WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Message From Space 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:10.080 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:17.000 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is Rob. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.880 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we got a 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.599 firecracker for you. We're going to be talking about message 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:28.280 from Space. So I suggested doing this on the show 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:30.960 after I think it was like a week or two ago, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.360 there was one night where I was cooking and we 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.440 just wanted to put on a movie on mute, and 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.919 we were looking around for various space operas and this 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.440 option came up, this nineteen seventy eight Japanese space opera movie. 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:47.720 It looked kind of interesting, so we set it going 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:52.280 and it was just a powerful and beautiful assault on 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:58.880 the eyes of disco colors, variety show atmosphere and powerful 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.480 adventures in space. And I was so excited to go 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.319 back and actually watch it and it did not disappoint. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.440 Yeah, it's a perfect selection for a weird house cinema. Now, 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.080 some of you might be asking, what is weird house Cinema. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.440 Maybe you've seen it popping up in the feed of 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.720 Stuff to Blow your Mind to Science and Culture podcast. Well, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.920 it is a late Friday night celebration of weird films 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:22.959 and maybe a dash of science and culture as well. 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.440 You can think of these episodes as the mysterious space 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.040 nuts cast off into a science and culture podcast feed 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.120 as a call to adventure for weird film fans. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.720 Okay, so let's start with the elevator pitch on message 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:37.520 from space? What's the deal with this movie? 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.399 Okay? Is a nineteen seventy eight a Japanese space opera 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.240 falling hot on the heels of nineteen seventy seven Star Wars, 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.960 and basically this is the plot in the Andromeda Galaxy, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.560 the peaceful planet of Jelusia has been conquered by the 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:58.000 warrior Gavanas Empire, who then turned the planet into a 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:02.160 weapon like turn it into a spaceship. The Glusians are peaceful, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:03.680 but they need some help. So what do they do? 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.880 They cast out eight space nuts what are they? Liabe 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.160 seeds to call forth the warriors who will save them 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.639 and ultimately save the Earth as well. 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.280 There is so much examining of nuts in this movie, 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.320 people just holding nuts up to the light and talking 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:21.240 about their nuts. 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.120 Yeah, and it's important to note that these nuts glow 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.040 and with magic. These nuts also just randomly appear. You 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.359 might be about to eat a tomato and whoa, there's 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.320 suddenly a space nut in there. You're drinking your eighth 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.400 bourbon of the day and WHOA, suddenly there's a space 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:40.040 nut in there. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.919 Yeah. So I think we should start with the obvious thing, 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.080 which is that this is a ripoff of Star Wars. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.800 This came out in nineteen seventy eight. But it's more 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.160 than a ripoff of Star Wars. It's also a very 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.880 zesty expression of sets and costumes and disco love and 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.920 it has a fabulous energy to it. But it is 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.680 a ripoff of Star Wars. Like so many other films 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:05.840 in the late seventies, after Star Wars came out You've 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.000 Got a Star Crash one of my favorites, there were 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.600 a lot of different Star Wars clones created in different 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.120 countries around the world. There's famously Turkish Star Wars. I 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:18.120 know there are some others. 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:23.160 Battlestar Galactica can kind of be thrown into this general category. Yeah, 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.840 I think it is important to compare it to these 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.840 other films, because, for instance, Turkish Star Wars is a 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:35.000 ridiculous film that actually takes footage from Star Wars and 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.320 uses it in the film, So there's like that level 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.680 of ripping off Star Wars. There's Star Crash, which Star 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.120 Crash is a lot of fun. This one, Let's see 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:50.720 It had David Hasselhoff, Christopher Plummer, Caroline Monroe in it. 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:56.160 But it's entertaining, but it also just feels kind of 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.280 shoddy the whole way through. It feels very much like 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:00.520 a ripoff, you know, I mean. 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.640 Yeah, the script feels very much like a first draft. 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.520 There's a great scene where the movie has Marjo Gortner 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.120 in it, who is an actor with a unbelievably weird 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.040 life story. He was like a child tent revival preacher 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.719 when he was I don't know, seven years old or something, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:20.640 and then he dropped out. I think he went into 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.200 the the hippie movement and tried to emerge it to 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.560 have an acting career. So he's in this movie, as 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.040 I don't know, as a space hero who's got like 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:34.200 a like a ring that blasts people with lasers. And 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.360 there's a great scene where he's fighting a bad guy 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.480 and he says, these deadly rays will be your death. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.560 Yeah, it's a It's a fun film in and of itself, 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.599 but I feel like it is important to sort of 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.680 pit to to pinpoint Turkish Star Wars and Star Crash 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.320 and then talk about Message from Space because Message from 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.760 Space again very much trying to cash in on the 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:03.040 Star Wars craze. But it is it is weird enough 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.920 in its own right, and it is it is different 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.160 enough and just enough ways to where it does feel 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.880 like a self contained, weird universe. I mean, there are 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.720 times in the film where it does come just a 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.560 little a little too close to Star Wars and you 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.400 can't help but snicker at it. But there's just other 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:23.880 just crazy stuff in this film. 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.599 Well, I mean, it definitely gets close when you're getting 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.000 into the character names such as Sonny Chiba playing Prince 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.839 Hans and I can't remember the actress's name at the moment, 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.800 but you have Princess May in the movie and it, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:39.640 I mean you can see where they're going. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:45.400 Yeah, there's also a there's a particular musical number that 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.320 keeps playing in the film that is like as close 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.840 as possible to John Williams Star Wars as you could get. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.400 Maybe too close, I don't know, it feels just way 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:56.040 too close. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.000 No, no, no, The very opening of this movie of mess 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.640 It's from Space, begins with the Princess Leiah theme from 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:04.840 Star Wars. I mean it's not exactly, but like the 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.159 first five or six notes of the melody are identical, 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.200 and then after that it's still pretty similar, but there 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.719 are little variations. So you remember the Princess Leiah theme 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.960 it plays, you know, and and that just comes again 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.480 and again throughout the movie. You have what are obviously 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.880 storm troopers in this movie, but they're kind of metal 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:28.040 instead of white. 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.600 Well, I will say the storm troopers look really awesome 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.320 in this They do seem to have two varieties. You 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.920 have these the sort of you've referred to them as 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.440 like crab hat troopers, and they look really cool because 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.760 they have this kind of space Samurai motif and granted, 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.640 and Samurai motif is part of the armor motif in 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.359 Star Wars itself, but here it is it is created 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.760 by by you know, Japanese costume crews, and it seems 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.760 to take on its own kind of uh, you know, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.159 futuristic air. And then they're also the I think far 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.640 more terrifying stormtroopers that tend to be in the background 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.080 behind those guys with these heavy gas masks on and 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.880 they they look they look really cool, like I was 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:12.960 seeing that they have like a real Death Trooper vibe 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.600 to them. And of course this film Message from Space 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:20.680 is also just filled to the gills with space battles, 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.680 lots of model spaceships, but really well done. I mean 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.280 they were Star Wars. We have to remember nineteen seventy seven. 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.760 Star Wars like really broke through and created like a 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:39.200 new standard for miniature based space action special effects. And 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.320 this film does not equal that level of special effects, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.480 but I feel like it it manages to reach a 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.600 very comfortable level, like the people who did this were 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.040 not figuring out for the figuring it out for the 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.040 first time, so the you know, the explosions, the scale 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:59.920 model use, it looks really good in my view, made 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.480 not the Star Wars level, but but a comfortable level 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:03.400 a few steps below. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.920 I think there are a certain type of sci fi 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:13.240 space practical effects, especially using miniatures and models, that are 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:18.360 really effective despite not looking realistic. They're effective in the 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.840 same way the sets of the Cabinet of Doctor Kaligari are. 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.840 So you might have sets in a German expressionist movie 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.720 that don't look at all like reality they are expressive, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.320 they're they're a work of art. And the special effects 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:33.520 in these types of sci fi movies I think are 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.440 sort of like that. They're you know, you're not going 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.160 to think, wow, is that a real spaceship flying through space? 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:39.880 But they're they're beautiful nonetheless. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.160 Yeah, And and I'll say two other things. One about 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.200 just the way the set. The sets are fantastic in 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:49.480 this film. They're huge, and they often feel like what 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.800 if you had a Star Wars or a Flash Gordon, 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.680 you know, space opera set, and then a disco paintball 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.760 bomb went off, yes, and colored everything. You feel like 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.280 you're in a kaleidoscope at times. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:07.079 Yes, if you throw all together Star Wars, Disco seventies 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:12.320 Variety show and Japanese decorative motifs all together, and it 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.120 creates something that is really fabulous to look at throughout. 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.679 I'll also say that all of the acting in this 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:23.840 film is terrific. Everybody seems to be playing their character 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:29.880 as if that character is consistently slightly too drunk, and 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.120 it's it's fabulous. It creates this kind of unhinged vibe. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.679 And it also there are plot choices that seem to 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.000 work well with this, with this kind of vibe, because generally, 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.480 in a film like I'm trying to remember the exact 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.480 you know, prescribed structure, when do your characters usually get 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.640 the call to adventure? And when do they accept that 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:51.600 call to adventure? 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.320 Oh? Well, you know, in the classic story, you would 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.960 say in Star Wars, it's the hero's journey, right, it's 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.880 very Joseph Campbell inspired. So I don't know. I mean, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.320 fifteen minutes in the hero gets the call to adventure, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.840 and then he initially rejects it, but then there's a 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.400 turning point that burns a bridge to his past, and 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.760 then he has to come back and accept the call 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:11.600 the second time. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:17.120 Yeah, meanwhile, message from space. Most of the film is 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:22.440 devoted to people and slowly receiving the call to adventure 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:27.400 and then even more slowly accepting that call. I don't 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.959 think all calls to adventure have been received and accepted 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.400 until like the last twenty minutes of the film. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.160 Oh yeah, Sonny Cheeba doesn't show up until like twenty 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.520 minutes until the end. I can't believe it. And the 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.120 hilarious thing is, so you take an actor who's as 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.720 charismatic and wonderful as Sonny Cheeba, and you say, I 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.480 think the way we should show him is like behind 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.400 a bulky helmet, so you can't really see his face 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.440 in a scene that's like shaded with a red gel, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.600 so in fact, you can't really see anybody's face. It's 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.720 like a really really sad just abuse of sunny Chiba. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.080 But I don't know it works. 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:13.319 Nonetheless, well, before we get into a more detailed discussion 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.000 of who's in this and who made it, why don't 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.480 we have just a little splash of the trailer audio. 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:27.120 Here from a captive planet two million light years away 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:36.480 came a desperate plea for help message runs space on 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.000 the verge of extinction. The leader of the persecuted Delusians 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.160 sends his beautiful granddaughter, who finds the eight legendary brave 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.319 adventurers go alone can stop the annihilation. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:49.960 Do you know where ever it is? 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:51.640 You know where ever lead is? 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.880 What you doing now? I'm a human being from the 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:59.920 planet never before, As the screen erupted with more specta, 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:05.920 more excitement, an international cast headed by Vic Morrole. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.079 I buried my career in. 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:15.679 All it, Babel one can do it. 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.880 Just to see it again and chosen by the Goods. 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.920 I don't know if it comes through in the trailer, 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.440 but I was thinking the original tagline of this film 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:27.719 was Who's shooting it? 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.839 Who? It's a question that may arise during the viewing 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:38.080 of this film, and I did question a number of 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.440 times what the message from space? Actually, I guess the 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.160 space nuts are the message. 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:46.839 From the magic nuts are the message? Yeah, but they 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.080 are the call to adventure. I mean the scenes where 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.280 the characters are discussing and debating the call to adventure 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.840 almost all involved holding up the nuts, examining them, comparing 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.400 their nuts, and everything like that. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.840 Yeah, yeah, it's there's a lot of space nuts in 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.240 this All right, let's talk about some of the people 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.600 involved here. Okay, So first, first of all, let's talk 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:12.240 about the director, Director Kinji of Fukusaku. This is a 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.640 guy lived nineteen thirty through two thousand and three, directed 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:20.319 sixty three projects during his career, and some other titles 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.600 might jump out to more experienced Japanese cinema fans, but 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.360 I think the big one here is probably the movie 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.480 Battle Royale, which came out in the year two thousand. 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.160 Oh, I had no idea this was the same guy. 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.480 Yeah, this was a film. It was kind of like 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.400 a pre Hunger Games kind of Hunger Games thing, kind 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.839 of a mashup of the ideas and Hunger Games and 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.439 Lord of the Flies, in which a futuristic Japanese government 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.360 captures a class of ninth grade students ninth graders and 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.120 forces them to kill each other. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.040 I think there's some kind of implication that this is 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.400 an expression of political authoritarianism. It's like there's an evil 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:05.880 fascist government and the way that they keep the people pacified. 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.400 I guess, so you keep the people from rebelling is 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.120 to force one class of ninth graders to kill each 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.839 other on an island. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.120 that works. It seems to connect to some bread and 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.640 Circus ideas, but yeah, and still not quite clear. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.880 Yeah, I mean it was. It was a controversial film 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.080 upon its release, but it was highly successful, one of 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.080 the top ten highest grossing films in Japan, I understand, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:29.840 and just and a hit around the world. It's one 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.080 I remember watching at some point after its release when 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.800 it kind of you know, made its rounds over here 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.800 in the United States. But yeah, it's an interesting film. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.480 And the other interesting thing is he directed it at 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:47.360 age seventy, like this was really late in his career 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.080 and in his life when he puts out this film 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.200 that I think is is his his greatest achievement in 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.960 terms of reaching an audience and and probably saying something 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.560 too about about you know, the you know, the about 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.680 the culture and government. I have a feeling it probably 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:11.360 speaks more to Japanese film fans than it does to uh, 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.880 you know, Western fans, unless they're you know, you know, 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:18.200 super you know, up to snuff on on you know, 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.120 stylistic choices and you know, the voice of Japanese centem 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.400 et cetera. But it's I remember still finding it to 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.920 be an interesting and disturbing film. I also noted looking 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.640 around at IMDb that he directed the PlayStation two horror 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.600 game clock Tower three. Do you remember this one, Joe? 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.720 I never played this. I never had a PlayStation two 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:37.520 when I was younger. 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.800 Ah, well, I I I had one, and I definitely 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.840 played this game. It was It was a weird survival 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.080 horror game. Your character doesn't even have a weapon most 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.200 of the time, so it's a lot of running away 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.800 from and hiding from monstrous killers. 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.160 Hmm, okay, uh kind of Soma like where you're not 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.000 really fighting, you're just hiding. 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.760 A bit but more but more of a horror theme, 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.280 like more of a this thing is looking for me, 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.360 and you would like try and distract it with other 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.200 things in your environment, So a bit of that. Like, 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:12.520 it definitely has connections to other survival centered horror games 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:13.680 that came out in its wake. 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.320 Interesting. I mean, I wouldn't have predicted that from Message 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.080 from Space, though I don't mean to. I mean, we're 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.240 gonna make a lot of jokes about Message from Space. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.640 But again, I want to emphasize that it I do 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.160 not necessarily think it is a failure. Like it is 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.160 funny and absurd in many ways, but it has a 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:35.120 really strong momentum, It drives forward, and there's real skill 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:36.880 behind the camera in a lot of ways. 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.640 Yeah, it's it's consistently entertaining, it's hard to look away, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.640 and all the performances are wonderful in their own right. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.320 So let's get to one of those performances. 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.800 Oh question, question, Okay, what if you made a Star 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.520 Wars movie but the hero of the movie was Karl 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.400 from Aquitine Hunger Force. Because that's what we've got here. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:04.560 Basically, Yeah, we have Vic Morrow as a general Garuda, 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.280 which is a great name as well, but tying in 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:13.920 a you know, an Asian mythical creature into his title here. Yeah, 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.200 Vic Morrow, I guess you would describe him as Carl esque. 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:21.680 You might describe him as roused our esque or oh, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:26.240 what's the name of the actor your hero from Halloween 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:27.439 three season of The Witch? 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:28.879 Oh, Tom Atkins. 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:34.440 Yeah, that's kind of Tom Atkins vibe as Strawberry Burt Reynolds. Yeah, 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.760 so you've probably seen Vic morro in something. He was 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.919 a staple of film and television for decades, from a 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.840 small part in nineteen fifty five Blackboard Jungle to the 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.200 tragic nineteen eighty three production of Twilight Zone, the movie 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.280 in which a helicopter accident claimed his life and the 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.440 life of a couple of child actors as well. But 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.400 prior to that he was involved in a lot of mainstream, 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.840 often TV projects, and often international projects. And I think 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.440 I probably know him best from some of his appearances 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:13.040 in international B movies all particular note there was both 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:18.480 of them directed by Zog Castellari. The first is nineteen 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:23.880 eighty one's The Last Shark, which is a Jaws ripoff 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.960 an Italian Jar Jaws rip off in which Moro basically 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:29.360 plays Quint from Jaws. 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:31.840 This is funny because it hits on the two big ones. 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.200 Which movie do you think was ripped off? More? Star 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.600 Wars or Jaws? There may be the two most ripped 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.920 off movies in history. Oh maybe add on Aliens those three. 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.280 Yeah, I feel like it's got to be Jaws, because 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.720 with Jaws, all you really need to do is get 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.720 some people in swimsuits at the beach or out on 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.639 the water, and you just have that one special effect 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.440 you've got to shoot for. But the special effects threshold 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.600 is I feel higher with I don't know. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.760 I mean there's a certain threshold with shark movies, and 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.360 the Last Shark does not appear to pass it. They 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.439 have a shark puppet that does does not look good folks. 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.760 It has a kind of funny bulge in its neck 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.680 that gives an almost frog like throat sack kind of appearance, 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.960 but could also be interpreted as just a jowly old man. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.640 Yeah, and I also remember in this one again it's 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.720 it's very Jaws esque, like it feels very much like 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.359 a remake in many respects, But there are scenes where 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.399 the shark is like attacking a boat and it's like 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.879 an explosion, Like they clearly just set off an explosive 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.240 device in a boat to show what the shark's attack 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:42.600 would do. 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.800 There are good scenes like this in Message from Space too, 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.080 though with the scenes where things just blow up for 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.080 no reason. You can tell something gets like hit with 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:52.680 the sword and it blows up. 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:57.320 Yeah. Yeah, if you like explosions, you will love Message 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:57.920 from Space. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:01.800 But the there was another Castellari movie. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.040 Oh yeah yah. He directed a film titled The Bronx Warriors, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.040 which which is fabulous. It was featured on Mystery Science 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.719 Theater three thousand back in the day. It also stars 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.920 one of my favorite Italian B movie actors, George Eastman. 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:22.000 But it's a yeah, post post apocalyptic New York City 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:26.359 hell movie, strongly influenced by Escape from New York and 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.719 The Warriors. It's a fun one to watch because they 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.879 filmed a lot of it in New York City. So 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.440 if you if you have enjoyed going to New York 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.080 in the past and hoped to return in the future 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.120 like me, or perhaps you live there, it's a fun 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.119 It's a fun one to watch because they filmed some 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.800 key scenes out on Roosevelt Island, and you can go 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.359 to Roosevelt Island today. You can take the you can 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.200 even take the cable car over there, and you can 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.560 see some of the very places they filmed, including the 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.480 Wrenwick Ruins, which looked the same today essentially as they 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.440 looked when they filmed The Bronx Warriors. 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.480 I've never thought of this before, but somebody should put 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.480 together a B movie tour of New York. It's just 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.800 all of the best locations and sites from the iconic 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:11.800 B movies we love. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.400 That would be That would be wonderful. There's so much 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:16.600 you could cover, and I imagine a lot of it 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.440 has vanished at this point, but some of it's still there, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.639 like the Renwick Ruins. So anyway, Vic morro is in 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.119 this and he plays a mercenary enforcer named Hammer, which 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.480 I think we can easily trace the DNA of that 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:33.440 character to Escape from New York like it's it's clearly, 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.159 you know, patterned on the Levan Cleef character in Escape 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:37.800 from New York. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:49.160 Oh yeah, okay, now, maybe we should mention a few 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.520 more of the actors. Of course, we've already talked a 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.919 bit about Sonny Cheeba, who is a fabulous actor. I 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.840 think a lot of American audiences might know him best 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:01.000 for some of the later performances in his career in 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:03.840 American movies, like he was in Kill Bill Part one 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.880 playing Torri Hanzo. He's fabulous in that part. He's also 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.000 got a part in The Fast and the Furious three 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.959 Tokyo Drift, which is a beautiful fantasy film. 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:17.720 I was going to ask you about this because I 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:21.199 haven't seen any of the Fast Furious movies, but I 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:23.840 know you were a connoisseur. 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.959 I would say, and I'm not the first to observe this. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.560 Other people have said the same. The best thing to 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:32.600 do with The Fast and the Furious movies is stick 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.080 to the odd numbered ones. So, like, the first one 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.240 is bad, but it has a very seductive place in history. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.359 It evokes this just like pre nine to eleven, you know, 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:48.480