Pepe, tell the doctor what this is. You just
ran away and left him hanging? Come on. That's
true. I forgot that it's very strange. At least
mention a spaceship crash landed in the Mediterranean.
No, he just wants the money and that's it. One
track mind. Yeah. Oh, Pepe. Hello and welcome
to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We're your
hosts, Matt Levine. And Vincent Hannum. And we
are 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 are 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. Link
in the show notes. The airship XY -21, which
crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on the 11th,
was a single -stage astral -propelled rocket
launched 13 months ago from a site within the
United States. The rocket, with its complement
of 17 men, had landed on the planet Venus. Venus?
The planet Venus? Some of you may also have heard
the story of a monster now confined here in Rome's
zoo. That beast is from Venus. Yeah, for those
electric cables. We have a very special guest
joining us tonight, longtime friend of the podcast
and our frequent guest star, Naomi Osborne. Thank
you so much for being here. Well, thank you so
much for having me. I love coming on this show.
It is always such a pleasure to have you on the
show. Just great conversation. Tonight, we're
talking about 20 Million Miles to Earth, directed
by Nathan Juran. Do you know how to pronounce
that, Vincent? I think I've always heard it Juran.
Juran. Okay, cool. I was not totally sure. With
special effects by Ray Harryhausen, the one and
only. So yeah, lots of fun stuff to talk about.
Before we get to that, though, I think all of
us have some fun stuff going on. Naomi, you just
got back from Comic -Con in New York, right?
Yes, I did. It's, I think, the second largest
comic convention in the U .S., just behind San
Diego. But it's really fun. I went last year
for the first time, and I learned a thing or
two last year, so I... Made the most out of the
time. I went to as many panels as I could. And
it just felt really good to be around everybody
excited about their fandom and connecting with
each other. It was just really good vibes all
around. Super fun. You met famous people, right?
Yes, I did meet some famous people. The first
one I met was George Takai. He was giving just
this amazing little talk about... His memoir,
he's releasing a graphic memoir he did earlier
this year, and he just has really amazing stories,
really good vibe. Very nice man, very delightful
man. I met Joe Hill. He's an author. You guys
are familiar with him. Right now, people might
know him because his book got adapted into The
Black Foam, which is out right now, or the second
one is out right now. But he just released another
book, the first one he's released in 10 years.
It's Stephen King's son, for those who don't
know. Yeah, he was really nice. And then I saw
a lot of celebrities also that I didn't actually
get to meet, but I saw on panels and things like
I saw Edgar Wright for a panel for The Running
Man, which is coming out mid -month, mid -November.
And I'm super excited about that. I think that's
going to be really fun. And I just got really
pumped up during that panel hearing about all
the... you know choices how it'll be different
than the last one like and he's just such a good
genre blend blender you know i'm excited to see
that one minnesota connection that i was surprised
to find was i went to the panel for the remake
of the silent night deadly night are you guys
familiar with that horror film yeah i didn't
know they were remaking it though yeah they are
remaking it and the director is a guy named mike
p nelson and he's from minneapolis actually And
I came to find that we even were at MCAD, the
Minneapolis College of Art and Design at the
same time. So that's like pretty cool. I didn't
find out until after I was a panel and one of
my friends was like, oh, I know him and kind
of gave me the scoop. But so I'm excited to see
that, you know, I just like to support people
from where I live, too. You know, absolutely.
Yeah. I also got a little behind the scenes for
there's a new HBO show coming out. That's a spinoff
of The It. the latest two it films and it's called
welcome to dairy. And they're really kind of
pushing it hard at the con and actually know
somebody who puts together some of those events.
And I got to see part of the first episode, which
was really exciting because it doesn't come out
for another couple of weeks. So that was cool.
Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. That just seems like
such a cool opportunity. I've never been to Comic
-Con, but I long to go someday and just like,
it's all about excitement for all this great
stuff coming up, right? It's such a cool atmosphere.
It must be to be there. It is. It's a lot like,
you know, digital communities that we have, but
in person, you know, and it's fun to see it full
circle because before the internet, you know,
people would go to conventions to find their
people to connect with them. And like, they're
still doing it. And it's so cool because you
see fans of all ages, you know, stuff where it's
like, I don't know what that is, but I'm happy
for you. Like, that's great. So many times when
you see a weird cosplay and you're just like,
yes, like I saw my cousin Vinny cosplay, like
they get deep with their, you know, there's just
every kind of fan and everybody's there to just
have fun and connect with each other. And it's
just great. I love it. This is a random memory,
but talking about. people getting into fandoms
and cons before the internet when i was a kid
i must have been about 10 maybe so we're talking
late 90s in central florida my mom who is a huge
dark shadows fan like she grew up watching that
in the 60s she took me and my brother with her
to like a fan club meeting at some like buffet
restaurant as a kid i didn't understand any of
like the, the, the, the scene or like what it
is to be a fan and a fan club. And I was just
kind of like, this is kind of boring and weird.
I'm sitting around a bunch of people. I remember
we were in the non -smoking section because restaurants
back then were split like that. Now in hindsight,
I appreciate that memory and my mom's nerdiness.
I think it's great. I love when nerds connect,
man. It's just such a it's such a fun thing.
People just excited about what they like, you
know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there is a con
coming up in early November here in the city.
It's called Twin Cities Con. I don't know if
you guys are familiar with that, but it's it's
OK. You know, it's small. There's good guests.
They've got a few people like Brendan Fraser
is going to be there. I don't like to meet a
lot of people like unless it's just a casual
handshake. I don't do a lot of like the autographs
and photos and stuff, but they have a lot of
that there. Lots of panels and stuff. I've even
thought like it would be cool to do a panel there,
you know, and like host a panel of people talk
about film or you guys could record an episode
or something like that'd be cool, right? I'm
going to look into that. You had me at Brendan
Fraser. there's a couple other that other guy
from the mummy I should know this because we
talked about it once but the guy who plays Benny
like the little henchman he's gonna be there
too all right wow yeah no disrespect to that
guy but very cool right yeah just saying Tom's
big and small there's always something to find
heck yeah amazing that's awesome Speaking of
weird cosplay, I feel like we also have to shout
out your trivia, Film Friends Trivia at Indeed
Brewing, which, you know, earlier this month,
we're recording in October. This episode will
go out in November. But yeah, it sounds like
the October installment of Film Friends Trivia
went pretty great. Oh, yeah. It's always a banger.
Lots of people come out, but it gets a little
more momentum every year, which is exciting because.
I'm a horror lover. I try not to over -horror
my categories year -round, but I love the freedom
to just get creative and do whatever I want with
the questions. I had a guest host who's very
knowledgeable about horror. He has two horror
podcasts himself. His name is Andy Sell. So that
was super fun. People were wearing amazing costumes.
I got all kinds of extra. prizing donated to
just because people wanted to be a part of it.
You know, you guys spoke with Sierra from Saturn
video recently. She donated some cool horror
VHS tapes. And there's a couple other. Yeah,
it's just nice. You know, it makes me feel really
good that people want to be a part of it and
come out for it and dress up for it. And just
sounds like your trivia night is just, yeah,
it's got that momentum and a lot of a lot of
success. It is. I think people just want to be
a part of something that is positive and, you
know, maybe get off their phones for a couple
hours once a month. And I love that people feel
that it's an accessible, like safe space, too.
You know, this isn't people belong here. It's
called Film Friends because I treat them all
like they are my friends. You know, this is a
community. And I really like that. It's a it's
a different it's a difference than you see at
other trivia is a different bars and so forth.
It's a good group. Did you have a favorite costume
there? Oh, my gosh. There were so many good ones.
But the ones that I ended up leaving it up to
the crowd because I just, you know, we do sort
of the applause -o -meter. We picked our top
three, and then I let the crowd choose. And the
winners I actually really liked as well. It was
a Wicker Man -themed costume. So it was Rowan,
like the little girl, and then the actual...
blanking on his name right now the christopher
lee character the may bad guy but it was just
a really good really good costume and then there
was another one that was like a pop art the clown
costume that was really like creatively executed
all right and i'm not a big fan of art the clown
but i love that we have a new guy in the mix
you know yeah that guy was uh it was fun they're
just some really good costumes there's a couple
lydia costumes from beetlejuice that we're from
different parts of the movie. So that's kind
of fun. I love it when people get really specific
about the moment they're representing, you know,
and they know that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was
just a good time. It was really fun. There were
so many good costumes. That's awesome. Yeah.
So happy to hear that. And the next installment
of film friends will be the first Monday in November
at indeed brewing. Right. Yeah, that's right.
It's always the first Monday of every single
month. And then in December, it'll be Monday
the 1st. So at the very beginning of the month,
but also be somewhat of special trivia, at least
on a personal level, for sure, because that'll
be my three years of doing this, of doing trivia.
So I'm excited to do that. Yeah, put together
some special questions or something like that.
Sweet. Amazing. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank
you. Amazing. So much, you know, cool, fun, exciting
stuff going on. So happy to hear that. Vincent,
how are you doing? Also, you know, want to want
to check in, see how you're doing. Thanks for
checking in, man. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll take
up all the space. No, no, we're just doing our
introductions. Yeah, you got a lot of cool things
to talk about. I have really been enjoying fall
lately, the fall colors. are here in Minnesota.
The temperature's finally gotten below 60 degrees,
and I'm soaking it up. I am starting to watch
more spookier movies, and that does include some
Ray Harryhausen. So, I mean, just to get to it,
I'm very excited about 20 Million Miles to Earth,
and can't wait to talk about it with you all.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, on that note, thanks
again for hanging out, friends. Please rate and
review Camp Kaiju wherever you listen. You can
also send us listener comments at campkaiju at
gmail .com or on our Instagram page at camp underscore
kaiju underscore podcast. If you'd like to be
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at 612 -470 -2612 telling us about your favorite
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As always, we want to give a shout out to all
of our Patreon members, all of our patrons. So
thank you to Jason. Beast Drool, Chris B, Sean,
our anonymous patron, and Peggy. We really appreciate
you so much. Thank you again. And all you patrons,
you don't need to have a cool nickname like Beast
Drool. But if you wanted to have a cool nickname,
we could spice it up. It could be like a treehouse
of horror every October. You know how in the
credits the writers all have their spooky nicknames?
Yes, I love that. Don't ask me to come up with
one now. Oh, I was just going to ask. But I also
don't know what I would come up with. I have
not given that any thought. Matt, it could be
the return of Lespleen Levine. Yeah. Yeah, my
nickname, I think my Instagram handle used to
be Matt Lespleen. So I should bring it back.
That's a good one. Mine used to be Bart Simpson.
That's good. Yeah. Not quite Halloween related,
but scary nonetheless. Well, we'll make sure
that we have some solid names for next year.
I know that's a long time from now, but we'll
have 12 months to come up with our good Treehouse
of Horror name for next time. Oh, heck yeah.
Yep. I'm all about it. Cool. So one fun thing
that we always do here on Camp Kaiju, we try
to shout out a movie that was released around
this date in movie history. So again, this episode
will come out in late October -ish, early November
-ish, and obviously right around Halloween. That's
a very popular time for horror movies to be released.
So we have a pretty long list here of movies
that came out around this time. Naomi, does anything
on that list jump out at you? Well, immediately
the people under the stairs jumps out. I love
that movie. I think it's it's stuck with me even
as a kid. Like there's a scene where she gets
thrown into this hot bathwater and it just was
like seared into my young brain, you know, as
this cruelty against children, you know, that
it really sticks with you, I think, when you're
a kid. And it's still resonant for me in that
way. Very interesting movie. I love that movie.
The only time that I've gone to a horror -a -thon
of Trilon Cinema, which... A little bit of cross
-promotion, I guess. I did not mean to do that,
but that's actually coming up at the trial on,
in, I think, Saturday, the 25th. I think it's,
well, so it already will have passed by the time
this episode comes out. But anyway. The only
time I went to Horrorathon, People Under the
Stairs was the last movie of the night. So it
started at like four in the morning and everybody
was like delirious. And of course, like you don't
know exactly what movie it's going to be before
it starts playing. And I had so much fun watching
that, just like totally sleep deprived and like,
you know, a little bit delirious at that point
of the night. And I was still totally sucked
into it. It's a great movie. Oh, I love it when
a movie has a great memory like that. That's
so cool. Have you seen a Vincent? I have not,
but I know it's Wes Craven. So I, I expect to
like it and you two seem to love it. So that's
good enough for me. It's really good. It's very
thoughtful. And I will say as someone who often
will get annoyed with child actors in films,
there is a child actor in this who is very not
annoying and he's a hero. And I, I, I root for
him the whole time. So please watch it. Yeah.
What about you guys? I, I was intrigued by this
movie I've never heard of called The Phantom
from 1931. And reading the plot on Wikipedia,
it says a reporter goes in search of a deranged
masked killer hiding in an insane asylum. And
that just seems like such a modern plot to me
that to think that a movie from the 30s was about
a masked killer. I'm intrigued. I'm like, wow,
is it like a early slasher film? Maybe crazy.
What a cool observation. I agree. Yeah. Hmm.
Sounds like Peter Lorre might have to talk about
that on the podcast at some point. Maybe, but
I've never heard of it. Maybe he probably has.
He was alive. Let's see here. Which one? I think
I'm going to choose kind of an unusual title
here as I try to get my cat out of the way of
my microphone. Sorry. But I think I'll shout
out I Married a Witch from 1942, which is not
a horror movie. It's kind of a romantic comedy,
but it's really great. It's extremely charming.
Veronica Lake, who I absolutely love. She was
also in Sullivan's Travels. She's in that movie.
Frederick March, one of my favorite old school
Hollywood actors, is in that as well, directed
by Renee Clare, a really good comedic director.
So if you don't want to scare But you still want
something a little bit witchy Halloween related.
I love I Married a Witch. Really, really great
movie. And I feel like it's good to have like
not scary Halloween choices, you know, just in
case. So true. Yeah. Yes. I'm into that. I was
just recently introduced to a film, just a brief
aside, called Practical Magic from 1998. Ellen.
my my wife had seen this movie and she's like
have you ever seen this like no sandra bullock
nicole kidman you know late 90s witch movie it
was actually a pretty good time so just a little
plug for practical magic great cast of that movie
yeah and it's charming it's campy and it's got
a lot of fun things going on that movie has a
lot of resonance i think for like millennial
women like and for some certain subgenres too
like there's a look called a whimsicoth that
is kind of pays tribute to like the late nineties,
like kind of gothy look of like wearing velvet
and, you know, like kind of hippie kind of skirts.
And do you remember in like the late nineties
when there's moons on everything and like, you
know, lots of velvet and heavy, like kind of
worldly textures and yeah, there's, there's many
a Pinterest board on it for those who want to
follow up. I feel like Veronica Lake and I Married
a Witch is kind of a whimsicoth, like 50 years
before that really became a thing. So maybe it
all comes together a little bit, you know? I
always get that movie confused with Bell, Book,
and Candle, even though Bell, Book, and Candle
is like 10 years later or something. But they're
both just like those frothy witch stories, you
know? Yeah. Fun. Bell book and candles. Great.
I love that movie. Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart,
right? Yes. Beautiful. Like just like a colorful,
gorgeous movie. Really love that one as well.
Yeah. Yeah. Vincent, you have to watch that.
I think I posted about it last year and you were
like interested in it. It's amazing. It's all
like these beautiful mid -century interiors and
it's set in New York and you know, over Christmas,
it's really nice. Yeah. I've had other people
talk about it since then too. So yeah, definitely
on my radar. Cool. I have a question about one
of these just before we move on the Frankenstein
and the monster of hell monster from hell. Have
you guys seen that one? No, but that title also
caught my eye. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, I haven't
seen it either. So I was just like, what could
that be about? Like, you know, with del Torres
Frankenstein coming up, it might be time for
me to, you know, to bone up on some of this,
these Frankenstein titles. Uh -huh. It's either
going to be very good or very bad. But either
way, I'll love it. Yeah. It looks like a Hammer
Horror film, Frankenstein and the Monster from
Hell, directed by Terrence Fisher. So I don't
know anything about it either, but I like that
pedigree. I would love to check that out. Well,
at some point, we'll have to get to 20 Million
Miles to Earth tonight, the movie that we're
focusing on. Just a couple quick shout outs about
upcoming monster movies. Predator Badlands is
one of the bigger ones coming out soon. Very
excited for that. And then somebody, I'm guessing,
well, yeah, I'm not sure if it was Vincent or
Naomi, but somebody put the movie Beast of War
on the Google Doc as well. It's a World War II
giant killer shark movie. But what I actually
want to mention is, Matt, what I sent to you
a while ago. In Wisconsin this year, in a small
town in Wisconsin, they shot the 1970s creature
feature The Giant Spider Invasion from 1975.
It's a cult classic. It's been spoofed on MST3K
and the like. But the original cast and crew,
as many of them are still alive, are getting
back together to revamp it and redo it. in their
own way, I guess. So the giant spider invasion
is apparently coming back. I haven't seen the
original. I'm not going to act like I'm an expert,
but I think it's really cool for some B -movie
history there. I love that story. Whenever you
have like, you know, just people who love these
movies trying to like keep them alive and pay
tribute to them, that's always a great thing.
So that's a very cool story. I don't like giant
spiders. I don't like any spiders, in fact, but
I still like that idea a lot. You love Wisconsin.
I do. Yeah, indeed. So that's a great story.
Thank you for shouting that out, Vincent. I'm
going to have nightmares about giant spiders
tonight, but you know. Matt is from Wisconsin
for all you listeners. He doesn't just love Wisconsin.
There's a reason. Yeah, there is. I should do
a better job of representing my Wisconsin pride,
but yep. But who doesn't love Wisconsin, you
know? Cheese, the Green Bay Packers, beer if
that's your thing. You know, it's a great state,
yeah. Serial killers. Yeah, they are known for
their serial killers, for sure. That is a mark
of pride, I would say. Yeah. Well, just real
quickly, coming up on Camp Kaiju, Vincent, do
you want to talk about the next title that you're
bringing to the pod? Yeah, 1967, a Japanese kaiju
film called Gappa, the Trifibian Monster. Not
from Toho. It's from Arrival Studio. It's a lesser
-known kaiju film from the Golden Age, but I
think it's worth checking out and definitely
worth discussing to see if that one stands the
test of time. So I'm very excited about that.
And then, Matt, you have a movie after that.
Yeah, I think that might be our last movie of
this half season. I can't quite remember. But
the next one that I'm bringing to the podcast
is The Addiction, which is a vampire movie directed
by Abel Ferrara and starring Lily Taylor. It's
very critically acclaimed. I've read that it's
kind of a metaphor for drug addiction. But yeah,
beyond that, I don't really know a lot about
it. So I'm excited to check that out. And also
Frank Olson, another friend of the pod, will
be joining us for that episode. Nice. And then
after that. We'll do Pacific Rim, Guillermo del
Toro's kaiju feature, and then probably a Christmas
episode or a holiday episode and announce season
six. All of a sudden, it's the end of the year
and things get very busy, but in a very good
way. Episodes coming at you left and right. Vampires,
kaiju, you name it. Well, I can't wait to hear
what you guys pick for the next season because
it's always surprising and fun, you know? of
what you guys put together so i i have ideas
but uh if i'm not careful i could this show can
consume every waking hour of my day i'm that
kind of obsessive artist i guess sometimes i
totally relate with my trivia like there's a
line in the movie psycho where he talks about
how like a hobby is supposed to pass the time
and not fill it, you know? And I feel like sometimes
I'm Norman Bates in that scenario with his taxidermy.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we would, we would like to
believe that camp Kaiju will, you know, fill
everybody's time in the best possible way. Yeah.
Yeah. So, yeah, no, I'm excited about that too.
I always love doing our like end, you know, like
preview episodes for the next season or whatever.
So we'll, we'll see what happens. Yeah. I say
there are things better left unsolved. Who knows
what waits for us in nature's no man's land.
Impossible. Unbelievable. Fantastic. But I tell
you it could happen. It could happen. It could
happen. It could happen. Yes, it could happen.
For various authorities believe that buried somewhere
under the polar ice cap, in a state of suspended
animation, are the awesome creatures. The leviathans
that roamed the earth at the dawn of time. And
under certain conditions, a nuclear explosion
could free one from his icy tomb. Then guided
by instinct, the beast would come back. Back
to the caverns of the deepest Atlantic where
it was spawned. An armored giant. wreaking his
prehistoric fury on modern man and his puny machines.
Cities would be terrorized by the cruel intruder
from the past. Populations crazed and panicked
with fear by its destructive force. Granite and
steel would crumble. Soldiers and their weapons
would be powerless before the onslaught of the
beast. The beast. The beast. The beast from 20
,000 fathoms. Herald Square. 34th Street, Broadway.
Every section of the city is guarded. No one
knows where the monster will strike next. Another
one, Colonel? No. You know where the radioactive
isotope is? No, but if it can be loaded, I can
fire it. I'll load it. Just remember one thing.
This is the only isotope of its kind this side
of Oak Ridge, so you can't miss. Journey to a
magical time when demons and heroes battled for
the golden treasures and human spoils of forgotten
kingdoms. Kill. Kill him. Thrilled the story
of a legendary superhero who fights through all
the torments of hell to save the woman he loves
from the world's most powerful sorcerer. This
is Sinbad's greatest adventure. The seventh voyage
of Sinbad. She was once a beautiful princess.
The sadistic magician shrinks her to the size
of a tiny doll. And now, Sinbad must do the impossible
to save her. He must destroy a legion of hell
-spawned monsters on the death -shrouded island
of Colossa. See the flashing death of the living
skeleton. See the attack of the giant two -headed
bird. See the dance of the cobra woman and feel
her deadly slithering embrace. See the spectacular
battle between the one -eyed cyclops and the
fire -breathing dragon. The incredible magic
of Dinarama recreates the enchanted, breathtaking
adventure that could never be told before. The
Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Provide him with suitable
weapons. Weapons of divine temper. A helmet,
a shield, a sword. Find and fulfill your destiny.
The myth. The magic. The mystery. The majesty.
Destroy Yagos! Let loose the last of the Titans.
Metro -Goldwyn -Mayer presents Clash of the Titans.
The good. The evil. The danger. The daring. How
may a mortal man face and defeat the crab? Clash
of the Titans. The combat. The courage. The splendor.
The spectacle. Clash of the Titans. Starring
Harry Hamlin. as Perseus, Judy Bowker as Andromeda,
Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith, Ursula Andress,
Claire Bloom, Sean Phillips, Flora Robeson, and
Laurence Olivier as Zeus. Before history, beyond
imagination. Clash of the Titans. Again, we were
talking about 20 million miles to Earth. Naomi,
what is your personal history with this movie?
I had no personal history with it. It was a first
time watch. I was excited because I love Harryhausen,
but I had never seen this before. But I thought
it was really good. I thought it was interesting.
The monster, well, the monster was what I really
liked. And it was an empathetic portrayal, I
think, and had some interesting things to say
about the time it was made. i had not seen it
so i was really happy to be kind of given the
nudge here Yeah, same. I had heard the title
before. I knew that Ray Harryhausen was involved
and that's pretty much all I knew about it. You
know, when I suggested this for this season of
Camp Kaiju, I was just like looking at a list
of Ray Harryhausen titles and I was like, oh,
I like that title. Let's talk about that. And
didn't know anything more about it beyond that.
But yeah, I think hopefully it was a good choice.
Vincent, I know you have an extended history
with this movie, so I wanted to ask you last
what your history is. You may think that, but
the first time I saw it was in 2021. I have seen
it several more times since then. I've lost count
because this is kind of an easy movie that I
just kind of throw on sometimes and half pay
attention to. When I hosted Sci -Fi Movie Club
at school in the past couple years, I showed
this one because I think it's really accessible.
Kids don't pay attention. You can't get them
off their phones, but it's okay. It's okay. I
know what year it is, but I still try to spread
the message of this movie because I think it's
really accessible, especially for younger viewers,
but offers a lot for older viewers too with the
creature design. And yeah, so it's a recent movie
for me, but one that I do go back to all of a
sudden. So it's like a new classic for me. Awesome.
So let's dive in to 20 Million Miles to Earth.
Let's talk about this movie a little bit. So
I'll just talk about the director, Nathan Duran,
a little bit. Pretty interesting life and pretty
interesting person. He was Austro -Hungarian
born to a Jewish family. The family emigrated
to Minneapolis in 1912. So that's where all of
us live. We're recording here in Minneapolis.
For any of the audience out there who doesn't
know that, it's always nice to have that Minneapolis
connection for us. Duran started as an architect,
but moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression
and began working in various studios' art departments.
He won an Oscar for art direction on the 1941
film How Green Was My Valley, directed by John
Ford. And Duran was also nominated for his art
direction on The Razor's Edge from 1946. Before
that, before The Razor's Edge, Duran also served
in the Navy during World War II. After he returned
to Hollywood after the war, he was an art director
for various studios, including 20th Century Fox,
Universal, and the indie studio Enterprise Productions.
His directorial debut was The Black Castle, after
the previous director, Joseph Pevney, dropped
out. The Black Castle was a horror movie, but
Duran actually directed movies in a lot of different
genres, including westerns, swashbucklers, film
noirs, and then directed some TV episodes as
well. Considering all that, he kind of got into
sci -fi and fantasy a little bit later in his
directorial career. His first sci -fi fantasy
film was The Deadly Mantis from 1957, which is
the same year that 20 Million Miles to Earth
came out. The Deadly Mantis kind of started the
trend in Duran's movies of insects and human
beings and various things growing to gigantic
size and then running rampage. So then 20 Million
Miles to Earth was his second sci -fi fantasy
film of the year. And then after that point,
Duran continued to make a lot of sci -fi fantasy
films, including The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,
which was also produced by this film's producer,
Charles Schneer, and also had special effects
by Ray Harryhausen. Duran also made such movies
as Attack of the 50 -Foot Woman, which we have
talked about on the podcast before, and Jack
the Giant Killer, which Duran also wrote. So
an interesting filmography. And I feel like in
the reviews that I read of 20 Million Miles to
Earth, Duran probably gets second, you know,
maybe his work is deemed not as important as
Harryhausen's work. And that's certainly understandable.
But, you know, I feel like Duran's work is capable.
It might not be like any more than that, arguably,
but I feel like he's just fine behind the camera
in this case. Yeah, it's an interesting... Dynamic
because a Harryhausen movie, it's not just like
effects by Ray Harryhausen, like Stan Winston.
You know, he has effects and all these other
artists that we like and we admire. But like
Harryhausen did everything, including directing
his own sequences. And he worked in very close
collaboration with the ostensible film director.
So, yeah, I mean, it's an interesting relationship.
But I was watching some. featurettes and interviews
with ray harryhausen and he talks about his his
better relation he talks about the relationships
with directors he'd had who like really brought
his creations to to have the impact they did
on this movie eugene laurier directed the beast
from 20 000 fathoms which is another classic
harryhausen movie but you know harryhausen does
give due credit to the director who pulls it
all together and the writers as well. It's a
lot of fascinating, like how they, the intricacies
of how they work together. Harryhausen like provides
the pictures and the artwork for his monsters.
And then the writers, at least for 20 million
miles to earth would then write scenes around
Harryhausen's images. It wasn't the other way
around where Harryhausen's trying to work within
their screenplay. So Harryhausen just had such
a presence and imagination that people just said,
okay, you clearly know what you want. We're going
to work with you to make it a reality. Wow. I
love hearing those details of the production
because I often wonder what the workflow is like
in situations like that. It sounds like he was
a really good collaborator. Definitely. I'll
talk a little bit more about the colorization
process of this film. There's a whole documentary
on my Blu -ray about the colorization, which
is a deep dive. But for now, let's talk about
Ray Harryhausen a little bit more. But actually,
Naomi, I wanted to ask you, you are a fan of
Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Is that right? Yes.
Yes. Yep. Loved it. I watched it as a kid. I
kind of have a special bond with my mom about
it. Like we both, she showed it to me as a kid
and it's just, it's always a good time. And every
person I show it to really likes it. So I just
love that movie. Yeah. I get the same thing.
I love that movie too. I haven't seen the other
Sinbad movies yet, but yeah, Seventh Voyage is,
is just pure like imagination fuel. Totally.
Did you see it as a kid or as an adult first?
No, as an adult, all of Harryhausen's movies
I really came to in the past few years. But I
can't wait to just show them off to anybody.
Especially nephews, nieces, my own daughter.
Like, hey, watch these movies. You're going to
really dig them. no and i spent i think with
seventh voyage you know there's so many things
that kids think about like and are familiar with
you know cyclopses and genies and shrinking and
like just stuff that you think about when you're
a kid so it's imprinted on my mind like i loved
his work before i knew who he was you know and
i could spot it like in in places and uh i just
think he's awesome absolutely I feel like I'm
just coming to Harryhausen now. Like we talked
about the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms earlier
this year on the podcast. But yeah, I have so
much more work to do to explore his movies. And
I also love him. Like the special effects in
this movie in particular, I'm getting a little
ahead of myself, but just like so wonderful and
fantastic and kind of whimsical, kind of scary
at the same time. So that's all just to say that
this is a good excuse for me to finally dive
into his filmography. I feel like you could probably
call Harryhausen like the auteur of this movie,
like the driving creative force like you were
talking about, Vincent. And it's just a good
reminder that like any film production is so
collaborative. And that probably sounds like
an obvious thing to say. But I also think like
a lot of people just assume that the director
is kind of like the person in charge. And oftentimes
that's the case, but not always. So I feel like
this is just a good reminder that like. Every
production probably is a little bit unique in
terms of who's driving that vision and how that
collaboration actually works. It's interesting
and fun to talk about. Yeah. A little bit more
about Ray Harryhausen just to let listeners know
a little bit about his history. He was inspired
to become the visual effects artist that he became
when he was a kid and he saw King Kong in the
theaters. And he was about 13 when he saw King
Kong. And those visual effects were spearheaded
by Willis O 'Brien. And he was the creator in
charge. And Willis O 'Brien brought Kong to life
through the art of stop motion, where you are
manipulating a model, an armature, like a little
version of King Kong, let's say, and you're moving
an arm and a leg. Just like a fraction of an
inch. And then you're going to take a picture
of it on film. And then you move another arm
and a leg. And then that way, like a flip book,
the effect becomes movement. And I guess that's
why they call it moving pictures. Good job, Vincent,
there. But Willis O 'Brien is sort of the godfather
of that technique. And actually... showed Harryhausen
the ropes himself. Harryhausen came of age in
LA and got to work with Willis O 'Brien as a
mentor -mentee relationship on 1949's Mighty
Joe Young. And later on, they collaborated again
on The Animal World in 1956. But they are the
two godfathers of that technique. Harryhausen
went on and he kind of perfected his own style
of the stop motion, which he dubbed Dynamation,
which was a name actually coined by producer
Charles Schneer. And Dynamation is just a little
bit more than the surface level stop motion.
Dynamation enables a superior form of compositing
animated and live action elements more convincingly
than ever. So it's not just the model. It's the
background and the art direction and creating
this miniature world for the camera in camera
to obviously a time before computers. 20 Million
Miles to Earth was the third collaboration then
between Harryhausen and producer Charles Schneer.
They were working at, I think, Paramount, Columbia,
Columbia. Sorry, we'll get to that later in our
production backstory. But Harryhausen. He worked
in movies up until, I believe, 1982 with the
release of Clash of the Titans. And then he retired
from the business. But after four decades, his
legacy looms large in the on -record influence
of people like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas,
Edgar Wright, Terry Gilliam, Peter Jackson. Special
effects today and those directors, really, they
will tell you they... It all started with watching
Harryhausen's movies as kids. So Harryhausen,
man, a legend. Yeah. Loved by famous directors
all the way down to people like us and everyone
in between. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And I, so dynamation,
I was trying to like find out a little bit more
about it. I did find a really good YouTube video
and I just wanted to mention that maybe we could
put that in the show notes, Vincent, if that's
doable. Cause it's a, it's pretty fascinating.
Yeah, 100%. It's one of those things you just
kind of got to watch it in motion and, and see
an example of it to really understand the, the
technical aspects of the, of the method. Exactly.
I can't believe how much, you know, life they
could infuse that slowly into inanimate objects
over time you know it's just amazing that when
it comes together it's actually like emotionally
resonant and beautiful and and strange and interesting
like just thinking about all the little moments
like it's just bizarre that it's such artistry
yeah and just real quick i need to give due credit
to an artist named marcel delgado he built the
model armatures for the creatures in King Kong.
Willis O 'Brien then manipulated them. But I
think Delgado gets looked over often, too often.
So I just wanted to throw his name out there
as an equal hand in the creation of Kong's creatures.
I also, I read that Ray Harryhausen's dad made
a lot of the armatures and like figures that
appear in his films. Were you aware of that also,
Vincent? Yeah, Harryhausen had a huge family
support system. Like his parents totally encouraged
him to chase his imagination. And his dad helped
him in their garage, build these like models,
taxidermied stuff, and just let his kid go wild.
Yeah, listen to our, I will say listeners, we
talk a lot more about Harryhausen, especially
his relationship and friendship with Ray Bradbury.
In our episode on 20. Sorry the beast from 20
,000 fathoms. So listen to that episode for.
Even more. Conversations on Harryhausen. Well
I'm definitely going to. Because I don't know
that much about him. I know more of his legacy.
And his influence and things like that. But I
love hearing those kind of. Details about his
process. And his relationship with his family.
That's so cool. And his daughter, now Vanessa
Harryhausen, she's a big torchbearer for her
dad's work and legacy. There's a great institution,
and they have a podcast, the Ray and Diana Harryhausen
Foundation. They're based in the UK, but they're
the proprietors of his estate and his work and
his legacy. And they have a touring art exhibit
in museums. every so often of his own work. I'm
always looking out if like they're having an
exhibition in Minneapolis at some point, I'd
love to go. But yeah, there's a whole bunch of
stuff you can check out about Harryhausen. Man,
I would be really cool to see some of that stuff.
I almost wonder if, I know Del Toro, Guillermo
Del Toro is a big fan. He had that exhibit a
few years back that had a lot of his collection
from, you know, his memorabilia and art and so
forth. And I've heard him say some. you know,
very warm things about Harryhausen. So I wonder
if he has anything in his giant collection. He
might. He would, if anybody. Yeah. Man, cool
stuff. While I feel like the human cast of 20
Million Miles to Earth maybe is less celebrated
than the monsters that we see in the film, but,
you know, they do some good work as well. Naomi,
are you able to talk about some of the cast members
of the film? Sure, I'd be happy to. So we've
got William Hopper as Colonel Calder. He is the
son of a Hollywood gossip columnist named Hedda
Hopper. He apparently had said that he became
an actor mostly at his mother's urging, but he
didn't have a strong passion for it and even
experienced some stage fright. So that's kind
of interesting that he would wind up as an actor.
But he starred in over 80 films, so he must have...
you know, had ways to deal with that. During
the 1930s and 40s, he ended up retiring from
acting after serving in the Navy during World
War II, but was convinced to return to Hollywood
by director William Wellman. He appeared in Stagecoach,
The Maltese Falcon, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and
Rebel Without a Cause, in that he played James
Dean's dad. And then we've got Joan Taylor as
Marissa Leonardo. She's a longtime film and TV
actress. She also starred in the previous Harryhausen
collaboration, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,
and later appeared in the shows Peter Young,
The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke. I haven't seen those,
but I remember them being a thing. And then we've
got Frank Puglia as Dr. Leonardo. He's an Italian
actor who began in the silent era and was discovered
by D .W. Griffith. He appeared in 240 films as
an actor, including Casablanca, The Jungle Book,
and now Voyager. And then last but not least,
we've got little Bart Braverman as young Pepe.
He's a child actor who appeared on shows like
I Love Lucy and Rawhide. As an adult, he had
occasional roles in films Alligator from 1980,
which I'm dying to know who he played in that.
And on TV, he was on Columbo, Seinfeld, and MASH.
Yeah, he sounds like he had a long career across
many different kinds of media. This is amazing.
I just Googled Bart Braverman Seinfeld and I'm
like, oh, OK. Who is he? I'm dying to know. What
is it? I don't even know. It's just a just a
random. Yeah. Yeah. I don't have time to do that
right now, but I'd love that. And he's an alligator,
too. We got to get Bart Braverman double feature
going. This is an alligator. I love, I love reading
about these actors and like the, all the different
shows and like movies they appeared in. I'm like,
yeah, it's just, it seems like a small world.
And just the fact that like Joan Taylor was in
like the previous Charles Schneer, Ray Harryhausen
movie. It's like, I don't know. It's just cool
to read about these communities of artists who
like gravitate around each other. You know, I
love that. Yeah, totally. That's very interesting.
And I also want to know who we played in Seinfeld.
Apparently a character named Zubin. I don't remember
exactly who that was, but for any Seinfeld fans
out there, maybe that rings a bell. I love Seinfeld,
but I can't remember all the little people in
it, but that's cool. And obviously there are
more people in the cast as well, but no huge
names in this one. Again, it's mostly about...
Ymir, which is the name of the monster in the
movie, although he's never referred to by name
in the movie, but, you know, he kind of takes
top billing in this one. So Columbia's previous
monster movie in 1957 was called The Giant Claw,
and it unfortunately did not do very well for
the studio. It received a lot of negative reviews.
It did pretty poorly at the box office. And one
of the main reasons for that is because the producers
wanted to hire Harryhausen, but they did not
have the budget for it. And then, of course,
the movie came out and the reviews were very
much like, what are, you know, the one thing
this movie is designed for, the monster effects
are terrible. Don't see this movie. So I just
think that's kind of interesting, like, you know,
not investing in an artist like Ray Harryhausen
certainly has a negative consequence on the film.
As a result, Columbia tried to kind of bring
a little more prestige. to 20 million miles to
earth by hiring Harryhausen on this one. Well,
it makes you wonder if this film didn't have
Harryhausen on board, if it would be, you know,
in the, you know, B movie boneyard with the giant
claw, you know, I bet it would have been. Probably
because, yeah, we might talk about the script
writing and the story and some of the characters
in this movie, which might not be quite at the
same level, but more on that later. For sure.
The concept was based on a Harryhausen idea called
the Cyclops, which was initially set in Chicago.
Love this fact with the spaceship crash landing
in Lake Michigan. But Harryhausen, at the last
second before he submitted the final draft to
Schneer, changed the location from the Great
Lakes to the Mediterranean because Harryhausen,
he wanted to travel. And he didn't have the money
to do so any other way. And I say, good for you,
man. That's awesome. Get the company to pay for
a trip to Italy. Absolutely. Bit of a Roman holiday
kind of vibe there. But his own spin on it. Kind
of a good double feature. That'd be an amazing
double feature. I wonder if Pierre looked at
that and said, Ray, you. All right. I guess I
want to go to Italy, too. Let's do it. Yeah,
not Chicago. So Harryhausen actually came up
with the idea of 20 million miles to Earth. He's
not credited in the story. That goes that credit
goes to Charlotte Knight. She gets sole credit
despite Harryhausen's initial idea. But that's
OK. Harryhausen, you know, he was very humble
about it. He's like, I didn't need that credit.
So he's probably just happy to see it come to
life, you know. yeah he was in rome he was like
on cloud nine you know he's feeling yeah good
point and he did come up with the name the emir
but like matt you said this was not used in the
final film because harryhausen was notified that
there was a royal okay let me rephrase this emir
y -m -i -r is apparently from norse mythology
it's a figure But Harryhausen was reluctant to
include the name in the film out of fear that
viewers might mishear it as Ymir, essentially
the same pronunciation, which is a royal title
in Arabic culture. So Harryhausen didn't want
any, I guess, confusion around the meaning of
the name, which is why it was left out. But there
you have it. Still the Ymir today. And this Ymir.
was initially in early concept drafts and drawings
from Harryhausen. It was like a cycloptic monster
design, but Harryhausen eventually refined it
to a more reptilian design, yet giving it a humanoid
waist and chest, especially, and facial features
to elicit sympathy from the viewers. Mission
accomplished, I think. Yeah, agreed. One of the
plot holes in the movie, I would say, is that
one of the military guys says that the creature
is hard to kill because it doesn't have a heart
or lungs. But then we see the creature breathing
very obviously as if it has lungs. So that's
one of the things where it's like, all right,
maybe logic is not foolproof throughout the entire
film. But yeah, I mean, if the monster does elicit
such sympathy. then it's kind of like, who wants
to nitpick about that? Because the design is
still so effective. Totally. And I think just
how it came into being automatically makes you
feel for it. It's a little baby that is in a
hostile place. And even before it has facial
features, I still feel for it. Yeah, that little
guy. That's cute. Yeah. Even when it grows to
full size, it's kind of cute, I would say. Right.
He's a child in a hostile world, you know? Yeah,
yeah. We'll probably talk a little bit more about
that later as well. So the setting was changed
to Rome, as we already said, before production
began in September of 1956, because of that dream
that Harryhausen has of going on vacation. So,
but then it moved to Hollywood and lasting from
October 30th to November 9th. So it was about
10, 10 days there, 10, 11 days. The Italian sequences
were directed by Harryhausen engineer while Duran
directed only the American shot scenes. They
received permission to shoot at the actual Coliseum,
which is just crazy. Like that's pretty cool.
You know, if you're going to shoot in Rome, that
would be the place for sure. Yeah. When in Rome.
Oh my gosh. Had to happen at some point. It had
to. I'm just mad I didn't think of it. So we
already talked a little bit about the dynamation
process. Again, we'll maybe link to this YouTube
video, but you know, I think you can see. the
difference in this film compared to some other
earlier, you know, stop motion animation and
like, like composite shooting in earlier movies,
including King Kong, which of course was so groundbreaking
and, and innovative, but you compare like the,
the stop motion effects in that movie to the,
in my opinion, very seamless, beautifully shot,
like stop motion effects in this movie. And you
can absolutely tell the difference with this
dynamation process. It looks amazing in my opinion.
Indeed, seamless. One of those scenes for me
is the Ymir is trapped in a barn at night and
it's attacked by a dog played by a real dog actor.
Now, some backstory behind this. Harryhausen
had a model and had initially animated the dog,
but he wasn't happy with the way the four legged
creature was turning out. And he says four legged
animals are much harder to animate. So he cut
the whole animated dog and it was Harryhausen's
decision to shoot the scene as shadow, as shadow
work, shadow fighting, which is the, what you
see in the finished product, the shadow of the
dog attacking the Ymir, which I think is a winning
shot. Like that's, it leaves so much to the imagination
that way. And then Matt too, you brought up the
breathing, which is really funny. Harryhausen
said that To create the effect of the breathing
in the model, he took one of those blood pressure
pumps, like you put around your arm. He put it
inside and then it would just pump it up and
pump it down. Then later on, he says he like
stopped doing that in his creatures, like having
them breathe and blink. Kind of in retrospect,
he admitted like, well, then my creatures were
a little less lifelike. So that breathing and
blinking of the Ymir, I agree, gives it so much
life. And it really sells the illusion. Illusion.
Totally. Even things you don't totally see, like,
you know, just certain little mannerisms and
the way that you just really appreciate his eye
for detail, I think. And it brings you into the
story a little bit more and into the character
a little more, I think. Yeah. Totally agree.
Yeah. I think one of my favorite examples of
that is like, I think the first time we see the
little Ymir before it grows to immense size,
it's in this cage and it kind of wakes up and
it almost like yawns and like blinks and like
rubs its eyes a little bit. And again, that just
adds so much humanity for lack of a better word
to it. Like, you know, an emotion and personality
and little touches like that go a long way and,
you know, bringing a surprising level of like
emotional resonance to this movie. I'm thinking
about. Like if little monsters were real, you're
thinking about like the little Ymir or you're
thinking about the the the gremlin, the the first
mogwai. Gizmo. Gizmo. Oh, my gosh. Gizmo and
the Ymir. I'm sure there are others in movie
history. I like like their little pets, like
you would just love to carry them around with
you all day. I would. Except as a kid, I was
very afraid of E .T., but in retrospect, I think
that I would probably like a little butt like
that. Yeah. Like Lilo in Lilo and Stitch, that
might be another example, although that's animated,
so maybe not the same thing. Stitch is the creature.
Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. Yeah. I haven't
seen that in a long time. Yep, you're right.
We're just like the whole dynamic between like
in the Mandalorian, between Grogu and the Mandalorian.
You know, he's just like that baby Yoda is so
cute. You know, there you go. I knew there were
others. Yeah. There's probably a meetup at Comic
-Con. Yeah. Yeah. All right. And I finally figured
out what my Halloween costume is going to be.
Yes. Yes. Perfect. Perfect. Well, 20 Million
Miles to Earth came out in 1957 and it was a
commercial success. It ended up being Harryhausen's
favorite of his own films, he later said. Critical
reviews at the time were maybe not quite as enthusiastic.
Most of them did note the excitement of the stop
-motion animation and the creature effects, along
with the poorly written script and the bland
performances. A sort of representative review
at the time from Harrison's reports. wrote that
it is one of the better science fiction thrillers
mainly because of the exceptionally good special
effects work and the interesting Italian background,
particularly the streets of Rome, which I would
agree with that assessment. I had only seen this
movie in its original black and white, but online
I was seeing colored images and stills from the
film. And I was like, what is that? And I know
like in the 90s, it was like kind of a fad for
a little bit to colorize classic movies. But
in this Ray Harryhausen collection I have, the
release for 20 Million Miles to Earth does include
the colorized version. So I thought, OK, well,
I'll watch that version. I think the color is
really seamless, more or less, which is refreshing.
It's not like it's not gaudy, doesn't draw attention
to itself. But in the mid 2000s, with Harryhausen's
supervision, he worked with. a restoration company
to colorize this film and several others that
were originally in black and white. And Harryhausen,
again, in these behind the scenes clips, he's
asked, you know, would you have colored it if
you could have? And he's emphatic saying, yes,
absolutely. Color lends to the imagination. Like,
cause he's thinking about the fantasy and, but
they didn't have the budget back then. He said
it would have doubled the budget. It was just.
not feasible i think seventh voyage of simbad
was his first colored film and then it and then
he never went back to black and white i think
after 20 million miles but i just found it really
fascinating and especially that he was involved
so it wasn't just somebody trying to cash in
on his legacy he was right there directing the
art just like he had always done so i that's
super interesting and i would look into it like
just on that alone because the black and white
really worked for me like I liked the black and
white I thought that you know it made the animation
you know feel really sculptural and you see all
these textures and shadows and you know just
the weight of that animation but now that I know
that he was kind of on board with that I would
take a look I would watch it next time I watch
it it'll be in color and I'll see what that feels
like yeah I think it's worth it I'll just get
ahead of myself in my good category I love the
black and I love the shadow work in this play,
the lighting. And I think, I think you do lose
that with the color. So I'll agree with you there.
I think this movie made in black and white was
shot for black and white. And it just adds so
much atmosphere to it. So agree. Yeah. Yeah.
Same. I always love to see black and white and.
I'm a little torn. I mean, like it always like
pains me a little bit to hear that black and
white movies are colorized. But, you know, if
you're going to do it, might as well have like
one of the original artists there to supervise
the process. So I'm intrigued to see the color
version as well. Yeah. So I wonder if you screen
it for students or kids, would you pick the black
and white or the color? Oh, that's such a good
question. I was presented with that question
this past weekend, hanging out with my nieces
and nephew. They did not opt to watch this movie,
but I was thinking if they wanted to, I would
show them color because I'm just, I'm not going
to be precious about black and white versus color.
I want them to have a gateway into this genre.
And if color is the way to do it, then that's
okay. Yeah, totally. I get that. I think that
makes sense. That's what I expected to hear.
Yeah. That's just me. Well, now is probably a
good time for our sponsor break. Camp Kaiju is
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Follow the Zach Pack on social media and contact
the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Link
in the show notes. Vincent, what do we have in
Minya's mailbox today? We have a comment from
AlexanderOfficial3000 on YouTube in response
to our episode about the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms.
Alexander says, I loved what I heard. Also, they
had a similar scene in Godzilla 1998. All right,
so he quotes a line from the movie. We don't
know. It just disappeared. He goes on to say,
people hate this line, but you forget that the
monster can burrow underground. So at least Mr.
Zilla had an excuse for disappearing. Do y 'all
remember the Godzilla from 1998? Barely. Yeah,
same. If you rewatch it, it bears a striking
resemblance to... The Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms,
like the monster, but also the whole kind of
conceit and storyline. Less so to Godzilla, more
so to the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms. So it's
just like a really interesting thought about
where Godzilla 98 got most of its influence.
I feel like we're going to have to bring the
1998 Godzilla to the podcast at some point because
like it is critically reviled. But I don't know,
I feel like maybe with. 30 years of hindsight,
almost like, I don't know. It probably holds
up a little bit better. You know, people say
it's a great Kaiju movie, a terrible Godzilla
movie. So yeah, I think it's, it's ripe for discussion.
Thank you, Alexander on YouTube and everyone
else, please keep the comments are coming. We,
we appreciate it. Uh, how, how's Peter doing?
Sorry if I beat you to the punch there. No, that's
okay. Peter, you know, he's not here tonight.
He ran out to get something for a Halloween party
coming up. I don't know what he's got cooking.
Maybe it wouldn't agree with me anyways. But
when he comes back, he is going to talk about
1944's Return of the Ape Man, a Poverty Row picture
starring Bela Lugosi and John Carradine. And
our letterboxd synopsis for this one reads, The
discovery of a perfectly preserved caveman prompts
a mad scientist to attempt a daring brain transplant.
Right there. Cavemen, mad scientists, and brain
transplants. How can you go wrong? And an ape
man? Who knows? They're throwing it all in there.
And Bela Lugosi? It's everything you need. That's
amazing. It's everything you need. Sounds good.
Yeah. Scientifically valid, I'm sure. I can only
guess. Well, awesome. I can't wait to hear more
about that from Peter. Thank you, Peter, as always.
Hope you're doing okay. Welcome to the Poverty
Row Studios on the other side of Hollywood. Yes,
when 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 bats to keep you
up at night, this is the Poverty Row Picture
Show, and I dare you to sleep through these nightmares.
And what a nightmare my life has become. The
fish heads have disappeared. Vincent does not,
does not keep them in the house. Oh, my goodness.
I hate to say this, but I might be missing that
rat bastard known as Matthew Levine. Don't panic,
Peter. Let's see. What does Vincent have in here?
Let me see. Oh, yes. What is this? Pizza rolls.
All righty, well, well, when in Rome, let me
just pop them into this here microwave oven.
Mmm, six rolls, one minute and 15 seconds. Oh,
oh, oh, my, my heart, it is, it is only you.
Friends, this is, this is my new animal companion,
the raven. who taps on my window and demands
I recite the words to its favorite poem. Once
upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak
and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume
of forgotten worry, while I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone
gently rapping. Rapping at my chamber door. Tis,
tis some visitor, I muttered. Tapping at my chamber
door. Only this and, and nothing more. There,
there it is. Raven friend, you only get one stanza
an episode. Now I scratched your, your little
flea bitten back and now you must, you must help
me review my own bit of, bit of art. Return of
the Ape Man. Yes, a 1944 Bela Lugosi film from
Monogram Pictures. Now this movie, believe it
or not, is not a sequel to Lugosi's earlier film,
The Ape Man, in which he plays a wayward scientist
who inadvertently turns himself into a gorilla.
No, no, no, this picture is way more serious.
Yes, it is about a mad scientist who uncovers
a caveman and a block of ice. After the prehistoric
man is thawed, Lugosi takes the brain of his
assistant, played by John Carradine, and places
it in the caveman. Yes, now things really start
to rock as Lugosi bids the caveman do his nefarious
bidding. Perhaps because of the ludicrous concept,
Return of the Ape Man absolutely works as a bit
of camp thrills. Yes, the camp is off the charts
with this one, and it moves briskly through its
60 -minute runtime. Not a comedy, mind you. No,
no, just a serious movie about the caveman with
the brain of a scientist. What could be better?
Now, now, it is not often that I give the old
stamp of glory to a picture on this here show,
but old Peter Lorre here, he's gonna do it. Next
time on the show. We will discuss another 1944
film called The Girl Who Dared. Do ye press play
on this bad mamma jamma? Oh, yes, well, if you
will excuse me, listeners, pizza rolls are ready.
Let's see what this is all about. Ow, ow, ow,
ow, hot, hot, hot. Once upon a night. Two wisps
of smoke were out on a lark, a witch and her
father. Goodbye, Father. Goodbye, Jennifer. I'll
be a bad girl. Her first night was a calamity,
but she was rescued by a very handsome man. Oh,
I'm cold. Cold in this tunis? But I have no clothes.
No clothes. Now, this little witch was no ordinary
witch. Oh, no. She was beautiful and did the
strangest things. But she had a terrible time
making the right man fall in love with her. I
am a pretty good judge of character. I don't
think you're really a bad girl. I guess this
will take longer than I planned. It's getting
late. But I want you to know what I am. All right.
All right, what are you? I'm a witch. Hang on
to your husbands, girl. The Owens sisters are
unusual people. Which people would that be? Witch
people. Witches. Witches. Cursed by a deadly
spell. Any man who wins the heart of an Owens
woman is bound to end up six feet under. Now,
it will take a special kind of magic to keep
true love alive. Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman,
Practical Magic. This is the sheriff. Get on
the emergency unit. I'm down here all by myself.
They're hell -bent on destroying that beast.
The crowd's beginning to take over. We'll call
the National Guard back. Tell them we need some
heavy equipment. Guns, tanks, anything. They
came by the hundreds, by the thousands, killing
and crippling, creeping, crawling creatures determined
to destroy the Earth. Could anything stop them?
Could anything stop? The giant spider invasion.
There has never been a film like this before.
Let's get back to 20 Million Miles to Earth.
What kind of themes are in this movie? Naomi,
is there anything that you want to talk about?
The themes, you know, I was struck a little bit
about that. kind of weighty last line, you know,
it ends on, does anyone have the exact line?
I do have the line here. Okay. So this is spoken
by one of the doctors in the film, Dr. Judson
Ewell, who says, why is it always, always so
costly for man to move from the present to the
future? That's it. Yes. Yes, totally. And I think
that that's very, you know, mid -century sci
-fi kind of thought, but it, you know, this movie,
it's sort of, glorifies the well maybe not glorifies
but shines a light on human advancement while
ignoring like what gets exploited and destroyed
along the way or highlighting like what is bad
about that and i think that that's interesting
and maybe what you're supposed to take with that
line i don't know how did you guys interpret
that last line i think you're right that's how
i read it too i think like You know, it's easy
to forget as the movie goes on that Colonel Calder,
I think is the character's name, is the only
one who survived the mission to Venus and everybody
else on the ship died. We see one of them kind
of die a grisly death in the hospital. He has
facial disfigurations before he dies. So, yeah,
I think that that theme is certainly there that
like. You know, yeah, like you said, Naomi, the
path to enlightenment, knowledge, progress usually
entails a lot of human sacrifice. And I don't
know, sometimes you kind of have to ask, is it
worth it, you know? I'm thinking about how the
colonel and the scientist, and do correct me
if I'm misremembering this, but they want to
protect the monster because they do see it as
a scientific advancement, something to study.
All in relation to human exploration on Venus,
which I did note was for very, you know, fun
sci -fi reasons, interplanetary resource mining,
which just seems to sound so science fiction
to me. But my point is that the EMEA is being
treated as a scientific advancement, and they
want to protect it. So they're not wanting to
hurt it. But... That's an inherent risk of meddling
in other, I was going to say cultures, but other
places. They go to Venus, but Western scientists
go into the jungles of Africa and all these places
for, quote, scientific progress. But they end
up harming, maybe, the people and the animals
there. When you bring the animals back to the
zoo in Europe or America, you know, you've taken
them out of their natural environment. Is the
tiger really happy in a Minnesota zoo? I don't
know. It's not its native habitat. So I think
there's a great moral question there about the
give and take of, quote, scientific progress.
Man, so true. That's so well said. I love that
you said that. I didn't even really connect the
scene in the zoo to kind of, it didn't inspire
those thoughts. So that's very interesting. Yeah.
I just, that was a coincidence, but thank you,
Naomi. Sometimes I just start, I just start riffing.
It turned out great. Why was the elephant in
Rome? It shouldn't have been there. They got
hurt. That sounds like the beginning of a joke.
Why was the elephant in Rome? But yeah, I mean,
like, and there's also just the fact that like
the alien, once it's taken from Venus back to
Earth, you know, it starts off really small,
but then like it's, I can't remember how they
explained it in the movie, but it's just like,
it's discombobulated by Earth's atmosphere. And
that's what causes it to like grow to immense
size. So there's that element where like literally
taking it out of its habitat back to Earth totally
messes with it, you know? And I like, another
thing that you said, Vincent, which I think is
really interesting about this movie. The American
military and the scientists do initially want
to study it. But I was amazed how quickly they
were like, oh, never mind. Let's just kill it
now. It's too big. It's causing havoc. We just
have to kill it. And even in that scene in the
barn, the colonel, I think it's the colonel,
maybe it's one of the other doctors, is like,
oh, don't worry. It's a totally docile creature.
It's not going to attack unless we provoke it.
And then they immediately provoke it. They stab
him with a pitchfork almost immediately. And
it's like... I think a generous reading would
say that this movie is kind of about our inability
or unwillingness on this planet to actually peacefully
study and coexist things that are unfamiliar
to us. Because in this movie, in my opinion,
very abruptly, everybody's totally willing to
kill this thing that's the scientific discovery
of the century. And whether or not it's intentional,
I just thought that was an interesting sort of
subtext to this movie, I guess. yes and in the
barn the guy with the pitchfork he's the he's
the the local he's just there like that's his
barn and it's the the military brass and the
scientists who do want to capture it peacefully
in that moment at least yeah and it's this man
who you know i don't want to like classify him
as just like a local yokel who doesn't understand
what's going on but i think he doesn't he doesn't
understand the context of what's happening And
I think he reacts justifiably to a monster in
his barn. Yeah. But that's the tragedy. He ruins
everything by attacking an unknown creature,
which is also a great theme of, you know, why
do we fear what we don't understand? And the
mystery and the fear of the unknown. And you
just wish that everyone had kept a cooler head
in that situation. Barn owner, scientists, army,
like everyone just like, let's cool our jets
a little bit. Yeah, it guns down, please. Please.
So what do you guys think it's saying in a larger
way about the time it was made and kind of international,
you know, relations and how and how America related
to different countries, you know, World War Two,
all of that, like, I, I'm always curious, like
what people's thoughts are on that, because I
think historical context can really like go a
long way in appreciating stuff like this. Yeah,
that's a really good point because this is post
-war. Italy had been just scarred by World War
II, both as an Axis player, and then during war
it shifted courses to the Allies. And I don't
know, I meant to do this research, but the film
takes place in Sicily for the first half, and
there's American Army personnel in the film.
I can only assume we had a military presence,
just a holdover. But I don't know yet. I need
to look that up. But I think I think this movie
does give some insight to the United States relationship
with a foreign government, at least because they
they work with the local police and they're getting
permission to do these things. I think in contrast
to today, where our government is rather more
prone to bullying foreign governments. In this
film, I think the government and the military
are more... I'm blanking. What's the word? Help
me out. They're just more willing to work with
foreigners. Collaborative. Yeah, they're more...
Yeah, they're more collaborative. Uh -huh. Yeah.
Makes sense. It was refreshing. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
I agree. I mean, I also don't know the specifics
about the American military presence in Italy
after World War Two. But I think about other
countries like Austria or like elsewhere in the
world where like very quickly after the war,
there was kind of, you know, I mean, like the
Cold War basically like escalated very quickly.
And then suddenly you have all these superpowers
throughout the world, like battling for control
over certain parts of the world. And like, obviously,
it was this point in time. This movie was made
in 1957. So the Cold War was certainly like at
its height or like around then, you know, and
like I yeah, like I think like the American military's
collaborative like behavior in this movie is
kind of a nice. like wouldn't it be nice if it
was actually this way in reality like kind of
a nice fantasy because i think me like you were
just saying vincent maybe in reality at at that
time or even today like you know there was more
of a sense of conquest and control and power
than than what we actually see in the film yeah
totally i feel like you see that in a lot of
like godzilla movies and stuff too where there's
that tension and like you know that it's always
interesting to see how governments interact with
each other in these kind of films, you know,
says a lot about, it's just very interesting,
very interesting. And I wonder how our, you know,
how that'll be depicted in films now, you know,
when you look back in the future, it'll be interesting
to see. Yeah. And, uh, just a real quick addition,
the, there's a, there's a scene where reporters
are getting information from the department of
defense. And the DOD officials, I thought, were
very transparent with the press. They were willing
to work with them, which, again, is just a contrast
to what we see today with the relationship between
our federal government and the press pool. So,
yeah, maybe this movie was maybe a little simple
in its portrayal, or maybe it was how it was
back then. I can't say. I wasn't alive. But I've
seen this movie. And it's a more collaborative
sense. Yeah. Maybe more. Sorry. Oh, no, nothing.
Go ahead. Well, I was going to say maybe more
hopeful than simple. That's, that's how I might
describe it. You know, like, yeah, it would be
nice if like international diplomacy actually
worked this way, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I was going to say something similar. Just the
fact that we're talking about it and, and we're
all smiling about it. I wish it was true. Yeah.
Just the thought. Right. A nice fantasy. Yeah.
Cool. Yeah. Any, any other thematic things that
we want to talk about? I don't know how thematically
deep this movie is necessarily, but it does have
some content there. I would say. Yeah, I agree.
I will say I was very struck by the kind of the,
how I thought of gladiators when I, when I saw
him. around the coliseum and kind of just made
that connection but it's you know such a tragic
twist because but it kind of makes you think
of of the way gladiators were not really on operating
always on their own free will and and you know
this kind of grisly spectacle i couldn't help
but think of that and i wonder if having such
a identifiable landmark in there was supposed
to make people think of that or if i just I was
wondering if you guys had any thoughts around
just the Coliseum and things like that in the
film. Yeah, that's interesting. I love that.
I think that makes so much sense. It's tough
because Harryhausen, apparently the only reason
they filmed in Italy is because he wanted to
film there. But I don't think that takes away
from the idea of combat in the Coliseum. And
then with the elephant scene. that's what the
Romans, ancient Romans would do. They'd pit all
kinds of animals against each other, man and
animals. And yeah, yeah. I think that's a really
great thought that you brought up. Yeah. Just
like this unnatural stage for human entertainment,
you know? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's
a great point. Yeah. And, you know, Amir, of
course, would be in that position of the fighter
who's powerless, who's like forced into this
position and then has to like just fight to protect
itself. So that yeah, that's I think that element
of sympathy for for the monster is definitely
there. I think it's interesting, too, that, you
know, Harryhausen would frequently return to
like. sword and sandal kind of gladiator stories
in the future after this right like seventh voyage
of sinbad and clash of the titans jason and the
argonauts some other movies i think so yeah i
think that's a world that i think he was attracted
to for whatever reason you know totally i just
love seeing a monster next to something that
iconic you know it's like kong and the empire
state building like you know they just go together
sometimes yeah Definitely. Maybe that's my human
arrogance that loves to see a monster next to
a human achievement, you know. I think that just
for audiences makes it feel really familiar and,
you know, kind of that moment of, you know, like
in Planet of the Apes when you see something
that you know, you know, that we made as people.
Yeah. yeah it's uh it's like an element of the
epic you know and i feel like people maybe overuse
the word epic sometimes but i feel like it's
when when we see like a man -made structure like
that like a wonder of the world and then all
this you know like action and like violence and
mayhem playing out on it it's like yeah it does
give you the impression of like something huge
and momentous is happening and that makes for
good cinema you know totally and maybe like changing
you know the course of of history of destroying
things, you know, it has consequences beyond
the scene that you see or whatever, you know,
it's always devastating when you see something,
you know, smashed to pieces or, you know, the
white house blown up and, you know, like whatever
it's, you know, you think about that. So our
little human brains are just like, wow, that'd
be crazy. Yeah, totally. Yeah. And I think, you
know, even if they shot in Rome mostly because
Harryhausen wanted to vacation there, that still
opens up like some pretty cool interpretations.
Like, you know, like we were already talking
about, like the gladiator element. And then like
after the war, the sort of like neorealist kind
of like rubble that the city was lying in, like
it might not have been totally intentional, but
still like we can think about these things just
because of the setting. And I think, you know,
that's why they're so fun to talk about. Exactly.
Definitely. And like when I brought up Roman
Holiday earlier, I was just like, I want to watch
these two movies together. I think that'd be
so fun. Yeah. Roman Holiday is amazing. I love
that movie. Well, if it's okay with you, maybe
we can wrap up a conversation about the form
and aesthetic in our individual breakdowns at
the end here. It's about that time. Yeah. So
as usual in Camp Kaiju, we'll talk about our
good, the bad, and the campy. Maybe I'll just
real quickly get things rolling and talk about
the good category for me, and then I'll turn
it over to both of you. I mean, it's obviously
the Harryhausen special effects. They're just,
as we've talked about, really beautiful, subtle,
nuanced, emotional. I think the black and white
cinematography makes them even more so, and we
already talked about that as well. You know,
I appreciate that the movie... knows what the
good stuff is. Like it knows that people are
here to watch the creature and like the, the
scenes of again, like carnage and mayhem and
like the special effects. And it kind of like
hurries through the other stuff to get to that
good stuff. That might be both a good and a bad
thing, but, but yeah, the special effects are
phenomenal. I'll leave it at that. Turn it over
to you guys. Well, I'll say that for the good
for me, I, I loved the special effects. I mean,
there's no surprise there. I also just, love
I don't know I really saw Ymir as kind of like
a child and sort of framed it like through that
as I was watching it and I enjoyed that and could
connect it to things current you know like I
mentioned E .T. and other things like that yeah
I I thought that was good the bad would be you
know I didn't really care much about the characters
or about you know their individual individualness
I guess I I didn't I felt like everyone else
did, I suppose, about that. And what am I saying?
The campy? Well, geez, I don't know. I found
this more emotional than campy. But in retrospect,
it definitely is campy. You know, just talking
about it, we've had a lot of like kind of funny
moments. And I think that it creates the conversation.
But yeah, I don't know. I don't consider it that
campy, personally. Yeah, no, I hear you. I don't
have too many things, actually. I just sat back
and watched this movie more than I do with others.
But I, yeah, the stop motion here is so seamless.
And how, again, lighting magnifies that effect
is so wonderfully on display here in this movie.
The barn sequence is just gold to me. I love
everything going on. The personality of the Ymir.
Yeah, I mean, that's all I got because that's
all I need out of this movie. Super fair. The
Barn scene, I was thinking about that scene even
today. I watched it a couple days ago and it
keeps popping into my head. It's surprisingly
impactful. I will add a couple of other sequences,
though. When the rocket ship lands in the ocean
and they climb on board, the two fishermen, Or
the one fisherman. I got like Poseidon Adventure
vibes. It was just like, this is a really great
set piece. And they're using the practical props
and effects really well. And then the other thing
is the battle between the Ymir and the elephant.
The animation of the elephant is also really
well done. And there's weight to it. And it just
really, again, captures my imagination. Yeah,
I love those scenes too. In the barn scene, I
particularly wanted to shout out one moment where
Amir is kind of like walking right towards the
camera. It's like the POV shot of one of the
characters in the barn. I can't remember who
exactly. And just that shot, the animation of
it. The lighting of it, you know, it's a kind
of an intense moment. Like the scene is like
backlit. So Amir is kind of like in shadow a
little bit. It's really, it is genuinely frightening,
even though we still do have sympathy for this
character who's kind of bearing down on us. That's
my favorite shot of the movie. It's really incredible.
Yeah. For the bad, I actually, I mean, this movie
could be easy to pick apart. And I do so kind
of with love, if that makes sense, just because.
you know, this is still like a feel good movie
in a way, but the, the, the supposed romance
between our two leads, the man and the woman
I find so bland because he is so uninteresting.
His name is Bob. No offense to Bob's out there.
It's just, it's indicative of who he is. Just
white bread, vanilla. He doesn't really have
any, he doesn't add anything to me. And Joan
Taylor does a little bit. She's trying. I can
see that, which is which is good. And I and I
did think about the army personnel in this movie
being mostly white, if not all white. And I was
just thinking, like, even in the 50s, I know
there were black soldiers in the army. Could
have been it would have been really nice to have
seen some. diversity in the army actors at least
it was an integrated army at that point so i'll
put that in my bad category too or dated category
i should say i don't know yeah And with the Joan
Taylor character, she's the daughter of a zoologist,
right? And a scientist and a doctor in her own
right. So you would, and like, we see a little
bit of that when like she, you know, the Amir
or Amir, whatever it is, like is strapped to
the table and they're like keeping it alive.
Like she is. taking care of the creature. So
we see that a little bit, but like you would
think there would be a lot more there. Like she
must have some kind of thoughts and perspectives
on this creature and like their treatment of
it. But we never really learned that. And I thought
that was a big wasted moment there. Good call.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Campy stuff. I think a Pepe,
the little Italian boy, Braverman. And he just
wants money to buy cowboy hats and guns like
his Western stars in America. This is very wholesome
in like a 50s, you know, gee whiz kind of way.
That's a perfect way to describe it. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's so ridiculous. Yeah, that cowboy hat.
It's so absurd. And like the doctor, you know,
like the kid Pepe like brings this gelatinous
alien life form to the doctor and the doctor
buys it for like 200 lira or whatever it is and
like doesn't really ask any questions. It's like
if as a doctor, you probably should be a little
bit more curious about what this is, where it
came from, why this kid has it like. Well, he
calls after Pepe, but Pepe has no time of day.
He runs like he's seen a ghost. And I'm just
like Pepe. Tell the doctor what this is. You
just ran away and left him hanging? Come on.
That's true. I forgot that it's very strange.
At least mention a spaceship crash landed in
the Mediterranean. No, he just wants the money
and that's it. One track mind. Yeah. Yeah, it's
not important. Oh, Pepe. To be a kid again, you
know, must be nice. Yeah, I, you know. I feel
like that about does it for the good, the bad,
and the campy for me anyway. I think it might
be at the time of the episode to give the film
a rating, as always here at the end of Camp Kaiju.
I'll run through the ratings as usual. Our highest
rating is it's a timeless classic. It definitely
stands the test of time. Number two, there may
be some antiquated moments, but overall it's
great. It stands the test of time. Number three,
it may be historically significant or just fun,
but it does not stand the test of time. And our
lowest rating, it is not worth revisiting. It
definitely does not stand the test of time. Maybe
again, I'll just go real quick to get us going
and then I'll turn it over to both of you. For
me, I'm going to give this our second highest
rating. There may be some antiquated moments,
but overall, it's great. It stands the test of
time. I would add a little bit of an asterisk
or a caveat there and say that all the non -monster
stuff. you kind of have to suffer through a little
bit. It's not very interesting. I do wish that,
you know, the dialogue was a little bit better.
The characters and the performances were a little
bit more substantial, but, but still, I mean,
this is a beautiful movie. Harryhausen's special
effects are just really incredible. Yeah. That's,
that's about it for me. Yeah. Well, I would also
agree with you and go on that there may be some
antiquated moments, but overall it's great. And
it stands the test of time because. You know,
you're really talking about the animation in
it. And that does stand the test of time. And
that's what everyone remembers. And we're talking
about it today, you know. So I think it does
stand the test of time. And even though you do
have to sort of endure those moments in between
Monster, it stands the test of time. And I almost
wish if I had seen this movie and it was a foreign
film and I didn't know what they were saying
or any of that. I would have almost received
it a little bit better and differently without
the same expectations on story and character
development, that kind of stuff. So I'm still
going to give it that. Long story short, there
may be some antiquated moments, but overall it's
great and it stands the test of time. All right.
Yeah, I was so torn until this moment, but I'm
going to stick to my gut and also say... There
are antiquated moments, but it does stand the
test of time. Harryhausen's work is in this movie
just beautiful and stunning. And if you look
at the details and what he's doing, it's beautiful.
It's just as a complete picture, it's all those
weaker moments. They don't detract for me. I
think they're still charming in a way, as bad
as they are. They're campy. The movie is derivative,
which for me is not always a problem. But when
there's nothing else enhancing it apart from
the effects, I'm like, okay, it's the King Kong
story. I get it. But again, Harryhausen's work,
bar none. See this movie. I will continue to
champion this movie for all that and more. Perfect.
Thank you so much, Vincent and Naomi. This was
a really fun conversation, a very fun movie.
If you haven't seen this, definitely highly recommend
20 Million Miles to Earth and the rest of the
Ray Harryhausen canon, which I need to explore
myself. So hopefully I'll get going on that soon.
On our next episode of Camp Kaiju, we're going
to be talking about Gappa, the tri -phibian monster
from 1967. Join us for that one. Thank you, Naomi.
Always so fun. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Yeah, I love being on. Thank you all. I appreciate
you both. And I thank you for having me on and
for being my friend. Yay. Likewise. Thank you.
Always a pleasure. Yeah. Hopefully we'll have
you on again sometime soon. And of course, be
back for Film Friends Trivia relatively soon
as well. Of course. Yep. Anytime. And if you
guys are going to any cool screenings, like think
of me too. So, yep. All right. We'll see you
guys. Thank you for having me. Bye. Thanks, Naomi.
Bye. Bye. Thanks again 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
in the show notes. If you would like to be a
featured voice on the show, leave a voicemail
at 612 -470 -2612 telling us about your favorite
monster movies and memories. 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. Please rate and review Camp Kaiju
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 in the show
notes. Or if you'd like to be a featured voice
on the show, leave us a voicemail at 612 -470
-2612 telling us about your favorite monster
movies and memories. Please check out our website,
campkaijupodcast .com for more information. Camp
Kaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul. with
Meany's Mailbox by Ben Cook -Felts. Thank you,
friends. And until next time, stay campy. Camp
Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach
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opportunities. Link in the show notes. Pepe!
Pepe! Si, doctor? Please tell me, where did you
find that thing? In the water, doctor! In the
sea! Pepe! Pepe!