The Perfect Host
00:45:07
About
We kick off the new year with “The Perfect Host”; a film in which… no, that would be telling… We here at WTH are very much of the opinion that this particular film, like revenge, is best served cold. Avoid spoilers, articles and even the trailer in case you miss the opportunity to watch “The Perfect Host” completely fresh, with no idea what’s to come. This episode is packed with spoilers, and we don’t want you to miss that initial experience of seeing it without any idea of where it’s going, so please watch it before listening. We assure you that you will be entertained, amused, baffled, surprised and a lot more besides watching this film, and, like us, come away thinking “why the hell isn’t this film better known?” The only spoiler here is that all at WTH genuinely love this film; and if you like other films we have raved over, you will too. It just remains to shout “Conga!” and hope you enjoy. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers, and join us.
Transcript
Show full transcript
LeeGood evening and welcome to horror. I'm Lee.
ChrisI'm Chris.
AdamAnd I'm Adam.
LeeAnd we're here for a film that we should definitely have covered before now, but somehow it slipped our minds.
Adam
LeeBefore we go into this, we were just talking off off mic, saying that this is definitely a film, if you like the same stuff as us and you share our sense of humor,
Leewe're gonna try and do the first 10 or 15 minutes spoiler-free, but you have to spoil this film and it is twist after twist after twist.
LeeSo, if you like the stuff we like and you haven't heard of or seen this movie,
Leedo yourself a favor, track it down, track it down, watch it, don't watch a trailer, don't look at anything about it, go in blind and it will be an absolute blast of a time.
LeeI think it's fair to say that.
ChrisI'd be even tempted to say try and avoid looking at the cover, but that's that could be difficult.
AdamIt it depends on the cover, the cover.
ChrisOh, yeah.
AdamYes.
ChrisThat's that's an interesting point, yeah.
AdamHe's just David Hyde Pierce holding a glass of wine.
ChrisOh, I'd see that's oh.
AdamBut.
AdamYou know, it's not as.
ChrisThat says a lot by the end of the film.
LeeSee.
AdamBut then.
AdamYeah.
LeeYeah, it's well it's the same with the trailer, so if you watch the trailer, it tells you bits of the story more than it's good to know going in.
LeeBut once you then go back and watch it again and it makes more then you like, there's so much in there that couldn't have given it away.
LeeBut at the time when you don't know.
ChrisYou just want to Yeah, you're like, What?
LeeWhat?
ChrisWhat?
AdamYeah.
AdamI'm I'm gonna put this, and this is again something that we I don't do lightly and I don't think the rest of the podcast do lightly.
AdamI would put this in the same bracket as Inside Number 9, in the sense of please watch it before we spoil it.
ChrisBut I'd still be tempted to say you you'll still get a lot out of it even if it's spoiled, as there is so much to like.
AdamThe journey of the film.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know.
AdamOh, yeah.
AdamHe's.
AdamYeah.
ChrisThere's something subtle.
Chrislike, so I think I said.
Chrislast episode, or the episode before, David Hyde Pierce, I only know him from Frasier.
Chris
ChrisI know you said he's in Simpsons, that doesn't add much to this necessarily.
ChrisOr perhaps it maybe it does, but and but it's yeah.
ChrisLike, just he I mean, I think.
ChrisI'm gonna have to watch more films with him in.
ChrisI don't know how many there are, but really, I was so impressed.
AdamI was I will I was going through like just obviously, like you say, he's Niles Crane, Fraser's brother in Frasier.
Adam
ChrisAnd he does play a if this could potentially be Niles.
AdamYeah.
AdamYeah.
ChrisCould.
AdamYeah.
ChrisBut and and it worked unbelievably well.
AdamWell, also, and apparently, he's also as Niles Crane in the TV show Caroline in the City.
AdamWhich apparently is a shared universe with Frasier and.
ChrisOh, right.
AdamFriends and other there's a lot of that in American American TV, there's the the program and elsewhere links to about six other shows, including like the X-Files and NYPD Blue and stuff like that.
ChrisSounds impressive.
AdamYeah, it's it's worth.
AdamIt's worth looking into.
AdamBut but yeah, in terms of other stuff he's done, I always forget he's in Wolf, you know, the Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer werewolf film.
LeeDo you know what? I don't think I've seen that.
AdamHave you not?
AdamI've seen it for for years, I couldn't even I can't recall.
ChrisI've never heard of it.
AdamParticularly well.
AdamMaybe again, should we stick it on the list?
ChrisBecause it sounds like it's worth.
AdamIt's well, it's it's one of those things where it's like, I remember I I had it on video.
AdamI've never upgraded on that.
Adambut I didn't.
ChrisIt's Jack Nicholson as a werewolf.
AdamYeah.
ChrisI mean that that seems like a suitable role for him to play.
AdamOh, yeah, undoubtedly.
AdamI think the trouble is though, is is that if I recall rightly, obviously, it's the whole thing is a bit much in the same way as Claire said when she watched the shining.
AdamThere is an element of I'm just waiting for Jack to go full Jack.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamAnd you know that that's what's gonna happen.
AdamWhen he become when he becomes a werewolf.
AdamIs you gonna get.
Adamfull mad fucking Jack.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut yeah, so he's in that, he's in the Fisher King, the Terry Gilliam film.
AdamSleepless in Seattle, Adam's Family Values.
AdamLittle man Tate, which I'm only gonna mention because of the amount of times I use the insult, Little Man Tate.
Adamhe's in Vampire's Kiss.
AdamHe was in episodes of The Outer Limits, he is Krusty's brother, Cecil Terwilliger.
AdamYeah, not Krusty, Sideshow Bob's brother in The Simpsons, Cecil Terwilliger.
AdamIn Brother from Another Show.
AdamAnd that kind of does work towards this, because it turns out in The Simpsons, it turns out he's the villain and not Sideshow Bob.
LeeOh.
ChrisSo I guess I guess we've actually gone straight.
ChrisWe've just given a bit of a spoiler at that point.
AdamI don't know, what's more for The Simpsons than anything.
Adamhe's the voice of Abe Sapien in the first Hellraiser The Hellraiser, Hellboy movie.
LeeYeah, that's right. Yeah.
Adambut he is not credited, because he he said most of the performance was Doug Jones.
Adamwho's obviously portraying the physical Abe Sapien, and Doug Jones actually plays him in Hellraiser, in fucking Hellraiser.
ChrisBut that's funny.
AdamHellboy too.
ChrisBut that's funny though, do you not recognize his voice pretty clearly? So it seems a bit odd to still somehow.
AdamOh, it's very clear.
AdamIt's him.
Adamand yeah, he's the Emperor Zombie in the amazing screw-on head, and he's in A Bug's Life, and Osmosis Jones, so he does a lot of voiceover.
ChrisHe does a lot of voiceover, yeah.
AdamBut I think it is from that point of view, like you say, Chris, where he's a very distinctive.
Chris
Adamactor, and he brings a very distinctive idea of what sort of character he's going to play.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisBut and that's why when we get more into this, it's fascinating to see what he does in this film.
ChrisBecause it is Niles, but it's not Niles.
ChrisAnd it's like there's a subtle almost too subtle changes that actually are quite powerful, but still him, and yet a totally different role, really.
ChrisIt's it's yeah, it's quite amazing.
LeeYeah, I mean that's the thing, this this is one of those films where the entire film hinges on his performance.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
Lee
Chrisbut but so I was thinking absolutely, right.
ChrisBut the I did actually think they John did match him well.
LeeYeah.
ChrisThey almost both had a bit of that
ChrisYeah, it was sort of the both their performances, because they're well, they're acting within acting.
LeeYeah.
Chrisat many points, and it's like yeah, I I was really pleased how well he did.
Chrisalongside.
AdamYeah, Clayne Crawford, who is apparently Martin Riggs in the TV version of Lethal Weapon.
LeeOh, right, there was one.
AdamThere was one.
LeeI didn't.
AdamI can see it.
Adamhe's been in.
AdamHe's been in 24 and Buffy, various CSI's.
AdamBurn Notice, and he's in a film called Risk Cutters a Love Story, which is a very weird film.
Adamwhich I've still not seen, but I have been recommended, mostly by Dean.
LeeOh, right.
AdamSo I kinda feel that it's gonna be a good one.
AdamYeah.
Adambut yeah.
AdamNo, the pair of them really.
ChrisCuz they can both play seriously charming.
Adam
AdamYeah.
Chrispolite, you know, just like everything a decent man should be, essentially, and then they can both play something very other than that.
AdamYeah.
LeeI think we are now safely into spoiler territory.
LeeSo if we've.
AdamDoes that mean we can fucking swear as well?
LeeOh yeah, I forgot.
LeeYeah, and we're gonna swear as well.
Leeyeah, so Chris, I've been waiting an entire month to hear.
LeeCause as soon as I thought about it, I was I was sitting on the sofa the other night and it just popped into my head for no apparent reason.
LeeAnd I messaged Adam and went, Oh my God, we haven't shown Chris The Perfect Host and he was like, right, it's it's gotta be the next film.
LeeIt's gotta be.
AdamYeah.
LeeSo I've spent a month hanging to hear what you would think of this, so you've gotta let us know.
ChrisWell, it's pretty yeah.
ChrisI mean, you know, I think we've given that away, really.
ChrisLike, so so I I had no idea what to expect.
ChrisSo it's called A Perfect Host.
ChrisThe the perfect host, sorry, we did mix that up when we were discussing it before.
ChrisBut yeah, so the perfect host and and yeah, and that's why it's such a such a good role for Niles.
ChrisDavid Hyde Pierce because this is as you could imagine him giving a dinner party in Frasier.
ChrisYeah.
Lee
ChrisLike basically, it's it's everything that and then it's totally not that at all.
Lee
ChrisAnd like it just takes you on that journey.
ChrisSo well.
AdamWell, the director Nicholas Tomnay, who hasn't who did a short version of The Perfect Host, I think it's just called The Host, which is pretty much where this was then developed from.
Adam
Adam
Adamhe's done one episode of an Australian anthology horror series called Two Twisted, and that's about it.
AdamAnd he's, you know, done a few shorts.
ChrisOh, right.
AdamBut really, this should this should be this should have been an amazing fucking career start.
ChrisThis should have locked him into, yeah, serious.
LeeThis should be on every one of those top 100 films lists in my opinion, because it's just, as I say, I I saw it five or six times when it first came out.
LeeCause I showed it to everybody.
AdamYeah.
Lee
LeeYeah, and it's just and and I still when I watched it again now, because there's so many twists.
LeeI still didn't remember all of them.
ChrisYeah, I could imagine that, yeah.
LeeAnd I just laughed out loud and Jennifer were just in absolute stitches watching this again.
LeeIt's such a pleasurable watch and it's just brilliant on so many levels.
LeeIt's.
LeeIt's such a small cast,
ChrisYeah.
LeeMost of them play by David Hyde Pierce.
LeeWhat?
AdamYeah.
Lee
LeeOh, yeah, it's it's the little bit.
LeeIt's it's like when he.
LeeHe lays the food out and then she's walking around the table, he's grabbing fistfuls of food off people's plates and stuffing it in his mouth.
LeeSo that the plates are half empty and he can have a chat with a person who is.
LeeIt's just absolutely phenomenal.
AdamIt's.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamWell, back to what we were saying though, cause I think, but basically the director said.
AdamWhat he was looking for was someone who brought an expectation to a role.
Chrisokay.
AdamAnd it's a perfect match.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYou know, David Hyde Pierce as a you just immediately, right, he's gonna be very fastidious.
AdamQuite weak.
ChrisYeah.
AdamQuite sort of, you know, neat, but also possibly a bit snobby or a bit sort of, you know.
AdamHe's gonna be Niles Crane.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd that is like we were saying with the voice work, that's pretty much the expectation that they're bringing to those roles.
AdamWhere it's like, you know, it's like, oh, well, we need this character who's kind of like that.
ChrisIt sets up that expectation so much that to not do it.
AdamSo.
AdamWhen.
ChrisBut but then that's how they've they've they've done so well with this when it isn't him and it still is him, and it's like, whoa, that's it's like it could be uncanny.
ChrisAnd it could potentially not work, and yet somehow, it's so powerful.
Adam
AdamAnd and actually.
AdamDespite the fact that this is an extremely fucking funny film.
Chris
AdamLike genuinely funny film.
Adam
ChrisI mean, I'm gonna join some conga lines after this and see them in a whole new way.
AdamYou You have not seen, cause obviously we have the welcome to horror WhatsApp group.
AdamBut I've just been messaging Lee Congo, pretty much since we decided to film this.
ChrisYeah.
Adam
AdamJust, yeah, because it's that is that sums up the whole fucking movie from me.
AdamIt's just that moment.
AdamBut but also, I do think that David Hyde Pierce plays disturbed very well.
ChrisYeah, that's it.
ChrisThat's why it's it's almost disturbing how well he does it.
ChrisCause you that's the bit you don't expect.
ChrisIt's like, no, I get I get why he's in it for the first bit.
ChrisAnd then when he changes, it's like, and or starts to change, and then really does by the end.
ChrisIt's like, whoa.
ChrisOkay, no, I did not see that coming from him.
ChrisAnd that and he still does it really like he becomes a cold, just loses all of the.
ChrisYeah, all of the warmth that he normally has with Niles.
ChrisAnd it's like, no, okay, you're.
Chrissort of quite worrying now.
AdamNow it's a powerful really, you know, person who has you trapped.
ChrisYeah.
LeeWhen he brings the book out and you see the photographs and you're like, oh shit, he's done this before.
LeeLike and it's just so.
LeeAnd the way he draws the the imaginary people onto the Polaroids and stuff, it's just sinister and yeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamYeah, cause cause this is the thing, is obviously watching it back, I know where I am with that.
AdamI know what that actually leads up to or how that is explained in the film.
AdamWhereas that first time you watch it, Chris, you must have gone and Claire got it.
AdamEspecially the bits where he's like he's filmed himself.
AdamApparently self-mutilating on the toilet.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd that that looks purely like that would be in like a lector film of like whoever the murderer was in that.
AdamYou know, so.
AdamIt just is it's really it's quite Dennis Nilsen as well, it's very sort of like disturbing and very real to it.
AdamAnd and even then you get the I did my own hair and makeup.
AdamAnd you know, there's still sort of payoffs and stuff like that.
AdamBut at that point, you are just like, oh no, you because.
AdamI was I was like trying to work it out, and there's John's bit.
Adamis essentially like that sort of wave of heist movies that followed the sort of Tarantino explosion of the sort of early to mid 90s.
AdamAnd then you got a lot of films like like Oceans 11 and stuff like that, you know, a lot of George Clooney, possibly with Brad Pitt.
AdamWhere it's like it's groovy or sort of, you know, sort of indie crime movies.
AdamSo you've got that in there.
AdamAnd then obviously, it's then the comedy of manners of an episode of Frasier.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut with a darker twist because it's like, oh God.
AdamThis guy's invited this man in, he doesn't know.
ChrisWell.
ChrisAnd and you don't know you don't know who is who is what, yeah.
ChrisLike.
ChrisSo so you're still trying to figure out who John is, essentially, because he does have a deeper story too that unfolds.
ChrisBut it's like.
ChrisWell, he's not a good guy, but how far what is he gonna be doing?
ChrisSo you're trying to figure out who is, yeah, what their role.
AdamAnd he at first he gets brutal.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYou know, he slaps him around, he fucking, you know, he beats him up and basically is sort of like, and that's after he's been helpful to the point of irritating.
ChrisYeah.
AdamWhich is which is pure Niles thing.
AdamOf like.
ChrisIt is.
ChrisBut you can see the way John is thinking about that, oh no, I can't get through to you.
ChrisIt's that.
AdamIt's.
AdamAnd John's obviously like, don't fucking phone me because this is all a ruse that I've taken your mail.
ChrisAnd how long can he stand for that until he just has to release and.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut also that lovely moment where you think because you're sort of still, again, I tried to watch it through the eyes of someone watching it the first time from that first time I watched it.
AdamAnd there's that lovely bit where it's, you know, John's sat there, he's just smoking and there's just that that bit is beautiful.
AdamWhere it's just the look on his face of rather you didn't smoke.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut he knows that he's got to bite his fucking or he's acting that he's got to bite his lip at this point.
AdamAnd it's sort of, you know, John's sort of sitting there and has taken control of the situation.
AdamAnd then it's like, oh my God, your foot.
AdamOh no, I've got to do something about that.
AdamAnd it's like, oh, he's gonna help him, he's that nice a person.
AdamIs it gonna be a Stockholm syndrome sort of thing?
AdamYou know, are they gonna end up buddies at the end of it, and it's like, no, you're bleeding on my floor.
ChrisAnd that's that's obviously the first point where you're like, okay, I have a sense where this now are potentially going.
ChrisLike.
AdamReally.
AdamAnd then it goes into like like a film like Hard Candy or something like that, where it's that bit off more than you can chew shit.
AdamYou know, it's like, right, here's a bad guy, but we've put them in with a real fucking bad guy.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd and like I say, it's sort of breaks off and you get all this, sort of there's horror moments.
Adamthat then get completely underplayed when John wakes up dead as it were.
Chrisyeah.
AdamAnd realizes that I mean, got to remember, the foot thing is real.
Adam
LeeYes.
AdamHe does cauterize his foot with a fucking iron.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know, he is a dangerous person.
LeeI.
AdamHe's just apparently not a murderer.
LeeAnd I'd forgotten as well, like how they do the reveal of David Hyde Pierce's jaw, So when I see you've got the cops looking for them,
LeeAnd then the cop is at the front door on the thing and you're like, this is it, he's going to get caught, how's he gonna get away?
LeeAnd then it's like, oh no, that's his boss.
ChrisYeah.
AdamMornin', Lieutenant.
ChrisYeah.
AdamIt's such a another good twist.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd then and then it goes off into like The Usual Suspects.
LeeYeah.
AdamIt's like a neo-noir like it goes back to the heist movie bit but takes it off in a completely odd fucking direction.
ChrisWell, and that's where David Hyde Pierce then plays this new role, which is again him, but not him.
LeeHis voice changes, he has an American accent, which he was he was doing a very.
ChrisHe's.
ChrisAnd he's in charge, but in another way.
ChrisIt's like.
ChrisYeah, he's he is the boss now, before he was the psychopath, you know, schizophrenic psychopath having fun in charge.
ChrisBut like now it's he means business.
AdamYeah, it's his job.
AdamAnd I love the fact that obviously, I mean, this is again, you know, in terms of spoilers, but the fact the fact that obviously you see the the the party that it takes place.
AdamYou see it from both sides, you so you see it from reality.
AdamJohn's side of it of him hallucinating hundreds of guests in his house and having this amazing fucking party.
AdamAnd then they swing it back, so you see it from his point of view, where he is at an amazing fucking party.
AdamBut something that Claire said that really struck with me, was she was like, but which is more disturbing?
AdamIs it more disturbing to see someone clearly hallucinating who has the power of life and death over you?
AdamOr.
AdamIs it that you're having this amazing fabulous party and you've got a guy in the corner that you're all enjoying torturing? You know what I mean?
LeeThat's true. Yeah.
AdamIt's not it's not a party of nice people.
AdamYou know, because it's all aspects of him.
AdamAnd I love the fact that there are the sort of bits where it's like, I, you know, I strongly believe that you should take both your tablets.
AdamYou've got to be able to function at work.
AdamAnd the fact that and there's bits where the like the characters start going, oh well, the police are gonna catch up with you now, shut up, shut up!
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamWhen he's.
Adamlosing it.
AdamAnd.
AdamYeah, you.
AdamBut oh man, it's.
AdamIt's so fucking good.
LeeI had completely forgotten as well, I don't know how, but yeah, I'd completely forgotten about John waking up in the trash.
LeeI I I remember him being lain on the street with his throat cut, I didn't remember him then waking up and finding out he's been covered in makeup.
LeeAnd the bit's real.
LeeSo even that this time, like as I say, I was like six for seven watch, I was like, oh my God.
LeeLike even that caught me off guard.
ChrisYeah, still got something out of.
LeeOh, it's just fantastic.
AdamAnd here's the thing as well.
AdamYou get this rapid succession, it's like the last half hour of the film is like, here's the perfect ending.
AdamBut we'll give you a bit more.
ChrisAnd then you're like.
AdamSo you get like John kills Warwick with the salt.
AdamThat would be an ending to a film, it'll be a fucking bleak ending, but you know, you kills him, gets away.
AdamAnd then that turns out to be a false thing and John dies, and that again, just him waking up in the trash, him sat there on by the pool with his hallucinations.
Adam
AdamThat would be the ending, roll credits at that point.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd then like you say, John, and then John wakes up and start taking the makeup off.
AdamRoll credits, there's your ending.
AdamBecause it's like, oh fucking hell, he was just fucking with him.
AdamAnd you know, he's not dead or whatever like that.
AdamAnd then you like you say, and then the cops show up and reveal that Warwick is a cop, and that would be your ending.
AdamBecause the irony is he's had the chief suspect in his case in his house and essentially letting go.
AdamHaving fucked with him for an evening.
AdamAnd then him walking off with the cash would be an ending.
AdamDo you know what I mean, when he just goes off down the street like Keyser Söze at the end, it's just sort of like, yeah, just walking away.
AdamAnd then and then you still get more.
AdamAnd.
AdamYeah, it's really, really good.
LeeIs that swaggering.
Leewalk he's got, he does it when he gets the wine from the kitchen as well.
LeeAnd he's just got that very, it just.
LeeOh, it's just such a brilliant characterization.
LeeAnd and as you say, the way he flips it from that to then his very straight laced up tight policeman.
LeeBut yeah, then as soon as he steals the money, he's back to swaggering again.
LeeAnd he's having a great time and living his best life.
Leerunning off with this money.
LeeIt's oh, yeah.
Lee
LeeNathaniel Parker as well, who plays Detective Morton.
ChrisYeah.
AdamWhat.
ChrisYeah.
LeeHe's just brilliant, he's such a solid.
Leesuch a serious, solid performance in all of this absolute craziness.
LeeBut it just works brilliantly.
AdamBut also wonderfully is more obsessed with football guy than what is going on.
LeeYes.
AdamYou know, there's that sort of where you sort of get the idea.
AdamThat's kind of how he gets away with this shit is no one's really looking.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd in a way, there's and there's that lovely bit where he where he's talking.
AdamAnd the other two cops are like, when Warwick is basically going full gamut and just talking about like, well.
AdamThat's what I want to do, they just want to round him up and shoot him and all this really sort of like heavy big sort of stuff.
AdamAnd then it's like, you know what I mean, like it's like, oh, this is just we have to put up with this shit.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know, which again just is.
AdamBut Nathaniel Parker, he's.
AdamEnglish.
AdamHe's an English actor.
LeeOh, yeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd he is he's the brother of Oliver Parker, who is the removal man who appears in both the first two Hellraisers.
AdamAnd he's Peliquin in Nightbreed.
LeeOh, yes, yes.
AdamBut.
AdamNathaniel Parker, I I don't know why it always stuck in my mind, but he was Fireman in The Palace of Righteous Justice on Harry Enfield's television program.
Chris
AdamWhere they had Iceman, Fireman and she woman cap type thing.
LeeYes.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd yeah, I don't know why.
AdamBut that was the and he was in.
AdamRick Mal presents Dancing Queen, Touch of Frost, Inspector Morse, and then he's gone to America, he's been in Beverly Hills Ninja, The Bodyguard, Chronicles of Narnia, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
AdamAnd so, yeah, he's that's where he but yeah, he's and does a, well, we're saying that as English people.
AdamBut I think he does a perfectly fine American, you know, you wouldn't tell, I don't think.
ChrisYeah.
LeeNo, I was surprised when you said it because it it seemed so so well done.
AdamBut.
AdamBut yeah, I think that the I mean, actually, and that's you're saying about that swaggering walk.
Adamthe bit right at the end, where he walks off and then gets flanked by imaginary people dressed as cops.
Adam
AdamYeah.
ChrisImagined, yeah.
AdamImaginary people.
AdamAll I could think was is.
Adamthat meme that goes around of people other people, don't come around here with your bullshit.
AdamMe.
AdamComing back here with my bullshit.
LeeYeah.
AdamThat's all I could think of, but it's such a wonderful image.
Adambecause like reading, because I'll be honest, again, there's not much online about this film.
Chris
AdamThere's a few interviews with the director, there's a few interviews with David Hyde Pierce.
AdamBut that's do you know what I mean, there's not a lot of study that's gone into this or a lot of stuff that's come out.
ChrisThat seems surprising.
AdamYeah.
LeeIt's it's one of those, you know, like we were saying, anyone you talk to, they'll always tell you they've never heard of it.
LeeAnd you're like, it's one of the best films I've ever seen.
LeeLike, it's just astonishing.
LeeAnd I do I do wonder if it's because David Hyde Pierce maybe was a hard sell to.
Leeto this type of, you know, if you go from comedy to kind of crime, drama, horror.
Leemaybe he was a hard sell in that way, and therefore it didn't it didn't get picked up.
LeeBut I mean, I'm pretty sure anyone who's ever seen this will be just as obsessed with it as me and Adam.
AdamSeriously, I mean, I I this was a film I recommended to someone at work.
AdamAnd literally, and we we fire we fired films back and forth between each other, like really good films, really odd films and stuff like that.
AdamLike weirder and stranger stuff, same as I did.
AdamBut he always says, the trouble is, you hit fucking gold when you told me about The Perfect Host.
AdamAnything you've told me about afterwards has been good, but that was incredible, and I knew nothing about it.
AdamAnd.
AdamAnd like I say, I mean, this was what?
Adam2010?
AdamIs it 2010?
AdamYeah, 2010.
AdamAnd.
AdamYou sort of think, maybe it was a timing thing, maybe it was five years earlier, five years later, maybe it would have done better.
AdamI think the other trouble is, is it's a very difficult film.
Adamto even categorize to someone without spell without spelling it out.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisWell, I'm I'm gonna watch the trailer when we finish tonight.
ChrisBecause I'll be fascinated to see what they can put in a trailer that gives you the right idea and doesn't ruin any of it.
ChrisAnd like you said, don't watch a trailer because it.
ChrisIt probably so yeah, perhaps it is just too difficult to do as a film.
AdamI I think, well, because I think the best the best sum up I saw of it would would be to put it out as a black comedy.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut I don't know A whether that sells well.
AdamDo you know what I mean, is that a harder sell than just, oh, it's a comedy for all the family.
AdamYou know, a black comedy, but also like a black comedy starring David Hyde Pierce.
AdamYou probably lost a lot of interest where people like, oh, it'll be like Frasier.
AdamAnd I don't like Frasier.
AdamDo you know what I mean, like there were they are they thinking black comedy, because there are elements of black comedy in Frasier.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut I mean, not to this extent.
ChrisWell, I've just decided to start watching Frasier again.
ChrisOff to watching this.
ChrisCause I was like, I've got to watch a bit more, a bit more Niles.
AdamYou need to do that.
AdamYeah, there are sort of.
AdamBecause it works on a sort of real-life basis.
AdamThey put in things that are sort of.
AdamNot I mean, no nothing like this.
AdamBut yeah.
AdamSo maybe that was what the the problem was, I don't know.
LeeI think you could be, I think it could be one of those, you know, where like we have, you know.
LeeYou you if you have seen it and you want to tell people about it, you don't want to give anything away, so you just say to them, just watch it.
LeeI'm not gonna tell you anything about it.
LeeAnd that can be a bit of a hard sell, can't it?
LeeLike, well.
AdamWell, it's a bit dumb.
AdamYou know.
AdamTo go into especially because it's like, especially because you have to find it.
LeeYeah.
AdamI wish this was on fucking I I don't I didn't look into it particularly.
AdamI think you can pay for it on Amazon maybe, but I don't know where it is streaming.
AdamI'm pretty sure someone's put it up in about eight chunks on YouTube.
Lee
AdamBut you know.
AdamI think it's.
Adamagain.
Adamit's that access to it.
LeeYeah.
AdamWhereas this would have been this again, should have if they'd have pressed harder in 2010.
AdamThis should have been one of those things that just turned up on cable.
Adamthat loads of people watched and could catch up with him and so, yeah.
LeeYeah.
LeeSo yeah, so if it hasn't, if it didn't get that sort of initial jump, yeah, then maybe people just.
Leeyeah, have not had the opportunity and not seen it anywhere to to to pick it up.
LeeBut it it's such a travesty because it's.
Leejust a work of art.
LeeIt's just.
LeeIt's.
Leeyou know, like we were saying, the tension at the beginning, because obviously you don't see Niles's other side until almost half an hour in.
LeeAnd.
Leethe tension of, as you say, him being in the house and he keeps making phone calls, and any one of those phone calls can trip him up.
LeeBecause he phones the airport.
Leeabout baggage.
LeeAnd that could give it all away.
LeeAnd then he phones Julia.
LeeWhich obviously he doesn't phone Julia, because there's no Julia.
LeeThe fact that you once once you realize that he writes those postcards, you knew from the beginning that this guy had never spoken to Julia.
LeeBecause he couldn't have possibly spoken to Julia.
LeeSo he so he was playing along the whole time, but was absolutely aware of the situation from the get-go.
LeeWhich.
AdamAnd actually winding it up by doing the calls.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBecause.
AdamYou know, it's sort of like just almost trying to get him to reveal himself.
AdamCause there's a lovely bit where the neighbor.
Adamcalls him a wolf.
LeeYeah.
AdamThe woman he goes to first.
ChrisShe calls John, yeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd she just says, she just says, go away, Wolf.
ChrisAnd you're not really a you were making it up, yeah.
ChrisBecause they wouldn't have crosses and yeah.
AdamAnd I think that that is a a brilliant term for the character because of, you know, he is.
Adamat that point, I mean, you obviously see.
Adama somewhat sympathetic side to it, and you do see him battered and fucked up and everything, and you and at one point you think killed.
AdamAnd it's sort of.
LeeAnd the fact that he's been played.
Leethe whole time by the girlfriend.
LeeI'd forgot.
ChrisWell that was another nice.
ChrisYeah.
LeeThat was.
LeeYeah.
LeeSo this film just.
LeeAnd that's what I mean.
LeeIt's just it's really nicely paced, it go it flies by really quickly, but yeah, you never go more than 10 or after that first half an hour, you never go more than 10 or 15 minutes.
LeeWithout a whole new twist being popped in that just turns everything on its head.
ChrisYeah, none of the characters.
ChrisYeah, none of the characters are exactly what they seemed to begin with.
ChrisJohn isn't in sort of three ways, and then yeah, Warwick isn't.
ChrisAnd then even Detective Morton because he starts investigating Warwick.
AdamHe gets his shit together and actually like he's like, I can't ignore this.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd that is a that's a lovely moment as well.
AdamBecause you know, you're seeing how Warwick's playing this off.
AdamWhen he's like, well, yeah, get it analyzed, because I want to know.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd sort of having to front it out, but also the mind's working.
LeeYeah, and it is, it's that brilliant thing of it is how you can kind of imagine it being when he says, you're gonna bring a load of policemen to my house.
LeeI don't have to be civil about this, but I'm choosing to be, so why don't you come over for dinner?
LeeAnd you just don't, don't go for dinner, it's not gonna go.
ChrisDon't choose the red wine.
LeeYeah.
AdamOh, right.
AdamFantastic.
AdamBut no, I mean, it's.
AdamYeah, it's just.
Adamone of the, yeah, I think it's just one of the.
AdamIt's one of the best films I've seen and it is a real hidden gem.
Adamthat people should be singing from the rooftops.
AdamThis should have the cult following of like something like Withnail or something like that.
LeeYeah.
AdamPeople there should be it should be mean to fuck.
ChrisYeah.
AdamThere should be gifts of content and everything.
AdamYou know.
LeeIt's just the dance number on the table when they're all doing the together and then it just keeps cutting back to just him on his own dancing like a lunatic.
LeeYeah.
LeeIt's.
LeeIt's just such a good film, it's such a such a fun, considering how dark it is, it's such a brilliantly fun movie.
AdamAnd that's the thing is I think every point lightens the pace in a weird way.
AdamIt takes you to a really fucking dark area.
AdamAnd you're still going with it because it's still an entertaining film.
AdamBut then it sort of usurps that but in a way that you're like, oh, more intriguingly.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, than a film where it's like a guy goes somewhere, finds out he's in the hands of a nutter who kills him.
AdamThat's.
Adamfilm.
ChrisYeah, it'd be a good film, it would not be a great film.
AdamCause that bit, there's a bit in it which really made me think proper.
Adam90s serial murderer sort of movie was the bit where he's going where he's talking to him and he's just going, where is she now?
AdamWhen he's writing out the postcard from Julia.
AdamAnd that bit where he's going.
AdamIt's this, you're Julia, aren't you?
AdamAnd it's just and the music of it, the way it's lit, because it's like 3:00 AM in the morning and everyone's fucking shattered.
AdamAnd it's like, yeah, it's that is just is perfect.
Adamto then have that rug pulled and it's like, oh no, I didn't kill him, no, he he has a makeup kit and he fucks with people.
LeeOh, that's That was the other bit I forgot.
LeeHe almost lets John go, doesn't he, and John gets to the door.
LeeAnd then he says to him, you're nothing.
LeeYeah.
LeeAnd he cannot, he could have just walked away at that point, but he's like, no, I'm not doing this, this has gone too far, I'm gonna kill this bloke.
Leeand just drops himself straight in the shit.
AdamYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamCause.
Adamat that point, he could have walked out that door, I mean, probably at that point, he'd have probably got as far as the front step.
AdamAnd then Warwick comes out with the fucking cattle prod or something.
AdamBut ostensibly that seems to be the point where, you know, he and and the fact that Warwick's not concentrating on the chess match.
AdamCause it's like obviously I'm gonna beat him because he's he's scum and I've had him trapped here and I'm a genius.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd then he's not even.
AdamHe's not even concentrating because he's too busy trying to work out what he gets if he wins.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd then it's like, oh, I've got a good one.
AdamCheckmate.
LeeWhat?
LeeAnd he immediately says, you cheated.
LeeIt's like, he's got his hands tied behind his back.
LeeHow can he possibly have cheated?
AdamI mean, the the musically, I love this film.
AdamI think that the score for it is really, really good.
AdamJohn Swihart, he did Napoleon Dynamite and.
ChrisOh, right.
AdamOdd Thomas, so he's done but I think in this he puts in.
Adama lot of, he puts it's very much like an Inside Number 9 score, he puts in a lot of work of this is what suits this bit.
AdamSome of it's like a fucking urban crime film.
AdamSome of it's like beautiful, some of it's mania.
LeeThere was I was gonna say, yeah, there was a mania bit earlier before Warwick has turned.
LeeAnd yeah, it was like a little musical cue that almost just tipped you off that, you know, everything seems calm, but the music's telling you there's something mental going on.
LeeAnd it kind of it's just fantastic.
LeeIt's just so well done.
LeeAnd if you don't know what the twist is that's coming, it seemed really odd and out of place.
LeeBut then when it happened, it all just comes together and makes perfect sense.
LeeIt's.
Leeit's so well crafted.
AdamBut obviously, yeah, so the the opening credits are equals of death metal, wanna be in LA.
AdamAnd then of course, you've got Rose Royce with Carwash.
AdamAnd I am generally against people using music that's been used in other films before.
AdamI'm particularly averse to people taking themes or things that were specifically written for other films and putting them in other films.
Adamat this point, I have to stand corrected because fuck off, Carwash belongs to this movie, not the film Carwash.
AdamEven though Carwash is a great film.
Adamyeah.
AdamThis owns Carwash.
AdamIt's fucking brilliant.
LeeOh.
LeeYeah, I just I I I would be hard pressed to find anything about this film that I would.
Leelike to have seen done differently or thought could be improved upon, it it's just an absolute masterpiece.
LeeI say, yeah, I don't know if it was possibly marketing or whatever that obviously could have done better, but it's kind of nice to have a film like this.
LeeLike you say, Adam, where when you're talking to someone and you're like, oh yeah, can you recommend anything, and you can pull this one out of the bag, you're pretty much sure, you know, 90% of people you show it to would get something out of it and be totally blown away, so it's quite nice to have it as a little secret thing that we've all got.
AdamSee, the the best way I can describe it in a weird way is I think that this is a film that I could, I well, I still show my mom, but I could have shown my dad.
AdamBoth of them would have loved it, and that is a fucking rarity, because my mum likes my mum likes completely different films to the films my dad likes in the main.
AdamBut this would have been one that they'd have both fucking loved.
AdamAnd very much for the same reasons.
AdamDo you know what I mean, it wasn't isn't like one like this or one like that.
AdamI think it was just it's just a fucking entertaining film.
AdamYou know.
LeeYeah, oh, just fantastic.
LeeRight, so we are gonna wrap it up there.
Leeso our next film we're going to be covering is gonna be Adam's birthday choice and we didn't give away what the theme of the month was, because we wanted to keep it under wraps that it is crazy bastards month.
LeeYeah.
Leeso Adam.
LeeWhat is your birthday choice?
AdamWell, obviously, I am, as everyone knows, I'm an avuncular man who doesn't have clinical depression, and, you know, I'm optimistic, sunny side sort of of the street kind of guy.
AdamSo.
ChrisWhere's this going?
AdamSo my birthday choice, we're gonna watch The Party movie that is Seven.
ChrisOh, right.
AdamSeven.
Adam
AdamWhich, yeah, if if anything, I suppose The Perfect Host is.
Adamartist pretending to be murderer, and Seven is murderer thinking he's an artist.
AdamSo, you know, there we go.
ChrisNo, I haven't seen that for a long time.
ChrisSo yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
AdamI funnily enough, it was because I I started I've started a rewatch of White Chapel, which is a very highly recommended series that was on mid about 2009 for about four series.
Adamand it kind of put me in that sort of.
AdamWhat other things are about people proving a point through serial murder.
AdamAnd then it was like, oh yeah, well there's Seven, obviously.
AdamAnd yeah, so happy birthday to me.
AdamAnd and interestingly enough, I will be Seven this year.
LeeYeah.
LeeOh.
LeeWow.
LeeOh yeah, I think it's a really good call.
LeeSame as Chris said, I mean, I saw this when it first came out.
ChrisOh, it was big.
LeeYes.
LeeAnd I've done.
ChrisOh, it was big.
LeeOh, it was big.
LeeIt was one of the biggest.
ChrisIt was one of the biggest of this type of movies that I saw.
LeeRight.
ChrisRemembered at the time.
AdamIt's it's Brad Pitt.
LeeWell.
AdamMorgan Freeman.
ChrisOkay.
ChrisI did not even.
AdamYou know.
AdamAnd there's and I think the thing is as well, because it's
Adamoh, bollocks, I can't remember his name.
AdamThe director is, shit.
AdamWhat is his name, but he's done loads of stuff since.
ChrisOh, that was it's gonna be very interesting to go through and see.
AdamBut stuff that's got bigger.
AdamYeah, okay.
AdamFisher.
AdamDavid Fisher.
AdamNo, I think he wrote the legend of Hyde.
LeeIt is David Fincher.
AdamDavid Fincher, that's it, thank you.
Adambut obviously he's now gone on to most of his films have been massive fucking deals, to the point where I feel that Seven has been forgotten.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAs because it came right at the start, really.
LeeOh, and Zodiac as well.
LeeUgh.
AdamHe did.
AdamHe did Zodiac, he did Mind Hunt, the TV series Mind Hunter, which was good while it lasted.
AdamAnd Panic Room, The Game, Fight Club, Social Network, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake.
LeeYou know.
AdamHe's done.
Adamlots and lots.
AdamAnd and Alien 3, and I'm sorry, Bobby and Adam, but yeah, it's still fucking good.
LeeYeah.
AdamDirector's cut.
LeeJust to clarify.
LeeWhen I said about Zodiac, it was a fantastic film.
LeeBut it was so bleak, I'll never watch it again.
LeeAnd it was so brutal as well.
LeeLike.
AdamIt's it's a great film, but the trouble is is that it's that horrible thing of watching it and going, oh no, this is all shit that already happened.
LeeYeah, I think that's why I was like, I I enjoyed, enjoyed is the wrong word.
LeeIn the words of Garf Maringi.
LeeI like, I yeah, I watched it and enjoyed the journey, but I was like, I don't think I'd put myself through it again, it's really brutal, it's so horrible.
AdamYeah, it don't fuck about.
AdamSo.
LeeCertainly doesn't.
LeeExcellent.
LeeRight.
LeeSo, thanks ever so much for listening, everyone.
Leeif you haven't already, definitely hunt out The Perfect Host, because even though we've told you about it,
Leeseeing it is a very different thing, so you definitely need to experience it.
AdamAnd we've pretty and we've pretty much stayed clear of jokes and one-liners and stuff like that, so you'll still have there's a lot, yeah.
Adamplenty to see.
LeeExcellent, right, so thanks very much for listening.
LeeGo and check out Seven again.
LeeIf like us, you haven't watched it in 20-odd years.
Leeand we will see you back for Adam's birthday in a fortnight.
LeeGood night.
ChrisGood night.
AdamGood night.
