Episode 13 - A Hardcore Valentine's - Punk Vacation: An Unofficial Vinegar Syndrome Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hey y'all, welcome back to Punk Vacation. This is episode thirteen.
I'm Chris Haskell, and as y'all know, this is an
unofficial Vinegar Syndrome podcast. I'm trying to track Vineger Syndrome's
journey and the way that I'm kind of structuring this
in my mind is, you know, there's a lot of
unfettered creativity that happens within the Vinegar Syndrome universe, and

(01:08):
I really want to celebrate that and try to dedicate
this podcast to bringing awareness and context to movies of
any budget, from anywhere and during any period in history.
Been a subscriber for several years. I subscribed in Black
Friday of twenty twenty one, and I have interviewed a
lot of the OCN partner labels, and now we're very
lucky to have a lot of the members of Vineger

(01:29):
Syndrome as well on this podcast. It's been really fun
to watch them grow and kind of see what directions
they take as a company. And I'm tracking along with
a growing community here, which is exciting for me. So
speaking of the growing community, one of the co hosts
in the mid month episodes is Celeste de Lacabra. So, Celeste,
thank you so much for making time again.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Hi, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
I appreciate it absolutely. And given that there's a little
bit of an extra focus on the hardcore titles this month,
we thought we would bring in one of somebody who's
an expert in kind of vintage erotica, vintage hardcore. Eli
Olsberg dialing in from the West Coast. Eli, thanks for
making time for this.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
Hey, thanks for having me. Chris happy to be.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Here, absolutely wearing your AGFA T shirt, which is exciting
represent one of my favorites. Oh yeah, they're so good. Eli.
Do you want to give maybe just a thirty second
intro at the top of kind of why you chose
this episode to jump in and why you know you
wanted to kind of talk about the Valentine's Special.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Sure. I've only been a subscriber fairly recently with Vinegar Syndrome,
mostly for financial reasons. But back when I first got
I finally upgraded my TV to an OLED TV, I
had already been consuming the Golden Age stuff porn wise
long before that. But I don't know, I've always just

(02:59):
really been drawn to it. I guess I'll reveal more
about that as we go along, but I am the
fact that they were like restoring them in these incredible
like even beyond like what DVD. You know, the fact
that there was like a four K. One of the
first four K things I watched on my ole ed
was the Young like at Hot, because I was like,
when the fuck is this? When was this ever happened?

(03:20):
So I got really stoked for that. I just a
little more background on me. I've always been really fascinated
by porn because it's something that we consume culturally and
we have for decades now, and yet it still has
this real weird, you know, stigma to it, even now
as sex positive if things have gotten and you know,

(03:43):
when I first started doing stand up about fifteen years ago,
I had started a podcast with another comic called The
Morning After, where we interviewed other performers in the adult
industry with other comedians, and it was We did it
for about two years, and it was really incredible because
this was kind of and I know, I don't even
think they exist as a company anymore, and I think

(04:04):
they had like some scandalous stuff happened a few years ago,
but we had a lot of people from kink dot
com and it was really especially for something when I
was in my mid twenties to kind of learn about.
And we picked up enough steam that we had gotten
quite a few names in the industry. And so one
of the things that we never really got to explore
in the podcast, a lot of it was very contemporary,

(04:25):
was the Golden Age stuff. We tried getting some we
tried getting some performers on. Notably, the person I had
gotten in touch with was Georgina Spelvin. She was actually
really cool about trying to do the show at some point,
but she's like, I just don't live in la and
zoom was not a thing at the time, and that
would have obviously changed a lot, but the Realta Report

(04:48):
kind of took those rains. Anyways, they're kind of doing
the Lord's work with a lot of that stuff. I
don't know if I answered your question and it entirely,
but I hope that that kind of went a few
different direct.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's awesome, and no shout out to the Rialta Report.
I mean, if anybody is not listening to that, they should.
Ashley is doing some amazing work there as well. You're right,
essential yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's really cool. I think
it sounds like you're approaching it from the same vantage point.
I think one of the things I need to go
listen to some of the back episodes of is what
you recorded still online?

Speaker 4 (05:21):
You know what. We stopped paying a couple of years ago.
Jake had hit me up and he was like, hey,
you know, we're still paying for web space for this.
So I do have them in a hard drive somewhere
and I'll happily send them to you. And I'm sure
some people have uploaded, like they probably swim around online somewhere,
but I do at some point. It's like one of
those things I have to get to. I have to

(05:43):
put them on like Anchor or one of those free
sites that kind of hosts it. If this presidency doesn't
destroy that shit. But who knows. I feel like if
I put them up, I might get harangued into like
a long term some kind of damage that I'm not
even I can't even predict.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
You put it up on a Finnish's website if you
have to, but.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Right right, yeah, yeah, we'll get We're going to the
dark web, folks.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
That's right. Yeah, But I think the thing that I
love about what you're talking about your approach and as
well as the Realita Report, is that, you know, if
you look at them as just like porn films and
you kind of brush them the side, I understand if
that's not really your thing. But the backstories and the
characters in this world are amazing. There's some of the
best stories I've ever heard that come from this world

(06:30):
of just like you know, shady dealings and I don't know,
like it's just it's it's wild like this backstories are
as good as the movies.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Absolutely, and also I think that they serve I don't
remember where. I actually had listened to some podcasts with
one of the Vinegar Syndrome crew members and they kind
of made a good point that, you know, we talk
about a lot of the stuff that they put out
through Melu Scene now as like artifactual touchstones, but they
also talk about, like beyond artifact, it also serves I mean,

(07:00):
I guess this falls under artifact, but like you know,
it's it should be preserved in the same way that
like advertisements are preserved from that period, because you get
you don't just get to Obviously it gives you, like
city scapes and you know, stuff that you get to
really see what New York or San Francisco looked like
in nineteen seventy five or nineteen eighty or whatever. But
you also get to find out what's transgressive from that period,

(07:24):
what's aged well, what hasn't just like any other movie.
And I think that, but porn, I think, really dials
into that more sometimes than art that's available more publicly
or considered you know, more friendly to people who don't
watch porn.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I was interesting. I mean, I don't want to
jump ahead too much, but I was watching The Tale
of Tiffany Lust to prepare for this a little bit,
and one of the things that caught me is that
the things that people want to see on screen haven't
really changed in all these years. Like if you look
at the individual sex scenes in that movie, it's the
same stuff that's being broken up into like four and
five minute chunks. Now, well, oh totally, yeah, And it's

(08:02):
just interesting to see that people's desires haven't changed. The
only thing that's really changed is like maybe becoming slightly
more open to talk about it. And like you said,
it still has a stigma around it. But you know,
I think we're in a better place than we were
in the seventies at least.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Oh for sure. I also think that the the other
thing about watching these movies is that and especially now
with how digital everything is. And I don't just mean
like porn. I mean like when you watch a movie,
you know, they have that terrible underlit digital sheen to them.
And the ninety five percent of these movies that are
restored by Melo Scene, I think just because they were

(08:40):
shot lit blocked, like properly made as a photograph that
was taken you know, twenty four times in a second.
Just on that alone, they look better than ninety five
percent of what's released today. And that's not hyperbole. I
genuinely believe that.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, And the crew on these films is a lot
of times Hollywood crew that's just doing sidework.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
So your guests, yes, yes, yes, three people, Yeah, people
who like crossed over and going back to Tiffany Lust,
you know that was like partially directed by Radley Metzker,
who you know did mainstream films and also did porn
films and he did a great job on both fronts.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Right, that's true. So let's how has this journey been
for you, Because you've been tracking the vinegar syndrome stuff
officially now for almost six months, maybe maybe four or five.
Has there been any like learnings or things that you've
kind of uncovered in your in your own journey here.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, I think it's just been really nice to just
see more and more and more of these every month
and see them in their nice cleaned up versions and
go through the supplemental features and read the uh read
the essays and everything.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
I feel like another thing I've started doing more purposefully
is like, if I know I'm going to be reviewing something,
I'll literally just search it into the Realita Report podcast
and see if there's a podcast about it already, and
I'll listen to that as like supplemental listening, and then
half the time it ends up as a bonus feature anyway.
So it's like I kind of feel like I'm in
a class and Ashley West is my professor right now,

(10:11):
to be completely honest, and now I'm kind of helping
share that information with other people. Yeah. I don't know.
Another thing that is that is standing out to me
the more of these that I watch is just the
you might think going into this that you're gonna you know,
as you're gonna get and it's gonna be kind of
the same thing over and over again. But there's really
quite a diversity in the approaches and the aesthetics and

(10:33):
the storytelling of these films, you know, especially with this
month's late, which is a bit late, but it's it's
good that we're getting to it because it's like, you know,
three of these films are like the early sexploitation stuff,
like before hardcore really took off, and it is fascinating

(10:53):
for me anyway. I've seen a few of these films
now and to me, they're so much less interesting than
the hardcore ones. And yeah, you would think that it
would become less interesting now that you can just show
what you're trying to show, and like, I don't know,
like that's what people are therefore and think you can
finally just give it to them so you don't you
don't need to have the scene or the pretense of
like plot as much. But it seems like it's the opposite,

(11:15):
like people kind of like these early Nudi cuties and sexploitation,
like there really is just like this smallest veneer of
plot over like vignettes of nudity.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
You know, I know some what we're talking about today,
but are you talking about like Blonde on a bump
trip from a few months back, like that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
That one a little bit too. That one's kind of
ah aenomenally because it's more like a drug scare film.
But these are On Sullivan films are just I mean,
we'll get to it, but they were kind of like
reading the essay I enjoyed more than watching the movies,
like the backstory and the context. But I don't even
mean that as like a slight like it's like, oh,
the boring essay was even like the essay is great
and like the history of it is great, and it's

(11:54):
almost more interesting than the films. Though watching the films
is still the necessary context of put it all into
place and make everything makes sense.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
But you're right, it does need it. Oh, I'm sorry
to interrupt. Actually ahead, Celearty, I just just yeah, good. Oh,
I was just a piggyback on that. I was going
to say that it is sometimes like similar to that
when they did the Lost Picture show on their on
their main site. Sometimes having context for them is better
when you go to watch them because it does make
it more because it looks some of these are barely

(12:26):
an hour, and if it's not good, it's going to
feel like it's going to feel like you're watching Farewell,
my concubine, Like the running time will just go so
really crawl by. And depending on the context of that,
I think, you know, even outside of like vinegar syndrome stuff.
I know, I know that the Edwood one is a
great example of that, Like those are fifty minutes when
they did they released seven release their hardcore slate of

(12:51):
Edward films. But if you know a little more context
of those movies, and also you have to kind of
be a real head for Edward's stuff, but that makes it,
I think, more, even more enjoyable.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
M Yeah, you know this this little trio of releases
that we're talking about today, Like I guess it's it's
kind of striking to me how completely different they all are,
and like how each time I watch one of these,
I feel like I get something new and I'm still
surprised by like I don't know, just the different, like

(13:27):
you can still see like the artist imprint on like
the filmmaking style and the aesthetic and the storytelling and
there are they're often pretty rough around the edges, and
like a storytelling kind of perspective, because it becomes clear
the difference between like a first pass script and something
that's actually been edited and like you know, gone through

(13:49):
a couple of people, because it's like it's almost like
you're watching the first draft of like a fairly expensive film,
and that is pretty fascinating in and of itself.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, the thing that stood out to me as I've
been listening a little bit more of the Realta Report
recently and watching more of these movies is the pace
in which they were made. Like I feel like it's
worth calling out, like a lot of these are like
on a weekend or a day, Like you know, we're
getting to see something that it's not like they had
six months and trailers and I mean, these things were
just pumped out right and so like, I don't know,

(14:21):
it's interesting to think about just going to work and
then like leaving work on a Friday, going and like
shooting this over the course of a weekend, and then
just going back to work on Monday, and then it
comes out and makes twenty million dollars in the box office.
You know, some of these ones that do like these
massive underground hits.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
Yeah. I think part of that has to do also
with like, you know, regulations like back then you just
I mean, porn barely is. They're not unionized still to
this day in a I guess in the way that
we think of unions. But there's protections now obviously because
of what's changed and what's developed in terms of like
you know, sexually transmitted diseases and stuff. But at the time,

(15:00):
none of that exists as far as I know, there's
I'm sure there were some I know there were collectives,
but nothing in the sense that like that exists where
like there were testing services and all that, but also
just things where people and again I don't know how
much of that now. I don't know when someone goes
to shoot a porn scene, can they just shoot for
twelve hours and then you know, but also they're not

(15:22):
shooting full features, so it just works so differently. And yeah,
I think we're not talking about film either. We're talking
about you know, shooting digitally and shooting on DSLRs and stuff.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, I think there's there's a lot of conversation about
how the AIDS sort of epidemic change the industry a lot,
for sure, because you know, that's one thing. I mean,
not to get too specific, but there's not a lot
of condoms in these movies, and the combination of not
a lot of condoms and not a lot of doctor
visits can be dangerous if there's you know, and so
you don't That's sut of the industry. I think is

(15:55):
has been kind of documented. But yeah, that was that
was rough I think for a few years there until
they started to make some positive changes there. But I think,
you know, we're in the middle of this Valentine's Day sale.
Now by the time this drops, it will be over,
I think, because it ends on Sunday night. If I
remember correctly, it is okay, so we're not necessarily going

(16:16):
to give people insights on what to buy for the
Valentine's Day sale. But I am a little curious just
before we jump into the movies, so less and then
I'll let you take over. But I'm a little curious
y'all's perspective on this Valentine's Day sale because I I mean,
I hate to come on a viteger Syndrome podcast and
say that I was disappointed in it. But I was
kind of wanting, at a minimum, another Melosyne title or

(16:37):
something kind of splashy. And I don't know a lot
about the quality X title that dropped, the what's it called,
The Blonde Goddess. It seems like it's kind of a
jungle adventure movie, so maybe it's really good. I don't know.
And then they did the Victens of kung Fu. Those
were the two.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Releases, right, that's right, Yeah, the Blonde Goddess one I'm
not familiar with either. To be honest, I I uh,
it's funny. That's what I love about collecting this stuff
is that I I genuinely think i've i've you know,
plumb the depths of of the pornographic soul, and I
I find out there's something new every month. Or though

(17:20):
I will say that that triple feature that dropped, you know,
Vixen's of Kung Fu, that was obviously an upgrade from
a DVD and also from that five Years five Films
compilation they did that goes for the price of like
a dozen eggs now, But uh, it's like so expensive

(17:41):
if you want the porn volumes of those five years.
But it's a it's another comp with with a film
called Sonny with Candida Royale, which anything she's in that
I've seen has always been worthwhile.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Okay, that's good to know.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think she's she's like, she's got a book.
There's a book you can buy on Meluscene called The
Sexual Revolution or excuse me, Candida Royale and the Sexual Revolution,
A History from Below and I haven't finished reading it.
I actually have it and my library had it, and yeah,
it's a good I think it's a great read because

(18:21):
she from what I've been gathering at the book so far,
is that she's kind of was at odds with herself
for a little while because of her feminism and you know,
I don't know sex positivity back then, that word I'm
not sure even how if it even came up, but
you know, she started her own production company down the
line and started directing porn that she thought would was

(18:43):
removing a lot of the misogyny. That's about as far
as I know from the book. But it's absolutely I
think a worthwhile read for that reason. And one of
the I think it's night Bird, the third movie on
that features Robin Bird. Do you do you both know
who that is?

Speaker 2 (19:01):
I do not.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
Oh. Robin Bird hosts a public access show called The
Robin Bird Show in New York and it's she's I
don't know if she still hosts it, but I know
she hosted it for like at least twenty five years.
It was just it was just this talk show but
it Al Goldstein was involved with it, and they went

(19:25):
to court a few times to like New York Public
Access tried scrambling the show in some capacity. I think
it was the time, I want to say Time Warner
was the one who tried to do this where you
had to specifically notify your cable provider to unscramble the show. Okay,
and as far as I know, they never they never won.
But she kind of became like like a real kind

(19:49):
of a lot of people know that show in New
York because of the public access show. If I want
to say, on the Foxtrop Blu Ray, one of the
Command Cinema Blu rays, there was an episode of The
Rock Bird Show on there and she she has I believe,
Cecil Howard on and does interviews at the Pussycat Theater

(20:09):
on Santa Monica in West Hollywood for the premiere of it.
It's a great It's an incredible time capsule, even more
so than the movie itself.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Is it Like in Teler tiffany Less, there's that character
Florence Nightingale. It has a show where she like people
come on and just tell her their desires and she
like has sucks with them. But I'm assuming it's not
like that. It's more of a traditional clock show.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Correct. Yeah, yeah, that that I think is more of
a of like a send up of Doctor Ruth would
be my guest, but no, the Robin Bird shows more.
If you've ever seen New York Public Access, It's like
it's really incredible stuff. It's like the closest thing to
like pirate radio on TV because you can really show anything.
And apparently a lot of people in the eighties that

(20:51):
was kind of there that could be their porn sometimes
not necessarily the Robin Bird Show, but just the stuff
that would get kind of funneled into their into their airwaves.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Super interesting. Yes, let's what about you? Any what do
you think about this month? Before we jump into the
titles from last month.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
I mean, I do think it's strange that there's not
a new male You scene title for the Big Male
You Scene Sale but there was one last month, so
I guess I'm pretty satisfied with four films across two
releases and a triple feature from Pikorama. I'm also excited
to dive into this partner label title Her Body. I

(21:33):
was like really interested in it when it was announced
earlier in the month, and they did go hard on merch,
which I love the Sex World shirts so much. That's
one of my favorite hardcore films. And I don't know
there's out of my size, but if they reprinted, I
might have to cut it. Yes, there's some cute patches
and a pin. There's these little Valentine's Day hearts, which

(21:55):
is fun. Something that I noticed kind of recently that
I think is strange because when I saw that Blonde
on a Bum Shrip and Little Orphan Sammy were on
sale and I like just reviewed those, I was like, damn,
has it already been six months? Like that doesn't that
math doesn't check out to me, But it's not. They
came out in October, I think, and so it's like

(22:17):
four months, so they're already putting this stuff on sale
like faster than they do for the uh, the regular site.
And you know, it's nice that there's a little section
on the regular site of discounted stuff as well, which
is not something I was expecting, but that's cool. Oh
and Through the Looking Glass is already on sale too,
and that one, that's the one that I think was October,
that's a lot of damn. That's crazy. Yeah, I mean

(22:41):
I had really positive things to say about it in
my review. It's so sick, so I definitely recommend. It's
nice that I like, just reviewed these and people can
now get them half off if they're so inclined. But
I just think it's interesting. I'm not sure what that
says about anything that they are going on sale faster,
because yeah, it said November was a cut off or

(23:02):
before November was a cutoff in the FAQ, and so
that's only four months as opposed to their usual six.
And it's nice. I mean, just like, you know, basically
all the releases are are on sale now, and you know,
it was nice to catch up on my vineger syndrome
going out of print stuff because they're not what's the word,

(23:23):
I'm looking forward. They're not branding any of the hardcore
stuff as VS anymore, and all that stuff is out
of print. I gotta say, I wonder what's gonna happen
to those, because people are complaining about re releases from
you know, ancient DVDs that are out of print for
a while, which is fine with me, Like I want
I want these to be available, and I want them
an HD, but I hate the idea that like corruption

(23:45):
and pretty pieches and what's the one, the roberta Friendly one?

Speaker 4 (23:50):
Oh, a Woman's Torment, which.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Is, yeah, woman's torment. Like the idea that those will
be out of print is a bummer to me. So
I'm like, are they gonna start packaging these and like
triple features through Picarama or whatever. I don't know, you know,
I hope that they come back out, but I feel
like people will complain. So but it's nice that I
was able to catch up on the rest of them
pretty dirt cheap. A few of them sold out before
they went to the steep discount, so I missed a few.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
But you know, A Woman's Torment is one that I
hear brought up a lot. Is kind of like essential
viewing if you're interested in the history of CEM at all.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's really good. Yeah, her name was Lisa is another
one that's one of my all time favorites in this genre.
That is now out of print, and now that's just
a shame to me. Maybe they'll do a four K
of it on MALEU scene, because I think it is
that good. But you know, actually corruption is another one.
I could see them doing some of these. I feel like,
are just going to get four k's through male You scene,
but presumably not all of them. And I mean like

(24:46):
Nine Lives of a Wet Pussy that is a able ferrara,
I mean, and that's now out of print with a
commentary from Sam Degan on it, which I managed to
get the last copy of that, and I bought it
exclusively for the commentary because I wasn't the biggest fan
of the film, but I did watch it on a
kind of a crappy like plex stream, so it'll be
nice to revisit it. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I
guess I'm just I'm just wishing into the ether that

(25:07):
these don't disappear and they come back in some capacity.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, yeah, I it'd be interesting to see how they
shape the line. Even just the fact that we've talked
about this before on this show, but even just the
fact that it's a separate website, you know. I don't
know if people think to go check it sometimes when
they're on the first of the month, you know, when
they're doing their Vinegar Syndrome order, and there's like a
minor thing if anybody from Vinegar Syndrome is listening. Every

(25:34):
time I click on Melo Scene from the Vinegar Syndrome website,
I have to log in again. If there's a way
to keep logged in and keep those two together, that
would be easy for my lazy ass.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
But I can I offer speculation on why that is. Yeah,
I tell me, I have a feeling it has to
do with them, because the shop app is on Vinegar
Syndrome and the shop apps not on Melu Scene. If
it wouldn't surprise me that was the credit card processing,
because I believe Grindhouse Video said that's why they stopped

(26:06):
carrying the adult titles because they were switching off PayPal,
and and so I know with shop it keeps you
logged in sometimes on Vinneger Syndrome site, and mel you've
seen separate from it. So I have a feeling that's
a lot of that's to blame for for those issues.
And I frankly, I find the shot app a little annoying,
but too just because of how it keeps you logged in.

(26:30):
If you want to pay another way, you have to
like check out his guests and we'll lock back in. Yeah,
it's such a it's such a fiasco.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
There must the price must be right though, because a
lot of the Batigue labels are on it. But yeah,
it's definitely not a perfect e commerce thing, but it's
it gets the job done, I guess. So what I
think we should do if it's okay, is let's spend
a few minutes because we we can certainly get back.
I know, Eli, there's a lot you want to talk about,
but Celesti, you have a couple of titles from is

(26:57):
it December and January or where it is?

Speaker 3 (27:00):
I believe it's December and.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
November, Okay, November and December. So you want to catch
us up to twenty twenty five?

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because the yeah, I think I think
the Ron Sullivan title was the only one that was
included for the Black Friday titles, and that's probably why
it sold really well because it was in that kind
of batch. And then Alexandra and Passions of Carol are
Christmas films, which is fun. So they were the December releases.
I'm not sure how many Christmas porn films exist. From

(27:28):
what I was reading going through the release of Passions
of Carol. That was a pretty novel idea and it
didn't do well, so I don't know how many of
them they really tried. But Alexander's definitely more subtle about it.
So yeah, I guess let's just go through those and
then we can start off twenty twenty five next time. Yeah,
I guess I should say I'm no longer a subscriber,

(27:50):
so it's they're not kidding that the subscribers get their
boxes first, because it's taking forever. It keept my January titles,
and it's just like, well, I don't know, I feel
like people aren't rushing to get these titles or hear
about them as much as they are like the proper
VS stuff. So I guess if there's a month's delay,
you know, it's not that big of a deal, and
people can hear it when they hear it and maybe
by then or leave him beyond sale again, who knows.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
I do hope that they get into that new warehouse
space because that seems to be giving them a lot
of headaches. So if anybody's local and wants to help
them move some boxes and get into the warehouse, go
hit up Finneger Syndrome.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, okay, So I'll do my like typical kind of
reviews for these. But I think Eli said that he
has seen Alexandra and Pastriz of Carrol, so i'dy I'd
be happy to have it be more of a discussion
based format. But let me go ahead and talk about
these Ron Sullivan films since I think I'm the only
one who watched them. Chris, you have the box right,
but you haven't seen them yet.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
I have not seen them.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
Okay, So Ron Sullivan is the real name of Henri Pachard,
which is his sort of moniker. When he started directing
hardcore features, I discovered I do have at least one
of his films my collection, because I have Mascara, which
he co directed with ROBERTA. Finlay, which I've not watched yet,
but this is sort of when he's very It has

(29:07):
his very first film on it, and then I think
the one he did after, and then one that he
did a few films later. I sort of hinted at
this earlier, but I gotta be honest, this was the
set that was the biggest chore to get through. Like
it was pretty rough, to be completely honest, Like the
let me let me click on it, so I have
the titles in front of me Lust Weekend. I mean,

(29:33):
it's fine for what it is, Like it delivers, like
there's I mean, you know, when you bought a ticket
to this sort of thing in nineteen sixty eight or whatever,
you just wanted to see naked women on screen, and
it does deliver on that front. It's pretty much wall
to wall that. But I don't know, it's just it's
just so light on really anything happening, and like it

(29:56):
marketed itself as like this big, like lurid exploration and
like sexual torture and stuff, and it's just so tame,
which I guess is part of the constraints of the time.
But like, I don't know, it really was a short
to sit through. And it's clearly like an amateurish production,
like a first attempt, Like there's not much going on
in terms of interesting cinematography or writing or anything like that.

(30:18):
So I mean that one's fine. The Bizarre Ones is
really the one that I would consider keeping this for
or you know, ordering again sometime for if it was
on a good price or whatever, because like, even though
it is also kind of a mess and like pretty
boring a lot of the time, there's also.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Enough like.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Just insane shit that like happens in there, and you know,
reading the booklet, he said that he wanted to go
harder into like the BDSM stuff and like the kink
stuff to like sort of entice people to come, but
he had no experience with that whatsoever, so he just
kind of had to make up what he thought somebody
might find kinky, which includes cracking an egg open on
an avid moment, which he's fucking disgusting to me. But

(31:02):
it's like that's I don't know where else you're gonna
see that, you know, like it's at least interesting. There's
like a rape machine that he like that like the
characters build and like it's not even clear to me
that that's what it was until I read the booklet.
I thought it was just like like a like a
proto like Sibian or something like, you know, something like that.

(31:22):
I don't know, it's just so strange, and like there
is at least more like weird stuff happening. Like there's
a lot of whipping, and there's a lot of tying
of you know, people to posts and stuff like that, kidnapping.
There's a lot of outdoor scenes, which is kind of
unique and interesting. What else, Oh, there's a scene where
like this woman ties another woman to a bed and

(31:45):
starts feeding her like licorice from her mouth. It's just
so strange. It is bizarre, like they weren't they weren't
kidding with the title. It is bizarre so that one
I at least uh could get through in that just
something completely unhinged was happening at least once every ten minutes,
you know. But Scorpio seventy Oh no, go ahead, no,

(32:08):
go ahead.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Well, I was just gonna say it sounds like, uh,
you get some of these vanity projects sometimes from you know,
we always talk about like a like a Champagne and
Bullets type or maybe like an Action USA or some
of these these pure like vanity projects. It almost sounds
like this was him just like for some reason he thought, okay,
like maybe you know, be maybe like kink stuff is

(32:31):
gonna sell, and so he then goes to make a
Kink film. He starts to write the script and he's like, oh, damn,
I don't really understand what the right He's just like
sitting there with the pen imagining stuff. Is that is
that kind of how it feels.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
That's that's how it feels. And I think that's explicitly
what he said. It is like he was just like,
I mean, really he was saying that, like once he
made his first feature and it was kind of a disaster,
he kind of like thought of himself as a filmmaker,
and so he's like, so if you're in New York
and you're a filmmaker, you can't just be working on it.
You have to like have another film ready to go,
especially if you're in the like exploitation circuit, because the

(33:03):
turnaround is so fast. So he was like, I gotta,
I gotta, you know, strike while the iron's hot and
before people forget about me. I got to make something else.
And so he made this and it's clearly not super
well thought out or anything, but like it delivers on
you know, what it says on the tin, I guess
is like, Oh, there's gonna be weird section in here,
and there is indeed, you know, Scorpio seventy I think

(33:25):
was his first attempt at like something higher budget with
like a real plot and like actual dialogue and it's
shot in color. To me, this was the easily the
like the hardest one to get through, because like I'm
told there is a plot, but I had a hard
time following it. Like it's a murder mystery with like
six different people on a boat and I can't keep
any of them straight, and it's like they're all, you know,

(33:46):
fucking each other, and I guess there's a murder and
there's like flashbacks and it's honestly, it's so boring, Like
I couldn't tell you what happens in this movie, and
you know, like the poster has like, uh, I mean,
Jennifer Wells is in it. She's great, so that's fun,
But like the poster has her as like the body
on like the body of a scorpion, and I'm like,
I don't think this is actually going to be like
a sexy creature feature. I highly doubt it. But that

(34:07):
wouldn't that be fun. It's definitely not. There's nothing even
remotely approaching that. But I don't know. It was the
longest one too. It was just kind of brutal, to
be completely honest, sitting through that. Uh, but you know,
it's not like I regret watching it or anything like
these are important. It's an important kind of I really

(34:28):
like your comparison to like watching vintage advertisements, because like,
unless you grew up in that time, I don't know
that anybody likes watching an old advertisement. But it tells
you a lot about the culture. It tells you a
lot about the products, It tells you a lot about
the people that it was made by and for. And
this is a similar thing where we're going to talk
about some good films in a second, or at least

(34:48):
one good film, but the ones that are bad or
at least not enjoyable to me personally, I still found
something valuable in it. And I still, you know, I
am glad I had the experience of going through it,
and you know, it was kind of it was kind
of it was kind of fun to spend like what
three and a half hours with like a fledgling filmmakers
like amateur first attempts or whatever. I feel like you

(35:10):
learned something from that. The features are not super stacked.
There's like one interview with a producer that was fine.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
You know, I do want to add to that too,
that watching something like that from that period, when you
kind of when you see it, like for example, the
Michael Finley trilogy before that, which kind of it falls
in the same arena. Right, it's black and white. They're
roughies much rougher, I'm assuming, but the difference is like,

(35:37):
obviously you're looking at what Ron Sullivan looked at and
was like, here's how I can make money doing this.
So you get to see like what a business minded
person's idea of something like this is, who will probably
let a little bit of their brain leak into that
script no pun intended, and like whereas Michael Finley took
a screwdriver, opened his head and you're like, here's what's
in my brain. It's not fucking.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
People, a genuine o tour and like a fucked up guy,
And like those movies kind of rule like have you
say FLEs trilogy.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
Chris, have you seen him?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
No, there's so much hardcore stuff I need to catch
up on.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Oh oh, those aren't hardcore. Those are like those are
similar to these, they're they're the district Yeah, yeah, they
were the they were the first distrip picks. It was
the first stest that they put out.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
It's the best release they've done so far. But I
kind of love those movies. I do.

Speaker 4 (36:27):
I do too, in like a very specific way because
it really is like a type of grime you can't
manufacture and that you can't like. It's just such a
it's that's a that's a great time capsule in a
very different way, because that is someone who's giving you
what they think, what their idea of a good movie is,
for this, for for what this is, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
And Heather Drain does all the comments Harry's in the
essay and she's just she's so enthusiastic about them, and
it's like, yeah, it really is just great stuff. So
I think that on's still available in the booklet is
worth I think that's seeking out.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
I think that's the one she said where she sat
down and did all of them on like a day
or something.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
M hm, Okay, well then that's very exploitation based right there.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, she's living into the spirit of it.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
The last thing I'll say about this release is that
the booklet is excellent. And I will say this as
many times as it takes before it stops. But I
really hate that these essays are relegated to the limited
edition only when they're in the perfect bound book. Like
it's whatever if you if if you don't want to
have like the whole I get it, like the book
itself is not going to fit in the in the
emory case or whatever. But you know, when you do
a standard edition, you can have a trimmed down version

(37:38):
of the booklet where it's just the essay, you know,
Because like I mean, I'll just keep saying this, Like
I don't understand why the the the writers of the
text essays are relegated to a limited edition, but if
somebody does a video essay on the disc, that gets
to keep because to stay in the standard edition. Like
I feel like they did the same amount of work
and one of them is kind of relegated to either
more or less important depending on how you look at it,

(37:59):
I guess. But for this one, it's about two four
or three fourths of the way sold out. And even
though I think the packaging is a little bit extra
for what is essentially one disc, you want it for
that booklet because honestly, like this, I wouldn't have gotten
much out of this at all. Without it, Like Ashley
West writes the whole thing, and he just does an

(38:19):
amazing job like kind of taking you through the history
of each film and the context in which they were
created and why they were created, and like how they
were received and what the mentality was behind them. So
that is honest. And I mean, you know what, the
artwork is gorgeous, So if you're like a real slipcase freak,
you know you'll want it for that too. But so yeah,
that's my recommendation for that.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
It's interesting, Eli, had you ever seen anything from Ron
Sullivan before?

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Not Ron Sullivan's stuff, but I've seen Anripachard's stuff particularly,
I've seen Public Affairs, I've seen Mascia. I actually need
to revisit them. But I'm trying to think what else
I've seen from seen it yet.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
I was a polysign major in college, so that was
like felt like it was made for me.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Yeah, I think I think I've also seen you know
what I watched, Uh, there was a quality X release
Getting Personal, which was really I thought, great, that's the
San Francisco porn and it it's like it's one of
the more downbeat porns, you know, it kind of the
way Melo. You see. I mean, I think most Golden
age porn, it's either like if you're not just getting

(39:37):
basically like a comp film that's just like a series
of sex scenes like say Deep Deep Inside, like the
Deep Inside films, where they have like just the most
threadbare excuse to put together like some scenes, and those
can be done well too, but you either have like
really downbeat or really over the top comedy. And getting
Personal is like one of the more downbeat ones. It's

(39:58):
like an immigrant story in San Francisco, and I really
enjoyed it. I was really surprised how how good it was.
I mean I always go in yeah, highly highly recommended.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah. The one I was talking about earlier, her name
is Lisa, is like that. I feel like those are
often and what I tell people like in my real
life when they're like why do you watch these movies
or like why are you reviewing these movies, I'm like, well,
here you go. Here's the thing, Like I these are
often like just a fast track to a budget for
like filmmakers who actually do want to make a film
and tell a story and whatever. And if you have

(40:31):
like a pretty like dour drama and you can like
add I mean, it's usually rape scenes because that's how
you get your like conflict and your bad vibes and
your I guess quote unquote sext scene all in one.
Like there's a way in which you can turn your
you know, regular exploitation or drama or whatever script into

(40:54):
something that will make its money back and we'll get
green lit by a producer. And that's by adding hardcore
scenes in it. So you of get like real movies
that just have these scenes in it, or you know,
you often like ROBERTA. Finley is a great example of
somebody who is just an incredible cinematographer, but she doesn't
give a shit about these movies at all. She's just like,
I just want to shoot cool shit, you know, and
she does, and so her movies look great all the time, you.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Know, and absolutely, and I would even say that it
ends up the hardcore elements are almost used against the
viewer depending on the movie. Through the Looking Glass is
a great example of that. Like, none of that is
I'm just trying to picture someone going into a fucking
porn theater on forty second Street to get off and
walk in and you're watching this incredibly riveting like a

(41:36):
really powerful story about cycles of sexual abuse. I mean
that was without I'm not exaggerating. If I had to
make I didn't make like a top five list of
my favorite releases from last year from Vinegar Syndrome, Melo
you scene. But if that's not number one, it's it'll
be number two. It's like right up there, it's I
thought it was such an incredible tot here for sure. Yeah,

(41:57):
and when you're watching it, you are like, who is
this for? Or actually that's not a specific type of serophile. Yeah,
And even when you watch like A Woman's Torment, I
think that's a you know, ROBERTA. Finley perfs the R
rated cut and not to get too far on a tangent,
that's one thing I do miss. I do like when
and I know we'll get to that with Alexandra, but like,

(42:19):
I love when they restore the soft core cuts of
these as well, because even if you excuse me, they're
not always entirely different movies. They usually just will sometimes
get rid of the hardcore shots. Sometimes it does redefine
the movie's tone and feel. And when you watch something
like A Woman's Torment or even something like thriller or

(42:40):
a cruel picture. When you see these hardcore scenes in
this these like really really down details, it actually makes
it grimier in a way that depending on the view
or how you've oriented yourself, it could make it a
more powerful watch, which in my opinion it does. But
I get that that's not for everybody.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
Oh interesting, Yeah, that's how I felt about Thriller. When
I watched both cuts, I was like, I like the
hardcore one better because it feels grosser. It feels like
you you really sit with, like what's happening to her
in a more direct and explicit fashion and it's not implied,
you know, in the way cut I prefer it. But yeah,
somileage will vary for people on that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
We can we can guess which camp. Guess BERNOI would
be in.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
I still remember getting out of the theater in like
two thousand and one or two or whatever watching Your
Reversible and just like I always went with a friend
shout out Steve if you're listening, but we would just
just driving home and like it was mostly silence, just
being like, oh, I mean, we talked about it for
days afterwards, but like, I love that movie. But that's

(43:45):
like a you know that really hits.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
I saw that. I saw that on a matinee on
opening day. We had one. I'm from Fort Lauderdale and
originally and we had we have one art house theater.
Well there were a few, but there was kind of
like a central one. And I went to go see
it on opening day at one in the afternoon and
there were twelve people. And it's mostly a Matt and
Nate crowd has mostly senior citizens of Florida especially, and

(44:08):
I think when the movie was over it was five
people left, including yourself. There were like seven walkouts, right.
The first scene had two people walk out, I remember,
and then obviously the very famous scene with Monica Blucci.
That's where the rest of the audience clocked out. That
the ones who did leave.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
I actually agree with, although I haven't seen a lot
of the movies you're all were talking about. I agree
with the sentiment behind this though. I think like this
is something that Scooda McCrae does very well as well
in his movies, and like if you show the explicit content,
or it doesn't have to be hardcore stuff, but like
if you show the violence in a more violent way,

(44:45):
or show the sex in a more violent way. You
are forced to wrestle with the impact of what you're
watching as opposed to being able to kind of escape
from it. And I do think it makes for a
bigger impact on the watch.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
Yeah, especially when it looks grimier or when it has
that specific when they're shot on sixteen and thirty five,
you know, when you watch something more skillfully now and
like a and I keep kind of going back to this,
but like that digital scene, it kind of sometimes you're like,
why does it look like like it? I don't know,
it doesn't. It doesn't hit the same way.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
That's a good point. Well, what's next.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Uh, let's move on to The Passions of Carol, which
is one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen
in my life.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
I wish to watch it.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
I cannot wait to talk about this. Please take the reins.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
But s okay. So I watched this with a friend
of mine and this was his first Parkore feature ever,
and I was like, I'm just gonna warn you never
know what you're gonna get. This might be a great
gateway entry away into like sort of what you can
expect with these or it might be completely bizarre it
was definitely completely bizarre, and he was like, I have
no I don't know what I thought of that. I
have no gauge for this whatsoever. And I'm like, to
be honest, I barely do too, and I've seen quite

(45:54):
a few of these like that was not a great
introductory film. So this is a I guess it's you
would consider it mid budget for this sort of genre,
but I think it was made for like twelve thousand dollars,
so like very low budget pornographic adaptation of Charles Dickens,
a Christmas Carol, which I think most everybody on the

(46:14):
planet Earth is pretty familiar with. So I guess spoilers
for Charles Dickens, but you know, if you if you're
familiar with it, you know we'll proceed.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
It's our chance to talk about the Muppets on a
point episode though, because.

Speaker 6 (46:26):
Okay, because that's one of my favorite films of all time,
and I actually watched that a few days before this,
and I had listened to the audiobook in between, and
so I was pretty familiar with this story and I
was like, Okay, cool, I'm excited to see how you
translate that.

Speaker 4 (46:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Yeah, at this point, it's been a month or so,
and so I don't remember the specifics, but I just
keep remembering every single scene was so baffling to me,
and I was just like, I feel like there's a
pretty straightforward way to translate this story into something pornographic.
And each decision he makes is like not even something
that would occur to me if I was tasked with
writing this. It's so strange, and like, Okay, I think

(47:05):
maybe to kind of synthesize why I found this so baffling.
So like at the end of the film and like
I guess I'm gonna spoil it, but like it's like
at the end of the film, she gets to the
ghost of Christmas future, and like, there's so many ways
you could take that, for like this is where you're
headed if you don't stop with this, like greed with this,

(47:27):
like maybe sexual exploitation that you're doing, with this, like
worker exploitation that you're doing. There's ways to show that
that makes sense, I guess, And like it's just kind
of it just shows her being like a full service
sex worker like in New York, and then that's it,
and I'm just like okay, and then what and then
that was it? And I'm like, is that really that
different from what you've been doing so far? Like, is

(47:48):
is that really the worst punishment you could think of?
Like I was so confused, Just like I don't know.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
That's where the budget ran out. That's clearly where they
ran out of money. When when it gets something, when
something like that, I feel like that's always like all right,
well we got a thousand bucks in the bank, what
what can we do? Well, we got this, we got
this motel room, we can check out here, Like.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
I don't know. It was just like it seemed fully consensual,
like she was just doing a job and getting paid
for it, and the guy was like not particularly gross
or like awful to her or whatever.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
Just like is that it?

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
And then there's such a there's a bizarre scene where
she like seduces some childhood friends and then like like
they start sodomizing each other with a with a doll.
It's so strange, Like I don't know, And there was
this little things like that that would happen. I mean,
every single scene in this was so I did not

(48:38):
find this erotic in the slightest. I found it baffling
and also kind there are parts of it that were
really beautiful, like it's shot on a sound stage and
some of the uh, the the color grading and the
sort of the lighting is really quite beautiful. You know.
There's this there's an excellent essay in the in the
Blu Ray by the director kind of telling the story

(49:00):
of how he made this and he's a good writer.
Like it's actually quite gripping and I read it all
pretty fast. He talks about how this is the first
time he actually wrote a script, and he actually wrote
dialogue for actors, and like I think Carter Stevens was
the one that was like came to him and was
like literally crying. It was like, hey, man, I can't
do this, like nobody's asked me to do lines before,

(49:21):
Like I don't want to let you down. And he's
like it's fine, just just you'll be fine. And it
was not fine, Like he couldn't do it, but like
I was following a thread with.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
That somewhere Yeah, I don't know, just.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Just baffling, baffling stuff. And I did enjoy it, but
it yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I'll let you take over.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
Oh well, So I didn't see this on Blu Ray.
I got to see this about a year and a
half ago. I'm thirty five with an audience. Yeah, the
New Beverly showed it, and you know it's funny. I
forgot to plug this up top when you were asking
me kind of about my journey. I have been for
the last half year or so, I've been hosting and

(50:10):
what I've been calling Pussycat Theater night across from the
Old Pussycat in West Hollywood. I'm showing softcore cuts of
Golden Age hardcore films. The reason they're saw but it's
with the it's at a dinner thing. I'll kind of
get into it in a little bit, but this was
I remember when I watched this, I was like, I
would love to show something like this to an audience.
And it was showing at the New Beverly. It was

(50:33):
a midnight screening the week before Christmas. I believe they
actually showed them Uppet Christmas Carol as the afternoon matinee,
which would have made for an incredible day at the movies.
I wish I had gone to that, but it with
an audience. All the scenes you're talking about, you like
laid the groundwork perfectly for exactly what I wanted to say,
which was that like when that doll scene happened, people

(50:55):
were losing their minds because it's just like you're sitting
with the one hundred and twenty people watching this and
you're like, what, how the fuck did this play in
a theater for people who wanted to watch porn? But
maybe it goes back to what you're saying, Chris, like
there's always been these fetishes that they're really you know,
you can find this now. I'm sure there's someone on
OnlyFans you can commission to do this, or someone who

(51:17):
just makes it, you know, But like watching it with
an audience was so incredible because there's also just stuff
you get that kind of I hate to say it,
like is stereotypically true of when you're watching something really
low rent, which is that or low budget, which was
There's a shot I believe in the first sex scene
with tubular Bells, which is the Sean Costello touch he

(51:38):
has I believe multiple films where tubular Bells plays during
a sex scene. There is a there is a shot
in there. It's a very long static shot of the
threesome that's happening, and you can see a crew member
sitting in the shot in the mirror. He's just sitting

(51:58):
there watching it and everybody sees him. And then suddenly,
about thirty seconds into the shot, he knows he's in it,
and you see him get up and go and people
people started like it. That genuinely got an applause break
from what I remember with that audience, because it's just
it's so noticeable, but like, that's also part of the

(52:19):
charm obviously when you're watching something like this, and yeah,
it it when a lot of people go to those
because they've shown a few hardcore things at the New
Beverly over the past couple of years, and I didn't. Yeah,
and I believe they I remember Joe Rubin introduced when
they did Farewell Scarlett, and again that also played really

(52:41):
well with the crowd, especially all nights on a fucking Monday.
But watching Passions of Carol that way, I it's the
only reason I skipped the Blue ray because I'm like,
you know what, I feel like I experienced it the
best way possible and it is a tough it's not
something you reckon. You know, these movies. Ultimately, in terms
of recommending them, most people who are shopping on the
site have a pretty good idea of what's for them

(53:03):
and what's not, especially when they try to jump in.
Letterbox is very good for this. You really can get
an idea when people watch this stuff. Who's reviewing it
on the terms they should be reviewing it on, and
who's like, oh, yeah, I actually didn't realize this is
what watching porno in the seventies would, This is what
I wouldn't get anything out of it, you know. So,

(53:24):
But yeah, I agree wholeheartedly with everything you were saying,
like it's not an erotic film, but I'm very glad
I watched it. Even if I watched it at home,
I would have been I would have been like, yeah,
this was this is exactly what I go for when
I kind of go diving into this world that's kind
of these are the waters I like to swim in.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Even though the experience watching it was often frustrating because like,
to me, like the move and translation from like you know,
Dickens to hardcore was so obvious and you just wouldn't
take it over and over and over again, like I'm
glad it exists, like it's so strange and singular and bizarre.
I will also say I'm really glad this release exists

(54:04):
because there's a commentary with Joe Rubin and the director,
and I learned looking the stuff up afterwards. A director
died in twenty twenty three, I think, so it's really
great that we managed to get a commentary and an
essay out of him. And he's just like a really charming,
interesting person to listen to. Some of my favorite moments
from that commentary is when tubular bell started playing and

(54:24):
he was just like, oh man, this is shameless, Like
I can't believe I did this.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
This is fucked up, and like.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
During the doll scene, fucking like, Joe Rubin is like, so, uh,
where'd you come up with this? Like who the idea
was this? He was like me, I don't know. It's
from my fucked up mind. What do you want from me?
Like he calls himself a degenerate, like constantly, hell yeah, dude, yeah,
I don't know. It is very entertaining commentary to listen to.

(54:55):
One of my favorites I've heard in recent times. I'm
looking at this cover artwork. I think people have accused
us of being AI, and I gotta say it does
look a little bit like it might be. But there
is a credited artist, and I don't know. Honestly, I
like the colors and I kind of like the vibe
of it, but I don't know something to consider. I guess,
I don't.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
I don't. I wouldn't. I don't think this is AI
because this looks like if so, this was a DVD upgrade,
And it's just it just seems like I get what
they're saying in terms of like it's just overlaying colors,
I guess, and and over what is the poster of
the movie. Yeah, but it doesn't feel unnatural to me
or anything. Maybe i'm looking at maybe my eyes aren't.
But but I don't know, I don't like.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
These are just kind of weirdly soft in some parts.
But it does kind of just look like it was
like an illustrative tracing of the I see what.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
You're saying, so least like especially if you look at
the woman's shoulder, it looks a little bit like the
shoulder and neck. It looks a little superimposed, I think,
But I'm not. I'm not going to accuse Rich Long
of being Yeah, Viniger Syndrome's AI agent, but it could
just be like colored pencil or something as well. I
don't know, but I do kind of see what you're
talking about if you look at your shoulder especially.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I do think it's a good primer on like what
the color palette of the film looks like and everything,
like the clock tower in the background and everything. It
looks pretty, and so does the film.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
So I have a particular interest when low budget films
use things like smoke and shadows to kind of cover
the budget a little bit. I think it's really interesting
when filmmakers do that. So I I think I would
like the aesthetic of this film from from of the
screenshots I've seen, and yeah, and it seems like a curio,

(56:36):
a cultural curio for sure.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
Is it is the look of it from front because
you know, the print that I saw was obviously a
print from it from back then. It's not a new print,
so it has this hazy look. Does the does the
movie have that or was it from just the fading
from the print? Like does the movie pop a lot
more on blu ray? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
I'd have to see to compare. I mean, there's definitely
a lot of smoke, there's definitely a lot of fog
machine going on. There's definitely like a very artificial look
to it on count of the sound stages and the
heavy lighting. But yeah, it looks pretty crisp. I don't know,
like the restoration is pretty good.

Speaker 4 (57:12):
The sound.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
There is one reel that apparently had some real damage
to it in terms of the sound, and they did
their best to clean it up, but it, you know,
it sounds kind of yanky. But other than that, I
wanted to last last point on this and then we
can move on. Is in the commentary, the Ghost of
Christmas Present is played by this very sort of histrionic,
sort of effeminate gay man, and you know, he was

(57:36):
talking about how like everybody loved this part and like
this always gets laughed and he was like yeah, And
then I heard a few years later that he was
arrested for like torturing and murdering somebody in like an
S and M scene or something. I was like, what
the fuck? Right? Looking that up, I couldn't find anything.
Oh Jesus Christ. You know, like he's like, yeah, he
was such a nice guy. I didn't think he was
capable of something like that. Okay, Oh, this is the

(57:59):
insane shit you hear when you, yeah, look into these
productions and everything.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
No, that's what I love. I mean, the backstories behind
this are just fascinating. Almost with every kind of major
movie in this world, it's it seems like there's always
something really interesting going on for sure? Is there one more?

Speaker 3 (58:23):
One more, Alexandra, This was my favorite of the three.
I actually think this is genuinely a very good movie.
I will also say this felt. I was watching this
with a friend of mine as well, and we were
both pretty confused at different parts of this, and I
was like, Okay, I think this is clearly like a
rough draft that just went straight into production in terms
of the script. But so it's a little rough around

(58:44):
the edges and some parts don't make sense, but it
is clearly higher budget. Like there's a great interview with
the producer on here where he gets into yeah, the
fact that they had a higher budget to work with
and that they got to hire more or less professionals
for this stuff. And it looks like a real movie,
Like it looks great, like it the cinematography is really good.

(59:04):
The uh it's lit really well, like these are not
givens in this sort of genre, you know, Like it
looks very professional and honestly, the actors are all pretty good.
Like they're asked to do a lot, both physically and
in their dialogue, and like I think they're all pretty good. Uh,
it's based off of some pre existing work. I don't

(59:26):
remember if it's a movie or a play or something.

Speaker 4 (59:30):
Oh, yes, it's I'll pull it up while you're because
I actually remember it too. And it's a it's a
Joseph Minkowitz movie, and I'm just blanking on which one
it is. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
Yeah, it's three Letters to a Woman or something like that.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
Yes, uh yeah, three letters to I want to say, possibly.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Eve, Yeah, something like that. Apparently nobody noticed when it
came out that it was just kind of a soft
adaptation of that.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
But a letter to three wives. I'm sorry, Yeah, okay, Yeah,
so it's that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
I guess that explains the framing device where it's like
a woman I don't know, it's like kind of narrating
from like a god's eye view with like her current
partner or something, and like it cuts in and out
in ways that are confusing. It's just strange. But yeah,
I don't know, Like it's it's just good. Like I
just I think like by the time I was finished,
I was like I actually think that was a pretty
good movie, like just straight up. I really enjoyed it,

(01:00:24):
and it does have the hardcore and the softcore version.
I skipped around in the softcore version just to kind
of see any differences, and they did.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
They the sex scenes are a lot shorter, but the
run time is longer, and so I didn't catch which
I mean. I think there were like full scenes that
are just in there that aren't in the hardcore cut.
As I was watching this, I realized, I don't actually
know the answer to this question. So let me ask you,
because you seem to be more knowledgeable about this stuff,
what is the reason for creating a softcore edit as well?

(01:00:54):
Like it's I assume it's for a different circuit of
theaters or for a different something or another, like for
a different audience.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
Yeah, so it depends on the movie, because the seventies
and the eighties kind of had different well, yeah, definitely
in the seventies, particularly in the late seventies, there was
an attempt to make a lot of crossover because you know,
like like stuff that would play midnight movies at like
not necessarily college campuses, but places where people would be
more receptive to that, like like Cafe Flesh style, but

(01:01:23):
with this one in particular, they actually made it for
the cable market because Cinemax and Showtime, like all those
channels started realizing that after eleven o'clock they this stuff
would get higher ratings. So like before, they started making
originals for those like the bedroomize movies and like that
kind of soft core stuff and shout out to We

(01:01:45):
Kill for Love that has a great you can really
chart the history of that that kind of market. Yeah,
it's very very long, so you can, and you can
break it up because it's like a video essay, but
highly recommend it for that reason. That said, with this one,
it definitely was made for the like the late night
cable where they could show nudity, but they obviously couldn't

(01:02:06):
show hardcore. Sure, and I watch and I watched both
of them. Admittedly, when I went to watch the hardcore one,
I ended up watching it more passively then than the
because I actually put on the soft core cut first,
admittedly because I wanted to see if I could program
it for the movie night I host now. And when

(01:02:28):
I watched the two cuts, what I did notice was
it took a lot longer to get to in between
the sex scenes, there's a lot more broken up and
there is a little more plot. I can't remember the key.
There is like a key scene somewhere, I want to say,
in the middle and towards the end where the people involved,
like the God Voice, if I remember correctly in the

(01:02:50):
hardcore cut, they show up at some point at the end, right,
or there's something where there was like a t you
kind of see where they're hosting from right, and I
remember that correctly. Yeah, if I remember correctly, in the
softcore cut, that is completely excised, Like the voice is
still there and there's still a lot of that going on.
But when it leads to that final kind of the
finale with the movie they're watching on the TV, that

(01:03:14):
is completely cut. All you're seeing is their reaction shots, which,
depending on how invested you get in the story, that
may be underwhelming or could be very funny.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
Yeah. I was having a hard time pinpoint because I
think it's like a decent amount longer, and if you're
cutting out sex scenes, like you're obviously going to be
adding something else to make up for that, and then
some and I couldn't quite figure out what it was.
It must just be like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Less edited.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
I guess, you know, like these scenes just last longer
and have more lines or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
For sure, and it's not boring. I actually thought, I
agree with you. I think it's a good movie on
both terms. I think it works. I think it's R
rated cut actually works really well. It's particularly in the
back half because I found that watching the hardcore version,
and this is probably also because I'd watch them so
not exactly back to back, but within a short amount
of time, my stamina was flagging a little more. And

(01:04:06):
I'm sure if I watched it the other way around,
I could probably say the same thing if I watched
the softcore cut second. But I was never bored by it.
I actually never reached for my phone was. I completely
enjoyed it. I think also for me because I know
who these actors are, kind of getting getting to see
them play in this kind of field like where they
kind of get to enjoy the acting part of it

(01:04:28):
more because they're also very charming. I mean, you know,
you just really get there's a reason why certain performers
were a lot more showed up in the more dramatic
stuff in roommates or you know whatever, whatever. The big
kind of landmark movies from that period because they they
were very good at playing to their strengths in these movies.

(01:04:48):
And I think Alexandra is a good example of that.
Everybody's having so much fun, but they're not phoning it
in either.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Yeah. I think if I ever, I mean, I'm sure
I will at some point come back to this and
rewatch it. I'll watch those soft cut the whole way
through and see how that kind of plays different to
me in my memory or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
Yeah, and it feels, by the way, one thing I
want to add, it totally feels like patient zero for
what softcore movies look like, like it has. The music's
a little you know that the music plays a little cornier.
The sensuality of it feels like it's for softcore. So
even if they're cutting around it or being a little

(01:05:26):
more like intentional with that, I don't know back then,
if it felt corner or if you were just like,
oh great, I can watch this while everyone in the
house is sleeping, Like you know, you always wonder, like
speaking of artifactually, like how are people approaching this movie
when they're watching it? In nineteen eighty four on a
twenty four inch Zenith TV in the basement or wherever they're.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
Watching, you know, as I'm thinking about it, because I
was thinking, like it kind of occurred to me because
I never really asked this question, was like, why would
you have a softcore cut of this? Like the people
who want to see this want to see those parts,
you know, like it seems strange to me, like the
person who actually would go to see something like this
for the plot. I mean, that's like us in retrospect
and like as like a historical thing, but like at

(01:06:09):
the time, you know, if that's like your option, like
that's sort of the reason why you would go. But
I could actually actually do see an intersection of people
that would go to a regular theater and see an
advertisement for something racier with like softcore scenes and be like, ooh, yeah,
that sounds like fun. I'd like to see that. But
they find themselves they would think themselves above actually walking
into like a like a pardcore theater, right for sure?

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
Yes, absolutely, And also I don't know this is this
part speculation. I never even thought to look into this,
but I would imagine also in certain cities that they
probably had a lot more because you know, a lot
of the laws for porn are based on morality laws, right,
they're like local, So I can imagine showing this in
the middle of like you know, Wyoming. You're probably not
going to have a porn theater. You're probably going to

(01:06:52):
need to have an R rated cut, even if it's playing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
I didn't think about that either, because like New York
City could get away with that. But for a long
time they were producing these films strain up illegally, and
so you would definitely open up your market quite a
bit if you had a literally like a legal cut
of the film.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Right, Totally, the whole I don't want to get too
far in this tangent, but the whole, like cinemax phenomenon
is fascinating to me because I remember growing up, I
saw so many Zelman King movies, the Red Shoe Diaries
and stuff, and like, you know, honestly, like they were
always to my eleven and twelve year old self, they
were always a little bit disappointing because it was never

(01:07:27):
as much as I wanted. But like they there's a
massive market for that. I mean, I don't know that
guy's retired very well just from making these kind of
suggestive movies. With a little bit of nudity in it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Oh, for sure it it. I think part of it's
because obviously the erotic thrillers that starred you know, Fatal Attraction,
Jagged Basic Instinct, Like a lot of them are mimicking
that movie. In fact, very rarely do they not mimic
that movie. It's it's an outlier if they don't. But
like Zalmon King was one of the few where it

(01:07:59):
it kind of was doing his own thing. And there's
a great kreen A Longworth covered that movie, I believe
in You Must Remember This. There there's an erotic nineties
and erotic eighties series on that podcast and there I
would say they're very essential actually for that. Yeah, it
goes really well with the Wee kil for Love fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Well, I'm trying to think if there's anything else we
need to talk about. We've covered some of the new releases.
We're talking about them. You know, obviously next month we're
going to get into some of the January releases depending
on what you can get in, So list, is there
anything else that we should talk about before we get
into the mainline stuff? Is there anything else on Yill's
mind today?

Speaker 4 (01:08:43):
Yeah, there's two things I wanted to mention one thing.
One thing is the Melusine Media Club. Okay, oh yeah,
you know there's the Vinegar Syndrome Media Club, which you
know is where you can get like exclusive slip covers
or things you can your points. They have started one
on Malu scene and they they've actually had their version

(01:09:07):
of that there for a little while. I know the
the that that just Franco double, the one with uh
was it Brigitte Lahi, Yeah, you could get that from.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
Your rules bar two and Dark Mission.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
That's right, which are oh boy, those are rough watches.

Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
They are rough. I found that, I think they're both
on One of them is on YouTube and the other
one somebody uploaded on plex or something, and I watched
them both, and man, I did not feel compelled to
spend three thousand points on that totally.

Speaker 4 (01:09:38):
Yeah. But but they recently put a movie called Hot
Summer in the City, which I did watch. So if
you guys are okay with it, I'd love to talk
about it, just for.

Speaker 3 (01:09:48):
Two I'd love to hear about it because I I
think it's on YouTube right and it's.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
Yes, it's also I believe, let's be honest, A lot
of these are on tube sites, you know, they're not
hard to find, but pornographically speaking. But that said, I
this also, and of all the NUBEV screenings, Quentin Tarantino
owns a print of this. As far as I from
what I have read, he is a has spoken about
this movie positively several times. But they did a midnight

(01:10:17):
screening a few years ago. I missed it, and I
was really kicking myself because I just even if it's
something that's disreputable, which I guess for people listening if
they don't know what this is. It is supposedly directed
by Gil Palmer, who directed Candy Goes to Hollywood and
worked with Carol Connors a lot and among others, and

(01:10:39):
she supposedly directed this, but she's later said that she didn't.
She just helped get it made or something. But it
is a film about a group of black ben in
Detroit who are trying to start at they're basically militants
and they're starting a race war, and they kidnap a
white woman who's just walking on the street after having
an argument with her boy friend and catching her mom

(01:11:02):
being double teamed by two guys. They kidnap her and
make her a sex slave. And this barely clocks in
in an hour, and I thought it was part of
the you know, they're giving it away. You can't buy
the movie, right, you have to use your You have
to use three thousand points to buy the blu ray.
And I thought, well, they must be doing that because
it's a bad Maybe the transfer they didn't have good elements.

(01:11:24):
Maybe you know, it's just even by melousine standards, maybe
it's something that could be a bit racy. I thought,
no pun intended. But it turns out the reason that
it is you have to buy it that way, well,
it's not buying it, you're redeeming it is because clearing
the music rights for this movie would be I don't
know what they went through for looking for mister Goodbar,
but that is probably child's play compared to what it

(01:11:46):
would take to clear the music rights for this movie. Yeah,
it is. It has one of the I'm not joking
when I say the soundtrack is full of fucking bangers.
It is, but set to the most vile scenes you
can imagine. There's there's a scene where this white woman
that they've they and it's funny because we're talking about

(01:12:07):
this movie and how uncomfortable it is. But it really
and you know, I use the term patient zero a
lot of like cuckholding in a racial porn, especially in
like the early two thousands and late two thousands. This
kind of laid the groundwork for it. I'd argue, like,
it's no more uncomfortable than what you'd find in those
kinds of scenes, with those like awfully named movies and

(01:12:27):
like and sites that still exist actually because there's clearly
a market for it. The difference though, is that this
is again just a very unappealing movie in terms of
like what you're watching. But to go back to the soundtrack,
you're watching a scene where a woman's, a white woman's
getting whipped by a black guy while Good Vibrations from

(01:12:48):
the Beach Boys plays, and then it turns into it
fades to everlasting love while she's having sex with two guys.
It's like that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's
a lot of other good songs. Can find the soundtrack
on IMDb, and it's transferred from the Negative. It looks.
It looks about as good as you know they could get.

(01:13:11):
Probably I imagine that negative wasn't well taken care of
because it definitely has some it definitely still has some
wear and tear on it. But you know, it's shot
in Detroit as well, so it's a regional exploitation exploitation porno.
And yeah, when I when I was finished watching it,
and I don't say this lightly, I very rarely feel

(01:13:32):
the need to take a shower after that was in
a in a bad way. It definitely is not a
pleasant watch. It's it's as repellent as its reputation suggests,
but you know, hey, it's it's being preserved whether you know,
I guess that's up to the viewer to whether or
not that's something worth a watch, but you know, it's not.

(01:13:52):
It almost doesn't feel competently made either. And it has
like a particularly really uncomfortable passage with like a mentally
handicapped black guy having anal sex with the white woman.
And that's yeah, I'll just leave it at that. Actually
that's the perfect note to kind of leave it on
to decide whether or not you want to you want
to watch it. I haven't met anybody who's thought this

(01:14:13):
was a good watch. I've talked to a few people
who saw it, and I heard it the when it
screened at the NEUBEV, there were quite a few walkouts,
to say.

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
The least, well, other than putting Tarantino right right, stayparently
for sick freak and loves this shit, which is the
least surprising thing I think I've heard about him exactly.
I don't know what if there's something wrong with my brain,
but everything you just said made me want to watch
this like more. I'm just like, I'm always looking for
like stuff that feels like it's pushing the envelope and

(01:14:43):
will make me feel bad, because for sure, I guess
there's something wrong with my brain.

Speaker 4 (01:14:47):
But you no, No, that's exactly what pulled me into it.
I was like, oh my god, I have to hear
about all of this. I didn't know much about the
music rights thing. I thought it was like maybe one song,
and when I when I started watching the movie, it
kicks right off with some real let's just call the
music very copyrighted, and it just.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Turbo copyright yeah, for an hour tracks back to back.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
Back to back to back. Yeah, and like watching it,
I had the same thought. I'm like, you know what,
I can't say I enjoyed myself, but yeah, this is
why we do what we This is why we play
the game right in some ways, and so whether or
not that's like worth the kind of you know, cashing
in your points and you know, and again it's something

(01:15:33):
you can find online first. I don't think there's anything
wrong with seeing if you're mileage, you know, because like
you said, your mileage will vary. You can you can
always watch it a little bit. Hell, some some VS
titles people will go on to be or wherever they
license them out to just to see if it's like
something they want to watch it first, just without the
two be ads.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
And so I mean, since they're not even selling this
and like they got to do this on the downlow. Anyway,
I would be interested if somebody has a rip of
this transfer anywhere and we could see the cleaned up version.
But I'll probably I've already found the I did a
quick google while you were talking and I found it,
so I might watch it. But yeah, I'm actually really
I'm really glad that you brought this up, because I
completely forgot about it, and I would not have had

(01:16:12):
enough points for it, nor would I've probably used it
for this since it is free online, and so I'm
glad that you were able to cover it because it
was probably in the same timeframe and I completely forgot
about it so absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:16:23):
And also just for people asking, there are no features
on it, it's just the movie with just the like
it literally, will you just jump right into it? There's
nothing else there, but I think, oh, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
I just I wonder what else is in because they
have just the most insane vault, and I'm sure they're
sitting on so much stuff where they're like that we
can't put this out, but we have it, and now
they have a way to kind of get around it.
I'm curious what else might creep out? You know?

Speaker 4 (01:16:48):
Same, Yeah, I'm hoping it's stuff that like where it's
kind of similar to what was the mainline release they
put out last year, that Nick Millard double where it's like,
I think, criminally insane.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Where you know Satan's Black Wedding too.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
Yes, great, I thought that was. I love those. Yeah,
but you know, watching them, you're watching movies that were
they had to do so much work just to restore
them to what you saw on your TV. And sometimes
I want I want something like that in grindhouse mode.
I don't get me wrong, I love getting my money's
worth on my ole ed and like seeing Colors Pop

(01:17:21):
on Highapacia Lead Double or whatever else is, you know,
whatever else they're putting out. But sometimes I do want
something that feels like they had to they got the
reels out of a dumpster and just scanned it directly.
Like there's something about seeing it in that mode Sometimes too,
that kind of adds to the experience, Like.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
The Easter Egg on a corruption that was one of
the grimiest viewing experiences I've ever had. I felt fucking
gross after that finished movie.

Speaker 4 (01:17:49):
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, that's a I need to revisit that.
I haven't seen it good since I saw on BHS.
I remember really liking it. Yeah. I guess the last
thing before you get into mainlines that actually is the
perfect segue to the other thing you're asking the stuff
to talk about. I guess one thing I think people
listening would want to know is like where to start.
I did put together and I don't know, Celesti, if

(01:18:11):
you want to jump in on this too. Just I
think a good list of stuff that like is good
entry level and good like you know, advanced level and
kind of very immediate. Yeah, so some of them we've
talked about. I mean, I think for for anybody who
wants to see like just a great film, I think
Through the Looking Glass and a Woman's Torment are that's

(01:18:33):
top tier right there. I think another artifactual one that
kind of is in conversation with Hot Summer in the
City is Joy Have you had a jam Man?

Speaker 3 (01:18:44):
I've that one had the craziest slipcover and I was
just like, I don't know about this, and so, but
it has stayed a more bid curiosity since then, and
I'm probably gonna watch it at least at some point.

Speaker 4 (01:18:55):
I highly recommend it. I'll just I was just kind
of kind of list the titles. But for this one,
I do think it just needs a little context, which
is just that it's a parody of death Wish that
came out a few like in seventy nine, and the
idea is Sharon Sharon Mitchell plays a high school senior
or I believe, yeah, a high school senior who gets

(01:19:15):
sexually assaulted at her house. She's a virgin, and halfway
through the assault she starts to really like it, and
it scares the two assailants off when they see that
she's enjoying it. They run away, and she starts just
any guy on the street, she just starts jumping their bones,
and it creates a city wide movement of women just
cornering guys and fucking them, and well, I guess raping

(01:19:39):
them would be the right term. But and it's considered
like a vigilanti act, and there's a very uncomfortable scene
where a black cop tries to straighten her out, and
it even ends just like Death Wish where she ends
up in Chicago, but instead of firing a fake pistol
off like Bronson does, Fox four guys in the men's bathroom,

(01:20:02):
and it's it's it's just I think it's like a
great example of what we were talking about with Artifact,
where it's this movie that clearly, even today I think
is transgressive for a lot of the wrong reasons. But
you'll find a lot of stuff in there that I
think you're watching it, you're like, oh, this is actually
very clever, especially for its time as because it's still

(01:20:23):
doing some stuff there that's like you could say, it's
relatively progressive.

Speaker 3 (01:20:29):
And it's a it's rape and revenge. It's rape as revenge, right,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:20:34):
Exactly exactly and like seeing seeing it this way too,
because I did try to watch it online to see
how I'd feel about it, and every Tube site it
looked so shitty, And when you turn on the Blu
Ray it really is like a revelation. And Sharon Mitchell's
interview on there is great. So yeah, I think that's

(01:20:55):
a that's a real that's a good intermediate one. And
then I think you had mentioned I think is like
when I think of vinegar syndromes like Peakorama or any
of their porn, that's like right at the top as well.
Sex World great. I think that's just that's just a
great that's probably the more accessible that Blonde Ambition. And

(01:21:17):
I'm forgetting one other one from the four oh. I
think Stiff Competition is also really fun and depending on
your I guess for the viewer, it's like one thing
that's unfortunately unavoidable with a lot of these is Ron
Jeremi's in them. You're just gonna see them. Sorry, you know,
it's it sucks. But a lot of the you know,
Cecil Howard stuff is great. One that you've talked about before, Chris,

(01:21:41):
that I think is also just a really fun one
is bat Pussy. That's that's a group watch. You get
some friends together. It's a party movie through and through.
And then for like more adventurous people. On the out
of print side, a movie that I saw a couple
of years ago, and it's not you know, it's funny.
A lot of the stuff on the secondary market can

(01:22:01):
be expensive, but this one hasn't been as much. Is
A Labor of Love, which is a documentary that VS
restored very very early on in they're like really early
days about a crew that thought they were going to
shoot a narrative film and it turns out the financiers
want them to shoot a porn film, and the cameraman, well,

(01:22:23):
the documentarians, they have unfettered access to the whole thing.
And it's just fairly over It's barely an hour long.
It's like an hour and ten minutes. I don't want
to spoil any of it. It's just it's it really
has to be seen to be believed, Like what happens
with people who none of these people, none of these
people are porn performers, and who gets roped into having
to do certain scenes when the guys can't perform. Of course,

(01:22:46):
an overly confident actor who can't get it up, the
director who like is just so uncomfortable with what he's making.
It's just it's a really really great film, and it's
really beautifully restored. The fact that like in twenty eleven
they were doing, you know, like criterion level work really
speaks to I think the company's like mission statement and

(01:23:10):
then I think that was I think that was it.

Speaker 7 (01:23:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:23:11):
Oh and obviously the shot on video stuff I got
to give a shout out to, like the Charles Pinion stuff.
Red Spirit Lake is a great watch. Red Lips and
it's so crazy, but it like it feels so genuine
in its punkness. You know that I don't know what
that term means anymore sometimes, but but that I think
is a great example of it. And like you know,

(01:23:33):
Scooter ver Craze stuff, particularly Shattered Dead and Red Lips,
which was I believe Donald Farmer. Those also have great
features where they talk about like at the time, doing
the kind of transgressive stuff they were doing, and alongside
like new interviews, so it's, uh, yeah, those are I

(01:23:54):
think all the ones that are really really worthwhile that
are in print. Still there's other ones like Barbara Broadcast
and opening a misty Beethoven that are also like must watches,
but I suspect those will get mel You seen release.

Speaker 3 (01:24:09):
Re release, Yeah, I watched Barber Broadcast recently actually, and
I really enjoyed it. It's good, beautifully shot.

Speaker 4 (01:24:16):
Yeah, that's Radley Metzker who just had the image. And
you know, I so I briefly mentioned, you know, showing
the softcore cuts of these films. So I showed that one.
That was the second. The first film I showed was
sex World, and it played great to the crowd. But
the reason I want to talk about Barbara Broadcast and
showing that one was that that film had gotten rescheduled

(01:24:39):
on the calendar, and so we showed it the week
of Labor Day, like that Wednesday, and only two people
showed up that had made reservations and the other people
who came into because it's at a restaurant that has
a projector and a cannabis lounge, and a few people
showed up to eat and smoke, and the host working said, Hey, uh,
we're going to be showing the softcare cut of this

(01:25:00):
adult film if you want to sit and watch it.
If you want, we'll move you no problem. So they
were like, yeah, you know what, we'll watch it, and
so it ended up being about about fourteen people watching.
Only two were there for the movie, and everybody stayed
for the whole thing and had a fucking blast. They
it killed so hard and it's so good, and that
speaks to the power of the movie because these are

(01:25:20):
people who I don't know what their background is with porn.
They just came in to fucking get stoned and eat
some good food. And you know, they don't charge for
the movies. And so when when they walked in they
I went up to just thank them for sticking around,
and they were like, oh, this was a blast. We
thought twenty minutes in we were like, man, maybe we'll
move and then we just before we knew it, the

(01:25:41):
movie was over. And that made me so happy. So yeah,
so hopefully that gets a Melo scene release soon because
I think that is It's a beautiful movie. It's one
of Metzger's best, and it's a great example of like
you know we talk about some of these are like
corruption and a Women's Torment. You know, these these were
downbeat movie and Barber broadcast opening a Misty Beethoven sex world.

(01:26:03):
Those are like good comedies that are also at times
genuinely erotic, but also at times just genuinely fun, Like
when you're watching it, it's so fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
I don't think there's a huge if you get to
a point where you're comfortable watching nudity, which some people
are just not there, and that's sure, that's not really
that much you can do about that. But if you're
comfortable watching nudity, there's really it's a lot of the
exploitation movies have similar beats, whether it's sex or action
or horror, it's a lot of it is the same

(01:26:36):
beats in rhythm, right, And so I think absolutely, I
do think it's a pretty easy transition into these movies
if you already like a lot of the like I
don't know, Spaghetti westerns of Polici Touchi movies, or like
the Edro Gudo movies from Japan, like a lot of these.
You know, if you're already into this stuff, it's really
not a big leap to get into the Golden Age
hardware titles.

Speaker 4 (01:26:57):
I agree, Yeah, I think you're right, because there's people
who like, you know, I mean, there's there's there's Pinku,
there's Roman Porno, and obviously they all kind of have
different A lot of it has to do with their
cultures and what their kind of transgressions are. And I
would say I would argue Pinku obviously is like way
way more like you have to be really oriented in

(01:27:17):
a specific way, you know, especially anything anything with Naomi Toni,
you know, that's that's that's I think a certain for
a certain type of viewer. So I do think that
like a lot of it's more digestible than people think.
And luckily everything I've shown and it is a little

(01:27:38):
bit of a branding for me because I've been running
a stand up show at the Pleasure Chess in West
Hollywood for like almost as long as I've been doing
stand up, which is about four coming up on sixteen years.
The show's been around for fourteen years. So when the
owners told me they were opening a restaurant next door
and asked if I wanted to do anything, I mentioned
the movie night. You know, I had a lot of
people coming who came to watch the show. And if

(01:27:58):
they're watching stand up at a sex shop, they're obviously
going to be comfortable watching softcore cuts of hardcore porn.
And when they and they've all said, like, this is
very they really enjoy it. And I also try to
show something that, you know, living in Los Angeles, you're
really spoiled with repertory cinema. In fact, I'm probably one
of the only people who doesn't get their money's worth

(01:28:18):
on amc A list because you know, sure, I'm sure
Hard Eyes is fun. I haven't seen it yet. I'm
gonna try and get to it, but it's hard when like, well, yeah,
and exactly, I'm like not in a rush to see it,
and like I could go see it, but then also like,
I don't know. Last week I went to a double
feature the weekended open, I went to a microcinema here

(01:28:40):
called Whammy that was showing and Arthur Breston Arthur Posson
Junior double feature. So I was watching a double feature
of gay porn with an audience that wanted to see
a double feature of gay narrative porn, and like, so
it's you know, I try to The reason why I'm
programming too is because I feel like it's something you
really can't get even in LA. That stuff has it's
life limitations to a couple of screenings a year at

(01:29:02):
NUBEV and a little bit of here and there at
other microcinemas, and thankfully like the programming scene. The reason
I was able to start this was because Phil Blankenship,
the program at the New Beverly, was like, oh, yeah,
here's what you can contact. And then I met Brett
Berg from AGFA, who was like, yeah, you know, he
gave me the list of what they have, and that

(01:29:24):
eventually lead led to the strip picks of booking some
stuff through Steven Myrowitz, and then eventually Liz Purchell, who
I think is one of the most invaluable people to
this type of film history and preservation. You know, she's
doing her own thing and does some really great programming.
If anyone lives in New York, her stuff, in my opinions, unmissible.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:29:48):
Yeah. Sorry, I hope that wasn't too much of a tangent.

Speaker 2 (01:29:51):
I want people to go support you. I mean, it's
clear you have a passion for this, and I think
your curation game is probably very strong. So anybody in
the LA area go find this and support you.

Speaker 4 (01:30:01):
A thank you, thanks man.

Speaker 2 (01:30:04):
Yeah, absolutely well, thank you for that. I this episode
something that I think turned into something really I'm really
happy with I like the way this went down. So
thank you Celeste and Eli both for preparing so much,
especially because I know song about this world.

Speaker 4 (01:30:18):
Yeah, absolutely, any chance to talk about it. It's like
I mean, I'm sure you could tell just from the conversation.
It's like I very rarely get to talk about it
outside of like more conversational aspects. So it like truly
is like opening like a like one of those peanut
cans that has like the snakes that pop out, and
I'm just like, here's a bunch of information all at once,
you know, like a big list of stuff that I'm like,
I like have a hard time even keeping up with
myself about it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:38):
Yeah, it was really fun. I really appreciate your expertise
because I feel like I'm like I probably know about
more about this than like ninety nine percent of people
at this point, but i still feel like I'm starting
to learn, and like I'm just kind of taking the
audience with me as like you know, other experts. I'm
just like referring to other experts in my own kind
of discovery and education here, and so it was really

(01:31:00):
ed to get to speak to somebody so knowledgeable about
this in that same Vein. I had one question for you,
because when I was looking into what Quality X is,
I think I just said it's a theater or something.
I'm like, I couldn't find any information about it. Do
you know anything about what Quality X is or why
they have their own line or whatever?

Speaker 4 (01:31:15):
Great question. I also have been wondering the same thing.
That's one of the only things that's eluded me. And
the best that I could tell was that Quality X
is a production like a distribution company or a production
company that existed back in the day, because when I
I was looking for vintage posters, some of the posters
had the Quality X logo on the bottom corner, and

(01:31:39):
so I don't know if it was like a chain
the same way. And I feel like it's something I
should have looked into. But it's like one of those
things where it's like we kind of were talking about.
I keep every time I think I've discovered everything there's
to discover, there's like a whole new rabbit hole to
jump down. But what I do know is I believe
it's the New York equivalent of like, so you know,

(01:32:00):
so here is the Pussycat Theater. One thing I learned
was like when Sex World was being released theatrically, they
actually won the Pussycat Theater in particular one a landmark
case that they could advertise it inside of buses in
the LA area, which was apparently up until then a
free speech issue. And I suspect it's so Pussycat being

(01:32:24):
their own chain. I think Quality X seems to be
like the the Big Apple version of that in some capacity,
so they probably had like theaters and you know, it's
almost like the studio system like I think it was.
But yeah, I wish I had like a real answer,
and now I kind of want to go find it.
But yeah, that's what I loved about being on this too,
because it's like you're asking the right questions, and these

(01:32:46):
are questions that even for all the stuff that's stuck
in my brain and that I know of and that
I'm constantly reading about or listening to a commentary by
you know, Ashley West or Casey Scott or Liz Burchell,
I still feel like there's stuff I'm I haven't and
I think the older I get, there's just less room
kicking around in here. That's I I'm really feeling it

(01:33:07):
now because I'm turning forty and like, I'm I think
that's part of it. But yeah, I as far as
I can tell, Quality X is a line that's based
on some kind of New York similar to strip picks,
but more like oriented to the actual theater or a
production company.

Speaker 3 (01:33:24):
Yeah that makes sense.

Speaker 5 (01:33:26):
Awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
Well, thank you all both so much. I think I'm
ready to switch to the mainline stuff. But I think
this has been an awesome episode, So thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:33:36):
Thanks, thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (01:33:38):
A lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (01:33:39):
Also, Oh, one last shout out deep inside Anny Sprinkle
for anybody who just wants to see a fuck film
that's loaded with features. It would be criminal to leave
that out because I think any sprinkles like a great
example of what's aged really well with porn in terms
of like how ahead of the curve she was. Sorry,
I hope it was okay to jump that in there.

Speaker 3 (01:33:59):
So I have a yet, I do have it, but
I will co sign that just on the fact that
I love her and she's great.

Speaker 8 (01:34:09):
Several years ago I covered firsthand the incredible story or about.

Speaker 3 (01:34:13):
To see recreated in this motion picture.

Speaker 8 (01:34:17):
It is a human horror story of ghastly proportions and
profound reverberation. But because it is human, perhaps we can
learn something from it, something of ourselves, of our own
fears and needs. But please let me warn you. The
events have been recreated in detail. Nothing has been left

(01:34:41):
to the imagination. It is not a story for the
squeamish or the faint hearted. Now that you stand warned,
we can proceed with a story.

Speaker 9 (01:34:53):
It is the story of Ezra Kabb, murderer, grave, Robbert
necrophiliate perhaps, or as you may remember him from those
stories of long ago, the Buncher.

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
On one side, well, thanks against the last. What a segment,
and Eli, thanks for doing that, and thanks for sticking
around for the mainline stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:35:21):
Yeah, hey, thanks for having me. I mean, as much
as I love the porn inside, which I do, I'm
also a big, big fan of the mainline stuff. So,
like I mentioned, I started subscribing last year and I
was lucky enough financially to be able to renew it
for this year.

Speaker 2 (01:35:35):
Awesome. Yeah, it's so interesting. I mean, I know there's
you've we talk about this in some capacity on every episode,
so I don't want to like bang the drum too much,
but I do think it's interesting to see the way
that the company is growing and you know, I think
like the movies that are gonna we're going to talk
about next month, which was their February releases announced. February

(01:35:55):
announcements feel like to me that they're kind of proves
to me that the still vinegar syndrome at their heart,
you know, like we had this like Spoils of Black Friday,
and then January like subscriber Week and all that like
back to back, and then October was horror month and
just like Boo like major releases. But then I feel
like February kind of takes it back to them being

(01:36:15):
vinegar syndrome.

Speaker 4 (01:36:17):
Couldn't agree more. I I know you. I've told you.
I listened to your listened to your pod and I
was listening to, uh, the last episode you did on
your own, and you were right, like, I think it's
gonna be like a secretly good month because I feel
like the carpenter is something you would totally find if
you were just like, you know, back when they were
just doing a handful of releases a month and there
wasn't you know, and like uh and even you know,

(01:36:40):
and obviously just Franco anytime you throw just Franco, and
I feel like that's that's a boutique catnip right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
uh and I think even their the mainline, what's it
the Joel Delany, you know, that's a that just seems
like a I haven't seen it, but you know, you
put something like that on four K, you've got my attention.

Speaker 2 (01:36:56):
Yeah, definitely. Well, one of the fastest ways to get
my attention is to release Cat three stuff. It's been
spoils of riches in the last two years really, as
so many companies releasing Cat three stuff. But for years,

(01:37:17):
you know, I would always talk about Ricky Oh being
kind of like my gold standard here, and I was
super pumped that Lamb Nichoi or Lamb Nikai, there's a
bunch of different names, was able to get on the
January releases. So they put out Seventh Curse from him.

Speaker 4 (01:37:35):
Yeah, great, Cat three kind of like a Lamb like
not a landmark, but I could say benchmark, I guess
is probably the better word. It's it's super funny kind
of when you're trying to tell people or sell people
on Cat three, I feel like Seventh Curses are great.
That's that's a great exhibit A.

Speaker 2 (01:37:52):
Yeah, and it just this month additionally became kind of
a well I was gonna say accidental, but I doubt
it's an accident, but a Challeian fat double feature as well.
And it's fun to see him represent it so well
because he's got you know, now that Stout Factory has
the rights to that Golden Princess catalog, We're about to
see a whole bunch of Chalian fat, which is exciting.

Speaker 4 (01:38:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:38:14):
But yeah, Like he's just such a versatile actor and
so great and I think Seventh Curse he plays that
kind of Indiana Jones type, right, that's right, and he
I just love the way the movie goes. It's super fun.
Like I don't it's not quite as bad shit insane
as Ricky Oh, not that anything could be, but like
he's still super fun.

Speaker 4 (01:38:35):
It goes back to like what like what I was
just saying that, Like I just feel like you're right,
it's not I think there's you know, it's not a
bowl of syndrome or a lot of the a lot
of the Anthony Wong, you know, like when you're watching
something like that, but it's still I think for people
who want to take that journey, I think this is
a good a good start, because I think it'll tell

(01:38:56):
you whether one if you want more or not. And
also like I think it makes it easier for people
who want to bring other people into the fold to
kind of enjoy it, like it's such a great that's
a great group watch right there or on your own,
Like it's just a very fun fun movie to have.
I haven't seen the other one, which from Nepal.

Speaker 2 (01:39:14):
Yeah, which from Nepal is the double feature there, and
that's not that's a Chalian fat movie, but it's a
different director and it's it's we'll get into it in
just a second because it's different. But you know, the
thing that I think is I do want to call
out every time we talk about Lamb Ni Kai or
Lamb night Joy is like he's a cinematographer first, so like,

(01:39:37):
you know, he's one of these people that has a
flair for the visual end, seems to be really interested
in practical effects and like visual effects and so those
are you know, spread out throughout his movies. There's a
couple of his movies that he's directed, like The Cat,
which I hope get a good release. He's on the
Eurotic you know, Erotic ghost Story just recently got a release,

(01:39:58):
so he's more of his stuff is getting attention, which
is great, but there's I view like his movie is
including this one. I think they're great, like party movies,
like there's always yeah, and this one has Maggie Chunk.
So even if you're just like if you're coming off
kind of like an art house Hong Kong art house movies,

(01:40:20):
you can watch it Chelia and Fat in a Maggie
Chung movie, a Maggie Chung movie, which.

Speaker 4 (01:40:23):
Is yeah, totally, yeah, it's really fun, Like how much
stuff she appears in from this like you get you
get her in that, you got her in Police Store,
you get her in in uh, you know, eventually get
her in Heroic Trio. Then also you have her in
you know, in the Mood for Love and you know Olivia,
like uh, what was it clean? And you know those

(01:40:44):
kinds of movies like it's such a what a what
a fucking filmography?

Speaker 2 (01:40:47):
Man? I know, Yeah, she's she's good and everything she's
in she has like a memorable role, like even later
on she made hero but like she's fantastic in that
and yeah, I don't know, yeah, no, I agree, she's great.
And Chilian Fat is great. I think it was interesting
in the commentary for which from Nepal, I guess we
can just talk about him together, and the commentary for

(01:41:08):
which from Nepal, they were saying that Frank Jang was
talking about the fact that people don't really understand but
at this point in his career he was box office poison.
He like the studio kept trying to make him work
and like it just wasn't hitting, Like his movies were
just like not hitting the way that they wanted them to.
And even which from Nepal it wasn't. It was like

(01:41:31):
it's something where people come back and like it now,
but like at the time, it was just not a hit.
And so it's interesting that he kept getting like the
studio tried to make him work for so long, and
it's hard to imagine film history without Chilian fat No.

Speaker 4 (01:41:48):
I know, Yeah, my god, that's that's crazy. I actually
did know that. I didn't know he was like considered.
It's hard to think of him as like box office poison,
especially in retrospect exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:42:01):
Yeah, And I mean, have you seen but you know,
this is one that's struggled to get a US release
because of rights issues, But have you ever seen the
Better Tomorrow movies by chance?

Speaker 4 (01:42:09):
Oh yeah, I really early, like when I was when
I was sixteen and I finally had my own money
to spend on things I would, I'd go to Blockbuster
and believe it or not, they fucking had it. And yeah,
at the time, well, because VHS and DVD were a
little i think rights back then because they weren't as
old the movies, so it's probably a little more accessible.

(01:42:30):
But yeah, I did see both of them, and I
remember watching them back to back, and especially that scene obviously,
because before that I saw Face Off, I saw Hard Target,
I saw all those things before I saw the Better
Tomorrow movies. So when you see scenes of characters with
their backs to each other turn around and just do
the fucking double forty five shooting it, you're like, oh,

(01:42:51):
this is where it came from, and it looks fucking
it even looks cooler here watching these fucking guys. You know,
it's funny to see that, like big actors like johns
Walter or Van Dam do these scenes and actually it
feel the flavors better, not surprisingly where it first started.

Speaker 2 (01:43:08):
Yeah, oh totally. Yeah, that's the thing I think that
you know, a lot of this stuff Hong Kong. We
talk about the martial arts stuff, and I mean rightfully
so and I totally get it. But I am happy
that a lot of the gunplay movies are getting more
attention now because a lot of the crime stuff from
Hong Kong is just like amazing, it's so good.

Speaker 4 (01:43:28):
So good, and and what it has to say about
like corruption, specypically, you know, especially man Johnny Toe's stuff
that is top tier stuff for that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
Yeah, I think the so if if you're talking about
just specifically focused on which from Nepal and Seventh Curse,
for me, Seventh Curse is the better movie. I think
it's just more my style. I don't know, like I like,
you know, when because they play on that whole Indiaana

(01:44:00):
Jones kind of even Bond a little bit. There's like
a Bond kind of character, and then there's like a
more of like a more of an Indiana Jones type
character in the movie, right, And they have a lot
of the tropes in there, like from both types of movies.
But then once they start to unlock some of the

(01:44:21):
spiritual stuff, it just that's when you get to have
a lot of the fun in the movie that you
would expect from a movie like this, and to me,
that's more my style. I guess like I had a
lot of fun with it.

Speaker 4 (01:44:32):
Well, you know the reason, I because I could. You know,
we had mentioned it before when we were recording with Celeste.
But you know, the even for subscribers, a lot of
the orders went out really late. Mine came in literally
the day before the February announcements, and so I I
had to kind of like pick which ones to watch
in any kind of order. And and when I was

(01:44:52):
talking to a friend of mine about that that this
particular double, he kind of said, like, well, Which from
Nepal is a little more straightforward compared to compared to
Seventh Curse. That's clearly like the marque title of the two,
but not to say like you actually said, like he
was like, which from Nepal's fun, but it's not like
it's just not what you know, it's Seventh Curse. That's
the one that kind of really really if you're gonna

(01:45:15):
watch one, that's the one to watch.

Speaker 7 (01:45:17):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:45:17):
I totally agree that The one thing I will say
is that Which from Nepal has some really good wirework
and really good not quite woshup. But it's like in
that vein of like martial arts, because essentially it's all
about this witch who comes in and h but like
a witch in a good way, I guess. And they
she thinks that Challean fat Is is like the next

(01:45:39):
kind of air to their kingdom, and he fights it
for a lot of the movie, like he doesn't want
to be he doesn't understand, like that's not part of
his story, you know. And but she as things go on,
she gives him more of these powers, and you kind
of unlocks more of these powers and discovers them. So
it's a pretty fun movie, like it does you get
to watch his character kind of fight this, you know.

(01:46:02):
The eighties had so many of these movies where people
like stepped into their destiny. Yeah, and it fits into
that really well because this came out in nineteen eighty six.
So it is a fun movie for sure. There's no
I don't want a bad mouth at all. Like I
had a lot of fun with it. But Seventh Curse
just goes a little bit more into that kind of
batshit territory that I want out of this, I guess.

Speaker 4 (01:46:26):
Of course. Yeah, I mean that's what that's I feel
like sometimes it is like when you get these big
the kind of and I'm sure we'll talk about this
with the other one of the other releases from this
month where there's like multiple movies on it. You know,
there's usually the one that is really going to pull
you in and the other ones. You know, for the viewers,
the mileage may vary. And but you know, I think
that's also kind of one thing with a lot of

(01:46:49):
these movies that I think people make the mistake about
And I wish I had actually bought this up during
the during the talk about the male you scene stuff.
Is sometimes people gauge the good and bad parts of
a movie, like I sometimes it's not the right terms
to view a movie on like you would like like
like you know, rash them on just for lack of

(01:47:10):
a better example. But you know, when you're watching these movies,
you're you're like, is this a CAT three movie? Okay?
And then in CAT three terms or with the kind
of movies you're watching, does it meet the criteria there
if you had a good time or if you you know,
I think to try and clock it as like in
the terms of just like it's some kind of objective.

(01:47:30):
I thinks a lot of the mistake that people make
when they when they're starting out with boutique cinema, you know,
or I should say boutique labels, you know. And so
it sounds it still sounds like which from Nepaul still
fits the criteria. It's like you're saying like it's fun,
and I think that's that's sometimes better than like good
or bad, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:47:49):
I mean you're speaking to the choir on this one.
I mean I I yeah, that's what I look for
more than anything.

Speaker 4 (01:47:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:47:55):
In fact, I've had this list of because I basically
when I started Letterbox right in the pandemic, I don't
know what year, Somewhere in the pandemic, I was like, Man,
how am I going to like clock all the movies
I've seen in my life? So I basically just started
over and saying like I'm going to clock from here,
you know. So I put together a top one hundred lists,
and in twenty twenty one or whatever, it was just

(01:48:17):
the first hundred movies I saw, and then slowly I'm
moving stuff out, but I'm having to reevaluate a little bit.
If I want I kudu up top like right, Ikudu
is such a foundational movie for me, and I do
think it warrants a place in one of the best
movies of all time. But if I'm going to have
a choice of sitting down with Ikidu or sitting down
with Seventh Curse, like I'm probably gonna go to Seventh Curse.

(01:48:40):
And of course, well I'm kind of reconciling with that
right now of how I want to even display my
top one hundred.

Speaker 4 (01:48:46):
Right right, Well, that's that's funny you say that because
I I've thought a lout about that too. I think
a great example of that is when you're watching like
like you know, several in particular, just to kind of
detor to them for a second, their box set game
has been unbelievable, true over the lot, you know, and
a great example totally. And like when I was watching

(01:49:08):
I went to a double feature of The Big Boss
and fuck the second Bruce Lee movies Escaping Me. It
wasn't Enter the Dragon, but it was. But the point being,
like watching his movies, you're watching this incredible screen presence,
right but at the same time that Bruce Playtation box
that that they put out I will revisit so many
of those movies before I revisit a Bruce Lee movie.

(01:49:30):
He just didn't have the time to really make a
true a masterpiece that isn't like influential outside of iconography,
you know what I mean. Like they're they're so like,
excuse me, you know, I'll watch The Dragon Lives again
or Enter Three Dragons. They make no sense. They're cinematically speaking,
like just what you truly couldn't if you put a

(01:49:52):
gun to my head and you're like, all right, explain
to me this movie. I'd have to tell you to
pull the trigger on all of them to my brains out.
But I had the ninety minutes I'm spending there is
so much more fun. And I remember watching The Big
Boss again, and I know that movie very well, but
watching it with a crowd, even sitting in a theater
where I have to engage with that, I could feel
myself kind of tuning out here and there because I'm

(01:50:14):
just like, is it because I know the movie very well?
Or is it just the fact is it's just not
as entertaining as something as like watching a guy who's
supposed to be him. And just to bring it back
to what we're talking about, like with a lot of
what comes out from the mainline or the sub labels.
I think they fall under that same criteria.

Speaker 2 (01:50:31):
No, I totally agree, and I'm learning to just kind
of trust it. And I think that's actually a perfect
segue into Deranged, because Deranged as a title, so I
should mention seventh Curse and which from Nepal are for
eighty nine if you're tracking spine numbers, and they are.
It's a double feature, and I guess it's a Golden
Harvest double feature if you want to say it that way,

(01:50:51):
Like they're not calling it officially anything, they're just putting
two movies together. But that's probably the ti in or
a Chalian fat double feature if you say yeah. But
then so four ninety is Deranged, and that's one that
I had heard a lot of buzz about, but I
had not seen before. Have you seen Derange? Did you
get to see it?

Speaker 4 (01:51:08):
So I did get to watch it here. I hadn't
seen it before either, and it is one of the
best mainline releases I think I've seen in like a year.

Speaker 2 (01:51:17):
Holy shit, like that movie when it right around the
fifty minute mark, when it turns, you're just like what
and then it just gets crazier and crazier and like
it's so you know, it's it's kind of like that
Edgeen story which has been knocked off on right or
re redone a bunch of times with like not well
Psycho was one, but what's the big one.

Speaker 4 (01:51:38):
With Texas CHAINSAWX changed. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:41):
Yeah, and Silence of the Lambs even a little bit
was like kind of off of that. But like this movie,
it's almost like to me, I always say, Manhunter, I
like better than Silence of the Lambs because of the
feel of the movie. It just feels dirtier and more dangerous.
And yeah, feel the same way about Derange. Like that movie.
Its just it's so creepy and like and I don't know,
it's amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:52:01):
Yeah, it's well so you know, like Texas Chainsaw obviously,
that's when it's just so rarefied. Like how many horror
movies are like that movie. You know, there's really nothing
like it, but Deranged. I yeah, when we watched it.
I watched it with a friend and we both were
like he We paused it probably around the forty minute
mark because I just had to go pee and I

(01:52:22):
was like, you know, but when I came back. I'm like,
this is a great movie, right, and he's like, yeah,
I love this. We just couldn't believe how good it was.
It just has this kind of specific feel to it
because it also, I believe was shot in Canada and
it so the winter. The winterness of it feels really
like you really feel that kind of It's actually a
great January movie, like in that same way that you

(01:52:44):
know how Fargo kind of captures that January snow. Yeah,
I never thought I'd be using in the same sentence
as Fargo, but it has that just in terms of
that vibe. It feels the same way, and it's so
effortless and it's comedy mixed with it's kind of for
some people, that fourth wall breaking. I think I didn't
know if it bothered me at first, but I realized,

(01:53:05):
like you know, now, in like the true crime era,
it kind of almost is like an antecedent making fun
of that kind of sensationalistic reporting, right, And and what's
his name, Blossoms, the actor, the lead actor, Roberts Roberts Blossom. Yeah,
what a fucking performance.

Speaker 5 (01:53:24):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:53:25):
That's stuff for people who don't For people who don't
know that's the old Man and Home Alone.

Speaker 2 (01:53:30):
That the neighbor, and it adds a special twist to
his character in Home Alone.

Speaker 4 (01:53:36):
Yeah right, I mean you know, if you didn't if
you didn't know that he packed up and became a
good guy, you'd be at the end of the movie,
that'd be a perfect sequel. Unofficial, but yeah, I I
fucking loved it. The four K transfer obviously is great.
It's always to their fucking high standards, and I've noticed
they're doing more I guess for people who care about
the difference from HDR, they're doing the Doolby vision stuff

(01:53:59):
more now. But yeah, I just I a lot of
my top VS releases from last year were from like
sub labels and like like you know, Through the Looking
Glass who killed Teddy Bear? Little Darlings. But as far
as the mainline goes, this is like, truly what a
great discovery for me.

Speaker 2 (01:54:20):
And I think, just to put in context in case
people are curious, to say, we've been with the fourth
wall breaking. So this movie to me is kind of
three things. It's like, there's a narrator who's who actually
walks onto a scene. A couple of times throughout the movie,
especially in the first half. I think he does it
less in the second half, but before the horror really
kicks in, he just walks into the scene and like

(01:54:41):
sits down or stands and talks and like explains what's
going on. And so at first it is a little
bit unnerving. It's like, is this cheesy, like what's going on?
Like you don't really know? But then separately, it's a
movie about this this sort of like forties fifty year
old probably fifties year old fifty year old guy who's
lonely and like his mom dies and he's she was

(01:55:04):
kind of his tether to reality, it seems like, and
so he goes and takes her out of the grave
and sets up sets her up in his house and
keeps talking to her. And then there's a specific scene
in the movie where he's getting he's encouraged to go
on a date and he goes on a date with
this woman who knows his mom, and he says that
he's been talking to his mom and she's like, oh,
you've been talking to her, I've been talking to my

(01:55:24):
ex husband, and like that's to me. That's where the
movie turns, and then it becomes just a straight horror movie,
like really unnerving horror movie from basically like that kind
of on.

Speaker 4 (01:55:39):
That's the key word is I think unnerving. It's not
a scary movie, but it's very unnerving. Also by the way,
that scene that you were describing with the seance with
this lady is played really for laughs in a way
that you would I feel like in Lesser Hands would
have been a really unfunny scene. But for some reason,

(01:56:00):
it like the movie just sings in a way that
like it just really you don't expect it to and
then yeah, and then it just becomes decidedly more vicious
or at least more and you're right, it's unnerving. It's
just this uncomfortability, which I think is a lot more
what's the word I'm looking for like it. I think
that actually is a lot harder to pull off than

(01:56:20):
necessarily scary, because I think scary you're trying to get
a reaction, right, whereas like just sitting with a certain
type of uneasy feeling is so hard to pull off
and you really sit with it until the very very end.
Just that's there's like so much in the last I
don't want to give it away for people who haven't
seen it, but there's like just the scene with the
girl in the back of a pickup truck that is,
you know, like it's one of the few times I

(01:56:42):
thought to myself, I'm like, you know, in horror movies,
people like, well, why don't you just jump out? Or
why don't you you know, and you totally it plays
in a way that it plays out as logically as
something like that should you know. So, yeah, that's just
what a great I'm so so happy that I just
I watched it, and I think.

Speaker 2 (01:57:00):
It's probably worth calling out Tom Savigni did the special
make up for this, and he's all over the release,
which is awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:57:07):
Totally, and you see it that that is that's Savini
work right there.

Speaker 2 (01:57:10):
Yeah, yeah, high quality of work. He was wrong. This
is like a second or third thing you ever worked on,
and so it's young in his career, but you can
see his attention to detail. There's a yeah, I don't know,
I don't, I don't. We could do a whole podcast
just done arranged. I could easily talk about this movie
for another hour. But to me, this is one of
those ones where it's just like a must own, like
don't try before you buy, just get it, and like

(01:57:32):
complain to me if you don't like it. But I
feel like everyone would like this.

Speaker 4 (01:57:36):
If you don't like it, you're wrong. I don't know

(01:58:03):
what it's just who I want that.

Speaker 5 (01:58:29):
Donald's okay? Okay, Samos and.

Speaker 2 (01:58:42):
He from Piano okay. So four one is a triple feature,
so they did Chilian fat or a Golden Harvest double feature,
then Drain, so that's three movies, and then four one
is three movies. So the six movies in January as
part of the subscriber week, so kind of makes sense
that they would do it that way. And it's three

(01:59:03):
Spanish horror movies. Curse of the Devil, Vampire Demon, witch Child,
and The Vampire's Night Orgy were the three. One. One
of them has Paul Nashi as a star, even though
he's not a director, and obviously it's a werewolf movie. Yeah. Uh,

(01:59:24):
this set to me is interesting. What have you seen
from from this set?

Speaker 4 (01:59:28):
So I just watched the first one, which is Curse
of the Devil. I didn't get to the other two yet.
These are more the thing about like the Nashi movies,
you know, I think I think Werewolf versus Vampire Woman's
super fun. I really really like that PS release, and
I've seen a good chunk of Nashi movies, but you know,
like when even when he's not cooking, it's kind of
the thing you can kind of just sit in it,

(01:59:49):
you know what I mean, So that I can't I
can't say this is something that you could recommend to,
like to convert somebody or like for first time watchers
for sure, but I think most people who are and
it's it's tough to say because you know, like with
the Keep and Good Bar, that for sure brought new
eyes to this company, you know, like in a company
that that is already pretty well known. But I think

(02:00:10):
that that definitely the releases they put out over the
last couple of months, I think really got a lot
more attention. And so you know, people watching in January
what they're releasing. I feel like this is the one
that the mileage will probably vary the most in terms of,
you know, if you're not already kind of waiting in
these waters. That said, I still enjoyed it, but it
was definitely at like a low hum, you know what

(02:00:31):
I mean, Like it was a very it was a
good watch, but it's it sounds like I'm saying the
movie is not good but or like you know, but
it is like it's not quite for real heads only,
but it's it's it's getting towards that line, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 2 (02:00:45):
No, I totally agree with you. I'm not. I don't
there's a we'll talk about I think the best one
in the set is actually not Curse of the Devil,
and well, I'll talk about that in just a second.
But this is like, to me, it's like a there's
there's kind of like maybe Hammer a movie or like

(02:01:05):
you know, like Columbia, some of the Columbia horror stuff
or Universal horror stuff. There's certain there's certain movies that
are just sort of like you can fold your laundry.
The stakes are never super high, and and to me,
that fits pretty well within that category. Side yeah, Vampires
Night origy, I want to talk Well, I guess to

(02:01:25):
mention one of the interesting things about the features on
this is that Paul Nashy's son does an interview here,
a new interview, which is kind of cool. And then
there's a director of the Sidkis Film Festival who's all
over this release. He's on I think maybe all three titles. Yeah,
he's on his name is an hell Sala and he's
cool because he's like a historian and so he really
like he's really geeking out about Spanish horror, and like

(02:01:48):
he really puts him in the in the right context,
even though they're all kind of short features like like
quick hitters. He's really he does a great job of
kind of putting it in how big these were at
the time, and like how big Paul Nash he was
at the time, and like what his star he was
and all these kind of things, which is cool to
hear about because we don't get that perspective from from
a lot right totally. Yeah, Vampire's Night Orgy I think

(02:02:11):
was okay as well. It's like it's one of these
ones where I'm trying to think of a good thing
to compare it to. Essentially, there's like a bus that
breaks down and they have a or and they have
a they kind of get it started again, but they
need to it's getting late at night, so they want
to rest and they can either take like a long
drive or go into this short drive into a town

(02:02:33):
that's not on their maps, and like weird things start
happening when they go into this town and then it's
questionable if it's even a town that's on the map
or not. Like what's the one two thousand Maniacs from
HGM Lewis. Yeah, yeah, Marshall guard Lewis kind of in
that maybe kind of subgenre. Uh, it's it's good as well.

(02:02:55):
I had a good time with it, Like it's I'd
say the ranking for me was like I enjoyed Curse
of the Devil like least, and then Vampires Night Orgy next,
and then Demon which child was my favorite one from
this set. So it's an Exorcist rebuff, but they did

(02:03:17):
some really so you know, the whole point of the
Exorcist was like there was this battle between science and
religion and so like a lot of them, Exorcist is
really more less about the exorcism and more about that
mom just trying to figure out like how to care
for her child and using all the scientific and like
medical means to get there first before she would ever
consider an exorcism, And like, I think they touch on.

Speaker 10 (02:03:40):
That a little bit, but they they focused more on
like the occult in this and there's like a physical
not like a like a physical not medallion, but like
a physical like an ambulet kind of it's like a it's.

Speaker 2 (02:04:01):
Like a little toy that they give her. And this
to this little girl, it's like a revenge. The whole
thing is based on revenge because the father was somebody
who murdered the like headwitch in that area. So they
in order to get revenge, they put this little magical
item into a stuffed bear with the little girl and
they have basically like control of the little girl from

(02:04:23):
there on out. So they make her into this like
demonic force. And there's some really like good kind of
makeup and some fucked up scenes with this little girl
which you probably wouldn't see in an American movie. So
they go a little further than you probably would be
able to. I mean, I say that that the Exorcist,
she's she's pretty right.

Speaker 4 (02:04:42):
Yeah. I was gonna say she's doing some fucked up
shit to herself with a crucifix, but no, But that's
the exception, right, Like how often do you get that
in American movies? You're right, It's that's why all those
like that, like exorcisploitation era that came after it like
was so fucking bat shit. And you know, and watch
these that's also nice to hear that because you know,
Chris of the Devil's kind of the marquee title, right, Like,

(02:05:04):
that's the one that leads the pack. So you're like,
even though it could be an arbitrary order, but it
does seem to be kind of the main focus because
obviously Nash turns into a werewolf about halfway into the movie,
and that's where that's where things start to really pick up.
But like the other ones being nice surprises because sometimes
when you watch the first one, you're like, Ooh, what's
the rest of the set going to be? Like, you
know what I mean? And so it's nice that they're

(02:05:27):
all different enough and in different ways. Because I also
think that with those kinds of sets, similar to the
Lost Picture Show, depending on the kind of viewer you are,
I think the ones that you end up liking the
most on these kind of speak the most to your sensibilities,
if that makes sense, or like the ones you graft
on to the most. I think that's just as revealing

(02:05:47):
of a person as it is the movies itself.

Speaker 2 (02:05:50):
Totally. Somebody in the discord mentioned that shout out to Crolo.
They mentioned that they think this is better than but
there are elements that work better than the ex I
can't go quite that far, but it I do kind
of understand what they're saying though, because they do some
they use the girl in ways that are more I

(02:06:13):
think extreme than they do. Although the Exorcist has like
these quick hits with the girl that are that are
pretty extreme, right, this is more like a very malicious,
like planned attack on this little girl. And it's like
it feels like you get to see all the nefarious
stuff play out, and I don't know, I think it

(02:06:33):
is it is very very good.

Speaker 4 (02:06:35):
That's yeah, that's awesome. I'm really looking forward to watching
them then, because those are the two that I still
got a of the handful of titles I haven't seen
from January, those are those are the top of the list.

Speaker 2 (02:06:45):
Awesome. Well, moving right along to so Well, I should
say those are the mainline titles for the month. So
we end the month on four ninety one. I am
curious to see if they you know, I don't know
if if Joe and the gang think in terms of
spine remember, Like I mean, I think you could argue
clearly they do because they're they're doing it that way.
I don't know how much stock they put into it,

(02:07:06):
but I am curious to see what they do for
five hundred because we're getting there pretty soon. It is,
they're gonna be March or April with it are going
to hit, but maybe April that should hit five hundred.

Speaker 4 (02:07:18):
Yeah, I'm curious about that too, because I don't know
if if I had never thought to look at what
four hundred was to see if that was like a
like a big title, like a big surprise, or like
even before that. But like, yeah, I do feel like
just based on you know, when Subscriber Week when they
posted like what's coming up, there's some really vague stuff

(02:07:39):
in that stretch, I remember looking at it being like, oh,
there's gonna be something here. They don't want to give
it away whatever the big Well, I think also because
people can get really good at guessing this shit if
you you know, so I think maybe that's part of it.
And so like I also wonder that too, especially leading
up to the holidays, because I know they mentioned somewhere
in that that post that there was like a big
box set in November, horror box set, and so yeah,

(02:08:03):
I'm hoping it's they're going to come out guns blazing,
But like for me, personally, what that means is more
like a title that is a welcome surprise, not like
in the In the in the Keeper, the Good Bar
kind of way, which are great, Like I think those
are great releases and important releases, but like for me,
I like it to be something closer to like The
Lost Picture Show, where it's this surprise that, like a

(02:08:24):
lot of it's going to be a real pleasure to watch,
whether the movies work or not, you know, they're like
just something where you're like, I still had a good
time watching it, Yeah, discovering it.

Speaker 2 (02:08:33):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, the discovery piece have come to really
depend on them for same. We talk a lot on
the discord and I just in generally talk a lot
about trying to figure out the personality of these different
sub labels. Yeah, Vinegar Syndrome Labs is where we'll start.
They're up to fourteen now with taror Nauts, and this
is the one to me that I mean, I guess

(02:08:54):
maybe the cleanest way to think about it is they're
truly treating it like a lab because every title is
so different.

Speaker 4 (02:09:00):
Yeah, totally. Because they do what they have the polish
you know, the tetrology, and then they had Flesh and Fantasy,
which was a real that was a real pleasant discovery
for me. I love their So I didn't see this one,
but I did see neither the scene nor the sand,
and I thought that was a very it fits right
in with that too, where it does feel like, yeah,
you know what, a lot of the stuff that's in

(02:09:21):
this in the lab section, when you really think about it,
does kind of fit vinegar syndrome, like there's like a
specific kind of just enough. Actually, what's a better example.
Bloodline's a great example. That movie did not work for
me and for a single second for a lot of people.
It's a tough watch, but it is like, oh, this
does have a touch of vinegar syndrome. Right, There's like

(02:09:42):
this about ten minutes that the movie makes up this
this like almost jolloesque plot of like a topless women
getting strangled, But then the rest of the movie is
like a classic Hollywood who done it? So I feel
like that you're right. It doesn't have like a it
doesn't have like a through line in the sense of
like a pattern of releases, other than it still does

(02:10:03):
have kind of what they've become known for.

Speaker 2 (02:10:06):
Yeah, and I think it's funny that you frame it
that way, because Terror Nauts is one where I think
it's I would never assume this would be a Viegra
Sin release, Like this is pretty much a straight Keinot release.
It's a It's it's another one from Amicist Productions. It's
a quaint sci fi like everything shot on a sound stage,

(02:10:32):
a little bit of external shooting, like they very cheap
sci fi effects. There's a little robot that comes in
and like the whole premise of the movie is just
these people are trying to communicate with the outside world
and uh, with the with the universe, and they get
a hit and then they get sucked up by this
spaceship and then they get put through a series of
tests to measure their like intelligence and strength, and then

(02:10:53):
they asked to like fight this battle and then like
but it's all very much like a like a TV
pilot that like an unreleased TV pilot where you can
see these characters coming back and like going on different adventures.
You know.

Speaker 4 (02:11:07):
It sounds like, uh, like, what's the one I was
thinking of that got a four K A couple? It
sounds like a Beata from not a Vaters from Mars.
Is it Abats from Mars one of those where like
it just you know, it has that kind of like
g whiz yeah kind of feeling to it.

Speaker 2 (02:11:20):
I like that kind of stuff. I grew up liking
a lot of sci fi, so I had a great
time with Tara Nuts. But there's not really like like
they it's played pretty straight.

Speaker 4 (02:11:30):
Like it's like that's that actually makes it more fun?

Speaker 2 (02:11:33):
Yeah, I think so. And like the robot that comes
on is super cheesy and like just goofy, and like
his arms his like little lights get excited when he's
trying to say yes, and silly stuff that you like.
You know, it's another one of these ones that you
can just fold.

Speaker 4 (02:11:46):
Launderson R C Cola D two sounds like a cheap
R two D two rcquel it's what it sounds like.

Speaker 2 (02:11:55):
Yeah, that's exactly right. But yeah, I mean I don't
I have no idea if I would call that a
must buy. But I think you'll know if if you
like that kind of sci fi stuff, it's it's perfect.
It's right up pure ally. Otherwise I would say skip it,
because I mean there's nothing special to it. But I
like that stuff. I'm glad I own it. I'll probably
see it again, and it's one that when my son

(02:12:16):
starts getting older, I'll show him if he wants to
get into something. Yeah, let's see so jumping completely around,
So Vinegar Syndrome Pictures would be next. They've been on
an interesting run. So they're up to nine now, and
I think it's you know, they've just been on a

(02:12:37):
really interesting run because they started out with Sensor, which
I don't even know fully like how they were engaged
with that movie.

Speaker 4 (02:12:44):
Yeah, I was confused by that one too. I know
they put it out, but it felt more like a
like an acquisition rather than a production. Yeah, compared to
like same thing with like Scary of sixty first and
even Sick of Myself. That's right. Yeah, that's the other one.
I say because I remember I would see those like
I'm like Hulu and stuff, and like they obviously played
theatrically and for the most part, I don't think it

(02:13:06):
happened with Censor, but I know like a handful of them,
especially I'm very lucky being in LA they usually will
run a print of those, they strike prints of them.
They didn't, they didn't from Black Eyed Susan, but they
did screen it here, so I did get to see
it here, and Street Trash also screened here, and a
couple a couple of Scary of sixty first, and there

(02:13:27):
were a couple others. But yeah, it does feel more
the more recent ones are actual, like in house productions
that like they they're they're more involved in. And I'm
so glad, I know we're talking about Street Trash, but
just to go back, I'm glad they they got Scooter
McCrae back back behind the camera on sixteen. I personally

(02:13:47):
really liked Black Eyed Susan. I felt it was the
movie strange Darling wanted to be in terms of its transgressions.
Not a popular opinion apparently, but you know, in terms
of what it's trying to do. The actings a little
more varied in the the but it's just as well
photographed and it it. I think Scoot mccraye really knew
what he was doing. And I think too, because he's

(02:14:11):
so limited by the budget, a lot of it's through
implication and so h so it and I'm sorry, and
we're supposed to be talking about Street Trash, so I'll okay, Yeah,
I just wanted, like, I think there's enough in that
movie that's that really leaves you with you have to
go home and think about some of that stuff. But
you know, and it's really dark. He takes you to

(02:14:31):
some pretty dark places. And so I I that's like
the ideal, kind of the platonic ideal of what that
kind of movie should be, you know. And so that's
just speaking more to like vinegar syndrome pictures. You know.
I know for people the mileage can vary on newer movies,
but I you know, I people really loved Sick of Myself,
And I know Censor at the time when it came

(02:14:52):
out had some heat and yeah, did you did you
watch Street Trash?

Speaker 2 (02:14:57):
I did, but I'm curious, what do you mean Sensor
had some heat? Sorry?

Speaker 4 (02:15:00):
And then I'll well, I remember Censor being was a
COVID release, like like it came out a year after
the pandemic, and I just remember that movie. And again
this could be la brain talking, but I remember that
movie playing here, like I think Draft House ran it,
and I remember I think it was a big shutter
drop if I remember correctly, and I could be wrong
about that. Maybe it did go right to it, maybe

(02:15:20):
it went to Hulu or something, but but I I
remember it being like one that was a lot more
promoted on like a lot of my friends were. I
just saw their letterbox reviews for it. Yeah, so maybe
maybe it's maybe it's an insulated idea of heat, but
I just remember it being a little bit more of
a like I think there's a reason that movie went
out of print on their slip side.

Speaker 2 (02:15:41):
Oh heat in a good way, you're saying.

Speaker 4 (02:15:43):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry that that's what I meant, Like,
oh yeah, oh you thought I meant. I thought you
thought you thought I meant the other way around. Heat,
like the movies a controversial right right right, And I
was like, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (02:15:56):
I guess his head impaled. I mean, that's kind of
but there's nothing creed too crazy about it.

Speaker 4 (02:16:00):
No, no, in those terms, I think Black Eyed Susan
is the Barty Clear.

Speaker 2 (02:16:05):
I totally agree. If any of them is going to
actually be a video nasty, it would be a Black
Eyed Susan that not so. But street Trash is going
to be polarizing. There's a lot of people that are
not gonna like it. Yes, I like guy Uzzy Body Horror,

(02:16:26):
I like it, and I like Society from Yusna. There's
there's some os politation movies that fit within that kind
of like body horror genre that I like a lot.
So I had a good time with Street Trash, and
in fact I don't. I've reached out to Ryan Kruger

(02:16:48):
to see if he can come on here and talk
about it, because I actually think the special effects are
really good, Like the practical effects are really good.

Speaker 4 (02:17:00):
I agree, Yeah, it looks it's very goofy. I so
just a little oh sorry, you were gonna say something, go.

Speaker 2 (02:17:05):
Ahead, No, I just I think it's like for people
that love trauma and are just like okay with trauma,
I think this is a nuss. Not that Ryan Kruger
is trauma, but it has a similar feel to it.
I think, like a higher budget trauma film. And for
fans of body horror and just that that like goopy, oozy,
pussy kind of gross body horror, I think you'll have

(02:17:28):
a great time with this. That's all.

Speaker 4 (02:17:30):
Oh yeah, I mean I it just a piggyback on that,
you know. It's funny. My a friend of mine had
said that he always thought like the original Street Trash
was the best trauma movie they never made, And I
think that's very spot on. I also think the Original
Street Trash is like a really like it's very rarefied
where it like and I know that sounds pretentious to say,

(02:17:51):
but it's the only movie from that period that like
really hits this point where there's not much like it, right,
it's it's it's it's one of those movie that like
because one of the types of comedy that I personally
can't stand is like the the people who the the
idea of being like an equal opportunity offender, because I
think that just makes that that bullet proofs your comedy

(02:18:12):
to be like, oh, if you're not laughing, it's because
you don't get it right. And Street and Street Trash,
I think, bypasses that in a way where it's so
if you if it's somebody who it's not their thing,
they're gonna fucking their brains are literally gonna melt no
pun intended, you know, watching like these really mean spirited,
nasty scenes. But something about the Original Street Trash works

(02:18:33):
so well for that. I also saw it at eight
years old, which was too young. I'll even say I
should not have watched it at that age. I shouldn't
have watched somebody get their dick torn off in a
in a and then be played like keep away from
but it it's so good, and so I think anybody
to take that movie on is very brave to want

(02:18:53):
to remake that because it's it's such a specific and
I some people might not see that movie that way,
but I thought it was really nice to see the
practical effects, like just absolutely you know, and the fact
that they shot it on film and that they have
a film print. I think that stuff's really important and
I hope VS keeps doing that.

Speaker 2 (02:19:12):
Yeah, And there's a really good interesting interview with the producer,
this guy named Justin Martel. He was a producer for
Eight Eyes as well, and he's been a producer for
maybe even Black Eyed Susan, I don't know, but he's
been engaged with him recently, and he talks about the
whole process and how many different drafts they had of
this and how they were going to like the whole

(02:19:33):
process of trying to remake Street Chess, which is cool.
And then once they had a story, they reached out
to Ryan Kruger and he was like, hell, yeah, let's go.
And then in order to make it just different enough,
they shot it in South Africa to kind of give
it that different It's like different enough, even though the
story is going to be the same. It's like the
characters are speaking in a different accent and it's placed

(02:19:54):
in a different city, and it's like, you know, it
feels different enough so you can kind of have some
fun with it. But yeah, I think Ryan Krueger is
somebody that if he can get a screenwriter. I mean,
I don't know this about him, and maybe he's gonna
argue with me, but like he's it just seems like
he's so gifted visually. They're like, if he had a
screenwriter that sort of could put it together and package

(02:20:16):
it in a way, I think his movies could make
a lot of money because they're just like, this is
a highly entertaining film, even with its flaws. It's very
I found it very fun. But yeah, some people just
don't like trauma stuff. So what are you gonna do?

Speaker 4 (02:20:32):
Yeah, you can't win them all.

Speaker 2 (02:20:36):
Okay, speaking of early movies that influenced future movies, let's
go on to VSU. Yeah, it's crazy that they're already
up to number eleven, but they put out nineteen ninety five. Yeah,
a guy that had just come off of a huge

(02:20:58):
success with lawnmower Man and was given the helm to
another VR movie called Virtuosity, which unfortunately was not a
big success. And I don't really understand it, because this
movie is really fun.

Speaker 4 (02:21:13):
A one thousand percent you're talking to a so, you know, nineties,
this type of nineties cinema is I can I can
watch it all day. It's like it was very not
just influential I guess some VR stuff, but just influential
on what I watched, you know. And so I saw
this in theaters. I was ten years old. I saw this.
I saw this twice in theaters. I saw it on

(02:21:34):
opening day with my friend. We bought tickets for something else,
and we snuck in, I believe we bought tickets to
The Net, which came out the week before that, the
Central Bullock movie, a much less exciting movie about logging
on than Virtuosity. And then the next week we went
and saw The Net to finally see what and we
were born out of our minds, and then we snuck
into Virtuosity for a second time. Yeah, it's just a

(02:21:57):
great you know, talking about artifacts and stuff like the
nineties are also its own artifact, because that was a
certain type of studio where you can make these kind
of mid budget movies that had like really great practical
effects mixed with this really weird primordial VR CGI type shit,
and and you know, when you're at that age, it

(02:22:17):
looks so cool, even if it doesn't exactly line up
with reality, the reality part of virtual reality. And like,
you also get two actors who were, you know, Denzel
and Russell Crowe, not quite yet at the height of
their powers, but still pretty well known and could draw
what was probably considered at the time a modest box

(02:22:39):
office you know what I mean, or at least some
kind of a win, and you get to see them
in these types of roles that they you know, Denzel
doesn't even really play outside of Ricochet. How often did
he do something like this in the nineties, You know,
you get mute.

Speaker 2 (02:22:54):
I don't know why I went on MUTI yeah, no, exactly, Yeah, oh,
I totally agree. He's not really the bad guy.

Speaker 4 (02:23:01):
How often do you get a scene of like of like,
you know, Denzel, there's a scene where he gets his
fucking arm blown off and he's with one arm just
going through shooting people in a fucking right right subterranean
tunnel and accidentally kills like a journalist.

Speaker 2 (02:23:14):
Yep, yep, yep. No he and I think that there's
something in what you're saying that I really liked about this.
Both him and Russell Crowe were like, I was gonna
just just quick. I wanted, I was checking something. That's
why he had done Malcolm X bite now, so I
think Denzil was probably well known, and so it's even

(02:23:34):
more interesting that he chose to do this. Maybe he
was looking to break into like new areas of his
career or something. But they both were unhinged in their
own way, and like I think, especially Russell Crowe, it's
interesting seeing him just basically play like a comically overacting
like he's he goes so hard here and it works

(02:23:57):
like he pulls it off. I think he's a ton
of fun. Is this like kind of proto agent Smith
type of like VR bad guy that comes in and
tries to become human and doesn't really fully understand how
to do it, and it's just like raw because they
feed his brain, they train him on serial killers is
kind of the thing, right.

Speaker 4 (02:24:13):
Right, Yeah, it's basically like if because you know clearly
at this point, Terminator was so influential, and the two
T two came out and became even more more influential.
You know, obviously when he's like eating the glass to
regenerate and stuff. And like one thing that I think
really well and also this movie what I love is

(02:24:35):
it's supposed to be a commentary on how people consume violence,
and it's like the most gleefully violent movie. And and like,
you know, the whole ratings thing at the end of
the movie, that that hole or in the near the climax,
but like, also I think that you're you're right. Denzel
had obviously been known because he did Malcolm X, and
he also had gotten an oscar for Glory a few

(02:24:56):
years even before that. And apparently, and this was cursory
research I did a while back on the movie, I remember,
but it stuck with me. He did have enough pull
to change some stuff because apparently in one of the
earlier drafts or even up to shooting the movie, there
was supposedly a love scene between him and Kelly Lynch,
and eventually they he decided to cut that because he

(02:25:20):
didn't think audiences would respond well to it. And I
think I think he made the right call, ultimately, just
because for the type of movie it is. But I
think that, like also during that period when it is
such a shame that a movie like this tanked because well,
or at least didn't do as well as it could have,
because it is just immensely entertaining from beginning to end.

(02:25:43):
And I'm so I thought it was going to be
a mainline release when they were announcing like Virtual Insanity,
I'm like, Oh, it'll probably get one of those boxes
like the Keep, But I'm glad it has like a
full I even ordered to protect her for it. That's
how much I like the movie. Those VSU protectors on
on it so I can have it displayed and not
get any dust.

Speaker 2 (02:26:03):
Yeah, No, that's awesome. I think it's I think it's
one that I mean, I guess you may want to
try before you buy, just in the sense that that
whole nineties VR thing is. It is dated graphics, and
it may not be your thing, I guess on some level.
But I think there's a lot of fun, even in
the way they try to make the VR look like
blood and look like there's just some charm to it.

(02:26:26):
I guess it's like I find it very like it's
like a very charming kind of movie and very sincere
in what he's trying to do.

Speaker 4 (02:26:33):
Yeah, I agree, wellheartedly, I think that, And I think
it's great that it has like a real packed Blu
ray with features on, like you know, in terms of
getting Brett Leonard back and because he went on to
do a lot of virtual reality, like like I forget.
I think it was like t Rex Back to the
Cretace or something like that. It was a thing that
played on Imax a lot before Imax became more consumer friendly,

(02:26:55):
cool like an educational thing, and it was like a
v and I could be wrong about the title, but
there was something from that period where he worked on
like a VR thing and it was just fun to
see something like Beyond the Mind's Eye transmuted into a
like a real like an action ripper that's like really
garish and weirdly, you know, the effects were dated. I

(02:27:17):
feel like before they even finished cutting the movie, it
just so but so it really adds to it. Yeah,
it's it's it's a really uh it's a shame that
like like you're talking about the discord, like seeing people
a lot of people didn't like the movie they're like, oh,
I don't care about this being a VSU release, and
I don't. I don't know how well it's selling. But
I feel like this in my head, if you had
told me this was coming out it was a day

(02:27:38):
one by, and I would have guessed that it would
have I don't think it would have done the keep numbers.
How many things would hit that, But like I would
have thought it would have been close to uh to
running out of the boxes. But there's still at over
two k from looking at the website.

Speaker 2 (02:27:51):
Yeah, no, that's still it's still so selling slowly. I think, well,
it's hard to say because they updated the website so
you can't see true stock numbers anymore.

Speaker 4 (02:28:00):
That's right, Yeah, you can only see if it drops
below like two k.

Speaker 2 (02:28:02):
Yeah, they fix the glitch, which is unfortunately maybe it's
maybe that's my fault for bringing up I hope not,
but but yeah, no, I think it's It's interesting to
me how you could go from something like The lawnmower Man,
which made fifteen times its budget and was like universal

(02:28:23):
success on every single metric, to this, which had more
star power and like fairly like universal action story. Like
there's nothing really weird about it. It's not like, yeah,
it's not like it's bad screenwriting, Like it's fine. I mean,
it's very serviceable. So I don't know, you just never
know what's going to hit. I guess.

Speaker 4 (02:28:42):
Oh, and it's better than lawnmower man by by not
just a mile I'd say, I'd say ten miles exactly.
But but it has some good features. It has you know,
and you get I haven't listened to the commentary with
Brett Leonard, but it's moderated by Jim Branscom from Cinematic Void,
who runs a great programming series here in LA. A
lot of the repertory screenings are Attender. Actually his programming.

(02:29:05):
He showed up. He was the one who showed Black
Eyed Susan. That's awesome, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:29:09):
Yeah, he's a yeah, he's a really good historian if
you get a chance to hear him. And I don't
know if how much you know about Walter Chow, but yeah, yeah,
that's just like Butter like when he speaks and writes,
he just he's like a poet. I like a yeah,
big fan of Walter Chow. So yeah, no, I agree,
there's a ton of writing, a ton of interviews. There's

(02:29:31):
a whole featurette they made getting the cast back together,
or at least talking about the cast. So yeah, I
don't know. I think Virtuous is a fun one. The
last one of these that I saw. We can talk
quickly about the other ones, but sure, the last one
that I saw was the cinematograph title Bang the Drums Slowly,

(02:29:55):
which is up to number twelve, and then Child's Play
number thirteen, and then there's two more in February, which
is going to be fourteen fifteen, so they're going through.

Speaker 4 (02:30:06):
Yeah, yeah, they've already beat BSU.

Speaker 2 (02:30:11):
But I you know, Bang the Drum Slowly is interesting
because I think, you know, there's certain movies like have
you ever seen a movie called Warrior with Tom Hardy
where it's like about.

Speaker 4 (02:30:21):
Oh yeah, the NMA movie with the yeah, and was
Joel Edgerton the other guy the other that's right, Yeah, yeah,
good movie.

Speaker 2 (02:30:28):
It like it's kind of not really a sports movie,
right like Nick No Dad, and like there's just a
ton of like it's just like a very emotional movie
about masculinity and like family love, and like there's a
lot of stuff it does. And I think there's some
movies that are use sports as like a backdrop as
opposed to being like a sports movie and bang the

(02:30:48):
drum slowly. I think fits in that camp because it's
really it's about a professional baseball team. They did not
get their rights to use the name, although they're wearing
Yankees jerseys, which is a little confusing. Ah, that is interesting, Yeah,
or at least like something that looks very close to
a Yankees jersey, but they're not called the Yankees. But

(02:31:09):
it's essentially a pitcher who's like this all star, like
he's like the King, and he has the ability to
negotiate contracts, and there's some contract negotiation scenes and in
the movie as it starts, you find out that he's
trying he actually negotiates that Robert de Niro, who's not
doing great as a catcher for him, is on the

(02:31:31):
same team as him, and they never they go together,
like if he gets traded. De Niro's traded and you
don't really know why. And as the movie plays out,
you find that I don't I don't think this is spoiler.
I'm trying to think of this is spoiler. It's no, No,
it's not a spoiler because you find out in the
first like thirty minutes or something, so de Niro basically
has like a condition where he may not live. He

(02:31:52):
doesn't know how long he's going to live, and so
like it becomes this really sweet story about this extremely
much show environment of like professional sports and like guys
trying to like hide information about that would be damaging
to de Niro's reputation and like still working within that
system to like keep them going. And then he even
like gives him some tips and makes him a better

(02:32:14):
hitter so than he is having a good year. And
its just but there's a lot going on to where
it's like I think sports is more of the backdrop
as opposed to being like a baseball movie. And it's
it's great. I liked it a lot. I had not
I am a huge baseball fan, so I was excited
about this because it's one of the ones I had
not seen. But I was quite blown away actually with

(02:32:35):
how good it was. It's it's it's even though there's
a lot of baseball in it. I think a lot
of people would like this.

Speaker 4 (02:32:40):
I'll tell you, man, in terms of you know, we
talk about discoveries and stuff, and I know I hinted
at it earlier, like Cinematograph their releases, I have, you
know some of them I've seen. I mean, Dangerous Game
is a terrific movie that absolutely is worth your money,
especially if you like able Ferarra. But and you know,
obviously Red Rock West is a great little neo no

(02:33:01):
I mentioned it before. You know, Teddy Bear release of
the Year for me and Little Darlings was up there,
but like even the ones I weren't, wasn't as familiar with.
A great example is joy Ride. I went into that thinking,
you know what, man, I'm probably my arms weren't crossed,
but I was like, this will probably be just a
good three star watch for me. I ended up really
enjoying it like a lot more than I expected to.

(02:33:22):
And and like you know, and funnily enough, Thieves like Us,
which is one of the few altmans I hadn't seen,
I ended up watching. I liked it, but I ended
up loving joy Ride a lot more. I was just
surprised of the two. And that's again that's not to
speak on that on Thieves Like Us, I did like it,
but I was just surprised that I really went in thinking, well,
that's gonna be one of the other top tier releases.

(02:33:45):
So that's what I kind of love about the label.
I think it's it's such a great criteria of like
seventies to nineties stuff that no one else is probably
gonna put out, or if they do, they're going to
probably use some fucking old transfer and so and this
is one of those ones that that I I'm definitely
gonna pick up within probably I always the way I

(02:34:06):
kind of do it as I wait and see what
the what the March releases are going to be, and
if there's nothing there I want to pick up, I
go back to the subs, you know, where I can
spend my money. Yeah, I sometimes have to do that,
and then and then they get me real good at
the end of the year, right before the site shuts down.
But but you know, yeah, I'm really excited to watch
this one. Also, one of the few something that I

(02:34:26):
think is always a good measure for movies that that
Vinegar Syndrome puts out is to see what Roger Ebert
thought of the movie. Depending on how you feel about
Ebert's like, you know, hey, I don't hold him to
any kind of metric, like whether he likes the movie
or not. I've disagreed with a lot of his what
he's reviewed, the old, especially the older I get. But
you know a great examples, Bloodline was a zero star movie.

(02:34:49):
Both him and Siskel named that like one of the
worst of nineteen seventy nine, so I immediately had to go
watch it. That got a VSL buy from me in
a heartbeat. But bring the drum slowly when I looked
it up. That was a four star Ebert he loved it.
So it's it's always interesting when when when the when
it sinks up because I feel like a lot of
boutique stuff, particularly with film critics, it's not necessarily stuff

(02:35:10):
they reviewed well and not not a knock on film
criticism at all. I think a lot of people get
really worked up holding the their words to like Bible
or something, and I don't think that's I think that's
a mistake. But I like that this actually got that
actually intrigued me even more.

Speaker 2 (02:35:25):
Yeah. No, it's just it's a good movie and there's
really no it almost it almost is paced like an
Altman movie to be honest at times, because it's very
much like an ensemble cast and the whole team is
there and there's a lot of scenes with the whole
team kind of talking over each other, and I hadn't
thought about that connection, but now that you mentioned themes
like us, it kind of has a little bit of
a feel of an Almond movie at times.

Speaker 4 (02:35:44):
Oh that makes it even more appealing.

Speaker 2 (02:35:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I have to say I know that,
like we've already gone on for so long, but I
have to say, I'm so glad you called it joy Ride.
That was my biggest surprise on Cinematograph in terms of
something I never heard of and had no expectations on
and being one of my favorite releases on there. Now
I think it's so good.

Speaker 4 (02:36:03):
Agree, Yeah, if there's nothing like it, you really watch it,
you're like, you know, people say like they don't make
them like this anymore kind of thing, and I think
that's a great example of that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:36:13):
And then the only other one would be Shanks. I
just have to give give love to Shanks because I
just anybody that hasn't seen it, I would say change that.
It's just a it may not be your thing because
it's weird, but like sometimes weird in like a way
that could be offputting, but sure, it's just like it's
basically a movie that was made for me. I love
it like I love every's.

Speaker 4 (02:36:32):
Yeah, I hadn't seen it, and you know, that's a
good example of a movie on letterboxed. I just gave
it a heart, like sometimes you don't want to get
involved with stars with certain things, because I did. I
remember watching it thinking I don't know what to do
with this movie. Not in a bad way, like it's
I just remember thinking, you know what, I'm grateful that
a movie made me feel this way. Again, how often,
at approaching forty do I feel this way when I'm

(02:36:54):
watching a movie and like and when watching something like that,
I was like, you know what, this I'm not gonna
say it works entirely, but it also doesn't not work.
I was just completely it's so it's actually weird. You
know when people use that term, I feel like they
use it to just describe the Miami like Miami connection
or something because they just haven't taken in enough cinema

(02:37:15):
in their life. But but you know, or when I
hear people say long legs is weird, I'm like, Okay,
go outside a little more. Let's h let's you know,
But whether the movie is good or not, different story
but like you know, when I'm watching something like this,
I'm like, this is an actually weird movie because it's
very there's things about it you don't know what to
do with, but there's other things that are like this
is so it's so watchable and it's so weird. And

(02:37:37):
you're right, that's a that's that was a good one
to call out.

Speaker 2 (02:37:40):
Awesome, thank you. The next three that we're going to
talk about, I have not seen, so I just there's
just as you can tell even as we're going through,
there's there's so much that came out in January. So
you know what I'm actually gonna do. I'm gonna do
something a little bit different instead of running through them
and just guessing since most people will probably buy these

(02:38:02):
titles at the halfway to Black Friday sale anyways, as
opposed to like in March, Iran. Yeah, I'm gonna wait
to review Crackhouse, Ice and Child's played till next month.
I hope I remember to do it. But I'll actually
try to watch him because February is a little bit
of a lighter month in terms of releases anyways, so
I'll be able to catch up and I'll be able

(02:38:22):
to do call OCN partner stuff next month, which I
like to do if I can. So that's let's do that.
Because you haven't seen them either.

Speaker 4 (02:38:30):
Right, No, I haven't. By Crackhouse actually played here as
a midnight a couple weeks ago on thirty five, and
I tried to catch it, but you know, just the
older you get, something at midnight can be a real
you have to like caffeinate. And so I missed it,
but my roommate saw it and what he did say,
and I think this is just the only thing I
think we worth bringing up about it, is that since

(02:38:52):
we haven't seen it is he did say, he's like,
you know it, he said, He's like, it's weird. It's
like an after school special about drugs that suddenly just
have this really explosive action, okay, And and I was like, oh,
so that sounds kind of like Death Wish for the Crackdown,
which is like an R rated Dare commercial. It's like
you took Charles Bronson and put him in one of
those late eighties Dare commercials and he just fucking blows

(02:39:13):
all the drug dealers away. But all the drug dealers
act like they do in those PSAs where they're like, hey,
you want to get haih you know that kind of thing.
And so I was like, you know, that sounds exactly
like what a VSA release would be. And I say
that as a as a total compliment. VSAs usually feel
like not quite as dialed up as like a mainline

(02:39:34):
or like a sub label release might be, or like
maybe say something from like like like like what did
they put out before? You know, like just just that
real kind of like heavy action stuff where it's not
as sleazy, it's maybe more sleazy and implication. And again
that's like a broad generalization, but you know, I think
about like The Instructor's a good example of that. I
love that movie. It's such a great regional action movie

(02:39:57):
that weirdly it just it's never as sleazy as something
like you know that would be on the main line,
but it's also not it's not nothing, it's not it's
not asleep at the wheel, right, And so I feel
like that's what Crackhouse seems like, which to me, and
the fact that as a canon logo before the movie starts, Uh,
it's got my attention that right there is very much

(02:40:19):
an very eli coded.

Speaker 2 (02:40:22):
That's awesome. Yeah, I think that there's a there's almost
like a there's a certain mood you were in when
you used to go to the video store. You just
sometimes you just felt like an action movie and you're
and you were willing to go into some of the
deeper cuts. And I feel like that's what VSA taps
into and in that you're gonna get a wide variety
of quality and stuff. But like for for sure, but

(02:40:43):
you still get what you're looking for, Like you're talking
about the porn titles, like sometimes you just want to
you just want to see naked women, like and hardcore scenes,
and like you get it, and there's other stuff that
goes along with it, and then what kind of a
company is It is vary, but I kind of feel
the same way with a lot of the VSA stuff,
Like except for the Hong Kong stuff, I think it's
all been pretty good.

Speaker 4 (02:41:01):
Yeah, it's it's nebulous.

Speaker 5 (02:41:03):
Now.

Speaker 4 (02:41:03):
The definition of what constitutes VSA used to be able to,
you know, like champagne and bullets. I think is the
there's a reason why that's out of print and worth
a lot still on like secondary markets because it's such
a unique flavor. I saw it. It it made the
rounds here like theatrically like ten years ago, and I
actually saw it with an audience, and I couldn't believe

(02:41:24):
when I saw that Vinegar Syndrome released it and three
cuts no less. I saw the last cut, the Genovin cut.
That's the one I saw in theaters, and yeah, you're
you're right. It's like the Hong Kong ones. The mileage
varies a little more because we're saying like, oh, they're
not as sleazy. But at the same time, Women on
the Run has this wild gang rape scene and I

(02:41:44):
for an Eye is certainly very repellent in a lot
of ways, and like, yeah, but they're all great. I
guess to make it more broad too, like going to
like de Gosser. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that
right because I've also heard it say Deguser, but you know,
iiced I know that one also finally sold out in
slipcover form, and like, I think you also know what

(02:42:06):
you're getting on the lines where like you know, it's
this movie whether it was shot on film or on VHS,
and then it's fine, you know. I think Visual Vengeance,
by the way, is a sub label that really fucking
knocks those out of the park. If you're not, I
don't know, if you're familiar with them.

Speaker 2 (02:42:19):
Oh yeah, I mean I don't think it's a sub
label of vinegar syndrome though, right.

Speaker 4 (02:42:23):
It's not. I'm sorry, no, no, yeah, I was using
it more as like I think they do the stuff
that's like shot on film but a lot of it's
edited on video or it's like a SOV very similar thing,
and like you know, they did Furious, which is a
you have to see it to believe it kind of thing.
I just watched it recently. But but like with Iced,
I think it's kind of the same thing with like
that or Blood Cult or the other stuff they've been

(02:42:44):
doing through that sub label, where like you kind of
know what you're gonna get because the SOV stuff that
really is gonna like melt your brain I think is
the Saturn's Core and VHS hit fest stuff, But I
think here it's it's much more usually more to lo
fi stuff. And excuse me, even though if it's even
though it's kind of coming in at a hum for
a slasher movie or whatever it is, there's still something

(02:43:06):
about it because that's I don't know, to me, it
does take me back to being like ten years old
and renting something based on the strength of the box
art and then being insanely disappointed. But now, obviously because
I'm a lot older and I know how to watch
judge these books by their not just their covers, but
even just their spines. Yeah, you know, it's like it's

(02:43:27):
a lot of It's still a lot of fun to watch,
So I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to
say about them and to watch them myself.

Speaker 2 (02:43:32):
Yeah. Good, well we'll do that. El. I think this
is way longer than you intended to be on here,
so I really appreciate you sticking around and doing this
with me.

Speaker 4 (02:43:43):
Hey, thanks for having me. I know we it was
like a couple of months in the making. Yeah, yeah,
this is exactly what I was hoping for, just nice,
long like like, I hope people enjoyed it because I
tried not to ramble too much. But I appreciate you
letting me come on and let me plug my stuff
to what I'm what I'm working on.

Speaker 2 (02:44:00):
Of course. No, I think your passion for this comes
through and I think we see et I So it's
fun for me.

Speaker 4 (02:44:05):
Awesome. That makes me really happy to.

Speaker 2 (02:44:06):
Hear, yeah, do you do? You want to just stay
real quick again, like you have something coming up this week?

Speaker 4 (02:44:12):
Right, that's right, Yeah, it's coming on Wednesday if you're
in the LA area. Wednesday, February nineteenth is a Pussycat
Theater night, and that's the monthly show where I show
the the softcore cuts of hardcore films. And just because
I know this is going to be the question people ask,
why is it the softcore cut? There's two reasons. It's
at a cannabis lounge and a restaurant, and if you

(02:44:35):
serve alcohol or cannabis, you can't show hardcore porn. It's
too much fun, I guess, but it's but also it's
you know, people are eating dinner, and I do feel
like the softcore stuff plays really well for people who
are curious about seeing something like this or if they're
if they're going to try something new. Funnily enough, the
movie that played, and I'll keep this very short, but

(02:44:57):
you know, the one non porno title I've played so far,
I've played two that weren't originally conceived as hardcore, which
were Doctor Caligari and Wakefield Pool's Bible. It was this
one soft core film those have actually been the ones
they played. They played, they played well with the crowds,
but funnily enough, I thought those would be the more

(02:45:18):
digestible ones. And when I played Blonde Ambition and Sex
World and Barbara Barack, those are the ones that fucking killed.

Speaker 3 (02:45:25):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:45:25):
Cool.

Speaker 4 (02:45:26):
So you know, unfortunately there's a ceiling with what hardcore
movies have, softcore cuts that are readily available through not
just Vinegar Syndrome but other places as well, like the
strimp picks and stuff, and so I eventually I'll probably
start showing stuff more like the telephone Book or you know,
stuff that really fits in that wheelhouse pets. Maybe just

(02:45:47):
thinking out loud, but yeah. So the next one's on
February nineteenth, and we're giving away a four K of
Dracula Sucks. And we're also actually giving away a copy
of the double disc DVD they put out before they
did the four Okay, So, and the screenings are always free.
They're usually the third Wednesday of every month, and I
promote them on Letterbox, Instagram or Twitter. It's at Elilesberg

(02:46:11):
on all the socials and that that's where I promote
all that stuff. So thanks thanks again for having me
This was really great, Chris, A great, great show.

Speaker 2 (02:46:19):
Oh thanks man, I appreciate it. Thanks for visiting The
Bug in My Ear a few months back and really
glad to have you on awesome.

Speaker 5 (02:46:25):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:47:10):
Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the
Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network. Please select the link in
the description.

Speaker 7 (02:47:24):
I am Adam Lundy, the host of the Radiance Films Podcast,
a show that is dedicated to all things Radiance Films.
Join me every month as myself and some varied and
interesting guests sit down to discuss the latest releases and
announcements from Radiance Films, now part of Someone's Favorite Productions
Podcast network.

Speaker 11 (02:47:48):
Hello, my name is Kevin Tudor and I'm one of
the three hosts of Almost Major Film podcast I secting
many major indie studios in the films they release. Every week, Myself,
Charlie Nash, and Brydon Doyle discuss overlooked, forgotten or bona
fide classic indie films via studio specific mini series. We've
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(02:48:09):
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Episode 13 - A Hardcore Valentine's

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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 13 - A Hardcore Valentine's