Episode 86 - Let Us Prey (2014) - The Culture Swally

Episode Transcript
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(00:38):
I do occasionally. I was actually thinking about that recently. Do you remember when I say recent that I mean I'll ask a couple of days?
Do you remember when we were going away for our mutual friends, Stagdoo and we stayed at, I think in both stayed at his the night before we were going to the airport?
And they unusually for him he was going to the office and he offered to ask everybody what they wanted and he was just going to pay for it.

(01:03):
I think it was because his wife to be was there and you know they were, I think under normal circumstances he did his hand out for money but I said, "Oh get me a few cans of strong bowl because I felt like having a cider."
And he came back with a fucking plastic liter and a half bottle of cider because it's like swing park prices like the plastic bowl was a strong bowl.

(01:31):
You know what I mean? It's like it's sort of cider you can buy with your pocket money but you're 13. That's why I bought it at the fucking tight bastard.
But yeah, yeah, that's no surprise to me. He came back with that. I know.
Did you just, did you just chug out the bowl or did you use a glass?
I used a glass, and I never drank at all because it tastes weird.

(01:54):
They sort of plastic bottles cider and a thing was as well. It wasn't cold.
So it obviously just got under the fucking use agents and bought it.
But it was so, it was, it was, it was ambient temperature. I think I just drank a few of his cans of beer just out of fucking spate I think.
Just, just to make a point, he's probably still got that but a plastic bottle, that's like, it's probably still, it's, it's probably sitting in his kitchen.

(02:21):
How many years ago was that? It's like two thousand and six I think so 17 years ago.
Yeah, yeah, must have been 2006. Yeah, I think so.
I think it was. Wow. His brother and I was there as well, remember, his brother and not to be, he's, he's, he's there as well. He was an eccentric character from the borders.
Certainly was. Certainly was. Yes. Anyway.

(02:45):
How's everything with you? All good. Yeah. Fine. I've just, uh, just come back from a trip to Mexico.
Well, Mexico City. I was there for work. I don't, I don't recommend it.
There's, there's nicer parts in Mexico to go than Mexico City, but it was, it was interesting. It's another place, ticked off for the, the sort of, the places I've been, not like a list of places that I've always wanted to go.

(03:05):
Just that list of places I can say I've been to, you know, very good. Oh, well, I'm glad you, you can tick it off your list.
Yeah. I would say if you enjoyed it or not, but yeah, glad you ticked off your list. Oh, it's good to have you back and good to see you again, because obviously it's been a while since we recorded it.
But we're actually recorded the next three weeks now, because then I've got something coming up so I need to break for it.
But, uh, don't worry, dear, listen, we will maintain our current schedule as all. Okay, then. Well, this is just before we, we can be a crack over the news.

(03:34):
This is our Halloween episode. Oh, coach, yeah. Of course, I forgot to say in the intro, it's the annual Swally Spectacular.
Yes. Oh, damn. I totally forgot all about that, right?
You know, despite the fact that I've been thinking all week that it's the Swally Spectacular. So you're right. Yeah. I mean, this will be going out two days after Halloween.
Yeah. Just because that's the way our schedule works. But yes, it is indeed their Swally Spectacular. Are you up to anything exciting for Halloween?

(03:58):
No, nothing at all. I think my daughters have got some plans, but I'm not sure.
Wish your, wish your favourite scary movie. You know, it depends what you classify as a scary movie. I mean, Psycho is one of my favourite films all time.
I wouldn't necessarily say it was like horror. It's funny. I was listening to a podcast just yesterday where they were going on about Halloween versus Friday the 13th.

(04:21):
Right. And I thought they were very right. And they kind of introduced a little bit of Nightmare and Elm Street into that as well.
And I think that they were right what they said. Halloween is the superior film without a doubt.
Yeah. But then if you look at the overall series, I think Friday the 13th is better. And I would kind of agree with that.
Because I love the Friday the 13th films I can chuck on pretty much anyone. But I would say Halloween is by far the superior film.

(04:45):
And I'd even say Nightmare and Elm Street is better in my opinion than the original Friday the 13th.
But yeah, I think Halloween probably is the classic. It's a boring answer, but it is the classic.
Yeah, I think I would go with that. What about yourself?
Halloween is on there. I don't know. I was sure I think I filmed the...
Because when I watch a film now, I don't find films very scary. I was watching the first conjuring with my daughter and we had to turn it off.

(05:13):
We'll still not finish that. We'll just kind of handle it.
I think we've watched maybe in total over two sittings. We've watched about 45 minutes of it. She can handle it.
And I like it. I do like the conjuring. And I think if I'd watched it when I was sort of her age, it would have scared the absolute shit out of me.

(05:35):
I would have enjoyed it anyway, because I've always enjoyed a scare.
So I think for modern films in terms of sort of scares and unsettling, I think the conjuring is there.
I think it's my favourite modern scary film, but I think all time favourite scary movies probably the first Halloween scene issue.
Yeah, it's just so good. I mean, I could watch it. I could watch it now, right now. And then I could stick it on against a model and watch it.

(06:02):
Yeah, I would agree in terms of modern horror. I'm with you. There's not a lot that scares me or freaks me out. I did watch the terrifier films recently and they're just fucking bonkers.
But I think the scariest kind of thing recent years would be it follows. I enjoyed it.
Oh yeah, that was good, isn't it? Yeah, that was really good.
Yeah, that was really good, because it was a very different kind of premise, but yeah, I think Halloween takes a lot to beat.

(06:26):
I think the only film I've ever really seen that I would say kind of freaked me out a little bit was the original Texas chainsaw massacre.
But it wasn't so much scary. It was just more of a Jesus Christ.
What if I just watched?
Yeah, because I must have been like 16 or something at the time.
Yeah, I was about 16, but I think I was about 17 when I saw that for the first time. It's somebody gave me a loan because it was banned, wasn't it?

(06:47):
It was banned for years and years and years, and then somebody had a copy from overseas that they gave me a loan of.
And I remember the bit that I could not believe, bear in mind that it's an old film is when the disabled brother gets like chainsaw to death in his wheelchair.
That just, that wouldn't happen in a film now, I don't think.
I don't think that would happen. I don't think they'd want to show something like that.

(07:12):
And you don't really see it, you don't really, it's not particularly graphic because it's the arcies and the woods, but there's no doubt as to what's happening to him.
Yeah.
That's fucking...
Change days.
Change days.
Okay then, well yes, this indeed is our Swally's spectacular.
So before we get on to the scary film, we're going to be talking about on the podcast today.

(07:33):
Shall we have a look at what's been happening in Scotland over the last couple of weeks, Greg?
Curly the Jungle.
Hello, this is the Outdoor Heaven East Broadcasting Corporation.
And here is what's been going on in the new...
Okay Greg, so what have you seen in the news over the last couple of weeks that's caught your eye?

(07:56):
Just before I start my first story, when I was looking over the news websites looking for stories for the podcast today,
there was an article in the head that was "Man Headbutted Outside Pub in Glasgow City Centre" after an argument.
And I was thinking, like, 10, 15 years ago, that wouldn't have been in the paper.
Those are people probably get headbutted outside my clubs after arguments in Glasgow and a business.

(08:24):
Yeah, you know.
I'm quite surprised it's even made the papers now.
It's, um, must be a slow news to me.
I'm not sure if it's the one that's going to be in the news.
I'm not sure if it's the one that's going to be in the news.
I'm not sure if it's the one that's going to be in the news website.

(08:46):

(09:10):
He didn't just win the show in the cake, he also won the hearts of the nation with his cookie orcney accent, his Christian beliefs and his clean cut image.
I can believe that as a picture of him and it is so early 2000s, got a pregnant divina who seemed to be pregnant for about what about five or six years, the Vina Macau?

(09:37):
Yeah, she did.
And a very, very early 2000s wardrobe for Cambrian. He's got some baggy cargo trousers on and a white t-shirt underneath this sort of beige short sleeve shirt.
When he was in the show, he swapped places, if you remember, with the big brother, Africa Housemate, watch me absolutely mangled this poor guy's name.

(10:01):
Gaitano Kaguha, during his stint, and he got 1.9 million votes, more than half a million more than his nearest rival.
So, 20 years on, the former first raider turned primary school teacher and radio orcney presenter still gets recognised across the world.
He said, "We were all warned that our lives would change, but I never really gave it too much thought. I certainly didn't think about being recognised 20 years on.

(10:27):
I can't go on holiday to Canada without someone saying, "I don't really like Guy from work, he was a big brother."
Every time, every time, it still looks much the same. Every time I get a new class to teach, I think, they'll not know then some girl will say, "My mum says, and it's about big brother, it's very sweet."
Any favourite Cameron moments?

(10:49):
No, I remember watching that series and Cameron was nice, I mean, I supported him because he was Scottish. There were two Scottish people in that house actually that year.
They were a guy who you might come to Fred or Eko, he was a bit of a dickhead.
But Cameron was always just very nice and seemed, "Yeah, he was lovely and sweet."
I mean, they totally changed big brother after that year though, because it was the most boring year, because everyone was so nice and kind of got all.

(11:13):
So they did change it, maybe a little bit too much in the next series, because the next series was Fight Night.
Yeah, we were all kicked off and people were throwing trays at each other and stuff.
But yeah, Cameron was always very nice, I liked it.
Yeah, I remember Cameron.
Yeah, so as you say, the next one that brought me on nicely to is, "Federeko Matoni from Glasgow, he's surviving until date 29 of series 4 in 2003."

(11:40):
Which surprised many after he angered people... after he angered the people of Newcastle when he claimed that nine out of ten Jordy women were slags.
Oh Jesus Christ.
Fredereko, Federeko, Federeko, what are you like?

(12:01):
I think I probably still witted for him a bit because he was Scottish. You kind of have to, right?
Yeah, you do.
So the next one on our list then is Mikey Hughes. Remember Mikey? He was blind.
I do, I'd stop watching it by this point, but yeah, I do, I remember being aware of him, yeah.
I'd stop watching that as well. He was 23 when he went on the show as from Kelvinning in Ayrshire.

(12:26):
He is what he's doing now, so he is on the radio. He's got, he's a DJ on a radio insight, which I guess is a radio station for the partially sighted and for the blind.
He's got a PhD in economic and social history and he ran a ran as an MP in a Glasgow by-election in 2009, but he didn't win.

(12:47):
Next one then, do you remember Shell, Shell Drobin from Glasgow that are interested in?
Yes, he did.
Yeah, she famously, she got her degree results and then more the long nude.
That's right, there's a picture of her, more the long nude.
Right here.
Yeah, just that, well as you mentioned a minute ago,
it was one of the programme's most controversial and memorable years.

(13:11):
Now, this is what it was going to ask you about. I'm sure there was another Scottish guy that was on that year as a bodybuilder guy.
Yeah, he's not on this list.
Yeah, Jason Cowan, I remember his name.
Yeah, he was alright, actually, he got to the final, I think.
I feel like he got into that trouble later on.
He did, for a second.
Yeah, he did.
Well, Shell, she was, sadly, she was dating Scott Hutchinson from the band Freight and Rabbit before he passed away in 2018.

(13:41):
But she lives in the US now, where she works as a museum curator.
Obviously, she was unavailable for a comment, because she's not said anything.
And then next one is an Aberdonian.
Do you remember Lynn from Aberdeen?
I do, you remember her coming into revolution?
Yeah, like a couple of weeks after she'd been kicked out or something, or like a six months after, and looking around to see if anyone recognised her.

(14:07):
I think it was only me that really recognised her.
Yeah, yeah, I do remember Lynn.
She really booted out in the first one.
She was the first one she lost to the late Jade Goody.
She was kicked out in the first public vote, Puro Lynn.
She was a mature art history student.
After she finished in Big Brother, presumably after she visited Revolution that night when you were working, she moved to London to start a new life.

(14:32):
And she was last known to be working in an art gallery.
Next, then, do you remember Sam Brody from Air?
Yes, I do.
Yeah, I do remember Sam.
So, Sam was a she at that point, but then went back to being a he did indeed.
He's now married with two kids, and he's had a successful career as a TV presenter in Malaysia.
He's got a 200,000 followers on Instagram.

(14:56):
So, any other Scottish contestants that we've missed there over the years?
I think there's been a couple over the years, I'm struggling to remember now.
There's one in the current series, because I have shamefully been watching the current series.
So, there is a girl from Glasgow, Olivia, in it.
And it's odd.
She was actually quite annoying the first couple of nights, and I think a lot of people hated her, because she was loud every second word out of her.

(15:21):
Every second word out of her mouth is fucked.
But she's actually really grown on people, like, and the public, and she's really, she's like one of the favourites to win.
But yeah, I can't think, there probably have been a couple of other contestants over the years, but, well, of course, famously, James Cosmo was in celebrity, big brother.
Of course, at one point, the most famous.

(15:42):
It gets everybody in Cosmo, it doesn't he?
It does, absolutely everywhere.
I'm surprised he hasn't been on "I'm a celebrity" out of here, but I think he's probably too old for that nowadays.
But, you never know.
Or dancing on ice, or something.
I think his big brother, Expedian, has probably put him off reality TV, because he just sat there, fucking Mr. Bull.

(16:03):
I know, right?
The only person that James Cosmo, I think is a clip of him going mental, because he was in the house with Jedward.
You can imagine they would get on anyone's tits, I'm sure there's a clip somewhere of him just fucking going mental at them over a bar of chocolate or something.
And they're just sitting there like, "We didn't take your jacket, I don't know, where's your jacket?"

(16:24):
Cosmo is just stomping around, "Fuck it, I don't cut it!"
Big brother is responsible for one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had with my mother.
I went through to the village where Mum lives in one night for dinner and stuff, I had a night off work, so I thought, "I'll go through my step, that was a way."

(16:45):
So I'll go through a keeper company, I'll have dinner with her, and how did I end it up watching that evening's episode, "The Big Brother."
And it was the episode where one of the ladies masturbated with a white bottle in the garden.
And you were going to say that, but... What I was hoping for was for just a short sort of uncomfortable silence to pass, and then the moment we've forgotten, we'd move on to something else.

(17:13):
But then my mum started to explain the dangers of masturbate for a lady masturbating with a white bottle.
And I was thinking that the second section could dislodge her internal reproductive organs, if all the sort of elements were aligned for that to happen.
And I just couldn't, I just ruined the night, but I'm pretty quite honest.

(17:36):
The other contestant I've just remembered was in "Big Brother 3" was Sandy, and he was a doer kind of "Scott's Guy" with glasses and a beer.
He just, he fucking wasn't enjoying the house and hated everyone, everyone was getting on his tits.
So one morning I think he got up at like six o'clock, he pissed in the kitchen bin, as like his leaving present, and then climbed over the street and left.

(18:02):
And they were all cheering, like, "Oh, go Sandy, it is your left, and he waved goodbye."
And then they come back in, they were, "What's this puddle in the kitchen?"
What exactly is Steve in the book?
- I mean, I suppose that's the worst place you could've ever played.
He could've pissed me on the kitchen, I suppose.
And he does, but it was not in the TV.

(18:24):
So anyway.
So that's a Scottish Big Brother contingent.
- Yeah, well some of them at least.
Anyway, watch your first story this episode.
- Well, it's the Swally Book Tacular this week Greg,
so this is from Aberdeen Live, sorry last week.
You know, when I saw this headline,
I was like, yeah, I'm gonna have a little bit of that, I think.

(18:47):
Money-saving Aberdeen Witch casts Bizarre Spell on Powell's X
by setting Dolby's pins in the crotch on fire.
So this is a witch from Aberdeen who casts a money-saving spell
claiming it helped her save up to £5,000 in six weeks to move house.
And she shares tips online on how to be a witch

(19:08):
and how to budget on social media.
She says that she's even conducted a spell on her friend's X
Boyfriend to stop him from getting erections with his new partner.
That's just a bit unfair, really.
Alexa Thompson, a 33-year-old baking company owner who lives in Aberdeen,
has been practicing witchcraft her entire life after growing up in a
pagan household, despite being bullied for it in her younger years.

(19:29):
She has recently dabbled in protection spells to seek revenge on her friend's
X Boyfriend who allegedly was not showing up to see his children
and was instead seeing his new partner.
She commanded that until he becomes a better dad,
he won't be able to get it up.
And made a small doll out of grass with pins
it through its crotch head and heart.
While doing the spell, she set the figure on fire

(19:52):
and put the blackened doll on his doorstep.
And since then, she claims that her friend's X Boyfriend has improved his behaviour.
Alexa also specialises in frugal spells earlier this year
she wanted to move Need or Tour of Sister and nephew
so she conducted a money-saving spell.
Six weeks later she said she had 5,000 pounds in savings
and an apartment lined up.
I just didn't share how she did this though

(20:14):
because I quite like to find out how she managed to do this.
So she's been posting spells on witch talk,
which is when witches post about spells,
potions and their day-to-day life on TikTok.
She thinks that people are less judgmental about her identifying as a witch,
particularly when dating, which she says proves that witches have come a long way
since being burnt at the stake.

(20:35):
Alexa said, "So a friend of mine was getting a really hard time from her X
who's the father of our kids."
She came to see me really upset saying,
"He keeps not showing up for the kids in favour of going to see his new girlfriend.
I said, 'Leave it with me.'

(20:57):
So I made her wee doll and put pins through the crotch head and heart
and I did a spell saying that until he becomes a better dad
he won't be able to get it up."
While doing this spell, I set fire to the doll with a candle flame
so it was all blackened and I put it on his doorstep in the evening.
I wouldn't say it was a curse.
I'd say it was a protection spell towards my friend.

(21:18):
It didn't cost me anything either.
That's where the frugalness comes in, I guess.
The doll was made from grass from my garden.
And after that, he started being a lot better towards my friend and the children.
So Alexa has been practicing witchcraft her entire life.
She explains that her granddad taught her to do witchcraft
and that her parents and little cousins also practice and they see ghosts.
She says she remembers being bullied quite a bit for a kid,

(21:41):
which is ironic because the kids that bullied her in high school
are now the ones that come to ask her for tarot card readings.
So yeah, she said she saved up this money.
She was foraging herbs and she gross things herself
and that's how she managed to save all the money.
And she put pennies in a terracotta jar,
sprinkled them with prosperity herbs and little candle asking for what I want.

(22:03):
In a pinch, I recommend things like Italian mixed herbs
because they have all the essential herbs needed for a spell like this.
So if you can't grow your own magic herbs,
just nip to morocons, get a pot of Italian mixed herbs and that'll do just the job.
So she said that the spell managed to kick her up the butt and save the money.
She said, "But you have to work for it.
You can't ask for more money and expect to win the lottery without buying a ticket

(22:27):
or for love and not swipe right on Tinder."
So Alexa has been posting about her spells on her social media since 2018
amassing 56,000 followers.
She said, "I created it to get all of the thoughts and spells out with my head
and I've always got a lot of comments and questions about my prosperity spell
since the cost of living crisis."
So that is Alexa, the witch who put a voodoo doll of her friend's ex

(22:52):
to stop him getting up.
That's the she thought it was a bit of a, the she'll ever own.
I mean, do we think?
There she got her, there she got her.
Doesn't say, actually, if she has.
She does say that people are more open to dating witches.
Right.
Yeah, because they've come a long way since being burnt.
So I don't know.
But there's a photo of her and then there's a photo of the doll,

(23:16):
which she burnt, made it a grass.
And then there's a photo of like two cow skulls.
And a couple of blocks of chocolate on a plate and some candles
with some burnt things and some teeth by the looks of things.
So it's all very spooky.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I don't really know what to say.

(23:37):
I mean, I don't think she's made this doll to sort of get back at her friend's ex-boyfriend.
My first thought is whether you're a witch or not, none of your fucking business.
Why?
Why are you getting involved?
Why are you sticking your nose in?
Why are you making dolls at a grass and setting them on fire and putting them on his doorstep?

(23:58):
You know what I mean?
And...
Why is the...
You know, this pin's in the crotch in the heart and the head.
You know, why is that the...
I thought that.
I'd be interested to know why those three areas are under obviously the crotch,
because you know, she did the spell, so you wouldn't be able to get it up.
But I don't know is it?
Because heart and the head, you know, thinking about...
You need all these...
Think about your kids.
Or maybe because you need your heart and your head, it's all be it to be like a line in order to achieve...

(24:25):
Get in a razzle.
Achieve a razzle, you know what I mean?
Especially if you're a bit older, you know, if you're...
If your mind starts to wander, you know what I mean?
It's not as...
You know, it's not the same as when you're a young guy and it just literally...
We've got to do a snap of fingers and you're ready to go, you know?
Yeah, just like at it like Thanos.
Yeah, exactly.

(24:46):
Exactly.
Yeah, I mean, I sort of...
You know, what I've said in this valley before, I'm pretty much if that's...
You know, if that's what you believe and that's what you want to live your life,
It's not for me to cast scorn upon you, although I might a little bit, you know,
But still...
Yeah, nothing against how people live their lives.
I just just find it a bit weird.

(25:08):
I find that in 20-23, I understand people being religious because it's a...
It's a...
It's a...
Most religions are huge things involving lots of people.
These sort of more niche things like witchcraft.
With all of you know, so much about science and stuff these days and, you know,
People still believe that making a weedolet a grass and sticking pins on its bollocks,

(25:32):
setting up on fire is going to like have an impact on a human being.
You know, when you hear it, when you hear it explained like that.
It sends a bit like bollocks, didn't it?
I'm not venturing down into that territory, Greg, because before we know it,
I'm going to open my door and there'll be a little door made out of grass.
I mean, I live in Amsterdam, I hope it was a different type of grass maybe.

(25:53):
All blackened and with pins in various places.
So I'm pleading the fifth on that one and not getting involved.
I think Alexa can do whatever she likes and good luck to.
Yeah, all right, well good luck to Alexa and all her witchy endeavors.
Oh, okay, Greg, well, so have you seen this week?
So my next one then is from the Scottish Sun on the 24th of October.

(26:17):
The head down means my dad's dog chewed up my passport just days before I was due to fly
to the rugby world cup final.
So this is Ellis McLeod, her and her dad forked out nearly 2,000 pounds
to head to Paris in Saturday to see South Africa take on New Zealand
in the rugby world cup final.
But after hearing her, the pet dog Ashley,

(26:41):
tailing away at what she thought was a toy, she was horrified to find it was in fact
the wee dog ripping apart her travel documents,
otherwise, otherwise known as a passport,
just a bit in passport there.
Ellis is from Dundee, she called the passport office,
but she was told a new document, but probably not arriving time for her to fly
to the French capital.

(27:02):
Images show the H.R. Advisors passport with two large bite marks from the one-year-old
pup and torn pages.
Gutted Ellis said, "I had my passport out, it was high on my dresser,
so I would remember it a packet when I heard Ashley tailing something up.
I'd figured it was just a toy, as I thought there wasn't anything important lying around.

(27:24):
I laughed at first until it dawned on me that I was going to Paris in a week.
Ellis had to watch the final at home with the wee dog and her own dog,
whose name is Louis, but she said the trip cost £1800.
Rugby's the only sport I follow religiously,
I'm now hoping to go to Australia for the world cup in twet,

(27:45):
twet, seven as long as my passport remains intact."
I mean, there's a picture of wee Ashley here, looks like a lovely wee dog,
hard to be annoyed at a wee dog like that.
I'd be annoyed at a dog's, a dog's going to do what a dog's going to do.
You know, you need your passport lying out, you know, you're taking your life in your hands.

(28:06):
Bobby ever destroyed anything important?
Bobby's never destroyed anything at all.
Amazingly, the so lucky with that dog,
because we got him when he was one and he was a rescue.
And obviously, here all these stories, he'd never, even his toys,
like, he loves his cuddly toys, he's so gentle with them,
and like playing with them, the hardly ever any occasionally there might be a tiny little rip,

(28:32):
which are so, or something, but not never destroyed anything.
Like, and you'll never even, he takes something new into the house,
he'll sniff it, but he won't grab it, like even a toy for him.
I have to physically hand it to him and let him know it's his
and then he'll go and play with it, but he'll never touch anything at all.
It's amazing.
Good boy.

(28:53):
Got so lucky.
Yeah, so lucky.
So no, but I can understand, I mean, if you've got like a puppy, then of course they are tempted to choose things.
Like a passport is probably quite hard and chewy, so it's going to be fair game.
They're going to be delighted with it.
Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the picture of our passport.
I don't know.
Well, I mean, it's what I think is as long as the,

(29:14):
the wee electronic strip isn't damaged.
I feel like you might get away with it.
Yeah.
No, even if there's a tiny little rip on me,
like one page of your passport, yeah, you won't be allowed to travel.
Yeah, God.
You know, to be really, really careful with it.
Well, you guys are going to be careful.
I mean, we have not had a dog for a long time, but growing up, we always had dogs.

(29:36):
I remember my stepdads, old black Labrador, who they call Monty.
He was a right rogue.
There was like a blind guy who used to walk around their neighbourhoods with his guide dog
and be forever finding Monty trying to mount this poor guy's, poor guy's blind,

(29:59):
this poor guy's a guide dog.
But I remember when we were getting our double glazing,
putting my mum made them, so the sandwiches and food for all the guys,
and it was a summer, so the one in the garden having sandwiches and things,
the apprentice was standing, eating a sandwich and Monty just jumped up like fucking jaws
and took the sandwich right out of his hand.
My mother was mortified, but it's still, you know,

(30:23):
dogs are going to do what a dog is going to do.
Exactly.
Yeah, can't blame the dog.
And as you see, you can't be too upset with it for doing what it's going to do.
It's a shame, you know, a pocket and a shame didn't get to go to the work of final,
but never mind.
You'll then...
Next time, maybe get like a little travel wallet,
and put the passport in the city that lying about there.
And anyway, you and I know that rugby is,

(30:45):
rugby, anyway, maybe there's your favourite like that.
Again, I'm going to plead the fifth time like Greg, you know what I'm saying?
I don't want to upset any listeners, so...
It's not for me, but...
No.
Anyway, let's say, actually the dog, the passport,
what's your next story this week?
My next story comes from the daily record this week, Greg,

(31:06):
and it's about a few-ing Scots resident who leaves passive-aggressive note for a mystery musician.
So, a fed-up resident has plastered a street with a passive-aggressive note
hitting out at a serenading musician.
The letter was posted on all doors along Lauren Street in Edinburgh this week,
and is addressed to the trumpeter who moved into a flat here in July
and has been played in disturbing, dissonant music every long time since.

(31:31):
In this arctic letter, the few-ing neighbour writes,
"You are very talented, yes, but please be aware that your daily practice can be heard by every person in the courtyard of our buildings.
100+ people, some of which, work at home, and would like not to be forced to listen to your chromatic scales
reverbing off the walls and into the brains every time they are having lunch.

(31:54):
The note continues, "Please also consider, chronically ill people who are in their beds, already in enough pain.
Babies, night shift workers trying to sleep.
Leeters, already demoted from the sign of the never-ending tramworks."
The post gathered plenty of attention online with residents arguing both sides
concerning the issue of the mystery trumpeter.

(32:16):
Some have commented that it would be unreasonable and pretty excessive to expect the person to sign proof a room
and also insanely expensive.
One poster wrote, "If you don't like other people's noise, go live in a fucking bungalow for us, don't you?"
"No, I stay here."
[Laughter]
"Plein and instruments are wonderful, talent."
Others commented that they were lucky it was lunchtime and the mystery trumpeter played the instrument better than the middle of the night.

(32:42):
A few people joked, "I am the trumpeter."
[Laughter]
That is the poor, guys obviously just doing a trumpet, doing a plane is talent, and trying to practice, but obviously someone's had enough.
I know during lockdown I was obviously working from home all the time and there was someone in our building

(33:03):
who don't know where or who it was that was obviously learning the piano.
And it was same every lunchtime around about 2 o'clock you would hear them practicing "Hello" by Lionel Richey.
[Laughter]
And this went on for months, always the same song, and it got better as the muds went on.
You know you started, it was just the piano, and then I could hear him singing along, and then towards the end he was doing the whole song.

(33:27):
But he never did anything else, just "Hello" and then he just stopped.
So I don't know if he was right, I've mastered that, fuck this, I'll pack it.
But that's the only time in "Border" by anyone with music, but of course your daughter plays the piano.
"Base of the soul."
"Does that, how noisy is that?"
"Does she use headphones?"
"It can be quite noisy, but it doesn't bother me because she's learning to play the bass."

(33:54):
It's a great thing to be able to play a musical instrument.
I mean I was more tickled by the beginning of the article where you said the trumpet or was playing sort of dissonant music.
I had a sort of vision in my mind of them playing like, sort of melancholy.
And melancholy songs or maybe he's doing the last post, last thing at night or something like that.

(34:21):
Just a sort of a bit of amused and affect people, but it sounds like he's just...
The guy's probably in the fucking Scottish National Orchestra or something like that, but he got the practice.
And I think if at any time you're going to do it, lunch times, you know, fail a lot.
People are, you know, okay they might be in meetings or something, and I can see you okay night shift workers.
But then, you know, what do you supposed to do?

(34:43):
Not make noise at any time. He's entitled to do it, so fair play to him.
You know, it's a guy who's practicing a talent.
I don't think, I mean, when we were kids, there would have been a lot more night shift workers because there would have been sort of...
Yeah.
24-hour plants, 24-hour factories and things.
These days, probably the only sort of 24-hour workers will be like NHS people and taxis drivers, right?

(35:08):
Probably drug dealers in prostitutes as well.
Yeah, well I'd be espos... they need their sleep as well, right? Maybe... maybe the morsel.
Yeah, you're fair enough. Yeah, you're right.
Anyway, but that is the...
Yeah, the mystery trumpeter of Mournish and Edinburgh.
So, have you seen anything else this week?

(35:30):
No, that's all. I've got anything else.
The only other thing, it's a quick two-line article, is from the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven reporter.
And I just like the headline, "Driver on A82 near Carrot Golf Club, metal dealing."
A man has been arrested for operating as a metal dealer without a license.

(35:51):
The 50th, the 50th year old, was stopped in a van on the A82 near Carrot Golf Club.
He was reportedly found not to have an MOT, nor a license for metal dealing.
He also had a defective handbrake here, so he will attend Carrot a later date.
So, who knew that metal dealing was a criminal activity?
Didn't realise that at all. You need a license to sell metal, right?
Yeah, I did not know that. Well, there you go.

(36:13):
Well, there you go. If you're back in Scotland and you're trying to sell metal, then you know you need a license.
Yeah, just...
Okay. Right, well, before we go on to what we're going to be talking about on our swallow,
he's particular today. Let's have a little bird from our sponsors.
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So it was your turn to pick for the culture Swally Spooktacular,

(38:05):
so what are we talking about today?
Thank you very much, Greg.
Well, yes, exactly as you've said, as it's Halloween, or well, it's just past.
I'd like to look at the 2014 horror film Let Us Prey.
It comes from Irish director Brian O'Malley, and it was mostly filmed in Ireland,
but it's very much set in Scotland with a predominant Scottish cast,

(38:26):
so it counts as a Swally film.
It's definitely counts as a Scottish film.
Because I've read a lot of stuff online about Irish film.
No, no, it's definitely Scottish. It definitely counts.
So starring Liam Cunningham, who has been on the Swally before in dog soldiers.
Pollyanna McIntosh, she was in last year's Swally Spooktacular on White Settlers.
And for some reason I keep wanting to say White Settlers whenever I'm referring to this film.

(38:48):
And I'm a blame Pollyanna McIntosh for it.
Jonathan Watson, Brian Larkin, Douglas Russell, and Hannah Stanbridge, among others,
it tells the story of Rachel, a rookie cop, about to begin her first shift in a small Scottish police station in a small town.
But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, all hell breaks loose.
So Greg, you mentioned in the last episode you'd never even heard of this before.

(39:09):
No, for. So how was your first viewing of Let Us Prey?
I did enjoy the film. I watched it twice.
If I'm being honest, I enjoyed it more of the second time than the first time.
Yeah.
Because I think it's a wee bit. I don't know the beginning of it is just fantastic.
When we see Liam Cunningham's character who is known as Six in the sort of cast listing,

(39:33):
you know, it's short, so it looks as though he sort of emerges from this angry C
and starts walking towards the town.
I thought, "Fuckin' hell, we're in for a big, an absolutely brilliant experience here."
And then it's sort of like, you know, I think we'll get into the detail.
It's sort of flounder-s-a-wee bit, I think, and setting up the scene.

(39:59):
But when it gets going, you know, when the wheels start to come off and everything else,
it's fucking, it's really, really good. I really enjoyed it.
Yeah, I would agree with you. I think it was the second viewing.
I watched it twice as well.
And I totally agree with you in the beginning. I was like, "Oh yeah, we're in for a treat here. This looks good."
And I agree. I did get a little bit bored in maybe 25 minutes in or so.

(40:23):
I did find myself maybe looking at my phone and thinking, "Okay, right, what's happening?"
And then, yeah, then it just goes absolutely fucking bachelorly.
And you're like, "Okay, I'm in for this."
And yeah, I would agree. The second viewing, I watched it to make my notes.
But I was very focused because I think I knew what was coming.
So I'm like, "Okay, need to focus on this and to get into this."

(40:46):
So, like I say, it could be argued. It's an Irish film. I was director.
Of course, Liam Cunningham's in it to begin with.
You know, in mostly film, there are limits. Definitely Scotchful.
Definitely Scotchful. It's not scary as such. I mean, it's very intense.
And it's very good as well in parts.
I think the first half does do quite a good job of building up attention
and uncertain to you of what's happening.

(41:07):
And then, like I said, the last 25 minutes is just absolutely fucking bananas.
It's brilliant.
Yeah, it's really good.
It's really good.
I think the one who, the thing that sort of...
I'm not going to say "Rune" that for me, because it didn't ruin it for me,
but it sort of jared me a little bit in the beginning
with the actor Brian Vernell who plays Caesar.

(41:30):
Because I made a note when I was watching it.
Because I made my notes the first time,
and then I made some more notes to send to my watch that.
And I made a note saying, "Is Brian Vernell just been allowed to fucking make say his own lines?
Like, make up his own lines?" Because...
I mean, I've seen him in a few things.
And he's had to have successful career.

(41:53):
I mean, he's in Star Wars for fuck's sake.
And amongst a lot of other things.
But, you know, I shouldn't say this because I am no actor,
but he's not a very good actor.
Not in this, I would say.
No, I don't think this is...
But he's playing a little Ned effectively,
so does he have to be really?
But yeah, there are...

(42:14):
There are a few lines that are okay that he comes away with when he's being cheeky.
You know, when he's asking for like the...
"Is that you with a cup of tea?"
"I saw some bourbon creams up there."
And then you...
Then that's when he sees six coming in and his face kind of drops.
But I thought he was okay.
But yeah, maybe...
Possibly the weak link of the film because the rest of the cast are very strong, we see.
I mean, at one point it refers to the village police says five-oh.

(42:39):
Yeah, that jargon a little bit.
I was like, "Yeah, I wouldn't have thought, especially in 2014,
that you would..."
Yeah, but it's still in school, so what is 17?
16, 17.
Yeah, something like that.
So he's not going to be familiar with...
No.
...how high five or...
...or calling cops five-oh.
He's just going to be calling them pigs or the films.

(43:01):
Yeah, around about that time.
Because I think it's like...
It's supposed to have been involved in this horrendous accident before we join them,
where he's hit the "we get a walkin' along the road."
But he's not really acting like somebody who has ran two people over by accident.
Because his reaction in both cases is...
He has immediate reaction in both instances of hitting people is, "Oh fuck."

(43:25):
Oh no.
And Gil remorse, regret, and then he's fucking wisecracking away about Bourbon's and the five-oh.
Yeah, what I mean.
Well, that's it, because you can get away with it thinking that...
...because he's knocked down six, and that's the first thing...
Yeah.
...you get to see when he gets out of the car.
And not another one.
And...
Okay, six is vanished.
So he thinks he's gotten away with that.
But surely you would still be feeling guilty and remorseful knowing you've just ran over one of your classmates early.

(43:50):
Exactly.
But he doesn't seem to be phased by it at all.
Until we sort of reckons with sex later on in the film.
So, I think this is...
It's a very contained film.
It's basically just set in the police station.
Yeah.
...of, actually, the whole time, really.
And I love a film like that that's very contained in a claustrophobic environment.

(44:11):
Very heavily influenced, in my opinion, by John Carpenter.
Yeah, that's how it is.
This type of film.
Because it's a salt and precinct, 13.
And there's such a beautiful kind of synth soundtrack to it as well.
Yeah.
That is just very carpenter-esque.
That...
I really enjoyed that element because Big Fan of John Carpenter.
Yeah.
But it was nice to see that kind of that element being brought into it.

(44:34):
And you could see the kind of influence, I think, on the director.
Yeah, sort of.
Although the assault, I guess, is sort of from within the police station.
But, yeah, you're right.
Yeah.
I mean, my first thought was assault and precinct, 13.
Because I've thought what's going to happen here is...
Are they going to have to be trying to keep sex out of the police station?

(44:58):
You know what?
I mean, or something like that.
And you can get the prisoners involved and everything else.
But, you know, when a scene when he's brought in to the police station,
when Hannah Stanbridge and...
It was the other guy, the other police officer,
bringing him into the station.
And, you know, because they find them wandering around.
I was like, "Ah, all right, what's going to happen?"

(45:21):
You know, so I think it was at that point that the film sort of really got its hook into me
because I thought that I knew what was going to...
I knew what would happen.
And, you know, I thought, like, that's all happening and he'll do that
and then she'll do that and blah, blah, blah.
And then when he comes into the station and...
Sergeant McCreedy starts acting really weird and, you know,

(45:44):
he can bugger us off and then the doctor starts acting odd and everything else.
And you start to get the...
You start to get the flashbacks to PC Monday and PC Warwick,
sort of beating the suspect up in the interview room and things.
And then, you know, it was like, "Ah, all right, so this is where the horror elements are going to start to come in."
So, yeah, so it is, I mean, it's a small cast in terms of the contained environment.

(46:07):
So, you effectively, the premise of the story is that you have...
Pollyanna McIntosh is PC Rachel Higgy
and it's her first day at this new small police station.
On her way there, she sees...
Caesar running down this guy's six, but six disappears.
She takes Caesar into the police station, meets Sergeant McCreedy,
then the other two officers are there as well.

(46:29):
You know, they end up taking six there.
And then we go to the cells and meet the people that are there.
I mean, initially it's just Jonathan Watson as Mr. Besick.
But then, later on, the doctor joins them and then it's very much the contained element of the police station
and just the people that are in there.
Which I think works well, but I agree the flashback element of when six is there,

(46:51):
because you're not sure what this guy is and who he is.
And what the situation is, but when they start having these flashbacks, as you say,
you're kind of like, "Oh, okay, now I get it."
And I think that's a very good way of them doing it,
that you get to see effectively the...
What all these people have done and why they're there.
And that's when you're getting the inkling, "Okay, so is six here to effectively avenge and collect?"

(47:18):
And you know, "What is he doing here?"
And especially when Sergeant McCreedy says to him, you know,
"Wingerprints," and say, "So, your Alexander Monroe, you died in 1983, age 79."
Yeah. But, you know, he's very much there.
So you know there's a supernatural element to him.
Yeah. And Liam Cunningham's great, actually, as well.
I mean, as you mentioned before, we've had them...
He was in a swallow even made of dog soldiers,

(47:41):
which I think was two years ago now, since the dog soldiers, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah.
And we are first Halloween spectacular.
He, you know, he's not... He doesn't have like a lot of lines until, you know, sort of maybe they're the last.
That's kind of 10, 15 minutes of the film, you know, when he, you know, he sort of explaining who he is without explaining who he is exactly.

(48:05):
And then the little moments when he sort of keeps appearing to Sergeant McCreedy,
when he's off doing his fucking sinister bastardly things,
and in the process of which fucking lose in his grip before he comes back to the feast station.
Yeah. He's fucking, he's great.
And the thing is for Liam Cunningham, the year before he filmed this, he got arguably his biggest part,

(48:29):
which was in a second series of Game of Thrones, which he was in until the very end, you know?
And he's cut, you know, this is obviously quite a low budget film, although they do have...
Considering its low budget film, they do have quite a lot of acting horsepower in the shape of Pollyanna McIntosh
Liam Cunningham and the actor who plays Sergeant McCreedy, Douglas Russell, who...

(48:52):
I was looking at his IMDB, he's been fucking hundreds and hundreds of things.
Yeah. You know, so to come back and, you know, he's playing the lead, he's completely sinister.
He does a great job, I think, of, you're not sure whether he is a good guy or a bad guy, you know,
and some of the very ends when it sort of reveals exactly who he is. He's fantastic.
Yeah, and I listened to an interview with a director and he said, like, when he got the original script,

(49:16):
the character of Six was meant to be a lot more talkative and cocky.
As you would expect, I guess, who he is.
Yeah. Would be like, you know, I'm thinking about, I guess, like, the TV show Reaper, for example,
the character in that is very kind of cocky and talkative.
Whereas the director had Liam Cunningham in mind for the role, I'm, you know, we need to strip this back.

(49:38):
Yeah. And I think it works so much better the way that he is.
It's exactly as you say, you're not sure if he's actually a good guy or a bad guy, what's going on with him, what's happening here?
Because he's talking to all the prisoners and almost trying to get them to admit or get to the bottom of why they've done what they've done and understand.
So you're kind of like, okay, who side is he on? What is he doing here? And at the end of the day, I mean, there's no real huge twist in the film.

(50:04):
No, well, you could say the end, but it's simply a case of Six is just coming to collect the souls of the sinners.
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, even, even give Caesar a chance to sort of come clean with, you know, in a minute he's done and everything.
And, you know, he's the only one in the cells who has got like a slight chance of redemption with Six if he just owns up to what he's done and sort of accepts responsibility for it.

(50:30):
And allows himself to face justice. But obviously Caesar's too much for fucking coward to do it. And he, uh, is dispatched pretty fucking grimly.
Well, to be fair, I think he does get through to Caesar because Caesar does try to tell Monday about what's happened. She ignores him when they come in to grab a doctor.
That's right. And then of course that's the next like 10 minutes. And then by the time he tells Rachel about it, it's too late to wait.

(50:57):
Too late. Yeah. If he told her. And we do see when Sergeant McCreedy is driving home to empty his fridge, we do see that he passes the body on the side of the road.
Yeah. So he could have seen her and stopped as well. So Caesar could have maybe been in a retrobuted there and maybe got off with it.
But yeah, I do think that Six is quite fair when you're seeing that to Caesar. You know, you have time, you know, we can still redeem you.

(51:21):
Yeah. So I mean, okay, we can just, you know, spoiler if you haven't seen this, but you know that we spoil everything.
So Six is the devil effectively. Now, do we think that this movie is set in purgatory?
Because he's obviously orchestrated and he does say pretty much as much towards the end that he's orchestrated for all those people to be there at that time.

(51:42):
So you can do this because they're the only people we see and interact with in the film. The entire town is empty.
Like you see the pub empty, the petrol station shop, nobody's there. The only people we see are the main players and the girl that Caesar kills.
So I'm the guy that McCreedy kills, of course, sorry, in his house. So, you know, are we like to believe that this is purgatory effectively?

(52:04):
I mean, I need orchestrated for the most people. Yeah, I mean, it could be, it's quite interesting. It's quite interesting.
So a theory, but then for it to be purgatory, then they've all died already, right? And this is it. So I think that's where maybe, you know, that's sort of twist that a little bit.
Yeah, I mean, this is good. Yeah, I mean, it could be the thing is though with what's his name with Sergeant McCreedy for him to he's the one who's like the most affected initially by the arrival of the six.

(52:37):
And he's the one who sees him. He's the one that saw, you know, when he's in the house and he's sort of when he's back in his house and he's getting the body out of his fridge.
He's the one who sort of sees six out the corner of his eye, you know, they were being, the him cutting him sort of turns up with kind of ping pong balls over his, he's eyes.
And you know, and it's, and it's just, it sort of leads to, you know, any out in the set, was it? It says something to McCreedy that makes McCreedy have to leave the police station and go home to get the, to get the body out of his fridge, doesn't it?

(53:10):
Well, they have a whole talk about religion and it's more of the, the vision at that point that that makes him go because he does say the talk about religion and he says to six so you don't believe in God and six says I didn't say that, but I would like a fucking work.
Yeah, yeah.
Then is when McCreedy kind of sees the vision of the bin bags by the door.

(53:32):
Yeah.
And that freaks him out and that's when he, yeah, decides to go something in common.
A both Christian, then.
Except you're more of an over Testament kind of guy, aren't you?
The blood and the fentants,
the sweat and the spark,

(54:00):
I can smell it.
I say don't remember how much I'm Sunday school.
I don't know why, but then I jumped ship.
So you don't believe in God?
I didn't say that, but I would like a fucking word.
Because McCreedy kind of becomes the, the sort of instrument of sex's retribution to a large extent, doesn't it?

(54:25):
Because he kills Caesar, he kills Warnock inadvertently kills Monday, doesn't he?
I don't think it inadvertently does slam her neck.
Oh yeah, I think with a shotgun.
Yeah, it does kill her.
Yeah, you're right.
I thought he saw a trip to her or whatever.
I mean, she was, she was pretty much dead.

(54:47):
No, well, he shoots the water canister and then when she's running on the chair, she slips on the chair.
That's right, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So he does kind of cause.
And then yeah, jamzer head with the shotgun.
Yeah, you know what, we'll come on to the end, I think, short.
Because there's a lot to talk about in the last 20 minutes of fucking brilliant scenes.

(55:08):
To talk about the cast, I mean, I think we've done Liam Cunningham six.
He's playing, there's a stranger comes to town, he's playing the devil effectively.
And he's come to collect the souls of all these people at the police station.
So we kind of see the focus initially through Pollyanna McIntosh's character Rachel.
And he's, you know, her stories never kind of explained as to why she's ended up in this town.

(55:29):
Because Pollyanna McIntosh say at one point, you know, there's a reason you were sent here to me.
And that's when I thought, okay, six has orchestrated this somehow in terms of getting her there.
Now she is police constable, but her flashbacks, we see her being abused as a girl.
She was kidnapped and held hostage in this room and abused by this horrible guy.

(55:51):
And you see her kind of coming to terms, you're kind of waiting to see if there was something else that she did, but no.
Effectively as we go on through the film, we find out that it was six that kind of saved her when she was a kid and she was able to escape.
And she's obviously lived with this, gone into the police force.
And she's a pretty straight-laced cop in terms of, you know, her work.

(56:12):
But and the other police officers aren't too happy with her being here.
And she's, you know, there's a scene at the beginning where she sort of wakes up,
we sort of see her wake up for the night shift and the black feathers and her bed.
And she's, you know, she's been dreaming about her experience as a child, you know, the trauma that she experiences a kid that you just described.

(56:33):
And then, you know, she gets a uniform on and gets herself down to the station.
But yeah, so the director had mentioned that in his opinion, the greatest action hero of all time is Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.
And that's why I think Rachel is kind of based heavily on Ripley in terms of being a badass.
And, you know, and there's no, what I really like to make this as well is because it could have gone down this route.

(56:58):
There's no sexualization, you would say.
Yeah. Like, you see her towards the end, she's in her vest and it would have been easy for it to be,
"Oh, I need to just get into this skimpy vest."
But it's more of a necessity. She's been hit.
Yeah.
She needs to tie off a tourniquet and there's no lingering kind of sexual shots.
No, it's more of a, yeah, this goes a fucking badass. She looks fucking great in that vest.

(57:20):
She's ripped, she's gonna, fucking smash some heads in.
And the character holds her own so well, the, you know, the fights that she's in when she smashes the doctor in the face with a night stare.
You're like, "Fucking, bro, yeah."
And then, and there's a couple of great bits, the fight she has with more and a can Monday as well.
She just absolutely leathers Monday with a head, and it's fucking brilliant to see.

(57:43):
Yeah, a real badass character, you know, but I guess she's been through that trauma a young age.
So she's probably dedicated her life since then to making sure she's never gonna find herself in a situation like that ever again.
So she's gonna be able to handle herself and then dedicate her life to police force.
Yeah, for sure.
And she's a good physical actress, Paulie Adam-Akan-Tolish, anyway.

(58:05):
You know, when we did White Settler's last year, she's got some goods bits in that where she's sort of fighting these guys off.
Yeah, you know?
Yeah, it's completely believable in terms of, you know, I believe it's not like, "Oh, I don't know. I try to think of a bad example."
Like, I'm probably not gonna believe like Margot Robbie doing a...
Oh, no, I would actually because she's still hardly quick.

(58:26):
Do you know what I mean? Like, in the wrong... I know what you mean.
In the hands of a wrong actress, you know, it could look a little bit force, but I actually really believe Pollyanna McIntosh is a good, honest person.
She's got the good frame for it as well and she's just a really strong.
She's also good at conveying a sort of sense of vulnerability as well.
So, you know, even in White Settler, obviously she's just a regular sort of 30-something women that's within to a house, you know what I mean?

(58:54):
In this, you know, she's got her police training and everything else, but she's still...
She still displays a vulnerability in this, which makes the moments when she has to defend herself, the fights, you know, the fights with a doctor and Monday and Warnock and then later on with McReedie and everything.
You know, there's sort of like more satisfying towards as a viewer, because it's always satisfying when a vulnerable character got to have fights back and successfully fights back, you know what I mean?

(59:25):
Yeah. And she's in the thing that's for her as well, being that she's sort of... she's... as an actress.
She seems to be doing quite well in the States, now ever since she did the walking dead.
And I did like her in the walking dead. I thought the storyline was a bit ridiculous, like only a few years after this zombie apocalypse, this society has evolved and it's got its own language, its own way of talking and everything I thought was pretty fucking stupid.

(59:53):
But she was like compelling as the kind of leader. I forget the name of the group.
Yeah, it's the people that live in like this.
I was like a trash man, or so scrappyard.
Yeah, they've got a license to live in that scrappyard.
But she's compelling, you know, because she's very attractive women, but she's been not in a kind of conventional sort of way.

(01:00:18):
You know, she's got a certain look about her, she's got that kind of physicality about her. And she's obviously a very good actress.
She was even great in Bob Servant, you know.
And this was a big year for her. She actually had to fill white settlers and let it spray all sort of back to back.
No, she's brilliant. I really liked her in this. I really liked her in white settlers.
And as you say, I liked her in Bob Servant and yeah, it felt as well. She's brilliant in this size queen.

(01:00:43):
No, she's a great actress and obviously become the swallow screen queen.
She has to be in the back to back orders.
Her latest film was called Apocalypse Clown. I don't think I've got it as film, so I don't think I'll be able to do it for the...
Oh, she in that.
Oh, fantastic. I didn't realize I've been waiting to see that because David Earl plays one of the clowns in that.

(01:01:06):
He's then like afterlife, Derek and stuff and then Brian and Charles.
Yeah, so yeah, I'll look forward to seeing that because I really like him.
Yeah. Yeah, great character, I think, as Rachel Heggy.
And you... I mean, we'll come on to the end when we speak about the final scenes and then we speak about the scene with her in six.
But I think it's a very touching scene and all comes around kind of full circle.

(01:01:29):
Yeah. The other kind of main person in the police station is Douglas Russell, who plays Sergeant Jim McCready.
Basically, the introduction to him is, Rachel takes Caesar into the police station and we see that he's watching porn on the computer.
Do you see the quick flash of that, Tim?
I see a quick flash. Like a man in a joke strap.
He's hiding obviously a very dark secret. He's got body parts in his fridge.

(01:01:53):
He's ultra religious and ultra Catholic and very... lives his life by the Bible. He wears a cross-stranded snack, but he's evidently gay.
And he is a presume sleeping with these men and then kind of taking the anger out on them at what he's done.
Yeah.
Because he can't come to terms with the fact that he is a homosexual and he's then just batting the fuck out of all these guys.

(01:02:15):
Yeah, I'll beat them at death essentially, isn't he?
You know, he does his little sexy underpants dance and then just...
Like, where there's the poor guy and he's bad, don't he?
Yeah.
And I think that scene is so harrowing in terms of when he's just beating the fuck out of the guy because the noise...
It's the noise, isn't it?
Yeah, it's the noise.
Yeah, it's the meeting.
It's the sort of meeting slaps and punch noises.

(01:02:38):
You got to imagine someone's punching like a pig carcass or something to get that noise, but horrible noise, the brutality.
And it's because also you don't kind of see it.
The way it cuts quite quickly and you've got the door frame in the way.
So some of the punches you don't see the mostly landing and then the next one you see landing and it's just really effectively cut and it's really harrowing that scene.

(01:03:01):
And then of course then he kind of disappears for the next half hour, but then oh boy, does he come back in a big way at the end.
For sure.
Yeah, and I think it's... I thought to myself, you know, one thing that maybe could have been played better is...
What is the thing that makes him snap and come back to the police station at the arms of the teeth?

(01:03:23):
Yeah, you know?
Yeah, it's kind of not really explained in a way because you see him on the phone to Rachel.
Yeah.
And then... Yeah, then he just appears, obviously.
Because we see all the... there's like a handful of missing persons, sort of posters on the building board and the police station.
So I think the implication is later on in the film, the implication is that he's responsible for all these missing people.

(01:03:49):
Yeah, definitely.
So, you know, I think, you know, I've been good to... maybe like an extra few minutes just really showing his mind really snapping and trying.
Because you would think that the easiest thing to do for him would just be to fuck off.
You know, so I get the body parts, get in his car, get in the body parts somewhere and just disappear.
But he is compelled to come back and essentially commit a mass shooting at the police station and Kelly's colleagues and the prisoners and the cells and the... can I done before?

(01:04:19):
You know? Maybe like a few more sort of exponential minutes just sort of showing them... showing some kind of catalyst that makes them sort of... wigg out, you know?
You know, you're completely right. I know we're a big fan of, hey, if we can get it to like 90 minutes or so, then we're happy with that.
I think this is an... I were in 32 minutes, so I could have done with like another three minutes or so, you're right, to go into what McCready exactly as you say.

(01:04:44):
What drove him to actually snap? Because when it was unhinged individual anyway, but something must have made him go, "Right, fuck it. I'm gonna go and... go terminator style on the police station and my colleagues."
I thought it might be that he wanted to come in murder sex, but obviously if he was going to murder sex, he couldn't just walk in and kill him walk out again, he'd have to kill all the witnesses as well, you know?

(01:05:09):
So then the other two police officers, Hannah Stambridge as Mundi and Brian Larkin as Warnock, other two constables that are obviously having an affair, they have a history of beating up witnesses and killing both suspects.
Not nice individuals, and they're not very welcoming to Rachel either, but yeah, you just get the impression that they're horrible individuals.

(01:05:33):
But Hannah does keep up her... sorry, Mundi does keep up her pale with full exercises, so, you know?
That's what it's all about.
She does indeed.
She does indeed.
Yeah, so they're not very nice individuals, but there's not really a huge amount of story with them either.
They obviously find the doctor's family dead, but effectively they're having an affair and then they have this fight later on with Rachel and then they kill the doctor and then effectively conspire to blame all on Rachel by the fight.

(01:06:03):
Yeah, and you get the impression they're going to take her out and then they might take out McCreedy as well.
Yeah.
Like if he comes in, because they're just going to say that there was a big fight and everyone died apart from them effectively.
Not necessarily a fulcrumph plan, I don't think, in their part.
No.
Anyway, they don't quite... they don't manage to get away with it effectively and meet their demise, but again, we'll talk about that when we come to the fight.

(01:06:27):
Like face off.
So, then I guess to talk about the prisoners, so we've kind of spoken about Caesar, I would say.
Brian Vernell, playing Caesar, a kind of young joy writer who ends up knocking down a girl and then knocking down six and effectively pays for that later on.
But when he gets into the cells, he is met with his teacher, Ralph Besick, played by Jonathan Watson in a strange kind of serious role for Jonathan Watson.

(01:06:55):
So, I did watch an interview with the director and Pauliana Macintosh.
They were interviewed at a film festival and the director said that he had cast Pauliana and Liam as kind of the two leads effectively.
But he was just doing... he likes to watch what people have been in to get a gauge on them.

(01:07:16):
And he watched Bob Servant to watch Pollyanna McIntosh in action.
And he said, "And I just found this little guy hysterical."
So, Jonathan Watson is frack.
So, when it comes to filming and they're casting someone mentioned Jonathan Watson's name and the director was like, "Yes, I'll have him."
Definitely.
"I want him in the film."

(01:07:37):
So, that's how he ended up, basically, because the director had watched Bob Servant.
Strange character for him to play, but he's brilliant.
He is brilliant.
And I think for us, we've obviously grown up watching him in naked video and only an excuse and two doors down and all the other things.

(01:07:58):
Bob Servant, of course, where he's a...
He's a... he's a sense his bread and butter is a comedy acting.
And he's one of the funniest people.
I mean, even in the sort of... you know, the two doors down is largely brilliant.
But there's... I think... there's a couple of maybe weaker episodes in there, especially...

(01:08:21):
I think it's quite common with a lot of sitcoms, as they sort of mature.
You know, the sort of gold dust is spread a little thinner on the later episodes than it is in the first couple of series.
But there's always... in every single episode of Two Doors Down, there's always a moment where Jonathan Watson cracks me up.
Like always.
Even in those episodes that aren't quite as good as, you know, some of them were classic ones, he's just really, really funny.

(01:08:47):
And the only other time I've seen him do a sort of serious turn was in a post-McManus Taggart called Football Crazy, the series...
The story's called and it's like the film and part of this was ground and stuff and it's murder at a football club.
I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear.
And he's... I can't remember if he's the chairman or he's the team manager or whatever.

(01:09:12):
Of course they got him in because he did only an excuse and his connection with Scottish football, a little bit acute-casted.
But yeah, he's absolutely fantastic in this.
And you know, when he starts to, you know, win six, sort of make some crack and he starts to bang his head off the bars.
I was just... I mean, and again, it's like the scene we spoke about a few moments ago when McReedy is beating the guy up in his bedroom.

(01:09:37):
It's... do you feel it?
You know, like the sound effects, the way it's cut.
It really... I mean, obviously Jonathan Watson wasn't smashing his head against the bars of the cell door in reality.
But it really feels like he is, you know what I mean?
It's like it's... it's really... it's filmed in such a way just to really make you uncomfortable when feel every...

(01:09:58):
feel every kind of bounce of these forehead off the bar, you know?
There's a real trick to shooting a film like this, like which is pretty gory, but it doesn't go too far.
Yeah.
It's not going to be a big hit in the show, it's going to be a big hit.
It's going to be a big hit.
It's going to be a big hit.
You know, the scene, it's going to be a big hit.
And it's going to be a big hit.

(01:10:19):

(01:10:46):

(01:11:07):

(01:11:32):

He's doing that all the time.
And I find that quite interesting in that why he's there.
Because you know what I'm about to say?

(01:11:53):
Like the rest of them have all committed murder.
Yeah.
He hasn't committed murder.
What he's doing is fucking deplorable.
Yeah.
And could lead to murder.
You know, eventually if he takes things too far.
But he hasn't committed a murder.
But obviously his crime is bad enough and deplorable enough for him to be in there.
Yeah.
And to be on Sixthes' hit list.
Well for sure.

(01:12:14):
You know, I mean, it's where led to believe that
this has been a, that he's a regular.
And the, the, the, the, the wife always drops the charges the next day.
Which, you know, which is something you hear a lot about in the ports of sort of sustained, prolonged domestic abuse.
The, the wives often will do that for whatever reason.

(01:12:35):
You know, so he's, I think there's a, there's a case to say that he deserves to be there among these guys.
And it's, you know, and you know, and I like the sort of ambiguity around what makes him sort of snap.
You know, when he starts spanking his head off the bars, is it a sort of self kind of graduation?

(01:12:56):
Has he, has six in his way, got into his mind and made them remorseful when this is him punishing himself?
Or does this time trying to get to Caesar?
Just because he's obviously got issues with rage, which is maybe behind why he treats his wife.
So terribly. And I think it is sort of conveyed that his frustrations with being a teacher and his, the restraint he has to show in the classroom,

(01:13:24):
when there's kids like Caesar who maybe fucks around and makes difficult from to his job.
That frustration then takes home and takes out in his wife.
You know what I mean? And then this is, and this is him, you know, by hooker crook he's going to get through these bars and get to Caesar and make him pay for it.
Making him the way he is, but obviously there's only so many times you can smack your head off fucking iron bar before you're going to check out, you know.

(01:13:50):
Yeah, it's horrible.
Absolutely horrible seeing brutal death and he's the first to die.
I was hoping for Jonathan Watson, not really dead, you know, he's then the corner with a sheet over him.
It'd been cool if they'd just seen him sort of, sort of set up kind of George Romero style.
And actually we all thought he was dead, but he's not really, and he'd be the one that would fucking get hold of Caesar, you know.

(01:14:14):
And then I guess the last person really that we have is Dr. Cum, played by Nile Greg Fulton.
Evil, horrible character in terms of the doctor that comes to patch up six.
He sees the vision that six has showed him, he tries to attack six and then gets stolen the cells.
But then, yeah, they go round to his house and find out that he's murdered his wife and kids.

(01:14:37):
He's like, it's a sergeant that 3D is saved.
He's like, this can aborn a failure, a psychopath in the company.
On the one hand, he's the trusted community doctor.
You know, they call them out to, you know, he's out to check on sex because sex is obviously he's been man over.

(01:14:59):
But he's got some cuts and bruises. He's not, you know, he's not talking.
He needs to be examined by a doctor.
And he comes out and he's very plausible trusted community doctor to your point.
And then it turns out that behind that he's had a complete psychopath that's murdered his family to try and find their souls within their body or something like that, you know.

(01:15:20):
Yeah, it's something about what ever lasting life is.
Or something in terms of the trick and cutting his son's top of his head off effect.
Yeah.
Yeah, not a great character.
A great fight scene between him and Rachel.
And then of course, it's more and more and more and more and more that effectively ends it.

(01:15:42):
But you feel that sex has golded him into doing that.
Yeah, yeah.
In terms of manipulated the person that is.
Yeah.
And yeah, gruesome death is his head gets round through a table leg, but it's I.
And quite a lot of force because it comes right at the back of his head.
Let me ask you something.
Do you think if this film came out in the sort of late 70s, early 80s with the level of violence and gore?

(01:16:09):
Do you think it would be in the old video nastier list?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, I would say so because I think, I mean, obviously nowadays we're like desensitized and stuff.
But if you, for example, I'd say there's a lot more gore and violence in this than there is in like, driller killer.
Yeah, but for example.
I mean, I've never ever seen driller killer.
The one that's good.
Yeah, it is good, isn't it?
Or are you just good?

(01:16:30):
Yeah, I like driller killer.
No, no, genuinely.
I remember enjoying it when I watched it.
I haven't watched it in about 20 years, but I remember enjoying it.
But am I a sea factor actually?
Yeah.
What's driller killer killer?
The one that always springs to my mind is that I always fell.
I saw it when I was a lot older.
I saw it when I was the well end of my 20s, but I knew of it by its kind of reputation was the hills of eyes.

(01:16:53):
And then when I finally got to watch it, when I find that when a lot of these movies were deemed no longer video nasties and were available again.
And I thought I watched it on DVD and it felt like it was just sort of horrible for the sake of being horrible.
Do you know what I mean?
And it's a Wes Craven movie, you know, not really his films.

(01:17:16):
And I remember on L.S.D. it's not like that.
You know what I mean? There's a lot of mythology and stuff in that first film and he's playing with a lot of different themes and a lot of legend and stuff like that.
It's actually quite a clever film at the first night of on L.S.D. if you really analyse it.
But this just felt like it was just nasty for the sake of it.
And when I was watching this one, I thought I don't think that that was prey was just sort of nasty for the sake of being nasty.

(01:17:40):
Because it's quite an interest in premise.
And then we said at the beginning there's a nod to John Carpenter and sort of siege movies and things like a assault on Precinct 13.
But it does feel like they're having a bit of fun towards the end.
And it, you know, because the violence is sort of absurd.

(01:18:02):
Really? You know what I mean? And in a lot of ways, it's like Caesar being killed by having his face kind of buffed off.
You don't buy the shoe buffer?
Well, I mean, I think we can go into it.
It does get quite hot fuzz-esque towards the end.
But like a Goldie version of hot fuzz.
So McCreedy comes back into the police station.
He's wrapped himself in barbed wire.

(01:18:24):
He's got his shotgun and it just goes fucking, I mean, beautiful line.
Because Rachel, she, he phones Rachel and Rachel leaves the phone on.
And I think is it one of McCreedy and the other says, you know, what did you get that old fuck involved?
Yeah. And then he just comes burst into the door.
Which one of you called me an old one?

(01:18:46):
And...
Blam with a shotgun.
And just goes absolutely mental on everyone.
And it's, yeah, it's actually brilliant.
Yeah.
Where he comes in.
And that's when the violence just ramps up.
I mean, I'm sorry.
But when he blows Warnock's balls off.
That is one of the best shots I've ever seen in terms of someone getting their balls blown off.

(01:19:08):
Like it actually looks like you can see bits dropped down and it's horrible.
And because you don't see it from the front, you see it from behind as well.
It's, it's, oh, it's just incredible.
That's one of your fucks calling me old.

(01:19:30):
That's the fuck.
Yeah. I mean, you know, as, as gentlemen, we don't really want to see guys get their balls shot off.
It's not something we want to think about as a, but yeah, it's, it's, it's well done to your point.
And yeah, then the, yeah, the violence just ensues obviously.
The, um, the Rachel and Mundi go down and get a lock themselves downstairs.
But then they come back up because McCreedy set the station on fire.

(01:19:54):
And, yeah, that's when the violence, as you say.
So Mundi's death is pretty bad. She tries to jump out a window that Caesar has, has smashed with a chair, but slips on the chair in front and lodges her neck on the broken glass and then McCreedy.
And that's pretty jam-stang with a shot.
Pretty grim as well, isn't it?
Yeah, it's horrible to see.
But then the, the one you just alluded to is, well, Caesar getting his face jammed into the, the buffer machine for your shoes.

(01:20:22):
And that's what I liked about this film as well, that there was a lot of check-offs gun at the beginning, the, the foreshadowing, because she saw Rachel using the, yeah, the shoe buffer.
The shoe polish machine.
And then of course the batting ram, which comes into play again later on, you know, you say, they mentioned that earlier and you see that.
Yeah, I thought there was quite a good, I'd like the use of that.

(01:20:43):
But yeah, I mean, Caesar horrible getting his head rammed into the shoe polish machine comes back with a glass goes miles.
As you would say, I guess, but that's not what kills him because then McCreedy does then shoot.
Oh, yeah, it does, yeah, it does.
Yeah, no, it just feels like to your point, I just have a good time in the last sort of 10, 15 minutes.
And you know, it's much as it's, it's definitely gratuitous.

(01:21:06):
It also, it isn't taken itself too seriously at that stage, you know.
No, I think it's having fun.
And especially with McCreedy's death, which is a bit ludicrous. Rachel throws a can of petrolet and many decides to shoot it.
Rather than, you know, why would you step out of the way?
Just, yeah, step out the way or duck, but no, he shoots it, which then effectively is, is downfall because then she smashed him in the face with a battering.

(01:21:33):
Yeah, which, um, thought was a nice time.
And then possibly the coolest moment of the film is she comes outside the police station and six just saunters out.
Lights is fag with his flaming notebook and then hands it to you.
Yeah, like, that's just how fucking cool.
Yeah.
How many times he done that?
I like, I like the way they plead with that kind of mythology of the devil and stuff because he says,

(01:21:58):
well, I'm just a witness to, yeah, you know, to what human beings do or kind of paraphrasing a bit there,
but you know, he said, well, you know, I just, I don't cause any of this to happen.
And, boom, just a witness.
People like to blame me.
And I'm just a witness.
The things I see would make angels weep.

(01:22:23):
And they have ramped.
This is about you.
Now you can deny me all you want, but I am a fire in your eyes.
I can give you every corrupt and wicked soul.
You'll never walk this earth.
You can have your vengeance and I won't burn this old.

(01:22:46):
Because...
That's true, this.
It's a complex revenge.
You know, someone who actually, I thought was quite refreshing to see the devil effectively as a good guy.
He saves Rachel as a kid.

(01:23:08):
So he's ensured that that guy is not going to hurt anymore children.
But Jonathan Watson, Bessick's wife, she's never going to get beaten up again by him.
Monday and morning, it won't be about murder anymore suspects.
Sergeant McCready won't kill any other young men.
Caesar won't be able to joyride and kill anyone else.
He's done a good thing, like he's stopped all of these potential future deaths effectively.

(01:23:31):
So I think it was pretty refreshing to see the devil in this life as effectively a good guy.
My only issue is, okay, he saved Rachel when she was a kid and then he's been watching her all these years.
I guess waiting for the right time, but he'd picked her out when she was a kid.
Does that make him a nun?
I thought that as well, you know, he's just sort of baiting these time.
Yeah, so she's old enough.

(01:23:53):
Just waiting until you're just old enough.
So it doesn't look too creepy.
Yeah, that was a little bit, did wonder that.
Other points I wanted to discuss with you.
Six has his notebook, obviously, just said.
Now obviously McCready goes through it, and so does Rachel,
but they obviously don't go through it enough because they would have noticed the names that are in there.

(01:24:15):
So, okay, it's a little bit of a plot hole there, but I thought they would have gone through it enough.
When Rachel is going through it and she's checking the names that have been crossed off in his notebook,
did you notice the aliases of these people that were there?
So I thought, okay, she looks up these three people and they all have an alias.

(01:24:36):
So what is acid bath murderer?
Which you're like, okay, fair enough.
I can see that. That's an alias.
It's not an alias, really, is it? That's probably a nickname, the press of giving him, but, okay, that's as alias.
The next one is Angelo Holmes, which might, okay, Angelo Holmes, fair enough.
But the third one is, there are alias as the whale, and I'm like, the fuck does the whale do?

(01:24:59):
You see? That's a shite alias for a criminal.
Just goes around Swarvew and Seaman, maybe.
Yeah.
I have the whale.
Fucking shite alias.
Mark Alman's nickname.
Fucking Jesus.
Too by.

(01:25:20):
So, at the end, when Six does say that he's, you know, he's still witnessing, he's, he was, he's there to collect their souls.
And that's all he's there for.
But then we see them all turn into venom.
Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, they all get, that's a black cow, though, like, goes over their heads.
Yeah, it's black, black symbiote comes over.

(01:25:42):
I just thought instantly just like, oh, so, they turn into venom now.
Is that it? Is this going to be the sequel?
They're all going to come out as him.
Is Tom Hardy going to be in it?
Obviously not, never mind.
Yeah, that was a bit of a strange choice, I thought.
I don't think it, and maybe it wasn't really needed, you can maybe save it if you're quid on that effect.
Yeah, because it was enough for him to explain, you know, he sort of explains, doesn't he?

(01:26:08):
Even without him explaining, just in the way he moves, what he does, etc, it's all explained in that as well.
So I wasn't sure that we really needed that, that sort of a thing.
Yeah, because he, you know, it crosses their names off the list, that's job done.
And then turns to Rachel and says, like, all I wanted was their souls, but I want so much more from you.
Yeah.

(01:26:29):
And yeah, I don't think you really needed to even see them, not even just disappearing or vanishing to leave it.
We know that they're dead, we know that they're a damn, I guess, to show some sort of thing.
Yeah, I don't know.
And yeah, he effectively offers her to come and rule Heaven and Hell, forever and ever.
So what do you think happens next then, with, you think they go out in the road together, getting into adventures and things?

(01:26:54):
Yeah, I'd imagine it's a bit like, um, then say make these.
I was like, what was the one, what was the one with Michael Landon in his mate?
I was at Highway, Heaven.
Yeah, Highway, Heaven.
Had the guy, it had Aaron, a sport, Aaron a sport scene from Aero, was in it as well.
Yes, yeah.
I'd imagine it's a bit like that, but Highway to Heaven.

(01:27:15):
It's got a bit of a soundtrack.
And they might, they might have to call it something different, if they guess ACDC getting fault in that.
Highway to Heaven, that was right.
I was, I was, I was, it was a highway, but that was Harry Seeker.
Yeah, I was Harry Seeker.
Yeah, Highway to Heaven.
Yeah, yeah, probably a bit like that.
I don't think it'd be like, Dempsey and Makepiece, you know.
It's exciting, Dempsey.
Heaven's Makepiece was exciting.

(01:27:36):
I'm afraid tonight.
I climb a sparber, excited me.
Yeah.
I was just, I was, I was, I brushed the, the, the, the, the sparber.
So I want to think she's like 71 or something.
Happy brushed, you climb in.
Still a fine looking one.
Yeah, so I, I don't know.
I mean, what, I don't think ACDC always ever really mooted or a lot of things.
No, no, no, no, no.
Why, what do you, what do you think they, they would do just, they're just off together to, just, to rule?

(01:27:58):
I don't know, I just sort of, you know, just kind of go on and mount.
You know, like when, you know, how, like, when, when the A team used to arrive,
and they got small American town, and there'd be some like gang of guys making life miserable for,
like, the good honest people of the town, and the A team would come in and sort them out.
I just sort of fanted something like that, you know, like six sits in the pub with these little notebook out

(01:28:20):
whilst the polyanners out there are fucking taking names and kicking arson.
I'm knocking heads, yeah, knocking people's heads in with our nightstick and, you know,
making people admit to their, to their sins.
Yeah, it looked like cool.
Have you, if you ever had a complimentary skid bark on your pillow?
No, that didn't make me, I mean, that, that has happened to somebody involved in this movie, right?

(01:28:48):
That is, right, that isn't just, oh, that would be funny.
That's definitely drawn from experience.
That's happened either the writer, the director, one of the crew, one of the actors.
That's definitely happened to somebody, right?
Yeah, that made me laugh a lot.
So it amazes me, actually, that this film, actually was more well received in the US in the UK.

(01:29:12):
I can understand why.
Yeah, I get that.
Yeah, it went a bit underground in the UK, but it was quite big in the US.
It was quite a good film.
What I like about it as well, and the director did say that he did this on purpose is,
there's no smartphones and stuff, like the phones they have are flip phones or old phones.
Yeah.
I said the reason they did that, and the reason like the, like, C-Series drive, like a 1980s sharocko,

(01:29:33):
whereas McCreedy has like a newer Mondale, for example.
The reason did that is because if someone's watching this in ten years' time, which, well, we are,
effectively, we're watching it in nine years' time, you, you have no idea when this film was made.
No.
You know, when it's set, because there's nothing there that ties you really into where it is,
everything's a bit ambiguous in terms of time.

(01:29:55):
Yeah.
So, I did like that aspect as well, because I hate it when you watch the film, and it feels so dated with something.
Yeah.
And I guess that's going to be a problem going forward, you know, with a lot of stuff for boys.
It's an iPhone 1, and he's got Jesus holds this film.
Well, you know, I mean, it depends.
There's, like, I watched recently, I watched the remake of the firm, the football hooligan.

(01:30:22):
The original one with, it's got Gary Oben and, and your man from Coronation Street,
who played Jim McDonald.
We've got to do it, Bixie!
We've got to do them today!
I watched the remake, and I, and I enjoyed it.
But it sort of is set in the early 80s, and we lean right into the fact that it's the 80s.

(01:30:43):
So you've got a great soundtrack, everyone's dressed in sort of the fashions of the time,
even the cars, you know, we've got folks wagon golfs and, with little soft tops and everything else.
And like, it's not an inter sport, which is an actual sport shop and all that sort of stuff.
That's, I can enjoy that.
But then, equally, I quite enjoy watching the kind old film, if it's an old film that's been made in my lifetime, I'm 45.

(01:31:09):
It's sort of the, this is a little bit of nostalgia about it, but I think it's quite clever too, because
the other thing that's sort of served quite well by them not having smart phones and them keeping all that quite ambiguous is,
it just lets the plot sort of roll itself out.
You know what I mean, there's no sort of taking a picture of a camera phone of the family of the murderous doctor to show everybody, you know what I mean?

(01:31:36):
It's, it lets them build the tension.
The thing about technology, about modern technology is it can actually hoover quite a lot of tension out of a, out of a tense film, you know.
Who is, who is that guy? What's his name? Let me see if he's got a Facebook, you know what I mean or whatever.
Let me see if he's got an Instagram account or something like that, and it can suck all the tension out of it in this, you know.

(01:31:57):
So yeah, I think it's a smart thing to do, but I'm not against them. I'm not against seeing the sort of limitations of technology or something like that in an old film, you know, where it's like a, they've only got a line, you know.
So that's the only way that they can call for help, because there was no, of course, such thing as a mobile phone or whatever, you know.
No, that's fine, yeah.

(01:32:18):
Like I say, but I'm just saying that he didn't want to kind of give it a specific date in terms of people being able to tell, which I thought was a nice talk.
Yeah, it's smart, you know, it's like a smart thing. I think it's the same always reminds me of lock stock, yeah, two smoking barrels.
You never know, they have got mobile phones, but then they're all driving old cars, you know, it's so ambiguous of when that film actually is set.

(01:32:39):
Yeah, love it.
Yeah, love stuff like that.
I think Snatch is quite similar, isn't it? It's, you know, it's sort of same sort of, kind of, universe as, as lock stock, you know.
So cool, any other points and let us pray or is it time to put it through our awards?
No, I mean, I think the only thing I would ask you is in terms of a specific film like this, I mean, because it's not in our awards list.

(01:33:03):
But what was your favorite kind of death or, or bit of gore?
You see the Caesar getting his head rammed into the shoe before, like, you know, my only way, my, my only great is it didn't happen anywhere earlier.
Because, not a fan of Brian Vernell's performance, it didn't mess it up.
But, yeah, that was certainly the, I guess because it's so ridiculously gratuitous and, you know, I enjoyed that.

(01:33:31):
What about you?
Yeah, I think that was up there.
I think because of the way they, they built up to it almost, because you have obviously in blowing warnecks balls off and then shooting, and that's horrible.
And then, you're like, right, let's take it up a notch and Monday, and I think it's so clever the way they did that, that he shoots the water cooler, like as he's blasting towards Caesar, the water spills on the chair, Monday when she runs up and you just see her slip and bang.

(01:33:58):
And that's, it's horrible.
And then they're like, right, okay, those are two kind of not realistic deaths, but you know what I mean? They're quite gruesome.
Right, let's have a, let's have a bit of fun.
Let's ram Caesar's face in the shoe ball, sure.
And it's that, that did remind me of kind of the thing you, you'd see in like evil dead.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like something like that.
It's a bit more of a ridiculous.

(01:34:20):
I mean, thankfully he wasn't like an evil dead.
You would see Caesar flailing his arms and like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but thankfully wasn't doing that.
Yeah, I think that was particularly quite good.
But it's always the, it's always the worst things like I say, the, it's always the things that you can kind of not associate with, but you can kind of feel.
So like when Rachel slashes McReedies, it's like, it's like as a kille's or the back of his head with the Stanley knife.

(01:34:47):
That's when you're always like, oh, yeah, fuck her because you can just feel that.
And goes right through you.
Okay, all right then.
So normally the first award would be the Bobby the Barman award for the best pub, but it's just no pub in this one.
It's, it's been mentioned a few times. It's very self-contained to you.
You see a pub, but it's empty.
Yeah, look, look, look, look, a great pub.

(01:35:09):
Yeah, and I banned it.
There was no one there.
It was great self-service.
I'd happily go there.
Walking.
Yeah, okay.
The next award then is the, the, you, you, you describe them recently as the patron saint of the culture swally.
The James Cosmo award for being an everything Scottish.
So who did you go for here?
I went with Jonathan Watson.

(01:35:31):
Yeah, that's a good show.
I went with Paulie, Adam, I can touch just because of the run that she got that she has here, like three sort of back-to-back Scottish productions, which get her off to the States.
But yeah, Watson's a great shout as well.
A few options for this next one.
So the Jake McQuill and your tease out award.
Where did you pick here?
Well, what did you go for? Because I've, yeah, there's a lot of options, I would say.

(01:35:54):
Well, maybe about three, I think.
I went with Paulie Anna stick in the nut on, on Monday, because it's fucking, just, just love it.
That's great.
Yeah, I agree I went with that.
I did initially have McCready elbow and Caesar and then him puking.
Yeah, yeah.
It's not so much a tease out, but yeah, it was either Rachel headbutting Monday or the next one.

(01:36:19):
Or the bat ring rammed to the face at the very end.
That's a very tease-oo, but I think it's someone about a headbutt that has to make it qualify for tease.
It's the second best headbutt we've had on the swallow, maybe?
Maybe, yeah.
It's very much in the Jake McQuill and School of your tease out somebody getting a dose of the malkey.

(01:36:40):
Because I really listened to you doing crime series one, and you said that Angela Griffiths, when she headbutts her boss, that is nice.
Yeah, yeah.
You've had on the swallow.
Yeah, that was good.
I've forgotten about that one.
But yeah, no, I think it's very much in the, just a boys game, School of Retribution is somebody getting a severe dose of the malkey as they say in Glasgow.

(01:37:04):
Next one then, the Yume Gregor award for good Swedish nudity?
There's nothing.
I've written, I've written McCready sexy dance.
That's the closest thing they'll ever get.
I could accept that, yeah, let's take that.
Next then, the Francis Begbe award for Gratua to Swearing?
There's a couple of options, but I went with the, which one of you fucks called me old?

(01:37:28):
Yeah, as McCready storms back into the police station.
That, yeah.
That's a good one.
The one I went for is when, I can remember who Sex was talking to, but somebody says about how the town is a one horse town in Sex goes.
And it's a pale fucking horse.
I thought that was good about that.
Which is unusual, given that this is such a one horse town, remember, it's a pale fucking horse.

(01:37:53):
What was that?
I mean, it's not really Gratua, it's just that I like the kind of, the sort of foreboding, you know, sort of theme of the comment.
Yeah.
Next then, archetypal Scottish moment in the film.
And that, my boy, is what we call a nippy sweetie.
Yes, that's a great one.

(01:38:15):
That's a really good one.
I went with the, and the reason I went with this is because it really made me think of a certain place, but the sort of the, the, the angry seas at the beginning were the first, the WC6 coming up and stuff.
It reminds me of, as an area outside Peter Head called, um, "Bullars of Bucking", and it's a sort of, um, in light, I guess, and the cliff, and it's just all the time,

(01:38:38):
because I think because of the way the water kind of pours into it, it's sort of like that, you know, sort of massive waves, and just looks really dangerous, and for bidding, and it just reminded me of that.
So that's why I went for that.
And then last then, the Sean Connery award, who, who won the film for you?
Oh, did you go for for this one then?
I mean, I, I gave it, I saw, I, I couldn't have too hand there to Paulie, Adam, I can toss and Liam Cunningham.

(01:39:01):
I found it very difficult to choose, Peter and two of them. I thought they were both really good.
Yeah, I was exactly, I was the same. I gave it to Liam Cunningham, but I think it's a shame to not include Paulie and Adam in that, because she, she's brilliant in this as well.
Yeah, and the two of them work so well together, so yeah, yeah, right, I'll happily give it to both of them.
Yeah, cool. All right, we're not enjoyed.
Well, I'm grateful.

(01:39:22):
Yeah, I would definitely, if you haven't seen it, we'll ruin that for you now.
But, would we put the post up on Instagram, I'll try and compel as many potential listeners to watch the film before listening to the pod?
Yeah, I thought it was a good fun night, but it's, yeah, you have to wonder in terms of, because I, I looked at it and thought, this is either going to be good or it's going to be fucking terrible.

(01:39:45):
Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was just the right kind of tone for me, so not thoroughly actually.
Okay, cool.
Well, that was my choice and that concludes our Swally's Booktacular Greg, so it's your choice on the next episode, Swally.
So, why don't you tell us what we're going to be looking at on the next episode?
Well, I've gone for a real classic of, from Scottish theatre.

(01:40:09):
I've gone for the first part of the celebrated Scottish playwright, John Burns' "Slabboys" trilogy, which is called "The Slabboys".
You've got a lot of different versions of it out there. You can find quite a lot of them on YouTube.
I've already sent you the one that will watch for the review, but I've not seen it for years and years and years, and I'm really looking forward to watching it again.

(01:40:32):
So that's what we'll be talking about on the next episode.
Wonderful, fantastic. I don't know if I've ever seen it, to be honest.
I think I have.
Yeah, I think it's always escaped me.
Yeah.
Now, look forward to that.
Wonderful, right?
Well, thank you very much for listening, everyone. Hope you enjoyed the show.
Hey, why don't you get in touch with us? You can drop us an email on cultureswally@gmail.com.

(01:40:55):
If you want to get in touch with any new stories you've seen, you'd like us to cover.
Or if you have any requests that you'd like us to cover anything Scottish at all.
Or just drop us a line to say hello.
You can follow us on the socials. We're on Instagram @culturswallypod
and we are on X, formerly known as Twitter @swallypod.
And we have a wonderful website as well, don't we, Greg?

(01:41:16):
Yep, you can find us on thecultureswally.com. There's links to all our socials, articles about Scottish media.
So come and have a wee look, check us out.
Fantastic, right? Well, wonderful to catch up with you again, Greg.
It was exciting.
You're also exciting today?
Yeah, well, not exciting. But I'm being dragged out to see Disney Rascal this evening.

(01:41:37):
I was hoping to make it cancelled because we ended by and obviously there was a lot of horrible stuff going on in the middle of the moment.
So I thought they'd make cancel it just at a sympathy for what's going on there, but unfortunately not.
So I'll be going bonkers in about four hours from now.
Fantastic, well, I hope you have a lovely time and don't beat a boy in the corner.

(01:41:58):
Till next time, Greg. Till next time.
Can I get a smoke before lockdown?
No smoking.
You got joking?
Yeah, room's shut.
Enjoy the component, risk it, make it the pillow.
[Music]

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Episode 86 - Let Us Prey (2014)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 86 - Let Us Prey (2014)