1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:21,600
Hello everybody and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We're your hosts,

2
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:27,640
Vincent Hannum and Malaveen. And we're talking about all our favorite monster movies, The

3
00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:33,560
Good, The Bad and The Downright Campy and asking if they stand the test of time.

4
00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,040
Traditional Kaiju creature features, space invaders, the supernatural and everything

5
00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:44,880
in between. All strange beasts welcome here. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and

6
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,800
the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty. Your source for real estate, home

7
00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:54,880
rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers. Reach out to the Zach

8
00:00:54,880 --> 00:01:00,160
Pack today for real estate services, follow the Zach Pack on social media and contact

9
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:29,600
the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Hit that link in our bio.

10
00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:40,880
Where the earliest pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt. They came to uncover

11
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:58,840
its secrets. They sought to unlock its treasure. What they did. What they did. What they did.

12
00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:07,680
What they did. Was unleash a force unlike any the world has ever known. You must not

13
00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:13,560
read from the book. You have unleashed the creature that we have feared for more than

14
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:24,000
three thousand years. He will regenerate and no longer be the undead. We are in serious

15
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:41,880
trouble. Universal Pictures invites you to experience the adventure. It appears he's

16
00:02:41,880 --> 00:03:07,600
already chosen his human sacrifice. That will live forever. He turns me into a mummy. You're

17
00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:33,040
the mummy. The mummy. Is it dead or alive? Human or inhuman? You'll know. You'll see.

18
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:38,960
You'll feel the awful creeping crawling terror that stands your hair on end and brings a

19
00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:48,960
scream to your lips. There's nothing on earth like the mummy. You will not remember what

20
00:03:48,960 --> 00:04:00,400
I show you now and yet I shall awaken memories of love and crime and death. Now I know his

21
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:09,160
horrible plan. He's going to kill her and make her a living mummy like himself.

22
00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:20,040
Hello Matt. Hello Max. Hello Max. Matt, I feel like we haven't recorded but that's not

23
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:25,080
true we did arachnophobia just the other week. We sure did yeah but it does feel like it's

24
00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:32,680
been a while for some strange reason. Yeah. Busy summer I guess. It has been a busy summer.

25
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:39,720
Max you're back welcome back. Thank you it's nice to be back. Yep and we're talking about

26
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:48,320
I think a movie that we all know well. 1999's The Mummy directed by Stephen Summers starring

27
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:57,880
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weiss or Weiss. Let's get that out of the way. I think it's Weiss.

28
00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,320
I thought it was Weiss but I'm not totally sure about that. Let's find out for sure.

29
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:09,360
Okay because I tell you I've heard it both ways. So you know I've also heard Brendan

30
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:21,840
Fraser and Brendan Fraser. Me too. I've always heard Brendan Fraser. And is it Stephen Summers

31
00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:30,600
or Stephen Sommers? Summers. Arnold Voslough or Arnold Vrslu? That's my main question that's

32
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,320
what I want to know. Who plays Imhotep in this movie? We'll get to that in a little

33
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:42,040
bit here. Rachel Weiss. Weiss. I was wrong sorry. I don't think you're wrong but we will

34
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:49,440
stick with Weiss knowing that I've heard both. For an actress I admire so much and who I've

35
00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:54,760
had a crush on for the last like 25 years I feel like I should know that so now I know.

36
00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,120
That's good. Well before we get into all that because there's gonna be a lot of talk about

37
00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:06,200
the cast and the crew and some really juicy production history with this film. We just

38
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,160
want to thank you all for hanging out and listening to Camp Kaiju. Every week we release

39
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:16,960
an episode you all are there supporting so if you love this show do us a solid and rate

40
00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:23,520
and review wherever you listen. You can send us listener comments. We love to feature those

41
00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:31,400
on our show. CampKaiju at gmail.com, Facebook, Instagram. You find us we'll know you're out

42
00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:36,760
there or hey even better if you'd like to be a featured voice on the show your own actual

43
00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:45,520
vocal cords leave a voicemail at 612-470-2612 telling us about anything monster related.

44
00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:51,800
Your favorite movies, memories, what you think the correct pronunciation of the Mummy cast

45
00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:59,120
is and check out our website CampKaijuPodcast.com for more reviews and special content. Big

46
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:06,080
shout out to our patrons Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous patron and Peggy for keeping

47
00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:11,240
the show going monetarily every month and if you all out there are not a member of our

48
00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:18,000
Patreon go ahead and visit patreon.com slash Camp Kaiju for those discounts on merchandise

49
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,920
for any priority comments and access to live events which we have had in the past maybe

50
00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:29,200
we'll have again soon but those are those are always a good time.

51
00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:36,480
All right Matt do you want to take us back in time to through monster movie history?

52
00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:42,880
Yeah, yeah for sure I would love to. So one movie I would like to shout out is Wes Craven's

53
00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:48,280
New Nightmare from August of 1994. I can't remember like I know we've talked about the

54
00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:52,800
Nightmare on Elm Street series on the podcast in the past but I don't know if we talked

55
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:58,360
about this particular movie Wes Craven's New Nightmare which is a very cool post-modern

56
00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:05,160
kind of self-reflexive like where is the gap between movies and reality sort of film and

57
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:10,760
I feel like that's one thing that the Nightmare on Elm Street movies do really well. So you

58
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:15,060
know if you're up for a Freddy Krueger fix and I haven't seen that one highly recommend

59
00:08:15,060 --> 00:08:21,400
Wes Craven's New Nightmare from 1994. I'm very intrigued I would love to feature a Nightmare

60
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:28,360
on Elm Street film on this podcast so maybe you're just the guy to do it.

61
00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:34,400
Yeah for sure I am I am just the guy. My favorite one is the second one a Nightmare on Elm Street

62
00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:39,640
to Freddy's Revenge which is a really awesome fascinating movie so I hope to bring Matt

63
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,640
to the podcast at some point.

64
00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:49,000
Sweet. Max what movies on that list catch your eye?

65
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,000
Anacondas.

66
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:58,840
Oh the sequel. The sequel only because I like Anaconda so much.

67
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,600
Those movies are great. I'm with you on that.

68
00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,520
I've only seen the first one though.

69
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:04,920
Oh so you haven't seen the second one.

70
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:11,280
No and it's been one of those movies that's like that's I want to see that like it's intriguing

71
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:17,480
enough to me but not enough to where I really put the effort into finding it.

72
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:23,200
All I'm going to say is that I can't believe that that franchise eventually converges with

73
00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:29,360
the Lake Placid franchise. That just that kind of breaks my brain a little bit.

74
00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,400
You got to do something with them.

75
00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,240
I mean you know like that's the crossover everybody was waiting for. I don't really

76
00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:43,480
care about like Deadpool versus Wolverine but I do care about Anaconda's and Lake Placid.

77
00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:44,520
That's what I care about.

78
00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,840
Just a great business decision because they have to keep making movies to keep the copyright.

79
00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,040
Might as well get a twofer out of it.

80
00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:53,720
Exactly. Yeah.

81
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:58,040
Great use of the word twofer. I'm going to keep us moving along.

82
00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:04,320
Okay national releases we have Beetlejuice Beetlejuice coming out September 6th 30 seconds.

83
00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,720
What's your sound bite for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?

84
00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:09,720
Like Michael Keaton.

85
00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,520
He is returning and Tim Burton is the director again.

86
00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:17,440
But Tim Burns movies have not been great for like 20 years.

87
00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,920
Yeah I don't know if that's a great thing but Jenna Ortega is in it right. I like her

88
00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:23,920
a lot.

89
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,720
Yeah I'm you know I like the world of Beetlejuice. I think if like they're able to recreate

90
00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:33,800
the kind of like dark whimsy of the original movie that I'm totally on board. I'm excited

91
00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:34,800
to see it.

92
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:44,000
Cool. Okay coming up on Camp Kaiju. Matt the hard question. Any updates on Possession?

93
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,960
So I think I will choose a different movie to replace with the movie Possession. I would

94
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:54,800
love to bring Possession to the podcast at some point in the future. It's extremely depressing

95
00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,800
and disturbing and difficult to watch. So for my own sanity I think I will suggest a

96
00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,880
different movie. I think on the next episode we should do Fiend Without a Face.

97
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:05,880
Oh.

98
00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,120
Which I love. It's great.

99
00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:12,040
I picked up that Blu-ray last year and I have yet to watch it.

100
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:18,720
Oh perfect. It's really gory. There's a lot of like brains and like blood splatter. But

101
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,640
it's also really silly and kind of like cheesy. So I think it'll be good to add to the podcast

102
00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:23,640
for sure.

103
00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:24,920
This is from the 50s right?

104
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:30,200
Yeah 58 I think. But it's from England where I like you know like censorship constraints

105
00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,360
were a little bit less than they were in the US. So it's like very violent and gory which

106
00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,840
is great. Usually great.

107
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,320
And it's about a disembodied brain?

108
00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:44,560
Basically. I haven't seen it in a long time but there are definitely some sort of like

109
00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:49,200
floating brain sequences which are very very cool to watch.

110
00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:54,360
I love it. And the title just kicks so much butt. Fiend Without a Face.

111
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,440
Fiend Without a Face indeed. I've wanted to bring it to the pod for a while so excited

112
00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,720
to do it in the next episode.

113
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:09,840
Very excited. After that I will bring Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes from 2001. Maybe the beginning

114
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:15,880
of the end for his reputation. And then you know thrown in between September and October

115
00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:20,640
there might be some special interviews I'm cooking up with different folks from different

116
00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:27,040
podcasts. So lots of good things in the pipeline here on Camp Kaiju.

117
00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:33,160
Let's talk about The Mummy which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. And I thought

118
00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,920
that that was a good excuse as any to bring it to the show. So what are your guys's personal

119
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:39,200
histories with this film?

120
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:44,280
I mean I've got I don't know extensive history with it just because I worked at the Mummy

121
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:52,640
Ride at Universal and I'd seen the movie beforehand. Huge fan of it. So there was a good three

122
00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:58,200
years of my life where I was just all mummy every day at work just hearing Brendan Fraser

123
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,280
scream for a cup of coffee every 30 seconds throughout the ride.

124
00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,760
Terrifying. Yeah I've seen this movie quite a few times over the years. I remember really

125
00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:16,640
loving it when it came out in 1999 when I was 15 years old. Must have been. Yeah it's

126
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,120
and I've seen it a couple times since then. It's a really fun adventure movie of course.

127
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:25,400
Like I feel like even though it only came out 25 years ago it's definitely like a product

128
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,480
of like a different time you know. Like this movie would not be made anymore for like a

129
00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,560
variety of different reasons. So it's kind of fun to revisit for that reason.

130
00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:41,960
Yeah this was this is a formative movie for me and my own personal like artistic aesthetic.

131
00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:48,960
I love action adventure films but I love horror films and this combines both. I with Max we

132
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:54,600
had the VHS. We watched it all the time. There are just lines I still quote in my day to

133
00:13:54,600 --> 00:14:01,240
day life without even thinking about it. So yeah I watched it. Last time I saw this movie

134
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:08,560
was a couple years ago. I showed it to Ellen and she I think much to her surprise admitted

135
00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:18,800
that it was an OK movie. But I was like yeah it's good isn't it. It's pretty OK. Yeah but

136
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:26,400
I will say I will say before we get into talking about this film while I unabashedly love it

137
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:32,000
I will be I will try to be clear eyed about some of the flaws and critiques of the film

138
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:38,920
especially looking at it in hindsight. Some things maybe haven't dated as well. So I'm

139
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:44,040
just I'm interested to talk about that stuff as well.

140
00:14:44,040 --> 00:15:11,000
The names are legendary. Their destinies linked. An ageless myth. Beats an uncompromising master.

141
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:32,520
Francis Ford Coppola brings an undying legend to life. Dracula. Beware.

142
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:38,000
So films directed and written by Stephen Summers. What he directed before this was called Deep

143
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:45,440
Rising in 1998. I'm unfamiliar with that film. Sounds cool. I don't know. I've seen bits

144
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:50,280
and pieces on TV. It looks pretty bad but in kind of like a fun 90s monster movie sort

145
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:57,160
of way. So maybe that will be on the pot in the future. Maybe. Or Van Helsing which Summers

146
00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:06,200
directed in 2000. And Minnesota Alert. Stephen Summers grew up in St. Cloud Minnesota. So

147
00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:11,840
the music I really like because it's just got a very classic score. It's recognizable.

148
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:18,760
It's evocative of I don't know Egypt. You don't really hear as recognizable scores like

149
00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:25,640
that other than I don't know. I mean even John Williams stuff just doesn't seem as recognizable.

150
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:31,000
Max who did the music for this? Oh I don't remember. Matt you can steal. Was it Jerry

151
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:39,680
Goldsmith? What do I win? Yeah. Stick around for trivia at the end of this show. But it's

152
00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:46,960
that high adventure pulp feel to the movie. The music really lends itself towards that

153
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:52,360
atmosphere. Jerry Goldsmith, very famous composer, did the music for movies such as The Omen,

154
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:59,120
Gremlins, First Blood, Star Trek The Motion Picture, and many many other popular classic

155
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,120
films. One thing I like about the music in this movie is that there are different themes

156
00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:08,360
for various characters. Like whenever the Brendan Fraser character Rick O'Connell,

157
00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:12,600
you know when he kind of like you know when the hero enters there's like the hero theme

158
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:17,420
and then of course there's the kind of like ominous mummy slash Imhotep theme that we

159
00:17:17,420 --> 00:17:21,840
hear throughout the movie. And I think some other kind of motifs in there as well. So

160
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:26,080
I always like it when the music well I don't always like it but I think it works well in

161
00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:31,320
this movie when it's like telling you very clearly like this is the point where the hero

162
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:35,800
enters and saves the day like the music very clearly tells you that. I find that kind of

163
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,480
charming in this case. Yeah, I think it's because it's that kind of movie that Summers

164
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:46,480
has established. It is a sort of a throwback film. It's just classic Hollywood. Exactly.

165
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:52,180
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But going to the cinematography, I did something that I can't remember if I've

166
00:17:52,180 --> 00:17:56,200
done this before, but I've seen this movie so much that I decided to just watch it in

167
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,840
black and white, which I do occasionally for movies I've seen a whole lot of. And that

168
00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:08,480
was really interesting because a lot of the crypt and tomb scenes really feel like old

169
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:14,080
Universal horror movies when it's in black and white. Now the pacing is a little quicker

170
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:18,040
because it's more modern, but there's still when they're just like walking around with

171
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:23,600
the torches and everything like that. You can tell where its roots come from. That's

172
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:30,280
interesting. That strikes me as some like that's some real attention to detail. Yeah.

173
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:37,240
I mean, it's not always great. Like the bright days in the desert don't look the best in

174
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,620
black and white and some of the visual effects get lost. I think it was the Nox and the Moon's

175
00:18:42,620 --> 00:18:48,160
soul effect that kind of gets a little muddy in black and white. But I don't know. It was

176
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:54,440
a fun little experiment, but it really highlighted the, I don't know, strong cinematography coming

177
00:18:54,440 --> 00:19:02,360
into play for that classic horror feel. Cool. Well, let's go ahead and talk about the cast.

178
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:07,080
Cinematography is by Adrian Biddle as well. So credit where credit's due. We can talk

179
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:12,360
more about that stuff with maybe the visual aesthetics of the film. Matt, do you want

180
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:17,960
to talk about the cast and the love of your life, Rachel Weiss? Yeah. Yeah. I would love

181
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:24,000
to. Before I get to Rachel, I'll talk about Brendan Fraser. Fraser? I don't know where

182
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,600
we came down on that, but he stars as Rick O'Connell, a swashbuckling American wisecracking

183
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:36,680
tomb raider. This was relatively early role for him. He was fresh off the success of George

184
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:42,040
of the Jungle. Stephen Summers thought that Fraser was kind of like the Errol Flynn swashbuckling

185
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,120
type, which worked well for this movie. The Mummy originally, they reached out to, I think,

186
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:51,920
like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, like some other major superstar names, and they all passed

187
00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:57,240
on the lead role. So they kind of, for the better, I think, landed with Brendan Fraser.

188
00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:03,720
And I think he made the most of the role for sure. Iconic, really. Absolutely. And it is

189
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:08,160
totally like an Errol Flynn swashbuckling role. I honestly can't think of too many actors

190
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,280
that would be better at that than Brendan Fraser, at least in the late 90s. He fits

191
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,760
this perfectly. And just compared to those other actors you mentioned, I feel like Brendan

192
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:22,840
Fraser, while still very good looking and obviously dashing, still has an everyman quality

193
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:31,080
about him that I feel like Brad Pitt didn't in the late 90s or some of those other megastars

194
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:37,200
that you mentioned. Yeah. This movie is comparable to obviously Indiana Jones with that pulpy

195
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:43,520
adventure vibe going. I think it's a similar vibe that Harrison Ford has of a bit more

196
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,160
every man can play like the guy who would throw a punch, but also the guy who's going

197
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:54,560
to get knocked out from a punch pretty easily. Right? Yeah. Able to blend that action hero

198
00:20:54,560 --> 00:21:01,000
and comedy. Yeah, the comedy for sure. Like, I feel like you can tell that Brendan Fraser

199
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,200
in the best possible way, like knows the role and the character are like kind of ridiculous

200
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,920
and is not taking it very seriously. He even said something like that in an interview where

201
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,880
he's like, you know, you need to have a level of like not taking this seriously so the audience

202
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:20,760
can kind of like join you on the ride. And I think he's right about that. So yeah, he

203
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:25,040
works really well for this role for sure. But on to the love of my life, as Vincent

204
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:29,780
said, Rachel Weiss as Evelyn Carnahan, she's a bookish librarian who discovers the map

205
00:21:29,780 --> 00:21:35,400
to the lost city of Hamanoptra. She also resembles the ancient love of Imhotep and is thus the

206
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:39,380
object of the mummy's desire. She's really fun in this movie too. And she said something

207
00:21:39,380 --> 00:21:43,480
similar in an interview where she's like, she said something like, I don't really like

208
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:48,720
horror movies, but this movie is kind of just like comic book hokum, which sounds like an

209
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,880
insult, but I feel like it's actually sort of a compliment. And I feel like the movie

210
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:57,320
nails that vibe as well as it possibly can. And her character does as well. I mean, there's

211
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:03,600
literal cartoonish sound effects in this movie. Yeah, I think they all had a good grasp of

212
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:08,960
the tone that the movie was going for. For sure. And I think Rachel Weiss gives a really

213
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:15,080
good comedic performance. Like she, her character is interesting. Like she is not just a bookish

214
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:21,360
librarian. She also, you know, seems to have like a certain like lust for life. She likes

215
00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:25,480
drinking, she likes adventure, obviously. And I think that's a very contagious kind

216
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:31,640
of atmosphere that the character gives off. Well, her character says she, what the character

217
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:38,040
wants is experience in the field so she can bolster her own credentials. She's denied

218
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:45,960
that request for field work, presumably because she's a woman in this world in the 1920s.

219
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,320
But she overcomes that. And when she does get in the field, yeah, she can hold her own.

220
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:55,960
So she's a very dynamic character. There's kind of a fun moment where there's kind of

221
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,920
like a rival gang of American treasure hunters that are kind of like battling with the main

222
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,520
characters. And they're like, this is a little bit too on the nose, but there's a moment

223
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,720
where like one of the American treasure hunters is like, oh, well, they're led by a woman.

224
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,400
What could a woman possibly know? And then it cuts to Rachel Weiss, like giving like

225
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,880
a long monologue about like the entire history of him, what's happened, like the, you know,

226
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,320
this mummy character. And it's, it is like a little bit too obvious, but at the same

227
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:26,200
time, it's, I don't know, it's really fun too. Like I, you know, the movie's really

228
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,200
trying to get its point across and it does so very well, you know?

229
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,360
Yeah. All right. Carry on.

230
00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:36,920
Yeah. So we also have John Hannah as Jonathan, Evelyn's brother, a good natured, but weasely

231
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:42,320
archeologist who was only in it for the riches. This actor was not really known for his comedic

232
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:46,840
chops, but he definitely, you know, that's the entirety of this character. He's kind

233
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,320
of just like the comic relief and he does pretty well at that. We also have Arnold Voslough

234
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:58,040
as the ancient and reincarnated Imhotep, often conveyed through pretty bad late nineties

235
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:03,880
TGI, but I'm sure we'll talk about that more. And then rounding out the cast, we have Odette

236
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:10,080
Fair as Ardeth Bay, the leader of an ancient clan of warriors called the Medjai who buried

237
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:15,400
and cursed Imhotep and who are now dedicated to stopping those seeking Hamanoptra and thus

238
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:21,080
releasing Imhotep from his tomb. I think this is like the same exact thing. It's a character

239
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,680
in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which is not really necessarily a good or a bad

240
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,840
thing, but definitely a little bit of a rip off there.

241
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:36,600
And one last actor I should mention is Kevin J. O'Connor, who plays Benny, who is also

242
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:44,000
Weasley and is also like a tomb raider, treasure stealer, but he's one of the bad guys. We

243
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:51,440
don't like him. He's very much in it to save his own skin and is willing to do whatever

244
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:53,240
he can to survive in this story.

245
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:58,000
I mean, there's literally a line that says he brings people to the desert and leaves

246
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:04,200
them there to die after stealing their stuff. So not the best person, but he's also one

247
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,760
of the funniest. Great source of comedic relief because he's a very punchable character. Like

248
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,120
you just want to punch him in the face and he always gets his comeuppance. It's always

249
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:14,120
very satisfying.

250
00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,920
All right, guys. So the production history of this movie is a little more in depth than

251
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:25,760
I realized. Started way back in the 80s, 1987. Universal Studios wanted a remake of their

252
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:32,720
1932 The Mummy starring Boris Karloff. And they envisioned it as or the studio envisioned

253
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:38,520
it as a low budget horror franchise. That's what they were wanting. Very low budget. They

254
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:47,120
approached George Romero, who wrote a treatment with a Terminator like Mummy. So just sort

255
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:54,000
of an unstoppable killing machine. But universal past. Well, guess who gets involved? Max,

256
00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:00,840
we cannot go recording an episode without mentioning Hellraiser. Yeah, Matt, every single

257
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:07,800
time Max is on the show, we talk about Hellraiser for some reason. Great movie. I'm cursed.

258
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:15,320
Well, he was just attached to basically write his own treatment and to direct his own version

259
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:22,040
of the film in the early 90s. So it was like pretty recently after his success with Hellraiser.

260
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:27,400
And it was definitely going to be a much darker film. If you're familiar with any of Clive

261
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,960
Barker's work, it's always darker, filled with sexual tones, things like that. I would

262
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:38,840
love to see that movie. Well, he stated in an interview universal past, because quote,

263
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:45,160
it was too perverted for the studio's liking. Right. But see, it sounds like it'd be a

264
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:51,160
great movie. Yeah, different, obviously, much different. And apparently, like Clive Barker

265
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:58,080
had this idea for an ancient mummy that some of the Cenobites started in ancient Egypt.

266
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:05,960
And basically, I haven't seen Hellraiser three, but some of these elements made it into his

267
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,800
eventual Hellraiser sequel. So it's just like a really interesting connection there. They

268
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:15,920
go to hell in Hellraiser three. Maybe it's Hellraiser four. They go to space in Hellraiser

269
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,240
four, I think. All right. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

270
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,480
Well, yeah, I mean, I feel like the mummy could use a little bit more like hell in it,

271
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,800
like for lack of a better word, like they go to the land of the dead, and it's never really

272
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:32,960
all that sort of like, messed up or like terrifying, you know, so it could have used more of like

273
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:37,440
the Clive Barker touch. But but also, that's not the movie they were trying to make, or

274
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:42,240
not the movie that Universal was trying to make anyway. So yeah, you know, I get it.

275
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:48,320
And then another big name monster movie name gets attached. This is one of your guys, Matt,

276
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,760
Joe Dante. Love Joe Dante. Yeah, he was attached to

277
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,720
the project with a John sales script. And those two, I think had actually collaborated

278
00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:01,320
on Piranha, which we've talked about on the podcast before. Yeah. John sales also wrote

279
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:06,120
Alligator. Joe Dante directed The Howling. So those two are like, among my favorite monster

280
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:12,000
movie guys. Spielberg loved that script. He was totally on board, but universal kind of

281
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,560
walked at that mostly because of the budget. You know, there was like a big $10 million

282
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:22,880
budget that was like attached to that Joe Dante project. So universal said no. And yeah,

283
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:27,560
I decided to go in a different direction. That script did introduce the flesh eating

284
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:33,160
scarabs. So we see a little bit of that in the final version of the mummy. Have to imagine

285
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:37,200
that the Joe Dante version, the scarabs would have looked better than we see in the version

286
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,600
that we have here. But, but who knows? You never know. Universal is holding strong to

287
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:45,920
a $10 million budget, which was very low. They wanted this low budget. They didn't want

288
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:51,100
to do anything until well, then Romero came back. But now his new version was still too

289
00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:58,040
dark and too creepy until finally, Steven Summers, he pitched universal and I and idea

290
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:04,480
harkening more back to the classic 1932 mummy, because all the others Romero, Dante, etc.

291
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:10,280
their their versions were contemporary set in the modern day. Summers was like, no, let's

292
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:15,780
go back to the classic, but let's make it fast. Let's like revamp it a little bit. Summers

293
00:29:15,780 --> 00:29:21,760
did describe his version as a kind of Indiana Jones or Jason and the Argonauts with the mummy

294
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:29,600
as the creature giving the hero a hard time, which is what we got. And he Summers I was

295
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:36,560
watching some features with him on this DVD, and he is the DVD itself is like 20 years

296
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:44,720
old. But he is very adamant about utilizing the visual effect technology of the day to

297
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,840
bring this mummy to life. He told universal, my mummy is not going to be a guy in bandages

298
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:54,120
because everyone's gonna laugh at that. He's gonna be fast, he's gonna be mean, and we're

299
00:29:54,120 --> 00:30:02,080
going to use state of the art at that time visual effects, which he did to various degrees

300
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:07,720
of success, I would say. But it was still cutting edge at the time. And we'll talk about

301
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:14,380
that with some of the special effects later in the film or later in this episode. So universal

302
00:30:14,380 --> 00:30:19,800
greenlit the project because they were desperate at this point, babe pig in the city had been

303
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:25,780
a huge flop, like lost a lot of money. So they greenlit the mummy and Summers spent a

304
00:30:25,780 --> 00:30:30,360
year working on the script. Yeah, that's what we got.

305
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:36,720
Um, yeah, so it was a pretty difficult shoot. Principal photography took place in Marrakesh,

306
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:45,080
Morocco, and at Shepperton Studios in England. Took 17 weeks. So you know, I feel like that's

307
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,960
a little bit longer than most, you know, even most kind of like Hollywood productions would

308
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:54,320
take. Egypt was not practical due to the political climate there at the time. So that's why they

309
00:30:54,320 --> 00:31:00,280
shot in Morocco. It was very difficult. The cast and crew suffered extreme heat, sand

310
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:05,620
storms, snakes, scorpions and spiders. Some of the cast and crew members had to be airlifted

311
00:31:05,620 --> 00:31:12,120
to hospitals after they were bitten or stung by some of the wildlife there. You know, it

312
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,880
was a very difficult shoot. Like I said, Brendan Fraser, this is kind of an interesting anecdote,

313
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:21,880
I think, according to some people almost died when they were shooting the scene where he's

314
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:28,560
hung from the neck from a noose. He kind of like actually blacked out and it was, you

315
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:33,600
know, a more serious kind of emergency than they than they foresaw, I think. So it was

316
00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:38,680
a definitely a difficult shoot on this one. That's crazy. I just feel like how does that

317
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:43,660
even happen? But obviously it does. And I should mention that not only did Universal

318
00:31:43,660 --> 00:31:50,680
Greenlight Summers his pitch, but they upped the budget from 10 million to 80 million dollars.

319
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:58,540
So they finally said, OK, fine, we're going to make this a big budget summer blockbuster.

320
00:31:58,540 --> 00:32:02,320
And then they were like, great, we're going to shoot in Morocco. Like, I feel like they

321
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,240
didn't really have to. They could have just shot in California somewhere and it might

322
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:11,240
have been about the same. But like, you know, normally I'm not one to like criticize location

323
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,400
shooting. I think it's great. But it just seems weird that like Universal was all like,

324
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,840
oh, we got to keep this low budget for so long. And then they're like, no, just go shoot

325
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,720
in Morocco. It's great. Do whatever. Yeah, it does seem like a 180. Well, they probably

326
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:31,920
got with Summers pitch in their minds like, oh, this could actually be like a summer blockbuster

327
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:39,320
family movie and not just some dark horror film. Because that's the way he he he again

328
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:45,080
pitched it as more of a romantic adventure film. Right. And just a straight up horror

329
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:51,240
film. So I think that probably went a long way to convincing them. Yeah. But yeah, just

330
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,120
to get what you said. Turn around and be like, yeah, let's shoot in the Sahara. That's a

331
00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:01,040
good idea for budget. What could possibly go wrong? Yeah, just sand.

332
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:07,360
Film opened in May 1999. Its weekend take was the highest non holiday May opening at

333
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:13,520
the time and ninth biggest opening of all time. It finally fell from the top spot with

334
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:18,360
the release of The Phantom Menace. But the Mummy started a huge successful franchise

335
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:24,080
and spinoffs with The Scorpion King, which had its own subsequent sequels. A ride at

336
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:31,360
Universal Studios that Max worked at for a number of years. TV show animated TV show.

337
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:37,480
Oh, that's right. We are halfway through our episode here. We can take a sponsored break

338
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:43,560
before we get to our themes and talk more about the special effects and what we liked

339
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,760
and didn't like about the film. We just want to say Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder

340
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:54,280
and the Zach pack powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate home rehab,

341
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,320
fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers. Reach out to the Zach

342
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:03,320
pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach pack on social media. Contact the

343
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:11,240
Zach pack for investment opportunities. That link is in our bio and Menia's mailbox. We

344
00:34:11,240 --> 00:34:18,760
got some hot mail today. Some comments from our King Kong versus Godzilla episode. And

345
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:25,240
folks just a reminder, if you become a Patreon, then your comments will get priority. But

346
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:30,720
this comment comes from longtime listener David Rafalowitz on YouTube. And David, he

347
00:34:30,720 --> 00:34:36,280
says, I'll watch this sort of sequel to Godzilla raids again anytime that it's on. One of the

348
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:40,600
funny things about it though is how they make Godzilla vulnerable to electricity, yet he

349
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:46,280
acquires electrical powers in Godzilla versus Mechagodzilla. I really wish the Godzilla

350
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:51,600
channel would get access to the movies you mentioned that Criterion plans on releasing.

351
00:34:51,600 --> 00:35:00,160
Yeah. So I think it's always an interesting tidbit with King Kong versus Godzilla, how

352
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:05,580
Godzilla is vulnerable to electricity because King Kong is imbued with the powers from the

353
00:35:05,580 --> 00:35:11,000
electrical storm. But that doesn't make sense with the Willis O'Brien character. Well, if

354
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,800
they're both empowered by electricity, where's the conflict? Well, Godzilla is empowered

355
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:23,640
later on in Godzilla versus Mechagodzilla. He becomes a magnet. He gets magnetic abilities.

356
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:30,040
So Mechagodzilla is drawn to him and can't get free. Are you saying there's inconsistencies

357
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:40,400
with this franchise, this 70 year franchise that had little planning? Impossible. I don't

358
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:45,760
understand. Well, you know, if Godzilla can make use of nuclear powers, you would think

359
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:52,680
electricity would be kind of in the same ballpark, but I guess not in this case. Yeah. Or magnetism.

360
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:59,240
How do magnets work? It was a different Godzilla. There we go. Thank you, David, for kicking

361
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:06,760
off this wonderful conversation. And now coming up next, we will have Naomi Osborn joining

362
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:14,000
the show with her trivia that challenged the world. So get your thinking caps on and get

363
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:20,280
ready to answer some trivia around the mummy. Followed by that, we will have Peter Laurie

364
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:27,800
back with his silent but deadly segment on The Man Who Laughs, a picture from 1928 starring

365
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:34,320
Conrad Veidt. And yes, there may be a Joker connection to that movie. But I'll let Mr.

366
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:39,320
Laurie speak more about that film. I'm excited to hear that. I'm excited to hear Mr. Laurie.

367
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:47,080
That's a good movie. I like it a lot. Yeah, I love that movie too. Jason and the Argonauts,

368
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,360
the classic story of an epic voyage that has been told and retold since the birth of Western

369
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:58,880
civilization, now presented on the screen for the first time. Pull! Pull! Till your

370
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:05,480
heart crack and your back break! Jason and his band of Argonauts, the mightiest warriors

371
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:11,120
the world of adventure has ever known, in search of the fabulous magic golden fleece.

372
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:15,840
Where will you find this miracle? I have heard there is a tree at the end of the world with

373
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:21,760
a fleece of gold hanging in its branches. Here is the magnificent excitement of that

374
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:30,560
legendary time when men like gods and gods like men lived and loved violently. Todd Armstrong

375
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:37,640
and Nancy Kovach portray the classic lovers. Jason, the man who challenges the gods. Madea,

376
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:44,840
who betrays a kingdom for love. Acastus, driven by a lust for power. Hera, goddess and woman

377
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:49,160
who defies the might of Zeus, king of the gods, who unleashes his fury at rebellious

378
00:37:49,160 --> 00:38:03,040
mortals. The Argonauts, caught in the clutches of the towering bronze giant, Talos. The Argonauts,

379
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:17,440
battling vultures, hoppies. Jason, threatened by the seven headed Hydra. Madea, the temple

380
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:38,920
dancer, mysterious, exciting and exotic. Jason, battling the army of skeletons. One man defying

381
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:48,160
a universe of mortal and immortal dangers. Jason and the Argonauts. A search that became

382
00:38:48,160 --> 00:39:02,440
a legend. Hey Naomi. Hey, how's it going everybody? Good. Naomi, this is Max. His camera doesn't

383
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:08,240
work, but you met him briefly at trivia. He's my brother who was visiting from out of town.

384
00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:14,640
Oh yeah, nice to see you Max or hear from you. Yes. Hello. How's it going Matt? I'm

385
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:18,600
doing all right. How are you Naomi? I'm really good. I'm excited to talk about The Mummy.

386
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:23,440
I have a, I have kind of a personal history with it and it's just exciting to see people

387
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:28,880
like talking about it online. And so I was looking forward to this episode for sure.

388
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:35,160
Yeah, it's become sort of a classic even though it's only 25 years old. I know it really has.

389
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:40,200
And for me it was just like, it came out at just the perfect time in my life. I was like

390
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:47,000
12 or 13. And you know how people talk about like horse girls? Well, I was like an ancient

391
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:53,040
Egypt girl. So to me, it just felt perfect for my nerdy self. You know, it just checked

392
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:59,000
all the boxes, the mixes of genre. So I really related. I love The Mummy and I still do.

393
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:05,200
I've probably seen it maybe 10 times throughout my life. So I always enjoy watching it. I

394
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:10,120
just watched it a few minutes ago. Actually, I just ended it right before this. So be fresh

395
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:18,000
in my head. Nice. What do you have on your agenda tonight? Well, I don't know. I was

396
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,960
just thinking as we were talking, you know, I've seen it 10 times and if anything jumped

397
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:28,040
out at me during this last viewing and something did so I just have a couple of thoughts and

398
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,280
I just want to hear what you guys think because I was thinking about it as I was watching.

399
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:36,480
And you know, last time I was on the show, we talked about Ray Harryhausen and his groundbreaking

400
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:42,840
work and there was a scene at the end of The Mummy where Rick is fighting the resurrected

401
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:48,520
skeleton priests. And to me, it just felt like very much like almost a deliberate tribute

402
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:53,840
to Jason and the Argonauts. Yeah, so I was just feeling like wondering if you guys kind

403
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:59,840
of had some vibes like that too. And given this, you know, how do you think modern films

404
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:07,600
can balance playing tribute to past cinematic influences while also forging their own identity?

405
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:12,360
That's a good question. I think about this a lot actually watching movies, because you

406
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:20,160
don't want to give too much reference to older films because then like for me, when I was

407
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:26,840
watching Interstellar, I was getting too much from 2001 A Space Odyssey. And I was just

408
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,120
like, well, now I just want to watch that movie instead. So it almost undercuts the

409
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:36,440
newer movie. This one, I think what you were saying with Jason and the Argonauts, it's

410
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:41,680
you get like a slight hint of it, but it is doing definitely its own thing. It's not trying

411
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:46,640
to just call it out for the sake of calling it out. It's doing it because it's a true

412
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:53,120
inspiration. Yes, I agree. And it's something that I grew to appreciate, which, which kind

413
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:57,360
of means it's there's something to it more than just the popcorn flick of it. It can

414
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:01,560
be enjoyed on so many levels. You know, I didn't really enjoy it on that level, even

415
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:06,720
until this this watching and I've known about Ray Harryhausen for a long time. So it's kind

416
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:14,200
of fun to come back to that and see those kind of subtle little winks that just feel

417
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:19,320
really special when when you love movies and you watch movies. And, you know, I kind of

418
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:25,120
felt that way a little bit too about Imhotep's abilities and how they evolved from the 1930s

419
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:31,760
version. Because in that version, he's very like, you know, he can kind of hypnotize people,

420
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:37,800
he can, you know, perform magic. And in this one, he almost has abilities that kind of

421
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:43,880
remind me of being like a vampire, where he can change his shape. He's motivated by eternal

422
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:50,880
love. And I just thought that that was super interesting. And I loved that kind of version.

423
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:57,960
And I think it creates for like a really a much better and more interesting character,

424
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,680
even though he doesn't say much.

425
00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:06,760
100% I think there's a there's a shot in the mummy where he is transformed to the sand

426
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:13,560
he's coming through the keyhole. Yes. And that I think is very reminiscent of a classic

427
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:20,840
Dracula ability where he becomes missed. And like, gets under the threshold of the door.

428
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:23,440
Yeah, I think that's totally there.

429
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:31,920
I think it also speaks to the common heritage of these monsters of just that universal monster

430
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:37,720
movie legacy, where they were just churning out all these movies, there's going to be

431
00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:42,600
common elements. I mean, you have a lot of the same people working on a lot of these

432
00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:49,640
movies. It wasn't the mummy, the original one really close to the original Dracula in

433
00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:50,640
age.

434
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:51,640
Oh, yeah.

435
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,320
Like it was one of the earlier ones, right?

436
00:43:54,320 --> 00:44:02,720
Yeah, Dracula is 31. And the mummy was 32. Same Carl Freund directed the mummy. And he

437
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:10,200
assisted directed more or less just directed the better parts of Dracula, the Todd Browning

438
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:15,160
film. So like you say, Max, they're the same visionaries are working on these films, right?

439
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:22,920
It's almost like they took all of the abilities that they didn't use in that Dracula film

440
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:27,960
and just gave it to the mummy.

441
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:34,160
Like you got the leftovers of the least sexy things that that Dracula couldn't do the mummy

442
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,280
could do. Give it to you.

443
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:42,320
It's kind of interesting. Stephen Sommers said something like for the original universal

444
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:48,280
monster movies, Frankenstein was sad. Dracula was sexy. And the mummy was just scary. It

445
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:52,520
was like the scariest one to him, even though like the original mummy was kind of like slow

446
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:56,700
and lumbering and like, you know, had all the bandages and everything like that doesn't

447
00:44:56,700 --> 00:45:01,600
really seem scary anymore. But like, I like that he said that. And I like how even if

448
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:06,560
the horror stuff doesn't necessarily like fully survive in the in this version, like

449
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:11,040
I don't think it's the main point of it. Like, I still feel like it is an update that tries

450
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:17,920
to like make the mummy scary and fast and kind of like gross in its own CGI heavy sort

451
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:22,560
of way. You know, it kind of reminds me a little bit of like 28 Days Later, the Danny

452
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:27,400
Boyle movie, and how he wanted to like update zombies to be like fast and scary and gross

453
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:31,920
and gory. Like, I feel like the mummy is sort of maybe trying to do a similar thing, even

454
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:34,280
if like they're totally different movies, you know.

455
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:41,160
Yes, that's so well said. Yeah, absolutely. And I just gotta say, how interesting is it

456
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:51,680
that the mummy the 99 movie is still the only more or less successful reboot of the the

457
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:58,480
classic Universal Monsters? I mean, Universal has been trying for for decades to revamp

458
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:05,600
these movies. The 2010 Wolfman just like didn't connect with audiences or critics. This movie

459
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:11,720
started it. I know, but it's been it's been really hit or miss. We haven't seen a Frankenstein

460
00:46:11,720 --> 00:46:16,800
reenvisioning from Universal or the creature from the Black Lagoon. Like you'd think they

461
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,920
would jump on that and they haven't quite figured it out yet.

462
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:25,640
I feel like they almost got there with the Invisible Man that came out the 2021 with Elizabeth

463
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:31,360
Moss, which I thought was really good. And it almost didn't hit in a way just circumstantially

464
00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:36,600
because of COVID and stuff. But it doesn't have that same appeal, I think, where, you

465
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:41,840
know, they can't bring it to Universal Studios. They can't kind of do it in the same way that

466
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,880
they do with some of the other Universal Monsters. You know, like this is my Universal Monsters

467
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:52,040
sweatshirt, got all my faves on there. But yeah, it just can't connect with people in

468
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:56,280
that same way. And you guys are right. I just wonder, you know, what's next? Like, I bet

469
00:46:56,280 --> 00:47:00,960
they're still trying to figure it out over there if they can make it relevant to today's

470
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,720
audiences. And it's, you know, in what kind of angle they should take to make it fresh

471
00:47:05,720 --> 00:47:06,720
and appealing.

472
00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:13,920
I think they're just trying to make all of them that big budget summer blockbuster sort

473
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:22,720
of movie. Like it works for this Mummy movie. But I can't, I don't know, the closest we

474
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:30,680
got for Dracula being almost like that is probably Bram Stoker's Dracula. But that's

475
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:39,320
been done so many times now because Dracula is not owned by Universal. And, you know,

476
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:43,520
it's expensive period pieces. And when they try to update it, it just doesn't work. Like

477
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:50,840
to modern day, like they just need to really accept that some of these only work if you

478
00:47:50,840 --> 00:48:00,320
just keep it in a low budget horror sort of movie. I mean, maybe Creature from the Black

479
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,960
Lagoon can work as like an Anaconda-esque adventure.

480
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:10,400
I think with the Mummy too, that even hasn't been that long since time has passed. But

481
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:15,600
I got to wonder if audiences and studios today would approach it with more scrutiny, like

482
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:20,720
particularly the portrayal of Egyptian culture and the mythology there. You know, I think

483
00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:25,440
it would be more closely examined for cultural sensitivity to kind of reflect today's values

484
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:31,360
of authenticity and representation. And I would say that would probably be one of the

485
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:37,400
bigger challenges if they made a Mummy movie today, right now, the same one, you know,

486
00:48:37,400 --> 00:48:43,400
about the sequels, the prequels, the sequels to the prequels and all that.

487
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:50,680
I mean, the Tom Cruise Mummy movie didn't come out that long ago. And it was still made

488
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:56,040
in that what I would say this more modern era of trying to be more culturally sensitive.

489
00:48:56,040 --> 00:49:00,880
I dared to watch the Tom Cruise Mummy recently. Has anyone else seen it here?

490
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:01,880
Admittedly, no.

491
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:02,880
No.

492
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:03,880
Watch the trailer.

493
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:12,520
I mean, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen. But it is a mess and not in like a fun

494
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:18,680
way. I think the like the color palette is all really subdued. Tom Cruise is doing Tom

495
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:24,800
Cruise things. And it's just like really sanitized. And it's set in the modern day. It's set in

496
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:31,680
London. So like you don't even get the Egyptian North African landscape. And you're just like,

497
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:33,640
hmm.

498
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:38,600
Is this a mummy movie? Or is this a Tom Cruise movie with a mummy in it?

499
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:42,840
They're probably trying to avoid doing anything culturally insensitive.

500
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:47,480
Maybe. But I think there's a right way to do it. I don't know what that is. But there's

501
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:48,480
a way to do it.

502
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:54,680
Well, you can just you know, we were talking about that, the warden character. And well,

503
00:49:54,680 --> 00:50:00,440
if you said it, actually in Egypt, you can just not write the warden character that way.

504
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:06,160
You can write them a different way. And you know, be a fine character. So there's ways

505
00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:13,160
to do it. You just have to be willing to accept criticism because there will be criticism,

506
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:20,440
regardless. But as long as you put in the effort of, okay, well, we got to think about

507
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:24,840
it in a different way. And see what we can do. As long as you're willing to put the effort

508
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:30,680
towards that, you should be fine. But they're probably just like, well, Tom Cruise on his

509
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:33,960
own can probably sell the movie.

510
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:38,960
I think if you if you make it like an intentional thematic point, like I think about Black Panther,

511
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,640
and like, I don't really love a lot of Marvel movies, but that's by far the best one, in

512
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:47,000
my opinion. And like, you know, there's that scene where a killmonger is in the museum

513
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:51,440
in London, where there's like a lot of dialogue that explicitly states like you stole these

514
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:56,000
artifacts from my culture. And that makes us like right off the bat question if he's

515
00:50:56,000 --> 00:51:01,760
actually a villain or if he if his motivations are logical and understandable, you know,

516
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:06,280
and I think if like the Mummy remake did something like that, it could flip some of these like

517
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:10,920
concerns on their head and like make it like an intentional point of the movie. But certainly

518
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:15,920
this one from 1999. And I assume the Tom Cruise one don't even try to do that. So

519
00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:21,400
Well, we even mentioned it though, how the only good characters are trying to preserve

520
00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:27,280
this history in the 99 film. So they were they probably had it in the back of their

521
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,520
mind. It probably wasn't the biggest concern. But it was still just, well, these people

522
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:36,520
are trying to be altruistic about it. Not trying to just pillage these cultural artifacts.

523
00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:42,280
Yeah, I think we really see that with the character who plays the what's his name, the

524
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:50,160
tattooed man, the artist Bay. Yes, exactly. Where at first, you're not sure if he's a

525
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:56,720
bad guy or what the story is. And and then you sort of see him like as this guardian

526
00:51:56,720 --> 00:52:02,760
who's not motivated by money. He's not motivated even by knowledge or some of the other things

527
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:09,160
that the other characters are motivated by really just protecting people and preserving

528
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:15,080
what he knows to be true, you know, in his culture. And I find that interesting and relatively

529
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:21,160
sensitive, you know, even if it's not based in in reality. So are you guys ready to hear

530
00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:28,840
a trivia question that I wrote for this? Absolutely. Cool. Well, you know, I thought about it a

531
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:33,280
lot of different ways. People are pretty familiar with this. So I definitely didn't want to

532
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:40,400
go with anything around plot recall or anything like that. So I'm excited to do that. If you

533
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:45,720
want to remind people how they can enter before I go or how do you want to do it? Yes, certainly.

534
00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:53,660
So with the trivia that challenged the world, you will listen to Naomi present this question

535
00:52:53,660 --> 00:53:02,640
about the mummy. And if you're listening on Spotify, comment the guests that you have

536
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:07,160
for listening on YouTube, comment Instagram, comment wherever you're listening, leave a

537
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:13,800
comment and that will enter you into a drawing for free merchandise from our threadless store

538
00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:19,880
stickers, shirts. You know, you got a nice selection of colors and design. Thank you.

539
00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:24,500
And you have a shirt coming by the way, I ordered it for you. Awesome. I can't wait

540
00:53:24,500 --> 00:53:29,240
to rep that I'm going to Japan in a couple of weeks. And you know, I'm going to be repping

541
00:53:29,240 --> 00:53:35,560
Camp Kaiju when I'm there. I'll send you guys a picture. I'm going back to Toho cinema to

542
00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:40,480
hopefully see a film there. I didn't get a chance to last time but I'm staying in Shinjuku

543
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:47,740
for a week so I'm sure I can find the time. That's awesome. Yeah. So you will be entered

544
00:53:47,740 --> 00:53:54,860
twice into the raffle. If you are willing to call into the show, leave a voicemail with

545
00:53:54,860 --> 00:54:02,520
your answer that number is in our show description. So go ahead. Nothing to lose everything to

546
00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:08,040
win. Okay, Vincent, I have a clarifying question that someone asked me and I wasn't 100% sure.

547
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:13,040
Do they have to DM you? If they want to communicate if they want to submit electronically? Do

548
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:17,920
people have to DM the answer or the guests? Or do they? Is it okay if they just literally

549
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:24,620
comment it on a post that you make about the trivia? Yeah, it's okay if you just comment,

550
00:54:24,620 --> 00:54:33,000
you may DM me. But it's okay if you just comment. Okay. Yeah, awesome. I will tell my people

551
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:40,320
to comment to DM to do all of the things for all of the merch. All of the merch stickers

552
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:46,400
and shirts and everything else. So yes, without further ado.

553
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:57,760
Are you ready to play the trivia that challenge the world?

554
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:08,080
All right, here we go. The mummy's thrilling pace and striking visuals are brought to life

555
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:14,400
with a memorable score. This score was composed by which composer whose career spanned over

556
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:20,640
five decades and can be heard in an upcoming Camp Kaiju episode to be discussed later this

557
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:27,800
season. I'll read that again for you guys. The mummy's thrilling pace and striking visuals

558
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:33,720
were brought to life with a memorable score. This score was composed by which composer

559
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:39,320
whose career spanned over five decades and can be heard in an upcoming Camp Kaiju episode

560
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:46,760
to be discussed later this season. Nice question on different levels. Thank you

561
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:52,320
for that. Thank you. Yes, no problem. It was fun to do it. I never know what you guys are

562
00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:57,960
going to discuss. So hard to know what to ask about because I would hate to write a

563
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:03,400
question and then have you guys cover it. You're very thorough and researched individuals.

564
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:08,900
So I appreciate your collaboration on it. And I think that's kind of great because even

565
00:56:08,900 --> 00:56:14,440
though we do talk about the composer during this episode, if listeners are paying attention,

566
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:19,160
they might get a clue to the trivia question. So I think that's great. You know? Oh, that's

567
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:29,320
fantastic. Yeah. Love that. Who's that guy's name? Yeah, Max. Do you remember? Oh, I'll

568
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:36,440
cut it out if we say it. It's okay. Do you have a guest for the the other film that you

569
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:47,160
scored that's also in the Camp Kaiju lineup for season four? Oh, I looked at the lineup,

570
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:54,040
but I don't remember that. Not sure. Okay. Cool. Well, I like to add little tidbits in

571
00:56:54,040 --> 00:57:00,000
my questions that might lead people to it. I hope I did. And I'm excited to hear what

572
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:05,560
people say. I think that, you know, people who love film scores will enjoy answering

573
00:57:05,560 --> 00:57:11,800
that question. I think the score is really fantastic. I paid attention, extra attention

574
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:16,920
this time. It's not the kind of thing you, it's more of a thing you experience as a kid,

575
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:22,000
less something that you can actually notice. But this time, I really enjoy listening to

576
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:27,760
that. And it enhanced it a lot for me. And again, felt like one of those moments where

577
00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:33,040
they're kind of subtly referencing other films. And it just feels special to notice it and

578
00:57:33,040 --> 00:57:43,960
to be one of the film lovers that gets it. We'll see you next time for the trivia that

579
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:49,880
challenged the world.

580
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:59,960
Naomi, you have some trivia coming up. Our next trivia will be Wednesday, September 4,

581
00:57:59,960 --> 00:58:07,320
starting at 730 at Indeed Brewery in Minneapolis. It's a nice brewery in Northeast Minneapolis.

582
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:12,800
We really enjoyed doing that and hope to see new cinephiles come out every month and flex

583
00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:17,840
their knowledge on movies. Yeah, I'm hoping to see if anyone, any listeners, Camp Kaji

584
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:22,300
listeners come by, please come up and introduce yourself. I'd love to meet you. I consider

585
00:58:22,300 --> 00:58:28,200
everybody that comes to trivia friend. So I'm hoping that some of you come. That would

586
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:29,200
be wonderful.

587
00:58:29,200 --> 00:58:33,960
It's a it's a really fun time. You know, people can also follow me on Instagram if they want

588
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:39,480
reminders of the event or to just kind of see what I'm doing. Sometimes you can even

589
00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:45,820
get a hint about what the trivia might be by I post all the movies that I watch. Nice.

590
00:58:45,820 --> 00:58:53,080
And we'll see you back here on Camp Kaiju for Planet of the Apes, I believe. Yes, I

591
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:57,760
am looking forward to that. Well, thanks, everybody. It's fun talking to you. You guys

592
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:02,440
all have such good insights. It's really fun chatting for sure. It's always good to see

593
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:12,680
you, Naomi. Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. Have a good night. You too. Take care.

594
00:59:12,680 --> 00:59:20,920
Before Karloff and Lugosi stocked the screens, the movies were no less monstrous. These frightful

595
00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:28,240
figures lurked in the expressionistic shadows and and and danced in the macabre moonlight.

596
00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:36,760
They laughed. They cried. They fooled the sensibilities of honest, decent folk. In the

597
00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:43,960
age of silent pictures, these gruesome ghouls nonetheless cried out with a savage humanity

598
00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:51,600
that took the breath from all who witnessed their devilish delights. For in the silence,

599
00:59:51,600 --> 01:00:04,120
no one can hear you scream. And I am not feeling so well. And I, Peter Lorry, am not feeling

600
01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:12,040
so well. Since our last meeting, I have sunk once more into the mire of misery. Pierre,

601
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:17,120
my little rodent compatriot did not succeed in his quest to alert the authorities of my

602
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:23,800
podcast purgatorio. As it turns out, policemen are none too eager to trust a rat with a note

603
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:31,600
declaring the legendary actor, I, Peter Lorry, am trapped in a recording studio. No, Pierre,

604
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:38,680
I do not yell at you. You have done all you can. I must now fulfill my unholy bargain

605
01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:44,320
with Matthew and Vincent, who have requested I review silent monster movies in exchange

606
01:00:44,320 --> 01:00:53,400
for a return to Terminal Dreamland. This week, we discuss The Man Who Laughs from 1928. The

607
01:00:53,400 --> 01:00:58,460
Man Who Laughs tells the story of Gwynplaine, a boy who was exiled from the court of King

608
01:00:58,460 --> 01:01:05,660
James II of England and then disfigured with the carving of a large smile onto his face.

609
01:01:05,660 --> 01:01:11,680
As Gwynplaine ages, he does what anybody with a permanent grin would do. He joins a band

610
01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:18,200
of carnies and falls in love with a blind woman. However, Gwynplaine's relatively stable

611
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:24,860
life is soon turned upside down when the aristocracy discover his noble roots and pull him back

612
01:01:24,860 --> 01:01:31,440
into the duplicitous world of the royal court. The Man Who Laughs is produced by Universal

613
01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:37,240
Studios and is based on a novel by Victor Hugo. Direction is by the German expressionistic

614
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:45,400
master Paul Lenny, making his US debut. Gwynplaine is played by German actor Conrad Veit, known

615
01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:51,440
for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and the blind woman Dia is played by Mary Philbin, known

616
01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:57,360
for The Phantom of the Opera. In fact, Universal had intended Gwynplaine for Lon Chaney after

617
01:01:57,360 --> 01:02:02,480
his memorable performance as Victor Hugo's other tragic character, that hunchback of

618
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:09,420
Notre Dame. Nevertheless, Veit proves masterful as this sympathetic clown, and the movie was

619
01:02:09,420 --> 01:02:15,960
another stepping stone in Universal's growing reputation for gothic horror. In fact, Universal

620
01:02:15,960 --> 01:02:21,360
Monster makeup artist Jack Pierce cut his teeth on The Man Who Laughs. His makeup for

621
01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:29,480
Gwynplaine would even inspire that for Batman's arch nemesis, the Joker. Perhaps if I carve

622
01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:34,460
a smile onto my face, then I will strike fear into the hearts of all those who refuse to

623
01:02:34,460 --> 01:02:42,360
help me. Perhaps I'll find the humor of the situation, of this ridiculous state of affairs

624
01:02:42,360 --> 01:02:49,600
in which I find myself. Yes, yes, next time on Silent But Deadly, we will discuss a tale

625
01:02:49,600 --> 01:03:11,960
of terror called The Golem. It is it is a positive riot.

626
01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:17,520
Let's get back to the mummy, shall we? Let's talk about some themes. I thought about love.

627
01:03:17,520 --> 01:03:23,240
I don't know if that's cheesy. No, I think that's fair, especially with like the sequels

628
01:03:23,240 --> 01:03:28,160
where, you know, like, you know, having kids and like having a domestic unit and like raising

629
01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:33,640
a family is kind of like a big part of the mummy returns. And then of course, you have

630
01:03:33,640 --> 01:03:39,920
the Imhotep and Anak Sinamun, I think I'm pronouncing that right. Yeah, it's I think

631
01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:45,640
you're right. It's it's about love conquering time, I guess, basically, you know. And does

632
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:52,080
that make Imhotep a sympathetic villain? I mean, I think so. I don't know if it's always

633
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:58,840
played sympathetically, but I think it it's a compelling reason for Imhotep to do what

634
01:03:58,840 --> 01:03:59,840
he does.

635
01:03:59,840 --> 01:04:08,240
Well, I think there's a good duality with Imhotep and Anak Sinamun, and then Rick and

636
01:04:08,240 --> 01:04:14,920
Evie, because those are contrasting relationships. But one is, hey, this is how you do it right.

637
01:04:14,920 --> 01:04:21,920
And then the other one is doing it wrong, essentially, with love, using using love as

638
01:04:21,920 --> 01:04:30,440
an excuse to do bad things. So I don't get much sympathy for Imhotep. Yeah, I don't think

639
01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:36,800
it's played that way. But now paper, I think it's a good reason as any for what he does.

640
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:42,200
I think Anak Sinamun is a little bit more of a tragic character, because it's constantly

641
01:04:42,200 --> 01:04:48,960
just like, you'll bring me back, right? Yeah. And then it's just twice almost happens, doesn't.

642
01:04:48,960 --> 01:04:54,680
So I don't know, I kind of feel for it because it just keeps getting ripped out of our hands

643
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,360
for no fault of our own.

644
01:04:57,360 --> 01:05:01,520
You know, another movie from the 90s that I think has a similar storyline is Bram Stoker's

645
01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:07,640
Dracula from 1992, I think, where, you know, the Gary Oldman Dracula character has this

646
01:05:07,640 --> 01:05:12,160
undying love. I can't remember the character's name, but it's when a writer plays the character

647
01:05:12,160 --> 01:05:17,720
both in like the historical flashbacks and then in like the current storyline of the

648
01:05:17,720 --> 01:05:21,880
film as well. And I think that movie does a little bit better job. They're very different

649
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:26,240
movies, so it's probably an unfair comparison. But like, the theme of like tragic romance

650
01:05:26,240 --> 01:05:29,760
that persists over time, I think is done a little bit better in that movie than it is

651
01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:35,120
here. And I don't think it's really treated all that seriously here. But but it's it's

652
01:05:35,120 --> 01:05:36,120
still there. And

653
01:05:36,120 --> 01:05:44,120
Bram Stoker's Dracula is all about that love. It even ends on a that is a true sympathetic

654
01:05:44,120 --> 01:05:50,680
villain by the end, because Winona Ryder's character like goes up to him at the end and

655
01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:59,720
basically gives him his release, release to death in a loving way. And he's finally like,

656
01:05:59,720 --> 01:06:05,320
I don't know, forgiven God almost like that. The whole movie kind of builds up to that

657
01:06:05,320 --> 01:06:10,160
here. And it's just kind of used as an excuse to keep the adventure going.

658
01:06:10,160 --> 01:06:14,200
And I would say in general, there's not a lot of thematic content to this movie, in

659
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:17,640
my opinion, like it really is kind of about the adventure storyline. But

660
01:06:17,640 --> 01:06:23,160
I mean, did you mention greed, or touch on greed and the effects of that? Like everybody

661
01:06:23,160 --> 01:06:34,320
who mostly everybody who's I don't know, trying to get one over on somebody else or just do

662
01:06:34,320 --> 01:06:40,440
the most amount of looting possible for the worst reasons. You know, I think they all

663
01:06:40,440 --> 01:06:47,480
die. There's a few I think Jonathan is the only character who doesn't. But it's other

664
01:06:47,480 --> 01:06:54,960
people who prevent him from making that fatal error. Because you can, I think what the film

665
01:06:54,960 --> 01:07:04,400
tries to do with, you know, the looting of these ancient tombs and burial sites, it tries

666
01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:10,440
to contrast it with like the Americans who are just doing it purely for profit. And then

667
01:07:10,440 --> 01:07:19,400
with Evie trying to do it for more historical and knowledge based reasons. I feel like that's

668
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:28,200
stronger than the love theme. Because it so many characters get afflicted by it. And their

669
01:07:28,200 --> 01:07:32,560
fate are decided by that greed.

670
01:07:32,560 --> 01:07:37,840
That's what sets sets the plot in motion, arguably, that search for hominoptera. I mean,

671
01:07:37,840 --> 01:07:43,640
that's the mummy's curse. Right. I think that I just I think that's a great segue. I just

672
01:07:43,640 --> 01:07:48,760
wanted to touch on like broader cultural themes and ideas conversations we have in the real

673
01:07:48,760 --> 01:07:56,240
world about like the West's relationship with antiquities and filling museums in Western

674
01:07:56,240 --> 01:08:04,000
cities with with loot essentially from ancient third world countries. And that's not even

675
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:10,040
the proper term. But you know what I mean? So I think the mummy is a perfect send up

676
01:08:10,040 --> 01:08:19,000
send off of classic adventure serials like Indiana Jones. But in that not everything

677
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:27,640
in there is as culturally appropriate in the 21st century. Especially like with the the

678
01:08:27,640 --> 01:08:32,160
casting of this film, there are no Egyptians in the film. I'm not saying you have to, but

679
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:37,320
it would this day and age it would go a long way in showing that proper respect.

680
01:08:37,320 --> 01:08:43,760
Well, that could be a reason why modern interpretations of this type of story just don't work. Because

681
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:49,560
it's like, what are you doing? Just just taking all this stuff. It's not going to like the

682
01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:58,920
British Museum anymore or anything like that. So yeah, I mean, setting it in the 20s, and

683
01:08:58,920 --> 01:09:06,880
even Indiana Jones in the 30s. It really you almost forgive it because it's like, well,

684
01:09:06,880 --> 01:09:14,480
I mean, yeah, that's what they were doing. Right. And with that pulp air, I mean, those

685
01:09:14,480 --> 01:09:23,200
classic adventure pulp stories were they had many problems of their own, as far as I don't

686
01:09:23,200 --> 01:09:30,000
know, appropriate representation. Yeah, it's, you know, I think like some characters, and

687
01:09:30,000 --> 01:09:34,360
this is kind of to your point, but like some characters do kind of like verge on like the

688
01:09:34,360 --> 01:09:38,960
caricature or the stereotypical. I mean, I'm thinking of like the warden, God has done,

689
01:09:38,960 --> 01:09:43,400
I think is the character's name. You know, it's definitely kind of like a stereotype

690
01:09:43,400 --> 01:09:49,840
of like a shifty Arab who you can't totally trust, who's just like, you know, in it for

691
01:09:49,840 --> 01:09:54,040
like the power and the money and all that. You know, I'm trying to think of like, who

692
01:09:54,040 --> 01:09:58,360
actually is like an admirable character in this movie. And they're like, I think like

693
01:09:58,360 --> 01:10:04,560
Evie, who is in it for the knowledge, like you said, Max, you know, I think like our

694
01:10:04,560 --> 01:10:07,800
death, I think our death base, his name, he's kind of like, he and the Magi are trying to

695
01:10:07,800 --> 01:10:12,280
like protect Egyptian history. So I think they're admirable. And I think that might

696
01:10:12,280 --> 01:10:17,400
be it. I think even Rick is like, you know, he's he's looking out for number one, he's

697
01:10:17,400 --> 01:10:21,760
the hero. And he's like a sort of like Indiana Jones type character. But like, I don't think

698
01:10:21,760 --> 01:10:25,800
his motivations are really all that admirable. I think he's, you know, he's, he's a good

699
01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:32,920
guy who just does his own thing, regardless of laws. Yeah, he's not going to intentionally

700
01:10:32,920 --> 01:10:39,200
hurt somebody. Because he was getting hangs in that prison, just because he had a very

701
01:10:39,200 --> 01:10:44,520
good time. That I think that was the line, which we don't even really know exactly what

702
01:10:44,520 --> 01:10:49,840
that means. You know, right? Purposeful. Yeah. But it's not like, oh, I don't know, he got

703
01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:57,160
to fight with somebody, or he murdered somebody or use some underhanded thing. And now someone

704
01:10:57,160 --> 01:11:03,480
says, it's just like, I read it as, oh, he probably, you know, slept with somebody's

705
01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:08,680
wife who should he shouldn't have, because he's a dashing main character in an adventure

706
01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:14,320
story. And that's kind of his motivation in the movie, too. Like he is attracted to Evie.

707
01:11:14,320 --> 01:11:17,120
And that's pretty much all of his motivation, and maybe a little bit of the money and greed

708
01:11:17,120 --> 01:11:22,240
a little bit too. But yeah, I mean, like, he's, he's a likable character. He's like,

709
01:11:22,240 --> 01:11:27,080
and like the Han Solo mold, slash Indiana Jones mold, for sure. But like, you know,

710
01:11:27,080 --> 01:11:32,420
I just think, you know, in the conversation about like, who is a heroic character in terms

711
01:11:32,420 --> 01:11:36,840
of like, East versus West, and like Egyptian versus Western characters, there aren't too

712
01:11:36,840 --> 01:11:41,400
many extremely admirable noble characters in this movie. And that's not necessarily a bad

713
01:11:41,400 --> 01:11:42,400
thing, you know?

714
01:11:42,400 --> 01:11:49,560
Yeah, I definitely agree. The Magi and Evie are the truest good people. Yeah.

715
01:11:49,560 --> 01:11:54,000
What are my positive notes of this of this script is that or the movie is the script,

716
01:11:54,000 --> 01:11:59,160
I think it's extremely well written and like paste and the the plot beats and the moments

717
01:11:59,160 --> 01:12:06,140
are there. But I will criticize summers for like you say, leaning towards broad stereotypes

718
01:12:06,140 --> 01:12:12,240
and archetypes, which is inherent in the pulp genre, for better or for worse.

719
01:12:12,240 --> 01:12:17,520
And it was still the 90s, where that was much more acceptable in the film industry.

720
01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:23,720
I just want to, I want to mention the actor who plays the warden, Omed Dejali. I came

721
01:12:23,720 --> 01:12:29,280
upon some information that he pushed back on the way summers had originally written

722
01:12:29,280 --> 01:12:38,880
this character, which was like a shifty, more mean spirited type of of Middle Eastern character.

723
01:12:38,880 --> 01:12:45,960
But Dejali Lee, as an Iranian actor, he told summers that he was going to play it very

724
01:12:45,960 --> 01:12:52,600
comedically and more bumbly. And just like what we get in the final movie. And he told

725
01:12:52,600 --> 01:12:59,440
summers I have to you've written this character so one dimensionally. I have to do something

726
01:12:59,440 --> 01:13:07,420
more interesting. And summers was like, Are you sure? Okay, fine. I'll trust your instincts.

727
01:13:07,420 --> 01:13:12,480
So like, thank goodness the actor stood up for himself. I mean, he's much more of a comic

728
01:13:12,480 --> 01:13:17,080
relief character. I mean, he's only in the movie for like three scenes. His death, though,

729
01:13:17,080 --> 01:13:22,880
is horrifying. Right. Oh, it said sets up scarabs. The scarab gets into his face and

730
01:13:22,880 --> 01:13:28,960
then into his brain. Right. Because we saw the scarabs get like cover, Imhotep at the

731
01:13:28,960 --> 01:13:34,960
very beginning. But the horror doesn't really sink in until you see it crawling over his

732
01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:41,160
chest or under his chest. Yeah. Even if the CGI is pretty bad. It's still effective. It's

733
01:13:41,160 --> 01:13:48,720
it's not the worst. Like there are movies that get released now that are like the same

734
01:13:48,720 --> 01:13:54,200
or worse. Yeah, you're right about that. For sure. Let's talk more about special effects.

735
01:13:54,200 --> 01:13:59,840
So you guys seem to have strong opinions. Well, I mean, it did. It does show its age.

736
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:05,720
Definitely. A lot of things look a little too shiny. For sure. It is helped by a lot

737
01:14:05,720 --> 01:14:11,560
of how it's going to say the darkness of the tombs. But it's the most shiniest parts. I

738
01:14:11,560 --> 01:14:16,920
know the sand bits look a lot better, but still a little smooth. Could be grainier,

739
01:14:16,920 --> 01:14:21,800
but they still look all right. I think Imhotep looks for the most part all right. We're not

740
01:14:21,800 --> 01:14:27,680
talking Scorpion King level of bad for sure. Yeah, yeah, they do call them gooey. You're

741
01:14:27,680 --> 01:14:33,480
right about that. That's a good one. Yeah. Juicy. Yeah, it was juicy. You said that earlier

742
01:14:33,480 --> 01:14:39,520
in the show. Yeah, I know what I'm doing. I know. Yeah, I kind of like some of the early

743
01:14:39,520 --> 01:14:46,920
scenes where it's like set in ancient Thebes and it's like very clearly a lot of CGI. But

744
01:14:46,920 --> 01:14:51,440
it kind of works well. Like you have some like live action stuff kind of like composited

745
01:14:51,440 --> 01:14:58,440
against the CGI. So I think it works okay. I agree that Imhotep looks decent. Could be

746
01:14:58,440 --> 01:15:06,080
scarier, but it looks okay. I think the scarabs look really, really bad. And some of the sand

747
01:15:06,080 --> 01:15:11,440
stuff, you know, like the face and the sand and everything. I don't know. I don't think

748
01:15:11,440 --> 01:15:15,840
it looks all that good. But I have to admit, like, I don't know, there's something about

749
01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:21,960
like the sort of like, chinsiness, I guess you could say, even though it was like sort

750
01:15:21,960 --> 01:15:26,480
of like top level effects at the time the movie came out, it's kind of charming now.

751
01:15:26,480 --> 01:15:32,080
Like I think we're at a point where like almost all CGI is so smooth and kind of at the same

752
01:15:32,080 --> 01:15:36,360
level, at least if it's like a Hollywood movie that it's like kind of all uniform. But like

753
01:15:36,360 --> 01:15:41,960
to see early CGI like this, it's like, oh, this doesn't really look very good. And that's

754
01:15:41,960 --> 01:15:45,760
kind of like why it's distinct in a way, you know, like, it's kind of charming to like,

755
01:15:45,760 --> 01:15:48,640
look back on this time, even though it was only 25 years ago.

756
01:15:48,640 --> 01:15:56,600
And at least the movie has the advantage of all of the special effects are the other worldly

757
01:15:56,600 --> 01:16:03,960
aspects to the movie. So that different feel you get because it is that older CGI kind

758
01:16:03,960 --> 01:16:11,680
of lends itself to that difference. It's not just like, oh, everything has that bad CGI

759
01:16:11,680 --> 01:16:16,920
quality. Like if they're flying that plane, and that plane wasn't a real plane, it would

760
01:16:16,920 --> 01:16:22,400
be a much worse movie, because it's just the sand wall. It kind of works a lot better.

761
01:16:22,400 --> 01:16:28,600
Yeah, that's a good point. For sure. We can spend a few minutes on our breakdowns here,

762
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:32,600
the good, the bad and the campy if that's okay. I just want to say that the city of

763
01:16:32,600 --> 01:16:39,760
Hamunatra was was a set it was built in Morocco for the film, and it was destroyed in real

764
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:46,760
time at the end of the film, which I am like, that's movie magic to me more than anything

765
01:16:46,760 --> 01:16:52,920
a computer can create. Oh, I actually thought about that while watching. I was like, oh,

766
01:16:52,920 --> 01:16:58,920
they're just like, knocking over everything in this. So I was wondering about that. Yeah,

767
01:16:58,920 --> 01:17:04,760
they don't do that anymore. And I think that that right, that that's a lost art.

768
01:17:04,760 --> 01:17:13,920
Well, again, going back to what I was saying, if that had all been visual effects, and not

769
01:17:13,920 --> 01:17:20,880
like practical stuff, it would have been a much worse movie. For sure. Yeah, they kept

770
01:17:20,880 --> 01:17:27,560
they kept all that CGI to just the magical stuff. Yeah, it's a good point. Okay, let's

771
01:17:27,560 --> 01:17:34,680
get down to our breakdowns. Wow. So the good with this film, Matt, what do you like about

772
01:17:34,680 --> 01:17:42,400
this movie? It's very entertaining. It goes by very, very fast. I think some of the cinematography

773
01:17:42,400 --> 01:17:48,360
is is pretty good. Like, like Max was saying before, especially in some of the tomb scenes,

774
01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:55,800
there's like a really good sense of lighting and like vividness. That's, you know, yeah,

775
01:17:55,800 --> 01:18:03,640
it's an it's a world that you really feel in the movie. Let's see here. I mean, I got

776
01:18:03,640 --> 01:18:07,320
to say Rachel Weiss, I mean, she's one of the best things about this movie. I'm making

777
01:18:07,320 --> 01:18:15,840
my feelings a little too blatantly known. But she, you know, she's funny. She's beautiful.

778
01:18:15,840 --> 01:18:22,040
She like the compelling sort of like tragic romance plot of the movie. Not that the main

779
01:18:22,040 --> 01:18:26,160
storyline is tragic by any means. But like we talked about, you have a Mo tap and a nooks

780
01:18:26,160 --> 01:18:31,440
and a moon is the tragic part of it. And then you have just kind of this like, fun romance

781
01:18:31,440 --> 01:18:37,480
between O'Connell and Evie. And it's really entertaining. Yeah, I'll talk more about that

782
01:18:37,480 --> 01:18:42,080
in my bad section, like how that might not always be a good thing. But like, it's a very,

783
01:18:42,080 --> 01:18:47,040
very entertaining movie. It harkens back to like classic adventure stories. I feel like

784
01:18:47,040 --> 01:18:52,120
it is kind of, you know, after all the like script work that they did on this, it is kind

785
01:18:52,120 --> 01:18:58,600
of an ideal way to update the 1932 The Mummy for like a 1990s blockbuster sort of aesthetic.

786
01:18:58,600 --> 01:19:05,640
Nice. Max, what'd you like about this movie? I loved all the characters. They have really

787
01:19:05,640 --> 01:19:12,640
good dynamics between them, especially when I call out the relationship between Rick and

788
01:19:12,640 --> 01:19:19,680
Benny. Always great when they're interacting with each other. That sense of high adventure,

789
01:19:19,680 --> 01:19:25,720
almost epitaphized, epitomized by the scene with the airplane, the adventure climaxes

790
01:19:25,720 --> 01:19:31,200
at that point. And then the horror elements that are blended with that adventure, I think

791
01:19:31,200 --> 01:19:35,440
it all works really well. It's like meshing so many different genres together. And I think

792
01:19:35,440 --> 01:19:42,400
it does it well. My favorite part of this aspect of this movie are the horrific elements

793
01:19:42,400 --> 01:19:49,280
that I find truly frightening, even more considering this movie is rated PG 13. I think it does

794
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:58,160
a really good job of still delivering on some really gross, frightening, chilling moments

795
01:19:58,160 --> 01:20:02,600
within the constraints of the PG 13. So like something they were doing with the visual

796
01:20:02,600 --> 01:20:08,680
effects, they had to figure out how to depict the mummy without blood or viscera, because

797
01:20:08,680 --> 01:20:13,680
that would have given them an R rating. So instead, the mummy is just dried and, you

798
01:20:13,680 --> 01:20:20,880
know, bony bones and, you know, bone dry. And I think that's, I still think it's effective

799
01:20:20,880 --> 01:20:27,880
when MOTEP is harvesting the organs of the poor American with the glasses. Horrific nightmare

800
01:20:27,880 --> 01:20:33,320
fuel. When I, especially as a kid, when this came out, you know, I think it's, and it's

801
01:20:33,320 --> 01:20:40,200
sad, you feel for the guy, his eyes get taken, his tongue gets taken. Yeah. So I think those

802
01:20:40,200 --> 01:20:47,120
moments are quite effective. I also want to add, because I forgot to mention it, all of

803
01:20:47,120 --> 01:20:54,880
those, a lot of those scenes are shot with shadows, like silhouettes on the walls to

804
01:20:54,880 --> 01:21:02,440
get around a lot of the more horrific visuals. And those scenes really stood out when I was

805
01:21:02,440 --> 01:21:12,920
watching it in black and white. Very much harkening back to like Nosferatu. And I mean,

806
01:21:12,920 --> 01:21:17,240
any Dracula story kind of uses those effects as well. And classic horror films do with

807
01:21:17,240 --> 01:21:25,160
great effects to get around basically the self-centership that is Hollywood, I guess.

808
01:21:25,160 --> 01:21:30,360
Yeah, definitely. What don't we like about this movie? Um, you know, like reading about

809
01:21:30,360 --> 01:21:34,680
all the different script versions that might have been, like, I feel like I would have

810
01:21:34,680 --> 01:21:40,120
rather seen like almost any of the, any of the other ones than this. I know that sounds

811
01:21:40,120 --> 01:21:45,120
harsh, but like the, you know, the perverted Clive Barker one and the like truly scary

812
01:21:45,120 --> 01:21:50,120
George Romero one, and then like the really kind of like rollicking big budget Joe Dante

813
01:21:50,120 --> 01:21:54,640
one, they all sound awesome. Like I want to see all those movies. It's probably unfair

814
01:21:54,640 --> 01:21:59,480
to like criticize the mummy that we have because of that, but it does sound like some of the

815
01:21:59,480 --> 01:22:04,800
other versions might've been a little bit more creative and might've tried to like kind

816
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:09,840
of eke out some of those themes that I don't think this version really does all that much.

817
01:22:09,840 --> 01:22:13,680
I think there's like not really that much of an engagement with Egyptian history and

818
01:22:13,680 --> 01:22:18,740
like mythology, which I know maybe sounds a little bit contradictory because like the

819
01:22:18,740 --> 01:22:22,960
entire opening prologue of this movie is all about Egyptian history and mythology. But

820
01:22:22,960 --> 01:22:26,920
I think like it's kind of just like background exoticism and there's not that much to like

821
01:22:26,920 --> 01:22:31,600
really set it in like a particular like time and place, I guess, you know, like it's not

822
01:22:31,600 --> 01:22:36,720
very culturally sensitive in a number of different ways, not only the characters, but also like

823
01:22:36,720 --> 01:22:41,880
the actual history of like ancient Egypt. And I wish maybe it had tried to like interrogate

824
01:22:41,880 --> 01:22:47,640
that a little bit more and maybe try to like contextualize it with the 1920s when the film

825
01:22:47,640 --> 01:22:52,480
was set. Because I think it certainly could have done that. Yeah. And I think, you know,

826
01:22:52,480 --> 01:22:56,960
like the script is like very fast moving. It's very entertaining. Again, it's really

827
01:22:56,960 --> 01:23:01,920
well structured. But I do think like some of the quips are just like really irritating

828
01:23:01,920 --> 01:23:07,760
and obnoxious. I don't know. I know it's like the adventure movie kind of like vibe and

829
01:23:07,760 --> 01:23:11,520
that's what the movie is trying to do. But it's like, I don't need to hear Brendan Fraser

830
01:23:11,520 --> 01:23:16,680
say something clever after every single scene, you know? So that kind of got on my nerves

831
01:23:16,680 --> 01:23:22,520
a little bit. I don't know. This is such an entertaining movie in mostly good ways. But

832
01:23:22,520 --> 01:23:27,360
I think in some in some bad ways, we're like, clearly, that's all the filmmakers were trying

833
01:23:27,360 --> 01:23:32,000
to do, you know, 95% of what they were trying to do.

834
01:23:32,000 --> 01:23:37,920
That's really interesting, especially in our day and age where every blockbuster, usually

835
01:23:37,920 --> 01:23:42,320
a superhero movie, but it doesn't matter if it's Star Wars, it doesn't matter. They all

836
01:23:42,320 --> 01:23:51,000
feature a wisecracking dashing hero. And I think that there is some like we're over that

837
01:23:51,000 --> 01:23:54,400
a little bit. And this is actually toned down compared to modern.

838
01:23:54,400 --> 01:24:02,600
Right. And I think it's like unfortunate that we watch the mummy today when we're so saturated

839
01:24:02,600 --> 01:24:09,080
with that archetype. And yeah, yeah, I get that. That's that's interesting. You know,

840
01:24:09,080 --> 01:24:13,080
there's one where like they Brendan Fraser and I think a couple other characters like

841
01:24:13,080 --> 01:24:17,960
attacked by several mummies. And then of course, Fraser like kills all of them with like a

842
01:24:17,960 --> 01:24:21,840
sword. It's very like dashing and heroic. And then afterwards, he just sort of like

843
01:24:21,840 --> 01:24:27,000
shakes his head and like mugs towards the camera and he's like, mummies. But yeah, man,

844
01:24:27,000 --> 01:24:31,920
it's mummies. We get it. I don't know. That's the kind of thing where it's like, you don't

845
01:24:31,920 --> 01:24:34,640
have to try so hard to be clever all the time, you know?

846
01:24:34,640 --> 01:24:39,480
Well, one of the lines that sticks out to me that I always like roll my eyes for is

847
01:24:39,480 --> 01:24:49,240
when Evie is drunk and she's like, what's a place like me doing in a girl like this?

848
01:24:49,240 --> 01:24:54,680
Just like one of those classic sort of, oh, they're drunk. So they're going to say something

849
01:24:54,680 --> 01:25:02,240
like this. But it's totally not a line said for the sake of realism. It's just a very

850
01:25:02,240 --> 01:25:09,800
cheesy, jokey sort of line, very campy line. So maybe that goes into the more of the campy

851
01:25:09,800 --> 01:25:18,380
section. Yeah. I mean, for me, the biggest bad would be the CGI, even though I don't

852
01:25:18,380 --> 01:25:23,760
have the most amount of problem with it, it's still noticeable enough. And if I'm going

853
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:30,600
to notice like something is in effect, I'd rather it be practical. But that's just personal

854
01:25:30,600 --> 01:25:39,080
tastes. But I will say overall, it is just a fun adventure blockbuster movie. And it's

855
01:25:39,080 --> 01:25:43,720
not the deepest sort of film. Like when you're asking about themes and there was just a silence

856
01:25:43,720 --> 01:25:50,120
for a couple seconds, it was like, well, that's probably, you know, a little telling. Yeah.

857
01:25:50,120 --> 01:25:55,760
But it is what it is. Right. I don't want to knock it too hard because it's not trying

858
01:25:55,760 --> 01:26:07,240
to be this dramatic film that or this groundbreaking, I don't know, thought provoking cinematic experience.

859
01:26:07,240 --> 01:26:12,880
Now you're going to see Brendan Fraser swing a sword at some mummies. And that's what you're

860
01:26:12,880 --> 01:26:20,200
in for. Yeah. Yeah. So I think my biggest criticism is also just the CGI. I think it

861
01:26:20,200 --> 01:26:28,480
largely works for me, actually. But there are some moments, especially with Arnold Voslue's

862
01:26:28,480 --> 01:26:34,080
his live action with mixed with the CGI, like when his face has a hole in it. And there's

863
01:26:34,080 --> 01:26:42,560
just some of that blending that looks very dated to me, not very refined. So those are

864
01:26:42,560 --> 01:26:48,200
the moments where it takes me out. That's really all I'm going to say then about like

865
01:26:48,200 --> 01:26:52,080
what I what I what I critique with the film. Nothing I haven't said already. So I'll just

866
01:26:52,080 --> 01:26:55,720
keep it short and sweet. I'm glad you guys mentioned the CGI because that's in my bad

867
01:26:55,720 --> 01:27:01,600
category as well. I just figured I would leave it for both of you. So yeah, it's not great.

868
01:27:01,600 --> 01:27:10,120
Yeah, I think it's kind of charming. It's totally and I think mostly it works. Okay.

869
01:27:10,120 --> 01:27:15,280
Something really campy with this film. I mean, we mentioned like the lines with Evie, the

870
01:27:15,280 --> 01:27:19,720
tunish sound effects, like someone takes a fall and there's just like a cartoony little

871
01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:25,080
zing or something. I think like when the mummy at the end when Brendan Fraser cuts his legs

872
01:27:25,080 --> 01:27:32,000
out from under him and gets like crushed by the big piece of stone, there's like a little

873
01:27:32,000 --> 01:27:41,520
just sort of sound and you know, yeah, that is right. Pure camp. It's intended to be right.

874
01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:51,280
Really in that way. And it just it's amazing to me how much I don't dislike all those elements

875
01:27:51,280 --> 01:27:57,560
because usually I'm not the biggest fan when those are those are put in with this type

876
01:27:57,560 --> 01:28:03,640
of film. Like it's not a low budget cheesy sort of movie, but they intentionally went

877
01:28:03,640 --> 01:28:09,520
for that. And it's not too pervasive that it starts getting annoying for me. Like it

878
01:28:09,520 --> 01:28:13,600
definitely focuses more on the action and the horror, but I think it does help break

879
01:28:13,600 --> 01:28:14,600
some tension.

880
01:28:14,600 --> 01:28:20,040
Well, you know, I mentioned some of the quips in the movie, which I'm not a huge fan of,

881
01:28:20,040 --> 01:28:25,320
but I did also want to mention another character who I think is very campy, which is the British

882
01:28:25,320 --> 01:28:32,400
pilot, the captain, Winston Havelock is his name. He could have been an interesting character.

883
01:28:32,400 --> 01:28:36,760
He's kind of like an alcoholic stationed in Egypt and like he's kind of like a faded war

884
01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:41,600
hero and kind of living in the past and everything. And then, of course, he kind of has this like

885
01:28:41,600 --> 01:28:46,320
heroic moment where he, you know, flies the plane and there's like the wall of sand that

886
01:28:46,320 --> 01:28:52,120
we talked about before. It's an interesting character, the Winston Havelock character,

887
01:28:52,120 --> 01:28:55,680
because like he kind of seems like he's just kind of like shoved in there to like push

888
01:28:55,680 --> 01:29:01,160
the plot along. And it's like, I don't think we really needed this guy. But I don't know,

889
01:29:01,160 --> 01:29:06,320
it's it's like I think it does kind of harken back to like these kind of like, I don't know,

890
01:29:06,320 --> 01:29:10,800
faded washed up war heroes, which maybe doesn't sound kind of sound very campy. But in like

891
01:29:10,800 --> 01:29:15,960
the way it's treated in this movie, he's only comic relief. And I like the every time he

892
01:29:15,960 --> 01:29:19,760
was on screen, I was like, Oh, I bet this guy is kind of like a tragic backstory. But

893
01:29:19,760 --> 01:29:24,680
he's like only played for laughs. And he's like this last minute hero in the movie. So

894
01:29:24,680 --> 01:29:29,960
it's kind of camp. It's kind of good and bad. I just find him a really fascinating character.

895
01:29:29,960 --> 01:29:35,160
Yeah. Same. He's great. Yeah. You know, you're probably not going to make it out of this.

896
01:29:35,160 --> 01:29:40,920
Are you sure? Is that a promise? Right? Yeah. And then I mean, spoiler alert, I guess, but

897
01:29:40,920 --> 01:29:45,440
he does die with like a smile on his face. And it's like, Oh, is this happy ending? Like,

898
01:29:45,440 --> 01:29:49,520
yeah. And that's it. So it's kind of campy. It's kind of sad at the same time. He's a

899
01:29:49,520 --> 01:29:54,840
very interesting character. My one example of camp to go with all of what you guys are

900
01:29:54,840 --> 01:30:03,560
saying, when Evie is introduced in the library, and she is kind of a clumsy character, and

901
01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:08,920
she knocks over the bookcase, and we have a domino effect with the book cases. That's

902
01:30:08,920 --> 01:30:13,240
just like, like the sound effects, like the cartoon sound effects, like this is a cartoon

903
01:30:13,240 --> 01:30:20,320
moment that was shot in one take, like all that happened in real time. So another another

904
01:30:20,320 --> 01:30:27,440
kudos to the to the team for doing that. But yeah, it's very silly. But it works so well

905
01:30:27,440 --> 01:30:34,240
in establishing her character. All right, Matt, take us away with our segue.

906
01:30:34,240 --> 01:30:40,720
Yeah, so our usual ratings here on Camp Kaiju, we have our top rating. It is a timeless classic

907
01:30:40,720 --> 01:30:45,880
and definitely stands the test of time. Number two, there may be some antiquated moments,

908
01:30:45,880 --> 01:30:50,640
but overall, it's great. And it stands the test of time. Our third rating, it may be

909
01:30:50,640 --> 01:30:56,040
historically significant or just fun, but it does not stand the test of time. And finally,

910
01:30:56,040 --> 01:31:01,360
our lowest rating, it is not worth revisiting and definitely does not stand the test of

911
01:31:01,360 --> 01:31:08,640
time. Max, as our guest, take it away. I'm going to say it's timeless classic and it

912
01:31:08,640 --> 01:31:14,760
definitely stands the test of time. I think it'd be hard pressed to find any great classic

913
01:31:14,760 --> 01:31:20,520
film and cinema history that, you know, doesn't have outdated effects. So I'm not going to

914
01:31:20,520 --> 01:31:26,480
knock it. See, it's my rating is kind of in between two of them. But I think I'm going

915
01:31:26,480 --> 01:31:30,960
to have to say there may be some antiquated moments, but overall, it's great. It stands

916
01:31:30,960 --> 01:31:37,040
the test of time. For me, it was between that and the lower one. But it's such an entertaining

917
01:31:37,040 --> 01:31:40,840
movie. It's very charming. I like a lot of the performances. Some of it looks really

918
01:31:40,840 --> 01:31:47,160
good. I do wish there was a little bit more thematic substance. I think it could be like

919
01:31:47,160 --> 01:31:51,640
a little bit more creative and original at times. But it's a great throwback to like

920
01:31:51,640 --> 01:31:56,800
classic adventure movies. And I think it's kind of cool that like even though this came

921
01:31:56,800 --> 01:32:02,880
out only 25 years ago, it really is kind of like a relic of another cinematic era, which

922
01:32:02,880 --> 01:32:07,160
is kind of fascinating to me. So yeah, second rating for me.

923
01:32:07,160 --> 01:32:16,280
Nice. I will echo Max and say that it's a timeless classic. The critiques are there,

924
01:32:16,280 --> 01:32:22,600
I admit. But I think everything else with the movie, it just overwhelms any of those

925
01:32:22,600 --> 01:32:29,640
flaws for me that I just have a good time every time I watch it. And I think, like you

926
01:32:29,640 --> 01:32:36,480
said, it's a product of another time that I don't think we'll ever see again in modern

927
01:32:36,480 --> 01:32:42,600
cinema. And for that, it's just like, it's great. And it's a universal monster, which

928
01:32:42,600 --> 01:32:48,520
I always love. So five, five out of no, I'll give four and a half out of five stars. But

929
01:32:48,520 --> 01:32:55,040
yeah, either way, love this movie. It's a classic. But next time on Camp Kaiju, we're

930
01:32:55,040 --> 01:33:02,880
going to talk about the fiend without a face. Yeah. And can't wait. And on that episode,

931
01:33:02,880 --> 01:33:12,080
we will we will reveal the winner of this week's trivia that challenged the world. And

932
01:33:12,080 --> 01:33:17,200
we can win some stickers, we can win some shirts, shower curtains. Right, there are

933
01:33:17,200 --> 01:33:25,160
shower curtains. I mean, why not? No, you can get socks, you can get all sorts of clothing,

934
01:33:25,160 --> 01:33:31,400
placemats. I kind of want just Frankenstein staring at me in the shower. Hey, everyone,

935
01:33:31,400 --> 01:33:37,880
go to threadless.campkaiju.threadless.com. Check it out for yourself. Okay. Thanks for

936
01:33:37,880 --> 01:33:41,640
hanging out. Please rate and review wherever you listen. You can also share this podcast

937
01:33:41,640 --> 01:33:47,040
with a friend to send us listener comments, please, at CampKaiju.gmail.com, Facebook,

938
01:33:47,040 --> 01:33:52,480
Instagram, wherever you know what to do, links all in the show notes. Or if you'd like to

939
01:33:52,480 --> 01:33:59,840
be a featured voice on the show, leave a voicemail 612-470-2612. Telling us about your favorite

940
01:33:59,840 --> 01:34:06,560
monster movies, what you thought about the mummy. And please check out our website, CampKaijuPodcast.com

941
01:34:06,560 --> 01:34:11,960
for more information. CampKaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Menia's mailbox

942
01:34:11,960 --> 01:34:19,000
music by Ben Cook-Felts. Thank you, friends. And until next time, stay campy. CampKaiju

943
01:34:19,000 --> 01:34:22,280
is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Bank of Realty, your source

944
01:34:22,280 --> 01:34:25,800
for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers.

945
01:34:25,800 --> 01:34:28,880
Reach out to the Zach Pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach Pack on social

946
01:34:28,880 --> 01:34:40,440
media and contact Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Links in the show notes.