How Did This Get Made? - The Manitou w/ Jessica St. Clair

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Tony Curtis plays a psychic in the bonkers 1978 supernatural horror flick The Manitou—a movie where a lump on a woman's neck grows into a 400-year-old demonic Native American spirit. HDTGM all-star Jessica St. Clair joins Paul and Jason to discuss Karen shooting lasers out of her boobs, Burgess Meredith chewing the scenery, Mrs. Herz getting thrown down the stairs, the hospital with orange shag carpet and NASA-level computers, and so much more. Pana witchy salatoo!   Buy our Avaryl memorial fundraiser shirt HERE. 100% of proceeds will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. • Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, FAQs, and more• Leave us a voicemail at speakpipe.com/hdtgm• Submit your Last Looks theme song to us here• Join the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgm• Buy merch at howdidthisgetmade.dashery.com/• Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of Trauma• Shop our new hat collection at podswag.com• Paul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer• Paul’s YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer• Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer• Subscribe to Enter The Dark Web w/ Paul & Rob Huebel: youtube.com/@enterthedarkweb• Listen to Unspooled with Paul & Amy Nicholson: unspooledpodcast.com• Listen to The Deep Dive with June & Jessica St. Clair: thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast• Instagram: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & @junediane• Twitter: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & msjunediane  • Jason is not on social media• Episode transcripts available at how-did-this-get-made.simplecast.com/episodesGet access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Panawitchie Salatoo, Panawichi Salatoo, we saw the Manitou, so you know what that means. Now it's time for how did this get made? We're going to have a good time, celebrate some failure, not just be a hater, because you know you wonder, how did this campaign? Let's follow in the mediocrity of subpar art.

Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, How did this get made? Hello, people of earth and welcome to how did this get made. I am Paul Shear. Today on the show, we are talking about the manateau, a film that came out in 1978, about a woman who finds a lump on the back of her neck. And then that is determined to be the reincarnation of a 400-year-old demonic Native American spirit. She is aided by her, quote-unquote, boyfriend who's a phony psychic, and a Native American who will help battle. this evil spirit. We'll get into it.

But first, let me introduce my co-hosts. I mean, really, even just trying to explain it is almost impossible. I was really trying to, like, that's the simplest explanation. I will tell you this much, an hour and 16 minutes of the movie really could just go out the window and you could just watch the last 30 and be. Because most of the, I mean, like, like, this is a movie that introduces and discards characters constantly. By the way, that is Jason Mansour. Lucas, welcome Jason. And today on the show, sitting in, how did this get made All-Star?

Someone who is afraid of dumpster fires. And in this movie, you didn't get any of them. Please welcome the one and the only Jessica St. Clair. How are you, Jess? Good. What if instead of me, it was the actress who played Mrs. Hers. I would love it. You just expired. I was obsessed with Mrs. Hers. I knew you were. Mrs. Hers is my favorite sequence of the movie. I was obsessed with all of her. Herky-jurkey movement. Her floating.

Her floating. Her floating down the hallway, but then when Mrs. Hurst gets, quote-unquote, thrown down the stairs and it is just a burly man, a stunt man in a gray wig. She is, Mrs. Hers is an elderly woman who's, I'm going to say, like, in her 90s. She's old as hell. She's teeny tiny frills. She's got bird bones. She's got bird hollow bones.

She falls down the stairs with so much strength. It takes out an entire row of, like, of a banister. You know, like all of the, it's crazy. Like they were made of popsicle sticks. It was the crazy shit. But when she started lifting up, I know we're jumping right in, but when she started lifting up and levitating,

that's where I was like, oh, we, this is bed knobs and broomsticks. Oh, yes. When you saw her feet off the ground, I mean, this whole movie, I mean, this movie is kind of like exorcist for dummies in a way, you know, in the sense that there is a demonic spirit and they're kind of fighting off the demonic spirit. But this side story where she lives, the old lady, is one of my favorite things.

Because Tony Curtis is a phony psychic, and you open up on this moment where he's in this apartment and he has eerie music on. He has a mustache. He's reading tarot cards. A fake mustache. Which is revealed in such a great way. Why is that even an element of his phony psychic

that the psychic is more believable in a mustache? Or does he not want to be recognized out on the street? I can't quite tell why. I could go into just the establishment of Tony Curtis, this one, two of you meet him in a scene in which he's exactly, as Paul said, he's got the mustache on, and he's wearing like a kimono, I think. He's doing a tarot card reading.

His whole thing is tarot, and he does tarot for elderly women in order to make money. Okay, great. Then the woman exits. No. He takes off the mustache. He takes off the kimono. His apartment is decorated with like, medical equipment?

No, he sits in a barber's chair. Or a barber's chair. Yes. And honestly, Jason, that was a bit Jason coded. I was like, well, you know I tried. You're on eBay. You're immediately. Okay. So I do it.

I once tried to buy the entire contents of a dental office. That's my point. Including chair. And I bought all the x-ray boxes, but I didn't buy the chair. So before you throw stones at Mr. Tony Curtis. Turn the mirror on thyself. Because you were literally like, I bet I thought to myself,

oh, that your dream was re-ignited to get that chair in your house. My issue with that chair was it's facing inward to the apartment instead of outward to a beautiful, like, bay window. Like, right? So he pours himself a glass of beer and a champagne glass, which is an, like, the way that they're setting up his character is, like, the minute she's, the old lady's gone because he's a scammer. Like, he puts on, like, some. music and takes off his, you know, robes and he's a cool dude. And then the minute he pours the beer into the champagne glass, I'm like, well, not so cool

anymore. Just drink it out of the, just drink it out of the can, my friend. But he sits in the barber's chair facing inward. Into the apartment. Inward. Yeah. Meanwhile, behind him, beautiful bay window. San Francisco. San Francisco.

But nope, he just wants to stare at his kitchenette. That's it. Something I just wanted to point out, the most upsetting part of this whole movie for me. And this is not a joke, is his boobs. Oh, yeah. His man boobs and how they are not just like, okay, I get like men back then. We didn't do a lot of, you know, working out. We weren't like Chris.

Everyone wasn't Chris Pine, fine. But you're not even giving him an undershirt. And I have to watch you in a thin tissue thin t-shirt and then another tissue-thin button down so that I can, see your nipples for 99% of this movie, that's the thing that will haunt me the most. Jess, I'm going to say something here that might be controversial. I think he thinks I'm in great shape. Yes. And you need to see.

Here's what I'm going to say. Here's what I'm going to say. I need you to understand, St. Clair. This is 1978. This is the most fit man in America for 1970. Because also, this was a time, and I'm just getting this from my husband who said, you know, this was a time when kind of more like romantic stars of the past who had sort of peaked like past their prime they would do these horror movies.

Yes. So like Tony Curtis, right, we were meant to kind of think he was like a like a swinging guy back in the day. He bagged women, right? He bagged Marilyn Monroe. Yeah. Was that him? But he also, Janet Lee, he is Jamie Lee Curtis's father. He was with Janet Lee.

Yes. Got it. So we're thinking. Can I say something that is fucking so upsetting? Sure. In 1978, when this movie was released, Tony Curtis is one year younger than I am currently. Oh, my Lord.

I thought he was in his late 60s, mid-60s to late 60s. At least. That is chilling. At least. But by the way, I got to tell you, he carries himself like this. Like, he is. doing jokes. Oh yeah.

Like he's Teflon in this. Like it is a funny thing because the movie makes a lot of choices and I would argue all of them wrong but every choice is made with a hundred percent commitment. It would be like, hey you know what? I thought the exercise was good but

it just needs a couple more jokes. Like why are we being so serious about this? We're jumping in on the Tony Curtis of it all and without a doubt he is like the main attraction but the movie starts not with Tony Curtis. That's right. The movie starts with Karen, right?

Karen. Which I had read, which I had read somewhere was a, was Susan Sarandon. Oh, no, no, no. It's Susan. Strasper. Strasper. So the whole time. You're waiting.

Yeah. I'm like, is it Susan? Oh, my God. You're so funny. But then I'm like, where does Susan come in? And then I had a whole thing like, thank God there's. setting up these doctors as such fucking idiots so Susan Sarandon could come in. Oh my God.

And give like a pit level. I would love that, by the way, if Sarandon had shut. But we open with these two doctors who are trying to figure out what is growing on the back of Karen's neck. Yeah. And they are having a conversation that makes it seem as though, at least to me, these are the main characters of the movie. It's these are, this is a medical mystery movie. and here we are, we're going to figure it up. And they even have inside jokes with each other.

When they're like, be a doctor, don't be an administrator, which comes back. They've got like bits and banter. And they also are dressed in the height of 70s fashion. It looks like they're renting cars at hurts. Or they've just won a golf tournament. Yes, yellow. Yes, yellow. And the hospital, the entire hospital, has orange shag carpet.

Carpet. Carpet. So here's my. What is going on, guys? We cannot do this. We can't go back in time. We don't have the Great Space Coaster to go back in time and see. Is that your preferred time travel method?

I was going to say, is the Great Space Coaster? I never knew that that was a time traveling device. My understanding is that it only travels through space, not time. But I'm so curious. Tell us more about the Great Space Coaster, Jess. Well, my point is, I was two years older. This movie came out. And everybody making those TV shows and movies were.

coming off such an acid trip that it lasted like 10 full years. So to them, all of this makes sense. But as a like historical record, my question is, I thought lab codes were always white. That that's, but they made such a crazy choice that they are mustard yellow. Yes. As if they're Caldwell banker agents or whatever. Did that happen back then? Century 21.

Well, this whole movie basically takes place in a hospital. and I feel like they built the hospital, but that hospital was way too colorful. I actually was like, I kind of like it. It feels very like Stanley Kubrick in a way. Like, I feel like we're seeing these like very like shining level images. Right. And color schemes.

Yes. I don't think hospitals were ever this way. Carpeted? Well, they definitely were not carpeted. They can't. They can't be so. In that day, there was so much. Imagine like all the blood pouring out of someone onto the carpeted.

Just anything. Yes. What is going on? That's a horror movie. I also think that these doctors are not fully versed in how to treat people when they are having this conversation about this woman looking at the x-rays. And then they go out into the waiting room. Like, just take down your shirt. Let's go figure it out.

Like, there's no room. No. They're just doing it in like a public waiting room. That straight up looks like my finished basement that they're in. And they're just like, take off your blouse. And I was literally like, this is an unsafe situation for her. Absolutely. When the one doctor said, I've looked through every tumor book available. I was like, what? And I love that the only way they can kind of have any insight or any thought as to what's going on is because there's a medical chart on the wall behind them that is the gestation period of from embryo to fetus.

Yet they are tumor specialists. Not OBGYNs. I mean, I will say this. I have two thoughts. One being the great space coaster. only went to Coasterville. It was not a time-traveling device. Is Coasterville in space, though? Yes, it is in space. Is it out of time at all? We don't know. Maybe time works different in Coasterville.

It's a habitable asteroid floating in space. Now, now I was in the other. It's a great space coaster. Come on. Get on board. The only news, Gnoos, Gary Ganoo. Gary Ganoo. Gary Ganoo. No, no, no, no, Gnoos is good cano.

No news. No news. No news. With Gary Gnooo. Guys, we're having a great time. The original Tucker Carlson, Gary Ginnett. Oh, my gosh. All right.

Well, anyway. I think that might be Stan the Eagle. So we know that these guys are tumor specialists. They are, but they have this like OBGYN thing on the wall. And then I was like, it doesn't make sense to me that it's growing on the back of her neck. Put it in her belly. Make her pregnant and make the pregnancy weird. Why is this done like this?

Well, I actually think that was a great. choice. I think for somebody who gets really grossed out really easily, who's scared of everything, having a fetus grow on your upper spinal cord is quite nasty, disgusting. And also as we learned in the final shot of the movie, a fact that this had happened to a Tokyo boy. Okay, first of all. A boy from Tokyo. Fact, colon. That's what it said. It said, fact, colon. That's what it said. It said fact. This actually happened to a boy in Tokyo. The movie ends with what maybe should be at the beginning, which is like in 1969 in Tokyo, a young boy developed this in his chest, right? Oh, it was his chest?

Oh, okay. I'm pretty sure it was his chest. But now any research into this, there's no history of that. That is not a real statement. So that this is. Well, my feeling is like, couldn't think, have been this true case, an instance of like a vestigial twin that didn't grow.

And there's there's something in the body, but it's not, it's not gestating. It's not growing and gaining size and kind. Like that's the other thing about what's happening to her is the fetus that's on the back of her neck is growing so fast that it grows into a man, like, spoiler related, a man is birthed from her neck tumor in the third act of the movie. That's what we're doing. Which, by the way, I will say, it's on the level of the best scare tactics I've ever seen. They do this multiple times in scare tactics where a woman is going into labor.

They bring somebody in. And then, you know, and then somebody pops out and covered in blood just like this. Whoa. This is the premise of, I would say, 25% of the best scare tactics episodes. It was so disgusting. But I would say this. So so much malpractice going on because she comes in, she gets examined in somebody's finished basement. then they're like, you know what, go home.

First of all, they don't tell her that they think it's a terribly malignant tumor. They're like, go home. You got a fetus on your neck possibly. Go home and have a night of it. When she said sometimes it feels like it's moving around to get more comfortable. I was like, guys, believe women. And their answer was, go have a hot soak and we'll see you back for surgery. There's nothing they can do about it.

All right? They got like, have a drink, go out on the town. Her first call, Tony Curtis, amateur psychic. Who they're not even dating at the time. She's like, you're the only person I feel like I could connect with, but they haven't spoken in months. And then she sort of like sleeps on the news that that thing is like moving around in her. And then they have, I think, sex in front of a. Well, they both are in robes.

They were, they go back. It hard cuts to them back in his apartment in robes. and you think it's post-coital, but it's not, because he then suggests something that is like they're about to have sex. So, like, they went home and just changed into bathroom? So, so. Well, that's the way, that's the 70s. Just like, why?

I guess so. Get into shorts, get it, you know, or get into your, you know, just get comfortable. By the way, I will say that just as we're talking about sex, Tony Curtis is, it's established that he lives next door to a sex worker because as he's like letting out his old lady, the sex worker's like, still doing this? I thought that was another psychic.

I thought that was another psychic, too. Because I thought she was dressed in a way that was provocative. And then when he said to her, well, I heard your act last week, I was like, well, business is slow for the sex worker if she's only doing it weekly. But maybe you're right.

Maybe it's a house of psychic. Maybe this is a house of psychics. No, yours makes a lot more sense. Paul, in a lot of ways, because she was dressed in like a see-through negligee type body. But a perfect example of another character that is introduced seems like she might be significant to Tony Curtis's character, then completely abandoned. Another, when Tony Curtis seeks out the help for the seance of his old friend and her husband with the beard, he goes to the store that sells nautical equipment and a cult gear.

I was like, what is this? I love those two. All ship stuff and occult stuff? What's the store here? Well, you know, look, because when you have two niche markets, you can't just... You got to combine. You got to get in there. Those characters arrive, they do a very dramatic seance, which we should talk about, and it's

terrific. But then, never heard from again. Never see them again. Not important to the plot. I mean, again, the movie goes on for an hour and 16 minutes. We meet Burgess Meredith, who might have gotten the same memo as Tony Curtis that this is a comedy. Because he's playing, like, he does a bit in this movie that made me laugh so hard. Can I guess?

Yes. Which is when they all come in, they all sit down. And after they sit down, he said, please have a seat. Yes. Wait, which one is Burgess? Who is that? He's the professor, the old man professor. Oh, God.

He was really eaten up that scenery. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Chomp chomp chomp to-a-tom chomp-tie chop chomp chom chom chom by the way, thank God they were chomping it up because otherwise I think we would have been very bored. Oh, I mean, yes. Yes. We needed a change of location for sure. But whoever put up those cobwebs took their set design class from fucking Paul's Halloween decorations outside his house. I'm taking that as a compliment.

You could have done a much better job, Paul, on the set design. Well, it was 78. We didn't have the technology. We didn't have 15-foot Jack Skellington. Yeah, oh my God, I could have gotten in there. But that, like, this is what is so interesting about the movie. The movie basically is saying, hey, there is a thing on this. I like that's the, the voice of the movie is like, hey.

Hey, hey, this is the voice of the movie. I was out last night drinking. I was out last night drinking. I'm a little messed up. Hold on. All right, right. So, all right. So, hey, hey.

Hey. Hey, the manitoo calling, what's up? But the movie is like, hey, listen, this thing is dangerous. And if it comes out, it's going to be bad. And some people are like, well, we should maybe let it come out. And it's like, I'm telling you it's bad. And that's the first hour and 16 minutes is just debating should we remove it or not remove it. And some people are like, we should.

Some people are like we shouldn't. And then like, but we don't get to deal with the manitut. Or I would say, you know, this is maybe very much in malignant territory, which is the movie, Jesse, you didn't see where a person does have a... I would love to rewatch malignant with St. Clair. Malignant is a person on the back as somebody said. But like this movie is this waiting water for an hour and 16 minutes. It's just like, uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Now, the moment that got me, though, early in the film was they're trying to operate on this. the cyst and in the middle of the operation, the surgeon's like, this is early on. He's like, and he cuts the wrong side of his wrist. That's true. He's doing it where you put the watch face. Well, my question was. He's sawing through bone, actually. Yeah, I was trying to figure out if he was trying to stop himself from being able to do

the surgery. Okay. If the man or the medicine man, who we later find out is the medicine man, is reaching out and making the surgeon unable to perform the surgery. Same hand gets then bitten by the spirit alligator, or lizard rather, when it comes out. And the same doctor is like hypnotically drawn to put his hand out for the lizard to bite. You know, like there's something about it wanting to destroy his ability to do surgery or something. But that's why they have to bring in the lasers.

I love that. I love that interpretation. But again, I feel like any time you're putting an extra layer on things, you've got to actually like, When you go, when a woman gets dressed, you know, for to go out, you always take one thing off. Okay, so know that. You look in the mirror. All. I mean, and my preference would be the bra.

Of course. And by the way, we should talk about those boobs that were shown to us. Oh. Incredible. That's when the movie really got. I was like, thank God. We're finishing strong. Less of Tony Curtis's boobs and more of that woman's boobs.

Why'd we wait so long? That woman's boobs and the manitues lump where his penises. were equally bulbous and beautiful and shiny. This movie does the thing, which every, because we don't always do, not that we don't always, we very rarely do 1970s movies. Yes.

You know, and it reminded me, especially a 70s movie like this that's kind of schlocky and not great. It reminded me of the thing, and it always happens to when I watch old 70s and 80s TV shows, how much time it takes. takes to do everything.

They show cars traveling down. They show so much just interstitial business. You would be shocked. How would they get there? We need to see them get in the car, drive to the place, get out of the car. I don't want to admit this. You put it at 1.5 times the speed. Oh, boy.

This is a Paul Shear special right here. It's normal. It's normal. In fact, I kept checking. I got to speed this thing up. But when they're going, Panawichi, Panat too, like, we. Like, we need to pace it up. If I was the director of it, pace up the dialogue.

That was the thing. Whenever I see, like, a movie where I don't notice the difference at 1.5, it just, it, you're like, oh, something has gone wrong here. Like, they are stretching it. Now, I will say this, this manitue is based on a popular book, and the script was written in three days. And apparently all the dialogue was verbatim from the book. Oh, my God.

Oh, because I thought Tony Curtis might have done his own pass with some of his. Bon Moes. I'm imagining that Tony kind of put it like juxted up a little bit. Yeah. Like I, you know, but I feel like this was just shot out super quick. I mean, three days. And

written by three people. And they must have been on some drugs. Like some heavy, heavy drugs. Yes. Yeah, well, I mean, if you're going to write a whole script in three days, you're not sleeping. This is a, I'm certain this is a cocaine. I mean, this guy is kind of like the guy who wrote it, William

Girdler is a... Girdler. He's kind of like... Bring it the Girdler. He'll fix it. Girdler got it. Quick Batman, the Girdler. Get me Girdler on the phone. He is a guy who's making schlocky movies. He was sued by Warner Brothers

that his film Abbey 74 was a ripoff of the Exorcist 73. Oh shit. He also he made the movie Grizzly. We did Grizzly 2 here on the show. Like he's a guy,

you know, he's just a guy who's like, I'm following the trends. Sadly, he passed away before the movie came out. He died in a helicopter accident while scouting locations for his next film. Brutal. That's disappointing. Yeah. Well, maybe the man of two got him, you know, honestly. You don't want to open up that dark magic.

I was just going to say, it might have been dark magic. It might have been. That was one of my favorite quotes. Doctor, do you believe in dark magic? I'm going to ask every doctor I have now if they believe. wish before I got my back operated on, I'd said, Doctor, do you believe in dark magic? Well, Jason, I don't think you would have gotten your back

operator on if you knew that there could have been a manitude that loose. Oh, there could have been a fetus growing back there. What's going on? That's why your back was messed up. You got a little man back there. I got a medicine man gestating in my lower vertebrae. By the way, they say something so funny

where, like, you're trying to figure out, like, how does this medicine man attach to somebody? And the only excuse given is, she must have been in the wrong place at the wrong place. at the wrong time. That's it. Done.

I couldn't figure this out at all. For me, I'm like, okay, they find a virgin. You know, he has to find something. There has to be logic to how this man is. You went to a museum. You looked into a, like, the eyes of something. You did a thing. Some transaction has to have.

We see, meaning we see the transaction. We, the audience, you know. Can't happen off screen. It can't happen off screen. It can't happen off screen. She must have done something. She must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. As to me, it's so, like, lazy.

Like, it's, like, just have an opening scene where they're walking in a museum. I'll buy it. I'll buy it. And there's so many ways to do this, but there's also something about the actress who's playing Karen, the woman afflicted with the neck fetus, is so charming and lovely and gregarious. And she's never suffering in any way. She's really trying to make the best of it. She's not, yes, she's like, I'm sure it's nothing.

Let's hang out. Let's have a good time. She's just hanging out, which is so funny. We're led to believe that she and Tony Curtis, like, have a roll in the hay while she's got a fetus on her neck. She's cool with that. Like, yeah, imagine nuzzling up to someone's neck and then feeling it moved. Move to get more comfortable. Yeah.

Oh, man. But that's how. That's how game she is for a good night and a good time. She is fun and that's why at the end, when she fucking starts shooting her own lasers out, you're like, life is, like, she, you get that anger. Well, this brings up another, I'm very curious to talk about, one of the things that I couldn't make heads or tails of in this movie, I guess until the very end, obviously, is why all of the interior spaces of the hospital, rather, have what I would term NASA level computers. Like gigantic wall-sized computers full of screens and knobs and readouts. He says himself, I'm a tumor specialist.

I think mid-1970s, maybe there was one computer that took up a building and that was like, and that was located in the military had it. I don't think anyone else had access to this types of robotics. It's so clumsily, like, put in locations. Like he is in a wood paneled office, the doctor. He's sitting behind a nice big desk. And where you would normally see like behind the doctor photos and books, whatever, it is a giant computer. Like Jason is saying like a giant like beep-pop-bo-poo-poo-pub-bib.

You know, and it's so like, yeah, yeah. What are you using it for? Put this giant. And I believe that that computer has no screens on it whatsoever. It's just buttons and lights. It's a Doppler, it's a Doppler 2000. It's like a top. But I'm saying it's wall size.

It's like it's easily six feet tall and eight feet across. It's so big that you would think it would have to be referenced. He would have to say this machine does this. And also the first scene of the movie, they're looking at x-rays. And on the back wall, it's like those real-to-reel tape like computers. Like, again, most hospitals are not fully computerized. there's no reason for them to be fully computerized like that. Like that's like a data.

This is like a punch card. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like they're like they're not running. They're never running experiments through them. So then my understanding is, I mean, I'm doing this is I guess the logic of the movie is all that stuff needs to be there in order for at the end of the movie. Yeah, the manitue of the machine. The manitoo of all these machines needs to be able to course through her so she can shoot topless lasers out of herself.

Now, the manitoo just. see you, there's not the evil character in this. The Manitou is as a true thing. A spirit, right? It translates to the great spirit in several Algonquin languages. And if you're wondering, Algonquins were not on the West Coast

at all. That's another big change. As this movie surmises. Yes. The book takes place in New York. They moved it to San Francisco. But yes, he's a supreme being a creator of all life, a vital source of spiritual energy. And at a certain point in the movie, the Native American

that is brought in to solve, who is not native at all. It just seems like he's probably... John's Singing Rock. Is that his name? John Singing Rock, it looks like he put a little bit of paint on himself. But John Singer has, I said, yes, everything has manitue. Guns have Manitue. Your sandwich has a manitoo.

Like, all of a sudden, like, everything is manit to. Everything is Manitou. My favorite thing in that scene where we meet John Singing Rock, where it's like, so they go in act two, they go in on this, like, journey of like, we need to find out what is what, right? Yes. They go to, that's when they go to Burgess Meredith. They go to a professor.

That's when they, they, they're trying to get information. The doctors, Burgess Meredith, and they end up with John Singing Rock. And John Singing Rock is, like, working out in the back. And he's moving, like, a hoe in the dirt so not engagingly at all. He's due, and they keep cutting back to it, like, he's busy at work. And he's not. No, and it's very law and order coded. Very.

Like he's not going to stop doing his duty of pushing tiny pebbles around, you know, in a sandbox to address this guy. The other thing that that guy said that was the best line I believe of the movie, he said. Terry, he still got room for a South Dakota Indian with a bag of tricks. He was forced to say that. I mean, there are some things here. He also does it for an absurd amount of money, right? $100,000, right? Yes, and like where is that money coming from?

We never established because at the end of the movie, he just gets a pack of cigarettes. Yeah. Which is also like... So offensive. So offensive. Awful. He says that when they ask him, like, hey, look, this great evil is coming. He's like, well, normally I wait three risings of the sun before I take on a job.

Oh, come on, man. Yeah, there was some really tough stuff in here. I feel like they did him dirty. They did Karen dirty. for me, I do want to be, before we get totally down the road of that, the seance that includes the old woman, like the old white-haired woman, who was she? Who was that? And I thought, was she somebody that we saw earlier? I'm like, because there were so many old ladies. No. It's Karen's aunt. Oh, okay. Is what we're being told. But we've never met her. We don't know her. Like she looks a little bit like Shelley. Winters. She looks like Shelley Winters. She looks like Shelley Winters.

Because they said we have to go have a stance where she lives, where Karen lives. So now we're meant to make the leap that Karen lives with her elderly aunt. I believe that maybe that is it. I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me. They're also living in like a weird old mansion. Which I loved. Yeah, me too.

This is the part of the movie that I was like, oh, cool. I'm interested in this. And then I really liked the effect of the spirit coming, rising up through the black liquid as if the table was liquid. I thought that looked cool as hell. And I was like, oh, all right. Now we're getting somewhere. And then none of that ever happened again. None of those people ever came back again.

That location never comes back again. None of that goes. Like the rest of the movie were in the hospital. That head, which you thought was very cool, but I thought looked like a jelly mold. It was like a gelatinous. It wasn't speaking anything that we could understand. So it doesn't give us any information. It pops up and then pops back down before we get any story.

Right. Yes. Yeah. I just liked it as an effect that like, oh, this is, oh, this is something. I've never seen that kind of a thing where the table becomes liquid and a spirit comes out. But again, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, why the hell did that old woman get possessed? Why? She's not like, yeah. And why did like the whole room? And then the room explodes to a degree that it would absolutely have killed every single person in the room. Yes. The whole, like the windows, glass, glass. shatters throughout the room. There's wind whipping around the chandel. I was surprised, that's it. I was surprised how few fatalities there were in this movie. It seemed to me like... Everybody should be dead. Who died?

Except for that old woman. Mrs. Hers is the only person. And somebody in the hospital. Who the frozen woman? That woman was great. Oh, that woman's dead too. Definitely. She had her hand up. I'm talking about there's like an orderly or there's somebody in or another doctor in the room that he dies and is like, I think skinned or something like that? Well, that was his fault because he fell asleep while that. That was supposed to be guarding that guy and he fell asleep.

They're like, hey, nurse, you, like they don't call the cops. They just let an orderly who there is a man. There is a, there is a little person covered in blood who has come out of someone's neck. And he can't even struggle to stay awake as. Can you imagine if you saw that and we're like, ah. And the medicine man now birthed, covered in blood and viscera, is the only thing that's stopping him from wreaking havoc is a circle of sand, like a ceremony that John's singing rock is done. And so that's keeping him contained. So they say to the guy, hey, you watch this guy to make sure he doesn't cross that line of sand.

And we'll go have a meeting in the other room right across the hall. We're going to go sit down and chat. We're going to go hang out in the area where the guys are passing out cigars because they have. had to be like it's fucking weird. The most violent creature has just come forward into our world. Yeah. And this guy falls asleep. This guy falls asleep.

Honestly, he had it coming. That's the we don't give a shit. And I don't know why he was still alive, but he was also a version of him skin. Well, I think he gets reanimated. I think that's the thing is like the medicine man I believe can like possess or take over people. So I think while the man is dead, the medicine man is able to take over his body and puppet it to do stuff. You know who I feel bad for?

That fucking nurse. That nurse who was left for. Frozen nurse? Yeah, they're like, hey, take everybody off this floor. And like, well, there's only one person on the floor. It's her. And you think, okay, well, they're going to clear the floor. Nope. They leave one nurse and she's like, she's like, frozen mid. They come, they go up someplace. And then when they come down, that entire floor of the hospital looks like it is now on Hoth. Yes. Causeway and ice. It is a

frozen tundra of a hallway and there is like ice and webs and like the woman is frozen solid. But they're not concerned at all about her. Zero. No. No one even goes, oh my God, so and so. Nope. Nope. No. Her life is meaningless. We got

to save Karen. And also by the way, Karen we should have said long ago is a lost cause because she's a pile of skin. Yes. Once that thing comes out of her, she seems to be just a saran wrap, like glad trash bag of a person.

Let's let Karen go. No, she is somehow the most... We need to save her above all else. And the reality is, everybody keeps saying she's not going to live through this. Let's be... Yeah, she is likely not to live. And Tony Curtis is like, you're wrong.

And I don't believe in their love. I'm not like on board. I mean, I appreciate that. that he's fighting for Karen, believe me, but... But he won't even say that they're girlfriends. They, like, that he's... They'll say, like, how do you know it? We know each other.

It's like, okay, is that really talking about more the 70s and how people were all about having multiple partners and nobody wanted to commit? Yeah, let's not put a label on it. Let's not put a little. It's San Francisco in the 70s, baby. Yeah. Like, you want to keep his options open? I've got a dental chair in my house.

You know, I'm, I'm mixing it up. I mean, I will also say, and maybe I'm just so wrong on this, but Tony Curtis reads very gay to me, too. So I'm also like, I'm not, like, I'm not even buying that, like, he's got tons of girls. Like, I feel like, yes, he's wooing, like, older women. Like, he's got this other thing going. Let me ask you this. Do you think, so we all assume that that night they have sex, Tony Curtis and Karen.

Do you think that the presence of the medicine man makes it a three-way? Oh, yeah. Of course. Do you think the presence of the gestating medicine man on the back of her neck makes it a three way? Well, that, I think that that's why he's committed. He's like, well, that was the best sex we've ever had. And he wants to, I think there's a secret part of it where he's like, when he goes down to fight the medicine, man, I think he's like, you know what? Maybe we can fight in a different way.

Maybe we'll kiss instead. The amount of people that were having sex in front of burnt, like roaring fires in the 70s is something that is such a trope. Like that was, did everyone have a fireplace like in their bedroom? Or was everybody opting? And this is what I think. I think we've done a couple movies where this happens where people were like, we could have sex in the bedroom. But instead, why don't we do it on the floor?

Of course. On a bare skin rug or something in front of a fire. And just on that nice hard floor where it's really going to feel. I think that's meant to be like, you know what? Everybody has missionary sex in bed. That's what sex is. is now. So in order to establish this is the

70s, this is the counterculture, this is San Francisco, it's like, it's like, no, people who are really adventurous, they do it on the floor. I mean, honestly, there are certain things that you realize, like, as you get older, when you're a kid, you're like, oh, I just thought that all, like, good sex

was happening on the floor. Or in the kitchen, on... Or on sand. Yes, every... Like, it was never, never a bed. Never a bed. No. Bed was for fucking losers. It was like, yeah, it was like you got to get,

you got to get this person in a weird spot. And you try to give one hand job on a beach and you find out it's dangerous. Shredd. I'm not saying that happened to me. I'm not saying that my nickname became sand job for the rest of that summer. Wow. I'm not saying that that boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, ended up telling my husband at a wedding that I was famous for.

giving a sand job, but I'm telling you that this is a PSA that's got to go out to the youth of America. People need to know. People, now, some would argue that somebody should know that just in general. Just wipe your hand off, Jess. Like, just like, you don't have to, it seems like you grabbed a handful of sand and use that as like lubricant. I know what to do.

One loose grain. What loose grain of sand is going to cause a whole lot of water. Oh, my God. Let me just. If it takes one grain of sand to make. a pearl in an oyster. Imagine what that does to the penis skin. That poor guy is just picking shell fragments out of his urethro.

You know, and I will also say you never jerk off in a lobster trap. Like I, you know, sometimes you because, you know, sometimes you mistakenly grab those lobsters and it really, yeah, oh boy, oh boy. I will say, I thought the for lack of a better term, the birth scene was great.

Oh, yeah. Was I thought really creepy and weird and I, you know, like unsettling. It was weird as hell. It was,

I thought it was good. I was like, oh, I wish this movie was more of these scenes and less of the languid talking. Yeah. More hands.

Now, when that hand reaches out of her, of her saran wrap back, I really thought, oh, here's an opportunity for the, the manitude to choke her.

Yeah, yeah. It looked like, so I thought, oh, that's finish her off. Like, why don't we just finish her right now? Great. Wouldn't that have been awesome for stakes? It would have been great. But again, we have to make it all about Karen. So we leave her as a skin suit, which honestly.

And thank God she didn't get killed because we get to see her boobs in a couple of minutes. And thank God. Yeah, they're thank God. So much of the movies, she has to either have a gigantic bow around her neck, which honestly, if you talk about anything that's going to be in danger of killing her, it's that. Yeah. You know, she's hiding those treasures for most of the movies.

Wasn't there like a short story? I remember this is a kid where a girl wore like a neckerchief or around her neck and then when they undid it, her head fell off because she got her head chopped. That sounds right. That sounds right. Yeah. I will say this. I was shocked that when we finally do see the manitou, it is a person of short stature

who appears because it's not a baby that has come out, right? It is a fully, like it is a fully realized. And they say that, that he grows into adulthood rapidly and is born. But again, I just was shocked that she was able to provide enough. Do you think there's an umbilical cord that goes to the back of her neck? Well, that's what I feel like he doesn't need nourishment. He doesn't need sustenance. You know, I guess so.

He's growing supernaturally. I'm so curious why the back of the neck, why not the, why not have it be the womb? Why not have it be the womb? I just really don't think we would have been that frequent. out by a pregnant woman. It's on the neck, on the top of the neck, gross. But what if it was a pregnant woman, maybe you're right, but if it was a pregnant woman, but it was moving as quickly as this. Like it was growing to full term and, and now is like a, a, like, becoming an adult inside of her. Well, then we're going to have to see the man to come out of her vatch. And that,

I don't think, I'm interested. I, keep talking. Keep talking. Don't you think she would have rather had a vaginal birth than a neck birth? I mean, I think if you're passing that manitou, any way that you're passing that manitou is going to be painful. I actually think she would never be able to walk again

if that person came out. I don't want to do it natural. I'm having a neck section. I scheduled my neck section so that I can control it. I like where this movie goes because the manateau when he is out, he first is in stasis for a very long time.

Just frozen, he gets powerful. And then what they realize is, because Tony Curtis, in a moment of desperation, throws a computer printer at him. And we've already established with his man boobs that he doesn't have a ton of upper body strength. But he seems to have no problem lifting what should be the world's heaviest computer and throwing it out of it. He just throws a computer printer at him. And he says at one point, we're surrounded. by all this technology and all these amazing inventions.

It's a shame that we could, that we can still have this medieval medicine man attack us. Well, no, that would be the one thing that you can't control. Like technology will not help you again. Well, wait. Now I'm thinking, is this movie really an exploration about, you know, are primal forces versus technology? And if so.

That's what I think they're trying to shove in and I don't understand how it works. Technology wins. I think, yeah, I do think that is. what it's saying is like, like, it is looking backwards or looking forwards. It is the technology of the future is going to kill the superstitions of the past or whatever. So basically it's, fuck you. These computers will destroy you. Because part of me was like, why does the medicine man have to be a villain?

I don't get, like, I don't get why he's like a bad guy. Right. You know? That's what Burgess Meredith is. Like, he's like, I would like to meet him. Wouldn't it be cool to meet him? Exactly. And we'd actually, the truth is...

We don't know if he is good or evil because we never give him a chance. They're just trying to kill him the entire movie. They immediately are trying. It's like if aliens arrived and you just tried to start killing them. Right. Like he arrives and nobody is like, hey, what do you want? What's going on? Let's hear him out.

How can we help? Let's hear him out. And also, doesn't Tony Curtis say on his way out when he's saying goodbye to John singing rock? He was sad that he didn't get to know him. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, okay, well, the first thing you did was draw a printer at him. So, like, that's a terrible first impression. Did you?

Yeah. There was, I couldn't figure that out. Like, why didn't they ever try and communicate and or find out what did he want? And maybe it's in there and I just missed it. But I never understood what the, there was no exposition for what did, what was he, or why now, why here. He eventually wants to get to the eighth life. If he gets to the eighth life, then he gets to ascend to the next level. That's it. Okay. And every life he gets stronger, quote, and stronger. Okay. So did this life count even if he uses around for a little bit? Interesting. Well, yes. Because you know why he said the Manitou is still alive, which I believe was this shitty screenwriter's idea to have a Manitou 2.

Oh, we got to. Manitou, Japan. Yeah. And we write that origin story. And we probably would have had he not died in that helicopter crash. Wait, technically the ending is a prequel, right? Because Japan happens... Yes. Earlier. Oh, yeah. So we could go. We could actually bring it back now.

I feel like the movie that... I'll go topless. I'm ready. I'm ready to shoot whatever you want. Out of your boobs. That's how we really improve it. The lasers were incredible. That was some nuts stuff.

Yeah, I really felt like I could not make heads or tails of what this movie was really about. Right. There's no, like, the theme is, there's a lot of mixed things. Because he says, at one point, John Singing Rock says, love really is the best medicine. Yeah. So then I thought when Tony Curtis decides to go toe to toe to with the man at two and go, hey, hey, I don't like how you treat us. That's my girl. That's my girl.

I thought, okay, are we going to show? That's my girl, but we're not monogamous. I just want you to know, you guys can do mouth stuff, but anything more and she has to okay it with me. I mean, like that's, and then quickly we're like. Tony, what the fuck are you doing? You're not going to be able to, like, just tell him off like you would, like a bad taxi driver. You know what I mean? So that's not it.

But, yeah, people put forward lots of themes. Yes. I also thought that for sure somehow Tony Curtis's tarot card slash psychic abilities, we're going to allow, we're going to become, we're going to become, because you know, there's that moment where he gives Karen a reading and the exact same cards come up. And it seems very prophetic. It seems like it's really, it seems like, oh, maybe Tony Curtis does have some sort of power. It's the same card that kills Mrs. Hurd.

It's ghost, right? Isn't it ghost? It seems very ghost. So I was like, why doesn't he have, why aren't his powers helping him communicate with the medicine man? Or helping him, you know, whatever it is. He, like, shut that off. And he now, like, but there's a, there's a line in it that really makes me laugh because, you know, John Singing Rock meets the, the medicine man, right? you know, or the medicine man's frozen after he freezes them.

And then at one point, there's an earthquake that just rocks the hospital. And they're like, whoa, that was some earthquake. It's like, well, no, it's clearly this medicine. Like, it wasn't an earthquake as a medicine man. And he goes, I was no earthquake. That is the great old one. And they know, who the hell is he? He's like, devil, lucifer, Satan, Prince of Darkness.

Doesn't matter. Like, wait. Like, again, we're just like, that's the first time we're hearing this information. So who climbed out of his back is not the great one. It is. It is. It is. But when you just are hearing that for the first time.

It's the strongest of the medicine men, you know, of the past. Is the devil? Yeah, you're right. That's not at all what we were told earlier. He's comparing him to a devil. He's saying he's like, it's basically saying, uh-oh, it's a bad guy, not a good guy. You know what I mean? Right.

So I guess like his thought was, okay, if I freeze him, I'll be able to. to like figure it out. Yeah, check in on it and figure it. Yeah, we'll get a sense of, we'll get a lay of the land before, so he can't take off, you know? Wait a second. So why does the,

does he turn it into the planet of Hoth? The medicine man does. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To freeze everything, yeah. For sure, yeah. And then, and then, and I loved this, because the movie's just doing it all.

So they come back down and it is now the Hoth planet. The hallway is Hoth, right? It's frozen. It's icy. The nurse is frozen in place. She's dead. It is ice and cold and glacial.

And then they open up the door to Karen's room and it is the cosmos. It is just outer space. We are now inside the stars. And this is where I was like, what the fuck? And everybody, nobody, nobody says, what the fuck is this? Yeah. Nobody says, explain this. It's an illusion.

He does say, John Singing Rock said this is an illusion. Yeah. But to me, it looks like the opening credits of 321 contact. Oh. You know, it's just like... Wow. By the way, great space coaster and 321 contact is the reason is the... For everything happens.

Contact is the... Oh, my God. I can't believe you just said 321 contact. That is triggering. No, that shit is like... found footage from a Carl Sagan documentary what were being shown. Truly.

But like, and I understand why John's singing rock is like, this is fine. I understand what this is. Tony Curtis should be like tearing his eyes out. Yeah, he should be like, it's 1978.

I'm 52, which is younger than Jason Manzukas is now. What is happening? I don't understand the world I'm in. I've just heard Led Zeppelin. Right. Am I going to fall into space? Yes.

Because what I would think is like, don't go a step further because you're going to fall into the great abyss. This is a year after Star Wars. All I'm going to say is it goes back to a night of great sex. This man has lost his mind. He's going to face the manitude by himself. Like he's often putting himself in harm's way. He's like, let me go by myself. And he has no plan ever.

Yeah. And I also don't believe he loves her. I mean, I know he cares about her, but I mean, enough, the movie has not made me feel like this is the love of his life he needs to save her. It's just like a friend who they meet up for a walk in the park and have casual sex. That's all it is. I also would ask, why is John's singing rock willing to put himself on the line for a pack of tobacco? It's clear that, like, he is going to most likely perish trying to fight this. But we never hear why.

Why does he take it on? Here's the other thing. if this bad guy this wet this wet gummy bear that comes out is is he going is he going to destroy

the world? Yeah well that's we don't know we don't even know he's the devil until somebody just says it casually so then I understand if John Singer asks like listen

if this guy comes out he is going to destroy ultimately the world so we really have no choice I'm the only one who can do this then I get it. I think that is maybe I mean that's I mean a little bit of work for the movie,

but I think that is what, I think you're right, Jess. I think he thinks I'm the only person that can maybe stand, uh, go toe to toe with, with this character. Yeah.

Far be it from me to rewrite a script written in three days, but I would say this. Make her a, a person who is a, uh, you know, somebody who studies Native American culture. She has studied too much.

She's gone in there and she understands, oh my God, I've been cursed with it. This is going to bring on, the end of the world. It's a line. It's a simple. And she's trying to tell people, you have to listen to me. Or we go to the bumbling professor and he's like, here's the thing, guys. This is going to bring about the end of days. You've got to get him to convince him. But meanwhile, they're like, oh, you know what it is that the fetus is actually clamping onto her spinal cord and she's going crazy. We got to get it off. But that's why they don't believe her. And then all of a sudden, you know, Tony Curtis is like, I believe her. You know, because, you know, maybe I'll get a little.

a little bit of action on this. And then, and then they defeat it and they go home. But it... Tony Curtis is in it just for the rescue pussy. Yes. Honestly. And really,

she is just a bag of skin at that point. So, like, really, what's he fighting for? But now she has lasers. By the way, how does she get those lasers? Not just lasers. She's shooting fireballs.

Yeah. She's doing all sorts of stuff. And I love they all, they do all the laser sounds, which make no... Make no sense. She is, and then they don't really check in with her at the end, right? Nope.

She doesn't really have a, like, oh, thank God, we save the day. It's like, and, and like, we don't see, like, him and Karen walking in the park now, you know, her of slender neck, you know, no fetuses in there. Nope, they are just. You know what she should say, I'm pregnant. And then it's like, oh, shit, manitue too. A manate two. And then, by the way, my favorite moment is when that lizard bites off the doctor's hand. And Tony Curtis takes out a handkerchief and just drops it.

A dinner napkin. He literally takes it. And that's it. And then we see him with the dinner napkin wrapped around. Like, that's going to help. You've got all of your digits. I also felt like I can imagine Tony Curtis at this time, again, 52 years old, which is one year younger than I am currently. Shooting this movie.

and being like, I don't understand. What are you saying? And they're like, we're going to composite a lizard in here that's going to bite the hand. And he's going to be like, how? How? Where is that? Like, imagine him reckoning. This is like Tony Curtis.

He's in like some like it hot. Like this is an amazing, incredible career. And now he's like, so I'm, he puts his hand out and we all pretend like a lizard bit it. Well, here's the thing. I think we have to understand that not just. the writers, but probably everybody in the cast and crew are also on cocaine. Yeah. Because I had a very old hairdresser who was like 105 and he used to do Jack Nicholson's hair.

That explains a bunch of your haircuts. That explains why you had a Dutch boy haircut for so long. Truth. But he was on the set and he would say, listen, I used to do Jack Nicholson. He would come in after being up all night doing cocaine and then he would lay down in the chair and we would do him like do his makeup and hair while he was unconscious. Then he would wake up, get on screen, and he goes, we'd Jack would be doing a take and Beverly DeAngelo would get behind the camera, take her tits out and shake him to like distract him. And I thought that's fun. But that's what

was going on then. We were all high on drugs. I thought you were going to say, I thought you were going to say to create a better eye line for him like as a dog. Like, you know, we got to show him, we got to show him boobs. We got to show him boobs. No, they were having fun. I remember doing a movie that was so off the rails, such a disaster, such a mess. And I was sitting in hair and makeup, and the hair person was like, I was like, how's it been going? I'd been gone for a few weeks. And they're like, oh, it's officially off the rails. This movie is now Heaven's Gate.

And I was like, which is a very famous off the rails movie production. And I was like, oh, my God. And he was like, and sweetheart, I worked on Heaven's Gate. And I was like, oh, my God. And he was like, oh, my God. He's like, the only difference is here we're miserable. And on Heaven's Gate, the reason we were off the rails is because there was one trailer that was just cocaine and booze. And we all spent all day in that trailer.

That's fun. So if you think people were stopping to ask continuity questions, they weren't. Because they were out of their minds. Out of it. Out of it. And a movie like this makes sense, I guess, to them. You know, but I will say that Tony is like giving a performance. Like, he is not like.

Not phoning it in. He seems like he's there. I mean, you know, and. Everybody is. I'm going to say, everybody is doing a good job. This is a unsuccessful in so, so,

so many ways. But, but it's a, it's well, it's a movie. I was like, I'm, this is bad.

It's so slow at times, but I was like, this is nonetheless a movie, which I'm very into. Yes, it is. It's not even so bad. It's good.

It's just, it's confidently making a movie that has made a lot of wrong choices. And I think that that's a different type of film that is fun to watch. It is, it looks good, it is shot well, but it is a mess. And forgive me if you're about to say this, Paul, but did the person who made this movie make any other movies? Well, he died before it came out. Oh, he died before this came out.

Did he do any prior, I mean? Well, yes, he got sued for that one that was like, he was like a kind of a schlock. You said grizzly one. He did Grizzly and he did an Abby 74. Yeah. Because this is, this feels amateur, but it is, it's very watchable. You know what I mean? Yes.

I never felt like I was in bad hands. No. Like, it's like, actually, it was funny in watching it. I was like, I'm just enjoying this. It feels like a, like the first hour. I'm like, oh, I'm here. It's not, it's not overtly bad. It's like, it's just, it's got a 70s style to it.

You know, it kind of sits in that world of like it feels like the zaniness of like a loveboat episode mixed with like a little bit of like a cop detective. Well, it's almost like a fantasy island episode. Yes. Yes. Which were always a step weirder than the love book. It was like an episode of television. That's what it was a buck. It had Buck Rogers vibe.

Yes. Bid, BD, BD. My first sexual awakening, Buck Rogers. Aaron Gray. Was it to Aaron Gray or was it to give? Was it to Gil? What's his name? It was to that robot.

Oh, to Twinkie? Twinkie, the robot? Bidi-di-d-D-D-D-D-D-D. Yeah. I remember I was so excited because I was like, wow, I can't wait. I was obsessed with as a kid to get to the dates that were in TV shows and movies. And I think Buck Rogers did take off in, like, 1986. And I was like, oh, we're almost there.

We're almost there. We're almost there. Wait, what was his name? Gil, what? Gil-Jard. Gil-Jarard, thank you. Now, that's a guy who probably didn't have a lot of upper body. strength, but they put him in a thick fabric.

And that's why... You cover it up a little bit. Just cover it up. Christopher weave in great shape for Superman, and that is primarily his body, but they're also padding it a little bit. Pat it. Pattington. Paddington.

Paddington. Paddington, the next Paddington, written by Armando Ionucci. Paddington gets jacked. That's a big part of it. Super jacked. Paddington's doing steroids for it. He is look maxing.

Look maxing. bone breaking on his face, changing his snout. He's got a gigantic chin. It's Paddington becomes part of the manosphere. Oh, my God. Well, I'm excited to see Paddington just, you know, on Joe Rogan and talking to Fiovan. He's anti-vaccine.

Paddington is on ivermectin. I'm not even kidding. Which works better for him because it's a horse dewormer, so it works on bears. Paddington does meth before. he works out because it helps him slim down. All right, so here's the thing. Obviously, we had an opinion about this movie, but there are people out there with a different opinion.

It is now time for second opinions. Paul and Jason and June talk a lot about what makes a movie good or not. But everyone knows they're actually full of sheep. We need a second opinion. Someone that knows what they're talking about. about we need a second opinion we need a second give me a second

opinion Thank you, wolves of Glendale The Manitou on Amazon It has 395 total reviews, okay? 78% are five-star reviews. This is a kind of beloved film

And I would say that some of the five-star reviews Not even that interesting, but they're kind of fun. Midwest Hacker writes in 2024. I've been looking for this ever since my homemade VHS copy died. I consider this one of the last great skin-crawler movies of the era. I'm into the days of letting your mind form what might happen next. Plus, I like Native American hero characters, five stars. That's an odd phrase.

I'm into the days of letting your mind form what will happen next. So thinking? What? Thinking. I think what they're saying is they leave, in this movie, they leave some stuff to the imagination. Okay. They don't show you every. Like plot.

Yeah. Necessary plot is left to the imagination. I think so. We're doing a lot of the legwork for these screenwriters. I like a movie where I have to make the choices. Yes. I have a movie that is poorly written. So I have to try and make sense.

of it. Yes. The other thing was, this is not really review as much as it is just a statement. BL out of San Diego writes, Manitou, frightening movie, which stars Tony Kurnis, five stars. It's true. It does star Tony Curtis. Yeah. And then this one kind of takes a different issue with things. This is just from an IMDB review. We actually had to move off of Amazon from Hallie Devlin. Hallie writes, the whole idea itself was great, although the whole growing on her back bit was a tinge to dodgy. Okay. I mean, we're getting into that dodgy. What, unbelievable?

Is it she saying it's unbelievable? Okay. But then finishes by saying this one is worth remembering for the look on Manitou's face when singing rock figured out it was the devil. priceless. There you go. I don't remember that. I don't remember. I don't remember Manitou really emoting much in that face. He really seemed trapped in like a prison. I feel like this movie, okay, 1978. So David Cronenberg has already started making movies. Like this to me, this movie is like a body horror movie, but before we really dug in on body horror,

you know what I mean? Like there's a way in which this could have been like really electrically unsettling. But Tony Curtis's presence is a look back to classic Hollywood. And being like, no, no, no. This is like The Exorcist. It's just with all this body horror stuff. And boy, if it had been wetter and grosser and more Cronenbergian, this movie would have been, I think, incredibly fun to watch.

By the way, just started earlier and just make more crazy shit happen. But they clearly were like, they got four sets. They shot the shit out of them. Like, it's just the whole thing takes place in the hospital. The difference would have been, and I think this would have made the movie so much more interesting, if the movie had simply been about Karen. The fact that it's about Tony Curtis makes no sense. Well, we couldn't have a movie about a woman at that point.

Right. A woman who's undergoing this horrible experience. We hear almost nothing about what it's like for her. And I think that's interesting. He is a casual. There's no her story to this. Yes. There's only the lead character is the friends with benefits of the person who is going through the transformation.

Exactly. And whenever Karen talks for three quarters of the film, it's through the voice of the manitoo. We don't even get to hear her say, this is tough. You know what I mean? Like, hey, guys, could I get some painkillers? Hey, Harry, this is pretty weird. Hey, do you still think I'm set? You still want to go to?

Do you still want to go to Napa next weekend? Guys, what I hear you guys saying, though, is that the scenes that worked for us were the ones in which somebody was viscous. Somebody was wet. We needed wet viscous. Pans are being bitten off. D digits are being like sloppies. More wetness. The psychic powers, the stuff, the seance, the wet head coming out of the table.

Again, though, we keep coming back to the wet. That's what's doing it for us. The only exception is old lady being thrown down the stairs. More of that, I would have taken that. I would have loved that. More, I think more bodies being thrown up against things, thrown across the thing, you know what I mean? More splirts and splats. Exactly.

Instead of beeps and bops. Yes. Yes. Now I will say this, that the ending of the book is a little different because the creature attacks New York City. So that's a little different. Oh, wow. So I think it's like a state puff marshmallow man kind of ending in the book. He goes full-hai-Jew?

Well, I don't, yes, and I don't know how it ends. All I know is that that's what the ending is. It's a, it tax New York City. Guys, that makes more sense than what happened. I agree. And in the book, Karen is 21 and Harry is in his 30s, and she only hears about Harry from her aunt, but they never have met before the events in the book.

So that kind of, that little sex stuff felt like those, yeah. Because he treats all, he's a reader for, all the old women, so her aunt would know him. I like that so much better than them having some sort of ambiguous sexual past that is never really explained. So he's just like the Jeff Goldblum scientist that's called in to like, because he's a tarot reader. Yes, yes.

The aunt says, let's find the worst tarot card reader we can to deal with this very ancient devil. The NAA could be like he's, I mean, that's the, that should be the thing. I go to this tarot card reader where you need to bring him, but she doesn't realize that he's a phony and a fake, and then he gets wrapped up in the world. Like that to me, because Dr. Or I would have loved it if he is a phony and a fake. And then, but, like I said earlier, it turns out that he really is able to connect with the medicine man. Geez, I'm so sorry, guys. David Ellison is just texting me.

Oh, D.E? She just says we can make this. We can do this. We can do this. Yeah. Yeah, he's listening now into all of our podcasts as we are actually making. I've got to go get a boob job. I'll be right back.

And by the way, he said he has a great person. Guys, guys, I just got an email from Ellison, too, and he said, great news. Robert Kennedy wants to be the Tony Curtis part. I thought you're going to say the Manitou. Oh, you want him to be the Manitou. He wants to be the Manitou, yes. He is so, RFKJ. He is so Manitou-Coded.

He really is. That's exactly what we were thinking about. All right, so final thoughts, everybody. Do you like it? Oh, yeah. I mean, we've, yeah, we know. We've said it. I do agree, you should watch it at 1.5 speed.

It's an hour and 45 minutes and a lot of it moves slow. So speed it up until it looks like it's good, then go back to normal speed. About an hour 12 or an hour 16, then you're going to want to enjoy it in real time. What I say, speed it up to 10 times, take some cocaine, and then it'll slow down to what makes sense. That's the way we do. Upper and downers. Up and downers. One last question, just, and I've waited until the entire, the entire, the.

entire episode has gone Jessica, are you aware that your camera is cutting off your face at your nose and so we have spent this entire process looking at your ceiling. Looking at the ceiling the entire time.

Can you see that we can't see your face? Guys, what was that old graffiti that had like a nose down? Yeah, Kilroy was here. Guys, that's what it has been the whole Oh, there she is. Oh, there she is. Oh, well, well, welcome to the podcast.

I know, Jason, taking a picture at a certain point, I was like, I wonder if that's what he's doing. And I loved it. I was doing so much lower body work. Guys, while we were doing this podcast, I fucking gave birth to some shit at my top spine. It was this. This is what it's been.

That is truly wonderful. Jess, where can people find you? Guys, I'm going to be shooting a Nancy Myers film. Oh, I'm so jealous. Me too. So just so you know, I'm going to be in 100 shades of beige. That's my memoir. 50 shades of beige.

I love it. Yeah, we'll let you know when that comes out. But otherwise, you know, just deep, we're on the deep dive. We got a special going on for the summer for our Academy of Significance, 50% off your first month. So come join us. It's really where we shine is the summer months. I love it. I love it.

That is a wrap. I want to remind you that we have a new way for you to leave us a voicemail. Just go to speakpipe.com slash hd-tgm. That's all I got. We'll see you next week on last looks. Bye for now. Okay, and just a special side note. This film was actually a movie that Averill Halley picked for us.

We've been sitting on it for a little bit of time. And we wanted to do this episode right now because we are launching a very special memorial shirt for Averill. It is in our store. Just go to hdtgm. Dot dashry.com. And it is a shirt that was creative for her memorial and all the proceeds are going to breast cancer research.

We love the design. We love Averill. And we wanted to do something that kind of combined her and obviously her amazing taste in films. So thank you Averill for this last pick. And I hope you enjoy an Averill shirt or a sticker or a mug, whatever you want, you can celebrate ABLE. All the proceeds will go to breast cancer research and we'll let you know how much money we raise in a couple of weeks.

Again, just head on over to hdtgm.com or hdttgm.dashree.com.