural biker films, you just had 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.920 the biker genre as a sort of uh fad movie genre. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.440 And the fifties through the seventies. Yeah, and I guess 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.360 more specifically, so, boy, I guess the big thing here 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.280 is that, first of all, motorcycles are not inherently one 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.919 thing or another, and a motorcycle enthusiasts are not inherently 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.359 one thing or the other. So you have motorcyclists, you 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.440 have motorcycle clubs, but then you also have this area 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.599 that is often referred to as the outlaw motorcycle club 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:51.599 and that is generally what is dwelt upon in films 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.159 such as these, right. I mean, I'd say for the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.919 same reason that there are more movies about bank robbers 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.560 than there are about accountants right now. Outlaw motorcycle clubs 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.200 began to form in the late nineteen forties in the 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:09.240 Western United States, and over time, motorcycle club culture, outlaw 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.160 or or non outlaw, has spread around the world and 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.000 it's it's quite fascinating because what we have here is 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.680 an American subculture, and in the cases of outlaw motorcycle 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:22.040 gangs and often criminal subculture, that ends up just resonating 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.520 around the world, finding slightly different forms and different cultures, 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:30.400 um inspiring fiction inspiring myth and and then also in 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.840 turn you have the reality of motorcycle clubs and outlaw 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.480 motorcycle clubs fed by fiction and myth. So we end 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.040 up with a number of different variations of the mythic 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.360 outlaw motorcyclist. You know, we have the noble outlaw, the scoundrel, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.080 the sort of anti hippie, the rebellious youth, the rebel 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.440 without a cause, et cetera. So, as far as outlaw 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.920 biker films go, we certainly don't have time to list 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.680 them all here, but I want to mention just some 0:07:55.760 --> 0:08:00.560 of the big ones, some of the the precursors to psychomania. Now, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.239 the first big one, of course, is nineteen fifty threes, 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.120 The Wild One starring Marlon Brando. Even if you haven't 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:07.760 seen this film, and I have to admit I've never 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.320 watched The Wild One, you've seen the title, you've seen 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.160 the cover, you've seen stills from this or maybe even 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.000 seen a clip from it. It's generally critically well received. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.680 It was highly influential, and of course a lot of 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.400 low budget exploitation films came in its wake, just for 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.880 just for decades like this, this was a big film. 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:27.720 But yeah, by the time you get into the sixties, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.120 you have the counterculture, you have a lot going on. Obviously, 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.559 during the nineteen sixties you also have Hunter S. Thompson's 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:37.920 book Hell's Angels coming out, which details his you know, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:44.079 sort of gonzo journalism experience with the notorious UM Motorcycle Club. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:46.440 And uh, and then a lot of stuff comes in 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.120 the wake of that. You have Russ Meyer's Motorcycle in 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.200 nineteen sixty five. I think that was actually before um 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.160 Thompson's book. But then you get The Wild Angels in 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.880 nineteen sixty six by Roger Corman. Uh, this one, this 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.440 one is actually watch part of this one. I think 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.080 it's a It has a great cast. You've got Peter Fonda, 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:09.559 Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane ladd Um. Definitely a precursor 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.000 to Easy Writer because it involves some of the same people. 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.120 And then yeah, you get easy Rider in nineteen sixty nine, 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:19.200 a highly influential hippie biker film directed by Dennis Hopper. 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.120 Terrific film, easy Writer. But but you might be asking, well, 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.440 these are all American films. When did the British films 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.240 come in? Well, you have some notable entries in the 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.960 British biker film um bucket of content. Here you have 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.200 The Leather Boys from sixty four, The Girl on a 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.640 Motorcycle from sixty eight, as well as some early forays 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.880 into horror hybrid biker films, such as The Black Rider 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.120 in nineteen fifty four. I don't know, you might be 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:46.880 I haven't seen this one yet, but I think maybe 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:48.840 it does. I mean, it does have a motorcyclist in it. 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:53.120 I don't know how motorcycle club the elements there are. 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.160 But then there's also a sixty three film called The 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.040 Damned which has some sort of motorcyclist element to it 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.120 as well. And then by the nineteen seventies, basically we've 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.760 had so many biker films come out that you see 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.640 this need to create new twists on the genre. You 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.559 can't just put out a biker film, you know, you 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.360 can't just say, oh, well, they're bad boys out there 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.079 right and around on bikes? Well, how bad are they? 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.319 Could they be supernaturally bad? And that's where we get 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.920 stuff like seventy ones were Wolves on Wheels or seventy 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.640 two s blood freak Um as well as this is 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.440 later and this comes after the time period we're talking about. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.040 But I bought a vampire motorcycle from nine. Oh, I 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.520 don't know that one. I was looking at it looks good. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:36.480 I believe that one's British, so I may have to 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.560 investigate further. But today's picture might well be considered the 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:45.439 supernatural biker film par excellence. Uh. This, this really takes 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.720 the cake without a doubt. If you want to watch 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.679 supernatural biker horror movies, I think you should start with Psychomania. Yeah, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:57.520 and really, I feel like with biker fiction in general, 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.280 we kind of ebbs and flows right. A few years back, 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.280 we had that fairly long running uh Sons of Anarchy 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:12.120 series which I ended up watching all of Uh. Oh, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.800 it's it's it's entertaining. It's uh, it's it's an interesting Uh, 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.280 it's an interesting show. It's it's it has a lot 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.320 of cheesy elements, it has a lot of elements that 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:26.640 um or maybe in questionable taste uh at the time 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.360 and certainly by today's standards, but it had a lot 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.400 of things going for it, like essentially trying to do 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:37.040 a motorcycle gang story that is Shakespearean influence story at 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:43.240 least shakespeare light uh in its creation. So which Shakespeare 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.280 was it based on? You? Like, well, the basic bones 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.880 of it. They tried to set up a Hamlet thing like, um, young, 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:55.360 what's his name, Charlie, Charlie you know you know the 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.920 guy Charlie Hunt. Um, yes him, Yes, Yeah, he's basic 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:01.760 a Hamlet. They set that up, is like he is 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.880 the Hamlet of this biker scenario, and they they don't 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.160 try and like actually hit all the story beats of 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.439 Hamlet exactly, and then they throw a little bit of 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.000 McBeth in there at times. Uh. It's it's amusing, okay, 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.360 But I'm ready for the needle to come back to 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.400 supernatural biker films. That's where we need to go. If 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.600 they want to keep the sons of Anarchy thing going 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.280 that make it vampires, make it where we'll bring that, 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.840 bring that back in. That's that's my two cents. Yeah, 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.360 what has there been lately? That really counts. I guess 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:34.080 there's like the what's that superhero who's like a supernatural biker? Oh, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.480 night right, Nicholas Cage, Nicolas Cage, night night Right, ghost Rider, 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.839 ghost Right ghost Rider. Yeah, not not right, that's that's 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.520 a different thing altogether. I haven't seen any of those 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.120 except that first movie with Nicolas Cage, which I recall 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.280 being hilarious. I think Peter Fonda shows up in one 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.240 of those. Oh does he Yeah, Yeah, that that's sort 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.840 of rings a bell. Maybe it was in that first one. Yeah, 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.760 that's a fun inclusion. It's thoughtful to include Peter Fonda 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.200 in it. The main thing I remember about that one 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.480 is that the that kid who's in American Beauty is 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.439 the villain in it, and he's some kind of monster. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.240 And there's a part where he's like in the middle 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.200 of the desert and he just walks right up to 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.079 the camera and looks into the camera and goes he 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.320 like opens his mouth and a bunch of teeth and 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.120 stuff come out. Well that that sound. That sounds great, 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.040 And I'm sure that character will be back, though they'll 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.760 they'll create some other uh what do you say? His 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.800 name was Death not death Writer? Night writer, night writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriter. Yes, 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.760 all right, Well, if you can't figure out the elevator 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.240 pitch based on everything we've already said, I don't know 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.200 how much help we're going to be other than the 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:42.280 Lynch King rides. It's it's undead bikers. Let's go ahead 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.440 and listen to the trailer, and I think, like last week, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.400 we might just let the trailer play in its entirety 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.000 because it's wonderful. It's a it's the same year as 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:58.319 last week selection, so it makes sense or problem makers 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.600 as long as they live of their return from beyond 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.800 the grave with superhuman powers, unleashing an unholy reign of 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:14.560 terror that holds an entire community in the grip of psychomania. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:22.080 Psychomania everybody dies, don't there? But some come back? How 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.760 do the dead come back? Mother? When you die, you've 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:36.320 got to believe that you're going to come back. Wow? 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:47.000 Can you kill yourself? That's right off the grade. I'm 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:58.000 going You can only die once. After that, nothing and 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.160 nobody canna harm you. Oh no, what are you waiting for? 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:45.120 I must stop him? You can't, I must, I can. 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.560 What happened? You're not dead? That's what I was trying 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.280 to tell you to, I do want to die good 0:15:54.320 --> 0:16:05.960 after them, and you know what you will become, and 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:20.360 that it will be for all eternity. You can only 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:30.080 die once. After that, nothing and nobody can harm you. Cycle. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:44.239 One thing about this movie is it's just so British. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.560 It has this film of Britishness all over it. It's 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:52.200 you know, it just smells like baked beans. It's a 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.480 it's a can of hinds baked beans driving a motorcycle 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.840 through a round about it And and it's also got 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:03.920 that wonderful like the inner cutting between the violent, uh 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.919 manic parts on the road where they're out, you know, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.399 riding around harassing motorists and all that on the motorway, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:14.240 and then and then contrasting that with the indoor scenes 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.000 where like they go to a pub or they go 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:19.960 into somebody's house and it has this amazing quaint stuffiness 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:25.680 of early seventies Britain. Uh It's yeah, it's it's just tremendous. Well, 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.480 it's an interesting twist if you've if you're used to 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.800 seeing mostly American biker films, there, any biker film is 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.000 gonna have scenes where the bikers are messing with the squares. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.600 But yes, more often than not in your American biker films, 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.680 these are taking place in rural situations, you know, say 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:45.320 like a gas station. Uh often, So it's often, you know, 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:50.159 very rural individuals who are bedeviled by the bikers. And 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.919 in this case we get just it's not even like 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.840 rural Britain person. I mean, it's not London obviously, but 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.399 it's um, you know, it's it's it's in town or 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.840 it's you know, on the street surrounding town. But it's 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:03.679 the British way of life that is threatened by the 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.359 bikers as opposed to the like American Midwest or or 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.280 or sort of desert community kind of vibe. Yeah. I'm 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.639 not sure, but I think it's supposed to be a 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.600 town in the southwest of England. Um, I think it's 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.000 supposed to be a town in like Wiltshire or something. 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.320 I don't know if I'm saying that right, Wiltshire, Wiltshire, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.960 whatever it is. But yeah, there there is a thing 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.720 that definitely that they do in this movie that a 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:32.040 lot of outlaw biker movies have to do. Even non supernatural, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.159 utterly mundane outlaw biker movies have to have a scene 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:40.120 of the bikers riding around knocking things over in some 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.800 public place, and in this movie they they do it 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.080 in a grocery store, and they do it in the 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.159 middle of a town square, which makes me wonder was 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:52.080 it actually a common occurrence for outlaw biker gangs at 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.119 the time and I don't know, the early seventies to 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.520 just ride around in public places knocking things over, saying 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:00.199 that shouldn't be upright, and I'll make it sideway is 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.560 or is this merely symbolic, like a way of showing 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.439 them causing chaos that can be accomplished on screen in 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.440 a single scene. I don't know. Uh, yeah, I don't 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.720 know if if actual bikers, actual outlaw bikers, engage in 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:17.600 this kind of thing, because certainly there are accounts of 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:21.720 outlaw bikers engaging in in all manner of criminal activities. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.600 I guess you know, the kinds of things you would 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.680 see with any type of organized crime, right, yeah, but yeah, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.080 organized crime smuggling things like that. You don't see a 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.720 lot of, say New York Times articles about them just 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:37.040 knocking stuff over in grocery stores. But this, this reminds me. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.120 I was reading an interview or part of an interview 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.639 with the lead singer of Electric Wizard. Uh, like what 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.240 his name? I just just oh Born, I think yeah, Yeah. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.040 And doom metal band, Yeah, doom metal band. Uh, stoner 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.760 band of kind of vibe and uh there was a 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:56.399 quote from it that I want to read here just 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.199 because I thought it was amazing. He says, Um, I 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.840 don't know why isn't venerated in the same way as 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.199 the wicker Man or witch Finder general. There was a 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:06.760 whole generation of us who grew up watching it on TV. 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.720 In Wimborne, there used to be a safe Ways that's 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.080 like a grocery like we've seen in this film, with 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.199 an entrance on one end and an exit right at 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.320 the other. We used to bike right through it. On 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.800 BMX is kicking stuff over it was called doing a psychomania. 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.399 That's perfect. Oh no, oh no, the kids getting bad idea. 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.159 They're imitating an act of violence they saw on television 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.399 and what they were watching is psychomania. Well, it comes 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.199 back to this idea of the motorcycle club, the outline 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:39.040 motorcycle club in myth and in fiction and in reality, 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.480 and how these things all feed into each other. You know. Yeah, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.920 at least I guess it wasn't violence against people. I mean, 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.879 I don't advocate knocking over pyramids of cans of baked beans, 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.000 but yeah, but you know, I guess you gotta do 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.240 it sometimes. That's one of the great things about this 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.679 film though, is that, yes, the characters do engage in 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.760 some heinous acts of violence, mostly off screen, but they 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:05.080 all so just do some very low level criminal mischief 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:09.240 in this just yeah, knocking over stuff, um, like mind 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.840 calling in traffic, Yeah, name calling and traffic just minor 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.600 assaults on the British way of life. And also murder. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.959 Also murder, so it's murder or like pulling up beside 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.359 somebody in the truck and going yan. Yeah, yeah, that 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:33.960 kind of alright, So we talk about some of the 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:36.480 people in this film, since we're talking about about the 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.000 people here absolutely. Now is it true that this was 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.359 directed by somebody who had done a bunch of Hammer 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:45.680 horror films? Yeah, at least a few. This is. The 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.160 director on this picture was Don Sharpe, who lived nine 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.040 through two thousand and eleven, Australian born British director, probably 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.600 best known for his Hammer films, including sixty three is 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.359 the Kiss of The Vampire sixty four is The Devil 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.440 Ship Pirates and ra Sputin the Mad Monk from nineteen 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:05.040 sixty six. I believe this is This is one that 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.119 our producers, Seth is quite fond of. Oh yeah, was this? 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:12.040 Does this one actually have Christopher Lee as Resputant? It does? Yes, Oh, 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.520 I've got to see that. I love a good portrayal 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.040 of rescputing. One of my favorites, if I've never mentioned 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.280 it on this show before is uh. He doesn't get 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:23.320 all that much screen time, but his scenes are fabulous. 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.760 So there's a movie, uh, from the seventies called Nicholas 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.119 and Alexandra that's about the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.800 and all that. Uh. And it has Tom Baker, who 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:36.840 played the doctor on Doctor Who as rest Sputant. And 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:40.560 he is just awesome, just devastating. He will he will 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.920 turn your brain into a boiled ham. His scenes will 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.440 will just beat you into submission. You'll be watching without blinking. 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:50.159 It's so good. I looked at some screenshots of it. 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.359 It looks it looks pretty great. Yeah. Now. Sharp also 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.199 directed not the first sequel to the Fly, but the 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.320 second Fly sequel, The Return of the Fly. In ninety. 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:02.840 He also did a film titled Bear Island in nineteen 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.679 seventy nine, um, which I believe involves bears. And he 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.159 also directed three episodes of the original The Avengers series, 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.480 which we cited here. Oh okay, some things are coming 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.880 together here, Hammer, Horror and The Avengers. All right, let's 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.040 move on to the screenwriters here. There's are No Diso, 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:23.640 who lived nineteen sixteen through nineteen nine, American screenwriter who 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:28.720 also pinned the seventy two UK Spanish co production Horror Express, 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:33.040 which is a is a wonderful little film starring Christopher Lee, 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:37.560 Peter Cushing, Telly Savalis. Wait wait, wait, wait, wait wait, 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:40.600 is this the one where they extract the image of 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:45.760 the killer from someone's eye? Yes, And there's also some 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:50.879 sort of like sort of a Neanderthal monster wandering around 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.040 the train. It has a couple of weird elements going 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:56.840 around in it, but it's it's it's quite quite amusing. 0:23:57.000 --> 0:23:59.800 I saw it several years ago. Yeah. So the the 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.080 dan that the the I scene is that what like 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:04.520 the last image of person saw before they died is 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:07.359 like imprinted on their retina, and somehow they extract that 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:10.760 from the Victim. Yeah, and uh, there's actually an older 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:12.600 episode of stuff to blow your mind when I did 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:14.920 with with Christian where we we get into this idea 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:19.040 and how this idea kind of traveled around and scientific 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:23.760 and pseudo scientific uh groups for a while. Now, that's 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:26.800 just one of the screenwriters. The other is Julian Zimmitt, 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:29.760 another American. I believe. Zim had also worked on Horror 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:33.919 Express and various pictures through the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies, 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:37.200 this being his final film credit. Now, the main character 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:39.399 in this film, I guess you could argue about who 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:41.320 the main character is, but one of the main characters 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:45.920 is a is a very naughty motorcycle youth named Tom Latham. 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:49.760