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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema Rewind. This is Rob Lamb,

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Speaker 1: and today we have for you a classic, Mario Bava's

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Speaker 1: Black Sunday, a blood-chilling tale of witchcraft, punishment, and revenge

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Speaker 1: from beyond the grave. It originally published, did I say

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Speaker 1: this already? Well, you're gonna hear it again if I did. 10, 24, 20, 25,

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Speaker 1: that's when it came out. This is a classic film.

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Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, highly recommend it. And if

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Speaker 1: you're not familiar with it or you're overly familiar with it, well,

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Speaker 1: now's a great time to see what Joe and I

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Speaker 1: have to say about it. Let's do it.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

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Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick. And today we're going to

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Speaker 3: be talking about Mario Bava's 1960 gothic horror classic, Black Sunday.

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Speaker 3: And I selected this movie for this week because it

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Speaker 3: is Halloween season. We're in October. And I think if

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Speaker 3: you're looking for a very just core Halloween viewing experience

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Speaker 3: and you've never seen this one before, it's about as

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Speaker 3: good as you can do. Please take my recommendation and

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Speaker 3: check out Black Sunday. It is, I think, simultaneously about

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Speaker 3: as good and as close to the bullseye of the

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Speaker 3: gothic horror target as you can get. It's got pretty

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Speaker 3: much everything you could want in terms of gothic horror texture,

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Speaker 3: gothic horror themes, but it also has added dashes of weirdness.

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Speaker 3: It kind of cuts harder and goes harder than most

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Speaker 3: movies of this type. But as far as the texture,

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Speaker 3: you've got searing, raging, very hate-oriented witchcraft. The core witch

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Speaker 3: in the movie is constantly selling the virtues of hating

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Speaker 3: and Um, it's got surprise vampires in the second act

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Speaker 3: that I don't think I really expected. There's sort of

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Speaker 3: like one line about vampires at the very beginning, but, uh,

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Speaker 3: I don't know when you get to them, I'm like, oh,

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Speaker 3: I didn't realize this was going to be a vampire movie. Um,

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Speaker 3: it's got undead paramours, you know, roaming the hills. Uh,

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Speaker 3: it's got ruined castles, roaring fires, secret passageways and trap doors, uh,

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Speaker 3: canopy beds, silver crucifixes, some menacing dopermans. I like that,

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Speaker 3: that detail. In the prologue, it's got the Inquisition, hooded executioners.

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Speaker 3: It has bat attacks. It has moldy tombs and coffins

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Speaker 3: with windows. It's got beautiful deep black shadows, great high

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Speaker 3: contrast lighting and photography. A lot of scenes with this,

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Speaker 3: you know, kind of frightening quality of being lit only

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Speaker 3: by fading candlelight. this unique concept, I would say, of

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Speaker 3: a spiked bronze torture mask. Rob, maybe we can get

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Speaker 3: into if there's really any precedent for this. I'm sure

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Speaker 3: it's come up before, but imagine just an Iron Maiden,

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Speaker 3: but only for your face.

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Speaker 1: I have some notes on this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And then also maybe one of the film's defining visual features,

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Speaker 3: Barbara Steele making laser eyes and giving monologues about the

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Speaker 3: exquisite pleasures of hate.

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Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, it really does have it all. Funeral shadows,

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Speaker 1: black-headed figures, the whole nine yards. This is a film

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Speaker 1: that everyone loves, and we're not going to really pull

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Speaker 1: any hot takes here. We love it as well. It

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Speaker 1: is a masterpiece. It holds up exceedingly well. And, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's one of those films that's kind of surprising that

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Speaker 1: I took so long to see it myself. I've kind

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Speaker 1: of come to it late in my viewing of Mario

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Speaker 1: Bava films because... When I think of Bava, I think

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Speaker 1: of his, you know, those bright technicolor pictures, the phantasmagorical

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Speaker 1: color schemes of like Planet of the Vampires or Blood

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Speaker 1: and Black Lace. And so whenever I would be in

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Speaker 1: the mood to put on a Bava film, I often

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Speaker 1: find I watch them on airplanes, by the way. And

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Speaker 1: I watch this one on an airplane. I'll often just

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Speaker 1: sort of navigate to the color ones. I'll like, OK,

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Speaker 1: how about Lisa and the Devil or whatever? We'll try

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Speaker 1: this one out. and I'll just skip over Black Sunday

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Speaker 1: because I'm like, well, that's black and white. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if I want to see a Mario Bava black

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Speaker 1: and white film, but to no one's surprise, it is

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Speaker 1: absolutely gorgeous in black and white, and as we'll discuss,

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Speaker 1: this was his intention as well. He intentionally chose to

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Speaker 1: make this film his first solo directorial credit in this splendid, deep,

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Speaker 1: black and white, gothic format.

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Speaker 3: I know exactly what you're talking about because, yes, also

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Speaker 3: I admire Bava uh, as a filmmaker on many levels.

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Speaker 3: But one of the first things I think about when

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Speaker 3: I think Mario Bava is like colored gel lights, I

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Speaker 3: think of, uh, or just strange kind of non-realistic, but

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Speaker 3: very intuitively powerful uses, uses of color in his films that,

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Speaker 3: you know, uh, his supernatural films often have this feeling

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Speaker 3: where there is magic in the air and that magic

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Speaker 3: is signaled by the fact that the light is purple

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Speaker 3: when there's no realistic reason that it should Or, you know,

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Speaker 3: or is green or some other strange color. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: I love those colors and also, you know, the colors

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Speaker 3: in his sets. So the black and white energy is

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Speaker 3: a very different thing than I'm used to with Bava.

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Speaker 3: But it is so strong. And I like, to be clear,

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Speaker 3: I like Black Sunday on pretty much every level. I

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Speaker 3: like the story. The script is very good. The acting

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Speaker 3: is mostly pretty good. You know, there's some kind of

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Speaker 3: creaky acting that you would get in a lot of,

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Speaker 3: especially mid-century dubbed horror films.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: But it's got very good editing, strong, propulsive editing that

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Speaker 3: drives the story and heightens the horror and the tension.

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Speaker 3: But the best thing about this movie is the way

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Speaker 3: that it looks. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous.

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Speaker 3: It's got clever shot framing, beautiful use of shadows and light,

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Speaker 3: great set design and locations. And also, I have to

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Speaker 3: single out a surprising, even shocking quality of gore for

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Speaker 3: a black and white film from 1960. And when I

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Speaker 3: say that, I don't mean that there's a lot of gore.

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Speaker 3: This is not a splatterfest. But what little gore is

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Speaker 3: there is just much more disturbing and visceral than you

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Speaker 3: would expect.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Those moments of gore actually make you a little

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Speaker 1: thankful that it's not in color. There's more than enough

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Speaker 1: to disturb you in the black and white. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And also in terms of the film's visual appeal. I

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Speaker 3: would have to call out Barbara Steele's face as an

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Speaker 3: important part of the visual palette of the film. I

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Speaker 3: don't mean that just in the sense that like, oh,

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Speaker 3: she's a beautiful actress, which a lot of people do say.

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Speaker 3: But I mean that the faces she pulls for the

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Speaker 3: camera are like a distinct part of what this movie

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Speaker 3: is trying to do in terms of imagery. And it's

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Speaker 3: no accident, I think, that most of the posters and

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Speaker 3: the artwork for the film are just like a sort

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Speaker 3: of almost caricature-level drawing of Barbara Steele's face, making those wide,

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Speaker 3: horrifying eyes. She is a unique-looking actress, naturally, but in

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Speaker 3: this movie, she makes faces that could peel garlic. It's

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Speaker 3: absolutely unreal.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because as we'll discuss, it is a dual role.

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Speaker 1: She plays a long-ago-executed witch who has now, in the

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Speaker 1: course of the film, come back to life in unnatural,

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Speaker 1: undead form, and she also plays that character's great-granddaughter. So

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Speaker 1: she gets to play a normie, and then she also

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Speaker 1: gets to play, you know, queen of the dead, essentially.

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Speaker 1: So it is in that role as this undead witch

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Speaker 1: that she really gets to just shine with manic energy.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And actually, you can combine two of those things I

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Speaker 3: singled out in some of the film's most striking frames.

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Speaker 3: The gore and the Barbara Steele eyes. There are some

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Speaker 3: times where she's in witch mode and she's making the

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Speaker 3: witch face, but also she has holes in her face

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Speaker 3: from this torture mask, and they look like barnacles. It's disgusting.

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Speaker 4: Yes, yeah.

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Speaker 1: We'll have a lot to say about this. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: it makes perfect sense that this film would be absolutely

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Speaker 1: stunning and beautiful in black and white. Take Mario Bava's

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Speaker 1: additional color palette away from him, and he still is

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Speaker 1: a master cinematographer. And at this point in his career,

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Speaker 1: as we'll allude to, he had served as cinematographer on

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Speaker 1: numerous films. He was not a newbie, even though this

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Speaker 1: was his first solo directorial effort. And for listeners to

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Speaker 1: the show, you have heard us talk about Mario Bava before.

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Speaker 1: This is actually our fifth Mario Bava selection for Weird

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Speaker 1: House Cinema, following episodes on 63's Black Sabbath, which was

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Speaker 1: essentially kind of a sequel. Not really a sequel, but...

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Speaker 1: a spiritual successor to this film in some ways.

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Speaker 3: An anthology film in that case, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Boris Karloff, of course. 65's Planet of the Vampires,

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Speaker 1: essentially like the granddaddy of sci-fi horror. 68's Danger Diabolic,

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Speaker 1: an excellent supercrime movie. And 61's Hercules and the Haunted World,

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Speaker 1: that rare horror peplum film in which Hercules and a

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Speaker 1: tragically dubbed Christopher Lee go at it in the underworld. Oh, yeah.

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Speaker 3: I can sometimes forget Christopher Lee is in that one.

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Speaker 3: That is not one of Christopher Lee's greatest roles, but

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Speaker 3: the movie is pretty fun. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And as of this recording, the only other director whose

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Speaker 1: work we featured five times on the show is Roger Corman. So, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Bob and Corman are right there at the top as

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Speaker 1: of this recording. Maybe we'll do a bunch of other

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Speaker 1: films by another director and they'll equal and surpass them,

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Speaker 1: but we'll see. I will allude to some other facts

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Speaker 1: about this film's release. There are some different versions of it,

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Speaker 1: depending on where it was released, but I was looking

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Speaker 1: in some of my favorite film volumes for a for

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Speaker 1: a few tidbits about the movie. And Michael Weldon, in

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Speaker 1: one of his Psychotronic film guides, points out that when

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Speaker 1: the film premiered in Cleveland at the Allen Theater, I

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Speaker 1: believe this would have been the AIP, the American International

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Speaker 1: Pictures release, as a promotionary tactic. they handed out cards

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Speaker 1: to the patrons that featured a protective chant, I guess.

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Speaker 1: So when the film gets too scary, you can just

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Speaker 1: look down at your, your chant card and start reciting

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Speaker 1: it in order to protect you from the evils on

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Speaker 1: the screen.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it's like the tingler. It's like you have to

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Speaker 3: scream in the theater to protect yourself from the tingler

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Speaker 3: getting you. But in this case, there, there are words

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Speaker 3: you got to memorize or not memorize. You can read

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Speaker 3: off the cards.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you really are concerned, you can memorize it, but, uh, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wish we did more things like this. There are

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Speaker 1: all these bells and whistles with going to the theater,

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Speaker 1: and theaters are doing all sorts of things to keep

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Speaker 1: theaters going, as they should. I think it's an important

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Speaker 1: part of the film viewing experience. But we need more

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Speaker 1: gimmicks like this. We need protective amulets. We need death clauses.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, all the bells and whistles.

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Speaker 3: Smell-O-Vision.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, bring back Smell-O-Vision.

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Speaker 3: Okay, were you able to find any good trailer audio

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Speaker 3: for this one?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a little bit here. This is a U.S. trailer.

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Speaker 1: I guess this is the AIP trailer. So let's hear

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Speaker 1: a little bit from this. It does have some nice

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Speaker 1: old-fashioned narration. Maybe we won't listen to the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: We'll just listen to a little bit.

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Speaker 4: Horror Anguish And terror are powerful words, but more than words,

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Speaker 4: the chill language of living images shows that the mask

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Speaker 4: of Satan is a picture of unparalleled emotion. It tells

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Speaker 4: a tale of a strange, dark fascination set in a

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Speaker 4: spine-chilling atmosphere of fear.

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Speaker 1: A demon.

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Speaker 4: It's death.

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Speaker 1: I've just seen death.

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Speaker 4: Suspense and the unexpected combine to create an impression beyond

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Speaker 4: any imagination of an indescribable fantasy coupled with an unmentionable reality.

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Speaker 4: But it's impossible, Father. He moved. He even spoke to me.

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Speaker 3: Then he ran away.

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Speaker 4: Sometimes Satan, with his capacity for doing evil, even plays

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Speaker 4: tricks with the dead. All right.

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Speaker 1: So if you would like to jump out and watch

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Speaker 1: Black Sunday for the first time, or just to refresh

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Speaker 1: yourself before continuing on with this episode, or you want

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Speaker 1: to look it up after listening to the whole episode,

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Speaker 1: that's also okay. Well, I think the most important, well,

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Speaker 1: there are two things that are important to realize about it.

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Speaker 1: First of all, it is the 1960 Black Sunday film

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Speaker 1: you want to find, not the Black Sunday film about

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Speaker 1: the blimp Um, that's, that's a different picture entirely and

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Speaker 1: has nothing to do with vampires or satanic worship.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I've never seen that one. That's like a crime thriller,

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Speaker 3: but is it John Frankenheimer?

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Speaker 1: I know it's, uh, what is based on a Thomas

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Speaker 1: Harris book, but it's not one of the Thomas Harris

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Speaker 1: books that I ever read. Uh, maybe Thomas Harris was

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Speaker 1: a coauthor on that one. I'm a little foggy on it,

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Speaker 1: but it does not contain witches. So that's your first step.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're watching the right black Sunday. Yeah. And

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Speaker 1: then on top of that, um, there have been a

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Speaker 1: few different releases. There's that American international pictures cut of

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Speaker 1: the film that was originally released in the U S

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Speaker 1: and I believe that one cut down 87 minutes of

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Speaker 1: screen time to 83, uh, cutting out a little bit

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Speaker 1: of gore, a little bit of sexuality, uh, also adding

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Speaker 1: in different dubbing and a different score. Uh, more details

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Speaker 1: on that in a minute. Uh, it was released as

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Speaker 1: the mask of Satan, which I think is actually the

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Speaker 1: translation of the original Italian title. And there have been

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Speaker 1: at least two other versions released as well, including a

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Speaker 1: UK Revenge of the Vampire release. Not a good title,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and say. But yeah, a

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Speaker 1: lot of American viewers grew up with that AIP version,

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Speaker 1: and it has an important place in their heart. But

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Speaker 1: I think the more widely available version right now, especially

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Speaker 1: via streaming, is an 87-minute cut restored from the original

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Speaker 1: camera negative. And I believe this is the version with

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Speaker 1: the original Italian score. and the original English audio that

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Speaker 1: was recorded in Rome as opposed to the AIP audio.

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Speaker 1: But going back and forth on some of these details,

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Speaker 1: I was a little bit confused about which version I

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Speaker 1: saw and heard because, I don't know, it's like, as

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Speaker 1: we'll discuss, there are these two distinct scores, but it's

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Speaker 1: not like a legend situation where one is Tangerine Dream

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Speaker 1: and one isn't, and therefore you can hear a startling

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Speaker 1: difference between the two. It's perhaps more of a subtle

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Speaker 1: difference between the two scores, but one certainly more. You

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Speaker 1: can see where Les Baxter's score was maybe a little

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Speaker 1: more palpable for the American audience. But the 87-minute version

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Speaker 1: that I watched, I believe this is also the version

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Speaker 1: that is sometimes called the international version, one that's currently

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Speaker 1: widely available from Shout and Scream Factory via their Black

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Speaker 1: Sunday Collector's Edition, also their Mario Bava Collection box set.

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Speaker 1: And outside the U.S., I think Arrow has also put

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Speaker 1: out a nice Blu-ray of this as well. But just

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Speaker 1: look for the 87 minutes. I think if you get

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Speaker 1: the 87-minute version, you're going to get all the good stuff.

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Speaker 1: You're going to get the right amount of gore. As

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Speaker 1: far as the sexuality, it's like there's a single kiss

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Speaker 1: in the film that I believe was cut out, that

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Speaker 1: sort of thing.

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Speaker 3: It's not the sexiest film in history.

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Speaker 1: No, but it was maybe a little too sexy for

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Speaker 1: 1960s America.

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Speaker 3: Regarding the score, I actually meant to check out the

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Speaker 3: Les Baxter score to make sure that wasn't the one

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Speaker 3: that I heard. I don't think it was, but I'm

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Speaker 3: interested in that. From what I've read, the Les Baxter

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Speaker 3: score is actually considered more bombastic and kind of like

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Speaker 3: high energy, and the Italian score is thought to be

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Speaker 3: more subtle.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's my understanding as well. And interestingly enough, it's

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Speaker 1: the exact same individuals involved with the score of 63's

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Speaker 1: Black Sabbath. So the original score is by Italian jazz

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Speaker 1: band leader Roberto Nicolosi, who lived 1914 through 1989. And

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Speaker 1: then it's Les Baxter, who lived on the American version,

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Speaker 1: 22 through 96. The king of exotica, and also later

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Speaker 1: a dabbler in minimal electronic synth scoring. We have discussed

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Speaker 1: him multiple times on the show before. I've listened, I

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Speaker 1: tried to compare a little bit, and yeah, I did

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Speaker 1: get a sense that Baxter's score is a little bit

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Speaker 1: more brassy, you know, and a little bit more in

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Speaker 1: your face. But also, you know, I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: think I wouldn't really have paid that much attention. I

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Speaker 1: feel like either score is probably pretty good.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 3: Should we talk about the Connections?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I guess we did skip ahead and went

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Speaker 1: ahead and talked about the music. So we'll come back

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Speaker 1: to the top and talk just a little bit about

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Speaker 1: Mario Bava, the director, the cinematographer on this one. He

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Speaker 1: lived 1914 through 1980. We've discussed him before. Legendary Italian

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Speaker 1: director with an unmistakable, just obsessive, phantasmagorical emphasis on visual composition.

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Speaker 1: Even already, you were talking about this is a film

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Speaker 1: in which the casket has a window in it. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's such a great Mario Bava touch because

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Speaker 1: I feel like any film that I see of his,

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Speaker 1: there is a fascination with or even an obsession with

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Speaker 1: portals and windows and doors, seeing things through other things,

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Speaker 1: through other frames.

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Speaker 4: Yes, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so you see a lot of that in his work.

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Speaker 1: This is a guy who took it all very seriously.

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Speaker 1: So he'd worked as a cinematographer, special effects artist, and

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Speaker 1: co-director for decades at this point. But again, this was

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Speaker 1: his first solo directorial credit in 1960. He previously worked

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Speaker 1: on several films by Italian production company Galatea. And this

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Speaker 1: was his chance to make a film aimed at the

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Speaker 1: foreign market. A gothic horror film patterned on the recent

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Speaker 1: success of Terrence Fisher's Dracula in 1958.

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Speaker 3: Oh, interesting. So this is kind of a response to

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Speaker 3: Early Hammer, right?

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Speaker 4: Exactly. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Those early Hammer films were making a lot of money.

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Speaker 1: And so the studio's like, let's do it. Let's get

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Speaker 1: in on this action. But turn it up. Turn it up. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Turn it up to 11. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So Bava got to pick the story and he

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Speaker 1: made his choice reportedly based on a scary bedtime story

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Speaker 1: that he had read to his own children. This being

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Speaker 1: V by Nikolai Gogol. which had already been adapted for

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Speaker 1: film as early as 1909 in what was, I'm to understand,

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Speaker 1: the first Russian horror film, a short silent picture, and

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Speaker 1: would also later be adapted more notably in 1967 in

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Speaker 1: a film of the same name, Black Sun. however, is

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Speaker 1: ultimately only loosely based on that Gogol story. Bava apparently,

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Speaker 1: as I alluded to already, had the chance to film

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Speaker 1: this one in Technicolor, but pushed for black and white.

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Speaker 1: He said, you know, this is going to be the

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Speaker 1: better fit. This is going to fit the mood. This

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Speaker 1: is gothic horror. It needs to be black and white.

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Speaker 3: I think it's a good choice.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: He also has apparently did some uncredited work on the screenplay.

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Speaker 1: He also did paintings and matte paintings and special effects

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Speaker 1: for the for the picture, just as is often the case,

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Speaker 1: hyper involved in the visuals. And I should also point

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Speaker 1: out that Mario Bava was the son of cinematographer and

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Speaker 1: special effects artist Eugenio Bava, who lived 1886 through 1966,

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Speaker 1: who is credited on this film as sculptor of masks

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Speaker 1: and faces.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I wonder if that includes the titular, in some versions,

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Speaker 3: Mask of Satan.

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Speaker 1: I assume that has to be the case, yeah. All right,

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Speaker 1: there are some additional screenplay credits, and I'm going to

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Speaker 1: focus on the ones that are definitely credited here. We

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Speaker 1: have a screenplay credit to Ennio Di Conchini, who lived

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Speaker 1: 1923 through 2008. Italian writer, director, and producer, whose other

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Speaker 1: scripts include 1963's Divorce Italian Style, which earned him and

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Speaker 1: his co-writers the 1963 Oscar for Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay,

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Speaker 1: written directly for the screen. Other scripts include 56's War

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Speaker 1: and Peace, 63's The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 69's

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Speaker 1: The Red Tent, 76's Salon Kitty, and 78's Just a Gigolo,

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Speaker 1: that's the David Bowie film, among many others.

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Speaker 3: I was about to say that I thought The Girl

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Speaker 3: Who Knew Too Much was another Mario Bava film that

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Speaker 3: I'd seen, more of a Jallo-style film, also in black

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Speaker 3: and white. But then I was like, wait a minute,

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Speaker 3: or am I confusing that with another movie called The

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Speaker 3: Evil Eye? I guess I was and I wasn't because

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Speaker 3: they're different cuts of the same movie known by different titles.

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Speaker 1: Oh, man. Yeah, I haven't seen this one. This one

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Speaker 1: has John Saxon in it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, John Saxon plays an Italian hunk. So the main

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Speaker 3: character in it is an American tourist played by Letitia Roman,

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Speaker 3: who she's in Rome and she witnesses a murder, I think,

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Speaker 3: and then believes that somebody's coming after her. So she's

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Speaker 3: running around Rome trying to do murder investigation.

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Speaker 4: I don't know.

390
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Speaker 3: It's been a little while since I've seen it, so

391
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Speaker 3: I forgot some of the details. But John Saxon is

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Speaker 3: the local hunk who she ends up having a romance with.

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Speaker 1: I need to see that one. I mean, I put

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Speaker 1: that one on the list. Let's see, another screenplay credit

395
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Speaker 1: goes to Mario Sarandre, who lived 1907 through 1966. A

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Speaker 1: film editor who worked with Bava on several films, I believe,

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Speaker 1: including this one and the excellent 1964 Blood and Black Lace.

398
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Speaker 1: But he was also an occasional writer. And then on

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Speaker 1: top of that, we have George Higgins, 1917 through 2005,

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Speaker 1: credited with English dialogue. I'm a little, now I have

401
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Speaker 1: to stress, I'm a little... uncertain if we're dealing with

402
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Speaker 1: the original English dub recorded in Rome or the AIP dub.

403
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Speaker 1: But at any rate, he was an American writer, actor,

404
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Speaker 1: and voice dubber. So, yeah, of note, it's my understanding

405
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Speaker 1: that everyone is dubbed here, even the English language actors

406
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Speaker 1: in the English language dub.

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Speaker 3: Feels that way. All the dialogue feels dubbed.

408
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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And, you know, this... As was the custom, I think.

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Speaker 1: As was the custom, yeah. Regarding films that were presented

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Speaker 1: with an international cast for international release, but also even,

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Speaker 1: as we've discussed before, you'll have Spanish films for a

413
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Speaker 1: Spanish audience, and everybody's dubbed anyway, because that's just how

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Speaker 1: you did it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: All right. Let's get into the cast here. Starting with

417
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Speaker 1: Barbara Steele. We've already been talking about her. Born 1937,

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Speaker 1: and as of this recording, still with us. Has the

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Speaker 1: dual role here, playing Princess Azavida and Katia Vida. Again,

420
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Speaker 1: dual role. Barbara Steele is an English actress who can't

421
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Speaker 1: help but be best remembered for this film. It was

422
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Speaker 1: only her ninth screen credit occurring during just the first

423
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Speaker 1: few years of her film career. But it helped to

424
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Speaker 1: cement her status as one of the original screen queens

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Speaker 1: and ultimately a familiar face in gothic horror for decades.

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Speaker 1: Subsequent films include some big ones here. 61's The Pit

427
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Speaker 1: and the Pendulum. This is a Corman Price Poe film.

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Speaker 1: We haven't talked about this one yet. But we may

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Speaker 1: well get to it here on Weird House Cinema in

430
00:24:15,230 --> 00:24:15,649
Speaker 1: the future.

431
00:24:16,109 --> 00:24:20,390
Speaker 3: I believe she plays a deceased character in this who's

432
00:24:20,430 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 3: like a phantom, a spectral kind of character who appears

433
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 3: in visions.

434
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:25,220
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

435
00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:27,979
Speaker 1: I mean, she, you know, she created a type for

436
00:24:28,020 --> 00:24:33,330
Speaker 1: herself here. Yeah. Let's see. There's also 62's The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock. Oh,

437
00:24:33,369 --> 00:24:35,790
Speaker 1: and then there's 63's Eight and a Half. That's the

438
00:24:35,830 --> 00:24:36,530
Speaker 1: Fellini film.

439
00:24:36,550 --> 00:24:38,470
Speaker 3: 63's The Ghost.

440
00:24:38,550 --> 00:24:39,130
Speaker 1: 64's Castle of Blood.

441
00:24:41,780 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 3: I just watched that one for the first time a

442
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:43,900
Speaker 3: few weeks ago.

443
00:24:44,460 --> 00:24:44,780
Speaker 4: Yeah.

444
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 3: That one also has a lot going for it. It's

445
00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 3: a very, very strong black and white Gothic cinematography, you know,

446
00:24:52,580 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 3: all the same kind of stuff, ruined castles, candelabras, that

447
00:24:56,900 --> 00:24:59,160
Speaker 3: sort of thing. That one, I will offer a bit

448
00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:03,250
Speaker 3: of criticism in that it truly is quite slow moving.

449
00:25:03,310 --> 00:25:06,050
Speaker 3: There are some parts where it's like, you know, even

450
00:25:06,170 --> 00:25:08,649
Speaker 3: I really, I enjoy bathing in this kind of texture,

451
00:25:08,690 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 3: but like, You are walking too slow as you approach

452
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:13,879
Speaker 3: the coffin. You could be moving faster.

453
00:25:16,060 --> 00:25:18,980
Speaker 1: Let's see, a few other titles include 64's The Long

454
00:25:19,030 --> 00:25:25,129
Speaker 1: Hair of Death, 65's Terror Creatures from the Grave, 66's She-Beast,

455
00:25:25,310 --> 00:25:28,210
Speaker 1: 68's The Crimson Cult, and then later on in the career,

456
00:25:28,290 --> 00:25:33,619
Speaker 1: we have 1975's Shivers, the David Cronenberg film, 78's Piranha,

457
00:25:33,710 --> 00:25:37,379
Speaker 1: that's the Joe Dante film about killer fish, And then

458
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,140
Speaker 1: very late in her career, she did a voice acting

459
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,570
Speaker 1: role in the 2020 Castlevania series.

460
00:25:44,290 --> 00:25:44,800
Speaker 3: Oh, that's fun.

461
00:25:44,810 --> 00:25:46,090
Speaker 1: Which I only watched a little of that, but it

462
00:25:46,109 --> 00:25:47,610
Speaker 1: has a great voice cast for sure.

463
00:25:48,030 --> 00:25:50,690
Speaker 3: I did not even know that existed. But I'm glad

464
00:25:50,750 --> 00:25:54,690
Speaker 3: if somebody was making a Castlevania adaptation and they're voice casting,

465
00:25:54,730 --> 00:25:56,369
Speaker 3: it's like, let's call it Barbara Steele.

466
00:25:56,510 --> 00:25:56,770
Speaker 4: Yeah.

467
00:25:56,790 --> 00:25:57,590
Speaker 3: That gets my respect.

468
00:25:57,609 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 1: We got the Netflix budget. Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah.

469
00:26:00,390 --> 00:26:04,909
Speaker 1: Her last IMDb credit was 2023. TV credits from throughout

470
00:26:04,950 --> 00:26:09,510
Speaker 1: her career include Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the original Night Gallery,

471
00:26:09,650 --> 00:26:11,830
Speaker 1: and the 1990s Dark Shadows series.

472
00:26:12,510 --> 00:26:15,170
Speaker 3: So like you said, Rob, she's got a dual role here.

473
00:26:15,230 --> 00:26:18,060
Speaker 3: She's playing both a good character and a bad character.

474
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,750
Speaker 3: The main villain of the film is... And the young

475
00:26:21,810 --> 00:26:24,950
Speaker 3: princess who's sort of the target or the victim who

476
00:26:25,030 --> 00:26:30,070
Speaker 3: is being attacked for her life force by this ancestor.

477
00:26:31,350 --> 00:26:34,550
Speaker 3: And she's good in both roles, but she, I think,

478
00:26:34,650 --> 00:26:40,580
Speaker 3: especially excels when playing the witch. I said this earlier,

479
00:26:40,619 --> 00:26:44,880
Speaker 3: but it is unreal the kind of evil, malevolent faces

480
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,260
Speaker 3: that she manages to make for the camera here.

481
00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:48,220
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

482
00:26:48,260 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: She just does a terrific job here. Great, haunting, intense

483
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 1: dual performance. So she's undeniably the star. But if we

484
00:26:56,700 --> 00:27:03,090
Speaker 1: have a protagonist, really, I guess it is Dr. Andrzej Gorubek.

485
00:27:03,970 --> 00:27:07,910
Speaker 1: This is our handsome doctor character who's going to be

486
00:27:08,010 --> 00:27:11,450
Speaker 1: venturing into the world of the supernatural and hopefully surviving it.

487
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:12,739
Speaker 3: He's the love interest.

488
00:27:12,790 --> 00:27:13,350
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

489
00:27:13,460 --> 00:27:15,850
Speaker 3: He's the handsome guy who shows up in town to,

490
00:27:15,930 --> 00:27:17,850
Speaker 3: you know, like she needs a hunk in her life.

491
00:27:17,890 --> 00:27:18,570
Speaker 3: And here he is.

492
00:27:18,990 --> 00:27:19,230
Speaker 4: Yes.

493
00:27:19,869 --> 00:27:24,830
Speaker 1: Played by John Richardson, who lived 1934 through 2021. English

494
00:27:24,869 --> 00:27:27,970
Speaker 1: leading man, actor best known for such films as 65.

495
00:27:27,970 --> 00:27:33,209
Speaker 1: She 1956 is one million years B.C. That's a caveman movie.

496
00:27:33,390 --> 00:27:36,950
Speaker 1: And you may you may. recognize him more from this,

497
00:27:36,970 --> 00:27:39,649
Speaker 1: you know, posters and publicity shots for this where he

498
00:27:39,690 --> 00:27:42,090
Speaker 1: has the big shaggy hair and the big full beard.

499
00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:46,140
Speaker 1: Let's see, 1970s, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,

500
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,899
Speaker 1: and 1977's War of the Planets. He also had a

501
00:27:50,020 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: late career appearance as the architect in the 1989 Italian

502
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:55,419
Speaker 1: horror film, The Church.

503
00:27:55,980 --> 00:27:57,380
Speaker 3: Oh, is that the one by Suave?

504
00:27:57,700 --> 00:28:01,310
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. That's one that I have a lot of

505
00:28:01,350 --> 00:28:03,980
Speaker 1: fondness for, but I haven't seen in a while. But

506
00:28:04,030 --> 00:28:08,210
Speaker 1: it very much at the time felt like, you know,

507
00:28:08,450 --> 00:28:11,629
Speaker 1: a sort of horror, a very well done horror schlock

508
00:28:11,650 --> 00:28:14,450
Speaker 1: cinema response to The Name of the Rose. Features some

509
00:28:14,470 --> 00:28:15,230
Speaker 1: of the same actors.

510
00:28:15,690 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 3: Ooh, I'd almost say that. I hadn't thought of it

511
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,740
Speaker 3: till now, but that's a candidate for next week.

512
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 1: No, okay. So Richardson worked quite a bit in Italian

513
00:28:25,220 --> 00:28:27,960
Speaker 1: genre cinema. Two other films of note include 73's Torso

514
00:28:27,980 --> 00:28:32,139
Speaker 1: and 75's Eyeball. I guess all the rest of the

515
00:28:32,180 --> 00:28:34,100
Speaker 1: body parts he didn't get around to, but he got

516
00:28:34,140 --> 00:28:37,159
Speaker 1: torso and eyeball out there. Yeah.

517
00:28:37,180 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 3: Spleen, the motion picture.

518
00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:39,700
Speaker 4: Spleen.

519
00:28:40,610 --> 00:28:43,010
Speaker 1: He was reportedly up for the Bond role that ultimately

520
00:28:43,030 --> 00:28:48,010
Speaker 1: went to George Lazenby on Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969.

521
00:28:48,010 --> 00:28:50,510
Speaker 1: So he's that sort of actor, you know, handsome British

522
00:28:50,670 --> 00:28:54,230
Speaker 1: leading man sort. And so in this film, yeah, predictably,

523
00:28:54,390 --> 00:28:57,450
Speaker 1: you know, he is a solid leading man in this film.

524
00:28:58,330 --> 00:29:01,990
Speaker 1: He doesn't do anything bad. amazingly out of the ordinary. Uh,

525
00:29:02,030 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: but he does a really good job at what he does.

526
00:29:04,260 --> 00:29:04,500
Speaker 4: Yeah.

527
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,500
Speaker 3: Uh, I mentioned earlier that I think the, the acting

528
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:10,700
Speaker 3: in this movie is mostly good. I would say if

529
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 3: there is a, a weak link, I think it's in

530
00:29:13,420 --> 00:29:17,900
Speaker 3: some of the dialogue delivery by this guy, though. I actually,

531
00:29:17,940 --> 00:29:20,210
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's actually John Richardson. I think

532
00:29:20,230 --> 00:29:23,030
Speaker 3: that would be whoever's dubbing him sometimes has some kind

533
00:29:23,050 --> 00:29:26,350
Speaker 3: of dull, uh, line deliveries that I don't know what

534
00:29:26,570 --> 00:29:30,430
Speaker 3: Richardson himself actually, actually sounded like, but his, visual presence

535
00:29:30,490 --> 00:29:31,220
Speaker 3: on screen is good.

536
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: I'll also note that it was a little surreal watching

537
00:29:35,100 --> 00:29:37,390
Speaker 1: this guy. I'm not going to be so vain as

538
00:29:37,430 --> 00:29:39,970
Speaker 1: to say that I look really all that much like Clark.

539
00:29:40,540 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: handsome British actor John Richardson, but at certain angles, like

540
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: watching this on the airplane, I was thrown off a

541
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,670
Speaker 1: little bit because he would look enough like me, at

542
00:29:50,710 --> 00:29:52,630
Speaker 1: least in some profile shots, that I kind of got

543
00:29:52,650 --> 00:29:55,730
Speaker 1: that uncanny looking at myself in photos feeling.

544
00:29:56,210 --> 00:29:56,610
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

545
00:29:57,070 --> 00:29:57,410
Speaker 1: Yeah.

546
00:29:58,170 --> 00:30:00,550
Speaker 3: So you told me this and I wouldn't have caught

547
00:30:00,590 --> 00:30:03,570
Speaker 3: that myself just watching the film, but after you said it,

548
00:30:03,630 --> 00:30:05,450
Speaker 3: I could see it. I was like, Oh yeah, there's Rob.

549
00:30:05,550 --> 00:30:06,530
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

550
00:30:06,610 --> 00:30:08,270
Speaker 1: But in like in a weird way, like that's not

551
00:30:08,350 --> 00:30:10,390
Speaker 1: actually me and I'm not supposed to be in the

552
00:30:10,430 --> 00:30:13,470
Speaker 1: horror movie. So, um, so it probably added like an

553
00:30:13,630 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: extra like personal creep factor to the viewing of the film,

554
00:30:17,380 --> 00:30:19,900
Speaker 1: but it only applies to people who look more or

555
00:30:19,940 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 1: less like, like me. So there you go. Um, Let's

556
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,780
Speaker 1: move on to the rest of the cast, though. We

557
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:34,290
Speaker 1: also have the character of Krubion, Professor Krubion. This one

558
00:30:34,350 --> 00:30:36,870
Speaker 1: I know how to pronounce because they say this name

559
00:30:37,090 --> 00:30:39,930
Speaker 1: so many times in the picture. Everyone's looking for Krubion

560
00:30:40,250 --> 00:30:43,470
Speaker 1: and they are calling for him through ruins, through castles,

561
00:30:43,870 --> 00:30:44,930
Speaker 1: out in the field, you name it.

562
00:30:45,190 --> 00:30:47,130
Speaker 3: He gets name-checked a lot, yes.

563
00:30:47,850 --> 00:30:52,250
Speaker 1: And he is played by the Italian actor Andrea Checchi,

564
00:30:52,970 --> 00:30:59,010
Speaker 1: who lived 1916 through 1974. Italian award-winning actor who was

565
00:30:59,070 --> 00:31:01,890
Speaker 1: pretty prolific, yet this is one of only two horror

566
00:31:01,930 --> 00:31:06,480
Speaker 1: films he ever did. The other being the bizarre-sounding 1964

567
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:10,980
Speaker 1: War of the Zombies that seems to have Roman centurions

568
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,940
Speaker 1: battling the undead, a rare additional example of horror peplum,

569
00:31:16,460 --> 00:31:19,610
Speaker 1: but one that's not as celebrated as Bava's Hercules in

570
00:31:19,630 --> 00:31:20,290
Speaker 1: the Haunted World.

571
00:31:20,660 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 3: It sounds more like a movie that would have been

572
00:31:22,380 --> 00:31:26,510
Speaker 3: made in the past decade than one from 1964.

573
00:31:26,510 --> 00:31:28,890
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. It's kind of crazy to think that here

574
00:31:28,910 --> 00:31:31,209
Speaker 1: we have an early example of a zombie film that

575
00:31:31,310 --> 00:31:38,870
Speaker 1: feels like a more recent zombie overexposure picture. So, fascinating.

576
00:31:39,090 --> 00:31:41,130
Speaker 3: Maybe not the past decade, actually. Yeah, it sounds like

577
00:31:41,170 --> 00:31:44,350
Speaker 3: a movie that came directed to DVD in 2014.

578
00:31:44,350 --> 00:31:48,410
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. That's exactly where it would be. All right,

579
00:31:48,430 --> 00:31:51,370
Speaker 1: let's look at other cast members here. Let's see. Oh,

580
00:31:51,390 --> 00:31:56,070
Speaker 1: we have Prince Vida, played by Ivo Garani, who lived

581
00:31:56,070 --> 00:32:00,370
Speaker 1: 1924 through 2015. Italian actor whose other credits include 58's

582
00:32:00,390 --> 00:32:05,670
Speaker 1: The Day the Sky Exploded, 1960's Adam Age Vampire, 77's

583
00:32:05,710 --> 00:32:10,750
Speaker 1: Holocaust 2000, and the year 2000's Zora the Vampire, as

584
00:32:10,810 --> 00:32:13,790
Speaker 1: well as numerous Italian historical dramas that I'm sure are

585
00:32:13,850 --> 00:32:16,010
Speaker 1: much better than the schlock that caught my eye.

586
00:32:16,950 --> 00:32:17,150
Speaker 4: Yeah.

587
00:32:17,730 --> 00:32:20,880
Speaker 3: This guy's good in that he's an actor with I

588
00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:24,640
Speaker 3: would say physically robust presence. Like he looks like somebody

589
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,250
Speaker 3: who's like strong and healthy, but he manages through his

590
00:32:28,330 --> 00:32:33,490
Speaker 3: performance to convey that he is in shriveled and weakened

591
00:32:33,630 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 3: by the way that he has been haunted by the,

592
00:32:35,930 --> 00:32:37,790
Speaker 3: the knowledge of this curse and his family.

593
00:32:38,550 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely a haunted figure. Uh, but Oh, not as,

594
00:32:42,620 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: not as haunted in another way as the next character.

595
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,270
Speaker 1: And that is, uh, Igor Javich, uh, This is our

596
00:32:49,470 --> 00:32:53,120
Speaker 1: satanic warlock, and ultimately, I guess, kind of like vampire

597
00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:56,580
Speaker 1: underling of our central vampire princess.

598
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 3: Yes, the lover and the servant of the witch, Asavida.

599
00:33:02,460 --> 00:33:06,140
Speaker 3: So he is interesting. Rob, I wonder if you know

600
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 3: what I mean. In some shots, he goes within the

601
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:16,210
Speaker 3: same shot from looking a little bit funny to looking scary.

602
00:33:16,930 --> 00:33:17,830
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

603
00:33:17,890 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

604
00:33:19,020 --> 00:33:23,930
Speaker 3: He like his look is not naturally menacing. Uh, he

605
00:33:23,970 --> 00:33:26,290
Speaker 3: almost has a kind of like, he could be a

606
00:33:26,310 --> 00:33:29,940
Speaker 3: comic actor with the mustache and the haircut and stuff. Uh,

607
00:33:30,290 --> 00:33:32,950
Speaker 3: but he like the stare goes on a little bit

608
00:33:32,990 --> 00:33:35,850
Speaker 3: too long and then it hardens and then he moves

609
00:33:35,930 --> 00:33:38,350
Speaker 3: towards you and it, and it has this extra chilling

610
00:33:38,390 --> 00:33:39,190
Speaker 3: effect for that.

611
00:33:39,610 --> 00:33:43,120
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's ultimately a great presence. And, and you're like, yeah,

612
00:33:43,130 --> 00:33:45,380
Speaker 1: of course this guy fell into worshiping the devil.

613
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:46,100
Speaker 3: Yeah.

614
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 1: But, uh, Played here by Arturo Domenici, who lived 1916

615
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:55,420
Speaker 1: through 1992. Italian actor who worked in numerous Peplum films,

616
00:33:56,070 --> 00:33:58,110
Speaker 1: as well as 64's Castle of Blood. I don't know

617
00:33:58,130 --> 00:34:00,070
Speaker 1: if you remember him from Castle of Blood or not.

618
00:34:00,230 --> 00:34:01,610
Speaker 3: I don't remember who he was in that.

619
00:34:01,950 --> 00:34:02,190
Speaker 4: Yeah.

620
00:34:02,310 --> 00:34:07,370
Speaker 1: He's also in 59's Caltiki, The Immortal Monster. This is

621
00:34:07,450 --> 00:34:11,750
Speaker 1: the black and white Italian Mayan blob movie that Mario

622
00:34:11,790 --> 00:34:14,690
Speaker 1: Bava served as cinematographer on and also co-directed.

623
00:34:14,989 --> 00:34:15,670
Speaker 3: Haven't seen that.

624
00:34:16,510 --> 00:34:18,180
Speaker 1: It's been on my list because it's supposed to be,

625
00:34:18,210 --> 00:34:19,850
Speaker 1: I mean, how can you not be interested in a

626
00:34:19,910 --> 00:34:24,570
Speaker 1: black and white blob movie with like Mayan elements involved

627
00:34:24,630 --> 00:34:27,070
Speaker 1: in it that is co-directed by Mario Papa?

628
00:34:27,310 --> 00:34:27,830
Speaker 4: Yeah.

629
00:34:28,150 --> 00:34:28,990
Speaker 3: It has my attention.

630
00:34:29,010 --> 00:34:29,569
Speaker 4: All right.

631
00:34:29,590 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 1: We have another character of note and that's Konstantin Vaida.

632
00:34:33,260 --> 00:34:37,660
Speaker 1: And he is played by Enrico Oliveri. He lived 1939

633
00:34:37,660 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: through 2022. Italian actor who did a little more than

634
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: a dozen pictures. And this was seemingly his only horror

635
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,290
Speaker 1: film and also one of his last I'm to understand

636
00:34:47,310 --> 00:34:50,370
Speaker 1: he retired from acting and became an accountant. Oh, okay.

637
00:34:50,489 --> 00:34:54,469
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's as boring and as everyday as the story

638
00:34:54,510 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: needs to be.

639
00:35:04,660 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 3: Okay, are you ready to talk about the plot?

640
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:08,430
Speaker 1: Let's jump into it. Let's jump into the fire.

641
00:35:08,730 --> 00:35:11,150
Speaker 3: That's right. We open on a fire. In fact, a

642
00:35:11,270 --> 00:35:15,150
Speaker 3: big fire. roasting fire in a brazier in the center

643
00:35:15,250 --> 00:35:18,930
Speaker 3: of a dark field with dead trees all around. And

644
00:35:18,969 --> 00:35:21,810
Speaker 3: the air is full of smoke. There is a menacing

645
00:35:21,910 --> 00:35:26,180
Speaker 3: figure in a black executioner's hood, shirtless and muscle bound

646
00:35:26,219 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 3: with leather bracers on his wrists. And he's turning an

647
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,200
Speaker 3: iron brand in the fire pit. And then we get

648
00:35:32,260 --> 00:35:37,740
Speaker 3: voiceover narration, which says, in the 17th century, Satan was

649
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,430
Speaker 3: abroad on the earth. And great was the wrath against

650
00:35:41,530 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 3: those monstrous beings, thirsty for human blood, to whom tradition

651
00:35:46,460 --> 00:35:50,720
Speaker 3: has given the name of vampires. No appeal for pity

652
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:52,339
Speaker 3: or mercy availed.

653
00:35:52,660 --> 00:35:54,540
Speaker 1: All right, there you go. Vampires from the get-go.

654
00:35:54,780 --> 00:35:59,500
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that's talking about the punishers of vampires,

655
00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:04,700
Speaker 3: that no pity or mercy availed if you have mercy

656
00:36:04,739 --> 00:36:07,690
Speaker 3: on the vampires. It's like, no, nothing doing. Because it

657
00:36:07,710 --> 00:36:09,970
Speaker 3: goes without saying that, you know, there's no mercy from

658
00:36:10,010 --> 00:36:11,339
Speaker 3: the vampires themselves, right?

659
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:11,939
Speaker 4: Right, right.

660
00:36:11,980 --> 00:36:14,739
Speaker 1: It would be a little more complicated if that were

661
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 1: the fact.

662
00:36:16,060 --> 00:36:18,760
Speaker 3: So here the camera pans over and we see more

663
00:36:18,980 --> 00:36:22,660
Speaker 3: hooded muscle boys looking on and then more figures lined

664
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 3: up behind the branches of these dead trees. These guys

665
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,660
Speaker 3: are wearing black robes from head to toe. Their faces

666
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,660
Speaker 3: are shrouded in black with little slits over their eyes

667
00:36:31,739 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 3: to look out and they're holding torches. And the narration continues.

668
00:36:36,670 --> 00:36:41,670
Speaker 3: Brothers did not hesitate to accuse brothers, and fathers accused sons,

669
00:36:42,050 --> 00:36:44,810
Speaker 3: in the frantic attempt to purify the earth of that

670
00:36:44,910 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 3: horrible race of blood-devouring assassins. And now we see the

671
00:36:49,660 --> 00:36:54,739
Speaker 3: whole scene in frame. The hooded inquisitors, they stand in

672
00:36:54,780 --> 00:36:57,560
Speaker 3: a great mass in the field between the bare trees.

673
00:36:57,980 --> 00:37:00,839
Speaker 3: They're holding up torches in the light, and before them

674
00:37:01,100 --> 00:37:04,859
Speaker 3: are two prisoners, one man and one woman, bound to

675
00:37:04,940 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 3: large wooden pillars. And the narrator says, before putting them

676
00:37:10,180 --> 00:37:15,419
Speaker 3: to death, human justice anticipated divine judgment by burning into

677
00:37:15,460 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 3: the flesh of those damned ones the brand of Satan.

678
00:37:19,980 --> 00:37:23,150
Speaker 3: And then here we see the executioner approach the woman

679
00:37:23,710 --> 00:37:26,290
Speaker 3: with the iron that he had been turning in the fire.

680
00:37:26,790 --> 00:37:28,890
Speaker 3: He holds it up away from his body and then

681
00:37:28,930 --> 00:37:31,830
Speaker 3: he plunges it against the flesh of the woman's back.

682
00:37:32,290 --> 00:37:33,950
Speaker 3: And we get a close up of the scar there.

683
00:37:34,370 --> 00:37:36,239
Speaker 3: And I was thinking, what's it going to be? Is

684
00:37:36,260 --> 00:37:39,219
Speaker 3: it going to be a pentagram, an inverted cross? It

685
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:42,180
Speaker 3: is a big letter S, I think, for Satan, like

686
00:37:42,219 --> 00:37:43,240
Speaker 3: property of Satan.

687
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,620
Speaker 1: Well, you know, maybe that was just a brand they

688
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,970
Speaker 1: already had ready to go. They didn't really have time

689
00:37:50,030 --> 00:37:53,170
Speaker 1: in their persecution of devil worshipers to really create a

690
00:37:53,250 --> 00:37:55,450
Speaker 1: brand new brand. And then they had to stick to it.

691
00:37:55,469 --> 00:37:58,350
Speaker 1: You know, you want it to be consistent across your brandings.

692
00:37:59,430 --> 00:38:00,560
Speaker 3: Nasty effect, too.

693
00:38:01,090 --> 00:38:01,410
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.

694
00:38:01,450 --> 00:38:04,310
Speaker 1: This looks super gross. This is definitely the scene where

695
00:38:04,370 --> 00:38:06,310
Speaker 1: I was thankful for the black and white. Did not

696
00:38:06,350 --> 00:38:08,370
Speaker 1: need to see this in a thousand colors.

697
00:38:08,690 --> 00:38:08,930
Speaker 4: Yeah.

698
00:38:09,190 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 3: So after the branding, the woman who's tied to the pillar,

699
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,840
Speaker 3: she turns to look at her captors and it's Barbara Steele.

700
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 3: She is pale with long, dark hair and these wide,

701
00:38:18,900 --> 00:38:23,890
Speaker 3: intense eyes. And one of the inquisitors says, Asa, daughter

702
00:38:23,930 --> 00:38:26,730
Speaker 3: of the house of Vida, this high court of the

703
00:38:26,770 --> 00:38:31,399
Speaker 3: Inquisition of Moldavia has declared you guilty. I, the second-born

704
00:38:31,500 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 3: son of Prince Vaida, as Grand Inquisitor, do condemn you.

705
00:38:35,620 --> 00:38:39,319
Speaker 3: And as your brother, I repudiate you. Too many evil

706
00:38:39,380 --> 00:38:43,160
Speaker 3: deeds have you done to satisfy your monstrous love for

707
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:47,609
Speaker 3: that serf of the devil, Igor Yavuditch. So, you know,

708
00:38:47,630 --> 00:38:51,129
Speaker 3: I'm almost getting a little feeling of Horror Rises from

709
00:38:51,170 --> 00:38:57,540
Speaker 3: the Tomb about this. A cursed witch and warlock power couple...

710
00:38:57,770 --> 00:39:01,610
Speaker 3: who are being sentenced to death by the Inquisition hundreds

711
00:39:01,660 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 3: of years ago because not only did they do things

712
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 3: for Satan, they did things for Satan for each other.

713
00:39:08,620 --> 00:39:11,840
Speaker 3: It's like love that made them drink blood.

714
00:39:13,580 --> 00:39:15,500
Speaker 1: I would imagine that this film was one of the

715
00:39:15,540 --> 00:39:20,240
Speaker 1: key influences on Paul Nashie for Horror Rises from the Tomb.

716
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: There's another example we'll get to here in a minute

717
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:27,089
Speaker 1: where you can see a clear connection between Black Sunday

718
00:39:27,260 --> 00:39:30,220
Speaker 1: and the gothic imagination of Fault in Ashy.

719
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,020
Speaker 3: Totally, yeah. I don't know if it's the same one

720
00:39:33,100 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 3: you have in mind that I do, but I was

721
00:39:34,660 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 3: thinking of one as well. But anyway, so here we

722
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,839
Speaker 3: see the other prisoner, Yevuditch, the one they just talked about.

723
00:39:40,910 --> 00:39:43,609
Speaker 3: This is the man condemned with her. He's tied to

724
00:39:43,650 --> 00:39:47,109
Speaker 3: a pillory in some kind of hideous bronze mask with

725
00:39:47,170 --> 00:39:50,779
Speaker 3: a large nose and a grotesque mouth with a forked

726
00:39:50,890 --> 00:39:54,260
Speaker 3: tongue and a big fin running down from the forehead

727
00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 3: down the middle of the face to the nose. I

728
00:39:57,140 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 3: assume this is one of the masks made by Mario

729
00:39:59,540 --> 00:40:00,240
Speaker 3: Bava's dad.

730
00:40:00,580 --> 00:40:07,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. And it looks incredible. Definitely in its design

731
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: mirrors a lot of the European devil masks and also

732
00:40:11,180 --> 00:40:13,359
Speaker 1: some of the devil masks that you would see in

733
00:40:14,410 --> 00:40:17,609
Speaker 1: parts of Central and South America that were influenced by

734
00:40:18,270 --> 00:40:19,070
Speaker 1: European traditions.

735
00:40:19,350 --> 00:40:19,589
Speaker 4: Yeah.

736
00:40:20,150 --> 00:40:23,009
Speaker 3: So the brother says, may God have pity on your

737
00:40:23,090 --> 00:40:26,779
Speaker 3: soul in this your final hour. Cover her face with

738
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:31,219
Speaker 3: the mask of Satan. And what's this? Well, she's about

739
00:40:31,260 --> 00:40:33,739
Speaker 3: to get her own metal mask, just like her accomplice.

740
00:40:34,300 --> 00:40:36,870
Speaker 3: And so we see another mask like the first. It's

741
00:40:36,930 --> 00:40:40,870
Speaker 3: lying in the dead grass. And the Inquisitor says, nail

742
00:40:40,930 --> 00:40:44,710
Speaker 3: it down. May the cleansing flames reduce her foul body

743
00:40:44,750 --> 00:40:48,090
Speaker 3: to ashes so that the wind will obliterate all trace

744
00:40:48,130 --> 00:40:52,190
Speaker 3: of her existence. Then we see an executioner lift the

745
00:40:52,230 --> 00:40:55,890
Speaker 3: mask up from the grass and we see inside the mask,

746
00:40:55,950 --> 00:41:00,170
Speaker 3: the inside face of it. And it is an Iron

747
00:41:00,390 --> 00:41:03,569
Speaker 3: Maiden mask. So the inside of the mask is all

748
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:06,140
Speaker 3: pointy nails turned toward the face.

749
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:11,660
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Ghastly, yes. And I was looking into this

750
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,299
Speaker 1: a little bit. This mask was seemingly very much an

751
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:18,399
Speaker 1: invention of Mario Bava's, or the Bava's father and son

752
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:22,689
Speaker 1: in general, though clearly based on, first of all, Iron

753
00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:26,089
Speaker 1: Maiden fictions. I think we've discussed in the show before,

754
00:41:26,110 --> 00:41:28,989
Speaker 1: the Iron Maiden is one of those artifacts that did

755
00:41:29,090 --> 00:41:33,150
Speaker 1: not originally actually seem to exist as a physical torture

756
00:41:33,170 --> 00:41:38,310
Speaker 1: or execution device, though that may have changed much later

757
00:41:38,350 --> 00:41:42,350
Speaker 1: in its history as people were inspired by its design.

758
00:41:43,050 --> 00:41:46,510
Speaker 1: You do have various face shackles from throughout the history

759
00:41:46,530 --> 00:41:49,930
Speaker 1: of human torture and punishment. You know, there were, you know, sometimes,

760
00:41:49,950 --> 00:41:52,009
Speaker 1: you know, some sort of thing that was locked on

761
00:41:52,030 --> 00:41:57,040
Speaker 1: the head to mock the individual. Scolds bridle or something. Yeah,

762
00:41:57,060 --> 00:41:59,560
Speaker 1: scolds bridles and the like. And then there's also a

763
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 1: bit of the man in the iron mask to this,

764
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:04,500
Speaker 1: I'd imagine. I mean, that's a pretty big literary footprint

765
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:06,810
Speaker 1: to ignore. But what a creation.

766
00:42:06,910 --> 00:42:07,129
Speaker 4: Yes.

767
00:42:07,150 --> 00:42:10,390
Speaker 1: This mask is just incredible. And the way it's presented.

768
00:42:10,710 --> 00:42:14,810
Speaker 1: I mean, this whole opening sequence is just incredible. Like there's,

769
00:42:15,230 --> 00:42:17,730
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of these older films that we watch,

770
00:42:17,989 --> 00:42:20,930
Speaker 1: you can easily imagine people walking out during the opening

771
00:42:20,950 --> 00:42:23,489
Speaker 1: sequence because sometimes it takes a little while to get going.

772
00:42:23,530 --> 00:42:25,980
Speaker 1: But this one is just off to the races right away.

773
00:42:26,460 --> 00:42:30,160
Speaker 1: And it's just brutal in its execution. I mean, literal execution.

774
00:42:30,180 --> 00:42:30,259
Speaker 4: Yeah.

775
00:42:30,900 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: Yeah.

776
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,620
Speaker 3: So the executioner comes up to the witch, to Barbara Steele,

777
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 3: and he's holding the mask outstretched to Asa's face. And

778
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:40,950
Speaker 3: we see from her perspective as like the mask is

779
00:42:40,989 --> 00:42:46,969
Speaker 3: sort of lowered down over the camera. And, ooh, it's shocking.

780
00:42:46,989 --> 00:42:51,930
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Terrifying sequence here is that mask is lowered

781
00:42:51,969 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 1: into place. And we, the viewer, are experiencing it. We

782
00:42:56,540 --> 00:42:59,890
Speaker 1: have the POV shot. of the spiked mask of Satan

783
00:42:59,969 --> 00:43:03,009
Speaker 1: closing over us. And I can only assume that this

784
00:43:03,070 --> 00:43:06,140
Speaker 1: sequence helped inform a key moment in Revenge of the Sith.

785
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:09,500
Speaker 1: There's the sequence towards the end of that where the

786
00:43:09,540 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 1: mask of Darth Vader is closed over Anakin's face for

787
00:43:13,180 --> 00:43:17,399
Speaker 1: the first time. And it's a terrifying visual in Revenge

788
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:20,910
Speaker 1: of the Sith. I think it's often overlooked in the

789
00:43:21,090 --> 00:43:23,670
Speaker 1: evaluation of the film's final moments. There's a lot of

790
00:43:24,170 --> 00:43:26,489
Speaker 1: A lot of fun is made of the no moment,

791
00:43:26,510 --> 00:43:29,270
Speaker 1: you know, once he is fully Darth Vader. But that

792
00:43:29,350 --> 00:43:32,489
Speaker 1: moment where the Vader mask is being lowered onto his

793
00:43:32,570 --> 00:43:35,100
Speaker 1: face and we see through Anakin's eyes and we see

794
00:43:35,140 --> 00:43:40,660
Speaker 1: his world change as it comes to encase him, I

795
00:43:40,700 --> 00:43:42,299
Speaker 1: think is a really haunting moment. And I think it

796
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:45,180
Speaker 1: had to have been inspired by this moment in Black Sunday.

797
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,660
Speaker 3: That seems quite likely to me. Strange connection. You mentioned

798
00:43:48,730 --> 00:43:50,730
Speaker 3: the no from Revenge of the Sith, the very time.

799
00:43:50,989 --> 00:43:53,149
Speaker 3: Next thing Barbara Steele says when they lower the mask

800
00:43:53,190 --> 00:43:55,489
Speaker 3: over her face is she screams, no.

801
00:43:55,510 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing about the whole no thing

802
00:43:58,780 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 1: is like people scream no a lot in films, certainly

803
00:44:03,219 --> 00:44:05,900
Speaker 1: the films I end up seeing. And sometimes it works,

804
00:44:06,300 --> 00:44:09,220
Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes it's hard to decide exactly

805
00:44:09,300 --> 00:44:11,620
Speaker 1: why it works and why it doesn't work. You know,

806
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,900
Speaker 1: I guess it comes down to the nuances of performance

807
00:44:13,980 --> 00:44:17,810
Speaker 1: and how everything's shot. But also sometimes it just seems

808
00:44:17,870 --> 00:44:20,029
Speaker 1: to be like a case of, yeah, it worked there.

809
00:44:20,110 --> 00:44:22,370
Speaker 1: I buy it. In other cases, I'm like, oh, it

810
00:44:22,390 --> 00:44:23,130
Speaker 1: feels a little hokey.

811
00:44:23,850 --> 00:44:27,250
Speaker 3: So in this case, after shouting no, Barbara Steele says

812
00:44:27,290 --> 00:44:30,790
Speaker 3: to her brother, Gryabi, that's his name. It is I

813
00:44:30,910 --> 00:44:34,719
Speaker 3: who repudiate you. And in the name of Satan, I

814
00:44:34,780 --> 00:44:38,180
Speaker 3: place a curse upon you. Go ahead. Tie me down

815
00:44:38,219 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 3: to the stake. But you will never escape my hunger,

816
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:46,540
Speaker 3: nor that of Satan. And then lightning strikes again. And

817
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,760
Speaker 3: we hear her say, the unchained elements of the powers

818
00:44:49,820 --> 00:44:54,049
Speaker 3: of darkness are lying in ambush. Beware, Gryabi. My revenge

819
00:44:54,110 --> 00:44:57,529
Speaker 3: will strike down you and your accursed house. And in

820
00:44:57,570 --> 00:45:00,190
Speaker 3: the blood of your sons and the sons of their sons,

821
00:45:00,570 --> 00:45:04,370
Speaker 3: I will continue to live immortal. They shall restore to

822
00:45:04,450 --> 00:45:07,469
Speaker 3: me the life that you robbed from me. I shall

823
00:45:07,510 --> 00:45:11,260
Speaker 3: return to torment and destroy throughout the night of time.

824
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:12,520
Speaker 1: It's quite a curse.

825
00:45:12,780 --> 00:45:13,100
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

826
00:45:13,930 --> 00:45:17,390
Speaker 3: So as she's saying this last part, the executioners fix this.

827
00:45:17,810 --> 00:45:21,509
Speaker 3: They fix the spiked mask against her face. And then, oh,

828
00:45:21,969 --> 00:45:25,540
Speaker 3: my God, the big guy executioner, he approaches with a

829
00:45:25,620 --> 00:45:29,140
Speaker 3: huge wooden mallet and he draws back. And on the

830
00:45:29,180 --> 00:45:32,259
Speaker 3: command of the Inquisitor, he hammers the mask.

831
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. This is just absolutely brutal. And this

832
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,220
Speaker 1: is another moment where the gore is, you know, not

833
00:45:39,980 --> 00:45:41,960
Speaker 1: over the top, but just highly effective.

834
00:45:42,330 --> 00:45:45,050
Speaker 3: Yeah. So we hear the princess scream and then dark

835
00:45:45,130 --> 00:45:48,150
Speaker 3: blood trickles out from every hole in the face of

836
00:45:48,190 --> 00:45:51,930
Speaker 3: the mask. And the music swells and we see the title,

837
00:45:52,180 --> 00:45:54,759
Speaker 3: The Mask of Satan. Though now, of course, the movie

838
00:45:54,820 --> 00:45:56,280
Speaker 3: is more often known as Black Sunday.

839
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,560
Speaker 1: Again, incredible sequence here. And it would go on to

840
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:05,739
Speaker 1: influence various other weird execution masks in horror cinema. To

841
00:46:05,910 --> 00:46:08,489
Speaker 1: go back to Paul Nashy, there's the Mask of Shame sequence.

842
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,340
Speaker 1: that his, uh, Voldemar Daninsky wears in 1980s Night of

843
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,069
Speaker 1: the Werewolf, uh, as part of his execution.

844
00:46:15,250 --> 00:46:15,890
Speaker 3: That's right.

845
00:46:15,950 --> 00:46:16,250
Speaker 4: Yeah.

846
00:46:17,390 --> 00:46:19,589
Speaker 1: And, uh, another one, oh, this is a, I think

847
00:46:19,650 --> 00:46:23,490
Speaker 1: another clear connection. Uh, we have the powerful warlock Nix

848
00:46:23,790 --> 00:46:27,890
Speaker 1: in Clive Barker's 1995 film, Lord of Illusions, uh, that

849
00:46:28,130 --> 00:46:32,900
Speaker 1: great performance by Daniel Von Bargan as the warlock. Uh, that, that,

850
00:46:32,940 --> 00:46:36,060
Speaker 1: that mask in particular, the Nix mask seems especially based

851
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:39,350
Speaker 1: on the mask of Satan, uh, because, uh, The warlock

852
00:46:39,390 --> 00:46:42,230
Speaker 1: in that film, once he's freed of it, he bears

853
00:46:42,510 --> 00:46:45,950
Speaker 1: the scars, like intense scarification from where the mask had

854
00:46:45,969 --> 00:46:46,990
Speaker 1: been locked in place.

855
00:46:47,910 --> 00:46:49,730
Speaker 3: I've actually never seen Lord of Illusions.

856
00:46:50,190 --> 00:46:52,400
Speaker 1: Oh, it's been a long time since I've seen it,

857
00:46:52,450 --> 00:46:55,420
Speaker 1: but I remember it having some great elements to it.

858
00:46:56,350 --> 00:47:02,339
Speaker 1: It's a tremendous undead warlock character, for sure. I was

859
00:47:02,380 --> 00:47:04,739
Speaker 1: also reading, it's been a long time since I've seen

860
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 1: this film either, but Tim Burton's Sweepy Hollow from 1999

861
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,900
Speaker 1: begins with a sequence that features not a mask of Satan,

862
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,980
Speaker 1: but an actual Iron Maiden. And I believe in interviews,

863
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,520
Speaker 1: Tim Burton has pointed directly to Black Sunday as an

864
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:22,220
Speaker 1: inspiration on that sequence.

865
00:47:22,460 --> 00:47:23,720
Speaker 3: That wouldn't surprise me, yeah.

866
00:47:24,180 --> 00:47:29,370
Speaker 1: So again, amazing opening already. I mean, it would be

867
00:47:29,390 --> 00:47:31,930
Speaker 1: difficult to screw this up. And as we all know,

868
00:47:31,989 --> 00:47:34,330
Speaker 1: Mario Bava is not going to screw up Black Sunday.

869
00:47:34,370 --> 00:47:37,960
Speaker 1: It is a classic. it is often considered the grandfather

870
00:47:37,980 --> 00:47:39,100
Speaker 1: of Italian horror cinema.

871
00:47:39,700 --> 00:47:41,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, I still remember, actually, the first time I saw

872
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,450
Speaker 3: this movie, how strong of an effect the opening had

873
00:47:44,510 --> 00:47:48,090
Speaker 3: on me. It's great. So, of course, after this, we

874
00:47:48,130 --> 00:47:50,149
Speaker 3: get the credits. And then after the credits play, we

875
00:47:50,330 --> 00:47:52,690
Speaker 3: sort of pick up where we left off. Asa and

876
00:47:52,710 --> 00:47:56,790
Speaker 3: Yevudich are dead. But just when the Inquisitors are setting

877
00:47:56,830 --> 00:47:59,950
Speaker 3: about to burn their bodies with the purifying flame that

878
00:47:59,969 --> 00:48:03,649
Speaker 3: they talked about, a rainstorm breaks out, as if by

879
00:48:03,710 --> 00:48:06,870
Speaker 3: command of the devils. And it quenches all of their fires.

880
00:48:07,050 --> 00:48:11,740
Speaker 3: So instead, the body of Yevuditch is buried in the graveyard,

881
00:48:11,910 --> 00:48:16,580
Speaker 3: but covered in unconsecrated earth in the place reserved for murderers.

882
00:48:17,420 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 3: So I like that this graveyard has an exclusive murderer's way.

883
00:48:21,820 --> 00:48:22,890
Speaker 1: You gotta bury him somewhere.

884
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:26,870
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then Asa is buried in her family tomb

885
00:48:26,989 --> 00:48:30,390
Speaker 3: in the family's chapel. along with her ancestors.

886
00:48:30,590 --> 00:48:33,590
Speaker 1: Because again, her burning, it was rained out. And they're like, well,

887
00:48:33,650 --> 00:48:34,910
Speaker 1: what are we going to do? I thought we were

888
00:48:34,950 --> 00:48:38,250
Speaker 1: going to have her burn and her ashes are distributed

889
00:48:38,290 --> 00:48:40,569
Speaker 1: by the winds. And they're like, well, it's raining. Let's

890
00:48:40,590 --> 00:48:41,790
Speaker 1: just bury her.

891
00:48:42,390 --> 00:48:43,549
Speaker 3: Isn't this like that story of St.

892
00:48:43,590 --> 00:48:43,990
Speaker 1: Swithin?

893
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:48,040
Speaker 3: Like they were going to move the body, but then

894
00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:50,240
Speaker 3: it just kept raining. And they're like, must be magic.

895
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:52,780
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Rain has spoken.

896
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:57,160
Speaker 3: So text tells us it is now two centuries later.

897
00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:00,420
Speaker 3: I think we're going from the 17th century to the 19th.

898
00:49:00,739 --> 00:49:03,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Though, as is often the case in Gavigar films,

899
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:05,799
Speaker 1: it's not like you're going to really see that much

900
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,570
Speaker 1: of a difference, except there's no longer like an active

901
00:49:08,620 --> 00:49:10,850
Speaker 1: Inquisition present. That's about the main difference.

902
00:49:11,630 --> 00:49:15,969
Speaker 3: So the action reopens with a horse-drawn carriage clattering through

903
00:49:16,010 --> 00:49:20,390
Speaker 3: a crossroads. This is in the countryside of Moldavia, which...

904
00:49:20,090 --> 00:49:24,359
Speaker 3: would be, I believe, in modern-day Romania. The passengers are

905
00:49:24,460 --> 00:49:29,920
Speaker 3: two medical doctors. The elder is Dr. Choma Krubayan and

906
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,620
Speaker 3: his younger assistant, Dr. Andrei Gorabek. They are traveling cross-country

907
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:38,430
Speaker 3: to make their way to a medical conference in Moscow. Uh,

908
00:49:38,510 --> 00:49:42,150
Speaker 3: Gorabek says that if they stop at the nearest town,

909
00:49:42,170 --> 00:49:45,330
Speaker 3: a place called Mirgorod, quote, we'll never be able to

910
00:49:45,410 --> 00:49:49,469
Speaker 3: reach Moscow by evening. I was like, what? I don't

911
00:49:49,489 --> 00:49:51,730
Speaker 3: know if they have some hidden rockets on that carriage,

912
00:49:51,790 --> 00:49:53,650
Speaker 3: but I did a little math. This has got to

913
00:49:53,670 --> 00:49:57,930
Speaker 3: be a roughly 2000 kilometer journey or more. They're not

914
00:49:57,969 --> 00:50:02,359
Speaker 3: going to make Moscow by evening. Um, but either way,

915
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,360
Speaker 3: the older Dr. Krubayan is not concerned with reaching Moscow.

916
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:10,399
Speaker 3: He wants to stay the night at the inn in Myrgarod,

917
00:50:10,460 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 3: where they have good smoked salmon. And he says they

918
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:15,060
Speaker 3: have excellent vodka.

919
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're very excited for this vodka. And later on,

920
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:22,300
Speaker 1: we will see that the vodka here is served in

921
00:50:22,489 --> 00:50:25,950
Speaker 1: pitchers at the table, like tap water is served at

922
00:50:25,989 --> 00:50:26,790
Speaker 1: restaurants today.

923
00:50:27,090 --> 00:50:28,570
Speaker 3: That look like water pitchers.

924
00:50:28,670 --> 00:50:32,890
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just that much vodka. There's like a stream

925
00:50:32,969 --> 00:50:33,649
Speaker 1: of it here, I guess.

926
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:39,020
Speaker 3: So the difference between them, the young Dr. Gorbeck, he's handsome, energetic,

927
00:50:39,060 --> 00:50:42,670
Speaker 3: and earnest. He's keen to learn things at the conference

928
00:50:42,730 --> 00:50:44,630
Speaker 3: that they're going to go to. He's going to make

929
00:50:44,650 --> 00:50:48,150
Speaker 3: himself a good physician. And then the older Dr. Krubayan

930
00:50:48,170 --> 00:50:50,950
Speaker 3: is a bit more seasoned. He's kindly, but with a

931
00:50:50,989 --> 00:50:54,529
Speaker 3: cynical sense of humor. He's like, don't put too much

932
00:50:54,570 --> 00:50:58,830
Speaker 3: salt in what you hear at medical conferences. I don't

933
00:50:58,850 --> 00:51:02,950
Speaker 3: know why. Are they going to a half-scam medical conference?

934
00:51:04,469 --> 00:51:07,529
Speaker 3: Krubayan at one point calls out to their coachman to

935
00:51:07,610 --> 00:51:09,750
Speaker 3: ask him to take a shortcut through the woods. I

936
00:51:09,770 --> 00:51:12,259
Speaker 3: guess he wants to get to that vodka faster. And

937
00:51:12,300 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 3: the coachman tries to argue that he can't do that

938
00:51:15,180 --> 00:51:18,080
Speaker 3: because the road through the forest has fallen into disrepair.

939
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:21,299
Speaker 3: It's too dangerous. And the doctor is like, nah, you're

940
00:51:21,340 --> 00:51:23,660
Speaker 3: just afraid of the witch. Here's a gold coin to

941
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:28,810
Speaker 3: motivate you. And it turns out, yes, the coachman is afraid. But,

942
00:51:29,110 --> 00:51:31,750
Speaker 3: you know, the gold coin, he wants that. So reluctantly,

943
00:51:31,830 --> 00:51:35,190
Speaker 3: he takes the dark road through the woods. At one

944
00:51:35,230 --> 00:51:37,890
Speaker 3: point he talks about how he fought against Napoleon when

945
00:51:37,930 --> 00:51:40,709
Speaker 3: he invaded. He says, I'd rather come face to face

946
00:51:40,750 --> 00:51:44,279
Speaker 3: with a cursed Frenchman than meet a ghost. So the

947
00:51:44,340 --> 00:51:48,980
Speaker 3: woods are full of darkness and mist and yowling, cackling wolves,

948
00:51:49,380 --> 00:51:53,320
Speaker 3: bassoon music and trees that reach out and try to

949
00:51:53,380 --> 00:51:56,060
Speaker 3: choke your coachman or so he claims as he's like

950
00:51:56,100 --> 00:52:00,100
Speaker 3: tucking the vodka bottle back into his vest. And eventually,

951
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:02,460
Speaker 3: as they're going through these haunted woods, there is a

952
00:52:02,500 --> 00:52:05,980
Speaker 3: carriage wreck. The wheel comes off. The driver gets out

953
00:52:06,020 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 3: to repair it. And as he does so, the two

954
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,690
Speaker 3: doctors go for a walk and end up investigating a

955
00:52:11,730 --> 00:52:16,410
Speaker 3: nearby ruined building that is emitting strange whistling noises.

956
00:52:16,910 --> 00:52:18,730
Speaker 1: And they're men of science. So what are they going

957
00:52:18,750 --> 00:52:19,880
Speaker 1: to do? They're going to investigate.

958
00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:20,339
Speaker 4: Right.

959
00:52:20,390 --> 00:52:22,140
Speaker 3: This is the Colossi of Mimnon or something.

960
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:22,239
Speaker 4: Yeah.

961
00:52:23,050 --> 00:52:25,880
Speaker 3: So they creep through the overgrown ruins until they finally

962
00:52:25,910 --> 00:52:28,780
Speaker 3: come across the answer. It is an old church organ

963
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:32,240
Speaker 3: with the wind blowing through the pipes. Krubion knocks down

964
00:52:32,300 --> 00:52:35,460
Speaker 3: the pipes with his cane and the wailing stops. So,

965
00:52:35,660 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 3: logical explanation for everything.

966
00:52:37,219 --> 00:52:37,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, fixed.

967
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:41,840
Speaker 3: But then the two doctors are startled when a nearby

968
00:52:41,900 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 3: door slams shut, seemingly on its own. It is a

969
00:52:45,060 --> 00:52:48,560
Speaker 3: heavy wooden door. They go to investigate, and then inside

970
00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:51,259
Speaker 3: the door, there is a staircase leading down into a

971
00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:55,860
Speaker 3: dank subterranean crypt underneath a chapel filled with cobwebs and

972
00:52:55,940 --> 00:53:01,029
Speaker 3: deep shadows. And so the doctors descend. And Krubayan says,

973
00:53:01,140 --> 00:53:04,950
Speaker 3: more than a thousand years of conflicts, hates, and loves,

974
00:53:04,969 --> 00:53:08,870
Speaker 3: all reduced to dust in these tombs. Nothing remains of

975
00:53:08,910 --> 00:53:11,730
Speaker 3: the ancient princes of Vida but the dead shadows of

976
00:53:11,770 --> 00:53:15,670
Speaker 3: their former glory. The history of ancient Moldavia is carved

977
00:53:15,710 --> 00:53:21,049
Speaker 3: in these stones. And so they approach one entombment in

978
00:53:21,090 --> 00:53:24,980
Speaker 3: the crypt, and Krubayan realizes that it is the grave

979
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:28,200
Speaker 3: of the famous witch. He knows the story. The sealed

980
00:53:28,260 --> 00:53:32,219
Speaker 3: coffin has a glass window on the lid, as we

981
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:36,340
Speaker 3: were discussing earlier, so strange, which allows the two doctors

982
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:40,880
Speaker 3: to look inside the coffin and see below the mask

983
00:53:40,940 --> 00:53:44,310
Speaker 3: of Satan. the bronze face nailed in place over the

984
00:53:44,430 --> 00:53:48,739
Speaker 3: flesh face of the condemned witch. Now, why is there

985
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:53,259
Speaker 3: a glass window on the coffin? Well, they explain. There's

986
00:53:53,300 --> 00:53:57,060
Speaker 3: a crucifix mounted on top of the coffin lid, and

987
00:53:57,100 --> 00:54:00,219
Speaker 3: the belief was that by keeping the cross in the

988
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:04,000
Speaker 3: corpse's view through the glass, they could prevent the dead

989
00:54:04,060 --> 00:54:07,520
Speaker 3: body from returning to life and terrorizing them once more.

990
00:54:09,380 --> 00:54:11,180
Speaker 1: You could ask a lot of questions about this. Like,

991
00:54:11,340 --> 00:54:14,919
Speaker 1: why not just put the cross on the inside lid

992
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:18,739
Speaker 1: of the casket? I think you have to come back

993
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:21,980
Speaker 1: to the realization that this is a Bava thing. Like, again,

994
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,820
Speaker 1: fascinated by windows and apertures. So, of course, there's a

995
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:29,140
Speaker 1: glass panel in the top of the casket. And I

996
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:31,859
Speaker 1: guess if I wanted to lean into it, I would say, well,

997
00:54:32,219 --> 00:54:34,410
Speaker 1: this would also allow the viewer to check and make

998
00:54:34,450 --> 00:54:36,209
Speaker 1: sure that the mask of Satan is still in place.

999
00:54:36,660 --> 00:54:36,879
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1000
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:40,220
Speaker 3: Well, actually, there's another rational reason. There's no light inside

1001
00:54:40,260 --> 00:54:42,560
Speaker 3: a coffin. So if the corpse needs to be able

1002
00:54:42,620 --> 00:54:47,100
Speaker 3: to see the crucifix, it needs a window to let

1003
00:54:47,140 --> 00:54:49,029
Speaker 3: the light in so it can see. So if you're

1004
00:54:49,050 --> 00:54:51,230
Speaker 3: going to put a window in there anyway to let

1005
00:54:51,250 --> 00:54:53,270
Speaker 3: the light in, why not just put the cross on

1006
00:54:53,310 --> 00:54:54,930
Speaker 3: the outside instead of on the inside?

1007
00:54:54,989 --> 00:54:57,169
Speaker 1: Well, that's true. Like in D & D terms, even

1008
00:54:57,250 --> 00:55:00,930
Speaker 1: if the corpse comes alive again and has dark vision,

1009
00:55:00,989 --> 00:55:02,400
Speaker 1: it still needs some amount of light.

1010
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:03,379
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1011
00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:04,540
Speaker 1: It totally checks out. You're right.

1012
00:55:05,050 --> 00:55:09,109
Speaker 3: So Krubion is fascinated. Gorbeck gets called out to help

1013
00:55:09,150 --> 00:55:11,350
Speaker 3: the coachman place the wheel back on the axle of

1014
00:55:11,370 --> 00:55:15,100
Speaker 3: the carriage. In the meantime, Krubion is left alone in

1015
00:55:15,140 --> 00:55:19,380
Speaker 3: the crypt and there is a bat attack. Classic gothic

1016
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:22,700
Speaker 3: horror movie bat attack. A giant bat flies out of

1017
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,230
Speaker 3: a hole in the wall and the good doctor starts

1018
00:55:25,270 --> 00:55:28,200
Speaker 3: like swinging and bashing at it with his cane. He

1019
00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:32,180
Speaker 3: eventually draws a gun and shoots this little Derringer pistol.

1020
00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:33,140
Speaker 3: Why has he got a gun?

1021
00:55:33,540 --> 00:55:36,700
Speaker 1: Well, for moments like this. That's why he can so

1022
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:41,200
Speaker 1: confidently walk into ancient crypts to check things out for science,

1023
00:55:41,860 --> 00:55:45,470
Speaker 1: because he's packing heat. But I like the bat attack here.

1024
00:55:45,510 --> 00:55:47,670
Speaker 1: You know, it's a flappy bat, like we see in

1025
00:55:47,690 --> 00:55:51,129
Speaker 1: a lot of gothic horror films, but looks pretty darn good,

1026
00:55:51,190 --> 00:55:53,410
Speaker 1: as you would expect from Mario Bob.

1027
00:55:53,610 --> 00:55:53,890
Speaker 4: Yes.

1028
00:55:54,570 --> 00:56:00,130
Speaker 3: Now, in the process of bat smashing... He inadvertently smashes

1029
00:56:00,230 --> 00:56:04,009
Speaker 3: the glass on the witch's coffin lid and smashes the

1030
00:56:04,070 --> 00:56:05,870
Speaker 3: cross on top of the grave.

1031
00:56:06,350 --> 00:56:07,029
Speaker 4: Uh-oh.

1032
00:56:08,550 --> 00:56:20,390
Speaker 3: Exactly what you shouldn't have done. So Gorbeck comes back,

1033
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:24,379
Speaker 3: and when Krugayan explains what happened, Gorbeck is like, odd

1034
00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:28,899
Speaker 3: bats are usually peaceful creatures. He almost says like, you know,

1035
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:30,950
Speaker 3: they're more afraid of us than we are of them.

1036
00:56:31,710 --> 00:56:34,990
Speaker 1: Peaceful creatures is, is a, is an interesting stretch perhaps,

1037
00:56:35,050 --> 00:56:35,470
Speaker 1: but okay.

1038
00:56:36,190 --> 00:56:38,430
Speaker 3: Uh, but he also, uh, he says that they need

1039
00:56:38,450 --> 00:56:42,760
Speaker 3: to get back outside. Otherwise, a quote, otherwise the coachman

1040
00:56:42,780 --> 00:56:45,839
Speaker 3: will be convinced that he's right. Like we can't let

1041
00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:49,810
Speaker 3: him have that. I guess right about what? I don't know,

1042
00:56:49,989 --> 00:56:51,330
Speaker 3: about the forest being haunted, maybe.

1043
00:56:51,350 --> 00:56:53,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess the implication there is that he

1044
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:54,220
Speaker 1: might leave.

1045
00:56:54,840 --> 00:56:58,779
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, that's true. Oh, fair enough, yeah. So we've

1046
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:00,780
Speaker 3: got to get back, because this guy, we can't depend

1047
00:57:00,860 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 3: on him. He's getting into the vodka and the vest,

1048
00:57:03,140 --> 00:57:05,560
Speaker 3: so we've got to go to the carriage. But Curbion's

1049
00:57:05,600 --> 00:57:08,680
Speaker 3: attention is drawn to the coffin. He realizes the damage

1050
00:57:08,719 --> 00:57:12,870
Speaker 3: he did in his bat-smashing frenzy, and he's looking at it,

1051
00:57:12,910 --> 00:57:16,250
Speaker 3: and it's like, yeah, well, The glass is broken anyway.

1052
00:57:16,590 --> 00:57:17,790
Speaker 3: Don't mind if I do.

1053
00:57:19,730 --> 00:57:21,930
Speaker 1: This was hilarious. Like at this point, we'd had a

1054
00:57:21,970 --> 00:57:26,390
Speaker 1: pretty logical reason for our characters to venture this far

1055
00:57:26,430 --> 00:57:31,100
Speaker 1: into the crypt and then interfere with the various magical

1056
00:57:31,140 --> 00:57:34,000
Speaker 1: protections in place here. But at this point, he's like, well,

1057
00:57:34,180 --> 00:57:37,460
Speaker 1: I've already half violated the grave. I might as well

1058
00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:38,160
Speaker 1: just keep going.

1059
00:57:38,500 --> 00:57:38,860
Speaker 4: Yes.

1060
00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:42,920
Speaker 3: So first he reaches in and removes from the coffin

1061
00:57:42,980 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 3: a little triptych icon. with images of a saint and

1062
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:51,500
Speaker 3: some inscriptions covered in dust and cobwebs. And this will

1063
00:57:51,680 --> 00:57:54,600
Speaker 3: become important for the plot later. But then beyond that

1064
00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:58,480
Speaker 3: lies the body itself, and Krubayan can't resist his curiosity.

1065
00:57:58,860 --> 00:58:02,560
Speaker 3: He reaches in and he removes the mask from the face.

1066
00:58:03,340 --> 00:58:06,780
Speaker 3: There is some good sound design here, kind of a sucking,

1067
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:10,070
Speaker 3: squelching sound as he does this, like trying to pull

1068
00:58:10,090 --> 00:58:14,540
Speaker 3: a boot out of mud. And then, you know, it's

1069
00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:16,700
Speaker 3: not exactly what you would expect it to look like.

1070
00:58:16,820 --> 00:58:20,690
Speaker 3: After 200 years, you would expect nothing to remain of

1071
00:58:20,750 --> 00:58:24,890
Speaker 3: the witch except bones. But under the mask, there is flesh.

1072
00:58:24,910 --> 00:58:29,310
Speaker 3: And there is a pale face pierced all over with

1073
00:58:29,390 --> 00:58:32,910
Speaker 3: holes from the spikes in the mask with empty dark

1074
00:58:33,010 --> 00:58:36,080
Speaker 3: sockets where the eyes should be. And then all over

1075
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:41,360
Speaker 3: the face, into and out of the holes, crawl scorpions.

1076
00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:43,260
Speaker 3: Live scorpions, real scorpions.

1077
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,940
Speaker 1: Live little black scorpions. I have to say, one of

1078
00:58:45,980 --> 00:58:50,390
Speaker 1: the flaws in watching films on your iPhone on a

1079
00:58:50,450 --> 00:58:53,150
Speaker 1: plane is that sometimes you do miss the little details.

1080
00:58:53,190 --> 00:58:56,450
Speaker 1: So when I rewatched portions of this film this morning,

1081
00:58:57,250 --> 00:58:59,210
Speaker 1: I did get to notice that they were scorpions for

1082
00:58:59,250 --> 00:59:00,750
Speaker 1: the first time. And I was very excited.

1083
00:59:01,490 --> 00:59:04,370
Speaker 3: Krubayan says, no comment on the scorpions, by the way,

1084
00:59:04,410 --> 00:59:06,990
Speaker 3: but he says, those empty eyes seem to be looking

1085
00:59:07,110 --> 00:59:12,380
Speaker 3: at us. And yeah, it is. gross. But Krubion, while

1086
00:59:12,420 --> 00:59:15,820
Speaker 3: they're messing around here, he accidentally cuts his hand on

1087
00:59:15,880 --> 00:59:19,240
Speaker 3: the glass of the coffin window. And as the two

1088
00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:23,120
Speaker 3: doctors are leaving, we see that some of Krubion's blood

1089
00:59:23,380 --> 00:59:26,650
Speaker 3: drips down into the coffin and stains the face of

1090
00:59:26,690 --> 00:59:30,020
Speaker 3: the body inside. I think we can all tell where

1091
00:59:30,060 --> 00:59:31,940
Speaker 3: this is going to go. And you know what? This

1092
00:59:32,020 --> 00:59:35,040
Speaker 3: is also a plot point in a Paul Nashie film

1093
00:59:35,100 --> 00:59:37,860
Speaker 3: that would come later. And have you seen this one, Rob,

1094
00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:41,060
Speaker 3: the werewolf versus the vampire women from 1971?

1095
00:59:41,060 --> 00:59:44,660
Speaker 1: I have not. It's not in either of the Nashie

1096
00:59:44,700 --> 00:59:47,200
Speaker 1: collection volumes that I have. So it's, it's still on

1097
00:59:47,240 --> 00:59:47,660
Speaker 1: my list.

1098
00:59:48,290 --> 00:59:48,450
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1099
00:59:48,490 --> 00:59:50,950
Speaker 3: So I've got the, the, uh, the 4k of that

1100
00:59:51,070 --> 00:59:55,250
Speaker 3: one in that film, there's an ancient vampire queen who

1101
00:59:55,450 --> 01:00:00,410
Speaker 3: is revived from her, her, her burial place when a

1102
01:00:00,530 --> 01:00:04,130
Speaker 3: scholar cuts her hand and drips blood into the grave

1103
01:00:04,370 --> 01:00:08,010
Speaker 3: onto her. Also in that movie, the vampire queen is

1104
01:00:08,110 --> 01:00:11,270
Speaker 3: played by Patty Shepard, who kind of looks like Barbara Steele.

1105
01:00:11,890 --> 01:00:12,200
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1106
01:00:12,240 --> 01:00:12,430
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1107
01:00:12,470 --> 01:00:12,680
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1108
01:00:12,700 --> 01:00:13,570
Speaker 1: You're right. I can see it.

1109
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:16,660
Speaker 3: Especially the design. If you look up the way she

1110
01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:19,400
Speaker 3: she's dressed with like the black veil is the vampire

1111
01:00:19,460 --> 01:00:22,100
Speaker 3: queen in that movie. It's a very Barbara Steele in

1112
01:00:22,140 --> 01:00:26,610
Speaker 3: this movie look. So I, I, think Paul Nash he

1113
01:00:26,630 --> 01:00:29,070
Speaker 3: had Black Sunday on the brain a good bit.

1114
01:00:29,190 --> 01:00:32,410
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah I mean it this this film inspired just

1115
01:00:32,450 --> 01:00:33,530
Speaker 1: about everybody.

1116
01:00:33,910 --> 01:00:36,150
Speaker 3: So once the doctors get back up to the surface

1117
01:00:36,470 --> 01:00:39,990
Speaker 3: bam they come face to face with an extremely unsettling

1118
01:00:40,030 --> 01:00:43,150
Speaker 3: lady played by Barbara Steele who is out walking her

1119
01:00:43,210 --> 01:00:46,950
Speaker 3: to hell in the ruins yeah now you might think

1120
01:00:47,010 --> 01:00:49,689
Speaker 3: like whoa the witch is already resurrected like how how'd

1121
01:00:49,730 --> 01:00:51,850
Speaker 3: she beat them up to the top but no the

1122
01:00:51,870 --> 01:00:54,570
Speaker 3: witch is not resurrected yet Barbara Steele is as we

1123
01:00:54,590 --> 01:00:57,820
Speaker 3: said earlier a playing two roles in the film. She

1124
01:00:57,900 --> 01:01:01,400
Speaker 3: is the long-dead witch Asa, but she is also in

1125
01:01:01,420 --> 01:01:07,040
Speaker 3: the present that family line's unwitting descendant Katya. So Katya

1126
01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:10,920
Speaker 3: lives in her ancestral estate with her father, Prince Vaida,

1127
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:15,490
Speaker 3: and her brother, Constantine. And here Katya is out walking

1128
01:01:15,530 --> 01:01:20,090
Speaker 3: her two dogs. The doctors introduce themselves, and Katya explains

1129
01:01:20,250 --> 01:01:23,130
Speaker 3: that she was out walking her dogs when she heard

1130
01:01:23,170 --> 01:01:26,650
Speaker 3: the gunshot. So they explain what happened and they apologize

1131
01:01:26,690 --> 01:01:30,130
Speaker 3: for entering the chapel without permission. And then she says

1132
01:01:30,650 --> 01:01:36,540
Speaker 3: she's significantly, I want to say, more weird and ominous

1133
01:01:36,580 --> 01:01:39,400
Speaker 3: here than Katya is in some later scenes.

1134
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1135
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:44,460
Speaker 3: Like when they first meet her here, she's an odd lady.

1136
01:01:44,940 --> 01:01:48,740
Speaker 3: She says in this dreamy voice, everything is going to ruin.

1137
01:01:49,260 --> 01:01:53,070
Speaker 3: My father, Prince Vida, refuses to repair even this old chapel.

1138
01:01:53,530 --> 01:01:57,610
Speaker 3: This place in his eyes is a curse. And suddenly

1139
01:01:57,630 --> 01:02:01,590
Speaker 3: the dogs start barking and the coachman calls out that

1140
01:02:01,630 --> 01:02:06,300
Speaker 3: the carriage is repaired. So Krubayan begs Katya's pardon and

1141
01:02:06,340 --> 01:02:09,540
Speaker 3: says that they have to leave. But Gorubek is clearly,

1142
01:02:10,060 --> 01:02:13,000
Speaker 3: he doesn't want to go. He is smitten with Katya's

1143
01:02:13,040 --> 01:02:17,080
Speaker 3: beauty and he's just got Vita fever. He's like, I

1144
01:02:17,140 --> 01:02:17,490
Speaker 3: live here now.

1145
01:02:17,950 --> 01:02:21,210
Speaker 1: Plus, he's a dog guy, and she clearly has two

1146
01:02:21,250 --> 01:02:24,710
Speaker 1: dogs that she loves a lot. So, you know, instantly,

1147
01:02:24,730 --> 01:02:26,750
Speaker 1: it's matchmaking in his head.

1148
01:02:26,990 --> 01:02:30,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is my dog. These are my dogs, Kerber

1149
01:02:30,180 --> 01:02:34,640
Speaker 3: and us. And so he tells her, like, well, I

1150
01:02:34,660 --> 01:02:36,160
Speaker 3: have to leave now, but I'm going to be spending

1151
01:02:36,200 --> 01:02:38,280
Speaker 3: the night at Myrgorod, and I really hope I will

1152
01:02:38,320 --> 01:02:40,530
Speaker 3: see you again. He has no reason to think he

1153
01:02:40,550 --> 01:02:41,530
Speaker 3: would ever see her again.

1154
01:02:41,650 --> 01:02:44,370
Speaker 1: Right, yeah. I mean, we, the viewer, know that, yeah,

1155
01:02:44,390 --> 01:02:46,410
Speaker 1: that's probably going to happen. But why would he think

1156
01:02:46,450 --> 01:02:46,770
Speaker 1: he would.

1157
01:02:46,710 --> 01:02:50,020
Speaker 3: Run into her? And then she says, in a kind

1158
01:02:50,060 --> 01:02:52,360
Speaker 3: of ominous way, I didn't know if this actually had

1159
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:54,640
Speaker 3: any significance. She says, I trust you will have a

1160
01:02:54,660 --> 01:02:59,380
Speaker 3: good night at Myrgorod. Did that ever mean anything? I

1161
01:02:59,420 --> 01:03:01,780
Speaker 3: don't think there's anything all that spooky about Myrgorod.

1162
01:03:01,980 --> 01:03:04,220
Speaker 1: No, it's like, I guess just the nearest town. I

1163
01:03:04,240 --> 01:03:07,640
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess this whole sequence with her does feel,

1164
01:03:07,940 --> 01:03:12,419
Speaker 1: like you said, more dreamlike than what is to come

1165
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:16,050
Speaker 1: with this character. And I don't know, maybe Baba's leaning

1166
01:03:16,090 --> 01:03:18,550
Speaker 1: in a bit. He often has these sequences in his

1167
01:03:18,590 --> 01:03:23,770
Speaker 1: pictures that feel very dreamlike. And so maybe he's indulging, oh,

1168
01:03:23,870 --> 01:03:26,640
Speaker 1: I don't want to criticize, but maybe he's indulging almost

1169
01:03:26,700 --> 01:03:29,120
Speaker 1: too much in the dreamlike qualities of the sequence.

1170
01:03:29,380 --> 01:03:32,880
Speaker 3: It's more feeling than logic, I think. The doctors, so

1171
01:03:32,940 --> 01:03:35,300
Speaker 3: they go on their way and Katya is left alone,

1172
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:38,360
Speaker 3: making these sad, glassy eyes at them as they leave.

1173
01:03:38,940 --> 01:03:41,960
Speaker 3: Her face is like literally sparkling in this shot, by

1174
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:45,380
Speaker 3: the way. The I don't know how exactly they achieve

1175
01:03:45,420 --> 01:03:48,560
Speaker 3: that effect, but it's crazy. And Gorabek looks back at

1176
01:03:48,600 --> 01:03:50,860
Speaker 3: her out the window of the carriage as they leave.

1177
01:03:52,540 --> 01:03:55,720
Speaker 3: Also worth noting that they take the little triptych icon

1178
01:03:55,760 --> 01:03:58,980
Speaker 3: with them. So Grubayan's just like, yoink, that's mine now.

1179
01:03:59,240 --> 01:04:00,550
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and steal that from

1180
01:04:00,590 --> 01:04:04,010
Speaker 1: the grave. But not knowing that that's a load-bearing artifact.

1181
01:04:04,290 --> 01:04:09,730
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. So meanwhile, back inside the chapel, we see

1182
01:04:09,790 --> 01:04:14,640
Speaker 3: the grave of the witch festering. And some frightening music swells.

1183
01:04:15,100 --> 01:04:18,700
Speaker 3: And then inside the black socket of the witch's eye,

1184
01:04:18,860 --> 01:04:22,240
Speaker 3: a dark, creamy liquid begins to froth.

1185
01:04:24,340 --> 01:04:27,340
Speaker 1: Again, it's almost amazing how disgusting the gore is in

1186
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:28,939
Speaker 1: this picture, despite being black and white.

1187
01:04:29,180 --> 01:04:29,380
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1188
01:04:29,950 --> 01:04:32,110
Speaker 3: So that night at the castle, we meet the rest

1189
01:04:32,150 --> 01:04:35,270
Speaker 3: of Katya's family. A fire is roaring in the hearth.

1190
01:04:35,490 --> 01:04:38,710
Speaker 3: Katya is sitting at the piano, playing music by herself.

1191
01:04:38,890 --> 01:04:41,810
Speaker 3: Her brother, Constantine, who is, he's kind of a young,

1192
01:04:41,910 --> 01:04:46,260
Speaker 3: high-spirited guy. He's a hunter. He's busy cleaning an antique rifle.

1193
01:04:46,920 --> 01:04:50,120
Speaker 3: And her father is seated before the fire in a

1194
01:04:50,180 --> 01:04:55,000
Speaker 3: high-backed chair, just staring into the blaze, looking haunted and depressed.

1195
01:04:55,440 --> 01:04:58,860
Speaker 1: Your typical gothic horror family, really, in many respects.

1196
01:04:59,280 --> 01:04:59,500
Speaker 4: Yes.

1197
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:03,310
Speaker 3: So Katya at one point stops playing the piano when

1198
01:05:03,350 --> 01:05:06,530
Speaker 3: she hears a distant wailing coming from outside the castle.

1199
01:05:06,950 --> 01:05:11,050
Speaker 3: Everybody stops to listen. Constantine believes it is a pack

1200
01:05:11,090 --> 01:05:14,240
Speaker 3: of wolves, which explains why he found no deer in

1201
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:17,960
Speaker 3: his treks through the forest lately. But Prince Vida, however,

1202
01:05:18,420 --> 01:05:21,160
Speaker 3: he looks troubled and he says, those are not wolves.

1203
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:23,600
Speaker 3: Then he looks up at the painting on the wall

1204
01:05:23,660 --> 01:05:26,710
Speaker 3: and he gasps in terror. He says, the griffin, it

1205
01:05:26,750 --> 01:05:30,160
Speaker 3: has moved. Up on the wall, we see a painted

1206
01:05:30,260 --> 01:05:34,480
Speaker 3: portrait of a Vida family ancestor, a young woman who

1207
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:38,490
Speaker 3: looks exactly like Katja, dressed in a regal gown, looking

1208
01:05:38,590 --> 01:05:42,710
Speaker 3: mysteriously toward the painter. And underfoot in the painting is

1209
01:05:42,750 --> 01:05:45,890
Speaker 3: a griffin. Griffins seem to be a motif here. There

1210
01:05:45,930 --> 01:05:48,930
Speaker 3: are monstrous carvings on either side of the fireplace, and

1211
01:05:48,950 --> 01:05:52,850
Speaker 3: I think these are griffins too. Prince Vida and Katja

1212
01:05:52,970 --> 01:05:56,470
Speaker 3: agreed that the painting has somehow changed. The griffin is different.

1213
01:05:57,160 --> 01:06:00,200
Speaker 3: It was once depicted as dead, but now it appears alive.

1214
01:06:00,260 --> 01:06:04,580
Speaker 3: How could it have changed in the painting? Constantine is skeptical.

1215
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:07,100
Speaker 3: He notes that the painting has always had a strange

1216
01:06:07,160 --> 01:06:10,240
Speaker 3: effect on Katya. She says, it's like a flame that

1217
01:06:10,300 --> 01:06:13,680
Speaker 3: can't escape. There's something alive about it, something different about

1218
01:06:13,700 --> 01:06:16,780
Speaker 3: the eyes, the hands, as if it were hiding something.

1219
01:06:17,220 --> 01:06:19,980
Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm afraid to go near it. And then Prince

1220
01:06:20,060 --> 01:06:22,980
Speaker 3: Vaida is like, well, we'll say no more about it. Yeah.

1221
01:06:26,080 --> 01:06:29,880
Speaker 3: But the prince is so he's like frightened and exhausted

1222
01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:32,940
Speaker 3: and he just needs to be alone. I think he

1223
01:06:32,980 --> 01:06:35,890
Speaker 3: complains that instead of warmth, a chill seems to be

1224
01:06:35,930 --> 01:06:38,230
Speaker 3: coming out of the fireplace. And there's actually a reason

1225
01:06:38,270 --> 01:06:41,130
Speaker 3: for that. We will discover later. But he says his

1226
01:06:41,210 --> 01:06:44,570
Speaker 3: spirit is weary and he must say goodnight to his children.

1227
01:06:44,610 --> 01:06:47,240
Speaker 3: So they leave him alone. And there is a scene

1228
01:06:47,300 --> 01:06:51,020
Speaker 3: here where Prince Vida describes to well, he talks to

1229
01:06:51,060 --> 01:06:55,090
Speaker 3: his butler, Ivan or Yvonne. And he describes the curse

1230
01:06:55,170 --> 01:06:57,810
Speaker 3: upon his family. So he says, you know what, today

1231
01:06:57,970 --> 01:07:00,300
Speaker 3: is the feast of St. George. And I had to

1232
01:07:00,340 --> 01:07:03,740
Speaker 3: look that up for when that is generally celebrated April 23rd.

1233
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:06,760
Speaker 3: And I kind of hate that this goes against the

1234
01:07:06,920 --> 01:07:11,560
Speaker 3: otherwise seasonally perfect setting of this film. It's like so Halloweeny.

1235
01:07:12,360 --> 01:07:14,440
Speaker 3: But like a lot of these other stories, you know,

1236
01:07:14,460 --> 01:07:17,060
Speaker 3: what is it with, there's so many old world horror

1237
01:07:17,100 --> 01:07:20,300
Speaker 3: stories set in the spring set at the feast of St.

1238
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:20,840
Speaker 4: George.

1239
01:07:21,200 --> 01:07:24,870
Speaker 3: Or on Walpurgisnacht, you know, like late April or the

1240
01:07:24,910 --> 01:07:28,170
Speaker 3: beginning of May, really seems to have been a powerful,

1241
01:07:28,230 --> 01:07:29,130
Speaker 3: spooky season.

1242
01:07:29,990 --> 01:07:33,810
Speaker 1: That's fascinating. We may have to explore that later on

1243
01:07:33,890 --> 01:07:37,150
Speaker 1: and stuff to blow your mind, because it seems counterintuitive

1244
01:07:37,950 --> 01:07:40,669
Speaker 1: when you think of, you know, the change of the seasons, right?

1245
01:07:40,690 --> 01:07:45,350
Speaker 1: Like spring is upon us. The cold winter of death

1246
01:07:45,450 --> 01:07:48,439
Speaker 1: is passing away. The sun has returned to us. Shouldn't

1247
01:07:48,460 --> 01:07:51,560
Speaker 1: it just be all feasts and preparation? Like, why are

1248
01:07:51,580 --> 01:07:56,250
Speaker 1: there still threats afoot? It would be interesting to dig

1249
01:07:56,290 --> 01:07:56,650
Speaker 1: into that.

1250
01:07:57,170 --> 01:08:00,350
Speaker 3: Maybe this year, toward the end of April, we should

1251
01:08:00,390 --> 01:08:03,970
Speaker 3: do like a half-tober week where we figure out what

1252
01:08:04,010 --> 01:08:05,510
Speaker 3: it is that's spooky about spring.

1253
01:08:06,090 --> 01:08:08,310
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Spooky spring.

1254
01:08:09,510 --> 01:08:12,620
Speaker 3: Anyway, Prince Vida explains, okay, it's St. George's Day. And

1255
01:08:12,740 --> 01:08:16,059
Speaker 3: on St. George's Day, 200 years ago, his ancestral relative,

1256
01:08:16,439 --> 01:08:19,140
Speaker 3: the witch Asa and her consort Yevuditch were put to

1257
01:08:19,180 --> 01:08:23,520
Speaker 3: death for being in league with hell. And 100 years later,

1258
01:08:23,860 --> 01:08:26,100
Speaker 3: on the same day of the year, the Feast of St. George,

1259
01:08:26,240 --> 01:08:29,570
Speaker 3: an earthquake rocked the chapel where Asa's body was laid

1260
01:08:29,610 --> 01:08:32,849
Speaker 3: to rest under the mask of Satan, and it split

1261
01:08:32,890 --> 01:08:35,150
Speaker 3: her tomb asunder as if she were trying to break

1262
01:08:35,250 --> 01:08:39,170
Speaker 3: out of death itself to accomplish her revenge. And that

1263
01:08:39,229 --> 01:08:44,400
Speaker 3: very night, his ancestor, Princess Macha, who looked exactly like Asa,

1264
01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:49,630
Speaker 3: died mysteriously. She was only 21. Now the prince's daughter

1265
01:08:49,710 --> 01:08:53,690
Speaker 3: Katya is 21, and she too is the image of Asa.

1266
01:08:54,170 --> 01:08:56,410
Speaker 3: So he's terrified of what is going to happen to

1267
01:08:56,450 --> 01:09:00,330
Speaker 3: her and to them all. But Ivan reminds him even

1268
01:09:00,390 --> 01:09:04,050
Speaker 3: if what you say is true, the cross will protect you. Quote,

1269
01:09:04,430 --> 01:09:08,019
Speaker 3: these monsters are terrified by the symbol of Christ. Always

1270
01:09:08,060 --> 01:09:11,040
Speaker 3: have it near you and you'll be safe. Drink your toddy, sir,

1271
01:09:11,100 --> 01:09:11,939
Speaker 3: before it gets cold.

1272
01:09:13,220 --> 01:09:14,860
Speaker 1: I like the inclusion of the toddy. Do you think

1273
01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:18,420
Speaker 1: it's a vodka toddy? Because you can make a toddy

1274
01:09:18,500 --> 01:09:22,799
Speaker 1: with various spirits or, I mean, even without a spirit.

1275
01:09:22,860 --> 01:09:25,500
Speaker 1: I think if you just have some hot water and

1276
01:09:25,560 --> 01:09:29,370
Speaker 1: some lemon juice and some honey, that can qualify as

1277
01:09:29,410 --> 01:09:29,750
Speaker 1: a toddy.

1278
01:09:30,430 --> 01:09:33,110
Speaker 3: Okay. I actually didn't know what a toddy was. I assumed,

1279
01:09:33,350 --> 01:09:35,370
Speaker 3: I just knew it was hot and that it had

1280
01:09:35,470 --> 01:09:36,150
Speaker 3: alcohol in it.

1281
01:09:36,490 --> 01:09:37,250
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.

1282
01:09:37,310 --> 01:09:39,440
Speaker 1: I think it's, I don't know, some people out there

1283
01:09:39,450 --> 01:09:43,930
Speaker 1: may be a little more specific about about toddies, but it's,

1284
01:09:44,090 --> 01:09:47,059
Speaker 1: it's my loose understanding that there are a wide variety of,

1285
01:09:47,350 --> 01:09:51,170
Speaker 1: of hot spirit drinks, uh, that can be referred to

1286
01:09:51,290 --> 01:09:51,930
Speaker 1: as toddies.

1287
01:09:52,250 --> 01:09:52,590
Speaker 4: Okay.

1288
01:09:53,330 --> 01:09:55,650
Speaker 1: Without getting, you know, full on into like hot butter

1289
01:09:55,670 --> 01:09:56,510
Speaker 1: grum and so forth.

1290
01:09:58,070 --> 01:10:01,689
Speaker 3: Uh, so anyway, he goes, he's like, yes, yes. Uh, Yvonne,

1291
01:10:01,729 --> 01:10:03,650
Speaker 3: I will drink my toddy. He goes to drink the

1292
01:10:03,689 --> 01:10:07,570
Speaker 3: toddy and in the liquid, he sees reflected the mask

1293
01:10:07,610 --> 01:10:08,110
Speaker 3: of Satan.

1294
01:10:08,130 --> 01:10:09,689
Speaker 1: Oh, fabulous.

1295
01:10:09,770 --> 01:10:13,700
Speaker 3: And he says, it's death. I see death. But he

1296
01:10:13,770 --> 01:10:16,830
Speaker 3: resolves that they cannot win against the symbol of Christ.

1297
01:10:17,570 --> 01:10:21,130
Speaker 3: So once again here, we see elsewhere. We're back inside

1298
01:10:21,170 --> 01:10:24,309
Speaker 3: the tomb in the chapel. And the wind is whipping

1299
01:10:24,390 --> 01:10:27,270
Speaker 3: outside in the world above. And in Asa's grave, we

1300
01:10:27,310 --> 01:10:29,770
Speaker 3: see a close-up of her face. And last time, her

1301
01:10:29,910 --> 01:10:33,450
Speaker 3: eye sockets were kind of pooling with that thick fluid.

1302
01:10:33,939 --> 01:10:38,059
Speaker 3: Now they are surging with a white vitreous jelly forming pale,

1303
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:40,080
Speaker 3: empty orbs without pupils.

1304
01:10:40,100 --> 01:10:40,520
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.

1305
01:10:49,880 --> 01:10:52,920
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, at the inn at Myrgorod, the two doctors are

1306
01:10:52,960 --> 01:10:57,180
Speaker 3: enjoying the local vodka. So everybody's having some alcohol tonight. Gorbeck,

1307
01:10:57,360 --> 01:10:59,440
Speaker 3: by the way, he is drunk and it is a

1308
01:10:59,520 --> 01:11:03,570
Speaker 3: swinging party. They got a guy playing a tuba. It's

1309
01:11:03,610 --> 01:11:04,370
Speaker 3: all over the place.

1310
01:11:04,510 --> 01:11:06,530
Speaker 1: I mean, it's gothic horror. And as we've seen in

1311
01:11:06,570 --> 01:11:09,550
Speaker 1: our discussion of the universal horror pictures, you got to

1312
01:11:09,590 --> 01:11:11,510
Speaker 1: have some sort of a beer hall, right? Like that's,

1313
01:11:11,810 --> 01:11:13,450
Speaker 1: you know, I guess if you're going for some sort

1314
01:11:13,490 --> 01:11:19,300
Speaker 1: of a like a Germanic or Romanian, Moldovian, whatever, setting. Like, yeah,

1315
01:11:19,360 --> 01:11:21,439
Speaker 1: given the time period, it makes sense for there to

1316
01:11:21,479 --> 01:11:25,260
Speaker 1: be some sort of a pub-type environment that's at the

1317
01:11:25,340 --> 01:11:26,460
Speaker 1: center of local life.

1318
01:11:26,840 --> 01:11:32,420
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Gorbeck is enjoying that pub life. He is

1319
01:11:32,580 --> 01:11:35,860
Speaker 3: thoroughly grodable here. He is revealing how obsessed he is

1320
01:11:35,880 --> 01:11:38,920
Speaker 3: with the princess. Like, he's telling Krubayan, I'm about ready

1321
01:11:38,939 --> 01:11:41,520
Speaker 3: to go back to that castle right now and ask

1322
01:11:41,540 --> 01:11:44,940
Speaker 3: her to marry me. But Krubayan convinces him, no, you

1323
01:11:44,979 --> 01:11:48,310
Speaker 3: should go to bed instead. And he's like, okay. And

1324
01:11:48,350 --> 01:11:51,410
Speaker 3: he goes to bed. The older doctor, meanwhile, he's going

1325
01:11:51,490 --> 01:11:53,150
Speaker 3: to go out for a walk in the night air

1326
01:11:53,189 --> 01:11:56,330
Speaker 3: before he turns in. And there's a very nice creepy

1327
01:11:56,370 --> 01:11:59,610
Speaker 3: little segment here where we follow the innkeeper's daughter as

1328
01:11:59,670 --> 01:12:02,150
Speaker 3: she is sent out alone to milk the cow. She

1329
01:12:02,170 --> 01:12:04,450
Speaker 3: doesn't want to go because the barn is creepy. It's

1330
01:12:04,490 --> 01:12:07,680
Speaker 3: right next to the haunted cemetery and she's afraid, but

1331
01:12:07,740 --> 01:12:10,639
Speaker 3: she's forced to go milk the cow anyway. And she

1332
01:12:11,140 --> 01:12:13,259
Speaker 3: really has to walk through some kind of thick woods

1333
01:12:13,320 --> 01:12:14,900
Speaker 3: to get there. I was thinking, wouldn't there be a

1334
01:12:14,960 --> 01:12:16,099
Speaker 3: path to the barn?

1335
01:12:16,120 --> 01:12:20,520
Speaker 1: Well, for zoning reasons, the barn was built next to

1336
01:12:20,580 --> 01:12:23,920
Speaker 1: the abandoned cemetery where all the murderers were buried two

1337
01:12:23,939 --> 01:12:24,540
Speaker 1: centuries ago.

1338
01:12:25,580 --> 01:12:28,300
Speaker 3: Maybe she's cutting through the forest as a shortcut, and

1339
01:12:28,340 --> 01:12:33,599
Speaker 3: that's why she's pushing through all this vegetation. And along

1340
01:12:33,620 --> 01:12:36,160
Speaker 3: the way, she's startled by bats and by a toad

1341
01:12:36,220 --> 01:12:38,939
Speaker 3: hopping in a puddle. She gets there to milk the

1342
01:12:38,960 --> 01:12:40,900
Speaker 3: cow and the cow is named Irina, by the way,

1343
01:12:40,979 --> 01:12:42,730
Speaker 3: we learned the cow's name. I don't think they ever

1344
01:12:42,770 --> 01:12:47,070
Speaker 3: say the innkeeper's daughter's name. But there is a wonderfully

1345
01:12:47,229 --> 01:12:50,070
Speaker 3: creepy little set here where, where crew by on goes

1346
01:12:50,130 --> 01:12:53,150
Speaker 3: out to smoke his pipe by a pond in the moonlight.

1347
01:12:53,450 --> 01:12:56,270
Speaker 3: And we hear the frogs croaking and the insects buzzing.

1348
01:12:56,850 --> 01:13:00,450
Speaker 3: And then the surface of the pond in our view dissolves.

1349
01:13:00,630 --> 01:13:02,910
Speaker 3: And we see the face of the witch lying in

1350
01:13:02,950 --> 01:13:06,250
Speaker 3: her grave, still disfigured with the holes in her face.

1351
01:13:06,710 --> 01:13:11,250
Speaker 3: and demonically wide eyes now quickened with undead eyeballs. And

1352
01:13:11,310 --> 01:13:14,150
Speaker 3: she opens her lips and begins to speak. And she's

1353
01:13:14,170 --> 01:13:17,960
Speaker 3: got a voice like a snake. And she says, rise, Yevuditch.

1354
01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,660
Speaker 3: And so in the cemetery across from the barn, a

1355
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:25,300
Speaker 3: storm breaks out. The innkeeper's daughter, she's in there milking

1356
01:13:25,320 --> 01:13:27,190
Speaker 3: the cow, and she kind of watches through the window

1357
01:13:27,270 --> 01:13:31,150
Speaker 3: as lightning strikes in the grounds beyond. Then in an

1358
01:13:31,530 --> 01:13:37,190
Speaker 3: awesome sequence, we zoom slowly on the unconsecrated grave of Yevuditch,

1359
01:13:37,630 --> 01:13:41,129
Speaker 3: which is sort of eroded now over all the years.

1360
01:13:42,060 --> 01:13:45,519
Speaker 3: And the earth in front of the grave slowly swells

1361
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:49,200
Speaker 3: from below with the damp soil pushing up and kind

1362
01:13:49,220 --> 01:13:53,060
Speaker 3: of unfolding outwards in clods from the void where the

1363
01:13:53,420 --> 01:13:56,700
Speaker 3: cursed body rests. And then we see a hand. It's

1364
01:13:56,800 --> 01:14:00,310
Speaker 3: slimy and pale. with nails like the claws of a

1365
01:14:00,330 --> 01:14:04,290
Speaker 3: beast reaching up through the mud, and the body climbs

1366
01:14:04,370 --> 01:14:07,060
Speaker 3: out of the earth. And so the body stumbles through

1367
01:14:07,070 --> 01:14:10,420
Speaker 3: the haunted cemetery with the mask of Satan still nailed

1368
01:14:10,479 --> 01:14:13,460
Speaker 3: to its face. And then finally, Yevuditch comes to a

1369
01:14:13,500 --> 01:14:16,800
Speaker 3: stop beside this eroded table of tree roots, and he

1370
01:14:16,880 --> 01:14:20,140
Speaker 3: pulls the mask off of his face, revealing a fleshy

1371
01:14:20,300 --> 01:14:23,950
Speaker 3: but diseased-looking form with a sunken left eye.

1372
01:14:24,939 --> 01:14:28,740
Speaker 1: Yeah, incredible sequence here. I would argue on par with

1373
01:14:28,800 --> 01:14:32,400
Speaker 1: any dead rising zombie sequence from any film of any decade.

1374
01:14:32,600 --> 01:14:33,400
Speaker 1: Just looks superb.

1375
01:14:34,080 --> 01:14:37,260
Speaker 3: So Yavudich has demon work to do, and he does

1376
01:14:37,340 --> 01:14:40,349
Speaker 3: get right to work. He goes to Castle Vida, where

1377
01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:44,030
Speaker 3: the prince is sleeping fitfully. The prince, we see him

1378
01:14:44,229 --> 01:14:47,110
Speaker 3: wake from nightmares and sit up in his bed. And

1379
01:14:47,150 --> 01:14:50,310
Speaker 3: then a cold wind blows through the room, scattering music

1380
01:14:50,350 --> 01:14:54,230
Speaker 3: from the piano stand. And a secret door behind the

1381
01:14:54,290 --> 01:14:56,530
Speaker 3: fireplace hinges open slowly.

1382
01:14:56,550 --> 01:14:59,650
Speaker 1: Oh, it has the griffin on it, too. It looks amazing.

1383
01:14:59,880 --> 01:15:00,180
Speaker 4: Yes.

1384
01:15:00,320 --> 01:15:03,880
Speaker 3: And then standing in the doorway is Yevuditch, looking half

1385
01:15:03,939 --> 01:15:08,520
Speaker 3: alive and half zombie with a mottled, crust-covered face, half

1386
01:15:08,560 --> 01:15:12,390
Speaker 3: hidden in shadow. And Yevuditch creeps toward the bed as

1387
01:15:12,430 --> 01:15:15,290
Speaker 3: the prince lies there, frozen in terror. But at the

1388
01:15:15,350 --> 01:15:17,830
Speaker 3: last moment, the prince remembers what can save him. It

1389
01:15:17,890 --> 01:15:20,549
Speaker 3: is the image of Christ. So he raises a silver

1390
01:15:20,610 --> 01:15:23,910
Speaker 3: cross and And Yevuditch is repelled. He snarls and he

1391
01:15:23,970 --> 01:15:29,900
Speaker 3: disappears from the room. Now here, the prince's family, they

1392
01:15:29,939 --> 01:15:33,160
Speaker 3: hear him crying out and they come running. And when

1393
01:15:33,180 --> 01:15:35,160
Speaker 3: he tells them what happened, they decide they have to

1394
01:15:35,200 --> 01:15:38,340
Speaker 3: send for help. Katya is like, oh, I happen to

1395
01:15:38,380 --> 01:15:41,040
Speaker 3: know there are two doctors staying at the inn in Mirgorod.

1396
01:15:41,060 --> 01:15:42,980
Speaker 3: Let's send for them. She doesn't mention that one of

1397
01:15:43,020 --> 01:15:46,800
Speaker 3: them is her prince charming. So they send the groom

1398
01:15:46,840 --> 01:15:49,090
Speaker 3: of the castle to go retrieve the doctors. But what

1399
01:15:49,100 --> 01:15:52,220
Speaker 3: do you know? When the carriage arrives outside the inn

1400
01:15:52,360 --> 01:15:55,410
Speaker 3: to get Dr. Krubion, it is not the groom from

1401
01:15:55,450 --> 01:15:59,310
Speaker 3: the castle. It is Yevutich who's there driving the carriage.

1402
01:15:59,750 --> 01:16:04,470
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, this dark, elegant carriage here, looking like this

1403
01:16:04,530 --> 01:16:06,390
Speaker 1: is the carriage that would take you away to hell.

1404
01:16:06,729 --> 01:16:11,960
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah. You pass as Cinderella is headed toward the ball.

1405
01:16:12,800 --> 01:16:17,099
Speaker 3: You're going the opposite direction into hell, and Yevutich is driving.

1406
01:16:17,560 --> 01:16:20,219
Speaker 3: And Krubion is just standing there beside the pond smoking

1407
01:16:20,240 --> 01:16:23,880
Speaker 3: his pipe. And Yavudich is like, you've got to come

1408
01:16:23,920 --> 01:16:26,320
Speaker 3: at once. You've got to come check on the prince.

1409
01:16:26,540 --> 01:16:29,770
Speaker 3: So off they go. And this scene is reminiscent of

1410
01:16:29,810 --> 01:16:32,830
Speaker 3: the carriage ride at Borgo Pass in Dracula. They go

1411
01:16:32,850 --> 01:16:38,189
Speaker 3: a little too fast. It's like the foggy haunted landscape.

1412
01:16:38,689 --> 01:16:39,229
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

1413
01:16:39,970 --> 01:16:44,070
Speaker 3: At the castle, Yevuditch leads Krubion inside, but quickly starts

1414
01:16:44,130 --> 01:16:48,210
Speaker 3: to run ahead of him in the dim passageways, eventually disappearing.

1415
01:16:48,939 --> 01:16:51,960
Speaker 3: And so Krubion's like, what's going on? And he's trying

1416
01:16:51,979 --> 01:16:54,620
Speaker 3: to find his way. He sees the lantern down the hallway,

1417
01:16:54,640 --> 01:16:56,519
Speaker 3: but then he comes upon it and it's just hovering

1418
01:16:56,560 --> 01:17:00,720
Speaker 3: in midair. And then Krubion wanders around lost until he

1419
01:17:00,760 --> 01:17:04,260
Speaker 3: comes into a room that is somewhat familiar because it

1420
01:17:04,360 --> 01:17:07,300
Speaker 3: is the Eerie Chapel where he was earlier the same day.

1421
01:17:08,100 --> 01:17:11,599
Speaker 3: with the tomb of the witch Azza gaping open as before.

1422
01:17:12,300 --> 01:17:15,520
Speaker 3: And Krubayan is drawn to it. He approaches and looks

1423
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:19,549
Speaker 3: inside to see eyes staring back at him. Her eyes

1424
01:17:19,600 --> 01:17:22,429
Speaker 3: are open now, and they have pupils, and they see him.

1425
01:17:22,590 --> 01:17:25,490
Speaker 3: The witch is living. So he tries to run, but

1426
01:17:25,770 --> 01:17:28,710
Speaker 3: the doors to the chamber are locked. And then while

1427
01:17:28,750 --> 01:17:30,890
Speaker 3: he's trying to get out, he turns back and he

1428
01:17:30,930 --> 01:17:33,910
Speaker 3: sees the witch's tomb shaking and rattling, and then it

1429
01:17:34,090 --> 01:17:38,100
Speaker 3: explodes again. The rock walls go launching to the corners

1430
01:17:38,140 --> 01:17:40,400
Speaker 3: of the room, and the witch is lying there, and

1431
01:17:40,420 --> 01:17:43,580
Speaker 3: she gasps for breath. She turns to look at him,

1432
01:17:44,120 --> 01:17:48,320
Speaker 3: making one of the most alarmingly evil expressions in film history.

1433
01:17:48,380 --> 01:17:51,019
Speaker 3: This is one of the screenshots you may have seen

1434
01:17:51,180 --> 01:17:52,080
Speaker 3: from the film.

1435
01:17:53,620 --> 01:17:58,890
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Just this maniacal grin on her face, bright eyes,

1436
01:17:59,020 --> 01:18:03,170
Speaker 1: and of course, tremendous makeup and lighting also adding to

1437
01:18:03,210 --> 01:18:03,650
Speaker 1: this effect.

1438
01:18:04,250 --> 01:18:08,480
Speaker 3: She says, Krubion, Krubion, I've been waiting for you. And

1439
01:18:09,100 --> 01:18:11,200
Speaker 3: she bids him to look into her eyes and to

1440
01:18:11,260 --> 01:18:14,320
Speaker 3: come closer. She says, just a few drops of your

1441
01:18:14,380 --> 01:18:17,920
Speaker 3: blood brought me to life again. All of your blood

1442
01:18:17,979 --> 01:18:21,349
Speaker 3: will give me the strength to accomplish my vision. Come,

1443
01:18:21,950 --> 01:18:26,790
Speaker 3: kiss me. My lips will transform you. So powerless, he

1444
01:18:26,830 --> 01:18:29,610
Speaker 3: walks toward her and she says, you will be dead

1445
01:18:29,689 --> 01:18:33,240
Speaker 3: to man, but you will be alive in death. And

1446
01:18:33,320 --> 01:18:36,400
Speaker 3: slowly he leans over her and he brings his lips

1447
01:18:36,460 --> 01:18:39,270
Speaker 3: to hers and they kiss and she sort of reaches

1448
01:18:39,400 --> 01:18:43,930
Speaker 3: up and touches his hair. It's weirdly cold and passionate

1449
01:18:43,950 --> 01:18:47,110
Speaker 3: looking at the same time. It's weird. Yeah.

1450
01:18:47,170 --> 01:18:48,990
Speaker 1: And I think this scene was was one of the

1451
01:18:49,010 --> 01:18:50,700
Speaker 1: scenes it was too hot for. aip at the time

1452
01:18:51,780 --> 01:18:53,200
Speaker 1: and they they cut it a little.

1453
01:18:53,060 --> 01:18:55,100
Speaker 3: Bit it's not very sexy.

1454
01:18:55,040 --> 01:18:58,889
Speaker 1: No no but it's just too yeah probably just too

1455
01:18:59,770 --> 01:19:03,510
Speaker 1: a mix of weirdness darkness and sexuality uh there was

1456
01:19:03,550 --> 01:19:05,490
Speaker 1: just a little bit too much for the censors.

1457
01:19:05,630 --> 01:19:10,330
Speaker 3: Yeah So in Prince Vida's room, Dr. Krubayan arrives now,

1458
01:19:10,350 --> 01:19:13,890
Speaker 3: but he has a much changed demeanor. He is gruff

1459
01:19:14,030 --> 01:19:18,290
Speaker 3: and curt. The doctor checks out the prince, and he

1460
01:19:18,530 --> 01:19:21,090
Speaker 3: calms him apparently with some kind of hypnosis. He kind

1461
01:19:21,130 --> 01:19:23,990
Speaker 3: of wipes his hand over his face and calms the prince.

1462
01:19:24,750 --> 01:19:27,960
Speaker 3: At one point, Constantine tries to explain what his father

1463
01:19:28,040 --> 01:19:30,320
Speaker 3: said had happened, and he holds out a cross to

1464
01:19:30,380 --> 01:19:34,110
Speaker 3: illustrate it. And Kurubayan recoils. He says, take that away.

1465
01:19:34,130 --> 01:19:36,689
Speaker 3: He mustn't see it or it could provoke another attack.

1466
01:19:38,650 --> 01:19:41,910
Speaker 3: And then elsewhere, we see Yavuditch in the chapel with

1467
01:19:42,030 --> 01:19:45,780
Speaker 3: Asa's body. And Yavuditch is speaking to her. He promises

1468
01:19:45,880 --> 01:19:49,639
Speaker 3: that he will help her live again. And he explains

1469
01:19:49,660 --> 01:19:53,040
Speaker 3: what they need is Katya. Asa will steal her youth

1470
01:19:53,120 --> 01:19:56,490
Speaker 3: and her beauty, kill her soul and live in her body.

1471
01:19:57,530 --> 01:20:00,510
Speaker 3: So that's the plan. We basically know what the bad

1472
01:20:00,550 --> 01:20:02,189
Speaker 3: guys are going to do now. The plan is to

1473
01:20:02,270 --> 01:20:06,169
Speaker 3: make vampire thralls, to get revenge on the entire Vida family,

1474
01:20:06,590 --> 01:20:09,380
Speaker 3: and to steal Katja's life force so the witch can

1475
01:20:09,439 --> 01:20:10,560
Speaker 3: live again through her.

1476
01:20:11,610 --> 01:20:15,460
Speaker 1: There you go. Yeah. Three-step plan. They seem perfectly capable

1477
01:20:15,479 --> 01:20:18,979
Speaker 1: of pulling it off. We noted that the narration made

1478
01:20:19,040 --> 01:20:23,360
Speaker 1: reference to vampires. I do feel like that narration hit

1479
01:20:23,720 --> 01:20:25,799
Speaker 1: the nail on the head a bit too hard because

1480
01:20:25,900 --> 01:20:29,210
Speaker 1: what we have in this is like a form of vampirism.

1481
01:20:29,270 --> 01:20:34,090
Speaker 1: Like vampirism is more like the method or part of

1482
01:20:34,110 --> 01:20:37,430
Speaker 1: the resurrection scheme. And it doesn't seem to be like

1483
01:20:37,470 --> 01:20:41,130
Speaker 1: a clear monster identity so much in this picture once

1484
01:20:41,150 --> 01:20:43,550
Speaker 1: you get into the actual plot and the pacing of

1485
01:20:43,570 --> 01:20:43,850
Speaker 1: the thing.

1486
01:20:44,330 --> 01:20:46,299
Speaker 3: I agree. And that's what I was sort of talking

1487
01:20:46,340 --> 01:20:48,840
Speaker 3: about earlier with the fact that the vampires, when they

1488
01:20:48,880 --> 01:20:51,220
Speaker 3: show back up again more than halfway through the movie,

1489
01:20:51,240 --> 01:20:52,380
Speaker 3: it feels like a surprise.

1490
01:20:52,520 --> 01:20:53,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

1491
01:20:53,740 --> 01:20:57,509
Speaker 3: Uh, something doesn't, even though they did say vampire earlier,

1492
01:20:57,530 --> 01:20:59,950
Speaker 3: it was at the very beginning, but yeah, it almost

1493
01:20:59,990 --> 01:21:02,729
Speaker 3: just feels like one of the tricks in the witch bag.

1494
01:21:02,750 --> 01:21:03,210
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1495
01:21:04,229 --> 01:21:07,270
Speaker 1: Like the full array of, of, of nightmare and horror

1496
01:21:07,550 --> 01:21:09,730
Speaker 1: are their toolbox. And this just happens to be one

1497
01:21:09,750 --> 01:21:10,990
Speaker 1: of the things they can draw on.

1498
01:21:11,350 --> 01:21:11,570
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1499
01:21:12,580 --> 01:21:16,460
Speaker 3: Uh, so, uh, during the sequence, Katja is very concerned

1500
01:21:16,500 --> 01:21:19,059
Speaker 3: for her pro for her father, uh, Prince Vida, and

1501
01:21:19,100 --> 01:21:22,530
Speaker 3: she prays for him. But Dr. Krubayan puts her mind

1502
01:21:22,590 --> 01:21:25,990
Speaker 3: at ease and asks to be left alone with Prince Vaida.

1503
01:21:26,030 --> 01:21:30,360
Speaker 3: So she leaves, and the doctor then turns to his patient,

1504
01:21:30,479 --> 01:21:33,939
Speaker 3: his victim. And the next morning, the family is awakened

1505
01:21:33,979 --> 01:21:36,920
Speaker 3: to discover, to their horror, that Prince Vaida is dead

1506
01:21:37,020 --> 01:21:40,140
Speaker 3: in his bed with horrible scars on his face, and Dr.

1507
01:21:40,180 --> 01:21:43,960
Speaker 3: Krubayan is nowhere to be found. And at this point,

1508
01:21:44,060 --> 01:21:48,560
Speaker 3: I might now transition to recounting the movie in a

1509
01:21:48,580 --> 01:21:50,560
Speaker 3: little bit less detail and we can discuss in a

1510
01:21:50,580 --> 01:21:53,760
Speaker 3: kind of summary way. Uh, but, uh, the next big

1511
01:21:53,780 --> 01:21:56,380
Speaker 3: thing that happens is we get Goreback back in action

1512
01:21:56,479 --> 01:21:59,460
Speaker 3: because now some heroism needs to happen, right?

1513
01:21:59,540 --> 01:22:02,540
Speaker 1: Right. And, and Cruveon has to be found. So there's

1514
01:22:02,560 --> 01:22:05,740
Speaker 1: a lot of calling for him, calling his name, looking

1515
01:22:05,800 --> 01:22:08,730
Speaker 1: around for him. And also like just as discussing, um,

1516
01:22:09,060 --> 01:22:12,790
Speaker 1: his bedside manner, because like they're discussing the fact that like,

1517
01:22:12,810 --> 01:22:15,600
Speaker 1: he seemed to just up and leave. And now, The

1518
01:22:15,640 --> 01:22:17,540
Speaker 1: prince is dead because of it. And he's like, that

1519
01:22:17,560 --> 01:22:20,460
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like him at all. He would not do that.

1520
01:22:20,479 --> 01:22:22,200
Speaker 1: He would not just run off into the night. Something

1521
01:22:22,260 --> 01:22:23,260
Speaker 1: serious must have happened.

1522
01:22:23,580 --> 01:22:24,019
Speaker 4: Exactly.

1523
01:22:24,060 --> 01:22:27,720
Speaker 3: So, yeah, Gorbeck, who we must assume is quite hungover,

1524
01:22:27,740 --> 01:22:31,400
Speaker 3: he goes to the castle to find Krubion. And, yeah,

1525
01:22:31,460 --> 01:22:35,190
Speaker 3: he has this kind of conflict with Constantine when he arrives. Also,

1526
01:22:35,250 --> 01:22:37,930
Speaker 3: we should note at the same time, as he's traveling

1527
01:22:38,090 --> 01:22:40,310
Speaker 3: to the castle, there's a very creepy scene where children

1528
01:22:40,370 --> 01:22:42,890
Speaker 3: are playing by the rushing river in the valley beside

1529
01:22:42,930 --> 01:22:45,939
Speaker 3: the castle. And they come across a dead body and

1530
01:22:45,960 --> 01:22:49,439
Speaker 3: there's a cool trick in this shot where we don't

1531
01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:53,160
Speaker 3: realize there's a dead body in frame until after it's

1532
01:22:53,200 --> 01:22:56,930
Speaker 3: already in frame because we are following a shirt as

1533
01:22:56,990 --> 01:22:59,470
Speaker 3: it like flows down the river and the children are

1534
01:22:59,510 --> 01:23:02,450
Speaker 3: chasing it. And we're watching the shirt move through the water.

1535
01:23:02,930 --> 01:23:05,270
Speaker 3: And so the camera follows it and then there's this

1536
01:23:05,330 --> 01:23:08,790
Speaker 3: dead body in frame and then somebody screams and points

1537
01:23:08,830 --> 01:23:10,870
Speaker 3: to it. And then you realize like, oh, there's, yeah,

1538
01:23:10,910 --> 01:23:11,889
Speaker 3: there's a face right there.

1539
01:23:12,130 --> 01:23:12,390
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1540
01:23:13,140 --> 01:23:13,900
Speaker 1: Creepy sequence.

1541
01:23:14,800 --> 01:23:17,080
Speaker 3: And of course it was, uh, the body of Boris,

1542
01:23:17,160 --> 01:23:18,820
Speaker 3: the groom at the castle, who was supposed to be

1543
01:23:18,860 --> 01:23:22,380
Speaker 3: driving the carriage. Uh, but yeah, like you, you mentioned Goreback,

1544
01:23:22,400 --> 01:23:25,080
Speaker 3: he arrives at the castle, gets an icy reception because

1545
01:23:25,120 --> 01:23:28,540
Speaker 3: of his association with crew by on, uh, they're like, yeah,

1546
01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:31,280
Speaker 3: he just left and, and our father is dead now.

1547
01:23:31,400 --> 01:23:35,830
Speaker 3: So that's not very cool. Uh, but he sort of

1548
01:23:35,910 --> 01:23:37,769
Speaker 3: talks his way into coming up to see the body

1549
01:23:37,790 --> 01:23:40,780
Speaker 3: of Prince Vida and, And while looking at it, Katya faints.

1550
01:23:40,979 --> 01:23:44,220
Speaker 3: And then here, Gorbek begins tending to her, and he's

1551
01:23:44,280 --> 01:23:47,020
Speaker 3: obviously just head over heels. I guess he already was,

1552
01:23:47,060 --> 01:23:49,620
Speaker 3: but in this scene, he's trying to help her recover

1553
01:23:49,680 --> 01:23:52,990
Speaker 3: her senses, and he's just overwhelmed by her beauty. The

1554
01:23:53,010 --> 01:23:56,170
Speaker 3: scene also makes a point to show Katya wearing her

1555
01:23:56,229 --> 01:23:59,570
Speaker 3: father's silver crucifix around her neck, dangling on her chest.

1556
01:24:00,590 --> 01:24:04,830
Speaker 3: And Gorbeck looks at that, why his eyes are drawn there.

1557
01:24:05,650 --> 01:24:07,860
Speaker 3: They don't specify one way or another. Is it the

1558
01:24:07,880 --> 01:24:11,620
Speaker 3: symbol of Christ or is it just Katya? But then later,

1559
01:24:11,900 --> 01:24:15,080
Speaker 3: we will be reminded of that because he's going to

1560
01:24:15,380 --> 01:24:18,720
Speaker 3: come across a body wearing the same crucifix. And it's like, wait,

1561
01:24:19,320 --> 01:24:20,470
Speaker 3: who is this I'm looking at?

1562
01:24:20,740 --> 01:24:22,229
Speaker 4: Right. Right.

1563
01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:26,200
Speaker 3: News of the discovery of Boris's body is brought to

1564
01:24:26,240 --> 01:24:28,800
Speaker 3: the castle by a crowd of locals, and this leads

1565
01:24:28,860 --> 01:24:32,900
Speaker 3: to an interrogation of the innkeeper's daughter. She explains that

1566
01:24:33,460 --> 01:24:35,430
Speaker 3: when she saw the carriage arrive the night before, it

1567
01:24:35,470 --> 01:24:38,770
Speaker 3: was not Boris who came to pick up Dr. Krubayan.

1568
01:24:39,130 --> 01:24:41,310
Speaker 3: It was a man she'd never seen before. And it

1569
01:24:41,350 --> 01:24:44,689
Speaker 3: turns out as they're walking by a painting of Yevutich

1570
01:24:44,790 --> 01:24:46,689
Speaker 3: hanging up on the wall in the castle, she's like,

1571
01:24:46,870 --> 01:24:49,840
Speaker 3: that's him. That's the guy from the carriage. And I

1572
01:24:49,860 --> 01:24:52,900
Speaker 3: was thinking, why is there a painting of Yevutich hanging

1573
01:24:52,979 --> 01:24:53,820
Speaker 3: up in the castle?

1574
01:24:53,840 --> 01:24:59,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was like a dank outcast warlock that one

1575
01:24:59,620 --> 01:25:04,600
Speaker 1: of their ancestors had a doomed romance with that ended

1576
01:25:04,620 --> 01:25:08,200
Speaker 1: with them both being executed. And he was buried in

1577
01:25:08,280 --> 01:25:12,280
Speaker 1: a murderer's grave. So, yeah, why is there a commissioned

1578
01:25:12,320 --> 01:25:13,790
Speaker 1: painting of him here? I'm not sure.

1579
01:25:14,090 --> 01:25:19,710
Speaker 3: Yeah, somewhat confusing. But anyway, so Constantine and Katja end

1580
01:25:19,770 --> 01:25:22,290
Speaker 3: up asking Gorbeck to stay with them at the castle,

1581
01:25:22,390 --> 01:25:24,950
Speaker 3: especially Katja likes this guy. So, you know, stay at

1582
01:25:24,990 --> 01:25:27,690
Speaker 3: the castle and help us out. So here Gorbeck goes

1583
01:25:27,750 --> 01:25:31,490
Speaker 3: into investigation mode. He investigates the body of Boris in

1584
01:25:31,530 --> 01:25:35,140
Speaker 3: the company of a local priest. This priest will become

1585
01:25:35,180 --> 01:25:37,720
Speaker 3: a kind of sidekick for Gorbeck for much of the

1586
01:25:37,760 --> 01:25:41,130
Speaker 3: rest of the film. Uh, and, uh, you know, uh,

1587
01:25:41,189 --> 01:25:43,519
Speaker 3: he's like looking at the punctures on the neck of

1588
01:25:43,560 --> 01:25:46,140
Speaker 3: the corpse. Uh, he's hearing the stories about crew by

1589
01:25:46,200 --> 01:25:48,920
Speaker 3: on strange behavior and Gorbeck is very, it's in a

1590
01:25:48,960 --> 01:25:51,300
Speaker 3: familiar scene. He's like, I'm a man of science, but

1591
01:25:51,420 --> 01:25:52,940
Speaker 3: none of this makes logical sense.

1592
01:25:53,320 --> 01:25:53,559
Speaker 4: Right.

1593
01:25:53,860 --> 01:25:54,960
Speaker 1: So we get our, you know, kind of like our

1594
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:57,350
Speaker 1: buddy cops here. One is logic. One is religion.

1595
01:25:57,689 --> 01:25:58,210
Speaker 3: Yes.

1596
01:25:58,270 --> 01:26:02,099
Speaker 1: One is science. One is, uh, the dark lore. And

1597
01:26:02,340 --> 01:26:03,820
Speaker 1: they're going to figure it out. They're on the case.

1598
01:26:04,040 --> 01:26:04,300
Speaker 4: Yes.

1599
01:26:04,460 --> 01:26:07,630
Speaker 3: And here we sort of launch into the third act.

1600
01:26:07,710 --> 01:26:11,290
Speaker 3: So we see Krubion in vampire mode and Yevuditch sneaking

1601
01:26:11,350 --> 01:26:15,410
Speaker 3: around the castle, menacing people. They're creeping on Katya because ultimately,

1602
01:26:15,450 --> 01:26:17,170
Speaker 3: you remember, they're going to bring her to the witch

1603
01:26:17,210 --> 01:26:21,280
Speaker 3: so the witch can steal her life force. At one point,

1604
01:26:21,400 --> 01:26:24,260
Speaker 3: there's a scene where one of these figures, we don't

1605
01:26:24,280 --> 01:26:27,140
Speaker 3: know which one, is lurking until she takes her crucifix

1606
01:26:27,280 --> 01:26:30,150
Speaker 3: off for the night. Uh, and, uh, the, the figure

1607
01:26:30,189 --> 01:26:32,490
Speaker 3: starts to reach a hand out from around a curtain

1608
01:26:32,890 --> 01:26:35,750
Speaker 3: and Gorbeck and Constantine come to check things out when

1609
01:26:35,790 --> 01:26:38,410
Speaker 3: she screams for help. And she's saying, I saw the hand.

1610
01:26:38,470 --> 01:26:38,979
Speaker 3: I saw it.

1611
01:26:39,070 --> 01:26:39,689
Speaker 1: I saw it.

1612
01:26:39,770 --> 01:26:44,689
Speaker 3: And Gorbeck's like, I'll get her a sedative. Okay, dude.

1613
01:26:45,270 --> 01:26:48,280
Speaker 3: But then after the scene, uh, there is an encounter

1614
01:26:48,360 --> 01:26:52,640
Speaker 3: between crew by on and Gorbeck. This is interesting. Krubion

1615
01:26:52,700 --> 01:26:56,240
Speaker 3: comes into his room and Gorbeck's like, oh, I thought

1616
01:26:56,300 --> 01:26:58,680
Speaker 3: you had left. I didn't understand the stories people are

1617
01:26:58,700 --> 01:27:02,320
Speaker 3: telling me. Like, why did you leave? And Krubion's just like,

1618
01:27:02,439 --> 01:27:04,120
Speaker 3: you need to get out of here. This is none

1619
01:27:04,150 --> 01:27:07,830
Speaker 3: of your business. Leave the castle. And Gorbeck shows him

1620
01:27:07,890 --> 01:27:11,070
Speaker 3: the triptych icon that they found in the grave and says,

1621
01:27:11,110 --> 01:27:13,650
Speaker 3: you know, I've been trying to decipher this. But when

1622
01:27:13,670 --> 01:27:16,130
Speaker 3: he shows the icon to Krubion, the older doctor is

1623
01:27:16,170 --> 01:27:18,889
Speaker 3: just like, ah, and runs away. Can't look at this thing.

1624
01:27:19,420 --> 01:27:22,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's an interesting sequence. We see shades of

1625
01:27:22,320 --> 01:27:25,519
Speaker 1: this in various tales of the supernatural where somebody is turned,

1626
01:27:25,560 --> 01:27:28,370
Speaker 1: but there's like some bit of their humanity left enough

1627
01:27:28,390 --> 01:27:31,910
Speaker 1: that they want to, in this case, warn their friend

1628
01:27:32,310 --> 01:27:37,259
Speaker 1: to go away. That may or may not align with

1629
01:27:37,270 --> 01:27:39,100
Speaker 1: the master evil scheme in play here.

1630
01:27:39,500 --> 01:27:43,600
Speaker 3: I didn't take his warning here as particularly benevolent. I

1631
01:27:43,640 --> 01:27:45,500
Speaker 3: feel like you could read this as just like he's

1632
01:27:45,520 --> 01:27:47,930
Speaker 3: trying to get rid of him. Just like, get out.

1633
01:27:48,250 --> 01:27:49,930
Speaker 3: You know, you've got nothing to do with this. Get

1634
01:27:49,990 --> 01:27:51,770
Speaker 3: out of our way. Yeah, yeah.

1635
01:27:52,290 --> 01:27:55,090
Speaker 1: He's too quick with a crucifix to kill, right?

1636
01:27:55,250 --> 01:27:55,809
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

1637
01:27:57,050 --> 01:27:59,110
Speaker 3: Also in the scene, we get the hounds of hell

1638
01:27:59,150 --> 01:28:04,290
Speaker 3: we met earlier. There's not on-screen dog gore, but it's

1639
01:28:04,330 --> 01:28:06,090
Speaker 3: kind of obscured in the black and white, but the

1640
01:28:06,110 --> 01:28:10,610
Speaker 3: dogs are found with their throats slashed here, presumably by Krubayan.

1641
01:28:11,350 --> 01:28:12,230
Speaker 1: Sad day for the dogs.

1642
01:28:12,450 --> 01:28:12,750
Speaker 4: Yes.

1643
01:28:13,650 --> 01:28:17,770
Speaker 3: And so later, Gorbek and his priest sidekick, they translate

1644
01:28:17,810 --> 01:28:22,500
Speaker 3: the icon. And also, at the same time, Gorbek is

1645
01:28:22,520 --> 01:28:26,180
Speaker 3: busy courting Katya, And they go walking through the gardens

1646
01:28:26,620 --> 01:28:29,760
Speaker 3: and the ruins together. And there's a long exchange for

1647
01:28:29,780 --> 01:28:32,020
Speaker 3: them where they sort of, they sympathize with each other,

1648
01:28:32,200 --> 01:28:35,930
Speaker 3: where Gorbeck offers her comfort because she's really despairing. She says,

1649
01:28:36,010 --> 01:28:39,410
Speaker 3: what is my life? Sadness and grief, something that destroys

1650
01:28:39,430 --> 01:28:41,960
Speaker 3: itself desperately. by day and no one can rebuild it.

1651
01:28:42,439 --> 01:28:44,540
Speaker 3: Here is the image of my life. And she's pointing

1652
01:28:44,580 --> 01:28:46,729
Speaker 3: at the, the ruined gardens. She says, look at it.

1653
01:28:47,140 --> 01:28:50,519
Speaker 3: It's being consumed hour by hour, like this garden abandoned

1654
01:28:50,550 --> 01:28:55,000
Speaker 3: to a purposeless existence. Uh, and, uh, He tries to

1655
01:28:55,040 --> 01:28:57,460
Speaker 3: give her encouragement that she, you know, that he'd like

1656
01:28:57,479 --> 01:28:59,740
Speaker 3: to help her. He encourages her to leave this place

1657
01:28:59,780 --> 01:29:03,100
Speaker 3: if it makes her unhappy. Uh, and while he, so

1658
01:29:03,140 --> 01:29:05,120
Speaker 3: like he gives a speech about trying to dispel her

1659
01:29:05,160 --> 01:29:08,440
Speaker 3: worries about how sunlight touches even the darkest corners of

1660
01:29:08,460 --> 01:29:11,190
Speaker 3: this garden and the ruins. And she begs for his

1661
01:29:11,229 --> 01:29:13,750
Speaker 3: help and they embrace clearly he loves her and she

1662
01:29:13,810 --> 01:29:17,130
Speaker 3: loves him too, but she's, she's like too busy being

1663
01:29:17,189 --> 01:29:18,950
Speaker 3: cursed to date anyone right now.

1664
01:29:19,189 --> 01:29:19,389
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1665
01:29:19,450 --> 01:29:23,960
Speaker 1: This is, uh, This came up in House of Usher

1666
01:29:24,000 --> 01:29:28,880
Speaker 1: last year. Oh, yeah. A similar plot where your dark,

1667
01:29:28,939 --> 01:29:33,970
Speaker 1: depressed Gothic girlfriend clearly needs to leave her doomed household,

1668
01:29:34,550 --> 01:29:35,870
Speaker 1: but it takes a bit of convincing.

1669
01:29:36,150 --> 01:29:36,690
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

1670
01:29:38,130 --> 01:29:40,030
Speaker 3: In this case, it is a very, like, it's not you,

1671
01:29:40,090 --> 01:29:42,480
Speaker 3: it's me. Like, I really do like you, but I'm cursed.

1672
01:29:42,650 --> 01:29:42,849
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1673
01:29:51,310 --> 01:29:56,670
Speaker 3: Anyway, meanwhile, the human inhabitants of the castle are starting

1674
01:29:56,689 --> 01:30:01,270
Speaker 3: to put some things together. Yvonne accidentally uncovers some machinery

1675
01:30:01,380 --> 01:30:03,860
Speaker 3: and the secret passageways in the castle while trying to

1676
01:30:03,900 --> 01:30:07,200
Speaker 3: put out a curtain that catches fire. And so the

1677
01:30:07,400 --> 01:30:11,939
Speaker 3: good characters start investigating the secret passageways. Constantine and Gorbeck

1678
01:30:12,040 --> 01:30:16,420
Speaker 3: find paintings of the witch, like the naked witch. She

1679
01:30:16,439 --> 01:30:20,040
Speaker 3: looks just like Katya, except she's standing there naked and evil,

1680
01:30:20,140 --> 01:30:24,700
Speaker 3: you know, eyes blazing at the painter. And they start

1681
01:30:24,720 --> 01:30:27,790
Speaker 3: to kind of put the pieces together. They find the

1682
01:30:27,870 --> 01:30:30,390
Speaker 3: body of the witch in the chapel once again. And

1683
01:30:31,050 --> 01:30:34,549
Speaker 3: they're like, wow, remarkable how fresh she looks. Oh, she's breathing.

1684
01:30:34,570 --> 01:30:37,430
Speaker 3: And she is breathing. And they say, we're in the

1685
01:30:37,470 --> 01:30:41,160
Speaker 3: presence of an unnatural mystery. So Gorbeck runs out of

1686
01:30:41,180 --> 01:30:43,660
Speaker 3: the castle to go get the priest to figure out

1687
01:30:43,700 --> 01:30:47,180
Speaker 3: how to fight this evil. While Constantine goes to protect Katja.

1688
01:30:47,240 --> 01:30:50,610
Speaker 3: In the meantime, Gorbeck and the priest are They finally

1689
01:30:50,729 --> 01:30:53,330
Speaker 3: figure out a method. They go to the haunted cemetery

1690
01:30:53,729 --> 01:30:57,070
Speaker 3: to hunt for the grave of Yevuditch to quench his

1691
01:30:57,110 --> 01:31:01,620
Speaker 3: demonic spirit. And they find the grave. And inside the coffin,

1692
01:31:01,660 --> 01:31:06,780
Speaker 3: they find not Yevuditch, but Krubayan. But how? And the

1693
01:31:06,820 --> 01:31:09,820
Speaker 3: priest proves it. He says, this is no longer your friend,

1694
01:31:09,900 --> 01:31:12,600
Speaker 3: but a servant of the devil. And he demonstrates this

1695
01:31:12,650 --> 01:31:15,050
Speaker 3: by touching the doctor's face with a cross and it

1696
01:31:15,189 --> 01:31:19,580
Speaker 3: sizzles and burns. So the priest has determined from the

1697
01:31:19,680 --> 01:31:23,160
Speaker 3: inscription in that icon, the triptych, how to stop these

1698
01:31:23,240 --> 01:31:26,880
Speaker 3: evil spirits. You have to pierce the left eye of

1699
01:31:26,939 --> 01:31:29,740
Speaker 3: the vampire. So they like get a needle-like thing or

1700
01:31:29,780 --> 01:31:33,240
Speaker 3: a stylus kind of, and they pierce the eye and

1701
01:31:33,300 --> 01:31:36,380
Speaker 3: it kind of squirts everywhere. And then the being is defeated.

1702
01:31:36,720 --> 01:31:38,599
Speaker 3: That was a new one to me. I mean, I'm

1703
01:31:38,620 --> 01:31:40,269
Speaker 3: familiar with, you know, stake through the heart.

1704
01:31:41,070 --> 01:31:41,309
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1705
01:31:41,390 --> 01:31:44,250
Speaker 1: Now I have a question here. So are we to

1706
01:31:44,290 --> 01:31:48,910
Speaker 1: understand that Krubayan, who we saw earlier pleading with his

1707
01:31:48,990 --> 01:31:52,870
Speaker 1: friend to leave, that was not Krubayan at all?

1708
01:31:53,390 --> 01:31:54,430
Speaker 3: No, I think that was Krubayan.

1709
01:31:54,510 --> 01:31:55,410
Speaker 1: Okay, that was Krubayan.

1710
01:31:55,430 --> 01:31:57,650
Speaker 3: He's just come back. I guess maybe that was in,

1711
01:31:57,910 --> 01:31:59,849
Speaker 3: I don't know, was that in the nighttime? And now

1712
01:31:59,870 --> 01:32:02,940
Speaker 3: he's come back to lie in the coffin during the day?

1713
01:32:02,950 --> 01:32:04,820
Speaker 1: Fair enough, fair enough. That would make sense.

1714
01:32:05,840 --> 01:32:07,059
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think that was him.

1715
01:32:07,080 --> 01:32:08,180
Speaker 1: Okay.

1716
01:32:08,220 --> 01:32:11,060
Speaker 3: But now he's defeated. No more demon Krubayan, no more

1717
01:32:11,080 --> 01:32:13,890
Speaker 3: vampire mode. He's had his eye pierced. And so the

1718
01:32:13,950 --> 01:32:16,870
Speaker 3: priest explains to Gorbeck what the witch's plan has to be.

1719
01:32:17,330 --> 01:32:20,030
Speaker 3: She's going to possess the body of Katja to have

1720
01:32:20,130 --> 01:32:22,830
Speaker 3: new life for herself. And the only way to stop

1721
01:32:22,890 --> 01:32:25,230
Speaker 3: it is to pierce the left eye of the witch.

1722
01:32:25,750 --> 01:32:28,889
Speaker 3: So armed with this knowledge, Gorbeck heads back to the castle.

1723
01:32:29,189 --> 01:32:31,610
Speaker 3: I think the priest is going to assemble an angry mob.

1724
01:32:33,229 --> 01:32:33,850
Speaker 1: Got to have one.

1725
01:32:34,150 --> 01:32:37,530
Speaker 3: Yes. Meanwhile, back at the castle, it's just a slaughterhouse.

1726
01:32:37,570 --> 01:32:41,750
Speaker 3: You get a lot of creeping going on. Constantine gets

1727
01:32:41,870 --> 01:32:44,830
Speaker 3: frightened into a pit trap by Yevuditch in one of

1728
01:32:44,850 --> 01:32:48,930
Speaker 3: the secret passageways. Ivan gets hanged by the neck. And

1729
01:32:48,970 --> 01:32:52,650
Speaker 3: then while Katya is crying over her father's coffin, the

1730
01:32:52,790 --> 01:32:56,770
Speaker 3: body of Prince Vaida, her father, rises again. And he says,

1731
01:32:56,939 --> 01:32:59,620
Speaker 3: I am no longer your father. My blood is no

1732
01:32:59,660 --> 01:33:02,720
Speaker 3: longer your blood. The spirits of evil have rent that

1733
01:33:02,800 --> 01:33:06,320
Speaker 3: tie between us forever. And then a cursed poison flows

1734
01:33:06,380 --> 01:33:10,160
Speaker 3: in your veins. And then Katya faints. But before Prince

1735
01:33:10,220 --> 01:33:13,830
Speaker 3: Vaida the vampire can drink her blood, we get vampire

1736
01:33:13,890 --> 01:33:18,590
Speaker 3: on vampire conflict. Yavudich appears and he says, no, she

1737
01:33:18,670 --> 01:33:22,190
Speaker 3: is not for you. She's for our demonic mistress. And

1738
01:33:22,210 --> 01:33:25,910
Speaker 3: then he sort of strangles the Prince Vaida vampire and

1739
01:33:25,930 --> 01:33:29,090
Speaker 3: throws his body into the fireplace. And we get to

1740
01:33:29,130 --> 01:33:31,910
Speaker 3: see the vampire's face melting in the fire.

1741
01:33:31,930 --> 01:33:32,630
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.

1742
01:33:32,790 --> 01:33:35,600
Speaker 3: Gross gore. It's like a wax face that they actually

1743
01:33:35,650 --> 01:33:40,340
Speaker 3: show melting. Nasty effect. So anyway, so now Katya, we're

1744
01:33:40,360 --> 01:33:43,960
Speaker 3: getting to the climax. Katya's body is left unconscious next

1745
01:33:44,020 --> 01:33:47,040
Speaker 3: to the witch's coffin. And then we see the witch stirring.

1746
01:33:47,460 --> 01:33:50,880
Speaker 3: She reaches out and she touches Katya's arm and through

1747
01:33:51,080 --> 01:33:55,189
Speaker 3: evil magic, she saps Katya's life force. So on Katya,

1748
01:33:55,570 --> 01:33:58,610
Speaker 3: we see the sort of vitality draining from her face,

1749
01:33:59,010 --> 01:34:02,790
Speaker 3: wrinkles and lines forming on her flesh. Meanwhile, the witch

1750
01:34:02,870 --> 01:34:06,930
Speaker 3: grows increasingly young and beautiful, like a drooping plant that

1751
01:34:06,970 --> 01:34:07,770
Speaker 3: has been watered.

1752
01:34:08,260 --> 01:34:10,820
Speaker 1: This was an interesting effect. It seemed to me that

1753
01:34:10,880 --> 01:34:14,660
Speaker 1: much of this was created just via the lighting. Or

1754
01:34:14,700 --> 01:34:17,300
Speaker 1: at least if it was created another way, it was

1755
01:34:17,360 --> 01:34:19,520
Speaker 1: subtle enough that it didn't feel janky at all.

1756
01:34:19,780 --> 01:34:21,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was a combination of lighting and

1757
01:34:21,939 --> 01:34:28,979
Speaker 3: makeup and editing transitions. But you're right, it's incredibly smooth. Um, and, uh, uh, the, uh,

1758
01:34:29,140 --> 01:34:32,059
Speaker 3: the witch Asa says to her, she says, uh, you

1759
01:34:32,120 --> 01:34:34,400
Speaker 3: did not know that you were born for this moment.

1760
01:34:34,740 --> 01:34:37,300
Speaker 3: You did not know that your life had been consecrated

1761
01:34:37,360 --> 01:34:40,689
Speaker 3: to me by Satan, but you sensed it. Didn't you?

1762
01:34:41,010 --> 01:34:41,920
Speaker 3: You sensed it.

1763
01:34:41,990 --> 01:34:42,530
Speaker 4: Didn't you?

1764
01:34:42,970 --> 01:34:45,410
Speaker 3: That's why my portrait was such a temptation to you.

1765
01:34:45,810 --> 01:34:48,309
Speaker 3: You felt like your life and your body were mine.

1766
01:34:48,670 --> 01:34:51,290
Speaker 3: You felt like me because you were destined to become

1767
01:34:51,390 --> 01:34:55,340
Speaker 3: me a useless body without life. The love that young

1768
01:34:55,400 --> 01:34:57,860
Speaker 3: man had for you might have saved you. Do you

1769
01:34:57,900 --> 01:35:00,990
Speaker 3: know that? You could have been happy together, but I

1770
01:35:01,070 --> 01:35:04,710
Speaker 3: was stronger. And now you shall enjoy a beautiful life

1771
01:35:04,870 --> 01:35:10,690
Speaker 3: of evil and hate in me. Meanwhile, Gorbeck comes back

1772
01:35:10,750 --> 01:35:13,080
Speaker 3: to the castle to save the day. And there's a great,

1773
01:35:13,100 --> 01:35:16,040
Speaker 3: there's a fight scene between Yevudich and Gorbeck. It's a

1774
01:35:16,280 --> 01:35:19,939
Speaker 3: real punch out. There's different kinds of fighting. There's striking

1775
01:35:20,020 --> 01:35:20,680
Speaker 3: and grappling.

1776
01:35:20,740 --> 01:35:20,840
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1777
01:35:22,070 --> 01:35:23,550
Speaker 3: Is that the MMA terminology?

1778
01:35:23,689 --> 01:35:24,310
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so.

1779
01:35:24,350 --> 01:35:24,890
Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay.

1780
01:35:24,910 --> 01:35:28,990
Speaker 3: They're both. And it ends up near the pit trap

1781
01:35:29,030 --> 01:35:33,530
Speaker 3: that Constantine fell into earlier. And so Gorbeck, he like

1782
01:35:33,550 --> 01:35:35,410
Speaker 3: gets pushed over the edge and he's hanging on the

1783
01:35:35,490 --> 01:35:37,530
Speaker 3: edge there. You know, it's your classic, like the heroes

1784
01:35:37,610 --> 01:35:41,440
Speaker 3: dangling over a pit or a precipice and the villain

1785
01:35:41,490 --> 01:35:45,220
Speaker 3: is standing above him. But actually Constantine comes to the rescue.

1786
01:35:45,300 --> 01:35:47,380
Speaker 3: We thought he fell to his death earlier, but he

1787
01:35:47,420 --> 01:35:50,090
Speaker 3: did not. It seems he was wounded but must have

1788
01:35:50,150 --> 01:35:54,400
Speaker 3: stayed hanging there somehow. And now he's here and he's

1789
01:35:54,450 --> 01:35:57,500
Speaker 3: alive just long enough to grab Yavudich and throw him

1790
01:35:57,600 --> 01:36:01,080
Speaker 3: down into the spikes below. But then it seems like

1791
01:36:01,180 --> 01:36:03,260
Speaker 3: right after he helps Gor back, he's like, I've got

1792
01:36:03,280 --> 01:36:03,800
Speaker 3: to die now.

1793
01:36:05,640 --> 01:36:06,960
Speaker 1: The spikes would seem to do it, though.

1794
01:36:07,260 --> 01:36:07,520
Speaker 4: Yes.

1795
01:36:07,760 --> 01:36:11,000
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I think Yavudich is done. I mean, at

1796
01:36:11,260 --> 01:36:13,300
Speaker 3: least one of those must get in on his eye.

1797
01:36:13,520 --> 01:36:15,100
Speaker 1: Yeah, you stand a really good chance of it.

1798
01:36:15,820 --> 01:36:18,860
Speaker 3: So finally, Gorbeck makes it to Katja in the chapel

1799
01:36:18,900 --> 01:36:22,930
Speaker 3: where the witch's tomb was. And he gets there and

1800
01:36:23,270 --> 01:36:27,630
Speaker 3: it seems that Katja is there and conscious. And he says,

1801
01:36:27,689 --> 01:36:30,050
Speaker 3: thank God I made it in time. And she says, yes,

1802
01:36:30,250 --> 01:36:32,430
Speaker 3: she wanted to kill me. And he's pointing to the

1803
01:36:32,470 --> 01:36:37,490
Speaker 3: body lying there on the witch's grave. But uh-oh, Gorbeck

1804
01:36:37,530 --> 01:36:41,919
Speaker 3: doesn't realize that Asa already made the switch. And so

1805
01:36:42,000 --> 01:36:44,240
Speaker 3: he says, we must destroy her forever. And I know

1806
01:36:44,280 --> 01:36:46,879
Speaker 3: how it can be done. He says, don't look, Katya.

1807
01:36:47,140 --> 01:36:50,000
Speaker 3: It's horrible, but I must do it. And he doesn't

1808
01:36:50,060 --> 01:36:55,080
Speaker 3: see that Asa is behind him grinning with insanity. Like, yes, poker.

1809
01:36:55,140 --> 01:36:56,930
Speaker 1: She's like, I can't believe it. I'm about to pull

1810
01:36:56,970 --> 01:36:58,510
Speaker 1: this off. He's going to do it.

1811
01:36:58,750 --> 01:37:02,090
Speaker 3: It's great. But then just before he stabs the eye,

1812
01:37:02,150 --> 01:37:04,710
Speaker 3: he sees on the corpse of the woman he believes

1813
01:37:04,790 --> 01:37:07,050
Speaker 3: to be the witch, the crucifix necklace.

1814
01:37:07,910 --> 01:37:09,130
Speaker 1: Which shouldn't be possible.

1815
01:37:09,570 --> 01:37:09,929
Speaker 4: Right.

1816
01:37:10,010 --> 01:37:13,090
Speaker 3: And then he picks it up and presses it to

1817
01:37:13,130 --> 01:37:16,060
Speaker 3: her flesh to make sure. And nothing happens. And then

1818
01:37:16,120 --> 01:37:19,300
Speaker 3: he understands. And here's where we get a great moment

1819
01:37:19,720 --> 01:37:22,690
Speaker 3: where he's like, wait, come Katya. But he knows who

1820
01:37:22,729 --> 01:37:25,650
Speaker 3: she really is now. And he pulls aside her cloak

1821
01:37:25,790 --> 01:37:30,950
Speaker 3: for the bone reveal. Her body underneath, like below the neck,

1822
01:37:31,010 --> 01:37:33,410
Speaker 3: she looks normal from the neck up, but below the neck,

1823
01:37:33,890 --> 01:37:37,180
Speaker 3: she is some kind of bone monster. Like she's a

1824
01:37:37,300 --> 01:37:39,140
Speaker 3: skeletal sort of creature.

1825
01:37:39,160 --> 01:37:39,240
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1826
01:37:39,720 --> 01:37:40,080
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1827
01:37:40,360 --> 01:37:43,979
Speaker 1: She's like mostly rotted flesh and bone underneath. So we

1828
01:37:44,000 --> 01:37:46,939
Speaker 1: get a, a glimpse of her rib cage. And it's

1829
01:37:46,979 --> 01:37:50,760
Speaker 1: like rib cage first. So we're like, oh, this is

1830
01:37:50,820 --> 01:37:52,420
Speaker 1: definitely the Dark Queen.

1831
01:37:53,000 --> 01:37:53,260
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1832
01:37:53,360 --> 01:37:56,219
Speaker 3: So she says, no, I am not your love. She's caught.

1833
01:37:56,280 --> 01:37:58,049
Speaker 3: She admits it. She says, I am not your love.

1834
01:37:58,430 --> 01:38:03,410
Speaker 3: There she lies, dead, forever, forever. And she just, again,

1835
01:38:03,470 --> 01:38:06,150
Speaker 3: she's a real, just a hater to the bone. She loves,

1836
01:38:06,670 --> 01:38:10,530
Speaker 3: loves pointing out your suffering. All her family is destroyed.

1837
01:38:11,070 --> 01:38:14,990
Speaker 3: All her, And then Asa, she's like, now I'm going

1838
01:38:15,010 --> 01:38:17,250
Speaker 3: to take care of Gorbeck. So she tries to hypnotize

1839
01:38:17,290 --> 01:38:20,100
Speaker 3: Gorbeck like she did with Krubion. She said, look into

1840
01:38:20,160 --> 01:38:23,200
Speaker 3: my eyes. And she gives this speech where she says,

1841
01:38:23,340 --> 01:38:26,810
Speaker 3: don't you feel the joy and the beauty of hating?

1842
01:38:26,830 --> 01:38:29,939
Speaker 1: I love this line. We were chatting a little bit.

1843
01:38:29,970 --> 01:38:33,830
Speaker 1: about this off mic because reading about it, like apparently

1844
01:38:34,189 --> 01:38:37,070
Speaker 1: in some versions of it, perhaps the original version, she

1845
01:38:37,140 --> 01:38:40,900
Speaker 1: says Hades instead of hating. But I actually love it

1846
01:38:40,979 --> 01:38:43,920
Speaker 1: more as hating because I feel like it gets down

1847
01:38:43,979 --> 01:38:47,640
Speaker 1: to the emotional core Satanism in this picture, you know, yeah,

1848
01:38:47,900 --> 01:38:51,280
Speaker 1: it is about it is about hating the world and

1849
01:38:51,320 --> 01:38:54,260
Speaker 1: hating those around you and that's what they That's what

1850
01:38:54,420 --> 01:38:55,920
Speaker 1: that's what makes them thrive.

1851
01:38:55,840 --> 01:39:00,000
Speaker 3: This which is hate incarnate. She's just malice She wants

1852
01:39:00,040 --> 01:39:01,940
Speaker 3: she hates and she wants to hurt.

1853
01:39:02,320 --> 01:39:04,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she wants to share that hate and her

1854
01:39:04,439 --> 01:39:05,200
Speaker 1: shirt with everyone.

1855
01:39:06,570 --> 01:39:09,660
Speaker 3: But just when you think she's about to hypnotize Gorbeck,

1856
01:39:10,280 --> 01:39:13,400
Speaker 3: the priest arrives with a mob of angry townsfolk. And,

1857
01:39:13,580 --> 01:39:16,120
Speaker 3: you know, that will just really solve your witch problem, right?

1858
01:39:16,220 --> 01:39:18,540
Speaker 3: It's kind of a weird feeling to think, oh, we're

1859
01:39:18,560 --> 01:39:20,280
Speaker 3: going to end with a witch burning, and that's the

1860
01:39:20,320 --> 01:39:21,000
Speaker 3: happy ending.

1861
01:39:21,020 --> 01:39:24,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is interesting to reflect on this film. In

1862
01:39:25,280 --> 01:39:28,000
Speaker 1: the early goings, we have the Inquisition at work, and

1863
01:39:28,020 --> 01:39:31,980
Speaker 1: they're seemingly, like, doing a good job. They don't finish

1864
01:39:32,020 --> 01:39:35,570
Speaker 1: the job, but they're... They're in the right because the

1865
01:39:35,610 --> 01:39:40,590
Speaker 1: supernatural threat in this film is real. And likewise, the

1866
01:39:40,670 --> 01:39:44,410
Speaker 1: angry mob is up against an actual supernatural natural foe.

1867
01:39:44,490 --> 01:39:48,420
Speaker 1: They they their suspicions are correct. So they are also

1868
01:39:48,479 --> 01:39:48,860
Speaker 1: in the right.

1869
01:39:49,240 --> 01:39:51,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a kind of I mean, I guess

1870
01:39:51,200 --> 01:39:56,120
Speaker 3: we're used to more often the modern perspective, like recognizing

1871
01:39:56,180 --> 01:39:58,880
Speaker 3: that this mob violence is bad or that there was something,

1872
01:39:58,900 --> 01:40:02,190
Speaker 3: you know, something perverse and wrong going on in the

1873
01:40:02,229 --> 01:40:05,460
Speaker 3: witch trials. But no, in this case, just within the

1874
01:40:05,520 --> 01:40:07,560
Speaker 3: world of the movie, this witch is really about as

1875
01:40:07,620 --> 01:40:10,200
Speaker 3: bad as it gets. So they're doing a good job today.

1876
01:40:10,260 --> 01:40:13,840
Speaker 3: Good day's work burning this witch. So they take away

1877
01:40:13,880 --> 01:40:16,600
Speaker 3: the witch. They burn her at the stake. And, well,

1878
01:40:16,620 --> 01:40:19,640
Speaker 3: they get it done really quick. The fire blazes, and

1879
01:40:19,680 --> 01:40:23,269
Speaker 3: she's tied to this pillar, and she burns up. And

1880
01:40:23,650 --> 01:40:26,049
Speaker 3: on one hand, it's like, well, so the evil is defeated.

1881
01:40:26,090 --> 01:40:29,089
Speaker 3: But it seems like a real downer ending, because Gorbeck

1882
01:40:29,130 --> 01:40:32,030
Speaker 3: and the priest... Watch the witch burn while Katya lies

1883
01:40:32,110 --> 01:40:34,769
Speaker 3: dead behind them. And, you know, we're almost hearing ringing

1884
01:40:34,810 --> 01:40:38,810
Speaker 3: in our ears that just bitter, malicious speech that the

1885
01:40:38,850 --> 01:40:41,410
Speaker 3: witch gave. It says, I'm not your love. There she

1886
01:40:41,470 --> 01:40:46,270
Speaker 3: lies dead forever, forever. But there's a happy twist. So

1887
01:40:46,310 --> 01:40:49,090
Speaker 3: Gorbek goes back to her and she comes to life.

1888
01:40:49,150 --> 01:40:52,050
Speaker 3: It seems almost, did you understand it that when the

1889
01:40:52,110 --> 01:40:56,349
Speaker 3: witch is destroyed, that sort of rebalances the life force

1890
01:40:56,430 --> 01:40:59,530
Speaker 3: in some way? and that allows Katya to come back

1891
01:40:59,560 --> 01:40:59,990
Speaker 3: to life.

1892
01:41:00,490 --> 01:41:02,820
Speaker 1: I guess so, yeah. I guess that would be my

1893
01:41:02,860 --> 01:41:05,920
Speaker 1: interpretation of it. Or that she was lying about her

1894
01:41:05,960 --> 01:41:09,140
Speaker 1: being dead anyway, because she seemed really excited about tricking

1895
01:41:09,180 --> 01:41:14,010
Speaker 1: him into stabbing his girlfriend through the eyeball, as if

1896
01:41:14,130 --> 01:41:16,110
Speaker 1: that was going to perhaps kill her.

1897
01:41:16,670 --> 01:41:17,050
Speaker 4: I don't know.

1898
01:41:18,210 --> 01:41:20,770
Speaker 1: Again, we kind of get into the dreamlike qualities of

1899
01:41:20,830 --> 01:41:23,100
Speaker 1: things here, and maybe we don't We don't have to

1900
01:41:23,140 --> 01:41:25,380
Speaker 1: lean too hard on a logical interpretation of it.

1901
01:41:25,600 --> 01:41:25,880
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1902
01:41:25,939 --> 01:41:28,380
Speaker 3: So it is a very, very dark film and a

1903
01:41:28,420 --> 01:41:30,620
Speaker 3: very dark story, but it does have a happy ending,

1904
01:41:30,850 --> 01:41:32,610
Speaker 3: sort of happy. I mean, there's a lot of carnage

1905
01:41:32,670 --> 01:41:35,650
Speaker 3: along the way, but in the end, Katya is saved

1906
01:41:36,130 --> 01:41:38,930
Speaker 3: and Katya and Gorbeck, they can live on and they

1907
01:41:38,950 --> 01:41:39,610
Speaker 3: can be together.

1908
01:41:39,770 --> 01:41:43,130
Speaker 1: They can move to the city away from the cursed

1909
01:41:43,170 --> 01:41:44,230
Speaker 1: castles and graveyards.

1910
01:41:44,710 --> 01:41:49,880
Speaker 3: Yes. I'll take it. And that's Black Sunday.

1911
01:41:49,900 --> 01:41:49,979
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1912
01:41:50,420 --> 01:41:53,860
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Just a real treat of a film, as

1913
01:41:53,979 --> 01:41:57,519
Speaker 1: great as anyone has ever told you it is. And

1914
01:41:57,640 --> 01:42:00,830
Speaker 1: we're going to join the chorus by saying, yeah, Black

1915
01:42:00,870 --> 01:42:03,910
Speaker 1: Sunday is tremendous. It has more than stood the test

1916
01:42:03,950 --> 01:42:06,010
Speaker 1: of time. Definitely check it out. It's a great film.

1917
01:42:06,030 --> 01:42:10,290
Speaker 1: If you want some dedicated, focused Halloween viewing, tremendous. If

1918
01:42:10,330 --> 01:42:12,070
Speaker 1: you just want something on in the background while you

1919
01:42:12,110 --> 01:42:15,800
Speaker 1: do other Halloween things, this is a fine choice as well.

1920
01:42:16,180 --> 01:42:16,460
Speaker 3: Agreed.

1921
01:42:17,080 --> 01:42:18,599
Speaker 1: All right. Well, we're going to go ahead and close

1922
01:42:18,640 --> 01:42:21,580
Speaker 1: out this episode of Weird House Cinema. We will remind

1923
01:42:21,600 --> 01:42:23,200
Speaker 1: you that Stuff to Blow Your Mind is primarily a

1924
01:42:23,220 --> 01:42:27,570
Speaker 1: science and culture podcast with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

1925
01:42:27,590 --> 01:42:29,570
Speaker 1: But we do a short form episode on Wednesdays and

1926
01:42:29,610 --> 01:42:31,790
Speaker 1: on Fridays. We set aside most serious concerns to just

1927
01:42:31,830 --> 01:42:34,810
Speaker 1: talk about a weird film on Weird House Cinema. We have,

1928
01:42:34,830 --> 01:42:38,870
Speaker 1: I believe, one last Weird House Cinema episode to put

1929
01:42:38,950 --> 01:42:42,120
Speaker 1: out in October this year. So stay tuned to see

1930
01:42:42,140 --> 01:42:44,620
Speaker 1: what that's going to be. Sometimes you'll get a peek

1931
01:42:44,680 --> 01:42:46,860
Speaker 1: ahead at what's coming up if you go over to

1932
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Speaker 1: our Letterboxd page. Our username there is Weird House, and

1933
01:42:50,670 --> 01:42:52,910
Speaker 1: we have a tremendous list of all the pictures we've

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01:42:52,930 --> 01:42:53,769
Speaker 1: covered over the years.

1935
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Speaker 3: Huge thanks, as always, to our excellent audio producer, J.J. Posway.

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Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1937
01:42:59,990 --> 01:43:02,560
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1938
01:43:02,600 --> 01:43:04,680
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1939
01:43:04,740 --> 01:43:07,860
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com.

1940
01:43:15,350 --> 01:43:17,790
Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.

1941
01:43:18,180 --> 01:43:21,500
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple

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01:43:21,540 --> 01:43:23,890
Speaker 2: Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.