The Omen

0:00LeeHey evening ladies and gentlemen, Lee here for Welcome to Horror.

0:03LeeJust wanted to give you a bit of information about this evening's episode.

0:07LeeIt may well come across as a little bit disjointed.

0:10LeeThe reason for that is that we've actually been struck by the curse of The Omen.

0:15LeeWe've been recording separately for a year now, as our regular listeners are aware, due to COVID primarily, but before that for a few months due to time constraints.

0:26LeeWe've had no problems with our recording in that time, but this episode, my internet refused to stay up for longer than about 15 minutes at a time.

0:35LeeAnd on top of that, the third-party online software that we use to record the episode, and we have been for the last six or seven episodes I believe.

0:44Leealso just completely gave up on us.

0:47LeeIt booted us out three times and it also switched itself off at one point and didn't let us know that it wasn't recording.

0:55LeeSo as a result, the episode is a bit of a hodgepodge of different parts that we've had kind of glued together.

1:02LeeWe didn't want to go back and completely redo the episode because it always feels a bit staged if you try and redo an episode word for word or verbatim.

1:12LeeSo instead, we've just tried to put this together as best we can.

1:15LeeWe hope it doesn't affect your enjoyment of the episode.

1:18LeeAnd thanks very much for listening.

2:23LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror.

2:25LeeI'm Lee.

2:26ChrisI'm Chris.

2:27AdamI'm Adam.

2:28LeeAnd we are here for episode 103, I believe, if I'm keeping count correctly, of Welcome to Horror Podcast.

2:37AdamYep.

2:37ChrisWe are racking them up.

2:39LeeWe certainly are.

2:40LeeAnd this evening we are covering a one of the classics, most well-known, I think, of kind of

2:48LeeNot quite contemporary, but of that, when we were growing up, it was certainly one of the kind of big five.

2:54ChrisIt was in line with The Exorcist for me at the time.

2:59LeeYeah.

3:00ChrisIt seemed like one of the big

3:02AdamThey're often made in the same breath.

3:05LeeYeah.

3:06LeeI think because of the religious connotation.

3:08ChrisI was going to say, yeah.

3:10AdamAnd talk about that.

3:11LeeAnd creepy kids.

3:13AdamYeah.

3:14LeeKids are always creepy.

3:16LeeUm.

3:17LeeSo a quick bit of news before we kick off.

3:20LeeSome good news that I'm sure you guys will be as pleased to hear as I was.

3:24LeeLast weekend I was messaging on Instagram with Kim from The Oblong Babysitter.

3:33AdamOh, yeah.

3:34LeeAnd found out despite the fact they've been on hiatus for a year, they've actually been recording episodes all the way through lockdown.

3:43AdamOkay.

3:44LeeSo they are

3:45AdamOh, yeah.

3:45LeeSorry?

3:46AdamSo would you a bundle then?

3:48LeeYes.

3:49LeeYes.

3:50AdamNice.

3:50LeeSo they've they've got a load ready and waiting and they're going to start in the new year and start rolling those out.

3:56LeeSo I thought this I thought I'd let people know, anybody who hasn't listened to The Oblong Babysitter, it's two girls from the UK covering things they watched when they were kids effectively.

4:06LeeIt's two sisters, so they grew up in the same house and watched the same stuff.

4:09LeeAnd a lot of it is things that we watch and have touched on, Tales of the Unexpected, Ghost Watch, they did a two-part Nigel Kneale.

4:19LeeYeah, so they cover a lot of the same stuff as us.

4:22LeeSo add them into your list and look out for them coming back next year.

4:26AdamYeah.

4:27AdamNo, they're always they're always worth a listen.

4:28AdamThey also started doing their Disney one, didn't they?

4:31LeeYes.

4:32LeeYes.

4:32AdamSo that was which was good as well.

4:35AdamSo.

4:36LeeYes.

4:37LeeAbsolutely, I'm very looking forward to it.

4:39LeeThey were going to I think the last one they were going to release before they sort of disappeared for a while was they were going to do the Hammer House of Horror TV show.

4:46AdamOh, yes.

4:47AdamYeah.

4:47LeeWhich I absolutely love, so I was really looking forward to that.

4:50LeeSo yeah.

4:51LeeNo pressure, girls, I've only been waiting for it for a year.

4:54LeeSo I'm sure I won't have built up expectations too much, isn't that right?

4:57LeeUm.

5:00LeeUm.

5:00LeeSo on that note.

5:01LeeChris.

5:02LeeWhat have you been watching in the last seven days?

5:05ChrisI have been watching.

5:07ChrisOh, so, excuse me, I've just got to return some videotapes.

5:10ChrisAnd and feed a stray cat into an ATM machine.

5:16AdamThey fell down then.

5:18ChrisI'm assuming by the laughter you do know what I'm talking about.

5:22LeeYeah.

5:22AdamYeah.

5:23LeeAbsolutely.

5:24ChrisI I didn't doubt that you would.

5:26ChrisBut it's it's funny, I think I had mentioned before that this was the first DVD that I ever bought.

5:34ChrisAnd I think.

5:35AdamYeah.

5:36ChrisYeah, and I think I I owned this and one other one, I can't actually remember what it was, and that was it, just two for ages.

5:43ChrisI didn't have any more.

5:45ChrisSo I must have watched this so many times.

5:48ChrisUm.

5:49LeeFor anyone who doesn't know, Chris, do you want to let them know what it was?

5:53ChrisI'm sure everybody listening knows, but it's American Psycho.

5:58ChrisAnd I I really liked it.

6:01ChrisBut I do now realize that I absolutely mixed up Christian Bale with Patrick Bateman as in I could not view Christian Bale as not being him.

6:12ChrisAt all.

6:13ChrisAnd and that that really put me off and I didn't watch any of his Batman films like for ages.

6:21ChrisAnd the only reason I watched one was when I realized it was Christopher Nolan that had, I don't know if he wrote it but directed it.

6:29ChrisHm.

6:30ChrisUm, yeah, but so.

6:35ChrisYeah, it was just so hard not to picture him.

6:38ChrisBut I I think he did a great job in this.

6:40ChrisI do really like him throughout.

6:43AdamThat's probably the point.

6:46AdamIs that you couldn't separate the two because he is just brilliant in that.

6:50AdamYeah.

6:50AdamBut if you think about it, it's also a pretty good training for certainly playing Bruce Wayne.

6:57ChrisHm.

6:57ChrisYeah.

6:58AdamOf, you know, a rich nutter, specifically.

7:03AdamSo, yeah.

7:05AdamBut I mean it's no, it's a fantastic.

7:07AdamFantastic film that is.

7:09AdamI think, me and Claire watched it not that long ago.

7:14ChrisOh, yeah.

7:14AdamUm, and it was like Claire's first time and she really just really enjoyed it.

7:19AdamAnd it is so fucking funny.

7:24ChrisYeah.

7:25AdamIt's just.

7:26AdamYeah.

7:27LeeIt is basically a black comedy, isn't it, really, about a, about a, you know, a sociopath serial killer.

7:33ChrisYeah.

7:34ChrisYeah, he's sent into.

7:36AdamAbout just about an arsehole.

7:39AdamI think I think this is one of those again, it's one of those things where loads of people certainly like the novel like the Bret Easton Ellis novel.

7:44AdamLoads of people kind of associated him with Patrick Bateman.

7:48ChrisHm.

7:48AdamSo and it was like, it is possible to write about someone and not think like them.

7:53LeeYou know.

7:56AdamSo, but, um.

7:57AdamYeah, I think it again, that was like a lot of flack went his way where people it's like, no, I think it is meant to be the character, not necessarily him.

8:04LeeHe doesn't he doesn't think any of this behavior is acceptable.

8:08AdamYeah.

8:09AdamHe's not, you know, if anything, he's probably trying to highlight how it's not.

8:14AdamSo, you know.

8:18AdamYeah, no, terrific film.

8:20LeeAnything else, Chris?

8:23ChrisFinished Brave New World.

8:25ChrisWhich I really liked and actually the last episode was moving into Horroresque.

8:33ChrisIt it just it descends into, you know, chaos.

8:37AdamThere is there is that sort of element to it, yeah.

8:40ChrisYeah.

8:40ChrisAnd it was, you know, like I think it suddenly shocked Shelley a little bit.

8:46ChrisUm, but it was all right.

8:48ChrisBut I did look it up afterwards and I I saw I think anybody that had read the novel and really liked the novel probably wasn't so keen on this.

8:58ChrisUm, whereas not having read it, just having, you know, doing the concepts.

9:03ChrisI I thought there was a lot in it that they did touch on.

9:07ChrisUm, seems what upset people were all the orgy scenes.

9:12ChrisWhich I didn't hate them.

9:15ChrisYou know, I can handle an Orgy scene.

9:17ChrisBut I I didn't I didn't think they were as overdone as some people thought.

9:23ChrisLike they were there and they were that side of it, they were, you know.

9:27AdamYeah.

9:28AdamBut that is I mean, I I wonder if it's people who are forgetting that again, going back to the book where it's like.

9:36AdamYou know, that the stuff's in there.

9:39ChrisYeah.

9:40ChrisBut most people would probably not.

9:43AdamBut people.

9:44ChrisNotice that so much.

9:45AdamDo you know what I mean?

9:46ChrisIt's not.

9:46ChrisWhen you see it live, like you notice it a lot more.

9:50AdamThere well, there is a difference, it's the difference, it's like well, it's the difference between reading.

9:53AdamHe shot him in the head to watching someone get shot in the head.

9:56AdamYou know, and there's probably hundreds of people who can read the book fine and then they watch the film, yeah.

10:00AdamBit much.

10:01AdamWhat was in the fucking book, mate?

10:03ChrisYeah.

10:04ChrisBut yeah, no, you know, I thought it really touched on on everything.

10:08ChrisAnd and I liked the the cast as well.

10:10ChrisUm, yeah, I did enjoy it.

10:12ChrisSo it seems like they're not continuing it though, apparently.

10:16AdamThey may not be if because I mean, I do I trust Grant Morrison, but I also know he would probably be aware of maybe they just want to do the adaption rather than drag it out.

10:30AdamBecause I know that's what a lot of people funny enough it was something that came up on Oblong Babysitter about um the Handmaid's Tale where in essence, the first series of The Handmaid's Tale was the book.

10:45AdamWith with an alteration to the ending.

10:48AdamAnd then after that, they've kind of.

10:52ChrisI think the film did as well.

10:54AdamEssentially, yeah, essentially made more story.

10:57ChrisYeah.

10:58AdamTo the point where actually Margaret Atwood, who wrote the original, has released a sort of sequel book.

11:06ChrisOkay.

11:07AdamSince but since the series has been on because I think she's one of the executive producers as well.

11:13AdamSo I mean, you know, it's not they've got the originator there certainly at least pitching in if not sort of devising the next bit.

11:20AdamSo it's it's as.

11:21AdamIt's as true as it can be, it's not like making up new show like Home Stories because, you know, Arthur Conan Doyle is not going to be able to help.

11:31ChrisYeah.

11:33ChrisBut I think yeah, the end of Brave New World, they left it as if it should carry on.

11:38ChrisThere's quite a few questions and it looks like it's set up ready for another season.

11:42ChrisBut.

11:45ChrisYes.

11:45ChrisWell.

11:46LeeNice.

11:48LeeAdam.

11:49LeeWhat have you seen in the last week?

11:52AdamWell, I finally managed to get my hands because they've brought out uh BFI brought out a Blu-ray.

12:00AdamUm, of Tales from the Hood.

12:03LeeOh, yeah.

12:04AdamWhich I never saw the first time round.

12:10AdamAnd it's fucking great.

12:11AdamIt's really fucking good.

12:14AdamIt's it's in that it's weirdly enough, it's basically it almost is the a similar premise to The Mortuary Collection.

12:21LeeHm.

12:22AdamAnd, you know, because the wrap around story is this gang break into a funeral home because they've heard they've got some good drugs there.

12:32AdamAnd, um.

12:34AdamBut yeah.

12:35AdamAnd then you get the force you get the four stories.

12:39AdamIt's.

12:41AdamAgain, it's an anthology, so immediately I'm sold.

12:45AdamBut.

12:46AdamIt's very much in because it's sort of early 90s or mid 90s.

12:52AdamIt's very much in the same sort of mold as Creepshow, where it's that thing of, you know, like the stories are all like an EC Comics thing where it's like set up and punishment as it were.

13:00LeeYeah.

13:01AdamYou know, it's it's transgressions and stuff like that.

13:05AdamAnd.

13:07AdamYou know, I mean, still absolutely fucking relevant.

13:10AdamBecause it's like you've got police corruption, political endemic racism and stuff like that.

13:15AdamBut.

13:17AdamIt's just genuinely a cracking good anthology film.

13:22AdamIt's well if you've not seen it, it's well worth a fucking watch.

13:26AdamUm.

13:27AdamSo I and to the Blu-ray is actually.

13:31Adamone and two.

13:34AdamSo I will be so I will be watching two because apparently two is it's the same creative team.

13:40AdamSo it's not just that thing of they've followed it, you know, someone else has followed on with the franchise.

13:44AdamIt's the same director and writer, like writer director.

13:48AdamAnd, um.

13:49AdamYeah, no, I just it was just.

13:52AdamFucking great.

13:53AdamAnd it's and it's that same sort of thing that you get with Creepshow where it's a it's funny as well as dark and sort of, you know.

14:07AdamUm, but yeah, Tales from Tales from the Hood is.

14:13AdamJust fucking great, I really enjoyed it.

14:15AdamAnd it was just I'm looking, I'm definitely looking forward to watching the second one.

14:17AdamThe second one's got Keith David in it as well, so immediately I'm happy.

14:21LeeNice.

14:22AdamUm.

14:23AdamAnd, um.

14:26AdamYeah, I really, really recommend it because I think it's a good example.

14:30AdamAnd another good, yeah, another good example of an anthology horror film.

14:34AdamClaire was saying, are there many like that because I quite like them.

14:37AdamAnd I was like, oh, you'd no idea.

14:40LeeSomeone's getting the Amicus box set for Christmas.

14:43AdamThat's the that's the flood gates opened.

14:46AdamEspecially because in the end I was like, oh, yeah, and there's that one, and there's that one, and then I sort of quietly thought, I'm going to Google horror anthology films.

14:54AdamAnd I was going, oh, yeah, I forgot about that one, or that one's good, or yeah, and yeah, so.

14:58LeeUm, the majority of the Amicus ones are all on YouTube.

15:03LeeI mean, I'm sure you probably own them anyway.

15:06AdamUm.

15:06AdamI've got yeah, I've got them I think I've I think I've got most of them.

15:11AdamUm, mostly on DVD as well, I think it was rather than I haven't upgraded anything, so.

15:17AdamYeah.

15:18AdamBut, um, yeah, I mean.

15:20AdamThis is if if again, it was like when Claire said, oh, I really like Vincent Price, you know, I'm like have you other movies of his, I have a few.

15:27AdamSo.

15:28LeeSo.

15:29AdamYou know, and similarly, you know, do you I like anthology films.

15:32AdamOh, you've really dug your own grave there, mate.

15:38LeeBecause.

15:39AdamWe can wallpaper us in them.

15:42LeeExcellent.

15:44AdamAnd that's all the weather.

15:46LeeExcellent.

15:47LeeUm, I have, as I said, I've been reading a lot during my furlo time.

15:54LeeAnd I've had a week off from reading.

15:57LeeSo just to give you an idea of how much time I've spent reading, this is what I watched in the last seven days.

16:03LeeUm.

16:04LeeFollowing last week's episode, when we talked about Barbara Steele.

16:08LeeI finally watched Piranha.

16:11AdamThat was the very original.

16:12LeeYeah, the Joe Dante one.

16:14LeeMy brother bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago on Blu-ray and I hadn't quite gotten around to watching it yet.

16:21LeeUm.

16:22LeeYeah, and I finally watched it last weekend.

16:24LeeIt was good fun.

16:25AdamIt is.

16:26LeeUm.

16:27LeeI think it I think it's the perfect to be I know this is going to sound like I'm knocking it, I kind of am, but I'm not.

16:34LeeUm, like as much as we go on about how films shouldn't be remade, this was a film that needed remaking.

16:40LeeBecause the plot was great.

16:41LeeBut it just needed to be done now that the effects are there and they can give it a bit more punch and a bit more pizzazz.

16:49LeeSo yeah, I think I I love Piranha 3D.

16:52LeeUm, but yeah, I haven't got to watch the original Piranha.

16:54AdamOh.

16:55LeeYeah.

16:55LeeI thought this was a perfect film to have remade for that reason, great concept and just needed needed to be done at a time when they could actually make it look more believable.

17:06AdamI think yeah, but then I still think that that's the thing is that the 3D one did still keep the the sort of hokey fun.

17:15LeeYeah.

17:15AdamOf it in that, yeah, the effects were improved, but it was still this is bloody silly.

17:22LeeYeah.

17:25AdamIt wasn't sort of like, you know, they didn't decided to do like Dark Knight Rises with it.

17:30LeeYeah.

17:30LeeNo, it didn't become very serious.

17:32LeeIt definitely.

17:33AdamIt's a gritty hard-edged version.

17:38LeeUm, I also following last week's episode, as I promised I was going to do in the in the dying moments of last week's episode, I went and watched The Blood Beast Terror.

17:48AdamOh, yes.

17:49AdamYeah.

17:49LeeI didn't watch it the next night, I didn't watch it that night, sorry, I waited and watched it the next night, because Lady Jennifer wanted to watch it.

17:55LeeUm.

17:56LeeI thought it was brilliant.

17:57LeeShe said it was a load of old crap and it was she was not not surprised that we'd never heard of it before.

18:01AdamWhat is it she not like?

18:03LeeSo how have we both had such diametrically opposed ideas from the same film?

18:09LeeUm.

18:10LeeIt's it's one of the.

18:11LeePeople say a lot about Hammer that it was done tongue in cheek and it was supposed to be funny and I disagree majority.

18:17LeeUm, but this one was hard to take seriously.

18:22LeeBut I loved it.

18:23AdamI think again, it's one of those things where to a certain extent, you're making a film about a weirmoth.

18:29LeeYeah.

18:30AdamAnd that's yeah.

18:33LeeIt's a push.

18:34LeeIt is a push.

18:35AdamIt is a push.

18:37LeeBut yeah, I thought it was great.

18:38LeeTotally campy and stupid, it looked beautiful.

18:42LeeIt was it had ludicrous bit.

18:45LeeThe bit when they're supposed to be in the Amazon and I was like that is the Thames Estuary.

18:49AdamYeah.

18:50LeeIt like it's just.

18:51LeeIt's this horrible gray day, but they've got two men, two big black men in grass skirts in a canoe going down this muddy, dirty river somewhere.

19:00AdamTrying to get through its yeah.

19:01LeeYeah.

19:02AdamAnd.

19:03AdamJust a bloke with a butterfly net and then a red London bus goes past it.

19:09LeeYeah.

19:10AdamSomeone says, excuse me, do you know the way to Tooting? Someone, we're trying to film a fucking film here.

19:17LeeYeah, so.

19:18AdamBut it is it is it is an exceedingly silly fucking film, but yeah.

19:26AdamAnd I mean, obviously, Peter Cushing's great in it.

19:30AdamAnd.

19:31AdamOh, and obviously, you've now seen the bit with the butler arguing with the vulture.

19:36AdamWhich is just brilliant.

19:38LeeHow many times have I told you?

19:39LeeIt beat me.

19:40AdamYeah.

19:41LeeYou're poking him with a stick.

19:44AdamYeah.

19:45LeeOh, fantastic.

19:48LeeUm, next one on the list was another recommend from you, Adam, you've been telling me about for ages, I finally got around to watching Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

19:56AdamOh, yes.

19:59LeeFucking hell, that's a good film.

20:01AdamYes.

20:02LeeSo it's on YouTube.

20:04LeeAgain.

20:04LeeIt's that's why.

20:05LeeI watched Blood Beast Terror and on the side, all the stuff that's yet to come up, Kolchak was on there.

20:10LeeI was like, well, Adam's been going on about that for ages.

20:13LeeAnd it has got the dad from A Christmas Story, so I'm going to give it a go.

20:17LeeUm.

20:18LeeOh, it was just brilliant, so, so good.

20:21AdamYeah.

20:22AdamThat's definitely one that I'm that's definitely one I'm showing to Claire.

20:25AdamBecause it's basically Columbo does The X-Files.

20:28LeeYeah.

20:29LeeTotally.

20:30LeeIt's it's that beautiful 70s Vegas back when everything.

20:35LeeWas like it was still all the old 70s signs before they dragged all them down and replaced them with all the big crazy shit we've got.

20:41LeeWell, it was basically just signs with lots of lights.

20:44LeeBut they were big as a five-story building, it's just lunacy.

20:51AdamI can't remember what it was I was watching, but there was something or I was listening to, I can't remember, but it was something where someone was saying that the trouble is with Vegas now is it's trying to be classy.

21:04LeeYeah.

21:04AdamAnd it's like, no, that's not what people want from Vegas.

21:12AdamYou know, that their tourist board should be run by John Waters.

21:17LeeYeah, oh, yeah.

21:18LeeTotally.

21:19AdamShould say.

21:19AdamHe would he would get it.

21:22AdamHe he would know know what people want.

21:24AdamThe camp.

21:25AdamBecause it was like someone saying they went to the the what is it, Luxor or what, the pyramid one, and they said, oh no, it's not it's no longer a guide greets you dressed as Tutankhamun and and there's like stuff like mummies walking around or whatever like that.

21:38AdamThey've sort of like, oh no, now come on now, we're a serious business, it's classy, let's have a touch of class.

21:43AdamNo, don't.

21:44LeeNo.

21:45AdamIt was this was the reason people wanted the camp.

21:48LeeBobby will tell you when we were over there, we did like we went in a lot of the new hotels and stuff around where we were because we were in the Flamingo.

21:56LeeAnd as you say, all that's been classed up at that end of the strip.

21:59LeeBut the best time we had was when we all walked all the way up to Circus Circus because that's not been touched since 1972, and it's just dirty and filthy and it still stinks of cigarette smoke.

22:14LeeUm.

22:15LeeLike, yeah, it's just looks tacky and terrible.

22:17LeeAnd Slots of Fun was right next door, which is just, oh, it's yeah.

22:22LeeIt's it's the super tacky bit.

22:24LeeSo it's still there if you know where to find it.

22:27LeeAnd boy, did we find it.

22:31LeeSo that was excellent.

22:33LeeUm.

22:34LeeIn prep for today, I also went and watched, I was looking through David Warner's back catalog and discovered that he did a film for Cannon where they did Hansel and Gretel.

22:43AdamOh, I did not know that.

22:44AdamWhat's it called?

22:45LeeIt's it's got too many songs in it.

22:47LeeBut the whole thing's on YouTube.

22:50LeeUm.

22:51LeeYeah, and David Warner's brilliant in it.

22:52LeeAnd the kids are pretty good, one of them turned into a long time actress in East Enders, is all I know her from from the 90s.

22:58AdamAll right.

22:59LeeUm.

23:00LeeUh, yeah, and the witch is like the witch is pretty good, she looks like a little haggard old woman, but when she turns into the witch, she's got like big crazy hair and a stupidly big nose and it's just yeah, it was really good.

23:07LeeI thought I really enjoyed it for a for a kid's thing.

23:11AdamAnd was it not just Hansel and Gretel or?

23:13AdamIs it just called Hansel and Gretel?

23:14LeeOh, right.

23:15LeeIt's just called Hansel and Gretel.

23:17LeeBut yeah, as I say, it was made by Cannon, so I was like, right, well, I need to watch that because it's going to be mental.

23:20AdamYeah.

23:21LeeAnd I was not disappointed.

23:24LeeSo onto this evening's main event.

23:25LeeUm.

23:26LeeChris, is this the first time that you've seen The Omen?

23:29ChrisYes, it is.

23:29ChrisI had heard of it, I'd heard of it a lot at the time, similar to The Exorcist.

23:34ChrisUm, but I just thought.

23:36ChrisYou know, it definitely sounds like something I would want to watch.

23:40ChrisBut there's a lot of other films that come up and that just never quite came up.

23:44ChrisAnd it has now, thanks to Adam.

23:47LeeWell done, Adam.

23:50AdamI'm afraid that this is this it's certainly a few years back, certainly that would almost be de rigueur.

23:58AdamIt'd be like, oh, he's talking about fucking Omen again.

24:01LeeYeah.

24:03LeeDo you know what I've got to admit, not wishing to be controversial.

24:09LeeUm, but I think the reason it's taken us this long to to do this film.

24:13LeeI don't much care for it.

24:16LeeI thought it might be one that I maybe didn't remember enjoying so much.

24:19LeeAnd when I watched it again, I'd enjoy it more, which seems to be something that happens quite frequently.

24:23LeeUm.

24:25LeeBut no, I didn't I find this film a bit of a chore to get through, I'm not going to lie.

24:32LeeAnd I don't know why.

24:32LeeI don't know what it is about it.

24:34LeeIt's not badly paced.

24:36LeeIt's got a great script, it's got a fantastic cast, it's got a really good story, it's got all the elements I love, I just don't enjoy it.

24:43AdamMaybe it's maybe there's just something there that's just not for yourself.

24:47LeeYeah.

24:48LeeI don't I can't work it out.

24:51AdamI mean, my.

24:53AdamUm.

24:54AdamTo I mean, I I've always said that I prefer it to The Exorcist.

24:57AdamAnd I mean this is the first time this is the first time I've seen it.

25:02AdamIn cuz actually that was something that came up is it's the first time I've seen it certainly since the second series of Brian Pern.

25:09AdamUh because uh at the end of every series of Brian Pern, if you don't know Brian Pern was um Simon Day from The Fast Show did a.

25:16Adamspoof about basically he was Peter Gabriel from Genesis.

25:20AdamAnd it was a spoof on that.

25:21AdamAnd then at the end of every series, actual Peter Gabriel would turn up and kill him.

25:26LeeAnd the first series, they basically recreated a bit from the last ever Sylvester McCoy episode of Doctor Who.

25:28AdamGot that in a heartbeat, knew that one.

25:34AdamThird series, they recreated the end of the Longer Friday.

25:36AdamAgain, you know, I was perfectly on it.

25:39AdamBut yeah, they um on the second series and I was like, I I know this, but I can't think what it is, and it was the the wife getting thrown out the hospital, falling off the balcony.

25:47ChrisI did like it.

25:48ChrisAnd as it progressed, I liked it more and more as it became really when you saw it from, sorry, what's the father's name?

26:03AdamRobert Thorne.

26:04ChrisRobert.

26:05ChrisYeah, as you really see it from his perspective and like he's figuring out what's going on, but obviously, you know, doesn't want to face it.

26:12ChrisAnd then.

26:13ChrisHis his wife is pregnant again, she thinks she doesn't want another child, it's like, that's starting to get quite complicated.

26:18ChrisYou know, and it's still got the devil as a child to deal with.

26:22ChrisYou know, yeah, as I saw it through his eyes more and more.

26:25LeeNow, I wondered as the only one here who isn't a parent, I always wondered if that is a an element of why it works, possibly more for people with kids, is like there must be times when you've not slept enough and the kid is just driving and you're just like, is this really evil?

26:39ChrisHe can think, yeah.

26:41LeeYeah.

26:42LeeLike you say, could you could you almost believe that it coming that.

26:46ChrisI think that's interesting.

26:48ChrisBut you know, I haven't seen it, but Lord of the Flies where children.

26:52LeeYeah.

26:53ChrisAre in charge.

26:54ChrisLike, isn't it that.

26:55ChrisEssentially, humans can easily descend into evil behavior and it is the systems and it's the elders that are continuing to keep things.

27:03ChrisYou know, working well and all of us being the best we can be.

27:05ChrisBut, you know, it's it's so easy.

27:06AdamBut you want.

27:07ChrisTo tip to descend into terror.

27:09AdamSee, I think that's the thing that interests me with like apocalyptic stuff.

27:14AdamAnd things and things like that, he's and maybe it just speaks to the fact that I'm not the jolliest of people that I quite like those films where it's like, yeah, that's what people would do.

27:22AdamThey're all cunts.

27:24AdamYou know.

27:24AdamThey they would expose babies and fuck each other over, that's what they do, because people are essentially come.

27:31AdamUm.

27:32AdamAnd I think, yeah.

27:34AdamBut equally, Lee, I'll be honest and I hope I hope Claire doesn't mind me saying this, but.

27:46AdamThat bit where he is the the where Damien is pinging balls up and down the pool table.

27:53LeeOh, he clearly wants to throttle him.

27:55AdamAnd then and then he comes in, Damien, daddy, daddy, daddy and he's being all cute and I think, yeah, that's that's happened a few.

28:06AdamI think I come in and suddenly it's like, oh, look at our child.

28:11AdamWas not.

28:12AdamYeah, if I if I have to listen to him for another second I might scream.

28:17AdamSo, yeah.

28:18AdamI think though, though weird.

28:24AdamAnd I think that is something that because I I haven't watched it since being a parent.

28:29AdamNow that I'm a parent.

28:30AdamTwo things.

28:32AdamOne.

28:34AdamI do feel that I'm glad he doesn't kill the child at the end.

28:41AdamOn the basis that I think that it's it is almost like the thing.

28:44AdamNo, you know, if if he is the Antichrist, kill him when he's old enough to know.

28:49ChrisYeah.

28:50AdamOr whatever like that.

28:51AdamBut you know.

28:52AdamI just.

28:53AdamSo, but also.

28:54AdamThe trouble is, is now.

28:55AdamI find Damien so fucking cute.

28:58LeeI I well soft.

29:01AdamAnd I find.

29:02AdamYeah.

29:03AdamAnd I think.

29:04AdamThere is when he waves at the Rottweiler, I think that is adorable.

29:09AdamBut.

29:10AdamEqually, I just think, oh no, he's a fucking nightmare child from most of it.

29:15AdamBut there are just bits where I'm like, I I felt sorry for him when the animals were running away.

29:20AdamAnd he didn't even seem to really.

29:22AdamI was like, look, if you know, when when you go to a zoo or a Safari.

29:26AdamYou know, if you see animals acting like that.

29:29AdamCan can I just say though.

29:31AdamEveryone's down on baboons, right?

29:34AdamBaboons were going to fuck him up.

29:36LeeYeah, and then you're kissing licking.

29:40AdamYeah.

29:41AdamYou know, fucking pussy fucking arseholes that just.

29:45ChrisDo you know what they did to make the animals all act like that?

29:48AdamWell.

29:49AdamDo you want do you want the story of the.

29:51ChrisWere were any animals harmed in the making of this?

29:54AdamNo.

29:54AdamNo.

29:54AdamBut I'm I'm going to get I'll get into it because there is a curse of The Omen.

30:01LeeOh, yeah.

30:02ChrisYeah.

30:03AdamBut.

30:04AdamYeah, to get the effect, basically, they went to the.

30:07AdamThey went to the zoo or the Safari Park and one of the trainers there came up with the thing of, well, if we take one of, basically, they didn't feed the baboons for they didn't get their dinner the night before, so they were already arsy.

30:28AdamAnd then they took a baby from the group and put it and put it in the car.

30:35LeeOh.

30:36AdamAnd.

30:36AdamApparently, the baboons didn't give a fuck.

30:38LeeYeah.

30:39AdamThey were just like, yeah, fuck it, you're taking the kid.

30:42AdamSod off, you know.

30:43LeeIt always brings him back.

30:44LeeWe about.

30:45AdamSo then they rethought it, tranq the alpha male and put him in the car.

30:52LeeOh.

30:54AdamAnd they went fucking insane.

30:59AdamAnd apparently, like Lee Remick like that's just that's just her panicking because because it looked like they were going to just break into the car and rip them to shreds.

31:09ChrisYeah.

31:10AdamYeah.

31:10AdamAnd I'm not sure I'm not sure I didn't I couldn't find it and I didn't get chance to because there's a very good making of on the box set.

31:17AdamI've got, I've got the box set of the trilogy.

31:19AdamThere's a very good making of on there and I'm sure that they said that.

31:24AdamWhile they were filming it, the the alpha male started coming round as well, like so it was like, right, so we've got a car covered in baboons trying to rip us to pieces and this big bastard sort of like slowly groggily, what.

31:39AdamWhat's that, where am I?

31:42AdamWho are you?

31:44AdamAnd yeah, so and like and I might be misreporting this, but I think it actually I think it grabbed Lee Remick's hair like as a reflex thing or something like that, you know, didn't wake up fully like they got out of there.

31:59AdamBut again.

32:00AdamYeah.

32:01AdamIt was like that was that is what they did to that.

32:03AdamI don't know what they did to.

32:04AdamRass, I think they just said, boom, they ran off.

32:07AdamSo.

32:08AdamYeah.

32:08AdamI mean, come on, they're not going to help you.

32:12AdamBastards.

32:14AdamBut there is there is a lot of.

32:18AdamWeirdly enough though, and this is something that I think is very much again, maybe a testament to it, I don't know, but like the director Richard Donner.

32:29AdamUm, for example, when the bowl of goldfish drops.

32:34AdamThat was sardines painted orange.

32:37LeeOh.

32:38AdamAnd his exact words were, well, I'm not killing a goldfish for the sake of a fucking film.

32:43LeePart of me did think that, I was like, oh, it was the 70s, I wonder if they killed those gold.

32:48AdamNo.

32:48AdamNo.

32:50AdamBut the weird thing is is that it's also because of like with The Exorcist where we went through what a fucking nutcase William Friedkin was.

33:00LeeYeah.

33:00AdamThis is actually quite the reverse in that Richard Donner was actually, I mean, yeah, there's I mean the baboon thing is.

33:06AdamShaky at best.

33:08LeeYeah.

33:09AdamBut, you know, at least he wasn't like firing off guns or giving people permanent injuries.

33:14AdamSo.

33:15AdamBecause that that because I mean that when she falls off the balcony, they basically glued a floor to a wall.

33:22AdamAnd she rolled back towards it like sort of just standing up.

33:25LeeYeah.

33:27AdamBecause apparently that was again, I think everyone who was on the set was kind of like, you're not going to do what they did on The Exorcist, are you? No, I genuinely, I think it was quite a I think it was like not not not a secret, but like a sort of open secret within Hollywood that it was like, well, you know, she got a back injury and like, you know, this happened and that happened and basically it was all William Friedkin's fault.

33:39AdamUm.

33:40LeeHer fall from that balcony looks good.

33:40LeeI've got to say.

33:41AdamI mean.

33:42LeeYeah.

33:42LeeI don't I don't think there's anything in this that doesn't hold up.

33:46LeeI think that's the thing.

33:46LeeAs I say.

33:48LeeIn spite of the fact I'm not a huge fan of it, it's just like, I in my head, when we sat down to watch it, I was like, oh, it's going to be a chore.

33:52LeeBecause I remember it taking like being slow and taking ages to get going.

34:00LeeThe nanny jumping off the balcony, it's like 13 minutes in it does, it really goes at it.

34:06AdamThat's Jack Palance's daughter by the way.

34:10LeeOh, was it really?

34:11AdamYeah, because I think like Richard Donner had just done a TV show.

34:14AdamThat Jack Palance was in and he said, I'm I'm filming in England, and it was like, oh, my daughter lives in England, you want to give her a job.

34:18AdamAnd.

34:19AdamSo yeah, that's why that's why she's in it, she said she's the it's all for you, Damien.

34:25AdamWhich incidentally.

34:26AdamI've heard former guest Dean say far too often.

34:30LeeYeah.

34:31LeeHe says it a lot.

34:32AdamYeah, it's just one that we we've always attached off.

34:35ChrisYeah.

34:36AdamWe've latched off.

34:36ChrisYeah, it will it will mean something now.

34:37AdamI wonder if it's that domestic element that is the part that drags for you as well.

34:42AdamLike you were saying because obviously there is the thing where it's it's.

34:46AdamTheir relationship being eroded and damaged and essentially it's like.

34:53AdamYeah, but.

34:55AdamWhen when does he get his eyes picked out by Ravens?

34:58AdamWhen is it.

34:58LeeAnd I think the problem is, as well.

34:59LeeBecause it starts so strong, like before the actual film even starts.

35:02LeeThat opening sequence where it's just the the title cards and the backdrop and the music.

35:07LeeLike, it's massive and it's ominous and it's it's really scary.

35:11LeeAnd then all he says.

35:12LeeAnd now politics and like, oh, God, no.

35:17LeeUm.

35:18LeeAnd as you say, it it has got that constant ominous feeling.

35:21LeeIt it it is it is kind of laced through it.

35:22LeeThis film is in no way a dud.

35:26LeeI just and that's why I don't understand what it is about it.

35:29LeeI just don't.

35:30LeeI mean it's David Warner, I shouldn't need anything else to keep me entertained.

35:32AdamYeah.

35:32AdamNo, I mean.

35:33AdamDavid Warner's fan.

35:36AdamI think actually that's one of the things that I think is such because you've got like.

35:40AdamUm, Gregory Peck and Lee Remick are fucking brilliant, there's no question of that and they're they're always really fucking good, I mean Gregory Peck's, you know, an Oscar winner.

35:51AdamIt's like, you know.

35:52AdamThey they are shit hot at what they do.

35:54AdamBut the smartest thing for me anyway is I feel is they went, right, we're going to film it in England and it's like, great.

36:02AdamSo now you can surround them with hundreds of character actors who can act their fucking arse off.

36:06LeeYeah.

36:07AdamAnd you get like David Warner and Patrick Troughton and Leo McKern and, you know, Martin Benson and all all these people in there.

36:15AdamWho are, you know, it's none of them have a starring part, you know, nearest equivalent is David Warner, but they are all sort of like they're just shit hot.

36:22AdamThey.

36:22AdamIt's just really.

36:24AdamAnd it's that.

36:25AdamAgain, it's that whole companion thing of.

36:26AdamSelling the whole thing, isn't it?

36:28AdamSo.

36:30AdamI think Lee might have frozen.

36:32ChrisYeah.

36:32AdamYes.

36:33AdamBut.

36:34AdamI mean.

36:34AdamObviously you've got.

36:36AdamThere's the whole sort of.

36:38AdamBecause the poem as they say in it.

36:40AdamIt is actually made up for the film.

36:41AdamThat's not the Book of Revelation.

36:44AdamUm, but apparently.

36:45AdamLots of people now kind of.

36:46AdamAttribute it to it.

36:47AdamAnd everything else.

36:47AdamLike that.

36:49AdamBut I remember.

36:50AdamI think there was that thing as well is I got heavily into a lot of apocalyptic theory.

36:54AdamOr like.

36:55AdamStuff like because there's the thing about in the Book of Revelation, one of the things that is the sort of the beginning of the end was they mentioned what is it, the third angel sounded his trumpet and a great star blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and the springs of water, the name of the star is wormwood, a third of the waters turned bitter and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

37:16AdamAnd do you know what the Ukrainian word for wormwood is?

37:21AdamChernobyl.

37:22LeeOh.

37:22LeeAh.

37:24AdamAnd it's like.

37:24AdamSo something with the power of a star brought to Earth and it poisoned the waters in the Earth.

37:29LeeYeah.

37:30AdamAnd again, this was.

37:31AdamThere was there was also an.

37:32AdamErroneous thing that was going around because obviously the the whole thing with the 666 in scripture, it's causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave to be marked on the right hand or the forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless they had unless he has the mark.

37:48AdamThat is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

37:51AdamThis calls for wisdom, let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and the number is 666.

37:56AdamAnd there was an erroneous thing going around that, you know, barcodes are sort of divided into.

38:01LeeI remember this.

38:01LeeYeah.

38:01AdamAnd the main markers were supposedly sixes, and obviously you cannot buy and sell without the mark.

38:08AdamYeah.

38:08AdamWithout barcodes, but apparently that's absolute bullshit.

38:12AdamSo.

38:12AdamBut again.

38:13AdamYou know, it was all stuff that was it was quite quite interesting at the time.

38:16AdamIf you if you're stoned and you've got fuck all better to worry about, so, you know.

38:26AdamTurn that one around.

38:31AdamBut and and obviously six is opposition to is in opposition to God.

38:34AdamBecause seven is God's number.

38:37AdamUm, and six because it's only it's just a short fall, so it's imperfect.

38:45AdamUh, I am going to have to quote here where it's uh heavenly number is seven, seven days of creation, seven seals, seven, seven broads for seven brothers.

38:56AdamUm.

38:56AdamAnd and equally the seven daggers of Megiddo.

39:04LeeYeah.

39:04AdamYou know.

39:05AdamSo it's so I I think that that was another thing that had got me.

39:09AdamYou know, really got me into the film.

39:11AdamBecause I think it was a lot of that scripture stuff, and I love the bits where David Warner's going through.

39:19AdamYou know, and it's the eternal see that could be they say that's the world of politics.

39:24AdamYou know.

39:25AdamAnd he's just.

39:27AdamEveryone's just shit anyway and I love I love Lee McKern.

39:30AdamLee McKern's not even credited in the film.

39:31LeeLee McKern.

39:32AdamHe he of Rumpole of the Bailey.

39:34AdamYou know, he turns up right at the end.

39:35AdamAs.

39:36AdamBugenhaagen.

39:37LeeYes.

39:37AdamWhich.

39:38AdamInterestingly enough is also a name that I've heard was in one of Garth Merenghi's films.

39:41AdamI think it was like the War of the Wasps or whatever.

39:43AdamAnd there was a called Bohagen.

39:45AdamAnd I am convinced now it's because of The Omen.

39:49AdamUm.

39:50AdamBut he's just great again in that sort of tiny role.

39:55AdamAnd yeah, actually that's that's something.

39:57AdamBecause obviously he's in um because he's in um.

40:04AdamBugger it.

40:05AdamObviously he's Rumpole of the Bailey, but he's also in X: The Unknown.

40:08AdamWhich was like Hammer's follow up to the Quatermass Experiment.

40:10LeeThat's right.

40:11LeeYeah.

40:11AdamIt's fucking great in that, but also he's in help like The Beatles film.

40:15AdamHe's in Marriott and The Avenger.

40:16AdamSherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.

40:18AdamUm, but I really think people genuinely, genuinely great film is The Day the Earth Caught Fire.

40:22AdamAnd he plays a journalist in it.

40:23AdamAnd it's basically the world heats up and they don't have any idea what's going on.

40:29AdamAnd it's just so well done.

40:33AdamAnd it's just.

40:34AdamIt's so gripping.

40:36AdamIt's just a very, yeah, really, really worth really worth checking out.

40:46LeeCool.

40:47AdamObviously.

40:47AdamAnd obviously, I'm going to have to say, what why did they not listen to Patrick Troughton?

40:51AdamHe is the second doctor, he knows what he's he knows his shit.

40:54LeeOh, I didn't know he was the doctor.

40:55AdamOh, yeah, he's he was the he was the second one, he was after William Hartnell, and he is fucking brilliant.

41:01AdamYeah, he's one of Claire's favorites.

41:03AdamHe's definitely one of my favorites.

41:04AdamAnd we're also quite fortunate because um one of his ideas when he got the part is because he was worried about being type cast is he he did think about blacking up, and so fortunately no one agreed with him on that one.

41:18AdamBecause otherwise they'd be like, yeah, you can't watch any of these.

41:21AdamYeah, three three years of Doctor Who's gone missing, but we're not looking for it, actually.

41:24AdamFor some reason.

41:27AdamBut obviously, like he's in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Jason and the Argonauts, Box of Delights, um, and um, but he does the rounds in Hammer as well because he's in The Gorgon, he's in Scars of Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell.

41:45AdamWe'll have to do The Gorgon at some point because again that was like, you know, when we were like, we haven't done a headless horseman, we've definitely not done a Gorgon.

41:48LeeNo, definitely not.

41:50AdamBut and and.

41:51AdamActually, and this is something that I think is probably the one there's one factor in this film that I think does.

41:57AdamI think.

41:57AdamThe producers.

41:58AdamMay have been right.

42:01AdamBut basically, Billie Whitelaw's character, Mrs. Baylock, is the most sinister fucking person to ever appear on screen.

42:09LeeYeah.

42:10AdamAnd the fact that and as Claire pointed out.

42:13AdamYou've already had a very intense Irishman priest turn up at your office, possibly blackmailing you, or at least acting like a loony, and then another Irish person turns up acting so fucking sinister.

42:27AdamAnd you realize that neither of you booked her.

42:29LeeYeah.

42:29AdamAnd even though they go running when she then says, oh, yeah, the agency sent me, oh, that'll be it.

42:35AdamNo.

42:35LeeYeah.

42:36AdamWell.

42:36AdamI don't know, the way she's playing it, you know, might up end your thing about it being a series of coincidences, but apparently Richard Donner just thought she was so fucking good.

42:48AdamBecause.

42:48AdamAt one point they were going to cut the character.

42:50AdamAnd she was he was like, no, I think she was.

42:52ChrisYeah, she is iconic.

42:52AdamWhat she's doing.

42:56AdamYeah.

42:56AdamShe is.

42:56AdamI mean, Billie Whitelaw's a fucking great actress anyway.

42:58AdamBut she is particularly disturbing.

43:01ChrisIt stays with you.

43:02AdamYeah, because it's it's weird because obviously.

43:08AdamShe's the nearest you get to an actual villain within it.

43:15AdamBecause I mean, you only find out that the priest, the priest at the start, Mark Benson, you only find out he's a villain in passing later on.

43:22AdamAnd again.

43:22AdamHe's another one where it's like, oh, he nearly died so he goes back to try and find God because of what's happened to which all of it seems like a 1970s plan with the master in Doctor Who.

43:32AdamBe like, I'm a doctor.

43:33AdamI've bought these aliens to Earth.

43:34AdamYeah, but don't you realize that these aliens are going to kill you as well.

43:38AdamOh, fuck, yeah.

43:39AdamOh, I'll go and get rid of them then.

43:40AdamAnd.

43:40AdamYou know.

43:41AdamAll of you stupid bastards, if you just hadn't raped a jackal and made it.

43:47AdamGive birth to the Antichrist and killed the the senator's kid and, you know.

43:52AdamYou could have all just happily gone off.