House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Episode 190, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig:  And I’m Craig.

Todd:  Well, we’re in the Halloween month here. We’re doing Halloween movies this month. And, also, it turns out that a very well known character actor who’s been quite prolific in horror recently has passed away. So this is both our Halloween episode and tribute episode to none other than Sid Craig. And the film that we’re, of course, going to do is the one that more or less revitalized his career in 2000, Rob Zombie’s House of a 1000 Corpses. Sid Haig, you know, growing up in the eighties and watching movies and watching TV, you saw him everywhere, especially on TV. He always seemed to play the bad guy, some random thug, here or there. In fact, I think that was what got him frustrated after a while.  He’s a pretty serious actor. He was born in 1939, and, he died at the age of 80 this year, just this last month, due to complications from a lung infection, which is a sad way to go. But, I think he is most recently wrapped up on a couple productions. He has a couple things coming up posthumously. And even the last Rob Zombie movie, 3 from Hell, I think still had him in that. Right?

Craig:  Yeah. They had to really limit what he did in that because his health was failing. So I think he ends up only being in the movie for a few minutes. But, yeah, he, reprises his character. That’s the second sequel to House of a 1000 Corpses.

Todd:  And I remember him doing a cameo along with dozens of other people in Death House. And I think in that, he sat down the whole time, didn’t he? So

Craig:  The whole time. Yeah.

Todd:  You kinda figured that maybe he was and that was a couple years ago or a year ago or something like that. So you kinda figured that yeah. His health was failing, but he was still working quite a bit. Interestingly, I was reading up about him and his history online. And, apparently, when he was 7 years old, he was growing so quickly that his coordination wasn’t able to keep up with him. So he enrolled in dancing lessons

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  Just to get more coordinated. And that’s what kind of brought him on Todd stage and into performance. Did some performances for high school. Got noticed by some people. He was out in Fresno, California. And then just folks just encouraged him to get, into acting. He also, apparently, was a pretty good drummer. And even at the age of 19, was a drummer for a 1958 hit by the T Birds.  Full what was the name of that song? Anyway, some tune that played a lot on the jukeboxes. And, he played drums for it. And, apparently, it made a ton of money from jukebox playing, but he never saw a penny of it. And so he decided to go into something that was guaranteed to make him more money, which would be acting. Yeah. But, yeah. He he did pretty well, I’d say in the sixties, sixties seventies. Mostly in the seventies, he starred in a lot of blaxploitation films.  Yeah. And not starred, but he usually had supporting roles. But he teamed up a lot with Pam Grier. And, then, like I said, when I was watching him in the late seventies and in the eighties, you would just see him pop up here and there in movies and TV and always pretty much kinda played the same guy. Yeah. He was all never really a a major character. He was always a heavy, and I think that’s what frustrated him the most was that he was just getting cast as the same guy with a different suit on. That’s basically what he said.  And so he retired from acting in, like, 1990 I think he said 1992 or something. He decided, I’m I’m not gonna act anymore. And, then Quentin Tarantino wanted to tap him for Pulp Fiction, actually had him in mind for Marcellus Wallace, and he turned that down and wished he hadn’t. I think he was 55 at that time. And then Tarantino cast him again, in Jackie Brown, and he played a judge in there with Pam Grier as the star there. So the 2 of them kinda teamed up again for the first time in a long time. And, then I think it was this movie, really, that gave him a second life, I guess. His character, Captain Spalding in this movie is big with horror fans and people who know this movie.  And he started, you know, obviously, there have been 2 sequels to it. He started getting cast in other films. Shoot. We’ve done several films, recent films with him in it. Bone Tomahawk. Death House? This one.

Craig:  Galaxy of Terror. Oh, yeah. That he was in that.

Todd:  Yeah. I remember he was in that and he didn’t,

Craig:  He didn’t talk. Yeah.

Clip:  Because he said the dialogue was terrible. The dialogue was so stupid. Stupid. Yeah.

Todd:  That’s great. Yeah. So it’s it’s gonna be really sad not to see his face around anymore, but he has a a slew, like, over 50 movies, 250 350, I think, television episodes to his credit. So, he he he’ll be out there in celluloid history for quite some time.

Craig:  Oh, yeah.

Todd:  But as for me, House of a 1000 Corpses, this is the second Rob Zombie movie I’ve watched. If you’re a follower of this podcast, you might have remembered last year at Halloween. We did 31 on October 31st. And, you know, I I wasn’t a huge fan of that one. And so here we are. But, nonetheless, it’s kind of odd that I’ve gone this long without seeing a Rob Zombie movie. So, we thought House of a 1000 Corpses also, by the way, had been requested by a loyal listener, Mark, about that time. So here we are a year later getting back around to it.  So, yeah, it just seemed the appropriate thing to do, pay tribute to Hague. It is a Halloween movie. It takes place on Halloween. It’s very Halloweeny, I would say. And, Yeah. So here’s to here’s to Sid Hague. My first time watching the movie, but I’m sure you’ve seen this before. Right, Craig?

Craig:  Yeah. I don’t remember when the first time I saw it was. I I remember I was looking forward to seeing it just based on the trailers. It it looked fun and gory and interesting and different. I know I didn’t see it in the theater. I saw it on home video. I’m pretty sure. And you know before we decided to do it this week, I remembered the story basically, but I just kind of vaguely remembered liking it.  I did not, however, think that you would like it because I remembered it being, you know, really violent and I remembered it being kind of mean spirited. Now watching it again this time around, I actually really liked it. Oh, yeah? I yeah. I I mean, I I think it’s I don’t know. It’s it’s different, but it’s also a cool kind of throwback to movies like, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and and some of those other movies from the seventies, like, oh, gosh. I don’t know if it was the seventies or eighties, but, like, Tourist Trap and, Motel Hell and some of those types of movies. Even Rob Zombie doesn’t really like this movie very much. That’s true.  But it has a cult following, and I will count myself among their numbers. I I enjoyed it. I I thought it was a lot. I don’t think it’s a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but, I think there’s some really cool stuff going on. And just from a visual perspective, it’s it’s really kinda cool to look at and watch. Yeah. I I walked away kind of being surprised by how much I liked it. I didn’t remember liking it as much as I ultimately ended up liking it this time.

Todd:  Wow. I was a fan of Rob Zombie’s music, in high school. You know, he played for White Zombie then went off on his own and did his own stuff and became super successful for the for that. And watching this movie reminded me of watching one of his music videos it even uses a lot of the same stuff like he loves to go into like negative and like change the colors around a little bit and like make things look like like old video and you know instead of film and and there was so much of that in this movie that at times it’s it felt a little pretentious like he’s trying a little too hard. But at other times too, I felt like it really interrupted the tone like the flow of the movie. Alright. Well, first of all, you said you thought it was mean you you had remembered it as being mean spirited. And now I think what you’re saying watching it is again, you don’t feel that way anymore.  I I don’t feel like it was mean spirited at all, watching it. We’ve maybe because we’ve seen so much since then that has been just totally mean spirited. And you know I don’t like those kind of movies where there’s just it’s just torture porn, you know, kind of stuff. This this movie isn’t really that because it’s got so much crap thrown in there that it’s really not anything. I kind of think like like my my real problem with the movie is like it’s not scary. There are moments of tension, but they’re really few and far between And then whenever anything kind of builds, it gets broken up by this weird stuff that he does with the camera, like the stylistic stuff of of going back to this, like, grainy footage just kind of zoomed in and cutting around and you’re not sure what you’re seeing, but it’s like snippets of something gory and you know long desert roads with the person walking down it and close ups on tombstones and things like that. And so it just kind of always reminds you you’re watching a movie And Yeah. You know what I mean? And or music video.  I mean, really it’s it’s like it pops out to a music video every every 15 minutes. And so that was that was one of the problems I kinda had with the movies. I just couldn’t get into the horror, like, I I couldn’t It wasn’t I didn’t find it full of tension or scares. In that way, it reminded me a lot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which this is almost like

Clip:  Okay.

Todd:  A remake of that movie almost. I mean, it’s almost the same kind of thing. I mean, there’s so many throwbacks to it. Right? It’s all about this wacky family that lives out in the desert. People get roped in. And then they get roped up and Yeah. Tortured around for a while. And they have to kinda run away.  In the meantime, this family is just wackier and wackier. And the scenery and the atmosphere is like, would require way too much effort for this group of hillbilly slackers out in the middle of nowhere. So many candles to light, you know. So many

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  Things to put together, traps and and stuff.

Craig:  It does. It definitely has a music video aesthetic. Critics didn’t like it, and and they didn’t like all of those intercut scenes. You know, I I read all of that going into it and reading all of it I was like, Yeah, that’s pretty stupid. And then I was watching it and it just didn’t bother me. I mean, it just felt like that was the aesthetic it was going for and I was okay okay with it. I think that what I liked about it, you’re right. It reminds me a lot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a a as far as plot is concerned.  But it does kind of stylistically have more in common with Texas Chainsaw Massacre Todd, because there’s kind of this dark comedy underlying it. Mhmm. And of course, you know

Todd:  Bill Mosley.

Craig:  Text Bill Mosley. Exactly. Playing somewhat similar characters in both. I think that what I ended up liking about it was the performances of the characters, and they are they are so over the top, like ridiculously over the top, but it just worked for me. Like, I mean, if you’re gonna do Craig, backwoods isn’t the right word but I can’t come up with a better one, crazy backwoods family, I mean these actors, I’m sure, you know, under the direction of zombie, really amp up the campiness, of the characters and it just worked for me. The premise is basically you’ve got this group of kids, of course you do, you know, who else is it gonna be? These 2 young couples who are touring the country visiting like roadside attractions, and oddities. They pull over at a gas station out of necessity, but it just happens to be Captain Spalding’s Museum of Monsters and Madmen, which is run by Sid Haig’s character, Captain Spalding, who is in clown makeup, but who is just this Craig, crazy I don’t even know how to describe him. Like, I find him intimidating and scary and tons of swearing and crass sexual innuendo and

Clip:  It ain’t worth nothing. My name’s all over it. I was fixing it to to Craig it to Jackie Cobb. That retard that hangs out on Molly’s fruit stand? Mhmm. Yeah. You know, for a lot of me, I cannot understand why you hang out with that asshole. He’s one horny retard. Well, they tell all.  All I wanna do is eat and fuck. Well, like, if you know him, you might understand his urges. Worse than a rabbit ass baboon. Sid

Craig:  Haag, I think that part of his success just comes from the fact that he has this really interesting look. You know, he he kinda looks like a thug, but at the same time, like, he’s got these great big eyes that he can totally do the crazy eyes with. But not even just crazy eyes, like, you know, he he opens his eyes so wide that his daze is just kind of nightmarish. Like, I would not would bump into this guy anywhere.

Todd:  True. Especially in clown makeup.

Craig:  Yeah. Especially in clown makeup. And it’s, you know, it’s Halloween. It’s October 30th. It’s the seventies, and the first thing we see is that there’s an attempted robbery at the store, but Sid Craig and there’s there’s funny dialogue with him and this other character called Stuckey who’s played by Michael j Pollard, who I recognized, but I had to look up. I remembered him from Scrooge. He plays an endearing homeless character in Scrooge, but totally different here.

Clip:  You miserable motherfucker. Ought to jump over this counter and bash your fucking balls in. Alright, Pippi. Hand over the cash box and I might leave your brains inside your skull. Well, I’ll tell you what, Ski King. Why don’t you just take your mama home some chicken and then I won’t have to stuff my boot all up in your ass?

Craig:  You know, it’s it’s it’s so R rated. You you know, there there’s no getting around it. In fact, you know, the movie was in development hell for, like, 3 years. It was filmed in 2,000, but it wasn’t released until 2003 because Universal laid down the money for it. But when it was done, they were so afraid that it was gonna get an NC 17 rating that they just dropped it. Then Zombie almost sold it to another studio, but it got shelved again and all of his friends told him, you know what, just forget it. Just let it go. Just scrap it.  That he wasn’t willing to and, eventually Lionsgate released it. I think that it ended up being cut pretty heavily. There was supposedly all this lost footage that was going to get released but it it never has been and who knows if it ever will be. But just f bombs all over the place.

Clip:  I’m gonna count to 10 and you’re gonna hand over all the cash, or I’m gonna splatter your greasepaint mug across the state line. 1. Fuck your mama. 2. Fuck your sister. What are we gonna do? Hey, I know you. You work at the hardware store. Right? Richard Wick.  Right? Shutterfly it down. Both of you. 3. Fuck your grandma.

Craig:  And then somebody, you know, like Sid Hagg’s friend who works with them busts in and just blows away one of the guys, and Sid Craig pulls out this huge revolver and shoots the other guy in the head and says, but most of all, fuck you. And that’s just the tone of the movie throughout. Then these 4 kids, the 4 kid kids, I don’t know, they’re just in their 20s, I guess, show up. Bill is played by Rainn Wilson, which I totally forgot. Rainn Wilson of The Office fame has done bazillions of other things too. And Jerry is played by Chris Hardwick,

Clip:  which I

Craig:  don’t I don’t know him all that well except for I know that he does The Talking Dead, which is like the recap

Clip:  Yeah.

Craig:  Episode of for The Walking Dead. And then there’s Mary played by Jennifer and Denise played by Aaron Daniels, and they’re 2 couples. And they show up at this place, and they’re just absolutely fascinated with it. And there’s this murder ride, which I thought was so funny. It’s just like a cart on wheels that this big guy pushes down a hallway.

Todd:  It’s cool. It’s so low rent, but it’s the kind of thing I would love to go and do.

Craig:  Totally. Yeah. Oh, this place is awesome. You know, it really is just one of those kooky roadside attractions that really do exist in America.

Todd:  Yeah. It’s true.

Craig:  You know, I I think it’s kind of a a dying phenomenon, but they’re still out there. You know, it’s got, you know, all these setups with mannequins and things talking about, like Ed Gein and different serial killers and Captain Spalding, like, narrates the ride or whatever. But, I think the last display is of a local legend of this guy called Doctor. Satan.

Todd:  And, and pause for a moment while you hear my eyes roll at that.

Clip:  Oh, I think it’s hilarious.

Craig:  Oh, I love it. I love it. And so, you know, the guys who seem to be the ones who are really into this, like, just think this is the coolest thing ever. And supposedly, doctor Satan, you know, did all these, like, crazy experiments on people and stuff and was totally sadistic.

Clip:  Vigilante Justice prevailed. They took his ass out and hung him. And that infamous ingotree is no more than a stone’s throw away from where y’all’s ass is now seated.  The next day, his body was found  to be missing. Until today, no trace of doctor Satan has ever been discovered.

Craig:  And so the guys are like, oh, we totally have to see this. So he, draws them a map to find the tree, And they head there and that’s when they run into trouble.

Clip:  Sherry Moon Zombie. Yeah.

Todd:  Absolutely gorgeous Sherry Moon Zombie out by the side of the road.

Craig:  She’s stunningly beautiful. You know, I’ve never seen her in anything except in a Rob Zombie movie, and I think she’s in all of his movies. And she is just beautiful, like sexy. I do not think she’s a good actress.

Clip:  No. No. But But

Craig:  of all the things that I’ve seen her in, I think that this is her best role. For whatever reason, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the most like her. I I I don’t know, but I think that she’s good in this part.

Todd:  Well, maybe because all she kinda had to do was smile and wink and kind of act charming, you know. It wasn’t like a very deep character. It was very cartoonish. I remember seeing her in 31 and just, oh, my Todd. You’re right. The acting was was horrible. But, yeah. You’re right.  She she played it off in this.

Craig:  She plays Michael Myers’ mom in, Rob Zombie’s 2, Halloween films.

Todd:  I forgot about that.

Craig:  And so it’s supposed to be, you know, she’s supposed to be playing this serious sympathetic character and she just cannot pull it off. You know, I I don’t want Rob Zombie or Sherry Moon coming for me because that would scare me. But in this movie, I think she does a good job. And it is cartoonish. She talks in this, you know, Super high voice, and she’s very giggly and playful, and it just works. And so they they pick her up. It’s raining out. She’s hitchhiking.  They pick her up, and she just wants a ride home. She’s like, I just live a couple miles down the Todd. And they say, well, do you know about this tree? She’s like, oh, yeah. I can totally show you that. It’s right by our house. And we see, it’s not like it’s a mystery, we see somebody shoot out their tire. She and Bill, Rainn Wilson, go up to the house because she says, my brother has a tow truck. He’ll take care of you.  And so they they go up to the house and the house is nutty. But I guess one could say, well, it’s just decorated up for Halloween and these people are serious about Halloween. But like, it’s crazy with lights and all kinds of creepy stuff all over the place.

Todd:  It’s so Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I mean, in one end, it’s lights and things done up in places, which is a lot like the second one where they have that that underground lair. You remember with the tunnels and all that random crap everywhere. But then, other parts of it are like constructed things made of bones and piles of shoes on the floor, and also shoes that are hanging from strings for no apparent reason. That’s that’s sort of like the first one. It’s just a mishmash of stuff that came before Todd be completely honest. I mean, and that’s that’s kinda how I feel about this movie in in a way of watching it. I mean, it’s fun.  Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun. And there’s a Halloween movie. It’s quite nice because it it does seem to be just nothing but throwbacks, like piece together of throwbacks to other movies boldly. You know what I mean? Mhmm. I mean, there’s even a scene with them sitting down having dinner with the family. Once once everybody else gets there, once the guy goes and tows their car there and everybody’s there, what do you know? There’s a long table and a bunch of candles on it. And pretty soon here comes grandpa.  Here comes

Clip:  Mhmm.

Todd:  The weird guy named Tiny who doesn’t talk, but it’s kind of tall and disfigured and sits down. And then the mom, Karen played by Karen Black, who was great in this actually, quite good in this role.

Craig:  Oh, I think she’s fantastic and and she we saw her in burnt offerings.

Todd:  Invaders from Mars. She was the mom. Right?

Craig:  Yes. That’s right. I really like her and she just gets to ham it up in this movie and she does so well and like she’s wearing like lingerie is not really the right word but like satiny shorts and tops and things. And I I thought that she and Sherry Moon did a really believable job of being mother and daughter. Yes. Like they’re so similar Mhmm. In in their characters. And I think she’s great.  Sadly, there is a salary dispute for the sequel and she bowed out and they recast her. They recast her with an actress who looks just exactly like her. In fact, the first time I saw the second movie, I thought it was still her. I didn’t even realize that she had been recast.

Todd:  Well, she has such a distinct look too. That’s that’s pretty incredible.

Craig:  Yeah. They they recast her with this beautiful woman. She was in, the early Police Academy movies. Do you remember do you remember those movies?

Todd:  Oh, Todd. Yes.

Craig:  Do you remember like the the sexy blonde with the big boobs? Oh.

Todd:  I should.

Clip:  Wore her hair up. I

Todd:  can’t

Craig:  Anyway, that’s who they recast her with.

Todd:  Oh, interesting.

Craig:  But this is when I’m really into it because I just think this cast of characters is so interesting. You know, you you mentioned mother Firefly, Karen Black, and then there’s Tiny who is played by this actor who is legit 7 foot 6 inches tall. And I read about him and, like, when he was born, he weighed £15 and was 2 feet long. When he graduated kindergarten, he was over 5 feet tall. He had a condition that, you know, caused this crazy growth, but he did a lot of really cool stuff and and was kind of revered as as an actor in his own right. He was working on a biopic of Andre the Giant when he passed away. And he, you know, he’s just this hulking menace. He doesn’t really talk.  He wears a mask because he had been burned.

Todd:  He’s like the most charming guy in this movie. I mean, in this movie, actually, I I just loved it when he was there. It’s that character who’s just silent and doesn’t he’s just creepy and nobody has enough information about him. He’s just there. Right? And he pops into a couple scenes. One scene later, he pops in on a girl who’s been tied up and he’s, like, eating cornflakes out of a dog bowl, offers her some

Craig:  With his name on it. Yeah.

Todd:  It’s so crazy. And I’m, like, I mean, I’m jumping ahead. But, like, she’s tied up, and she’s one of the girls. You know, this is what happens eventually. And, she asked she’s, like, oh, please let me go. Please let me go. And he just leans over and unties whatever whatever things and goes back to eating his cornflakes. And I was like, that’s interesting.  And of course, she runs up the stairs and immediately gets cornered again by Bill Mosley who comes brings her back down and throws her into a cage. And then looks over at him, and he looks at him and he just sort of shrugs his shoulders. Like, what are you gonna do?

Craig:  Right. Right.

Todd:  That’s him. I mean, he doesn’t have to talk to have a cool character.

Craig:  And you’ve got Bill Moseley, who I think is a great actor, actually.

Todd:  Yeah. He is.

Craig:  I feel like he is playing Rob Zombie, or at least the character that Rob Zombie portrays as his persona or whatever.

Clip:  Right.

Craig:  And he’s super scary. He’s got this long kind of bleached blonde thin hair and he’s ultra violent like he we have heard on the news that there was this group of cheerleaders missing. Well, he’s got them tied up in his bedroom upstairs. Some of them are dead and he’s tormenting the other ones and baby torments them at some point.

Todd:  And he’s kind of ranting on almost incoherent stuff, like, he’s totally unhinged.

Clip:  How could I, being born of such, conventional stock, arrive a leader of the rebellion? An escapist from a conformist world destined to find happiness only in that which cannot be explained. I brought you here for a reason. But unfortunately, you and your sentimental minds are doing me no good. My brain is frozen, locked. I have to break free from this culture of mechanical reproductions and the thick encrustations dying on the surface.

Todd:  And I think I read that, Rob Zombie took some of that dialogue from tapes of the Manson

Craig:  family? That’s what it was inspired by in those cut scenes. Mhmm. Both Otis and Baby have these rants on these cut scenes which which Zombie filmed in his basement in post production. And they are crazy and one of them babies like rolling around naked with a skeleton like masturbating with the bones and Otis is probably the most sinister, of all of them even though eventually, you know, they’re all murderous, you know, the whole family. Yeah. And then there’s another there’s another guy who is the tow truck driver. I feel like his name is RJ. Yeah.

Todd:  Who’s this? He’s a big, beefy, burly guy who barely says a word. Right? Does he say anything?

Craig:  No. He’s just kind of a heavy. He just, is around, all the time. But, he’s super strong. At one point near the end, he picks up one of the guys and, like, lifts him up over his head and throws him into a coffin. So he’s just, you know, the muscle. And then there’s grandpa, Dennis Fimple. This was his last film.  I guess that as they were filming, the story went through a number of changes even in plot. Like I think that originally the legend of Doctor. Satan was just a story that was concocted to lead people out to the Firefly house. And it turned out that grandpa was actually Doctor. Satan. Of course all of that changed. It turns out, that Doctor. Satan is actually a real person and it’s, mother Fireflies ex husband who is the one that set their house on fire and burned tiny and but the biggest part of the movie is just kind of them being initially they’re not really trapped like Yeah.  Initially the the the family is bizarre, but they’re really just kind of hosting them. It’s it’s not until baby gets all dolled up and does this cutesy 19 thirties type lip sync.

Todd:  I wanna be loved by you. Like a Betty Boop thing. Yeah.

Craig:  Right. In doing so, and she’s been kind of flirty with Bill for a while. But in this, she frankly pretty innocently sits on Bill’s lap. But Bill’s girlfriend Mary immediately is like, Get off him you whore. Calm down. And she pushes Baby down and Baby’s like, You’re gonna regret that. And from that point on, things get pretty scary.

Clip:  Yeah.

Craig:  They’re led to believe that they’re gonna be let go. The car is ready and they, get in the car and they start going, but they’re attacked by Otis and, RJ, and they’re brought back to the house. And Yeah. From that point on, it’s just ultra violent.

Todd:  And then there’s, kind of a subplotish type thing where they keep going back to one of the girl’s fathers who is calling the local cops because he hasn’t she hasn’t shown up. And, he ends up driving out there or flying out there or whatever. And so there are a few cops there as well, sheriff and his deputies, who come up to the gas station and talk with this is maybe the second time we see captain Spalding. Captain Spalding actually doesn’t have a huge role in this movie. I mean, his No. Character’s pretty large.

Craig:  And he gets top billing, I think.

Todd:  Yeah. I guess you’re right. He does. Doesn’t he? Well, it’s it’s interesting. I mean, in a movie full of recognizable actors, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, you know, it’s interesting that he gets to top billing. But anyway, yeah. You know, they they come pick out and they talk with him. It’s interesting at that point because you kinda wonder where he fits into all of this.  Right? Is he even connected to this family? Or is he just this eccentric, crazy, wacky, kinda dangerous guy Todd, who just happens to run this gas station and and do this thing?

Craig:  It seems like the latter. Yeah. To me, it did at least. It did. It seemed like he was he was not connected to them in any way. He was just a whack job too.

Todd:  Yeah. And and he leads him because he kinda basically leads the cops out to the that house. They ask him Yeah. Where where did you, you know, where where were they going? Where did you send him? And he said, well, they were interested in this legend, so I drew him a map. And and here’s a map for you and you guys can go and check it out. And so they do. I think that from here, it’s it’s kind of just a montage of random things. It’s just the family being crazy and each of these characters suddenly tied up or something.  You don’t really see how they get there. You don’t really see them much of them running away or getting grabbed or whatever. It’s just suddenly, oh, this girl’s tied up to a bed and there’s a scene with her. And, oh, now this guy’s tied to a Craig. And, baby is, you know, cutting his hair off and eventually scalps him and whatnot. And then we don’t see him again until he’s a body later. And Rainn Wilson’s character gets the most interesting treatment. He’s made into, like, a half fish, half man kind of, roadside attraction thing.  Kind of like

Craig:  fish Fish boy.

Todd:  Fish boy. Kind of like they had seen the alligator boy when they were out at, Right. And that’s when I thought, oh, well, maybe there is some kind of connection. You know, maybe they’re making these roadside attractions for him. And, again, it’s not really explained, like, why they were do why that was done to him? Why any of these things are done to any of them? And it’s just a completely I’m sorry, but it’s just like a completely random scenes of just random craziness that this family gets engaged in. And it’s just like they’re playing with these people. Also, you don’t even you barely see these 4 or 5 kids. I mean, except when there’s initially there and then when they’re kind of, like, tied up and screaming, like, you don’t really get to know them.  You don’t really care much about them. True. There’s really nothing there. It’s really most of the movie focuses on this wacky Craig family and their character. It’s much more interested in that, than in the plight of these kids, which is another reason why there was just this huge disconnect for me. It was hard for me to get scared because there weren’t really any scenes of suspense, to be honest. There were a couple. That was about it.  It just seemed to me like a again, like I said, perfect Halloween movie. It’s like going through a haunted house. Right? Yeah. They they never make sense. It’s just one one scary scene after another that’s just pile on top of each other and then a guy with a chainsaw chases you through the whole thing.

Craig:  Yeah. Well, I mean, I I think for me that that I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I was huddled under a blanket scared or anything but that randomness, that unpredictability if I’m willing to kinda try to put myself in these young people’s shoes like first of all, what the fuck is happening? And secondly, why is this happening to me? Like, it’s so random. Like, when Mary wakes up, she wakes up and she’s all tied up. And Otis comes in and is talking to her and she’s just saying, where’s Bill, please? Where is he? Is he okay? And then he just unveils him and it’s so you know, I I couldn’t even tell if it was totally just a sculpture or if Rainn Wilson was actually in there somewhere. Like it it looked a little bit plasticky, but it’s nightmarish. I mean, he’s been turned into this macabre art installation and here you’ve got this crazy guy just laughing and I don’t know. I thought it was pretty spooky, but you’re right.  A lot of it just kind of relies on, ah, they’re crazy.

Todd:  Yeah.

Craig:  And it’s you’re you’re right. Then there’s that side story where, eventually, you know, the dad gets there and the cops and they head out towards that tree, but they find the kid’s car and it’s all bashed up or whatever. And they find one of the cheerleaders dead and carved up in the trunk. So they know something’s going on. This part is just stupid Todd because then these 2 cops with a civilian, Mary’s dad in tow, just decide that they’re gonna go over there and check it out. Like wouldn’t the dead body in the trunk maybe make you think that you might wanna call in some backup.

Todd:  Yeah. It’s always the way though. Right.

Craig:  Well, they they go out there, and it’s almost cute. Like, it’s almost charming in a way, like, mother fly firefly just runs upstairs to Otis. She’s like,

Clip:  there’s police outside.

Craig:  And Otis is like, goddamn it. Alright. Well, you go down and play nice. I’m gonna run around the back.

Todd:  Like, it’s just so

Craig:  it’s silly, but it was funny to me. And so mother fireflies being all, like, flirtatious with this one cop. Meanwhile, the other douche bag cop and the dad are looking around in the back. And ultimately what happens is the guys in the back find the dead cheerleaders, right? Like a bunch of them all strung up. And so they get the other the cop gets on his walkie talkie and is like, oh my gosh, there’s a bunch of bodies. And so mother Firefly of course hears this and just pulls out her huge revolver and blows the other cop away. Then Otis shows up and kills Mary’s dad. And then there was, gosh, I thought this scene was so weird.  He pulled the gun on the cop, and I think the cop falls to his knees, right? Yep. Like he’s begging, and they have this whole scene of dialogue that is completely silent. Yeah. We hear nothing. There’s nothing. There’s no score in the background. It’s like you put the TV on mute and then it pulls back to this long shot with Otis just holding the gun on this cop. And it holds there for at least a good 30 seconds.  It feels so long. It just stylistically felt so different than the rest of the movie. I I didn’t know what to make of it. It was weird.

Todd:  It was. It was maybe also the most suspenseful thing too because you’re staring at it and you’re, like, what’s going on? What’s gonna happen? You’re wondering if he’s gonna shoot him. Uh-huh. And you’re just staring and waiting for it and waiting for it and waiting for it to happen. I’m going, what is going on here? Like, I I went to check, like, did my did things lock up or something Yeah. Right. My computer or whatnot? But yeah. No.  It was just an interesting choice, you know, in a movie that’s otherwise really spastic, you know, and, quick cuts and and intercuts here and there. There’s this really long scene at this tension filled moment. I don’t know. But but then again, I never thought for a second, like, that was gonna end well for the cops. So

Clip:  Oh, no.

Todd:  You know.

Craig:  I don’t know. It seemed kind of out of place to me, but at the same time, I was intrigued by it. Like Yeah. This is so weird. It’s like a lot of the movies. It’s kinda what I was saying. I mean, it’s intriguing. It’s like I said,

Clip:  it’s kind of all over

Todd:  the place and stylistically, he’s got a certain thing he’s doing. But it is just more strange than effective. I don’t know. I mean, it has an effect. I mean, obviously, this scene we were glued to the screen. And in those Mhmm. You know, kind of weird intercuts with, like, everything’s in negative and different weird purple colors and it looks like a music video and and all that. I mean, they they had an effect, you know, but it just didn’t seem to fit the movie.  It just it felt like we’re cutting away to something else and then coming back to the story. You know what I mean? I don’t know. That that’s how I felt.

Craig:  I know what you mean. I’m just gonna have to kind of respectfully disagree because I thought that it was in keeping with the style.

Todd:  Well, when you do it enough times, it becomes a style. Right? Right.

Craig:  I mean Yeah. No. And I get what you’re saying. It is very much like a music video. I if that’s not your vibe, then I get it.

Todd:  Was 31 that way Todd? His and its sequels to this, is that just kinda what he does? Or is it unique to this movie?

Craig:  I don’t know. I thought I I think that it’s fairly unique to this. I don’t remember any, like, cutaway shots or anything like that in 31. Neither one of us enjoyed that movie very much. The first sequel to this movie is called The Devil’s Rejects. And critically and from a fan perspective, The Devil’s Rejects is pretty much considered zombies like magnum opus. Like, people go on and on and on about how great that movie is. I have a friend, hi Alexis, who like, that’s her favorite movie of all time.  I’ve seen it. I’ve probably seen it a couple of times. It’s so ultra violent, and it’s tons of gun violence, and it was almost stomach churning for me. It was almost too much for me. And and there’s sexual violence, which always bothers me. But that’s really, you know, people kinda lose their shit over that movie. 3 from Hell just came out, and it is getting terrible, terrible, terrible reviews.

Todd:  Oh, really?

Craig:  And and, yeah, in fact, people are saying the only thing that he succeeded at was tarnishing the, what did I say the second one was called?

Clip:  The devil’s the devil’s reject. Devil’s reject. Yeah.

Craig:  That’s what I’ve that’s what I’ve read. The only thing that it does is tarnish the legacy of that movie. Of course, I haven’t seen it so I can’t say but, it’s it’s getting awful reviews.

Todd:  Well, that’s kind of what I expected from this movie. You know, I expected this movie to be this, like, gore fest, this ultraviolet thing. And I mean, I guess it is but it didn’t feel like it when I was watching it. I don’t know. Maybe maybe because a lot of what was gory and bloody was cut around or was a lot of quick cuts and flat. I mean, there’s shocking things in here, but I feel like I’ve just seen and maybe since this movie came out, you know, it’s just people have up the ante a bit, but I just feel like I’ve seen much much worse, than this movie. It didn’t feel Yeah. Mean spirited.  It didn’t feel ultra violent. I don’t know. Todd you know?

Craig:  I think that maybe part of that comes from the fact that overall it feels somewhat cartoonish. So maybe that

Todd:  Mhmm. You’re right.

Craig:  Kind of detracts from the realism of the violence. It’s like cartoon violence. It’s like Scooby Doo. You know, it doesn’t have that same kind of visceral impact as it might have if it felt grounded in reality because it doesn’t feel grounded in reality at all.

Todd:  Right. Well And Any movie when, you know, they go to just rant there’s a random scene where they’re buying beer for no real reason except to show that there’s a a shop called Red Hot Pussy Liquors.

Clip:  Yes.

Todd:  Oh, dude.

Craig:  Oh, Todd. I would go to that before. Yeah. And that is the only reason. Just that gag is the only reason for that scene existing at all. They just go by a bunch of, booze so that you can see that sign. Cracked me up. Well and then they go home and they and she’s they buy a ton of booze and the guy’s like Well, you sure aren’t buying

Clip:  a whole mess of holy water for 2 people. Yeah. I would like to get fucked up and do your fucked up shit.  You know what I mean? Yeah.  I like to get fucked up too and do some fucked up shit. Yeah. I bet you do.

Craig:  And they certainly do because that’s what they do. They go home and they get they all of them get wasted. And I thought that mother firefly and baby drunk was and you only see it for, I don’t know, 5, 10 seconds, but I just thought it was hilarious. And that leads into the climax where it’s Halloween night, they dress up the remaining victims, the 2 girls and the one remaining guy, they dress them up in these rabbit suits, which I just thought was kind of clever because then they kind of hunt them, later.

Todd:  I guess so.

Craig:  I mean, it’s silly, but I I don’t know. I found it amusing. And they lead them, you know, across this field in the middle of the night, in just the moonlight. And I just thought, you know, it looked great, it looked like Halloween. And they lead them, I guess, I don’t know where this is, somewhere on their property. And Mary takes off running and baby chases her, and then there’s kind of this surreal moment where it sounds like baby is all around her, or could be anywhere, but eventually baby just, attacks and stabs her to death and kills her and, like, licks the knife and stuff. The other 2 get thrown into this coffin and lowered into the ground. And this is where things just totally go off the Craig.

Todd:  Yes.

Craig:  Like like, it’s crazy.

Todd:  Yeah. At this point, I was like, what in the hell is going on? They lower them into this pit, I guess, and under the ground and there’s water there, and they don’t lower straight into the water. They’re just suspended there. And then suddenly from the water, up pop these figures. Are they like zombies? Are they

Craig:  I don’t know.

Todd:  They’re just bottom dwelling

Craig:  It’s like it’s like the people under the stairs kinda stuff.

Todd:  Yeah. Yeah. But then they also kinda look like zombies. And then they start tearing it apart and they get the guy and the girl manages to escape and she runs down this corridor into this cave and she stops and, like, sees who she thinks is the other guy because there’s a bunny suit. But then he comes out of the shadows and it’s just this old man who’s also dressed in a bunny suit who says nothing. And then another one of these freaky things comes up behind her and they tear off her bunny suit and then they just walk away. Mhmm. And then she starts running down this corridor and it turns into this long quarter, like, out of Indiana Jones or something where it’s just, as far as the eye can see on both sides of it just mummified skeletal remains.  I don’t know, man. It’s just so weird and then she runs down it and whatever and then she Opens up a door at the end. It comes into this, like, bone cathedral. I mean, we’re still underground. And they’re, like, creatures there that, like, shut the door. And then there’s another door that opens, and she goes in. And here she is in the middle of doctor Satan’s sanctum.

Craig:  Yeah. It’s like it’s first like, the first thing she sees, it’s kind of like this nightmarish waiting room. Like

Todd:  Yeah. That’s right.

Craig:  These weird these weird zombie type people, like, sitting around in what looks like a waiting room. And then she looks over to the side, and she sees doctor Satan op like, doing brain operation on the guy, whatever his name is, Jerry.

Todd:  Yeah. And he looks inhuman, and he’s strapped up to this it’s like Yes. It’s like we’re on the set of a 9 inch nails video, you know, and he’s Yeah. Like, operating on her. And then from the Todd, bursts out, a cenobite, basically, who starts running after her. And he’s got these goggles on and his big beefy thing. It looks pieced together and, like, there’s, you know, like, a gas mask on his face, and he has this giant ax, and he starts chasing her back down the corridor. And, I mean, he’s swinging his ax and missing her and hitting the supports until he finally gets buried.

Craig:  And I read that he couldn’t see in the costume, so he was just, like, wildly swinging around this real axe, like and and rub zombie was, like, well, we just kinda figured she’d move.

Todd:  A real act.

Craig:  Okay, dude.

Todd:  That is insane. Insane. I hate reading about stuff like that because it just strikes me as so irresponsible. Yeah. And then and then it you know, kind of the ending is almost Texas Chainsaw Massacre, like, she just claws her way to the surface.

Craig:  Yeah. The guy wielding the axe, like, takes out one of the supports and everything comes crashing down and lands on him, but it opens up the upper part. And she crawls out, you know, almost like the descent style. And then it’s the end scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you know. Every other movie, you know, he did the same thing in 31 with Sherry Moon, where it’s the heroin all beat up and, you know, limping down the Todd, and then here

Todd:  comes the car. Yeah.

Craig:  Right. In this case, it’s, Captain Spalding in this little convertible.

Clip:  Sweet baby Jesus, girl. What the hell happened to you?  I got away.  You? Yeah. I recognize you. Oh, there’s a whole bunch of people been looking for your ass, girl.  I gotta  get to a doctor. Alright. Alright. Just sit back and relax. I’ll get you to a doctor.

Todd:  Har har, wink, wink. Har har.

Craig:  Yeah. And then as she lays back and closes her eyes, Otis pops up from the back, and that’s it. But before the credits roll, it just says the end question mark. And, no, it’s not because there were 2 sequels.

Todd:  Yeah. If it and you know if it wasn’t for that last that last 20 minutes, man, it just it just takes a strange left turn and just keeps turning left.

Craig:  It’s wacky.

Todd:  It’s so crazy. Yeah. It’s it it starts to be about this weird family, and then that they do they do all these weird things for fun. And then there’s this whole underground subterranean labyrinth of bodies and strange creatures

Craig:  and Populated by apparently, at least dozens of people. Like, what?

Todd:  Out in the middle of the desert. Just under the surface, by the way. I mean, so under the surface that as you’re running down this corridor, light is streaming through the boards or whatever that are holding up the corridor that you’re that you’re running through. I don’t know, man. I mean, the movie is just all over the place. I I think I have to side with the critics who said that this movie was all over the place. I mean, what more can I say? I I it it was interesting to watch. There was never a dull moment, but, also, there was never really a scary moment for me.  And there was never really a moment where I felt like the movie was inching toward any kind of theme or anything I could latch onto. You know? And no emotion I could latch onto, no idea I could latch onto, and it’s just not that not that kind of movie. Right? So Yeah. I just kind of like, oh, I I was done. I was like, well, that was a ride. That was a trip.

Craig:  Yeah. Well, Rob Zombie said from the beginning that he wanted to make a drive in movie. And I think that that’s kinda what this is, you know. It Todd doesn’t have to be of super high quality. It doesn’t have to make a lot of sense. It’s just, you know, give me something interesting to look at for an hour and a half or whatever.

Todd:  Yeah. What we make out in the back seat.

Craig:  Right. Right.

Todd:  Not you and me,

Clip:  but, you know, just like, you know, people.

Todd:  I was

Craig:  I was looking for the joke. I’m like, I know it’s there. Where is it? Come on. Come on. But, but, yeah. I mean, Zombie says now that he acknowledges and appreciates that it has a cult following. But when he sees it, all he sees is flaw upon flaw upon flaw. So he’s not particularly proud of it.  However, it really did kind of, jump Todd his career as a as a film director.

Todd:  Right.

Craig:  Now he had already been directing his own music videos and music videos for other people for a while and had been acclaimed for that. But as a film director, this really gave him his Todd. And he since had a lot of success to very mixed reviews. Nonetheless, it really opened a lot of doors for him. I think Sid Craig is is great in this movie. I think that his character is really fun, and he, as this character, has become really iconic in horror cinema. You know, you you see imagery of Captain Spalding in merchandising and, you know, just all over the place. And, I’m glad, you know, Zombie kind of approached him and and pulled him out of retirement for this.  And once, he was working again, he continued to work, especially in the horror industry. And, you know, even the movies that he’s in that we haven’t particularly enjoyed. You know, we’ve we’ve seen some movies that he was in, like Bone Tomahawk, that we’ve really liked. Galaxy of Terror, not a great movie, but he was interesting in it. Even 31, which neither of us particularly cared for. He had such a small cameo, but he’s always interesting and memorable. And, he was 80 years old when he passed, which these days doesn’t really seem that Todd. But he left a legacy.  I have a lot of respect for the guy. He was a cool guy.

Todd:  Me too. I think it was a very fitting, movie for us to watch. A good good tribute episode. So rest in peace, Sid Craig. And thank you, Mark, also for requesting this movie. Well, that’s it. We still have a couple more Halloween episodes to do. So happy Halloween, everybody.  It’s coming up. If you have any requests that you would like us to talk about, just go find us online. You can search 2 guys in a chainsaw and find our website 2 guys at redfortynat.com or our Facebook page. Just leave us a comment on either of those places, and, we’ll put you down. Until next time. I’m Todd.

Craig:  And I’m Craig.

Todd:  With 2 Guys and a Chainsaw.