Tom Holland - Thinner

0:00 There have been more than sixty film and television adaptations of Stephen King's work so far. Damn, that's a lot. That's a lot. I mean when you think, like when you when you're like, hey, yeah, I love Stephen King movies. I've seen all of them. I don't think I have. I don't think I don't think I have. And what's more amazing is when you realize that there's at least at least twenty that have yet to be adapted. M hm, this man has given us so much. Yes, well, it's October it is. Let's kick it off. Yeah, let's kick it off the right way. Let's talk about a film by Tom Holland, his nineteen ninety six underrated Stephen King body horror adaptation Thin Air. Hello and welcome back. I'm Jeff Johnson. I'm David Burns, and this is a film by podcast David Burns, otherwise otherwise known as a white

1:35 Man from Town. I am a white man. Yeah, Dave. I gotta say I know that we are audio. We we rarely do video for our Patreon or for YouTube. But you, my friend, have over the last month or so, have gotten quite thinner. You what have you lost? Thirty five pounds. Thirty five pounds, yeah to. Watch to Watching this movie really made me think, Wow, that's scary. Were you were you cursed by a gypsy? That's what I'm saying, right you. Uh, you've been, you've been, You've been eating clean and uh yep. I have to wonder like, what if could I could I even tempt you with like a homemade gypsy strawberry pie? Would you? Would you go for something like that right about now?

2:27 Hell? No, never seeing this movie, I want nothing to. Do with that. Oh man, No, man, you are you are looking fit without a gypsy curse. So congratulations to you. Thank you. Let's talk about Tom Holland and uh yeah, listeners know, not not our friendly neighborhood, not our friendly neighborhood spider Man who's currently filming Spider Man brand New Day. No, this is Tom Holland, the actor slash director. Uh famous director for his his whole work, Dave. Let's talk how about a couple of facts. Yeah, what's in trivia about this Tom Holland? This one made me happy. He got his start in the nineteen seventies directing toy commercials for has Bro.

3:16 Oh man, that's like right up our alley. Right up our alley. You have to wonder, like, how close were we to getting a Tom Holland directed G I Joe toy commercial? Because those were Let's be honest, was those were fun? They were Can we have a Tom Tom Holland figure and for G I Joe? How often would that be? I'm I'm ready for that. Let's let's definitely let do it. Has Bro get on it now. Listen when you when you talk about this Tom Holland, his name is synonymous with the horror genre, right. Oh yeah, whether he's writing or directing. This made me happy. Though. Did you know that he wrote the screenplay for nineteen eighty four's Cloak and Dagger. I didn't, we did, Okay, I didn't know.

3:57 Yeah, you know stuff. I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that. I absolutely I love that film. I do too, Yeah, Dadney Coleman, Henry Thom, that movie was fantastic. I love it. Here's something concerning for you, though. During production of Thinner, he suffered from Bell's palsy. And this is listeners. If you don't know Bell's palsy, this will this Basically, this paralyzes one side of your face now, Dave. The effects could have been minimized if he had just left the set, went straight to the hospital and got a steroid shot immediately. I'm assuming that didn't happen. That didn't happen because producers insisted Slash threatened that he stay on set and continue working. So his treatment was delayed thirty six hours, and because of that, it took him over a year to fully recover.

4:54 Wow, worse, Oh shad for this that I think they kind of should have stepped in and said, Hey, this guy's got to go to the hospital. Man, what do you doing it? Yeah? This is you gotta remember this is this is nineteen ninety six. You're not getting away with this kind of stuff nowadays. But no way, I. Will say this though, by all accounts he's he's doing just fine. I know we like to offer a quote from the director at this point, but I'm not going to do that. I would rather hear about your interaction because you met Tom Holland and did last year we were at Scarefest, which might be the greatest horror show on Earth. Oh wait, you know when it comes to conventions, love Love the Love scare Fest, me too. I can't wait to get there, not a couple of weeks. But you met him, right, can you? Can you share that story?

5:44 I know, I know we typically do this for con Men episodes, but come on, it's it's Tom Holland. It's a Tom Holland episode. You gotta you gotta tell us. So it was one of those situations where he was there and you know, I I, Jeff, it's been a fortune and autograph that weekend. You know that I really are with you. And I had already gotten an autograph on my child's play poster and he was there and I wasn't really going to do it, but I said, you know what, the last second, like, I'm going to go up meet Tom Holland and get his autograph on my child's play poster. So I did. The guy was so nice, very sincere, very welcoming to talk about, you know, child's play a little bit. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember just how wonderful he was with me and the guy that was in front of me. The funny thing is is when he went to sign he first off, he wanted to know what color I wanted, and his handler said, let's go with blood Red. I said, yes, let's do that. Blood Red is perfect. And Tom went down to sign it and he completely signed it and stopped for a minute. He goes, oh, let me fix this. His a tea in his Tom wasn't like, didn't look good, so he made sure he went back over it to correct it.

6:53 Great guy though, yeah, he I mean every time we walked by him, he was all smiles, really engaging with with his fans. I remember that because we had just been We've just been hanging out with Don Costcorelli talking phantasm, and you were all excited about, you know, this Child's play stuff. I was like, Tom Holland's right there, obviously you have to talk to Tom Holland. You're like, I'm doing Yeah, of course I'm going to talk about Tom Hank. Tom Hank, great guy though, absolutely great. I hope I hope we see him in another another con in the near future. I'd love to talk to him. Yep. I love talking him about Cloak Dagger. Now now that I know that, absolutely everyone'll be like Chucky and Child's Play with him, and I'll be like, hey, can you let's talk Cloak and Dagger. So Dave, like we said, over sixty Stephen King film television miniseries, adaptations exist. It's a good chance maybe some listeners have not seen Thinner, or maybe they saw it in ninety six. It's almost thirty years old. Now maybe they saw it. They're not, They're they're late. They they were fresher. Can you tell us briefly what Thinner is all about?

7:58 There is no such thing as a gyp He's curse, or is there. An overweight lawyer by the name of Billy Halleck finds himself at the end of a curse by a Gypsy man for hitting and killing his daughter with a vehicle. He now finds himself getting thinner and thinner. No matter what he does. It is a race against the clock for him to find a way to change the course of this curse before it is too late. In a classic film based off the book of the same name by the master himself, Stephen King, is. It any surprise to you that Tom Holland is hired based off the fact that Stephen King loves his work Child's Play especially, I could see I could see Child's Play being something like Stephen King would have written. You know, I was like hearing him like when you've when you've got one master of horror, like, what what does Stephen King?

8:53 Like? What's what scares him? You know? Right? So I I think that's fantastic when you hear like, oh you what the guy that did Child's But yeah, get that guy? And how would that make you feel as the director too? To be chosen by Stephen King? Gosh, I have to I have to feel any any writer, any director who's gonna adapt his work if you get if you get his seal of approval, you've got to be on cloud nine. Absolutely, unless he hates your work and you're Stanley Kubrick and you just don't give a shit because you're Stanley Kubrick, you know. Although Stephen King has to kind of change his tune a little bit about that, but still regardless. Yeah, yeah, but there's I mean, there's been so many great, great films that don't well, I definitely want to talk about this very eclectic cast. But before we do that, let's take a quick break. Welcome back. We are talking about Stephen King's Thinner, directed by Tom Holland Robert John Burke in the lead role as Billy Hallick. I gotta tell you his voice is so familiar to me, and I could not figure out where I knew it from because I don't recognize him. What's your what's your relationship with this guy?

10:12 Like? Where are you know him from? Thinner? Well, when I think of him, this is this is the movie I immediately go to. To be honest with you, sounds like our research on Robert John Burke is thin. It is Thinner. You're right, Uh, let's let's talk about this role. Though he he's not the first choice. Now, I don't know if you know this. Dave Stephen King wanted none other than John Candy to play the role. Interesting, Yeah, now keep in mind this is a year before John Candy passes away. M hm. Which, by the way, have you seen the trailer? Not to get off topic, but have you seen the trailer for.

10:54 I, like me, cannot tears are gonna be flowing? You know it? We should cover that. I think it comes out what January on Prime something like that. I could be wrong, but yeah, here's my question. I get that you want John Candy to to for this role, but given the given what the film's about, Like, how do you expect John Candy to play Billy Halleck? When he's one hundred and twenty pounds. This is nineteen ninety six, so we don't. I mean, I get like, today they can do anything with the CGI, it's it's unlimited. But in nineteen ninety six, we didn't have I mean, it was good, it wasn't it wasn't. Nowhere is that good?

11:34 So I'm kind of wondering, like what were they thinking, Like were they going to have like another actor playing and like Candy just do the voiceover or. I don't know, it's interesting that that would be the choice. I mean, I love John Candy, don't get me wrong, absolutely, but in the role of I mean, he could pull it off at the beginning, but you're right when he gets down to one hundred and twenty pounds, which is even thinner than me, it's just crazy. But I don't know how they could pull it off without John Candy actually losing weight. But that's a lot of weight to lose. Listen, this is a it's a bit of a troubled production. It goes through several years. I think I think it took eight years for Holland to get this one completed.

12:17 So I could understand if we were good, maybe if we're gonna do like a castaway thing like with Tom Hanks, where you film Candy and then you take a break, let him lose some weight, and then you film Candy. And I don't know that that's the case. That's I don't know that that was their their plan or their thought, but damn I wish they would have done something like that, or they could have they could have gotten to commit because you never know, that might have that might have helped prolong his life, that might have helped save his life. Yeah, absolutely could have made a difference in his life for sure. Well Candy, Candy turns down this role. They go to Michael Douglas. Yeah, that would have been fun. Yeah, like a heavy set Michael Douglas at the beginning of this movie.

12:59 I I could have had fun with that. Especially this is ninety six, so he's right at the peak of playing the sexy guy, the sex civil You know, he's a couple of years past basic Againstigue. I think, is this the same year he does an American President or a year before. I know Amber Lewis and I covered the American President. Yeah, he's this is like his Silver Fox era. He could have done it. That would have been He would have been cool, but he turns it down to Who didn't turn it down was Robert John Burke, who had to lose some weight. He willingly lost twenty pounds to play the role, which means David, he was not as committed as you since you've lost thirty five out there.

13:46 He Yeah, he got himself down at one hundred and sixty pounds though. So I do want to say the makeup for that, the special effects they did for him was incredible, Okay, I mean he never looked fair when he they had the heavy outfit on him at all, and you see him, you know not I don't want to see all of them in the shower for carrying out loud, but you see some of his body and it never looked fake at all. Yeah, it's this is incredible makeup because, uh, you know, just do a little bit of homework on the movie. They actually used like a full body suit with with silicone uh pieces for like the chest area, so that he had that that flabby, that jiggly movement. It's amazing, you know, I think it's amazing by today's standards. Honestly.

14:35 Oh yeah, even when he got down to so thin, I mean that looked incredible too. I mean it was like yuck and I mean to go from one end to the other end, one end of the spectrum to the other end of the spectrum, that was just incredible work for the special effects team. In the makeup. Yeah, he's he's at when when we see him at his thinnest, he's in real life he's weighing one hundred and sixty pounds, but he looks so gaunt and yeah, sunken. And some of it's just easy tricks, like putting larger clothes on him and then of course, you know, sensing the belt too tight, and but just the makeup on his face, he looks so emaciated. Yeah, I mean he's he's like Christian Bale and the Machinist, Yeah, except that he's not so Yeah, four to six hours every day in that makeup chair to pull that.

15:19 Off, me go to do that. Yeah, that's a lot of time. It is. Uh, Joe man Tanna as Richie the Hammer Janelli is what's what's up with Joe? Did didn't he play on the Simpsons? He wasn't he like fat Tony or something? He was like it's funny as soon as I hear his voice, I'm like, oh, Simpsons, It's like, I rate that every single time. It's so tough. It's so tough to hear anything. Listen, Uh, I gotta, I gotta shout out our our nineteen eight are limited nineteen eighty six series, as you Were called, Dave you and I you were. You were the first person to do an ninety six episode with me. We did the money Pit. So I always think of fat Tony, but I also think of art shirt. I'm the carpenter.

16:10 I'm just thought she was good looking wool. I'm talking about a Shelley Long hitting on her. Yeah. Yeah, this guy, I love him. Every time he turns up. He's he's got like a reputation for playing a mob boss or a mob you know he was an artist, Yeah, for obvious reasons. But I dig the fact that he he gets this, he gets the role. He goes straight to the novel, doesn't read it. I mean he reads it, but he studies it. He studies the source novel so that he can understand the Hammer's motivations. Because, let's be honest, the richie, the Hammer kind of like a guy you'd want to hang out with. Him. You know, he's he's having fun at the club. He's he's the ladies guy, but he also has your back, Like, is there if you got to have a mob guy in your back pocket, you want the Hammer?

16:59 I would think absolutely, yeah, without question. When he came, when he showed up and he came basically to the rescue to defend Billy, I'm like, this is the guy that you want to watch your back without question. Yeah. Everyone's like I can't believe he took the case of that that that mob guy, you know, because he gets him off, Like what is he He's like in the in the trial, he's like there's like death threats and but he, you know, Billy is able to to win the case. And then yeah, the Hammer's like, hey, I owe your your firm like shitload of money, but I owe you my life, So you need me. I'm there. And it's cool because I I think I think Richie might be one of my favorite characters in the movie just because he's the boss. He could have sent any one of his soldiers to go save Billy or help Billy, but he's personally invested in taking care of this guy.

17:52 And I dig that the best was him showing up as the FBI agent. Oh, it's so good, so good, and it gets him that he gets her to go with him and he shows I'm looking, this is the guy and it's his picture. Yes, I am so scared for uh carry whirr in that moment because you don't know what the Hammer is gonna do. He's not called the Hammer because he's a nice guy. Right, he's not a carpenter. No, he's not not in this movie. It was this movie. He's looking at Cary Woarre. I just thought she was good looking. Wool You know, I'll tell you who's not good looking in this film. Michael Constantine is playing the limky, the old the old man who the gypsy that has the curse? Why Dave? Why? Why is it that for twenty or twenty five years, I've always assumed that Paul Sorvino played this part. I had, I had that, I had believed that. I was like because I was I used to. I was thinking, like, why Servina doing such a small role.

18:53 And a creepy one. Well, let's be honest, like you can see where I would make that mistake. He I do real Paul Servina look happy? Yeah, yeah, and he wasn't that old when he took on this role too. No, which is really strange. You made makeup? Yeah? Yeah, Constantine. Uh, I mean I know where I know Paul Servino from. You got any background on Constantine? Have you seen him anything that other than Dinner that you like? No, he's a character actor. I know that. I know. I've seen him in other things. Yeah, I think I've got it, you do. I've always I only seen it once. Uh my, big, my, big fat Greek wedding. He was the dad. Did you ever see those movies?

19:35 I've never seen those movies, so I can't say. Yeah, I know I know him for something else. I think it might be like in his younger days. I think he was in The Hustler or maybe Cool Hand Luke. I know it was a Paul Newman movie. I just don't know which one. So con Luke sounds right, But I could be wrong. Could could he have been one of the He's He was either in the pool hall in The Hustler or he was in the bunk house in Cool Handler. Yeah, all right, more on that later. This is not the this is not the Michael Constantine episode. No, it's not. Can we talk about Limky's great granddaughter, the lovely Carrie Warr playing Gina Romani.

20:17 Beautiful Gina. Absolutely we can. She is a wild thing in this movie and a little scary. She a little scary, Jeff, how about very scary? Okay, very scary? Well, I would say she is as scary as she is sexy. Oh yeah, absolutely. I just I like her, But I like her a lot less when she's got a slingshot with ball bearings in her hands. Yeah, no, thank you. I like the playful part that she did with the quarter. You know, I loved all of that. But let's leave the slingshot somewhere else, Okay, I want nothing to do with that.

20:59 I have to imagine in the mid to late nineties a lot of VHS tapes having some tracking issues around that moment, as thirteen year olds everywhere are renting Thinner. I had the biggest crush on her back then. You know, you remember her. She was on a remote control that MTV game show YEP with Adam Sandler before he was Adam Sandler. Yeah, I remember being in with it Ana Conda and like a freaks. I believe I remember correctly. Higher Learning. She played Swanson's friend. Well, she was her friend until you know she you know, Christy Swanson went and you know, went a different path and you know, met other people and all that kind of stuff. You know, she was like a sorority sister who didn't really care about stuff. Yeah, she is awesome in this I don't care what anyone says, like, very believable in the role too.

21:48 I have to I have to say, yeah, I gotta now, have you read Thinner? Did you read the novel? The novella? Not? No, So I will say this for anyone that's wanting to read the novel. Uh, you know, the Hammer comes after and I know we'll, I know, we'll talk about that scene here when we talk about some noteworthy scenes. But all I'll say is this, the hammer gets gets a little, a little come up and from Gina. They just never filmed it. So I'll tell you. I'll tell you have to break, you know, next break and you don't want to spoil it. Good, She's awesome, got a got a fun cameo in this one. You Yeah, nine times out of ten, if you're doing a Stephen King adaptation, chances are you're gonna get Stephen King to do a cameo.

22:39 Of course you you want to talk about this one. It's uh where he plays the pharmacist in this which is absolutely hysterical. One thing that I want to point out that I kind of giggled. I didn't catch this when I watched it years ago. But when he's in the court taking uh you know, being a witness for the accident that happened. Yeah, I was laughing because I was thinking, hey, look it's Stephen King on the stand. Well then did you catch his name? The pharmacists name? What was his name? He's playing doctor Banger and let's not forget that he's from bangor yes, yeah, yeah, I love see he I like.

23:20 I love the fact that he goes out of his way to play like the goofiest, nerdiest guy. Most like that Trucker and creep Show too. What happened the guy got creamed, That's what happens. He is. It reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock always put himself in his films no matter what, and I love when Stephen King does it because you're right, he plays the quirkiest stuff and it's just hysterical. Director cameos are always fun because I think on one side, you've got the hitchcock in the John Carpenter style cameos where they are just in the background or they're walking by and it's a blit you have to find them right.

24:00 And then you've got the cameos like like Shyamalan or QT. Tarantino, where they're like they're most minor characters, they're giving themselves dialogue. And then right there in the middle, like Stephen King is the is the the line where he's in it very minimally, but also he's going to have a goofy few lines. So I always look forward to Stephen King and his stuff. You know, we were talking about the makeup effects for Robert John Burke and the well, let's be honest, like the old man Limkey with the not only is he like one hundred and forty or something and just you know he's got that rotting thing on his face that he goes to see the pharmacists for.

24:50 All this is thanks to the talented work of one Greg Cannem Dave. You and I are horror aficionados, we are, and I am I'm a little embarrassed not to know his name right off the top, you know when when mentioned. Yeah, because I don't recognize the name, and I'm probably gonna be embarrassed too. Oh you will be, so I will say this. Let me let me begin by saying sadly, he passed away earlier this year May third, twenty five, seventy three years old. But I am happy to say that. He was honored with the Academy Award for Technical Achievement in two thousand and five. He also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup for Bram Stokers Dracula in nineteen Old Game and Missus Doubtfire in nineteen ninety four. Wow, now hold on to your hold onto your hat here, Dave. He was also nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar for Hook Hafa Roommates, Titanic by Centennial Man, A Beautiful Mind, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Vice. Wow.

26:08 That's an impressive catalog of films. Yes, now, and just because this guy is so incredible. Stuff he wasn't nominated for, but is going to blow your mind when I tell you, this is the guy that was working on these movies or was behind the you know the effects, He was driving this stuff The Howling, Michael Jackson's thriller Dreamscape, Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, Nightmare on Um Street Three, Dream Warriors, The Lost Boys, Dick Tracy, The Mask, Batman Returns Blade, and Dave Star Trek six, The Undiscovered Country. Why because it all comes back to Treck.

26:53 It all comes back to Trek. That's right. I'll move on, but just know this. I only gave you a handful of his incredible work. I'm leaving out about another twenty or thirty that are just like what he did. That Wow. Yeah, I'm embarrassed not to know that name, but I'll know it now. Yeah. You have to little background about this movie. So it's initially set up at Warner Brothers in nineteen eighty eight. However, in nineteen eighty six, which Dave, I think we know is the best cinematic year of the eighties.

27:34 That year. Yeah, in nineka six, after finishing Maximum Overdrive, which is another Stephen King adaptation, Uber producer Dino di Laurentez wanted to make Thinner on the condition that he make it with Sam Raimi. Oh that would have been great, honest, that's what it host. Yeah, And when you think of Sam Raimi and Horror and Gypsy Curses. We did eventually get that movie. We got Dragged Me to Help. Yeah, yeah, which is awesome. We should cover that next year, maybe that Uh. Unfortunately, Raymie was a little busy working on Evil Dead two, Dead by Dawn, So Dila Rene says, that's fine, I'll just I'll produce that one instead. He basically just wants to give money to Sam Raymid Whether it's Thinner or Evil Dead two, He's He's happy either way. Now, I told you earlier that we this movie went through some serious delays. A lot of that's because of now.

28:32 A lot of that is because of studio interference, big shock, of course, shocker, budget concerns, creative differences. We love that term, don't we Yes, concerns about the makeup effects. Back then, they were wondering like, can you can this look real? Can you realistically pull it off and make this guy look like he's you know, three seventy five down to one twenty? You know? Is it going to work? It worked? Yeah, it did. Here's something that really blew my mind. I saw this. I got several sources pointing this out. They put it on hold. A couple of times because the studio was afraid that the main character's rapid weight loss would be compared to the ongoing AIDS epidemic.

29:15 Mm. At the time, that makes sense. I guess it makes sense, but I mean it's still it's a little bit of a stretch. I would think. Yeah, Now, here's the good thing about some of these delays. Once the production went into turnaround and it's it's changing hands from Warner Brothers to Paramount mm hmm. This gay producer Richard Rubinstein, Tom Holland and Stephen King, who at this point are getting along famously. They run off and make the Langeleiers mini series, which I never saw that. Did you ever see that one? Yeah, it's been a while. It was, okay, I remember being very impressed by it. Though. Is that the one about the aliens? Or am I thinking about the Tommy Knockers. Or Tommy Knockers or things? I think? Isn't that the one with the cat?

29:58 Yeah? The jet? Yeah? Okay, so yeah, we got to put that on the list of the other with the other sixty that we. I think isn't Bronton Pinchow and the lang Leaders too. I think I think he is. Yeah, I love Bronson, Sis yeah, or Balkis from Perfect Shrinkers. Oh that's right, Balkie Bartacamas Yep. Much to Hollin's dislike, the film's ending, which at the time was faithful to uh Stephen King's book, was changed because test audiences weren't happy. I don't know, how do you feel about Can we just quick, quickly? Can we just talk about test audiences? Like?

30:39 And I ask you because look, we're both writers. You are a very incredible director, so we know what goes into We know what kind of work gives into a film project. We know kind of passion goes into it. You filmed something, Dave, and then the studio comes back and says, yeah, we tested it in several markets and everyone hates this scene or they hate this ending, so we're going to change it. How do you feel about that? It bugs the hell out of me, because I'm sorry, this should be the director's vision. It really should. And if you're going back and changing the ending because an audience doesn't like it or a test audience doesn't like it, you're you're basically telling the director, well, your vision isn't good enough, so we're going to we care more about the money, which we all know that's what it boils down to in the end anyway, So we're going to change it. You got to change it. And to me, that really bothers me. And that's why I like the independent word a whole lot better than the big studios like A twenty four. They're fantastic with allowing the dropt to what they want to do.

31:34 I love A twenty four. Yep, before we talk about scenes, I got one more. I'll call this a fun fact Joe Mantanna. Yeah, if you don't have time to sit down and read, or you just prefer the uh, the convenience of audiobooks. The audiobook for Thinner is narrated by Joe Mantanna. That's awesome. I did not know that. Yeah, down with three or something. Yeah, it's it's well, it's it's considered a novella, so it's it's definitely short. But I would imagine you could listen to it probably like in a day. Yeah, but I like that though. You're right, let's let's sit down and listen to Tony tell us the story.

32:18 Yeah, absolutely love it, Dave. Let's talk about a couple of scenes here. Is there either we talked about. I don't know how how detail we should get about the quarter scene with Karrie Warr, but. Well, one of the things I love about this movie is I like when you get some character depth, because I mean, let's let's be honest. I mean, we've had some movies where the characters feel very card bootish and you don't care about them. What I like about this one is the relationship between the daughter and the father, and I like the little playfulness they have at the beginning. Remember when he's getting ready to go to court, yep, and you get them they're both talking about mobster, talking like mobsters. You know, like that was so much fun. I really loved that scene because it really help develop what's going to happen towards the end of the film.

33:04 And you know, Billy obviously has a thing about his wife because you know what's going on with her and the doctor, and you know, he's very becomes very venomous about that and wants to get revenge on that. But I love the fact that the daughter never gets in the way that he cares about that doubt he loves her very very much. So I like that character development there. I think at its core, This is a movie about family. It is because on one side you've got Billy and you know, he does a terrible thing. It's an accident. He doesn't mean to hit the gypsy lady, but he does go along. With the cover up he does, unfortunately, and.

33:45 There's a lot of family dynamic playing on his side. You know, his wife is concerned about his health and his weight. He has that playful banter with the daughter, which I love that, you know, where it's like, you know, you know she's definitely she's a daddy's girl, right, oh yeah. But on the opposite side where you have the Ramani's, you know that come to town, very very tight knit family, very protective of one another, very loving towards one another. So what it comes down to is it's a it's a fight between families. And it's hard to see who is who is the villain in this film throughout most of it. If you ask me, it does it gets it gets tangled up. You don't know who to care for in this film, because I mean, they're both being bad, they're both being good, and you see why they're doing what they're doing. But in the end you're like, I don't know how to feel about this, So I agree with you.

34:39 Yeah, I love the fact that the Gypsies are they're a little supernatural. Obviously, we you know, we're talking about a curse. You know, the Old Man puts a curse on several people in this movie. But I also like that there's there's other things and again getting you know, bringing this back to the quarter scene. You know, Billy is in and on the top floor of this office building with his boss. You know, he's just won the case. They're looking out the window because the Gypsy's have kind of set up like a fun little festival, and they're looking at at Cary War and you know, his boss is like, you check her out. You know, he makes some very lude comments about offering her a quarter, and Billy is like, and she kind of like they're looking down at Cary's character kind of looks up with a with a with a she gives them a look, let's be host.

35:29 And this is a long distance. There's no way she can hear ye, no ways. No way she can hear them. They're they're like several floors up there in the office building. She's across the street, and uh, you know, Billy's like careful. I think she might have heard you, like, just playfully. But then he goes outside and you know, she smiles and he smiles back, and then she pulls that quarter out. Yeah, and then you're like, and don't get me wrong, what she does is very uh hello, but it's also a little scary. It's a little creepy because clearly she did in fact here. Yeah, all right, there's some magic going on there for sure. Yeah, a little little little supernatural magic there. Yep. So I know there's a lot of things that that we would love to talk about, but we can't be here forever. But what about the scene when Richie takes her hostage and that where was a barn or a barn?

36:19 But yeah, but can we talk about how he does it? How he how he pulls it off? Because like he Mobster walks. You know, Mobster shows up to the gypsy camp. She's not just gonna go with. Him, right, you know, shows up as an FBI agent. He's under cover, Yeah, as an FBI agent. This guy's he's insane, man. He is. Because he tells her that he they have who's responsible, and uh, he needs her to come to identify the the individual. So that's obviously how he tricks her to go uh. And then it leads into the barn. Well again it's it's blurred lines because there's an attack, you know. Uh, Billy goes to see him saying, you know, he's he's basically saying, you need to take the curse off me or bad thing. You know, bad things are going to happen, and they're like white man from down you know. And yeah, he pleads for him, but they're mocking him.

37:09 Yep. And then Richie the Hammer shows up opens fire on these people, but he tricks them into thinking, you know, because he's got her husband like, he's got him tied up, and then he sends him out into the field. Richie doesn't kill. Him, No, they kill you. Yeah. So again it's the lines between who's responsible for what are very blurred in this movie, you know. But again the Gypsies obviously they say it like, you know, Richie killed her husband and he must must pay for it. But him showing up as the FBI agent is fantastic. I agree, Yeah, loved it. Yeah, And again, how how is she not you know, he he has a badge, he has credentials. Why wouldn't she get in the car with him.

37:51 Right, and then he then he goes and then he goes to the little level of showing the photo of him of himself. Yeah, we've identified the man who killed your husband. And and he holds up a photo of himself and she's, you know she But here's what I love about her. She's a hell cat. You know, she's Oh, she goes straight on the attack. It gets physical. I'm happy to see that she holds her own, you know. She she leaves some marks. On the guy. But how scary is it when he's got that acid that that that glass jar of acid and he just carefully balances it on her head and tells her not to move. Well, first he threw it on her, but it wasn't the real way.

38:32 Well, yeah, he throws it. He's like, I got acid and he throws it and it's just water. But then he pulls out the other one. He goes, this one's the real one. And then you're like yeah, and then he hits her like her her sweater and it you know, but that's just a that's a terrifying moment for her, for for you watching it. I was just sitting there like, oh, don't move, don't like, how are you gonna get away? Right? I don't know. I would say, like how we talk about Ritchie and how you know he takes care of those who take care of him. Remember when he when he hired the individual to watch for him, the young guy in the car. Yeah, uh huh, you know, and even though he really he didn't know him, he hired him to him, Hey, call me, uh what make the move? And then the guy calls him and says that I think they're onto me, and of course they killed him. They take the car in front of him.

39:19 Yeah they are. But I mean you can see how that just sends Richie over the edge even more than he already is well because personal for him exactly, because now someone him. Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what. You know, we we could keep talking scenes, but we talked. We just we just rehashed the entire movie. This is a very lean, mean eighty. Nine minutes it is. I mean, there's no fin thin movie, no fat. There's no fat on this one at all. They did a really good job about that. They kept the pacing going extremely well. I think so, I think so, h you know, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'll tell you that right now. So, what do you think is the moment in this film?

40:01 If the pivotal moment for me, pivot old moment, what do you think is is it for you? I'm curious up here. I'm gonna say, and we kind of touched upon it. But for me, I kind of feel like it's it might be when he goes from pleading please I apologize, take the curse off, to turning that that that evil he makes that evil turn when he becomes white man from town and and then tells him that all of them are in trouble. Now, I don't know, I think that, you know, because you gotta wonder what happens if the gypsy the old man just says that's all he wanted was the apology, the admission. Yeah, and he takes it off. You know everyone at this point, everybody lives, everybody is happy.

40:46 You know, did they judge that yet right now that he's in his dream remember and had his dream yeah getting killed? Yeah, he got killed in the was it like the oncoming the head on collision or whatever? Yeah? Yeah, well okay, so not everyone's haply the chief of police and the judge, who are complicit. You know, yeah, but they were, they were. They deserve punishment, Let's be honest. So can I give a Hoffmann answer? Go ahead, But they kind of go hand in hand, okay. So one of the pivot on ones that I feel is when he goes to visit Hoply okay, and you know, Hopley's like, you got to go get get this curse off of them. Take the gun. Take the gun. Oh you leging at him, and he doesn't want to take the gun because he said, look, I'm gonna go talk to them, see if I can get this curse off of us. And Hopley's like, you'd think he's gonna sit there and listen to you. You think he's just going to randomly just take it off.

41:38 Don't be stupid, take this gun. And he doesn't, and he chases ability out of the house and basically, you know, just go do your thing whatever. So when he does go and does what he said, he do, you know what the scene that you're talking about when he goes to plead and obviously he wants nothing to do with it, and by then, you know, he gets the hand shot with the bearing from the ball bearing like right through the hand and then at that point he turned. So I think those two things kind of go hand in hand for the pivotal moment because one of them drives him to the other point. So okay, that's fair, but I agree with you on that. The major pivotal point is when he's like, you know, what the hell with you, I'm going to be the white man from town and I'm going to put that curse on you, And they're all laughing at him, like, yeah, you can't put a joke.

42:25 You can't put no curse on us. You're just a white man from town. And then he calls his buddy Richie and makes that happen. Yeah. I meane one family uses the supernatural to get justice and one family uses the hammer. Yeah. Yeah, Well, I'll tell you what, Dave. It is time for a break. Unless you're listening on Patreon, because if you're listening on Patreon, you're about to hear us give our top ten favorite Stephen King adaptations. Just hit just hit stop. If you're listening on Spotify, you're on Podbean or Apple or one of those. We're on all of them, I know that, but just hit just hit pause. Go sign up for the free trial go to our you know www dot Patreon dot com slash a film by podcast.

43:20 You could get all the bonus content. You can get all the bonus episodes. There's like there's like forty fifty sixty episodes now a bunch out there, a ton of content there. You could go listen to it all right now for free, yeah, or you could sign up for as little as what three what's our The bottom tier is three dollars, right yeah, yeah, So check us out on Patreon where you can get Dave. We started doing these this season. We started doing more episodes where we're now doing longer episodes, but it's only longer. It's the you know, if you're listening on Patreon, So listeners, if you're interested, come check it out. Like I said, there's a free trial offer and uh we had someone recently.

44:01 They signed up for the seven day free trial and on day seven they canceled. So don't feel like it's like, ah, well I'm stuck. Yeah No you're not. No, you're not. You can get you can you know, you can listen you know Columbia houses. As I say, get in there, download a bunch of them, Listen to a bunch of them. And then get out. You know, no gypsy curses. Yeah, we promise you know, a. Young listener's gonna have no idea about that comment you made. The Columbia House. Yeah, and listen, anyone ever, probably thirty five or forty they know what. Them, they don't what we're talking about. But for those of you that are not on Patreon, we'll be right back after these messages. Welcome back. Apologies for what was maybe thirty sixty seconds for you, It has been what about good twenty minutes.

44:50 For us twenty minutes. Yeah, listeners, I gotta tell you, you got to get over to Patreon. We just had an incredible conversation about our top ten Fai Stephen King adaptations, and uh, you need to check it out. But yeah, while we're at it, Dave getting back, getting back on track. If someone was unfamiliar with director Tom Holland, let's talk about what three films we would suggest they watch. I have a strong suspicion that we're going to go three for three here, and I'm so I'm so certain of it. I say we go in chronological order. So can we start with his feature film debut, nineteen eighty Five's Fright Night.

45:36 Of course be because that's fantastic. You're so cool. You're so cool. Brace and the awesome Chris Randon Christian What a again? This guy has played some of the most villainous people on film, and yet he's the nicest guy when you talk to him personally. It's the nicest guy on We did I I talked to him for like what Fifth Team twenty minutes about organic farming, gardening. Yeah, yeah, you did. You're like, what do you you know? I find like where you've been? Yeah, you guys were like I remember you guys were like watching me and You're like, what are you doing? Like, is he gonna do the show? Is like? What you talking movies? He's like, no, We've been talking about organic farm h gardening, talking about the garden. I gotta raise garden bed. I'm starting and said some great tips and you're like, what, well what no, No, Saranda, He's following him on Facebook and uh, and I don't know what all I followhim on Facebook, so I don't know what all the social media channels that he has, but uh, he's got some some really good tips if you're if you're trying to get a green thumb trying to eat healthy. He's got some some amazing stuff to tell you. But fright night, such an incredible The Vampire movie celebrating forty years old.

46:49 Hard to believe, Hard to believe. Let's not forget about mister McDowell in that movie. Oh he's so good, Peter Vicky is. So good in that movie. Yeah, love of my one of my favorite performances of his, by the way, it really is. Oh it's gotta be done a lot. He's done a lot, but it's one of my favorites. All right, all right, so we both recommend that one. Absolutely, we do number number two. Now I'm starting to think maybe we're gonna diverge here and when I tell you my pick, you're gonna be like, oh, why did I pick that? So can we just can we just skip number two for a second and go to number three? Okay, because we both know we're gonna talk about nineteen eighty eighth Child's play. Of course we are. You have to let's talk, you, Dave. I'll take you're my buddy. Uh of course, what is it? A friend to the end or whatever? And to the end, Yeah, you're my friend of the end. I'm you talk about Child's Play.

47:39 So, of course another performance of Chris Frandon by the way, who plays the police officer, the detective, and this, but of course Braddorf, who gives his voice as Chucky the Uh puts his spirit into the doll of Chucky and goes a little crazy. Kid gets him for his birthday and thinks he's got one of the best birthday presents ever until it comes to life and tries to kill freaking everybody. Dave, correct me if I'm wrong, But having haven't you met basically the entire cast of Child's Play at this. Point, I haven't met the mom. Oh, okay, she's the only one. She's the only one left. I've met everybody else, including Bradworns.

48:20 Yeah, because you met Braddorf a couple of years ago. Right. So I love these funny stories of meeting people because they give you such a better look at the movies than an appreciation of them. So with this, I hope you don't mind going on a tangent here a little bit. No, no, please do. So Wayne and I were at Dragon Con years ago and Brad Dwarf was there and we got into this elevator to go up, you know, to our room. We did not know Brad Dwarf was in the elevator with us because there was a it was a clouded packed and we were going up and there's some people in the back that were talking. You didn't know who they were until Jeff until I heard the most ear shattering, reepy laugh of all times. And immediately I'm like, oh my god, that's chucky.

49:07 Wait was he doing it on perp like it? Was he doing the Chucky laugh? Or was he just laughing and that's his laugh? He was laughing and that was his laugh. Oh my Like literally I had goosebumps running up and down my spine, like, oh my god, Chuck, he's in this elevator with us. So I turned around to look into the back and saw Braddorf at that point, but oh my god, that was creepy. Oh man, And I know you mest some of the cast. Last year at Scarefest, I did Alex Vincent, who is the kid. He plays the young kid. He plays the young young boy in it, So yeah, absolutely, And of course Tom Holland obviously is the latest one. So yeah, keep it on hoole till I can meet the mom and get her autograph. I still need Chris Rand's autographer, crying off to I hope we meet him again.

49:50 Well, listen, we'll we'll talk gardening with him, and he's just there. We go, maybe he'll maybe he'll write down some tips on your on your on the poster or something like that. Like, yeah, I wanted to skip there because I knew that we were gonna talk Child's Play and I knew that Chris Saranon it's a good, good way to connect fright night in Child's Play. So here's why we might diverge. What would be your second choice? So I'm going with the TV series Tales from the Crypt. Interesting, Why what is yours? Jeff? I'm going with the TV series. Oh, because I know amazing, amazing stories. Okay, So okay, so should this be like reversed that's amazing, Like, well, it's it's amazing stories for me.

50:40 But I typically because you and Wayne love amazing stories, like you know you guys, can we do quote every episode? I think? But and I'm the Tales from the Crypt guy. But tell me tell me about the Tales from the Crypt that he did. So he's actually did three episodes he's done from season one season two and season four. He did the episode five and season one called Lover Come Hack to Me that was done in nineteen eighty nine. He did season two episode nine, four Sighted Triangle in nineteen ninety and then in season four episode nine, he did King of the Road in nineteen ninety two. I hope a lot of people have done or watch Tales from the Crypt because there's a lot of great episodes with the Cryp Creeper, you know, telling the stories obviously, but it's interesting that we both picked TV series.

51:24 Yeah. So in nineteen eighty six he did amazing stories. He did an episode I know you've seen it. It was called Miscalculation. Spielberg co wrote this episode, by the way, and it started very I'm gonna tell you the name, I'm gonna give you the actor. And you're like, oh, hold on, I remember, but a very young John Cryer was in this episode. Okay, if you remember, he was the nerdy college kid that you know. He had trouble meeting girls. So he creates a potion and it makes the magazine like the Hot Maga see pin up girls like come to life. Ah yeah, yeah, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. I always remember this one because it's it's sort of like weird science in a way, okay, except like he can't get the potion in the formula. He can't get it right, so like there's some some wacky stuff that goes that that happens throughout the episode, like things things go a little wrong, you know, gets a little little weird.

52:18 But I always remember like like, yeah, like that'd be so cool if you could come up with a potion like that. But then not the way he's doing it. Not at all. We have you noticed this season we've tell from the Crypt and amazing Stories keep popping up. I have. I'm ready to buy both both of them. I agree, man, I'd like to dig back in. And there's some many episodes I don't remember. It'd be nice to go through them again. It'd be nice if we had time to do like a Amazing Stories recap or tell some Krip recap or boy Wayne will be all over that because he loved Amazing Stories. Well maybe in like twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight, like weird, we're a little we're a little booked. Until then, it's just a little bit, just a little bit, all right, h Dave, let's wrap up your recommendation. When it comes to Thinnish, definitely check it out.

53:08 Just watch out for the gypsies. Don't don't piss them off. I think this is a must for king completists. Uh and it's a fun cautionary tale, it is, you know. Just just tell the truth, be honest, own up to your mistakes, you know, watch what you say, and do be respectful to the gypsies. Dave, I know we watched this on Amazon Prime, rented it. You can. You can watch this for free on Pluto TV right now, okay free with ads. You know, Pluto we don't talk about We don't talk a lot about Pluto or enough about Pluto because we're you know, we are we're to be like to B doesn't to be should be a sponsor at this point I should reach out to Yeah, they get a lot of they get a lot of a lot of promos from us, they get a lot they do. Yeah, Pluto TV does not, and we should change that. We'll watch more on Pluto TV. But yeah, definitely check this one out. Listeners. For those of you that have seen it, what did you think of Thinner? More importantly, do you have a favorite Stephen King adaptation. You can let us know on social media. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram, x.

54:21 You can check out a film by Podcast dot com for all of our episodes streaming free. Well not all of them, Dave. There's a Patreon link there, but let's not forget. There are plenty of free episodes on Patreon and all you need to do to listen to them is just sign up for the free membership. That's right, there's a free membership. You won't get all of them, but do you do, Dave? We try to do what like one, sometimes two episodes a month on Patriot that are free. Yeah, check it out. Check it out. You can write to us at a film by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments and concerns. We might just read your response or your question, or your gripe or your curse, whatever it is that you're throwing, whatever it is, whatever it is, we might. We might, we might read it on the show, and if we do, we will absolutely send you some of a film by swag. Dave.

55:13 I want to thank you. I know how you are so busy on the bridge of the enterprise. You got you and and Wayne and Scott giving us the Phasers set a stun Star Trek show that we do on Wednesdays. We love it. We love being on that bridge. You're talking about Star Trek because, as we always say, everything comes back to Star Trek. Yeah. Yeah, you guys are in the middle of your it's what the Deep Space nine yeah series where you guys, you guys are doing the starter treks where you're giving us like the the top ten episodes of this season. Yep, because like we do it the next generation yep. Hey, listen, I was not a T and G guy before you guys started that, and then I love the Next Generation because of your curated lists as as they were.

55:58 Yeah. So yeah, I might just become a Deep Space not on guy. You might. You probably will. I'm not there yet, but you know you're slowly winning me over, so uh but you get me back. This is listen, this is your month. It's October. You love horror films. You're gonna be back later this month? Are you gonna You're gonna sit in with us, me and Garrett at doing Hatchet? Well, yeah, Adam freen film that one because that's the Kane Hotger right. Yeah. Yeah, so of course I figured I figured you'd be a little upset if we didn't invite it for that. But what about uh, you got you got one that you've been after me for several years now, demanding that we covered you want you wanna tell the listeners what we're gonna in the in the month with.

56:40 So, I remember last year, I think it was in October. Actually when I saw this, I caught this movie again and I forgot how much I loved it. Of course, I'm talking about the Blob. Yeah, So, and I'm not talking the original Bob Blob. This is the one that they remade with at eighty nine. I want to say, eighty eight, eighty eight, eighty eight you want to give you yeah, Kevin Dillane, Yeah. The Kevin dillon that. Yeah, So that's the one I'm talking about. I really enjoyed that film a lot. It's a lot of fun. It's creepy, the Blob itself. I mean, there's some really good special effects in that movie. So, and I reached out to you said, Jeff, we need to talk about this movie and guess what we're going to do it this October. We're talking the Blob. It's like a couple of years ago, like what about the Blob, was like, I don't know. And then last year like we're doing the Blob. It's like, we don't with a schedule set, and then this year you're like the Blob, Chuck Russell, the Blob, Kevin Dylan, Shawnie Smith was like, we're doing it all right, the Blob oozing its way to the show at the end of the month.

57:35 Speaking at the end of the month, you guys, at the end of the month, last Saturday on Patreon because it all comes back to track. But it also all comes back to Patreon right now, a film at fifty there's only one movie you guys should be doing in October, and please tell me you're doing it. Of course, we're gonna do it, Jeff. We're gonna warp. We're gonna do the time warp. Jeff. Should we Should I step to the left and should I said to the ride. Either one is fine. So that's right, We're doing the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'm so excited for that, so exclusively on Patreon. Right, that's right, exclusively all you heard it. You heard it here first Boils and Gules. Uh, it's October.

58:17 We're leaning heavily into the scary stuff, and we've got some really fun episodes and uh, Dave, happily we'll be back for a couple more so. Absolutely to all of you listening to the show, following us on social media, subscribing to the Patreon, we thank you. He was also nominated for Best Pick. He was also nominated for Best Makeup. Just almost take that from the top. First off, we First off, we'll take a fucking drink. Mm hmmm, I got a gypsy curse on me. Hell like you touched my face, was like recipy. Sorry. You gotta get together, all right. Appreciative of you guys. Uh, you make it possible for this is killing me. Man, I'm I'm just like raspy. I gotta wrap it up. You'd be happy with I'll tell you is that one was? Ah fucking it up, Dave. Yeah, we've choking to death.

59:36 You gotta be covering now, damn it. Sorry. Sorry m