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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is Rob.

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Speaker 3: Lamb and I am Joe McCormick.

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Speaker 2: Today on Weird House Cinema, we're tackling what might be

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Speaker 2: by many measures, I think, by my measure, the ultimate

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Speaker 2: haunted house movie. In another Haunted House property, nineteen seventy

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Speaker 2: one's Hell House, a novel by Richard Matheson. This was

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Speaker 2: later made into the Legend of Hell House in seventy three.

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Speaker 2: There's a description of the Belasco House, this haunted house

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Speaker 2: that's key to the plot, and it's described as quote

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Speaker 2: the mount Everest of haunted houses, due to the intense

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Speaker 2: sanity warping powers that it holds over anyone who attempts

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Speaker 2: to make it through the night there to complete the journey. Now,

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Speaker 2: there are various great haunted house films out there, and

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Speaker 2: I feel like the best of them excel in connecting

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Speaker 2: with something very ancient in the human psyche, right, the

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Speaker 2: essence of the damned place, a location that is so

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Speaker 2: just fundamentally physically or spiritually polluted that to venture into it,

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Speaker 2: to be there, to take place there is to just

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Speaker 2: absolutely warp your identity and connection to reality. So there

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Speaker 2: are haunted house movies that tackle this in a very

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Speaker 2: serious fashion, and you might argue that they tackle it

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Speaker 2: more seriously than the movie we're talking about here today,

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven's House. But when the chips are down

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Speaker 2: and House is firing on all cylinders, I think it

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Speaker 2: absolutely delivers on all the goods. It absolutely checks off

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Speaker 2: all the boxes. For my money, right now, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to say that House is the Mount Everest of haunted

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Speaker 2: house movies.

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Speaker 3: It's got to be up there, and like Mount Everest,

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Speaker 3: it may cause the kind of altitude sickness, maybe a

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Speaker 3: sense of dizziness, a visions of other figures climbing up

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Speaker 3: the mountain with you that may or may not be there.

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Speaker 3: It is a weird, baffling, life changing experience. House is

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Speaker 3: one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, but that's

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Speaker 3: not an observation unique to me. It is widely regarded

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Speaker 3: as like one of the great weird movies of all time,

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Speaker 3: and yeah, I think it also qualifies in the subgenre

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Speaker 3: of weirdest and most interesting haunted house movies. Though it's

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Speaker 3: different than than a lot of haunted house movies, because

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Speaker 3: a lot of haunted house movies, like you're pointing out,

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Speaker 3: are about a house that's been polluted, a house that

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Speaker 3: has been sort of like made into a place of

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Speaker 3: evil because of something evil that happened there. You know,

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Speaker 3: like a person, an evil person, does something wicked inside

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Speaker 3: the house, and then that evil infects the house and

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Speaker 3: so forth. But the difference I would point out is

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Speaker 3: that the evil in those cases seems to be spurred

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Speaker 3: by human wrongdoing, and in House nineteen seventy seven, I

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Speaker 3: don't know if i'd say that's the case. Instead, it's

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Speaker 3: hard to say where the evil comes from. The person

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Speaker 3: who occupies the evil haunted house doesn't seem to have

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Speaker 3: initially been an evil or bad person, but someone who

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Speaker 3: suffers a kind of unfortunate fate and is transformed by

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Speaker 3: forces unnamed into a type of monster. And in that transformation,

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Speaker 3: it's like the house comes with her, you know, like

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Speaker 3: she and the house merge into one being that is

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Speaker 3: fully just an expression of monstrousness and magical predation.

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Speaker 2: It's like tragedy plus time equals house. Yeah, that's like,

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Speaker 2: you know, like you're saying, she's not an evil person

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Speaker 2: and she had she went through a great tragedy, but

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Speaker 2: it's like over time that is like spiritually fermented into

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Speaker 2: this new shape, and that shape is is hungry and

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Speaker 2: in many respects evil.

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Speaker 3: Maybe it's a tragedy plus time plus cat equals house

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Speaker 3: because the cat. What is the role of the cat

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Speaker 3: in this movie? Could we last October did an episode

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Speaker 3: or a series of episodes about monster cats of Japan

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Speaker 3: that was October, wasn't it?

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Speaker 2: I believe it was?

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Speaker 3: Yes, Yeah, like the Bakan echo and stuff. There are

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Speaker 3: a number of different sort of cat ghosts or evil

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Speaker 3: cat monster entities cat yo kai in Japanese lore, and

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Speaker 3: we talked about a few of them shape shifting cats,

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Speaker 3: cats that the cats that might lurk out in the

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Speaker 3: wilderness and be some kind of monster. I don't know

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Speaker 3: if the cat in this movie is exactly supposed to

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Speaker 3: be supposed to correspond to one of these cat monster archetypes,

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Speaker 3: but what a presence it is. It feels kind of

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Speaker 3: like maybe all of the evil in the movie comes

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Speaker 3: from the cat, and it's not clear where the cat

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Speaker 3: comes from.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the cat is somehow key to it is like

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Speaker 2: a nexus point or a physical incarnation it's uncertain. I mean,

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Speaker 2: as I feel, like, you know, scary supernatural things should be.

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Speaker 2: They're difficult for us mortals to fathom. But we yeah,

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Speaker 2: we have this fabulous cat at the center of everything here.

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Speaker 2: And I think it also this is what serves to

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Speaker 2: make House not only a great haunted house movie, but

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Speaker 2: also a great cat movie. Like all the cat stuff

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Speaker 2: is completely on point and very cute, very cute cat,

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Speaker 2: very cute flu fear.

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Speaker 3: This movie got me thinking about it what it is

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Speaker 3: meant to say about a character when a character often

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Speaker 3: has a cat in their lap. So this is the thing.

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Speaker 3: Actually I mostly associate with villains in films like Blofeld

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Speaker 3: and the James Bond movies. Is this villain who in

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Speaker 3: the early James Bond movies, I think you don't even

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Speaker 3: ever see his face. You just see the lower half

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Speaker 3: of his body. He's a man who's presiding over this evil,

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Speaker 3: shadowy criminal empire known as Specter, and he has all

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Speaker 3: these henchmen going out and doing things for him. When

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Speaker 3: you see the lower half of his body, he has

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Speaker 3: a fluffy, very flufy white cat in his lap and

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Speaker 3: he pets the cat while you know, demanding updates from

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Speaker 3: his assassins, and then later in the James Bond movies

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Speaker 3: you do actually see the face of Blofeld and so,

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Speaker 3: and he's played by various different actors, but in one movie,

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Speaker 3: for example, he's played by Donald Pleasance. And so you know,

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Speaker 3: we were sharing before coming in here, like images of

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Speaker 3: Donald Pleasants holding a white cat, much like blanched the

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Speaker 3: cat in house. What does the cat mean? Why is

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Speaker 3: the cat in the villain's lap, and what associations are

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Speaker 3: we supposed to make from seeing that image?

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Speaker 2: I mean, in the case of Blowfeld, I guess kind

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Speaker 2: of you know, it's the idea of like a regal

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Speaker 2: sort of lap creature, but also maybe a commentary on

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Speaker 2: the nature of the cat. You know, the cat has

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Speaker 2: its own air about it. Though it's weird that owning

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Speaker 2: the cat is villainous in these Bond movies, and yet

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Speaker 2: James Bond kicks a cat. I would think that that

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Speaker 2: is me. That's that's the And also like the Forgo

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Speaker 2: what was this? I forget which one this was. This

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Speaker 2: may be the one that actually takes place in Japan

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Speaker 2: part of the time anyway, but there's a whole bit

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Speaker 2: where it's like oh, Blowfeld has a double which one

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Speaker 2: is a real Blowfeld? Better kick the cat to find

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Speaker 2: out which master it scurries to. And it's like, I

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Speaker 2: don't even know if that would work, Like, is that

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Speaker 2: really going to be the cat's number one? Moves like

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Speaker 2: to go back to a safe lap. I think the

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Speaker 2: cat may just go hide under something.

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Speaker 3: I think there is something to be signaled about the

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Speaker 3: villain with the cat that it like makes them seem

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Speaker 3: more threatening and sinister, the fact that they are ordering

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Speaker 3: up murder of humans at the same time that they're

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Speaker 3: being very gentle and stroking a cat. You know, It's

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Speaker 3: like that contrast of of delicate gentleness and and friendliness

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Speaker 3: with one creature but cruelty to another.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that. I think that probably sums it up.

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Speaker 3: Now. We've talked about House as a as a widely

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Speaker 3: reputed ultimate weird movie. We've talked about it as the

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Speaker 3: mount Everest of haunted House movies. But there's another thing

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Speaker 3: that we haven't really mentioned about it yet, which I

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Speaker 3: think is key to understanding what it is, which is

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Speaker 3: the childlike logic that operates in House. It is different

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Speaker 3: from a lot of horror movies, and I somehow connect

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Speaker 3: this to the fact that, say, the house doesn't have

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Speaker 3: a standard backstory of like human evil drawing in demons

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Speaker 3: and wicked spirits. Instead, it feels like the evil that

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Speaker 3: infects the house is just sort of totally unexplainable and random,

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Speaker 3: something that comes in and strikes and infects the house

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Speaker 3: and the occupant of the house from outside. That seems

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Speaker 3: much more in line with the way that children imagine

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Speaker 3: evil spirits. You know, you don't need that like backstory

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Speaker 3: of it being caused by someone's human wicked choices. Instead,

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Speaker 3: it's just it comes out of nowhere and it's scary

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Speaker 3: and it doesn't even need to be explained.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a a very important aspect of House,

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Speaker 2: and we're going to be talking about Nubuhiko Obyashi, the director,

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Speaker 2: who is also an actor in it and a producer

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Speaker 2: and director of special effects. But famously this, like the

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Speaker 2: key aspects of this film were inspired by conversations he

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Speaker 2: had with his daughter, who I believe was ten at

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Speaker 2: the age, Chigumi Obayashi, where he would come to her

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Speaker 2: and like, well, what what what do you find scary?

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Speaker 2: What tell me what what frightens you or what would

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Speaker 2: be I think he also said, like, hey, if daddy

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Speaker 2: were to make a movie, what kind of things would

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Speaker 2: you want to be in it? And and so she

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Speaker 2: came up with these various ideas that were all based

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Speaker 2: on just this child's eye view of the world, like,

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Speaker 2: for instance, so one particular thing. We'll probably run through

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Speaker 2: most of them, but there's a scary clock in the movie.

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Speaker 2: And according to her on the Criterion collection disc of

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Speaker 2: this film, there's a interview with her and her father

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Speaker 2: from several years back, and she says that there was

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Speaker 2: this there was this point where they were staying at

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Speaker 2: this house in the country, you know, a family house,

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Speaker 2: and there's a big clock in the hallway and she

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Speaker 2: would have to cross by it in the night in

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Speaker 2: order to go to the bathroom, and she was frightened

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Speaker 2: by the clock, you know. And so it's the kind

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Speaker 2: of thing like humans are generally not frightened by big,

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Speaker 2: dusty clocks and houses, but children can be. And so

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Speaker 2: the beauty of this film, one of the beautiful things

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Speaker 2: about this film is that he took these ideas from

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Speaker 2: his daughter and then you know, added a little more

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Speaker 2: traditional ghost story structure to it, and then handed it

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Speaker 2: off to the screenwriter. But yet it still retains these

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Speaker 2: very childlike views of fear and threat and then sort

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Speaker 2: of translates them to a certain extent into a wider

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Speaker 2: understanding for you know, any viewer that may watch it.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to be a child to feel the

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Speaker 2: fear this clock.

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Speaker 3: There is a young person's creativity in the way some

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Speaker 3: of the scary images in the movie are conjured, so

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Speaker 3: like making connections that an adult might not normally make,

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Speaker 3: but then also a kind of a young person's fearlessness

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Speaker 3: in deciding what is scary. So there is a scene

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Speaker 3: in the movie where a character is fatally attacked by

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Speaker 3: pillows and mattresses that fall from the ceiling. I think

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Speaker 3: that is an image that if an adult were to

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Speaker 3: come up with it, they might think, No, that's silly,

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Speaker 3: that's not scary. That doesn't work. It just doesn't fit

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Speaker 3: the language of what is a threat in horror movies.

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Speaker 3: But I think I read this idea also came from

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Speaker 3: the director's daughter. You know, she was afraid of like

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Speaker 3: being attacked by mattresses from the sky, and in the

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Speaker 3: movie they just they just do it. That's a scene.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think she mentioned in the interview

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Speaker 2: that it came from or maybe your father did that.

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Speaker 2: It came in part from going out the countryside and

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Speaker 2: having to sleep on futons and then fold them up

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Speaker 2: during the day and as a child, like the futon

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Speaker 2: is so big and it's kind of heavy and it's

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Speaker 2: kind of falling on you, so it kind of feeds

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Speaker 2: into this idea.

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Speaker 3: I never would have thought of that, but yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's that's really the beauty of it. Like,

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Speaker 2: these are all things that grown ups would not have

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Speaker 2: thought of. They come from the mind of children, and

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Speaker 2: the child's mind is capable of such wonders and such horrors.

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Speaker 2: You know. That was that. It's one of the joys

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Speaker 2: of parenthood is getting to, uh, to be on the

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Speaker 2: receiving end of so many wild and creative ideas that

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Speaker 2: they just come up with on their own, you know,

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Speaker 2: because they have to this innate creativity.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, to see to see the wild mental leaps and

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Speaker 3: the strange connections that a young brain makes that you

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Speaker 3: just you're seeing into something that your brain may once

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Speaker 3: have been capable of but is no longer like the

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Speaker 3: pruning has cut you off from from that kind of

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Speaker 3: connection across mental distance.

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Speaker 2: So this again. This is a huge part of the film.

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Speaker 2: We'll keep coming back to this as we discuss the

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Speaker 2: making of the film and also get into the plot.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm glad that we're finally covering House. It's

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Speaker 2: a film that has been on the Weird House Cinema

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Speaker 2: list for I mean really since the beginning. I mean,

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Speaker 2: that's just if when you think of weird films and

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Speaker 2: you get into, you know, listings of weird films, it's

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Speaker 2: always up there. There's a you know, poster or a

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Speaker 2: recreation of the poster for this film in the front

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Speaker 2: window of Videodrome, the movie rental place here in Atlanta,

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Speaker 2: So you know, it's it's always been on the list,

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Speaker 2: and today we're finally talking about it. I guess I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna stick with the mount everest of hunted House Films

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Speaker 2: for my elevator pitch. Do you have any anything to

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Speaker 2: add to that?

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Speaker 3: Joe worst summer vacation ever. Seven high school friends go

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Speaker 3: out for a leisurely visit to a countryside manor somewhere

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Speaker 3: in Japan and get and by various household appliances.

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Speaker 2: All right, well, let's go ahead and listen to at

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Speaker 2: least part of the trailer audio here. I'm not sure

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Speaker 2: it necessarily makes sense to listen to the whole thing,

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Speaker 2: but we definitely want to get just a little taste

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Speaker 2: of that music, a little taste, especially of the title.

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Speaker 2: So let's have a listen.

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Speaker 4: House, I see in your rise.

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Speaker 2: My All right now, if you want to run out

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Speaker 2: and watch House before we get into any further discussion here, well,

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Speaker 2: lucky for you, House is widely available in pretty much

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Speaker 2: any format you might desire. Uh. Here in the States,

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Speaker 2: you can currently stream it on Max unless it's I

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Speaker 2: think it's still there. Uh. It's also available on Blu

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Speaker 2: Ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection. And that's how

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Speaker 2: I watched it. I rented it from Videodrome and watched

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Speaker 2: it on Blu Ray, and I refer back to some

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Speaker 2: of the special features as we proceed. All right, Well,

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Speaker 2: let's get into the people who made this film, starting

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Speaker 2: once more at the top with Nuwahiko Obayashi again, director.

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Speaker 2: He also plays husband in this producer, director of special effects.

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Speaker 2: He lived nineteen thirty eight through twenty twenty. He was

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Speaker 2: a Japanese director, screenwriter, and editor known for his work

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Speaker 2: in experimental cinema of the nineteen sixties TV commercials, reportedly

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Speaker 2: by the thousands, and often involving the sort of Western

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Speaker 2: celebrity appearances that were parodied in two thousand and threes

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Speaker 2: Lost in translation.

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Speaker 3: Okay, so where you might have like a celebrity famous

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Speaker 3: in English language movies and TV come in and kind

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Speaker 3: of deliver some strange out of text lines for a

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Speaker 3: soda commercial in Japan or something exactly.

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Speaker 2: And if you look up at images of him, you'll

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Speaker 2: find a lot of old images of him, like standing

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Speaker 2: around with various celebrities from the West. Now, this film,

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy Seven's House was his first feature film, an

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Speaker 2: intentionally off kilter, highly weird, experimental horror comedy I guess

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Speaker 2: you might call it, but you can describe it many

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Speaker 2: other ways as well. Initially didn't land all that well

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Speaker 2: with especially with Japanese critics and in the industry, but

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Speaker 2: it subsequently developed a cult following in Japan and abroad,

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Speaker 2: and today it's celebrated as just a complete cinematic freak

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Speaker 2: out and stands tall amid the pantheon of global psychatronics cinema.

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Speaker 3: As long as you're sticking to coherent narrative films, it

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Speaker 3: is one of the weirdest ever made.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do want to stress that it. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it does have a plot that you can follow, It's

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Speaker 2: not one of these. You can definitely describe it as

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Speaker 2: as art house to a certain extent. Ty West, the

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Speaker 2: horror director, has a little bit on the Criterion collection

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Speaker 2: disc where he talks about it being an art horror film,

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Speaker 2: which he says, you see little of these days, in

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Speaker 2: part because studios want to bring ironically someone in from

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Speaker 2: the commercial world to direct a very cookie cutter horror

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Speaker 2: film that kind of matches up with the style of

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Speaker 2: everything else and doesn't stand out. But you do still

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Speaker 2: see some art horror films like Slip Through, and there's

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Speaker 2: some great examples of that for sure. But yeah, this

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Speaker 2: is a very artistic vision here.

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Speaker 3: Well. Yeah, I think horror films are often thought of

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Speaker 3: as a cash grab, and in many cases they are

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Speaker 3: because horror films are, for the most part, relatively cheap

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Speaker 3: to make, and they tend to gross a lot more

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Speaker 3: than their budgets. But you know, something that might be

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Speaker 3: true of a lot of entries in a genre is

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Speaker 3: of course never true of all.

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Speaker 2: Right, Right, So again there's a great interview with Obayashi

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Speaker 2: and his daughter on the Criterion Collection disc and I

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Speaker 2: highly recommend folks to check that out. But because it

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Speaker 2: also has a lot of interesting stills, behind the scenes

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Speaker 2: photos and so forth, and they run through several aspects

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Speaker 2: of the making of and the reception of the film,

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Speaker 2: and I just want to go through a few things

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Speaker 2: that really stood out to me and I think are

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Speaker 2: important for understanding how this film came together and then

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Speaker 2: how it was interpreted. So he says that at the time,

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Speaker 2: so we would be dealing with I think at the time,

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Speaker 2: like mid seventies Japan. He said that cinema was pretty

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Speaker 2: much in decline, in that young people did not go

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Speaker 2: to the movies. TV was what was really in and

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Speaker 2: even his daughter, who would apparently go with him to

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Speaker 2: the theater all the time, would comment that Japanese films

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Speaker 2: were boring, Like when he asked her what kind of

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Speaker 2: film should Daddy make, she would be like, Oh, don't

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Speaker 2: make a movie, daddy. Japanese films are boring. So a

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Speaker 2: lot of what he's doing is definitely trying to create

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Speaker 2: something different, something new.

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Speaker 3: Bummer shut down by your child.

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Speaker 2: But he says that a lot of aspiring filmmakers at

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Speaker 2: the time, like himself, didn't want to do commercials, but

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Speaker 2: he thought differently. He seems to have thought differently about

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Speaker 2: a lot of things. He points out that the big

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Speaker 2: thing is there was money in commercials. And the key

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Speaker 2: here is not that you would make a lot of money,

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Speaker 2: and I think that may have also been true, but

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Speaker 2: more to the point, you could actually work with a budget.

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Speaker 2: So again, like the Japanese cinematic world, according to him,

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Speaker 2: was sort of shrinking at the time. You couldn't get

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Speaker 2: these big budgets, but you could go into doing these

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Speaker 2: commercials and there was money there could He says that

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Speaker 2: ultimately the content might be meaningless, but you could experiment,

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Speaker 2: you could chase the visual expression of the thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you see a lot of directors who eventually

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Speaker 3: end up making movies in all cultures. It's an American

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Speaker 3: cinema two that you know, they started in commercials and

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Speaker 3: also music videos. That used to be a big thing

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Speaker 3: because it was a place to just like work on techniques,

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Speaker 3: you know, whatever the actual content is, you're just experimenting

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Speaker 3: with ways of showing things and learning the craft that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, he speaks in the interview of turning experimentation

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Speaker 2: into expression, and that really seems to have been a

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Speaker 2: big part of his im at the time, certainly in

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Speaker 2: the production of House, which didn't even have any storyboards.

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Speaker 2: They intentionally they did not do storyboards for it. They

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Speaker 2: would just try things out and just like throw everything

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Speaker 2: against the wall and see what they could get. I

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Speaker 2: believe it's tie West and the extra that points out that,

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Speaker 2: like they use just basically every in camera technique imaginable

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Speaker 2: in the film.

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Speaker 3: That makes sense because I would say that the visual

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Speaker 3: style of the finished product is incredibly chaotic. There are

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Speaker 3: just tons of different techniques on display, sometimes seemingly at random.

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Speaker 3: I want to talk about this later when we get

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Speaker 3: into discussing the plot, the sometimes the violation of cinematic

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Speaker 3: norms that takes place throughout the movie, but also with

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Speaker 3: in terms of special effects, in terms of editing techniques,

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Speaker 3: like it all just just crazy different visual stuff happening

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Speaker 3: all the time that does not feel part of an

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Speaker 3: attempt to select a particular visual texture that like a

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Speaker 3: lot of films do, Like they just have totally different

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Speaker 3: looking effects and styles happening back to back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he mentions like having great admiration for filmmakers like Carasawa,

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Speaker 2: but then also wondering what would irritate Carrossola and then

385
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Speaker 2: pursuing that line of thinking that's great. So anyway, Toho

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Speaker 2: Studios famously was inspired by Jaws for this one. This

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Speaker 2: is often just thrown out there. It's like this was

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Speaker 2: this was an attempt to catch it on jobs. Well

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Speaker 2: sort of kind of, at least from Toho's position. Established

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Speaker 2: studio again realizes they need to they need to do

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Speaker 2: something fresh, and they look over and they say, oh, well,

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Speaker 2: this Steven Spielberg guy just made like this enormously successful

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Speaker 2: shark movie, huge hit from the mind of a young

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Speaker 2: emerging talent. Let's get one of those young emerging talents

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Speaker 2: and get them to make us a Jaws.

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Speaker 3: And of course Jaws did lead to numerous ripoffs and

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Speaker 3: copycats in the American market and all around the world.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you can find the Italian Jaws ripoffs, American

399
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Speaker 3: Jaws ripoffs, They're they're popping off all over the place.

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Speaker 3: Jaws made a lot of money, and much like when

401
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Speaker 3: Star Wars made a lot of money, it spawned an

402
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Speaker 3: endless series of copycats, so did Jaws. So you would

403
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Speaker 3: get Jaws with a bear Jaws. Other people would just

404
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Speaker 3: do shark you know, shark copycat movies, Jaws with a

405
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Speaker 3: killer whale. There are so many.

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Speaker 2: Of these, Yeah, and Obiasci points out that that's how

407
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Speaker 2: the grown up mind works, especially like the corporate mind

408
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Speaker 2: is like shark attack films are in, let's do a

409
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Speaker 2: bear attack. Let's do it, you know whatever, animal attack.

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Speaker 2: And that's the reason he turned to his ten year

411
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Speaker 2: old daughter for this fresh inspiration, like what what does

412
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Speaker 2: she want me to make a movie about? And so

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Speaker 2: she gives him this list of ideas. He adds this,

414
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Speaker 2: you know, basic ghost story premise, because he says, you

415
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Speaker 2: can't have the house eating people for no reason. It's

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Speaker 2: got to be a story reason. And then he hands

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Speaker 2: this off to the screenwriter and they have a script.

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Speaker 3: In a way, it's so beautiful just to imagine taking

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Speaker 3: all of your, like your kid's weirdest, most messed up

420
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Speaker 3: ideas and just saying that's gonna it's in the movie,

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Speaker 3: in the style of the key and Peel sketch for

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Speaker 3: Grimlins too. It's just very much it's in the movie.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's impressive that the screen play was green

424
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Speaker 2: lit by Toho. They're like, all right, let's do it.

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Speaker 2: But there was still apparently a long run up to

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Speaker 2: actually shooting the movie. I think it was like a

427
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Speaker 2: couple of years. Uh. And so during this time, they

428
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Speaker 2: produced and sold the soundtrack, they produced and sold a novelization,

429
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Speaker 2: there was a radio play of it. I was really

430
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Speaker 2: surprised by all of this. You know, I'm often not

431
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 2: cued into all of the gears of getting you know,

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Speaker 2: the film from the screenplay stage to the production and

433
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Speaker 2: release stage. But you know, it sounds like obashually put

434
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,520
Speaker 2: a lot of effort in just like all right, let's

435
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 2: do all these things sort of to ensure that Toho

436
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 2: keeps it green lit and and knows that it's coming.

437
00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,919
Speaker 2: He talks about like printing up business cards with the

438
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 2: movie poster on it and handing them out and saying

439
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: Toho is making this movie, TOAs making this movie, and

440
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 2: so forth. And I also have to to say that,

441
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,439
Speaker 2: like in the interview and the various photos, it's like

442
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 2: it's very clear that Obash was a very flashy, very creative,

443
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,199
Speaker 2: you know again, experimental and establishment bucking young director, but

444
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:21,920
Speaker 2: also one who seemed to be very personable with cast

445
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 2: and crew, to the point that he has shares this

446
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 2: story about how the lighting team ends up really coming

447
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 2: around to him because he addressed them by their names

448
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,919
Speaker 2: and they this had never happened before in the production

449
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,120
Speaker 2: of Toho films. They were just they were never addressed

450
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 2: by name and like, so he brought an entirely different

451
00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 2: vibe to the production. And he also says that he

452
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 2: made a point of wearing a different outfit every day

453
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,439
Speaker 2: in order to sort of keep the vibe up. So

454
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,680
Speaker 2: there are all these interesting photos of him in various

455
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 2: flashy outfits. He's often got sunglasses on. Very hip hoocking dude.

456
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 3: I think I read something about how in order to

457
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 3: get people in the feeling of a scene in the movie,

458
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 3: he would like play music while they were shooting.

459
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it would kind of like, I think, dance

460
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 2: with everyone, that sort of thing. Now. Obyashi was born

461
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 2: in Hiroshima, and all of his childhood friends, he says,

462
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 2: died as a result of the bombing. And he also

463
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 2: makes a point of pointing out that he incorporates elements

464
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 2: of this into this picture as well into the anti

465
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 2: war themes and other movies that he would go on

466
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 2: to direct. So he speaks of the in this interview,

467
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 2: he talks about the youth in this film. The Seven Girls,

468
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,359
Speaker 2: as we'll get into that are key. So he was

469
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 2: about forty at the time, and he talks about like

470
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 2: the young people being too young to really know what

471
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 2: war is and as a result to fully appreciate the

472
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 2: joy of peace. And I thought this was really interesting.

473
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 2: I have to hear this after watching the film, because Yeah,

474
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 2: you think about the tension in this movie that's president

475
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 2: most horror movies, like the space between leading up to

476
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 2: the horrible things, and there is like this unnatural, almost

477
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 2: sickeningly sweet aspect to the sweetness, like it's artificial sweetener

478
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 2: leading up to those moments that you know were coming.

479
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 2: And it absolutely works in house like it like I

480
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 2: felt myself, you know, you know, getting chill bumps because

481
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 2: I knew something terrible was going to happen, which I

482
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 2: have to say wasn't what I quite expected from the movie.

483
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 2: Like I was expecting, you know, psychotronic weirdness and craziness

484
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 2: and all that, and I didn't really expect the scary

485
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 2: parts to be scary or to feel that the tension leading.

486
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 1: Up to them.

487
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there is a I would say this movie

488
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 3: is almost always in some ways trying to subvert its

489
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 3: own tone. So there are scenes that are very ominous

490
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 3: in what's happening, or they're conveying dark or sad or

491
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,800
Speaker 3: scary information. And a lot of these scenes will have

492
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 3: things about, like the sights and sounds of the scene

493
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 3: that are lighthearted and funny, like it'll play jolly, sort

494
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:09,119
Speaker 3: of happy music while something really sad or scary is

495
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:13,399
Speaker 3: happening this, And then it'll do the opposite too, something

496
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 3: very lighthearted is happening on screen, but there will be

497
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 3: things about it that make it very ominous and unsettling.

498
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, as mentioned earlier, critics hated it

499
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 2: at the time, many didn't even review it, and those

500
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 2: that did often were just very savage about it all.

501
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 2: But is he stressed the interview, young people loved it,

502
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 2: like he says, like like ten through thirteen were the

503
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 2: ages of people that were going out and seeing this

504
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 2: movie and.

505
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 3: Too young for this movie. I don't know.

506
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 2: I don't know. We had a an off mike discussion

507
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 2: like when is the appropriate age to see House? And

508
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 2: I have no answers, but hard to say ten to thirteen.

509
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,360
Speaker 2: I guess at least in the late seventies in Japan.

510
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 2: But anyway, yeah, young people loved it, made it a

511
00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:00,720
Speaker 2: success in a way, kind of to the disappoint of

512
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 2: the studio establishment, and then ultimately some of the people

513
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 2: who loved it were future filmmakers, the people who loved

514
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 2: it were future film critics, and so it would eventually

515
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 2: be held up as one of the great Japanese horror

516
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 2: movies and ultimately, like we've been saying, one of the

517
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 2: great weird films of global cinema. So Obiyoshi followed up

518
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 2: House with a long filmography that ultimately broadened his mainstream appeal,

519
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 2: including several less nutty coming of age movies, but he

520
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 2: didn't abandon horror. His subsequent movies also include nineteen eighty

521
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,719
Speaker 2: two's Cute Devil, nineteen eighty three's Legend of the Cat Monster,

522
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty seven's The Forbidden Classroom, and nineteen eighty eight's

523
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 2: The Discarnates. The same year as House, in seventy seventy,

524
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 2: also made The Visitor in the Eye. This was a

525
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:54,800
Speaker 2: live action manga adaptation, and his twenty seventeen anti war

526
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 2: film Hanagatami was actually forty years in the making. He

527
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 2: was actually working on the script for that film with

528
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 2: the screenwriter Katsura right before House. His last film was

529
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen's Labyrinth of Cinema and again he died in

530
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 2: twenty twenty. Now his daughter is Chigumi Ogashi. She actually

531
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 2: appears in the movie. She's the shoe store girl.

532
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, there's a scene outside like a cobbler's shop,

533
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 3: shoemaker shop, and there is an old man and the

534
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 3: girl like hammering on some shoe soles. I think I

535
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 3: think this is where mister Togo, the teacher in the movie,

536
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 3: gets a bucket stuck on his butt and has to

537
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 3: go to the hospital.

538
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, in one of the goof here, just like Monty

539
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 2: python S sequences that occur in the film. Yeah, it's

540
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 2: just complete nuttiness, complete slapstick Charlie Chaplin esque and then

541
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,840
Speaker 2: some I guess yeah, but yeah, keep a lookout for her.

542
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: And bucket butt scene is Yeah, it's powerful, almost as

543
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 2: good as a banana scene. Later on, Oh that okay,

544
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 2: And then the screenplay proper I mentioned Katsura. This is

545
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 2: Chiho Katsura, who lived nineteen twenty nine through twenty twenty,

546
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 2: so he was a Japanese screenwriter novelist, translator, and film critic,

547
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 2: whose work, based on what I could see of his

548
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 2: available filmography, included a great deal of Japanese pink he

549
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 2: erotic films, but he also worked in other genres, including

550
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 2: at least a couple of family films. He worked with

551
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 2: Obashi on several mainstream films, including again twenty seventeen's Hanagatami.

552
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 2: All right, but now we should mention that really on

553
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 2: the acting front, we have seven core characters. These are

554
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 2: the seven girls. Their names are Gorgeous, kung Fu, Fantasy,

555
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 2: pro or Professor Mac, which is short for stomach because

556
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 2: she likes food.

557
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't get Mac.

558
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 2: It took a while for me to put that together.

559
00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 2: Okay yea Mac, Melody, and sweet. And they are all

560
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 2: exactly what their names.

561
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 3: Imply, right, So they're named after their traits. So Gorgeous

562
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 3: is supposed to be beautiful. Kung Fu is the jock of

563
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,000
Speaker 3: the group. She can like she can do sports and

564
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 3: kung fu, and she's very decisive and active. Fantasy is

565
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 3: a day dreamer. She's Gorgeous's best friend, and she likes

566
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 3: to I don't know she gus. She's often daydreaming, though

567
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 3: most of the things in the movie where it's like

568
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 3: is she daydreaming? No, they're actually happening. Prof is very

569
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 3: smart and logical, and she often has a book in

570
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 3: her hand. Mac is always hungry to a ridiculous extent,

571
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 3: Like I think literally every single line she says in

572
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 3: the movie is like I am eating now, yummy, you know,

573
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 3: I want a watermelon.

574
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,560
Speaker 2: She just has a great metabolism. Though I have to

575
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 2: stress like, it's not like she's overweight or depicted as such,

576
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: Like she just is hungry all the time.

577
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 3: Mac loves food and Melody loves music. She plays the guitar.

578
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,680
Speaker 3: I think we see her with a violin case, and

579
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 3: she plays the piano. There's a there's a very unfortunate

580
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 3: piano scene where she gets her fingers bitten off. And

581
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 3: then there is Sweet, who is You might think Sweet

582
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 3: is the one who is into desserts, but no, that's Max.

583
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 3: Sweet is named so because she is friendly and like

584
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 3: gentle and kind.

585
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 2: But yeah, still, it's kind of like the Seven Dwarfs, right,

586
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 2: like their names yeah tell you who they are for

587
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 2: the most part, except what is Doc. Yeah, I don't

588
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 2: know what Doc Steal is. But these these gals names

589
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,480
Speaker 2: all make sense, and apparently the number seven was was

590
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 2: important to Gosh because like teams of seven are or

591
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 2: were common in Japan now. In casting the Seven Girls,

592
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 2: he says that, like he pretty much depended on just

593
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 2: casting girls that he'd worked with in his commercial work,

594
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 2: so a lot of them were, you know, models with

595
00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 2: very limited acting experience. They're basically gorgeous. I think it's

596
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: the only one who had had an acting career that

597
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,840
Speaker 2: was already like emotion, but it was still still very early,

598
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 2: so he but he says like this is also an

599
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 2: important part of the vibe, Like the acting from these

600
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:20,400
Speaker 2: girls is kind of amateurish and it doesn't feel polished

601
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 2: or professional, but that, like other aspects of the film

602
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,880
Speaker 2: are intentional, Like I think that's part of the intended

603
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 2: fabric of the thing.

604
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are scenes in the movie that have an

605
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 3: almost sketch comedy kind of feel, if you know what

606
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:37,439
Speaker 3: I mean, Like characters kind of like stumbling over each

607
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,560
Speaker 3: other with their lines, talking over other people's lines, and

608
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 3: like sometimes maybe it seems like they're improvising, but it

609
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 3: is clearly part of the fabric of the movie. It's

610
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 3: what they're trying to create. I think somehow it simultaneously

611
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,760
Speaker 3: makes the movie funnier but also makes the characters somehow

612
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 3: feel more vulnerable when they are threats by the evil

613
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 3: magic of the house.

614
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and in a way that maybe comparable to

615
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 2: how sometimes your B horror movies are more terrifying in

616
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 2: that they feel more like its documentary footage, you know,

617
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 2: like they're not actors, and it can, Yeah, it can

618
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 2: sort of warp your expectations and experience of watching it.

619
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:27,160
Speaker 2: So anyway, I'm not going to list all seven actresses

620
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 2: who played the seven girls. A lot of them again

621
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 2: were new to acting and didn't necessarily, you know, stick

622
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 2: around for more acting or maybe only have a handful

623
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 2: of credits. But the key exception is the actor who

624
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 2: plays Gorgeous. This is Kamiko Ikigami born nineteen fifty nine,

625
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,439
Speaker 2: American born Japanese actress. She's been acting for a few

626
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:49,959
Speaker 2: years at this point, having made her TV and film

627
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 2: debuts in seventy five. Her subsequent films include nineteen seventy

628
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 2: nine Is the Man who Stole the Sun, The Acclaim,

629
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three drama Yokiro, for which she was nominated

630
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,359
Speaker 2: for a Japanese Academy Award and nineteen ninety three's Lone

631
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 2: Wolf and Cub The Final Conflict.

632
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 3: Now, the seven main girls are sort of an ensemble

633
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,960
Speaker 3: of heroes, but I'd say I'd also say there are

634
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 3: sort of two main protagonists of the movie, and that

635
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 3: is gorgeous. But also her best friend Fantasy.

636
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 2: Fantasy. Yeah, Fantasy is very key. Komiko Oba born nineteen

637
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 2: sixty plays this role. I'm also a huge fan of

638
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 2: kung fu. I thought Mickey Jimbo born nineteen sixty was

639
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 2: great in this Big Fu.

640
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 3: You're so cool.

641
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, she is so cool, and she can kick ghosts.

642
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,320
Speaker 3: She can, she does. In fact, she can kick ghosts

643
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,320
Speaker 3: even without her head attached to her body.

644
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 2: But ultimately, yeah, it's an ensemble, and all the girls

645
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 2: are great.

646
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:50,280
Speaker 3: They're all wonderful.

647
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:55,919
Speaker 2: I love their caricatures. It's fabulous. Yeah, but again, most

648
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 2: of them didn't have a lot of acting experience.

649
00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:57,959
Speaker 3: Really.

650
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 2: The most established actor in the whole mix is the

651
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:05,680
Speaker 2: actor playing the Auntie who they are visiting, often credited

652
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 2: as Auntie Carrie House, so I guess her last name

653
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 2: is House anyway, played by Yoko Minamieda. She lived nineteen

654
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 2: thirty three through two thousand and nine, a Japanese actress

655
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 2: best known for this film, at least internationally, but with

656
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 2: credits going back to nineteen fifty two. So she was

657
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 2: a very established actor, but at the time, according to

658
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 2: the director, had trouble getting work in cinema befitting her

659
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 2: status and her talent. Again, so like cinema seemed to

660
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,279
Speaker 2: be down at the time in Japan. So but it

661
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,359
Speaker 2: was still it was a big deal that she took

662
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,680
Speaker 2: this role, not only because she had such she was

663
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 2: an established star, but also it was key that she

664
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 2: took the role of an older woman, according to Obyashi,

665
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 2: because in Japanese cinema, certainly at the time and maybe

666
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:54,919
Speaker 2: still this is still the case, there was no going

667
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 2: back for an actor or actress once you took an

668
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 2: older person's role. Apparently it was This wasn't even necessarily

669
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 2: like a double standard for women, as men also couldn't

670
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 2: keep playing younger characters as they aged.

671
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,160
Speaker 3: If like they had taken a role previously in which

672
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 3: it was acknowledged they were playing an older character.

673
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, like once you take that older lady role, it's

674
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,719
Speaker 2: like that's it. Now you play old ladies. There's no

675
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:22,439
Speaker 2: sort of like midpoint where you can kind of play

676
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 2: both roles. But I have to say she's tremendous. Inness Oh,

677
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:30,439
Speaker 2: she's so good, she's the best. Yes, there's a really

678
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 2: great scene where she's eating some food. I don't remember

679
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 2: what she's she's munching on something and then just kind

680
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,440
Speaker 2: of like pops her mouth open and Yeah, she has

681
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 2: an eyeball that lives in her mouth and she kind

682
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 2: of looks around at people with it and then closes

683
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 2: her mouth like te Yeah, there are times where she

684
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 2: breaks the fourth wall, and I mean you just kind

685
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 2: of expect her to crowd to the television at you

686
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 2: at that point.

687
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's great.

688
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 2: And really, the only other like main actor I would

689
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,840
Speaker 2: want to mention is is the cat and or cats.

690
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 2: We don't know how many cats play Blanche. You know,

691
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 2: often you have multiple cats in a role. But really,

692
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 2: for the most part, I was just struck by what

693
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:13,720
Speaker 2: a great feline performance this is. Feline actors are notoriously

694
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 2: difficult to work with, and even in the best of

695
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,080
Speaker 2: cat related movies, often look like they really would prefer

696
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,399
Speaker 2: to be out out of the shot and are more

697
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 2: interested in in like scurrying off screen.

698
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 3: We were looking at some of those Blowfeld shots where

699
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 3: the cat looks like it's it's trying to be somewhere else.

700
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's a lot of that. Obviously, working with

701
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 2: cats is difficult, but there are plenty of shots in

702
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 2: this film where yeah, it's like Blanche just looks like

703
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,800
Speaker 2: she's completely at ease. Here beautiful cat too, absolutely beautiful

704
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 2: white cat.

705
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,080
Speaker 3: Very fluffy love Blanche. Hey you didn't mention him, but there.

706
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:49,319
Speaker 3: You also had a credit note for the guy who

707
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 3: like operates the Ramen stand.

708
00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the guy credited as Ramen Trucker is a

709
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 2: trucker trucker. Yeah, okay, so maybe I don't know if

710
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:00,920
Speaker 2: this is the I'm not sure exactly where he shows

711
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,839
Speaker 2: up that This is a guy named Shiochi Heroes who

712
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 2: lived nineteen Eighteeneen through nineteen ninety just a bit player

713
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,400
Speaker 2: in a one time stunt man. But he played King

714
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,280
Speaker 2: Kong in nineteen sixty three. He's King Kong versus Godzilla.

715
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,719
Speaker 3: So he's the guy you don't there's a scene where

716
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 3: mister Togo, he's supposed to be coming to He doesn't

717
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 3: know that they're in trouble, but he they're waiting, the

718
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 3: girls are waiting for him to come to the rescue

719
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,359
Speaker 3: at the house, and then we cut away to him

720
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 3: and he's like at a ramen cart eating ramen. And

721
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 3: this is the guy I guess operating the ramen cart.

722
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,080
Speaker 3: I believe so, yeah, and we see him like stuff

723
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,640
Speaker 3: a huge mass of noodles into his mouth and then

724
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 3: grin at the camera with the noodles in his mouth.

725
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 2: Yes, all right, now come into the music. The music

726
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 2: is important in house A's say. Kobyashi has the composer credit.

727
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 2: He lived nineteen thirty three through twenty twenty one, Japanese

728
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,239
Speaker 2: composer and occasional actor. And in fact he is in

729
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 2: this acting as well as the watermelon salesman.

730
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,439
Speaker 3: That is an insanely weird role to go to somebody

731
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 3: who's not primarily an actor like that is a weird,

732
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 3: weird role.

733
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 2: It is very memorable. Apparently it took some convincing to

734
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 2: bring him onto the project, but Obyashi was insistent that look,

735
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 2: a ghost story needs the sweetest, most beautiful music in

736
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 2: order to land properly, and that's why I need you

737
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 2: on the picture. And he was like, okay, okay, I'll

738
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 2: do it. I also want to act in it. I'll

739
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 2: do it, but then he was like, you know, you

740
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 2: really need some youthful energy in this as well. So

741
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,560
Speaker 2: it's like, I'll work on these themes and all, but

742
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 2: I think you should also bring in this Japanese rock

743
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 2: band so that they can like recreate some of these

744
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 2: themes and breathe additional life into the picture. And that

745
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:57,680
Speaker 2: is where the rock band Godaigo comes into the picture here.

746
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,760
Speaker 2: So this is a Japanese rock band and I believe

747
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,080
Speaker 2: named after the ninety sixth Emperor of Japan. They were

748
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:06,239
Speaker 2: mostly active in the seventies and eighties, but I think

749
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,399
Speaker 2: are still around to varying degrees, like I see him

750
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 2: doing press and all. They were notable for supplying the

751
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 2: music for the Japanese TV series Monkey and that this,

752
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 2: by the way, is the Japanese TV adaptation of the

753
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 2: Chinese novel Journey into the West that I think. Actually

754
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 2: it also got some air outside of Japan, like I

755
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:29,240
Speaker 2: think I've read that it aired in Australia, for example,

756
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:31,600
Speaker 2: So a lot of people even outside of Japan have

757
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 2: fond memories of this show. And also I believe there

758
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 2: is a scene in the movie where we see the

759
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:41,520
Speaker 2: band just hanging around there's like five of them, and

760
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,359
Speaker 2: two of them I think two of them are Americans.

761
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 3: Hmm, okay, I vaguely recalled this happening, but I don't

762
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:50,560
Speaker 3: remember when the movie it is. Maybe it'll be in

763
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:51,439
Speaker 3: my plot notes here.

764
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,239
Speaker 2: I think it might be in one of those sort

765
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:57,040
Speaker 2: of Sesame Street esque sequences where we see this kind

766
00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:02,400
Speaker 2: of like idealistic town. Okay, yeah, anyway, these are the

767
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 2: folks involved in the music, and the music in House

768
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:10,799
Speaker 2: is absolutely bonkers, bordering on and seemingly just intentionally irritating

769
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 2: at times even bordering on madness and yeah, and other

770
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 2: times just super sweet or happy, go lucky or loaded

771
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,319
Speaker 2: with this kind of resilient seventies hippie vibes, you know,

772
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 2: like like the hippie dream is degraded, but the music

773
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:28,280
Speaker 2: is really insistent that it's still going.

774
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 3: There are like pop rock anthems that feel very strange

775
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 3: for the for what's going on with the scene. There

776
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 3: is a main theme that I assume was composed by Kobayashi.

777
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 3: I don't know for sure, but the main house theme

778
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 3: that just plays over and over and over in all

779
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:50,479
Speaker 3: these different ways, and that you know, the dun Dun Dun, done,

780
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 3: it like takes on a kind of evil magic of

781
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,160
Speaker 3: its own. It's like the it's like the music is

782
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 3: in some way responsible for the wicked magic that is

783
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 3: taking place on screen.

784
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:04,720
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and on that note, let's get into the wicked

785
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 2: magic of House.

786
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,839
Speaker 3: I love the animated title at the beginning, so there's like,

787
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 3: of course we get the Toho logo, but then there's

788
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 3: like a blue box on a black background with pink

789
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 3: and green text inside it that says a movie.

790
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 2: Yeah. Ob Yashi says that this was key because he

791
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,880
Speaker 2: had to remind everyone that this is the essence of cinema.

792
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:29,120
Speaker 2: You can't dismiss it. This is a movie.

793
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 3: I admit it. I admit it.

794
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,879
Speaker 2: It's a movie. But it's kind of telling because I think,

795
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 2: like some of the critics were like, this is not

796
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 2: a movie. This is just a series of commercials, this

797
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 2: is this is excrement. And so like even from the

798
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,880
Speaker 2: get go, he's like, this is a movie. I believe

799
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 2: in the vision.

800
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,080
Speaker 3: So after it says a movie, we see some like

801
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,920
Speaker 3: little white blobs jiggling like jello in space, and then

802
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:56,080
Speaker 3: the little white jello smudges turn into letters that spell

803
00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,799
Speaker 3: House in English, and then the letters pop and a

804
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:01,839
Speaker 3: voice comes on and says.

805
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,880
Speaker 2: Howse Obyashi also stresses that giving a Japanese film a

806
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 2: foreign language title, which is the case here, like the

807
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 2: Japanese title for House is house. He says this simply

808
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:15,600
Speaker 2: was not done at the time. It was really kind

809
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:17,799
Speaker 2: of taboo, and so he had to do it.

810
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was wondering what the cultural significance is of

811
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 3: using English specifically. Now. I know, in say, if it's

812
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 3: an English language movie, you might have a title in

813
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:33,840
Speaker 3: another language that signals something. For example, I think of

814
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,120
Speaker 3: a horror movie called Oculus. You know, that's like a

815
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 3: Latin title that I don't know. Something about using Latin

816
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,160
Speaker 3: in your title suggests kind of antiquity, something that is

817
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:49,359
Speaker 3: ancient and maybe kind of foreign and scary. I don't

818
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,839
Speaker 3: know what the connotations of using English specifically in your

819
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 3: title would be here. But when I first saw the movie,

820
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 3: I didn't even think about it.

821
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:00,720
Speaker 2: I didn't either, But yeah, he points out, Yeah, people

822
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:04,400
Speaker 2: hated this idea, so you shouldn't do it. This isn't done.

823
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:07,839
Speaker 2: But like I say, he bucks those trends. So he's like, yeah,

824
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 2: I'm gonna call it house, but we're not done with

825
00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:13,040
Speaker 2: the credit sequence keeps getting more amazing, So.

826
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, then you've got like the white jello house, and

827
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,160
Speaker 3: then the O in house grows teeth and turns red,

828
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 3: and then a woman screams. Then the teeth turn into

829
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,000
Speaker 3: red lipstick lips, and then the lipstick lips open to

830
00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 3: reveal shark teeth and an eyeball in the back of

831
00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 3: the throat, and then a piano starts blinking on the soundtrack,

832
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 3: and then the o lips bite down on they bite

833
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 3: down on something, and then they spit out a severed

834
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 3: human hand, and then we finally cut to the action.

835
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,720
Speaker 3: And what we see at first is a woman filmed

836
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 3: behind what looks like a green filter, and she's wearing

837
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,759
Speaker 3: a white sheet like a hooded cloak, and she is

838
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 3: surrounded by what looks like beakers and glass chemistry equipment,

839
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:58,879
Speaker 3: but also candles in ornate holders, so it's a very

840
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:02,239
Speaker 3: weird shot. And then in a reverse shot, we see

841
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:05,759
Speaker 3: a girl in school uniform taking her photo. She gives

842
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:07,879
Speaker 3: a thumbs up, she says okay, and then the girl

843
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:10,200
Speaker 3: in the photo throws off her cloak and walks to

844
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 3: the window of the room and we sort of zoom

845
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,719
Speaker 3: out of the frame within the picture to just be

846
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,839
Speaker 3: to just see one picture now. And this other girl

847
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 3: is also in school uniform, so she had like a

848
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:24,840
Speaker 3: costume on. And these two of our main characters, I

849
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,600
Speaker 3: would say the two most important of our characters, Gorgeous

850
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:30,719
Speaker 3: and Fantasy. Gorgeous was the one who was posing in

851
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,400
Speaker 3: the photo with the cloak over her head, and Fantasy

852
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 3: was the one taking the photo. And they're talking about

853
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,759
Speaker 3: how summer vacation is coming up, and Gorgeous is going

854
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 3: to spend summer vacation at the fabulous villa owned by

855
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 3: her fabulous dad, which is in Kauizawa. And I looked

856
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,760
Speaker 3: this up because I didn't know. Kauwizawa is a mountain

857
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:55,200
Speaker 3: resort town that has long been a popular summer travel

858
00:47:55,239 --> 00:48:00,280
Speaker 3: destination in Japan and for international visitors as well. Seems

859
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,600
Speaker 3: like it's kind of a beautiful forested mountain environment that

860
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:06,040
Speaker 3: gets like a nice cool weather in the summer, and

861
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,759
Speaker 3: like people travel from all over to go there. We

862
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:11,920
Speaker 3: also learned that Gorgeous's father has been away in Italy

863
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 3: and he is supposed to be coming back tomorrow. A

864
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:21,680
Speaker 3: later scene reveals that Gorgeous's father is a film composer,

865
00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 3: and that he is a rich and successful film composer

866
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:29,959
Speaker 3: and he's been away working for somebody named Leoni, who

867
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 3: says that her father's music is better than Morricone's. So

868
00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:36,120
Speaker 3: I guess they're saying he's working for Sergio Leoni.

869
00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:39,279
Speaker 2: All right, sounds good, I'll buy it.

870
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:44,960
Speaker 3: I wonder what went into that decision why anyway, let's see. Oh,

871
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 3: but we also learned that So Gorgeous is going to

872
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:51,279
Speaker 3: the villa and Fantasy and their other five friends, the

873
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:54,759
Speaker 3: six girls together are going to go to some kind

874
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 3: of camp for the summer. They're going to a camp

875
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 3: by the seaside that is run by the sister of

876
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:07,319
Speaker 3: their teacher, mister Togo. So it's mister Togo's sisters in

877
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,680
Speaker 3: kind of complicated yeah, but ultimately unimportant, right because they

878
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:15,920
Speaker 3: don't go there. So Gorgeous and Fantasy are best friends

879
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:19,560
Speaker 3: and they kind of tease each other. Fantasy Gorgeous teases

880
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 3: Fantasy for having a crush on mister Togo. Fantasy teases

881
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,080
Speaker 3: Gorgeous for looking like a witch in a horror movie

882
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 3: when she was dressed up in the in the cloak

883
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 3: in the picture. They have a conversation with their Jim teacher,

884
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:36,080
Speaker 3: who is apparently getting married to mister Togo. I think, yes, yes, Okay.

885
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,400
Speaker 3: Then there's kind of a montage of Fantasy and Gorgeous

886
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,080
Speaker 3: being best friends. There are a lot of montages in

887
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:45,440
Speaker 3: this movie. Now, while this movie represents a lot of

888
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:49,840
Speaker 3: kind of lighthearted scenes of you know, just like teenagers

889
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 3: being friends, there it also represents I think a lot

890
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,360
Speaker 3: of the like dark side and frustration of being a

891
00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 3: young person. And so there's a scene where like Gorgeous

892
00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:02,080
Speaker 3: goes home to meet her father and he's home earlier

893
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:04,400
Speaker 3: than expected, so at first she's very happy to see him.

894
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:07,479
Speaker 3: It seems they have a good relationship. But we learned

895
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:11,879
Speaker 3: that Gorgeous' mom died eight years ago, and today her

896
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:15,200
Speaker 3: father has some news he needs to share. A woman

897
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,040
Speaker 3: enters the frame at the house in a flowing white

898
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:20,960
Speaker 3: dress with a silk scarf blowing in the breeze, and

899
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,480
Speaker 3: her presence feels very almost ethereal. There's kind of a

900
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:27,640
Speaker 3: diaphanous quality to the way she's represented on film whenever

901
00:50:27,640 --> 00:50:30,720
Speaker 3: we see her. And this character is named Rioko Emma,

902
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:34,560
Speaker 3: and the father informs Gorgeous that she is going to

903
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:37,719
Speaker 3: be your mom. Now, and he says several things to

904
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:40,480
Speaker 3: kind of try to soften the news. I guess he's like,

905
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:43,239
Speaker 3: she's surprisingly good at cooking and other things too. You

906
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 3: won't have to mend my shirts anymore. But we can

907
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,000
Speaker 3: just see that is like not the kind of appeal

908
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,160
Speaker 3: that Gorgeous wants to hear. Gorgeous is hurt by this

909
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:55,759
Speaker 3: because it seems that she hasn't really properly grieved for

910
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,239
Speaker 3: her mother's death, even though it was a long time ago,

911
00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 3: and she's not ready to accept a new member of

912
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:03,200
Speaker 3: the family. Yeah.

913
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:05,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, this portion of the film reminds me a little

914
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 2: bit of what we'd get later in Jim Henson's Labyrinth,

915
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,239
Speaker 2: you know, with Sarah and sort of you know, the

916
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:14,640
Speaker 2: young woman's angst and so forth, And I imagine you

917
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:16,240
Speaker 2: see that in a lot of other movies as well.

918
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:18,759
Speaker 2: But the other thing, the main thing I want to

919
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,600
Speaker 2: stress is that I think it's essential to note that

920
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:24,000
Speaker 2: this is, in many respects the most normal part of

921
00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:24,400
Speaker 2: the film.

922
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:24,640
Speaker 3: Right.

923
00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:26,880
Speaker 2: This is the real world set up to the speculative

924
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 2: elements to come. So it would be the most boring

925
00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:32,759
Speaker 2: part of your average cookie cutter horror movie, and yet

926
00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:38,759
Speaker 2: in house it's full of experimentals and varied film techniques.

927
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,160
Speaker 2: I especially love the shooting through a kind of what

928
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 2: is it like a glass mirror lattice work?

929
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, very weird. And also I would say it

930
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 3: is strange in how fearless it is in depicting the

931
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:54,440
Speaker 3: intense emotions of a teenager. So like, after this interaction

932
00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 3: where she has this bad reaction to meeting Rioko Gorgeous,

933
00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:00,839
Speaker 3: goes back to her room, which is crazy by the way,

934
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 3: it has like purple walls with huge flowers painted all

935
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:06,080
Speaker 3: over them, and she like, you know, she's got a

936
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:10,080
Speaker 3: piano in her room. Uh, and she and she weirdly

937
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 3: like suddenly seems very at peace in her room, despite

938
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:15,799
Speaker 3: having just run away from this family news that caused

939
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:19,759
Speaker 3: her so much distress. But then she is acting kind

940
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,440
Speaker 3: of like silly and dreamy, and she speaks to a

941
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 3: framed portrait of her mom and goes through a box

942
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,960
Speaker 3: of old family photos, remembering like good times with her

943
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 3: father when he was proud of her, when she like

944
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:34,520
Speaker 3: wanted a sports competition, and then she's just shown drawing

945
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,440
Speaker 3: x's over her dad's face in the photos and saying,

946
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:39,840
Speaker 3: I'll bully dad. I hate him. Wow.

947
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:42,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a time of intense emotions.

948
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 3: But also in the sequence she remembers her mom, she

949
00:52:46,719 --> 00:52:50,359
Speaker 3: remembers her in a bridal costume, similar to how she

950
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 3: cloaked herself in the in the Chemistry Lab photo earlier. Actually,

951
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:57,600
Speaker 3: and in she sees sort of a picture of her

952
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:01,040
Speaker 3: mother with her auntie, and she says, I wonder how

953
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:04,719
Speaker 3: auntie is. The antie in the photo is somehow kind

954
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 3: of animated even though she's in a still photograph and

955
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:09,440
Speaker 3: she is holding a white cat.

956
00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 2: Oh, that'll be important.

957
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 3: Also here we should mention just that the presence of

958
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,880
Speaker 3: music in this movie does not feel like no, I

959
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:21,920
Speaker 3: mean all movie. Most movies have music, but the presence

960
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 3: of music in this movie does not feel normal. There's

961
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:29,360
Speaker 3: kind of a constant soundtrack playing running under nearly every

962
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 3: scene that makes everything feel like a montage or a

963
00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:33,800
Speaker 3: flashback or something.

964
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,799
Speaker 2: That's a great point. And then there are choices made

965
00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:40,799
Speaker 2: later on, like visually stylistically that also give you that

966
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:43,400
Speaker 2: feel like is this the present? Is this the past?

967
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:44,239
Speaker 2: What's going on?

968
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:47,480
Speaker 3: Yeah? Now, next at school we meet our gang of

969
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:51,279
Speaker 3: student heroines, and again they're each named for something about them.

970
00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:55,239
Speaker 3: Again they are Gorgeous, her best friend Fantasy who's always daydreaming,

971
00:53:55,480 --> 00:53:58,600
Speaker 3: prof who wears glasses, is a nerd. She's logical, she

972
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:02,360
Speaker 3: has a book, Melody who's holding a guitar and loves music,

973
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 3: Mac who loves food and is shown with a donut,

974
00:54:06,719 --> 00:54:10,040
Speaker 3: Sweet who is very nice and friendly. And kung Fu,

975
00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:13,480
Speaker 3: who is the jock and does martial arts. When we

976
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,680
Speaker 3: first meet her, she like jumps up and karate chops

977
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 3: of volleyball that is flying toward the group, and everybody says,

978
00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:24,879
Speaker 3: you're so cool, kung Fu. Also, when we first meet them,

979
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,000
Speaker 3: it's just a weird scene. They're like they're in a

980
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 3: school courtyard and there are just bubbles floating through the air. Also,

981
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:33,960
Speaker 3: there is a fountain in the school courtyard with a

982
00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:36,600
Speaker 3: copy of the Venus de Milo in the middle of it,

983
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,959
Speaker 3: like the armless you know venus just there.

984
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:40,560
Speaker 2: Yeah.

985
00:54:40,760 --> 00:54:42,799
Speaker 3: So they're talking about how they're all about to go

986
00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:45,480
Speaker 3: on vacation to the you know, the seaside inn of

987
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:49,840
Speaker 3: mister Togo's sister for ten days, and they're bummed because

988
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,040
Speaker 3: Gorgeous can't go with them. She's going to the country

989
00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:56,080
Speaker 3: with her dad instead. But mister Togo shows up in

990
00:54:56,160 --> 00:55:00,279
Speaker 3: this weird tiny car, and he's like, bad news is

991
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:02,640
Speaker 3: going to have a baby. We cannot go vacationing by

992
00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:04,880
Speaker 3: the sea. But I was just thinking, did he not

993
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:06,360
Speaker 3: know this was going to happen?

994
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:10,840
Speaker 2: I know it didn't get a lot of advanced notice

995
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:11,440
Speaker 2: from the sister.

996
00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 3: I guess yeah. And the girls bully mister Togo for this.

997
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,560
Speaker 3: I think, he says, don't bully me, But there's a

998
00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:21,920
Speaker 3: new plan. Gorgeous suggests that they all come to her

999
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:25,040
Speaker 3: auntie's house in her mom's old hometown, And so we

1000
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,680
Speaker 3: see Gorgeous writing a letter to her aunt informing her

1001
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:29,800
Speaker 3: that all of her friends are coming, and she says,

1002
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 3: I know we've only met once. Please don't think I'm strange.

1003
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 3: Is the aunt going to think you're strange? Gorgeous, I

1004
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:42,000
Speaker 3: don't know this aunt. Yeah, but she says, you know,

1005
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:45,239
Speaker 3: she wants to spend time with her aunt like she

1006
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:48,560
Speaker 3: used to spend with her mom. Somewhere around here, she

1007
00:55:48,640 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 3: just happens to run into a fluffy white cat, and

1008
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:55,840
Speaker 3: she says, cute kitty, where are you from?

1009
00:55:55,880 --> 00:55:57,239
Speaker 2: And instantly adopts the cat.

1010
00:55:57,840 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 3: The cat is part of the crew, yes, and named

1011
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:03,040
Speaker 3: it Blanche, so Blanche is the name of the white cat.

1012
00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:05,920
Speaker 3: We see it sitting on top of the mailbox outside

1013
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:08,640
Speaker 3: Gorgeous's apartment, and she gets a letter back from her

1014
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:11,560
Speaker 3: aunt saying, oh, yes, come see me and bring all

1015
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:14,200
Speaker 3: your friends. So we know Gorgeous is going to go

1016
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:16,439
Speaker 3: visit her aunt and take all her friends with her.

1017
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:19,680
Speaker 3: And we also hear get a scene of Rioko, Gorgeous's

1018
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,640
Speaker 3: dad's new wife, announcing her plan to go later go

1019
00:56:23,719 --> 00:56:25,879
Speaker 3: after Gorgeous and her friends go to the aunt's house.

1020
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,440
Speaker 3: She's going to go there and meet her so that

1021
00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:30,200
Speaker 3: she can get to know her and talk to her

1022
00:56:30,239 --> 00:56:33,000
Speaker 3: one on one. She says, this is my first trial

1023
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:35,920
Speaker 3: in becoming her mother. And again she's got this scarf

1024
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:38,000
Speaker 3: on her neck blowing in the wind in a way

1025
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:39,920
Speaker 3: that makes it I don't know, it just looks kind

1026
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:43,799
Speaker 3: of doomed or vulnerable somehow, like someone's it's suggesting like

1027
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:47,600
Speaker 3: a grabbing of her by the neck or something. Yeah, yeah, oh.

1028
00:56:47,640 --> 00:56:49,480
Speaker 3: And then the very next scene we get is so

1029
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,960
Speaker 3: off the wall. It is this crazy musical number outside

1030
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:57,160
Speaker 3: a cobbler's workshop. There's a guy working on shoes with

1031
00:56:57,200 --> 00:56:59,160
Speaker 3: a pipe and a cap. There's a young lady in

1032
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,120
Speaker 3: the leather apron. This is the director's daughter. There's a

1033
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:05,960
Speaker 3: donkey in the background or maybe a miniature pony. Uh

1034
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 3: and uh yeah, it's just nuts. So, like mister Togo

1035
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:11,799
Speaker 3: comes down to this scene, but like falls down the

1036
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,920
Speaker 3: stairs and gets a metal bucket stuck on his butt

1037
00:57:14,960 --> 00:57:17,880
Speaker 3: and announces he will have to go to the hospital

1038
00:57:17,920 --> 00:57:18,880
Speaker 3: for his butt bucket.

1039
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:22,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, this scene is Yeah, it has strong sesame street vibes,

1040
00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:26,440
Speaker 2: and then it goes into just utter ridiculous slapstick territory.

1041
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:30,560
Speaker 2: It's in many ways, yeah, out of keeping with the

1042
00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 2: tone so far, but also perfectly in line with the

1043
00:57:33,640 --> 00:57:36,760
Speaker 2: tone of house. Yep, it's hard to describe.

1044
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:40,360
Speaker 3: There's a child drumming on mister Togo's bucket while he's

1045
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:41,160
Speaker 3: on the phone.

1046
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:44,160
Speaker 2: This would seem to be aggravating the condition or I

1047
00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:45,880
Speaker 2: don't know, I'm relieving it. I'm not sure.

1048
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:50,680
Speaker 3: So without mister I guess mister Togo was gonna accompany

1049
00:57:50,760 --> 00:57:53,480
Speaker 3: them somehow, I didn't fully understand this, and he was

1050
00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 3: gonna be chaperone. Okay, he's going to chaperone this trip

1051
00:57:56,360 --> 00:57:59,880
Speaker 3: to the ant's house, I guess. But so instead they

1052
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,120
Speaker 3: have to go without him. So the girls are at

1053
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:06,000
Speaker 3: a train station and they're getting on the train and

1054
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:08,760
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, who are all these cowboys and rock stars?

1055
00:58:09,360 --> 00:58:11,960
Speaker 3: Or actually no, they don't comment on it. I'm just wondering.

1056
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:15,480
Speaker 3: There's Yeah, the train is full of Oh maybe this

1057
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:18,400
Speaker 3: is where we see Godaigo. I don't know. But there

1058
00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:22,040
Speaker 3: are cowboys, there are nuns, there are sailors. The train

1059
00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:25,240
Speaker 3: is full of all different kinds. Oh el Topo's on there.

1060
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:29,800
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, yeah, it's like this vision of I

1061
00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:34,120
Speaker 2: don't know, like a very non conformist Japanese society. I

1062
00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:37,400
Speaker 2: don't know what it is, like why they're cowboys getting

1063
00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:38,439
Speaker 2: off these trains.

1064
00:58:38,360 --> 00:58:40,480
Speaker 3: And blanches on the train too. They let cats on

1065
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:45,520
Speaker 3: this train. Somebody while they're traveling with the cats just

1066
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,080
Speaker 3: happens to say, any old cat can open a door,

1067
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:51,080
Speaker 3: only a witch cat can close the door.

1068
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:54,560
Speaker 2: And that'll be key. And also, if you haven't guessed already,

1069
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:59,480
Speaker 2: this is definitely a witch cat.

1070
00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:07,600
Speaker 3: Now Here we get some backstory that's very important to

1071
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 3: the film, but I want to stress how strange the

1072
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:16,720
Speaker 3: delivery of this character information is so gorgeous. Starts explaining

1073
00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:19,000
Speaker 3: to her friends that her aunt and her mother they

1074
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:21,720
Speaker 3: were sisters and they loved each other very much, and

1075
00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:24,960
Speaker 3: Gorgeous once traveled with her mother to meet her aunt

1076
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:27,480
Speaker 3: when she was six, but she hasn't seen her since.

1077
00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:32,840
Speaker 3: And then like a film strip starts, and again I

1078
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:35,760
Speaker 3: want to say, there's no way I could identify that

1079
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:38,800
Speaker 3: they could be watching a film strip on the train,

1080
00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:42,240
Speaker 3: But we're watching a film strip with like CPIA tones,

1081
00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:45,440
Speaker 3: and it's like the girls are watching it too, and

1082
00:59:45,480 --> 00:59:49,440
Speaker 3: they're sort of riffing on what happens in the film.

1083
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:54,360
Speaker 3: So as we see this stuff, I guess Gorgeous narrates,

1084
00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:57,640
Speaker 3: I think, or somebody narrates A long time ago, Japan

1085
00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:00,600
Speaker 3: was in a big war. This is Auntie's house, her

1086
01:00:00,680 --> 01:00:03,560
Speaker 3: late father was a doctor. This is my grandma, This

1087
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 3: is my mom. Isn't she cute? And then one says

1088
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:09,920
Speaker 3: she looks like you? And then we see the ant

1089
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:13,040
Speaker 3: and her fiance, and her fiance is a very dashing

1090
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:16,240
Speaker 3: young man. One of the friends calls out he's so handsome.

1091
01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:18,520
Speaker 3: They say he was a doctor and he was going

1092
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:21,720
Speaker 3: to run the local hospital. And the friends asked, you

1093
01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:23,920
Speaker 3: mean they didn't get married, and she says, no, they

1094
01:00:23,960 --> 01:00:27,320
Speaker 3: couldn't get married because of the war. So we learned

1095
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 3: that her auntie's fiance gets drafted to serve in World

1096
01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:33,840
Speaker 3: War two, but he makes a pinky promise that he

1097
01:00:33,920 --> 01:00:36,760
Speaker 3: will come back, and she promises to wait for him,

1098
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:40,480
Speaker 3: and we see the auntie and her fiance kiss and

1099
01:00:40,560 --> 01:00:42,760
Speaker 3: then he has to go away to war, and then

1100
01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,880
Speaker 3: the film burns up and someone shouts a kiss of fire.

1101
01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:48,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's such a strange and wonderful energy to this

1102
01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:53,000
Speaker 2: part of the film, with the optimistic and youthful responses

1103
01:00:53,120 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 2: to this story they're being presented with and the way

1104
01:00:56,120 --> 01:00:59,320
Speaker 2: they're riffing on it, so you know, it's they're amazing

1105
01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 2: and they're to be envied because they see mostly the

1106
01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:05,440
Speaker 2: beauty and the romance in this story and they feel

1107
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:08,800
Speaker 2: it intensely and they're not you know, it's not like

1108
01:01:08,880 --> 01:01:12,840
Speaker 2: they don't understand the tragedy, but and they're not getting

1109
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:16,480
Speaker 2: the tragedy, but they can't fully understand it, and or

1110
01:01:16,520 --> 01:01:19,600
Speaker 2: their understanding of the tragedy is overpowered by their youthful

1111
01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:22,760
Speaker 2: enthusiasm for the romantic elements of the tale.

1112
01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:26,080
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, that's exactly right. But then the backstory

1113
01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:29,040
Speaker 3: goes on. So after the Kiss of Fire, we learned

1114
01:01:29,040 --> 01:01:32,840
Speaker 3: that her fiance never returns from the war, we see

1115
01:01:32,920 --> 01:01:37,240
Speaker 3: him revealed sitting in an almost comical looking in how

1116
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:40,440
Speaker 3: strange it is he's like shown sitting in the cockpit

1117
01:01:40,520 --> 01:01:44,320
Speaker 3: of a crashing airplane, just expressionless as the airplane goes down.

1118
01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:48,680
Speaker 3: And then we later see after the war, Gorgeous's mom

1119
01:01:48,800 --> 01:01:52,320
Speaker 3: marrying her father, posing for the photo that we saw earlier,

1120
01:01:52,360 --> 01:01:55,160
Speaker 3: So she's in her wedding garments and the auntie is

1121
01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:59,640
Speaker 3: beside her holding her white cat, looking unhappy and unfulfilled.

1122
01:02:00,320 --> 01:02:03,200
Speaker 3: After this, Gorgeous explains that her aunt has been living

1123
01:02:03,240 --> 01:02:05,520
Speaker 3: alone in the house for many years and that she

1124
01:02:05,600 --> 01:02:09,760
Speaker 3: gives piano lessons to the neighbors for money. And then

1125
01:02:09,840 --> 01:02:12,479
Speaker 3: somehow suddenly they are on a bus instead of a train,

1126
01:02:13,960 --> 01:02:17,680
Speaker 3: just a abrupt transition. The bus stops, the girls get off,

1127
01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:20,720
Speaker 3: and they are in a cartoon landscape. So they cross

1128
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:25,800
Speaker 3: these different types of backgrounds, a valley with mountains, a

1129
01:02:25,840 --> 01:02:30,520
Speaker 3: cable bridge spanning a wide, rocky stream. There's a path

1130
01:02:30,560 --> 01:02:33,560
Speaker 3: through a forest where Sweet says she's afraid of ghosts.

1131
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:37,280
Speaker 3: Prof says ghosts don't exist, and Kung Fu implies that

1132
01:02:37,360 --> 01:02:39,960
Speaker 3: she will use martial arts on any ghosts that appear.

1133
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:44,400
Speaker 3: Perfect also through this whole track, Mac is just relentlessly

1134
01:02:44,440 --> 01:02:47,400
Speaker 3: announcing the consumption of food, just yelling like, yummy, this

1135
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:51,520
Speaker 3: tastes good. One of the last things before they get

1136
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:56,640
Speaker 3: to the house is the watermelon vendor scene, which is tremendous.

1137
01:02:56,720 --> 01:02:59,760
Speaker 3: They come across like a watermelon stand and they remove

1138
01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:03,040
Speaker 3: a watermelon from the shelf of the stand, and then

1139
01:03:03,080 --> 01:03:06,880
Speaker 3: behind the watermelon is the face of the vendor which

1140
01:03:06,920 --> 01:03:10,320
Speaker 3: is shaped which is very round and shaped like a watermelon,

1141
01:03:10,680 --> 01:03:13,800
Speaker 3: making this bizarre expression, and then he comes out and

1142
01:03:13,880 --> 01:03:16,000
Speaker 3: acts bizarre at them. I don't know how to Rob,

1143
01:03:16,040 --> 01:03:17,520
Speaker 3: how would you describe this encounter.

1144
01:03:18,240 --> 01:03:22,200
Speaker 2: It's mad cap for sure, and I guess it is

1145
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:25,840
Speaker 2: worth noting that at heart this is a very This

1146
01:03:25,920 --> 01:03:28,240
Speaker 2: is certainly a hard trope. Like this is the guy

1147
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:31,840
Speaker 2: that on the way to the haunted place, whose role

1148
01:03:31,920 --> 01:03:33,800
Speaker 2: is to either say don't you go to that haunted

1149
01:03:33,840 --> 01:03:37,880
Speaker 2: place or as we see here commenting after the kids

1150
01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:40,480
Speaker 2: have gone, I can't believe they're going to that haunted place.

1151
01:03:40,800 --> 01:03:44,480
Speaker 2: He fulfills that role while also being this wacky character

1152
01:03:44,640 --> 01:03:46,240
Speaker 2: who is selling watermelons.

1153
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:49,680
Speaker 3: So the girls go on up to the house and

1154
01:03:49,720 --> 01:03:52,080
Speaker 3: it's on top of a hill with walls grown over

1155
01:03:52,160 --> 01:03:55,200
Speaker 3: by vines. They're owls diving around in the middle of

1156
01:03:55,240 --> 01:03:58,920
Speaker 3: the day, and the gates creak open for them. Blanche

1157
01:03:59,000 --> 01:04:03,680
Speaker 3: runs inside and Gorgeous's aunt greets them. She is seated

1158
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:06,960
Speaker 3: in a wheelchair, her hair has turned white, and she

1159
01:04:06,960 --> 01:04:10,600
Speaker 3: wears these cool Ringo Star sunglasses and she's holding the

1160
01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:12,919
Speaker 3: cat now. And I just want to point out it's

1161
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:14,760
Speaker 3: like the girls, as far as I could tell, there

1162
01:04:14,800 --> 01:04:17,400
Speaker 3: was no point at which they question this cat magic.

1163
01:04:17,680 --> 01:04:21,840
Speaker 3: Oh Blanche, the cat was Auntie's cat, and it came

1164
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:25,400
Speaker 3: to fetch Gorgeous in the city. And now they're all here,

1165
01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:27,479
Speaker 3: and that's just not remarked upon.

1166
01:04:27,920 --> 01:04:30,240
Speaker 2: No, they just roll with it completely. This is the

1167
01:04:30,240 --> 01:04:32,280
Speaker 2: cat who lives here. I don't know where the cat

1168
01:04:32,520 --> 01:04:35,280
Speaker 2: that traveled with us went. This is Blanche.

1169
01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:37,840
Speaker 3: Also, one of them tries to take a picture, and

1170
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:40,640
Speaker 3: Blanch the cat shoots green rays out of her eyes.

1171
01:04:40,640 --> 01:04:42,640
Speaker 3: This will not be the last time Blanche shoots green

1172
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:45,160
Speaker 3: laser laser beams out of her eyes. But it makes

1173
01:04:45,200 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 3: the camera fly in the air and smash on the ground,

1174
01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:49,760
Speaker 3: and one of the girls yells sexy.

1175
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:53,600
Speaker 2: I need to point out that even when Blanche is

1176
01:04:53,640 --> 01:04:57,320
Speaker 2: not necessarily on screen, even when Blanche is not necessarily

1177
01:04:57,360 --> 01:05:01,160
Speaker 2: doing that creepy green eye sparkle thing. We often just

1178
01:05:01,200 --> 01:05:06,439
Speaker 2: get random meals in the soundtrack of the film, which

1179
01:05:06,440 --> 01:05:08,680
Speaker 2: just keeps you on edge and like somehow keeps the

1180
01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:12,360
Speaker 2: weirdness level up. No matter what's happening, you're just gonna

1181
01:05:12,360 --> 01:05:16,280
Speaker 2: get some random mews in there and eventually musical meals.

1182
01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:22,120
Speaker 3: That's all right, like now mix of the thing. Yeah, yeah. Also,

1183
01:05:22,120 --> 01:05:25,360
Speaker 3: I should mention even though they didn't buy a watermelon

1184
01:05:25,360 --> 01:05:28,040
Speaker 3: from the watermelon stand in the previous scene, suddenly Mac

1185
01:05:28,080 --> 01:05:30,760
Speaker 3: shows up with a huge watermelon and her friends accuse

1186
01:05:30,840 --> 01:05:32,320
Speaker 3: her of stealing it, which she denies.

1187
01:05:32,560 --> 01:05:34,400
Speaker 2: She's like, I paid for it, and I trust Mac.

1188
01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:35,560
Speaker 2: I don't think Mac would steal.

1189
01:05:35,760 --> 01:05:37,640
Speaker 3: I don't think Mac would steal. She paid for it.

1190
01:05:38,280 --> 01:05:41,600
Speaker 3: She's got some watermelon money in her wallet specifically for

1191
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:44,800
Speaker 3: an occasion like this. So they go inside the house

1192
01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:46,840
Speaker 3: and they learned that Antie can make her lights come

1193
01:05:46,880 --> 01:05:49,800
Speaker 3: on by talking to them. That's cool mm hm, And

1194
01:05:49,840 --> 01:05:51,800
Speaker 3: they're like sort of having a they're getting a tour

1195
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:55,000
Speaker 3: of the place, and the chandelier attacks them. It drops

1196
01:05:55,080 --> 01:05:59,000
Speaker 3: crystal shards that impale a lizard on the floor, and

1197
01:05:59,040 --> 01:06:01,160
Speaker 3: then it starts to drop a more crystal shards, but

1198
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:04,280
Speaker 3: Kung Fu flies in the air and attacks the shards.

1199
01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:06,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then Blanche eats one of the lizards.

1200
01:06:07,040 --> 01:06:11,840
Speaker 3: Okay, and then Melody the musical friend is told about

1201
01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:14,320
Speaker 3: a grand piano in the house and she goes to play,

1202
01:06:14,880 --> 01:06:17,560
Speaker 3: but like when she gets to it's strapped with cobwebs.

1203
01:06:18,320 --> 01:06:20,640
Speaker 3: They remark that there are so many pictures of the

1204
01:06:20,680 --> 01:06:21,960
Speaker 3: cat in the house.

1205
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:24,640
Speaker 2: And there are indeed so many pictures of the cat.

1206
01:06:24,720 --> 01:06:27,760
Speaker 2: It's a constant delight to see all of the Blanche

1207
01:06:27,800 --> 01:06:32,360
Speaker 2: are the Blanche iconography, as well as the various incarnations

1208
01:06:32,360 --> 01:06:33,720
Speaker 2: of this cat in this house.

1209
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:36,480
Speaker 3: There's so many weird things in the house that we

1210
01:06:36,480 --> 01:06:38,920
Speaker 3: can't even We're going to reach a point where we're

1211
01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:41,960
Speaker 3: going to have to stop doing a sort of one

1212
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:44,520
Speaker 3: of this minute plot recap and get just focus on

1213
01:06:44,600 --> 01:06:47,840
Speaker 3: some specific things. But like one thing is they find

1214
01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:50,120
Speaker 3: a skeleton in the house and they're like, oh, yeah,

1215
01:06:50,160 --> 01:06:52,400
Speaker 3: grandfather used to treat patients in this room.

1216
01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:56,640
Speaker 2: Will this skeleton eventually dance randomly of its own power? Yes,

1217
01:06:56,680 --> 01:06:57,280
Speaker 2: it will.

1218
01:06:57,200 --> 01:07:00,520
Speaker 3: Perhaps, Yeah, and Anti explains how she used to give

1219
01:07:00,560 --> 01:07:03,120
Speaker 3: piano lessons, but you know, nobody comes here anymore, so

1220
01:07:03,160 --> 01:07:05,520
Speaker 3: she's been very lonely all these years. But now that

1221
01:07:05,600 --> 01:07:07,800
Speaker 3: she has all these girls in the house, she is

1222
01:07:07,960 --> 01:07:11,120
Speaker 3: very glad. Something a little ominous about the way in

1223
01:07:11,160 --> 01:07:15,120
Speaker 3: which she expresses her gladness. So they decide to help

1224
01:07:15,160 --> 01:07:17,680
Speaker 3: Antie out around the house, and they split up the jobs.

1225
01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:19,880
Speaker 3: Of course, Mac is going to do the cooking, and

1226
01:07:19,960 --> 01:07:23,200
Speaker 3: Sweet offers to do the cleaning. There is a moment

1227
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:25,880
Speaker 3: in here where they're like moving around the house and

1228
01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:28,520
Speaker 3: somebody gets a cat thrown at them from off screen.

1229
01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:29,560
Speaker 3: I think it's Antie.

1230
01:07:29,720 --> 01:07:33,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the cat quote unquote jumps into Antie's lap,

1231
01:07:33,480 --> 01:07:35,600
Speaker 2: But clearly there was somebody just out of the shot

1232
01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:38,280
Speaker 2: gently throwing the cat into her lap.

1233
01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:40,800
Speaker 3: Just riding around getting cats thrown at her, talking to

1234
01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:44,680
Speaker 3: her appliances and furniture. At some point, we learn that

1235
01:07:44,720 --> 01:07:47,360
Speaker 3: Mac wants to chill the watermelon in the fridge, but

1236
01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:50,160
Speaker 3: the fridge doesn't work, so Antie suggests they put it

1237
01:07:50,240 --> 01:07:54,440
Speaker 3: down the well, which they do, and just randomly somewhere

1238
01:07:54,440 --> 01:07:56,800
Speaker 3: around here, Auntie looks at Mac and says, Mac, you

1239
01:07:56,840 --> 01:08:01,480
Speaker 3: sure look tasty now there. This is just one place

1240
01:08:01,480 --> 01:08:03,240
Speaker 3: to mention I could have said it earlier. I could

1241
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:06,919
Speaker 3: have said it at any point. There is a very

1242
01:08:07,240 --> 01:08:11,880
Speaker 3: chaotic editing and transition style to this movie. The rhythm

1243
01:08:12,080 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 3: of cuts and the way one shot transitions to another,

1244
01:08:16,920 --> 01:08:20,360
Speaker 3: these things do not feel normal for Japanese cinema, or

1245
01:08:20,360 --> 01:08:22,840
Speaker 3: for any cinema that I know of, So I don't

1246
01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:24,719
Speaker 3: think it's a cultural thing. I think it is a

1247
01:08:24,840 --> 01:08:30,240
Speaker 3: unique to house thing. Just one example among many many

1248
01:08:30,280 --> 01:08:33,800
Speaker 3: weird things. There are sudden cross dissolves, you know where,

1249
01:08:33,840 --> 01:08:35,680
Speaker 3: like so it'll kind of like fade out and then

1250
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:40,000
Speaker 3: fade back in on something on the screen, And normally

1251
01:08:40,200 --> 01:08:43,679
Speaker 3: in a movie that indicates a transition forward in time,

1252
01:08:44,280 --> 01:08:47,519
Speaker 3: but here the movie uses cross dissolves when the action

1253
01:08:47,680 --> 01:08:50,479
Speaker 3: seems to be totally continuous, same time and place.

1254
01:08:51,160 --> 01:08:52,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of the many things that makes viewing

1255
01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:55,920
Speaker 2: this film feel very psychedelic. It feels like some sort

1256
01:08:55,920 --> 01:08:57,560
Speaker 2: of sort of an altered experience.

1257
01:08:58,120 --> 01:09:01,880
Speaker 3: It's violating like terms of cinematic storytelling that you don't

1258
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:06,320
Speaker 3: even normally think of, that you wouldn't usually notice our norms,

1259
01:09:06,360 --> 01:09:08,800
Speaker 3: and like you only notice them once somebody does them

1260
01:09:08,800 --> 01:09:10,400
Speaker 3: differently than they're usually done.

1261
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:14,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I say, he's all about bucking the trends

1262
01:09:14,479 --> 01:09:16,760
Speaker 2: and same way he can do to irritate Kurosawa.

1263
01:09:18,600 --> 01:09:22,720
Speaker 3: Okay, so we're about to get to a scene, the

1264
01:09:22,760 --> 01:09:26,280
Speaker 3: watermelon head scene, which I think a lot of critics

1265
01:09:26,280 --> 01:09:28,840
Speaker 3: and film historians people who celebrate this movie have sort

1266
01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:33,439
Speaker 3: of noted as a transition point in the film that

1267
01:09:33,560 --> 01:09:36,719
Speaker 3: like things take on, just that things just get different

1268
01:09:36,840 --> 01:09:39,960
Speaker 3: starting at what's about to happen. And so I think

1269
01:09:40,000 --> 01:09:42,800
Speaker 3: this should also be the point where we stop trying

1270
01:09:42,840 --> 01:09:45,800
Speaker 3: to recount what happens just moment by moment, because it

1271
01:09:45,800 --> 01:09:51,080
Speaker 3: would be crazy and impossible to do here. But to begin,

1272
01:09:51,200 --> 01:09:53,640
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about the watermelon head scene. So

1273
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:56,920
Speaker 3: after supper Mack disappears, she says she's going to go

1274
01:09:56,920 --> 01:10:00,639
Speaker 3: get the watermelon out of the well, and she doesn't

1275
01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:03,400
Speaker 3: come back after a while, and so Fantasy goes to

1276
01:10:03,439 --> 01:10:06,280
Speaker 3: look for her, and out in the garden by the well,

1277
01:10:06,360 --> 01:10:10,280
Speaker 3: there's a beautiful multicolor sunset. There's soft focus on the camera,

1278
01:10:10,400 --> 01:10:12,320
Speaker 3: like we are within a day dream, which kind of

1279
01:10:12,320 --> 01:10:14,559
Speaker 3: makes sense because this is Fantasy going to do this.

1280
01:10:14,640 --> 01:10:17,400
Speaker 3: She daydreams a lot, though it's strange because this is

1281
01:10:17,439 --> 01:10:22,360
Speaker 3: definitely really happening. So it's almost like even Fantasy's regular

1282
01:10:22,479 --> 01:10:25,400
Speaker 3: life is like a day dream. You know, it's using

1283
01:10:25,439 --> 01:10:28,160
Speaker 3: the cinematic conventions of showing a dream.

1284
01:10:28,400 --> 01:10:30,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like we're in a really nice yogurt commercial

1285
01:10:30,680 --> 01:10:31,200
Speaker 2: or something, you.

1286
01:10:31,160 --> 01:10:36,599
Speaker 3: Know, exactly, yeah. Yeah. And so Fantasy starts pulling up

1287
01:10:36,640 --> 01:10:39,320
Speaker 3: the watermelon from the well. It's tied to a rope

1288
01:10:39,920 --> 01:10:43,240
Speaker 3: and she retrieves it and it's you know, it's a

1289
01:10:43,320 --> 01:10:45,960
Speaker 3: round thing. But then she turns it over and realizes, oh,

1290
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:49,200
Speaker 3: this is not a watermelon. It's Max's head and Mac

1291
01:10:49,320 --> 01:10:52,479
Speaker 3: now has sort of blue skin like a vampire and

1292
01:10:52,600 --> 01:10:53,960
Speaker 3: I think fangs.

1293
01:10:54,360 --> 01:10:58,599
Speaker 2: Oh my god, and it's alive or undead or something,

1294
01:10:58,680 --> 01:11:02,000
Speaker 2: and it's it's hot. Horrifye. It's quite frightening. And the

1295
01:11:02,280 --> 01:11:05,160
Speaker 2: build up to it has been exceptional, like everything's just

1296
01:11:05,200 --> 01:11:09,200
Speaker 2: super sweet again, yogurt commercial, yogurt commercial, and then just

1297
01:11:09,439 --> 01:11:10,400
Speaker 2: absolute horror.

1298
01:11:10,560 --> 01:11:13,400
Speaker 3: The head talks and then it starts flying around in

1299
01:11:13,439 --> 01:11:16,320
Speaker 3: the air, and then it bites Fantasy on the butt,

1300
01:11:16,400 --> 01:11:19,200
Speaker 3: and then it vomits blood and then it goes back

1301
01:11:19,240 --> 01:11:24,080
Speaker 3: down in the well. Excellent, what a roller coaster. Yeah.

1302
01:11:24,160 --> 01:11:26,760
Speaker 3: So Fantasy goes back and reports what happened, and her

1303
01:11:26,760 --> 01:11:29,360
Speaker 3: friends go to see the head, but when they get there,

1304
01:11:29,400 --> 01:11:31,559
Speaker 3: there is no head to be found. It's only a

1305
01:11:31,600 --> 01:11:36,280
Speaker 3: regular old watermelon, which they decide to eat. Also, Auntie

1306
01:11:36,320 --> 01:11:38,599
Speaker 3: is here and she like she stands up right out

1307
01:11:38,600 --> 01:11:41,400
Speaker 3: of her wheelchair and explains, you girls gave me energy

1308
01:11:41,479 --> 01:11:44,920
Speaker 3: and then grins into the camera while eating a slice

1309
01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:48,920
Speaker 3: of watermelon. Also, this is the scene where she sort

1310
01:11:48,920 --> 01:11:51,479
Speaker 3: of shows off to Fantasy and I think nobody else

1311
01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:54,000
Speaker 3: that she does have a third eyeball inside her mouth.

1312
01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:57,320
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, all's a wonderfully creepy sequence.

1313
01:11:57,960 --> 01:12:01,320
Speaker 3: So there's all kinds of just like little little vignettes

1314
01:12:01,400 --> 01:12:04,960
Speaker 3: of the various characters getting freaked out by stuff. So

1315
01:12:05,040 --> 01:12:08,400
Speaker 3: like Sweet is cleaning the floors as she gets lured

1316
01:12:08,439 --> 01:12:10,920
Speaker 3: to a room with a doll that has green laser

1317
01:12:10,960 --> 01:12:15,360
Speaker 3: eyes like Blanch does, and it whispers her name. Gorgeous

1318
01:12:15,439 --> 01:12:18,439
Speaker 3: is taking a bath and she gets creeped on by

1319
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:21,679
Speaker 3: like wet black hair that comes up from some unknown

1320
01:12:21,760 --> 01:12:26,080
Speaker 3: creature out of the water. It's horrifying. Kung Fu, in

1321
01:12:26,120 --> 01:12:29,320
Speaker 3: a much funnier sequence, is attacked by flying wooden logs

1322
01:12:29,360 --> 01:12:32,200
Speaker 3: like she's splitting wood, and then the logs start attacking

1323
01:12:32,240 --> 01:12:36,120
Speaker 3: her and she defeats them with karate chops. Yeah, there's

1324
01:12:36,200 --> 01:12:39,639
Speaker 3: one point here where Auntie says She's like one time

1325
01:12:39,680 --> 01:12:42,200
Speaker 3: I was excited to go to a restaurant in town,

1326
01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:45,920
Speaker 3: and now I'm excited like that again. And then she

1327
01:12:46,479 --> 01:12:49,480
Speaker 3: climbs inside the refrigerator and disappears.

1328
01:12:49,800 --> 01:12:52,639
Speaker 2: Oh my god, this sequence is so creepy. It's shot

1329
01:12:52,640 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 2: in a way in such a way that the other

1330
01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:57,719
Speaker 2: characters in the room with her don't see her suddenly

1331
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,559
Speaker 2: go into the refrigerator, but we do. And then I

1332
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:04,719
Speaker 2: think she re emerges in the foreground of the shot

1333
01:13:05,000 --> 01:13:08,640
Speaker 2: and may break the fourth wall here. I can't recall specifically,

1334
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:11,000
Speaker 2: but she does break the fourth wall at various points

1335
01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:14,479
Speaker 2: as if to say like, yeah, it's me Auntie, I'm

1336
01:13:14,479 --> 01:13:15,760
Speaker 2: gonna eat these kids.

1337
01:13:15,640 --> 01:13:19,160
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, dancing with the skeleton, eating a severed hand,

1338
01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:23,240
Speaker 3: dropping a fried fish into a fishbowl, and it comes

1339
01:13:23,280 --> 01:13:25,680
Speaker 3: back to life. I think we see her dancing in

1340
01:13:25,720 --> 01:13:26,960
Speaker 3: the rafters of the house.

1341
01:13:27,200 --> 01:13:28,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

1342
01:13:28,600 --> 01:13:31,559
Speaker 3: There's also a sequence where Melody the musical friend goes

1343
01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:34,479
Speaker 3: to play the piano again, and she of course plays

1344
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:37,160
Speaker 3: the house theme, you know, the Maybe we can get

1345
01:13:37,160 --> 01:13:38,559
Speaker 3: a little sample of that, because you've got to know

1346
01:13:38,560 --> 01:13:47,640
Speaker 3: what it sounds like sometime around here, while like you know,

1347
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:52,320
Speaker 3: Melody's playing the piano and stuff, Gorgeous sort of what

1348
01:13:52,360 --> 01:13:54,000
Speaker 3: would you say, happens to her? She kind of gets

1349
01:13:54,040 --> 01:13:58,000
Speaker 3: possessed by the house. She's like looking in the mirror

1350
01:13:58,160 --> 01:14:00,920
Speaker 3: and she starts putting on her aunt's makeup, and she

1351
01:14:01,080 --> 01:14:08,000
Speaker 3: sees herself as her aunt with fangs and like like

1352
01:14:08,160 --> 01:14:10,760
Speaker 3: she's looking in a mirror, and the mirror shatters, and

1353
01:14:10,800 --> 01:14:15,840
Speaker 3: then Gorgeous's actual face shatters, revealing animated fire inside. I

1354
01:14:15,880 --> 01:14:18,080
Speaker 3: think the ghosts have taken her over.

1355
01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:22,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's another fabulous sequence. This one I think was

1356
01:14:22,520 --> 01:14:26,080
Speaker 2: inspired by just the director's daughter saying, Hey, what if

1357
01:14:26,080 --> 01:14:29,840
Speaker 2: my reflection attacked me, wouldn't that be scary? And of

1358
01:14:29,880 --> 01:14:33,400
Speaker 2: course they've taken that and applied you know, the ghost

1359
01:14:33,400 --> 01:14:36,280
Speaker 2: story logic to it, and yeah, absolutely wonderful.

1360
01:14:36,479 --> 01:14:38,639
Speaker 3: Somewhere around here is also the scene we talked about

1361
01:14:38,680 --> 01:14:43,360
Speaker 3: earlier where their friend's sweet she's been cleaning the house up.

1362
01:14:43,400 --> 01:14:47,120
Speaker 3: She gets attacked by falling pillows and sentient mattresses from

1363
01:14:47,160 --> 01:14:52,000
Speaker 3: heaven and seemingly killed and then also maybe transformed into

1364
01:14:52,040 --> 01:14:58,000
Speaker 3: a large doll by the evil possessed mattresses. There's one

1365
01:14:58,000 --> 01:15:02,960
Speaker 3: part around here where somebody Togo, a mister Togo, their

1366
01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:05,640
Speaker 3: teacher as like a prince on a white horse. They're like,

1367
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:08,920
Speaker 3: he's coming, he'll be here, He's gonna save us. But

1368
01:15:09,400 --> 01:15:12,439
Speaker 3: it's so funny every time they're like these repeated cuts

1369
01:15:12,479 --> 01:15:15,479
Speaker 3: back to whatever mister Togo is doing. I think he

1370
01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:19,400
Speaker 3: is trying to find them, but he never does. They

1371
01:15:19,400 --> 01:15:23,000
Speaker 3: show him like stuck in traffic in this incredibly tiny

1372
01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:26,280
Speaker 3: like what is this car of his? Is it like

1373
01:15:26,320 --> 01:15:27,880
Speaker 3: some kind of dune buggy or.

1374
01:15:28,240 --> 01:15:31,040
Speaker 2: I don't know, but yeah, he's he's trying to find them.

1375
01:15:31,120 --> 01:15:34,639
Speaker 2: He's having no luck, and spoiler is eventually turned into

1376
01:15:34,680 --> 01:15:35,560
Speaker 2: a pile of bananas.

1377
01:15:35,880 --> 01:15:37,800
Speaker 3: God, that's a crazy scene. Well, okay, we should just

1378
01:15:37,800 --> 01:15:40,280
Speaker 3: say what happens in that scene. Then this is a

1379
01:15:40,320 --> 01:15:42,680
Speaker 3: little bit later, so we're jumping around in time. But

1380
01:15:43,120 --> 01:15:47,639
Speaker 3: eventually mister Togo he stops for Rama and he's Raman

1381
01:15:47,720 --> 01:15:50,080
Speaker 3: at this Roman card. We see him driving around in

1382
01:15:50,120 --> 01:15:53,080
Speaker 3: the woods at night like a complete bumpkin, just trying

1383
01:15:53,080 --> 01:15:54,920
Speaker 3: to like find the house and being like, there's no

1384
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:58,000
Speaker 3: house here, And then I guess he eventually does get

1385
01:15:58,200 --> 01:16:01,080
Speaker 3: close because he meets the water vendor which we know

1386
01:16:01,160 --> 01:16:04,040
Speaker 3: is just down the hill from the house. Mister Togo

1387
01:16:04,120 --> 01:16:06,280
Speaker 3: goes up to the watermelon vendor and says, do you

1388
01:16:06,400 --> 01:16:10,519
Speaker 3: know where the house is? The house? Watermelon Vendor says

1389
01:16:10,600 --> 01:16:14,040
Speaker 3: the girls they were eaten. Do you like watermelons? Mister

1390
01:16:14,120 --> 01:16:20,200
Speaker 3: Togo says no, watermelon vendor says what. Then he says, bananas.

1391
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:24,120
Speaker 3: Watermelon Vendor collapses into a pile of bones, his skull

1392
01:16:24,240 --> 01:16:27,559
Speaker 3: floats and then emids smoke, and then mister Togo runs

1393
01:16:27,600 --> 01:16:31,599
Speaker 3: away screaming banana, banana. And then later it is revealed

1394
01:16:31,640 --> 01:16:34,479
Speaker 3: that by the morning he has transformed into a pile

1395
01:16:34,560 --> 01:16:36,280
Speaker 3: of bananas inside his car.

1396
01:16:37,720 --> 01:16:41,040
Speaker 2: Yes, that is what happens, and I don't know what

1397
01:16:41,080 --> 01:16:44,280
Speaker 2: it means how it really factors into the rest of

1398
01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:47,960
Speaker 2: the plot, but I guess defies to say he was

1399
01:16:48,040 --> 01:16:51,720
Speaker 2: unsuccessful in being the white Night for the Smithie.

1400
01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:54,000
Speaker 3: Now, all this while the girls are trapped in the house.

1401
01:16:54,040 --> 01:16:56,160
Speaker 3: They try to escape, but they've been like locked in.

1402
01:16:56,240 --> 01:16:58,120
Speaker 3: They try to call for help, but there's just like

1403
01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:02,320
Speaker 3: weird stuff going on on the phone. Melody is attacked

1404
01:17:02,360 --> 01:17:04,599
Speaker 3: by the piano while playing it, so she's like playing

1405
01:17:04,640 --> 01:17:07,000
Speaker 3: the house theme, and then the piano suddenly bites all

1406
01:17:07,000 --> 01:17:10,200
Speaker 3: of her fingers off, and then it proceeds to eat

1407
01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:14,840
Speaker 3: her whole body in this mind rending cartoon musical number

1408
01:17:14,880 --> 01:17:17,599
Speaker 3: where the piano is like chomping on her and there

1409
01:17:17,600 --> 01:17:20,879
Speaker 3: are like various human organs and body parts just sticking

1410
01:17:20,920 --> 01:17:23,439
Speaker 3: out all over it, like you know, like a leg

1411
01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:26,519
Speaker 3: hanging out of a monster's mouth. And then Melody is

1412
01:17:26,560 --> 01:17:29,000
Speaker 3: also still laughing as she is being devoured.

1413
01:17:29,280 --> 01:17:30,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely delirious.

1414
01:17:31,160 --> 01:17:35,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, gorgeous now sort of possessed by the evil ghost

1415
01:17:35,360 --> 01:17:38,839
Speaker 3: Magic of the House. Is dressed up like a pale bride.

1416
01:17:38,920 --> 01:17:41,080
Speaker 3: In fact, I think she's supposed to look like her mother.

1417
01:17:42,040 --> 01:17:43,960
Speaker 3: She's sort of become her mother in a way, but

1418
01:17:44,000 --> 01:17:48,519
Speaker 3: she's also become her aunt, and we see her sort

1419
01:17:48,560 --> 01:17:52,960
Speaker 3: of moving around accompanied by Prof and Kung Fu. At

1420
01:17:52,960 --> 01:17:55,839
Speaker 3: some point here, Prof gets absorbed by reading this book

1421
01:17:56,240 --> 01:17:58,360
Speaker 3: that I think is the ant's diary. It's a book

1422
01:17:58,400 --> 01:18:02,120
Speaker 3: that contains lore, and through reading this book, Prof will

1423
01:18:02,160 --> 01:18:04,920
Speaker 3: get more of the backstory that explains what happened at

1424
01:18:04,920 --> 01:18:10,040
Speaker 3: the house. Oh but meanwhile she's Prof is like looking

1425
01:18:10,120 --> 01:18:14,599
Speaker 3: at this book and just yelling like unscientific, illogical. At

1426
01:18:14,600 --> 01:18:17,719
Speaker 3: the same time, Kung Fu is staring into this giant

1427
01:18:17,760 --> 01:18:22,559
Speaker 3: steampunk grandfather clock and sees an undead version of Sweet

1428
01:18:22,600 --> 01:18:26,000
Speaker 3: inside it, and the clock is reeking rivulets of blood

1429
01:18:26,040 --> 01:18:27,200
Speaker 3: down its glass front.

1430
01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:30,720
Speaker 2: This is probably a good point, Is any to mention

1431
01:18:30,880 --> 01:18:35,080
Speaker 2: that Obyashi again was the head of special effects on

1432
01:18:35,120 --> 01:18:37,840
Speaker 2: this film and said in the interview that like, they

1433
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:42,120
Speaker 2: actually could have used Toho's in house special effects people,

1434
01:18:42,600 --> 01:18:45,200
Speaker 2: who were quite good, you know, they'd worked on various

1435
01:18:45,200 --> 01:18:48,320
Speaker 2: pictures Godzilla movies and so forth. But he said they

1436
01:18:48,320 --> 01:18:50,400
Speaker 2: didn't want to go that route because they didn't want

1437
01:18:50,400 --> 01:18:53,280
Speaker 2: the special effects to be too believable, Like they needed

1438
01:18:53,320 --> 01:18:57,280
Speaker 2: to have a certain unreality to them, and I guess

1439
01:18:57,320 --> 01:18:59,800
Speaker 2: even an enhanced unreality.

1440
01:18:59,760 --> 01:19:03,040
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, I mean the clock scene looks very

1441
01:19:03,080 --> 01:19:07,639
Speaker 3: frightening and looks great. There are other parts that don't

1442
01:19:07,680 --> 01:19:10,400
Speaker 3: look realistic at all, but I love the style. There

1443
01:19:10,720 --> 01:19:14,240
Speaker 3: is one part where after Melody gets eaten by the piano,

1444
01:19:14,640 --> 01:19:18,719
Speaker 3: we just see severed, bloody, disembodied fingers playing the piano

1445
01:19:18,800 --> 01:19:20,600
Speaker 3: and still playing the house theme.

1446
01:19:20,479 --> 01:19:23,559
Speaker 2: Except Mew style. Right is this when it starts being

1447
01:19:23,560 --> 01:19:24,559
Speaker 2: like a meal? Oh?

1448
01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:29,559
Speaker 3: I think that's right. Yeah, yeah. Oh. We learn more

1449
01:19:29,560 --> 01:19:32,920
Speaker 3: from the Diary of Gorgeous's aunt. We learned that, you know,

1450
01:19:32,960 --> 01:19:35,160
Speaker 3: she was waiting for her fiance to come home from

1451
01:19:35,200 --> 01:19:38,240
Speaker 3: the war in denial that he had died. And she

1452
01:19:38,439 --> 01:19:40,960
Speaker 3: mentions that all of the young girls in the town

1453
01:19:41,000 --> 01:19:46,080
Speaker 3: are gone now and she is all alone. And then suddenly,

1454
01:19:46,160 --> 01:19:48,599
Speaker 3: while they're like reading this learning about it, a giant

1455
01:19:48,680 --> 01:19:51,240
Speaker 3: head bursts into the room with them, and it is

1456
01:19:51,280 --> 01:19:53,479
Speaker 3: the head of Gorgeous and she says, I'm in my

1457
01:19:53,560 --> 01:19:57,000
Speaker 3: aunt's world now, and then she morphs into a giant

1458
01:19:57,040 --> 01:20:00,200
Speaker 3: pair of lips, and one of the girls yells huge lip,

1459
01:20:00,800 --> 01:20:05,760
Speaker 3: and the lips revealed that Auntie actually died many years ago,

1460
01:20:05,920 --> 01:20:09,839
Speaker 3: and she became after she died, and she became a jealous,

1461
01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:13,559
Speaker 3: vengeful ghost. I think the idea is she she so

1462
01:20:13,760 --> 01:20:17,120
Speaker 3: longed for her fiance, she wanted to marry him and

1463
01:20:17,200 --> 01:20:19,720
Speaker 3: couldn't accept that he had died in the war. So

1464
01:20:19,880 --> 01:20:23,200
Speaker 3: now instead she is this vengeful ghost that eats all

1465
01:20:23,280 --> 01:20:27,360
Speaker 3: of the unmarried girls who come to her house. So

1466
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:29,960
Speaker 3: I think the suggestion is this may have been what

1467
01:20:30,040 --> 01:20:31,880
Speaker 3: happened to all of the girls in town who were

1468
01:20:31,880 --> 01:20:36,320
Speaker 3: getting piano lessons one by one. Yeah, And she says

1469
01:20:36,360 --> 01:20:38,640
Speaker 3: that when she eats them is the only time that

1470
01:20:38,680 --> 01:20:41,439
Speaker 3: she can wear her bridle gown, and then she says,

1471
01:20:41,479 --> 01:20:43,720
Speaker 3: now it's your turn, just let me eat you.

1472
01:20:44,680 --> 01:20:47,160
Speaker 2: So yes, at this point, like the poster art has

1473
01:20:47,160 --> 01:20:50,840
Speaker 2: come true that the promise is fulfilled. House is a

1474
01:20:50,880 --> 01:20:51,880
Speaker 2: house that eats people.

1475
01:20:52,080 --> 01:20:54,280
Speaker 3: So there's a bunch more stuff that happens. The girls

1476
01:20:54,320 --> 01:20:58,240
Speaker 3: are attacked by various flying household objects. I do you

1477
01:20:58,280 --> 01:21:01,280
Speaker 3: want to emphasize the house theme and how much it

1478
01:21:01,400 --> 01:21:04,320
Speaker 3: is like just the objects one would find in a

1479
01:21:04,400 --> 01:21:07,679
Speaker 3: domestic residence are all turned evil in the movie. Everything

1480
01:21:08,000 --> 01:21:12,560
Speaker 3: that would be in a house, appliances, furniture, just household

1481
01:21:12,600 --> 01:21:15,559
Speaker 3: items are all now monsters that attack the girls.

1482
01:21:16,120 --> 01:21:17,840
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we've talked about this on stuff to

1483
01:21:17,840 --> 01:21:19,920
Speaker 2: blow your mind before. Some of these ideas about house

1484
01:21:20,840 --> 01:21:25,640
Speaker 2: significantly old household objects can kind of become animated and

1485
01:21:25,680 --> 01:21:26,719
Speaker 2: so forth. Yeah.

1486
01:21:26,800 --> 01:21:30,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, So while they're being attacked by the house, prof

1487
01:21:31,040 --> 01:21:34,200
Speaker 3: at some point realizes that in order to escape, they

1488
01:21:34,240 --> 01:21:38,240
Speaker 3: must destroy Blanch the Cat, or perhaps destroy an image

1489
01:21:38,360 --> 01:21:41,600
Speaker 3: of an image of Blanch the Cat which is on

1490
01:21:41,680 --> 01:21:44,559
Speaker 3: the wall. And so Kung Fu is like, right, got

1491
01:21:44,600 --> 01:21:46,639
Speaker 3: my orders, and she tries to carry out this attack

1492
01:21:46,720 --> 01:21:49,439
Speaker 3: on the image of the cat, but she is in

1493
01:21:49,479 --> 01:21:52,439
Speaker 3: turn attacked by an overhead lamp, which latches onto her

1494
01:21:52,479 --> 01:21:58,839
Speaker 3: skull and electrocutes her, and then like the lamp seems

1495
01:21:58,840 --> 01:22:02,360
Speaker 3: to suck Kung Fu into a psychic vortex where she

1496
01:22:02,479 --> 01:22:07,080
Speaker 3: perceives floating, rotating body parts and hears the voices of

1497
01:22:07,120 --> 01:22:10,200
Speaker 3: her dead friends. But somehow she snaps out of this

1498
01:22:10,320 --> 01:22:14,120
Speaker 3: vortex and the upper half of her body seems to

1499
01:22:14,160 --> 01:22:17,800
Speaker 3: have been destroyed, but her disembodied legs fly out of

1500
01:22:17,840 --> 01:22:19,880
Speaker 3: the lamp and kick the image of the cat on

1501
01:22:19,920 --> 01:22:23,639
Speaker 3: the wall, which vomits blood and freaks out and leaps

1502
01:22:23,720 --> 01:22:26,840
Speaker 3: up in pain, which in turn causes Gorgeous to gush

1503
01:22:26,880 --> 01:22:29,760
Speaker 3: blood and scream like a vampire doust in holy water.

1504
01:22:30,320 --> 01:22:31,920
Speaker 2: And when the cat leaps up, it's kind of like

1505
01:22:32,040 --> 01:22:35,920
Speaker 2: animated lightning cat. It's really all this has to be

1506
01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:38,880
Speaker 2: seen to be understood. We can describe it to you,

1507
01:22:39,320 --> 01:22:41,920
Speaker 2: but you just have to experience it. It's even crazier

1508
01:22:42,040 --> 01:22:45,120
Speaker 2: than we made it sound here. It's also like, yes,

1509
01:22:45,200 --> 01:22:48,040
Speaker 2: there's lots of blood going on here, but it's also

1510
01:22:48,640 --> 01:22:50,240
Speaker 2: and it is gory. But I don't want to like

1511
01:22:50,320 --> 01:22:52,160
Speaker 2: oversell that and say, like, oh, this is just a

1512
01:22:52,200 --> 01:22:55,720
Speaker 2: real Gorefest. It's not because it's so weird and there

1513
01:22:55,800 --> 01:22:59,519
Speaker 2: is this unreality to the effects. It exists in its

1514
01:22:59,560 --> 01:23:00,000
Speaker 2: own demands.

1515
01:23:00,640 --> 01:23:02,880
Speaker 3: It's hard to describe what comes next. There's a lot

1516
01:23:02,920 --> 01:23:06,400
Speaker 3: of like there's like cat images vomiting blood. Lots of

1517
01:23:06,439 --> 01:23:13,920
Speaker 3: things vomiting blood. People drowning in blood. Yeah, floating on blood, floating,

1518
01:23:14,160 --> 01:23:18,519
Speaker 3: There's there's all this blood. And then finally it seems

1519
01:23:18,560 --> 01:23:21,559
Speaker 3: that all of the girls are devoured by the house

1520
01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:25,360
Speaker 3: and that Gorgeous is something altered. She is somehow merged

1521
01:23:25,400 --> 01:23:29,760
Speaker 3: with Auntie and whatever comfort you know, she offers to

1522
01:23:29,800 --> 01:23:32,400
Speaker 3: her friends is a prelude to eating your soul. So

1523
01:23:32,520 --> 01:23:35,760
Speaker 3: they weird to understand that all of the girls are

1524
01:23:36,280 --> 01:23:39,400
Speaker 3: have their souls eaten by the house. But then, oh man,

1525
01:23:39,439 --> 01:23:43,160
Speaker 3: the movie has such a stinger. The next day, Remember

1526
01:23:43,400 --> 01:23:49,760
Speaker 3: remember Gorgeous's new step mom, Rioko. Yeah, she's scarf. Yeah,

1527
01:23:49,800 --> 01:23:52,240
Speaker 3: with the scarf she's driving through the country or scarf

1528
01:23:52,240 --> 01:23:53,560
Speaker 3: blowing in the wind. She said she was going to

1529
01:23:53,640 --> 01:23:56,839
Speaker 3: go to the house to uh, to catch up with Gorgeous,

1530
01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:59,920
Speaker 3: you know, to get to know her. Uh. And she

1531
01:24:00,640 --> 01:24:03,519
Speaker 3: comes to no, wait maybe she wait, do we learn

1532
01:24:03,560 --> 01:24:06,639
Speaker 3: whether she and the father had actually gotten married yet

1533
01:24:06,720 --> 01:24:08,439
Speaker 3: I think maybe they had not. I think they were

1534
01:24:08,479 --> 01:24:09,479
Speaker 3: going to get married.

1535
01:24:09,720 --> 01:24:11,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is still like she's like, I'm

1536
01:24:11,840 --> 01:24:14,760
Speaker 2: gonna go patch things up with her, you know, beforehand.

1537
01:24:15,120 --> 01:24:19,439
Speaker 3: Yes, So she's driving through the country, she finds the house.

1538
01:24:19,479 --> 01:24:21,840
Speaker 3: She walks by the watermelon stand where we see mister

1539
01:24:21,880 --> 01:24:26,120
Speaker 3: Togo has turned into bananas, and then she goes up

1540
01:24:26,160 --> 01:24:31,360
Speaker 3: to the ants house. This bittersweet kind of beatlesy pop

1541
01:24:31,439 --> 01:24:34,840
Speaker 3: song is playing. She wanders through the garden and it's

1542
01:24:34,960 --> 01:24:38,720
Speaker 3: very dreamlike and ethereal, and she meets Gorgeous at the

1543
01:24:38,720 --> 01:24:41,760
Speaker 3: house and is invited inside, and she asks Gorgeous, where

1544
01:24:41,800 --> 01:24:44,960
Speaker 3: are your friends, And Gorgeous says they're still sleeping, but

1545
01:24:45,040 --> 01:24:48,240
Speaker 3: they'll be up soon when they're hungry. They get up

1546
01:24:48,280 --> 01:24:51,880
Speaker 3: when they're hungry, and then Rioko bursts into flames.

1547
01:24:52,800 --> 01:24:57,080
Speaker 2: Amazing, just absolutely amazing, like legitimately creepy and amazing.

1548
01:24:57,439 --> 01:24:59,559
Speaker 3: Oh and then there's like a monologue at the end

1549
01:24:59,640 --> 01:25:02,240
Speaker 3: which I feel like I should just relate. I don't

1550
01:25:02,280 --> 01:25:05,719
Speaker 3: see exactly how it connects, but it says, even after

1551
01:25:05,760 --> 01:25:08,759
Speaker 3: the flesh perishes, one can live in the hearts of others,

1552
01:25:08,800 --> 01:25:12,320
Speaker 3: together with the feelings one has for them. Therefore, the

1553
01:25:12,360 --> 01:25:15,680
Speaker 3: story of love must be told many times so that

1554
01:25:15,760 --> 01:25:19,280
Speaker 3: the spirits of lovers may live forever, forever, the one

1555
01:25:19,320 --> 01:25:22,320
Speaker 3: thing that never perishes. The only promise is love.

1556
01:25:22,560 --> 01:25:25,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't fully understand here. It reminds me a

1557
01:25:25,560 --> 01:25:28,759
Speaker 2: little bit of the how on the nineties Outer Limits.

1558
01:25:28,760 --> 01:25:30,960
Speaker 2: You'll have the narration voice come on at the end,

1559
01:25:31,040 --> 01:25:34,600
Speaker 2: and some things up in ways that sometimes feel a

1560
01:25:34,600 --> 01:25:37,920
Speaker 2: little disconnected from what you just watched. But I don't know.

1561
01:25:37,920 --> 01:25:40,599
Speaker 2: Maybe something's lost in translation here, or maybe it is,

1562
01:25:40,880 --> 01:25:43,559
Speaker 2: like so much of this film intended to be a

1563
01:25:43,600 --> 01:25:46,880
Speaker 2: bit off kilter. It intended to make you scratch your head.

1564
01:25:47,200 --> 01:25:51,000
Speaker 3: So that's how again. Truly one of the weirdest films

1565
01:25:51,120 --> 01:25:54,160
Speaker 3: ever made, widely recognized as such, and I have to

1566
01:25:54,240 --> 01:25:58,160
Speaker 3: concur with that opinion. It is there's not really anything

1567
01:25:58,240 --> 01:25:58,559
Speaker 3: like it.

1568
01:25:58,920 --> 01:26:02,000
Speaker 2: Agreed, it is a masterpiece. This is a masterpiece of

1569
01:26:02,040 --> 01:26:06,960
Speaker 2: weird cinema. Highly recommend it again. Luckily, it's pretty easy

1570
01:26:06,960 --> 01:26:09,639
Speaker 2: to get your hands on if you're interested in watching it,

1571
01:26:09,880 --> 01:26:12,840
Speaker 2: and it's definitely worth watching it. I mean, have it

1572
01:26:12,880 --> 01:26:14,960
Speaker 2: on in the background if nothing else, but I think

1573
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:19,400
Speaker 2: you'll be sucked in. It's hard to casually watch this movie.

1574
01:26:19,080 --> 01:26:23,360
Speaker 2: I watched it by myself and I kept catching myself

1575
01:26:23,400 --> 01:26:26,360
Speaker 2: like making faces, you know, like my jaw literally dropping

1576
01:26:26,680 --> 01:26:28,080
Speaker 2: at some of the sequences.

1577
01:26:28,520 --> 01:26:31,360
Speaker 3: It's like a dream that a cat had about being

1578
01:26:31,439 --> 01:26:31,880
Speaker 3: a human.

1579
01:26:32,640 --> 01:26:35,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might be. It's as good of an explanation

1580
01:26:35,560 --> 01:26:38,800
Speaker 2: as any. Well, there you have it, House. It's great

1581
01:26:38,840 --> 01:26:41,479
Speaker 2: to have finally discussed this film on Weird House Cinema.

1582
01:26:41,520 --> 01:26:43,840
Speaker 2: I felt like it was faded to happen at some

1583
01:26:43,920 --> 01:26:46,519
Speaker 2: point or another, and we hadn't covered a Japanese film

1584
01:26:46,520 --> 01:26:49,240
Speaker 2: and a spell there, so it was good to cover

1585
01:26:49,320 --> 01:26:52,040
Speaker 2: another one here. Obviously, we'd love to hear from everyone

1586
01:26:52,040 --> 01:26:55,240
Speaker 2: out there. Do you have thoughts on House, memories of

1587
01:26:55,240 --> 01:26:57,280
Speaker 2: seeing it for the first time, hearing about it for

1588
01:26:57,280 --> 01:27:00,360
Speaker 2: the first time. Write in. We would love to hear

1589
01:27:00,400 --> 01:27:02,960
Speaker 2: from you. As always, will remind you that Stuff to

1590
01:27:02,960 --> 01:27:05,679
Speaker 2: Blow Your Mind is primarily a science podcast with core

1591
01:27:05,760 --> 01:27:07,960
Speaker 2: episodes and the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed

1592
01:27:08,040 --> 01:27:10,800
Speaker 2: on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Fridays we set aside

1593
01:27:10,800 --> 01:27:12,800
Speaker 2: most serious concerns to just talk about a weird film

1594
01:27:13,000 --> 01:27:16,000
Speaker 2: on Weird House Cinema. Go to letterbox dot com. That's

1595
01:27:16,080 --> 01:27:18,240
Speaker 2: l E T T e r Box d dot com.

1596
01:27:18,280 --> 01:27:20,800
Speaker 2: Look us up. Our username is weird House. We have

1597
01:27:20,920 --> 01:27:23,800
Speaker 2: all the movies we've covered listed there, and sometimes you

1598
01:27:23,840 --> 01:27:27,240
Speaker 2: can get a peek ahead at what's coming up next. Also, hey,

1599
01:27:27,320 --> 01:27:29,080
Speaker 2: if you just want to support the show, we'll go

1600
01:27:29,080 --> 01:27:31,160
Speaker 2: ahead and hammer this home again. One of the best

1601
01:27:31,160 --> 01:27:33,160
Speaker 2: things you can do is, wherever you get your podcast,

1602
01:27:33,280 --> 01:27:36,480
Speaker 2: make sure you have subscribed and that you're receiving downloads.

1603
01:27:36,520 --> 01:27:38,400
Speaker 2: That helps us out, that keeps the show alive.

1604
01:27:38,760 --> 01:27:42,480
Speaker 3: Here's thanks, as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway.

1605
01:27:42,880 --> 01:27:44,439
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1606
01:27:44,439 --> 01:27:47,000
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1607
01:27:47,000 --> 01:27:48,960
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1608
01:27:49,080 --> 01:27:51,760
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to blow

1609
01:27:51,760 --> 01:27:59,360
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1610
01:28:00,000 --> 01:28:03,200
Speaker 1: All Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

1611
01:28:03,240 --> 01:28:06,880
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

1612
01:28:06,880 --> 01:28:08,280
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.