RFYL 254: They Live (with special guests Jerry and Jeff)

You're listening to the Run for Your Lives Podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Daphne.

And I'm Pake.

And this is the Run for Your Lives Podcast.

This episode is the action horror film They Live, written, directed, and scored by John Carpenter and released November 4th, 1988.

Yes, and this week, because it's such a fun movie that we're gonna be doing, we have invited two of our favorite people, although I'm starting to question if they really are some of my favorite people given the amount of shit I have taken since we got on Zoom prior to recording. However, Jerry and Jeff, our Buffalo cohorts, are here to talk about They Live With Us. Welcome back, guys! It's been a while.

It's Buffalo Buffalo movie night. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

It has been about a year, I think, since uh where's it been two years since we did the stuff?

It's been two years.

That's right. It was when we started the podcast.

You do realize we're coming up on two years at Buffalo Buffalo.

Yeah, two hundred episodes.

Jerry is banging in the background. I did not want to have to edit much of this episode, and I feel like now I am going to be editing for days to fix things.

I'm sorry, Daphne. I'm just bringing the buffalo here.

Yep. It feels like home.

On the range.

On the range, exactly.

Yeah, it's like herding sheep or cats or something with the three of you. And for some reason I decided doing it twice in one week was a good idea.

How's that working out for you?

Yeah, not real well. Not real well.

It's pretty fun, ain't it?

No. Nope. It isn't.

No, what do you mean no?

I think it is.

Of course you do. You're thriving in this environment. Now there's three of you to torture me, and I don't usually feel tortured on this podcast, just on Buffalo Buffalo. Well, we are gonna kick this off with production notes like we always do. Was filmed in Los Angeles, California, in Atlanta, Georgia. Carpenter used Ray Nelson's 1963 short story, Eight O'Clock in the Morning, as a basis for this story. The budget was four million, it grows 13.4 million at the box office. It's ninety-four minutes long. Hake, got a synopsis for us?

They influenced our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.

Okay. Very nice and dramatic. Like it.

So yeah, we did pick this movie specifically.

It wasn't just a just like m spur the moment surprise for all four of us. No. When we got on here? Okay.

No. We picked this one specifically. I already have the next one that we're gonna do. I found Kingdom of the Spiders, Jerry. It's on tubing.

Oh, nice.

Nice.

We're not tubing.

That is the question. Yeah.

Oh, that's the Shakespeare Channel. Okay, got it.

Yes. It's a new movie coming out.

So the Shakespeare Channel is a new movie. Could be.

So the first 12 minutes of this episode is just gonna be an outtake because there it's I I don't even know what to say about it anymore. Uh Peg, why don't you drive the bus for this episode?

Um, because I don't have my CDL. Oh, that's a good point.

Yeah, okay. Sure.

Yeah. It'd be highly illegal for me to drive the bus, but you know what? Do it anyway. No. Not how Jerry's gonna run this thing this week.

Look at him, he has no idea. Okay, so like we usually do when we have guests on, we allow them to go first. Each of us is going to have multiple points and we'll rotate in the discussion of what we want to talk about from this film. It's different from our usual character analysis, but it's a lot of fun to do it this way every once in a while. So we're gonna go in alphabetical order in the descending order. So, Jerry, you get to go first. Alright.

But Pink goes after P is after J.

Listen to me. What is your last name? What is your last name?

I didn't you didn't say it was for last names.

I thought you you gotta You really I assumed you were gonna start with Pink too. Sorry.

So did I.

Why is it that no one uses the last name for um alphabetizing anymore? It's your first name.

Well, I think in this particular case it's because we don't refer to each other as Alan and Alan.

Yeah.

I don't think we've ever stated last names on either podcast.

I don't think really absolutely come out at different points. Like the Allen boys are gonna be disrupted. Yeah. I don't know if Daphne's last name has ever come up, but Jerry's has a couple of times.

Good. Um, so we'll stat this again, and you will open your ears and listen to me.

I mean, we heard every word you said, and you just didn't specify which first or last name.

If you heard everything I said, why would you have thought you were included to go first or second when we let our guests go first and I said that?

You know what?

Are you a guest?

That's a fair point. And you're correct.

Mark, point, point for Daphne here.

All right, yeah. Oh yeah, whiteboards. No whiteboards.

Okay. I was gonna ask the same question, but I was afraid to ask because I thought I I might upset Daphne by being wrong. Just slightly, slightly afraid to ask.

You're like, you know what? Jay Jerry is the last in the alphabet for sure. Yes. Daphne says though, that it tracks.

Well, among the guests, I among the guests, Jerry's the last in the alphabet.

Which is how I ended up taking it. I was like, okay, well, she's going reverse by guests. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, so now that I'll just remove three more minutes from the podcast because I I think we have maybe two and a half minutes we can use out of ten minutes.

So that's pretty good.

No, it isn't.

We're hitting we're batting 200. That's it's not bad.

I forgot that I need to be so explicit with you guys.

Well, don't be that explicit. This we're not covering triple X.

No, so we don't have to be that explicit.

Daphne is gonna rage quit in a minute here. I'm gonna behave now. Yeah, I'm behaving.

Yeah, sure you are. The minute a shiny thing crosses the screen, you are gonna be distracted and ridiculous again.

Well, I mean, if it if the shiny thing is like a little UFO or something, I would definitely be distracted.

Yeah.

You saw that in the movie, Jeff. Yes.

Oh yeah, he did. Anyways, I would have too if I would have watched it.

Okay, so if you will refrain from speaking.

Ever.

Until I tell you it's okay. Until I call on you to start.

Um I do have uh an objective question here, so immediately Jerry starts talking.

Bank is gone. He's gone.

No, no, no. Daphne, I'm being serious. I'm sorry. I I'm being I'm being serious. So when when you uh cue me, I'm just gonna jump right into my first point.

Yes, Jerry. Unless you want to introduce yourself, give everyone your sign, tell everyone that you like long walks on the beach, and and give a dating profile, then you know.

Yeah, redhead's only place.

Oh my god. They're starting a new one. Redhead fans. That is a new thing that's coming out, Jerry. I thought you'd want to sign up right away.

They just put wigs on like nothing is getting done.

We are not even recording.

We are it's not okay.

I'm good.

So, Jerry, what do you have for us as your first point?

Oh, my first point is just the sheer campiness of the movie.

Well, they were camping in a lot.

Yeah, well, yeah.

Yeah. A lot of camping scenes in the outdoor campaigns.

I'm talking about just the stuff being over the top, namely the fight in the in the alley.

Oh my gosh. That's what I remember the most about this movie is that fight. Oh my gosh.

It goes on for quite a long time. Five and a half minutes is I think that's about what it is. But when I first saw this movie, it was 1989. You know, the uh in the in the days of VHS rental. Yikes. Yeah, and it was hilarious to watch that fight.

You know what? I bet that WWF dictated that Roddy Piper needed to be in a fight scene in the movie.

That was my thought, too. Is that there was something in this contract that was like, if you've got Rowdy Roddy Piper, there must be a fight scene.

Yes, and it must be long, and it must be incredibly physical, and it must be over the top. And you know what? That ticks all the boxes right there.

How many times do you think it would take of you getting punched in the face before you finally put sunglasses on? Like, that's what to find out about. Put glasses on. No. Well, I'm gonna punch you in the face for five minutes then. Like, yep, you punch me in the face once, I'm putting on whatever the hell you ask me to.

Exactly.

Well, especially by you know, Piper. Jesus, you see the when he had his shirt off, you have see how built he is?

That's also in his contract, I'm sure. Roddy must have his shirt off for at least 10% of the movie.

Well, it ticked the box. Yeah.

Yeah.

Were there any other parts, Jerry, that were over-the-top campy to you that you wanted to point out?

Well, it's just that he can go out a plate glass window, roll down a very steep slope, and walk away. Mm-hmm. Without a one cut on him.

Again, he's in this movie. He's a pro wrestler. You've got to make him look indestructible and tough and able to do everything. And he probably did his own stunts. Well, some of them anyway. Yeah. Well, I didn't look it up.

Yeah, no, I do have a point on that, on that is that um he and Keith David, um, they they did uh actual punches to the body. And and when they were doing when they were planning this out and they said, Okay, well, no punches to the face, but we're doing punches to the body. Real ones.

Wow. And and young Keith David.

Mm-hmm. And this was yeah, and this was like six years after the thing.

I know. John Carpenter likes to work with the same actors from time to time. He's got a list of his usual suspects. I don't think it's as frequent as some of Mike Flanagan's. Like how Mike Flanagan reuses people and it's like almost always the same group of actors.

Yeah, as as long as he uses Samantha Sployan, I'm there, I'm there.

Yes.

For some odd reason.

Have you watched Life of Chuck yet?

I have not.

Then you weren't there. You're not there. You gotta get there.

Okay.

Okay, Jeff, what do you have for us?

Well, kind of uh along the same lines, I guess, is just kind of the 50s homage. The, you know, the the B horror film homage, you know, with between the you know, little dinky uh UFOs that look like they were on fishing line um and the Stop Motion animation. Yeah, and the um the the ghouls that reminded me a lot, honestly, of Mars Attacks.

Yes.

Um you know, which actually as I thought about it, was like, you know, Mars Attacks the film, which is one of obviously one of Daphne's favorite movies of all time. Of course.

No, it is not this.

Came out after. But um, and you guys probably talked about this on the episode, Mars Attacks was originally a trading card series that came out back in the 60s. Um, so that kind of imagery was definitely, you know, available. And yeah, I know I mean, I know that Carpenter was doing a lot of stuff that was, you know, homage kind of thing. It was just very even the fact that it was like all monochrome when you put the sunglasses on, uh, it reminded me a bit of like like a Twilight Zone type episode. Uh-huh. You know? It was it was just it was very very obvious the the the homages and the the that he was paying to to films you know that he'd watched probably when he was a kid. How how old I'm trying to remember, Carpenter's He's 78. Okay.

So yeah.

Yeah, he would have been a kid in the 50s.

Okay, Peg, what would you like to bring to the table?

Um I've got it's what because I the way I took notes, I'm just like, it's a lot of mostly jokes and stuff like that. Because I knew it. And then it's like, and then I have to jumble them all up into points, and then callbacks don't make sense if I put them in the wrong order. But uh I just roll with it. Uh but no, I was I have like bigger points, but like the things I really want to point out and like talk about. Jerry did talk about that scene a little bit, but then just even zooming out from just that scene, but just the character of Nada, which is we that's what we get for him, which is just nothing. He has no name, he's just a wanderer with no name, just moving about.

Just around and around and around and around.

But I like just him as a fighter, which again I like that you pointed out. It's like it's probably because you have Hot Rod, Rowdy Roddy Piper, in your movie. Like, you he has to contractually be beefy and fight people. Uh so that's what he's gonna do. But it was, you know, it's funny because like there's like wrestling moves that are in this movie. He's like grabbing people and doing stuff. Even whenever he's fighting with those two cops in the alleyway when they first, like when he first realizes what the glasses do, and I'm sitting there watching it, feel like just letting my inner Jim Ross like, and the ripcord Lariat! Oh, and he's laying in some great strikes there, and then his finishing move. Gun.

Yep.

Simple, concise, short, effective.

Yeah.

Everyone should have a finishing move that is as effective as that, I guess.

Gun is a great finisher. It really is. Uh and it's funny because you see people walking around in the background. It's like, okay, guy shooting cops in an alley, nobody blinks an eye. Then he like walks out and cocks the shotgun, and then people freak out.

Like, okay.

And then walks into the bank backwards and then like sees what's going on. He's like, yeah. I don't even have to like talk about the quote. It's the most quotable quote of the whole movie. People who've never seen this movie know the quote. But yeah, he came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and call himself mama.

Honestly, it was an inadvertent bank robbery type situation, even though he didn't end up taking any money. Wasn't a very good movie.

Yeah, no, no money, which is this was funny that he's sitting there at Holly's house later, and it's just like, you know, he's like, oh, I'm not gonna hurt you, you don't have to worry about me. It's like you did just see me shoot a bunch of cops and seemingly random innocent people in a bank, and I took no money, so it seems like it was just for the fun of it. But you know, I'm fine. Uh yeah, as he's doing that, I was like, oh, he's just decided he's doing a GTA star run in real life. That's what this is. How many can I like you know, rank up? Uh just take some guns, walk into a bank, start blasting people, see what happens for Fonsies.

I mean, when he grabbed that gun, I'm like, your hobo with a shotgun. I mean, really. He's like, okay. Basically it.

Yeah. Legitimately. I was amazed by the clip size of that shotgun. Yeah. You know, I didn't use a place that shotguns could hold, you know, 10, 12 shells like that.

Bam! Bam!

It was Herschel's shotgun.

Oh, that's oh yeah, that is effective. Yeah. I wonder where Herschel got that shotgun.

Got it from this guy. Uh yeah, only targets they're from aldehyde faces. That's what he does. And the little UFO-looking drones. I wanted to see what that one looked like that he blasted in the alley without the glasses. He was like, what is what is what's the real-life comparison? Like, what are they? It was like probably a bird, because we all know birds aren't real. That's a common fact at this point.

So I loved that when they wore the glasses, it was black and white because it really was that homage to like the 50s movies.

Like, um, like the original body spatters was in black when I was like, yeah.

I liked that that it did that because it it did seem like a little bit of a love letter to that type of movie from that time frame.

Yeah, I loved that visual choice. Uh but yeah, then lastly for the fighting is yeah, Jerry then pointed out that scene was the loser puts on glasses match, the street fight. Was you know, m match gimmicks keep getting weirder, but they're still fun. I like that. Uh Frank counters the backdrop suplex with a great headlock, but then he starts biting, and I was like, yeah, you can't do that. But then, like, no, it is a street fight, no DQs, no holds barred, even holds that include teeth. So we can we can have that happen. But Piper does finish the match off with a suplex move, and I'm glad that he used that instead of his established finisher, because I don't know if Frank could have handled gun at that point. Nobody kicks out of gun.

No, they do not kick out of gun.

Yeah. Well, and uh, and I was gonna say, uh um what's the name? Frank hit Nada like what is about a half a dozen times with his knee in the in the groin?

God, yeah. Oh my gosh.

That's called the low blow, Jerry.

Yeah, just wanted Piper to get up there and be like, Frank, put off the glasses.

Yeah.

He I mean, he did try to talk him into it. He just he wouldn't listen because he thought, you know, he thought Nada was out of his mind.

Well, the but from what from his perspective, you know, I I I have it written down there. It's like, you know, his resistance is kind of you know understandable, being that the last he heard of him was he shot how many people?

That's true. That is true.

Yeah. I won't hurt you, just put these sunglasses on, and it's all gonna change.

Okay, dude. Honestly, that's kind of a typical day in LA. Yeah. That's like not that far out there for Los Angeles.

What? Put the sunglasses on? Put the sunglasses.

Like a like a seemingly insane person coming up to you screaming that the you know the aliens are all around and you need to put the sunglasses on. You know? Yeah.

Oh, this guy again.

But I would you know, and the other uh one of the other things I have written here is that both these guys, up until a certain point, have plot armor galore.

Oh yeah.

It's it's crazy how much plot armor.

Until they don't. Until they don't. Until they don't.

I always forget how this is part of the plot. Yeah.

Yeah. I always forget how this movie ends. And so I'm always like disappointed at the end.

Oh. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about that. There are credits at the end. But before that.

Yeah, I'm always disappointed when they die.

So yeah, rewatch the movie over and over to see if it changes, but it's always the same every time.

No, I just forget because we've established on this podcast that once I've watched something, sometimes I just have to let go of it because there are too many other things I'm doing or watching. So Alright.

Well, Daphne, what is your first thing to talk about?

You know what? I'm taking us out of the actual movie and just talking a little bit about the fact that this is like a lesson in consumerism and control and subliminal messaging and how these aliens, even though they're from another planet, they're really just there controlling everything very much like a government would.

The real aliens are the capitalism we found along the way.

Exactly. Um so the the whole consumer culture is shown in this form of like control advertising, subtly pushing people to buy, buy, buy, obey the laws, don't question authority, all of the signs, like watch TV and you know, keep buying shit. It's it's crazy. And it kind of showcases this, honestly, I think it's Ronald Reagan era economics.

No, it's pure Reaganomics, absolutely.

Yeah. Where economic growth benefits everybody, except that it's creating this really big gap between the wealthy and the working class. And it's supposed to be like this trickle-down effect that doesn't really trickle down, it just becomes a trick where the wealthy just get more and more and more. And you see kind of the desperation in the people that are living in that campsite where they have Shantytown, they have nowhere to go, they have jobs, but you know, it's I mean, uh to me, it looked like a lot of them didn't have jobs. They were just stuck. This is all that they had. Um, but they made this little community where they all would gather together and forge out an existence, and they invite Nada into it.

Honestly, it seems very like a nice knit like community that took care of each other. I was like, Yeah, honestly, it's not bad at all.

But again, when you see the destruction of it and you see because it doesn't fit the mold of what the overlords or the people in power want, they don't want that because it's unsightly, it's not pretty, it doesn't scream like you know, yeah. Yeah. It doesn't scream success. They just completely d destroy it, and they don't even care if someone is inside one of the tents or the little makeshift buildings. They just destroy it all, they flatten it.

Which it's kind of a uh like valid, you know, criticism, I guess, of even today, like well way that those things work. But I think because it's not like they just decided, oh, we're tired of this like homeless encampment, let's take it down. But it was, I mean, because you get a lot of these police and the people there are like these aliens that have taken over. And so really it was them figuring out where this broadcast was coming from and trying to take out beard guy. And it was like, well, if we just show up and raid this church, that's bad optics. But if we cover that up with, oh, we came out here to clear up this unsightly, you know, homeless camp, so like they're just you know, they're also they just end up becoming in the way, so it's just like, okay, we'll take them out, and then that's the cover for what we were actually doing as a church, because people will get behind that and be like, oh no, that actually makes sense why they would do that. We we won't stay mad at them for that.

Yeah.

Well, it's it's really about putting society in this passive, distracted, unaware state where they're getting exploited and they don't even realize that they're getting exploited. There's so much greed, there's so much self-interest, people are just choosing whatever you know, money, money, money, whatever makes them comfortable in the moment, instead of like confronting the injustice that's going on in the the peril that their fellow citizens are in. It's about a me, me, me mentality, which we learn when we see the drifter later, when he's all dolled up in his tuxedo at the special event. He he signed up to be part of it because he wanted money, he wanted a better life. And you can't begrudge people for wanting a better life, but there has to be a better way. I mean, these these aliens were manipulating people through, you know, brain they're brain like through a a signal that was going through the TV and through subliminal messaging that they couldn't re they couldn't even see. It was just it was under everything else. The messaging was always there, but people just didn't see it. And yeah, it just created this whole world where greed is normal and rewarded. And people who did find out it was aliens were still really into just you know, we're we're not gonna beat them, so we'll just be part of it because it's better for us. Instead of looking at it might be better for you, but what about civilization as we know it? What about human beings?

Yeah, and um Yeah, what I was thinking that that mentality goes towards is uh what we see a lot today is I'm not affected personally, so why do I care?

Right.

Yeah. Yeah. If you're not in it and you don't see it happening, it's easier to pretend it's not happening, but it is happening. And the thing is, when things like this happen, and I'm not talking about alien invasions, I'm talking about situations where people get the lizard people.

No, the real threat.

I'm talking about when people sometimes governments will well, I mean, Reagan did it in the 80s. I mean, sometimes the government, this is just what happens, and it doesn't affect you until it does, and it might take time. That's what trickles down to you. The effect, because it may not hurt you today, but it's gonna hurt you in six months or six years. It's going to happen. Um with things that have happened in the country, you it may not happen to you and it may not happen to someone you know, but at some point it is gonna happen to someone you know, and it is gonna affect you, and you can't be blind to that. And I think you know, people were trying to focus on self-preservation, which you can't blame them for that, but in the same context, you need to be cognizant of the long-term effects of the decisions that you make. It might bring you some temporary happiness, but it may not bring you long-term happiness. So is that short-term comfort worth it? Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

You're welcome. Yeah, and um, and then this begs the question is like, whenever in this particular universe of the movie, is that is every like major police action that you see part of those things of busting up a uh a resistance cell like this was?

Right.

Yeah, and and one thing that came to mind is I remember, you know, and I'm old enough to remember this actually hearing about this actually happening when your beard guy cuts in on the on the on the uh the broadcast, is that there was an incident in uh Chicago in 1987 of the Max Headroom signal hijacking. Oh yes.

Yes.

And it was like, and uh it when I was re-watching this you know a few days ago, it's like that jumped right into my head and I had to write that point down.

So I I didn't even make that connection, but you're absolutely right. That's yeah, it was very Max Headroom.

Yeah, because it happened a year ago. A year before the uh year before this movie came out.

Well, Jerry, uh, I think we're back to you on next point. So if you've got let's call that my next point. Max Headroom.

Okay.

That sounds great.

Oh boy. Uh one okay. Uh see the uh one question I had to ask was when Nada was looking uh surveilling the church, suddenly, you know, when when the uh the cop invasion happened, how did he not notice or hear the helicopter?

Yeah. Well, because it so the movie can happen.

Okay, that's right. Yeah.

But one thing um and one because I bought this movie on you know Amazons years ago.

Um Amazon Laser Disc.

Laser Disc, yes. Um I I I'd seen in the notes is that Kurt Russell was considered for the role, but since John Carpenter had already worked with them on uh The Thing, uh Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China, did they want to do a fourth one with him?

And so that's why he's like different beefy white guy with a mullet.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah. You know, though, even though Big Trouble in Little China has become like this huge cult classic movie, it was not successful, and John Carpenter had a hard time coming back from that. And all I was thinking is why did you deviate from your focus on horror? Because that seems to be your realm. Maybe you should have stuck closer to that, but I also can understand wanting to branch out from it and try something else.

That was the last point I had for this round.

Okay, Jeff.

Well, a lot of what I was going to say, I think Daphne covered was just the whole Reaganomics of it all. Um what I I found interesting is I don't know if you guys were aware of this, uh, the whole breakup of the Shantytown thing, that was actually just LAPD doing their thing. That it wasn't even that wasn't even in the script. They just LAPD was just like, oh, we need to destroy this place.

Yeah. People not starving. Wow, we gotta put a stop to that.

I mean, they that little community. I mean, Peg, you said it. It was kind of heartwarming how they all came together and created this little community world for themselves.

They had like people who like could do certain jobs, like we're like, well, let's take care of that, let's fix this. They had like a food line going, there's kids running around playing. Like it was like they'd set up a nice little spot here.

They did. And then over at the church, they had their you know, rebellion work.

You know, that that was kind of part of or one of the points I was gonna make, but I'll kind of shift it a little bit to talk about um honestly, some of my issues, I think, with like for me, the pacing was really weird. Um and and just even the reaction of you know um Nada to coming across this thing was like, well, I'm gonna make jokes, and then I'm going to go on a killing rampage. Without any kind of like, oh my god, what is going on here? This is insane. Just like, you're ugly. You know, and now I'm gonna shoot everybody. It was just, it was very like, oh, okay, we just suddenly, you know, right turn, Clyde, and just all of a sudden, you know, now we're yeah.

Um a lot of Piper's uh one-liners throughout the movie were like it just makes you shake your head sometimes.

Like I really loves his one-liners, even if they don't quite make sense or or fit, you know.

What was the one he had? I'm not daddy's little boy anymore, or something like that.

Yeah. It's like, okay, good, good, sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he loves those one-liners, even if they're not applicable. I like the one where they they get to the hotel and then he just looks like they've just like gotten this fight, they're like bloody and beaten up, and he goes, Ain't love grand, and it's like sure. Sure, man.

Okay, so this is a domestic violence thing. Got it.

Okay, okay, man, sure.

Well, you'll tell, got it. You know.

I loved when he was wearing sunglasses, the different things that he would say to the people that he saw, like, oh, you look like your head fell in the cheese dip back in 1957. Yes. Like, and no one understands why. Yes. And he's like, Oh, you, you're okay. This one, real fucking ugly. I mean, oh my god.

Yeah, well, my other my other one was when he and uh uh Nada and Frank are talking, he's like, Frank asks, Well, where do you think they're where do you think they're from? And but and Nada says, Well, they ain't from Cleveland.

Or what about this one? Brother, life's a bitch, and she's back in heat.

Oh my gosh.

That's such a weird one. It's weird. So you're going to fuck life?

And then there was a girl that had come out of a, I think, a hair salon, and she was just like primping her hair. And he's like, that's like pouring perfume on a pig.

Yes. I'm like, oh my god.

Oh, Carpenter was on fire.

And then they get mad at him for like saying all these like offensive things, and then like, oh, he can see us, and then he realizes that they're all like starting to like target after talking into their watches. Uh and then he just walks out and he goes, I don't like this at all. And then I was just which I thought is funny. He's just like, I don't like this one bit. I'm uncomfortable. And yeah. Oh no.

Well, and there was some effect too from them wearing the glasses because it would giving them like real bad headaches and yeah. And he said, Woo, it's like a drug. Wearing these glasses gets you high, but you come down hard. Like it was a lot to deal with.

It's a good thing they worked that bug out, that glitch out with the contact lenses later.

Yeah. Yeah. No, virtually no issue, but we didn't really know because they never took them out. So it wasn't like we got to see it.

This is this is my life now. Yes. Yeah, if you ever take the contact lenses out, it's not a headache, you immediately die. So yeah. You're stuck with them forever.

That's kind of a downside to everything. Yeah. Which is good. You should you should definitely wear your contacts for an extended period of time. You know, just we're not. Especially while you sleep. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There were just a lot of one-liners, especially not uh had so many.

Yeah. So, you know, for me it was, yeah, I mean, it was a lot of the one-liners were one thing, but it was even even like the street fight was just like, oh, okay, we're doing this now for, you know, five, ten minutes. You know, it was just like it was like a completely different chapter. You know, okay, now now we're doing this, and now we're it was just for me, it felt like there was a lot of buildup to something happening, and then it just kind of went nuts, you know, just every it just kind of went every which way. Um yeah, so it was a little bit for me I just found it disjointed.

Yeah.

Like it needed some editing or longer runtime, shorter runtime, I'm not exactly sure, but um, yeah.

Something. Yeah. Um let's see. I think Vernon I next, I'll just talk about kind of like the ending part segment of the movie, which I call accidental infiltration. Because it's really what it is, is they they see these watches that the aliens can teleport with, which is like, oh, that's not fair. They can teleport now. Um also random thing about the aliens is because there's like a lot of cops, they would show up in groups of cops, and I could not help myself, but every time they do that little march jogging thing, because they'd go by and just go, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, every time. Every time. But yeah, so then Frank, they have one of these watches at the resistance, or I guess they have multiple, maybe, but Frank ends up with one of them, and it malfunctions, so instead of just teleporting him, it just opens a portal in the ground. It's like, you have 10 seconds, go in. Where's that voice coming from? Who knows? Go in the hole.

Uh I felt like a real like security flaw in this whole thing. Where it's like, oh, by the way, if you drop the watch on the ground accidentally, it just like shouts out all the you know backstory and then opens a portal. Here's a portal to our home base where everything is there with a And don't worry, nobody will question you if you show up here because obviously this has never happened before that somebody has stumbled in here. Yeah, their security was very lax. Very lax.

Yeah.

Well, and they had the drifter who would just welcome them in and show them around. I was hoping, oh, it's so good to see you. Let me show you around. I'm like, here's the keys to the kingdom.

Yeah.

Yeah. By the way, through that door right there is the you know, the item that will destroy everything. So just whatever you do, just don't go in through that door. Here's the key, by the way. I'm holding it. Got it.

Yeah. So I'm gonna look over that way and trust that you're not going in that door. Uh man.

Well, maybe his my maybe his mindset was that since they're there, they you know fell in with them.

Yeah, they did fall in. Yeah. Yeah, they just kind of show up and like the aliens are there celebrating the victory alongside the human elite who sided with them for power and money. I didn't realize this was a documentary.

It is.

As I'm watching that. Yeah, and then this drifter who shows up and they're like, oh, it's you again. And I was like, is it weird that I have no idea who the fuck this guy was?

My first thought was The Drifter? Yeah. I was like, was that the superintendent at the job site at the beginning? No. Who is this guy?

He was in the tent the the encampment.

Was he the the guy that was watching the TV when it kept coming in and out? Yeah. That's I was like, maybe it's that guy, but I was like, I can't really tell because he looks fully different.

I honestly had no clue. I had no clue. And the problem is, like, the names aren't helpful because they're like if you look in the credits, the names are like ghoul, street preacher, drifter.

You know, it's like guy in hat.

Third woman from the left.

The street preacher, you know. I mean, he was the one I mean, he was street preaching.

Yes, I know.

And you had to know.

Oh, speaking of credits, uh, naked lady. Yeah. That's that was her credit in the movie, Naked Lady.

Wonderful. I played Naked Lady.

Well, I mean, there's the bearded man who was on TV.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Drifter. Family Man.

Yeah, I don't know who that was.

Yeah, I I don't know. Rich lady. I don't know. Well-dressed customer.

Ooh.

I don't know. I don't know.

Pisces.

There's like three names in the entire movie. And everything else is just kind of a vague description of who this person is.

Nearby citizen with a bad attitude.

Guy with a hangnail. There's actually four. There was not a Frank Hawley and Gilbert.

Well, not a Gilbert was what he was credited as. Nobody ever called him that. But you know what I mean? It that wasn't like a name that was used.

Yeah. Which was interesting, though, when he walked by the TV screens and they had an clearly older picture of him. Mm-hmm. So, like, somebody knew his identity. We, the viewers, didn't, but somebody did. They were able to gain access to that vivo uh picture and put it out there. Somebody knew. Uh, but yeah, and you mentioned, yeah, they show up and immediately get a full tour of operations, including the signal source that the resistance was looking for the whole time. And so they're like, well, guess it's time to just do some blasting again, as I do. Uh and then, of course, Holly, which we haven't talked about her much at all, but you know. I was confused at first, and then I like they did like the the double cross did actually kind of surprise me. I was like, okay, that was done well. Because at first I'm like, so they left Holly back in the alley, and then they teleported to this place, and then they expect her to just be here working or something. Like they show up and was like, where's Holly? She's probably here. It's like, well, if you just immediately teleported.

They were in the TV studio that she works in.

But how far away was that from where they had teleported from where they know she was there just then? So it's like, she must have teleported back here too. Let's go find her.

Which also had an interesting scene of um where you know, Frank and Nata come through this area with guns and everybody's just like frozen, like, oh my god, what do we do? kind of thing. And you know, they get their directions. I know I just froze completely, didn't I?

That couldn't have been more perfectly told. At the perfect time. You're like just frozen, like, and then it just happened. It was like wow, he timed that. That was incredible.

That was nice.

I love it.

Oh my god. That is an outtak video from Ray There. That was perfect.

Yeah. Um, they come in and everybody's just like doesn't know what to do or anything like that, and they get directions and they leave, and then the cops come in, and everybody starts screaming at the top of their lungs. It's like I mean, okay, not the not the guys just like who wandered in with shotguns looking all beat up. Though those guys are fine. It's when the cops arrive.

But yeah, and then I was like, this is ridiculous. Of course Holly wouldn't be there. But then she was because she was working with the aliens the whole time. Gasp, betrayal.

I mean, she probably led them to where they were. Like she was an agent, like a double agent, really.

Pretty honestly, pretty brave because she was in there as they were like, you know, shooting the whole place.

Everyone.

Just like spraying bullets, and she's just in there, like, well, we might accidentally hit you, but uh just go in there.

Well, these cops were Stern Troopers, you know, because they had a hard time hitting people. They really did.

It took them a few times each each with each person.

I like the dude, though, the revolutionary who picked up the grenade and then just posed there for a while.

Look what I have! Oh man.

Yeah, but they do, at least Nada gets up to the roof. Um, does destroy the signal before they take him out with a tiny little pistol, he takes down this whole machine. Well, it's like that's how you take it, but but again, you know, I understand because he never fails with his finisher. Gun always works. So, of course.

And then he looks at the helicopter and uh picks number one. Mm-hmm. Not 11, number one. It was just one. Just one.

And then we kind of end the movie there uh with the signal destroyed, everybody we know and love in the movie dead. Uh, and then the world sees the aliens for who they really are.

I love that part.

Yeah, and that part. And then that part probably where they're like, ew, oh my god, probably lasts a whole four days. And then they're like, oh wait, the money and power thing. You know what? It's fine. And then it all goes back to normal the same way it was.

You know what? I I think though it it was kind of like a metaphor in some way of people who may appear to be beautiful on the outside but are ugly on the inside, and the insides showing like how terrible they really are.

Yeah, to me, you want when I first watched it in uh 89, I thought it's like, well, who peeled you know like they were just like peeled people.

The peeled people.

The peeled people, not pod people.

Not pod people.

Well, it was like the skin had been peeled off. Yes. That's really what it was like.

So, Jerry, you would say that they were appealing.

Yes.

Okay, good. You beat me to the joke.

So we've covered so much of the story. I want to talk a little bit about the casting because uh Carpenter didn't just pull in like big names or whatever. I know we were just talking about Kurt Russell, but he didn't want to, like, this was on purpose. He wanted it to not feel as polished as some of the other movies where you have big names coming in to kind of create this excitement. I think he wanted something to be a little more mysterious and have it be a little more raw, I guess, or campy and campy, because it definitely was. If you're a big name, along with that comes with all the stereotypes of all the characters that you played in the past, and it makes it more difficult for you to play someone maybe that is just an ordinary person, and so he wanted more of that in this movie.

And so by casting world famous wrestler.

Well, I mean, but had Roddy Piper made a huge splash as an actor at that point? No.

Not as an actor.

Not as an actor, but the late 80s was very peak Rowdy H Roddy Piper at that point.

I mean, well, that's the only star power they really well Keith David. Yeah. Um, but but you know, it's like um It's not Kurt Russell who'd been a star since he was a kid.

Like Right. But you know, there's a quote, at least on the Wikipedia article for this movie, that you know, it says, you know, Carpenter was looking for an everyman who looked like he had lived a hard life. And it's like I I don't look at Roddy Piper and go, that looks just like me.

No. No, but you wouldn't have looked at Kurt Russell that way either, right?

No, I wouldn't have. But my point is that if you know, if you want an everyman, it's like you don't really want an everyman, you just want somebody that's not immediately recognized. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. And I I feel like that worked. And I think Keith David in his role also seemed like a normal person. Like he didn't seem like, okay, I'm a big name actor playing this role, and it's one of so many roles I've had, and I feel like he brought some authenticity to it. And so I really liked the casting. I felt like it worked out really well. Having someone in particular who could do their own stunts and make it believable because he's used to taking hits in the ring and throwing punches in the ring, I think made it more fun. So yeah. That's my point.

That's the whole point.

And now we're back to Jerry.

Last thing I had was uh the way they had to do some of the sets to change for when the glasses were on and off. Namely the uh the store where he called the uh the the cheese dip lady.

I love that so much.

Because you know they had the store, you know, yeah, and I and I read that this was like the most expensive part of it because they had to dress the store twice. You know, you know, once in the regular, you know, regular world, and then the uh the second one with all the labels uh done in uh every single thing was labeled in there.

It's a grocery store. There's thousands of objects and every single box was labeled. It's pretty crazy.

Yeah, and it reminded me of that generic stuff in the 80s where you just had black and white, just black letters on a white field like beer, rice.

Yes.

And such high quality stuff, too.

I mean, even the money at one point was all written on this is your garbage. All yeah, well, true, right? I mean, that's kind of how people were looking at it. Money makes the world go round.

Not gravity.

Money. You know, I would say please don't remake this film because it's as it's as good as it is.

Yeah, this is one So I have bad news for you. It's in production right now. Really?

No, it isn't. It is not. Is it really?

According to IMDB, it is.

Oh no.

Oh no.

It's nothing not, I mean, it's nothing sacred.

We have to have it.

Well, because money. Money, of course. Money! Recognizable IP, you know? Mm-hmm. I don't know. I don't know.

I wonder there's a lot of stuff sometimes that gets like according to IMDB, because sometimes it still doesn't happen, but right.

Yeah. There's there's thousands of movies that never happen.

Or sometimes it does happen and it's Greenland too. Not good.

Or sometimes things are in production hell for you know 20 plus years, and then they try and cram all seven books of the Dark Tower into a 90-minute YA movie.

Not a good idea.

No. My god, that uh Dark Tower, seriously. I f I remember following the production of that just as the rights changed from person to person over like 20 years, and that was the version that finally got greenlit.

Flanagan will fix it. Don't worry.

Yeah. I in Flanagan we trust. Yes. Always. Well, isn't he uh doing Carrie first? Yeah, he is.

That's coming out soon.

Which has never been done before. They there hasn't been like five remakes of Carrie already.

I don't think we've seen one done like this because Flanagan always brings something that makes his vision unique. And honestly, Samantha Sloyan, is it Samantha Sloyan?

Mm-hmm.

She was born to play Carrie White's mother.

Oh, I mean 100%.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's got to get his like remakes of of fun stuff out of the way first. He's got the Carrie one, he's got his Exorcist coming out, and then and then he'll get to his Dark Tower stuff after that, hopefully. This has been flanagan talk. Yes. We need a flanagan section in every episode, honestly. I feel like it would be okay.

It's not a bad idea. So it's the flanagan section of from Buffalo Buffalo on Run for Your Lives. Yes. Got it.

Yeah, we will bring the two of you back on for the flanagan section every episode. Just for that part. Perfect.

Honestly, you could release a 15-minute flanagan episode every week. Yes. Right? I mean, there's something to talk about every time.

Yes. Where were we? Whose turn was it? I don't remember.

It is Chef's turn. I don't know how much I have left. Like, I barely had points to begin with. And we've kind of talked about every aspect of the movie that I have anything to say about. Um, I've been trying honestly, I've been trying to like rack my brain for something else to talk about. Um, I I I think that for for me, just and I'm using this to kind of sum up a little bit, for me, the two biggest things of the movie were the 50s homage and the Reaganomics of it all, you know? Um so yeah, I don't know if I have anything really more. I I will say that I liked the movie. I didn't think it was that great. Like, you know, I mean it was it was it was silly, and I mean I know that's what it was that's what it was supposed to be. But yeah, I I I thought it was an okay movie, generally. That's about all I think. Just okay. Just okay.

I've still got so many just like random notes, but like the last kind of point. Well, we've talked about a lot of things like it was in circles anyway, but the last like main point to talk about, but then I've got way more notes. Uh but the resistance themselves, it was kind of a cool idea that I feel like they could have fleshed out more. But anyway, because like it's such a big deal at the very beginning of the movie, where it's very this mysterious, you know, you're getting the warnings from the blind street preacher and then the bearded guy on the TV that's just very mysterious. And they're giving this same speech of, you know, there's something insidious living among us that's definitely like warmed its way in, and we've got to watch out. And then when Nada realizes the broadcast is coming from the church across the street, and then this guy, Gilbert, who I guess was kind of like the leader of the encampment, or at least he was like a big part of it, uh, is involved and he's helping all, you know, with that, and he gets over there and there's the glasses and all the stuff. And I think it's kind of funny, is then after, you know, it all gets broken up, and then we have the street fight between Nada and Frank, and then they were at the hotel, and they're like, We've gotta we've gotta figure out if there's other people in the glasses gang still out there, you know? If there's people still there, because we've got to team up and we've got to figure out what to do. It's like we've gotta we gotta find Gilbert and preacher guy and beard guy and the other guy and hangnail guy. Uh and so it's like, how are we gonna find them? They've spread to the wind, and then literally next scene, I was like, oh, it was super easy, barely an inconvenience. Uh Gilbert just finds them instead, quite quickly, in fact. He's just like, oh, by the way, there's a meeting. Come. And you're like, okay, moving on the next scene.

The uh Resistance Grapevine was very active because there were, I thought, quite a few people at that meeting. Although I think that Gilbert was disappointed.

There were, but actually, this is something that I forgot I wanted to talk about was kind of the ineptness of the resistance, where Gilbert was like, why are there not more people here? It's like, well, I mean, you your main thing is standing having a homeless guy stand on a street corner screaming that there, you know, that there's you know something out there. Like that's very vague.

Maybe you should start like putting sunglasses on people. Let's pick the most ignored person on the planet and have them be the vocal piece.

Exactly. It's like you guys have this magical object that allows you to see the world for what it is. Like, why are you not getting those sunglasses out there so that you know just go up to random people? Hey, can you put these on for me kind of thing? You'll eventually get people. Most people are not going to get into a five-minute drag out street fight to work.

Hey, put these glasses on. I'm like, I gotta punch you in the face a bunch, okay.

And yet that street fight is like the most one of the most recognizable things about this movie. If you mention they live, you go straight to that street fight.

Or the glasses and the Now I just gotta Hey, do you want to put these glasses on? Are you trying to say you want to punch me in the face several times?

I do like the fact that that sounds a lot like daddy magic.

I do like the fact that Roddy, when he put the sunglasses on, apparently turned into a blind person. He was like, I mean, I know it's like from his perspective, he's looking around because he's, you know, looking at all the different signs and all this kind of stuff. But just as you see him walking down the street, he's just like wandering. He just looks like, you know, it's just like all over the place, just kind of.

But then, yeah, they had a lot of big setup at this resistance meeting. Men, women, and children. Uh it kind of was just like I think they just took all the people that were in the homeless camp population and went, well, Rick, you're also in this building now in this scene.

Well, I mean, they were all probably in the resistance anyway. I mean, that's probably where they recruited most of their members was from that encampment.

Uh, and then you hear them over like while they're talking, if they talk about safe houses, memorize all these safe houses, and they have all these places. So it seems like a really big production. It's like they've found a way to upgrade to contact lenses, and they've got all these guns, and they've got all this like equipment. And so you're like, oh man, this final battle between the resistance and the aliens is gonna be great. Or not, or the whole thing goes up in flames, literally so abruptly. So never mind, they're all gone now. Um, just up to these two. Cool. Yeah.

And they just create a hole in the ground to jump into. It made me think of Rick and Morty.

Now that's thinking with portals. I mean, so that was my last official point, but like I said, I after we circle back around, I can just run through any leftover notes, just kind of.

Um, so we have talked about him a couple of times, and I kind of wanna um just briefly talk about the messaging with the bearded man. Um he said a lot of things that I felt like would be true to you know, hear on TV right now. I mean, messages of this is what's going on, and people don't always want to hear that. Things like they're dismantling the sleeping middle class. More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle, we are being bred for slavery. Um the wall, even um, in the little in the church, they live, we sleep. Because it's almost making yeah, everyone is just being numbed into sleepiness or into submission.

And we need to be woke. Woke culture needs to just absolutely do need to wake up.

Yeah, and when you're talking about like sleeping, is like you see all these people just like like mesmerized by their TV, just staring at which of if you were to remake it now, would just be everybody walking while staring at their phones.

Yes.

I guess honestly, I'm predicting if this possibly in-production remake version does happen, that scene will be whoever is playing this Nada or lead character putting on the glasses and seeing all the people on their cell phones on the sidewalk just staring at a white screen that says obey on it or something like on their phone. And like it's gonna be the phone screen. Stay distracted. You know? Yeah.

Yep. Yeah. Their messaging that was on the TV with the bearded man, a lot of times it was saying the same things in different ways. Because he also said, the poor and the underclass are growing, racial justice and human rights are non-existent, they have created a repressive society, and we are their unwitting accomplices. And it just continued throughout, where he was just constantly saying things, you know, look at the environment we live in, carbon dioxide, fluorocarbons, and methane have increased since 1958. Earth is being acclimatized, they are turning our atmosphere into their atmosphere. But if you hear that coming through on a TV over and over, all of these things, you you're just like, well, this guy's gotta be crazy because this doesn't make sense. Like, no, this isn't really happening. Um and then there was another guy credited as scruffy blonde man who said, Our projections show that by the year 25, uh, by the year 2025, not only America, but the entire planet will be under the protection and dominion of this power alliance. The gains have been substantial both for ourselves and for you, the human power elite. It's the guy that was speaking, I think, at the big dinner. You know, I feel like we could hear that now. I mean, it's 2026.

Yeah, how are y'all feeling a year into that now?

Yeah. Yeah.

Honestly, I think that they were pessimistic on how long it would take. It was much quicker than twenty twenty five.

Yeah.

I mean it was like dangling a carrot out in front of them. Just a little money would get them to sign over everything, like to be part of something. And in some cases it may have been self-preservation, but I think in a lot of cases it was greed. People just, you know, wanted more. And I mean, we all want more. We'd all like to have more money and more stuff, but if it comes at the expense of humanity, where do you draw the line? Yeah. So the I mean the messaging just some of it made sense, and some of it I was like, you're really saying that, and it really seems like it's it may not come across the way that you want it to, because it's just inferring crazy things that people may find hard to believe. Like we could be pets, we could be food, but all we are is all we really are is livestock. I mean, you think about that, it's like like lambs to the slaughter. Is that what we are? And then you get you give people money to take care of them and they can have things and a better life, but in the end they're gonna end up in the same place as everyone else. Like it's just a temporary um moratorium on your end result. It kinda reminds me of that thing where people say, well, first they came for this person, then they came for this person, then they came for this person, and then they came for me, and there was no one left to stand up. It's it's kind of the same thing. We're reading very deep into this movie, which is very campy and kind of hilarious at times. But the message underneath it.

Yeah, and I mean that was honestly a lot of your 50s horror movies were about the Cold War and about you know, fear of you know nuclear weapons and that kind of thing. So there's there's always been a uh you know, a history of taking very deep and scary subjects and making campy horror movies about them.

Yeah. Yeah. Even today, today is very modern movies that have come out in the last year or two have really found that uh formula again in a really cool way.

Yeah. I mean, the Greater Signal made me think of Pontypool and how it made people crazy. But it affects people like the headaches and stuff. It's just all part of this overconsumption, I think, of things just being in your face. That was really my point. I honestly, for Maldehydeface, that was probably my I mean, even more than all of the other lines from Maldehyde Face.

That's a good one.

Was a good one. Jerry, do you have any notes?

Um, I went through all my notes.

Okay. And Jeff, do you have any notes?

I think I'm pretty clear. Yeah.

Alright. Okay.

I'll let Peik go.

Tear through what I've got left. Uh okay. So let's see what to start with. I think more kind of just in general stuff with Nada. I mean, first yeah, we talked about, you know, Raddy Roddy Piper, Hot Rod, R.I.P., the greatest wrestling heels of all time. So it's good to I can see him as Nada rolling into LA, nothing but the pack on his back, looking for work. He meets and works with a bald Keith David named Frank, who takes him to this homeless encampment, uh, which I really thought, uh, you know, we say there's like manual labor, wandering, uh, wrestling. He plays harmonica. He's a real Renaissance man. Uh, after the church is ransacked and cleared, he goes in there, but he does remember the one hiding place that he found, and he finds the one box of sunglasses that's there, and I was like, ah, it was all a Ray-Ban bootlegging racket. Clearly, that's what was going on here. Yeah. But then he takes them and he's like, well, I've got to put them somewhere. I was like, oh yes, trash can in an alley. The perfect hiding spot for something. Definitely nobody's gonna come and take that, especially not on a regularly scheduled day and time for sure. And so I made that note when it happened. And so later I go, oh no, the box of glasses was emptied out of the trash. Who could have ever seen that coming besides me earlier in the movie?

You just have to make sure that you get there exactly one minute after they pick it up. Yeah.

So then you're good.

Yeah.

And apparently that garbage truck had picked up a box of sunglasses and 500 pounds of confetti.

It was a big party right down the street.

That was it.

That was honestly, that was the cleanest garbage truck in the history of LA.

Yeah, and then and then as it drives away, you know, he had tipped it up to get in. And then it tips up and then drives away with a thing tipped up. Drives up with the thing tipped up.

I don't I didn't understand why they did that.

Like that seemed so that he would be emptied out on the street.

Yes. For the movie could happen. So the movie could happen. Okay. Uh, which then like I'll cut over to Holly, is as we meet Holly, which was like, that's one way to get into a woman's home, you know? Hold her at gunpoint and tell have her drive you there. Uh it's a great method, dating tips with Run for Your Lives. Uh I will say, I think that method still ranks higher than open your mouth, I want to throw up in it. Just at least by a little bit. Um, so that's how we meet Holly and her neighbors, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Lieutenant Dangle.

You know, I wondered, and I didn't get to look it up, but I thought they have to be wrestlers.

I don't know who those were. That's just I was. You don't?

Oh my gosh. I thought that they might be wrestlers, honestly.

I'm just making jokes of who they looked like. It wasn't Lieutenant Dangle because definitely that's too early for him. Uh Thomas Linden was not in doing stuff back in the world.

But they look like wrestlers. Like they've got they had the vibe. I don't know who they were either. I thought uh you know what? I thought Roddy Piper just said, hey, you want to come be in a movie with me?

Um I'd have. I don't know. I couldn't who who would who how would you know who they were cast in there? Because we if you try to look for them in the credits, how do you know who they are?

Um I believe they were credited as guy wearing shirt.

And guy nearby guy wearing shirt.

Exactly. Uh you know, they're not. There's no one there. Like, I'm looking it up on IMDb right now.

The credits were extremely limited. Yeah. And extremely vague.

Yeah.

And then we we get Holly playing the well, now I have a crazy person in my house. How do I keep calm? Game. Which, yeah, and then as I say, like, uh how else do you react? Like, I won't hurt you, I just need to get away from the place that I killed several cops and held hostage and holding you hostage in your home. Uh but which goes, I'm thirsty. And then I was like, Well, if you're thirsty, champagne is not the way to go. That's not a good choice.

Uh I thought the same thing. And I was like, why are you going for champagne then?

But but it was a good choice for staying calm while being held hostage in your home and preparing the nerve and opportunity to yeet some jacked dude out of your window.

So I guess Yeah, because the the whole, you know, sh she must have weighed all of what his light does, and she can't.

Yeah. But then you're just seeing him, like, as he finally crawls down, and then he's like it pans to the glasses sitting on the floor. It's like, ah, I hate that moment when I fall two stories into a hill and then roll the rest of the way down, miraculously avoiding any serious injury, only to realize that I left my magic glasses in a TV executive's house. It's a real bummer every time that that happens to me. And then the cops are on your way, so you know, what are you gonna do? First rule problems, am I right? And yeah, I think it goes back, and the box of glasses are emptied into a garbage truck, as obviously they would be. And yeah, we talked about the one-liners and stuff. Talk about Holly. Uh Frank Frank has a line early in the movie. I like the, you know, the golden rule. Whoever holds the gold makes the rules. Which is always a good one. And I like that saying now that did not originate from this movie. I've heard that one several times. It was it there was a line in the fall of the House of Usher. Also, it was in Aladdin.

That's the one I was gonna say was Aladdin. Yeah.

But it seems the likely origin, which is also in House of Usher, what they attribute it to. I think it was Mark Hamill's character. Might have been. It's been a little while. But either way, it is attributed to that. It also could have been the other guy. Um But it's uh possi most likely originated in an issue of Wizard of Id from 1964. Huh.

Oh.

Interesting.

That's a cartoon.

Yeah, it's a like a comic strip.

Yeah.

Wouldn't be an issue, it would be just like in the newspaper.

Or a strip, yeah. Yeah, but like a yeah, episode? I don't know. What do you what would you refer to as like one single week of a comic strip? Just a strip. A strip, yeah. But yeah, Wizard of Id, but uh a 64 edition might be the likely origin for that one.

Uh kind of tracks for Wizard of Id. Yeah, it just it seems like something that would be better.

Yeah.

Again, go back to the street fight leading up to it. I do have to say though, whenever Frank tosses the money and it goes right into the box of glasses, I was like, damn, what a shot. Uh just and then I was like, if that money into cardboard box shot was like if that was on TikTok today, then we would have had minutes of a couple of preteens just screaming and jumping around, going, yo, oh my god, no way, no way, let's go. Yeah. Trick shots. Um, then Frank called you crazy mother, and I was like, man, that should be insulting, but we already know he refers to himself as mama, so that's probably actually endearing to him. Uh yeah, we talked about clearing the camp out. As they're like, the the cops are beating people. I was like, I figure there's plenty of non-humans in this movie, but I didn't realize that beard guy was um also a balloon person. But if you listen to the sounds that the Billy Club makes when they hit him, that's the only explanation. It's like, yeah, he's part balloon. Uh maybe the blind preacher as well. Leave the balloons alone. They're trying to warn people of the dangers to come. Uh he tries on the sunglasses, so these are terrible sunglasses. They don't retain any color at all, and there's way too much exposure. No, not to the sun, but to the harsh realities of a capitalist society. But uh the black and white underlying world visual was cool. Uh you can see the people who are the aliens that have infiltrated. I guess the other clue, if you don't have the glasses, that they're all wearing fancy watches that they use like walkie-talkies. That could also be a good giveaway.

Oh yeah. He's in the alleyway. Oh my god.

See, and these would all be the Rolex watches that all the rich people wear.

Yeah. Yep. Uh, and then with that, I think that's all the notes I have. That's now good.

I have just a couple of things. First, John Carpenter scored this movie, and he was kind of inspired by the fact his dad was a music teacher. This isn't the only movie that he scored. He's actually scored a bunch more in the movie.

I didn't realize how many movies he had scored.

He scored quite a few. Not Halloween, but many of his other ones he has scored. He is, you know, he's incredibly influential and inspired so many of the directors and composers that we all love today. Um he was an inspiration to them. I don't know what the score was at the beginning, but I feel like it was not his theme, and it went throughout the whole movie, and it was sounded to me like anxious cowboy, like Wild West. Contemplative. Yeah. It was like, ugh. Yeah. Um this is only the second movie of his that we've covered. I can't believe it, because we're in the 250s now, and we've only ever covered Halloween, the original. We've not covered any of his other ones. And there are so many that we could cover. But we've already established that there are many movies on the list.

Yes.

The evergreen movies. I did want to say one thing, Daphne, because when you said that we're talking about his movies that he scored, um I had to double check it. He did score Halloween.

Yeah.

Not no, two and three he did, but not one.

I don't know. I I showed the sure because I always feel like that iconic theme is the John Carpenter Halloween theme. That's what my research tells me.

Uh your research. Who are you where are you looking?

Mr. Pedia. Wikipedia.

Uh Wikipedia, okay. He did do the soundtrack, I guess. That was not in there. I swear, Jeff, you just put that in there.

You just put that in. I've been doing that. I've been working on that for the last few years.

Well, he didn't do Halloween. I was like, I've lived my whole life going, no, that's the John Carpenter score. That theme is John Carpenter. So what? So I'm glad you said something because I was very much like that.

I don't think for me, I only found out, I only learned it yesterday, and that's why it was like fresh in my mind. Because when I was looking up stuff about the movie, I had no idea that he had scored so many movies, and I saw that he'd scored Halloween.

Well, that's delightful because I can't go back in time and fix that, so I'm gonna have to leave it in that you have corrected me. I'm so sorry that I corrected you.

I'm gonna have to if you want, we can switch it around where I say, well, at least he didn't score Halloween, definitely, right, Daphne?

No, no, no.

And then you correct me.

No, no. The only other thing I will say is the woman at the job center.

Oh, he's gonna be.

When she was talking to him, she reminded me so much of the woman in Betelgeuse who is welcoming the couple when they get to that center for deceased souls. Yeah. She she had that same amount of passion. There's nothing for you today. Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's it.

So we got everything. Well then, man, that's great. Uh thanks for coming on. It's so good to see you guys again. It's not like we see you guys on a very regularly regular basis.

It's been way too long. It really has. Yeah.

But at least it's always good to have you on this podcast. That's fun.

I know. We need to do it more often. Once every year, maybe, instead of once every two years.

I still have uh an idea for a more Buffalo type crossover for this podcast. Daphne might not survive it, but you want to tease that now, or I don't know. I think if anybody listens to Buffalo Buffalo, I I think I mentioned it on that. I think it's in the episode. Because it's when we did the movie game, that pitch storm game, that uh episode. Because I I bought a like creature feature, a horror movie like expansion pack that I didn't use then. Right. That you can pitch you could pitch creature feature movies to me, or we could do an episode on this podcast for that. Right. As like a little special episode.

You know what, Peg, that could be a lot of fun to schedule in.

Yeah. Maybe for easier work for us, and by us, I mean Daphne and Jeff mainly. Uh we could even just release that on both feeds for like an episode as of both podcasts.

That could be fantastic, honestly. Well, thank you guys for coming and hanging out with us.

Anytime.

Yeah. Oh, there goes the feedback phone. It's a different kind of feedback phone today, but uh it's a special one. Anyway, I'll uh we do have a good little bit of feedback this week. I'm excited to get to that. So, yeah, some fun ones here. I'll go ahead and kick it off uh Tony. Right on time this week, coming through. Uh says, I saw this a million years ago back when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I don't really remember it, but I'm looking to rediscover it through your eyes.

Yay! I hope you like it, Tony. It's a fun one. Mark. Hey Mark! One of my top five John Carpenter films. I loved covering it with Jamie Dimmick on Adrenaline Cinema Podcast way back when. I always wanted the cheap sunglasses for myself. Keith David is amazing in it, as well as Meg Foster, Peter Jason, and of course, Buck Flower. It still holds up with the fear in the movie, and in my opinion, should never be remade. Absolutely agreed. Something should be left alone.

Yeah. And again, as I said in the main part of the episode, bad news is it looks like somebody's trying to do it.

So get an original idea.

Make another Jurassic movie.

I will always take dinosaur movies. There's one coming out. It's not Jurassic. There is a movie coming out with dinosaurs, and I'm very excited.

We'll be all over that once it's once it's available.

Absolutely, we will.

Anyway, uh, Catherine says, I've recently been watching the movies covered by the Adrenaline Cinema podcast. Hey, another shout from Mark himself and then from the listener. Cool. Um and I watched They Live last week. So rather than watch it again, I rewatched the best scene, the fight between Nada and Frank. I have two requests for the next Buffalo Buffalo episode. Could everyone give their best read of the quote? I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum. And could I see a picture of Desmond the cat? He sounds awesome. Uh yeah, I think if you check the Buffalo Buffalo feed, at least on like Spotify or something, I think the a recent episode thumbnail or like may like picture has Desmond in it. If that editing got done right, I don't know for sure.

If it did or if it didn't, check again soon because that might happen.

I like that idea. And I think that I'm gonna turn it into a minigame. It's gonna be like uh make some noise, like uh what is the what is the mini-game they play on make some noise, where it's just like give it to me more, give me a little more, do it this way, do it that way. I think I might have to do it that way. I might have to go with that.

Oh my gosh.

Take some direction, that's what that is. Yeah.

Um Catherine, that's great. We'll make that happen for you.

Yeah, by the time we get around to doing it and then that episode comes out, it's probably gonna be a month or so from now. But yeah, keep listening.

Um Harrison wrote in and said, This movie was so present.

And then the last one here comes from Connor, says, Can't wait for this. Haven't seen this classic in years.

Hope you like it, Connor. And let us know once you've re-watched it. Give us your thoughts on it.

Yeah.

If you'd like to do that, like any of the folks who've sent in feedback this week, which we did have a bunch, so it's good. Thank you so much. You can find us on the Podcastica Discord server. We have a channel there just for Run for Your Lives. To submit your feedback, you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Run for Your Lives Podcast, or you can email us at RunFoyour Lives Podcast at gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show, tell your friends we're available on all of the podcast players, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and more. Go to RunFo Your Livespodcast.com for all the links you'll ever need, and give us a review on Apple Podcasts as that is the best way to share the love and get us out there even more. We really appreciate it.

Absolutely we do. And of course, speaking of sharing the love, now I gotta give those shout outs for things going on in the podcastica universe around us and beyond. Some great uh podcasts and stuff for you to check out. Of course, on the Walking Dead cast, uh Jason and Lucy joined by Robin this week, continuing on the Walking Dead rewatch. Season six, episode thirteen, available this week for you to go check out on that rewatch listening. So go check that out. Also, the Handmaid's Tale podcast, they covered all of Testaments season one, so you can go. Go and listen to that entire season episodes and feedback episodes and things like that on that on the Handmaid's Tale podcast feed. Plus, Daphne, you, Jason, and Wendy got to do something special that is now up there on that feed, and I'll let you plug that because that's cool.

Oh, yeah. So we were able to have a nice chat with the show runner for Handmaid's Tale and Testaments, Bruce Miller. He's always such a joy to talk to because he's so passionate about the story and the characters and weaving this tale and making it so impactful. And it was just fantastic to get to talk to him. And we really enjoyed this season of the testaments and are looking forward to what season two brings to us.

Yeah, so definitely go to that The Handmaid's Tale podcast to listen to their interview with Bruce Miller. Good time. Also, over on Wax Episodic, uh, the Severance coverage continues on. Season two, episode seven this week. Jason Caring running those down, so definitely check that out if you are a fan of Severance, or if you need a good excuse to finally get around to it and check it out. Their coverage is there, and you've got plenty of time to go back and listen to their previous coverage and the new episodes they still got coming up before a new season. So yeah, go check that out. Then the Star Wars TV cast has some stuff going on because of course the Mandalorian and Grogu is in theaters, and I did go see it, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But if you want to hear some thoughts, uh Rich, Chris, and Jason are over there on the Star Wars TV cast for covering that movie, so you can go get some coverage in chat about that over there. Let's go check that out. Of course, our good friends Penny, Becky, and Kara over on Still Slaying. Covering Angel, season two, episode two this week. Of course, that is the Buffyverse podcast that we love giving some shout-outs and stuff too. And of course, uh Penny will be on soon. No? Yes.

Yes, she will.

Timing. I was like, wait, what time? Where are we? What has come out yet? Yes.

It has not come out yet, but it's coming.

Yeah, we'll we'll have Penny. So there's a little heads up for you in a few weeks, a couple weeks, something like that. Uh Penny from Still Slang should be here on Run for Your Live. So we just go ahead and let you know that. Um, she's awesome. So uh go get to know her a little bit from Still Slang before she even pops up over here if you haven't listened to that. And of course, as I say, and beyond, outside of podcasts, you got some great stuff. Of course, Pirate Core Entertainment Podcast Network, our good friend Mark running that over there. Adrenaline Cinema, as he pointed out, and Catherine even pointed out, uh, is a podcast over there. Covers all kinds of action movies and things like that. A lot of great backlog of episodes he's done over there, including, of course, if you want some more they live coverage. Him and Jamie did that over there, as was pointed out. So go check that out. But also over on the Panels to Pixels podcast there, covering a lot of comic book adaptation kind of stuff and book adaptation. Uh Mark is joined by Steve and Dotie to cover Good Omens season three, which is really just a one-episode kind of feature-length, move film-length kind of episode. But it was great, wraps up the story really well, and you can check out their coverage of that on Panels to Pixels. TV Podcast Industries, some good friends of ours as well, also did that good omens episode. And they are covering uh Spider-Noir over there as well on Amazon Prime, so check that out. Then if you want more of me and Daphne and Jeff and Jerry that you heard in this episode as well, uh you you might have noticed the uh the vibe was a little different, but fun in this episode. A little goofier, a little sillier, a little more torturing, Daphne.

Uh always and forever.

So if you like that vibe, uh yeah, then you can check out the four of us on the Buffalo Buffalo podcast uh to get definitely that energy uh at an even higher rate, a higher dose. Uh we go absolutely nuts sometimes, but we have a good time with it. Uh playing games, making each other laugh, making Daphne question why she does the things that she does.

Always and forever. They do. They they yeah. They make it interesting for me. I know what I'm getting myself into, and then every week they continue to amplify it into something even bigger.

Mm-hmm. But yeah, go check out all that. Lots of great podcasts we listen to this week. In the meantime, you know, and then next week you can come right back here. We'll have a new, fresh, fun, run for your lives episode for you. Daphne, what are we doing next week?

Well, when a group of friends travels deep into the Amazon to remake their favorite cult movie, what begins as a nostalgic adventure quickly spirals into chaos. Faced with dangerous wildlife, mounting tensions, and a massive anaconda lurking in the jungle, they discover that some legends are far more real and deadly than they ever imagined. We are covering Tom Gormakon's 2025 film, Anaconda.

Yes, the 2025 new sequel, technically sequel. Uh with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Yeah. Um what a goofy movie, but it was a lot of fun, I think. So definitely check that out. It's on Netflix right now. You can give it a watch. Give us your thoughts and come back next week and we'll break that down for you.

Yeah, it's one of those movies that we perfectly planned it to fit in the calendar when we needed something that was not quite as intense as some of the others. Because we have tackled some films this season so far that are a bit more intricate when it comes to the discussion.

Yeah, and we have some coming up too.

So this gave us that little break where we could laugh a little bit more.

Yes, indeed.

And with that, we have reached the end of another fun episode of Run for Your Lives. Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Daphne.

And I'm Pate.

And if you have to run, you better run for your lives.

Obey. Consume. Bye bye.