WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:57.679 Wait, wait, say. 2 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:07.480 Welcome back to midnight Viewing, where this season we're taking 3 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.680 a look at George Romero's nineteen eighties series Tales from 4 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:13.319 the Dark Side. Sharing the midnight view with me are 5 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:15.040 the culture cast Chris Statue. 6 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.680 I don't know how y'all know about this, but Stephen 7 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:20.359 King's mighty popular. 8 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:23.439 Also with us is the projection booth Mike White. 9 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:30.200 He's so good to see you, man O Jesus Mother. Yikes, 10 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:32.519 just got canceled. Everybody. 11 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:36.040 We are taking a look at the next two episodes 12 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.159 of season four, the final season of Tales from the 13 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.599 Dark Side. Those are Sorry right Number and payment Overdue, 14 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:46.439 Sorry right Number. Season four, Episode nine, originally aired on 15 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.239 November twenty second, nineteen eighty seven, Written by Stephen King, 16 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:54.640 directed by John Harrison, starring Deborah Harmon and Arthur Taxia. 17 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.000 This is an original teleplay by Stephen King, not based 18 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:01.519 on any original material, but it would collected in his 19 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:05.280 book Nightmare and Dreamscapes as a teleplay Yours Later, really funny. 20 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.000 Before we get to everyone's opinion on the episode, I 21 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.080 read several reviews of this story by users on various 22 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:17.560 platforms complaining that this episode was not as good as 23 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:20.439 the short story. The short story that's just the teleplay 24 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.240 that was published years after this came out. Anyway, what'd 25 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:24.159 you think of this one? Mike? 26 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:29.080 Oh, I remember word Process for the Gods was a 27 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.120 really good episode, wasn't it? Can we talk about that instead? 28 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:36.120 No pastoral times? Than weren't they? 29 00:02:36.199 --> 00:02:39.639 Mike? Good lord? Did do you just watch just have 30 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:43.400 it going across the bottom of the screen. If not 31 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:45.639 that I need to be told what the twist of 32 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:49.240 this is, because as soon as it happens, I'm just like, oh, yeah, 33 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:53.719 that's her calling from the future. All right, great, yeah, 34 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.479 and nothing else really matters. Yeah, God, Chris, what'd you think? 35 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:02.879 Did you have a notion of a way to talk 36 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:03.840 about the episode? 37 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:10.240 Jesus Christ, No, not o this it's tough, man. 38 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.840 Yeah, it's not good. It's not that it's it's not 39 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:16.680 that it's not good, it's just what was the point? Like, 40 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:21.439 just you can't change the past? Correct? Thank you? Steven? 41 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.919 Play us out now, bomp a bomp, bump bump, Like 42 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:28.360 I just I guess I don't understand what I'm missing 43 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.120 because it feels like I'm missing something. It feels like 44 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.560 those Rod Serling episodes. Of Twilight's on where he's like 45 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.879 clucking his tongue, like what what if there? I got 46 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:40.680 it here. I'm just like, what am I missing? Spend 47 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.919 time with your loved ones, Yes, don't take them for granted. Yes, 48 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.039 people when a certain thing happens, they're remembered of another 49 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.000 thing happening. Yes, Like I get that inherently now, as 50 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.680 someone who's dealt with some pretty serious things in the 51 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.039 last like year and a half, I get it, But 52 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:05.000 that that payoff is unearned. There's that moment in this 53 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:08.000 episode where she picks up the VHS and plays it, 54 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:09.960 and she all of a sudden is having these like 55 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.800 black and white flashbacks, which, by the way, that's not 56 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.000 how it happens in my mind anyways. It's just it's 57 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:17.480 in color. If I'm having a flashback to something that's 58 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:19.279 happened in the past, it's not in black and white. 59 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.800 So it's very weird that that's always a convention that's used. Like, 60 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.000 I get it though, because we have to distinguish it 61 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.319 somehow from the fact that we've already seen it. But 62 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:30.279 I get what they were going for and mining at 63 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:33.000 and driving at. I just the end of the episode 64 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.680 doesn't capitalize on it. There's a nugget of something. I 65 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.399 think we can feel it. The three of us can 66 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:40.079 feel that there's there is something here to this episode. 67 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.560 It's just I don't think Stephen King gets to it, 68 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:45.959 which is weird because he's the one that wrote it. 69 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:48.240 So it's like, why aren't you getting to the point 70 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:50.399 of your own story. It's almost like a story without 71 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.160 a point. It needed like one or two more passes 72 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:56.160 of Stephen King actually like putting in the time and 73 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:59.639 effort to finish the story. It feels almost unfinished. It's fine, 74 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:02.079 but it's no word processor of the gods. 75 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:05.839 Sometimes your grief is so strong that it can bridge 76 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.759 a gap. Third time, I think that's all he was 77 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.560 trying to say with him. I just think he took 78 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:11.480 twenty two minutes to do it. As there been a 79 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:14.920 survey conducted about how many protagonists and Stephen King's short 80 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.120 stories are writers. Because this is thank you. 81 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.079 Yes, he loves to write about himself father alone. 82 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.360 Let me tell you something like at least with say, 83 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:28.600 the lead character in Salem's Law, it's a single guy 84 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:32.360 on his there's some remove from Steve. This is Deborah 85 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:36.399 Harmon as Tabitha King and Arthur Taxier is Stephen King, 86 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:39.959 and they have two kids, and he's a novelist with 87 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.319 a popular novel. I'll like to point out that although 88 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.800 the character is supposed to be multi novel a multi novelist, 89 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:51.720 they only keep referring to Spider's that's probably Stephen King 90 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:53.959 tipping his hat to Harlan Ellison, who had a novel 91 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:56.439 called Spider's Kiss, which I believe was a takedown of 92 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:57.399 Elvis Presley. 93 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:03.079 He stole my story, the writer. Yeah, that was not 94 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:04.759 a nod to Secret Win. 95 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.959 Oh no, no, no, that's mister Allison himself. 96 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:08.319 You stole my story. 97 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:12.600 So not only that. Okay, So we've got Stephen King 98 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:15.360 basically just like it feels like he just looked around 99 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.959 one night and go, wouldn't it be weird if I 100 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.120 was going to have a heart attack and Tabitha call 101 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:21.959 ill just write that. There it is. It's done. So 102 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:27.519 it's so meta and self reflexive, but ultimately just padding 103 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:31.439 to get us to the Twilight Zone twist. And John Harrison, 104 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:35.160 I got to say, and more than one thing that 105 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.360 he's directed has included that clip from Down of the Dead, 106 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.480 which is here standing in for the film adaptation of 107 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:45.360 Spider's Kiss that the Stephen King character is watching, and 108 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:48.839 he not only in he includes that particular clip of 109 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.399 Don of the Dead because that's him. John Harrison is 110 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.439 the zombie who gets the screwdriver into the brain. 111 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:59.720 And second, I thought this was directed by John Sutherland. 112 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.639 Another thing that's weird is that, like, I need to 113 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:06.240 talk to John Harrison because I do not understand why he, 114 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.839 on occasion on this series will use a pseudonym. Did 115 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.160 he feel like he was doing too much or too 116 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:14.720 little or I don't know, maybe he just wanted to 117 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:15.480 take his name off. 118 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:20.160 It wouldn't that be shocking Given the quality of this episode. 119 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:24.680 I love that this is essentially also proto frequency over 120 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:28.040 that movie with Jim Cavizl and Dennis Quaid where he's 121 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:30.720 able to talk to his father in the past. 122 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:33.600 Both of those guys have lost their minds over the 123 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:34.759 last little bit too. 124 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.319 Wow, nothing wrong with that? Yeah, well, a little mad 125 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.000 sometimes that's Steven King would say. 126 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.639 Do you guys know the actress Arden murri Not offhand? 127 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.759 It's a comedic actress I once saw. I went to 128 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:52.120 a on Halloween night, I went to a night of 129 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:55.360 ghost stories at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los 130 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.240 Angeles and it was hosted by Thomas Lennon and Robert 131 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:02.720 Ben Garret and Artemrin told this sort of spooky story. 132 00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:05.319 Everyone told sort of paranormal stories that it happened to me. 133 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:09.160 And Arte Marin told a story where it involved an 134 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:14.160 answering machine mess of this harried voice like warning her 135 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:17.360 like not to use her bicycle, there's something wrong with them. 136 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:19.519 And as it turns out, there was something wrong bicycle, 137 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.839 but she could not explain the message or who it 138 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:25.040 came from, and found out later from her boyfriend, like 139 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.360 he said, you got up in the night and called 140 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:31.160 a number and was warning somebody to about their bicycle. 141 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:32.679 She had called herself. 142 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:35.399 WHOA, that's fucked. 143 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:40.320 That's all you can say to that shit, right, Yeah, 144 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.360 the aristocrats you landed the story. That's horrifying. 145 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.200 I got chills when she told it. I got chills retailing. 146 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:47.960 It's the horror chills. 147 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:50.639 From you fucking telling it right now. And here's the 148 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.080 thing to your point, father Malone, like that's what this 149 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.039 is driving at it just it should have given you 150 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.320 that moment. But it's so fucking odds. I question, would 151 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:05.360 it have worked better if you didn't hear the voice 152 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.759 on the phone when she answers it at the beginning. 153 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:11.320 Maybe, but when she's I know that voice and it 154 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:14.039 had to be somebody that I'm related to or something, 155 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:14.639 I'm just like. 156 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:17.080 That's the thing she kept hammering, I'm related to it. 157 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:18.200 So it's oh, so it's you. 158 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.480 And it doesn't help that Debora Harmon has a very 159 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:22.480 distinct voice. 160 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:24.799 So that's the other question. And this is again, I 161 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:26.600 didn't want to ask this part of it because I 162 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:28.559 think where the three of us are a little biased. 163 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.879 It would be hard for me to answer the phone 164 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:38.039 and hear my own voice and not immediately go what 165 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.639 the fuck am I doing hearing myself talk? Because, like 166 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.639 you just said, Mike, Debra Harmon has a very distinct voice, 167 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.320 and she's I can't place this voice. This is nineteen 168 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.360 This is supposed to be nineteen eighty seven, not nineteen forties. 169 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:54.440 The phone technology at this time is meant to be 170 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.080 like acceptable enough that they've never really called it into 171 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:00.360 question in this kind of way before. So so now 172 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.840 we're led to believe that this woman doesn't recognize her 173 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.320 own voice, but she recognizes it enough to know that 174 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:08.840 it's someone related to her, like it needed to be. 175 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:11.279 I don't know what it needed to be, but. 176 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.120 You what it needed was at the end, we needed 177 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:17.720 to know the exact span of time because when we 178 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.200 meet that when he has the heart attack that night 179 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.720 and she receives the she has a little girl. When 180 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.440 we jump forward, that little girl is getting married. So 181 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.519 we got to assume there's like a twenty year difference. 182 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:32.200 So it's a twenty so there's twenty years of aging 183 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.399 and she's completely grief stricken and choked up as she's 184 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:39.080 making the call. So that actually makes sense to me. Unfortunately, 185 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:42.759 as you said, Mike, Debra Harmon has a very distinctive voice, 186 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.399 and I remember, even as a kid, recognizing that it 187 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:47.879 was her talking to her, and the whole joke, the 188 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:49.240 whole twist was blown. 189 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.879 Does it say how long at any point it's been 190 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.720 in between those times? 191 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.759 No, it needed a title card. 192 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:01.759 Twenty years later, she says something like, your dad passed away, 193 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.200 because it was the exact same day that he had asked. 194 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:10.039 They did say ten years. Maybe I don't remember. 195 00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:13.320 It doesn't make and that's the other thing it's not. 196 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:16.399 It's it's only been like a couple of years, because 197 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.440 it's not the girl that we're seeing. It's the older 198 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.080 daughter that has gone away, olver isn't it, because there's 199 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.320 another daughter in all of this that we don't see, 200 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.360 and that's the one that's getting married at the end 201 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:30.279 because it hasn't been that long. 202 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:32.480 Oh there is a daughter a com That's what the part. 203 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.480 That makes no sense at all, That's what I'm getting at, 204 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.039 Like none of this makes any sense. It's almost like 205 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:41.519 Stephen King overcomplicated this for no reason when it's so 206 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:44.399 obvious what this should have been, which is exactly what 207 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.720 we're talking about, where it's like fifteen years, twenty years. 208 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:51.120 And then she recognized her voice because it's an older woman. 209 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.639 And that's why she does a recognized her voice. It's 210 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:56.000 because it's an old lady. And there you go, like 211 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:59.600 with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, no matter 212 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.279 how much you dge Harrison Ford, and yet you still 213 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:05.679 gave him the voice of an eighty year old man, 214 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.320 which we could tell the moment he all their dead 215 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:11.480 voice or opened his mouth and the voice came out 216 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:13.440 like it should have just been an old lady. And 217 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.919 she's I don't recognize her but she must be someone 218 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:18.840 related to me. But all of the grand all my 219 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.240 grandparents are dead, My mom and dad are dead. That's 220 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:23.200 how you shore this up. And then it makes then 221 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.240 makes perfect sense why she doesn't recognize it. But also 222 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.600 it can't be an older family member. There you go, 223 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.159 not this. It could be my sister. Let's go check in. 224 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.720 On her, because she immediately calls her mom and her 225 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.519 mom's well, what are you talking about? And it's okay, yeah, 226 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:40.879 had her mom been dead already, that would even if 227 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:44.879 the mom had been dead, maybe recently dead, and was 228 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.799 calling with a warning or something. I don't know. 229 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.480 Here's what it should have been, the daughter calling from 230 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.240 years later, because the mother has committed suicide because she's 231 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:56.039 so fucking grief stricken over the month over the dad 232 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.080 being dead. So it was the daughter calling. It's just 233 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:01.159 the daughter from the few. So when she calls her 234 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.159 daughter and says, what are you doing? Why did you 235 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.320 call it, she's I call you what you're talking about? 236 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:10.320 There you go, yeah, that's equally that's even more dark Jesus. 237 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:12.720 But at the same time, to be fair, I think 238 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:14.960 father Malone probably to the point that you're trying to 239 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.960 make like this episode doesn't go far enough either for 240 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:20.440 it being a Stephen King thing. It does seem kind 241 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.080 of toothless in a way that like Stephen King's stuff. 242 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.519 I'm not saying Stephen King is always pushing the envelope, 243 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:27.639 Like in the last episode we talked about Clive Barker, 244 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.639 who does push the envelope. Stephen King's not always pushing 245 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.360 the envelope. But this is a little tame, even for 246 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:36.679 Stephen King. This is tame for this show, like for 247 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:39.799 this specific show, Like this show has gone darker than this. 248 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.080 We had this in this show. I believe a phone 249 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:43.440 strangled a woman to death. 250 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:44.120 Sure did? 251 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:48.000 Sure did? Why are like, I appreciate what the end 252 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.000 of this episode is meant to signify with the phone 253 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:52.559 swinging and oh my god, the monster moment. I can't 254 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.639 change anything, But it's not earned. It's not earned in 255 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:57.080 the way it thinks it earns it. 256 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.240 Yeah, it just thinks it's a lot smarter than it is. 257 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:02.840 Peak nineteen eighty seven Stephen King. 258 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:06.799 Yeah, he ebbs and flows. It just got done listening 259 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.879 to Lear's and I was like, that was very effective. 260 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:10.960 I was very happy with the way that it went. 261 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.279 But He's just he's all over the maps, especially post accident, 262 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.120 but then there were times where he was just drugging 263 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:21.720 and drinking like crazy, and you could really tell it 264 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:22.399 in misfiction. 265 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:25.279 This is the same year as it. This comes out 266 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:27.320 the same year as it. It came out in nineteen 267 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.919 eighty seven, so this is him, Like, I don't know 268 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.559 if this is Father Milone, you assume this is post it, 269 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:35.919 Like he like wrote this around the same time as it, 270 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:38.120 So it doesn't feel. 271 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.799 Like we wrote this in between chapters, right. 272 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:43.240 Like it's like, this feels all over the place as 273 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:45.240 some of those worst moments in IT, where it's like, 274 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.039 what the fuck are we going eight different directions at once? 275 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.240 This feels that same thing where it's like just not 276 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:53.759 a focused idea. And Stephen King works best when his 277 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:55.879 stuff is like hyper focus. 278 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:59.279 His stuff works best when it's short fiction. Except this 279 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:04.240 one is not great. No, it's as up and down 280 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:09.039 as his literary career has been, with the with the 281 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:12.559 Tommy Knockers not being he doesn't remember writing because of 282 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:16.000 the fucking cocaine, Hayes or I think the Dark Tower 283 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.200 series was always consistent. I think some of his novels 284 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:25.519 are wildly the quality sort of swings wildly, but no 285 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:28.159 matter what, anytime he puts out a book of short fiction, 286 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:30.720 they're always bangers every single time. 287 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:31.399 Agreed. 288 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.519 Yeah, I can't disagree with that. 289 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:36.559 I will echo that. I tend to say that Stephen 290 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.759 King is the short story master because he has a 291 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.600 hard time ending, and I don't know if it's ending 292 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:44.840 his long form stuff or if it's just finding us 293 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.960 a moment to stop. He just can't find a way 294 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.360 to stop saying things. Finds like eight conclusions and he's 295 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:53.360 I'm not going to pick one, so they give me 296 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:55.279 cart blatch at this point because I'm Stephen King to 297 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.759 give all eight. But it's been like that for a 298 00:15:57.799 --> 00:16:01.039 really long time. So at this point, not ever look 299 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:04.039 as bad as Sell the movie is Sell the books 300 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.919 ending was like there was it. There was one ending, 301 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.720 like there are some books out there where it's just 302 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:10.799 one ending, but then you have something like it where 303 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:12.440 it's like there's eight different It's. 304 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.360 Funny that for me, I've never read it, and I 305 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.799 don't know which one is longer, but for me, one 306 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.039 of his longest books the stand of his best books, 307 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:24.120 and it's just he's given so much time to develop 308 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:27.240 those characters that you really feel like you know every 309 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:30.840 single one of those people, the Stu Redmond and all 310 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:34.080 of those people. It's just, yeah, I feel for these people. 311 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.000 I can see these people in my mind. Also one 312 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.840 of the worst I can't say worst adaptations because there's 313 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.279 been two, and both of them I've not been a 314 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:43.639 fan of. 315 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:46.000 I'm actually through the second one. 316 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:48.759 Oh yeah, I can't blame you there, that was rough. 317 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.480 I'm excited for that Stephen King TV show that's based 318 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:57.080 on essentially the e from it, the in between parts 319 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.759 of it, the like history chapters, because while the story 320 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.759 of it's, yeah, the story of it is great, there's 321 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:06.440 a lot of other stuff that could be mined. And 322 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.440 that's again, like a world that Stephen King has created, 323 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:12.599 like you said, Mike, with a level of intricacy and 324 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:16.079 direction that give other people the opportunity to play in it, 325 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.680 who can yield to those rules within reason but also 326 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.400 do their own thing, has the opportunity to be interesting 327 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.079 and it's going to be get this. That show is 328 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:28.200 going to be every season is a different, like year, 329 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:34.160 so it'll be anthology adjacent. So yeah, so good. Again, 330 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:37.400 Like Stephen King's stuff works best when it's when it's 331 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:40.880 short form and it's being adapted seemingly like by people 332 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.119 that get it. If you don't get Stephen King's stuff, 333 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.319 don't adapt it. Mike Flanagan gets it in a way 334 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:50.319 that like nobody else ever has I think anyways. 335 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:50.559 Well, I don't know. 336 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.920 I think Frank der Bond is up there. 337 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:55.039 Yeah, yeah, that's fair. 338 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.480 I think David Cronenberg did a pretty good job with 339 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:58.319 The Dead Zone Buck. 340 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:04.400 Yeah, it's so weird how great those seventies adaptations were 341 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:08.200 like seventies even into some of the early eighties, they 342 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:11.079 were just was it the material itself or was it 343 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:15.279 just they gave the directors free reign and so many 344 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:19.839 different types of directors, like freaking de Palma versus Cronenberg, 345 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:24.160 but both of those are just so freaking solid, And 346 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:28.079 man oh man, I just so many of those early 347 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:31.640 King adaptations I thought were just dead on. And of 348 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:33.880 course then right in the middle between those who I 349 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:38.079 believe with the fucking Shining Jesus Christ talk about. 350 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.799 A classic that begins the decade and it ends with misery, 351 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.039 which is also a yeah, and speaking like the breadth 352 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:51.000 of the filmmakers, Rob Reiner, Stanley Kubrick, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg. 353 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.799 I say Mike Flanagan only because and this father alone 354 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.880 again like again like I agree with you that there 355 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:59.599 are other people that would lay claim to it. But 356 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:01.920 my I guess my reasoning for saying Mike Flanagan is 357 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:06.920 Mike Flanagan has turned it in consistently several times. And 358 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:09.000 that's the most impressive thing, because he went from something 359 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.799 like Gerald's Game to which Gerald's Game as a that 360 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.119 is a great story, and then a great adaptation of 361 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:18.920 the story. But for me, and this is the thing 362 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:21.240 that I was most surprised by. Doctor Sleep is a 363 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:24.640 really good movie, and the extended version of that movie 364 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.640 is really really good. I didn't give it any credit 365 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:29.880 the first time I saw it, but it's really good. 366 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:32.279 I would watch anything Mike Flanagan does with Stephen King, 367 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:34.880 and that's I think because again for me, he's shown 368 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:38.400 that he can do the consistency. And again maybe if 369 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:40.880 others were given an opportunity to do more, they would 370 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:42.440 have been able to do it. I'm not saying they weren't. 371 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:44.799 But all we can do is speak to where we 372 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:46.799 are now, which is Mike Flanagan can turn in a 373 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.720 Stephen King adaptation better than I think he's up there 374 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.640 with the best of them, if not the best. 375 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:56.119 Humbly disagree. I think yeah, I think he's the best 376 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:59.400 fan of Stephen King who's making stuff. I think he's 377 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.039 the best filmmaker who was raised on making Stephen King stuff. 378 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:06.599 I don't think he should be laying claim to quite 379 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.920 so many of the properties he seems to be fucking 380 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:13.200 announcing every fucking day, because I guarantee you there are 381 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:17.559 other young filmmakers out there who could probably fucking kill 382 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:18.279 some of those. 383 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:18.839 I got it. 384 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.680 I got an even more controversial like who's doing Christine? 385 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:22.960 Because that's the one I'm excited. 386 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.079 I was gonna say, why don't we just adapt any 387 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:29.039 other motherfucking horror writer out there? As if there's anybody 388 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:34.240 else who starts with a K, Dean Koons or Clive Barker, anybody. 389 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:37.039 There's so many good horror novels out there that get 390 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.200 no love outside of them being novels, which is fine, 391 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:43.519 go read, reading's great, but there are other horror writers, 392 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.119 and I guess, to be fair, Bram Stoker is in 393 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:49.319 that conversation because how many adaptations are we gonna get 394 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:50.720 of Dracula from here until. 395 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:53.279 That's the thing. How many band Stephen King at that 396 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:55.599 are there for every fucking shining you know, there's a 397 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:56.960 graveyard shift. 398 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:02.039 The Thinner, the Mangler, yeahs, and well the Dark the Dark. 399 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.119 Speaking of the Dark Tower, I think the most like 400 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:08.200 the egregious one of egregious ones. 401 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.400