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Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys because we’re talking 1981’s Strange Behavior and 1985’s Cemetery Of Terror.
We start by talking about some of the stuff involving horror recently. We talk about the Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth film Resurrection and the strange “unreality” feel of the film overall. Liam talks about seeing the films All Jacked Up And Full Of Worms and VHS/99, as well as the Netflix series Cabinet Of Curiosities. Justin talks about finally seeing Lair Of The White Worm and the films Hellhole, Mandrake, The Changed, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, Run Sweetheart Run, Next Exit, Crawlspace, The Offering, and A Wounded Fawn.
We start with Strange Behavior. We talk about how the film was ahead of the curve when it come to the mainstream idea of the “Satanic Panic”. We discuss how the film leaves the gate as a slasher but slowly evolves into a weird sci fi horror film. We discuss how the film, while setting itself up as a slasher, quickly and deftly does away with slasher norms while remaining effective.
We further exam the films deconstruction of the still young slasher tropes at the time and still set up a villain that has a connection to the protagonists while avoiding said tropes. We dive into the cinematography of the film, which is decidedly un-horror movie like and is uncharacteristically rather artistic and deliberate.
Justin talks about the somewhat unorthodox choice of instead of showing an empty casket to reveal a character isn’t dead, they showed the characters skeletonized legs. We talk about how the film is possibly a commentary not so much on American culture, but American movies specifically.
Up next is Cemetery Of Terror. We briefly talk about Hugo Stieglitz. We talk about how the movie, despite being somewhat low budget, is quite effective, and how you can pick apart which American films the director was trying to emulate. We talk about the European phenomenon of labeling entirely unconnected films to American horror films i.e. the La Casa and Zombi films.
We talk about the unconventional cinematography of the film, such as the subtle movement of the camera to lend a sense of atmospheric voyeurism, and how the film at times becomes quite upsetting when the children in the film are attacked. We talk about how the film quite seamlessly switches through horror subgenres, and how Hugo Stieglitz manages to still come off as a virile leading man despite getting the piss kicked out of him by a satanic serial killer.
We discuss how the film combines three lines of narrative that, on their own could each make a compelling horror film but instead blends them together and somehow doesn’t make the film seem overstuffed. We discuss the effectiveness of the child actors and how upsetting it was.
Justin talks about how this film has become for him the archetypical foreign zombie film. We conclude by talking by the “unjustified but awesome” stinger that the film ends with and how despite making an ounce of sense it still fits and caps the film off perfectly.
First and foremost, as always thank you for listening and to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, Paul Sharkey, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), Essex Coffee Roasters (www.essexcoffeeroasters.com) and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers! Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!
