Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss
Episode 189: Streaming Daylight Vampires: Dracula Untold & V for Vengeance
CatBusRuss was unable to secure a guest this week, but thankfully has some leads on some experts of spookiness. This left our host relying on his streaming services to warrant tax write offs for I DiG CRAZY FLiCKS. Here he discovered that after the "Twilight Saga", studios are making some wild choices when it comes to vampires on the big screen (43 inches and up).
Netflix had the official dawning of Universal's Dark Universe with "Dracula Untold". Russ's suspicions are soon met when it comes to PG-13 vampires as Luke Evans portrays Bram Stoker's titular character. This feature looks like it wants to show, "What if Sauron from Peter Jackson's Trilogy was on our side?" Laughingly, it is lots of bodies flying without viscera or proper lighting.
Paramount+ was only promoting two vampire movies, and the CatBus has already spoke of "From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money's" excellence. So he watched the weirdly titled "V for Vengeance". To the producers' credit, in the age of mock busters, the nomenclature will bring eyes to it. Hopefully, those pupils will not be too miffed about getting the lightweight "D.E.B.S." of vampiric action instead of a dystopian England with Guy Faux masks.
This double feature is for those who are into schlock since Stephenie Meyer took more time establishing vampiric lore. Too bad the only thing these creatives took from her franchise is that the sun is no longer a curse. It is a major flaw because darkness, can hide poor fight choreography and only implies the gore your effects cannot deliver.
Episode 191: "The Return of Godzilla (aka 1985) with Eva & ThePoeticCritic
The King of Monsters demands his spot in spooky month. ThePoeticCritic returns to Ninety For Chill to discuss what is truly scary about kaiju. International politics and Western adaptations.
CatBusRuss gets to learn the history of "The Return of Godzilla", a legacy sequel/reboot of the Toho franchise. The two discuss whether or not the giant monsters are only scary to kids, the under appreciated influence the big guy had on America filmmaking, the necessity of practical effects, and where the hell the money that Yankee producers are throwing at movies is going.
"Godzilla Minus One" only cost $15 million to make and featured Oscar-winning special effects. Why did "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" cost 10 times that? We suppose the "X" does represent multiplication (Thanks Jessica Ritchey.).