Bonus Ep Casting Kill

0:00 Lee Evening everybody, Lee here.

0:02 Lee Regular listeners will know that we recently did a supernatural stories episode, or not, depending on your beliefs.

0:10 Lee But it seems to have gone down quite well and we've spoken to a few people who said they've got interesting stories of their own.

0:16 Lee So, as we tempted the idea at the end of our last episode, we're going to do a follow-up at some point.

0:23 Lee So, if any of you have stories of your own that you think would be interesting that you wouldn't mind us sharing with the listeners,

0:29 Lee feel free to either record them and email them over to us at [email protected].

0:36 Lee Or otherwise, you can type them out and send them to us and we will read them out on the show.

0:43 Lee If you'd rather not use your name, we will use your first name otherwise, but if you'd rather go under an alias, include that in the message and we'll be sure to use that.

0:52 Lee Thanks very much, and enjoy the show.

2:00 Lee Good evening and welcome to Horror.

2:02 Lee I'm Lee.

2:03 Chris I'm Chris.

2:04 Adam I'm Adam.

2:06 Lee And we are here for another cheeky bonus review episode.

2:11 Lee This evening, we've been lucky enough to get the opportunity to watch Casting Kills from 2023.

2:18 Lee This is a new movie out, it is available on Amazon, etcetera.

2:24 Lee So we're going to keep it fairly spoiler-free as we're guessing a lot of you haven't seen it yet.

2:29 Lee So we're going to try and keep it spoiler-free, but there might still be swearing, so the usual warnings do apply.

2:36 Lee So before we kick off,

2:39 Lee thank you very much Caroline Spence for giving us the opportunity to see this movie.

3:24 Chris Yeah, Caroline is the writer and producer.

3:27 Chris And the writer, the director and cinematographer is James Smith.

3:34 Chris But yeah, big, big thanks to Caroline for reaching out, yeah.

3:39 Lee Yeah, excellent.

3:40 Lee Thank you, we, so we heard about the film and we're given the opportunity to review it and we said we would.

3:47 Lee I then went and watched the trailer and immediately thought, I don't think I'm going to enjoy this.

3:53 Lee It didn't look, the trailer just didn't sort of grab me.

3:58 Chris So that's funny, I didn't mind the trailer, it didn't affect me too much.

4:02 Chris How about you, Adam?

4:03 Adam I, I just went in with, I didn't watch a trailer, I literally knew a title and a tagline.

4:12 Adam I wanted to keep it as, pure would seem ridiculous, but I just.

4:16 Adam I was like, I'll just go in with no preconceived ideas or anything.

4:22 Adam So, yeah, just wanted to just.

4:23 Chris Sometimes that is best.

4:25 Adam Yeah.

4:25 Lee But the reason I bring it up is that I was completely wrong.

4:29 Lee And when I watched the film I loved it.

4:31 Lee So I just wanted to put it out there for anyone who listens to this and then goes and watches a trailer, yeah, the.

4:39 Lee yeah, so no harsh, you know, not throwing shade at whoever made the trailer.

4:43 Chris It's got to be tricky to decide exactly what you should put in to not give away but also to tempt.

4:48 Lee there's a lot going on, you don't want to spoil anything but you want to give people enough.

4:54 Lee And I think that's what it is, because this film did have a lot of twists and turns, a bit like we said with The Perfect Host, it's a difficult one to make a trailer to entice people in without giving anything away.

5:05 Lee So yeah, so definitely, I say, just putting my cards on the table straight away, definitely watch this movie because I loved it.

5:11 Lee But yeah, I, I watched the trailer and thought, oh, this is going to be a slog, I'm going to be honest.

5:17 Lee Yeah, and I'm very pleased that I couldn't have been more wrong.

5:23 Adam Yeah.

5:25 Adam So.

5:26 Adam I mean, the film is, I mean, like I say, I went in without any idea or whatever like that, but just to give, give an idea of the plot is, it's.

5:38 Adam set in the sort of the world of film auditions, like casting.

5:46 Adam And basically follows Arthur Capston, who is ostensibly a big shot Hollywood producer and basically the people who come and audition for him, some of whom discover some very odd things.

6:02 Chris He, he certainly is a character.

6:04 Adam Yes.

6:07 Chris And he does have some skills.

6:08 Chris Really, he, he, he's quite fun to watch.

6:12 Lee I thought Rob Lad was fantastic, he was, yeah, he was absolutely captivating.

6:20 Lee And especially the changes in his personality, yeah, I thought he delivered those really, really well.

6:25 Chris Yeah.

6:26 Adam Because, because I wasn't sure, but I sort of, obviously, like I say, looking, looking into the film afterwards, I didn't realize, because I wasn't sure whether he had, because obviously it was clearly a British production and filmed in London, so I was like, oh, I'm not sure if he is actually American, but he's not.

6:43 Adam So.

6:44 Lee Oh.

6:45 Adam I'm, I'm going to say top work on the accent because I was like.

6:50 Adam but no, I mean, he was, yeah, it's, it's a very difficult role to.

6:59 Adam Pull off well and he did.

7:03 Chris It says on IMDB, it's creepy, vicious and brilliant.

7:07 Adam Yeah.

7:08 Chris Yes.

7:08 Lee Perfect.

7:09 Adam Yeah.

7:10 Chris I can sum that up.

7:12 Lee He.

7:13 Lee Again, it's, it is definitely a lower budget movie as, you know, as we know.

7:18 Lee But yeah, the, the acting in it was so good, that really stood out to me, the score.

7:25 Chris Yeah.

7:25 Chris Yeah, that's it.

7:26 Chris Definitely.

7:27 Lee It was such a higher level than you're used to at this kind of with these budgetary constraints.

7:34 Chris Yeah.

7:35 Chris Yeah, they did a great job on the low budget.

7:37 Adam Well, it's, it's working to what you've got.

7:39 Lee Yeah.

7:40 Adam And the fact that it is essentially a single location.

7:44 Chris

7:44 Adam I mean, it's, well, a single area, a very small, sort of single location is sort of, yeah.

7:52 Adam And a relatively small cast.

7:56 Chris

7:57 Adam I mean, we're not even relatively small, a fairly small cast.

8:01 Adam I mean, you've got auditionees who sort of appear and disappear, but you sort of, you are talking like a main group of sort of four or five characters who are the sort of the driving forces in this.

8:15 Adam So.

8:17 Chris I did love the interaction, the dynamic between Arthur Capstone and Dominic.

8:23 Adam Yeah, because that was.

8:25 Lee Yeah, and Dominic and Ruby as well.

8:28 Lee Like I thought they, like they, you know, like they sold being not quite friends but acquaintances really, really well.

8:35 Chris Yeah, definitely.

8:36 Lee Which, yeah, which is normally quite difficult, especially at these, you know, sort of entry levels when people are first getting into acting to sort of having that, picking up that dynamic and really making it feel lived in.

8:49 Chris Yeah.

8:49 Lee Yeah, and I was on board all the way.

8:51 Lee This film flew by, I know it's only an hour and 19 minutes.

8:55 Lee But it was one of those excellent films where I put it on, I thought it had been on for half an hour and I paused it to go and get myself a drink, I went, oh my God, there's only 15 minutes left, like it just flew by.

9:07 Chris

9:08 Adam And because it, it's, I think probably, actually thinking about it, Lee, I can sort of see where you might have been put off with the trailer.

9:15 Adam Because I think it obviously evokes the sort of investigation into sort of.

9:26 Adam Goings on with producers in Hollywood and the sort of exposure of that whole CD side of, acting and Hollywood and showbiz or whatever.

9:40 Adam so it, but the thing is.

9:42 Adam It evokes that, but it's not about that, it's.

9:46 Lee No.

9:46 Lee It's.

9:47 Adam It's a wholly unique set of circumstances.

9:51 Adam It's not sort of like a a retelling of a horrible story as it were.

9:57 Adam Even though, you know, it.

9:58 Lee It's definitely horror.

9:59 Adam It's got horror.

10:00 Lee It's got horror.

10:01 Lee But that was the thing, I think you're quite right, I think I watched the trailer and was like, well, this isn't horror as you say.

10:06 Lee This is going to be about a CD pervo who's using his position to, you know, to abuse women or whatever and, and I was like, well, although that is horrible, I don't think it's horror.

10:17 Lee So yeah, so I was very pleased that it wasn't that and it it definitely was horror.

10:22 Lee and it had those comedy elements exactly, yeah.

10:24 Chris They really managed to get that balance right because especially with the sub text of what it's about.

10:32 Chris It's you could, you could certainly get that wrong and make it very distasteful.

10:36 Lee Yeah.

10:37 Chris By trying to make it comedy, but somehow, yeah, they really really got that good.

10:41 Lee Yeah.

10:43 Adam I've also got to share, give a shout out to Andrew Elias, who's the caretaker.

10:49 Chris

10:50 Adam Because, my God, I spent the whole time thinking, is he someone in a band?

10:57 Lee Yeah.

10:59 Adam Because he, do you know what I mean?

11:02 Adam There was just something about him, I think it was the glasses admittedly.

11:07 Adam Or and the sort of delivery, but I did feel that he was like.

11:10 Adam If I find out that this is like the second saxophonist from Madness or he was in the Blockheads.

11:18 Adam Like Ian Dury's band.

11:19 Adam I would feel that it was that, that just seemed correct.

11:22 Adam But he was just great.

11:23 Adam I just thought he was a fantastic character.

11:26 Chris

11:27 Adam and there was also.

11:30 Adam Because that's the other thing as well, is there sort of.

11:34 Adam There is more to it and I quite like the fact that it's not not every plot strand is fully sort of wrapped up as it were.

11:41 Lee No.

11:41 Adam or.

11:42 Adam Whatever.

11:42 Adam But, the character like Ian Renshaw, his character Xander was just, so fucking menacing.

11:51 Adam You know.

11:52 Adam There was.

11:52 Adam It was, it was like, I really want to see him being a sort of charmingly menacing in a lot of other things.

11:58 Lee Yeah.

12:00 Adam He just.

12:00 Adam Yeah, it's, but it was, but yeah, I just think the,

12:07 Adam The fact that in the press pack they talk about sort of, Hitchcock and stuff like that, it is definitely that thing where Hitchcock's.

12:18 Adam All of his, all of his films, all of his thrillers, whatever, are funny.

12:25 Adam To greater or lesser extent, I mean, there's certain things.

12:28 Adam I mean, North by Northwest is essentially a comedy.

12:31 Adam But it's sort of.

12:34 Adam But I think, yeah, so I could see that element to it.

12:36 Adam But also you mentioned it earlier, Lee, the score by Sean Finnegan was just.

12:41 Lee Oh, that's so massive.

12:42 Lee So good.

12:44 Adam Fucking incredible, I loved it.

12:46 Lee Yeah.

12:47 Adam I just, I, I don't know if it's available, but I hope it becomes available because, yeah, I'll be first in line.

12:54 Adam Because I thought that was just really magnificent score.

12:56 Lee It was one of the first things that grabbed me, you know, even in that opening scene.

13:00 Lee Where it's kind of almost silent, you know, like there's no, nobody speaking.

13:04 Lee And it's just setting the scene.

13:05 Lee And the characters.

13:06 Lee yeah, and that sound just comes in and it's huge and it's just, it just sounds magnificent and it just kind of filled all the space and just, oh yeah, it was amazing, so good.

13:16 Chris Yeah.

13:17 Chris I do think yeah, for the low budget, they definitely created a really good style.

13:21 Chris With that, and and even the cover of it, just yeah, they certainly captured something menacing.

13:29 Adam Yeah.

13:30 Adam It's that sort of thing, it's, it's menace but funny and macab.

13:36 Chris Yeah.

13:37 Chris But yeah, that's definitely.

13:38 Adam It's very darkly funny.

13:40 Adam There are sort of like, I mean, it's like, you know, what people keep in their fridge.

13:43 Lee Yeah.

13:44 Adam You know.

13:46 Adam Yeah, that's a, that's a moment, so.

13:52 Chris So does this lead us on to another Hitchcock then, you mentioning him?

13:55 Chris Because so we only watched Psycho, I think.

13:58 Adam We, we, we should do plenty of Hitchcock, I think it's something that I really feel, fuck it, I don't care if they're even the horror ones.

14:08 Lee Yeah.

14:09 Lee What, what's the one about the body where they find the body in the wood and nobody wants to take responsibility for it?

14:15 Lee I can't remember what he's called.

14:16 Adam Trouble with Harry?

14:17 Lee Yes, I think it is, yeah.

14:18 Lee Oh, see, now that was just, sorry, slightly off topic.

14:22 Lee But yeah.

14:23 Lee Like, that was one I'd never even heard of, it was in the box set and I just chucked it on one Sunday afternoon.

14:27 Lee And I was like, this is amazing.

14:30 Lee Like, why is nobody raving about this in the top three of his movies?

14:34 Lee It was so much fun.

14:35 Lee But yeah.

14:36 Adam Yeah.

14:37 Adam But definitely I think that, yeah, without shadow of a doubt, I recommend Casting Kill.

14:42 Lee Definitely.

14:43 Chris Yeah.

14:43 Adam Yeah.

14:44 Lee Yeah.

14:45 Adam And I'll be interested to see what, because I know, I know that,

14:52 Adam James Smith and Caroline Spence sort of have worked together on a few other films.

14:58 Adam So I'll be quite interested to maybe go back and check out some of that.

15:01 Adam But also to see what comes next.

15:04 Lee Yeah.

15:05 Lee Definitely, and they've got such a great click, and it obviously works so well together.

15:11 Lee It'd be great if if they can kind of keep that.

15:13 Lee That team working together.

15:16 Lee yeah.

15:17 Adam Oh, definitely, yeah.

15:18 Adam I'd like to see, I'd like to see more of everyone who was in it.

15:21 Lee Yeah.

15:21 Lee Yeah, without a doubt.

15:22 Lee It was.

15:23 Chris So, yeah.

15:24 Chris So it's Raya Films.

15:25 Chris I don't know if I mentioned that earlier.

15:28 Adam I don't think we did.

15:29 Adam No, so, yes.

15:30 Adam Raya films and it's streaming on Amazon.

15:32 Adam And Tubi, I believe.

15:34 Chris

15:35 Lee Yeah.

15:35 Chris Yeah.

15:36 Chris So we'll be definitely checking out.

15:37 Adam I don't know if you pronounce it.

15:37 Adam I don't know.

15:39 Adam I hope it's not Tubby, I don't want to carry for life looking at it going Tubby.

15:42 Adam I know I am, I don't need you mocking me.

15:50 Lee Excellent.

15:51 Lee Right.

15:51 Lee So.

15:52 Lee Thanks again very much Caroline.

15:55 Lee For sending this our way and giving us the opportunity to see this movie.

15:57 Lee Everybody else get out there and watch this, it's it's a, it's a nice, tight, compact movie.

16:02 Lee You'll have a great time with it, yeah.

16:06 Lee We were all totally blown away by it.

16:08 Chris Absolutely.

16:09 Adam

16:10 Lee Yeah.

16:10 Lee And keep up the good work and we'll keep an eye out for what you've got next.

16:14 Lee Thanks ever so much for listening everybody.

16:16 Lee Good night.

16:17 Chris Good night.

16:18 Adam Good night.

16:20 Unknown My family saw the mouse now.