The Monster Club

0:00 Lee Good evening and welcome to Horror.

0:00 Lee I'm Lee.

0:00 Chris I'm Chris.

0:00 Adam Hi, Adam.

0:00 Lee And we're here this evening with spoilers and swearing to discuss the possibly divisive 1981 film The Monster Club.

0:00 Lee I see we go, we go all in on divisiveness on this one.

0:00 Lee We do, we do.

0:00 Lee Well, I remember the first time I saw it. I wasn't sure if it was the first time you saw it as well Adam, but it was we did a Vincent Price day at mine where we literally watched Vincent Price films the entire day.

0:00 Lee And our friend Sharon worked at HMV at the time and basically just went through like the bargain bin, found a couple of Vincent Price movies and just turned up with them when she finished work.

0:01 Lee And one of them was this and I'd never even heard it.

0:01 Lee Yeah, so we ended up watching it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

0:01 Adam I think because I was trying to work out when the first time I saw it was.

0:01 Adam And I'm pretty I'm pretty sure I saw it maybe as a kid.

0:01 Chris Hmm.

0:01 Adam Which in essence is probably, well, we know that's kind of what it, who it was aimed at.

0:01 Adam But yeah, and and but I think it was, it was one of those things where a bit like all the sort of Amicus films rolled into one until you sort of start actually concentrating.

0:01 Adam But when you've seen them just over sort of like a period of time, you can't remember, you can't necessarily pinpoint which story comes from which or whatever like that.

0:01 Chris Hmm.

0:01 Adam So, but I I, because I think the only thing I really remembered, the the bit that stood out from being a kid was the first story.

0:02 Adam So I don't know whether I even saw the whole thing the first time round or what what the situation was, but yeah.

0:02 Adam No, funnily enough, that would have probably been, that would have probably been the second time that I saw it was certainly if it wasn't the first.

0:02 Adam Because yeah, again like I say it was just a great thing, I was sitting there going, when the bloody hell did I first see this?

0:02 Adam Because it's clearly so long ago that it's got to be sort of childhood, I'm pretty sure.

0:02 Lee Yeah, it's uh, yeah, it's it is, it's one of those that I don't know how it had sort of, yeah, never even turned up on the radar.

0:02 Lee I'm sure when Sharon turned up, I'd never even heard of it before.

0:02 Lee So I was like, oh, yeah, anthology film with Vincent Price, let's stick it on.

0:02 Lee And uh, yeah, I at the end of a very long day of drinking and Vincent Price movies and cocktails, uh yeah, it was a, it was very enjoyable.

0:02 Lee So, but before we get into it.

0:02 Adam Was that when we watched, was that when you and Dean did the drinking game on Comedy of Terrors?

0:03 Lee No, no, that was a standalone day that we did that on.

0:03 Lee And um, yes, which turned into not a lot of standing and a lot more kind of laying down really.

0:03 Lee Uh, Chris, with this being your first viewing, I'd imagine of The Monster Club.

0:03 Lee What did you think?

0:03 Chris I I will, I will very quickly get the unpleasantness out of the way and then I will move on to the full on Donald Pleasanceness to come.

0:03 Chris So, so it's like Vincent Price, you're like, ah, excellent, you know, what's not to like?

0:03 Chris And then it was just a little bit like, oh, they've gone in very quickly on this.

0:03 Chris It's like within a few seconds, oh, I'm really hungry, I'm a vampire, yep, I'm just going to eat you.

0:03 Chris And then and then he explains the whole thing and you're like, okay, all right, it's this this scene may not be Vincent Price's greatest scene ever.

0:03 Chris But it's it's fun and then very quickly as soon as they get to the club, you're like, all right, no, this is now starting to get a lot more interesting.

0:04 Chris Because and and here's what I was thinking, hold on, this is basically a music hall.

0:04 Chris I'm surely he won't like this.

0:04 Chris But the yeah, the the bands were proper stand out. Like I just I was fascinated by the different songs and how quirky they were.

0:04 Chris And I was going to say a bit of an aside, but very good news, um, Rip Tim Curry, but the good thing that came out of that was we heard on the radio and I said to my daughter, oh, um, like, you'll know him from The Worst Witch as the Grand Wizard and Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is your aunt's favourite film of all time and one of her favourite songs.

0:04 Chris And you've never seen, because it's way too old for you, but I'm going to put on one of the scenes and I got some bad looks from a few of the adults around.

0:04 Chris But I I put it on and both Toby and Eve thoroughly, I'd say enjoyed.

0:04 Chris Eve looked at me like aghast when Tim Curry came out as Dr. Dr. Frank N. Furter, which of course she found the whole idea funny but was like, what is he dressed as, what what are you showing me?

0:05 Chris It's like, yeah, it's it's a little bit out there, but and then she was like, oh no, I do know the song though.

0:05 Chris And obviously then she starts into it and everything, so it was like it was really good.

0:05 Chris And then, weirdly enough, today she was watching Gilmore Girls and they mentioned it in there.

0:05 Chris And she was like, picture show.

0:05 Chris So now it's like, you know, fully embedded.

0:05 Chris So that's a good thing that's come out of it at least.

0:05 Lee Excellent.

0:05 Chris But yeah, so.

0:05 Chris So yeah, back to the film.

0:05 Chris Um, yeah, so it was definitely one of those that the more it progressed, the more I was enjoying it.

0:05 Chris And very much enjoyed the anthology aspect.

0:05 Chris Um, especially the final wrap around.

0:05 Chris Which for me, I was like, that's really good. I like the fact that they just went straight in and said, I mean, I'll give the spoiler now, they said that humans are one of the worst monsters ever to exist.

0:05 Chris It's like, and then he's he's a sort of diatribe monologue about them. He's like, that's great. That's just he's he's this is it now, he's his best, he's summing it all up perfectly.

0:06 Adam It's really annoying that he keeps referring to it rather than because obviously in the genealogy, because they keep referring to humans as Hume.

0:06 Adam Otherwise that would be one of the best things to sum up.

0:06 Chris You could.

0:06 Adam You could just stick on a track, you know, just with they have, they have torture, nuclear, and just yeah, the whole pantheon of the the things.

0:06 Chris So but at that time I was fully like at the funny, and but it does have a few bits. I was like, oh, I was like, you know, it still looks a bit.

0:06 Adam It's strange because like I say, I think cuz I'm I can't work out whether it actually was marketed for kids in the end or not.

0:06 Chris Like there's a bit of a filter that and yet there's still some parts that I thought them ramped up a little more than I was expecting.

0:07 Chris Like especially on the third, the third story, right, for some reason, I was proper when he gets jostled back into the the uh, the pub or the inn.

0:07 Chris It's like, oh, that was just so horrible being crowded by that many people.

0:07 Chris And they're all sort of useless, but you're like, you're just you can't push against it, yeah, the claustrophobia of that and it was like, oh.

0:07 Adam The sheer.

0:07 Chris Yeah, so, so we should now go back to the first story.

0:07 Chris And and in fact the genealogy, which that's a pretty weird genealogy, like is that have they just totally made that up for this film because I I've never heard of any of that happening.

0:07 Lee Yeah, I believe so.

0:07 Adam Well, it's it's all based on and I couldn't, I'll I'll hold my hands up, I've never read the the collection that it's based on.

0:07 Chris Hmm.

0:07 Adam But um, it's I have the collection that it's based on that Adam bought me and I left it in its cellophane as a display item for ages.

0:08 Adam And then I decided I was when we first said we were going to do this, I was like, right, I'm going to read it and I now can't find it.

0:08 Adam It's here in the library somewhere.

0:08 Chris There's a there's a lot to go through.

0:08 Adam That's true, yes, yeah, there are hundreds of books, it's in here somewhere in cellophane.

0:08 Adam So I've looked, I've I was so careful to look after it, but when I read, when I've rejigged everything in the room, I put it on a shelf so that it'd be between other books and wouldn't get crushed or damaged and I now can't locate it, so I know it's in here somewhere, but I am going to read it after watching this again.

0:08 Lee Well that would be, well, we'll have to do that for uh when we do another tomb tombs.

0:08 Lee Yes, yes, definitely.

0:08 Lee You could let us know because, yeah, I couldn't sort of, I've never read it.

0:08 Lee So and apparently, so obviously R. Chetwynd-Hayes is a genuine author who John Carradine is portraying.

0:08 Lee Apparently he was very offended that because he thought John Carradine was too old to play him.

0:09 Adam That.

0:09 Chris Is that wishful thinking on his part?

0:09 Lee Well, I mean, from what I I think I've worked it out, they're probably about like I think he's probably about 15 years younger, so probably there is an element there.

0:09 Chris Good good.

0:09 Lee But equally, John Carradine, bless his heart, he looks fucking ancient, you know, you know, it's it's not regardless of whether he's it's like that is a percentage of elderly looking poor old John Carradine, he really looks cadaverous by this point.

0:09 Lee And um, so and I don't think he was very pleased with the story, like the the adaptations in general.

0:09 Chris Okay.

0:09 Lee Because um, so because uh, obviously this, I mean it's not an Amicus film, but it's Milton Subotsky who is one half of Amicus, basically it was him, uh, he um, uh, he's the producer on this.

0:10 Lee Um, but Amicus had already done uh Tales from the Crypt, which is all R. Chetwynd-Hayes pays stories as well, which are um, which is obviously much more a straightforward horror film.

0:10 Lee And I think he was I think I, I think he was happier with that, but also after that came out, he quit his day job and began like became a writer full time.

0:10 Lee So that was like the sort of, that's when he sort of made it in terms of horror writing and stuff like that.

0:10 Lee Um, but yeah, I think he thought that this was a bit sort of like daft really.

0:10 Lee But from what I gather, I mean, I don't so the the entire of the Humgoo like the the genealogy chart.

0:10 Lee I don't know if that is R. Chetwynd-Hayes, but.

0:10 Lee There are, there are things in the book like I think it is called like the the Shadmox Whistle and stuff like that, so I'm kind of assuming that it does come from the book.

0:11 Lee And and apparently the book is it's the same wrap around, but it's just a character rather than it's actually R. Chetwynd-Hayes who is who um Erasmus has uh propositioned or whatever you'd call it and then taken to the club.

0:11 Lee So, yeah.

0:11 Lee But um, yeah, so that genealogy thing, but the weird thing is, is I've read apparently that genealogy chart was drawn up before they cast the film.

0:11 Chris Oh.

0:11 Lee So they really did well in getting someone to play uh the Shadmox because it's not far off.

0:11 Lee Um, but yeah, they a lot of the illustrations and stuff were done prior to the actual casting of the film and things like that.

0:11 Adam Have they look exactly like him.

0:11 Lee But yeah.

0:11 Adam Yeah, I know.

0:11 Lee It's it's quite impressive really.

0:12 Lee Um, but yeah, so obviously so you have that.

0:12 Lee One thing, I'm going to get it out of out of the way here now.

0:12 Lee Because I I enjoy, I enjoyed watching it. I always enjoy watching it.

0:12 Lee Um, but the one thing I will always say, fuck me, could you've not got better teeth?

0:12 Lee There is not a person in this who is not hampered by the fact they've they've got like the fangs you get off the front cover of a comic that make you drool and throw up when you're a kid.

0:12 Lee just too much.

0:12 Adam All of it, what, this was my problem.

0:12 Adam So the vignettes so I'm least my least favourite is the Shadmox story.

0:12 Adam Donald Pleasence one with the vampire I love.

0:12 Adam The final one is one of, as you say, it's funny that it's supposedly aim that it's one of the darkest vignettes I've seen in any.

0:12 Chris It does step things up, yeah, that wasn't expected.

0:12 Adam The line drawing and stuff.

0:12 Chris That that I I.

0:12 Adam I love that.

0:12 Chris Yeah, I love that.

0:12 Adam Yeah.

0:12 Lee That's the that's the same guy who did the genealogy chart.

0:13 Chris Ah.

0:13 Lee Yeah.

0:13 Lee Yeah, he's a the comics artist um, oh, Bloody hell, I wrote it down because uh, where is it, it's John Bolton.

0:13 Lee Um, and funnily enough for ages they were my um, that was my screensaver at work was one of the I think it was the one where it's just hiding behind the the gravestone.

0:13 Chris Yeah, yeah.

0:13 Lee Yeah, that's good.

0:13 Lee Amazing, I love them.

0:13 Lee But yeah, so all of that stuff I love.

0:13 Chris I think I was also slightly triggered by him shaking the girl.

0:13 Chris I was like, he looks like he's really shaking her.

0:13 Chris That feels a bit we've we've moved on clearly like.

0:13 Chris Cuz cuz it's weird cuz.

0:13 Adam Why is he helping?

0:13 Chris Yeah.

0:13 Adam It's but yeah, I think that that last sequence, the Humgoo story is genuinely atmospheric, genuinely like.

0:13 Adam And you've obviously you've got Patrick Magee in there as well, who is just fucking odd.

0:14 Adam Yeah, as well, you know, have you any idea what it's like to be blind?

0:14 Adam And just fucking from and he's just, I mean, I love the fact that when they've jostled him, he's nicked his coat.

0:14 Chris Yeah, yeah.

0:14 Adam You know, and he's sort of so the rest of it, he's walking around in his jacket and it's just and like and the the the wonderful little things about, oh, the boxes come from the Earth and we get and we get and we get the seal and then when he realizes that he's digging graves.

0:14 Chris Yeah.

0:14 Adam But now there's no no boxes left now.

0:14 Chris Oh.

0:14 Adam And it's sort of and actually Leslie Dunlop, great, amazing.

0:14 Adam And she this weirdly, and this is like in terms of like, I don't know, like sort of film, I don't know, quality or artistic poles or whatever like that, because I I enjoyed both films, she did this literally after doing The Elephant Man.

0:15 Chris Oh right.

0:15 Adam And it's like so he's got the sort of sort of David Lynch's Oscar winning sort of meditation on humanity and straight into The Monster Club.

0:15 Chris Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:15 Lee Yeah, I just I I love the stories.

0:15 Lee The wrap around, I'm less of a fan of, I find that a bit.

0:15 Lee But I always skip the entire, so I'll watch the opening scene until Vincent Price says, let me take you and then I'll skip straight to the first story.

0:15 Lee Because I've got to say the songs in this make me so angry.

0:15 Lee I I I find them embarrassing to watch.

0:15 Lee I would rather somebody walked in and found me watching porn than came in.

0:15 Chris I was I was I was definitely feeling that but I quite like that sort of experience. I was like, I'm just going to enjoy this for what it is.

0:16 Chris The fact that it's so kind of odd.

0:16 Adam I think I think I think you said it the other week, it does, I remember sort of like when, because now, weirdly enough, I I feel almost like a sort of necessity that I have to watch it through.

0:16 Chris Oh.

0:16 Adam But when I had The Monster Club like, um, you know, when I'd watch it um like previously when I had it on DVD and stuff.

0:16 Adam As I now have it on shiny Blu-ray.

0:16 Lee Oh.

0:16 Adam Oh, by the way, forgot to mention, Network are back, the DVD company.

0:16 Lee Oh really?

0:16 Adam They're they're sort of, I think they're starting off slow and sort of feeling it, but Network are back.

0:16 Adam Um, which is just good news for lovers of old telly, old horror and stuff like that, it's yeah.

0:16 Adam Um, but that's by that's by the by.

0:16 Adam Um, yeah, that was just weird. I was just scrolling through Instagram and it was like, what's a post from Network? Hang on, a post from Network, but there's a point about and then, whoa, you're back, okay, fair enough.

0:17 Adam Um, but yeah, so but it would always be much like The Young Ones, there were certain when you watch The Young Ones, there was always certain bands where you fast forward through.

0:17 Lee Yeah.

0:17 Adam You know, you're going to watch Motorhead, you're going to watch The Damned, you're going to watch Madness, but like fucking, you know, Nine Below Zero or whatever like that now fast forward, let's get to the jump.

0:17 Adam And I I sort of feel a similar sort of thing used to happen with The Monster Club if I'm honest, it was like, yeah, the.

0:17 Lee But it isn't just the songs either, it's the the people in the club, they've gone to a pound shop for a load of rubber masks and just put a load of people in awful like proportions, they are just diabolical.

0:17 Adam It is it is really, really, I mean, funnily enough, this was something cuz um, this is a like a lot of the anthology films, this is actually a this is one that Claire enjoys.

0:17 Adam And um, she always, she always quotes um, oddly enough, the thing that struck out for her most is Donald Pleasence's line where it's like, I'm not a stranger, I'm a clergyman.

0:18 Chris Oh.

0:18 Adam Um, but and.

0:18 Chris Does he has he played many horrible people like that?

0:18 Adam Oh, he well, it's it's weird, it's basically Loomis but Loomis is the bad guy in this.

0:18 Chris Okay.

0:18 Adam You know, because the vampire is kind of like the the the hero or certainly the child.

0:18 Adam Because that's the one that kind of you kind of get maybe this was aimed for kids, because that's really the kids' point of view and stuff like that.

0:18 Lee Yeah.

0:18 Adam Um, and um, and I I've never I've never realised before that it's um, but the dad is uh, what's his name from The Haunting?

0:18 Adam Um, Dr. Markam from The Haunting.

0:18 Lee Oh, really?

0:18 Adam Yeah, it's um, sorry, John Markaway from The Haunting.

0:19 Adam Yeah, Richard Johnson um is the vampire and I've never I've never noticed it before and it was just sort of mad.

0:19 Adam And obviously Britt Ekland, I mean it's obviously Britt Ekland.

0:19 Lee Yeah.

0:19 Adam Um, but no, I I I love that story just because I especially love the fact that they've got the what is it, the because there's little digs in there. I love the sort of bits with John Carradine and Vincent Price talking, like you say, the actual remainder of the club members, it's fucking ghastly.

0:19 Lee Yeah.

0:19 Adam You know, it's like three Goths and a load of fucking piss-poor masks that you've got from the pound shop.

0:19 Chris But I must have been in the right mood because I just found all that so entertaining.

0:19 Adam I love it, but there but there is a part of me that is also like much the same that you get sort of second-hand embarrassment sort of like, as a Doctor Who fan, there's sort of certain things where it's like, well, I'm not showing someone this because it's got a fucking awful monster in it.

0:19 Adam Or, you know, or there's a particularly bad bit of effect, there's bad effects or like bad acting.

0:20 Adam And similarly with this, I would be afraid to show this to anyone but kids, because I don't think kids would care.

0:20 Chris Yeah.

0:20 Adam But, you know, it's like there is no way this this stands in the same tier as the Amicus.

0:20 Lee No.

0:20 Lee Absolutely not.

0:20 Chris Except for the third story.

0:20 Adam The story.

0:20 Adam The stories I think are fine, it's just that wrap around looking so.

0:20 Chris Yeah, I I liked the other two but it was like, oh yeah, you've saved the best to last, this has this has gone the way it needed to go.

0:20 Chris And then that's when I just still really loved the very final bit because I because it's like, oh yeah, Vincent Price has got his moment.

0:20 Lee Yeah.

0:20 Lee Claire always complains with the Shadmox story, it's like, he's a bit ugly, but he's not scream and run out the room.

0:20 Chris Yeah, yeah.

0:20 Lee He's exactly, he's just slightly pale looking.

0:20 Lee He's nothing like yeah, I I feel the same with that one. I'm always like.

0:21 Adam And that guy, that's Pink's dad from The Wall.

0:21 Lee I've not seen The Wall.

0:21 Adam Oh no, oh fair enough, okay.

0:21 Chris I've not heard of The Wall.

0:21 Adam Oh, Pink Floyd's The Wall, they did a movie version of it and right at the start he's uh he plays the uh father of the main character who gets killed in the war.

0:21 Adam Um, which is uh, yeah.

0:21 Adam Actually obvious once I read that, I was like, yeah, of course it fucking is, cuz it's the.

0:21 Adam It's looking a bit like Kevin Eldon is the the key there, I think.

0:21 Lee Hmm.

0:21 Adam Um, but yeah, the um.

0:21 Adam No, I I think um, there's yeah, they they escalate really well.

0:21 Adam And I think the because with the bands from what I can gather, so like Milton Subotsky was like, I'm going to make a anthology film but for kids.

0:21 Adam And in fairness, they'd done in the 60s, he was the one who produced the Peter Cushing Dalek movies and stuff like that.

0:22 Adam So he knew adventure for kids and stuff like that and Amicus also did stuff like it's Trad Dad, which was like a sort of pop movie with songs and like, you know, I think it was like Helen Shapiro and stuff like that.

0:22 Adam And I think it's basically just unfortunately by this point, he was woefully out of touch.

0:22 Adam And it was sort of like, you know, well, I'll get some who are cool bands and, you know.

0:22 Adam And I think I mean, like the Pretty Things have been going since the fucking 60s, I mean, this was like a a different, obviously and I mean, they're still going today, but it's like hundreds of different lineups and stuff like that.

0:22 Adam So I mean, they were hardly, you know, weirdly enough, probably the hippest band in it is UB40, who aren't actually in it, they're just they're that really good dub track that is playing in the background while Vincent Price and John Carradine are talking.

0:22 Chris Hmm.

0:22 Adam So, I think they um, yeah, I think it was just a bit sort of like, oh, yeah, it by 1980, you might not have had your finger on the pulse, Milton.

0:23 Lee So.

0:23 Lee It's such a shame, if they'd taken those bands out, they could have got a fourth story in.

0:23 Chris Yes.

0:23 Lee That annoys me.

0:23 Adam Yeah, I think there was because and again, I don't think any of the bands particularly uh, what's his name, B.A. Robertson, the guy with the blue lippy.

0:23 Lee Yeah.

0:23 Adam Um, I don't think that that is even filmed particularly interestingly, that's just like, we'll focus on him and sort of do wedding singer equivalent of zooming in and out.

0:23 Chris Oh, yeah.

0:23 Chris I still found that. I think that was it, there was just so much that was a bit like, what they just like, should we just do this? Yeah, give it a go. And I was like, this is actually really entertaining me.

0:23 Adam I think I think actually as an as an artefact of its time.

0:23 Adam And weirdly like a snapshot because again it's like that thing that's like, like I said the Pretty Things have been going since the 60s, but this was their new wave phase, so they were a bit reggae.

0:24 Adam You know, so but I think the uh, yeah.

0:24 Adam And obviously there's and again, there's kids film with a stripper.

0:24 Chris No but even that was good because I was like, oh, they're just going to they're going to fade out, they're going to do something, right? And then no, she's taking that, what? What's going on? Surely?

0:24 Chris And then then the, you know, they subvert you and it's like, oh, no, actually, that's pretty good, now she's taking off her skin, but in a way that's like kind of fun still, yeah, all right.

0:24 Adam I think the I think the animation on that bit is really great.

0:24 Adam And it's weird, because you get all these sort of things like that that village in the the La La Ville, which is an anagram of Ghoul.

0:24 Adam And actually, I I found something really sad when I was looking up about this is there was a um a website I found which was like a a really old sort of message board style website called Luffville, which someone had constructed as like, so we can talk about R. Chetwynd-Hayes.

0:25 Adam And like their last message on there was just, oh, it doesn't doesn't seem to have picked up much traction, so um you can find us on this other website as just like part of a different thing.

0:25 Adam The other website doesn't even exist anymore, but Luffville is sort of still there as this sort of old tribute, yeah, like, you know.

0:25 Adam And this was someone who was, you know, really into the fiction. I mean, there was a bit on there about The Monster Club and um Tales from the Crypt, but obviously it was mostly about the fiction and stuff like that.

0:25 Adam And it was, yeah, it was just a bit sad.

0:25 Adam It was that, oh, you know, just the the last thing was, it didn't really take off, I thought there might be more people out there interested, but there we go.

0:25 Lee And yeah, definitely I'd definitely been interested in that.

0:25 Adam Exactly, I mean, that's that's the thing is, it's finding it just so so late.

0:26 Adam Because I think the thing is R. Chetwynd-Hayes stuff is he was really sort of, I I can't remember, I can't remember who it was I was listening to something and they were talking about, he was like one of the first people where it was like, no, we're doing this in an ordinary street or a shop.

0:26 Lee Yeah.

0:26 Adam Or, you know, like a council estate and stuff like that. It wasn't high Gothic, it wasn't, it wasn't even, it wasn't even that sort of mid period of terribly middle-class people who don't actually have any fucking real job to go to, you know, going to stately homes and being spooked out and stuff like that.

0:26 Adam It was, you know, this is sort of day-to-day stuff.

0:26 Adam And um, yeah, and some of his stuff is really, really effective, it's it's odd that he's kind of fallen by the wayside a bit as a name.

0:26 Lee Yeah.

0:26 Adam You know, there's people still out there who are aware of it, but I think it's yeah, there's definitely a a there's definitely a seam of interesting stories and ideas that could be mined there, I think.

0:27 Adam I don't know, I mean, I don't know if there's, you know, if if anyone's looking for the rights or if people have the rights or whatever like that, you know, but it's sort of, you know, I'm sure that they would be.

0:27 Adam Certainly, you know, they're always looking for stuff for Ghost Story for Christmas and things like that and I think it'd be quite interesting to try and take something a bit more, I mean, I say a bit more modern, I mean, he was writing up until when he died in the early 2000s, so, you know, he was uh, pretty prolific.

0:27 Adam And and he edited a lot of the uh, he edited a lot of anthology um, like the Fontana Fontana books and stories and stuff like that, he was an editor on those and things.

0:27 Adam So, you know, he had a he had a lot sort of going going in that sort of way.

0:28 Adam But and and I have to say, Donald Pleasence, head of the B-squad, just cheers me up so damn much.

0:28 Lee Yeah.

0:28 Adam It is just, oh God.

0:28 Adam There's I mean, it's a glorious cast.

0:28 Adam Um, and uh, yeah, I think those sort of the the music is very take it or leave it and like you say, they probably could have got another story in there.

0:28 Lee Yeah.

0:28 Adam And it's that and it is that weird thing when you've got something like the the Shadmox story looks like the Burns, like when the woman comes back in the Shadmox story.

0:29 Lee Yeah.

0:29 Adam Because that was that was but that was another thing where sort of like me and Claire were watching it going right, what would we show this to Ted and it was like, whether it would sustain his interest, but, you know, well we could and then that was one of the bits where it was like, actually, that's probably a bit, you know, a bit near, that might be a bit sort of like.

0:29 Adam And particularly, I mean, the melting cat is brilliant where it's just that sort of like smeared tar shape of a cat across the floor is just you just brilliant.

0:29 Adam And I and I like the idea that you've got this absurd mythology as well where it's like, you know, you've got the genealogy chart and then it's like, oh yeah, well and Shadmox only whistle.

0:29 Adam And hey, you know, it's such a sort of.

0:29 Chris But that did actually end like like that when he did it, because you're like, he's obviously going to whistle, it's like, they did that really well actually.

0:29 Lee Yeah.

0:29 Lee And that's other things as well, those like having them all in those same identical weird like folding masks, that was like, yeah, really creepy and weird.

0:30 Chris It was.

0:30 Lee It was.

0:30 Adam Well I think I think also it's just that it's the because that that weirdly enough is quite a sad story from his point of view.

0:30 Lee Yeah.

0:30 Adam And it's because that's the thing is, it doesn't appear that he is in any way, shape or form monstrous.

0:30 Lee No.

0:30 Lee I mean, he wants to stay away from society because he fears what he will do to them, not the other way around.

0:30 Adam It's so it's, you know, it does seem to be quite um sympathetic to him.

0:30 Adam And yeah, and he's sort of like it's these Well, it's the message of the film, it's the humans that are the worst part of it.

0:30 Lee Yeah.

0:30 Adam So, um, and then yeah, I mean, just the fucking ludicrousness of um, a uh, steak proof vest.

0:30 Lee Yeah.

0:30 Adam Yeah.

0:30 Adam Which which is that's just a beautiful little throwaway moment and stuff like that.

0:30 Adam And actually I and I I love the I love the whole um, part with that as well, because you've got the um, like with um Anthony Valentine and Neil McCarthy as like the backup members of the squad, they're just perfect.

0:30 Adam Yeah.

0:30 Adam Yeah, and that bit where they're taking him out on the stretcher and then the well they're trying to get the gate open with his foot and the music just stutters and stuff like that.

0:31 Adam There's a lot of really great touches in this.

0:31 Adam And yeah, and then you get the it sort of escalates, you know, that you've got that because that's it's like like they always have the anthology where it's like you have the funny one and then the really dark one is your last one.

0:31 Adam And they've sort of done that, they just haven't got that fourth story basically.

0:31 Lee Yeah.

0:31 Adam And yeah, which you know.

0:31 Adam It's a shame, because.

0:31 Adam I think I think the book's like eight stories with the Monster Club wrap around and stuff like then going back to um the club and actually I really loved the the thing where it's the the film producer where it's what is it, he's he's called like the the Bilton Madotsky or something like that.

0:31 Adam It's basically but he's a vampire film producer, the all, because all the all the sort of cinema stuff I really love, especially when it's like, oh he's um, it's uh this is a story from my childhood, but I've updated it to modern day, uh easier on the budget and stuff like that.

0:32 Adam It's just all these little touches.

0:32 Lee Yeah.

0:32 Lee I think there is so much good in this film. I think that is why despite the fact it's so bad in a few ways, I still keep coming back to it because it does have so much going for it and, you know, and and you can just skip through the bits you hate.

0:32 Adam I I think it does it gives off weirdly enough, I think it's one of the most sort of it gives off a party vibe.

0:32 Adam And it's actually quite helpful that you've got that's like, oh, well, I'll go for a piss because the bands are on.

0:32 Lee Yeah, yeah.

0:32 Adam You know, you stuck it on at a party, it's like, right, you know, sort of like suddenly they're doing the um, you know, they're doing one of the songs, so it's like, right, anyone want anything from the fridge? You know, I'll I'll I'll fuck off and do that and make a tea or whatever like that, you know, that gives me enough time and I can be back by the story, you know.

0:32 Lee Yeah, I mean.

0:33 Lee Yeah, so I mean, so this is definitely so I've I've got this, I haven't got it on Blu-ray, I've got it on DVD.

0:33 Lee Um, I did say the whole thing is actually on um YouTube in its entirety as well.

0:33 Lee So um.

0:33 Adam Yes.

0:33 Adam Yeah.

0:33 Adam Like I say, because it's not because it's not Amicus, I think it's I think it's an ITC like the L. G. A. 's lot, and um, yeah, it's easily found on YouTube and weirdly enough, I think it's one of those ones where no one's that bothered.

0:33 Lee No.

0:33 Adam Yeah.

0:33 Adam You know, this this what I love about it is this is from a this is from a point of view where no one is defending an I, he's no one defending IP, you know what I mean, there's no it's not like they've got they've got the 12-part Netflix version in the works, so they'll fucking take it down like with extreme prejudice.

0:33 Adam It's now just like, no, look, it's there, go for it.

0:33 Chris Go for it.

0:33 Adam Enjoy yourselves.

0:33 Chris Not yourselves out.

0:33 Adam Not yourselves out.

0:33 Adam You know, and I think that's at the end of it, it is it's a fun film, which is nice.

0:34 Adam And it doesn't it doesn't necessarily have pretensions beyond that, um, but it also is very tacky in places and like I say, fucking worst teeth in any film I've ever seen, I think, you know, there's not someone who can act through it.

0:34 Lee No, they are really awful.

0:34 Adam Even even Vincent's beautiful voice is, you know, he just about manages to get through that he's famished right at the start without sounding like he's bitten his tongue.

0:34 Lee But you know.

0:34 Lee And he gets the two coppers as well in the in the last sequence and they turn around they like people so cheap and awful, but yeah.

0:34 Adam It's like quick, someone cut a couple of bits of car ball.

0:34 Lee Yeah.

0:34 Adam There.

0:34 Lee Yeah, but yeah, definitely good fun so um.

0:34 Lee Yes, so go and check that out.

0:34 Lee Um Adam, would you like to tell people what we're doing next? We've got something a bit different coming out.

0:35 Adam Yes, we've been given an exclusive.

0:35 Adam So, uh, for those of you who may be aware of it, I believe it's been mentioned on the show before, uh, but there is a podcast called uh Baron Sordor's Theatre of the Doomed.

0:35 Adam Um by which is from the uh it's a spin-off of uh the website and account uh Blood, Brains and Aliens.

0:35 Adam And Aaron from Blood Brains and Aliens very kindly got in touch with us and has given us an exclusive peek at their new series or the first two episodes of their new series that's coming out.

0:35 Adam Uh, I believe uh beginning of October.

0:35 Adam So we have been given, I say, we've been given the opportunity to have a listen to that, so we're going to uh check those out.

0:35 Adam Have a review, obviously let you guys know, and um, I would encourage anyone who listens to the show to listen to that podcast anyway.

0:35 Adam They've got a lot of I think they've done I think they've been going since like December 2023 and there's some great stories that they've put out there, very old school sort of radio, it's partly narrated, part acted, um, brilliant sound design and it's just, yeah, they're just great atmospheric little atmospheric plays basically.

0:36 Adam And um, yeah, it's really exciting and very kind of him to think of us and I'm really excited to to in a way, I'm just really excited to get the drop on the new series before it comes out, so yeah.

0:36 Lee Yeah.

0:36 Lee 100%, I you know, I've said before in the show, I'm such a massive fan of the old time horror radio plays and uh, yeah, they do, they give it a a an interesting new spin, it still got that same sort of warm glow about it, yeah, I just love from the old time stuff, so yeah, so I'm extremely excited to get stuck in with these as well.

0:36 Chris That's amazing.

0:36 Lee talk about.

0:36 Adam Fantastic.

0:37 Lee So.

0:37 Lee Thanks very much for listening everybody.

0:37 Lee Yeah, go and check those out then, so that's uh Blood, Brains and Aliens, go and check out uh theater, no, not theater of Blood, fucking hell, The Monster Club, I mean check out theater of Blood as well, I mean, why not?

0:37 Adam Right, when it's like dark dark song, uh Get Carter, there's loads of stuff that you can check out, yeah.

0:37 Adam But they should also be careful of men carrying violin cases.

0:37 Lee Mmm.

0:37 Lee Oh.

0:37 Lee Good night everybody.

0:37 Chris Good night.

0:37 Lee Good night.