Tobe Hooper - Lifeforce

0:00 So it's October. It is that time to watch scary films, and given the pedigree that you guys have for eighty cinema, I gotta no favorite eighties vampire movie. You know, it's a timely question, mister Johnson, because that being October, we are in the middle of our splatter Cinema month, actually close to the end now of our splatter Cinema month. But we did just cover Fright Night, and we were talking about its position in popular culture versus something such as of Court the Lost Boys, and man, I have to tell you, it's tough for me, but top like vampire movie from the eighties. Oh, I got a man you put me on. This is a great question. I should have thought about this, but I think I'm I'm gonna go with Fright Night right now. It's shot to the top for me after just covering it. So much fun, so much fun.

1:03 Chris Sarandon has such a presence, Roddy McDowell is so much fun and over the top and theatrical in it, and some wonderful, wonderful makeup effects of visual effects by Richard Edlund. Yeah, a lot of fun, a lot of fun. So that's my choice. Yeah, I might have some recency bias myself, but as I said on our show, this was one of the few times we went back to watch a movie and I actually liked it more than I did back then. So yeah, Fright Night for me also excellent. Way, Hey, Fright Night is an excellent choice Tom Holland. That's probably one of Tom Holland's best movies. I think Tom Holland is the director that is right. But look, you guys are here. I want to talk. I want to talk vampires, and I want to talk about a film by Toby Hooper, his nineteen eighty five underrated sci fi or cult classic Life Force. Hello everybody, and welcome back to a film by podcast.

2:29 I'm Jeff Johnson joining me today Bill and Jason from the All Eighties Movies Podcast. Hello, Jeff, how are you doing? What are you doing? Hey? Bill? It's been a while, guys. Uh. I think the last time we talked we were over on your podcast back in April talking blood Sport. Yeah, a little Van dam a little blood Sport. It's a great episode, great time. It was so great to have you guys on. I might have talked about this when we did that one. You know, the like the origin story, like how did how do we how do we all meet? And I remember when we did when we covered April fools Day a couple of years ago. You know, you guys are like it was like maybe on Twitter. You guys are like, hey, you're doing an April fools Day. We're doing April fools Day, And I was like, okay, now story the quick story is a bit of an April Fool's joke on me because everyone that was supposed to be on the episode was not available at the last minute, so I had to do it by myself, lasted maybe fifteen minutes and did not do justice to the film.

3:28 Meanwhile, you guys crush it, and I'm like, how can I put this out when they are doing something way better? So and after that, that's all it took from me. I became a fan of the al Eidies Movies podcast. Jason, you you mentioned Splatter Cinema. Tell tell listeners what's going on? What's what's happening with Splatter Cinema. Well, it is that time of year. It is October, it is the month of Halloween, and it is time to cover the horror classics and for us that means the horror classics from the nineteen eighties of course. So we are in the midstore toward the end now of our third season doing Splatter Cinema Month, which means we do one horror film from the eighties, one a week. And we started off with help Me out Here, Bill. What was our first the slumber It was Slumber Party Massacre. That's right, Slumber Party Massacre. And then after that Friday the thirteenth, Part two, and then we moved into Fright Night. And should I give away our fourth and final film, yeah, go for it. Upcoming well, that would be The Fly. David Cronenberg's The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum and Gina Davis, that we can't wait for.

4:39 That's an all timer. So that pretty much sums it up pretty straightforward. We just, you know, we like to join all the ranks that get into the horror films this month, and we appreciate all the fans out there that dedicate themselves to doing their horror movie marathons for the month of October, and we hope they join us and watching these films and listening to our pot as well as yours. Yeah, I am a diehard fan of the Friday thirteenth franchise, So I absolutely loved your coverage on Friday thirteenth two. I'm doing that thing where I'm driving, I'm in my car and you guys are You had some great theories on how Jason came back and the relationship with his mother Pamela, and I'm like, but wait, did you think about this? And I'm like, wait, wait, they've got a good They've got a good thing going there too. Love the cover, Joe, love that, Love that episode. I'm absolutely excited to hear what you guys have to say about the Fly. Obviously big fans of nineteen eighty six. We did a whole series on it, So anytime you guys do someaty six stuff, I can't wait to hear what you what you got to say. So I'm excited to hear that one as well. Yeah, you know with me, Jeff, I became a big fan of your show because of the eighty sixth series. Any any other podcast that's going to cover eighties movies, I want to check them out and what you guys did with that, and then I became a big fan, even though it's not in the eighties. Was your seventy eight series too, and I love those episodes. I know I still have a backlog of a couple I have to listen to, but the guys did a great job with those. Also, Yeah, you better hurry up. We got They're in pre production right now on the last one more

6:13 season of a film at forty five. They're gonna cover seventy nine. So and that's where it ends, because I said, once we hit the eighties, we're done. We did eighty six. Leave it to the experts, you guys, right, So I just want to say thanks for the kind words, Jeff. Seriously, the feelings are mutual, my friend, because we're just as much fans of your podcast, and we appreciate always the collaborative effort. We always see how much time and effort you put into joining other film podcasts such as our friends over at Docking Base seventy seven. Surely you can't be serious. It's always nice to see that type of camaraderie because it is just a it's a nice community and we all are just sharing and the fun and our fandom of great movies, and we're just honored. It's an honor and a privilege to be a part of it. So thanks for inviting us onto your show today. Absolutely one thing I was going to kick out of. On your show. We always talk about, you know, the film synopsis. We always gotta let our listeners know, like, what's this movie about? And you guys have this great thing called What's on the box?

7:24 Can we can we get I know it's I hope it's not too much ass. But if you happened to have brought a VHS copy with you, Jason, can we get what's on the box for Life Force? Well, it's your lucky day, Jeff Johnson, because I just so happened to have a copy of the VHS of Life Force. Here. Let me pull it out. Oh love that poster image on the front, the giant eyeball stop staring down on planet Earth. Let me flip it over and what do we have? Well, let me read this. Steve Back and Peter Firth star and director Toby Hooper's sci fi thriller Life Force, featuring outstanding special effects by Oscar winner John Dykstra. In the static outer limits of space, a silent terror awaits its next victim. A space exploration to examine Haley's comet uncovers an alien spacecraft whose occupants carry a deadly secret. Three humanoid forms encased in crystal sarcophagy hover in the comet's tail. These three spacelings need humans to survive.

8:31 In a vampire like fashion, they murder their prey, seducing the victims, then sucking the life out of them, leaving withered shells of human forms. When the astronauts return to Earth, they unknowingly bring along their alien counterparts and systematically trigger a chain of terror impossible to stop life Force. In the blink of an eye, the terror begins. That was a treat you, sir. Oh, It's truly my pleasure, thanks for asking me to do it. I get such a kick out of it. Bill, first time seeing Life Force, do you remember how old you were? Yeah, I know exactly the first time I saw it. It was July of two thousand and seven. Wow. Yeah, And I know this because yes, it was right before I was moving out to California and I moved in with my girlfriend's soon to be wife. I wasn't working at the time because I left.

9:33 I left my job and she was at work and I was at home. I was at her place and I was looking through her video channels and life Forcesly, I was like, oh my god, I've never seen this before. I got I got to check this out, and that's when I put it on, and thank god she didn't walk in on me in the middle of watching it. Not that I was, you know, just like, what the hell are you watching kind of thing? I mean, my my wife's really in the horror movies. Yeah, don't think she's ever seen this one. I think for first time ers, if you don't know what to expect, it's quite shocking. So I was quite shocked at what I was watching, and afterwards I wasn't really sure what I had just seen. How about you, Jason, Well, gentlemen, I have never seen this film before. And the simple fact is I am a scaredy cat. I've said a numerous times on our podcast. When I was that young and in eighty five, I would have been around twelve years old when this film was released, and all I can recall is pieces of that movie trailer, which is great talking with great voiceover for that trailer too, and I think I recall images of the withered shells that were described in the What's on the box segment?

10:58 Yeah, what I call like these skin skeletons, these bodies that have had their life force extracted from them, literally sucked out of them, and they're just yeah, like these skeletons barely covered with you know, their skin and their hair, and that scared the living but Jesus out of me as a kid. So I was like, no, thanks, I'm going to pass on that one. It looks really cool from a sci fi aspect, but no, I just I wasn't going to dip my toes into that water. And uh well I have so now thanks to you, Jeff Johnson and a film by and I know that after this viewing experience, I am forever changed and I will never never be the same. You know you mentioned those skeletons. Toby Hooper actually had a name for him. He called he referred to them as the walking Withered when they were on set, which is very cool, very I like the I like the sound of that. Actually this isn't the Walking Dead, Yeah, that's this Actually isn't their only film.

12:00 Fun fact, those same creepy mummified corpses did a follow up film with Brendan Fraser in nineteen ninety nine. They were they were actually involved in the Mummy, which I found that out and I was like, what kind of want to go back and see the Mummy? Now? Yeah? Yeah, I know, yeah, you want to spot him? Right? Yeah? Absolutely. Well, look, Jason, you were forever changed. Bill, you talked about shocking. There's that phrase. Let's let's talk about the elephant in the room. Life Force doesn't have any elephants, so let's let's go ahead and talk about the naked girl in the room. Matilda may as the space girl. It's the shock for me wasn't so much like, hey, look at her. It was hey, we're still looking at her. She's she's nude like pretty much the entire film. Yeah, and that was the thing.

12:52 That's what I was worried about. That, you know, my girlfriend's gonna go home and think I'm watching porn on our television and it's not. I'm like, no, that's just a character. She just likes to be nude and she's gorgeous. That's all I got to say about that, though. I mean, she is a vision, but it gets uncomfortable. Yeah, eight well, eighteen years old. She arrives from France to read for the part. She doesn't speak any English, learns her lines phonetically on the train over there. Now she wins the role over all the other girls because she's willing to appear fully nude and has a background as a ballerina, which I feel kind of gives her movements this otherworldly look. Did you guys pick up on that? Yeah? There was sometimes when she was walking through the rooms, I was kind of was like, Oh, was she on a pulley? Are they kind of like pulling her through? She definitely has a grace to her the way she moves, but it's an unusual kind of grace.

13:52 That's a good call. It does seem as though at moments she is walking on a treadmill. She is gliding in a very graceful fashion. It's as if she is focused on walking from heel to toe and just kind of rolling her you know, from heel to toe and staying very quite quite balanced. But definitely definitely has kind of a very eerie, alien feel about her. You know, there's a there's a great uh, there's a great audio commentary with Tobe Hooper on one of the releases, and he kind of he kind of commented on the fact that, you know, over the one hundred days of filming her in the nude, he finally just got he kind of thought of it as her costume because she is very care free on set, doesn't put a robe on in between takes, and oftentimes she's making the cast and crew feel awkward because they're they're trying to main I they're trying to maintain eye contact with her, And hats off to those those guys trying to trying to pull that off, because she is She is about as perfect as a as a person can be. I think in this film, Yeah, she she is definitely a ten. And speaking of which, just speaking on what you had just laid out there, Jeff, I had this bit of trivia that I had pulled for MYMDB exactly what you were talking about. She was very comfortable with the nudie and didn't bother wearing a robe in between takes.

15:16 In fact, some of the people joked it was more awkward for them because they had to force themselves to keep looking at her eyes the entire time, and that wasn't easy because she was quote a gorgeous teen with an almost perfect figure. Then it goes on to say during filming of May's first scenes, there was a suspiciously high number of carpenters and second structures, so the remainder of her scenes were filmed on a clothes set. That's for MIAMDB. That sounds a lot like what happened to Phoebe Kate's on the Fast Times at Richmond High set and she does her famous cool scene, can't playing these guys right? But also her movement makes a lot of sense because you really, you know, you find out later in the movie that she took this form because she knews what attracted men. So this is really her first time walking around in this body, so it's almost her just trying to get a feel of what it's like to be a humanoid. Yeah, I think that's part of her purposeful, graceful movement. It's just, oh, this is kind of interesting how these people on this planet move. Okay, check this out, and just trying to work out the kinks. I was just going to piggyback on what Bill was saying that yes, specifically they you know, because I'm trying to make head er tails of this movie, really and trying to figure out all the rules of the vampire lore in this and we'll most likely get into some of that because I have a lot to say, but with her, it is all about that shock factor when you see she comes out from underneath. Well she's naked to begin with, but then she continues to be naked, and she clearly says that she took the form of what she had

16:52 pulled from Colonel Carlson's mind, So it is his specific idea of what a perfect woman would look like. So that's very cool. That actually makes sense, But we don't get that till much later in the film now, so it's very shocking still just to watch this beautiful naked girl walking around the movie going why the hell is she naked? Oh? Well, we finally find out, but it's part of there's just some discombobulation in the storytelling, in my opinion. Here things gome backwards and all over the place. Two guys, I know, we got to discuss when we're talking about this cast, and this is kind of a cool thing because in nineteen in the early eighties, one of them is a leading guy, is a known guy, and one of them isn't. And now today the roles have flipped. So let's talk about leading man Steve railsback as as Carlson kind of a big guy, from nineteen eighty. He was known for The Stuntman, which was that really cool movie where he's on the run from the cops and kind of hides out as you know, he's kind of faking it that he's a stuntman. Really cool movie. If you haven't seen it, it's I recommend that one.

18:06 I was knew him as Dwayne Berry from The X Files. You guys were X Files fans, Absolutely super creepy episode. What do you guys think of? What do you think? What do you think of Railsback? I think he's one of the weakest parts of the movie. Interesting, Okay, Jason's laughing. Jason, do you agree with Bill Bantire or you have a different opinion? Yeah, I mean I don't. I wouldn't go as far as says one of the weakest parts. That's not my opinion. I just think he's a little bit one note. That's hard to say though, because he is a handsome guy. He has good delivery. It just seems a little monotone at times for me. And although he goes through hell basically in this movie, I would have appreciated maybe a little bit more of an expression on his face. He was just a little more expressive, okay, face, a little bit more range in displaying his emotions because don't get me wrong, I mean he's in shock half the time, and he's either enraged or screaming or what have you, but it's still at time, still feels somewhat under control. Kind of sound self contradictory, but yeah, when he delivers that first line on the Church Hill when they find the ship and he's a what do you look in at? And I was like, oh boy, here we go. I wish they had switched in with someone else, one person we wouldn't flip flop. Let's talk about Sir Patrick Stewart as doctor Armstrong because

19:40 he's again in nineteen eighty five. Rails Back is a name at this point. Stuart. He had done Out ex Caliber in eighty one, he had done Dune in eighty four, but he really wouldn't break out as he wouldn't be a known person until I think nineteen eighty seven when he does Star Trek the Next Generation, right, So Sean Luke, John Luke, But god, yeah, So let's talk about Sir Patrick Stewart in this because I love him in this in this film. Oh yeah, I was so excited to see his name in the credits, and then you know you're watching the movie like, all right, when's when's Patrick Stewart coming on? When's Patrick Sterror coming on? Yes? And then it's just on for like a brief scene.

20:21 He's only maybe in it for like twenty minutes. You're like, oh, damn it. And then but then it's one of those how did he sign You know? I guess he signed up for it because it really is his third major role. But I think if he was the name that then I don't think he would have done this movie. I agree with you. I know he has said, uh several times that Toby Hooper was one of his favorite directors to work with, So maybe he would have. You never know, Yeah, maybe could maybe could? Could Patrick Stewart be a big Texas chaseaw Masker fan and just was hoping for that that opportunity. We We'll never know, I guess, But I don't know what about you, Jason, what your thoughts on Stewart. Can't get enough of him, Absolutely love the guy. I am a Star Trek the Next Generation fan, but I will forever know him now as Doctor Armstrong from Force. But seriously, yeah, he's great in the film. Obviously, we know that he's a classically trained actor and he's got a presence in a delivery that's impeccable. And I actually liked his smaller role in this film. Like Bill, I was looking forward to seeing him, and it's interesting because the man does not seem to age. He looks the same, whether it was the early to mid eighties versus the nineties and odts and even more recently, he looks exactly the same.

21:42 And I loved what they did with his character in this film. It was one of the surprises that got me, and I thought was a smart move from a writing perspective, because Carlson, speaking of Railsback, kind of is playing it close to the vest. And we think that our space girl role has transferred bodies, or we know that she's transferred bodies, but we believe she's been you know, she's transferred her particular life force into a criminally insane prisoner of sorts, and in fact, spoiler alert, the LFE force has been transferred into doctor Armstrong, that being Patrick Stewart, and he gets taken by surprise, and then it just just wonderful to see because you always put yourself as an because I'm an actor myself, and I'm putting myself in Patrick Stewart's shoes and watching him as he plays this role. And he plays it quite well, and he plays it under the radar, and he's very straightforward and he just speaks like a doctor and a therapist of sorts. And then once he's strapped down to the gurney if you will, and he's injected with the penththol or whatever what it's called. Uh, he has to go big. He has to go really big. He has a nice on screen kiss with rails Back, and then when he's freaking out and he's tackled by rails Back and all hell's breaking loose, I'm just going I truly believe all the performers in this movie deserve a retroactive Oscar, Like, just give him all an Oscar, just for making it through the production, having to speak these lines and having to do the action that was required of them, including

23:18 Patrick Stewart of course, who's just writhing about and screaming and ah, and just having to work with nothing but their imaginations because the effects would be laid in later. So definitely appreciate everyone, but especially Yeah. I mean Patrick Stewart, household name and face. Can't get enough of the guy. Just really likable and he commands. He has a presence that he's immediately you have a respect for him right off the bat. And he plays that type of like a doctor in this a person of authority and respect very well. So yeah, great stuff from him, Jason. I've got the idea in my head of Bill passing out oscars everyone like they're lined up, yeah, and like here comes Toby Hooper, here you go, Here comes with Tilda, but here you go. Here Patrick's do here you go, rails back opens his hands, not you, and he just moves right all down the line.

24:15 Move along, move along, sir, move along like Jim Carrey and Dumb and Dumber when he's handing out all the money to people going up. Then here you go, Here you go, Here you go. Let's talk a little bit about the background of this film. Nineteen eighty two. Toby Hooper, you know, he does Poltergeist. After that he's given a three picture deal with the Cannon Group. I love the Cannon Group movies. I grew up on them. Love them. They are they're over the top, they're cheesy, but man, they were my jam when I was like ten years old. So you guys, you guys are Cannon fans or are they just ridiculous to you? No, They're fun movies made for you know, there were an Oscar winning material. They were just for people who enjoyed movies.

25:03 You know, pay your five twenty five to get in and enjoy yourself for ninety minutes. Absolutely, those films definitely have their place in the eighties. I mean, you can't escape them. And I was going to recommend later, I'll just do it right now. The documentary Electric Boogaloo, The Wild Untold Story of Canon Films from twenty fifteen. I actually only caught onto that in the last couple of years and was very entertained by that documentary. There was another documentary that I think it's called The Go Go Boys that was released simultaneously. Okay, yeah, well the fact they had two documentaries, Okay, so I've seen Electric Boogaloo and it is fantastic. I would strongly recommend that. And you're saying there's another one, The Go Go Boys.

25:47 It's all about Canon, Okay, I gotta check it out. About Gold definitely globis. Yeah, they're a couple of characters for sure, but they got it done. You have to give them credit. They you know, despite their methods or whateverinion you may have, they got these movies made and they had big names, big stars, and if I'm not miss it wasn't over the top. One of their movies, The Stallone Arm Wrestler, I feel like it's got to be. I think I think it is. Yeah, Yeah, one of my favorites. I think anything that Chuck Norris or Charles Bronson did in the eighties was canon. Yep, absolutely yea. So he's Hooper's got this three picture deal. He does Life Force in nineteen eighty five. He follows that up the following year with Invaders from Mars and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part two. Now back to Life Force, Monocham Goland invites him over for a meeting. He slides Colin Wilson's nineteen seventy six novel The Space Vampires across the desk, and Goland suggests that he go relax in Pump Springs, read the book, and come back so they can make the film.

26:53 Now, Hooper sees this opportunity. It's his chance to make his version of a hammer horror film because you know, he's loving what he's seeing. He calls up his buddy Dan O'Bannon, who we are all familiar with, h you know, Dark Star, Alien, The Return of Living Dead. He writes the screenplay and then has such a good time. He stays with Hooper and he writes Invaders from Mars for him. I like, I just I don't know. I like the idea that this guy is walking in to you know, the offices at Canon and he's just giving a books. You know, here, go relaxing, have a good time on us, and read this book and tell us what you think. Yeah, absolutely no, Well that was their approach, right, And I think, what was I going to say about that? I just, you know, it's funny because uh now I had a bit of trivia regarding the book itself, because I love the fact that Colin Wilson wrote the Space Vampires right, and he was unhappy with the way this film turned out, and he had wrote of it.

27:57 John Follows once told me that the film of the Magas or magoose if I'm pronouncing that right, was the worst movie ever made. But after seeing Life Force, I sent him a postcard telling him that I got one better. Pretty wow. Yeah, I know Hooper takes a little bit of liberties with the original novel. The whole Haley's comment thing is not in the book, and I guess he takes issue with that. But this is the time in the you know, in the eighties, we always had like this this great thing where comments were a problem in horror films, right, you know, Maximum Overdrive Night of the comment. If there's a comet in an eighties horror film, it's it's bad news. And so I like the idea that these these vampires, these these space vampires are kind of nested inside the comet and and kind of traveling along the other way. I don't I don't know.

28:48 Does that work for you, Bill? Oh, it definitely did. I did like that idea instead of I think the original is an asteroid belt or something. Maybe. Yeah, but yeah, it was like a Lea's comment was a big thing, and everyone was excited for it to come and see it, because you know, it comes every seventy five, seventy six years. So the fact to put a huge alien spaceship of it in space vampires, why not? I thought I thought that was a good idea, I thought. So I'll tell you another good idea. Whoever thought it was a good idea to hire a couple Academy Award winners to work on this project? So let's talk a little bit about John Dykstra and Henry Mancini. Dykstra, obviously world renowned, was the lead special effects guy on Star Wars.

29:33 He's known for several of the Batman films, X Men First Class. He's got a couple of Spider Man films to his name, Star Trek, the motion picture space Balls. That's just naming a few. I mean this guy is special effects Royalty, right, yeah, a thousand percent. I mean there's some huge people that worked on this film. I mean you go down the list, right, we talked about or you talked about Dan O'Bannon first and foremost, and then we have John Dyster, we have Henry mancin and Toby Hooper. I mean, this is just it's pretty much a murderer's row here. It's pretty great. Bill and I are definitely we're Star Wars kids, so we know these names like the back of our hands. So whenever I hear John Dykstra, Richard Edlund or anyone that had to do with the behind the scenes visual effects and ILM. You know these young guys that came up with the stop motion photography, et cetera. I mean they're just inventing things and changing cinema for the better. I mean our ears perk up.

30:26 So when I saw John Dykstra, you know, you know special effects on this movie, is like, well, they they got the best to work on this, which is fascinating because I have you know, I was watching the movie and the beginning sequence opens with the HMS Churchhill, a space shuttle filled with it's a joint mission of both British and American crew members, and immediately I'm like, boy, these effects don't look great. This is licking. This is looking a little little cheesy. I've seen the outline of the space shuttle against background photography and I'm like, what's going on here? This is Dyster stuff. But look, you know, I have a lot of critiques of this movie, and I have a lot. I wrote a whole bunch of things about how I thought this was literally a vampire batshit crazy.

31:15 But you still got to have a respect for the man in his filmography. I mean, Dyster is the man and then moving on to Henry Mansini, if I will, I mean, one of the all time great film composers. Now I'm listening to this theme, and funny enough, I was very familiar with this theme I have, and I've never seen this movie before. I'm like, oh, this is a very triumphant, heroic theme and it's easy to get into. And I'm like, wow, this is not appropriate for this film at all. I'm so glad that you said that, because it is. It is bold, and it's an incredible score, but it feels like it's more in line with like an action film. You know, I don't feel like the right it doesn't give the right ambiance for the film.

31:59 You know, Am I wrong saying that? Or no? I say, you know, what I wrote down was that this would be absolutely fantastic for another film. I mean it. When I hear the music, I see like a band of vikings running over this vast landscape, like a Lord of the Rings type of thing, or some sort of It could even be a you could name any kind of other action adventure, but this is a science fiction horror film. It's but then getting into the research, you find out that, well, Henry Mancini was basically sold on the first fifteen minutes of the movie, which is basically the credits, and it's you're watching the film go over like an asteroid in the middle of space, and the credits are rolling, and then you get the vista of space and you have the space shuttle approaching Haley's comet and the discovery of this alien ship and the coma of the nucleus of the comet, and you're like, Okay, I understand the theme working for that, and that's what he wrote for. Because that's then they had to go back and they get the likes of composers like Michael Kahman to do cues for it to insert into the soundtrack. But overall, it's like, what happened here with the music? Why did they just tell him about the first fifteen minutes of the film but not really delve into the genre that they were dealing with here, because I think that would have really changed the tone of the music. I really, I really did what you said about it. It's a great score, just for a different movie.

33:30 Because when you think about Henry Mancini, you know, I think like Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther the Great Mouse Detective from eighty six. Obviously the you know, I call it the spy Hunter theme, but you know from the Peter Gunn television show, you know, yeah, it just I would never assume that he is the guy that you call for like a creepy space horror film, you know, with vampires and what have you. Real quick before we before we leave Dichstra, you kind of mentioned like you're you're a little underwhelmed by the Churchill and some of these shots. So my question is which version of the film did you guys watch, because I think this is this, this matters. Did you watch like the theatrical version? Okay, you did not see the international cut or the you know what's called the British cut or the director's cut? No ooh okay. I had a similar argument with Jason and d from Shirley CAN'TE Be Serious Podcasts when we were talking about Alien three and how the director's cut is. You know you think you hate it? Now wait do you drive it. It's it's such a better version of the film. It's it's it's such a you know, anyone that has seen Alien three and hated it, you got to watch the director's cut because it's such a better movie. And I'm gonna say the same thing about Life Force. If you haven't seen the director's cut with the color corrections, you know, the show Factory did a gorgeous four K restoration collector's edition type thing with it, and it's twenty seven minutes longer. So there's a lot

35:04 of story and a lot of it is with the Churchill and that cast, that crew, and it just makes it a way better film. So and you know, obviously the Diisher's effects have definitely been touched up. They've been cleaned up, so to speak. So I was kind of you when you mentioned that. I was like, Oh, I wonder if they've I wonder if they've seen the version I've seen so really quick shout out to you in that Alien three episode because I was behind you the whole way. Oh thank you man see. And it's funny that you say that because I think in a way this movie does parallel Alien three because of just all the production next shoes they kind of had, and Alien three is one of those movies. The more I watch it, the more I like it, and I think the same thing goes for this one. Well, I assure you if you enjoy Matilda May's performance, you will definitely enjoy it. In four K Say No More. Yeah So. Sold at twenty five million dollars. This is one of the highest budgets for a Cannon Group film, alongside notable films like Superman four of The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe. But it's it's decided in post that the title Space Vampires sounds too much like an exploitive B movie, and they decide to change it to Life Force. That was that the right call? I think, so, yeah, go ahead.

36:25 I don't know necessarily life Force was the right title, But I think if you went with Space Vampires, you're cutting out eighty percent of the audience already, so you gotta have a different title that's gonna make it seem more generic. Sucker those people in the first weekend. Hopefully it's good and then you get the word of mouth. You're not going to get that with Space Vampires, even if it's based on a book. I feel like Space Vampires is the movie that Peter Vincent is showing at the end of Fright Night when he's when he's ready to move on from Vampires, still stay with Vampires. Yeah, it's a little hokey, right, I totally agree. Yeah, I would think that Space Vampires also could say it sounds like a Roger Corman production.

37:09 It's that exploitation type of film, and it does lead you down a certain path and it might deter some viewers. Versus Life Force has definitely more of a science fiction connotation to it. And this film, look, I I'm not gonna lie. I wrote a whole like I am of two minds when it comes to this film, and I have it on the background right now, and I'm even watching it seen by scene and taking notes. And just like Bill As, I've let this film digest, and I've actually taken the time to investigate the story and try to break down the rules of this world and try to figure everything out. I have a much greater appreciation for it. But after first seeing it, once the film had ended, I was like, quoting Billy Madison, what you've just created is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in your rambling, incoherent story, we're even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having seen it. I Ward you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. That's all I can think of. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. But getting back to the title life Force and thinking about the science fiction aspect and what they did with this idea, this is a movie that is full of pretty awesome and I mean in the true sense of the word awesome ideas. There are huge ideas here, and they took a big swing, and when you think

38:44 about it, it's a really cool take on vampire lore. So life Force is kind of a bigger title for me. That's like the umbrella in the movie itself, where it's like this all encompassing thing trying to capture all all of these ideas that they're trying to present in the sci fi horror film, and it's just a matter of horror execution and a lot of places in my humble opinion, but I do thus think life Force is a better title. I know I really squeezed in some of my other opinions there and made that long winded, but I hope that made sense. It absolutely did. We're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, Jason and Bill will discuss the pivotal scene with me. We are back with Bill and Jason of the All Eighties Movies podcast. Guys, let's talk about the pivotal scene here in this film. And I'm not talking about the climactic moment. I'm not talking about the scene we love to see in the trailer, but a scene where you know, without it, the movie is just a little bit less.

39:50 You know, you got it? Does it? Scene like that come to mind for other of you? Absolutely? What do you got Jason? Oh, I've got some than for you. Jeff Johnson I was saying, I was of two minds of this film. Well, yeah, I did think this was a little insane, But also I was like, wait, is this movie pure awesomeness? Is this the origin story of vampire lore on Earth? Is this a tale of how vampire stories of old are actually true and that the vampires we know of were and actually are aliens that travel in the coma of Haley's comment and return to Earth once every seventy six years.

40:35 Well I believe so, and that ties directly into were what I'm calling the footal scene. And maybe this kind of explains why I'm of two minds when it comes to this movie. I had to write down this dialogue. Bear with me. I'm gonna try to read through it somewhat quickly. Go for it. Doctor Falada calls Kin and Carlson as they are a board a helicopter with the bodies of Doctor Armstrong aka Patrick Stewart and Sir Percy en route back to London, I think, regardless. Falada calls them and is talking to them on the choppers. It's hard for them to hear him, but he's kind of yelling over the phone, and he's got a report, and he says to them, this is the dialogue. This is his speech he gives the two males in reference to the two male vampires in this movie. The two males didn't die. They jumped into the bodies of the two soldiers who shot them and transformed the soldiers' bodies into their own likenesses. That's the difference between them and their victims. Their victims can't leave their bodies. Only the original three can do that. But I've killed one of them, one of the two male vampires, one of the transformed ones. Carlson says, how did you kill them, Falada? How in? Falada replies, the old way, Carlson, The old way, a leaded melt shaft, penetrating not through the heart, but through the energy center two inches below the heart, not steel but leaded iron. Right, Carlson, are you there, Carlson?

41:59 Carlson U two. And it is my belief that the vampires of legend came from creatures such as these, perhaps even from those very creatures. I know, it sounds incredible, do you hear me? Carson? And I was like, well, Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket? Doesn't that just sum it up? What in the f did he just say? I had to replay that scene a million times just to break it down and decipher it. It actually does make sense. But his delivery is so fast, and it's such an exposition dump. I'm going, what are we doing here, guys? And he's yelling it over a phone to guys that can barely hear him. And I have a lot of questions here because I'm going, wait, we did see doctor Falata receive. By the way, the names of these characters, it took me an hour to figure out who was who and what their names were. Uh huh. There's a lot of characters in this movie, but this doc here, he does receive this lead sword that was like an artifact needed from a museum that was donated by some guy back in eighteen fifty six or something. You get it very cool. I'm like, Okay, that's cool. That's a cool looking weapon. I get a lot of predator to vibes, like predator vibes actually from this, And I may explain later, but maybe somebody out there understands what I'm saying.

43:17 So I'm like, how did first of all, how did he know that he needed that artifact, that led sword, how did he manage to get his hands on it? And how the hell would he know how to kill this creature in its quote unquote energy center. And then moments later in this scene, we get Can and Carlson still on this helicopter and shockingly, suddenly a stream of this thick blood starts spewing from the mouth of the wax statues of doctor Armstrong and Sir Percy, which seemed to be taken straight from the Hollywood Wax Museum. And so these this blood is spewing simultaneously from their mouths. It forms a blood soaked space girl Matilda May and she says Carlson, and then and collapses into a goofy mess, and Carlson somehow knows from his psychic bond with her that all of a sudden, she's decided to leave.

44:08 She's just disappeared and moved into her body, which is located somewhere in London at the Space Center. And now Cain all of a sudden decides to ask Carlson what happened to him on the HMS Churchill Space Shuttle. And now it's time for a flashback, which doesn't really serve the story that much, and I'm like, fucking brilliant, what are we doing here? This is insane? And by the way, the best part of the scene is when the we see this blood body forming, these blood like globules forming from the h this blood that's being spit from doctor Armstrong and Sir Percy, and it's forming the torso of Space Girl. And in the midst of this, Cain and Carlson are freaking out. But the helicopter pilot turns around and loses his shit, and it's amazing. He starts screaming, the camera starts shaping, pretending as if the cop the chopper is shaking. You get closer on them, like screaming that it's an exterior of a model of the helicopter shaking around back to them. They like, Oh, and it's just hilarious and it's wonderful and I can't get enough. I'm left speechless. And that's where I'm going.

45:17 Man, there's so many cool aspects of the story I'm in it. It's like watching a train wreck. I can't keep my eyes off of this. It's awful and brilliant at the same time. What is happening? So that's my scene? Bill? What do you think? Oh? Man, can I follow that up? I know I can't, so I'll go I'm deferring to you. It's so funny because the one thing I do love about this movie is doctor Flana. He figures everything out in like seconds. I mean, if this guy is the world's greatest detective, that's what he should be doing. He shouldn't be doing science, should be detective. He could solve everything in the world. But the one scene that I definitely found interesting is really bring this space girl and the other two bodies on Earth and we get our first victim, who's one of the security guards who becomes enraptured with her. She comes awake, sucks the life force from him, and then she escapes. And then two hours later, when they're going to do the autopsy of this security guard, he comes, springs to life and sucks the life force out of one of the doctors, putting himself back into his normal state. And now we have this poor doctor who's become not dead but just this weird corpse. And Falada knows right away, put him down the basement, isolate them. Let's see what happens to him in two hours. And sure enough, two hours pass and Falada and Colin Kane, who's kind of

46:52 the investigator on this whole space Vampire, you know what is going on? And I guess his superior Sir Percy, and knees, you know, letting Sir Percy know this, this is the situation we have. And they go down to this basement and we have the two people in the cages and one of them's got the life force sucked from them, and then the security guard. And it's two hours later. The security guard starts freaking out because he needs his next feeding, and since he can't eat, he goes back to his withered state and collapses and basically turns to dust, and then the doctor who's had the life force sucked he now needs a feeding and he bum rushes the three guys and literally just bursts into dust at the when he hits the cell, and you're like, holy shit, this is a batshit crazy chaos is going to happen because we have the space vampire going around sucking the life out of people. What is going to happen if this, if this outbreak happens. And that's it was bizarre. It was some cool, uh special effects, But that's when you just realize, like, oh my god, they're just they're just gonna they're just really here to use this as a giant supermarket and they're just gonna feed off of all of us, just take what they need, and the rest of us are just gonna be a little dustballs.

48:23 If I've got one, it would probably probably be the precursor to the mind blower that Jason dropped on us, and that'd be at the psychiatric hospital where they think, you know, I'm with you guys, I'm with the rest of the audience. I'm with the doctor who's got the the needle full of a sodium penthol The whole gotcha went with Patrick Stewart's character where they you know, they grab him and jam it into him. I was like, what what are you doing? What are you doing to Armstrong? And and then it it hits me. I'm like, wait, this is the Space Girl. And that scene where they've got Patrick Stewart tied up and he's speaking, you know, under hypnosis as you know, drugged up under hypnosis and he's speaking as the Space Girl. That's some of his best acting. I don't care, I just I'm sorry. It's he's he's brilliant in that moment because the look that he's giving Rails Back, he doesn't look like Patrick Stewart.

49:22 It's he's Matilda May in that moment. And just the way he's his voice and his cadence as he's talking and like Rail's back, it's like, you know, it's messing with his mind because he sees Patrick Stewart, then he sees Matida May and he's he's getting closer, he's leaning in and they have that embraced It's like, what what is going on here? And you know we all have this what is going on here? Vibe? You know in these scenes. And that's one thing I love about this movie. Is it hits you at different times, like where you're like, what just happened? What am I watching? I don't know, but I want more of it. Bill, You're talking about like this this whole End of Days saying like, you know, we're a supermarket there just feeding office and what happens and this movie turns it. We go from like space to vampires to zombies to apocalyptic end of Days, like where everything's on fire, everyone's getting attacked, everyone's running through the streets. It's crazy, but it works. Jeff, I absolutely love your fandom. I love that you love this movie because it's infectious. Because the more I think about it, I cannot disagree with you. I love the turn in the third act when this becomes a zombie apocalypse World War Z type of movie. I'm like, is this really happening?

50:31 Look at the size of this production. This is massive, the number of extras, the amount of makeup effects, the fact that we have Carlson, We've got you know, Steve Rail's back driving his jeep or whatever vehicle through these streets and the zombie attacks him in car and there's he's you know, has an are a dismembered arm that he's holding Oh yeah, my fingers are still moving in his face and he just tosses it in the back like ah, no, no worries, no big deal that It's like that. That's Dan O'Bannon right there. That felt so much like a return of Living Dead moment when that happens, and I'm here for it, man, I love it. You have to appreciate the blending of genres, like I mentioned, because you see a little bit of alien in this. I saw a little bit of Predator in this, with the lore of like this alien species coming back to the planet. You know, over there's a pattern it waits a certain amount of years in Predator that comes back in the hot seasons, right and here it's every seventy six years. Maybe with Haley's comment or you know, I'm not positive, but so you get sci fi, you get zombie stuff. But there's clearly a lot of thought put into this, and it's overwhelming as the problem and so and it's confusing. It's all now at times because you're just like, wait a minute, who's the space girl now?

51:52 And where are the other two vampires? And how is the energy being transferred and weight? They can shape shift or not shape shifting, they're just body snatching. Oh, but then it's they can be zombies, but there are only zombies for two hours, and if they don't feed on somebody after the two hour period, then they may explode into dust, as Bill laid out for us, which is great watching them explode into dust. And then London is just a fire, is a blaze at the end, and it's complete chaos and you just have to watch it in all of its splendor and hope everything turns out for the best. And somehow Cain gets a sword to Carlson so he can impale himself and the space Girl at the same time.

52:37 It's like, whoa wow, all right, taking one for the team, you know, the the double impalement. You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't, if I didn't try to convince you guys to give us one more fun aspect from your show. So we've talked about the pivotal scenes, We've talked about some lot of stuff that we really like. But one thing you guys do that I always love too is is is the Swiss cheese? Bill you want to you wanna tee this up for us? Yeah, So we have a segment a Swiss cheese and complaint department and Jason, why do we call swiss cheese? Because although this movie is delicious, it does have holes. Yes, if it doesn't have holes, we just file complaint with the complaints department. So basically just a segment we talk about plot holes in the movie or just overall complaints we have with the film. All right, so I would love to hear your al's rendition of the Swiss cheese for life force? What do you got for us? I don't know if it's a plot hole or even a complaint, but it's more of the motivation of like, did these Okay, so we think the space vampires are purposely coming to Earth to basically steal everybody's life force. Yeah, but there's a scene where our space vampire escapes from the I don't even know what building it is that she's being held in it then takes off for a different part of the But it's never why why did she do that? That doesn't make any sense?

54:04 What was she trying to get? Granted, you know it has us bring Patrick Stewart into the movie, but what was the whole purpose of that? What is what is the allure of a. I think it's a Yorkshire where she heads right, which I know is famous, Like that's they use that area or they did use that area for a lot of vampire films back in the sixties and seventies. But so I don't know if that's just a clever nod to the history or if it's because I asked the same thing, like what why, what? What's the need? Why does she have to go there? Because we're heading right back to the city after the the awesome helicopter moment. So that's that's a good call. Yeah, if there was something that when they were here seventy five, seventy six years ago, that they left there that she needed to get, that would make sense. But she just kind of goes out there just to go out there, yeah, and make haggy panky with some random dude in the car. I don't know, a healthy male. She's finding a healthy male who's some old dude with the broken dot cart side of the road who gets to uh, hey, you know, at least he gets to cop a feel, you know, with this beautiful redheaded woman in the middle of the countryside. Uh. It's pretty random, pretty fun though, mm hmm. Good for him, that's definitely not the moment where you want to run in the bathroom and take take a quick pee, because you come back and all of a sudden, like who's the redhead? And what's going on here? Like did someone change the channel?

55:28 Because that's the first time I saw that, That's how I felt. I was like, wait, wait, what happened? Where are we? Where's Matelda May? Yeah? You know, here's the thing for me overall, it's not a hole because, honestly, gentlemen, I would love to sit down with you, Jeff, you're a fan of this. I would love to sit down with you and Brad and whomever else feels like doing so and really break this down story wise and what the rules are of this world because I adore lower, I adore will world building and mythology, and I is writing this all out trying to figure out and it does somewhat make sense, but it's just so much because when we understand, we have this space girl who was found, you know, aboard this ship that was based on an artichoke. I find these crusty bats on the ship, these old what are supposed to be giant space vampire bats, but they're all dead, and the life force is transferred into humanoids to at least be the version of humans, and then they can that we can relate to. And then they come down to Earth and we have this beautiful woman walking around extracting life forces from people, and then they turn into zombies and then they suck the life force, which is really smart because it's like, Okay, they're spreading like a virus. It keeps spreading, and that's really smart. But when she does transfer her personal life, like her essence, into this redhead in the middle of the countryside, you're like, up, now we've got another power added

56:58 on to it. And all the while we're following Carlson, who under hypnosis we discover has a psychic bond with a space girl. We're like, okay, there's a whole nother supernatural science fiction element to this. So he's connected to her so he can trace her and track her and know her every move. Then when they bring in the two male vampires that we thought were dead but have taken the bodies of the soldiers but look like themselves because they changed those bodies to make them look like themselves, and you're like, so you see where it goes ugh, it's for me. My complaint, my Swiss cheese complaint is just it's way too much. And then when you get Filada just receiving a sword out of nowhere, going, oh, let's focus on that. That's cool. Now you're adding like this medieval element into it, like real old traditional, like Vlad the you know, Impaler type of lore into this, and I'm like, that's cool, but we just don't we don't get enough time with some of these cool elements to really digest them.

58:12 And it moves too quickly because the version we watched is an hour and forty six minutes or so, and you're like, yeah, man, they packed so much into it, so yeah, it just it breaks your your brain. Yeah. There was another issue I had was just just the crew of the Church Hill itself, because technically it's a shuttle and if you've ever seen one of the space shuttles, they're really not that big and they have this big crew in it, and I'm just thinking to myself, how how long is this mission supposed to be? And they're flying out to a comment that how do you just do the normal day to day? Where are they all sleeping? How are they eating? There's no room in that that thing, because I was hoping it would be a different kind of ship. I'm like, it's a shuttles are tiny, they're like four or five people. They must have like twenty on this thing. Yeah, they needed for for what they're doing. They need like a this dromo. They need something that you can you can move around in. Right. They need an event horizon because it's set in present day. You know whether whether they could have been on like a space station. Yeah, because I was really trying to get scale because they say when they come upon this ship, it's one hundred and fifty miles long. So I'm like, all right, so this this shuttle's got to be like a dot yep compared to it. But then some of the shots, I'm like, wait, the shuttle looks like it's maybe three miles long, Like, no, that doesn't that doesn't work. The sci fi in that was a little wonky for me if I had If I had one, I would probably say, to Jason's point, the world building with some of like the medieval like the Sword is an awesome aspect of this movie.

59:42 I feel like it came, it comes out of nowhere, and and you guys seen the theatrical cut. I've seen both, and I've seen that. You know, I prefer the director's cut, where it's it's nearly two hours, it's like twenty seven extra minutes. And I'm here to tell you, like, you're gonna get a lot more with the Churchill, You're gonna get a lot more with you know, the doctors and stuff, but you're not going to get the background on the iron and why it's important, why it's relevant, and how we figured that out. So an easy fix for me would have been we talked about why does she need to get out to the ps Psychiatric Hospital in Yorkshire? Well, that could have been the thing right there, Bill is you know you guys said it like maybe they need to pick something up, or maybe maybe they need to make sure nothing can hurt them. And Patrick Stewart could have been like this curator of a museum instead of a hospital. He could have been something where he gives you a little that expossession instead of a random guy just screaming at it on a on a walkie talkie in the helicopter. That would have been what I would have preferred for it. I still love it, but I think it would have helped it. I like that one. Yeah, yeah, Toby Hooper. You know, sadly we lost him in twenty seventeen. So, you know, we usually like to talk about like what do you want to see this, this, this person do next? We can't do that. I'd like to touch base on a couple of his movies and just get a quick reaction from you guys, you know, thumbs down or fangs out. Okay, obviously, let's start with nineteen seventy four Texas Chains. I'm masker. Oh fucking love that movie. Definitely fangs out right, Yeah, yeah, all right.

1:01:15 How about Salem's Lot. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen the whole thing. I've only seen I've seen the whole thing. I've heard great things, though it's I've only heard good things about it whenever I come across it and research, I implore you the original. Rob Low did a remake and put the original from nineteen seventy nine. That is where it's at. How about nineteen eighty one, he does the fun House. I've seen the fun House. The book is way better. Interesting, Okay, Jason, I've got nothing, nothing on nothing. Yeah, there's a lot of these I haven't seen. I'll just say that right now. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna throw up my you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna fanboy here for just a second. It's nineteen eighty one when he does The Funhouse. Else So I would love to hear what you guys say on the all of these movies podcasts about the Funhouse. Anytime I can hear more Toby Hooper, I want to, And no one has talked about the Funhouse. So you know that's that's throwing it out there, you know, Oh yeah, it's going on the list. Then that's a good deal.

1:02:20 Good deal. Poltergeist obviously fangs out. Oh yes, all right, yeah, we covered that one on our pod as well. And man, that movie still holds up. It definitely holds up. Really, it's one of the all time class. That's a paranormal thriller that stays with me to this day. It scarred me for life, especially damn it, little Robbie in that freaking clown. I I had the clown. I get where the clown scares a lot of people. The tree. I had a similar incident with the tree, not that one that tried to kill me, but I had that tree outside my bedroom window and it tears terrified me, and it terrified me more after I saw Bolter Guist. So yeah, I forget about it real quick. You know, I got to mention this. Uh. In nineteen eighty three, he does a music video for Billy Idol. He does the Dancing with Myself video. I only bring it up because Bill's pumping the fist. He's any he looks like an Idle fan. Oh yeah, I love Billy Idol, quick do it? Yeah? Yeah, a snarl.

1:03:24 Interestingly enough, he asks Billy Idol to play one of the nude male vampires, and Idle can't do it because he's on tour. But do one of you want to tell the listeners who he got? Instead play the vampires, one of the one of the male vampires, like he the one that Billy Idol was supposed to play. He gets someone else with a bit of a suit. I didn't. Oh you guys all know this. No, well you probably wouldn't recognize Chris Jagger, but uh he happens to be Mick Jagger's brother. Woww Yeah totally missed that. Yeah me too, Yeah right there? Well, you know, like and I would have missed it again on Toby Hooper's commentary audio commentary on the on the Blu Ray, he's talking, you know, they're like, oh, these guys are really good looking guys.

1:04:14 He's like, oh, yeah, this is Chris Jaggers. It's Mick Jaggers's brother. And they're like what and he's like, well, yeah, I want a Billy Idol. But you know, Billy Idol couldn't to you know, he was on tour and he couldn't do it. And I was like, we've been talking about Life Force. I want to I want to skip over that one. And you know, as we wrap up here, let's jump to eighty six when he does he does the double shot. He does he does Invaders from Mars and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part two. I don't even remember Invaders from Mars I saw one time back then. I can't recall anything about it. Chexa Chainsaw Massacre too. I think it's underrated. I do enjoy it, how about it? Jason, Yeah, I've got nothing either. You know, again, like I'm just going to defer to you, gentlemen on some of these, like the horror genre is where it is a weak spot. For me, blind Spot for me. So yeah, I don't have a lot. I'm sure I've seen bits and pieces here and there, but I couldn't tell you what are your feelings. I'm gonna tell you right now. Invaders from We covered both of them. Invaders from Mars is that fun monster movie. Like you could watch this when you're ten years old and be scared, but also it's not too scary, you know, because you're your main protagonist is a little kid. He's like a ten year old kid, you know. He's running around through the movie with Karen Black and you know, James karen Is, you know, from Return Living Dead is trying to like, you know, he's the military guy and they're trying to stop these these creepy you know, aliens from taking over the world.

1:05:40 It's it's cool. I would I'd recommend that one. It's Invaders from Mars is on I want to say, it's on two B right now. If not to B, it's on Pluto. But that's a fun watch, you know, Like if I had kids that were like eight, nine years old, I'd be like, let's watch a monster movie, and I'd be okay with putt them on because it's not you know, violence, you know, gore, nudity that it doesn't happen in the in that in that movie. So it's a fun one though. And to Bill's point, Texas Chancel Maasker two, it's a classic. It's a it's a complete twist on what they did, what he does in the first one, you know, because first one feels like a documentary. It's it's terrifying and it's grotesque. But the second one is very comedic and it's just fun. You're like you're rooting for leather Face the whole time. It's crazy. Uh, he did, uh, you know, he directed some some amazing stories. He did Freddy's Nightmares, he did the Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt, body Bags, JOHNK. Corpner's body Bags. So this is a guy who lived in that that horror genre, that monster movie genre. And uh, that's one thing I've always liked about his his work. If I put you on the spot and I asked you, what is your favorite Toobey Hooper film? Uh, what are you looking at? Are you looking at Poltergeist? Are you looking at Texas Chansaw. I might have to go to Texas Chansaw. I recently read a book from Gunner Hands who played leather Face on that, and just the making of that. But what they had to go through to get that movie made just makes me appreciate it that much more. I love low budget horror films and I love the behind the scenes stories to get them made,

1:07:15 like that Evil Dead, That's stuff such just amazing. Like you're on set and you got to do like fifteen different jobs, you have no money, just the things you're pulling out of your butt to make it happen. Text changeaw Masker is a perfect example of that, and just just the way it just resonated with audiences is awesome. Man Gunnar Hansen was one of the most gentle kindest guys I have ever met and had the privilege of just talking to. And I just he happened to be in a Hollywood video that I walked into and I panicked and could not believe the moment I had with him. He was just it's big sweetheart, honestly. That's cool. Jason, Yeah, Jason. A favorite Hooper film for me, it's got to be Poltergeist. I have immense respect for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I know if you you know I've heard many a podcast with horror film aficionados and speaking of the genre, and inevitably that film comes up. It's, you know, it's one of the first of its kind. It's just was groundbreaking in its own way, and I felt Poltergeist was as well. For me, I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to it. It was one of those first films that really scared the hell out of me and made me really think about some dark things and some very strange paranormal, other worldly spiritual things. And I you know, I know that Toby Huber where it's talked about Offen his

1:08:45 collaboration wheel with Spielberg on that particular film and who had what input on which things, But he directed the movie and it's in the Hall of fame when it comes to the paranormal thrit just Joe Beth Williams is great and Craig T. Nelson, I mean, it's your son of a bitch, You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you. Your son of a bitch, you left the bodies. You only move the headstones. Why why Craig T dials it up to eleven in that moment I love it. Yeah, it has such a crazy, weird, dark legacy too. You know, in real life it's just ah that movie, it's just something about it. Well back to nineteen eighty five's Life Force Bill, do you recommend this film? Man? This is a hard one to recommend because it is so over the top. It is so over crazy. It's one of those you almost have to watch it twice and hopefully you can get through the first time. But if you're a guy, you got Matilda May there, so she'll get you through the first half of the movie, so you'll be fine there. But it does need multiple viewing in order for you to understand and appreciate it. If you're just gonna sit down and watch it one time and you told me the movie sucked, I wouldn't blame you. But if you watched it a couple of times it said, this movie's really cool. I totally understand where you're coming from. So it's a recommendation, but there is some caveats with it that go with it. That's fair. How about ad

1:10:17 Jason? Yeah, I recommend seeing it one thousand percent. It's insane, just purely because it's insane. You have to just say it so you can see it, just so you can say you saw it and be like, yeah, I've seen Life Force. I know what that movie's about because I've heard about it for so long now, and I'm glad I had a really good reason to watch it. I should have watched it on my own years ago, but this was great to be able to talk about it on this podcast with you, Jeff and Bill. And it's truly incredible and confounding and stupendously ridiculous, and it's terrific for discussion. If you're a fan of film, and you're a fan of these particular creative arts and filmmakers, you're gonna like this movie because it has some big ideas. Does it work in my opinion, mostly no, But it's a hell of a swing and gotta respect it. It's such a huge swing. And if you think about it and you use your imagination and you think about the ideas that are there, like how it does work, you're like, damn, this is actually pretty cool.

1:11:28 And I agree with you, Jeff. When you get to that third act and it turns into the zombie movie, then it kicks into it a high gear. That's a lot of fun. So you can have fun with that. But if you're a fan of the movies, you just just check it out. Be like, wow, somebody thought of this and somebody made this and said, yeah, this is a good idea. Hey, I think it's a great idea. There you go. It is it is. It is currently streaming free on two B But I for one recommend Shot Factories excellent four K Collector's Edition. You get the theatrical cut, you get the director's cut, which is the preferred one in my opinion. You get two really incredible audio commentaries, some great behind the scenes stuff. If you're a fan, if you're a cinephile that loves the behind the scenes stuff, the interviews, the archival footage, it is definitely worth the uh the money that that Shall Factory's asking for. So check it out and listeners. If you haven't seen it and you do plan to see it now, please reach out on social media. Let us know what you think about it. Hit us up on social media or a film by podcast dot com or a film by podcast at gmail dot com, because we want to hear what you have to say. On that note, Bill Jason can't thank you enough for hanging out

1:12:59 with me and talking about life force. We have definitely got to do this again, whether whether I'm knocking on your door or you're knocking on on ours, we got to do this more, this collaboration because it's like like you, like you mentioned Jason, it's a it's a great community that we've kind of established with some of other podcasts you know that we that we were discussing and it's just a good time. So, uh speaking a good time. What do you guys got coming up next for us? Yeah, so we'll be wrapping up our Splatter Cinema month with The Fly, which will be the last Friday of October. And some other highlights we have coming up to for this season is Die Hard right around the holidays. Oh yeah, and I'll have a special guest for that one that will keep secret. But yeah, we're man. We're in the homestead stretch for season three. So if there's any movies that you would like us to talk about, yeah, hit us up on our website All Eightiesmovies podcast dot com. Give us your suggestions.

1:14:06 Listeners, please, you are missing out if you're not listening to these guys. And I gotta say the website, you know how much I love it because Bill, I know I've reached out to you several times to try and to know, well, let's just call it what it is, steal some of the cool things that you guys do on the website. So anything our website's doing, you know, to improve Typically we go, we go check you guys out, like, Okay, I love how they do that. How do they do that? I want to do that. I mean, yeah, you guys have really got it going on there, and we can hear your show pretty much on all streaming platforms I would imagine at this point. Correct awesome. As always, we thank you for listening and we will see you next time. Welcome to the All Eighties Movies Podcast. I'm Bill and I'm Jason, and this is the podcast where we talk about the blockbusters, the flops, and everything in between from one of the freshest decades for movies, the nineteen eighties. So whether you're a brain, a jock, a valley girl, or a Jedi, we've got some Eighties classics for you.

1:15:08 Do these movies stand the test of time? Are we discovering something new? Is there an Eighties movie we are finally watching for the first time? Join us each week as we dive into the cinematic nostalgia that inspired and influenced a generation, from the hits to the cult classics. We'll discuss our earliest memories, favorite scenes, fun facts, and are not so favorite movie moments too. You can find the All Eighties Movies podcast wherever you listen to your podcast. Please subscribe and happy listening.