The Lair of the White Worm

28:40She's kind of repelled back, but then doesn't remember it, which is a tricky thing for a movie to do, to give a character insight and then take it away. Because I kept wanting for, because she's been touched by the worm, I kept wanting her to, like, the closer they got, for her to become more disturbed or have more visions or whatever, so that we would be able to track their progress. Because you're right, I couldn't figure out the who, where, and why of their parents, you know? And that is what's hard about the movie. And again, I loved every moment of it. But the rules of the white worm are hard to understand.

29:19Well, because also sometimes if you get just close to her, to the lady worm, you're under the spell. Sometimes she needs to just touch you and then you're under the spell. Sometimes you need to be bitten and then I think you become a worm. Well, I think when she bites people, she freezes them to be fed to the big worm. That's like kind of like her. If you're a virgin. If you're a virgin. That's only virgin stuff. This is all very analogous, I think, to vampires. that's the Dracula thing all the glimmering all the captivating all the turning people Medusa even sometimes a vampire feeds on someone and they die and sometimes a vampire feeds on someone and they become immortal other vampires you know it goes both ways and that's why at the very end when that woman we cut to that woman in the research center who was talking to Angus about the you know serum that was fucked up I thought she was a snake lady.

30:18Oh, I thought so too, but mostly because she kind of looked like the other woman. This is just similar British faces. That's what's her name from Notting Hill. You can't explain everything by just saying you're British. Everything is British. Just remember, it's British. Well, I mean, look, there's a couple things. But she was giving, is this British? Because she was giving, much like Peter, way too much to us. Especially for someone who just was hired in a scientific capacity to analyze a serum. Why even cuts are hurt? If she's nobody, put her on the phone and let them listen. I thought that she was a snake in the city.

30:52Which is also my sequel to this, Snakes in the City, about a bunch of hot ladies in the city dating, making snakes. Guys. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I'm a... Ding, ding, ding. Samantha.

31:07Samantha. Samantha. Martha, you're so bad. I have a couple of questions that take away from the mythology of the movie, because I think we'll stay a long time breaking this down. Is this the most drab B &B we've ever seen? I think that this is not a place I want to stay. It took me multiple instances of people mentioning that they had visitors staying there. And I was like, oh, whoa, right. This is a hotel. And they never got their hot water bottles at night. They're freezing at night. you know there's no like they're terrible and and a b &b is even more involved the hosts have to be even more involved they have to be breakfast in the morning you know they're going out staying out all night they're going to parties they're they're getting lost in the woods they don't even seem like they have food in the house it like there's a moment where there's a shot in the kitchen there's nothing on the wall it looks like nothing it looks like the house is abandoned Yeah.

32:03And they you know, there's a part where I'm like, I I don't know what's going on here from a business standpoint. And then I'm starting to make other connections to this world where I'm like, OK, now I look over at the lady's house, you know, lady Sylvia Marsh's house. And I'm like and I'm really trying to make heads or tails of that bathroom because her bathroom with that bathtub. Sure, I love it. But it's a waste of space as a two. Oh, in a house that big? I mean, I guess, is that a normal style of a bathroom where you would have like three balconies leading to a singular tub? I mean, it's similar to a tub I saw at Hogwarts.

32:37Yeah. And listen, there was a time. And what I agree with you about is that that bathroom looks like a remodel. Like someone made that in 1984. That is in 1980, yes. That's like a cocaine Wall Street kind of bathroom remodel. Oh, it's a Scarface bathroom? Yes. I miss, I miss, there was a time in interior design and architecture and homes where we used to like present the tub as though it was an indoor pool. And that's a perfect example of it. And I miss those days. Well, it's this thing where I feel like tubs became so dominant. Big soaking tubs with jets and all this stuff. Where you'd walk up a flight of stairs to get to it.

33:16Or down a flight of stairs. I think people correctly were like, I don't use this enough for how much real estate it has in my bathroom. It gets a lot of like, I feel like people were, you're right, trying to spa-fy their bathrooms. Now, all I'm looking at it as is like, it's cold in the UK. People are going to be getting out of that bathtub all wet. They're going to be slipping on marble. There's going to be a lot of broken necks. She doesn't even need to bite these guys on the dick. By the way, why on the dick? Why bite them on the dick? Why not? I loved it. I loved that move where she goes down like she's going to start blowing this kid and then chomp.

33:54I was like, that is the moment where this movie announces what it is. I mean, everybody, I think, understands ultimately what this movie is on some level. But I will say that she brings another level. Like every time the camera is off her, I'm like, I'm not interested as much. I want to see her. The scene that I think is dynamite, just from a visual standpoint, and this is again where I was like, oh, right. This is not just a crazy movie that we do on the show. This is a very good director, is the forced perspective scene when she enters, her ladyship, enters Peter Capaldi's room and finds the snake skull there.

34:37Oh, yes. We know that the skull is, I don't know, two or three feet long. You can hold it in a hand. It's like on a garbage can. Like we see. Yeah, it's like it's like two or three feet long. It's it's you know, it's not huge. But the way they use forced perspective is when she enters the room, the snake skull dwarfs her. It's gigantic in the frame and she is teeny tiny and she's walking up to it. And then she finally holds it and it is the right size. But it's been this it creates such an uncomfortable feeling and gives such weight and import to the skull. I was like, fuck, this is great. It was great.

35:12And by the way, her costume, she's incredible. She's unbelievable. Incredible. But her costumes in this movie are so good. When she's sitting on the tree and the branches of the tree and talking to that. By the way, you know that other actress who played the Virgin, Catherine Oxenberg. Is from Dynasty? Dynasty, but also was featured in that Nixxiom cult because her daughter was a member. and I think is still one of the women who's like outside what's-his-face's jail cell. Oh, wow. In New York, yeah. But anyway, but her costumes were so fantastic. And that's where the movie is, really elevated at points.

35:57Like, you just visually, I could not get over what she was wearing from head to toe. And not just how she looked and how good she looked, but to your point from earlier, June, all of her movement, was amazing electric to watch because she's so, um, I mean, snake, like, I don't know how to describe it. Otherwise she, yes, she truly is using that movement throughout all of her action and all of her activity in a way that is so effective when juxtaposed with a bunch of, you know, uh, English countryside bumpkins, you know, like, like,

36:35Jason Mantzoukas:like she's like elevated and sophisticated. Yeah. and she's wearing sunglasses at night and, you know, barely. It's so, she's so graceful in a way. When the guy played the mouth harp, the young virgin, and she started dancing and she had to kind of slap it out of his hand because, I mean, again, I didn't know mouth harps could charm a snake, but be that as it may, when she's dancing. Did you know that bagpipes could? Yeah, I guess you're right. Music soothes the savage beast, right? I mean, but I thought that, like, it was much more of a flute thing. I thought it was a very specific flute kind of.

37:06I thought so too, but it seems like almost any music. Now when she pulled out her earplugs. Oh my God. I was really hoping, wait, did the mongoose pay off at all? No. He released it in the house. Capaldi releases a mongoose in the house, but I didn't see anything then happen. It didn't seem to come back. But I will say that when she pulls out the earplugs, and I know what we're working with here, the fact that she had no paint in her ears really made me laugh. She's completely blue. Now, then I was like, which made me think, wait, did she paint herself or she become blue? Now, if she painted herself, then that's totally fine.

37:43But I couldn't quite tell if the movie is saying she painted herself or she is now. That's that's a perfect example, Paul, because I noticed that, too. And that's a perfect example of a of a moment in a movie that we would do that if the movie is bad. Right. Unenjoyable. I would be like we would all I suspect be like, oh, and what? You can't even paint the inside of her ears, you know, or. Or does it create what you're describing, this logic problem? But in this movie, I was like, yeah, who cares? I don't care if she's blue. I don't care if she's painted blue. I don't care. I kind of like it better that she painted herself blue because she's just getting psyched.

38:18I mean, this is a movie that also, the dick image, yes, there's boobs in this, but there is dick imagery here. And that is phalluses. There's not actual dicks. Right, yes, imagery, yes. Sorry, like, I mean, it starts. She does look like she's wearing, Lady Snake, a giant dildo. Yeah, like a big strap-on. A big strap-on. Very pointy. It looks like it's been like scrimshawed. Yeah. But I was like, oh, I thought they were going to go all the way and have our snake lady fuck Catherine. You kind of want that. Yeah, Eve. Yeah. Eve, that's right, Eve. But they don't because she has to. But I didn't know what that moment was like.

39:00Was she diddling the other one? Well, the other thing that I couldn't figure out was, I don't, wait, which other one? When the other one is, when one of the sisters is taking off her clothes and she's, stop right there, come forward. And she's got the dildo. Oh, yeah, she's checking if she's a virgin. That's where she checks if she's a virgin. That was an upsetting scene. Yeah, okay, all right. I didn't know if she also was, like, doing that with the strap on. She is. No, she's doing it with that. So she's able to tell. She's able to tell. Listen, man. Because I think she started bleeding. I don't know.

39:28Okay. I don't know. Okay. She saw something. She saw something. and she felt something in there. I trust her. I trust Lady Sylvia. That's all I wanted. I understood something was going on there. I just didn't understand how much touch sensitivity we got. But it was interesting, though, because she does go up to her when Eve is strapped and right before she's about to be a sacrifice, and it does look like she's going to penetrate her with that thing. It's the shot that is through the legs of, if it's basically through the thigh gap of Eve, to Lady Sylvia with the strap on right behind her coming right towards her crotch.

40:06So I'm like, oh, whoa. In that moment, I was like, oh, is Lady Sylvia gonna fuck her with this implement and then she becomes the worm? Is Lady Sylvia the worm? I couldn't figure it out because I was like, oh, if she's doing the fucking, not the worm, not the being to be worshipped, maybe she is the worm. Well, it didn't seem that way because she doesn't do it. But then I was like, wow, I guess she's just wearing that strap on for ceremonial purposes. I guess so. Or maybe it comes into play later at a time when we didn't get back to that, when we didn't get to the rest of the ceremony. Yeah. But yeah, she does.

40:47Honestly, I think it's just Ken Russell is like, this looks great. And it did. It looks great with you walking around naked with a giant phallus. Like, incredible. Now, did you like that phallus better than Hugh Grant's sex dream where a marker represents his phallus? And when he is watching. That was so funny. One of the funniest moments I've ever seen, which is like he is watching the worm woman kind of make out with other sisters on the plane. Well, they're fighting, but yeah, they're both flight attendants. And he is getting just. He's all tied up. He's all tied up, but he's holding a magic marker.

41:23and every time it cuts back to him, the marker just starts to elevate more and more like his dick rising. And I was like, I can't believe they keep cutting back to this so many times just to be like, do you get it? And by the way, I also hated the marker because it had too much of a tip. It looked like a dog's penis. I didn't like that. Yeah, it had a little bit of that, like that energy of a dog's penis there.

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44:46Jason Mantzoukas:No store visit, no pressure. I love my Zenys. I just got back from Kenya. I bought these sunglasses from Zeny and they fit perfectly. But why I brought them to Kenya was because I wanted to bring something that I wasn't going to be so worried about if I lost them or if they broke. And that's the beauty of Zeny. They make having glasses not only affordable, but attractive. You can try on different styles. You can become a different person. All right, so let those scratched up pair of glasses go they have done their job upgrade today with zenni go to zenni.com slash podcast and use the code podcast 15 for 15 off your first order plus free shipping on all u.s orders over 60 the styles sell out so don't sit on it that's zenni.com slash podcast promo code podcast 15 what do you think it seemed to me like that dream somehow explained something to Hugh Grant that he woke up with some understanding of like what he was supposed to do.

45:47And I didn't clock that. He's connected to his ancestors. I think that that's a big thing going into the cave. Also, I'm remembering this now. He is serving earthworms with aspic there as in that opening scene where that the party and everyone in that and Peter Capaldi is like all those like worms coming out of his mouth. I feel like he is the keeper of like his job is to protect this area of Scotland. something like that yes from his ancestral home yes that his whole thing is about worms why though what i couldn't understand is why during the big moment when he's when what's her faces eve's about to be sacrificed when the worm comes out where is heo grant what is he doing in that other cave i couldn't figure that out at all i think those were the band members i did not understand why he wasn't part of it.

46:41Not only that, he's at the other entrance with that. He's dropping gas into something or other. And he's looking over at the smoke where the explosion has happened, where the main action is. And he's basically like, huh, what do you think's going on over there? And I was like, why? What? What? Away from the action. Yeah. Why are you suddenly sidelined? I couldn't figure that out either. Well, I think what he is doing is I think he thinks I'm going to go into this cave, rescue the kidnapped girl and destroy the monster. Cause I mean, like something like that. He knows because he says, this is just what he says.

47:14He says, I know because her parents were missing by the lady Sylvia's house, but his watch was found in this cavern. That means there must be some passage between these two places. So he's dumping toxic chemical into the fissure in the cave hole from his painting and his dream. Yes. And so I think that he is active. Like when it's smoke is coming out of the house, he's like, job well done. We did it. Like, I think he pushed the snake up. Well, didn't that snake get conjured by our lady snake? I think so. No, too early. Too early because the main snake lady looks like, no, no, no. Too soon. Too soon.

47:57Too soon. because I think she was supposed to have sex with her. And then the blood was going to go into the cave to like activate the snake. But I think Hugh Grant in another location is pumping gas there, activates the snake too early. Things get messed up. And that like, so he is, Got it. I think that's what's going on. Now, does anyone say this? No. I don't think so. Or if they do, there's so much going on that it jumped past me. And I'll be honest, again, And I'm being very forgiving on this movie. Oh, yeah, I don't care. I enjoyed it. And this is a vibes movie. You know what I mean? Yeah.

48:34This is the kind of movie that is on in the background at a bar you're at that you're like, what the fuck is this movie? Oh, I'm just. This looks incredible. I'm into just watching a video cassette of Lady Sylvia, like, kind of giving a blowjob to a real snake. Like, I mean, that's like a weird moment, too. I'm like, well, all right, great. Like, that was great. And who taped it? And the mom is just sitting there watching it. And by the way, I didn't know where the dad was. I thought maybe that's our sequel. To me, he was a real loose end. Well, no, we already got the sequel Snakes in the City, June.

49:06I would pay money. I would go to the theater and pay good money just to watch a sequel where Lady Sylvia just plays Snakes and Ladders. Oh, my God. Snakes and Ladders. By the way, the fact that Hugh does not question the two glasses that are by the fireplace. Oh, yeah. And the setup of that game. He has clearly interrupted something going on and is like just immediately like, well, again, he's so good at being like, everything is mine. I belong everywhere. Yeah. He's almost too like it's also this is a movie about culture, right? This is a movie about like class. Well, it's about class. In that British way, it's about class.

49:48Oh, it's a real upstairs, downstairs. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, now, by the way, wouldn't it have been great if Downton Abbey actually had a worm in the, you know, then you'd have upstairs, downstairs, and then downstairs to the downstairs. It would have been awesome if Downton Abbey waited until, like, season five to reveal that there was, like, an occult element to its story. You know what I really appreciate about Angus? That he got dressed in his full Scottish bagpipe gear to play. and that he brought all of that stuff to this Airbnb, to this B &B rather, so he could do his archaeology dig. He was like, you know, should I pack my sweater and my pipes?

50:29You never know when you're going to need it. By the way, I think that when you're working hard as an archaeologist, you just want to sit down on the porch at the end of the day, blow into a big old bag, get those, you know, get those out there, you know, just do it. Scott brings up that the mongoose also was in his kilt. Didn't seem like the mongers was being carried. Yeah, he seemed to have some sort of fanny pack in his kilt that I couldn't quite make sense of. I mean, again, these are things that we don't want to question. I will question one thing, though, which is we're building up to the sexy virgin sacrifice, which we know is like, you know, this is where we're going.

51:02And I just feel like the tighty-whities really took me out of the final moment of our version. Oh, interesting. Yeah, there were two granny panties for me. I'm like, oh, let's just look at them. You liked it. You guys liked it? I liked it. I like that Sorry she wasn't in a thong, Paul Yeah, I mean like It wouldn't have made sense if Lady Sylvia was wearing them But I mean like that I thought that Lady Sylvia would be like These are your special sacrifice panties No, she wanted her to look virginal Yeah, she's wearing panties So the white worm is like Oh, I'm white, I like these tighty whiteys And this is clearly a woman who's never had sex Like that's what the white worm is like Picking on those of, God, alright But you bring that up And I just want to we haven't talked about one of my absolute favorite scenes in the movie.

51:47And again, which gets at that, you would be it would be understandable if you were watching this movie, as we talked about earlier. And we're like, when is this taking place? But then there is a scene that takes place in a room that's only has a tanning bed in it. And I was like, this is incredible. All the all of the light in this scene is from the tanning bed. it's so the the weird modern element of this tanning bed juxtaposed with like this ancient woman in this ancient house and all of that well she needs that tanning she needs that tanning because snakes need heat right like that they're cold-blooded right so i imagine that like she's not in there to get a tan i don't think well she's not getting tan she's so pale yeah so she did bring it we are agreeing that the there was an interior designer brought into that house to redo the bathroom and add some amenities like the tanning like she basically created like a death spa in her house just for sure yeah i like that hey if you're gonna be immortal at least be comfortable you have to i always am saying that now here's my question i don't want to have to go back to the mythology of it all but i know there's the great big worm but um what about the head that Angus finds in the beginning?

53:02What worm was that? I don't know. And that's such a good question because that worm is very clearly smaller than the worm in the cavern. The worm in the cavern looks like a whale. Yeah, it looks like the size of a whale or something, you know? So a great question. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe there were baby worms, more baby worms for a time. Maybe like the parents, the mom given long enough turns into like a long worm. I don't know. Well, because I think that this idea that, I mean, I also want to get into that psychology of Hugh Grant because his ancestors supposedly killed this worm and now he's like, they didn't do it.

53:40So what am I? You know, he's like looking at himself too. I feel like. But he's looking at himself. But you know what, Paul, with the energy of like, it's all going to be okay. You know, there's nothing. He's never worried. He is never stressed out. Never. He's never uncomfortable. He's never scared. The lights go out. His butler is murdered. There are snake people in his home, and he is like, I guess I'll go to the police station and tell them what's up. And he also has such a cavalier attitude that when they see those cave paintings of, again, erect penises and naked women running around. Like, the way that he even takes in history is so funny.

54:23He's like, oh, well, I guess I had sex ed classes back then. Oh, women's lib is alive and well. It's like, wow, all right, wow. Oh, yeah. He's so just comfortable, nothing, unflappable, nothing surprises him. He's quipping everywhere. Yeah, I mean, they're in the cave. By the way, that cave looks great. I love it. Just the visual value of having that real cavern that they go into. Oh, it's absolutely stunning. Cool as hell. And I also could tell that in this movie, they were so cold. Like, there was, like, a moment, like, in those jackets, they shot the beginning and end at the same exact time, I feel like.

55:00And by the way, that's another thing Hugh does in the cave, is he asks for a cup of tea. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Great. You know, and by the way, at the end, when we realized that Angus is, you know, the poison. There was no antidote. I didn't even feel worried about Hugh in that car. Not at all. Not at all. He sees the marks on Angus's leg and the look on Hugh's face isn't, oh no, I'm fucked. It's like, guess my job's not done. Yeah, well, like, I mean, maybe this is just the way shit goes down in small towns. I mean, that, you know, that's the other thing too. Like, maybe we would never hear about it.

55:35There's not a lot, like, the police force. That was Edgar's movie that was like Everybody in Town is... Yes. It was the third one of the Cornetto trilogy. Anyway, that movie I feel like is riffing off of this. One of my favorite details in the movie is when Peter wakes up Hugh to show him, and he puts the newspaper on his bed. By the way, Hugh does say, draw me a bath. So he is bathing. British people are bathing right when he wakes up. in the morning, which is fascinating. But he shows in the cover of the paper and it's pictured, it says that the search for these two, the dead parents, or the parents who disappeared is off.

56:19But I laughed so hard that they all took a picture together. The search party. Just took a photo. Just here they are. One last photo. The paper sent a photographer to take a picture of the searchers who were not going to go searching. By the way, not in action, not while they're searching. No, because the search has been called off. Arm in arm, yeah. We need a picture to show that they've called it off. I mean, selfies have been happening. But now I guess the end of the movie is Hugh Grant's going to die, the women are going to attack everybody in the city, and the snake has won. Yeah, the thing seems to me to be a little bit like, well, actually, John Carpenter's the thing, which is you think, oh, they've done it.

57:04They've ended this line of snakes, but no, Peter Capaldi remains infected and alive, and I'm assuming will be the next iteration of Lady Sylvia. The Trent girls are also infected. Oh, I guess they are too, because the only Eve. I think only Mary. Well, Mary's blood is, Mary's bite is sucked from. Correct. He sucks the venom out of Mary's bite. so theoretically she would be okay but eve's eve was given the serum the fake one yeah so which turns out to be fake so but i don't think she was ever bitten no she is bitten she because remember

57:44Jason Mantzoukas:he like that's why he has to inject her but he injects he's like okay but he says like just in case some got on you might be right maybe she didn't bite her she just like glimmers her or whatever that is i don't know i think she's got something oh yeah is it glimmer i know that that's what Steven Seagal does, Glimmer Man. Anyway. Yeah, it's kind of like a hypnotist. Yeah, she hypnotizes Eve and is like, take your clothes off and does all that stuff. But I don't remember her biting Eve. I'm not sure, though. Well, okay, I did look online, and not that this is the end-all be-all. You can get a direct bite or evil influence or venom can all work together with the white worm.

58:28So it could be the glimmering or the glamming. It's tough because you're like, oh, I guess maybe I'm wanting more rules. But I also think rules would have hampered the fun of the movie if they had to kept stopping down to be like, well, no, wait a minute. I guess that means if you get bitten or if you get hypnotized, then you're under, you know, you start to pull at it. This crew has no desire to get to the bottom of it more than we must kill the thing. And honestly, like, what kind of rules does Jason have at the end of the day? Like Jason Voorhees or what? Yeah, there are a couple of rules, but all of a sudden he can walk underwater.

59:05He could do this. He could do that. At a certain point, we're just like, fuck the rules. Like, we got to kill the thing. If you're enjoying it, which I think we all were, then I'm not going to falter or, you know, get hung up on. Well, wait a minute. That's not quite the same as what happened earlier or whatever. I don't care. I want to play you guys a clip because I think it's worthwhile just to hear it as we've kind of talked a lot through it. This is Hugh Grant on Marc Maron talking about the lair of the white worm. Oh, lock the gates. Where does the lair of the white worm fall in? I'm very fond of that film.

59:41That's great. Have you seen it? Yeah, of course. It's a fucking trip. Yeah. Well, people who take a lot of drugs do love it. Well, Ken Russell's a wild man. It must have been great. He was. He was a wild man. And he was, I mean, he was very talented, but by that stage, he was also very fond of a good lunch, let's just say. Yeah. It was already a fairly wild film in the mornings. Yeah. By the time he'd had a lunch with two bottles of wine, it was really a different story. And, you know, his style of directing became ever more eccentric. So he would say, I remember there's a scene in that film where I have to pick up a big sword.

1:00:18Yeah. and cut a lady snake monster in half. Right. It didn't feel quite right. And I said, this shot doesn't feel quite comfortable for me. And his immortal words to me were, well, fuck how it fucking feels. Do it how I fucking showed you, you cunt. And that is not out of the classic directorial handbook. All right, Greg, we can stop that there. I get that note so often on Percy Jackson but you know what I love I actually noticed in that scene after after and I wonder if he did it because Hugh complained but after he takes the sword and cuts her in half the camera stays on him and he falls back from the momentum into a bunch of other stuff into a drum set excuse me you're right into a drum set, a red drum set.

1:01:17A red sparkle drum set. And I was like, oh my God. Another director would not have left that in. They would just have had the motion of the cut and made him a hero in that moment. Well, it's such a great story because it really highlights something that I feel like now is just absolutely evident, which is like, even the actors were confused by what they were being asked to do. But Ken Russell did not care. He was like, no, just do this, trust me. By the way, more props to Amanda Donahue because her performance is crystal clear. Oh, yeah. You know, and so self-possessed that I'm like, wow, even more props.

1:01:58Can I tell you what she said? She has two good quotes here, which I really like. She said that she picked the role because it gave her the opportunity to play a woman who is basically a fantasy woman. There are no boundaries. Therefore, I could do exactly as I chose with that lady. I did not want her to be some sort of vampire bimbo. I wanted her to be an incredible, sophisticated and ageless woman. Now I love films that have a real rump to them and say something about life. And I just been on the string of films in the last two years, all pretty heavy stuff. And I thought, why not just do a film that doesn't mean anything at all?

1:02:32And I do think that like, but that's the energy. She's like, she is 110 % like in this choice. It doesn't feel like she's embarrassed there. And that's why I think that she honestly feels the most confident, even though there's other people in this movie that are doing stuff like I feel like she is. Well, I will say her performance grounds. I mean, what an insane thing to say. Grounds this insane movie. How confidently she is depicting this very crazy, strange, interesting snake woman character is so fascinating and engaging to watch and so actualized that it is hypnotic like the snake is, you know?

1:03:18And without her performance at the center, I think the movie would really fall apart. It would feel weighted too much in the English countryside folk world. It feels like in a weird way by committing so big, like it's an interesting choice to make. By being that big, she makes the movie better. Like if you just give a seven, it might just be a weaker movie. Like she had to give a 10. I will say this other thing. I don't know if either of you heard it, but she does say when she throws the snakes and ladders into the fireplace, Rosebud. Rosebud. Loved it. So funny. I mean, she's got jokes. She's got jokes.

1:04:00Oh, man. She's got jokes. She's got jokes for the hitchhiker Virgin Boy. She's got jokes for Ernie. Yeah, I mean, she is, it is a performance that is incredible. And it also reminded me of, did you guys, do you guys know who Ann Magnusson is? She's an actor and avant-garde, like musician and artist from this era who has a similar look that you would recognize. She's American, though. And for a brief moment when she appeared on screen, I said, oh, whoa, is that Ann Magnuson? And it wasn't. But I was like, oh, it's giving me that kind of a vibe. Anyway. Well, I will say this. You know, there are, I'm not going to sit here and read a bunch of Amazon reviews because I think a lot of people are in on the joke.

1:04:42But there is one person who had a different opinion than us. It is now time for Second Opinions. You are Monday! You are Monday! You are Monday! You are Monday! You are Monday! Yet this person recommends it Tell me what is the message Maybe that art is subjective I need a second opinion I only pulled one because, you know, this is, we get into this territory when you have a movie like this where everyone's doing their bits and jokes. But P.F. Darlington wrote this in 2005. and the title is you yanks can't do this stuff mind i could get it on dvd or vhs back in so-called enlightened europe but i had to go to america to buy it and then ship my machine in order to even play it thankfully the uk is not really europe or will ever be it's an especially pagan island archipelago and that's what gives us this advantage when it comes to making films like this wicker man, etc.

1:05:54It seems that you fellows value the diversity of UK and Europe better than we do. Ken Russell in general, and this movie in particular, explores the viewer's cranium for hangups. If you have any, he will find them. And he does find them. It's not your problem. It's his. All the actors are brilliant in this movie. The essential ingredient is Amanda Donahoe. In this, she is delicious. It might well be that she inspired the movie. She really may be the reincarnated snake gods priestess. She does it so well. And you never know on those pagan islands what strange forces well up. Ken has successfully managed to hijack a couple of UK national icons into this bargain, namely Concord and E-type jag.

1:06:38That's quite a feat for a budget movie. I might summarize by hijacking one of your phrases I heard over here. Ken gives you a great bang for your buck so enjoy this movie with great big google eyes five stars okay okay okay sure why not yeah i guess i guess it's the sort of saying like this is true this is true and ken is here to challenge you as well as i'm looking at her imdb which you know we don't have to trust uh completely always, but they work together again a couple of years later, 1989, The Rainbow. Another Ken Russell, like erotic kind of thriller, 1900s England looks like. I love this.

1:07:27Jason, do you recommend this movie? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right. It's great. It's fun to watch. I think the later you put it on, I think especially now in spooky season, this is a fun one. You can get everybody around to enjoy this one. This is vibes. This is what a blast. And by the way, go into your Halloween costume bag, put together one of these characters. This would be a great team costume. Oh my God. You want a good couples costume? Somebody wear a military officer's uniform and somebody a big white worm. Somebody bring out a mouth harp and play that virgin and someone play Lady Sylvia or play the cops.

1:07:59There's so many things you can do here. Bring out your snakes and ladders game. A good couples costume is the two big red speakers on the roof. I do want to make a shirt for this show, Snakes in the City. It's just the snakes in the pose of the Sex and the City characters. I think it would be pretty great. Sex and the City, uh, presented by Ken Russell. If we can get that in, uh, if we can get that going, you can definitely find that, uh, on our website. Uh, if you want to add any corrections on omissions here, you can leave us a voicemail by going to speakpipe.com slash HDTGM or write to us on our discord at discord.gg slash HDTGM.

1:08:33Now, um, I let you guys know that June and I are doing a brand new show for Prime, not Amazon Prime, but for Prime Video. And we're taping those shows in Burbank on October 2nd, 7th, 10th, 16th, 21st, and 24th. Each show completely different, improvised, based off of audience suggestions. If you want to come, you can just hit the email right on our webpage or dinksrsvp at Gmail. Just tell them what days you want to come and they will hook you up. We also made an official how to just get made mini league in this year's Vulture Movies Fantasy League. to join our mini league. It's like fantasy football, but for movies, just go to vulture.com slash HDTGM and just click on the link in the episode.

1:09:12No, if that's too hard for you, Jason, June, anything you want to mention? No, not really. All right. Yeah. All right. Well, listen, if you listen to us on Apple podcasts or Spotify,

1:09:21Jason Mantzoukas:please make sure you are subscribed to our feed and have automatic downloads turned on in the show settings. It helps us and we appreciate it a lot. You can follow us on Instagram, see some clips from our live shows at HDTGM and a whole lot more great content. Lastly, I have to give a huge thanks to our behind-the-scenes team. I'm talking about our producer, Scott Sonny, Molly Reynolds, our engineer, Casey Holford, and our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum. And we will forever be grateful to the one and only Averill Halley. That's all I got, people. We'll see you next week on Last Looks. Bye for now.

1:09:50What's up, sports fans? I'm Rachel Demita, here to tell you about my show, Courtside Club. If you love hoops and hot takes, then you're in the right place. Want to hear about Caitlin Clark's unstoppable rise in the WNBA? how stars like Wemby and Luka Doncic are dominating the NBA. Or maybe you just want the tea on this week's most viral sports moments. Don't worry, we'll keep you updated on all of it. So grab your popcorn and come hang with us. Courtside. You can listen to Courtside Club wherever you get your podcasts. Uwe and ah. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home.

1:10:28Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.