Speaker 1: Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush. Interview Friday with
Speaker 1: Lauren Fogelbaum. Hello, bum, I don't know why, I don't
Speaker 1: want to say fogel balm. Yeah, that's the technical German pronunciation.
Speaker 1: So that's right. How are you doing? Oh huh, that's
Speaker 1: a great question, I suppose. Um, it's good to see you.
Speaker 1: How how are you doing. I'm fine, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: hanging in there. I think I've gotten used to things
Speaker 1: for the most part. Got a lot of election anxiety,
Speaker 1: but other than that, I'm I'm well. Yeah, I had
Speaker 1: the thing happened where my landlord of four years was
Speaker 1: suddenly like, all right, get out in two months. Um. Oh,
Speaker 1: so that's going on in the middle of this pandemic. Um,
Speaker 1: And that's it's just fine. It's working out. Um. But
Speaker 1: I will say that it's a level of stress that
Speaker 1: I was not anticipating having to have. Wow, So are
Speaker 1: you in the old place that you have to get
Speaker 1: out of? Yes, yes, I'm currently broadcasting into my closet. Um.
Speaker 1: Who knew that was the year all of us were
Speaker 1: going to get back in our closets? Right? What what
Speaker 1: part of town do you live in? I don't even
Speaker 1: think I know that. Oh I'm over in Reynoldstown. Um,
Speaker 1: kind of right by the like Edgewood shopping center sort
Speaker 1: of area. Yeah. Yeah, looking to stay in relatively the
Speaker 1: same the same area. Cool. Uh, you got a place
Speaker 1: lined up yet? Or is it? That's that's the thing
Speaker 1: that I hope to have onlock by Friday. We've we've
Speaker 1: spent the past few days looking, uh, sort of frantically
Speaker 1: at many houses with many as masks. So it's uh,
Speaker 1: but but the looking is the fun part, like getting
Speaker 1: to go like, oh, architecturally speaking, what happened here? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean I've lived in the same
Speaker 1: house for thirteen or fourteen years now, but we did
Speaker 1: move out last a couple of years ago when we
Speaker 1: renovated for like eight months, and it was it was
Speaker 1: a pain in the ass, but it was kind of
Speaker 1: like I remember moving to different apartments and like I
Speaker 1: always kind of I mean, moving always sucks, but I
Speaker 1: always enjoyed getting a new place and just a change
Speaker 1: of scenery. Always liked I didn't mind moving so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: getting to to to remake or like reorganize your life
Speaker 1: and and that opportunity to go through things and go like,
Speaker 1: why do I have this? Get rid of that? Um, totally,
Speaker 1: I'd like it on a more relaxed schedule. But well, yeah,
Speaker 1: choosing to move is different than being told to leave.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever been uh not kicked out,
Speaker 1: but you know, I don't think I've ever had to
Speaker 1: leave sooner than I wanted to. So that's a for
Speaker 1: a deal, it is, it's it's okay, it's a It
Speaker 1: was a known factor that our landlord is a real pill,
Speaker 1: and so it's a surprise to no one that he
Speaker 1: is being a real pill. So right, Yeah, well I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to hear that. I hope you land in a
Speaker 1: great place though. Oh I think I will. Good. Uh So,
Speaker 1: if you recognize Lauren's voice, you may have listened to
Speaker 1: her on this show when you guessed on UM, I
Speaker 1: think it's just some Halloween episodes, right I did. I
Speaker 1: did that round up um for right around Awards season,
Speaker 1: and we talked about knives out. Oh, you weren't on
Speaker 1: any of the Halloween episodes. No, I I think I
Speaker 1: meant to be and then it never happened. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: we'll have to get you in there this year for
Speaker 1: for Frighttober. But yeah, that's right, we talked knives out
Speaker 1: and you also, Um, you're on a bunch of shows.
Speaker 1: Why don't you just go through until everyone all the
Speaker 1: shows you're on now because you're on a new one.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know you were on. Oh yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: I almost didn't know that I was on that one
Speaker 1: for a minute. Um. Yeah. So so, um, I'm on
Speaker 1: the short form um saw show brain Stuff. It's just
Speaker 1: like five to seven minutes of general science topics every
Speaker 1: day of the week. Uh that won't die yea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been running for thirteen years now. Um. It was
Speaker 1: originated by Marshall Brain, who I'm pretty sure that's his
Speaker 1: real name. Is that his real name? That's his real name? Gosh,
Speaker 1: what a thing? Anyway, Yeah, um, so I'm I'm hosting
Speaker 1: that one now. I'm also with um a frequent uh
Speaker 1: guest of yours on movie Crush here, Annie Reese. Um,
Speaker 1: she's we're co hosts on a show called Savor, which
Speaker 1: is a we're conversational Oh thank you man. I think
Speaker 1: it's great too. Like we have we have a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, Like we're we're covering like the science and
Speaker 1: culture and history of foods. But um, but yeah, Annie
Speaker 1: and I just have a have an absolute blast. Um.
Speaker 1: And uh. Then the new one that I'm I'm doing
Speaker 1: right now is called American Shadows, and that's with um
Speaker 1: the Grim and Mild, headed up by Aaron Minky, and
Speaker 1: it's about dark, true stories from from American history. I
Speaker 1: think the team wanted to focus on stuff that happened
Speaker 1: in America and that kind of highlights how you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're like wild, desperate times that we cover. But
Speaker 1: but there's like truth and justice always prevail. So despite
Speaker 1: it being like a murder show, it's really comforting to
Speaker 1: work on right now. Yeah, how long has that one
Speaker 1: been out? Only since mid sept What what month are
Speaker 1: we in? Where are you when we just we just
Speaker 1: crossed over into September. Okay, Labor Day weekend coming up?
Speaker 1: Uh uh it launched and it launched in a in
Speaker 1: in mid August. Um. So there's only a couple of episodes. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's once every other week. Um, just a just
Speaker 1: a real tight thirty minutes show scripted. Um. The excellent
Speaker 1: Miranda Hawkins is doing the editing on that one, and
Speaker 1: and her cool, her storytelling through um, the soundtrack and
Speaker 1: just through the way that she edits the pieces together.
Speaker 1: Um is really beautiful. So oh man, well that's great,
Speaker 1: Miranda is awesome. Uh. I gotta check that out because
Speaker 1: I heard the promos and it just sounds really cool
Speaker 1: and it sounds like a cool new show, like that's
Speaker 1: that's big, big time A list stuff. Oh yeah, yeah
Speaker 1: it is. It is. So I was as surprised as
Speaker 1: anyone when when Aaron tapped me for it. Um, but
Speaker 1: I get to do. I get to do like my
Speaker 1: serious creepy voice and like use a lot of vocal fry,
Speaker 1: so it's fun. Yeah. Well, I mean you have one.
Speaker 1: Just as far as vocal qualities go, I think you
Speaker 1: have one of the best voices for this in our company. Um,
Speaker 1: we all kind of fell into it, but you, I
Speaker 1: think had a real knack for it from the beginning. UM.
Speaker 1: I can't say the same for like Josh and I
Speaker 1: are who we are, but you're just a pro voiceover person.
Speaker 1: At this point, I feel like, oh, thank you for
Speaker 1: saying so. UM. I mean I think that that any
Speaker 1: any um technical vocal quality that that I possess, but
Speaker 1: it's balanced out by my just shattering anxiety overperforming every
Speaker 1: single day. So like, yeah, yeah, y'all, y'all are not
Speaker 1: not every single day. I'm fine. It took me about
Speaker 1: three years, um to be honest, to not be like
Speaker 1: pit sweating every time I went into the studio, UM,
Speaker 1: and y'all seem to come at it so naturally, and
Speaker 1: I'm really envious of that. Like I feel like I
Speaker 1: just have these conversations in my head with how conversations
Speaker 1: on Mike could go every time I go in if
Speaker 1: especially if I'm like like, I'm like nervous talking to
Speaker 1: you because I'm not used to doing it, so you know,
Speaker 1: so I'm just like, God, anything could happen. It's not well,
Speaker 1: it's certainly I'm not Annie, I'm not. I wish i
Speaker 1: was any Uh. It certainly doesn't come through you. You're
Speaker 1: fantastic and your shows are great. So thank you what
Speaker 1: you're great. Hush up, I'm like, oh, thank you, daddy,
Speaker 1: chuck like that, Oh daddy, that that sounds that sounds wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let's I'll just ignore that. I said that. Cool,
Speaker 1: big brother, So we I wanted to get you in
Speaker 1: here for a solo effort and We've been wanting to
Speaker 1: do this for a long time, and it just sort
Speaker 1: of I think COVID happened, and then um, I fell
Speaker 1: into a rhythm of having a certain group on. Then
Speaker 1: I was like, wait a minute, I haven't had I
Speaker 1: haven't had you on a long time, and I haven't
Speaker 1: had actually haven't had any on it in a long time.
Speaker 1: Because I think she moved to she she did not
Speaker 1: she she's still in the same place. But um, but
Speaker 1: I think that being a lot more certainly like a
Speaker 1: lot more extroverted than I am, like she she had
Speaker 1: like a major mental shift that might might be called
Speaker 1: to move. Okay, gotcha. So um, when it came time
Speaker 1: to pick a movie, you were, like every person who's
Speaker 1: ever come this show had a little anxiety about it
Speaker 1: because it's tough. Um, you get do overs though, so
Speaker 1: you don't. You didn't have to really stress about like
Speaker 1: you can come back on the show. It didn't have
Speaker 1: to be the one and only movie. But what if
Speaker 1: I mess up the first one and then you're just like, oh,
Speaker 1: that guy, not that guy, anything but that guy. No. Uh.
Speaker 1: I think your list of movies was interesting, So tell
Speaker 1: tell them about the few that you didn't that we
Speaker 1: didn't go with Alright, they might show up later, Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: sure so um so, so I sent you this list
Speaker 1: and then I realized afterwards that it was probably more
Speaker 1: um self revelatory than I completely intended it to be. Um.
Speaker 1: I just rattled off. I was like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like what what are What could I possibly say is
Speaker 1: my favorite movie? Like a like Ghostbusters or maybe like
Speaker 1: The Witch? Like The Witch was so good or or
Speaker 1: I don't know, Beetlejuice or Video Drome or The Fifth Element. Um,
Speaker 1: all great films. Yes, Um, I'm I think the pattern
Speaker 1: here is that like like, yeah, I'm like a spooky bitch,
Speaker 1: um and that's that's what's going on. Well, that's cool,
Speaker 1: that's that's a good one to be. Um. We we
Speaker 1: we could have you know. I think eventually we'll probably
Speaker 1: just tackle most of these. UM will just have you
Speaker 1: back and well, and I know we're gonna do The
Speaker 1: Witch sometime October this year. We'll have you back for
Speaker 1: that for sure. But we definitely should do Fifth Element.
Speaker 1: That's a movie I haven't seen in a long time.
Speaker 1: But we ended up going for this one with Video
Speaker 1: trom which is a movie from written and directed by
Speaker 1: David Cronenberg, kind of one of his first bigger movies,
Speaker 1: even though it didn't perform well, but the first movie
Speaker 1: where he had some kind of Hollywood backing. Um, after
Speaker 1: a series of really weird under the radar movies, say
Speaker 1: this isn't weird. Oh quite quite the opposite. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think it's the first film that he had studio involvement
Speaker 1: with from the get go um, and with Universal, which
Speaker 1: was a pretty conservative studio at the time, So he
Speaker 1: was real confused about it. I get the feeling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he probably still is, and you and whoever greenlit this
Speaker 1: is probably still confused. Uh. It has all the hallmarks
Speaker 1: of UM of a David David Cronenberg movie, which is
Speaker 1: to say, uh, body horror, obviously, um technology, technology, and
Speaker 1: the body becoming one. Um. I don't have you ever
Speaker 1: seen existence? Yeah? Yeah, I feel like that was sort
Speaker 1: of had some of the DNA of video drome in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sort of like a I the first term that
Speaker 1: popped into my head was classier, like a classier version
Speaker 1: of a video drone. But but I don't think that
Speaker 1: I don't know, like like a little bit less um
Speaker 1: offensive on purpose? Maybe, Yeah, a little less schlocky. I
Speaker 1: mean this, this is sort of a video drum, sort
Speaker 1: of a B movie. Uh, and obviously we sa people
Speaker 1: like I say that as a term of endearment and
Speaker 1: not as a slag. Um. It did not do well
Speaker 1: in the theaters because I imagine it's a cult classic now.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to I was trying to imagine when
Speaker 1: I was watching it today what people in n thought
Speaker 1: of this thing. Sure, and I mean, like it comes
Speaker 1: off as being a little bit prophetic when you watch
Speaker 1: it now, but at the time, I mean it's also
Speaker 1: um so so I was I was watching the director's commentary,
Speaker 1: Um to care for for this? Are you? Are you
Speaker 1: a human who likes watching a director's commentary? Well, I'm
Speaker 1: a human. He used to do that a lot when
Speaker 1: I was buying DVDs and had more time in life
Speaker 1: and not a child. But I haven't done that in
Speaker 1: a long time. But I miss it. I do love commentaries. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I had to figure out how to play a DVD.
Speaker 1: Um in order to do it. The answer was that
Speaker 1: I had a PS two like in a box in
Speaker 1: my closet and that worked out right. Um but but
Speaker 1: but so yeah, so I was watching this commentary and uh,
Speaker 1: and he was saying that he didn't know the script
Speaker 1: was not finalized and he didn't know the plot as
Speaker 1: they were shooting it. Really, and I think it shows well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm glad you said that, because it is. Uh.
Speaker 1: It is a movie that is that is great in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, but also meanders a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I think it feels like it has trouble figuring
Speaker 1: out its own point of view a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does, it does, and I do think that in
Speaker 1: some ways it's it's one of those films that isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily an exercise and um, you know, crafting a a
Speaker 1: taught plot line. Um, it's like not a knives out
Speaker 1: kind of situation, Um, but sort of polar opposites there.
Speaker 1: But um, but it is very aware of the textures
Speaker 1: it's using in the kind of philosophy that it's building, Um,
Speaker 1: even if it had to sort of talk itself through
Speaker 1: the process as it goes. But I will say, this
Speaker 1: is an eighty nine minute film and it feels like
Speaker 1: it goes on for three hours. Yeah, I mean, it
Speaker 1: is a pretty tight eighty nine but it does it
Speaker 1: meanders a little bit. Um, I do know what you mean, though,
Speaker 1: Like I think part of the likability of this movie
Speaker 1: isn't um necessarily the plot, uh it is it is textureized,
Speaker 1: and it is um sort of a feel in a mood.
Speaker 1: Um it's unsettling. Um I imagine in in nineteen I
Speaker 1: mean it's unsettling now. And like you said, so much
Speaker 1: of this stuff was way, way, way, way way before
Speaker 1: it's time. But um, I'm trying. I think I saw
Speaker 1: it when I was younger. There's no way I saw
Speaker 1: it when I was twelve. Oh I hope not. No,
Speaker 1: I was not seeing movies like this. I was like
Speaker 1: eating and the Goonies. Boy. Um, but I know I
Speaker 1: saw it. I think I probably saw it in college
Speaker 1: on vhs, like probably when I worked at a video
Speaker 1: stores when I saw it. Oh. Yeah, I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you bring that up, because I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you if you remember the first time that you saw
Speaker 1: it or like the first time ish and like how
Speaker 1: you felt about it at the time. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: there was a time in college where I worked at
Speaker 1: this great video store and where I really got turned
Speaker 1: onto stuff like this, and I remember scanners and video
Speaker 1: home being you know, my first two Croninberg movies and
Speaker 1: becoming a fan and just I don't know much about
Speaker 1: the guy, like what makes him tick. Uh. He's always
Speaker 1: sort of been like a David Lynchy in figure to
Speaker 1: me as far as a true Um, it's just unique
Speaker 1: voice in cinema, you know. Uh, yeah, I am. I
Speaker 1: also watched it for the first time in college. Um
Speaker 1: and uh, I think for a class because I was
Speaker 1: an English major taking some really weird classes. I think
Speaker 1: this this one I watched for a class called Psycho
Speaker 1: Cinema Analysis. Um. So very very much into Freud and
Speaker 1: very much into movies that play with that kind of
Speaker 1: kind of imagery and also with with technology, and so
Speaker 1: this was sort of like like I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: the dude doing the class like watch this movie and
Speaker 1: was like, dude, what if I do a whole class
Speaker 1: about this? Um I could totally see that. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: well and and like my reaction was just like I didn't, like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that I knew that you could make
Speaker 1: a movie like this. I was like, you can make
Speaker 1: a movie like that, like something that's just so bat
Speaker 1: ship but also so culturally relevant. Yeah. I mean it
Speaker 1: opens with the introduction of Civic TV, which is the
Speaker 1: TV station that James Woods runs. And even that opening
Speaker 1: bit where he has the lady talking about your schedule
Speaker 1: for the day and all that. I mean that that's
Speaker 1: Alexa or Google Home or whatever. It's nuts to think about. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: um and and just the and just how um, I
Speaker 1: don't know, like like oppressive it manages to be in
Speaker 1: a completely cheerful way. Uh. Just the slogan UM for
Speaker 1: the TV station I think is um the one you
Speaker 1: take to bed with you. And I'm like, who right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's supposed to be comforting, but somehow it is
Speaker 1: not not at all, not not especially given everything else
Speaker 1: that happens in this movie. Yeah, well we'll get to
Speaker 1: that good lord. Um. It's also a movie that reminded
Speaker 1: me how much I used to, um love James Woods.
Speaker 1: I mean such a creep. Now Uh it's it's hard
Speaker 1: to kind of unknow that stuff, but he was always
Speaker 1: so good at playing a creep and a slee's ball. Um.
Speaker 1: Just I mean one of one of the great actors
Speaker 1: I think from back then, if given the right role.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and he um. And he's so he's so good
Speaker 1: in this movie. He um, He's just he's so funny.
Speaker 1: Um like his his physical he brings his physicality to
Speaker 1: the role that um, that is clearly important for for
Speaker 1: a lot of the kind of action sequences, but but
Speaker 1: also just these little moments of physical comedy where he's
Speaker 1: kind of just a little twitchy. Um. Yeah, there's the
Speaker 1: moment where he goes into the uh spectaclecular optical office
Speaker 1: for the first time, and he tries on those goofy
Speaker 1: looking glasses and kind of gives himself a look in
Speaker 1: the mirror, and you know, that was pure James Wood's
Speaker 1: probably just doing a little improv to bit there. And
Speaker 1: there are a couple of little lighter moments like that
Speaker 1: that uh and and moments where I wonder, like Cronenberg
Speaker 1: is so weird. But there are moments too where I
Speaker 1: wonder if Cronenberg is has his tongue in cheek a
Speaker 1: little bit. I I think he. I think he pretty
Speaker 1: firmly does, or like that's that's the idea that I get,
Speaker 1: because it doesn't come off like like the fact that
Speaker 1: there are so frequently that he does so frequently cast
Speaker 1: um these actors who are a little bit weirder and
Speaker 1: more cerebral in like less um you know, like like
Speaker 1: classic Hollywood, and the fact that he does so frequently
Speaker 1: incorporate these small moments of humor to to offset the horror. Um.
Speaker 1: I think it's a super important balance in any horror film. Um.
Speaker 1: And any comedy film really like you know, goes both ways.
Speaker 1: But um uh yeah, and and and for this apparently
Speaker 1: as they were making up the script and the plot, um,
Speaker 1: James Woods would come up with a bunch of ideas
Speaker 1: and and they would wind up going with him. Now,
Speaker 1: what what is you listen to the commentary? What is
Speaker 1: Cronenberg like when he's talking about this stuff? Is he
Speaker 1: like self serious or is he kind of uh like,
Speaker 1: how does he view this this stuff? Now? Uh? He
Speaker 1: said so. So the commentary is on the criterion edition
Speaker 1: of the film. And uh oh so I'm not sure
Speaker 1: when the DVD would have come out, but I imagine
Speaker 1: a decade or two ago. And uh and he said
Speaker 1: that he, in preparation for it, had watched the film
Speaker 1: for the first time in like twenty five years. UM.
Speaker 1: And and his his his manner is is very scholarly
Speaker 1: in a way. Um, It's it's very much he's very
Speaker 1: much into the philosophy of of what he's talking about,
Speaker 1: although I don't think that he would term it like that,
Speaker 1: Like I think that he would find that pretentious and
Speaker 1: would try to avoid it. But um, but he talks
Speaker 1: so much in that commentary about Marshall mclauchan um, who
Speaker 1: are you familiar with? Yeah, Yeah, dude who wrote this
Speaker 1: book called Understanding Media in sixty four, Yeah, and famously
Speaker 1: coined the phrase the medium is the message and U.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that Cronenberg talks about at
Speaker 1: length is how the character um Brian Oblivion is pro
Speaker 1: professor oblivion, oh period oblivion, the punt. We need to
Speaker 1: talk about the puns in this film. But that's a
Speaker 1: threat over here. Uh. And that's another reason why I like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that this dude is taking himself too seriously,
Speaker 1: Like I think that he takes matter seriously. But I
Speaker 1: think he's having fun. Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: no way he Yeah, I think it's I think it
Speaker 1: borders on satire at times a little bit, Yeah, without
Speaker 1: being like super overtly satirical, not like Paul Verehoven, which
Speaker 1: we've been watching, like Paul and I did Starship Troopers,
Speaker 1: Robot Coop, like that's straight up satire. But I think
Speaker 1: this sort of plays around with it the tone of
Speaker 1: satire a little bit, which is super cool. I think. Yeah, yeah, Uh.
Speaker 1: There's another good quote in this movie too that um,
Speaker 1: there's a couple of creepy quotes that are very relevant today.
Speaker 1: Is one from Professor Oblivion where he says the television
Speaker 1: screen has become the retina of the mind's eye. I
Speaker 1: mean ship that was three and that might as well
Speaker 1: be like the slogan for modern day society. Yes. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then James Woods has a line sort of as
Speaker 1: the video drome, kind of early in the movie when
Speaker 1: he's looking at these essentially snuff films and getting judged
Speaker 1: for watching them, and he says, you know, better on
Speaker 1: TV than in the streets. And it's an interesting quote
Speaker 1: because this character I think, I think he thinks he's
Speaker 1: moral in a way. Yeah, because he's um, he's letting
Speaker 1: people uh get you know, experience these these these dark thoughts,
Speaker 1: these darker desires, um, these more dangerous um things without
Speaker 1: actually going out and participating in them. Yeah. And like
Speaker 1: Debbie Harry, he he By the way, Debbie Harry is
Speaker 1: in this movie from Blondie amazing, and she's she's been
Speaker 1: in a few films, but um, she's you know, a classic.
Speaker 1: But she he tries to keep her from doing this stuff,
Speaker 1: like she clearly, I mean, once we learned kind of
Speaker 1: what she's doing that that becomes part of the plot.
Speaker 1: But at first you just think she has certain kinks
Speaker 1: and sexual fetishes, and he tries to keep her from
Speaker 1: doing these things like now, you shouldn't cut yourself, you
Speaker 1: shouldn't do these things. Um. For someone who's running something
Speaker 1: like Civic TV, I thought it was an interesting balance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit. It's a little bit sweet, like
Speaker 1: because he's he's clearly like a little bit of a creepizoid.
Speaker 1: But at the same time he's going like, oh no,
Speaker 1: like don't want to hurt you, and she's like, what,
Speaker 1: like this is fun? Is fun? Like she's way more
Speaker 1: hardcore than he is, Like he's a bit of a
Speaker 1: coward actually yeah yeah, and she sort of winds up
Speaker 1: bringing him into it. Um and I and I love
Speaker 1: that again, especially being able to have that dynamic between
Speaker 1: a man and a woman on screen and and have
Speaker 1: the woman be the one who even though she's she's
Speaker 1: the masochist in the Santa masochistic relationship of theirs for
Speaker 1: the most part. Um, she's she's very much in control.
Speaker 1: Most of the time. I can never remember which is which.
Speaker 1: The massochist is the one getting receiving the okay right,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, and the sadist is the one giving it.
Speaker 1: That's why I never took to it. People are like, Chuck,
Speaker 1: you're not doing it, Like I always forget. Just give
Speaker 1: me a note, just tape it to my forehead. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Uh. Yeah. Another quote when they're just start
Speaker 1: starting out their their relationship there on this first date
Speaker 1: where they're in his apartment and she's flipping through a
Speaker 1: box of U of Beta Max tapes because Beta Max
Speaker 1: is this entire movie is about, which I love. Uh.
Speaker 1: She's like, oh what about this one? This? What about
Speaker 1: this one labeled video drone that looks interesting? Um? Is it?
Speaker 1: Is it porn um? And he's like, well, it ain't
Speaker 1: exactly sex And she's like says who, And I'm like, yeah, interesting,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a definitely there's a point of view
Speaker 1: in here that big time movies did not explore, Like
Speaker 1: there was no precedent for this film. Uh. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure when the executives at Universal got the first cut,
Speaker 1: they were just like, what the fuck is are we
Speaker 1: doing here? Can we even release this? I'm sure they
Speaker 1: have those conversations. Oh, I'm sure. Well, and um and
Speaker 1: the the m P A A or or the Canadian equivalent,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it is, but yeah, apparently during
Speaker 1: that time, UM, they would just literally take your print
Speaker 1: and they would cut what they didn't want out of it,
Speaker 1: and that's the print that would wind up circulating. Um.
Speaker 1: And it was kind of a lot of those scenes
Speaker 1: have been put back in since then. UM And I
Speaker 1: think I don't know if the film was in release
Speaker 1: long enough and it was on a physical print, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like these digital times when you can just
Speaker 1: for no money just throw prints everywhere. But ye, well
Speaker 1: that's crazy. I can't imagine handing over the editing keys
Speaker 1: to a ratings board, right, especially the keys of something
Speaker 1: like this. I know, it's like they wouldn't. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: it wasn't sixty minutes long they did. Uh. He talks
Speaker 1: about them cutting some some very specific um uh pieces
Speaker 1: that you know, like like, while not integral to the plot,
Speaker 1: sure are our integral to the to the mood and
Speaker 1: the feel of the piece and are not obscene. Um,
Speaker 1: you know that this is a very uncomfortable movie to
Speaker 1: watch in a room full of people. I think, um,
Speaker 1: which I love, but but it's also um yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's just a it's a it's a mood. It's a
Speaker 1: mood it is, and it's a movie with um full
Speaker 1: of practical effects. Obviously if it's three, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: have UM C G I or anything. And some of
Speaker 1: it looks pretty good still. I thought all the um,
Speaker 1: I thought all the TV stuff where things were coming
Speaker 1: out of the TV screen, I think that stuff really
Speaker 1: still looks fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, when the TVs are like
Speaker 1: breathing and and James is physically interacting with them, um
Speaker 1: uh yeah, those are those are beautiful. There's there's one
Speaker 1: one scene where, um where he's touching the top of
Speaker 1: the television and it's kind of breathing and these veins
Speaker 1: pop out, and it gets me every time. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh cool, um yeah ends up in that manner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in in some scenes, In some scenes it's definitely like
Speaker 1: you can you can it gets it gets a little
Speaker 1: bit cheesy. Um, but um that it was Rick Baker
Speaker 1: doing those effects. Um, and okay, I kind of figured
Speaker 1: it was. Yeah, and this was right after he had
Speaker 1: just done um, an American Werewolf in London, and so
Speaker 1: like like, what a what a wonderful time to get
Speaker 1: a Rick Baker on your side. Yeah, absolutely kind of.
Speaker 1: Uh he was on the leading edge kind of as
Speaker 1: a young artist back then. Uh. And you know how
Speaker 1: much fun I used to I think my brother and
Speaker 1: I went with your Little Wood. Um, we're sort of
Speaker 1: obsessed with this kind of gore and thought that we
Speaker 1: both wanted to get into being like special effects people.
Speaker 1: Me too, Yeah, I mean it's like, what's what's more
Speaker 1: fun than like making a head explode or making a
Speaker 1: stomach of vagina? You know, we had to go there
Speaker 1: at some point, right, Oh yep, yep. There's definitely a
Speaker 1: torso vagina, and it definitely plays heavily in this film. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, let's talk about it. That's one of the
Speaker 1: central most memorable parts of this movie is this recurring
Speaker 1: bit where James Woods has a an opening in his
Speaker 1: chest stomach cavity that uh, very intentionally looks like a vagina.
Speaker 1: I think, oh, yeah, that is not David Gronenberg makes
Speaker 1: no accidents. When torso vagina, there's a gun put in
Speaker 1: there and that disappears there, Uh, meaty breathing videotapes put
Speaker 1: in there. Uh, an arm is sort of stripped or
Speaker 1: degloved maybe yeah, yeah, yeah. Other people like like he
Speaker 1: he self inserts things and then other people kind of
Speaker 1: more forcefully insert things into him. Um and yeah. And
Speaker 1: then there's that scene at the end with the where
Speaker 1: where the hand gets stripped. There he's got a torso
Speaker 1: vagina dentata totally and uh gosh, speaking of pens, when
Speaker 1: when that when that dude who gets his hand eating
Speaker 1: pulls his hand back out, it's a literal hand grenade. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't think I quite picked up on that, You're right,
Speaker 1: because yeah, then he's he's like, oh no, there's this
Speaker 1: grenade that's my hand now, and then he blows up,
Speaker 1: and so I I don't I don't understand. That's great,
Speaker 1: But every single time, I mean, it's effective, Like David
Speaker 1: Cronenberg wants to make you squirm, he wants to set
Speaker 1: a mood that is very uncomfortable. And there's not a
Speaker 1: single time that that chess cavity opens up and someone
Speaker 1: reaches in there that it doesn't make me squirm it
Speaker 1: it is extraordinary, really uncomfortable. Um and partially because at
Speaker 1: first it's so goofy um and you want to laugh
Speaker 1: at it. But then but then it's really not goofy
Speaker 1: like it it's so unsettling um and uh. And also
Speaker 1: just such a rare visual occurrence to to to come
Speaker 1: across um that you know, outside of like pornography, Um,
Speaker 1: to see something like that on a screen. And and
Speaker 1: so it's just like who um and I feel like yeah,
Speaker 1: like like you could you could go unpack the American
Speaker 1: psyche's reaction to looking at vaginas for a very long time. Um,
Speaker 1: Like we don't have time for that today, or we
Speaker 1: could do a whole series on that. Um. What what
Speaker 1: Cronenberg says in the commentary, Um, the first time that
Speaker 1: somebody else reaches into James Woods, um is he's getting
Speaker 1: sucked by television, which I think everybody is. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean laugh But that's that's sort of the message here,
Speaker 1: is that in the plot is that TV is is
Speaker 1: replacing like they talked about the physical body dying and
Speaker 1: you're becoming part of video drome, I guess, yeah, And
Speaker 1: skipping forward to the to the end of the film.
Speaker 1: I keep wanting to be like spoiler alert, but I
Speaker 1: think that that's understood. Um uh um. You know, he
Speaker 1: James Wood's character winds up killing himself because he can't
Speaker 1: deal with this this self destructive uh. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I think it's self destructive. I think that the the
Speaker 1: like moral message of this movie is not that television
Speaker 1: um makes us violent, but that it makes us self destructive. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I also feel like there's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a message of um of a beware what road you're
Speaker 1: about to go down? Thing? Uh And he's even literally
Speaker 1: warned by that woman at first, Like the video drum
Speaker 1: is something you want to get involved in. But and
Speaker 1: and sort of the classic fable I guess of the
Speaker 1: forbidden Fruit or the unknown and like that's not a
Speaker 1: door you want to walk through, but there are some
Speaker 1: people that are attempted to walk through it. And that
Speaker 1: is this character. Oh yeah, this character is tempted by
Speaker 1: everything and indulges in everything. Um and and it's very
Speaker 1: very human um through that. Yeah. And you know, for
Speaker 1: the first half hour or so, it's sort of up
Speaker 1: until that first plot point, it's it's a movie you
Speaker 1: think is about this guy that stumbles upon this sort
Speaker 1: of snuff film syndicate. Maybe, And it's not until you
Speaker 1: get that that first videotape coming alive and sort of
Speaker 1: pulsing and breathing that, and of course this is like
Speaker 1: you didn't know who David Cronenberg really was that much
Speaker 1: at this point, like now, audiences are just like, well,
Speaker 1: although he he has changed his tune and some of
Speaker 1: the movies he made in later years aren't like this.
Speaker 1: But generally you go to a Cronenberg movie, you're waiting
Speaker 1: on the body horror and this kind of weird is
Speaker 1: to come out. Yeah, yeah, the Fly, after the Fly,
Speaker 1: it was all over. Um, you can't year was the Fly?
Speaker 1: Actually that was? I want to Oh, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Maybe eight sight seven or was it all the way
Speaker 1: in the nineties. I have a bad concept of time.
Speaker 1: It wasn't it was eighty six, so I think it
Speaker 1: was probably the movie right after this one. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: may have been one in between, but it's what the
Speaker 1: point is. It's what you had come to expect from Cronenberg.
Speaker 1: But back then you're sitting in the theater, You're watching
Speaker 1: this movie like weird, this guy stumbled upon this snuff
Speaker 1: film syndicate and he runs a TV station and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, just the wheels fly off of
Speaker 1: this thing and very quickly. Um and uh. And that's
Speaker 1: that's another thing that I that I just love about this.
Speaker 1: I mean, like like I always love a practical effect.
Speaker 1: I always love some good body horror. Um. But but
Speaker 1: the framing of it as it of just being stuck
Speaker 1: in James Wood's characters, um, hallucination and and increasingly not
Speaker 1: good hallucination um and and just completely committing to it
Speaker 1: and like not taking a step back by like I
Speaker 1: don't know, like putting a filter on it or like
Speaker 1: shooting it wide or you know, you know, through different
Speaker 1: lens or whatever. Um and and and as the viewer
Speaker 1: like like that hoof like that that's part of why
Speaker 1: it's so unsettling, because you're you're given this universe where
Speaker 1: everything is real and everything just keeps being real, but
Speaker 1: but with you know, breathing television sets. Yeah. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's one of those movies that, um, you're never quite
Speaker 1: sure what reality is and what's not. It really plays
Speaker 1: with that notion of the hallucinations versus reality and um
Speaker 1: even from the early moment where he uh, in a
Speaker 1: very eighties movie style like halls off and slaps that
Speaker 1: lady he works with and it's also Debbie Harry for
Speaker 1: a minute and he slaps her again and then he's like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for slapping and she's like, you didn't slap me.
Speaker 1: What do you talk and about? Yeah? Yeah, hoof. I
Speaker 1: wasn't even sure because it had been a long time
Speaker 1: since I've seen this, so I wasn't even sure what
Speaker 1: was real and what wasn't at this point. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: don't think I ever have been until until I listened
Speaker 1: to that director's commentary and he pretty explicitly lays out
Speaker 1: that like that, yeah, like all of the weird stuff
Speaker 1: is total hallucination. Um uh. And you know, um, some
Speaker 1: of the effects of those hallucinations are are real. Like
Speaker 1: James Woods does or is the dude didn't? His character
Speaker 1: does shoot some people, but um, you know, not with
Speaker 1: a meat gun. Well let's talk about that too, because
Speaker 1: what's a good torso vagina without a good mate gun?
Speaker 1: Am I right? That's a quote for all ages, um
Speaker 1: or all of for the ages, not for all ages. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that when the gun becomes a part of his body.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's another great special effects sequence. And I
Speaker 1: couldn't help but think that like a really cool deep
Speaker 1: cut cosplay would be um that gun hand coupled with
Speaker 1: the really cool like Oculus rift um head helmet thing.
Speaker 1: Like if I ever saw someone do that, I would
Speaker 1: just be like, props to you, because that is like
Speaker 1: one of the cool deep cuts. Absolutely and that oh
Speaker 1: that helmet too is amazing. This is three like like
Speaker 1: it looked so good and uh and and so creepy
Speaker 1: and I love that we get a little a little
Speaker 1: moment of like of like sixteen bit Debbie Harry in there. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean it was straight up VR, you know it.
Speaker 1: It's crazy like years before that was even a thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: years before I mean, uh, what was the what was
Speaker 1: the thing with the with with the the game boy
Speaker 1: VR thing? Even like it was years before that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was And David Cronenberg might have invented VR for
Speaker 1: all I know. I'm gonna look that up. Actually, for
Speaker 1: all I know that he should get credited. He should
Speaker 1: get some money from Oculus reft. He should. He should
Speaker 1: They should at least like put in small print somewhere
Speaker 1: on every headset, like like thanks David. The meat gun though,
Speaker 1: and he did this in Existence and some of his
Speaker 1: other movies. There's this like meaty, fleshy quality of his
Speaker 1: special effects that is just so gross. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: every everything is kind of um, kind of sheeny. It's
Speaker 1: it's all it's all moist um. So you're triggering a
Speaker 1: lot of people right now, and and and it's all
Speaker 1: vainy and it it is. It gets um. There are
Speaker 1: I think maybe like three different versions of the meat
Speaker 1: gun that did show up, And the first one is
Speaker 1: very technological, and the second one is very just penile,
Speaker 1: just very straight up fleshy, and the third is kind
Speaker 1: of a blend between the two. Um. And and I'm
Speaker 1: sure that there was a secific thought process into doing that,
Speaker 1: into him him becoming this piece of technology that's being used. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and it gets bigger and bigger too. And by
Speaker 1: the by the time he's at that last one, when
Speaker 1: he goes to the Spectacular Optical conference, which by the way,
Speaker 1: is an amazing scene. It is such a trip. I
Speaker 1: want David Cronenberg to design all of my corporate experiences forever.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, can you imagine like he's gonna he's
Speaker 1: gonna do your corporate conference. We got Cronenberg. Should be
Speaker 1: should be pretty cool. No, it's amazing to look at
Speaker 1: that dance sequence is so great and so eighties. But
Speaker 1: by the time he gets there with his gun hand,
Speaker 1: it's like it's so disturbing. It's really big, and it's
Speaker 1: just you can't even see where the gun ends and
Speaker 1: his body and his arm begins. It's so disturbing. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: and then that that terrific um uh in multiple meanings
Speaker 1: of the word uh death sequence of um. Oh. What's
Speaker 1: the character's name? It's another terrible pun, very convex um
Speaker 1: played by Leslie Carson, who played Deep Throat in The
Speaker 1: X Files. Okay, I knew, I knew that face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a Canadian character actor who who has done a
Speaker 1: lot of great things. But um, but but yeah, just
Speaker 1: just real good at being kind of similarly just sort
Speaker 1: of like like slimy, just like just like, oh, like
Speaker 1: I don't think I like that guy, yeah, but like
Speaker 1: very subtly sort of like the guy, the guy that
Speaker 1: walks in with a suit on, he smiling, and you're like,
Speaker 1: did you just kill someone? Are you? Are you happy?
Speaker 1: Or did you have a nice meal? Yeah? Yeah, did
Speaker 1: you have a nice scream? Or was it murder? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I knew, I knew that guy's face X files. It's
Speaker 1: totally it. Yeah. Um and oh yeah, and then and
Speaker 1: then write like just just all the this, like cancer
Speaker 1: just comes bubbling up out of him because there there
Speaker 1: is that that that theme that the reason that James
Speaker 1: Wood's character is having these hallucinations is that, um, watching
Speaker 1: video drame, as it turns out, creates brain tumors that
Speaker 1: create hallucinations. Um. And technically that's the plot. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think this is a movie that serves you well
Speaker 1: if you do, UM, maybe just a little brief read
Speaker 1: up about kind of what because it can be a
Speaker 1: little hard to follow at times. And this is and
Speaker 1: I'm not a big proponent of remaking movies, but this
Speaker 1: is a movie I could see, like, I could see
Speaker 1: the right director doing it justice with sort of more
Speaker 1: modern technology. If they didn't if they kept a sort
Speaker 1: of spirit of the first one in the tone and
Speaker 1: didn't make it super flashy, I could see it being
Speaker 1: a little tighter and more straightforward plot wise. But boy,
Speaker 1: it's such a fine line between that and like completely
Speaker 1: ruining it. Yeah, and so in so many moments in
Speaker 1: it that I that I think are are so perfect
Speaker 1: are really awkward, And I think that that's part of
Speaker 1: what lends that general unsettling vibe to the film. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, you're never sure who is telling
Speaker 1: the truth. And I'm a big fan of those movies
Speaker 1: where there's some kind of central secret and you don't
Speaker 1: know that the central character doesn't know when they're being
Speaker 1: lied to, and neither does the audience, and you're you're
Speaker 1: left at the end kind of kind of with that
Speaker 1: same feeling. Yeah, dude, I don't like. I was thinking
Speaker 1: about this after I sent you that email, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't do I know what Video Drome
Speaker 1: is about. It's kind of one of those movies. Well
Speaker 1: it's like and not only what it's about plot wise,
Speaker 1: but I found myself at times going like, what's the
Speaker 1: message here? Because I know there is a message. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's just shock and horror, because Cronenberg's always
Speaker 1: had a lot more going on than that. It's cerebral guy,
Speaker 1: but um, I don't know. I kind of struggle with
Speaker 1: figuring it out. Um that that's that's one that I
Speaker 1: get like like, I don't think I really put together
Speaker 1: until I was just watching this commentary, because a lot
Speaker 1: of the commentary is is UM. Is Cronenberg talking about
Speaker 1: that censorship that he experienced UM, not only on this
Speaker 1: film but on previous films, and UM talking about how
Speaker 1: infuriating it was UM because you know, he'd be talking
Speaker 1: about these these sensors taking offense to something and and
Speaker 1: taking it out for for no objective reason. UM, and
Speaker 1: just gross right right there, just grossed out by it.
Speaker 1: So it goes UM. And and he was talking about that,
Speaker 1: and he was talking about this UM, this kind of
Speaker 1: pop psych concept that especially I think in in the
Speaker 1: eighties we definitely UM. A lot of society was buzzing
Speaker 1: about UM, about UM violence on television causing violence and
Speaker 1: communities and and Cronenberg. I think that this whole movie
Speaker 1: is essentially just him going like like, oh, you think
Speaker 1: that you think the TVs caused violence? What if it
Speaker 1: literally did? Let's explore that. Let's let's take a look
Speaker 1: at that and what that would actually look like UM,
Speaker 1: And get rich Baker on the line, and yeah, I
Speaker 1: think maybe you're right, is uh. And that's where I
Speaker 1: failed in not going back in time to nine when
Speaker 1: this when this seriously though, when the movie was made, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're looking for the message, you can't really look
Speaker 1: for it in although it's still super relevant in that
Speaker 1: and and and and also, um, you know, realizing because
Speaker 1: we we I'm sure we talked about this in class,
Speaker 1: because I know that I've read McLuhan in that same class.
Speaker 1: I was talking about um where we watched this film,
Speaker 1: but um uh hearing Cronenberg talk about how much of
Speaker 1: an influence McLuhan is on him, um and and is
Speaker 1: on this character oblivion is I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: that in this film he's riffing on the medium is
Speaker 1: the message and kind of turning it back on itself
Speaker 1: and saying like, well, but we are also the medium.
Speaker 1: Um right, Long live the New flesh. Long Live the
Speaker 1: New flesh. I mean there it is oh so gross.
Speaker 1: I know that that'd be that'd look good on a
Speaker 1: T shirt. Actually, let's do it. We have the technology.
Speaker 1: Some people would understand it, and some people would just
Speaker 1: be like, man, I'm like, you want to keep people
Speaker 1: away from you during the times of coronavirus? Just solid
Speaker 1: that is six ft minimum minimum. Yeah, there's something about
Speaker 1: the word flesh even that's just evocative and kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure every art department production meeting Coronaberg ever
Speaker 1: had in his life use the word flesh, Like, what
Speaker 1: does she look like? More fleshy, more fleshy? Could it
Speaker 1: be flush here? What I was thinking of here was flush? Yeah,
Speaker 1: like that's flushy, but I really want something flush here.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a treasure. I love his later movies.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw History of Violence and
Speaker 1: what was the other great one? Uh with Viga Mortenson? Oh?
Speaker 1: Oh heck? Um, I have not. Um. I'm much more
Speaker 1: familiar with his earlier work. Um I. And I was
Speaker 1: asking myself earlier, like like, why haven't I seen more
Speaker 1: of his films? And I feel like I'm like saving them.
Speaker 1: I'm like saving them for like some specific time when
Speaker 1: I la, You're right, I'm not going anywhere else. What
Speaker 1: is the other? One? Is driving me crazy? And I
Speaker 1: usually don't look up stuff, but Crash was did you
Speaker 1: ever see Crash? Who? Um? I saw? Okay, I have
Speaker 1: not seen all of Crash. I saw it around the
Speaker 1: same time that I watched Video dram like maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit after and uh, and I think I got
Speaker 1: through about twenty minutes of the film and I just
Speaker 1: went like, all right, um, well, I have reached my
Speaker 1: lifetime capacity for wound sucking. That's it. That's that's what
Speaker 1: it was. I wasn't a huge fan. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: The Flies a classic dead zone. I'm looking over his filmography.
Speaker 1: Naked Lunch amazing. Um, existence was so creepy and weird. Oh,
Speaker 1: Eastern Promises with the was the other. I would recommend
Speaker 1: History of Violence and Easter Promises. Those are both great.
Speaker 1: And I have not seen Because Mopolus yet, but I've
Speaker 1: heard that's awesome too. I'm I'm sure I oh right,
Speaker 1: right right, yeah, Robert Pattinson, who knew? Um right? Have
Speaker 1: you have you seen The Lighthouse? Did you like the Lighthouse?
Speaker 1: I love The Lighthouse. I thought it was amazing, very
Speaker 1: divisive movie. It is it is No, I loved it too,
Speaker 1: But for sure that was a film that I I like.
Speaker 1: Saw it midtown Art cinema and like stumbled out of
Speaker 1: um and it was daylight outside, which was jarring um
Speaker 1: and just like kept just kept stumbling straight into the
Speaker 1: Highlander and just ordered whiskey, and I was like, this
Speaker 1: is the only way that I know how to cop rate.
Speaker 1: I've done that many times over the years. That we
Speaker 1: got a great movie theater in Atlanta, which just got
Speaker 1: a an old school bar right next door to it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very conveniently located. Yes, Yes, both are really excellent places
Speaker 1: to be. I saw the Lighthouse on a beautiful spring
Speaker 1: day in New York City and did the same thing
Speaker 1: and came out and it was just one of those
Speaker 1: days where everyone was out and I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't even know what to do now, like disoriented. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and in the best way, um or or a best way,
Speaker 1: maybe not the best way. Looking back though, on his filmography,
Speaker 1: exist Ends, I think it's the last really Croninbergie weird.
Speaker 1: Although I didn't see Spider that looks like it might
Speaker 1: have been pretty weird too. I think I think it
Speaker 1: was from what I've heard, I've not seen that one either.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen anything from after Existence. I don't think. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I saw Existence in the movie. I was I need
Speaker 1: to revisit that one. I don't think i've seen it
Speaker 1: since then. That was a good movie. Yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: haven't watched that in like fifteen years. So you got
Speaker 1: anything else on on this gym Um, can we talk
Speaker 1: about some more puns here? Um. So so even Debbie
Speaker 1: Harris's character is named Nicki Brand um, and the last
Speaker 1: name brand is because of the cigarette scene, the cigarette
Speaker 1: branding scene. Oh yeah, yeah, she burns her chest. She
Speaker 1: burns her chest with a cigarette. Um. And then it's
Speaker 1: implied that probably James Woods does the same, he smells
Speaker 1: the cigarette after she burns it. Yeah. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: name Nikki is because of the cuts on her shoulder
Speaker 1: in the first Niki Brand did not even pick up
Speaker 1: on that. I would not have either in the commentary
Speaker 1: kind of proudly Yeah, He's like I was making dad
Speaker 1: jokes when I was in my late thirties. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh oh man, there's so many amazing just naming
Speaker 1: conventions and the Catherine Ray mission being yeah that was
Speaker 1: pretty church um. And then I still can't get over
Speaker 1: spectacular optical. I just keep saying it in my head
Speaker 1: and going like, oh, that's a band name if I
Speaker 1: ever heard one. Oh, I am not musically uh inclined,
Speaker 1: but I want to I want to be in that band.
Speaker 1: You can be in a fake band perfect, just that
Speaker 1: that would be the cosplay is a band called Spectacular
Speaker 1: Optical and you're all wearing those video drum headsets with
Speaker 1: gun gun meat meat a gun hands. I would love
Speaker 1: to see that at Yeah, if we ever get Dragon conback. Sure.
Speaker 1: Oh I know that was going to be this weekend.
Speaker 1: I guess right. Yeah, yeah, all of my all of
Speaker 1: my friends are posting like, should be drunk, not in
Speaker 1: my home right now? I should be dressed up and drunk.
Speaker 1: Well I am, but just not in my living room
Speaker 1: but not here. Yeah that's a bummer. Yeah, yeah, hey, no,
Speaker 1: there's there's there's great. My cat is really excited about
Speaker 1: this whole thing. He's like she's home every time. The
Speaker 1: lap is right there. Yeah. My animals are are pretty
Speaker 1: excited too. It's been a lot of togetherness, Lauren. I
Speaker 1: can't say too much. It's been It's been cool in
Speaker 1: a way. Yeah, that's it's. Hey, it's gonna end someday
Speaker 1: and in the meanwhile, we are all learning a lot
Speaker 1: about ourselves and that's a good journey to go on.
Speaker 1: That's right. Long Live the New Flesh, Live the New Flesh. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for picking video drum. It was fun to go
Speaker 1: back and watch that one, and um, I'm gonna I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna try and check out the director's commentary.
Speaker 1: I want to see what that's all about. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: If you need to borrow the DVD end a PS two, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm here for you. I gotta, I gotta p S three.
Speaker 1: So I think so in a box somewhere. Uh, and
Speaker 1: we'll have you back to talk about the Witch and
Speaker 1: maybe we'll do uh we could eat the round table
Speaker 1: that or we'll just do another horror horror round table
Speaker 1: and you can jump in on that too. Yeah. Great,
Speaker 1: I'd love to anytime. Thank you so much for having
Speaker 1: me on. All right, we'll hang in there you too.
Speaker 1: We'll see you soon, all right. Bloomy Crush has produced, edited,
Speaker 1: and engineered by Ramsay Hunt here in our home studio
Speaker 1: at Pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.