The (d)Evolution of Horror With David Del Valle

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Welcome back to Nightmare Logic, a podcast about

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the logic of nightmares. We’re your hosts, Christopher

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Smith and Peter Sawyer. And we’re here today

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with a special guest, David DelVal, to discuss

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what horror is and the evolution of our favorite

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genre. Okay, we’re back with a new episode and

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with our special guest, David, who we’ll get

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to in a second. And first, Peter, David, what

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did you guys do this last week? Anything fun,

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interesting? Did you watch anything cool? uh

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yeah well i’m always watching stuff uh i watched

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a movie called nothing bad can happen and i watched

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tombs of the blind dead two very different i

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guess horror movies all right uh you recommend

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them for different reasons i mean tombs of the

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blind dead is has some kind of iconic imagery

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of these like templar zombies on horseback that’s

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just kind of cool to see um it’s It’s fun. It’s

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whatever. Nothing Bad Can Happen is a 2012 -2013

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German movie that opens in a way that I found

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subversive because it’s about a Christian punk

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rocker in Germany, in Hamburg, and it opens with

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him getting baptized. And if you’re into punk,

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religion is not really your thing. So that put

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me on my heels, but it goes into a very dark

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direction. I mean, he’s a good character, right?

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Quite a feel -bad movie into those kind of things.

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Have you seen those, Dave? Yes. In fact, there

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are two more. The Ghostly Galleon and Night of

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the Seagulls, which is all about the Knights

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Templar that come back from the dead at certain

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moments and destroy and especially run after

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women with enormous breasts. Oh, now I’m definitely

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going to check that out. And then there’s a pornographic

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one made by Jess Franco where… The phrase boning

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takes on new meaning. All right. And then did

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you do anything cool this last week? Well, this

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last week has been kind of amusing because I

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finished up a bunch of audio commentaries, one

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of which I did with Peter. But the last one I

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did, it was a movie called House of the Seven

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Corpses, which was done in the late. with John

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Carradine and John Ireland, shot in an old house

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in Utah, because Utah was offering tax breaks

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for filmmakers. So the premise of it, which is

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kind of interesting from what all three of us

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are into, is the premise is a movie company comes

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from Hollywood. to this area in this weird part

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of Utah and shoots this movie in an old mansion

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and accidentally reawakens the denizens of the

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graveyard using the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

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So it’s complete trash, but I had 90 minutes

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to try and make it, you know, somewhat fascinating.

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And Faith Demurg, I just love saying her name,

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Faith Demurg. was an actress that Howard Hughes

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discovered, and she’s famous to all of us for

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This Island Earth, that great science fiction

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movie with the Metaluna and the weird insect

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monsters. All these actors were veterans, which

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means they were down on their luck. That’s really

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cool. That’s really cool. Yeah, and for me, it’s

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been a little busy week with work, but I checked

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out the first two episodes of Night of the Seven

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Kingdoms, which… is not horror but it’s you

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know a good fantasy in the in the world of of

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uh game of thrones and uh it’s it’s the new game

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of thrones spinoff yeah it’s actually uh you

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know it’s a smaller in scale so far but like

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it’s actually really really well done still you

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know yeah yeah i don’t doubt it it’s sword and

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sorcery yes exactly yeah that can be good but

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then it’s been overdone so you never know yeah

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well did you watch uh um game of thrones or Of

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course. Yeah. Right. But I also just watched

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a thing called 30 coins directed by Alexis de

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Iglesias, the great director from Spain about

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the 30 coins that Judas Iscariot got for betraying

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Christ and how it turns out. Cause he’s Catholic.

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And of course he’s, he’s like. broken from the

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church like i am and it’s an incredible series

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30 coins is it a contemporary yes it’s set in

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contemporary times but it goes all over the place

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that’s cool and uh he did day of the beast if

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you remember that uh i mean just i’m familiar

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with the title but i i’m i’m somewhat of a horror

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moderate noobish you know like i i’m not as you

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know i don’t have as much deep knowledge as you

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guys do so well um I just get bored. That’s what

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happens to me. Well, great. I’m glad that we

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could finally catch up with you. And I think

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maybe a good place to start would be with your

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background. You want to talk? Well, okay. You

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have a long career. Let’s start with that. watching

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horror movies at a very early age because of

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television. Because I’m a baby boomer, television

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was the most innovative thing. Television was

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what the internet is to you. Same thing. And

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thankfully, it introduced me to the entire universal

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horror package with Dracula, Frankenstein, The

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Mummy, The Invisible Man, Creature from the Black

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Lagoon, all the offshoots from that studio. And

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then that led… As I got a little older, to

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being 12 and 13, into Hammer Horror. Because

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in 1958, the horror of Dracula comes out. And

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it sweeps the world. And every country responds

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with a movie. Mexico did one called El Vampiro.

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Italy did one called Mask of the Demon Black

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Sunday. But Hammer Films of England opened the

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door. For the renaissance of horror. And at that

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same time. Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine

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came out. And I started. I was reading. I got

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to the 12th issue. And I saw it from across a

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lobby. At this hotel in Portland. 35 cents. And

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it had Curse of the Werewolf on the cover. And

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I took it immediately upstairs. And started reading

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it. And I got to the letters column. And I went.

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Holy fuck. There’s other fans out there. My age

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that are into horror. And from that moment on,

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I never looked back. And I pestered my mother

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when we got to LA. We were staying at the Biltmore

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Hotel downtown. And I said, I want to go out

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and meet Forrest J. Ackerman. And she didn’t

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want to go. So she put me in a cab and sent me

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to Sherbourne Drive, which was over where the

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Beverly Center is now. And I met this guy, Forrest

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J. Ackerman. At the same time, I met this Swedish

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wrestler named Tor Johnson, who is immortalized

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in Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space. And he

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had a flashlight around his neck and he would

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turn it on and it would bring all of his weird.

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He was Lobo. I met Lobo. I didn’t even know what

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Lobo was, but I went literally knee deep or waist

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deep. into the horror swamps of Los Angeles.

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And I never looked back. And that just opened

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the door for everything else. All right, David.

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So a couple of questions. The first is what age

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were you when you came to LA when you’re telling

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this story? Six years old. Oh, shit. Okay. So

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you’re that young. So at that age or like as

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you became a teenager, how would you have defined

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horror back then? Well, for me, because I was

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getting into the school system. And I’m sure

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what I’m about to say will resonate with other

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horror fans, regardless of how old you are. And

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that is that I quickly realized that this was

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escapism. That watching these horror movies,

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which transports you into a fantasy realm, can

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be very helpful when you’re trying to navigate

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your way through life in school with your contemporaries.

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I was subject to being bullied, new kid in school,

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was anybody going to like me? And I wasn’t very

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athletic at that time. So I wasn’t good at sports.

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So by being enamored of the horror film, it gave

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me a way to communicate with people that were

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strangers by the common denominator, which was

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television and the movies. And I was always very

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gifted with being able to talk. not being shy.

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And so I quickly, you know, kind of kidnapped

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all my kids I was in school with to watch William

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Castle movies, to watch universal horror, to

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watch the Wolfman. And then they would tell their

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friends. And then all of a sudden it was like,

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I knew that horror films were helping me navigate

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my way through my childhood. So back then was,

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was horror. More of, you know, like today. It’s

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more fairy tales. It was not as explicit. The

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universal horror movies, there’s really nothing

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in them that’s frightening or transgressive.

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The Hammer films, a little more sexuality, a

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little more subtext than the European horror

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movies, the Italian horror movies, the Japanese

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films. They all dealt with vampires and the Turkish

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ones with the vampires hopping. I didn’t see

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all that right away because we didn’t have the

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internet. We weren’t globally connected as much.

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But if you lived in major cities, and I lived

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in Kansas City, I lived in Portland, I lived

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in New York, I lived in Los Angeles. And the

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only common denominator for living in all those

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cities was being able to see different kinds

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of horror movies. And I remember seeing The H

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-Man for the first time. which was a Japanese

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movie about guys that could just liquefy. And

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at the theater, they were giving out little sponges

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with the poster art on the sponge. And you would

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set it up and you’d pour water like that. And

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that was the H -Man. And then the Mysterians.

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I’ll never forget the Mysterians because they

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had a robot in that that was just awesome. And

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they were selling them. I would be very rich

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right now if I kept all the robots I collected

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as a kid, especially Robbie the Robot from Forbidden

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Planet. That kind of makes me think that theaters

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back then were a lot more fun. They were. You’re

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getting these cool gifts that are tied to the

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movies. Well, the other thing that you’re not

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going to ever experience again, that I can just

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close my eyes and see myself walking, because

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if I was under 12, your parents had to come with

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you, your mother, your father. And I went to

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see House on Haunted Hill, the William Castle

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movie with Vincent Price and the Tingler and

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13 Ghosts. They all had gimmicks. But when you

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were walking up to the theater, you’d hear screams

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of people getting ready. They were showing the

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last reel and you were buying your ticket ready

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to go in 15 minutes later. And I was afraid to

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go in the theater because everyone was screaming.

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But then when you got in the theater, what they

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were screaming at was in the Tingler. It gets

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loose in the theater and they turn all the lights

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out and say, the only way you can save your life

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is to scream, scream as if your life depended

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on it. And all these little kids are going, ah,

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and you know, uh, it was fabulous. And if you

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look at Joe Dante’s matinee, which is his best

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picture, in my opinion, uh, you can see the recreation

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of that, uh, with, uh, William Castle. being

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played by John Goodman. So where do you think

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that shifted from that kind of fantasy horror?

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Was there a certain film that really kind of

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modernized it? No, it wasn’t a film, Chris. It

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was drive -ins. Drive -in movies by the time

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I was 14. The drive -in was the go -to place

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for teenagers, the go -to place if you had a

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bunch of screaming kids. I saw more movies in

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my pajamas until I got older than if you wanted

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to smoke dope, you would go and watch all the

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AIP movies. I saw all the Vincent Price movies

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stoned. In fact, I saw everything stoned. And

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that went on for years. And then by the time

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2001 came out, we all dropped acid to see that.

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I even saw 2001 at a drive -in where when the

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monolith goes up and because you’re out of doors,

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I thought, well, I’m just going to go into the

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cosmos here. It was pretty good acid. I would

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never drop to see Planet of the Apes because

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I knew that would be creepy. Never did that.

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But no, the drive -ins from television in the

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50s to drive -ins in the 60s and 70s, that was

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what motivated. And movies were made. by studios

00:13:42.159 –> 00:13:44.580
like American International Pictures exclusively

00:13:44.580 –> 00:13:48.799
for drive -ins, dusk till dawn. So basically

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these, when the drive -ins came, it sort of opened

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up an avenue to distribute more scary, more horror.

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It became a landscape for young, for the youth

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of America, which is why Easy Rider, the Wild

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Angels, the Wild Bunch. All those movies premiered

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in drive -ins. And then was there a film, though,

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that you remember when it came out was just so

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fresh and different that it really propelled

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the industry into making more sort of modern

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movies? The most influential movie in the 20th

00:14:27.799 –> 00:14:30.679
century in terms of how it changed the land,

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especially in horror, was Hitchcock’s Psycho.

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Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw

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Massacre. Those three movies completely reimagined

00:14:43.179 –> 00:14:46.080
the landscape of horror. I’ll give you an example.

00:14:46.139 –> 00:14:50.419
Psycho came out in 1960. In 1961, Roger Corman

00:14:50.419 –> 00:14:53.399
put out Pit in the Pendulum with Vincent Price.

00:14:53.700 –> 00:14:57.779
What do these two movies have in common? In Psycho,

00:14:57.779 –> 00:15:02.120
Anthony Perkins plays a man who’s so weak, his

00:15:02.120 –> 00:15:05.039
mother takes over his personality. In Pit in

00:15:05.039 –> 00:15:08.000
the Pendulum, Richard Matheson was so influenced.

00:15:09.289 –> 00:15:13.929
nicholas medina uh price’s character is so weak

00:15:13.929 –> 00:15:16.730
that he’s taken over by the spirit of his father

00:15:16.730 –> 00:15:21.009
who was a torturer and every other all this what

00:15:21.009 –> 00:15:24.549
time magazine said psycho brought to motherhood

00:15:24.549 –> 00:15:28.990
what moby dick did to whales you know i was listening

00:15:28.990 –> 00:15:34.610
to the latest episode of uh uh horror it’s a

00:15:34.610 –> 00:15:37.029
podcast called uh i’m gonna look it up real quick

00:15:38.790 –> 00:15:43.470
horror movie club. And every Friday the 13th,

00:15:43.470 –> 00:15:45.289
which we’re recording on a Friday. We are indeed.

00:15:45.549 –> 00:15:49.590
Sorry, Jason. They do an episode about Friday

00:15:49.590 –> 00:15:52.090
the 13th series. And they brought up an interesting

00:15:52.090 –> 00:15:55.750
point that in Psycho, which some people apparently

00:15:55.750 –> 00:15:59.710
call the first slasher, that the relationship

00:15:59.710 –> 00:16:04.129
in that is the son is sort of acting out. It’s

00:16:04.129 –> 00:16:06.509
Mommy. It’s about Mommy. It’s about Mommy. And

00:16:06.509 –> 00:16:08.090
Friday the 13th, it’s like reverse. It’s Mrs.

00:16:08.090 –> 00:16:10.549
Bates. Yeah. So that’s really interesting. I

00:16:10.549 –> 00:16:15.110
interviewed Betsy Palmer, and it changed her

00:16:15.110 –> 00:16:19.830
life. There is not one movie made after 1960

00:16:19.830 –> 00:16:23.549
that is not influenced by that. Now, take it

00:16:23.549 –> 00:16:26.889
into reality for a moment, and we owe a lot to

00:16:26.889 –> 00:16:30.610
Ed Gein. Because Ed Gein is the source material

00:16:30.610 –> 00:16:34.399
for Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, And all

00:16:34.399 –> 00:16:38.000
that came before or after. Deranged. Deranged.

00:16:39.299 –> 00:16:45.899
And I was not on board for really graphic violence

00:16:45.899 –> 00:16:50.720
when I was a kid. And then we come to where I

00:16:50.720 –> 00:16:54.779
think horror begins to separate. For me, when

00:16:54.779 –> 00:16:57.580
you give a definition for film noir, you always

00:16:57.580 –> 00:17:00.100
say it’s a movie that has a femme fatale, black

00:17:00.100 –> 00:17:05.089
and white, rain streaks streets. A mystery. In

00:17:05.089 –> 00:17:08.190
horror, it was always the supernatural, a monster

00:17:08.190 –> 00:17:11.410
on the loose, a mad scientist. Once you cross

00:17:11.410 –> 00:17:15.130
the line with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you’re

00:17:15.130 –> 00:17:17.609
no longer dealing with the supernatural. You’re

00:17:17.609 –> 00:17:20.089
dealing with serial killers. And they’re very

00:17:20.089 –> 00:17:24.089
real. And they’re not based in literature. So,

00:17:24.089 –> 00:17:28.650
I don’t know whether, and I do this in the trivia

00:17:28.650 –> 00:17:31.990
thing until I quit. I don’t know if I would call

00:17:31.990 –> 00:17:35.049
those movies horror movies. Blair Witch Project

00:17:35.049 –> 00:17:37.009
is a horror movie, but it’s got a supernatural

00:17:37.009 –> 00:17:42.130
premise. Friday the 13th does not. What’s supernatural

00:17:42.130 –> 00:17:44.930
about it is people keep paying to see the same

00:17:44.930 –> 00:17:46.410
movie over and over again. Well, it’s supernatural

00:17:46.410 –> 00:17:49.730
in that he comes back to life. Yeah, Jason becomes

00:17:49.730 –> 00:17:51.470
supernatural. No one ever explains that either.

00:17:51.609 –> 00:17:54.710
No, they don’t. I know why he comes back to life

00:17:54.710 –> 00:17:57.720
because they look at the bank. Yeah, well, totally.

00:17:57.859 –> 00:17:58.839
I mean, it was apparently that serious. Nightmare

00:17:58.839 –> 00:18:01.140
on Elm Street has a supernatural, but we’re not

00:18:01.140 –> 00:18:02.759
talking about that, though. Well, and apparently

00:18:02.759 –> 00:18:04.559
Friday the 13th was meant to be an anthology

00:18:04.559 –> 00:18:06.400
when they first wrote it, which is why it’s called

00:18:06.400 –> 00:18:08.640
that. So, but I think that you’re right. They

00:18:08.640 –> 00:18:10.819
saw the money I made and they were like – Silence

00:18:10.819 –> 00:18:13.339
of the Lambs. All these movies are about serial

00:18:13.339 –> 00:18:17.579
killers. And are serial killer movies horror

00:18:17.579 –> 00:18:19.759
movies? Well, I don’t know. Are they thrillers

00:18:19.759 –> 00:18:21.160
or are they horrors? What do you think? I don’t

00:18:21.160 –> 00:18:26.099
think they’re horror. I take it, look hostile.

00:18:26.460 –> 00:18:29.940
It’s torture porn. Oh, yeah. So would you consider

00:18:29.940 –> 00:18:32.099
Texas Chainsaw Massacre to be a horror movie?

00:18:33.299 –> 00:18:37.700
No. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a reimagining

00:18:37.700 –> 00:18:41.579
of Psycho with a more realistic. In other words,

00:18:41.640 –> 00:18:44.940
Psycho doesn’t take place in Texas, but it’s

00:18:44.940 –> 00:18:48.200
about Ed Gein. Well, then what would they be

00:18:48.200 –> 00:18:52.880
then? They would be, it’s a new genre. It’s a

00:18:52.880 –> 00:18:56.779
genre that’s populated. with serial killers.

00:18:56.940 –> 00:18:59.420
See, I feel like you’re – Seven is that way.

00:19:00.220 –> 00:19:05.619
Hannibal. Yeah. Silence of the Lambs. Any movie

00:19:05.619 –> 00:19:09.259
with – American Psycho. American Psycho. And

00:19:09.259 –> 00:19:11.079
I’ll tell you something else, Home Invasion.

00:19:11.220 –> 00:19:14.180
I think you could take torture porn, Home Invasion,

00:19:14.200 –> 00:19:17.180
movies where women are mistreated in Italian

00:19:17.180 –> 00:19:21.119
films. There’s a night train to something or

00:19:21.119 –> 00:19:24.690
other, which is absolutely the most – If you

00:19:24.690 –> 00:19:27.250
really want to see disgusting movies, just check

00:19:27.250 –> 00:19:29.490
out the Euro trash. It’s not called Euro trash

00:19:29.490 –> 00:19:32.009
for, it’s called Euro trash for a reason, but

00:19:32.009 –> 00:19:34.890
these are not because look where I just took

00:19:34.890 –> 00:19:37.190
you. I took you from being seven years old, sitting

00:19:37.190 –> 00:19:40.089
from my television, watching son of Dracula to

00:19:40.089 –> 00:19:43.890
sitting in my car, watching the Raven to sitting

00:19:43.890 –> 00:19:47.349
with some drugs, watching Kubrick’s 2001. And

00:19:47.349 –> 00:19:50.490
then we come to the, to the, to the, to the fork

00:19:50.490 –> 00:19:54.599
in the road, which is movies. where women are

00:19:54.599 –> 00:19:59.720
murdered, butchered by maniacs. Dario Argento

00:19:59.720 –> 00:20:02.480
built an entire career. Bird with the Crystal

00:20:02.480 –> 00:20:06.839
Plumage is not horror. Four Flies on Gray Velvet

00:20:06.839 –> 00:20:11.539
is not horror. Suspiria is. But being Italian,

00:20:11.839 –> 00:20:14.440
I don’t know what the fuck it’s about. It seems

00:20:14.440 –> 00:20:17.170
like you’ve got a controversial take. that maybe

00:20:17.170 –> 00:20:19.009
a lot of people don’t necessarily agree with

00:20:19.009 –> 00:20:22.789
i’m not saying it’s wrong uh well everyone has

00:20:22.789 –> 00:20:26.789
the right to my opinion well i mean because yeah

00:20:26.789 –> 00:20:28.609
to your point chris like if you look up what

00:20:28.609 –> 00:20:32.369
a horror film is it’s a literary literary or

00:20:32.369 –> 00:20:35.589
film genre concerned with arousing feelings of

00:20:35.589 –> 00:20:39.289
fear and horror so texas chainsaw massacre by

00:20:39.289 –> 00:20:41.730
definition i would say does that but you’re right

00:20:41.730 –> 00:20:44.130
it’s not supernatural so it kind of brings it

00:20:44.130 –> 00:20:47.890
into this kind of like real Well, maybe the way

00:20:47.890 –> 00:20:51.269
to make everybody happy, which I never like to

00:20:51.269 –> 00:20:56.549
do, is the horror film is an umbrella. And there

00:20:56.549 –> 00:20:59.430
are different aspects of it that are brought

00:20:59.430 –> 00:21:03.150
forth with different decades. And as people become

00:21:03.150 –> 00:21:08.470
more anesthetized to, I mean, all right, I’m

00:21:08.470 –> 00:21:10.109
going to bring this up. If I were a psychiatrist,

00:21:10.269 –> 00:21:12.730
I would say, oh, I’m feeling stressed. I’m going

00:21:12.730 –> 00:21:15.849
to go home and watch. Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

00:21:16.910 –> 00:21:19.769
What’s wrong with that? First of all, you’re

00:21:19.769 –> 00:21:23.450
relaxing watching people being butchered. Is

00:21:23.450 –> 00:21:26.269
it the same dynamic that makes you look at a

00:21:26.269 –> 00:21:29.829
road accident? Yeah. Are we fascinated? Well,

00:21:29.990 –> 00:21:33.589
all right. All horror comes from two places,

00:21:33.829 –> 00:21:39.089
sex and death. Sex and death. Tombs of the Blind

00:21:39.089 –> 00:21:43.130
Dead, definitely. Anything European, definitely.

00:21:45.779 –> 00:21:48.759
Dracula. Dracula, the undead lover that has many

00:21:48.759 –> 00:21:54.619
brides. Frankenstein wants a bride. Everybody’s

00:21:54.619 –> 00:21:57.099
horny in these things. Well, why do we call those

00:21:57.099 –> 00:22:01.500
traditional monsters? Why do we refer to them

00:22:01.500 –> 00:22:03.559
as universal monsters? I mean, obviously, I know

00:22:03.559 –> 00:22:05.559
they were all… They were all made at Universal,

00:22:05.599 –> 00:22:08.420
and Universal became the studio known for making

00:22:08.420 –> 00:22:10.839
them. Like MGM was a studio known for making

00:22:10.839 –> 00:22:14.470
musicals, like The Wizard of Oz. Paramount was

00:22:14.470 –> 00:22:17.609
known for importing Broadway shows and exotic

00:22:17.609 –> 00:22:20.890
actresses like Dietrich and Garbo. Well, as Val

00:22:20.890 –> 00:22:23.630
Lewton said at RKO when he made Cat People, he

00:22:23.630 –> 00:22:26.049
said Universal’s idea of a monster movie was

00:22:26.049 –> 00:22:29.470
a wolfman chasing a girl up a tree. He wasn’t

00:22:29.470 –> 00:22:32.630
wrong. So here’s a question. Do you think the

00:22:32.630 –> 00:22:36.529
psycho Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw

00:22:36.529 –> 00:22:40.049
Massacre were a response to the Hays Code that

00:22:40.049 –> 00:22:41.990
kind of reigned supreme in the United States?

00:22:42.309 –> 00:22:46.089
Yes. Also a response to what was good. Remember,

00:22:46.230 –> 00:22:50.829
movies are, I regard movies as an art form. And

00:22:50.829 –> 00:22:54.849
when you do that, it reflects the times that

00:22:54.849 –> 00:22:57.849
we’re in. Every horror cycle comes with a world

00:22:57.849 –> 00:23:01.509
war. The German, the first world war brought

00:23:01.509 –> 00:23:04.569
Nosferatu, the silent films, student of Prague,

00:23:04.750 –> 00:23:09.390
all of that. The twenties, an era of prosperity,

00:23:09.450 –> 00:23:12.369
all the horror movies made in the twenties. had

00:23:12.369 –> 00:23:15.509
trick endings. In other words, London after midnight,

00:23:15.710 –> 00:23:18.690
they weren’t vampires. Phantom of the Opera is

00:23:18.690 –> 00:23:22.009
the only example where it’s a monster. Or actually

00:23:22.009 –> 00:23:27.230
a guy that’s kind of a maniac. The 30s, the Depression,

00:23:27.549 –> 00:23:30.529
coming to the Second World War. Second World

00:23:30.529 –> 00:23:34.490
War, whole horror renaissance. Then we get to

00:23:34.490 –> 00:23:37.869
the 50s, we get to insect fear films and the

00:23:37.869 –> 00:23:40.690
atomic bomb. All of a sudden, old castles and

00:23:40.690 –> 00:23:44.859
graveyards. Don’t do it. Giant bugs, radiation,

00:23:45.819 –> 00:23:48.680
amazing colossal man, war of the colossal beast,

00:23:49.200 –> 00:23:51.980
attack of the puppet people, either people getting

00:23:51.980 –> 00:23:54.759
bigger or smaller. Everyone’s afraid of the Russians,

00:23:54.839 –> 00:24:01.259
the 27th day. Then we get to the 60s, which is

00:24:01.259 –> 00:24:03.880
just the beginning of everything about to tear

00:24:03.880 –> 00:24:07.759
up by Easy Rider. Because see, remember, we opened

00:24:07.759 –> 00:24:12.680
with House of Usher in 1960. By 1966, 67, Easy

00:24:12.680 –> 00:24:15.259
Rider. I went looking for America and it wasn’t

00:24:15.259 –> 00:24:17.880
there. All of a sudden, the studios were in the

00:24:17.880 –> 00:24:20.799
hands of people like Robert Evans, Dennis Hopper,

00:24:20.839 –> 00:24:25.079
Peter Fonda. That opened the doors for Charlie

00:24:25.079 –> 00:24:29.559
Manson, Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski. And

00:24:29.559 –> 00:24:34.319
that opened the door for glamorizing, mythologically

00:24:34.319 –> 00:24:38.539
making serial killers like gods. Charles Manson,

00:24:38.539 –> 00:24:43.369
Ed Gein. John Wayne Gacy, the Menendez brothers,

00:24:44.430 –> 00:24:48.529
Robert Ramirez, Ted Bundy. There are women that

00:24:48.529 –> 00:24:51.829
would, sex and death. When you tell someone that

00:24:51.829 –> 00:24:54.369
you’ve murdered people and done things with corpses,

00:24:54.670 –> 00:24:57.990
you get fan mail. Well, it’s the ultimate BDE,

00:24:58.130 –> 00:25:02.130
isn’t it? Yes. So, well, I got a question for

00:25:02.130 –> 00:25:06.910
you. When do you think horror films started saying

00:25:06.910 –> 00:25:10.819
more about society? like being more like metaphorical

00:25:10.819 –> 00:25:14.579
or the starting at the end of the 60s because

00:25:14.579 –> 00:25:19.539
actually the po films with price was a metaphor

00:25:19.539 –> 00:25:24.880
for the old order the establishment being represented

00:25:24.880 –> 00:25:29.380
by price the younger uh victims or the younger

00:25:29.380 –> 00:25:34.440
the romantic lead as a girlfriend were the hippies

00:25:34.440 –> 00:25:38.720
and by the time aip They even did a horror movie

00:25:38.720 –> 00:25:41.079
called Cry of the Banshee, where the credits

00:25:41.079 –> 00:25:46.200
are set that way. The establishment. The counterculture.

00:25:46.799 –> 00:25:50.160
And they made movies like Psychomania about a

00:25:50.160 –> 00:25:53.160
motorcycle gang that all kill themselves so they

00:25:53.160 –> 00:25:55.380
can come back and be immortal. So this is basically,

00:25:55.500 –> 00:25:57.119
you’re saying, a reflection of the culture at

00:25:57.119 –> 00:25:59.799
the time. Yes. The Wild Angels was the Hells

00:25:59.799 –> 00:26:04.039
Angels. Hells Angels made their comment at Altamont

00:26:04.039 –> 00:26:07.619
when little… Little Red Rooster, Mick Jagger’s

00:26:07.619 –> 00:26:10.579
going, why are we fighting? What are we fighting

00:26:10.579 –> 00:26:12.819
about? How did that feel, though, as a fan and

00:26:12.819 –> 00:26:16.599
audience member? Did you, were you, you know,

00:26:16.599 –> 00:26:19.940
can you characterize how the youth and sort of

00:26:19.940 –> 00:26:21.480
counterculture felt about it? Oh, in two words.

00:26:21.960 –> 00:26:24.240
Hippies were holding flowers, then they were

00:26:24.240 –> 00:26:28.119
holding machetes. And they’re still smoking dope.

00:26:29.019 –> 00:26:32.619
Okay, the 60s, then. Does that feel like a cultural

00:26:32.619 –> 00:26:35.559
awakening to awareness? Fuck yeah. That just

00:26:35.559 –> 00:26:39.200
was either ignored or people wouldn’t talk about

00:26:39.200 –> 00:26:42.059
before then? Oh, no. I mean, it was a confrontation

00:26:42.059 –> 00:26:47.059
between the kids you raised and the world that

00:26:47.059 –> 00:26:48.779
you thought you lived in that was falling apart.

00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:52.579
Remember, Nixon was a result of this. Reagan

00:26:52.579 –> 00:26:55.259
was a result of this. There’s the true horror.

00:26:56.259 –> 00:26:59.930
But the movies reflected it all. So if you take

00:26:59.930 –> 00:27:05.190
that to, like, today, 2026, what do you think

00:27:05.190 –> 00:27:07.690
that the horror genre is saying about our current

00:27:07.690 –> 00:27:10.029
culture? Like, is it still a response to it?

00:27:10.089 –> 00:27:15.630
Everything is dystopian. Everything, 28 days

00:27:15.630 –> 00:27:20.950
later, 28 years later, very influential movies

00:27:20.950 –> 00:27:27.740
in horror, that series. And well done. I think

00:27:27.740 –> 00:27:30.539
we’re fascinated with zombies. Well, I’m not

00:27:30.539 –> 00:27:34.119
fascinated with them. People are fascinated with

00:27:34.119 –> 00:27:39.339
zombies because everyone feels their humanity

00:27:39.339 –> 00:27:42.279
being drained out of them to where you’re just

00:27:42.279 –> 00:27:44.099
a walking shell of what you were. Right, and

00:27:44.099 –> 00:27:46.700
you think that’s a response. I mean, it sounds

00:27:46.700 –> 00:27:49.079
like, to me, a response largely to technological

00:27:49.079 –> 00:27:51.859
advancements. Absolutely. Like what comes next?

00:27:52.039 –> 00:27:56.589
AI. Well, yeah. Got a lot of AI horrors coming

00:27:56.589 –> 00:27:58.869
out here. But now think about it, Chris. We all

00:27:58.869 –> 00:28:03.369
make movies, so remember this. Tubi, Shudder,

00:28:03.470 –> 00:28:08.190
all these platforms are unindated with bad horror

00:28:08.190 –> 00:28:11.789
movies. Movies that no longer need to be greenlit.

00:28:12.089 –> 00:28:16.049
Have you ever been able to kind of forecast a

00:28:16.049 –> 00:28:21.589
trend in horror movies? Not now. Not now. Well…

00:28:21.839 –> 00:28:25.000
The best way to forecast anything in motion pictures

00:28:25.000 –> 00:28:28.819
is did it make money? Yeah. Because that is really

00:28:28.819 –> 00:28:31.759
what it’s all about. I don’t think that… Now,

00:28:31.819 –> 00:28:36.200
I liked Heretic with Hugh Grant, but I don’t

00:28:36.200 –> 00:28:39.640
see a sequel there. Right. Whereas something

00:28:39.640 –> 00:28:46.000
like It, any of the Stephen King franchise movies,

00:28:46.380 –> 00:28:50.400
they make money and they’re pre -sold. But an

00:28:50.400 –> 00:28:54.140
original innovative horror movie, when we were

00:28:54.140 –> 00:28:59.680
talking about the movies that I watched on cable

00:28:59.680 –> 00:29:01.319
that you were telling me about with the dummy

00:29:01.319 –> 00:29:04.680
in the basement. Caveat. Caveat and – Oddity.

00:29:04.839 –> 00:29:07.859
Oddity, yeah. Those are interesting. Yeah. And

00:29:07.859 –> 00:29:11.819
they’re not like, I don’t like the Insidious

00:29:11.819 –> 00:29:16.099
franchise at all. Right. And – I can see that.

00:29:16.160 –> 00:29:18.220
And I don’t like the Scream franchise, frankly.

00:29:18.220 –> 00:29:23.319
So for you – Scream’s not supernatural. No. Well,

00:29:23.380 –> 00:29:27.619
what do you look for in a good horror movie?

00:29:27.740 –> 00:29:31.819
Like what tickles your… Well, I’m old school.

00:29:31.980 –> 00:29:36.119
So I like horror movies that have a backstory.

00:29:36.319 –> 00:29:40.460
In other words, or are kind of surrealistic.

00:29:41.019 –> 00:29:44.099
One of my favorite Italian horror movies, which

00:29:44.099 –> 00:29:47.460
is really not… It’s sort of supernatural. It’s

00:29:47.460 –> 00:29:50.839
called The House with the Laughing Windows. And

00:29:50.839 –> 00:29:53.200
it’s about a painter that goes to restore a church

00:29:53.200 –> 00:29:58.000
and discovers a moldering evil. I love the idea

00:29:58.000 –> 00:30:02.380
of something festering, something hiding in antiquity

00:30:02.380 –> 00:30:05.480
that comes back into a modern audience. That’s

00:30:05.480 –> 00:30:08.039
the premise of a lot of European horror movies.

00:30:08.180 –> 00:30:11.440
I love that stuff too. What I’m tired of, if

00:30:11.440 –> 00:30:15.140
you’re listening Del Toro. No more remakes of

00:30:15.140 –> 00:30:18.539
Frankenstein. No more remakes of Dracula. No

00:30:18.539 –> 00:30:22.319
more remakes of Jekyll and Hyde. Bring me something

00:30:22.319 –> 00:30:28.400
new. There is a vast, vast sea of public domain

00:30:28.400 –> 00:30:32.180
short stories and novels. They could make gorgeous

00:30:32.180 –> 00:30:35.779
horror movies. Why must we continually remake?

00:30:36.099 –> 00:30:39.700
The new version of Dracula right now by Luc Bresson

00:30:39.700 –> 00:30:43.359
is a remake of the Coppola Dracula. which by

00:30:43.359 –> 00:30:46.559
God didn’t need to be remade. Well, that’s a

00:30:46.559 –> 00:30:48.440
really good point. And remaking Nosferatu again.

00:30:48.599 –> 00:30:50.700
I mean, that’s true across all genres and all

00:30:50.700 –> 00:30:53.220
films. There you go. Well, I was looking this

00:30:53.220 –> 00:30:55.220
up because this ties to what you’re talking about.

00:30:55.299 –> 00:30:58.160
Dracula is probably the most, besides Sherlock

00:30:58.160 –> 00:31:02.220
Holmes, the most featured character in film.

00:31:02.599 –> 00:31:05.539
I think he’s in over 200. Well, it’s Christ without

00:31:05.539 –> 00:31:10.079
guilt because you have an immortal being that’s…

00:31:11.329 –> 00:31:14.349
living through the centuries by drinking blood

00:31:14.349 –> 00:31:17.329
but he’s romantic because remember he’s based

00:31:17.329 –> 00:31:21.589
on lord byron bram stoker based him on sir henry

00:31:21.589 –> 00:31:25.210
irving john polidori who was the lover of lord

00:31:25.210 –> 00:31:28.470
byron wrote the first the first vampire book

00:31:28.470 –> 00:31:31.990
ever was called the vampire and it was based

00:31:31.990 –> 00:31:36.130
on lord byron I thought they were Vlad the Impaler.

00:31:36.210 –> 00:31:39.609
No, Vlad the Impaler. Well, what about the Tolstoy?

00:31:39.609 –> 00:31:42.269
Jesus Christ. The Valdoruk? How do you say that?

00:31:42.349 –> 00:31:45.609
The Valdoruk? Oh, the Voodalak? Yes, thank you.

00:31:46.089 –> 00:31:49.289
The Voodalak. That predates Dracula. That’s Nikolai

00:31:49.289 –> 00:31:53.829
Gogol. And his short story is Tsarist Russia.

00:31:54.029 –> 00:31:57.569
So, yeah. In fact, there’s a great TV series

00:31:57.569 –> 00:32:00.490
I recommended, 30 Coins, and I now recommend

00:32:00.490 –> 00:32:05.089
Gogol. which actually shows you, in real time,

00:32:05.930 –> 00:32:09.130
Black Sunday, Mask of the Demon, that made Barbara

00:32:09.130 –> 00:32:12.670
Steele and Mario Bava famous. Gogol was an early

00:32:12.670 –> 00:32:15.750
writer of supernatural horror. But to answer

00:32:15.750 –> 00:32:18.269
your original question, that’s what I look for,

00:32:18.369 –> 00:32:24.130
is background, things that are set in antiquity,

00:32:24.509 –> 00:32:29.829
psychological horror, maybe? That’s frightening.

00:32:30.569 –> 00:32:34.109
What isn’t frightening, I think in 2026, we don’t

00:32:34.109 –> 00:32:36.410
know the difference between being frightened

00:32:36.410 –> 00:32:41.109
and being startled. Because every trailer I look

00:32:41.109 –> 00:32:46.009
at is boom. What are we going to do? Boom. Yeah.

00:32:46.109 –> 00:32:50.650
And that’s lazy, guys. I mean, I agree. You don’t

00:32:50.650 –> 00:32:53.690
have to work on developing real suspense if you’re

00:32:53.690 –> 00:32:56.789
developing cheap suspense. You bet. You bet.

00:32:56.990 –> 00:33:00.690
David, I know you’re a big vampire fan. Would

00:33:00.690 –> 00:33:03.269
you say your favorite vampire movie involves

00:33:03.269 –> 00:33:06.730
Dracula? Because I think of, for myself, my favorite

00:33:06.730 –> 00:33:08.930
vampire movies don’t involve Dracula himself.

00:33:09.589 –> 00:33:12.230
Well, that’s a very good question. Because if

00:33:12.230 –> 00:33:15.750
we remove Hammer films from the equation, my

00:33:15.750 –> 00:33:18.309
favorite vampire movies are Daughters of Darkness

00:33:18.309 –> 00:33:24.369
by Harry Kumail, which is based on Countess Batory.

00:33:24.829 –> 00:33:28.329
The Countess Elizabeth Batory was a real -life

00:33:28.329 –> 00:33:31.730
woman. that believed by bathing in virgin blood,

00:33:31.890 –> 00:33:35.369
you have to try my virgin blood, by being bathed

00:33:35.369 –> 00:33:38.549
in virgin blood, she can remain beautiful. Carmilla,

00:33:38.690 –> 00:33:43.970
the flip side of Dracula, a lesbian vampire who

00:33:43.970 –> 00:33:46.970
takes the blood of beautiful young girls by staying

00:33:46.970 –> 00:33:49.930
in their homes. Hammer Films even had the temerity

00:33:49.930 –> 00:33:52.730
to make a vampire movie about the Karnsteins,

00:33:52.730 –> 00:33:55.589
which is what they were called, by placing their

00:33:55.589 –> 00:33:58.390
graves, and then they put a girls’ school above

00:33:58.390 –> 00:34:01.230
that. So when the Karnsteins come back to life,

00:34:01.410 –> 00:34:06.269
it’s a 7 -Eleven for blood upstairs. The Blood

00:34:06.269 –> 00:34:10.809
-Spattered Bride from Spain. Brides of Dracula

00:34:10.809 –> 00:34:13.789
from Hammer doesn’t have Dracula in it. It has

00:34:13.789 –> 00:34:19.690
a very homosexual vampire. My favorite vampire

00:34:19.690 –> 00:34:22.730
movie, because I’ve seen it so many times, it’s

00:34:22.730 –> 00:34:25.670
not a Dracula movie. It’s Dance of the Vampires

00:34:25.670 –> 00:34:28.449
by Roman Polanski. Fearless Vampire Killers.

00:34:28.889 –> 00:34:31.369
And I was close friends with Ferdie Mayne, who

00:34:31.369 –> 00:34:34.170
played Count Von Crolock in that. And he based

00:34:34.170 –> 00:34:37.670
it on Lee. But Christopher Lee’s Dracula was

00:34:37.670 –> 00:34:41.530
very influential. But to me, there’s only one

00:34:41.530 –> 00:34:45.070
Dracula, and that’s Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi,

00:34:45.070 –> 00:34:51.010
yeah. Well, I got a question then. Horror is

00:34:51.010 –> 00:34:54.849
interesting to me because it’s a genre that you

00:34:54.849 –> 00:35:00.179
have some really amazing creative, um, elevated

00:35:00.179 –> 00:35:04.300
films. And then you have like B camp schlock

00:35:04.300 –> 00:35:09.460
and fans oftentimes seem to love it all. Yeah.

00:35:09.559 –> 00:35:12.900
I’m that way. I love horrible movies. I mean,

00:35:12.900 –> 00:35:16.659
uh, I just, I mean, I just, the one I just did

00:35:16.659 –> 00:35:19.760
house of the, of the seven corpses. I mean, it’s,

00:35:19.760 –> 00:35:22.260
it’s lame as all get out, but it reminds you

00:35:22.260 –> 00:35:24.880
of a TV movie of the week. I love Quinn Tarantino

00:35:24.880 –> 00:35:28.059
and I both love. tv movies of the week not just

00:35:28.059 –> 00:35:30.639
horror but all the things that were coming out

00:35:30.639 –> 00:35:33.679
of television in the 70s and 80s so what about

00:35:33.679 –> 00:35:38.159
the the bad movies do you like like the plan

00:35:38.159 –> 00:35:41.000
nines from outer space hideous sun demon beast

00:35:41.000 –> 00:35:43.619
of yucca flats i could go on and on but is it

00:35:43.619 –> 00:35:45.800
is it the campiness that that you like are you

00:35:45.800 –> 00:35:48.340
enjoying it from like a humorous point of view

00:35:48.340 –> 00:35:53.280
yeah well of course but but for me A lot of these

00:35:53.280 –> 00:35:55.800
really bad movies were coming out at the same

00:35:55.800 –> 00:35:58.179
time as the really good ones. The same time I

00:35:58.179 –> 00:36:01.440
saw House of Usher, I saw Zsa Zsa Gabor in Queen

00:36:01.440 –> 00:36:05.199
of Outer Space. You’re not referring to the new

00:36:05.199 –> 00:36:07.739
House of Usher, obviously. No, I’m definitely

00:36:07.739 –> 00:36:10.099
not. I’m not a big fan of it. Follow the House

00:36:10.099 –> 00:36:14.179
of Usher. Yeah, well, it really fell. But no,

00:36:14.380 –> 00:36:17.340
I mean, the mole people, Universal started making,

00:36:17.519 –> 00:36:20.440
well, that takes us back to the insect fear films,

00:36:20.539 –> 00:36:25.110
The Fly. return of the fly curse of the fly you

00:36:25.110 –> 00:36:28.829
like and then cronenberg remade them oh i didn’t

00:36:28.829 –> 00:36:31.369
realize that they were his versions were remakes

00:36:31.369 –> 00:36:34.030
that’s interesting you never saw the 1958 the

00:36:34.030 –> 00:36:37.289
fly i fortunately i’m one of those right yeah

00:36:37.289 –> 00:36:40.289
the misfit song return of the fly yeah that was

00:36:40.289 –> 00:36:42.809
vincent price he says yeah it’s one of the lyrics

00:36:42.809 –> 00:36:45.289
i did the audio commentary with brett halsey

00:36:45.289 –> 00:36:48.289
who played the fly And I did the one with David

00:36:48.289 –> 00:36:51.010
Hedgeson who played the original fly. Well, you’re

00:36:51.010 –> 00:36:53.949
also no Vincent Price, don’t you? Yes. I met

00:36:53.949 –> 00:36:57.650
him when I was in high school, when I was watching

00:36:57.650 –> 00:37:00.449
all these AIP movies. He had just done Witchfinder

00:37:00.449 –> 00:37:03.809
General, The Conqueror Worm. And he was downtown

00:37:03.809 –> 00:37:07.630
Sacramento. And I took my friend David Stone,

00:37:07.809 –> 00:37:11.590
who’s now an artist at the Blue Whale here. No,

00:37:11.630 –> 00:37:13.349
he’s back up in Sacramento, but he’s very well

00:37:13.349 –> 00:37:17.420
known. And we went there to the municipal auditorium

00:37:17.420 –> 00:37:20.519
and Vincent was doing a lecture called Dear Theo

00:37:20.519 –> 00:37:24.219
about the letters between Vincent Van Gogh and

00:37:24.219 –> 00:37:26.780
his brother Theo, something I would never have

00:37:26.780 –> 00:37:31.139
gone to in like junior high. And I go, cause

00:37:31.139 –> 00:37:33.300
I’m crazy about Vincent. Right. So you went just

00:37:33.300 –> 00:37:35.920
to see. Yes. And I went backstage and he was

00:37:35.920 –> 00:37:40.099
standing with his back to me like that. And he

00:37:40.099 –> 00:37:44.239
turned around and, uh, I just don’t know what

00:37:44.239 –> 00:37:46.980
happened to me. He walked over and he said, and

00:37:46.980 –> 00:37:50.900
who may you be? And I said, I’m David and I’m

00:37:50.900 –> 00:37:53.159
from Encina High School and I’m the editor of

00:37:53.159 –> 00:37:56.079
the Tomahawk. And I’m here to interview you.

00:37:56.360 –> 00:37:58.659
And he looked at me and said, the Tomahawk? Well,

00:37:58.880 –> 00:38:00.880
we better get you over here where we can talk.

00:38:01.079 –> 00:38:04.699
So he took both my hands in his and we went and

00:38:04.699 –> 00:38:08.500
sat in this chair, this little chair. And that

00:38:08.500 –> 00:38:12.420
was 1968. And I would know him until he died.

00:38:12.750 –> 00:38:15.929
That’s crazy. Did you, were you, would you consider

00:38:15.929 –> 00:38:19.650
him a friend? Oh, I was in love with him. I just,

00:38:19.849 –> 00:38:26.789
he knew it. He knew it. He felt it. He knew by

00:38:26.789 –> 00:38:31.110
me not ever saying anything that he helped me

00:38:31.110 –> 00:38:34.849
live through my would have been unhappy childhood

00:38:34.849 –> 00:38:39.150
because we moved around a lot. And my personality

00:38:39.150 –> 00:38:42.889
today is based on the fact. that I was the new

00:38:42.889 –> 00:38:45.909
kid in school all the time. I had to be a star

00:38:45.909 –> 00:38:48.929
because those kids would eat me alive on the,

00:38:49.090 –> 00:38:53.489
you know, and I wasn’t a sports guy. I like sports

00:38:53.489 –> 00:38:56.610
guys, but I wasn’t one. By high school, I figured

00:38:56.610 –> 00:39:00.449
all of that out and I’m still doing it. But the

00:39:00.449 –> 00:39:03.730
thing is, horror films have always been an outlet,

00:39:04.010 –> 00:39:07.809
not only for one’s imagination, but also as a

00:39:07.809 –> 00:39:11.579
safety net so you won’t be lonely. And do you

00:39:11.579 –> 00:39:13.820
think, that’s a really interesting point, do

00:39:13.820 –> 00:39:17.800
you think that the genre of horror is more welcoming

00:39:17.800 –> 00:39:21.719
to queer people? Yes. Well, let’s look at the

00:39:21.719 –> 00:39:25.000
Frankenstein monster and the director who put

00:39:25.000 –> 00:39:29.980
it together. James Whale was gay. And the monster

00:39:29.980 –> 00:39:34.139
is an outcast. He doesn’t fit in anywhere. And

00:39:34.139 –> 00:39:36.440
think about the vampire for a minute. He casts

00:39:36.440 –> 00:39:39.489
no reflection in a mirror. When you’re a gay

00:39:39.489 –> 00:39:42.269
man or you’re a gay kid, your looks are everything.

00:39:42.630 –> 00:39:44.989
If you don’t have looks, you don’t have a life.

00:39:46.409 –> 00:39:51.809
You don’t have a life. And for me, I used my

00:39:51.809 –> 00:39:55.130
gift of gab and my sense of humor, which saved

00:39:55.130 –> 00:39:59.610
my life. You know, because I wasn’t a really,

00:39:59.690 –> 00:40:03.010
really handsome guy. I was cute, but I wasn’t,

00:40:03.010 –> 00:40:09.130
you know. I beg to differ. And I remember. It’s

00:40:09.130 –> 00:40:13.130
like looking through a glass darkly. You’re observing,

00:40:13.289 –> 00:40:16.789
you’re looking like Hannibal Lecter. Tell me

00:40:16.789 –> 00:40:20.389
what you see, Clarice. Look deeper. What are

00:40:20.389 –> 00:40:22.349
you looking at? What do you want to possess?

00:40:23.110 –> 00:40:25.929
Everyone looks at someone and there’s something

00:40:25.929 –> 00:40:27.949
about them if they’re attracted to them. You

00:40:27.949 –> 00:40:30.710
want that. You want to possess that for a minute.

00:40:30.869 –> 00:40:33.769
Horror films open the door for that. I knew before

00:40:33.769 –> 00:40:36.869
I was even sexually aware that there was something

00:40:36.869 –> 00:40:41.360
in the horror film. That was sexual. The vampire

00:40:41.360 –> 00:40:44.840
is a sexual being. The werewolf is a sexual being.

00:40:45.699 –> 00:40:50.380
Creating different body parts to make a monster.

00:40:51.400 –> 00:40:57.179
That’s creating life without women. Something

00:40:57.179 –> 00:41:00.519
a lot of people think about more than once. Well,

00:41:00.519 –> 00:41:02.980
actually, let me jump in on that. Because what’s

00:41:02.980 –> 00:41:06.280
interesting is, you’re gay, I’m straight. And

00:41:06.280 –> 00:41:09.340
I watched horror movies as a kid. I would put

00:41:09.340 –> 00:41:12.179
that together. In fact, if I saw something with

00:41:12.179 –> 00:41:16.219
a witch or came up in the 80s, so Zelda from

00:41:16.219 –> 00:41:18.380
Pet Sematary is supposed to be a creepy fucking

00:41:18.380 –> 00:41:21.500
woman. I’m like, that is not sexual at all to

00:41:21.500 –> 00:41:25.039
me. No, no, no. But you’re missing the point.

00:41:26.139 –> 00:41:30.940
Vampirism is the taking of bodily fluids from

00:41:30.940 –> 00:41:34.179
each other. Dracula is not a love story, guys.

00:41:34.679 –> 00:41:37.500
Bram Stoker, if you read Dracula, I’m causing

00:41:37.500 –> 00:41:42.000
oceans of time to be with you. No, no, no. He’s

00:41:42.000 –> 00:41:45.039
an animated corpse that drains blood to survive.

00:41:45.900 –> 00:41:50.099
The romanticism comes from Hollywood. Vlad the

00:41:50.099 –> 00:41:53.780
Impaler comes from Hollywood. Now, Bram Stoker,

00:41:54.019 –> 00:41:58.000
when he was writing Dracula, there was an exhibit

00:41:58.000 –> 00:42:03.019
of Romanian artifacts that included Vlad the

00:42:03.019 –> 00:42:07.949
Impaler’s armor and stuff so it’s it’s possible

00:42:07.949 –> 00:42:12.329
that bram ran down there and looked i don’t know

00:42:12.329 –> 00:42:15.369
but the fact is he didn’t put it in the book

00:42:15.369 –> 00:42:19.789
well but when i saw dracula untold that’s all

00:42:19.789 –> 00:42:22.929
about vlad i i could be mistaken but i thought

00:42:22.929 –> 00:42:25.989
i i actually read a book about vlad vlad the

00:42:25.989 –> 00:42:28.929
imperial historical well he probably was analysis

00:42:28.929 –> 00:42:32.030
he’s a prototype of the vampire in in history

00:42:32.519 –> 00:42:35.320
Yeah. Okay. Maybe, but not Dracula. Not the Dracula

00:42:35.320 –> 00:42:38.500
from the literary point of view. Although I just,

00:42:38.559 –> 00:42:41.840
I did a commentary for just Franco’s count Dracula

00:42:41.840 –> 00:42:44.980
in which Christopher Lee was so proud, so proud

00:42:44.980 –> 00:42:48.380
that he had done his, he stands up in front of

00:42:48.380 –> 00:42:50.820
a portrait of himself. He said, and we, and we,

00:42:50.820 –> 00:42:55.000
and we pushed back the Turkish hordes. He’s Vlad.

00:42:56.400 –> 00:42:59.599
Christopher thought he was Vlad. He was a Christopher

00:42:59.599 –> 00:43:02.420
thought a lot of things among them. You know,

00:43:02.559 –> 00:43:05.780
I go back to, I have a place. I go back to Charlemagne,

00:43:05.900 –> 00:43:08.260
you know. Were you friends with Christopher?

00:43:08.260 –> 00:43:10.480
I was indeed. He’s the one that said to me, I

00:43:10.480 –> 00:43:14.260
was too short to wear a cape. You know, I’m almost

00:43:14.260 –> 00:43:17.460
six. He wanted to be 6 ’11”, but no, no, you

00:43:17.460 –> 00:43:21.239
weren’t 6 ’11”. And he said, no, David, you can’t

00:43:21.239 –> 00:43:25.059
wear a cape. You’re simply too short. And I said,

00:43:25.059 –> 00:43:29.230
well, thank you. Did that make you wear capes

00:43:29.230 –> 00:43:31.449
to defy him? Well, you know, when I was a kid,

00:43:31.530 –> 00:43:35.349
I had a cape for Halloween, but I get his point.

00:43:35.550 –> 00:43:39.010
You know, look, I can see mirrors. I’m six. No,

00:43:39.070 –> 00:43:43.309
what am I? Five, six, five, seven. No, he’s correct.

00:43:43.869 –> 00:43:46.429
There’s never been a Dracula on screen that was

00:43:46.429 –> 00:43:49.530
my size. Fair enough. Maybe there’s an idea.

00:43:49.610 –> 00:43:52.449
None stood on Apple boxes. Well, then you can’t

00:43:52.449 –> 00:43:54.929
go anywhere. Oh, wait, you can turn into a bat.

00:43:55.420 –> 00:43:58.280
excuse me uh i don’t know where that came from

00:43:58.280 –> 00:44:01.679
either but no i mean um fun side story actually

00:44:01.679 –> 00:44:05.579
about christopher lee uh i i used to be really

00:44:05.579 –> 00:44:07.460
into this band i guess i still am called rhapsody

00:44:07.460 –> 00:44:12.579
and it’s like a a european kind of fantasy metal

00:44:12.579 –> 00:44:17.300
band oh boy he did a whole like 13 minute intro

00:44:17.300 –> 00:44:22.340
as a wizard you know or or narrator of this like

00:44:22.340 –> 00:44:26.449
album this concept album and And man, his voice.

00:44:26.510 –> 00:44:28.909
But anyways. Well, you know, Chris, I am a baritone

00:44:28.909 –> 00:44:32.349
and I could have been an opera singer. I was

00:44:32.349 –> 00:44:36.329
Atlas Scholar. I was going to do Don Giovanni.

00:44:37.929 –> 00:44:39.789
You don’t have to lower your voice. You already

00:44:39.789 –> 00:44:42.510
are in the register. Well, I’m doing my Christopher

00:44:42.510 –> 00:44:45.050
Lee, which is different from my Vincent Price.

00:44:45.329 –> 00:44:48.389
Right. Vincent’s more Nelly. Christopher’s more

00:44:48.389 –> 00:44:52.690
Butch. unless he’s had a couple of drinks. Oh,

00:44:52.989 –> 00:44:54.449
that sounds like a story there. Well, I took

00:44:54.449 –> 00:44:57.829
Christopher Lee to a gay disco. Oh. I took him

00:44:57.829 –> 00:45:01.929
to Studio One in West Hollywood to the backlot

00:45:01.929 –> 00:45:05.030
room to see Geraldine Fitzgerald do her cabaret

00:45:05.030 –> 00:45:08.570
act, and the disco was closed. But I told him,

00:45:08.650 –> 00:45:12.570
well, you knew I was gay. And he said, well,

00:45:12.750 –> 00:45:17.150
quite. I don’t think I’ll bring Gita. I said,

00:45:17.150 –> 00:45:21.099
no, let’s have a boys’ night out. And I had so

00:45:21.099 –> 00:45:22.940
much fun with him. Man, I love going to gay bars.

00:45:23.019 –> 00:45:25.119
In fact, Peter and I used to sometimes go to

00:45:25.119 –> 00:45:28.219
like, or actually, maybe it was more Mike than

00:45:28.219 –> 00:45:31.360
you, but we used to go to, it was called Tiger

00:45:31.360 –> 00:45:34.679
Beat here in West Hollywood back in the 2000s.

00:45:34.679 –> 00:45:38.039
That’s a twink bar. Yeah, yeah. What was great

00:45:38.039 –> 00:45:40.699
about it as a straight man is it’s all filled

00:45:40.699 –> 00:45:44.760
with gay men and straight women. Straight women

00:45:44.760 –> 00:45:48.760
are there because they can be comfortable and

00:45:48.760 –> 00:45:50.400
not be hit on. Exactly. And they know if you’re

00:45:50.400 –> 00:45:52.579
there that you’re not a, you know, creepy jockey

00:45:52.579 –> 00:45:54.639
douche, you know. You could be creepy, but you

00:45:54.639 –> 00:45:56.739
know, there are, let’s face it. Well, you can

00:45:56.739 –> 00:45:58.679
be creepy. There are creepy people in every walk

00:45:58.679 –> 00:46:00.340
of life. You’re generally probably, if you’re

00:46:00.340 –> 00:46:01.519
willing to hang out, particularly in the early

00:46:01.519 –> 00:46:03.780
2000s at a gay bar, you’re probably a little

00:46:03.780 –> 00:46:06.219
more open -minded. No, but you know, Christopher

00:46:06.219 –> 00:46:13.199
Lee was an icon in that genre because of Hammer.

00:46:14.360 –> 00:46:19.300
And Vincent was one because of AIP. Karloff and

00:46:19.300 –> 00:46:23.000
Lugosi were one because of Universal. So all

00:46:23.000 –> 00:46:26.239
these guys had their studio, their background.

00:46:27.539 –> 00:46:30.039
That’s gone now. Yeah, you don’t see it. All

00:46:30.039 –> 00:46:32.079
right, let me just be frank. There are no horror

00:46:32.079 –> 00:46:34.659
stars. Exactly. Bobby England, Robert England

00:46:34.659 –> 00:46:41.739
is the last one. And I like Robert a lot, and

00:46:41.739 –> 00:46:44.590
I’ve known him. I knew him before Nightmare.

00:46:45.530 –> 00:46:48.630
In fact, I’m in his documentary, which they’ve

00:46:48.630 –> 00:46:51.269
never sent me. I have to order it, I guess. But

00:46:51.269 –> 00:46:54.670
I’m sitting on a balcony in West Hollywood with

00:46:54.670 –> 00:46:58.150
Robert England and Martine Beswick. And we’re

00:46:58.150 –> 00:47:00.489
having drinks. And we’re talking about what’s

00:47:00.489 –> 00:47:03.789
going on. And I’m an agent. And Robert goes,

00:47:04.530 –> 00:47:07.769
you know, I’m going to get a real estate license

00:47:07.769 –> 00:47:11.230
like Dean Stockwell. Because I just did a movie.

00:47:11.739 –> 00:47:17.739
I’m in a mask. I have no lines. I’m done. That

00:47:17.739 –> 00:47:21.280
was the original nightmare. The third time I

00:47:21.280 –> 00:47:25.880
saw him, I was covering Dream Warriors. And I

00:47:25.880 –> 00:47:28.659
wanted to fuck with him. So we had a press conference

00:47:28.659 –> 00:47:32.119
and he sees me sitting there. And I raise my

00:47:32.119 –> 00:47:34.820
hand and I go, Mr. England. And he goes, yes,

00:47:34.820 –> 00:47:38.480
David. I said, well, seems to me that Freddy

00:47:38.480 –> 00:47:42.480
Krueger has morphed. from being a child molester

00:47:42.480 –> 00:47:45.739
into a stand -up comic. Would you care to comment

00:47:45.739 –> 00:47:49.179
on that? And he said, well, since you brought

00:47:49.179 –> 00:47:54.019
it up, New Line has decided that we downplay

00:47:54.019 –> 00:47:57.860
the origins of the character because you can’t

00:47:57.860 –> 00:48:00.960
get away with that now. You couldn’t remake Nightmare

00:48:00.960 –> 00:48:03.639
on Elm Street and imply what in the original

00:48:03.639 –> 00:48:07.500
movie he is molesting girls that are seven years

00:48:07.500 –> 00:48:10.309
old. having sex with them and then throwing them

00:48:10.309 –> 00:48:13.309
in the oven or whatever. It’s horrible, which

00:48:13.309 –> 00:48:15.530
is why all the parents band together to burn

00:48:15.530 –> 00:48:19.989
him up. That is so forgotten in those sequels.

00:48:20.110 –> 00:48:22.230
Well, the remake touches on that, I believe.

00:48:22.269 –> 00:48:24.190
A little, really? Yeah. I don’t think it would

00:48:24.190 –> 00:48:26.769
now necessarily. It’s been a minute since I’ve

00:48:26.769 –> 00:48:28.889
seen it, but I do feel like they did address

00:48:28.889 –> 00:48:31.250
that. Black Phone brings that up. Well, but you

00:48:31.250 –> 00:48:32.909
know, I think the reason that they don’t now

00:48:32.909 –> 00:48:35.469
is because going back to being all about money.

00:48:35.880 –> 00:48:37.599
They want to make, you know, they want PG. Yeah.

00:48:37.820 –> 00:48:40.039
No one wants to go in that really perverse stuff.

00:48:40.539 –> 00:48:43.159
Well, Dave, here’s a question because you’ve

00:48:43.159 –> 00:48:46.519
met a lot of, you know, names in horror over

00:48:46.519 –> 00:48:49.159
the years. And I imagine plenty of those actors

00:48:49.159 –> 00:48:51.920
did not gravitate towards horror. They just found

00:48:51.920 –> 00:48:54.460
themselves becoming a horror actor, maybe an

00:48:54.460 –> 00:48:56.880
icon. And then it became a life raft. It became

00:48:56.880 –> 00:48:59.940
a life raft for them. Did they then not just

00:48:59.940 –> 00:49:02.800
embrace like, okay, I’m the horror flavor of

00:49:02.800 –> 00:49:05.750
the year or whatever, but did they? take a shine

00:49:05.750 –> 00:49:08.909
to the genre? That’s an interesting question.

00:49:09.130 –> 00:49:13.809
Most likely not. The older actors that became

00:49:13.809 –> 00:49:17.389
known for horror roles started out in different…

00:49:17.389 –> 00:49:23.690
Let me try and think of a good example. Let’s

00:49:23.690 –> 00:49:29.570
say Robert Query, who was Count Yorga. He beat

00:49:29.570 –> 00:49:32.010
around Hollywood for years doing character work.

00:49:32.469 –> 00:49:37.650
William Marshall, Blackula. Same thing. William

00:49:37.650 –> 00:49:40.829
Marshall and Bob Query both, if you ask them

00:49:40.829 –> 00:49:43.130
if they like horror movies, they would say, I

00:49:43.130 –> 00:49:48.030
like the ones I’m in. Barbara Steele, who I was

00:49:48.030 –> 00:49:52.190
her agent, so I knew her intimately, never wanted

00:49:52.190 –> 00:49:54.989
to be remembered for her Italian horror until

00:49:54.989 –> 00:49:59.250
now. Now she embraces it at the age of 88. Well,

00:49:59.250 –> 00:50:01.510
I imagine that’s probably because at the time…

00:50:02.039 –> 00:50:04.900
Christopher Lee never won. Christopher Lee. I

00:50:04.900 –> 00:50:08.519
voted. Yeah. You know, we were watching that.

00:50:08.559 –> 00:50:10.280
I went with him for the opening of the wicker

00:50:10.280 –> 00:50:12.599
mat. This is my greatest role. I said, you’re

00:50:12.599 –> 00:50:16.159
in it for 10 minutes. Calm down, you know, and,

00:50:16.360 –> 00:50:19.539
uh, Vincent wavered, but Vincent was the most

00:50:19.539 –> 00:50:24.059
hip of the lot of them. Well, do you think that

00:50:24.059 –> 00:50:26.159
this is because he had a sense of humor that

00:50:26.159 –> 00:50:30.639
at the time, maybe horror wasn’t quite as appreciated

00:50:30.639 –> 00:50:33.690
as the, like, artistic statement. Oh, you’re

00:50:33.690 –> 00:50:36.829
completely right. You’re completely right. Horror

00:50:36.829 –> 00:50:39.349
movies were always the lower half of the double

00:50:39.349 –> 00:50:41.949
bill. And that’s what’s interesting, right, is

00:50:41.949 –> 00:50:45.889
because horror in a way has withstood the test

00:50:45.889 –> 00:50:49.329
of time in a way that a lot of dramas and other

00:50:49.329 –> 00:50:51.630
things that usually get most of the attention

00:50:51.630 –> 00:50:53.650
when they come out. You know what? Parallel it

00:50:53.650 –> 00:50:58.929
to books. The horror fiction never dies. It’s

00:50:58.929 –> 00:51:01.719
always there. Same with the movies. they’re interconnected

00:51:01.719 –> 00:51:07.400
uh i think we’re seeing the end of the comic

00:51:07.400 –> 00:51:09.960
book movies at least i hope we are thank god

00:51:09.960 –> 00:51:12.539
marvel no you know well look come on guys we

00:51:12.539 –> 00:51:15.000
were all into it when the first couple of thors

00:51:15.000 –> 00:51:17.179
or whatever only because it had been tried so

00:51:17.179 –> 00:51:19.079
many times and they were so awful finally well

00:51:19.079 –> 00:51:21.300
the effects were so good yeah the effects were

00:51:21.300 –> 00:51:24.239
good and they they they didn’t try to push back

00:51:24.239 –> 00:51:26.800
on the camp in the you know in the jokes and

00:51:26.800 –> 00:51:30.289
stuff like Well, the Guardians of the Galaxies

00:51:30.289 –> 00:51:36.630
were the worst for that reason. Thor Ragnarok,

00:51:36.670 –> 00:51:39.289
I like. The main problem is they just made too

00:51:39.289 –> 00:51:41.250
many of them and they stopped trying to make

00:51:41.250 –> 00:51:44.050
them interesting. And I don’t know. We could

00:51:44.050 –> 00:51:46.289
have a whole episode about that. Well, no, it

00:51:46.289 –> 00:51:48.849
became an industry. We’re kind of talking about

00:51:48.849 –> 00:51:51.769
this particular genre at this particular episode

00:51:51.769 –> 00:51:55.409
because it has artistic merit. Yeah. Well, and,

00:51:55.449 –> 00:51:56.809
you know, we were talking about this a little

00:51:56.809 –> 00:51:59.050
bit in a past episode, which is that, you know,

00:51:59.090 –> 00:52:03.949
horror is also kind of this genre that you can

00:52:03.949 –> 00:52:06.670
see a little bit more of the creative process

00:52:06.670 –> 00:52:09.869
that went into it. Like they’re more unique in

00:52:09.869 –> 00:52:12.409
terms of their concept and their visuals and

00:52:12.409 –> 00:52:16.710
often. And they also kind of have a point of

00:52:16.710 –> 00:52:19.409
view in a way that you can have five indie dramas

00:52:19.409 –> 00:52:21.349
and they all kind of feel the same made by different

00:52:21.349 –> 00:52:24.579
people. But a horror film made by. Eggers is

00:52:24.579 –> 00:52:26.539
going to feel different than a horror movie made

00:52:26.539 –> 00:52:31.980
by, um, Joe Dante or, or, uh, well, but the three

00:52:31.980 –> 00:52:34.000
of us have worked on it. We we’ve created an,

00:52:34.019 –> 00:52:36.460
what might be an anthology film. Yeah. And the

00:52:36.460 –> 00:52:39.139
background of that. Wait, hold, before you get

00:52:39.139 –> 00:52:41.300
there, let me just, uh, let the audience know

00:52:41.300 –> 00:52:42.679
that David, we didn’t mention this in the beginning,

00:52:42.739 –> 00:52:44.900
but David is actually an executive producer on

00:52:44.900 –> 00:52:47.719
the short film last call that we, that we, uh,

00:52:47.920 –> 00:52:50.539
are on the festival circuit with right now. And.

00:52:50.989 –> 00:52:53.869
is one of the creators of the story. So I should

00:52:53.869 –> 00:52:55.730
have mentioned that up top in his introduction

00:52:55.730 –> 00:52:58.010
because, you know, he’s a great collaborator

00:52:58.010 –> 00:53:00.030
and had been really instrumental in helping us

00:53:00.030 –> 00:53:02.090
put that together. Well, the beginning of the

00:53:02.090 –> 00:53:05.250
anthology movie was Dead of Night, which was

00:53:05.250 –> 00:53:07.969
a British portmanteau, as they call them over

00:53:07.969 –> 00:53:11.650
there, of four different stories. And then, of

00:53:11.650 –> 00:53:14.349
course, Amicus Films, which was a competition

00:53:14.349 –> 00:53:17.449
for Hammer, did Vault of Horror, Tales from the

00:53:17.449 –> 00:53:21.369
Crypt, Be From Beyond the Grave, The Monster

00:53:21.369 –> 00:53:30.969
Club, Asylum, all of that. And always in anthology

00:53:30.969 –> 00:53:34.869
movies, always there’s one story of the four

00:53:34.869 –> 00:53:37.530
that you love the best and you tolerate the other

00:53:37.530 –> 00:53:39.869
three. So when Peter and I were putting together

00:53:39.869 –> 00:53:42.110
the stories, I said, wouldn’t it be interesting

00:53:42.110 –> 00:53:45.630
if every story was good and we didn’t have to

00:53:45.630 –> 00:53:47.530
wait, oh, I want to get to episode number three,

00:53:47.570 –> 00:53:50.940
so let’s fast forward to that. But there are

00:53:50.940 –> 00:53:53.360
rules to be implied with that. And actually,

00:53:53.380 –> 00:53:57.760
I created a line in the movie where the the bouncer

00:53:57.760 –> 00:54:00.739
at the bar says room for one more. That’s taken

00:54:00.739 –> 00:54:06.139
directly from Dead of Night. Spoiler. Well, that’s

00:54:06.139 –> 00:54:08.400
going to go over the heads of most. Of course.

00:54:08.400 –> 00:54:10.920
I think plenty of the Easter eggs we have in

00:54:10.920 –> 00:54:13.860
there might. But hopefully it doesn’t. I laid

00:54:13.860 –> 00:54:17.150
some eggs. Well, this has been a great conversation.

00:54:17.489 –> 00:54:19.929
Yeah. Well, I, it looks like we’re going to have

00:54:19.929 –> 00:54:22.250
to wrap things up shortly, David, because we’re

00:54:22.250 –> 00:54:23.730
going to have to get you to where you need to

00:54:23.730 –> 00:54:27.329
go. Any closing thoughts we want to. Good question.

00:54:27.409 –> 00:54:29.530
So yeah, I think there’s some really interesting

00:54:29.530 –> 00:54:33.329
films coming up in the next week or two. And,

00:54:33.329 –> 00:54:35.969
uh, well, the news, the news, Luke Bruce on Dracula

00:54:35.969 –> 00:54:38.170
is out, but I don’t know how much I’m looking

00:54:38.170 –> 00:54:40.769
forward to that one. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve heard mixed.

00:54:41.150 –> 00:54:43.090
And Wuthering Heights, which I’m going to go

00:54:43.090 –> 00:54:45.550
see. But I hear it’s not gothic. It got such

00:54:45.550 –> 00:54:48.750
bad reviews. Listen, I saw all of the Fifty Shades

00:54:48.750 –> 00:54:51.909
of Grey every Valentine’s Day. I’d go for free

00:54:51.909 –> 00:54:55.510
with my girlfriends, and we would go and cackle

00:54:55.510 –> 00:54:58.449
like the witches in Macbeth. But I had a fabulous

00:54:58.449 –> 00:55:01.230
time. The reviews for Wuthering Heights are so

00:55:01.230 –> 00:55:04.340
bad, I can’t wait to see it. Right. Well, it’s

00:55:04.340 –> 00:55:06.179
going to be fabulous. I didn’t take you for a

00:55:06.179 –> 00:55:09.039
straight erotic film kind of guy. It won’t be

00:55:09.039 –> 00:55:11.739
so straight when I look at it. Oh, right. Fair

00:55:11.739 –> 00:55:14.099
enough. But yeah, so this week, I think what

00:55:14.099 –> 00:55:16.940
we have coming out is the big one would be Good

00:55:16.940 –> 00:55:19.880
Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, which is a cautionary

00:55:19.880 –> 00:55:22.639
tale about AI, but kind of like a… That’s Gore

00:55:22.639 –> 00:55:25.360
Verbinski. Yeah, Gore Verbinski. That looks interesting.

00:55:25.460 –> 00:55:26.840
Yeah, I’m curious about that one. Yeah, I want

00:55:26.840 –> 00:55:28.559
to see it too. And Sam Rockwell’s in it, who

00:55:28.559 –> 00:55:34.099
I love. And so that one is about… A man with

00:55:34.099 –> 00:55:36.340
a detonator bursts into a proclaiming to be from

00:55:36.340 –> 00:55:38.119
the future to recruit a group of unqualified

00:55:38.119 –> 00:55:40.599
patrons to stop an impending AI apocalypse and

00:55:40.599 –> 00:55:43.980
save humanity. 86 % are Rotten Tomatoes, so sounds

00:55:43.980 –> 00:55:46.619
all right. Listen, I like the new Running Man,

00:55:46.840 –> 00:55:50.739
which flopped with Glenn Powell. It was more

00:55:50.739 –> 00:55:53.980
to the Stephen King book than the Schwarzenegger

00:55:53.980 –> 00:55:57.159
was. Or is it Stallone? I forget. It’s Schwarzenegger.

00:55:57.199 –> 00:56:00.840
It was Schwarzenegger, yeah. But it seems like

00:56:00.840 –> 00:56:05.190
not all those succeed. A lot of money was put

00:56:05.190 –> 00:56:07.369
into that, too. What’s coming up after that?

00:56:07.869 –> 00:56:11.789
There’s a pair of horror comedies, which I actually

00:56:11.789 –> 00:56:14.269
am a big fan of horror comedies. We just did

00:56:14.269 –> 00:56:17.030
commentary for one. Oh, yeah. Nightlife. Nightlife.

00:56:17.489 –> 00:56:20.969
And the first one is called Mimic, and it’s directed

00:56:20.969 –> 00:56:25.829
by Christopher Palaha. Is that a remake? No,

00:56:25.829 –> 00:56:29.670
I don’t believe it is. So he’s also the star.

00:56:31.559 –> 00:56:34.119
Basically, it’s about a Don and his luck impressionist,

00:56:34.159 –> 00:56:36.539
like a ventriloquist dummy kind of impressionist

00:56:36.539 –> 00:56:41.260
who I guess is gifted a ventriloquist dummy,

00:56:41.420 –> 00:56:44.059
a new one that is possessed or something. And

00:56:44.059 –> 00:56:47.900
he kind of sells his soul to be a great ventriloquist.

00:56:48.179 –> 00:56:49.820
That’s all I really know about it. The trailer

00:56:49.820 –> 00:56:53.360
looks pretty cool. And then the other one is

00:56:53.360 –> 00:56:55.860
Cold Storage, which is directed by Johnny Campbell

00:56:55.860 –> 00:57:00.199
for Samuel Goldman Films, starring Joe Keery.

00:57:00.730 –> 00:57:03.889
Georgina Campbell has Liam Neeson in it. And

00:57:03.889 –> 00:57:09.570
it’s a bigger production. And it’s about a, from

00:57:09.570 –> 00:57:11.329
the trailer, it looks like a group of people

00:57:11.329 –> 00:57:14.090
who go into this old government storage facility

00:57:14.090 –> 00:57:17.170
where they kind of awake some kind of parasite.

00:57:17.170 –> 00:57:19.769
Like Return of the Living Dead. Yeah. Sort of,

00:57:19.769 –> 00:57:22.530
yeah. It’s zombies. Zombies. A bioterror kind

00:57:22.530 –> 00:57:25.710
of thing. Maybe that’s a new genre, bioterror.

00:57:25.829 –> 00:57:28.010
I mean, it seems like it. Yeah. All the new zombie

00:57:28.010 –> 00:57:30.239
films. I feel like they have to have a good explanation.

00:57:30.239 –> 00:57:33.260
Would you lump that in with 28 days or 28 months

00:57:33.260 –> 00:57:37.000
or 28 years later? I will tell you after I watch

00:57:37.000 –> 00:57:39.179
it. Yeah. I mean, I would certainly put it in

00:57:39.179 –> 00:57:45.079
there with The Last of Us. Yeah. Yeah, I watched

00:57:45.079 –> 00:57:47.079
that. Well, that’s a video game. Yeah, it’s post

00:57:47.079 –> 00:57:50.360
-apocalyptic, but it is like zombie fungus, you

00:57:50.360 –> 00:57:52.619
know. So those are coming out. Well, I think

00:57:52.619 –> 00:57:55.559
World War Z was the biggest budget zombie movie,

00:57:55.699 –> 00:57:57.460
wasn’t it, at the time? Well, that’s unfortunate.

00:57:57.739 –> 00:57:59.380
Which was a piece of shit, so there you are.

00:57:59.460 –> 00:58:01.940
That’s another example of when you put all the

00:58:01.940 –> 00:58:03.800
money into the effects and not into the story.

00:58:04.059 –> 00:58:08.820
Well, no, the book is great. I felt like it shouldn’t

00:58:08.820 –> 00:58:10.739
have been a feature. It should have been a series

00:58:10.739 –> 00:58:13.519
because each chapter is an interview with a different

00:58:13.519 –> 00:58:15.360
person. It would have worked better. Yeah, in

00:58:15.360 –> 00:58:17.460
a different part of the world. Well, they’re

00:58:17.460 –> 00:58:19.059
going to remake it at some point, I’m sure. Yeah,

00:58:19.159 –> 00:58:21.260
we’ll see. It’s a great movie. Well, we got to

00:58:21.260 –> 00:58:25.119
make some stuff too, boys. Yeah. Peter, any last

00:58:25.119 –> 00:58:27.699
thoughts from you? No, thank you so much, David.

00:58:27.800 –> 00:58:31.360
And we will certainly have you back. There’s

00:58:31.360 –> 00:58:33.039
so much to talk with you about this. Well, maybe

00:58:33.039 –> 00:58:35.079
I’ll look at some more movies. Of course I will.

00:58:35.199 –> 00:58:37.079
I may have some more movies. Maybe I’ll actually

00:58:37.079 –> 00:58:39.559
like one. That would be cause for celebration,

00:58:39.800 –> 00:58:41.519
wouldn’t it? Yeah, how about this? The next movie

00:58:41.519 –> 00:58:44.380
that you like, come on and we’ll do an in -depth.

00:58:44.730 –> 00:58:48.070
We’ll do a deep dive. We’ll do a deep dish dive.

00:58:48.469 –> 00:58:50.429
You know, I just wonder if there’s like a generational

00:58:50.429 –> 00:58:54.750
difference there. Absolutely. And how do I address

00:58:54.750 –> 00:58:57.710
that? Because I’m not part of that generation.

00:58:59.530 –> 00:59:04.309
But I do believe that older fans like me can

00:59:04.309 –> 00:59:08.150
bring something to the table in reminding these

00:59:08.150 –> 00:59:12.530
20 -somethings that there is a rich background

00:59:12.530 –> 00:59:16.480
to horror. And you don’t necessarily have to

00:59:16.480 –> 00:59:19.579
jump on the crazy train of what’s making money.

00:59:20.260 –> 00:59:22.400
That’s a really good way to place to leave it.

00:59:22.440 –> 00:59:24.460
Thank you so much. And I feel like that’s what

00:59:24.460 –> 00:59:26.860
you did today is help remind us. That’s what

00:59:26.860 –> 00:59:29.840
I did. Thank you, David. Thank you. Thank you

00:59:29.840 –> 00:59:37.239
guys. That’s going to bring us to the end of

00:59:37.239 –> 00:59:39.619
today’s episode. We’ll be back next week where

00:59:39.619 –> 00:59:41.599
we’re going to discuss all the sub genres of

00:59:41.599 –> 00:59:45.460
horror. For today’s show notes. go to NightmareLogic

00:59:45.460 –> 00:59:48.659
.net. You can also follow us on Instagram at

00:59:48.659 –> 00:59:52.000
NightmareLogicPod. And a big thanks to Lars Lang

00:59:52.000 –> 00:59:55.079
Peterson for our theme. We’re your hosts, Christopher

00:59:55.079 –> 00:59:57.159
Smith and Peter Sawyer. Thanks for listening.