28 Days Later

0:24LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror, I'm Lee.

0:27ChrisI'm Chris.

0:28AdamI'm Adam.

0:29UnknownI'm Claire.

0:30AdamYay!

0:32AdamClaire's back!

0:34LeeAs promised, we're back for our second of our 90s birthday episodes.

0:40LeeUm, with

0:43AdamI've just got to raise my hand and apologize for several mistakes, including uh, this is actually 2002.

0:51LeeIt is, yes.

0:52AdamBut it just feels 90s, so...

0:55LeeIt looks like an episode of fucking EastEnders, but we'll get into that when we get to. Come on.

0:59AdamI also, I also have to apologize for last week's podcast where I said uh about the podcast, really disliking uh Anthony Hopkins, when I actually meant Sir Matthew Hopkins, um, but there we go.

0:17LeeI didn't pick up on that either.

0:19LeeUm, but I did listen to the episode, uh, yeah, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

0:22LeeSo, well done, looking forward to tomorrow's.

0:25ChrisI think we need to be a bit careful about apologies because we could go on for a long time, I'm sure.

0:31LeeYeah, we could be here all night.

0:32AdamThat's true.

0:34LeeThe way you put your hand up, Adam, I was like, did he want me to high five him?

0:37LeeBecause like

0:38ChrisYeah.

0:39LeeYeah, I was just I thought there was a number five different part coming out. I don't know what I'm going to do.

0:43AdamYeah, no, no, it would have been high five and then big tens.

0:47AdamBut

0:48UnknownI'm in the room and doing the other section.

0:51UnknownYou're my wife, so I'm quite happy to make it like a bit of a prank.

0:55AdamThanks.

0:55UnknownYou're welcome.

0:57AdamFucking patriarchy.

0:01LeeI am currently pouring a beer in celebration of, uh, your birthday, Claire, so

0:07UnknownOh!

0:08LeeHappy birthday!

0:08UnknownI've already got tomorrow.

0:11LeeLovely, lovely!

0:12ChrisCheers.

0:15LeeYeah, have a drink on, everybody, unless you're listening to this in the car and then, uh, you know, maybe don't.

0:20AdamOh!

0:21ChrisYeah, and just do a pretend drink.

0:26LeeUh, yes, so we're here for the second of our birthday episodes in a row, um, to cover, uh, 28 Days Later.

0:35LeeUm, so we will get into why we are covering that when we get into the episode.

0:41LeeUm, but before we get into the episode,

0:44LeeChris, what have you been watching since our last episode?

0:48ChrisRight, so I was going to try and do this in a what hints can I give you who's going to get it first.

0:53ChrisI think I possibly did that last episode.

0:55ChrisSo I must be like

0:56AdamOh!

0:57ChrisOh, good, good try.

0:58ChrisThat was like, that is, that was getting right in there.

0:02ChrisBut no.

0:04ChrisUm, so, let me try and give you a few hints that I've got here.

0:07ChrisUm, that doesn't give it away immediately, Alex Garland was involved.

0:13AdamDevs.

0:15ChrisOh, very good, I definitely need to watch that, I've been told that and you saying that tells me I should.

0:21ChrisAnd, but no.

0:24ChrisUm, Daniel Boyle was also involved.

0:27AdamUm, Sunshine?

0:31ChrisGreat answer, no.

0:33AdamAh!

0:34LeeThe 2012 Olympic opening ceremony?

0:37ChrisOh, come on, you're all doing really well.

0:40ChrisThat, that would have been impressive if I'd watched that again.

0:42ChrisIt was good, I did quite like it.

0:44ChrisUm, Robert Carlyle was also involved.

0:49AdamUm, 28 Weeks Later.

0:53ChrisYeah!

0:54ChrisThat is, um,

0:55Chrisvery good, Adam.

0:58ChrisSo, yeah, I thought after having watched 28 Days Later, why not carry on?

0:03AdamHad you seen it before?

0:04ChrisWell, it turns out I had and I didn't realize it, but, but I'd also completely mixed up it with 28 Days Later and I'm probably going to do the same again tonight.

0:17ChrisSo, yeah, some of the scenes in it I'd kind of thought were probably in 28 Days Later.

0:20ChrisI'd completely forgotten so much of 28 Days Later.

0:24ChrisWhen I was watching, I was like, I did not remember all of this with the military guys.

0:30ChrisAnd that, that whole, you know, dark side of it and, and realizing that actually that's what a lot of the film is about, is human nature aspect.

0:35ChrisWhereas before in my head it was just the zombies really and the fact that it wasn't, they weren't zombies, it was from, um, a virus.

0:48LeeYou must be the only person, Chris, to watch 28 Days Later and immediately think, well that wasn't fucking bleak enough.

0:54LeeWhat I now need

0:55ChrisYeah.

0:55LeeMore of that.

0:56ChrisYeah.

0:56ChrisTotally.

0:57ChrisI totally, I was watching, I was like, yeah, do not remember it being this dark at all.

0:02ChrisUm, so, yeah.

0:04AdamOh, fuck, yeah!

0:04ChrisYeah, um,

0:06AdamWhat, what we'll do is, because, because every, I'm just, just to annoy people, I was thinking I might refer to people in 28 Days Later by the roles that they are now much more famous for.

0:20ChrisMm.

0:21AdamSo I was going to say, so Tommy Shelby and Miss Moneypenny are going along with the meg. I knew it.

0:26AdamAnd so if any, so if you do the same, so if any point you say Big B or Luther, we'll know that you've mixed it up and you're talking about 28 Weeks Later.

0:38ChrisThat sounds good.

0:40AdamHa!

0:43LeeExcellent, so, so without any spoilers of the first film, did you enjoy, you obviously enjoyed the first one, but what did you make of the second one comparatively?

0:52ChrisYeah.

0:54ChrisSo, I did, I did, no, I did, I really, I really liked it.

0:58ChrisBut I was, when watching it, I was like, well, done now because I have seen it, what have I mixed up and so I was a bit unsure and I was thinking, did I, actually, no.

0:04ChrisTell you what, the bit that had stuck in my mind from 28 Weeks Later was Robert Carlyle running away from the house and jumping in the boat and obviously leaving his wife behind, that, that stuck in my head.

0:18ChrisI didn't remember much of the rest of it for some reason, but, um,

0:23ChrisAnd some of that I'd sort of perhaps made me think badly of it.

0:28ChrisI don't know, it just somehow had that effect.

0:31ChrisBut then on watching it again this time it's like, no, I think that's, that's really well done.

0:35ChrisLike it is actually again a good look at humanity and, you know, when you get in difficult situations, the choices you make and people's good and bad sides and how a lot of it is, um, although I think this is in 28 Days Later, like

0:46Chrishow many mistakes are made when people are emotional and absolutist, they're like, well, this is what we got to do and we're doing this and forget what, you know, you're not sort of looking at the bigger picture, you're just like, well, I'm dealing with this now and I'm right, so you can shut up and get on with it.

0:07LeeSo, Adam, what have you been watching?

0:11AdamOnly thing I've been watching is I've been rewatching

0:14Adamthe sitcom Monster, which is by the Belgian theater company Abattoir Fermé.

0:23AdamUm, I think I've mentioned it on the show before, it's really good.

0:26AdamBut the main reason I've been rewatching it is they've just done a feature film which looks equally as fucking insane and gory and weird and, yeah, everything else that I like from Monster.

0:40AdamBut the Monster is like a six-parter about a director who makes shock movies on a budget.

0:48AdamUm, but he is entirely insane as is his cast.

0:53AdamAnd, yeah, but it's well worth checking out.

0:56AdamBut yeah, keep, keep your eyes out, there's a, there is a couple of trailers out for the film which is called Hotel Poseidon.

0:03AdamAnd does look, it, looks up my street, I'm hoping I'm, I'm hoping it'll be available fairly soon.

0:10AdamI think it's playing FrightFest, but, uh, I do not know.

0:15AdamSo,

0:16Adamand that's literally all the weather.

0:20LeeClaire.

0:21LeeUm, obviously, we, it's been a while since you've been on, um, and we know that you've been watching along with Adam, which we're, we're always hugely excited to hear that you're, uh, you have become a convert.

0:33LeeUm, yeah, so are there any films that you've watched recently that you, uh, particularly enjoyed?

0:40UnknownWell, one sticks out and that was that Kurt Russell film we watched last week.

0:45AdamOh, Bone Tomahawk.

0:47UnknownYeah.

0:49ChrisYou weren't keen.

0:51UnknownIt wasn't, it wasn't shit, but I feel like if I didn't speak English I'd have enjoyed it more somehow.

0:58LeeThat is Quentin Tarantino in a nutshell.

0:03UnknownYeah.

0:03AdamYeah, actually, yes.

0:05UnknownYeah.

0:07LeeYou're absolutely right.

0:08LeeMan cannot write a script.

0:09LeeHe can make it look lovely, he has all the best actors, it's a great storyline, everyone talks like an absolute imbecile.

0:17LeeYou're absolutely right.

0:19UnknownIf you like blood and white ladies' feet, he's the guy for you.

0:26UnknownYeah.

0:30UnknownBut yeah, I, I've not watched anything really.

0:33UnknownJust, uh, just shitty kids cartoons.

0:39UnknownUm, and that's it, that's my life now.

0:43AdamYeah, sorry, mate.

0:46AdamI think it's quite good, though, welcome to horror.

0:48AdamI was watching Monster and Claire was playing The Sims.

0:52AdamBut Claire said that she, there, she just kept forgetting it wasn't in English.

0:57UnknownYeah.

0:58AdamBecause everything does feel like, you know, you, you know what's happening.

0:03AdamYeah.

0:04UnknownAnd also, the director, his, has a set of false teeth in that looks so joke shop, I kept forgetting that it's fake, like he'd be, oh no, they're too shit to be a prop.

0:14AdamYeah.

0:18UnknownThey've got to be real teeth, but no, they are comedy Vic Reeves teeth.

0:23AdamYes, definitely.

0:25AdamBut it's basically, yeah, he's just, um, utterly, um, utterly vile or utterly inappropriate, um, doesn't understand.

0:36AdamI mean, at one point to get the movie made, their accountant finds the one grant they've not used, which is a, um,

0:46Adamlike equal opportunities employment grant.

0:50AdamSo he decides, right, well, I'll just hire, as he says, I'll hire ethnic minorities and they can play the monsters.

0:57AdamSo he's got like, a couple of black guys, a guy in a wheelchair.

0:02AdamAnd it's there sitting there going, so why are we the monsters?

0:06AdamHe's like, yeah, you're right, that, that could come across as racist, couldn't it, I've got it, all the white actors should black up.

0:12AdamThat is, that is how fucking gone Ad Harri Shredder is.

0:18AdamAnd it's, yeah, and it's all sort of just ridiculousness.

0:22AdamIt's sort of like half, half gory occult sitcom, half office sort of politics thing of like, yeah.

0:32UnknownIt feels theater, like more than it does TV.

0:36AdamYeah.

0:37AdamWhich is where they're from anyway, so, yeah.

0:40AdamThey're just a company that I discovered and thought, that sounds brilliant, but unfortunately, I can never enjoy any of their shows because they'll be in Flemish and then I found out they've done this series and it had subtitles, so I was, yeah, that's what got me in.

0:53LeeExcellent, I shall be checking that out.

0:55LeeUm, I've watched a couple of things since our last recording.

0:01LeeUm, I watched Blood Red Sky on Netflix.

0:03AdamWhat?

0:05LeeUm, which, uh, should also be called 30 Days of Die Hard on a Plane.

0:11AdamHa!

0:12LeeUm, it is, it's, uh, 30 Days of Night-style vampire is, uh, controlling it with drugs and he's on a plane when it gets hijacked, so she allows herself to turn back into a vampire and then picks off the hijackers one by one.

0:27LeeUm,

0:29Leeit was, it was good, I quite enjoyed it.

0:31LeeIt could definitely have been half an hour shorter than it was, but,

0:35LeeI mean, other than that it was passable.

0:38LeeUm, and then the London Horror Society put a thing up saying, oh, why is nobody talking about The Empty Man from, I think it's possibly 2019?

0:48LeeUm, it's really good.

0:50LeeAnd the reason is because it's exactly the same as us.

0:53LeeIt's really, it's a great concept.

0:56LeeSo, so I'm going to say it's a dog shit write off, but you want, you know, love it.

0:02AdamHa!

0:03LeeUm,

0:03Leebuy the t-shirt.

0:04LeeBut like it, it's got a great, it's really creepy and it's a really good concept.

0:08LeeUntil the end twist when you go, well, if that's the twist, nothing else that happened in this film possibly have happened.

0:15LeeSo you've just wasted the last hour and 45 minutes by trying to be too smart.

0:21LeeUm,

0:23Leeyeah, so I was really pissed off about that, because it was, it was, it was really good until that point.

0:27LeeIt's, it was really creepy and all the imagery was really good.

0:33LeeBut yeah, it was one of those, assumes the twist happened.

0:35LeeYou went, well, how was he talking to her and how was that happening and why do they remember him and the

0:41ChrisCan't they make, can't they make Blu-rays where you get the option, do you want the shit twist at the end or, or cut it?

0:48ChrisYeah, do you want the Lee version or the director's cut and like, you know, then you've got a film you could enjoy.

0:56LeeYeah.

0:57LeeOh, it was absolutely.

0:58AdamCan't it be a banned snatch?

0:01ChrisYeah, basically, well, just, yeah, just the ending, how do you want the ending?

0:04AdamI think, I think the weird that it's, um, oh, what it is that horrible thing where you get that suspicion, that someone's gone, I've got this great plot and it's got twist, but they haven't actually got the twist yet, someone's given them the money and it's like, fuck, we better come up with this twist, uh, it was his sister all along.

0:27AdamHe hasn't got a sister.

0:28AdamRight, her in.

0:30LeeYeah.

0:31AdamYou know, what are you talking about?

0:33AdamAnd it's like, and we lost, um, we lost Sean Locke this week, which is a real shame, um, and, um, yeah, but I, I remember the words of very good friend of his, Mr. Bill Bailey, when he said, how does he write jokes, well, I start with a punchline and work my way back and that admittedly is a joke, but plot twist films, that's how they should be done.

0:01LeeYeah.

0:02AdamIt's like, it's like you don't think Agatha Christie lucked into her like solutions at the end of who the murderer was or whatever like that.

0:10AdamIt's like, no, I think she knew and then wrote the story.

0:14AdamWhereas I think a lot of people seem to be forgetting that doing it backwards these days.

0:19AdamWhat should we do, oh, it's all a dream, oh, yeah, because that will fuck me off.

0:24LeeYeah.

0:25LeeIt was, it was.

0:25LeeOh, and, and yeah.

0:28LeeAgain, it's the problem of if it had been crap, I'd have turned it off, but once I'd spent an hour and 45 and then it's shitting in my face, that was what really pissed me off.

0:38LeeSo, uh,

0:40Leeyeah.

0:40ChrisIt says here, The Empty Man was not screened in advance for critics and received mostly negative reviews upon release.

0:46ChrisSo,

0:47LeeThey heard it's pod.

0:49AdamHa!

0:55LeeUm, right, so without further ado, let's crack on to this evening's main event.

0:01LeeI'm going to got trumpet, but if I did.

0:04LeeUm, so, Claire.

0:06LeeUm, I know we mentioned it briefly, but explain your history with this film, please.

0:12UnknownThis film, in the words of a great scholar, left a dot in my pants.

0:19UnknownBecause this is the one that made me not want to watch horror films.

0:24UnknownThis is like, this and House on Haunted Hill, but like the new version, yeah.

0:29AdamYeah, Jeffrey Rush version, yeah.

0:32UnknownBecause I watched those, these were like one of the first horror films I watched when I was a teen in a sort of like sleepover party scenario.

0:41UnknownWhich is already like one of the most tense like just places full stop.

0:49UnknownUm, because you don't want to look like a dick.

0:52ChrisYeah.

0:52UnknownAnd I was just convinced I look like a dick, which made me even more scared.

0:57UnknownUm, and I barely watched any of it.

0:01UnknownAnd now I was like, I'm a double R bastard, so I'm going to watch this and um, I want to see how it

0:10Unknownif it still has the same effect of me, now I'm not scared of horror as a genre.

0:16UnknownLike the idea of watching a horror film doesn't frighten me anymore.

0:19UnknownUm,

0:21Unknownyeah, that that was my thinking.

0:24LeeSo did you make it to the end on this time around?

0:28UnknownI did, yeah.

0:29LeeYay!

0:30ChrisAnd how were your pants?

0:32UnknownI'm not doing it.

0:35UnknownHa!

0:36AdamWe did, there were, it was, we were a morse-free laundry that time, no dots, no dashes.

0:41ChrisThat's very good.

0:43UnknownYeah.

0:44LeeUm, so I know we've said it on the, the show before, but I think that's the thing with so many people who don't watch horror, they, they go to something like that, like a party or a sleepover when they're a teenager, you haven't got much to compare it to and somebody's always like, you know what would be really funny, to scare the cock out of everyone and prove how hard I am by making everyone watch something.

0:58LeeAnd it's such a dick move, because it just spoils it for everybody because so many people never go back again.

0:11UnknownYeah.

0:12UnknownAnd that, and that was definitely me.

0:15UnknownAnd um, I was, yeah, watched it yesterday and it was just like, I mean, I had the advantage of I barely watched it the first time because I was hiding for most of it.

0:27UnknownBut um, I could only really remember like images of it rather than parts or scenes of the film and um, yeah, watching it this time was just a completely different experience if that's not too wanky to say.

0:44LeeBut did you enjoy it or did you just find it tolerable this time?

0:48UnknownI, I wasn't frightened by it at all.

0:52UnknownHm.

0:54UnknownI don't know if I enjoyed it.

0:58UnknownBut I'm glad I watched it again.

0:02LeeHm.

0:02ChrisNow, just, just to add at that point though, we are watching this still during a pandemic.

0:08ChrisNow that, that might, that might have adjusted, you know.

0:11UnknownYeah, these things make you guys.

0:14UnknownUm,

0:15Unknownbut yeah, no, I think, because I said this to Adam after watching it and you were shocked.

0:22UnknownUm, that I felt like this had aged worse than like Firefly.

0:29LeeThis looks awful now.

0:30LeeLike everything about it, it just looks really off its time.

0:34UnknownAnd um,

0:36Unknownyeah, and I think that was the thing, well that and another detail that we'll come to, just really distracted me throughout the whole thing.

0:44AdamHa!

0:45UnknownSo I was just very distracted.

0:48ChrisSee that's, that's like funny, because I get that with some, some eras more than others and I didn't get that with this for some reason.

0:56ChrisAnd yeah, it's funny, I can't work out exactly.

0:58UnknownIt's like, you know, when these are new and now like really fashionable.

0:01UnknownPeople are going around wearing all that and people of our age are now like, well, I've made my decision, that's when I'll, was that my teens, that's where I'm staying.

0:12ChrisSee, it's funny, right, I've, I've heard this, I've heard that 90s are back in.

0:15ChrisI still don't venture out of this room a lot, so I've yet to actually experience that 90s.

0:21UnknownOh, yeah, we went somewhere else.

0:24UnknownYeah, kids love Watch Kayna.

0:27UnknownFuck.

0:27UnknownYeah, it's gone, 90s is done, finished.

0:31ChrisBut this, this was 2K, though, wasn't it, it's turned out to be just.

0:35AdamHa!

0:36AdamI think this is the trouble though, I think you're right, I think probably me, certainly I feel, I would have been in my prime.

0:43AdamAnd I was like,

0:44Adamyes, this is exactly what the world's like.

0:46AdamAnd unfortunately, I've not moved on from there.

0:50AdamSo it's like, no, that's still what the world's like.

0:51LeeFucking Tony Blair.

0:54AdamEven George W. Bush, fucking, what?

0:58UnknownOh, Anthony Blair's long hair now, it's horrible.

0:01LeeOh!

0:02AdamIf you've not seen it, Tony Blair now looks like the bloke who fires them in Kill List.

0:07UnknownYeah.

0:08LeeOh!

0:10AdamHe really is like a wizened old ponce.

0:15AdamSo,

0:17LeeRight.

0:17AdamLong curly hair.

0:19LeeAnd so, Chris, you saw this back when it was released, I'm imagining.

0:24ChrisYeah, I think I might have seen it in the cinema.

0:28ChrisI don't actually remember going there, but I just, I remember it being big and so I'm assuming it was around the time and so it's, it's quite possible that I did.

0:37ChrisUm,

0:40ChrisYeah, um,

0:44ChrisBut I, I definitely remember being left with a sense that I liked it, even though I couldn't remember the details, um, I, I essentially did just remember the zombies being fast.

0:57ChrisAnd I guess, you know, I probably hadn't seen many zombie films.

0:03ChrisI'd probably seen them more in computer games, I imagine, than films because I can't actually remember, I hadn't seen any of the classics.

0:11AdamThis was the period where Resident Evil brought zombies into.

0:15ChrisYeah, but funnily enough, I'd, I'd never actually played Resident Evil because I didn't have a PlayStation.

0:20ChrisUm, and I just, I'd never got it in PC.

0:23ChrisBut I guess, I, I think in things like Quake and Doom.

0:27ChrisYou know, they're zombie, essentially zombie type characters in, in it.

0:32ChrisSo, and you know, I'd heard of them in the same way I'd heard of vampires, I didn't see that many vampire films either.

0:36ChrisSo it just, yeah, I don't know, for me, it felt like it, they had done a good job of what I imagined to be modernizing zombies, making them fast.

0:46ChrisI, I, I remembered, I'd seen it again this time, I'd remembered thinking what was interesting is how at the start, it's the monkeys, um,

0:59Chrisand the scientists are kind of obviously doing something bad, probably, although his argument is, they have to infect them to study it.

0:07ChrisAnd you can make the argument because we do probably need to understand this sort of stuff and you can't infect humans, so you know, it's that's a debate there to be had.

0:18ChrisBut then you've got the tree hugging hippies thinking they're doing something wonderful by releasing them, but they don't understand what they're doing and they just, they're so convinced.

0:28ChrisAnd, and, you know, that that is still a good, this is a, you know, a good story to see for, for modern times now.

0:35ChrisI mean, you know, the different groups around the world who think they've got the answers to life and it's their ideology and they're so convinced they're right and they don't want to listen to anyone else, whereas really, you've got to have a debate.

0:48LeeSee now I agree, I, one of the things that made me screaming in the office mad a couple of years ago, um, was when, uh, all the protesters were, um,

0:01Leeuh, demonstrating against climate change.

0:03LeeUm, and they've been saying the best way to, to help prevent climate change, they've been saying for decades, one of the best ways is to get out of your car and get on public transport.

0:13LeeSo in order to make a protest, they blocked all the public transport for a week and put everyone back in their car.

0:19LeeAnd I'm like,

0:15ChrisThey blocked all the

0:19Leeyeah, so what you've now done is you've put everyone back in their car, they're going to realize how much nicer it is when there isn't some dirty, smelly griefer super gluing himself to the window and now all those people are going to get in the train, you fucking idiot.

0:34LeeUm,

0:35ChrisYeah, that's that's not quite how I put it, but, yeah.

0:40LeeThat's how I'd put it and I'll stand by that.

0:43ChrisUm,

0:44ChrisBut yeah, so it's, it's sort of interesting, you know, this is a bleak film and essentially everyone is kind of doing it wrong a lot of the time.

0:50ChrisAnd, and that's because, you know, I mean, humans were not been made to be great at things, we've been made to just about, you know, continue, uh, the DNA and that's it.

0:57ChrisIf we roughly do that good enough, the rest can just be complete chaos.

0:01UnknownAnd then it's, it's like, and we are like pack animals, like we live in families.

0:06UnknownWhich is how the virus spread so quickly and then when you're in just pairs or threes, you fuck up completely because you've not got enough people to go, should we really be hanging about down here or should we fuck off?

0:16AdamBut then in appear, the more people you add, the more they get a commitment.

0:21AdamAnd then by the end of it, there's some cuts sending you a memo and the fucking rage virus zombies got you by the throat.

0:26ChrisYeah.

0:27AdamIt's like, I did, I said an email.

0:30ChrisYeah.

0:31ChrisThat's it, you're like with the military, so I mean, I did find that fascinating this time and it was a bit like, oh, you know, I, I completely understand what's going on here now.

0:39ChrisBut in that situation, I don't know, what is the right answer?

0:41ChrisIf, if the world is getting wiped out, you sort of have to reproduce.

0:45AdamI don't.

0:45LeeI don't think it's about reproduction.

0:48ChrisOh, all right, no, so I mean it is because the biological urge that needs to be dealt with somehow and that's what it comes from.

0:54LeeThat's why that's what happens when the internet's gone.

0:57ChrisYeah.

0:58AdamThat's true.

0:59AdamThey're out in the English woods, surely they could find some pornography.

0:03LeeHa!

0:04AdamOr some, come on, old school.

0:08ChrisYou know, I mean that there's, you know, I mean that is in like, in some situation like that.

0:12ChrisObviously at some point it's got to get serious and you've got to figure out, well, what do we all think is a good setup now?

0:18ChrisUm,

0:20ChrisI mean, that that would be a very boring film to try, try and figure that out in a, in a very nice way.

0:26ChrisBut, you know, it's clearly a difficult thing.

0:30AdamThere's a show you might like, Chris, there was a show in the 70s and I think they remade it in the mid 2000s called Survivors.

0:36ChrisMm.

0:38AdamAnd the certainly the original version of it was like 28 Days Later via The Good Life.

0:45ChrisMm, okay.

0:47AdamAnd so,

0:47Adamit's quite, so basically a virus, there's a viral outbreak and it wipes out loads of people.

0:54AdamUm,

0:55Adambut it is the people trying to like exist.

0:01AdamSo unfortunately, for every episode that you've got like something exciting happens.

0:05AdamLike an army bloke turns up and tries to be a prick and they kill him.

0:09ChrisYeah.

0:12AdamThere's about 40 episodes about crop rotation.

0:16ChrisYeah.

0:16UnknownGay pants.

0:17AdamYeah, yeah.

0:18AdamIt's so it's, but it, but that does go much more into that idea of like.

0:20AdamYou're they're trying to build a society and there's even like, there's like an episode where.

0:28AdamThey basically have to form a cult because there's a guy who kills someone.

0:31AdamAnd they're like, so what do we do about this?

0:36AdamBecause there's no law, do we reintroduce law?

0:40AdamAnd things like that.

0:42AdamUh, it's obviously, it's from the 70s.

0:43AdamAnd like I say, it's very sort of,

0:45Adamit's very middle class in that, well, well, you know, we should have a fair judge and jury, really.

0:49AdamAnd it's like, no, he's an animal, take him outside, make him dig his own grave.

0:51AdamKill him.

0:52ChrisYeah.

0:52LeeYeah.

0:53AdamHa!

0:54AdamBut,

0:54Adamno, I'm just saying, I'm just saying, you know, in those sort of circumstances, you know.

0:58LeeYeah, and that Adam's playing for next Monday.

0:01LeeThis is just.

0:02AdamNo.

0:02AdamNo, I'm off work.

0:04LeeHa!

0:06LeeUm, but yeah, I the thing that struck me more than anything, I've got to say, uh, that you touched on, Claire, was just how badly this film has aged in everything about it.

0:18LeeLike, the look and feel of it, at first, I was like, oh, has she put the biker Grove DVD in, this like, it just looked like terrible ITV shooting, it was awful.

0:29AdamBecause it's all on, it's all digital video.

0:32LeeYeah.

0:33LeeReally early.

0:34AdamYeah, very early, yeah.

0:37UnknownYeah, I think that might have been why I was a bit disappointed.

0:43UnknownBecause, because I had such like, such a reaction from it first time, I'd built it up in my mind that it must be this like amazing piece of cinema, which had shocked me like that.

0:57UnknownAnd actually, no.

0:58UnknownIt, probably the 12 other teenagers shit scared me more than the film.

0:04ChrisBut was there, was there something about like the opening scene when he, when he's walking around London and it's deserted.

0:08ChrisI mean, that I'm fairly certain that had a big impact, it was like, well, we haven't sort of seen London look like that before.

0:14ChrisSo is it just that that, it was almost like the zoomed out.

0:16ChrisAnd seeing these grand vistas that normally look bustling with life, like, was that just such a contrast?

0:23UnknownThose, those quiet bits, I thought were more effective than

0:27AdamYeah.

0:28UnknownThe zombie bits.

0:29UnknownAnd because you really felt like, and I even said, what the fuck would you do?

0:35UnknownLike,

0:37ChrisYeah.

0:37UnknownBecause you would never, to see a hospital deserted.

0:39UnknownYou'd go, oh, I don't know, you'd assume something had happened there.

0:42UnknownBut for London to be just.

0:44ChrisBut of course, we have now seen that in real life.

0:46ChrisThere's much like, watching this, it's like, oh, yeah, you know, it's just nothing special about this film, we're done now.

0:51AdamHas the power of this film been diminished by the fact that we now know that a pandemic's a bit more fucking boring?

0:54ChrisYeah.

0:55LeeYeah.

0:56AdamHa!

0:57AdamYou know.

0:58ChrisI can't, I can't trust anything in this now.

0:01LeeIt's

0:01ChrisWhat else have they lied to me about?

0:02LeeNo, that was fantastic, the music that they overlayed on that, um,

0:06Leeon those London scene. I know we talked about it a couple of weeks ago, Chris, and you said you've never listened to Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

0:11ChrisWell, yeah.

0:11LeeThis, like, watching this, it sounds identical.

0:14LeeYeah.

0:15LeeLike, it's just

0:15LeeIt's just incredible.

0:17ChrisNo, so that's it, so I must have played Godspeed You! Black Emperor before.

0:19ChrisI'm sure like it's been played.

0:21AdamOh.

0:21LeeHe would have.

0:22AdamHe would have played.

0:22ChrisYeah, but when I, yeah, when I was watching, I was thinking, yeah, like,

0:25Chrisit was reminding me of something so that is, yeah, I think that's fantastic.

0:28AdamBecause that earlier stuff because we, we did see it and I definitely saw it in the cinema.

0:35AdamI'm pretty sure I saw it with you, Lee.

0:36LeeI was going to say the same, yeah.

0:37AdamAnd I, and I definitely saw it with Dean, because I remember the little flattened out aisle.

0:43LeeYeah.

0:43AdamOf like, him going, it's Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

0:46LeeYeah.

0:47AdamYeah.

0:47AdamYeah.

0:48AdamYou get a flattened out, it was wrong with you, like.

0:49ChrisYou get a flattened out, that's what, that's more weird than anything.

0:51LeeHa!

0:52AdamYou know, I met you then.

0:53AdamWhat's wrong with you?

0:54AdamUm, of just like whispered sort of like, it's got to speed you black.

0:57AdamIt's got to speed you black and it's actually, um, it's Hastings from their album.

0:01AdamF Sharp A Sharp Infinity.

0:02AdamAnd apparently, Danny Boyle said that he uses music when he writes.

0:09AdamAnd that album was basically, as he said, that's what he wrote the film to.

0:14ChrisYeah, that's interesting.

0:15AdamSo he sort of.

0:16AdamHe used it in there.

0:16AdamThere's, there's a really good, there was, there was a nice little series of CDs which was, um, authors doing the same thing.

0:28AdamWhere they picked music that they listened to while they were writing and Clay Barks was really good because it was mostly soundtracks.

0:32AdamUm,

0:33Adambut similarly, yeah, he said that because I can't remember what was the other thing he said, it was like, there was another film where he'd, um, like he, it was, oh, it was Underworld.

0:46AdamUh, the first Underworld.

0:46Adamalbum was what he wrote Trainspotting to.

0:48LeeYeah.

0:49AdamUm, so it's sort of, yeah.

0:50AdamBut, um, but no, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and that, that whole opening sequence is fucking incredible.

0:54LeeYeah.

0:56AdamAnd it has to be said.

0:57AdamI think that, because, interestingly enough, Claire was like, at one point, I think we just went to get a drink and have a pea or whatever like that.

0:01AdamAnd you said, oh, is it much longer?

0:03AdamAnd I was like, strangely enough, I don't think it has, because I was like hitting plot points really quickly, and when they were filming it, they only had like very small times where the basically the police would block off roads for them for about half an hour early on a Sunday.

0:16AdamAnd that's when they'd filmed the deserted London stuff.

0:19AdamAnd, interestingly enough, I think that that might have been what helped the pace of the film.

0:22AdamBecause I think if they'd have had more cart blanche to film empty London, it would have been much more ponderous.

0:34AdamI think.

0:34AdamThere would have been, it would have got to the point where it's like.

0:35AdamGet, make something happen.

0:36UnknownYeah, don't tell me, show me.

0:37AdamYeah.

0:37AdamAnd it was like, and I think that that might have actually been in its favor.

0:42AdamLike the sort of.

0:43AdamThe fact that they couldn't shut down London fully.

0:48AdamAnd actually, most of the night stuff is regraded day footage because it was cheaper to do that.

0:50AdamAnd more effective than it was to digitally try and remove street lights and building lights for any of the nighttime stuff.

0:54AdamSo, yeah, so a lot of it was day for night shooting.

0:56LeeIt looks better than a lot of day for night shooting, to be fair.

0:57LeeAnd yeah, considering how bad it looks in general, I think that came across really well.

0:02AdamI think that's the thing, I think that's the thing of the digital element of it, but like I say, it's such an early digital thing.

0:07AdamWeirdly enough, it now looks like you shot it on a phone, not the latest model.

0:14ChrisMm.

0:14AdamYou know, it looks like YouTube.

0:17AdamAnd, and it's sort of pre, obviously predates YouTube by three years.

0:22AdamBut I think, yeah, it does look like that, but that to me in my head, I think still makes it feel realistic.

0:29AdamWhereas I think for you, you were like,

0:30ChrisThat's just lost it.

0:31ChrisCompletely.

0:31AdamYou know, it looks like they haven't got.

0:32AdamThey haven't got the light.

0:34UnknownBut it wasn't even that.

0:35UnknownIt was, I don't, I don't even know what it.

0:37UnknownWhat it was about, because obviously, like you can say, oh, the telly that the chimps are watching it on, you can't be big.

0:45UnknownAren't they chunky?

0:46UnknownYeah.

0:46LeeYou were, yeah.

0:46AdamYeah, but chimps can only watch big chunky tellies.

0:48LeeYeah.

0:48AdamThey's done that.

0:50UnknownYeah.

0:50AdamAnd the like the big four channels.

0:52UnknownYeah.

0:52AdamAnd the like the big four channels.

0:54UnknownBut it was just everything, everything about it felt like it, like the really quick cuts felt really off the time.

0:02UnknownThe fact that there was so much, well, I said to you, the NHS really deserve those round of applause because Jim was in a coma when he fell off a fucking bike.

0:11UnknownHe's come out the coma and he's doing parkour and killing eight army men, you know.

0:19LeeYeah.

0:20AdamYeah.

0:21LeeI can't, I had exactly the same thought at the same point.

0:23LeeIt was when he suddenly ambushed them shirtless in the rain.

0:25LeeAnd I was like, didn't he hear three days ago, like he's doing very.

0:28LeeYeah, he gets shot.

0:29UnknownHe gets shot.

0:30UnknownHe gets shot in the chest point blank.

0:34UnknownAnd makes it.

0:35UnknownWith a rifle.

0:36ChrisYeah, but it's, he's doing it from passion.

0:37ChrisHe's, he's got something to live for, they've all lost it.

0:41AdamIt's interesting because the whole thing, especially, like, I love.

0:44AdamI mean, for a start, I love the scene where he blinds the bloke with his thumbs because, I, you know, I, life goals.

0:49AdamBut also,

0:50Adamyou know, he is literally the most unpleasant of a bunch of arseholes.

0:55AdamAnd that's inclu, that's including.

0:56AdamChristopher Eccleston pretending to be Charles Dance and a gooner in a fucking Philly, Philly fucking apron.

0:01AdamBut yeah, still there.

0:01AdamFuck off you can't, don't miss him.

0:04AdamI'm glad he gets his head smashed in.

0:04AdamI would have, I would have been happy about that if he was a charity worker.

0:08AdamHe's like, he's just such a prick.

0:09AdamBut that scene then has the bit where she thinks Jim's infected.

0:14LeeYeah.

0:15AdamAnd it is almost kind of like,

0:17Adamoh, so he's channeling his rage.

0:18AdamBut and it pains me because I do love the film.

0:21AdamBut yeah.

0:23AdamI love the film, I think because everything's really, really, really fucking bleak and everything's really, really accurate.

0:28AdamAnd then finally it's like, yeah, but you'd want a happy ending and a happy ending, unfortunately in this scenario involves slaughtering seven army men.

0:33AdamAnd getting shot in the chest.

0:35AdamYou know, it is, that's, that's the best you can expect as a happy ending, you know.

0:40LeeBut then I still think, right.

0:41LeeSo Hannah.

0:43Leeis like, she's a really shit actor, she can't, she's not great.

0:51LeeBut as a character, she's brilliant, she's really fucking useful, she can drive, she can fix cars, she can handle her drugs.

0:01LeeYeah.

0:01LeeI think she should have been the one that took down the army men and not Jim. she didn't take out Christopher Eccleston.

0:15ChrisShe did take out Christopher Eccleston.

0:18LeeYeah, that's true.

0:18LeeThat was a pretty badass move.

0:19LeeThat was really good.

0:21AdamShe has only, I think she's only done like two other films and they were before this, but she is now a musician and pop star.

0:28AdamShe's, but she's called Betty Curse and it's like sort of emo punk pop that you can imagine someone called Betty Curse would produce.

0:35AdamBut yeah, so she's not really.

0:36AdamShe's not really pursued an acting career since this.

0:38LeeSo.

0:39LeeYou're, you're right, though.

0:40LeeBecause I.

0:40LeeThat was my first thing as I said, so I saw this at the cinema.

0:44LeeI bought it when it came out on DVD, I might have watched it once but not seen it again since.

0:47LeeUm, yeah, and it's the activist at the beginning, they are the shittiest actors and I was like, if the acting is this level all the way through, I'm really going to struggle with this.

0:57LeeIt was Murphy then.

0:57LeeYeah.

0:57LeeSo.

0:58AdamBut, but we saw.

0:58LeeSo I think I think they were.

0:59AdamNo, I think Jim was the only one where he didn't flash it.

0:02AdamFlash it.

0:03AdamI mean, most, most of the infected.

0:04AdamI'll tell you what, because they got like dancers and athletes and stuff like that because they were like, well, what do we want from these people, physicality more than anything else.

0:10AdamSo, you know, they don't, they don't need to be fucking Marlon Brando.

0:12AdamThey've just got, you know, you need.

0:14AdamUm, but like the guy who plays Mahler.

0:16AdamHe's basically, he's like a stuntman who's been in all the Disney Star Wars, all the Daniel Craig Bonds, children of men, Dr. Who, and loads and loads and loads of stuff.

0:25AdamAnd most of them have been in most of them have been in Dr. Who, most of them have been in the descent.

0:29AdamAnd one of them is the thin bloke from the Come to Daddy video.

0:35LeeOh, really?

0:36AdamYeah.

0:36LeeOh, right.

0:36AdamYeah.

0:37AdamAnd I think that's.

0:37AdamYeah, I think that's right.

0:39AdamBut yeah, so they've all, so there's all, but yeah, so a lot of people have sort of and half of the.

0:43AdamHalf of the military guys are all like, there's people from EastEnders and stuff like that.

0:44AdamAnd you know, there's everyone's sort of, yeah, they just seem to have hit a real vein of British talent just before most of them actually sort of break cover.

0:50AdamIn a way.

0:51UnknownAnd I suppose because it is such a small cast, obviously, that they they had to pick people who could act.

0:55UnknownBecause otherwise, it's going to stand out like a sore thumb.

0:56AdamLike Hannah.

0:58LeeYeah.

0:58AdamYeah.

0:58AdamBut I think, yeah, there's there's um, Lee's looking intently at his screen again.

0:04AdamYes.

0:04AdamHe might have gone.

0:05AdamIf, if, if he's not,

0:05Adamthe one, the one I think made me laugh was, my plans, my plans for the summer with a picture of the girl from Hereditary and then just a picture of a pole for the delta varian.

0:08LeeHa!

0:08LeeI didn't watch it.

0:08LeeI got.

0:09AdamOkay.

0:10AdamMidsummer.

0:10AdamI got halfway through and got bored.

0:11AdamYeah, actually, yeah.

0:12AdamI think he just went.

0:13AdamYeah.

0:14AdamI was like, oh, all the tears.

0:16AdamThere's been a few of them.

0:17AdamYeah.

0:17AdamBut actually, yeah.

0:18AdamThere's been a few were pretty poor, but yeah, I think the next thing I would go to push myself would be something more supernatural.

0:22AdamSo, Yeah.

0:23AdamAny recommendations that you have, I'll go for that.

0:24AdamOkay.

0:25ChrisI highly recommend on your own in the dark.

0:26ChrisAny of the supernaturals.

0:28UnknownYeah.

0:29AdamYeah.

0:30AdamBecause you weren't keen on.

0:30AdamWhat was it?

0:31AdamI Am a Ghost.

0:32AdamWhich wasn't we didn't cover it on the show, but you weren't.

0:33LeeYeah, that that was horrible that.

0:36AdamYeah.

0:37LeeThat was, that was horrible.

0:38UnknownUm, but I would give that a go if you lot covered it, I would join you with that.

0:44UnknownI hope my balls are.

0:46UnknownOh.

0:46UnknownI will.

0:46AdamYeah.

0:48AdamYeah, I'm trying to think because we, we.

0:50AdamI think we do a fair spread so we probably do a supernatural at some point.

0:53UnknownYeah.

0:54AdamWell, you can, but you know.

0:56ChrisYeah, that.

0:56ChrisYeah, it didn't, I think the difference with that is, you're kind of on the side of the supernatural ghost.

0:58ChrisAren't you?

0:59ChrisYou know, you don't.

0:01AdamWell, that, that was something they mentioned in Monster.

0:03AdamWhen I was watching it, and they said, you, you've got it right because you had the monster.

0:06AdamBut you made him sympathetic.

0:08AdamAnd that's what you've got to have, you've got to fear the monster, but also have sympathy for the monster.

0:12UnknownI think, I think if something looks like a person, then I'll be fine with it.

0:15UnknownWhich is why I wouldn't class something like Candyman.

0:18UnknownBut if it was ghostly,

0:20AdamWhat, like Lee is a ghost?

0:22AdamThat's right, yeah.

0:23AdamYeah.

0:24LeeHello.

0:25LeeHe's going.

0:25LeeMe, with a sheet on my head.

0:26AdamWell, actually, you've experienced that all week because that's what Ted's been doing.

0:30LeeOh, God, Ted's suddenly become allergic to trousers.

0:31LeeAnd so, all I've seen is just a small person's cock and balls and him saying, I'm spooky, whoa.

0:39AdamAnd, and he.

0:40ChrisIs that, is that Harry's learning to get around by if you, he turns into something that's horror themed.

0:41ChrisAnd he's like, oh, he's good with that, that's fine.

0:43ChrisDon't worry.

0:44AdamCuriously enough, I'm just quite pleased the amount of times he what he wants to watch spooky things as he falls.

0:48AdamAsleep.

0:48AdamYeah.

0:49AdamAll the time, yeah.

0:50AdamLike he likes Coraline.

0:50AdamHe likes Halloween specials of various cartoons and stuff like that.

0:54AdamWell, also he likes Christmas.

0:54AdamI think it's just a decoration thing with him.

0:55AdamSo.

0:56LeeAnything sparkly.

0:58AdamYeah.

0:58LeeCool.

0:59LeeUm, right, so, uh, we should probably wrap it up here.

0:01LeeSo, thank you very much for joining us, Claire, and happy birthday for tomorrow.

0:05ChrisHappy birthday.

0:06UnknownOh, thank you.

0:07UnknownThank you.

0:08AdamI'm not wishing you a happy birthday now because I wish you one of the moment.

0:10AdamYou're not getting more.

0:11UnknownYeah.

0:12UnknownDon't wear it out.

0:12AdamNo.

0:13LeeUh, yeah, and thank you for bringing this film back into our, back to our attention.

0:16LeeBecause yeah, it, it was great to go back and rewatch it.

0:18UnknownOh, good.

0:18UnknownWell,

0:19AdamAnd I had a thoroughly miserable time.

0:20AdamIt's wonderful.

0:21LeeRight, right, my strike.

0:23LeeYeah.

0:25LeeAnd on that note, we are hopefully, if we can arrange our guest, we hopefully going to have a guest again for the next episode.

0:33LeeUm, and we are going to continue, I've not seen this film.

0:38LeeUm, we are going to continue down the miserable AF route.

0:42LeeUm, and we are going to watch Martyrs with our friend Manny.

0:46AdamOoh.

0:47LeeUh, if all things go well.

0:50AdamWell, I can, I can honestly say I'm expecting Chris to really, really enjoy this and possibly you not so much, Lee.

0:57ChrisMartyr's not a comedy.

0:59AdamYeah.

0:01AdamPlease tell me that's written on your hand.

0:03ChrisNo.

0:03AdamNo, no.

0:04ChrisAll right.

0:04ChrisI will.

0:04ChrisI will bear that in mind.

0:06LeeRight.

0:07LeeSo, in the meantime, everyone, thanks ever so much for listening.

0:10LeeUh, go and check out all of our friends, other podcasts that we always discuss.

0:14LeeUh, they're not for everyone, podcast, check out the ESX podcast.

0:16LeeUh, and most importantly, for Christ's sake, watch something cheerie before our next episode because it's going to go further down here.

0:21LeeUm, yeah, and good night.

0:22ChrisGood night.

0:23AdamGood night.

0:24UnknownBye.