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Regular sized Monster Mash
21 Plays4 years ago
We talk about WB's attempt at the Dark Universe and the best one already done Penny Dreadful
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Transcript
Closure of River Oaks Theater
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome. For real. All right. Welcome to Fright Central. We're back again. I'm Kevin Dock and here again with Keck. Hey buddy, what's going on, man?
00:00:25
Speaker
Not much. I just wanted to touch up on a few things from our last episode. I know you had mentioned the historic Houston theater that had closed and you had a little bit more information on that. Yeah, I didn't know the name. I had just seen the New York Times, like at the time when we cast it, the news was only like 24 hours old because it had just happened. So I didn't have a lot of information.
00:00:50
Speaker
But this is a Houston theater, it had been open for 82 years. It was called, let me just make sure it's called the, I was gonna say the Twin Oaks Theater, but it was called the River Oaks Theater.
00:01:06
Speaker
had been in Houston for 82 years. And they cited what they said directly in the release. They said, we are closing because of the coronavirus. The pandemic had just taken too much of a toll on them. They tried to keep it open. They tried like a bunch of like different scenarios where they could keep it open, maybe borrow some money. It was very important to the community.
Richard Linklater's Houston Connection
00:01:32
Speaker
the director, Richard Linkler, who is one of my favorite directors of all time. Let me just, in case you have been living on Mars for the last 30 years or something like that, Slacker, Dazed and Confused Before Sunrise. He made a remake of Suburbia. I actually did not see that. Waking Life, a very, very intellectual movie.
00:01:57
Speaker
Um, a tape, a school of rock, which I actually really like before sunset, it had, um, Ethan Hawkenett but also had Julie Delphi in it so that makes anything worth it fast food nation, a scanner darkly, I mean, you know,
00:02:14
Speaker
you just stop there. Yeah, that's suburbia. That's not a remake of the suburbia. It's a completely different movie. Okay, well, I didn't say it. So I wouldn't have known either way. I mean, I think he's like, actually, like, in terms of like, teen films, and like, you know, like, you know, like films in your late teens, early 20s, or like, growing up in adolescence, like,
00:02:37
Speaker
his message i think he's been one of the most influential american directors in the past well since he's been directing since slacker i think you had mentioned something about kevin smith uh seeing slacker for the first time yeah he's heavily influenced by uh by venture life later
00:02:55
Speaker
And he called it his personal film school. And he was very, very big on the Houston community. Like I was saying, I did not realize Houston is our fifth largest city in the US. And he did a bunch of things for the community. And apparently, people in the Houston area that could provide proof of residence, he would do premieres there. And they would sometimes get drastically discounted tickets.
00:03:23
Speaker
to see premieres and things like that.
Fate of River Oaks Theater Site
00:03:25
Speaker
I mean, it sounds like it was a very, very special place. And I was like really, really sorry to hear that, because even though I had never been there, like 82 years, and when you have praise from like great American directors like that, it's obviously, you know, it's like hearing like the last drive-in closed, you know what I mean? Like, it's just depressing.
00:03:48
Speaker
Do you know if that site has been claimed like a historic site? Do you like so they can't tear it down? Do you think it'll get bought out by somebody? Right now, this is from ABC News. This was this was April 3rd. This article came out. It's just it calls it a historic theater. I don't know if the site has been. I don't know what's going to become of it. So I have no idea whether or not they're going to
00:04:16
Speaker
preserve it i mean they could turn
Alamo Drafthouse Bankruptcy
00:04:18
Speaker
it into like a cultural site or something like that maybe make it into like like a like a museum or something for like cinema through the ages that would be really cool but i have no idea if it's going to turn into something else or if it's going to get demolished and just be a hole in the ground you know yeah or maybe uh something like the uh netflix egyptian deal where like they're renovating it to like restore it
00:04:44
Speaker
uh to its um to its original like um yeah and uh they're adding they're changing they're taking like a screening room that was added in like 92 out and uh adding like a more modern concessionary but like everything else is going to be like restored to like the way it was like intended and stuff like that so i think that's that that's pretty uh fascinating so maybe somebody some else like company like amazon or netflix will come in and start buying up all these uh
00:05:14
Speaker
theaters that are shutting down because like that's like the one thing that's kind of keeping them from like getting into like the Oscars and stuff like that because that is their movies premiering in theaters uh because there's a I have a couple other theaters that uh just announced uh their closures or um at least closing some theaters like the Alamo draft house uh filed for chapter 11
00:05:36
Speaker
And they've closed down at least three locations that I know of, one of them being the flagship Austin theater, where like we're South by Southwest would have a lot of their screenings and stuff as well there. And they were going to open one in Florida, which they've now decided not to. They just opened one out here. Good choice. Yeah, I don't know. It doesn't say where in Florida. It's just Florida. But there was whatever. Good choice. Yeah, there's one in L.A. that they just opened up like
00:06:06
Speaker
Not even a year before the pandemic hit that one staying open though, and they are still opening one in El Paso. Coming soon, but then the other.
Arclight and Pacific Theaters Closure
00:06:19
Speaker
One that just announced this past week was the Arklight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters. They're owned by the same people. They just announced that they're closing all their screens. They had 300 screens just in California alone, but they also had theaters in Boston, Chicago and D.C. And the main one, the Arklight Cinemas. The Arklight. I've never heard of it before.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, and Pacific theaters. Yeah, they don't have any in Jersey or like New York, but they're big out here. They have like the main ones called the Cinnarama Dome. And it's a historical cultural monument. So like they can't tear that down. So maybe somebody will come in and buy
Nostalgia for Dollar Theaters
00:07:04
Speaker
that one up. But they used to have movie premiere special events and like press screenings there. I saw the road show of
00:07:13
Speaker
Tarantino's, Tarantino's a hateful eight there, you know, the extended version with the, you know, the, it's like not the four hour long one that's on like Netflix now, but like they're they did like this roadshow version which was like an extended I never I didn't know there was a four hour version of the hateful eight.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, they cut it into like chapters. So it's like, yeah, there's a four hour version. I still haven't watched the four hour version yet. Is that the one where they like edit it so that Walton Goggins is actually playing every single character? That's not it. No, I don't think so. Somebody told me that they did something where he played every single character. I wasn't sure if that's what. All right. Never mind. Sorry. Continue.
00:08:01
Speaker
No, that's going to be a big loss. Hopefully somebody comes in and buys them out. So that's kind of another huge theater. Yeah, that sucks. And I think the only ones that are coming back right now that I can think of off the top of my head are like the Cinemarks, Regal, and AMC. And even those are kind of questionable. I didn't even know Regal was still around.
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Riegel's still around. They have one downtown L.A. That's pretty big. Although the one of the Pacific theaters that was huge out here as well was at the what they call the Grove. And that had that I've been there a couple of times to see a few movies. And like I think that'll somebody will probably buy that one out because there's some theaters that they owned that, you know, made a lot of money and they'll probably reopen those. Somebody will probably buy those out and they'll probably shut down the other ones. I don't know if they'll keep the name Arklight or if we'll change it. But
00:08:56
Speaker
We'll see. Do you remember the dollar theater that was like over the Trenton Makes Bridge? I think it was like in Morrisville or in Fairless Hills, PA. Yeah, I don't remember the name of it, though. It was actually like one paper dollar and like they would show movies like that were like out of the others. Like it was like
00:09:19
Speaker
I think it was like they were in their transitional period like right around the time they were going to be on like VHS you could go there and the theater was a shithole like they would clean popcorn off of the floors like once a day or maybe like once every other day.
00:09:36
Speaker
It seemed like once a week, honestly. We used to go there and it would be a place where like you could like, you know, get a little bit rowdy with your friends, you know, people would drink, they would bring alcohol and things like that into the theaters. It used to be like a hookup spot when we were like, you know, still in high school where you didn't have anywhere else to bring your girlfriend and, you know, you could have a really cheap date for two bucks.
00:10:01
Speaker
So I mean, that was real cool. I think that closed down like a long time ago. Yeah, there's still second read. That's called a second run theater. It's like right before it becomes a second run. Yeah, it's it's after it's been in theaters for a certain amount of time, but before it comes out on like VHS or DVD. And nowadays it would be before it came out on VOD. There's still theaters out here like that. They're not necessarily a dollar anymore, but they're they're usually maybe like
00:10:28
Speaker
four or five bucks to see because it was actually $1 like you go in there just hand them a buck and like that was general admission. You know, I mean, so I just thought that was like really, really, really cool.
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, there's this place called a video out here that was in Santa Monica area. I forget exactly where it was, but they actually moved to an area called Eagle Rock and they've opened up.
00:10:59
Speaker
a theater as well.
Blockbuster's Missed Netflix Opportunity
00:11:02
Speaker
I don't know if it's, I think it's only one screen, but they're going to be showing a lot of the independent things. And it's a straight up old school like video store where you can go in and like rent a movie, like whether it's on VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray. And they have like a really wide selection. It's a lot of stuff that's like hasn't, like a lot of the VHS stuff is like stuff that's not been put on DVD and stuff. So they have a lot of rare things there.
00:11:25
Speaker
and a lot of people used to go there. Is there still one blockbuster video store open? I know John Oliver gets a segment about it. I think it's in Washington state. There's a documentary on Netflix right now called The Last Blockbuster. I thought it was Alaska, because that would make sense. I think there might be one in Alaska, but I think the one that's in the documentary is on Washington. We have Russell Crowe's jock story.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, I remember that John Oliver taping. I'm not exactly sure which blockbuster it was. It might have been the one in Alaska. Yeah, I feel like it was in, I feel like it was in Alaska, but he maybe because fucking Russell Crowe's from Australia, maybe like I'm thinking Russell Crowe, I don't know, because he also did a thing about
00:12:14
Speaker
koala bears, what, chlamydia? He talked about Australia. The John Oliver Center for Chlamydia Koalas or something. I think it was either Washington State or Alaska. Yeah, I can't remember. I think the documentary is the one on Netflix is about the one in Washington State, but I don't remember. I haven't seen the documentary yet, but
00:12:38
Speaker
Fuck Blockbuster. Anyway, whatever. Hey, I never worked for the people. I worked for a lot of different video store chains, but like Blockbuster was not one of them.
00:12:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to get into why I don't like blockbuster right now. That's a whole other discussion. But there's a lot of reasons not to like it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, a good segue for that is one of the reasons Blockbuster kind of failed was because they had a chance to buy out Netflix.
00:13:09
Speaker
and they turned it down because they didn't think Netflix was going to take off and that ended up being their downfall so yeah i gotta tell you like whoever oh my god whoever it was can you imagine being the final say
Sony's Netflix Deal
00:13:25
Speaker
as a blockbuster executive like it was your final say which pushed you in the direction. It would have been like I think it was like 500 million or something like that it was like cheap like whoa that's like being the guy that jumps out off the top of the high rise like Manhattan like
00:13:46
Speaker
fucking Manhattan skyscraper. That's neat. That just walks off the edge. Yeah. So speaking of Netflix and you know how all these streaming service services are popping up. Well, Sony actually is not doing a streaming service. They originally had a deal with Stars, who was owned by Lionsgate. Well, starting in 2022, they will be premiering their films on Netflix after their theatrical run. So
00:14:16
Speaker
Didn't stars used to be prism when it was a cable channel? Isn't it the same people? Oh, I don't know. I didn't really look into that deep. I just know stars is kind of I thought they were owned by Sony because most of their stuff has gone to stars for the most time I can remember. But yeah, they I guess it was owned by Lionsgate this whole time.
00:14:39
Speaker
yeah comcast cable before like you know things got all tack and stuff like that and like hbo used to be channel 18 universally and yeah um i think it was like channel 20 was a channel called prism
00:14:56
Speaker
And this was in like the early 1990s. And then that changed when, well, as technology improved, and they all started having like their own blocks for different providers. But I think stars used to be prison. And yeah, that's all. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.
00:15:15
Speaker
But yeah, so the deal doesn't start till 2022. So I believe anything that comes out this year, like I believe Ghostbusters Afterlife is still going to be part of Sony. I don't know if like the when the deal expires on stars, if those movies are going to be part of
00:15:36
Speaker
the Netflix deal or if this is just Sony's new releases, there isn't really a ton of detail on that. They just announced that they were doing a deal starting in 2022 that all the new stuff was going to be premiering on there. I think that's good because I don't really want to pay for another streaming service. I don't think Sony has a big enough library to start their own either.
00:16:00
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I guess you can never totally discount Sony. You know, everybody thought like Xbox One was going to be the successor and like Sony mounted like a fucking blaring comeback. I'll never like they thought Xbox was going to become like the big thing and like PS4. They've made documentaries recently about one is on Netflix and
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah, so I'll just never discount Sony. No, yeah. But I think it's smart that they're doing it this way instead of trying to compete with all the different streaming services. No, I agree. Hey, we don't have a deep enough background.
Review of Godzilla vs. Kong
00:16:40
Speaker
Let's just make a deal with one of our already running.
00:16:43
Speaker
service and I think it's good for Netflix because they've been losing a lot of their stuff to all these other streaming services that have been like letting their deals expire and taking their stuff back. So Netflix kind of is Amazon Prime one of them.
00:16:58
Speaker
No, you know, like Paramount and Disney and stuff like that. They used to and Peacock. So NBC Universal, you know, they used to sell all their stuff to like, you know, Netflix and Amazon. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And now they're just like letting those deals expire and taking their movies back. So, yeah, I think it's a great idea. Well, I was trying to say, I think Sony is a very good company. Oh, yes. Smart people.
00:17:25
Speaker
And I would never count them out. No, not at all. But I think it's smart that they're doing it this way. Anything that takes away business from Amazon right now is good because Amazon is just becoming scaringly huge to me. Way too big. So anything that stops its growth makes me happy. Exactly.
00:17:48
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, um, so last week or not last week, but, uh, last episode we did our, uh, we talked about our giant monster movies. Yeah. So I don't know if you had a chance to watch, uh, Godzilla verse Kong since last. Yeah, I did. I actually watched it like just before the cast, but I don't want to say I watched it. I skimmed it. Um, you watched the monster fights, the important parts, right?
00:18:14
Speaker
In the first like maybe 60 seconds like when they mentioned like when the two people like the first English dialogue in the movie is like 60 seconds in and I think her first line was like we have to keep King Kong heroes. Godzilla will find them again. I immediately skimmed like 20 minutes.
00:18:39
Speaker
Oh, some of that dialogue is like a story is like, wait, what? Like, yeah, I got the fear immediately. And I was like, Oh, my fucking like that, like, that's your opening, too. And it was just like, you know, your first opening paragraph, so like a script, you want to be like the best of the script, you want to start sucking me. When I heard that, I was like, Oh, my God.
00:19:01
Speaker
Well, there's like, there's a podcaster that's like, apparently has a popular podcast about like, the Titans. And he's like, well, I'm working for this corporation,
Classic Monster Movies and Universal's Shared Universe
00:19:12
Speaker
I'm going to go steal some secrets for it and like, and it goes and completes like his nobody tries to stop him.
00:19:21
Speaker
And that's that's pretty much yeah. Yeah, I got the fear immediately. And so I just skimmed like to the battles and I skimmed that like the introduction of certain characters like Starsguard and like the other like so I tried to like do that. So for me, the whole movie was only like
00:19:41
Speaker
maybe 35 minutes total. And I watched like the naval battle scene, the battle scene at sea was pretty cool. Yeah. I like that. But there was no legible story there. But I don't know, like I thought the CGI was pretty good. I didn't think it was as good as people were describing it to me. Like I have heard people say like I thought it was the best CGI I've ever seen in my life.
00:20:10
Speaker
I thought it was pretty good. I didn't think it was like incredible CGI, but like it was, it was all right. And yeah, the battles were good. It was pretty much like what we said last cast. Yeah. Everything you said is pretty much what I agree with. Like the battles were pretty cool. You know, I did feel like some people told me, well, you know, they were saying it's a Godzilla movie, but it's more of a King Kong movie. I definitely agree with that. Yeah. Like it seemed to me like, you know, like
00:20:40
Speaker
you know king kong was the lead and godzilla would have been up for best supporting actor you know what i mean like so but yeah i mean it was cool the fights were good and stuff like that and i mean i really don't have any more to say
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, when I was thinking after I was talking about it last week, I was like, man, that's such a, when you really think about what happens in all of the movies pretty much, it's one of the most ridiculous things to try to describe to somebody, the human elements and the whole backstory and everything. It just sounds so ridiculous and over the top. The whole time I'm like, this must sound like the most bizarre random fucking thing.
00:21:23
Speaker
I don't know like I don't know how like if anybody was listening to that and hadn't seen the movies they'd be like I don't I don't know what you're talking about it sounds really dumb and it is dumb but like I'm there for the monster fights like that that's all it matters but like I was saying like the main monster fight like I think the main difference between the um
00:21:43
Speaker
this and the other ones is like the CGI battles are like in the light and they're not like hitting in shadows and darkness a lot of times like even the night battle in Hong Kong is like a lot of neon like it's like lit up so you can like still see
00:21:59
Speaker
everything that's happening. So I appreciate that. But yeah, so to get off the giant monster movies, I want to go back to the classic monster movies. And WB first, who owns Legendary, who did the giant monster movies, they were trying to start the dark universe, which is basically a bunch of classic universal monsters, you know,
00:22:26
Speaker
monsters that you know they're all like public domain they don't cost anything for rights or anything like that.
00:22:34
Speaker
And they originally started this in 2014 with Dracula Untold, and then that completely bombed it. So then they tried to restart it again in 2017 with Tom Cruise's The Mummy, which also completely fucking failed. You know, they threw Russell Crowe's Mr. Hyde in there as well. But then they restarted it again with The Invisible Man.
00:23:00
Speaker
which I don't know if they're still trying to do an interconnected thing anymore. But I think Invisible Man was a great start to team up with Boom House and to do it that way. I think that was a smart move. It was better than I expected. Yes, absolutely. I wasn't expecting to like it.
00:23:18
Speaker
I think it did really well. And I believe the Fangori Chainsaw Awards are this Sunday on Shudder. And that's up for best wide release movie. I mean, we'll talk about the we already did our best from last year. You can go back and listen to that. But I'm sure we'll cover what the chainsaw awards, which is whatever, which is all voted on by fans. Well, I'm sure we'll go over that. But yeah, some of the upcoming projects that they have
00:23:48
Speaker
come in or they want to do a Frankenstein movie, a bride, a Frankenstein, an invisible woman, which is not related to the Invisible Man. It's a completely separate character.
00:24:01
Speaker
They also want to do a sequel to Invisible Man as well. They want to do Dracula. I think the one that has the most go for it right now is the Wolfman because it's got Ryan Gosselin and Leia Whannell who did like the Saw movies and I believe he did Insidious. Yeah. They're both attached right now for that.
In-depth Analysis of Penny Dreadful
00:24:23
Speaker
So that seems to be like the next project. But there's also talk of like a
00:24:29
Speaker
a dark army, which is going to be like a team up of the monsters, kind of like how monsters go out, which is still my favorite team up of the classic monsters. I'm trying the 80s classic, which were like all the characters were kind of like all the kids were kind of like ripped off the Goonies characters.
00:24:49
Speaker
in a way, but like I think that's like one of the best Frankenstein's monster and like the Dracula was really good. The mummy and the creature from the black lagoon. Yeah. I was thinking in my head, what was the lizard creature? Yes. Yeah. I got to tell you, if there is a better team up like that, I'm not sure I've seen it.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, if there is one, I can't think of one off the top of my head that even really comes close to it. So, you know.
00:25:23
Speaker
Well, there is one that comes close to it, which is what we wanted to, which we discussed is Penny Dreadful. I meant like in terms of film. In film, yes. Like I can't think of another film that even comes close to it. Yeah, not at all. Yeah. And I think I think the smart move was for Showtime, who did Penny Dreadful. This came out in 2014.
00:25:50
Speaker
Which was right around the same time that Jacqueline told it. So and it ended in 2016 which was right before the mummy. So, but I think this has been besides monster squad.
00:26:06
Speaker
in film, I think this has been the best version of a lot of those characters in television. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If you guys have not seen it, Penny Dreadful, I was talking to somebody the other day and they had I was saying we're going to do a podcast to talk about Penny Dreadful, like thinking he'd be like, because he's into like horror and stuff. And like, I figured he'd be like, oh, yeah, classic. And he was like, what's that?
00:26:33
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, dude, I was like, you know, I had time like quality right now. It's not really in what I call abundance. So like, if you're going to go back and watch something like, you know, there's something that you've missed and you never heard of penny dreadful. Like it's time to.
00:26:51
Speaker
You know, put aside some hours of your life for a fucking amazing monster team up, like the integration is fucking perfect. It was so fucking clever, man, the way they like. What were your initial impressions? Well, first, I just want to mention that it was originally on Showtime, which you can still watch the first three seasons on Showtime. We won't be talking about City of Angel, which was kind of a spinoff, and that was more based on folklore.
00:27:21
Speaker
And the first I've never seen it. Yeah, neither of us has seen it. So we're not going to even talk about that since we haven't seen it. But the first three seasons are available on Netflix right now. So you can easily go back and watch it. If you have a Netflix account, you don't need to sign up for showtime or anything. Netflix.
00:27:39
Speaker
I'm not sure. I just saw it on there because I've watched it recently within the past couple months because I had only maybe seen like an episode here or there. Yeah. And I think I think I'd watched one episode and I was like, I don't know what this is. I'm not that interested. And I didn't watch it like when it aired live because I didn't catch it from the beginning. So I didn't know what the hell was going on. I think I remember Dorian Gray being in it.
00:28:02
Speaker
And being like, yeah, it was like a ballroom scene or something like that. And there's dancing and I was like, I don't know what's going on. This is not something that you can just like, I mean, yeah, it's not something that you can just pick up halfway and be like, Oh yeah. All right. You know, I can follow on this. Like I don't, yeah. You need to watch that from episode one or you're going to be totally fine.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah, when I went back and I watched the pilot, I was like, all right, let me sit down and really check this out. And once I finished that pilot, I was like, wow, how did I not see this when it came out? Like the pilot is perfect. And I thought it was really amazing. But one of the reasons people talk about like, oh, it got canceled, it got canceled. I was reading recently that it actually really didn't get
00:28:50
Speaker
canceled necessarily. I mean, there was declining viewership and the cost of it was getting pretty expensive compared to what else was on Showtime at the time. But the showrunner or show creator, I should say, John Logan, actually said it was intended to only be three seasons because he knew it wasn't going to be a long running one. He knew Showtime wasn't going to do it. The cast didn't find out till about halfway through season two that it was only going to be three seasons.
00:29:19
Speaker
But that was the rumor I had heard. I had heard that they had planned to have a fourth and final season. And one of the reason that that they didn't do it were because of casting conflicts, because they were kind of like up in the air or something like that. And
00:29:39
Speaker
They're like some of the cast like want to know like whether or not they should be committed to a fourth season or something like that. But you're saying that didn't happen. That was that there was a casting issue where like several of the stars were going to not be available for fourth season. That that did not happen.
00:29:58
Speaker
No, John Logan had pretty much had came out and said that the whole all three seasons pretty much revolve around the character of Vanessa eyes and like once she's not there like it's pretty much just a bunch of monster characters roaming around and it's like most of it is is basically Vanessa eyes at once.
00:30:16
Speaker
she's not in it anymore, there's no point in doing that. Yeah, I mean, she pretty much, she's like the narrator of like all the like integrations, like all the segues into the different monsters and the different characters, like she's the one that takes you there without her, you know, it's like taking away the sun.
00:30:36
Speaker
Yes. So basically, for people who don't know the show, the basic premise is it's about an explorer, Sir Malcolm Murray, who's played by Timothy Dalton. And he's getting all these different characters together, including a gunslinger, Ethan Chandler, who is an American
00:30:56
Speaker
played by Josh Harnett, the scientist Victor Frankenstein, played by Harry Treadaway, medium Vanessa Ives, played by Eva Green. And they unite to combat supernatural threats in Victorian London. And that's the basic premise.
00:31:16
Speaker
uh if you haven't seen the show you maybe want to stop here and go watch the show because we may spoil uh some of this as we go forward so i just want to let you know yeah we'll try not to go too deep into it um so if you if you still want to watch it i won't really spoil too much of it but
00:31:36
Speaker
I assume everybody's seen this. I'm assuming that 95% of the people that would listen to a horror podcast have definitely seen this, maybe seen it multiple times. Hey man, I just watched it for the first time a couple of months ago. Yeah, that's wild to me because this is like something like, I mean, like
00:31:57
Speaker
They take all the origins, the early horror as a concept in film, originating from the Wolfman, the early monsters of the 1950s, which led to everything else that you see horror-wise on film. It all came from these characters. Oh, man.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah, like the only other one, the only other one that I knew that was even in this show was Dorian Gray. Because I had seen it. My biggest surprise. Well, you had gone over all the different characters. How many different monsters were represented?
00:32:46
Speaker
in when you get you get uh victor frankenstein's you get the creature which i really liked when you first see him like and he and he you know you see the creature for the first time i was like oh okay they're doing like and like he's just creating the creature i was like oh that's interesting they decided to set him in uh london but then you see his original creature return
00:33:09
Speaker
and like he's been hunting for him and looking for him so you're like okay so he was in where I don't remember where exactly Frankenstein's originally from but like then he moved to London and I thought he was from Germany
00:33:24
Speaker
Is he from Germany originally? It sounds pretty determined. I think they say in the show exactly where, but I don't remember. It's interesting watching his original creation has like searched for him because he's felt abandoned by him and he's come back to like, you know,
00:33:47
Speaker
not necessarily get his revenge, but in a way, yes.
00:33:55
Speaker
Oh I just need to mention this because like Frankenstein is like very misrepresented to a lot of people because a lot of people think that the monster is called Frankenstein and Frankenstein is actually the creator of the monster as you referred Frankenstein like the the creature that he produces that's the creature Frankenstein is not the monster
00:34:19
Speaker
Well, from what I understand, I was just talking to somebody the other day, like, oh, he's on the cereal box. And I was like, that's not Frank Frankenstein. Yeah, yes. People say this to me all the time when I'm describing this. I'm like, what the fuck?
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah, but for what I understand like it can kind of go you can also refer to the crankers sign, you can because it's like, it's his last name so it's kind of like your son going by your last name as well, since he's his
00:34:53
Speaker
You can call both Frankenstein. I let it slide because I know who they're talking about when somebody says Frankenstein. I feel like whenever I talk about Frankenstein, I want to just make that clear. That's why I'll refer to him as the creature in this show. I noticed he did that when he said the cry. I felt like I wanted to mention that, but yeah, continue. Some of the other characters that show up are the bride.
00:35:23
Speaker
of Frankenstein, you get Mr. Hyde or Dr. Jekyll actually, maybe get a little hint of Mr. Hyde in there. There's hints of, well, there's actually a mention of the mummy, which I thought they were gonna do for a season four and then I realized that they had that. I thought the exact same thing. I thought that would be an interesting way to go. I knew the mummy was gonna come. I didn't know if the mummy was gonna be like a big part of it, but like,
00:35:50
Speaker
In season two, when they have like, um, the daughters of Lucifer and stuff like that, like going after them, I was like, Oh, I was like, there's going to be a scene and they're going to go into like this ancient place. And you know, I mean, they're going to have to find some artifact or something. And that's where the mummy's going to come from.
00:36:11
Speaker
I weighed it and I weighed it and I weighed it and I avoided hearing anything else about the show waiting for that. But the time just never came. You know what I mean? Like the only mentioned is one of the other characters says he's going to Egypt to investigate. Yeah.
00:36:28
Speaker
and you really that's when you get the hint they never even picked up on that yeah yeah i think he says like emo tap and i was like oh the mummy i was like so i picked up on that right away but uh then i think van Helsing shows up for like two episodes and he's like an older man i thought uh sir malcolm murray was going to be uh i thought timothy dalton would have been van Helsing
00:36:51
Speaker
Yeah, well, that Velhan, it was interesting because I believe in the show, Van Helsing was only consulting with Dr. Frankenstein.
00:37:01
Speaker
They weren't there was I don't think he mentioned vampires or anything like that. Like he was a vampire hunter. He was he was Dr. Frankenstein had been Helsing as like a mentor figure. He was like his teacher. He was like his academic scholar and whatnot. And so whenever he had like a serious matter or something, he would bring it to Dr. Van Helsing and they would, you know, consult and stuff.
00:37:27
Speaker
I thought that was, I thought that was, I thought Valen Helsing was going to be like a big part of it when I first saw, you know, Frankenstein talking to him. And, you know, that ended very abruptly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that at all either. I thought he was going to be a bigger part of it. The preacher takes its revenge and he kills Van Helsing. And I don't associate with Van Helsing with Frankenstein anyway.
00:37:53
Speaker
But they did it and it was fucking clever. Everything was clever. I'm going to say that a lot. The show was just so fucking clever in me. Like I was so in awe by it. Yeah. One of the other main characters that they introduced is Dracula. And I thought the way they described the Dracula and his backstory and his connection with Lucifer and Heaven and the fallen angels. I thought that was fantastic. I was like, holy shit, like this is a completely new take on the character.
00:38:22
Speaker
And you should note, though, that Dracula, I believe Dracula as a character, I don't believe he was mentioned until season three. No, I don't think so either. But he's definitely his presence is felt throughout because the first season is mostly vampires and Lucifer. Did you notice the transformation, too? Because like in the first season, no Dracula, but she was being hunted
Character Depth in Penny Dreadful
00:38:48
Speaker
by vampires. That was something that was happening.
00:38:51
Speaker
And the master vampire, something I found interesting in the first season, looked like Nosferatu. And as the vampire scene went through the seasons, it kind of evolved into the Dracula that we all know with Renfro and like
00:39:12
Speaker
You know the classic classic Dracula story it was kind of like an evolution from like the early like wasn't 1929 when the first Dracula came out, and then it seemed to like evolve into like 1950s Dracula and Dracula that we all know today.
00:39:28
Speaker
I don't know if they did that intentionally, but I feel that they did. I think so as well. Once you get the whole backstory of Dracula and the connection to Lucifer and Vanessa Ives and everything, you're like, yeah, this was definitely planned out.
00:39:50
Speaker
I just I don't know if they were trying to make it like the evolution. I don't know if they were trying to like show like as the season went on, the transition of Dracula as it transitioned through the film industry. Oh, yeah. Yes. Brought to like Jonathan Malkovich did a movie about it called Shadow of the Vampire, I believe. Yes. Well, the foe.
00:40:15
Speaker
Yeah, it shows those raw to and, you know, it shows and like, you know, I don't know if they were trying to show like, all right, we're going to we're going to allude to Dracula, but we're not going to say or mention them. And we're going to kind of show the evolution as we evolve through cinema over the years. I don't know for a fact that that's what they were going for. But I like to think that that's what.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like it was. But yeah, so the first season basically is Timothy Dalton getting these characters together to help find his daughter who's been kidnapped. And he already knows about vampires. And he brings in Victor Frankenstein to examine them. And he needs the gunslinger, Josh Harnett, as his enforcer.
00:41:10
Speaker
And I love how they kind of weave them together to come in and be like, all right, these are the people I need. And I need my scientist. I need my gunslinger. I need my medium. And she's also
00:41:25
Speaker
like his kind of adopted, like Vanessa Ives, Eva Green's character is kind of like an adopted daughter to him. Cause like him and his daughter and her were like kind of best friends growing up and they were like neighbors as they grew up. So they're all kind of connected as well. And then like when they bring in these other characters, I was like, wow, I really love how like they're mixing these characters in together. And like it felt very natural
00:41:52
Speaker
of a coming together and didn't really feel like forced at all like, like oh here's Dracula here's Mr. Hyde like let's just throw them together and like, it didn't feel forced at all it felt very well that's what I mean it was just so well done like integration was like seamless like I was like, I just don't know. It's a great mind that came up.
00:42:13
Speaker
with like this whole like concept like how how they were able to do it like i mean fucking a like i just remember i'm like oh dude it was just like i realized i'm not doing a very good job of describing it but like it was
00:42:32
Speaker
every episode like there were no sidebar episodes like it was just structured so well like everything flowed so well as a new character came it gave an air to a new monster and then something else after that and then they were all like hanging out together yeah it wasn't corny it's not like you think if somebody described this show to me i'll be like dude
00:42:55
Speaker
That sounds so fucking stupid. Like, you know, I mean, it sounds like charmed or something like that. Yeah. Like, I'd be like, yeah, that second season as which is in it and like they're fucking phenomenal the way they were portrayed as well. They were great. Who was the she was like the she was like, I guess what you would call the first daughter in that she served him like eternally. She's actually based on
00:43:26
Speaker
There were other movies that were about the daughter of Lucifer and her character has a name and I can't remember what she was in the old horror movies, but she was played by the same actress that plays Polly in
00:43:42
Speaker
Peaky Blinders. And I think she is an absolutely exceptional actress. And she was. Yeah. And the daughters, the CGI, I thought was really fucking cool in the show. Like there wasn't like an overabundance of it, but like, especially in season two with Melissa first minions, like the witches, because they're all like
00:44:07
Speaker
like the way they described them is like their bodies were like naked and hairless and they were scarred with Lucifer's claws. Some of them had like pentagrams drawn. And other others like they described with Lucifer taking its claws and just shredding through their flesh. So if you see them like as their true form they're like these really deformed
00:44:33
Speaker
demonic witches but like they're able to kind of cast like a constant illusion which makes them look like beautiful women that can move freely through like you know uh upper class society in London and uh that was I and the seat it was all CGI during the transformations although the suits that they wear I saw the making of the suits that they wore were like a latex
00:44:59
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of practical effects in that show as well. Yeah, it was a great integration of siege. I will practical filmmaking. Like, absolutely. And yeah, yeah, that was amazing. I mean, it's hard for me to think of some of the monsters like classic monsters that it did not. I guess there was no creature from the lagoon like a monster squad. Yeah. We had we had the Wolfman Frankenstein, a creature during gray, which during gray
00:45:29
Speaker
I don't know if you would consider Dorian Bray a monster. Not necessarily, but at the same time, he kind of is because he's kind of like this ever living creature in a way because of the interpretation. Yeah. Definitely open for interpretation.
00:45:45
Speaker
but in and by the way of dorian gray has the classiest orgies i must say yeah he's bisexual um and you know he yeah he does have classy ass orgies very classy yeah i really liked this character because he like since he's lived such a long life he'll he'll he loves to try out new things and he'll get really into something and then he'll just get bored of it and like
00:46:13
Speaker
toss it aside, whether it's a person. How many centuries had he lived for? Because he says in the in the show at one point, he said he's telling the bride of Frankenstein who I'm not sure who came up with that idea, but bride of Frankenstein and Dorian Gray become like hardcore partners. That's fantastic. Yeah, I didn't recognize that actress for a minute. But then when I did, I think it took me to like the second season, I was like,
00:46:43
Speaker
Oh yeah, she was like the first season of the reboot of Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston. She plays, she's like the main, the main sidekick for her, the main companion, I should say. Sorry, I don't want to piss off Doctor Who fans. Yeah.
00:46:59
Speaker
I mean, I really loved that season. I watched all the way up to the David Tennant series. I didn't get into the Matt Smith because I was like, nah, David Tennant's so great. But anyway, well, I was like, oh, shit, yeah, that's fucking Billy Piper. I was like, how did I not recognize her? She was fantastic in this series as well. And like, she really has a great arc as well in this. And I really liked her teaming up with Dorian Gray in that as well. Like, it was so good.
00:47:24
Speaker
When they bring in like about revolutions, he said I've got solutions rise and fall I've seen empires rise and fall and he said something to her he's like.
00:47:34
Speaker
And it's boring to me now or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Because she's she tries to start up a revolution. Yeah. And he's kind of like madly insane. And he's like, yeah, I'm not into this anymore. And it's like it's so great the way he wanted to pretty much exterminate men, didn't she? At first it started with like rough Johns because the bride of Frankenstein before she became like a creature herself.
00:48:01
Speaker
She lived her life as well, I think in the I think in the original Frankenstein Frankenstein brings parts of all different people. Yeah. And puts them together. That's how the original creature is. But in this, it's like I'm actually it was a guy that died.
00:48:19
Speaker
So it's not like parts of somebody. In this show, the bride of Frankenstein, she was just, you know, the body of a woman. There was nothing added to her. So she had lived her life as a prostitute. And she I believe the divide of combustion, tuberculosis, like very slowly and painfully. But she had to act as a prostitute throughout her life. And so she remembers, like,
00:48:47
Speaker
you know, the rough lifestyle of I thought there was going to be Jack the Ripper. Yeah, because they do hints at that, but that it actually is something because she was a prostitute and she was talking about the Jack the Ripper error. And I thought they were going to have that. But I want to come back to that. I don't want to get too sidetracked. Yeah. But yeah, so she remembers like how rough of a life it was for her being a prostitute in London at the time, a very poor prostitute.
00:49:16
Speaker
And so she leads this revolution where at first she wants she recruits first off an army of whores and the army of whores are sent to like cut off the hands of like all the rough johns they come across. Oh, that's fantastic.
00:49:33
Speaker
Yeah. And Dorian Gray has the he's the only male there in his own house. First off, it's his own mansion. He's ridiculously rich. And it's her bride, Frank and so an army of whores. And they're all throwing hands that they've chopped off of, like, you know, their male clients onto the table like massive piles of hands.
00:49:54
Speaker
And I think she goes from there and evolves to the point where she kind of wants to like exterminate all men. Like she wants to establish like women as like a dominant class. I thought that was a little bit overdone. Like, you know, because she kind of like becomes a bit genocidal. But I don't know, other people have said, well, you know, the creatures are going to want revenge and rage. And so they're both going to come to that point.
00:50:22
Speaker
I feel like it fit her character purposely. Yeah, I think she had the genocide scene kind of became weird. But like, other than that, I thought it was really, again, very clever and very well done. Yeah. To touch on your Jack the Ripper moment, there was a part in the first season where they had mentioned because there had been some horrible killing and they were like, they thought it was Jack the Ripper, but
00:50:49
Speaker
Later on, you end up finding out it was the Wolfman. And I really loved how they did like the whole story of the Wolfman and how it
00:51:01
Speaker
it was like a Native American thing and like that like like they did with Dracula, they kind of reinvented his character as well. And I thought that was really good, too. And I mean, you don't see a lot of him in in the makeup, but when you do, I thought it was really good and not too too much over the top. It was not. Yeah, it wasn't the right amount.
00:51:23
Speaker
Yeah, the murdering that happens when he is is is fucking brutal. Yeah, it's totally out of control. Like he's not the wolf man where he has like half of his mind. There's been different interpretations of the wolf man over the years. And some it's like the wolf man kind of has control and restraint and others where he's just like berserk and fucking just destroys everything. And this is where he's berserk and just pretty much destroys everything.
00:51:53
Speaker
other than other werewolves, which he only comes across once. So, but yeah, there's a
00:52:01
Speaker
there's a boy, one of Dracula's servants in scene three near the end of the show and the boy is before Dracula and he's describing to Dracula what he saw the wolfman do and I think he says something like lumps of flesh they ate and ate it was on the holy carnage sire
00:52:24
Speaker
Oh yeah because he tears through like a ton of fucking Dracula's like minions like it's so great like by himself like that's like the only person Dracula like fears yeah yeah that's what he goes into it and he's like so he comes for me the wolf of god and like at one point the boy's like well do you want me to send some of the other vampires like your other forces and he's like no
00:52:50
Speaker
he's too strong now and yeah he was like yeah we'll just he'll just rip through them as well like there's no more answers and then enters the bride of dracula yeah who is evergreen huge spoil we did say but yeah i did like
00:53:08
Speaker
I didn't see that coming. I guess I should have seen that coming. Like it seems obvious now, but I did not. I never thought she was going to succumb to Dracula. I thought it was going to be a constant struggle against Satan and Dracula. Even with that spoiler, if you're still listening, I would still go and watch the show because watching the evolution of that character and like, and even
00:53:34
Speaker
after the whole Bride of Dracula. It's still a fantastic watch. Well, you never know what the vampire's intentions are for Vanessa until season three. Yeah. So you can watch the first two seasons. It seems like they kind of want to like capture her.
00:53:51
Speaker
like take her power from her and kill her. That's what I got. And like, I thought they wanted to. No, I believe in the first two seasons, they wanted to bring her to because Lucifer wanted to be the bride to bring about destruction, to take to take back heaven. And then when Dracula wants her for a different reason, he doesn't want world destruction. He wants world domination.
00:54:17
Speaker
Yeah, well, it both leads like becoming a vampire like is sort of like you have to die and be reborn. Right. Yeah. And so in the case of Lucifer, it wouldn't be bring I guess it would be killing her and turning her into like a dark angel or like some kind of demonic creature. You know, I mean, because wasn't she like come back human because she was like a reincarnated version of some of like ancient
00:54:47
Speaker
madam of evil and like that's why they were all kind of like after her and Lucifer and and Dracula are actually like you know um the same uh entity that were split into two brothers one of the flesh of as Dracula and Lucifer as as the uh the soul that was damned to uh hell so like they're grabbing in the serpent and
00:55:12
Speaker
Yeah, and they both wanted to take over heaven. I thought that whole backstory is just so fucking fantastic. I was like, man, that's not something that I would have thought of for a new take on Dracula. The writers of this show and the creators of this show, the people that produced it, they're just so far ahead of anything that I could be. My mind could never ever come up with things like this. It was just so
00:55:42
Speaker
well done, that's all I can really say. I know I'm not providing detail, hardcore analyze, interpretations of each character, but it's because it's so beyond me. It was just so well done, so well written. I was just really sorry to see it go. Before talking about anymore, the ending was pretty controversial.
00:56:11
Speaker
What were your feelings? Well, this is going to be a big spoiler, so you may want to skip ahead a little bit, but.
00:56:18
Speaker
I don't know. I liked it. I thought the ending was good. I didn't feel like it was that... I mean, I could see why people didn't like it. At the same time, I thought I really enjoyed it. I mean, I don't know many people that like the ending. It's like in the conversations I've had and stuff that I've read online and stuff like that. A lot of people claim that they thought it was very forced.
00:56:42
Speaker
And I sort of felt that way too. That's why I thought the show had been canceled because it seemed like they suddenly kill off the main character. Like in a very sort of strange way where I got very confused and didn't really know what the fuck was going on. She basically sacrificed herself. Like the only reason she became the bride of Dracula, she knew it was the only way to save
00:57:10
Speaker
everyone was to become the bride and then to sacrifice herself for the for the greater
00:57:17
Speaker
Good, and I thought it was a great end to her arc. Like, I- So you're saying she knew she had to do that the entire time?
Dracula and Vanessa Ives in Penny Dreadful
00:57:25
Speaker
Maybe not the, but I think once she found out that that was Dracula, I think she figured that was the only way, at least in her mind, for its end, otherwise they would, you know, they would have just kept coming for her. And I feel like that was the only way was to become
00:57:45
Speaker
It seemed to me like when she became like the bride of Dracula, it seemed like she was like really into it.
00:57:52
Speaker
yeah i mean she was like pumped about i thought she like was like i found my purpose now like this is what i want to be and it seemed like in the course of like one episode she went from like being like happy and content to like wanting to die like you know wanting to sacrifice herself like she seemed to like really kind of change her
00:58:17
Speaker
opinion on who she wanted to be like very rapidly over the course of five minutes. Yeah maybe once she realized what she had become then then that's when she realized that like she needed to die. But she just she had just become that and she like was just getting into it I guess is what I mean like because I think I think maybe um I think maybe Josh Harnett's character made made her realize that like
00:58:47
Speaker
that that's not really what she actually wanted. She was a better person. She was loved. Because she felt abandoned in the third season. Because both him and Timothy Dolan had left. And she was all alone. And the only sol she could seek was in Dracula. And then when she sees them kind of return in that whole conversation that he has with her at the end, I think
00:59:14
Speaker
maybe she realized that she was actually loved and that the only way to save them now was for her to die. Well, yeah, that's very clear. I'm not saying that that wasn't clear at the end. I guess I thought the character went through a personality disorder just rather quickly. I thought the character completely changed perspective during the course of about 45 minutes of an episode. And I don't know.
00:59:42
Speaker
I don't know, just was an odd conclusion to me that she would end up like dying at the end. But I mean, I guess, yeah, once she succamed to Dracula's persuasions and he actually made her into, I don't know, it wasn't clear if like he bit her and she died and then rose again like the other brides of Dracula. It wasn't clear if
01:00:06
Speaker
it wasn't clear what made a vampire a vampire in that because they didn't show like the kids dying necessarily. They just kind of turned. I remember yeah they were and they kind of gave you the impression like I know Dr. Frankenstein who had been investigating he had at one point said I think I know a cure for it and suggested that blood transfusions
01:00:29
Speaker
might be able to break some of the vampires free of their spells so it was I don't know if it was a spell cast over them or they were like you know like you know just being drawn to a force they couldn't escape any longer or if they actually died and rose again they didn't they weren't clear on that
01:00:47
Speaker
I didn't, I didn't see it. So I don't know if Dracula actually killed Vanessa, so that she was now an undead minion, like forever, or if it was something that could possibly be something where she could be cured of his spell once he himself dies, because that's also been like a theme in vampire movies. If you kill the head vampire, the other vampires turn back to normal.
01:01:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. But I mean, Dracula does have like a huge influence and he can control kind of other people. So I do believe that like I don't think he necessarily like like when he bit them, I don't necessarily think that they died and turned. I think they just kind of turn.
01:01:31
Speaker
You know, I just, I wasn't clear on that. That is one thing the show doesn't actually explain. I don't know if the show did that intentionally or if they like wanted the element of mystery, but that's what I don't know because on dead vampires, there's no going back.
01:01:46
Speaker
But vampires that are just like, you know, under Dracula's influence. And like the only way you can break is by killing him like lost boys, for example. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the head vampire, everybody else would turn back to normal. I don't know if that I don't know if that was done intentionally or not, but I kind of liked it that way. Yeah. I mean, I was under the impression that they were.
01:02:10
Speaker
killed i was under the impression that they were just turned so but yeah i mean i guess it is also interpretation i guess i was hoping that they were because see the at the end it didn't really make sense to me that vanessa killed herself because dracula was dead and i thought there would be a way that they could
01:02:28
Speaker
free her and cure her, but instead she was just like, nah, there is no going back. There is no curing me. You need to kill me because I'm going to constantly be seeking to do evil shit for the rest of my life. I let Dracula fucking bite me. I am not a good person.
01:02:49
Speaker
And she was kind of like the reincarnation of the mistress of evil or whatever. So it's like if she doesn't die, then like they're just going to keep, you know, you know, then he can kind of take over.
01:03:03
Speaker
Well, now that I think about that, you know, there's a point, too, because at the end of it was the episode before the last one of the first season, she's trying to get Ethan to do the same thing. Yeah, she's trying to get Ethan to kill her. She's like, you know, this is going to keep happening. I'm possessed. Like, you know, I mean, nothing good is going to come from this. You have to kill me. But Ethan is able to cure her right there on the spot by like praying to St. Jude.
01:03:32
Speaker
and putting a crucifix on her forehead and reciting like a bunch of Latin and like she snaps out of the spell and I was kind of thinking something like that might happen again and maybe like that would make a segue into season four but you know it wasn't
01:03:52
Speaker
to be obvious. Yeah, yeah, I think they planned it out purposely that it was a finale. Yeah, I forgot. Well, obviously, they planned it out. Yeah, I'm not saying like they improvised on this. No, no. Yeah. No, but I mean, since he knew that it was ending with season three, that that was a definite finale, that it wasn't like a mid
01:04:13
Speaker
way through a decision like oh shit we need to come up with an ending. It was like purpose purposely done that. But I guess it is kind of left up. I'm not trying to imply that it wasn't planned out. Like I'm not saying there was no script. But I guess I guess maybe it was left purposely left up to interpretation of like of why she killed herself and like you know that there was no coming back or like
01:04:38
Speaker
the meaning behind her death and everything like that. So it's almost left open that there still could have maybe been a season four, if necessary. Yeah. You know, we've like a hanger there. And I remember thinking, well, you know, there's still hope because the writers are so fucking clever with everything that they've done so far in the show. I'm sure they could write like a workaround that would transition into like a new period where Vanessa comes back.
01:05:07
Speaker
They could have had Victor Frankenstein bring her back. Yeah, totally seamlessly. I'm sure with the quality that they had working for them, like they probably could have transitioned into a season four that would have like pulled off. Well, you know, one scene I really, really enjoyed was in season three. It was when Ethan and one of
01:05:32
Speaker
Lucifer's minions that kind of like breaks free well no she doesn't actually break free from Lucifer she's still trying to do his bidding
01:05:42
Speaker
Um, it's when ethan goes back to america to oh the witch one of the witches one of the witches I remember she tells uh lucifer she tells um ethan in the desert she said Say lucifer. I am your animal and you'll be like forever free i'll be under his service and she tells him like
01:06:04
Speaker
She's like, I'm going to use these evil powers that Lucifer gave me to rip the dudes that are hunting us. Are you cool with that? Yeah, that scene was fantastic. He's like, do it. And she makes snakes come out of the ground and stuff like that. And I thought that was fucking amazing. I loved when he goes back to America to see his father, who I think was played by Patrick Dempsey. I thought it was Brian Cox.
01:06:33
Speaker
No, it was not Brian Cox.
Ethan Chandler's Werewolf Story
01:06:36
Speaker
It was T1000. That's Robert Patrick. Robert Patrick. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. I don't know why I said I was thinking not Brian Cox either. Yeah. I think I watched something recently with Brian Cox said that's why he came to mind. Brian Cox like really easy to think of him as like someone's evil father. So he does that a lot. Yeah.
01:07:01
Speaker
Well, yeah, they go back to see him. And then there's that point. There's the dinner table scene where instead of saying grace, he starts like talking about hell damage like that. And then they decide to like attack his father and everyone else at the table. And she turns back into a demonic creature and they just start battling it like.
01:07:24
Speaker
that I really, really enjoyed that. I didn't think I was going to. I thought it was going to be like really cheesy. But Ethan finds out like the Indian wolf that had bit him was played by the guy from he was the bad guy in the last of the Mohicans. He is he's one of the most popular deep cut. Yeah. What's that? I said, that's a deep cut. I went. I didn't know that. Oh, yeah. That he was in last of the Mohicans.
01:07:54
Speaker
Bro, he plays like the renegade Indian. He's like played that throughout his entire career. Like, and I don't know the actor's name, but he's been in a ton of fucking movies. Yeah, I definitely recognized him. I've seen him in a bunch of stuff. I just didn't realize I haven't seen less of the movie. I haven't seen him. I haven't seen less of the Mohicans in forever. So I didn't realize that that was
01:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, I like that movie. But anyway, so yeah, he he's like the Native American werewolf that bit him and he finds out in the desert and Ethan's story gets even more deeper because they find out like he killed his own brother as a wolf, right?
01:08:36
Speaker
and they didn't understand what happened like his brother was just dead torn to pieces or something like that and there was like a whole maybe I'm wrong but there was a story where like his father was like a ruthless like rancher who like committed like genocide against like the Indians and you know other Native Americans and like you know did all these fucking horrible things and somehow Ethan got his brother killed and his father was like
01:09:06
Speaker
devastated and there was a whole new like subplot made like and I thought it was just really, really well done. Yeah, that's like the whole reason he bounces to like England to get away from like the authorities that are like after him for committing atrocities.
01:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, he committed war crimes. He talks about committing war crimes. Yeah, you don't find out that whole backstory until season three. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was fantastic. He's pursued by he's being pursued by like American agents or something or agents of his father. But, you know, I thought the story was father and like who he because he keeps talking about his father as like this really bad man.
01:09:48
Speaker
And I wasn't sure if they were ever going to meet him. And the backstory, his character just got so much more depth. The characters continued to get more and more depth as the seasons went on, which is what you'd expect. But as monsters, I thought there was going to be a little bit of flickering of their past. But instead, really, every character has this really intricate backstory.
01:10:17
Speaker
attached to it where they kind of either reinvent, like you were saying, with Lucifer and with Dracula, or, you know, they just pretty much went on, you know, the classic mythology of the character. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Victor Frankenstein's story was fantastic. And, you know, he's like the I don't want to say troubled, but, you know,
01:10:40
Speaker
kind of is in a way but he's he's a morphine addict he yeah like he's trying to do good but in like he's very charged way yeah but that wasn't the word i was looking for but uh what you were saying what were you saying about best intentions yeah he had best his his intentions were
01:11:01
Speaker
noble to in his eyes, you know what I mean? Like, but he'd always go about it in a really strange and fucked up way. So like, and like, yeah, and either the creature with the same thing, like, he just wanted to be like, loved, and everything just kept going wrong for him as well. And like, and he was, you know, only seen as like,
01:11:25
Speaker
the creature before you and not as like a deeper. It was his first time it was Frankenstein's first experiment. Yeah, his first experiment. Well, it did not go well. He created a creature that like pretty much woke up suffering in miserable agony that just did not like
01:11:45
Speaker
He describes like years of not only physical pain, but intense psychological trauma. And Frankenstein pretty much just abandons it. Doesn't kill it, doesn't try to put out of its misery. He just bounces. It hides and just goes away. So you have this creature that can't die, that's in agonizing pain that won't ever stop.
01:12:13
Speaker
And it just, it spends like, I think like years trying to track him down, by which time he like figured out his mistakes and like was trying to do good things. And yeah, if Frankenstein up, if fuck Victor up and he started shooting morphine.
01:12:31
Speaker
Yeah, when the creature comes back into his life and just starts really fucking with him even more like, hey, you fucked me up. I'm going to fuck up everyone around you if you don't fucking do this for me or do this. And he pretty much tells you. He starts doing it, too. Yeah.
01:12:47
Speaker
He's like, I'm going to keep taking from you. I'm not going to kill you yet. But like, I want you to keep doing stuff for me as I keep killing people you love. And then I'm eventually going to murder you. And it's going to be horrible agonizing death. Yeah.
01:13:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think the only character we didn't really get like a super deep backstory, which they only started to hint at in season three was Dr. Jekyll, which unfortunately, I mean, I think if they actually had a season four, we would have gotten to see more of, but like his character was really interesting too. And you get a little hints of his backstory of like, he doesn't even become like Dr. Jekyll to like the very end of like,
01:13:35
Speaker
of that season almost when like they mentioned his father had finally passed away so he can have that name or whatever. So I thought that was interesting too. And there were a couple other characters I just want to briefly mention. In season three, I believe, I don't know how the describer other than the ridiculously attractive like redhead vampire hunter they recruited.
01:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember where she like, I wanted to ask you, did she, was she anyone that was she like one of like Van Helsing's assistant? Cause she felt like she was like somewhat recognizable, but I don't know if she was a sole creation of the show or she was based on somebody in like the mythology or something like that.
01:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure either. We're characters. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I thought maybe she could have she could have easily just been Van Helsing's daughter. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, if they want if they wanted to. But I don't think she was about she was definitely somebody associated with him. Yeah.
01:14:41
Speaker
Well, they had said she had been like a researcher. She wasn't an anthropologist and she kind of like studied ancient peoples sort of like the guy in season one. He's like the scholar that's like trying to help Vanessa.
01:14:58
Speaker
Yeah, he's the one that goes to Egypt, like he's trying to money like and he's the one that's like trying to find out later he's working for like Lucifer's minions. Yeah, he was he was like the researcher, the anthropologist that was doing all those things. Yeah, I thought he was going to bring about the mummy.
01:15:19
Speaker
And of course, Jack the Ripper, like you said, I was also waiting for him. Every episode after episode, I was waiting for Jack the Ripper to pop up. Never happened. But the other character, Timothy Thornton's character is Butler.
01:15:38
Speaker
the black man I believe he was from Africa and he had like these really like interesting like um like acrylic thing on his like forehead like the markings yeah markings on his skin like yeah I forget what his name was um but yeah he thought he was really good so was he based on anyone
01:15:58
Speaker
I don't think so either. I'm not sure because there was like there were points where I was like, I know this guy. He was because his past was like real mysterious. They never really they indicate that he had done like really pissed things in his life. And like he was never trying to go back where he came from either.
01:16:19
Speaker
like they gave the impression that he could not go home ever. He was feeling like him and Ethan kind of developed something of a bond over that because they both had like really fucked up paths. So I just want to know if you knew if
01:16:35
Speaker
he was based on any thing, but not sure. Not from I know, because I mean, I remember when I first watched it and like, I was like, okay, I know this character, this character, this character. Then I was like, oh, and I remember looking up to see if Vanessa Ives was based off
Penny Dreadful's Narrative and Character Arcs
01:16:49
Speaker
of anyone and she wasn't, she was a new character. And so was Timothy Dalton's character. So I'm assuming some of those other guys were just created, other characters were created just for the show as well. But there were some like minor,
01:17:03
Speaker
characters that, like, I didn't know that were part of it. One thing we should definitely mention before I forget, because I definitely want to mention this, is that in season three, Vanessa is placed in a mental hospital. And like one of her aides in that mental hospital is the same actor that played the creature that Frankenstein first creates. And he goes by the name of John Clare. I believe it's a poet.
01:17:32
Speaker
And it was kind of showing like, I don't know if it was supposed, I guess it was supposed to be the same guy in his life and he was like a really
01:17:45
Speaker
gentleman who worked at a mental asylum and tried to take care of people that were mentally ill and very sick and he tried to help them get better. So in his normal life, he was a really kind, gentle, and caring person. And I thought it was really interesting that when he transformed into the creature, he was the exact polar opposite of that.
01:18:11
Speaker
And, you know, I thought that was like a really cool dynamic. I just wanted to mention that before I forgot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Overall, I'm definitely going to recommend this show to everyone who hasn't seen it. I hope even with us, you know, talking about some of the spoilers that you still go back and yeah, I'd want to see even more after hearing this because what I was trying to convey is
01:18:39
Speaker
and it was hard for me to put it in words but like the show like when you initially hear what who's going to be in the show you think it's gotta be corny like you're never gonna get like this group of monsters to like all fit into like uh it was a horror drama there was no comedy you would think it would be like a comedy or something like that where you have like all the
01:19:03
Speaker
but like nah like they did it in like such a manner that like it all worked out beautifully and so like i feel like you need to hear some spoilers so that like you're not like oh wow that does sound really fucking cool you know what i mean i have to check that out
01:19:22
Speaker
Because, you know, we can't give it justice in like, you know, talking about for an hour or so. Like, you know, you have to see it. And, you know, there's a lot of stuff that we did not mention. So it's not like you're not going to not get freshy scenes. Yeah, there's still surprises in there that we definitely a bunch of stuff that probably forgot to mention. I know there's like a few other things I could go on about, but just an amazing show.
01:19:48
Speaker
especially at a time when uh there's not like a lot of great shit on like if you've missed it you gots to go back yeah there's only they're only about 10 episodes uh 10 episodes yeah hour episodes or 15 minute episodes or whatever 10 episodes three seasons shit um you know if you're out of work right now you could probably do that in three days
01:20:13
Speaker
I'm just saying. I mean, I think I watched maybe one or two a night. I didn't want to binge at all. I want to, you know, enjoy it and, you know, kind of think about everything.
01:20:26
Speaker
I've been the shit out of it. At the time I watched it, I had nothing to do. I was in a very low point in my life. And Penny Dreadful fucking I probably watched all three seasons in like two days. I could I could not stop watching. I would get up. I would make toast. I take a week. I go back and just keep watching any dreadful. So I just watched it like really incessantly. And it worked out. It worked out well for me. It got me through.
01:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's good for you.
Introduction to Spanish Series 30 Coins
01:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, I paced myself on that one. And one of the other shows that I've also watched recently that was on, it was on HBO Europe, but it's on HBO Max now. It's called 30 Coins. And it's this Spanish thing. Yeah, I watched like one episode a night.
01:21:16
Speaker
that it's all subtitles. You're not going to find a dubbed version, but it's basically about a a priest who goes to a small town in Spain. He was like, you know, he had done a an exorcism that went wrong and then he was kind of exiled. So and then it
01:21:39
Speaker
So he's in a small town and these other, his past comes kind of haunting him and the town folk. And the 30 coins is a reference to this religious sect that are looking for the coins that were paid to Judas for betraying Christ because they believe it holds a power.
01:22:03
Speaker
And it's I thought it was really a great series. I think the last episode kind of got a little ridiculous. But I think overall, there was a lot of good storytelling in it and there are some good creature effects early on. But I think the I think the last episode was a little bit over the top. And but I think I would recommend it overall. Still, I think it's like 10 episodes Spanish and Italian subtitles, he said.
01:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, most of it is in Spain but there are parts where he goes, there's a scene that takes place in America. So there's some English in it as well and there's some scenes where he goes back to Italy and there's some Italian.
01:22:43
Speaker
as well. So it kind of jumps around, but most of it takes place in the small town of Spain. And I thought the pacing was really done well as well. There's not a lot of sidebars and stuff like that. You'll see hints of familiarity of different horror things, but then they'll kind of take a turn to something else. And I really couldn't tell where it was going to go. So I thought that was very interesting. I was like, I don't know where they're going with this show. And I thought it was really well done.
01:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's next on my list. In terms of horror sci-fi, I'm going 30 coins. You told me enough where you definitely sparked my intrigue. So I'm going to check that one out next.
01:23:25
Speaker
Yeah, I just I just want to warn you ahead of time about the final episode, too. You're going to be like, wow, this is a little over the top of your day. Well, I'm so used to disappointment.
Exploring Horror Series: 'Them' and 'Sweet Home'
01:23:36
Speaker
It doesn't like I I don't have great expectations. Yeah, I believe it. I believe it is getting a season two. I mean, it does kind of end. I have an open ending. So and this is on Netflix. No, it's HBO Max. HBO Max. Yeah, because it was originally an HBO like Europe.
01:23:56
Speaker
Yeah, you said that. I just didn't remember. I think the next show I'm going to check out is going to be either them, which is on Amazon. Not about giant ants. No, it's like a 1950s, like racially charged horror film or series. Then the other one I want to check out was Sweet Home.
01:24:25
Speaker
which is on Netflix. I believe it's a Korean horror about something happens in this apartment complex where people start randomly turning into monsters, I believe, but they don't know who is going to turn or what's causing it. I've heard really good things about it, so I think I want to check that one out as well.
01:24:50
Speaker
So those are those are the next two that were kind of on my list. That kind of piqued my interest.
Limited Horror/Sci-fi Content Discussion
01:24:57
Speaker
But I don't know. What are you guys going on besides watching 30 coins? To be honest with you, like nothing else like that would really fit our platform.
01:25:10
Speaker
I'm watching The Crown, which really has nothing to do with art, so I'm not going to get into that. But I was thinking about checking out this one series called Lock and K. I believe you had mentioned it on the cast before, but like the reviews have been crummy. And my buddy who watched it recently was like, meh.
01:25:30
Speaker
like, so like, I don't really plan on seeing that. So like, right now, I'm kind of like reduced to not watching much horror in sci
Anticipation for Releases: '30 Coins' and 'The Witcher' S2
01:25:42
Speaker
fi. But like, I'm really looking forward to 30 coins. I'm really looking forward to that changing.
01:25:49
Speaker
Like I'm really looking forward to, you know, things starting to, you know, come out again of like good quality, which apparently everything's on the horizon, which are season two. Boom. That was finished filming. Yeah, they finished filming. So that's definitely coming out. So like, I mean, there is definitely stuff I'm looking forward to. It's just right now I don't have much going on.
01:26:13
Speaker
Yeah, I'll put together a list of some things maybe
Horror Movie Recommendations
01:26:16
Speaker
you should check out. I would definitely look in to see what's coming out on Shutter. I know that Psycho Gorman, which has been getting pretty good reviews, is coming out next month that I want to check out. Willy's Wonderland, that Nick Cage, Five Nights at Freddy's movie I hear is really good. What's the guy that made BFW doing?
01:26:39
Speaker
I'm not sure what his next project
Upcoming Projects by BFW Creator
01:26:42
Speaker
is. I want to find out what his next project, because I love the F.W. Yeah, that's on the shutter now, if you if you. That was I don't know if we've ever talked about before. I want to get into it now because I could talk another hour about that. I had mentioned it to you and I told you to watch it. Also, you need to see this. Yeah, you said get on top of it. I did. And you're completely correct. It was one of the better movies I've seen recently, like
01:27:06
Speaker
I mean, that came out in 2019. I don't see anything on his list of something upcoming. I'll have to look into like news if he's got anything on the horizon. But I still want to go back and check out his other movie, Bliss, which I believe is on Netflix right now. Or no, I think it might be on shutter. I can't remember what it's on. So there seems to be adding a lot of content. Yeah, I'm really enjoying that. Like a lot bigger.
01:27:31
Speaker
Yeah, like when you first mentioned it to me, it seemed like it was kind of obscure, not that many people like knew about it. But like, I have people I talked to now, they're like, hey, have you heard a shutter? I'm like, yes, I have. So, you know, it's it's kind of taken
Shutter's Growth in Horror Genre
01:27:45
Speaker
off.
01:27:45
Speaker
I remember when it was like this little obscure like streaming like horror thing where they just basically got a bunch of like uh stuff that didn't need rights to or like a lot of other people already had to it like stuff that was in public domain but it seems like uh since I found out they were owned by AMC that they've started to really go out and like build it up as like the horror network to go to especially since Netflix doesn't really
01:28:10
Speaker
have a lot of horror on there anymore. Yeah I was gonna say like the the horror I mean it's not like oh it's got like a decent amount huh. I think Amazon Prime probably has more horror now than Netflix does but I think the place to go to is Shutter. You're gonna find some gems in there.
01:28:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's I think show there's like a better source for like good material. Like, oh, I'm sure Netflix probably like if you just go buy volumes of movies that are in the hard category, it's possible that Netflix has more. But like in terms of like good stuff you want to see it seems like shuttered supplies to be right
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and Events
01:28:53
Speaker
now. Yeah, they definitely have a lot more like independent like stuff that you might not have heard about or like
01:28:58
Speaker
that's not in theaters that are getting a lot of buzz on like the festival circuits and stuff like that. So I think it's worth checking out. But yeah, so that's about all we got today. Thanks for joining me.
01:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, always a good time. Always a good time with you, bro. You take care of yourself. Yeah, we'll definitely cover the fangory chainsaw awards that are on shutter on Sunday, I believe. I believe that's when the 18th is halfway to Halloween is coming up on the 30th.
01:29:33
Speaker
So we'll be looking forward to that. I'm sure we'll do something. There'll be some changes that will be announced soon to Fright Central.
Changes to Fright Central and Social Media Engagement
01:29:44
Speaker
I'm not going to really go into it right now, but that'll be something soon. But thanks for joining us and check us out on the Facebook group and like us on iTunes, comment, you know, get in there. Very enthusiastic there, Kevin.
01:30:03
Speaker
All right. All right. Thanks for joining me. See you.