Friday, October 7, 2022

NinetyForChill: The Podcast - SkimbleSHANKS presents: House (1985) with Gregory Carl

NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 88: SkimbleSHANKS presents: House (1985) with Gregory Carl.

SkimbleSHANKS presents: House (1985) with Gregory Carl

October 4, 2022
Gregory Carl returns to "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast" to start #SpookyMonth off with a raucous horror comedy in "House". It seemed to be inspired by Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" which led Cool Movies Darth to feel like it may have been trying to beat the more comedic "Evil Dead 2" to the punch. That is an appropriate vibe since the Vietnam themes were huge in the mid 1980s, and 1985 was the year that Cannon released the first two "Missing in Action" movies to tug on the coattails of "Rambo: First Blood: Part 2" publicity.

Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

I know it is not a big deal, but I actually dropped this past podcast Tuesday (10/4/22). Exhaustion was getting the better of me on Monday, so I edited this episode as late as I could. It just had to be finished in time for WWE NXT like every other week. Once that happened Tuesday night, sleep was more important than this blog post.

Wednesday was not going to work for me since I finally secured the legendary Tim Bates of Evil Penguin Games to record a podcast. This meant my itinerary included my standard 7:30 am to 4 pm work day, watch and take notes about "The Night of the Demons", watch the extended edition of "AEW Dynamite" while getting my drink on, and then recording next week's podcast till midnight. Of course this meant Thursday was going to be a wash with my only motivation to stay up was to possibly join the other Bumble Bees at Pour Bros. Trivia night. The team was not there (Coincidently, three quarters of the team all had plans in Chicagoland this weekend.), so it was weed after a sampling of ciders and meads. The night was over.

So after a day with blown out jeans (I thought the "Anyone else feel a draft in here?" line was solely for comic fiction.), I am at the keyboard to sum up my most recent conversation with Gregory Carl in regards to "House"...and his first foray into Springfield's Pinfall Wrestling. The latter topic was moved to after the movie discussion, so once David Tennant's request a "Wahoo", the non-marks can leave the show.

Gregory actually came to the show's rescue this week. No one else stepped up, and twats like @horrorman93IG who expressed initial interest (Don't hit the heart if you don't mean it.), blocked my account. Since he was one of the few who really wanted to be part of the proposed Kevin Smith panel, I owed him the time. Fortunately, "House" was more than worthy of a rewatch from him.

"House" is the portion of the Venn Diagram where "Evil Dead" and "Gremlins" intersects. "Evil Dead 2" was still years away from happening, so to feature so much slapstick comedy was unusual for the time. It is virtually a gore-free feature and harsh language is something that could be missed in a blink. It is not overly intense, which may undercut the Vietnam War PTSD themes, but it does not really do anything to make you denounce it for a lack of scares.

The tale could have been directed better. It holds itself back from being a legendary horror feature. But, "House" lays down the blueprint for PG-13 rated horror. PG-13 "horror" movies failing to think of this film when they are being developed is the true cinematic crime.

But, I do not want this podcast episode to be void of a love for gore effects. So, my most recent Netflix DVD was opened up. The feature is 1985's "Creature" which WhatCulture Horror had sold me on as a "The Thing" and "Alien" knock off.

Those Geordies sold it as something only the Italians could come up with, but this is low-budget, Yankee horror-fare. This one is solely for the curious. For me, fun was had. For the unofficial cinema snobs, forgiveness will be a hard find.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

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The Undrafted and Wrongfully Drafted

"Bull Durham" was not drafted on the Baseball Draft (A film that can only be drafted at #1)
"No Fear of a Black Hat" on the Fictional Band Mini-Mega Draft
The entire George Lucas Draft
"The Birdcage" instead of "La Cage Aux Folles" on the Drag Draft
"Road Trip" was not even mentioned during the Road Trip Draft
"Major League" instead of "Drop Zone" on the Wesley Snipes Draft
"Black Swan" instead of "Mermaids" on the Wynona Ryder Draft
"Akira" instead of "Ghost World" on the Comic Book Movie (Non-Super Hero) Draft. Tetsuo is a Supe.
"Now You See Me" instead of "Diggstown" on the Con Artist Movie Draft
"The Onion Movie" instead of "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask" on the Sketch Comedy Anthologies Draft
"The Big Lebowski" not being marked eight on the Coen Bros. Draft
"Labrynth" or "Dark Crystal" not receiving the number 1 or 2 spot in the Jim Henson Draft
"Stage Fright" on the Giallo Draft. It is a slasher despite the presentation.
"Assault of Precinct 13" and "Prince of Darkness" Instead of "Escape from New York" and "The Thing" on the John Carpenter Draft
"Con Air" instead of "US Marshalls" and "Universal Soldier" instead of "Time Cop " on the 90's Action Draft
"WarGames" instead of "Spies Like Us" on the Cold War Draft
"Traffic" instead of "Side Effects" on the Steven Soderbergh Draft
"Fight Club" instead of "The Virgin Suicides" on the 1999 Draft ("Suicides" made the Actor Directorial Debut Draft)
Any Kirk Douglass instead of "The Shining" being on the Kubrick Draft
"Return of the Jedi" instead of "Tokyo Drift" on the Threequels Draft (there's only one "Return," okay, and it ain't "of the King," it's "of the Jedi.")

Deserves a Second Chance

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

I find the DC movies, or at least Zack Snyder, was trying to bring comic books to the big screen as opposed to adapting comic books for the big screen. If you read, (or watch the excellent animated adaptation of) "The Dark Knight Returns", it is a very slow build to the battle between the Bat and Supe. This is regarded as one of the best threads in comics.

As a guy who fell in love with wrestling in the 1980's, the very methodical showdown is what I loved. It's a love letter to comic book fans who read and note every detail and want to try figuring out the plot before the character do. Come at the flick this way, and I think you will get something out of it.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

This is a feature that dares you to be offended. When director Ben Stiller is that forthcoming like Robert Downey Sr. was with 1969's "Putney Swope", an audience saying that something is in poor taste, hence not funny, means they are afraid to make a mockery of a concept.

My own experience with junkies bankrupting me allows me to thoroughly enjoy Jack Black's making addiction seem ridiculous. Robert Downey Jr. nails his taboo performance and I would say helps the call for actors from a demographic to be the first people called on for the roles representing them. As for the "Forest Gump" knock off jokes, they serve as a way to ridicule us for what we accepted (and encouraged) as fine a decade prior. The narrative that controls the pace in the second act can drag, but the content that is delivered cannot be cut.

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