WEBVTT

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In terms of sexual explicitness for most of the

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movie, it's like, oh, everyone's clothed and

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it's it's it's watchable. Yeah, totally. They

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might be on fire or, you know, like decapitated

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or bathing in blood. But they're well, when she's

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bathing in blood, she is actually fully nude.

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Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie

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Podcast. We're your hosts, Matt Levine and Vincent

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Hannum. And we're talking about all our favorite

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monster movies, the good, the bad, and the downright

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campy, and asking if they stand the test of time.

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Traditional kaiju, creature features, space invaders,

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and the supernatural, and everything in between.

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All strange beasts are welcome here. Camp Kaiju

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is brought to you by Zack Linder and the Zack

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Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty. Whether

00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:06.269
you're looking for your dream home, a savvy investment

00:01:06.269 --> 00:01:09.310
property, or expert guidance in home rehab and

00:01:09.310 --> 00:01:11.909
flipping, the Zach Pack has you covered. Check

00:01:11.909 --> 00:01:13.810
the link in the show notes for more information.

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in his infinite wisdom, understands the wiles

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of the devil. And so, he gives us the strength

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to face them with noble thoughts and prayer.

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In this way, Justine, Alucarda, I trust that

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you have been listening. Yes, sister. Then you

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can repeat what I have just read. Well, Alucarda,

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stand up, child. And this is what the devil does.

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He grants us virtues to expand his kingdom, the

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only valid one. God, with his lack of knowledge,

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does not understand this truth and opposes it

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with false thoughts and prayers. God, silence!

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Satan, Satan, Satan, our Lord and Master. I acknowledge...

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Don't listen to them! Don't listen to them! Our

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Lord and Master. Vincent, good to see you. How

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are you doing tonight? I'm well, Matt. How are

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you? I'm doing well. Thank you. Tonight, I'm

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very excited. Here on the podcast on Camp Kaju,

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we're going to talk about a classic of Mexican

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horror cinema called Alucarda from 1977. Indeed,

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this movie is in the demonic possession genre,

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which we have not really talked about on this

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show. You know, thinking about your exorcists,

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I don't know. It's honestly not a genre I'm well

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educated in. I've seen The Exorcist and maybe

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that is a disservice to other films of its ilk

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because I've started with the best. Not to foreshadow

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my conclusions about Alucarda, but it is a genre

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that I'm coming into it a bit of a newbie. Yeah,

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I... For whatever reason, I usually am kind of

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like affected by movies about the devil or like

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Satan. I don't know why that is exactly because

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I'm not especially religious. I was not raised

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religious by my parents. But like the concept

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of Satan and like being possessed and like where

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evil comes from, if it's from the sort of like

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outside force or whatever. I do like that theme.

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But you're right that we haven't really talked

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about it a lot on Camp Kaiju. It's, you know,

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we were just talking about this. Is Satan a monster?

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Is this a monster movie? It's kind of right on

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the edge, but it's sort of in our strange beast

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umbrella. So it counts. Everything in between.

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And I'll echo you, Matt. I would consider myself

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more religious, just for what it's worth. But

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regardless, I am also... If there's one monster

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movie genre that actually gets under my skin,

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it is usually Satanic. possession devil movies

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so you know i'm out of my comfort zone here and

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i think that's a good thing yeah i i feel like

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i am too i'm also not really very familiar with

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mexican cinema in general sorry to say that it's

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kind of a blind spot for me and i'm hoping to

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rectify that but yeah so you know i'm kind of

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like coming into this as kind of a newbie as

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well but that's a good thing Yeah, yeah. I've

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been watching the Friday the 13th movies. I know.

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Yeah, you've been keeping up on my Letterboxd

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reviews. I figured I should like do that series

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like, you know, do it some diligence, some due

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diligence or whatever, because I've never seen

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all of them. So I'm four movies in. Generally,

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I don't like them very much. Nightmare on Elm

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Street is definitely my slasher franchise that

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I love. Halloween is okay. Friday the 13th has

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its like, you know. campy thrills that are kind

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of fun every once in a while but i'm hoping they

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get better and more ridiculous as they go on

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so you've seen one through four yes okay four

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is generally regarded as the best of the franchise

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huh the low bar but yeah i know i've read that

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too and it does seem like a low bar i like the

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makeup and gore effects are really great and

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the ending is very strong in the fourth one yeah

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some of the stuff leading up to that You know,

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I mean, just like the characters are so redundant.

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It's like the same horny teenagers over and over

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again. I know that's where you go with the slasher

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movie. I know that. But like, I don't know. I'm

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just surprised how boring they are. Like half

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of those movies are like people stumbling around

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in dark rooms, you know? But like I said, there's

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some good stuff about them. I thought number

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three was pretty fun. Like all the sort of like

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3D effects, even if you're not watching them

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in 3D. That was pretty entertaining. And he gets

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his mask in three. What I what what kept me going

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because I agree 100 percent with everything you've

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just said. And so I was like, what keeps me going

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when I watched number one? It's a sense of continuity.

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Like Jason does have a through line from the

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first film through the eighth or ninth film through

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the eighth film. That's all one story arc for

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Jason Voorhees. And it's. I love stuff like that,

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even if it's as bad as bad as the series is.

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It keeps it keeps you on a cliffhanger. I love

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that. Yeah, I do. I agree with that. It's cool

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to see Jason's first appearance in the second

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movie. And then, like you said, the hockey mask

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in the third one. So I don't know. I'm going

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to keep going. I hope like the more ridiculous

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they get when he's like in Manhattan and in outer

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space, I might start liking them more the campier

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they get. So we'll see what happens. I won't

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spoil it, but there is one film in the series

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where the tone decidedly shifts to camp. And

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at that point, you're off to the races. Cool.

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Okay. I can't wait. I'm going to keep on going

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with them. Yeah. All right. Keep you posted.

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Yeah, for sure. Happy Friday the 13th, everybody,

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this past February. And we have another one coming

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up in March. Oh, cool. And I think this episode,

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I think it's coming out on the 14th. So one day

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after that. Yeah. All right. If we stick with

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that schedule. What about you? Have you seen

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any good monster movies recently? Yes, I've been

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doing some blaxploitation exploration. One film

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called Abby, which is about a woman being possessed

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by the devil. So I'll bring that one up later

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in our chat here. But I also watched a movie

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called Sugar Hill from 1974. It's a mob revenge

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story with zombies, voodoo. It's every exploitative.

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genre thrown into it. But, you know, it's fun

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for what it's worth. I've always wanted to see

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Sugar Hill. I've never gotten around to it. I

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think it had a theatrical screening around here

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recently. I can't remember where exactly. Yeah,

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the Imagine Theater, I think. Nice. I did want

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to shout out a couple movies that are showing

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in late March here in Minneapolis for any of

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our listeners that are in Minneapolis. And this

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is kind of a conflict of interest, I'll admit,

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because I'm a volunteer at the Trilon Cinema.

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But... The weekend of March 13th through 15th,

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Alien, maybe the best monster movie of all time,

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is playing in 35mm at the Trilon. If you're in

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Minneapolis, check that out. And then later in

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March, They Live, the John Carpenter classic,

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is playing as well. So it's a good month for

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monster movies. All right. Thank you again for

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hanging out with us, friends. Please rate and

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review Camp Kaiju. Follow us on Patreon .com

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slash Camp Kaiju for additional videos, reviews,

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merchandise, and more. Other ways you can get

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in touch are via email, campkaijuatgmail .com,

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at our website, which is campkaijupodcast .com,

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on Instagram, or our voicemail number, which

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is 612 -470 -2612. As always, we want to shout

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out our current Patreon members. Thank you so

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much to Jason, Chris, Sean, Peggy, Don, Steffi,

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Jim Chaney and our anonymous patron. We really

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appreciate you. What a list. Yeah, it's growing.

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It's so good to see. Yeah. We'll get to Minya's

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mailbox, but we're loving all the comments and

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the conversation that's happening around a lot

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of these movies and your interests. And it's

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been really great interacting with you all. Absolutely.

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Yeah, it's a pleasure. And if you've seen Alucarda,

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let us know what you think. It definitely makes

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an impression. If you haven't seen it and you

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are a little bit adventurous in your movie going,

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please check it out. Let us know what you think.

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I love that. Be adventurous. Yeah, it's I mean,

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nothing better than like just a one of a kind

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movie, you know, pushing your comfort zone a

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little bit. Yeah. Let's talk about a couple.

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standout horror movies or monster movies from

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movie history in mid -March. It turns out this

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is kind of a good time of the year for horror

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movies. There are a lot of good movies on this

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list that have come out throughout history right

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around this time in mid -March. Any of those

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movies jump out at you, Vincent? Forbidden Planet

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from 1956. It is one of the... It is a landmark

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science fiction film. Of the 50s that influenced,

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for example, George Lucas when he was creating

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a Star Wars universe. I mean, this is a Technicolor

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movie ensemble based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.

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So it's smart, but visually stylish, as you would

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say, Matt. And it's a classic. Haven't talked

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about it yet on this podcast. I do have some

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quibbles with it, but. One day it may come up

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in the podcast. We could dive into it then, but

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I'll just leave it there. Forbidden Planet. Check

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it out if you haven't. I love that movie. I agree

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with you there. Yeah, so stylish, like you said,

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Vincent. There's a lot to that movie. I love

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campy, fun sci -fi movies, but it's more than

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just that in this case. That's a good choice.

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Love that one. There are a couple Brian De Palma

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movies on this list, which are not actually totally

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monster movies. The one that I'm going to shout

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out is The Fury from 1978. That's a relatively

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early Brian De Palma movie, maybe about a decade

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into his career. He made that shortly after Carrie.

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The Fury kind of has some similar themes. It's

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like telekinesis and like secret government programs,

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which is not like Carrie, but a new kind of wrinkle

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to the story. And it's just so... not to use

00:11:54.940 --> 00:11:56.799
the phrase that you just said, Vincent, but so

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visually stylish. It's like the most stylish

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movie ever made. And one of the late scenes in

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the movie features a very well -known actor getting

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blown up and his head flying at the camera, at

00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:10.460
the audience. I don't want to give away too much,

00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:12.620
but check out The Fury if you haven't before.

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I love Brian De Palma, and that's one of his

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most ridiculously extravagant movies. It's so

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fun. I'm a sucker for two things in my... In

00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:26.039
my horror movies or movies in general. One is

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when somebody loses a head. And two, when somebody

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is on fire. Yeah. So the fury you had me at the

00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:42.200
flying head and people on fire happens in Alucarda.

00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.279
Yeah. And somebody loses a head too. Oh, you're

00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:49.870
right. Yeah. it's like a corpse that maybe is

00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:52.730
alive or like an undead corpse. Maybe it's hard

00:12:52.730 --> 00:12:54.750
to know exactly what's going on, but somebody

00:12:54.750 --> 00:12:58.450
loses a head for sure. Oh, what's wrong with

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me? But you're right. I, yeah. I mean, there's

00:13:01.669 --> 00:13:05.389
so much in Alucarda, like a violent horror trope.

00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:08.269
There's like a 75 % chance it's in this movie,

00:13:08.330 --> 00:13:10.549
you know, it might be, it might be a little high,

00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:12.149
but there's, there's so much to it. I love it.

00:13:12.710 --> 00:13:16.960
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. There are some good

00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:19.220
movies coming up or recently released that are

00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:22.779
sort of monster movie adjacent. I don't really

00:13:22.779 --> 00:13:24.679
know what to think about The Bride, which stars

00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:26.740
Christian Bale and Jesse Buckley. I love both

00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:29.179
of them. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. It looks

00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:31.580
like kind of a cool sort of like crime movie

00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:33.860
update of Bride of Frankenstein. So I don't know

00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:35.659
what to expect, but really excited for that one.

00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:39.860
The blending of genres intrigues me. Classic

00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:44.679
sci -fi Frankenstein with a 1920s gangster. I

00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:47.429
mean, that... That should be a winning combination.

00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:51.850
I don't know why I'm so skeptical, but I'm here

00:13:51.850 --> 00:13:55.809
for it. I will support any monster movie. Yeah.

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What are these other ones? Undertone and Alpha.

00:13:58.070 --> 00:14:02.169
I am unaware. Unfamiliar. Undertone, I don't

00:14:02.169 --> 00:14:03.950
think that's so much a monster movie, but it's

00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:06.590
kind of like a spooky, it's a horror movie about,

00:14:06.669 --> 00:14:09.850
I think it's a podcast recorder. So, you know,

00:14:09.889 --> 00:14:13.169
close to our line of work. And it's like some

00:14:13.169 --> 00:14:16.320
kind of ghostly presence. comes out of like some

00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.159
kind of recording and torments this podcast host.

00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:21.940
I don't really know a lot about it. It might

00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:25.080
be a Blumhouse production, whatever that tells

00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:26.820
you, but it looks kind of cool. The trailer is

00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:29.460
pretty good. All right. The one that I'm probably

00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:31.940
more excited about coming out in late March is

00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:34.700
called Alpha. It's directed by the French director,

00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:37.440
Julia Ducournau. I really like her movies a lot.

00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:40.940
She made Raw and then Titan a little bit more

00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:44.049
recently. Speaking of like extreme movies, which

00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:45.690
we'll be talking about with Alucarda tonight,

00:14:46.289 --> 00:14:49.210
Duke Corno's movies are very extreme, like very

00:14:49.210 --> 00:14:52.009
intense, graphically violent. Raw is kind of

00:14:52.009 --> 00:14:54.990
about cannibalism. Tatan is indescribable and

00:14:54.990 --> 00:14:59.029
is like very, very, yeah, I can't describe it.

00:14:59.029 --> 00:15:01.529
It's indescribable. But I love her movies and

00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:03.590
Alpha sounds like very divisive, but I'm really

00:15:03.590 --> 00:15:06.610
looking forward to that one. Words we've mentioned

00:15:06.610 --> 00:15:10.070
in this podcast already, or like about decapitation.

00:15:12.859 --> 00:15:16.019
Cannibalism. Undescribable. Which is very, you

00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:19.360
know, leaves that to your imagination. It's going

00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.480
to be a good one. Good one tonight. Exactly.

00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:24.059
Yeah. This is like, this ends a PG episode. You

00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:26.279
know, it's PG -13. Parents strongly caution.

00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:29.200
Yeah. And I'll just mention the Sam Raimi movie

00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:33.100
called Send Help that came out last month. Came

00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:34.960
out of nowhere for me. It wasn't on my radar,

00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:37.279
but it's gotten really great reviews. Strong

00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.879
box office. Word of mouth. And it's Sam Raimi.

00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:43.879
It looks like he's at the top of his game. It's

00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.440
like a survival horror movie. I don't know if

00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:48.919
there's a monster in it, but it looks very bloody.

00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:53.740
And it stars Rachel McAdams. And it looks cool.

00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.480
I want to see it. Yeah, I did see it. I liked

00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.879
it quite a bit. Yeah, there's not really a monster,

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.460
but it's one of those movies where it's like

00:16:01.460 --> 00:16:04.240
the monster is man. You know what I mean? To

00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.320
be a little bit corny and on the nose about it.

00:16:06.379 --> 00:16:08.620
But it's a very fun movie. It is very bloody.

00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.279
I always love Sam Raimi most of the time. So

00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:14.720
yeah, highly recommend it. Yes. Let's not talk

00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:18.259
about Drag Me to Hell, but let's just say Drag

00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:21.860
Me to Hell is a movie I've only seen once. And

00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:25.100
it still remains one of my favorite horror movies.

00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.080
It's so fun. Yeah, and one of my favorite endings

00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.940
ever in that movie. Don't tell me. I can't even

00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:34.519
remember. I saw it in the theater, and that movie's

00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.620
just always stuck with me. Yeah, it's great,

00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:40.840
and you should rewatch it, and then tell me what

00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:42.139
you think of the ending, because it's so good.

00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:45.320
Yeah, definitely. Coming up on Camp Kaiju, we

00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.120
got some good stuff. Do you want to talk about

00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.879
your next pick, Vincent? Yes, Troll Hunter from

00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:56.779
Norway, circa 2013. It's a Norwegian kaiju movie.

00:16:56.940 --> 00:17:00.700
These trolls are kaiju -sized, and it's set in

00:17:00.700 --> 00:17:02.820
the modern day. It's about a team of troll hunters,

00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:06.440
a scientist research team, and they're tracking

00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:10.640
trolls throughout the Norwegian countryside of

00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:14.779
the mountains. Obviously, chaos and terror ensues,

00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:18.700
but it's just like a great reimagining of classic

00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:24.670
troll lore. And it's a Norwegian film, so get

00:17:24.670 --> 00:17:26.630
ready to read some subtitles, but it's a really

00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:28.569
fun time. Another movie I've only seen once,

00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:31.549
but it's always stuck with me. Awesome. I've

00:17:31.549 --> 00:17:33.450
never seen that. I've always wanted to. Thank

00:17:33.450 --> 00:17:36.009
you for giving me the excuse to do so. I'm looking

00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:38.890
forward to that movie. And then the episode after

00:17:38.890 --> 00:17:41.410
that, my next choice will be At Midnight, I'll

00:17:41.410 --> 00:17:43.710
Take Your Soul, which is a Brazilian movie from

00:17:43.710 --> 00:17:46.740
the late 60s. I did see it once back in college.

00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:49.119
I don't really remember it very well. I do remember

00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.000
that it was the introduction of a character named

00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.480
Coffin Joe, who would be kind of a recurring

00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:55.539
character in Brazilian horror movies for a long

00:17:55.539 --> 00:17:58.220
time after that. So it's kind of vampire based,

00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:01.799
kind of like, you know, undead zombie -ish a

00:18:01.799 --> 00:18:04.660
little bit. That'll be a fun, fun episode. And

00:18:04.660 --> 00:18:06.839
Frank Olson will be joining us for that one.

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.119
So all you Frankaholics have that to look forward

00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.180
to. Heck yeah. And I just want to point out.

00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:15.670
Maybe they're our Olympic theme. We did not plan,

00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:18.970
but our international picks are on the money

00:18:18.970 --> 00:18:21.609
here. We started the season with a Japanese film,

00:18:21.769 --> 00:18:24.970
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The Abominable Snowman

00:18:24.970 --> 00:18:29.809
was a British film. Blackula, American. Alucarda,

00:18:29.910 --> 00:18:32.789
Mexican. Then a Norwegian, and then a Portuguese

00:18:32.789 --> 00:18:36.529
film. Yeah. It's like a Brazilian film, yeah.

00:18:36.769 --> 00:18:38.609
Brazilian film. But Portuguese language, yeah.

00:18:38.730 --> 00:18:41.529
So we're touring the world. I love it. That's

00:18:41.529 --> 00:18:45.230
so cool. Weirdly enough, Alucarda is in English

00:18:45.230 --> 00:18:47.250
and they shot it in English. So even though it

00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:49.509
was filmed in Mexico, it's an English language

00:18:49.509 --> 00:18:54.470
movie. Really? It sounded and seemed like the

00:18:54.470 --> 00:18:59.140
actors were dubbed. You know, I think the actors

00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:01.660
were post -dubbed, but were also speaking English

00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:03.559
while they shot the movie because it has an international

00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.339
cast and all the actors spoke English. And there

00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:09.400
are some possible reasons for that, which we'll

00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:10.960
get into a little bit later in the episode. But

00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:13.000
yeah, they intended it to be English language

00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:18.140
the entire time. Okay. Yeah. Just one of many

00:19:18.140 --> 00:19:22.440
ways this is a very strange movie. Yeah. On that

00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.819
note, what is your personal history with Alucarda?

00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:28.220
None. I feel like I say that all the time now,

00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:31.299
which is a great thing. You mentioned it. I thought

00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:33.819
it was a vampire film. I was wrong about that.

00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:41.200
I rented it on Amazon Prime. And at first I was

00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.720
confused because the title that comes up on Prime

00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:47.579
is Sisters of Satan. Yeah. So I had to, which

00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:51.940
is, I guess, the US title, release title. Yeah,

00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:53.900
so it didn't really get a theatrical release

00:19:53.900 --> 00:19:55.880
in the United States, but then it did kind of

00:19:55.880 --> 00:19:58.420
gain a cult following on VHS when it came out

00:19:58.420 --> 00:20:01.059
in the 80s. And it actually went by several different

00:20:01.059 --> 00:20:04.319
titles in the United States on videotape. Sisters

00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.339
of Satan was one of them. We'll go into some

00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.299
of the other titles a little bit later on. So

00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:11.339
I think it was an example of like various companies

00:20:11.339 --> 00:20:13.200
had the distribution rights, so they could just

00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.619
like title it whatever they wanted, basically.

00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:20.009
I will say, like... Just from like a marketing

00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:24.890
standpoint, Sisters of Satan would probably sell

00:20:24.890 --> 00:20:27.130
better than Alucarda. It's like, what is that?

00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:28.829
You don't really know what that is. But Sisters

00:20:28.829 --> 00:20:32.250
of Satan, now you have my attention. Yeah, it's

00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:34.109
a pretty good title. I'll just say right now

00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:36.690
that the other titles that this movie was known

00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:40.210
by on VHS in the United States were Mark of the

00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:44.289
Devil 3, also not a bad title, and Innocence

00:20:44.289 --> 00:20:46.900
from Hell. Which is a great exploitation title

00:20:46.900 --> 00:20:49.839
as well. So, arguably, those three titles might

00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.319
be a little catchier than Alucarda, you know?

00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.359
Arguably. All right. Well, what was the one with

00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:00.839
the three in it? What was that? Mark of the Devil

00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:05.440
3. As in the third movie in a series? Oh, well,

00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:08.579
that's a good point. I thought maybe, like, does

00:21:08.579 --> 00:21:11.279
it mean, like, Justine, Alucarda, and Satan?

00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:13.680
Like a triumvirate? That was my guess. I don't

00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:16.420
know. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of the Devil 3.

00:21:17.539 --> 00:21:21.460
Exactly, yeah. But who knows? Yeah, I'm not really

00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:23.759
sure. I kind of like it, though. I like that

00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.460
name. Yeah. I like Alucarda, too. I think I liked

00:21:28.460 --> 00:21:30.039
it better when I thought it was Dracula spelled

00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:34.460
backwards. Same. Yeah, I mean, I'll share my

00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:36.619
personal history with the film. I also didn't

00:21:36.619 --> 00:21:39.119
really know anything about this. I knew I wanted

00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:41.619
to bring a Mexican movie to the podcast because

00:21:41.619 --> 00:21:44.319
we've talked about... Guillermo del Toro a little

00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.920
bit, but I don't think we talked about Kronos,

00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:50.000
which I think is his only Mexican movie. The

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:53.539
Devil's Backbone is a Spanish movie. So, you

00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:55.400
know, we haven't really talked about very many

00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:58.440
Mexican movies. We talked about, sorry, the one

00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:02.579
about the sex alien octopus creature. Yeah, you're

00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:04.579
right. Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot that.

00:22:04.700 --> 00:22:07.119
The Untamed, which is a movie I like quite a

00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:08.859
bit. That's pretty extreme too. That was like

00:22:08.859 --> 00:22:11.299
five years ago we talked about that. Yeah, man.

00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:14.259
Four or five years ago. Back to the beginning.

00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:16.599
Yeah, pretty much. Beginning of our time together

00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:21.039
anyway. But no, good point. That might be the

00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:22.480
only other Mexican movie we've talked about.

00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:25.319
But then I did some research. Alucarda is on

00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:27.640
a lot of lists of the best Mexican horror movies

00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:30.420
of all time. I did read up a little bit about

00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:32.460
it, but I still kind of was under the assumption

00:22:32.460 --> 00:22:35.200
that it was a vampire movie with the title Alucarda.

00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:38.500
But that is barely correct, if correct at all,

00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:40.970
as we'll talk about. Yeah, so we both kind of

00:22:40.970 --> 00:22:43.329
went into a blind a little bit. Were we pleasantly

00:22:43.329 --> 00:22:46.589
surprised, unpleasantly surprised? We'll find

00:22:46.589 --> 00:22:59.170
out later in this episode. Somewhere between

00:22:59.170 --> 00:23:04.069
science and superstition, there is another world.

00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:21.880
The world of darkness. Nobody expected it. Nobody

00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:30.279
believed it. And nothing could stop it. There

00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:33.960
are no experts. You probably know as much about

00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:37.680
possession as most priests. Look, your daughter

00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:40.099
doesn't say she's a demon. She says she's the

00:23:40.099 --> 00:23:42.740
devil himself. I'm telling you that that thing

00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:46.619
upstairs isn't my daughter. And I want you to...

00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:48.740
Tell me that you know for a fact that there's

00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:50.640
nothing wrong with my daughter except in her

00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.220
mind. You tell me you know for a fact that an

00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:55.700
exorcism wouldn't do any good. You tell me that!

00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:26.339
The one hope. The only hope. The Exorcist. This

00:24:26.339 --> 00:24:33.660
was Abby. This was Abby. A woman loved and in

00:24:33.660 --> 00:24:39.500
love. Until that night. When something evil came

00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:51.039
looking for a soul to possess. I can't stop thinking

00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:57.269
about your husband. That creep. Forget him. Was

00:24:57.269 --> 00:25:01.730
this Abby? Now the fun starts. Grab her. Hold

00:25:01.730 --> 00:25:13.809
her. Hear me, demon. Leave this woman body. Abby,

00:25:14.029 --> 00:25:17.930
rate it R. I was at the hospital, Mr. Thorne,

00:25:17.930 --> 00:25:20.930
the night your son was born. I saw its mother.

00:25:21.190 --> 00:25:27.200
I saw its mother. Fears, I've said. Fears. What

00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:30.859
kind of fears? It's mother, Mr. Thorne. It's

00:25:30.859 --> 00:25:33.480
all my work. It's mother. What is it you're trying

00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:38.779
to say? His mother was a... This is not a human

00:25:38.779 --> 00:25:44.579
child. Make no mistake. There are those who will

00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:52.359
die for him. There are those who will kill for

00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:58.170
him. Who is he? What does he want? Where did

00:25:58.170 --> 00:26:09.309
he come from? And can he be stopped? Gregory

00:26:09.309 --> 00:26:19.150
Peck. Lee Remick. The Omen. If this is the truth,

00:26:19.410 --> 00:26:24.720
where does it end? So I'm going to talk about

00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.579
the director of the film a little bit. His name

00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:31.140
is Juan Lopez Moctezuma, Mexican director. He

00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:33.420
only made five features throughout his career.

00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:36.440
Several of them were in the kind of horror supernatural

00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:40.420
genre. Earlier in the 1970s, he made movies called

00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:44.579
The Mansion of Madness from 1973 and Mary, Mary,

00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:48.400
Bloody Mary from 1975. So both of those, as the

00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.539
title suggests, were horror movies. He was the

00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:52.779
son of a judge. His family wanted and expected

00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:55.980
him to go into law. Lopez Moctezuma had other

00:26:55.980 --> 00:26:59.160
plans. He loved the arts. He was a jazz scholar.

00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.059
He actually hosted a radio show in Mexico City

00:27:02.059 --> 00:27:04.640
about jazz for a long time and kind of gained

00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:07.480
some fame through that show. He loved film. He

00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:09.400
loved theater. He started off in theater before

00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:12.440
he got into film. His stage productions led him

00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:14.720
to work with Alejandro Jodorowsky, who I was

00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:17.539
talking about before. Jodorowsky was the Chilean

00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:20.259
director who would soon make a splash in Mexican

00:27:20.259 --> 00:27:23.579
cinema with movies like Fondo and Lice, El Topo,

00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:26.920
and The Holy Mountain. Lopez Moctezuma co -produced

00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.759
Fondo and Lice, so their partnership started

00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:35.140
pretty early on. I kind of talked about this

00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:37.180
a little bit before, but these are crazy movies.

00:27:38.869 --> 00:27:41.930
surreal, like drug trips, very violent in some

00:27:41.930 --> 00:27:45.250
ways. If you haven't checked them out, I recommend

00:27:45.250 --> 00:27:49.369
it, but prepare yourself going into it. It was

00:27:49.369 --> 00:27:51.789
one of the Beatles who really loved, I think

00:27:51.789 --> 00:27:53.730
it was the Holy Mountain. I'm pretty sure it

00:27:53.730 --> 00:27:55.630
was John Lennon who would just watch it over

00:27:55.630 --> 00:27:57.970
and over and over again. So those were famous

00:27:57.970 --> 00:28:01.369
drug trip movies back in their day. And maybe

00:28:01.369 --> 00:28:03.670
there are some similarities with Alucarda in

00:28:03.670 --> 00:28:07.579
that way. So yeah, Juan Lopez Moctezuma, interesting

00:28:07.579 --> 00:28:09.460
guy. He was never a very commercial director.

00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:12.539
Like I said, he only made five features. He worked

00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:14.099
on the fringes of the Mexican film industry,

00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.079
and he has one quote where he said, I am fairly

00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:20.119
inflexible. In the artistic field, I think I

00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:22.740
am fairly tough because I have principles I cannot

00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:26.839
betray. I like that quote, and I think it applies

00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:30.180
to this movie. Yeah, I mean, you have to admire

00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:32.920
a creator who sticks to their guns. I think William

00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:36.839
Crane with Blackula. It comes to mind as well.

00:28:37.140 --> 00:28:41.640
He has a vision. He's going to fight to see that

00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:44.779
vision realized. Del Toro is kind of like that

00:28:44.779 --> 00:28:47.319
too, obviously with way more commercial success.

00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:51.720
Right. And I do think it's impressive when directors

00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:54.460
can straddle both worlds, when they can make

00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:56.160
work that is very entertaining and very kind

00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.170
of audience -friendly but still complex. powerful

00:29:00.170 --> 00:29:02.670
in in different ways so so there's a lot to be

00:29:02.670 --> 00:29:04.630
said for that but also i appreciate the directors

00:29:04.630 --> 00:29:07.369
who are just like do not care about like making

00:29:07.369 --> 00:29:08.990
a lot of money at the box office and do their

00:29:08.990 --> 00:29:12.470
own thing i always kind of love that yeah tina

00:29:12.470 --> 00:29:16.390
romero leads our cast here she plays alucarda

00:29:16.390 --> 00:29:21.789
slash lucy westenra tina romero was a is a new

00:29:21.789 --> 00:29:23.869
york city native who moved to mexico city with

00:29:23.869 --> 00:29:26.529
her family when she was just a kid She made her

00:29:26.529 --> 00:29:31.690
film debut in 1976 at age 27 in Lo Mejor de Teresa,

00:29:32.049 --> 00:29:34.730
the same year she appeared in two movies by noted

00:29:34.730 --> 00:29:37.910
Mexican director Felipe Cazales, who represented

00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:40.630
a more outspoken and critical national cinema,

00:29:40.930 --> 00:29:46.069
Canoa. In 1977, Tina Romero appeared in Alucarda

00:29:46.069 --> 00:29:49.809
and the telenovela Santa, later appeared in many

00:29:49.809 --> 00:29:52.490
telenovelas, Mexican films, and some Hollywood

00:29:52.490 --> 00:29:55.839
productions, including Missing in 1982. I've

00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.319
seen that. That's with Jack Lemmon. Yeah, it

00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.640
is indeed. I have not seen that. I have seen

00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:03.380
Kanoa, which is the Felipe Cazals movie that

00:30:03.380 --> 00:30:05.380
I just put in parentheses there. It's great.

00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:08.640
Highly recommend that movie. 1979, I think that's

00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.960
from. Really, really good. All right. Nice. Susanna

00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:20.240
Kamini joins Tina Romero as the Sisters of Satan,

00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:27.730
and Susanna Kamini plays Justine. You know, Alucarda,

00:30:27.930 --> 00:30:30.130
I just want to describe the characters a little

00:30:30.130 --> 00:30:33.089
bit. Alucarda is a young woman. She was given

00:30:33.089 --> 00:30:37.069
up to this convent, this nunnery, by her mother

00:30:37.069 --> 00:30:39.869
in a prologue. And the mother was clearly possessed

00:30:39.869 --> 00:30:45.150
by Satan or some demon. So Alucarda from the

00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:47.490
get -go is already kind of marked by the devil.

00:30:47.910 --> 00:30:50.309
And as she grows up now, she's like a young woman.

00:30:50.470 --> 00:30:54.339
I think I was reading her as a teenager. Obviously,

00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:57.200
her age as the actress is older, but this young

00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:04.799
woman, nonetheless, is embattled with this demonic

00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:09.460
possession of her body. And she befriends Justine,

00:31:09.500 --> 00:31:13.440
who's like a good girl in the beginning, who

00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:16.839
ultimately becomes corrupted by the forces of

00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:23.039
evil as portrayed through Alucarda. The actress

00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:25.920
who plays Justine, Susanna Comini, she didn't

00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:27.819
have a huge acting career aside from appearing

00:31:27.819 --> 00:31:30.839
in four Lopez Moctezuma films, and she mostly

00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:36.339
retired by the late 1980s. Overseeing this convent,

00:31:36.339 --> 00:31:40.980
this church, is Father Lozaro, and he's played

00:31:40.980 --> 00:31:44.559
by David Silva. David Silva was an actor -producer

00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:46.980
in the golden age of Mexican cinema, roughly

00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:51.079
1936 to 1956. David Silva appeared in more than

00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:54.500
100 films. He also appeared in two Jodorowsky

00:31:54.500 --> 00:31:59.759
movies, El Topo and The Holy Mountain. And rounding

00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:02.519
out our main cast here is Claudio Brooke, plays

00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:06.039
Dr. Oscheck. And the hunchbacked, lives with

00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:10.579
a caravan type of people. He wears spangles and

00:32:10.579 --> 00:32:14.160
colorful clothing. Has a ridiculous accent. Yeah.

00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:18.279
Anyways, Claudio Brooke often collaborated with

00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:21.859
Luis Brunel. And their films included The Young

00:32:21.859 --> 00:32:26.259
One, 1960, Viridiana, 1961, The Exterminating

00:32:26.259 --> 00:32:30.140
Angel, 1962, Simon of the Desert in 65 and The

00:32:30.140 --> 00:32:33.500
Milky Way from 1969. Claudio Brooke was one of

00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:36.319
the one of his last final one of his final roles

00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.799
was the villainous Dieter de la Guardia in Guillermo

00:32:39.799 --> 00:32:43.420
del Toro's Kronos. Very cool connection. I got

00:32:43.420 --> 00:32:46.180
to rewatch that movie. Kronos is great. That

00:32:46.180 --> 00:32:47.859
might still be my favorite del Toro movie. And

00:32:47.859 --> 00:32:50.019
that is a very cool connection. I love that Claudio

00:32:50.019 --> 00:32:53.019
Brooke, you know, Mexican actor who worked with

00:32:53.019 --> 00:32:55.619
Bunuel. Maybe Bunuel was Spanish, but like made

00:32:55.619 --> 00:32:58.319
some of the best Mexican films of all time. Now

00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:00.460
he's appearing in this del Toro film. I love

00:33:00.460 --> 00:33:03.440
that connection. It's so cool. It must not be

00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:06.099
a coincidence knowing now del Toro's connection

00:33:06.099 --> 00:33:09.940
to this movie because this character, this, this

00:33:09.940 --> 00:33:15.140
almost goat like caricature, this. You know,

00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:18.680
this this gypsy character has the long goatee.

00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:22.220
He's he's got his ears are maybe even made up.

00:33:22.259 --> 00:33:26.559
He looks very goat like, which is satanic in

00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:30.480
imagery. But it also reminded me very much of

00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.440
Pan's Labyrinth, the kind of imagery and like

00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:37.880
the folk tale aspect. And now this this satyr

00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:41.799
character is coming out of the woods to. communicate

00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:43.660
with a young woman. I was like, this is Pan's

00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:46.480
Labyrinth in this moment. Yeah. Knowing del Toro,

00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:49.740
it's probably not a coincidence. No, del Toro

00:33:49.740 --> 00:33:51.180
loves this movie. He's talked about his love

00:33:51.180 --> 00:33:52.880
for Alucarda. He said it's one of his favorite

00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:55.440
Mexican movies of all time. So. There you go.

00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:57.779
Definitely not a coincidence. And I, you're right.

00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.019
Like that character, the hunchback character

00:34:00.019 --> 00:34:02.180
is very goat -like and I love the connection

00:34:02.180 --> 00:34:04.619
to Pan's Labyrinth. I think that's spot on. I

00:34:04.619 --> 00:34:06.740
also love how this actor, Claudio Brooke, plays

00:34:06.740 --> 00:34:08.960
two characters, both that hunchback and the sort

00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.179
of like the doctor who is the symbol of reason

00:34:12.179 --> 00:34:14.599
and logic and modernity. And it's kind of like

00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:18.099
flip sides of the same, you know, like it's kind

00:34:18.099 --> 00:34:20.139
of like the contrast that the film is trying

00:34:20.139 --> 00:34:23.500
to present between like age old superstition.

00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:26.380
And this like new because this movie is set in

00:34:26.380 --> 00:34:28.340
the late 19th century, this new kind of like

00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:31.619
science and reason and logic. And in this movie,

00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:34.619
science kind of loses out. It's like the forces

00:34:34.619 --> 00:34:37.360
of evil that we can't comprehend that that sort

00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:39.219
of win at the end of the day, to some extent.

00:34:39.739 --> 00:34:42.219
I gotta be honest, I didn't pick up on that,

00:34:42.219 --> 00:34:45.159
that double casting, actually. So that's a great

00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:47.500
way to drive home that theme that you just talked

00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:50.019
about. Yeah, and I didn't pick up on that either

00:34:50.019 --> 00:34:52.719
until I read the cast list and like learned more

00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:54.719
about the production of the movie. So I love

00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:58.340
that duality. And yeah, cool. Maybe it's hard

00:34:58.340 --> 00:34:59.960
to say that anything in this movie is subtle,

00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:01.860
but like that is kind of like a subtle way to

00:35:01.860 --> 00:35:04.480
present that contrast, you know? So I will say

00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:07.380
this actor, he is a terrific character actor.

00:35:07.659 --> 00:35:11.079
He really disappears into his character so much

00:35:11.079 --> 00:35:13.500
so that again, I didn't realize he was also the

00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:16.150
doctor. Pretty impressive. Yeah. All right, so

00:35:16.150 --> 00:35:19.230
let's talk about the making of Alucarda a little

00:35:19.230 --> 00:35:22.449
bit. It is based on a classic Gothic novella

00:35:22.449 --> 00:35:24.250
that we've talked about on the podcast before

00:35:24.250 --> 00:35:27.789
called Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu from

00:35:27.789 --> 00:35:31.230
1872. Very influential in vampire literature.

00:35:31.329 --> 00:35:35.590
It's from 1872, so it predates Dracula by 25

00:35:35.590 --> 00:35:38.429
years. Carmilla is the story of a young woman

00:35:38.429 --> 00:35:41.690
pursued by the vampire Carmilla, and it kind

00:35:41.690 --> 00:35:44.730
of popularized the lesbian vampire trope, which

00:35:44.730 --> 00:35:47.309
we talked about with Dracula's daughter. So yeah,

00:35:47.389 --> 00:35:50.409
Carmilla, definitely an influential work in horror

00:35:50.409 --> 00:35:52.909
literature, and we see it in this movie for sure.

00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:56.980
So production on Alucarda began in August 1975.

00:35:57.900 --> 00:36:00.780
Lopez Moctezuma put together the funding himself.

00:36:01.219 --> 00:36:04.039
It's kind of hard to find more information about

00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:06.719
where that funding came from. Like I mentioned

00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:08.420
before, it was an English -language production,

00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:11.199
even though it was shot in Mexico. Horror was

00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:13.539
not popular in Mexico at the time, so the English

00:36:13.539 --> 00:36:15.619
-language soundtrack, or dialogue I should say,

00:36:15.739 --> 00:36:18.780
was in part an attempt to gain an international

00:36:18.780 --> 00:36:22.940
audience. Lopez Moctezuma... kind of predicted

00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:25.739
that it might do better overseas than in Mexico,

00:36:25.820 --> 00:36:28.380
which turned out to be exactly the case. Historian

00:36:28.380 --> 00:36:31.699
David Wilt has raised another possible explanation

00:36:31.699 --> 00:36:34.300
for the fact that the film was shot in English.

00:36:34.940 --> 00:36:37.900
He believes that U .S. production companies funded

00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:40.539
Alucarda so they could receive a tax break for

00:36:40.539 --> 00:36:42.679
supporting productions in Mexico, which actually

00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:44.960
a lot of production companies did in the United

00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:48.079
States in the late 1970s. But those production

00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:51.280
companies, Wilt believes, then stipulated that

00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:53.420
the film be in English. So it's probably for

00:36:53.420 --> 00:36:56.519
those two reasons that the film is in English,

00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:59.500
even though it was shot in Mexico. It is really

00:36:59.500 --> 00:37:04.360
fascinating to me. the long arm of hollywood

00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:08.099
and and getting its fingers into the production

00:37:08.099 --> 00:37:11.179
of certainly in japan we've talked about aip

00:37:11.179 --> 00:37:14.099
getting involved funding these movies and here

00:37:14.099 --> 00:37:17.420
in mexico yes we'll make your mexican film but

00:37:17.420 --> 00:37:19.980
you have to have it in english you have to do

00:37:19.980 --> 00:37:23.739
it this way and that way yeah i just find that

00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:28.300
that kind of hegemony how do you say that word

00:37:28.300 --> 00:37:34.590
hegemony yeah hegemony American hegemony. Right.

00:37:34.690 --> 00:37:36.929
You can't get away from it. Yeah, you're totally

00:37:36.929 --> 00:37:38.889
right. And even like The Abominable Snowman,

00:37:39.030 --> 00:37:41.829
that was a hammer horror film. But like, you

00:37:41.829 --> 00:37:43.809
know, I was co -produced by American companies,

00:37:44.030 --> 00:37:46.769
featured several American actors who shaped the

00:37:46.769 --> 00:37:49.449
finished product of that film. So Abominable

00:37:49.449 --> 00:37:52.730
Snowman, too. We see the, you know, global influence

00:37:52.730 --> 00:37:55.969
of Hollywood in that movie as well. Yeah. Just,

00:37:56.050 --> 00:37:58.969
you know, I guess an unfortunate fact, you know.

00:37:59.670 --> 00:38:01.630
That's what, you know, I mean, like Hollywood

00:38:01.630 --> 00:38:03.710
really kind of like rose to prominence, I think.

00:38:04.710 --> 00:38:07.510
Like it really entrenched its like power over

00:38:07.510 --> 00:38:09.590
the entire world during World War Two, because

00:38:09.590 --> 00:38:12.070
like European companies were busy fighting the

00:38:12.070 --> 00:38:13.989
war. And at least until America entered the war,

00:38:14.130 --> 00:38:17.530
they really dominated the box office, like in

00:38:17.530 --> 00:38:20.150
like throughout the world, countries throughout

00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:22.630
the world, you know. So even like, I don't know,

00:38:22.650 --> 00:38:24.610
from that point on, after World War Two was really

00:38:24.610 --> 00:38:27.329
Hollywood, that kind of like. dictated international

00:38:27.329 --> 00:38:30.150
filmmaking and to some extent that's probably

00:38:30.150 --> 00:38:33.150
still the case but you know hopefully that's

00:38:33.150 --> 00:38:35.570
becoming less true over time i don't know if

00:38:35.570 --> 00:38:37.849
it is though yeah i mean there's pros and cons

00:38:37.849 --> 00:38:40.469
to everything i'm thinking about just real quick

00:38:40.469 --> 00:38:42.590
real quick we're talking about vampires and and

00:38:42.590 --> 00:38:45.849
if not mexican at least spanish language cinema

00:38:45.849 --> 00:38:50.969
in 19 so universal studios at least had a had

00:38:50.969 --> 00:38:55.599
a practice in the late 20s early 30s of simultaneously

00:38:55.599 --> 00:38:59.300
filming English language and Spanish language

00:38:59.300 --> 00:39:02.159
versions of whatever movie was in production.

00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:05.940
Case in point, Dracula with Bela Lugosi, English

00:39:05.940 --> 00:39:09.699
language film. At night, after Dracula's cast

00:39:09.699 --> 00:39:13.539
left, a Spanish -speaking cast came in, used

00:39:13.539 --> 00:39:17.760
the sets with a whole new director, and shot

00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:21.760
a Spanish language version. And that movie is

00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:25.420
kind of a cult classic in and of itself. If you

00:39:25.420 --> 00:39:27.840
get a chance to watch it, it's very interesting.

00:39:28.420 --> 00:39:30.940
But that was a common practice at the time. And

00:39:30.940 --> 00:39:34.260
Hollywood's proximity to Mexico, there was some

00:39:34.260 --> 00:39:37.539
sort of a beneficial relationship for both parties,

00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:41.699
I think. Definitely, yeah. And it's maybe kind

00:39:41.699 --> 00:39:44.230
of unfortunate that that... was a short lived

00:39:44.230 --> 00:39:46.510
practice, like shooting the same movie simultaneously

00:39:46.510 --> 00:39:49.289
in more than one language like that, you know,

00:39:49.289 --> 00:39:51.809
was a product of the early 1930s, like kind of

00:39:51.809 --> 00:39:53.969
the early sound era in general. And I think,

00:39:53.969 --> 00:39:56.030
again, I think World War II kind of changed that

00:39:56.030 --> 00:39:57.869
a little bit. And then English language movies

00:39:57.869 --> 00:40:00.349
did kind of dominate throughout the world. But

00:40:00.349 --> 00:40:04.230
I mean, this is why it's so cool that we unintentionally

00:40:04.230 --> 00:40:06.710
or not are doing this like global tour of monster

00:40:06.710 --> 00:40:09.670
movies because, you know, it's just more interesting

00:40:09.670 --> 00:40:11.630
to like see everything the world has to offer,

00:40:11.670 --> 00:40:17.150
obviously. Hear, hear. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Alucarda,

00:40:17.230 --> 00:40:19.690
the production was intended to be avant -garde

00:40:19.690 --> 00:40:22.869
and non -commercial. Lopez Moctezuma, you know,

00:40:22.869 --> 00:40:25.250
intended that from the start. However, it did

00:40:25.250 --> 00:40:27.849
have a very experienced crew that had worked

00:40:27.849 --> 00:40:30.550
in the commercial Mexican film industry for a

00:40:30.550 --> 00:40:33.269
long time. One example is the cinematographer

00:40:33.269 --> 00:40:36.349
Javier Cruz, who had shot, or has shot, over

00:40:36.349 --> 00:40:40.159
160 films. Again, I did not recognize the majority

00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:42.340
of those titles, and that is a blind spot on

00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:44.860
my part. I would love to explore Mexican cinema

00:40:44.860 --> 00:40:47.940
a little bit more, but the crew members on this

00:40:47.940 --> 00:40:49.880
production, you know, they were accomplished.

00:40:49.960 --> 00:40:52.760
They had worked on many, many movies, and even

00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:54.940
though the style of this movie is kind of in

00:40:54.940 --> 00:40:58.199
-your -face and bizarre and surreal and dreamlike,

00:40:58.340 --> 00:41:01.179
it is very accomplished, I think, in the production

00:41:01.179 --> 00:41:04.639
quality, you know? The photography of this movie

00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:08.960
absolutely stood out to me. Because, and I'll

00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:12.599
talk about it later, but this movie is visually

00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:18.619
enveloping. There's a sense to it. The cinematography

00:41:18.619 --> 00:41:22.039
supports the storytelling. And I'm trying to

00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:25.179
do better at looking out for that. Because it's

00:41:25.179 --> 00:41:28.519
not just, oh, some effective lighting here and

00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:32.119
there. No, there's intentionality that supports

00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:36.719
the overall story being told. That's really eye

00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:39.380
-catching in this movie. Absolutely. I'm glad

00:41:39.380 --> 00:41:40.960
you said that. I'm sure we'll probably both have

00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:43.760
some specific examples later, but the set design

00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:45.480
in this movie I think is really beautiful too.

00:41:45.539 --> 00:41:47.659
It's very unrealistic. It looks very theatrical,

00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:51.699
but obviously that's the intention. Yeah. One

00:41:51.699 --> 00:41:54.440
last quick note here about the movie. Lopez Moctezuma

00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:57.539
initially planned on a sequel to be called Alucarda

00:41:57.539 --> 00:42:00.780
Rises from the Tomb, but sadly it was never made.

00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:07.059
You know, Juanita. No, sorry. Justine rises from

00:42:07.059 --> 00:42:09.480
the tomb and then she gets her head chopped off.

00:42:10.179 --> 00:42:13.219
Spoiler alert. I think it might be one of the

00:42:13.219 --> 00:42:15.519
sisters, one of the nuns in the convent who gets

00:42:15.519 --> 00:42:17.840
her head chopped off because she's the one who's

00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:21.780
burned alive, I think. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're

00:42:21.780 --> 00:42:26.159
right. But I think Justine. If I remember right,

00:42:26.260 --> 00:42:28.840
she kind of, like, she bites the other nun in

00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:31.539
the throat, and then she gets holy water poured

00:42:31.539 --> 00:42:33.440
on her, and then she kind of just, like, disintegrates

00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:35.960
into nothing. Yeah, that was definitely Justine.

00:42:36.159 --> 00:42:39.679
Yeah. Yep. Poor Justine. Man, I fell for her.

00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:42.139
She gets it rough in this movie. Let's be honest.

00:42:42.820 --> 00:42:46.840
Yeah. Yep. And the, it's not exactly the Catholic

00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:49.000
church, but I think like for all intents and

00:42:49.000 --> 00:42:50.739
purposes, it's meant to be the Catholic church

00:42:50.739 --> 00:42:53.480
is largely to blame for that. As we'll also talk

00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:55.539
about. Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm just comparing her

00:42:55.539 --> 00:42:59.739
to Alucarda. Alucarda never gets abused the way

00:42:59.739 --> 00:43:02.940
Justine gets abused in this movie. Yeah. Very

00:43:02.940 --> 00:43:05.480
true. That's kind of hard to watch sometimes.

00:43:05.980 --> 00:43:11.320
Just like the brutality against this. Justine.

00:43:11.420 --> 00:43:13.840
Yeah, it's tough. Yeah. An innocent woman who

00:43:13.840 --> 00:43:16.340
is, you know, the brunt of the movie's violence.

00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:19.579
It is hard to watch. Yeah. All right. Well, the

00:43:19.579 --> 00:43:22.699
legacy of this film, first and foremost, it premiered

00:43:22.699 --> 00:43:26.599
in 1977 at the Paris Fantastique Film Festival.

00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:30.840
Reviews were negative and the box office was

00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:33.800
poor in Mexico, where it played on theaters for

00:43:33.800 --> 00:43:36.699
only two weeks in a censored version, no less.

00:43:37.860 --> 00:43:41.059
why would you even watch this movie? Right. It

00:43:41.059 --> 00:43:42.760
must have been like 40 minutes long, you know?

00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:44.900
I know. Because it's not long to begin with.

00:43:45.059 --> 00:43:49.940
Right. But, but critic Leonardo Garcia Chow,

00:43:49.940 --> 00:43:53.340
Zhao, Zhao, I think, Leonardo Garcia Zhao claimed,

00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:56.099
it's quote, one of the 10 worst films I've ever

00:43:56.099 --> 00:43:59.920
seen in my life. It's horrible. Very emphatic.

00:43:59.940 --> 00:44:02.699
I love that. More positively received, however,

00:44:02.780 --> 00:44:05.199
in other countries. It was released theatrically

00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:07.360
in France, but not in the US, as we mentioned.

00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:10.039
It later received a cult following after it was

00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:13.500
released on VHS in the US under those great titles,

00:44:13.679 --> 00:44:17.579
Sisters of Satan, Mark of the Devil 3, and Innocence

00:44:17.579 --> 00:44:21.539
from Hell. Retrospective reviews, however, are

00:44:21.539 --> 00:44:24.099
much more glowing, with some critics considering

00:44:24.099 --> 00:44:26.179
this among the best Mexican horror films of all

00:44:26.179 --> 00:44:28.659
time. We're going to say the man's name again.

00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:31.940
Guillermo del Toro has lauded this movie and

00:44:31.940 --> 00:44:35.239
Lopez Moctezuma in general. This is one of those

00:44:35.239 --> 00:44:39.500
movies that the average filmgoer, film lover,

00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:43.280
movie lover just has not seen. And I'm just speaking,

00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:46.539
you know, I, before this podcast, I was very

00:44:46.539 --> 00:44:50.860
much like mid -tier movie lover. And now because

00:44:50.860 --> 00:44:52.940
of this podcast, I like to think I'm a little

00:44:52.940 --> 00:44:56.179
more, I don't want to sound pretentious, but.

00:44:56.889 --> 00:45:00.409
I've seen some real diamonds in the rough that

00:45:00.409 --> 00:45:03.929
would not have come my way unless I went looking

00:45:03.929 --> 00:45:06.789
for them. That makes sense. Like this, Alucard

00:45:06.789 --> 00:45:08.969
is not going to cross your plate. If you're,

00:45:08.969 --> 00:45:11.690
if you're just browsing through Netflix, you

00:45:11.690 --> 00:45:14.550
have to go find this movie. And, and I think

00:45:14.550 --> 00:45:16.190
you should. So there you go. There's my little

00:45:16.190 --> 00:45:20.019
speech. I love it. That's the moral takeaway

00:45:20.019 --> 00:45:22.059
from this episode. There might be other moral

00:45:22.059 --> 00:45:23.860
lessons that we'll be talking about soon. But

00:45:23.860 --> 00:45:27.039
the main lesson, watch foreign movies. You know,

00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:29.400
push yourself a little bit. Be adventurous. Do

00:45:29.400 --> 00:45:32.780
what you did. Google best Mexican horror films.

00:45:33.559 --> 00:45:38.619
Choose an old one and see what happens. Exactly.

00:45:38.679 --> 00:45:41.400
Yeah. I mean, like, you know, read up on the

00:45:41.400 --> 00:45:43.039
history a little bit. Like, I didn't really know

00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:45.679
a lot about Mexican cinema in the 70s. So it's

00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:48.630
just cool to... To learn about it and just like,

00:45:48.710 --> 00:45:51.489
again, discover a new experience. You know, that's

00:45:51.489 --> 00:45:53.469
what movies are all about. You know what we could

00:45:53.469 --> 00:45:55.710
do? We could pick a random country. Let's say

00:45:55.710 --> 00:46:00.829
India. And let's pick a decade. 19, you pick

00:46:00.829 --> 00:46:07.670
a decade. 1980s. Great. Let's look up after this

00:46:07.670 --> 00:46:12.070
horror movies, best horror movies of 1980s Indian

00:46:12.070 --> 00:46:15.070
cinema. Man, let's do it. That sounds great.

00:46:15.670 --> 00:46:18.469
Especially because I'm sure we'll find some Bollywood

00:46:18.469 --> 00:46:21.090
movies. And Bollywood, sadly, is another kind

00:46:21.090 --> 00:46:23.010
of cinema that I just don't know very well. And

00:46:23.010 --> 00:46:24.530
I've been meaning to fix that for a long time.

00:46:24.829 --> 00:46:28.090
Yeah. So we'll see what's out there. Listeners,

00:46:28.090 --> 00:46:32.590
this could be a fun game. You hit us with a country,

00:46:32.750 --> 00:46:36.320
a decade, and we'll see what happens. I love

00:46:36.320 --> 00:46:39.000
this game. This is fun. Man, this might be our

00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:42.239
next season's lineup. Who knows? Movies you've

00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:46.260
never heard of. Yeah. But maybe you should. Our

00:46:46.260 --> 00:46:49.280
next podcast, yeah. All right, it is time for

00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:51.599
our sponsor break. Camp Kaiju is brought to you

00:46:51.599 --> 00:46:53.639
by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by

00:46:53.639 --> 00:46:56.159
Coldwell Banker Realty. Whether you're looking

00:46:56.159 --> 00:46:58.659
for your dream home, a savvy investment property,

00:46:58.900 --> 00:47:01.280
or expert guidance in home rehab and flipping,

00:47:01.579 --> 00:47:04.280
the Zach Pack has you covered. Check the link

00:47:04.280 --> 00:47:07.579
in the show notes for more information. Vincent,

00:47:07.699 --> 00:47:10.320
what do we have in Minya's mailbox today? Oh,

00:47:10.320 --> 00:47:12.880
so much. You know what? We don't get enough mail

00:47:12.880 --> 00:47:17.099
these days in our fast -paced cyber world. But

00:47:17.099 --> 00:47:20.980
here we go reading some mail. And we have one

00:47:20.980 --> 00:47:24.360
is an email from our anonymous patron. Fantastic

00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:28.840
stuff. He goes into the Abominable Snowman's.

00:47:29.969 --> 00:47:32.050
Versions of release between the U .S. and the

00:47:32.050 --> 00:47:35.170
U .K. and cut footage and this and that. Love

00:47:35.170 --> 00:47:37.570
that information, but I want to keep it short

00:47:37.570 --> 00:47:40.949
and sweet here and just shout out that, Matt,

00:47:41.070 --> 00:47:44.929
we were wrong in how we pronounced the screenwriter's

00:47:44.929 --> 00:47:48.670
name, Nigel Neal. So I'll read Anonymous Patron's

00:47:48.670 --> 00:47:51.789
email to us. He says, was going to ask you about

00:47:51.789 --> 00:47:54.369
Nigel Neal. Maybe I misheard, but it sounded

00:47:54.369 --> 00:47:56.550
like you were pronouncing his name like Niger

00:47:56.550 --> 00:47:59.429
instead of Nigel. Did you see something about

00:47:59.429 --> 00:48:01.710
how he pronounced his name differently? Everything

00:48:01.710 --> 00:48:08.110
I have seen has always said Nigel. And Steffi

00:48:08.110 --> 00:48:10.869
was great. You should have her back soon. I wonder

00:48:10.869 --> 00:48:13.369
if one of us just said Niger and like the other

00:48:13.369 --> 00:48:14.889
ones were just like, yeah, I'm going to assume

00:48:14.889 --> 00:48:16.349
that's correct and went with it. That's probably

00:48:16.349 --> 00:48:18.949
what happened, you know? Yeah. Our bad. Whoopsie

00:48:18.949 --> 00:48:21.769
daisies. But Steffi was great. Thanks again to

00:48:21.769 --> 00:48:23.630
Steffi Theodora. Hopefully we'll have her back

00:48:23.630 --> 00:48:27.170
in the podcast someday. So following Anonymous

00:48:27.170 --> 00:48:30.530
Patron's email, We have Don on The Abominable

00:48:30.530 --> 00:48:34.590
Snowman. And Don says via Spotify, this was a

00:48:34.590 --> 00:48:36.949
very interesting film. Made me think that I need

00:48:36.949 --> 00:48:39.489
to watch more Hammer films. I like the buildup

00:48:39.489 --> 00:48:41.969
of suspense, although there wasn't as much horror

00:48:41.969 --> 00:48:44.610
elements as I expected. That didn't really take

00:48:44.610 --> 00:48:47.989
any enjoyment away, just unexpected. Peter Cushing

00:48:47.989 --> 00:48:50.690
was great in his role as a scientist. Cinematography

00:48:50.690 --> 00:48:52.949
and music were quite impressive. Those shots

00:48:52.949 --> 00:48:55.090
of the mountains with the majestic music were

00:48:55.090 --> 00:48:57.969
amazing. I definitely enjoyed this one and will

00:48:57.969 --> 00:49:01.190
recommend this movie. Thank you, Don. Totally

00:49:01.190 --> 00:49:04.070
agree 100 % of the way. I feel like when I first

00:49:04.070 --> 00:49:06.409
watched it, I did expect a little bit more action,

00:49:06.429 --> 00:49:08.269
a little bit more horror, and maybe I was a little

00:49:08.269 --> 00:49:10.670
bit too negative on the movie for that reason.

00:49:10.710 --> 00:49:13.530
But now that I know what it is, if I watch it

00:49:13.530 --> 00:49:15.210
again, maybe I'll be more forgiving because I

00:49:15.210 --> 00:49:17.019
know what it's trying to do. I feel the same

00:49:17.019 --> 00:49:18.840
way. It's one of those movies that has actually

00:49:18.840 --> 00:49:23.039
stuck with me and grown on me, and I'd like to

00:49:23.039 --> 00:49:26.019
revisit it. Yeah, I think I will too someday.

00:49:26.179 --> 00:49:28.619
Yeah. The appearance of the snowman at the end

00:49:28.619 --> 00:49:30.519
is still kind of ridiculous, but maybe in a charming

00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:33.119
way. That's the camp element, obviously. Yeah,

00:49:33.119 --> 00:49:35.920
it has its moments. Yeah. And then Sean Childers

00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:40.239
wrote in and said, Ginger Dead Man, which is

00:49:40.239 --> 00:49:43.260
a horror movie from the 2000s, about a killer

00:49:43.260 --> 00:49:47.039
gingerbread man. Hey, sign me up. I've heard

00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:48.940
that title before, and I do love that title.

00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:54.179
That's a good one. Yeah. Any monster -based pun

00:49:54.179 --> 00:49:57.519
in a movie title is all right by me. Baked goods

00:49:57.519 --> 00:50:00.639
turning evil? We don't get enough of them. Yeah.

00:50:01.059 --> 00:50:03.840
Yeah. That kind of reminds me of Killdozer a

00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:05.460
little bit, where the title is the best part

00:50:05.460 --> 00:50:07.719
of the movie, but that is a great title. That

00:50:07.719 --> 00:50:11.420
is true. Ginger Dead Man meets Killdozer. Oh,

00:50:11.440 --> 00:50:14.929
man. I don't think I would watch that, but, uh,

00:50:14.929 --> 00:50:17.550
but I'll try ginger dead man first. If I like

00:50:17.550 --> 00:50:20.250
that one, maybe the crossover would work. We'll

00:50:20.250 --> 00:50:23.550
see. We'll see. Thank you everybody for writing

00:50:23.550 --> 00:50:26.409
in, um, truly keep it, keep them coming. Yeah.

00:50:26.489 --> 00:50:28.630
So much. It's always good to read those, uh,

00:50:28.670 --> 00:50:30.309
those messages. Like you said, Vincent, thank

00:50:30.309 --> 00:50:32.710
you again, everybody. What is coming up on the

00:50:32.710 --> 00:50:36.210
poverty row picture show? Oh, Peter Lorre. He's

00:50:36.210 --> 00:50:38.769
got a. He's got a questionable one for us this

00:50:38.769 --> 00:50:41.590
week. But, you know, he's he talk about a film

00:50:41.590 --> 00:50:45.690
lover. He dives deep and good, bad or campy.

00:50:46.010 --> 00:50:48.809
He's on the forefront. He's got a movie called

00:50:48.809 --> 00:50:52.929
The Vampire's Ghost from 1945. The according

00:50:52.929 --> 00:50:55.710
to Letterboxd, the tagline for this movie is

00:50:55.710 --> 00:51:01.269
slave of the bloodlust. Maybe not a great tagline

00:51:01.269 --> 00:51:05.059
because this movie is set in Africa. at a tawdry

00:51:05.059 --> 00:51:09.099
bar run by an old man named Webb Fallon. And

00:51:09.099 --> 00:51:12.099
Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming

00:51:12.099 --> 00:51:15.119
weary of his life of the past few hundred years.

00:51:16.280 --> 00:51:18.760
I don't know, Matt. I'm here in Africa. I'm hearing

00:51:18.760 --> 00:51:24.179
slaves. I'm hearing vampires and B movies. I'm

00:51:24.179 --> 00:51:26.260
not holding my breath for this one. Yeah, that

00:51:26.260 --> 00:51:28.639
sounds rough. Peter is truly doing the Lord's

00:51:28.639 --> 00:51:30.920
work. He's doing a service for us all. He will

00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:34.320
watch literally anything. I hope it goes okay.

00:51:35.059 --> 00:51:36.940
Good luck to you, Peter. I should mention the

00:51:36.940 --> 00:51:38.760
next time I see Peter, I should tell him I saw

00:51:38.760 --> 00:51:42.440
him in a movie from 1946, I think it was, called

00:51:42.440 --> 00:51:45.179
The Verdict. Sydney Green Street, isn't it? It's

00:51:45.179 --> 00:51:47.239
a film noir. I just saw that at the Heights Cinema.

00:51:47.659 --> 00:51:49.579
Peter Lorre is the best part of it. He's amazing.

00:51:49.699 --> 00:51:53.039
He plays this illustrator who draws courtroom

00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:56.260
scenes for very grisly murder trials. And he's

00:51:56.260 --> 00:51:58.579
very world -weary and cynical, and he's fascinated

00:51:58.579 --> 00:52:01.599
by... all these deaths and murders and everything,

00:52:01.780 --> 00:52:04.519
but then it wears on him over the years and he

00:52:04.519 --> 00:52:06.639
becomes totally disillusioned with people. And

00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:09.860
he's fantastic. So if I see him, or Vincent,

00:52:09.940 --> 00:52:11.599
if you happen to see him anytime soon, please

00:52:11.599 --> 00:52:15.119
tell Peter he was so good in The Verdict. I will

00:52:15.119 --> 00:52:18.280
tell him that. I think I have a Teams meeting

00:52:18.280 --> 00:52:21.280
with him in a couple hours after I hop off of

00:52:21.280 --> 00:52:24.889
this call. So yeah, I'll pass it along. Nice.

00:52:24.889 --> 00:52:27.429
I'm amazed he can even work his laptop and figure

00:52:27.429 --> 00:52:29.329
out the technology. I would not have expected

00:52:29.329 --> 00:52:32.030
that of him. Peter, do not underestimate Mr.

00:52:32.250 --> 00:52:36.550
Lorry. He transcends time and technology. You're

00:52:36.550 --> 00:52:38.110
right. You're right. That was a rude of me. Sorry,

00:52:38.230 --> 00:52:41.250
Peter. If you can give such an amazing performance,

00:52:41.429 --> 00:52:58.489
you can handle Microsoft Teams. Welcome to the

00:52:58.489 --> 00:53:01.829
Poverty Row Studios on the other side of Hollywood.

00:53:02.230 --> 00:53:04.809
Yes, where the stars were dimmer and the red

00:53:04.809 --> 00:53:08.469
carpets dripped with blood. Together we will

00:53:08.469 --> 00:53:11.650
watch the best of the worst. Movies known for

00:53:11.650 --> 00:53:14.389
their limited budgets, their outlandish concepts,

00:53:14.650 --> 00:53:17.670
and questionable performances. But with enough

00:53:17.670 --> 00:53:21.010
haunted houses, zombies, ape men, and devil bats

00:53:21.010 --> 00:53:24.460
to keep you up at night. This is the Poverty

00:53:24.460 --> 00:53:27.559
Row Picture Show, and I dare you to sleep through

00:53:27.559 --> 00:53:35.579
these nightmares. I am your host, the walking,

00:53:35.659 --> 00:53:39.139
talking, reanimated devil known as Peter Lorre.

00:53:39.360 --> 00:53:42.239
You may know me from a certain movie called The

00:53:42.239 --> 00:53:47.239
Verdict. Yes, with my pal, big old Sidney Greenstreet.

00:53:47.559 --> 00:53:50.639
The Verdict is a film noir, but it is worth your

00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:53.449
time. But you heard it from me and not that rotten

00:53:53.449 --> 00:53:57.909
scoundrel Matthew Cole Levine. Ah, it is all

00:53:57.909 --> 00:54:01.469
well and good. Yes, how can I be mad when I am

00:54:01.469 --> 00:54:03.730
here on the beaches of the South Pacific with

00:54:03.730 --> 00:54:07.610
my darling Lenore? She drinking pina coladas

00:54:07.610 --> 00:54:11.130
and I slurping fish heads on the rocks. Mmm.

00:54:12.389 --> 00:54:15.550
And you know, my pasty white skin is not burned

00:54:15.550 --> 00:54:19.039
too bad under this infernal sun. Sort of reminds

00:54:19.039 --> 00:54:21.900
me of a certain vampire from the Republic film,

00:54:22.059 --> 00:54:26.739
The Vampire's Ghost. Yes, from 1945, this movie

00:54:26.739 --> 00:54:30.340
is about the 400 -year -old vampire who haunts

00:54:30.340 --> 00:54:33.780
the villages of Central Africa, doomed and depressed.

00:54:34.320 --> 00:54:37.000
Things take a turn for drama -ville when other

00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:39.860
white people arrive and our vampire takes an

00:54:39.860 --> 00:54:42.679
interest in the young beauty in his pursuit.

00:54:42.800 --> 00:54:45.679
The vampire knocks off all those in his way.

00:54:46.489 --> 00:54:49.170
Now, despite the potential of an African location,

00:54:49.610 --> 00:54:51.809
the Vampire's Ghost is everything you would expect

00:54:51.809 --> 00:54:55.050
from a vampire chiller of the 40s. Aversions

00:54:55.050 --> 00:54:58.130
to mirrors and the like. However, this vampire

00:54:58.130 --> 00:55:02.309
can walk during the day, and he sports some rather

00:55:02.309 --> 00:55:05.269
groovy shades. Now, I will leave it up to your

00:55:05.269 --> 00:55:07.969
judgment as to the effectiveness of this choice,

00:55:08.070 --> 00:55:11.469
but above all, the Vampire's Ghost is not a total

00:55:11.469 --> 00:55:14.829
drag. In fact, there are some good performances.

00:55:15.469 --> 00:55:17.849
and solid enough screenplay, however derivative,

00:55:18.230 --> 00:55:20.949
we may attribute the more entertaining aspects

00:55:20.949 --> 00:55:24.170
of the picture to co -writer, a woman named Lee

00:55:24.170 --> 00:55:28.349
Brackett. Miss Brackett was, yes, a woman, which

00:55:28.349 --> 00:55:31.929
was rare among screenwriters of the time. Furthermore,

00:55:32.309 --> 00:55:36.449
Miss Brackett would go on to pen a little ditty

00:55:36.449 --> 00:55:39.809
known as The Big Sleep with my other pal, Humphrey

00:55:39.809 --> 00:55:42.889
Bogart. The Howard Hawks picture, Rio Bravo.

00:55:43.469 --> 00:55:45.550
And perhaps most interesting to listeners of

00:55:45.550 --> 00:55:49.570
Camp Kaijin, The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, Lee

00:55:49.570 --> 00:55:52.610
Brackett was a noted writer of science fiction

00:55:52.610 --> 00:55:57.070
in the mid -20th century and penned the original

00:55:57.070 --> 00:56:01.050
drafts of the Star Wars sequel before it began

00:56:01.050 --> 00:56:03.969
production. Nonetheless, her name remains in

00:56:03.969 --> 00:56:07.190
the credits for her work. This initial screenplay

00:56:07.190 --> 00:56:10.570
has officially been published and I would recommend

00:56:10.570 --> 00:56:13.179
you give it a read. There you have it, listeners.

00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:16.719
From African jungle vampires to the icy battlefields

00:56:16.719 --> 00:56:19.920
of Hoth, the vampire's ghost lurks among the

00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:23.440
bushes. So after watching this movie in the previous

00:56:23.440 --> 00:56:27.320
Phantom Speaks, dare I say we are on a hot streak.

00:56:27.559 --> 00:56:31.079
Can our next film continue the trend? It is called

00:56:31.079 --> 00:56:34.500
The Strangler of the Swamp, and I dare anyone

00:56:34.500 --> 00:56:39.239
to strangle this ghost from his sandy beach paradise.

00:56:49.920 --> 00:56:53.360
It's the night of the senior prom. The Bates

00:56:53.360 --> 00:56:57.639
High School gym is alive with excitement. Everybody

00:56:57.639 --> 00:57:03.139
is there. Even Carrie White. The girl no one

00:57:03.139 --> 00:57:06.179
likes. We're all sorry about this incident, Cassie.

00:57:06.300 --> 00:57:11.860
It's Carrie! And everyone makes fun of her. Free

00:57:11.860 --> 00:57:16.760
Carrie! Free Carrie! The girl who lives in that

00:57:16.760 --> 00:57:25.440
creepy house. With her crazy mother. Help the

00:57:25.440 --> 00:57:28.019
sinning woman see the sin of her days and ways.

00:57:28.820 --> 00:57:31.659
Show her that if she had remained sinless, the

00:57:31.659 --> 00:57:33.780
curse of life would never have come on her. The

00:57:33.780 --> 00:57:36.500
girl with the strange power. If I concentrate

00:57:36.500 --> 00:57:40.619
hard enough, I can move things. But tonight,

00:57:40.840 --> 00:57:43.320
no one will laugh at Carrie. If you don't have

00:57:43.320 --> 00:57:44.840
a date for the prom next Friday, would you like

00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:47.409
to go with me? She's with the best -looking boy

00:57:47.409 --> 00:57:50.190
in the senior class. He's trying to trick me

00:57:50.190 --> 00:57:53.789
again. She'll be voted queen of the prom. You

00:57:53.789 --> 00:57:55.949
know, I can make sure that you don't hurt Carrie

00:57:55.949 --> 00:57:59.090
White anymore. For Carrie, it will be a dream

00:57:59.090 --> 00:58:03.389
come true. For everyone else, it will be a nightmare.

00:58:06.829 --> 00:58:15.340
Carrie. A new film by Brian De Palma. Based on

00:58:15.340 --> 00:58:21.980
the chilling bestseller. Starring Sissy Spacek,

00:58:22.019 --> 00:58:25.579
Piper Laurie, and introducing John Travolta in

00:58:25.579 --> 00:58:34.039
his first motion picture role. If you have a

00:58:34.039 --> 00:58:40.920
taste for terror, you have a date with Carrie.

00:58:43.460 --> 00:58:45.960
Back to Alucarda. What a strange, interesting,

00:58:46.179 --> 00:58:49.619
fascinating movie this is. There are a lot of

00:58:49.619 --> 00:58:52.800
themes in this movie, or at least, you know,

00:58:52.800 --> 00:58:54.559
like the themes are a little bit messy, but they're

00:58:54.559 --> 00:58:56.360
certainly overt. They're like right there in

00:58:56.360 --> 00:58:58.579
the foreground of the movie, you know? Mm -hmm.

00:58:58.840 --> 00:59:00.699
You know, I see you have these great notes here.

00:59:00.800 --> 00:59:03.099
You can read those notes. I'll just kind of go

00:59:03.099 --> 00:59:05.159
off the top of my head. You know, when a movie

00:59:05.159 --> 00:59:08.179
critiques Catholicism, which you see a lot in

00:59:08.179 --> 00:59:10.780
Mexican cinema, at least what I've seen, like

00:59:10.780 --> 00:59:14.300
from Del Toro. The Untamed touches on religious

00:59:14.300 --> 00:59:18.780
themes, and it's religious in terms of oppression,

00:59:18.880 --> 00:59:23.059
in terms of not being able to, I don't know,

00:59:23.059 --> 00:59:26.340
be your true self. Sexual repression, certainly,

00:59:26.460 --> 00:59:30.900
in this movie. I mean, nuns by nature, priests

00:59:30.900 --> 00:59:34.679
by nature, by profession, are celibates. So I

00:59:34.679 --> 00:59:38.840
think there's a lot of tension in that in filmmaking

00:59:38.840 --> 00:59:41.750
and storytelling. And in this movie in particular,

00:59:41.789 --> 00:59:46.389
I think I definitely see the themes of sexual

00:59:46.389 --> 00:59:52.570
repression with the lesbianism and the structure

00:59:52.570 --> 00:59:56.429
of the church as a system, as an entity in and

00:59:56.429 --> 01:00:03.289
of itself to tamp down on, quote, deviant lifestyles.

01:00:03.969 --> 01:00:08.369
A lot of imagery supports that. I was getting

01:00:08.369 --> 01:00:10.610
a lot of like Spanish Inquisition type imagery

01:00:10.610 --> 01:00:14.389
with men in hoods and lots of fire and candles

01:00:14.389 --> 01:00:19.769
and tortured devices. Yeah. But yeah, what do

01:00:19.769 --> 01:00:24.489
you think in terms of Catholicism as a subject

01:00:24.489 --> 01:00:27.070
to critique here? Yeah, I think you're spot on

01:00:27.070 --> 01:00:29.110
there. I think ultimately in the movie, we do

01:00:29.110 --> 01:00:32.309
kind of see, you know, Justine and Alucarda very

01:00:32.309 --> 01:00:35.460
quickly develop this. Very close, intimate friendship,

01:00:35.619 --> 01:00:37.219
which soon becomes more than a friendship. It's

01:00:37.219 --> 01:00:39.380
very clear that they have romantic feelings for

01:00:39.380 --> 01:00:43.559
each other. And Alucarda does kind of seemingly

01:00:43.559 --> 01:00:47.599
invite, you know, evil forces into Justine's

01:00:47.599 --> 01:00:50.239
life, and they start blaspheming in the church.

01:00:50.340 --> 01:00:53.300
They start saying sacrilegious things to their

01:00:53.300 --> 01:00:55.900
priest and the other nuns around them. But then,

01:00:55.900 --> 01:00:58.119
you know, it becomes clear, I think, in the movie

01:00:58.119 --> 01:01:02.460
that these very harsh, vindictive, cruel... priests

01:01:02.460 --> 01:01:05.860
and nuns and overseers who, who tortured Justine

01:01:05.860 --> 01:01:08.780
for like what they consider to be, you know,

01:01:08.780 --> 01:01:11.320
the, the evil, the sins she supposedly committed,

01:01:11.400 --> 01:01:14.019
you know, they do things infinitely worse. They,

01:01:14.159 --> 01:01:17.460
you know, they bleed her. They, in a, in a, like

01:01:17.460 --> 01:01:19.639
a scene that's like very much like the crucifixion,

01:01:19.639 --> 01:01:23.539
they ultimately kill Justine. And, and then Alucarda

01:01:23.539 --> 01:01:26.960
comes back and has her bloody insane vengeance,

01:01:27.039 --> 01:01:29.280
which is just a crazy final scene in the movie.

01:01:29.769 --> 01:01:32.289
So yeah, I think the themes in this movie are

01:01:32.289 --> 01:01:35.710
a little bit, they kind of have things both ways

01:01:35.710 --> 01:01:39.389
at once in some ways, because I think Alucarda

01:01:39.389 --> 01:01:42.289
and Justine are, at least Alucarda, is possessed

01:01:42.289 --> 01:01:45.010
by something. We don't know exactly what. So

01:01:45.010 --> 01:01:47.670
there are evil forces here, but then what's really

01:01:47.670 --> 01:01:50.269
the evil thing, the very destructive, violent

01:01:50.269 --> 01:01:53.449
thing, is this cruel, oppressive, patriarchal

01:01:53.449 --> 01:01:57.349
institution of Catholicism. So it is kind of

01:01:57.349 --> 01:01:59.050
messy, but I do think that theme gets across

01:01:59.050 --> 01:02:02.090
in the end. What drove it home for me was the

01:02:02.090 --> 01:02:07.369
juxtaposition between two set pieces. There's

01:02:07.369 --> 01:02:12.550
a sequence where Alucarda and Justine go into

01:02:12.550 --> 01:02:15.710
the forest and there's an orgy, a very satanic

01:02:15.710 --> 01:02:20.010
ritual. But everyone's dancing and euphoric and

01:02:20.010 --> 01:02:24.289
having sex, which is just like... Whatever the

01:02:24.289 --> 01:02:28.030
moral or ethics of that is, the fact is these

01:02:28.030 --> 01:02:30.769
are human beings without a care in the world

01:02:30.769 --> 01:02:33.989
and being as free and open with their bodies

01:02:33.989 --> 01:02:37.489
as they can be, without judgment. That is juxtaposed

01:02:37.489 --> 01:02:42.750
with the Catholic Church, which is ostensibly

01:02:42.750 --> 01:02:48.690
the quote, good entity of love and loves messaging.

01:02:48.869 --> 01:02:52.730
However, ironically, it's the church that tortures.

01:02:53.130 --> 01:02:59.869
and kills and does absolutely nothing but repress,

01:02:59.909 --> 01:03:03.690
repress, repress to the point of abuse. And so

01:03:03.690 --> 01:03:07.610
that juxtaposition really drove home those themes

01:03:07.610 --> 01:03:11.969
of agency, empowerment, female autonomy, which

01:03:11.969 --> 01:03:15.650
is another central theme related to that good

01:03:15.650 --> 01:03:19.969
versus evil presentation. Yeah, well said. I

01:03:19.969 --> 01:03:22.360
think you're totally right. And I think The scene

01:03:22.360 --> 01:03:25.719
where Alucarda is kind of being forced to confess

01:03:25.719 --> 01:03:28.880
to Father Lorenzo. That's his name? I think that's

01:03:28.880 --> 01:03:31.280
his name. She's being forced to confess to the

01:03:31.280 --> 01:03:34.320
priest, and she doesn't. She basically says,

01:03:34.440 --> 01:03:36.539
like, I have nothing to confess. I haven't committed

01:03:36.539 --> 01:03:39.940
any sins. And she basically says that he is...

01:03:40.529 --> 01:03:43.010
Very loosely paraphrasing here, but he's on a

01:03:43.010 --> 01:03:45.909
power trip. He's kind of, you know, he's not

01:03:45.909 --> 01:03:48.650
sexually satisfied, so he's just condemning everybody

01:03:48.650 --> 01:03:51.449
else around him, especially her and Justine.

01:03:51.989 --> 01:03:55.690
And, you know, it's hard to argue with that.

01:03:55.789 --> 01:03:57.190
I mean, there's a lot of truth in that, I think,

01:03:57.210 --> 01:03:59.510
you know? So, like, what is seen is, like, the

01:03:59.510 --> 01:04:02.670
very sacrilegious things that Alucarda says to

01:04:02.670 --> 01:04:06.349
him. Is it sacrilegious or is that just what

01:04:06.349 --> 01:04:08.849
an institution of religion would say to kind

01:04:08.849 --> 01:04:13.650
of maintain a sense of power? I think as a result

01:04:13.650 --> 01:04:19.909
of the frustration of the priest, of these nuns,

01:04:20.110 --> 01:04:24.650
whatever that feeling inside, it's got to come

01:04:24.650 --> 01:04:27.190
out one way or the other. And if you can't be

01:04:27.190 --> 01:04:30.170
having sex, sometimes people resort to violence.

01:04:32.029 --> 01:04:33.650
Yeah, there's a lot we could say about that.

01:04:33.730 --> 01:04:36.489
But in this movie, at least, it's, yeah, there

01:04:36.489 --> 01:04:38.730
are no incels in this movie, probably. But like,

01:04:38.750 --> 01:04:41.070
there are definitely like, yeah, it's sexual

01:04:41.070 --> 01:04:43.809
frustration. It's like using religion as a tool

01:04:43.809 --> 01:04:47.170
of control. And, you know, there was a Letterboxd

01:04:47.170 --> 01:04:49.130
review that said it very well, which I would

01:04:49.130 --> 01:04:50.730
like to quote. Let me see if I could find it

01:04:50.730 --> 01:04:52.989
here. Yeah, so this was written by a Letterboxd

01:04:52.989 --> 01:04:55.630
reviewer just named Brian. I don't have any more

01:04:55.630 --> 01:04:58.090
information than that. So Brian, if you happen

01:04:58.090 --> 01:05:00.269
to be listening, thank you for this quote. Please

01:05:00.269 --> 01:05:02.929
take credit for it if you want. But Brian says,

01:05:03.090 --> 01:05:05.150
Christian institutions, or in this case, Catholic

01:05:05.150 --> 01:05:08.590
institutions, yeah, sublimate the erotic drives

01:05:08.590 --> 01:05:11.590
of their constituents into persecuting the erotic

01:05:11.590 --> 01:05:13.829
drives of others. And that's basically what we

01:05:13.829 --> 01:05:15.369
see here with the priests and the nuns in this

01:05:15.369 --> 01:05:17.599
movie. There's another quote I would just, you

01:05:17.599 --> 01:05:19.480
know, doing research on this was pretty fascinating

01:05:19.480 --> 01:05:21.760
because there's been a lot of really compelling

01:05:21.760 --> 01:05:24.619
things written about just how complicated and

01:05:24.619 --> 01:05:27.679
provocative this movie is. So there are two scholars

01:05:27.679 --> 01:05:30.820
who have written a lot about Alucarda, Raul Rodriguez

01:05:30.820 --> 01:05:34.360
Hernandez and Claudia Schaefer. I do just want

01:05:34.360 --> 01:05:37.000
to quote one of the things they wrote in one

01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:39.519
of their works. They wrote, actions taken by

01:05:39.519 --> 01:05:42.980
two young women, in this case, Alucarda and Justine.

01:05:43.440 --> 01:05:46.300
Against teachings, structure, and moral guiding

01:05:46.300 --> 01:05:49.320
principles of the church, speak directly to a

01:05:49.320 --> 01:05:53.219
post -1968 generation that celebrates the body

01:05:53.219 --> 01:05:56.539
but has lost faith in the society's master narratives.

01:05:57.440 --> 01:05:59.719
There's lots of that quote, but I think that's

01:05:59.719 --> 01:06:03.260
especially fascinating because Alucarda has an

01:06:03.260 --> 01:06:07.019
anti -Catholic strain to it or theme in it, and

01:06:07.019 --> 01:06:09.519
I think that can be extended to being anti -government.

01:06:09.599 --> 01:06:11.980
I think there was a lot of... frustration with

01:06:11.980 --> 01:06:13.599
the Mexican government by a lot of different

01:06:13.599 --> 01:06:16.119
Mexican films around this time. We talked about

01:06:16.119 --> 01:06:18.519
the movie Canoa from the late 70s earlier in

01:06:18.519 --> 01:06:21.639
the episode. And so, yeah, I love this quote

01:06:21.639 --> 01:06:25.500
because I think it shows how the movie's condemnation

01:06:25.500 --> 01:06:28.639
of a very oppressive religious institution can

01:06:28.639 --> 01:06:30.539
then be extended to the government and how they

01:06:30.539 --> 01:06:33.000
exert control over their citizens, you know?

01:06:33.880 --> 01:06:36.920
Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about the

01:06:36.920 --> 01:06:40.119
historical cultural context of the piece here.

01:06:40.780 --> 01:06:44.980
You know, it's 10 years, less than 10 years since,

01:06:45.039 --> 01:06:48.219
you know, the sexual liberation of the 1960s.

01:06:48.820 --> 01:06:52.480
And you have very conservative institutions like

01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:55.519
the Catholic Church. And I'm not Catholic and

01:06:55.519 --> 01:06:58.659
I don't, you know, I'm just spitballing here.

01:06:58.780 --> 01:07:02.000
But conservative institutions have to reckon

01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:06.519
with progressive waves that happen in the culture.

01:07:06.880 --> 01:07:09.510
Maybe we're dealing with that right now. And

01:07:09.510 --> 01:07:13.329
what's that backlash? And I think you could see

01:07:13.329 --> 01:07:16.969
a depiction of that in a fictional film like

01:07:16.969 --> 01:07:20.010
Alucarda. Definitely, yeah. It's a good point

01:07:20.010 --> 01:07:21.690
that I think a similar thing might be happening

01:07:21.690 --> 01:07:24.110
right now. We haven't really had any movies like

01:07:24.110 --> 01:07:26.510
Alucarda in this current historical period that

01:07:26.510 --> 01:07:28.349
we're in, but maybe they'll be coming at some

01:07:28.349 --> 01:07:32.050
point. But yeah, I think when things seem very

01:07:32.050 --> 01:07:34.460
oppressive and restrictive, then I think... You

01:07:34.460 --> 01:07:36.440
do lose faith in those master narratives and

01:07:36.440 --> 01:07:39.539
maybe believing in the body and connection between

01:07:39.539 --> 01:07:42.920
two people or more people kind of takes precedence

01:07:42.920 --> 01:07:45.800
a little bit, you know? Yeah. I also saw this

01:07:45.800 --> 01:07:48.420
movie again as a story about two young women

01:07:48.420 --> 01:07:52.980
who it's like a coming of age as well. They're

01:07:52.980 --> 01:07:57.019
confused. They find stable ground in each other

01:07:57.019 --> 01:07:59.739
because they're not finding it in their church,

01:07:59.820 --> 01:08:02.780
which is also their home where they live. They're

01:08:02.780 --> 01:08:07.079
finding it in Satan. They're finding some sort

01:08:07.079 --> 01:08:12.019
of community. Again, I'm not talking about the

01:08:12.019 --> 01:08:14.559
moral aspect of it or whatever. I'm just saying

01:08:14.559 --> 01:08:21.100
these young girls who are abused more than men,

01:08:21.220 --> 01:08:26.739
for sure, in this world are finding stable ground

01:08:26.739 --> 01:08:30.380
wherever they can. And if it leads them to a

01:08:30.380 --> 01:08:34.180
path of destruction, It's only because they were

01:08:34.180 --> 01:08:37.779
driven there by people who were supposed to be

01:08:37.779 --> 01:08:41.020
taking care of them. Perfectly said. Absolutely.

01:08:41.140 --> 01:08:44.020
Yeah, you're totally right. And I think like

01:08:44.020 --> 01:08:45.819
basically it's a love story, you know, and I

01:08:45.819 --> 01:08:48.079
think a different movie, if it was like more

01:08:48.079 --> 01:08:50.140
character focused and a little bit more about

01:08:50.140 --> 01:08:52.880
like the story, which I mean, like the narrative

01:08:52.880 --> 01:08:55.819
is very loose in Alucarda. So that's that's not

01:08:55.819 --> 01:08:57.460
the focus of this movie. But I think a different

01:08:57.460 --> 01:09:00.819
movie would focus. on the relationship between

01:09:00.819 --> 01:09:04.180
Justine and Alucarda, which is tender, even though,

01:09:04.180 --> 01:09:07.399
you know, so much of the movie is like bloody

01:09:07.399 --> 01:09:09.960
and like very sexual, like their relationship

01:09:09.960 --> 01:09:14.579
still is a mutual support, you know? Right, right.

01:09:14.619 --> 01:09:17.100
I mean, and yeah, they truly care about each

01:09:17.100 --> 01:09:20.739
other. Alucarda truly cares about her because

01:09:20.739 --> 01:09:24.439
that's why she flips out at the end. Yep. And

01:09:24.439 --> 01:09:28.279
they have a blood pact, which is done very intimately

01:09:28.279 --> 01:09:31.180
in their private rooms. But I think the focus

01:09:31.180 --> 01:09:34.140
in that scene is on intimacy and not horror.

01:09:34.539 --> 01:09:37.260
Despite the blood involved, it's not a scary

01:09:37.260 --> 01:09:39.300
moment. You know what I mean? And despite the

01:09:39.300 --> 01:09:43.239
nudity. Full frontal, listeners. Don't be caught

01:09:43.239 --> 01:09:47.000
unawares. You get everything. Don't watch this

01:09:47.000 --> 01:09:51.800
in a library. Don't watch this with the kids

01:09:51.800 --> 01:09:56.789
around. But with that said, despite the nudity,

01:09:56.829 --> 01:09:58.970
despite the – because when I first saw that,

01:09:59.069 --> 01:10:00.729
I thought – because I didn't know anything. I

01:10:00.729 --> 01:10:02.710
thought, is this movie going to go into something

01:10:02.710 --> 01:10:06.149
really sleazy, into something almost pornographic?

01:10:06.890 --> 01:10:09.909
It doesn't. It's actually, like you said, intimate.

01:10:10.510 --> 01:10:15.289
So I think that actually goes a long way in selling

01:10:15.289 --> 01:10:20.489
this movie and those moments as something to

01:10:20.489 --> 01:10:25.069
be taken sincerely. and not exploitatively. Definitely.

01:10:25.069 --> 01:10:27.090
I had the same concern as you. And I like, especially

01:10:27.090 --> 01:10:29.810
in that early orgy scene, like, you know, there

01:10:29.810 --> 01:10:31.829
are like hooded figures and like goat figures

01:10:31.829 --> 01:10:33.689
and everything. It was like, oh, where is this

01:10:33.689 --> 01:10:36.310
going? I might want, this might be going in some

01:10:36.310 --> 01:10:38.210
questionable territory, you know? But like, that's

01:10:38.210 --> 01:10:43.170
really the most, what's the word? Tawdry, I guess,

01:10:43.189 --> 01:10:45.050
seen in the movie where it's like, maybe there

01:10:45.050 --> 01:10:46.890
is a little bit of like sexual titillation there.

01:10:47.050 --> 01:10:48.850
But like, for the most part, that's not the point

01:10:48.850 --> 01:10:50.920
of the movie. You're right. And for the most

01:10:50.920 --> 01:10:54.159
part, it is in terms of sexual explicitness.

01:10:55.319 --> 01:10:58.159
It kind of gets it out of the way in the beginning.

01:10:58.220 --> 01:11:00.680
And then for most of the movie, it's like, oh,

01:11:00.680 --> 01:11:04.560
everyone's clothed and it's it's it's watchable.

01:11:04.989 --> 01:11:08.069
Yeah, totally. They might be on fire or, you

01:11:08.069 --> 01:11:11.510
know, like decapitated or bathing in blood. But

01:11:11.510 --> 01:11:14.010
they're well, when she's bathing in blood, she

01:11:14.010 --> 01:11:15.770
is actually fully nude. But like most of the

01:11:15.770 --> 01:11:18.989
time, there's not. Yeah, they're they're clothed

01:11:18.989 --> 01:11:21.470
and it's it's OK. It's not she's covered in blood,

01:11:21.649 --> 01:11:23.949
which covers her nudity. It's like when people

01:11:23.949 --> 01:11:27.250
paint their bodies. True. Yeah. Yeah. Performance

01:11:27.250 --> 01:11:29.979
art. I do think there's another contrast that

01:11:29.979 --> 01:11:32.380
we should talk about briefly. And that's, you

01:11:32.380 --> 01:11:34.659
know, we briefly mentioned this earlier, but

01:11:34.659 --> 01:11:38.199
it's kind of like modern science and logic and

01:11:38.199 --> 01:11:42.500
reason as represented by Dr. Oshchek versus like

01:11:42.500 --> 01:11:45.000
the traditional superstition that's practiced

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:48.619
by the church, but also by Justine and Alucard

01:11:48.619 --> 01:11:51.739
in a way. And I think the Dr. Oshchek character.

01:11:52.569 --> 01:11:55.430
is pretty interesting. He's like mostly benevolent.

01:11:55.430 --> 01:11:57.949
He's trying to help. He's worried about the health

01:11:57.949 --> 01:12:01.569
and welfare of Justine and Alucarda. And he's

01:12:01.569 --> 01:12:03.750
like scandalized by what the church is doing

01:12:03.750 --> 01:12:05.609
when he walks into the torture chamber and he

01:12:05.609 --> 01:12:09.750
sees that Justine has died. He is totally traumatized

01:12:09.750 --> 01:12:11.789
or that's not the right word. He's, he's shocked

01:12:11.789 --> 01:12:14.609
by it, you know, but I, you know, like the medicine

01:12:14.609 --> 01:12:16.850
that he practices is still kind of like a way

01:12:16.850 --> 01:12:19.850
to like, he thinks that he's in control, but

01:12:19.850 --> 01:12:22.640
he's not like things. quickly go downhill after

01:12:22.640 --> 01:12:25.260
that, you know? I do, you know, it reminded me,

01:12:25.279 --> 01:12:27.819
though, we were talking about, like, possession

01:12:27.819 --> 01:12:31.300
movies from the 70s and late 60s, and it reminded

01:12:31.300 --> 01:12:33.500
me of Rosemary's Baby a little bit, a classic

01:12:33.500 --> 01:12:36.520
of that subgenre where Rosemary, poor Rosemary,

01:12:36.539 --> 01:12:39.479
played by Mia Farrow, is... You know, there's

01:12:39.479 --> 01:12:42.579
a similar sort of like network of like oppressive

01:12:42.579 --> 01:12:45.159
institutions in that movie, too. Like, first

01:12:45.159 --> 01:12:47.239
of all, it's patriarchy and manhood in general

01:12:47.239 --> 01:12:50.020
because her husband is, you know, a misogynist

01:12:50.020 --> 01:12:51.779
who doesn't really care about her at all. And

01:12:51.779 --> 01:12:55.220
then it's Catholicism because Rosemary was raised

01:12:55.220 --> 01:12:58.239
Catholic and kind of taught to be subservient

01:12:58.239 --> 01:13:00.699
as a wife and a mother. But then it is also health

01:13:00.699 --> 01:13:03.399
care and medicine because her obstetrician. Actually,

01:13:03.420 --> 01:13:06.119
both of the obstetricians that she sees are against

01:13:06.119 --> 01:13:08.640
her and betray her in the end. So, you know,

01:13:08.680 --> 01:13:12.800
maybe there's kind of a similar network of evil

01:13:12.800 --> 01:13:18.140
forces in Alucarda as in Rosemary's Baby. Rosemary's

01:13:18.140 --> 01:13:19.859
Baby, man, that movie would knock your socks

01:13:19.859 --> 01:13:22.180
off. Listeners, if you haven't seen it, I don't

01:13:22.180 --> 01:13:23.880
want to spoil it for you, actually, because I

01:13:23.880 --> 01:13:26.979
think, I mean, don't let me overhype it either,

01:13:27.060 --> 01:13:32.039
but just go in to it and pay attention to it.

01:13:32.300 --> 01:13:33.920
Like, that's what I would say. Like, don't get

01:13:33.920 --> 01:13:36.100
distracted by your phone or anything else. Like,

01:13:36.100 --> 01:13:39.100
sit down, commit to watching Rosemary's Baby,

01:13:39.279 --> 01:13:42.119
and let us know what you think. Yes, please.

01:13:42.220 --> 01:13:44.800
In my opinion, you cannot overhype Rosemary's

01:13:44.800 --> 01:13:47.300
Baby. That's one of my favorites, one of the

01:13:47.300 --> 01:13:49.359
best horror movies ever, one of the best American

01:13:49.359 --> 01:13:52.100
movies of the 60s. So I'm going to overhype it.

01:13:52.420 --> 01:13:59.560
Yeah, it's just, it's one of the strongest examples

01:13:59.560 --> 01:14:03.010
of... storytelling on film that i've ever seen

01:14:03.010 --> 01:14:06.590
like it's just so well constructed and it's so

01:14:06.590 --> 01:14:10.189
tight in the the character journeys and the script

01:14:10.189 --> 01:14:15.949
it's just it's just it's just a phenomenal storytelling

01:14:15.949 --> 01:14:20.750
it is yeah and i think you know it probably it

01:14:20.750 --> 01:14:22.989
does those things better than alucarda does not

01:14:22.989 --> 01:14:25.250
that alucarda is trying to do those things i

01:14:25.250 --> 01:14:27.460
don't think it's necessarily trying to be you

01:14:27.460 --> 01:14:29.920
know, tell like a cohesive story or be totally

01:14:29.920 --> 01:14:32.359
character based. But I think Rosemary's Baby

01:14:32.359 --> 01:14:36.020
does those things so well that it succeeds where

01:14:36.020 --> 01:14:38.359
Alucard probably does not, you know? Well, let's

01:14:38.359 --> 01:14:39.979
talk about other movies because see your notes

01:14:39.979 --> 01:14:45.079
here in the 70s, maybe post -Exorcist. And what

01:14:45.079 --> 01:14:47.960
other movies come to mind in this maybe golden

01:14:47.960 --> 01:14:53.119
age of satanic possession movies? Yeah, I mean,

01:14:53.140 --> 01:14:55.800
The Omen is definitely a big example. Not personally

01:14:55.800 --> 01:14:59.050
one of my... favorites in like you know in horror

01:14:59.050 --> 01:15:02.729
cinema and it's i think a big reason is because

01:15:02.729 --> 01:15:06.670
what's the linda blair's character's name in

01:15:06.670 --> 01:15:10.350
the exorcist regan that's her name the exorcist

01:15:10.350 --> 01:15:13.770
is so scary because like you buy that child performance

01:15:13.770 --> 01:15:15.529
and you believe that she is possessed by the

01:15:15.529 --> 01:15:17.930
devil you know with the omen i feel like you

01:15:17.930 --> 01:15:20.390
always know it's like a kid in a movie like giving

01:15:20.390 --> 01:15:22.989
a performance and it's like not very scary in

01:15:22.989 --> 01:15:25.579
my opinion So you really have to sell the idea

01:15:25.579 --> 01:15:30.159
that like this demonic force is like ruining

01:15:30.159 --> 01:15:32.800
childhood innocence. And if you don't buy that,

01:15:32.859 --> 01:15:34.659
then it's not very scary. And that's why I think

01:15:34.659 --> 01:15:37.159
The Exorcist works and The Omen doesn't. But

01:15:37.159 --> 01:15:39.840
The Omen is, you know, a big franchise and was

01:15:39.840 --> 01:15:44.500
very popular. Yeah. Have you heard of Abby, the

01:15:44.500 --> 01:15:47.720
blaxploitation film? Only because of you telling

01:15:47.720 --> 01:15:49.500
me about it. It sounds really fascinating though.

01:15:49.699 --> 01:15:53.710
Yeah, 1974. I, it's really interesting. I did

01:15:53.710 --> 01:15:56.390
not know this when I went into, I found it on,

01:15:56.430 --> 01:15:59.270
it's not streaming anywhere. I found an old beat

01:15:59.270 --> 01:16:04.130
up 16 millimeter like version on YouTube. Turns

01:16:04.130 --> 01:16:06.810
out that's really all you can, the only place

01:16:06.810 --> 01:16:10.710
you can find it because it is so close to the

01:16:10.710 --> 01:16:14.590
exorcist that Warner Brothers has sued it from

01:16:14.590 --> 01:16:18.149
any kind of distribution. Wow. Which is historically

01:16:18.149 --> 01:16:21.760
fascinating to me. But if you find it on YouTube,

01:16:21.899 --> 01:16:26.039
despite the quality, watch it. It is basically

01:16:26.039 --> 01:16:31.220
The Exorcist. At some points, it really inhibits

01:16:31.220 --> 01:16:33.680
the movie because you're like, The Exorcist did

01:16:33.680 --> 01:16:38.039
this better. But in other points, it does do

01:16:38.039 --> 01:16:40.720
its own thing. And those are really refreshing.

01:16:41.000 --> 01:16:44.319
And I'm like, okay, I like what this is doing

01:16:44.319 --> 01:16:49.279
here. Abby, 1974. William Marshall is in it.

01:16:49.300 --> 01:16:52.279
He plays the priest. Yeah, that's what I would

01:16:52.279 --> 01:16:55.619
check out. Alucarda does things a little bit

01:16:55.619 --> 01:17:00.300
maybe conventionally tighter than Abby. It's

01:17:00.300 --> 01:17:04.140
not a ripoff of The Exorcist. But it's also like,

01:17:04.199 --> 01:17:06.640
how can we compare things to The Exorcist? The

01:17:06.640 --> 01:17:11.720
Exorcist casts such a large shadow. Yeah, it's

01:17:11.720 --> 01:17:14.640
unfair for sure. I recently watched a movie called

01:17:14.640 --> 01:17:16.800
To the Devil a Daughter, which is also about

01:17:16.800 --> 01:17:19.779
like a satanic conspiracy. It was actually Hammer

01:17:19.779 --> 01:17:24.100
Horror's last film in their sort of like classical

01:17:24.100 --> 01:17:27.140
period. It's from 1976, I think. I just heard

01:17:27.140 --> 01:17:30.899
about that film, but go on. It's... I think ultimately

01:17:30.899 --> 01:17:32.699
it's not really very good. It had a very like

01:17:32.699 --> 01:17:35.159
troubled production. There's some really sleazy

01:17:35.159 --> 01:17:37.939
stuff like Nastassja Kinski is in it. She's very

01:17:37.939 --> 01:17:40.479
young, but she's very sexualized and it's hard

01:17:40.479 --> 01:17:42.899
to look past that in the movie, but like she's

01:17:42.899 --> 01:17:44.960
in it. Christopher Lee is in it. Richard Widmark

01:17:44.960 --> 01:17:47.979
is in it. And that cast is phenomenal. And there

01:17:47.979 --> 01:17:51.220
are some really strange, you know, nightmarish

01:17:51.220 --> 01:17:54.359
scenes where it's like, yeah, all these things

01:17:54.359 --> 01:17:56.939
we've been talking about, like tradition versus

01:17:56.939 --> 01:18:01.789
modernity and like, Religion versus Satan, obviously.

01:18:02.270 --> 01:18:04.109
So, you know, there's some good imagery in it,

01:18:04.149 --> 01:18:06.489
but like ultimately not a very good movie. Well,

01:18:06.510 --> 01:18:08.489
great cast though. But it does beg the question,

01:18:08.630 --> 01:18:12.729
like, were all these movies just made to like

01:18:12.729 --> 01:18:15.489
cash in on the success of The Exorcist? Or was

01:18:15.489 --> 01:18:17.409
there something bigger in society and politics

01:18:17.409 --> 01:18:20.270
going on that made people like very paranoid

01:18:20.270 --> 01:18:24.250
about like, you know, religion is not what it

01:18:24.250 --> 01:18:26.390
used to be. And like, there are all these evil

01:18:26.390 --> 01:18:28.670
forces in the world. You know what I mean? I

01:18:28.670 --> 01:18:33.810
would say that success follows success. So there

01:18:33.810 --> 01:18:37.609
was probably a lot to owe to The Exorcist's success.

01:18:38.109 --> 01:18:44.170
But I'm also thinking about music. And you had

01:18:44.170 --> 01:18:47.710
bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath who

01:18:47.710 --> 01:18:52.149
really tapped into this dark imagery, this dark

01:18:52.149 --> 01:18:56.859
religious satanic imagery. They weren't they

01:18:56.859 --> 01:18:59.180
weren't doing it because the exorcist was a success.

01:18:59.260 --> 01:19:03.140
They were clearly reflecting some sort of cultural

01:19:03.140 --> 01:19:06.399
revolution. But I think that also goes back to

01:19:06.399 --> 01:19:11.720
the 60s. Generally speaking, like some sort of

01:19:11.720 --> 01:19:13.739
progressive dam had burst and people were just

01:19:13.739 --> 01:19:19.760
more liberated and and free to explore to explore.

01:19:20.239 --> 01:19:22.979
What's this dark side of religion that I wasn't

01:19:22.979 --> 01:19:26.130
able to explore before, but now I can. Yeah,

01:19:26.130 --> 01:19:27.850
I think you're totally right. I like what you

01:19:27.850 --> 01:19:31.250
said before about like conservatism versus progressivism,

01:19:31.250 --> 01:19:34.069
you know, and like that comes through in movies

01:19:34.069 --> 01:19:36.970
and music, obviously. And it's like, yeah, if

01:19:36.970 --> 01:19:39.250
you start to like doubt or mistrust the forces

01:19:39.250 --> 01:19:41.350
of law and order, like just bigger kind of like

01:19:41.350 --> 01:19:44.229
forces of control, then you're going to try to

01:19:44.229 --> 01:19:46.250
find ways to push against that, you know, and

01:19:46.250 --> 01:19:48.449
that happened in a lot of different ways. And

01:19:48.449 --> 01:19:50.949
there was a lot of reason to distrust our government

01:19:50.949 --> 01:19:55.500
in the 70s. History teacher time. Watergate,

01:19:55.500 --> 01:20:00.800
Vietnam, those are the big things. But that's

01:20:00.800 --> 01:20:03.020
all you need. All of a sudden, the government

01:20:03.020 --> 01:20:08.180
is not here to... The government is not a...

01:20:08.180 --> 01:20:13.039
People lost trust in the government at that time.

01:20:13.199 --> 01:20:17.640
In the 50s, in the early 60s, in the 40s, the

01:20:17.640 --> 01:20:20.899
government's here to protect us. They're an altruistic

01:20:20.899 --> 01:20:27.140
institution. But then our illusion broke and

01:20:27.140 --> 01:20:30.260
we realized, oh, the government is sending us

01:20:30.260 --> 01:20:34.779
to our deaths for some ill -conceived reason

01:20:34.779 --> 01:20:39.619
in Vietnam. The government is spying on us and

01:20:39.619 --> 01:20:43.760
Nixon has to resign. Yeah, it's just since then

01:20:43.760 --> 01:20:47.340
we've, I think, rightfully so as Americans have

01:20:47.340 --> 01:20:52.840
questioned our institutions. Yeah. And it comes

01:20:52.840 --> 01:20:56.659
out in films too. Yes, 100 % agree. I love that.

01:20:56.840 --> 01:20:59.659
And like, now I'm kind of wondering where are

01:20:59.659 --> 01:21:02.319
the modern day movies that are going to like

01:21:02.319 --> 01:21:03.819
kind of like push against things a little bit,

01:21:03.880 --> 01:21:06.140
but we'll see if they're made or not. Who knows?

01:21:06.239 --> 01:21:10.260
We need a new American new wave. Yeah, absolutely.

01:21:10.680 --> 01:21:13.039
It's hard to imagine in like an age of streaming

01:21:13.039 --> 01:21:16.060
and an age of like, you know, disposable entertainment,

01:21:16.060 --> 01:21:18.340
but like, I'm not totally cynical. It can happen.

01:21:18.420 --> 01:21:21.250
I hope it does. Yeah, that's a conversation for

01:21:21.250 --> 01:21:24.829
another time. Indeed, yeah. Thank you to Alucarda

01:21:24.829 --> 01:21:27.369
for getting us in this direction, for pushing

01:21:27.369 --> 01:21:29.810
us into this conversation. It's great. Yeah,

01:21:29.829 --> 01:21:34.550
it's a tough film. Again, it affronts your senses.

01:21:35.529 --> 01:21:39.869
I don't think that's a bad thing. Right. Because

01:21:39.869 --> 01:21:42.489
you can do that in art. It's catharsis, and that's

01:21:42.489 --> 01:21:47.279
a safe place to do it. You know, yeah, you can

01:21:47.279 --> 01:21:49.100
talk about these sort of uncomfortable things

01:21:49.100 --> 01:21:52.699
in a movie like Alucarda. A couple quick things

01:21:52.699 --> 01:21:54.520
I wanted to say about the form and the aesthetic

01:21:54.520 --> 01:21:56.439
in the movie, just because, like, there is kind

01:21:56.439 --> 01:21:58.140
of a lot to it. Like you said, it's very in -your

01:21:58.140 --> 01:22:00.600
-face. It's kind of a disorienting style. One

01:22:00.600 --> 01:22:04.159
kind of theater that Lopez, Moctezuma, and also

01:22:04.159 --> 01:22:07.020
Jodorowsky practiced in Mexico, something called

01:22:07.020 --> 01:22:09.819
panic theater was the name of it. So it's live

01:22:09.819 --> 01:22:12.260
theater that's very intense, very in -your -face.

01:22:15.130 --> 01:22:18.510
like simulated sex acts on stage. There was violence,

01:22:18.609 --> 01:22:21.510
sometimes even like real blood, like cutting

01:22:21.510 --> 01:22:23.949
on stage of the actors and everything. And the

01:22:23.949 --> 01:22:26.250
entire point of it was to make the audience uncomfortable

01:22:26.250 --> 01:22:29.449
and like sometimes to engage them in the performance

01:22:29.449 --> 01:22:32.590
in audience participation. And I think we can

01:22:32.590 --> 01:22:36.289
see that. I think both Lopez Moctezuma and Jodorowsky.

01:22:36.800 --> 01:22:39.220
brought that panic theater aesthetic to the films

01:22:39.220 --> 01:22:41.800
they made. And we absolutely see that in Alucarda.

01:22:41.979 --> 01:22:44.220
And it's like you said, Vincent, it makes you

01:22:44.220 --> 01:22:46.819
uncomfortable. It makes you pay attention. And

01:22:46.819 --> 01:22:50.359
it's kind of expressing things that are hard

01:22:50.359 --> 01:22:53.819
to put into words, you know? You have a theater

01:22:53.819 --> 01:22:56.079
background. Have you heard about any similar

01:22:56.079 --> 01:22:58.119
performances like that or like artistic movements?

01:22:58.880 --> 01:23:02.060
Yeah, yeah. The first thing that came to my mind

01:23:02.060 --> 01:23:06.479
was a 1920s play from France called, the English

01:23:06.479 --> 01:23:11.100
translation is Spurt of Blood. And it's like

01:23:11.100 --> 01:23:14.619
a one -page play, but it's very influential in

01:23:14.619 --> 01:23:17.699
the avant -garde movement. And the play, there's

01:23:17.699 --> 01:23:22.279
animals, there's blood spurting. So even actually

01:23:22.279 --> 01:23:26.829
just performing it is not... I'm not going to

01:23:26.829 --> 01:23:28.770
say it's not possible. It gets performed. But

01:23:28.770 --> 01:23:33.970
to perform it literally written, it's almost

01:23:33.970 --> 01:23:37.449
impossible. That's not even the point. So it's

01:23:37.449 --> 01:23:39.550
very avant -garde in that way. There's other

01:23:39.550 --> 01:23:44.890
movements. The Dada movement in the 1910s, which

01:23:44.890 --> 01:23:47.670
affected art, the art world in general, like

01:23:47.670 --> 01:23:52.850
a urinal placed in a public square. Is that art?

01:23:53.630 --> 01:23:58.350
The debate continues. Right. I don't know how

01:23:58.350 --> 01:24:01.710
to pronounce it, but there's the really well

01:24:01.710 --> 01:24:05.229
-known French theater tradition of violence and

01:24:05.229 --> 01:24:10.710
gore and spectacle sensationalism. I can't pronounce

01:24:10.710 --> 01:24:14.939
French. Théâtre des Grandes. guignol the theater

01:24:14.939 --> 01:24:18.699
oh grand guignol yeah yeah but like body horror

01:24:18.699 --> 01:24:22.279
on stage i mean people would go for the experience

01:24:22.279 --> 01:24:25.760
they're not going for for character -based narratives

01:24:25.760 --> 01:24:29.560
they're going for in -your -face violence stylized

01:24:29.560 --> 01:24:32.140
violence so i definitely think of that when i

01:24:32.140 --> 01:24:35.239
hear of panic theater and i yeah what you said

01:24:35.239 --> 01:24:37.899
about like they're not character -based narratives

01:24:37.899 --> 01:24:40.420
i think that applies so perfectly to alucarda

01:24:40.420 --> 01:24:43.329
for better or worse Yeah, right, right. That's

01:24:43.329 --> 01:24:49.529
not my forte slash cup of tea as an actor, as

01:24:49.529 --> 01:24:52.970
a viewer, but I respect the hell out of it. Exactly,

01:24:53.050 --> 01:24:55.729
yeah. You know, it definitely serves a political

01:24:55.729 --> 01:24:58.170
purpose and there's a lot of power to that kind

01:24:58.170 --> 01:25:00.510
of performance and that kind of film. It's time

01:25:00.510 --> 01:25:03.109
for the good, the bad, and the campy here on

01:25:03.109 --> 01:25:05.729
Camp Kaiju. We've already talked about so many

01:25:05.729 --> 01:25:08.310
of the themes and, you know, I'll just leave

01:25:08.310 --> 01:25:10.449
that there. I love a movie that is so complicated.

01:25:11.100 --> 01:25:13.880
so thought -provoking, that has so much to say

01:25:13.880 --> 01:25:16.140
about the state of the world and the state of

01:25:16.140 --> 01:25:18.899
Mexico in this case. But I also just love how

01:25:18.899 --> 01:25:22.359
this movie looks. It's so theatrical. I talked

01:25:22.359 --> 01:25:24.979
about the sets before. The art director was a

01:25:24.979 --> 01:25:29.319
man named Cleomenes Stamatiatas. Great name and

01:25:29.319 --> 01:25:31.960
great art direction. The sets in this movie,

01:25:32.079 --> 01:25:35.770
they look like... They couldn't actually exist

01:25:35.770 --> 01:25:38.869
anywhere on the planet. They're so like phantasmal,

01:25:38.869 --> 01:25:41.109
phantasmagoric maybe is a better word for it.

01:25:41.149 --> 01:25:44.829
Yeah. Even the interior of the convent seems

01:25:44.829 --> 01:25:49.090
to be chiseled out of rock. The sort of grotto

01:25:49.090 --> 01:25:52.829
where they have this orgy is seemingly on a soundstage

01:25:52.829 --> 01:25:55.770
and is filled with lush green grass and everything.

01:25:56.029 --> 01:25:59.949
It just looks amazing. And I really do appreciate

01:25:59.949 --> 01:26:03.289
movies that don't even aim for realism. Sometimes

01:26:03.289 --> 01:26:05.109
that's what you're going for. But in this movie,

01:26:05.189 --> 01:26:08.210
the more demented and nightmarish, the better.

01:26:08.310 --> 01:26:10.770
And I just love the visual style of this movie

01:26:10.770 --> 01:26:15.100
so much. Very cool. Adding on to that, like I

01:26:15.100 --> 01:26:18.260
said, in the, the, the cinematography, the use

01:26:18.260 --> 01:26:21.399
of shadow in this movie, it's not just like,

01:26:21.520 --> 01:26:25.859
Oh, we've got some shadows. This so many scenes

01:26:25.859 --> 01:26:30.100
are like the action happens in a pool of light

01:26:30.100 --> 01:26:34.140
and then darkness surrounds them. You cannot

01:26:34.140 --> 01:26:38.739
see the walls in the rooms. Yeah. So like action

01:26:38.739 --> 01:26:41.800
will be happening. And then a character. emerges

01:26:41.800 --> 01:26:43.460
from the darkness you didn't even know what they

01:26:43.460 --> 01:26:47.439
were there and it's so unsettling and provocative

01:26:47.439 --> 01:26:50.840
i think alucarda emerges from the darkness at

01:26:50.840 --> 01:26:53.680
one point that that's really effective and then

01:26:53.680 --> 01:26:57.199
speaking of alucarda her costume is very is a

01:26:57.199 --> 01:27:02.260
black smock of some kind turtlenecky so then

01:27:02.260 --> 01:27:06.060
when she is enveloped in shadow it's literally

01:27:06.060 --> 01:27:09.810
just her head oh and because her hair completely

01:27:09.810 --> 01:27:14.149
surrounds her face this lush mane of black hair

01:27:14.149 --> 01:27:18.750
so so often when she's on screen she's a floating

01:27:18.750 --> 01:27:25.810
face and it's it's a really cool effect yeah

01:27:27.569 --> 01:27:30.050
Totally. I love that. And that happens at the

01:27:30.050 --> 01:27:32.430
end of the movie where she's basically setting

01:27:32.430 --> 01:27:34.789
a lot of people on fire. This is her act of vengeance

01:27:34.789 --> 01:27:37.229
at the end of the movie. And you do just see

01:27:37.229 --> 01:27:40.069
her floating head and a little flicker of flame

01:27:40.069 --> 01:27:42.409
right in front of her eyeball. And that's how

01:27:42.409 --> 01:27:44.930
the movie suggests that she is setting people

01:27:44.930 --> 01:27:50.149
on fire. And it's just so... yeah. bizarre and

01:27:50.149 --> 01:27:52.289
dreamlike and beautiful, but also terrifying.

01:27:52.649 --> 01:27:54.909
It's like, you know, like a similar thing happens

01:27:54.909 --> 01:27:56.890
at the end of Carrie, but it's like totally different

01:27:56.890 --> 01:27:59.170
in this movie. Interesting comparison. I'll get

01:27:59.170 --> 01:28:01.369
to that in a second. My thoughts on that. What

01:28:01.369 --> 01:28:04.329
else did I really like? So, so again, I mentioned

01:28:04.329 --> 01:28:08.050
how the sexual imagery in this film is done actually

01:28:08.050 --> 01:28:11.050
tastefully for as tastefully as you can get in

01:28:11.050 --> 01:28:13.810
a movie like this. There's also male frontal

01:28:13.810 --> 01:28:16.970
nudity, which I was just like, Hey, I appreciate

01:28:16.970 --> 01:28:20.539
that because. We're keeping things equitable.

01:28:21.500 --> 01:28:24.060
It's not just female exploitation. It could be

01:28:24.060 --> 01:28:31.180
male exploitation too. And the moment when Justine

01:28:31.180 --> 01:28:35.000
and Alucarda do undress, up until then, I will

01:28:35.000 --> 01:28:37.420
admit, I was kind of like, all right, it's another

01:28:37.420 --> 01:28:40.039
Exorcist movie. It's another Possession movie.

01:28:40.500 --> 01:28:43.079
I see exactly where this movie is going to go.

01:28:43.659 --> 01:28:46.720
And then it completely went the other direction.

01:28:46.760 --> 01:28:48.760
And I went, oh, I have no idea where this is

01:28:48.760 --> 01:28:51.579
going. This is great. Now you have my attention

01:28:51.579 --> 01:28:56.699
movie. So that was a good thing. Yeah, I know

01:28:56.699 --> 01:28:59.300
what you mean. Yeah. You saying exploitation

01:28:59.300 --> 01:29:01.399
before reminded me that this movie is sometimes

01:29:01.399 --> 01:29:05.399
referred to as mexploitation. which is just kind

01:29:05.399 --> 01:29:07.960
of ridiculous, but also like also referred to

01:29:07.960 --> 01:29:09.760
some of those Jodorowsky movies where there is

01:29:09.760 --> 01:29:11.840
like sex and nudity and violence, but also mixed

01:29:11.840 --> 01:29:14.420
with like political provocation and like avant

01:29:14.420 --> 01:29:17.060
-garde sort of like aesthetics. So there is like

01:29:17.060 --> 01:29:20.720
an actual style or like description to the word

01:29:20.720 --> 01:29:23.020
mexploitation. I still don't know how often I'm

01:29:23.020 --> 01:29:25.720
going to use that, but, but yeah, I, but like,

01:29:25.840 --> 01:29:27.699
I feel like it's actually kind of contradictory

01:29:27.699 --> 01:29:30.460
in a way, because I agree with what you're saying,

01:29:30.539 --> 01:29:33.289
which is that it doesn't. ultimately seem all

01:29:33.289 --> 01:29:36.390
that exploitative you know like even though it's

01:29:36.390 --> 01:29:39.470
in your face it's like it is worried about the

01:29:39.470 --> 01:29:42.369
characters and it's like yeah it's not just trying

01:29:42.369 --> 01:29:45.510
to shock you you know right which i think that's

01:29:45.510 --> 01:29:50.949
what exploitation is right rather than i think

01:29:50.949 --> 01:29:53.010
it's intent i think it's intent and i don't think

01:29:53.010 --> 01:29:56.869
the intent is pure shock i think it's still to

01:29:56.869 --> 01:30:00.930
tell a story And artistically, if that involves

01:30:00.930 --> 01:30:05.310
nudity, well, that's art too. So yeah, how many

01:30:05.310 --> 01:30:08.170
painters paint nude figures? And we go, let's

01:30:08.170 --> 01:30:10.890
put that in a museum. But you look at Alucarda,

01:30:11.090 --> 01:30:16.630
you may not have that same thought, but I think

01:30:16.630 --> 01:30:19.710
you should because it's just done artfully more

01:30:19.710 --> 01:30:22.619
than shockingly. Yeah, totally. And I think,

01:30:22.619 --> 01:30:24.279
you know, another thing that I'll put in the

01:30:24.279 --> 01:30:26.800
good category is Tina Romero as Alucarda. I think

01:30:26.800 --> 01:30:29.199
she gives an amazing performance. And I think,

01:30:29.199 --> 01:30:32.579
you know, she and also Susanna Kamini, but especially

01:30:32.579 --> 01:30:36.500
Romero is so good. And like, you know, I think,

01:30:36.579 --> 01:30:39.439
yeah, a big reason why the movie does not seem

01:30:39.439 --> 01:30:42.779
callous and shocking and exploitative is because

01:30:42.779 --> 01:30:45.479
of the actors. And they like, you know, I think

01:30:45.479 --> 01:30:48.189
with Romero, especially we see. the tenderness

01:30:48.189 --> 01:30:51.109
early on. And we see the sort of like liberation

01:30:51.109 --> 01:30:54.449
of like her, the time that she spends with Justine.

01:30:54.649 --> 01:30:57.050
But then we also absolutely believe her like

01:30:57.050 --> 01:30:59.649
fury and her rage and her, you know, her revenge

01:30:59.649 --> 01:31:01.529
at the end. So Romero is great. And she's a big

01:31:01.529 --> 01:31:03.930
part of this movie's success, I would say. Oh

01:31:03.930 --> 01:31:07.329
yeah. I just wanted to mention that the, again,

01:31:07.409 --> 01:31:11.810
echo some of the folk fairy tale aesthetic with

01:31:11.810 --> 01:31:17.689
the, the Seder like character. And. And the flogging

01:31:17.689 --> 01:31:21.649
of the nuns, which was really brutal and violent

01:31:21.649 --> 01:31:25.449
and bloody. And that scene is specifically what's

01:31:25.449 --> 01:31:28.329
juxtaposed with the orgy, which is actually a

01:31:28.329 --> 01:31:32.750
very peaceful ceremony compared to this awful,

01:31:32.930 --> 01:31:37.069
abusive ceremony in the church. You know, when

01:31:37.069 --> 01:31:38.909
we hear the word orgy, we probably think it's

01:31:38.909 --> 01:31:41.449
like sordid and like evil or negative in some

01:31:41.449 --> 01:31:44.369
way. But like, yeah, the orgy is full of... Like,

01:31:44.409 --> 01:31:47.250
yeah, intimacy, obviously. And like, that's a

01:31:47.250 --> 01:31:49.210
lot better than self -flagellation and blood

01:31:49.210 --> 01:31:51.630
and like, you know, torturing yourself for no

01:31:51.630 --> 01:31:53.810
reason. So that's a very powerful contrast for

01:31:53.810 --> 01:31:57.090
sure. Yeah, yeah. So the bad stuff, you know,

01:31:57.090 --> 01:32:00.369
maybe this sounds like unadventurous of me, but

01:32:00.369 --> 01:32:02.949
like, I do still want a little bit of like character

01:32:02.949 --> 01:32:05.630
depth. And I think if this movie had a little

01:32:05.630 --> 01:32:08.569
bit more of that with Alucarda and Justine, then

01:32:08.569 --> 01:32:10.550
it would be more powerful in many different ways.

01:32:10.649 --> 01:32:13.329
It wouldn't just be this like provocative. you

01:32:13.329 --> 01:32:15.649
know, aggressive sort of stylish thing, it would

01:32:15.649 --> 01:32:18.170
also have this kind of like emotional power that

01:32:18.170 --> 01:32:21.590
I don't think Alucarda has or probably is really

01:32:21.590 --> 01:32:24.710
even going for. But I, you know, early on, again,

01:32:24.789 --> 01:32:27.729
we do see the love that these two characters

01:32:27.729 --> 01:32:30.029
have for each other. And even though thematically,

01:32:30.189 --> 01:32:32.779
like I think... it makes sense why that all gets

01:32:32.779 --> 01:32:35.159
like blown apart by the end of the movie. I think

01:32:35.159 --> 01:32:37.680
emotionally it's not really there. And it could

01:32:37.680 --> 01:32:40.220
have been if like the movie spent just a little

01:32:40.220 --> 01:32:42.739
bit more time on who these young women actually

01:32:42.739 --> 01:32:46.319
are as people, you know? I wrote, you know, style

01:32:46.319 --> 01:32:49.939
over substance, maybe a little bit and which

01:32:49.939 --> 01:32:54.800
I love and I appreciate, but my tea, my cup of

01:32:54.800 --> 01:32:58.000
tea is I do want a little bit more time with

01:32:58.000 --> 01:33:01.939
the characters themselves. Because the movie's

01:33:01.939 --> 01:33:05.100
only 90 minutes. It's 100 minutes. But there

01:33:05.100 --> 01:33:09.500
were moments where I was kind of, it was kind

01:33:09.500 --> 01:33:12.359
of the pace, not the pace, but I was kind of

01:33:12.359 --> 01:33:15.600
losing interest a little bit. And then a person

01:33:15.600 --> 01:33:17.159
would be on fire. And I'd be like, okay, cool.

01:33:17.260 --> 01:33:21.260
That's cool. But then, okay, so to be more articulate,

01:33:21.380 --> 01:33:24.920
the movie does kind of, it's kind of a one -note

01:33:24.920 --> 01:33:28.960
movie. Like Alucarda gets chastised by some nuns.

01:33:29.359 --> 01:33:33.539
and she cries and then justine is tortured and

01:33:33.539 --> 01:33:36.479
she cries and then alucarda it just it kind of

01:33:36.479 --> 01:33:39.880
is the same thing until we get to the end yeah

01:33:39.880 --> 01:33:44.239
you're right about that yeah yeah which is hard

01:33:44.239 --> 01:33:48.039
to sustain for an audience member i think yeah

01:33:48.039 --> 01:33:51.399
maybe just like more more of a dynamic tone might

01:33:51.399 --> 01:33:53.199
have been good if there were like some moments

01:33:53.199 --> 01:33:57.369
of like quiet and like slowing down and focusing

01:33:57.369 --> 01:33:58.970
on the characters instead of everything just

01:33:58.970 --> 01:34:01.350
kind of being like so intense all the time then

01:34:01.350 --> 01:34:03.529
then it might have seemed like less repetitive

01:34:03.529 --> 01:34:07.789
you know yeah yeah yeah but that's a style thing

01:34:07.789 --> 01:34:12.050
but that's but I don't have any specific bad

01:34:12.050 --> 01:34:14.829
things like yeah everything everything all the

01:34:14.829 --> 01:34:18.369
particulars were very strong yeah and I think

01:34:18.369 --> 01:34:19.909
even the things I didn't personally like all

01:34:19.909 --> 01:34:22.050
that much were probably intentional that's like

01:34:22.050 --> 01:34:24.029
the movie that they wanted to make you know right

01:34:24.029 --> 01:34:27.670
yeah yeah And I think probably another example

01:34:27.670 --> 01:34:29.569
of that, which might lead us into the campy category

01:34:29.569 --> 01:34:32.289
a little bit, is I think most of the performances

01:34:32.289 --> 01:34:35.409
outside of Romero are pretty over the top. They're

01:34:35.409 --> 01:34:38.409
like very heightened. And like, Claudio Brooke,

01:34:38.689 --> 01:34:42.810
I think he, again, he does probably what is intended

01:34:42.810 --> 01:34:45.369
of him, you know, like, but I mean, like that

01:34:45.369 --> 01:34:48.350
hunchback is so over the top, ridiculous accent,

01:34:48.649 --> 01:34:52.210
absurd makeup, and like, who even is this character

01:34:52.210 --> 01:34:54.550
and like these traveling nomads, like just outside

01:34:54.550 --> 01:34:57.210
of the convent, you know? And that kind of like

01:34:57.210 --> 01:34:59.949
over the top theatricality, again, intentional,

01:35:00.029 --> 01:35:02.329
but like probably does like take you out of the

01:35:02.329 --> 01:35:05.630
movie a little bit. It's different. It's so tonally

01:35:05.630 --> 01:35:09.329
different. It's like, yeah, it's like Pan's Labyrinth.

01:35:09.529 --> 01:35:13.170
But then the movie never really sticks with that

01:35:13.170 --> 01:35:17.930
aesthetic, that choice. Yeah, it's like a weird

01:35:17.930 --> 01:35:21.149
intrusion into an otherwise conventional story,

01:35:21.329 --> 01:35:25.399
tonally. Well, that character. when he's the

01:35:25.399 --> 01:35:27.699
doctor, that actor when he plays the doctor,

01:35:27.859 --> 01:35:30.619
there's a point where he goes like into his library

01:35:30.619 --> 01:35:36.220
and he opens a book simply titled Satan. And

01:35:36.220 --> 01:35:40.720
I thought, well, that's an aptly named book.

01:35:41.420 --> 01:35:44.220
Right. That is great. Yeah. And it just like

01:35:44.220 --> 01:35:46.380
lingers on that title page for a while, which

01:35:46.380 --> 01:35:50.739
is awesome. This book is about Satan. It's like

01:35:50.739 --> 01:35:54.510
500 pages long. Yeah. That's like maybe all of

01:35:54.510 --> 01:35:55.989
the books in his library. That's all they're

01:35:55.989 --> 01:35:58.890
about. Just Satan over and over again. But yeah,

01:35:58.949 --> 01:36:00.210
I thought that was ridiculous. And there's even

01:36:00.210 --> 01:36:03.569
kind of like a Dracula tribute or homage in the

01:36:03.569 --> 01:36:06.130
movie where they see the coffin of apparently

01:36:06.130 --> 01:36:09.149
it's Alucard's mom, Lucy Westenra, which is the

01:36:09.149 --> 01:36:13.109
name of a character in Dracula. So not campy

01:36:13.109 --> 01:36:14.829
per se, but maybe just like a little tip of the

01:36:14.829 --> 01:36:17.550
hat to like horror, you know, lore beforehand.

01:36:18.529 --> 01:36:21.229
Surprisingly, this movie I found light on camp.

01:36:22.060 --> 01:36:26.199
I mean, it is over the top. It is exaggerated,

01:36:26.340 --> 01:36:32.640
but it is still very serious in its intentions.

01:36:33.600 --> 01:36:35.899
Yeah, that's a good way to put it, yeah. I feel

01:36:35.899 --> 01:36:39.060
like some of the stylistic things are kind of

01:36:39.060 --> 01:36:41.739
outdated in a way. They're really quick, like

01:36:41.739 --> 01:36:43.899
zoom in and zoom out. They do that a couple times,

01:36:44.140 --> 01:36:46.439
but I think it's actually pretty effective. It

01:36:46.439 --> 01:36:47.899
works in the context of the movie, you know?

01:36:48.760 --> 01:36:52.810
The nun's costumes? I've never seen those before.

01:36:53.090 --> 01:36:56.470
Yeah. That seemed campy to me. And they're probably

01:36:56.470 --> 01:37:00.050
historically accurate. But I thought this is

01:37:00.050 --> 01:37:06.369
this is they look silly. That can't be way. You're

01:37:06.369 --> 01:37:08.609
right. I was wondering about that. I thought

01:37:08.609 --> 01:37:13.420
maybe it was like an attempt to not. be catholicism

01:37:13.420 --> 01:37:16.439
per se you know to like maybe be like ah it's

01:37:16.439 --> 01:37:18.720
some other made -up religion or something you

01:37:18.720 --> 01:37:20.600
know or maybe it's just like part of the sort

01:37:20.600 --> 01:37:23.300
of like surreal visual style of the movie i wasn't

01:37:23.300 --> 01:37:25.500
totally sure about that hey i want to i want

01:37:25.500 --> 01:37:27.680
to do my research here but but without knowing

01:37:27.680 --> 01:37:30.399
anything i these these costumes were vaguely

01:37:30.399 --> 01:37:35.520
futuristic to me so maybe it's here i go maybe

01:37:35.520 --> 01:37:40.020
it's it's underpinning the theme that these nuns

01:37:40.020 --> 01:37:43.560
are just just automatons within this institution.

01:37:43.819 --> 01:37:47.359
So they're all going to look like space robot

01:37:47.359 --> 01:37:51.659
women. I like that. Yeah, I'll go with that reading.

01:37:51.800 --> 01:37:55.859
All right. Cool. I do think it'll flesh it out.

01:37:55.859 --> 01:37:58.380
I'll work on it. Yeah, that can be the next script

01:37:58.380 --> 01:38:01.810
that you write. I can't wait. I do think in a

01:38:01.810 --> 01:38:03.770
way that kind of does go along with like the

01:38:03.770 --> 01:38:05.829
style of some of those earlier Jodorowsky movies

01:38:05.829 --> 01:38:07.689
like El Topo and the Holy Mountain, where it's

01:38:07.689 --> 01:38:10.590
like not at all trying to be realistic, even

01:38:10.590 --> 01:38:13.529
though I think it's El Topo is kind of a Western

01:38:13.529 --> 01:38:15.909
and there are like some gunslinger characters,

01:38:16.069 --> 01:38:18.529
but they don't wear costumes that look anything

01:38:18.529 --> 01:38:20.789
like any cowboy that you've ever seen before.

01:38:21.149 --> 01:38:23.130
So I think maybe part of it is just like that

01:38:23.130 --> 01:38:27.050
style where it's, you know, again, very over

01:38:27.050 --> 01:38:30.149
the top, just like not even trying to like. resemble

01:38:30.149 --> 01:38:32.810
anything we recognize in reality. It's a look,

01:38:32.810 --> 01:38:34.489
though. It's definitely a look. It's a look.

01:38:34.670 --> 01:38:37.909
That'll be my next Halloween costume. Wow. Oh,

01:38:37.930 --> 01:38:40.949
my God. Maybe I'll go as the hunchback, the goat

01:38:40.949 --> 01:38:44.189
-like hunchback. There you go. It'll be an Alucarda

01:38:44.189 --> 01:38:46.369
Halloween. Nobody will know what's going on.

01:38:47.590 --> 01:38:53.449
Nobody at all. It'll be great. All right, Alucarda,

01:38:53.529 --> 01:38:56.489
one -of -a -kind film. And now it is the time

01:38:56.489 --> 01:38:59.060
for us to give it a rating. As always on Camp

01:38:59.060 --> 01:39:01.340
Kaiju, we have four ratings here. Number one,

01:39:01.460 --> 01:39:03.560
it's a timeless classic. It definitely stands

01:39:03.560 --> 01:39:06.199
the test of time. Number two, there may be some

01:39:06.199 --> 01:39:08.279
antiquated moments, but overall it's great. It

01:39:08.279 --> 01:39:11.460
stands the test of time. Our third rating, it

01:39:11.460 --> 01:39:13.579
may be historically significant or just fun,

01:39:13.760 --> 01:39:16.720
but it does not stand the test of time. And our

01:39:16.720 --> 01:39:19.380
lowest rating, it is not worth revisiting. It

01:39:19.380 --> 01:39:22.260
definitely does not stand the test of time. This

01:39:22.260 --> 01:39:25.460
is one of those movies where at first watch,

01:39:25.539 --> 01:39:30.340
I was like... I could take it or leave it, but

01:39:30.340 --> 01:39:32.739
after this discussion, understanding a little

01:39:32.739 --> 01:39:37.180
bit more about the artists involved, and it may

01:39:37.180 --> 01:39:42.300
not be my cup of tea, but this is a strong cup

01:39:42.300 --> 01:39:46.600
of tea, a strong brew, and it's done with care

01:39:46.600 --> 01:39:49.000
and craft. So I'm going to give it our second

01:39:49.000 --> 01:39:50.939
highest rating. I think it does stand the test

01:39:50.939 --> 01:39:54.720
of time in a lot of ways thematically, but I

01:39:54.720 --> 01:39:59.579
would like to see... More investment in the characters

01:39:59.579 --> 01:40:02.880
themselves. So I have a little bit more substance

01:40:02.880 --> 01:40:06.460
with my spectacle. And for better or for worse,

01:40:06.579 --> 01:40:10.560
I do think of other movies that do combine that

01:40:10.560 --> 01:40:15.060
spectacle with character -based narratives. The

01:40:15.060 --> 01:40:18.779
Exorcist, and I think Carrie, also nails that

01:40:18.779 --> 01:40:24.619
duality really well. But Alucarda, I think she

01:40:24.619 --> 01:40:29.229
should be up there with... with carrie with regan

01:40:29.229 --> 01:40:34.069
as a real lady you don't want to cross with hey

01:40:34.069 --> 01:40:36.270
that was a pun no pun intended you don't want

01:40:36.270 --> 01:40:41.989
to cross with with some holy nonsense man i mean

01:40:41.989 --> 01:40:44.869
your review could be mine verbatim basically

01:40:44.869 --> 01:40:46.850
i'm also going to give this our second highest

01:40:46.850 --> 01:40:50.000
rating There may be some antiquated moments or

01:40:50.000 --> 01:40:52.840
just things that don't totally work for me personally.

01:40:53.119 --> 01:40:55.220
But overall, it's great. I mean, it's such a

01:40:55.220 --> 01:40:57.800
one of a kind movie. It's very powerful. Love

01:40:57.800 --> 01:41:00.619
the formal style, which is so creative and adventurous.

01:41:01.039 --> 01:41:03.920
I do think what makes this movie so distinct

01:41:03.920 --> 01:41:07.659
and so powerful is also maybe what keeps it from

01:41:07.659 --> 01:41:10.699
greatness, where it's like so provocative and

01:41:10.699 --> 01:41:13.220
in your face the entire time. It never really

01:41:13.220 --> 01:41:16.779
slows down to like truly. depict the characters

01:41:16.779 --> 01:41:19.979
and to make us feel what's at stake emotionally

01:41:19.979 --> 01:41:22.239
but there are many other things going on in this

01:41:22.239 --> 01:41:25.420
movie that are so fascinating to think about

01:41:25.420 --> 01:41:29.399
and reflect you know the late 70s in mexico and

01:41:29.399 --> 01:41:31.300
as we were talking about really a lot of the

01:41:31.300 --> 01:41:34.500
world at that time so yeah fascinating movie

01:41:34.500 --> 01:41:39.199
i'm very glad we um you know watched alucarda

01:41:39.199 --> 01:41:42.420
we introduced ourselves to a new New kind of

01:41:42.420 --> 01:41:44.840
movie. And for anybody out there who hasn't seen

01:41:44.840 --> 01:41:47.779
it, prepare yourself mentally, but check it out.

01:41:47.800 --> 01:41:52.060
It's worth it. Yeah, because honestly, it's just

01:41:52.060 --> 01:41:58.060
not what I expected. It ended up being a surprise

01:41:58.060 --> 01:42:01.960
in a lot of ways. In a lot of good ways. Absolutely,

01:42:02.079 --> 01:42:06.479
yeah. One of a kind. Thank you again for staying

01:42:06.479 --> 01:42:08.560
tuned to this episode. Next time we're going

01:42:08.560 --> 01:42:11.899
to talk about Troll Hunter and visit Norway on

01:42:11.899 --> 01:42:14.520
our trip around the world. So join us for that.

01:42:14.960 --> 01:42:17.380
Thank you again for hanging out, friends. Please

01:42:17.380 --> 01:42:19.560
rate and review the show and follow us on patreon

01:42:19.560 --> 01:42:23.439
.com slash campkaiju for additional videos, reviews,

01:42:23.680 --> 01:42:26.819
merchandise, and more. Other ways to get in touch

01:42:26.819 --> 01:42:30.949
are email at campkaiju at gmail .com. Our website,

01:42:31.170 --> 01:42:35.770
CampKaijuPodcast .com. On Instagram and our voicemail

01:42:35.770 --> 01:42:41.569
number, 612 -470 -2612. Camp Kaiju is recorded

01:42:41.569 --> 01:42:43.590
in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Mena's mailbox

01:42:43.590 --> 01:42:47.010
music by Ben Cook -Felts. Thanks, friends. And

01:42:47.010 --> 01:42:50.770
until next time, stay campy. Camp Kaiju is brought

01:42:50.770 --> 01:42:52.609
to you by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered

01:42:52.609 --> 01:42:55.359
by Coldwell Banker Realty. Whether you're looking

01:42:55.359 --> 01:42:57.420
for your dream home, a savvy investment property,

01:42:57.680 --> 01:42:59.739
or expert guidance in home rehab and flipping,

01:42:59.979 --> 01:43:02.520
the Zach Pack has you covered. Check the link

01:43:02.520 --> 01:43:04.239
in the show notes for more information.