Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Welcome to the return slot of Horror, a podcast set in the basement of a video store much like the one from your youth, a place where Mickey, Marika, and Michelangelo hang out after hours, talk about horror films, and can't seem to agree on much other than their love for the genre. So grab a drink, be careful on the stairs, and don't be the last one left in the basement at the end of the night.
[00:00:41] Hello, listener, and welcome to the return slot of horror.
[00:00:50] Ow.
[00:00:55] So we're a podcast recorded in the basement of our video store. Now, typically, we are three friends. Tonight it's just the two of us, but the three of us own and operate a video store after hours, when the moon is glowing pale blue on a brisk and breezy night, we like to hang out in the basement, crack open a drink, and discuss our beloved genre, horror.
[00:01:27] Now that's good.
[00:01:33] This genre has intrigued, disturbed, delighted, aroused, and confused us. In short, we're totally, hopelessly in love with it. So every episode, we invite you, listener, to join us for a drink as we discuss a film after hours selected from one of our painstakingly curated subsections of the video store. That's right, subsections. Mickey, can you kind of explain what I mean by these subsections for those who are unlucky enough to maybe have grown up without a mom and pop independent video store? Oh, well, sure. So back in the day, before they were streaming, before the big blockbuster takeover, there were these independent video stores that would stalk the classics new releases. But more importantly, they had a robust horror section. And to appease the appetite of movie nerds like me and Michelangelo, they would even work directly with distributors to fill the shelves. There was that much content they had to put up there for us to devour. And these mom and pop shops were responsible for taking the horror genre from limited theater runs and late night drive ins to every small town in America. But what really made these video stores special were the people working in the store. They were stocking the shelves, curating personalized sections, and making recommendations based on conversations, not on algorithms.
[00:02:53] So here at the return slot of horror, we keep that spirit alive and strong. Welcome to the store, listener. Or better yet, welcome to the conversation.
[00:03:02] That was beautifully put.
[00:03:07] I don't know that I did the right thing. No, what you said was perfect. But the subsections, meaning. And this ties into what you said. Absolutely. So you're a part of our conversation, and part of that is us going through the subsections of our video store. These sections are painfully and painstakingly curated by myself, Michelangelo, and Marika. And we will have sections that are really personal to us. Sections like child frights. They'll have films that scared us as children. We'll have sections like the King Tyrion collection, our picks for the best adapted Stephen King films. That's just a sample of our sections, and they go on and on. And the section we're in right now.
[00:03:50] Yeah, the section we're in right now is werewolf DeWolf, for those of you who get that joke. God bless.
[00:04:02] So in our video store, much like others that follow this suit, you could spend all day trying to find a film like Monster Squad. You got to talk to the people who work there. You got to build a relationship. You got to join the conversation.
[00:04:17] So, like Mickey said, this week we find ourselves in the werewolf werewolf section of the video store. But I must admit, I'm pulling a fast one on you a little bit. You're also going to find our film tonight, the Scream Factory Blu ray release from 2019 in the King Tyrion section. And you will also find the Paramount release on VHS from 1986 in the child Fright section. Right. And then you will also find the Paramount DVD from 2002 in the aforementioned section we are discussing tonight, Verwolf werewolf.
[00:05:02] So I just had to talk some more about King, and I thought this was a good, like, I get to talk more about King, and we get to discuss a section of the video store that includes some monsters. Yeah, I love it. This is a classic class. Here's what I'll say. You got Stephen King, who is going to be dripping all over this store, right? And then you got your big classic universal monsters like the werewolf. So it's only fitting that as we go out of the King Tyrion collection, that we wean ourselves off of king by doing more king. More king.
[00:05:48] I'm going to do a little heroin, and then that'll wean myself off the heroin. It's like hair of the know. After you've had a night of binging a lot of Stephen King, you got to have a little dose of Stephen King to get off Stephen King. It works. But it is the first step towards alcoholism, for sure. That is very never. Okay. I hear it works. I don't know from firsthand experience if it works, because I've heard that that's the first step towards alcoholism. Drink responsibly. So I've never done it. And speaking of alcoholism, Mickey, what are we drinking tonight? Typically, if you're a constant listener of the podcast, you will know that Marika has a spooky cocktail that she recommends. And unfortunately, she's not with us tonight. Were you able to carry? Oh, so was I. So what's your spooky cocktail creation for this? So mine comes directly from Marika. So Marika, I just said to her, hey, didn't even, you know, like Ebony, just scrooge while he's collecting money and stuff. He just doesn't even look up from know, coins and just kind of talks to you. Not even, like, paying attention. It was a similar interaction I had with Marika. I walked in, she's doing taxes. I was like, hey, Marika, we're doing silver bullet. Do you have, like, a cocktail maybe like a spooky cocktail you want to throw in there? Didn't even look up. She goes, yeah, it's called the peacemaker. I said, okay, what's that? And she's jotted down on this piece of paper and handed it to me. So here I am with a drink called the peacemaker. This is how you make a peacemaker. It's 15oz of Coca Cola. Or it doesn't have to be Coca Cola. It could be any cola that you prefer. It could be Pepsi, maybe Coke or Pepsi. It's got to be coke or Pepsi for the movie we're talking about. It's got Pepsi.
[00:07:30] So then you do that. You take three cloves, three cardamom pods, two whole star anise.
[00:07:38] Anus. It's anus, isn't it? Anus? No, it's anus. Yeah, it's anus. One large. You are right. I'm sorry. I'm being actually think it is. I think it is pronounced.
[00:07:52] It's Uranus. That's it. One large cinnamon stick, one sprig of fresh rosemary. This is a very involved drink. Yeah. Then once you combine all that and you reduce it down by boiling it, you get yourself this really.
[00:08:09] You get this really beautiful rosemary spiced cola syrup. Then you add that to one and a half ounces of wild turkey 101. Make sure and take a swig out of the bottle as you're pouring it in. Half an ounce of scotch, one four ounce lemon juice, one dash of angastura bitters. And then for garnish, you want to shave a cinnamon stick down into a tiny little baseball bat. And if you have the time, you can etch the word peacemaker into the cinnamon stick. Then add one eight teaspoon activated charcoal powder. Stir with a silver spoon, sprinkle with some dry ice on top to create a fog effect, and serve during a full moon.
[00:08:51] I got to have one of those.
[00:08:54] That's involved. That is involved. That's why you only do it once every full moon. You can't do that every evening. That would be, that's like half your evening right there. If you have a drinking problem, start drinking those because you're not going to be able to over consume those. No, one and done.
[00:09:11] I'm going to make a big batch of that for Halloween next year. I love that.
[00:09:16] Like a big cauldron. Is it safe to drink dry ice?
[00:09:22] Yes and no. You don't want the dry ice to actually touch your mouth or to drink it. That's bad. But if it's in the concoction that you've made and you don't drink it, it's safe. Does that make sense? Yeah. So you have to be careful with it. But it's fucking cool. It's fucking cool. So cool.
[00:09:45] When we met at the acting conservatory, we went to my mother, God bless her, sent me steaks because we had no money for food. She sent me some Omaha steaks and there was dry ice. And were you with me when I made like the explosive device that I made that I threw out the window of the Stratford arms, which is mentioned in catcher in the Rye. I do not remember living on the Upper west side.
[00:10:15] If Marika was here, she might remember because I think I did it in her room. But just like an empty plastic bottle. It wasn't a glass bottle, but I made like a little, it just makes like a loud noise. And this is literally right before September 11, right? Yeah.
[00:10:36] Anyways.
[00:10:39] Yeah. What are you having?
[00:10:41] Did you get a cocktail together for this thing?
[00:10:44] Well, I'm not drinking the cocktail. I'm having part of the cocktail, but my cocktail is called riding the silver bullet. I like that.
[00:10:54] So it's a Coors light, which is the silver bullet of beers. Absolutely.
[00:11:00] Also, I don't believe Coors Light is advertised in this movie, but Coors and Budweiser are.
[00:11:12] Interesting fact about Coors Light got the nickname the Silver Bullet because when they started making them, the factory workers gave them the nickname because they looked like all the bullets in a. Is it a bandito? Is that what it is? Where it's got like all the bullets in the. Yeah, they looked like that and that's how it got the name.
[00:11:34] And it's that with a shot of patron. So kind of like a boiler, but. But with Coors light and patron silver, obviously. Yeah, obviously.
[00:11:44] So it's the antithesis of your drink. I love that. No, I like that. We have two spooky cocktails. We have got two spooky cocktails.
[00:11:56] I could have yours all night long.
[00:11:59] That tequila will sneak up on you, brother. Oh, sure will.
[00:12:04] So, yes, let's get back to the film we're talking about tonight, the 1985 cult classic Silver Bullet, also known as the only clue is it the full moon? Which is the correct italian pronunciation of the italian release.
[00:12:27] Now, this is based on the 1983 Stephen King novella, or novelte. I never know which is which cycle of the werewolf. And this is directed by Dan Addis, written by King, produced by the infamous Dino de Laurentis, and starring Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Corey Haim. Megan follows Terry O'Quinn and some other really amazing character actors as. Really? Really?
[00:13:01] Yes. So whose pick was this, Mickey? Yours. You were really hot on this one. Yes. I really wanted to do this. I wanted to do this in the King Tyrion section. Yeah, he wanted to do this so bad that he formed another section in the store just to be able to do this.
[00:13:27] Why did you choose Silver Bullet? What was the call?
[00:13:31] So I never saw this completely as a kid.
[00:13:39] I caught parts of it. And this is a movie. I don't know about kids today, but when I was a kid, this movie had a huge effect on me in how serious in its tone I took it to be. Right. I didn't get any of the cheesiness or the corniness or the culty, campy elements of it.
[00:14:05] For me, its original attention, I think in its story, really hit with me. It was very scary. Anytime. And you've talked about this with, like, monster Squad. Anytime there's a movie where there's. Yeah, right. And you're a kid, you just automatically, ah, I'm connected with that character. And Corey Haim is like, so really brilliant in this movie. So good. He's fucking great in this movie. It's a very underrated performance in my book. I agree. A physical, like, he's really handling the disability pretty well because I was kind of watching for that a little bit to be like, well, I'm sure he's going to, but he was really good and very, like, sticking that. I thought he did a really good job. Young actor.
[00:14:51] Yeah. And I think everybody's performance in this across the board is, you know, I usually mentioned this a little earlier, but, Mickey, we're not film critics, we're not film historians. We're not going to do, like, a deep historical dive on this film. There are other podcasts that do that, and that's great. What we're doing more is like shining a light on our love of the film and how it's affected us and how these films overall sort of bond us in our friendship. Sure.
[00:15:30] We may say facts about a film that are not true.
[00:15:34] Oh, that's definitely possible. I mean, that's a guarantee, because we're not getting this stuff from the Encyclopedia Britannica. We're getting this stuff from the Internet and hazy memories that I have as a kid of something I hurt. That's where some of my knowledge I'm pulling from is. Like, I remember somewhere someone telling me this thing. Yeah, that's not what we're here for. We're the video store you go to. We're the local guys that you talk to about movies. We love them, and that's why you talk to us about them, because our love for these films will hopefully, I hope. If you haven't seen the films, I'm not really sure why you're listening, but I hope that maybe our conversation will inspire you to watch some of these films.
[00:16:21] Yes.
[00:16:23] Beautifully said.
[00:16:25] Now, that said, we might from time to time have a critique or a critical thought. We do not think that we could have done it better. No. Right. But especially with this film. And I love this movie so much, but it's not perfect. It's got a lot of issues, questions, concerns.
[00:16:52] And we've talked about this before, Mickey, as soup. It's impossible to make a movie. It's so fucking hard.
[00:17:00] It's herculean. Yeah. You got to collaborate with so many people. You got to get these things together. It's very difficult. And sometimes what would have been a good movie is less than because of production issues.
[00:17:15] Sometimes movies are made in committees not made by a single otour or not that any movie is really made by a single otur. But what I mean is that sometimes visions, we don't even get to see the final vision. So trust me, a film, whether it has, I have a critique of a film or not, it does not change the fact that I am just in awe of the fact that they were able to pull a film off. I have attempted this in my life to put together a film, and I stop on step one. So to even see it through, I mean, honestly, to see it through is monumental. So there's not going to be any of that kind of hate here. I think that every filmmaker is going for something. They're putting their artistry and heart into it sometimes. Most of the time.
[00:18:01] Right? Yeah. I'm here to go with it.
[00:18:05] Yeah. And to what you said, I think you need a single creative vision to push through and then a team of people to support that vision. And when that vision is compromised and controlled by people who are more in the monetary section of how the film is made, which is an important section, you got to have money to make a movie. Sure.
[00:18:33] Then those things get compromised. So anyways, talking about hazy memories, we could go on for hours on this, this alone because get me started on movies that you made to, to make money. We could start talking about Friday 13th. We could start talking about some of the things that end up being. We got a few episodes like that. We got to be checked out back as a Friday 13th episode. You'll hear all about people who make movies to make money ended up making something amazing.
[00:18:57] Yeah. So childhood hazy memories I have of this were horrific.
[00:19:07] And eventually I watched it as an adult and like, God, I always have such a fun time watching this movie.
[00:19:18] What did I write down? I'm so sorry, but this is, oh, this is, this to me is Saturday night sleepover monster movies at the drive in or something. This is a fucking fun movie.
[00:19:41] Despite some of its silly flaws that I find in it. I think the origin story, the cycle of the werewolf, which. Have you read, Mickey? I've not read the book, no, I've not read it.
[00:19:56] So this, it starts out as like a calendar that Bernie Reitston is going to do. He is an amazing artist. They work together on creep show. If you own. I own creep show. He has that. I sent you some of the images to look at of all the pictures. And so they're making this calendar in. King being king, the prolific writer that he is, is like, I feel too constrained by having to write just a blurb for each month. So they create this novelte, and before he's even finished writing it, he sells the rights as a movie. Right. And Dino de Laurentis, I think. How many films did he direct this year in 85 or not direct. How many Stephen King adaptations did he produced? I think it was three. Three or cat's eye, silver bullet. I'm not really sure of the other one.
[00:20:58] I had them memorized in my head and of course I forgot to write them down and I don't have them in front of me. But the point is, Diodon de Laurentis was financing a lot of Stephen King adaptations at this time. So much so that he was financing one on something that wasn't even made yet.
[00:21:19] I think this king is the first to do this concept with a werewolf story. Most werewolf stories, you have an allegory of substance abuse where we know who the person is, they can't remember what they did the night before.
[00:21:41] They're horrified by their actions when they realize it. Right. But we got the mystery element of it. What happens to a small community when they are being terrorized by a serial killer, which that was, like, starting to become a mainstream sort of thing that was known now with all of the terrible serial killers that were happening around this time.
[00:22:09] What happens when a serial killer is killing your friends and your neighbors, but they're simultaneously taking away the innocence of your small town? And once innocence is lost, it's never replaced again, and what's left in its wake is suspicion and fear.
[00:22:29] Right. Yeah.
[00:22:32] And I think at the heart of the story that he wrote, you have these elements, and they're slightly touched upon in this movie, but this movie gets a little. It's a little silly at times, and the logic doesn't always make sense in that sort of wonderful italian way. You know what I mean? If you've seen a lot of italian horror films, it's like, it's fine. It's got to look cool. Yeah.
[00:23:02] Do you have a history to Silver bullet? Yeah. Silver Bullet is not going to be. This is not a movie I've watched a lot of times.
[00:23:12] This watch that we did was the first time I've seen it since I was a kid, but it's definitely one that I watched with my neighbor Danny. We got together and watched Silver Bullet. Yep. Please, can you quickly explain who Danny is for the person listening for the first time? So growing up next door to me were these wonderful neighbors, Danny and Kalyn. And as a kid, I would spend every weekend at their house just to get away from my brothers and my sister. And they would bring me in. And Danny, because he never had a son, Kaylin never had a son. I was like the son they never had. But rather than Danny treating me like, necessarily a son, it was more like a little buddy. He would introduce me to horror films way too young. We would watch action movies all the time. We would know married with children and living color, the Simpsons. You watched. Whoa. Yeah. Herman's head. All these things I watched with him. And then he would allow me once a year to invite over all my buddies for a Halloween sleepover and watch scary movies. So many of my first scary movie watches were at these Halloween sleepovers with Danny. So kudos to him. He was a collector of scary masks, of comic books and baseball cards. And so much of my personality has been crafted from having him as a neighbor. So you'll hear him come up often. We're talking about Stephen King and any horror films from the 1980s, especially ones with kids. He loved having me watch horror films where kids were the heroes. I think in his mind he was trying to kind of help me see that you can be a hero, that you can be the one that saves this town if it needs it. He instilled a lot in me. I really cherish those memories and what he gave to my life. So this is one that we watched together and I was actually not that excited to watch it again because I was like, I remember all the like, but it was so fun. Rewatching Corey Haim is incredible. He's so likable, he's so charming. I forget how wonderful he was as a child. Actor Gary Busey is at his best. Busey. For me, the film was just joyful. It really is fun. And you're rooting for the kids. The sister brother relationship is fantastic. Give me a film where I'm rooting for the kids and you've already pierced that hard spot in my heart. And I'm going to automatically love you if you give me good child actors playing good, well written children, characters that are taking on the big bad while the rest of the town's lost in their a. I think it's a really fun film.
[00:25:49] Now, are you familiar with Don Cascarelli?
[00:25:53] No. So Don Cascarelli directed Baba Hotep, Beast, the phantasm films. Okay, so he was originally attached to direct and it kind of fell apart. Dino de Laurentis. Yeah, it would have. Dino de Laurentis not known as the easiest guy to work with.
[00:26:20] As a great example, I think of a comparison of someone who successfully that went through directing a film with Dino de Laurentis, had a terrible experience but still managed to keep a career. Is lynch. Yeah, and it's unfortunate that Cascarelli never really got to.
[00:26:42] I mean, he's had an amazing career. He's made like five phantasm movies. You know what I mean? John dies at the end. But my point is I feel like we missed out on some, you know, no shade on Dan Addis, who directed, you know, he just couldn't.
[00:27:08] De Laurentis. Such, could be such a very charming at first to pull you in and then you have a nightmarish experience making a film. Unlike Roger Cormann, who typically trusted hands. Yeah, well, it's like you've proven yourself. You've worked your way up to a certain place as long as you remain within the budget and within the shooting days and you have boobies and violence. We're good to go. Slumber party massacre two. Go see.
[00:27:38] Yeah, no, no, I hear you.
[00:27:41] Speaking of Monster Squad, I think the werewolf in this movie needs to team up with Dracula for monster Squad. Yeah, right. Because that Dracula. Spoilers for monster Squad. That Dracula loves dynamite. He loves to kill people with dynamite, his powers. And this wolf loves to kill people with tiny bats. Not tiny bats, I guess it's a full size bat.
[00:28:11] The peacemaker. Yeah, but no, that could been budgetary, I believe.
[00:28:19] Oh.
[00:28:23] Carlo Rambaldi, an Academy Award winning at the time, he was like the world's greatest visual special effects artist.
[00:28:35] Like a great reputation that was unfortunately kind of a little tarnished for sure by this film.
[00:28:48] De Laurentis had wanted originally to hire a dancer to play the werewolf in the costume, which is a great idea, which is proven in 2000. And two's dog soldiers. Have you ever seen that? I've not seen dog soldiers, no. That's a good werewolf movie. Low budget. And in fact, those wolves look a lot like Bernie Reitzden's wolves.
[00:29:19] But according to the research I've done, that's Everett McGill in the suit. When you see. And the suit didn't have a lot of time to really do it. Right. You know what I mean?
[00:29:35] Unfortunately, the werewolf in this movie is lacking. We got a lot of. Although the transformation at the end, I thought holds up pretty well.
[00:29:47] Yeah.
[00:29:51] For what it is, it's good. I think that you get a good payoff at the end with the wolf.
[00:29:57] I think they also do a lot of things to hide the wolf throughout the film. So that's always a smarter choice than showing something that's not fully developed or done. But it gets old. It gets old. It does. It's a lot of wolf. It's like someone has, what are those long gloves that women used to wear that would go to their elbows? It's like one of those gloves up to the elbow. And wolf really likes to scrap things, scrape on people.
[00:30:25] Right. And very catlike.
[00:30:30] Wolves have paws. Right.
[00:30:33] It's not really their thing to grab a bat. Right. You're not going to see a canine grab a bat. But this wolf has like, appendages.
[00:30:44] What is a werewolf?
[00:30:48] That it has a thumb. And you get to be creative with how you create your werewolf. So I can buy that.
[00:30:58] It gets ridiculous when Terry O'Quinn gets murdered with a baseball bat on a pile of Pepsi and coke.
[00:31:09] So, by the way, I have a theory about Terry O'Quinn. Okay.
[00:31:17] In this, Terry O'Quinn's character, Sheriff Joe Holler, yes.
[00:31:26] Yes.
[00:31:28] So Terry O'Quinn does not die.
[00:31:33] He survives, and in fact, he ends up paralyzed. All right. Okay. He takes a flight to have an experimental surgery done, but crashes and lands on this island where he's able to walk again.
[00:31:50] Are you following me at all here? I'm not following you at all. He crashes on an island where he's able to, like, is this the tv show that you're referencing? Lost. This is lost. Okay. Did you watch lost?
[00:32:02] I know Terry O'Quinn's in it. Okay. But, yeah, no, I am one of those weirdos that never. By the time lost was so popular, I was such a contrarian to it because it had become so popular and because I wasn't early on it, I was like. I refused it. I was like. Now that. Yeah.
[00:32:23] For those of you listening who have watched lost, it's one of those shows that starts out so good and it is so disappointing. It's so disappointing eventually, but it has great performances and it had its heyday, but it doesn't go anywhere satisfying. So Terry O'Quinn. Yeah, he's on the island. He's able to walk again. Why is he able to walk again? Because he has a little werewolf blood in him. Right. But he never really woofs out except in that pilot episode. Key turns into the polar bear. That's why we never see that polar bear again. This would make more sense to you if you've seen it, but there's a polar bear that never shows up again because he's not a werewolf. He's aware, like, you could be a werewolf, something. He's a were bear, but he never fully bears out except for that once. Right. Totally makes sense. Totally makes sense. Well, it totally makes sense when you compare it to the explanations were offered through the show itself. What I said is solid and works. Okay.
[00:33:33] All those lost fans are like, is that people? This is canon. JJ Abrams told us. Yeah.
[00:33:42] Silver bullet.
[00:33:44] I was also going to work in.
[00:33:47] At some point, he becomes like a stepfather. And you've seen those. Stepfather, yeah, I've not seen lost.
[00:33:58] That shows you where I went in the movie store section. I was watching those movies.
[00:34:04] So. Yeah, so you explained lost. I've explained lost.
[00:34:13] What stood out for you during this watch? What was stuff that was like. Yeah.
[00:34:20] Like, yeah, I'll tell you, there were two things that really caught me. Again. I'm going to go on the Gary Busey of it. I love the relationship of Marty and Uncle Red. Uncle Red to me is like, he's very representative of that male figure in our lives that we attach ourselves to, because our dads have to be our dads, right? They have to be kind of like, walk us straight and narrow, lay down some rules and regulations, but then we see that other guy in our life that treats us a little more adult, that kind of walks that edge of, is this appropriate or not?
[00:35:05] I'm not saying you idolize those guys, but those become the people that you think actually see you better because you feel like they're taking you a little more serious. They're not treating you like a little kid. And I love that relationship.
[00:35:17] That is definitely one of the main takeaways. And the uncle redisms are great.
[00:35:25] I just want to stay on Uncle Red for a second.
[00:35:28] Having an aunt and an uncle in your life or a figure that fulfills that role, whether you're blood related or not, I think is super crucial, because like you said, I'm a professional uncle. I have nine nieces and nephews, and I'm not responsible for raising them. I get to have a good time with them. I get to impart whatever wisdom that I might have on them, and I get to have a good time with them. And I talk to them, or at least I try to talk to them like equals. Because most of your life as a kid, you're getting talked down to by everybody, especially adults. And to have a relationship with an adult where they do wildly irresponsible things, like give you a motorcycle that goes 90 miles an hour when they're paralyzed and gives you fireworks to fucking puts a motor on your wheelchair that is so heavy you would never actually be able to wheel your own chair and then makes it gas powered. So if you run out of gas, buddy, you are stuck where you are. You are one giant. You are like an immovable piece. And it's no cell phone. No cell phones.
[00:36:51] Would you ever give a child that amount of fireworks and go have a good time by yourself? There's a serial killer.
[00:37:05] We'll get to the werewolf part of it, but at this point, they don't know. 4 July is canceled because there is somebody or something murder, whether it's an animal or a person murdering people horrifically in their town. Yes. And he is giving his nephew dangerous fireworks and a dangerous motorcycle to go out by himself at night with this thing. Killing people to also blow up this stuff. This also shows how dumb a kid is. Even me saying, like, you idolize this guy, right? Every other adult in that town has made a logical choice to shut down 4 July so they don't have kids walking around and getting killed at night. And then the one guy, Uncle Red's like, sneak out and do these fireworks. And you get a chance. Totally against all the logic of all the adults in that town. And of course that would be the adult that I would gravitate towards and be like, see, he gets me. Yeah, I want fireworks. He's giving me fireworks. Fucking awesome. Yeah, I want to go fast because I can't walk. So he gives me a death trap or death machine that I can. Even says when he rides, when he shoots off on it, gary Busey's like, that kid's dead. Me.
[00:38:21] Uncle Red, man. Uncle Red.
[00:38:26] So I cherish my role as that figure in my nieces and nephews lives. But I definitely.
[00:38:37] Uncle Red makes some great points, right? With his mom, he's like, he's more than just a paralyzed kid, but his mom is totally right. Yes. Don't be drinking. He's drinking from a bottle of wild, wild turt.
[00:38:55] What is that? At least half a bottle. He's slogging. Throwing him back, man. I was like, wow, he's getting really trashed. He's getting trashed with his nephew. And it's like, it's cool. And are they playing poker? They're playing some form of poker, I think. Are they playing rummy or. They're playing something.
[00:39:16] I figured it had to be something. Poker. I'm surprised there weren't, like, nudie women on the cards. That would have made it that extra Uncle Red's weekend where, well, he would never.
[00:39:27] Can't keep a relationship together. Uncle Red, I don't see how the guy seems completely put together.
[00:39:39] This is what I mean when you're around. I don't care how crazy the uncle is. There's still an element of, like, I'm not going to give them my 100% wildness because I am the adult in this room. So what you're seeing when Uncle Red slogging out of the wild turkey 101 and playing cards with Marty is you're seeing his. This is me being responsible with kids side. So you can imagine when there are no kids around, what these poor wives of his had to deal.
[00:40:07] Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, Mickey, did you ever shoot fireworks at your roman candles pointed directly at them?
[00:40:20] No concern. I'm like, I don't want to get them in the eye. No eyewear protection. No. My sister, we would take sparklers, light sparklers and get behind her if she didn't know. And we would try to light her hair on fire with them. What? Yeah, that's really cruel, man. It is. No, it was. But we were just, like, messing with her, and then she would hear, like, a little bit of hair would thin. She'd go out, and we'd be like. Because those things are popping on her neck, too. Yeah. But we got. She didn't wear aquanet. We thought, actually, it's a good point. Yeah. She would have just went up in flames. Yeah. I mean, we were not nice to her, nor were my brothers nice to me, either. They would like. I can promise you, little Mickey shooting roman candles was not nearly as accurate as my brothers, who were, like, really wiser. Yeah. We share this in common, Mickey, in that it was a violent doggy dog world with the siblings vying for affection and status.
[00:41:22] And I also regrettably treated my sister when I was a little kid, like trash, because I went through a real, like, I hate girls, hate girls phase.
[00:41:35] I pushed my sister out of a window one time.
[00:41:39] It's the only time that I think that I went too far.
[00:41:43] You got to tell me what the story. So it's actually pretty sad. It's actually pretty sad. This is not a funny story. Oh, no. So, unlike Marty and Jane, who have, I think, a really great, loving relationship, the amazing Megan follows who you had told me. I didn't recognize her. But who is Green Gables? Anne of Green Gables. Green Gables, which you haven't seen yet, right? Your wife. Yeah. My wife gave me that look, the same look I give people when they tell me they haven't seen the lost boys.
[00:42:16] The show came on immediately. Molly saw it, and she goes, oh, that's Anne of Green Gables. And I was like, oh, cool. And she's like, mickey, it's Anne of Green cables. I was like, yeah, okay. And she's. Know the movie. I was never. I don't know which time. I've never seen that movie. And her look was like, who are you? Who is this person? I'm married.
[00:42:39] Rightly so. And if your reaction is anything like your ex wife's reaction to always sunny in Philadelphia, you might be looking at a divorce when you. I know. I will tell you. I watched Anne of Green Gables with my. I had roommates at one point that were two amazing women and same reaction. You've never seen Anne of Green, and I hadn't. And then we watched it have a box of tissues. It's so.
[00:43:07] So we're going to have a movie night. It's so good.
[00:43:11] But continue your story. I'm so sorry.
[00:43:15] Okay. My sister was. She's five years older than I am. So she was a teenager, and she had started dating a boy that my parents were not approving of, so they didn't want her to see the boy. And one night, I heard all this kerfuffle in her bedroom. And I don't know why, but I just opened the door. Be like, what's going on?
[00:43:38] Because I was like, brother, move. I was saying stuff. I was the little brother that was also like, hey, don't you be getting up to nothing. Mom and dad are going to get you. So I opened doors. What are you doing? And she was sneaking out of the window to sneak out of the house. And I said, no, you're not. And I went and I pushed her as hard as I could as she was, like, halfway out the window, she goes tumbling falls into the backyard. Really was like, knocked her breath out. My parents are like, how many stories? How many stories up? She's on the second floor. Yeah.
[00:44:09] I don't know. Parents were like, what? I'm sorry I interrupted you. Well, they woke them up. They went out there, and she was in so much trouble. Guess who wasn't in trouble.
[00:44:19] The kid who pushed his sister out.
[00:44:23] Was she okay? Did she get hurt? They knocked her breath out. She definitely was hurting.
[00:44:29] I'm lucky she didn't fall in her neck or her arm. You're super lucky.
[00:44:35] I'm not going to get into these stories, but how many times did you almost kill your siblings?
[00:44:40] Paralyze them or cut off an appendage? But I will say the ratio for me is very different. The amount of times they almost killed me versus the amount of times I almost killed them. It was much more weighted on the side of me.
[00:44:54] They almost killed me way more times than I ever almost killed them for sure. Well, you were the little one. Yeah, I know. And you're adopted. Yeah, I know. So that's got to play heavy thing on your conscious, like, I'm adopted. Why are they always trying to kill me? Yeah, but to them, they're like, no, this means I love you to two of them. Yeah, but one of them was like, I don't know if I want you to be my brother anymore.
[00:45:23] Listen, because I know exactly what. That I have a brother. Just like, that. There was one that to this day, I always have to question his motives. Like, as adults, I'm like, why are you saying that? Why do you want me to come down here and visit you? Why are you up here in Pittsburgh? What's the game you're playing on me?
[00:45:48] I am so sorry for your sister. And I'm so sorry. I am so sorry that she made you push her out.
[00:45:59] I seriously do feel bad for that. I think about it all the time. I've apologized so many times as an adult, just saying like, you know, remember that time I pushed you out the window? Number one, I'm glad you didn't die. Number two, I'm really sorry. I don't know what's going through my head then. It just seemed like the thing to do.
[00:46:15] At least he didn't shoot fireworks at her as well. Yeah. Didn't set her hair on fire then throw her out the.
[00:46:24] So going back to the movie, I was at ods with like, okay, Corey Haim thinks there's a, right.
[00:46:35] Marty thinks there's a werewolf. Yet he goes out on his own to shoot off those fireworks. And I'm like, you know what, kids, you reminded me. Kids are dumb. They're dumb and they're impulsive and they're just like, I want fireworks. So I'm going to go vision tunnel. Vision is what he had. Yeah. And that scene on the bridge is, he is brilliant. He looks fucking scared and rip. Corey Haim, it's so unfortunate that he's got some great movies. We love them. But God, what a tragic, dark story.
[00:47:19] Yeah. That's a tough life for any person. And I just can't even imagine it. And he was, he delivered a beautiful performance. And I think that it's safe to say that as an actor, there's a lot of you in the parts that you play. So I know that there was a sensitive, soft, sweet human being in there that it really is a bummer. Really is a bummer. Yeah. Before all that, again, all that innocence was taken away from him.
[00:47:51] Sorry to bring him down. That's right. If me throwing my sister out the window didn't already bring him down.
[00:48:00] Speaking of sisters, one of the things I find difficult about this movie is the voiceover of the sister.
[00:48:13] I feel like it's at ods with the fun, low budget driving tone. Right. It's like all of a sudden we're getting like after school special music score.
[00:48:29] It's on record that Dino de Laurentis was like, I'm going to make a werewolf movie. But also ET. I think that's why he got Carlo Rambaldi, who created ET. Well, and also the director was the second unit on, worked with, he worked with Spielberg on ET. So he was like right out of that know, wheelhouse. So he was coming in, bringing some of that Amblin magic, trying to sprinkle it on there. It has some, you know, there are scenes in that film that feel like it was part know a Spielberg production and those don't, but in a bad way because they don't fit in. They don't fit in well. Right. This is a Stephen King Dino de Laurentis adaptation. It's got to feel like cat's eye. You know, what did you, so what was. You said you had two things, right? So we talked about Uncle Red. Uncle Red, yeah.
[00:49:34] The other thing that really like it was more of like a summation of.
[00:49:40] So you know this about me, but the listener may not. My favorite of the Universal monsters is the werewolf.
[00:49:48] And for where this movie kind of misses an opportunity for me, for me personally is. I love the story of the struggle of the curse. Right. The curse of the werewolf. That struggle to me is fascinating. It's interesting. It always grips me because you watch that human either fight against the innate behaviors of a werewolf or you find them, lean into them and come to terms with fully committing to those desires and those wants and doing evil things. So I love that story. But the one thing this movie does that really captures how great the werewolf myth is, is the silver bullet. When he goes in and he gets the silver bullet made. And the way that Mac, the guy who's like pressing it down and getting the low grain 44 ready for him, I'm like, dude, fuck a steak, man. It's silver bullet all the way. Coolest way to kill a monster right there, man.
[00:50:57] It was a moment. I was like, yes. It's not just the werewolf struggle, it's also the silver bullet. It's like there's a specific thing you have to make that you have to get just right. It's awesome. Yeah, I love, mean, obviously it's called silver bullet too, but no, that was just a thing where I just thought that scene between Uncle Red and Mac and he gets the silver bullet and he's know, I can't remember what his exact words, but Uncle Red's like. I mean, it's just like a toy or something. And he's like. He's like, what would I use a 44 silver bullet for to kill a werewolf? I was like, whoa, Mac knows. Mac knows. Yeah, he knows what's going on. He knows what's going on. I really like that part too. Have you ever, like, for those of you who might not know, he has served our country. So thank you for your service. So you've been around some guns. Have you ever come across a silver bullet? Never. No. I would love to have one, right?
[00:51:56] I think so, but I'm not really sure what that's about. I don't know that that metal is.
[00:52:07] I would have to do research. I'm sure that you can. It's very soft. So I do know, like, trying to make a bullet out of silver is flawed in that it's a very soft material.
[00:52:18] So you would have to do it in a way in which the silver content would be much lower compared to whatever's usually in there. Well, it's usually lead and, like, a brass casing, right? So it's like, yeah, the bullet itself is the lead, but it goes inside a casing, which is this really nice brass casing, and that's what you typically use, because the casing will have the charge in the bottom of it, and then it shoots the projectile, which is the lead. So I was wondering, when I was watching, I was like, that's a full silver bullet. Like, the silver casing and the silver. Yeah. So I don't really know if there's any truth to that ever being an actual thing, but, no, I've never seen anybody with a silver bullet. No. I would love to have one just, like, on my shelf, you know what I mean? Amongst things.
[00:53:04] Just like that, where this thing will not. If you try to fire it, you'll probably blow up your gun. So don't try to fire it. But, oh, man. An actual silver bullet. I think it would be cool to have, like, one of my back maulers taken out, and in its place, there'd just be a silver bullet back there that I can pull, not a silver bullet. And you pull it out. I do. I go, I'm like, just in case, just put it back.
[00:53:34] That would be the uncle, like, mickey move, right? They're like, my uncle Mickey has a silver bullet. Is the fake tooth in the back of his mouth. No one would believe the kid. No one would believe the kid. But it would be one of those instances where it's like, we're sitting there, I'm, like, 80 years old, and they're like, uncle Mickey knew because here's a werewolf coming to get us. Speaking of not believing, do you think your son could convince you that there is a werewolf killing people in your town?
[00:54:11] Could my son convince me?
[00:54:13] Yeah. Maybe not at the age he is now, but when he was a little bit younger. When he's Marty's age, I don't know that he would convince me that it's real, but I think my son would be convincing enough for me to play along. Like, uncle Red and actually stay up all night with a silver bullet. I think I'd go as far as even getting a silver bullet and staying up all night with him just to either, a, prove him wrong, or b, just to tell him that I do believe in him. I do believe him. Now, would my parents have believed me?
[00:54:43] Fuck no. There's no. Hell no. If you're a listener of the podcast, this all lines up perfectly.
[00:54:50] There's absolutely no possible way they would have believed me.
[00:54:56] That's a difficult thing to. You got to have a special relationship to somebody. And even then, I think, like, what you said is, like, okay, I believe that you believe for whatever reason. Yes. So I need to play along and hopefully disprove and show you what's really going on. Right. But be ready just in case. I've seen too many movies. Just in case. Just in case. Yeah, you got to be ready. You never know. I mean, you never really know. Hey, man, Carl Sagan. We're made of stardust. Yeah. Who knows when there's going to. You never know. Could be a werewolf, man. Yeah, could be. I mean, I just remember with my kids when they were little, like the boogeyman or the things like, I heard a noise under my. Know. You know, there's nothing there, but you still go, okay, all right, let me check it out for you. Okay. Let me see what's going on. You go along with them because kids, when they're good kids, and not that I'm saying there's such thing as a bad kid. There's really no such thing as a bad kid. But kids, when you're close to them and you care for them, you do want to go on these journeys with them, because there's something fun on the other side of it. Regardless if there is an actual boogeyman or a werewolf or whatever, there's something fun on the other side. Maybe it's just a story that you guys share forever, but you want to go along these rides. You want to meet them where they are as a person who's not a parent.
[00:56:33] If you've been listening, you'll know that I recently adopted two kittens for the store, and they're way more work than I thought they were going to be. And one of them, Colombo.
[00:56:42] I'm starting to post them on our instagram, which is, if you want to follow us on Instagram, follow us at the return slot of horror, Underscore podcast. No, that's not the return slot of underscore horror.
[00:56:56] No, Instagram, the return slot, underscore of horror Instagram.
[00:57:04] If you'd like to see photos of the cat, the return slot underscore of horror pod on Instagram, I will post an image of Colombo. I think Colombo looks like the werewolf in this movie. A little bit more feline like, obviously, but she kind of looks like a werewolf, man. Is there any way you can convince Colombo to grab a bat and have a bat raised above? The only way I could convince her is if I said, don't touch the bat. Yeah, it's automatic. A little trick for you cat owners out there. You probably already know this if you're a cat owner, but if you've recently acquired some cats, if you ever want to distract them, just take anything that's safe for them to play with. Take anything that they have never seen before, maybe from a closet that they're not allowed into, and just take it out and put it down, and they will be occupied for at least a couple of hours. Just like, what is this thing? I got to sniff it. I got a bad edit. You know what I mean?
[00:58:14] If they've never seen it before.
[00:58:17] Whoa. Boy, what a time they are having. Curiosity. Curiosity. That's the cat's trait, right? Curiosity. Yeah. So much so that it might kill them one day. Yeah, that's what they say.
[00:58:33] So this movie has something that I love, which is Halloween. Oh, it does, right? Yeah. It's a great countdown to that. What a great time to have. I think that the cycle of the werewolf and Halloween are perfect marriage is. Right. Perfect mix. Yeah.
[00:58:52] And I got to say, I get that apparently Halloween is canceled in this town, right? Because everything's canceled, but not into cancel culture, but, yeah.
[00:59:07] The parents leaving their children on Halloween night on a full moon while there is a serial killer at large with Uncle Red. That, I mean, despite Uncle Red has sort of proven to his sister that he is more responsible that he cannot consume a bottle of wild turkey while hanging out. Like, he's sort of straightened out a little bit, but still, that's a hard pill to swallow for me.
[00:59:39] And unfortunately, man, it doesn't have that Halloween vibe for it. There's some decorations, but obviously it's not anywhere near October where they're shooting. And unfortunately, this movie is lacking that main feel we like to feel from a Stephen King thing. And that's because de Laurenta set up a little empire for himself in Virginia, where he was shooting a lot of these things. There were a lot of actors with southern accents for a Stephen King main story.
[01:00:12] Some doing it convincingly, probably because they have it and some. Maybe not so much. Maybe not so much. Yeah, maybe not. So it was.
[01:00:23] What's the name of the town? Tucker's mill. Tarkers. Tarker's Mill. Tarker's Mill. Now, in the movie, are we to assume that it's somewhere in the south, quote unquote? Or are we assumed that it's in Maine because of.
[01:00:38] Think. It's not even, like, addressed. It's not. Stephen King is not the national treasure that he is now at that time. And, in fact, he's technically credited with. This is his first attempt at adapting something to a screenplay, even though he had planned not to.
[01:01:02] Some of the rumors out there will say this is technically his first adaptation where he's adapting it himself.
[01:01:12] So we don't have the history. We don't have the sort of like, oh, this has to be in Maine. It's a Stephen King story. That isn't established.
[01:01:26] I mean, it's. It's so established at this point that when he writes something, he has people who work for him whose sole job is essentially they are the dramaturge or the encyclopedias of what connects to all of his work.
[01:01:44] What connects the dark Tower? What connects to this? Where is this in relation geographically to this?
[01:01:52] That's their sole job because obviously the guy can't keep track of everything. Right?
[01:01:59] It's like the Star wars. What are they called? There's, like, a whole committee of people that work on Star wars, make sure that everything lines up with all the storylines, which, I mean, they were in full use during those new Star wars movies that came out because they were so on the.
[01:02:20] I have a Stephen King question, and you've read the book. Are the names in the book the same as in the movie?
[01:02:27] I believe, for the most part, yes.
[01:02:30] Can I ask, does it bother you at all that their names are Coleslaw?
[01:02:39] Not at all. Okay. Not at all.
[01:02:43] So my parents are immigrants, and with a name like Michelangelo, they're of a sicilian descent. And I guess to me, I'm just like, yeah, that's a white person name.
[01:03:00] I'm white. I am white. Italians got folded. We look like white people, so we got folded in eventually, sure.
[01:03:11] But anyways, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. Coleslaw? Yeah, it's so king. It's so Stephen King, too, to you? Did it rub you the wrong way? Didn't rub me the wrong way. I'm just like, that's a choice that feels like, you know, for the listener who's not. It's spelled C-O-S-L-A-W. So it's coleslaw. But if you say it with a southern accent, like, I have coleslaw, it sounds like coleslaw. Like you eat on your pulled pork. Just. I just feel like somebody somewhere in the editing room or with him writing said, you do know their last name sounds like Coleslaw. And he's probably like, it's a choice. I just felt like a choice. I was like, what's more american than Coleslaw?
[01:04:01] Yeah.
[01:04:04] What did you think of Everett McGill?
[01:04:09] I love Everett McGill. He's a handsome guy. He's tall, handsome, broad shoulders. Handsome guy. Beautiful.
[01:04:19] Was. I think he was great. He was good. I don't think they gave him enough, if that makes sense. I feel like there's some lackingness in just what he's able to do because there's just not a lot for him to do. They touch on things. Right. He's menacing in that scene with Jane where she's there and she realizes the peacemaker is in the recycling bin or recycling can. Sorry. And he comes out. He's very menacing.
[01:04:46] He gives me chills a little bit in that scene. So good on him for that.
[01:04:52] And they touch on some interesting stuff, especially considering he's not a priest, he's a reverend. But considering all the stuff that's happened with the catholic church. Here we have this figure that's supposed to be an upstanding citizen that talks about morality and all of these things, and yet this is the person who's murdering people. And they touch on this, that he's justifying why he's doing the things he's doing.
[01:05:27] What's her face, who he kills.
[01:05:31] She was going to kill herself, so he saves her. Yeah. His morality is blind. It's blind justice is what he thinks he's dealing out, but he's really just.
[01:05:43] He's caving into his desires.
[01:05:47] It's in the subtext. Yeah. I was going to say, that's the stuff that I love of werewolves. Right. It's like there's some subtext there. Yeah. But again, I'm not going to get into talking about what I love and don't love about the werewolf story, but. Yeah. The moral implications of what he's doing fall completely apart because you're killing people. Yeah.
[01:06:10] When you just.
[01:06:12] Your own prism. Yeah. Well, it's also like the whole idea of it, right. Is free will. Right.
[01:06:17] The whole idea of religion is you've been given free will to choose this. And he's not giving them the free will to choose.
[01:06:26] She wants to kill herself.
[01:06:29] That's part of the game, right? That's part of what your religion teaches, right? Free will.
[01:06:35] But also, I think there's something interesting into the dichotomy of he's losing his own free will to the desires of his animal nature, which also is very deeply religious because they are constantly trying to fight against some natural urges that we have in place of a moral compass, basically. Anyway, I'm not getting all that, but you know what I mean? It's like there is some real cool dualities there you could play with from a storytelling perspective that you kind of lose. But, hey, that's not the movie they're trying to make, so I'm there for it.
[01:07:11] It's not the movie they're trying to make, but the fact that they touch on it but don't go with it is a little like.
[01:07:20] Yeah, it's like, oh, man, there's something good there.
[01:07:25] It's like smelling the garlic bread but not tasting it. But not tasting the garlic bread. Yes.
[01:07:31] For the listener, for dinner, I made some really nice garlic bread for my family. And in order to save a pound and a half, I decided not to eat the garlic bread and forego that wonderful carb. And as we all know, foregoing one meal of garlic bread, you'll lose a pound and a half that night. That's science. As we consume our spooky cocktails. Spooky cocktails.
[01:08:00] And then I spend all night thinking about the garlic bread. So tomorrow I'm going to eat a whole loaf of. And then you'll binge on it. Exactly. Just like a wolf. Like you become uncontrollable.
[01:08:13] I gave into my desires. See, it's all full circle. You might say it's a cycle. Yeah, it is a cycle. So your werewolf consumes garlic bread? Yeah, that's safe to say. Yeah, my werewolf has to urinate all the time.
[01:08:33] Speaking of, speaking of. So can we take a quick intermission and then we'll wrap this motherfucker up? And now a word from our sponsors.
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[01:09:33] And now back to the show. Rhine gold. Rhine gold. Oh, my. You don't. You don't buy beer, Mickey. You rent it. Am I right?
[01:09:45] Am I right?
[01:09:47] So, Everett McGill.
[01:09:53] A little underutilized, I think. Meg follows, like I said, brilliant. Her character is actually thoroughly elaborated on, as opposed to the novelette.
[01:10:07] I really liked their solid foundation of their relationship.
[01:10:12] Again, I thought it was very weird. Especially at the end where she's like. And I finally learned to say I love you to my brother. It was, like, real shoehorned. It's shoehorned. Yeah. I don't know what. We're going to make it just like an ET.
[01:10:31] No, you don't get to do that voice, Mickey, okay? I didn't do that voice. I stopped myself.
[01:10:37] Now you can do. It's fine. I'm not doing that voice now. No, dude, it's fine, everybody. You're allowed. Look, dude, look, I'm hispanic. I don't do hispanic voices. Because it's so racist when I do it, Mickey. So I'm not doing any voices. Mickey is hispanic. He's adopted. For those of you who might not know, if you're not a constant listener yet, he is the whitest guy we know. He is the most american white. Really. Arcansan. Served the military. Fucking badass working. Born into Goosey Gulpa, though. Born into Goosey Gulpa for those. You just made that word up, man.
[01:11:15] I will tell you a quick funny story, and then we'll move on to this movie, okay? When I was in third grade, a teacher of mine took an interest in me. A shine, you might.
[01:11:30] But she said to me in a class, she was like, today, guys, I want to do something special. I want to talk about where Mickey's from.
[01:11:36] And she pulled down a map in front of the whole class. This is not cool. I was, like, in my drinking into my chair. Because I was like, the last thing I want is attention. And the last thing I want is to feel different. And the last thing I want is bullies. Yeah. This thing was to be called out from being from a different country. So she goes. Pulls down a map. She goes, who knows where Honduras is? And the class is like, I don't know. And she goes, right here in Central America is Honduras? And Mickey's from the town of Tagoocy Goosey right there. And I was like, she called, oh, man, there's so many problems I had. I was like, number one, I'm being completely spotlights all on me. Number two, she mispronounced the town I'm from. So now I feel like it's, oh, it was just awful. But I tell that sometimes, I'm always like, when people say, where are you from? I'm like, Tagusi Gulpa. But if you're from Texas, they call it Tagusi Goosey.
[01:12:36] I mean, she was being so sweet, but it was like, in the time period we grew up, being an individual was the worst thing you could be.
[01:12:49] It is just fuel for the bullies to attack.
[01:12:53] You're dealing with enough living in Texas, looking how, you know, just like, oh, my gosh. See, there's the difference between Italians and a lot of others, right? Is that if a teacher were to do that, I'd be like, yeah, that's right. A fucking Italian. We're special. That's how you're sort of raised. So you weren't raised in your culture because you're adopted, but I was. And it's like you're told, like, listen to me. You're special because you are this thing that you had no control over whatsoever.
[01:13:36] But you're also an italian man. So every woman, including your mother, including your mother and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and you're basically Jesus is what's going on. That's what I. Yeah. Not the same experience I had. I did not want to be different in any way, but you can't avoid it. Which is why I think part of Marty really sticks out to me, too. It's like I get Marty's feelings. Right? Like, even though I wasn't, I didn't have those disabilities, I still felt sometimes like an outsider when I'd see other kids doing know. So I love that scene in this film where he is in his wheelchair watching the boys play baseball. Yeah, they linger on that shot just long enough to let you go beyond him just wanting to be able to walk. Right? Like, surface level, he's watching these kids run and play ball. So surface level, you're like, oh, of course he wishes he could be out there playing ball with them, but they hold on him for so long that for me, I was like, there's something more to him in this moment. And for me, it was like, in spite of everybody in this town having all these abilities, he knows that he's the one that has to take on the big bad because nobody else is seeing it. With all their abilities, they have the biggest disability, which is the unawareness of the thing that's actually out there trying to get. The ignorance. He can do it. Yeah, the ignorance. He knows he can do it. He has to do it. He's the only one who truly believes. So. I love that moment in the film. That would actually be my third aha moment. I really love that little place. And that's like an amblin type moment that I think works. It really is. Yeah. Right.
[01:15:32] I would say we do talk about from time to time, remakes and reboots and that sort of thing. And I got to say, this is one I would love to see remade. I think it's ripe for it.
[01:15:51] I would love to see a twelve episode miniseries, but I want them to be random in their length. So I think you could have an episode that's like 1520 minutes long. And then you can have, on the longest side, I would say no more than 45 minutes for this story.
[01:16:15] But you can really dig in on what's going on with Everett McGill's character. The relationship between the brother and the sister. Uncle Red. I think you can jump into it without overbloding it the way most films are nowadays. Where there's herb, we could follow his spiral. Brilliant performance in this broadhurst. So good.
[01:16:45] He is in Cat's eye, I believe.
[01:16:51] Interesting fellow. Doesn't he look like. It's like they shaved his head for this or something.
[01:16:59] He's so boyish looking, but then he's in a suit and he's missing his hair. There's something that looks like. Is he in a bald cap or something? It's od, right? It is. His look is disarming. Yeah. Brilliant act. Disarming. Alarming. Yeah, alarming.
[01:17:21] A quick story about him. The scene where his son, who's a fucking dick. That kid's a dick. His son just constantly messed with.
[01:17:31] Little boys are like that. Little boys are dicks. But I will say, if my paralyzed friend got his kite stuck up in the tree, I would offer to get it for him. Although I would imagine Marty. Maybe the scene isn't in. No, no, no. It's important. So maybe. Maybe his friend is very progressive, and that's like, Marty's got to fix this himself.
[01:17:57] I think his friend has the hots for Jane and is just tormenting her because. Yeah, you don't do that to a girl unless you really like her.
[01:18:07] Plus, he's got a pantyhose fetish. Oh, yeah, obviously.
[01:18:11] Who didn't at that age?
[01:18:20] That was a joke, everybody.
[01:18:22] I didn't steal my sister's penny hose and wear them on my face and throw out windows.
[01:18:30] You were just angry because I just wanted more pantyhose.
[01:18:38] So anyway, Kent Broadhurst, Herb Kincaid, he has the scene where he discovers his son right at night and, oh, dead zone. Dead zone was one of the other Stephen King adaptations around this.
[01:18:58] Yep. Anyways, this reminded me of, like, discovering a child's body in the.
[01:19:07] They're. They're about to shoot the scene. He shows up, the director's all out of sorts.
[01:19:15] It's like 02:00 in the morning. And he shows up on set and he's like, what's wrong? The director's super know, Mickey, you've been on set. It's super important that your director got a shit together. Their shit together. He or she or them. They have their shit together, that they have to be the person who always has it together. It's a very difficult job. That's why I get so much praise. Anyways, he's losing it.
[01:19:40] Why is he losing it? Because they're supposed to show the child's body, right? Dismembered body. And it is, according to Kent Broadhurst, it's like. It looks like a mannequin from a department store that had been smashed in with a hammer and then covered in cranberry juice.
[01:20:02] So on the spot, he goes, this is such a good actor. He goes, listen, I think I can sell what it is that you need sold. And you don't have to ever look at the body. You just keep the camera on me. And he was like, thank you. Yes. Okay, they did it. And he seems like that scene, that sceneplay watched on its own. That's a brilliant scene. Yeah, right there. When that scene started, Molly, watch this with me. When that scene started, we sat in silence. Not that we sit in silence anyway, watch a movie. But after the silence, you're married. You don't have anything interesting to say to mean when you're married, that's basically what you do. You sit in silence. I play. Now you're italian. What are you saying about Italian? I don't know why that came out.
[01:20:51] I'm going to hell.
[01:20:53] But we're sitting there and the scene ends, and we both kind of look at each other, and Molly was like, well, that was really good. I was like, that was really is. He is really, like you said, selling it. And it's very know, you see it in low budget films sometimes. You have great actors, right? They're selling the movie because they have no other way to sell the movie. So the actors are having to lift all the weights. But in this one, for sure, crimp Broadhurst, in that moment, really earned for me, he earned a very nice little highlight in that film of just being another reason to watch his performance in there is really good, even when he's being heightened and he's having that argument in the pub. Private justice. Yeah, he is there. He is in it. He is believable. Not everybody else in that scene is, but he is. And then they go out in the fog, and that's some interesting stuff there, too, where they're all like, it's the townspeople now. They're like, as townspeople do in these movies, they're all on the march to find the monster. Why would you go out in the fog like that?
[01:22:10] We're going to go in groups of four because that.
[01:22:15] The guy who gets his foot caught in the church trap and then it, like, clamps again. It's a very funny beat. It's a very funny beat.
[01:22:30] And, of course, we got to mention the church scene.
[01:22:35] Everett McGill's nightmare that he, like.
[01:22:41] That goes to show you, I think the ending transformation in that scene goes to show you that obviously, Carlo Rambaldi was a very talented artist at his craft. And obviously there were things outside of his control that led to the werewolf not looking great, but those scenes are fantastic. Yeah. The scene in the church is a highlight also. It's a high point of that film.
[01:23:15] It kind of tips its hat, I think, a little too early, where you get it in the film. Yeah, you get what's happening.
[01:23:24] But that's the thing having to do. It's like time and place. Like when this movie came out, viewers weren't as sophisticated. I'm sure many people did figure it out, but I know, at least as a kid watching that, I don't know if I would necessarily figure it out, but the scene is cool, man. Listen, you got that many people wolfing out in church pews. Yeah, I'm in. That's a great scene. The metaphor, the unintentional metaphor of that scene. I got to tell you, I'm not saying this of all people who have a strong faith and support that faith by going to a church, but I will say in my life and in my experience, some of the worst people I've met are the people who are the most religious. They're the most unforgiving. It's like the antithesis of everything. At least in the christian religions. That's where I have. I think you're the same. I have the most contact with the christian religions, especially Catholicism. Being raised Catholic, they tend to be the most unforgiving.
[01:24:42] It's like the allegory of them. Like, you are using birth control.
[01:24:49] Yeah, you completely were so hot right then. Not totally dropped out, you were using birth control. And then it was like silence, but for the listener, he was going, complete crazy person over there. He had like veins sticking out of his neck, screaming into the mic. Yeah, I hear you. And I do think that there's something, even if you want to get even more meta with it, which I don't think that they were trying to do with this film, but even in a more meta way, their leader, their reverend, the person who is their guide in their religion, is the perpetrator of the evil, per se. And his biggest, you might say, fear, is when he sees his own congregation doing the evils that he's doing, it's almost scarier for him to see it in his flock than to see it in himself. And then you can go into, and there is a lot with like wolves and flocks and sheep and all that stuff. There's like a whole huge metaverse or meta thing you can go into with this film if you were to want to do that.
[01:26:04] It's a piece of art. You get to pull whatever you want from it, as well as a pop culture. That's the thing about this podcast, and I do mean this. It's like, this is like the things that we are saying. We're talking about a film having a conversation. Who knows where it's going to go? Yeah, but that's what these films are about.
[01:26:23] They should be personalized. You go where you want to go with it.
[01:26:29] That's what having the mom pop shop is about.
[01:26:33] We don't need one voice telling us how this is supposed to make you feel. It can make people feel all kinds of ways.
[01:26:41] That's a wonderful thing that you're able to do now. You're able to share your thoughts and opinions with people like we are now. Right.
[01:26:50] But the downside of that is like having your own thoughts and opinions to consume a piece of art that's been created, whether that is of a high art or low art, and that's a whole different discussion. But you consume that, and then you reflect upon it with friends, with acquaintances, with people, maybe the relationship you get to have with a customer, and vice versa, the relationship you get to have with the person who works at the place you frequent, whether it's a coffee shop, a video store, a record store. Right.
[01:27:32] That's an interesting and important relationship. And it used to be more important before we had the Internet. Right.
[01:27:41] So despite the frustrations we deal with working at the video store and dealing with idiots. Most of the people we deal with, because we are living in a time. If you're taking the time to come to a video store and you want to talk, right, to be fair, you're not always in the mood to talk. Maybe you got personal shit going on in your life, but yeah, the fact that you can discuss with somebody that they're not your brother or your sister or your friend, they're your friend at the video store. Right? And I get to express and maybe learn something about myself or another person through their different points of view that I would never have. And the thing about when you're talking to one of those customers or someone like that, you're also not carrying a baggage of what it is to be a brother, a sister, a best friend from birth. It's like you don't have all that baggage going into it. So there's a little bit kind of more honesty that kind of sometimes happens. Freedom. Allowed to be a piece of yourself that you're not allowed to be. Maybe in crowds of people that have known you since you were two.
[01:28:59] Get to know your local people, man. It's like, go to your local shops, treat them with respect. Always treat everybody with respect. But goes without saying. Yeah. So is there anything else you wanted to touch upon before we wrap up this evening's discussion of 1985? Silver bullet? Yeah, I'm just going to just do a quick little, kind of like fireside thing right here, see if there's. Okay, just a shout out to the father in the movie.
[01:29:32] Leon Russam, Bob Coleslaw did not get a lot to do. Also, I did not even know you existed until after the film. I was like, wait, he sucks in the book too. It's like no good. I hope he got paid a decent wage for that because I'm telling you, there were some extras in that film. I probably saw more than the dead.
[01:29:58] That may have been the only other thing that I had on my list of things that I mentioned. Yeah, no fun movie. Stephen King. I love you, Corey Haim. Just another great delivery of a film that goes down in my canon of horror films that are just ripe with the 80s, man. Just like, I don't even know if I want to a modern adaptation. I know that it would have the same feel for me that this one does because I was the right age, the right time for this to mean a lot more than maybe it does for some. I don't know.
[01:30:35] So obviously, would you agree this belongs in the Vivwolf section of the video store? I do agree.
[01:30:47] And who would you recommend this movie to? Coming into the store, he's thinking.
[01:31:01] He's pondering.
[01:31:05] I want to kind of throw you under the bus and say, everyone, but I'm not going to. I've thought about this. Why are you throwing me under the bus? Because I feel like you're, like, if you're coming into my store, if you're coming into my store. Is that what I sound like in my head? That's how you sound. Oh, Jesus Christ.
[01:31:28] Oh, my.
[01:31:33] Is a.
[01:31:35] This is the guy who likes Monster squad. This is the guy who likes. Who likes Amblin, who likes. Of course it's a guy, not a girl. Often with you, it's only guys. Well, I actually think of guy as a term for both sexes because I like for when I refer to any sex, for it to be a male dominated term.
[01:32:00] That was supposed to be a joke that came up. Really? No, I mean, I laughed. I laughed. See if the listener.
[01:32:09] No, no.
[01:32:11] For anybody who comes in that likes monster squad, loves the goonies, loves lost boys, this is like, just right in that wheelhouse, right? It's like, it's Corey Haim. It's kids fighting monsters. It is right along that I think it's young enough for a lot of young viewers to watch, enjoy, and not be too terrified, but the scares are good enough that you're also not being placated to as a little kid. So that's my recommendation. That's where it goes.
[01:32:45] What do you say? What's your. Rick, I totally agree with everything you said.
[01:32:53] I would add to that, like, if you're a person who loves cult films and you haven't seen this, this is a must. This is a must see.
[01:33:04] And of course, if I ever see you reading a Stephen King book and you come into the store, you got to see silver bullet. You have to. You have to. And then if you come into the store around Halloween, if you've listened to our Halloween episodes, I will display my comic books and horror novels that I have, and a werewolf of the cycle will be something you can read while you're at the store. You don't get to leave with it, but you can check it out. And again, the artwork by Bertie Reichston is, like, out of this world. Fantastic. Do you have a favorite out of all the stuff I can see, he's picking up the book and he's looking through it right now. So you don't. That's okay. You need to read it. I think you should read it. I think this is something you could read on a rainy afternoon. It's that short. I mean, look, the werewolf is incredible.
[01:34:07] I'm not going to say a favorite. I think it's hard to not love the multi werewolves in the church with the stained glass. Yeah. That's a pretty great image. Pretty great. That's a great image also for what it represents for you and I were talking about. About our own kind of religious backgrounds.
[01:34:25] It strikes an extra chord. It strikes an extra nerve. So that one, I think would be on a quick look through being put on the spot. That's where I'm going to go. But come back to me after I've gone through the whole thing.
[01:34:38] Got you. So we'll have four more writing the silver bullets cocktails. Yeah, we're going to do silver bullet now for the next four weeks. Yeah.
[01:34:51] We're going to repeat silver bullet a bunch.
[01:34:54] I wish we had some French to end the episode. No French this time. From our beloved Marika. We miss you.
[01:35:06] Hopefully she's listening to this episode while she's upstairs taking care of business. I'm sure she is.
[01:35:15] Yeah. So thank you so much for listening. Please rate and review us. Assuming you're reviewing positively and rating positively, follow us on instagram at the return slot. Underscore of horror pod. Please do. And chime in. Chime in. I'll post a photo of Colombo. The halloumi's up there right now looking through some of the comic books at the video store. We'll see. I want to know your opinion. Does Colombo look like a werewolf? All right, thank you for listening. Stay tuned for more werewolf. Werewolf surprise episode. St. Patrick's Day. Yes, St. Patrick's Day. What are you going to rent other than leprechaun? We dive into that discussion. We dive into. Yes.
[01:36:10] All right. So stay tuned. Keep on listening. Thank you so much.
[01:36:16] We will see you next time. We'll see you for St. Patrick's Day.
[01:36:25] Ow, ow, ow, ow.
[01:36:28] You bit me. Jesus Christ.
