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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 1979’s Suspiria and 1988’s Child’s Play, and we’re joined by Greg Polard, Jude Miller, and Ryan Rayburn of early aught’s Philly straight edge outfit One Up!
First and as always thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally thankful. If you would like to become a Patron, head to patreon.com/cinepunx. Thanks in advance! Also, a huge thank you to the fine folks over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thank you also to Essex Coffee Roasters, purveyors of freshly roasted coffee and doers away with of coffee elitism! Head to www.essexcoffeeroasters.com to check out their fine assortment of coffee and enter CINEPUNX in the promo code for ten percent off your order! Also thank you to Paul Sharkey for his MANY technical contributions to this show and others on the Cinepunx network. Head to www.mechanicalsharkmedia.com for all your miscellaneous production (and mechanized shark!) needs!
We start by talking about our experiences with these two films and how we were first exposed to them, mostly through video store posters. We talk about some of the things we’ve done involving horror recently, including the films It Follows, The Zone Of Interest, Society Of The Snow, There Is A Monster, the new season of True Detective, and an essay on the use of food in the film Possession.
Up first is Suspiria. We talk about our initial exposure to the film and give a very barebones summation of it, as well as the “fairytale logic” of the film in that it is essentially a running justification of a bunch of surreal gorgeous shots. We talk about some of the disjointed but unsettling aspects of the film, and Jude discusses the concept of knowing something is going to happen on screen and still being upset when it happens ala the man behind Winky’s in Mulholland Drive.
We touch upon how the plot of the film is secondary to the images of it, and how the film is quite upsetting when taken in context of the times i.e., the scene where a woman’s exposed heart is repeatedly stabbed. Justin relates an anecdote of watching this film in college and compares it to a Fulci film “but classier” and talks about how the scene in the end where the witch reveals herself is extremely upsetting.
We talk about Dario Argento’s personal opinions on the film and its role in his evolution as a filmmaker. The film’s near inability to be casually consumed is touched upon. We also discuss the other films in Argento’s Three Mother’s trilogy.
Up next is Child’s Play. Justin opens the discussion by comparing the film to Hellraiser, in that both became mediocre franchises based upon an iconic character, and how this film is so much weirder than simply a killer doll movie. We again touch upon our initial exposure to the film as children.
We talk about Brad Dourif’s role in defining the character and how his intensity really sells the character as truly terrifying instead of simply another dumb horror movie. We talk about the film’s place in the realm of films that feature a child telling a fantastic story, not being believed, and being right in the end, as well as the film’s touch of crime drama and slapstick.
We talk about the film’s restrained and subtle sense of humor in comparison to the rest of the franchise. The role of late ‘80s downtown Chicago in the film is discussed. Jude relates an anecdote of getting a My Buddy doll as a child and how his brother told him it would come alive which resulted in him throwing the doll away.
We touch upon the possibility that the filmmakers of Toy Story may have named the main character after the protagonist in this film. We talk about the film’s use of voodoo as a plot point, with Liam disliking it and Justin enjoying it. The remake is briefly discussed, as is the rest of the franchise.
First off thanks to Jude, Ryan and Greg for joining us. You can hear Greg and Jude discuss Rev releases and Minneapolis here and here. 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!
