September 21, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, Father Malone and Ripley Jean dive into the mailbag for Penpals from Around the World before setting their sights on the latest Conjuring film--: The Conjuring: Last Rites (we hope). And then they suit up or helmet up or some sports term for the new horror sports flick from producer Jordan Peele: HIM.
00:00 Introduction and Greetings
02:31 Pen Pals from Around the World
07:41 The Conjuring: Last Rites
15:25 HIM
22:57 Closing Remarks
Father Malone
Fathermalone71@gmail.com
patreon.com/fathermalone
@Midnight_Viewing (instagram)
Arcade Attack short film
https://youtu.be/yo-87R5uQT0?si=XjuPixCWFjuSqLik
Recorded Live short film
https://youtu.be/S-Qeee8D2Ro?si=iVaduuyML5acVVZF
Nightmare in Vegas convention
https://nightmareinvegas.com/
HP
https://hpmusicplace.bandcamp.com
00:00 Introduction and Greetings
02:31 Pen Pals from Around the World
07:41 The Conjuring: Last Rites
15:25 HIM
22:57 Closing Remarks
Father Malone
Fathermalone71@gmail.com
patreon.com/fathermalone
@Midnight_Viewing (instagram)
Arcade Attack short film
https://youtu.be/yo-87R5uQT0?si=XjuPixCWFjuSqLik
Recorded Live short film
https://youtu.be/S-Qeee8D2Ro?si=iVaduuyML5acVVZF
Nightmare in Vegas convention
https://nightmareinvegas.com/
HP
https://hpmusicplace.bandcamp.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Weird.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We welcome back midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly round up.
(00:57):
I'm Father Alone in here, protecting me from the more
f menace. It's everywhere, you know, is mister Ripley gene
bark at the people repleat Oh so wilful. You're lucky,
You're cute. How's everyone doing? I'm asking our international friends
because I already know how we're doing in the States.
Spooky season is hitting a lot harder this year. Don't worry, though,
(01:20):
I have recently acquired a copy of the Necronomicon. It's
the paperback edition, though the way I was giving my
eternal soul for an original copy with the flesh binding. Anyway,
even though it's pretty dense reading, I think I should
be able to at least conjure Yank Satav or some
man amphibian hybrids from the coastal waters. I'll keep you posted.
We got some correspondents that can mean only one thing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Pals from around.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
This is from our Patreon channel, you know, the actual fans.
This one's from Andy, he writes, Hi, Father Alone, you
asked for suggestions on one of your shows a while back.
What would you think of doing an episode covering Tangerine
Dreams film scores. Take care and let me know what
you think about a TD score show. You want to
know what I think. I think our first composer themed
(02:11):
episode is in production. We're gonna scale the Tangerine Heights
until we're all dreaming. Who's we HP, of course, my
most musically inclined compadre. If you haven't checked out his
show Noise Junkies, which is about music, you're doing yourself
a disservice. But anyway, Tangerine dream episode is happening. Thank
you very much, Andy. And this is from another patron,
(02:33):
this one from Jason Father Malone. Just wanted to say
thanks for all you do. You Mike White, Chris Daisho
and a couple of other folks have gotten me through
some rough days. Really appreciate it and I wish I
could do more to support you. But please know that
your work means a lot to people. Just hearing the
familiar voices of like minded, smart people can be a
huge comfort in shitty times. By the way, I'm currently
(02:53):
listening to your heavy metal episode from last year. Excellent choice,
and I'm reminded of seeing it at a midnight show
sometime nineteen ninety or ninety one. A couple of Bill
and Ted looking dudes walked in about five minutes late,
and one loudly goes, ah, man, it's a fucking cartoon, suckers. Anyway,
that is how you contact me, folks. That is correspondence.
(03:15):
Thank you so much, Jason. Also, we got a new
communicat from our pal, Shane Mackey, and I mean pal
like you're all my pals, you know, like the young
guns meaning of pals. You get it. Anyway, haven't heard
from you in some time, Shane, What say you? He writes,
enjoying Alien Earth. But I have a hard time with
the name boy Cavalier without hearing it with a John
(03:36):
Lovett style flourish. I think that's something like this, Boy Cavalier.
I am intrigued on your theory that the Octoi will
one day be the CEO of one of the Big Five.
That will make for an odd company portrait. I'm impressed
with your memory of media from our youth. I've got
maybe a year or two on you, and some of
those details escape me. But here's one. I'd catch this
(03:57):
maybe once or twice on HBO, always around five am
on Saturday. This short film about a battle between video
game characters. I was probably around eleven or twelve at
the time. That hour of the week they would show
some shorts that are probably now lost time, but I
did find this one on YouTube. Finally, I find you
an excellent swearer as you punctuate not pepper. Oddly that
(04:18):
that last sentence may have been improperly punctuated. Enjoy your
horror Convention car Show. I may be confused on the specifics.
All right, let me take things in reverse order. The
Nightmare in Vegas, horror convention and car show. You got
your car show in my horror convention. You got your
convention in my car show. Mmm, it's both and it's
happening October fourth and fifth at the Silverton Casino in
(04:40):
beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. It's America's playground. And if you're
coming in from out of state, you picked the perfect
fucking time. The seasons here in Las Vegas are spring, summer, fall,
over and over again. Fuck you Winter. We've thrown in
with heat Miser. He's most benevolent. It's gonna be a
fucking blast. They've got crazy guests there, like Miko Hughes.
You know, gauge from pet Cemetery. And also Andrew Brenarski.
(05:04):
That's the one I'm stoked for. You'd know him the
moment you saw him. He was in Batman Returns. He's
Christopher Walkin's son. No Dad, save yourself. Every horror person
in the valley is gonna be there. There's gonna be
tons of vendors, tons of food, and midnight viewing motherfuckers.
I will be there, and HP and Chris Stashue. We're
gonna be raffling off some cool vintage horror shit and
(05:26):
chasing people down with microphones. I should have a phrase
or something. If you come up with me, I can
give you something cool. You know what. I'll determine the prize.
But if you come up to me, not HP, not Chris, me,
and you say we're honoring murderers, you'll get that treasure
and you'll get on the air.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
All right.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's that. Thank you for the motherfucking profanity compliment, Shane.
I've had those very close to me telling me it
needs to be toned down. Looking at you, Rip, She's asleep.
That's what I'm working with here. She's asleep. Okay. The
short film he mentioned is called Arcade Attack by Mike Wallington,
and yes, I remember it so fucking well. As he
mentioned back in the day, HBO would keep to a
(06:03):
strict on the hour schedule. Movies didn't begin at the
half hour or the quarter hour. If a film ended
at four eight pm, then the next movie would not
begin until five pm and they had better part of
an hour to fill and they'd show videos or electronic
PRESSCT type behind the scenes. And thanks to a fucking
flood of short films coming out of film schools in
the US and UK, though really out of Canada, if
(06:26):
you were a TV chunkie like myself, you were getting
an honest god film festival every day. I often sing
the praises of the USA Network series Night Flight for
introducing me to a cavalcade of short cinema, but if
I'm being honest, HBO was dominating in that arena. I
have linked the short that Shane mentioned in the show
notes and just below that will be my favorite short
(06:47):
film from the nether world of in between this on HBO.
This one is called Recorded Live from nineteen seventy five.
It's about a recording engineer doing battle with a living
role of magnetic tape of that film to be as
formative as any horror I experienced in my young life.
And because I'm talking about it, I just want to
shout out its filmmaker SS Wilson. He's a fellow usclum.
(07:10):
After that short, he'd go on to write the Robot
on the Run feature short Circuit, and then Tremors. I
love Tremors and he was one of the writers on
Wild Wild West. Can't win them all, but I do
want to talk to him, so I'm gonna try to
make that happen. Check out both those short films, and
if you want to get in touch with me here,
it's all in the show notes. Okay, close up the mailbag. Now,
(07:33):
Ordinarily here would be Rip's pick with the music and
me talking HP, but because she's asleep, I'm just gonna
give you the broad strokes of her choice. I watched
the new Stupid Conjuring movie. I figured it was my
horror journalistic duty. I've seen them all, all the extended
Universe shit, the Controverse, and believe it or not, I
have some association with this film series. However, Tangential.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Don't touch anything.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Everything you're see in here is either haunted.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Curse we've then used in some sort of ritualistic practice.
Nothing's a toy, not even the toys.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
How many cases you guys had cases?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
My name is Ed Warren here with my way from
the rain.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, maybe a thousand. Every case is different, every family
is different. Once we start, there's no going back. Anything
(08:52):
can happen, and most likely anything.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well y, yeah, something's changed, something's different.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So that's we can't.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Helloud, he's got to cry.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Why shouldn't be?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Oh you?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Here is my take on these films. First one, it's
James wand he knows what he's doing with the camera,
and he knows the right people to hire to make
it look as good as it does. I admire that
(10:21):
first film the way I admire Donnie Darko, in that
it doesn't feel like a period piece. It feels like
a film from that era, which is as high a
compliment as I can give. I'm not saying the script
was great. It wasn't just a hodgepodge of spook show
conventions reconfigured and reassembled from the strengths of superior films,
and the hagiography treatment of the Warrens is a bit much,
(10:43):
but it had some good fucking moments, and that cast
was superlative. I recommend that movie, and I happen to
think the second one is even better. Dispensing with any
ties to logic or reality, I think the family is
stronger as protagonists and the scares are even better. That
film scared me into the trailer. Bravo. Now, it might
sound like I really like this series, and I guess
(11:04):
if it ended there, then yeeha, you made a couple
of great paranormal plot boilers. But it didn't fucking end there,
did it? Because even before Conjuring two came out, there
was Annabell. Okay, I kind of like that one too,
all right, if that was a trilogy, But then came
Annabel Creation Horrible. The doll is not that scary, everybody,
It's not chucky. I'd be way more into it. Had
(11:25):
they kept the original raggedy ann doll that Annabel actually was,
that'd be fucking cool. Anyway. They followed that nightmare with
the nun How many scares in it? None? And then
Annabel comes home, which brings back the Warrens and their
museum and their daughter. And I really liked that one.
What's the tally? Now it's three to three, so there's
(11:46):
still a chance that this can be a decent series.
So if they would just stop, but they didn't. The
conjuring the devil made me do it. Oh boy, did
I speak ill of those Annabel movies, those Nune movies.
I apologize. This movie is garbage. No scares zero. The
characters are uninteresting. The Warrens are uninteresting. This story was
(12:06):
based on the case of Arnie Johnson. He was witnessed
to an exorcism performed by the Warrens. About a month later,
he stabbed his landlord to death and claimed demon possession
as his defense in court. He was convicted of manslaughter.
The film, on the other hand, is about a body
jumping demon that the Warrens are chasing all over the Northeast,
including a depiction of Danvers, Massachusetts, which is where I
(12:28):
went to high school. That is not my tenuous connection
to the series. This is I was a tour guide
at the Haunted Museum here in Las Vegas for about
two years. Let's call the owner Frodo Baggins. You know,
like in the books, Frodo bought the rocking chair that
was in David Glanzill's room during the exorcism, when the
demon purportedly jumped into Arnie Johnson. Andy had a whole
(12:50):
room built to showcase it in the museum. You'd hit
a button and a door would open, revealing the chair
in a room decorated to look like a child's bedroom,
and then a recording of the actual exorcism would play.
The recording admittedly is disconcerting. Hearing guttural snarls coming from
any human being is going to give you the willies,
But that was the only real effect of the room,
(13:12):
because otherwise you're just staring at a chair, which is
not exactly the VW microbus doctor Kervorkian used on his
euthanasia tour, although that is in the museum as well.
The only reason I bring it up, other than the
conjuring connection, is that if you remember back to July
of twenty nineteen, there were a series of earthquakes in California,
the Ridgecrest quakes, and some of those shakers were felt
(13:34):
as far off as Las Vegas. So one day I
opened the door and the recording is playing, and the
chair starts slowly swaying back and forth, and everyone gasps,
and then they lean back against the wall. But that's
shaking too. And then they all turned to me terrified,
and I say, it's an earthquake. Maybe we should go outside.
(13:54):
Guess who was the skeptic on the tour guide staff.
I was the head tour guide, by the way, I
just want to point that out. Next up we had
The Nune two. I won't recycle the joke, but this
movie is fucking horrible as well, even though I like
The Fermiga Girl. And then we got this The Conjuring
Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine and their now grown daughter
have to investigate a family in Pennsylvania that have been
(14:17):
terrorized by a mirror. The movie plays almost like a
parody of the first Conjuring movies. Remember James Wand's camera
slowly gliding through the new family home, giving us geography
and subtle character points. Well, let's do that again, but
really fast and never ending, just a swooping camera untethered
by logic. Maybe it's the ghost point of view that
would make sense as much sense as this convoluted plot
(14:41):
or plots. We're supposed to give a shit that the
Warren's daughter is exhibiting the same gifts as her mom.
All set against the backdrop of her upcoming wedding to
a nondescript actor we're never going to see again, or
some priest he's doing investigating on his own. We got
to follow his story too. The movie does have one
redeeming factor spoilers for the next thirty seconds. All of
(15:01):
the characters from the previous films are in attendance at
the daughter's wedding. It's nice because it reminds you that
this franchise once had promise and held your interest. You know,
when they're doing reunions, it's time to hang it up.
But then again, the movie made four hundred million dollars
on a budget of fifty five. So you tell me
if that's the last will here of Annabelle. Although that
is the last film in the series, I'm going to
be wasting my life on. There are more noble pursuits
(15:24):
out there. Is football one of them. No, but that's
the subject of the latest from producer, producer. You hear that,
not writer, not director, producer Jordan Peel.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
This is him.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Do I look at you and MC you'll just look
right at me. You'll just ignore the character.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
There are a lot of people saying you could be
the next great quarterback.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I can already see it now, Cam running down a
tunnel with crowd him is nay.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I hear you've been invited to train with legend Isaiah
White himself here two albory.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I want to be the goat, Camel and kid. Great
means I'm a fan.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I getting the worship. Keep growing up?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Who are you? Who are you just play a little catch?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Were going to the match?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You want to play at your highest level? You want
to be a legend. Let me tell you something saying
a game? Who are they just gonna toss the ball
around a little? You want at this?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
He can't hands with I understand?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh too slow?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Wait what are we doing.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That?
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Man?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Smile about to be on the floor. That's how you do,
your teammates?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
S In this game, violence is rewarded, so learn to
enjoy it. Don't shit together?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Cam?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I think something's all?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You want to know what you're getting yourself into? Some football?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Don't have to do this.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I've never been more certain of anything in my life.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Ok.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
How bad that's Camra and kaid Wad don't see I'm
not just gonna give it to you. You got to
take it for what? Don't you see? What? If I
say no, think of it as a gift from the God.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Reply surprise. The guy twitching in the dark pointing out
discrepancies in horror anthology TV series from fifty years ago,
isn't the biggest sports fan like at all. I played
(18:18):
baseball and basketball as a kid. I understand the camaraderie
and teamwork and the training and putting something above yourself,
all the shit you're supposed to get from the children's game.
I got it, and then my interest drifted. If sport
had ever had it at all, honestly, and through the years,
I've attempted to become a spectator. I once chose a
football team to follow for a season to try and
drum up my enthusiasm. It was the Cleveland Browns. By
(18:41):
the way, they did not stoke the fires of sports
fanaticism within me. So I'm not the guy to talk
to on Monday about the game if it's played on Sunday.
I'm just assuming. But if you were to make a
movie out of a sport, well that's a whole different ballgame.
Am I using that correctly? I love sports movies. I
love sports documentaries, some the entire thing up for me,
(19:03):
contextualize it. I'm all in, I love Slapshot, I love
Fast Break, The Fish That Save Pittsburgh, Eight Men Out?
Are you kidding me? How about The Longest Yard or
North Dallas forty or all of those NFL films that
George Romero directed in the seventies.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, please.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And there have been so many sports movies, every underdog, tail,
every ragtag group of misfits coming together to overcome their ugh,
which makes it weird that we have so few horror
sports movies. Teenwolf does not count, none of the goofy Ones, Gutterballs,
Monster Brawl. When you think about it, there really hasn't
been a serious sports horror movie. Here comes Him, originally
(19:44):
titled Goat. Wish it had remained that, not only for
the Greatest of All Time association, but it's rather ominous
shadings of Satan. Him is the story of Cameron Cade,
played by Tyreek Withers, who's already been in the remakes
of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Don't
Tell Mom, Babysitters Dead. But don't hold that against him.
He's electric In this flick. Cam is an up and
(20:05):
coming college quarterback whose pattern his entire life and potential
career around Isaiah White, the quarterback for the San Antonio Saviors.
Of course, all the team names and leagues are made
up for the film. There's no way the NFL was
going to sanction this. Hell, the XFL wouldn't sanction it.
What I know about sports even if I don't care,
Isaiah or Zay is nearing the end of his contract,
(20:27):
having overcome some crippling injuries over the length of his career,
crippling and the film is a week long trial as
Cameron is put through his paces by Jay at a remote,
poured concrete, brutalless training facility somewhere in the middle of
the desert. If I had to guess, I'd say it
was New Mexico. I know deserts people. The film has
some interesting things to say about the sports phenomenon, from
(20:50):
the fanatics that worship the players like gods, to the
willingness of sacrificing one's own body at the temple of winning,
to the blind surrender to sports medicine that keeps it going,
and of course, the cabal of rich white men that
lurk in the shadows, pulling all the strings, and thanks
to an early attack by either a mass arter or
just a lunatic, Cam has a swelling brain that may
(21:13):
be causing him to hallucinate the demons and suck you by.
He seems to keep seeing with increasing regularity. Then again,
maybe not Zay. The current goat and the film's obi
Wan Darth Vader rulled into one, is played by Marlon Wayns.
He is the only Wayns I will venture to the
theater and put money down to see. He is clearly
the most talented actor in the family. Not stand up
(21:35):
that's Damon. Not comedic filmmaker, that's Keenan, though his stand
up isn't bad and his films have been at least
on par with some of Keenan's work. I just think
he's great. Fucking Requiem for a Dream and White Chicks,
He's good in both. Get out of Here, He's awesome here.
The film is wal to wall Wayans, and I still
wanted more. Also, the soundtrack tends to lean into classical,
(21:55):
which is never a bad thing. There's plenty of cool
and interesting stuff by compos Bobby Kurlick. Fans of Drone
Metal will know him as the Hacks and Cloak, but
overall it feels like a yen toward Kubrick with all
of the classical music, and I really admired that. Overall,
though the film is a mess. For all the interesting
avenues the film proposes we go strolling down, it ultimately
(22:18):
settles on the weakest and most obvious one. In fact,
they go for Catharsis at the end, and that's how
you know. Jordan Peel was producer and not creative because
he understands that horror movies need to end terribly for everyone,
even if the good guys win. But I do think
him is worth a look. Performances are top notch, including
Australian stand up Jim Jeffries as the team's physician. He's
(22:40):
really good. The production design is killer, the editing is great,
all the flights of fancy are so cool, and there's
some really great stuff they're doing with team mascots here.
There's so much to recommend it except the ending. You know,
people tend to crave satisfying endings. I know I do,
and that's going to be the end of this week's around.
I do sincerely want to thank you all again for listening.
(23:03):
This show had doubled in listenership about six months ago,
and it's kind of done that again. I can't explain
it other than the endless recording and advertising that I do.
Thank you for listening overall. Tune in Friday. We've got
a brand spanking new yahoucha fest. It's Predators Danny Trejo
and Tofer Grace and Alice Braga versus a Planet full
of Predators. Well three anyway, that's Friday. If you want
(23:27):
to hear it now or the next installment, that's Shane
blacksfilm The Predator, go over to patreon dot com slash
fatherm alone. Those patrons have been listening for weeks and
you can hear the latest episode of HP Hates Me
where HP made me watch the rock and roll comedy
FM from nineteen seventy eight. I hated it, even with
an appearance by the Goddess Linda Ronstadt. Until then, I'm
(23:50):
gonna be buckling down and trying to make this convention
appearance happen. Wish me luck everyone for ripley Gen. I'm
Father Malone. Here's a bit from him.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
You're good, dude, can do me a favor. Find your
own way to greatness. Don't be me, be better. What
do you mean, You're starving to death in the prison.
(24:27):
Somebody ask you food freedom. Do you really have a choice.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
M fang sh
Weird.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We welcome back midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly round up.
(00:57):
I'm Father Alone in here, protecting me from the more
f menace. It's everywhere, you know, is mister Ripley gene
bark at the people repleat Oh so wilful. You're lucky,
You're cute. How's everyone doing? I'm asking our international friends
because I already know how we're doing in the States.
Spooky season is hitting a lot harder this year. Don't worry, though,
(01:20):
I have recently acquired a copy of the Necronomicon. It's
the paperback edition, though the way I was giving my
eternal soul for an original copy with the flesh binding. Anyway,
even though it's pretty dense reading, I think I should
be able to at least conjure Yank Satav or some
man amphibian hybrids from the coastal waters. I'll keep you posted.
We got some correspondents that can mean only one thing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Pals from around.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
This is from our Patreon channel, you know, the actual fans.
This one's from Andy, he writes, Hi, Father Alone, you
asked for suggestions on one of your shows a while back.
What would you think of doing an episode covering Tangerine
Dreams film scores. Take care and let me know what
you think about a TD score show. You want to
know what I think. I think our first composer themed
(02:11):
episode is in production. We're gonna scale the Tangerine Heights
until we're all dreaming. Who's we HP, of course, my
most musically inclined compadre. If you haven't checked out his
show Noise Junkies, which is about music, you're doing yourself
a disservice. But anyway, Tangerine dream episode is happening. Thank
you very much, Andy. And this is from another patron,
(02:33):
this one from Jason Father Malone. Just wanted to say
thanks for all you do. You Mike White, Chris Daisho
and a couple of other folks have gotten me through
some rough days. Really appreciate it and I wish I
could do more to support you. But please know that
your work means a lot to people. Just hearing the
familiar voices of like minded, smart people can be a
huge comfort in shitty times. By the way, I'm currently
(02:53):
listening to your heavy metal episode from last year. Excellent choice,
and I'm reminded of seeing it at a midnight show
sometime nineteen ninety or ninety one. A couple of Bill
and Ted looking dudes walked in about five minutes late,
and one loudly goes, ah, man, it's a fucking cartoon, suckers. Anyway,
that is how you contact me, folks. That is correspondence.
(03:15):
Thank you so much, Jason. Also, we got a new
communicat from our pal, Shane Mackey, and I mean pal
like you're all my pals, you know, like the young
guns meaning of pals. You get it. Anyway, haven't heard
from you in some time, Shane, What say you? He writes,
enjoying Alien Earth. But I have a hard time with
the name boy Cavalier without hearing it with a John
(03:36):
Lovett style flourish. I think that's something like this, Boy Cavalier.
I am intrigued on your theory that the Octoi will
one day be the CEO of one of the Big Five.
That will make for an odd company portrait. I'm impressed
with your memory of media from our youth. I've got
maybe a year or two on you, and some of
those details escape me. But here's one. I'd catch this
(03:57):
maybe once or twice on HBO, always around five am
on Saturday. This short film about a battle between video
game characters. I was probably around eleven or twelve at
the time. That hour of the week they would show
some shorts that are probably now lost time, but I
did find this one on YouTube. Finally, I find you
an excellent swearer as you punctuate not pepper. Oddly that
(04:18):
that last sentence may have been improperly punctuated. Enjoy your
horror Convention car Show. I may be confused on the specifics.
All right, let me take things in reverse order. The
Nightmare in Vegas, horror convention and car show. You got
your car show in my horror convention. You got your
convention in my car show. Mmm, it's both and it's
happening October fourth and fifth at the Silverton Casino in
(04:40):
beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. It's America's playground. And if you're
coming in from out of state, you picked the perfect
fucking time. The seasons here in Las Vegas are spring, summer, fall,
over and over again. Fuck you Winter. We've thrown in
with heat Miser. He's most benevolent. It's gonna be a
fucking blast. They've got crazy guests there, like Miko Hughes.
You know, gauge from pet Cemetery. And also Andrew Brenarski.
(05:04):
That's the one I'm stoked for. You'd know him the
moment you saw him. He was in Batman Returns. He's
Christopher Walkin's son. No Dad, save yourself. Every horror person
in the valley is gonna be there. There's gonna be
tons of vendors, tons of food, and midnight viewing motherfuckers.
I will be there, and HP and Chris Stashue. We're
gonna be raffling off some cool vintage horror shit and
(05:26):
chasing people down with microphones. I should have a phrase
or something. If you come up with me, I can
give you something cool. You know what. I'll determine the prize.
But if you come up to me, not HP, not Chris, me,
and you say we're honoring murderers, you'll get that treasure
and you'll get on the air.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
All right.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's that. Thank you for the motherfucking profanity compliment, Shane.
I've had those very close to me telling me it
needs to be toned down. Looking at you, Rip, She's asleep.
That's what I'm working with here. She's asleep. Okay. The
short film he mentioned is called Arcade Attack by Mike Wallington,
and yes, I remember it so fucking well. As he
mentioned back in the day, HBO would keep to a
(06:03):
strict on the hour schedule. Movies didn't begin at the
half hour or the quarter hour. If a film ended
at four eight pm, then the next movie would not
begin until five pm and they had better part of
an hour to fill and they'd show videos or electronic
PRESSCT type behind the scenes. And thanks to a fucking
flood of short films coming out of film schools in
the US and UK, though really out of Canada, if
(06:26):
you were a TV chunkie like myself, you were getting
an honest god film festival every day. I often sing
the praises of the USA Network series Night Flight for
introducing me to a cavalcade of short cinema, but if
I'm being honest, HBO was dominating in that arena. I
have linked the short that Shane mentioned in the show
notes and just below that will be my favorite short
(06:47):
film from the nether world of in between this on HBO.
This one is called Recorded Live from nineteen seventy five.
It's about a recording engineer doing battle with a living
role of magnetic tape of that film to be as
formative as any horror I experienced in my young life.
And because I'm talking about it, I just want to
shout out its filmmaker SS Wilson. He's a fellow usclum.
(07:10):
After that short, he'd go on to write the Robot
on the Run feature short Circuit, and then Tremors. I
love Tremors and he was one of the writers on
Wild Wild West. Can't win them all, but I do
want to talk to him, so I'm gonna try to
make that happen. Check out both those short films, and
if you want to get in touch with me here,
it's all in the show notes. Okay, close up the mailbag. Now,
(07:33):
Ordinarily here would be Rip's pick with the music and
me talking HP, but because she's asleep, I'm just gonna
give you the broad strokes of her choice. I watched
the new Stupid Conjuring movie. I figured it was my
horror journalistic duty. I've seen them all, all the extended
Universe shit, the Controverse, and believe it or not, I
have some association with this film series. However, Tangential.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Don't touch anything.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Everything you're see in here is either haunted.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Curse we've then used in some sort of ritualistic practice.
Nothing's a toy, not even the toys.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
How many cases you guys had cases?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
My name is Ed Warren here with my way from
the rain.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, maybe a thousand. Every case is different, every family
is different. Once we start, there's no going back. Anything
(08:52):
can happen, and most likely anything.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well y, yeah, something's changed, something's different.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So that's we can't.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Helloud, he's got to cry.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Why shouldn't be?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Oh you?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Here is my take on these films. First one, it's
James wand he knows what he's doing with the camera,
and he knows the right people to hire to make
it look as good as it does. I admire that
(10:21):
first film the way I admire Donnie Darko, in that
it doesn't feel like a period piece. It feels like
a film from that era, which is as high a
compliment as I can give. I'm not saying the script
was great. It wasn't just a hodgepodge of spook show
conventions reconfigured and reassembled from the strengths of superior films,
and the hagiography treatment of the Warrens is a bit much,
(10:43):
but it had some good fucking moments, and that cast
was superlative. I recommend that movie, and I happen to
think the second one is even better. Dispensing with any
ties to logic or reality, I think the family is
stronger as protagonists and the scares are even better. That
film scared me into the trailer. Bravo. Now, it might
sound like I really like this series, and I guess
(11:04):
if it ended there, then yeeha, you made a couple
of great paranormal plot boilers. But it didn't fucking end there,
did it? Because even before Conjuring two came out, there
was Annabell. Okay, I kind of like that one too,
all right, if that was a trilogy, But then came
Annabel Creation Horrible. The doll is not that scary, everybody,
It's not chucky. I'd be way more into it. Had
(11:25):
they kept the original raggedy ann doll that Annabel actually was,
that'd be fucking cool. Anyway. They followed that nightmare with
the nun How many scares in it? None? And then
Annabel comes home, which brings back the Warrens and their
museum and their daughter. And I really liked that one.
What's the tally? Now it's three to three, so there's
(11:46):
still a chance that this can be a decent series.
So if they would just stop, but they didn't. The
conjuring the devil made me do it. Oh boy, did
I speak ill of those Annabel movies, those Nune movies.
I apologize. This movie is garbage. No scares zero. The
characters are uninteresting. The Warrens are uninteresting. This story was
(12:06):
based on the case of Arnie Johnson. He was witnessed
to an exorcism performed by the Warrens. About a month later,
he stabbed his landlord to death and claimed demon possession
as his defense in court. He was convicted of manslaughter.
The film, on the other hand, is about a body
jumping demon that the Warrens are chasing all over the Northeast,
including a depiction of Danvers, Massachusetts, which is where I
(12:28):
went to high school. That is not my tenuous connection
to the series. This is I was a tour guide
at the Haunted Museum here in Las Vegas for about
two years. Let's call the owner Frodo Baggins. You know,
like in the books, Frodo bought the rocking chair that
was in David Glanzill's room during the exorcism, when the
demon purportedly jumped into Arnie Johnson. Andy had a whole
(12:50):
room built to showcase it in the museum. You'd hit
a button and a door would open, revealing the chair
in a room decorated to look like a child's bedroom,
and then a recording of the actual exorcism would play.
The recording admittedly is disconcerting. Hearing guttural snarls coming from
any human being is going to give you the willies,
But that was the only real effect of the room,
(13:12):
because otherwise you're just staring at a chair, which is
not exactly the VW microbus doctor Kervorkian used on his
euthanasia tour, although that is in the museum as well.
The only reason I bring it up, other than the
conjuring connection, is that if you remember back to July
of twenty nineteen, there were a series of earthquakes in California,
the Ridgecrest quakes, and some of those shakers were felt
(13:34):
as far off as Las Vegas. So one day I
opened the door and the recording is playing, and the
chair starts slowly swaying back and forth, and everyone gasps,
and then they lean back against the wall. But that's
shaking too. And then they all turned to me terrified,
and I say, it's an earthquake. Maybe we should go outside.
(13:54):
Guess who was the skeptic on the tour guide staff.
I was the head tour guide, by the way, I
just want to point that out. Next up we had
The Nune two. I won't recycle the joke, but this
movie is fucking horrible as well, even though I like
The Fermiga Girl. And then we got this The Conjuring
Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine and their now grown daughter
have to investigate a family in Pennsylvania that have been
(14:17):
terrorized by a mirror. The movie plays almost like a
parody of the first Conjuring movies. Remember James Wand's camera
slowly gliding through the new family home, giving us geography
and subtle character points. Well, let's do that again, but
really fast and never ending, just a swooping camera untethered
by logic. Maybe it's the ghost point of view that
would make sense as much sense as this convoluted plot
(14:41):
or plots. We're supposed to give a shit that the
Warren's daughter is exhibiting the same gifts as her mom.
All set against the backdrop of her upcoming wedding to
a nondescript actor we're never going to see again, or
some priest he's doing investigating on his own. We got
to follow his story too. The movie does have one
redeeming factor spoilers for the next thirty seconds. All of
(15:01):
the characters from the previous films are in attendance at
the daughter's wedding. It's nice because it reminds you that
this franchise once had promise and held your interest. You know,
when they're doing reunions, it's time to hang it up.
But then again, the movie made four hundred million dollars
on a budget of fifty five. So you tell me
if that's the last will here of Annabelle. Although that
is the last film in the series, I'm going to
be wasting my life on. There are more noble pursuits
(15:24):
out there. Is football one of them. No, but that's
the subject of the latest from producer, producer. You hear that,
not writer, not director, producer Jordan Peel.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
This is him.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Do I look at you and MC you'll just look
right at me. You'll just ignore the character.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
There are a lot of people saying you could be
the next great quarterback.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I can already see it now, Cam running down a
tunnel with crowd him is nay.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I hear you've been invited to train with legend Isaiah
White himself here two albory.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I want to be the goat, Camel and kid. Great
means I'm a fan.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I getting the worship. Keep growing up?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Who are you? Who are you just play a little catch?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Were going to the match?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You want to play at your highest level? You want
to be a legend. Let me tell you something saying
a game? Who are they just gonna toss the ball
around a little? You want at this?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
He can't hands with I understand?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh too slow?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Wait what are we doing.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That?
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Man?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Smile about to be on the floor. That's how you do,
your teammates?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
S In this game, violence is rewarded, so learn to
enjoy it. Don't shit together?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Cam?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Are you okay?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I think something's all?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You want to know what you're getting yourself into? Some football?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Don't have to do this.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I've never been more certain of anything in my life.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Ok.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
How bad that's Camra and kaid Wad don't see I'm
not just gonna give it to you. You got to
take it for what? Don't you see? What? If I
say no, think of it as a gift from the God.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Reply surprise. The guy twitching in the dark pointing out
discrepancies in horror anthology TV series from fifty years ago,
isn't the biggest sports fan like at all. I played
(18:18):
baseball and basketball as a kid. I understand the camaraderie
and teamwork and the training and putting something above yourself,
all the shit you're supposed to get from the children's game.
I got it, and then my interest drifted. If sport
had ever had it at all, honestly, and through the years,
I've attempted to become a spectator. I once chose a
football team to follow for a season to try and
drum up my enthusiasm. It was the Cleveland Browns. By
(18:41):
the way, they did not stoke the fires of sports
fanaticism within me. So I'm not the guy to talk
to on Monday about the game if it's played on Sunday.
I'm just assuming. But if you were to make a
movie out of a sport, well that's a whole different ballgame.
Am I using that correctly? I love sports movies. I
love sports documentaries, some the entire thing up for me,
(19:03):
contextualize it. I'm all in, I love Slapshot, I love
Fast Break, The Fish That Save Pittsburgh, Eight Men Out?
Are you kidding me? How about The Longest Yard or
North Dallas forty or all of those NFL films that
George Romero directed in the seventies.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, please.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And there have been so many sports movies, every underdog, tail,
every ragtag group of misfits coming together to overcome their ugh,
which makes it weird that we have so few horror
sports movies. Teenwolf does not count, none of the goofy Ones, Gutterballs,
Monster Brawl. When you think about it, there really hasn't
been a serious sports horror movie. Here comes Him, originally
(19:44):
titled Goat. Wish it had remained that, not only for
the Greatest of All Time association, but it's rather ominous
shadings of Satan. Him is the story of Cameron Cade,
played by Tyreek Withers, who's already been in the remakes
of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Don't
Tell Mom, Babysitters Dead. But don't hold that against him.
He's electric In this flick. Cam is an up and
(20:05):
coming college quarterback whose pattern his entire life and potential
career around Isaiah White, the quarterback for the San Antonio Saviors.
Of course, all the team names and leagues are made
up for the film. There's no way the NFL was
going to sanction this. Hell, the XFL wouldn't sanction it.
What I know about sports even if I don't care,
Isaiah or Zay is nearing the end of his contract,
(20:27):
having overcome some crippling injuries over the length of his career,
crippling and the film is a week long trial as
Cameron is put through his paces by Jay at a remote,
poured concrete, brutalless training facility somewhere in the middle of
the desert. If I had to guess, I'd say it
was New Mexico. I know deserts people. The film has
some interesting things to say about the sports phenomenon, from
(20:50):
the fanatics that worship the players like gods, to the
willingness of sacrificing one's own body at the temple of winning,
to the blind surrender to sports medicine that keeps it going,
and of course, the cabal of rich white men that
lurk in the shadows, pulling all the strings, and thanks
to an early attack by either a mass arter or
just a lunatic, Cam has a swelling brain that may
(21:13):
be causing him to hallucinate the demons and suck you by.
He seems to keep seeing with increasing regularity. Then again,
maybe not Zay. The current goat and the film's obi
Wan Darth Vader rulled into one, is played by Marlon Wayns.
He is the only Wayns I will venture to the
theater and put money down to see. He is clearly
the most talented actor in the family. Not stand up
(21:35):
that's Damon. Not comedic filmmaker, that's Keenan, though his stand
up isn't bad and his films have been at least
on par with some of Keenan's work. I just think
he's great. Fucking Requiem for a Dream and White Chicks,
He's good in both. Get out of Here, He's awesome here.
The film is wal to wall Wayans, and I still
wanted more. Also, the soundtrack tends to lean into classical,
(21:55):
which is never a bad thing. There's plenty of cool
and interesting stuff by compos Bobby Kurlick. Fans of Drone
Metal will know him as the Hacks and Cloak, but
overall it feels like a yen toward Kubrick with all
of the classical music, and I really admired that. Overall,
though the film is a mess. For all the interesting
avenues the film proposes we go strolling down, it ultimately
(22:18):
settles on the weakest and most obvious one. In fact,
they go for Catharsis at the end, and that's how
you know. Jordan Peel was producer and not creative because
he understands that horror movies need to end terribly for everyone,
even if the good guys win. But I do think
him is worth a look. Performances are top notch, including
Australian stand up Jim Jeffries as the team's physician. He's
(22:40):
really good. The production design is killer, the editing is great,
all the flights of fancy are so cool, and there's
some really great stuff they're doing with team mascots here.
There's so much to recommend it except the ending. You know,
people tend to crave satisfying endings. I know I do,
and that's going to be the end of this week's around.
I do sincerely want to thank you all again for listening.
(23:03):
This show had doubled in listenership about six months ago,
and it's kind of done that again. I can't explain
it other than the endless recording and advertising that I do.
Thank you for listening overall. Tune in Friday. We've got
a brand spanking new yahoucha fest. It's Predators Danny Trejo
and Tofer Grace and Alice Braga versus a Planet full
of Predators. Well three anyway, that's Friday. If you want
(23:27):
to hear it now or the next installment, that's Shane
blacksfilm The Predator, go over to patreon dot com slash
fatherm alone. Those patrons have been listening for weeks and
you can hear the latest episode of HP Hates Me
where HP made me watch the rock and roll comedy
FM from nineteen seventy eight. I hated it, even with
an appearance by the Goddess Linda Ronstadt. Until then, I'm
(23:50):
gonna be buckling down and trying to make this convention
appearance happen. Wish me luck everyone for ripley Gen. I'm
Father Malone. Here's a bit from him.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
You're good, dude, can do me a favor. Find your
own way to greatness. Don't be me, be better. What
do you mean, You're starving to death in the prison.
(24:27):
Somebody ask you food freedom. Do you really have a choice.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
M fang sh
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