The Perfect Host

0:23 Lee Good evening and welcome to horror. I'm Lee.

0:25 Chris I'm Chris.

0:27 Adam And I'm Adam.

0:28 Lee And we're here for a film that we should definitely have covered before now, but somehow it slipped our minds.

0:37 Adam

0:39 Lee Before we go into this, we were just talking off off mic, saying that this is definitely a film, if you like the same stuff as us and you share our sense of humor,

0:50 Lee we're gonna try and do the first 10 or 15 minutes spoiler-free, but you have to spoil this film and it is twist after twist after twist.

0:58 Lee So, if you like the stuff we like and you haven't heard of or seen this movie,

1:04 Lee do yourself a favor, track it down, track it down, watch it, don't watch a trailer, don't look at anything about it, go in blind and it will be an absolute blast of a time.

1:14 Lee I think it's fair to say that.

1:18 Chris I'd be even tempted to say try and avoid looking at the cover, but that's that could be difficult.

1:23 Adam It it depends on the cover, the cover.

1:25 Chris Oh, yeah.

1:25 Adam Yes.

1:26 Chris That's that's an interesting point, yeah.

1:27 Adam He's just David Hyde Pierce holding a glass of wine.

1:32 Chris Oh, I'd see that's oh.

1:36 Adam But.

1:37 Adam You know, it's not as.

1:38 Chris That says a lot by the end of the film.

1:41 Lee See.

1:41 Adam But then.

1:41 Adam Yeah.

1:42 Lee Yeah, it's well it's the same with the trailer, so if you watch the trailer, it tells you bits of the story more than it's good to know going in.

1:47 Lee But once you then go back and watch it again and it makes more then you like, there's so much in there that couldn't have given it away.

1:53 Lee But at the time when you don't know.

1:54 Chris You just want to Yeah, you're like, What?

1:56 Lee What?

1:58 Chris What?

2:00 Adam Yeah.

2:00 Adam I'm I'm gonna put this, and this is again something that we I don't do lightly and I don't think the rest of the podcast do lightly.

2:11 Adam I would put this in the same bracket as Inside Number 9, in the sense of please watch it before we spoil it.

2:20 Chris But I'd still be tempted to say you you'll still get a lot out of it even if it's spoiled, as there is so much to like.

2:27 Adam The journey of the film.

2:29 Chris Yeah.

2:30 Adam You know.

2:32 Adam Oh, yeah.

2:34 Adam He's.

2:36 Adam Yeah.

2:37 Chris There's something subtle.

2:38 Chris like, so I think I said.

2:40 Chris last episode, or the episode before, David Hyde Pierce, I only know him from Frasier.

2:46 Chris

2:47 Chris I know you said he's in Simpsons, that doesn't add much to this necessarily.

2:51 Chris Or perhaps it maybe it does, but and but it's yeah.

2:54 Chris Like, just he I mean, I think.

2:57 Chris I'm gonna have to watch more films with him in.

3:00 Chris I don't know how many there are, but really, I was so impressed.

3:04 Adam I was I will I was going through like just obviously, like you say, he's Niles Crane, Fraser's brother in Frasier.

3:12 Adam

3:14 Chris And he does play a if this could potentially be Niles.

3:20 Adam Yeah.

3:21 Adam Yeah.

3:21 Chris Could.

3:22 Adam Yeah.

3:22 Chris But and and it worked unbelievably well.

3:25 Adam Well, also, and apparently, he's also as Niles Crane in the TV show Caroline in the City.

3:33 Adam Which apparently is a shared universe with Frasier and.

3:39 Chris Oh, right.

3:40 Adam Friends and other there's a lot of that in American American TV, there's the the program and elsewhere links to about six other shows, including like the X-Files and NYPD Blue and stuff like that.

3:56 Chris Sounds impressive.

3:58 Adam Yeah, it's it's worth.

4:00 Adam It's worth looking into.

4:02 Adam But but yeah, in terms of other stuff he's done, I always forget he's in Wolf, you know, the Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer werewolf film.

4:09 Lee Do you know what? I don't think I've seen that.

4:11 Adam Have you not?

4:12 Adam I've seen it for for years, I couldn't even I can't recall.

4:17 Chris I've never heard of it.

4:18 Adam Particularly well.

4:20 Adam Maybe again, should we stick it on the list?

4:22 Chris Because it sounds like it's worth.

4:24 Adam It's well, it's it's one of those things where it's like, I remember I I had it on video.

4:34 Adam I've never upgraded on that.

4:37 Adam but I didn't.

4:39 Chris It's Jack Nicholson as a werewolf.

4:42 Adam Yeah.

4:42 Chris I mean that that seems like a suitable role for him to play.

4:46 Adam Oh, yeah, undoubtedly.

4:48 Adam I think the trouble is though, is is that if I recall rightly, obviously, it's the whole thing is a bit much in the same way as Claire said when she watched the shining.

4:57 Adam There is an element of I'm just waiting for Jack to go full Jack.

5:02 Chris Yeah, yeah.

5:03 Adam And you know that that's what's gonna happen.

5:06 Adam When he become when he becomes a werewolf.

5:08 Adam Is you gonna get.

5:10 Adam full mad fucking Jack.

5:12 Lee Yeah.

5:13 Adam But yeah, so he's in that, he's in the Fisher King, the Terry Gilliam film.

5:18 Adam Sleepless in Seattle, Adam's Family Values.

5:22 Adam Little man Tate, which I'm only gonna mention because of the amount of times I use the insult, Little Man Tate.

5:29 Adam he's in Vampire's Kiss.

5:32 Adam He was in episodes of The Outer Limits, he is Krusty's brother, Cecil Terwilliger.

5:37 Adam Yeah, not Krusty, Sideshow Bob's brother in The Simpsons, Cecil Terwilliger.

5:41 Adam In Brother from Another Show.

5:44 Adam And that kind of does work towards this, because it turns out in The Simpsons, it turns out he's the villain and not Sideshow Bob.

5:57 Lee Oh.

5:57 Chris So I guess I guess we've actually gone straight.

5:59 Chris We've just given a bit of a spoiler at that point.

6:01 Adam I don't know, what's more for The Simpsons than anything.

6:03 Adam he's the voice of Abe Sapien in the first Hellraiser The Hellraiser, Hellboy movie.

6:08 Lee Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

6:10 Adam but he is not credited, because he he said most of the performance was Doug Jones.

6:17 Adam who's obviously portraying the physical Abe Sapien, and Doug Jones actually plays him in Hellraiser, in fucking Hellraiser.

6:22 Chris But that's funny.

6:23 Adam Hellboy too.

6:23 Chris But that's funny though, do you not recognize his voice pretty clearly? So it seems a bit odd to still somehow.

6:31 Adam Oh, it's very clear.

6:33 Adam It's him.

6:34 Adam and yeah, he's the Emperor Zombie in the amazing screw-on head, and he's in A Bug's Life, and Osmosis Jones, so he does a lot of voiceover.

6:41 Chris He does a lot of voiceover, yeah.

6:43 Adam But I think it is from that point of view, like you say, Chris, where he's a very distinctive.

6:49 Chris

6:50 Adam actor, and he brings a very distinctive idea of what sort of character he's going to play.

6:57 Chris Yeah.

6:57 Chris But and that's why when we get more into this, it's fascinating to see what he does in this film.

7:02 Chris Because it is Niles, but it's not Niles.

7:05 Chris And it's like there's a subtle almost too subtle changes that actually are quite powerful, but still him, and yet a totally different role, really.

7:13 Chris It's it's yeah, it's quite amazing.

7:17 Lee Yeah, I mean that's the thing, this this is one of those films where the entire film hinges on his performance.

7:23 Chris Yeah, yeah.

7:25 Lee

7:25 Chris but but so I was thinking absolutely, right.

7:27 Chris But the I did actually think they John did match him well.

7:33 Lee Yeah.

7:33 Chris They almost both had a bit of that

7:38 Chris Yeah, it was sort of the both their performances, because they're well, they're acting within acting.

7:43 Lee Yeah.

7:44 Chris at many points, and it's like yeah, I I was really pleased how well he did.

7:48 Chris alongside.

7:51 Adam Yeah, Clayne Crawford, who is apparently Martin Riggs in the TV version of Lethal Weapon.

7:58 Lee Oh, right, there was one.

8:00 Adam There was one.

8:00 Lee I didn't.

8:01 Adam I can see it.

8:02 Adam he's been in.

8:04 Adam He's been in 24 and Buffy, various CSI's.

8:07 Adam Burn Notice, and he's in a film called Risk Cutters a Love Story, which is a very weird film.

8:12 Adam which I've still not seen, but I have been recommended, mostly by Dean.

8:16 Lee Oh, right.

8:18 Adam So I kinda feel that it's gonna be a good one.

8:20 Adam Yeah.

8:20 Adam but yeah.

8:21 Adam No, the pair of them really.

8:24 Chris Cuz they can both play seriously charming.

8:28 Adam

8:28 Adam Yeah.

8:29 Chris polite, you know, just like everything a decent man should be, essentially, and then they can both play something very other than that.

8:35 Adam Yeah.

8:35 Lee I think we are now safely into spoiler territory.

8:38 Lee So if we've.

8:39 Adam Does that mean we can fucking swear as well?

8:40 Lee Oh yeah, I forgot.

8:41 Lee Yeah, and we're gonna swear as well.

8:43 Lee yeah, so Chris, I've been waiting an entire month to hear.

8:48 Lee Cause as soon as I thought about it, I was I was sitting on the sofa the other night and it just popped into my head for no apparent reason.

8:55 Lee And I messaged Adam and went, Oh my God, we haven't shown Chris The Perfect Host and he was like, right, it's it's gotta be the next film.

9:00 Lee It's gotta be.

9:00 Adam Yeah.

9:00 Lee So I've spent a month hanging to hear what you would think of this, so you've gotta let us know.

9:05 Chris Well, it's pretty yeah.

9:06 Chris I mean, you know, I think we've given that away, really.

9:09 Chris Like, so so I I had no idea what to expect.

9:11 Chris So it's called A Perfect Host.

9:13 Chris The the perfect host, sorry, we did mix that up when we were discussing it before.

9:16 Chris But yeah, so the perfect host and and yeah, and that's why it's such a such a good role for Niles.

9:20 Chris David Hyde Pierce because this is as you could imagine him giving a dinner party in Frasier.

9:23 Chris Yeah.

9:24 Lee

9:25 Chris Like basically, it's it's everything that and then it's totally not that at all.

9:30 Lee

9:30 Chris And like it just takes you on that journey.

9:32 Chris So well.

9:34 Adam Well, the director Nicholas Tomnay, who hasn't who did a short version of The Perfect Host, I think it's just called The Host, which is pretty much where this was then developed from.

9:46 Adam

9:47 Adam

9:47 Adam he's done one episode of an Australian anthology horror series called Two Twisted, and that's about it.

9:54 Adam And he's, you know, done a few shorts.

9:55 Chris Oh, right.

9:56 Adam But really, this should this should be this should have been an amazing fucking career start.

10:01 Chris This should have locked him into, yeah, serious.

10:04 Lee This should be on every one of those top 100 films lists in my opinion, because it's just, as I say, I I saw it five or six times when it first came out.

10:11 Lee Cause I showed it to everybody.

10:13 Adam Yeah.

10:15 Lee

10:16 Lee Yeah, and it's just and and I still when I watched it again now, because there's so many twists.

10:22 Lee I still didn't remember all of them.

10:25 Chris Yeah, I could imagine that, yeah.

10:27 Lee And I just laughed out loud and Jennifer were just in absolute stitches watching this again.

10:32 Lee It's such a pleasurable watch and it's just brilliant on so many levels.

10:37 Lee It's.

10:38 Lee It's such a small cast,

10:41 Chris Yeah.

10:42 Lee Most of them play by David Hyde Pierce.

10:46 Lee What?

10:47 Adam Yeah.

10:49 Lee

10:50 Lee Oh, yeah, it's it's the little bit.

10:51 Lee It's it's like when he.

10:52 Lee He lays the food out and then she's walking around the table, he's grabbing fistfuls of food off people's plates and stuffing it in his mouth.

10:59 Lee So that the plates are half empty and he can have a chat with a person who is.

11:02 Lee It's just absolutely phenomenal.

11:06 Adam It's.

11:07 Lee Yeah.

11:08 Adam Yeah.

11:09 Adam Well, back to what we were saying though, cause I think, but basically the director said.

11:13 Adam What he was looking for was someone who brought an expectation to a role.

11:20 Chris okay.

11:21 Adam And it's a perfect match.

11:24 Chris Yeah, yeah.

11:25 Adam You know, David Hyde Pierce as a you just immediately, right, he's gonna be very fastidious.

11:31 Adam Quite weak.

11:32 Chris Yeah.

11:32 Adam Quite sort of, you know, neat, but also possibly a bit snobby or a bit sort of, you know.

11:39 Adam He's gonna be Niles Crane.

11:42 Chris Yeah.

11:42 Adam And that is like we were saying with the voice work, that's pretty much the expectation that they're bringing to those roles.

11:47 Adam Where it's like, you know, it's like, oh, well, we need this character who's kind of like that.

11:52 Chris It sets up that expectation so much that to not do it.

11:55 Adam So.

11:55 Adam When.

11:55 Chris But but then that's how they've they've they've done so well with this when it isn't him and it still is him, and it's like, whoa, that's it's like it could be uncanny.

12:02 Chris And it could potentially not work, and yet somehow, it's so powerful.

12:07 Adam

12:10 Adam And and actually.

12:11 Adam Despite the fact that this is an extremely fucking funny film.

12:17 Chris

12:18 Adam Like genuinely funny film.

12:21 Adam

12:22 Chris I mean, I'm gonna join some conga lines after this and see them in a whole new way.

12:25 Adam You You have not seen, cause obviously we have the welcome to horror WhatsApp group.

12:32 Adam But I've just been messaging Lee Congo, pretty much since we decided to film this.

12:38 Chris Yeah.

12:40 Adam

12:40 Adam Just, yeah, because it's that is that sums up the whole fucking movie from me.

12:44 Adam It's just that moment.

12:47 Adam But but also, I do think that David Hyde Pierce plays disturbed very well.

12:52 Chris Yeah, that's it.

12:53 Chris That's why it's it's almost disturbing how well he does it.

12:56 Chris Cause you that's the bit you don't expect.

12:57 Chris It's like, no, I get I get why he's in it for the first bit.

13:01 Chris And then when he changes, it's like, and or starts to change, and then really does by the end.

13:06 Chris It's like, whoa.

13:07 Chris Okay, no, I did not see that coming from him.

13:09 Chris And that and he still does it really like he becomes a cold, just loses all of the.

13:15 Chris Yeah, all of the warmth that he normally has with Niles.

13:19 Chris And it's like, no, okay, you're.

13:22 Chris sort of quite worrying now.

13:23 Adam Now it's a powerful really, you know, person who has you trapped.

13:27 Chris Yeah.

13:28 Lee When he brings the book out and you see the photographs and you're like, oh shit, he's done this before.

13:33 Lee Like and it's just so.

13:35 Lee And the way he draws the the imaginary people onto the Polaroids and stuff, it's just sinister and yeah.

13:40 Adam Yeah.

13:41 Adam Yeah, cause cause this is the thing, is obviously watching it back, I know where I am with that.

13:46 Adam I know what that actually leads up to or how that is explained in the film.

13:51 Adam Whereas that first time you watch it, Chris, you must have gone and Claire got it.

13:59 Adam Especially the bits where he's like he's filmed himself.

14:04 Adam Apparently self-mutilating on the toilet.

14:09 Chris Yeah.

14:10 Adam And that that looks purely like that would be in like a lector film of like whoever the murderer was in that.

14:17 Adam You know, so.

14:19 Adam It just is it's really it's quite Dennis Nilsen as well, it's very sort of like disturbing and very real to it.

14:26 Adam And and even then you get the I did my own hair and makeup.

14:30 Adam And you know, there's still sort of payoffs and stuff like that.

14:33 Adam But at that point, you are just like, oh no, you because.

14:38 Adam I was I was like trying to work it out, and there's John's bit.

14:44 Adam is essentially like that sort of wave of heist movies that followed the sort of Tarantino explosion of the sort of early to mid 90s.

14:55 Adam And then you got a lot of films like like Oceans 11 and stuff like that, you know, a lot of George Clooney, possibly with Brad Pitt.

15:03 Adam Where it's like it's groovy or sort of, you know, sort of indie crime movies.

15:12 Adam So you've got that in there.

15:15 Adam And then obviously, it's then the comedy of manners of an episode of Frasier.

15:25 Chris Yeah.

15:25 Adam But with a darker twist because it's like, oh God.

15:28 Adam This guy's invited this man in, he doesn't know.

15:31 Chris Well.

15:31 Chris And and you don't know you don't know who is who is what, yeah.

15:34 Chris Like.

15:35 Chris So so you're still trying to figure out who John is, essentially, because he does have a deeper story too that unfolds.

15:40 Chris But it's like.

15:40 Chris Well, he's not a good guy, but how far what is he gonna be doing?

15:46 Chris So you're trying to figure out who is, yeah, what their role.

15:49 Adam And he at first he gets brutal.

15:53 Chris Yeah, yeah.

15:54 Adam You know, he slaps him around, he fucking, you know, he beats him up and basically is sort of like, and that's after he's been helpful to the point of irritating.

16:02 Chris Yeah.

16:02 Adam Which is which is pure Niles thing.

16:05 Adam Of like.

16:06 Chris It is.

16:07 Chris But you can see the way John is thinking about that, oh no, I can't get through to you.

16:12 Chris It's that.

16:13 Adam It's.

16:13 Adam And John's obviously like, don't fucking phone me because this is all a ruse that I've taken your mail.

16:19 Chris And how long can he stand for that until he just has to release and.

16:24 Chris Yeah.

16:25 Adam But also that lovely moment where you think because you're sort of still, again, I tried to watch it through the eyes of someone watching it the first time from that first time I watched it.

16:38 Adam And there's that lovely bit where it's, you know, John's sat there, he's just smoking and there's just that that bit is beautiful.

16:45 Adam Where it's just the look on his face of rather you didn't smoke.

16:50 Chris Yeah.

16:51 Chris Yeah.

16:51 Adam But he knows that he's got to bite his fucking or he's acting that he's got to bite his lip at this point.

16:58 Adam And it's sort of, you know, John's sort of sitting there and has taken control of the situation.

17:05 Adam And then it's like, oh my God, your foot.

17:07 Adam Oh no, I've got to do something about that.

17:10 Adam And it's like, oh, he's gonna help him, he's that nice a person.

17:13 Adam Is it gonna be a Stockholm syndrome sort of thing?

17:16 Adam You know, are they gonna end up buddies at the end of it, and it's like, no, you're bleeding on my floor.

17:20 Chris And that's that's obviously the first point where you're like, okay, I have a sense where this now are potentially going.

17:24 Chris Like.

17:24 Adam Really.

17:25 Adam And then it goes into like like a film like Hard Candy or something like that, where it's that bit off more than you can chew shit.

17:33 Adam You know, it's like, right, here's a bad guy, but we've put them in with a real fucking bad guy.

17:39 Lee Yeah.

17:40 Adam Yeah.

17:41 Adam And and like I say, it's sort of breaks off and you get all this, sort of there's horror moments.

17:47 Adam that then get completely underplayed when John wakes up dead as it were.

17:54 Chris yeah.

17:56 Adam And realizes that I mean, got to remember, the foot thing is real.

18:01 Adam

18:01 Lee Yes.

18:02 Adam He does cauterize his foot with a fucking iron.

18:07 Chris Yeah.

18:07 Adam You know, he is a dangerous person.

18:11 Lee I.

18:12 Adam He's just apparently not a murderer.

18:14 Lee And I'd forgotten as well, like how they do the reveal of David Hyde Pierce's jaw, So when I see you've got the cops looking for them,

18:25 Lee And then the cop is at the front door on the thing and you're like, this is it, he's going to get caught, how's he gonna get away?

18:31 Lee And then it's like, oh no, that's his boss.

18:34 Chris Yeah.

18:35 Adam Mornin', Lieutenant.

18:36 Chris Yeah.

18:37 Adam It's such a another good twist.

18:39 Chris Yeah.

18:39 Adam And then and then it goes off into like The Usual Suspects.

18:41 Lee Yeah.

18:42 Adam It's like a neo-noir like it goes back to the heist movie bit but takes it off in a completely odd fucking direction.

18:50 Chris Well, and that's where David Hyde Pierce then plays this new role, which is again him, but not him.

18:57 Lee His voice changes, he has an American accent, which he was he was doing a very.

19:00 Chris He's.

19:00 Chris And he's in charge, but in another way.

19:04 Chris It's like.

19:05 Chris Yeah, he's he is the boss now, before he was the psychopath, you know, schizophrenic psychopath having fun in charge.

19:10 Chris But like now it's he means business.

19:14 Adam Yeah, it's his job.

19:16 Adam And I love the fact that obviously, I mean, this is again, you know, in terms of spoilers, but the fact the fact that obviously you see the the the party that it takes place.

19:27 Adam You see it from both sides, you so you see it from reality.

19:31 Adam John's side of it of him hallucinating hundreds of guests in his house and having this amazing fucking party.

19:40 Adam And then they swing it back, so you see it from his point of view, where he is at an amazing fucking party.

19:49 Adam But something that Claire said that really struck with me, was she was like, but which is more disturbing?

19:59 Adam Is it more disturbing to see someone clearly hallucinating who has the power of life and death over you?

20:06 Adam Or.

20:07 Adam Is it that you're having this amazing fabulous party and you've got a guy in the corner that you're all enjoying torturing? You know what I mean?

20:19 Lee That's true. Yeah.

20:22 Adam It's not it's not a party of nice people.

20:26 Adam You know, because it's all aspects of him.

20:28 Adam And I love the fact that there are the sort of bits where it's like, I, you know, I strongly believe that you should take both your tablets.

20:39 Adam You've got to be able to function at work.

20:40 Adam And the fact that and there's bits where the like the characters start going, oh well, the police are gonna catch up with you now, shut up, shut up!

20:49 Chris Yeah, yeah.

20:51 Adam Yeah.

20:51 Adam When he's.

20:53 Adam losing it.

20:55 Adam And.

20:55 Adam Yeah, you.

20:57 Adam But oh man, it's.

21:00 Adam It's so fucking good.

21:01 Lee I had completely forgotten as well, I don't know how, but yeah, I'd completely forgotten about John waking up in the trash.

21:07 Lee I I I remember him being lain on the street with his throat cut, I didn't remember him then waking up and finding out he's been covered in makeup.

21:12 Lee And the bit's real.

21:14 Lee So even that this time, like as I say, I was like six for seven watch, I was like, oh my God.

21:18 Lee Like even that caught me off guard.

21:20 Chris Yeah, still got something out of.

21:22 Lee Oh, it's just fantastic.

21:25 Adam And here's the thing as well.

21:26 Adam You get this rapid succession, it's like the last half hour of the film is like, here's the perfect ending.

21:34 Adam But we'll give you a bit more.

21:36 Chris And then you're like.

21:38 Adam So you get like John kills Warwick with the salt.

21:45 Adam That would be an ending to a film, it'll be a fucking bleak ending, but you know, you kills him, gets away.

21:51 Adam And then that turns out to be a false thing and John dies, and that again, just him waking up in the trash, him sat there on by the pool with his hallucinations.

21:59 Adam

22:00 Adam That would be the ending, roll credits at that point.

22:03 Chris Yeah.

22:03 Adam And then like you say, John, and then John wakes up and start taking the makeup off.

22:08 Adam Roll credits, there's your ending.

22:10 Adam Because it's like, oh fucking hell, he was just fucking with him.

22:12 Adam And you know, he's not dead or whatever like that.

22:16 Adam And then you like you say, and then the cops show up and reveal that Warwick is a cop, and that would be your ending.

22:23 Adam Because the irony is he's had the chief suspect in his case in his house and essentially letting go.

22:30 Adam Having fucked with him for an evening.

22:35 Adam And then him walking off with the cash would be an ending.

22:40 Adam Do you know what I mean, when he just goes off down the street like Keyser Söze at the end, it's just sort of like, yeah, just walking away.

22:45 Adam And then and then you still get more.

22:49 Adam And.

22:50 Adam Yeah, it's really, really good.

22:53 Lee Is that swaggering.

22:54 Lee walk he's got, he does it when he gets the wine from the kitchen as well.

22:59 Lee And he's just got that very, it just.

23:01 Lee Oh, it's just such a brilliant characterization.

23:05 Lee And and as you say, the way he flips it from that to then his very straight laced up tight policeman.

23:11 Lee But yeah, then as soon as he steals the money, he's back to swaggering again.

23:16 Lee And he's having a great time and living his best life.

23:19 Lee running off with this money.

23:21 Lee It's oh, yeah.

23:23 Lee

23:23 Lee Nathaniel Parker as well, who plays Detective Morton.

23:27 Chris Yeah.

23:28 Adam What.

23:28 Chris Yeah.

23:29 Lee He's just brilliant, he's such a solid.

23:34 Lee such a serious, solid performance in all of this absolute craziness.

23:38 Lee But it just works brilliantly.

23:40 Adam But also wonderfully is more obsessed with football guy than what is going on.

23:48 Lee Yes.

23:49 Adam You know, there's that sort of where you sort of get the idea.

23:52 Adam That's kind of how he gets away with this shit is no one's really looking.

23:55 Lee Yeah.

23:56 Adam Yeah.

23:57 Adam And in a way, there's and there's that lovely bit where he where he's talking.

24:02 Adam And the other two cops are like, when Warwick is basically going full gamut and just talking about like, well.

24:10 Adam That's what I want to do, they just want to round him up and shoot him and all this really sort of like heavy big sort of stuff.

24:15 Adam And then it's like, you know what I mean, like it's like, oh, this is just we have to put up with this shit.

24:20 Chris Yeah.

24:21 Adam You know, which again just is.

24:24 Adam But Nathaniel Parker, he's.

24:27 Adam English.

24:29 Adam He's an English actor.

24:30 Lee Oh, yeah.

24:30 Adam Yeah.

24:31 Adam And he is he's the brother of Oliver Parker, who is the removal man who appears in both the first two Hellraisers.

24:39 Adam And he's Peliquin in Nightbreed.

24:42 Lee Oh, yes, yes.

24:43 Adam But.

24:44 Adam Nathaniel Parker, I I don't know why it always stuck in my mind, but he was Fireman in The Palace of Righteous Justice on Harry Enfield's television program.

24:53 Chris

24:55 Adam Where they had Iceman, Fireman and she woman cap type thing.

24:59 Lee Yes.

24:59 Adam Yeah.

25:00 Adam And yeah, I don't know why.

25:02 Adam But that was the and he was in.

25:06 Adam Rick Mal presents Dancing Queen, Touch of Frost, Inspector Morse, and then he's gone to America, he's been in Beverly Hills Ninja, The Bodyguard, Chronicles of Narnia, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

25:16 Adam And so, yeah, he's that's where he but yeah, he's and does a, well, we're saying that as English people.

25:21 Adam But I think he does a perfectly fine American, you know, you wouldn't tell, I don't think.

25:26 Chris Yeah.

25:27 Lee No, I was surprised when you said it because it it seemed so so well done.

25:33 Adam But.

25:33 Adam But yeah, I think that the I mean, actually, and that's you're saying about that swaggering walk.

25:42 Adam the bit right at the end, where he walks off and then gets flanked by imaginary people dressed as cops.

25:49 Adam

25:49 Adam Yeah.

25:50 Chris Imagined, yeah.

25:50 Adam Imaginary people.

25:51 Adam All I could think was is.

25:54 Adam that meme that goes around of people other people, don't come around here with your bullshit.

25:59 Adam Me.

25:59 Adam Coming back here with my bullshit.

26:01 Lee Yeah.

26:02 Adam That's all I could think of, but it's such a wonderful image.

26:05 Adam because like reading, because I'll be honest, again, there's not much online about this film.

26:13 Chris

26:14 Adam There's a few interviews with the director, there's a few interviews with David Hyde Pierce.

26:18 Adam But that's do you know what I mean, there's not a lot of study that's gone into this or a lot of stuff that's come out.

26:24 Chris That seems surprising.

26:26 Adam Yeah.

26:27 Lee It's it's one of those, you know, like we were saying, anyone you talk to, they'll always tell you they've never heard of it.

26:33 Lee And you're like, it's one of the best films I've ever seen.

26:36 Lee Like, it's just astonishing.

26:38 Lee And I do I do wonder if it's because David Hyde Pierce maybe was a hard sell to.

26:45 Lee to this type of, you know, if you go from comedy to kind of crime, drama, horror.

26:53 Lee maybe he was a hard sell in that way, and therefore it didn't it didn't get picked up.

26:59 Lee But I mean, I'm pretty sure anyone who's ever seen this will be just as obsessed with it as me and Adam.

27:05 Adam Seriously, I mean, I I this was a film I recommended to someone at work.

27:11 Adam And literally, and we we fire we fired films back and forth between each other, like really good films, really odd films and stuff like that.

27:20 Adam Like weirder and stranger stuff, same as I did.

27:23 Adam But he always says, the trouble is, you hit fucking gold when you told me about The Perfect Host.

27:30 Adam Anything you've told me about afterwards has been good, but that was incredible, and I knew nothing about it.

27:36 Adam And.

27:38 Adam And like I say, I mean, this was what?

27:40 Adam 2010?

27:40 Adam Is it 2010?

27:42 Adam Yeah, 2010.

27:43 Adam And.

27:44 Adam You sort of think, maybe it was a timing thing, maybe it was five years earlier, five years later, maybe it would have done better.

27:53 Adam I think the other trouble is, is it's a very difficult film.

27:55 Adam to even categorize to someone without spell without spelling it out.

28:00 Chris Yeah.

28:01 Chris Well, I'm I'm gonna watch the trailer when we finish tonight.

28:05 Chris Because I'll be fascinated to see what they can put in a trailer that gives you the right idea and doesn't ruin any of it.

28:10 Chris And like you said, don't watch a trailer because it.

28:14 Chris It probably so yeah, perhaps it is just too difficult to do as a film.

28:17 Adam I I think, well, because I think the best the best sum up I saw of it would would be to put it out as a black comedy.

28:24 Chris Yeah.

28:25 Adam Yeah.

28:26 Adam But I don't know A whether that sells well.

28:28 Adam Do you know what I mean, is that a harder sell than just, oh, it's a comedy for all the family.

28:33 Adam You know, a black comedy, but also like a black comedy starring David Hyde Pierce.

28:36 Adam You probably lost a lot of interest where people like, oh, it'll be like Frasier.

28:40 Adam And I don't like Frasier.

28:43 Adam Do you know what I mean, like there were they are they thinking black comedy, because there are elements of black comedy in Frasier.

28:48 Chris Yeah.

28:49 Adam But I mean, not to this extent.

28:50 Chris Well, I've just decided to start watching Frasier again.

28:52 Chris Off to watching this.

28:54 Chris Cause I was like, I've got to watch a bit more, a bit more Niles.

28:55 Adam You need to do that.

28:57 Adam Yeah, there are sort of.

28:59 Adam Because it works on a sort of real-life basis.

29:00 Adam They put in things that are sort of.

29:03 Adam Not I mean, no nothing like this.

29:05 Adam But yeah.

29:06 Adam So maybe that was what the the problem was, I don't know.

29:09 Lee I think you could be, I think it could be one of those, you know, where like we have, you know.

29:14 Lee You you if you have seen it and you want to tell people about it, you don't want to give anything away, so you just say to them, just watch it.

29:22 Lee I'm not gonna tell you anything about it.

29:23 Lee And that can be a bit of a hard sell, can't it?

29:25 Lee Like, well.

29:26 Adam Well, it's a bit dumb.

29:28 Adam You know.

29:28 Adam To go into especially because it's like, especially because you have to find it.

29:34 Lee Yeah.

29:35 Adam I wish this was on fucking I I don't I didn't look into it particularly.

29:40 Adam I think you can pay for it on Amazon maybe, but I don't know where it is streaming.

29:43 Adam I'm pretty sure someone's put it up in about eight chunks on YouTube.

29:48 Lee

29:50 Adam But you know.

29:51 Adam I think it's.

29:53 Adam again.

29:54 Adam it's that access to it.

29:57 Lee Yeah.

29:58 Adam Whereas this would have been this again, should have if they'd have pressed harder in 2010.

30:06 Adam This should have been one of those things that just turned up on cable.

30:10 Adam that loads of people watched and could catch up with him and so, yeah.

30:13 Lee Yeah.

30:14 Lee So yeah, so if it hasn't, if it didn't get that sort of initial jump, yeah, then maybe people just.

30:22 Lee yeah, have not had the opportunity and not seen it anywhere to to to pick it up.

30:27 Lee But it it's such a travesty because it's.

30:31 Lee just a work of art.

30:32 Lee It's just.

30:34 Lee It's.

30:35 Lee you know, like we were saying, the tension at the beginning, because obviously you don't see Niles's other side until almost half an hour in.

30:41 Lee And.

30:42 Lee the tension of, as you say, him being in the house and he keeps making phone calls, and any one of those phone calls can trip him up.

30:49 Lee Because he phones the airport.

30:52 Lee about baggage.

30:54 Lee And that could give it all away.

30:56 Lee And then he phones Julia.

30:58 Lee Which obviously he doesn't phone Julia, because there's no Julia.

31:01 Lee The fact that you once once you realize that he writes those postcards, you knew from the beginning that this guy had never spoken to Julia.

31:08 Lee Because he couldn't have possibly spoken to Julia.

31:10 Lee So he so he was playing along the whole time, but was absolutely aware of the situation from the get-go.

31:17 Lee Which.

31:18 Adam And actually winding it up by doing the calls.

31:20 Chris Yeah.

31:21 Adam Because.

31:22 Adam You know, it's sort of like just almost trying to get him to reveal himself.

31:29 Adam Cause there's a lovely bit where the neighbor.

31:31 Adam calls him a wolf.

31:33 Lee Yeah.

31:33 Adam The woman he goes to first.

31:36 Chris She calls John, yeah.

31:37 Lee Yeah.

31:37 Adam Yeah.

31:38 Adam And she just says, she just says, go away, Wolf.

31:42 Chris And you're not really a you were making it up, yeah.

31:45 Chris Because they wouldn't have crosses and yeah.

31:47 Adam And I think that that is a a brilliant term for the character because of, you know, he is.

31:55 Adam at that point, I mean, you obviously see.

31:57 Adam a somewhat sympathetic side to it, and you do see him battered and fucked up and everything, and you and at one point you think killed.

32:05 Adam And it's sort of.

32:07 Lee And the fact that he's been played.

32:08 Lee the whole time by the girlfriend.

32:10 Lee I'd forgot.

32:10 Chris Well that was another nice.

32:11 Chris Yeah.

32:12 Lee That was.

32:12 Lee Yeah.

32:13 Lee So this film just.

32:15 Lee And that's what I mean.

32:16 Lee It's just it's really nicely paced, it go it flies by really quickly, but yeah, you never go more than 10 or after that first half an hour, you never go more than 10 or 15 minutes.

32:24 Lee Without a whole new twist being popped in that just turns everything on its head.

32:30 Chris Yeah, none of the characters.

32:31 Chris Yeah, none of the characters are exactly what they seemed to begin with.

32:34 Chris John isn't in sort of three ways, and then yeah, Warwick isn't.

32:37 Chris And then even Detective Morton because he starts investigating Warwick.

32:41 Adam He gets his shit together and actually like he's like, I can't ignore this.

32:45 Chris Yeah.

32:46 Adam And that is a that's a lovely moment as well.

32:48 Adam Because you know, you're seeing how Warwick's playing this off.

32:53 Adam When he's like, well, yeah, get it analyzed, because I want to know.

32:57 Chris Yeah.

32:57 Adam And sort of having to front it out, but also the mind's working.

33:03 Lee Yeah, and it is, it's that brilliant thing of it is how you can kind of imagine it being when he says, you're gonna bring a load of policemen to my house.

33:08 Lee I don't have to be civil about this, but I'm choosing to be, so why don't you come over for dinner?

33:13 Lee And you just don't, don't go for dinner, it's not gonna go.

33:17 Chris Don't choose the red wine.

33:18 Lee Yeah.

33:20 Adam Oh, right.

33:23 Adam Fantastic.

33:24 Adam But no, I mean, it's.

33:26 Adam Yeah, it's just.

33:28 Adam one of the, yeah, I think it's just one of the.

33:32 Adam It's one of the best films I've seen and it is a real hidden gem.

33:39 Adam that people should be singing from the rooftops.

33:43 Adam This should have the cult following of like something like Withnail or something like that.

33:47 Lee Yeah.

33:48 Adam People there should be it should be mean to fuck.

33:52 Chris Yeah.

33:53 Adam There should be gifts of content and everything.

33:58 Adam You know.

33:58 Lee It's just the dance number on the table when they're all doing the together and then it just keeps cutting back to just him on his own dancing like a lunatic.

34:05 Lee Yeah.

34:06 Lee It's.

34:07 Lee It's just such a good film, it's such a such a fun, considering how dark it is, it's such a brilliantly fun movie.

34:14 Adam And that's the thing is I think every point lightens the pace in a weird way.

34:19 Adam It takes you to a really fucking dark area.

34:24 Adam And you're still going with it because it's still an entertaining film.

34:29 Adam But then it sort of usurps that but in a way that you're like, oh, more intriguingly.

34:36 Lee Yeah.

34:36 Adam You know, than a film where it's like a guy goes somewhere, finds out he's in the hands of a nutter who kills him.

34:44 Adam That's.

34:44 Adam film.

34:45 Chris Yeah, it'd be a good film, it would not be a great film.

34:49 Adam Cause that bit, there's a bit in it which really made me think proper.

34:53 Adam 90s serial murderer sort of movie was the bit where he's going where he's talking to him and he's just going, where is she now?

35:01 Adam When he's writing out the postcard from Julia.

35:04 Adam And that bit where he's going.

35:06 Adam It's this, you're Julia, aren't you?

35:07 Adam And it's just and the music of it, the way it's lit, because it's like 3:00 AM in the morning and everyone's fucking shattered.

35:15 Adam And it's like, yeah, it's that is just is perfect.

35:18 Adam to then have that rug pulled and it's like, oh no, I didn't kill him, no, he he has a makeup kit and he fucks with people.

35:25 Lee Oh, that's That was the other bit I forgot.

35:28 Lee He almost lets John go, doesn't he, and John gets to the door.

35:32 Lee And then he says to him, you're nothing.

35:35 Lee Yeah.

35:35 Lee And he cannot, he could have just walked away at that point, but he's like, no, I'm not doing this, this has gone too far, I'm gonna kill this bloke.

35:41 Lee and just drops himself straight in the shit.

35:45 Adam Yeah.

35:46 Adam Yeah.

35:47 Adam Cause.

35:47 Adam at that point, he could have walked out that door, I mean, probably at that point, he'd have probably got as far as the front step.

35:54 Adam And then Warwick comes out with the fucking cattle prod or something.

35:57 Adam But ostensibly that seems to be the point where, you know, he and and the fact that Warwick's not concentrating on the chess match.

36:02 Adam Cause it's like obviously I'm gonna beat him because he's he's scum and I've had him trapped here and I'm a genius.

36:11 Adam Yeah.

36:12 Adam And then he's not even.

36:12 Adam He's not even concentrating because he's too busy trying to work out what he gets if he wins.

36:17 Lee Yeah.

36:17 Adam And then it's like, oh, I've got a good one.

36:20 Adam Checkmate.

36:21 Lee What?

36:21 Lee And he immediately says, you cheated.

36:23 Lee It's like, he's got his hands tied behind his back.

36:25 Lee How can he possibly have cheated?

36:27 Adam I mean, the the musically, I love this film.

36:28 Adam I think that the score for it is really, really good.

36:32 Adam John Swihart, he did Napoleon Dynamite and.

36:35 Chris Oh, right.

36:36 Adam Odd Thomas, so he's done but I think in this he puts in.

36:40 Adam a lot of, he puts it's very much like an Inside Number 9 score, he puts in a lot of work of this is what suits this bit.

36:48 Adam Some of it's like a fucking urban crime film.

36:50 Adam Some of it's like beautiful, some of it's mania.

36:55 Lee There was I was gonna say, yeah, there was a mania bit earlier before Warwick has turned.

37:02 Lee And yeah, it was like a little musical cue that almost just tipped you off that, you know, everything seems calm, but the music's telling you there's something mental going on.

37:09 Lee And it kind of it's just fantastic.

37:12 Lee It's just so well done.

37:14 Lee And if you don't know what the twist is that's coming, it seemed really odd and out of place.

37:18 Lee But then when it happened, it all just comes together and makes perfect sense.

37:23 Lee It's.

37:24 Lee it's so well crafted.

37:26 Adam But obviously, yeah, so the the opening credits are equals of death metal, wanna be in LA.

37:34 Adam And then of course, you've got Rose Royce with Carwash.

37:36 Adam And I am generally against people using music that's been used in other films before.

37:42 Adam I'm particularly averse to people taking themes or things that were specifically written for other films and putting them in other films.

37:50 Adam at this point, I have to stand corrected because fuck off, Carwash belongs to this movie, not the film Carwash.

37:58 Adam Even though Carwash is a great film.

38:01 Adam yeah.

38:01 Adam This owns Carwash.

38:04 Adam It's fucking brilliant.

38:07 Lee Oh.

38:08 Lee Yeah, I just I I I would be hard pressed to find anything about this film that I would.

38:12 Lee like to have seen done differently or thought could be improved upon, it it's just an absolute masterpiece.

38:17 Lee I say, yeah, I don't know if it was possibly marketing or whatever that obviously could have done better, but it's kind of nice to have a film like this.

38:26 Lee Like you say, Adam, where when you're talking to someone and you're like, oh yeah, can you recommend anything, and you can pull this one out of the bag, you're pretty much sure, you know, 90% of people you show it to would get something out of it and be totally blown away, so it's quite nice to have it as a little secret thing that we've all got.

38:47 Adam See, the the best way I can describe it in a weird way is I think that this is a film that I could, I well, I still show my mom, but I could have shown my dad.

39:00 Adam Both of them would have loved it, and that is a fucking rarity, because my mum likes my mum likes completely different films to the films my dad likes in the main.

39:08 Adam But this would have been one that they'd have both fucking loved.

39:12 Adam And very much for the same reasons.

39:13 Adam Do you know what I mean, it wasn't isn't like one like this or one like that.

39:18 Adam I think it was just it's just a fucking entertaining film.

39:20 Adam You know.

39:22 Lee Yeah, oh, just fantastic.

39:24 Lee Right, so we are gonna wrap it up there.

39:27 Lee so our next film we're going to be covering is gonna be Adam's birthday choice and we didn't give away what the theme of the month was, because we wanted to keep it under wraps that it is crazy bastards month.

39:38 Lee Yeah.

39:41 Lee so Adam.

39:42 Lee What is your birthday choice?

39:44 Adam Well, obviously, I am, as everyone knows, I'm an avuncular man who doesn't have clinical depression, and, you know, I'm optimistic, sunny side sort of of the street kind of guy.

39:54 Adam So.

39:55 Chris Where's this going?

39:55 Adam So my birthday choice, we're gonna watch The Party movie that is Seven.

39:58 Chris Oh, right.

40:00 Adam Seven.

40:01 Adam

40:03 Adam Which, yeah, if if anything, I suppose The Perfect Host is.

40:09 Adam artist pretending to be murderer, and Seven is murderer thinking he's an artist.

40:16 Adam So, you know, there we go.

40:18 Chris No, I haven't seen that for a long time.

40:20 Chris So yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

40:23 Adam I funnily enough, it was because I I started I've started a rewatch of White Chapel, which is a very highly recommended series that was on mid about 2009 for about four series.

40:35 Adam and it kind of put me in that sort of.

40:39 Adam What other things are about people proving a point through serial murder.

40:45 Adam And then it was like, oh yeah, well there's Seven, obviously.

40:47 Adam And yeah, so happy birthday to me.

40:51 Adam And and interestingly enough, I will be Seven this year.

40:53 Lee Yeah.

40:54 Lee Oh.

40:55 Lee Wow.

40:56 Lee Oh yeah, I think it's a really good call.

40:57 Lee Same as Chris said, I mean, I saw this when it first came out.

40:59 Chris Oh, it was big.

41:00 Lee Yes.

41:01 Lee And I've done.

41:01 Chris Oh, it was big.

41:02 Lee Oh, it was big.

41:04 Lee It was one of the biggest.

41:07 Chris It was one of the biggest of this type of movies that I saw.

41:09 Lee Right.

41:10 Chris Remembered at the time.

41:11 Adam It's it's Brad Pitt.

41:14 Lee Well.

41:15 Adam Morgan Freeman.

41:16 Chris Okay.

41:16 Chris I did not even.

41:17 Adam You know.

41:18 Adam And there's and I think the thing is as well, because it's

41:23 Adam oh, bollocks, I can't remember his name.

41:26 Adam The director is, shit.

41:29 Adam What is his name, but he's done loads of stuff since.

41:32 Chris Oh, that was it's gonna be very interesting to go through and see.

41:35 Adam But stuff that's got bigger.

41:36 Adam Yeah, okay.

41:37 Adam Fisher.

41:38 Adam David Fisher.

41:40 Adam No, I think he wrote the legend of Hyde.

41:41 Lee It is David Fincher.

41:42 Adam David Fincher, that's it, thank you.

41:44 Adam but obviously he's now gone on to most of his films have been massive fucking deals, to the point where I feel that Seven has been forgotten.

41:59 Chris Yeah.

42:00 Adam As because it came right at the start, really.

42:02 Lee Oh, and Zodiac as well.

42:04 Lee Ugh.

42:05 Adam He did.

42:06 Adam He did Zodiac, he did Mind Hunt, the TV series Mind Hunter, which was good while it lasted.

42:11 Adam And Panic Room, The Game, Fight Club, Social Network, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake.

42:17 Lee You know.

42:18 Adam He's done.

42:19 Adam lots and lots.

42:22 Adam And and Alien 3, and I'm sorry, Bobby and Adam, but yeah, it's still fucking good.

42:25 Lee Yeah.

42:26 Adam Director's cut.

42:28 Lee Just to clarify.

42:28 Lee When I said about Zodiac, it was a fantastic film.

42:32 Lee But it was so bleak, I'll never watch it again.

42:35 Lee And it was so brutal as well.

42:38 Lee Like.

42:38 Adam It's it's a great film, but the trouble is is that it's that horrible thing of watching it and going, oh no, this is all shit that already happened.

42:43 Lee Yeah, I think that's why I was like, I I enjoyed, enjoyed is the wrong word.

42:47 Lee In the words of Garf Maringi.

42:49 Lee I like, I yeah, I watched it and enjoyed the journey, but I was like, I don't think I'd put myself through it again, it's really brutal, it's so horrible.

42:57 Adam Yeah, it don't fuck about.

43:00 Adam So.

43:00 Lee Certainly doesn't.

43:02 Lee Excellent.

43:03 Lee Right.

43:04 Lee So, thanks ever so much for listening, everyone.

43:07 Lee if you haven't already, definitely hunt out The Perfect Host, because even though we've told you about it,

43:15 Lee seeing it is a very different thing, so you definitely need to experience it.

43:18 Adam And we've pretty and we've pretty much stayed clear of jokes and one-liners and stuff like that, so you'll still have there's a lot, yeah.

43:25 Adam plenty to see.

43:27 Lee Excellent, right, so thanks very much for listening.

43:30 Lee Go and check out Seven again.

43:31 Lee If like us, you haven't watched it in 20-odd years.

43:34 Lee and we will see you back for Adam's birthday in a fortnight.

43:36 Lee Good night.

43:37 Chris Good night.

43:39 Adam Good night.