speaker-1 (00:02.082)
Hey, Lindsey, guess what? What? So this is the first episode I realized that our guest is someone I've never met before.
I love that. Isn't that fun? Isn't that fun?
It is fun. It's kind of like Christmas without the crippling depression or the disappointment.
Better than November 1st.
And also we got a movie that is a very slimy, gooey movie that I haven't seen in a long, time. gonna chat with a new person. Gonna talk about a movie that is...
speaker-0 (00:25.87)
Okay? Okay?
I'm nearly 20 years old. Isn't that hard to believe? Absolutely. Welcome to another episode of Die Laughing.
It is hard to believe. You wanna do it?
speaker-1 (00:55.854)
Welcome back everybody. Hey hey Lindsay.
Hey, hey, Bart.
You know, today, this episode, like I mentioned in the open, I'm pretty excited for two reasons. First of all, because it's a gooey movie. It's a very gooey movie. have, I wouldn't say a love-hate relationship with creature features, but a love perplexity with creature features. It was a remind me of 1950s movies and that kind of era or 40s. So not my favorite genre, but when it's done well, it's done well. Like we've done arachnophobia and obviously that is
I love you.
speaker-0 (01:15.95)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (01:30.232)
done well. But the second reason is because, like I said in the open, this is the first time that we've had a guest that I've never met before.
No, I know, I was so excited. So I'm with you. Sometimes I have a really hard time with this genre. Sometimes it grosses me out too much to watch it, or if it looks fake, I'm like, meh. There's a delicate balance here. It has to be done well. And this one is done extraordinarily well. And so that makes it super fun to watch. And B, yes, I am bringing two of my favorite humans together and they don't know each other.
And that made me really happy. So normally we have guests on that we both know. And this particular guest has been a very good friend of mine for over 30 years. So I was so excited to have him on because he was one of the ones that when we were talking about the podcast, he was one of the first people I told about it because he's such a film buff. I was like, my God, you can't believe what I'm going to do. I'm so excited. And so I was telling him all about it. So he's been kind of following our journey. And I was like, Bart, I think we got to have Mike on. And he was like, let's do it. And I said, yes.
He said, yes, let's do it. So I'm very excited today.
I am too. I'm always excited to meet new people, especially people that have the same interests, especially when it comes to horror and horror comedy.
speaker-2 (02:43.726)
Absolutely. Do you want me to kind of introduce him a little bit more other than just my friend because he's actually kind of a big deal
How about, before we do that, let our audience know what movie we're watching?
Oh yes, okay, let's do that. You want me to say it? Can I say it? Yeah, yeah, of course. Okay, we are watching this week the very exciting 2006 feature film, fine feature film, Slither, written and directed by James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy. Earth movie. Yeah, fame. This is his first, right, his first.
First directorial debut.
Directorial, that's his directorial debut. yeah, really, really exciting. If you haven't seen it, think you gotta see it.
speaker-1 (03:25.494)
As I've said already, it's a very gooey movie.
it's so gooey. So much goo.
Ha ha.
I'm really good at segues, you wanna see this? Speaking of goo, hey why don't you introduce our guest? Me not segway well.
That was the best segue I've ever heard. Okay, so this amazing human is a native of Alabama, but I met him here in Memphis as he was a member of the Memphis kind of film community for about five years or so acting and writing.
speaker-2 (03:58.414)
And just being a general cheerleader and promoter of the local film circuit and world and filmmakers. About 2003, he moved to Los Angeles. So he's worked in film and TV for almost 30 years as like a screenwriter, editor. But in 2003, he started working in post-production in the Hollywood system. Now your friend and absolutely mine of over 30 years, Mr. Mike Thorpe. Hi, Mike.
Hi, hi, hi. Thank you for having me Bart and Lindsay. This podcast really excites me and I'm looking forward to talking about.
Well hey Mike Thorpe, it's nice to meet you!
Yeah.
speaker-0 (04:37.07)
Nice to meet you Bart. You know, when you launched this, was like, wow, this is a very specific, as you know, there's a lot of horror movie podcasts out there. But this is a very specific one and it's a tricky one. I think of it as horror comedy being the perfect peanut butter and jelly. You gotta have enough peanut butter and enough jelly. You have too much of one of the other, it throws it off. I can't imagine as a filmmaker, I'm thinking with my filmmaking brain.
lot.
speaker-0 (05:05.39)
of how you would pull this off because it's a lot of balance, it's a lot of really thinking about your characters, scenes, how much horror you're gonna throw at the audience, how much you're gonna wink and laugh.
and where the winks and laughs are and should it take itself too seriously or do we need to believe in the fear? You know, there's a lot to take in,
Right, how far we take the audience in one direction or the other. And where are you bringing in the comic relief and you gotta weave that road and editing and timing and the actors responding to everything. It's, yeah, it's not easy.
It's not easy and it's been super fun diving into all of it and some are more successful than others and then there's class reunion.
speaker-2 (05:58.082)
the best one to care with. It's brilliant.
I saw that when I'm like, this is a very strange movie. It's appealing to me as a kid, but I was like, I'm confused. Am I laughing? Am I being horrified? Like, where, where's this?
What's funny though is as bad as that movie is I always think about something that Bart said when we recorded that and he said I still root for it. Yeah, he's right. You still root for it as a film.
I thought, you know what, if we're gonna do this, let's do some films that most horror podcasts don't cover. We could easily go, hey, here's episode one, Evil Dead 2.
Evil Dead 2!
speaker-0 (06:31.266)
Right, right, yes. They're obvious, but...
We will do Evil Dead 2, of course, at some point, but you gotta let it simmer. I used the same peanut butter and jelly analogy, Mike, except I've used it as peanut butter and Nutella.
Nutella? What is this which cra-
peanut butter Nutella. my God on toast. Welcome to the podcast. We're very excited you're here. You bet. Glad you're here. A fellow horror comedy aficionado in the house. And before we get started, because we have a lot to talk about. Yep. We typically just watch the trailer together. We'll watch the trailer, come back and we'll just jump right in. So here is the trailer for James Gunn's
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
speaker-1 (07:14.158)
2006 I'm gonna call it a creature feature
Slither.
speaker-0 (07:23.48)
Throughout the years, these classic horror films had one thing in common.
speaker-0 (07:37.332)
Universal Pictures comes a film so shocking, so disgusting, it will change the face of Hollywood.
They're doing things to people, turning them into some kind of monsters.
speaker-0 (08:02.158)
How's everybody's evening? Good? Good.
you
speaker-0 (08:22.498)
Something's wrong with me. Slither. Have you ever seen anything like that? Me neither. I watch Animal Planet all the time.
speaker-1 (08:37.761)
Yep, I remember the first time I saw it, I thought that seems unique, a little witty. I'm gonna go see that. And I saw it the first week it opened. Wow.
I was unfamiliar with this movie. I have to confess, I tried to watch it about a year ago, but I was watching it on my lunch break at work. Interesting. Yes, I had to stop it, and I'll tell you where when we get into it, but I was like, And I never came back to it, unfortunately, but I'm glad this was a great opportunity to watch it again. So I was really excited.
Yeah, yeah, it's great. And it's fun to watch, you know, some of these actors and this movie are so good and some of my favorites. Yes. It's fun to watch them in roles like this where you don't really normally get to see them like this. So it's fun. Absolutely. Well, let's jump right in, shall we? my God, where do we even start? Let's start at the beginning. Okay.
Where do we even start? Let's start at the beginning. Opening shot of the movie, we see a meteor blazing through the sky, coming towards Earth. Right after that, we see a couple of local cops. Wheelsey, Georgia is where this thing takes place. I remember I saw Wheelsey and I never heard Georgia, but I always thought it's Tennessee. It feels like Tennessee or Arkansas. It's South Carolina. it's South Carolina?
Carolina.
speaker-0 (09:53.41)
Yes, it is South Carolina. Yes, that is.
No matter where it is in the South, all of the accents were incorrect.
Correct, they always are. I what kind of film it is, you know?
Yeah.
I don't
speaker-1 (10:04.876)
That's Jenna Fischer's same southern accent that she used in Walk Hard, the Dwyk
I didn't know she was in that. Okay.
I think this was the first movie I ever saw her in. I didn't know it at the time, but now watching it again 20 years later, it's like, it had to be the first thing I ever saw her in.
Is this pre-The Office?
Yeah, yeah.
speaker-1 (10:23.963)
Had to be and it had to be pre walk hard I would assume as well because I think she was already in your
They were, yeah, so she was married to Gunn at the time. Yeah. And so she was not originally part of the cast. So the actor that had her role asked to be released from his contract because he had an offer to shoot a pilot. So Gunn let him go and swapped the character, it was supposed to be a guy, so swapped the character's gender, added some lines, and so by the time it was released, she had become very popular from the office. So it was filmed before.
had no idea.
speaker-2 (10:58.371)
But yeah, so then the office came out during that. So what I read, she was the one who went on the Tonight Show before the film opened. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Huh. She was married to Gunn at the time. So that's why she's in it. That's great.
We meet the local police, Bill Party and his deputy Wally, and Bill Party's played by Nathan Fillion. Right after that, we get all the main characters just in the first like two minutes of the film. We meet our cops, then we meet the mayor, Jack McCready, played by Greg Henry. See right away, he's a total prick. Anytime someone is such an obvious prick in a movie, especially in the first two minutes, like, they're building this so we can... Enjoy your death.
Yeah
speaker-2 (11:35.678)
They're gonna die.
Exactly. You're about to be taken out. McCready, did you catch the Easter egg with that name? Russell. The thing?
Yeah, Kurt
Pretty dope. I did not get the grand grant. didn't. So yeah, then we go to the local school and we meet school teacher Starla Grant played by a very beautiful Elizabeth Banks.
either.
speaker-2 (11:49.516)
Yeah, why?
speaker-2 (11:59.438)
stuff.
Elizabeth Banks.
Let's just let this breathe for a minute.
Yeah, let's just let it breathe for a minute.
how beautiful Elizabeth Banks was.
speaker-2 (12:10.734)
She's kind of perfect and I love it.
I wonder where this was in regards to Wet Hot American Summer. Because either this or Wet Hot American Summer was probably one of those two were the first films I saw her in.
I know if you really want to know what hot American summer was 2001.
Oh wow, so it was there. Okay.
when that American Summer was before. But she has done some amazing films. I mean, she was in W, she was in Seabiscuit. I'm absolutely obsessed with her in The Hunger Games. I mean, that's when I became a humongous fan of hers. I mean, I she's done, you know, 30 Rock and Pitch Perfect and all kinds of really great films, but man, she's so funny. The dimensions that she brought to Hunger Games I thought were unreal.
speaker-1 (12:59.714)
I've never seen a single Hunger Game.
I'm obsessed with them. I'm one of those weird people that's like, love the Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. Give me a good series and I will love it and watch it. And every single time it's on, I will watch it. Amazing and beautiful. Yes.
never saw Hunger Games, but Elizabeth Banks, great body of work.
Can I say, the kids, think it's interesting that they chose not to put makeup on them. They look have bad skin. And it was like he casts local kids or something.
Yeah, that's a really good point. So from that opening sequence until we get to this school when Elizabeth Banks is standing up in front of the kids teaching, I guarantee you 90 % of those people are locals that he just... I mean, he had to. Yes. Because none of them have any lines, right? So he's like, we're going to just skirt this sag issue and nobody's going to say more than five words. They must have shot it somewhere outside of Los Angeles. Canada. Yeah. I I noticed that Mike...
speaker-2 (13:54.626)
the kids in the school, the locals, none of them have any lines and they are the weirdest, most amazing looking people. They don't look like actors, which is why I like them, you know? And you're like, no, I want real people. I want real people that look like real people walking around the town that I live in. And I think that's something that this film does really well.
So at the school when we see Starla leaves for the day, we get our James Gunn cameo as a fellow teacher and he's talking to her outside and just as her husband arrives, played by Michael Rooker, which, you know, we could do a podcast on Michael Rooker.
Right.
speaker-0 (14:31.347)
Mr. Rooker, yes we could.
I want everyone just to, when you think of Michael Rooker, want Lindsay starting with you. What role comes to mind when you think Michael Rooker?
I'm sorry, Tombstone. Every single time, it's Tombstone.
Mike, what about you?
You know I have to say JFK when he goes, How do you know who your daddy was? Cause your mama told you. This is Louisiana Chief.
speaker-2 (14:53.953)
Yeah.
and none of us have the same film because that's the kind of fucking career
I know what yours is if I've never met you I bet you I bet I know what yours is Henry portrait of a silver color
I'm gonna let you guess it. You goddamn right it is. Wow. The first film I ever saw him in was Henry Porter of A Serial Killer. And I thought, who is this alien? Is this guy an actor or is he someone that was just let out of prison to play this role because he is so bizarre and good. That just shows that all three of us gave three different movies because his career is so fucking amazing. Back to Walking Dead. He was great in Walking Dead as well.
re-
speaker-2 (15:32.204)
Mississippi burning.
Yeah, it just goes on and on. And we could just talk about his roles and how he plays a creep so well, but he also does comedy well also.
Yes, I'll add he is also an Alabama native. He was born in Jasper, Alabama. He relocated to Chicago and did some theater, theater group, and then started doing small roles. And then of course, Henry, which is serial killer. But he also, I didn't know this, is into martial arts. He's into a style of karate that encourages self-improvement. So he is also a martial artist.
Is it called up with people?
Hehehehehe
speaker-1 (16:12.816)
I practice hand to hand up with people.
people. Yeah, he's great. And he's great in this. He's perfect for it.
Absolutely. So he arrives at school. Right away, we see that he's a jealous husband as he takes Elizabeth Banks, his wife Starla, away from James Gunn and his cameo, thankfully. Not the most camera friendly. And at the school, we also find out right away that Nathan Fillion's character has a crush on Starla. So Bill Partey has a crush on her. We also find out right away that one of the other deputies is a lesbian. And what purpose does this serve? None.
you
Come on.
speaker-1 (16:49.198)
other than an excuse to make lesbian jokes peppered throughout the film. I didn't catch it the first time I saw it, but the only reason they make her gay is to make lesbian jokes for a few times throughout the film, which it would just be out of the blue and her character's not really developed. I can't even name you what her character's name is.
I didn't catch that.
speaker-2 (17:07.406)
The name is, no idea. Yeah, I think that they thought in 2006 we're gonna do something really different and interesting and try to like bring light to it and talk about it, but it just didn't work.
I didn't think it did either. It was there to be a joke. Four to six jokes. Yeah, I didn't think it was funny. So back at the Grant house, which is Grant Grant.
Yeah, and it's not funny. Not funny.
Grant Grant, his name is Grant Grant. Why?
Double Grant.
speaker-1 (17:29.336)
Gigi Allen's first name? Was he Grant Grant?
Is it just because they were like, this is going to be funny and silly and so we're gonna call them grant grant.
I guess. But back at the house, we see things aren't exactly rosy with Starla and Grant Grant. He's ready for a little friskiness and she comes out of the bathroom in hair and rollers, which Lindsay has, that hair does not require rollers, right? Because we see our hair the next day.
It does not, and no one's done that since the 50s, I don't think. So it kind of threw me off a little. Rollers. Yeah, we're not doing that anymore. And of course, the thing is, is that they're saying that Grant is this like, he makes money, he's a salesperson, he's got a big house. And so that's why he landed somebody as beautiful as Starla, because there are people who accuse her of being like a gold digger. But yeah, that scene in the bedroom threw me off a little. No.
Was it Michael Rooker's abs?
speaker-2 (18:24.802)
That did not- I don't know if this was something that Michael Rooker did like on his own or if-
He is a built man.
speaker-1 (18:34.103)
Not Rooker!
Come on, Michael Rooker, you naughty boy.
Or if it was in the script, what I just can't imagine. I just can't imagine this being in the script. But okay, when he flicks her nipple when they're laying in bed, I'm like, no, no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. She doesn't, she doesn't want to be frisky. It just threw me off. know, Grant is not somebody that we all together want to hate.
Now yeah.
Not yet, right? And so there's so far there's not a lot of redeeming qualities for Grant Grant and that one threw me off.
speaker-1 (19:12.736)
You know, I thought he was flicking her button on her pajamas.
Nope, no he was not.
To me, felt unscripted because how she responds, she goes, that's so inappropriate. It's like, why would a wife say that? But then again, hey, she can say what she wants. But yeah, he's not reading the room, obviously. And it's like, come on, dude. But that did felt unscripted to me.
Yeah, I thought it must have been.
So Grant gets pissed because his wife is not in the mood and he says, when the hell are you in the mood? So he says he's going to go out for a walk and Grant shows up at a local bar where some karaoke has gone on and we get a great rendition of the crying cry.
speaker-0 (19:45.55)
I'm here.
speaker-2 (19:57.102)
That shot with that person sitting at that table and the light on the stage and the way she's singing, I loved it. It was awful. It was amazing.
At the bar, is approached by Brenda Gutierrez, a woman he went to high school with who's always had a crush on him. And we cut to immediately Grant and Brenda walking through the woods drunk and they start making out, but shows a little loyalty to his wife. So there's at least one good trait to Grant Grant. He backs away and says he needs to go home and that Starla would worry about him if he's not home. So they threw us a bone. And that he was not at least
willing to cheat on his wife right there in the woods. So he decides to go home. So he's heading back towards his truck and they see that the pod that we saw earlier from the meteorite has hatched and it's all covered in goo. And he does what anyone would do, including Stephen King and Creepshow. He pokes it with a stick. And it shoots a wiggling little projectile into his stomach.
He starts convulsing and I thought this shot was pretty rad because it just says, just so you know what's happening inside of him. So we see an X-ray shot of Grant's body and we see that it travels up to his brain. Really good idea. Yeah. So, Grant goes home and immediately rages the fridge of all the meat. And I have to say for two people, that's a lot of meat.
The x-ray shot.
speaker-0 (21:20.472)
Great.
speaker-0 (21:30.04)
That's a lot of meat, man.
If the alien life form doesn't get grant, the heart disease will. That's a lot of fucking meat.
Girl, who keeps 10 one pound packages of 80 20 in their fridge? I just don't know. And then there was like four packages of like four packs of sausage. And I was like, what are these people doing?
So the next morning, Grant's making himself a bed of leaves in the basement and starts hearing the wafting notes of Every Woman in the World by Air Supply coming from the house.
Air Supply.
speaker-2 (22:06.864)
air supply.
He comes upstairs and he finds Starla ready to make up for not being in the mood the night before. Little Air Supply. Air Supply, this song gets played twice in this movie and the second time I had to think like, Air Supply, did you guys not read this script? Do you not care how your songs are represented? Because a lot of artists were like, well, let me see the script and let's see me how it's done. Because I'm almost like stuck in the middle with you with Reservoir Dogs. Like, is this going to change how people see my song forever? But Air Supply said, we don't get no fucks. Just give us the money.
Right, well because it's 2006. So I'm sure they were like, we'll just take what we can get at this point.
Yeah, glad to have the income.
Right, exactly.
speaker-1 (22:49.39)
start getting intimate and a very 70s, 80s, they start to get it on and we fade out. The next day at school, Starla is all aglow from her Grant Grant alien sex. that was the morning? yeah, I guess that makes sense.
No, it's that day.
TORGIRLS YOU SNUT!
Yeah.
Yeah. then Grant goes to the grocery store and buys a truck bed full of meat.
speaker-2 (23:14.254)
It's a it's a surprise for Starla. He's throwing a party. A meat party.
That's right.
You knew where that seat was going when he was talking to the butcher. Like, it'd be four steaks. You know what I'm gonna make it eight. No, I'll make it 12. And he's like, you having a party? Yeah, something like that. Something like that. Yeah. Oh. So start to come some for work to see that Grant has put a padlock on the basement door. Grant is acting strange. Even for Michael Rooker, he's acting strange. Something is going on.
Wilson for the wife.
speaker-2 (23:45.23)
So yeah, this threw me off because I did not understand that this stuff was taking place in the basement of their house. I was like, why is there a padlock on that? What is that? I don't think they did a great job of establishing the basement. That's kind of where his like hideout was where he was taking all of this stuff. There must be a scene in there that was cut that they were just saying, well, they'll figure it out later.
Yeah, I don't think she even says, why did you padlock the basement door? I think she just says, why is there a padlock on the door?
That would have been an easier way to establish, hey, here's the basement, da da. Or if you'd gone down there and randomly got a tool or something, you it's you have to.
You can see him carrying some of the meat down there. He opens the truck, the bed of the truck when he gets home, but then it cuts immediately to her being like, why does this door have, you know, lock on it?
Yeah, I think that's why I assumed it was the garage because he, it cuts from the truck to him unloading the meat. But yeah, was the basement. We're in the basement with heavy meat products. So while Starla's in the shower, we see our first glimpse of Grant's chest sausages, which I guess is really the only thing I can describe them as. They're alien tentacles that sneak out of his chest from time to time. standing at the shower just.
speaker-0 (24:57.166)
it
staring at his wife taking a shower. She turns around and then he turns around and says,
I gotta go get something to work. I'll something to work. boy.
You're gonna be laid for deer cheer!
Dear cheer.
speaker-2 (25:19.51)
Why do we always have to portray the South like this in films? I mean, come on.
I would assume there are towns where they are hunting. Where's James Gunn from? He seems like a California guy. He's from... Ah! Well, that is definitely a hunting state. just may have grown up in a not very sophisticated small town in the South. they didn't have the money for a deer cheer.
From Missouri, I think. okay.
speaker-2 (25:47.404)
Only the most sophisticated southern towns have a dear cheer, my friend Bob.
BINAS
We find out that Deer Cheer is the annual town deer hunting hootenanny. And Starla has to go alone because Grant Grant has went back to the office abruptly to get something. So she's at Deer Cheer alone. then...
To the nines!
yes.
speaker-1 (26:11.092)
Not season appropriate, by the way.
Right, beautiful updo. Nobody else looks as good as her. I'm like, what is she like the princess? Maybe she's the queen. Maybe that's why she's the queen of the deer cheer.
I- Wow, in my heart she is.
in my heart.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
speaker-1 (26:30.488)
Immediately we cut to Brenda Gutierrez's home and Grant shows up and interrupts her viewing of the toxic adventure on the television.
It's amazing, right? How good is that?
Which I don't think we've said that James Gunn, you know, came up writing scripts for Troma and came up in the Troma system. that's why there are several...
He wrote Dawn of the Dead. Snyder? Yeah, 2004 he wrote Dawn of the Dead.
Yes.
speaker-1 (26:57.838)
I did not know that. That's like one of my favorite remakes. So he shows up at Brenda's house, interrupts her watching Toxic Avenger. We cut back to Dear Cheer and Bill and Starla share an awkward conversation where we find out that Bill is now the chief of police. They start to reminisce a little bit and then you can tell Starla gets uncomfortable. So he asks where Grant Grant is and she said, I don't know, she'd be here by now. And she doesn't want to spend too much time alone with obviously someone she.
thing for at one time. So they go back inside to the dear cheer festivities.
I don't think it's her, by the way. I don't think that she doesn't want to spend time with him. I think she's scared that Grant is going to show up and catch her talking to him.
Yeah, true. The jealousy has been established. Yeah. There you go. There's a fine line between respect for your partner and fear of your partner. Right. But back at Brenda's, Grant gives Brenda a taste of the old chess sausages.
yes.
speaker-2 (27:56.354)
the old, the old sweet
And they go into her stomach and she starts convulsing on the couch. There's a baby now!
house
The story goes they wanted to make two tentacles instead of one because one was looking a little too peanut.
Yeah, makes sense. We all think of from beyond and Stuart Gordon's from beyond and it's like, well that pineal gland is obviously a forehead dick, right? It's forehead dick.
speaker-2 (28:15.342)
that makes sense.
speaker-2 (28:24.238)
Support Head Deck.
So yeah, so much for her finishing Toxy now. Starla gets home from Deer Cheer to a dark house and finds Grant turning into something else. And he does not look his best. Again, even for Michael Rooker, he doesn't look his best.
He's looking a little terrible.
He says it's just a bee sting. Said the doctor gave him a prescription for it. He's like a giant hematoma on his head. His face is breaking out and hot. So the very next day at work, Starla calls the doctor about Grant and he says he hasn't seen Grant over a year. And the doctor tells Starla to dig through the ditches and burn through the witches and slam in the back of his Dracula. Cause that doctor is fucking Rob Zahn.
He's terrifying looking.
speaker-2 (29:05.854)
It's Rob Zombie! I can't believe it! what, is James just like, hey buddy, listen.
I'm a
speaker-0 (29:13.878)
I got a little roll for ya.
I don't share this information in a lot of mixed company, I'm a huge Rob Zombie music fan. Not a huge Rob Zombie movie fan. Okay. I'm not a fan of his movies, but I have always since Wide Zombie. I'm a big fan.
Yeah, I get it.
I think me and you share that same sentiment there, Bart. We won't go down that road, but I could say if you were...
But I remember seeing House of Thousand Corpses the first time and the first 15 to 20 minutes of that movie Checked every box for me as a horror fan and as someone who was a serial killer Researcher when I was a kid fascinated by them first 20 minutes all fucking in I'm like this may be the best horror movie I've ever seen and then after that it was just a terrible Texas Chainsaw knockoff But that first 20 minutes and first time ever so Rainn Wilson speaking of office characters
speaker-0 (29:57.324)
Yeah, exactly.
speaker-2 (30:02.328)
Yeah, yeah, so she's talking to Rob Zombie like you do one does
Yeah. Talking to Rob Zombie as a person does that night, Grant drags garbage bags filled with rotten meat into an old barn in the woods. That's the very next thing we see where he has Brenda held captive. she says she's so hungry and that she thinks she's so hungry that she thinks she's going to die. And so he opens up the bags, dumps them on the floor and she starts chowing down on that rancid meat.
it's terrible.
Which I've never seen this actress in anything else that I recall to have you guys. I like her.
No. Yeah, I thought she was great. Her name is Brenda. Brenda James.
speaker-0 (30:40.558)
That's right.
Is her name Brenda Brenda by any chance? So yeah, she was great. She's chomping on this rancid meat. We go back to Grant's house and Starla has taken out the garbage, not filled with rancid meat. So Bill and Wally show up looking for Grant and they tell her that Brenda is missing and that witnesses say Grant was seen going into her house.
Brenda Brenda.
speaker-2 (31:01.91)
It must have been somebody that looked like Grant because you know there's so many people in town that look like Michael Rooker.
I loved how she immediately just a sweetheart of a character defending her husband. Like it could not be my husband. So she goes back inside, gets a baseball bat and busts the lock off of the basement door. Goes down to the basement and finds it filled with rotting dead animals, wolves, missing family pets, everywhere. Just dead.
This is where you realize this film is going to do what it needs to do. The set dressing of that scene and that basement is so gross. It's palpable. You can smell it. it creeps you out completely. It does its job. The set dressing absolutely does it. There's a really good one right after this.
Gross.
speaker-1 (31:51.682)
movie had a lot of jump scares and... Yeah, but I thought the music cue for the jump scares could have been dialed back a little bit. It was just like... Yeah, exactly. I'm not going to do it because the mic will go crazy, but it's like, Jesus Christ, turn it down a little bit. Come on.
This one goes to 11.
This is the scene where I had to shut it down when I was having my lunch.
Because you were happened to bring dead wolf for lunch that day.
My wolf stew was ruined. Yeah, crap.
speaker-2 (32:21.792)
Had that blood. Rax. Usual. Crap.
Well, you are from Alabama.
So she runs upstairs and calls Bill to say that, hey, there's a lot of dead animals in my basement, and I think my husband's really sick, and I didn't want to tell you earlier. So Grant shows up at the house, and he is all pissed and all gooey. And he chases Starla through the house and gets her to the floor.
Mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (32:48.078)
There's a great jump scare there though before. love that. Yeah, at the window. She's pacing in front of these two windows. She paces in front of the window once. Nobody's there. Paces in front of the other window. The camera's following her. And as soon as she comes back to that other window, he is standing right outside that window just staring at her. And it is super fucking creepy. And that's the first time you really see him in this sort of like new form of even more gross looking. And it's like, I mean, his makeup.
in this film anyway was unreal.
You'll noticing this scene, so they've started tilting down the left side of his mouth, and then it continues until later when it's just nothing but those jagged teeth. So they've started it. He's showing up. He chases Starla through the house, gets on top of her on the floor, and unleashes his gut kill bosses on her.
the teeth!
speaker-2 (33:39.15)
This gut kill boss!
I don't want to refer to them as pointed stomach dicks.
You gotta remove those casings first.
You've got to, you've got to. Absolutely. So he's got her on the floor. Those things are coming out. They're about to go into her and then Bill and the rest of the entire police force arrived to see, to see Grant and his jaw is one long elastic arm. can't suck its way back. So it's just kind of hanging in this elastic arm. And then he hurriedly scurries out the back door.
All three of them. No, all five of them.
speaker-2 (34:14.926)
He dislocated his shoulder during that scene. Did he really? And didn't tell anybody until the end of shooting that day. Correct.
damn!
subscribe
So he runs away. Now we have cops that have seen him and know that this is something. And then your average small town shoplifting. So graphic on screen says three days later. The mayor arrives at the police station and this is where we get a cameo by Lloyd Kaufman.
different than
speaker-2 (34:42.136)
How did I miss this?
Mr.
I'd love to know what his direction was because he's sitting there looking very confused and maybe a little, as they say in the South, pitched.
Right, he's credited as sad drunk.
Sad drunk. I would have credited him as confused drunk.
speaker-2 (34:59.278)
I missed it completely. I've got to go back and watch it just so I can find him. I missed it.
probably in his 60s then, but he looks good. He has good full head hair. Bill tells the mayor that they're looking for Grant, who's now some sort of squid creature. This is first time we see the dispatcher is Shelby, Jenna Fisher.
Jenna Fisher
Yep. Yep.
I never laughed in this movie. It's obviously comical. I found the mayor character off-putting. He said a lot of things that were supposed to be funny. I just didn't find it funny. But I did find this line humorous. He suggests that Grant might have Lyme disease.
speaker-0 (35:35.246)
back to the Deeter thing. Time to say-
He do you become a squid from la-
Yeah. Yeah.
They get a call about more dead animals and they decide to organize a posse to search the woods. They use their attack map, which is represented by squids. Squid stickers all over the map so they can triangulate where the squid attacks have occurred. So they're to go on this posse and Starla shows up and says she's coming along because this is her fault. She should have seen the signs. She should have seen the signs that her husband had been impregnated by an alien life form.
Squiz stickers.
speaker-0 (36:13.486)
But yeah, did you catch the, when they're arming up, a little bit of a predator cue with the music. I caught it quickly when they're arming up. was like,
Na na na na na.
This always kind of irks me about movies where, so the grenade, they mention that there's a grenade, you want to take that grenade. So they pass, but then later it still doesn't make an impact. It's almost like the acid in Return of the Living Dead. like, if you're going to mention it, make it really count.
And they pass.
speaker-2 (36:46.828)
Yeah, course, you know immediately, this is important. This is gonna be important. I need to remember this. Note to self. Yeah, you're right. And then later they recall it and it's a fail. And I'm like, that's not what that's supposed to be used for, I don't think.
Exactly. Again, right back to the acid return of the living dead. It's like, huh, you could have really done something with this. So the posse arrives at the farm of Otis Struthmeyer and his family for their stakeout. In this case, it's stake is spelled S-T-E-A-K because that's what's in the bag. At stakeout, Bill and Starla reminisce about when they were kids, when Starla was going to run away to Hollywood and asked Bill to come along as her bodyguard when he was 14 and she was 12. So they got history, folks.
They got Grant has arrived at the stakeout and he's completely morphed into something else. Now he looks like a six foot tall sea monkey.
history.
speaker-0 (37:40.69)
my God.
Yes. Yeah, they're saying that like his makeup process took up to like six hours a day as his transformation progressed throughout the film.
fucking doubt it.
Jeez.
Can imagine? Yeah.
speaker-1 (37:54.434)
For 20 year old film too, when the practical effects go into CG, it's pretty good.
Really good.
held up very well. They witness Grant kill a cow with one stroke and Starla decides that she's going to go talk some sense into her husband, who is now a giant way beyond a squid. She walks into the field and talks to him. They need to take him to get some help. And also that marriage is a sacred bond.
And it does hold up, yeah.
speaker-0 (38:11.758)
That's me.
speaker-0 (38:23.256)
She says.
speaker-0 (38:29.602)
Very sacred bond, yes. On his mouth. are... But again, great eye.
drooling. Michael Rooker, director, you know, there's emotion in his eyes, know, he has in his eyes, even though that's really all you can see of his face at this point are his eyes. And then one of the posse steps in, points his pistol at Grant, and then we get the fucking coolest kills you will ever see in any movie.
God
speaker-0 (38:40.492)
Absolutely.
speaker-2 (38:56.302)
1000 percent.
so well done. He stabs the guy with one of his fucking appendages and the guy splits in two. Not just body split in two, just completely halving his face. And if you noticed, as it halves, bruising starts under his eyes. It's so well done.
So well done. And even as his face like starts to part, like he can feel it. You see the actor, like feel it. He's not dead yet. No. he's feeling every single bit of that. And it's not until it literally like peels apart and his body becomes like just totally in half that of course he's dead by that point. But like, my. So fucking awesome. It is such a great effect.
God, it's
speaker-2 (39:48.308)
I was blown away.
is disemboweled at the end.
Everything just spills out.
And you realize at this point that you're into some body horror. Body horror. Here we go.
It's really not until then that you realize the danger that they're all in.
speaker-1 (40:03.0)
So Grant scurries away into the woods with the posse hot on his tail and in this case, literally his tail. They follow a trail of slime through the woods that leads them to the old barn where Brenda's being held. They go inside, there's Brenda. Brenda has let herself go to say the very least. She's essentially a head on a giant zit.
Okay.
speaker-0 (40:25.815)
No, that doesn't even give it justice. She was a meat balloon.
Hahaha
She a mean balloon. that was my favorite band in college, by the way.
You was a meat balloon.
speaker-2 (40:37.134)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Apparently this took weeks to design and the prosthetic weighed over 600 pounds. She was an absolute enormous meat balloon with a face in the middle of it. She's like, something's wrong with me. my God. She's like, I'm so hungry.
EASY
speaker-0 (40:55.437)
Hahaha
speaker-1 (40:59.224)
Can you hand me that possum so I can take a bite?
My god, poor Brenda, still alive.
When I saw that shot, I had a callback to Rick Moranis in Strange Brew, where he drinks all the beer and it becomes the
I pee so bad I can taste it! I got a whiz to throw! So yeah, she's ahead on big meat balloon.
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (41:22.767)
my god. I'll suggest that get her to the hospital.
And Wally's like, what the hell's the hospi-
we're gonna do.
And she starts cracking up and then Bill says, the bastard led us here. And then Brenda explodes and they're all covered in thousands of gooey duck-sized worms that just start crawling in every mouth that's open and available.
these little slug looking things just crawling everywhere and there are thousands.
speaker-1 (41:52.334)
Thousands of them. So Bill covers Starla's mouth and
tells the lesbian cop to cover her
Cover her mouth. I guess they're young worms. Young worms be free tonight. So they don't really know what to do. So they give up quickly. They can't get a mouth. So they just scram and they all just head off into the woods.
world.
speaker-0 (42:11.813)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
but the rest of the cops they get into. So you see them going into the mouths of the other cops and they get everybody but the mayor and the lesbian cop and then Starla and Ben.
bill.
So they're the four that have not had a worm. And then we follow the worms as they arrive back at the Strootmeyer house. Their daughter, Kylie is taking a bath and this is that shot that's in the movie poster from her in the bathtub. So she's in the bath. First we see a worm on the window and then we see a worm in the water. She's got headphones on, her eyes are closed and one's swimming towards her in the water and then jumps into her mouth, but she's fighting it.
where
speaker-1 (42:51.68)
So she's out of the tub. It's trying to get it in her mouth. It's halfway in. She's trying to pull it out. But while it's in her mouth, she gets a glimpse of the creature's existence throughout history and also sees everything that Grant has seen since he's encountered this thing, which I thought was a pretty rad device. So that way we see the origin, seeing where it's been throughout history and other worlds. So this thing has been around much like alien, much like the thing. This thing predates humans and has been around doing its
So she manages to get it out of her mouth and quickly discovers that her mom, dad, and then after that, her little sisters weren't so lucky. James Gunn gives no fucks about killing kids. There I said it. Those little daughters are just convulsing on the floor. You think he's gonna save them. And then she opens the door and there they are just flopping on the floor with worms going to their brains. The house is being overtaken with the worms that crawling everywhere. And Kylie has no choice but to jump off of the roof.
And it was a long hard fall. was. In one wide shout. Ouch. They didn't cut away.
No, they didn't.
Back at the barn, Bill can't get ahold of dispatch. The deputies who just recently got worm oral are all unconscious on the ground. Bill goes on foot through the woods to go back to the Strootmire farm to call for help and in the woods sees a deer overtaken by the worms. anything with a mouth hole, they're going for. At the barn, the mayor's ranting and ranting and this is one of those, just didn't find, most of it I didn't find entertaining.
speaker-0 (44:01.832)
and okay
speaker-1 (44:26.798)
I guess they're reiterating that he's a prick and then he also calls the gay officer Lesbo, which I guess is to also reiterate that he's prick. again, they just felt gratuitous. I got a full of lesbian references I want to use.
Yeah, I think there is something key that he does say here because the officer, you know, they're like checking and like, are they still alive? And Starla says, yeah, they're still alive. And she says, well, thank Jesus. And he's like, well, what in the hell does Jesus have to do with any of this? Like, what do you mean thank Jesus? Like that kind of made me laugh. And it's sort of like harkens back to sort of, think, some of the points that I think they're trying to make in this film. Anyway.
Here's where that jump scare that really got me. I can't remember what Starla is doing in the foreground, but in the background, Wally raises up into frame and I literally went, oh Jesus. And so he raises up and he starts talking to her and this is when we find out that any of these people that have been turned, Grant can speak through them. So Grant starts speaking to her, apologizing for attacking her and for taking Brenda.
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (45:36.182)
And then all of the deputies wake up and we see that he can speak through any of them. So any of the people that have been turned from him, he can speak through them. He can see through them, which is a pretty cool device. Back at the Strootmeyer house, Kylie gets into her father's truck. Of course, there's no keys. Why would there be? Her family attacks her while she's in the truck. They are now worm zombies. I think from here forward it's like...
Mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (45:49.697)
It is cool. Yeah.
speaker-1 (46:03.756)
A lot of these people are worm zombies. stagger around like zombies. Well, some don't. Some stagger, some can run, it sprints. Again, hey, I'm not gonna argue about people's physical attributes with a worm in the brain. Some can, some can't. Who am I to judge?
Who am I to We don't judge. don't judge. It's very invasion of the body snatchers.
The body horror comes into play.
yeah, from here on out, it's body horror after, it's body blow after body blow. Back at the barn, we see the worm turned people can also spit a burning yellow goo. Yes. And they spit it onto the female officer and it burns her and her face swells up and she dies. So Wally then is speaking to Starla as Grant and says, you know, she has a shotgun on him and he says, you're not.
She's out for the count.
speaker-1 (46:52.398)
to do that. You're nothing without me. can't do anything without me. And then another great effect. She blows Wally's head the fuck off.
Mm-hmm. Great headshot. Great headshot.
is great.
Bill arrives at the Stroopmeyer house and he sees that the family has all turned. Bill and Kylie take off in the squad car and Bill sees Starla stab one of the officers who was turned in the throat with a street sign.
my gosh, she is going after it. This is a funny line from the mayor.
speaker-1 (47:24.245)
yeah, what does he say?
He says something, I can't remember exactly what he says. She's a, yeah.
He's a hardcore bitch or something.
Yeah, she's a hardcore bitch. She's gone Sarah Connor.
Bill Starla, the mayor, and Kylie Struedmeyer all in the squad car. drive to town and a very awkward confusion. Bill gets Shelby on the radio and tells her to get the CDC involved, get them on the horn. It was cute, but I wouldn't call it funny. She says, your mom called, says you need to come fix the toilet from what you did on Sunday. And Nathan Fillion keeps cutting his eyes over to Starla and then.
speaker-1 (48:03.468)
The next scene we see Jenna Fisher, Shelby look up into the air vent above and the worms fall from the ceiling.
There goes Jenna. That's a pretty good screen.
She- No. Yeah, she does have a good scream there.
In the car, the mayor has a meltdown over some missing Mr. Pibb.
It was so mad about that.
speaker-1 (48:20.768)
And I did like the Southernism where he said, it's the only type of Coke I drink.
Yes, that made me laugh. Yes. another good one they had. It's only type of Coke I drink.
The mayor's meltdown over missing Mr. Pibb. Kylie tells them that she saw through Grant's eyes and saw that the creatures are from another world and that they go world to world, either impregnating or eating whatever they find. And they've been doing this for forever. They arrive in town and are T-boned by a pickup truck. And in one of the most efficient minor fender benders you will ever witness,
Are you
speaker-1 (48:59.911)
All four occupants are knocked unconscious.
Car doesn't flip, just... it just bumps it.
Just.
Yeah, hey, it's possible Bart. Everybody just completely knocked unconscious. Here's the part I also don't understand is that they had called Jenna to try to get dispatched. you get in touch with, know, who'd you get in touch with and is help on the way? And she's like, I've got a surprise for you. How did she coordinate that? The rest.
Yes it is.
speaker-0 (49:17.371)
Out cold.
speaker-1 (49:31.566)
Which thing? well, because they're all a universal mind at this point.
Live mind. Yes.
I know, but I guess did she just send subliminal messages to somebody with a truck that was nearby knowing exactly where they were?
I don't think she said, but she received. So she's like, I know what they're doing up there about the duty.
Yeah, okay. so she's she just sees it.
speaker-1 (49:55.02)
Yeah, and she's Grant. you know, Grant's also saying, I've got a surprise.
Okay. All right. Okay.
and... gut sausages! the gut sausages are out to touch ya!
That ain't my-
Hey
speaker-1 (50:08.152)
So they're all unconscious in the car. The worm zombies attack the car. They drag Starla out. Bill pulls Kylie from the car and they tuck off on foot and the zombies drag the mayor out as well. Kylie hides while Bill goes inside the station to call for help, but he gets inside and everything's dead. And I thought we would get a final Jenna Fisher showdown scene here. She's done. Instead, we get a worm-infested deer that attacks.
I thought so too.
speaker-2 (50:35.956)
Yeah, this one was weird. I thought the effects weren't really great here.
Yeah, I think that's why they kept it in the dark as much as they could. So he's attacked by deer. The deer, I think, bites him once and deer's on top of him.
Yeah, it looked pretty serious. Like it looked like it was biting his arm.
I mean, I'm no expert on deer attacks, but it looked like one of the more severe deer attacks that I've witnessed.
You know what it looked like? To me it looked like the ROUS attack on the Princess Bride. That's what it reminded me of.
speaker-0 (51:03.95)
Yeah.
Frankly, I don't think they exist.
Frankly, I don't think they exist. Yeah.
So while he's about to go down at the hooves of this deer, Kylie shows up and smacks the deer in the head with a fire extinguisher and kills the deer. School. Fail. Way to go, Kylie. Yeah, you know, it's starting to happen here where the anti-hero is really showing his skin and the women are starting to be the heroes of the story. Starla kind of happens later. But yeah, Kylie and Starla are the strong
Or from Kylie.
speaker-1 (51:40.6)
characters and then Bill is sort of
Dude, the women step up, they do. Yeah. In a big way.
They ultimately drive the survival of the film. And I do love that about it because they're making choices that drive the outcome. So it's definitely a great shift from sort of like the final girl to the final women, you know? Now, Bill obviously plays a good part in that. They are good team, but it is truly the women that make the decisions for Bill to even be able to do what he does at the end. It's because of the decisions that the women make.
We went from this teenage girl in the tub that you don't think is gonna be like a major character moving forward and now she's really an integral part of everything from here on out. I was confused by the whole family's introduction. I didn't know who they were. I don't think they did a good job of letting us know who they All of a sudden we're in their family's home, we're meeting their kids, we're meeting the mom and then the posse shows up at their house.
I love her art.
speaker-2 (52:37.044)
I don't even know if I still know who they are.
I think it was just the farm where he was killing the animals. as my assumption, if they were planting seeds of the teenage daughter being more important later, I didn't get it because I was still trying to figure out who the fuck are these people? What's?
That's my assumption too, yes.
speaker-2 (52:55.543)
It was like the same shot with the grenade where they're like, no, we're not going to take the grenade. And you're like, well, that means something.
Speaking of which, this is where he grabs the grenade finally, and he does take it. And outside, Bill thanks Kylie for saving his life, and he tells her, I'll probably tell the story the other way around, if we live.
Right. Which I don't know how I felt about that line. It just didn't feel like Bill. I know that he was probably like joking, but the thing is he doesn't really do like a wink and a nod to her with that line.
Well, she's a teenage girl, you know? I can see it within his character, because they joke later. I thought he was just saying, just so you know, teenage girl, I can't tell people that you saved my life. Right. And it's almost like it's going to come back later. It just feels like it is. Back at Starla's, all of the Grant-guided minions place Starla on her bed and change her into her nightgown, or have changed her into her nightgown. And she wakes up.
I know.
speaker-1 (53:54.81)
And here's noise coming from the other part of the house. But we immediately cut back to the basement and the mayor turns, he flicks his lighter and he sees that he's in the basement with all of these turns that are eating all of the flesh of all these.
speaker-1 (54:15.31)
That's a good review. I did like the woman's line, dude, like, don't look.
Look at me like that.
Yeah, it is interesting. It's like, that's something that you do notice throughout the film. As people are turning, I would say maybe except for the cops, but as people are turning, people begrudgingly become a part of the hive mind.
Even Grant was apologetic about it.
Exactly. And you see it with the mayor layer and you see it with Brenda.
speaker-0 (54:48.778)
think that's part of the horror, like how much of them is still fighting the alien consciousness. Because back when Starla's trying to recoup rejecting him, he starts crying. And it's like, that the alien? Or is that Grant? Like, what's happening there?
Right. You're right. You're right.
speaker-2 (55:08.002)
Yeah, yeah, that's a good call.
At this point, the mayor gets turned by the stomach sausages and Starla takes her hairbrush that has the most pointy handled hairbrush you're ever gonna find. Very deadly. And moves the hairbrush part from it. Very deadly and slips it into her underwear. Were they really that sharp?
Gosh.
speaker-2 (55:26.22)
They were made like that though.
No, no way.
Maybe not quite that chart, but I have seen a couple of them that did have a little bit of a point at the bottom, but not that chart, no.
She slips that very sharp hairbrush into her Elizabeth Banks underwear. And it's kinda hot.
Gotta hide it somewhere,
speaker-2 (55:44.942)
Not much else to hide it underneath that nightgown.
Outside the bedroom, we see Grant's tentacle turn on the stereo, and again, we hear air supply.
Air supply rocking again, getting everything in the mood.
And this is where I was talking about like did air supply not approve this grip because we get to hear air supply where we see the mayor eat his first human being. It's like, are you guys good with this? Let's go to us. I mean, that's actually what we had in mind when we wrote the song. It was, that was about a man eating every woman in the world.
Sounds good.
speaker-0 (56:20.888)
Ha, ho, ho.
like, meh, works for us.
So Starlove leaves the bedroom, walks out into, I guess it's the living room slash kitchen, I guess the kitchen. And she sees that her husband Grant, Grant Grant, is now a giant job at the hut and stretched all over the ceiling.
Kids!
ceiling the floor it takes up in half of the room
speaker-1 (56:43.374)
It's like a flesh web, every week.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good word for a flesh web. Yeah. And it's almost like you can see through it too in places and it's real gooey and sticky.
speaker-1 (57:02.538)
Can you imagine going into a haunted house and that being an exhibit in the haunted house with that person in the center? apparently.
They used so much silicone to make these effects that there was a national shortage for months.
No!
Yes, there you go.
Doesn't surprise me.
speaker-1 (57:19.704)
Me neither.
Women in LA everywhere were so upset.
Thankfully, the Kardashians were very young at the time.
They had already had theirs done.
Outside, Bill sees Starla through the window and he decides he's going in. So, Kylie says that I'm not staying out here, I'm going with you. So he and Kylie sneak around the house trying to go in house. Inside, Grant speaks to Starla through all of the bodies, these bloody bodies that are all now attached to him. Great scene, creepy as fuck.
speaker-2 (57:55.864)
Yes. Yeah. When the bodies are becoming part of him, that is so well done. And you see all of these people, some of them you just see their heads, some of them you see like their elbows. I mean, it feels very H.R. Geiger alien-esque, you know, as they become part of this like meld and this hive of what the alien has built, right?
speaker-2 (58:23.616)
That's absolutely what it looks like.
And I
And at this point, Grant is starting to look like a giant living room size set of old man balls.
I like the guy. You see him wade into the. Yeah.
Gooo- Sliding his body into it, yeah.
speaker-2 (58:40.222)
There's one shot where you see like the side of his face becoming part of it and he kind of lifts his face up a little and you see it like extend out the slime like the goo. it's so good. It's so well done.
speaker-1 (58:58.114)
Very from beyond. Yeah. But from beyond, they were a little more plasticky. didn't move as much as they did.
Right, yeah, this is like cheese from a pizza, know, I mean like you see it. know, pizza the hot.
Ha
Grant wraps his tentacles around Starla and she calls him Grant and he softens and slowly starts removing his tentacles and his grip on her. So she walks in close to him and says, he doesn't have to be alone anymore. We can be together.
She is face to face with him. Like she's about to have to kiss him. And I was like, my God, if she kisses him right now, I'm gonna barf.
speaker-1 (59:37.848)
She leaned in, she was leaning in to kiss him and then pulls out her underwear weapon and stabs him right the fuck in the head. all of the minions that are in his body start screaming because they're all filled with pain and then he just slaps her across the room sending her flying into the wall.
and she goes straight into like a piece of furniture and it comes down with her. I was like, man, that poor stunt double, that looked painful.
That was an incredible stunt. was like, wow.
That was. That was a great stunt.
This is when Bill and Kylie come in and steps in the door. And the first thing he sees is the mayor on his knees and the mayor's turn. He's like, please kill me. And immediately Bill just pulls out his pistol and just shoots him in the
speaker-0 (01:00:23.724)
Yeah. No hesitation. No hesitation to take a
Don't have to ask me twice.
They get into the kitchen and they see Grant. Bill pulls the pen on the grenade and Grant immediately knocks the grenade from his hand. Bill scrambles to pick it up from the ground. He picks up the grenade and then Grant with his giant tentacle just knocks him out the window and out by the pool. The grenade rolls into the pool and explodes in the pool. Grenade useless.
You
Why did we do all of that lead up to the grenade? Can anybody answer that?
speaker-1 (01:00:58.156)
I guess it's a red herring where they thought it would be the one thing that was going to destroy him and then...
So then when it doesn't you think, God, now are they going to do?
It's hopeless now.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Hopelessness.
This feels like the highest budget trauma film that you've ever seen. That's what it kind of feels like to me. It feels like a really well-made trauma film with a lot of money. And some of the script and the campiness and silliness of it kind of feels like trauma.
speaker-0 (01:01:25.964)
I think so too, maybe James Gunn had this ready to go for trauma until he got to Golden Circle Films I believe.
I was wondering that too. Grant throws a couch at Kylie and the couch just knocks Kylie to the ground. In fact, we just assume that Kylie's done for at that point. And then he sends his tentacles out the window and sticks them into Bill's stomach. So he's got those two pointy tentacles stuck in his stomach. Bill is able to pull one out. And next to him is a propane canister and it's leaking. So Bill pulls.
Okay.
speaker-1 (01:02:02.68)
the one tentacle out shoves it into the nozzle of the propane canister and the propane starts going into Grant's body.
Yeah, that was just the Mary Poppins canister, wasn't it? That just kept going and going and going and going and going.
They must have just sprung a leak. Grant then pulls Bill back into the house. And while he's on the floor and one of the tentacles still in him, he tells Starla, shoot him. And Starla grabs the gun from the floor, points it at her former husband. He looks at her like, are you really going to do this? And she shoots Grant, who is filled with propane and he explodes everywhere. And now all of the worm zombies are dead.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, you see them all, they, you know, do the shot of all of them headed towards the house to become part of the Grant blob. And they just fall down, you know, so it's, think it's a great effect. I think you're right. If they had like snapped into consciousness and been like, where's the family? Now that I've snapped out of it, I'm sorry that everybody's dead, but it still was the right thing to do.
speaker-1 (01:02:59.106)
Yeah, I like seeing all those people fall.
speaker-0 (01:03:10.924)
I so too.
Yeah, my first thought would be like, so that worm is dead in your brain now? So now you're Robert Kennedy? So Bill is barely alive and Starla helps him up and Starla, Bill and Kylie walk out into the yard and they see that everyone's dead. Their bodies littered. Starla says, bet you regret not running off to Hollywood with me now. And Bill says, hell Starla, I always regretted that. So that sentence tells you.
Mm-hmm.
They're just gonna be fine together.
Just fine.
speaker-2 (01:03:44.44)
personally thought Bill was a goner. was like, well, Bill's going to go down and it's going to be the end of Bill. But it's because of what Kylie says that makes you realize that Bill's going to be fine. She says he's going to be OK because both tentacles have to go inside of you in order for everything to take effect and just one officially completely went inside of Bill. So that's how you know Bill is going to going to live.
So apparently you gotta have both sweet Italian sausages go inside ya.
in the state.
pink one
You gotta have the whole case and go inside of your bar. No matter where they go in the pink or the stink, they both gotta go in.
speaker-0 (01:04:21.452)
The Double Finger.
speaker-1 (01:04:27.51)
I my entire life I'm a two sausage guy.
What did you call it?
You to kill this.
Yeah, you gotta have both gut kill bosses go inside of you for it to take effect.
my god.
speaker-1 (01:04:41.74)
And we got a call back here. Kylie tells Starla how Bill saved her from a deer.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
And then we kind of pan out.
That's how that happens. then, well first Bill says the hospital's a couple of miles down the road and he's got this big gash wound in his, and then they walk right past trucks and cars that they could drive to the hospital. But I guess James Gunn really wanted that crane shot. So they're on foot, gonna walk a couple.
Gotta pay for the crane shot. Yeah, nice pretty
speaker-1 (01:05:12.91)
It's pretty.
They can't magically get access to those keys and that you know and they just don't have time to check we're just gonna walk on by
Bye.
I'm no doctor, but they say extreme exercise is really good for massive stomach wounds. maybe that's. Walk it off.
I'm
speaker-2 (01:05:27.63)
Absolutely.
Walk it off. Salt pill.
Take a soft pill. Take a knee. Oh my God. So that's it. That's the end of the movie, except for after the credits, there's a shot of a cat walking up to the remains of Grant and sniffing it. And we see a little wiggle in the remains. And then the screen goes black and you hear a noise and the cat screams. So it's not dead.
And, leather!
speaker-2 (01:05:53.816)
It's not dead. I'm not quite dead yet
Still slow.
So yeah, that's it. Mike, what we typically do is ask a few questions and sort of fill in any gaps that we may have had. At this point, I'm usually sick of hearing my own fucking voice. So I would love for Lindsay to ask me questions.
Yeah, so on a scale from just straight up horror to full on comedy, where does this land for you guys? How does it strike the balance between horror and comedy? Where does it land on the meter? More comedy, more horror, where's the mix?
I think for me, it goes straight horror. I mean, there's a little bit of comedy, but I think with the body horror, and especially with the kids in peril, that to me is where it tips the needle. I say 70 horror, 30 comedy, because mainly the comedy is how people were reacting in some one lines. And then of course, Starla stabbing the shit out of that guy with that street sign. And then the reaction of Kylie is like,
speaker-0 (01:06:54.574)
Yeah, I think with the goo and the grotesqueness of Grant and, you know, the things that are happening to the townspeople and how everyone's being absorbed. I think that's the horror male that really comes to the surface more than the common.
Yeah, I a thousand percent agree. I would even go more. I think it's probably 90 10 I think it okay. I think it's way more I do think that the lines that are funny to me are funny, you know, I mean it doesn't necessarily have to be like
laugh out loud funny, but there are some really funny moments. Like you're saying when Starla is stabbing that guy or, I mean, there's some funny moments, but I mean, think it's truly 90-10. It's pretty horrifying. I think Filian had recalled Gunn telling him, we're making a funny movie, but we're not making a comedy. And so I think that kind of speaks to where he wanted it to land too. And I think he exceeded there. I think it's far more horror than comedy. What say you, Juby Shannon?
Yeah, let's see you part.
Well, I agree with both of you. I'd go 80-20, but it's definitely more horror than comedy. I always think of the scene where they're at the stakeout and we see him in the field where he kills that cow. At this point, he's like four feet tall because his lower half is like a squid. So I say silly, but not silly in a that's dumb way, but silly in a I can't be frightened by that way.
speaker-1 (01:08:20.179)
So I'd say 80-20, it's a horror movie with funny elements, but there are times like that where it's almost like saying, we're not gonna take this too seriously. He's four feet tall, even though he can kill you and cut you in half, this is how he looks. He's not 11 feet tall. Had he grown massively at the beginning, it would have been totally different. But he's not threatening enough for his wife to even be too scared to walk out in the field and talk to him after he just murdered a cow.
Right.
So yeah, I'd say 80-20.
Yeah, gotcha. Okay. So if you're trying to get this movie green lit or just trying to convince a friend to watch it, what would your elevator pitch be? This is always a good one. Yeah.
This is fun. I said a snail trail of an alien invasion movie with sprinkles of humor to delight horror fans
speaker-2 (01:09:09.421)
I like that. That's Good one. What do you think Bart?
I'd say it's a gross-out creature feature that never takes itself too seriously.
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I threw a little shout out to Jenna Fisher in there, not because of her accent, but I said, it's the blob meets the office, a love story gone wrong with alien slugs, small town chaos, and way too much meat.
Ha
beds full of meat.
speaker-2 (01:09:49.314)
So would you recommend this movie to everyone or only a certain kind of fan? Like what's the right audience for Slither?
think any horror movie fan, well see, I know there's some horror movie fans that don't like horror comedy, but I think this tips it into the horror vein more, so I think they would enjoy it. It's not overwhelmed with comedy, there's not too much of that going on. And plus with the gross out effect that it has, I most horror fans would probably, I would recommend that to your good horror movie fan. Yes, Adam.
little
Yeah, yeah, I mean, think anybody if you say, hey, you know, listen, if you if you like guns, other films, you should definitely watch it. If you're a fan of his, it's his directorial debut. But I would have a hard time. Like I think about certain friends of mine, I would not say, my God, you have to watch this movie. You know, it doesn't have the watchability like A Shaun of the Dead, where I would recommend that to literally anyone walking on the face of the planet. Right. It has you have to appreciate sort of
dark humor, but you have to have a high tolerance for grossed out horror. yes. For me, there are so many of my friends that don't have that tolerance. They would turn it off as soon as his arm wraps around her. I think they would be like, okay, I'm done. Or the basement scene, like when you lost your lunch, that would be, okay, we're turning this off now. we just, can we put on something else? Can we watch when Harry met Sally? I did. You know, I just think it would, so I would have a hard time recommending it to everybody, but I think if you're a gun,
speaker-2 (01:11:21.304)
fan, you watch it. If you're a Creature Feature fan, you absolutely watch it. But yeah, not everybody for sure.
I think I would recommend it to a very specific group of people. Like Mike said, lot of people don't like horror comedy and I mean despise horror comedy. I even met a guy in Seattle that said there's no such thing as horror comedy. It's just horror with some comedic elements in it. I would not like... he was such a contrarian. I had a conversation with... Yeah. He disagreed with everything.
Does he know he's wrong?
speaker-2 (01:11:49.996)
He probably also only likes IPA.
Probably does. Damn, those loggers.
He probably does.
was loggers.
I would recommend Return of the Living Dead, a horror comedy to anybody. If it's somebody I knew that liked Camp and James Gunn fans, I think that's who I'd recommend. My final thing is, would I recommend it, this film? I'm gonna say no. I came away with the same feeling I felt 20 years ago. I thought it was okay. I liked all of the elements. And then when you put it together,
speaker-0 (01:12:05.442)
Yes, absolutely.
speaker-2 (01:12:13.122)
Yeah, yeah, I you're right.
speaker-0 (01:12:21.142)
speaker-1 (01:12:30.314)
It never won me over. Wow. Yesterday or 20 years ago. I guess because I never, I never felt scared and I never laughed a lot.
Why do you think that is?
speaker-0 (01:12:42.451)
okay.
wonder if there's enough of enough of a dive into the characters for the type of film this is for you to ever really truly care. Not that we're supposed to care in horror films all the time right but I mean even in Return of the Living Dead I'm constantly worried about poor Freddy. I'm invested in what's happening to him you know I don't know everything about his backstory but I know enough about some of these characters I mean
I don't know, and does that ever really happen in this movie where...
We don't know those cops other than Bill. We don't really know them. And so when they die, it's like, meh, we never got to know you anyway. So we give you a dress, because they didn't take the time to flesh you out.
Yum.
speaker-2 (01:13:26.222)
Right, I think we care about Elizabeth Banks. Yeah. I don't know if we necessarily care, we don't really care about what happens to Grant. Listen, Kylie is probably the person I care the most about. Honestly, definitely the women. Yes. Yeah, I liked it. I liked the effects. I thought that the practical effects were awesome. I don't always like creature features. In fact, I'm like you, it's probably, I can give or take really.
Yes, I agree with that, yes.
speaker-2 (01:13:52.536)
but I just thought that the effects in this one were really, really good and very realistic. And so I don't know, I liked it. I'd recommend it to Mike Thorpe.
Just don't eat while you're watching!
Alright, that's all I kinda got.
Well good, it fun to watch.
But again, I don't I didn't hate it. Yeah, I don't even dislike it. It just didn't completely win me over I mean Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker just those two alone. I'm huge fans of both of them and It is what it is. I guess yeah, so that's slither. That is James Gunn's slither 2006
speaker-2 (01:14:29.802)
I liked it. Mike, guess you'd recommend it maybe. Yeah, you could watch it again.
Yes, absolutely. Nice and nasty, slimy, gooey, gooey, invasion.
body horror. There's plenty to enjoy. Plenty. That wraps up another episode, folks. How about that?
I need to...
Enjoy!
speaker-0 (01:14:47.18)
Alright!
Yeah, how about that? How much fun was this? Did you have fun, Mike? Or were you like, I can't believe I did this, this is waste of my time?
I have to tell you, extended this invitation, I was beyond giddy. And then I had another side of my brain going, calm down, dude. It's just a podcast. And I go, I go, nah, I'm going to enjoy and marinate my joy. Never deny yourself joy. Never, ever.
When you
speaker-2 (01:15:13.198)
That's right. Well, we were excited to have you on for sure. I mean, you you're a film aficionado, so we definitely were excited to have you be a part of it.
Thank you so much.
speaker-1 (01:15:22.702)
Yep, absolutely. Yeah, it was great meeting you as well.
Yes, Bart, nice meeting you. I hope that the podcast keeps going. I'm going to be listening at every.
I appreciate it. was telling a friend recently, you should listen to this podcast I'm doing. said, yeah, I know before you even say it, saying, yeah, I have a podcast now is like saying I'm a DJ in the early 2000s.
Yes, I know. Everyone in the grandmother's got a pocket.
Liz Lemmon's boyfriend selling pagers.
speaker-2 (01:15:46.924)
But you know what's funny is that I feel like this is like I think we're over the hump now right where people are less annoyed by it and go okay well that's cool if you're starting one now it must mean it's good. Right. I literally tell people like on planes that I'm on if I strike up a conversation with them I'm like hey listen I got this podcast you should listen to.
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:16:09.536)
Yeah, spread the gospel.
These poor random people I meet on planes. I was on the plane with somebody recently who said, you know what, it's funny, I've got a friend who I think would really love this. He loves this genre. And I was like, cool. So you never know. Yes.
Thank you for spending your Sunday with us and I hope the rest of your day goes smashingly and yeah, let's stay in touch.
absolutely. And Lindsay, love your friend, good seeing you again.
Thank you, Mark.
speaker-1 (01:16:38.914)
Lindsay.
Yes, love you too. while I'm I listen, we talk to each other almost every day anyway, so I'll talk to you. Bye friend.
Alright, awesome song. Bye guys. Alright Mike. Hey, that was Mike.
I'm so glad the two of you got a chance to meet. I've known you both for the longest time and I just your paths I knew had never crossed but man that was so much fun having two of my favorite people hanging out with y'all.
That was fun. That was our, I think our second creature feature that we've done with arachnophobia being the first. Arachnophobia, in my opinion, far superior.
speaker-2 (01:17:16.236)
Well, John Goodman's not in slither.
That's true. Yeah, nobody had their own saxophone theme music in this movie.
Harmonica entrance anyone? Yeah, that didn't happen here.
Say one thing that I took away from this. I have not seen Henry portrait of a serial killer in over 10 years. I don't even want to guess 20 years. Yeah. I think I'm going to revisit it soon.
absolutely. I mean, he's so good in it.
speaker-1 (01:17:46.594)
How about me and you go grab us a
Tell you what, he's got such a great voice and that perfect creepy kind of sound.
And I didn't know he was from Alabama. That explains the accent that he has.
and why his accent was good in this film, right? As opposed to, I don't know, others.
Whoo, another one in the books!
speaker-2 (01:18:07.138)
That's right, that was a good one. We've got lots of good ones.
That was a
I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day and as always Lindsay, this is an absolute joy.
Absolute joy. hope you do too, my friend. Every second I get to do this podcast with you. Same. Okay, we'll talk to you soon. Bye!
Bye!
speaker-1 (01:18:32.088)
Music for this podcast is provided by MKE. To hear more of his music, visit his band's website at detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.
you