Universal Monsters

 Get ready for some classic chills and modern thrills on this episode of Pass, Pirate, Pay! Ken and Andy dive into Universal's iconic monster lore, reviewing the eerie elegance of Creature from the Black Lagoon, the horror-comedy hijinks of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and the fresh bite of 2025's Wolf Man. From gill-men to howling mayhem, they tackle whether these monster tales are timeless treasures or should stay buried in the crypt. Who gets a Pass, a Pirate, or a Pay? Tune in to find out... if you dare! 🐺🧛‍♂️ 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Creature from the black lagoon
• 14:46 Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein
• 29:19 Wolf Man

Transcript

[music]
Hello everybody and welcome once again to Pass Pirate Pay, the movie discussion show.
My name is Ken, I'm your host alongside my co-host Andy.
Yo yo yo what up?
How are you doing today Andy?
Pretty good.
Yeah yeah yeah.
We could do a little bit better this week I think after last week's Disturberama.
I didn't want to disturb you anymore but I also didn't want to go too late.
Sure sure.
So we're doing a universal monster.
Yeah we're hitting some monsters up this time.
Yeah these are the more fictional kind of monsters rather than the figurative monsters
that we were dealing with in last week's episode.
That's right.
So yeah so this week we're going to be hitting two classic universal horror movies.
Those are Creature from the Black Lagoon from 1954 and Abbott and Castello
meet Frankenstein from 1948.
I mean is that a horror?
Well you know little bolts let's see we'll see let's talk about it.
And alongside those we're going to go with the reboot of The Wolf Man or Wolf Man
Yeah from 2025 so we'll finish off with that one.
I do have one thing I wanted to say.
Yeah remember we talked about Robert Egger's next movie being Labroth?
Yeah that was a rumor.
Yeah and he has announced that his next movie is a werewolf.
Yeah I saw that.
Yeah I saw that.
I heard the title of it and it's like werewolf.
Yeah it's like German or something.
It's like W-E-A-R-W-U-L-M or something like that.
Werewolf.
Yeah I have no idea.
I think it takes place in England in like the 1600s.
Okay.
All right interesting.
I saw today that it was announced that it is slated for Ruey's Christmas day 2026.
Oh really?
Yeah that's what I saw.
So apparently Robert Egger's is trying to make
some kind of original story which I'm grateful for.
Yeah absolutely.
Yeah what I was talking about.
I have yet to not enjoy a movie that he has made so I will be there to watch this one as well.
Yeah very very pleased this is here.
Yeah but yeah the new Christmas tradition.
Also when he was asked about Labroth he said look I've got a lot of things in production.
Like he didn't take it off the table.
Okay.
He didn't say no.
So whatever like I said he's batten a thousand as far as I'm concerned I don't think
he doesn't made any movies that I would consider truly great but every single one he's made
I've enjoyed on some level so he's making very singular movies.
Yeah.
Which is always welcome.
Yeah very exciting very exciting.
Yeah.
All right well let's dive into these movies we have going on so far starting with
Creature from the Black Lagoon.
I actually didn't even realize that this was a universal monster movie.
Well yeah when we started doing it and it's from the 50s from 1954 so it's later than
a lot of the other ones you know.
Those were in what the 30s?
30s and 40s yeah.
Like Dracula and Frankenstein I think both Dracula for sure came out in 1931.
Oh wow.
And Frankenstein I think did all right.
That's like so.
After the silent era.
Yeah right.
Yeah exactly.
And you can tell from the way those movies are made you know there's a lot of like
shots that look like they came from they came from silent movies you know.
And there's some of that in this movie too like Dracula played by Bella Legosi in this movie
as he had been playing for I guess.
And he's old.
Yeah in that movie.
Yeah in my mind all that stuff came out right around the same time but it didn't.
Yeah but yeah so Creature from the Black Lagoon is over 20 years after those movies came out so
well passed the heyday of the universal monster movies.
But yeah this is the story of this expedition down to the Amazon these scientists go down there.
Someone finds a fossil of a like a webbed hand and they're looking for the missing link between
Fish and Man.
Yeah and I think they encounter it.
Boy do they.
Yeah so this movie starts off biblically.
There's a very beginning.
Oh yeah it does.
At the very beginning it's like in the beginning.
God created the heavens and earth and I'm like oh no what is this shit what are we doing here.
But then the movie takes a turn and it's like we get like an evolutionary science lesson.
Yeah it talks about the earth being five billion years old and how humanity or all
life has crawled from out of the water onto land.
Yeah they show that fish with the weird legs.
Yep so we're actually I'm surprised that the people who made this movie were not burned.
Burn to death by creationists who were still who are still charged in 1954 right you know
I was very surprised this movie is very sciencey.
Something I really appreciated like we're talking about how once they discover we have this
fish man like they're talking about how he might be useful in in determining how we can
travel to other planets because the scientists are aware that when if you go to other planets they
may have different atmospheric pressure and different air supplies is like holy shit this is
this is some actual science that I in my mind 1954 is basically 1554 right.
Yeah the dark ages right.
Right like you know like everything we know is yeah God did it.
That's yeah I really appreciate it.
Like they actually even talk about when they discover the creature it's because they're two guys
are scuba diving and they're like picking up rocks trying to carbonate them to see if they come
from the same time period as the fossil of the fossilized hand you know this is like one shit
this is we're doing it we're doing it.
We're doing a hard science on that boat.
That's right that's right.
Yeah everybody in this movie is a scientist which is weird or a Mexican
which is very strange because the movie takes place in Brazil but in Hollywood I guess they
can't do everything right it was still 1954 right.
Right we'll get that yeah.
Like we're lucky they weren't just white people in Mexican face right.
We're in Brazilian face or whatever.
All of the characters in this movie that are not scientists are pretty much a faceless brown people.
There is a captain who gets some lines but he is I mean very Mexican.
I he's just he does like he is a stereotypical Mexican movie character from the 50s right.
He's like he's he talks with the thick accent and he's got a beard and he's chopping on a cigar
the whole time and I can't believe he didn't die in this movie really.
Like I saw this guy.
Oh yeah he made it out.
Yeah he made it.
There were two guys when they get on the boat to go down the Amazon there's the asshole
scientist boss right the head of the expedition and then the captain and I was like these two guys
are definitely going to die.
These guys are just there to be murdered by the creature.
But no man the captain he survives he managed to make it out.
But everybody else who the asshole scientist does get killed in the end.
But everybody else who dies is just a faceless brown person right.
It's like there's a guy named Luis Senegal named Tomas and a guy named Chico and they're all dead.
Who's the pipe smoking scientist?
Oh yeah he made it.
Technically yeah he gets mauled but as far as I know he lives he's still like
bandaged up and and laying in a bed but I think he survives throughout the whole movie.
Yeah so this movie I guess is all about the creature it's a it's a schlocky beam movie like it's
yeah yeah but a lot of it is done pretty well I think.
The underwater scenes I think are done really.
The underwater scenes are really cool.
I agree with that.
But yeah so we get our first glimpse of the monster with just a hand and they do that a few times
where his hand reaches out of the water and claws at dirt and you see a hand and I'm like
the first time you see it I'm like oh that's actually really cool because the hand has got
you know like sharp claws on the f-finger nails and it's got webbing in between the fingers and
it looks kind of slimy and wet and gross.
I was like oh this is actually going to be pretty cool.
Yeah but then when you get a look at the entire creature it's like oh man it's just a dude.
I thought the creature looked good.
Really?
Yeah I thought he looked very silly.
I think he's iconic.
I think it looks really really silly.
I think the creature is a schlocky beam movie creature and he's iconic for it.
Yeah I don't know.
He just looks he just looks so much like a dude in a suit.
Like why?
Yeah but I mean you got to kind of put yourself in the position of someone who's seeing that
for the first time.
I suppose.
You know like think about the things that you saw for the first time when you were like a kid
and how schlocky they are now.
Yeah.
I guess I don't know.
I wanted more from the creature.
I feel like I know technology is not what is not then what it is now but I feel like practical
effects or makeup at least.
How do you make up underwater though?
Yeah I guess you're right.
I guess you're right but like every time there are some good looking scenes where like where
he's swimming underneath her.
Right.
I think that's a cool scene.
It is cool although it looks really cool.
At the same time like you're watching this monster doing the backstroke.
It was very odd to me.
He was a dude at the backstroke.
He was like totally was doing the backstroke.
He was like no man that bad creature is doing the backstroke multiple times in this movie.
But I agree.
The stuff where the monster is stalking someone and they shot the thing underwater.
I'm guessing in a gigantic tank of some kind.
Yeah.
Probably that big universal tank.
Yeah.
It's in the studio there.
Yeah.
And every time they show a shot of the monster swimming around below a person swimming
near the surface.
It does look really cool.
Yeah.
For black and white.
Yeah.
Like it looks good.
Yeah.
And then there's one scene where the monster kills the asshole scientist.
He like grabs him by the leg and pulls him all the way underwater and like drags him into
like this muddy section.
And there's so there's all this mud clouding up the the water.
So as you get all this muddy water and plants around.
You can't really see what's happening and it looks very chaotic.
I thought it looked super cool.
Like I was totally into it.
I thought it looked absolutely great.
Yeah.
For the most part, I thought everything they did was really cool except for the way the monster
looked.
I just thought anytime you can see the monster in his full body either standing or swimming.
It just is so obvious that it's just a guy in a suit that just took me out of it.
I've always liked the creature like the way it looks.
Yeah.
I've always liked the creature the black league.
Yeah.
I guess I don't know.
But I don't think I've seen this movie since I was a little kid.
I never so I've never seen it before.
This was the first time.
So it just it had all those elements of like, you know, B movie stuff like so the beginning
where it's like in the beginning.
Yeah.
I think they like parody that in little shop of horse.
Okay.
You know, it's a little shop of horse starts.
Oh, yeah.
You know, on the 23rd day of the month of September.
And then earlier the decade, you know, like, right, you know, because they were they're emulating
all those B movies in little shop of horse.
Yeah.
So this just felt like that.
It felt like the origin of that, you know, I mean, this movie is obviously iconic, you know,
like, like the stuff where you don't, where you just see the monster's hand for the first,
you know, half hour of the movies, that's, that's jaws, right?
Like you're all you're seeing is a fin.
You can tell Spielberg must have really liked this movie.
Yeah.
Because the, some of the underwater shots in jaws are clearly paying homage to this.
Yeah.
You know, and there are just a lot of movies that this, that, oh, this movie, a huge debt,
you know, the shape of water is a movie that I really love.
And I didn't realize how much of that movie is just taken from this.
Yeah.
The creature looks so much like the creature in this movie.
It's a mix of creature, the black lagoon and splash.
Yeah.
Shape of water.
It follows the exact same story, right?
We write a splash.
Yeah.
But yeah, but the story of the creature in the shape of water is basically if they were able
to succeed in taking, because the, the, the asshole scientist wants to kidnap the creature
and take him back so everyone believed that he exists.
And so the shape of water is like, what if that actually happened?
Right.
And that's, you know, and that's where we're at, you know?
So I, yeah, I really do.
I'm glad that I got to see this movie because I, you said the creature's look is iconic
and I agree with you, but it's not something I, I have a lot of experience with, right?
Like if you had shown me a picture of it, I would have said, oh, yeah, that's the creature
of the black lagoon, but I, I never really took a look at it to know, you know, when the first
time I saw the monster in full in this movie, I was like, oh, okay.
So I don't know, but you're right.
It's, it's, it's a B movie.
And on the whole, I think it gets the job done, you know?
Yeah.
The cast is fine.
The main guy seems like off brand William Holden.
The, the, the lead actress is, she's, you know, she's bare.
She's bare.
I love how universal monsters just want something to fuck.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
What kind of all they want?
Yeah.
How many times?
How many more?
Frank is like it.
Frank is like it.
Make me something to fuck.
Yeah.
All right.
King Kong.
Yeah, King Kong.
I'm not fuck that little lady.
Yeah.
I definitely get King Kong vibes off of this creature.
Right?
Like, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna get that lady.
Right.
Yeah.
The first time he sees her, he's just like, he's like, that's it.
That's his only desire for the rest of the movie.
He's like, I don't care that these guys have spear guns and they're shooting at me totally
related to these creatures, man.
It's monsters.
I'm gonna get that woman.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was cool.
I, uh, one thing that, that these movies do really well, I think is set design.
Like, you can tell that these are sets and it's not the Amazon jungle, but at the same
time, it looks really cool.
Like, the, the lagoon set where, you know, they're, they're walking through these, like rock
formations.
I think just looks kind of cool.
And the jungle, you know, it looks, it looks interesting.
It's, it's cool.
Cool movie.
Yeah.
I get imagine how a person in 1954 could be scared by it, but I could also imagine being
a 12 year old kid and throwing popcorn at the screen at this dumb looking monster.
So I don't know.
Am I there?
I'm in the middle.
All right.
So does the creature of the black lagoon get a past pirate or pay can?
For me, the creature from the black lagoon is a pirate, a pirate?
Yeah.
Okay.
I got it as a pirate.
So yeah, you don't have to spend money on this movie and I don't recommend it.
But definitely watch it.
It's fun.
All right.
Cool.
Okay.
Our second movie is Abidon Castello, or I guess the actual name of the movie is Bud Abidon
Lou Castello, Meet Frankenstein.
Yeah.
I guess so.
Yeah.
Cause I tried to look it up under Abidon Castello, Meet Frankenstein and it didn't come
up until I had to like type in both of their names before like, did you mean Bud Abidon
Lou Castello?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Oh, yeah.
So this movie came out in 1948, directed by Charles Barton.
And we don't just get Frankenstein in this.
Yeah.
So this is a very confusing thing to me in this movie.
Why is it called Abidon Castello, Meet Frankenstein?
Cause they deal with the other monsters more and more and Frankenstein, I mean, I understand
that by this time when people were saying Frankenstein, they meant the monster.
Yeah.
Right?
Because when you have a movie with a monster, you associate the name of the movie with the
name of the monster.
Right.
That's not what it is.
Even though it's never what it was.
Right.
Because Frankenstein, the doctor, Dr. Frankenstein is not in this movie.
But when they say Frankenstein, they mean the monster.
Right.
And also Boris Karloff is not in this movie.
Yeah.
I found that to be very puzzling.
Yeah.
Cause I read about it.
Did you read about it?
I didn't know.
It's on a Frankenstein, which was like we were saying was like 20 years prior.
Yeah.
And he was old.
Yeah.
Like he said he wasn't going to do Frankenstein anymore.
Yeah.
Okay.
I don't know why, but he just said this is my last Frankenstein.
Interesting.
He couldn't have been, I mean, I'm sure he was old, but he couldn't have been that bad,
old.
Cause this is, this is movie is at least 15 years before he was the voice of the Grinch.
So he was still alive and kicking.
No, he was still alive.
He was definitely alive.
No, yeah.
Obviously.
And he was a little bit strange.
Yeah.
Who played him in this.
Yeah.
And subsequent movies.
So yeah, that guy is terrible.
You know, like George Schrain and John Frankenstein.
No, I found him.
I mean, I guess the only thing that you need to have to be Frankenstein's monster is size.
He's a big dude.
He's a big guy.
But man, he's got this goofy face.
Like he wears his goofy facial expression in the whole movie.
He is not menacing at all.
I was like, where is, where is Boris carloff?
We need somebody to bring some kind of gravitas to this monster.
The other monsters were the guys like all of them.
Belly, go see, go see, play Dracula, and Lon Channe.
He plays a wolf, man.
Vincent Price shows up at the end for a little bit.
Yeah, just very.
And I don't even think he was really famous back at that point.
I don't think he was either.
Yeah.
Yeah, the actual people were the, were the actual people there.
But for some reason, we got off brand monster and I just think he is awful.
Okay.
But fortunately, despite the title of this movie, he is not in this movie very much.
There is very little of the monster.
He doesn't do very much.
I don't understand.
Maybe they didn't want to pay Belly, go see more money because this movie should be called
Abedangostelo meet Dracula.
Because Dracula is the guy who is pushing the plot forward.
He is the main villain of this movie.
You know, I wonder if Frankenstein was just more popular.
Maybe?
My whole basis on this is the movie Ed Wood and Bella Legosi's character in that, you know,
because Bella Legosi famously, I guess it was probably five years after this movie where
he started being in Ed Wood movies and then he was dead shortly after that.
Yeah.
Let's shoot this fuck on him.
Yeah, exactly.
But let's give two fucks for Bella.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, Martin Landau's Bella Legosi is absolutely iconic.
Perfect.
So, so good.
Yeah.
So, I don't know.
I guess people had largely forgotten him by that point because now vampires are so prevalent
in our culture.
It just seems really strange to me that Dracula is less of a draw than Frankenstein.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I didn't do any research on the making of this.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah.
It's very strange.
I just don't understand the title.
It's very, very odd.
And with like the old comedy duo.
Okay.
So, like I'm gonna talk about all of them.
Yeah.
When I was a kid, when I was a kid, I loved Abin and Costello.
Yeah.
My dad had a tape with the Who's On First routine on it and I listened to that thing over
and over and over again.
I thought it was so, so funny.
So, these guys are my favorite of those old time duos.
Laurel and Hardy don't really like the three stooge's cannot stand.
Yeah.
Don't think they're funny at all.
I like the Marx brothers.
I think the Marx brothers are pretty funny.
See, I have a thing where like when I was a kid, I respected all that.
Yeah.
There's a style of comedy that I call flailing.
Yeah.
And I'm sure you know what it is.
Sure.
It's comedy that is very physical.
Right.
And hardly cerebral.
Right.
Right.
I think Robin Williams stand up stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that people, look at that.
A lot of people look at that and think it's genius.
Yeah.
And I just don't do it.
Yeah.
I think it's just, I think it's bad.
Yeah, it doesn't do a lot for me either.
You know, I think it's bad comedy.
I don't find it very funny.
Yeah.
I find it a little bit annoying.
Yeah.
But people love it.
Right.
You know, and I think kids love it.
Yeah.
You know, because it's, you don't, when you're a kid, you don't understand it.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
You know, because it's, you don't, when you're a kid, you don't understand cerebral.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
And that's right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Playa guy he's the you know the big broad comedian. And Abbott is the is the straight man. Yeah, and Custello
I think does both things. I think and I think he's funny when he's doing understated shit, right? Like
there are a lot of times where he's big like how many times, oh chick how many times do you hear that in this movie, like 50 times. He's
like, oh, oh, oh, he's scared and he's just like it's it gets so irritating. Yeah. And like his goofy facial
expressions is it some of it is just so stupid, right? And I just didn't I wasn't into it at all. But
then some sometimes when he he'll do like little things that I thought were really funny. And Abbott
I think is almost always funny because he's just exasperated with with Custello all the time, right? And
like he's just like what this fucking guy, you know, and he's he's you know, he's hitting him. But he's
also just being an asshole to him and it's kind of funny, right? Yeah. But there were some really funny
things that Custello does like there's a bit where he accidentally sits on Frankenstein's monster's lap. Yeah.
And he's got his two hands on the side of this chair. Yeah. And then the monster's hand is in between
one of his hands and his body. Yeah. And he's like feeling the hand and figuring out in real time
that that's not his hand. And I thought that shit was really funny because he was like underplaying it,
you know, there was also what I thought was a really funny move where he does the old pull the table
cloth out from underneath the table thing. And like he actually does it successfully. And there's
like a vase that's on this table and he pulls the thing out and the and the vase is standing up there
and everything is still in place. And he just like looks at the camera like nah. I thought that
shit was really funny too, you know, so there were moments with Custello that I thought were really
funny. Okay. But this movie does a very strange thing where it seems like Abedon Custello are the only
two people making a comedy. Everybody else in this movie is making a straight horror movie. Yeah.
Like this movie feels like a universal monster movie for every second of time that Abedon Custello
are not on screen. And some of the times when they are on screen. Yeah. I listened to Quentin
Tarantino talk about it and he said he loved this movie so much because never before already seen
a comedy in a horror like mashed up in equal parts. Right. And we have that a lot more nowadays.
Right. But it seems like whenever that happens now the comedy just takes over everything. You know,
like if you think about like the scary movie movies or even something like Ghostbusters or Sean
of the dead. Yeah. The comedy just takes over everything. But this movie like it's just playing
it straight up like Bellagosi. They might not even told him that he was in a comedy. Like it just
it seems or or Lon Cheney, right? Like Lon Cheney. Yeah. Lon Cheney plays a straight. Yeah.
I think he's really good at the thing that he is asked to do in this movie probably because he had
done it already so many times. But it's just like so the wolfman is like he's like a tragic
character which we'll talk about that more in a little while. Yeah. Like Dracula is evil. Right.
Uh-huh. Frankenstein's monster is an empty vessel that we like project our own fears onto. Right.
But the wolfman is this guy who is a monster against his will. Right. He doesn't want to be.
I think like he represents kind of like inner demons. Yeah. Like a addiction or right just the
nasty parts of you that get out. Yeah. So Cheney plays it as this guy who's just like so sad or
just like desperate for help or desperate to try and help people. Whereas just like he knows that
he has this thing inside of him and he just wants people to believe him all the time. And he plays
he plays it in this movie super earnestly the whole time. Whereas you have to believe me. Oh,
right. Yeah. And I think he's really effective at it. But there's no way that this guy is in a
comedy. It's really strange. Right. Like I just thought it was super interesting how straight up
they play the horror. And maybe that's why if it's the cause or the effect why Castello is so
unhinged in this movie just free to do his own stick whenever he's around. Uh-huh. Because they feel
like the movie needs to be more of a comedy because nothing else is comedic or he feels like he has to
do it because he's the only one. I don't even know. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I think this is
probably one of the first times that they mashed just genres like this. Yeah. So they're probably
kind of clumsy at it. Right. You know. But yeah. Like there was this is another one where like I
said was talking about in the last one with the set design is really cool. They're they're in this
like creaky looking old castle. You know. And there's like there's shadows everywhere and steam rising
up out of the ground or out of you know various corners of the thing. It just it looks cool. It looks
like a cool old monster movie. Yeah. When you think about like one of these old universal movies,
this movie has the look of what those things are. And it's just really it's a really cool idea to
just drop button. Lou in the middle of this thing. And yeah, it's it's it's fun. It feels like a
little bit like a looney tunes cartoon. And I'm sure that's because the looney tunes cartoons were
ripping this shit off all the time. Yeah. Probably. Yeah. You know, the opening credits of this movie
look like they were drawn by looney tunes cartoonists. Yeah. You know. Yeah. It's this was it. This was
this was an interesting one. This is the most awkwardly fit together of any horror comedy I've ever seen.
Yeah, it is. But it strangely works a little it works for me. You know, it's it's it's it was interesting.
And both of these old movies that we watched are under an hour and a half long. You just get in and
you get out. You have a good time. Yeah. Man, what a country we used to have back when people could
make hour and a half long movies. You happy about it. You know, love it. We should we should we should
do more of this. Yeah. I I wasn't a big fan. Really? I thought it was a little too much flailing.
Didn't laugh very much. Yeah. I thought the horror stuff was like all of a sudden you're saying is
right. I just it just didn't click for me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Castello flailing stuff is
definitely the worst part of the movie for me. Yeah. And I thought the parts where it was allowed to
be a horror movie kind of worked as a horror movie. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I liked it. One one other thing
you really didn't work for me. There's this guy. The plot is put into into motion by the house of
horror's owner who orders the casket of Dracula and the Frankenstein's monster. Yeah. And this dude,
I don't know where the fuck they got this guy. He must be a producer's brother or something is
really over the top asshole. The only thing the guy does to you. What are you doing? I'm calling
the police. There you have these two boobs of everyone my exhibit just this guy is yelling at
everyone every second he's on screen like what this guy is so man just pissed off at the train station
the whole time. It just pissed up. There is no time when this guy is not just angry and yelling at
everyone. And it's just like what the fuck where is this guy come from? Why is this guy in this movie?
Yeah. So that didn't work. But everything else I thought. Yeah. I thought this movie was it was
strange, but it it kind of worked for me. I certainly enjoyed it. So what are you going to give?
I'm an Enkostello meet Frankenstein. Can is it a past pirate pay? This one is also a pirate for me.
It is a past for me. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I don't think I mentioned what I wanted for the creature.
Oh, yeah. I don't think you did. Creature would be a pay for me. Oh nice. Very nice. Yeah. This one I
actually had seen before. I watched this movie probably when I was in college, right when I first
started getting into movies. Okay. I went back and watched a bunch of old movies and I did not
care for it back then. So I was a little concerned that this was going to happen. But I think now with
the benefit of age, I'm more forgiving of the old timeliness of the comedy and more interested
in the way that these things were done, that that kind of stuff just was super interesting to me.
And the movie, like I said, movie kind of worked. I had fun with it.
Okay. Our last movie of the day is the 2025 version of Wolfman. Wolfman.
Directly by me. So this last night.
Okay. Now, when it went, saw this one in the theaters. And yeah, it is an update on the old
We're Wolf story. So yeah, this movie, it starts out in the past. We meet the guy who will eventually
become the Wolfman when he's a kid. And he has encountered a werewolf with his asshole father out in
the woods. Yep. And I thought the beginning of this movie was incredibly effective. Yeah.
The asshole dad and his kid are out hunting in the woods in Oregon. And the father is warning the
kid about the dangers of the woods. You know, and at one point we see through the scope of one of
their rifles, we get a glimpse of what might be a wolf man. It's just a very quick glimpse.
It is a cool glimpse too. Really cool. Yeah. And then they're hunting a deer. And the kid runs off
on his own to go get a better shot at the deer and the father admonishes him. He's like, you can't run
away. You can't run off. And like making sure the kid understands the seriousness. And then all of a
sudden, stuff starts to go like, what's going to happen here? And they run up into this deer blind.
The wolf man starts stalking them and the way that this is represented is we see his breath
in the air and right outside of the blind. And like the father is there with his rifle ready to go
as the breath is there. And then the we're all gets distracted and we see an eviscerated deer
on the ground. And that's all we get to see of the wolf man at this time. But man, that scene was
incredibly tense and just they did a really good job of like making you think this is some shit.
This this wolf man. We're for a ride. He can fuck some shit up. And this is going to be good.
Right. So this movie does an incredible job, I think, with scares. It's really good at
intense terrifying scenes. You know, so what happens is a man played by Christopher Abbott and
his wife played by Julia Garner. They go up into the woods and their little daughter and with their
little daughter. And it's the old man from the beginning is his. They're going to clean out his
house. So they're in this moving van. And as they're driving this father and he's died. Yeah.
Yeah. But yeah, or has he? But yeah, so they're in this moving van. And while they're driving the
moving van up this dirt road, we see some kind of figure standing in the middle of the road.
Causing a car crash and we're often running like pretty quick. This Ruby does not waste a lot of time.
I just got to say that the guy who plays the lead in this, the dad, looks a lot like Lon Cheney.
Oh, interesting. Like I thought coming right off of the Abbott and Castello. Interesting.
I was like, wow, he really looks like Lon Cheney. That's a good casting pick. Huh, that's interesting.
The thing that I thought was interesting is the kid they got to play him as a kid looked exactly
like him. I thought like I turned to Mark who I saw who I was watching the movie with at the very
beginning of the movie when the kid was on screen. And I was like, that kid's going to grow up to be
Christopher Abbott. He's got Christopher Abbott face. And then sure enough, that's like, we were in
the past. That was him. I just knew it. I like that kid. They just cast that kid because he looks just
like him. Yeah. So after the car crash, the man Blake is attacked. He gets scratched, which is
apparently enough to transmit this one man disease. Isn't always been that I don't know. I don't know.
I like that needs to be a bite. I thought so too, but in this case, I guess not. It's transmit
through claws, you know. So he gets his he gets this wolf man disease and they go into this house
and barricade themselves in from the werewolf that's outside trying to bang its way in. And while this
is happening, he is slowly turning into a wolf, which I really liked. Yeah. I think it was such a
departure from the Rick Baker, how he turns an American werewolf in the. Yeah, yeah, yeah, such a
departure from that. It was slow and sort of the plot. So the thing that I liked best about it was
the shifting perspectives. That was cool. I really liked it. I really liked most was the way he looks
makes it seem like this is a disease, right? Yeah. The werewolf is super powerful and strong. So you
wouldn't think of it as as as an illness, but like the way he looks as he's slowly turning into this wolf
man, he just looks sicker and sicker. Like at the same time as he's becoming more and more wolf life,
he looks like he has some kind of disease. Yeah. And I thought the makeup was incredibly good. Yeah.
Like just really cool wolf. That was really good. You know. And yeah, you're right. It's really slow
and it does do this thing where it keeps shifting to his perspective, which I thought was awesome.
There's a scene where you're in his head, seen and hearing what he sees and you hear this pounding.
It's like drumming pounding sound. Yeah. What is this? What is the sound? And then he opens up a
closet door and there's a spider walking along the wall. And the the feet of the spider are he's
so scared and so heightened that the spider walking is this pounding sound. Yeah. And I'm like,
that is cool. Yeah. That is really bad. That is a really good effect. So there's another cool thing
later on like where it shifts from perspective to perspective. So you see it from the human side.
Right. And then you see it from his side and his side he can see better at night. Yeah.
And the humans don't make sense to him. Yeah. Just like a dog. Right. Wouldn't it wouldn't like
our words don't make sense to dogs. Yeah. Their voice is all it's still a voice. Yeah. But it's an
unintelligence. It's just garbled. Yeah. It's just garbled nonsense. Yeah. And there's one scene
like later on where he's more transformed like he's almost there. Yeah. And it shifts to his
perspective in the barn. Uh-huh. And he's looking at his wife and his daughter and now they look
kind of like deer. Yeah. Just subtly too. Right. But it makes him look like prey. Yeah. Exactly.
Like their eyes, the light reflecting off their eyes makes them look like you said like prey. And
they have softer features. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. It was really cool. The effects in this
movie to put you in the perspective both of the wolf man and of the wall, the his family. Yeah.
Or just really cool. Like it's it's really, really effective. Uh-huh. There's one scene where
the three of them before Blake has turned. He's a little bit of a wolf but still mostly human.
Uh-huh. They climb on top of this like greenhouse structure that's made out of some kind of like
plastic tarp that is barely translucent. Uh-huh. And the what the original wolf is down
underneath them trying to scratch his way through this plastic tarp. Yeah. And it's just like
fuck man. This is super cool. It's like really intense and really fun. And they they put it in the
trailer. So it kind of ruined it. But we're like she's trying to start the this truck. Yeah. They
find this old abandoned truck. I wish they wouldn't ruin it. I know. Because so cool. Yeah. Right. And
the truck has all this crusty shit all along the windshield. Yeah. And then as soon as she gets
the truck started, she turns on the windshield wipers and clears the thing away. And there's a wolf
standing right there and it's like fuck you know. James is hand right there. Yeah. And it was just
yeah. I wish this is why trailers are shit right. And they might have ruined that's a cool ass shit
that would have made this movie even better. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of. But yeah. This I mean this
movie is it's it's like a really good ride all the way through like there's it. The tension doesn't
let up very often throughout this movie. It doesn't give you much time to catch your breath.
And you're a big fan of tone. And I think it's the tone is really. So it is really creepy and awesome.
Really good. Really, really good. And the whole thing takes place in one night is by the end of the
movie. The sun has risen. I want to once everything is is altogether. You know, and it just it
it just feels you feel like you've been through an experience and ordeal with this woman and her
daughter and the husband and the husband you've been through this thing with them over the course
of this one night because like the one thing that you don't get from the trailer is that as he's
turning, he's still on his family side, right? Yeah. And he's slowly going against that. Exactly.
Yeah. There is a scene when the original wolf breaks into the house and they have like a wolfman
fight. Uh-huh. And I thought that was not good. Uh, I felt like the worst kind of Marvel superhero
fight. Yeah. It's just these two superhuman invincible beings pounding on each other. Yeah. It could
have been a bit more visceral. Yeah. Just animals. The roles. It's just it should be more primal.
They're just punching each other. Yeah. It's just it's just really stupid. So that's all the good stuff
about this movie. But I want to talk about the stuff that's not so good. Okay. This is a pretty stupid
movie. Oh no. It's pretty stupid. Like all of this praise. I thought you were going to I thought
you're going to like. I like it. I like it a lot. I really like this movie. But what was
stupid about it? The plot and the dialogue in this movie are dumb. Like there's a whole thing about
how this guy, his father was an asshole because he was trying to protect him from the wolfman that
was stalking the place where they grew up, right? Right. So basically the whole there's a whole
really obviously, uh, portrayed thing about this guy turning into his father. And that's
the at literally what happens because the father gets killed by the wolfman and becomes a wolf.
It gets turned into a wolf by the wolfman. And now his father, the wolf turns him into a wolf. So
he is becoming the asshole father that he never wanted to be. Right. But there's a scene before they
get to the woods where he is yelling at his daughter to get down off of something that she's climbing
on because she's he wants to make sure that she's kept safe. But he's like, oh, oh, no. I'm turning
into my asshole father. I'm trying to protect you. Like he was always trying to protect me. But now I'm a
giant asshole like he was always an asshole. Like all of the stuff where he is turning into his father
is so overwrought and just so unnecessary. And they just keep coming back to it. Also the stuff where
the daughter can read his mind like that is just like a game. They play it is a game they play. It's
I'm not saying that that's literally what's happening. But they do that over and over again where it's
like this is the connection that he has with his daughter because they do this thing where he tells her
to read his mind. And I don't know. I just thought it was really cheesy and lame. I have to have things
like that in a movie to make you buy into it a little more because if you don't have that you just
have terrifying. You just have this monster that kills people and that's the story. Yeah. I
you know I agree with that is more layers and I thought it was fine. I don't think that the father
daughter relationship was explored in any kind of particularly interesting way. I think it was just
used to try to get some kind of pathos or or sentimental feeling for this guy as he's going through
this thing. Yeah. I think it was effective in that. I didn't I didn't buy it. I was every time that
they were trying to do that stuff. I was like no. This is not working for me at all. I don't think
Christopher Abbott is particularly good in this movie as a human as a guy in wolf makeup. He's
scary and stuff like that. But as the human stuff I just didn't really buy him. I thought Julia
Garner is really good. I thought she played the wife really well. But for the most part, I don't know.
The interpersonal human drama of this movie did not work for me at all. It only worked for me as
a horror movie as a scare factory. Okay. But as a scare factory, like this movie absolutely put to
the test my thing that we were talking about where plot is super important to you and mood is super
important to me. Yeah. This puts that to the test for me because I thought the plot was not good.
And the and the writing was very weak, but it didn't matter because this movie I am true to myself
with this movie. The mood of this movie was more than enough to carry it through for me. I really
enjoyed this movie. I thought the plot was fine. Yeah. I didn't think it was great. But I thought it
helped move the story along and it helped me attach myself to the characters a little more. There was
also a whole subplot of the husband and wife like not getting along with each other and they were
like she's a workaholic and and their their relationship is totally on the rocks. And that is just
never explored at all once they get to the woods. It just seems explored at the very end. Well,
yeah. But I thought that I think the end would have had more resonance if you didn't have that.
You know, I just thought that that was a worthless plot point. I think that was a vehicle to get them
to go altogether to someplace. Yeah. I mean, but this guy is going to clean out the cabin of his
dead father. That's reason enough for a family to take a trip to the woods. I would think you don't
need to let save our marriage kind of subplot, but this doesn't go anywhere. I don't know. Like I said,
I really appreciate the direction this movie is very well directed and very poorly written.
That is what I think of it. I thought it was fine. Yeah. All right. So is that it? Yeah, that's it.
All right. So what would you give the Wolfman a past pirate or pay can Wolfman for me is a pay.
That's a pay. Absolutely. Even with all the wonky, even with all the bad storytelling, the sheer
amount of tension and terror that this movie creates and the way the super cool look of the whole
thing more than enough to carry it through is I really enjoyed this movie. I'm going to pay it too.
Yeah. I thought it was fun. Yeah. Really enjoyable. Really, really liked it.
Thanks for tuning in to Past Pyrite Pay. This episode was produced by the one and only Andy Morris.
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