294 SHIN OCTOHOBER!

294 SHIN OCTOHOBER!
We rejoin our intrepid travelers as they wind up their journey through a melancholy OcTOHOber, only to face a NEW threat as November looms!
Also discussed: Falling Stars, Joker: Folie à Deux, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2.

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Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? Somewhere between science and superstition. We have such sites to show you, strange eons. Welcome to strangeeons radio. That is Eric over there. Hello, that is Vanessa over there. Hello, and I am Kelly. As you can see, we are doing a zoom episode, I'm sure you darn too people and all their they do all the time on weekends. We'll get into a little bit of why we're doing that this time. But so this episode, I believe, is dropping on Halloween. So Happy Halloween, if you listen on Happy Halloween, Ooh, spooky and and this time of month is a little tough for me sometimes, and I it got me thinking about somebody who had passed away many years ago. My my very best friend from high school was named Jeff Tolliver, and he he was a couple years older than me, and he got me into every geeky thing that I'm into. He got me into comic books, and he got me into dungeons and dragons and, you know, and so I thought he was pretty cool. Looking back, I'm like, What a fucking nerd this guy was, but he was a couple years older, so he was very cool. And I was just, I was struck. I've been kind of melancholy, and I've been thinking about people who have passed. And I was really struck by, you know, how cool some of the things are that he would have really loved, that he missed out on, like the Avengers movies. The first Avengers movie, he would have fucking loved that. By the end of Infinity Gauntlet, his brain would have exploded, you know, that was his very favorite comic, and stuff like that. And it got me thinking about Dungeons and Dragons. Eric, when was the last time you played Dungeons and Dragons. You remember my roommate, Michael? Yeah, yeah. He had a friend of his. This is kind of a melancholy story, too, but he was dying of AIDS, and one of his final wishes was to do some gaming. He did some horror games, and we did some D and D, that would have been the last time, and that was, he was really good, too, holy shit. But that was, that was, you know, like, Okay. And then Vanessa, were you ever into dungeons and dragons or any of the role playing games? No, unfortunately, my high school boyfriend played it, and every weekend, he would play it with his friends, and I would have to sit in the corner and watch, and I grew to hate it. And then I did eventually get to play it one time later on in life, and I was like, Oh, this is actually kind of fun. Too bad I wasn't invited. Why? Why were you there and not allowed to play? Everybody wants more players. They had. The group had been going for a very long time, and you know, it was I just didn't fit in. So I would just sit there doing algebra. It's fine. The story just got way sadder. I'm sorry. I was bitter about it for a long time, but now I'm my heart is open. I love that it exists. I love that people play it. It's an awesome thing all around. Use your imagination, yay. Well, I was given Dungeons and Dragons by my mom one Christmas at the height of the Satanic Panic too. So clearly she didn't care. Nice. She was just like, whatever. Sell your soul, I don't care. And Jeff Tolliver was the one who showed me how to play it. And then we would get together with a couple of other friends, Charlie and his brother, Roy, and Neil would join us sometimes. And so it was five, you know, adolescent boys on a weekend playing Dungeons and Dragons, you know. And it would start at about five in the afternoon, and then we'd go until five, six in the morning, you know, cooled on on Pepsi and Oreo cookies and Doritos. And it was, I remember it being so fun and so filthy as you can imagine. You know, the the last time I played Dungeons and Dragons, I was probably 16, maybe so. So this was a bunch of nerdy boys at their grossest playing Dungeons and Dragons and all this stuff. And I was. Reminded of this, because now I'm gonna segue right into what I watched. The latest season of The Legend of Vox Machina is out. Yes, I started watching it and I finished it, and the audacity of this fucking show to bring tears to my eyes at the end of the season and make me care this much about cartoon elves and halflings and shit like that. I was just like, How dare you at my lowest moment, you bring these kind of memories back. But that goddamn show is so good, and the voice acting is so great. I've just fallen in love with these voice actors. Everybody is so amazing. The stories are really, really compelling and interesting. And I decided to just dig a little bit on this. So did you guys know that that this had all started? Of course, the Vox machinas, because they're all voice actors, and they Kickstarter their first season of the audio that they were doing and that they were trying to raise, I think it said something like they were trying to raise $7,500 and they raised something like 100,000 Oh, my God. And they realized, Oh, we might have something here. That's a critical role, folks. Yeah, that's the critical role, although they were called something else back then. Oh, okay, they got so big that they left that thing and became critical role. And that's when they started the cartoon. And I, I looked into it, the guy who plays Grog, the huge barbarian who talks really stupid and everything, that's the CEO of critical role. He's the guy who has done all of this stuff to make it happen. Wow. And, and I was just so fascinated by him, of course, he's, you know, 12 years younger than me, and a multi millionaire, and on all sorts of various animated programs and stuff like that. And I just, I walked away from this show going, you know, this is, this is what you're supposed to be aiming for, if you're a creative person, yeah, get, you know, get your friends together, do this kind of stuff, put out something that's as good as you possibly can, and then somehow make it work. And it just really inspired me. And I was just blown away. This new season is amazing. The death of a major character had me, you know, angry. I was like, What the fuck. Why? None of these people are supposed to die? How dare you? So, I know that you like it, Eric, and I think that you watch it also. Vanessa, right? I have never seen it, but it always sounded really interesting. Oh, I think you'd love it because it is funny and filthy and Dungeon the dragons, I would Yeah, it sounds awesome. So has this made you watch any critical role then at all, or just the cartoon? No, this. This just happened. This just finished. Last Friday was the final episode of this, and I've been I've just had my head down, writing constantly. And so watching anything seems like a luxury right now, but this show, I don't know why, it grabbed me so much. And I'm just like, All right, everybody, take a break. I'm watching the legend of Vox Machina, which is on Prime there's now, I believe this is the fifth season, the fourth but so, so I had one of those show hangovers where it ended, and I was like, oh my god, what am I going to watch? The new episode from isn't out evil is over. You know, I fucking started at the beginning again. I just went back to Vox Mac in a season one, episode one, and that was really wild, because the difference in the animation is kind of startling. It's like, Wow, you guys were relatively broke when you started this show, and now the animation in this new season is just gorgeous. So that's what I watched. Was the legend of Vox Machina. And I urge you all, if you you know, you know me, I don't love watching cartoons. This is just spectacular storytelling, nice, um, well, to kind of piggyback off of that, I was going to talk about venom. But there really isn't anything to say about that. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk about I watched um Over the Garden Wall, which for years I thought was over the hedge or whatever, like, I thought it was that like cartoon works, cartoon but no, it's like a totally, it's like a cartoon network, 1c Season 10 episode. Each episode is like 13 minutes long or something, and it is the most Halloween shit of all time. It's beautifully animated. It's got like a crazy, weird story. It's very funny, just it has a cult following, and you can see why, but I think it's going to become a October regular watch for me now, because it just is so encompassing of that kind of creepy fall feeling. What was that called? Again, it's called Over the Garden Wall. Can you? Can you tell us a little bit more like about the story I've never even heard Yeah, no. It starts off with two boys, two brothers, wandering through the woods lost, trying to find their way home. And they meet a woodsman who basically says, there's a monster out here. You need to take cover. And they're like, We don't trust you, old man, and proceed to then have an encounter with a version of a monster. And each episode is kind of like them traveling, still trying to find home, and going from one weird town and meeting one weird set of people to another. At one point, they walk into a town where everybody's like a pumpkin, like they all have, like, these old pumpkin heads, and there's straw bodies, and they're having a big festival, and you're like, Oh, God, they're gonna kill them. There's always, like, a creepy feeling to things, but it's usually not quite what you expect. Wow. Wow. That sounds cool. Yeah, it does. And, and what did you watch that on? Um, so that was free on Hulu. Oh, cool. Slash, Disney, slash, ESPN plus, slash plus. They're all the same. Now, pretend like they're not, but they are. So I frequently say this. This may be the most true time I've ever said this, I watched something completely different from what you watched years and years ago. When I first discovered scarecrow after moving from a desert of video options, I kind of went, let's find the wildest shit that's been made the most over the top, stuff like, you know, at the time, it was necromantic and man bites dog and shit like that. And there's one I heard about, but I'd never been able to see, called begotten, which is a 1990 May. I think it's 1990 made film, and hasn't been available on video at all that I know of, but is, of course, now on YouTube, in its completely uncut form. And this is nuts. This ranks is one of the more art house looking films I've ever watched. The entire thing is this wild over done, black and white film that the guy had such a hard time. Oh, this is directed by the guy who directed shadow of a vampire too later on, but he went to houses to develop the the film, and they just kept messing it up. They couldn't do what he wanted to so he finally got some place that would let him adjust it himself so he could get the black and white look he wanted. And it is. It's weird. The story, well, it begins with the character that's supposed to be God, apparently. And it's the death of God, which is God cutting his guts out with a straight razor for four or five minutes and spawning, I think Mother Earth, who then uses his dead body to impregnate herself and give birth to this weird kind of person who spends most of the movie thrashing around covered in what looks like weird, like He's a mud covered or oatmeal covered, and then creatures come along and bash him in and then destroy her. It's a lot, luckily, it's only like an hour long, but it is a it. It does not it stands up to its reputation as being really a difficult watch and really hard to understand. Afterwards I went and I was like, let's watch some stuff about this. Watched a YouTube video, and the guy's like, well, I can't really actually describe to you even everything that happens in this show, because I don't think YouTube would let me and so yeah, Bucket List movie, I guess, which I will recommend to virtually no one. If you like the extreme, weird shit, you gotta see it if you have no interest in. Per art house or weird stuff. Just don't bother because it is wild. It's called begotten. Yes, I think it's 1990 Oh, weird, yeah, very I think I read about it. And do you remember the magazine back then called film threat. I should do that magazine. I think that probably where I read about it. That sounds about right, yeah, okay, I've got, I've got a number of films listed here that I saw that I'd like to talk about all of them, but I think I'm going to talk about falling stars. Vanessa, okay, you actually watched it. I have seen it as well. Whoa, all, right. I really, really liked this film. Yeah, I thought it was super interesting that I boy, I don't want to give anything away. Let me just say that this is a this is a story about a world where falling stars are being used somehow by witches to come to earth, and we are in a very small story that takes place in that world. So it's brothers who know where a buried witch is, and they're going to check it out. This is a story that it rests on its dialog and acting, because there are very few special effects. And the special effects there are probably night sky effects and things like that. Yeah. So, I mean, I will just say, if you, if you go in hoping you're going to get some witch action, you might be very disappointed. But I, I I actually really liked it, although the more I thought about it, the more I was like, come on, you guys, you couldn't have shown us just a little bit of the witch at this one point, or something like that. I and I wanted, I had so many questions about the rest of the world, and I I was just, I don't know, I think, I think I ended it, and I reached out to Bronzo and said, I just watched this, and I really liked it, but I I hesitate recommending this, since it's a rental and and he watched it, he had the same feelings I had. What about you, Eric, I thought it was really interesting that it's that rare thing where you see something that feels fairly original, and the concept was original. The story was a story, but it was so well told, and the people were so layered and interesting. You know, they they started off being a certain way, and they didn't lose that, but at the same time, they added to it, which I think is such a hard thing to do in characters and films to where you they're growing, but they're not becoming something they're not, you know, but I really like it. Yeah, and Vanessa, you were the one who first saw this in the theater? Yes, if I remember, this was, like, your favorite thing you saw. It was definitely in the top three. I really enjoyed it. I saw that Fantastic Fest, and it was just such a cool, weird, little indie like, I think that there's a few moments where they could have cut down some of the script a little bit. There's a monolog that happens somewhere near the end from the one of the moms, right? Whereas, like, it could have just been a hit shorter, but, yeah, just using the most out of the spaces they have, which are not very many, and giving you an entire sense of a world just through that is, I don't know that's such an almost impossible task. I really liked this movie a lot. I'm glad it's fun distribution, for sure. The performances are really, really strong, and there's enough there that I think if you're a horror fan, you will at least walk away going, I guess this is a horror movie, but it's not, it's not gory or even really that scary. It's just super interesting. Yeah, I'm so glad you guys like this. Yeah, that was a rental on prime, I guess. Well, I'm gonna talk about a movie that I can't possibly recommend to anybody. Joker full adu. I. Want so bad to just say why it is that this movie pisses so many people off because there's a very specific reason, and everyone who's mad about it has every right to be mad about it. So justified. I I didn't particularly like this film, partly in that it claims it's like a musical, but they let the actors sing very flatly and add a key, and they don't really go into that fantasy world very often, and even when they do, they're still singing poorly. Lady Gaga said she had to forget to like, how to sing for this film? Yeah. So you're not getting like, whatever the musical element is. It starts with an animation that I fucking hated. It's just but at the same time, like it's made by somebody who knows what they're doing, everything is on purpose. Nothing's like a mistake. So it's a very purposeful decision every step along the way. It's just that decision might happen to be fuck everybody who's watching this. So this is not much different from what I've heard from other people, although there, I know there are a few people who are out there championing this, but some people like it, you know, it's contrarians. Yeah, I would say, like, if you think about it, like I've gotten less mad over time because I was pissed. I was like, What the fuck did I just see? But over time, I've softened on it a little bit, just because, you know, it's, it's got some interesting stuff to say. I just, I don't know. Man, I don't know. I don't I never like it when a filmmaker is specifically telling me to go fuck myself when I pay to see their art. So not my not my favorite experience. Well, I saw that it's already got a home release date, so check it out. Please. Only if you want to be mad, just be aware. Sounds fun. Warning. Take heed. If you're a fan of anything in that universe, you're gonna be pissed. So Joker Aria, don't bullet do not. Well I, I was surprised by a film this week. Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey too. Okay, the first, the first movie, is beyond awful. It's almost irredeemably crappy. This one's not the it's the same director, but he went and got somebody else to write it with him, and it all focuses very strongly on Christopher Robin and his after the end of the first movie, he is now considered unproven, but considered the person who did all the killings in the 100 Acre Woods. So now he's trying to deal with that, trying to get a job, trying to do some stuff. Owl is fucking cool. Actually, it's the owl makeup is just ridiculous. And I don't know it was fun and it was still had the blood and weirdness, the makeup is all a lot better. I still, still think the Winnie the Pooh has a bizarrely small head. But, you know, the two new characters, they're in the posters, so they're not hiding them. I think it's Tigger. So Tigger is now in there. And the the idea is they're going to prove what happened or not. So a whole bunch of people go in to find if those creatures are really there, and the storyline fits, as opposed to just a bunch of idiots walking through the woods. There's a reason for the people to go into the woods. There's a reason, uh, who and them are taking them out. I don't know what these guys did. Maybe they called up, hey, you know John Jacobson. He used to have that film school. Can you teach us how to write a story? I it's it's still really awfully rated, and it's still really not great. But the step up from one to two is really ridiculously impressive. So do you have to have seen the first one to enjoy the second one? Oh my Yes, it is so vitally important. No, okay. So I don't want to like that one, but if you haven't seen the first one, the second one's going to suck. Part of the reason the second one's good, it is so much better than the first one. Doesn't mean it's good. It is just so much better than the first. Feel like I don't need this in my life. No, you probably don't much. These are the kind of movies that the 100 Days of horror sometimes pops up. It's like, ah, peacock streaming it. No fee, no rental, fine. I'll check it out. Eric, you are the sacrificial lamb in all instances. I know you will see it no matter what, much, much like The Godfather two or The Empire Strikes Back. It's that rare sequel that is somehow better. Yeah, original, classic. If you look on the letterbox ratings, I think it's what is it? One out of five stars, four stars. It went from a 1.1 to a 2.20 my goodness, whoa. Double 100% better. Well, exactly. I mean, how about we take a break? We all beat Erica for making sure that nobody ever trusts this podcast again. Movie suggestions. And then when we come back, we're going to be doing our last week of Toho films. You. This warehouse contains 100,000 props, all centrally managed using icy chips you preparations are complete, and it is time for the first day of filming. A ceremony is held at the Hiraoka shrine on the grounds to pray for the safety of the cast and crew and the success of the film. The Post Production Center provides everything necessary to finish the movie, including an editing room and dubbing stage. All of the facilities at Toho studios are connected with high speed image transmission networks, a key part of producing films for The Digital Age The world continues to evolve and change, but there are some things we must never forget, the proud traditions and accomplishments of Toho studios and the passion for film that inspired everyone who worked here. Toho Studios is built and designed for filmmakers ready to support you from The beginning to end. This is who we are. You. Hello. Let's see who's called the strange eons radio hotline. Hello there. This is strange eons radio hotline, from the wild New Jersey to a common lodge ever and all points between and beyond. This is Mike debroso, the voice of strange eons and the strange eons hotline we're being in the signal across the world, the strange eons faithful, many miles out tonight, the warm hello. And keep a watch out for that latest episode of The Amityville Horror Picture Show dollhouse. Eric Kelly and myself watch it so you don't have to always remember when there's no more room left in hell. Another shot on video movie with Amityville in the title. It escapes into the world. Now, in the meantime, relax me and call me. Maybe I'll answer question about the show. Probably not. Maybe Vanessa and the boys will. You never know, but here's that, number 1-253-237-4266, call me if you'd like to call the strange eons radio hotline. Dial 253-237-4266, nobody hangs up on me. And we have returned. We're back. This is like a well oiled machine. You guys, after 294, episodes, we've got this down. We know what we're doing. So we are still in October, which is Toho films, and this is the last week of it. And I think, Vanessa, it's your turn to go first, I guess. So I'm, I'm so sad, by the way, because I've just really enjoyed this. So I don't know what we could possibly do to top it, but regardless, always next October. Oh, that's true. All right. I'm getting my I'm getting my notes within my screen, and is the timer going? Oh, five minutes. Hey, it's there. Awesome. So I Yay. I went with them. I've been choosing a lot of Toho horror films just because it's been October, so I want to include them in my October for viewings. And I went with 1998 ring you. You know Daddy, uh, which has a really high Rotten Tomato score, 98% tomato. 81% popcorn budget, 1.5 million. Box Office, 19.5 it smashed it. Um, directed by Hideo Nakata, who has several horror pieces. He did Ring, ring you, ring two, dark water and then the ring two, which is different, written by Hiroshi Takahashi, who did the recent Juwan origins TV series, starring just among others, her Hiroyuki Sanada, who we just saw in Shogun as Yoshi. He's also in just a ton of other stuff, like John Wick, chapter four, sunshine, Wolverine. Plot so to moku and Masami are having a sleepover, gossiping about boys to mo Go's boy, and especially to moco, his boyfriend on a recent camping trip, Emma saw me, tries to spook her out by telling her an urban legend about a video tape that curses its viewers and they die seven days after they see it. After getting a foreboding call to moco very seriously, replies that something strange happened at the cabin they saw weird tape, but then she laughs and says she's just kidding, except for she's not, because as soon as Masami leaves the room, Tomoko is so scared by something that she dies. Ryoko, Tomoko, aunt, is a journalist who's investigating this urban legend. By coincidence, she learns that. Only did Tomoko die, but three of her friends on that trip died, so she goes to the cabin where they stayed, finds the tape, then watches it, and of course, she gets a phone call. Her countdown begins. She has seven days. She enlists her ex husband, Ryu, to help her out. He just happens to be psychic, so that's helpful, because we now have to follow a lot of visions, rumors and history lessons to get to the bottom of the evil spirit inhabiting these tapes. And how to calm her the hell down? If anyone's seen any ring, anything you know? The answer is you can't. But it's a bit hokey. I don't think it's nearly as scary as the American remake, but I do like seeing the monster the creation, like they did a great job with it. Uh, there's some confusing stuff in here. For example, the the phones ringing, but only if you're in the cabin, and they don't make that clear until, like, almost at the end of movies. So you're like, Why are these people not getting phone calls when they're watching this tape. It's pretty there's a scene where there's like, a well, and I think it's pretty creepy and good. So, yeah, love the guy from Shogun. He plays the psychic husband. He's fucking awesome, like, he steals the whole show. I'm just like, yes, every time he's in this on screen. I need to know more, a little bit of trivia. It was created after moderate success of the 1991 novel ring and adapted into the film. It was then made into a 1995 made for TV film later re edited and released on home video under a new title, ring Ken saben, which is bringing the complete edition between the book and the film. They changed a lot of the genders and swapped a lot of roles around the production. Eight took eight months in one week, of which five weeks was shooting. So it was a very quickly made film, Sudoku, movements, the spirit performed. The actress performs a lot of kabuki theater, so she used that same kabuki theater movement in her styling. And so when it's played backwards for the effect, it looks very otherworldly. The close up of sudoku eye near the end of the end of the film was actually performed by a male crew member who had to chop off his eyelashes to make the shot more disturbing. When released in Japan, it became the highest grossing horror film in the country, and of course, it relaunched horror throughout Japan. It even beat out the matrix in Hong Kong, and the original. Remake was spiral in 1998 but due to poor reception, the new sequel, ring two was released in 1999 then 2000 prequel, ring zero, birthday and in 2019 Sudoku, then Sudoku 3d in 2012 Sudoku 3d two in 2019 and Sudoku dx in 2022 plus the TV ring series, the final chapter, and in South Korea, the ring virus with me the next night event. Yeah, that's my movie. I have one big thing I loved more in the original than in the remake, the creature coming out, or the I forgot the name of it coming out of the TV. Yeah, in the original, it's this barren, empty place. In the remake, I find most found myself reading the VHS tapes that were underneath the television, oh, and getting distracted by all the crap that was all over the place. So it was so much, I think it is. I think it's a great remake. But that one scene was like, God damn, yeah, I need to re watch through the remake, because it's been a long time. But I remember I had that copy where it's like on a VHS tape, and you just feel like that creepiness when you stick it. I watched it in my room alone in the wood cabin at night, fucking on VHS a little screen this big crtv is perfect, nice, perfect viewing. I remember, I remember reaching out to you, Eric, because I had read some magazine or something where they were talking about this film. I was like, Have you ever heard of this Japanese film called Ringu? And you were like, I have heard of it. I was like, Well, I just got on eBay and ordered a a bootleg videotape of it, and I can't remember if we watched it together, but we watched it, and I remember being kind of blown away by how creepy it was. But it is a very messy story. Yeah, they jettison the the psychic husband for the remake, for the American remake, and they cleaned up some of the story lines in it. And I think that the remake is a little better, also, just for those reasons. When I, when I watched it recently and recently. It was probably five years ago that scene with the TV didn't bother me as much Eric, and I think it's because we are so far removed from what a entertainment center looks like, that it didn't bother me. And I thought it was I thought it was really good and almost had kind of a timeless feeling in the way it follows does, oh yeah. I remember, yeah. I remember really liking this movie. This is a good one. I'd forgotten this was a Toho film. Yeah, I was, I was really glad I got to see this. And sweet home, because I feel like I'm hitting some of that really interesting Japanese horror stuff. That early, early Japanese horror stuff. I will say this, I didn't realize there were. How many sequels does this have? Sounds like, like six or something. There's so many. And the fact that they like, recut the Made for TV film into something else and released it as a another sequel later. It's so confusing. Wow, that is crazy. I knew that there was like a Ringu zero and a Ringu two, but I didn't realize it was like a Sadako, although didn't they do like Sadako versus the grudge or something? I think they did. It wasn't in this I don't unless dx is that one, seven, if you include the TV additional TV movie, eight, if you include both TV movies. I'm kind of tempted to hunt some of those down, I know, just like watching them all and see what the fuck they did. Yeah, got a box set from Arrow, I think someplace, but that's a someplace right now. So I don't know what's I know it's a, I think it may only have three or four movies on it, though I don't think it's got anywhere near that much. Wow. Oh well, if you don't mind, Eric, I'll go next dive in, put five minutes on the buzzer, and I am talking about A film from 2014 called as The gods will Corona. Ah Dog, your authority. Directed by Takashi Mikay, ah, 118 credits, including itchy the killer audition blade of the immortal One Missed Call and 13 assassins, of course, I think this was your director from last week right here before Yes, it was written by boy muniyuki kanashiro, who wrote the manga that this is based on, also written by a Keiji Fujimura, who has one credit this, and then written by Hiroyuki yatsu, who has 26 credits tons of Japanese television, including go home, Little Giants downtown, rocket, 10 episodes here, eight episodes there. He has written, like, you know, 10 or eight episodes of everything he's ever done. So his 26 credits is more like 260 credits. Oh, my God, so starring soda Fukushi, who has 58 credits. Bleach say I love you. Strobe force, and is the voice of Cayman writer Forza in at least 11 Cayman writer movies, television and video. Video games. Also in this is hirona Yamazaki, who has 45 credits, lots of TV, but also killing for the prosecution, labyrinth of cinema and love life. And then also Ryan osuki kamiki, 136 credits, including summer wars. Your name too young to die, and he is the lead in Godzilla, minus one. Oh, that's cool. Peace, yes. So have you guys even heard of as the Gods will? I think, I think I saw it in a couple of lists, and it popped up. Okay, so we start off. This is going to sound a little familiar to you. I bet we start off with our protagonist, Shun Takahata. Chun Takahata who is a high school student who loves playing violent video games, and he starts his day off at school whining about how boring his life is, and he wishes something cool would finally happen. And the next thing you know is teachers head explodes in a spray of blood and what seems to be little red marbles. Maybe I thought it was a bad blood effect at first, but when they hit the ground, they clatter and roll about. So they're definitely little balls or marbles. I don't know what the significance of that is, though, from out of the teacher's neck stump floats a Japanese doll head, and it starts screaming at them, and other students, heads start exploding as well. It becomes clear very quickly that they are playing a variation of red light, green light, because the head turns around, and when it turns back around to face them, anyone caught moving is killed. Takahata figures out there's a timer on the back of the doll's head, and if he can get to it and press the button before the timer runs out, he can stop the madness, kind of anyway, after escaping Takahata finds his girlfriend Ichika, and realizes the whole school has been locked down and the students are being forced to play these games with some kind of supernatural entity, I guess. And the movie is really off and running, I think it might actually turn out to be some kind of alien entity. This is part of my problem with this. What we end up watching is a film that seems like a cross between Battle Royale and squid games, where the students are joining up with their friends and forced into these trials, sometimes against each other, mostly against these weird, sentient toy things. There is a game where they have to fight against a gigantic manic in Nico, which is that Japanese toy cat that sits with one pa raised and waves at you. You know, for luck, this one crushes you and kills you. So after that game, we find out through a newscast that the entire city is under this supernatural control, and there is a gigantic floating cube forcing the inhabitants, habitants, into these games. This cube floats over the entire city. It's huge. Our heroes end up inside that cube, forced into more trials that are all deadly versions of children's games. Takahata and a Chica managed to continue winning, gathering other students with them as they try to figure out how to survive these trials and understand what the point of all this is. It is a pretty good movie, but I was ultimately very frustrated with it because it ends on a cliffhanger where we still don't know what's happening, and the movie didn't do good enough box office to get a sequel made. Oh God, that sucks. So I was like, Really, you're gonna leave me here. My timer is about to go off. I've got some trivia. The 2021, survival thriller K drama series squid game has been accused of plagiarizing the movie as both involve children's games, where the penalty for losing is death, with the first games in both being red light, green light. However, writer Director Huang Dong Hu claimed he wrote, claimed he wrote squid game script in 2009 five years before, as the Gods Will was released, saying the similarities that were pointed out are purely coincidental, and there is no copying from either party. A controversial promotional trailer was released for this featuring several big breasted girls and skimpy bikinis playing one of the games. Their goal was to move forward without their breast jiggling. Oh, that's so fucking stupid. That's what I was like. How dare they this is based on the manga series kanasama No luturi by muniyuki kanashiro and akiji Fujimura that was published in 2011 and 2012 in besatsu shonen magazine. So movies called as God's will. I had to join a seven day trial of Crunchy Roll to watch. And I thought, well, I should take advantage of this seven days and see what else is on here. And I just got a message from Amazon saying your seven day subscription has ended. And of course, I canceled it right after I joined so that I wouldn't get charged. So I imagine you can. Rent this, but I went the cheap route, nice as the Gods will, huh? Okay, that is not the movie I thought it was, but that's That sounds very interesting. How is the CGI and effects like, is it tolerable, or is it really okay? Yeah, it's 2014 so it's not, you know, I guess that's already 10 years ago, but it's not horrible. It's gory, as you would expect from the Japanese seem to have no problem putting high school age kids into deadly things and killing them left and right. And some of the games I thought were quite creepy, because they're they're obviously supernatural things. This, this head that comes out of the stump is animated. It's just a little doll head and with like a kabuki mask thing on it. And it's animated, so it's yelling at them and everything. And then it turns around and it's still yelling at them, but you can barely hear what it's saying. And then it turns around again and keeps yelling. And if it sees anything, you know, its eyes moves right to them and their heads explode. What I didn't understand was, what? What's with the red marbles? So there are weird things there that I'm sure are cultural stuff that I just unaware of. Yeah, yep. I don't feel like I wasted my time, but I you mileage may fare you, I'll leave it Yeah, it's hard to go completely wrong with the Mikay movie. But, you know, a really good movie is definitely not always guaranteed, right? Plus, the guys got 118 credits, they can't all be winners, right? Exactly. Eric, you ready? Yeah, I am fine. 2000 and back to 2000 or four, I Guess, because you're 2014, Right? With infection, I this was hard to find, but it is on YouTube through everyone when you're on YouTube and you click on something, so you can rent this by joining some something. So I joined something for a day and canceled it immediately. And watch this, directed by Masayuki ochia, who's done two of the Juan movies, not the first one, but and tales of the unusual and tales of the bazaar, plus a bunch of other stuff. Ryochi kimizuka, who's this is sorry, the writers Bayside Shakedown, like Bayside and lots of movies with a co writer who is Masayuki ochia, who's dark tales of Japan and Juan beginning of the end. I'm sure it's just like Final Freddy, the actors, Michi kahata, who listen, maybe you can watch this one, Vanessa with somebody special, my loser, husband and wife of a Kamikaze, the Queen's classroom. Also writer Mira hashino, or go home Juliet in the rain and red beard instead of red beads, I guess. And Ty Kimura, who wrote house of the owl, strawberry night, and House of ninjas. Whoa. Nice, a whole house. 126 credits for that actor. Okay, movie breakdown, well, this is kind of near the end of the huge J horror trend that Ringu pretty much started. And it it shows a little bit of that. The movie is a setup of a hospital that has lots of problems going on. It's not quite getting patients done right, and there's arguments between the staff, the nurses and the doctors. Of course, the first 30 minutes or more is almost like a hospital drama where a creepy thing or two kind of happens, but not a lot. Then it gets freaking weird. The major storyline is that there is a person there that's been infected by something that the thing that it reminded me most of, they didn't show it in great detail, so it's not exact copy, but the destruction of people in street trash sort of sounded like that where they're talking about the the they didn't show it as much, but the the organs are liquefied, and it's all green goo flowing everywhere. It's not blood. And it was good. It was weird. It was, and that this and the story just is, the rest of the story is just them trying to figure out. There's one doctor who's like, we should study it and make millions, and the other guys are, you know, we really need to let people know what's going on here. And then it ends and upends the entire film. I don't tell you what it is because it is worth watching, but it really alters your perception of everything you just watched. And some of the reviewers hated the end, and some of the reviewers loved the end, which I fully understand. I liked it. I thought it was interesting, not great. I guess I sit in the middle with that one. But hey, it's got taglines. Ooh, death is just a breath away, which is a little weird, because that's not how it's the infection isn't by breathing. So like, okay, nothing can prepare you for the epidemic that could wipe out the entire planet. Ah, that's a smooth one. And this one could be fun. Evil is contagious. That's good. I like that one. Not a lot of notes on this. I was surprised how little stuff there was about it. I was released theatrically in Japan in 2004 it's distributed by Toho. It wasn't necessarily like they didn't pay for it, but they they brought it out. It was part of taka issue announcement in 2004 where they were going to create the entertainment farm, which was the first Japanese company provide financial backing for film. There you go. Basically, the company was an investment firm focusing exclusively on films when it opened, couple little notes here, there left, when it opened, it was the second highest grossing film in box office, only being beaten by I Robot. So it was direct to video from Lions Gate here in the US. Anything else too interesting? Not a lot of other like I said, it's not, it's not a lot of trivia on it, because I think it hit that end of the Juan. It's not, or not the J whore. And if it'd been in the middle, it would have been kind of a weaker entry. So it's, it's got some good stuff, it's got some good creepy shit. And it's combination. There's some supernatural, there's some gross, but it doesn't lean too hard on either one. So if you're a J horror purist, you should definitely see it. If you're, you know, I didn't like anything past Ringu, you can just keep on going. There. Sounds like something I'll probably end up checking out eventually. No, yeah, it's, yeah, it's not Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey too. So you should be all right. What did you watch this on? Eric, the YouTube that, yeah. So you had to, you had to actually join something, though, to see, yeah, some subscription site on there that gives you free seven days. And if I'd stayed, it would have been, like, only seven bucks, but I really didn't look into what they had. It's not like done. That was the Crunchy Roll deal too, so, but seven bucks is seven bucks. You know, I'm already paying $5 here 15 years. Like, come on, for all the damn stuff we subscribe to. Yeah. Oh my God, that's why. Immediate. Done watching the movie. Hey, that was called infection Eric, 2004 Yeah. Okay, you know you brought up something that made me want to talk to Vanessa about this. I watched Detective Pikachu Vanessa on your Oh, yes. Delightful. My only complaint, this was your your first Toho pic, and the credits come up and it says, Warner Brothers presents in association with Legendary Pictures and about four other things. And then very bottom was like, and Toho limited. And I was like, ah, is this really a Toho film? I mean, it's a Toho distributed. I think, I think, like, the credits probably look a little different on the Japanese copy, in fairness. Oh, really, do you think that? Yeah, hey, though it was on a road, the tall grass is next to the road. I don't know where I messed up on that. I got something cool to talk about. Spiral. We got our, our little award from the scum dance film festival, which I'll be passing on Stefan. That is amazing. That's good. Is that Carrie? No, it's just like, like a homecoming queen or something. It's a for the festival like this. It seems wonderfully appropriate to have just a strange little off the shelf this last weekend, I finally, after 13 years or whatever, made it up to Bellingham for bleedingham, nice Gary and Langley run. And it is a hoot. It's a lot of fun. They have a the Pickford Film Center, which now adds to my Hollywood Film Center of jealousy, of independent, really cool Film Festival films, screening houses. It also couple screens. They're building a larger one down the or another one down the street. Add a couple more screens, so it's awesome. That's so cool. The connoisseurs played there, and it got the perfect reaction for me the moment the bottle hits. I won't say anything beyond this, if you haven't seen it's not gonna screw up, but the moment the bottle hits the chair, the appropriate noises were heard. So I'm like, Okay, this one's going to play well, and it really did. We won third place for Best Cinematography. Holy cow, that is, that's a big award. Also be giving back to to Stefan and going to wade is, is really cool. Second place for best special effects. Oh, awesome rendered. It's pops off from the side of the body. It's nice. That's so cool, so neat. That was fun. So is that the end of our festival run? Then? No, no, oh no, no, no, we still have there's one. I'm kind of like, maybe I'll withdraw with this one, because the the notifications are, like, June or July of next year. Like I didn't realize how far off that one was, but we still have like, four or five more. Yeah, this will be out after we can say we did get into dreadfest, which is in Tacoma, so that'll be fun. So that that happens like the first, first week in November, I believe, is when they screen. I don't have the info in front of me, but look up dread fest. And if you see this really cool drawing of like a rat looking creature, that's the right one. The guy that runs it is a pretty damn good artist, so he does neat, neat stuff, nice. That's cool. Did you say when dreadfest was? I believe it's November 6, but I'm not positive on that. It's like a Thursday or something. It's a Holy Ghost right around the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very soon. Man, that is amazing. Congratulations, Eric, congratulations. Vanessa Kelly, that is lovely. Yeah. On top of that, I am going to be on the rev geeks out this Thursday or no, this next Monday, which is the rev Fuego, a radio personality here in Seattle, and I was invited onto his show to talk about my latest novella, a distant silver melody. Thank you, Eric, because I forgot to bring one in which is out now and available on Amazon. And I even kind of, I gave him a copy of. The the new thing that's not going to be out for a couple of weeks. Wow. So, so if you want to hear what that is, tune into his show. And the way you do that is, well, reach out to me. It's kind of difficult. You have to sign up for his Patreon, which is free, and then you have access to the podcasts. Okay, so interesting. I think that he told me he'd give me the link for the podcast, and he was just like, share it with everybody you want. So I will do that too. But I have listened to a couple of episodes of the show, and it's, it's pretty cool show. If you're nerd and if you're not a nerd, why are you listening to this show, you'll like his show as well. The reverend's great. He was on KSW here in Seattle, which is the longest running rock radio station in the country. Wow, wow. And he also does cryptocon Seattle. Sometimes he's a panelist. He does, he's, he's really good guy, a lot of fun to work with, yeah, and just a sweetheart. And, man, I wish he, I wish he did video, because his, his place is very, very cool, very nerdy and very cool, nice. Well, I bet we could post a link to that, maybe on the strange eons radio talk page on Facebook for people to check out a brilliant idea. Vanessa, yes, occasionally I have them. I will do that also. This is the part where we say thanks to everybody who's who's out there helping the show. And the way you can do that is by liking, sharing posts you know, getting on to any of your various pod catchers and writing a review for the show. We really appreciate that. Apparently, that means a lot. Making a comment under the YouTube video, even if it's like great show guys or another sucky show guys, way to go. All of that stuff helps. And we also do something called value for value, which is we've given you something for free here, if you got any value out of it, turn that into a little donation. Send it our way. You get to decide what the show is worth to you. So really appreciate the people who take advantage of that. That is so so kind. I have a challenge for our listeners to see if you can convert new people into listening. Don't just suggest our show. Don't just send the links. Do all of that. But then sometime when you're sitting with them, you're trapped. They're trapped in a car with you or whatever. Pull out an episode of strange eons radio and make them listen to it. Find one of your favorite ones, or the latest one, or whatever, and find a new listener directly, because you know you like them, they like you. They might like the same things you do. This is exactly how people get into podcasts. I've been sucked into so many dumb podcasts this way. Not ours. Ours ours is perfect, everybody. Our dumb podcast here, you can also reach out to the strange eons radio talk hotline, no strangeeons radio hotline, which is 253-237-4266, if you're Michael the Bronzo, you got that on speed dial. Yeah, you know that one, oh yeah. And you can talk to us directly on the strange eons radio talk page on Facebook. So this was the end of October, you guys. And I thought it was a absolute blast. I want to keep the Asian cinema going through next month. But there's a twist. We can't have Toho films this time. We're going to be doing no Toho vember. That'll catch up play that for the person you want to get into this show. And they're golden. They're like, wait, what's Toho? What's not not Toho? What month? Yeah, I gotta say, if you're a listener and you don't like Asian cinema, these last couple of months have got to suck for you. But I've been having such a great time with these films. Of Sam. I hadn't seen any of these three films that I talked about this month. Oh, and they were, they were great. So looking forward to see what we can come up with. I think we're going to find this a little more challenging, because we, at least, I was very surprised to find out how many films were Toho films. I'm gonna have to get out of Japanese cinema to have to go to Yeah, Korea or some Yeah, something, yep. So, okay, that is what we are doing. I think that's it. Look for us at your local film festival, I guess sounds like, yeah, come on down. Try. Tri Cities is, this is, yeah, it'll be the weekend after this post. I believe it'll be right after this post, because it is that Friday and Saturday, I believe. So Tri Cities first festival in Kent, Kennewick, and the other two cities, Richland, Richland and the third one, I drive through those sometimes Stanford. I've seen them on signs, cool. Drive through there as fast as you can. Yeah, I do. I stay in the furthest left lane so everybody knows I am not exiting. Oh, my, let's let's hope nobody over there is listening to this show. Thanks for sharing our movie. Lovely, there. No, I just want to actually get to my destination. It has nothing to do with these places, sure, sure. Well, all right, guys, I will see you and everybody watching in seven short days. And we are talking no tohove Ember films. See you next Thursday. Transportation and other considerations for strange eons, radio produced by Pan Am airlines. When you think of traveling, think of Pan Am. 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