Haunted Honeymoon
00:38:33
About
We’re off to pretend to be American in Stevenage, with a trip down memory lane for 1986’s “Haunted Honeymoon”. A film which deals sensitively with the plight of the hard of hearing; demonstrates the moose elevation method of dealing with snakes; and takes an unflinching look at the devastating repercussions when a family member is “hairy all over”. Gene Wilder’s last film as director and, tragically, Gilda Radner’s last film, “Haunted Honeymoon” was a box office and critical flop. It did, however, get embraced by a generation who found it on video, as part of a steady diet of Gene Wilder’s work, usually with Mel Brooks and Richard Prior. Wilder’s homage to both the Golden Age of Radio and comic chillers like “The Old Dark House”, it boasts one hell of a cast of mostly British actors; a number of familiar faces all giving an expectedly great performance, with Bryan Pringle as the butler Pfister a real standout. Dom DeLuise (another frequent Brooks/Wilder collaborator) gives a, for him, restrained performance, which is both hilarious, but oddly, inessential within the plot. With an understanding of the tropes of the classic horror/mystery genre, and a loving attempt to follow the look and effects of a 1930s production; “Haunted Honeymoon” deserves a far greater appreciation, and genre fans who like a nice dose of silly should find a lot to love here. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.
Transcript
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LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror. I'm Lee.
ChrisI'm Chris.
AdamI'm Adam.
LeeAnd we're here again in our radio themed season which we seem to have accidentally stumbled into but are very much enjoying. We are here to discuss 1986's Haunted Honeymoon.
LeeA film that is particularly dear to my heart. I have a lot of very fond memories of seeing this as a kid. But so Chris, what did you think having watched it for the first time?
ChrisYeah.
ChrisAnd I'm going to start off by saying I totally now know who Jonathan Price is because I'm sure you both mentioned him enough times I would have thought along with Peter Vaughn who I now know they were both in Game of Thrones.
ChrisI'm like I've seen him. I've seen him and now I'm seen I've seen this guy younger like but and I've also realized he was in Horses which I saw so it's like okay, he's clearly come a long way from from this film.
ChrisWhich he was good in this.
LeeWe've just started Slow Horses and we've watched four seasons in the last month. Yeah.
AdamI really need to get I need to get back started with it. I started it and then circumstances didn't allow but yeah, it's what I've seen is fucking marvelous and yeah, there's no two ways about it.
ChrisYeah, so I was quite pleased that I was like oh now do totally know who he is and it sort of sort of made me want to go and watch Game of Thrones again because it feels like that's almost been long enough I could give that a go.
AdamWell it's it's it's weird, isn't it? Because for me for me Peter Vaughn is Grouty from Porridge. That's straight down the line and then quickly followed by a warning to the curious and being the dad in Citizen Smith.
AdamBut obviously watching it with Claire she was like now I know him, didn't I? I was like yeah, he's the only person in Game of Thrones who gets to die in bed.
AdamCuz everyone else gets molested, stabbed, tortured, fucking you know, he's the only one who actually gets a sort of no cayenne. But you have actually got
Adamyou've got three Game of Thrones in this because the guy who gets stabbed right near the start Francis Junior is Margery
AdamTyrell's dad, Mace Tyrell.
LeeOh.
AdamBut even more impressively he is Orgo from The Young Ones.
LeeOh god, yeah, it is.
AdamIt's and it's as soon as you say it I'm like but I've seen him in tons of stuff over the years and like he's in like Dumb for George and I'll tell you what, most of this cast are also in Brazil.
AdamChris, have you ever seen Brazil, Terry Gilliam's film?
ChrisNo.
AdamYou get on that. I think you would love it. It's basically Monkey Price 1984 and it stars Jonathan Price and Peter Vaughn's in it and yeah, Roger Ashton Griffiths is in it and a load of people from this are in it but it's yeah, no Brazil is fucking mad just brilliantly sort of yeah, just it was one of those ones where I was like if Chris hasn't seen Brazil he really needs to fucking see Brazil.
ChrisYeah, I'll I'll get that on the list.
AdamYeah. And now I am slightly conscious that Lee's probably thanking me for derailing us before we've even talked about one of his his apparently favorite films that I I don't remember either you mentioning this before you mentioned it in the last episode that we've been watch it.
LeeSo I saw this when it very first came out again
ChrisWhen 1986?
LeeYes. Yeah, so
Adamprobably would have not been long after
LeeBarely in mind so it came out in '86 barely in mind this is back when films came out about a year before we got them in the states. It's probably nearer '87 by the time
AdamThat's what that's what I was assuming that it probably was '87 on video, yeah.
LeeOh yeah, but it's funny cuz I so I remember watching it and loving it and I remember that think I something I mentioned this last time we were recording but it was this was before the internet so it showed me a world of old time radio that I thought this would disappear forever and I'd never get to experience.
LeeAnd the other first for me with this film it was obviously I've been to lots of
ChrisI'm hoping there was a few.
AdamIf if you were however old you were but here you go.
LeeYeah, so there's lots of and obviously I've been to lots of places now that I've seen in films just specifically
ChrisAnd we're not getting onto necrophilia, are we? Yeah. Big one. Carry on.
Leebut I've gone to places purely because I've seen them in films and I want to stand where they were shot. But this was the very first one. It's that very first shot of Yeah.
LeeI remember thinking at eight or nine years old I want to go there and I want to see that house purely because of this film. I mean obviously now it's been in absolutely everything but
AdamYeah.
Leeyeah, it at the time it I'd never you know sort only went to the house.
AdamAnd is that cuz you you wanted to grow up normal as well?
LeeBut I only got to go to for the first time about three two three years ago. so yeah, it was the first one I ever wanted to see and it's one of the most recent ones I actually have but yeah, it was still cool to be there.
AdamI I think I went to with me Nans on not a day trip.
ChrisIs this before after you'd seen this?
AdamIt was it would have been after I saw this and it would have been about 1990 because obviously at that point the whole big deal was it was Wayne Manor in Batman like the Batman film.
AdamAnd actually apparently the and it's also in the Flash that's got Michael Keaton's Batman in it so I am like oh well done, you know, good on you guys, you know.
Adambut it's it was strange it never came up but it seemed 28 days later. It's the Manor House that the army occupy in 28 days later as well. and Sir Henry at
AdamAnd Lair of the White Worm, Great Muppet Caper. Carry on Henry. and it's been in Jonathan Creek and like loads of telly stuff. but yeah, no was cuz I see I haven't seen this probably since around that time.
LeeOh really?
AdamBecause well cuz our family it was it was certainly my dad. My dad was a Gene Wilder fan and so we'd see like so on a on a heavy rotation.
AdamSo my dad loved Gene Wilder. He loved Dom DeLuise and so on a heavy rotation we would get sort of stuff like Stir Crazy, Blazing Saddles and stuff that stuff that looking back on it reasonably inappropriate for a a child to be watching.
Adamand Haunted Honeymoon I think we we may be rented it a couple of times but I don't think I don't think it was one that my dad hit off with particularly.
Adamso we only saw it a couple of times but it was I have to say thank you Lee because now I know what the monster walking down the wall is.
ChrisCuz that was
LeeOh is that a weird memory that you
AdamWell it's like yeah, in my head of that thing of the monster coming down and particularly the lean Yeah. to look even closer. And my brain had obviously erased that it's Gene Wilder which would have at least narrowed you know it's like well I'm pretty sure that's not Charlie in the Chocolate Factory.
AdamBut you know it was sort of yeah, so it was one that I kind of remembered. I remembered the opening and I remember being cuz yeah, if it was '87 what we'd have been nine?
LeeYeah.
AdamSo yeah, but I remember being genuinely shit scared of the werewolf. And I think it's because and I think it's because he comes back at the end which was not something that I was familiar with as a horror
Chrisyeah.
Adamrope.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know what I mean? It's that's a general thing in horror that there will always be like the final moments of oh it turns out the monster wasn't destroyed or whatever like that you know it's it's a real main stay and pretty common sort of thing.
AdamBut it being in this I was like oh no, he's walking around in the Mac and he's got gnarly teeth. I don't like that. So that might have also played a part in why we didn't see Haunted Honeymoon as often.
AdamBut yeah, and so it's for the first time in it's been a very very long time
ChrisIt's it's got you over some deep deep seated fears that
AdamI think it's more I think it's more just the sort of thing of in my head I'd sort of dismissed it of well we didn't rent it out and so it can't have been that good.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut no, it was bollocks. That was good.
LeeYeah, I I just really like it. I think it's that it is it's that as you say something you can watch at nine years old that isn't going to leave you scarred but it's very creepy and I just I I have a very specific memory of see of once watching it on a rainy Sunday afternoon when it was absolutely steaming down outside.
LeeYeah, and just sitting in all cozy on the sofa with a blanket and watching it and it yeah, and I just been in love with it ever since really and
AdamPerfect viewing that is perfect weather for for the viewing I think as well, yeah.
LeeYeah, absolutely. So yeah, so this film's always just stuck with me and again it's it is it's one of those that you can show to people of all ages.
LeeIt's got creepy stuff in it but nothing's and then at the end of course it turns out spoiler alert none of it really happened so it's perfectly all right.
LeeIt was effectively all a dream.
ChrisSo that's like it's a really good arc in a what like cuz you might say oh that's a bit of a cop out but actually where you start to realize as it's going on that there are more levels to it so it's like it's his fear of marriage and then that works out great and then yeah, and then again it's like it was all a radio show.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
ChrisAnd like no I mean I don't know was there actually any was it clear that that was the case? I was I was thinking
AdamYeah, I think it I think it is and I think weirdly cuz I don't personally I don't consider that like a cop out because it's cuz I don't think it's that sort of a film.
LeeNo, I agree.
AdamYou know what I mean? I think if it was like like there's the film oh it's not called wrong turn. That's the hillbilly sort of film. Dead end. It's got Ray Wise in it like Leland Palmer.
AdamAnd it's
LeeOh you know what I think I bought that on DVD and I never got around to watching it and now
AdamBut it but yeah, I mean not to spoil it that is up until the ending a fucking great film like genuinely like this is quality sort of you know and then okay, I am going to spoil it and I do apologize but I would recommend you still check it out because it's actually quite a good ride but I feel that by doing this you're not going to feel as I did which is it literally turns out to be a coma dream.
LeeOh.
AdamAnd at that point you're like oh fuck off. No because it had done so well
LeeYeah.
Adamwith its creepiness and its weirdness and everything else like that that that just felt a bit underwhelming, you know it was sort of like but yeah, I don't think that this works on a different level because it 's playful because it is a common
LeeYeah.
AdamYou can have that sort of a thing of it's like that's not a rug pull or like a cop out or anything else like that. That's just like no, that's just a further extension of the playful nature of the of the piece, yeah.
LeeI mean it's and as you said before like the cast is just like Gilda Radner is brilliant. Obviously unfortunately this was a a last film.
AdamYes.
LeeBut yeah, her Gene Wilder and but the I think the only reason cuz I know obviously this film bombed opening I think they said it was literally made it was in the cinemas for a week and then it just got bombed cuz it did so bad.
AdamI think it it it was something like it cost eight million made six.
ChrisThe only thing I could think of is that some people might have struggled with sort of what does it want to be whereas I think if you accept what what it's it's not trying too hard either way like you were saying it's just got some really good bits, really good scenes.
ChrisAll the characters are great. I mean like Larian Fister
AdamOh Fister Fister's I mean that that that guy Brian Pringle is he's one of those people who just sort of turns up in bits and pieces mostly like British telly like he was in the detectives.
AdamHe's really good. He's in the second series of Halfway to the same pattern. He plays this like starchy XRA F pub landlord who's a wanker and and just is completely contemptuous of them and you know but he is yeah, I mean he is just fantastic in this.
AdamI think he's like one of the real sort of standouts and it's you know he was again he's another one who's in Brazil. But yeah, he's in sort of like loads of bits and pieces and let's see Murder Most Horrid and the Storyteller and just tons and tons of stuff.
AdamBut yeah, he is just brilliant in this. And again that is something I had completely forgotten when I was looking through the cast list and I'm like oh Brian Pringle, I like Brian Pringle.
AdamI've seen him around the stuff. This is this is fucking fantastic.
LeeHe he yeah, again he's just got that comedy timing just
ChrisYes, yeah.
LeeSo brilliant but I I think for me I think part of the reason it might have failed and that's awful I think it's the accent. They just filled it with British actors who did really bad American actors.
LeeI mean even I think they're bad and I'm British so I'd struggle to hear it if it's particularly bad.
ChrisYeah.
LeeBut yeah, I think that's what it yeah, just think it's it might just be too much for people to which is a a shame.
AdamWhat do they all great actors but just cuz you're a great actor doesn't mean you can necessarily do the accent.
ChrisYeah, oh absolutely. I mean it's cuz the curious thing is is I mean that it made my fucking heart sing to see I mean like Jim Carter is fucking you know obviously he like was in so much stuff and then obviously got the like he's the butler in Downton Abbey and that's like sort of like his late stage fame but I mean Jim Carter is and in fairness he's probably the only one who's not really bothering to do a American accent.
LeeNo, that's right.
Chrisquite broadly northern Jim Carter. But yeah, sort of like everyone else is sort of like Peter Vaughn and Jonathan Price they're all playing American. But this was shot over here.
ChrisIt was shot in Elstree so but the opening sequence is basically all the actors that you see on British TV who are Americans and Canadians living in England who get all these roles.
ChrisSo you've got like the reporters that come in at the start. You've got Matt McDonald who's the captain from Red Wall.
LeeYes, yeah, he's always plays the American in everything for the era.
AdamAnd and actually and he's like one of the Joker's goons in Batman because that was shot over here and stuff like that and obviously when they were doing particularly the sort of '80s American productions were getting good rates and they had excellent facilities over here and basically the British film industry wasn't particularly using them.
AdamSo the Americans would come over here and so there's like this sort of trance of American actors who were living over here who just appeared in every fucking thing.
AdamAnd you've got like William Hopkins in there who's Ecart in Batman. He's Paul Kins in Star Wars like Red Six. He's in Hardware and just loads and loads of and again it's all these sort of but weirdly enough that's all the Americans.
AdamBeing genuinely American and then you got like the Brits in to be other Americans.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd the other the other guys where was Lou Hirsch who's the guy with the mustache who's the sponsor
LeeYeah, yeah.
Adamwho is in so many fucking things but in my mind he is like the prototype rich vulture because that's mainly the role he plays is a guy who sounds like dad who's getting really fucking wound up about shit and it's Lou Hirsch and he's like he's like in Whoops Apocalypse and Capital Two and just loads and loads of shit.
AdamSo it really made my heart sing to see all these sort of like you know it's the it's the oh it's the Brit Americans. The ones in you know and so yeah, so they they filmed it over here so they end up with all these sort of but so yeah, they end up with all the Brits in there as well but like you say doing American accents.
AdamI wonder and this was something that cuz this is Claire's first time watching it. She really enjoyed it and pissing herself. I mean particularly like with the thing with Fister and oh she's hard of hearing.
LeeIt makes me laugh every time.
AdamYeah, and so yeah, it was and and Claire's a sort of you know she's a Gene Wilder fan. She likes the Mel Brooks films and stuff and things like that and so you know this was just like oh it's a new Gene Wilder film that she'd never seen before.
AdamShe really fucking enjoyed it. And we both came to the conclusion that I think it's main problem is it's just not young Frankenstein.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd far too many people are comparing it to young Frankenstein but they are different things.
LeeYeah, oh very. Yeah, yeah.
AdamYou know young Frankenstein is a parody whereas this is a humorous take on a murder mystery but it's not you know it's not necessarily evoke it's not like say it's an Agatha Christie story.
LeeNo, no, it's
AdamBut they've taken or something like that. It's it's own thing. It's but it's using the ideas and tropes that are common to those kind of films and those kind of stories.
AdamSo it's not quite the same thing but I wonder if that is partially the the problem that it was just oh it's not young Frankenstein.
ChrisI mean that's where I liked the the wrap around ideas and it seemed like there's more to it than than that which is yeah, perhaps what some people could take away from it.
AdamYeah.
LeeYeah, and it's got some really good shots and stuff. It there's some reason I don't know why I love it so much. The actor must have been absolutely screaming when they told him.
LeeI mean I wouldn't have been happy but the the uncle with the massive forehead when he's explaining that they're going to the house and it's just the shot of the house and everything projected onto his huge forehead.
LeeI mean I would take umbrage to that I think if I was an actor but I I just love that shot and I don't know why. It's just something about the way of portraying
AdamAnd that guy's looking to happen as he's thoughts and seeing.
ChrisYeah. But that guy's the Beast Rabban in the David Lynch Dune as well. That's and
LeeOh.
Adamand Blue Owen the Robin Williams Popeye cuz he's fucking enormous that guy. He's fucking huge. But so obviously written and directed by Gene Wilder and Gene Wilder this wasn't like I think this is I think this is the last film he did.
AdamBut it was and again I think it was probably the politic of the fact that it was not a successful it wasn't successful at the box office. But he was very much he wanted to try and make it as 1930s as possible so all the effects and things are sort of period accurate.
AdamThey're only he wanted to do all effects in camera and they're ones they were techniques that could be used like could have been done in a film made in '30s.
ChrisYeah, that's pretty cool.
AdamSo that stuff like the projection across the forehead and things like that it's all you know it's all there's nothing in there that couldn't have been done if this had been made in 1930 other than you know the fact that it's what it is and but yeah, I mean it's cuz funny enough because of this cuz of watching this me and Claire then watched the Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother.
AdamI don't know if you've ever seen that.
LeeI don't know if I've seen that. That's got Madeleine Kahn in it as well.
AdamThat's Madeleine Kahn and Marty Feldman.
LeeOh oh yeah, I really need to see this.
AdamAnd Leo McKern and Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton fuck off cuz Leo McKern's playing Moriarty and he's playing Mycroft. So it is their one isn't the first Irish Moriarty fucking Leo McKern is.
AdamBut yeah, seriously check that out as well cuz like I say we we watched Haunted Honeymoon. Claire really liked it and then I was like well I've got the event cuz that was Gene Wilder's first film that he wrote and directed.
AdamAnd I think I think Mel Brooks is a producer but yeah, and so I dug that out cuz I hadn't seen that. I think the last time I saw that was probably I probably watched it with Wes like pre COVID it would have been you know it's it's a long long time ago now.
AdamAnd yeah, dug that out. I'd completely forgotten everything about it and that is another real treat of a film. It's just daft as ourselves and really stupid and really fantastic and it's even got Douglas Wilmer in it as Sherlock.
LeeOh well.
AdamAnd Douglas Wilmer did play Holmes in the 50s on telly. So it's like really sort of but it's Roy Kinnear's in there and yeah just loads of great faces and stuff.
AdamIt's well worth checking out. but yeah like Gene Wilder did like a few other films. He did a film called The Woman in Red which I which was again I think that was one where my dad rented it and that was definitely inappropriate for kids because it's basically I think sex comedy over eggs the pudding.
AdamIt's not like it not confessions of a window cleaner but it is basically a bloke who just falls head over heels. It's Gene Wilder again. He falls head over heels for Kelly LeBrock and basically ruins his life in an attempt to try and get to sleep with her.
LeeI've got a feeling my dad recorded this off of Sky back in the day when it first aired. Yeah, so I've got a feeling it was one that we had around that I used to watch a lot but again I can't remember anything about it now but I just remember I've got pretty sure it was one of my first after this it was my first introduction really to other stuff that Gene Wilder had done.
AdamYeah, but I think I think that was one of those ones where it was just like sort of you know I'd if I'd have been slightly older it would have been really awkward for me but I'd imagine it was really awkward for my parents to be sitting there and it's like oh yeah they're there's people shagging and things like that and it's like oh yeah now maybe maybe maybe not you know it's it's like Blazing Saddles is fine.
AdamYeah yeah yeah get away with that one. Yeah, but I mean and obviously like you say poor Gilda Radner like she'd she'd met Gene Wilder on another film and they sort of hit it off and ended up getting married and then I think during during this is actually when she started to feel ill.
AdamShe basically she died not long after of cancer.
LeeYeah.
AdamI think this was when she first sort of like started beginning to show symptoms while they were filming it. So but I did hear a really lovely thing which was her and Gene Wilder had got married in like the equivalent of a sort of registry office married like wedding.
ChrisOh they they were married in real life.
AdamThey were married in real life. And actually Gilda Radner was basically she put her foot down and was like no I I I don't want to watch you. I think it was you know when they're singing in the car it's like I don't want you singing that song with someone else.
AdamSo she was like I want to be I want to and it's a really good fucking character as well.
LeeYeah, it is.
AdamYou know because well because I think her character is actually is certainly the stronger of the two and it's like she's the one reassuring him and going right I'm only down the hall.
LeeYeah.
AdamIf you get scared scream and I'll come and save you you know which is an utter inverse of like the the usual sort of certainly for a 30 sort of thing but it has got that sort of you've got Moxy kid sort of thing you know it's like these sort of like bold heroines sort of thing and but yeah I think but this is really sweet because they've had like a they'd sort of just got married in a like registry setting or whatever like that.
Adamthe like set photographer made her a wedding album of when they're getting married. So she had a wedding album of her in a dress and him in a morning suit and like you know so they had like proper wedding album which I just thought was a lovely little lovely little thing you know.
ChrisThat's great.
AdamActually I've got to say you saying about the about singing the song is one of the things I've got to bring up. One of the things I've said and I've always said I hate is that phase that there was of like we're just going to stick a musical number in the middle of the film no reason.
AdamIt was quite a big thing in the 70s and I hate it. I hate it with absolute passion. This is one of the only ones that gets a gets a pass for me.
AdamI think Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise doing that song together is genuinely brilliant and yeah it's it's one of the only yeah it's one of the only times I don't skip through like oh no they've stuck a stupid song in the middle of it for no reason.
AdamI love it in this. It just works. Cuz I think it's Dom DeLuise. Fun funnily enough there is there's a similar thing with Sherlock Holmes and Smart Brother. They have a bit where they sing and it's like Madeleine Khan and Gene Wilder but but yeah but like Bull the Jacks like a really old so all the music and everything in it is sort of not period appropriate but actually could have do you know what I mean?
AdamThey're all before the 1930s or of the 1930s. because the music's oh what's his name John Morris who basically does did all of like Mel Brooks's stuff like all the like producers and the Elephant Man high anxiety and just like pretty much he's like the sort of Danny Elfman to Mel Brooks's Tim Burton sort of thing you know he just always he John Morris is always his sort of go-to composer and I think it's the same sort of setup that is like well if you've got would you come and do my film because it's you know he knows that he's he's got the right sort of chops to do it and so and he did the music for Young Frankenstein as well.
AdamSo it is like you know pretty pretty obvious choice. And obviously we haven't really touched upon the fact that was another thing that was guaranteed in our house is Dom DeLuise is in it.
AdamWe're fucking renting it. You know
Adamand I think cuz you said like you said about the other the other week when it was like I don't know what Dom DeLuise is doing in this and I think Dom DeLuise is fucking oddly restrained for Dom DeLuise which goes to show what how Dom DeLuise can be in other films.
AdamHe's a he's an oversexed opera singer in the adventure of Sherlock Holmes is Smart Brother and it is scenery cheering you know it's and it's already a big fucking film.
AdamYou've got Feldman in there. You've got fucking Leon McKern and there's everyone's but yeah he is thank you. he no thank you. I've lost my track now. I've been mooned by my wife.
AdamThere you go. Get that documented. but yeah Dom DeLuise but it's it's a proper sort of character thing because apparently like Gene Wilder sat him down and was basically like right it's not a drag thing.
AdamIt's not isn't this funny there's a bloke in a dress. It's you're playing a character and Dom DeLuise really does just play on Kate. It's like
Leethat's what makes it that's why it felt weird almost because if it was like an over the top drag type thing you'd can't but the fact that it isn't and it's so underplayed it's just there and that just makes it weirder.
LeeWhen you then get to the end and it's because it's a voice actor so it can be anyone. So once you know what then it suddenly makes sense. But yeah they like I never made that connection until literally a couple of years ago when I was watching it.
LeeThe whole time I was always just like just don't understand why Dom DeLuise is playing the aunt. Like he's brilliant and he's excellent but like you say it isn't a big hammy oh look at a bloke in a dress joke.
LeeIt's he just plays that character.
AdamIt's a character. It's the same way it's the same way Divine plays characters. It's the same way the League of Gentlemen play women. They play women. It's not it's not a sort of you know crappy sort of like
ChrisAnd it may it does make it weirder. It's got that extra edge to it which is just really
AdamYeah. Particularly that there's the character the Peter Vaughn's son who obviously gets killed right at the start anyway but also the fact that he does drag up to do impersonations of
AdamEspecially that when it's well it's it's like oh yeah well it was yeah he just did it at parties for fun. Yeah, was it fun when he got dragged out of the ladies' room?
AdamAnd but yeah no I'm just thank you Lee for replenishing a film that I haven't like I say literally decades.
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamIt's it's coming up for 40 years since I probably last saw it and yeah I've
Chriswell well past you.
LeeBut funnily enough so I went down went round to see my brother earlier today and I bought this on Blu-ray for him last year because we were out drinking one night talking about films that we loved in our childhood and this came up and he said oh god yeah I do I remember watching it half a dozen times and absolutely loving it but for some reason I think because it isn't in the public diet guys quite so much.
LeeHe completely forgot it existed as well. So I didn't mention it again and I kept quiet and then I bought it for him on Blu-ray for Christmas. So I was like he'll definitely forget about that again.
LeeYeah, so he said he's he's watched it twice since I bought it for him already. So
AdamYeah, cuz cuz I I think but again I think it's also one of those things that's been overshadowed by a lot of other stuff. I don't think that you know as a thing if you know Gene Wilder it's basically in in the in the public brain it's stuff he did with Richard Pryor, stuff he did with Mel Brooks and Willy Wonka.
AdamThat's the
ChrisI only saw Willy Wonka for a very long time and then when I saw I think was so crazy it was like oh this feels very adult like it's just really weird change.
ChrisThat's not what I think of him at all.
AdamI mean I mean that's the that's the weird thing is when I think about it is it's like there's certain things that we watched all these films around the age of like sort of eight or nine or whatever like that and with with the exception of The Woman in Red which I definitely think was probably just not cuz I I think it's one of those things where it's just a kid's not going to get it and I think it's a bit awkward for the parents to sit there through it and everything else like that and but the rest of them you sort of like yeah probably is a bit inappropriate but fuck it we we saw them and it was you know they they remain loved films.
AdamSo I mean I I find it really annoying. I was trying I was looking the other day and you can't find a decent sort of I mean I've got some of them but you can't find a decent Mel Brooks collection.
LeeOh really what all all together as a set?
AdamYeah, you know because there's there's stuff that I've still never seen of his. I've never seen like the 12 chairs and things like that. I've seen the the big ones and high anxiety remains my favorite but it's sort of like you know there's there's other stuff that I would like to see like History of the World and things like that.
AdamThey're just you know bits I've missed.
LeeYeah, again I'm very glad that yeah that both Chris and Claire enjoyed this because I I did wonder if it was it was that thing where I've got a you know an affinity because I saw it when I was eight nine years old and it was just right it was it was daft comedy and it was horror.
LeeSo it was both the things that I love and I didn't know whether it would still work for someone seeing it for the first time. So yeah I'm glad to hear that you both enjoyed it and yeah and it's still yeah it is still a good film for someone who hasn't got that nostalgia.
ChrisYeah, well I think this is and the fact that you know it shot like you say for 1930s style that's almost perhaps giving it more life than it might have been if he had just tried to be a 1986 film.
AdamYeah, tell you what as well I genuinely think silly doesn't age.
LeeNo, you're right. Yeah.
AdamYou know if you like something silly you'll like something silly from the 50s
LeeYeah.
Adamright up to the present day.
ChrisWhen he started doing his legs up I was ready for laughing so much. I was just like yeah this is gone there.
AdamAgain that was one of the few things that I recalled.
ChrisYeah yeah I was like it's it's almost too silly and yet it just works so well.
AdamYeah.
AdamAlso the one thing that suddenly came to mind do you ever seen a film called Saturday the 14th Lee?
LeeYes.
AdamYeah, it was like around the same sort of time. I think they were like films that I'd watched and it was like yeah that was just permeating in the back of my head.
AdamBut I haven't seen that for years so
LeeI I only watched half of it but I watched it a couple of years ago. I think it turned up on one of the streaming sites and I watched a bit of it and it was all right but yeah I didn't make it to the end and I didn't go back subsequent evenings and have another go but
LeeYes, so right so our next episode we're going to stick with the the radios the radio series that we're doing at the moment and Adam has suggested and quite rightly so we should cover the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast which I think I've only listened to once but I do have fond of you know I I do think I really enjoyed it at the time.
LeeYes, so I'm glad to go back and check that again and it's public domain so it's easy to find and
AdamYeah, Awesome Wells is 1930 eight broadcast which was I believe for Halloween. So as we're coming into October seem quite appropriate.
LeeYeah.
AdamOh that'd be fantastic. Right.
ChrisYeah.
AdamSo thanks ever so much for listening everybody. Go and check out Haunted Honeymoon if you haven't. Go and check out War of the Worlds and we will see you in a Fortnite time to discuss that.
AdamThanks very much. Good night.
ChrisGood night.
LeeGood night.
