It does not fit the rest of the movie. It's so
bizarre. Well, it's kind of more like a, I don't
remember exactly how it goes, but it's just,
it's just like addiction. You know, don't have
anything interesting to say about it, but it
was just a terrible song. Well, sure. It's like,
we get it for our, it's the addiction. Hello
and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.
We're your hosts, Matt Levine and Vincent Hannum.
And we are talking about all of 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.
You know it. All Strange Beasts, welcome here.
Cam Kaiju is brought to you by Zach Linder and
the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty.
Whether you're looking for your dream home, a
savvy investment property, or expert guidance
in home rehab and flipping, the Zach Pack has
you covered. Don't forget to follow the Zach
Pack on social media for the latest updates and
insights. And tell me to go. Don't ask. Tell
me. Please. You think that's gonna stop me? I
haven't been feeling well. I'm not kidding. You
don't look so good. It does more for the soul
than any formulation of doctoral material. You
can never get enough, can you? But you learn
to control it. You learn, like the Tibetans,
to survive on a little. There is a dual nature
to the addiction. It satisfies the hunger, which
evil engenders. But it also dulls our perception,
so we are helped to forget how ill we really
are. We drink to escape the fact. We're alcoholics.
We're not evil because of the evil we do, but
we do evil because we are evil. What would you
like to confess? God, forgive me. Welcome to
Camp Kaiju, and a very special welcome to friend
of the podcast and frequent guest star, Frank
Olson. Welcome, Frank. Yes. Just when you thought
it was safe, I am back. Frankaholics, rejoice.
Yes. Did we ever finish the Frankaholics Camp
Kaiju t -shirt? Vincent, that's what I want to
know. Let me look through the list of other forgotten
Camp Kaiju t -shirt projects. I thought maybe
it was already sold out. That's it. That's the
attitude. It just sold out. Before I even knew
that we had made those, they already sold out.
Those Frankaholics are getting thirsty. Frank,
it's good to see you. It's been a long time.
Yeah, likewise. The last one I was on was the
Island of Dr. Murrow episode back in April, I
believe, which was a lot of fun. That was a great
episode, I thought. Yeah, it was a good conversation.
Thank you for joining us for that. A crazy movie,
a very chaotic production story on that film,
and really fun to talk to you about that. Thanks
for joining us again tonight. Thank you for having
me. We're talking about another pretty crazy
movie tonight in very different ways, The Addiction
by Abel Ferrara from 1995. Look forward to talking
to you guys about this one in this episode. A
few nuts and bolts before we get started. Thank
you all again for hanging out with us. Please
rate and review the show and follow us on Patreon
.com slash Camp Kaiju for additional videos,
reviews, merchandise, and more. Other ways to
get in touch include email at CampKaiju at gmail
.com, at our website, CampKaijuPodcast .com,
on Instagram, and our voicemail. The number is
612 -470 -2612. Feel free to leave us a message.
Who knows? It may make an appearance on the show.
Special thank you to our current Patreon members,
Jason, Chris, Sean, Peggy, and our anonymous
patron. Also introducing Camp Kaiju Happy Hour
once a month. This is a chance to chat with your
hosts. Hopefully we'll meet some of you in person
in the near future. So yeah, thanks again to
our current patrons. If you're interested to
sign up. please do so at patreon .com. I'm curious,
have either of you seen Frankenstein yet, the
new Guillermo del Toro movie? Not yet. It is
in my Netflix queue, but have not actually queued
it up to watch it yet. I have not either. I think
I'm going to get Netflix for a limited time.
We haven't had it in the house for a long time.
Oh, I say that. My mom, Patreon member Peggy.
She has Netflix, so I'm going to go over to her
house at some point in the holidays. And I already
told her, I'll just watch it at your house. I
still have yet to watch Guillermo del Toro's
Pinocchio, so that's how quick I get to some
of these streaming movies. I feel like no urgency
to see movies once they come out on these streaming
platforms, especially if they're exclusive to
these platforms and they're not just going to
disappear in a month randomly or whatever. And
then I just kind of forget about them. It's hard
to get as excited about these movies as it is
if they come out in theaters. And I know this
one did have a very brief theatrical run before
it was on Netflix. I get that. Have either of
you guys seen Predator or Black Phone 2 by any
chance? I was invited to go the other night,
but I couldn't. Great story. But Gary Danzu,
former guest host on the podcast, he did see
it. I'll read his review. He texted me after
he saw it. This is Predator, right? Predator
Badlands? Yes. Sorry, Predator Badlands. I am
excited for it. I have enjoyed what Dan Trachtenberg
has done with the franchise. I think he takes
big swings that actually end up connecting, for
me anyways. So what did Gary say? Gary said,
Predator Badlands was a blast. Just an incredibly
fun and heart -filled sci -fi adventure film.
So I love fun and heart -filled genre stories.
And it's The Predator. Yeah. I'm excited to check
it out. Well, a lot of good monster movies out
there. Hopefully we'll all check those out soon,
speaking for myself. You know, as always on Camp
Kaiju, we also like to shout out some movies
that came out around this time in cinema history.
So we have a list of monster movies that came
out around late November, early December throughout
the years. Yeah, one that's a really crazy one
that I see that's on this list is The Keep, which
is a movie that came out in 1983. directed by
Michael Mann, of all people, who, if anyone listening
doesn't know, he's probably best known for Heat.
He was one of the, I believe, co -creators of
the Miami Vice TV series and also did the Miami
Vice movie in the 2000s. Not really known for
sci -fi and monster -type stuff, but this was
one of his earliest movies, and it's... Kind
of a notorious disaster. Like it had a really,
really troubled production where the special
effects supervisor died shortly after post -production
started. And nobody really knew how to like,
you know, nobody really knew like his tricks
or how to keep up with what he was doing. So
that messed things up. Then there were a bunch
of like reshoots that were required. The cinematography
and when they had to do the. reshoots the original
cinematographer was no longer available then
it was one of those things where the movie was
like I think three or four hours long in its
original cut and then the studio forced them
to cut it down so it's just like everything that
could have gone wrong went wrong basically on
this movie but it's also a really like just ambitious
like crazy movie that has to do with sort of
tastelessly combines The Holocaust with this
weird satanic stuff. It's difficult to describe,
but it's one of those movies that's a gigantic
mess, but in a really interesting way. It does
have some flashes of really beautiful imagery
and things. There's this big cave in the movie.
And there's a scene where they they first show
the cave and the camera just pans like way, way,
way, way back, like impossibly far back to show
you like the size of this cave. And it's really
cool looking. And there's some other moments
like that that are just like, you know, really
visually beautiful, really like imaginative where
you can kind of it's one of those movies where
you can see like, you know, the germs of some
good ideas and things that just all went completely
haywire because of. just what a disaster the
production was. Matt, you've talked about that
movie a lot. I have wanted to see it for a while
now. I can second everything Frank said. That's
a really crazy movie, very beautiful, kind of
a mess. Yeah, like Frank said, in its finished
form, it doesn't totally work, but still well
worth seeing. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack
is incredible. I love the music in that movie.
That's very good, too. Also, a weirdly terrible
performance by Ian McKellen. He's great in everything,
but he's just absolutely awful in this movie.
He's trying to do some sort of like... As I recall,
is it more like a... I don't know if you remember,
Matt. Is it more like a New York accent or more
just kind of like a stereotypical Jewish guy
accent? I remember it being really awkward, and
I was like, what are you doing, Sir Ian? He's
normally great, but just absolutely terrible
in that movie. Yeah, I remember a weird New York
accent for sure. Yeah. Seems like a bad choice.
Also, there's a character in that movie whose
name is Glacon Trismegistus, which is one of
my favorite character names of all time. So lots
to love about that movie. Wow. Check it out.
The Keep is awesome for sure. And I think it
just got a new, relatively new Blu -ray release.
Maybe it was a couple years ago at this point.
Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. Looks great.
Yeah. That's a good choice. Vincent, do any titles
jump out at you on this list? A little -known
film, I don't know if you've heard of it, called
The Exorcist, 1972. I pick it only because I
actually just watched it for the first time in
October, and it didn't disappoint. I didn't think
it was overhyped. In my estimation, I found it...
not just frightening, like on the surface with
like all the demonic stuff, but like, there's
a lot of like, it's like a real family drama
that happens to have demonic possession in it.
Not to mention the priest and his journey from
his journey into a believer, but, and his own
inner turmoil and his. I mean, I don't know,
spoilers or whatnot, but his own sacrifice at
the end. And I was like, what is happening? I
was in tears at some of the scenes in that movie.
So I'm not going to say anything about The Exorcist
that hasn't been said, but it was worth it. I'm
glad I saw it. There's a part in that movie I
absolutely love, speaking of the human drama
of it, where it's just... you know, that the
exorcism has been going on for a while. And they
just, it's just a scene of like the, I think
the two priests, like the main priest guy and
the older guy played by Max von Cito. And they're
just kind of like in the, in the hallway, kind
of like taking a break from this, like extremely
stressful situation. There's no dialogue or anything
in the scene, but they're just kind of like sitting
there, like with their heads in their hands,
like totally burned out. And that's, For some
reason, that's the part of that movie that stuck
with me more than any of the like big, you know,
fucks or gore stuff or anything. It's a quiet
moment. No words, but the acting is so good and
the directing and the framing and the blocking.
It's just, it's really good. It's done really
well. Yeah, I think to me, one of the scariest
scenes in that movie is the visit to the hospital
towards the beginning where poor Regan is having
all or Regan is having all these tests done on
her. And it's extremely convincing. And it's
just like very, very hard to watch and kind of
sets you up for all the horror that comes soon
afterwards, even though everything else is obviously
a lot more supernatural and paranormal. But yeah,
that's still my vote for the scariest movie I've
ever seen. The Exorcist. Its reputation is well
earned. Yeah, for sure. I think I'm going to
mention a movie that's not actually really a
monster movie, but it is on our list of horror
movies here. And it's one of my favorite thrillers
of all time, if you can call it that, which is
Diabolique, the French movie from 1955, directed
by Henri -Georges Clouseau, very French name.
He's kind of had the nickname of the French Hitchcock
from some critics and also directed The Wages
of Fear, another really great suspense movie.
But Diabolique is fantastic. Just a really great
story about somebody is murdered and then suddenly
the corpse disappears. And it's kind of just
the mystery of what happens around that. I don't
want to give anything more away. I'll also just
say that Diabolique has my one of my favorite
endings of any movie ever. It's perfect. And
I've seen that movie a lot and I love it every
single time. Amazing. I'm literally typing it
into the Hennepin County Library to see if I
can rent it. Oh, and it's streaming. Nope. Wait,
all copies are in use. There was also a remake
with Sharon Stone. That's supposed to be terrible,
but I hope to see that also someday. I kind of
like really bad American remakes of great European
horror movies. That is streaming on the library's
streamer. But hey, I'm number one in line for
the original French version. So fingers crossed,
boys, getting this two weeks from now. Excited
to hear what you think. All right. So yeah, lots
of good movies came out around this time in cinema
history. In terms of what's coming up on Camp
Kaiju, Vincent, your next episode is, I'll let
you talk about it if you want. Guillermo del
Toro's Pacific Rim, his own love letter to the
Kaiju genre. And Kaiju nerd and big Mecca enthusiast,
Sean Childers, also friend of the pod. will be
joining us for that episode. We've got that coming
up on Camp Kaiju, Pacific Rim, and then a holiday
party season announcement. Frank, hopefully you
can join us for that. We'd love to have you be
a part of that. Yeah, hopefully. I've been on
a few of them, and it's always fun. I always
look forward to those, yeah. Remembering the
year past and looking forward to the year ahead.
It's always fun. Drinking some eggnog, putting
on dumb party hats. Yeah. Can't wait. And then,
yeah, we might have some other live events coming
up in 2026. An interview with Bill Robain, the
director of Giant Spider Invasion, who shot some
new footage for the movie, which at this point
is 50 years old. It's from 1975. But there was
new footage shot for it, which should be released
next year, widely released next year. Yeah, listeners,
this is very exciting. Bill Robain, he's an industry
insider. He did make this notoriously so bad
it's a good movie about giant spiders. That's
kind of how he made his fortune. So he knows
the business. He made a monster movie that people
are still talking about 50 years later. And he's
agreed to talk to us about it. Their names are
legendary. Their destinies linked. An ageless
myth meets an uncompromising master. Francis
Ford Coppola brings an undying legend to life.
Dracula. So you want me to tell you the story
of my life? I'll tell you my story. I'll tell
you all of it. I'm flesh and blood, but not human.
I haven't been human for 200 years. From the
novel by Anne Rice. From Neil Jordan, the director
of The Crying Game. I've come to answer your
prayers. Life... It has no meaning anymore, does
it? His name is Lestat. What if I could give
it back to you? Pluck out the pain and give you
another life. One you could never imagine. I
can see you lying on a bed of satin. He chose
one man. He gave him infinite power. Eternal
life. And a daughter. would be forever young.
This is the only real evil left. And then he
took the light of day. You're a vampire who never
knew what life was until it ran out in a red
gush over your lips. I can't stand this any longer.
You made us what we are, didn't you? God kills
indiscriminately. And so shall we. You like dying?
You condemn me to hell? Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt,
Stephen Ray, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst,
and Christian Slater. Interview with the vampire.
We should be ruling the humans. These people
are our food. The world you live in is just a
sugar -coated top. There's a war going on out
there. This Friday, The Agent Man comes to life.
Without any further delay, tonight we are talking
about The Addiction, directed by Abel Ferrara
from 1995, starring Lily Taylor. She plays a
PhD student in philosophy who becomes a vampire.
That's the story in a nutshell, but there's certainly
a lot more to the movie than that. Vincent, maybe
we'll start with you. What's your history with
The Addiction? None. I never heard of it until
you brought it to the show, which I've said it
before and I'll say it again. I love that aspect
of our podcast where I can be introduced to movies
like this. I had no idea what to watch. I was
just thinking a mid -90s vampire movie. You know
what some other mid -90s vampire movies are?
Interview with a Vampire, or Blade, or like movies
that rock, but can kind of be campy and cheesy
at the same time. I was not expecting the tone
that this movie sets. Very grounded, very serious.
Yeah, it's a very striking movie visually. I
mean, it's shot in black and white, mostly on
the streets of New York. It's a very philosophical
movie, lots of philosophical quotes and debates
throughout the film. So yeah, a very, very unique
vampire movie for sure. Frank, what was your
history with the movie? Almost nonexistent until
a few nights ago. I had heard of it. I do remember,
so back in 95, I would have been like 11 years
old, and my mom had an Entertainment Weekly subscription,
which kind of became... like unofficially my
subscription i remember they they gave it like
a pretty negative review i want to say they gave
it like a c minus or something but it was the
kind of review where like reading it i was like
oh even though they thought this was bad it sounds
awesome it was you know they were i think mostly
talking about how like weird and pretentious
it was and i was like oh that sounds right up
my alley so i i kind of always wanted to see
it but then i i kind of forgot about it over
the years because it's not really a movie that
has a you know a significant cult following or
anything as far as i know and you know i i know
it like played on very few screens you know during
its initial run and everything so i don't think
it was ever any kind of ever even like approaching
being any kind of hit or i've even really had
a chance to be a hit so it's kind of one that
i i forgot about over the years but i'm glad
glad to have finally watched it yeah i had a
similar history or lack thereof with this movie
i i was like you my parents also had an entertainment
weekly subscription and i think that's when i
first heard about this movie And like over the
years, like I heard that Lily Taylor gives a
really good performance. I read that it's like
a metaphor for addiction and some other things
that we'll be talking about, not surprisingly
given the title. But yeah, for whatever reason,
I just haven't actually watched it till now.
I'm also a fan of Abel Ferrara, the kind of uneven,
controversial director of this movie. So I've
always been interested to see this. And I'm glad,
you know, finally had the chance to do so for
this episode. So that might be a good segue.
If you guys don't mind, maybe I'll talk about
Abel Ferrara a little bit just because I am a
fan of his and then we can kind of rotate and
talk about the rest of the crew a little bit.
So Abel Ferrara, a very well -known figure from
the underground New York filmmaking scene. He's
achieved quite a bit of acclaim as well as notoriety
with movies like Bad Lieutenant, King of New
York, Miss 45, and Body Snatchers, one of several
remakes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Ferrara
is an Irish -Italian filmmaker, born in the Bronx.
He was raised Catholic. Lots of themes of sin,
redemption, guilt, so on, reappear often throughout
his work. He does live in Rome now, and he's
kind of permanently self -exiled in Rome, even
though he's a New Yorker. He's well known for
controversial themes and provocative content,
dating back to his early years as a director
and sometimes performer in pornographic films.
His feature debut, I have to admit, has a title
that I really love, Nine Lives of a Wet Pussy.
You can bleep that out if you want, Vincent.
He directed that and started it in 1976. And
then his follow up movie was The Driller Killer
from 1979. Is that a porno? No, but I've seen
bits and pieces of it. I haven't seen the whole
thing. And it's extremely sleazy. It's like,
you know, a shot for like no money on the streets
of New York. It's about a homicidal killer who
uses a drill. So the title is not just a clever
title. But I actually like what I've seen. But
I really do need to sit down and watch it from
beginning to end sometime soon. Frank, have you
seen those early Ferrara movies or like any of
those other sort of porn adjacent movies from
the 70s? messy and uneven movie overall and i've
seen i've seen king of new york which is really
good i've seen a few other things he had a movie
that i'm blanking on the title of somewhat recently
about basically like the last night on earth
like every like people know that it's going to
be the apocalypse and you and you you know see
these people in all different areas of the world
kind of Just experiencing their last night on
Earth, basically. I love that movie. Yeah, I
remember that being good. What's the title of
that? I'm blanking on it. I think it's called
444, Last Day on Earth. Yes, yeah. Yeah, that
one I've seen. And other than that, I'm not sure
that I've seen any of his other movies. I know
Miss 45 seems to generally be, that seems to
be the consensus that that's his best work. I
haven't seen it. I do love. Yeah, I like that
one a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, of course,
I've seen the addiction that we're going to talk
about. But yeah, I'm not super familiar with
his work. But but based on the handful of things
I've seen, it's definitely like it seems to me
that he is very sort of like punk rock type of
approach to art. It seems like he's not super
interested in. He's almost the opposite of somebody
like a Stanley Kubrick, you know, like it's like
he. The Abel Ferrara movies are very much like
kind of unrefined, almost like he's not even
necessarily interested in like digesting some
of these big ideas that he's putting out there.
He's just kind of throwing them out there and
then like you have to deal with it. You know
what I mean? Yeah. And yeah, very kind of like
King of New York's a little different. That's
a fairly slick movie, but his other movies are
very much like. kind of run and gone feel almost
like semi -improvised in a way like maybe the
the dialogue isn't necessarily improvised but
almost feels like oh like you know we just just
happened to come across this location here let's
quick set the cameras up and film right here
you know that kind of thing so yeah very very
interesting director very very like messy and
and uneven even like within the movies, I would
say, but very interesting. I'd like to see more
of this stuff. Yeah, I definitely agree with
all that, for sure. Miss 45 is great. That's
kind of a rape -revenge movie, and I feel like
those movies are extremely hard to make without
seeming kind of sleazy and hypocritical, but
that movie is one of the few good ones that I've
seen of that subgenre. And something that I think
we'll probably talk about more is that I think
The Addiction is kind of a weird... blend of
like that you know run and gun guerrilla style
filmmaking along with like a more like kind of
like polished style because i do think that this
is a very beautiful movie and like you know certainly
very well written or at least very verbose so
yeah it's kind of an interesting blend of styles
you know one last thing i want to mention about
ferrara that's pertinent to our conversation
tonight is that he's openly spoken about his
own struggles with addiction especially to heroin
He has a notorious appearance on the Conan O
'Brien show from like right around this time,
95 or 96, I think, where he's clearly under the
influence and like barely coherent. And Conan
O 'Brien has said numerous times that Abel Ferrara
is the worst guest he's ever had on the show.
So interesting. I mean, kind of sad to watch
that interview. But, you know, and yeah, Ferrara
has talked a lot about he's called it his 14
year journey to try to break out of his addiction
to heroin. So it's a subject he knows very well.
But moving on to the rest of the cast and crew,
a very accomplished cast and crew on this film,
I would say. The screenplay is by Nicholas St.
John, whose birth name was Nicodermo Oliverio.
He and Ferreira collaborated on nine films, including
the director's debut and his second feature,
the aforementioned Driller Killer. I wish that
was a monster movie. Nicholas St. John also wrote
Miss 45, Body Snatcher's King of New York and
the Funeral, for which he won several awards.
He actually refused to write Bad Lieutenant because
he thought the film and some of its concepts
were too blasphemous. St. John, like Ferreira,
is a devout Catholic. The two had a falling out
after the funeral for unclear reasons. The addiction
was produced by Russell Simmons. the co -founder
with Rick Rubin of Def Jam Records, of all things,
and several fashion lines. Russell Simmons' company,
Rush Communications Incorporated, also produced
Def Comedy Jam, Def Poetry Jam, The Nutty Professor,
How to Be a Player, and more. Cinematography
by Ken Kelch. Yeah, so Kelch was a Vietnam vet
who had collaborated with Ferrara on a bunch
of his movies. It says here 13. including some
of his more famous ones like Driller, Killer,
Bad Lieutenant, and The Funeral. And I think
his work on the addiction is, you know, some
of the best stuff in it. There's some really,
really incredible shots in it. And just the overall
look of the movie is very, very spellbinding.
Unfortunately, he passed away from COVID back
in 2023. And the music is by Joe Delia. who had
a blues band called Joe Delia and the Thieves,
and also had a history as a session musician
with big names like Chuck Berry, Pat Benatar,
and Stevie Wonder. And he's another guy who collaborated
with Ferrara quite frequently, doing some of
the music on Miss 45, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant,
and Body Snatchers. And we'll see that that's
kind of like a running theme with the cast as
well, that there are a lot of collaborators that
Ferrara would work with often. And I just think
that's kind of interesting because he seems like
a very abrasive guy, like watching interviews
with him. He's fascinating, but it's like, oh,
this is a rough character, you know? But apparently
everybody or a lot of people really liked working
with him because they did so over and over again.
So I always find it interesting when directors
have their kind of company that they work with.
Moving on to the cast real quick, I'll start
with the lead, Lily Taylor. She plays Kathy,
a philosophy PhD student who, like I said before,
becomes a vampire. Very well known from independent
films and some TV shows from the late 80s and
1990s. She starred in some TV shows in the 80s,
like Crime Story. and some movies in the late
80s like Mystic Pizza, a title that I always
love, Say Anything, and Born on the Fourth of
July. She later appeared in Dogfight, Shortcuts,
I Shot Andy Warhol, and many, many others. And
she's fantastic in this movie, I think. Edie
Falco is in this film. She plays Kathy's friend,
Jean, and a fellow student at the college. Edie
Falco is a Brooklynite who rose to prominence
in the 90s with roles on TV. And her most well
-known credit is The Sopranos. She won numerous
awards for her role as Tony Soprano's wife. I've
never seen it. Shame on me. So I don't remember
her character's name. But even I know her from
that. And again, I've never seen it. That's how
entrenched I think The Sopranos is in our culture.
But anyways. Her name is Carmella. Carmella.
She is great on that show. Cool. Edie Falco,
some other famous film roles were in private
parts Copland and Sunshine State. She has spoken
openly about her struggles with alcoholism and
is a supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous, making
her familiar with the themes of the addiction.
And Christopher Walken plays a centuries -old
vampire who's learned to control his cravings.
He essentially in this movie has just kind of
like a cameo, but it's very memorable part of
the movie. I think definitely one of the clear
highlights. He's another native of New York from
Queens, and he is a frequent collaborator with
Abel Ferrara, first working with him on King
of New York, where he has one of his better performances,
I think, and does a surprising amount of dancing
in it. And he also later worked with Ferrara
on The Funeral and New Rose Hotel. And one really
interesting backstory note about this movie is
that when he read the script, he had assumed
that the role that he wound up playing was written
to be a man, but it was actually meant to be
a woman. But even after finding that out, he
still wanted that role, and Abel Ferrara obliged
him. And then another vampire character in the
movie, who is a woman, was originally meant to
be a man. So they just kind of gender reversed
those roles to accommodate Christopher Walken.
And I think they're both great. Walken is really
good in his role. And then the other... The other
vampire character who's played by a woman, the
character's name is Casanova, and she's played
by Annabella Sciorra. But she's the vampire who
initially turns Kathy. She kind of lures her
into this alleyway and like dark New York nights
and turns her into a vampire. Her first film
role was in True Love from 1989. She was in a
lot of popular movies throughout the 90s, including
Reversal of Fortune, Jungle Fever, The Hand That
Rocks the Cradle, Copland, like we mentioned
before. and then some other later Ferrara films
like The Funeral and New Rose Hotel. She was
also on The Sopranos and Law & Order. Edie Falco
was also on both those shows. And this is somewhat
unrelated, but you might recognize Annabella
Sciorra's name because she was a leading figure
in the Me Too movement. She alleged that Harvey
Weinstein raped her in 1993 and harassed her
repeatedly over the years. Sciorra was a key
witness in the trial leading to his conviction.
So obviously a difficult experience for her.
She's really great in this movie. She is. I think
that that sort of twist of fate that her role
and Christopher Walken's roles were swapped just
works so well for this movie. Like, it would
have been fine if the Kathy character was initially
attacked by a man. Like, that gives its own thematic
depth. But the fact that it's a woman made it
more interesting to me because I didn't expect
that. And if you want to read thematically into
that... you could too that's maybe just as interesting
so yeah i'm glad that ferrara for whatever reason
decided to swap those two roles yeah it's very
interesting to imagine the movie if the roles
were reversed i don't i almost wish that they
like shot it both ways and that you could watch
both you know but but yeah i think the way it
turned out was was for the best Yeah, just like
imagining like very handsome male vampire, like
seducing her on the streets of New York seems
like it maybe would have been like a little bit
more cliched. I would say there's not very much
about this movie that's cliched. So that's hard
to imagine. But like, you know, flipping the
genders does make it seem a little bit more original,
I would say. Yeah. Paul Cauldron plays Kathy's
professor. He's a Puerto Rican actor who gained
acclaim as a theater actor in the 1980s. He also
appeared on the show Miami Vice and the music
video for Michael Jackson's Thriller. He starred
in many films, including King of New York, Bad
Lieutenant, Pulp Fiction, Sea of Love, Out of
Sight, Copland, 21 Grams, and a lot more. Yeah,
really interesting, accomplished cast in this
movie and a lot of good performances, I would
say. So let's dive into the production backstory
of The Addiction a little bit. I will say that
I tried to watch some interviews with Abel Ferrara,
and like I said, he's just really a character,
and it's hard to get any kind of coherent information
from his interviews, because he's like, yeah,
bro, we were just running around the streets
of New York, you dig? It was fucking crazy, man.
You can bleep that out as well, but hard to get
any actual information from those interviews,
but a lot of fun to watch if you haven't checked
him out. I haven't, and I will, because on Letterboxd,
there's a popular review someone wrote. They
transcribed sections of the DVD commentary with
Abel Ferrara, and it's exactly what you're describing.
It seems like it's not a good commentary if you
want to learn more about the movie. But a great
commentary if you just want to, like, spend time
with larger -than -life personality, you know?
Yes. I think that type of attitude kind of comes
through in the movies, too. His movies that I've
seen are all fairly, like, scattershot, I would
say. But, you know, not particularly focused.
But they definitely have, like, a flavor to them
and a lot of personality. So that's the trade
-off. Yeah, which I do enjoy. Yeah, a worthy
trade -off, I would say. But the little bit of
information I was able to find on the production
backstory for The Addiction, Ferrara conceived
of the general idea, which he admitted was an
explicit metaphor for drug addiction. And then
the screenwriter, Nicholas St. John, emphasized
some of the Catholic allegories in the film about
sin, redemption, you know, human powerlessness
in the face of God. I also read that... It was
St. John who kind of took the idea of vampires
and kind of really embellished that. And Ferrara
wasn't totally sure if that would work. But then
when he read the screenplay, which Ferrara described
as beautiful, he was sold on the vampire concept
and kind of believed that it could function as
a metaphor in a lot of different ways, which
I think it certainly does. He, Ferrara, also
referred to The Addiction as a pure Nicky film,
referring to Nicholas St. John, the screenwriter,
which I think is kind of interesting. Certainly,
I think it's a Ferrara film, too. And some of
the, you know, the personality elements that
Frank was talking about a little bit scattershot
and rough around the edges. But, you know, it
reminds me a little bit. I think Scorsese said
that. taxi driver was a marty scorsese film and
raging bull was a paul schrader film paul schrader
wrote the screenplay for that movie and i just
think that's kind of interesting because maybe
a similar thing is kind of happening in this
case where the screenwriters ideas really kind
of you know are at least like kind of like equal
with the director's vision they Did try to secure
funding, but found it difficult, so it was intentionally
approached as a low -budget black -and -white
film. Shot over 20 days, guerrilla style, no
permits. And watching it, I didn't know any of
this going into the film, again, and I was watching
it, and you just get a sense when you yourself
have made some movies in the city, not New York
City, just like my hometown. Quick aside, if
I may. In college, my friends and I wanted to
make a movie. And in our hometown in Florida,
small town, we walked into the city house, like
the courthouse, where all the admin happens,
the county courthouse. And we were like, we are
shooting a movie. We would like a permit, please.
And they gave us, they took us seriously. We
were like 18. They gave us all this paperwork.
And like the first questions was like, so what's
your budget? And we were like, oh, I mean, like
we literally just want to take our camcorder
and go. We pointed out the window, out the second
story window. And we said, we want to film on
that quarter. And the woman did her level best
to not tell us to get the freak out of there.
She was just like, OK, well. You come back and
let us know when you need us. That was my lesson
in guerrilla filmmaking. You don't need to ask
sometimes. Just do it. Just get out there with
the camera. Yeah. You're overthinking it. I love
it. So anyways, back to the addiction. Most of
the cast and crew were employed for, quote, delayed
compensation. So little or no payment up front.
Maybe some percentage of profits on the back
end, which in this case was not much. The film
was shot on location in New York, Manhattan,
Greenwich Village, the campus of New York University.
Lily Taylor and her then boyfriend, Michael Imperioli,
who actually appears in a small role, would wander
the streets of Manhattan late at night to prepare.
I read that too, so yeah. Quick and dirty. This,
this movie was realist style. Yeah. Ferrara called
it run and gun filmmaking. And I think that's
actually a phrase that Frank is somebody, one
of us, I think said earlier tonight, but yeah,
it's accurate. Came out on October 5th of 1995
and extremely small release only playing in seven
theaters in the U S on its opening weekend. And
throughout the country, its total release only
played at about 14 cinemas and had a domestic
gross of only about $300 ,000. And the budget
was $500 ,000. So those people who signed up
for the delayed compensation were probably not
thrilled about that. But Ferrer did say, or he
was quoted as saying, there was no money and
no one expected it to make money. They did it
for the love of the art, I guess. Generally well
-reviewed for its intelligence, its uniqueness,
and for the strong lead performance by Lily Taylor.
You know, as Vincent kind of mentioned earlier,
there were kind of a lot of vampire movies in
the mid -90s. Interview with a Vampire was a
big one. Nadja. There was also Vampire in Brooklyn,
which was notoriously not very good. Dracula,
dead and loving it. Yes, Dracula, dead and loving
it, which I remember really liking, actually.
I've seen it. Blade, like Vincent mentioned,
was just a couple years after this. So, yeah,
not that I guess vampires are kind of just eternally
popular. They never really go out of style, but
this seemed to be a particularly vampire -heavy
time for whatever reason. Well, we'll probably
talk about this more, but I just think vampires
work really well as metaphors for a lot of different
things. So I think in the 90s you have, you know,
I mean, it was a little bit after like the crack
epidemic in the 1980s, but I definitely think
like some addiction themes come through with
that. And you have the AIDS virus, like really
kind of reaching its peak in the early 90s. So
I just think like vampires are a powerful metaphor
for a lot of those different things that were
going on in society at the time. The use of the
archival photos and footage of real atrocities
that are used in the movies. In the movie, like,
you know, you see some footage of dead bodies
from the Holocaust, from My Lai in Vietnam, from
Bosnia in the Middle East. I'm sure we'll talk
more about that stuff as we go on here. And for
a long time, this movie was not available in
modern formats. It was only available on VHS
up until about 2018 when Arrow Films released
a Blu -ray version. I think people heard about
this movie and maybe wanted to see it. Like if
Frank and I wanted to see it when we were like
10 years old, I can only assume that other people
wanted to as well. But, you know, I mean, like
it just didn't get a big release, but I think
hopefully belatedly it'll kind of get the attention
that I think it deserves. This looks like a really
nice Blu -ray from Arrow. I just love the cover
art of this thing. If you want to look it up,
4K scan, audio commentary. Yep. Yep. That's what
I was talking about. Documentary interviews.
Yeah. I'll say just as an aside to Arrow has
a streaming service that's actually really good.
I was subscribed to them briefly at the beginning
of the year. Because there were a couple of Shaw
Brothers kung fu movies that I saw that they
had on there that I wanted to watch. And they
also have some kaiju stuff on there as well.
They have the Gamera movies and the Machine movies
are on there. I didn't dive into this too much,
but it looked like they had some of those weird
70s sex movies on there as well. Yeah, they specialize.
in kind of those exploitation movies but but
yeah it's a really nice nice streaming service
actually and they do put out really good blu
-rays and the uh You know, I have to admit that
I watched The Addiction on Amazon Prime, which
I think was the same transfer that's part of
that Blu -ray, and it looks fantastic. It's,
you know, gorgeous. Just the black and white
looks really amazing. The, you know, very deep
black colors and, like, great shadowy cinematography.
So the recent restoration looks really, really
great, I would say. Yeah. All right, now is a
good time for our sponsor break. Just to remind
you, Camp Kaiju is brought to you by Zach Linder
and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker
Realty. Whether you're looking for your dream
home, a savvy investment property, or expert
guidance in home rehab and flipping, the Zach
Pack has you covered. Check the link in the show
notes for more information. Do we have anything
in Minya's mailbox today? We do, from Superfan
Don. He writes on Spotify in reaction to our...
Two episodes ago episode about the Ray Harryhausen
movie 20 Million Miles to Earth, a wonderful
50s sci -fi creature feature. So Don says, great
show. Naomi is once again a wonderful guest star.
It's been a while since I first saw this one,
so I rewatched it today. The creature effects
are amazing. I definitely need to watch some
more Harryhausen films. They bring back memories
of my little hometown movie theater and Saturday
afternoon matinees. Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,
Jason and the Argonauts, and numerous Godzilla
films were the usual fare, and I loved them all.
Thank you, Don. What resonates with me in that
is him talking about Saturday afternoon matinees.
And I don't know about you guys, but it doesn't
happen often, but... Watching a movie in the
afternoon, especially an action or an adventure
movie, it just hits different for me. So, yeah,
I feel you, Don. Especially in the theater and
preferably on a very hot, blazing summer day
where you go in the air conditioning for a little
bit and then you walk outside and you're blinded
by the sun. There's no better feeling. I love
that. Like, what time is it? I'm so disoriented
right now. There's that. And I was even just
talking about you're at home and like speed comes
on TNT at one o 'clock in the afternoon. And
you're like, yeah, I'm going to watch this right
now. And it's, you know, just that feeling. Whenever
speed comes on, you can't not watch it. That's
one of those movies where I'm like, all right,
I'm in for the next two hours, whatever it is.
I have to watch this now. It would be a two hour
runtime. But the... the programming would be
a three hour block because of all the commercials
and you're like man there goes my day yeah yeah
when i was in like fourth or fifth grade speed
was like my favorite movie i love that movie
i haven't seen in years but i do need to re -watch
it because yeah i was i just thought it was so
awesome back at that age yeah so good It's a
classic. I feel like 90s action movies like Speed,
True Lies, Face Off, Broken Arrow. I honestly
feel that's what got me into loving movies so
much, you know? Yeah. That was a really great
era for action movies, now that you mentioned
some of those. And it was right before CGI took
over everything. So I think the action movie,
like the original action movie, none of the superhero
stuff, I think really peaked in the 90s. And
it's a golden era. Yeah. And even some of the
stuff where CGI started to kind of creep in,
like, you know, like Terminator 2 Judgment Day
or like the original Jurassic Park, you know,
those effects are used a lot more judiciously
and effectively. And I think those, I mean, not
just I think, I think it's like, I would say
it's inarguable that those, those movies look
better than, you know, the average blockbusters
of today. Totally. I feel like the, I don't know,
I assume that a lot of directors or filmmakers
approach things now where it's like, oh, we'll
just do it later. We'll fix it in post. We'll
slap some CGI on there. They just kind of take
that as an assumption, you know, but like back
in the day, it's like, that should only be like
the little cherry on top or whatever, you know,
like whatever we can't do practically, then we'll
do a CGI. I really want to watch a 90s action
movie now. Let's get this episode over with.
No, I'm just kidding. Well, thank you, Don, again.
And thank you, listeners, for giving us those
comments. And we look forward to whatever is
going to be in Minya's mailbox next time. Now,
the Poverty Row Picture Show. Peter Lorre is
back. He is in the next room. He's passed out.
So, you know, guys, say what you want while he's
asleep. But he will be talking about... a 1944
movie called The Lady and the Monster, about
a millionaire's brain that is preserved after
his death by a scientist. And this brain becomes
so powerful that it creates a telepathic monster.
Like the brain transfers its energy into a human
being and runs amok. Wow. That sounds cool. That
reminds me of Fiend Without a Face a little bit.
It does, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Real quick,
real quick. This movie is an adaptation of a
Kurt Siadmec novel called Donovan's Brain, which
was adapted several times into films. But I just
read Donovan's Brain and can't say enough about
it as a pulpy horror piece of fiction. It's really
effective. Cool. Maybe we should do more like
very brief book reviews on the podcast. That'd
be kind of fun. Maybe a Patreon perk. Yeah. Oh,
I'm kind of excited about that now. There's a
book that I bought recently called The Paleontologist
that's like, you know, a paperback, you know,
Paige Turner sort of thriller. Definitely a monster
story. So maybe I'll bring that to the pod next
time. All right. We can do a book club. 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 oh, what a waking nightmare
my life has become. The mysterious and lovely
raven that had been a -tap -tap -tapping on my
window has now laid claim to my bedroom. Like
a harpy of the night, this raven has proven somewhat
irresistible to my heart. It sounds a little
strange, I understand, but listeners, I may be
falling for this raven. Hell, you would do too
if you saw the way this bird shines with a certain
primordial effervescence. But whoo -wee, she
is a ravenous raven and demands that I continue
the poetry that... Cause to her beating heart.
Open here I flung the shutter, When with many
a flirt and flutter In there stepped a stately
raven Of the saintly days of yore. Not the least
obeisance made he. Not a minute stopped or stayed
he, but with mien of lord or lady, perched upon
my chamber door, perched upon a bustle palace
just above my chamber door, perched and sat,
and nothing more. Then this ebony bird, beguiling
my sad fancy into smiling, by the grave and stern
decorum of the countenance I wore, Though thy
crest be shorn and shaven thou, I said. Art sure
no craven, ghastly, grim, and ancient raven wandering
from the nightly shore? Tell me what thy lordly
name is on the night's plutonian shore? Woth
the raven? Never more. Much I marveled this ungainly
fowl to hear discourse so plainly. Though its
answer little meaning, little relevancy bore.
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human
being ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above
his chamber door. Bird or beast upon the sculptured
bust upon his chamber door with such name as
nevermore. But the raven, sitting lonely on the
placid bust, spoke only that one word, as if
his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing
farther did he utter. Not a feather, then he
fluttered, Till I scarcely more than muttered,
Other friends have flown before, On the morrow
he will leave me, As my hopes have flown before.
Then the bird said, Never more. Startled at the
stillness, Broken by replies so aptly spoken,
Doubtless I said, What it utters is its only
stock in store caught from some unhappy master
whom unmerciful disaster followed fast and followed
faster till his songs one burden bore. Till the
dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
of never, nevermore. But the raven, still beguiling
all my fancy into smiling, straight I wheeled
a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and
door. Then, then upon the velvet sinking I betook
myself to linking, fancy unto fancy, thinking
that this ominous bird of yore, what this grim,
ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of
yore, meant in croaking nevermore. Now leave
me, raven, please, please, you must leave me
to my reviews. Poverty row movies must... Must
get out there, too, to the listeners. Oh, how
you torture me so, but I have a job to do. All
right. All right. Thank you. Okay, listeners,
I am all yours now. Boy, do we have a brain teaser
of a film this week. 1944's The Lady and the
Monster from Republic Pictures. This movie is
an adaptation of the Curt Siodmak's sci -fi novel
Donovan's Brain. in which the disembodied cerebellum
gallopantically controls an unwitting scientist
to do his nefarious bidding. The Lady and the
Monster largely sticks to the source material,
but has a few cinematic flourishes. You know,
a dance number here, film noir shadows there.
It's really not a bad little chiller, with brutal
performances from Eric von Stroheim and Richard
Arlen. As for the brain, You could say it's got
a lot of nerve in this picture. Oh, well, what
do you know about my beautiful raven? You, you
having a mental block. This is the frightening
and shocking tale of Count Dracula. Liars do
exist. This one we face is unlike any other.
He can change the most innocent of humans. Oh,
Jonathan, let me kiss you. But you see, I'm British.
So are these. Women are rendered powerless under
his spell. Stand up. Not you. Sit. You stand.
No, sit. No, stand. Now, walk to the terrace
door. Watch out! His evil desire has no end.
She's alive? She's Nosferatu. She's Italian?
Up there! Make no mistake. He must be stopped.
Leslie Nielsen. Peter McNichol. Steven Webber,
Amy Yazbeck, Lizette Anthony, Harvey Korman,
and Mel Brooks. If she dies a victim of this
unspeakable creature, she will become one herself.
What? She will become one herself. Dracula. Dead
and loving it. It's good to be dead. What are
the themes in this movie? I feel like maybe the
more appropriate question is what themes aren't
in this movie because there is so much to unpack
here. I just had copious notes. I was like, this
is, it's almost not fair. There's so many themes.
It just covers everything about life and death
and addiction and free will and determinism.
I mean, that's... That's kind of like what this
movie is. This movie is almost like a philosophy
101, and it hits you with every major philosopher
any layman has heard of. Nietzsche, Kierkegaard,
Dante's thrown in there. William S. Burroughs,
the beat writer from the 50s who chronicled his
own addiction, he's thrown in there. So, yeah,
Matt, sorry, I didn't mean to take over, but
there's just so much. Yeah. No, that's a perfect
way to dive in because there is so much. And
Frank kind of alluded to that before, too, where
it's like kind of all over the place, but I think
in a really fascinating way. So I think what
you said is a great way to just, you know, start
talking about all that stuff because it's there's
a lot. And yeah, like I didn't really expect
the philosophy stuff. I did not know that the
main character was a philosophy Ph .D. student.
Did not expect all the like quotes of these like
legendary philosophers. And I'm just curious
what you guys think about the extremely extensive
philosophy debates. There are some scenes where
we're just in a classroom where a professor is
talking about a lot of this stuff, fate and determinism,
like you said, Vincent. A lot of just direct
quotes taken verbatim from philosophers. And
that kind of thing doesn't always work well,
but I just want to throw it out to you guys.
How do you feel about all that stuff in this
movie? To be honest, my eyes were kind of glazing
over during some of those stretches of the movie.
Yeah, I didn't always get the connections between
what they were talking about in those scenes
and what happens in the movie. Or at least I
didn't think that the... At least some of that
stuff seemed too weighty for a vampire story,
I thought. It didn't always seem like it really
cohered to me. I think that's fair, yeah. Frank,
would you say the same thing about the photos
and film footage of actual atrocities, the Holocaust
and Vietnam and stuff like that? I guess the
idea is that they're sort of being drawn into
the most sordid corners of humanity, and then
here we're seeing the worst of humanity in these...
Pictures and things. But it did seem like. A
stretch. To me to connect those. And. I do think
some of that stuff. Comes off a bit tasteless.
It reminded me weirdly of. It was a classic.
X -Files episode. Called Squeeze. Which I remember.
There's a scene in. That episode. Where. you
know, there's like a police officer or maybe
he's a security guard or something. I can't remember
exactly, but Mulder and Scully are kind of interviewing
him in relation to this case. And he has some
sort of experience with the monster that they're
chasing in this episode. And he like compares,
and he also is someone who was like old enough
to have survived the Holocaust. And he's like
comparing, you know, when he saw the, the aftermath
of this monster's killings to like what he saw
in the concentration camps and things like that.
And it's just like, okay, but this is like about
a monster who can like, it was like a mutant
who can squeeze into very tight spaces and stuff
like that. This is a little bit too silly of
a framework to, like, support this extremely
heavy, you know, extremely heavy atrocity thing.
And in this movie, it's, you know, way more in
the forefront than it is in that X -Files episode
where it's just kind of one brief scene. So,
yeah, that stuff did not work for me in the movie.
Yeah. Vincent, what did you think? It did largely
work for me. The movie starts with those really
graphic images. So it sets the tone for me and
told me, okay, this is not going to be like a
campy vampire movie. These images that keep coming
back of these atrocities, I thought about the
historical character Vlad the Impaler, from which
all the Dracula kind of thing is wrapped around
in. And there's like woodcuts and paintings of
his own slaughtering of people and putting them
on pikes and stuff. So for me, Ferrara's use
of these images kind of bolsters the idea that
humanity is always capable of these things. And
just like, what is the push that can put a human
being over the edge? A Hitler, whoever, the U
.S. Army. to commit these crimes against humanity.
So I was reading into that. I am a really big
academic nerd. I like the college setting a lot,
and I can get big on philosophy. So I wasn't
always soaking it in, what they were spitting,
but I would watch this movie again just to listen
for this kind of free philosophy lesson. But
at the same time, I love the idea that at the
end, Kathy the Kathy character she's over it
she's disillusioned with with all of this BS
and she's telling Edie Falco like we're just
part of the system and and she's like learned
all this knowledge from college from the system
and now she's turned against it because she's
woken up and I and I love that too because it's
a fair critique of academia Yeah, I think I would
say it worked for me more than it didn't work
for me. And I, you know, I do think my eyes kind
of glazed over for certain parts of it. But then
like, there would be a line of dialogue or just
an idea that kind of like brought me back into
it right away. And like, you know, I kind of
picked and chose a little bit like what ideas
stood out the most. Like there's a line of dialogue,
which is a good example of how kind of pretentious
it can be, but also very interesting at the same
time where I think Kathy is quoting a philosopher,
I forget. which one of the approximately 50 philosophers
are quoted in this movie it is. But she's like,
or it could be Christopher Walken, whoever it
is. They're like, are humans evil because they
do evil things? Or do they do evil things because
they're evil? And that kind of seems like a matter
of semantics. But also, I think it's kind of
an interesting question. Like, are humans innately
evil? And is that why these atrocities like the
Holocaust and, you know, the carnage in Bosnia
and all that stuff? Is that why they happen?
Or is it like an anomaly? You know, that's an
interesting question to me. I do, you know, I
do think some of that footage does seem kind
of tasteless or at least like overindulgent at
times. Like it's really used a lot in this movie.
But, you know, I think it's interesting. I think
it mostly worked for me. And Vincent, like you
were saying, I did not expect the theme about
like. The ineffectiveness of philosophy, you
know, like I feel like the idea is kind of like
at a certain point you have to dive into the
abyss yourself if you want to experience that,
you know, and that's exactly what Kathy does.
And I think like a lot of characters in this
movie sort of experience that where they are
like they're attracted to it at the same time
that they're like traumatized by, you know. And
I think that question of like just diving into
the abyss and like experiencing firsthand like
the. true darkness that humans are capable of.
Like those were kind of like the main ideas that
I, that I took from the movie. And I think those
are really compelling. Well said there. I think
I did catch something about Kathy saying exactly
what you said. And I think that's true. I think
that's the human journey. I think we all go on
at some point in our lives. You just, you know,
we all have existential moments and existentialism
is a philosophy and it's the abyss. That Milton
was talking about. Look at me up my own butt
about all this stuff. You belong in the movie.
You'd be right at home. But then, okay, you're
at this dinner party with a bunch of vampires.
Are you among the riffraff who rise up against
the elites? Or are you the elites who get ripped
to shreds? I love that moment of metaphor of
the lower classes rising up. I'm glad you brought
up that scene. It is nuts, and I don't know if
it's meant to be comedic, but it is kind of funny,
but it's also very disturbing and bloody at the
same time. Frank, what did you think about that
scene? Yeah, it's one of those scenes where when
it first starts, it's like, okay, this is kind
of like a typical monster movie thing. There's
this attack going on, but then it goes on for
so long. And just like there's there's multiple
points where you're like, OK, this must be wrapping
up or whatever. And then it just like keeps going.
And it's like more and more gory. And the like
amount of blood like around Lily Taylor's mouth
and like on her shirt and stuff when this is
wrapping up is like insane. Yeah, it's it's definitely.
Yeah, it starts starts off seeming like a typical
scene and gets more like. hypnotically insane
as it goes on it's an orgy maybe calling back
to his 70s exploitation roots that's what i was
picking up on and and the movie's such a grounded
movie and story that when that happens it it
again i think it leans into the exploitation
and the shock and the the action that that a
vampire movie could be so i yeah i said i it
was a very memorable scene Yeah, like my jaw
was hanging open throughout at least the latter
half of that scene. And it reminded me of the
end or a scene towards the end of Luca Guadagnino's
remake of Suspiria, where like it should be going
crazy and like there are beheadings and like,
you know, blood everywhere and all this stuff.
But I feel like in that movie, it doesn't really
work. Like there are just so many weird decisions
that like. You know, there's like a Tom York
song in the background that I feel like is very
out of place. There's a lot of CGI in that scene
that's like, you know, and it's like also like
very dark and muddy and it's hard to tell what's
going on. And I guess I just bring that up because
like the visceral hypnotic experience that I
had from the scene in The Addiction is like what
I wanted from that scene in Suspiria and didn't
get. But I think this movie pulls it off really
well. What is there to say about the drug addiction
theme in this movie? It is kind of like very
overt right there on the surface. But there are
still some interesting things about it, I would
say, beyond just like surface level. Did you
guys, how did you react to those elements in
the movie? So I will say that I have not dealt
with any kind of addiction. So any takes I have
are just from hearsay and, you know, so very
surface level. And I admit that. There's a lot
of conversation around willpower. Like the Christopher
Walken character, he's overcome his own addiction
with willpower. And from what I've heard, just
like telling somebody to will their self through
an addiction is actually destructive and doesn't
work. Like you need support and help and mechanisms.
But again, I say that without any firsthand experience.
So that was my main take. Other than that, the
addiction metaphor, it's not really a metaphor.
This movie is about that, and there's actual
drug use happening aside from the vampirism.
But that didn't detract from me. That didn't
distract. I mean, I didn't mind that it wasn't
subtext. I was like, okay, this is what this
movie is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't have any
firsthand experience with substance. abuse or
substance addiction either but but yeah i i thought
that was a that was a more potent part of the
movie for me and and yeah the scenes a lot of
the scenes where the willie taylor character
is is feeding i i thought were depicted in really
interesting ways i mean in that scene we were
just talking about you know towards the climax
that's really like almost kind of zany moment,
but a lot of the other ones where she's just
eating because she needs to... It's almost...
The tone of those scenes is almost more sad than
scary, kind of. There's an element of her needing
to do it that's a little bit pathetic, I guess
you could say. You just kind of feel bad for
her. she's spiraling down and she needs to do
this thing to to just kind of or feels like she
needs to do this thing to just kind of keep going
and yeah there's there's like a weird like sort
of sorrowful tone to the movie that i don't think
you usually see in in these vampire movies I
agree, especially in the moment, in my opinion,
where she attacks Jean, the Edie Falco character,
who was her very close friend and still shows
a lot of support for her. And it's strange because
by that point, I think Kathy, the Lily Taylor
character, seems to be almost beyond remorse.
She's really challenging Jean and at first doesn't
seem to have a lot of hesitation about attacking
her friend. But I guess that's the sad part of
it, of course. And to go back to the scene that
we were just talking about, the really crazy,
chaotic blood orgy attack at the dinner party
that Kathy holds, I think the aftermath of that
is really interesting because, you know, we see
Kathy just totally covered in blood, is like
wandering out of her apartment in a daze and
then wandering down the streets and then, you
know, goes to the hospital. And I think that's
the point where she's like, she can't really
live with herself anymore. I think she's realized
what she's become. She's not really human anymore.
And I think that part of it, like going along
with the addiction theme, you know, not that
I have firsthand experience with that either,
but I think it's like, at what point does like
an addict, like look at themselves from the outside
looking in and kind of say like, oh, I am not
myself. I don't recognize myself, you know, for
that sort of like, you know, I think pathetic
is a good word for it. Very effective. emotional
fallout from that scene for that to come like
right after that really crazy blood orgy is pretty
impressive like this is a pretty there are a
lot of tonal shifts in this movie and i think
that one works really well another kind of interesting
thing i think about this movie is you know it's
so common in uh vampire fiction for the the vampires
to be kind of depicted as like sexy and like
that's you know they're sort of seductive in
that way And in this movie, it's like the vampires
are sort of seductive, but it's like what they're
being seduced into is not like sexual per se.
It's almost more like they're being seduced into,
I guess, just going to like extremes of human
experience, like extremes of sordidness, I guess
you would say. So I thought that was just an
interesting difference between this movie and
other vampire stuff I've seen. Same. I feel like
that's a good segue into some of the Catholic
themes in this movie, ideas of sin and redemption
and forgiveness in the face of God, forgiveness
from God. So yeah, again, I kind of just want
to open it up to you guys and see if those ideas
are compelling to you, how you responded to some
of those themes in the movie. I can start if
you'd like. Yeah, you go first. You know, I'll
say right up front that I'm... Not especially
religious. Like, my dad is Jewish and my mom
is Christian. And, like, my sister and I were
raised, like, pretty secular. Like, we didn't
really go to church or temple or anything when
I was a kid. So, like, generally themes about,
you know, faith or lack thereof and, like, redemption,
atonement, things like that, usually don't really,
like, hit home for me all that much. And, you
know, like, Paul Schrader talks about a lot of
those themes a lot. Abel Ferrara in a lot of
his movies obviously talks about that. For me,
I think it was a little bit more effective in
this movie because of, like, the twin theme of
addiction. Like, I think there's some dialogue
in this movie about how, like, if you're aware
that you're sinning, then you open yourself up
to judgment from God and, like, you make it possible
to be forgiven, you know? And I, yeah, that's,
like, a really compelling idea to me. Like, you
know, everybody makes mistakes, certainly not
at the level of the characters in this movie,
but, like... You know, to just ask like, you
know, can I be forgiven for what I've done? That's
a compelling theme. You know, usually I approach
that from like a non -religious sort of viewpoint.
But even though it's like very Catholic in this
movie, I still found it very compelling. I found
the, I didn't mind it. I didn't feel it resonated
with me the way to compare it to The Exorcist
and that Catholic redemption story. Like that
was very powerful to me. But in The Addiction,
I think it's because the religious aspect came
at the end, and it wasn't really woven through
the rest of the story. So just structurally,
I was left thinking, oh, okay, we're going to
end the movie on a religious note. I get it thematically,
but structurally, I would have liked to have
seen that woven in more in Kathy's story. What
was her relationship with the church, with her
own faith? The movie didn't really explore that
at all until the end. Yeah, I agree with Vincent.
I thought that felt very, very rushed at the
end. And that does seem to be a theme from the
handful of other Ferreira things that I've seen
that he's definitely interested in. Bad Lieutenant
is all about this character who's like a... completely
repugnant person who's, who's trying to like
find salvation. And yeah, it didn't seem, yeah,
it seemed to kind of come out of nowhere in this
movie. And it just, you know, you see, see the
character doing terrible things. And then I,
you know, she makes what I guess you could say
is sort of a heroic sacrifice at the end, all
of a sudden out of nowhere. And then, I guess
has this moment of grace or whatever, but, but
yeah, I, I guess maybe he's interested in seeing
how far you can push a character toward being
unlikable. And then if they're still worthy of
forgiveness or whatever, but yeah, it wasn't,
I didn't really buy in into the ending. It seemed
almost a little bit random to me. Hmm. I think
that's all fair. Yeah. And I guess like the,
The downside of stressing that theme is, like,
I feel like it kind of suggests that, like, one
way to get through addiction is, like, faith
in God and, like, religious piety. And, like,
I don't believe that's a good way to get. I mean,
like, it helps probably. But, you know, it does
feel kind of lazy to say that, like, this could
be your path to salvation or whatever, you know?
So, yeah, I think it's highly personal. It's
Nicholas St. John's and Abel Ferrara's story.
So I don't know if that helped Ferrara through
his his own journey. So be it. But I agree with
you, Matt. And and I don't want my criticism
to also take away from the fact that I agree
with you on that. That theme of guilt that is
throughout the film for me. So that works. And
if anything, her religious acceptance at the
end is maybe just like another philosophy that
she. is digging into i i read a review maybe
i can throw a link in the show notes here but
i read a review that kind of explored some of
the religious themes and like one really interesting
point i thought was like there's the scene where
kathy is like basically locked in a closet and
she's like very hysterically screaming like i
will not submit i will not submit i'm like tearing
off her clothes and interesting moment kind of
over the top but pretty powerful i would say
and like the review you know kind of makes the
point that like you assume she's saying that
she's not going to give in to her blood lust
like she's not going to submit to you like drinking
the blood of another human being but this review
made the point that that's also what lucifer
says to god like i will not submit to you and
that's like you know an evil figure is sort of
like you know evil quote unquote sort of saying
like I don't need your judgment. Like I am my
own person or whatever. The review says it better
than I'm saying it right now. But, you know,
because I'm not very religious, I probably never
would have really thought of that connection.
But I thought that was kind of an interesting
point. I would have liked to have seen more.
Just if I may wrap this up, I yeah, I would have
liked to have seen more struggle than between
those conventions of good versus evil. I thought
one one moment that was really interesting. And
I probably should have written down the exact
line of dialogue here, but was when the Lily
Taylor character is first turned into a vampire.
And the vampire who's about to turn her says
something to the effect of like, you know, tell
me to go away or whatever. And I guess that kind
of relates a little bit to what you were talking
about just a moment ago, Matt. But it's like,
you know, she's like saying... i guess i don't
know exactly what she's saying with it but i
thought that was really interesting she's she's
like it kind of almost saying like you know even
though she's forcing herself from the lily taylor
character she's kind of saying like you know
you don't have to do this but i know you want
to or whatever kind of and i i just thought that
was interesting i don't i don't know necessarily
what to say about it because i don't know entirely
what to make of that but i just thought it was
a very interesting moment yeah and then kathy
says that to several of her victims later in
the movie too and like nobody literally says
like go away they all seem kind of horrified
but also like titillated a little bit as well
you know and like For whatever reason, they don't
tell these menacing figures to go away. To me,
I think maybe that's the human fascination with
the dark side. They can't bring themselves to
say that. They're like, I want this to happen
even if I'm terrified to see what happens. That's
how I read that, anyway. Yeah, I mean, there's
so much to this movie. I mean, we could also
talk about like the depiction of social inequality
in New York and the depiction of the black characters,
which is maybe slightly questionable in this
movie. You know, themes of identity. But yeah,
maybe it's best to kind of just be like explore
on your own, you know, like there's so much to
like pick apart and like think about in this
movie. But yeah, time to break it down. So as
always, we talk about the good, the bad and the
campy here on Camp Kaju. I think this movie is
overwhelmingly good in terms of, well, just about
everything. Matt, your language of film is creeping
into my own language here. It is formally very
good with its camera work and everything. But
what I'll say is I love it. It's a very modern,
very 90s movie. And yet there are elements of
traditional. folk vampire stories in this and
allusions, I would say, to previous vampire films,
the universal ones in particular. For example,
there is a, I think, gorgeous shot of the sun
setting behind some clouds. And that shot, it
seems I've seen that shot before, either in the
Legosi movie. or maybe Coppola's take, but that
shot was really eye -catching. There's when Kathy
and her professor go to that cafe. What a wonderfully
funny scene that was. But there's a folk band
playing, like Eastern European music, which just
set the tone. I was like, yes, this is everything,
that old -timey vampire movie I love. The covering
the mirrors in Kathy's apartment. It's like a
subtle vampire lore homage, but there it was.
And my favorite thing, maybe I'm reading into
it, but I don't think I am. If you recall the
movie Dracula's Daughter, 1936, the famous or
infamous scene of the lesbian seduction in that
movie, the countess seduces a very young, blonde
woman baby faced and in and in the addiction
kathy seduces a very young blonde looking woman
and brings her to her apartment and just like
the way it's framed and again blocked and the
casting choice for the young college girl to
kind of look the same as this young woman and
dracula's daughter i just like i I really think
I know what is happening here. This illusion
is, I don't know, it's a little treat for those
who know. So I like that. There's a lot in this
movie I could go on about, but those are the
things I wanted to share. I definitely second
that the look of the movie, I think, was the
highlight for me. Absolutely beautiful cinematography.
And I particularly liked the scene of... the
protagonist being turned into a vampire i mean
that's that's something of course you see in
every single vampire movie but i think this might
have been the best version of that type of scene
that i've ever seen just the way she gets like
whipped down so she's taken into this kind of
like outdoor stairwell thing and the way that
she's just like whipped down down the stairs
I can't really do it justice in words, but it's
so crazy. And then when they're in the stairwell
thing, there's these lattice -type things that
are giving them these miniature shafts of light
all over their faces of both the perpetrator
and the victim. And it's just so stunning looking.
And just again, I use the word a couple of times
here, but very hypnotic scene. I thought that
that was absolutely incredible. And also just
just in general, just how it to go also to what
Vincent was talking about in terms of how the
movie uses these vampire tropes. But like all
of these familiar things from vampire lore, but
it it does them in a different way. I've ever
seen them done before. It's just a very, very
distinctive movie, despite being in this very,
you know, familiar subgenre. Totally agree with
everything you guys said. Vincent, the scene
that you brought up with the anthropology students,
I really love that scene. That's a great connection
to Dracula's daughter. There's a line that Kathy
says in that scene where she tells the student
who she's already attacked, and the student is
horrified, of course, and Kathy tells her, My
indifference is not the concern here. It's your
astonishment that needs studying. And it's just
such a cold, brutal line. I did not expect that.
And I could kind of see that being in Dracula's
Daughter, too, even if it's a little bit more
emotionally vicious than you might find in that
movie. But yeah, I agree. That's a really incredible
scene. Lily Taylor is fantastic in that and throughout
the whole movie. And yeah, like both of you guys
said, it's just really gorgeous. Great lighting,
great shadows. It's weird because it seems kind
of handheld and that sort of like, you know,
run and gun style. But at the same time, it's
very graceful. It feels kind of slow at times
in the best possible way. It's like a very particular
mood that I think the movie achieves. And I just
think, I think there's something interesting
about pretty much every scene in this movie.
Like, that's not to say all of them work perfectly,
but like, whether it's like a shot or a line
of dialogue or a connection to the characters
in some way. Yeah, I was never bored for a second,
and there's just so much going on in this movie,
thematically, visually. Emotionally, I think,
because Lily Taylor is so good, I do think you
do identify with her and relate to what she's
going through a little bit. Maybe not relate
to, but empathize with. Yeah, it's a really fascinating
movie, and I think, as often happens with messy,
imperfect movies, that just kind of makes them
more interesting, in my opinion. I don't know
how messy it is, though. I think this movie is
tight in its construction. No, yeah, like a brief
82 minutes, which is, you know, and everything
this movie does in that brief running time is
very impressive. Maybe we'll flip it around and
I can start with the bad stuff and then turn
it over to you guys. I do agree that the footage
of real world atrocities does seem kind of like
loosely connected at best. And maybe... it's
interesting but i think maybe just overplayed
a little bit yeah yeah for me a lot of that stuff
you're talking about felt extraneous and and
also the stuff about the the redemption toward
the end felt very like tacked out to me like
they had these interesting ideas but they didn't
really think them through or yeah it just it
it seems like In some ways, I think the movie
is kind of less than the sum of its parts. But
yeah, it's never less than interesting. Maybe
I zoned out for just a second, but the Christopher
Walken scene didn't bother me. I liked that scene,
but I think I lost the plot a little bit when
it appeared like he was keeping her there captive,
like he was feeding on her and she was on the
floor. He was teaching her a lesson. And I don't
know why I just thought this movie was going
to be the rest of the runtime her locked in his
house and him feeding on her. So I didn't track
how she eventually got away, why she got away.
So I don't know if that was me or the film. I
can't say. I think that's fair. And I think,
in fact, he drinks so much of her blood that
she tries to slit her wrist to drink her own
blood, but she's unable to do so. yeah that was
right yeah yeah so that yeah but it is a strange
scene for sure because like yeah christopher
walken does say like i've learned to control
my cravings i can go decades without feeding
and like he's trying to fit in as a human being
so it seems like maybe he's trying to like teach
her a lesson or something by feeding on her which
perhaps is slightly confusing And then she like,
I was also surprised that she just like leaves
his apartment. Like one moment she's kind of
writhing on the ground and the next shot she's
walking on the sidewalk outside. So it's, yeah,
it's confusing. And I don't know exactly what
that scene is trying to get at, but like so much
in this movie, I'm like, I like it. Even if I
don't totally understand it. Yeah. Yeah. I think
a lot of what works in his part is that it is
so disorienting though. Cause he's such a, and
it, you know, he's like, probably of all famous
actors, the one who's most notoriously like just
kind of an alien presence, you know, where you
don't really know what the hell's going on with
them, regardless of what type of role he's playing.
And he's got that weird, like stilted diction
and everything. And I thought it was a very effective
use of him, but yeah, I guess the idea maybe
is supposed to be that he's a, he's like this
guy who's trying. maybe to tell himself that
he's overcoming the vampire thing, or maybe trying
to convince others that he is, but maybe he's
just kind of a charlatan. And, you know, he still
is, in fact, just as much of a blood addict as
the rest of the vampires or something. I don't
know. I like that. I thought that scene brought
an interesting, just an interesting different
energy to the movie that it doesn't have in other
moments. Yeah. I like that scene too. Just the
transition out of it. Yeah, it does kind of just
end and then he never comes back. They could
only afford him for an eight hour shoot. You
could tell. It's like, oh wow. He's the top filled
actor. Yeah, this deferred payment is not going
to work for me. I kept waiting for Christopher
Walken in this movie and then he shows up. That's
it. One and done. Yeah, it really is like a cameo,
like Frank said, but like really fascinating,
bizarre cameo. They also shot that scene in Julian
Schnabel's loft, which I thought was kind of
interesting. He like let them film there, which
is cool. That's a cool set. Like the paintings
and like the sort of elegant, but like frightening
decor or whatever. There's a lot about that scene
that I like a lot. Yeah. Sorry, Vincent, did
you have anything else in your bad category?
I did not. Okay. I feel like this movie is remarkable
for how not campy it is, but maybe there are
certain elements. Anything you guys want to mention?
I just found it funny that the first, maybe the
only bit of true comedy, and it's still so underplayed,
is when Kathy goes out with her professor and
they're having a really awkward time. He is.
It's like she doesn't want to study. And then
she lures him into her apartment. And he says,
I wrote it down. You know, it hasn't been the
most enjoyable evening. Yeah. But he's a man.
So he goes in to sleep with her and gets turned
into a vampire. I like that line, too. And I
also loved it right before then in that same
scene where they're sitting awkwardly in that
nightclub very silently. After a while, he's
like, you haven't said a single word all night.
And then she goes off on this philosophical rant
about how there are two types of silence. I thought
that was really funny. Yeah, the only thing I
can think of in terms of campiness is I thought
the song that played over the opening credits
was terrible. I was like, oh man, it could be
a really bad movie. Just a really cheap sounding...
Even the recording quality of it was just not
very good. how did this make the cut yeah i'm
glad you brought that up because that yeah that's
a terrible song and like it does not fit the
rest of the movie it's so it was like the hip
-hop song right well it's kind of more like a
bluesy song i think it's that joe delia guy but
yeah it's just i don't remember exactly how it
goes but it's just it's just like addiction oh
yeah yeah yeah it's just it's like really bad
like yeah i don't have anything interesting to
say about it but it was just a terrible song
well sure it's like we get it ferrara it's the
addiction we get it yeah it's more like r &b
vibes than hip -hop i would say uh no that the
end credits there's there's like a rap song that's
playing oh yeah it's the n -word a lot yeah really
bizarre that russell simmons was a producer on
this movie that just seems like utterly random
to me i know there's like a handful of hip -hop
songs in the soundtrack and everything but there's
nothing about this movie that says deaf jan right
really bizarre yeah and i think russell simmons
is the first name you see in the credits like
russell simmons presents or something like that
yeah yeah I was hoping I could find more information
about like a weird collaboration between Abel
Ferrara and Russell Simmons, but I think he was
just the money man kind of, you know, but not
very much money in this case. Yeah. Yeah. And
like, I don't think I really have anything campy,
but I do like some of the, I don't know, very
wordy dialogue in this movie. It's like kind
of funny to me at times. Like when she describes
philosophy as adversity's sweet milk, I thought
that was funny. And then there's another line
where she says this obtuseness, it's disheartening.
So just lines like that. I mean, again, I don't
really like the word pretentious too much because
I feel like people say it like to avoid thinking
about weird things in movies, but, but some of
the weird pretentious dialogue in this movie
is enjoyable. That's not really a criticism.
I just, I like how wordy this movie is, you know?
Yeah. It reminds me of a line of dialogue and
I think it's Melinda and Melinda by Woody Allen,
where somebody, somebody is like getting angry
at someone and they about like a lie they told
or whatever and they say that you know this is
a baseless canard and it's like okay did the
person who write that write this like ever talk
to a human being yeah it's like nobody would
ever just say that this movie pulls that off
better than melinda and melinda did maybe yeah
weird comparison i know Alright, well perhaps
we are at the time of our episode where we give
the film a rating. As always on Camp Kaiju, we
have four ratings. Our highest rating is it is
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 I'll throw it out
to you guys partially because I don't totally
know what my rating is yet. So I want to hear
what you say first. Okay. Frank, you want to
go first? Sure. I'll say I'll, I'll go with the,
there may be some antiquated moments, but overall
it's great and stands the test of time. You know,
like we were talking about, I think there's some
moments where it doesn't totally come together
or cohere, especially when it's kind of reaching
for some of these bigger themes that I think
are a little bit out of its grasp maybe, but
it's, highly distinctive you know very beautiful
and and powerful in some ways and it has a handful
of of really fantastic scenes in it so i would
say definitely worth checking out for anybody
who likes definitely anybody who likes vampire
stuff or who likes horror movies in general and
especially horror movies on the more offbeat
end and And probably anyone who just likes kind
of artsy movies as well, even if you're not particularly
a horror fan, although I'm sure anyone listening
to this is a horror fan. But yeah, definitely
well worth checking out and a very, very interesting
movie. Awesome. Yeah, I like everything you just
said. I will bump it up a titch higher to a timeless
classic. And I say that because it's clearly
underrated. Because it's so underseen, I would
recommend this to anybody. But I would say it's
not an easy movie to watch at times. The close
-up of the needle in the professor's arm, that
was real and uncomfortable to watch. But it's
such an arresting image, and this movie is full
of shots like that, in addition to the character
arcs. and the multitude of themes that you could
dig into. You could watch this movie a thousand
times and pick up on different things. So yeah,
I mean, there are some little qualms, but overall
I found myself riveted by what I was watching.
Nice. I love it. Those were the two ratings that
I was gravitating between. So I don't know if
I think I've been convinced I'm going to bump
it up to our highest rating. It definitely stands,
well, you know, I think it stands the test of
time. I'm excited to watch this movie again at
some point because, Vincent, like you said, I
feel like you can watch it many, many times and
come away with different takeaways each time.
Certainly not all of it works. You know, it's,
yeah, Frank, I agree with what you said, that
sometimes it seems to be like... fumbling for
big profound themes that maybe are not very carefully
conveyed but uh i just really admire this movie
i love how beautiful it is first of all all the
ideas it has on its mind what it does with the
vampire subgenre um i really loved it so i think
despite a few reservations i'll have to give
it our highest rating cool i what a great conversation
frank thank you so much for joining us tonight
for this interesting movie i hope you uh had
fun tonight Yeah. Thank you for having me. And
I'm glad that you recommended this one. Cause
yeah, it's one of those movies I like sort of
always wanted to see, but you know, there's never
really toward the top of my list or whatever,
but I'm really glad to have checked it out. Very
interesting and always fun to talk with you guys.
Yeah, likewise, man. Thanks for always coming
on. Hope to see you again in a few weeks. Cool.
Like Vincent said, always a pleasure to have
you on. Frank, thank you. Again, our next episode
will be Pacific Rim and then our holiday special
where I'll wear my Grinch costume. Thanks for
hanging out with us, friends. Please rate and
review the show and follow us on Patreon .com
slash Camp Kaiju for additional videos, reviews,
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in Minneapolis, St. Paul, with Minya's Mailbox
music by Ben Cook -Felts. Thanks, friends, and
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latest updates and insights. You can't eat. You
can't sleep. You can't even go out. To satisfy
the urge during the day. You are a slave to what
you are, and you're nothing. I defecate. When's
the last time you did that? I'm almost human.
I eat, I sleep, I have a job. I can diet. Took
a long time. You think you know what we are.
The point is to blend in.