You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.
They all episode eight, you know, Honestly speaking, the numbers are growing every episode as far as listeners, and so I'm just extremely appreciative of everybody who's tuning in and kind of seeing this growing Vinegar Syndrome community. This is Punk Vacation of Vinegar Syndrome, an unofficial Vinegar Syndrome podcast.
As y'all know if you've listened before, my whole purpose for the show is finding the joy and unfettered creativity, which I think really is something I connect with Vinegar Syndrome. I want to make this a podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies from any budget, anywhere around the world and during any time in history. I've been a subscriber since Black Friday of twenty twenty one, and
through a different podcast, they Live by Film. I've interviewed a lot of the different OCN partner labels and members of Vinegar Syndrome and just slowly been watching them become an industry powerhouse and then slow slow and then quick quick as it goes, and I just wanted to track along and use this podcast to see kind of how high they can go. So I'm extremely honored and excited. Today there's a content creator and a YouTuber and and
film lover named Sam Dunkley who's joined. Sam, thank you so much for making this time.
Of course. Yeah, I'm very happy to be here. You put out on social media for you know, volunteers for interest to be on the podcast, and I DMed you and you're you're receptive to my my, you know, agreement to be on the show. So yeah, I'm very excited to talk about being Benega Syndrome today. I'm a big fan of the podcast so far. As you said, this is episode eight, and I think all eight episodes have
been really, really good. It's a really good start to a podcast which probably should have had a podcast for this label like years ago. At this point, it's crazy that it's taken this long for someone to start one up, but it's been it's been a great ride so far. And yeah, very excited to be hit today.
Thank you, Sam. And we're going to get into the movies. So we're today's topic. We're going to go over the movies that came out in October. As y'all know, it always takes a while to get them, so the it's a little bit weird six weeks after October first to be recording this episode, but it's just the way that it goes when they ship out the films and when
people actually get them in. So everybody should be kind of you know, I should have the October movies at home now and want to use this as a guide, especially leading into the Black Friday Sale, which is coming up in about ten days. An hour or so, before we get into all of that, Sam, what do you do online? Like, you have a few different or you have a kind of a main personality, I should say, online on YouTube and other channel, So what do you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Yeah, So, like everyone and their dog during the pandemic, I needed an outlet to talk about my like my main passion, which is film. So I started a YouTube channel called film Blog of Sam, in which I talked about physical media and films in general, and I sporadically release things on there. It's not like a regular up upload of things because I have a full time job and a family and I actually want to watch films
as well. So I just, yeah, just I got to know a lot of people in the community, like the Ryan from Disconnected and various amounts of other people, and so yeah, I do that. And I have a podcast called Let's Watch two, which is like a film pairing podcast, and I've just recently started a blog on my website for Blu Ray Reviews, so that's also on Let's Watch
two under the Blu Ray Reviews section. And just yeah, just just I like to guest on other people's channels and podcasts, which have done quite a number of times over over the last few years. And yeah, so that's me.
You did agree. There's a really good episode recently on the Radiance podcast that you did that I want to point people to that make sure they go listen to it.
Yeah, we spoke about the recent announcements that are coming out in January or February time, the recent slate anyway, and then we also talked about a Vault. It was like a part announcement, part volt episode. So we talked about a previous catalog title, The Elegant Beast, and we had a really sort of thoughtful, in depth conversation about that film, which I think went really well. And yeah,
got on really well with Adams. So hopefully I can, you know, guest on that podcast again in the new year. So that was a really good, really good time.
So yeah, and so it was good. It's fun to listen to as well. Sam. You before we started recording, you mentioned that Vinegar Syndrome is a label that you own, made possibly the most of and so, what what's the journey that got you to Vinegar Syndrome, Like, you know, are you were you always kind of a fan of French cinema. What's your journey been like to get you to this?
I feel like I'm very similar to you because I've heard you say a few times your entry point to a lot of these types of you know, weird odd ball genre films and stuff that Vinegar Syndrome tend to release that aren't like, you know, the bigger titles that they've been putting out in more recent years is through art House cinema. So when I first started collecting boutique blu rays and stuff like that, it was Criterion Chat
Criterion discs. I think the first ever disc I bought that I knew was a boutique later disc at the time was Gilder. Yeah, so it was the Criterion Discstint come over to the UK for quite a long time, so like the UK, and was a lot of behind on that, and I wasn't important things at that time. Now I import anything and everything to feed my addiction.
And then through years and years of just exposure to various different types of cinema and watching all the classics and all the things that are regarded by many people as like masterpieces and stuff across different genres and territories around the world, I started to really want to push my sort of comfort level and push my understanding of more sort of low budget and just fringe cinema. As
you mentioned. So I saw various different people on the internet, mainly on YouTube, talking about all these labels like Severin and Vinegar Syndrome, and I just went on the website and I just saw these things that I'd never heard of, and that excited and that excited me, and you know, you get I like on the Vinegar Syndrome site because you get to look through stills of what the film looks like and things like that in like really good quality,
and they're usually pretty good at writing copy to sort of sell you the film. And I just picked up a few things. I can't remember what year it was I first picked up some stuff. Oh, whatever year Blood Games came out, whatever year that came out, is when I first started collecting them. And I haven't looked back since I'm not a subscriber right now, but I have been like a half year subscriber before when they've had
like the July to December subscription in the summer. I've done that before when I've been able to afford it, and I filled in a lot of the back catalog. As I said, it's that I'm looking at them right now as we speak, because that's just the way I'm facing and the shelving in front of me, and it's a considerable amount of One of my shelving units is just Vinegar Syndrome, and then all the partner labels that
associated associated with them. And yeah, and I've just been my tastes have leaned more towards the obscure and the weird and wonderful and as you said, just enjoying that unfettered creativity and just appreciating, you know, what some film filmmakers can do with so little, and just being completely enamored with that. I've just been really enjoying the journey. And yeah, I prioritize these sorts of things over more commercially available films that I know, you know, maybe get
a lot more support. And I just love film preservation and restoration and I think vinegar syndrome at the forefront of that. And yeah, so I've just slowly over the time just been collecting loads of them and just really enjoying it. And I don't get to talk about them very often because one they're a US based companies, so even like serious collectors in the UK are sort of if they're interested, they're put off because it's the import cost and as much as they you have to wait
for sales a lot of the time. I tend to pick up a lot of stuff brand new because I like to support things upfront, and I do wait for sales for some things. But there's not a lot of people in the UK to talk about the vinegar syndrome stuff too much that I'm like friends friendly with. So yeah, I think you're you're similar in me. You went through the route of art house.
Yeah, I know you you nailed it. I mean, I think what it's always interesting to hear from people that had a similar background, because you know, I think what happened to me is because I was told that Corsa and Fellini and Antonioni and Bergmann and all these people are like good films, right, I just and I mean, there's a reason they're like that. They're amazing filmmakers. Felini, even with everything I've seen, he story remains one of
my favorite. But like, these are amazing filmmakers doing incredible things, and they are on the other end of this. If you go up back to this idea of like, you know, kind of well untethered creative at least of not having a studio just dictating every move. There at the other end of it, where they're respected and they have distribution and they're at festivals, but they still get to kind
of there are tours, right Yeah. And then the thing that I realized very quickly as I started watching some of these with vinegar syndrome is that these are also our tours. They're just not distributed in the same way. But they have this similar vibe to a lot of the art house stuff because they're allowed to go make the movie they want to. And that's just I just
love it. I love anybody that can do that, and you get to see some wacky stuff, like we're going to talk about ghost Stands here in just a minute and Corpse Mania, And there's nothing really that connects these two movies other than this spirit of recklessness and just kind of like fun that you can tell the filmmakers or just doing whatever they want. And I like it.
I like it a lot. Actually, it's good we're talking about art house because one of the ones we're going to talk about today is just a straight arthouse film. It could easily have been put up Criterion. Oh yeah, for sure, Yeah, I think we can jump in. I mean, so, where where do people find you if they want to find you? Do you do you want people to go find you? And just watch two? Do you want people to find you? And film bloggers Sam like where do you want people point?
Yeah? So like film blogger Sam is like my handle on like Instagram and YouTube, so yeah, you can find me by just such an that on Google really to be honest. And then my website is let's watchto dot com And I have a website there with which like has links to like my YouTube stuff as well. When then it has a few because I've only been doing it recently, some written reviews for some physical media releases. Yeah, you can find me there.
Oh, I said, I said, just watch too. I'm sorry, let's watch too that. Yeah, yeah, we'll put the links in the in the episode.
Anyways, as the eighteen eighties do to a close, almost all of the Western tribes share the crushing hopelessness, and once again the white men's government wanted to reduce their reservations even further.
So they were ripe for a Messiah.
We're talking about murder here, doctor two, to be exactly, and there's nothing supernatural about fact.
And that Messiah was Wellboca.
We started preaching a strange mixture of Christianity and the old Indian beliefs.
Called the ghost Dance religion.
Among other claims, Wovoka.
Swore that he had actually visited God in heaven.
You've been under a terrific strain out in the desert at night.
Your mind can turn somersaults, and whatever you see or hear can seem very real.
I'm telling you he was there.
All right. Well, let's get into it. So October is it was a huge month for them, just in terms of their core their mainline releases. They they always put out several movies a month, but I think this month was let's see what ghost Dance three six six movies just in their mainline.
Yeah, pretty pretty stacked releases as well. So, uh, lots of a lot of bang for your buck for like a bundle for this month for sure.
Yeah, and they there's some movies that you know, it's always interesting to me because I wasn't into regional horror or obscure horror in my teens. I when it was still VHS kind of going to the DVD I missed out on stuff Like so title forty one is Ghost Dance, right, And this is one of the ones that's really interesting to me because this is one that people had on their list of like, oh, I hope this gets a release one day, like a like a nice Blu ray
release one day, and I'd never heard of it. Did you have any backgrounds to this film before seeing it?
Absolutely none. As I've over the years become more more versed in like all these obscure films, just by association and being in forms and stuff, you get you get to hear about various different films and stuff, even if you haven't seen them, you become aware of them. But yeah, even Ghost Dance wasn't something that i'd come across, so when it was announced, I was very intrigued to check it out for sure.
Yeah, and if you know, a lot of these movies are Hollywood adjacent, this one really is not the only the only The most famous person here is probably the cinematographer who has had a pretty long career. His name was Fred Murphy, had a long career as a cinematographer. But the one thing that thought was really interesting in the interview and stuff associated with this disc was that the director and writer aren't even making movies anymore. They're
just you know, they're just like businessmen. And they were pulled back in to talk about this movie and they got to kind of revisit and have fun revisiting it, which I thought was awesome. So, you know, this is truly like one of those movies that was a time
and a place it was made. It wasn't quite didn't have the success the filmmakers wanted it to, and for the most part they I mean, you know, there's some people that, you know, some actors in here that had smaller gigs and just kind of maybe a working man's career as an actor. But for the most part, this is a very kind of insular, singular release. So the let see six thousand units and that I forgot to
check before we were starting how it's selling. So go ahead, and I just while you give your thoughts, I'll check on how well it's selling for them right now, and then i'll find it. But what did you think of it?
I have mixed opinions on this one. I definitely found it interesting and a nice sort of snapshot of a time and place. But let's start off with begin at the beginning of the film. I thought the first like ten minutes fifteen minutes of this film were really good. So it starts off with they're digging up like a burial ground site these like what they just professors in archaeologists or I'm not entirely sure what they are. Yeah, and they uncover this burial ground of what they think
is a folklore legend person. And it's the whole beginning ten to fifteen minutes of the film. It's like there's no dialogue and it's mostly apart from the first bit at the beginning, it's in like night time and there's a lot of you know, not espionage, that's the completely the wrong thing, but like skulking around and secretive stuff going on, and it's very intriguing, and I was very like,
where's this going? And the film was sold to me as being sort of like slasher esque, but obviously with a twist because there's some sort of supernatural element, which is not uncommon for slasher films to have supernatural elements for sure, but incorporating sort of Native American folklore and
spiritualism and just possession of some description. Unfortunately, as the film progressed, I found there were some really cool set pieces that I really enjoyed, and I can definitely appreciate that the filmmakers were undeterred to fulfill their vision even though they were on a budget, and that goes into in the special features that they were kind of restricted in some senses and they had to sort of almost accept some like first takes with some things because they
just had to, you know, move on, because they didn't have time to like reset everything and carry and like get the perfect shot sometimes. But I found the film a bit stale in places, if that's fair to say. The writing could have been a bit more inspired. I thought the performances were fine and it looked pretty good, but yeah, it does something didn't completely connect with me.
I'm definitely glad I watched it, and the special features definitely elaborate on things, and there are some interesting characters behind the making of this film, which made me enjoy it a bit more. I love special features when they can do that, when they can shine some light on things. But it didn't completely work for me, but there are elements of it that did work and I did enjoy it,
so it wasn't like a wasted time for me. But it's probably not one not I'm going to be watching again with anytime soon, but definitely an interesting different take on this sort of thing that I feel is quite tasteful. I don't know. It's always a very difficult thing to balance when you have sort of white filmmakers tackling this subject matter when it's not their culture that they're representing.
But I feel that's that's that's that's tackled in the special features as well, or they the writer and stuff talk about how they feel about the subject matter and stuff. But I personally I wasn't offended by any of it. I thought it was done in a a in a good way, but I maybe other people would find it problematic. But yeah, I liked it, but I wouldn't say it was great. But yeah, what what did you think of Ghost Dance?
Yeah, oh that's great. Thank you for getting into that. I think there's one quick thing. It's it looks like it's sold about thirty five hundred copies so far, so it's out of six thousand. They'll limited subcovery, so there's still a fair amount left. But it's selling pretty well. I think. I'm assuming it's probably selling well in the strength of the bundle is my guess, as opposed to
people necessarily seeking this out individually. But at the same time, the fact that they made six thousand of these, it must have had a following them that they knew about going into this. There's a couple of points I just want to call out before I get into directly how I feel. So the filmmakers were from Arizona, and that you know, Arizona, New Mexico. It's kind of there's areas that are sort of called like the Southwest in America, and Native American culture is very ingrained in your day
to day there. I don't know, I didn't go to school in Arizona, but I imagine that in elementary school, and you probably start to have a greater awareness of tradition and Native American history and stuff in that area than you would in other areas of even in the US. It's you know, there's a lot of people in New Mexico, which is next door. There's a lot of reservations now that have been there there. It's in that state, there's
a lot of reservations. And in fact, there's one area called Chaco Canyon, which is really cool because they's it's one of the most untouched old worship sites that has been It hasn't been it's been preserved really well. So it's hard to get to because you have to go you know, you fly into an airport and then you drive two and a half hours to get there. Then once you get there, you have to go on a
road that hasn't been maintained, and it's like this. But when you actually get to Chocoal Canyon, it's a little bit of an out of body experience because it's a place where people have been coming all the way from Mexico, which is just south of it. They've been coming up to worship at this one area for thousands of years, and so it's got you can see, like because it's so well preserved, you can kind of see the society there, and you can there's some houses that are still preserved
and some temples that are there. It's a really cool, very spiritual, interesting area. My point of that is to say that I think when you grow up in the Southwest, you have a natural curiosity and closeness like proximity to that culture, right to Native American culture. So when these two college aged white dudes set out to make a movie about Native American culture, it's not like they were completely without context, even if it wasn't native to them.
And one thing I did like is that they engage the local tribes fairly well in the writing of the folklore to make sure that they weren't being too offensive. So they did their appropriate amount of homework. There was one thing that was a little curious where they said that they were asked not to use this some the character of Nahala. I don't know if that's who's kind of like the main spiritual battie here in the film.
I don't know that that's exactly the name from the tribe they were speaking with, but that character that they took they were asked not to use him as it was kind of important, I guess, And so if I remember correctly, and I don't know if I hope I'm remembering that correctly, but there was one thing they were
asked not to use, and they did it anyways. And you know that that ties into what I really like about the special features was I got the sense that they were looking back and they had spent a lot of time really thinking about whether or not they did the right thing in making this movie.
Yeah, I get that. I get the sense of that, Yeah, from the special features, Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. They I don't think they were flippant about it, Like when they defended the content in the movie. They really it felt like it was coming from a thoughtful place, which I appreciated, and it felt like their intentions were
in the right place. Even trying to like see if they could shoot on a particular area of the city instead of just like rolling up and shooting, they went to the elders and like asked permission to shoot there, and so they kind of if you can imagine the maturity of a bunch of twenty two year old kids, it felt like they were kind of ahead of their time and tried to do the right thing.
Let me just say it that way, heart's in the right place.
Yeah, exactly. Whether or not they got it perfectly, I don't know. I'm probably not the best person to ask, but like it felt like their heart was in the right place. So I think I'm probably landing somewhere where you are. There are things in this movie I really like, Like, for example, they win this ghost of Nahala and and he kind of takes over a body. Right, So it's a movie where the spirit of Nahala, he's like an angry spirit, he's evengeful spirit. He doesn't like people coming in,
does it. I can't remember if it specifically calls out white people or if it's just like like like non natives coming. I can't remember exactly how they frame it. But he's not happy with the progress that's affecting his people, and he embodies human, and that human goes on a murderous rampage.
Right.
That's kind of the setup, right, Yeah, exactly.
And the kills when Nahala is killing I thought were pretty good. They had some pretty gnarly kills.
Yeah, there's a there's an impaling one in the museum. I think, Yes, that was that was that was a pretty that was a pretty gold kill.
Yeah, pretty good special effects or practical effects. As the as this long, like, uh, it's a is it a spirit? That's that one of the stuffs.
It's like it's like an arrow or something those something. It's like I watched it like a week ago.
No, it's okay, I saw it like three four weeks ago, so but it's I think it's as part of the display.
Right, Yeah, yeah, it's getting.
Killed on this Yeah, but it's it's slow and painful and bloody. It's good. I like it. It's a good kill. And then as the as they get towards the end and you start to kind of the it's more becomes more of like a almost like a spiritual battle with they They spend a lot of time in the film convincing one of the local tribes to like help, right because they they know how to ward off this Nahala spirit.
And once they finally do and they start that battle, I think the practical effects are pretty cool as well as it starts to become more of a supernatural horror type. I mean, it's light. It's not like we're talking about interdimensions or something. But it's you can kind of see it's not just a human and I think that the effects there are are pretty well done.
Yeah, I agree.
But yeah, other than that, I don't know that there's too much to say about it. I think it's a fun slasher. As far as like what stood out, the cinematography does stand out. It's beautiful, and this guy, you know, Fred Murphy, certainly is a talented cinematographer. The only thing I'll say is that have you ever been to Arizona? By chance? It's a very specific question.
Yeah, no, I've never been.
No, it's okay. The only reason I'm asking is it's kind of cheating to say it's good cinematography.
Because oh yeah, especially with the scenic thing, like but just set up your camera and press go and you're like, wow, it's beautiful.
Exactly. Yeah, it's really hard to find a bad shot there. It's like I always say this about Lawrence of Arabia. It's considered one of the most beautiful shot films ever, right, and I mean, who am I to argue it's amazing, it's stunning. But also where they're filming, it's like, I mean, come on, it's hard to have a bad. Shut, like they found some amazing locations for that film and then shut.
Well, yeah, I agree. It's so very similar to some of the like Technicolor john Ford Western's yea, yeah, like there there are absolutely stunning to look at. But I'm like, yeah, but half the work is done by the natural environment. It's not It does look great, don't get me wrong, but I'm like, yeah, like you just find the location
and point and shoot. That's that's simp oversimplifying, of course, but you know, the environment is definitely contributing quite more than what other you know, cinematographers' jobs have to do when they're working on sets and things like that.
For sure, any any DP listening is throwing something.
I'm sure they are and that that's fine.
And no offense meant. But yeah, I know I kind of feel that way. It's it's like it's hard to shoot bad in Arizona, but the you know, I wouldn't say the music is necessarily a standout, like it's okay, you know, I think the writing is probably a weak point in terms of.
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
Yeah, but it's fun. I mean, I can't say that I've seen any other Native American slashers where the where the focus is the killer itself is you know, angry at the white people and like out for revenge, and it's more than just like a standard slasher.
Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah, different, unique just didn't completely work for me. But you know, not everything has to I'm always happy to watch something that just you know, gives me knowledge on something that I've never I don't have no knowledge on. So yeah, it's good. It's it's good, but not great, as I said.
So yeah, Now, I was trying to think of Hawd a segue between these next two. If this was a love letter to Arizona and Native American culture, I think released for eighty two kind of becomes a love letter to Paris in like a dark way. So it's I it's my It's the first Polanski movie I've ever seen. I've intentionally avoided his films.
For whoa, this is the first Polanski film you've ever watched? Wow, Okay, I understand I understand why you'd avoid his films, But I think I watched a few of his films before I even knew about the allegations, you know.
I mean, I mean it's hard to avoid them.
Right, Yeah, yeah, I mean especially like, yeah, Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion and things like the classic films like Rosemies Babies, you know, in the pan in of like the greatest horror films I ever made. So yeah, anyway, but how did you what did you get out of your first Polanski experience?
Well, it was pissed because I really liked it.
It's so good.
So oh, I guess we haven't mentioned the name, so we're talking about the tenant, Yeah, which is it's a film from let's see nineteen seventy six. This is a movie that has just a stacked cast. Probably most famous would be Shelley Winters, and then obviously Isabella Johnny, who most horror fans know from Possession. She has a great role here. Yeah, for sure, she's amazing in this, and then Melvin Douglas from The Changeling. So good, big cast.
The movie shot in English, which is interesting. Yeah, but it's a it's a French film, fully, fully a French film in terms of there's no like Americans in Paris kind of thing, like, this is a movie about French people in France, and specifically about Parisians. I would say about this, this immigrant coming in and having a weird experience being in Paris, and but it's all shot in English.
Mm hmm.
And I'm curious if you agree that this is primarily a film about an immigrant coming into Paris, or if you think that I missed the point.
No, I think I think that's a fair interpretation of the film. A lot of people I would say that, and they're probably right. But Polanski's film The Piano the Pianist is his most personal film because he was a Holocaust survivor great and the film is about the Holocaust
and and stuff. So, but there's a lot more personal stuff going on with maybe Polanski's psyche, with being someone who you know, survived all that I think is a very psychological film, more so than his other films in what is known as the Apartment trilogy, which you haven't seen obviously, so that would be Rosemie's Baby in Repulsion are sort of these connected thematic films that he made during his career, and this is the last, this is the last one in that sort of trilogy that are
very connected with sort of the downward spiral of an individual and how they're surrounding the people that they interact with are influencing the way they feel and the way
they act. But whereas this one differs from Rose Muse, Bray Baby and Repulsion is that this one is very ambiguous and whether what is happening to this individual is actually happening or if it's in their head, Whereas the other two films they play with that and then things get revealed, the truth is revealed about what the situation is, whereas this one is very ambiguous and a lot more pulling on the psychological elements because you can interpret it
how you want to, but you never explicitly told what the motives are and what exactly is happening here. And I love that for that reason. I think this It's tough because rosemye Baby is so damn good as well, But I don't know, I think this one might be
my favorite Polanski. Well, as you said, the supporting cast is so good and it's yeah, the cinematography is stunning, Like spen Nick Fist, who I always like to point out was the director of photography for Sleepless in Seattle, but he has obviously he was the dop for so many incredible wing Mark Bergmann films, so and he's just a very very talented photographer so well.
And especially I think this film was very important to have like a sense of intimacy and kind of like closed rooms and claustrophobia, and that's a lot of what Bergmann was famous for it, right, So I think, yeah, yeah, having Nick Fist work on this was a good choice for that was probably very comfortable for him. But I love that you brought up the psychological aspect. So there's two things I think that really stood out to me
in the tenant. One is, as you mentioned this kind of downward spiral of the human psyche, and I think never letting the audience know if it's in the mind, Oh well, we should mention. Polanski is also the main actor here, Yes he is, and he plays a Polish guy who's trying to get settled into France, and he's he does. I mean, his name is Cholkovsky, and that
name is mentioned a hundred times. And I think that's also part of why it stood out to me that this is maybe a film about not fitting in, is because they just kept saying the name, and in most other films you just don't hear the name a hundred times. Right. But anyways, so one of them is about this character Cholkowsky, and you don't know for sure if all the bad things in the film are actually happening to him or
if it's more of an inward downward spiral. The other thing that stood out to me is that, and I don't know if you're gonna say, I'm a sick person, but I found this movie to be quite funny actually as well.
Oh no, it is, okay, it is extremely funny. I find it funny. I think it's it's like it was marketed as a horror comedy in a way, like psychological thriller slash horror comedy in a way that there is definitely some very humorous moments. I'm not saying like there was a few moments where because this is the second time I've seen this film. I've seen it before, but obviously on this brand new release it was the second
time I've seen it. There it's not always like laugh out loud, but it's very There are a couple of moments, but there is just some very humorous goings on, which I was like, that was funny. I'm not sure if I should be laughing, but I am so Oh it's dark humor, right, But yeah, for sure.
The person who runs the apartment that he's in, is this like curmudgeonly or gay, And it's more it's I almost view it more of like Terry gilliam style of humor, where it's like there's humor in almost the anger sometimes and like yeah, yeah, the tension, it's just like they put humor into it. But yeah, I think there's movie. I mean, you know, we could do a whole It would be very easy to do a whole episode just
on the tenet. I have a lot to say about it, and I think it's even the way that it's interesting to see, you know, when I when there's a seat. There's a moment in the film when Polanski is the character of Chilkowsky, puts on starts putting on makeup, and then starts putting on a wig and starts dressing as a woman, and I was like, Oh, I wonder where they're going with this and where they went. I wouldn't
say it's necessarily like a trans pro transgender movie. I don't think that's what they were trying to do with that. I don't like, I don't think that's why it's there in the film as like an advocacy piece.
But no, I don't. I didn't read that from what from watching it either.
No, it's it's it's just it's tied into the spiral, and I don't necessarily want to I'm trying to avoid spoilers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't go any further because you might spoil something for someone who it's.
The spiral, right, Yes, but the way it's handled again, it's it's just one of those things which I love about so many art house films, and they it's if when you're in the hands of a masterful kind of filmmaker, they can put stuff in a movie early on and just say, like, trust me, you'll just watch the film, you'll figure it out. Just just sit with me in this. I'm not going to over explain, right, You're not gonna get a lot of exposition. Just let the film play out.
It all a lot makes sense, I promise, mm hmm. And I think he does a very good job with that here.
Yeah, it's not having faith in your audience and just not holding their hand, which is a pet peeve of mine. Way too much exposition is a big turn off. I don't mind a little bit here and there for when it's necessary, But if it's an exposition, if dialogue is exposition heavy, I immediately get turned off when I'm watching a film, no matter how good the visuals or the story is, to be honest. So yeah, Polanski is very
good at dealing with that. I'm not sure if you're based on your feelings towards the director, which are warranted, if you'll maybe vinegar Syndrome will put out. They probably won't because Criterion have those other ones, don't they, So you're you're safe at least from a vinegar syndrome standpoint for those the rest of the Apartment trilogy. But yeah, it's uh.
I mean at some point I'll probably watch them films. Like, you know, there's so many things we don't even know about other filmmakers, right, Like of course, it's not like he's alone as being a scummy human and a rapist in Hollywood, like I it's it's a tension, right Like. I will eventually get to other Polanski movies, especially after seeing this and realizing why people like his movies so much.
Oh yeah, you need to see Chinatown. That might be his best film. Jack Nicholson is incredible in it, and that it's like one of the best, in my opinion, one of the best scripts for a film, like screenplays for a film ever, Like it's so good as I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that personally, but that's that's an aside. But yeah, you should. You should give him a go at some point. But I understand the trepidation with delving into such a problematic director's work.
And the thing that just gets my good and then we can move on, is that he was unrepentant. And that's the thing that just kind of stuck with me is he just ran and again this is this is just my opinion. He ran like a cowrad didn't face up to the crime, and for some reason it's still celebrated, like I haven't been able to reconcile. I mean as a human he's celebrated, like there's a petition going around
where people are just like saying bringing back or whatever. Right, So I just I've never been able to reconcile those two. But anyways, as a filmmaker, which we're talking about today, this movie is fantastic and honestly, like scene for scene, I don't think there's any fat like it's a it's just everything needs to be in the film. Every character is written to be unique and serves a purpose in
the film. When it does go into some light surrealism, I think it's well contained and it fits the story perfectly. It's very easy to understand. Yeah, I just think this is an incredible film, and I was stunned that they got a new interview with Roman Polanski for this release.
I haven't watched that. I felt a bit weird about it. I chose to listen to the commentary with Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, which was really good, so I don't I'd recommend listening to that one to any listeners who have picked it up, because it's they were always pretty pretty good guys to you know, accompany you through a viewing. I usually listen to like audio commentaries in the car because I don't have a lot of time to sit and watch films twice for the purpose of on audio commentary.
Another aside, I'm glad that some labels are potentially or will be putting audio commentaries available on other platforms for people to listen to so that they don't have to sit and watch the film twice. I know that's I know that's a thing. Some labels will be doing that in the future, so I'm excited for that.
But well, quick shout out to dev Crocodile, who's already.
Yeah exactly, Yeah, yeah, yeah. No.
In fact, it's funny you mentioned that. I'm actively going through Kat Ellinger's commentary for DOCTA Space Mission for the next time I travel.
Oh nice, cool, cool, Yeah, I've listened. I've listened to that one.
Yeah.
I listened to that one in the car, so it is a good one. She's always a good listen and very informative. And I like the more generally, but the more academic type ones. I don't mind a fun one or one that's more of a hangout. They Cat I can be really good, but like I prefer the academic type ones, and people like Catallenger and Sam Deagan stuff. They do really cool academic or audio commentaries. Anyway, moving on absolutely.
Well, I have absolutely no idea how to segue between the Tenet and Vinegar syndrome title four eighty three, which is Corpse Mania.
Oh goodness, may I love this one.
That's a fun movie. Holy girl. I think the thing that jumps out to me right away is just atmosphere. I think they like, this is just I don't know how they were able to do it, but it's like it has the atmosphere of like a noir mhm, with the smoke and the dark alleys, and like it's just it's got this you know, the killers in hiding and
it's got this amazing atmosphere. But like what you see on the screen, especially in the first half of the film is a lot of really nasty, gnarly gross like worms and maggots, and it's like a lot of disgusting corpse riting that kind of stuff. And then back half of the movie it turns into something else entirely. It's just like what's going on?
It does the genres do flip? I would say it's like a pastiche of different It's tonally all over the place, like but like in an enjoyable way, because some things where it flips too much, it can be like whiplash and I don't enjoy it. But when it's done in this way, I don't know what it is. It just seemed to strike a chord of me. I was. I
was very into this one. Yeah, starts off disgusting, it's about the film starts off about necrophilia, so and you're like, Okay, this guy likes doing it with dead bodies and that their bodies are decomposing and it's revolting. It's so disgusting and stomach churning. But then there are some like moments of humor in the film, which a lot of Hong Kong films incorporate into all of their genres, it seems,
and that can land or not. There's a lot of like action films or sort of some of the well this is a Shaw Brothers feature precures film, isn't it so? But there's some of the more martial arts orientated ones where the humor doesn't necessarily land for me. But I don't know if like the directors or the film studio are like, you know, every film has to have some element of comedy in it, I don't know, to lighten
the mood or just to break things up. But yeah, this one, this one worked a lot more for me. But yeah, this is this is a wild film, utterly wild. Yeah, it's like almost like a shallow as well slasher slasher, shallow noir. I wouldn't say body horror, but just disgusting body decomposing gooiness is just also incorporate into it, and the mystery element's pretty cool. And I really like the reveal, which obviously we won't say what's going on in the film as it's a spoiler, but I like the reveal.
I thought it was pretty good. I sort of sort of. I didn't guess it because I'm not very good at guessing like the who the killer might be and things like that, which I like not knowing. I like being oblivious because then I'm usually surprised, whereas a lot of people watching it, Oh, I saw the killer coming a mile away, and I'm like, well, I didn't, And that
means I enjoyed it. Probably enjoyed the film more than you did, because I'm usually more tapped into vibe and tone and just enjoying just the craziness of what's happening then to be paying too much attention to the intricacies of the plot sometimes. But yeah, yeah, I loved this one, and I thought it looked great. The the set design it was very lavish for the type of you know,
the content is quite brow. I would say that's not to disparage it, but like, what is happening in the story is like disgusting and repulsive, but like the way it looks and he's set up and shot and stuff is it's very nice looking. Film looks very good on the four K. So, yeah, what were your thoughts on it?
No, I agree, I have. So you know this is from the same director that made Boxer Zoemen.
Yes, yes, that's correct.
Yeah, and he is a hugely influential director in Hong Kong cinema. There's another film he made called I'm just trying to look it up. Drawing Hex I think, right is the other big one and yeah, Hex, that's right from nineteen eighty Killer Constable is another one that is when that people should watch. The guy's name is quite young. And the one thing I really like about this release
is his son, who is living in America now. They actually got him on the film, and so you're hearing from his son, who's able to give a lot of I think, a cool perspective of like the influence of his dad and sort of where this movie fit and like some background that you may not have had from other people. So it's nice to get that angle here for the release. And then Sam Degan does a commentary which obviously is going to be extremely well researched and
very interesting. And then one of my new favorite writers and historians is Erica Schultz from the Unsung Horrors podcast. She's just this incredible depth of knowledge and she gives a she writes the booklet of this. So anyways, there's a ton of context around this film, and for anybody who's interested in Cat three movies or some of the more perverse like Shaw Brothers films, there's just this is
just like a perfect capsule of all of that. I think, not only what's in the film, it's but then with the special features, you just get a I think they really immerse you in this world and talk about why Quait Young is so influential in all these things. So I love that about it the film itself. I mean I don't know what to say, Like this is I love this kind of stuff, right, Like this is like I mean, this is like a like stick this around end of my veins, right, I mean, it's.
It's exactly what we were talking about at the top of the show, Like we both come from like an art house sensibility, and we're we're now like going I want you to mainline Corpse Maniu into my veins because this is the sort of stuff that I live for. So I don't know how it's come to this, but this is my back. This is very much the sort of thing that I'm looking for when I'm trying to discover,
you know, new cinema. To me, I wouldn't say it's like I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece or anything like that. But there's so much about this film. It's enjoyable if you're a little bit perves by Siey.
And you know, there's one thing too that I think is true with a lot of Cat three films is that when they when they have the scenes where the so essentially there's there's like a few different women that this guy Lee either bias to be, like like the first woman he buys to be his wife from a brothel, like she's dying, and so the people in the brothel are happy to get rid of her right because it's
like they don't know what to do with her. Yeah, but he takes her home and makes her his wife, and and then she just stays on with her after the death. Uh, And it's after she dies and then that starts to get like intimate with her. But the scenes where first of all, there's like the scenes with the maggots and worms crawling over the body is certainly grow but I don't think it ever goes over a line of where they just like force you to just like sit with it for too long.
Yeah.
I do think it's meant to be more entertainment in the sense of just like, oh, and then they like cut away, you know.
Yeah, i'd say that's fair.
Yeah, I do appreciate that about it and the Yeah.
I mean, I don't know.
I don't know too much else to say. I just think, like, oh, I should mention Grady Hendrix does a really good video essay too. I always like his work. I just forgot to mention that. But I don't really know what else to say about the film without giving away spoilers and these things I just love. I think you nailed it
when what you just said. I think there's something about the discovery of new films where I'm on the search for things like this because it doesn't tightly fit into any structure that I've seen before, and it sort of keeps surprising you if you just stick with it, it kind of keeps surprising you. And I love it.
Yeah, completely, A great well said.
This one has six thousand titles in the limited slip cover and it's already sold about thirty five hundred. And I should mention the Tenant, not surprisingly, is selling out pretty fast. It has eight thousand units and looks like it's about a thousand left already. It's selling pretty fast, again, not surprising. I don't know. I don't have anything else to say on Corpse Mania though, is there anything else?
I mean, this is one I highly highly recommend for anybody who's If you've seen Boxer's Omen and you liked it, I mean, this doesn't feel like Boxer's Omen.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't even Yeah, knowing that it's from the same director, it makes sense, but I wouldn't say you would recognize that this is the same director per se. But yeah, if you enjoy the is the Weirder side of the Shore Brothers, or does any any weird Hong Kong films, or you have any interesting Category three then type films, then you should really check this one out. It's definitely a standout release from this year from Vinegar Syndrome in my opinion.
Yeah, this isn't just a figment of your fantasy.
You know, I'm real, but still you see strange your lifetime change.
Changed by miss.
All right, So we are almost done with the mainline releases, and again there's three so far. There's going to be three more, but there all within a box set. So I was it's a released forty four. It's Forgotten Jolly Volume seven, which I was stunned. There already up to seven?
Crazy, right, I mean, I have you but yeah, I would say, have you got them all?
Well, yeah, because I've been you know, I've been collecting long enough to have them all. But like, I just just I don't know. It's just weird to think if Vinegar Syndrome has seven of like anything, because they're you know, part of what they do is offer so much variety. But this is, uh, there's three films in this. I think it's probably makes sense to give a little something about each of them, just three, as opposed to talking
about it as a whole. It has five thousand boxes that were made and there's about a thousand left and this one does not have a standard. So if you're a collector of the Jelly sets, this probably goes past Black Friday. If there's a thousand left, but it also might not. I don't. I don't know that it for sure that it would go past Black Freddy.
They've forgotten the Forgotten Jallie set. Yeah, not to try and cause fomo or anything here, but like they usually last a bit longer than other things. Maybe I don't know if it's just do with the price or because although I don't agree that every film in these Forgotten Jolly sets are forgotten, I have some not issues with that that's a bit extreme, but like I feel like, if you know, shallow films, a couple of the films in the previous this box set for me was completely unknown.
But like previous box sets, there's been a couple of films across them that I've been like that, that's not that could have really done with a standalone release. But yeah, this this box set is one of my favorite Forgotten Jelly box sets for numerous reasons. Yeah.
Actually it was about to say the same thing. I think they nailed it with this one. We're going to get into this in a second. I need you to cover me. The only one I couldn't get to this month because work travel got insane was Sweets from a stranger. So when we get to that, I'm gonna need you to take the lead. But starting off with A because they do it like it's for eighty four, and then A, B and C. Right, So starting off with A is missed there, which had an more English name of Dagger Eyes.
And I think it's interesting to me because this film really seems to be built around Carol Bouquet for Suel, who was two years previously had been in a Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, she was a Bond girl, although I feel like they need to update the term bond girl. I don't love that term. But anyways, she's a Bond girl for me. Although she's great and for Your Eyes Only, she's most famous for being in Boon Weell's Boonwell actor. Yeah, for sure. I'm just blanking on
the name of it. Do you is it? I just saw this movie like a month ago. It's just completely slipping my name my mind. It's I'm almost there. Uh. That obscure object of desire, thank you, I was, I was driving me crazy. The Obscure object of Desire is Boon Weell film. That is I think everybody should watch. It's on. It's just unbelievable movie looking into obsession, and I think it's it's it's kind of most famous for being a movie where Bonwell gets two separate women to
play the same character. But it's not like an alternate reality thing. It's not like a there's no twist in the story. He just intercuts the women in different scenes depending on what's going on. And it's extremely jarring the first time you watch it, but in typoco Bounwell fashion, you every single time you watch it, you start to just kind of get into this groove of the film.
And if you let it just happen to you as opposed to fighting that it makes no sense, it becomes very powerful and you get to see how they're These actors are used based off of the emotion of the scene, and they're used to pull different things out of the of the main character. So Obscure Object of Desire is an amazing movie. And Kara Bok is she has an
interesting beauty to me because she's looking beauty. But I wouldn't say I wouldn't say she's like hot or like she's not like somebody who's like what's the word for it. She's not like somebody who I think is easily approachable. She has almost this like timeless, like statuesque kind of I don't know beauty that like, Yeah, it's to me, she's like somebody who's could be in a museum in a statue with very little effort. She just has this sort of of different presence to him.
I agree with that. She's seems she has a she has a coldness about her that makes any sense. I think that is that is explored in the special features a little bit with some of the interviews. Yeah, she's she's very beautiful, but it is a different kind of beauty than what you might expect from other types of film stars. Yeah, it's very aloof and very sort of like giving off the vibes of don't touch me or
don't get don't come too close sort of thing. If that makes any sense to anyone listening or to you. It's it's a very odd thing to say and how to describe her, but she's she. Yeah, she's definitely interesting to look at. What are your thoughts on this?
Well, Miss Air again, and you know, we're fumbling through exactly how to put definition around it. But I think the reason that the beauty is worth calling out and this specific type of beauty that she has is worth calling out is because it's very central to this The way this movie shot this is my favorite one of
the set overall. Again, I haven't seen k Sweets from a Stranger yet, but although I really like of session two, which we'll get to in just a second, but this is my favorite one for a variety of reasons, but I think mostly because the way that Miss Dara is shot it. The whole movie feels like this kind of dream in a way, and I love the way that they wove the story together. I think it's a very excellent script. I think it's fun to watch Gabriel Latin
d John Steiner. It's like it's just they. I think they do a good job of pulling a good cast. As when you first meet Karl Book, you can tell she's a high dollar like sex worker and call girl who is just she has. She has a lot of agency in this film. She has a lot of power, and I think that her character is never written to be I'm subjected to men like she seems like she's always in control.
Yeah, for sure, I agree with that.
Yeah. And then there's an interesting element written in about where it almost feels like they're trying to call reference to Bond movies in a couple of different ways, which we can maybe get into, but I think there's definitely a tie into like bringing in a Bond girl. It feels like they would have gotten directions like make it a little bit of an adventure or something like that, but in some elements. But yeah, no, I like this
movie a lot. I think it's I'm surprised it's forgotten in some ways, and I do hope gets more attention because of the release.
Yeah, I really enjoyed this one. It was very It's a very atypical yallow. You know, the stylists, stylistic trappings of what most people would associate with the yallow us are. They're there and they're not there, if that makes sense. So it's we have, you know, a killer that their identity is concealed, but the perspective of the story and even though like most Shallows are very highly stylized, this is very different. And yeah, I was fascinated by this
as I was watching it. It was good to see Gabrielle Tinti in something other than a Black Emmanuel film for me personally, because I've i got that box that recently or not recently, and I've been working one way slowly over it. But it was good to see him something different. He's been in a lot of Italian genre films and stuff. But yeah, that was great, And yeah, I do feel that the the not to spoil anything or to jump too far, well I am jumping too far.
I'm jumping to the end. But I didn't like the ending, and I know, I know it was requested from the producers to add on this very shoehorned, like tacky ending onto the film, which does like affect my appreciation of the film a bit. And that was sort of like ties into the whole bond thing with like like a pro like a prologue that has sort of like ties things up and has a has a sort of maybe a happy ending. As such, I didn't like that aspect
of the film too much. But from a visual standpoint, an audio standpoint, and just just the vibe of the whole thing, I thought it was fantastic. And just the context that's given from the special features and stuff. I was really impressed with some of the stuff that's on this disc. I really enjoyed the interview with the director in Rico van Zena, so he worked very closely with his brother, who's also who wrote the film. I think I think it's the other way. I think all the
other round. You're right, you're right, it's the other way. So Carlo is the director, my apologies, and his brother, his brother wrote it, and there, to my understanding, they're very much they're very huge in Italy, like the household names that hasn't translated over into other countries and stuff. And to get this guy on the disc for an
interview apparently is pretty impressive. And it's good to see the interview with Greg Snegoff, who is like a prolific dubber for Italian genre films, and he's actually in the film playing it, has a very small part as one of the police officers or invest all the detectives or whatnot. And here in his that's where you you understand what sort of person Carol Bouquet was on set and stuff.
She was very cold and aloof and didn't socialize with people, and sort of like her character on screen, seems like she was very much like that. And I'm not getting the vibe that she was like a method actor or anything like that. So I think she was just translating into her character very well. And I don't suppose you had a chance to listen to the audio commentary either.
I listened to the first fifteen minutes. I like a really a huge fan of Eugenio orcl Annie mm hmm. From a producer's standpoint, he's you know, the fact that they were able to get an interview with Enrico Vincina is you know, I'm going to assume that's attributing that to Oracle Annie because he's he's just such a master at what he does for these releases. And I love there's people in every country that do a good job of like setting the context for what was happening, Like
Frank Jang does it for a lot of Straw Brothers movies. Yeah, And I think Kline's kind of like that to me for Italy, where he just knows so much about the industry and he knows so much about the filmmakers and you really go on a deep dive. I'm excited to listen to this one. I only heard the beginning of it, but yeah, did you finish it?
Yeah?
Yeah, I've listened to the commentaries for all of these I'm just a nut for consuming special features and stuff on releases, So yeah, I've listened to it. It's still always good. Eugenio, Nathaniel and Troy they regularly collaborate on things, have been recently for a number of years, and they always seem to have a good back and forth and well researched and well thought thoughtful input into into the
film's history and production and everything like that. So that's really worth your time to listen to if you if you like the film, and even if you didn't like the film. I always think these sort of things give more context and appreciation. But I like that one, and you said the next one, unless you have any thought more thoughts on that one, I thought Obsession, Yeah, Obsession, Obsession Accession A Taste for Fear was my favorite from the set. I adored this one for a number of reasons.
I'll get into the film is again. I think this is the the atypical shallow box set. You know, all the of the rest of the most of the other ones in previous editions or volumes of the of these film forgotten jolly box sets they all have. They're all they're forgotten or sort of lost or forgotten about, as the title suggests, but there they are shallow films at the heart, and they're very sterary typical of what the genre has to offer. Obsession is a completely different beast.
The whole yallow element is basically in the mystery, you know, that's just what it is as it translates, more or less, and this one is basically like a ninety minute music video. And I absolutely bloody loved it. It is so entertaining. It's very sleazy, and I don't mind saying that. I quite enjoyed that element of the film, and it's just very cool with its visually. It's shot in scope, I
want to say it's shot in scope. It's very beautiful to look at, and it's widescreen and it has gel lighting, which is sort of associated with the jallow films can be a lot of the time, especially like AGENTO and things like that. But the soundtrack is very synth heavy, and I love that it's quite queer as well. There's a lot of celebration of you know, not just the female body, but male and just various different like queer things going on in the film, which I really appreciated.
And I thought that this is very atypical for the genre, and I absolutely adored it. I don't I don't think it works completely, but there's a lot of films that I don't think work that I absolutely adore than films that I can't critique, but I like them less, if that makes sense. But despite its flaws, I was absolutely enamored with this one. And yeah, this is this is fantastic directed by I'm really bad at pronouncing things, but Raffanini is the surname, but Pete, I think that's how
you say it. Starring Yeah, it's got starring Virginia Hay, who's probably best known from Mad Max in it, and it's just I had a blast with this one. I was smiling from ear to ear as it's very it's like a there is a through point with the plot and stuff, but it's very vignette. It's very elliptical in my opinion. So it's very very music video orientated, and there's stuff in the special features that explores like the influence on TV culture on the film industry, and that
is very apparent in this film. It's very all about moments and just focusing in on very stylish there's a lot of sexuality in the film, and it's just a blastom start to finish. And I think there's some problems with the reveal of the killer, which is not which is not atypical of some of the of what the genre as to offer, which is just part of the time that it comes from, I guess. But yeah, you said that you preferred mystare, so like, what did you
enjoy about Obsession? On what made it? What made my stair better for you?
It's not to say that I didn't like, because for the first maybe forty five minutes or so of Obsession, I was ready to write that like this is my like the discovery of twenty twenty four for me, Wow,
Like it's just for all the reasons you mentioned. I think the everything is so bright, Like the lighting is actually bright and strong use of color in the in the costumes and in the body paint, and in the way sexuality is explored, it's like not explored, like the way they the way they show sexuality in this is
very like raw and passionate. But because they're taking pictures and not videos, it's like it's not pornographic, but it's there's nudity throughout the whole thing, and I think it's like a very like a celebration of the body, right, Yeah, And I think there's some interesting choices, like the one
woman who has an obsession over the bodybuilder woman. It's like a different it's like a different body type than you would typically see that obsession for, right, But it's crazy for this woman and like you see it in her eyes. And but then there's just like a there's like for the set for the shot. They got to get the shot, and they need somebody for the shot, and so there's this constant like looking for the next beauty to put into the shot. But yeah, I just
I think it's I think it's a stunning film. I love it a lot. And I think as it gets into the back half of the film, into like the actual plot, which is sounds weird, but it kind of lost me a little bit just in this I was like, you know, I just want this to be It almost felt like something Andy Warhol would make in the beginning or say it come from his factory. Yeah, and then it sort of I don't know exactly what it became,
but yeah, but I like the movie a lot. I just think that mystaire for me, it was like a maybe like a little bit of a tighter story in a way. I agree with you. I don't like the epilogue. I think it's kind of a like why even habit like it adds nothing other than makes her feel like kind of gives her some agency, And I guess it comes like a strong, you know, action star, but I don't know that the film needed that. But yeah, I
think these two in the same box. That to me is wild because whatever I'm going to ask you about Sweets from a Stranger next, but whatever is in Sweets of the Stranger. This already medically jumps up to one of my favorite boxes from Freneger Syndrome all together, but especially best jelly Bugs.
Yeah, so moving on to Sweets from a Stranger, this one is probably the most grounded of the films. Definitely less stylish, i'd say, like definitely from these Mystair and Obsession.
It tells the story of sex workers that are being picked off by a mysterious unknown person and how the sex workers all band together to try and protect each other and try and find out who this person is, who is you know, killing their sisters as such, And it's a very so it's very There are exploitative elements in this film, but the film is extremely sympathetic and on the side of sex workers, which may not be the case in other, like Italian genre films of this type.
So it's very you know, atypical in that in that instance. And it's really interesting to see how the different types of sex workers live their lives and how some of them like have families, and how they try and protect them from what they do to make ends meet basically, and yeah, it's multiple different sort of sub stories are included in this and we mainly follow this one character who has moved I don't think it says exactly the location,
but she's moved away from her family home. And it pretends that she's working as like a stewardess, which is why she's away all the time, like an air air stewardess or whatever, and she's actually you know, walking the streets and picking up you know, clients, shall we say, And she gets embroiled in this in this ongoing sort of search for this killer whilst trying to protect herself and her newfound friends, and the way it gives you like the red herrings and stuff of like who it
sort of indicates might be the killer is really well done. The script is extremely tight, I found, and it's got the most I say, it's got the best script of all three of the films, I'd say in terms of like cohesiveness and you know, really caring for some of these characters and having sympathy and an ununderstanding of what some of these sex workers are going through and understanding their viewpoint on what the one they do their work and stuff, because they're not all like coerced into it
via like a pimp or anything like that. They're all like choosing to have this way of life, and it's just a really interesting insight into that told through like a shallow film with exploitation elements in it. So it's like a very not dichotomus, that's not the right word, but it's a very like there's two ends of the spectrum here where it's like trying to be it is
it's not trying. It is a successful social socio political film with like a commentary on you know, the sex worker industry, but also it's using that in an entertaining way by also having things like nudity and you know, titillation along the way. So it's like it's an interesting a dynamic there, and I think it's great. And the special features again, these are all sort of produced by Eugenio and he has a commentary on here with Troy Howorth, and that's really good. I listened to that one in
the car again. And then the director Franco Farini interview is really good. It's quite short, it's thirteen minutes, but there's a lot packed into that thirteen minutes, I thought. And then the composer. There's an interview with the composer Emberto Smaler. I apologize if I've butchered that, but that's really good because the score in this film is quite quite rousing. It's quite moving. I found in places, particularly when some of the elements of the story like are
uncovered towards you. It's quite a hard hitting film towards the end, I thought, anyway, it's quite quite sad and melancholic. But yeah, I employ you to watch this one. I'm sure you will get around to it. You just said you've been busy, but it's yeah. For me. This is probably my favorite forgotten Jali box set that Vinegarson and
put out to date. The combination between the films. I mean, The Obsession will probably make my top ten discoveries of the year for me personally, I was enamored with that film definitely has a lot of rewatch, but I haven't rewatched it yet. I've only watched it like last week. But I can see this one being like in regular rotation in my sort of Jalie watching you know future.
But yeah, the box set concluded with all the special features and stuff is just such a great package and hopefully more people these tend to sell, so it's not like we're trying to, you know, convince people to get these ones, but they tend to more often than not get picked up in sales. I'd say, just from talking to people and experience in community, because these things aren't always the cheapest thing. But I think it's very worth, very much worth the worth the investment. And I love
the artwork as well on these releases. I forget the guys named sam that's Robert Is it Robert samuelin that?
Yeah?
Yeah, his art His art is so good. He's done a load of like the slips and stuff, slip up covers for Vinegar Syndrome, and I'm a big fan of his style. And yeah, he definitely paints an appropriate picture of what's going on in these films. And yeah, big big fan of this box set. Yeah that's all I have to say about Sweets Sweets from a Stranger. I hopefully that's sold it to you to maybe watch that sooner rather than later. But it's a it's a good one.
It's also got really cool. I don't know if you've seen Sallow at all, it's got there's a there's a really small but very great and very memorable performance from Laura Betty. And she plays a sort of an aging sex worker, shall we say. She's been around the block many times, and she has a small scene in the film. She is very very good and I was pleased to see her pop up in the film for for a
brief period. Yeah, she has a small scene in the film, but it's very memorable when one of the one of the best, one of the best scenes in the film. So yeah, look out for that. You can't miss that. She's very distinctive individual. So yeah, so there we go.
Huh. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I think I feel the same way. This is probably if I if I was gonna say, get any of the forgotten Jolly Box. That's this is probably the one I would say to start with. I just the movies are so unique Obsession and Dagger Eyes or missed there. I just I don't know, I just they're just really it's not you know, there's like some films are forgotten for a reason, But I don't think any of these films are forgotten for a reason.
Like I think it's this is truly like good finds to good discoveries for them. Now for the next three that we're gonna talk about, we can go somewhat quick because if I remember you saying correctly, you've not seen the two VSAs and the cinematograph release yet, right.
No, No, I haven't got them. I mean, I mean, I'm definitely interested in getting Shanks and mind Benders looked interesting, but like you know, we all have budgets, so you're gonna have to speedily sell me on these ones.
Scorning in the cafeteria was just another example of the total disrespect these children have for a.
Twenty As I said in the last staff.
Meeting, Kingston High School has had the privilege to be selected by the Behavior Modification Research Institute as a test site for their latest achievement in adolescent psychology.
So we have the VSA forty nine is Mind Benders, which is an Australian I mean Australian a Canadian like twice all right, it's not America, I don't know. Yeah, it's a Canadian teen comedy, teen sci fi comedy. So I really think they were trying to take that one. What's it called Weird Science.
Yeah, to me, it.
Really feels like a Weird Science kind of rip off a little bit. But it's you know, very goofy high school boys as like the leads, it's it's silly, it's you know, they're even from the first scene, you can tell this is not meant to be taken seriously in the sense it's like a it's a horror comedy or a sci fi comedy. And even the reveal of you know, kind of what's going on and like where the killings are coming from and all that is short, and then the movie is just kind of like resolves, So it's
not like this is not a deep one. This is a silly high school So if a movie that you just throw on, if you're bor you know, if you just want to watch, if you're a big fan of maybe like the eighties teen DRAMs or comedies.
I mean I do, I do like that genre. It feels more like hangout et yeah type thing, as you said, not if you're bored, but like it's put on, Like is this the sort of thing that's maybe appropriate to watch with family? Like, l is it not quite that style? Like because you could watch with with weird scientists, like like early teenagers could watch that and it wouldn't be inappropriate,
Like what the on this one? Could you could you watch this with like a not necessarily a young family, but like maybe sort of fairly grown up kids sort of thing.
No, no, no, no, I think fair enough. No you totally no, you could you could? Yeah? Yeah, I think you that's a really interesting question. I think you nailed it. I mean this is a it's not even really a John Hughes type. I mean, this is just like a teen sexy sci fi comedy but light on the sex. I mean, it's it's just more. Yeah, I mean, it's just more.
I don't even know exactly where to put it. So one interesting thing from like a filmmaker perspective is this was a movie directed by Jeanie Joseph As a director, she's probably most well known for spookies and this one will put her on the map a little bit. But she had a long career as an adult actress, as a porn actress before she got into kind of directing, and so there's a there's a cool interview with her on here talking about this movie. Yeah. I don't know.
I mean, I think it's one of those ones that's a pretty clear black and white, Like you either like teen sci fi comedies and this sounds interesting to you, or it's just not gonna buy, Like this is a pretty straightforward wind in my eyes.
Sure.
Uh.
The artworks very enticing. I love I love the slip on this. Yeah, so you know it's it caught my eye for definitely.
So it's a little bit of a well you know what. I don't know how to say that without spoiling it, so let me just say I wouldn't focus too much on the sci fi part. It's in there. But if you're a fan of teen comedies with like a twist, small twist, I think this is right up your ally.
And it it's probably lesser known because it's Canadian, I'm guessing, but it's a well made one, and it's it's very easy to uh, this could stand the way it looks, the way it shot, the writing, it could stand up with any of them.
Awesome.
Yeah, Okay, now we're gonna go in a completely different direction. So dial D for Demons was one I wanted to hate and I ended up liking.
Why did you want to hate it?
So it's it was. It came out in the year two thousand, and it's a very two thousand movie.
And the way it looks okay in.
The sense of you know, there is that it was like digital was kind of taking over. It wasn't like super high quality yet. And this is a movie about six teenagers or maybe no, not teenagers, six like young adults. They go away on this trip and the house is haunted and the horror starts right the scenes where it's
just the six friends. They're super obnoxious. It's almost like, you know, like a Bad Friday the thirteenth movie or something, or just something where the way the characters interacting and she's like, oh my god, this is brutal, but I will give them credit because this is a So there's a pretty famous director who's behind this, a guy named
Billy Tang, probably most famous for Doctor Lamb. Yeah, so the guy knows how to make people uncomfortable, and when the movie turns, he does a good job of keeping the surprises up and also keeping the the mystery up. Like there's some scenes in this movie in the back half that if you told me Kyoshi Kurosawa directed it, I wouldn't argue with you.
Okay, that's my price.
Yeah, exactly, Like there's it's a good turn. I'm not going to say it necessarily looks like a typical Kyoshi Kursla movie because it is that low budget digital style of filmmaking from the early two thousands, but the way that he holds tension and uses music and the acting and everything to like build this horror is very well done, and I was surprised at how much I ended up liking this, even though you just have to get past the first fifteen minutes. There are some people that like
a lot of those types of horror movies. Almost you see it more in slasher, I think, where it's like a group of friends getting together and then something happens. But this one is not a slasher. It's not I don't think really at all. It's just it's more of a it's probably closer to like Juan or you know, the Grudge or the Ringu. It's almost more along those lines than it is like a slasher. And the description of the killer and like what's going on is is
well done. It's like a it's sweet, I mean not sweet, but like it's well done and it's surprisingly it's disarming in a way. It's not what you would expect. That's why I said kind of sweet. This almost has like a sweet spirit to it almost, which is but in a good way. Yeah, so dial do you for Demons? I would say this one of the two new vsays this month, This one is more in line with like what I enjoy mind Vendors for me is not one that I would typically buy, but I mean I'll keep it.
It's it's not bad. I just I don't love those teen sci fi comedies as much.
Yeah, one thing before we move on to the last release, what did you manage to watch the video essay by Sam Degan on the on the disk? Because that I didn't realize she'd done that. That's usually a selling point for me.
Yeah, I'm really glad you called that out. No, I didn't get to the I was running out of time. But when I was watching this, I didn't get to the special features Undealathy for Humans, although I would love to hear Sam Deagan talk about Billy Tang because she's very good at Cat three in general, and this was a very very influential director, so I have to imagine that video, I say, is fantastic.
Yeah, no doubt.
Malcolm Shanks here is no evil. He speaks no evil because he's too busy making good people walk. If you're nervous and you feel you people, Malcolm will show you how to relax. The great artist Marcel Marceau plays Malcolm Shanks and many other forms of life rated.
Peachy all right? So I would say I'm a fan of cinematograph, and in that line, there are some movies that are great, but I have found the movie within cinematograph that now defines it for me.
Okay, tell me more So.
The cinematograph release for this month is a William Castle movie. It's called Shanks, and it blew my mind. So watching this film is I should mention they're up to the tent. So this is the tenth release in cinematograph and and I'm gonna be abrupt and do one more interjection and say if just because people are thinking about the cell, this has twenty four hundred copies left as of it's I wouldn't say it's selling great initially, which is a shame.
And this is one that I'm gonna say, like of all the ones we've talked about today, I would say The Tenant and Corpse Mania are both like ones that I would say or must have. And this is the third. Oh no, the Forgotten Jolly was really good too. Damn it. They did a good They did a good job this month in general. But okay, this movie feels like this is gonna be a very specific movie. Did you ever see Jack Demi's Donkey Skin?
No, I've never seen that film.
It's okay, So that's a it's another fairy tale, and then there's a this has it's This is a celebration of first of all, Marcel Marceau, who for years was the world's most famous mime, and this was him. He did a few roles just a few years before he made this. He spoke for the first time on camera. Oh no, oh no, it was after this he spoke for the first time on camera, and when he spoke, it was irony because mel Brooks got him to come into a silent movie. Mel Brooks made that movie called
a silent movie. The whole thing was an actual silent film and the only person who spoke in it was Marcel Marceau and you got to hear his voice say no, just a little bit of playful irony. But this movie stars Marcel as a character who does not speak, although there is talkie talking in the film. There is music in the film. It's not a totally silent film, but he does not speak. He's a puppeteer and he finds this device that allows him to take dead bodies and
move them around, almost like weekend at Bernie style. So it's not that they're reanimated, they're just they're recently deceased, so they don't stink yet they don't. They don't, they're not Their face is still the same color, you know, it hasn't started to get whiter or they've started to decompose.
And he's able to move them around and have them walk, and like he goes shopping with them at one point, pull stuff off the shelf, and he's able to do all this control over them and then things turn a
little bit. You get to see the character kind of has a little bit too much fun realizing that he's you know, can he now wants there to be dead people because he can play with them or and have friends now and like the world that he once right, But yeah, it is just amazing, Like like this movie is it's a celebration to I would say classic filmmaking and that they have a lot of They have like intertitles like a silent film would have, and it's a
celebration of puppetry, that kind of old style of entertainment, like almost like a circus style entertainment. Right, he's set. Marceau himself has this really it's he has like a Geene Wilder style of like empathy and sweetness to him. So you know, Gene Wilder is this crazy guy, but when you need him to be emotional, he can pull it off, right, Yeah, yeah, sure, And I think Marceau has a very similar energy to me. Uh there's a weird relationship with a teenage girl, but it's never made bad.
It's maybe a little bit uncomfortable, but keeping in mind that this is a fairy tale that is more common in fairy tales for an adult puppeteer to be making birthday gifts for this young girl and like helping her get ready for her birthday party and getting addressed for her, and like things like that that in any other context would be huge red flags. Because this is a fairy tale. I think it's Yeah, I think they pull it off well. That balance there, it's a very very delicate balance, but
I think they pull it off. This is a movie that is weird to me.
In all the beautiful ways, and when it gets there's moments that become very sad in it.
And when it gets sad, I think it's also handled well. And then it the final the sequence or like near the end, there's a big sequence that changes color tone for a moment, and yeah, I just think, like I think that this is one of those movies that it is a singular experience. There's characters that enter the film late in the movie that have a big that are new and then have a big influence on the outcome
of the film. So even from a writing perspective, it's not like you don't get to build up with this world. You know, it's it's it's all done very much by somebody who just had like a very specific story to tell and told it without regard to a lot of filmmaking conventions. But yeah, it's just of all the finds that Liberty is able to pull in with the cinematograph line, this to me is just one of those movies that's
going to stick with me for a long time. And I cannot wait to get into the Kim Newman commentary on this because I would love to hear Kim Newman talk about William Castle.
Oh yeah, I love Kim Kim Newman's commentaries and just like his interviews and stuff on discs. So yeah, I'm probably gonna pick this one up in like what eleven days or so because the Black Friday so or yeah Black Friday stuff, so so I know it won't be on sale for then, but I'll just add it to my basket and purchase this one for it for it's gone, because I was interested in it. From what you've been saying about it, it sounds like I must must get disc So yeah, it's just it sounds fantastic.
They brought in a lot of the heavy hitters, so there's essays by Heather Draine Alexander Nicholas Murray leader like this is you know, they really brought in the heavy hitters for this. Daniel Kremer has a good, good visual essay that I can't wait to check out. So and then there's you know, there's this thing in So you know, Monsieur Roulo and like Jack Tutti, right, Yeah, that guy Jack Tutti had this sadness in a lot of his films because he was sort of like mourning the world
changing faster than he wanted it to change. And I think when you look at a lot of these classic performers, one thing they all had in common was the sense of like sadness in their eyes, right, And I think sol mar So does it very well. He has a deep sadness that is unique and I think it's just is wonderful. And I think that when the movie needs to go sad, it does it beautifully, and when it needs to be light he also has a good smile. And yeah, I just to me, this.
Is a muston, awesome, fantastic. Well, I know you sometimes you usually talk about some of the partner label, but I'm not sure I have time to talk about those today.
So it's Okay, it was a good month for partner releases. But you know, one other thing I'm gonna do is in December is a partner only month.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
So I'll probably spend a little bit more time just highlighting certain labels and talking about releases from the last few months in those things, because it's getting a wieldy in a in a good way. I love the.
Partner yeah, for sure, I'm I'm Yeah, I pick up a fair amount of them, A big fan of like Agfur and I've been really getting into sav stuff, so I've got a lot of the Satin's Core stuff, interested in just so much the Canaloge Bleeding Skull. I've been a huge fan of the stuff that they've put out as like a budding label. So yeah, it's all it's all very overwhelming though.
Yeah, I want to do Yeah, I really like Cunnie as well. I think they find some really unique movies. So yeah, I'm gonna spend some more time on that in December. But now, look, uh love your perspective on film. It seems like we're we're aligned at a lot and what we like about movies and why we like them. So it's fun to talk to you.
Yeah, it's been. It's been great. It's been great. Thanks for having me on the show. It's been it's been a blast. Thank you so much.
Yeah, I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you Sam. Well, that was awesome, Sam, Thank you so much for for doing that. That's cool. I love I love the passion and it's great to sit down with a fellow recovering snob as it were. Uh, let's see vinegar syndrome through that lens. We have a treat. Celeste Lacabra is back, so let's see. Let's see what's on the docket for the adult titles this month. My name is Catherine Burgess. I'm a Vogue model and star of the new X
rated thriller Through the looking Glass. As I'm talking to you, I'm really dead. Through the looking Glass.
Penthouse calls it a work of art, while Playboy says it's a landmark movie proving that hardcore can be handled with class. Come through the looking Glass and experience this year's most controversial motion picture. Through the looking Glass raated X.
Okay, good evening everyone. My name is Celeste la Cabra and welcome back. It's fifteen Minutes with You, the segment where I review all the new titles on the Melusine site, So all the X rated adult and sexploitation films. Freaks and perverts rejoice as we are back yet again. This time we're only discussing one release, but it is quite the doozy, so I guess let's just get into it.
You know what, though, First, I'm just going to say that I have decided on keeping that name because I think it is appropriate and I think it gives me a good barometer or a sort of time frame to shoot for so that I keep my yapping to a reasonable.
Sort of limit.
Okay, So the only release we'll be talking about today is Spine number three for the proper official Malusine line. The name of the film is Through the Looking Glass. It is directed by Jonas Middleton or Joseph as his real name is. And first, let me just say some things about the Malucine line in general, because I think that they continue to knock it out of the park.
I have all three of them. I've watched all three of them, the first one being the Tale of Tiffany Lust and the second one being Blonde Ambition and then the third one being this obviously, first of all, the packaging.
If you're a real packaging freak, like you've really got to get on these for real, Like they are so fucking cool, like they're they're like a dive a chocolate bars or something like they're so maybe that's not the best point of comparison because that's not actually a particularly boogie product or whatever, but they feel elaborate and sleek
and beautiful and like Art Deco or something. You know, it's got that like very beautiful, classy New York aesthetic to the packaging, like they really did a good job in creating something unique. I don't know how to describe the shape in which the slip cases, but it's like maybe like a ribbon or something.
I don't fucking know. It's like it's a top.
Loading slipcase and then you can just see it on the website and then you can tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, but it's almost like like a bass relief or something like you pull the top off, no pun intended, and then there's like alternate artwork underneath of it, and it's like in a kind of a like an arrow like a downfacing arrow shape, I suppose, and then you pull the slipcover out, and the slipcovers are completely custom made too, in that they
are sideloading slip instead of top loading. So the sort of why access of the slowcover is the part that is hollowed out or open or where you insert the case itself, and then they come with booklets and art cards and it's just a whole thing. Also the packaging itself. The slipcases are like a very soft kind of matt finished to them. There's really nothing else like it, and you know, VS continues to up their game and invent new things in terms of packaging, but this might be
my favorite like packaging that I've seen. Really, it's just.
Gorgeous and it's a little bit of.
A pain when you have to pop the disc in and out all the time. But in any case, the line has been exclusively four K at least so far, and all the transfers have been wonderful, and all the films have been really good too, Like Taylor Tiffany Lust is great, but Blonde Ambition Man is so fucking good. So that's your quick mini review on that. But I would say if you're trying to get into adult films. I'm gonna recommend that, and I'm gonna recommend this, And
it just kind of depends. You're the meme of the guy at the Fork of the Road and you have two paths in front of you.
Okay, here's to the left.
You have Blonde Ambition, which is gonna be if you're gonna do like comedies and like lighthearted fair and maybe like classic Hollywood screwball stuff, romantic comedies, that kind of thing. If you're into that, you should get Blonde Ambition. You should watch that. And if you're into sick, depraved, fucking bizarre horror art house, you should get Through the Looking Glass. Okay, So gosh, there's so much to talk about with this. I will say that the supplements on this are excellent
and you're gonna get your money's worth on this thing. Yeah, there's an entire second feature length film. It is a Middleton's first feature length film, and it's fucking awful. But we'll get to that in due time. Let's first talk about Through the Looking Glass. So it's essentially about a woman who is haunted by the ghost or a demon something like that. The visage of her recently deceased father.
How do I talk about this without any spoilers? I'm not sure if talking about this would be a spoiler. Let's just say that she.
Is tempted into.
A world of depravity beyond a mirror in her attic, and so beyond that mirror there is just like fantastical worlds of sexual depravity.
Let's just say that.
If you know what the ICU is, if you've been a follower of my ventures and you're familiar with that, this qualifies as does the other film. There's a theme going on with this director. And look, I'm not judging or anything, but like, come on, man, something going on there.
You know what I'm saying.
Anyway, the film is kind of a tough watch. It's not particularly erotic, although there are sub scenes that are fairly erotic and fairly sexy. I'm the lead actress is gorgeous. Jamie Gillis is in it as he always is, killing it as he always does. What else is going on here? Gosh, it's so much I don't know. A lot of the promotional material talked about it as being like a sort of landmark artistic achievement in terms of the erotic Space or like the sex film Space, and I would agree
with that. I think Sam Degan said that it was the best hardcore film ever made. Is certainly one of my favorites that I've seen. Like, I wouldn't dispute that characterization. Oh, it was compared to Fellini. That's for you, Chris, So you should go ahead and get this too, host of this podcast.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's just there's really nothing quite like it, and it is so bizarre and so disturbing and so depraved, and there's also sexy parts in it. But like, you know, he said explicitly that he made this to kind of antagonize the type of audience member that would go see something like this, and I think he succeeded because I can't imagine anybody sitting down like wanting to jerk off to this and feeling like they got their money's worth. Like,
I mean, sure, there's some parts. I mean maybe you will if you're just you know what, back in the day, you had to take what you could get, right, But like, this is clearly more of an artistic achievement rather than a sort of purient or erotic one. The context surrounding the film is so interesting and there's so much to get into. I'm like, I want to talk more about the film itself, but I don't want to spoil it. You know, like there's so much crazy shit that happens
here that it's best experience blind. I think, Oh, there is like an endoscopic shot of sorts. There is an extended health sequence at the end. There is just truly insane, insane shit going on in here. And I don't know if you can tell I'm gushing it bit. I really loved it, but it's is not for everybody. There's going to be heavy trigger warnings and there's going.
To be heavy caveats.
I subjected one of my normy friends to this and they were less than enthused about it.
So there's that.
Okay, let's just go into the supplements.
Okay.
So there's two audio commentary options. One is like a new audio commentary.
Okay.
So Ashley Western, the REALTA Report is just all over this.
I'm kind of shocked that this is like the first time that Finninger Syndrome and Ashley West and the rialto Report have like collaborated, because it's like a perfect match, and I think he's going to be doing a lot of this stuff going forward, which makes a lot of sense because, like, if you've listened to the Realso Report, which you should if you haven't, it is like genuinely a perfect podcast and like professional like documentary level journalism
and historian or historical analysis going on, and so it's great to see him taking a very sort of active approach with this stuff. But he does a new audio commentary with the director, but also the episode that he did with Jonas Middleton is another option for the audio track, and since the podcast is only an hour long, it does just kind of stop an hour into it in
the last thirty minutes are silent. I was kind of wondering how they were going to do that, but that's that option makes sense to me because the alternative is just to create an hour long video file of something of sorts, and that's taking up unnecessary space, So that.
Makes sense to me.
The podcast episode, it is available just on the regular Reals to Report feed. I would recommend listening to that even if you don't buy this release. It's a great episode. You'll learn a lot and you know, maybe it'll get you into the podcast if you never listened to it before. But really, okay, so what I want to talk about. I feel like I'm spoiling something here too, but this
is just so fascinating. It's not spoiling the film. But the director was raised in a very conservative Baptist church in New Orleans, I think, or Georgia, deep South shit, you know. And that's not necessarily surprising in and of itself when you see the film. What's surprising is that he maintained that faith through the making of all his
pornographic films and even to this day. And he kind of says, look, I'm gonna be upfront with you, like I justified this in my head at the time, like I was doing this to get get a career going, and this was kind of what I felt.
I had to do. I was, you know, I was.
I was putting in messages here to warn people away from this lifestyle. But you know, I'm not sure that I do this today because I think I was the problem. There's even a disclaimer slash like warning at the end of the booklet where he writes a message to the reader and to the audience like, Hey, I made this film to dissuade people from this lifestyle. I hope you
take that away from this. There's an interview with him on this that Ashley West conducted apparently back in like two thousand and six, but it looks very contemporary, probably because Elijah Dreunner, editor, filmmaker, documentary and Extraordinaire over at VS cut together the video for it, so it looks pretty contemporary and pretty fresh. But in that one, he gets into his kind of current sort of views, and it's unfortunate, you know, like that fundamental is upbringing, definitely
latched a hooks in. They're good, and you know he's kind of just has like dogshit politics. Now he's like talking about how a woman's place is in the home and like men are like weak willed and need a woman to keep them in line, and like men just want sex and as long as a woman can provide sex and like a good meal, like she's a good wife. It's just like, I don't know, you know, he can play the part of like a like a like a conservative family man or whatever, like a traditional values type
of guy. But look, there are certain themes running through his work. I'm I'm pretty sure this dude's a freak and is just kind of repressing it.
And I mean, you know what, do what you gotta do.
Apparently he has a wife and a kid and he's happy.
More powers to you. I guess what else.
Okay, So there's the there's the sequence at the end, but without all the filters applied. It's just kind of a raw scan to kind of show a point in comparison, which is interesting. It's a quick locations featurette. There's a theatrical trailer for both of the films included, and uh, one of the things that I found intensely uncomfortable. The trailer for Through the Looking Glass is pretty good. It
definitely sells the film. Like I was watching it and I was like, I mean, if I had seen this trailer back in the day, my fucking my ass would be seated, you know what I'm saying, Like, this looks dope as fuck. And then at the end it says is this something like, uh, scenes shot with the fourteen year old girl or something like. It says that explicitly, and it's so gross. Okay, So there is a fourteen
year old girl in the movie. She's not in any of the explicit scenes, and she was actually sort of cast or I guess put in contact with the director by her mother, who wanted her to be in movies and stuff, and they took great care apparently to like make sure she wasn't around any X rated material or anything like that. But she is in the movie, and it is a little uncomfortable in and of itself. But to then put that in the promotion promotional material is like,
pretty pretty gross. It's the implication is that you're gonna watch, you know, child sex abuse in a movie, and that's pretty fucked up.
But that's, you know, that's its own thing.
I guess.
Okay, Cherry Blossom from nineteen seventy two. This one is not even on letterbox yet, but I'm going to add it as soon as I finished recording. But it's his first feature film. It's about a young girl who has sex with her aunt and then a bunch of other people.
That's kind of it.
So more entries into the ICU. It's a consistent theme, is all I'm saying.
I don't know what's going on there, but this movie's terrible.
It's fucking awful. It is excruciating. It is truly an endurance test. One last thing I'll say about it, and then I think I'm done with a segment.
Oh real quick.
There's a booklet in here with an essay from Ashley West And actually, I think if you pick one thing to engage with other than the podcast, which I think you should listen to regardless, read this essay.
It's excellent.
He really consolidates all the information and all the other sources into one place. The one thing I will note is that I'm not sure who edited this booklet, but it needed a second pass. There was some pretty egregious typos and clearly like a few sentences didn't make sense, and I'm pretty sure that they were just that there were mistakes they needed to be corrected.
This is going to drive me crazy.
If somebody knows what I'm talking about and can help me understand something. There's a sentence in there that has just like it looks like he kind of mashed the keyboard at the end, and I'm like, I was like googling that word is if I'm missing something, and like, I think it's just an egregious typo or something. I don't know what's going on there. Maybe I'm just missing something. Anyway, the essay is great. You should check it out.
Oh, Cherry Blossom.
One other thing that I'll complain about is that there's no subtitles for Cherry Blossom. It's fine that Vineger Syndrome has stopped subtitling all their special features. It makes my job harder, but I understand where they're coming from. But if you're gonna do a feature film on there, you should subtitle it. That's my little two cents there, Cherry Blossom. You know, it's his first foray into filmmaking, into feature filmmaking anyway. Apparently he did a short film that he
owns the rights to. I don't know why it's not on here. His second feature is not on here either. I'm guessing there's going to be a follow up release with that in the shorts included. That would be great. But Cherry Blossom, Okay, this fucking thing has the worst dubbing I've ever seen in any film I've ever seen in my life. Like it's not even close. They're not
even trying. They're not even attempting to try. There's they'll be fully like somebody is eating pussy and has full lines of dialogue, or like sucking dick and there's full lines of dialogue, or make out with someone and there's full lines of dialogue or it'll just be it'll be right on those person's face and their their mouth is clearly not moving at all, but there it is dialogue running as if a fucking person is speaking.
That's annoying.
But what's even more egregious to me is that like several times somebody will speak and the line that they're speaking will come several seconds before or after. Is like, just just match it.
You did the thing. It's fine.
Like they clearly they clearly did not have a script, and they're like, fucking go hard, do whatever, fuck each other, we'll figure it out and post. And then they just I'm not even convinced there was a script for the person in the dialogue booth, but whatever, they went off did their thing. It's terrible. It's just like if you're not gonna just like just don't just don't do it. Just don't do it, just do it right, write the script in the first place, or just don't have dialogue.
You don't need it.
It's fine, okay, because it's like mostly during the sex scenes that they're just like talking on top of it, and like you can maybe get away with like an inner dialogue kind of thing, but that's clearly not what's happening because they're communicating.
I don't know.
It really bothered me.
One last thing I'll say about it, and then I think I'm going to wrap up the segment for today. You know, at some point when I was watching this, I was I told my friend I was watching it with. I was like, I feel like this is like the closest thing we could get to if like aliens tried to create a pornographic film.
Like it's so bizarre, it doesn't work.
It's like someone imitating what sexuality might look like. And then I was like, you know what fundamentalist conservative Christian is about the closest you can get to an alien trying to make porn. So okay, I'll leave it at that. The release is excellent, by it. Check it out. It's an important film. I think it's a really transgressive, fascinating one, especially given the context in which it was created. It
was funded by a church. That's fucking crazy, right, All of his films were funded by like rich yuppies who go to a church in New York. Crazy shit, different world we're living, and let me tell you that's it subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want more stuff like this, support me on Patreon if you want. It is appreciated. I'm gonna hand it back over to our boys, and until then, remember that the wages of sin are our fear and death.
Praise God.
Okay, well we did at y'all. Episode eight in the books. Can't wait. On December first, or right around the first of December, we'll have Heather drain on. She's going to talk about a lot of different things, including a lot of the releases she's on and whatever is on Partner month that gets announced. So I can't wait. Right now. We know there's twenty one titles coming out, so it's going to be a busy, busy day and Heather's the best.
So I can't wait to get that episode recorded and get it up to y'all within you know, the first couple of days of the month. All right, Thanks, She'll see you around.
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