Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time, Parts 1-3 (2019-2020): Season 1, Episode 2 - Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time- Vol. 2 Horror and Sci-Fi - full transcript

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Oh, this is a good question.

I think a cult film

is a film that the audiences
find on its deathbed.

A film that
transcends everything.

So you got to have
a little bit of mojo.

There is no shortage
of stupidity.

- You can't try to do it.
- It just happens by accident.

You think about it
like a potato.

- It's like cheese.
- It ages well.

A potato that has a series
of fishing hooks in it.

Except for the ones
that get mold.



When you pick it up,
it is impossible to put it down.

I had to go find it on VHS
and watch it

and go, holy cow,
that's amazing.

The average mainstream movie,

100,000 will see it one time.

Profanity, murder,
bullets, wounds.

This is your own little gem.

A cult movie, one person
will see the movie 100,000 times

and they don't get sick of it.

It never stop showing somewhere.

It totally works.

It's just
lightning in a bottle.

Of all the genres,

the one genre that
we always thought was kind of...



the lowbrow genre, but the one
that has lasted the longest

is the horror movie.

The lowly horror movie

has somehow survived
all these years.

Among the ones that have been
talked about a lot lately

with the passing
of George Romero

is the re-creation
of the zombie movie.

George redefined it
in "Night of the Living Dead,"

which was a movie that not many
people saw what it was new.

It's so unlikely.

I mean, the movie was made for
very little money in Pittsburgh.

It's in black and white.

Yeah, that's what made it
seem so creepy.

It did. It was creepy
and it was real

and it was newsreel-ish.

It's like it was something
that was happening right now.

Because this goes back

to when all the TVs
were in black and white.

And it survived all
the bad things that happened,

such as falling into
the public domain,

which actually
ended up helping it

because everybody could see it
and watch it.

And now it has become
I think a classic,

but also a true cult movie

in the sense that you had
to follow its fortunes

from 1968 all the way till now.

And it's been
incredibly important

in terms of the development
of the genre,

and it's so influential
to so many filmmakers.

"Night of the Living Dead"

only garnered any attention
with horror fans

when they saw it at midnight.

And those midnight screenings
were amazing

because of the publicity and
the newspaper coverage they got.

The killers
are eating the flesh

of the people they murder.

- We had no idea.
- We made the film.

I thought of it as a one-off.

The cast and crew
were shocked and then applauded.

There's no film in this world
that affected me as viscerally

as "Night of the Living Dead,"

especially when zombies
were pulling viscera

literally out of human beings.

And of course it became
one of the ultimate cult hits.

It had an afterlife
that went on and on and on.

And the one sequence
in "Night of the Living Dead"

that got the most attention

was the little girl
turning on her mother.

Aah!

Aah!

"Night of the Living Dead"
is considered

one of the most influential
horror films of all time

because of its rawness.

It was shot in black and white,
made for $114,000,

came out of nowhere
from Pittsburgh.

It was the first modern
zombie film.

Had we had the money
to shoot in color,

I might have been tempted
to shoot in color.

But I'm so glad that we didn't.

And it was one of the first
films to use graphic gore.

Well, you know, I was
supposed to do the effects

in "Night of the Living Dead,"

but I had enlisted in the Army.

So I was in Vietnam

when George made the
"Night of the Living Dead."

I don't know
who can give you an answer

about why people love zombies
so much.

George probably could.

Everybody that was talking
about "Night of the Living Dead"

was talking about it
because of its politics,

largely because of
the African-American lead,

and, you know, the anger
of the sixties and '68.

What Romero largely introduced

was the idea
of complete social breakdown

and a rampaging plague
that could not be put down.

And those things,
especially in the 1960s

when "Night of the Dead"
came out,

were extremely potent.

We saw society
crumbling all around us.

There were people who even saw,
you know,

the hippie movement and drugs as
being a kind of zombie plague.

And it also had
a political subtext to it

that won over
a lot of mainstream critics

like Rex Reed, for example.

It dealt in its oblique way
with race relations.

I'm fighting
for everything up here,

and the radio and the food is
part of what I'm fighting for.

Now get the hell
down in the cellar.

You can be the boss
down there.

I boss up here.

I think every African-American
actor in America

owes Duane Jones
a huge gratitude

for providing a porthole for us.

So absolutely Duane was pivotal.

But even without that subtext,

nearly 50 years later
the film has an impact.

The ending
packs a real gut punch.

It's like the line from
"Night of the Living Dead."

They are us and we are them.

But I think they were referring
to the redneck hillbillies

who turned into,
you know, killers,

making a sport out of
killing the zombies, you know.

All right, Vance,
hit him in the head.

Right between the eyes.

Good shot.

Okay, he's dead.
Let's go get him.

That's another one for...

Come on, you little bastards!

What you would think after
"Night of the Living Dead,"

that it would have
established itself and you wouldn't...

but, no, you have to
continually reboot the brand.

And "Dawn of the Dead"
did exactly that.

For 10 years
I avoided doing another one.

Immediately after
"Night of the Living Dead"

became "Night of the Living Dead,"

which took a while, actually,

you know, I had lots of calls

saying,
can you make another one?

I said, aw, nix.
I don't want to be buttonholed.

"Dawn of the Dead"

really was a surprising
and a revelatory movie

for a lot of us
back in the seventies

because horror and satire

were not natural bedfellows
back then.

We really weren't
used to seeing them combined

in the way
that George Romero did.

And I said I got to have
some kind of a political idea.

What the hell is it?

Looks like a shopping center.

And I socially knew the people

that were developing
a shopping mall.

During an apocalypse,
where else would you go?

A mall. Great idea.

And I went out to visit,

and the trucks
were just bringing in

everything that anyone
could ever want.

I've been thinking.

Maybe we got
a good thing going here.

And it was the first time
we had seen anything like this,

and I said, this is the idea.

I don't think that anyone else

has produced or written
or directed zombie films

with an underlining message.

Certainly ours was consumerism.

It's Christmas time
down there, buddy.

Fat city, brother.

So he took this idea

of the most blandly homogenized,
reassuring setting imaginable,

where people essentially
become zombies,

become zombie shoppers,

and he made that satire,
that satirical idea literal

by having a mall
filled with zombies

who, in the most amazing scenes,
totter around

and seem to have
some vague memory

of their consumerist addiction

to go alongside
their lust for human flesh.

"Dawn of the Dead" was
like a three-month Halloween.

I did the makeup effects,
I played a part,

and I did the stunts.

I carried a sleeping bag
around the mall

and fell asleep under
an escalator, and somebody...

Tom, we need you to play Blades.

Tom, what's his face
needs makeup.

Hey, there's a stunt coming up,
you know, with a truck.

You want to do it?

So, I mean, it was the most fun

you could possibly have,
you know.

Three months inside of a mall.

And we had free run
of that mall.

Say goodbye, creep.

We shot at night,
and every morning

elderly people would come
to walk around the mall

and get their exercise
just before the mall opened.

So there was a mad rush
for everybody

to get the crew and cast,
to get everybody out of there.

Get the zombies
in a certain place,

get their makeup off,
get them changed,

and get them out of there.

And we didn't want to have
an issue with the mall,

nor did we want to have

one of the elderly people
in the community turn a corner

and run smack dab into a zombie
and have a heart attack.

We didn't want that to happen.

That was an issue.

Back then, it was practical.

Everything you see was happening
right in front of you.

We had an assembly line.

So I would make up
the appliance zombies,

and they would make up
the gray zombies, you know,

maybe doing plants in there.

And it was easy.

Well, the helicopter zombie
in "Dawn of the Dead,"

that gets applause
in the movie theaters.

A guy's getting
the top of his head lopped off,

and people are applauding.

So I cast his head
and built a dome.

It is perfectly round.

In the movie it looks square

because it was a rainy day
and the hair kinked up.

It's not supposed to be
a Frankenstein look.

And the top of his head
was just five or six pieces

attached with fish line
of varying lengths,

and we had a guy run
with the fish line,

which unraveled
the top of his head.

And we were pumping blood
up through his legs.

The blades were put in later.

They were animated in later.

"Dawn of the Dead"
really had the same situation

as "Night of the Living Dead."

Midnight screenings, word-of-mouth,

newspapers
and monster magazines.

I was a combat photographer
in Vietnam.

I saw horrible stuff.

That's why my stuff
has to be anatomically correct.

Because if the fake stuff
doesn't give me the same feeling

I got when I saw the real stuff,

the fake stuff
isn't good enough.

That's the great thing
about George.

As a special effects guy,
he would let be improvise.

Most of the deaths
in "Dawn of the Dead"

are things we came up with.

You know, we would go to George

at, you know,
3:00 in the morning.

How about
if we drive a screwdriver

through a zombie's ear?
Okay.

So we're building
retractable screwdrivers

out of soda straws, you know.

I just love George as a director

because he's an editor first.

Very detailed about
what he does, you know.

Many angles, you know.

Because he knows
he's going to sit there

and put that together
the best way possible later.

It's considered a major
historical accomplishment

in the African-American community

that I survived the first
five minutes of a horror film.

Back in those days,

African-Americans didn't survive
the first five minutes.

Today's filmmakers owe
"Night of the Living Dead"

so much cred,
especially, of course,

TV shows like "The Walking Dead"

and video games and movies
like "Resident Evil."

They all owe George Romero
so much

because he's the one
who established the formula.

- Oh, absolutely.
- Absolutely.

Everybody copies him, you know.

He's the originator,
he's the creator.

I guess he's the person
who set the standard

for this kind of movie.

He's the master.

The most loyal of all fans
in genre are the horror fans.

And if they like something
and they embrace George Romero,

and he became an icon
from that till he died.

The cool thing about cult
movies is you can kill the hero.

Oh, no, no, no.

"The Evil Dead?" No.

I think I saw a little bit
of "The Evil Dead,"

but it really, really scared me.

Aah!

The plot of "Evil Dead"

is about an unlucky
quartet of college kids

who go to that remote cabin
in the woods

that hides
the "Book of the Dead,"

and once you read
from the "Book of the Dead,"

it unleashes this unholy army
of dead-ites

that possess
the people in the cabin,

turned friend against friend,

leading to all kinds
of blood, guts,

and frenetic camerawork
by the incomparable Sam Raimi.

If you could take
a time machine

back to these miserable
13 people,

this cast and crew
locked in a Tennessee cabin,

and say, guys,
it's going to be fine

because "Evil Dead" is going
to become "Evil Dead 2."

And then there's going
to be a third one

and then there's
going to be a remake

and then there's
going to be a musical

and then we're maybe
going to put it on TV

and this is never going to stop,

I think it would have
blown their minds.

Tennessee
had a film commission.

Can you help us find a cabin?

Somebody was killed
at that cabin was the story.

Had no power, no running water,
no electricity.

There was four inches
of cow shit on the floors.

We would take turns sleeping
and doing security at the cabin

because we got some equipment
that was stolen.

Right next to a $20,000 Arriflex
camera was a power saw.

That's what they needed
in Morristown, Tennessee.

I'll take the saw.

"Evil Dead"
became a cult classic

I think largely
based on the reputation,

which was fostered
by no less than Stephen King.

In '83, Stephen King
was Stephen King, you know.

You didn't mess
with Stephen King.

He was the master of horror.

At the quote he said,
was "Evil Dead"

is the most ferociously original
horror film of the year.

And our heads exploded.
We were like, wait a second.

Did Stephen King just say that?

So we used that quote,
and what that did

was it sent a force field
out around us,

and it caused reviewers
to go,

oh, maybe this isn't
a low budget piece of shit.

The film was released
to theaters,

but it really wasn't a big hit
at the time.

It came out during
the eighties horror boom

where most audiences

were just going to see slasher
films during that period,

and the film
was kind of overlooked.

A piece of trivia
about "Evil Dead"

is that you have Joel Coen
of the Coen brothers

editing the film.

And Sam had this sequence

of getting Linda ready
to strap her in.

He's going to hit the chainsaw.

And Joel did all these sharp
cuts and really made it snap

and we put in all these
sound effects in it.

Finally pull the tarp back
and, bam, that saw fires up.

It had a real visceral effect.
It's got balls.

That's a throaty son of a bitch.

It's like a '72 Mercury
or something.

I have to hold the chainsaw
over Betsy Baker's neck.

Well, it's not fake.
We had a debate.

If we turn the blade around
the opposite way,

then maybe it would take longer
to cut into her

if there was a mistake
or a problem.

So we thought, yeah,
that's the safe way to go.

Let's just turn the blade around
and it won't be as sharp.

And I could see Betsy's neck
from where I am,

and her neck is throbbing.

And my blade's
going eee-eee-eee.

You just have to tell yourself,
Betsy, I will not kill you.

But I thought as a result it
made for a good visceral scene.

To me, "Evil Dead"
is just this tribute

to if you don't have the money

and you don't have
the special-effects budget

to make your dream a reality,
you hack it.

You figure out how to do it
based on whatever you have.

The motion he captured

with cameras
running through the woods,

and that this camerawork
just gets popularized

and spread around
from limitation.

Ellen Sandweiss, who plays
my sister in the movie,

she's chased at one point.

She gets, you know, violated
in the woods by these vines.

And she's in her little slippers
and a nighty.

So Ellen is running all
night long through the woods,

and she's just getting cut
to shit.

Rob Tapper, the producer,
looks down.

There's a drop of blood
on the dolly track from Ellen.

And he goes, that's how you know

you're getting
your money's worth.

You see the effect
of "Evil Dead,"

which is considered one of
the most painful, horrible sets

of all time
because Sam Raimi believed

that to get a good performance
from an actor,

you had to torture them.

Like Bruce Campbell
hurt his leg,

and so he starts hitting
his wound with a stick

to get this agony out of him.

We had a sequence where
I've got to shoot out a window.

Typically, of course, you'd
have a fake load in the gun

and then effects guy would put a
charge on a safety glass window,

and it would look fine.

No. Take a shotgun,
let's put a shell in,

you're going to
blow the window out.

And there's a camera guy
right outside there.

Boom. Cut.

Jim, you good?
Yeah, it's okay. It's okay.

But since then, its reputation
has continued to grow.

Even though it's on DVD
and TV constantly,

people still want to seek it out
in the movie theater,

see it on the big screen

for that audience participation experience.

And then after
the Stephen King endorsement,

the "L.A. Times" called it
an instant classic.

That did it.

That made people
look at it differently,

and then the reviews
sort of changed.

There was a reviewer who said

even if you're lopping
your girlfriend's head off

with a shovel,

even that
can be done artistically.

Home video was exploding,

so we hit that
kind of at the right time.

And those are the things that
really, I think, propelled it.

And the fact that Sam Raimi...
I'll go on record.

I feel that he certainly
has genius characteristics.

That's what's exciting to me
about a cult film

is that, you know,
your limitations

become what make you legendary.

The film was banned

in, I don't know,
half a dozen countries.

Germany just un-banned it.

30 years it took those fuckers
to the un-ban it.

Come on, man, give me a break.

"The Devil's Rejects"
in particular

was the best time
I ever had making a movie.

It was an "I love you,
man," moment.

I am the devil,

and I am here
to do the devil's work.

- Aah!
- No!

The plot
of "The Devil's Rejects"

is to kill
everything that moves.

"The Devil's Rejects"

is the sequel
to Rob Zombie's first movie,

"House of 1000 Corpses."

It's three outlaws on the run

being chased
by a crazed sheriff.

It's time for us to do what
the good Lord would refer to

as a cleansing of the wicked.

Captain Spaulding is just
trying to protect what's his.

A little aggressively
from time to time,

but we get there.

Never turn your back
on a fucking clown

when he's talking to you.

Get your fucking hands
off of me.

I see Rob Zombie's
"The Devil's Rejects"

as a cult classic in the making,
you know.

I think it was originally
perceived, you know,

as a really good horror film
by horror fans.

A lot of times cult films
aren't necessarily good films.

That right there
is one sad, pathetic statement

of cinematic affairs.

But there has to be something
in them, a performance.

If you've got a problem
with my timeframe, son,

you best spit it out right now.

Yeah, I got a problem.

I got a big fucking problem, bozo.

Well, make your move, whitey.

There has to be something

that a lot of fans
can hang their hats on

and that they can discuss
and love together.

Fans love the actors
from that movie,

Bill Moseley and Sid Haig,

who are heroes
at horror conventions

all over the country.

I always loved and hated
clowns simultaneously

because, you know,
like Lon Chaney

played clowns a couple times.

I always love those films.

But I remember the opening
of a new McDonald's,

and I'm on my dad's shoulders
or something,

and Ronald McDonald's there.

He was trying like,
hey, Ronald McDonald.

And I'm like not having it.
Why would I?

I mean, it's like
this greasy looking stranger

with this white stuff
on his face.

- What's the matter, kid?
- Don't you like clowns?

- No.
- Why?

Don't we make you laugh?

Aren't we fucking funny?

You best come up with an answer

'cause I'm going
to come back here

and check on you and your mama.

And if you ain't got a reason
why you hate clowns,

I'm going to kill
your whole fucking family.

There's always
a sense of family

when you're making a movie,

but it's always best friends
until the last frame.

So when we shot
"Devil's Rejects,"

that was
a very, very special set

and we had a wonderful time.

What you call me?

Well, if you give me a chance,

I was going to call you
a crazy, pig fucking,

dumb ass,
pussy piece of shit.

Oh, brother, youse a dead man.

Shooting that, there
was a freedom that we felt,

and I think there was an overall
atmosphere created by Rob

that was fantastic.

Are you saying that I would
cut off a chicken's head,

put my dick in it,
fuck it, and go, aah?

You accusing me of fucking
a chicken, motherfucker?

What I didn't want to do

was "House of 1000 Corpses
Part Two."

I had no interest in that.
It could've been a Western.

I could have set it
in 1890 if I wanted to.

I wanted to make something that
was like a postmodern Western.

I'm calling the shots.

Consider me fucking
Willie fucking Wonka.

This is my fucking chocolate
factory, you got it? My factory!

We shot "House of 1000 Corpses"
on 35 millimeter,

which I hated the way it looked.
It looked too clean.

So I shot "Rejects" on super 16

and blew it up to 35
just to help.

He made it look like 35
from the seventies.

An improvised thing
would be Sherry

sticking the ice cream
on Bill Moseley's face.

Sid absolutely improvised.

Tutti fucking fruity
was his improvisation.

I think I'm going to get me
some tutti fucking fruity.

You know, I think
I'm going to get me

some tutti fucking fruity.

- Tutti fucking fruity.
- That sounds good.

- Tutti fucking fruity.
- Shut up.

- Rob fell off the couch.
- Boom, it was in.

That was it.

A lot of the fans
of "Devil's Rejects"

say that that was the moment

when instead of thinking
of the Fireflys and Otis

as like the worst scum
of the earth,

that's when they started
to relate to them.

Even though all three of them
are despicable,

I needed a reason

that somehow the audience
would strangely like them.

And my theory was always
like as long as they're cool.

Cool trumps everything.

Yeah, I liked the ending.

That really worked because
I didn't know if it would.

You know, I told everybody,

oh, yeah, I want to play
the whole ending

to "Free Bird"
for seven minutes.

They're like, oh, boy.

And we were shot
100 times each with rifles,

so the chances of us surviving
are pretty slim.

But Sid pointed out

that the soundtrack
includes beating hearts.

The heartbeat stops.

You know,
I never figured that out,

but, you know, leave it to Sid.

"Devil's Rejects"
will probably be right up there

with "Night of the Living Dead"
and "Halloween," you know,

as the years go on
and as horror fans go back

and rediscover
the films of their youth.

So that cult is going
to continue to grow.

You know, and it's so funny,

because a lot of times
at various fan conventions,

I'll be sitting next to Sid

and someone will come up
and say, you know,

is there going to be a sequel
to "Devil's Rejects?"

And I'll say, Sid,

is there going to be a sequel
to "Devil's Rejects?"

He goes, no.
And I say, why?

And then we count
one, two, three.

And then in unison we say,
because we're fucking dead!

The one that I think
is a midnight movie,

and it did shock me
when I first saw it,

is "The Human Centipede,"

which is about a scientist
that grafts people,

grafts them together
with mouth to anus.

And there's three sequels,
so it is...

- Three sequels.
- A total of four films.

No, I think there's
three altogether.

So it is Lord of the Rims.
It is that, really.

And I saw the first one,
and I couldn't believe...

It is a shocker
and it is well acted.

It has good acting in it.

But I didn't see
the second and third one

because I thought
enough is enough.

But I heard the third one

has like 100 people
anus to mouth.

Here's hoping.

But you're saying
the first one is...

I thought it was pretty good
and it was like, whoa.

100 people?

You better fact check it.

That's probably more assholes

that's been in a single place
since Congress.

Yeah, yeah.

- He sews them together?
- Yes.

What's the purpose?

The purpose I forget.

The purpose was...

Sheer delight, I imagine.

Yeah, yeah,
that's entertainment.

Maybe they'll do that
as a musical.

I guess you couldn't really,
if your mouth is...

A lot of kick steps.

- You could hum.
- Yeah, you could hum.

A hum job. Oh, God.

The plot
of "The Human Centipede"

is probably the most depraved
idea anyone's ever come up with.

It has to do
with a mad scientist

who comes up with
this brilliant idea

to stitch together people
from mouth to anus

to create a human centipede.

You know, it's a
love it/hate it kind of movie.

There's really no middle ground
on "The Human Centipede,"

but I think it's pretty sick
and entertaining.

And it's the kind of film

that seems
to have been engineered

to be a midnight movie,
a cult movie,

and I think in this case
the director scored

and it really is the
quintessential midnight movie.

One night I was watching
television with friends,

and there was
a child molester on,

and he got a very low sentence.

And I thought,
oh, my God, this idiot.

Why don't they sew his mouth to
the anus of a fat truck driver?

That would be
a proper punishment.

And everybody laughed.
Oh, that's horrible.

But the idea
kept lingering in my head

and I thought that
might be a brilliant idea

for a horror film.

And then I Photoshop
my then girlfriend

on her hands and knees
and I tripled the image

and I put them behind,
mouth to anus, the picture,

and I thought
this looks brilliant.

Ingestion by A,

passing through B
to the extraction of C.

As you can imagine, people
thought I was absolutely crazy.

It started, of course,
with the investors.

A human centipede.

When I did a pitch for them,

I had to leave out
the words mouth and anus.

So I told them
it's about a surgeon

who surgically connects people,

and, yeah, they were
quite interested.

Yeah, well, he's English.

Let's try it. Let's do it.

We cast it in New York
with American actresses.

It was very nice.
These pretty girls,

they came in all with makeup,
perfectly dressed.

I was living in New York
and I was 22.

It was my manager at the time
called me

and said, hey,
do you want to audition

for this controversial
European film?

They knew they were casted
for a European horror film,

so they were all excited.

And they sat down
and I slowly talked about

what I was going to do with them
and how it would look.

I knew a couple of the girls,

and they were like,
this is porn.

I'm never doing this.
Like, what's going on?

And they like called
their agents or managers

and walked out.

And I stayed because I'm
a weirdo and I was curious.

And I was like,
this can't be real.

And by default I think I got
the part because I stayed.

What was that?

I have no idea.

When I finally
did get the part,

we had a meeting
and signed contracts,

she handed be a booklet
and she said here's the script,

and it wasn't a script.

But if we don't find a place
in like 10 minutes,

we are running back to this car.

It was a very tiny booklet,
you know,

bound on one side,
and it was just paragraphs

of every scene in the movie
of what was going to happen.

So basically it was an outline,

and then everything
in the movie is improv.

It was a very interesting way
to make a film.

We got a flat tire.
Can we come in?

I was really drawn to the film

because you start off being,
you know,

a girl bopping around Germany.

And then all of a sudden
you become this pet,

this creature,
and not a person anymore

and being treated
basically like an animal.

Bite my boot.

So the defecation scenes

that Tom, you know,
wrote into the films,

basically, you know, he would
give us the direction of just,

picture the nastiest thing
you've ever tasted

and just go from there.

And that's basically
what everybody did.

Yeah!

Feed her! Feed her!

But the one scene in the movie
that was the most grueling

was when we did the staircase,

crawling up the staircase
as the centipede

where we had to stay connected
the entire time.

Eat!

Eat!

Every night after shooting
the centipede,

they would have a masseuse

come to our apartments
that we were living in

and give us like
a full body massage.

Then we would just roll over
and fall asleep

and then do it all the next day.

So they treated us very well,
you know, as a centipede.

I think Tom had the foresight

to know what
it was going to become.

But he honestly was like
the only one, I think,

who really saw that it was
going to become a cult film.

"The Human Centipede"
is a perfect example of a film

that can be discovered streaming
or video-on-demand.

It's got that title that really
seeped into the zeitgeist

that people remember
and they seek out.

Probably because of
mostly it's notoriety,

the film is so extreme
and over-the-top.

There we go.

Yeah! I did it!

It kind of creates
like a beacon

for cult movie aficionados.

Modern technology
really helped it

to become a cult phenomenon,

because on social media

everybody shared the images
from the film.

And people were disgusted and
they sent it to another friend,

so that really helped
get the cult success.

And it was one of the best films
on the VOD IFC ever had.

It's hard to say if it really
deserves to be in that category

of one of the greatest
cult films of all times

because it's not that old.

But I think because of
just how well known it is

and how it's spoofed
on so many things,

it's referenced so many times
in pop culture...

Oh!

Aah!

Tom Six's claim to fame
for this film

is that it's 100% medically
accurate, which is true.

I consulted a doctor
in Holland, a real surgeon,

and he made this very detailed
operation report for me.

And he said I could actually
make a human centipede

in my hospital.

You have to administer
anti-rejection medication

and they need vitamin injections
to keep them healthy.

And you have the problem
of them choking, of course.

They have to eat the shit,
but they don't have to vomit.

That's quite tricky, of course.

But if you get them
enough fluids and vitamins,

they could live
for a long, long time.

I have some funny stories
about fans.

Yeah, people are like obsessed
with me lots of times.

They think you are worse
than Hitler or you're Jesus.

You have girls that connected
like dolls they made,

mouth to anus, little dolls,
and they present it to me.

And a lot of women said,
I want to have your baby.

So it goes very, very far.

It's really incredible to be
a part of something like that

where it just keeps going
and going and going

for years to come.

And I don't expect it
to ever really stop.

Well, I've always loved
horror films.

I was talking to a friend
about the fact

that everyone was making
vampire movies in those days,

and I said why doesn't someone
make a Frankenstein movie.

Because I always liked
Frankenstein movies the best.

And this friend recommended

that I take a look at
the Lovecraft story.

Herbert West brought a lot
of dead people back to life,

and not one of them
showed any appreciation.

"Re-Animator" is a masters
class of film directing.

It's the obsessed doctor
genre film,

and it's the zombie genre film
all melded together.

"Re-Animator" is about this
insane person named Herbert West

who has been working on
reanimating corpses

and is doing so with
the freshest ones possible,

which increasingly become people
that have just died

often because of
his experiments.

Granted, it was an accident,

but this is the freshest body
that we could come across

save for killing one ourselves.

And every moment
that we spend talking about it

costs us results.

Now will you give me a hand?

And so the fantastic element
in the story

was the idea
that there's a serum

that brings the dead
back to life.

So we wanted everything else,

all the medical stuff
to be as accurate as possible.

How can you teach such drivel?

These people are here to learn,

and you're closing their minds
before they even have a chance.

What are you here for,
Mr. West?

You know, you should have
stolen Laura Gruber's ideas.

- That at least you'd have ideas.
- Mr. West!

Dr. Hill
is so pitch perfect evil.

It's going to be a pleasure
to fail you.

And so you hate him
just immediately,

and Herbert West hates him.

And then when Herbert kills him,
literally cuts his head off,

and you're like, great, the bad
guy's gone, and he's not.

Herbert can't help himself

and brings the head
back to life.

Then he's got to walk around
with giant zombie shoulders

so that the effect can work.

"Re-Animator" is a cult classic,
stood the test of time

mostly because of
its sense of humor.

Lovecraft, to his credit,

he wasn't a particularly
funny writer,

but he was writing
what he considered a comedy,

and Stuart Gordon
and Dennis Paoli

kind of brought that to light.

And so the movie "Re-Animator"
is very funny.

You'll never get credit
for my discovery.

Who's going to believe
a talking head?

Get a job in a sideshow.

You know, when we were working
on the movie,

we knew that
we needed to have something

that would set it apart
from all of the other movies.

I have plans.

The scene that everyone
always wants to talk about

is what we always called
the head gives head.

It's with Barbara Crampton,
he picks this beautiful heroine.

She's strapped down
to the table.

The evil doctor, his headless
body is holding his head

and guiding it around the room

and he's guiding it towards the
naked tied lady on the table.

Obviously doing very, you
know, leering things toward her.

And then it's like, well,
now he's going to do the thing

that there's no way
they're going to show you.

You know, it's upsetting that
you have a head giving head,

and it's very...
not for most people.

I love it!

There are so many great scenes
in "Re-Animator."

I think my favorite one
is when

they're bringing the cat
back to life in the basement.

Because this poor little cat
did absolutely nothing wrong,

and then it's just
this kind of like grotty puppet.

It doesn't even look like
a real cat,

but it's just like attached
to Herbert West's back

and he's just like
flailing around.

Get it off of me!

It's a little known fact
that David Gale

was the model
for Dudley Do-Right,

the cartoon character.

I think there is
a train approaching.

He's friends with Jay Ward,

and I think they modeled the
look of the Mountie on David.

We were incredibly naiïve

in that we thought we could
get an R rating for the movie.

It was interesting,
in those days

one of the things

that was sticking
in the backs of our minds

was that another movie
had been released unrated,

and it was, believe it or not,
"Room With a View."

So we were very worried

because we have all these
naked zombies running around.

But as it turned out, there
was so much blood in the film

that it didn't really matter.

They were never going to give us
an R rating

no matter what we did.

H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale
of horror "Re-Animator."

It will scare you to pieces.

And it really found itself
on VHS

as so many horror movies
did in the eighties.

When younger people
are finding horror movies,

that's always one of the ones
everybody says.

You've got to watch "Halloween,"

you've got to watch
"Nightmare on Elm Street,"

you've got to watch "Evil Dead,"

and you've got to watch "Re-Animator."

If you are into gore,

you've got to start with that

and then kind of branch out
from there.

It's very gratifying

that people are still
enjoying the film.

They just put out a new Blu-ray
of the movie,

which has something like
24 hours worth of material,

which I always think
is hilarious

because the movie itself
is less than two hours long.

There is a live stage musical.

Bastards.

There's a comic book series,
there's a board game coming out.

Lovecraft never regarded
the story very highly,

and yet it's become
this property

that has so stood
the test of time.

Because of
the Stuart Gordon film,

you think you know, hey,
I remember "Re-Animator."

And then you go
and watch it again

and it's like, no,
it's funnier than I remember it

or its gorier
than I remember it or whatever.

Or it's exactly as I remember
it, and it's just great.

Now, one other picture

that has come down
through the test of time

is Tobe Hooper's
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Oh, my.

Which, speaking to the idea

of people
who are regional filmmakers.

Oh, that's my number one
of all favorites.

He made this picture
on weekends

with, you know, borrowed
equipment, 16 millimeter.

It had a reputation at the time

of being the grossest,
most horrific, disgusting movie,

which it isn't.

There's very little
actual gore in this movie,

and there's very little
actual real violence.

Almost everything is implied.

- It's all in your imagination.
- It's all situational.

And that door slamming,
Leatherface's door.

- And once that door slams...
- Oh, God.

You don't even want to think
about what's going to happen.

You really believe that
there were parts of America

where this was happening.
There are.

- You know what?
- They probably are right now.

That's what I'm saying

is like it does tap into
genuine fears about the other,

other, you know, people
that you don't know.

And the hitchhiker
in that movie.

People always say
what's your type?

I say him.

What happened was true.

The most bizarre and brutal
series of crimes in America.

Before there were cult movies,

"Texas Chainsaw"
was the cult movie.

It gets into your brain
like a million worms.

Cadavers wrapped around gravestones

with these police style
close-ups and photographs.

I went...

I don't know
if I can watch this movie.

This is the opening minute.

The plot
of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

is a bunch of kids
get in a van.

They're going to one of
their relatives' places.

It's in Texas.

I didn't want you
to know any of these people

or it would mess up, you know,
that whole documentary feeling.

It's a slow burn beginning.

But then they pick up
that freaky weird dude

and he cuts his hand.

He's obviously demented.

They don't realize it,
but he's part of a family.

It's a nice family if you're
the Manson family, I guess.

I got some good barbecue here.

Why don't you fellas
stick around here a while?

They turn out to be people
who were cannibals.

You could take me to my house.

I live right off this road.

The scene in the van,

we're making a lot of
physical stuff up as we go.

The casting is amazing,
the performances.

Ed Neal, I don't know who won
the Academy award that year,

but they should
just give it to Ed

because it wasn't as interesting
as whatever he was doing.

I mean, and you watch, and you
go are these people even actors?

I don't know. Are they
just weirdos that they cast?

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
changed the horror genre.

So putting a mask
on Leatherface

created a new kind of monster.

When we went to do
"Evil Dead,"

we studied the drive-in movies
to see, what are they watching?

For me, it was "Texas Chainsaw."

I remember watching that
in the theater

man, I doubt
we could do as good as that.

Because that scared
the living piss out of me.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
to me is an amazing movie

because there's really
not that much gore in it.

It's just the characters
are terrifying

in a very kind of real...
it's just the acting.

It's scary acting.

If I could wind
the actor up enough

to let all that fear
and terror come out,

that would transcend the screen.

The cinematic experience
and your emotional experience

would create something that
was between you and the screen

and not just on the screen.

So the movie
is very, very low budget.

Shot on super 16 millimeter.

If hell had home movies,
that's what it looks like.

- It looks real.
- It's docu-style.

And also, too, it says
right at the beginning

this is a true story, right?

Which is bullshit.

The fact
in the back of your mind

you're thinking, is this real?

Did this really happen?

It makes it all the more disturbing.

The movie is so good at creating
an unnerving tense atmosphere.

Because the movie also has
a lot of twisted black humor.

It's funny.
It's a funny movie.

Even though it's
the most horrifying experience

you'll ever have.

So they cut her finger

and they stick it
in grandpa's mouth.

And as he sucking the blood
out of her finger,

he's like kneading
like a little kitten

or like a little baby.

It's so twisted, it's funny,

but it's horrifying.

The chainsaw guy's going
to make everything safe.

Here's what you must do
to the chainsaw

in order to prevent

any of the actors
for being harmed at any time.

We'll put like
a little metal plate there

underneath the paint slab.

And then will put some suet meat
on top of the metal plate.

And then the blade... it's still
moving, but no sharp part.

It'll come down and
the suet meat will pop through

and it'll be great.

The heat will transfer...

through the metal plate
to the tender flesh below.

Here comes the chainsaw,
the suet meat pops off,

and Gunnar is screaming
on the ground, going, aah!

Cut to Jay Parsley
on the other side of the camera,

going, wow,
Gunnar's doing great.

The beauty of the film,

if there is a beauty
to such a disturbing film,

is that a lot of it's done
through suggestion.

I've often thought that
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

is one of the most deceptively
scary movies ever made.

Leatherface puts her on the meat hook,

and the MPAA,
they were more open then.

I would make a phone call
and say,

how can I hang a girl
on a meat hook

and get a PG rating?

And they said, well, you can't.

It's a simple quick edit.

Show the hook.
She's lifted up.

Clunk.

Aah!

And it pans down her body

and she's hanging over
an old washtub,

and the washtub is there
to catch the blood.

You're aware for an instant

of blood
coursing onto the ground.

Many people thought they saw
blood gushing down.

I think
it was one of those movies

that began to make explicit
what was only barely implied

in the movies we were
used to seeing of that time,

like "Psycho."

Because I think it is
the greatest modern horror film

after "Psycho."

It seemed that
there were more good reviews

because it was refreshing
at least to the critics.

It was the grind house movie
that critics recognized

as being a kind of
a primitive work of art.

So then Rex Reed saw it
and he loved it.

And everything just
from that moment changed.

It became part of its legend
that there was a copy of it

in the Museum of Modern Art's
permanent collection.

And it started building
its own cult.

It's incredible, directors
that I love their work,

so that I've done something
that they care about.

The feeling
is kind of overwhelming.

That people like Wes Craven
and Rob Zombie and Ridley Scott,

well, in their own words,

have been influenced
by "Chainsaw."

I heard that Ridley
has his own 35 millimeter print.

I know Stanley Kubrick
had his own 35 print.

I'm deeply honored.

"Chainsaw" was chosen

as one of the greatest
cult films of all time

because it doesn't die,
it doesn't go anywhere.

Here we are 44 years later.

We'll step back 44 years in time

to that magical, magical time
when we made this film.

Come, come.

Look at this. Here's
the infamous feather room.

When you walked into this room,

these feathers would waft up
around your legs.

It was so powerful.

And from the second
you entered the door,

you were there.

The minute you are
inside the door two feet,

you were into character.

The infamous dinner room.

Aah!

This was one of my favorite
places on the set.

Give me a hand with grandpa.

Give me a hand with grandpa,
which I think was an ad lib.

Leatherface appears in the doorway

and knocks him silly,

and Bill does that
wonderful thing with his feet.

Why there's a metal door
in the middle of the house,

we don't know, but there it is
and it's wonderful.

It's always fun
coming back here.

Hearing the voices
of my friends,

some here still and some gone.

Science fiction,
it never approached

the level of literary
science fiction in films.

Literary science fiction was
always much more intellectual.

And "Death Race 2000,"
which is a very cartoony movie,

is also very subversive.

And it was a big surprise hit.

It was definitely a hit.

It put New World Pictures
on the map

and it really I think
established Paul Bartel

as a credible filmmaker.

And I'll be giving you
the blow-by-blow, play-by-play

when the kings and queens
of the open road

roar onto the track.

Do I hear the sound of engines?

Humanity is still recovering

from this gigantic
economic catastrophe

that happened in 1979,
and it's been 21 years later

and the only way we can think of
to deal with this

is this transcontinental
road race

between men with names
like Frankenstein

and women named Calamity Jane,

who are going to get points
for mowing down people,

and that sometimes these people
want to get killed.

- Aah!
- Oh!

Oh, why did she do that?

To show me she loves me.

The original script was just
a straight racing picture

with the drivers trying to
knock each other off the road,

and I felt it needed
something additional.

And I came up with the idea

the drivers got points
for killing pedestrians.

Frankenstein scores!

And it became a cult classic

because it was violent
and it had a sense of humor.

Women are still worth
10 points more than men

in all age brackets,

but teenagers now rack up
40 points,

and toddlers under 12
now rate a big 70 points.

The big score, anyone,
any sex over 75 years old

has been upped to 100 points.

I saw "Death Race 2000"
in the editing room

with Joe Dante on the moviola.

And Sylvester Stallone's part,

he was improvising
a lot of lines

and he was really, really
funny in it.

And we kept saying,
who is this guy?

This guy's great.

It is the movie went on,
his part got cut down, you know.

It's a real shame.

But I always remember
what he calls his girlfriend.

"You know what you are?
You're a baked potato."

For me, I think you are
one very large baked potato.

I don't know,
he was standing there,

so I started talking to him.

And I said, you know,
how you doing?

What's going on, you know?

And he goes, well,
I'm living in a closet.

I went, what?

You're living in a closet?
That's good.

That was his room.

And he was writing
a stupid script called "Rocky."

I felt so bad for him

because it's so hard
to get a movie on, you know.

His acting was great,

but he certainly
couldn't be a script writer.

"Rocky?"

I felt that David Carradine

had the power
to play Frankenstein,

who was, of course,

the world's champion
race driver at the time.

Yet at the same time,
there was a subtlety

that I saw
in some of his performances.

What did you expect,
another pretty face?

Only in a Corman movie
does this happen.

My character,
it was a female driver,

which was stupid
because I didn't drive.

I didn't know how to drive.
I'm from New York.

I didn't know that Mary
couldn't drive a car.

- Yeah, they towed me.
- It was so embarrassing.

What makes "Death Race 2000"
a cult classic

is the political subversiveness
in the storyline.

A cult film
is generally a genre film

that has some element in it
that goes beyond the conventions

or the limitations
of that genre.

And I think "Death Race"
did that

by bringing in these political
and cultural thoughts.

The transcontinental
road race,

which upholds the American
tradition of no holds barred.

"Death Race 2000"
is this movie

that kind of almost predicts
"The Hunger Games"

and the "Running Man"

and these films we're going to
start seeing about reality shows

where all of America
just wants to watch people die.

And also has a really demented
black sense of humor

that Paul Bartel
did such a great job of mining.

There is no cause for alarm.

The patient has been
flown in from abroad

in a state
of suspended animation.

But Paul is from...

he's almost from
the theater of the ridiculous.

Oh, "Death Race 2000"
I saw at the drive-in

when I was a little kid,
and, you know,

at the time it was like so funny
and so shocking.

And it's a movie
that made fun of death,

which very few movies
even today will do that.

Or the fact that, you know,

you're laughing at the fact
that people were dying.

It's great,
it's really funny,

but it's also
about killing people.

I mean,
you can't get around that.

You can't say this is so funny

and nobody cares
about killing people.

No, no, no. They were lined up,
we killed them.

It was just funny.

You can't take the killing
of the pedestrians seriously

unless you're a pedestrian.

All right, all right,
and yes, sirree!

The opening, of course,
is very strong.

And I remember doing it took
the whole day for this one shot,

which is actually quick
for Kubrick.

Because that one shot

is the whole experience encapsulated

with the eyelash

and the look
that became the symbol.

"Clockwork Orange"
is the adventures of a young man

whose principal interests

are ultraviolence, rape,
and Beethoven.

Unlike so many other
cult classics,

"A Clockwork Orange,"
when it came out was a hit.

"Clockwork Orange"
was nominated for best picture.

"Clockwork Orange"
is a Stanley Kubrick film.

It's one of the greatest films
of all time.

Even though the movie
was super successful

when it came out,
it has become this cult film

partly because I think the movie
still feels so dangerous.

Malcolm McDowell
really grounds that film

and gives us someone
to sympathize with

in a world gone mad.

He will be
your true Christian,

ready to turn the other cheek.

Yeah, I've often thought,
why is it still relevant?

Young kids
doing drugs, gangs.

Hello.

Very frightening,
frightening movie

and, you know, his sounds
and his music,

and the sexuality of it.

And also I remember
when I was young,

there were stories about it
inciting actual violence.

Like in England, gangs
were roaming the streets

like the droogs,
and a homeless man was killed.

And Stanley Kubrick
actually chose

to pull it out of circulation
in England.

Of course, if you get
your life threatened

and that of your family,
then of course, you know,

you take advice from the police,
and Stanley did that.

And the police told him
to withdraw the film.

And I think these
add to its mythos

and make it a cult film.

You know,
if "A Clockwork Orange"

got banned at the beginning,

then the audience has to fight
extra hard to find it.

And that's a brilliant film.

I mean, there's
just no denying it.

Malcolm McDowell
is so brilliant

in "A Clockwork Orange."

He's scary.

He's funny. He's twisted.

You can't keep your eyes off him
on the screen.

He's the ultimate antihero
because we hate him so much,

but when he becomes
a political puppet,

we can't help
but feel sorry for him

because his right to choose
has been taken away from him.

So we ultimately side with him

despite all the heinous things
he does.

It talks about
a kind of apocalyptic time.

It certainly talks about
a kind of gang

and how they try to fix this guy

and how that sort of
ends up hurting itself.

But I don't think it's sci-fi.

I think that's just straight on
very edgy drama.

We made a black comedy.

Are you now or have you
ever been a homosexual?

- No, sir.
- Right.

Leave it the hell alone
and don't touch it.

It's a very important
work of art.

Kubrick really
was able to take advantage

of the changes
in censorship laws

that occurred in the late 1960s

and put images on the screen
that are probably as extreme

as have ever been committed
to a mainstream film.

When it came out, nobody could
get past the sort of surface,

which is the violence.

Well, you look at the "Singing
In The Rain" scene today,

and that's an example of a scene

where you feel like
you could not make a movie

that had
that kind of scene today.

"Singing In The Rain"

came out of absolute
pure necessity

because we had ground to a halt.

Creativity just came, bang,
to a stop.

So we didn't shoot
for five days.

I mean, unheard of,
never do it today.

I think on the fifth day,

he looked down and said to me,
can you dance?

I said, of course I can.

I jumped up

and just instinctively
went into "Singing In The Rain."

And on the beats,
kicking, whacking.

And, you know, Kubrick's face
was one of sheer wonderment,

and he bought the rights
to "Singing In The Rain"

there and then.

- Very well, little brother.
- Very well.

But I did in fact
meet Gene Kelly,

and I was very excited
to meet him.

There's a great party in the
flats of Beverly Hills, Malcolm.

There's going to be
a lot of movie stars,

you know, like old movie stars.

Do you want to go?
And I went, hell, yes.

Oh, my God, that's why I'm here.

I don't give a shit
about the young ones.

I want to meet the old ones.

So we go into the party
and, you know,

I see a few great
movie stars, you know.

And he came up and said,
hey, we're in luck.

Gene Kelly's here.
Do you want...

I went, oh, yeah,
I'd love to meet him.

So he goes up. Gene Kelly had
his back to us as we came in.

He tapped him on the shoulder
and he goes, Gene,

I just like to introduce you
to Malcolm McDowell.

And he just looked at me.

He turned and walked off.

40 years later, of course,

I'm telling the story
at the Academy.

And afterwards, a sweet lady,
an older lady came over

and said, Malcolm,
I was married to Gene.

And I went, oh, my God.
Well...

She goes, oh, he did not...
he didn't hate you.

It was Stanley.

And I went, Stanley?

Why would he hates Stanley?

She goes, well,
he never paid him.

And I went,
well, of course he didn't.

Of course he didn't.

Well, the whole shoot
was very physical

and basically I was being
whupped and slapped and punched

for just under a year.

And then he's tortured by
the man, by some establishment,

you know, parent,
parental types.

But the worst I think was
the scratching of the corneas,

because those lid locks,
you know,

they used
in delicate eye operations,

but normally the patient
is lying on their back,

not sitting up
in a straightjacket

watching movies.

And they kept slipping out,

but because the eyes
were anesthetized,

I couldn't feel it until,
you know, the drive home.

This is for your own good.

You'll have to bear with us
for a while.

But it's not fair.

It's not fair I should feel ill

when I hear
lovely, lovely Ludwig Van.

Some people
accused Stanley Kubrick

of almost endorsing that kind
of violence in the movie,

reveling in it.

And ultimately, I think it's
a far more moral film than that.

But the fact
that he walks that line,

the fact that
you can almost feel that joy

that at least the character of
Alex is taking in his violence,

that's what gives the movie
its edge.

And I think you'd be pilloried

if you tried to make a movie
like that today.

Well, when I saw the film,
I was thrilled with it.

I mean, how could you not be?

You know, I gave
the performance of my life

with a genius director
who was at the top of his game.

He was 47 years old.

It's such a unique vision.

It still feels like

a cutting edge, dangerous
version of the future,

and that is entirely due
to the fact

that Stanley Kubrick
is a filmmaking God.

I was cured all right.

"Blade Runner,"

which was a very expensive
studio picture by Ridley Scott,

which was maligned
by the critics

and not enjoyed by the public,

and yet had such
a strange cachet to it

that it actually
became fascinating,

and people revisit it.

And different cuts
of the picture

would then come out,

and the owners discovered
there was actually a chance

to make some more money
from this picture

by trying to find
different versions

that they could keep putting out
and people would re-buy it.

I would say of the first one, though,

the director's niece's cut
was my favorite.

Of all the ones.

Yeah, because
it was a little shorter,

but, ooh, so more impactful.

More human than human
is our motto.

The reason you picked it

as the greatest cult film
of all time

is because it is the
greatest cult film of all time.

It was not a big hit
when it came out.

It was misunderstood.

It probably is
the greatest movie ever made.

"Blade Runner" is a movie

deserving of
its exalted cult status.

There's this interesting
lifecycle to a cult film

where maybe it starts off
at the bottom and nobody cares,

and then it rises up in esteem,

like, say, "Blade Runner,"

and it becomes like the film
that everybody wants to watch.

It goes almost from cult film
to masterpiece.

The real reason for the cult
is that film never went away.

It just kept building
and building and building.

But it's among movie fans.

I still don't think it's a film
for the mainstream audience,

and I think that's
part of the appeal of it

is people really take it
as their own.

People are expecting a high
octane sci-fi action movie

like the ones that
had come out before then,

namely Ridley Scott's "Alien"
and "Star Wars"

and the Superman movie
and on and on it goes.

So when "Blade Runner" came out,
it's the slow quiet mood piece.

And it came out in the summer,
and people didn't go to see it.

Ridley Scott
made this film noir

about a private detective

who's hired to terminate
rogue androids.

- I need the old Blade Runner.
- I need your magic.

I don't work here anymore.

And it's about his conscience

that starts to question whether
he's doing the right thing

and whether the androids
are more human.

I've seen things
you people wouldn't believe.

What is the meaning
of being alive, you know?

What's the difference of you
being alive and me being alive?

If I'm a replicant
and you're a human being,

what's the difference?

If I still have feelings, you
know, what's the difference?

Because I was manufactured
or not, you know.

That was always
kind of the thoughts

that I thought about
when we were doing the movie.

What's the difference
between you and me?

And also people argue

whether the Harrison Ford
character is a robot himself.

We don't know.

And I ask Ridley Scott that,
and he thinks he was.

And that conflict, because
at the end of the picture,

he takes a replicant,
which I play,

off into the, you know,
off into...

well, it depends
on what version,

but off into the big blue sky.

That when they went to do
in the early nineties

the director's cut,

they actually restored
earlier versions of the film

with no happy ending tacked on.

I love "Blade Runner."

I've always loved
"Blade Runner."

But I love it
for different reasons, you know.

My uncle did the arrangements
to the soundtrack.

Vangelis wrote it
and Jack Elliott,

who's my uncle,
did all the music,

all the orchestrations.

So I remember going into
the studio late at night

when you'd hear that,
you know...

That's Tom Scott
playing that sax,

romantic, you know, little riff.

I think there are people
who worked with Ridley Scott

who might be afraid to work
with him again, you know,

because he's pretty demanding.

Although now that he's older,
I think he's quite mellow.

He was very controlling.

I mean, I guess that wouldn't
be a surprise, right?

Very much into every detail.

Very much an artist.

I mean, as grueling as it was,

which it was,
it was also very exciting, too.

You could tell because you were
looking at these amazing sets

and you were looking at
all of this care, you know,

and money and effort, you know,

to produce something
that all comes together.

It was like, damn, you know.

It was like, wow.
This looks amazing, you know.

I look like an old-fashioned
movie star in this show.

I almost wished that
Humphrey Bogart was still alive

so he could've played the part
that Harrison Ford played.

I mean, the visual design
of "Blade Runner"

was kind of off the charts
when you really think about it.

That was not CGI.

I mean, they had special effects
in it, you know,

but not the same thing

in the sense
of what we're seeing today.

This is kind of old school.

It's the last
of that industry really.

"Blade Runner" influenced
so many filmmakers.

I don't think Luc Besson

would have a career
if it wasn't for "Blade Runner."

Every movie of his has something
from Blade Runner in it.

And we see that in so many
of the science-fiction films

that have come out since.

"Minority Report,"
one after the other.

Working on "Blade Runner"
was an experience

that I was extremely naiïve
when I walked into.

I'm referring to the scene
where Deckard pushes Rachael.

But I do remember feeling
pretty ganged up on that day,

and I remember
at the end of the day

just feeling just like beat up

for a variety
of different reasons.

One being that Harrison Ford has
a very rough beard, you know,

and so my face
was just like crccccck.

And then Harrison,
at the end of the day,

he looks at me
and he turns around

and he walks to the corridor
and he moons me.

He actually moons me.

And I'm looking at him
like, okay.

Like, you know,
this was a tough day I guess.

I kid you not.

I think it set the tone

for every science-fiction effort
that came after.

And there's a lot of that
going on now

where people are talking
about artificial intelligence

and cloning
and things like that.

It was ahead of its time.

"The Brother
From Another Planet"

is the only movie

that I ever got the idea
for the movie from dreams.

The plot of "Brother
From Another Planet"

is an escaped slave
from outer space

crash lands in New York harbor.

Makes his way to Harlem.

Immediately realizes,
because even though he's new,

he can understand
what's going around on him,

and he, you know,
keeps learning more

that he'd better assimilate
very quickly.

And then finding out

whether he's ever going to be
able to go back home or not.

Welcome to Babbaland, brother.

You got that faraway look
in your eye.

It's funny. The first time
I read the script

was obviously because
my agent had called me

and said John was looking
for a kind of Buster Keaton.

I read the script and realized
what John was doing,

that he was talking about
looking at Harlem

from the perspective of someone
who didn't live there

but looked like
he should belong there.

And I loved it,
just fell in love with it.

And the idea that
the character didn't speak

attracted me even more.

One of the reasons
for the brother to be mute

is to draw things out
from other people.

I wanted to be Ernie Banks.

Mr. Cub.

And it never really dawned
on me that he was black.

David Strathairn and I

play these kind of
intergalactic bounty hunters.

Have any of you seen this man?

We have reason to believe
he's been in here.

For the movement
of the two men in black,

I wanted there to be
something off about it.

And so much of our movement
was done backwards.

So we actually started
on the stool,

swiveled, backed out of the bar.

And because
we were shooting on film,

we actually had to
turn the camera upside down

to do that because later
we were going to flip the film.

That would give you
the reverse effect.

I think my favorite scene
is the one on the train

with Fisher Stevens
with the card trick.

Somebody told John
about the card trick,

and so John put it in the movie.

But the idea
that he does this card trick

about, you know, cards
disappearing and reappearing

and then says...

Want to see me make all
the white people disappear?

Because once we get
to 96th Street,

most white folks
got off the train.

See? What did I tell you?

My favorite in the movie
is the eyeball.

One of the driving engines
of the screenplay for me

was the idea of seeing
through somebody else's eyes.

I mean, the brother literally
takes his eyeball out,

and then we see what his eyeball
saw while he was somewhere else.

It's wonderful that John
has the character

land on Ellis Island.

Well, where else should he land
as an immigrant?

It's wonderful that he has me

go past the statue
that represents freedom,

and then have me go into Harlem

and talk about vis-à-vis
whatever I go through,

the hypocrisy of what goes on
in this country

as it pertains
to especially people of color.

The spaceship probably cost us
$100 altogether

and all the visuals
that we did for it.

The wide shot
of the arc of the spaceship

going into the harbor

was done with construction paper
and a pin

and me in the sound mix
going chww.

I always wished...
with the spaceship,

I always wished
and I never did,

that I had taken a picture of it
from the outside.

Because from the outside,

it look like something that
the Little Rascals had made.

It was all wood.

The light that sort of spun

was literally a tin can
with a light inside.

I mean, it was all
this kind of very, you know,

resourceful kinds of ways

of creating the atmosphere
inside the ship.

You know, this is not
"Star Wars."

This is a $1.98
science-fiction movie,

and it's going to be
about the people you meet,

not so much about the hardware.

When the film first came out,

most people thought

it was yet another
black exploitation film,

so it didn't do quite well
right away.

Remember, we had video stores.

Then suddenly every doorman,

every kind of what
Ralph Ellison would say,

the cog within the machine,

every black person
inside the machine,

they had all seen it and they
recognized what the film was.

So that's where it began to grow
in terms of popularity.

Movies have a much longer life
than they used to.

Movies are, you know,

they only live
when somebody is watching them.

And so that you hope
that your movies

have a second and third act

and that they're available
in some form.

"Liquid Sky"
is a bitching movie,

especially if you've tripped
on acid, okay?

Which I've done a lot of.

"Liquid Sky"
is about invisible aliens.

I think they land
on the Empire State building.

There is some connection
to heroin use,

and there are people
that are voyeurs

that sort of spot what's
going on with these aliens.

It's really hard to summarize.
Let's put it that way.

"Liquid Sky" is a movie made
for and about people in New York

in the early eighties
who took a lot of drugs

and they were in sort of
the art and fashion scene.

And tiny little aliens
come down, and they kill you

if you have endorphins
going off in your brain.

So they start out
with heroin users,

and then they realize, hey,
people having an orgasm,

that's way better.

And so then they kill people
having sex,

and generally
the people having sex

are also on some sort of drug.

And at the same time,

there's this sort of, you know,
androgynous model

who is being really aggressively
raped and beaten

by a lot of people.

And then she sort of
gets her revenge

through her weird friendship
with these little aliens.

I think that's what it's about.

I don't know what genre
is "Liquid Sky."

The Berlin Film Festival
had a catalogue made by genres

and they put "Liquid Sky"
in the catalogue "out of genre."

It's a mix of a lot of different
genres, and I like it.

And a lot of films which are
my favorite films are like that.

They are out of genre.

I know you care for me.

And Caroline, she's playing
herself in the film.

She was a fashion model

in the most popular
model agency.

It's very hypnotic,
the movie,

and it sucks you
into this strange world

that you've never seen before.

- Nobody fucks at the club.
- Everybody's gay.

It was the new wave
of both music and film,

and you could do stuff
like this.

And it's kind of up to each
viewer to make sense of it.

I'm falling asleep.

I'm tired
and I'm falling asleep

and you're boring me to death.

It was mind blowing.

At the time, I thought
it was just this sci-fi reverie.

You know, 20 years later
I was thinking about it.

I thought, oh, it's about the
experience of being on heroin.

I think I read
in many papers after that,

in many articles that "Liquid
Sky" was slang for heroin,

which has obviously never been.

Maybe it's become
after the film.

That I don't know.
It's very probable.

You know, anybody who sets out
to make a cult movie

is, you know, destined to fail.

It's never going to actually
reach cult status.

But I think in this instance
with "Liquid Sky,"

he sort of was.

Like he had this one specific
thing that he wanted to do.

It was for a cult of people,
a specific group of people,

and yet it has found
sort of acclaim,

and everybody, you know,
knows about it.

You see the poster

or, you know, just the font
of the "Liquid Sky" title,

you're like,
oh, I know what that is.

There is no chance
that somebody like me,

who never made
a commercial successful film,

can make a film
in Hollywood.

So I need to make something
very low budget.

That wasn't the problem
to make low budget.

The problem was how to make
successful low budget.

I really didn't know
that it was impossible.

That's probably why
I managed to do it.

Unfortunately, I discovered that
it's easier to make a cult film

than to raise money
for making a cult film.

Investors don't want the risk.

I think "Liquid Sky"
has stood the test of time

in terms of cult status

because you can't help
but just keep watching it.

You just sort of get sucked in
and then by the end,

you're just like, well,

now who's going to get
turned into aluminum foil?

I want to know.

Some people think
it's the best film ever

and some people think that
it's the worst film ever.

And I like it.

You either love
the whole movie

or you like none of the movie.

That's what I've decided
just this second.

He's a rocker...

- Doctor...
- Don't tug on that.

You never know
what it might be attached to.

- Inventor...
- Activate oscillator.

He's breaking
the sound barrier.

Philosopher...

But no matter where you go...

there you are.

I said I was conscientious

in research
for this little interview.

Because I haven't seen
"Buckaroo Banzai"

since we did it in,
jeez, '84-ish? '84.

So that's now
however long it is.

Yeah, so I saw it again yesterday.

I went online

and read a big Wikipedia thing
about the movie, too,

which you can do.

Things I've never known.

So I know more about it now
than I ever knew then.

What is the plot
of "Buckaroo Banzai?"

The plot of "Buckaroo Banzai"
is bananas.

Laugh while you can,
monkey boy.

Yeah, they're
a bunch of do-gooders

and a kind of
a Renaissance man of sorts.

May have
the curved yasargil, please?

It's not here, Dr. Banzai.

Uh, let me have
the straight one then.

First you've got to know
Buckaroo Banzai,

who is a neuroscientist,

astrophysicist, rockstar, ninja.

Biracial,
but played by Peter Weller.

Government agent.

And just a general cool guy.

The most well-known person
in the entire world.

And has a band,
the Kung Fu Cavaliers,

who are also the most well-known
people in the world.

He goes against evildoers,
currently in the shape of aliens

that he finds
in the eighth dimension.

Living on a simultaneous
plane of existence with our own.

Which he breaks through

by going very fast
and running into a mountain.

- This is Chase-One.
- We got his tracks.

They go right up
to a wall of rock.

Why the eighth dimension?

Because the fifth, sixth,
and seventh were irrelevant.

And the fate of the planet
is at stake.

John Lithgow plays an alien

who has been in the body
of an Italian Nazi scientist

since World War II.

- Jesus Christo!
- Make the ganglia twitch.

We're home free.

Jeff Goldblum
plays a brain surgeon

who wants to be part of the band

and spends the whole time in
this ridiculous cowboy outfit.

There's a million characters
in it and they all do stuff.

Yeah, I don't actually think

the plot
is all that important to them.

It came out against "Gremlins"
and "Ghostbusters"

and what else did you say?

And "Indiana Jones."
The first "Indiana Jones?"

Oh, "Temple of Doom."

Is that why it didn't do well?

Well, things work out perfectly
one way or another.

That's my philosophy.

And it's found the audience
that it's found.

I think "Buckaroo Banzai"
has become a cult classic

because it looks like
it should be

the best comic book movie
you've ever seen.

It's the latest issue.

And you watch it and you think
maybe it's your fault

you don't understand
what's going on.

And so you're like, well,
I've got to watch it again.

And from there, you start

to really like the characters
and the music.

And the kind of just crazy
qualities of everything.

What is it?

And once you see
a movie like that

like 10 times

and you still can't really
understand what's going on,

that's bound for
cult classic-ness at that point.

I don't think the ambition is

when you go into a movie
like that,

hey, I hope this becomes
a cult movie,

because that means it'll have
a small but devoted following.

I think they were hoping
for something more.

- It was like insta
- cult.

And I believe it has become
an official cult movie

because I read
like 20 page essays

about the physics
of "Buckaroo Banzai."

Favorite scene
in "Buckaroo Banzai."

Well, like I say,
my own parts I... I...

Oh, don't you get it?

I do have a speech
where I like the idea.

I could probably do this
better now,

where I go,
wait a minute, wait a minute.

I figure out...

1938, "War of the Worlds,"
that fake radio news broadcast

that got everybody scared
thinking real-life Martians...

were landing in Grovers Mill,
New Jersey.

That's kind of a nice idea,
although I could do it better.

And I had a pair of glasses on

that I remember having gotten
myself at l.a. Eyeworks.

Silver-ish.

But besides that, any scene
with John Lithgow is delightful.

Shut up, John Bigboote,
you're a coward.

You are the weakest individual
I ever know.

And then he turns back around

and you can see
he's going to laugh,

and so they have to cut.

The scene in "Buckaroo Banzai"

which I have watched with
my sister on the telephone.

My sister lives in L.A.

The scene that always makes us
drop the phone receiver

is when they're in the lab

and there's this watermelon
just sitting there,

and Jeff Goldblum kind of says,
what's that?

And someone else says,
I'll explain it to you later.

Why is there
a watermelon there?

I'll tell you later.

- Hey, what is that...
- what's that watermelon for?

He goes, I'll tell you later.

And cut.
Hey, send that to them.

Tell them that version,
I think I just did it better.

Reinsert that.
Re-cut that into the movie.

I recommend it.

I guess I don't look the same,
but anyway, there you go.

- That's like the whole movie.
- I'll explain it to you later.

Just enjoy.

Gee, I don't know.

You seem to have a particular
fondness for it maybe yourself,

and maybe you guys like it.

You know, I know it qualifies
on several different lists

as not having done well,
being quirky, being eccentric,

being unique and unusual
in some ways,

having something to do with
aliens, space aliens probably,

and then getting a following,
getting a life,

and a continual devoted,
even fanatical following.

That's probably it.