1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 1: Lamb and today we are re airing our Valentine's Day 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: episode from last year. It is our discussion of the 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three Tony Scott film The Hunger. This one's 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: a lot of fun, so so stylish, So Gothy, let's 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: dive right in. 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob 9 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody 10 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: here in today's episode. You know, I really wanted to 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: cover a paranormal love story of some sort for the holiday, 12 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: and I gave myself this task and probably spend a 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: little bit too much time looking at different films. I'm 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: trying to figure out what would be what felt like 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: the right fit. I looked at a few different, very 16 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: well regarded films that seemed to fit the mold, but 17 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: ended up being drawn into today's selection the highly stylish 18 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three erotic horror film The Hunger, a movie 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: that was really only on my radar for being a 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: film in which David Bowie plays a Vampire. But it's 21 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: actually so much more than just that. It's become a 22 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: cult favorite with many due to its heavy goth vibes. 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: It's LGBTQ themes, and it's absolutely bursting at the scenes 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: with visual and sonic pizazz. And I tell you, I 25 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: hope you like Venetian blinds because there are a lot 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:41,199 Speaker 1: of them in this movie. 27 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 3: Yes, and doves, JJ was reminded. JJ also watched the 28 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 3: movie this week and we were talking about it off 29 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 3: Mike before we started this. JJ reminded me that there 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 3: are just doves in their house all the time. Is 31 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 3: full of birds. They have like an open air attic. 32 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 3: Is just birds coming and going all the time. Yes. 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I watched this one with my wife, and in fact, 34 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: it was partially her suggestion. I was just brainstorming all 35 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: these ideas and she pulled up some lists online of 36 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: paranormal horror films and she was like, how about The 37 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: Hunger And I was like, oh, well, you know, The 38 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: Hunger has been on my radar a little bit. We've 39 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: it's come up in passing on the show before when 40 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: we've discussed David Billie films, And so she watched it 41 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: with me she really enjoyed it. She loved all the 42 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: like the gothy eighty eighties vibe to it. But also 43 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: she pointed out, like this feels like a feature length 44 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 1: music video, and in many ways that is absolutely accurate 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: and one of its strengths. 46 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, turn around Bright Eyes for ninety minutes or 47 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 3: a hundred or so. It's But don't let don't get 48 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 3: the wrong idea from that. I do think this is 49 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 3: actually a very strong film. I liked it a lot, 50 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 3: despite the fact that critics apparently largely did not appreciate 51 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 3: it when it came out. But I get the feeling 52 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 3: this one has has gotten a critical reappraisal, like a 53 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 3: lot more people like it than did when it first released. 54 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I believe that the cult following for it 55 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: was really building up within the decade following its release, 56 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: so you know, kind of a slow build there, But 57 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: I think it achieved cult status by at least the nineties. 58 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: As we'll discuss now. 59 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 3: One thing I want to say close to the top 60 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 3: of this episode is despite the fact that The Hunger 61 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 3: is not especially plot driven, I'd say it's more of 62 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 3: a mood driven or character driven film. It does have 63 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 3: some major surprises in store, and we're going to have 64 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 3: to talk about those surprises in the episode, so please 65 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 3: be forewarned if you want to see The Hunger without 66 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 3: having anything spoiled, and I would recommend that a good 67 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 3: time to pause and go watch the movie would be Now. 68 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: That being said, this movie is so committed to style. 69 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: I feel like it's one of those where if you're 70 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: spoiled on it, you can still really enjoy it. 71 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 3: So rob like you. I had never seen The Hunger before, 72 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 3: but I found it very, as I said, surprise, but 73 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 3: also delightful, interesting, different. It felt fresh at its core. 74 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 3: I think you could call this kind of a tainted 75 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 3: love tale. It's a story primarily about romantic relationships, but 76 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 3: one in which it is not all, you know, steamy 77 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 3: arrows and desire and lust like a lot of vampire 78 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 3: love movies are. It's also not rom com energy. It's 79 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 3: not like all cute falling for you kind of moments. 80 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 3: And it's certainly not the case that this is full 81 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 3: of feel good morals about the eternal and all conquering 82 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 3: power of love. This movie, like other tainted love tales, 83 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 3: is about the ambiguities and contradictions of romantic love, the 84 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,919 Speaker 3: sort of vast gray space that defines a lot of 85 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 3: what love is. Where people might feel one way but 86 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 3: act another, where it's impossible to put your emotions into words, 87 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 3: you don't know how to talk about what you're feeling 88 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 3: or what your frustrations with your love. Are situations in 89 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 3: which people genuinely love one another but also cause each 90 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 3: other pain, where love just gets smashed into a million 91 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 3: pieces against the surface of problems that cannot be fixed. 92 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 3: And strangely, once I realized that was the kind of 93 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 3: movie this was, it helped resolve something curious I noticed 94 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 3: while watching The Hunger. Despite the fact that this movie 95 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 3: has a different writer, a different director, totally different plot, 96 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 3: and for much of its runtime a different star, I 97 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 3: really kept being reminded of the other big David Bowie 98 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 3: movie we have watched on the show, which was The 99 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 3: Man Who Fell to Earth from nineteen seventy six, directed 100 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 3: by Nicholas Rogue. That movie stars David Bowie as a 101 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 3: tragic alien agent on a mission to Earth to secure 102 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 3: water resources which could save his home planet. But of 103 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 3: course that ultimately is a story about failure, about distraction 104 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 3: and the inability to sort of stay on task and 105 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 3: getting led astray by television and alcohol and love and 106 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 3: all that and table tennis right exactly, yes, And so 107 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 3: I was thinking while I was watching it, why did 108 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 3: these movies feel so similar despite all the totally different 109 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 3: creative inputs. Could it just be that the power of 110 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 3: David Bowie is so strong that it paves over everything 111 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 3: that might be a little part of it. But I 112 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 3: really think there are some other truly strong similarities in 113 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 3: that both stories involve these tainted love themes. They're both 114 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 3: love stories that have genuine feeling and passion in them. 115 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 3: They're not just about people using each other for sex 116 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 3: or for power or whatever. They are love stories, but 117 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 3: they're also tragic love stories that cannot possibly have happy endings, 118 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 3: in part because of the sci fi or supernatural mechanics 119 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 3: that are operating in each story, and in part because 120 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 3: of the kinds of human failings and contradict that are 121 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 3: present in all relationships of mortal humans, not just aliens 122 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 3: and vampires. And I guess, since it's been a while, 123 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 3: just a refresher. The love story central in The Man 124 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 3: Who Fell to Earth is the one between David Bowie's 125 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 3: alien character and an earthling played by Candy Clark. That 126 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 3: story is at once both genuine and doomed, doomed by 127 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 3: Bowie's alien mission and then by the pressures of money 128 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 3: and betrayal and alcoholism. In The Hunger, I think one 129 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 3: of the central thematic tainted love questions is what if 130 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 3: you could only be with the person you love by 131 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 3: dooming them to a fate worse than death if you 132 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 3: choose to do it anyway, If you choose to be 133 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 3: with them knowing that your love is an unspeakable curse, 134 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,559 Speaker 3: could it really be love? But at the same time, 135 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 3: could it really be love if you could stand not 136 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 3: to be with them in the first place. I guess 137 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 3: we'll have to answer those questions as we go on 138 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 3: throughout the up But another similarity I would say between 139 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 3: The Men Who Fell to Earth and The Hunger is 140 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 3: certain the presence of certain cinematography choices. Both of them 141 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 3: are very mood driven, and they both have a kind 142 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 3: of dreamy, elegic editing style with a lot of slow 143 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 3: motion and lingering on wistful and melancholy scenes featuring two 144 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 3: subjects who are suffering but who are unable to fix 145 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 3: what's wrong between them. 146 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's worth noting. In the commentary track which I 147 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: listened to, part of the director Tony Scott does mention 148 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: Nicholas Rogue, the director of the Man Who Fell to Earth, 149 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: being one of his inspirations, though he singles out the 150 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: film performance more than anything. But of course The Man 151 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: Who Fell to Earth is still in the mix there somewhere, 152 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:49,119 Speaker 1: I imagine. 153 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 3: On the other hand, I would say The Hunger does 154 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 3: not have like the comic elements that we got in 155 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 3: The Man Who Fell to Earth when he's watching all 156 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 3: the TVs and screaming, get out of my mind. 157 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not really much in the way of humor 158 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: in this picture, and I think that's one of the 159 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: things that the critics kind of picked up on. They 160 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: thought it was like too self serious, which I don't know. 161 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: I feel like, if you're dealing with, you know, with 162 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: a story like this, and you're dealing with, you know, 163 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: with these all these gothic vibes on top of it, like, 164 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,840 Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't think I really was wanting 165 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: any comic relief in this picture. 166 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 3: I certainly was not hurting for want of comic relief. 167 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 3: And no, this movie doesn't need that. It's just not 168 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 3: its style. It's not what it's about. Another surprising element 169 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 3: I found about The Hunger, at least a violation of 170 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 3: my expectations going in, was the relatively grounded science fiction subplot. 171 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 3: Did not think it would have that kind of thing happening. 172 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 3: So this will require some discussion of the plot, but 173 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 3: I guess it's good to lay out a bit of 174 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 3: the premise here at the top, because we can refer 175 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 3: back to that as we talk about the cast and 176 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 3: so forth. So two of the main characters of this 177 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 3: movie begin the story as vampires, as vampire lovers, and 178 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 3: they are faced with a unique consequence of their condition. 179 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 3: In the lore of this movie, the vampire's spawn enjoys 180 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 3: a long life of suspended youth and vitality for perhaps 181 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 3: hundreds of years, but at some point it all comes 182 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 3: crashing down as a kind of rapid degenerative aging disease, 183 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 3: where the vampire spawn suddenly grows old and withers into 184 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 3: a powerless but still conscious, crumbling husk over the course 185 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 3: of a few days or weeks. So in the movie, 186 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 3: Catherine Denov plays a sort of vampire queen of ancient 187 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 3: but otherwise uncertain origins named Miriam, who is in a 188 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 3: centuries long love affair with her vampire spawn, John played 189 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 3: by David Bowie. Originally a man, she turned into a 190 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 3: vampire sometime in Europe in the seventeen hundreds. There's like 191 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 3: a scene of them kissing in a barn in powdered wigs, 192 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 3: and so the situation is while they seem to have 193 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 3: been happy and ageless hunting for blood together for hundreds 194 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 3: of years, suddenly, in the modern day setting of the 195 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 3: film in New York in the nineteen eighties, John finds 196 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 3: himself rapidly aging, and he seems to know this was 197 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 3: something that could happen to him one day, but obviously 198 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 3: it leaves him greatly demoralized and distressed. So this brings 199 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 3: him into contact with another one of our major characters, 200 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 3: Sarah Roberts played by Susan Sarandon, who is a research scientist. 201 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 3: She's a gerontologist studying diseases that cause accelerated aging, and 202 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 3: her work provides some hope of a way to stop 203 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,959 Speaker 3: the advance of the cellular clock and arrest the rapid 204 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 3: advance of agent to and so as John desperately seeks 205 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 3: her help, she becomes entangled in the lives of these vampires. 206 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 3: She doesn't initially know their vampires, of course, and she 207 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 3: becomes it becomes more than just the kind of mechanical 208 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 3: science fiction connection to the story, like she becomes romantically 209 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 3: involved as well. But it was so strange to me 210 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 3: that the movie ended up having so much having as 211 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 3: much science fiction as it did, and also the form 212 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 3: the science fiction took, because it was not the kind of, 213 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 3: you know, the kind of loose fantasy science fiction that 214 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 3: you get in The Man Who Fell to Earth. It's 215 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 3: instead a story about like research scientists in their lab 216 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 3: doing experiments on monkeys. And we can come back to 217 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 3: that later. But like some of the goorioesst and grossest 218 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 3: stuff in the movie is not from the horror premise. 219 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 3: It's from the sci fi premise. 220 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's so as we'll get to in more 221 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: detail in a bed. This is based on a novel, 222 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: a nineteen eighty one novel by Whitley Streiber, And it's 223 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: my understanding that the original novel is essentially one of 224 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: these kind of like how would this work treatments of 225 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: vamporism with sci fi elements backing it up, And I'm 226 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: to understand that the script for the picture ended up 227 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: drifting somewhat away from that vision, and then Tony Scott's 228 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: direction and the work of all the other talented folks 229 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: involved in like the visual and sonic flare of the 230 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: picture are able to bring it into more of a 231 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: surreal territory. So, you know, it's kind of an interesting 232 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: trajectory to like maybe start in something that's a little 233 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 1: more grounded in the sci fi and ending up via 234 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: a curve, ending up with something more surreal and ambiguous, 235 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: but the sci fi roots are still present. 236 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 3: Yeah, totally. But it creates such an an unusual and 237 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 3: interesting millage of themes. It's just it doesn't really feel 238 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 3: like any other movie I can think of. 239 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does stand apart. And I think that's 240 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 1: one of the reasons that it just so instantly captivated me. 241 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: Because some of the other picture as I was checking out, 242 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: they felt more like a definite artifact of their time 243 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: and or they fit more clearly into genres that we're 244 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: already more familiar with on the show, and this one, Yeah, 245 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,079 Speaker 1: it really stood out. It seemed to have a different 246 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: vision and exist in its own sonic and visual universe. 247 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 3: Now, another big surprise that this movie had for me 248 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 3: is that I really expected there to be more David 249 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 3: Bowie in this David Bowie movie. He almost gets the 250 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 3: treatment of Steven segall an executive decision. Maybe that's a 251 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 3: horrible comparison, maybe more like Drew Barrymore in Scream or 252 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 3: Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea. Though, of course 253 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 3: all of those characters what happens is they die. The 254 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 3: fate of David Bowie's character in this movie is even 255 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 3: more tragic and horrifying than death. But I think it's 256 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 3: interesting that I don't know if there's a formal like 257 00:14:57,280 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 3: showbiz term for this, but I would call it like 258 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 3: a meta shock. You know, it is a violation of 259 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 3: your expectations, which are established. Those expectations are established not 260 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 3: through the narrative of the movie itself, but through your 261 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 3: real world and knowledge of the movie's marketing context. So, 262 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 3: for example, it is a surprising move to kill off 263 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 3: the character played by the big star, the presence of 264 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 3: whom ostensibly brought people into the movie theaters in the 265 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 3: first place. So that's always a surprising move. It's a 266 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 3: bold and gutsy move usually, though I think it's a 267 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 3: lot less gimmicky in The Hunger than it is in 268 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 3: most of these metashock deaths you get in the film industry. 269 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 3: In this movie, it it feels less like a gimmicky 270 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 3: attempt at surprise, and instead it emphasizes the movie's kind 271 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 3: of shadow themes of unfairness and the injustice of love 272 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 3: and of real life. 273 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I do want to stress for anyone 274 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: out there who who happens to be interested in The 275 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 1: Hunger primarily because of David Bowie, still valid reason to 276 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: be interested in this film. David Bowie will not disappoint you. 277 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: The role may have less screen time than you expected, 278 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: but he still makes the most of that screen time. 279 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: So definitely worth checking out for Bowie fans. 280 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 3: Though also for some of the screen time he does have, 281 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 3: he looks like Richard Lynch or he looks like he 282 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 3: Oh this is an unkind comparison, but he looks like 283 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 3: a better version of Guy Pierce and the old Man 284 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 3: makeup in Prometheus. 285 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great observation. But you know, Prometheus didn't 286 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: have Dick Smith. As we'll be discussing special effects makeup master. 287 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: Dick Smith is largely responsible for the aging of David 288 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: Bowie in this picture. And I think it was Tony 289 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: Scott on the commentary track pointing out how or maybe 290 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: it was maybe with Susan's frand and somebody who's pointing 291 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: out how he's under so much makeup for parts of this. 292 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: But Bowie would just go to sleep in the chair 293 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: like he was like super, he's a going while they 294 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: were replying, you know, hours upon hours of makeup and yeah, 295 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: and nobody did it better than Dick Smith. 296 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,960 Speaker 3: It is really great old man makeup, way better than 297 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 3: all the other examples I can think of. 298 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: All right, well, more on that in a bit, but 299 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: first let's go ahead and roll out the elevator pitch. 300 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: As the song will play a huge role in the 301 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: opening sequence of a picture. I'm just going to quote 302 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: a few lines from the nineteen eighty two goth rock 303 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: hit Bela Lugosi's Dead by bow House with one pronoun 304 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: change to make it fit better. The virginal brides file 305 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: past her tomb strewn with times, dead flowers, bereft in 306 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 1: Deathly Bloom, alone in a darkened room, the count. 307 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 3: Bell refed in Deathly Bloom, Yes exactly, Oh what a delivery. 308 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 3: Who's the singer of Bowhouse. 309 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: That's Peter Murphy and we'll sleep. We'll see Peter Murphy 310 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: in the opening sequence here. 311 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,400 Speaker 3: Tremendous flat delivery there, very good. 312 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's a class, It's probably one of, 313 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: if not the better known, you know, goth tracks out there. 314 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: Like if you're going to do a goth dance night 315 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: at a club or something, they need to play Bella 316 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: Lugosi's dead at least for a little bit. Maybe not 317 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,119 Speaker 1: the whole with like nine and a half minute runtime, 318 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,639 Speaker 1: but even still, like, yeah, go ahead and do the 319 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,400 Speaker 1: nine and a half minute runtime because the whole song's tremendous. 320 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: All Right, we'll come back to baw House in a bit, 321 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,160 Speaker 1: but first let's go ahead and listen to a little 322 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: bit of trailer audio from The Hunger. 323 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 3: Sarah Roberts is in jeopardy. Hey lady, how about it 324 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 3: stay with her? Help her, for she has begun to 325 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 3: feel the awful horror of the hunger. John Blaylock, the 326 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 3: hunger has given him everlasting life until now. Pray for him. 327 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 3: Miriam Blaylock. 328 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 2: She feeds one day in seven on the unsuspecting, and 329 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 2: soon she will turn into something that you will never 330 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 2: be able to forget. 331 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 3: No matter how hard and how long you try fear her? 332 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 2: What have you done to me. 333 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 3: For my life? Signs terminate right here. 334 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: Haunting, mysterious, sensual, strange, perverse, riveting The Hunger. All right, well, 335 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,159 Speaker 1: if you would like to watch The Hunger, well, luckily 336 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: for you, it's widely available on digital formats as well 337 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: his home video formats. There's a Blu ray, and I 338 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: was gonna rent the Blu ray, but it was checked 339 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,200 Speaker 1: out when I dropped by Video Drum, so I ended 340 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: up having to make do with the DVD version, which 341 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: was also solid. I believe both the Blue and the 342 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: DVD feature the same commentary track, which is a bit 343 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: dry but still informative, featuring both Tony Scott and Susan Sarandon, 344 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: though it sounds like maybe they weren't in the same room, 345 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,120 Speaker 1: like they recorded them separately and kind of like splice 346 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: them in. So if you like a nice, boisterous commentary track, 347 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: then maybe this one isn't the one, but it's still 348 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: a lot of great info in it. All right, Well, 349 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,120 Speaker 1: let's run through the people involved here, or at least 350 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: some of them. We can't touch on everybody as usual, 351 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: but the director is, of course Tony Scott. As previously mentioned, 352 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 1: he lived nineteen forty four through twenty twelve, the late 353 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 1: younger brother of Ridley Scott, who, like his brother, came 354 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,360 Speaker 1: up through TV commercial production before branching out into films, 355 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: and this was his first feature theatrical film. And it 356 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: really throws everything at you from a stylistic standpoint. It's flashy, 357 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: it's sexy, it's daring, it's somber, it's serious. It delivers 358 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: all the flare of a music video or a high 359 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: end commercial, and as we alluded to at the time 360 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: of its release, it was not a success. Critics panned it, 361 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: including Roger Ebert, who called it quote an agonizingly bad 362 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: vampire movie, circling around an exquisitely effective sex scene. Which 363 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 1: sex scene, I assume it has to be the big 364 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: love scene between Sarah and Miriam, which I mean it's 365 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: almost I think a disservice to call it a quote 366 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: unquote sex scene because it's so stylish. It is like 367 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: the like the bed is glowing. I think one point, 368 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's very surreal. It's not it's 369 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: not raw or explicit, but it is still you know, 370 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: highly erotic and just, and to Ebert's point, it is effective. 371 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: But I also don't feel like it comes off as 372 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,679 Speaker 1: an oasis in a desert in this film or anything 373 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: to that extent. 374 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,440 Speaker 3: No, I just would not agree with Ebert on this one. 375 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 3: I think the film overall has a lot more to offer. Sorry, 376 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 3: just now that we're on the subject of Tony Scott, 377 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 3: I was repeatedly thinking to myself while watching I can't 378 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 3: believe this is made by the same director as Top Gun. 379 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it is crazy to think about this, right 380 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: because Top Gun, which was his follow up, what four 381 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: years later? That was the next time that the studios 382 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: gave him a shot at a film, like three years later. 383 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: We always say, well, what this one's eighty would have 384 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: been made in what an eighty two and either yeah, 385 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: three or four years, so he didn't have to wait 386 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: that long. But still he was kind of shut out 387 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: for a little bit there. But then he comes out 388 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,400 Speaker 1: of the gate with again with Top Gun, which of 389 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: course is a massive hit. It was the highest grossing 390 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: film domestic or otherwise for nineteen eighty six. That's a 391 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: film that cemented Cruise's ascension into long lasting fame and 392 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:14,159 Speaker 1: established Scott as not a director of erotic horror, but 393 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,479 Speaker 1: as an action and thriller director. You know, because when 394 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: you think about Tony Scott, those tend to be the 395 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: films you think about. You think about things like eighty 396 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,479 Speaker 1: seven's Beverly Hills Cop two, nineteen nineties Days of Thunder, 397 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,120 Speaker 1: ninety three's True Romance, ninety fives, Crimson Tide ninety eight, 398 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: Enemy of the State, two thousand and four's Man on Fire, 399 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 1: or his final film twenty tens Unstoppable. But yeah, compare 400 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,119 Speaker 1: this film to Top Gun and I'm yeah, like, what 401 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: connective tissue is there? Really? I mean, I'm sure you 402 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: could know, probably get down and point to some of 403 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: the stylistic touches that are distinctly Tony Scott. But it 404 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: does kind of feel like a complete at least in 405 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 1: my eyes, it feels like a complete, like restart of 406 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 1: his cinematic trajectory. Now. Tony Scott would return to horror 407 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: twice in the late nineties for two episodes of an 408 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:10,400 Speaker 1: erotic horror anthology series titled The Hunger, very much spinning 409 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 1: off of this film. Like I said, this is one 410 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: of the reasons I think we can assume that By 411 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,399 Speaker 1: the late nineties there was a cult following for this 412 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 1: picture because they decided to produce forty four episodes of 413 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: a spinoff series on it. The first season was hosted 414 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: by Terrence stamp Oh General Zod Yeah, he was your 415 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 1: Sexy Cryptkeeper for the first season, and then You're a 416 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: Sexy crypt Keeper for the second season was none other 417 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: than David Bowie. 418 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 3: Got to see this now well. 419 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: The two episodes directed by Tony Scott were The Swords 420 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,200 Speaker 1: from season one and that starred Balthazar Getty, Amanda Ryan, 421 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 1: and Timothy Spall. And then there was a season two 422 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 1: episode titled Sanctuary starring Giovanni Ribisi and Lisa Repo Martel. 423 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: I've never watched it again. They made forty four episodes. 424 00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: Russell McKay directed like six episodes of it, and the 425 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: cast is pretty extensive as well. Gen Carlo Esposito plays 426 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: a vampire in one of them. I don't know if 427 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: it's a major vampire role or a small one, but 428 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 1: he's in there. Daniel Craig shows up, Margo Kidder, Lori Petty, 429 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: David Warner, Jason Fleming, among many others. I don't know 430 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: where Off the top of my head. I don't know 431 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: where this aired. I'm guessing it maybe showed up on 432 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: USA Network at some point, but I I have no 433 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 1: memory of this at all. 434 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 3: Sounds tremendous. 435 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, by the late nineties, I feel like 436 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: people were coming back around to this film. It's become 437 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 1: a cult classic for a variety of reasons. It's style, 438 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: it's cast, it's goth vibes, it's LGBTQ elements. Now Tony 439 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: Scott sadly passed away in twenty twelve, but fourth noting 440 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: that this film and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner from the 441 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: previous year were both dedicated to their older brother Frank, 442 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: who had passed away in nineteen eighty all Right, I 443 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:58,400 Speaker 1: already mentioned that Whitley Streiber is the author of the 444 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: original novel upon which the based came out in eighty one, 445 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: the first of a trilogy of vampire novels, and these 446 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: were a follow up to his nineteen seventy eight werewolf 447 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: novel The Wolf, in which was also adapted into a 448 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 1: film nineteen eighty One's Wolfen starring Albert Finnie. 449 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 3: Which I always confused with the movie Wolf starring Is 450 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,360 Speaker 3: it Wolf starring Jack Nicholson. 451 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,119 Speaker 1: Yeah, Wolf is the one with Jack Nicholson. Wolfen is 452 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: the one with Albert Finnie. And then there's the howling. 453 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: You know that. Occasionally there's the big werewolf bump in 454 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: the in the horror industry, and you get several different 455 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: horror horror films about were wolf's more or less at once. 456 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 3: Yeah. We go through monster waves, don't we. 457 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, there have been several werewolf films recently. We're kind 458 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,359 Speaker 1: of experiencing a werewolf bump right now. 459 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 3: That would make sense. Yeah, But I feel, you know, 460 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 3: we had like zombies in the two thousands, and then 461 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 3: you had a vampire craze after that, and I don't 462 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 3: know what we're in right now. I think we had 463 00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 3: a witch craze for a bit. 464 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's got to come out mummies again, but I'm 465 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 1: waiting on it anyway. This author has written numerous books, 466 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: including The Coming Global Superstorm, which was written with Art Bell, 467 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,479 Speaker 1: of all People, and adapted into the two thousand and 468 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: four film The Day After Tomorrow. 469 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 3: Okay. 470 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 1: He's also well known for his nineteen eighty seven ufology 471 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: book Communion, which was adapted into a nineteen eighty nine 472 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: film in which Christopher Walken plays Whitley Striber. 473 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 3: I've never read that or seen the movie, but I've 474 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 3: had general cultural awareness of them. For some reason, for years, 475 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 3: I had in my mind Whitley Striber categorized as somebody 476 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 3: who was like a promoter of UFO encounters more than 477 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 3: like a novelist. 478 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 1: Well, I think he's apparently both. 479 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 3: Like. 480 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: He definitely he claimed, you know, very much, claims to 481 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: believe in UFOs and communion is presented as a work 482 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: of nonfiction. But then he also has written a lot 483 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: of as well. I don't, as far as I know, 484 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: he doesn't actually believe in the reality of vampires and werewolves. 485 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: So that's separate from the aliens. Okay now, and as 486 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: far as the screenplay goes here, James Costagan, writing as 487 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:18,240 Speaker 1: Ian Davis, is one of the credited writers. He lived 488 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six through two thousand and seven. Emmy Award 489 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 1: winning screenwriter for fifty nine's Little Moon of alban seventy 490 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: six is Eleanor and Franklin, and seventy five's Love among 491 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: the Ruins. He was also a writer on nineteen eighty 492 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: five's King David, in which Richard Gear battles George Eastman. 493 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: And then we also have Michael Thomas credited on the screenplay, screenwriter, 494 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: perhaps best known for his work on nineteen eighty five's 495 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: Lady Hawk as well as twenty eleven's The Devil's Double. 496 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: All right, now getting into the cast, starting at the top, 497 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: this film stars Catherine Daneuve, who mentioned her already. She 498 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: plays Miriam Blaylock. This is our vampire queen. And yeah, 499 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: Daneuve very very talented actress here obviously born nineteen forty three. 500 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: I'm not sure I had seen her in anything before. 501 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: French actress who has only appeared in a handful of 502 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: genre pictures during the course of her long career. They 503 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: include nineteen sixty five's Repulsion, seventy seven's Lost Soul, seventy 504 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: nine See Here My Love, in eighty eight Frequent Death. 505 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: She's probably best known for such films as sixty four 506 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: As the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, sixty seven's The Young Girls 507 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 1: of Rockfort, and nineteen seventies Donkey Skin. This is based 508 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:36,959 Speaker 1: on the Donkey Skin fairy tale, which I think has 509 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: come up on stuff to blow your mind episodes before 510 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: the fairy tale, not the movie. 511 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, well, I think we might have talked about 512 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 3: covering the movie. 513 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I. 514 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,080 Speaker 3: Think it's supposed to be pretty weird. 515 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm all for it. You know, if it 516 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: has been move in it, I'm certainly worth another book. 517 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: She also appears in two thousand Dancer in the Dark 518 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 1: and lends her voice to two thousand and sevens animated 519 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: film Persepolis, based on the graphic novel. She was nominated 520 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,400 Speaker 1: for an Academy Award for her leading role in nineteen 521 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: ninety three's End of Chime. So yeah, I think she's 522 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: terrific in this, as we'll discuss. While her character certainly 523 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: has plenty of like fem fatale elements, she's never presented 524 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: as like a cold, unfeeling vamp, and certainly Miriam could 525 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: have been presented in that way. Like her passion is real, 526 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: her love is real. I believe these things when I 527 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: experienced her character on the screen, all this despite the tragic, 528 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: supernatural ramifications of that passion and that love. 529 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, she's a very ambiguous character. Is I mean, is 530 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 3: she the protagonist of the film or is she the 531 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,920 Speaker 3: villain of the film? Should we think of should we 532 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 3: think of John and Sarah as the kind of trading 533 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 3: off protagonists of the film, and in a way Deneve 534 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 3: is the villain, or in a way, it's more her 535 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 3: story than it is anybody else's. 536 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: Though, Yeah, it does make me wonder who might be 537 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: the central protagonist of the novel, because there does seem 538 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: to feel it feels like there's maybe a certain amount 539 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: of confusion with this story as as it's presented in 540 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,239 Speaker 1: the film, like, yeah, whose story is it? And you know, 541 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: some would argue, you know, rather strongly that a film 542 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: does need one key protagonist. There may essentially be two, 543 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: but there needs to be in the writing of the thing, 544 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: there needs to be like one central protagonist. The writer 545 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: needs to know who that is. 546 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 3: I guess you could argue then it might be Sarah, 547 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:43,240 Speaker 3: But Sarah also is never She's never really made fully 548 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 3: aware of the of the whole emotional arc of the story. 549 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 3: The only character who really knows everything is is Miriam, 550 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 3: and so anyway, I guess we can talk more about 551 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 3: that in the plot if necessary. But either way, I 552 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 3: agree with you is wonderful in the movie. I mean, 553 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 3: there is I think a kind of coldness to her, 554 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 3: but it doesn't come off as cruelty necessarily. 555 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the key coldness but not cruelty. 556 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, she is somebody who's projecting. I mean, I guess 557 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 3: this is a problem in a lot of vampire movies 558 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 3: because you have these characters who are supposed to have 559 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 3: lived many, many lives. You know, they've been around for 560 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 3: hundreds or thousands of years in her case, and it 561 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 3: always raises the question that the normal kinds of performances, 562 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 3: of human feelings and thoughts and intelligence and memory and 563 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,959 Speaker 3: everything that we get in the film in films is 564 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,959 Speaker 3: based on the arc of a normal human lifetime. Like 565 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 3: you know, part of playing a character is what it 566 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 3: means to play a character in their youth or in 567 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 3: middle age or something like that. Vampires achieve a kind 568 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 3: of age that no human ever does, and so that 569 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,479 Speaker 3: raises questions of like does that age manifest in their character? 570 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 3: How should it manifest in their emotions and how they 571 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 3: react to things, and what their philosophical outlook is. And 572 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 3: I feel like Daneuve contains a lot of that mystery 573 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 3: in her performance. There is something that feels unreal and 574 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 3: a little beyond human about her, and a lot of 575 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 3: times it's because she is difficult to read in situations 576 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 3: where otherwise an actor might be more inclined to portray 577 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 3: something very clear and overt. 578 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: Does that make sense, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. You know, 579 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: there are these scenes I think, in particular about some 580 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: of the scenes where David Bowie's character John is like 581 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:47,719 Speaker 1: trying to discuss not only his aging his illness if 582 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: you will, with her, but also like the ramifications of it, 583 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: and you don't get the sense that she's you know, 584 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: unfeeling to it. But also she doesn't fully engage with 585 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: him on it. Either she's in walking this line where 586 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: it doesn't come off entirely like she's completely blowing him 587 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: off or like, well, that's your problem, John, you solve it. 588 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: But she's also not fully embracing him. She is to 589 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: some degree distancing herself from his suffering, but in a 590 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,799 Speaker 1: way that also feels more real and more mortal and 591 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,440 Speaker 1: is not like just this vamp queen who's like I 592 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: am done with you, you know, you have served your 593 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: purpose or something like that. 594 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 3: I agree. Again, it's a different take on the vampire 595 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 3: character than I'm used to seeing. 596 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: We'll have more to say about about this character as 597 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: we get into the plot a bit later. Now moving 598 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,399 Speaker 1: on to David Bowie, who of nineteen forty seven through 599 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,879 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, again playing John Blairlocke. So far in Weird House, 600 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: we've considered films where Bowie plays a space alien and 601 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: the changeland king of a Goblin realm, so it's only 602 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: natural that we now consider him as a vampire. Instead 603 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,399 Speaker 1: of covering all the main notes of his career, we'll 604 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,319 Speaker 1: catch this instead in terms of where he was with 605 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,719 Speaker 1: his music and acting career at the time. So we're 606 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: only six years out from The Man Who Fell to Earth, 607 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: and I believe the only other feature film he'd appeared 608 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: in in addition to The Man Who Fell to Earth 609 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,880 Speaker 1: at this point was seventy eight to Just to Jigglo, 610 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,360 Speaker 1: So he really only had one what we would consider 611 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 1: now iconic film role in his filmography at this point, 612 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: and I think was far from established as the cult 613 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: film icon that he would later become and certainly would 614 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: be cemented in following his passing in twenty sixteen. Musically, 615 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 1: this film falls between Scary Monsters and Super Creeps from 616 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,320 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty and Let's Dance from eighty three, both massive 617 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,720 Speaker 1: critical and commercial hits, and by the way, Let's Dance 618 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 1: includes a track he did with Giorgio Moroder for the 619 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two It Rout a Car film Cat People, 620 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,120 Speaker 1: which of course is a remake of the nineteen forties 621 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,720 Speaker 1: Cat People, except with Malcolm McDowell turning into a cat. 622 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 3: I've seen the original Cat People years ago, and I 623 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 3: remember I quite liked it. So we may want to 624 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,880 Speaker 3: come back to that on the show one day, But 625 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 3: the remake I have not, and I'm to understand it 626 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:02,520 Speaker 3: goes a little bit harder. 627 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know. I don't know if I 628 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,879 Speaker 1: want to watch Malcolm McDowell turn into a cat every 629 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: time he orgasms, But I don't know. It's a product 630 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: of the time, I guess. As for Bowie in this film, though, 631 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 1: I think he's terrific. As well. As always, Bowie excels 632 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,600 Speaker 1: at playing the outsider, and here he's kind of a 633 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,759 Speaker 1: double outsider. He's a vampire, thus set apart from the 634 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,880 Speaker 1: mortal world and a stranger to many aspects of modernity. 635 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: But he is also, as we come to realize, something 636 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: of a thrall uninitiated into all the intricacies of vampiric existence. 637 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,600 Speaker 1: Much of John Blaylock's journey is one of struggling with 638 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 1: aging immortality, which Bowie handles with a kind of kind 639 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: of like a quiet anxiety that feels very palpable on 640 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:46,320 Speaker 1: the screen. 641 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,839 Speaker 3: Even though at some points I think we referred to 642 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,160 Speaker 3: his performance in The Man Who Fell to Earth as 643 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 3: kind of quailudic. He also did have outbursts in The 644 00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,319 Speaker 3: Man Who Filled to Earth, Like there were moments where 645 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 3: his performance got quite big, kind of like the pressure 646 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,280 Speaker 3: came up and blew the top off and he screams, 647 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 3: get out of my mind, or when he like smacks 648 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 3: the tray of cookies in the air. I recall less 649 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,760 Speaker 3: of anything like that in here. This is a much tighter, 650 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,759 Speaker 3: more subdued, controlled performance throughout, despite the fact that we 651 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 3: can see his character is suffering immensely. John Blaylock is 652 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 3: a character who you know, he weathers his suffering with 653 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,880 Speaker 3: a kind of with a kind of quiet, melancholy and 654 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,439 Speaker 3: indignant resentment. Like there are parts where you can see 655 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:42,320 Speaker 3: his ego is wounded it but it never turns into 656 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 3: a big reaction. Instead, he just kind of he subsumes it. 657 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Like there's a scene in the picture where 658 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: he's he's significantly aged, and this this this youth that's 659 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,439 Speaker 1: been coming to the apartment for you know, like music 660 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: lessons and so forth, thinks that he is the father 661 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: of John. And she's like, oh, you know, I thought 662 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: that because you have the same eyes. And yeah. His 663 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,839 Speaker 1: response is so haunting. He's like, he's like, he says 664 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,759 Speaker 1: something the effective Well, that's interesting. I've known him for 665 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: so long and I never realized that, you know, I 666 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: don't know. The little moments like that are just so 667 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:33,280 Speaker 1: well executed, all right. And then we also have Susan 668 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: Sarandon playing Sarah Roberts, as we mentioned earlier. Born nineteen 669 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: forty six, she's the first of three Rocky Horror Picture 670 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,040 Speaker 1: Show connections in this film. Susan Sarandon's career entails a 671 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:48,759 Speaker 1: great deal of mainstream dramatic success, obviously, but for many 672 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 1: of us, I think she's always going to be a 673 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,680 Speaker 1: legend for her performances. Janet Weiss a heroin in the 674 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five film Rocky hor Picture Show. Her screen 675 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,480 Speaker 1: and TV credits go back to nineteen seventy and includes 676 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: such titles as seventy four as the Satan Murders, eighty 677 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,360 Speaker 1: seven's The Witches of Eastwick, ninety one's film and Louise 678 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,920 Speaker 1: ninety five's dead Man Walking and twenty twelve's Cloud Atlas, 679 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: one time Oscar winner for dead Man Walking and five 680 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:17,120 Speaker 1: time nominee, including a nomination for Film and Louise, And 681 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: you know, I also have nothing but great things to 682 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,759 Speaker 1: say about Sarandon in this picture, she's sporting a great 683 00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:27,520 Speaker 1: androgynous look with short red hair. She is, essentially for 684 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: most of the film our protagonists. I guess you could 685 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:34,640 Speaker 1: argue a gerontologist whose obsession for her works and transforms 686 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: into an obsession for the mysterious Miriam Blaylock. And while 687 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: our bisexual vampire duo here more stated with Miriam and 688 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,880 Speaker 1: implied with John, are maybe a bit more cliche in 689 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: their depiction of bisexuality, you know, their indiscriminate supernatural beings 690 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,840 Speaker 1: the vampires here, I do feel like Sarah is presented 691 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:59,439 Speaker 1: in a especially for the time like refreshingly believable light. 692 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: So her attraction to Miriam, despite her character having a boyfriend, 693 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: is not presented as something that is in and of 694 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:11,680 Speaker 1: itself alarming or something that would otherwise be inconceivable for 695 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:16,719 Speaker 1: this character, you know, without the supernatural intrigue. So I 696 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: applaud that in this film for sure. 697 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 3: Oh, that seems to me to be just kind of 698 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,839 Speaker 3: an understood part of her character, Like they don't really 699 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:28,440 Speaker 3: discuss it explicitly, but like, for example, her kind of 700 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,759 Speaker 3: jerk boyfriend is suspicious of her when he learns that 701 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 3: she spent the whole afternoon with this mysterious, beautiful woman. 702 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And the fact that it is understood without 703 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,400 Speaker 1: being like really called out in a way where like 704 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:44,840 Speaker 1: there's no scene where she explains it to him or anything, 705 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:48,560 Speaker 1: you know. Again, I think that's quite refreshing. 706 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 3: I think Susan Sarandon's performance here is great, especially in 707 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,919 Speaker 3: the way that in the way that it changes over 708 00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,279 Speaker 3: the course of the film, because when we first get 709 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 3: to know her, she is in work mode. She is 710 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:07,360 Speaker 3: fully a professional, and all we're seeing is her interaction 711 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 3: with the research that she does, like her engaging with 712 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:15,719 Speaker 3: the topics of her work as a professional. And even 713 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,640 Speaker 3: when she first meets John Blaylock played by Bowie, it's 714 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 3: in that context. It's like a work thing. And then 715 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,640 Speaker 3: there is the strangest and most surprising shift, as like 716 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:32,680 Speaker 3: she is brought into the vampire characters' lives, that her 717 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,319 Speaker 3: role turns into an emotional and erotic one, and that 718 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:40,319 Speaker 3: she instead we instead learn about what she wants and 719 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 3: what she feels, and her desires and her suffering, which 720 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:46,759 Speaker 3: was not really part of the character at all when 721 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,360 Speaker 3: we first met her, except in so far as like 722 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 3: her desires and suffering related to her struggles with her research. 723 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,080 Speaker 3: That's a weird kind of arc to pull off within 724 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 3: a story, and I think Sarandon handles it so well. 725 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:03,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, a lesser film and a lesser performance, it would 726 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,960 Speaker 1: have been the character taking her glasses off, you know, 727 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:09,480 Speaker 1: that sort of thing where it's just a complete shift 728 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 1: and you just kind of roll with it because that's 729 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 1: just how movies do it. But her performance brings those 730 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: two sides together and make them both believable parts of 731 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: the same human character. Now we mentioned the jerk boyfriend. 732 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 1: The jerk boyfriend is Tom have Her played by Cliff 733 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,680 Speaker 1: de Young born nineteen forty five, a sixties rock star. 734 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:32,799 Speaker 1: The group was clear light not familiar with them. Turn 735 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,280 Speaker 1: Broadway actor. He was in Hair Turn film and TV actor, 736 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:40,640 Speaker 1: and he absolutely played Brad Major's and Farley flavors in 737 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,279 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one Shock Treatment, Richard O'Brien's follow up to 738 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,400 Speaker 1: Rocky Horror, so in this de Young would be was 739 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 1: taking over the role from Barry Bostwick, who played Brad 740 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: in the original Rocky R Picture Show. Cliff de Young's 741 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,360 Speaker 1: other credits include nineteen eighty nine's Glory, nineteen ninety two's 742 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,000 Speaker 1: Doctor Giggles, and nineteen ninety six Is the Craft. 743 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,720 Speaker 3: Don't Forget. Also that he was in the nineteen eighties 744 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:07,879 Speaker 3: or maybe early nineties film called Pulse, which is an 745 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:12,279 Speaker 3: all appliances attack film. Like an evil I don't know, 746 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,440 Speaker 3: alien virus or something gets into the power lines and 747 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 3: it makes the toasters go crazy and try to kill people. 748 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: Oh man, maximum overdrive. Yeah, all right, we mentioned the youth. 749 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,719 Speaker 1: This is the character Alice. Alice Cavender played by Beth 750 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,560 Speaker 1: Ellers born nineteen sixty eight, a child slash youth actor 751 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,759 Speaker 1: at the time, but she'd go on to a long 752 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,960 Speaker 1: and award winning career on the soap Opera's Guiding Light 753 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 1: and All My Children. 754 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,640 Speaker 3: Very tragic, innocent character. When you first meet her, you're 755 00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:43,960 Speaker 3: just like, oh no, I think she's going to get 756 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:44,600 Speaker 3: her blood drank. 757 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,920 Speaker 1: And yeah, now when vampires start drinking folks blood. You know, 758 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: occasionally the law starts sniffing around. In this film, that 759 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,719 Speaker 1: character is Lieutenant Ali Greza, played by Dan Hedeia born 760 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: nineteen forty. We referenced him all the time, I feel like, 761 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,360 Speaker 1: but this is actually our first Dan Hidea film. 762 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 3: I was shocked how cute Dan Hidea is in this movie. 763 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:15,480 Speaker 3: I think of him as, oh, you know, perennially crusty, mean, gristly, 764 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:19,799 Speaker 3: cantankerous old dude, or like the villain in Commando. But 765 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 3: either way, a kind of perpetually older seeming character actor 766 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 3: who just has a different energy than the Dan Hodea 767 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,760 Speaker 3: we get in this film. I think the major difference 768 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:32,480 Speaker 3: being this is one of the only times I've ever 769 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,239 Speaker 3: seen him with his hair grown out this long, and 770 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,560 Speaker 3: he looks positively scruffy as a police detective, which is 771 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 3: against type anyway. So I don't know what's going on, 772 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:43,560 Speaker 3: but strange different turn for Dan. 773 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:46,840 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. If you're not familiar with Danadeya, a memorable 774 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:51,200 Speaker 1: character actor with a real talent for playing often sleazy characters, 775 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,800 Speaker 1: villains and so forth. Be it the vengeful husband in 776 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,560 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four's Blood Simple from the Coen Brothers or 777 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:02,360 Speaker 1: Richard Nixon in nineteen ninety nine. Dick, he's been active 778 00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: on screening TV since the mid seventies. And let's see, 779 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:08,880 Speaker 1: at this point in his career, he had just appeared 780 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,560 Speaker 1: in Alan Rudolph's cattle mutilation thriller in Dangered Species. 781 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 3: Now, this just came up recently. That's different than the 782 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 3: cattle mutilation movie that we did with Martin Landau. 783 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:21,319 Speaker 1: Correct, Yeah, different film. This one is more of a 784 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:25,840 Speaker 1: conspiracy thriller and it's quite good. So I recommend it 785 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,799 Speaker 1: if if you need to have a viewing party back 786 00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:32,040 Speaker 1: to back cattle mutilation films, you watch those two. 787 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:37,120 Speaker 3: Also, though Dan Headea's character, correct me if I'm wrong, 788 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:40,080 Speaker 3: But I don't think the police make any progress one, no. 789 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,880 Speaker 1: Progress at all. He's completely ineffective. He doesn't even get killed. 790 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:45,600 Speaker 1: Like when he showed up, I was like, oh, he's 791 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 1: getting the psycho treatment. This guy's going down the stairs. 792 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,319 Speaker 1: But no, there's just like nothing comes to the investigation, 793 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:53,440 Speaker 1: and then he comes up, comes back at the end 794 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,400 Speaker 1: of the picture and just kind of pokes around a 795 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,080 Speaker 1: little bit and figures out nothing. 796 00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:00,320 Speaker 3: Why would they make him cute like this? If Atharine 797 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,000 Speaker 3: Danuve's not gonna drink his blood. I have no idea. 798 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,400 Speaker 1: Maybe they had to drop a subplot. I don't know, 799 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 1: all right. I said there were three Rocky horror reference 800 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,680 Speaker 1: points in this picture. Well, the third is the actor 801 00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 1: Rufus Collins, who lived nineteen thirty five through nineteen ninety six. 802 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,560 Speaker 1: He plays the character Charlie Humphreyes. He's one of the 803 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: other research scientists that Sarah is working with. 804 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, so with Susan Sarandon, Clifty Young, and Rufus Collins 805 00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 3: together are the three gerontologists who were working in this 806 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:34,880 Speaker 3: lab brutally rotting monkeys alive in order to discover the 807 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:35,720 Speaker 3: secret of aging. 808 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:38,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a stop motion effect. By the way, when 809 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:41,120 Speaker 1: we see that monkey rot, it's pretty nice. 810 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:41,839 Speaker 3: But yeah. 811 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:44,279 Speaker 1: Rufus Collins New York actor who started out in a 812 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,399 Speaker 1: living theater, which is an experimental acting troop of the day. 813 00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:50,120 Speaker 1: He worked in the UK as well, which maybe why 814 00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:52,160 Speaker 1: he's in this film because most of it was filmed 815 00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,759 Speaker 1: in London. But he has some wild credits, including Andy 816 00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:59,759 Speaker 1: Warhol's Batman Dracula from sixty four. I'm not sure what 817 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,400 Speaker 1: that is entailed. I've seen it referenced almost as like 818 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,840 Speaker 1: a lost film, so some sort of experimental Warhol project. 819 00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:09,120 Speaker 1: But he's in both The Rocky Horror Picture Show and 820 00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:13,800 Speaker 1: Shock Treatment, playing an uncredited, uncredited Transylvanian. In the former, 821 00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: if you look in the background, there's like at least 822 00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:21,960 Speaker 1: one black Transylvanian with like really cool hair and sunglasses. 823 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,040 Speaker 1: That's Rufus Collins. Yeah, and then he plays a member 824 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:26,560 Speaker 1: of the camera crew in the latter picture. 825 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:30,439 Speaker 3: He wears like some neon sunglasses indoors in this movie. 826 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:33,520 Speaker 3: Lots of characters were sunglasses indoors in The Hunger, but 827 00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 3: he is one of them, and his sunglasses are cooler 828 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:38,160 Speaker 3: looking than most. 829 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:39,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, they're a whole sit in. My wife and I 830 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:41,960 Speaker 1: were coming on this. There's a scene later on where 831 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:46,600 Speaker 1: I believe a Jigglow is brought back by Miriam purely 832 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,560 Speaker 1: for the purpose or mostly for the purposes of blood, 833 00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:54,160 Speaker 1: and he's wearing sunglasses, as is she. She's a vampire, 834 00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:56,719 Speaker 1: so we're like, Okay, she can wear sunglasses at night, 835 00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 1: but this dude's wearing sunglasses at night anyway. And the 836 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:04,200 Speaker 1: heart is so dark. Is anyone seeing anything? But yeah, 837 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,960 Speaker 1: everybody's wearing sunglasses. Everyone's smoking, like a chimney, all right. 838 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:11,560 Speaker 1: And finally it's worth noting that we have little more 839 00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:14,960 Speaker 1: than a cameo here, very bit part. But Willem Dafoe 840 00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:20,640 Speaker 1: pops up playing second phone booth youth and he was 841 00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:22,839 Speaker 1: like he was twenty seven or twenty eight at the time, 842 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,000 Speaker 1: and it is this is the youngest I've seen Dafoe 843 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:28,320 Speaker 1: in a motion picture. This was only like his fourth 844 00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:32,600 Speaker 1: screen or TV appearance. Dude, he is smooth, yeah, like 845 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:34,440 Speaker 1: he you know, you think of Dafoe or you know, 846 00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:36,759 Speaker 1: or I think of William Dafoe. I think of like 847 00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,640 Speaker 1: that rugged face, you know, you know, a very very 848 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:42,480 Speaker 1: handsome face, but very rugged. The lines are important to 849 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,279 Speaker 1: the overall work, and it's almost a little jarring to 850 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:47,600 Speaker 1: see him this young. He doesn't have much to do here. 851 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:51,160 Speaker 1: He doesn't drink blood, nor get his blood drink, but 852 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:54,399 Speaker 1: this would This still qualifies as the first of five 853 00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:57,560 Speaker 1: Willem Dafoe vampire films that I know of, alongside A 854 00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,719 Speaker 1: two thousand and one Shadow of a Vampire, twenty ten, 855 00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:02,680 Speaker 1: Day Breakers, two thousand and nine circ A Freak The 856 00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:06,960 Speaker 1: Vampire's Assistant, and of course twenty twenty four is Nosferatu. 857 00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:10,040 Speaker 3: He doesn't play a vampire in this, but he looks 858 00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:13,160 Speaker 3: like a vampire in his regular human makeup in Streets 859 00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:13,600 Speaker 3: of Fire. 860 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,920 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that would be that. And I guess 861 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,600 Speaker 1: like eighty five's Roadhouse sixty six and To Live and 862 00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:22,560 Speaker 1: Die in La were really those are more the launching 863 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,000 Speaker 1: points of his career. So he was really under the 864 00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:26,000 Speaker 1: radar at this point. 865 00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:28,239 Speaker 3: Have you never seen Streets of Fire and you want 866 00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:30,840 Speaker 3: to have a good time, just look up Willem Defoe 867 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:33,720 Speaker 3: screaming Streets of Fire. That's that's a good face. 868 00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:37,360 Speaker 1: All right, Really, I'll try and speak this along. I 869 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:39,640 Speaker 1: realized we're taking a while on the connections here, but 870 00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:43,719 Speaker 1: we mentioned Dick Smith. Make Up illusions is what he's 871 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:46,960 Speaker 1: credited with here. We live twenty two through twenty fourteen. 872 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,720 Speaker 1: You know a host of talented makeup artists we're involved 873 00:49:50,719 --> 00:49:53,000 Speaker 1: in bringing these characters to life. But Dick Smith played 874 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,280 Speaker 1: a key role in David Bowie's on screen aging effects. 875 00:49:56,719 --> 00:49:59,640 Speaker 1: We previously discussed Smith in our episode on Scanners, which 876 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,120 Speaker 1: features number of amazing body horror effects, but he was 877 00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:07,120 Speaker 1: also legendary for his aging makeup effects, most famously that 878 00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:11,479 Speaker 1: of f Murray Abraham's Sealiari in eighty four Zamadaeis, which 879 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,520 Speaker 1: earned him an Academy Award. His other credits include seventy 880 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:17,480 Speaker 1: three's The Exorcist. In nineteen eighties Altered states. 881 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:20,359 Speaker 3: Oh does he do the just the de I wonder 882 00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,880 Speaker 3: if The Exorcist was just demon makeup or if he 883 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,520 Speaker 3: also was making Father Maren look older. 884 00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,480 Speaker 1: Hmm, yeah, I'm not entirely sure, but you know he was. 885 00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,040 Speaker 1: You know, clearly he was skilled beyond mere aging effects, 886 00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:37,080 Speaker 1: but he became well known for it. And to your 887 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,160 Speaker 1: point earlier about Prometheus, yeah, I feel like there are 888 00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,240 Speaker 1: plenty of examples of movies that probably had more money 889 00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:49,640 Speaker 1: behind them than films that utilized Dick Smith that ended 890 00:50:49,719 --> 00:50:54,560 Speaker 1: up being less convincing in their aging makeup. He had 891 00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:56,680 Speaker 1: a true gift for this sort of thing. Tony Scott 892 00:50:56,719 --> 00:51:00,600 Speaker 1: mentions in the commentary track that Smith was disappointed that 893 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:03,640 Speaker 1: the lighting wasn't more intense in some of these scenes 894 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,880 Speaker 1: where David Bowie is aged and you know, and you 895 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,879 Speaker 1: know Tony's you know basically think, well, you know, that's 896 00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:11,800 Speaker 1: part of it. Also, it's not just the makeup. You 897 00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:13,680 Speaker 1: got to have the lighting, and you know, it makes 898 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,160 Speaker 1: it more effective. If things are not maybe completely in 899 00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:19,719 Speaker 1: focus or completely lit, but it's kind of telling like 900 00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:23,440 Speaker 1: that's how strongly Dick Smith believed in his makeup effects here. 901 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,440 Speaker 1: It's like, shine the lights on him. They can go 902 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 1: out in the sun. 903 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:30,560 Speaker 3: Well, he's good. I understand why you had the confidence. Yeah. 904 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: Costume. We don't always mention costuming, but Molina kind of 905 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,440 Speaker 1: Narrow was the costume and key to the costuming here. 906 00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:40,880 Speaker 1: Born nineteen forty six, another legendary behind the scenes figure 907 00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,040 Speaker 1: and thirty three time Oscar winner. Where do you even 908 00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:48,000 Speaker 1: keep all those trophies? I'm not sure, But there's this 909 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:51,680 Speaker 1: one story, and this is one that that Tony shares 910 00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:54,400 Speaker 1: on the commentary track. She's famously fled the set of 911 00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:56,640 Speaker 1: the film one day and they were like, where is she? 912 00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,160 Speaker 1: Where'd she go? Nobody knew. Turns out she flew from 913 00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:04,440 Speaker 1: London to Rome just to get the right cloth for 914 00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:08,319 Speaker 1: like a pocket square on David Bowie's costume. She was like, 915 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:10,160 Speaker 1: there's nothing here in London, I have to go to 916 00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:12,080 Speaker 1: Rome to get it. So she just just flew in 917 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:13,719 Speaker 1: her own dime and came back with it. 918 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:14,440 Speaker 3: Wow. 919 00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:17,800 Speaker 1: She's worked with such directors as Stanley Kubrick, Realley Scott, 920 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:21,400 Speaker 1: Francis Ford Coppola, and Wes Anderson, some of them, you know, 921 00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,240 Speaker 1: multiple times. We're talking such costume rich films as seventy 922 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:28,800 Speaker 1: one's a Clockwork Orange, nineteen nineties Dick Tracy, and nineteen 923 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:29,920 Speaker 1: ninety nine's Titus. 924 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:32,839 Speaker 3: Those are all eye popping films. Yeah. 925 00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,040 Speaker 1: The director of photography was Steven Goldblatt born nineteen forty five, 926 00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:39,759 Speaker 1: South African born cinematographer who worked on such films as 927 00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:43,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one's Outland, eighty five's Young Sherlock Holmes, and 928 00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:47,640 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven's Batman Forever, for which he was nominated. 929 00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:53,359 Speaker 3: For an oscar That was the one. Yeah, it's boy 930 00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:54,360 Speaker 3: Ling acid. 931 00:52:57,080 --> 00:52:59,480 Speaker 1: I'm gonna mention the editor. We don't always mention the editor, 932 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:01,359 Speaker 1: but the editor in this film, I feel like it's 933 00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:05,920 Speaker 1: something else. There's some very alarming editing choices at times. 934 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,960 Speaker 1: Pamela Power born nineteen forty two. She worked with Ridley 935 00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:14,440 Speaker 1: Scott multiple times on seventy seven's The Duellist, his Apple 936 00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:17,960 Speaker 1: Mac commercial from eighty four, eighty five's Legend, and ninety 937 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:22,000 Speaker 1: seven's Gije. Okay, now we get to the music and 938 00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:25,600 Speaker 1: there are several people to mention on the musical note here, 939 00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:28,640 Speaker 1: so much like the editing, the music is pretty wild. 940 00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:32,120 Speaker 1: We have a mixture of needle drop classical tracks, experimental 941 00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:36,279 Speaker 1: electronic sounds, and then a riveting opening performance by Bauhaus. 942 00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:39,680 Speaker 1: Howard Blake born in nineteen thirty eight was the musical 943 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:42,600 Speaker 1: director in the film. He also served in this role 944 00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:45,840 Speaker 1: on nineteen eighties Flash Gordon, which we previously talked about. 945 00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:50,480 Speaker 1: Let's see that multiple classical tracks are used here. There's 946 00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:55,080 Speaker 1: also a score by Guinea Jaguera, who also did the 947 00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:58,640 Speaker 1: theme song for TVs The Powers of Matthew Starr, and 948 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:02,479 Speaker 1: Michael Rubini, who also worked on Matthew Starr but also 949 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:04,319 Speaker 1: went on to score the Likes of nineteen eighty four 950 00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:07,840 Speaker 1: is What Waits below nineteen eighty six is Manhunter and 951 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:09,120 Speaker 1: ninety two's Nemesis. 952 00:54:09,560 --> 00:54:11,000 Speaker 3: Oh, it's been a while since I've seen it, but 953 00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:13,879 Speaker 3: I remember Man Hunter having intriguing music. 954 00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:17,160 Speaker 1: As a stylish picture. Yeah, all right. And then finally, 955 00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:22,360 Speaker 1: David Lawson or Dave Lawson is credited with performer, additional 956 00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:26,800 Speaker 1: Electronic Music and Effects composer Additional Electronic music and Effects 957 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:30,239 Speaker 1: uncredited on that latter pump Point. But this guy's pretty 958 00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,360 Speaker 1: interesting as well. There are a number of weird supernatural 959 00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:36,040 Speaker 1: synth flourishes in the film, and when I heard them, 960 00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:39,360 Speaker 1: I was like, this sounds like Jim Henson's Labyrinth. You 961 00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:44,840 Speaker 1: know these sort of there's sort of like cascading synth 962 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:49,040 Speaker 1: waterfalls of supernatural intrigue, and they happen a lot in 963 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:53,120 Speaker 1: this picture, and they happen periodically in Labyrinth. And sure enough, 964 00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:55,239 Speaker 1: I mean the same guy was involved in both of 965 00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:59,600 Speaker 1: these pictures. Oh wow, yeah, so he Let's see, he 966 00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:04,239 Speaker 1: he did supply. He supplied synthesized electronic sounds for The 967 00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:07,520 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal in eighty two and also contributed to the 968 00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:12,480 Speaker 1: Labyrinth score. Otherwise, he has a handful of film credits 969 00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:15,880 Speaker 1: on the major databases, though sometimes he's not credited on 970 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,719 Speaker 1: the film, but if you look up the score album elsewhere, 971 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:23,359 Speaker 1: you can find that he's credited. Let's see, he worked 972 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:26,480 Speaker 1: on ninety four as Frankenstein. He worked with Trevor Jones 973 00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:29,080 Speaker 1: on such films as Angel Heart in eighty seven Mississippi 974 00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:32,040 Speaker 1: Burning in eighty eight. So he's a British keyboardist who 975 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,800 Speaker 1: was a member of the UK progressive rock band Greenslade. 976 00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:38,560 Speaker 1: I was unfamiliar with Greenslade, but I pulled them up 977 00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:41,120 Speaker 1: as I was working on notes here, and I like 978 00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:43,520 Speaker 1: what they're laying down. It's kind of a neat prog 979 00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:46,080 Speaker 1: rock sound with some synth in there. You know, maybe 980 00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:48,279 Speaker 1: feels a little old fashioned, but in a good way, 981 00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:51,240 Speaker 1: you know. Okay, So he's something of a synth legend. 982 00:55:51,280 --> 00:55:53,440 Speaker 1: He played on the soundtrack for seventy six. Is the 983 00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:55,520 Speaker 1: man who fell to Earth and worked with the likes 984 00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:58,080 Speaker 1: of Jimmy Page and Kate Bush said to own one 985 00:55:58,120 --> 00:55:59,960 Speaker 1: of the largest synth systems in Europe. 986 00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,680 Speaker 3: The largest synth systems. What does that mean, like the 987 00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:04,760 Speaker 3: physically largest. 988 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:07,319 Speaker 1: I guess it's kind of like, I think, maybe a 989 00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:11,680 Speaker 1: collection of synths, but they're active and all like hooked together. 990 00:56:11,800 --> 00:56:15,720 Speaker 1: I don't know. I found some. There's a Psychedelic Baby 991 00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:19,239 Speaker 1: magazine has an interview with him from twenty twenty three 992 00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:21,960 Speaker 1: and includes a number of photographs of him back in 993 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:24,920 Speaker 1: the day and in present times. And yeah, the ones 994 00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:26,880 Speaker 1: from the seventies are pretty great because here's this like 995 00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:30,480 Speaker 1: long haired dude, you know, of course, surrounded by synths 996 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:33,640 Speaker 1: and keyboards and all looks like he was quite the 997 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:34,799 Speaker 1: synth wizard of the day. 998 00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:38,319 Speaker 3: I was trying to see if I could recognize any 999 00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:40,759 Speaker 3: brands to know what his style was, But I do 1000 00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:41,680 Speaker 3: not know what these are. 1001 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:44,680 Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, even when I hear guys like this 1002 00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:47,600 Speaker 1: talk about their dear I'm just not a gearhead for 1003 00:56:47,640 --> 00:56:49,960 Speaker 1: this sort of thing. So all the names of these 1004 00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:53,959 Speaker 1: various devices and innovations just go completely over my head. 1005 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:59,040 Speaker 1: But I love the results. So you definitely hear his 1006 00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:03,960 Speaker 1: inflous on the sounds of the Hunger. But again, it's 1007 00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:05,799 Speaker 1: kind of all over the place. You have electronic, you 1008 00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:08,760 Speaker 1: have classical, and also some I guess more traditional score 1009 00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:12,400 Speaker 1: hidden in there as well, in addition to contemporary tracks 1010 00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:14,480 Speaker 1: like the Bauhause track that opens up the picture. 1011 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:24,320 Speaker 3: Okay, well, is it time to talk a bit about 1012 00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:24,800 Speaker 3: the plot? 1013 00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:26,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, I let's jump in. 1014 00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:28,880 Speaker 3: So this is not one of those movies where we're 1015 00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:31,440 Speaker 3: going to do a kind of chronological scene by scene 1016 00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:34,640 Speaker 3: talk through the plot like we often do. Sometimes it 1017 00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:36,600 Speaker 3: just doesn't feel right with what the movie is. I 1018 00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,600 Speaker 3: think this is one of those cases. I've already described 1019 00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:41,440 Speaker 3: some of the plot, but here I think maybe we 1020 00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:44,240 Speaker 3: can do a kind of general overview and then talk 1021 00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,360 Speaker 3: about some specific scenes and elements and themes. So at 1022 00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:51,479 Speaker 3: the beginning of the story, John and Miriam Blaylock. That's 1023 00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:54,520 Speaker 3: David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. They live in a house 1024 00:57:54,640 --> 00:57:58,000 Speaker 3: in New York City and they have seemingly been together 1025 00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:02,800 Speaker 3: for hundreds of years. Miriam is some kind of ancient being. 1026 00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:06,440 Speaker 3: We see brief flashbacks of her in what appeared to 1027 00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:10,200 Speaker 3: be palaces and maybe ancient Greece and certainly ancient Egypt. 1028 00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:13,000 Speaker 3: There are these different kind of costumes. I think we 1029 00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:18,400 Speaker 3: see some kind of Egyptian priesthood paraphernalia. I don't know 1030 00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:22,040 Speaker 3: if you had any particular observations about the ancient flashbacks, 1031 00:58:22,040 --> 00:58:26,080 Speaker 3: but I couldn't detect a lot of plot from them. 1032 00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:28,880 Speaker 3: They were not full of information. They were more full 1033 00:58:28,920 --> 00:58:29,480 Speaker 3: of vibe. 1034 00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:33,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, these are not flashbacks in the Highlander sense where 1035 00:58:33,040 --> 00:58:34,840 Speaker 1: it's like, all right, we're going back now, and here's 1036 00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:37,560 Speaker 1: a definite time stamp of where we're going and when 1037 00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:42,200 Speaker 1: we're going to. It's presented very surrealistically and jarringly. There 1038 00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:44,560 Speaker 1: are multiple times like this in the picture where you're like, 1039 00:58:44,600 --> 00:58:47,960 Speaker 1: what's happening? Is this is the past? Yes, it must 1040 00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:49,520 Speaker 1: be the past, and then you kind of piece it 1041 00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,880 Speaker 1: together later. But yeah, Greco Egyptian is about the most 1042 00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:53,760 Speaker 1: I could make out of it. 1043 00:58:54,040 --> 00:58:58,800 Speaker 3: Though you could be forgiven for being confused when we 1044 00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:02,240 Speaker 3: cut to these palaces of the past, because in the opening, 1045 00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:04,840 Speaker 3: John and Miriam live together in this beautiful house in 1046 00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:07,960 Speaker 3: New York City that is very old world like. They 1047 00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:11,520 Speaker 3: are apparently fabulously wealthy, and their home is full of 1048 00:59:11,640 --> 00:59:14,840 Speaker 3: magnificent art. It's full of marble statues that they say 1049 00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:17,200 Speaker 3: are thousands of years old, and it's got these big, 1050 00:59:17,240 --> 00:59:20,800 Speaker 3: spacious Baroque rooms and musical instruments and stuff. So it 1051 00:59:20,840 --> 00:59:23,280 Speaker 3: seems like the kind of place you might suddenly go 1052 00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:25,560 Speaker 3: around a corner and be in a room that looks 1053 00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:27,520 Speaker 3: like it is a palace in ancient Egypt. 1054 00:59:27,760 --> 00:59:30,120 Speaker 1: When I am in New York and I get to 1055 00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:31,960 Speaker 1: walk around New York and I see a home where 1056 00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:34,520 Speaker 1: people live, I just assume these are sorts of people 1057 00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:37,480 Speaker 1: that live there, and this must be ancient vampires with 1058 00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:41,560 Speaker 1: you know, generational wealth and supernatural blood. 1059 00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:44,640 Speaker 3: So the flashbacks they showed that, but they also show 1060 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:47,800 Speaker 3: us Miriam and John falling in love when John was 1061 00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:50,600 Speaker 3: a mortal, and I believe this is supposed to be 1062 00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:53,120 Speaker 3: somewhere in Europe in the seventeenth century. I think I 1063 00:59:53,200 --> 00:59:55,520 Speaker 3: read somewhere it said France, but I don't recall the 1064 00:59:55,560 --> 00:59:56,600 Speaker 3: movie saying France. 1065 00:59:57,280 --> 00:59:58,320 Speaker 1: It feels very French. 1066 00:59:58,960 --> 01:00:02,360 Speaker 3: So they are falling in love in powdered Wigland, and 1067 01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:07,040 Speaker 3: she promises him eternal life and eternal love, and they 1068 01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:10,840 Speaker 3: drink one another's blood to turn John into her youthful 1069 01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:15,880 Speaker 3: vampire lover for ages to come. And there's something about 1070 01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:20,240 Speaker 3: this scene where they prose the promise is forever, and 1071 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,800 Speaker 3: this promise of forever is repeated later in the story, 1072 01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:26,800 Speaker 3: like I think I'm remembering this right. There are scenes 1073 01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:30,320 Speaker 3: of them early in the film, in their nineteen eighties 1074 01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:34,240 Speaker 3: New York phase where they're still trading these reassurances, Like 1075 01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:36,160 Speaker 3: there's one part where I think they're in the shower 1076 01:00:36,320 --> 01:00:40,560 Speaker 3: and John just asks forever and she says forever. Now. 1077 01:00:40,560 --> 01:00:44,240 Speaker 3: Maybe here we should do an aside on the opening sequence, 1078 01:00:44,360 --> 01:00:46,960 Speaker 3: because that gives us a flavor of part of what 1079 01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:51,120 Speaker 3: they do in their nineteen eighties New York life. Before 1080 01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:53,240 Speaker 3: seeing this movie, I really did not know what it 1081 01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:55,640 Speaker 3: was going to be like, but I guess I assumed 1082 01:00:55,720 --> 01:00:57,640 Speaker 3: that the whole thing was going to be a lot 1083 01:00:57,720 --> 01:01:01,600 Speaker 3: more like the first ten minutes. This was not the case, 1084 01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:06,240 Speaker 3: but the opening sequence rocks strictly in terms of what happens. 1085 01:01:06,360 --> 01:01:09,440 Speaker 3: It's just our two original vampires, Miriam and John. They 1086 01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:12,000 Speaker 3: go to a goth club, they pick up a couple 1087 01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:14,600 Speaker 3: of dates, they bring them back home and they drink 1088 01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:18,680 Speaker 3: their blood. But the sequence is so fun everybody. So 1089 01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:21,840 Speaker 3: there's the goth clothing, all this dark leather, people wearing 1090 01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:27,120 Speaker 3: sunglasses inside in the dark, and Bawhouse performing apparently inside 1091 01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:28,720 Speaker 3: some kind of animal cage. 1092 01:01:29,160 --> 01:01:33,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, you will observe many things in this film through slits, slats, blinds, cages, 1093 01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:38,520 Speaker 1: and of course translucent black capes and drapes and veils. 1094 01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:41,000 Speaker 1: And again I also, I hope you're not trying to 1095 01:01:41,040 --> 01:01:43,280 Speaker 1: quit smoking while watching this film because there's a lot 1096 01:01:43,320 --> 01:01:47,280 Speaker 1: of cigarette smoking. Yes, But yeah, that's Bowhouse, sweet singer 1097 01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:50,680 Speaker 1: Peter Murphy performing in the goth club himself looking like 1098 01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:55,040 Speaker 1: some sort of an undead creature, and they're performing their 1099 01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:58,840 Speaker 1: biggest tip, Bela Lugosi's Dead. I do wish they'd included 1100 01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:01,360 Speaker 1: all nine minutes and thirty four seconds of the track 1101 01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:04,600 Speaker 1: because it's a tremendous track. I got to see Baohaus 1102 01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:08,200 Speaker 1: perform at Coachella back in two thousand and five, and 1103 01:02:08,320 --> 01:02:13,600 Speaker 1: they opened with Peter Murphy performing Bela Lugosi's Dead whilst 1104 01:02:13,680 --> 01:02:15,040 Speaker 1: suspended upside. 1105 01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:16,880 Speaker 3: Down on stage. It was pretty great. 1106 01:02:17,600 --> 01:02:20,280 Speaker 1: So here, yeah, we get these scenes of the club, 1107 01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:25,040 Speaker 1: Peter Murphy, our vampire couple strolling in, but then we 1108 01:02:25,080 --> 01:02:27,120 Speaker 1: get also we can also get some like crazy cuts. 1109 01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:29,120 Speaker 1: This is where we first started start getting hit with 1110 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:32,800 Speaker 1: like crazy cuts to them, like driving and stuff later on, 1111 01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:36,440 Speaker 1: and then we keep cutting back to Peter Murphy's performance 1112 01:02:36,800 --> 01:02:41,480 Speaker 1: during the vampire blood drinking scene that shortly follows. 1113 01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:45,560 Speaker 3: That's right, So Miriam and John they both pick up someone, 1114 01:02:45,680 --> 01:02:49,120 Speaker 3: they bring them back together to their home, and they 1115 01:02:49,520 --> 01:02:52,080 Speaker 3: start like they're going to have sex, but instead they 1116 01:02:52,240 --> 01:02:55,040 Speaker 3: end up, of course, cutting them and drinking their blood. 1117 01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:57,200 Speaker 3: We'll talk more about the mechanics of the blood drinking 1118 01:02:57,240 --> 01:03:01,080 Speaker 3: in a moment, but we do see here something that 1119 01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:03,320 Speaker 3: is I think, while a lot of this movie is 1120 01:03:03,360 --> 01:03:06,400 Speaker 3: different than other vampire movies and very fresh and unusual, 1121 01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:11,560 Speaker 3: a common convention you see in vampire films that's also 1122 01:03:11,600 --> 01:03:15,400 Speaker 3: present here is that some of the most erotically charged 1123 01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:18,960 Speaker 3: imagery is used in the lead up to blood drinking 1124 01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:22,880 Speaker 3: rather than to sex. This does imply a kind of 1125 01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:27,000 Speaker 3: blurring of the lines between like the vampire's carnal desires 1126 01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:31,400 Speaker 3: and appetites, Like, to them, is the blood sexier than sex? 1127 01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:34,600 Speaker 3: And if so, how does this affect the way we 1128 01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:37,000 Speaker 3: should think about the vampire's love stories. 1129 01:03:37,680 --> 01:03:40,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a great point. Yeah, multiple points in 1130 01:03:40,040 --> 01:03:42,960 Speaker 1: the film, including some very subtle moments, it's clear that 1131 01:03:43,040 --> 01:03:46,720 Speaker 1: the desire to feed is also the desire for sex. Yeah, 1132 01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:48,840 Speaker 1: and one, I don't know, I got the impression that 1133 01:03:48,880 --> 01:03:50,800 Speaker 1: made that one is not merely a stepping stone for 1134 01:03:50,840 --> 01:03:53,200 Speaker 1: the other, like it, Like, I didn't get as much 1135 01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:55,480 Speaker 1: the idea that it's like, oh, well, only they only 1136 01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:58,080 Speaker 1: do sex because they just want to do blood, like 1137 01:03:59,080 --> 01:03:59,960 Speaker 1: the two scene instead. 1138 01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:03,840 Speaker 3: I guess you're right, Yeah, they are kind of the same. Yeah. 1139 01:04:04,120 --> 01:04:08,200 Speaker 1: There's a great scene later on where John is aging 1140 01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:12,480 Speaker 1: rather rapidly and he's in I guess it's so just 1141 01:04:12,520 --> 01:04:15,280 Speaker 1: a restroom, but it feels like a locker room, and 1142 01:04:15,560 --> 01:04:19,000 Speaker 1: there's like a shirtless man like splashing his face with 1143 01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:22,200 Speaker 1: watter next to him, and he's like eyeing the guy's throat, 1144 01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:25,720 Speaker 1: And that too, is also a very like less overt, 1145 01:04:25,880 --> 01:04:29,080 Speaker 1: more subtle moment where there's a feeling of the desire 1146 01:04:29,200 --> 01:04:32,720 Speaker 1: both for flesh in the sexual sense and also blood 1147 01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:34,400 Speaker 1: in the vampiric sense. 1148 01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:39,120 Speaker 3: Now a note on the vampire mechanics here. The vampires 1149 01:04:39,120 --> 01:04:43,280 Speaker 3: in this movie do not, I believe, have fangs, or 1150 01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:45,120 Speaker 3: at least I don't recall ever seeing them. I don't 1151 01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:47,000 Speaker 3: know what the novel describes, but I don't think we 1152 01:04:47,040 --> 01:04:49,840 Speaker 3: see fangs in the movie, and that would make sense 1153 01:04:49,920 --> 01:04:54,880 Speaker 3: because instead they slice. The way they get the blood 1154 01:04:54,920 --> 01:04:59,520 Speaker 3: from their victims is they attack with a particular dedicated tool, 1155 01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:04,840 Speaker 3: slice their victims' arteries with this little ank blade and 1156 01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:07,720 Speaker 3: then like they wear it around their neck like a crucifix, 1157 01:05:07,760 --> 01:05:11,640 Speaker 3: except it's an Egyptian style onk and then they cut 1158 01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:13,920 Speaker 3: the neck and then they drink the blood like you 1159 01:05:13,960 --> 01:05:15,240 Speaker 3: would from a water fountain. 1160 01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:18,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I believe you're right, No, fans, I never 1161 01:05:18,040 --> 01:05:21,240 Speaker 1: saw any things. And they're tool users and they're feeding. 1162 01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:24,240 Speaker 1: There's a really fun Key and Peel sketch from years 1163 01:05:24,240 --> 01:05:27,000 Speaker 1: back about or where they discuss how vampires make too 1164 01:05:27,040 --> 01:05:29,000 Speaker 1: much of a mess when they feed, like they bite 1165 01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:31,160 Speaker 1: and then there's just blood everywhere, and they're not getting 1166 01:05:31,240 --> 01:05:33,960 Speaker 1: enough of the blood into their mouths. Well, this vision 1167 01:05:33,960 --> 01:05:37,160 Speaker 1: of vampirism at least excuses all the gushing and mess 1168 01:05:37,200 --> 01:05:42,120 Speaker 1: making because they don't have like dedicated, like feeding mouth 1169 01:05:42,160 --> 01:05:45,400 Speaker 1: parts so much they have to stab, They have to 1170 01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:47,400 Speaker 1: allow for there to be a gush and then feed 1171 01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:48,479 Speaker 1: on it as best they can. 1172 01:05:48,880 --> 01:05:51,840 Speaker 3: I feel like the movie also takes seriously the mess. Yeah, 1173 01:05:52,120 --> 01:05:54,160 Speaker 3: like you see them cleaning up afterwards. 1174 01:05:54,520 --> 01:05:56,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, cleanup seems to be a big deal. And there's 1175 01:05:56,800 --> 01:06:02,400 Speaker 1: some hauntingly beautiful and very power scenes I'm thinking, particularly 1176 01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:04,200 Speaker 1: after the first killing, we get the scene of the 1177 01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:08,880 Speaker 1: two bloody Anks landing in the sink during the wash up, 1178 01:06:08,920 --> 01:06:11,720 Speaker 1: and then of course we see the incineration of the 1179 01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:16,800 Speaker 1: corpses of the drained victims and that they're like wrapped 1180 01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:19,680 Speaker 1: in black garbage bags. And then they're placing the incinerator and 1181 01:06:20,080 --> 01:06:24,480 Speaker 1: the plastic is like, you know, melting around the bodies. Yeah, 1182 01:06:24,800 --> 01:06:26,400 Speaker 1: all very well executed. 1183 01:06:26,640 --> 01:06:28,920 Speaker 3: The police do not seem concerned by the fact that 1184 01:06:29,040 --> 01:06:31,600 Speaker 3: John and Miriam have an incinerator in their basement. 1185 01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:33,840 Speaker 1: I guess it's like only murders in the building, Like 1186 01:06:33,880 --> 01:06:37,800 Speaker 1: all these buildings in New York have powerful incinerators that 1187 01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:42,240 Speaker 1: just completely atomized bodies, So I guess they're just used 1188 01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:42,480 Speaker 1: to it. 1189 01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:45,280 Speaker 3: So I wanted to pause for a moment here and 1190 01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:50,040 Speaker 3: explore the question of what other powers or limitations do 1191 01:06:50,120 --> 01:06:53,760 Speaker 3: the vampires have within the lore of the film. So 1192 01:06:53,800 --> 01:06:59,120 Speaker 3: we've established that they have arrested aging or unnaturally prolonged youth, 1193 01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:04,880 Speaker 3: perhaps turn youth in Miriam's case. Unclear. I was wondering, 1194 01:07:05,400 --> 01:07:11,480 Speaker 3: are they supposed to be invulnerable or resistant to regular injuries? 1195 01:07:12,360 --> 01:07:15,560 Speaker 3: I really don't think so. In fact, several things happen 1196 01:07:15,640 --> 01:07:19,200 Speaker 3: in the movie that made it seem like the vampires 1197 01:07:19,200 --> 01:07:22,360 Speaker 3: can be harmed by standard physical forces. I get the 1198 01:07:22,360 --> 01:07:25,480 Speaker 3: impression that in this world, like you could really wound 1199 01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:28,480 Speaker 3: a vampire. A human, regular mortal could really wound a 1200 01:07:28,560 --> 01:07:31,360 Speaker 3: vampire as easily as they could wound another human. But 1201 01:07:31,720 --> 01:07:33,720 Speaker 3: maybe I'm forgetting something to the contrary. 1202 01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:35,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's right. 1203 01:07:35,560 --> 01:07:39,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, the vampires do need to drink blood. In fact, 1204 01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:44,040 Speaker 3: they have this insatiable craving, and that is really framed 1205 01:07:44,120 --> 01:07:46,680 Speaker 3: more I guess this is actually quite common, but it's 1206 01:07:46,680 --> 01:07:48,960 Speaker 3: framed more as a weakness than a power. You know, 1207 01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:52,360 Speaker 3: It's like they need they need to sate this hunger, 1208 01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:55,440 Speaker 3: and it causes them to do things that are in 1209 01:07:55,960 --> 01:07:58,240 Speaker 3: some cases destructive to their own well being. 1210 01:07:58,800 --> 01:07:59,360 Speaker 1: Right right. 1211 01:08:00,040 --> 01:08:03,440 Speaker 3: Empires in the movies often have a kind of super strength. 1212 01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:07,680 Speaker 3: I think Miriam does have super strength, because at one 1213 01:08:07,680 --> 01:08:10,640 Speaker 3: point we see her throw Sarah clear across the room. 1214 01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:14,040 Speaker 3: Does John have in human strength? I don't recall ever 1215 01:08:14,120 --> 01:08:16,000 Speaker 3: seeing in any evidence of that. 1216 01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:19,880 Speaker 1: If he does, he never employs it. So it's if 1217 01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:22,519 Speaker 1: he has that supernatural strength, using it is not really 1218 01:08:22,560 --> 01:08:24,639 Speaker 1: a part of his character. But I guess I'm inclined 1219 01:08:24,640 --> 01:08:26,760 Speaker 1: to think that maybe he doesn't have it, Like maybe 1220 01:08:26,760 --> 01:08:30,120 Speaker 1: that's one of the limitations of him being the vampire spawn, 1221 01:08:30,240 --> 01:08:33,720 Speaker 1: the vampire thrall, or a half vampiric being, however you 1222 01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:34,680 Speaker 1: want to describe it. 1223 01:08:35,280 --> 01:08:38,559 Speaker 3: Yeah, Now, there's no problem with them going out in sunlight. 1224 01:08:38,920 --> 01:08:41,960 Speaker 3: They venture out in the daytime throughout the film, and 1225 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:43,960 Speaker 3: they don't have to sleep in coffins or in their 1226 01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,080 Speaker 3: native soil. They sleep in a big kind of you know, 1227 01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:49,280 Speaker 3: a wind blown music video bed. 1228 01:08:49,680 --> 01:08:52,840 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I mean I get the impression they sleep 1229 01:08:52,840 --> 01:08:55,760 Speaker 1: in a lot, but it's not like they can't go 1230 01:08:55,880 --> 01:08:56,599 Speaker 1: out in the sun. 1231 01:08:57,040 --> 01:09:01,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't recall any apparent influence of religious imagery 1232 01:09:01,320 --> 01:09:01,920 Speaker 3: or material. 1233 01:09:02,479 --> 01:09:04,040 Speaker 1: I think there's one. I think one of the phone 1234 01:09:04,080 --> 01:09:07,519 Speaker 1: booth guys, not William Dafoe, but the other guy maybe 1235 01:09:07,560 --> 01:09:10,200 Speaker 1: has a cross on, but it's ambiguous if it actually 1236 01:09:10,200 --> 01:09:15,760 Speaker 1: has any effect on the vampirically affected character who views it. 1237 01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:20,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, so maybe Miriam has super strength, and unclear if 1238 01:09:20,360 --> 01:09:24,759 Speaker 3: John does. But apart from that, really, the only great 1239 01:09:24,880 --> 01:09:29,000 Speaker 3: kind of power we see of the vampires, I think 1240 01:09:29,200 --> 01:09:33,360 Speaker 3: is just the fact that they live eternally or so 1241 01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:36,360 Speaker 3: called eternally, that they do not age, they can maintain 1242 01:09:36,479 --> 01:09:40,040 Speaker 3: youth for a long time. Would you say that there's 1243 01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:42,080 Speaker 3: any other apparent power on display. 1244 01:09:42,760 --> 01:09:46,680 Speaker 1: I think that's mostly it now. Miriam in particular is 1245 01:09:47,080 --> 01:09:51,360 Speaker 1: quite seductive and charismatic. People are drawn to her. But 1246 01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:54,960 Speaker 1: I never thought that this was presented in a definite 1247 01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:58,360 Speaker 1: Dracula's gaze sort of way, like she a Yeah, to 1248 01:09:58,400 --> 01:10:00,559 Speaker 1: an extent, you could say she casts a spell Sarah, 1249 01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:03,880 Speaker 1: but I don't think in the literal sense, not in 1250 01:10:03,920 --> 01:10:07,519 Speaker 1: a way that overrides Sarah's agency in the seduction. 1251 01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:11,839 Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, Sarah doesn't seem like hypnotized. She seems 1252 01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:16,320 Speaker 3: more I don't know, encouraged to give in to something 1253 01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:17,320 Speaker 3: that she does want. 1254 01:10:17,880 --> 01:10:20,479 Speaker 1: Yeah, it'd be more like being starstruck, except you know, 1255 01:10:20,880 --> 01:10:23,160 Speaker 1: it's like the vampiric version of that, I guess. 1256 01:10:23,479 --> 01:10:28,000 Speaker 3: Yeah. So anyway, worth noting that the vision of vamporism 1257 01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:34,000 Speaker 3: in this film is quite mechanically limited compared to most 1258 01:10:34,160 --> 01:10:37,719 Speaker 3: vampire lore. Many of the standard horror tropes do not apply. 1259 01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:41,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, no garlic in this picture. No steaks, nothing like that. 1260 01:10:41,920 --> 01:10:43,240 Speaker 3: There is steak in the picture. 1261 01:10:43,360 --> 01:10:45,040 Speaker 1: There's a steak. Yeah, there's rare steak. 1262 01:10:45,080 --> 01:10:49,920 Speaker 3: Of course, a quite significant steak scene where after Susan 1263 01:10:49,960 --> 01:10:52,519 Speaker 3: Sarandon has been turned, she's like at a restaurant trying 1264 01:10:52,560 --> 01:10:55,280 Speaker 3: to eat some steak and just like yuck, only want blood. 1265 01:10:55,680 --> 01:10:57,960 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And she's like He's like, I can't believe 1266 01:10:57,960 --> 01:10:59,599 Speaker 1: you spent three and a half hours with that woman. 1267 01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:00,719 Speaker 1: You need to go to a doctor. 1268 01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:01,720 Speaker 3: Yeah. 1269 01:11:02,000 --> 01:11:04,920 Speaker 1: I think you have bisexual ititis or something. I don't know. 1270 01:11:05,680 --> 01:11:09,240 Speaker 3: Anyway, So to come back to our sort of zoomed 1271 01:11:09,240 --> 01:11:12,519 Speaker 3: out overview of the plot. In the opening again, John 1272 01:11:12,520 --> 01:11:15,559 Speaker 3: and Miriam they're living this apparently fabulous life. They live 1273 01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,320 Speaker 3: this big, beautiful house in New York. When they're not 1274 01:11:18,439 --> 01:11:21,280 Speaker 3: hunting for victims at goth clubs. They appear to spend 1275 01:11:21,320 --> 01:11:24,439 Speaker 3: a lot of their time on artistic leisure. They are 1276 01:11:24,479 --> 01:11:27,400 Speaker 3: both musicians. I think Miriam plays the piano and John 1277 01:11:27,400 --> 01:11:31,040 Speaker 3: plays the cello, and they like to play music with 1278 01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:34,559 Speaker 3: a talented young teenage violinist from the house across the 1279 01:11:34,600 --> 01:11:38,120 Speaker 3: street named Alice. Does she take music lessons from them? 1280 01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:40,720 Speaker 1: I was unclear on that if she just jams with 1281 01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:44,479 Speaker 1: them or she takes lessons at any rate, it's you know, 1282 01:11:44,520 --> 01:11:47,240 Speaker 1: it's probably fine. This is probably totally okay that she's 1283 01:11:47,280 --> 01:11:51,080 Speaker 1: coming over here and hanging out with these two ancient vampires. 1284 01:11:51,160 --> 01:11:54,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, not going anywhere good. Anything else to say about 1285 01:11:54,880 --> 01:11:59,479 Speaker 3: their apparently somewhat happy life in the beginning, I. 1286 01:11:59,439 --> 01:12:01,800 Speaker 1: Mean much other than it does seem like they are 1287 01:12:01,800 --> 01:12:05,160 Speaker 1: happy content. That doesn't seem like they particularly have any 1288 01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:08,760 Speaker 1: vampire hunters breathing down their necks or anything. And I 1289 01:12:08,760 --> 01:12:10,880 Speaker 1: guess they've been going at it for a long time 1290 01:12:10,920 --> 01:12:13,800 Speaker 1: and they're staying on top of the fashions like sometimes, 1291 01:12:14,439 --> 01:12:17,479 Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many ways to treat longevity and 1292 01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:21,280 Speaker 1: vampires in fiction, and sometimes vampires are depicted as like 1293 01:12:21,479 --> 01:12:27,840 Speaker 1: totally out of keeping with modern fads and so forth, 1294 01:12:27,880 --> 01:12:31,640 Speaker 1: and certainly technology and also maybe being rather bored, like 1295 01:12:31,840 --> 01:12:33,920 Speaker 1: they just run out of passion. These two seem to 1296 01:12:33,920 --> 01:12:37,160 Speaker 1: still have a lot of passion for what's popular in 1297 01:12:37,200 --> 01:12:42,120 Speaker 1: the world, changing musical genres and so forth, and you know, 1298 01:12:42,120 --> 01:12:45,880 Speaker 1: they're staying active. They're still killing people and drinking their 1299 01:12:45,880 --> 01:12:47,439 Speaker 1: blood and then burning them in the basement. 1300 01:12:47,920 --> 01:12:50,479 Speaker 3: And the way in which their hip seems to be, 1301 01:12:51,200 --> 01:12:54,240 Speaker 3: I don't know, basically just keeping pace with culture. You 1302 01:12:54,240 --> 01:12:58,920 Speaker 3: don't get like that Saltation view where or it's like 1303 01:12:58,920 --> 01:13:02,080 Speaker 3: in Francis Ford Coppola is Dracula, where Gary oldman. You know, 1304 01:13:02,120 --> 01:13:04,439 Speaker 3: he's got the big bun head and he's decrepit and 1305 01:13:04,680 --> 01:13:07,599 Speaker 3: an old world, and then suddenly all at once he's 1306 01:13:07,640 --> 01:13:12,680 Speaker 3: rejuvenated and hip and stylish. Anyway, the trouble of the 1307 01:13:12,680 --> 01:13:16,640 Speaker 3: plot starts when John notices that he is losing his 1308 01:13:16,720 --> 01:13:20,960 Speaker 3: hair and he can't seem to sleep, and he notices 1309 01:13:20,960 --> 01:13:25,040 Speaker 3: several things and realizes he is aging rapidly. Apparently years 1310 01:13:25,080 --> 01:13:29,080 Speaker 3: are falling off of his life every day. Now. One 1311 01:13:29,200 --> 01:13:32,600 Speaker 3: question here I was trying to remember is what is 1312 01:13:32,680 --> 01:13:37,000 Speaker 3: the level of openness between John and Miriam about this. 1313 01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:40,080 Speaker 3: I seem to remember that they do talk about it 1314 01:13:40,120 --> 01:13:43,920 Speaker 3: as if he knew this might happen at some point, 1315 01:13:44,280 --> 01:13:47,639 Speaker 3: Like I remember he asks Miriam how long it took 1316 01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:52,080 Speaker 3: for another person to decay in this way? Presumably this 1317 01:13:52,240 --> 01:13:56,360 Speaker 3: was a previous lover of Miriam's, but I also don't 1318 01:13:56,400 --> 01:13:59,479 Speaker 3: get the impression that he knew this would happen before 1319 01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:03,400 Speaker 3: he was turned. Did you take that all the same way? 1320 01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:05,599 Speaker 1: I mean, it's this is one of the more thought 1321 01:14:05,640 --> 01:14:09,759 Speaker 1: provoking mysteries of the film, I think, because like logically 1322 01:14:09,760 --> 01:14:11,360 Speaker 1: in the film, yeah, he seems to be aware that 1323 01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:16,840 Speaker 1: there were other lovers in the past, that they they 1324 01:14:16,880 --> 01:14:20,240 Speaker 1: went away, that they know faded away one way or another, 1325 01:14:20,640 --> 01:14:23,439 Speaker 1: and that something like that could happen to him. On 1326 01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:26,160 Speaker 1: the other hand, there is the whole reassurances of things 1327 01:14:26,200 --> 01:14:29,080 Speaker 1: being forever. And then of course this also ties into 1328 01:14:29,120 --> 01:14:32,000 Speaker 1: how I think, you know, we all to varying degrees 1329 01:14:32,080 --> 01:14:35,599 Speaker 1: deal with or don't deal with aging and mortality, Like 1330 01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:39,320 Speaker 1: we all know that we will grow old and that 1331 01:14:39,400 --> 01:14:43,200 Speaker 1: we will die. That that is like the biological trajectory, 1332 01:14:44,360 --> 01:14:47,840 Speaker 1: and that you know, very little can can occur to 1333 01:14:48,160 --> 01:14:52,840 Speaker 1: to change that path. And yet I think we often 1334 01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:57,639 Speaker 1: carry on like John not thinking about it, finding ways 1335 01:14:57,760 --> 01:15:00,439 Speaker 1: to avoid the reality of it, and and then when 1336 01:15:00,479 --> 01:15:04,200 Speaker 1: it does begin to occur, it, you know, it comes 1337 01:15:04,240 --> 01:15:06,280 Speaker 1: as a shock, but it's not a shock because we 1338 01:15:06,360 --> 01:15:07,439 Speaker 1: knew it all along, you know. 1339 01:15:08,280 --> 01:15:11,599 Speaker 3: Yeah. Though, I mean for John, there's this interesting dynamic 1340 01:15:11,680 --> 01:15:15,400 Speaker 3: because it's like he short sold his life. Essentially. He 1341 01:15:16,040 --> 01:15:19,599 Speaker 3: had all these many many years unnaturally extended life and youth. 1342 01:15:19,640 --> 01:15:22,599 Speaker 3: He's been young and vigorous for so long, and now 1343 01:15:22,600 --> 01:15:25,200 Speaker 3: it's all coming home. It's all coming home at once. 1344 01:15:25,280 --> 01:15:28,560 Speaker 3: It's happening so fast. Yeah. So anyway, John is in 1345 01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:32,200 Speaker 3: this state and on TV he sees a report about 1346 01:15:32,240 --> 01:15:36,000 Speaker 3: the work of a gerontologist named doctor Sarah Roberts. This 1347 01:15:36,120 --> 01:15:38,519 Speaker 3: is the character played by Susan Sarandon. She's written a 1348 01:15:38,520 --> 01:15:42,080 Speaker 3: book about her work and she's performing experiments along with 1349 01:15:42,080 --> 01:15:45,719 Speaker 3: a couple of colleagues, Charlie Humphries and Tom have her 1350 01:15:46,240 --> 01:15:50,040 Speaker 3: Tom again is Sarah's boyfriend. Together, they are trying to 1351 01:15:50,280 --> 01:15:53,920 Speaker 3: understand the process of aging at the cellular level and 1352 01:15:54,120 --> 01:15:58,519 Speaker 3: possibly halt or reverse it, particularly to help children who 1353 01:15:58,560 --> 01:16:04,080 Speaker 3: have diseases that cause accelerated aging and deterioration. And these characters, 1354 01:16:04,200 --> 01:16:07,920 Speaker 3: the scientist characters, are interesting because On one hand, we 1355 01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:11,519 Speaker 3: see what seems to me to be obvious care, a 1356 01:16:11,600 --> 01:16:15,480 Speaker 3: real desire to help people, especially children, Like their motivations 1357 01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:20,960 Speaker 3: are represented as not impure, and yet they're also not lionized. 1358 01:16:21,120 --> 01:16:26,240 Speaker 3: The scientists are not treated as saints. They in some 1359 01:16:26,320 --> 01:16:29,680 Speaker 3: ways come off as quite brutal, like we see them 1360 01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:34,200 Speaker 3: performing these gory, horrifying experiments on monkeys where one of 1361 01:16:34,240 --> 01:16:38,040 Speaker 3: these experiments in a really great special effects shop by 1362 01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:41,000 Speaker 3: the way, causes like a monkey to rapidly age and 1363 01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:44,000 Speaker 3: then turbo decompose in minutes, like when you drink from 1364 01:16:44,000 --> 01:16:47,759 Speaker 3: the fallse Scraale in the Last Crusade. Yeah, we also 1365 01:16:48,160 --> 01:16:51,760 Speaker 3: see them. We see just sort of human failings of 1366 01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:55,639 Speaker 3: these scientists, like when Sarah and John first meet, Sarah 1367 01:16:55,720 --> 01:16:59,639 Speaker 3: is rude and dismissive to him and she lies to him. 1368 01:17:00,280 --> 01:17:04,320 Speaker 3: John comes asking for help, and then also Tom have 1369 01:17:05,040 --> 01:17:08,120 Speaker 3: her boyfriend, the other scientist. He comes off as a 1370 01:17:08,160 --> 01:17:10,679 Speaker 3: total jerk, though at the same time there are also 1371 01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:14,000 Speaker 3: indications that he genuinely cares for Sarah. 1372 01:17:14,120 --> 01:17:15,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's put in a tough spot, I 1373 01:17:15,680 --> 01:17:18,920 Speaker 1: guess to some degree, and we're not maybe as privy 1374 01:17:18,920 --> 01:17:21,880 Speaker 1: as much to his side of things. But Yeah, that 1375 01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:26,400 Speaker 1: scene where John is sort of cast aside by Sarah 1376 01:17:26,439 --> 01:17:28,120 Speaker 1: and she's like, just wait wait for me in the 1377 01:17:28,120 --> 01:17:29,880 Speaker 1: waiting room and I'll get back to you later. And 1378 01:17:30,640 --> 01:17:33,080 Speaker 1: then she tells the security guy it's like, there's another 1379 01:17:33,080 --> 01:17:36,360 Speaker 1: weirdo here. Just leave him alone. He'll probably get bored 1380 01:17:36,400 --> 01:17:39,120 Speaker 1: and leave on his own. And then we the viewer 1381 01:17:39,240 --> 01:17:43,600 Speaker 1: watch as John literally grows like decades older in the 1382 01:17:43,640 --> 01:17:47,479 Speaker 1: waiting room, a scene that I think could otherwise come 1383 01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:50,880 Speaker 1: off as comedic, like because when you're explaining it's like, 1384 01:17:50,960 --> 01:17:53,280 Speaker 1: you literally watch him grow old in the waiting room. 1385 01:17:53,320 --> 01:17:57,320 Speaker 1: It sounds like a comedic bit, but it's executed in 1386 01:17:57,320 --> 01:18:01,000 Speaker 1: a way that does not feel funny. And and the effect, 1387 01:18:01,080 --> 01:18:03,479 Speaker 1: the makeup effects are of course so convincing. We don't 1388 01:18:03,520 --> 01:18:06,479 Speaker 1: see any kind of like transition effect. It's all you know, 1389 01:18:06,880 --> 01:18:08,839 Speaker 1: checking back in with him and seeing that he's visibly 1390 01:18:08,880 --> 01:18:12,320 Speaker 1: aged and yeah, like he ends up leaving the waiting 1391 01:18:12,400 --> 01:18:13,679 Speaker 1: room a much older man. 1392 01:18:14,200 --> 01:18:17,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, And then as he's leaving, Sarah sees him again 1393 01:18:18,720 --> 01:18:21,760 Speaker 3: and he and he recognizes her, knowing that like she 1394 01:18:21,880 --> 01:18:24,400 Speaker 3: totally blew him off and lied to him earlier, but 1395 01:18:24,560 --> 01:18:28,599 Speaker 3: she sees now that he has visibly rapidly aged since 1396 01:18:28,880 --> 01:18:31,519 Speaker 3: earlier that day, and at this point she tries to 1397 01:18:31,560 --> 01:18:34,120 Speaker 3: apologize and she's like, oh, no, come with me. You know, 1398 01:18:34,160 --> 01:18:36,240 Speaker 3: we'll bring you in for tests, we'll see what's going on. 1399 01:18:36,760 --> 01:18:40,160 Speaker 3: But now John's pride is hurt and he refuses her help. 1400 01:18:40,240 --> 01:18:42,320 Speaker 3: And I think we kind of talked about that earlier, 1401 01:18:42,400 --> 01:18:45,720 Speaker 3: the way that John's personality is represented as kind of 1402 01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:49,800 Speaker 3: when he faces the you know, these extreme troubles, just 1403 01:18:49,880 --> 01:18:54,759 Speaker 3: kind of like taking it inside and pushing it underneath. Yeah. 1404 01:18:54,840 --> 01:18:57,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, like this was his last, his only attempt to 1405 01:18:57,760 --> 01:19:00,519 Speaker 1: like reach out for help, and it did turn out 1406 01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:02,720 Speaker 1: the way he hoped it would, and there's not going 1407 01:19:02,800 --> 01:19:04,200 Speaker 1: to be a second chance for him. 1408 01:19:04,479 --> 01:19:08,080 Speaker 3: Yeah. And then there's a section here where John is 1409 01:19:08,200 --> 01:19:10,639 Speaker 3: you can tell he's hungry, so he's trying to feed. 1410 01:19:10,760 --> 01:19:15,719 Speaker 3: We see him have encountered. He's very rapidly aging, turning 1411 01:19:15,800 --> 01:19:18,960 Speaker 3: old in the course of this single day. And he 1412 01:19:19,200 --> 01:19:21,479 Speaker 3: goes into a bathroom the scene you talked abou where 1413 01:19:21,520 --> 01:19:24,280 Speaker 3: he sees the man I don't know, shaving or whatever 1414 01:19:24,320 --> 01:19:27,080 Speaker 3: in the sink and he's staring at him. I think 1415 01:19:27,080 --> 01:19:29,440 Speaker 3: he tries to attack a skater in a park. 1416 01:19:29,240 --> 01:19:32,680 Speaker 1: But oh, it's a roller skater. Yeah. Yeah, Like they 1417 01:19:32,720 --> 01:19:35,040 Speaker 1: set up this really cool scene where it's like, what's happening? 1418 01:19:35,120 --> 01:19:39,200 Speaker 1: Where are we now? Another music video has started. This 1419 01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:43,639 Speaker 1: guy starts doing some cool skating and then here comes John. 1420 01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:46,280 Speaker 1: Attempts to stab him and drink his blood, but then 1421 01:19:46,280 --> 01:19:48,760 Speaker 1: it doesn't fully pull it off for some reason. 1422 01:19:48,920 --> 01:19:51,720 Speaker 3: So he comes home and then oh no, because he's 1423 01:19:51,720 --> 01:19:55,880 Speaker 3: so old. Now, when the neighbor girl Alice comes over 1424 01:19:56,400 --> 01:19:59,800 Speaker 3: to play music, John has to pretend to be some 1425 01:20:00,040 --> 01:20:02,519 Speaker 3: one else because she won't recognize him he looks so 1426 01:20:02,600 --> 01:20:05,719 Speaker 3: much older. And then even worse when she's in there, 1427 01:20:06,360 --> 01:20:09,320 Speaker 3: he talks her into playing some music for him, and 1428 01:20:09,520 --> 01:20:11,800 Speaker 3: we don't see it. It happens off screen, but we 1429 01:20:11,920 --> 01:20:14,160 Speaker 3: know what. He kills her and drinks her blood. 1430 01:20:14,680 --> 01:20:17,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, And he gets more heartbreaking from there with John, 1431 01:20:18,160 --> 01:20:24,400 Speaker 1: because he just gets progressively older. Miriam is walking this 1432 01:20:24,600 --> 01:20:29,240 Speaker 1: line between comforting him and keeping him at arm's length, 1433 01:20:30,040 --> 01:20:33,759 Speaker 1: and she's having to burn Alice's body in the basement, 1434 01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:37,000 Speaker 1: and then John comes down and he's he's sold at 1435 01:20:37,040 --> 01:20:40,080 Speaker 1: this point. He asks for one more kiss and then 1436 01:20:40,240 --> 01:20:43,439 Speaker 1: he asks if she will kill him, and you know, 1437 01:20:43,680 --> 01:20:48,120 Speaker 1: and and in this and like heartbreakingly she tells him, like, 1438 01:20:48,160 --> 01:20:51,200 Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't work like that, Like, you don't die, 1439 01:20:51,400 --> 01:20:56,320 Speaker 1: you don't get to die. And and again it's maybe 1440 01:20:56,360 --> 01:20:59,600 Speaker 1: a little unclear to what extent he knew this was 1441 01:20:59,640 --> 01:21:02,679 Speaker 1: the case or remembered it was the case. I'm not sure, 1442 01:21:03,479 --> 01:21:06,559 Speaker 1: but yeah, it's quickly made obvious that that, yeah, he's 1443 01:21:06,600 --> 01:21:08,920 Speaker 1: not going to grow old and die, He's just going 1444 01:21:08,960 --> 01:21:13,680 Speaker 1: to grow perpetually older, but have eternal life in a 1445 01:21:14,200 --> 01:21:15,800 Speaker 1: very non glamorous way. 1446 01:21:16,040 --> 01:21:18,719 Speaker 3: That's right. There is no death for a vampire. That's 1447 01:21:18,760 --> 01:21:22,679 Speaker 3: the twist. There is just aging and pain and decay, 1448 01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:27,600 Speaker 3: but actually no end. And then in a ooh for me, 1449 01:21:27,680 --> 01:21:31,080 Speaker 3: a hair raising scene where she takes him up to 1450 01:21:31,160 --> 01:21:36,479 Speaker 3: the attic and she deposits his aging body inside a 1451 01:21:36,520 --> 01:21:41,600 Speaker 3: coffin next to this huge stack of other coffins that 1452 01:21:41,720 --> 01:21:46,439 Speaker 3: are filled with Miriam's previous lovers, all of whom are 1453 01:21:46,520 --> 01:21:50,360 Speaker 3: reduced to husks inside the coffins, but are not gone. 1454 01:21:50,439 --> 01:21:55,200 Speaker 3: They are all still conscious inside, and she bids her 1455 01:21:55,280 --> 01:21:58,240 Speaker 3: other previous lovers to keep him company and to treat 1456 01:21:58,280 --> 01:21:59,480 Speaker 3: him with kindness. 1457 01:21:59,760 --> 01:22:03,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, very haunting. Yeah, thousands of years worth of 1458 01:22:04,240 --> 01:22:07,040 Speaker 1: lovers here stored away in neat little stacks. 1459 01:22:16,200 --> 01:22:19,360 Speaker 3: So here the story switches. Miriam is left alone, and 1460 01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:23,080 Speaker 3: who should come to the house now, but Sarah, Sarah, 1461 01:22:23,160 --> 01:22:27,600 Speaker 3: the researcher, the gerontologist. Her initial line of inquiry is 1462 01:22:27,720 --> 01:22:31,840 Speaker 3: where is John. She somehow got his address, and she 1463 01:22:32,080 --> 01:22:35,799 Speaker 3: is trying to find him because obviously somebody who's aging 1464 01:22:35,800 --> 01:22:39,360 Speaker 3: as rapidly as him would be of interest to her research. 1465 01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:44,120 Speaker 3: Miriam initially tells tell Sarah that he went to Switzerland. 1466 01:22:44,200 --> 01:22:46,760 Speaker 3: I think so she thinks he's at a clinic there. 1467 01:22:47,240 --> 01:22:50,200 Speaker 3: But she comes in and she begins to get to 1468 01:22:50,280 --> 01:22:54,320 Speaker 3: know Miriam. And this is where the story takes a 1469 01:22:54,360 --> 01:22:59,800 Speaker 3: really different kind of turn, because I think the way again, 1470 01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:03,360 Speaker 3: Miriam is often presented in a kind of ambiguous way. 1471 01:23:03,400 --> 01:23:06,760 Speaker 3: We don't always know exactly what she's feeling. She's more 1472 01:23:06,800 --> 01:23:11,559 Speaker 3: hard to scrutinize than many of the human characters. But 1473 01:23:11,800 --> 01:23:16,920 Speaker 3: I suspect that the implication is that Miriam is now lonely, 1474 01:23:17,560 --> 01:23:19,840 Speaker 3: because there was the idea, of course, she had John, 1475 01:23:19,960 --> 01:23:23,000 Speaker 3: and she loved John. And there was also the implication 1476 01:23:24,200 --> 01:23:28,400 Speaker 3: that she and John discussed that maybe one day, when 1477 01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:31,639 Speaker 3: Alice was older, she would turn Alice into a vampire 1478 01:23:31,680 --> 01:23:35,400 Speaker 3: as well, and she would become her new companion, and 1479 01:23:35,439 --> 01:23:38,040 Speaker 3: she'd been thinking about this, but of course John killed 1480 01:23:38,080 --> 01:23:42,439 Speaker 3: Alice and drank her blood. So now Miriam really doesn't 1481 01:23:42,479 --> 01:23:44,160 Speaker 3: seem to have a friend in the world. 1482 01:23:44,760 --> 01:23:48,240 Speaker 1: But then, oh, here's Sarah, and Sarah has a lot 1483 01:23:48,240 --> 01:23:51,640 Speaker 1: of things going for and there is an opening in 1484 01:23:51,680 --> 01:23:54,760 Speaker 1: the significant other market here in Miriam's. 1485 01:23:54,320 --> 01:23:57,400 Speaker 3: House that's right now, somewhere in here, I think. Actually, 1486 01:23:57,439 --> 01:24:01,400 Speaker 3: Sarah comes twice to visit in between their two visits, 1487 01:24:01,439 --> 01:24:03,760 Speaker 3: I think, or when the cops come to investigate, and 1488 01:24:03,800 --> 01:24:05,520 Speaker 3: this goes absolutely nowhere. 1489 01:24:05,240 --> 01:24:06,040 Speaker 1: Absolutely nowhere. 1490 01:24:06,160 --> 01:24:10,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, but Sarah does eventually come back to visit Miriam again. 1491 01:24:11,160 --> 01:24:13,800 Speaker 3: And here is where things really take a turn. Upon 1492 01:24:13,840 --> 01:24:18,479 Speaker 3: the second visit, it's it becomes increasingly clear that Miriam 1493 01:24:18,560 --> 01:24:23,240 Speaker 3: and Sarah are interested in each other. They are, you know, 1494 01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:27,240 Speaker 3: Miriam is is playing the piano and they're talking about 1495 01:24:27,479 --> 01:24:30,839 Speaker 3: what the music is. Miriam is explaining the piece of music, 1496 01:24:30,960 --> 01:24:34,800 Speaker 3: and Sarah keeps commenting that it sounds like a love song. Yeah. 1497 01:24:34,840 --> 01:24:38,479 Speaker 1: And on this second visit, Sarah also you know, shows 1498 01:24:38,560 --> 01:24:42,400 Speaker 1: up wearing a sexy outfit and it's not long before 1499 01:24:42,439 --> 01:24:46,000 Speaker 1: that outfit gets what some Sherry spilled on it. And 1500 01:24:46,080 --> 01:24:49,160 Speaker 1: you know, things things progress as you might expect. Much 1501 01:24:49,200 --> 01:24:51,120 Speaker 1: is said about the fact that she doesn't even like Sherry. 1502 01:24:51,320 --> 01:24:54,200 Speaker 1: Of course that's the other part. But somehow it's different 1503 01:24:54,240 --> 01:24:58,680 Speaker 1: with Miriam, and and so they they imbbe Now. 1504 01:24:58,760 --> 01:25:02,040 Speaker 3: I guess this leads to the scene that Roger Ebert liked. 1505 01:25:03,439 --> 01:25:07,400 Speaker 3: This is the love scene between Sarah and Miriam, which, 1506 01:25:07,720 --> 01:25:10,439 Speaker 3: as we talked about earlier, it there is a kind 1507 01:25:10,479 --> 01:25:14,800 Speaker 3: of mingling of the of the romantic desire and the 1508 01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:20,280 Speaker 3: desire for blood. And it's pretty clear what Miriam's aims 1509 01:25:20,320 --> 01:25:23,360 Speaker 3: are at this point. Miriam wants not only to drink 1510 01:25:23,400 --> 01:25:26,200 Speaker 3: Sarah's blood, but to give of her blood to Sarah 1511 01:25:26,280 --> 01:25:28,440 Speaker 3: as well, to turn her into a vampire. 1512 01:25:29,120 --> 01:25:30,280 Speaker 1: She wants companionship. 1513 01:25:30,479 --> 01:25:34,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, and so it's this weird dreamlike scene where ultimately 1514 01:25:34,800 --> 01:25:36,760 Speaker 3: I think in this scene they do drink of each 1515 01:25:36,800 --> 01:25:39,720 Speaker 3: other's blood. So there's like a wound in Sarah's arm 1516 01:25:40,120 --> 01:25:43,080 Speaker 3: where she's been pierced by the onk, but she has 1517 01:25:43,200 --> 01:25:45,200 Speaker 3: also taken of Miriam's blood. 1518 01:25:45,800 --> 01:25:49,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, and again this is a very artful, stylish sequence. 1519 01:25:50,400 --> 01:25:54,280 Speaker 1: It's certainly by by today's standards. There's nothing, you know, 1520 01:25:54,600 --> 01:25:56,920 Speaker 1: very explicit about it, though it is it is very 1521 01:25:56,920 --> 01:26:02,439 Speaker 1: erotically charged. And yeah, to Susan's Randon in her comments 1522 01:26:02,439 --> 01:26:03,960 Speaker 1: on you know, says that she thinks it was probably 1523 01:26:03,960 --> 01:26:08,120 Speaker 1: ahead of its time, you know, for eighty three, But yeah, 1524 01:26:08,240 --> 01:26:10,400 Speaker 1: I mean, and to Ebert's point, it is a highly 1525 01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:11,320 Speaker 1: effective sequence. 1526 01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:14,040 Speaker 3: Now we do see Sarah kind of trying to go 1527 01:26:14,240 --> 01:26:16,720 Speaker 3: back to her own, her old life after this, but 1528 01:26:16,760 --> 01:26:18,960 Speaker 3: it's just it's not going to work out at this point. 1529 01:26:19,040 --> 01:26:21,640 Speaker 3: So there are several different scenes. There are scenes of 1530 01:26:21,680 --> 01:26:27,040 Speaker 3: her increasingly tense and failing relationship with Tom, her boyfriend. 1531 01:26:27,120 --> 01:26:29,479 Speaker 3: Like they go out to dinner and they discuss things. 1532 01:26:29,479 --> 01:26:32,280 Speaker 3: Tom airs his suspicions and they you know, they are 1533 01:26:32,280 --> 01:26:35,640 Speaker 3: fighting about that. She doesn't seem to want food for 1534 01:26:35,680 --> 01:26:38,680 Speaker 3: some reason. It's like she orders a steak, but she's like, 1535 01:26:38,920 --> 01:26:40,680 Speaker 3: I can't eat this, and I think it makes her 1536 01:26:40,680 --> 01:26:41,120 Speaker 3: throw up. 1537 01:26:41,200 --> 01:26:45,200 Speaker 1: Later, she said them oysters back. There's oysters or muscles 1538 01:26:45,200 --> 01:26:47,280 Speaker 1: every see, but she sent them back and he's like, 1539 01:26:47,320 --> 01:26:48,360 Speaker 1: I can't believe you did that. 1540 01:26:49,040 --> 01:26:52,800 Speaker 3: Also, she starts doing some tests on herself in the 1541 01:26:52,880 --> 01:26:58,880 Speaker 3: laboratory and their colleague, Charlie, he explains what's going on. 1542 01:26:58,960 --> 01:27:01,960 Speaker 3: He's like, whoops, well, looking at your blood. We see 1543 01:27:02,000 --> 01:27:04,439 Speaker 3: that you actually have some kind of alien blood in you. 1544 01:27:04,640 --> 01:27:07,320 Speaker 3: There's you, there's you blood, and then there's some other 1545 01:27:07,520 --> 01:27:10,840 Speaker 3: non human kind of blood, and they're fighting for dominance 1546 01:27:10,880 --> 01:27:13,120 Speaker 3: within your veins, and the other blood is winning. 1547 01:27:13,680 --> 01:27:17,839 Speaker 1: And so in this Sarah is feeling the titular hunger. 1548 01:27:19,280 --> 01:27:24,240 Speaker 1: She is craving the blood. She is herself becoming a vampire, 1549 01:27:24,880 --> 01:27:29,080 Speaker 1: and like Miriam needs to feed, but she doesn't know 1550 01:27:29,080 --> 01:27:30,960 Speaker 1: how to do any of these things. She needs Miriam's 1551 01:27:31,000 --> 01:27:36,120 Speaker 1: guidance in order to fully transition into this life as 1552 01:27:36,160 --> 01:27:37,000 Speaker 1: a creature of the night. 1553 01:27:37,560 --> 01:27:40,200 Speaker 3: That's right. So there's more negotiation on these fronts. We 1554 01:27:40,240 --> 01:27:43,640 Speaker 3: see that Sarah is not immediately into the idea of 1555 01:27:44,400 --> 01:27:48,120 Speaker 3: drinking blood to survive, but she kind of ends up 1556 01:27:48,200 --> 01:27:50,600 Speaker 3: without a choice and it doesn't she so she's like 1557 01:27:50,680 --> 01:27:55,120 Speaker 3: extremely weakened and she ends up staying at Miriam's house 1558 01:27:55,160 --> 01:27:57,519 Speaker 3: and she's like in a bed there and at one 1559 01:27:57,560 --> 01:28:00,639 Speaker 3: point they have more interactions, but eventually Miriam's look, I'm 1560 01:28:00,640 --> 01:28:02,760 Speaker 3: gonna do the work. I'm gonna show you what to do. 1561 01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:05,360 Speaker 3: I'll go get a guy, and so she goes and 1562 01:28:05,400 --> 01:28:07,120 Speaker 3: there's like a great scene where she goes out and 1563 01:28:07,160 --> 01:28:11,680 Speaker 3: gets a guy wearing sunglasses at night and brings him 1564 01:28:11,720 --> 01:28:15,280 Speaker 3: back to the house for Susan Sarandon to eat. 1565 01:28:15,640 --> 01:28:18,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the Jiggolow character. And boy, they really 1566 01:28:18,360 --> 01:28:20,000 Speaker 1: went out of their ways to make sure you were 1567 01:28:20,080 --> 01:28:22,960 Speaker 1: okay with this dude getting fanged. Were not actually fanged? 1568 01:28:23,000 --> 01:28:26,559 Speaker 1: Honked and drained because he's like, he's rude, he's looking 1569 01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:28,479 Speaker 1: in the liquor cruit cabinet and he like spits his 1570 01:28:28,920 --> 01:28:32,720 Speaker 1: chewing gum out in Miriam's apartment. So we're like, we're 1571 01:28:32,800 --> 01:28:35,080 Speaker 1: totally okay with this guy getting it, and it doesn't 1572 01:28:35,120 --> 01:28:37,040 Speaker 1: take long before he does get it. 1573 01:28:37,960 --> 01:28:40,280 Speaker 3: So at this point you might be assuming, okay, well, 1574 01:28:40,400 --> 01:28:44,120 Speaker 3: is Sarah just going to embrace the new lifestyle? Is Sarah? 1575 01:28:44,600 --> 01:28:47,519 Speaker 3: This is what I am now. I am Miriam's vampire lover. 1576 01:28:47,960 --> 01:28:50,439 Speaker 3: I am her vampire spawn. I can have eternal youth, 1577 01:28:50,520 --> 01:28:53,000 Speaker 3: and I just need to pick up people at the 1578 01:28:53,000 --> 01:28:55,519 Speaker 3: goth club, bring him back here and drink their blood. 1579 01:28:55,520 --> 01:28:57,200 Speaker 3: And that's what we're gonna do for I don't know 1580 01:28:57,240 --> 01:29:00,559 Speaker 3: however long it takes. I don't recall does she get 1581 01:29:00,600 --> 01:29:04,320 Speaker 3: any indication of that what happened to John will also 1582 01:29:04,479 --> 01:29:06,720 Speaker 3: happen to her eventually do they talk about that. 1583 01:29:07,080 --> 01:29:09,519 Speaker 1: I don't know that they talk about it at all, No, 1584 01:29:09,760 --> 01:29:13,479 Speaker 1: But I mean, obviously we the viewer knows that that 1585 01:29:13,520 --> 01:29:16,880 Speaker 1: would be the end result, you know, some centuries down 1586 01:29:16,920 --> 01:29:17,439 Speaker 1: the line. 1587 01:29:17,840 --> 01:29:22,040 Speaker 3: But instead of the full embrace of what happens, there 1588 01:29:22,120 --> 01:29:27,479 Speaker 3: is a twist. Sarah proves a more recalcitrant, yeah, kind 1589 01:29:27,520 --> 01:29:32,400 Speaker 3: of new Vampa. There's something more of her original humanity 1590 01:29:32,520 --> 01:29:36,799 Speaker 3: left than it seems like happened with any of Miriam's 1591 01:29:36,800 --> 01:29:41,760 Speaker 3: previous lovers. So instead of fully embracing the new lifestyle, 1592 01:29:41,960 --> 01:29:46,320 Speaker 3: there's a confrontation and a big terrible climax. Now I 1593 01:29:46,360 --> 01:29:48,880 Speaker 3: forget exactly how it is triggered. What is it that 1594 01:29:48,960 --> 01:29:52,760 Speaker 3: Sarah does that ends up with Miriam like carrying her 1595 01:29:52,840 --> 01:29:55,760 Speaker 3: upstairs to like rapidly put her away with the other 1596 01:29:56,000 --> 01:30:00,240 Speaker 3: old lovers. Is it that she tries to make Miriam 1597 01:30:00,280 --> 01:30:01,240 Speaker 3: drink her blood. 1598 01:30:02,160 --> 01:30:04,720 Speaker 1: I'm a little unsure about how what exactly happens in 1599 01:30:04,760 --> 01:30:08,879 Speaker 1: this moment, but she ends up stabbing herself with the ank. Yeah, 1600 01:30:08,960 --> 01:30:11,439 Speaker 1: during a very close embrace, one of these embraces where 1601 01:30:11,479 --> 01:30:14,240 Speaker 1: you're not sure at first who is stabbed by and 1602 01:30:14,280 --> 01:30:18,599 Speaker 1: who does the stabbing, But yeah, she stabs herself, and 1603 01:30:18,640 --> 01:30:21,160 Speaker 1: then Miriam is like, well this is you know, she's 1604 01:30:21,200 --> 01:30:23,960 Speaker 1: clearly heartbroken by this. You know, she clearly had very 1605 01:30:23,960 --> 01:30:27,560 Speaker 1: strong feelings for Sarah and saw a future with Sarah. 1606 01:30:27,600 --> 01:30:29,800 Speaker 1: But now she's going to have to take Sarah up 1607 01:30:29,840 --> 01:30:32,280 Speaker 1: to the attic and file her away with the others. 1608 01:30:32,600 --> 01:30:36,000 Speaker 3: Right, But then it is revenge of the zombies. The 1609 01:30:36,040 --> 01:30:42,040 Speaker 3: ex lovers emerge in their withered, dusty husk forms and 1610 01:30:42,080 --> 01:30:45,360 Speaker 3: they all come out and they they take their vengeance 1611 01:30:45,560 --> 01:30:47,920 Speaker 3: or should it be thought of as vengeance, I don't 1612 01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:50,559 Speaker 3: know exactly what you how you frame it, but they 1613 01:30:50,720 --> 01:30:54,719 Speaker 3: they surround and attack Miriam and destroy her. 1614 01:30:55,520 --> 01:30:58,640 Speaker 1: There are so many places in this film where I 1615 01:30:58,640 --> 01:31:02,160 Speaker 1: feel like a lesser film would have gone in a 1616 01:31:02,200 --> 01:31:05,360 Speaker 1: different direction. I think there's certain pitfalls that a movie 1617 01:31:05,400 --> 01:31:07,920 Speaker 1: like this might have naturally veered into. And I think 1618 01:31:08,080 --> 01:31:10,120 Speaker 1: this is a key example. I think in a lesser picture, 1619 01:31:10,160 --> 01:31:12,639 Speaker 1: it would have been a pure vengeance of the zombies, 1620 01:31:12,680 --> 01:31:15,320 Speaker 1: like they would have attacked her, torn her apart or something. 1621 01:31:16,439 --> 01:31:19,160 Speaker 1: It's because the yeah, the undying husks of her former 1622 01:31:19,200 --> 01:31:22,160 Speaker 1: lovers do come out of their boxes. Yeah, And I 1623 01:31:22,160 --> 01:31:24,600 Speaker 1: think a lesser film might have had them be a 1624 01:31:24,680 --> 01:31:27,960 Speaker 1: direct physical cause of Miriam's demise. You know, she would 1625 01:31:27,960 --> 01:31:30,439 Speaker 1: have been torn apart by her demons in a literal fashion. 1626 01:31:31,400 --> 01:31:33,439 Speaker 1: But if we wouldn't have fit here because you know, 1627 01:31:33,520 --> 01:31:37,639 Speaker 1: set lovingly aside, they still love her, they still pine 1628 01:31:37,680 --> 01:31:40,920 Speaker 1: for her. I don't think they would intentionally hurt her still, 1629 01:31:41,000 --> 01:31:45,479 Speaker 1: even in the reduced state. Plus, though they're longing is strong, 1630 01:31:45,600 --> 01:31:48,519 Speaker 1: they're physically quite weak and powerless, like they're almost dust 1631 01:31:49,040 --> 01:31:51,519 Speaker 1: at this point. What could they do? And she clearly 1632 01:31:51,560 --> 01:31:57,000 Speaker 1: has heightened strength. So instead it feels more like it's 1633 01:31:57,000 --> 01:31:59,559 Speaker 1: like it's not as much it's their presence, certainly, but 1634 01:31:59,600 --> 01:32:02,680 Speaker 1: it's also the cumulative guilt of it all that overcomes 1635 01:32:02,720 --> 01:32:06,640 Speaker 1: Miriam and leads to what appears to be her physical 1636 01:32:06,720 --> 01:32:10,120 Speaker 1: death or physical demise, and this ends up ending the 1637 01:32:10,200 --> 01:32:13,639 Speaker 1: cursed existence of her thralls, like they finally crumble to dust. 1638 01:32:13,960 --> 01:32:18,080 Speaker 3: It is not exactly clear what the mechanism, what all 1639 01:32:18,160 --> 01:32:20,280 Speaker 3: is going on here, but it feels like it works. 1640 01:32:21,680 --> 01:32:24,920 Speaker 3: I will say after this, I mean, it's curious to 1641 01:32:25,120 --> 01:32:27,000 Speaker 3: because this is not quite the end of the film. 1642 01:32:27,040 --> 01:32:29,040 Speaker 3: We also see something else with Sarah, don't we. 1643 01:32:29,840 --> 01:32:33,360 Speaker 1: That's right, because I really at this point in the picture. 1644 01:32:33,400 --> 01:32:35,960 Speaker 1: I thought Sarah was dead. I thought she killed herself 1645 01:32:36,400 --> 01:32:38,920 Speaker 1: via the unk, that's why she was being filed away. 1646 01:32:40,280 --> 01:32:43,000 Speaker 1: But you know, at the end we get this really 1647 01:32:43,040 --> 01:32:47,559 Speaker 1: excellent sequence where we see Sarah standing on in the 1648 01:32:47,560 --> 01:32:50,439 Speaker 1: balcony of this like modern high rise in what I 1649 01:32:50,439 --> 01:32:54,200 Speaker 1: believe is London. And it's quite quite fetching because you 1650 01:32:54,240 --> 01:32:57,040 Speaker 1: have the varied and at times quite old bits of 1651 01:32:57,160 --> 01:32:59,519 Speaker 1: architecture visible in the city, you know, so it kind of, 1652 01:33:00,160 --> 01:33:03,040 Speaker 1: you know, it kind of meshes nicely with this idea 1653 01:33:03,200 --> 01:33:07,439 Speaker 1: of empiric life. But Mike, I had several questions, like, Okay, 1654 01:33:07,560 --> 01:33:10,080 Speaker 1: is Sarah a vampire now or is she free of 1655 01:33:10,120 --> 01:33:12,960 Speaker 1: the curse completely? In his mortal again? Did she? Or 1656 01:33:13,080 --> 01:33:15,120 Speaker 1: you know, did she dodge the fate and the curse? 1657 01:33:16,080 --> 01:33:19,240 Speaker 1: Has the experience unlocked some key into her own research? 1658 01:33:19,320 --> 01:33:21,360 Speaker 1: I assume she's keeping going with her work, but is 1659 01:33:21,400 --> 01:33:23,240 Speaker 1: it going to take a new turn now that she 1660 01:33:23,400 --> 01:33:26,840 Speaker 1: has has either been a vampire or partially been a 1661 01:33:26,880 --> 01:33:30,400 Speaker 1: vampire or is still a vampire? We don't know. We're 1662 01:33:30,479 --> 01:33:32,559 Speaker 1: left to ponder it. And what happened to Miriam, Like 1663 01:33:33,080 --> 01:33:36,800 Speaker 1: is Miriam completely destroyed or is she in one of 1664 01:33:36,800 --> 01:33:37,559 Speaker 1: the boxes now? 1665 01:33:38,520 --> 01:33:41,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, good question. Yeah, so a lot of questions 1666 01:33:41,800 --> 01:33:44,280 Speaker 3: left open at the ending, and I don't know exactly 1667 01:33:44,280 --> 01:33:48,760 Speaker 3: how to interpret it. But but yeah, despite I don't 1668 01:33:48,800 --> 01:33:50,439 Speaker 3: know exactly what to say about the ending, but I 1669 01:33:50,920 --> 01:33:52,080 Speaker 3: love the film overall. 1670 01:33:53,360 --> 01:33:56,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was quite impressed with it, you know, 1671 01:33:57,280 --> 01:33:59,080 Speaker 1: I like you. I kind of thought the first ten minutes, 1672 01:33:59,080 --> 01:34:00,920 Speaker 1: we're going to set the tone for the entire picture, 1673 01:34:01,200 --> 01:34:03,439 Speaker 1: and it ended up being a much more poignant and 1674 01:34:03,439 --> 01:34:05,320 Speaker 1: thought provoking motion picture overall. 1675 01:34:05,880 --> 01:34:07,840 Speaker 3: One last thing I wanted to mention before we wrap 1676 01:34:07,920 --> 01:34:09,919 Speaker 3: up here, and it was the thought about the interaction 1677 01:34:10,040 --> 01:34:14,439 Speaker 3: between the vampire themes of the story and the and 1678 01:34:14,520 --> 01:34:17,439 Speaker 3: a common thing that's true about well, I was going 1679 01:34:17,520 --> 01:34:19,920 Speaker 3: to say love stories and movies, but actually just love 1680 01:34:20,000 --> 01:34:23,519 Speaker 3: in real life, and that is the way that the 1681 01:34:23,640 --> 01:34:27,599 Speaker 3: vampire setting really helps the us against the world feeling 1682 01:34:27,640 --> 01:34:31,519 Speaker 3: of being in love. I'm not the first person to 1683 01:34:31,560 --> 01:34:33,200 Speaker 3: point this out, of course, you know, this is a 1684 01:34:33,200 --> 01:34:36,720 Speaker 3: commonly observed thing, but there is a way in which 1685 01:34:36,920 --> 01:34:42,519 Speaker 3: true love really kind of it. It does encourage a 1686 01:34:42,600 --> 01:34:45,600 Speaker 3: kind of contempt for like the rest of reality. You 1687 01:34:45,600 --> 01:34:49,920 Speaker 3: know that when people are in love, they like to talk, 1688 01:34:50,200 --> 01:34:52,280 Speaker 3: you know, like to you know, to say mean things 1689 01:34:52,320 --> 01:34:55,240 Speaker 3: about other people to each other and to kind of 1690 01:34:55,280 --> 01:34:58,479 Speaker 3: be in a conspiracy. When people are in love, they 1691 01:34:58,600 --> 01:35:03,559 Speaker 3: like to do kind of selfish or irresponsible things against 1692 01:35:03,640 --> 01:35:07,200 Speaker 3: other people outside of that two person conspiracy, it's just 1693 01:35:07,280 --> 01:35:10,719 Speaker 3: kind of it happens naturally. I don't know exactly why 1694 01:35:10,760 --> 01:35:12,559 Speaker 3: that is, but it just seems to be a thing 1695 01:35:12,640 --> 01:35:16,280 Speaker 3: that flows naturally from this two person bond. And that 1696 01:35:16,400 --> 01:35:19,080 Speaker 3: works so well when your two characters are vampires, because 1697 01:35:19,080 --> 01:35:22,080 Speaker 3: that's exactly the mechanic of the story. It's like we 1698 01:35:22,439 --> 01:35:25,840 Speaker 3: together are in on this great secret. We're working this little, 1699 01:35:26,000 --> 01:35:28,400 Speaker 3: this little blood conspiracy. And so we can go out 1700 01:35:28,400 --> 01:35:30,840 Speaker 3: to the club and only you and I are in 1701 01:35:30,880 --> 01:35:32,960 Speaker 3: on the joke that the people that we bring home 1702 01:35:33,080 --> 01:35:34,880 Speaker 3: or that we're just going to kill them, and you know, 1703 01:35:34,920 --> 01:35:38,559 Speaker 3: their bodies end up in the incinerator. And you know, 1704 01:35:38,600 --> 01:35:41,160 Speaker 3: so we've talked about that us against the world quality 1705 01:35:41,240 --> 01:35:43,880 Speaker 3: in other great love movies we've done before. It's kind 1706 01:35:43,880 --> 01:35:48,080 Speaker 3: of there totally different themes, but they're in a danger diabolic, 1707 01:35:48,160 --> 01:35:50,559 Speaker 3: you know, the way that the two lovers are in 1708 01:35:50,600 --> 01:35:54,040 Speaker 3: on crimes together. Uh and and the same thing as 1709 01:35:54,120 --> 01:35:59,280 Speaker 3: present here, and that is such a fun and mysterious 1710 01:35:59,320 --> 01:36:02,479 Speaker 3: and interesting dynamic, Like it's funny to see it play 1711 01:36:02,520 --> 01:36:06,320 Speaker 3: out and it feels good, but it also just raises 1712 01:36:06,360 --> 01:36:09,400 Speaker 3: these questions like why is that so common that people 1713 01:36:09,439 --> 01:36:11,760 Speaker 3: feel and act that way when they're in love? Like 1714 01:36:12,080 --> 01:36:14,240 Speaker 3: what is it about being in love that does that 1715 01:36:14,320 --> 01:36:16,400 Speaker 3: to us? It kind of kind of makes us bad 1716 01:36:16,479 --> 01:36:17,599 Speaker 3: to the rest of the world. 1717 01:36:18,240 --> 01:36:21,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess that's one of the appeals of paranormal 1718 01:36:22,560 --> 01:36:27,800 Speaker 1: romances and paranormal love stories, because the experience of being 1719 01:36:27,840 --> 01:36:30,240 Speaker 1: in love, the experience of being in a romance does 1720 01:36:30,280 --> 01:36:33,200 Speaker 1: feel supernatural. It does have that kind of energy to it. 1721 01:36:33,280 --> 01:36:36,080 Speaker 1: You know, you're not it feels like you have fallen 1722 01:36:36,120 --> 01:36:38,840 Speaker 1: in love with a vampire or a werewolf or a 1723 01:36:38,880 --> 01:36:42,479 Speaker 1: sasquatch or a centaur, you know whatever. You know, your 1724 01:36:42,760 --> 01:36:46,639 Speaker 1: interest happens to be on the page or on the screen. 1725 01:36:47,240 --> 01:36:49,400 Speaker 3: All right, Well, Happy Valentine's Day everybody. 1726 01:36:51,160 --> 01:36:53,920 Speaker 1: All right, just a reminder to everybody that's stuffed. To 1727 01:36:53,960 --> 01:36:56,439 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind is primarily a science and culture podcast 1728 01:36:56,479 --> 01:36:59,080 Speaker 1: with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Fridays 1729 01:36:59,320 --> 01:37:01,519 Speaker 1: we set aside most serious concerns to just talk about 1730 01:37:01,520 --> 01:37:04,559 Speaker 1: a weird film here on Weird House Cinema. If you 1731 01:37:04,640 --> 01:37:06,280 Speaker 1: want to check out a list of all the movies 1732 01:37:06,320 --> 01:37:08,280 Speaker 1: we've covered over the years, and sometimes a peek ahead 1733 01:37:08,280 --> 01:37:11,240 Speaker 1: of what comes next, you can go to letterbox dot com. 1734 01:37:11,439 --> 01:37:14,439 Speaker 1: Our user name there is weird House, and you'll find 1735 01:37:14,439 --> 01:37:16,599 Speaker 1: a nice list of everything. And of course you can 1736 01:37:16,600 --> 01:37:19,040 Speaker 1: write into us as well let us know what vampire 1737 01:37:19,040 --> 01:37:21,880 Speaker 1: film we should do next. You know, sometimes weeks ahead 1738 01:37:21,880 --> 01:37:24,080 Speaker 1: we're gonna do some other non vampire films for sure, 1739 01:37:24,120 --> 01:37:26,879 Speaker 1: but we'll keep coming back to vampires and were wolves 1740 01:37:26,880 --> 01:37:27,719 Speaker 1: and mummies. 1741 01:37:28,000 --> 01:37:31,439 Speaker 3: It's inevitable huge things. As always to our excellent audio 1742 01:37:31,479 --> 01:37:34,400 Speaker 3: producer Jjposway. If you would like to get in touch 1743 01:37:34,400 --> 01:37:36,400 Speaker 3: with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 1744 01:37:36,479 --> 01:37:39,160 Speaker 3: to suggest topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1745 01:37:39,280 --> 01:37:41,880 Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1746 01:37:41,880 --> 01:37:49,400 Speaker 3: your Mind dot com. 1747 01:37:49,520 --> 01:37:52,479 Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1748 01:37:52,560 --> 01:37:55,360 Speaker 2: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1749 01:37:55,520 --> 01:38:00,200 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.