WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Shocking Dark 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.160 Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:09.760 Rob Lamb and today we are re airing our episode 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:13.080 from eight to twenty twenty four. It is Shocking Dark. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.840 This is a nineteen eighty nine Aliens knockoff from the 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.320 director of Troll two. So you're in for a fun 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.640 ride with this film, and we have a pretty fun 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.880 discussion about it as well. So strap in here we go. 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:37.159 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.280 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.280 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:46.520 today on Weird House Cinema we're going to be talking 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:52.480 about the nineteen eighty nine Aliens ripoff Shocking Dark, which 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.240 has got to be a new favorite for me. I've 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.040 never seen this before and it is top tier schlock. 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.360 This movie is It was such a good time. 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.320 That's right, I mean, this is bad movie. Caviare from 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.559 the screenwriters behind Troll two and the director of such 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:18.280 films as Zombie three and Robo Wars. 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.480 Singular rob or singular by my. 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.280 Mistake, Yes, Robo War. There was only ever one Robo War, but. 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.760 They didn't yet have James Cameron to come along and 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.240 write Robo War with a dollar sign after it. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.959 Yeah, Yeah, this this one. I have to say, this 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.320 is a film that I actually absolutely has to be 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:39.319 seen to be believed. We we don't talk about bad 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:41.840 movies so much on Weird House. We're generally, you know, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:46.040 very I would say, we're pretty forgiving. We're we're here 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:51.080 to lean into films and find find what works and 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.120 celebrate what works in a movie. Uh So, it may 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.680 have been a while since we watched something this schlocky, this, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:04.360 but in its own way, this perfect because I think, 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.440 you know, one would be tempted to cast a film 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.000 like Shocking Dark as the mere antithesis of great filmmaking. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.440 But I think you could also argue that this is 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:17.560 the reflected reverse image, and as such it's that same greatness. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:22.600 It's just reversed, you know. It's Shocking Dark is stupendous, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.120 and as such, I would argue it's more captivating than 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.560 most motion pictures. There's no lukewarm movie here to be 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.560 spat out and forgotten half finished. The experience, no matter what, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.560 is going to be absolutely memorable. 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.919 I totally agree with that this is not a middle 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:43.400 of the road boring hack exercise. This is a jewel 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.720 of badness. It's the kind of badness that takes on 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.720 a form of genius. Like other other films of this 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.799 caliber we've talked about before, like troll To, like Plan 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:59.080 nine from Outer Space, like Highlander two. In many ways, yeah, 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.520 I think it's right up there. This movie is so pleasurable, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.800 and I think there will be a bunch of reasons 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.079 that we can get into. Some are harder to describe 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.359 than others, but we'll try to sort of lay out 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.320 a roadmap of the pleasures on offer here. But first, 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.960 since this movie is widely acknowledged to be a shameless 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.320 ripoff of at least one James Cameron movie, actually two 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.200 two James Cameron movies, I thought we should try to 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.280 place it within a kind of taxonomy of different ways 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.280 a movie can be thought of as a copycat or 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.400 a ripoff. All right, So, the first way I want 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.080 to think of a movie being a knockoff is the 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:45.760 marketing clone. And in this case, the actual substance of 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.120 the movie may have nothing to do with the film 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:54.680 that's being copied, but the market facing information about the film, 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:58.880 such as title poster or trailer tries to make the 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.680 movie seem related we did two, or identical to another 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.920 more successful movie. And there are actually a few different 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.600 ways you can do this. One example is sequels in 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.960 name only. An instance here is Troll two, which is 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.080 connected to the very same creators of Shocking Dark. Troll 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.159 two had nothing to do with the movie called Troll. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.720 Movies like this are in neither form nor function actual 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:29.599 sequels to the original. They just illicitly slap a title 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.960 on there, like Zombie two or Terminator two. In this case, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.240 they put it on the poster without permission and they 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:37.320 opened the box office. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.960 Yeah, and so like with this film, this film was 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:44.440 apparently shot as Shocking Dark, and it was a producer 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.520 level choice to then try and sell it as Terminator too. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.600 So I think if everyone involved in making the film 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:55.640 realize like that was that was maybe even a step 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.720 step too far. You're not just not it's one thing 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.960 to call your film troll too, but to go after 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.320 to go in the wake of Terminators. They're like, hey, 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.920 here it is Terminator too. I know there's another Terminator 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.880 too coming out in a few months. I'm not going 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:10.320 to say anything about that one, But why don't you 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:10.680 buy this? 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.680 Yeah. Another way you can have a marketing clone is mockbusters, 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.320 movies that you know, as far as I can tell, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.960 are trying to confuse people into buying the wrong DVD. 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.240 These were very popular in the late two thousands and 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.760 the twenty tens. So imagine a movie called trans Morphers 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.880 with DVD box art that looks very similar to Michael 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.960 Bay's Transformers. You can think of other examples like Atlantic 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.440 Rim and The Da Vinci Treasure. These movies may or 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.799 may not be similar to the target blockbuster in terms 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.800 of plot, character, or style. The point is that they 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.560 can be hard to tell apart before you watch them. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.920 They're hard to tell apart like at the store, especially 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.240 maybe to like a grandparent buying a DC for their 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.320 grandchild or something. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:00.640 Yeah. 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.480 So that's a kind of crass way you can approach 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:08.680 trying to steal the artistic or entertainment credibility of another film. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.680 Another way you can have something that could be thought 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.960 of as a knockoff is the premise lifter. A lot 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.839 of copycat movies are like this, and I think it's 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:22.000 one of the most benign forms of copying in storytelling. 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.039 In this type of movie. You take the basic premise 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.200 or elevator pitch of a pre existing movie, but then 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.600 you take it in your own direction. So, for example, 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.760 a premise clone of the original Terminator might be a 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:38.280 movie about a killer robot that is transported from a 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.360 dystopian future back to the present to carry out a mission. 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.280 So you could have the same setup as the Terminator, 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.280 or at least the same setup as far as you know, 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.520 as far as it would sound in a sentence long pitch. 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.320 But then maybe the plot and the characters and execution 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.119 could be totally different. And there are even some quite 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.840 good movies in this category. I think a fresh take 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.760 on a familiar premise can be exciting and sometimes can 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.960 even be great art. Lots of examples of this category 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.120 don't even feel like copying. They might just be variations 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.560 on a theme or further exploring a new niche subgenre 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:17.440 in the example of Terminator. At this point, does Dangerous 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.880 Robot from the Future even really belong to James Cameron? 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.720 Or is that more just kind of a very specific 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.080 subgenre of sci fi? 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:26.840 Yeah, yeah, I would agree. 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:29.120 Now, another way a movie might be thought of as 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.679 a copycat is what I would call the vibe repeater. 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.840 A lot of Star Wars copycats are in this category. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.720 They don't exactly lift all that much directly from Star 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.040 Wars in terms of semantic plot content, but instead they're 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.240 trying to copy, like the texture and the feeling of 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.160 Star Wars. So it's more the world, the ensemble, the 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.080 look and sound, the emotional range, and so forth. So 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.560 in the case of Star Wars vibe repeaters, you'd usually 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.280 get some kind of swashbuckling space adventure with a cast 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:08.800 of zany characters and morphologically diverse aliens, droids, bad guys 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:14.280 in scary helmets, rebels fighting against the odds, space battles, mysticism, 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.720 and things like that. So these movies try to copy 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:22.280 the texture and the feeling of another movie that's been successful, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:27.680 more so than explicit details of the story or explicit 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.440 designs or anything like that. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.480 Yeah, and a lot of the times, a lot of 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.400 the time it falls flat. To be honest, I guess 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.520 it depends on what you're copying. Like I would say, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.080 in general, I've never seen a Star Wars vibe repeater 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.439 that gets the job done. But if I were to 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.800 look at say the various conan the Barbarian inspired movies. Okay, 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.080 certainly none of them are on the level of Conan 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.080 in terms of cinematic quality, but like the general vibe 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.200 might be there. It's like, all right, you know, muscle 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.360 Barbarians and some of the similar or themes might be exploring. 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.959 It can work kind of like some of your better 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:08.720 mad macs of vibe repeaters can essentially get the job done. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.720 I agree, yeah, yeah, okay, And then the final category 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.679 I would talk about is just the all out ripoff, 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.040 and this is the territory we're in with Shocking Dark. 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:23.760 Shocking Dark is indeed a marketing clone of Terminator. Specifically, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.240 it is a sequel in name only that uses a 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:30.080 poster that looks exactly like the poster for Terminator. It 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.480 is both a premise lifter and a vibe repeater of Aliens. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.520 It's taking the basic plot pitch, and it's also trying 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.480 to copy a lot of the texture and feeling of Aliens. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.400 But it goes beyond any of these categories into outright 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:52.520 reproducing whole characters, situations, and scenes from Aliens, but with 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.840 a much lower budget and less finesse in terms of acting, writing, sets, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.720 costumes and effects, and so it's actually a a pretty 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.360 interesting question to me. Why would you want to do that? 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.840 I can understand, I think all of the other categories, 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.480 Like I understand the mercenary money making appeal of the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.880 marketing clone that is a cash grab. I understand the 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.959 creative appeal of taking a crack at a story premise 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.440 that has been done before, but doing it your own way. 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.960 It can be fun to work out your own unique 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.680 version of an idea. I understand wanting to capture the 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.160 vibes of a movie that you liked in the past, 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.160 but just do something different with it, you know, so 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.199 create a similar feeling that you have enjoyed yourself. But 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.920 I don't quite understand what is the appeal of just 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.680 taking the scene from Aliens where Burke leaves the face 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.920 hugger in the room with Ripley and Newt and reproducing 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.520 it essentially the same but less well within another movie. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:51.920 That is a head scratcher for me. 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.720 Yeah, I mean, my only guess is that it basically 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:01.040 comes down to, like a producer level understand or misunderstanding 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.360 of what cinema is, you know, where it's just about 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.480 the cash grap It's not about what emotions the movie 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.760 can summon. It's not about the stories they can tell. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.000 It's just like, how much money can we make tomorrow 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.800 using the limited resources we have today? 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.280 But I don't even understand, So, like, what kind of 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.520 appeal do you think you're gonna sell more movie tickets 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.360 if you have a scene in your movie it's the 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.520 same as a scene from the other movie that made money, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:31.840 do you know what I mean? Like, I don't even 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.920 know how that you think that translates into getting people 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:36.920 into the theaters or getting people to rented? 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.319 Yeah, I mean, I can only assume it was just 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.880 kind of a product of the time, right. It must 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.920 have worked, right because they did it all the time 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.640 in B and C budget tali in cinema. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.240 Yeah, I guess so. But by the way, I don't 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.160 mean to say any of this to detegrate the experience 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.360 of Shocking Dark, because despite what you might regard as 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:03.439 it's creator of failures or crimes, it is an absolutely 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.520 brain melting good time. I can't recommend this movie enough 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:09.319 to people who like schlock movies. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.920 Absolutely, this is definitely so bad it's good territory. I 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:15.840 couldn't I couldn't get my wife to watch it. She 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.520 was like, she kind of scratched her head with why 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.960 I would watch this in full. But if you enjoy bad, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.520 schlocky movies, movies that are very rough around the edges, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.440 then Shocking Dark is the film for you. 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.120 It feels like a movie built entirely out of first takes. 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.120 There are parts where actors literally screw up their lines 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.600 and then correct themselves, or they like miss a cue 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.200 and leave a long awkward pause before responding to someone 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.479 and just leave it in. That's in the movie. 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.360 Yeah. We'll get into some specific examples of this too, 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.559 where it's just kind of like the camera's rolling, we're 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.800 gonna get what we're gonna get, and yeah, it's in 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:54.360 the movie. 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.880 Yeah, I love it. And then there are otherwise where 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.360 it's just hard to describe what is so funny and 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.040 pleasing about it. You just have to see it for yourself. 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:06.319 It's a lot of little details about timing, editing, framing, 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:11.000 line delivery that are difficult to translate into words, but 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.560 you should see this once again. It is top shelf 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:15.640 shlock all. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.760 Right, I have a quick elevator pitch, and I think 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.560 you have a longer one, but mine is simply we 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.320 have Aliens at Home. This movie of Aliens at Home. 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:26.599 Yes, it's like what if aliens? But instead of a 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.880 terraforming colony on LV four twenty six, it's tunnels allegedly 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:35.200 underneath Venus. Does that even make sense to have tunnels 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.280 underneath Venics sounds like a flooding risk, But okay, So 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.760 it's tunnels underneath Venice, the city of Venice in Italy. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.840 And then instead of colonial marines, you've got the Mega Force. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.560 More on them later. And then instead of xenomorphs, you've 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.160 got bug eyed ooze hippos. And then instead of Whale 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:58.200 and you Tawni, you have the Tubular Corporation. And instead 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.640 of James Cameron, you have the guys who troll to 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:01.760 and robo war. 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:05.240 All right, let's go ahead and just listen to a 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.080 little bit of the trailer audio for Shocking Dark. 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:24.680 They thought they were fighting only against aliens. They were 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.840 sure that they had won their battle, but they were mistaken. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:15:03.840 Shocking Dark ferocious, indestructible, ruthless terminator, shocking starm. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.280 Hey, there, this is Joe with an insert from the future. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.560 After we finished recording the episode, just thought back about 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.120 how Shocking Dark has a pretty unbelievable plot twist in 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.520 the last fifteen minutes or so, and we end up 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.080 talking about it without much warning in the episode. So 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.080 if you want to see the movie without having a 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.280 pretty bizarre surprise spoiled for you, you should watch it before 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.480 listening further. That's all. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.040 All right. So at this point in the podcast, you 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.200 might be wondering, all right, how can I see Shocking Dark? Then? Well, 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.360 Shocking Dark did not receive a proper release in the 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:46.720 US for a very long time, I think, for some 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:51.120 obvious reasons. But in twenty eighteen, the excellent Severn Films 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.200 put out the definitive Blu Ray edition, scanned in two 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.160 K from the director's cut negative discovered in a Rome 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.400 Lab vault. Plus, there are there a couple of fun 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.640 extras on the disc that I'll reference later. You can 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.480 buy this in most places, but you can also get 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.080 it off their website severin dot com. They do great releases. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.680 In general, Shocking Dark is probably a film where you 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.480 can get by seeing it in a grungy format, but 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.080 I still think it's worth seeing in the best quality available. 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.240 I know that some of the streams you'll find out 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.160 there are on the official services that offer them. These 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.880 are also the Severin restoration, or at least you know, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.160 the restoration that Severin films used in their release. Okay, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.600 this is what I watched. I rented it from Video 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:34.720 Drum here in Atlanta. 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.280 I am soon to own a disc of this, but 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.040 I watched a stream of it that was available through 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.320 I think scream Box, and it looked good. 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.800 Yeah, I bet it's the same restoration, because it is 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.120 worth stressing that it's a film with some things that 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.880 I think are worth seeing in high detail. The locations 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.920 they used and the I think one set that they 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.880 utilized late in the film. I think these are great. 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.719 I enjoyed seeing them, these performances, you know, respect the 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:16.600 actors involved here and see them in the highest format possible. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.159 All right, let's talk about the people who made it. 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.840 The director's chair occupied by Bruno matte who of nineteen 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.720 thirty one through two thousand and seven Italian director of 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:33.080 B movies, exploitation films, and yes, shameless knockoffs. His story 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.119 is pretty endearing in a number of ways. Though his 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.400 father owned a film editing studio, so he grew up, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.720 you know, in and around the business, and he has 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.879 various technical credits to go all the way back to 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.440 the Night to the early fifties. In sixty nine and seventy, 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.240 he worked as an editor on two Jess Franco films, 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.520 ninety nine Women and Count Dracula. That's the one that 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.280 had Christopher Lee in it with a mustache, and he 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.240 apparently did some uncredited directing on ninety nine Women. After this, 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.640 he directed a string of Italian sex comedies and exploitation 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.000 films leading up to nineteen eighties Hell of the Living Dead, 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.359 a Dawn of the Dead inspired zombie film featuring a 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.640 score by Goblin. Oh wow, Yeah, Now, don't be mistaken. 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.280 All of the exploitation projects continued in the background here. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.080 But he also followed this up with eighty three's The 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:27.439 Seven Magnificent Gladiators, which starred Luf Forigno and Sybil Danning, 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.119 who guests were also in a Hercules movie that we watched, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.199 and Brad Harris so I think was also in that 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:34.320 Hercules movie. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:39.320 Wait, they're trying to get some Magnificent seven juice into 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.840 the title of this gladiator. Is this a future Gladiators movie? 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.719 Ooh, that's a great question, I would say, given the timeframe. 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.640 There's like a seventy five percent chance that it takes 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.280 place in a post apocalyptic future. But I don't know. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.160 This could be This could be a Sword and Sandals picture. 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.159 I mean, he does have Luf Rigno in it, so 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.200 come the Hercules connection. 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:04.679 He could be a Roman gladiator or he could be 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.640 a cyber gladiator. Both makes sense. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.240 There's also eighty four's Rats Night of Terror that is 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.640 a post apocalyptic film with like Rats overrunning a post 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:20.679 apocalyptic city. Great and I think they used decaying sets 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.040 from more exterior sets from Once upon a Time in 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.920 America for that one. And then there's eighty seven's Double Target. 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.920 This had Miles O'Keefe in it, and Donald Pleasants. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.160 Is Miles O'Keefe the guy from Atour. 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:39.359 Yes, okay? Eighty seven Scalps and Strike Commandos starring Reb Brown, 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.880 eighty eight Zombie three, the nineteen eighty eight Predator ripoff 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:45.600 Robo War starring Reb Brown. 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:47.760 Oh, that's one of my favorites. I used to put 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.080 Robo War on when I was like hanging out with 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:51.639 my D and D friends. I'd put it on on 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.560 mute because something often silly looking was happening on screen. 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.320 But if you watch that one, I don't know if 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.480 that's fun to sit through the entire time, because it 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.679 gets rather monotonous. There's just a lot of like running 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.480 around in the jungle and stuff, but there are some 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.479 quite funny dialogue moments in it. 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.600 The alien does not look as good as the predator 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:14.000 in our Predator franchise. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.400 I have to say, no, it does not. I would 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.520 say that the the monster costumes in Shocking Dark are 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.560 much better than the monster monster suits and designs in 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:28.400 the other Bruno Matte and Claudio Fergoso movies I've seen. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.320 Agreed, Agreed, We'll come back to those monsters in a bit. 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:37.520 But let's say, following Robo War, there's eighty eight Strike 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:42.720 Commando two, which has Richard Harris in it, and then 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:47.000 there's the nineteen ninety five Jaws knockoff, cruel Jaws and 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:47.560 much more. 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:50.600 No nice jaws around here. 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:52.919 Yeah, I guess by ninety five you got to come 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.480 up with new angles on your jaws knockoff. Anyway, what 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.560 your angle is that the shark is mean? Yeah, yeah, 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:01.520 he wouldn't mean enough. Further, it's just an animal now, 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.320 he's mean, Okay, so Mittea continued working in low budget 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.160 horror until his death in two thousand and seven, and 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.479 I've read that he was, you know, working pretty much 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:12.160 extensively in the Philippines by that time. 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.360 I think Robo War was shot in the Philippines from what. 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.240 It is a jungle movie, right, yeah, all right, Now 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.520 onto the screenwriters. It is the husband and wife duo 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:26.240 of Rosella Drudi and Claudio Fragasso. He was born in 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:31.040 fifty one. They also wrote nineteen nineties, often exceeded but 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.280 never equaled, Troll two, which was our second selection ever 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:35.920 for Weird House Cinema. 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:36.840 A classic for a reason. 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.800 For Gaso's credited screenplays go back to around seventy four 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.199 and hers to nineteen eighty, but they frequently worked with 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.720 Bruno on such films as Hell as the Living Dead, Rats, 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.920 Night of Terror, Zombie three Strike, Commando two, and Robo War. 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.600 Now of their pictures, I've mainly just seen Troll two 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.520 and The Night Killer, as well as some behind the 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.320 scenes interviews with them, and it's always very interesting and 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.520 it always strikes me that they take their films very seriously. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.440 So Troll two had aspirations of being a sort of cutting. 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:14.760 Critique of vegetarianism got them, and night Killer aspired to 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.399 be some sort of like serious psycho sexual thriller. 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:21.679 In some respects, night Killer is very funny but also gross. 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.679 Yeah, yeah, I can't. I can't recommend. I can't recommend 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.119 night Killer to the average film viewer. It's more of 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.200 it's a deeper cut. Yeah, But I was curious, Okay, 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.560 there's going to be an interview on this disc from Severn, 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:36.080 and I was like, what's their take going to be 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:37.640 on it? Are they going to be, you know, very 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.439 serious about it or are they going to be upfront 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.200 about it being a knockoff? It's more of the latter. 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.080 They stressed. The producers put a put some very strict 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.080 parameters on this project. It needed to be a combination 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.400 of Aliens and the Terminator, and it needed to use 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:57.200 character names from those films. So you have a Sarah, 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:58.160 for instance, in this. 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:03.960 Picture, except she's the Ripley, right right, yeah, yeah, So 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:06.800 the Sarah Connor is the Ripley. And then there's a 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:09.680 Drake in it. Drake is one of the colonial marines 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:13.920 in Aliens, but instead they make him like a scientist 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:17.280 who has been driven insane by the monsters and like 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.000 has a scream from beyond space and time. 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:24.639 Yeah, and they said that they actually pushed back as 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.440 much as they could, trying to inject some originality into 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:31.720