Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Film Finder brought to you by Pioneer Library System.
Hi everybody.
[00:00:14] Speaker C: Just a quick producer's note from producer Ben here.
We had a little bit of technical difficulty recording this one, but luckily I had a backup going. So if you notice that the audio quality is a little different than usual, just bear with us for this episode. I did what I could to kind of spruce it up, but otherwise it's totally listenable. Thanks for bearing with us and enjoy the episode.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to five Minute Film Finder, a Pioneer Library System podcast where we talk about films that you can watch with your Pioneer Library System library card. I'm Tracy and today I'm joined by Ben and we're going to talk about some light hearted animated films. Just kidding. It's October.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it is scary season and we we've got some fun, like twisted versions of some scary movies.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Some campy one in the more kind of like accidental 1950s kind of way. Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: And like kind of the born where like horror camp was kind of born of just like, oh, we did this earnestly. But we also had such a flair for the dramatic.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: It was theatrical. And then another one that is campy and gruesome.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: But we're gonna start out with some campy and theatrical first.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Great.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: This is my film choice. So I'm gonna have Wilhelm start the timeline and we're gonna talk about House on haunted Hill from 1959.
That's the vibe of the whole movie.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: A disembodied head floats onto screen and I just went, all right.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: And then a second disembodied head floats on the screen and you're like, how much of this movie is going to be disembodied heads?
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's giving monologue.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: It's great.
And how much of it is going to be Vincent Price going, isn't my wife amusing? He says, I don't know, 18 times in the movie. I love this movie. And it was directed by William Castle, who is a guy who was kind of known for making these B horror 1950s films.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: And I think quite a few of his films have been remade too.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: They have been.
He was also a producer of Rosemary's Baby, so that was like his big success. But I was gonna say he did direct the original version of thirteen Ghosts.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: He's made several. And the cast of this is. The main person that you probably care about is Vincent Price. Yes.
A lot of these are a lot of other kind of like cinema day players at the time. Carl Oldman, Richard Long, Alan Marshall, Carolyn Craig. And then the other one that I knew was Elisha Cook Jr. Who is the first embodied head. He plays Pritchard.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: The guy such a striking, scared faced man.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: He is a real. That guy.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: And I really love him. Yes.
So the IMD plot synopsis of the film is. Eccentric millionaire Frederick Lorde invites five strangers to spend one night locked in a haunted old mansion on a dark and stormy night to earn $10,000 each. A twisted game of frights, suspicion and murder ensues just right on the head. I think they nailed it.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: This movie is.
It is a horror movie, but it's very much a horror movie like the 1950s. She found a head. Isn't that scary?
A hand reached out of the dark. Isn't that scary?
[00:03:54] Speaker B: She saw a scary face.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Oh, scary screaming.
So it's so. Because everything is so heightened, there's nothing that I would really. There are probably like what are technically jump scares in this, but they feel very forecast like this probably. I have to imagine 1959 was like astonishing. Right? Like, you know, like probably a lot of this stuff hadn't been done or else this movie wouldn't be such a classic.
But watching it now, the thing that is fun about it is not so much the scares as it is how everyone is reacting.
How absolutely, absolutely wicked Vincent Price is. This whole movie just him like serving one liners and drinks and being rude and just the first scene. I don't think it spoils anything to talk about the first scene with his wife. Yeah, she is his fourth wife. They hate each other.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Just simmering. But like the rich, polite, like simmering withering comments.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: And in a way where you can tell that there was like a. Like, you understand why they got married.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Oh yeah, they had fun.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: There's a chemistry there. But he basically is like, ah, yes, that time you snuck arsenic into my food. And she's like, the doctor said it was something you ate. And you're like, he ate arsenic in what did you feed him? 1700 apple seeds?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: What are you talking about?
[00:05:27] Speaker A: I think that's actually cyanide, but it's so heightened. And I think that's what William Castle was really, really good at.
One of the things that he was known for was he would do these sort of spooky interactive theater things in movie theaters where his films were shown. So he had it. There's a scene in this film where a skeleton comes out and sort of floats around.
And he had a skeleton rigged in as many theaters as he could to, like, come out with, like, glowing red eyes and float over the crowd.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: That's incredible.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: To, like, scare people.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: So it was super, super fun. And just if that sounds like campy and silly to you that anyone would do that, then you're gonna love this movie. Cause that's what this whole movie is. It's like handing out guns to all the participants in, like, handmade gun coffins.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: That's fine. Did you have a favorite scare from this?
[00:06:28] Speaker A: I mean, I think there's a first big one where there is a character that we do not know, and she shows up out of nowhere. And I think that's probably. But there's also a vat of acid in this movie.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: And I do love the vat of acid.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Just a lingering, like. Well, that's gonna come into play.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: It's just like. And that's in the basement. And we'll talk about that.
55 minutes and you're like, great. I can't wait for the vat of acid to come back.
Sorry, I don't understand. Oh, and I don't either.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. Siri had to interlude there.
Okay.
My favorite scare was a small one. It was the monster hand that just
[00:07:15] Speaker A: reaches around and that actually never gets brought up again.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: It has nothing to do with anything.
But when the scared woman who I think is a typist, that is just
[00:07:25] Speaker A: from the company for Vincent Price character.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: And she is the poor one who is tortured this evening.
Yeah. But she's already scared from some other thing that just happened. And she stops at the top of a staircase, and then a monster hand just reaches around and grabs her shoulder and it just resets her to.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: So good at screaming. She is great.
I think this movie is really, really fun. If you do like those classic horror films that are pretty camp and pretty heightened, I think this one has stuck around as a classic of Vincent Prices for a reason. I think it's a pretty fun plot. I think he is devastating in it.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: Positive. Love it.
So if you just kind of want to see Vincent Price snipe at people for, like, an. And it's only an hour and 15 minutes.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Yeah. It's an easy, breezy watch. Like, throw this on in the background of a party or. Yeah, it's very, like, good ambiance.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Yes. Because it is in black and white and everyone's dressed pretty divinely. Like, everyone looks really good.
So it's just really fun. Not super. I think you could show this to, like, a tween and that would be true. But if you're like, oh, well, let's watch a spooky movie, then I think this would be a perfect movie.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: I think the scariest stuff is like implied death.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Yes, that's a Bassett. Yeah, that's a Bassett just living in basements.
But that is. Oh, and then there is also. I did want to mention a pretty terrible remake from 1999 that I do love that does have Joffrey Rush just being Vincent Price in it. And he's also pretty divine. We don't have that on Canopy or Hoopla, but we do have it as a dvd.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Oh, great.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: I have a library, so if you want to get on Canopy.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: I was actually trying to find it
[00:09:15] Speaker A: so I could show it. We have it on dvd so you can watch this on. I think it's on Canopy and Hoopla. And then you can rent the 1990.
And it does at least have Taye Diggs in it. Who's. We love him.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: And it's very 1999. So it's.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: It's so 1999.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: It's a big fun vibe.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: Yes, the Chris Catayans as a serious character, he doesn't do well.
But back to back those, if you want to have a silly fun time, that's House on Haunted Hill.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: All right, we'll take a quick break and we'll be back with our next movie.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: All right, and we're back with five Minute Film Finder. Ben, are you ready to talk about your much gorier campy movie? I am.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: And Wilhelm, start the timer. And I will be talking about.
What's the year for this one? It is 2025's the Monkey.
This is. Let's kick it off with the IMDb synopsis. So when twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives growing apart over the years. That is kind of what happens, but kind of like smears all the details to a much blander movie than what this is.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Yes, because I will say the first. That covers essentially the first 30 to 40 minutes of this hour and 40 minute movie. The other part of this movie is. And the monkey comes back and there's a whole bunch of deaths.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
So warning right off the top for this one. If extreme gore and violent deaths is a no go for you with your horror movies or any movies, please avoid this film. It's quite intense.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: Like the plague.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: I will say that all of the death is played for comedy, this is, I would say, by definition a horror comedy.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Everything is heightened to absurd levels for. For the laughs of it.
I really love the way that it was opened up with that cold opening with Adam Scott, who is presumably their father and is trying to get rid of the monkey. And then a absurd death happens and then flamethrower and Adam Scott screaming, and the movie kicks off and you're just like, okay, I get the vibe.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: It does set the tone of like, hey, get ready for a lot of essentially death Rube Goldberg machines for sure.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Just like the most ridiculous way that a person could possibly die. They describe them in the movie as, like a slate of freak accidents. And you're like, I don't even know if that covers it, babe.
This movie is by Osgood Perkins, who I think you guys have talked about on the podcast before. You guys have covered long legs.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: We've done long legs.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: The legs, they're too long.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: I have never seen long legs. You seem to continue to be traumatized by long legs.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: I was traumatized and like, I think it was really good. But it's like one of those movies where it's like, I never need to sample that again. It's like, it was incredibly upsetting.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: How do you feel this compares for people who maybe got onto the long legs train and then didn't catch on with the monkey, which I think is super fun.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it, like, plays on the. On Osgood Perkins strengths of, like, visual, like, mastery of, like, horror and like, also the comedy of it. Because, like, there's some also, like, weird, funny stuff in Long Legs, but it's not like, played for laughs. It's just like, oh, how weird and unsettling this is. And because I believe he comes from a comedy or improv background, I think
[00:13:27] Speaker A: he is so the first time or
[00:13:28] Speaker B: like, comedy writer, maybe.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: When I saw Osgood Perkins and why I continue to love him is cause he's one of the friends in Legally Blonde.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Ah, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: He is really fun and he's like a really tall guy. He's got, like a really interesting kind of goofy look. He is a character in this movie and plays that, like, is extremely goofball weirdo where you're just like, ugh, what is that? Wearing those mutton chop sideburns. Delicious. Loved it. So I think he does have kind of a twisted sense of humor. And I think that the horror comedy and guys who come from the comedy background doing horror films, because I think he is friends with Jordan Peele, and he's been in some of Jordan Peele's work.
It makes a lot of sense to. I mean, that those two guys maybe hang out. Yeah.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Another important facet of this film is it is based on a Stephen King story.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: It very much feels like that in the characters because everybody's so mean.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: And it's in Maine. Yeah.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: And it's in Maine.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: If someone is mean in Maine.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: It's probably a Stephen King joint,
[00:14:38] Speaker B: though. I feel like this was like the most.
I feel like he felt the fun of that vibe a little bit better than a lot of other Stephen King movies where it just feels like, oh, I don't like anybody in this movie.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah. It can get kind of rough.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's why I never really jumped onto a lot of Stephen King stuff until I kind of, like, adjusted my sensibility.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: But even though there is a gang of extremely mean middle school girls in
[00:15:06] Speaker B: this film, and I think that's Wilhelm. But we must talk about the mean middle school girls. That was so funny.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: So funny.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: It's like, it's pretty rude of you to run off your dad like that. So your mom has to wear the pants in the house.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Seems like we have a pants problem.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah. But creative kills in this movie, which is like a. A big thing for, like, horror fans. So, like, if you're just like.
If you like the Final Destination series and you're just like, what are they gonna come up with? This is like a movie full of
[00:15:46] Speaker A: that kind of series. Yes. And I think the actors in it are really fun too. Tatiana Maslany plays the twins mother during the early parts of the season.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: And she steals away even though she's only in about, like 15 minutes of the movie.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Great. And then former teen heartthrob Theo James.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Plays the older version of the twins. And I think he does a really great job of just making them seem like distant weirdos.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Where you're just like, what is wrong with these men?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: What happened to them? You're like, oh, right. They're not.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's been bad.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: I think it really works.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And like, it's fun to see, like, the grown up version of the bad brother, like, how he just kind of, like, lost it.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: His house.
We don't have time. But his house is crazy. But yeah. It does also manage to be about, like, family and fatherhood and then also all of these kills. And also about how sometimes monkeys. Toys are evil.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And they get so much mileage out of just like, zooming in on the monkey or. Or like, coming into focus on the
[00:17:02] Speaker A: monkey space to the props department.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: And it's just like, they nailed the design on that thing. That is just like, yep, that monkey's evil for sure.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: When he becomes activated and you can see his teeth and you're just like, ugh.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
Nothing good could come of this.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Nothing good can come of this. But something good could come of it if you decided you wanted to watch the monkey. Cause I think we both had a silly, fun time with it.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: I think if you let it wash over you.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Watch it with friends. I think this is a good, like. Like, watch with a group kind of movie.
Yeah. I enjoy your month of spooky movies. We have so many to offer on the streaming services. We. We had fun.
I'm sure we'll get at least one other episode.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: We'll get at least one other episode. My bad. It'll be another horror show because that is. That is an area of interest for most of the people who host this podcast. So look forward to some more spooky films. If spooky films aren't your thing, great news. There are tons of films on Houplan Canopy. You can check out our back episodes for something that isn't scary and find something there that you like.
Just watch some good movies. Yeah. It's getting to be cozy season.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Get under a blanket.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
All right, enjoy. Bye. Bye.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: Five Minute Film Finder is a digital program brought to you by Pioneer Library System in Oklahoma.
All opinions expressed in this episode are those of the host and not those of the organization.
Five Minute Film Finder is produced, recorded and mixed by Ben Si Theme music by Ben Si.
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please email podcastioneerlibrarysystem.org Remember to, like, review and subscribe. Thanks for listening.
