WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Tarantula 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:15.640 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.279 Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and today we're 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.480 doing a classic heat hampered in God's Domain movie. It's 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:29.560 a nineteen fifty atomic age creature feature called Tarantula. Rob. 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.639 This movie was your pick, and I'm so glad you 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.239 picked it. I've never seen it before, but it is 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:39.200 both m hilarious and pretty good for what it is. Yeah, 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.320 I absolutely agree. And it's one that I hadn't seen either, 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.559 but I've been I've been familiar with it for ages. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.040 Because of course, this is one of of many films 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:51.159 classic sci fi and horror films that's referenced in the 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.920 Lyrics to Science Fiction Double feature from the Rocky Art 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.960 Picture Show. It goes a little like this, It goes 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.880 Hi knew Leo G. Care was over a barrel wind 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.680 to Rancholla took to the hills, And that's Leo G. 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.160 Carroll's will discuss is in this film, and the tarantula 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.240 does in fact take to the hills. Now, Leo G. 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.000 Carroll was much more famous for being in Alfred Hitchcock 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.119 thrillers a funny coincidence. Just last week I watched north 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.360 By Northwest for the very first time, and he's in 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.920 that playing a character called the Professor, which is what 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.959 he's called in this movie. Yeah, he has, he had, 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.920 He has a great vibe. He has a very scholarly 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:37.880 atmosphere too, British actor that moved to Hollywood. But yeah, 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.080 this it's interesting because he's not one of these names. 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:44.160 Even though his name is now synonymous with science fiction 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.040 double feature, he's not one of these actors that that 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.320 was really in a ton of B movies. He's really 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.160 really should be more well known for these Hitchcock films. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.600 But Rocky Horror Picture Show has immortalized him in another 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.960 direction as well. Well. I think that's the point of 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.000 the lyric, right, he was over a barrel when so 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.840 I think they're saying, like Leo G. Carroll he was 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.520 having some rough times when he ended up into ranchula. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:08.520 I don't know if that's true. You know, some of 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.919 the times you see an actor more associated with prestigious 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.079 movies ending up in a creature feature, it's like, oh wow, 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.639 they were really slumming it. But other times you get 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.200 the feeling that this was just fun. They decided to 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.680 be fun to do that. I mean, it varies wildly 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.679 depending on the actor, certainly depending on the production. I 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.919 didn't run across anything that said Leo JI Carroll didn't 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:34.160 like the experience, But if he were inclined to dislike 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:36.640 the experience, and he does have to hold a monkey 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.840 and gets eventually covered up with a bunch of makeup, 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.120 so there's plenty of room there where I could imagine 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.520 an actor of his caliber maybe being a little uh 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:51.480 uh disillusioned by his his foray into sci fi B pictures. 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:53.840 Rob he does not only have to hold a monkey, 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.160 he has to catch a monkey, because this movie has 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.799 an exquisite uh monkey jumps care where Leo G. Carroll 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:03.880 is in the middle of the desert in the nighttime, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.200 secretly burying a body in the sand, and then you 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.000 see a figure sneak up behind him. It's like a silhouette. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:11.320 What is it going to be? Is it going to 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:12.840 be a giant spider? Is it going to be a 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.560 monster man? And then turn it's just a little monkey 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.079 and he has to catch it in his arms. It's adorable. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.320 Quick poster note on this one. If you look at 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.600 the original poster that features a giant tarantula, like a 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.760 puppet tarantula, and I think this is an image of 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.520 one of the puppets that was used to some extent 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:34.399 in the film, though a lot of what you see 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.760 is just an actual tarantula. It's made to look like 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.040 it's crawling across the desert hills, but in the poster, 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:42.960 or at least most of the versions of the poster, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.520 it is made to look like it is holding a 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.960 woman in its pinchers. This does not actually happen in 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.400 the movie at all, but it's one of those situations 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.480 where the classic trope of the time was, of course, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.760 show your monster, generally a humanoid monster holding ann conscious woman, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.000 and that was the that was supposed to, you know, 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.520 drawl in the viewers. It was what they came to expect, 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.360 even though nothing like that actually happens in this film. 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.240 There are so many movies like this from the fifties. 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.680 I think of Bride of the Monster, the Edwood movie, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.200 which I think the poster for it showed Bella Legosi, 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.599 who is in the movie carrying an unconscious woman in 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.640 his arms, which he does not do in the movie. 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.880 The Attack of the Crab monsters. Poster has the giant crab, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.600 the giant psychic crab who eats people and gains their knowledge. 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.760 It has a woman in a bathing suit in its claw. 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.359 That never happens in the movie. That puppet never carries anybody. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.719 It does eat people, but it never holds anybody in 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.560 its claws. I used to have these, some of these 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.560 universal trading cards that I think had been my dad's 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:49.719 or something my way back in the day, black and white, 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.320 and they have all these images of classic monsters on them, 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.760 and a lot of them are those monsters either scaring 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.360 a woman or holding an unconscious woman, like we're discussing here. Yeah, 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.600 the way the posters always depict women sort of in peril, 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.400 especially in peril, and a kind of reclined posture I 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.880 think is supposed to be sexually titillating in some ways 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.520 in a way that would be enough to get people's 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.599 attention but also not to get censored. Yeah, yeah, and 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.880 it's you know, at the time, as a child, I 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.159 would look at these and other things. It was almost like, oh, well, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.359 she needs to be carried to bed, and here is 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.599 an ape man to do it. Um. Fun fact, we've 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.160 watched a couple of movies that have the German born 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.560 actress Helga Line you know in them, uh, you know, 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:43.200 the redheaded actor from Horror Rises from the Tomb, as 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.880 well as what was the other film, Aloralized Grasp, Yeah, 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.440 the Looralized Grasp. There's some vampire film. I forget the 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.599 name off hand, but on the front of it, she 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.919 is holding a man in that pose like there's like 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:56.919 a skinny dude and she's holding him up like that. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.520 So it's got a nice gender reversal on the trope. 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.120 That's what I want. I want fifties movie posters that 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.719 are switched like that, where it's the lady carrying a 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.440 giant crab in her arms. That would be good. Alright, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.279 So Tarantula from nineteen five. This is exciting because this 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:17.640 is also only our fifth fifties movie on Weird House Cinema. 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.600 Oh okay, I would have thought more than that. But 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:21.200 let's see how many we we did the thing from 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:26.680 another World, we did um Fiend without a Face, we 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.560 did Not of this Earth, and we did the brain Eaters. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.160 Is that all of them so far? That's it? You 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.479 got them all? And this makes five? Okay, when you 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.840 rank all those together, Where would you say Tarantula fits. Actually, 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:40.560 I don't know how you do and compare them. We 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.960 just when you rank them in terms of an absurd 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.880 good time? Where does Tarantula go in there? Oh, for 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.720 sheer fun, I'd say it's top of the pack. For quality, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.000 I don't know, things probably top of the pack tarantula 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.880 thing or duking it out for top billing here I think, Oh, 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.240 I'd say definitely Thing is the best, if the best 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.880 for non i onic purposes. And though I think it's 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.159 clearly the worst of all of them, I really have 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.159 a soft spot for the brain eaters. That one's never 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.240 gonna leave my heart. All right, Well, let's get to 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.120 the elevator pitch. On this one. I'm just gonna go 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.720 with what's written on the poster, and it is all caps, 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:20.080 giant spider strikes crawling terror a hundred feet high? Is 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.920 it still crawling if it's a hundred feet high? Something 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.440 about the word crawling to me suggests proximity to the ground. 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.520 That's a good point. All right, Let's hear the Let's 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.080 hear the trailer. This is a great nineteen fifties trailer. 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:40.240 But what have circumstances were magnifying one of the size 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.400 and strength took it out of its primitive world and 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.200 turned it loose in our Then expect something that's fiercer, 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.400 more cruel, and deadly than anything that ever woked here. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.600 Even science was stunned. The new atomic miracles should have 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:59.000 been mankind's greatest boon. Instead, when such power to cause 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.560 phenomenal growth gloop dangerously unstable, man was confused with this 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:09.560 most shocking blunder. The figgered out nutrient into a nightmare. 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.880 I'm wonder that transformed a tiny insect into a hundred 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:37.320 books spider that was now ravaging the panic stricken countryside. 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.640 All right, before we continue here, I'm just gonna advise 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.559 everyone out there who is interested in watching Tarantula, well, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.280 you have a lot of options. I watched Tarantula on 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.720 a double featured disc from the Classic Sci Fi Ultimate 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.040 collection More People, The More People is on the same desk. 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.480 But I've seen that one before. This has been a while. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.800 I rented this from Video Drome. That collection has some 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.520 nice titles in it. It's pretty cheap, but there's also 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:06.080 a standalone Universal Vault disc that you can rent or purchase. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.439 Uh digitally most places as well. It does seem to 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.280 be available on Blu Ray in various formats as well, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.679 So however you want your Tarantula, it can be provided. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.040 I did a digital rental on Amazon and their transfer 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.480 looks pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, this one, this one on 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.600 the disc was really solid. In fact, speaking of looking 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.920 pretty good, uh so, Tarantula has a lot of the 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.160 same sort of script pathologies as as many other creature 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:36.360 features of the time. But the special effects in this movie, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.160 I would say are excellent for the time period. I mean, 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:44.040 for nineteen fifty five. The superimposition of the giant spider 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.200 onto the desert backgrounds and everything. I think this is 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.959 out of the park. Yeah. My son walked in while 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.800 I was watching the finale and he immediately said he 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.600 was excited to check it out. He's like, I can 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.560 tell it's not real. So, yes, you can tell it's 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:03.120 not real. And definitely this style of giant monster, of 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.120 the style of using an actual creature such as a 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.679 spider or a lizard and filming it in such a 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.560 way that it looks big, this largely doesn't really work anymore. 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.640 But I think if you if you take the picture 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.280 in in its time, it still looks pretty good. Oh yeah, So, 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.440 I mean compared this to other movies from around the 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.280 same time that use the same techniques. Birdeye Gordon movies 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.720 are famous for the superimposing uh something onto a different 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.000 background to make it look huge. These look better than 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.280 most of the people who did this. But so, there 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:36.480 are two different ways of showing a giant spider in 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.600 this movie. One is this uh you know, photographic trick 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.600 where they're taking real footage of a real tarantula and 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.120 then just super imposing it over a background to make 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.160 it look huge. The other one is a puppet. And 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.640 I think the puppet in this movie is killer. It's 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:55.040 so good. Yeah, the puppet is really good, and and 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.480 I look forward to to talking about the man who 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.320 built the puppet. That's actually a fun story as well. Well. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.160 But I guess if we're going to have to start 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.000 with the director here, one of the things that I 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.160 didn't realize until after I watched the movie is that 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:11.080 this is the creature from the Black Lagoon guy. Right, Yeah, Yeah, 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.880 this is Jack Arnold, who not only directed it, he 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.920 also has a story credit. He lived nineteen twelve through 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.920 uh noted fifties sci fi director for responsible for a 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.200 slew of films, so Creature from the Black Lagoon in 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.960 fifty four for sure, as well as Revenge of the 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.400 Creature in fifty five. He also did nineteen fifty three's 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.600 It Came from Outer Space. He has an uncredited um 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.880 directorial credit on IMDb for This Island Earth, but he 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.560 also directed The Incredible Shrinking Man in fifty seven, The 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.800 Space Children and fifty eight, and Monster on Campus in 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.160 fifty eight. Prior to these sci fi pictures, he did 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.960 a pair of dramas nineteen fifties with These Hands, which 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.679 sounds like a thriller but was produced by the International 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.199 Ladies Garment Workers Union. So I don't think it's a 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.240 I don't think it's like a pro do jal Allow 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.480 jallow kind of film. It's wait. That's the same the 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.840 union that has the commercial in the Star Wars Holiday Special, 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:08.720 or at least one of the famous tapes of it 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.400 where they're all singing the union song. It's the International 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.920 Lady Ladies Garment Workers Union. Do Do Do Do, do 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.040 the very thing. He also did a nineteen fifty three 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.520 film before all this, titled Girls Night Out, which indeed 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.840 seems to be a film noir thing, and during the 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.160 sixties he ventured into TV. He did a lot of 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.240 work on a lot of popular TV shows, rounding it 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.559 all out with a few episodes of The Love Boat, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.600 you know. Putting together all of the Jack Arnold movies 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.200 I've seen now, including Tarantula here, the Black Lagoon movies, 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.800 it seems like he specializes in films where, if you 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.680 really stop to think about it, you kind of pity 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.559 the monster and and the humans are sort of the 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:55.440 bad guys. Yeah, yeah, definitely that's the case with Creature. Um, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.520 we've i think we've talked about that at least on 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.400 episodes of Stuff to Blow your Mind in the past. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.079 That Yeah, it's going back and watching Creature from the 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.040 Black Agoon is kind of a weird experience because the 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.920 monster is fabulous, and he is the thing that you 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.800 get behind. He is the he is the character that 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.400 you sympathize with. And I'm not saying Jack Arnold meant 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.640 it that way. I don't think that's what's really intended, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.040 but it does feel that way because in Creature, you know, 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.120 we've talked about this, I think on the show before, 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.760 like the humans go into his house, there. It's not 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.000 like he's attacking towns or something. Creatures just hanging out 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.680 in a pond somewhere. And then all these uh, these 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.360 the scientists and people with guns show up and they're like, well, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.840 we're gonna catch this thing. And I guess you're supposed 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.040 to be on their side. I don't know. I will 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.839 say the difference is that having a creature in the 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.920 black logoon seems like a sustainable situation. You can just 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.360 give the creature some room and he will be fine. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.960 The giant tarantula in this movie, I clearly this is 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.360 not sustainable. Like, clearly something needs to be done. We 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.680 can't just keep having this creature. But to spoil the 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:58.839 ending the way they deal with it in the end, 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.480 as they napalm it and then the spider is just 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.400 burning in the background. You see it's hairy legs on fire. 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.880 The hair is kind of singing, and they're like, well 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.880 the end a universal international picture, yeah, but also edible, 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:17.120 potentially edible, right that could they? I mean, ultimately they 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.320 wanted to solve issues about feeding a growing world. Well 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.920 now you have it, giant roasted to rachula, three hundred 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.160 tons of spider meat. Yeah, um on the subject with 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.960 Jack Arnold, though, I was looking into his filmography a bit, 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:37.000 and I was really intrigued by this nineteen seven film 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:42.120 that he directed titled The Monolith Monsters, which immediately went 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.200 to Michael Weldon's books to see if that he had 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.280 written anything about it, and I don't think he had. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.840 But the film sounds curious. A meteorite lands near a 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.160 sleepy desert town, so you know, entirely unlike Tarantula, but 0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.480 then it starts growing into skyscraper sized mon a liths 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.000 of stone, so it sounds pretty unique. And that the 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.400 threat is not alien at all, at least not in 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.000 an organic sense. It's like a chemical threat. It's just 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.920 unchecked rock growth. So it kind of sounds ahead of 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.440 its time, like this sounds like something we would maybe 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.840 watch in the nineteen seventies as opposed to in the 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:21.480 ninety seven. Interesting and one more note Jack Arnold as 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:25.520 an actor. He had a cameo in John Landis thriller 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.000 Into the Night. I believe he is a man walking 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.760 his dog in that. Oh well, you attached to picture 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.480 from The Monolith Monsters, And now that I can see it, 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.720 it's it makes more sense to me. They are these 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:40.560 uh giant like sort of shards of obsidian jutting up 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.200 out of the desert. But yeah, they're as big as buildings. Yeah, strange, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.240 Like I can tell that this probably didn't work without 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.080 even it just this is this isn't maybe what the 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.640 drive in audience was looking for. They ultimately wanted a monster, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.160 Like how do you even shoot this thing so that 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.760 it's holding a woman's unconscious body? Now, now that is 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.680 a job for a creative poster maker. What do you 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:03.560 I guess you have the crystals kind of forming a 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.680 hand and the ladies there and I don't know. Yeah, 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.240 yeah it could work. I'm sure a talented poster artist 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.440 good could figure it out. All right, let's get onto 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.960 the screenplay here. A screenplay was written by um two individuals. 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:20.240 There's Robert M. Fresco, who lived nine, also a writer 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:23.080 on the Monolith Monster in various TV shows, as well 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.960 as uncredited writing on ninety nine The Alligator People, which 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.960 should be of note to fans of Rocky Rickson. That's right, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.280 if you're one of those hiding behind the trees with 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:38.400 moss forever, hearing the swamp birds screaming, or if this 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.400 One's actually less of her boast than some of his 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.800 songs on the Evil One. But I do love that 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.360 line when they see alligator persons in the bog and fog. Yeah, 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.080 it's it's something's really funny about alligator persons instead of 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.000 alligator people. Yes, but but I I and I don't 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.680 know if certain, but I assume he's referring to this film. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.320 A lot of those songs do refer back to It's 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.080 a classic monster movies and so forth. All Right. The 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.480 other screenplay credit is Martin Berkeley, who lived nineteen o 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.080 four through ninety nine. Screenwriter active through the forties, fifties, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.360 and sixties. He worked on screenplays for westerns like Green 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.879 Grass of Wyoming and Red Sundown, but also films like 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.520 Revenge of the Creature and The Deadly Mantis, which I 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.240 believe I've seen this one before. This is a giant 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.080 killer mantis. I'm not well, it is technically a giant 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.920 killer mantis, but a giant praying mantis film. Now, I wonder, 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.679 once you had written one Giant Bug screenplay, what was 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.119 it like writing the second and third Giant Bug screenplay? 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.880 Do you like? How are you? How are you coming 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.199 up with new angles on that. What does the giant 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.359 bug mean this time? Yeah, it's a it's an interesting question, 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.280 I think, one that's partially answered by Tarantula in that 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.720 in the way that Tarantula both uh certainly matches the 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.000 sort of pre existing format of giant animal movies, but 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.800 also bucks some of the ends as well discussed and 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.880 not like, most notably being this is not a giant 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.680 atomic monster creature, even though it's very much a product 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.280 of the of the atomic age and during a time 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.520 when so many atomic giant animals were rampaging through cinema. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.720 That's true. They don't say it's directly atomic radiation, though 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.800 I do think there's a little bit of atomic magic implicated, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.520 and it's there's a there's a whole sequence in the 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.440 middle of the movie with some of the most gorgeous 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.200 technobabble that you have ever encountered. We're gonna have to 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.000 spend some time on that, but I think they sort 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.879 of are trying to say that there's radioactive something in 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.520 the juice they're squirting into these animals, but it's hard 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.919 to tell. It's hard to decipher alright, Well, speaking of 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.040 the science, everyone please get out your periodic table of 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:52.440 classic Hollywood actors. Because this movie contains um Agar, um, 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.240 is it Agar or Agar? I'm gonna say Agar, John Agar, 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.240 John Agar, John Agar. In this film, he plays Dr 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.800 Matt Hastings. That's right. Today's John Agar role will be 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.119 played by John Agar, who is just h He's just 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.920 a country doctor with common sense, probably a strong right hook. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:13.439 I don't think we ever see him throw one, but 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.439 you can imagine, uh, and apparently a permanent sense of 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.040 amusement at the concept of equal rights for women. Uh. 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.200 And he he really polished his jawline for this movie. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:29.560 He is such such a perfect example of the fifties 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.680 creature feature lug hero. Yeah, if you haven't seen this film, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.000 and you haven't seen John Agar in anything, you can, 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.400 you can still picture him in your mind right now. 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.440 He's exactly like you think he looks. He acts exactly 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.280 like you think he acts. Uh. He lived nine one 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.639 through two thousand and two. Longtime American actor who appeared 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.680 in films from eight through two thousand and one. Uh 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:54.720 and even I think a two thousand and five release 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:58.480 via like delayed release. But you can basically divide a 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:02.440 Gar's work into two categories. War in westerns and B movies, 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.920 and in the former category he acted alongside folks like 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.520 John Wayne and the Sands of theo Jima fort Apachi. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.040 She wore a yellow ribbon all in the late nineteen forties. 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.639 But then in the B movie category he appeared in 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.200 a lot of quality Monster Mayhem flicks, like The Mole 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.919 People from the nineteen fifty six that was on the 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:23.960 same disc as this one. For me, that's a that's 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.600 a very fun like Hollow Earth type of film. The 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:33.320 Brain from Planet Arows from seven, Revenge of the Creature 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.760 from fifty five, and Hand of Death from sixty two. 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:41.360 I think we discussed doing the Brain from Planet Arouse 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.600 or Arose. However you say that, Uh, we ended up 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:46.679 doing Fiend Without a Face instead because we want to 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:48.679 do some kind of brain movie and that there's a 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.040 handful that looked pretty juicy. Yeah, we may have to 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:52.360 come back to that one because that has a really 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.840 fun looking brain monster in it. It kind of floats around. 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:57.760 So Agar did a lot of TV later in his career, 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.920 but the B movie association stuck. And I was reading 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:07.520 on on IMDb that in n two Famous Monsters of Filmland, 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:10.920 a fan magazine. They declared him dead. Uh they said, 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.879 you know, r I P. John Agar. But Agar was 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.879 not dead, And so he apparently made the rounds at 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.120 a lot of sci fi fan conventions back in the day, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:25.119 signing these magazines about his death. That's good. He was 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.840 at one point married to Shirley Temple, and late in 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:31.959 life he had cameos in two films of note nine nineties, 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:37.360 Night Breed, the Clive Barker film, and John Carpenter's anthology 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.800 film Body Bags. This is the one where John Carpenter 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.440 himself sort of plays the crypt keeper. Uh so I 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.840 haven't seen Body Bags. I have seen Nightbreed. Nightbreed is 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.560 Clive Barker, and it's full of interesting various monsters. But 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:53.639 actually the thing that most sticks out to me and 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:58.359 about it is the character played by David Cronenberg. He 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:01.480 was he was an actor, just an actor in the movie, 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:06.320 playing the main character, psychotherapist but who also turns out 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.440 to be a serial killer who wears a creepy sock 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:11.440 over his head. Yeah. That's a really fun role and 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:13.880 what is ultimately a really fun film. I haven't watched 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.560 it in a while, but I remember being quite fond 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.879