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Guest: Author and Movie Reviewer Bryan Krystopowitz
23 Plays16 days ago
This week 411Mania reviewer and new author Bryan Krystopowitz schools host Wednesday Lee Friday on the finer points of action movies with small budgets, the perils of affordable stunt work, and why representation is such a touchy topic in film. We also talk about why adult friendships are hard, why JD Vance should be ridden out of town on a rail, and we parse whether Sharknado movies are really better than Inhumanwich.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Sponsor
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to The Mentally Oddcast, where we talk with creatives about neurodivergence, trauma, addiction, and all the other things that impact and inform our art. Our goal is to show everyone that no matter what you're going through, you are not alone and you can make art about it.
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Speaker
Music
00:00:34
Speaker
You are listening to the Mentally Oddcast.
Guest Introduction: Brian Kristopoulos
00:00:36
Speaker
My name is Wednesday, leave Friday, and we are brought to you by Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine. Do find us on coffee. This week, we are talking to Brian Kristopoulos, and I hope I did not massacre his name.
00:00:51
Speaker
ah He's actually been a regular writer for the movie section at 411mania.com, and he's been there since 2005.
00:00:59
Speaker
His focus is on new and old B-movies, indie genre movies, and the people that make them. He is probably best known for the Gratuitous B-movie column, which he started in 2008. His first book is Not Coming to a Theater Near You.
00:01:18
Speaker
his first book is not coming to a theater near you 50 great direct-to-video action flicks of the early 2000s. And it was just released by Bear Manor Media.
00:01:31
Speaker
ah Brian is graduate of Long Island University, Southampton College, with a degree in English. And he also wants everyone to know that B-movie is not slur and that the world would be better off if everyone watched more B-movies. It just would be.
00:01:48
Speaker
Welcome, Brian. I very much agree. Well, thank you for having me, Wednesday. and I'm glad you agreed. It is pleasure. Well, here's
First Horror Movie Experiences
00:01:58
Speaker
the thing. We always start the show by asking guests to tell us about the first horror movie they remember seeing.
00:02:05
Speaker
But if you want to tell us about your first B-movie in another genre, you can do that, too. Well, no, I'll answer the horror movie question, because I actually had to think about this for a little bit, because I had to think back to when my family first got cable.
00:02:20
Speaker
And when we first got h when we first got HBO, so it was either Poltergeist, know, the Tobey Hooper movie. Of course. Because that movie was on constantly. And I remember my mom, who didn't like watching horror movies at all, she she always said, I don't like watching spook movies.
00:02:40
Speaker
um But she watched that movie like all the time. i think it was because she liked Zalbert Rubenstein so much. and and she ended in shockingly she ended up watching the uh the other two poltergeist movies oh wow it's all to that um it was either so it was either poltergeist or it was jaws 3 oh wow okay and the reason and i had to think back about this is jaws 3 because jaws 3 had manimal in it and you know simon corkendale
00:03:12
Speaker
yep And Manimal was the shit back in the you know back when I was a kid. Like the greatest show ever. Still is. and I remember being bummed out of my freaking mind watching that movie because he ends up getting his character, remember right? It's Fitz Royce.
00:03:29
Speaker
He ends up getting swallowed whole movie. Yes, but then his corpse saves the day, though. exactly. They're like, freak me out because because, you know, if you get eaten by a shark, I mean, you you know, you become like, you know, shark poop and whatever.
00:03:43
Speaker
But there he is, his body's inside the shark with the grenade that Dennis Quaid pulls the pin on and blows up the shark. It freaked me out.
00:03:54
Speaker
It freaked me out and it pissed me off because you can't kill manimal. yeah Yes, that is the point at which we should start questioning the actions of people in the Jaws movies. At the end of three, when they kill Manimal.
00:04:11
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God damn right.
00:04:14
Speaker
That's awesome. That is just awesome. So...
Writing Career at 411 Mania
00:04:18
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Now, I know you've been writing for 411 Mania for a long time, and that is where you and i became acquainted.
00:04:25
Speaker
um It's crazy to me there that it's even possible to be a web writer for decades. It just doesn't seem like that should be a thing. But it very much is, ah much in the same way that you have friends that you've had since LiveJournal, and LiveJournal is basically high school for the internet. Oh, yeah. You know?
00:04:47
Speaker
When... ah When 411 Mania hired me, they thought I was a dude. And I don't think, I mean, I can't say with certainty that they wouldn't have hired me if they'd known I was a ah lady, but I don't think that they would have.
00:05:02
Speaker
um when you When you go through the onboarding process, they ask you like trivia questions, like prove you're not a robot question, and they were all about wrestling.
00:05:12
Speaker
And... I know a lot about wrestling for a middle-aged white woman, but not for a a dude that watches wrestling. So I had to call someone to, like, use my lifeline to finish my onboarding because I didn't know what they were asking me.
00:05:28
Speaker
um Well, and, you know, like, I did watch wrestling back in the day, but it's it's been a minute. Oh, yeah. So how's it going over there? You're still over there, right? Yeah, yeah. I still...
00:05:42
Speaker
I still write in the movie zone. um I still do the B-movie column. I don't do it as as often as I would like to necessarily. Mostly because I'm busy with... I'm busy with a lot of other stuff. with like I do a lot of indie genre movie ah reviews in general. Horror, science fiction, action movies.
00:06:07
Speaker
I do a lot of interviews for... like different people that I work with. They're like, uh, uh, like publicists, I guess you'd want to call them.
00:06:18
Speaker
And, uh, that takes up a lot of time.
00:06:22
Speaker
Are, uh, are there women writing for 411 Mania right now? Uh, I had to look, I had to ask around because there's, there's so many writers like in, uh, uh, the wrestling section. That's still like the biggest section.
00:06:36
Speaker
And there is one, there is one there. She does, uh, she She does previews for the various pay-per-views that are upcoming, and she does other things. i know But I know she does pay-per-view previews.
00:06:53
Speaker
Okay. All right. but yeah I was just curious. no but but um mean i had But I had to ask around because I remembered that you were there, and there were like maybe one or two others, but I couldn't remember their names.
00:07:07
Speaker
For whatever reason, 411... is It's very dude-coded. That may have to have something to do with how pro wrestling became very male-centric in its fandom, like through the what's called the Attitude Era, like the late 90s into the early two thousand s Well, I think we've learned a few things about Vince McMahon over the years. Oh, Jesus Christ. sort of sharpens that lens little bit. Oh, it does. Well, Vince McMahon is like the like the one of the worst human beings who ever lived.
00:07:41
Speaker
my i just Well, I don't know if you know this. We're not going to go off on a whole political thing, but there's been a rumor in the that Vince McMahon is actually Don Jr.'s dad.
00:07:54
Speaker
I would not be surprised, truthfully. Well, no, because I actually, in my first book about Don Jr., that's not really about Don Jr., don't sue me, um I do make that joke. and the Basically, I'm like, wouldn't that be a bite in the ass if he could have been a wrestler instead of, you know, a fascist?
00:08:13
Speaker
that he would i would I would think in that sense, at least, like, the early part of his career would have been cool because, you know, he probably would have been a guy who probably wouldn't have been like the million dollar man, Ted DiBiase, but it could have been like, uh, like, uh, I like a Irwin R. Shyster IRS, Mike Rotundo type guy.
00:08:35
Speaker
Oh no, he probably would have been something naturey. Oh, well, Oh yeah. Well, if Ranger Rick was a wrestler, well, there, there was a, wre actually there was a wrestler. Um, there was an Australian wrestler outback Jack.
00:08:50
Speaker
Oh, that's right. He had that whole thing. And then, uh, Barry Windham, he was, one of his last WWF gimmicks was the the stalker.
00:09:03
Speaker
He apparently told Vince McMahon that he liked to hunt, so McMahon gave him a hunter gimmick. So he came out in camouflage, and he painted his face camouflage.
00:09:15
Speaker
It didn't last very long. Okay. Because it was a terrible gimmick. Yeah, well. They don't normally let that let that stop them, though. I mean, the Iron Sheik? Come on now.
00:09:27
Speaker
Well, but the Iron Sheik was the Iron Sheik until the the invasion of Kuwait. Then he became Colonel Mustafa.
00:09:41
Speaker
Right. Oh, my God. that was And that was insane because if if you if you go back and you watch the WWF from that time, every everyone knows that's the Iron Sheik.
00:09:53
Speaker
Right. But they're still calling him Colonel Mustafa. I mean, you know, Lion Sheik was former world champion. God's sake. He main evented Madison Square Garden and they tell want me to believe that.
00:10:04
Speaker
but Plus he was plus he was Iranian and now he's from Iraq. Come on.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah. So you have been an internet writer for a long time.
Internet vs. Traditional Writing
00:10:18
Speaker
So what I am wondering is what you would say are the upsides to being an internet writer as opposed to like books, magazines, that sort of thing, dead tree formats.
00:10:28
Speaker
Well, the the internet, let's see, I had thing to think about this. The internet is good for something like immediacy because you can, you can write something and it can be up on a website like in five minutes.
00:10:42
Speaker
um if you If you write for something like a magazine or a newspaper, i mean, a newspaper, like if you write for like a daily newspaper, if there is such a thing left in the world anymore. um But with like a daily newspaper, i mean, that's pretty immediate, but it's still, you got to wait you got to wait for them for them to set there you know so so set it up and distribute it and you'll you'll get it maybe the next day.
00:11:09
Speaker
So the internet is good for immediacy. because you And on top of that, everyone hit everyone doesn't have the internet, but yeah everyone has the internet in their home. So it's available to, it's ah theoretically, it's available to everyone.
00:11:30
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You have to go out to the gas station or whatever to get the newspaper.
00:11:35
Speaker
It's true. And I mean, setting aside what an amazing advancement that was for humans, that a newspaper would be printed once or or sometimes even twice a day in some cities. oh i And you'd have extras and stuff and get people the news.
00:11:51
Speaker
Like that, that's huge. I mean, that's kind of like the USPS. Like that is an amazing organization that I think people just don't have enough appreciation for. i but They don't. and and But you're definitely correct about the immediacy, you know, because when someone like when a celebrity dies, we know about it within an hour. If you're anywhere near the Internet, you're going to hear about it.
00:12:15
Speaker
Not only will you hear about it, but you'll hear about like every great and every terrible thing that person has ever done. Oh, yeah. like and if they said day yeah and well And if they said something on YouTube, but that'll be everywhere.
00:12:28
Speaker
That'll be everywhere within seconds. Yeah, which is why it's... I mean, the thing is that that's great in some ways. It's great that we can know things right away, but it also creates you know a ah huge swath of problems like we're getting around before we know facts or all the facts. so um And then, obviously, propaganda. You don't necessarily need that much immediacy when what you're spreading is propaganda. Exactly, because, I mean, anytime anytime there's anything...
00:13:02
Speaker
weird that happens, especially like in the news. you can You can go on Twitter or you can go on other social media platforms and if you know where to look, you can see the bullshit like form in real time. You you can you can you can see it just ah appear out of practically out of the ether, out of nowhere.
00:13:25
Speaker
It's insane.
00:13:28
Speaker
Well, yeah, and especially since like the MAGA people, how they coordinate their messaging, because Democrats really don't do that. You know, but right before the shutdown, they were all just hammering in this idea that the Democrats want to shut down the government to give illegals free health care was their take. yeah And they just suddenly all started saying it like all the usual suspects.
00:13:54
Speaker
all the the Trumps and their people and all the little sycophants, you know, ah cat turd and all those, you know, and they just kept repeating it over and over and over again. and every time they do that, I think to myself, how insulting that they think people are ignorant enough to believe that bullshit. Oh, oh, you all do. Oh, all the mega people believe it and they're mad when people try to tell them the truth. Yes. Great.
00:14:20
Speaker
that's that's that's That's a million percent accurate. because And especially when it's things that don't even hold up to logic. First of all, Medicaid is not a payout. If anyone is getting Medicaid, it means they're not being left to die in a parking lot somewhere. That's that's the health care that they're mad about.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yep. and it's Well, I mean, there's there's there's proud... yeah i call it... They're they're proudly ignorant...
00:14:50
Speaker
And ah proudly racist. And at all it's like a mix of those two things. And there's, I don't know if there's a way to fix that or deprogram people in some way.
00:15:07
Speaker
um I don't know if we've really tried. ah As far as I can tell, what seems to turn these folks around is, is for some of them, money.
00:15:18
Speaker
Because that's how you stop some of this. You have to sue people into making them do the right thing. yeahp But it seems like even when their own stuff is impacted, they don't necessarily change their mind.
00:15:32
Speaker
Like, in 20... I want to say 2015?
00:15:37
Speaker
um No, no, it was before this last election You know how Don Jr. spent like two years Courting and vetting J.D. Vance And teaching him how to, you know, do the MAGA bullshit line Very well, by the way I mean, he, if that was that was his assignment, he aced But J.D. Vance Founded a business And the way that they make money Is they sell distressed American farmland to foreign investors And even with that knowledge, because I was a Kamala ambassador, I told anybody who would listen to me that that was something that they were doing.
00:16:13
Speaker
and And all these farm people, I mean, I'm in Michigan. We're surrounded by corn farmers, dairy farmers. I mean, that's what we have here. And nobody believed it.
00:16:24
Speaker
Nobody believed that Trump thought so little of them that he and his VP were gonna screw the farmers over on purpose so that they could make money selling their land. And yeah, I mean, if you think those are good people, sure, you're not gonna believe that because it's absolutely fucking ghastly But yeah, that's that's what they're doing. Well, I mean, it's it's it's part of that.
00:16:47
Speaker
um It's partly that, I think, and it's also just, well, it's not going to happen to me. And then also, too, I think, deep down, they they're totally fine with it.
00:17:01
Speaker
even though it's completely eat Even though it's completely destroyed them, even though it's completely destroyed their lives in a million different ways, as long as they get to feel...
00:17:11
Speaker
Important or above someone because of their white or their farmer or whatever whatever culture war nonsense it is.
00:17:22
Speaker
ah Well, it's the Southern strategy. are you Are you familiar with that phrase? Okay. So, yeah. So, basically, they expanded the Southern strategy to include all liberals. Yep. You know, like the dialoguing on that kid that killed Charlie Kirk is that he must be a liberal because he knows a trans person and is kind to them.
00:17:44
Speaker
So that alone is enough to make him in MAGA eyes, oh, he's a radical liberal because he knows a trans person and doesn't treat them like shit or avoid them like the plague. So, yeah whoa, that must be liberal. Like, what the fuck?
00:18:00
Speaker
I know. know is it's But then they get mad when you say hate is ingrained in their philosophy. Like, come on, you guys, you can't have it both ways. Well, there's, well, I mean, it's partly that and it's partly a religious thing, I think. um there's there's there there seem to be There seem to be people who are deeply religious and because they they are religious, they think they can't possibly be wrong. They can't possibly be hateful.
00:18:29
Speaker
They can't possibly be terrible because they're you know they believe in God or whatever. And it's i mean it it's like they're impenetrable. they can't they They can't see beyond their own bullshit.
00:18:47
Speaker
Which is kind of terrifying since most of the stuff that they are sure the Bible says doesn't really say, or it says it right next to some stuff that they're just completely disregarding. Oh yeah. mean, you know, the Prince of Peace is apparently some, you know, some jacked dude on a horse with a machine gun.
00:19:06
Speaker
and it makes absolutely no sense. It's fucking stupid, but they believe it. You know, they, they, they believe it a hundred percent. They've made it their entire personality.
00:19:17
Speaker
And there's like no hope for them. I don't get it.
Inspiration for Writing a Book
00:19:20
Speaker
Well, what's the joke? Like going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going into a garage makes you a car. Yeah. They say, yeah.
00:19:31
Speaker
So dude, this is going to depress me if we keep talking about it. So I want to move on and talk about your book. Um, I actually know the answer to this question already, but I'm going to pretend I don't. So what led you to assemble your reviews into a book?
00:19:45
Speaker
Well, uh, amazingly it's you what you you gave me the inspiration for it because i had been i had been going through some floppy disks old floppy disks uh taking stuff from floppy disks to a thumb drive and i had mentioned it on uh facebook that i was doing that and you asked me oh wow you're gonna turn that into a book And I was like, I am now.
00:20:17
Speaker
because i Because I hadn't thought of it before then. um And that's... ah That's sort of the origin story of not coming to a theater near you.
00:20:29
Speaker
So this is 50 great direct-to-video action flicks of the early 2000s. That is a very specific niche. Why is that the one that you chose?
00:20:41
Speaker
Well, ah basically there's two reasons for that. One, i genuinely like these movies. I love them. And I like them and love them unironically.
00:20:52
Speaker
A lot of times when when people discuss B-movies and these kinds of action movies in general, there's sort of a... ah You're supposed to laugh at them a little bit. You're supposed to make fun of them.
00:21:08
Speaker
Sort of like... and you know And I don't want to shit on stuff like Elvira or Mystery Science Theater 3000 because I love those things. But um I'm not... That's not what I do. That's not...
00:21:22
Speaker
That's not me. I'm more of... I come from more like the Joe Bob Briggs school of B-movie appreciation where you'll make jokes and you'll have fun and you but you'll be sarcastic, but you're <unk> also very much into the movies. You're into the culture of the movies. You want to appreciate them for you know what they are and what they do as movies because that's that's what they are. They are movies. Yeah.
00:21:51
Speaker
I love that, and I want to tell you why. You know, on YouTube, there's that channel Cinema Sins, and they go through movies and pick them apart and say all the little things that piss them off about a movie.
00:22:05
Speaker
And they do it to great movies. And my husband in particular, like every once in a while, I'll be like, oh, I hate that movie. I'll see why they hate it. Yeah. And my husband is like, why would you want to watch people crapping on someone else's hard work as a creative? And I'm just like, oh, because I'm being a petty bitch. Don't call me out. But the thing is, there was a response channel, which is Cinema Wins.
00:22:30
Speaker
And they do the same thing and just point out all the little things in movies that are awesome. And my husband, as usual, is right, because it is so much more fun to watch people.
00:22:40
Speaker
and celebrate things. And that's actually, that's a huge thing in fandom. Like when I was a kid, a Star Wars fan was a person who watched Star Wars at every possible opportunity, bought every bit of merch they could, were constantly talking about the characters and the plot And how much they loved it. And they buy costumes and dress up.
00:23:02
Speaker
And they just love, love, love, loved it. And now a Star Wars fan is often someone who just thinks they're an authority on why Star Wars sucks now. Oh, God. Oh, God, yeah.
00:23:14
Speaker
that's That's so depressing. i mean, i don't, you know, I never got into the whole thing of like, the, I think a lot of lot of this started with the prequels with Star Wars.
00:23:27
Speaker
I love the prequels. And it somehow got worse in a slightly different way when the Disney movies came out. Uh-huh. And the Disney movies, I think, I don't like them necessarily as much as I like the prequels or the original movies, but they're not, I don't consider them bad movies. I mean, people, I've seen these Star Wars fans, like, lose their shit over, uh, uh, what is that? The the second one there, uh,
00:23:57
Speaker
Attack of the spectacular Clones? No, The Last of the Jedi. Oh, right. Okay. who see movie And I just don't know what the hell these people are talking about. right and you know And then why are you why are you a fan of this thing that you hate so much?
00:24:14
Speaker
Well, and you know, Marvel's going through the same thing. Like, if you didn't like the Peacemaker season two finale, shut up and get away from me. whoa Okay? Just like, what? Why would you say that out loud?
00:24:28
Speaker
and Well, I think back to, like, um and with the Marvel movies when Captain Marvel was coming out and everyone was having a shit fit over that.
00:24:39
Speaker
And I was, i mean, I was, I was like momentarily concerned with Captain Marvel taking, becoming, or what do they say, replacing Tony Stark in the Avengers. Right. And i I wasn't, I wasn't like, it can't happen. That's horrible. She's a woman, blah, blah, blah. I was like, I don't know. Can she really replace Robert Downey Jr.? He seems pretty integral to what's going on.
00:25:06
Speaker
But then i went and saw the movie and she was great. And I'm like, we got nothing to worry about.
00:25:16
Speaker
So, I mean, so- But there's also ah a line of thinking among a certain swath of fans that anytime you have someone headlining a movie that is not a straight white male- Oh God, yep. That it's in service of some sort of agenda, which in and of itself- Yeah.
00:25:39
Speaker
you know i don't mean to quote charlie kirk but one of the things that he would refer to is taking a white man's slot You know, like DEI and affirmative action give away white man slots to other people.
00:25:53
Speaker
And I wish that I could still ask him what the fuck a white man slot is. Like, what, where are these, what are these positions that are specifically reserved for white dudes?
00:26:06
Speaker
And then, you know, you watch Marvel because, man, again, I'm in Michigan. and So there were men literally having protest signs about Kamala Khan.
00:26:16
Speaker
ah kamala cot like furious and granted this this was a rather hilarious time to introduce a superhero named Kamala I'm not gonna lie I enjoy that very much as a as a liberal but uh Yeah, that that whole thing, like the same people that scream about how representation is just an agenda and it's liberal this and that think that because when they were growing up, everyone they were shown was a straight white male and if there was a brown or a black person... and
00:26:49
Speaker
It was the companion or the secretary or the assistant or, you know, the neighbor, the maid, whatever. It wasn't like people think the world is supposed to be like that because that's what they're shown.
00:27:02
Speaker
And that's why it's so distressing that Disney has made that sharp right turn. into fascism because they were doing so well. Yes. And then just suddenly they're like, okay, you know what? We're not going to do an Okoye show. You know what? We're not going to do a Princess Tiana show.
00:27:19
Speaker
We're not going to have a trans character. Yeah. You can still keep the actress, but we're going to switch it around. And guess what? All the kids are going to start talking about heavenly father. Like, yeah, what?
00:27:30
Speaker
Exactly. I mean, this, this attack on stuff like diversity and, uh, it makes no sense to me at all. it And it makes no sense to me.
00:27:42
Speaker
Uh, it just doesn't make any sense because I mean, uh, what is, what is wrong with, uh, uh, I, you so I sometimes see this in like martial arts cinema, not as much, but you, you, you do see it when, uh, like Michael Jai White, when he, uh, he's, he's a great martial artist and a great actor.
00:28:06
Speaker
And, uh, he doesn't get the op He doesn't really get the opportunities that he should. And that was even before all the diversity, the anti-diversity stuff. yeah he so He has to go out and make his own stuff.
00:28:19
Speaker
And that's just insane to me because he's a top-notch guy. he should He should be a bigger star than he is. But he isn't. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah, we've we've talked about um on the show just like Hollywood and how, you know, basically product versus art. Yeah. Like that whole thing. yeah but And I think that's that's one of the reasons that that happens because people are using charts and graphs about what demographics have how much money and and who they're going to pay to see. It's really a shame. We get cheated out of so much art because of that.
00:28:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. It's true. um Yeah, i mean, representation is incredibly important. um Because if you, i mean, again, if you watch all the old movies, there aren't any, there aren't as many gay characters. There aren't as many heroic black or Hispanic characters. There aren't as many heroic female characters. You know, and now we're starting to see more of them.
00:29:21
Speaker
That's not a problem. I don't, I don't see that as a problem. The only problem is if they make a bad That's it. Right.
00:29:29
Speaker
you that's it right Right, because if you're a woman director and you make a bad movie, you're not going to get another movie anytime soon. Whereas if you're a dude, you could be flopping all over the place, and somebody somewhere will still fund you. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's i mean you go on IMDb and look at all the the movies certain directors have made and have been complete flops, but yet they still get $100 million to go make their next thing. Scorsese, cough.
00:29:55
Speaker
I'm sorry, but... But if some woman director... but but so some woman director you know, makes a, is given $50 million dollars to make a movie and it only makes, you know, $200 million. Well, that's a flop.
00:30:09
Speaker
Never going to work again. who yeah
00:30:14
Speaker
Exactly. And that every time there's a Barbie, people just call it a fluke. yeah You know, like what a movie is just impossibly huge and makes a gazillion dollars. Like, oh, what a fluke.
00:30:25
Speaker
Or their takeaway is that they should make more movies about dolls. You know, and they don't really see what part of it actually worked. Well, there there was that old, i always bring this up. There was an old non sequitur a comic strip.
00:30:40
Speaker
ah years and years ago, back when Titanic was a move but was a big hit. And I remember the the the comic was, the the the lesson a Hollywood learned from Titanic was that that people wanted to watch more movies about boats.
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah. So, okay, so on that note, your book has 50 different movies in it.
Diversity in B-movies
00:31:05
Speaker
um How many of these movies are not led by white men?
00:31:10
Speaker
Uh, that's a, that's a thing. I, uh, there's a couple in there. Uh, Daryl Hannah. mean, umm i I'm sure you didn't categorize them that way. So there's not going to be an appendix with the demographics, but no, but broadly, ah most of them are, most of them are white dudes.
00:31:28
Speaker
Most them are headed by white dudes. I mean, there's a, there's a, movie there's a great movie called juncture. That's a female led revenge, movie revenge action movie. Uh, she basically is, uh,
00:31:40
Speaker
I call it, she's playing, she's like the female Big Chuck Bronson in that. Okay. That's really good. There's a movie called The Job with Daryl Hannah. um She plays like this assassin, like this mob assassin who's having a ah crisis, a life crisis because she she gets pregnant.
00:32:03
Speaker
so Oh, wow. And she has to figure out, you know, what she wants to do with her life. ah What year is that? That would have been before Kill Bill, right? oh yeah I think it was probably made I can't remember exactly when that year when that was. It was 2003?
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, 2003. That's right around the same time as Kill Bill. So it's interesting so it could have been it could have been made in conjunction with that. goal Truthfully, a lot direct-to-video movies, a lot of of B movies, especially in the action genre, tend to be
00:32:44
Speaker
not all the time, but they they try to piggyback off a like a bigger movie. sort Sort of like this. not Not quite what the Asylum does with Mockbusters, but it's kind of like that. Well, I mean, that's what Roger Corman, that's what like Roger Corman used to do. that I was just going to say like Carnosaur. That was the first thing that came to mind. Carnosaur was released like six months before Jurassic Park. Carnosaur's awesome. saw Carnosaur in the theater. Holy, that's awesome.
00:33:12
Speaker
I had to wait. Yeah, well, I had to wait for people. Oh, no. We had this this mall near us had a lot of B-movies, and the mall also had a bar.
00:33:23
Speaker
So cheap movie day, we would show up there, and they would have buy one, get one Long Islands. yeah So we would slam a couple of Long Islands, and then we went to see Carnivore. And by the time you get to the, greetings, my green brother.
00:33:38
Speaker
I mean, we were like on the floor laughing because it was, yeah I mean, well, you, you've seen Cardosaur. It's great. that's all so It's great. It is great. So yes, I, I'm familiar with that.
00:33:49
Speaker
Um, and, and that's kind of my thing. Like when I think of B movies, I think of horror movies. I think of giant ants and blobs and, you know, subpar writing that's made up for with like,
00:34:01
Speaker
practical special effects and that sort of thing because i love like velocipaster and uh you know carnosaur all the sharknados i have thunder levin's autograph i mean that's yeah yeah it's a signed script actually it's the first sharknado script and he signed it to me isn't it it is yeah because he's he's cool and the sharknado movies are great i love the asylums so So Thunder 11 wrote the first few Sharknadoes and then advised, but as of, like, after four, he was out.
00:34:34
Speaker
And you can tell because the movies are still ridiculous, but they're not funny. You know, they they just, they stopped making me laugh at a certain point. Well, I think after after four, um they they tried to lean in a little bit too much into the the meme of it.
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah, and just the craziness. They they didn't... they didn't it's It was supposed to be fun and ridiculous, but they went too far. went Well, because it's not it's not primarily supposed to be ridiculous. That's supposed to be secondary to a story about, you know, sharks in a tornado. It's a weather emergency, man. Weather emergencies are serious. Yes, they are. That's true. Okay, I'm being facetious, but But yeah, i have I have to ask you, have you seen Inhuman Witch?
00:35:27
Speaker
I have not. It shows up on YouTube every once in a while, probably illegally, and they take it down. But I've also seen it on Prime. And I would swear to you that it is the most sincere B-movie that I have ever seen.
00:35:43
Speaker
It looks, I mean, like the backgrounds and stuff, it looks like the Little Rascals made it. Like they're literally drawing drawing on cardboard to make the inside of a spaceship. Wow. It is fantastic. It is like unbelievable.
00:35:57
Speaker
Well, you know how some B-movies just have more heart than others? Yes. And they get away with, because you know that scene in Velocipaster where they couldn't afford to do the special effect? Yep.
00:36:09
Speaker
So they just showed you part of a street and it explains to you what the special effect is supposed to be? That's the kind of heart that makes me love B-movies. That they're just like, you know what?
00:36:21
Speaker
If people are with us, they're going to not mind that we did this. yeah Then just do it. That's always great. That's always great to see because, and I mean, i've i've seen I've seen two movies. I've been on two movie sets and I've seen how difficult it is to make anything.
00:36:41
Speaker
its it ah It really is. when when people when When you talk to filmmakers and they will remark that it's a miracle that any that a movie gets made at all, It really is because it's just
00:36:55
Speaker
it's just and it's just incredibly difficult, especially when you don't have resources, when you don't have a lot of money or time, and you really you really are doing it by the seat your pants.
00:37:07
Speaker
it's It's not easy. Well, and it being a collaborative art, you rely on so many people. So if anyone part of that breaks down, it it causes... i I was a theater major, so you know It's not movies, but it's the same concept. It's a bunch of people that have to get their job right or everybody gets screwed.
00:37:23
Speaker
That's true. because i mean if you know You could be the best actor in the world, but if the spotlight's not on you, nobody's going to know about it. Yep, because i mean if the sound guy doesn't have his his machine on, the the mics aren't working, if the camera isn't right,
00:37:39
Speaker
None of it matters. Exactly. You know, and your costume needs to fit and your makeup has to jive with the lighting or you're going to look awful. And, you know, there's just so many aspects of all of it.
00:37:50
Speaker
So let me ask you this. So when you talk about ah cutting on special effects and doing things on a small budget, um how does that translate into an action movie? Like, what are the parts of action movies that are expensive? I really don't know.
Cost of Action Movies
00:38:05
Speaker
Well, what from what I've heard,
00:38:08
Speaker
manage to learn over time is that in in terms of like the three major B-movie genres, horror, science fiction, and action, action movies tend to be the most expensive because they require the most production value to succeed. um and a lot of they They also take tend to take longer to make because Even if you have, like, CG effects and stuff, you have fighting, you know, like martial arts fights, fist fights, you have explosions, you have car chases, and to achieve all of those, it just takes more time and more resources to do it.
00:38:51
Speaker
And you can make an effective and scary horror movie with your cell phone in your bathroom for, like, you know, a couple hundred dollars.
00:39:02
Speaker
Mm-hmm. it's probably not going to be able to do that in general with an, with an action movie, just simply because just, there's just too much. There's, there's too, there's a lot involved with it that you, that you don't think about until you start thinking about it.
00:39:21
Speaker
Well, like stunts, I guess horror movies have stunts certainly, but they're more optional. You can make a great horror movie without stunts. If you want to, if the writing is there, um I don't imagine you could make an action movie without stunts. Like that's just part of the core of it. And then that also makes things way more expensive because ensuring everybody yeah is so expensive. Oh yeah, because I mean, you're going to, if you're going to be, if you're going be filming a martial arts fight, ah even if you're careful and even if you have masters, someone's going to get hurt.
00:39:52
Speaker
so you know so there's Someone's going to maybe break a hand or you're going to get cut somewhere you know badly, or there's going to be, you know Maybe someone's going to have to go to the emergency room because of laceration to the head or something.
00:40:08
Speaker
you know tip That doesn't happen as often and necessarily with horror movies or science fiction movies. ah But with action, it's going to happen. because yeah cause i mean A horror movie may end up having like one or two stunts. An action movie is probably going to have some kind of stunt every couple of minutes for it tail for to be really...
00:40:30
Speaker
ah really entertaining action movie. Well, and i used to think it was so weird that there were like, you know, stunt guys that, that actors will have their own stunt guys.
00:40:41
Speaker
But the more I learned about film, the more sense it made that somebody would have their own stunt guy. But then to see somebody like Tom Cruise just say, well, you know what? I'll take care of the insurance because I want to do my own stunts. And then you see his ass just like climbing free handed up a mountain or some crazy thing. Like, i mean, i'm I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise is like certifiably insane in some way.
00:41:05
Speaker
But um the idea of. I mean, what do you think about that, about actors like doing their own stunts? Does that even seem... That seems ill-advised, because if you're not a professional stunt person, you're risking a lot of people. It it is ill-advised in a lot of different ways, because, i mean, back in the... We'll say, 80s, a lot of the action stars, like the big-name action stars, yeah beyond, like, you know, Arnold and Stallone,
00:41:40
Speaker
mean, you had guys like Chuck Norris and Jeff Speakman, Sho Kasugi, guys like that. I mean, they were mean they were athletes and martial artists, so they could could handle doing stunts pretty easily because they were, you know, they were...
00:42:00
Speaker
That was part of their whole thing, so they could do it. But if you're... You know, but but if you're just an actor who then... wants to do his own stunts, you better be... You better be yeah an athlete of some kind, or you should have some sort of like athletic training.
00:42:18
Speaker
When you look at someone like cruise like Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise has become like Jackie Chan, where he's you know he's become his his own... ah He's gone into business for himself like that. He's made himself into a stunt person, because he's and he's trained...
00:42:37
Speaker
Well, like like Keanu Reeves. All that training, he walks the walk now. Well, all that training from the Matrix movies, they transferred very well into the John Wick movies.
00:42:50
Speaker
Yeah, they do. John Wick wouldn't be John Wick without 20 years ago when he was working with some of the same people.
00:43:02
Speaker
like Chad Stalski, his name is the the guy who directed, who's directed all the the John Wick movies. He was involved. ahha He was involved with the Matrix movies. So, but yeah, i mean, you, you have to be, yeah have to be really and you have to really know what you're doing. Okay. Now I have to ask you this because I'm sure you know more about action movies than I do. Certainly um in the John Wick movies, I think it's John Wick three.
00:43:32
Speaker
He beats up a dude with a horse. Like, the horse is the weapon, and he uses it to beat up a guy without hurting the horse. Yep. Do you know more about that scene than I do? Like, how that was conceptualized? Is it is there CGI? like Yeah, there's a ton of- Do you know anything?
00:43:50
Speaker
There's a ton of CGI with that. um If I remember right, because it's on it's on the DVD. Like, the behind-the-scenes, it's on the DVD. If remember right, there's quite a bit of CGI involved with that.
00:44:05
Speaker
Simply because it's a horse. ah yeah Horses in particular are like the first animals that we really legislated in film yeah because they were doing so much messed up stuff to horses in the old westerns.
00:44:19
Speaker
i mean you can You can learn ah quite a bit about that if you read Hal Needham's autobiography. yeah Oh, okay. um he Because cause he was...
00:44:31
Speaker
Before he became director Hal Needham, he was a big deal stunt guy, and he talks quite a bit about horse stunt training in that book.
00:44:42
Speaker
Well, I can't tell if I would be fascinated or infuriated. Probably both. but Yeah, it's both, because, I mean, it's it's it's it's crazy what they did, both in terms of what they actually did and the stuff that they the bad stuff that happened to the horses. Yeah.
00:44:59
Speaker
juniorre We're not going to cut out the dog because dogs are cute and everybody likes them. Well, that's good. which My buddy, Junior, he's cute, but I wish I knew what he was barking at.
00:45:12
Speaker
He's barking at our incredible wit. He appreciates a good conversation, and you know i'm I'm glad he's here for it.
00:45:21
Speaker
but So getting back to the book specifically, do you have an intended readership for this? um sort of, because i mean one one of the things that I can one of the reasons I sort of came to doing an action book is that I want it to function as a sort of a guidebook for people who are maybe interested direct-to-video action movies that they see on ah various streaming services or if they they they go to like a like a thrift store
00:45:55
Speaker
And they they see a bunch of like old DVDs and stuff because they don't really have DVD sections in stuff like Walmart anymore. they're still there.
00:46:09
Speaker
But I mean, back when, during the the time period of my book, I mean, I remember going to like Target or Walmart or something. And there's like three aisles of DVDs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, now yeah definitely. Now it's maybe maybe an aisle.
00:46:26
Speaker
maybe half an aisle. But that's the thing about with streaming, like there's so many movies. And when I look like, I think I know a fair bit about movies and half the movies I've never even heard of. yeah So I think a book like this is going to be really helpful to people that are fans of the genre, ah but are just overwhelmed because there's so much stuff yeah and it's impossible to tell what's worth seeing. Yeah. because Well, because i mean, if you go under these like to be,
00:46:53
Speaker
mostly It's mostly the free ones like Tubi and Plex and even Pluto, stuff like that. Sometimes on Peacock. There are all kinds of movies on there that may star someone you recognize, like Steven Seagal or Michael Jai White. Michael Madsen. Or Michael Madsen.
00:47:10
Speaker
And you may want to watch it, but you're not really sure because you've never heard of it. And is it worth my time? so kind of hoping that my my book functions as a guide book for that kind of thing where where someone may see the job on Tubi or The Girl from the Naked Eye or any Dolph Lundgren movie like Command Performance.
00:47:41
Speaker
you know They may see that and they they can go to the book and say, oh all right, that movie actually is pretty good. I'll check it out. And then once they check it out, and hopefully they like it, then they'll be a little more adventurous with
00:47:57
Speaker
other movies that they may see. they may may They may not need the guidebook to take a chance on something. Nice. Nice. So could we expect more time periods in another book?
00:48:09
Speaker
um Yeah, maybe, if this is successful. I mean, I have have other ideas for other other books, it probably would be pretty neat to do something
00:48:23
Speaker
either after or maybe a little bit before. Because there's all there's all kinds of direct-to-video movies from back in the day. Sure, Even today, there's still there's all kinds of stuff that's coming out that probably doesn't get the the audience that it deserves.
00:48:43
Speaker
Because people just don't yeah either don't know about it or they're not sure about it. you know Yep, yep. totally agree Totally agree. Every holiday season I tell people why it's important to watch Santa Jaws.
00:48:58
Speaker
And only a few people listen to me every year. But that's it's a winner. It is a winner. there there's there's a There's a great horror comedy by Chad Ridgely.
00:49:10
Speaker
he's ah He's a stand-up comic and a and an actor called massacre on aisle 12. Uh, that's, that's really well done. It's really funny. Um, I encourage people to check that out.
00:49:24
Speaker
I'm not sure where the, don't know. Not sure if where that is streaming, but it's out there and it's a movie I think you should check out. I think people would like it. All right.
00:49:35
Speaker
Noted. Noted. So, You, I'm aware that you have an anxiety diagnosis and that you have also lived with prolonged grief. um So what do you want to tell us about how all that started?
Personal Struggles: Anxiety & Loss
00:49:49
Speaker
Well, my anxiety, the anxiety that I have is something that I really didn't realize I had so last year, 2024. 30 years as matter fact, the summer 1995, I had
00:50:02
Speaker
thirty years ago as a matter of fact the summer of ninety ninety five i had
00:50:12
Speaker
basically a series of panic attacks, one right after the other. And that went on for months. And i didn't really know... i really didn't know what was happening. I couldn't articulate what was happening to me.
00:50:31
Speaker
i mean, my parents took me to all kinds of doctors... And they were looking for like a physical issue, something like, you know like a two. How old were you?
00:50:44
Speaker
Christ.
00:50:48
Speaker
How old would i have been? 16, 15, 16. so Okay. Yeah, 95. Yeah, that's how. Yeah. um But I had, you know, I went to all kinds of doctors.
00:51:02
Speaker
And they were looking for something physically wrong with me. and course, they I mean, they never found anything. Okay. And it was, um that that summer was just pure hell. Because i mean I almost didn't take my high school final exams because I was just a complete mess.
00:51:26
Speaker
Oh, no. And and there was one i mean there was one weekend where my parents took me to the emergency room. I was going to have a surgeon was going to like cut me open because oh my gosh because I was like in such like pain and like freaking out and stuff.
00:51:43
Speaker
And of course, you know, the surgeon didn't do anything because, you know, physically there's nothing, know, there's nothing wrong with me. And that I stopped having the panic attacks basically like towards the end of the summer.
00:52:03
Speaker
And i want to say it kind of like mellowed out.
00:52:09
Speaker
i never I've never had panic attacks as bad as then, but I still have experienced them from time to time since then.
00:52:21
Speaker
um um i had i had a couple panic attacks when I was in college that that were like bad. And I lived off campus all four years I was in school.
00:52:33
Speaker
So, you know, driving back and forth was not the greatest. No, that's scary. and i had paid And I had my old retail job.
00:52:46
Speaker
I had at least two panic attacks there. And that's not, you know, you know you don't want to have a panic attack on your when you when you're at your job.
00:52:58
Speaker
not because it's Not because necessarily it's embarrassing, because, I mean, it is in a way. um But it's just, you don't, you know, if if you're going to have a panic attack, you want to have it at home. will Well, I mean, you want the situation to be as safe and and comfortable as possible. Yeah. and at in it at work, it's a real crapshoot if you're going to get support versus oh yeah people telling you that you're an inconvenience.
00:53:21
Speaker
And I was part of the management team for a period of time. And I had a panic attack while I was in charge. So that's not it's not that's that's that's not something you want to experience necessarily.
00:53:35
Speaker
So you're out in the world living your life and you have a panic attack. What kind of support structure did you have? Well, and at the time, i mean i didn't really have any support because, again, I didn't really understand what was happening. it was mostly just calm down.
00:53:55
Speaker
got learn to calm down. and try not to be around as and strategy try to be around try not to be around stressful situations as often, which is not easy, and because life is stressful, um and that kind of thing. i mean i During that period of time, I developed...
00:54:21
Speaker
I call them like a tick, like a personal tick. First, I started having to constantly chew gum. That somehow soothed soothes me somehow.
00:54:34
Speaker
I did that for like two years. i was I would get like a like those 10 packs of extra juicy fruit gum. And I i would chew gum constantly. And if the if the flavoring went out of the ah gum, I had to get another one in it.
00:54:51
Speaker
I had to get a fresh piece. And I did that. yes. You can't use Fruit Stripe. You got to use a good gum for that. And i they happened for that that that went on for about two years. Okay. Then I started doing hard candy. It's an oral fixation thing or something.
00:55:08
Speaker
Doing hard candy, like Werther's Original type stuff. Constantly had to have something like that. then i moved to Then I moved to cough drops.
00:55:21
Speaker
like halls and like the the cherry halls and the menthol ones. I was constantly just, I constantly had to have those on me.
00:55:35
Speaker
I had to have like like ah the bag I was using plus an extra bag. And that then led to that then led to Fisherman's Friends cough drops, which are
00:55:53
Speaker
much more potent cough drops. Yeah, was going to say, kind of escalating your game there. And then then it developed into, a which i still I still do, I still have them now, icebreakers.
00:56:09
Speaker
Okay. i always have a I always have a container of those around me. People think I chew tobacco. yeah Oh, because they're round. Yep. Because I always have it in my front shirt pocket and they think I'm doing Shaw or something.
00:56:27
Speaker
well I had that. And then i constantly have to have a drink with me. I carry around with me a like when I go out somewhere, like I go grocery shopping or something, I take with me, it's a small Gatorade bottle filled with ginger ale.
00:56:46
Speaker
okay I don't drink usually don't drink anything from it, but if I don't have it with me, I yeah nervous ah used to get I used to get shit from, and it was like it it wasn't like, no one was mean or anything, but it was like ball busting type stuff.
00:57:04
Speaker
Because at my job, my old retail job, I used to walk around with that bottle in my back pocket all the time. And people would always ask me, why you you know why why do you have that bottle with you all the time?
00:57:17
Speaker
i never I never explained it to anyone. I just said, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?
00:57:23
Speaker
But, um I mean, and when i go out to when I go out to dinner with someone or something, I have my purse, and that's what I said. i carry a purse.
00:57:36
Speaker
It's not a man bag. It's a purse, like George Carlin said. It's a fucking purse. Well, boxers fight for a purse. It seems perfectly manly.
00:57:47
Speaker
But um I have a i take usually take like three bottles of soda with me. I don't drink them. But if I don't have them, it's like nerve wracking.
00:58:00
Speaker
No, I get that. I mean, that's not one of my things, but there are definitely things that if I don't have them with me at all times. um But you know what, though? I was told that was an autism thing.
00:58:11
Speaker
And not necessarily related to anxiety. But like what person with autism doesn't have anxiety? It's all a rich tapestry, right? Yes. Well, it's like last year when I realized what was happening, i was going i went out with a friend to a, we went to dinner and then we were going to this live music venue.
00:58:33
Speaker
I'm not usually a live music person, but this seemed like a fun thing to do. And i started to feel weird while i was driving to this place.
00:58:44
Speaker
And when I got out of the car and we were walking to like the entrance to the venue, I said, I have to leave. i can't I can't be here. Because it started happening. I started panicking.
00:58:57
Speaker
And ah probably shouldn't have driven home that day. oh no. but But I justified it at the time because I didn't live that far away. But when I got, I just got home and I i shaking, crying, threw up a little bit and stomach ache.
00:59:19
Speaker
It's just, wow. It was, it was, thought it was terrible. And ah I, it's part of it is, is stress it is stress related. Part of it is just life.
00:59:35
Speaker
um And actually it, kind of hooks into with the the grief that I've been living with. um
00:59:49
Speaker
From 2020 2023, lost important people in my life. In 2020, dog, died. i lost four important oh no in my life um and twenty twenty my dog dude died He had cancer.
01:00:10
Speaker
And and he he managed to live about six months with cancer. Oh. Then 2021, dad passed away. October. then in 2022, my mom passed away.
01:00:26
Speaker
no. and then in twenty twenty two my mom passed away oh no she She had she was she had a lot of different health issues that were being managed until, and everything was fine until it wasn't.
01:00:47
Speaker
i was my parents I was my parents' caregiver um basically during the pandemic. So I was there... i was there more like on the ground with my mother than with my father. But i mean it was basically the same thing.
01:01:06
Speaker
Basically the same experience. And then in 2023, I had to have my i my older dog, Jake, euthanized because he had cancer.
01:01:20
Speaker
He had developed cancer that summer. And he he was, everything, again, everything was managed until it wasn't. Well, that's so much.
01:01:32
Speaker
i mean that's like got I mean, that must have felt like most of your life just evaporated in such a short time. I mean, i i don't know how anybody would would escape that without grief and anxiety and and panic attacks. I mean, that's that's just so much.
01:01:52
Speaker
And for men in particular, men are not encouraged the way women are to seek counseling to spend time with friends to to vent you know men just aren't invited to do those things with the same regularity and frequency that women are that's true um well there's there's also just i mean it's and it's ingrained into you socially um you know don't be a wuss you know be a man don't cry don't you know all that stuff and
01:02:26
Speaker
And even if you don't believe in it, and I don't believe in any of that garbage, but it still affects you. It's still, i mean, it's still, it's still out there. It's a part of the world. It's part of the culture.
01:02:39
Speaker
It's ingrained in you, whether, you know, but whether you realize it or not, even if you fight it. that's the thing that the things that are taught to you, that are like given to you and instilled in you, that's where your brain goes first.
01:02:52
Speaker
yes The actual truth and what you really feel, that comes secondary because you have to think about it to get there. yeah So all of that stuff is really important because life goes so fast.
01:03:04
Speaker
You don't always get a chance to sit and ponder every issue so the things that get ingrained in you are often the it's just the first thing to come out. yes Now what I would like to ask you is In hindsight, what do you think would have helped you?
01:03:23
Speaker
ae I probably should have taken, i i wish I was, how do want to put this?
01:03:35
Speaker
I wish I had more friends, like like more people in my life. I mean, I have my siblings and I have my nephews um and they're great and they helped a lot.
01:03:48
Speaker
But you're on the internet a lot. Yes. do you Do you feel comfortable reaching out about personal things on the internet? Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. um It's sort of like a case-by-case type thing, I guess you'd want to say. and Okay.
01:04:05
Speaker
um i mean I eventually did. um
01:04:12
Speaker
i looked around for like grief counseling. And none of it really appealed to me because a lot of it was religious. And I'm not religious.
01:04:22
Speaker
I mean, I'm not religious. and And I thought that if I went in with to some like church group or something, I'm just going to start arguing with everyone.
01:04:32
Speaker
Yep. Because a lot of that is because like a lot of that. and I don't want to necessarily denigrate anything, but a lot that ends up being like, you know, believe in Jesus and stuff. And that's just not me.
01:04:43
Speaker
I'm not going to take that as advice because it sounds weird. Um, well, yeah. I mean, telling people to pretend their way out of sadness doesn't, I mean, but yeah, but I ended up, I ended up, uh,
01:05:03
Speaker
weirdly enough, I ended up looking, thought about it, like, maybe I should look at this like an intellectual, because that's what I claim to be. I'll go read a book. So I went to my local library, and I started looking at ah different books, and I went to & Noble and and started, like, checking out, you know, what's what's available, what's there.
01:05:24
Speaker
And I did find a book um by Megan Devine, it's It's Okay That You're Not Okay.
01:05:35
Speaker
And that book helped a lot. It helped me
01:05:42
Speaker
figure things out a little bit. It helped me just deal with it in a more constructive way.
01:05:54
Speaker
um Partially because, as as she writes about in the book, a lot of times... in like Western culture, we don't really handle death that well.
01:06:06
Speaker
we we We don't really handle grief very well. we usually see it as ah an obstacle to overcome and you have to, yeah you can do it right and you can do it wrong.
01:06:18
Speaker
And if you're still experiencing things, know, like six months or a year later, that automatically means that you're doing it wrong and you should feel guilty about that because what the hell is wrong with you?
01:06:34
Speaker
That kind of thing. Yep. Yep. basically the book helped me understand
01:06:44
Speaker
that not everyone experiences grief. Everyone's, I hate, I hate the phrase grief journey. Grief experience means more to me, makes more sense.
01:06:56
Speaker
Um, but everyone experiences grief differently. Uh, and you can't do it wrong. Some people, it, it, they, they're able to, I don't, I hate saying overcoming it, but I don't, at at the moment I can't think of any other way to explain it, but they overcome it or they deal with it quicker.
01:07:18
Speaker
And it's not as, uh, It's not as overwhelming necessarily all the time. um Yeah, I mean, it for me, it's like just a way of incorporating that into your life. Yes.
01:07:34
Speaker
Being like, okay, I don't have this person anymore. I got to figure out how to just, you know, but have a life, even though that's still the case and I hate it. Yes, you you essentially, ah you learn to carry it with you.
01:07:50
Speaker
ah that's That's the phrase that tends to get used. And I agree with that. that's and That's what i i still try to do. Some days are better than others.
01:08:02
Speaker
The fall has become very difficult to to deal with. but Just to get through because so just about all of that happened in the fall.
01:08:14
Speaker
So anniversaries, you know holidays and stuff. It's all like incredibly difficult still to navigate.
01:08:29
Speaker
So this, uh, being the middle of October, what, uh, what kind of, coping mechanisms are you putting in place? I try to, well,
01:08:44
Speaker
you, you try to do things that you like or that you love. Um, and you try to not think about it as much. I mean, your brain's going to think about it no matter what. I i figured that out, that you know the subtext of your brain is always going to be boiling a little bit with that.
01:09:06
Speaker
um But you try to you try to do things or participate in things that you like and that you enjoy. you try to surround yourself with people and things that you enjoy.
01:09:21
Speaker
um and I that works and sometimes it doesn't work. It tends to work a little bit more often than not, but you just have to take it as it comes.
01:09:35
Speaker
and Okay. Okay. So, you know, that makes me actually think like I put movies on in the background while I'm living my life, cooking food, doing crafts, getting work done, whatever.
01:09:49
Speaker
Um, is that part of it for you as well? It's just part of setting the mood with a a movie that gives you joy. Yes, absolutely. they're Um, uh, when I need to, to feel good or to feel better or to just not feel as bad, i will put on something that I, that I really, like, uh,
01:10:11
Speaker
could be a B movie. It could, it could be something else. Um, uh, but yeah, that's what I do too. I mean, I, I, uh, I've watched RoboCop quite often and because I love that movie and, like escape from LA.
01:10:30
Speaker
I love that movie. Um, the trancers, the trancers movies, the first five, five and a half movies. Uh, That is hardcore, dude. Well, Trancers is my favorite franchise, period, out of all franchises. favorite horror fran oh My favorite horror franchise is Phantasm.
01:10:52
Speaker
Okay. um I love all five of those movies, but in terms of all franchises, if you you know took them all into consideration, it's Trancers all the way.
01:11:04
Speaker
Wow. Wow. Actually, you know what low-budget horror thing I am just digging the hell out of lately are the the Hell House LLC movies.
01:11:15
Speaker
I haven't watched those yet. That's something I've got to see. People feel different ways about them. They've got strong supporters and detractors. But honestly, I think it is i haven't seen the most recent one.
01:11:28
Speaker
but it's four home runs. The first four are just, they get better and better. um i really, cause they do so much with so little and it oil all boils down to strong direction, good writing and, and good performances from people that you've never seen before and probably won't see since, yeahp you know, it's all unknown actors and,
01:11:52
Speaker
I mean, if you don't find clown scary, it might not be as scary for you. But I just think it's it's so well. the The whole series is so well done. Yeah, that's something.
01:12:03
Speaker
there's There's a whole bunch of stuff I need to check out. i've i I know. I always feel like I'm behind. um well i i know I'm always behind. I developed this weird this weird habit when I started writing on the internet. I started writing for 411 like all the time.
01:12:20
Speaker
like all the time um I had a difficult time watching something new that I wasn't going to review. Right.
01:12:31
Speaker
Because i'm ah I'm a note taker. I have to take a lot of notes when I watch something new that I'm going to review. And there were a lot of times when I would watch him ah movie at home, especially, watch a new movie at home,
01:12:47
Speaker
and And I kept thinking, well, why aren't you taking notes on this? Right. Don't you know you have to review this? Even though I don't, and I'm not going to. And you keep making mental notes for how you're going to phrase how you feel about something that just happened. So so there was a period of time where I just like didn't do that. And I just kept watching old stuff that I had seen a million times that I loved because I knew we didn't have to review it.
01:13:14
Speaker
Well, plus it's comforting. That you know to watch movies that you've already seen before people don't get that necessarily people that don't do it like I'll say oh I'm gonna put my show on and just have it on in the background and chill and you know, it's just not nice relaxing show that makes me smile and it'll be you know Dexter yeah like a movie where there are several murders in every episode but like when I was a kid reading or watching things about serial killers was not a popular hobby. You were very much considered a freak if you walked around with a copy of Helter Skelter in your backpack.
01:13:48
Speaker
And now it's like, okay, I'm sorry, but Netflix and Hulu both owe me a fucking apology because that is their bread and butter now. Yes. i mean and I mean, 2020 is like that all the time, it seems like. And there are entire now like networks that are just about that.
01:14:07
Speaker
that kind of stuff. So I'm actually interested to know, um because you have anxiety, how do you think that impacts the way that you intake films and the way that you, uh, that you like sort of mentally dissect movies for review?
Impact of Anxiety on Film Critique
01:14:25
Speaker
Does it have an impact on that? I think it does a little bit. Um, I'm a firm believer in, i believe it was Wes Craven who used to say that teenagers watch horror movies because that's how they prepare to deal with life because they're able to deal with scary situations in a controlled setting. And i think i I think I've done stuff like that over time. um That's why, I i mean...
01:15:02
Speaker
I try to learn about as learn about a movie and its background. If I know how it was done,
01:15:12
Speaker
like certain scenes and certain effects and stuff, it you know you know, you understand the magic trick, so you can you can watch it in a different way. So you're not going to get you're not gonna get... I don't get scared at horror movies anymore because, least most of them, because I know how it's all done.
01:15:30
Speaker
Yeah. Right. So I can, I can, I try, I watch it and understand it in a different, a different way. Action movies, uh, a lot of times in the same way, because a lot of times in action movies, uh, there's like a suspense component and, and suspense is great, you know, uh, being on the edge of your seat and all that kind of thing. But that also can, uh, in certain, so in certain circumstances, that kind of thing can induce, uh,
01:15:58
Speaker
stress or yeah or or trigger some sort of thing that you maybe have buried. That kind of thing.
01:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, there's that. So, so yeah, I mean, I probably have done that. I haven't examined that myself, like, like deep down and like enough, but yeah, I probably do.
01:16:23
Speaker
There probably is that like floating around.
01:16:28
Speaker
So this is your first book. um Are you doing any any public signings, any marketing events
Book Marketing Strategies
01:16:35
Speaker
people should know about? Not yet. I'm working on it.
01:16:39
Speaker
I'm working on trying to get some people, different people and different websites and stuff to review it.
01:16:47
Speaker
So if i if if somebody wants a signed copy, how do they get one? They probably ask me through my Facebook page. At the moment. I haven't figured out how to to do all of this yet. This is in um and about a million different ways. This is all very new to me. So I know don't quite know yet what I should do or need to do. What I'm supposed to do. That kind of thing. Okay. Well, you know what? A blog tour is is a good thing to do. Especially with a book like this.
01:17:15
Speaker
Because anybody that has a movie blog or a movie podcast yes will want to know about that. And so basically, your first step should probably be to write a press release, and letting people know why. And I don't know if you know how to like stage, how to how to structure a press release, but generally when you write a press release, you wanna create a problem and then explain how your book solves that problem.
01:17:39
Speaker
You know, like like how like a news story where they'll be like, oh my God, is your orange juice trying to kill you? And then they'll tell you like what orange juice brands to avoid or whatever. yeah yeah, that makes sense.
01:17:51
Speaker
So that when you send out your press packet to people, they know like not just that you have a book coming out, but like why their readers should care that you have a book coming out, you know, yeah because just telling people, hey, I have a thing is not nearly enough to get them interested in it when you're trying to market a book.
01:18:10
Speaker
There always has to be a why. Why do I want this book? And actually, I think in this interview, we've gone over a couple of great reasons why a book like this is going to be valuable to cineast, particularly younger movie view viewers or people that just didn't have time to sit and watch movies. Like this would be a great book for a retiree, somebody who like just decided to stop working and now has a lot of time to sit down and watch movies if they want to. But where do you begin? You know, there's so many years of cinema to sift through.
01:18:43
Speaker
So that's that's probably how I would go about it and also approach people that do podcasts that are specific to movies. Yeah, that's all good advice. That all makes sense. I'll have to do all that.
01:18:58
Speaker
Do it! My excuse for it, though, is I didn't know exactly when the book was coming out. I knew it was coming out. but First of all, you don't need an excuse. You you do it when you do it on your own pace. That's what is so great about books now is that it's not, you know, you don't necessarily have a big six publisher breathing down your neck, yeah making you go to to signing trips or telling you, you know, how you have to market your book.
01:19:25
Speaker
You get to, well, first of all, you can call it your new book for a whole year. And then after the first year, you should probably start calling it your most recent book. um because it it won't be new after a year.
01:19:39
Speaker
And, you well, you know, writers, we're particular about the the nuances of the words that we use. That's true. Yeah, I mean, i think I think there's a lot of ah value in um in a book like this, especially since, like, I think right now in history, this is a good time to remind people that when something is printed on paper, you can't go back and change it.
01:20:05
Speaker
You know, like we were talking about all the good reasons that it's it's great to to write for the internet, but people can not only take your words down and pretend you never put them up, but they can also change your words and pretend like you said something different than you did. Yes.
01:20:22
Speaker
Which is why you have to be cognizant of that on all the different social medias, because some won't let you. edit anything ever after the first 15 minutes you can't edit it but like on Facebook I could go and edit something I put up three years ago yes you know and and just pretend I never said it like first of all why don't more people do that they just say awful things on Facebook and then just leave them up probably because you don't remember that they did it there's that well Facebook does Facebook would be like oh hey this meme you shared 12 years ago is really offensive and now you're in trouble yeah
01:20:58
Speaker
and go Okay, Zach. um So we're actually, we're we're nearing the end of our list. I am wondering if ah there was anything you wanted to cover that we did not get a chance to talk about.
01:21:11
Speaker
a
01:21:14
Speaker
No, I don't think so. Yeah, we covered a lot of good area, right? I think so. Yeah, I think so too. um I do like to give guests a chance to ask a question if they want to ask me a question.
01:21:25
Speaker
Well, yeah. Do you have a, what is your favorite, Beeman? what what uh what do you like well i mean think like inhuman which is probably the most impressive movie i've ever seen just because of the the dedication um that they show to the project and just how how sincere they are um But there there are so many B-movies that I love. I love... ah I mean, is any low-budget movie, like any indie film, does that count as a B-movie? Like, what is the precise aesthetic?
01:22:04
Speaker
um are you Pretty much. i mean and and I mean, I would i would consider star wars the Star Wars movies B-movies, but that's like...
01:22:17
Speaker
lot of people wouldn't agree with that. But, I mean, in turn, B-movie is typically... it's it's It's low budget. it's ah It's some kind of genre type movie.
01:22:30
Speaker
And do we presume that it's something that means to take itself seriously? So like Lobster Man from Mars, for example, might not count as a movie? or no No, either It can either be ae not take itself seriously or take itself deadly seriously.
01:22:46
Speaker
I mean, Steven Seagal, like Steven Seagal, everything he does is and even even when it's absolutely bizarre and ridiculous. He takes it incredibly serious. Yes, that that is OK. I'll buy that.
01:23:00
Speaker
um Gosh, that's that's so tricky because, I mean, for action movies, it's easy because if you're talking about low budget action movies, Death Race 2000 is like the king of that. Oh, yeah. And then.
01:23:15
Speaker
for something more modern ah for action movies, I think I would, oh, you know what? I would say Hardcore Henry, henry because I dug the hell out of Hardcore Henry. That was pretty cool. That was lots of fun.
01:23:27
Speaker
But as as a horror person, I would be inclined to say something more like, i well, you know, the Shark and Saw Prison Break nightmare, that the the one with the had all the porn stars in it.
01:23:43
Speaker
the That one that was was pretty funny. I think that that that was the Jim Wynorski movie. Yeah. and But you know what? That was the same year that when SyFy did their like alt Shark Week. Oh, yeah. there was There was Swamp Shark and Trailer Park Shark and then something else.
01:24:02
Speaker
But then like the survivors of all of those movies were in another movie where called Nightmare Shark. where they were getting therapy for the PTSD that they had suffered during the movies that they were in. Dude, i it blew my fucking mind. When I realized that's what was happening, i mean, i like I had to pause it. was like, wait, I have to go on the internet right now.
01:24:26
Speaker
That's insane. I could not get over it. So that that was probably the the biggest like mind-blowing thing to me. But there are so many great... like you know Sharks of the Corn and and Doll Shark and Ouija Shark. Ouija Shark, that's awesome.
01:24:43
Speaker
And Karis Hell with the the like ah and We enjoyed Llamageddon a lot. um Clown in a Cornfield, that was pretty recent and that was surprisingly like Shudder will serve up some of that.
01:24:59
Speaker
i still have to see that. That looks pretty good. Oh, I really, we we watched clown in a cornfield just thinking it would be silly and dumb. And we're kind of impressed by you. Cause you know how every once in a while, like go shark too, is one of those movies. Like, wait a minute.
01:25:18
Speaker
There were real writers writing this movie. This is a good script. How is that the case? in it that That happens sometimes. I mean, it, uh,
01:25:30
Speaker
A lot of times they'll make a movie, it'll be whatever it's going to be, and then they decide to make a sequel. And the people involved with the sequel don't even take the first movie into consideration in terms of what they're doing.
01:25:45
Speaker
They may like include a character or something, and then they go off and make something that's like diametrically opposed to what that first movie was, and it's like a million times better. um House of the Dead.
Movie Critiques: 'House of the Dead' & 'American Psycho 2'
01:25:57
Speaker
House of the Dead. No. Yeah. Good point. With Christian Slater. That movie is terrible. But House of the Dead 2 is actually pretty good.
01:26:10
Speaker
It's actually, I mean, it's it's pretty well made. story makes sense. See, I always thought that was happening because they were desperately trying to tie in a new movie that isn't very good with something that had more brand recognition, like Mila Kunis in American Psycho 2.
01:26:26
Speaker
ah Because like I think that movie would have done really well if they hadn't tried to shoehorn it into a franchise that it in no way should have been near. Yeah, because that movie... Yeah, that and there shouldn't have been American Psycho 2. It should have been...
01:26:45
Speaker
American girl Shatner gets his ass handed to him by Jackie. Exactly. I mean, and Bill Shatner's in it and you know, what's going on in here? yeah Yeah.
01:26:56
Speaker
All
Mad Lib Game Activity
01:26:57
Speaker
right. Well, good news. Cause it's time for the Mad Lib. Oh, oh great. Yeah. Yeah. And this one has kajillion nouns in it. So let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 singular nouns. Oh my God. That's so money.
01:27:15
Speaker
All right, let's have them. Okay. Kitchen. Uh-huh.
01:27:26
Speaker
Bike.
01:27:30
Speaker
Dog.
01:27:34
Speaker
Bathroom.
01:27:38
Speaker
Backyard.
01:27:43
Speaker
Can you do a name? Yep. Fred. Fred's a good name. um Agree.
01:27:54
Speaker
Wrench.
01:27:58
Speaker
Bottle.
01:28:03
Speaker
and Picture frame.
01:28:10
Speaker
Two more. a Pillow.
01:28:16
Speaker
ah Soda bottle.
01:28:21
Speaker
All right. And now I need plural nouns. I need one, two, three plural nouns.
01:28:30
Speaker
Let's see here. Firks.
01:28:35
Speaker
Tires. Chairs.
01:28:43
Speaker
Chairs. Chairs. And, okay, an adjective?
01:28:49
Speaker
Uh, let's see here. Blue. A part of the body.
01:28:56
Speaker
Hand.
01:29:03
Speaker
All right, and one more. Part of the body. Uh, nose.
01:29:12
Speaker
Nose. Nose. Okay, alright. um This is called, it's from the sports section of the Mad Lib book, and so this is called Sliders, Sinkers, and Curveballs.
01:29:25
Speaker
A blue pitcher today can throw a variety of forks, each of which has a slightly different velocity and kitchen determined by the way he holds the ball in his nose.
01:29:39
Speaker
The fast dog is the most common bike in baseball and can come toward a batter faster than speeding backyard. Often registering 95 miles per bathroom on the radar Fred.
01:29:55
Speaker
If a pitcher alternates a fast wrench with an off-speed pitch, one called a curve or breaking bottle, he could tie a batter up in chairs.
01:30:07
Speaker
And if his bag of tires includes a split hand fastball and a knuckle pillow, he is bound to be 20 picture frame winner and probably end up in the baseball hall of soda bottle. Knuckle pillow. That is great. There we have it.
01:30:29
Speaker
Right. So many band names and in every Mad Lib. um All right, man.
Conclusion & Support Options
01:30:35
Speaker
Well, Brian, I'm really glad you could be here. This was a great conversation and I learned a lot of things about action movies.
01:30:42
Speaker
Um, We want to remind all of our listeners to find us on Ko-Fi. That's K-O-F-I. ah Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine does support the podcast, so the best way to support the show is to support the magazine, plus the magazine pays writers. So we do that with your patronage.
01:31:01
Speaker
So give us your patronage! um Thanks so much. We'll see everybody next week.