Talking Nicotero

I'm Joe Alves, and you're listening to Movie Mountain. It's showtime. This episode is rated M for Misty. Yes, that's right, this is a Misty episode, so it will be laced with profanity even more than usual. If you're not comfortable with this level of profanity, perhaps this isn't the episode for you.

But we have many other episodes to choose from that do not feature Misty, and will probably be far less offensive. Okay, maybe. That having been said, on with the show. Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power. to provide more cooling in the containment chambers. To your stationers, we have a rebound.

One day when I'm rich and famous, I'll have better things to do than answer people's stupid questions all day long. Gregory, tell us about your childhood! Were you always so smart and handsome? What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian.

I'm Misty. And we're coming to you live via digital recording from Wonderfest. Woo! Our umpteenth year at Wonderfest. Vajillions of years.

Holding down the fort like we do. Fuckin' A. It's awesome here as usual. We've returned to the family. I think we're like the bastard stepchildren of the family.

They deal with us. They put up with us. But sometimes I'm like, there's the cool kids in the family over there. And then they look over and. They shunt us over in the corner.

They came back again. I'm not complaining, though. I'm not either. I love Warner Fest. I like it better over here where there's nobody.

I feel more comfortable over here. If I had to actually deal with people and like interact. Brian left the table for a while and my phone immediately came out. I'm like, who can I call? Who can I talk to?

What can I watch on my phone? That is not the proper etiquette when dealing with people. I did talk to people at some point. I expressed bloody fingertips. And that was it.

Only in the circumstances that not really inappropriate. You were talking about felting. Needle felting. Special felting. Needle felting.

Extra felting. Needle felting. Extra stabby pointy make your fingers bleed felting. Because I brought with us to Wonderfest our, let's see, according to the sign I made over here, the Movie Meltdown Tales from the Cryptids Handmade Action Figures. Which have been rather popular, I must say.

So people were snapping them up. They were from the Tales from the Cryptids art show that we had. And I was like, well, let's bring them out here. People got to love them. So they've been pretty excited about it.

I know, I said one girl, apparently she had attempted needle felting at some point in her life too, and she's like, yeah, the total fair prices, those are not fun to make. They can be rather stress-relieving when you sit there and feel like stabbing something repeatedly over and over and over, which I often do. But then you end up with blood on everything. Which I often do. Exactly.

I was also told I was a genius for this rigging up version of the banner. That I've done. I was like, oh, don't encourage him. No, no. It's official now.

I have my status. I mean, I don't have to learn anything else, right? You've reached your pinnacle in life. Good, I'm a genius. I'm done.

You're apexed. You're there. Done. But otherwise, we're just kind of getting rolling here for the many, many other episodes that will soon be headed your way, I'm sure. So, in our usual geek activity fashion, Misty, what have you been watching lately?

Oh my gosh. Well, it's only been like a week since we recorded anything. But you forgot them all last time. I did. I have watched several movies and some of them I liked and some of them I'm still a bit confused by and a little bit grossed out by.

I watched Honeymoon. Have you seen anything about Honeymoon? I think. You mentioned that there's a gross thing that happens. There are several gross things that happen.

Before that, I do not think I'd heard anything about Honeymoon. It's a recently married couple, and they go on their honeymoon. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and there's a cabin. Then things start happening, and then it was really boring up until a point. Until she broke out the cooking fork, whatever it's called.

What's it called? Skewer? Skewer? That's like a fork with a prong on the end. A fork?

A barbecue fork. I'm going to call it a fork. I'm like, honey, that is not where you put a barbecue fork. Let me tell you that right now. Well, it depends on what you're up to.

Well, apparently there's an alien. I don't know if I'm going to ruin it. There are aliens apparently involved. Potential spoiler alert. There's potentially aliens.

I'm still not sure what the fuck happened in this movie. You know, it's weird, and then there's things coming out of places that just stop. The movie just needed to stop. Like I said, it was so boring, and then you're just like, okay, stop. I mean, there's a button on your remote that does that.

I know, but then I was so invested in it. I'm like, I've already watched this much. If I just stop now, I'm just a complete quitter. And I'm usually okay with that in life, but the remote was halfway across the couch. I'm with you at that, though.

I mean, like, usually if I start a movie... Not counting when I fall asleep on it. I will finish it because I don't. Like to bail. Have you ever made it through Cabin Fever?

Not Cabin Fever. Wrong turn? Not. Totally. I'm waiting until we get Douche Coup on and then we can watch it together or something.

She's so cute. Then I watched In Fear. Have you seen In Fear? I know the title. I don't think I've seen it.

How recent is this? Well, in the past couple years. Okay. I don't think I've seen it. I don't know.

All I know is I watched it and it's a big... I'm like, why am I watching this? It's kind of slow. Again, and it has, the ending was kind of okay, but it had that one guy from The Fades. Have you seen The Fades?

It's another BBC show. Again, I remember you telling me about it. I have to base everything around Misty stories. Exactly. Well, it's about this, they've recently met, I guess, and they're going to go on this road trip to a concert festival maybe or something.

It's been a couple months since I watched this. It's been a couple months since I've done the podcast regularly, so I'm trying to backtrack. I don't remember what the hell I watched. Anyways, they go on this road trip to go somewhere, and they end up getting lost. They're trying to find this hotel.

And they end up in this woods, and it's very maze-like, and they can't get their way out. And somebody starts fucking with their shit. Don't you hate when that happens? There is a whole bunch of shitfuckery going on in there. And then there's the end.

The end. It was okay. I liked it. It wasn't fantastic. I stole one of your other stories the other day.

Which one? Someone was telling about... possibly just going to have to. They were going on a road trip, but they didn't know for sure where they were going to stay, so they might just end up staying at some sort of roadside motel. So then I had to go in here. Wasn't the Texas the guy with the machete?

No, that was in Memphis. Memphis? That was me, Mom, and Jesse. We were right across from Graceland. Okay, that part doesn't surprise me anymore.

We were in Memphis, and we were walking out of the hotel, and there was this guy out there. I don't even remember what he was doing. It's been years, but there was some machete action in it, and I was just like, we're gonna die. I thought it was sharpening machetes. I don't, either way, we're gonna die.

This guy sharpened his machete outside of our hotel room, right next to the ukulele-shaped pool. I'm like, oh god, we're gonna die, and I'm gonna die next to a ukulele-shaped pool. I'm sure it's supposed to be a guitar, but this is like the Days Inn down the street from Graceland, so it's not like the fanciness, so it's like, more like a ukulele. Yeah, I mean, it's so cliche at that point, like, A guy sharpening a machete outside of your cheesy motel window seems like a scene out of Cabin in the Woods. Like, it's so on the nose, it's probably fake, right?

I mean, that's kind of how I feel. I'm sure there's some other explanation for it. I'm sure there's some Tucker and Dale. He's doing something good over there. He's going to go save kids from a fire, and he needs to sharpen a machete to do so.

But I don't know. I watched Housebound. I've seen that. It's on the streamings, I believe. So you have seen that?

No, I've seen it listed in our usual scan, scan. Hmm, maybe I'll watch that scan, scan. Nah, not right now. It was an odd one. Alright.

That's all I got for that one. It's an odd one. Was it. I won't even go so far as good. Are you okay with the fact that you watched it?

I'm okay with the fact that I watched it. I don't feel like I'm pissed off. I don't want to punch the movie in the face for it having existed. That is a standard level in your review system. Well, because the basic thing is a girl, she's kind of a delinquent, but she's like older, not like older, but like an adult.

Her punishment is to be sent back home to live with her parents. That's why she's got house arrest. Sounds like a sitcom. Well, anyways, her mom's pretty sure the house is haunted. So these things are happening all wonky, and then you find out, holy shit, what's really going on.

And you're like, oh, okay. Didn't see that. One, I guess. Not bad. I liked it.

I would i would give it a thumb and a half up not even like a half a thumb yeah a nub like a tragic marine time accident thumb. A tragic needle felting accident that left you with a bloody nub. No shit dude just hardcore but uh I'm sure I watched other things. Since we recorded last, I've been watching more Top Gear. Of course.

And I can't help it. I'm like addicted to this show. I never would have saw that coming. You have a problem. I do.

And it's a problem is that I have the biggest crush on the guys on the show. And he's British. He's very British. But he's adorably British. Long time Misty fans will know it's a weird time in the world today.

It is. There have been such evolutions. But he's adorably British. And he's like, He's the small one, not like the big tall one or the weird one or the really jackass-y one. He's the smaller one.

Richard Hammond. I am so smitten with him. It's ridiculous. But it's good because it works out for me and Boyfriend. Boyfriend likes cars and watching all that stuff.

And I'll just sit and watch Richard Hammond for hours. I don't even care. You found your couple activity now. I know, right? But I'm not even sure that it's so much that I like him, but that he reminds me of another actor that I had a crush on.

Because he seemed like he could be the dad of C.J. Thomason who was on... Harper's Island, because I fucking love Harper's Island, even though I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who probably watched Harper's Island. The tangled web of Misty Brain. I showed you a picture.

Does he not look like he could be the father of. He might possibly be related. I had to look it up just to make sure. But he's not. But I could watch that show forever.

Anyways, Harper's Island. Which I've watched two or three times. I gave that two thumbs up, too. But, Top Gear. That's my show now.

That's my jam. So one of the few things I came across, I won't even say watch because I don't actively watch movies on regular television. But this came on while I was doing something else. I was probably in the middle of editing another episode. And it came on and I just didn't change the channel.

And then I ended up kind of watching it. I don't know if I've seen it since the initial run when probably you and I watched it. I still know what you did last summer. Ooh, I haven't. Now, do you remember much about that one?

I do not, but it's weird because maybe two weeks ago, I watched I Know What You Did Last Summer. I totally forgot about that. I feel like I've seen that one once or twice since, but still, I do not think I've seen since I. Watched it, that first one. I will always know what.

You did last summer. I'm going to always remember what happened that last time I saw you last summer. I don't remember the second one at all. I know that it didn't have brandy in that one. Brandy's in the second, yes.

But there's someone else, and that was really going to be my point. That was the only thing I kind of took from it, because I watched it... Okay, wait, there's two points, which then become three points. Number one, in the middle of it, as a. I would say not.

Normally I would say unrecognizable, but he's always recognizable. Do you remember Jack Black being in it? I do not recall that. Because at that point, nobody knew who Jack Black was. But if you go back and look through.

His listing, he's in like like he did so many things over the years and i guess only people who watched airborne really remembered him from anything that early on but he's a like dread wearing he's the dude that tries to sell him weed basically which i suppose shouldn't be a. Surprise to your jack black fans. Out there but that was sort of the role he was playing he was the white guy with dreads trying to deal weed to the people coming. To the island yeah i thankfully have no recollection of that whatsoever I don't remember any of that movie. It's very silly.

They go to an island, don't they? But here's the other thing I was going to say. The other point. Literally. So we know who the star of that first movie is, right?

Jennifer Love You, It's Boobs. Well, they obviously learned their lesson because I think even more so. Like, I feel like at least that first one, it's only like the I'm right here, you know, kind of scene. What are you waiting for? Come and get me.

I don't remember how it goes. But. This one, like, midway in, they're on an island. She what? Well, no, they're, like, she gets locked.

You might remember. At one point, she gets locked into, like, the tanning booth thing. Like, he, like, zip ties her into the tanning booth. I don't remember this. Which I don't know if that would kill you.

Like, she starts freaking out. And they almost immediately bust her out. I'm like, I don't think that would have killed you yet. Like, hours maybe. No, according to Final Destination movies.

Oh, Lord. It fries you in Final Destination. But. And she busts out of that. Is there a slushie involved?

Like a big gulp? Most things involve a slushie, right? As they bust her out, though, she really never puts a shirt on after that. So it's just her bikini top. This is the highlight of her career.

Not really complaining. I'm just making an observation. And I made a lot of them as that movie continued on. She kind of puts like a shirt over it, but she never bothers to button it. The whole rest of the movie.

And I'm like, okay. More important things to worry about. I know you're running away from that dude about to kill you, but you're trying to not get a hook in you, but just for a second. When you pause, you can cover those up. Nah, I didn't have a problem with the fact that she didn't.

I'm just saying, as most girls go, that you'd probably just go ahead and immediately button your shirt when you got to a stopping point of not getting killed. That does not happen in this movie. Do you remember, did you watch the third one? I still don't know. You told me it crosses into these Fantasyland.

Yeah, where it becomes more of a, he's not really real. He's kind of like a ghost specter thing or whatever. That one was fucking stupid. It was like an episode of Scooby-Doo. I kept waiting for it.

I would have got away with it too if it wasn't for you rascally kids. They are kind of the Scooby gang. I mean, they've got Fred right there. In the middle of this one, he comes running in and he buys a gun. Well, Daphne died in the first one.

Yeah, they had Fred and Daphne. What the hell? This really is the Scooby gang. So, yeah, that was my take on it. Number one, I had no recollection that Jack Black was in it.

And we know who the star of the movie is. And it ain't Brandy. Moesha. Moesha, Moesha, Moesha. Good times.

I want to go see if I can bust into Greg Nicotaro's room and see if Top Gear is on. Yeah, that's probably not how most of these fan interactions go. If they're trying to bust into the celebrity's room. Will you let me into your room and let me watch Top. Gear, please?

It's probably not to watch Top Gear. Once again, you're very special. I'm okay with that. Because his room is right across from where our table is. If I had brought boyfriend's lockpicking kit, I probably could have broke in there in five to six hours.

We can just ask him when he comes over here, and he might just let you go in the room. He's got stuff to do, so while he's doing his talk, you can go in there and watch Top Keep. Dude, I don't want to go through your zombie shit. I just want to sit and watch Richard Hammond. There's nothing wrong with that.

Leave me alone. We watched the Burma episode this weekend. He wore those little jean cut-off shorts. It was so sexy. I'm not even going to lie.

Jorts have never been so hot. You're very special. I know. Jorts and a wife beater. Very special.

A dirty wife beater, too. It was all gross. That guy's wearing Crocs and socks. That's the most horrifying thing we've seen. Sarah Karloff.

Previous guest on Movie Meltdown, Sarah Karloff, just wandered by. Dude is talking a little special. If you talk to him, he will never go. What if I don't make eye contact? So it was right here in this very building at this very convention years ago that special character over there who was nerding out just a minute ago was shut down by Joanna Cassidy.

What did she say? She basically told him, like again, we've been in many a situation with geek type peoples. I'm sure you all out there have had the same situation where there's somebody that's like a level or two above where your normal geek level is and where your comfort zone with you know interacting with people is i have zero comfort zone interacting with people and this guy is about 14 levels above that but i mean. He's he's kind of special so it's okay i mean you want to you want to go along. With it but there's there gets a point where like it goes too far and like we're in the middle of doing our interview and like he like he would not stop he was like two feet away and would not stop talking and kept talking really loud.

And at one point she's like, excuse me. He gets up and goes over and like, has a talk with me. And I'm like, oh, you're awesome. I was like, you may be my favorite person I've interviewed. Did she make him cry?

Almost. I don't think he fully did, but like, she just shut him down. She's like, hey, I don't even know if I could hear what she said. It's probably a little scarier because it was quiet because it was just like, and then he stopped. And I'm like, oh, I don't know what she just said.

I'm like, you do not mess with Joanna Kasem. So, message for all of you. I made Boyfriend watch it. Yes, it's awesome. Who framed Roger Rabbit?

Yes, that's also awesome. She's in many awesome movies. Those two are pretty amazing. I love that movie. I don't even.

That movie has held up better than just about any movie from that time frame. Because that movie is still amazing by today's standards. As far as just animation? It's the way it fits together. It's pretty impressive.

I mean, movies today, I'm like, that looks like shit. That movie... When did that come out? 87? 87?

That movie is fucking amazing. I could watch it today and be like, this movie is amazing. How did they do this? It's fucking magic. It is pretty impressive.

I mean, I've seen movies that are made more recently where they try to blend in. I'm like, this is just, no, just stop it. It doesn't look as good most of the time. So I don't know what Touchstone did that was so magical. but it's pretty amazing. It's a classic.

Probably one of the top ten most perfect movies. That shoe-dipping scene is still traumatizing. Yeah, I don't like to think about that one. Because he was in pain. Yeah, I don't like to think about that one.

It's in my never-ending story file of movie scenes that traumatize me and I do not need to return to. Swamps of sadness. It's not cool, and I don't like to think about it. The Gmork. Oh, the Gmork's so fucking terrifying.

I love him. He's my favorite part of the whole movie. And it's an awesome movie, but he's my favorite part. So, I think we should go convince that Greg Nicotero character to talk to us right now. Good luck with that.

Oh, man. You're not going to help? You're just going to wait until I get talking to him and then go watch Top Gear. I know what you're up to. I know.

I totally would. All part of your devious plan. I could get it on my... I'll probably watch it on my phone or I'll just sit here and look up miscellaneous pictures because I have some saved. You look up miscellaneous pictures from your Top Gear dude and we'll go talk to Greg Nicotero.

Any dreamy? Greg Nicotero, yes. The cover is blown Familiar and strange You quoted a film Only. Just rearranged. You drank the champagne You opened the doors With slighter hands.

But I was never yours. I see it through the magic. And the views getting fewer. Smile realistic through the smoke and the mirrors. My eyes look for my brand new chance.

Never gonna fall for your special effects. It's magic. And the views getting fewer. Smile realistic through the smoke and the mirrors. My eyes look for my brand new chance.

Never gonna fall Special effects. Special effects. Drive away your worries and cares at this drive-in theater where you will see the finest motion pictures of all time soon to be released. Drama. Comedy, adventure, excitement, something for everyone.

Here's a brief glimpse of some of the truly fine pictures we've scheduled in the near future. George Romero's sensational new film, Zombies, brings you face to face with the dawn of the dead. They are multiplying too rapidly. We've got to survive. Somebody's got to survive.

Zombies. Certificate X. In the West End now and all over London from Sunday. All right, so we're here with Greg and Jotaro. I guess I usually start early.

I think I know what your main movie that scarred you for life was. Was there something earlier, I guess, before... the shark crept into your life? Yeah, there was actually. There was a movie called Horrors of the Wax Museum. And it was like, I think it was a Samuel Arkhoff movie, I want to say.

And I went to the theater to see it and it was basically a remake of House of Wax. It was like the rip-off of House of Wax. And there was one scene where there was a guy in this haunted, in this wax museum and Jack the Ripper turned and looked at it and started approaching him and it scared the piss out of me. So much so that my standard when I was a kid was I would take a book off my shelf and just read it over and over again until I could fall asleep because I would scare myself so much I couldn't sleep. You're distracting your brain to go to sleep.

Yes, yes. Tricking my brain to, yeah. And it worked for a time. It's pretty advanced for a child. Psychology kicking in already.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, then I guess how old were you when you saw Jaws? I saw Jaws the second day it was in the theaters. My parents were big, big movie buffs, huge movie buffs.

So I remember seeing Planet of the Apes in the theater. I saw From Russia with Love in the theater. My parents, like, any time it was a movie, they're like, come on, we're taking the kids. That's awesome. And if I remember, it came out June 20th, 1975, and I think my parents went opening night to, to see it.

And then the next night they took us. This is going to scar millions of children. I think we should take ours. I was 13. Um, and the two of the funniest things that I'll never forget was I closed my eyes when they find Chrissy's remains on the beach.

Yeah. And it took me probably 11 viewings till I actually had the nerve to look at it. Is that all theater? Yes. Wow.

Yes. And, uh, Because I read the book. And in the book, they describe what it looks like. So I built this vision in my head of what it looks like. So I was terrified.

And then two other things. I missed Ben Gardner's head popping out of the boat. The big scare. At that one second, I happened to turn away from the screen for two seconds. I don't even remember why.

And then I remember seeing everybody's heads in the movie theater just rock back. And I was like, what happened? What happened? I missed it. And then, of course, at the end when Quentin was getting eaten, my mom tried to cover my eyes.

So, I mean, at that point, everything else had gone. It's a little late, Mom. And she was trying to cover my eyes so that I couldn't see it. But I think in that summer... I think I probably saw it 15 times just in the first month or so.

And that was just as fandom? Or were you already building in your head, like, this is cool. Somebody made this. Did it start clicking yet? Both.

And I think what was most interesting about it was I remember standing in the lobby. It was the Gateway Theater in downtown Pittsburgh. And looking at the lobby cards, and there was the one lobby card of. Richard Dreyfuss in the cage with the shark going by. And I remember looking at that and thinking in my head, like, wow, that thing is huge.

How did they do that? And then, of course, the next week, it was Time Magazine had that big, gigantic article about Jaws. And it was like Summer of the Shark. And they had pictures of the mechanical shark in the dry dock. And they talked a little bit about how it was made.

And that just fascinated me. to no end, that somebody built a giant shark and they put it in the ocean and it just scared the fucking shit out of me so perfectly. I was always interested in special effects and I think up to Jaws, I was sort of leaning towards miniatures. I loved Poseidon Adventure and the Towering Inferno and all the Irwin Allen things because they all had really cool miniatures. You could blow up little buildings. You could blow shit up, yeah.

So aside from the Universal monster movies and stuff, I was really into, like, even Star Trek and Lost in Space and Land of the Giants. I loved the hardware. I loved the spaceships, and I loved all that stuff. So Jaws was one of those things where all of a sudden I was like, ooh, this world of special effects is kind of intriguing to me because it's not just about makeup or it's not just about miniatures, but it's about, like, building. And that really sort of opened up kind of opened the world for me a little bit and it wasn't until dawn of the dead uh and friday the 13th and tom savini that it kind of everything shifted now to like okay that's all cool and that's all great stuff and i want to blow shit up and i want to make a giant shark but seeing dawn of the dead and that just i went okay that's that's it that stuff's cool but that's.

Really To jump ahead a little, I'm assuming now you're familiar with Joe Alves? Yes, very much so. Because we talked to him here last year, and he's an amazing guy. His hands-on, so many things, and a lot of movies that are epic. But that one, to me it's funny.

I still, I guess, have to give a lot of credit to Spielberg. But listening to him tell his stories, I'm like, there's a lot of that that goes to him, like him just building this and then him figuring out how to work it where, you know, Steven's doing a lot of impressive stuff too, but I think he gets all that credit. And then listening to Joe tell those stories. It's yeah. Yeah.

Joe and I become really good friends. He lives like 10 minutes away from me in Los Angeles. And I can't even remember where we met the first time that we met, but we've, we've been friends for a long time. And, He comes up to the shop every once in a while and he's funny because he's like four foot ten and he just like zips around the shop. but you know what's great about that is you know back then when it was the studio system and he was a studio art director so. At Universal he was just on the payroll.

Yeah so he worked on Night Gallery and he worked with Hitchcock and he was there you know so It's so different now, but when they talk about Jaws and you realize that the production designer was out location scouting and then he was the guy who was basically hired to interview everybody and figure out who was going to build the shark. Because they talked about like, oh, we'll do it in a miniature. No, we'll get a real shark and put it in a tank. The Universal Prop Shop or the Universal Effect Shop was too busy. Because they were doing Hindenburg and they were doing other stuff.

So Joe had to go outside of Universal, which was, even then, sort of unheard of. So, you know, finding Bob Maddy, I was like, oh, this guy, Disney did this big water creature for 20,000 Leagues. I always think about, I was like, God, if I would have just been born a little earlier, I could have been like, hey, I'll build that shark for you and gone through the hardest movie of my career like they all did. Shove Joe out of the way. Be like, no, I'll do it.

Yeah, it's fun because even shows that I, work on now every once in a while. I'll look at the call sheet and I'll see a name that I recognize. I was like, wait a minute. We were doing Transformers and I looked down at the special effects, the list of who was working on the crew and it was a guy named Richie Helmer. And Richie Helmer was one of the guys that helped build the shark.

So I was like, oh my God. And I went over to one of the other effects and I said, is Richie Helmer here? He's like, yeah, he's a crotchety old dude. He's in the trailer. He's just, I want to talk to him.

He's a pissy all the time. I'm like, I want to meet him. I want to go talk to him. Um, Well, then, I guess just jumping back to, at that point, how do you get, because you see Dawn of the Dead, you end up working on the sequel years later. What's the in-between there?

Like, how do you get from liking that to. The in-between is the weirdest Rubik's Cube of Hollywood that you'll ever imagine. So, I live in Pittsburgh. I meet George Romero, and of all places... I'm on a family vacation in Europe.

The first time, my parents took us to Europe. And we went to, it was like three days in London, three days in Paris, and four days in Rome, something like that. And it was 1979. No, earlier than that. Anyway, I'm sitting at a restaurant eating dinner, and across the restaurant is George Romero and his wife, Christine.

And I knew who he was, of course, because in Pittsburgh we had one Saturday night horror show called Chiller Theater. Yeah. And the host is named Bill Cardell. And he was in Night of the Living Dead. He plays the reporter.

So what do you say, chief? How do you kill these things? So he was like a local television newscaster who was our horror host. So I had seen George on Chiller Theater when they had played Night of the Living Dead. So the irony, of course, was I went all the way across town. the world the other to meet the guy who was gonna open the doors for me so we got to be friends and we exchanged phone numbers i was 16 i think at the.

Time this just in the restaurant you're like hey you don't know me well there this was my pickup line i actually have a pickup line for george romero uh my uncle. Is an actor and was in the crazies so again those the It's. A nice tie-in. Five separations, degrees of separation. And we went over to him and said, hey, you know Sam Nicotero?

He's our uncle. So, of course, you're standing in the middle of a restaurant in Rome and these two kids come up to you, my brother and I. So we became friends. And my dad, again, at the time was an avid movie fan and also like a really big technology guy. So we owned one of the first VCRs ever available.

It was like reel-to-reel. You'd have to thread it like those old tape players. So we started a collection of movies. I remember the first movies that we recorded were Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Horror of Dracula and The Time Machine. But you'd have to record it off television.

So you'd plug the antenna into the back of the. Video player and you'd record it but then the tapes were only an hour long so if you were taping an hour and a half movie you'd run out and then you'd have to quickly re-thread another tape yeah exactly so that was what my childhood was my childhood was timing to when we got to a commercial where I could change the tapes while I was recording stuff so cut to me meeting George and I went to visit him at his office once and I brought him a list of all the movies that we had collected. Because back then, video was just starting, but we had such an early jump on it that we had been collecting movies for quite a long time. And I find out much later, of course, that George used to rent movies from the library in New York where he lived, and he and Scorsese used to fight over the same movies.

He'd go, there was a movie called Tales of Hoffman, which is one of George's favorite movies. And he'd go to Renton like, sorry, Mr. Scorsese has that movie. And he'd be like, damn, whoever that guy is. And then Scorsese would go to Renton and, oh, sorry, Mr.

Romero. I'd say, damn, whoever that guy is. That guy making industrial films. Yes, I hate those guys. So I went to George and this just goes to my, I haven't told this story in a long time, goes to my bottom of my geekness.

So I give him a list of all of our movies and he circles, I don't know, 30 movies. This was on a Thursday afternoon or a Friday. So I spend the entire weekend dubbing every movie he wanted. So Monday morning, I go to visit him again with a box. And I go, hey, so remember those movies that you were interested in?

And he goes, yeah, well, here. And I gave him all of them. And he said, did you even sleep? And I was like, you're George Romero. Why would I sleep?

That's ridiculous. What are you, crazy? What's the matter with you? So. That's kind of how we became friends was that I was just like, George Romero needs this movie.

I have to make it for him immediately. And then, of course, just one thing led to another. And I stayed in touch with him. And then when they started shooting Creepshow, they called. And they're like, hey, we're doing this movie.

Do you want a PA job? And I was like, well, this is 1981. And I said, well, the only issue is that I'm graduating from high school. And I'm going to go to college. But thank you.

And they said, well, you should come visit. Maybe it was 1980, actually. It wasn't 81. It was 1980. And they said, you should come visit.

So I went, okay. So the first time I went to visit, they were shooting at an old abandoned factory in Monroeville, like 10 minutes from the Monroeville Mall. And I pull up. And I walk into this giant warehouse, and they had built all the sets for the crate. Remember the episode where they go in the basement of the university and the crate's under the steps?

So they built all that. It was all a set that was built in a warehouse. So I remember walking in, and I walked through. I walked onto the set. Like, there were no security guards or anything.

It was just like this kid, like, hey, well. It's Monroeville. And I turned around and walked back out, and in the corner of that warehouse was Tom Savini's lab. And that's when I met Tom. And we got to be friends, very, very good friends, so much so that we spent a lot of time just hanging out, and I would go and visit, and he would let me come and watch while they were building everything.

I would just hang out. And so, of course, a couple years go by. I stay in touch with George, and Tom and I stay in touch, and the Day of the Dead comes up. So it's now July of 1984. And.

I go to visit George for lunch, and he's like, hey, we just got a green light on Day of the Dead. Do you want a job? And I was like, okay. I already made this fucking mistake once. I'm not going to make it again.

So I said, yes. And at this point, I had been in college for three years, because it was three years, yeah, it was three years between, four years between the two. And I was pre-med, and I had one more year to go before I was going to graduate and go off to college. And I went to my folks, and I said, hey, so... funny story I'm going to take a semester off school I'm going to work on this movie and then I'm going to go back and finish I'm going to be a doctor so I don't have anything to worry about and then I called Savini and I said listen I just got hired on Day of the Dead I want to be your assistant I want to be your like apprentice and George and the producers loved that idea because that allowed me to order all the supplies sift through the resumes break down the script sort of kind of coordinate the department And it left Tom sort of free to just be Tom Savini, which at that time he was really fucking good at.

He's still good at it. He's still Tom Savini. So that's how I got hired. It was kind of a complete sort of fluke that it happened. And, you know, the rest, I never went back to school. my parents were never upset which is interesting because my parents were more like listen he's a smart kid he's got a good head on his shoulders whatever he does I ended up dating the script supervisor who was 10 years older than me I moved to New York when we wrapped Day of the Dead and then within a year I was in Los Angeles so my parents were never like, oh my God, we've lost him.

My parents were like, he's a smart kid. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He'll be fine. The evils of Hollywood. Yes.

Yes. Well then, while we're at sort of that time period, do you want to do Creepshow 2? That movie traumatized me. I'm still terrified of large bodies of water where I can't see. See, that's what Jaws did for me.

But Creepshow 2, it's a very long story, but an interesting story. So, We were working on Evil Dead 2. And again, when I moved to New York after Day of the Dead, Richard Rubenstein, who produced Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead, he took a shining to me. And again, I think he saw something like, oh, this kid's got some... He's got moxie.

I like this kid. I don't know. That's what you want to hear. That's what you want to hear. Well, back then, that's what you did hear.

They offered me a PA job on Tales from the Dark Side. And Richard was kind of grooming me, I think, at that point. Richard... They were so appreciative of the fact that I kind of wrangled Tom's department that everything went off so smoothly on Day of the Dead that they were like, this kid, maybe he's a producer. I don't know.

So Richard hired me on Tales from the Dark Side and I worked on the TV show for a couple months in New York. And then what ended up happening was I ended up moving to Los Angeles. And I think Richard was a little bit like, Where are you going? Why don't you stay? But I wanted to do makeup effects.

I didn't want to be a producer. I wanted to make monsters. So I worked in L.A. for a couple years, and then Creepshow 2 happens. And we were just finishing Evil Dead 2, and again, I got a call from Richard Rubenstein and David Ball, the producer, and they're like, listen, we hired this guy, Ed French in New York, but he needs a crew. He needs people, and we know you guys.

We trust you guys, because... You worked on Day of the Dead, so we need help. And I was like, yeah, well, let me finish here, and then I'll go to New York. So Howard Berger and Mike Tercik and myself went to New York, and there was a big falling out, because what ended up happening was Ed French was doing his own thing, and Michael Gornick, who was the director, was... They were starting to get nervous because they hadn't seen anything and they wanted to start seeing progress.

We had started working on the Chief Wooden Head suit. So, again, what ended up happening was they were starting to get a little nervous because they hadn't seen a lot of progress on stuff for the Raft episode. So, Ed French got a little upset because they... basically said greg let us know how things are going and ed french was like well you're sort of acting like a spy so you can't work here anymore so they weren't going to fire me because richard and david ball those guys wanted me on the movie so they sent me to arizona and i worked with the special effects guys and i built the blobs yeah so i spent uh i spent like a week with a big roller latexing, latex onto the floor and pouring polyfoam into the swirl and putting all the little pieces into that.

So much so, of course, that I ended up getting blood poisoning from the polyfoam because I was in this room. So, lo and behold, that was my responsibilities on Creepshow 2. They were like, well, he can't really, Ed French doesn't want him around, so let's send him out here and he'll work with us. And then, of course, you know, that department imploded and, Howard Berger and myself and Everett Burrell, we sort of took over the department and we rebuilt all the effects. You know, we bought hundreds of gallons of ultra slime and methacil and I ended up sculpting actually a lot of pieces.

I sculpted the rotted away arm for Paige Hanna and a lot of that stuff. So what that episode could have been and what it ended up being, I look at it and I'm like, yeah, it's a big piece of latex that we were pulling through the lake. But people, I would love to remake that episode. Actually, that's something that we should do because it was a lot of fun and it was a great movie. It was a fun movie to work on because we shot two episodes in Prescott, Arizona and then we went to Bangor, Maine and shot the last episode because Steve King lived there.

It's funny because Steve was writing Misery at the time so he came and visited set a lot and you'd go into his trailer and there was crumpled up little pieces of paper And I took one and kept one because I was a big fan of his. I love Pet Sematary and Salem's Lot. And I still have it. And it was, he was writing Misery and was like, and I was like, Ooh, this is kind of cool. I'm going to keep one of these.

Ironically. And then of course I ended up working on the movie. So it was kind of funny. Well, and then you, you mentioned Evil Dead too. That was one of the other ones I was wondering, because that seems like pure insanity.

So like, I don't know how, just coming up with such crazy ideas. And I, I guess what was it like throwing in the middle of that set and then coming off that first win and then trying to take it to a whole new level, which it definitely went to. Well, it was, Evil Dead 2 was a blast. I mean, it was another crossroads in my career. It's funny, every movie you're talking about was like, now I'm realizing, wow, that was great.

I was in Pittsburgh for about three months between Christmas and March waiting for Savini to get a gig. Because I had moved to LA, I'd worked for Mark Sjostrom, and then I went and worked at DeLaurence's studio in North Carolina, and I wanted to go home for Pittsburgh and see my girlfriend and hang out. And Savini was, I was waiting around, and finally I said to Tom, I'm like, I can't wait any longer, I gotta get back to work. So I went back to LA, and I got hired at Mark Sjostrom's on Evil Dead 2. And.

Like a week later, Tom called, hey, I'm doing Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 with Toby Hooper and Austin. I need you to meet me in Texas. And I said, I can't. I made a commitment and I'm here. I have to stay here.

So we prepped that show until May and then we all flew to Wadesboro, North Carolina, South Carolina and shot Evil Dead 2 from like, June, July, August. Or May, June, July. And, you know, it was all in the script. I mean, all the wackiness and the weirdness. The funny thing was when I read, I had seen the first Evil Dead, of course.

So, I always remember thinking that that movie was so terrifying, but that the effects were so shitty that it took you right out of the movie. But you take that movie, like if Dick Smith had been hired on the first Evil Dead, that would have been the, by far, the scariest, creepiest, movie ever made. I still think that first one holds up. It does, but it's really scary. The effects are a little...

When you. Watch it in the middle of the woods by yourself in a sleeping bag. As a young teenager, I watched it by myself. Our house was in the middle of the woods by myself. There's a reason you're like this.

There's many, many reasons. I can't go in the woods. I can't go in ponds or lakes. Yeah. But even the creature designs, did he have all that?

Like the rotten apple head is always like, that one at. The end, the big giant window. Yeah, yeah. Did he already have all that stuff kind of planned out? He did.

You know, the funny thing about Sam was is that I didn't really, you know, going off the first Evil Dead, I was like, okay, we're in store for like the most horrifying, terror-filled excursion ever. And when we started shooting, they had done a couple of rewrites and they rewrote, they wrote the scene where Ash is in the woodshed and the door flies open and Linda's headless body comes in with the chainsaw. And I was like, oh my God, that's unbelievable. What a scary, horrifying, creepy image. And then when we started shooting, I really started getting a sense of like, Sam's got kind of a Three Stooges sense of humor here.

It definitely starts to come out in that second one. It really did. The first, not as much. The first, not as much. But the second one certainly, you know, Bruce Campbell breaking plates over his head for three days straight was certainly something that I didn't, you don't read it in the script and you don't read the script and go, this is a wacky, crazy, you know, sort of cult movie.

So I remember being like sort of minimally disappointed that it wasn't scary because I wanted it to be, I wanted it to be like Evil Dead 1, like super scary. And then, of course, once they finished it and we saw it, it was just so outrageous. And, you know, I remember making the gelatin eyeballs that go into Cassie Wesley's mouth and putting them in the freezer and keeping them cold because they were made of gelatin and they were melting. And just the eyeball with the monofilament and all that crazy stuff, which when we were prepping it, it never really came across as... as like this sort of wacky stuff. It came across much more like, okay, well, here's Evil Ed and here's Evil Ash and here's Henrietta and here's the pee we had and here's these gags.

And even the moment where Ash chops up evil ad and i think that the footage was lost the only piece that exists is the video that i shot on set of all the pieces on the ground and people were like wow what what happened to that scene like they he was supposed to chop it up and all the pieces were still going to be alive and he goes give me the chainsaw and he's like and cuts everything up into little pieces uh so when we started shooting and it was you know the peewee head's eyeball gets in the trap door and they jump on it and The eyeball flies out. I really don't remember ever being like, oh, yeah, this is the wacky shot with the eyeball flying around. It's all technical. It's like, how do I shoot?

Yes, exactly. But it was fun. I mean, it was really one of the most fun experiences. And, again, K & B was born from Evil Dead 2. Me, Howard, and Bob, we worked together so well that it kind of– like solidified this idea of like, wow, we really should start doing our own stuff.

So I guess, I mean, you've ended up doing such amazing, just conceived special effects and they, they continue even like even in The Walking Dead now. Do you come up with that stuff well ahead of time? Is it really planned out or is it on the fly? No, it is. It's, it's, there's some happy accidents that do happen on the fly.

Yeah. But that's the most rewarding part of prepping a movie is those first few meetings with the director where you have the script in front of you and you sit with the director and you start throwing ideas around because that's when you're the most creative. Oh, what if we tried it this way? What if we tried it this way? What do you think about this idea?

A lot of times the directors will have, no, this is exactly what I want. And other times the directors will want you to help guide the process. So, We were always involved in sort of helping the directors guide that process and develop where the effects would go. And I think that has a lot to do with where I am in my career now because of having that freedom. There was one time I remember on a set where a director was like, I was like, listen, we should set this shot first.

And I remember the director saying, well, what the fuck do you know your makeup? You don't know anything. I'll never forget that because I was like, well, but you're hiring me for my expertise. And if you're asking me how to shoot something and I'm giving you my expert opinion and you don't want to take it, then you're a fucking idiot. Did that plant that seed for directing?

Because it took you a while, it seemed like. Before you decided. No, I never really imagined that I was going to be a director. I made my. United Monster Talent Agency short just because it was something I wanted to try I just wanted to do it just to see if I could do it it wasn't like I'm going to become a director now I did it I had a lot of fun I didn't fuck it up I wasn't I didn't blow it and directing just kind of fell into place I mean the truth is I've had the best film school in the world I've been on set with Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Darabont the best John Carpenter and John Landis and Wes Craven and George Romero.

Every director that has had an impact on society in the last 40 years, I've had the good fortune of working with. I read an interview somewhere where somebody said, I learn more from the directors that don't know what they're doing. I found that to be kind of a ridiculous comment because every director is different and when I watch Quentin Tarantino spend three weeks rehearsing a scene with actors before a frame of film is even rolled, I understand what's important to him. And then I watch other directors that those performances aren't as important, and it's the visuals that are important. It's just how people...

That's why every director is different. I never thought I was going to be a director. I was just fortunate enough to... realized that I had had enough experience on movie sets and had downloaded enough with the people that I worked with to guide me into being able to visualize what my vision of things are. I think even beyond that it's different going into. It just wanting to be kind of competent and take care of everybody.

You've done some really stylish stuff these last couple of seasons. I've been trying and I directed a pilot last year for AMC that didn't get picked up but Even though it didn't go, I still learned a tremendous amount. And I was in Los Angeles editing the first episode of season six for Walking Dead. And the editor even said, you shot this episode so different than anything else that you've ever done. What's different?

And I said, well, I learned a lot. Even though that pilot didn't go, I learned a lot about how to interpret how I want to shoot things. And it was really fascinating for him to say that because I actually physically set out to put a different visual style on the way I was shooting things. And when he said, wow, this episode is shot so beautifully and the composition and just the way you blocked everything and it just, it's so much more polished. And that's something that Frank Darabont said when we wrapped the first season of Walking Dead.

I got a call from Vampire Diaries and they said, hey, we need a second unit director. Are you available? And I went, sure. And I flew to Georgia and directed a couple days for them and I remember saying to Frank yeah I got offered to direct second unit on Vampire Diaries he's like go he said any opportunity to get behind the camera is a good opportunity because you can only get better I hate to say this but I have to run. Do you have anything you need to tell people as far as watch Walking.

Dead or more specific keep watching Walking Dead no I mean I'm grateful for the fans of the support of the show Uh, season six will be on, on the air in October. You know, we're always October through March and it's shaping up to be something spectacular. Awesome. And spoiler alert, who do I have to blame for the Beth situation? Uh, you have to blame our writers.

I was not pleased. I know. Mostly because, maybe it's just because she's so adorable. She is adorable and that has a lot to do with it because people never said, well, what are we going to do that Tyrese is now gone? Yeah.

Tyrese is not as adorable as Beth is. I just saw her perform. I know, she's great. She's a great songwriter, too. I just talked to her the other day.

She's awesome. I think it caught her a little off guard, but the truth of the matter is, you've got a great career. It's good to keep people guessing, but yeah, that was just such a weird turn of events. I told Marta Kristen I would have dinner with her at 6.30. All right.

I'm holding up Judy Robinson. Thank you. Bye. Thanks again. Yeah, of course.

Okay. They hung a sign up in our town If you live it up, you won't live it. Down So she left Monroe, son. Just like a bullet leaves a. Gun Charcoal eyes and Monroe.

Hips She went and took the California trip. Well, the moon was gold and her hair like wind. Said, don't look back now, just come on, Jim. You gotta hold on, hold on. You gotta hold on.

Take my hand and stand right here. You gotta hold on. I can hear you just fine. Huh? You don't have your headphones on.

I don't like putting things in my ears. I don't. I don't like hats. I don't like things on my head. That's our running pad.

Except hoods. I'm okay with like hoods. Like if I have a hoodie. There's a whole ad of you saying that nonsense that I listen to all the damn time. What?

I don't like things in my ears. I don't like things in my ears. You're the worst pitch person ever. I am. That's how this goes.

We're recreating the ad that we did at whatever that place is. I have mine. They're awesome. They're the wood ones. They're deluxe.

Look at this shit. That's hardwood. I guess if I were to shove any implement in my ear, it would be those. We don't recommend you shove anything else in your ear. That's kind of why we were hooked up with Tweaked Audio.

It's the only thing we recommend you shove in your ear for medical purposes, really. If you damage your eardrum, you're doing it wrong, and we take no responsibility. Stop when you hit pressure. You should only use Tweaked Audio. And when you do, you go to their website.

You go to pay for it. You put in your code MELTDOWN. You'll get a discount and free shipping. It's awesome. Is it better than 5% discount?

Not that 5% discount that you were looking at in that catalog. The discount you will be getting from Tweaked Audio will be a hell of a lot better than the 5%. It's a third off. You get a third off. Holy shit.

If I had math, that would be awesome. And free shipping. Fuckin' A. You can't beat that. And they're super fast.

Not with a stick. I just went and got me some more, and it was like a day, and they were there. They were like lightning fast. Like the last. on that girl's boobs over there. Lightning move fast.

Lightning move fast. You're welcome, Tweet Audio. You can put that on your envelopes. Lightning move fast. And you're welcome.

Faster than a geek's eyes to lightning moves. You're welcome. They're not going to like me promoting their item, are they? Actually, they have a pretty good sense of humor. Tweaked Audio is kind of awesome.

Just go to tweakedaudio.com, and when you check out, enter the discount code MELTDOWN. Then you'll get 33% off and free shipping. Tweaked Audio. Sounds better. This is Scott Wilson.

I played Herschel Green on The Walking Dead, and this is Movie Meltdown. Stay tuned. It's part of your problem, you know. You haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies.

And now, on with the show. The Walking Dead. You push all the buttons, you seem to enjoy. They're larger than life to one little approach. Let me hear your voice.

Well, be on your approach. I see you through the magic. And I hear you spin your mirror. Smile real and stick through the smoke and the mirrors. My eyes love all my brand new checks.

Never gonna fall for. Your special effects. It's magic, and the view is getting clearer. Smile realistic through the smoke and the mirrors. My eyes love what my brain rejects.

Never gonna fall for your special effects. Special effects. Special effects. I thought my picture was in. Here.

You got your picture with Greg Nicotero? I did. I get my picture taken with Greg Nicotero. Was he awesome? He was pretty.

He seemed really nice. He's pretty damn cool. They had somebody in there waiting to take pictures for you. They were only letting one person in at a time. That's for the best.

I know, but still. You don't want these nerds to get all excited and a big zombie horde breaks out. I was kind of waiting for it. He had nice shoes, too. I liked his shoes.

Good to know. He didn't smell either. I liked that. It didn't smell like zombies. I was kind of afraid of that, but it was all good.

That would be an issue. It seemed really nice and smelled decent, so that's good. You probably should have recorded hours ago before I was tired again. You're always kind of loopy. I hate to tell you.

If you caught me right after my Pop-Tarts, I might have been better. You did sit here eating Pop-Tarts at the table. I did, and I was so glad nobody wanted to shake my hand because I was mid-Pop-Tart, and that would not have gone over well. They did try to shake you. They did not.

You kind of growled at them. I thought you were trying to talk about Pop-Tarts. Dog with a toy. Okay, never mind. I'll just.

Don't come between Misty and her food. Luckily, I had to be our public relations while you sat over there and growled at people while eating Pop-Tarts. Then again, it's kind of like that when I'm not eating Pop-Tarts. Yeah, kind of. I'm not a friendly person.

Alright, well, it has been another wonderful year, and I'm sure many other Wonderfest episodes will be coming your way in the near future of lots and lots of coverage. I love Wonderfest. It's awesome. And you should come here, too. I like their carpet.

I've been the whole way, not the one in here. It is a very homey place, but that's just because we've been here for like 17 years or however long it's been. We're right by the ice water, too, so just in case we get parched. That is something I wanted to mention. They're I get back to our levels of geekiness that are a little above certain others.

Some people, and I'll say people, but it's mostly guys that I see at these conventions that are just like, okay, no, I have to take pictures of everything. And I'm like, that's cool. But sometimes I'm like, what are you doing? Because there were two guys earlier, one of which was assigned the camera, and he had this pretty big, real camera. They don't even need those anymore.

Your phone takes a better picture sometimes. Did you take a picture of the water pictures? He stood in front of our table and took a picture of the water. They're shiny. I mean, it's nice ice water area over here, but there's like a stack of cups and some metal containers holding water.

And he took a picture of it. They are fancy. I'm just like, what are you going to do with that picture? Like, what do you need that picture for? I'm taking a lot of weird pictures of conventions, but never.

Of the water. If you took it crooked, it's art. That's your thingy. That's not mine. You are an artiste.

I was mocking somebody else's fantastic art photos. Let's tilt the camera a little bit. Fucking art. Sad thing is I think I know who you're talking about. Her name's Judy.

No names will. Be used, but I think I know who you're talking about. You can censor it. I don't give a shit. I'm not her friend on Facebook anymore.

That's official. We're not friends. I don't know if she's anybody's friend. I'm kind of disappointed there haven't been that many costumes here as they normally used to be, it seems like. It's just like you couldn't spin a stick without hitting like a Boba Fett.

What the hell is that over there? Bosk. That's Bosk. I think Bosk was here last year. But it seems like the first couple years was him here.

There'd be aliens everywhere, predators everywhere. Like I said, you couldn't swing a stick without hitting at least one. Now it's like you'd have to get a way bigger stick. That's why they don't let you in here with a stick. I know.

Remember that guy who did the really good Anakin? No. I mean he looked just like Anakin Skywalker. And he used to come here. Yes I think I blocked him out there's a picture of me with.

A guy okay no I kind of do remember because I think I took that picture so now that you say that I do kind of remember taking a picture of you and an Anakin kid he wasn't a kid he was Hayden Christensen he was Hayden Christensen that guy. Sucks anyways but this guy probably could have done a better job am I the only one who doesn't give a shit about Star Wars. Yes Okay, that's what I thought. In, I'd say, at least America, but probably the world over, you're the only one. Because in a movie, I'm like, I don't even fucking care about this.

Get out. There's only like one movie. You're not allowed to stay at a geek convention and talk bad about Star Wars. I've only seen him maybe once each. And the first times I watched him was with you and Sammy overdubbing the entire fucking thing.

Phantom Menace, you can trash all you want, and you can pretty much talk bad about. The other two as well. At least Phantom Menace had Darth Maul. Darth Maul is the only. Not that I hate them, I just don't give a shit about the new ones.

But the new ones have potential. I'm looking forward to the new ones. Because George isn't involved anymore. No offense, I've gotten to the point, I've come back around, like. Now that he's not.

Now that he's not involved in any way, shape, or form, I've actually come back around and I'm like, actually. I'm talking about good things that he did on those first... Well, that one. The one that he directed. But I'm like, I've actually come back around to being like, Wow, he really was visionary.

Wow, he really did a great job directing that movie. He did a good job running that first two and a half-ish. He did some pretty amazing things. He totally revolutionized the film industry, the toy industry, marketing, sound, special effects. He really made an.

Impact on film that will forever massively have changed it. So I'm glad that he's not involved because it gives me a reason to like him again. It's like I got so annoyed with the prequel nonsense that I really was not. Thrilled with him. So I think a lot of geeks were in that place and maybe now we can come back around and be like, you know what?

He made us a great movie that led to this franchise. That's not one I think I need to go see in the theater. You're doing it wrong. There's only one movie coming out this year that I feel like, it's like, okay, I need to go. See this movie.

Crimson Peak. It did look very cool. It looked fucking fantastic. It did look very cool. Well, first of all, it's got Tom Hiddleston, who we all know I gotta thank for.

Again, British. Yeah, again, I don't know who this Misty is that has emerged in the last few years, but she has definitely killed. The old Misty. But it's different because I still stick with hating British comedy. Well, it is a very specific thing.

British comedy sucks. It's an acquired taste. I'll put it that way. Because there's a lot of it that's a lot of what is considered the popular stuff that I never took to. I was all about some young ones.

But even that, it took me a long time to eat. If MTV didn't just repeat it every week and there's only a handful of episodes. So I saw them over and over and over again. And eventually I started to get how their humor were, especially those guys. They have a very specific style.

So it's like I got on board with that and then I tried. But. Most of what most people like is British, especially the older run of, like, TV British comedy. I really wasn't that taken with either. Well, Boyfriend's all about absolutely fabulous.

I remember that got huge, like, out of nowhere. And I remember them, like, selling. Boxes of the VHSs. That's how far back this goes. And, like, there's moments that are funny.

Like, i that one's funnier than a lot of the other stuff before that but i feel like even that is it's got such a weird british spin to it that like you kind of have to either get it or you don't. But anyways i was kind of afraid because i figured my love for tom hiddleston was it seemed like it was getting kind of narrowed down like Is he just going to be Loki for me? Is that all I'm going to have? I only love Loki. For a while, I was beginning to wonder because he kept doing other things and I'm like, no.

No, dude. Keep on moving. But then I saw the trailer for Crimson Peak and I'm like, holy shit. He's my new Loki in this one because he's not Loki, but he's my new... I'm like, I can dig this.

I can get into this guy. I can. I can totally dig this. And the trailer looks so fucking amazing. You sent it to me.

It looks really good. No, you watched it at my house. On my couch. I made you watch the trailer because you were like, yeah, that's why you like it. It's got Loki in it.

I remember. What's the director's name? Did he write it too? I can't say his name, so I'm trying to pawn it off on you. Isn't it Del Toro?

See, that's when you go for the first names. I couldn't do the first. It's Guadalamo. I can't do it. Guillermo Del Toro.

Yeah. I can't say it, so that's why I was, you know. But anyways. I butcher most names. I just heard that one a lot.

I didn't watch Pacific Rim. Was that his last movie? Yeah. I believe so, because I feel like he kind of needed to redeem himself a little bit. Anyways, the trailer for Crimson Peak looks fucking amazing.

And he is, based on that trailer, he is redeeming. Not that Pacific Rim's bad. It just wasn't. I expected a little more out of him and just from what they built it up to be. And it's fun.

It's serviceable as an action, you know, things hitting each other kind of a movie. It's fine. But this looks above and beyond that. It looks pretty impressive. There's ghosts.

Oh my god. So spooky. You're special. I like spooky movies. Very special.

I like scary movies and there's not very many good ones of those. There's not. Anything else? Are we done now? You did say your jibber-jabbers.

Jibber-jabbers. That's what I do. I jibber-jabber a lot. Do you have more jibber-jabbers for them? I might need more Pop-Tarts, though.

I'm getting hungry again. That does not surprise me. All right. I think that rounds out this episode. There will be more Wonderfest coverage coming your way in the near future.

But in the meantime, tell them goodbye, Misty. Goodbye, Misty. Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next time. Same geek feed.

Thanks for listening. There's a humming in the rest of summer air. And we're slipping off the course that we prepared. But in all chaos, there is calculation. Dropping glasses just to hear them break.

You've been drinking like the world was going to end. Took a shot from a fist of your best friend. It's clear that someone's got to go. We mean it, but I promise we're not mean. And the cry goes out.

Oh, oh, oh. Feels are mine for us and how it plays out. And now we're in the ring and we're coming for blood. You could try and take us. But we're the gladiators.

If you wanna rage at us. We're secretly the saviors. Glory and gore go hand in hand. That's why we're making headlines. You can try and take us But.

Victory's contagious. Delicate in every way but one God knows we like our clear kinds of fun Chance is the only game I play with, baby We let our battles choose us And the choir goes loud They lose their minds for us and how it plays out And now we're in the ring and we're coming for blood. You could try and take us. But with the gladiators Everyone a ranger They're. Secretly their saviors Glory and gore go hand in hand That's why we're making headlines.

You can try. And take us But. Victory's contagious. No one around here's good at keeping their eyes closed The sun's starting to light up when we're walking home Tired little laughs, gold lie promises We'll always win at this, I don't ever think about death It's alright if you do, it's fine We gladiate, but I guess we're really fighting ourselves Roughing up our minds so we're ready when the kill time comes wide awake in bed words in my brain secretly. You love this do you.

Even want to go free let me in the ring i'll show you what that big word means. I thought the show was over. Why am I still talking? Because you talked. I do talk.

I talk a lot. Oh, by the way, the building might be on fire and you might all die. You might want to exit any time in the near future. That was weird. I'm hungry.

Part of me really wants some nachos, but I know they will kill me. Yeah, my blood is not on these. Yet. Kind of like his boogie eyes. Yeah.

What was that? All I heard was because of a pervert. The things you hear at the Wonderfest. I don't believe that. She's fine.

She does have issues. I do have issues. Who doesn't? I have all of the issues. That's possibly true.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, I just heard him talk. I told you. If ever there was a nerd who was a nerd, that's the nerd. I made it in the bathroom with Romero. It's Godzilla the Ninja.

I couldn't even sleep last night. I had nightmares about not being able to find the free things. The sad thing is, this is all real. I can't make this shit up. Why would you?

Exactly. No, really, why would you? We're keeping all this on the podcast, by the way. This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by The Oddity Studios, with opening music performed by The Empires. For more on how to sponsor or support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com.