Curse of the Crimson Alter
01:22:32
About
We get back to business with cult favourite “Curse of the Crimson Altar” (or “The Crimson Cult” for our US listeners). A film in which Christopher Lee auditions to present Grandstand; Boris Karloff mourns a good brandy; and Barbara Steele gets the horn(s). Along the way we discuss the “The Mortuary Collection”, “Brave New World”, “Critters Attack”, “Fido” and “Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man”. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers, and join us. APOLOGIES FOR ANY SOUND QUALITY ISSUES -CURRENT QUARANTINE MEASURES MEANT WE HAD TO RECORD THIS EPISODE REMOTELY.
Transcript
Show full transcript
UnknownGood evening and welcome to Horror. I'm Lee.
ChrisI'm Chris.
AdamNo, Adam.
JenniferAnd Jennifer.
UnknownI don't know just to explain.
UnknownWhen we realised we were coming up to a hundred, we suddenly set down and made a list of all the stuff that we definitely should have covered in the first hundred and we somehow hadn't.
UnknownAnd this film was one of them.
UnknownIt's always on, it's always in my top 10 list of my favourite films.
UnknownAnd I, I feel it's an injustice that it's taken us this long to get to it.
UnknownBut again, I think you need an appreciation for the for the genre maybe before this one really has its full impact.
UnknownSo we're here to cover the curse of the Crimson Alter.
UnknownOr the Crimson Cult for our American listeners.
UnknownDon't know why, don't know why they changed the title, strange.
AdamI don't know why they changed the title of this.
AdamTechnically it's dreams in the Witch House, so.
UnknownWell, yeah.
UnknownSo before we get into that.
UnknownChris.
UnknownWho who arrived late because he fell asleep on the sofa.
UnknownIs that because you were up late last night watching something amazing for today.
ChrisOh, if only that were true.
JenniferPartying, just in on his own, you know, dancing around.
UnknownLockdown party.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisThat would have been great.
ChrisNo, just working hard, tidying up the room as you do.
ChrisYou know, special lockdown tidying.
ChrisSo.
ChrisYeah, we've been watching.
ChrisWe've been watching Brave New World and still The Mandalorian.
ChrisSo it's still not quite horror this week.
ChrisBut Brave New World is is is quite interesting.
ChrisIt's it's not horror but it's quite an unusual.
ChrisI suppose sci-fi.
AdamYeah.
ChrisUm.
ChrisSeems pretty good.
AdamHave you read the book, Chris?
ChrisI haven't, no.
ChrisIt's one of those where I always thought I probably should read it.
ChrisIt seems to crop up, you know.
AdamYeah.
ChrisNow and then.
ChrisBit like last week's 1984.
UnknownYeah.
AdamOh, yes.
AdamYeah.
ChrisIt's one of those you do think you should read.
JenniferYeah.
JenniferExactly.
ChrisOr not.
JenniferI go, exactly because of that, because it keeps coming up in so many things.
JenniferAnd then one of my students was reading it for her English lessons.
JenniferAnd I thought, you know what, if one of my students is reading it, I really should by my age.
JenniferI did, it was really good, yeah.
UnknownYeah.
JenniferRead, read.
AdamYeah, I'm just wondering if it's.
AdamBecause I because apparently it's like the creative team is part, one of the people involved is Grant Morrison.
UnknownOkay.
AdamHe did The Invisibles and also did, I think it's called Happy.
AdamAnd again, I've not seen it, but I know that was based on one of his comic series.
UnknownHappy was very good.
JenniferWe like that.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAnd I'd like to know what and not only that, but also I'd like to know what he's done with Brave New World.
AdamBecause he is pretty.
AdamHe's really good in that he tend he'll often keep the essence of something.
AdamBut he's not afraid to sort of mess around with bits of it.
UnknownOkay.
ChrisYeah.
AdamMy favourite case in point of an example of Grant Morrison thinking is he was writing for Justice League.
AdamAnd there was a a bad guy who had developed a sort of exoskeleton suit.
AdamAnd you could program someone's data into it and it made you like them.
AdamAnd this guy had set it to be Superman.
AdamSo he could defeat Superman, no one else could stop him.
AdamAnd then finally he was stopped because Batman reprogrammed the suit to the data of Dr. Stephen Hawking.
UnknownOh.
UnknownAnd basically, yeah, basically made him a paraplegic.
UnknownAnd knock the fuck out of him.
AdamAnd that that that kind of says a lot about Grant Morrison to me, that sort of like thinking, you know.
JenniferIt sounds.
JenniferIt's sounding a bit South Park.
AdamYes.
JenniferBut.
UnknownYes.
AdamHm.
UnknownExcellent, I'm have to look that up then.
UnknownUm.
ChrisYeah, I don't know how many episodes there are.
ChrisI, I was interested, I didn't know much about it.
ChrisAnd what else I can recognize some of these actors and it turns out Alden Erin Reach.
ChrisErin Rick.
ChrisWho was solo.
UnknownOh, yeah.
ChrisHan Solo in Solo.
ChrisIsn't it?
ChrisI'm not seeing him in anything else.
ChrisBut yeah, he's pretty good.
ChrisAnd someone else, Demi Moore was in it as well and it was Harry Lloyd.
ChrisWho was Daenerys' brother in Game of Thrones, he's in it.
UnknownOh, yeah.
ChrisI've not seen him in anything else.
UnknownWasn't.
ChrisSo yeah.
AdamIsn't that the kid from Phantom Menace, though?
AdamNo, it's Jake Lloyd, isn't it?
ChrisUh.
UnknownHa.
ChrisYes, could be.
UnknownUm.
UnknownExcellent.
UnknownAdam, what have you been watching?
AdamUm, well, there was one I forgot to mention last time we were talking, Mochery Chronicles.
AdamWhich is I, I think it's on Shada.
AdamAnd yeah.
AdamThat's really worth checking out.
AdamIf you like your Anthology films.
AdamWhich we do.
AdamI think we can safely say that.
AdamUm, yeah.
AdamThat it was just really great setting a funeral home and they someone breaks in.
AdamAnd they basically get told the story that they, the Mochery has a library of everyone's story of how they ended up in the Mochery.
AdamAnd um, yeah, so they do sort of like four tales from that or whatever.
AdamAnd uh, yeah.
AdamNo, I thought that was really good.
AdamClancy Brown is the uh, I don't know, the Undertaker.
UnknownAttendant.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownThe Mochery attendant, isn't it?
AdamYeah, the Mochery attendant, yeah.
AdamAnd it's Clancy Brown, I feel channeling a bit of Angus Scrim from Phantasm.
AdamUm, but yeah, that's it's really worth checking out.
AdamI almost I I I would almost say it's one that we may cover one day or something like that.
AdamBecause it has that, it has that same sort of feeling as say Creep Show, where it's one you'll just end up going back to.
UnknownDefinitely.
Unknownthe first story particularly was so short and I it was maybe five.
UnknownIt was long and I loved it.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownI absolutely brilliant.
AdamI love, I, I really enjoyed the Super Doosh.
AdamI think it was setting the, was it 80s Super Doosh?
AdamOr was he a 60s Super Doosh?
AdamI can't remember.
AdamBut I, I enjoyed that.
UnknownYeah, baby's gonna come out.
UnknownThe way it went in.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownYeah, that was that.
UnknownAnd genuinely me and Claire, Claire got very drawn into it, which is always a good sign.
UnknownAnd um.
UnknownYeah, there was the like the sort of.
UnknownWho was the one?
UnknownThe one where she can't move.
UnknownCatatonic.
UnknownOh, yes.
UnknownYes, sorry, yes.
UnknownSorry, I completely, yeah, I blanked that one.
UnknownOh my goodness, that's ridiculous, yeah, especially when it's coming out in the lift and, oh, that was great.
UnknownI like, that was really good.
UnknownBut also the twist in the sort of wrap-around story.
UnknownClaire just went, that's inside number nine.
UnknownYes, yeah.
UnknownSo, but no more shall we say.
UnknownNo.
UnknownI think.
UnknownBut yeah, go and watch it people.
UnknownBecause I think, I think, I would safely say that the, the people who are regular listeners, I think would all really enjoy it.
UnknownDefinitely.
UnknownMochery Chronicles, yeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamUm, only other thing I watched was, uh.
AdamLittle known sort of film from the ages called The Thing.
AdamBecause Claire had never seen it and she asked if she could watch The Thing.
UnknownExcellent.
AdamDid you enjoy The Thing?
UnknownTen out of ten dog acting.
UnknownExcellent.
UnknownGood, good.
AdamHe's a damn good dog, that.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm, so yeah.
AdamAnd I think that that was that was, that was a success.
AdamAnd also.
AdamI was just very proud of my of Claire, of my, my pad one.
AdamFor asking to see The Thing.
AdamIt was like.
JenniferIt's what lockdown's got to, she's now working her way through.
AdamIt's what lockdown's got to, especially because it was like, uh, yeah, no one trusts each other anymore.
AdamAnd we're really tired.
UnknownThat's very true, I did the one thing I got watching it this time round was.
UnknownSo like McCredy's obviously pissed most of the time.
UnknownAnd the other helicopter pilot is the stoner.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownYou know, it's no wonder any of them them make it back anyway.
UnknownRegardless of like an alien intervention.
UnknownUm.
UnknownSo I've been a super busy little boy in the last week.
UnknownUm, I finally got round because I bought it on Blu-ray, I believe it was Shada exclusive initially.
UnknownUh, but then it got a Blu-ray release I picked up, uh, Critters Attack.
UnknownWhich is the term.
UnknownYeah.
AdamOh.
UnknownIt's like, it's a mini series, oh, it's not a mini series.
UnknownI think they did like eight episodes or something 10 minutes each.
AdamOh, all right.
AdamOkay.
UnknownUh, yeah, and then when you put it all together, it was just released on Blu-ray as like a one long film.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownUh.
UnknownAnd it's basically, unfortunately, it's like if Disney, Disney Kids Club did Critters.
UnknownSo, uh.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownIt's just lots of annoying teenagers running around and saving the day.
UnknownWhile all the adults are, you know.
ChrisSo is this the most recent Critters.
ChrisRelease?
UnknownYes.
UnknownYeah, I was really excited for it when I heard it was coming out.
UnknownI was like, oh, maybe it's going to be a reboot and it's going to get things started again.
UnknownUm.
UnknownBut yeah, it just, I mean it it was done on a fairly low budget.
UnknownUm.
UnknownSo, you know, they did well to pull it off.
UnknownBut yeah, I, I think it's aimed at a much younger audience, unfortunately.
UnknownWhich, which so, I mean that's good if it's going to get people into it.
UnknownBut yeah, I think people who love Critters aren't going to enjoy this as the new entry in the franchise.
JenniferIs it like Teen Wolf.
JenniferAnd I Zombie.
JenniferAnd.
UnknownYeah, yeah.
JenniferBecause I love I Zombie, but I haven't watched anything else like that because I think, you know, one series like that is enough.
UnknownYes.
AdamOh, I forgot that was a series.
AdamI thought you meant I Zombie, the one that the really low budget one.
UnknownOh.
JenniferOh.
AdamThat is a, that's a good film.
AdamBut yeah.
AdamBloody hell.
AdamVery very very low budget, but it's brilliant.
UnknownUm.
UnknownI, I actually watched a zombie film as well in the week.
UnknownUh, I don't normally.
UnknownI did go back and rewatch Fido.
AdamOh, Billy Connelly one.
UnknownYes.
AdamSee, I've never seen it.
UnknownIt's really, I watched it when it first came out and I really enjoyed it.
UnknownBut if you'd asked me anything about it, I couldn't tell you anything apart from Billy Connelly's in it.
UnknownSo I decided to go back and rewatch it.
UnknownYeah, and it is, it's a really good film.
UnknownIt's really enjoy, really funny.
UnknownUm.
UnknownYeah, just good all round amusing for an hour and a half.
UnknownI mean it's.
UnknownAs I say, it's nothing massively original, um, so the it's the concept.
Unknownthat everyone now has these zombie slaves.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd they work for, so everyone's got servants but they're all zombies.
UnknownUm.
AdamRight.
UnknownAnd they've got a collar on so that if they misbehave, basically you can electric shock them.
UnknownUm.
UnknownSomething goes wrong with his collar, um, and he becomes the kid's like friend.
AdamAll right, okay.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownBut then he gets taken away because they think he's misbehaved, so they take him to a correctional facility and the kid goes to break him out.
UnknownBut it's yeah.
UnknownIt's good fun.
UnknownSo that's what I'll watch.
UnknownUm.
UnknownCaught up with the second series on BBC of Ghost.
AdamOh, yeah.
AdamAny good?
UnknownYes.
UnknownBetter than the first season.
JenniferI thought.
JenniferI thought so, yeah, it gets more interesting, I suppose because now you know the characters, they can sort of move on from that.
UnknownHm.
JenniferUm, yeah, we just watched the last episode, didn't we today.
JenniferAnd yeah, that's yeah, it's quite nice.
JenniferUm, quite clever bringing different things into it and, yeah, I liked it.
UnknownIt's quite a lot of fun.
AdamAnd obviously like the horrible histories cast.
UnknownYes.
UnknownOh, yeah, so like they are all absolutely hilarious.
UnknownUm, yeah, and the characters they all play are brilliant, obviously.
JenniferVery different, but very, yeah, funny each of them, definitely.
JenniferYeah, it's good.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd finally, I went back because I was, I was convinced I knew this film inside out and then when I watched it, I only actually remembered about 10 minutes of it, so I don't quite know what happened there.
UnknownUh, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman from 1943, I went back and rewatched again.
UnknownOh.
UnknownOh, and I enjoyed it so much.
UnknownOh, much, it's such a great film.
ChrisSo how, how do they set it up so that they meet?
UnknownSo, um, uh.
UnknownLarry Tolbert has come back to life ultimately after, um.
UnknownSo he was buried with his ring and stuff, some people prized his coffin open and released him again.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd he's now realised that he can't die because he's a werewolf.
UnknownUm, but he decides that Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein who's now dead, if he can get hold of his diary, and he can find out how Frankenstein created life, he can use that to kill himself ultimately, to reverse engineer it.
ChrisYeah.
UnknownSo it's him.
UnknownAnd then when he gets back to the old Frankenstein house, he finds the creature is buried in ice underneath the castle.
UnknownSo he digs the creature out, and it's, yeah, him and the creature kind of.
UnknownIs it the one.
ChrisDo they get on well?
UnknownThey do in this one.
UnknownIt's the later one, I think, where they end up knocking seven shades out.
UnknownIs it Ghost of Frankenstein?
AdamI think it's ghost, but also I think it's when you start getting Dracula involved.
AdamBecause he's a conniving shit, so he's always.
UnknownThe two of them against each other.
AdamUm.
AdamBut yeah, is that the one where Bella Lagosi is the monster?
UnknownYes.
AdamYeah.
UnknownYeah.
AdamYeah, so the one, yeah, because the one before it, he's Igor.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAnd then Igor's brain gets put in the monster's body.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAnd that's the one they find at, yeah, that's the one they find at the start of this one, yeah.
UnknownYeah.
JenniferSo it's universal, is it, and it's carrying on from the whole, right?
UnknownOkay.
UnknownUm, I'm going to go back and rewatch Son and Ghost of Frankenstein as well.
AdamOh.
UnknownBecause Son of Frankenstein amazing.
AdamIt's so good.
AdamIt's just the Bride of Frankenstein, sorry, the Young Frankenstein stuff in there.
UnknownYeah.
AdamJust now is forever, just the Young Frankenstein version with the coming out open and stuff.
UnknownI got to look normal.
UnknownThey're playing darts.
AdamYeah.
UnknownYeah, the darts stuck in his arm.
UnknownAnd just so wildly at the wall, it's just, ah, so much fun.
UnknownSo yeah, I'm going to rewatch both of those as well in the week.
UnknownUm, and I think that's everything.
UnknownUm.
UnknownUm.
UnknownSo.
UnknownUh, as promised, finally, one of my favourite films we've finally got round to 1968's Curse of the Crimson Alter.
UnknownUm, Adam and I have both just purchased it, it's just been re-released by Arrow.
AdamI don't I don't think it's actually Arrow, I think they're just distributing it.
UnknownOh, sorry, you're the Network, isn't it?
UnknownI think.
AdamNo, no, I think it's, we got it through Arrow, I'm not sure who it is to be honest, I'm not sure if it's network or, but it is, yeah, it's one of the, it's like a subsidiary label.
AdamSo it's not, but it is available through Arrow's website, which is where we purchased it, so yeah.
UnknownUm.
UnknownI, I confess I watched this film about two days before I ordered the Blu-ray.
UnknownSo I didn't rewatch it, but I did watch the, uh, documentary on it.
UnknownUm.
ChrisYeah.
UnknownSo.
UnknownBut Adam informs me that the print on the new one is absolutely spectacular, so.
AdamIt really is, it's surprising.
AdamYou know, I've seen bigger.
AdamBigger or better regarded films than this look a lot worse.
AdamAnd with the intent of, of like, you know, restoration.
UnknownYeah.
AdamSo yeah, this does, this has just come out lovely.
AdamI think it's just been very the negative's just been so well looked after.
AdamAnd it does look, yeah, it looks really good.
AdamQuite shocking to be honest.
UnknownI have to make that my Christmas Day viewing.
JenniferIs it like how impressed we've got with how they do CGI animals now.
JenniferIt's like how did that suddenly get good?
UnknownYeah, exactly the same thing, the technology is just got so good that they can do it much better now.
UnknownMaybe.
UnknownUm.
UnknownSo Chris, on your first viewing of Curse of the Crimson Alter, what did you make of it?
ChrisWell, like a fine brandy that is completely wasted on women.
ChrisIt's good stuff.
ChrisYeah.
UnknownOh.
UnknownOh.
Jenniferabsolute absolutely.
ChrisAnd I, I just kept expecting Boris Karloff to appear.
UnknownYeah.
ChrisAnd he did.
UnknownHm.
UnknownThey meta before meta.
ChrisYes, I know, I must admit, I wasn't expecting that, so, yeah.
ChrisA few surprises throughout.
UnknownHm.
AdamThing is, it gets to me though is that there's the element where you've got that moment in there and it is funny.
AdamBut now there's a part of me that's going, why isn't anyone said to him, you know what, Professor Marsh?
AdamYou an off look like Boris Karloff.
UnknownYeah.
AdamJust make the circle complete.
UnknownYeah.
AdamBecause then it implies, it also implies that in that universe Boris Karloff exists, therefore Boris Karloff's films exist.
AdamTherefore probably Christopher Lee's films exist, though at no point has anyone gone, you're a dead spit for that.
UnknownChris Lee, well I wouldn't really know about that sort of thing.
UnknownMr. Manning.
UnknownBut.
AdamYes, so was it, was it an enjoyable experience then, Chris?
ChrisSo it was, yeah, it's it's a good, good entertaining watch.
ChrisUm.
ChrisNow of course I, I wasn't entirely sure, I hadn't remembered that this was that we were watching this because of Boris Karloff.
ChrisBut was it, was that the.
ChrisOr was it.
AdamNo, because we'd just bought it on Blu-ray.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisCould, could be.
ChrisBut I was trying to think what else have we seen with him in it and I couldn't remember if there was anything.
AdamLiterally, we have only, this is the first time you've seen him in like.
AdamOut of makeup, the only other time we've covered Boris Karloff on this podcast is Bride of Frankenstein.
ChrisOkay.
UnknownComedy of Terrors.
UnknownDid we do Comedy of Terrors?
AdamNo.
AdamWe did, we did Tales of Terror.
UnknownOh, yes, we did.
UnknownYes.
AdamWhich I was thinking, oh yeah, he's in that and he's not because it's Comedy of Terrors that he's in.
AdamAnd that one, and weirdly enough because that episode was like packed because when we did that, that was like the first Vincent Price, first Peter Laurie.
UnknownFirst, um, Basil Rathbone, first Roger Corman.
UnknownSo there was a lot in there.
AdamBut yeah, so I mean.
AdamLet's, when was Karloff.
AdamBecause yeah, because we've seen a few of the people involved.
UnknownUm.
AdamYeah, but um, yeah, it's only Bride of Frankenstein, episode 22.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd.
AdamSo.
UnknownSo.
AdamThis is the first time you've experienced him.
AdamAs a vocal artist as well then, Chris.
UnknownAbsolutely splendid.
AdamHis face when, uh, Manning keeps down in the brandy.
UnknownYes.
ChrisYeah.
UnknownBeautiful.
JenniferOh, he's horrified, isn't he, it's great, yeah.
UnknownIt's.
AdamIt's just, yeah.
JenniferWorse than the woman having it, you know.
UnknownYeah.
AdamI just, yeah.
AdamI, I have to say, I mean, yes.
AdamSo what did you, what did you think on Boris, uh, Chris?
AdamNow you've seen him in a in a different role.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisWell yeah, he's a, he's quite wonderful, really.
ChrisIsn't he?
ChrisI'd be quite happy to to watch more of him.
UnknownWell.
UnknownWell, that's lucky because he's a few of the films we've got lined up, there is more to come.
AdamWell, I was that was the thing, when I saw that and I was like, oh my God, this is the.
AdamWe've only sort of watched one other Boris Karloff film and it's the obvious one because it's him as Frankenstein as as in as the monster.
AdamAnd um.
AdamYeah.
AdamWe need to rectify that, we need to, we need to have a lot of Boris on here, I think.
UnknownYes.
JenniferWhat else would you say then.
UnknownThat's wonderful.
JenniferWhat are the top five Boris films?
JenniferJust to, well, both of you on the spot.
ChrisSo it's the Bride of Frankenstein was, was excellent.
JenniferHm.
AdamWe need to watch The Sorcerers, which is like an OAP get out.
UnknownI've not watched that in a long time.
UnknownI've got it upstairs, um, yeah, I have seen it but not for a very long time.
JenniferAnd the next one.
AdamAnother Tigon as well.
UnknownYes.
AdamThis is Tigon, isn't it?
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd um.
AdamBut yeah, I mean there's just there's just a lot.
AdamThere's a lot of Boris.
UnknownI mean the Ghoul, the Mummy, Black Cat.
ChrisOh, the Mummy.
UnknownUm.
UnknownYeah, as we mentioned, Comedy of Terrors, another one of my absolute faves, one of those films, doesn't matter what mood I'm in.
UnknownPut that on and I'll just sit and chuckle to myself for an hour and a half.
UnknownBut I and Dean did it as a drinking contest.
AdamOh, yeah, where you nearly killed each other.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownWe were trying to try to match Vincent Price, drink for drink.
UnknownBut literally every scene he's got his hip flask in.
AdamI think, I think, if I remember rightly.
AdamI think we were about 25 minutes in and you and him had done 16 shots.
UnknownOh.
UnknownOh, I know.
AdamBecause you were because that was the thing, it was like, I forget what it was, you had like snaps and vodka or something, was it?
UnknownI think we we straight vodka.
AdamYeah.
UnknownBut then after four or five of them in the first literally less than 10 minutes, I went, this isn't going to, this isn't going to fly.
UnknownWe can't do this.
UnknownSo I went to the shop and bought some, I think it was like Smernoff Ice or something, so it looked like vodka, but it wasn't, it was 5%.
UnknownAnd we filled two thirds of them up with that and then mixed them all around, so we didn't know which one was which and then we would take a random shot.
UnknownSo one would be proper vodka and one would just be this kind of, you know, lemonade stuff.
UnknownUm.
UnknownYeah, and I think Dean still bailed about an hour into it, if I remember correctly.
UnknownUm.
UnknownBut I think we both did.
AdamWith reason.
AdamBecause I mean it's, yeah.
AdamComedy, you, maybe.
AdamThat's that's something.
AdamIf we cover Comedy of Terrors, we'll we'll have to note down for the drinking game quite how often you would be drinking.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownUm.
JenniferAnd then warn people if they're going to play the game, this is how many shots you need.
UnknownYeah, make sure you drink something sensible, don't go for full shots of a spirit.
UnknownBecause.
AdamIt's it's like going drink for drink with not for everyone.
UnknownYeah.
AdamThat's a good drinking game.
UnknownSo.
ChrisSo is Comedy of Terrors related to William Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors?
AdamIn name only essentially.
ChrisOkay.
AdamUm, it's just a very good play on words for a comedy horror film.
AdamAnd yeah, we're definitely covering that because I want more Peter Laurie in my life as well.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownAbsolutely, yeah.
UnknownAnd Vincent Price, and he just, you can't go wrong with it.
UnknownIt's those beautiful matte painting.
UnknownSorry, I know we're getting off the subject.
UnknownThe matte painting background in that film that I just love, when they're outside waiting for the for somebody to discover the body and stuff.
UnknownAnd he's just sitting there slogging out of it, oh, it's, oh, it's beautiful.
UnknownAbsolutely beautiful.
AdamYeah.
UnknownUm.
AdamBut um, but yeah, we we're definitely going to get you some more Karloff.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBecause well, we can't not.
UnknownYeah.
ChrisAnd before episode 200.
AdamYeah.
AdamWhich, which we've decided is going to be Anthom Dick Hall.
ChrisYeah.
AdamUh.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut um, so yeah, we have got, so obviously Christopher Lee.
AdamWe've covered, we've done him, uh, we did Devil Rides Out, Funny Man, Deathline, Dr. Terror's House of Horror and Sleepy Hollow.
AdamSo we've we've had a fair bit of a, but a fair bit of Mr. Lee.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm, and, um.
AdamMichael Goff as well.
ChrisSo I was going to say Michael Goff, he looked like someone that I.
ChrisYou know, he triggered something, I was thinking it's not John Hurt.
ChrisChris, you know, that's.
AdamHe does, no, I think Claire thought it was John Hurt.
AdamYeah.
AdamWhen he came in, and similarly I I think Dean said it with Sleepy Hollow.
AdamYeah.
AdamBecause he really looks like John Hurt in that.
UnknownYeah, he does.
AdamBut that's but again it's later John Hurt, whereas he's sort of a crazy old.
AdamLooney.
AdamAnd um.
AdamBut yeah, so I mean, yeah, we've I mean we've covered him in three other films.
AdamSo it's quite, I was quite shocked, actually.
AdamOh, the other person in this, Ron Pember, who we covered in Deathline.
AdamWho's the bloke who runs the garage.
UnknownYes, yes.
AdamYeah, who's just a professional Cockney.
AdamAnd also Outland Revenue in Red to Wolf.
UnknownYes, yeah.
AdamWere him little funnies then.
UnknownUh.
UnknownUh.
UnknownI was surprised actually.
UnknownNow we've sat down and and actually spoke about who we've covered and who we haven't.
UnknownYeah, I don't think we've we've covered Barbara Steel on anything yet.
AdamWe have.
UnknownBarbara Steel is, yeah.
UnknownUm.
JenniferShe done that much then.
UnknownYeah, so Black Sabbath.
AdamUm.
UnknownNo, Black Sun, Black Sunday.
AdamShivers, Pit and the Pendulum.
AdamPiranha.
AdamI've got to watch, I've got Lost River somewhere and she's in that.
AdamBecause I didn't realise this, I'll be honest, I thought Barbara Steel had died.
AdamUm, but Barbara Steel, no, she retired, basically.
UnknownYeah.
AdamShe was like, no one offers me anything but horror films and I'm, yeah.
AdamSo she just got bored and decided to go and do something else, I think.
AdamUm.
AdamBut I really want to see The Long Hair of Death.
AdamAngel for Satan, Faceless Monster, The She Beast.
AdamUm, and, uh, Terror Creatures From the Grave.
AdamYou can sort of see why if she might have decided to retire.
UnknownYeah.
AdamBut she was, she was like, certainly, like she was huge.
AdamShe did a lot of like, a lot of her ones or, a lot of her horror films were like Italian.
UnknownYeah, yeah.
AdamI mean obviously including Black Sunday.
AdamBut Black Sunday's like huge.
AdamI think we need to cover Black Sunday at some point anyway.
AdamBecause of um, because we haven't done any Mario Bava, have we?
UnknownWe haven't.
UnknownAnd it's one of his that I actually really enjoy, I've got to say.
AdamThat's I know, I know you're keen and I, I think it's a brilliant film.
AdamAnd you get, you get more Barbara Steel.
AdamBecause I think that's.
AdamI always think she plays a greater role in this.
UnknownHm.
AdamI mean, she is painted green and has like huge ramshorns.
AdamBut still feels underused.
UnknownYes.
AdamYou know, it's like.
AdamBut it's a blood, I mean, let's face it, it's the image that is the poster.
UnknownYeah.
AdamSo that is the purpose of it, but yeah, I think that.
ChrisAnd I can definitely appreciate.
ChrisHow much effort and what a great job Jennifer did.
ChrisIn her.
UnknownHalloween costume.
AdamYeah.
AdamI I did want I did want to check.
AdamBecause I think we might have to post that.
AdamBecause that was.
JenniferI I don't think anyone will recognise me.
JenniferI think I'll be all right.
AdamThat was well, people are just going, why have you put Barbara Steel when they have Barbara Steel.
AdamYeah.
JenniferAh.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut yeah.
AdamI mean, she's.
AdamBut I mean she is really, um, she's a really terrifically.
AdamSort of good actress.
UnknownYeah.
AdamThe weirdest thing I the weirdest thing was though is I didn't realise.
AdamWhen I was going through because obviously, like Black Sunday, she has a dual role in it.
AdamAnd then it looks like.
AdamMost of the other ones she did in Italy, it's a dual role again.
AdamSo I think she did end up getting curiously type cast into descendants of witches, essentially.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm, and um, yeah.
AdamWhich is I suppose it's a bit niche and maybe that's why she sort of decided.
AdamBut I mean she's in like, she's in eight and a half and stuff like that.
AdamSo she, you know, she did some sort of uh, big, you know, she did some other stuff outside of horror.
AdamBut I mean that's.
AdamAnd I think she she sort of comes out of retirement to appear in stuff.
AdamBut I don't think she's just, maybe, you know, it just doesn't interest her that much.
AdamSo it's not that often.
UnknownYeah.
AdamBut um, but I'm pleased to see she's still with us.
AdamAs I say, I assumed for some reason, I, I know she hadn't done much.
AdamAfter the 70s.
AdamBut I did assume she died.
AdamFor some reason.
AdamSo.
UnknownAh.
UnknownSee I knew she was still with us or had been about five, six years ago because she was in Mark Gatis's History of Horror.
UnknownOh, yes.
UnknownShe was you could see her in her house.
UnknownUm.
UnknownYeah, and her being.
UnknownA lot more like her characters than I'd realised, perhaps.
JenniferHer horns were green.
UnknownYeah.
AdamNo, she just had a lot of holes in her face.
UnknownUm.
UnknownBut yeah, she was very, very theatrical and very, oh, she seemed an amazing, she seemed like a, yeah, someone you could definitely have a, you know, someone you'd like to spend a few hours.
UnknownYou know, badgering about the time in the industry and stuff.
AdamShe feels like she feels like one of those proper, a bit like, but in a totally different way, but someone like Fenella Fielding.
UnknownYeah.
AdamWho's just eccentric sort of actresses who just had a proper, like long career.
AdamAnd an interesting time.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm, because I think she was also on Clive Barker's ABC of horror, she had like her own entry on that.
AdamUm, but I remember that one of the main, one of the main contributors that was like Joe Dante on there and stuff like that.
AdamBut one of the main contributors was a drag artist and it was like, yeah, I can totally see.
AdamI can totally see why Barbara Steel would appeal to a drag artist.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAgain, it's that sort of.
AdamHaughty theatrically mingled with menace and icy reproof.
AdamSo.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm.
AdamAnd obviously Eve like the Denise, that's Virginia Weatherall, who's in Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Demons of the Mind.
AdamUm.
AdamShe's, I've never seen, she's in the Jack Palance version of Dracula as Dracula's wife, apparently.
UnknownUm.
JenniferI didn't know Dracula got married ever, but.
AdamExactly.
AdamRight.
AdamAnd.
AdamShe was.
AdamAnd she was in, um.
AdamShe was in the first ever Dalek story, like the first ever Doctor Who Dalek story.
UnknownWow.
UnknownReally.
AdamAnd she's, and she's in A Clockwork Orange, she is the woman who comes out in her pants on stage.
AdamAnd Alex can't grab her knockers as then homage in The Simpsons.
AdamIn the one where Lisa trains Bart so that he can't do things, it's him reaching for two cupcakes in a mirror of the Clockwork Orange scene.
UnknownOh, nice.
AdamYeah.
AdamSo.
AdamI mean that's.
AdamThe, the.
AdamThe only person in this.
AdamWho I was sort of not unaware of, but um, the policeman.
AdamDo you know who that is, Lee?
UnknownTrying to think, I definitely know him from something.
AdamWell, he is.
AdamLord Cheapside, or sorry, the Duke of Cheapside in Black Adder the Third.
UnknownNever saw it.
UnknownThe man's soft lips are his own private kingdom and I've objected with my life.
UnknownOh.
UnknownUm.
UnknownUm.
UnknownNice.
AdamAnd he's, and it turns out he's in like, he's in the Hammer Quite Mess in the Pit and stuff like that.
AdamBut yeah, that is that is what he will always be for me.
AdamIs the Duke of Cheapside.
UnknownHm.
UnknownYeah, and and this, I love this film, but it is so entirely 60s.
UnknownUm, so it's got that kind of Gothic horror edge to it, which I like.
UnknownBut yeah, like all the people at the party and all the running around, half naked women.
UnknownYeah, exactly.
UnknownPeople smoking long cigarette holders and.
AdamSee, weirdly enough, there was a point where I'm sitting.
AdamI'm sitting there watching the the the bit where he goes into the hotel and there's the the Boob painting party and people champagne and everything else like that.
AdamI'm sitting there going, I've never been invited to those sort of parties.
UnknownOh, yeah.
AdamOh.
AdamOh.
AdamAnd then it cut to the bloke in the roll neck, like sitting absolutely wrecked on a sofa, like just barely able to focus.
AdamAnd I was like, oh no, I probably have, actually.
JenniferWe thought that was bad.
JenniferAt the time, we were like, yeah, came to a party, there's always one person on the floor passed out.
JenniferSo yeah.
JenniferNo Boob painting.
JenniferEver at parties.
JenniferWe missed that, we were born too late, people.
ChrisYeah.
JenniferWe were born in the 70s.
ChrisOh.
JenniferI was.
JenniferNo.
AdamSee, that was the thing as well because I know, I know he's one of your favourites, Lee.
AdamBut I was like because I always kind of forget that modern aspect to it.
AdamI think because it's in because it's mostly in the house.
AdamAnd the house is like very gothic and very old looking and obviously the witch stuff is.
AdamPossibly visions from the past, etcetera.
AdamUm.
AdamWhereas, yeah, so I always forget that there's like the modern half of it.
AdamAnd I was like, you know, it's a surprise that Lee because it's got that.
AdamI mean that petrol garage that he stops off at, that is very Britain.
UnknownYes.
AdamI also, I also love the Britishness, also like the small village Britishness of you go to the police station.
AdamJust fucking wander around and then he comes out in his braces saying, oh, sorry, sir, we're not open yet.
UnknownYeah.
AdamYou know, it's half shaved for mug tea, just like.
AdamAnd I did, yeah, I just sort of.
AdamAnd also, what was the other thing, pyjamas that look like karate suits.
UnknownYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamThat's that, that was a very sort of, that was very sort of late 60s, early 70s look.
UnknownMaybe Lee looking for them recently.
UnknownNo.
JenniferIt's not a good look.
UnknownYeah.
AdamSee.
AdamSo you.
AdamAnd also.
AdamThere was a couple of moments though, in terms of costumes, Christopher Lee's coat when they're out in the graveyard.
UnknownYeah.
AdamI think that's just Christopher Lee's coat and it was cold.
AdamYeah.
AdamThere's no, there's no menace to it, it's it's like the most plain Anarack.
AdamI've ever seen anyone in.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAnd it doesn't, it doesn't add to an air of menace at all if you're being confronted by a man in essentially a wax jacket.
UnknownYeah.
AdamUm.
AdamAnd also.
AdamHealth and safety.
AdamFuck me.
AdamThey nearly set fire to Boris Karloff.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownThey take out the lead.
ChrisYeah, I must admit that was there's a few spidey sense health and safety triggers.
ChrisI was getting, it was like, oh, you can't do that.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownUh, yeah.
UnknownDid you watch the.
UnknownDid you watch the documentary, Adam, on the, it's on the DVD, on the Blu-ray.
AdamNo, no, I didn't.
AdamI was, um, I was going to.
AdamAnd then, uh, well, Claire had already gone to bed at that point.
AdamSo I thought I'd be turning myself.
AdamSo, uh, yeah.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownSo basically they said the guy who, the director of the film, um, got on real really well with everyone.
UnknownHe was very professional and everything.
UnknownWhen it got to, they, they shot that as the very, very last scene they shot.
UnknownYeah, and he just spent the whole time going, you can get nearer than that, you definitely shoot nearer than that.
UnknownAnd yeah, just almost killed absolutely everyone.
UnknownYeah, he killed them.
UnknownSo almost killed, he, they, uh.
UnknownI, I was right, I'd heard it somewhere, I couldn't remember where.
UnknownUm, but yeah, this film is basically supposed to be the film that finished off Boris Karloff.
UnknownUm.
AdamYeah.
AdamHe was.
AdamThey doing the night shoots.
UnknownYeah, he was already old and quite unwell.
UnknownUm.
AdamWell, that's why he's, he's, he's not in a wheelchair as a character.
AdamHe's in a wheelchair, he's in a wheelchair.
UnknownYeah.
AdamThat was that was, he was crippled with arthritis at that point.
UnknownHm.
UnknownSo they could they could only, they could they could only have him in scenes.
UnknownThey could stand it have him standing, but they basically somebody had to stand him up.
UnknownHe could stay there for a very short period to get a shot.
UnknownSo.
UnknownSo they were saying at the end the shot where you see him fire the gun.
UnknownYes.
UnknownHe was going to be sitting down and he said, I can't.
UnknownYou're going to have to have me standing up because it looks ridiculous to shoot someone from a wheelchair.
UnknownI don't.
UnknownQuite get why he felt that way.
UnknownBut he did.
UnknownUm, but yeah, that was what they did, so they basically had to stand him up, lean him against the doorframe.
UnknownUm.
JenniferHe does look like that very much.
AdamYou can see, you can see that he is leaning.
AdamBecause that because in a weird way that makes it look odder than if he'd have shot him from the wheelchair.
UnknownHm.
AdamBecause at that point there's there's an element where you sort of like.
AdamYou just had a few, because he's leaning with the gun, it feels a bit sort of.
AdamHey.
AdamHe's he's very.
UnknownApparently the the the scene when uh Robert Manning goes to see him.
UnknownUh and you you actually see uh Boris Karloff and he gets up, gets up and walks over to that.
UnknownApparently there was.
UnknownThere was quite a lot of kind of prep to do that and apparently they did the first shot.
UnknownAnd then realised that the boom operator had allowed the mic to drop into the.
UnknownOh, shit.
UnknownSo they had to redo it.
UnknownUm, but yeah, Boris Karloff apparently.
UnknownHe went back and redid it and then was like, right, I need to be absolutely certain that he is not getting in trouble for this.
UnknownHe was like, no matter what happens, that might that operator cannot like getting shit for the fact that we had to reshoot a thing.
UnknownIt's really not that big, oh, he's just, he sounds.
AdamHe's he was a proper.
AdamGentleman.
UnknownHm.
AdamAnd similarly.
AdamIt's the same thing I hear like because I mean obviously from the they're from the same era.
AdamBut like with uh James Wale, who directed like the first few Frankenstein.
AdamAnd um.
AdamYeah, no, Boris Karloff.
AdamJust sounds like a a real lovely gentleman.
UnknownHm.
AdamYou know, and sort of, yeah, again, one of those things where it's the thing of someone gets.
AdamThis type cast reputation as this master of the sinister and they're lovely.
UnknownYeah.
AdamYou know, not even it's, you know.
AdamIt's not, it's not even just sort of like, oh well, you know, always that thing where it's like.
AdamWell, they've played a lot of murderers, but they're all right, they're not going to fucking murder someone, are they.
AdamThey used their publicity.
UnknownYeah.
AdamDickhead.
AdamBut, you know, when it's sort of, yeah.
AdamMind you, I think the interesting thing with this is.
AdamAgain, and I don't know whether it's because I haven't watched it for a long time.
AdamOr whatever like that.
AdamI, I'd forgotten that essentially Karloff, yeah, Karloff is is a good guy.
UnknownYeah.
AdamBecause they obviously make him just quite sinister.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd it's it's Boris Karloff, so it's already doing its own work.
AdamAs it were.
AdamSo it sort of throws you off the cent a bit, but I assumed he was in on it.
AdamBecause but also you've got Christopher Lee being really nice, but Christopher Lee being really nice is what are you after?
UnknownYeah.
AdamBecause as soon as he's being nice, you're like, right, you're up to something.
AdamBecause you're Christopher Lee.
AdamWhen Christopher Lee is being amiable, because he can't really do it.
AdamYou know.
AdamOh well, I'm terribly sorry, I couldn't help you there, Mr. Manning.
AdamAnd I'm still going to say this quite sternly, as if I'm telling you off for a minor infraction in the school yard.
AdamUm.
AdamBut you know, I've never seen your brother here before.
AdamAnd it's so, but I wonder if that was the sort of thing where they're like, right, well, Christopher Lee will be ultra helpful.
AdamBoris Karloff will say a lot of meaningful things and look dodgy.
AdamAnd then at the end of it, oh, it was the other way around.
AdamIt's like, no, because even because the one time I can think of Christopher Lee playing a good guy.
AdamWhich is, um.
AdamOh, bollocks.
AdamIt was called.
AdamDevil rides out.
UnknownYeah.
AdamHe's still.
AdamA bastard.
UnknownYes.
AdamHe's not a nice man in that, he is the hero.
AdamBut he is.
AdamYou know, he is just, well, you don't want to do that, Rex.
AdamAnd I'm afraid I had to punch you out.
UnknownNo.
AdamNo.
AdamYeah, rather that.
AdamAnd you were messing around with Black Magic.
AdamAnd he's just very.
AdamYou know, he's not, he's not a nice man.
AdamNo.
UnknownNo.
AdamSo as soon as he's being helpful.
AdamAnd being sort of like, oh, my daughter and my niece and her ridiculous parties and everything else like that.
AdamRight, what is going on.
AdamWhat are you up to.
AdamSo, but I do, I think.
AdamI think it was one of those things that just had such a.
AdamIt had such a cultural impact, but again, it might be a bit more like Psycho.
ChrisHm.
AdamWhere because of that you might find it more surprising in a weird way.
AdamBecause I think, because actually, similarly in the way that a lot of people reacted with The Exorcist where everyone was like, oh, I thought it was just in a bedroom.
AdamYou know, but it's like, no, no, there's a whole, so, yeah.
AdamSo, yeah, I think, and I think weirdly enough, I think the Omen doesn't even have the thing of.
AdamAn iconic moment that people use.
AdamThey just have the concept of like the Antichrist.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd yeah.
AdamAnd.
AdamThe name Damian associated.
AdamThat.
AdamSo yeah.
UnknownYeah, that name was forever now.
UnknownYou can't have a kid called Damian, can you.
ChrisYeah.
UnknownAnd.
UnknownThat is.
AdamAnd that is exactly based on, although they, they also used they always used the Carl Off music.
AdamLike which people seem to think is the music.
AdamDamien.
AdamNo.
AdamThere's a perfectly good score by Jerry Goldsmith.
AdamThank you very much.
UnknownYeah.
AdamAnd we shall be talking about that and I shall probably be rubbing my legs.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownYeah.
UnknownRight.
UnknownThanks ever so much for listening, everybody.
UnknownUm.
UnknownUh, go and check out Curse of the Crimson Alter if you haven't.
UnknownAgain, I think we've tried to stay spoiler-free.
ChrisFor our American friends, oh yeah, the Crimson Cult.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd go and check out The Omen ahead of time for next week if you haven't already seen it, or if like me you haven't seen it in probably 20 years.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd we will return next week.
UnknownOh, and go and check out not for everyone podcast, as always.
AdamUm.
AdamThey must have Halloween 3 coming up soon.
AdamAnd I'm really looking forward to that.
UnknownI believe they're recording it this weekend, yeah.
UnknownSo I've, I've been.
UnknownChampion at the bit for that.
UnknownUm.
UnknownAnd we will see you all next week for The Omen.
UnknownNight.
UnknownNight.
UnknownI didn't wave.
