Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Absurd

In this classic episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe kick off the Halloween season with the notorious low-budget 1981 Italian slasher film “Absurd,” directed by Joe D’Amato and starring George Eastman. (originally published 9/27/2024)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is
Rob Lamb and today we're going to revisit an episode
that published last year on nine twenty seven, twenty twenty four.
It is definitely a horror film. It is the Joe
Dematto directed George Eastman starring notorious slasher film Absurd from

(00:27):
nineteen eighty one. Let's jump right in.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
And this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House
Cinema we are going to be talking about the nineteen
eighty one Italian slasher movie Absurd, directed by Joe Demato
and starring George Eastman. Now, Rob, I understand you wanted
to talk about how this movie typifies a movie subgenre,

(01:09):
maybe not defined within the movie itself, but the sort
of meta subgenre of the video nasty.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
That's right. We've referred to video nasties before on the show,
and those of you know what we're talking about, you know,
probably not in your head. And if you don't know
what video nasty is, you might have just you know,
picked up on context and all, but basically it's essentially
UK slang for films, usually low budget horror and exploitation
films that were highly controversial during the nineteen eighties as
they were able to enter the UK distribution market through

(01:41):
a loophole that allowed the distributors to avoid official classification,
part of a video gold rush that came with VHS
technology at the time. This is the description given by
David Correki's and David Slater in the twenty twenty three
book Cannibal Error, Anti Film Propaganda and the Video Nasties

(02:02):
Panic of the nineteen eighties.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So this would be sort of an informal list of
films that what were not necessarily illegal, but were singled
out for being obscene or terrible or just worthy of
moral appropriate approbation in some way.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well you kind of get both things. There's like it
does become formalized, but then there's also kind of like
an informal list as well. So basically the short version
of how this went down as you had and again
this is a you're involving like new technology, new distribution patterns,
and also changes in you know, what the public wants,

(02:43):
and then public anxiety about obscenity. So basically you haven't
had an advocacy group called the National Viewers and Listeners Association,
and it made a big outcry about these these films
that we're making it into the UK on VHS, and
it led to just a whole saga of politic, moral
panic censorship discussion, and the end result was the imposition

(03:05):
of state video censorship in the UK in nineteen eighty
four and the creation of a Director of Public Prosecutions
DPP list of films that would come to be known
as video nasties. Though I think this term also ends
up becoming especially outside of the UK and in just
sort of VHS horror exploitation film circles, it becomes something

(03:27):
of a loose term that is used for various sort
of grimy, low budget, often euro films of the time period.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Ah okay, So thus my confusion. So some of the
things referred to as video nasties were actually targeted by
the law in the UK, and other things just sort
of informally get that title as a kind of descriptor
of what these movies tend to be.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Like, Yeah, because you definitely had a list, you had
like section one prosecuted films included actually a few different
films we discussed on Weird House nineteen eighties, Cannibal Apocalypse
nineteen eighty one's The House by the Cemetery, and today's
film Absurd, which is also from nineteen eighty one as
His House by the Cemetery. Now, naturally there's some really

(04:14):
grimy exploitation fodder in that list as well, but there's
also plenty of stuff that I don't know. It's all subjective,
but it feels, at least to me, kind of tame
by today's standards. But naturally, the line between art and
obscenity is always going to be subjective to a certain extent,
and there's gonna be a point of disagreement in figuring
out what is what. But apart from these official classifications

(04:36):
and uproars in the UK, the term video nasty again
kind of becomes kind of comes to be a badge
of honor for many horror films from this time period,
especially in later decades. By the time many of us
were looking these up in books like The Psychotronic Film Guide,
or buying bootleg VHS tapes off of eBay back in
the day, or learning about them online, you know, browsing

(04:58):
Internet movie data Bay, looking at various blogs, forums, or
today venturing around on letterbox dot com. You know, it
adds that extra bit of intrigue to a title. This
is a video nasty, this is a curse tape. You know,
watch at your own risk.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Now, that might lead you to wonder, okay, if this
is one of those films that was considered so bad
as to be you know, targeted by the law in
the UK. Is there like, what's it about? What goes on?
It is? You know, is it a Texas chainsaw massacre
kind of thing? I think the best way to describe
absurd is that it must have been pitched as a

(05:34):
Halloween clone. Halloween came out in nineteen seventy eight, is
that right? Yeah, just checked, it was seventy eight, So
this is a few years after that, and there were
many many Halloween clones. Halloween was a big hit, and
so a lot of movies tried to copy it. In fact,
some of the big slasher franchises in the American market.

(05:54):
I think you could argue began as Halloween clones. One
might sing, one might point to like Friday the thirteenth,
and so forth. You know. It even picks like a
day of the year as the title. But anyway, so
I think Absurd it was imagined as a kind of
Halloween clone, but much more gory and disgusting. Halloween is
actually fairly light on the blood and gore. You don't

(06:17):
see a lot of explicit consequences of violence in it.
It's more, you know, Halloween is much more focused on
the building of tension through proximity and terror and perspective
and all that kind of stuff. Absurd gets into a
lot more just gross, explicit sort of meat exercises, but
it has very similar plot dynamics. So both movies are

(06:39):
about a seemingly indestructible killer who escapes from a facility
of some kind and strikes out with random murders in
a nearby neighborhood. Well, actually no, in Absurd it's not
a nearby neighborhood for some reason. He goes to a
different country. But in both cases strikes out with random
murders in a neighborhood with no discernible motive.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, just random killings.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Both movies follow babysitters as the sort of the victims
and protagonists in a way. Both movies have a kid
who refers to the killer as the Boogeyman. You remember,
that's in Halloween, and they really emphasize that in Absurd
as well. And in both cases, the killer is pursued
by a sort of eccentric, obsessive foreign cleric, and in

(07:26):
the case of Halloween that's Donald Pleasance as doctor loomis
in this movie. It is a Greek priest. So you
can see a lot of similarities, but you can see
differences as well. And one that I think is interesting
is exactly what makes Halloween so effective as horror in

(07:47):
a way is its restraint, the way in which it
really like takes its time, the way in which you know,
it plays with as I was saying, distance and perspective,
you know, showing things in the background of shots instead
of just going for immediate jump scares and so forth.
Absurd is the exact opposite. It does not play with restraint.
It plays to excess.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Though it does take its time in some of the sites.
That's true, yeah, but not necessarily in a good way.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
I mean, it'll like really take its time showing how
long a murder takes to complete. Yeah, but no, it
also does take its time. I mean, yeah, it does
have the killer lurking in the background sometimes as well,
so in some ways you've got that element going on.
It's kind of a Halloween clone, but with Italian excess sensibilities.

(08:34):
On the other hand, I would say this is an
Italian horror movie of the early nineteen eighties, and while
absurd does earn a number of superlatives, I'm not trying
to put it down here. One thing I do think
it kind of makes it stand out is is it
does not manage to be as visually exciting as a
lot of the Italian horror movies of this period that

(08:54):
we love. In fact, I would say it almost has
a pointedly intentionally drab, lifeless and colorless visual style. The
sets all seem to be various shades of white, brown, yellow,
and tan. There's not much, really any use of colored
lighting that I can recall. There aren't any beautiful vistas

(09:16):
or stained glass effects or anything like that. It is
a almost intentionally quite drab looking film.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, I mean de Motto gets into he gets into
some creative territory with some of the shots, and he
makes I think he makes pretty good use of the
villa location in some scenes. But yeah, this is not
a movie you seek out for its rich colors or
its amazing production design. There's not even any monster makeup,
just no grimy gore. And I think most people who

(09:44):
seek it out aren't going to seek it out for
its reputation as a low budget video nasty and stick
with it for some of its well absurd choices, you know,
because despite his reputation, it's not the gorious film from
this time period, nor is it the most disturbing by
any stretch. It's worth noting, especially with Dematto here, that

(10:05):
there's no nudity in this film at all, virtually no
sexual content of any kind. So it's amazingly tame on
that side of the exploitation scales, I would say.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Also, despite the American title, it's worth noting that it's
I don't know, you could make a strong argument that
this film is not really absurd. It's not a surrealistic film,
it's not psychedelic. But again, I think three things help
it to stand out from a lot of the other
slot films of the time period. It's got a fun score,
there are some weird choices that are made, I think,

(10:41):
some deliberately and some just via the speed of the production.
And then you've got the screen presence near constant screen
presence of George Eastman.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Which alone puts this film in a kind of rare category.
I mean, everybody, even if you don't know anything about
these Italian exploitation movies and you don't know who George
Eastman is. I think if you see a movie with
George Eastman in it, you're gonna remember him. You're gonna
be like, who is that guy? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, A lot of times it's a small role. He's
come up in films before. He pops up, for instance
in Hands of Steel that we watched a while back,
and here he gets a chance to shine.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Now, regarding the question you said, the movie is not
even that absurd, I was wondering if maybe the absurd
title refers not to the more common usage like you
were saying there, comparing it to something that is psychedelic
or surreal. Maybe we often use the word just to
mean like weird, illogical, or unreasonable. I was wondering if

(11:40):
it is not that usage of absurd, but the philosophical
usage a lah absurdism, the core tenets of which are
that the universe is meaningless and our lives are meaningless,
and that much of the struggle of human life, and
so many of our conflicts and contradictions arise because people
are trying to find the mean in meaningless things.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
All right, all right, I hear what you're laying down.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well, yeah, So I think the movie Absurd is quite
the plot is quite compatible with the view that life
is meaningless. You know, the attacks are completely random, And
I wonder if George Eastman's problem as a character is
that he is engaged in a futile search for the
meaning of life, and that search involves power drills and
bandsaws and so forth.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
It is interesting that he does not have a signature weapon.
He just makes use of what is immediately around him
and doesn't care anything with him.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's usually powered mechanisms, isn't it Not in every case,
But that's kind of strange. He like a he likes
a weapon you can plug into the wall.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, and he'll drag you through the house to get
to it. It's not just a matter of like what's
immediately around me. It's like did I see an oven earlier? Yeah,
there's got to be a kitchen around here, somewhere. We'll
spend five minutes searching for it.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
So if we haven't warned you enough already, do be
warned that this movie does have some really gross violence
in it. So if you're going to watch it, be prepared.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, And I also, I don't want to oversell this
movie like sometimes, you know, I'm big on really championing
a film and saying like there's this is a hidden gym,
or there's some there are some diamonds in this one.
This is a film that a lot of people don't like.
Even people we're into into horror. You know, we'll give
it maybe like mediocre reviews. So if you're on the

(13:23):
fence about seeing absurd there's a very strong chance you're
not going to like it. So fair warning. This might
be a case where you just want to hear us
talk about it. But if if you're into this sort
of thing, well, you know, dive in because there's there
is some absurdity. There is some weirdness here that I
thought was pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Speaking of the absurdity and the weirdness, just a few
things I want to call out at the beginnings, these
these strange contradictions in the movie where there are things
where I don't even know how to characterize them really
because they contain contradictions. One of them is the sets
in this film which have this They are simultaneously opulent

(14:05):
and squalid, do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, yeah, like the one of the key The key
set in the film, the key location is this obvious
Italian villa, you know, and it's clearly has old bone,
spacious interiors, but the way that the space is decorated
at times feels very sparse and slapped together. And it's

(14:29):
also we'll get back to this more, but this is
essentially presented to us as an American home where Americans
live and are ready for some American football.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Ye.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
And I've this with suits of armor inside that. Yes, yes,
So it's the It's a weird missmash And I think
this is ultimately one of its charms, you know, you know,
at least watching it as an American, you know, it's
just seeing the sort of mismatch of things.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Another thing, what is going on with people's accents in
this movie The Babysit is a great example. She seems
to go from I've heard I hear English accent at
some point like a very formal kind of received pronunciation accent.
Sometimes I hear Irish, sometimes I hear Italian, sometimes I
hear American. It is all over the place.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, you have to remember Absurd as a prestige picture
with an international cast, so you know it was you
know it's not, but it was conceived and produced not
so much for native Italian audiences, but to be shipped
out to various international markets, each with their own particular
and shifting censorship standards. And so we have a predominantly
Italian cast, but with some like UK and I guess,

(15:39):
and I guess largely UK talent thrown in there as
well as this American setting, though again everything was filmed
in Italy.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Okay, I was just thinking before we get to the
elevator pitch. I was thinking of like three different ways
of categorizing mad slasher villains in movies like this. One
is the question we already addressed of is a motive
or not? Sometimes the motive of the slasher is like
revenge or something, and other times there is no motive.
This is a case of no motive firmly on the

(16:08):
random violence into the scale.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, yeah, this is on the Halloween end of the spectrum,
as opposed to say the Burning or Nightmare on Elm Street,
where there is some symblance of vengeance bound up in
the motives of the killer.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, or the original Friday the thirteenth. Yeah, oh yeah, Yeah,
that's right.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
I kind of forget because he kind of becomes just
a mindless killing machine and the franchise later on, certainly
by the time he takes Manhattan.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, exactly. Okay, that's criterion number one. Criterion number two
is the form, the form and costuming of the slasher villain.
Do they wear a mask or are they physically altered
in some way this case, no, he's just George Eastman. No,
no makeup, no mask, no nothing. He's just a guy. Yeah.

(16:54):
I mean an interesting looking guy, but just a guy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
For much of it, like he's just wearing like gene
and a shirt, just wearing like I'd assume he's just
normal clothes.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Okay. Third distinction I would make is is this mad
slasher the beneficiary of any kind of supernatural intervention or magic?
And in this case I would say, once again, no,
this is a super powered slasher. But it's not like
in the later Halloween sequels where we discover that Michael
Myers is some kind of like reincarnated Celtic deity or something. No,

(17:28):
he's just a guy, except we get a science fiction
explanation for why he is so strong and why bullets
do not stop him. It's because he was the result
of some experiment in a lab or I think they
say there was a contamination. Now, they don't get deep
into the explanation. But he is a product of science,
not magic. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, the explanation is a little garble. There's some contradictions
there we'll get into, but essentially it's like a weapons
X program. He has a mutant healing factor. It's explicitly stated.
He's kind of like the Italian or I guess the
Greek saber tooth here.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I feel like all three of
these distinctions push it more into the philosophical absurdism side
of the scale. Right, that he is just a man's
like he's not physically represented in any unusual way, that
his motives are non existent, it's just random, And that

(18:24):
there is no magic or supernatural intervention of any kind.
He's just a product of a science experiment gone wrong.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well, building on that and in lieu of an actual
elevator pitch I'm going to read a quote from Albert Camu,
the myth of Sisyphus. Thus, I draw from the absurd
three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Bravo wow.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
I mean it is revolting. So and I think we're
gonna we're gonna skip trailer audio on this one, in
part because the trailer is just music and screaming.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
I believe, like, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
I would be inclined to include it if we had
a narrator saying absurd, but they don't.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
I'm going to go on record here and say, even
for horror movies, I do not like trailers that are
just full of screaming. Not a fan. I like a
narrator or at least some clips of dialogue and ominous music.
This is the screaming. Save it for the climax of
the film. I'm not interested in hearing just three minutes
of screaming to preview a movie.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Absolutely all right. So if at this point you're like, Okay,
I'm in I do actually want to watch Absurd before
finishing this episode, well, then more power to you.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Now.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
The thing is Absurd has circulated under various titles and
with various cuts for a long time. The region free
Severn Films Blu ray is hard to beat, though, featuring
both the original Italian cut that comes in at eighty
eight minutes and the uncensored US cut, which comes in
at ninety four minutes. The discs also features a handful
of informative interviews which I'll refer back to, and it

(19:59):
has the whole the entire score on CD as a
bonus disc. Now, if you are not into the physical media,
you don't have access to it, don't have time, and
so forth. You can also stream the US cut and
it has the box art for the Severign release, so
I guess it's connected to that. You can stream it
on toov currently, at least in the United States. I
own the disc. It's great. I think. Once I'm done

(20:21):
with it, I'm going to be donating it to Video
Drome here in Atlanta, so if you're local, you can
rent the disc there. All right, let's get into the
folks who made this film, starting at the top with
the director, the producer, and the cinematographer. It's Joe Demato,

(20:43):
who lived nineteen thirty six through nineteen ninety nine, a
truly legendary name in the realm of Italian exploitation and
trash cinema. We have mentioned him numerous times on the show,
often in connection to other actors who are working in
eurocinema or in Italian cinema. Sometimes forth also for things
that he did besides directing. For instance, he was at

(21:03):
least one of the producers on Troll Too.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Was he involved at all in Shocking Dark?

Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know, I don't think he was, but we will
have a Shocking Dark connection here in just a bit. Okay, So,
Joe Tomato is one of the many monikers that he
used for his directorial work over the years. It's just
the one that seemed to stick the most. But his
birth name was Artista day Masa Cheese. We're going to
keep referring to him as Joe Tomaca. So, Joe Tomato

(21:31):
did everything in film at one point or another, in
part because, you know, based on an interview, the interviews
that I've seen with him, in interviews with George Eastman,
who worked with him multiple times, he's a guy who
loves cinema and you know, love the craft of cinema. Anyway,
I think he often said that he was not an
artist and did not see himself as an artist, but
he clearly, like you know it, was really into the

(21:53):
craft of making films and all. But also he was
notoriously cheap and was generally operating on a shoestring budget.
You know, make it fast, make it cheap. Eastman has
pointed out in interviews that like, if they could do
it with one take, they would do it with one take,
you know. And he wasn't the type of director to
instruct the actors at all. So if it was a

(22:14):
good actor, you know, you might get a good performance.
If they were green, it was gonna be as green
as it came out, you know. It just wasn't his thing,
Eastman says, to and to instruct and build upon the performance.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
One take, that's what I love that. That's like the
ed would rule, right, you know, why do it again
when it's perfect?

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, yeah, and we've got to we've got to crank
this out, you know. So yeah, these were the defining
qualities of his work, you know, is that he really
loved the craft. He wanted to do everything, and he
wanted to do it cheap. But he was also said
to be pretty easy going, humorous about his productions, gave
collaborators room to do their thing. But would, as Eastman

(22:52):
put it, far, rather do ten cheap films than one
film with a bigger budget to Motto himself, right, yeah, yeah,
I mean Demtto himself would say, like the pay is
the same, Why would I do that one big film
and put all that work into it. I'll just do
ten cheap films and it'll be the same for me
at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Now he's been observed that this this also really held
him back because he thinks that de Motto could have
had more success if he'd specialized as a producer and
as a cinematographer and like let other people direct. But
he kept on directing, and when the demand for Italian
genre films went south, he worked on what was internationally marketable.
And that's something to keep in mind with a lot

(23:31):
of these films like this. This film in particular, it
was not really made for Italian audiences. I think it did,
you know, show in theaters very briefly. It was mostly
to be shipped out to other markets in various cuts,
and when the demand for those sorts of films went away,
it meant, you know, he had to turn to other things.
That were internationally marketable, which meant mostly adult films. But

(23:53):
during his prime he shot pretty much everything like every
type of B movie anyway, from you know, from gladiator
flicks to post apocalyptic gladiator flicks. And there's a lot
of garbage in there, to be sure, But of the
various video nasties and cult classics worth mentioning here you
have the likes of seventy three's Death Smiles and a

(24:13):
Murderer seventy nine Beyond the Darkness. Oh and also there's
a tour the Fighting Eagle that one I believe that
or one of the a tour films was featured on
a Mystery Science Theater three thousand, twenty twenty Texas. Gladiators
and Endgame from eighty three also various Emmanuel films in
the erotic genre. In nineteen eighty he collaborated with George

(24:36):
Eastman on the film and Throw Pophagus, the predecessor to
this film, and it was enough of a hit internationally
that they came back for a kind of spiritual sequel,
spiritual successor, and that is this film absurd.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
That is one I've heard warnings about even from people
who are like hardened low budget gory horror movie fans,
they're like, that one is disgusting.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, it's it's gross, it's you know, it's it's shot
in grease. That it's very really grimy. So it does
have Eastman as the villain, as the cannibalistic monster, though
in that film he has like a bald cap and
some monster makeup on. And that film famously ends with

(25:22):
the monster being like partially disemboweled, and then Eastman's character
pulls out his own guts and takes a big bite
out of them and dies. So that's that's the kind
of film it is. And it had various titles as
where like like the Grim Reaper and so.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Forth, and they're like, for absurd, what if you take
the ending of that movie and start there exactly.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, that's essentially what they do. We have a fun,
fun callback to that disemboweling sequence, all right. Yeah, getting
to the star, we very talked about him a little bit,
but George Eastman born nineteen forty two still with us
as of this recording. Not only does he play our
central monster who this is one of those films where
this character has both a first and last name in
the credits, which is ridiculous. Mikos Stenopolis never is I

(26:08):
think either name referred to.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
No, they do, they do. They Stopolis where the detective is. Oh,
I can't wait to talk about him. But the detective
is interviewing the Greek priest, who you don't know is
a priest at this point, and they're talking about the killer.
They say his name is whatever, Mikos or Nicos Stenopolis,
whichever it is, and so they say his last name.

(26:31):
But it's not the only time we have a slasher
movie villain with the first and last name. I admit
it also did sound funny here, but then I thought,
wait a minute, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, we
know their first and last names. Why does it feel
weird here? I'm not sure, but it did feel really
funny when we got his whole name. It just seems
like a character who should not have a name or something,

(26:53):
or you wouldn't know what his name was. They would
just call him the being or something. And yeah, it
also I think is especially funny because it's George Eastman,
and something about the way George Eastman looks in this
movie is corrupted by knowing that he has a full name.

(27:14):
Does that make any sense?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, yeah, so obviously the name George Eastman is also
a moniker. This is the stage name, one of many
stage names about ultimately the one that's stuck for Luigi Montefiori,
and he is. But he's always going to be George Eastman.
This is the name that's going to be written in
b movie lore forever. And you just have to see

(27:39):
him to know what we're talking about. He pops up
in a lot of things, Spaghetti western, certainly at first,
horror films, post apocalyptic pictures. At least in his prime
he was at least six', six But i've also seen
him promoted as six.' nine it's sometimes hard to tell
and show business how tall someone, actually is but. Very
tall man looks very tall on, the screen lean, but muscular.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
You know.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Handsome guy but also there's like a fairal, you know like.
In quality, you know there's a lean and hungry look
to him that he's that allows him to like naturally
lean into villain and.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Heavy roles he does not. Look trustworthy he has a
face that looks like a like a predatory mammal kind Of, wolfin.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah yeah so you know that's what you get oodles
off in, this film but he was in a lot
of stuff we. Already mentioned eighty Six is Hand, Of
steel Hands. Of steel he was also in let's see
nineteen Ninety The bronx warriors From then there's twenty nineteen
After the Fall Of new York Blast Fighter. Rabid dogs
he had attended, film school and his acting credits go

(28:51):
back at least to nineteen, sixty six but he also,
wrote screenplays AND if i remember correctly from Past interviews,
i've watched he was sometimes asked to work over scripts
and make them like at least. Less Bad And de
Motto and eastman first worked Together on cormac Of the
mounties from nineteen. Seventy five this is a film where

(29:11):
the lead actor apparently rejected the, existing screenplay but after
they had already set the shooting schedule for the picture
based on the, old script And so eastman had to
be brought in to write a brand new script to
please the lead but also appease the shooting schedule that
was already, agreed upon and it ended up at least

(29:31):
working to. Some degree so this led to an extended
writer director partnership on various, exploitation films some of them
really grimy in, various countries including The aforementioned greek, cannibal
film In which eastman starred and also was. The writer,
and yeah that was enough of a success they came
back and made. This film eastman went on to direct

(29:53):
the nineteen Ninety, film metamorphosis but quit acting around the
same time to focus on, his screenwriting and apparently enjoyed
a fair amount of success writing for Higher budget italian.
Television projects he also had a couple Of non they
are also a couple of non exploitation acting credits worth
mentioning in. His filmography he played the minotaur in nineteen
Sixty Nine's Fellini, satira coon and he plays The giant

(30:15):
goliath in the nineteen eighty five Biblical Epic, king David starring.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Richard, GEAR hmmm i wonder if they, reused it Because
because david's got A, chop galai it's. HEAD off i
wonder if they reused the head prop from absurd IN
that i.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
DON'T know i was wondering whatever happened to the head prop? From,
HERE like i hope somebody. Has it it could go
for a pretty penny on, the open, you know exploitation fan.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Cinema market so we already mentioned earlier that this is
a slasher movie villain who does not wear a mask
or any. Special makeup he's just. A GUY and i
think it was before we started recording that we were
talking about actors who can actors who can pull this
off where just their their unmodified look is enough to

(31:02):
be a. Movie monster, you know You Got, Tour johnson
and of course sometimes they would give him like contacts
in his eyes, or something but, you know mostly unmodified
look can be. A monster You, got tour You Got.
GEORGE eastman i know there are other people, like THIS,
but i, you KNOW sometimes i kind, of wonder like
what did that feel like for these Actors like tour,

(31:22):
and THAT like i can be a movie monster without
changing THE way.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
I look, it's interesting, You, know one this is a
very strange comparison to make because we're talking about just
an entirely different stratosphere of. Acting ABILITY but i also
can't help but Think Of anthony hopkins In the silence Of.
The lambs, you know, they definitely, you know they definitely
use makeup, on him but it's not, monster makeup and

(31:49):
a whole lot. Of it, of course Hinges on hopkins'
fabulous performance in. That film h he is a, tremendous
actor but he is just he is, a monster and
you buy it completely in that film WITH minimal i,
would say as far as, monster makeup goes minimal makeup
effects to make it come of.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
THE life i also realized there's a fairly i think
famous Image Of george eastman doing this absolutely satanic grin
as he looks down, at something and that comes from,
this movie in the scene where he is putting a
bandsaw to.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Illicit, use yeah he doesn't maintain this energy throughout the,
entire performance but in key moments it.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Really.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Pops yeah, all right let's get into the church and
state elements of, the picture because we. Got it we
already mentioned the claret who is chasing after, our killer
and then of course we also have to.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Have some local.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Law enforcement the priest who's discredited as father is Played By,
edmund purdome who of nineteen twenty six through two thousand
And nine English born italian actor with extensive stage Credits
on broadway and In The Royal. Shakespeare theater apparently he
had leading role in the nineteen fifty four Twentieth century

(33:03):
Fox Epic, the egyptian and was also in Fifty Three's.
Julius caesar he works steadily In various italian and euro,
genre Pictures including pieces, Twenty nineteen After the Fall Of,
new york A Tour night child from, seventy five and
in nineteen eighty four he directed and starred In the
british Horror Film Don't Open.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
TILL christmas i think what they were going for with
this Guy in Absurd Is Greek. Gregory, peck yeah so
he's Playing a greek, priest character AND certainly i think
there are Elements Of doctor Loomis from halloween in the,
Here TOO but i think they're also trying to get
a bit Of The gregory peck vibe From the omen

(33:46):
and it Helps That edmund purdham looks a decent Amount Like. Gregory, peck,
yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
He does and THIS is i think probably the best
actor in. THE picture i don't know how much evidence
of that. WE see I don't this is not a
picture that really asked much of the, actors present but,
you know he does bring a silent dignity to his
scenes as much as is as possible In A joe,
tomato picture and, In interviews eastman spoke highly, of him

(34:12):
saying that, you know they were surprised they were able
to get him for the picture for a picture, like
this and they pointed out that he's one of those
actors that took his craft so so seriously and was
so professional that, you know he was just super professional,
on set even in a low budget genre piece. Like
this like we've heard similar things about Like Say peter cushing.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
For, example, yeah, yeah no almost nobody in this movie
has really given much of a chance to. Actually act
he may get the most opportunity. Of anyone there are
other actors who get the idea that if they had
a role to do, something with they might be. QUITE
good i kind of felt That About, hanya kochansky but
she who plays the mom in. The family, but again,

(34:55):
you know this is not a movie that's written for,
dramatic performances, Right right.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Oh yeah the law end of the, Spectrum Here charles
Burrammel Plays Sergeant. Ben engelman he lived nineteen thirty three
through two thousand. And seven scottish actor who, worked extensively if,
not Exclusively in italian cinema And in italy. Based productions
he Also did english. Voice dubbing he does Appear In

(35:22):
lady hawk as. INSANE prisoner.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
I thought this guy was and this sort of is
a class, of actor if you KNOW what. I mean
rob the kind of actor who reminds you of about
fifteen other, different actors, you know who keeps giving you notes,
of like, oh here he's kind of reminding me of so.
AND so i would say the two most prominent likenesses
for Me Were robin Williams and. Darren McGavin but like

(35:46):
A Haggard. Robin, WILLIAMS yeah i think. That, Works, yeah
yeah he is.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Very haggard he's one of the stereotypical horror film police
chief type character who is just, really tired but also
only devoted to. Clearing cases that's all he.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Cares, about yeah. That's RIGHT though i think he's also
prone to taking it too personal if you know what.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
You. Mean yeah now You Mentioned hanya kochanski playing. The
mom She Plays. Carol bennett So the bennetts are like
the key threatened family in.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
The.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Picture yeah so She Plays, carol bennett the mom and
her two of her real life children play, The daughter
katya and The. Son willie so it's. Really INTERESTING when
i was looking, into this so she is a Former like,
croatian singer model, and actress just a handful. Of credits

(36:40):
but she was married at one Point to american actor
who worked extensively, In Europroductions. William berger we talked about
him in our discussion of the nineteen Eighty three. Hercules
film He Plays king minos. In that and so the
two kids, in this one of them Is is burger's
biological Son with kochanski and the, other child the, older

(37:05):
child he was. Her stepfather, so yeah The Children katya
Burger And. Kazimir burger katya born nineteen, Sixty six kazimir
born nineteen. Seventy four AND as i, WAS looking i, saw,
that okay she's apparently. A SINGER maybe i can find
some information about her. Singing CAREER so i was doing

(37:26):
some searches on her NAME and i ended up running
across something on The UK's National, portrait gallery and it
turns out there were a series of nude portraits that
photographs that were Taken by russian born fine Art photographer
ida car who of nineteen oh eight through nineteen seventy

(37:46):
four and in, these photos which, you know, very tasteful,
you know. Art photography here We have hanya and she
is pregnant with, Her, son kasimir the boy in this
film at, the time and in one of The pictures
katya is.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
ALSO present i would not have expected absurd, to have,
you know like one degree connections to fine. Art.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Photography yeah and Then On, GETTY images i found some
images from the opening of a presentation of, these images
and here. We Are there's hanya and Her son kazimir from.
Twenty eleven so here's the little boy from this picture
as a.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Grown, man well this is. So sweet mother and son
here pictured in. Twenty eleven they both look very proud
standing by. THE photos i guess this is some kind
of gallery showing. Or, something, yeah yeah so. That's GREAT
but i have to say this is the case always
pretty Much in italian movies of, this period if they

(38:44):
have a, child character the dubbing is. So creepy and
the same, thing here the dubbing of this, kid's voice The,
son willie the character in, the movie it's. SO unwholesome
i don't know how. TO explain i don't know in,
this case if it was dubbed by. An adult it
may have actually been dubbed by a child. VOICE actor
i don't know if It was. Casimir himself but why

(39:06):
is it that the dubbed voices of children in these
movies just always sounds?

Speaker 1 (39:10):
So, WRONG yeah I mean i think they are often
done by like, adult women as is the case Of
the house By, The cemetery so similar. Vibe here, also generally,
you know with child actors, IN general i mean there's
sometimes a CERTAIN there's, i mean they, are children, ye
know sometimes there's kind of a wild. Element too, so uh,
you know you have a kid in, this picture you're

(39:32):
maybe getting one or two takes and then you're having
somebody dub. The voice so the boy does feel a
little bit almost fair all at times in.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
This, PICTURE yeah i want to watch. The game oh
we haven't even talked about the. Game yet they wait
to get to the case at. The.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Game uh, The Dad ian bennett is played By Not,
william berger but an actor by the Name of William Of.
Ian dandy, and yeah he just had some minor parts
a Few different italian productions and Did some english language
translation on.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Some pictures so the actor Is, named ian the character
Is named ian but in this movie he is referred
to by at least one other Character.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
As Eon, all right three victims to profile here. Really
quickly i'll try and streamline these. A bit We Have
annie Bella playing Emily. The nurse she lived nineteen fifty
six through twenty. Twenty four french actress with a at
the time distinctive, short cut blonde hairstyle that worked in
a Lot of italian erotic and exploitation FILMS before, i

(40:35):
Believe if i'm, reading correctly earned a degree and ended
up going into. Social work her films include Nineteen eighty's
house On the edge Of the park in nineteen Seventy
Six Is. Black velvet then we Also have Peggy, the
babysitter Played By, Cindy leadbetter american model and actress whose
credits include Seventy Eight, star crash nineteen Eighty, Four's rats Night,
of Terror And the Adventures. Of, hercules wait Was Was

(40:58):
george Eastman In?

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Star? Crash not? Why not they could have?

Speaker 1 (41:01):
USED him, i, know yeah if he's, not in there's a.
Missed opportunity and, Then finally i'm not going to go
into the. Depth lines we'll come back to this guy
when we look at one of. His Pictures But mikaelay
suave born nineteen fifty seven plays a biker, in this
a biker who is brutally Murdered By. Georg chiesman this
is the man who would go on to direct such

(41:22):
films as nineteen Eighty nine It's the church and nineteen
Ninety Four. Cemetery man at, this time he was just
an up, and coming a young man who just wanted
to be involved. In films and if, you were if
you had this kind of enthusiasm and you didn't mind not,
Being Paid joe tomato was here. For you And So
joe tomato is one of several different directors that he

(41:44):
worked with, early on including others Included Like dario argento
And The. Murdo bava and of course he'd also gone
to work Some With. Terry gilliam so just kind of
a fun little ultimately. A cameo we get To see
suave and his motorbike in.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
This picure he's one of a gang of motorcycling youths
that feel almost quite. Lightly, directed yes.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
All right and then finally the music here is it's
another Score By Carlo maria cordillo born nineteen. Fifty two
we talked about him recently because he did the Score For. Shocking.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Dark, ah okay there.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
You, Go Yeah so i'm not going to go into
the full profile, on HIM but i will say THAT
the i think the Score for absurd is a lot.
Of fun you got, some synth you got some prog.
Rock elements you can find The track absurd on. Streaming
currently this is this one starts off with kind of like,
a wonderful atmospheric kind of vibe and you know it,

(42:42):
very ambient and then, you know get some organs thrown
in there before transitioning into, this heavy overly dramatic prog
rock build towards obvious on.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Screen violence the use of music in the movie is
occasionally funny because of the way it pairs, this soft
melancholy Melody With george eastman just wandering around at night looking. For, Victims,
yeah like it makes it almost kind, of like oh,
the sadness he's. So Lonely.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
The severn, blu RAY as, i mentioned includes the whole
score AS a cd, bonus disc and then The Excellent
Death Waltz record company put the score out on a
beautiful double vinyl back in twenty fifteen with this really
grotesque and beautiful bit of cover Art By Wes, ben
scotter combining two of the grisliest moments in.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
The film oh. You're right so here We Have george
eastman with his guts hanging out and he his intestines
are spelling the. Word. Absurd beautiful? Wait beautiful did we
look AT the I Think severin films also puts out
a Sticker Of george eastman with his guts, hanging out
but in the sticker they're. Spelling chow.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Also brilliant.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Also brilliant, all right you ready to talk about, The
plot let's.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Do it so after the credits we get a montage
of different. Opening images first, of all we see some
action inside. A house there is a young woman tracing
out circles on drafting paper with a. Compass tool so she,
you know she's got one. Of those it's like the
spike and the, pencil attaches so's she's making perfect circles.
On paper but she's actually lying in a, hospital bed

(44:30):
and so what she's drawing on is like this pad
that sort of set up over her. Hospital bed and
she's in a room in a large house restrained to
the cot with straps and some kind of brace around,
her neck jaw. AND chin i guess we could go
ahead and mention that the house and the other. People
present so this is sort of the house the villa

(44:50):
that we were alluding to earlier that, is big full of.
OPEN spaces i think is supposed to Be an, american
home but it's, this Strange huge italian mansion with suits
of armor and roaring fireplaces, and stuff but also, just
WEIRD as, i said kind of. Squalid touches like the

(45:12):
dad's liquor collection we see later is like up on
a mantle over a fireplace and it just looks like
a dorm. ROOM stash i.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Don't, KNOW yeah i, WAS like i haven't seen. This
BEFORE am i supposed to be doing it? Like THIS
should i have a mantle for my?

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Liquor bottles, so anyway the girl in the hospital bed Is.
Named katchya she is in traction to treat a. Spinal
disorder her Mother, is carol her little Brother, is willie
and their Babysitter. Is, peggy, now meanwhile somewhere, else outdoors
someone is running in. The woods Why That's george eastman

(45:49):
running through. The woods he's, looking, massive shaggy covered. In
sweat he's got, the beard, long hair and with the
beard and the mop, like haircut he looks kind of
like a giant Seventies era beetle or maybe one Of.
The beg's do you?

Speaker 1 (46:05):
See, that yeah he looks like like the scariest dude in. The, disco,
yeah Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Killer beiji and he is being chased through the forest
by an older man in a black. Trench coat they're
going to play up a mid story reveal that the
Guy Chasing george eastman is Actually done dundune. A priest
they show that by ripping open his coat and revealing the.
Clerical COLLAR but i got that he was a priest

(46:30):
from the very first time we. SAW him i, Don't
know he's like he's dressed in all black and his collar.
Is hidden, there's like, you know coming up. His neck
this was never in doubt. For me did you feel. The?

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Same yeah and plus he also he doesn't pull out
a gun, or, Anything right, so yeah he doesn't seem
like he's. Law enforcement why are you chasing? A?

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Madman, yeah so but also, the priest he sort of
he clutches at his chest as he runs so it's
like he's not. Cut out he's not cut out. For,
this now back at, the house the mom Comes into
kachia's room and sees her drawing circles upon circles with
her compass and encourages her to do. Something else, it's, Like,
oh katya you're making drawing hundreds of, circles again wouldn't

(47:09):
you rather watch television? Or SOMETHING and i, was wondering
does this ever pay off in any way or do
we get any kind of explanation. ABOUT it i know
there is a payoff with the, compass tool like a
something is done with, That LATER but i mean the drawing.
Circles part is there a reason she's drawing hundreds of
circles on top of? Each other or do the circle

(47:32):
patterns ever connect? To?

Speaker 1 (47:33):
ANYTHING no i. DON'T think i don't think the circles.
Actually do it made me think about that Moment In
the simpsons about kids being obsessed with spirographs or how
they should be obsessed with spirographs and they're. Not anymore,
oh yeah, but yeah this doesn't QUITE come i guess it.
KIND of i guess the idea is maybe it connects
to other moments and other films where children drawing things

(47:53):
does connect into.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
The PLOT.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
But i kind of liked it, as texture even if
it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Go anywhere, yeah, Yeah yeah well it just made, me
think wait, a Minute Is katya is she into geometry
or is she OBSESSED with i. DON'T know i don't
know why she's doing this SHE likes i guess, so
well who doesn't one of. THE best. I agree, back
outside the chase is, still happening but eventually the crypto

(48:18):
Priest Chases george eastman onto the wrought iron gate surrounding a,
big mansion and this is the house with the people
we just saw. Inside It george eastman seems to be frantic.
TO escape i don't exactly know why he's running from, the,
priest because as we come, to see he's, basically invulnerable
so HE should i. Don't know it seems like he

(48:39):
would be doing, the chasing not the. Running away but he.
Runs away he climbs, the gate but he falls and
ends up impaling his midsection on the cold iron spikes of.
This gate, After This, george eastman what we see inside
the house and there's a knock on the door and
the little, boy goes he's like hanging out with. HIS
baby i think they're. Eating breakfast and it's sort of

(49:02):
confusing because in this interior shot we see out the
window and it's pitch, black outside, totally dark but it
was just daylight when we were so it. Doesn't match,
but anyway the little boy goes to answer, the door opens,
it up and, oh No Here's george eastman standing here
with his intestines hanging out of. His, stomach yeah with, Eyes, wide.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yeah sweaty. It's wonderful this is our shocking callback to
the disembowlment scene at the end of the previous film
that is again just this is just a. SPIRITUAL successor
i don't think we're to connect these characters in any other.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Real, sense now, after this we go to a, surgery
scene a long, surgery scene one of Multiple And george
eastman is on. A hospital he's on a hospital bed being.
Operated on his intestines are still. Hanging out and this
scene is a an interesting mix of what feels realistic

(50:03):
and what. Does not so it's a full surgical setup
that has a lot of authentic looking props. And apparatus
but then whenever they show a close up of the,
surgical action, which yeah they're going to show quite. A
few the doctors and nurses just appear to be like
poking and tossing the guts around like they're moving food
in a.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Frying, pan yeah they're essentially just pushing around pig flesh
and cale intestines Here on georgie, SPAN stomach.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
I believe.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
So, wow yeah it is a mix of of of
something that looks real and is real and in, some respects,
but yeah it's also.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Like fake Oh and eastman wakes up during the procedure
and they get him to go back. TO sleep i,
think they, you know give him give him. Higher. Dose,
uh meanwhile elsewhere and now, It's nighttime so this is
one of those movies just cuts back and forth between
day and night all. The, time uh it's nighttime and
we see bikers harassing an old Man. Named shaughnessy there's

(50:58):
this old man like wandering in the middle of, the
street swigging from a giant. Green bottle these young bikers
circle around him and yell at him and then, motor
away and then the. Cops come have. A turn a
police car pulls up and we first meet our Police Detective. Sergeant,
ingelman engleman leaning out of a, car, window SAYS if

(51:19):
i catch you drunk just, Once more i'm gonna have
to lock, you Up, and shaughnessy in a quite, unconvincing,
Way says i'm, not drunk and then takes a big
swig of his. Green bottle but before this situation, Can
resolve ingleman gets a call on the radio that there
is a badly wounded man at, the hospital so he

(51:39):
has to go check. That out this leads back to.
MORE surgery i hope you, like this there's plenty. Of
it and then after the surgery, is done one of
the nurses who is assisting with the procedure talks to.
The doctor This, is emily who we will meet again
later in the movie because she moonlights as a home
care nurse for the, main family taking Care of kacia

(52:00):
and helping with. Her attraction emily and the doctor talk
about this dude they were. Operating on it's one Of
those i've never seen anything like. It conversations apparently the
issue is that quote his blood COAGULATED while i was
in the middle of operating, On him, SO yeah i,
don't know his blood's, clotten up.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Really, fast yeah and there's a lot of mumbo jumbo
as they're describing what's up with his mutant. Healing factor
but it's either this scene or a subsequent scene where
the doctor gives us the official medical diagnosis of absurd that's.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Right, now next we have a Scene Where sargeant engleman.
Is interviewing he's back at the house and He's interviewing
carol the mom about the guts incident at her. Home
earlier he's smoking a cigarette in her living Room with
willie on the couch next to him and gruffly explaining
his guts were. All destroyed they don't think he'll pull
through with. The kids, right there and the mom says

(52:56):
she thinks that he was a thief intent on robbing.
The house engleman doesn't seem sold, on that but she
also explains their plans for. The night, this is, oh
boy this. Is exciting she and her husband are going
to go to a neighbor's house to watch. The game
the first of, many references and we get evil Glares
from willie during. This conversation but they're Going, to yeah

(53:19):
they're going to go over to the forest's house to
watch the Game and they don't say here that they're
going to eat spaghetti and watch, the game but that is.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
The plan, Oh yes oh. My god this is one
of my favorite elements of. The film and we get
this scene later On of americans In this, american home
which is Actually an, italian Villa watching, american Football actual
american football on the telly and chowing down. On spaghetti
and it's either one of these things that is like

(53:47):
a fun little bit of humor that east beIN in
the moatto slid into, the picture or it's a. Complete
accident it. Just happenstance in, either case. IT'S amazing i
am not really a football watcher of, football fan but
if there was the prospect of absurd style spaghetti and,
FOOTBALL parties i would.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Be interested, oh absolutely this is an. Amazing party it
takes place in this another. Weird interior there's a Couch
that ian ends up sitting on later when he's brooding
about the fact that he Ran Over george eastman with
his car and didn't. Tell, anybody, yeah yeah he's sitting
there brooding on. This couch that is the pattern on.

(54:28):
The couch it's more ornate than any picture frame In
the louver and they're just all wolfing down spaghetti with.
These plates they're standing around holding plates of spaghetti in,
their hands not sitting at a table, watching football and shoveling.
The spaghetti it's so. Good anyway. That's later the next

(54:51):
thing that happens in the movie is that the police find, the,
priest right so. You got engelman finds the priest who
Was chasing eastman at. The beginning he's one undering along
a dark road in, the Night and engleman pulls up and.
Questions him, the priest who we're not supposed to know
as a, priest yet claims his car, broke Down and,
engleman says it's a good thing you ran. Into me

(55:12):
everyone else is watching the, game, tonight oh and he
Says it's Rams. Versus steelers is that a? GOOD game i.
Don't know is that an especially? COMPELLING game i don't
know in the, EARLY eighties i.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Don't know football fans let.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Us know, So next engleman goes to the hospital and
He Finds greek Drakomas In george. Eastman's pants they just
Bring him eastman's pants and he's going through the pockets
and He's, like drakmas and he connects that to the
dude he just ran into Who was greek. As well
it's all coming. TOGETHER now i don't know what, it

(55:47):
means but he thinks this. Is Significant so engelman is
talking to a nurse and he asks To. See eastman,
he can't not until. He's recovered and then he asks
the nurse for, a description to which, she replies, he's
huge not my type. At all what that's? Some writing

(56:11):
and then also there's an incredibly awkward flirting scene between
the cop and, the nurse some. Inappropriate comments he Hands
Back george eastman's pants and, Then, leaves.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
YEAH yeah i love the handling of. The, pants here
these gross pants that were worn by. This psychopath here
that maybe they've. Been longered hopefully they've.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Been longer so the nurse goes back to the operating
Room where eastman is still on, the table and like
another nurse comes in to Check on eastman and, he
says they indicate his blood is reproducing itself at triple the. Normal,
rate wow that's that's a lot. OF blood i don't
know triple best? Right exactly and then you know it's.
Safe somehow Now the greek guy The other greek guy

(56:54):
is here at, the hospital and he makes his way
to the room that the cop wasn't allowed to, go
to and he's looking looking in through a window in
the Door, at Eastman and eastman, wakes up sees the
dude and starts raging and has to be restrained by
hospital staff until they can get. Him sedated and this
leads to two. Simultaneous scenes one of them is the

(57:16):
Scene Where sargent engleman Gets the greek priest into a
room and he interviews him about what's. Going on, he's,
like so you decided to come to the hospital to
get your? Car fixed is? That it what are you up?
To mister are you responsible for? The wounds he's got
some great delivery, in here and so the beginning of

(57:36):
the explanation is coming. Out here but meanwhile there is
nurse murder.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Going, on yeah this is a, grizzly sequence, quite disturbing
with The shirtless eastman emerging from the table here with
the white sheet following off, of him grabs a surgical
drill and uses it to slowly drill through the, nurse's head,
killing her skewering her brain with drill coming out on

(58:00):
the other side of, the, Head.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
Right so the cops hear the commotion they, come running
but by the time they, get there The east man is,
already gone and instead there's just like a nurse hanging
out dead with a drill. Through head so here we
get the first of many Scenes Of george eastman just
wandering through this village in, the dark and he's back
in his original, clothes somehow so he got his Jeens

(58:22):
and charity's not in his hospital. Scrubs anymore he walks
the streets and we get this, melancholy music and there's
more interrogation between the police And the. Greek Priest so
engelman tries to intimidate him by he does this whole
Routine with i'm just a dumb small. Town cop you
better make, me understand and the. Priest explains first, of

(58:43):
all he says there is a reality we do not.
See that this does not really satisfy, the cop and
so eventually they call in the doctor who Operated On
george eastman to. Help explain so we get a scene
of the doctor putting up PUT up x Rays Of
george eastman's brain and saying. It's extraordinary i've never seen

(59:06):
such an extensive. Cerebral mass, and yeah so we learn
his Name Is nico Stenopolis Or, miko stonopolis whichever, it
is and he is. Functionally immortal his body can regenerate,
dead cells and his blood coagulates quickly to heal. Any
wounds we also this is the scene where they the

(59:26):
copper rips open the priest's coat to reveal his. Priestly
collar but the, PRIEST says I serve god with biochemistry
more than with rights. And sermons And Apparently george eastman
escaped from his laboratory quote after, the contamination so they
organized a great hunt and that's how we got to

(59:47):
where we. Are now but the one piece, of evidence
the one piece of useful information that the, priest has
is it is his brain that is his. Weak, point.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Yeah this of course makes very little because like we're
looking at scans of the brain and, was, like oh
look at that, Cerebral mass like his brain is, doing
stuff his brain's healing or he's. Healed wrong but the
brain is also the. Weak point you destroyed, the brain
you destroy, the creature which of course is true.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Of everything, all, right well this reduces very much to ramiro. Zombie. Logic.
Yeah no and also the priest says he is a creature.
Of evil the Spark of god was smothered the moment
the devil took possession. OF him i think this is just,
metaphorical though because there's no indication of devil magic in.
The movie it's more, like SAYING when i did these

(01:00:36):
experiments on him and he, was contaminated that also the
devil took possession. Of. Him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Yeah yeah also probably, you know a less effective shadow
of some of the dialogue that we Get in halloween from, loomis.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Yes exactly the evil, has escaped so we get more
Of the eastman walk about the, slow music and eventually
this leads up to him WANDERING into i believe In,

(01:01:12):
the abbatoir where there is a guy here who's some
kind of night janitor at the slaughterhouse cleaning, the Floors
and eastman first tries to attack him with a, butcher
knife but then this slaughterhouse janitor runs and retrieves a
gun from his apron at work and tries To, shoot

(01:01:32):
eastman but that, doesn't work and then there's a long
set Up, to eastman like putting this guy on a big,
butcher block and then, he's, like yep gonna get you
with a band saw right through the top of, the
head and, He, does yeah eventually.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
He does this is a scene that manages to be
boring and gross at the, same time but we do
get that. Iconic SMILE oh i just made.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
A connection It's The afhex twin. Album cover It's The
george eastman smile is. Quite, similar yeah he loves.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
His work then the next thing, we get, of course
is that the biker MURDER that i think we alluded.
To earlier and then so this is when one of
the biker gang members gets Killed. By eastman and then
pretty much right away we get the hit and run
out of nowhere where the dad Accidentally clips eastman with

(01:02:24):
his car and just.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Keep rolling so eventually the dad is going to come
back to, The house Ian or eon will, come back
and he's preoccupied by the fact that he did a
hit and run On, east man and that leads to
the scene where he goes to his liquor collection on.
The mantle but eventually the mom and the dad are
going to go out to the friend's house to watch
the game and, have spaghetti and so that leaves the

(01:02:48):
kids home alone with first the babysitter and later, the
nurse who will, huge surprise become the next victims Of.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
East, man Yeah Because george eastman is for some reason
drawn back to. This house a lot reason for him
to come, back here but he's back here to get
inside and. Do MURDERS and i mean then. And again
that's pretty much what the rest of the film. Consists
of let's see some one Fun little there's a scene
where the boy is. Watching television there's some really boring
looking like living room dialogue scene that he really wants,

(01:03:20):
to watch and the babysitter legs, Is done, you're done
and he gets a.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
LITTLE upset i thought the boy wanted to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
The, game oh really wants to watch, the game but
he is at some point watching some DRAMA on tv
and it's actually tame scenes from a really grimy Nineteen eighty,
dematto film which is not a. Family MOVIE so i
guess this is another like sort of in Joke.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
From dematto so it's not an explicit scene that, we're
watching but the joke is that this is From a demato. Porn,
film yes let's see.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
From, there yeah we get so basically we're gonna get a,
babysitter murder and we're then we're gonna get the. Nurse
murder the babysitter murder is one of these what's that? Sound,
outside oh the dog. Got outside peggy the babysitter goes
outside and gets a pickaxe to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
The, head now this is one of those movies that
would absolutely grotesquely Violate The gene siskel test, for movies
which is he could not stand movies that ever depicted
children being. In danger for the second half of this,
whole movie just children are constantly. In, danger fortunately neither
of the kids in the movie are. Ever harmed they

(01:04:28):
both make it to. The end but It's JUST. George
e sman running around the house ominously threatening both of
them and killing babysitters and nurses until.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
The end, WELL yeah I mean ciscle's the whole thing,
was like it's a. Cheap, trick yeah, and yes, of,
course Yeah de motto's gonna use. Cheap tricks. He's, Cheap yeah,
so yeah it would be a solid criticism of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
This film but the kids. Get away who does not Escape,
is emily the nurse we. Met earlier there's a weird
scene of she's like wandering in the woods on the
what she has an encounter with somebody in the woods on. The,
way oh It's, with shaughnessy the. Drunk, guy yes, he's
like you drop this? Back there, but anyway so she
uh WAIT do I actually i. Don't remember now does

(01:05:15):
anything Happen? To shaughnessy does he get Killed? By eastman if,
HE does i don't. REMEMBER it i don't remember. It
either if, he doesn't that would be an unusual choice
for a film of. THIS kind, i mean the old
drunk man wandering around singing in the dark is the
he is your classic you know murder victim in these.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Slasher, movies yeah it seems like the sort of thing
that might have been in, the script but they didn't
have time to, film it or gotten left on the
cunning room floor for some reason because you needed more.
SURGERY scenes i.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
Don't know, so anyway there is a there's a whole
setup to another big murder Scene where Eastman kills emily.
The nurse, this scene this scene is so gross. And,
dumb yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
It, takes forever and it's it generally walks that line
between just padded tedium and, Legitimate shock like it's disturbing
but also, it's, like man we're still. Doing this let's
let's get it over.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
With. Here yeah so the short version Is that eastman
decides to cook her in the oven while she's, still
alive but she somehow survives this process and then comes
back and saves the kid From. From eastman she like
she's all burned up as she runs out and saves,
the kid And, THEN eastman, i guess kills her a.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Second, time yeah because you can't just stab him in
the neck and expect to seal.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
The deal you got to destroy. The brain but the
final showdown Is, between katcha who has been in traction
in this, hospital bed And an eastman, who finally, you
know he comes. In there he's, still raging but we
get a great payoff with the, compass tool right because
she she jams It Into george, eastman's eyes and then

(01:06:54):
we get The blinded. Cyclops sequence.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
That's, right, yeah yeah, and this, YOU know i have,
TO say i feel like this big sequence here is
actually quite tense because you end up with the scenario
where the playing field has been, largely Leveled Though george
eastman's killer is still very much an, overwhelming threat so

(01:07:18):
he's were like in the, living room, this Big expansive
italian villa living room with a suit of armor and all,
the furniture and he, is blinded, you know bloody, eye
sockets and he's listening for her and grasping around at the.
Slightest sound and she is on her, feet now but is,
you know not one hundred percent like she's been in
traction this, whole time and she is trying to stay

(01:07:42):
out of his grasp but get away, from him and
they're sitting. Her, sound yeah he's hunting her. By sound
in some very, tense moments.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
She she does clever things like turning on music, really loud.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
But also, inevitably trips inevitably makes an accidental sound and he.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Gets, closer okay but then, the payoff if you want
to know the, very ending, you know, spoiler alert is
they somehow they like fall into this suit of armor
that has a battle axe and catya she gets the.
Battle out, oh, wait wait but first the father. Shows
up oh, that's, right yes well the parents arrive, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
Yeah, well yeah and. The priest the priest does a
run in and bites it when he tries to start
the Killer.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
So, Eastman well it's like the Ending, of halloween Except
If michael Myers Killed. Donald. Pleasance, Yeah yeah so the
priest shows up and he saves, her, momentarily uh and
he is Killed By. George eastman but then while that's,
going on she retrieves the battle axe from from the
suit of armor and then goes to work. On him

(01:08:45):
we don't see exactly what happened until her parents. Arrive
home and her parents arrive home with, the Cops and
willie's there and, everybody's There and katya's standing in, the
doorway and we pull back to reveal that she is
holding the seven head Of.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
East, man, yes yes he holds, it up and this
is just this, is great this is just grade a shlock,
as Young bloodied katya healed by violence here lifts up,
the decapitated overtly fake head of The blinded monster and
then we close and that's the end.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
Of absurd So now i've got to know if that,
HEAD problem, i mean it would be, a shame a
historical film. Making shame if that head prop was not
reused in the biblical film where He, plays goliath it
had To, BE.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Yeah, I hope, i mean if not that film surely
it shows up in another film because they've gone to
the trouble to. Make it there's going to be some
other film where you might want To cut eastman's head
off or just. REUSE it i mean there are, examples of,
you know FROM other i think there was a whole
kind of a minor Stink on Game of thrones at, some,
point right because they were reusing heads. Or something and, then,

(01:09:55):
sometimes yes sometimes head cast get reused for. DIFFERENT things,
i mean actually we go Back To John carpenter's halloween
and we have a pretty classic example of the reuse of, head.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
Molds, right oh do you mean that It's a. Shatner. Mask,
Yeah Yeah michael myers Wears A captain kirk mask spray,
painted white which is you can't unsee it once you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
See, it yeah but it's. Become iconic. Mm hmm, all
right so there you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Have.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
IT absurd i think probably The Only joe tomato film
we're gonna Do On. Weird House but I'm Sure george
eastman will pop up again in some form, or another
but there probably won't be As Much george eastman as
there was in. This picture, All, right well we'll close
it out there but we'd love to hear from everyone.
Out there if you have thoughts on absurd or other

(01:10:42):
or the video nasties of phenomena, in general write in
we would love to hear. From you just a Reminder
that stuffed To Blil your mind is primarily a science
and culture podcast with core Episodes on Tuesdays, and thursdays
But on fridays we set aside most serious concerns to
just talk about a weird Film On Weird. House cinema
and you can get the full list of films that
we've Covered On Weird house cinema if you look us
up on letterbox. Dot com THAT'S L E t t

(01:11:04):
e r boxd. Dot com our handle there Is. Weird
house you can find the whole. List there and, uh
yeah with, this episode we're kind of launching Into the.
Halloween season halloween is always, a big big month, for
us a little month and some, change often so look
you can look forward in the month ahead to a
lot of seasonally appropriate, core episodes short, form episodes and

(01:11:28):
Of Course Weird house.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Cinema selections, here's thanks as always to our excellent, Audio.
Producer jjposway if you would like to get in touch
with us with feedback on this episode or, any other
to suggest a topic for, the future or just to.
Say hello you can email us at contact at Stuff
to Blow your mind. Dot com Stuff To Blow your

(01:11:52):
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