There's one moment where I don't know if it's
supposed to be funny or not, but like they go
into a murder scene and there's blood everywhere
and it's very gruesome. And Forrest Whitaker's
character says something like, something terrible
happened here. And it's like, yeah, obviously.
Like, is that your contribution to the investigation?
I was losing my mind over this character. Hello
and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.
We're your hosts, Matt Levine and Vincent Hannum.
And we're talking about all our favorite monster
movies, the good, the bad, and the downright
campy, and asking if they stand the test of time.
Traditional Kaiju creature features, space invaders,
the supernatural, and everything in between.
All strange beasts welcome here. Camp Kaiju is
sponsored by Zack Linder and the Zack Pack, powered
by Coldwell Banker Realty. your source for real
estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor
clients, and residential buyers. Reach out to
the Zach Pack today for real estate services,
follow the Zach Pack on social media, and contact
the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Links
in the show notes. In January, the message from
an extraterrestrial source was picked up at the
Parks Observatory in Australia. A new sequence
of DNA. Friendly instructions on how to combine
it with ours. This growth is amazing. The decision
was made to terminate the experiment. Working
out! Has she escaped? We have a serious emergency
on our hands. I want a team to track her. Hunt
her down. You created a monster, now you want
us to kill it. We decided to make it female.
So that it would be more docile and controllable.
More docile and controllable, huh? I guess you
guys don't get out much. She wants to have a
baby. She'll kill anyone that gets in her way.
I wouldn't hurt you. Yes, you would. I just don't
know it yet. She can have a dozen babies. She
can lay a thousand eggs. Something's wrong. Vincent,
it's good to see you. How are you doing? Oh,
I'm good. I'm good. Last night was a really great
time. You and I co -hosted the Film Friends movie
trivia with friend of the pod, Naomi Osborne.
It's her deal. We've been hyping it up on the
podcast for months now. But last night was, you
know, as of this recording anyways, we're recording
on May 6th, and trivia was May 5th. It was a
blast. Met some really great people. Had some
really great film -centered conversations. Absolutely.
I had so much fun last night. I have always loved
trivia. Obviously, we love movies, but I've never
co -hosted trivia myself. So I was honestly a
little bit nervous when the night started, but
it was so much fun. Great to meet people like
you said. Yeah, just really had a blast last
night. I'm glad you said that because I was also
weirdly nervous. And here we are. I mean, it's
like a podcast, but people are actually watching.
Right. Which is different. Different set of rules.
But no, it went great. And I think my questions
were a little hard. We had some kaiju limericks
listeners now. And, you know, maybe we'll share
some of those at the break at some point in this
episode. See if you can test your kaiju knowledge.
Yeah, that would be fun for sure. I didn't really
do too many kaiju questions last night. I tried
to sort of let you take the ball on that. But
yeah, I love the limerick category. I was fond
of my basketball -themed category since the NBA
playoffs are going on now. So it was a great
time. And anybody in the Twin Cities, if you
are interested in going to Film Friends Movie
Trivia, it's the first Monday of every month
at Indeed Brewing. I think it starts at 7 .30
every month. So check it out. Such a good time.
100%. Links to that and more in our show notes.
And yeah, I'm ready to talk about Species. Yeah.
I mean, we'll talk about our personal histories
with this movie shortly. But all I really knew
about Species was that it was trashy and sleazy.
And it's about a killer alien. And I was like,
well, we have to talk about this movie, right?
I think tawdry was the word you used last time.
Yeah. I love that word, and it certainly applies
to the movie Species. Which, I mean, it's also
kind of fun because it's 30 years old. It came
out in 1995. And I just think that's kind of
a cool era because, you know, I was like, I was
10 or 11 when this movie came out. I'm a little
bit older than you, so you were probably like
6, 5 or 6 maybe, somewhere around there. I was
4, but thank you. yeah so it's just it's kind
of cool to like remember my childhood because
i like knew about this movie when it came out
but i was too young to see it my parents obviously
would have never let me see this at the time
and it's it's just like a relic from another
era even though it's only 30 years old well speaking
of relics i do love this like period the mid
90s for monster movies because the relic was
from around the same time i mean then you had
like some pretty high profile movies, Independence
Day, you know, Men in Black. But then you had
some more kind of off kilter films like Species.
The Faculty comes to mind. Yeah. That's from
99. But I think as we do this podcast and we
watch all these movies, it's like kind of like
a post Jurassic Park. Oh, we can, we can blend
the CGI with the practical effects from our traditions.
And I think the 90s was just like the great,
almost like Petri dish of artists saying, hey,
let's do some messed up things with these new
special effects. Yeah, yeah, it's it's I love
the way that you put it, a Petri dish of different
styles and like experimenting with special effects.
That's totally true. I feel like sometimes the
final version of those experiments don't always
age very well, but they're fascinating even for
that reason, you know? Yeah. Dr. Moreau, for
instance. Yeah, yep, there's some terrible CGI
in that movie. And that will be a recurring theme
throughout tonight's conversation as well, I
would imagine. Oh my gosh, yeah. But not to get
too far ahead of ourselves. Aside from Species,
have you seen any other good monster movies recently?
Oh, since, you know, I... What did I watch? I
watched Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. Oh, I watched
The Shaggy Dog. Ooh. Which me and Patrick Kozicki
are going to talk about when we do a crossover
episode. Cool. Go check it out if you want to.
It's like if Disney made a werewolf movie. Yeah,
that about sums it up. So very, I mean, I'm aware
of the Shaggy Dog. I've never seen it, but very
family friendly. Nothing remotely scary in that
movie, right? Right. But it's from 1959. So there's
like some. Actual like Cold War commentary. There's
spies involved. There's dark magic and lycanthropy.
Wow. More than I bargained for. And I was, you
know, I was there for it. Cool. I might have
to check that out now. I tend to lean into like
the horror monster movies, but maybe I should
like, you know, try to explore the comedic lighthearted
side of that as well. You know, one time years
ago, you mentioned how much you enjoy Harry and
the Hendersons. Yeah, very much so, yeah. Yeah.
That movie's synonymous with my childhood. Watched
so many times with my parents. I've only seen
it once, but, you know, this is my, you know,
maybe you bring it to the podcast one day. Who
knows? Yeah. There are a lot of classic moments
in that movie for sure. And like the famous bittersweet
farewell between John Lithgow and Harry, which
is like part of, I think, like pop culture. I
feel like everybody just knows about that scene,
even if they don't know what movie it's from.
It's just like so well known and so frequently
parodied and mocked. But it's a great, it's a
fun movie. So I'm glad you reminded me of that.
Maybe that will be on the podcast someday. Yeah.
I did want to shout out two monster movies that
I've seen recently. One of which is a hugely
popular movie right now. I feel like a lot of
people are talking about it. But Sinners is as
good as everybody is saying. Oh, you did see
it. Yeah, yeah, I did. And I don't think this
is really a spoiler. I feel like probably everybody
knows by now that it's a vampire movie. And I
didn't totally love the specific vampire. Like
I kind of wish they had gone with a different
monster of choice. But everything else about
that movie I loved. And there's one scene right
about in the middle of the movie that's like
the best thing I've seen in a movie theater in
years. And I could tell like everybody around
me was like similarly just like jaw on the floor
losing their minds over it. It's really incredible.
So definitely see that movie. I can't. Oh, man.
Don't overhype it for me. I'm going to hate you
if I go in. I'm like, damn it. Matt overhyped
it. I'm sorry. That could be the case. I mean,
the movie has some flaws for sure, but I didn't
want to expect too much when I went into it and
I was really blown away. So I hope you are as
well, Vincent and everybody else listening. Yeah,
I will keep expectations low. So then I'll love
it. Yeah, I should keep my enthusiasm in check
a little bit maybe. The other one I saw, which
is very weird and maybe not ultimately all that
good, but definitely worth watching, is The Keep
from 1983. It's an early Michael Mann movie.
This is kind of a notorious production that was
like taken away by the studio. And I think the
initial cut of the movie was 210 minutes and
the final version is 96 minutes. So just like
so much was cut out of this movie. It's about
an old kind of... They call it the Keep. I guess
it's kind of like a fortress that's in Romania
that a bunch of Nazis break into. This is set
during World War II. They want to steal some
treasure from this crypt thing, keep, fortress,
whatever it is. And they unleash an ancient demon.
So it's very much like Nazis getting like brutally
annihilated. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and it looks gorgeous.
It has a great Tangerine Dream soundtrack. So
like really cool trippy music. Wow. Ultimately,
it's kind of a bad movie. Like it doesn't make
any sense at all. Definitely worth watching,
especially for Michael Mann fans or just horror
movie fans. It's great in its own way. That's
fascinating. Wow. Yeah. See, got to put that
on my list now. Totally. Yeah. I've been wanting
to see it for years. There's a good new Blu -ray
copy that just came out of it. So yeah, check
it out for anybody. Will do. Yeah. Well, getting
into our nuts and bolts of Camp Kaiju before
we dive into our episode tonight. Thank you all
for hanging out. Please rate Camp Kaiju and review
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Become a patron at patreon .com slash Camp Kaiju
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to any live events. We thank you so much to our
patrons. We really appreciate you. Yeah, I mean,
hopefully more swag, more opportunities for meet
and greets and stuff like that coming up. So
thank you to our current patrons, Jason, Chris,
Sean, Peggy, and our anonymous patron. Yeah,
definitely have some plans. Kicking around in
my head, Matt, we can talk offline maybe about
some viewings or some screenings, some other
kind of live events that we don't have to like
break our backs over, but still deliver some
quality experiences around monster movies. Totally.
I love that. Whatever form it takes, I'm very
excited for it. Just hanging out, watching movies
and talking about movies. That's what we're about
here. Heck yeah. Cool. And up next on Camp Kaiju,
Vincent, there's a movie that you're bringing
to the pod. Do you want to briefly mention what's
going to be next? Yeah, next we are going to
visit some traditional kaiju with Gamera the
Giant Monster. As it's known in the American
release, Gamera the Invincible. There are some
differences in the cuts. I'm going to do my best
to watch the Japanese subtitled version, Gamera
Giant Monster. For the listeners out there, no
harm, no foul if you catch Gamera the Invincible.
I think that would be an interesting conversation
to compare and contrast. But it's the first Gamera
film ever featured, ever made from Daiei Studios.
So I think it'll be really great to revisit or
to visit an original big kaiju such as Gamera.
Getting back to the classics. Yeah, I'm excited.
And I just watched the Japanese version, I think
like two or three years ago. So maybe I'll try
to watch the American cut this time around. Okay.
Yeah. That one's public domain. You'll find it
on Tubi anywhere. Cool. I think I have some bargain
bin DVDs with it. So yeah, it's, yeah, it's all
right. The quality may not be good, but the movie's
the movie. Right. Yeah. It'll be a cool compare
and contrast though, if we watch the different
versions. So yeah, I'm excited. Gamera, friend
of all children. You know it. And then after
that, we are watching your pick. Is it Swamp
Thing? I think you might be right. I haven't
looked that far ahead in a while. Swamp Thing,
A Friend of All Children? Who knows? I mean,
I've never seen Swamp Thing. I'm excited to watch
it. You're right that Swamp Thing is my next
choice. And like the 80s version directed by
Wes Craven is the one that we'll be talking about.
Yeah, I hope that swamp thing is a friend to
all children. I feel like he is. He's very eco
-minded, you know, eco -friendly. Okay, well,
so is the creature from the Black Lagoon, but
I wouldn't call him child -friendly. Yeah, true.
But, you know, I mean, you fell in love with
the creature from the Black Lagoon when you were
a child, so maybe he is a friend to all children,
you know? I mean, how do you define friend, really?
That's what we're getting into. Yeah, yeah. A
common theme from monster movies. He's just misunderstood.
Right. Yeah. He's your friend if you treat him
well. If not, then look out, you know. I'm just
very excited to watch a Wes Craven movie that's
not a nightmare on Elm Street. I haven't done
that personally. So yeah, I'm looking forward
to that episode too. Me too. Yeah, for sure.
So some good stuff coming up on Camp Kaju. Stay
tuned. As far as species goes, what is your personal
history with this movie? This is it's so funny
when you suggested this movie for the podcast,
because I think I facepalmed because I watched
like two years ago. No, it was last year when
I was on parental leave. I was staying up late
with Ada on just like sleeping in my lap, just
a newborn baby. And I did something I don't really
do. I just like blindly watch whatever movie
looks interesting. And I was on Hulu and I went
through a string. I watched like Live, Die, Repeat
or Edge of Tomorrow. I watched some other tawdry
films. Basket Case, I think, was one of them.
Oh, yeah, that's very tawdry. Chud, very tawdry.
But then I saw Species and I was like, well,
that looks like an alien movie. Let's watch it.
And, you know, after I was done, I was like,
well, that was two hours of my life that. I don't
think I would have spent if I had nothing else
to do. But with that said, there's a whole lot
of camp in this movie. Not always intentional.
Actually, I don't think any of it's intentional.
Yeah, there's a little bit of intentional humor
in the movie, but most of it probably is unintentional.
Yeah, I'm going to, you know, I'm not going to
bury the lead too much, but I have a lot of critiques
of this movie. I'm going to pull my hair out
a little bit as we talk about this movie. But
I think. Therein lies the fun of talking about
this movie. So, you know, I still I love all
all monster movies, even if they make me crazy.
Yeah. Yeah. And this one can definitely make
you crazy for sure. There's well, yeah, not not
burying the lead, like you said, but like some
stuff to love. Or like, at least, some stuff
to be really entertained by. But a lot of stuff
that just really goes off the rails and is kind
of cringeworthy. So we'll talk about that shortly
here. Yeah. Okay, well, what's your personal
history? Up until last night when I finally watched
it, I didn't really have any history with this
movie. I, you know, kind of like I briefly alluded
to before, I was 11, I think about 11 years old
when this movie came out. And I remember, even
back then, like, the marketing tactic for this
movie was like, naked women all the time, you
know, like, that's what they really promoted.
And the movie did really well for that reason,
which I that I don't know if that's a good or
a bad thing. But I was aware of it at that time.
I was 11 years old, like I said, and I was like,
Oh, I would like to see this movie, but that's
not gonna happen anytime soon. So it is fun to
return to it, you know, like 30 years later,
I'm obviously very different than I was when
I was 11 years old. And, you know, I mean, like
the, yeah, the tawdry sensationalistic elements,
they're there absolutely there are a lot of them
but there's a lot of other stuff too a lot of
other stuff to talk about so but it was no it's
it's like a yeah i remember very distinctly being
a young kid and hearing about this movie and
yeah everything it had to offer but no that's
cool i i wish i could remember some of these
movies from back in the day you know i saw titanic
in the theater of all things and i was about
five years old so it you know it's possible my
mom took me to see species But it's not possible
because she's not that kind of mom. But yeah,
covered your eyes for most of the movie. Most
of the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen any of
the sequels? No. Have you? No, I have not. And
like, even though, you know, I have mixed feelings
about this one. I am kind of like morbidly curious
about the sequels. So maybe I'll check them out.
I just want to know. I just want to know if the
rat alien hybrid. appears in the sequel because
if it's not about that rat why am i watching
this sequel yeah that is a campy ending for sure
and like what a good idea for a sequel you know
like a rat alien sexy woman hybrid i would definitely
watch that movie but i don't think that's what
they did sadly careful you'll convince me that
i like this movie that's one of my main missions
tonight not really i'm just kidding but i wouldn't
be sad if that happens from the producer of aliens
and terminator 2 33 homo sapien are you what
are you talking about gradual extinction of the
human race the relic Starts Friday, January 10th.
Can we see you for a minute? These students are
starting to suspect their teachers are from another
planet. Guess what? Now we're gonna have some
fun. They're right. Now, these six students won't
just question authority. They'll have to destroy
it. No way. The faculty. Please report to the
principal's office. In theaters everywhere, Friday,
December 25th. It fills the darkness. It feeds
on fear. What the hell is that? It has come to
destroy the only threat to its existence. The
virus. Oh, my God. Called man. I'm gonna die!
From the producer of T2 and Aliens. Virus. Rated
R. Starts Friday, January 15th at theaters everywhere.
On Dr. Moreau's island, there are three rules.
Don't drink the water. Don't disturb the natives.
And whatever you do, don't feed the animals.
So let's dive into the crew of the movie Species.
A surprisingly, like, very accomplished, capable
crew, I would say. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. So it's
directed by Roger Donaldson, an Australian filmmaker.
He's worked in Hollywood, in his home country
of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom.
I feel like he's one of those directors where,
like, you've probably seen a movie by him, even
if you're not aware of it. He made Dante's Peak.
He made 13 Days. No Way Out, the Gene Hackman,
Kevin Costner movie. So he has some, like, fun,
maybe not great, but still entertaining, you
know, just, yeah, just, like, good stories in
his resume. Yeah, I see he directed Cocktail,
which for a time was one of my favorite movies.
But I digress. I don't want to talk about Cocktail
with the time we have. Fair enough. I've never
actually seen Cocktail. I know that's supposed
to be a pretty bad movie, but Tom Cruise's star
power made it a huge hit. I went through a Tom
Cruise phase. He could have done anything and
I was there for it. Yeah, totally. And I think
that's true of a lot of people in the late 80s,
because I think that's why that movie was a huge
success. Maybe, you know, not the best movie
on Roger Donaldson's filmography, but I feel
like he had a skill for like making okay movies
that made a ton of money and the studios loved
him for that, you know? Well, yeah, certainly
you're going to get work with that. But listeners,
let us know, cocktail or species? Which do you
prefer? That's the question for today. Two very
different movies. Wow. I mean, I assume since
I haven't seen Cocktail, but. We're talking too
much about Cocktail. Yeah. One more thing about
Roger Donaldson. He also made a remake of Mutiny
on the Bounty, which we were talking about last
night. Oh, who was in that? That was Mel Gibson.
Yes, exactly. Mel Gibson in The Bounty from 1984.
Another Roger Donaldson movie. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Which I haven't seen. I I'm not really dying
to go through Roger Donaldson's oeuvre, but,
you know, maybe I'll check it out at some point.
Well, nice use of the word oeuvre. Love that
word. I feel like you have to pronounce like
really pronounce it, you know, as French as possible
whenever you say it. Why would you not? Yeah.
Oeuvre. It was written by Dennis Feldman. He's
another guy who, well, maybe he doesn't have
a lot of hits on his resume. He did write The
Golden Child, the Eddie Murphy, another movie
I've never seen, but the Eddie Murphy like comedy
supernatural sort of fantasy movie from the 80s.
Another Dennis Feldman joint in addition to Species.
And then he wrote the first four Species movies.
And also this is one of the things I love about
Camp Kaiju. I discover or like rediscover so
many movies where I'm like, oh yeah, I do want
to see that at some point. So Dennis Feldman
also wrote the movie Virus from 1999 starring
Jamie Lee Curtis, another killer alien movie,
which now I'm like, oh yeah, I'm dying to see
that. I got to check it out. See, it was a thing
in the 90s. Aliens and sci -fi was a big genre
in the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think like
you were talking about before, maybe it's just
the appeal of special effects and that's like
the best way to get that special effects work
out there, you know? Yeah. Okay. Do you want
to talk about any of the other crew members?
Uh, sure. Cinematography is by Matt. Help me
out here. I gave you the hardest name. Sorry.
Andre Bartkowiak, I think is how you pronounce
his name. Okay. Andre Bartkowiak, a Polish director
of photography. He worked often with Sidney Lumet.
Lumet? Lumet? I've heard Lumet, but I guess I
don't totally know which one is accurate. Okay.
Well, I'm fairly sure it's Lumet, but I could
be wrong. Okay, that's fine. Well, either way,
Sidney Lumet, you know, films Twins Falling Down,
Speed, Jade, The Devil's Advocate. And so he
collaborated with cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak.
who later became a director himself, primarily
of action movies like Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds,
and Cradle to the Grave. Romeo Must Die is a
fun movie. I don't know if you've seen that.
No, I'm not familiar. It's good. Jet Li. All
right. Oh, okay. Well, Species is edited by Conrad
Buff, an Oscar winner for editing Titanic. That's
the second time we've mentioned that tonight.
Yeah. Also edited Equinox. Oh, my God. Yeah.
Equinox, Matt, you got to see. It's an essential
viewing, independent, like student film, but
features some really great stop -motion demons
and like a Necronomicon type of book. Whoa. It's
fascinating. I own it. Criterion Collection,
check it out. Awesome. That's yet another one
where I was like, I forgot about this movie,
and now I need to see it as soon as possible.
The producer is the same producer of The Blob.
Equinox gets kicked around in conversations with
the blob a lot. Cool. Blob a lot. Yeah. The remake
of the blob, I assume, right? No, no. The 50s
one. Wow, cool. Yeah. Nice. What else? Battlestar
Galactica, Empire Strikes Back, E .T., Raiders
of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist. So he worked with
Spielberg a lot. James Cameron, Roger Donaldson,
Antoine Fukua, and M. Night Shyamalan. Big name.
Yeah. That's the thing about species. There's
so many big names working on this picture. So,
you know, more to come on that. Music by Christopher
Young, who worked on horror movies and thrillers
such as Hellraiser, The Grudge, Drag Me to Hell,
Sinister, Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Invaders
from Mars, Tobey Hooper's 1986 remake. Which,
of course, was not that movie, but the original
Invaders from Mars on our last episode. Yeah.
This is great. We're going through a whole lot
of just classic horror sci -fi movies. Yeah.
But here is the creme de la creme. The special
effects dude, H .R. Giger. Do you want to talk
about Mr. Giger? Yeah, sure. He, of course, is
most famous for designing the aliens from the
Alien series, the xenomorphs. who are now part
of horror movie lore based on H .R. Giger's designs.
He's done a lot of art over the years, a lot
of like sketches, paintings, puppets, even aside
from his film work. Not surprisingly, very dark,
kind of like biomechanical, like humans mixed
with monsters, mixed with machines. So yeah,
he designed the look of Syl in this movie. Syl
is the name of the alien played in human form
by Natasha Henstridge. However, Geiger's design
of Syl went through a lot of transformations
throughout the production of this movie. He had
a lot of different ideas for like different stages
of her evolution. And ultimately, the movie really
only makes use of like the final design that
he created. So there is some H .R. Geiger in
this movie, not as much as there could have been,
unfortunately. Geiger did also design the nightmare
train sequence, which initially was like 20 minutes
long. It was like really intense and surreal
when HR Geiger did that. And in the finished
movie, it's like less than a minute long. So
that's definitely a bummer. Yeah, I'm not even
sure I know what you're talking about. But she's
on the train. Right. But it's before then. It's
when Syl is still played by Michelle Williams
as a girl at the beginning of the movie. And
she has all these intense nightmares. And in
one of them, she sees herself as an alien in
full tentacled alien form. And yeah, there's
this nightmarish train. It's an eerie light blue
color. And everything in the background is all
dark and black. I remember now. And it turns
into an alien and eats her, scoops her up. Yes,
I believe so. It's hard to tell what's happening,
though. Yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of those dream
flashes, I find like I can't really see what's
going on and not in a good way. Like, it's OK
to like, oh, what's going on? You know, add some
mystery to it. But I felt like it was just messy.
It was just sloppy. And I didn't quite I wanted
to see the design of the alien. That's the thing.
Yeah. exactly i i totally agree and hr geiger
agreed as well he was very unhappy that they
you know they took that scene and they cut it
down and like some of the other dream sequences
too we we never really see the alien clearly
and he was very upset about that yeah okay not
surprisingly no so more about hr geiger and his
work coming up soon i'm sure yeah definitely
So H .R. Giger's designs then were kind of built
as practical models by Steve Johnson. He owned,
I think the company was called XFX, if I remember
right. He had his own special effects company.
I had never really heard the name Steve Johnson
before, which I feel like is an oversight on
my part because he grew up loving universal monster
movies and hammer horror films. So he's like,
you know, he's like us, basically. I mean, that's,
you know, that's our background as well. Steve
Johnson met Rick Baker in high school. Rick Baker
helped Johnson get a job with Rob Botten, who
worked on Howling, an American werewolf in London.
Poltergeist 2, Big Trouble in Little China, The
Abyss, just all of these huge special effects
movies that I had no idea he was a part of. I
love that, too. I love learning about, because
I'd always known about Rick Baker, but I love
learning about the other giants of the industry,
Geiger, Botten, and Steve Johnson, apparently.
Yeah, yeah. It's a name I didn't really know
before, but I feel like he... Maybe he's not
at that Godfather of special effects sort of
level, but I feel like he's a name that should
be better known. For sure. All right, Steve Johnson,
we hereby lift you up. Camp Kaiju seal of approval.
Yeah. So yeah, a very, very accomplished crew
on this movie. And the cast, surprisingly, pretty
accomplished as well in its own way. Maybe we'll
start, though, with the person who was not so
established when she appeared in Species, although
she certainly appears a lot in every possible
way in the movie. Natasha Henstridge. This was
her debut role. She was 21 when she made the
movie. She had a long career in modeling. Maybe
not so long, but she had a career in modeling
before this. She doesn't really have an extensive
list of credits throughout her career, but she
was in Maximum Risk, the Jean -Claude Van Damme
movie, which is fantastic. I love that movie.
And you love Jean -Claude Van Damme. I do. After
Jackie Chan, he's my favorite action star, for
sure. That's awesome. Another blind spot of mine
is martial arts films. So that's good to hear,
though. Yeah, I grew up with those movies. And
Maximum Risk is maybe JCVD's best movie. And
she, Natasha Henstridge, is very good in it.
You know, I do not mind her performance in Species,
actually. Yeah. I think... here's something i
i watched an interview with her on youtube from
the 90s she was promoting the movie and you know
i got done with the interview it's like five
minutes she was fine she was very charming and
gracious but i made note this critic in me i
critiqued the interviewer because 90 say it was
like four out of five questions was about the
nudity yeah or about like her hair color or about
anything other than her actual work on the film.
Yeah. And it's just like a double standard, right?
Ben Kingsley would get questions about like,
so take me through your process. I'm sure he
would. Any of the male actors would. Right. And
she's like, she gets questions. She gets bozo
questions about her looks. I'm like, well, maybe
it was just a 90s thing. It was a 90s thing.
It's not not a now thing. But I'd like us to
remember that, you know, beautiful women are
also talented professionals who would probably
like to talk more about than their their bodies.
Absolutely. Yeah. And she must have gotten that
all the time when this movie came out. I mean,
again, that was kind of like what this movie
was known for when it was released. And I'm you
know, I've watched some interviews with her as
well and like read some interviews. And like
you said, she's always very gracious and always
very like, oh, it's a fun movie. She has like
nice things to say about it. But I don't know.
I can I can imagine some of that stuff must have
been pretty obnoxious for her. Absolutely. Yeah.
So Natasha Henstridge. yeah we lift you up camp
kai stamp of approval yeah absolutely yeah you
don't need our approval no indeed but you have
it anyway yeah there you go and then just the
rest of this cast is like insane i don't know
how all these people were thrown into this movie
together yeah yeah stacked for sure do you i
feel like you're a fan of this next guy do you
want to talk about him at all Well, I do like
Ben Kingsley. I have not seen as much of his
filmography as I'd like to. In Species, he plays
the shady government officer, Xavier Fitch. He's
like the ringleader. He pulls all this ensemble
together. He's the head of the scientific team
that is experimenting on Syl, who's like a weird
daughter figure to him. And anyways, Ben Kingsley.
I know him mostly from his Shakespearean background
with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He's a contemporary
of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart and many
more. Did he win an Oscar for Gandhi? I think
so. Yeah, I think so too. He played Gandhi. He
was in Schindler's List. Movies like Sexy Beast
and Species. Saying those movies in the same
sentence is almost unfair. Right. Sure, he has
a lot of range. However, he's not infallible,
and I have some critiques for Mr. Kingsley at
the end of this episode. For this role in particular?
For this role. Yeah. Certainly fair. Yeah. I'm
excited to hear those critiques. I feel like
I'll have the same ones. I'm curious, have you
seen Sexy Beast? No. He's amazing in that movie.
That might be my favorite Ben Kingsley performance.
He plays a really intense, over -the -top gangster,
and he's so charismatic, and he talks a mile
a minute. He's so fun in that movie. It's really
good. Well, good. I hope he's having fun. Yeah,
a lot of range for that guy. Maybe not so much
range in this particular role, but yeah, we'll
talk about that later. Well, how about Michael
Madsen? You talk to me about him, because this
is the... The Allstate guy, right? The Mayhem?
No, they have a similar look, but the Allstate
guy, I can't remember that actor's name, but
he was on 30 Rock and some other MTV shows. Wow,
I watched the whole movie thinking this was the
Mayhem guy. Similar, similar types, but Michael
Madsen is probably best known for starring in
a lot of Quentin Tarantino movies. He was in
Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, both the Kill Bill
movies, The Hateful Eight. And he's been in some
other stuff, too. The Getaway, which is another
Roger Donaldson movie from the 90s. Wyatt Earp,
Donnie Brosco. He's, you know, he takes a lot
of bad roles or roles in bad movies, I should
say. And he's always pretty honest about it.
He's like, yeah, some of these movies are terrible.
Like, I got to put food on the table. I'm trying
to like, you know. provide for my kids or whatever.
So I kind of like when actors are candid about
that. He was pretty excited to be in this movie
because he plays a pretty heroic role. Although
he's like a government mercenary slash assassin.
I don't know how heroic he actually is, but he
was proud of this movie. He has said in interviews,
he really likes it a lot. But personally, I'm
like, oh, I might include this in some of your
not so good movies, Michael, but he's an interesting
guy. Cool. I have a lot to say by him later on
too, but I respect the game. You know, you gotta,
you gotta make money. So yeah, there you go.
Samuel L. Jackson does the same thing. He's talked
about how when early in his career, he, when
he was a struggling actor, he didn't get roles
for a long time. So now he's like, or for a while
anyway, he was like, anything I am offered, I
will take because I remember what that was like
to not get any acting offers. Yeah. And it's,
it's hard out there, even for established actors,
you know, it's, it's still freelance work. You
don't know if your next job is going to come
along. Yeah, exactly. So I kind of admire that
a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. How do you feel? So
I don't know if anybody's looking, you know,
I don't think anybody can see the background
behind Vincent right now. But this next actor
is hovering over you right now digitally. Alfred
Molina, baby. I love this guy. I first encountered
him. He played Doc Ock in Spider -Man 2, Sam
Raimi's film. Fantastic in that role. But also
just a fantastic actor. He has a very small part,
memorable part in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He's
in movies like Prick Up Your Ears, Maverick,
Dead Man, Boogie Nights. I really enjoy him in.
And I enjoy him in this movie too. Another critique.
I'm just going to pepper in my critiques. Otherwise,
our wrap up will be too long at the end. His
character doesn't do anything in this movie.
I don't know if you noticed, but he's always
just there. He never adds anything. Except he's
a crucial plot point at the end where he impregnates
Syl. That's the only reason this character's
in this movie. Right. Regardless, I love Alfred
Molina. Yeah, he's a fun presence in this movie.
He's supposed to play an anthropologist. But
yeah, like you said, he doesn't provide anything
beneficial to their like, you know, search for
Syl. He doesn't really do anything at all, but
still a fun guy. Still like a fun character.
And especially like the friendship that develops
between him and Forrest Whitaker's characters
is kind of fun towards the end. But I feel like
that's mostly because of what the actors bring
to it and not because of the writing. 100%. You
can't beat their chemistry. Try as the writing
may. Yeah. Forrest Whitaker. You want to talk
about him? Yeah. I mean, you know, he's become
a legendary actor, I think. He's been in movies
for the past 30 or 40 years. You know, Fast Times
at Ridgemont High, Vision Quest, Color of Money,
Platoon, The Crying Game, Body Snatchers, which
I really want to see, the third version of Invasion
of the Body Snatchers. Never seen it. Really
want to see that. Probably my favorite Forrest
Whitaker performance is in Ghost Dog, The Way
of the Samurai, the Jim Jarmusch movie. which
is very, very good. He's in Panic Room, Last
King of Scotland, just like an amazing filmography.
His character in this movie is so weak. He's
supposed to be like an empath who apparently
has like telepathic capabilities. And it's like,
how did he get those abilities? Where did this
guy come from? How was he found by the Ben Kingsley
character? What is he doing here, you know? Matt,
if I had to pick one thing that drives me loony
in this movie. Is his character. Because you're
right. And I looked into it. I was like, clickety
-clack, can empaths also be psychics? There is
some, like, not paranormal, but pseudoscience
out there around that possibility. But the way
his character is treated in this movie is like
a sideshow psychic. Just like, so what's going
to happen? He's like, I don't know. And I'm thinking,
then why the heck is this written into the script?
It's not funny. Right. I was losing my mind over
this character. Yeah, totally agree. There's
one moment where I don't know if it's supposed
to be funny or not, but they go into a murder
scene and there's blood everywhere and it's very
gruesome. And Forrest Whitaker's character says
something like, something terrible happened here.
And it's like, yeah, obviously. Is that your
contribution to the investigation? And it's delivered
completely serious. Right. Like it's not tongue
in cheek. And that's a why this movie is so campy,
but also why it's so terribly written. Yeah,
it's a mess. Yeah. And I feel like, you know,
Forrest Whitaker does deserve some credit because
his character is tolerable in this movie. Like
I feel like if anybody else played this role,
he would be insufferable. And I just might not
have been able to make it through the movie,
but he makes the character like. you know, I'll
watch, I'll watch this character just to see
what happens, but I don't buy anything that's
going on right now. Wow. Yeah. I've got some
more moments I'll, I'll share later, but I, yeah,
he just, he just could have, he just deserves
so much better. Yeah, absolutely. And I, you
know, he's had better throughout his career.
Like, I feel like this might be one of his lowest
points, but that's why this cast is just so bizarre.
Like how did all these great actors sign on to
this movie? Strange. Yeah. Yeah. Rounding out
the cast, we have a few more cast members here.
Marg Helgenberger, who's probably best known
from CSI. That's how I mostly knew her before.
Oh, sure. She stars as biologist Lauren Baker,
who has sort of fling with the Michael Madsen
character in this movie. And then the last cast
member that I wanted to talk about is an actor
that I really like a lot, really respect, admire
very much. She's been in so many great movies.
Michelle Williams. This was one of her first
roles. I think she was 14 years old when they
filmed this movie. Yeah, I really enjoyed seeing
Michelle Williams in this. I love her work whenever
I see her. I think she just like disappears into
roles. I feel like she's not talked about in
the same breadth as think of like any superstar
female actors. But yet she is 100 % committed.
I think she's really good at her craft. And even
in this movie, I think she does a really good
job with what she's given. Absolutely. Like the
first 20 minutes of this movie are the best part.
And they're all the scenes with her when like
we're just kind of, you know, we jump into the
action. Michelle Williams is like the young Syl
and she's in this government facility. And then
she escapes and there's this like hunt after
her. It's really compelling. And then as soon
as she leaves the movie, it gets like immediately
worse. I'm not necessarily saying that like it's
because she's not in it anymore, but she is very
good here. I think she's really engaging in her
role. Completely agree. So shout out also to
Michelle Williams. Stamp of approval. Yeah. We're
just handing out stamps of approval to everybody
tonight. Well, not everybody. Yeah. Good point.
So again, just like a very accomplished cast
and crew, the film itself, maybe not so accomplished,
but we'll talk about that soon. Yeah. Reminder,
everybody. I still, I love talking about this
movie. I just feel bad being so harsh on a movie,
but you know, I got to call it as I see it. I,
you know, I feel like usually you are like very
generous and lenient on movies. So it's kind
of fun to hear you be a little bit more harsh.
And weirdly enough. No, it does not. It's kind
of refreshing in a way. Oh, good. And, you know,
I feel like we're in a little bit of a role reversal
because there are actually some things I like
about this movie. So we'll talk about that later.
Fantastic. Yeah. But first, just a very brief
production rundown of this movie. It's, you know,
not really all that complicated. I'm thinking
of our conversation about the island of Dr. Moreau,
which took like an hour just to like talk about
the production backstory. So like this one is
not as chaotic as that, but. The writer, Dennis
Feldman, first pitched the movie as a treatment
or just kind of an in -depth outline in 1987
when he was working on his directorial debut
called Real Men, which is also about an alien
invasion. Don't really know a lot about that
movie. Not at the top of my list, but maybe I'll
watch it someday. And in those early stages when
Feldman first created that treatment, it was
a little bit more of like a police procedural.
It was basically about geneticists and a bot,
or not a botanist, a biologist, teamed up to
create this alien creature and then they have
to work with the police to find it once it escapes.
So obviously the project went through a lot of
changes over the years as it was in development.
When no studios bought the pitch, Feldman rewrote
it as a spec script. It caught the eye of producer
Mancuso, who liked the blend of believability
and preposterousness. Sure, I can see that. And
MGM ultimately bought the script. It was then
that director Donaldson became involved, wanting
to do a sci -fi thriller. The script was rewritten
eight times over a period of eight months, correcting
some of the plot holes. Yeah, Matt, as you...
Note here, but not all of them. Yeah. I'm like,
you corrected any plot holes? Right. What did
the script look like before that, you know? Oh,
my gosh. All right. Filmed. The film was filmed
mostly in Los Angeles with some scenes shot in
Utah and at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto
Rico. I think better used in Goldeneye. Yes,
for sure. And most of the $35 million budget
went to the special effects. as this wasn't a,
quote, star -driven picture, hence the casting
of newcomer Henstridge. And I think what we alluded
to earlier, the relative supporting, the ensemble's
made up of, I wouldn't call A -listers at the
time. Yeah. More of a supporting roster there.
But H .R. Giger designed the Syl character. He
was intrigued by the idea of designing a monster
that was also seductive and attractive. He worked
on the film from his native Switzerland, building
puppets and faxing designs to Los Angeles. Geiger
initially wanted to design several stages of
Syl's transformation, but ultimately only her
final form was used, and Geiger also thought
there were too many similarities between species
and popular franchises like The Terminator and
Alien, which, as we know, Geiger also played
an important role in. Geiger ultimately convinced
the producers to rewrite the ending. The initial
cut was 127 minutes long. It had a very different
action climax and 20 minutes were cut out of
the final version. Which is crazy because that
climax feels like it goes on forever. Like it
still feels very overlong. It's a long one. Yeah.
The finished film. combines practical models
based on Geiger's designs and created by Steve
Johnson with CGI overseen by Richard Edlund and
his Boss Film Studios. Edlund had started out
with industrial light and magic. Star Wars was
one of his first projects. In 1983, he created
Boss Films, which did the effects for Ghostbusters,
Big Trouble in Little China, Die Hard, Cliffhanger,
and the greatest movie of all time featuring
an airplane. Air Force One. Boss Films was one
of the first special effects houses to make the
transition to CGI. And Species includes some
of the very first CGI that involved motion capture.
Which makes me think about The Mummy from 99.
Because we talked about motion capture in that
movie too. Yeah. And how it was still in its
infancy in 99. Meanwhile, 95 when they're producing
Species. yeah that technology is so nascent yeah
it's just so so early and it's in its effectiveness
i think yeah it's it's definitely rough in this
movie and i feel like maybe you know species
kind of gets like Credit for being one of the
first to use motion capture, and it's a historical
turning point, I guess, in that way. But it looks
terrible. And, like, you know, it's just, like,
put somebody in an alien suit. It would just
look so much better than, like, the... I mean,
even at the time, I can't imagine that, like,
the CGI in this movie looked very good or convincing.
Like, it's... Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's
just interesting from a historical timeline,
but it looks pretty bad in species. Well, let
me clarify. So... When I think of this movie's
poor use of CGI, I think of the ending when we
see the full -bodied alien creature. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. There is CGI, like in the Michelle Williams
parts where she's transforming, that I don't
think is as bad. Yeah, it's not as bad. I remember
thinking like in the scene where she's in the
train car and she's first turning into the alien.
You know, I don't think it looks very good, but
I was like, oh, this is like amusing from like
a mid -90s CGI. Like it looks so different kind
of way, you know? Agreed. I was still on board
at that point. But again, it's like by the end,
it's just like, oh my God, this is like unconvincing,
not scary, not original, not interesting. Like
I was not even enjoying it anymore by the end.
Also agree. Yeah. Sorry to Richard Endland. I
think that was his name, right? Not to hate on
his work too much, influential perhaps, but in
this early iteration, does not hold up very well.
Well, you got to start somewhere, I suppose.
Yeah, indeed. So Species was released in July
1995. It was one of the big kind of summer event
movies of that year. It made $17 million in its
opening weekend alone. That was MGM's biggest
opening at the time. And it was second that weekend
after Apollo 13. So again, this movie did really
well financially. It had a $35 million budget.
And overseas, I think it made, or like, you know,
cumulatively, I think it made something like
$130 million or something like that. So just
a huge success for MGM. Wow. Yeah. Critically,
maybe not so successful, though. Definitely got
mixed reviews, a lot of pans, a lot of negative
reviews in there as well. Kind of like I alluded
to before, the marketers really did try to play
up how much sex and nudity was in the movie.
It was discussed in a lot of entertainment magazines.
I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly
when I was a kid, and that's probably how I knew
about that. Tabloid magazines were kind of making
a big deal out of that as well. So all that stuff
is probably part of the reason that this movie
did so well. It spawned a franchise. There was
one theatrical sequel and two made -for -TV sequels.
Love that. The film, or rather the franchise,
was also adapted into a comic book series published
by Dark Horse Comics. And I could see it totally
working as a comic book or these, you know, made
-for -TV sequels. Yeah. Yeah, I think maybe that's
kind of the realm this kind of tawdry movie should
inhabit. Yeah, it really belongs there. And that's
not a diss. If this was like a sci -fi channel
original movie, amazing, wonderful. Right. Yeah.
I mean, you know, that's why I'm curious to watch
the sequels. Like I feel like if it fully leans
into its ridiculousness and it's just like sleazy
sensationalistic aspects, which species kind
of does, but like at the same time, it just kind
of gets boring by the end. And like, we'll talk
more about the flaws in a little bit here, but
I don't know. I bet some of the sequels could
just be like good, can't be fun. I'm excited
to try them out. I do too. Like don't try to
shoot for the stars, make this big A -level movie.
Just, stick to your lane and and then yeah then
like i mean it's it's hypocrisy maybe to say
it but like you're whatever flaws you have i
think just play better on tv and in that kind
of market i don't know yeah absolutely yeah there
it is maybe some sequels will appear on camp
kaiju in the future who knows probably not for
a while though we need a break from species after
this I have a long list. Species 2 is way down
at the bottom. Yeah, for sure. There are approximately
2 ,000 monster movies that I want to watch before
that. That's the number I was thinking of, yeah.
Well, now is probably a good time for our sponsor
break. Once again, Camp Kaiju is sponsored by
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show notes. Vincent, do we have anything in Minya's
mailbox today? We have a lot. I might even read
two comments tonight. We got a lot of feedback
on our Island of Dr. Moreau episode. Cool. On
our YouTube. Love the YouTube crowd. They're
always chiming in. So this is from at bingo bed
at all beaver. I also love these handles. Bingo
bed at all beaver says to the Island of Dr. Moreau,
if this movie was a mess, it still wasn't as
big a disaster as Alien 3. Hmm. Interesting.
Yeah, I suppose that's probably true. There's
some stuff about Alien 3 I like, but yeah, good
point. Yeah, I think of all, I think any of the,
I'd love to talk about any of the Alien movies,
but Alien 3 always stuck out to me as something
that's like, there's a lot going for it. There's
a lot working against it. I'd like to talk about
that one at some point. Definitely. And just
such a turning point in David Fincher's career
because he had such a miserable time making that
movie and had so much studio interference. And
then his career kind of took off afterwards.
So that would be a fascinating conversation someday.
Yeah. Well, thank you. Bingo bet it all, Beaver.
We're going to read a comment from your YouTube
compatriot, Brannon Harries. Brannon Harries,
they say, Leonardo DiCaprio has bought the film
rights to this film, Island of Dr. Moreau. They're
doing a remake of this and Anthony Hopkins is
in it. They actually then clarified the remake
is called Eyes in the Trees. And if you Google
that, that is a movie that came out or it's in
pre -production. Interesting. Eyes in the Trees.
Yeah. Does it star Leo and Anthony Hopkins? They're
both in it? So the Wikipedia page for Eyes in
the Trees says, It is an upcoming science fiction
film starring Anthony Hopkins. It is a reimagining
of H .G. Wells' novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Okay, so looking at some... Okay, Deadline Hollywood
had a piece on it from August of last year, 2024.
Kind of just saying the same thing. So this movie
is an idea that's out there. I hope it makes
it to the screen because... Who doesn't want
to live in a world with more Dr. Moreau? Yeah.
Wow. I'm very intrigued. I don't know this director's
name, Timothy Woodward Jr., but regardless, yeah,
I'm excited about this movie. I hope it is actually
made at some point. Same. So thank you to our
listeners everywhere. We have more comments to
read in future episodes, and it's a good problem
to have, so keep your comments coming. You can
comment on Spotify. You can comment on YouTube
or Instagram. And please call in the Kaiju Hotline
and tell us about, well, anything really. But
right now we're specifically looking for your
experiences with Jaws or the franchise. How Jaws
has changed you for the better or the worse.
Just share with us. Give us a call. The number
is in our show notes. And we'd love to do like
a special Jaws 50th anniversary episode. Some
point in the summer. I can't wait. I'm excited
to hear about everybody who is no longer able
to swim in the ocean because of that movie or
that franchise. Yeah. I mean, me. I'm one of
those people. And I did not see this in 1975.
Right. Yeah. I mean, every time I go in the water,
like even like a deep swimming pool, I just think
I'm going to go underwater and like the Jaws
theme is playing in my head and like a shark
is just going to come out of nowhere, you know?
That's an impact. That's a cultural impact right
there. Yeah. So let's hear all the voicemails.
I think it'd be a really cool episode. So hoping
y 'all come through for us. Awesome. I can't
wait for that. Yeah. Well, we are going to turn
it over to Peter Lorre. He's somewhere trimming
his lilacs. He's dealing with some kind of crazy
thing. I haven't talked to him in a while, but
he is going to talk about the 1942 Poverty Row
movie called Black Dragons. Whoa. It's a World
War II. horror film starring bela lugosi it involves
mad scientists japanese scientists nazi scientists
i don't know anything about it but i'm gonna
learn something and i always learn something
on the poverty row picture show yeah peter's
very knowledgeable about film history i always
learn a lot from him he was there yeah yeah true
firsthand knowledge yep I hope he's doing all
right. Is trimming his lilacs, is that a euphemism
for something? It sounds kind of dirty. No, he
has a lilac bush. Okay. It's growing to monstrous
proportions. Get your head out of the gutter.
What are you talking about? It just sounded like
it. Maybe I've been, I watched Species 2 recently.
That's probably why. My mind's still in the gutter.
No, I mean, I know what I said. Yeah. I'm going
to have to research that phrase now. It has a
hidden meaning of some kind. You're just going
to find a picture of Peter Lorre. That'd be okay.
I would not be disappointed in that at all. Okay,
before we conjure up any other dubious images.
Yeah. Welcome. To the poverty row studios on
the other side of Hollywood, where the stars
were dimmer and the red carpets dripped with
blood. Together we will watch the best of the
worst. Movies known for their limited budgets,
outlandish concepts, and questionable performances.
But with enough haunted houses, zombies, ape
men, and devil pets to keep you up at night,
this... It's the Poverty Row Picture Show, and
I dare you to sleep through these nightmares.
I am your host, Peter Lorre. You may remember
me from such motion pictures as the Mr. Moto
series I did for 20th Century Fox. Yes, in eight
pictures, I played the hard -boiled Japanese
secret agent, Mr. Moto. And if you are thinking
to yourself, but wait, Peter Lorre is not Japanese,
then you are correct. It was a different time
when cowardly Hollywood executives would not
cast Asians as such heroic characters. And this
prejudice would be cemented with the outbreak
of war between the Empire of Japan and the United
States in 1941. Another consequence of the war.
understandably, was the proliferation of propaganda
in Hollywood pictures. This week's movie, Black
Dragons, is perhaps the first major movie to
capitalize on the rah -rah wartime spirit. It
is about the real -life, notorious society known
as the Black Dragons of Japan, a ruthless criminal
organization, as they concoct a devilish scheme
with the Nazis. The Black Dragons instruct a
brilliant scientist, Dr. Melcher, played by Bela
Lugosi, to travel to Japan on a secret mission.
There, he operates on six Japanese conspirators,
transforming them to resemble six American leaders.
The actual Americans are then murdered and replaced
with their likenesses. Treachery and espionage
ensue. Now... This film was rushed into production
only a month after Pearl Harbor, and the finished
product does reflect this hurried schedule. Dear
listeners, I do not exaggerate when I tell you
how poorly executed this movie is. Lack of budget
can hardly be blamed for the sloppiness on screen.
Plot points are contradictory, actors are lifeless,
and the camera work doesn't do anything to heighten
the would -be tension or clear up any confusion.
But you know what? This movie literally ends
with a big ol' American flag waving triumphantly
over the nefarious Japanese agents. It is a heck
of an exclamation point and somehow the most
memorable part of a film with so much potential.
To watch Black Dragons, you will either be a
die -hard horror fan or die trying to make sense
of it all. Oh, hello my lovely giant lilac. Is
it feeding time already? Well... Well, dear listeners,
if you'll excuse me, I must take care of my plant.
It is growing remarkably well here in the apartment.
No, no, Matthew doesn't need to know. I have
everything entirely under my control. Until next
time, when we will be watching yet another belagosi
picture called The Corpse Vanishes. There it
is. Welcome to Jurassic Park. We've made living
biological attractions so astounding that they'll
capture the imagination of the entire planet.
The most phenomenal discovery of our time...
How'd you do this? ...becomes the greatest adventure
of all time. Can I touch it? Sure. Universal
Pictures presents... You feel that? Hold on to
your butts. A Steven Spielberg film. This is
a feeling all over the park. Yeah, that's nice.
Gotta go. An adventure. Look out! No! I can't
get Jurassic Park back online. 65 million years
in the making. Jurassic Park. In 1995, mankind's
first experiment with alien DNA was a mistake.
She's a genetic duplicate of the original still.
In 1998, man's first trip to Mars will be a disaster.
There's something wrong with me, Dad. We've got
two aliens running around. It's mating season
again. Species 2, rated R. So what are the themes
or the subtexts in this movie? Do you want to
start off? Are there any themes that you want
to talk about? Yeah, I think the main theme for
me is procreation. I mean, the Sill character,
her whole mission is to have a baby. And I think
that that is a very universal theme, that that
can be such a human, primitive animal. Right.
The survival of the species. Well, there it is.
There's the title of the film. Oh, I get it.
Yeah. I think that that's a, that's a, a theme
worth looking into, you know, what does she,
what length does she go to pretty, pretty extraordinary
lengths, violent lengths, murderous lengths,
you know, not how I would go about having a baby,
but you can sympathize with that at any rate.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. There's a lot to say
about that, I think. It's weird because there
is some empathy for Scylla, I think, in this
movie. She essentially is a girl. She has the
brain of a girl. She ages very rapidly. So when...
When she's played by Michelle Williams, supposedly
as a 12 -year -old, they say in the movie. This
is only, I think, a couple days after she was
born. She ages so rapidly. So she still has the
mind state of a girl and is imitating human behavior.
It's in her species, her DNA to procreate, as
you said. So I think there's some empathy for
her character in this movie because she's confused.
She doesn't know who or what she is. And she's
only doing what she... thinks she's supposed
to do. And then at the same time, you also have
this depiction of like, you know, a beautiful
woman who is treacherous and deadly. And like
the pregnancy itself is monstrous. Like, you
know, as soon as she's impregnated, she's like,
oh, I just felt the conception happen. And Alfred
Molina is like, oh no, you silly girl. It doesn't
work that way. And then he like touches her belly
and he's like. oh my God, this is the alien.
Like this is actually happening or whatever.
And that's just such an overdone theme, I think,
in horror and sci -fi movies where like, you
know, a beautiful, frequently naked woman is
like a source of monstrosity and evil and violence
and terror and all that. So it's, you know, it's
not unique to this movie, but there are just
so many movies that have... seemingly should
have empathy for their female characters but
then turn them into this like monstrous thing
where you like should not trust a beautiful woman
and that's obviously not a great theme you know
right right i mean and it's not like it's a femme
fatale film noir it's she's depicted as a monster
also also depicted there is i don't use the word
i don't use the word rape lightly but that's
that is definitely a tactic she's headed towards
With that blonde, hunky man she has in the swimming
pool, the jacuzzi? Yeah. Yep. You know, she is
forcing herself on him very much against his
will, which actually I appreciated. Maybe appreciate's
not the best word, but I noticed a role reversal
in what we'd usually expect, maybe a subversion
of our expectations, where the man is saying,
I don't want this. And it's the woman who is
forcing herself upon him. I just think usually
we see it the other way around. And I found it
interesting that it's depicted in this way. Yeah.
For sure. Yeah. And like earlier in the movie,
I think we do see the inverse of that, which
is a little bit more common where like she's
in a hotel room with a guy. And then like the
logic in the movie, I'm using the word logic
very loosely, is that this guy that she's about
to sleep with, she can like sense that he's diabetic
and therefore has like imperfect genes or whatever.
So she's like, oh, I don't want to do this anymore.
I'm leaving. And he's like, no, you can't. It's
too late. I'm not going to say take no for an
answer. And then she brutally kills him. So there's
that scene earlier in the movie. But then you're
totally right that later on, those roles are
totally swapped. And it's just a question throughout
this entire movie. How does it feel about the
Syl character? And how is the audience supposed
to feel about her? Right. And I think I'm coming
around to some good things about this movie.
I think Natasha Henstridge. like whatever the
marketing was about her body, I think she might
be the best written character. I think she certainly
has the most range with her character as written
because she's able to play both victim and, and
the, what, I don't know what's the word I'm looking
for. The victim and perpetrator. Like she, she
can play all those in this movie, which is a,
I know that's a plum role for many women to be
able to play that kind of dynamic character who's
also sexy, which can be a good thing. And, you
know, she is a model. She's very comfortable
in her body. So I don't want to dilute that aspect
of empowerment. You know, I think Natasha Henstridge
is great in this movie. The more I think about
it. Yeah. She has an amazing presence. Like,
I think maybe her performance itself doesn't
have a lot of obvious range, but, like, she's
the kind of actor, I think, in this role where,
you know, like, she just has this, like, presence
and this, like, gravity to her, you know? And,
like, you can't take your eyes off of her whenever
she's on screen. And I don't mean that in, like,
a lewd sort of, like, you know, she's so nice
to look at way. She, like, genuinely has, like,
a lot of, like, star power, I think. Agreed.
Yeah. I think the bar is low. But... I think
she does a damn fine job in this movie in all
things considered. Yeah, definitely. That was
the main theme that I picked up on, too. I actually
thought about Jurassic Park a little bit, and
I am not comparing those two movies at all by
any means, but Jurassic Park also has the theme
of life will find a way, and that's what... animals
do procreate like that's kind of like built into
our dna or whatever and yeah this movie is like
a very sleazy uh reiteration of that theme i
think totally genetics gone awry type of thing
i thought about the fly a lot i mean it's a common
theme in these types of science fiction movies
for sure yeah i this is my this is a silly theme
but it kept coming up they were like at least
three separate times in this movie where people
make a big deal about a credit card. Yeah. You
were, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah,
absolutely. That's kind of how they track her
down because she uses a credit card that she
stole. Yeah. But like there's a, there's a cashier
at the train station. She's like, do you have
a credit card? And then there's the hotel or
sorry, the motel clerk. He's like, ma 'am, you
forgot your credit card. yeah it got to the point
where i wrote down is there a thing about credit
cards i'm missing i guess i'm a little bit confused
or just not very like well informed about the
history of credit cards were they just becoming
a thing in the 90s they must have been around
for a while absolutely not yeah you know you
see 80s movies people are using charging their
cards and things it's a whole thing in home alone
yeah the card yeah yeah you're right That's weird.
And it's, I feel like in this movie, it's the
thing too, where like they, they use paper to
like take an imprint of the credit card and like
get the numbers and all that. And this is kind
of cool to see those old technologies. I think,
you know, that is cool. Yeah. So weird thing,
credit cards in this movie, but maybe it's like
numbers and sequences. Yeah. It's all about capitalism.
Not really. I'm just kidding. We could tie most
things back to capitalism, but yeah. Yeah. I
don't know. That's just like a fun. That's a
silly comment, but it's something I noticed anyways.
Yeah, you're right. I didn't really like make
note of that aside from like the cool part where
like they take the paper imprint of the credit
card or whatever. But you're right. That is kind
of strange. Yeah. And I, you know, I do kind
of like the idea that like. You know, alien contact
might not happen from like an alien coming to
Earth in a spaceship. It might happen through
like information that's sent through like radio
signals. And that, you know, that's in the movie
Contact. That's in some other movies as well.
But, you know, I think like the origin of the
Syl character is kind of interesting in this
movie because the aliens send to Earth the genetic
code for like a human -alien hybrid. And that's
how Syl is born. And I just think that's maybe
a little bit more... I don't want to say interesting,
but it's just nice to have that variety instead
of just like actual Martian invaders that come
on a spaceship, you know? For sure. I do think
that about this movie. I think that it's an alien
movie, yes, but not on the surface. Right, right.
Yeah. The movie starts off that way and then
it abandons that idea pretty quickly, but it's
there. Oh, the first time I watched this, I did
think, oh, this could be a really interesting
procedural. It does play like that at certain
points, but that, but, but it doesn't really,
I think take full advantage of that genre. You
know, this could be like seven with an alien.
Whoa. And it's just, it's just not nowhere near
what it could be. Yeah, it's strange that that
was like the initial idea. And then they like,
you know, came up with this idea instead to like,
you know, I read that Dennis Feldman thought
that it was like unconvincing and there were
too many plot holes in that police procedural
idea. And it's like, well, this is not any more
believable. Make them work. Work with a team
and write a better draft. Yeah, I feel like that
could have worked way better than like the story
they came up with here. But what do I know? It
was like the Avengers. Like they assembled this
team. of of you know disparate powers and i'm
like which is kind of you know there's nothing
wrong with that that's cool but nobody uses anything
to any advantage yeah for melina doesn't do anything
with anthropology our empath character is just
like a convenient way to plug those plot holes
yep the blonde woman i apologize i forget her
name She says one thing in one scene about the
genetics of the thing. Michael Madsen is, I'm
sorry, I think he's just phoning it in completely.
Just playing like this cool guy with a gun. I'm
like, that's not a character. I don't know what
you're doing. And then Ben Kingsley has no business
even being a part of this crew because he's the
head of this big agency. Why is he running around
in the sewers? He should just be calling in the
army. Right. Everything is so contrived in this
movie. Totally. Are there no military doctors
that are more accomplished biologists and anthropologists
than these people that they bring in? It makes
no sense. And like the way that plot development
is introduced, like there's like a very brief
scene introducing us to Michael Madsen. And then
like another like 30 second scene where Forrest
Whitaker is in a like a therapy session. And
all of a sudden they're all in this like government
office. And it's like, what is going on here?
It makes no sense. I know I've said that a lot
already, but. But they're in there. They're like,
I'm going off. I'm going off right now. You got
me rolling. But they they try to have like these
witty one liners, this banter. And I'm like,
you're all really bad at this. Like there's no
chemistry apart from the script being poorly
written. Yeah. It's like, what is supposed to
be funny? It's not funny. And like, I could see
when the film wants me to laugh and I'm like,
I'm not laughing at that joke. That was a really
bad joke, but I'm laughing at everything else
you guys are doing because it's, you, you're
just taking it all so seriously, but it's so
heavy handed. And it's just, it's just so contrived.
And I, even in my monster movies, I don't like
shortcuts. Yeah. Play it straight. Even in the
most bonkers monster movie, justify your actions.
Just cut out the filler. And there's so much
filler in this movie. Okay. I'm done for now.
I know what you mean. Like I, you know, sometimes
if people complain about plot holes, I, I don't
have a, like, I usually don't feel the same way
because I'm like, it's entertainment. It can
be implausible. Like I'm kind of okay with that
sometimes. But to your point, I feel like there
has to be like an internal logic to the movie,
you know? Even if it's making up its own rules,
it has to abide by those rules. And this movie
does not have any kind of logic whatsoever. And
like the plot holes seem like way more than just
like... Fun little like ridiculous things. It's
like the entire thing is flimsy. It falls apart
if you think about it for like more than two
seconds, you know? Thank you for being so articulate
with that because it's a hard thing to describe.
Every movie has an aspect of what's called suspension
of disbelief. I know you know that, but for everyone
else. But again, you're playing by your own internal
rules that sells that suspension of disbelief.
I buy. that Jurassic Park can happen. I don't
buy anything in species and what that difference
is. It's hard to pin down, but you know it when
you see it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think
we're working a little bit of our like final
break breakdowns into this conversation, but
that's totally okay. That's all right. You know,
I think that's why I like the first 20 minutes
of this movie because it's like a government
guy, Ben Kingsley, who is kind of, like you said,
he has this like sort of pseudo father -daughter
relationship with Syl when she's still a young
girl. And then she breaks out and there's this
like really exciting, intense chase to find her.
I was like, oh, I'm fully on board. Like there
are some cool special effects. I'm into this
story. But then, yeah, like once they bring in
other characters, once Michelle Williams becomes
like the adult Natasha Henstridge character,
it's like, oh, it took a wrong turn. And like,
I feel like it could have sustained that element
of just like fast pace. you know like very cool
like shocking visceral images it could have kept
on going with that but it just really falls apart
pretty quickly yeah loses steam yeah big in a
big way all right sorry get us back focused i'll
focus up here well i mean i think we've kind
of reached almost the end of the line i was trying
to think of a species pun there but i couldn't
do it the train pun yeah exactly yeah there's
some train stuff So yeah, I think it's time for
our individual breakdowns, the good, the bad,
and the campy. We've already mentioned a lot
of things in those categories, but I feel like
I liked this movie slightly more than you did.
So maybe I'll turn it over to you first for the
good category. Is there anything else that you
want to mention? I do like the effects of this
movie. They are very visceral, brutal, violent,
like the practical effects, not the CG stuff.
The alien design, the practical design, is really
interesting. And bonkers. At one point, tentacles
come out of the alien's nipples. Yeah. And like
strangle people. I'm like, what is this? It's
amazing. Yeah. Need more of that. I didn't get
enough. Yeah. Natasha Hendridge takes the cake
for me. Yeah. And all in all, that's about it
for me. Sorry to say. That's fair. Yeah, I agree
with all that. I do think it's a very entertaining
movie. Up until the last 15 minutes, I think
the climax in the sewers just goes on and on
and is the least interesting way they could have
ended the movie. But up until then, I was like,
oh, this is really fun. There's a lot of bad
stuff, but I'm very entertained by this movie.
There are some scenes where my jaw was just hanging
open, and that's for a lot of reasons. how ridiculous
it was, but also just some of the special effects
shots. Like you said, weird cutaways or like
cutaways, not the right word, weird, like edits
to a new scene where it's like, Whoa, where are
we right now? Maybe not a good thing, but like
it, it does keep the movie like very unpredictable
and entertaining for a while. And then, you know,
I just want to shout out the cast one more time.
It's such a bizarre cast in this movie. I agree
with you that Natasha Henstridge is the best
part. And you know, I, Yeah, like obviously she's
beautiful. And like, I do think like it's the
appeal of like larger than life movie stars that
are like gods or goddesses. Like I kind of like
that element of cinema. And that goes all the
way back to the silent era. And there's a little
bit of that in this movie. And I kind of enjoy
that about it for a while. And then it gets a
little bit like creepy and vulgar towards the
end. But, you know, I like all that stuff. Alfred
Molina, Forrest Whitaker, their characters are
terrible, but the actors themselves are fun to
watch. Michelle Williams, again, I really like
her a lot. It's cool to see her in such an early
role. I think she still has that star power.
I'm going to use that term again. Even if she
was a newcomer, you're like, oh, she just has
an energy and a compelling aspect to her. But
mostly, it's just the entertainment value. This
is a very fun movie for 80 % of its running time,
I would say. You're not wrong. I do appreciate
the over the topness of this film, the preposterousness.
Yeah. And I need to be reminded of that. So thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. I've always believed
that like movies can have a lot of flaws, but
they cannot be boring. That's the one like impermissible
sin, you know? Oh, you know what? I was never
bored by this movie. I may have been driven absolutely
out of my mind. Yeah. But that's not boring.
Yeah. Indeed. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully it's more
than that. But, you know, I do think if it's
entertaining, I want to give it a little bit
of the benefit of the doubt, you know? Yeah,
yeah. But yeah, there's so much bad stuff about
this movie. Maybe, well, you know, we can kind
of flip the script. I'll maybe say one thing,
but then I'll allow you to go off if that sounds
okay. I don't even know where to begin, though.
Like the CGI, I'm sorry to hate on CGI so much
on this podcast. I know I do it a lot, but it
just like immediately takes me out of the movie.
And it's like, just put somebody in an alien
suit. You have H .R. Giger designing these suits
and Steve Johnson, like, you know, working with
him on that, like that could have been really
amazing. And then you just have the worst CGI,
like imaginable. It looks terrible. So that's
a big negative for me. And again, I'll just kind
of, you know, the theme of like, you know, don't
trust a beautiful woman. She's just going to
kill you. Like the tagline of the movie is she
mates, she kills. And I feel like that's like
this movie's worldview in a nutshell. So I, it's
hard to like really love a movie too much if
it has that kind of subtext to it, you know,
not to read too much into it, but yeah. Oh yeah.
I, right. I mean, that's the, that's the studio.
That's the marketing. I think it speaks to. This
shallowness that we see in a lot of 90s movies
and media in particular around women and females
and the male gaze. I'm not saying it's changed
much, but it is a quite dated aspect of this
film. When you go back and watch some of the
interviews and you're like, oh, really? That's
what you're going with? Right. Sometimes I'm
okay with sleazy and trashy, but it has to be
the right kind of sleaze. And it gets a little
bit off -putting or disturbing maybe at times
in this movie. Towards the end especially, I
think. Yeah. I've already gone off. I just want
to talk about Ben Kingsley and his accent. He
tries to do an American accent. I'm like, this
is a bad accent. He's hitting his R's really
hard. Yeah. Which I know is like what... the
Brits do. And they like got to do an American
accent, but I'm like, you don't sound natural.
You sound like you're doing an accent. Yeah.
And he has some terrible lines that honestly,
I can't find it. I'm not going to waste time
finding it, but there was a line he said that
he just mumbled because his accent was so thick
and so bad. I was like, that was unintelligible.
I don't know what you just said. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, man. I know he has so many bad lines of dialogue
in this movie. And now, of course, I can't really
think of any of them. Well, there's like, he's
like, we made her female so we could, you know,
control her mind or whatever. Or so she'd be
more docile. Yeah. And then Michael Madsen, he's
like, well, then you haven't, you don't know
much about women. Yeah. That's a line where I'm
like, the movie wants me to laugh. I'm not going
to give it that. Right. That's such a dumb line.
It's so predictable. Yeah. Predictable. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And all the stuff where he's kind
of like making fun of the scientists a little
bit. Like, I think actually when Forrest Whitaker
says that thing of like something terrible happens
here at the murder scene, Ben Kingsley says some
like stupid reply where he's like, oh, is that
what you have to offer or something like that?
And it's like, well, why did you enlist him on
your team then? Man, it's so. No, yeah, just
no internal logic whatsoever. Well, by the end,
he treats Forrest Whitaker as a full -blown psychic
because they're in the sewers and he's like,
which way did she go? Which way did she go? And
Whitaker's like panicking. He's like, I don't
know. I don't know. And Ben Kingsley's like,
then why do we have you here? And I'm like, that's
the very question I've been wondering this whole
runtime. Why do you have him here? Why don't
you answer that question, Xavier Fitch? I feel
like you made this decision. There is a great
moment in that same scene where like, you know,
Forest Whitaker doesn't know which way she went.
So Ben Kingsley is like, all right, well, follow
me, Dan, or whatever his name is. And Forest
Whitaker is like, no, I'm just going to go with
these guys. I'm going to go here. That's a very
awkward moment, but I loved it. Yeah, it's a
weird, awkward moment. That's a good way to put
it. Yeah. And there, I mean, there's just so
much camp value like that in this movie. The
supposed rapport between Michael Madsen and Mark
Helgenberger, but it's painful. Oh, painful.
Yeah, their lines are just, okay, we get it.
You're going to hook up. Can you just do it now?
What is this foreplay? Yeah, it goes on and on.
The actors, I think they kind of do what they
can. You're right that Michael Madsen is phoning
it in and doing like a... Robert Mitchum, like
falling asleep in front of the camera sort of
impression. But there are some elements of that
that I liked, but the screenwriting itself is
very, very, very bad. Yeah, it's unfortunate.
One more campy thing that I wanted to bring up.
We can go back and forth if you want, but I,
so, you know, in addition to this team of scientists,
there are also these two government agents that
are just like hovering around everybody the whole
time. They're like wearing business suits and
like, clearly they're government agents. And
like, even when they're in like nightclubs and
like, you know, supposed to be like blending
in, there are these two guys that are just like
always in the background of the scene. And I
don't know if that's supposed to be funny, but
I laughed like almost every time I saw them.
because why aren't they on the team yeah i watched
a review it was like you know this whole this
team after sill like a a super powered malicious
being you don't send scientists and an empath
in there like they all need to be trained assassins
like michael madsen yeah totally like why is
why is alfred molina following this monster around
yeah Yeah, right. And they all seem to be very
bad at their jobs. If there was any believability
in this movie, all of them would have been killed
by Scylla within half an hour, I think. Oh my,
totally. Yeah. Ridiculous. The one campy thing
I want to share, this was not supposed to be
funny, but it had me laughing out loud. When
Michael Madsen, and sorry, what's the... The
woman that kind of has a flirtatious thing with
him. Marg Helgenberger is the actor. Marg Helgenberger.
They are locked in the lab to do a genetic test.
And then things go haywire. And the sample of
the alien starts to mutate and increase in size
very quickly. And behind the glass, you have
Ben Kingsley and everybody. And Ben Kingsley's
like, oh no, it's all gone wrong. We got to lock
the doors and we can't let our friends out. But
everyone is screaming, open the doors for like
five minutes while this mutation is happening.
And I just, I'm cracking up because I'm thinking,
dude, just open the door. You could do it. Just
open the door. Ben Kingsley's like, I can't open
the door. I can't do it. Don't make me. It goes
on for too long and you realize you could just
open the door. Yeah. I think that's what, and
that's what ends up happening. Yep. After like
five minutes of mayhem, you're just like, oh
my, okay. What was that? Why are we yelling at
each other? Right. Yeah. I like, I think like
he does like incinerate that like creature or
whatever. And then he opens the door, but it's
like, yeah, you didn't need to do all this. You
know, you could have just let them out and then
reclose the door. It shouldn't be that hard.
Yeah, I that scene is pretty amusing. I was kind
of still on board with the movie at that time.
And I was like, this is really stupid, but it's
still kind of entertaining. And like, you know,
you get like a big blob alien creature. I was
like, OK, that's fun. I agree. Yeah. But a very
ridiculous scene for so so over the top. Yeah.
And then I won't ruin like the very the like
the quip at the end of the movie when Michael
Madsen, you know. Maybe it's not a spoiler. I
don't know. I'll just say there's a quip at the
end. It involves, you know, vulgar language,
so I'm not going to say it here, but it's so
stupid. It's like the worst quip they possibly
could have done. You know, I have a weakness
for just like bad quips in action movies, but
this one is like embarrassing, I would say. Yep,
yep. They were trying to go for something iconic.
It's like you can't try for iconic status. It
just has to be organic and, you know, easier
said than done. Yeah, yeah, totally. What they
come up with here is not cutting it. I'll just
say that. All right. Anything else in the good,
the bad, or the campy that you want to bring
up? No, I'm good. Okay. All right. Well, we've
arrived at the time of Camp Kaiju, the end of
every episode where we give the film a rating.
As always, our highest rating is it's a timeless
classic. It definitely stands the test of time.
Our second rating is there may be some antiquated
moments, but overall it's great. It stands the
test of time. Our third rating is it may be historically
significant or just fun, but it does not stand
the test of time. And finally, our lowest rating,
it is not worth revisiting. It definitely does
not stand the test of time. Okay. I'll go first
because I think you're going to end on a positive
note, which is always nice. Okay, cool. I have
seen this movie twice. It lost a lot of its sheen.
upon second viewing, which means it went from
the second to last to the last category for me.
It's been a while since I have judged a movie
like that. I think the idea of this movie is
a lot of fun. I think there are some really strong
moments, but overall, I don't need to watch this
movie again. I guess watch it with a group of
friends. I mean, we're laughing. We're having
a good time, right? So it has value. But I have
to say, I don't think it stands the test of time
on its own. And there are other movies of this
ilk from the 90s that I would much rather watch.
Definitely agree with that. Yeah. I feel like
you can objectively state with a lot of evidence
like it is not worth revisiting because you revisited
it and it was, you know, yeah, it did not hold
up. So I feel like you have proof that it deserves
that lowest rating, perhaps. That's all totally
fair. I, you know, I've only seen it the one
time, so I do think I'm going to give it our
second lowest rating. I do think it's very fun.
A lot of the time, not all the time. Love some
of the creature effects. I do like Natasha Henstridge
a lot. I think like, again, she's just like,
is a lot of fun to watch. I do have a weakness
for kind of like trashy exploitation horror movies,
but there's some bad stuff that goes along with
that too, of course. So yeah, some stuff that
I really like about this movie that I think is
a lot of fun, but it does not stand the test
of time in many ways. Like already I can see
that even after one viewing. So yeah, not as
just like fun and like trashy as I was hoping
it would be with a lot more flaws than I expected.
But you know, maybe still worth one viewing,
I would say. Yeah, see it once. I think you're
right on the money with that, Matt. Yeah. Thank
you for bringing it to the podcast, though. Thank
you for making me watch it a second time. I'm
glad I had an excuse to finally watch it. I've
been wanting to for the last 30 years. Yeah,
I love that. And maybe I'll watch some of the
sequels soon and let you know how terrible they
are. Please do. Yeah. Yeah, you let me know.
I'll trust you with that. Cool. Yeah, I'll make
the sacrifice. Well, again, next time on Camp
Kaiju, we're going to be talking about Gamera
the Invincible or... Gamera Guardian of the Universe?
Is that what it's called? No, the giant monster.
Oh, okay. Gotcha. From 1966? 65. Somewhere around
there. Yeah. Cool. Very excited for that. Stay
tuned for that episode, everybody listening right
now. Thank you so much for hanging out, friends.
Please rate and review wherever you listen. You
can also share this podcast with a friend. Subscribe
to the website and send us listener comments
at campkaiju at gmail .com or on Instagram. Links
are in the show notes. If you would like to be
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at 612 -470 -2612 telling us about your favorite
monster movies and memories. And just a reminder,
call in about Jaws. Let us know, please. We look
forward to hearing your voice on the show. Please
check out our website, CampKaijuPodcast .com
for more information. Camp Kaiju is recorded
in Minneapolis, St. Paul, with Minya's Mailbox
music by Ben Cook -Felts. Thanks, friends. And
until next time, stay campy. Camp Kaiju is sponsored
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in the show notes. Open up the door! Press! Press!
What the fuck is that? Come on! Get to the other
door! Let her out, bitch! Let her out, Russ!
Let her out! I can't do that! You motherfucker!
What are you doing? You let her out! You gotta
let them out, bitch! Get out of the way! I'm
gonna burn it! Get out of the way! What is this
thing? What is this? Can't destroy it in two
minutes or have to burn the whole room. What?
I have! Do I have to burn the whole room? You've
got less than two minutes to kill the thing.
Disconnect the gas line in the isolation box.
Use it as a flamethrower. I think I killed it.
It's dead. Open the door. It's dead, Fitch. Let
them out. Oh, God. It's not dead. What are we
going to do? 30 seconds remaining. There's not
much time. We've got to get out of here. Open
the door. You better not. You've got to let them
out. I can't do that. It might escape. I have
to follow protocol. What protocol? Protocols
by which we're running these experiments. Will
you tell them not to go in there? 13, 12, the
letter, 10. Bitch, let them out. I have to follow
protocol. Let them out, bitch. Go, go, get out.
Three, two, one. I hope you realize I had no
choice. Yes, you have the protocol to burn the
room in two minutes if anything went wrong.