WEBVTT

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Hey there, boys and girls,
I've got something you'll adore. It's new

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and fun and oh so cool.
No need to clutch your pearls. Join

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Father Malone and his palege Bet on
a journey to Sunshine cap It's called Night,

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Mister Walter. Isn't cost zero dollars
guarantee to make you smile. Hey,

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welcome back to Midnight Viewing, the
Horror Anthology podcast. I am Father

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Malone and with me today on a
very special bonus episode. Joining us all

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the way from the Sunshine Cab Company. The host, co host owner of

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Night, mister Walters, mister HP. Thank you for joining us. A

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Oh, it's my pleasure following alone. Always great to talk to you.

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Thanks for having me. Now on
these bonus episodes, we'd like to shake

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things up a little bit. We
tend to focus on singular episodes of horror

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anthology television, but we're gonna shake
things up even more here because we're taking

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a first our first look at a
cinematic horror anthology. This being from nineteen

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eighty five Stephen King's kats On.
Stephen King, your favorite novelist and master

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of modern horror, has written his
first motion picture screenplay. It combines all

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the elements of his creative imagination.
Lovable Pets, classic cars, quiet evenings,

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favorite films, Who Killed Us?
Anoment that I did, adorable kids,

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and of course a monster or two
experience, a series of electrifying adventures,

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a scene through Stephen Tings Cats Eyes, Where'd your sense of Stephen Tings

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CATSI Katsi? From nineteen eighty five. This was an original screenplay by Stephen

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King. Although two of the stories
here are adapted. It's always interesting when

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they just say original screenplay by They
said that was for creep Show as well,

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and yet at least one of those
stories was based on previously published material.

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Nevertheless, it was directed by mister
Lewis t. If you didn't know

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it, you certainly will within moments. It was definitely produced by Dino di

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Laurentes. Also side notes music by
Alan Silvestrick. We'll give you a quicker

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rundown of some of the major players
of the cast here. James Woods is

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in this movie. Kenneth McMillan,
Robert Hayes. This is his only other

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role from Airplanes, so sad Candy
Clark is in this James Naughton and of

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course, our girl, Drew barrymar
Hp you begged to be on the show

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when you heard I was doing Cast's
Eye, because you kept telling me this

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is your favorite horror anthology. Time
explain why you think that you, in

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your words, that this is the
pinnacle of horror anthologies. Well, yeah,

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Look, you've got your creep shows, You've got your Tales from the

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Crypt, You've got your Tales from
the Dark Side. The movie this no

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One. You know, this one
is kind of deared of my heart because

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it sort of comes out of that
whole wave of sort of PG thirteen horror

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movies around that time, movies like
Gremlins. You know, Poltergeist was obviously

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a lot earlier, but it shares
some of these sort of suburban setting at

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times of that movie. But the
look and feel of it kind of it

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feels like it came out of that
wave of horror movies. And this might

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have actually been Tales from the Dark
Side of the movie came out in nineteen

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ninety, but this feels like the
last of that wave of kind of lighter

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horror movies with a bit of an
edge, you know what I mean.

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There's things in this movie. The
cat of course, is very much something

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that kids can get behind, and
it's a very you know, nice image,

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but there's an edge to this movie, particularly when we get to the

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final story involving the trol. But
yeah, no, I hadn't seen this

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movie in full in decades. Literally, I think the last time I saw

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it was on cable, in fact, so that it was really nice to

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get back and rewatch this because I
hadn't seen it in so long. Was

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that also the first place you saw
it? Was it on cable? Was

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it a rental? Did you see
it theatrically? I didn't see it in

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the movies because frankly, at that
time I wasn't someone who sought out horror

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movies. If they were on cable, like this movie, I would watch

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them. So yeah, this was
definitely because it was at that time.

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This movie was on a loop with
all the other Evergreen movies around that time,

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so I had no doubt I saw
it on HBO or one of those

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channels. As for me, I
was there on April twelfth, nineteen eighty

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five, first day First Row Showcase
Cinema's Rivere, Massachusetts, seeing Cats Eye.

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You know, when horror movies aren't
rated, are the horror community tends

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to cluck its tongue and say how
it's not hardcore enough. But I will

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also say that twelve year old me
was fucking stoked that this movie was PG

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thirteen and I was buy a ticket, and and you know what, the

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fact that this movie doesn't have the
requisite number of fucks in order to get

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to the R rating diminishes nothing.
A lot of this movie is nightmare fuel,

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particularly when you make it available to
children, it ends up being a

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gateway drug of horror. I think, unquestionably, I'm glad you said that

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because I'm rewatching this, and like
I said, it being a PG thirteen

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movie, like you said, it
carried a certain taint for horror fans at

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that time. But I agree with
you as I'm rewatching this. There's a

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lot of awful things that happened in
this movie. There's a lot of things

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that the more you think about them, the more horrible they become in your

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mind. So I was surprised actually
how affected I was, even after all

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this time. It's a pretty heavy
movie, even though I was familiar with

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the original stories that, as you
said, were I think was it night

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Shift? Was that the collection that
these came from both. Yeah, the

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two stories that are previously published were
both from his short story collection Nightship,

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and that the final tale is an
original for the movie concocted for Dino DeLaurentis

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and his mad dash to be the
ultimate overseer of his New Shirley Temple Drew

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Barrymore's career. As far as I'm
concerned, in my humble opinion, all

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the anthology series and films in the
nineteen eighties are all ripples in the pond

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by the stone put there by the
stone that is creep Shows, and Dino

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no slouch I think recognized or no, you know what I was about to

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say that he recognized that Creep Show
was a hit and wanted to do that

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himself, But that is actually not
the case. What had happened was Dono

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recognized that Stephen King was a hot
commodity and attempted to buy every property of

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his that he could get his hands
on, and managed to get Firestarter.

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So Firestarter gets made and Drew Barrymore
gets cast in it. She blows up

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in et. Dino Delarentis recognizes that
he's got a fucking gold mine here.

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In both Stephen King and Drew Barrymore
and approaches Stephen King to do a film

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specifically for Drew Barrymore, a vehicle
for Drew Barrymore, and Stephen King says,

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well, I have these stories,
and now I'm paraphrasing Stephen King,

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who I'm sure is paraphrasing Tino Rentis, but he says, do know the

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Lorentis read a few of the stories
and came back and he said, Stevie,

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these stories. They are horrible,
but they are funny. Maybe we

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can put a few together. And
at that point Stephen King said, I

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don't know if you saw a movie
I just did called Creepshow where we did

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exactly that. So so then he
concocted the final story, The Troll and

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the Little Girl. He had already
been working on the idea. Evidently it

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was supposed to be about a little
boy being menaced by a tiny troll,

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and after Dino's imploring that he employ
Drew Barrymore, it became a girl.

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And then he just adapted two of
his better stories from Night Shift. And

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now, interestingly those two stories had
already been optioned. If you watch this

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movie to the very very final credit, you will see produced by or Co

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produced by Milton Subotsky, who had
purchased as many of Stephen King's properties as

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he could get. He's the low
key American via England de Laurentis. He

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was, of course the producer for
Amicus Productions that produced all of the great

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anthology films of the nineteen seventies.
So I believe he had to receive a

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credit and they paid him off.
But Dino Delarentis, being nothing if not

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magnanimous, stuck his credit at the
very end of the like as you're getting

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up and the lights are coming up, it says, co produced by Milton

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Sebotsky. It's kind of a real
slap in the face of lakaa. I

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think know might fall it sure well. And it's the other thing. Another

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thing that I was reminded of as
I was watching this is in nineteen eighty

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five, King was really Stephen King
was really the I mean, pun intended,

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the king of mass market, or
you couldn't go to the supermarket without

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seeing a million of his. He
was publishing books at such a rapid rate,

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and they were always popular, they
were always on the best seller list,

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and they were getting adapted at a
very fast rate. Not to say

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that the quality was always top notch. Of course, anyone who knows his

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filmography will agree, but it just
reminded me of how omnipresent Stephen King was

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just in culture at that time.
He was everywhere, His books were everywhere,

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and it felt like he was really
like the leader in mass market horror.

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Mass market horror. He was everywhere. Stephen King was omnipresent in nineteen

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eighty five because not only could you
not turn around without tripping over a Stephen

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King novel or a new paperback that
had come out, but there were tons

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of movie adaptations. At this point. It was brindsy. It was like

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blood in the water for Stephen King
properties, and he was starting to make

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inroads in television. Not to mention, he kept trying to sell us an

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American Express card. Tell me it's
frightening how many novels of suspense I've written,

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But still when I'm not recognized,
it just kills me. So instead

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of saying I ra old Kerry,
I carry the American Express card without it,

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it isn't life a little scary to
a pipe of the card. Look

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for an application and take one the
American Express card. Don't read all it

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out HB. I was thinking about
this myself today, about Stephen King.

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I don't remember a time where Stephen
King wasn't a thing, but I also

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remember a time when he was an
up and comer. I remember the adults

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in my life in the late seventies
talking about Stephen King in hushed tones.

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You know, by then, I
think if you had any exposure to in

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the mass media, it was probably
because Carrie was turned into a film by

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Brian de Palmer, which turned out
to be a huge success. But I

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remember those days, and I remember
like people talking about Stephen King and oma

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they're making the Shining, you know, they're making Salem's Lot. But it's

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crazy to think that there was a
time when he wasn't everywhere, because even

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to this day, he's still everywhere, really he is. And I remember

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as a kid, like it was
so easy to get caught up on his

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work because you could just go into
any old used bookstore and you would go

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to the horror section and they would
be five six shelves worth of Stephen King.

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There'd be like eight copies of pet
Cemetery, three copies of Salem's Lot,

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and you could get them. What
I did was I got them super

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cheap. You just get these paperbacks
that were dog eared and they'd been reddled,

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you know, pretty heavily. And
that's how I sort of got into

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Stephen king was. I just got
into him on the cheap. I would

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just go to the used bookstore and
load it up. But my first experience,

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but for me, I agree,
I don't remember a time when he

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wasn't in embedded in pop culture at
large. I can't remember when he was

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up and coming, but I do
remember my first sort of experience with them

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was the movie Creep Show being on
cable, because it was so like I

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was a comic book guy and I
still am, and that is a comic

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book in film form. It was
an easy comic. Of course. I

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don't have to tell you this,
but that that movie had such a magnetic

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attraction to me. I remember seeing
the previous four it and seeing you know,

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Ted Danson buried up to his head
on the beach with Leslie Nielsen menacing

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him, and that was so that
was such those stories were so compelling and

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so so so. I didn't know
easy comics at the time, but that

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was there was something so sort of
adult yet kid liked because they were comic

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books essentially that that was my first
that first time I was really aware Stephen

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King, and it was just from
there. It was just get all of

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his books, read everything I could
about him, and it was you know,

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but I can't never It's like David
Bowie. I can't remember a time

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when I didn't know of David Bowie
and seeing him on MTV, I didn't.

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I never remember Stephen King not being
around. You know. You mentioned

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Creep Show, and of course I
think, to me, Creep Show was

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probably my favorite movie of all time. I say it's Dawn of the Dead

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when pushed, but I know I
will watch Creep Show more and have watched

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Creep Show more than any other film. It's one of those movies that I

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am completely burned into my writina at
this point. One thing that really works

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in Creep Show is there's a wrap
around story that there, but there isn't

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a wrap around the story. It
starts and ends with a parent punishing their

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child for reading this comic book.
The comic book is forbidden, which you

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know, for children of the nineteen
fifties reading ec comics, that was a

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familiar seed for them. But other
than that, what we're given is the

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tale of the comic book. It
is as it is buffeted around and by

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the wind in a storm outside,
as it is waiting for trash day.

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And every time the comic book flips
open to a page, there we are

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and here's the story. So I
want to ask you before we delve into

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chat sign, how important do you
think a wrap around story is. Well,

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I would like to say that I
feel like it should be important,

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but I also at the same time, I feel like in most anthology films

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that I've seen, they just tend
to be kind of a thin veneer with

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which to kind of hang the rest
of the story on. As we'll see.

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I don't want to get ahead of
ourselves here, but I would say

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that's one of the weakest parts of
Cat's Eye. It was really the wrap

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around is really just kind of a
vehicle to get this cat from place to

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place where he is tangential to most
of these adventures with creep Show. I

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didn't mind it because I don't know
the way it's depicted. Because every time

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you go to the wrap around,
you remember it to kind of rotoscope the

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animation, and like you said,
it gets buffeted by the wind and it's

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on the ground and whatever. I
thought to me that that was perfect because

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I didn't need some intricate story with
which to hang the rest of the episodic

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pieces together. So I guess,
in a sense, I'm kind of going

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against what I just said, which
is I feel like it should be important,

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but at the end of the day, I don't necessarily care about it.

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As long as some of its parts
is there, as long as the

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episodic pieces work, I don't really
care as much about the wrap around.

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Well, how do you feel would
you rather something be like? Would you

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rather that the wrap around be almost
like an extra story in and of itself.

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Our friends over at Film Foundation had
me on recently talking about horror anthologies

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in general, and when that question
was posed to me, my answer was,

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a wrap around segment is either the
most important part of the horror anthology

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or the least, and both are
equally. Except Creepshow is supposed to be

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a comic book come to life.
What more do I need than the comic

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book flipping open to a page and
taking me with it. It's all I

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need, in fact. The fact
that they have any sort of connective tissue

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out on the street where the comic
book is, we're shown its environment only

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adds to the loneliness of that situation, only like makes you more of the

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of that kid reading that comic book
on his own. That isn't to say

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that something as simple as like Vault
of Horror, we all got off on

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the wrong elevator and now we're telling
each other stories like that have no connective

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tissue at all. It's just people
telling each other a story, and then

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we've then they're in hell. That's
the famous Amicist solution to to wrap around

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I think, I honestly don't care. I would like it tied in.

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I would like it to become part
of the story, but I also don't

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want the whole movie to hang on
it being clever by doing that it.

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I don't care as long as you
know, like, like I say,

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creepshit. So it works beautifully because
it's all about the comic book. But

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when you have your Vault of Horror
solution, like you said, where you

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know they're telling each other these stories
as just a vehicle to get to the

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good stuff that's you know, it
kind of calls attention to the fact that

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it's just you have to get for
me to be. So that's the convenient

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solution. But I'm trying to think
of of an example where it is very

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important and I can't. Well,
I would say I'm not a fan of

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this movie. It's probably why didn't
bring it up. But Trick or Treat

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manages to weave all of their anthological
stories together and have the connective tissue payoff

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in the finale like that become that
character who we've seen to be just like

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a host introducing the tales actually becomes
the focus of the tales. We realized

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that the whole thing has been about
them all along. So I think it

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can be done. But the fact
that there are literally dozens of anthology films

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that I would point to that are
better than that film that don't have such

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a clever wrap around story means ultimately
the wrap around is meaningless. I read

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a lot. I went back and
read a lot of the reviews of Cat's

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Sign when it came out in nineteen
eighty five, and I did too.

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Actually, yeah, A common complaint
seemed to me that they kept saying that

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these stories aren't related, which made
me wonder if they had ever seen an

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anthology before, or ever watched the
Twilight Zone from a week to week,

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like, wait, this isn't what
happened last week? Where's Burgess Meredith?

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Yeah. I don't know where they
would get that complaint. I think because

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in this movie, like you know, we're talking about the wrap around,

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and really the wrap around in this
movie is essentially the cat trying to fulfill

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its destiny and protecting the girl at
the end. But I didn't Again,

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I didn't really care about it,
and I've been so sort of immersed in

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anthology, and anthology is my whole
life, everything from like you said,

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Twilight Zone to eventually easy comics and
things like that. Maybe I'm just more

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conditioned to understanding that this is just
this is. They don't have to be

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connected. There may be a thematic
connection, thin at best sometimes, but

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I don't really care, Like,
I don't know what they were expecting.

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Maybe all the stories they were hoping
that all take place in New York and

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they'd have I don't know. I
think that's kind of an unfounded criticism.

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Personally, I think as viewers,
the more sophisticated viewership became over the years,

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the less necessary a wrap around becomes. Because if you look from the

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original Twilight Zone to Night Gallery to
the reboot of the Twilight Zone in eighty

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five. You can see Rod Serling
is very very necessary for the original Twilight

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Zone. It seems a lot less, so it seems more nostalgic when we

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get to Night Gallery. By the
time we get to nineteen eighty five,

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Listen, Rod's dead at this point, but they choose not to have an

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on screen narrator. In fact,
they have a sometime narrator. They've decided

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that some of these stories don't need
narration at all, and that shit,

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that's the truth about any of them. So it as far as the presentation

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goes, you're right, Like,
as a viewer, we're now used to

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all of these shows having no connective
tissue whatsoever, so it really becomes less

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important. So I don't understand why
a Gene Siskel is complaining that these stories

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are unrelated. And I'm on the
side of g of Roger Ebert for once,

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who's just like, it's an anthology, felm, Like that's what it

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does. Like what is the connective
tissue of the previous year's Twilight Zone move

276
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other than Twilight Zone kick that it's
in a nightmare of twenty thousand feet aren't

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exactly thematically matching. But what is
nice to as a viewer is really what

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you're describing it. It has to
there has to be some umbrella under which

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all of these stories sort of fall. It doesn't have to be some sort

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of some definitive connection, but when
you're dealing with a twilight Zone, for

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example, you know that the umbrella
is the sort of rod Serling vision for

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this, you know, by its
own universe, for lack of a better

283
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term, you know what you're in
for more or less. There there'll be

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some humor, they'll maybe some science
fiction, there'll be some fantastical elements,

285
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maybe somebody getting what they deserve,
maybe somebody getting what they never thought they

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needed. But there you go into
it knowing that it's the twilight Zone brand,

287
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if you will. And when you
come into Kat's Eye, you know

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that this is a Stephen King grouping
of stories. So you know, if

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you know Stephen King, you know
more or less what to expect. Right,

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So, without even putting aside the
connective bits, the wrap around and

291
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whatever, an anthology still should have
an umbrella with thematically which under which you

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kind of know what to expect.
I guess when it comes to wrap around

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segments, HPA. The fact is
this one comes close to being the greatest

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wraparound sequence of all time. He
almost pulls off a neat trick of having

295
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this potentially just incidental character. He
managed to weave it through each of the

296
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stories. Almost it ends up being
an incidental appearance in each of these stories

297
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where it doesn't really matter. It
only really matters in Twitters and Corporate the

298
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first story, and it's only tangentially
in the second one. But I liked

299
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following this cat on its journey,
and I liked that it was central to

300
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the final tale to be told.
I agree, and it helps that.

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I mean, I'm sure there were
probably, you know, a bunch of

302
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cats that they had acting in this
movie, but I got to hand it

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to the cat Wrangler that they got
some great cats and great performers. By

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you know, by the end of
the movie, you are so pulling for

305
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that cat to to save the day. You've seen that cat through through all

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this awfulness, the things that happened
to it. But it's such a great

307
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performer, even at the beginning when
it's getting chased by by Kujo, which

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will I know, we'll get to
but but it's but it helps that.

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I mean, obviously, animals are
famously awful to deal with and making a

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movie directing them. But I have
to say, like having a great presence

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like that cat, however many they
had to get the job done, really

312
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really went a long way towards making
that wrap around work. I think that

313
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cat is not credited in this in
the credits of this movie. This is

314
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.839
a goddamn shame. Someone should retroactively
fix that. I think I agree with

315
00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:49.279
you. There are a few animal
performers that really piqued my interest, and

316
00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:52.240
this one definitely does. He's great, She's great. Which one is it?

317
00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.599
I don't know. There's no credit. God damn you, and God

318
00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:00.200
blessed the Animal Rangler. They did
a great job. I will say there

319
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are a few moments in this film
which proved to be harrowing and it made

320
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me fear for that cat. We'll
get to it in the story itself,

321
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but I cannot, honestly, HP
I cannot tell if it's a visual effect

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or if they just have a cat
nearly being hit by cars. There are

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two shots and we'll get to them. Boll We'll get to that Anyway,

324
00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:57.000
let's start this show, shall we. This story begins Cat's Eye begins with

325
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the lovely lilting tone of Alan Silvestri. Alan Silvestrie doing his work here at

326
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HB. What do you think of
his score here? His score is interesting.

327
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:10.960
I am a big I mean,
anyone who's a fan of Back to

328
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the Future and other movies you can't
help but be an Alan Silvestrie fan.

329
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His work is so distinctive and memorable
and recognizable. But in this movie.

330
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First of all, I as I
was watching this and I realized that it

331
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was Alan Silvestri, it surprised me
because I had no mem I mean,

332
00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:30.839
it was this long time ago when
I saw it, but I had no

333
00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.319
memory of him doing the score.
And initially, I have to say,

334
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as I'm listening to it, it
almost felt a little bit kind of beholden

335
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:45.640
to what like John Carpenter. It
was very it's very electronic in places and

336
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.759
kind of very strident and rhythmic,
and it was it was interesting. But

337
00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:56.119
then again, if I think about
his sort of work over time, like

338
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.799
if I could point to a movie
like Fandango, which he did the score

339
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:03.160
for that as well, it's not
as well known because there's a lot of

340
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.240
he did. He did the orchestral
bits and the bits that aren't like actual

341
00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:12.240
songs from that period are it's Alan
Silvestrie. There's a sequence in that where

342
00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:18.039
Kevin Coster's character is having a dream
about the girl that he left behind and

343
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:26.279
his Silvestri's score behind it. It's
electronic and it's very ambient, and it

344
00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:32.400
really captures a very specific mood and
I always loved it. So that sort

345
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of taught me that, yes,
there's Alan Silvestri who has these triumphant yet

346
00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:40.759
comedic scores from movies like Back to
the Future, But in this I think

347
00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:44.640
he's proven that. I mean,
he's writing in the time period, right,

348
00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:48.720
it's the eighties, so that's going
to be the style that he's writing

349
00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:52.279
in. But I liked it.
I thought it was good. It's a

350
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.920
little bit over the top at times, but the movie itself is over the

351
00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.559
top at times, so I really
liked it. I think there are two

352
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:03.200
sort of themes going on here,
right, there's the horror theme and then

353
00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:10.880
there's the typical Alan Silvestri triumphant theme. The horror theme is the more out

354
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:22.599
there electronica stuff that you're talking about. The sort of which which also reminds

355
00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:26.880
me of the score for a Silver
Bullet. For some reason, the Triumphant

356
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:30.799
theme General's Theme General is the name
of the cat. It sounds to me

357
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:36.599
like it's a ripoff, a bargain
basement synthesizer, ripoff of the Backs of

358
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:38.920
the Future theme. But this movie
actually beats Back to the Future to the

359
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:55.519
theaters. No, I agree,
there's a I mean, you look at

360
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:59.440
any composer that has any any long
body of work, and you're going to

361
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:02.680
hear of what they've done in various
movies. You can't get around that.

362
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:07.039
I mean, John Williams, as
wonderful as he is, he has some

363
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:11.519
sort of motifs that are his stock
in trade. Alice of Vestri is no

364
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.960
different, and I think that's what
you're kind of driving at. Well,

365
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:18.599
I will say, in John Williams
defense, who means no defending from me,

366
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:22.119
And I've noticed people beating up on
him recently and they can go fuck

367
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:27.839
themselves. But I will say that
for the sheer volume of work produced by

368
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:33.240
Williams, there are very few times
where I can point and go this sounds

369
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:37.400
like that. I mean, there's
an overall John Williams thing. You go,

370
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:40.319
oh, that's a John Williams score. But there are very few times

371
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:45.240
where I can go, well,
the Harry Potter theme is just the tinkeratory

372
00:30:45.319 --> 00:31:06.359
version of the Witch's Beastwick theme,
because that one's true. But like that's

373
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:10.960
a rarity. But anyway, I
think Silvestri's doing great work here. So

374
00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:14.240
HP, here's the wrap round,
It's begun. Are you ready? We're

375
00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:18.079
following a cat. Who is this
cat? Where's he come from? I

376
00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:22.039
don't know, You don't know,
but I do know that we're suddenly going

377
00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:26.519
to be treated to a ton of
shout outs to Stephen King in a movie

378
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:30.720
by Stephen King, in a script
by Stephen King, because as you mentioned

379
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:36.279
earlier, the cat is being chased
menaced by a giant Saint Bernard that is

380
00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:38.759
foaming at the mouth, a clear
nod to creep to Kujo, this is

381
00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:45.599
Kujo, right, And then both
Kujo and the cat are nearly collided or

382
00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:48.720
run over by a nineteen fifty eight
Plymouth fury with a red body and a

383
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:53.680
white top, right, which not
only is Christine, and clearly, if

384
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.519
you're a fan of King, you
know that this is outrageously calling out Stephen

385
00:31:57.559 --> 00:32:00.519
King. All of these references,
and on the bumper of the fucking car

386
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:05.240
they have the bumper sticker that was
being sold. I remember seeing it in

387
00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:08.759
stores and seeing it on cars.
They're saying, I am Christine, Like,

388
00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:13.119
did you really need to hit the
nail on the head so fucking hard

389
00:32:13.160 --> 00:32:16.119
there? Yeah. I groaned when
I saw that, because if it had

390
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:20.759
just been the car almost hitting the
dogs and kind of you know, the

391
00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:22.279
guy shaking his fist, that would
have been fine, and I would have

392
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:24.559
been I would have said, oh, that's kind of a nice little callback.

393
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:30.200
But then to focus on those bumper
stickers on the car was was was

394
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:32.400
a little too much, I thought
too. And that while what I thought

395
00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:37.519
was too much was then the cat
runs between the legs of this teenage girl

396
00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:40.200
covered in blood in a prom dress. And then in the next scene,

397
00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:45.079
the cat is running down this hallway
with this horizontal or octagonal pattern on the

398
00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:50.559
floor being being changed by a guy
with an axe. And then no,

399
00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:54.200
it's just it's really so good anyways, So enough of Stephen King calling out

400
00:32:54.200 --> 00:32:57.920
to Stephen King. And here's the
thing. I read the script this morning,

401
00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:00.039
HP, and the references are in
there. So he actually put it

402
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:02.880
in I thought this was like Lewis
Tige growing up. I thought this was

403
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:06.279
Lewis t going like, hey,
there's Stephen King, look at me.

404
00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:08.519
I got your pal. But no, this is Stephen King telling the director

405
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:14.119
put in these references to me,
well, in fairness, far they're far

406
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:17.759
from the last because he We're going
to keep seeing a lot of King references

407
00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:22.680
here. Yeah, and in fairness, Lewis t did direct Kujoe, So

408
00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:28.079
you know, I give the man
full, you know, the full credit

409
00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:30.960
for doing that because he directed that
movie. But but yeah, it was

410
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.920
yeah, it was a lot.
Yeah. So the cat is then it

411
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.000
eludes kujo it ends up running through
a thing and here's where we get our

412
00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:44.599
first look at our girl. And
again, this is another thing that I

413
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:47.799
sort of that eluded me the first
time I or the last time I saw

414
00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:52.480
this movie. And that so I
get what you're saying about the wrap around

415
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.599
and it's important, but like I
have to say, I still don't get

416
00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:01.599
all of these hallucinations that the cat
is having these visions of the girl.

417
00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:06.079
And it's always Drew Barrymore saying help
me, help me, you have to

418
00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:09.559
find this thing or whatever she says, and the cat I mean, again,

419
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:14.119
the cat's a great performer, and
it's looking at the mannequin and listening,

420
00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:16.199
But that was I thought that was
very weird. I don't know.

421
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:22.480
You're right, the cat is completely
and fully committed to understanding this girl and

422
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:27.320
realizing that it's fucking up and not
getting there quicker. I totally believe it's

423
00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:31.760
performance. But as I said,
what this could be the greatest wrap around

424
00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:37.079
of all time if you could figure
out what in crazy fucking hell is going

425
00:34:37.159 --> 00:34:43.320
on here. The cat stops at
a retail store window, a display window,

426
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:46.760
looks up a mane. He's looking
at a mannequin, a ghostly Drew

427
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:53.320
Barrymore dressed as the mannequin is superimposed
and comes to life and then starts exhorting

428
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:58.440
the cat that it's getting closer.
You have to hurry, it's going to

429
00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:01.159
be here soon. So you've got
this idea that maybe this is a psychic

430
00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:06.800
girl calling out to this cat,
right might be, yeah, we don't

431
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:09.480
know, but there's no time because
the cat had The cat can no longer

432
00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:13.960
tarry. It has to get on
a truck and go wherever the hell that

433
00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:16.519
truck is going. Because this is
one smart cat and it takes us directly

434
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:22.360
to the heart of New York City. Baby Yeah, in New York City

435
00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.639
in nineteen eighty five and all of
its glory. We've talked about this on

436
00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:30.119
other podcasts, but movies like this
are a wonderful time capsule of a certain

437
00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:34.559
place in time, and it was
great to see New York City, or

438
00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:37.320
at least that depiction of it in
nineteen eighty five. HP. You're a

439
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:42.440
big fan of b roll Over on
your show night, mister Walters, You'll

440
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:45.119
be happy to know that all the
shots of New York here are all pickup

441
00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:50.079
shots, including Atlantic City. This
entire movie was filmed in Wilmington, North

442
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:55.800
Carolina. That's where Adino DeLaurentis was
forging his studio, his empire, and

443
00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:00.280
that explains why the Cat starts off
in New York City, goes to New

444
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:06.400
Jersey, and for the final story
ends up in Willington, North Carolina.

445
00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:13.280
Makes it crazy, right, Okay, So now we're in New York City.

446
00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:19.920
Cat is immediately absconded with by some
ruffian who says, save me a

447
00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:22.119
trip to the vet or something like
that, and off he goes. Who

448
00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:27.039
is that guy? I don't know
because we're now introduced to our main protagonist

449
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:30.639
here in our first story. The
story is called Quitters Incorporated. This is

450
00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:35.639
adapted from a night Shift short story
by Stephen King Bye and again adapted by

451
00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:42.679
Stephen king himself. And we're introduced
to normal human being James Woods, who's

452
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:46.719
being entreated by his friend that the
way to quit smoking is through this corporation

453
00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:52.880
called Quitters Incorporated, which you is
not advertised. You can't really find any

454
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:55.960
hide nor hair of it. As
a company. You effectively have to be

455
00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:01.000
invited by a member in order to
participate at it. James Woods wants to

456
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:04.800
do the right thing. He's got
a wife and kid at home, he

457
00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:07.960
doesn't want to smoke anymore, and
and he goes. I will say this

458
00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:13.639
that's interrupted for a minute, but
I will say the guy that grabs the

459
00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:16.840
cat at the beginning, I will
say, the car that he abstungs with

460
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:23.800
the cat does have Quitters Incorporated emblazoned
on the door. Right, So I

461
00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:28.559
think there is some awareness of Quitters
Incorporated. But at the same time,

462
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:31.519
as you're going to describe, I'm
sure there's more to it that meets the

463
00:37:31.559 --> 00:37:36.880
eye. Yeah, okay, So
we're treated to James Woods going into this

464
00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:40.480
just a nondescript lobby, a lot
of artwork on the walls, anti smoking

465
00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:44.920
artwork. I'm haunted by the one
where it's just a it's a head that's

466
00:37:45.159 --> 00:37:47.840
a full cigarette, like the smoke
pouring out of it and the mouth with

467
00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:52.360
another cigarette hanging out of it,
although that pretty much could be a photo

468
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:57.639
of me in my night in my
twenties. But the only other customer,

469
00:37:57.719 --> 00:38:02.760
potential customer is a weeping man sitting
on accounts and James Woods basically is going

470
00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:07.039
to take off. He's not paying
an effort for this, but he's intercepted

471
00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:13.239
by the head of Quitters Incorporated,
played mister Vinnie doctor Vinnie Donatti played by

472
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:21.760
Alan King, bors Belt comedian Alan
King as doctor Vinnie Donati and the name

473
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:25.800
Vinnie Donati should give you some idea
of what's behind Quitters Incorporated. This is

474
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:30.159
a mob front. What do you
think about Alan King's performance here? HP,

475
00:38:30.360 --> 00:38:37.440
So this was a renaissance period for
Alan King because he was, like

476
00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:39.880
you said, he was sort of
a borsch Belt comedian. I think he

477
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:44.719
was had a little bit of Vegas
edge to him, but I just remember

478
00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:49.079
him like when Donimichi made Cocoon all
of a sudden. Not to say this,

479
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.880
Alan King, this was his vehicle
to greater success. But I just

480
00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:57.320
remember him being around more and being
becoming more popular around this time, like

481
00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:01.480
Jackie Mason sort of. But I
will say I knew him as that comic,

482
00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:07.920
but in this segment, in this
movie, he is. I loved

483
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:14.639
his performance. He is scary,
he is no nonsense. He is over

484
00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:17.599
the top at times, but he
gets the job done. I thought he

485
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:22.880
did a wonderful job as the sort
of I guess the public face of Quitters

486
00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:25.679
Incorporated. I could not agree with
you more. And this is my favorite

487
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:30.159
performance of his. He runs every
emotion and I believe every single one of

488
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:37.119
him. When he's being sincere and
chummy, I believe he's actually genuinely concerned

489
00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:40.920
about James Woods's hell, and when
he's threatening him, I believe he means

490
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:45.239
every word, which I mean,
he pays that off. But there are

491
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:50.119
little, tiny moments, little human
moments here, like he and his henchman

492
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:53.880
make a bet, are constantly betting
between each other and about whether or not

493
00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:58.559
a couple will reconcile or not after
what they're about to do to them.

494
00:39:58.840 --> 00:40:01.079
So yeah, I think he's he's
great here. I agree. Like in

495
00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:06.119
the eighties there seemed to be suddenly
a lot of these elder comedians figured out

496
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:09.920
that comedy and drama ain't that far
off. They're actually adept at both.

497
00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:15.159
And I think we've discovered more and
more over the years that the better the

498
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:17.320
comedian is, the better they are
as a dramatic actor. If you get

499
00:40:17.320 --> 00:40:22.360
most dramatic actors run for their money
because they can't be funny. Absolutely,

500
00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:27.039
and he you know he was.
He's a funny guy. I've seen his

501
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:30.719
routines and I knew him well as
a comic. But he is really fucking

502
00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:34.320
scary through a lot of this movie. And like you said, you believe

503
00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:38.280
that there's a part of him that
is really concerned for his patients and for

504
00:40:38.559 --> 00:40:44.800
this character of Dicky in particular,
but the things you see him do in

505
00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:49.639
the service of trying to help his
clients, it's this is we were talking

506
00:40:49.639 --> 00:40:53.079
about how thematically this movie gets very
heavy for a PG. Thirteen movie,

507
00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:59.039
and there's perhaps no greater example of
that than the character of doctor Donati.

508
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:05.119
He's fabulous. Yeah, this episode
in particular represents a level of black humor

509
00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:09.360
that's running through this episode and Alan
King is not playing anything for humor but

510
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:13.679
ends up being the funniest thing in
it. And James, which should know

511
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:17.280
right from the get go what's in
store for him here because he's asked to

512
00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:22.079
give Alan King his final pack of
cigarettes, which Alan King dutifully opens up,

513
00:41:22.159 --> 00:41:25.079
lays on the thing, and then
pounds the hell out of like like

514
00:41:25.159 --> 00:41:30.360
he can't stand them, like they're
currently on fire on his desk. And

515
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:36.199
this is when we discover that there's
some mob ties behind Quitters Incorporated and that

516
00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:42.800
their methods are unorthodox and they will
be watching you and you will not want

517
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:45.719
to smoke at all. This is
where they actually give him the demonstration of

518
00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:49.760
the cat and show us the room, which is horrific. So this is

519
00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:53.000
why I'm saying that the cat is
more integrated into this story than the second

520
00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:58.320
story, because at least it's used
as a device here because Quitters Incorporated,

521
00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:01.000
we're shown, have a special room, a viewing room. Is it two

522
00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:05.280
way glass? Did you figure it's
mirrored right? So she can't see that

523
00:42:05.360 --> 00:42:07.719
she's being watched or the cat in
this case King to them, it's just

524
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:12.800
to agreeable, yeah, because because
you know, flashing forward a little bit.

525
00:42:12.800 --> 00:42:15.000
There will be a person in that
room eventually. I don't want to

526
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:20.199
spoil it, but this person can't
seem to see their spouse on the other

527
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:22.639
side there, or maybe they're just
so, you know, in horror at

528
00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:28.800
what they're having to endure. But
yeah, I landed on the idea that

529
00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:31.679
it's like mirrored glass. So they
put the cat in this room. The

530
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:37.639
floor is a wire mesh that they
electrify, and then just to be extra

531
00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:43.199
ghoulish, they play six Tiers by
question Mark and the Mysterians while the cat

532
00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:45.960
is in there, and it's of
course being sparked, so everywhere at steps

533
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:50.599
is another fresh bit of hell for
the cat. And then it's explained the

534
00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:53.360
rules of quitters incorporated. Do not
smoke. We're going to see it,

535
00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:57.880
we're gonna know it. If that
happens once, your wife will be thrown

536
00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:01.000
into that room and you get to
watch. If it happens again, your

537
00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:05.440
daughter will be thrown in there,
and you get to watch. The third

538
00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:08.280
time, someone will come and rape
your wife. He says it so casually,

539
00:43:08.599 --> 00:43:13.599
it's so fucking scary. And then
at the fourth time there won't be

540
00:43:13.679 --> 00:43:17.360
a fourth time. Yeah, and
he keeps quoting, you know, He'll

541
00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:22.239
say like, well, seventy three
percent of our clients will have a relapse,

542
00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:24.440
and then he keeps you know,
he keeps quoting these figures, and

543
00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:27.679
I think he said, oh,
don't worry, only two percent of our

544
00:43:27.719 --> 00:43:31.639
clients, you know, have a
failure rate at three. They relapse a

545
00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:36.039
third time, but they won't be
a fourth time. But it is that

546
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:40.440
that room and the juxtaposition of the
music that they're playing, and he says

547
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:45.719
it's because he wants an association with
the room and the music. There's this

548
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:52.880
psychology involved with this organization and this
guy being forced to watch this happen in

549
00:43:52.920 --> 00:43:55.559
this case to the cat. And
I have to say, we were talking

550
00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:01.239
about the performance of the cat and
how you had said earlier that you couldn't

551
00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:05.840
figure out how they how the cat. Didn't you know, did they actually

552
00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:09.039
have these cars crashing around the cat
as it's being chased. I was wondering,

553
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:14.599
how do they achieve this effect where
the cat is being shocked on the

554
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:20.239
floor and every time there's a shock, it's a zap And I was carefully

555
00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:24.760
looking. It doesn't look like these
little shocks like sparks are being matted in.

556
00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:29.719
It looks like they're there. Well, I will say this, that's

557
00:44:29.800 --> 00:44:34.239
just a common like prop guy thing
for like they would use that for welding

558
00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:37.840
or something. They basically make a
little gun that shoots the sparks. So

559
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:40.039
that's somebody under the set shooting sparks
up. I don't think anyone is in

560
00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:43.760
any danger, and I don't think
that floor is electrified. If anything,

561
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:47.079
they're probably shooting compressed air at the
cat, and that's freaking the cat out

562
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:51.320
and making it jump. That's what
I'm hoping. They shouldn't be doing it

563
00:44:51.320 --> 00:44:54.760
anyway, They couldn't have CGI in
nineteen eighty five. But anyway, this

564
00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:58.559
cat is a fucking trooper, man. I hope it got lots of treats.

565
00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:05.000
Yeah, but I knew, or
at least to your point, I

566
00:45:05.079 --> 00:45:07.599
was hoping. I mean, I
didn't look at the end of the movie

567
00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:10.039
to see if there was one of
those like no animals were harmed, and

568
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:15.840
I hope there was one, but
I, you know, knowing deep down

569
00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:19.320
that they weren't. They weren't going
to actually shock this cat. But it's

570
00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:22.559
so it's shot really well, and
it's edited really well, and the effects

571
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:30.679
as practical effects are so compelling it
just made you want this cat to survive

572
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:35.159
and do what it has to do
to get out of there. I guess.

573
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:39.639
Thus begins a really tense rest of
the story. No, you know

574
00:45:39.679 --> 00:45:43.440
what before, we can't get to
it. We can't get to the tension

575
00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:47.599
yet because first were treated to James
Woods having quit smoking. Freaking out.

576
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:52.119
If anyone out there is quit smoking, I know I quit many many times.

577
00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:58.280
Those first twenty four hours forty eight
hours without the nicktee are pure fucking

578
00:45:58.280 --> 00:46:00.440
hell. And he's selling it to
James Look, I know he's a fucking

579
00:46:00.519 --> 00:46:05.639
nut job these days. He was
always a good performer, always a great

580
00:46:05.679 --> 00:46:12.960
actor, and he's This story would
be fifty percent less effective without James Woods

581
00:46:13.159 --> 00:46:15.480
in a lesser actors dance. But
the reason I bring this scene up is,

582
00:46:15.719 --> 00:46:19.679
first of all, we get yet
another Stephen King call out. He's

583
00:46:19.719 --> 00:46:24.079
watching the Dead Zone on television,
and this is the scene that eventually spirals

584
00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:30.519
into the dream sequence. Okay,
they've lined look for a thriller where you

585
00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:36.719
are being surveyed or a better song
could not have come around. Then I'll

586
00:46:36.760 --> 00:46:39.719
be watching you by the police,
or every breath you take by the police.

587
00:46:40.199 --> 00:46:45.199
Which they've licensed here. But now
they have some fucking bullshit cover artists

588
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.960
playing right, So you get kind
of excited when the bass starts up right

589
00:46:50.079 --> 00:47:07.559
and that guitar and the drums.
But bait the switch. Everybody we get

590
00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:10.199
we're treated to a dream sequence unlike
any other where they're trying to show how

591
00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:14.440
enticing smoking is. Everyone is smoking, and he's supposed to be like,

592
00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:17.760
I want to smoke, but it
all looks disgusting. Like there's a guy

593
00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:22.840
with his wife on the couch where
smoke is just pouring out of him over

594
00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:27.480
and over again. There's some dancing
cigarette pacts. Yeah, he's at one

595
00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:30.639
point, so he's talking with this
sort of drunk friend of his who is

596
00:47:30.679 --> 00:47:37.280
played by James Reborn. Oh yeah, I love him. He I you

597
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:39.800
know, obviously he's been in an
Independence Day and meet the Parents and all

598
00:47:39.840 --> 00:47:44.599
these movies and he but he's really
young here, and so he's talking to

599
00:47:44.679 --> 00:47:49.280
this drunk friend of his and as
he's talking, the friend has more and

600
00:47:49.360 --> 00:47:53.480
more cigarettes. At one point he's
got both like hands are just festioned with

601
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:57.800
cigarettes and he's putting them in his
mouth and they've done something to his eye,

602
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:00.840
his eyebrows where they almost look so
of demonic and devil like, and

603
00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:04.840
he keeps saying, how about a
cigarette? How And he's just putting it

604
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:09.400
up to his mouth and blowing all
this smoke and it's pulling out his ears.

605
00:48:09.440 --> 00:48:13.800
And then maybe I forget me if
you're getting to this. But so

606
00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:16.840
the song Every Breath You Take is
playing and that, and then for the

607
00:48:16.920 --> 00:48:22.239
sort of climax of the sequence,
oh boy, he looks over at the

608
00:48:22.280 --> 00:48:28.480
staircase and there is doctor Donati.
He's dressed in kind of this it's almost

609
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:32.760
like an Elvis jumpsuit and he is
lip syncing the words to Every Breath You

610
00:48:32.840 --> 00:48:37.960
Take. I'll be watching you,
and he's like dancing and bopping around and

611
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:44.960
it is. It is so surreal
and so horrific, and it's sort of

612
00:48:45.159 --> 00:48:49.440
you know, cant cantid you know, camera angles and the room is all

613
00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:52.320
smoky, and man, it is
it is a really it kind of becomes

614
00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:58.159
it. It's funny, but it's
intense. The sequence. Yeah, it's

615
00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:02.800
like as for dick as it is. It's so menacing. What I love

616
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:07.519
that this is sort of not really
a gaff. But when Alan King,

617
00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:12.400
whose lip syncing the song, says
I'll be watching you. He makes the

618
00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:16.480
an ooh kind of face, and
then they super impose smoke pouring out of

619
00:49:16.519 --> 00:49:20.320
it. I guess Alan King didn't
want to didn't want to have any smoke

620
00:49:20.360 --> 00:49:22.639
in his mouth to come out of
there, but it comes in just a

621
00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:27.000
second too late. So for a
second it looks like Alan King is just

622
00:49:27.039 --> 00:49:30.880
blowing James Woods a kiss. Yeah, it, but it's there's something about

623
00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:37.360
the because we've all we've seen of
this guy is the brutal methods that he's

624
00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:40.159
using. I mean, at one
point he James Woods tries to take a

625
00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:44.920
swing at him to get him to
stop shocking the cat, and just as

626
00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:50.639
easily as anything, Danadi kind of
grabs him and does this almost like this

627
00:49:51.079 --> 00:49:53.760
sort of martial arts move and gets
him. His arm is behind his back,

628
00:49:53.840 --> 00:49:58.880
and you can see how strong and
brutal and menacing this guy is.

629
00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:06.199
Sort of see him doing this sort
of vagasy Elvis thing. But the message

630
00:50:06.199 --> 00:50:09.039
behind it is I am watching you. Don't take a don't take a smoke

631
00:50:09.119 --> 00:50:15.400
because I am watching you. Very
very effective, and at this Lewis t

632
00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:21.320
really starts earning his paycheck because now
it becomes a tense thriller, and there's

633
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:24.920
a mote. The first sort of
shock is James Wood's waking up in the

634
00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:30.639
night and there's lightning storm going on
outside, and he's snuck downstairs because he's

635
00:50:30.639 --> 00:50:35.239
gonna sneak a cigarette or he might
not. And then it was that a

636
00:50:35.280 --> 00:50:40.199
cough in the closet. It's a
great sequence where he goes in and realizes

637
00:50:40.840 --> 00:50:44.559
he doesn't realize it at first.
He just opens it, sees no one

638
00:50:44.599 --> 00:50:46.599
in there, and then a bunch
of stuff drops out, then tosses an

639
00:50:46.719 --> 00:50:52.199
umbrella into it and you hear it
ooh, And then he realizes just how

640
00:50:52.280 --> 00:50:58.119
serious Quitters Incorporated actually is. Anyone
else in that situation would have probably picked

641
00:50:58.159 --> 00:51:00.280
something else up and started swing,
but he knows now what he's in for.

642
00:51:00.519 --> 00:51:05.079
It's horrifying. When there's also there's
this shot. I think that that

643
00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:07.760
comes a little earlier, where it's
in the morning. I think it's the

644
00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:13.159
first morning where he is quit smoking
and he kind of goes outside and he's

645
00:51:13.360 --> 00:51:15.719
just trying to loosen himself up.
He's a little uptight, and he sees

646
00:51:15.760 --> 00:51:22.039
a jogger jogging by this sort of
overweight guy who's jogging who's kind of looking

647
00:51:22.079 --> 00:51:23.239
at him, and he kind of
looks back at him like he's not sure

648
00:51:23.239 --> 00:51:27.480
what to make of it. And
then the camera cuts to the opposite angle

649
00:51:27.480 --> 00:51:31.840
and you see the jogger is jogging
with dress shoes in black socks. So

650
00:51:31.920 --> 00:51:37.119
we as audience members know this guy's
already under surveillance, Like these guys are

651
00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:42.880
serious. So yeah, it very
intense. In order to get to that

652
00:51:43.320 --> 00:51:46.280
first moment that his wife is brought
down and tossed into it, he has

653
00:51:46.320 --> 00:51:51.400
to have that first cigarette, and
man, oh man, they make the

654
00:51:51.519 --> 00:51:55.920
perfect scenario for him to do it. He has He's out in traffic.

655
00:51:57.400 --> 00:52:02.079
It's at like a drawbridge situation,
so he's in a secluded area. They

656
00:52:02.119 --> 00:52:07.239
couldn't possibly have gotten that they're not
in his car, There's no one around

657
00:52:07.280 --> 00:52:10.280
looking at him, and there just
so happens to be a forgotten pack of

658
00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:16.320
cigarettes. If he could just lean
down and do it without anyone looking.

659
00:52:16.679 --> 00:52:22.800
This is my favorite moment in the
entire segment HP when James Woods lights the

660
00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:27.480
cigarette, when he gets that breath
of tobacco right, the moment of not

661
00:52:27.639 --> 00:52:31.199
triumph of the inhale of the cigarette
and feeling how joyous that is again but

662
00:52:31.239 --> 00:52:35.440
the moment where he realizes he's gotten
away with it, James Woods kind of

663
00:52:35.519 --> 00:52:37.519
laughs to himself a little bit like, yeah, yeah, it's working.

664
00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:42.519
It's working. It's not working because
when he leans up, the car next

665
00:52:42.519 --> 00:52:45.159
to him is one of the Quitts
Incorporated guys who's staring right at him.

666
00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:50.960
It's horrible. It thus begins a
race home. No cell phones, folks,

667
00:52:51.480 --> 00:52:53.920
if someone's coming for your wife at
home, you better fucking be faster

668
00:52:54.039 --> 00:52:59.760
than them or be close to a
payphone. Yeah, it is scary because

669
00:52:59.760 --> 00:53:04.679
he knows immediately what he did and
what the repercussions are going to be,

670
00:53:04.679 --> 00:53:08.400
because doctor Donati has made it very
clear to him what happens if he has

671
00:53:08.440 --> 00:53:13.880
a cigarette. So he, like
you said, he races home and it's

672
00:53:14.039 --> 00:53:19.199
just such a hard racing sequence because
he gets there and there's something on the

673
00:53:19.239 --> 00:53:22.639
stove it's been burning. He sees
that the front door the screen has been

674
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:28.360
punched in, and he, oh, yeah, it really is because,

675
00:53:28.840 --> 00:53:30.719
like you said, he thought he
was getting away with something. But you

676
00:53:30.760 --> 00:53:36.320
know, they do this. They've
been doing this far too long for him

677
00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:39.320
to put one over on them.
You know, while I'm watching this segment,

678
00:53:39.559 --> 00:53:44.800
I'm constantly coming up with scenarios where
he could have gotten away with it.

679
00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:49.719
I can obviously put myself in his
situation, being having been a smoker

680
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:53.079
for as long as I was,
and I keep coming to he needs to

681
00:53:53.159 --> 00:53:59.000
rent a boat and have it ready
for him, and then drive like a

682
00:53:59.039 --> 00:54:00.559
maniac to that doc and then gut
on the boat and then drive out into

683
00:54:00.559 --> 00:54:02.400
the middle of the ocean and then
smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke,

684
00:54:02.440 --> 00:54:06.440
smoke, and then drive back in. But they would figure something out.

685
00:54:06.519 --> 00:54:10.639
They would have like some sort of
an ally on a fishing boat or some

686
00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:14.239
way. If it was I'll tell
you, if it was modern day,

687
00:54:14.280 --> 00:54:15.800
they would just have a drone that, oh yeah, following him everybody.

688
00:54:15.840 --> 00:54:21.920
Yes, a critics incorporated these days
would be super duper scary, accessing your

689
00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:25.039
home cameras and your ring and everything
just to see if you're smoking, Like

690
00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:30.239
they could test your air anyway.
So they throw his wife in the thing.

691
00:54:30.320 --> 00:54:34.159
It ain't pretty. And this is
where Alan King and his minion I

692
00:54:34.239 --> 00:54:37.760
believe junk is, isn't it.
They had a sort of callously bet whether

693
00:54:37.840 --> 00:54:40.079
or not built the couple reconcile or
she'll tell him to go to hell and

694
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:46.039
leave him. I don't know that
my significant other would stay with me if

695
00:54:46.159 --> 00:54:50.679
something I did cause them to be
tossed into a room that was electrified.

696
00:54:51.800 --> 00:54:54.920
Certainly not right away. No,
And actually, in fact, I think

697
00:54:55.159 --> 00:55:00.239
whoever, I think doctor Donati was
the one who says, well, either

698
00:55:00.280 --> 00:55:04.320
gonna throw her arms around him and
hug him until he gets a hernia,

699
00:55:04.519 --> 00:55:07.199
or he's gonna she's gonna slap him. And he bets that she's gonna hug

700
00:55:07.280 --> 00:55:09.800
him, and Junk says, no, no, no, I bet she's

701
00:55:09.800 --> 00:55:15.199
gonna slap him. And it's you
know, like I said, he's been

702
00:55:15.239 --> 00:55:17.800
doing this long enough that he obviously
has an eye for this sort of thing.

703
00:55:19.480 --> 00:55:22.400
But but no, I I agree
with you, like you know,

704
00:55:22.519 --> 00:55:25.079
well, at this point he's in
too deep. I mean, what what

705
00:55:25.159 --> 00:55:29.679
could what can she do? I
guess he would have to say it's the

706
00:55:29.800 --> 00:55:32.320
mafia. I don't know what to
tell you. There there will kill us

707
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:37.199
all. Yeah, And I think
they they kind of leave the impression that

708
00:55:37.239 --> 00:55:39.559
he's a bit of a sort of
a for lack of a better term,

709
00:55:39.599 --> 00:55:44.840
he's kind of a yuppie, and
they're they're living kind of an upscale sort

710
00:55:44.840 --> 00:55:46.840
of life in New York City,
So there is that. I mean,

711
00:55:46.920 --> 00:55:50.719
you know, she it's not as
if they you know, they don't have

712
00:55:50.760 --> 00:55:53.599
a comfortable life. And they kind
of make it clear early on that she

713
00:55:53.599 --> 00:55:58.840
she loves him because he when he
tells her that he's quitting smoking, before

714
00:55:58.840 --> 00:56:00.840
any of this really escalates, you
know, she says, Oh, yeah,

715
00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:02.840
that's great. You know, I
love you too, and I'm glad

716
00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:06.719
you're doing it for me, and
I'm glad you're doing it for his daughter.

717
00:56:06.760 --> 00:56:08.320
I think your name is Alicia,
which I don't think did you?

718
00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:13.000
Did you mention that sequence with mention
Delicia? We haven't met Alicia yet.

719
00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:15.159
Who's Melicia? Played by? Well? Alicia is played by how Girl.

720
00:56:15.280 --> 00:56:20.039
It's it's it's Drew Barrymore in a
bad wig. But the hell is going

721
00:56:20.079 --> 00:56:24.360
on here? This isn't doctor Strange
love. The the weird thing about this,

722
00:56:24.519 --> 00:56:30.760
the uncomfortable thing about this sequence where
at one point he drives to the

723
00:56:30.800 --> 00:56:35.679
school where she's she's attending. She's
a little girl, but I think they're

724
00:56:35.719 --> 00:56:39.760
implying that she is special needs.
Oh, they're definitely implying it. It's

725
00:56:42.119 --> 00:56:46.000
it's very problematic and very cringey.
That yeah, no, that that that

726
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:50.880
was cringeing. Let me just say, I remember sitting in the theater and

727
00:56:50.920 --> 00:56:54.320
thinking, why are they doing this? Yeah, it was really unnecessary.

728
00:56:54.440 --> 00:56:59.320
Like you, you don't. It
only makes it more awful that they're you

729
00:56:59.320 --> 00:57:04.079
know that that the possibility that this
poor girl could be thrown into the electrified

730
00:57:04.760 --> 00:57:09.559
chamber. But but yeah, it's
for it's bizarre. This girl is Drew

731
00:57:09.599 --> 00:57:14.239
Barrymore, the same the same one
we see in the mannequin, the same

732
00:57:14.239 --> 00:57:16.800
one we're going to see throughout the
story. It's it's she's kind of in

733
00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:20.760
a way, she's part of the
wrap around story. I guess, Hey,

734
00:57:20.800 --> 00:57:23.039
if you were confused by that mannequin
coming to life, well here's the

735
00:57:23.079 --> 00:57:28.320
mannequin fully alive, but it's a
whole different character and knows nothing of a

736
00:57:28.400 --> 00:57:31.679
cat moving on. In fairness,
I think Stephen King was doing a lot

737
00:57:31.679 --> 00:57:36.639
of cocaine at the time. No, no, no, no, no,

738
00:57:36.719 --> 00:57:40.880
I'm sorry. Was that maximum overdrive? Was that would be the following

739
00:57:40.960 --> 00:57:45.320
year, sir, when the cocaine
trucks would begin backing up into Stephen King's

740
00:57:45.320 --> 00:57:49.920
life. Ah, gotcha. We
don't get to any of the repercussions.

741
00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:52.760
We don't get any of this seems
almost a little frustrating, like this should

742
00:57:52.760 --> 00:57:58.199
have been an hour long segment writers
Incorporated. It's so juicy as a concept,

743
00:57:58.599 --> 00:58:04.280
and I'm curious sense to be interpersonal
relationships going on when you're stuck with

744
00:58:04.280 --> 00:58:07.159
with the mob who are only trying
to make you better. It's really weird.

745
00:58:07.199 --> 00:58:09.840
It's a dynamic kind of an idea. But anyway, Yeah, we

746
00:58:09.960 --> 00:58:14.760
jump ahead and now it's been six
months, eight months, and they're very

747
00:58:14.760 --> 00:58:17.320
friendly. He's actually very friendly with
doctor Donadi at this point because yeah,

748
00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:22.400
they're weighing them and you know,
talking and joking around. Yeah, their

749
00:58:22.440 --> 00:58:25.400
pals. Even the guy Junk,
who was really rather brutal, he's in

750
00:58:25.440 --> 00:58:29.880
there kind of taking he has a
clipboard and he's recording the guy's weight.

751
00:58:29.960 --> 00:58:35.000
He's come on six pounds and eight
months. Is that bad? No?

752
00:58:35.159 --> 00:58:38.920
I think it sounds great. Yeah, So what's happening is like he's been

753
00:58:39.599 --> 00:58:45.000
They quote figures that you know,
when someone quits smoking, they invariably gain

754
00:58:45.079 --> 00:58:50.440
willing. So there's a there's a
sub section of Quitters Incorporated that's devoted to

755
00:58:51.280 --> 00:58:54.639
weight loss, like maintaining weight loss, right, and that's what they're depicting

756
00:58:54.719 --> 00:59:00.239
here where now there's a whole other
program and they make it well, they

757
00:59:00.280 --> 00:59:01.840
make a joke about it, like
what happens if he gains more weight?

758
00:59:01.960 --> 00:59:05.039
Oh yeah, you're going to come
to my house with a flamethrower. No,

759
00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:07.039
we're going to cut off your wife's
little finger. Haha. You guys

760
00:59:07.119 --> 00:59:12.880
are Quitts Incorporated. Here we go, we got you know obviously we now

761
00:59:12.960 --> 00:59:16.159
have cut to a dinner party and
it's two couples, James Woods and his

762
00:59:16.280 --> 00:59:22.360
wife, and the other couple is
the couple that introduced James Woods, two

763
00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:24.039
Quitters Incorporated. And they're toasting.
Let's toast what do you want to toast

764
00:59:24.079 --> 00:59:29.000
to HP? I know what I
want to toast it, Let's toast Incorporated.

765
00:59:29.039 --> 00:59:31.199
Do you think, first of all, neither of the wives we're going

766
00:59:31.280 --> 00:59:36.800
to toast Quittus Incorporated. Neither of
the wives was toasting to Quitters. And

767
00:59:37.159 --> 00:59:42.519
they'd be like they threw me into
an electric room and played ninety six tiers.

768
00:59:42.840 --> 00:59:46.679
Now, when the classic rock station
is on, I sometimes urinate on

769
00:59:46.800 --> 00:59:52.199
myself. That would be one wife's
reaction. Never mind the other wife's reaction,

770
00:59:52.440 --> 00:59:55.800
who is missing her finger because the
fucking husband couldn't stop stuff in his

771
00:59:57.079 --> 01:00:01.519
gullet and he's saying, hey,
let's host to Quitters Incorporated. Nothing happened

772
01:00:01.519 --> 01:00:05.800
to me. I quit smoking and
I've maintained my weight. Yeah, that's

773
01:00:05.840 --> 01:00:09.800
the horrifying button on this whole tale, because that's the lasting image that we're

774
01:00:09.840 --> 01:00:14.280
left with, is the shot of
the woman with the glass in her hand

775
01:00:14.440 --> 01:00:19.480
and her little her pinky is cut
off at the knuckle. And yeah,

776
01:00:19.599 --> 01:00:22.639
I mean it's essentially this is the
most well, I can't say it's the

777
01:00:22.679 --> 01:00:28.679
most This is a very, very
indebted to easy comics because that is exactly

778
01:00:28.800 --> 01:00:31.360
the kind of ending that you would
see in easy comics, where it's you

779
01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:36.360
know that the horror is it hasn't
ended, it's just beginning for these people.

780
01:00:36.800 --> 01:00:40.199
Yeah. Man, this is seventy
Stephen King short fiction that it's lean,

781
01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:45.039
it's economical, and it has a
black heart beating at its center.

782
01:00:45.559 --> 01:00:51.480
I loved this story. I think
it's great, definitely worthy of anthology.

783
01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:54.480
Horror. Onto our next story.
Where's that cat going? So the cat

784
01:00:54.599 --> 01:01:00.280
is headed to Atlantic City? That
what I love this does. This transition

785
01:01:00.400 --> 01:01:06.719
is great because you have the shot
of the severed pinky and then there's basically

786
01:01:06.880 --> 01:01:10.199
kind of a dissolve to these hobos
that are feeding the cat a hot dog

787
01:01:10.360 --> 01:01:15.480
on a stick. So it's kind
of this nice dichotomy between like the pinky

788
01:01:15.519 --> 01:01:21.079
being severed and the resembling finger of
the hot dog on the stick. But

789
01:01:21.159 --> 01:01:23.519
we're in Atlantic City, I think. At the end, don't we see

790
01:01:23.559 --> 01:01:28.639
the cat like hitches a ride on
a truck or something to get out of

791
01:01:28.840 --> 01:01:32.159
where because it escapes Eventually, I
can't remember how it escapes. It jumps

792
01:01:32.159 --> 01:01:37.400
in a cat driven by Elaine Nardo
on her way to going to the art

793
01:01:37.440 --> 01:01:42.280
gallery. Yeah, anyway it gets
there. The cat has now brought us

794
01:01:42.320 --> 01:01:47.119
to the Vegas mind the Sea,
Atlantic City, New Jersey. We're introduced

795
01:01:47.159 --> 01:01:52.440
to our next story and our new
set of characters. Basically a crime boss

796
01:01:52.920 --> 01:01:58.760
and his flunky and his flunky you
know, dumb girlfriend and he's checking out

797
01:01:58.800 --> 01:02:01.559
for the night. The The mob
boss is played by mister Kenneth McMillan.

798
01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:05.719
Now, I sorry, can I
interrupt one second? I'm really sorry to

799
01:02:05.760 --> 01:02:10.039
interrupt. One thing that you've glossed
over is before we see this. So

800
01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:14.880
the cat has now arrived in Atlantic
City and it's wandering the streets after it

801
01:02:15.079 --> 01:02:17.199
has a bite of the finger of
the Bite of the hot Dog from the

802
01:02:17.239 --> 01:02:21.440
Hogo. It stops at a in
front of a store window. There's a

803
01:02:21.519 --> 01:02:25.039
television playing, right, and once
again, yeah, it's a commercial with

804
01:02:25.639 --> 01:02:30.280
a little girl. I don't recall
what she's advertising, but again it's Drew

805
01:02:30.400 --> 01:02:37.679
Barrymore and superimposed on this commercial with
the girl. Again we have this sort

806
01:02:37.679 --> 01:02:42.400
of ghostly apparition saying you have to
find me, you have to come fast,

807
01:02:42.480 --> 01:02:45.800
you have to So it's the second
incident of this cat hallucinating the girl.

808
01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:50.039
I just felt like I had to
mention that are they trying to say

809
01:02:50.480 --> 01:02:53.840
that in this cant's mind, every
girl is one girl? There is only

810
01:02:53.960 --> 01:03:00.440
one girl in the world, My
girl, my owner. Is it like

811
01:03:00.559 --> 01:03:04.840
a big fish? The Tim Burton
film sort of a situation where you and

812
01:03:04.920 --> 01:03:07.519
McGregor basically there's the girl he's in
love with, and every other girl is

813
01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:12.199
basically played by Helena Bottom card right, He's basically liked there was my girl

814
01:03:12.320 --> 01:03:15.639
and every other girl, which is
a sweet and beautiful notion. Do you

815
01:03:15.679 --> 01:03:20.159
think Lewis Tgue is employing that here
in the form of Drew Barrymore in its

816
01:03:20.239 --> 01:03:23.559
relationship with a Kent. I think
that's probably the answer that makes the most

817
01:03:23.679 --> 01:03:29.599
sense, because there's really no other
explanation for why this is happening. I

818
01:03:29.679 --> 01:03:34.400
guess you could reach for some sort
of supernatural explanation, but then that just

819
01:03:35.280 --> 01:03:37.920
leads to more and more questions and
more and more confusion. So I think

820
01:03:37.960 --> 01:03:42.639
that's as good an explanation as any
thought alone. Well I hope. So

821
01:03:43.119 --> 01:03:46.239
all right, here we go.
Kenneth McMillan, baby is our mob boss.

822
01:03:46.320 --> 01:03:51.559
He's planning something nefarious. He's already
ordered his minion into some sort of

823
01:03:51.639 --> 01:03:53.880
action that we're going to get to. But a word about Kenneth McMillan.

824
01:03:54.320 --> 01:03:58.320
I fucking love him. That's what
I got to say about him. This

825
01:03:58.719 --> 01:04:02.320
is baron Vladimir Conan to me,
you know, hb. This is actually

826
01:04:02.360 --> 01:04:06.199
pointed out to It pointed to me
towards an unusual phenomenon, which is,

827
01:04:08.119 --> 01:04:14.039
at the time, if a celebrity
or if an actor were in enough movies

828
01:04:14.159 --> 01:04:18.119
that were on rotation in cable to
me, they were the most famous actor

829
01:04:18.239 --> 01:04:23.639
in the world. I agree,
because Dune was on a lot. I

830
01:04:23.760 --> 01:04:29.400
remember very seeing the trailer for Doune
and where he would scream he who controls

831
01:04:29.440 --> 01:04:33.159
the spice controls the universe. That's
Kenneth McMillan. But yeah, I agree

832
01:04:33.519 --> 01:04:40.039
it. Well, that was even
beyond an actor being featured prominently. I

833
01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:43.440
mean just movies in general. I
mean you would see I would see like

834
01:04:43.559 --> 01:04:48.639
Cannon movies that weren't really even maybe
playing that heavily theatrically, but because they're

835
01:04:48.719 --> 01:04:55.320
so prominent on cable TV as kids, you just get this impression this must

836
01:04:55.400 --> 01:05:00.320
be a good popular movie because it's
on all the fucking time, and by

837
01:05:00.400 --> 01:05:03.920
extension, this actor that I'm seeing
all the fucking time must be the most

838
01:05:04.000 --> 01:05:09.239
famous actor in the world. Hence
Kenneth McMillan. Yeah, like I said,

839
01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:11.639
he was on, he was in
a lot of TV, and he

840
01:05:11.760 --> 01:05:15.440
was in a lot of movies.
They were in constant rotation and all for

841
01:05:15.559 --> 01:05:17.079
the best. You know what.
In my mind he should have been as

842
01:05:17.159 --> 01:05:24.599
famous as he was to me because
he's always great. In particular here I

843
01:05:24.679 --> 01:05:28.119
said James Woods was good in the
last episode. Can't hold a candle to

844
01:05:28.199 --> 01:05:33.400
what Kenneth McMillan is doing here.
He is at turns horrifyingly menacing and a

845
01:05:33.559 --> 01:05:39.679
delight. I love this guy.
Like what he finds funny. I find

846
01:05:39.800 --> 01:05:42.159
funny at the same time, I
don't want to be in a room with

847
01:05:42.320 --> 01:05:45.840
him anyway. What we're dealing with
here is Kenneth McMillan making a bet with

848
01:05:45.920 --> 01:05:49.559
his buddy because they spot that cat
and they think the cat is going to

849
01:05:49.639 --> 01:05:54.559
be crushed on its way across across
the freeway. And this is the stunt

850
01:05:54.599 --> 01:05:59.119
that I mentioned earlier, the one
that is very either troubling or a brilliant

851
01:05:59.159 --> 01:06:04.679
special effect, where they effectively lured
the cat across the street and it cars

852
01:06:04.719 --> 01:06:10.199
are crashing all around it. And
it's a fantastic piece of action, no

853
01:06:10.400 --> 01:06:14.280
question. It's I don't know,
it's as good as Bruce Willis jumping off

854
01:06:14.320 --> 01:06:17.280
of the fucking roof with the flames
going up everybody, and it's worth seeing.

855
01:06:17.880 --> 01:06:23.480
Except it's very troubling. It is
very troubling, and like I said,

856
01:06:23.519 --> 01:06:27.519
I probably should have stuck around to
make sure that no animals were harmed

857
01:06:27.559 --> 01:06:30.960
in the making of this movie,
because not only do you do you do

858
01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:33.719
you? Is? It a tense
sequence because these these guys are betting on

859
01:06:33.840 --> 01:06:39.119
whether this poor cat will live or
die, and they're even trying to sort

860
01:06:39.119 --> 01:06:41.719
of spike the bed a little bit
by going you're kitty kitty here, kit

861
01:06:41.840 --> 01:06:46.360
kitty, and that when when these
cars are crashing and it's dashing across the

862
01:06:46.760 --> 01:06:50.920
freeway, like I think it even
goes to slow motion, where so you

863
01:06:51.400 --> 01:06:56.840
see these cars, the impact and
the cat dashing just in the nick of

864
01:06:56.920 --> 01:07:05.079
time to get across it's it's it
is marvelous to observe and yet completely irresponsible

865
01:07:05.639 --> 01:07:12.400
as as as somebody who loves animals. Okay, now that is basically where

866
01:07:12.599 --> 01:07:17.679
the cat's role in this story and
other than Kenneth McMillan picks the cat up

867
01:07:17.760 --> 01:07:20.920
and now they're friends and he's take
care of the cat. We go back

868
01:07:20.960 --> 01:07:28.039
to Kenneth McMillan's pad and our new
story begins. I mentioned everything anthology is

869
01:07:28.360 --> 01:07:32.000
an echo or a ripple from the
stone that is creep show in the Giant

870
01:07:32.119 --> 01:07:38.920
Pond. This one is one something
to tie you over. It's basically the

871
01:07:39.000 --> 01:07:44.800
same thing, except that without the
supernatural element. Kenneth macmillan is a mob

872
01:07:44.840 --> 01:07:48.679
bus. His wife has been having
an affair with Robert Hayes, who is

873
01:07:48.760 --> 01:07:53.840
a burned out tennis pro, and
they're about to run off together. He

874
01:07:53.920 --> 01:07:57.559
puts her on a bus to get
her out of here and it's too late,

875
01:07:57.639 --> 01:08:00.280
baby, they grab him. What's
his name? Oh my god,

876
01:08:00.320 --> 01:08:03.559
I forgot the guy's name, the
henchman. Yes, so it's Mike Starr

877
01:08:03.760 --> 01:08:09.719
and Charles S. Dutt are the
henchman. It's Mike's star. Oh don't

878
01:08:09.760 --> 01:08:15.000
you love Mike Starr. He's fantastic. He I couldn't point to one specific

879
01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:17.920
because he was never a star,
but he was always great and everything he

880
01:08:18.039 --> 01:08:23.159
was in he was obviously people remember
him from like Dumb and Dumber. He

881
01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:26.920
was also in a show that I
watched. I think it was maybe the

882
01:08:26.960 --> 01:08:30.359
early two thousands. It was a
decent show called Ed, which was really

883
01:08:30.399 --> 01:08:33.039
good. But obviously Charles S.
Dutton who has a full head of hair.

884
01:08:33.560 --> 01:08:36.760
But I always knew him, and
you probably too. Father alone.

885
01:08:36.760 --> 01:08:41.079
He was in a TV show called
Rock. He was in Rudy. Of

886
01:08:41.159 --> 01:08:45.520
course, he was like the groundskeeper
who takes Rudy under his wing in the

887
01:08:45.600 --> 01:08:48.399
movie. He's a fantastic actor.
But it might be feeling in with his

888
01:08:48.640 --> 01:08:54.479
bare hands. That's right, he
was an alien three. That's exactly right.

889
01:08:54.680 --> 01:08:56.319
Damn right it was. And by
the way, Mike Starr, if

890
01:08:56.359 --> 01:08:59.600
you want some definitive stuff from Mike
Star. Check out his performance in ed

891
01:08:59.680 --> 01:09:02.880
Wood as the producer who ends up
producing Glenn Are Glenda look ed? You

892
01:09:02.920 --> 01:09:08.680
seem like a nice guy. He's
great in that. Even better performance and

893
01:09:08.760 --> 01:09:15.760
even more natural performance is The Summer
of Sam. He plays Adrian Brodie's stepdad

894
01:09:15.880 --> 01:09:20.479
in that, and he's you're right, you are absolutely right. Oh,

895
01:09:20.520 --> 01:09:26.239
I forgot I remember ed Wood,
but it didn't come top of mind when

896
01:09:26.279 --> 01:09:30.359
I thought of Mike Starr that that
is a great call out. So our

897
01:09:30.439 --> 01:09:35.359
hoods are way too qualified. Hoods. Grab Robert Hayes, late of Airplane

898
01:09:35.439 --> 01:09:41.199
and the television series Star Man.
Remember that. Yeah, I love Robert

899
01:09:41.239 --> 01:09:45.199
Hayes, but he's no Jeff Bridges
anyway. Oh but it was the TV

900
01:09:45.359 --> 01:09:48.800
series he was on the other TV
series. I don't remember a TV series,

901
01:09:48.840 --> 01:09:53.039
but he wasn't. A movie on
cable called Take This Job and Shove

902
01:09:53.119 --> 01:09:56.520
It. Oh my god, Well
that was released in theaters with Tim Thomerson.

903
01:09:56.560 --> 01:09:59.960
That, Yeah, I remember the
previous for that in theaters. Baby,

904
01:10:00.439 --> 01:10:03.560
I don't remember. You're gonna take
your job and shove it? Take

905
01:10:03.680 --> 01:10:10.279
this job? Man, I ain't
worked, didn't hear no more? Yeah,

906
01:10:10.560 --> 01:10:14.239
but he you know, he he
was, he's iconic in Airplane.

907
01:10:14.279 --> 01:10:17.920
I mean, it's unfortunate because that's
his legacy, that want and only movie.

908
01:10:18.039 --> 01:10:21.039
But he was so good in it. He was perfect because he's not

909
01:10:21.159 --> 01:10:26.000
his only legacy. He was also
an airplane to the sequel. There you

910
01:10:26.119 --> 01:10:30.520
go. That's that's that's even better
because that one took place on the Space

911
01:10:30.560 --> 01:10:32.840
Shuttle. You know, that's a
better movie. Absolutely, But yeah,

912
01:10:32.880 --> 01:10:38.319
no, they didn't recycle any jokes
from the first film. But he's in

913
01:10:38.399 --> 01:10:42.760
all fairness, Robert Pays is good
here because he's not called upon to do

914
01:10:43.039 --> 01:10:47.920
much except to be really scared for
what he has to endure and then be

915
01:10:48.119 --> 01:10:51.159
really really pissed when all is said
and done. He's fine in this.

916
01:10:51.479 --> 01:10:54.920
Oh I'm having fun with Robert Hayes. I think he's great in it.

917
01:10:55.039 --> 01:10:58.960
Actually, like what he's called on
to do here, like shimmying around the

918
01:10:59.119 --> 01:11:01.359
ledge of an entire building. That's
the plot of it. Everybody spoilers,

919
01:11:01.960 --> 01:11:08.359
So yeah, yeah, I think
he's great. I feel every biting wind

920
01:11:08.640 --> 01:11:14.039
and every pin wheeling your arms to
stay in balance, and every pecking at

921
01:11:14.079 --> 01:11:17.760
your ankle thanks to Robert Hayes here. So what we're given here is a

922
01:11:17.920 --> 01:11:20.640
wager. This is, by the
way, the second one based on a

923
01:11:20.840 --> 01:11:24.840
Stephen King short story. The ledge
is the name of the short story,

924
01:11:24.880 --> 01:11:29.439
and the short story is effectively the
same exact thing. Here he adapted himself

925
01:11:29.520 --> 01:11:34.720
pretty precisely. This mob boss has
found out about the affair and has planted

926
01:11:34.800 --> 01:11:39.880
cocaine in Robert Hayes's the trunk of
his car. He's going to have him

927
01:11:40.039 --> 01:11:45.079
arrested and thrown away basically for life, or he can perform one little task,

928
01:11:45.640 --> 01:11:48.960
one little wager, and if that
happens, then he'll get his wife

929
01:11:49.399 --> 01:11:54.279
and what ten thousand in cash,
and they'll take the drugs out of his

930
01:11:54.359 --> 01:11:57.800
car and he'll be exonerated and go
about his merry way. The bent,

931
01:11:57.960 --> 01:12:02.880
however, is that there is a
what three maybe five inch ledge that runs

932
01:12:02.960 --> 01:12:08.199
around the perimeter of the building.
He has to make his way around the

933
01:12:08.439 --> 01:12:14.760
entire building without falling. If he
does that, he gets every the mob

934
01:12:14.880 --> 01:12:19.199
boss's apartment or whatever is it's on, like the fiftieth floor. It's not

935
01:12:19.319 --> 01:12:27.760
the penthouse, but it is so
high and the effects here aside from some

936
01:12:27.920 --> 01:12:31.600
really bad matting, which we can
talk about later, but yeah, it's

937
01:12:31.720 --> 01:12:39.159
so impossibly high and he has to
clamber around this three to five inch ledge,

938
01:12:39.760 --> 01:12:43.640
and he says like, I never
welched on a bet in my life.

939
01:12:43.800 --> 01:12:46.600
So you're led to believe that this
mob boss will be a man of

940
01:12:46.640 --> 01:12:49.720
his word. We already saw him
make a bet that the cat's going to

941
01:12:49.760 --> 01:12:55.279
make it across the road safely.
So yeah, that's his only option.

942
01:12:55.640 --> 01:13:00.680
The only thing he can do is
dance to this man's tune and try to

943
01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:03.039
make it around the building. What
he doesn't mention, though, what he

944
01:13:03.199 --> 01:13:08.159
leaves out with Kressner, the guy's
name, leaves out is that he's not

945
01:13:08.359 --> 01:13:13.119
just going to let Robert Hayes off
his mary Way and wait for him to

946
01:13:13.279 --> 01:13:16.560
go around the building. He is
going to perform little, for lack of

947
01:13:16.600 --> 01:13:21.239
about a word, pranks and tricks
on him to get him to fall off

948
01:13:21.279 --> 01:13:26.199
the building quickly. Yes, he's
going to urge him along in the fariest

949
01:13:26.279 --> 01:13:32.159
ways. I just want to keep
you on your toes. Kenneth McMillon.

950
01:13:32.319 --> 01:13:36.760
Baby, he's so scary and funny. I want to be his friend,

951
01:13:36.880 --> 01:13:41.439
but I don't want him to come
anywhere near me. He's really scary here.

952
01:13:41.520 --> 01:13:45.560
But he's we talked about Alan King, who's more deadly serious in the

953
01:13:45.640 --> 01:13:51.239
first episode, but in this one
really Kenneth Millon leads with the humor and

954
01:13:51.399 --> 01:13:57.880
the charm, but he leaves no
there's no mistaking the idea that he means

955
01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:00.920
business. And if this guy doesn't
do what he says, it's gonna be

956
01:14:00.960 --> 01:14:04.720
bad. Like he's got this guy
dead to rights and he has he leaves

957
01:14:04.760 --> 01:14:09.319
the guy no choice but to do
this awful thing. Now, can I

958
01:14:09.479 --> 01:14:15.279
just say that Here's where I think
Stephen King could have tied up his stories

959
01:14:15.560 --> 01:14:21.439
in a much more organic way than
just random story, random story linking device

960
01:14:21.439 --> 01:14:26.880
as a cat. If this mob
boss had simply been the same guy from

961
01:14:26.960 --> 01:14:30.000
Quitters Incorporated, like this is what
he does in his off time. Like

962
01:14:30.199 --> 01:14:35.119
if the Quitters Incorporated story had ended
with him saying goodbye to James Woods and

963
01:14:35.119 --> 01:14:39.520
then we follow him to his car
and he drives off to Atlantic City,

964
01:14:39.800 --> 01:14:43.880
that could have been great. It
would have robbed us of one of too

965
01:14:44.000 --> 01:14:48.159
great performances, but it would have
I think, streamlined the movie a little

966
01:14:48.199 --> 01:14:53.479
bit better. It could have.
And we even have the little nugget of

967
01:14:54.319 --> 01:14:59.319
doctor Donati making a bet with his
henchmen about whether the wife is going to

968
01:14:59.399 --> 01:15:02.159
hit him or hug so that would
have thematically worked. I think I don't

969
01:15:02.239 --> 01:15:05.880
know that I would have been exactly
on board, because I think there's something

970
01:15:06.079 --> 01:15:12.640
about the exaggerated character of Kressner and
the fact that he is this Atlantic city

971
01:15:13.000 --> 01:15:16.920
kind of wheeler dealer gambler type that
works well here. I don't know if

972
01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:21.199
the more straight laced doctor Gannatti would
have been as effective, but I see

973
01:15:21.199 --> 01:15:24.920
where you're going with this. I
don't think it's totally off track. Well.

974
01:15:25.039 --> 01:15:28.720
What occurred to me while watching Kenneth
McMillan was, boy, I would

975
01:15:28.760 --> 01:15:31.399
love to see more Kenneth McMillan as
this character. Damn if they had only

976
01:15:31.439 --> 01:15:34.840
put him in that first story,
we would have gotten twice as much Kenneth

977
01:15:34.920 --> 01:15:40.279
McMillan. Could he also play the
troll in the final story? Okay,

978
01:15:40.319 --> 01:15:43.520
so he's keeping Robert Hayes on his
toes. Robert Hayes is making his way

979
01:15:43.600 --> 01:15:46.960
slowly, but surely this is shot
fantastically well. I don't know if this

980
01:15:47.119 --> 01:15:56.199
is miniatures or rear projection or cyclorama
on a it's probably some combination thereof all

981
01:15:56.279 --> 01:16:00.760
of the stuff that does not involve
movement of the camp in an up and

982
01:16:00.880 --> 01:16:09.239
down motion looks great here, but
it's whenever we sort of decide to show

983
01:16:09.359 --> 01:16:14.399
the height where, which is what's
crazy to me is they never he never

984
01:16:14.560 --> 01:16:17.279
cuts to a shot from like the
street looking up, you know. He

985
01:16:17.399 --> 01:16:21.239
never cuts to even like say,
three or four floors below, to give

986
01:16:21.279 --> 01:16:26.159
you some sense of the scale.
Nevertheless, it doesn't need it. I'm

987
01:16:26.239 --> 01:16:29.319
just saying it's weird that he never
does it. Yeah, you could have

988
01:16:29.600 --> 01:16:33.720
at least given a sense of scale
to it, But I think to your

989
01:16:33.760 --> 01:16:40.079
point, it doesn't matter, because
we already understand the stakes of what he's

990
01:16:40.119 --> 01:16:43.399
doing, and the fact that like
at one point, the closest we come

991
01:16:43.520 --> 01:16:47.800
to that is at one point Kresner
has like an old timey horn that he

992
01:16:47.960 --> 01:16:53.920
honks at him to startle him,
and he ends up like throwing the horn

993
01:16:54.039 --> 01:16:59.640
out the window, and we see
the horn fall and fall and fall for

994
01:17:00.079 --> 01:17:03.640
probably for far too long given the
actual height, but it falls for so

995
01:17:03.880 --> 01:17:10.279
long and it finally hits the ground
and it's just like it just pancakes itself.

996
01:17:10.359 --> 01:17:14.720
So at least there that that's enough
of a clue as to how high

997
01:17:14.800 --> 01:17:17.439
the guy is. But I do
agree that might have been a technical shortcoming

998
01:17:17.560 --> 01:17:21.720
somehow, but it it. It
was effective as long as, like you

999
01:17:21.800 --> 01:17:26.079
said, it didn't move around,
the camera didn't move around too much.

1000
01:17:26.399 --> 01:17:30.840
But it is harrowing him, you
know, because it's you know, he

1001
01:17:30.960 --> 01:17:34.159
goes through a lot, even just
going around that building, not just Cresner

1002
01:17:35.279 --> 01:17:40.279
throwing things at him, shooting a
fire hose at him at one point,

1003
01:17:40.359 --> 01:17:44.880
because he has found this gap,
little outplace, this little alcove where he

1004
01:17:44.920 --> 01:17:48.039
heard architectural abnormality that well, yeah, exactly, like I could just sit

1005
01:17:48.119 --> 01:17:51.359
here for just a little while.
Oh, this would be nice. This

1006
01:17:51.560 --> 01:17:56.159
is after, it should be pointed
out, the after the Pigeon from Hell

1007
01:17:56.279 --> 01:18:02.199
sequence, where this one determined pigeon
willing to go to war over his territory,

1008
01:18:02.720 --> 01:18:09.159
consistently pecks at his ankle and you
get this little spot of blood through

1009
01:18:09.199 --> 01:18:15.039
his white sock that only gets worse, and the pigeon keeps bullseyeing that wound.

1010
01:18:15.399 --> 01:18:18.479
Oh my god, he gets into
that alcove and kicks the shit out

1011
01:18:18.479 --> 01:18:23.560
of that goddamn pigeon. It was
bereful. Yeah, the pigeon was the

1012
01:18:23.920 --> 01:18:28.279
worst part of it for me,
I have to say, just because and

1013
01:18:28.399 --> 01:18:31.840
again it's a good call up to
these animal wranglers, because he's shuffling along.

1014
01:18:31.920 --> 01:18:38.079
It's not as if it's the pigeon
is acting in a static shot with

1015
01:18:38.239 --> 01:18:41.960
this guy, Like you can see
the guy's foot moving as he's shuffling along,

1016
01:18:42.039 --> 01:18:44.880
and the bird is moving with him
right there. Way the same time.

1017
01:18:45.439 --> 01:18:47.880
He's pecking, pecking, pecking,
and like you said, it starts

1018
01:18:47.920 --> 01:18:54.119
as this little red dot on his
socks and he just keeps and you can

1019
01:18:54.199 --> 01:18:58.479
almost feel the pain that he felt
because the spot gets bigger and bigger,

1020
01:18:58.800 --> 01:19:03.079
his sock gets horn by the pecking, and he just won't stop. And

1021
01:19:03.760 --> 01:19:09.239
God blessed that pigeon because it was
it. I never got the sense like

1022
01:19:09.399 --> 01:19:14.079
sometimes you see these animals and you
can almost see like the trainer waving something

1023
01:19:14.119 --> 01:19:16.359
in their face to get them to
do something. But this bird looked pretty

1024
01:19:16.359 --> 01:19:19.520
autonomous to me, and it was
pretty horrific to see what he did.

1025
01:19:19.800 --> 01:19:26.000
We needed an Avengers like team up
featuring this pigeon, the cant from this

1026
01:19:26.159 --> 01:19:30.720
movie general. We also need that
the dog from the thing. Those three

1027
01:19:30.840 --> 01:19:33.800
that's a good foundation right there.
That was amazing. But so yeah,

1028
01:19:33.840 --> 01:19:40.039
so that happens, and then well, let me just say mentioning that horn

1029
01:19:40.239 --> 01:19:44.840
the falling horn. I think I
don't know that there was a technical problem.

1030
01:19:44.920 --> 01:19:46.039
Maybe they were shooting this on a
sound stage, so you don't want

1031
01:19:46.039 --> 01:19:49.439
to shoot up because you're going to
see the lights. But I think they

1032
01:19:49.520 --> 01:19:57.760
thought the falling horn sequence would be
a fine and dandy replacement for any shot

1033
01:19:58.239 --> 01:20:00.720
from down below. But the problem, and you mentioned it earlier, the

1034
01:20:00.880 --> 01:20:04.279
dodgy effects. If there are dodgy
effects in this movie, they're right here.

1035
01:20:04.800 --> 01:20:11.960
Because it is this traveling match shot
of this horn tumbling with the background

1036
01:20:12.039 --> 01:20:16.760
spinning past it is. It's horrifically
compositive. You wonder why they just didn't

1037
01:20:16.840 --> 01:20:21.479
throw a horn in slow motion and
follow it with a camera or something,

1038
01:20:21.640 --> 01:20:25.760
or put it on a string or
something. It's terrible looking anyway. That's

1039
01:20:25.800 --> 01:20:30.039
my quibble before we move on to
the juiciness. Yeah, I agree to

1040
01:20:30.039 --> 01:20:33.319
one hundred percent. The matt lines
are so thick in this and so obviously

1041
01:20:33.479 --> 01:20:36.680
fake that it couldn't help. But
take me out of it a little bit,

1042
01:20:38.560 --> 01:20:40.840
it's gonna get even worse at the
end. They're going to do it

1043
01:20:40.920 --> 01:20:45.880
again to deliterious effect. So look, man, he's almost there. There's

1044
01:20:45.960 --> 01:20:49.439
really only one thing keeping him from
it, and it's a gigantic fucking neon

1045
01:20:49.640 --> 01:20:56.960
signe Kenneth McMillan. Cressner failed to
mention that part of the path was going

1046
01:20:57.039 --> 01:21:02.239
to be interrupted by a circular logo
neon hanging off the building that he's going

1047
01:21:02.279 --> 01:21:08.600
to have to navigate. It's very
harrowing. This could be very cheesy eighties

1048
01:21:08.720 --> 01:21:14.359
TV action, and instead it's it's
really scary. It's it's very it feels

1049
01:21:14.520 --> 01:21:18.800
very realistic because there's no there's no
footholds in this area where the neon sign

1050
01:21:18.960 --> 01:21:24.359
is. It's all very sharp and
narrow corners of the lettering of this this

1051
01:21:24.640 --> 01:21:27.800
this sign, this lit sign.
So he's got to figure out a way

1052
01:21:27.840 --> 01:21:31.199
to navigate it, and in the
process of doing that he I think it's

1053
01:21:31.279 --> 01:21:33.840
like a tee or something. He
ends up grabbing the top of the tee

1054
01:21:33.880 --> 01:21:38.239
and it's some it's like something out
of I don't know, like like Buster

1055
01:21:38.399 --> 01:21:43.880
Keaton or something, because his block
but even scarier because the length of this

1056
01:21:44.079 --> 01:21:46.359
thing like throws him all the way
out into space. He's basically at the

1057
01:21:46.399 --> 01:21:53.319
halfway point across the street, and
the whole time Pressner is popping in and

1058
01:21:53.399 --> 01:21:59.560
out of windows and leaning out and
he is having the best time watching this

1059
01:21:59.720 --> 01:22:03.640
guy who's sleeping with his wife,
you know, fumbling around almost you know,

1060
01:22:03.800 --> 01:22:06.920
falling off the building. He's laughing
his butt off. He's loving it.

1061
01:22:08.199 --> 01:22:11.399
And that's that's that's pretty horrible.
He really ought to be thanking,

1062
01:22:11.960 --> 01:22:15.039
he really ought to be thanking mister
Norris here for the probably the best time

1063
01:22:15.119 --> 01:22:21.119
he's had in ages. Yeah.
No, it's so he's deriving such glee

1064
01:22:21.760 --> 01:22:28.399
from this because the there's nothing we
understand, there's nothing this guy loves more

1065
01:22:28.479 --> 01:22:31.520
than a good wager. But I
suspect what he loves even more than that

1066
01:22:31.840 --> 01:22:38.000
is watching this you know, this
tennis pro, you know funk who's making

1067
01:22:38.079 --> 01:22:42.159
time with his wife, getting what
he thinks he deserves. And and it's

1068
01:22:42.399 --> 01:22:45.319
you you you feel that from him
because you know it's just loving it.

1069
01:22:45.520 --> 01:22:49.119
And again this echoes something to tie
to you over from Creep Show because there

1070
01:22:49.239 --> 01:22:57.479
again, the character of Richard Vickers
played by Leslie Nielsen is a gleeful villain,

1071
01:22:57.840 --> 01:23:01.399
like just a dement human being who
is doing the worst thing ever,

1072
01:23:01.680 --> 01:23:06.560
and yet somehow you kind of continue
to like them. And that's part performance

1073
01:23:06.600 --> 01:23:11.800
because obviously Leslie Nailson and Kenneth McMillan, are real have fucking heavy hitters,

1074
01:23:12.119 --> 01:23:16.399
let's not forget. But a good
majority of it is that Stephen King can

1075
01:23:16.520 --> 01:23:20.039
write characters. I keep saying economically, and I'm gonna say it again.

1076
01:23:20.119 --> 01:23:24.880
He writes them. He can write
you a character within a couple of lines

1077
01:23:24.920 --> 01:23:27.279
of dialogue, can tell you everything
you need to know about them, and

1078
01:23:27.359 --> 01:23:30.439
it doesn't feel like a cheat.
But it's interesting because I hadn't sat down

1079
01:23:30.520 --> 01:23:34.840
and thought of the fact that there
is such a parallel between something to tide

1080
01:23:34.840 --> 01:23:39.279
you over and this second sequence.
But you are one hundred percent right.

1081
01:23:39.399 --> 01:23:43.800
It's basically a thinly disguised almost like
a rewrite of it, because you have

1082
01:23:44.520 --> 01:23:48.239
the sort of you know, cuckholded
husband, who is you know, giving

1083
01:23:48.319 --> 01:23:53.079
it back to the guy who is
sleeping with his wife. There's no super

1084
01:23:53.199 --> 01:23:56.600
as you said, there's nothing supernatural
about the sequence, though it's all too

1085
01:23:56.760 --> 01:24:02.039
real, and it that may make
it more horrifying and identifiable to the average

1086
01:24:02.079 --> 01:24:06.319
person because this, I mean,
this could I guess in theory, this

1087
01:24:06.399 --> 01:24:10.439
could happen. I don't know that
someone would actually make it around the building

1088
01:24:10.560 --> 01:24:15.079
like he did, but that could
happen. You know, it's unlikely that

1089
01:24:15.239 --> 01:24:18.000
somebody who's buried up to their neck
and the sand would come back as a

1090
01:24:18.119 --> 01:24:25.279
water logged zombie that would take revenge. But this is so much more grounded.

1091
01:24:25.600 --> 01:24:29.279
It's probably more like, it's probably
more likely that you would come back

1092
01:24:29.319 --> 01:24:32.159
as a water logged corpse than you
could actually navigate around this building. Nevertheless,

1093
01:24:32.479 --> 01:24:36.920
Norris does it. Hooray, He's
gonna get everything he came for.

1094
01:24:38.039 --> 01:24:40.399
He's gonna get that money. They're
going to take the drugs out of his

1095
01:24:40.520 --> 01:24:43.520
car, and they're going to give
him his wife. What's in the box?

1096
01:24:43.800 --> 01:24:47.800
HB long before, seven, long
before? And he says, you

1097
01:24:47.840 --> 01:24:51.039
know, Cresner says, you know, I'm a man of my word.

1098
01:24:51.520 --> 01:24:56.640
Here's the money, and you get
the money, and you get my wife.

1099
01:24:56.800 --> 01:25:00.119
And he kind of kicks the bag
of money over to the guy and

1100
01:25:00.239 --> 01:25:06.199
what rolls out of the bag but
his wife's severed head. Which again we've

1101
01:25:06.239 --> 01:25:11.520
talked about this. This is I
am well eighty five, nineteen eighty five,

1102
01:25:11.560 --> 01:25:15.520
so I'm twelve years old. It's
not very violent, well, I

1103
01:25:15.600 --> 01:25:18.039
mean, the thought of it is
violent, but it's not graphic because it's

1104
01:25:18.359 --> 01:25:21.960
just a second or two of a
severed head that you can't even really identify

1105
01:25:23.039 --> 01:25:29.319
except for the hair, but that
the idea of that is really shocking and

1106
01:25:29.560 --> 01:25:31.880
horrible to think about. That this
guy he was you know that he would

1107
01:25:31.920 --> 01:25:36.600
do this and that. And there's
something in Robert Hayes. He looks at

1108
01:25:36.680 --> 01:25:43.640
it and he says he says it
in such a way that you feel like

1109
01:25:44.159 --> 01:25:49.000
this guy has been pushed beyond his
limits and this is like the height of

1110
01:25:49.640 --> 01:25:55.039
horror for this guy in this moment. That's probably what any of us would

1111
01:25:55.079 --> 01:25:59.359
say, given the circumstances if we
saw this happen in front of us.

1112
01:25:59.800 --> 01:26:04.399
It really is shocking and just awful
to think about the repercussions of that.

1113
01:26:04.880 --> 01:26:09.279
The effect isn't great. It's basically
a mannequin head with some blood on it

1114
01:26:09.520 --> 01:26:12.800
rolling across the floor. That in
and of itself is not horrible. But

1115
01:26:12.880 --> 01:26:15.479
you're right. The reason it works
is because Robert Hayes is fucking awesome here.

1116
01:26:15.880 --> 01:26:21.319
His reaction is so horrified. It's
a dawning realization that happens in a

1117
01:26:21.439 --> 01:26:27.439
moment, but you feel every emotion
there. But the other component that makes

1118
01:26:27.479 --> 01:26:30.680
it so memorable and so menacing and
so fucked up my childhood as it did

1119
01:26:30.760 --> 01:26:35.199
yours is the menace behind Kenneth McMillan. When he kicks the bag over,

1120
01:26:35.479 --> 01:26:40.079
he might as well be cutting her
head off in front of us exactly.

1121
01:26:40.560 --> 01:26:45.680
And you know, at this point
it's he has kept his word, he's

1122
01:26:45.760 --> 01:26:49.159
lost the bet. But there's no
way that Norris is going to walk out

1123
01:26:49.159 --> 01:26:53.640
of that room alive. You know, he's paid up, but that doesn't

1124
01:26:54.000 --> 01:26:58.159
indemnify Norris from getting killed after the
fact they tussle for the gun. It's

1125
01:26:58.199 --> 01:27:01.239
a good sequence, Okay. I
mentioned earlier the James Woods moment of him

1126
01:27:01.640 --> 01:27:05.479
realizing he's getting away with it anti
a bad boy. It is fantastic.

1127
01:27:05.680 --> 01:27:10.439
The other fantastic performance and this is
actually probably better than the James Woods performance.

1128
01:27:10.600 --> 01:27:14.920
When Kenneth McMillan is begging for his
life, he's crawling on the floor

1129
01:27:15.239 --> 01:27:18.840
on his back beneath the coffee table. There's a penthouse on the coffee table.

1130
01:27:19.199 --> 01:27:25.560
He stops to start reading the magazine
in the middle of the begging,

1131
01:27:25.920 --> 01:27:30.279
like completely distracted, and it doesn't
feel weird. It feels actually appropriate.

1132
01:27:30.640 --> 01:27:36.359
It's such a bizarre choice and it's
great and it makes me love this character

1133
01:27:36.640 --> 01:27:42.279
all the way down to the final
moment where he swishes on the ground outside

1134
01:27:42.319 --> 01:27:44.840
on the ledge. They make him
do it. You know it all there

1135
01:27:44.880 --> 01:27:47.039
are no spoilers here. We've all
seen this episode. It is very weird

1136
01:27:47.079 --> 01:27:51.199
because I was half expecting as he
was flipping through the penthouse magazine, I

1137
01:27:51.279 --> 01:27:54.840
thought that he would throw in a
line like, hey, you know,

1138
01:27:55.159 --> 01:27:58.640
with all your money, get one
of these broads from this magazine. But

1139
01:27:58.760 --> 01:28:02.800
he doesn't. There's there's no there's
no reason for him logically to be flipping

1140
01:28:02.920 --> 01:28:09.079
through a penthouse while he's begging for
his life. But and yet he and

1141
01:28:09.239 --> 01:28:14.000
yet he does, and yet it
works because the character is so demented.

1142
01:28:14.560 --> 01:28:17.680
It really is a brilliant performance.
I it's hard for me. We already

1143
01:28:17.720 --> 01:28:20.319
talked about how good Alan King is, but I think you're right. I

1144
01:28:20.359 --> 01:28:25.359
think I think the commitment to the
character. I think Kenneth McMillan might edge

1145
01:28:25.399 --> 01:28:29.399
him out a little bit. I
think he makes me believe that the thought

1146
01:28:29.560 --> 01:28:35.039
of preserving his own life and thumbing
through this porno magazine are of equal importance

1147
01:28:35.119 --> 01:28:39.960
to him. And as weird as
I might find it, I believe that

1148
01:28:40.159 --> 01:28:44.479
character really does need that at that
moment. It's fantastic anyway, right,

1149
01:28:44.600 --> 01:28:48.720
so on to our final deal.
What's this one called? This is the

1150
01:28:48.800 --> 01:28:54.319
original? Well, this is I
guess this is Kat's Eye, right,

1151
01:28:54.479 --> 01:28:57.760
I mean I don't no, no, no, no, this one is

1152
01:28:57.880 --> 01:29:02.079
called General. Oh, the name
of it is General, because it has

1153
01:29:02.159 --> 01:29:06.199
to be said, there are no
title cards during the movie to indicate what

1154
01:29:06.439 --> 01:29:13.399
the names of these stories are.
So I'm actually yeah, I mean,

1155
01:29:13.520 --> 01:29:15.239
Cat's Eye is obviously the name of
the movie, but I wasn't aware that

1156
01:29:15.600 --> 01:29:19.079
this was called General. But it
makes perfect sense because it's the name that

1157
01:29:19.239 --> 01:29:23.560
the girl will give the cat as
it makes its way to her house and

1158
01:29:24.279 --> 01:29:28.760
willing me to the North Carolina.
Yes, finally, all of the fucking

1159
01:29:28.880 --> 01:29:34.159
bizarrow weirdness of ghosts and Drew Barrymore
appearing on television and appearing on mannequins is

1160
01:29:34.359 --> 01:29:39.800
paying off. This is where we've
followed in General to the to his final

1161
01:29:39.880 --> 01:29:44.319
destination, and it's in North Carolina, I guess. And it's a little

1162
01:29:44.359 --> 01:29:48.479
girl who has a parakeet and two
loving parents played by James Naughton, who

1163
01:29:48.680 --> 01:29:53.399
always seems disaffected and wonderful. He's
always great as a parent here, but

1164
01:29:53.600 --> 01:29:58.560
even better than him, Good God, Candy Clark there. She is fantastic

1165
01:29:58.960 --> 01:30:03.279
American graffiti, thunder Manufelt to Earth. She's wonderfulness and she's very good.

1166
01:30:03.800 --> 01:30:11.520
In that era, there was a
very particular type of mother figure in a

1167
01:30:11.640 --> 01:30:14.960
movie like I already talked about Poltergeist, the sort of I don't know,

1168
01:30:15.560 --> 01:30:18.000
a mother with an edge who is
not afraid to kind of give it back

1169
01:30:18.039 --> 01:30:21.479
to the husband a little bit when
he's being an idiot, who is not

1170
01:30:21.560 --> 01:30:26.239
afraid to take matters into her own
hands, as we'll see in this segment.

1171
01:30:26.720 --> 01:30:30.319
But she's fabulous in this she's really
I believe her as the mother of

1172
01:30:30.439 --> 01:30:34.560
Drew Barrymore. Yeah, that particular
mom from the eighties. They won't take

1173
01:30:34.600 --> 01:30:38.399
guph from her husband, but won't
take shit from anything. Like I believe

1174
01:30:38.439 --> 01:30:41.880
she would knock a motherfucker out in
this thing, like I've never seen Candy

1175
01:30:41.960 --> 01:30:45.840
Clark so feisty, and Candy Clark
is all feisty. So the cat is

1176
01:30:46.520 --> 01:30:50.039
arriving now, just in time,
but that's not its point of view.

1177
01:30:50.119 --> 01:30:54.960
We keep seeing. I love the
camera work here, Jack Cardiff is the

1178
01:30:55.039 --> 01:31:00.159
DP going here. We're introduced to
our final antagonist of the piece. It

1179
01:31:00.279 --> 01:31:04.479
is a troll out of nowhere.
What we've been dealing with people dealing with

1180
01:31:04.560 --> 01:31:10.119
their addictions to cigarettes and their addictions
to gambling. We're now dealing with a

1181
01:31:10.279 --> 01:31:14.039
troll who's hunting a girl. It's
really bizarre. It's out of place,

1182
01:31:14.239 --> 01:31:17.279
I guess, I guess g and
Siskel did have a point. Yeah,

1183
01:31:17.760 --> 01:31:21.319
it has to be said before we
go any further. I will admit that,

1184
01:31:21.520 --> 01:31:24.760
I mean, maybe you'll you'll get
to this eventually, but I have

1185
01:31:24.920 --> 01:31:28.640
to say up front that this it's
not a surprise, maybe, but this

1186
01:31:28.760 --> 01:31:33.520
is This was my least favorite of
the three, probably mainly because they're at

1187
01:31:33.640 --> 01:31:40.159
least in the other two they're grounded
in something real and there's no supernatural element

1188
01:31:40.239 --> 01:31:44.640
to speak of. But here,
this is all supernatural because it's a troll

1189
01:31:45.319 --> 01:31:49.720
that's living in this girl's bedroom behind
the base board, and it comes out

1190
01:31:49.720 --> 01:31:54.800
at night and basically tries to steal
her breath. But you know, it's

1191
01:31:54.840 --> 01:31:57.800
fine. It has moments, and
I don't hate it in it of itself,

1192
01:31:57.920 --> 01:32:00.079
but it doesn't compare to the other
two segments. It was a little

1193
01:32:00.159 --> 01:32:05.119
too out there for me like it
equally to the other segments. It's just

1194
01:32:05.359 --> 01:32:13.079
different, But given what came before, it's very jarring in how different it

1195
01:32:13.239 --> 01:32:16.279
is because of the supernatural element.
It's like, here's the horrors of man,

1196
01:32:16.680 --> 01:32:21.239
Here's the horrors of man, Here's
a troll. It is what well,

1197
01:32:21.319 --> 01:32:26.760
you know, it's interesting. We
had talked about earlier how you and

1198
01:32:26.880 --> 01:32:31.920
I had looked up reviews of the
movie of the time and I was reading,

1199
01:32:32.439 --> 01:32:36.920
Actually, it turns out it was
Roger Ebert's review, and he brought

1200
01:32:38.000 --> 01:32:42.239
up something that I thought was actually
it hadn't occurred to me, and I

1201
01:32:42.279 --> 01:32:45.439
thought it was, actually it made
a lot of sense. Is his take

1202
01:32:45.520 --> 01:32:50.119
on it was that this movie was
essentially convey the overarching theme of the movie

1203
01:32:50.760 --> 01:32:59.439
is fear of something happening to someone
you love. And when you think about

1204
01:32:59.479 --> 01:33:03.359
it, in the first tale,
it's about the James Woods's character trying to

1205
01:33:03.399 --> 01:33:08.439
protect his wife during this whole ordeal, and the second one, obviously it's

1206
01:33:08.600 --> 01:33:13.800
the tennis pro who's trying to protect
the woman that he loves, this mob

1207
01:33:13.880 --> 01:33:17.039
boss's wife. And in the third
segment, the segment we're discussing now,

1208
01:33:17.640 --> 01:33:21.960
it's this cat trying to protect the
little girl that he's been so desperately trying

1209
01:33:23.039 --> 01:33:27.000
to get through the whole movie,
and I hadn't thought of it in exactly

1210
01:33:27.119 --> 01:33:29.720
those terms, but I think there's
it actually makes a lot of sense.

1211
01:33:30.000 --> 01:33:32.159
What did shock you to know that
these stories are out of order from the

1212
01:33:32.199 --> 01:33:36.000
original screenplay? Yeah, and actually
the would shock me because everything seems to

1213
01:33:36.039 --> 01:33:41.000
be leading up to this episode with
the troll. What was the order originally?

1214
01:33:41.239 --> 01:33:45.039
Initially it started in Atlantic City with
the lenin. From Atlantic City that

1215
01:33:45.199 --> 01:33:49.680
got us to New York, and
then we had Quitters Incorporated, and then

1216
01:33:49.840 --> 01:33:54.439
from New York guy that it got
on it I guess took a cab down

1217
01:33:54.520 --> 01:33:58.279
in North Carolina and we got this
story. So this was always meant to

1218
01:33:58.359 --> 01:34:00.479
be the show piece of the Yes
story. This is meant to be a

1219
01:34:00.600 --> 01:34:06.800
bit of Amelia the Trilogy of Terror
segment with the Zuni fetish doll, which

1220
01:34:06.920 --> 01:34:12.640
it obviously closely resembles when you get
right down to it. Yeah, here's

1221
01:34:12.680 --> 01:34:16.199
the thing that the screenplay definitely does
have that the movie does not. It

1222
01:34:16.279 --> 01:34:21.520
has a prologue where we first encounter
our cat and meet its actual family.

1223
01:34:24.000 --> 01:34:30.279
This screenplay begins with the cat brushing
against the hand of a dead girl hanging

1224
01:34:30.399 --> 01:34:34.720
out of her bed in her bedroom, and the sound of a bell's jingling

1225
01:34:34.880 --> 01:34:40.880
and the cat pursuing said jingling bells, and then so we get the idea

1226
01:34:40.960 --> 01:34:44.520
that this might be some sort of
immortal battle going on, that this cat

1227
01:34:44.640 --> 01:34:48.920
is constantly pursuing this troll that is
constantly killing the same girl in a weird

1228
01:34:49.000 --> 01:34:51.520
way. I don't know why it's
got to be the same girl. Maybe

1229
01:34:51.560 --> 01:34:55.760
it's just a girl, and I
don't know why it's targeted a particular girl.

1230
01:34:56.000 --> 01:34:59.159
But anyway, it doesn't explain any
of that, but it at least

1231
01:34:59.279 --> 01:35:02.680
gives us more story for the cat
and the eventual protagonist for the thing,

1232
01:35:02.880 --> 01:35:08.079
Like we would have at least heard
the bells early enough to when it comes

1233
01:35:08.159 --> 01:35:12.199
back go oh yeah, that's the
thing from the opening. Okay, that

1234
01:35:12.359 --> 01:35:15.319
would be enough. But then what
happens is the girl, the dead girl's

1235
01:35:15.439 --> 01:35:19.520
parents. Remember this movie originally is
supposed to open with a dead child.

1236
01:35:20.079 --> 01:35:26.239
The parents Russian. The mother freaks
out, blames the cat, claims the

1237
01:35:26.359 --> 01:35:29.520
cat has stolen the child's breath,
so it sets that up. It's like

1238
01:35:29.640 --> 01:35:35.079
Chekhov's gun sets up the breath stealing. And then the mom goes downstairs and

1239
01:35:35.239 --> 01:35:43.159
goes to the gun cabinet and takes
out an oozy that's specified in the screenplay

1240
01:35:43.840 --> 01:35:49.840
Suburban Housewife. Mom takes out an
uzi and attempts to murder the cat,

1241
01:35:50.880 --> 01:35:56.119
and then the cat runs away and
then is chased by a Saint Bernard,

1242
01:35:56.279 --> 01:36:00.279
and our movie begins there. Well, I guess uozzis were kind of all

1243
01:36:00.359 --> 01:36:03.439
the rage in action movies. I
think, like Commando, there are a

1244
01:36:03.479 --> 01:36:06.840
bunch of oozies. But what I
think, actually, I think I like

1245
01:36:06.960 --> 01:36:12.399
the idea that we have some context
for a while and how the cat is

1246
01:36:12.479 --> 01:36:16.159
gonna try and face off against this
mortal enemy. But when you were saying

1247
01:36:16.199 --> 01:36:18.319
that, I thought what you were
going to say, when I thought might

1248
01:36:18.399 --> 01:36:24.159
actually make some sense as well,
is if this happens and the mom comes

1249
01:36:24.199 --> 01:36:29.039
and shoot and shoes the cat away
and talks to it, and then maybe

1250
01:36:29.079 --> 01:36:31.279
there's another child. I thought you
were going to say that the mom who

1251
01:36:31.399 --> 01:36:36.960
shoes the cataway is actually the mother
of Candy Clark. And the third segment,

1252
01:36:38.000 --> 01:36:42.800
because at one point the family is
sitting around the table and the father

1253
01:36:43.159 --> 01:36:47.720
is having some fun imitating Candy Clark's
mother saying the cat vill come and it

1254
01:36:47.840 --> 01:36:54.359
will steal your breath. So that
to me, like maybe there's still supernatural

1255
01:36:55.239 --> 01:36:58.640
sort of business to deal with.
But at least then you have this idea

1256
01:36:58.760 --> 01:37:02.520
that the mother her having experienced the
death of a child, then goes to

1257
01:37:02.720 --> 01:37:08.760
her other daughter and now is so
shaken by the experience that she cautions her,

1258
01:37:09.560 --> 01:37:11.720
don't ever have a cat in the
house, because they will steal your

1259
01:37:11.800 --> 01:37:15.039
breath, just like it stole my
child's breath. But of course they didn't

1260
01:37:15.079 --> 01:37:20.439
go there. So you see how
maddening it is that as earlier positive,

1261
01:37:21.159 --> 01:37:26.159
this could have been the best wrap
around segment of all the time, could

1262
01:37:26.199 --> 01:37:29.399
have been that actually would have I
mean just a little something, because what

1263
01:37:29.479 --> 01:37:32.479
we're left with is it just doesn't
make any sense on a level, the

1264
01:37:32.560 --> 01:37:38.279
fact that this cat's seat keeps seeing
this vision of this girl with no context

1265
01:37:38.359 --> 01:37:41.680
around it. So, yeah,
it still doesn't make it here. It

1266
01:37:41.720 --> 01:37:45.560
still doesn't make sense why she's appearing
is super imposed over televisions and on mannequins,

1267
01:37:45.880 --> 01:37:49.039
and why it's all the same girl. There are some mysteries I guess

1268
01:37:49.079 --> 01:37:54.119
we're just not meant to understand,
But at least it gives us a little

1269
01:37:54.159 --> 01:37:59.960
bit of some backstory for general here. Yeah, no, I agree totally

1270
01:38:00.279 --> 01:38:04.439
on that, but you know,
I think what look. I was already

1271
01:38:04.439 --> 01:38:08.800
a little hard on this segment by
saying that it's my least favorite, but

1272
01:38:08.880 --> 01:38:11.800
having said that doesn't mean I didn't
enjoy the segment for what it is.

1273
01:38:12.319 --> 01:38:15.359
I think there's a lot of interesting
stuff happening here. And I have to

1274
01:38:15.439 --> 01:38:20.840
say I love the scale work with
the troll as it's because the troll will

1275
01:38:20.880 --> 01:38:26.279
come out of the wall and make
its way around this little girl's room and

1276
01:38:26.399 --> 01:38:31.039
climb up on bookcases and jump on
the bed and all this, and they've

1277
01:38:31.119 --> 01:38:36.039
clearly so. The troll is played
by a little person named Daniel Rogers,

1278
01:38:36.520 --> 01:38:42.039
who you and I know. He
was one of the Druids and spinal tap

1279
01:38:42.119 --> 01:38:45.640
during the famous Stonehenge sequence. Oh
my god, yes, and he was

1280
01:38:45.640 --> 01:38:48.119
an e walk in Return of the
Jedi and a few other things. So

1281
01:38:48.319 --> 01:38:55.960
it's a little person in a costume
with this animatronically animated face that's really freaky.

1282
01:38:56.479 --> 01:39:00.119
But it as it's clambering around,
they've made a set it's slightly larger

1283
01:39:00.680 --> 01:39:04.520
to give the sense of scale for
this little troll that's clambering around, but

1284
01:39:04.720 --> 01:39:11.600
it is so believable the way the
set looks, just the actual items being

1285
01:39:11.760 --> 01:39:16.960
larger than the troll that unfortunately that's
kind of ruined by again by a lot

1286
01:39:17.039 --> 01:39:21.640
of bad matting, a lot of
bad matt lines around things and stuff,

1287
01:39:21.760 --> 01:39:25.479
but that stuff. I'm sure you
probably had a similar reaction. But I

1288
01:39:25.640 --> 01:39:29.319
loved that about this. I thought
the effects work was pretty solid for this

1289
01:39:29.399 --> 01:39:33.800
segment. Matt work is not a
friend of cats eye, but I agree.

1290
01:39:34.000 --> 01:39:40.640
I love a scaled upset. They've
recreated Drew Barrymore's her bedroom, but

1291
01:39:40.920 --> 01:39:45.439
in you know, so that the
bed is enormous that he's able to fall

1292
01:39:45.560 --> 01:39:48.439
into a jar of marbles. The
jar of marbles is my only problem with

1293
01:39:48.560 --> 01:39:54.720
the scale work, because it's clear
that it's a like a semi transparent plastic

1294
01:39:54.920 --> 01:40:00.159
tube they're dumping him into, whereas
previously we're seeing a clear glass jar.

1295
01:40:00.920 --> 01:40:04.479
Like those two things don't match up, but everything else does, and they

1296
01:40:04.520 --> 01:40:10.560
do some clever stuff. It took
me a couple of scenes to notice this.

1297
01:40:10.960 --> 01:40:15.920
So the troll will come out and
it clambers up on Drew Barrymore's bed,

1298
01:40:16.000 --> 01:40:24.640
and Mosy's up to her chest and
he reaches out his hand and kind

1299
01:40:24.680 --> 01:40:28.600
of closes her nose so that she
starts breathing through her mouth. But what

1300
01:40:28.720 --> 01:40:33.760
they do, is that the effect
is his head in slight profile is matted

1301
01:40:33.840 --> 01:40:40.119
in. Yeah, but they've got
a mechanical hand that's physically present so that

1302
01:40:40.239 --> 01:40:44.319
when the hand can come out,
it's actually making contact with her nose.

1303
01:40:44.840 --> 01:40:48.479
So it's not just a matted in
hand that she has to pretend is grasping

1304
01:40:48.520 --> 01:40:53.640
her nose. It's an actual hand. I thought it was a brilliant effect.

1305
01:40:54.000 --> 01:40:56.439
Yeah, it was so cool.
It's the best matt work in it

1306
01:40:56.520 --> 01:40:59.159
because we're not looking at the mat
at all. We're looking at the tiny

1307
01:40:59.279 --> 01:41:02.239
hand closing Drew barrymore as nostrils so
that the mouth can open so it can

1308
01:41:02.279 --> 01:41:05.840
steal her breath. The troll itself, by the way, is horrifying looking

1309
01:41:05.920 --> 01:41:13.439
and wonderful, designed by Carlo Rimbaldi, who was Dino Delarentis's go to effects

1310
01:41:13.520 --> 01:41:17.119
guy worked on the Giant King Kong
back in the day. He would eventually

1311
01:41:17.159 --> 01:41:24.840
create the horrifyingly terrible Werewolves for Silver
Bullet, another Dino Delarentis production of a

1312
01:41:24.880 --> 01:41:30.319
Stephen King novel. But he's probably
most remembered for designing et and that's his

1313
01:41:30.479 --> 01:41:33.560
legacy right there, and he's done
great work here. The troll itself is

1314
01:41:33.720 --> 01:41:38.760
very expressive. The mouth they have, it's like it opens four ways,

1315
01:41:39.039 --> 01:41:44.279
like it opens on both sides.
And I think had they edited a little

1316
01:41:44.359 --> 01:41:47.079
bit better and we would have believed
it entirely. But they always linger just

1317
01:41:47.159 --> 01:41:50.039
a moment too long, so you
get an idea that it's an animatronic.

1318
01:41:50.600 --> 01:41:56.840
Yeah, it gives you time to
really scrutinize the facial features and you can

1319
01:41:56.880 --> 01:42:02.439
almost see the mechanisms behind the mouth
operating. So instead of believing that it's

1320
01:42:02.680 --> 01:42:08.159
a living creature, you're right.
But in fairness, I suppose audiences in

1321
01:42:08.239 --> 01:42:12.479
nineteen eighty five don't have the ability
to pause it and rewind it, and

1322
01:42:12.760 --> 01:42:15.159
you know, really so maybe if
you're seeing it for the first time that

1323
01:42:15.359 --> 01:42:20.039
the suspension of this disbelief is more
powerful. But it is a great design

1324
01:42:20.159 --> 01:42:25.119
for the creature. And there's also
like a lot of interesting sound work because

1325
01:42:25.159 --> 01:42:34.439
as it's running around, it's making
all of these almost gleeful sounds. It

1326
01:42:34.560 --> 01:42:38.840
all works. That part of it
really works for me, you know,

1327
01:42:39.079 --> 01:42:45.319
the fact that it's such a mysterious, somewhat whimsical but completely scary creature.

1328
01:42:45.359 --> 01:42:48.039
At the same time, who's that
voice? HB, You're gonna tell me,

1329
01:42:48.079 --> 01:42:51.840
it's how He Mandel or something.
Frank Welker, Frank, no kidding,

1330
01:42:51.960 --> 01:42:58.159
really, the mighty mighty Frank Welker, doctor Claw, Yes, Megatron,

1331
01:42:58.399 --> 01:43:01.600
that's him. Also the here.
Also, if you heard a bird

1332
01:43:01.800 --> 01:43:06.479
in any television show or any movie
and that bird said anything from say nineteen

1333
01:43:06.640 --> 01:43:12.279
seventy to the present, Frank Welker
was doing that bird. I was convinced,

1334
01:43:12.279 --> 01:43:15.439
because of the et connection that it
was going to be Howie Mandel or

1335
01:43:15.520 --> 01:43:17.560
somebody like that. That would be
great, good old Frank Welker and a

1336
01:43:17.640 --> 01:43:23.600
good voice. They occasionally lapse into
like ain't it cute? Cute? See

1337
01:43:23.680 --> 01:43:28.600
kind of like all kind of stuff. But other than that, this thing

1338
01:43:28.760 --> 01:43:32.920
is purely out of a nightmare.
That's the thing. Like the disparity between

1339
01:43:32.920 --> 01:43:38.399
the first two segments and this segments
is kind of something you can't overcome.

1340
01:43:39.000 --> 01:43:44.560
But this segment is a perfect nightmare. It's like it's a really great children's

1341
01:43:44.640 --> 01:43:49.000
nightmare of a story where your parents
don't trust you and they're trying to actively

1342
01:43:49.079 --> 01:43:54.000
suppress the thing that's going to help
you. They ultimately don't believe you,

1343
01:43:54.319 --> 01:43:58.000
and this menace is real, you
know, I don't know, I really

1344
01:43:58.119 --> 01:44:01.840
love the segment. Actually it's just
not in keeping with what we were previously

1345
01:44:01.920 --> 01:44:05.640
given. I mean, that's fair. I think it was maybe a bridge

1346
01:44:05.720 --> 01:44:12.039
too far from myself because the previous
two segments were so solid. It was

1347
01:44:12.079 --> 01:44:15.159
a little bit of a letdown and
I but at the same time, it

1348
01:44:15.279 --> 01:44:20.399
was nice finally that General had his
his or its moment in the sun,

1349
01:44:20.560 --> 01:44:27.520
because, as you said, in
the second episode, particularly, General has

1350
01:44:27.760 --> 01:44:30.600
nothing to do. It's almost like
General disappears from the movie in a sense.

1351
01:44:31.079 --> 01:44:36.079
So but we are We've seen these
hints of what he's chasing, so

1352
01:44:36.520 --> 01:44:40.279
we're ready and we want to see
what this is going to lead up to.

1353
01:44:40.399 --> 01:44:43.520
And I think it does a pretty
good job of giving us the payoff

1354
01:44:43.520 --> 01:44:46.800
that we were looking for. I
think maybe had they just included that troll

1355
01:44:47.560 --> 01:44:51.720
throughout that the cat was always one
step behind it, you know, like

1356
01:44:53.159 --> 01:44:56.800
it was always one step ahead,
I think that could have alleviated some of

1357
01:44:56.880 --> 01:45:01.159
that probable and some finesse of like
you know, making these stories. I

1358
01:45:01.239 --> 01:45:05.560
think from what I understand, initially
there was to be a fourth story,

1359
01:45:05.880 --> 01:45:10.920
and if they had had a fourth
story, that was supernatural sort of sandwiched

1360
01:45:11.039 --> 01:45:15.960
in between the two very realistic stories, because it's kind of like Goodfella's Casino

1361
01:45:15.359 --> 01:45:19.239
Hugo as far as the order of
the tales. But had it been you

1362
01:45:19.359 --> 01:45:25.640
know, not supernatural supernatural, not
supernatural supernatural, it could have been a

1363
01:45:25.800 --> 01:45:29.960
nice cushion and it wouldn't have been
so jarring when we get to the end.

1364
01:45:30.159 --> 01:45:33.039
Nevertheless, love that troll, Love
this story, Love his tiny arm

1365
01:45:33.399 --> 01:45:38.720
and all the gore in that fan. By the way, the gore if

1366
01:45:38.760 --> 01:45:43.439
your barber span is spinning that fast
and your child's remove it from your child's.

1367
01:45:45.319 --> 01:45:48.960
Yeah, that sequence where the troll
finally gets its come uppans, I

1368
01:45:49.039 --> 01:45:54.720
could only I couldn't help but be
reminded of Gremlins, because it had the

1369
01:45:54.800 --> 01:45:59.920
same dichotomy of what's essentially kind of
a children it's your children's fable and gremlin

1370
01:46:00.199 --> 01:46:03.079
case. But there's a lot of
cutesy fun stuff happening, but then in

1371
01:46:03.119 --> 01:46:08.159
the midst of that, you'll have
a gremlin that gets exploded in a microwave

1372
01:46:08.319 --> 01:46:12.960
or something really gory and kind of
gross, and that's essentially what happens to

1373
01:46:13.079 --> 01:46:16.960
the troll. It gets thrown into
the fan. And fortunately so at that

1374
01:46:17.079 --> 01:46:21.960
point, the parents finally because the
troll has kind of kicked the doorstop under

1375
01:46:23.039 --> 01:46:25.800
the door to keep them from coming
in, and eventually they were able to

1376
01:46:25.840 --> 01:46:29.039
come in. And you're still kind
of thinking, well, they're not going

1377
01:46:29.119 --> 01:46:32.159
to believe the daughter because you know, she's trying to protect the cat or

1378
01:46:32.199 --> 01:46:38.039
whatever. But that's the evidence that
the parents need to realize that the daughter

1379
01:46:38.199 --> 01:46:43.199
was telling the truth. And the
father finds the little knife that the troll

1380
01:46:43.359 --> 01:46:47.760
is brandishing, and there's a severed
hand there, and there's just guts kind

1381
01:46:47.800 --> 01:46:51.640
of still rolling around in the box. Fan. It's really that was actually,

1382
01:46:53.319 --> 01:46:57.239
like I said, it's a PG. Thirteen movie, but there's spikes

1383
01:46:57.279 --> 01:47:01.479
of thematic sort of danger and in
this case gore, which I thought was

1384
01:47:01.840 --> 01:47:06.760
really welcome for me. Is it
any wonder that Halloween has become the really

1385
01:47:06.880 --> 01:47:13.079
the most popular holiday in America?
Considering there was a time when an entire

1386
01:47:13.239 --> 01:47:17.439
generation were left to their own devices
to watch cable television, and this is

1387
01:47:17.520 --> 01:47:24.000
what we watched over and over and
over again. It's true, but and

1388
01:47:24.119 --> 01:47:27.319
this was the heyday of that because
it was always it kind of in a

1389
01:47:27.359 --> 01:47:31.920
way, it's kind of like the
menace lurking beneath the suburbs, right,

1390
01:47:32.039 --> 01:47:36.920
that's what you had with a movie
like like I keep referencing Poultergeist, but

1391
01:47:38.079 --> 01:47:43.239
it was such a heavy thematic thread
through a lot of these movies. Gremlins.

1392
01:47:43.279 --> 01:47:46.000
Obviously, it's a whole sleepy,
friendly town in the middle of sort

1393
01:47:46.039 --> 01:47:50.119
of rock wells America that gets turned
upside down by the presence of these gremlins.

1394
01:47:50.640 --> 01:47:56.840
Yeah, and who were we at
the time, if not just kids

1395
01:47:57.000 --> 01:48:01.680
living in those suburbs living that reality, and it was it was sort of

1396
01:48:01.880 --> 01:48:06.239
it's sort of like if you were
living through like the Red Scare and you're

1397
01:48:06.279 --> 01:48:11.359
watching all these movies like like like
The Blob and all these these movies in

1398
01:48:11.399 --> 01:48:15.960
the fifties that are commenting on your
your circumstance, but in an interesting and

1399
01:48:16.720 --> 01:48:19.439
in fact, you know, kind
of a way that doesn't hit you over

1400
01:48:19.479 --> 01:48:23.960
the head with the themes. They're
good movies, but they have a lot

1401
01:48:24.000 --> 01:48:28.319
to say about the circumstance you're living
through. And not to get too over

1402
01:48:28.359 --> 01:48:31.079
the top with this, but I
think that's part of the tradition of a

1403
01:48:31.199 --> 01:48:36.239
movie like Cat's Eye in particular,
that final segment. Well, it certainly

1404
01:48:36.720 --> 01:48:42.239
was what was on my mind in
the nineteen eighties. My greatest fears were

1405
01:48:43.199 --> 01:48:47.239
ledges, rabid dogs, trolls,
tiny trolls that live in my wall.

1406
01:48:48.079 --> 01:48:50.720
The effect, by the way,
it should be noted that the effect of

1407
01:48:50.840 --> 01:48:58.079
the wall splitting open and opening up
and then ceiling itself afterwards is magnificent.

1408
01:48:58.800 --> 01:49:00.960
Whoever did it is kind of where
I was doing practical effects here was doing

1409
01:49:01.119 --> 01:49:06.079
really really good work. It's the
optical effects that were troubling. It was

1410
01:49:06.279 --> 01:49:12.279
it was cool because it's clearly they
broke open this wall, this hole,

1411
01:49:12.359 --> 01:49:15.279
but then they just ran it into
reverse, so it kind of it kind

1412
01:49:15.279 --> 01:49:19.159
of gets sucked closed. But you
know, I'm actually this reminds me one

1413
01:49:19.159 --> 01:49:21.960
of the things that actually found a
little bit. It's kind of a little

1414
01:49:23.000 --> 01:49:26.079
scary that I didn't notice the last
the first time that I watched this movie.

1415
01:49:26.079 --> 01:49:29.920
The last time I watched it is
after the parents come in and they've

1416
01:49:30.119 --> 01:49:33.920
they've saved child. I had this
thought that the father then articulates and he

1417
01:49:34.039 --> 01:49:40.000
says to the daughter, well have
you seen any does he have any friends?

1418
01:49:40.720 --> 01:49:44.119
Have you seen any more of them? And I could not help thinking,

1419
01:49:45.560 --> 01:49:49.279
what if there's a whole race of
these trolls like living in this poor

1420
01:49:49.399 --> 01:49:56.039
girl's like wall. And there was
some that the uncertainty of that really kind

1421
01:49:56.079 --> 01:49:59.520
of got to me a little bit. Here's the thing. I think Stephen

1422
01:49:59.640 --> 01:50:03.840
King, while they were making Firestarter, was toying with the idea of a

1423
01:50:03.920 --> 01:50:08.760
little boy who's being pursued by this
troll and was thinking about turning it into

1424
01:50:08.800 --> 01:50:12.520
a screenplay or a novel or something. And at the same time, do

1425
01:50:12.560 --> 01:50:15.119
you know, d Lorenz said,
I need a vehicle board They drew barrymore

1426
01:50:15.479 --> 01:50:18.079
anyway, Oh, I got it, I got it. Let's do it.

1427
01:50:18.319 --> 01:50:21.760
Because this story, even though it
doesn't fit in with the other two,

1428
01:50:23.039 --> 01:50:26.399
has such goddamn promise. It could
have been a feature. I would

1429
01:50:26.560 --> 01:50:30.199
like to know more about what was
going on with this cat and the troll

1430
01:50:30.479 --> 01:50:34.680
and this weird psychic connection. What's
going on here? They've been stealing breaths,

1431
01:50:35.039 --> 01:50:39.359
They've been apparently doing it for centuries
that there are old folk tales about

1432
01:50:39.359 --> 01:50:45.760
them. Yeah, and there was
something in the character of troll that automatically

1433
01:50:46.520 --> 01:50:51.399
kind of put me in the mindset
of a movie that came long after It

1434
01:50:51.479 --> 01:50:55.399
might have been eighty six, actually
maybe not long after, But do you

1435
01:50:55.439 --> 01:50:59.880
remember that there was a movie called
The Gate? Oh yes, which is

1436
01:51:00.000 --> 01:51:02.000
the movie that I actually saw in
the movie's true story. I went to

1437
01:51:02.319 --> 01:51:05.920
the movies and I tried to go
to see Lethal Weapon, but they wouldn't

1438
01:51:05.960 --> 01:51:10.119
let us into Lethal Weapon because we
were too young. He was an R

1439
01:51:10.159 --> 01:51:14.319
rated movie and we weren't yet old
enough to see it. So our fallback

1440
01:51:14.960 --> 01:51:18.520
was a movie called The Gate,
which I don't remember a ton about The

1441
01:51:18.600 --> 01:51:24.800
Gate, but but it essentially involved
like a race of small troll like creatures

1442
01:51:25.279 --> 01:51:30.000
that emerge from a hole in this
suburban house's backyard. Right, yes,

1443
01:51:30.399 --> 01:51:34.960
and and I have and just from
a gate if you will, Yes,

1444
01:51:35.399 --> 01:51:41.640
the titular gate and the I think
the creatures in this case were more like

1445
01:51:41.760 --> 01:51:45.239
clay nation, like I don't think, but but well done. Well,

1446
01:51:45.279 --> 01:51:48.119
here's the thing, the thing you're
thinking of. At one point, this

1447
01:51:48.840 --> 01:51:55.720
this zombie janitor character falls forward in
his body and like just bursts into these

1448
01:51:55.760 --> 01:51:59.960
little creatures. It's a seamless effect. And then the way the creatures are

1449
01:52:00.079 --> 01:52:03.520
running around is so flawless you can't
believe how good the stop motion is.

1450
01:52:03.760 --> 01:52:08.319
But what it actually is is what
they did here. They scaled up a

1451
01:52:08.439 --> 01:52:11.840
room and they have a bunch of
people in little rubber suits running around.

1452
01:52:12.680 --> 01:52:16.560
So there is some clamation going on. There is some stop motion animation going

1453
01:52:16.600 --> 01:52:20.520
on, but there's also a good
mixture of rubber suit work. Yeah,

1454
01:52:20.520 --> 01:52:25.319
it was. It was well done. But something about those those demonic creatures,

1455
01:52:25.399 --> 01:52:30.439
these small little troll like creatures,
I think kind of is echoed a

1456
01:52:30.479 --> 01:52:33.479
little bit in the segment of the
trolls. It was also what was the

1457
01:52:33.600 --> 01:52:38.279
movie was a Critters That was another
movie that had a similar type of creature,

1458
01:52:38.760 --> 01:52:42.359
which was another popular movie at the
time that I saw. So after

1459
01:52:42.479 --> 01:52:46.279
Gremlin's all bets were off there you
were going to be pursued by a tiny

1460
01:52:46.359 --> 01:52:53.279
monster. This segment may have been
was the girl imagining it? You know,

1461
01:52:53.840 --> 01:52:58.319
the fact that we're given the evidence
of the troll at the end,

1462
01:52:58.640 --> 01:53:02.479
does that rob the story of anything? I'm thinking about Nightmare twenty thousand Feet

1463
01:53:02.640 --> 01:53:09.119
right, I was just about to
say that In the original William Shatner Nightmare

1464
01:53:09.239 --> 01:53:13.520
twenty thousand Feet by Richard Matheson on
the Twilight Zone, this is a character

1465
01:53:13.600 --> 01:53:16.720
who has had a mental breakdown,
and it is getting out of the asylum

1466
01:53:17.119 --> 01:53:21.680
and is flying home, and so
the idea is maybe he's just had a

1467
01:53:21.720 --> 01:53:27.119
break from reality and is imagining this
gremlin right down to the ending. There's

1468
01:53:27.199 --> 01:53:32.000
never any evidence of anything at the
end. It's just he knows that there

1469
01:53:32.159 --> 01:53:39.319
was a gremlin in the remake when
for twilights on the movie, the George

1470
01:53:39.359 --> 01:53:43.800
Miller segment, which is in a
lot of way superior to the original one,

1471
01:53:44.199 --> 01:53:45.840
there is no doubt there was a
gremlin on the way of that plane.

1472
01:53:45.920 --> 01:53:50.199
At the end, the wing is
completely scarred and there's like talon marks

1473
01:53:50.239 --> 01:53:55.960
everywhere. The engines have been ripped
apart. They weren't hit by lightning or

1474
01:53:56.079 --> 01:54:00.079
anything. So I'm wondering if that's
the same effect here. Yeah, that's

1475
01:54:00.560 --> 01:54:04.840
a great comparison once you once you
made the case for maybe it's all in

1476
01:54:04.960 --> 01:54:11.079
her mind. That is to me, that's the best example of that.

1477
01:54:11.560 --> 01:54:14.840
And and in in in the movie
case, like you said, it leaves

1478
01:54:14.920 --> 01:54:17.720
no doubt that, yeah, there
was a there was a gremlin on the

1479
01:54:17.760 --> 01:54:21.119
wing of the plane, and this
guy probably saved a lot of lives by

1480
01:54:21.319 --> 01:54:25.520
by by getting you know, scaring
it off or what have you. I

1481
01:54:25.560 --> 01:54:29.000
always found that a little bit sort
of sad about the ending of that because

1482
01:54:29.039 --> 01:54:31.079
he's being taken away and he's in
I think he's in a straight jacket,

1483
01:54:31.520 --> 01:54:36.479
and and every everybody through the whole
sequences has just been coming down on this

1484
01:54:36.600 --> 01:54:43.000
guy because he's he's such a nuisance. But he really did a service to

1485
01:54:43.119 --> 01:54:45.199
the whole the whole plane. I
mean, he saved them, you know,

1486
01:54:45.279 --> 01:54:48.199
And this is what he gets.
But I always hoped that maybe once

1487
01:54:48.279 --> 01:54:54.600
the guy reveals to his his his
like superior. Hey you gotta look at

1488
01:54:54.640 --> 01:54:58.039
this, look at this wing,
that maybe the guy might not have to

1489
01:54:58.079 --> 01:55:00.359
go to the asylum for the rest
of his life. Probably not, He's

1490
01:55:00.399 --> 01:55:04.439
not gonna get to the asylum.
Dan Ackroy's driving the fucking ambulance. He's

1491
01:55:04.479 --> 01:55:08.720
about to be murdered. Oh that's
true. I want to see something really

1492
01:55:08.760 --> 01:55:11.560
scary. I forgot about that.
I forgot. Albert Brooks is in that

1493
01:55:11.680 --> 01:55:14.920
movie at the very beginning too.
He's the first guy to get murdered.

1494
01:55:15.000 --> 01:55:18.600
Yeah, yeah, yeah, playing
Lucy's part. Yeah, very cool.

1495
01:55:18.760 --> 01:55:21.279
Yeah, that's true. That is
true too. Yeah. So here we

1496
01:55:21.359 --> 01:55:25.800
are at the end of this Now
we're given the stinger here at the end,

1497
01:55:25.880 --> 01:55:29.159
and we've been told cats can steal
breath, and we see our cats

1498
01:55:29.239 --> 01:55:33.079
slowly approach Drew Barrymore. But it
just loves sir. It's a happy ending.

1499
01:55:33.279 --> 01:55:38.000
Dino de Laurentis, Drew Barrymore,
Stephen King. Y'all, this has

1500
01:55:38.119 --> 01:55:45.279
been cats final thoughts HP final thought
is again, I hadn't seen this movie

1501
01:55:45.359 --> 01:55:51.279
and forever, and it was a
very very pleasant experience to watch it again.

1502
01:55:51.560 --> 01:55:55.600
I saw a lot of things,
noticed a lot of things that I

1503
01:55:55.640 --> 01:55:59.760
didn't as a child, which is
should be no surprise, but I really

1504
01:56:00.560 --> 01:56:03.920
I was happy to have reacquainted myself
with Katsaye. How about yourself, foughtam

1505
01:56:03.960 --> 01:56:08.039
alone. I think it's solid.
I think it holds up. I think

1506
01:56:08.159 --> 01:56:11.079
I feel a lot of nostalgia when
I watch it because I remember watching it

1507
01:56:11.159 --> 01:56:13.640
a lot as a kid. Like
I said, I saw this in the

1508
01:56:13.760 --> 01:56:17.960
theater, like gleefully getting to see
Stephen King on my own in a theater.

1509
01:56:18.079 --> 01:56:24.319
It was a joy. And I
think these the stories each hold up

1510
01:56:24.399 --> 01:56:29.319
individually. I don't know that it
holds up overall as an anthology film as

1511
01:56:29.359 --> 01:56:32.960
far as working on a theme,
but it doesn't matter because each of the

1512
01:56:33.000 --> 01:56:38.720
segments has works so goddamn well.
All of the performances are really good,

1513
01:56:39.000 --> 01:56:43.119
the writing is really good, Stephen
King adapting himself. I love it and

1514
01:56:43.680 --> 01:56:46.439
enjoyable, even though you know some
of the callouts to himself are a bit

1515
01:56:46.479 --> 01:56:51.880
embarrassing, but either way, this
has been a very special bonus episode of

1516
01:56:53.119 --> 01:56:56.279
Midnight Viewing. I want to thank
everyone for joining us, particularly I want

1517
01:56:56.319 --> 01:57:00.680
to thank mister h HP when you're
not here to the horror anthologies. Like

1518
01:57:00.720 --> 01:57:02.920
I said, this is your favorite
of all time. You can find it

1519
01:57:03.000 --> 01:57:09.039
that tonight. Where can people find
you? So you can find me?

1520
01:57:09.359 --> 01:57:14.720
I co host a podcast about the
TV show Taxi. It's called Night Mister

1521
01:57:14.800 --> 01:57:18.640
Walters a Taxi podcast, and my
co host is my esteemed colleague that I've

1522
01:57:18.680 --> 01:57:24.439
been talking Kat's eye with this whole
time. I also have I also excuse

1523
01:57:24.479 --> 01:57:29.119
me. I also co host a
music podcast called Night. I also co

1524
01:57:29.239 --> 01:57:32.960
host a music podcast called Noise Junkies. I do that with Father Malone and

1525
01:57:33.119 --> 01:57:38.680
Mondo Heather's Heather Drain. Any music
nerds please check that out. I also

1526
01:57:38.840 --> 01:57:44.439
have a band campsite called Hpmusicplace dot
bandcamp dot com, so please check that

1527
01:57:44.520 --> 01:57:47.199
out if you so desire. As
for me, if you want to hear

1528
01:57:47.319 --> 01:57:50.359
any of my other stuff, go
to Weirdingwaymedia dot com. You can hear

1529
01:57:50.800 --> 01:57:55.520
well this show and you can also
hear Dark Destinations or radio drama that I

1530
01:57:55.640 --> 01:58:06.439
write and produce. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight midnight viewing.

1531
01:58:06.560 --> 01:58:12.760
The Horror Anthology Podcast is a proud
member of Weirdingway Media. Our theme

1532
01:58:12.880 --> 01:58:16.680
song was composed by HP with an
assist from Donald Rubinstein and Erica Lindsay.

1533
01:58:17.960 --> 01:58:21.279
If you want to hear these episodes
early and commercial free, become a patron

1534
01:58:21.399 --> 01:58:27.439
over at patreon dot com slash fatherom
alone. Not only are the episodes up

1535
01:58:27.479 --> 01:58:31.000
early, but we have extended interviews
and bonus podcasts where we spotlight the best

1536
01:58:31.079 --> 01:58:35.720
episodes of horror Anthologies from every series. But if you just like the show

1537
01:58:35.760 --> 01:58:39.279
and Lona help, please share it
with your friends and give us a rating

1538
01:58:39.319 --> 01:58:43.560
on your favorite podcatcher. Together,
we'll keep journeying through the places that are

1539
01:58:43.760 --> 01:59:21.199
just as real but not as brightly
lit. I didn't know I was something.

1540
01:59:24.039 --> 01:59:28.319
I didn't know if there was no
way to tell, I took a

1541
01:59:28.399 --> 01:59:36.560
step. I said, I didn't
know how the dark it was too hard

1542
01:59:36.640 --> 01:59:43.520
to see. That was the night
he had come on me, to stow

1543
01:59:43.600 --> 01:59:51.680
my soul, to present me with
your cat That stop, how you coming

1544
01:59:51.920 --> 02:00:00.439
unaware? That how you hoping get
there? That's got too. I'm gonna

1545
02:00:00.479 --> 02:00:11.720
tell the words you got misspectable,
how you stole my redway that's coming in

1546
02:00:11.960 --> 02:00:20.520
N eight. That's I can never
the fe aware that I spect It's like

1547
02:00:20.680 --> 02:00:29.239
a three only window away. Can't
even scream at the red ta spend them

1548
02:00:29.319 --> 02:00:36.960
see you can't I do Watching that
time, I would come ound like a

1549
02:00:38.119 --> 02:00:44.680
boy heads fans can pull the screams. I'm apt. I need you're holding

1550
02:00:44.800 --> 02:00:57.119
me internally in your cast. I
my heart is just a move if we're

1551
02:00:57.159 --> 02:01:00.760
scared of us, like a hook. That's just swim. The kids hold

1552
02:01:00.840 --> 02:01:14.720
to baby step. How you stole
my bath away? How you night cats

1553
02:01:15.760 --> 02:01:24.800
get away? I understand it's like
a three only wind in my way.

1554
02:01:26.039 --> 02:01:32.479
Can't even scream at the predanity spill
up to you cannot think watching that time.

1555
02:01:38.920 --> 02:01:45.680
My heart is just a hook every
stairs like a hook. Just swim

1556
02:01:45.760 --> 02:01:54.439
the kids hold to baby Step.
I sto