The only other Abominable Snowman I can think
of in movies is in Monsters, Inc., a movie that
I really love. And the Yeti there is also really
kind and generous and fun to be around. So maybe
that's a running theme. Welcome to the Himalayas.
Yeah, exactly. Love that movie. Which we should
talk about sometime. Hello and welcome to Camp
Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We're your hosts,
Matt Levine and Vincent Hanna. And we're 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, all strange beasts
are welcome here. Camp Kaiju is brought to you
by Zack Linder and the Zack 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. A small
band of men on a perilous search for the man
-beast of Tibet, the abominable snowman of the
Himalayas. You've heard of him, haven't you?
The world's most shocking monster. No one's ever
lived who's seen him. Be on your guard. He's
coming to this theater. The abominable snowman
dares you. We dare you. Dare you to see the abominable
snowman of the Himalayas. What did it look like?
Tell me, what did you see, Kusang? Tell me! I
see. I see what men must not see. They're after
me. They know it was me that did it last night.
They're after me. They're after all of us. They
just killed McBain. Why say that? It was an accident.
It's me next. They know it was me. Stay where
you are. Ed, I can hear you. You've got to understand
that isn't Shelley. It isn't anybody. I can hear
his voice. It's in your own mind. It's just happened
to me too. Warning. Only those with stout nerves
and strong hearts should risk seeing the abominable
snowman of the Himalayas. So, Vincent, we have
a special guest joining us today on this episode
of Camp Kaiju. Steffi Theodora, thank you so
much for joining us. This is the sound of my
voice. Hello. Thank you so much for being here.
Steffi, you and I connected on Instagram just
as like mutual monster movie lovers a month ago,
not too long ago. But I love the stuff you're
putting on Instagram and I'll give you a chance
to talk about all that stuff. Kindred spirits,
for sure. So thank you for being here to talk
about this classic horror monster movie. Yeah,
pleasure is all mine. I've been a big fan of
the show, and I love what you guys do. The last
episode, well, not the one that came out today,
but before, I was just laughing so hard. I think
you guys have huge comedy chops, and your historical
knowledge, it's just uncanny, the combination.
So I'm really happy to be here. Thank you, Steffi.
All right. Watch this episode completely crash
and burn. But thank you for those kind words.
Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you again so much
for being here. You're joining from Athens, Greece
today, right? That's right. Yes. Very cool. Are
you able to talk a little bit about like your
monster movie background, like what you do on
Instagram, maybe the name of your Instagram handle
and just kind of how you got into monster movies?
Sure. So I have been a screenwriter for the past
15 years. So I've mostly been writing kids cartoons.
And of course, like a lot of my inspiration has
come from the movies from the 50s. And so like
combining my passion with monster movies, I've
always tried to like infuse that into my kids
cartoons. So some of the shows that I've worked
on, like I'm usually the one who gets the monster
episodes. And yeah, it's just somehow been this
crazy thing that's brought me a lot of joy you
know it's like a comfort food and like I also
love hearing the old stories of the behind the
scenes and the historical like significance of
a lot of these movies and of course like they're
not just about monsters as we will talk about
today they're always about something more philosophical
and something different and I find that That
also isn't as pretentious as a lot of other films
that try to say something. So I love monster
movies that they're just easily accessible for
a wider audience where I feel like, you know,
a lot of these serious dramas and stuff like
that, you have to be like super smart to understand
it. But monster movies have a great way of sneaking
in really smart things, but also being like entertaining.
And yeah, just for like the last couple of months,
I decided to just take like my favorite movies
and show the favorite, like my favorite parts
of them. So I call it a monster movie minute.
And I just go over like, Oh, you haven't seen
the wasp woman. Okay. Here's like the best parts
and why you should see it. And then like historically
why it was significant. And then, you know, like
questions like, Oh, could that have been an inspiration
for the substance kind of thing, or going through
like the history of how they did the original
hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Chaney, just
talking about, you know, You know, when they're
building, Universal was building the lot, what
that looked like. So a lot of it's like historical,
but then like infused with my personal love.
And then, yeah, it's all in one minute for the
short attention spans. But like hopefully like
getting younger people to like see like, oh,
these old movies, these are really good. You
know, they were checking out like you guys do.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. kindred spirits
because i i started camp kaiju kind of in the
same vein like years ago just like five minute
episodes nowhere near the production quality
that you have on your instagram but certainly
that idea of everything everything you enjoy
today has its roots going back a hundred years
and more even to literary sources so just like
storytelling itself nothing there are no new
ideas but there are always new and interesting
twists and spins to these tried and true stories
that that always that gets me going as a writer
matt's a writer too indeed we're all writers
here yeah that's great we'll have to write something
together one day that would be super cool that'd
be amazing let's start working on that and expensive
i'm sure it'd be very expensive the ideas we
would come up with We'll worry about budget later.
Well, cool. Thank you so much, Steffi. And yeah,
totally agreed. Especially in the sense of the
blend of genre entertainment and thematic depth
and historical complexity. I know Vincent feels
this way too, but I just think that if you can
present that stuff through fun, visceral genre
entertainment, that kind of makes everything
more engaging, more powerful in a way, even if
it kind of sneaks up on you a little bit. So
yeah, kindred spirits, like Vincent said, for
sure. So today we are talking about The Abominable
Snowman from 1957, which is maybe not an early
Hammer Horror film, but relatively early in their
horror heyday. They didn't really start focusing
on horror and science fiction until the mid -50s,
mostly due to the success with films like The
Curse of Frankenstein and also The Quartermast
Experiment. We'll be talking a little bit about
that more in this episode. So a relatively early
Hammer Horror film, if not an early Hammer film
itself. This was also known as the abominable
snowman of the Himalayas in the United States
upon its release. Just wanted to throw that out
there as well. Thank you so much for hanging
out with us today, friends. Please rate and review
the show and follow us on patreon .com slash
campkaiju for additional videos, reviews, merchandise,
and more. Other ways you can get in touch are
via email, campkaiju at gmail .com. On our website,
campkaijupodcast .com. on Instagram, and our
voicemail number, 612 -470 -2612. Special thank
you to our current Patreon members, Jason, Chris,
Sean, Peggy, Superfan Don, Steffi, our guest
star today, and our anonymous patron. Thank you
so much. So yeah, thank you so much to our Patreon
members. Sign up and get, you know, some special
swag announcements. Who knows what's going to
come up in the future. So thank you again. I'm
doing some blogs every now and then. I just released
one featuring famous actors from Minnesota, like
James Arness, who is in The Thing from Another
World, and them, even Josh Hartnett, more recent
actors as well, Winona Ryder. So that's on there
for patrons. I still go back to little five -minute
short videos, just me blabbing about. my monster
movie collection and kind of what I'm up to.
And so, yeah, there's lots of things to check
out on the Patreon and some additional nuts and
bolts. Just real quick. Coming up February 11th.
That's a Wednesday, February 11th in St. Paul,
Minnesota at the Blackheart Bar. You can join
me at the Blackheart where I will present as
a part of the Nerd Night programming. I've talked
about this before, but it's a really cool. organization
maybe I don't know but they they do it across
America in bars and the the conceit is that you
can present you can sign up to present on any
topic you just like really nerd out about well
here I am with a podcast total nerd and I thought
for a 15 minute 10 minute slideshow like it's
really short it's a 10 minute slideshow I will
present to a bar full of patrons and they will
ask me questions and my topic is going to be
who would win in a fight the blob or the thing
and what makes that interesting and this is an
argument all over the internet you can look it
up what makes it interesting is that the blob
absorbs creatures and the thing assimilates creatures
so there's a difference in that what that is
i'll really get into the nuts and bolts if you
will but who would win In that hypothetical battle.
Listeners out there in the world, if you have
any thoughts, send them our way. And maybe I
will definitely listen to those arguments as
I construct my slideshow presentation. So that's
really cool, exciting, and just some fun coming
up. Some other really cool, exciting news is
the Rondo Awards nomination process is open.
A little bit about the Rondo Hatton Horror Awards.
They are prestigious awards, and they honor horror
media from the past year, mostly in the classic
realm. Camp Kaiju last year was nominated for
Best Podcast with four others, including Frankenstein
Minute and Monster Kid Radio. Friends of the
Pod, shows that I've been on, shows that they
have joined us on. So the Rondo Awards. are fan
-based, and you as a listener, I would encourage
you to go throw Camp Kaiju into the mix, and
you could do this one of two ways. You can go
to the Classic Horror Film Board, just Google
that, and you'll see information about the Rondo
Awards. You can email the runner of the Rondo
Awards, and his name is David Colton. at t -a
-r -a -c -o at aol .com or you can just go to
our patreon .com slash camp kaiju one -stop shop
and you can read my own post about that with
related links so please if you feel so inclined
give camp kaiju a nomination awesome thank you
vincent We always do something on Camp Kaiju
where we take a look back at monster movies that
came out around this time in horror movie history.
So for us, that'll be like late January, early
February. I have a list of movies here that came
out around this time of year. Steffi, do any
of those titles kind of jump out at you? Is there
anything you want to shout out on that list?
Well, I love The Incredible Shrinking Woman.
I think that movie does not get enough credit.
It's insane. The props, everything. And so that
it came out in, yeah, like this time of year
is pretty cool. Flash Gordon's trip to Mars,
I had no idea when that was received. So I'm
imagining people with their coats on going into
the theater and what if they paid a penny or
something to see the serial. And Invasion of
the Body Snatchers, which is crazy because you
guys were also mentioning this on a previous
podcast. This time of year, the movies were released
kind of... in thought that they wouldn't be considered
for an award. Is that right? It's kind of too
late for the big awards. Yeah. And certainly
for in recent history, I'm not sure about the
past. Okay. Yeah. Because Invasion of the Body
Snatchers for me, I mean, like that one. Definitely
should have gotten some kind of award. And matinee,
I mean, that's too bad for Joe Dante and I guess
William Castle, but it didn't get enough recognition.
But yeah, no, it's a fabulous list. Videodrome.
Oh, Lost World. And you guys are covering Lost
World 2 this year, right? We are. Yeah. Yeah,
we'll be talking about that one soon. I wish
we could have made that in for its centennial
last year in 2025, but we're just a little bit
late. So happy to be talking about that one soon.
Willis O 'Brien will never forgive us. Yeah.
I want to shout out In the Mouth of Madness,
a John Carpenter film from 1995 released this
time that year. I just recently watched it for
the first time. And it is madness. At first,
for me, it was kind of like a slow burn trying
to get into it. But then by like the final...
third of the film it was a it was a roller coaster
of madness with sam neill would recommend well
okay i'll check that out oh yeah that's a great
movie that's a good latter day john carpenter
i recently watched ghosts of mars which i really
love and i didn't have high expectations because
vincent we've talked about vampires the john
carpenter movie on the podcast before which i
don't i didn't like very much and i don't think
you did either but ghosts of mars is like Way
better. And it came right after Vampires. So
I chose the wrong late Carpenter movie. Sorry
about that. It's a better title than just Vampires.
Yeah. Ghosts of Mars really captures the imagination.
Totally. And that's, I mean, that's the movie
in a nutshell, way more original and creative
than Vampires is. So maybe we'll bring that to
the pod someday. Maybe. The movie that I want
to shout out on this list is Phenomena from 1985.
That's by Dario Argento. Very young Jennifer
Connelly is in that movie. She plays a girl of
like a boarding school in Italy where a bunch
of people have been killed recently in true giallo
fashion. And Jennifer Connelly's character turns
out to have a weird relationship with insects.
Like she can call insects to her and like make
them attack people. And that helps her kind of
like solve the crime. It's a really weird giallo,
very stylish. of Dario Argento's movies. Top
three Argento, I would say. So that's a really
good one. Sweet. I'll check that out, too. Yeah,
I don't know if you guys are fans of Giallo or
Dario Argento. He has some bad movies, but like
Suspiria, Opera, Tenebrae, Deep Red, those are
all pretty great, in my opinion. In terms of
new and upcoming releases, there are some good
pseudo -monster movies coming out. Have either
of you seen the new 28 Years Later Bone Temple
movie yet? No, that just dropped, right? Yeah,
I think maybe a week ago, yeah. I love 28 Years
Later, so I'm super excited to see what they
did with it. Did you see 28 Years Later? Yeah,
I mostly really liked it a lot. There were a
few small things I didn't like, but Ralph Fiennes
is amazing in that movie. Yeah, definitely. And
I mean, they shot them both together, so I guess
it's kind of this good continuation. So very
excited to see that one. Definitely, yeah. I've
heard good things about Primate, which just seems
like such a ridiculous monkey on the loose sort
of creature feature. Surprisingly, that's supposed
to be pretty good. All You Need Is Kill is a
new anime movie with a great title. I love that
title. And yeah, Steffi, you're kind of highlighting
this right now. I don't know if you knew that
Luc Besson has a new Dracula movie coming out.
This is the one... With Christopher Waltz, right.
I saw it because I live in Europe. I saw a trailer
and I was like, what the hell is this? It was
in a different language. And I was like, is this
like old or new or what is happening here? Because
they speak French. It's all in French, I believe,
the film. Is that correct? I think so. I don't
really know very much about it, but I think so,
yeah. But I guess it has good reviews. It's supposed
to be very good. Okay. There's something in the
water, I think, with reimagining the classic
monsters. How many Frankenstein adaptations are
we getting? There's The Bride coming out, directed
by Maggie Gyllenhaal. And then Universal's releasing
yet another Mummy film, directed by Lee Cronin,
this time around. The trailer, I don't know.
I think it looks promising. It looks like a proper
horror film rather than... The action adventure
that was the Tom Cruise one. So I'm hoping at
least it's scary. That's all I would just, even
if it's not like great quote unquote, I just
want it to be a proper horror film. It didn't
look mummy enough for me. Like it, it looked
too horror. I was like, where's the. mummy i
want more mummy you know um but yeah it kind
of seems like this thing where every 10 years
they're sort of rebooting them and whether they're
successful or not like we kind of forget like
the bad ones and then they just redo them like
all over again so and they're making i don't
know if you guys saw that tim burton's redoing
attack of the 50 foot woman sorry i've been following
that closely oh yeah what's the latest on that
one I think they're just still in talks, really.
Okay. Redevelopment. So nothing new, new, but
I hope that comes to pass because that is such
a great story. I mean, the original is so fun
in a campy way that I'd love to see a modern
take on it. In addition to the, what was the
one from 1990? 89, something like that. There
was, there was another one. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah, and Tim Burton needs to redeem himself.
I think he owes us a good movie after all these
years. Yeah, for sure. Come on, Tim. You can
do it. There's one more. Yeah, there's got to
be. What happened? If anything's getting back
on track, you would think it would be that movie.
It's perfect. Yes. Handing it to you on a platter.
It's Margot Robbie. Come on. How can you screw
this up? Screw this up. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And
like with the new Dracula, it's like, yeah, it
would be nice if they would maybe not go back
to the same well over and over again and maybe
make something new. But, you know, somebody like
Luc Besson who has, who's interesting, like even
though he's hit or miss, but like always pretty
interesting. It's like, oh, you know, I'll show
up for that and see what he does with it. So
we'll see. Yeah. In terms of what's coming up
on Camp Kaiju, next up we'll have Blackula featuring
our frequent guest star, Sean Pryor. Vincent,
you're bringing that to the podcast. Is there
anything you want to say about that one? No,
just looking forward to it. Sean Pryor is always
a delight to have on the show, a good friend
of ours. So looking forward to that one. After
that, I just need to double check, Matt. I do
not believe it's Troll Hunter. I think in that
case, it's probably Alucarda, the Mexican horror
movie. Correct. Which is like a gothic film set
at a convent, I believe. It's kind of about demonic
possession and things like that. I don't know
a lot about it, but it's high on most of the
lists of best Mexican horror movies of all time.
So very excited for that. Nice. And then a special
episode, we're going to have author. and monster
movie enthusiast Tom Shubilla on the show. He
has written a historical book about King Kong
versus Godzilla, the Toho film from the 60s and
the cultural impact of the film. So he reached
out asking if he could stop by camp. I said,
absolutely. Let's talk about your book and talk
about some Showa era Godzilla films. So looking
forward to that. Absolutely. That'll be fun.
All campers welcome here on Camp Kaiju. So if
there's anything you want to reach out about,
I mentioned some of the ways you can do so earlier,
and we'll mention those again. But please let
us know if you have any ideas or feedback on
the show. Yeah. But today, again, we're talking
about The Abominable Snowman from Hammer Studios.
What are our personal histories with this movie?
Steffi, do you have a personal history with this
movie or with Hammer films in general? I do.
So with this movie, it was one of those really
hot days in the summer. It was like August on
a Saturday, just like you think you're going
crazy. And I was like, I need to watch something
to get my mind off of this heat. What can I watch?
I just need to do something. And then I said,
oh, it's finally time for Abominable Snowman.
So I'm a big Val Guest fan. So Val Guest directed.
Fantastic film, The Day the Earth Blew Up, if
you've seen that one. Definitely worth checking
out. Or sorry, The Day the Earth Caught Fire,
which is not a movie you want to watch when it's
super hot out because that movie is very hot.
So I thought, okay, I'll put on Abominable Snowman.
And then, yeah, I actually am not like the biggest
Hammer Horror fan. I am like revisiting a lot
of their kind of odd films now. So I just watched
The Gorgon. But like initially like this kind
of gothic like thing. isn't really like slow
burn isn't really my thing. So I was really pleasantly
surprised and totally like captivated by this
film as soon as I saw it. I just, you know, I'm
really into the anamorphic lens thing and the
fact that this was Hammer's first time using
those lenses. And it's just like this wide screen
of these beautiful shots and like Peter Cushing,
like his ability to just play a character that
you love so much. you know, and you really root
for is like pretty uncanny. And yeah, I just
thought the atmosphere of this and I, yeah, I
loved everything about it immediately and was
trying to like tell everyone I know, like you
guys see this movie and stuff. So yeah, I've
been in love with it since I first saw it. And
when I saw you guys were going to do it, I was
like, oh yeah, that would be like my number one
choice. So I'm glad we get to talk about it today.
That's awesome. It's a perfect fit. Yeah. Did
it. accomplish your goal of taking your mind
off of the heat how like how it was yeah i think
you know it's got so much snow and atmosphere
and you really feel like you know and i guess
they when they shot it in england as well like
those sets like it was really cold too you can
see their breath and it actually was freezing
for them so i think it does work if you if you're
in a situation and you're like needing to cool
down you know watch it watch a movie that like
yeah makes you feel like you're outside yeah
yeah totally my part i i had never heard of this
movie honestly until matt recommended it for
the show i am not super familiar with like the
hammer output i've seen a few things i've seen
the gorgon actually But it's one of those facets
of the genre of horror movies that I have yet
to deep dive into. So I'm excited for this chance
to do that. Like you, Vincent, I didn't really
know very much about this movie. I had seen a
handful of Hammer Horror films. Which, Steffi,
kind of like you were saying, maybe a little
bit hit or miss for me. I don't necessarily love
most of the ones that I've seen. But I do like
the Gorgon quite a bit. The Curse of the Werewolf
with Oliver Reed I thought was pretty good. So
this one I read was kind of an underrated early
Hammer Horror picture. I was excited to check
it out. Yeah, it was different than I expected
it to be. Perhaps in both good and bad ways.
But I'm excited to talk about it today. Name?
Wait a minute. There's scores of them coming
down. What are they? Meteorites? These are different.
Marsh! Your face! There was something on your
face! Just how much do you know about a place
called Winnerton Flats? You must know as well
as I do that Winnerton Flats is top secret. Secret?
Why are the police here? What did this? You know
what did it. Tell us and try to save her. We've
traced the source of these things. It's in a
freak orbit. Inside those domes are creatures
from outside this earth, producing deadly poison.
This infection is widespread. Look out! Are you
mad? I've seen them. Thousands of tiny creatures
that can join together and expand into things
a hundred feet high. More than a hundred years
ago, in a mountain village in Switzerland, lived
a man whose strange experiments with the dead
have since become a legend. A legend that is
still told with horror the world over. We've
only just started. Just open the door. Now's
the time to go through that door and find what
lies beyond it. But don't you see, Paul? We've
discovered the source of life itself, and we've
used it to restore a creature that was dead.
This is Frankenstein, who revolted against nature,
who experimented with the devil and was forever
cursed. His unwilling collaborator was Paul Kremple.
I can't prove him, Lord, but I can stop you using
his brain. Why? He has no further use for it?
Don't be a fool! Be careful! You'll damage it!
Only two women ever entered this house of evil.
Elizabeth! Come back! Elizabeth, the lovely cousin
who had promised to marry him, and Justine, the
maid who kept passionate and secret rendezvous
with her master. Won't you understand you're
in real danger? What Victor is doing is dangerous
to everyone in the house. Now, you cannot possibly
conceive what dreadful things can be done. What
are you trying to tell me, Paul? That Victor's
wicked? Insane? Wicked? Insane? Evil? Call Frankenstein
what you will. A demon had made a man -made monster.
And now, the monster was the master. What are
you going to do? For your sake and to protect
Elizabeth, I've so far kept silent. But now I
shall go to the authorities and have them destroy
that creature. And see that you pay for these
atrocities. No! The preceding program has been
a fully sponsored paid program. The airtime for
this program has been paid for by Health and
Tennis Corporation. You're watching WGBO -TV,
Joliet, Chicago. Good morning, and welcome to
the 66 Morning Movie. Today, she's the queen
and her sting is deadly. Susan Cavan is the Wasp
Woman. Supposing a more powerful form of royal
jelly could be obtained. From the queen wasp,
for example. Socially, the queen wasp is on level
with the black widow spider. Oh, no, no, no,
no. There might be danger. Those are my terms.
Janice Starlin will be your next guinea pig.
A woman of fantastic desires. Sponsoring a scientist
with fantastic theories. and demanding fantastic
results. How old do I look? Tell me! How old?
Twenty -three. The enzymes. The enzymes. They're
going crazy. This darling will kill her and tear
her body to shreds. So let's dive into the crew
a little bit. Steffi, it sounds like you're a
big Val Guest fan who is the director of the
film. Are you able to talk about Val Guest a
little bit? You can go off of the bullet points
here or just talk about whatever comes to mind
if you want. Well, one of my favorite things
about him is that he was a journalist for the
Hollywood Reporter back in the day in England
when I think there was only like two. And he
would review movies coming out of England. And
one, he kept going after this one producer, like
saying like, oh man, you made another bad movie.
Like how, you know, how, how long are you going
to keep doing this? And then one article, he
actually like calls out to the producer, like,
hey, I can write something way better than anything
that you're making. And the producer wrote an
open letter to him and said, okay, challenge
accepted. Why don't you write a movie? And that's
how Val Guest got his start was as a screenwriter.
And he did start writing really great films.
And yeah. And, you know, I feel like he's really.
He's really kind of unknown compared to a lot
of other directors, which is sort of unfair.
Unfortunately, he directed sort of the worst
James Bond movie of all time. So he directed
Casino Royale, which I actually love because
it's super campy and stuff. So that kind of was
like a little bit of a bruise on his career.
But yeah, as far as like his early life was concerned,
I didn't know his parents were divorced when
he was young. His parents tried to hide the divorce
from him. So they lied and said like his. father
lied and said that his mom had died which is
just crazy to me and I you know my my brain is
just like oh did that lead to some of his later
sort of like horror like aspects a little bit
I don't know if that's true but just interesting
backstory Yeah, that is crazy. And actually,
that is interesting because in some of his films,
how he does depict marriage. So specifically,
he did a film called Oh, Hell is a City, which
is a great title, I feel. And at the center of
that is this kind of not happy marriage. So maybe
that's part of it. But yeah, in my opinion, he's
a fantastic thriller director. And I think you
see that in this film, too. You're sort of like,
oh, my gosh. what's about to happen, what's about
to happen. If you guys have seen Cater Mass Experiment,
you know, that was like a revolutionary film
that just keeps moving at this pace where a lot
of sci -fi elements, but at the core, he's just
a great thriller director. And yeah, I think
you can really see that in this film. And yeah,
he lived pretty long too. He lived into the early
2000s. Cater Mass Experiment, I always see pop
up on these lists of, of great movies to check
out. Like I said, I have yet to do that, but
it's, it's high on my list. I just was Googling,
you know, where is it streaming to be? Of course
it is. So I'll be checking that out. Yeah. It's
really special. And it, and it's similar to this
film where it's suspenseful and it's, it's sort
of questioning. Should we go after the unknown?
It's a classic theme. interesting yeah for the
50s you know there's a lot of like don't go there
because of atomic stuff or oh the atomic thing
or whatever but like oh maybe we should stop
exploring is is an interesting like concept yeah
and maybe even a little bit of a theme in this
movie too I might talk about Niger Neal a little
bit, who is the screenwriter of the film. So
he's from the Isle of Man. He started off in
television. He joined the BBC in 1951 as a television
writer. Like we were just talking about, he created
the fictional scientist Bernard Catermass and
wrote the BBC TV serial featuring that character,
which aired in 1953, and then the two Hammer
films that featured him, which both came out
in 1955. I thought this was really interesting,
and I didn't actually know this before. Most
BBC TV productions in the 1950s were live plays
that were broadcast live and weren't even recorded.
So there aren't recordings of many of these BBC
airings, including the Catermass ones and some
of the other ones that Niger Neal wrote back
in the day, which I think is pretty fascinating.
And the Abominable Snowman was one of those plays
on television? Yes. Called The Creature? Sorry.
Yeah. Called the creature. You're right about
that. That's a little bit more on the production
backstory section. So we'll definitely get to
that a little bit as well. I'm sorry, Mr. Levine.
I'll remember my place next time. No, it's a
good foreshadowing. We will definitely return
to that. But yeah, so he wrote a lot of TV scripts
back in the day. Some critics claim that Neil
invented popular TV, which seems like a broad,
you know, kind of exaggerated claim, but maybe
there's some credence to it. But he wrote a lot
of other screenplays and scripts as well. He
wrote the kitchen sink drama Look Back in Anger
from 1959, which is really a classic British
film directed by Tony Richardson. He won a BAFTA
award for that one, Nigel Neill did. He wrote
adaptations of Wuthering Heights in 1984, and
he also wrote the screenplay for a TV broadcast
called The Year of the Sex Olympics from 1968,
which some people say foreshadowed the rise of
reality TV. It's one of the first kind of reality
TV satires in television history. It's a pretty
fascinating guy, Niger Neil. Oh, and I just have
one thing to add to that, which I just found
out today. So when Joe Dante wanted to do a reboot
of or remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon,
he called Niger Neal in and actually did his
take on it. And because of Neal's style, which
isn't very violent, which is very suspenseful,
actually Joe Dante and him parted ways on the
project and it never came to be. Interesting.
Wow. Yeah. Apparently there is a script that
was written. We should try to get our hands on
it. It's out there. Yeah, it's out there. I think
there are about a dozen Creature from the Black
Lagoon scripts out there somewhere. I don't know
if they're as good as Niger Neal's, but yeah,
that's one they have not, the studios have not
tried to, well, maybe the closest we got to is
The Shape of Water. Yeah. Arthur Grant. Hammer's
resident cinematographer, he shot Hammer films
such as Shadow of the Cat from 1961, The Curse
of the Werewolf, The Phantom of the Opera from
1962, The Plague of the Zombies, and The Devil
Rides Out. I have yet to see those movies, but
based on his work in The Abominable Snowman,
high praise. I think, not to give away too much
of my later review, but I think the photography
in this movie is beautiful. Agreed. Yeah. And,
you know, I think Arthur Grant became Hammer's
resident cinematographer because he worked very
quickly and very cheaply, like much more so than
the previous cinematographer for Hammer. I can't
remember his name right now, but Grant, you know,
he was able to like finish a setup really quickly.
They would just like blaze through all the camera
setups they had that day, which makes sense for
Hammer. And the fact that he could do such good
work on that schedule and that budget is pretty
impressive. And you say that, and I think that
like, A quick, ah, what did you say? He works
very efficiently. And I could see that in the
Abominable Snowman. I could see that maybe the
budget is kind of low and he's working with what
he has. With that said, he knows how to use shadows
and perspective and those sweeping aerial shots.
My God. So yeah, he's really efficient, but in
a very... intelligent, man -knows -what -he's
-doing type of way. Absolutely, yeah. An expert
craftsman. So I just real quickly want to talk
about Forrest Tucker, who is an American actor
in the film. He plays a boorish American named
Tom Friend, who is interested in the wealth and
fame that he can get by capturing the Abominable
Snowman. Tucker began in vaudeville, fought in
World War II. He was made famous by westerns
and action movies, though he returned to comedies
and musicals later in his career. An early breakout
role for him was in The Westerner from 1940,
starring Gary Cooper. He later appeared in films
such as The Yearling, Sands of Iwo Jima, The
Strange World of Planet X, and The Trollenberg
Terror. Those last two movies were both made
in England, so Tucker spent some time in the
late 50s making British horror movies, particularly
for Hammer Studios. But I feel like the real
draw on the cast here, and maybe the most legendary
figure in horror cinema, is Peter Cushing, and
I wanted to... Throw it out there to either of
you guys want to talk about him. Steffi, are
you a particular Peter Cushing fan? Yes, I mean,
of course, as a kid, my first encounter with
him was General Tarkin. And so it's so delightful
to go back through history and see like what
he was doing. He was also a man who was really
dedicated to England and staying within the studio
systems there, which is why we never saw him
in the States until George Lucas kind of brought
him there. So I found that to be really interesting.
I guess Oliver Reed also had that sort of mindset.
of like, no, I work in England. I work in British
film. I don't need to go over to that rat race.
So I find that really admirable. He was working
with Sir Lawrence Olivier. He was touring with
him on some productions and learned a lot of
his acting technique from Lawrence Olivier. There's
a certain Peter Cushing move that he does, which
he does in this film as well, where he will take
his... arm that is the furthest away from the
camera. And there'll be a small moment where
he will point to his eye to steal the scene,
to sort of bring everyone's attention in, which
he said he learned from Laurence Olivier. So
yeah, that's really interesting. So if you're
a big Peter Cushing fan, you're watching a movie
with him, there's a good chance in one scene.
just for a second, he'll raise his index finger
and point to his eye that's furthest from the
camera so that everyone on set and all the energy
suddenly goes to him for his important dramatic
moment. And I just love that, that he did that.
But yeah, Vincent, do you want to talk more about
the films that he was in and stuff? Oh, sure.
Yeah. So he did work briefly in Hollywood in
the late 30s. But like you said, returned to
England at the start of World War II and just
kind of planted himself there. His career in
England did struggle, however, until he started
to work in live TV plays for BBC. He appeared
in 22 Hammer horror films. That's a lot. And
that's why he's iconic. He played Baron Frankenstein
in seven of their Frankenstein films, Dr. Van
Helsing in five Dracula films. He played Sherlock
Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. He became
close friends with Christopher Lee, who I was
going to say was his frequent co -star in all
those films. So if you're watching a Hammer,
Peter Cushing film, there's a good chance Christopher
Lee is in that as well. And those two on screen
together, just electric. So really the draw.
I mean, even like if the movie's kind of ho -hum,
if Cushing is on the screen, I'm like, yeah,
he's got such screen presence. He could just
lift his finger to his eye and I'm riveted. So
that's kind of that's my my draw to him and many
others. I'm sure he played Doctor Who in the
mid 60s. I didn't know that. That's cool. And
yeah, he was in Star Wars. Steffi, like you said,
that was my first presence, my first encounter
with him, certainly. So it's fun to see him in
Star Wars now and be like, oh. What a cameo.
Like you don't realize how much of a big deal
that was. I feel like, you know, you talked about
a screen presence, Vincent. I feel like he just
has the ability to like play pretty ridiculous
roles sometimes. Like the dialogue might be a
little bit absurd in some cases, but he's able
to present it with like seriousness. But like
maybe there's like a level of camp like underlying
that a little bit, you know, because it's so
serious. There's a glint in his eye. You could
tell he's having fun. Yeah. Which I so appreciate.
I want the actors to, A, take the content seriously.
Like, they're not making fun of the Abominable
Snowman. And yet, you could tell he's just having
fun. Maybe off camera, they're telling jokes,
they're playing with props. I don't know. There's
a sense of camaraderie on the screen that I think
goes a long way. Did you guys hear about his
nickname on this film? Yes. They gave him the
nickname Props. Props Cushing. Right. And a lot
of times those were surprises to his like co
-actors on like film. So the scene where he's
with the llama and he pulls out the cigarette
and he even asked the llama if he could smoke,
that actually wasn't planned at all. That's amazing.
When they have the tooth, he pulls out the, okay,
he measures it, but then he pulls out a nail
file and he hands it to Helen. And that actually
all was just a surprise that Peter Cushing did.
So I guess he used to like load his pockets with
stuff and then just like bring it on set and
then try to surprise everyone. And his co -stars
would have to try to not laugh or like break
character because what are you doing, Peter?
They must have added some like really nice spontaneity,
you know, like maybe when the script is a little
bit on the dry side, like doing stuff like that,
maybe like engages the actors a little bit more.
So it's subtly brilliant on Cushing's part. A
level of realism, I think, that especially in
plays and movies, sometimes if you're going by
the script, you can lose out on those little
things like, I'm going to pull out a cigarette.
I'm going to light a smoke. Oh, do you mind?
No, go for it. And it's just that level of, like,
that's what, those are the little things that
life is made up of. And, you know, using props
correctly can highlight that. Yeah, absolutely.
All right. So rounding out the cast in The Abominable
Snowman, we have Maureen Connell as Helen Rolison,
the doctor's wife. Richard Wattis as Foxy, another
scientist stationed at the Tibetan monastery.
Wolf Morris, an English -Russian actor playing
the Sherpa Kusang. So from... Modern standards,
that casting is probably not super PC. But again,
through the lens of presentism, this movie was
made 70 years ago, almost at this point. And
then the llama of the monastery is played by
Arnold Marley, a German actor who appeared in
a lot of British films and television programs
throughout his very long career. All right, let's
move to the production backstory a little bit.
Vincent, you brought up the creature, the BBC...
live tv drama do you want to get us started here
yeah so niger neil wrote this play called the
creature first of all i would love to see this
story on stage that's my bread and butter as
a writer so like amazing how do you pull that
off but he was one of several writers that wrote
for bbc in the early and mid 50s he was inspired
by then popular rumors of the yeti the you know
also known as the abominable snowman So this
is where I'll get into a little bit of that history.
The Yeti legend of the Abominable Snowman really
started in the West, you could say, in the 1920s,
but it wasn't made famous until the discovery
of footprints by a British explorer named Eric
Shipton in 1951, who was actually mentioned in
the screenplay of the Abominable Snowman, I think.
It is Tom Friend who's like, well, in 1951, we
had those footprints. So the legend was at large
at this point. And then in 1953, 1954, Sir Edmund
Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay,
they ascended Mount Everest, the first confirmed
climb to the peak of Mount Everest in the 50s.
So there was a huge fascination, not only with...
the yeti legend but also just mount everest in
the 1950s and just speaking off the cuff you
know the himalayas you could think of as a last
frontier of of humankind going under the ocean
going into outer space going to the himalayas
like these were parts of the world yet unexplored
again by at least westerners that really captured
the imagination and i could see why Are there
monsters up there? Nobody really knew. So historically,
pretty fascinating. But anyways, this play, The
Creature, then, was broadcast live in January
of 1955. It did receive mixed reviews. Some critics
called it dry, unrealistic. But nonetheless,
Hammer purchased the rights to the production,
and Neil wrote the screenplay. So he stayed faithful
to his TV script. Although he did add the subplot
with Helen Rolison and she was a new character
for the film and also the Foxy character. That
sounds so funny. What is his name? Yeah, I guess
his name is Foxy. That's what they call him.
I wonder if he has a different. Yeah, his name
is like that's his nickname. I think his last
name is Fox. Yeah, that makes sense to me. When
they called him that, I was like, oh, what's
he going to do? Is he like the third man? Like,
what's the deal with this character? So I'm glad
they added him. But yeah, I was always like,
oh, what's this guy going to do? He's going to
do something. He seemed a little shifty. Yeah.
Like he's so proper. You wonder, is he hiding
something? Didn't quite go that way. Maybe not
very foxy. More shifty than foxy, I would say.
Sly like a fox. Yeah, true. The characters of
Helen and Foxy were added to the film by Neil.
And yeah, also for the time, what was kind of
rare is the Daily Post published this like. contest
basically they would award anyone five thousand
dollars if they had proof of the yeti existing
so there was a lot of hype at the time of people
like you know really putting themselves in danger
to come back with some some sort of proof so
This film came out at that perfect time where
everybody was like, oh, there is a huge possibility.
Edmund Hillary, too, the explorers that Vincent
mentioned. those guys were really well respected.
And for them to come down from like a giant mountain
and be like, whoa, we saw these like huge footprints
that definitely could not be human. You know,
everyone really believed them. So this was like
peak, there is a giant snowman living in the
Himalayas of fascination time, which would be
so cool, you know? And this also is the time
when it's called cryptozoology. Cryptozoology.
Yeah, that also started to sort of surface as
this kind of quasi -scientist study of animals
that couldn't be proven. Which I also love, and
I just think we need way more of those and those
movies. But yeah, to ignite the public's imagination
about something that could be living on Earth
among us that we haven't found yet, I think is
so great. So yeah, Hammer purchased the rights
to the production, having found success with
their recent adaptation of the Quatermass experiment.
Neil wrote the screenplay. And then, yeah, it
was co -produced by American producer Robert
Lippert, who partnered with Hammer on many films
around that time. And he would provide an American
star in exchange for the rights to distribute
Hammer's film in the U .S. And Lippert brought
Forrest Tucker, though director Val Guest was
disappointed with his performance. Oh, Boris
Tucker might have been very good at some things
too, but many people's mind acting wasn't one
of them. And I think he rather spoiled the picture,
which is what Val Guest said about his performance.
I don't think he was that bad. Right. Yeah, you
know, in a lot of ways, he really underplays
the role, which is kind of nice. He downplays
it. If you look at Forrest Tucker and other predictions,
like pictures, you know, he's this like larger
than life, like dominating figure. So, yeah,
I don't know. He had some beef with Val, I guess.
And yeah, Cushing reprised the role that he played
in the TV play. That was his second appearance
for Hammer after The Curse of Frankenstein. Yeah,
and the Curse of Frankenstein came out the same
year, which also then threw Hammer into this
super famous position, right? Yeah, that's what
I read, too. Good year for Peter Cushing. Yeah,
and for Hammer Studios. Yeah. So on -location
shooting took place in the French Pyrenees in
January 1957. The second unit footage did not
include the main actors, so doubles were used
whenever the characters appeared from a distance.
And to me, those are some of the best shots in
the movie, like these sweeping aerial shots of
the mountains, which we've already talked about
before. It's really gorgeous. especially because
the film was shot in an anamorphic widescreen
format called Regalscope, later renamed as Hammerscope
by the studio, which I love that they kind of
trademarked that themselves. And Steffi, you
were talking about this before. I do think it's
a really beautiful visual style, but director
Val Guest actually did not like it very much.
Apparently shooting in this format made it very
difficult to get close to the actors and required
really meticulous framing, like even more so
than usual. So it looks great, but was apparently
pretty difficult to work with. Yeah, I have to
say I shot a short film with anamorphic lenses
trying to be this cool hipster shooting in cinema
scope. And it's so difficult because you're working
on such a wide plane and you have to fill the
space, right? And so if you've got one character,
if you just put them in the middle and then you
just have landscape around them, it's like super
tricky. And there are certain points in this
film where you can. see guests struggling with
that balance because you just he has so much
more space to work with and how to fill it and
how to make it look interesting but but yeah
i mean it was a revolutionary way to see pictures
right to go from something that was nearly square
to this wide screen yeah it's and it's beautiful
for for being outside for those big shots And
it must have been especially a striking contrast
for anybody that saw the TV play. And you just
think of TVs at that time being relatively small
and obviously like square in format. Then to
go to this like huge widescreen theatrical format
must have been pretty cool for people who saw
both versions around that time. Definitely. And
some of those aerial shots that they did, they
would either take them, there was like one helicopter
flight that they went over the Andes or the Pyrenees.
And then another shot that they had was there
was like a ski lift cable cars. And so there's
certain shots that were taken and you can kind
of see the way that it pans that they're like
sitting in this little ski lift with the camera
out the window shooting these establishing shots.
Yeah, not with the actual crew, with stuntmen.
They took stuntmen up there, of course. But yeah,
and a lot of that is seamless, right? Between
the studio and between those location shots,
it looks great. Yeah. I love that. It does look
great, but I love it when you have these kind
of like... Pretty obviously artificial, like,
tundra sets or, like, the North Pole or whatever.
But I think it looks so cool, like, the, you
know, the fake snow and, like, the really kind
of, like, blocky, like, ice and everything in
the background. Like, I love that look. The Beast
from 20 ,000 Fathoms also had that a little bit,
which we talked about last year. Yeah, yeah.
It didn't surprisingly distract me. Like, I could
tell it was artificial, like, on their sets.
Filmed, by the way, at Bray and Pinewood Studios
in England. But maybe because it was blended
so well with the live -action shots, yeah, it
did not distract me. Yeah, same. I think it's
done really well, and again, I really love that
look. I think it's very cinematic, you know?
Mm -hmm. The sets for the monastery were built
at Bray Studio and were later reused for a series
of Fu Manchu movies in the 60s starring Christopher
Lee. Most of the extras... This is interesting.
Most of the extras... In The Abominable Snowman
were waiters at a Chinese restaurant or just
multiple Chinese restaurants in London. Awesome.
And then Val Guest, for his part, he encouraged
the actors to overlap their dialogue to contribute
to a more realistic feel. Guest also wanted to
show the creature of the Yeti only in glimpses
to build suspense. By contrast, Niger Neal thought
the creatures should be showed in their entirety.
So spoiler alerts for listeners, the Yeti isn't
shown until the end of the film. So a classic
monster movie technique we all know, whether
it's Jaws or what have you, that we're saving
the goods to the end. Until then, we're going
to give you little snippets, maybe feature a
rather, I don't know, a really big, obvious hand
puppet. reaching under a tent to grab some rifles
which i did love that sequence i don't want to
make fun of that sequence but this yeti hand
coming under the tent was a little fun a fun
little treat foreshadowing it's like oh oh there
it is there's this big paw that's massive paw
That's a really fun scene. And then the appearance
at the end of the film, we'll probably talk a
little bit more later, but maybe it goes in the
campy category. Maybe it goes in the good category.
We still pretty much only see fairly limited
glimpses of the Yeti, even at the end of the
film, which could be a good or a bad thing. More
on that later. So much foreshadowing. Yeah. I'm
trying to, you know, I'm emulating Val Guest
and his ability to build suspense. I'm trying
to anyway. You are in shadow right now. I can
only see your eyes. I wish that were true. Sadly,
it is not true. All right, so the movie came
out on August 26, 1957. Reviews were positive,
but it did not do very well financially. It was
mostly overshadowed by the lasting popularity
of The Curse of Frankenstein, which still was
Hammer's number one movie of the year. Subsequent
reviews since then, over the last 70 or so years.
Probably still a little bit mixed. Some were
negative, calling the film ponderous or unexciting
and disappointing in terms of, you know, actually
seeing the Yeti creatures. Other critics, however,
have lauded its eerie atmosphere and attempts
at thematic depth. It's generally seen as minor
Hammer horror, but is also on some lists of underrated
Hammer horror films. So the critical reception
kind of a little bit all over the place on this
one. On that note, it's time for our sponsor
break. 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. In Minya's mailbox,
we have a comment about Space Amoeba, the 60s
Toho picture directed by Ashiro Honda, from a
user called The Batra. on our YouTube. So, The
Batra says, Space Amoeba is definitely a fun
movie with nice location shooting. The actors
all seem like they're having a good time and
the monsters are pretty cool. Honda definitely
seems to be at the top of his game with the directing.
It's kind of unfortunate that the script for
the movie is kind of lackluster. Space Amoeba
really shows that the once marvelous Toho Fantasy
Film Division had long become a factory, with
Honda as its chief foreman. It will be nice seeing
Hamibas show up again in Tokyo SOS and Gezora
showing up in Final Wars. That's in reference
to those two kaiju from Space Amoeba making some
cameo appearances in these Godzilla films from
the 2000s. And then The Bachelor concludes with,
Also just saw The Man Who Knew Too Much with
Mr. Laurie. Really liked him. He was a very good,
cunning villain. Stop. Thank you, The Bachelor.
I'll pass that message along to Mr. Laurie. And
welcome thoughts on Space Amoeba 2 from 1970.
I love that comment, and I love Space Amoeba.
That's a really fun movie. I have more of a love
-hate relationship with Peter Lorre, as you know,
Vincent. It's a rocky relationship. Oh, I'm not
even going to touch. I'm not even going to go
there, man. He's in Borneo. He's doing his thing.
Working remote. Working remote? Okay. We're all
over the globe. Steffi's in Greece. Peter's in
Southeast Asia. You'll be in Canada soon. Truly
cosmopolitan. Yeah. Speaking of Peter in Southeast
Asia, is there anything in Poverty Row Picture
Show this week? Yes. Peter Lorre will be talking
about a 1945 B -movie horror film called Fog
Island, starring George Zuko and also... Lionel
Atwell, very well -beloved actors of horror films
from the 30s and 40s. So I have yet to see this
movie, but I am looking forward to catching it.
Awesome. Can't wait to hear what Peter has to
say about it. I hope he's doing okay. Welcome
to the Poverty Row Studios. On the other side
of Hollywood, yes, where the stars were dimmer,
the red carpet stripped with blood. Together,
you and I 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. I am your host, Peter Lorre.
You may know me from such razzle -dazzle pictures
as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and... The
Muscle Beach Party, which is where I am headed
after regaling you with my review of 1945's Fog
Island. Yes, the film was produced by PRC, and
it tells the mad, murderous tale of a recently
released convict who was framed for the murder
of his wife. Now he invites his double -crossing
associates over to his foggy island home for
a night of, well, murder. And unlike many poverty
row pictures of late, the film actually stars,
well, some stars. Behold, Lionel Atwill and George
Zuko. Now, Atwill, for his part, had long been
a mainstay of the Hollywood horror elite. He
had appeared in several classics up until this
point, such as Mystery of the Wax Museum, Dr.
X, and as the... Wooden -armed police inspector
and universal son of Frankenstein. Yes, that's
right. The very inspector parodied by Mel Brooks
in Young Frankenstein. Can you tell this might
be a favorite film of mine? Anyways, by 1945,
Atwell. Alas, his star had long waned following
scandal and the waning popularity of fright films.
Nevertheless, he is a welcomed illumination in
the murky fog of this island. Now joining him,
In this misty mansion of death is George Zuko.
Listeners, I have mentioned this man many a time
on the Poverty Row Picture Show, but I have not
given him his just desserts. Along with a multitude
of B -movie horrors, Zuko's best -known credits
are in the Universal Mommy Pictures of the 1940s.
Then, in about minute eight of Fog Island, yes,
he actually picks his nose. Now that, ladies
and gentlemen, is the mark of a true screen presence.
Directing these monkeys at this circus is the
journeyman director, Terry O. Morse. Yes, perhaps
that name rings the dinosaur dinner bell because
it was Morse who directed the Americanization
of Gojira. His film, of course, is known as Godzilla
King of the Monsters, and it was released in
1956, a smash of titanic proportions. Now say
what you will about the slicing and dicing of
his Shiro Honda's 54 classic, but the Hollywood
version propelled the famous kaiju into American
pop culture. So, Mr. Terry O'Morse, we salute
you. Now, Fog Island is no Godzilla. It is slowly
paced and it creaks with melodramatic intrigue.
However, there is a climactic... mass drowning
in a basement torture chamber that would make
the Phantom of the Opera proud. Now, on that
note, yes, I do have a muscle beach party to
get to with Lenore. Listeners, we'll catch you
next time for, hey, what a quinky dink, The Phantom
Speaks. Oh, yes, Lenore, how do you like this
little one piece of mind that I am wearing? Oh,
yes, well, I like the stripes and the little
stars that you embroidered on the... From the
beginning of his time on Earth, man has always
been fascinated by monsters, real or imagined.
One enduring modern legend tells of creatures
similar to man walking upright, covered with
hair, beast -like in character. Many believe
they are real and exist today in the remote corners
of the world where they have been driven by encroaching
civilization. They were first known as the Abominable
Snowmen. Lost Civilizations. extraterrestrials,
myths and monsters, missing persons, magic and
witchcraft, unexplained phenomena. In search
of cameras are traveling the world, seeking out
these great mysteries. This program was the result
of the work of scientists, researchers, and a
group of highly skilled technicians. Once a normal,
voluptuously beautiful woman, she drove into
a nightmare of horror and saw descending from
the sky a titanic monster whose fearsome touch
became a frightful curse. You think I'm drunk,
don't you? All of you! I'm not drunk! I'm not!
You've got to believe me. It was right the moment...
Once she's in the booby hatch, throw the key
away. That'll put you in the driver's seat. You'd
make a wild driver, Harry. For 50 million bucks.
What she saw was beyond belief until others,
too, faced its hideous, uncontrollable menace.
Attack of the 50 -foot woman, incredibly huge,
with incredible desires for love and vengeance.
All right, back to the abominable snowman. Lost
my train of thought there for a second. I would
say the movie has a little bit more thematic
depth than I expected it to have, which is obviously
a good thing. I mean, this movie has a lot on
its mind. I jotted down some notes around the
pursuit of knowledge and science versus superstition.
The Tibetans here, they practice this kind of
mysticism, the lama. What do they talk about?
It's not telepathy, but it's the ability to connect
or see things or people many miles away through
your mind's eye. I forget the term for that,
but that's touched on. And you have the scientists,
the British scientists in this great British
tradition of we're here for science and pish
posh on your local superstitions. So I saw that
dynamic really at play in this movie. Totally
agree. Yeah. And I think, you know, some of the
characters, especially Tom Friend, seem very
callous and rude and condescending towards the
Tibetan characters. And for a while I was like,
is this also how the movie feels? Or are we supposed
to like, is this a critical portrayal? You know,
that's kind of a fine line sometimes. But I think
it is. I think we're meant to think that these
British and American characters are. not treating
the Tibetans very well. I think it is critically
portrayed. And I think part of it is exactly
what you were talking about, Vincent, like the
characters who live there in Tibet, like have
a more intimate connection with the natural world
around them. Whereas, you know, I mean, even
Peter Cushing's character, who's like relatively
benevolent and like wants to respect the people
there. It's still, he wants to get something
out of it. He wants to get like scientific knowledge.
There's even dialogue with the Lama at the monastery
about that a little bit. So, you know, like the
outsiders definitely have a different relationship
with this world than the Tibetans do, which is
not surprising. So I think like some of the maybe
questionable like things that the characters
say in this movie seems to me like intentionally
critical of like these attitudes that they bring
in, you know? And it comes full circle at the
end when Peter Cushing comes face to face with
the Yeti. And it's almost like he comes face
to face with... like these greater forces of,
of nature that his, that is quote unquote, sensible
scientific mind can't comprehend. And the last
shot you see of him is in the mountains, just
looking wild and, and kind of mad. Like he's
gone out of his mind confronting these, like
I said, these, these. forces of nature that are
beyond comprehension, beyond scientific rationale.
So it does come full circle. Yeah. And I love
so much that then he wants to join in, in the
secret and the mysticism. And like that for me
is like that crowding moment of the film of like,
Oh, that's like, it's just so great to believe
in something. And then it's even greater to believe
that other people now are protecting that secret.
you know and that that there are whole worlds
where people which is very indiana jones 3 i
guess are like trying to keep it like under wraps
but yeah i just like that's so With Kong, it
was about going and catching the great beast
and bringing him to New York City and all of
that stuff where Peter Cushing's character really
then finally coming to understand of some things
in this beautiful world should just be left untouched
and some mysteries should just keep there. And
I think that's a nice part of the film. I agree.
I don't want to get too off on this. But I think
in our in our 21st century, I think I'm speaking
for myself, but I think I get overwhelmed so
much by like we got to know everything. And science
has touched every facets of our lives for good.
Like I'm not knocking science, but it's just
who I am. I like to keep things a mystery sometimes
just for, you know, I think life is a little
more interesting when you when when you can't
look up the answer on your phone. And I'm like,
maybe maybe we could just talk about it. And
then if we don't come to an answer, that's OK.
It's, you know, kind of like the left brain versus
right brain thing. And I think probably all three
of us are more on the left brain side, like preferring
that sense of like artistic expression and like
mystery and just kind of like maybe there aren't
answers to some things. And then the right brain
people, we need them, too. We need engineers.
We need scientists, obviously. But I like I like
the left brain people. I feel like this is my
community, you know. Right -brained people have
just stopped listening to the show now. Yeah,
please come back. We need you. We love you. Screw
you, scientists. That's basically what I'm trying
to say. Just kidding, of course. You know, like,
I guess I heard the debate if it is, can it be
counted as a classic monster movie? And I'd be
curious to hear your guys' thoughts on that,
too. You know, in a lot of ways, actually, the
setup, the first attack, the first sighting,
which comes at 50 minutes into the film, would
say it's a classic monster movie format. Yeah,
and... This idea of the telepathy and really
playing with the characters' minds and this whole
thing about, are they going crazy? Is there anything
actually happening to them? I think that's super
interesting. If you remember, there was the Simpsons
episode where Mr. Burns and Homer are caught
in the cabin on a snowy hill, and they also start
kind of losing their minds. I guess there's something
to that here. not like quite sure i think that
yeah again it just adds i think to the very coolness
of this monster and you know why are we not buying
abominable snowman figures i have so many monster
figures but i have never seen an option to buy
one of that and why is that why is this film
also considered to be like a lower hammer film
you know in in all of it and Yeah. Just interesting.
So Fred Johnson, who is the face of the Yeti,
he actually is in the Abbott and Costello meet
the mummy. He's in the, like one of the open,
one of the beginning scenes as a juggler. Okay.
So he's not like a well -known like guy, but
he's like, Oh, he's kind of like a monster movie
guy. Yeah. But yeah, what do you guys think?
Why isn't this kind of noted historically as
a monster that we still talk about? You guys
have seen almost every movie ever done and you
hadn't seen it, right? I wasn't even aware of
it. I can offer some thoughts based on that,
based on my freshness to the film. And this will
get into my kind of personal review a little
bit. So I won't repeat myself later. I feel like
the movie – I feel like the approach to the movie
is, as critics have noted, very ponderous. And
I think that is the primary intention of this
script is to ponder, to think the what -ifs,
to have these debates and these arguments around
science and superstition and our place in the
world. And the role of exploration. I think that
that is also maybe too much of the focus. I found
the movie to be too slow of a burn. I kept expecting
it to get to some action. And I don't need action.
This movie could have worked for me just as it
was. But I think if you're going to lean so heavy
into philosophizing. then you need to temper
it with a little bit more overt thrills. And
we get that in some points, but not enough for
me in the beginning to really hold my attention.
Yeah, and I would agree with that. I think, yeah,
it's hard to like find that perfect balance between
like suggesting the presence of something. paranormal
or supernatural or whatever but also focusing
on the human characters and some of the ideas
like pushing them forward and i to me like this
movie doesn't totally find that balance like
i think earlier on there should be more suggestions
of something is wrong there's something out there
in the wilderness you know so yeah i would agree
with everything that vincent said but it is interesting
like why has the abominable snowman not really
become like a prominent monster like figure in
our like cultural imagination to the same extent
that like dracula frankenstein and the mummy
has and i guess i don't know the answer to that
i maybe simply because like in cinematic history
there haven't been a lot of great like representations
of it you know or even in like literary history
as far as i know So yeah, like I think this is
in a way a classic monster movie in the sense
of like, it hits all the beats, even like the
very common theme of like, man is the true monster.
You know, this movie, it certainly has that as
well. But is it a classic in terms of like, like
a personal favorite or even like beloved by general
fans? Probably not, unfortunately. But that's,
you know, some people love it. And that's the
beauty of subjective opinion, obviously, which
we'll get into in just a second here. And I will
add then, Matt, what you brought up. Like, you're
comparing it to Dracula and Frankenstein on all
these. In this movie, The Abominable Snowman,
I'm just talking about, like, visually, the monster
design and the fact that we only see the monster
right at the last, you know, five minutes of
the movie. Steffi, why don't you have a figure
of this monster? Because we don't really see
it. So, like, can you put that on a poster? Can
you put that on merchandise? It doesn't... The
way it is created isn't, I don't think lends
itself easily to that aspect of monster movie
fandom, but it's an interesting looking monster.
I would have liked to have seen more of it. Yeah.
Yeah. I wonder if maybe a small part of it too
is that like the point of the movie for the most
part thematically is that like the Yetis are
gentle and wise and like, you know, good. They're
like not evil at all. And I feel like the fascination
with monsters is that it allows people to like
get in touch with their dark side a little bit
and the violence and the evil of humanity, like
that other sort of dark side of human nature
or whatever, you know? So for a monster, that's
really not that at all. Like it's just a good
like thing, you know? Maybe there's not really
a lot of like... Fascination with that, you know?
Yet. Maybe now we'll turn a new page. Yeah, exactly.
Everyone will check it out. Yeah. Originally,
too, it's not because I was also thinking, oh,
maybe it's because it's a Western -like idea
of a monster, right, in the Himalayas, this,
like, foreign world. But actually, the Sherpas
originally were the ones to claim that this monster
existed. So it was the Tibetan people itself.
It's a local lore that did. It'd get exported
to the outside world. So I find that interesting.
It is like a local tale. I found some interesting
names that they used to refer to it in Tibetan.
They would, which they silly would translate
to the filthy snowman. So people would say like,
oh, don't go over there. The filthy snowman's
going to get you. Well, there was one more. Oh,
yeah. The Stinky Bear. Not sure why someone smelled
it, but yeah, it's an interesting. And there's
a great documentary narrated by Leonard Nimoy
on YouTube about the quest for the Abominable
Snowman, which is just sort of the historical
searching for it. So yeah, if you're interested
in that backstory, check that out. It's pretty
good. Is that called In Search Of? Yes, that's
right. Yeah. I have two source books that I was
pulling information from. And I have other cryptozoology
books on my shelf. That's great. Yeah. That was
a thing I was really into when I was a kid. Yeah,
you'll have to send that to me. I'd love to read
it and just know about it. I didn't know about
the Mothman. I was reading about it today, too.
I was like, oh, there's so many cool untapped
monsters here. We got whole franchises to build.
Yeah. Let's start making those instead of Dracula
for the 500th time. Honestly, on film, I don't
think the Yeti has a rich or extensive pedigree.
This is the only one I know of. I did want to
mention real quick, the only other Abominable
Snowman I can think of in movies is in Monsters,
Inc., a movie that I really love. And the Yeti
there is also really kind and generous and fun
to be around. So maybe that's a running theme.
Welcome to the Himalayas. Yeah, exactly. Love
that movie. Which we should talk about sometime.
We should. But yeah, back to the Abominable Snowman.
Starting with the good category, obviously we've
talked about a lot of good stuff. I think Forrest
Tucker's death at the end where the camera sort
of gives him this space and slowly as he's like
lurching to his final moments of life and he's
looking up and realizing this is it out of all
my... stupid life. This is now over. I think
that's kind of a nice moment that he played really
well. He's a good, I think he's a good actor.
And I thought that, you know, he could have done
a, Oh, like something like that, but he just
looks death in the face, you know, as, as he
accepted it as he was, you know, caused it himself,
basically. That's a highlight. And then Peter
Cushing's makeup where he kind of looks like
Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining when
he's frozen. I don't know what they did to him,
but I just feel like they look really similar
in that scene. I don't know if Kubrick took that
or that's just default frozen, I'm frozen in
snow makeup, but I thought that looked pretty
cool. I made the same connection. That's great.
Vincent, what's in your good category? Yes to
Forrest Tucker's death. I think he reacts the
way realistically you would, just kind of frozen
with fear and just like, okay. But that shot,
the way his face is framed looking up is then
mirrored in Peter Cushing when he's looking up
at the Yeti. It's like the same. blocking and
the same framing i just was i caught that mirroring
effect there's a shot of forest tucker's buddy
who gets he has a heart attack and he dies and
he's like a really gung -ho hunter trapper but
there's a brief shot of his dead body and his
face is frozen in this petrified scream and the
way he's shadowed That was a very gripping shot.
Yeah, I think there are some individual shots
in this film that are really effective. The Yeti's
arm, like they shoot at the monster and the creature
just leaves this dismembered arm on the snow.
That was a very effective prop. Very unsettling.
The score I want to shout out. I really thought
achieved a level of eeriness and atmosphere.
Yeah, I think all the technical components of
this movie are spot on. Agreed. Yeah, I think
I would. Yeah. In the good category, I would
say the visual style for sure. I like how there
are a lot of longer takes and like the camera
sort of there are a lot of tracking shots, but
they don't really like call attention to themselves.
It's like a conversation will go on for a while
and the camera will start with a certain composition
and then like readjust to like, you know. change
the frame and bring in more characters and change,
like take a different view of the setting and
all that. So I love that visual style. And I
think guest and Arthur Grant, I think is the
cinematographer do a really good job with that.
And I do appreciate that the movie does have
ideas on its mind. You know, it's not just a
monster movie. I mean, we love monster movies,
of course, but it's like, you know, It's a familiar
theme, like the monstrosity of man and, like,
these different cultural divides. Like, it's
not especially groundbreaking. But I am pleased
that the movie is trying to, like, discuss those
things and set up those contrasts. Yeah. But
moving on to the bad category, Vincent, maybe
we'll turn to you first and we'll kind of go
in the opposite order so we can end with Steffi
in this case. Okay, okay. I'll try to keep it
brief. Three main points. a structural standpoint
and knowing that this is based off of a play,
a stage play, some of these critiques make more
sense. Maybe it works best on stage. Doesn't
translate to film as well as much. So I would
have liked to have seen more. I would have liked
to have established the threat of nature and
the elements earlier in the film. They do a little
foreshadowing, for example, of the avalanche,
but I'm like, what if, what if they had a, a
red shirt in their party who dies in that moment.
Easy way to establish some stakes. Like, oh,
you really can get killed in this world. Okay,
then moving on to number two, I think the subplot
with Helen Rawlinson, Dr. Rawlinson's wife, and
Foxy. I like that there's a subplot. However,
I don't feel like the subplot really added anything
to the borrowed momentum of the movie. Every
time we cut to Mrs. Rolison, it was, is my husband
okay? Is my husband okay? And like we alluded
to earlier, I think what if there was like a
little romantic intrigue? What if she was in
danger from the Sherpas, which would have been
problematic, but it would have added something,
some peril, some sense of danger to her story
that I think the movie could have used. Oh, I
think the movie could have used some comedic
relief. This is a very serious movie, which I
don't mind. But maybe a comic relief character
in some small way could have added a little bit.
And then finally, I'll say, oh, the madness.
So I keep going like they use by the end. Our
characters are hearing voices in their minds,
which is such a great conceit, especially on
stage and in the movies. And yet. I've seen the
conceit of madness on film, like maybe The Shining,
for example, used to greater effect. I think
the direction could have been bolder. The editing
could have been bolder to really drive home the
insanity. As it stands, I'm like, I see what
you're doing, but I'm a little underwhelmed by
the insanity of these characters. Yeah, I think
that's all fair. I'll just add like one thing
real quick and then we'll turn to you, Steffi.
But I would agree with that, Vincent. I think
ultimately it is sort of unexciting. I would
just use the word boring for like, you know,
probably the first 45 minutes or so. I think
like a lot of that is due to a sense of repetition,
you know, like Vincent, you talked about the
scenes cutting back to Helen and Foxy and how
they don't really add anything, but also several
of the conversations between Dr. Wollison and
friend and Ed. are kind of the same thing over
and over again, like establishing their kind
of different motivations for finding the Yeti.
And, you know, it's like. Ed's kind of like gung
-ho nature. You said that before, Vincent. And
Tom Friend is kind of like self -serving interest.
And then Peter Cushing is in it for the sake
of science. Like those conversations are kind
of had over and over again in the movie. And
it's like, it's already relatively short at 90
minutes, but like you could have cut out some
of those scenes and made it like 75 minutes and
it would have been a little tighter, you know?
So unfortunately, just a little, a little unexciting
for me for most of its running time. I also feel
like I'm kind of okay with the slow burn, but
I could have used more. in this case. So we're
being a little hard on it, but Steffi, is there
any other bad stuff that you saw? Well, they're
really good points for sure. And yeah, I think
the only other thing that they could have explored
is maybe something with the llama. So like the
llama, like he's like, no, there's nothing up
there. Then they're like, okay, we're going to
go then. And he's like, okay. And I don't know,
they maybe could have. Develop something like
more interesting because then also too, when
Helen's like, when to go find the llama, suddenly
she's sort of like tackled and like, you know,
like the llama could have had some kind of interesting
play in it, but you know, underdeveloped of course,
but yeah. Yeah. I think like your points are
really fair about the film and yeah, I, I think,
but. Just to end on a positive note, like looking
at what they did and seeing, you don't see many
films like that of that era. you know, like that
it's a visually striking enough film that you're,
you really are like kind of swept away. And,
and I really have to like praise that and to
imagine never climbed a mountain in my life,
but maybe, you know, if you are climbing a snowy
mountain, it's slow and, you know, a cold burn.
Yeah. Like that. Maybe that's what they were
trying to go forward to is yeah. To mirror that
atmosphere and to, and then to kind of slowly
get caught. claustrophobic in that space yeah
just an idea but and i agree i think it is a
choice so i mean val guest is a talented director
i mean everyone involved are making their choices
so whether or not it's your cup of tea that's
one thing but i do respect the choices like you
said this commitment to the to the environment
so maybe we're we're really in that realism i
do want to watch this again i will say like i
you know it's not the first movie from this era
where I was a little underwhelmed, but upon further
watches, I really start to see it on different
levels. And it's like, yeah, you know what? Everything's
happening between the lines. We don't need a
thrilling set piece because, again, everything
is happening a little more on a subtle level.
And I think you have really good points, Steffi,
that like you really do feel the endless climb
up the mountain, like all these shots of them
just like trudging through the snow. You know,
some maybe a couple of times I was like, all
right, we get it already. But at the same time,
it's like you feel how difficult that would be,
you know? Yeah. So that's a good point. We do
always try to shout out like one or two of our
favorite campy moments in the film as well. Very
briefly, I'll say that I always love. Especially
in old, well, not just in older movies, but like
whenever somebody falls off a cliff and then
there's a cut to something else and it's very
obviously a dummy. This movie has a really good
example of that with one character who falls
off a cliff. And then there's, yeah, there's
a cut that made me laugh out loud. I guess we
mentioned the hand. Yeah, the hand, which was
like comically large, right? I wasn't just seeing,
miss seeing that. Like it was bigger than the
rifles. Like they were little rifles used to
convey the giantness of the hand. But also, we
talked about how long it takes to climb up this
mountain. In reverse, how quickly it takes to
descend the mountain. Because there's that night,
which is a great set piece. I don't want listeners
to think that there's no action in this movie.
Because when there is action, it's really good.
So there's this night attack on the tent. And
everyone's running around in chaos, firing their
guns. And the Sherpa, he sees the hand. And he
loses it. He hightails it down the mountain so
fast. And then I thought he was dead. Like I
thought he was going to be lost in the wilderness.
But then he shows up in camp again in the village.
And they're like, yeah, he got down here in like
three hours. Wow. He do a shortcut. Yeah. He's
rolling down the mountain. I love that. Yeah.
Steffi, we have a pretty broad definition of
camp on this show, but was there anything that
stuck out to you, like silly or campy in that
category? I mean, the choice that Forrest Tucker's
character, whatever scandal he was involved in
before, he decides to rename himself Friend.
And so having Peter Cushing call, Friend, Friend,
Friend, and then it's like the Friend explores
on all of his stuff. I just thought that was
kind of an odd, distracting choice. I thought
the same thing. Friend! Tom Goodguy. Yeah. Yeah,
for a character who's not especially likable,
you know? Right. A little ridiculous. Yeah. Awesome.
Well, we have arrived at the end of our episode.
This is the point of every episode where we give
the film a rating. As always, we have four ratings
on Camp Kaiju. Our highest rating, 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's not worth revisiting.
It definitely does not stand the test of time.
For me, I'm going to go just like slightly on
the negative side. I do think this movie, not
especially fun, although it has its interesting
moments and like it does have an eerie atmosphere
at times. I admire some of the things it's trying
to do. But for me, it probably does not stand
the test of time. I think there are probably
other Hammer horror movies, even other underrated
ones, especially those that I'll, you know, maybe
prefer over time. And perhaps I'll watch this
again and have a better opinion the next time
around. But for me on this first rewatch, I was
a little bit disappointed and felt that it did
move a little too slow for its own good. Vincent,
I'll turn it over to you. Thanks, Matt. And well
said. Yeah, my first inclination was towards
that rating as well. However, in the midst of
our conversation, I think I'm going to stay on
the slightly positive side. And I'm going to
say that... There are some dated elements in
character. Maybe it is a little too slow moving
for its own good, but I think the visual style
stands the test of time. I think those set pieces,
while few and far between, no, actually a better
set is while they're saved for the end, like
the last 20 minutes is all action. That action
is done compellingly enough. For me to want to
go back and watch this movie. So I think it does
stand the test of time in a lot of ways. Not
so much in some ways, but stands the test of
time. Nice. Nice. So I don't know if this classifies
as stand the test of time because historically
it is exactly like a perfect movie. Like, so
if you watch it as. A 1957, like, reflection
on society and what was happening at the time
and, you know, all the things in the world. That,
to me, is a perfect capsule, actually. And even
the slowness of it, actually, to me. So for me,
I feel like it does stand the test of time because
it's such a special reflection of knowing that
there was explorers going up the mountains at
those times, you know, looking for it. There
was this thing with the Americans and the Brits,
you know, kind of, I guess we're allies after
all that stuff. You know, there's... That kind
of tension and that sort of mysticism that was
starting to kind of be removed, I think, as science
started to evolve more in the 60s and we were,
you know, the moon landing and all this stuff
that came after it. I think that there's something
really beautiful in kind of capturing the way
that the other times were. So I would say. I'm
the highest. I still really love this movie.
Yeah, I think it's just totally special, totally
different. I know the slow burn with all of us
drives us crazy the way we're all wired now.
And yeah, I guess critics at the time, too, were
also saying it was slow. So think about it. It
was even slow for them in the 50s. It's crazy.
But yeah, there's a charm to it. So I'm all for
the best rating for this one. Right on. That's
great. Yeah, I love that. And the historical
context is very important, and that's a good
point, so thank you for bringing that up. But
I love the array of reactions we had to it, you
know? Anybody out there that's seen The Abominable
Snowman, let us know what you think, or other
Hammer Horror movies, for that matter. Steffi,
thank you again for joining us today. It was
so wonderful to meet you and talk with you. Thank
you, guys. Yeah, absolutely. We will like put
your handle, your Instagram handle in the show
notes. And hopefully we'll have you on the show
again at some point in the future. But thank
you again. I would love that. Thanks. Total pleasure.
Thank you. Yeah, the honor was ours. If you want
to say any last words about what you got going
on, if there's anything you want people to follow
or check out with your professional work, you
can have the floor for a minute if you want.
Oh, sure. Yeah. If you're into like monster history
and very small doses, you can subscribe to my
YouTube channel. It's at Steffi Deodora. And
that's also on Instagram. I post a new monster
movie minute every Monday. And yeah, that's so
spoiler alert. I do show kind of my favorite
parts of the movie to show you that you need
to see the movie. But then I also go into a lot
of history and stuff like that. So that's up
your alley. Follow me on Instagram. Yeah. Or
on YouTube. Amazing. Again, such a pleasure.
We'll let you get out of here, but we hope to
have you back. 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, merchandise, and
more. Other ways to get in touch, CampKaiju at
gmail .com, CampKaijuPodcast .com, Instagram,
and our voicemail number at 612 -470 -2612. Camp
Kaiju was recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with
Menia's Mailbox Music by Ben Cook -Felts. Thanks,
friends. And until next time, stay campy. Camp
Kaiju is brought to you by Zack Linder and the
Zack 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 Zack Pack has
you covered. Check the link in the show notes
for more information. Thanks, and catch us next
time for Blacktula. Yeah. Can't wait. That's
going to be a fun episode. We have great stars
of all these serves. You can really spare them.
Take what you wish now. Then you will have every
species. Species? Species. It's a long time since
I have studied your language. The Research Foundation
will be greatly in your debt, sir. Mr. Fox, you
do not drink your tea? Oh, I do. Well, I mean,
I will. Actually, I think I'll go and collect
some jars to put these in. It will be cold. Well,
really, I quite like it cold. One more thing,
dear campers in this world of uncertainty. I
just want to acknowledge the death of Alex Preddy
at the hands of ICE agents. That has happened
in the time from recording to release. So Minneapolis,
again, we're with you. Whole world. Think of
Minneapolis and may you always stand for what
is right. So Alex Preddy, Rene Good, rest in
power. Everyone out there, stay campy and stay
strong. And if you ever wonder what the word
mensch means, well, maybe my favorite non -monster
movie, Billy Wilder's The Apartment, may shed
some light on that beautiful word that we...
all ought to think about more and more every
day. So I'll leave you with that. Be a mensch.
Why don't you grow up, Baxter? Be a mensch. You
know what that means? I'm not sure. A mensch,
a human being.