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Gav and Dan lend their unique perspective to horror films and the world surrounding them. With Gav's unique perspective as a filmmaker and Dan's peculiar perspectives, The Podcast on Haunted Hill offers a fresh view of horror cinema!
The podcast on Haunted Hill will contain spoilers and swearing.
I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil's work.
I saw this when I come.
And be one of us.
Hello, and welcome to the Podcasts on Haunted Hill, episode 165.
My name is Gav.
My name is Dan.
We welcome you.
Lovely listeners.
If you're a regular listener, welcome back.
And if it's your first time, welcome front.
And if you're just popping down again, welcome sideways.
Or up and down, or inside out.
It's become our new catchphrase over the last three or four episodes, and we are embracing it.
Yeah, I'm getting Dan to start off those because I get confused.
My brain can't...
We like to change things up a bit, don't we?
Are you all right?
I'm very well, thank you, my friend.
It's spooky season.
We're in October.
Yeah, we're almost halfway through October.
Yeah, I'm watching horror all the time.
I started watching the past couple of days, Ash vs.
Evil Dead Season 1 again.
Yeah, good stuff.
because sometimes I like to include my 31 as a season.
And it has been the Flanagan ones, like Midnight Mass and stuff like that.
And obviously, there's not one out this year.
So it's first time in two or three years.
He hasn't done one.
Yeah, three years, because it's a hell of a house or whatever they call it, or the other ones.
Yeah, so doing that, which has been quite fun, actually, because it's quite enjoyable.
I remember that show being quite enjoyable until, I think, he goes to a mental asylum or a psychiatric ward or whatever it is, I think, or something in it.
I just remember being bored of it.
So anyway, first season is quite fun, though.
Have you just been watching lots of horror and stuff?
I have indeed.
Yeah, I've been getting in the mood.
Got some pumpkins around the house for the kids.
It's great having a couple of three year olds because they're really excited for it.
And it also ties nicely in with my son, who's potty training at the moment.
So his reward is every day when he gets back from nursery, if he's got some stars on his potty chart, then he gets a Halloween tattoo.
And as you can see from my arm every day, he's had Halloween tattoos.
So me and him and Edith are covered in little tiny Halloween tattoos, which is fantastic.
Not real ones, listeners.
Don't worry, I'm not sat there with a needle tattooing my three year old son.
They're really temporary.
So that's exciting.
And lots of Halloween sweets and junk food.
And just getting really in the mood for it.
And yes, I've been watching loads of horror, as I mentioned on our last episode.
And I'm going to be mainly watching Universal Films, starting in the 30s, finishing in the early 50s.
But I'm also, for the first time, watching some Simpsons treehouse of Horror episodes.
So we'll talk more about that at a moment.
Before we do, just I know that everybody knows what we're doing.
But Gav, it's a special episode.
It's a special Patrons Pick episode.
And Holly Matthews is our Patron, Queen Patron with the crown on her head for the episode.
She, being an Irish lady herself, has chosen a couple of Irish comedy horrors for us to have a little, have a crack at, as they say in Ireland.
Yep.
The wee crack.
She has chosen Extra Ordinary.
In other words, the wee crack could be totally different, couldn't it?
Yeah, don't do the crack if you're in Bristol.
Yes, we're going to be looking at Extra Ordinary, which originally came out on Netflix in the UK, 2019.
I remember when it came out.
I was like, oh, wow, check that out.
It looks great.
And I did enjoy it.
And she's chosen it.
So that was my second watch for this episode.
And she also chose one neither of us had seen called The Boys From County Hell from 2020, which has led me down a dark, dark, vampiric rabbit hole of Irish fangs.
We'll get more into that later.
But yeah, so a couple of Irish comedy horrors, very different to British comedy horrors in some ways.
There's a lot of heart and very sort of down to earthness about them.
Not like You're Shaun Of The Dead, which is a little bit more cartoony.
You know what I mean?
But these are a bit more sort of almost real.
You could feel like it's a bit more down to earth.
So I'm really excited to talk about these two films.
Yeah, and Holly and I have been chatting briefly, so I'll read out a few snippets of our conversation.
She hasn't had time to send us, you know, an essay or a long email, but that's absolutely fine.
She's got a lot going on, and I hope everything gets sorted out for you soon, Holly.
But yes, so that's what we're doing on this episode.
Bill Murray is here, excited.
He's got some Irish vampire goodness for us to talk about in World Of The Strange.
But back to October.
Gavin, yes, it's been an exciting start to the month.
So I've watched 15 episodes now of The Simpsons treehouse of Horror.
I've not seen a single one of them ever.
I always assumed that the one where they become the Thomsons, which is Cape Verde, I always assumed that was the treehouse of Horror.
It's not.
That's the whole episode apparently.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You think like there's a recently, there was a whole episode and that's not a treehouse of Horror.
They're just doing the whole thing.
Yeah, well, I'm going to watch that as well.
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to watch that too.
It's funny, you messaged me saying, Oh, the black placement is so funny.
And it's just I'm just like, yeah, it's a part of my DNA.
The stuff when you messaged me and say, Oh, so far, I'm sorry.
Yeah, because it's been so ingrained in me, Simpsons, like most people who've watched it growing up, it's a part of them.
So when you say stuff like that, I'm just like, yeah, because I'm just like, I still don't, my head doesn't understand that you don't know that world.
I mean, I do, I do know the world, but I've only ever dipped in and out of it very briefly.
So it's so funny when you messaged me and I'm just like, yeah, he's hilarious.
I was into The Simpsons when it very first came out in the late 80s.
On the Tracit Bookman show.
I sort of, by the mid 90s, I wasn't really paying much attention to it really.
But what's funny as well is when I've been messaging Gav, obviously saying, oh, this bit was good, and I like that joke and stuff like that.
But he's like, yeah, I'm glad you're finally catching up on 20 year old TV.
I said, no, mate, I'm finally catching up on 35 year old TV.
I realize that because I was like, oh, no, that's a long time ago.
But yeah, no, I'm really, really enjoying them.
So when I was like 12, 13, I started watching them, and we had Sky TV, so they were on Sky 1 on a Sunday evening.
You had a double bill at 6 o'clock.
We never had Sky at home.
So I was just on it, and I would record them as well.
So yeah.
We had, it was on BBC 2 eventually, in the UK, like normally.
And so I'd watch that and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air usually.
I remember it was really delayed, because I had Sky.
Not being that, but because I had Sky, then you see the BBC 2 ones, you're like, they're really old.
Well, you could tell because the animation goes better, you know, as it does, and it gets more advanced and stuff.
But you inspired me.
It's me and Charlie have been going through them as well, because at Disney, it's on the Halloween playlist.
Yeah, it's brilliant that they've done it.
So for anyone who doesn't know-
They always do.
They have done it.
Yeah.
Well, I noticed it last year, which is what made me think I might do it.
So for anyone who doesn't know, on Disney+, if you go to their Halloween section for this year, for this time of year, they do that, as do Netflix and a lot of streaming platforms.
Within that, they have put-
It's very clever, actually.
They will suggest things for you.
They will put all zombie films in one category, all vampire films in one category, vampire TV shows in one category.
Whatever you want to watch, you can find a way of watching it.
They put all the Simpsons Tree house Of Horror episodes into one playlist, so you can watch them just individually plucked out of each season.
And they've done it even, like, if you go to cartoons, it will just pluck the Halloween specials from, like, Scooby-Doo, justice League, whatever it is you're watching.
It's really clever.
Not Scooby-Doo.
That's not Disney.
Well, no, but that was an example, like Marvel stuff.
Yes and no, because the Family Guy one, I was like, OK, cool, put the Halloween specials up.
But one episode is a scream something or other.
It's not Halloween at all.
It's about Craig Myer's sister being in an abusive relationship, being beaten up by a boyfriend.
I don't think they've done really many Halloween episodes on Family Guy.
But you don't put that up just because it's a scream in the title.
That's their AI just doing it.
Is their AI?
Well, that's perfect.
Can I start watching again?
Well, yes, domestic abuse is horrific, but it's not a Halloween.
It's not, I think, oh, trick or treating this year.
I'm going to go as a domestic abuse person.
Hey, Gav, what subgenre of horror are you into?
I'm into subgenre of domestic abuse.
Yeah, so I think I need to have at least someone curate it once it's been plucked by AI.
But anyway.
Indeed.
But yeah, I've been watching stuff.
I've been getting in bed watching Hammer movies.
My list's all right.
I'm kind of at the same date it is now with them.
So I should make 31, I think.
I've been watching a lot of the Dracula's that I've not seen for since I had them on VHS as a teenager.
And at the time I was like, whatever, because I think I felt the Hammers as a teenager.
When you start discovering new horror coming in, the Scream and all sorts of hammer was a bit like, it's only in the past, I'd say 20 years or so or whatever.
And especially nowadays, I'm more refined in my gentlemanly self.
I find the Hammers just such a comfort blanket.
Yeah, they're great.
But going back and watching the Dracula ones, which I hadn't seen since then.
And there's one that I was like, I just really enjoyed it.
Taste of Blood Dracula, really enjoyed it.
I'd actually have to taste the blood of Dracula, hence the name.
I really enjoyed it.
But then the next one on, Dracula's Wrist for the Grave of Heat, wasn't very good.
Yeah, it's a bit like, oh, that's a shame, because it's weird that there's this up and down rollercoaster of the Hammer Dracula films.
Like The Pritzker Doctor, really good.
Then you get another one that's not as good.
Yeah, but I've been watching them.
That's what I love about the 31 Days of Halloween, 31 Days of Horror.
For me, it's not about watching 31 films, because I always go way over that.
It's more about the last few years, filling in the blanks of things I haven't seen.
So I did the Hammers two years ago, and I did, there was quite a few I hadn't seen, especially towards the end.
Did you find that Dracula quality was a rollercoaster?
Yes, I did.
Yeah, I did.
Was that the same with the Mummy films?
I think last year, I actually did a lot of the Hammer Mummy movies.
Did you find that of them at all?
Yeah, the Frankensteins are the ones that probably...
Sorry, Frankenstein, not Mummies.
Yeah, the Frankensteins are the ones that are probably a little bit stronger throughout.
Yeah.
It is as silly as they get towards the end, like Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell.
It's still actually quite enjoyable.
It's more actiony, whereas the Dracula ones are a bit more slow.
I'm doing the same, obviously this year, I'm doing Universal, and there's quite a lot I've not seen, especially with the sequels.
So I've already done a couple of the Dracula sequels.
I've got to say, Son Of Dracula, sorry, Dracula's Daughter was incredible.
Oh, I didn't really like it.
Son Of Frankenstein was incredible.
I think that's all right.
The Invisible Man Returns, that was Vincent Price's first film, and that was really good.
I've only watched it so far, I've seen 17 Universal films, and there's only been about two or three that were a bit like meh.
I met Jack's daughter, I found it quite boring.
It had lesbian tones too, didn't it?
It was very early lesbian tones.
It was very ahead of its time really.
I know that the quality is going to drop off though, because at the moment I've gone through all the 30s, and I'm almost into the mid 40s now, and I know once we hit the late 40s, early 50s, apart from the creature from the Black Lagoon, there aren't going to be many strong ones.
But I'm still excited to watch all the sequels, all the Invisible Man sequels, I've just never seen most of these.
So I've seen most of the Frankenstein ones and the Dracula ones, but yeah, there's quite a lot.
The mummy ones get a bit boring as well.
Yeah, I last year actually picked up the Wolfman Legacy DVD collection of Universal.
So it's all the Wolfman films.
Unfortunately, a couple of them are just not brilliant.
I watched Lon Chaney's first, Lon Chaney Jr.'s first film today with Universal, which was called Man-Made Monster.
It's only an hour long.
And he made it the same year as he made Wolfman.
because it did so well.
And it's about a man who gets electrically charged and he starts glowing, and he can like, electrocute you by touching you.
But at the end, it becomes too much for him.
He gets caught on some bonfire and he just goes...
But it's just all right.
But yeah, I'm really enjoying it.
And I've already done about 35, if you include the episodes of The Simpsons.
So I'm not really worried about the numbers.
It's more about just getting through my lists really.
Yeah.
Exciting though, and we do love Halloween.
Thank you all to everybody for posting up what you're watching.
It looks like you're having a lot of fun as we plough through the month.
And like me and Gav, certainly me, but Gav, hopefully you, we always try and save our favorites or the best till the last day.
So yeah.
I will mention, let me see, I've done 11, so I'll say some standouts very quickly.
Yeah, please do.
I quite enjoyed watching again the Blair Witch Project.
Yeah, it's great.
The original.
Yeah, only 74 minutes that movie.
If you take the credits, because I was watching because I'm just finishing up a Deadbox new found footage film.
So I was just kind of watching that.
I really enjoyed watching Kill List again.
Yeah, we covered that, didn't we?
Yeah, that was really good.
And yeah, I quite enjoyed watching Identity last night.
I know you're a big fan of that one.
It sounds like you've been having a fun month because you're not putting the pressure on yourself and you're just watching stuff that you know you like.
Yeah, because my second one is Hell house 4, Hell house LLC 4.
And that wasn't really planned.
I was just like, well, I want to watch some found footage movies because I'm in the throes of making found footage.
So I'm towards the end of it.