We have been watching

0:23LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror. I'm Lee.

0:26ChrisI'm Chris.

0:27AdamI'm Adam.

0:28LeeHappy New Year.

0:29ChrisHappy New Year.

0:30AdamHappy New Year.

0:31LeeYay.

0:32ChrisIt was still I watched some of these films, but yeah.

0:37Leewe are going to be mildly spoiling the things we've covered this week.

0:44ChrisWe're going to try our best.

0:46LeeYeah, but we are going to swear, so be aware swears are plenty and yeah and we'll we'll be a little bit spoilery, but not too heavy if if at all possible.

0:58AdamWe should mention names and dates.

1:02Leeso yes, so obviously we've just had the lovely Christmas period where we had some fantastic specials this year as we often do. and I think there's a couple that before we get into what we've been watching individually, we would be remiss not to throw a spotlight on.

1:21ChrisMhm.

1:22LeeSo first as I know all three of us have seen it, the Christmas special of Inside Number Nine.

1:28ChrisOh yeah.

1:29LeeWhat were your thoughts, gentlemen?

1:33ChrisI I'll go I I was very impressed and I was wondering is it going to be as good as what was it the the devil the devil of Christmas because we've we've just seen that and it was like oh are they going to manage to do it as good as that cuz that was you know unbelievable.

1:49ChrisAnd I I'm tempted to say yeah, I think they really did a great job of this. What what did you think, Adam?

1:57AdamMuch the same cuz obviously and that's the trouble as well is cuz you're in a weird way you're doing you're giving it a harsher grilling because you've just watched Devil at Christmas.

2:08ChrisWhich is unreasonable, but they they do push us to this sort of level of of unreasonable expectation and then they live up to it.

2:14AdamIf the only yardstick you've got is yourself, you're doing something right. You know what I mean and but no Bones of St. Nicholas was just absolutely great and again just another brilliant example of how they build characters through sort of suggestion.

2:36ChrisMhm.

2:37AdamYou know I think we didn't know the exact reason why a character was there, but we know enough that when they're sort of dropping in lies and things like that that you're like all right, so this is

2:52ChrisThere is something going on.

2:53AdamSomething's up and yeah and

2:56ChrisAnd even the twists with the character development again with it was it Pierce Richey Smith's where he comes in and he's like this annoying kind of just too much and then you learn enough about him that by the end you're like yeah no that that worked really well.

3:12AdamYou realize how much of it is bravado and act because there's a

3:16ChrisWhat?

3:17Adamsadness there you think

3:18ChrisYeah, yeah.

3:20AdamAnd I thought Shoemaker here as well was like they were just brilliant as a couple. I thought they were just fucking great.

3:27ChrisYeah.

3:27LeeI said I know her cuz she used to be it was it Coronation Street she used to be in.

3:32AdamI think she was in Corrie, but she was in she was in Dinner Ladies as well and she was

3:36LeeOh yeah. I didn't see that, so I kind of knew her, but I've not really seen anything of her. yeah she was fantastic really really good. Again really sold that character

3:44ChrisYeah.

3:47ChrisMhm.

3:47Leein such a short space of time which is which is you know one of their one of their great strengths in this show I think is how they they pick the right actor for their for the role.

3:59LeeYeah and squeeze so much in.

4:01ChrisAnd that's not even to mention Simon Callow.

4:03AdamWell exactly. And not only that, but also sort of just after just after we'd finished watching it Claire said imagine that you've written that ghost story

4:16ChrisYeah.

4:17Adamthat tells

4:18ChrisYeah.

4:19AdamAnd it was like oh and by the way Simon Callow's delivering

4:22ChrisThis is going to do

4:25ChrisYou you could just do that. You could take that out. You you've done. There's the episode like

4:27AdamYeah. Yeah. Yeah, you could do like a little sort of 10 minutes on YouTube of just that and it yeah that that was brilliant and it wasn't easy without and you the rest of the plot.

4:39ChrisAnd then that and that's also with the sort of silly comedy little bits they threw in still didn't you know it still had a lot of gravitas from him in the telling.

4:47AdamMhm.

4:48ChrisYeah, again it's perfectly blended.

4:50LeeYeah, exactly. It never sort of it broke the tension, but in an intentional way and then they still managed to ramp it back up literally by the next scene.

4:53ChrisBut Yeah.

4:58LeeYou're back on the edge of your seat again. It's fantastically crafted so well done.

5:01ChrisMhm.

5:05LeeI did actually this is the first time ever in an Inside Number Nine. I think they broadcasted it more. yeah I did work out the twist about halfway through which I've never done before.

5:15ChrisMhm.

5:17LeeBut yeah again because it's them you're like I think I know where she's going, but I could very easily be totally off the mark.

5:24ChrisOh yeah.

5:24LeeYeah, so it's it it's still exciting watching it because you're like am I right? Is Is this what's going on or have they fed me this and actually they're going down a different route with it?

5:29ChrisMhm.

5:35ChrisYeah.

5:36AdamAnd funny funny enough it's the first time my despite the fact she would love it it's the first episode of Inside Number Nine that my mum's ever watched.

5:44ChrisAll right. Yeah.

5:45AdamAnd she got and she worked out the twist and because that that was always her forte whatever weird like Tales of the Unexpected

5:53ChrisShe loves a mystery.

5:54AdamNo, but she would always do it. She she's she's a nightmare with detective shows and anthologies of twist in the tale stuff and things like that because she always fucking twists it.

6:08AdamYou know it just goes to prove that she's got a devious criminal mind I think.

6:14LeeExplains where you get it from.

6:15AdamYeah, that's true.

6:16ChrisI was going to say is this after you've tried to you know come up all sorts of rationalizations as to why some strange thing has happened and she's like no you did it.

6:23ChrisI I know.

6:24AdamYes. Pretty accurate to be honest yeah.

6:30Leeyeah so that's still up as far as I'm aware on the iPlayer, so anyone who didn't see it I think we managed to not spoil it. Oh it was it's fantastic.

6:38LeeI know we say it every time with Inside Number Nine, but they just seem to they started at such a high quality

6:45ChrisMhm.

6:46Leeand from all of the episodes they've managed to maintain it all the way through. yeah and again this was just a and the problem is every time I watch it well not the problem, but I watch it every time thinking it's got to slip some point.

6:58ChrisThey can't have managed

6:59LeeThey can't have done it again and then they do every time. It's always a treat.

7:05Adamand in a similar vein the next thing we need to discuss of course is Mark Gatiss ghost story for Christmas the telling of MR James Count Magnus.

7:18ChrisMhm.

7:19LeeAdam what did you think?

7:21AdamI enjoyed it. I don't think it's one of his best to be honest, but then I don't know if it's a story that's as televisual.

7:31LeeYeah.

7:32AdamYou know so I think cuz obviously for for

7:35ChrisHave have you read it? Had you read it? So so I haven't seen this, so I 'm learning from both of you this time, but yeah okay so you had

7:41AdamI have I have read it a long long time ago, but I have read it.

7:45ChrisI read it the day before it aired again just to refresh my memory.

7:49AdamOh so you would be aware and I'm not spoiling anything here of the change of narration.

7:55ChrisYes.

7:56AdamYeah so which apparently was something that cuz Mark Gatiss said that he felt it needed I read an interview with him and he said oh I I changed it slightly, but it needed narration because of the beautiful turns of phrase that MR James has in the story.

8:12ChrisYeah.

8:13AdamAnd I agree on that one, but also if your story needs narration you possibly try and pick something a bit more visual you know in a way, but no I mean it's still brilliant I mean Jason Watkins is just fucking brilliant anyway.

8:28AdamI mean he's always great value and just one of those amazing actors who really goes the range of like comic to pathetic to absolutely hateful bastard over so many roles that it's just you know he's a real he's just brilliantly really does seem to be very adaptive.

8:53Adamreminds me a lot of Toby Jones actually. It's that similar sort of thing where it's like how come you played this character that I could have cried for in this thing and in this thing I want to fucking kill you because you're such a shit man.

9:07AdamBut

9:08LeeIt was one of one of the highlights for me when that you know when the trailer came out and obviously the main picture was of him in the in the period garb, but I was like yep that's it.

9:17LeeThis is this is going to be good. I know it 's going to be solid and yeah.

9:22AdamAnd I I liked the sort of modern coder that they added in as well which I don't think is that's not spoiling anything, but it's yeah. I know, but I I I think cuz I've watched the they've released all of Mark Gatiss's previous ghost stories on DVD, so I'd watched them prior to it and obviously coming off the Mesartin as well which I just think was you know that and oh can't think what the first one he did was.

9:57Adamoh the

9:58LeeTractate Midrash?

10:00AdamThank you yes Tractate Midrash. Those two are just

10:04ChrisJust just say that again.

10:05AdamTractate Midrash.

10:07LeeTractate Midrash.

10:09AdamIt's a reference to a a library book a textbook.

10:16Adambut again yeah that was that's just fantastic, but

10:20LeeI did love the little nod as well in this one when he was going through the through the bookshelf and he came across as the the book and I was like yep that's a reference to his previous one.

10:31LeeI like that

10:31AdamYeah.

10:34AdamAs I speaking of the Mesartin I also following Adam's recommendation and recommendation from a family member a few months ago who told me about it got to Somerset House to the Horror Show exhibition where they had the three three of the original prints used in the Mesartin as part of the exhibit and yeah it was amazing really really good.

11:00AdamAnd various and written both recent Steve's severed heads.

11:07LeeYeah, which is a

11:08AdamAs well.

11:11ChrisWhat what were they using?

11:13Adamthis they're both well Reese's head was from inside Number Nine. It was from the Halloween episodes that they did

11:22LeeI think it was it was that Steve's head. It was the Halloween one that had been carved into the jack-o'-lantern.

11:27AdamYeah, that's from

11:28LeeAnd the the other head

11:31ChrisDidn't think

11:31AdamOh no the other the other head Reese from the Inside Number Nine Halloween special.

11:36ChrisAll right okay.

11:37AdamYou know deadline

11:38LeeOh yeah yeah yeah.

11:40Adambecause there's a bit where cuz his severed head is a prop in it, but then as it goes on that is left out and he finds his own

11:48LeeYes.

11:49Adamprop as part of the story. and yeah the it's the psychoville Halloween of Steve where he's carved into the jack-o'-lantern. yeah it's great fucking show.

12:02ChrisYeah.

12:03LeeYeah I I mean it it was a great exhibition as well you know the Mars yeah the book from Prevenge like it the artwork that's there I liked but obviously being a massive geek yeah it was the movie props and stuff that were there yeah that really caught my imagination.

12:22AdamChristopher Lee signed scripts The Wicker Man and

12:25LeeYeah. Yeah yeah fantastic. So yeah I would recommend everyone to go and see it, but I think by the time this airs it's probably finished.

12:34AdamOh no I think I think it's going until about April.

12:37LeeOh is it really? Oh I thought it was again.

12:38AdamYeah it's it's got quite a long cuz I think I went the first week because it was I went to that same day I met Garth Marenghi

12:47LeeYeah.

12:47Adamand yeah, but it's and that was like the opening week, so I yeah I think it's going until like maybe March or April.

12:56LeeIt's right in that case everybody get down to Somerset House on the

12:59ChrisYeah.

13:01Leeyeah and and have a walk around the exhibit. It's really good. yeah it's I I'm one of those people I always go to these exhibits and then I'm not much of a sort of museum art gallery, but so I get really excited and then I go and then within about half an hour I'm normally like right yeah I've seen everything I need to see now let's let's get out of here and go and find lunch.

13:23LeeBut yeah I I'd wander around for about an hour and a half and had a great time, so

13:26AdamYeah.

13:29Leesorry yes so I dragged us away. So that's everything we have covered together over the Christmas period. So now what we have been watching let's start with Chris. What horror have you been watching?

13:41ChrisOkay. So I decided to watch the the Witcher new series.

13:48LeeOh.

13:49ChrisIt's a four-part miniseries right, but I'm not going to cover that because it it like I enjoyed it, but it seems like when I looked up some info tons of people hated it like just so much and and I like I know we talked about the previous one and I quite enjoyed that and I was looking forward to season three, but then I also saw that Henry Cavill is not he's no longer in it after season three, so I don't know there's something weird going on there like it this is like gone.

14:19AdamI was going to say apparently there was cuz there was a thing cuz Henry Cavill's not Superman anymore

14:24ChrisMhm.

14:24Adamand and there was a whole big thing because I think at one point he was a bit anti-vax.

14:30ChrisRight okay.

14:30AdamAnd I think there was a bit of an outcry with people going oh he's been chucked off cuz he's like but interestingly enough it's there's also a rumour going around that Henry Cavill has cancelled a lot of stuff just about the same sort of time that they're looking for the new James Bond.

14:46LeeOh right okay I can see those two Interesting.

14:50AdamYeah Henry Cavill's like name that's been in there for in that part for a while.

14:53ChrisYou could see yeah okay well

14:56AdamAnd so that's probably

14:57Chrissee what unfolds there.

14:58AdamYeah that the I mean it could be utter bollocks, but

15:02ChrisBut yeah oh it's so it's called Blood Origin and it explains how the Witcher came about. Yeah for me I enjoyed it. I knew nothing about the Witcher aside from having seen season one and two episodes of season two and it seemed like a fair backstory pretty short, but yeah just a few of the comments I looked at and the reviews just seemed to be like Netflix is upsetting a lot of hardcore Witcher fans.

15:25AdamI I was going to say if this is hardcore fans

15:27ChrisIt I think it must be.

15:29AdamJust just just ignore it because because and I speak as a fan who does it himself.

15:36ChrisYeah.

15:37AdamBut you just hate everything that's new.

15:39ChrisYeah possibly.

15:40AdamCuz it's cuz it's like oh what did they do that in my imagination or what did they do that We're not we're not quite up to we're not quite up to the level of Star Wars fans with hatred of

15:42ChrisIt's not quite yeah.

15:52ChrisMhm. Yeah, yeah. Well I'd be tempted to to agree. I mean

15:54AdamI I know there's so many fan bases you know

15:58ChrisBut I I I wondered whether that would apply to a prequel that explains it as much, but it may be. I don't know. I guess we'll find out. but I I I must admit when I watched it I was watching it from a this is fun action fantasy.

16:14ChrisI 'm happy you know that's that's pretty much it. I wasn't really looking for the deepest storyline ever necessarily, but maybe if I'd played the games or read the books then I might have started to think a bit like Game of Thrones and the last season and particularly the last episodes like yeah you know you can definitely see the comparison.

16:31ChrisIt's not as good, but you know but anyway so what I was going to do was actually something that impressed me and fitted with one of our guests that we had on Lee your friend Adam Laws

16:45LeeYes.

16:46Chriswho asked us a question about are there new kids programs?

16:52LeeYeah.

16:53ChrisAnd I think we might have mentioned it again since and I've seen one season sorry one series that I was really impressed by. I saw a few episodes called Gravity Falls that I think did a really good job of being perhaps a more modern kind of a Scooby-Doo lots of mystery lots of different types of monsters and and sort of horror themes.

17:13ChrisYeah and and I I like I was really impressed with the writing of that from what I'd seen and that Toby and Eve loved it. and then again so I've sort of been trying to look out what else is is coming out for kids that's new and my daughter started really getting into this thing called Zombies which is by Disney.

17:31ChrisIt's on Disney Plus and at first I was like sounds a bit silly and she kept getting us to play the music and eventually you know soon the car we're listening to music and I'm starting to get used to the songs.

17:40ChrisIt's like they sound all right okay and then I'm walking through and I'm just seeing a few clips where she's playing. So there's three films Zombies one two and three and yeah and I'm sort of seeing a bit okay this seems kind of fun, but it's a it's a full-on musical, so for a start Lee you would struggle with it.

17:57LeeOh it's just about to write down and then I was like nope.

18:00ChrisIt's it's I I don't think it's worth you watching, but I would definitely say Adam it might be interesting and Ted is probably too young for the themes throughout the stories, but you know at some point you might want to check it out and see if it's any good.

18:16ChrisBut I just thought they did do a decent enough job of they so the first film is Zombies and it's about Zombies have now got this thing called Z-Bands that reduce their zombie effect makes them more human-like cuz they don't look as scary and they no longer need to eat brains, so then they can start to integrate back with the humans.

18:36ChrisSo you say right it sounds ridiculous fair enough and it is it is a you know it's

18:41AdamI think if your premise starts with there's the Zombies

18:45LeeYou can go anywhere from there.

18:46ChrisWell sure right yeah. but you know yes it's a fun film after watching it and then the the second one is all about werewolves, so they're now the outsiders and they then come into it and Zombies are trying to sort of teach the werewolves to be a bit more reasonable and and get on with the humans.

19:04Chrisand again yeah it's it's very entertaining and it there's a few moments of horror-ish, but it's not going to scare many children. just some slightly eerie bits and when they get a bit angry with each other but you know and then then then Zombies Three actually brings in aliens, so it's sort of it's covering cover it's covering a bit of a one and I was thinking like all right we're starting to push it now.

19:28ChrisWe we got Zombies werewolves coming to it now aliens, but again I quite enjoyed it. It's you know so yeah at some point it'd be interesting to see what you think if you try

19:37AdamYeah we'll have to run it I'm not have to run it past him cuz he's cuz I mean he loves he loves Wendell and Wild and can I just say if you can get them into that Chris at least you can listen to some decent music in the car.

19:47ChrisYeah okay. so

19:51Adamand so what is that

19:53ChrisWendell and Wild

19:54AdamWendell Wendell and Wild. I think I discussed it on

19:58ChrisYeah.

19:59Adamone of the previous ones, but yeah that's definitely worth showing and that is that's essentially for 12. That's like a

20:06ChrisSo this is the stop motion one. Okay right so so this was the trouble. I tried playing Nightmare Before Christmas and it is the stop motion that for some reason was just too weird for my daughter to to watch.

20:19LeeIt is kind of eerie.

20:20AdamYeah obviously she's nine, but yeah I don't know she's just could not get comfortable with it and it might be she really hasn't seen much like that, so preps there's there's something kind of uncanny just about most stop motion anyway.

20:32Adambut I know I'll I'll have a look. I mean it looks slightly more modern.

20:36LeeWell I think cuz Ted the reason we sort of picked up on it was more because Ted liked Caroline.

20:42ChrisYeah yeah okay yeah.

20:44Leewhich again is the same guy who did Nightmare Before Christmas, but I think every time it's getting more and more refined you know. So but equally yeah sometimes it is just that thing where stop motion can be fucking weird.

20:58ChrisYeah, yeah. But yeah no we'll give this a go.

21:01LeeThat's that's half of the Ray Harryhausen thing is although it looks great, there is also the thing that the skeletons are just the fighting skeletons are just slightly more creepy when they're stop motion than they actually in the room you know.

21:16ChrisExcellent. Adam what have you been checking out?

21:21Adamwell first off I'm going to mention film called She Will and I believe that they had the Scold's Bridal from She Will at the Horror Exhibition, so you might have seen that.

21:34ChrisYes I did see that and I wasn't quite sure what that was, but I did make mental notes to check it out.

21:40AdamYeah well She Will is directed by Charlotte Colbert Charlotte Colbert who is a mixed media artist and photographer who's now directing. I mean she's directed like short films and stuff for installations and things like that, but this is her first sort of actual film film and basically it stars Alice Crewe Alice Krige from Silent Hill.

22:12AdamShe's the Borg queen in Star Trek Next Generation and basically she plays an actress who an older actress who has just had a double mastectomy. And so she's going away to recuperate.

22:30AdamShe goes away with this young nurse and she goes away to this retreat that she believes is going to be just her in this big rambling house. When she gets there unfortunately Rupert Everett and a bunch of dickheads are running an artists retreat there and Rupert Everett is just fantastically just an awful borish sort of yeah well that's where you want to do you know what what we're going to do is we're going to vibe the crystals first and you know and then we can sit and yeah but so she goes down there and but also there's a lot of interest in her because she was in a film years ago directed by Malcolm McDowell.

23:14AdamNot actually directed by Malcolm McDowell, but directed by a character played by Malcolm McDowell. And it's a touch sort of Polanski-ish where it's like what are the rumours about what happened cuz she was a young girl when she was on the set and stuff like that.

23:31AdamBut basically, it is despite how that might sound, it is actually pretty funny, but also just magnificently just someone coming into their own. And the title She Will is more an idea of like feminine agency rather than oh, she will do that.

23:58AdamIt's she will, the will of she. And basically, yeah, I mean, it's sort of there's a lot of basically it's this place in Scotland that had seen a lot of witch burnings and she starts to get quite sort of quite at home there.

24:14AdamAnd it's I don't want to go too far, further than that, but genuinely definitely worth checking out. It's one I would even say we'd do on the show because I think it's it's a new one and it is genuinely good.

24:30AdamAnd and the best part, hour and a half.

24:33ChrisOh, nice.

24:33AdamSo so I'm describing it as arty but not farty. So it does a lovely level. It builds menace. It builds characters, but it doesn't fucking drag.

24:45ChrisYeah.

24:46LeeYeah.

24:46AdamYou know, it has as some of those as some films can in that sort of thing where it's like, you know. And yeah, basically pricks get what's coming to them.

24:56AdamAnd that's a good thing to see in a film.

25:00LeeExcellent. That being said, my my first choice is also I don't want to give too much away, but may be something very similar. I caught up with the recent movie The Menu.

25:16AdamOoh. Now I am very intrigued by The Menu, I must say.

25:21LeeIt was I really enjoyed it.

25:23AdamCool.

25:24LeeI I don't think it's going to be a a classic, but it does something very different. It does it very well. It does it with a absolutely outstanding cast.

25:36LeeYeah, and I'd say again, I'm not going to go into anything because I knew nothing about it apart from it was a sort of horror black comedy. And apart from that, I knew nothing.

25:50LeeAnd it was it's funny because I'd said to Jennifer, it's a horror comedy. And she turned to me about a third of the way through because it starts off as these things always do, quite heavy on the comedy and it sort of just gets you into the characters and stuff.

26:05LeeYeah, and then when it goes slightly sideways, she suddenly went oh yeah, it's a horror, isn't it? I was oh yeah, oh yeah, definitely. But yeah, really clever, really well thought out.

26:18LeeYeah, and totally original, which obviously I always like.

26:23AdamWhat what I've seen about it, I really I've been really bated breath to see it because it does look you know, it it did look really really good.

26:32LeeYeah. It it is a I mean

26:36AdamNo, as I say and the performance is in it. I say it's been so well cast. Everybody in it just absolutely hits it out of the park, those who are know and those who are don't.

26:47AdamI I did struggle in the first five minutes with Ralph Fiennes because I did just keep thinking don't eat anything that Voldemort cooks here. But I soon got over that and managed to separate him from the character.

27:02AdamAlthough I've seen him in loads of stuff, he's just so good in that that I now just see him as Voldemort in

27:10LeeSee for me see see for me, it's probably

27:16Leeyou call my kids a cunt, you cunt. It's probably where I first go with Ralph Fiennes oddly enough. But equally Oh, I watched Spider the other day. I rewatched Spider, the David Cronenberg film with Ralph Fiennes.

27:31AdamOh yeah.

27:32LeeOh fuck me, that's bleak. So I I'd apologize to Claire after that. It was like sorry, it's pretty Yeah, it's pretty just horrible, isn't it? But but also I cannot get out of my head now.

27:43LeeSomeone pointed out that he looks a bit like Leonard Rossiter.

27:47AdamOh my god, yeah, he does.

27:48LeeYeah, and that really fucks the thing up then. You know, Schindler's List.

28:02LeeBut yeah, get a chance If you get a chance, definitely see it. I again, it was one of those I thought it's a big budget movie. It's got a lot of names in it.

28:12LeeI was like I know they say it's horror, but is it going to be a bit build for the mainstream more than a horror audience? Yeah, no, I I thought it was yeah, very well done and a lot more thought provoking than I was expecting as well.

28:25LeeSo

28:26AdamOh, nice.

28:27LeeYeah, definitely recommend. Chris, back to you.

28:31ChrisOh, well, I I'm I'm following up with a a real heavy hitter now. So so Christmas and New Year's 2022 to 203 is probably going to be remembered somewhat by Adam recommending that I watch Wise Owl inside number nine followed followed by Possum.

28:51ChrisTo begin the new year

28:53LeeIn in that case, Chris, check out Spider with Ralph Fiennes.

29:00ChrisI was going to say yeah, you know, start as you mean to go on. So yeah, Chris, I'll do that. I 'm sure it can't get much worse. Yeah, so so yeah, you know, if you like bleak, desolate, lonely where is this going kind of horror experiences, then yeah, Possums right up your alley.

29:25LeeYeah.

29:27ChrisYeah, of course of course yes, fascinating. And and like so it's Matthew Holness. It's it is it is dark place with zero or possibly anti-comedy pretty much. It's like if you just sucked out all of the comedy, still like cuz dark place does have a sort of grittiness to it in the way that it's shot and presented and the whole look of it.

29:52ChrisAnd this it does have something similar. It's really just you you feel like you're sort of getting into his head, I guess.

30:02LeeIt feels like it feels like your socks are wet.

30:06ChrisThat's a very good way.

30:08LeeYou know what I mean? It's like

30:09ChrisSome something needs to be done here. Like

30:11LeeYeah, it just feels like you're sort of like just a bit

30:14AdamI'm yeah, I'm damp.

30:17ChrisBut but but it's it's like it's like that, but you're climbing a mountain and you need to get to the top here, you know. You you've got to see this this through cuz there's something something worth happening.

30:29ChrisBut and and then so so I must you know, mustn't give it away, but essentially he's like a disgraced puppeteer. And that's pretty much all you know and you're just figuring out really from the responses, the way he is with people and and then when he so he's he's heading home.

30:49ChrisI guess I can say this. He's heading home after something's happened. And he goes to his his childhood home, which is in Norfolk. And it's a rather run down house.

31:02ChrisAnd then his uncle is there who is played by

31:06LeeHe's Alan Alan Armstrong, isn't he?

31:08ChrisAlan Armstrong. So I I I don't know him, but well, he's quite quite something as well. And and both of them playing off against each other is yeah. And that that is most of the film really.

31:22LeeIt's pretty much two hander between them.

31:24ChrisYeah.

31:24LeeAnd and Sean Harris and his young fucking sidekick.

31:28ChrisYeah. Yeah.

31:29LeeAnd let's face it, Sean Harris has turned up at that point you're going, oh, it's like Olivia Colman has turned up in this British film. I might as well slash my wrists now.

31:36LeeCuz you know, you know he never turned up in like, you know, a screwball comedy or

31:42ChrisBut yeah, yeah yeah, I I mean he looks like he's made for the part essentially. Just absolutely amazing.

31:46LeeYeah.

31:48AdamIncidentally, the Possum puppet is another thing that's at the horror exhibition as well.

31:53Chrisokay.

31:53AdamCreeping out of a box and looking absolutely fucking horrendous.

31:57LeeYeah.

31:57AdamCuz it is actually based Matt Holness wrote it as a short story. I had it in a collection called Phobic years ago. But most go on the strength that Matt Holness had a horror story in it.

32:09AdamAnd it's kind of from that. But to be honest, the film makes more makes the the the film makes the short story make more sense and vice versa in a weird way.

32:19AdamLike they're both quite almost obscure.

32:23ChrisYeah.

32:23AdamYeah. But they sort of Yeah, and Alan Alan Armstrong is one of those actors who's just turned up his stuff all the time, but and returning the favor, Chris, cuz obviously you you got me split second for Christmas.

32:39AdamAnd he's in that playing how was Northern

32:42ChrisOh.

32:44Adamboss.

32:45ChrisThat is

32:46AdamBut it's basically, you know the sort of like what are you talking about

32:52AdamBut don't buy another

33:00ChrisYeah, that that sounds good.

33:03AdamBut yeah, no, he's he's he's he's a fucking intense film. And it's it almost to the point where I feel that Matt Holness was almost like I can't put anything funny in this cuz I want to do I I want to be able to do horror films.

33:17LeeYeah.

33:18ChrisOkay.

33:18AdamSo it's almost like right, we right, no jokes, no lights in a way.

33:25LeeYeah.

33:26ChrisYeah, what so yeah, so I get I can't give it away, but I did like the ending.

33:33AdamYes, yeah, I think

33:34ChrisIt was well done.

33:36AdamIt also it also just oddly reminds me of my childhood, not in a not not literally.

33:43ChrisNot in those No, but just like that sort of the the landscape of it where it's just out in fields and like old hard standing and abandoned warehouses and stuff like that.

33:57LeeSo I don't remember the end and I I do feel I should rewatch it. But again, because I wasn't prepared for it the first time, I just come away.

34:07LeeIt was so bleak. I was like I can't do that again. But I I do need to cuz I do think now I'm I'm prepared for it. I think I'll get more out of it the second time to be honest.

34:18ChrisYeah. Well, the imagery along with the sound scapes and sound effects Was there even any music?

34:24AdamThere is music, but it's

34:26ChrisIt's it's very

34:27AdamIt's the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who basically built Doctor Who and most of BBC Radio for

34:36ChrisYeah, okay.

34:38AdamAnd they went but they've because the BBC doesn't have it anymore, they're now just the Radiophonic Workshop, but it's a lot of guys together who used to work there.

34:47AdamAnd they've done the soundtrack to it and it's fucking amazing.

34:51ChrisIt is, yeah.

34:52AdamBut it is that thing of it's practically sound design.

34:55ChrisYeah, yeah.

34:56AdamIt's like sound design of someone's internal conflict rather than

35:00ChrisAbsolutely, yeah.

35:01AdamYou know, it's like Yeah, yeah, I suppose that's why I'm sort of thinking of it as yeah, more sound effects, sound scapes. I remember sort of percussive bits, but yeah, absolutely just fitted the imagery and the feel and the state of mind.

35:14AdamYeah, just so well done.

35:16ChrisYeah.

35:16AdamAnd I'm assuming it's not on a big budget.

35:19ChrisDon't think it was a particularly big budget. I don't think it was even that that long a show. I think they only did that. I think they did it in about two weeks or something.

35:26AdamYeah. It was like a real

35:27Leegoing, isn't it?

35:28ChrisYeah.

35:28AdamYeah.

35:29LeeWell, not that one. You'd want to get out of that as fast as humanly

35:33AdamOh, that's that's true. It's like flame blaze through this gritty teeth.

35:37ChrisAnd

35:38AdamAnd in and in two weeks you can stop being these characters.

35:43ChrisSo so I don't know. I mean what does this say then? This is the start. So you reckon Spider next. Now can can this year just go down and down and down?

35:51ChrisCan it get much much harder than this? Or am I just going to end up going right back up towards the end of the year and finish on Gremlins or something?

36:01AdamI think it's always the way to go. It's the best way to start to start up.

36:04ChrisJust head head up. Yeah.

36:05AdamYeah. You can Look, it's it's a classic case of things can only get better.

36:09ChrisExactly. Yeah, that is true.

36:11AdamAlthough like I say, if you watch Spider, that is it you've done you've done a fucking trilogy there of like

36:17ChrisThis could be my my December January.

36:19AdamWell, the reason I watched Spider was because they'd mentioned it in the making of inside number nine, the making of Wise Owl. It's basically one of the things with Spider.

36:30AdamAnd I was like, oh shit, I haven't seen that film for years. And yeah, it's just yeah, fuck blind me Riley.

36:38ChrisYeah.

36:39LeeExcellent. so Adam, what's your next pick?

36:44Adammy next pick is something that I've seen associated with The Menu. So I am kind of thinking and again, bit of a weird one. It kind of touches into horror, but I really kind of regard it as a comedy.

37:01Adambut it was a film called Flux Gourmet which came out last year. And it's directed by Peter Strickland who did Barbarian Sound Studio and In Fabric and Catlin Varger and but basically it's a band of Sonic caterers.

37:23AdamAnd just to put that in context, that's people who make avant garde sound scapes from food preparation.

37:33ChrisOh.

37:34Adamnot a common thing, but the way the film presents it to you is like someone said, oh, there's a Bloops band of coming. That's that's that's the best bit about it is that it kind of sort of like treats it as like, oh yeah, no, everyone knows what that is.

37:47AdamBut but Peter Strickland used to be in a band called the Sonic Catering Band and I've got a couple of their albums and they are just bizarre. they are just the sounds of cooking, but then you delay stuff, you affect stuff, you loop stuff, you twist it and you get sounds, you know.

38:04Adamand basically it's this trio who turn up to the Institute of Sonic Catering which is run by Gwendoline Christie. And who is fucking brilliant in it. In she is just I mean for a start, she's dressed every fucking scene.

38:22AdamShe is dressed like something from fucking The Fifth Element. She's just like so extraordinarily sort of quaffed and like you know, couture to the point of madness. but she's this like really passive aggressively sort of pleasant woman who basically worms her way into the mind of this band who are like there's three of them.

38:52Adamthe leader is Fatma Mohamed who's in loads of Peter I think she's been in all of Peter Strickland's films. And basically they have a bit of a set to because she's like, well, I think maybe take a bit of advice from me with the gutter and it's like, no, you're you're doing my artistic integrity and you're fucking with me and no, this is it.

39:14AdamAnd it all sort of goes pear shaped and weird. And you've got Makis Papa Demetriou who is the kind of identification figure of the film who is the the archivist for the Sonic Catering Institute.

39:29AdamSo he's documenting all that's happening. But he's also seeing his doctor about he's got stomach trouble. And he can't work out what it is and he's just mortally embarrassed about belching and farting in front of people.

39:45AdamAnd it's I put I put a I said about I wrote about it on Instagram and I put it's like Spinal Tap for Nurse with Wound fans. So and the thing I really liked about it was it's a comedy, but it's the situations it's the sorry, it's the characters that are arising in the situation that make it funny.

40:09AdamAnd like blistering arguments about the use of a flanger. And sort of stuff that stuff that I can oddly relate to. But also it's but the the great thing I liked about it is that avant garde music and bowel trouble were not the funny things in so much as you could do an obvious film where a guy's like, oh, having to sneak outside and fart and you know what I mean, and there'd be fart gags or oh, look at these daft people.

40:38AdamThis ain't fucking proper music, is it? None of that's in there. It is just like the the sort of weird little combative situation that all these people find themselves in.

40:51AdamAnd actually and a big mark goes to the guy playing the doctor in it, Richard Bremer, who is a masterclass in smug old bastardry. He is just such a He just really is.

41:06AdamHe's just pompous and opinionated and fond of himself and needs the last word and everything. There's this poor guy who's like, right, have I got stomach cancer or have I got what have I got wrong with me?

41:18AdamWell, you know, I mean well, everyone's going to die, aren't they? Now what do you mean you've not read Hippocrates? And yeah, it but it is it's it's one of those films where it's like I really think that people would just enjoy it if you can just get over the weird leap that you have to make for the initial concept.

41:38AdamYeah. Other than that, it is a funny fucking film. And and it also has moments that verge into horror as well. So there's sort of like there's some visceral sort of scenes and stuff like that.

41:52AdamBut overall, yeah, it's yeah, like I said, Spinal Tap for people who've listened to or The Amanda Galas sort of stuff. Yeah.

42:01LeeNice. That definitely sounds interesting. One of those films you have to be in the right head space for, but

42:06AdamYeah, yeah, I think so. But like I say, if you can get past that initial concept of what? What? Cuz I imagine if you went into it absolutely blind, you'd just be like what what the fuck Sonic what what going on?

42:19AdamAnd it's sort of yeah, robs you of the ability to just get on with the characters and just enjoy the sort of weirdness of it.

42:26LeeExcellent. Right, that that definitely sounds like a a recommend as well. So I finally caught up. I've been trying to track this movie down for ages and I haven't been able to do so and Adam mentioned that he'd seen it fairly recently again.

42:43LeeSo I was like, right, that's it. I'm definitely going to track down a copy. So I finally saw the Amicus movie Torture Garden.

42:52AdamOh yes.

42:54LeeYeah, I I really enjoyed it. I it's it's one of those It wasn't in the box set. And whenever I've tried to get it, I've only been able to find it really expensive, but I managed to track a copy down and get it.

43:08LeeOh yeah, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's it's great. It it is a a true Amicus movie. A bit darker than some of the others.

43:21AdamYeah.

43:22LeeYeah, like the vignettes themselves are quite I mean the wrap around was a little bit creepier as well. But yeah, it just yeah, it it it wasn't what I was expecting.

43:36LeeI I think that's why I did I think I saw part of it before and didn't get all the way through and I couldn't remember why. I think that 's why it was.

43:43LeeI think it was darker than I was expecting and then I think it was on TV and I sort of caught it on the iPlayer or whatever. Saw about 15 minutes of it and then when I was in the mood, I came back it had gone.

43:53LeeI was like, oh, I'll have to track that down and I just couldn't. Yeah, Peter Cushing opposite Jack Palance. I didn't think that that chemistry would be anything like it was.

44:04LeeWhat's outstanding performance so both put in.

44:07AdamIt is so good and and just so oh, what's his blood name? Burgess Meredith the world cuz there's a lot more

44:16LeeYeah.

44:16Adamsort of there's a lot more American names in it than usual for an Amicus. I think that was kind of part of the selling point, I presume. You know, and they just British films get in American actors cuz they know they've got a safe bet getting getting it seen or distributed in the states.

44:33AdamBut Burgess Meredith is the like the wrap around figure, like the sort of crypt keeper figure.

44:40LeeYeah.

44:40AdamAnd it's just fucking great because it is just yeah.

44:42LeeYeah.

44:44AdamIt's just bloody horrible.

44:49LeeYeah, and I it's got all those trademark, you know, all the the garish colors and it and again, having it sort of having it all in that sort of like the the freak show type circus tent type

45:04AdamYeah, carnival sort of thing. Yeah.

45:05LeeYeah, sort of allowed them to go up to 11 with everything, with all the yeah, and like the use of light and color and everything and just give it that sort of dark dingy feel at the same time.

45:17AdamYeah.

45:18LeeOh yeah, it was an absolute This is definitely one that's going to be back on my regular rewatch list. And and I'm just glad it took me so long.

45:25AdamWell, it's got to be it's got to be said with you know, we've covered a lot of Amicus, but we've still got a lot of Amicus to cover.

45:31LeeYes.

45:31AdamThat's definitely it'll have to come up on our on the show at some point.

45:36LeeOh definitely. Oh and Michael Ripper in it as well that's always always nice when he turns up in something like that's that always makes me smile.

45:43AdamAnd he's actually got quite a good he's got like quite a a big part rather than usually he's like sort of he's I mean Michael Ripper's always brilliant but he's usually sort of like oh he's the barman or he's

45:54LeeI was just about to say he's always the tavern owner isn't he?

45:57AdamYeah.

46:01Leebut yeah I said I don't want to give anything away about any of those vignettes but yeah really good really strong entry so I was glad to finally catch up.

46:10ChrisIs it another one where you can't go wrong with an anthology?

46:14LeeYeah.

46:15ChrisHave we have we found a bad one yet?

46:18AdamWeirdly enough I think the only bad anthologies tend to be I find they tend to be the ones where it's like oh several directors have done short films because they don't hang together as well.

46:27LeeYeah.

46:31AdamAnd even then there's some brilliant ones of those. I mean like Feel Guy to Evil is fucking great.

46:35LeeYeah.

46:35AdamWhich is all like various directors from around the world and that's really really good. But yeah those

46:42LeeABCs of Death as well was was a a fun watch.

46:47AdamABCs of Death but again it's one of those weird ones where it actually increases that thing that you get with anthology films of oh well if there's a crap one at least there'll be a good one coming along in a minute.

46:59LeeYeah.

47:00AdamBut it sometimes it can be just like no I've just completely

47:03Adamzoned out of this whole this whole aesthetic that this this team have presented you know. I've never seen number two though.

47:15LeeWhat's that?

47:16AdamI've never seen ABCs of Death number two.

47:18LeeI think I I think I did but not but I don't think I've rewatched I Rob them and I don't need to because I enjoyed it. but yeah I think because it's so jumpy and stuff like it's never quite what I'm in the mood for because I'm like well I'll be in the mood for a few of them but then it just

47:33AdamBut not the

47:33Leeweird cartoon ones yeah yeah.

47:36AdamIt's it's a tad daunting as well when it 's like oh shit because yeah because the concept is with Chris is all of the films are A for B for and so on and so forth.

47:47AdamSo you get 26 short films over the course of like

47:48LeeOkay.

47:51Adamthere's probably about two and a half hours you know I think.

47:53LeeYeah.

47:54ChrisThat's interesting.

47:54Adamso again again if it's one I've not seen it for a long time so maybe that's another one we need to bung on

48:00Adamthe list.

48:00LeeI'd love to do that for the show because I think there's so much to talk about in those.

48:05AdamYeah.

48:05ChrisYeah.

48:06LeeI've taken note of that right now. On that subject actually we should discuss what we are covering on our next episode.

48:14ChrisOh yeah.

48:16AdamYeah.

48:17LeeSo we are we haven't got a theme as yet but I suddenly realised that Adam and I obsessed slightly over this film and somehow we've never shown it to Chris.

48:30Leeso anybody who hasn't seen the film that's coming up before I tell you what it is you probably haven't seen it because it was a very lesser known film but do yourself a favour don't watch a trailer don't read anything just get hold of a copy of is it the perfect it is a perfect host isn't it not the perfect host.

48:48AdamI thought it was the perfect host.

48:50LeeI'm just checking now to make sure.

49:03LeeYes it is it is the perfect host from 2010.

49:07ChrisIs that is that Niles?

49:09LeeIt is Niles yeah.

49:10ChrisYes.

49:13ChrisThat's crazy.

49:13AdamDavid Heights

49:15ChrisYeah I should I should I should know his name but I've only seen him in Frazier. I don't think I've seen him in anything else.

49:17AdamYeah.

49:21AdamYou've seen him in the Simpsons?

49:23ChrisOh well well okay.

49:31Leebut yeah this film is yeah I say it it's it's a much lesser known film. I heard it mentioned on a podcast. Actually funnily enough I think it was the same guy who told me oh didn't tell me who mentioned all about Evil which is why I watched that

49:50AdamI guess it was around the same time that you showed me both of those.

49:52LeeYeah. so I tracked down a copy of this yeah and I think we watched it and then talked about it via text for about two or three weeks afterwards because it's just absolutely out of it.

50:06LeeFantastic film.

50:08AdamThe best way I can say the best thing I can say is certainly from the point of view of just going into it cold treat it like how we were saying about with inside number nine.

50:21Chrisokay.

50:22AdamDo not listen to the podcast to see whether you'd like the film

50:23ChrisYeah. Yeah.

50:25Adamwatch the film because it's fucking great.

50:28LeeYeah.

50:29ChrisI'm tempted to say does it have some comedic elements?

50:34AdamOh yes it has comedic elements.

50:35ChrisIt does right okay okay okay because because the cover does make it look like it probably does. All right.

50:40AdamYeah.

50:41ChrisThat's that's it then that will do.

50:42LeeYeah that's all you need to know. Yeah don't take it too seriously and then just

50:46ChrisOkay.

50:47Leeenjoy the ride because it's

50:49ChrisYou you were going to leave me without weren't you? You weren't going to tell me.

50:52LeeI say but it's this is the problem is it's one of those it's the trailer gives away too much of the film. It it doesn't give away everything

50:58ChrisYeah okay.

51:01Leebut it does you are better off

51:02ChrisYou get more from it so yeah.

51:04AdamYeah. Yeah because Lee just showed me this absolutely cold. Didn't see a trailer didn't see anything.

51:11ChrisDidn't see the cover didn't

51:12AdamAnd yeah it was just well I think the cover is just David Hyde Pierce with a glass of wine.

51:20ChrisYeah but it's it's it's but it's the look that he's giving that is making me wonder.

51:28AdamYeah so definitely definitely definitely 100% even if you're not going to listen to the episode watch host because it's fucking great. So

51:39LeeFantastic movie. Right so we shall be discussing that in a week's time.

51:44Chrisgreat stuff.

51:46LeeThere may be a cheeky bonus coming up next week between

51:49AdamProbably a bonus.

51:51Leebetween this episode and that but I'm not going to drop any hints because I'm just going to drop it and surprise you all. So thanks ever so much for listening everybody.

52:03Leego and check out all the things we've been talking about go and watch the Perfect Host and we'll see you all in Fortnight 's time. Good night.

52:11ChrisGood night.

52:12AdamNight night.