297: Dracula (1931)

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Flower footy and button holster. Spooky season greetings and salutations and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. I trust you've kept your coming here a secret. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_06 0:26

A total joke? A waste of time.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Or slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Totally killer, pun intended.

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We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of beer we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slash enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_06 0:45

It was so thick.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

The paranormal paramour, Bink. Like his, only smaller. And the Superfly Space Guy, Mac.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

After what's happened, I can't bear to look at it.

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This week we're breaking down a pre-code horror film that has proved to be foundational in the world of horror. In 1931, motion pictures with sound were still new and the Great Depression was in full swing. Universal sought to make a big budget adaptation of a now iconic Bram Stoker novel, but the economic crisis following the stock market crash in 1929 limited their scope. Now, in 1927, just two years before the stock market crash, the first authorized adaptation of Stoker's novel opened to audiences as a Broadway play after its success in England. The New York production starred classically trained Hungarian actor Bella Legosi in its titular role. In fact, it was Legosi's first major English-speaking role. Legosi would feature in more than 200 performances of the play both on Broadway and a national tour before settling down in California after the play ended its first West Coast run. And it was there where the paths of Universal and Legosi intersected. Universal leveraged Legosi in negotiations with Stoker's widow for the filming rights to the novel. Legosi, who was eager to reprise his role, managed to help Universal obtain the rights for $140,000 less than the original asking price. The film was a departure from Universal's original vision of a faithful novel adaptation and instead served as more of an adaptation of the stage play. The film explores the story of a count who emigrates from his castle in Transylvania to the foggy streets of London, where he preys upon the blood of living victims. Even with the significantly discounted filming rights, the overall budget of over $300,000 proved to be a significant gamble in the midst of the depression. Thankfully for them, the film not only turned a profit, it laid the groundwork for a whole universe of monsters the studio would go on to develop. This week we're talking about Dracula. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_09 2:33

So I've I've never seen this one before.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

As expected, you fraud.

SPEAKER_09 2:37

Yeah. Of course I've seen this one before. Are you fucking kidding me? Like I grew up watching this film, along with the other Universal Monster films with my grandmother. I have Bella Legosi's Dracula portrait on my fucking arm, for God's sake. I would hope that I have seen this one before. We all know by now that I'm a huge fan of the classics. The 30s into the 50s, that's my era, baby. Like, there's just this certain feel to them, and it's just a warm feeling for me. They they just set the mood just right. The characters are classic, and I just love this one so much. I've probably seen this one, I don't know. Maybe I'm stretching it, but I feel like it's been over a hundred times. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

I have actually never seen this, and I'm not joking. I'm not Sean this time. I've I have not seen this. I've only seen later adaptations like the Bram Stoker version of Dracula, but never the actual 31 Bella Legosi. I am so excited for you.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

So I want to preface with the fact that I sound very much not like myself listeners, so just bear with me. I have no voice. I will say that I have seen this movie when I was very little, and I haven't actually re-watched it since so I feel like that's criminal in and of itself.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

But it's not that bad, Binks, because this is something that I absolutely have seen multiple times, but I had an interesting experience with this movie that is very similar to a song that I really love. We all know the song I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

SPEAKER_05 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Well, the Cuban queen Celia Cruz has a song called Yo viviré, which is that song, but in Spanish. And I grew up listening to that song, dancing around to it, singing along to it. It was a great time. And it wasn't until a few years ago when I actually heard the song for the first time. And I will survive is all about overcoming heartbreak and just like moving on after someone. And Celia Cruz's song is all about leaving a legacy and how you impact people and move people. I had this moment of how have I experienced this whole thing my whole life? And yet it's hitting me differently now because I'm actually looking at it. And that was the experience that I had with this one. I've seen this movie before, I've seen clips of it before. It's played in the background of things. I own this movie, and yet I never really looked at it in the way that it deserved. So I actually went into this with a completely clean slate. And oh man, let me tell you, walking into this and thinking, let me watch this movie from 1931 for the first time in 2023 with like really looking at it with pure eyes, I was expecting a good time.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, I feel very similar in the sense that we've reviewed so much Dracula this year that I felt like this was not only gonna be a fresh rewatch for me, but also a great sense of feeling like I'm back to the beginning, right? Like back to the basics, to the blueprint of everything. Similarly, earlier this year, I mentioned the same with The Mummy, although I hadn't seen the original. This is one that I had, and I also actually read the book last year, and so again, we've reviewed a few Dracula-related films and whatnot this year, but this is like the most solid and obvious, like direct adaptation to Bram Stoker. So I thought that was really fun for me. So I was just expecting to enjoy it. Why wouldn't I? I don't really remember much of what I thought when I was a kid watching this, so for the most part, this is a fresh rewatch, and I thought, similar to you, Chris, that I was gonna like really give it the attention it deserved now, especially as an adult.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

See, the only thing I knew about it, obviously, aside from Bella Legosi, was the year. I didn't actually know that it was adapted from the stage play, but my expectation, I wrote it down before even finding that out, is that it was going to be a play but on film just due to the age of the movie, because that's what a lot of them seemed like back then. So I expected to see just some nice clear dialogue, which we don't get in modern movies, clear physical movements coming from the actors because you have to be able to show what's happening, especially back then you couldn't do subtle movements, it wouldn't always pick up correctly. And with Carl Freund handling cinematography, I had actually really high aesthetic expectations for a movie, even from 1931.

SPEAKER_09 6:37

Yeah, that's super fair. I love that everyone here is kind of going into this. You have some expectations, sure, for the most part. A clean slate, right? It's a fresh perspective, and I think that's really great. I honestly don't know what I would be expecting going into this one after like the hundredth or so watch. If if I am describing this one to someone to get them interested, I'm probably saying something like, This is the one that started it all, right? Like this Frankenstein, the mummy, the wolf man, the invisible man, bride of Frankenstein, they all came after Dracula. And this was really the film that really started it all for Universal. Bell Legosi's Dracula really sets the bar for how Dracula is still imagined today. So, man, there's just so much about this movie that I love, and I can't wait to get into it.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Yeah, man, thinking about what a lasting impact Bell Lagosi's Dracula has, it really sets up some interesting stakes because while I expected a good time, I think in the back of my mind, you worry just a little bit. You think this is a Titan of horror, this is an iconic film. This thing has so much history and prominence behind it. What if it sucks? And not in the sense that like obviously it is not sucking for the 1930s, but for sure it could feel like it doesn't age well. Which granted, I think it it's already like a a question mark when you have someone, let's say like some of our friends who have been on the show before, would Paris call this ancient bullshit? But I think watching this movie and experiencing not only the approach to the storytelling, but even the craftsmanship of its set design, man, I just felt so captivated the entire time.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

It is a very different experience from movies we get now because it literally wastes no time like diving right into the story. You see Dracula and his vampires basically right away. But for the rest of the film, it's got pacing from 1931. But I don't think you can call it slow. I think it's more just like a smooth pacing.

SPEAKER_09 8:45

Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. Smooth, right? Because you're right, like the older films, they do have a different pacing, but it doesn't feel super slow. It does feel really smooth in the way it's delivered. The feelings that I get from watching this film is gonna probably be different from a lot of people because when I watch this film, I feel warmth, I feel comfort, I feel joy. It's one of those films that I can recite the lines as they're happening, even before they happen. It's just one of those films for me. It's a classic horror film, and because of the time frame in which the film was created, you're naturally going to feel maybe at first that it is that slower pace, but you're dead on, Mac. I never really thought about it from that perspective. It is a smooth ride, right? It's not gonna have a bunch of fancy special effects, and that's okay. It doesn't have a lot of music because of the time. In fact, this film didn't get a score until 1998. People did not respond well to music in films in general back then because if there wasn't like an explanation for it, like why would it be there? It just didn't make sense. It was just the time. But this film just brings me back to childhood, it brings me back to family watching this with my grandmother during October in Halloween. Like it it it's just such a it's just a movie that just brings a lot of nostalgia and joy and a lot of really great memories. And so that kind of probably separates me from a lot of people when watching this movie, but that's what I get from it. It's just such a beautiful thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

I love that you have that immense sense of nostalgia with it, because I think that's very special for me. The biggest nostalgia I think I got that reminded me I saw this as a kid, was there's an intro song with Swan Lake, an iconic song, obviously. So I always think of like Swan Lake is that one song that I think so many people can instantly know what it is. They they recognize it to some capacity. So rem watching this movie and hearing it's just like a warm feeling, that alone. I also felt like I was intimidated by Bella Lagosi's stare for sure, like way more than Boris Karloff's and the Mummies, I'll tell you that much. And I think that's really impressive to still be intimidated by acting that was done in the 30s, and in general, I felt like Renfield and Dracula, like that combination hit a lot more and was more my speed than a Renfield and Dracula combo we got earlier this year. So I don't know, I felt like I I just really generally enjoyed this film like all over again as an adult, and I felt the right feels, and I think that's also what surprised me. But I'm curious as to what surprised you guys or disappointed you because I have zero disappointments actually, that I can really think about it. I think how much disappointment could you have in a 30s film that's an hour long, but I'm just curious what you guys think.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Two things. One, I was surprised how seen I felt because you can't look at Dracula and his glare and not tell me that is a Capricorn level glare. I feel like I've given that look at work many times. And I mean, honestly, the brow structure just completely iconic. Absolutely love it. Second, I'm surprised what a different experience this is from other Dracula properties. Again, watching it in a way where you're not allowing your brain to fill in the gaps. You know what I mean? Every other Dracula movie that I've seen really focuses on the Jonathan Harker of it all, and thinking about his travel to Dracula, and then thinking about this whole element with him Amina in that story. And this is a completely different approach. This is efficient storytelling. This cuts out a lot of the things that I wouldn't say that I ever thought Dracula didn't need, but in a way, I feel more satisfied that it wasn't there. It feels more menacing in a way, and I absolutely love that. Zero disappointments all around, but honestly, I'm just surprised how different a movie from 1930 could feel. And it's a story that you've read and seen a hundred times over.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

I was also not really disappointed by much, and mostly just surprised by just how archetypal this movie truly is. Because I figured, sure, maybe modern films have kind of copied some parts of it. Maybe there's some details they don't that we don't really see copied or mimicked later, but no, like really, this is the archetype. This is modern Dracula before anyone else did it, and everything afterwards is some kind of copy or mimicry of this film.

SPEAKER_09 13:04

Yeah, absolutely. I think what surprises me most about this film is how good some of these performances are. It hits every time, like it really does. Some of these performances are just superb. Like we're talking about 92 years old, right? This film is 92 years old, and it has arguably only gotten more popular with age. It's also surprising that despite how many times we create a new version of Dracula, Bella's is still the one that everyone wants to be. Like, that is still the bar, it's still the standard, right? And I I don't know if you know this, but there is a Spanish version of this film. And it was fucking made at the same time as this film. They literally had a crew come in and shoot this version on the same set with different actors, and some actually say it's better than the American version, which is crazy to think about, right? I think that's a surprising fact about this film that they were able to do that. And I think they had like a drastically lower budget. This budget was, I don't know, well, you said it was like 300,000, right? Over 300,000. Over 300,000. I think this budget was like 30 or 60,000, somewhere in that range, which is crazy. Well, I mean, they had the set already done, I guess. They didn't really have to pay for that, but I mean, just crazy to think about. I think I saw it a long time ago, I've but it had only been like one time, so I don't really remember it very much, and it's kind of hard to find. I haven't really looked for it, but I know that if you try to see if it's streaming anywhere, I don't think it's streaming anywhere around here or in in in the US or not. I I could be wrong. You might be able to find it, purchase it, I don't know, but I think that's just such a crazy fact that they were able to come in and do the Spanish version like after they were done filming the set or whatever for the day for this film.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_09 14:51

But it is crazy too what you said, Chris. You're talking about how much they just get going in this story, right? They really deliver and how much they put into this like hour and 15 minutes or whatever it is in its runtime. And Bing so you're talking about like the adaptation of the novel. And it is an adaptation of the novel, but obviously more closely to the stage play because of the stock market crash, and they had to really condense it down quite a bit just to think about what they were able to do in this short runtime and still deliver such a great story because you think about Bram Stoker's novel, like that thing is like 400 pages or more, right? And this is we're talking an hour and 15 minutes, including credits and shit. Like, that's incredible work.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Well, I think what's also incredible is how this movie actually, it's not that it's full-blown scary, it definitely could have been scary in 1931, like without a doubt. I I gotta go back to like Bella Legosi's stare and like especially in complete darkness, that shit'll fuck you up. And also, you were talking about performances earlier. Shout out to Renfield because he is actually the one that I found the creepiest and scariest in the entire movie. Like, there are certain shots and scenes that I can find it to be scarier than some of the shit that we've watched and reviewed this year.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

It was almost to the actor's detriment though, because basically he was typed cast uh after this, and they just wanted him to be like the jittery kind of crazy dude.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

I know. I mean, look, when you do it too good, I don't know what to tell you. He nailed it though. Like it is what it is. He's like the new Justin Long, or like or not rather, Justin Long is a new him.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

I didn't find the stare necessarily creepy. I did find it incredibly effective. I think it was a fantastic job. Obviously, I'm not gonna find something like this scary because I I don't really find much scary, but I think, like you mentioned at the time that even just the look would have been so ominous, it would have hit. And the Renfield portrayal that we get, I actually found him to be more of like a sympathetic character and less creepy. You kind of feel for him a little bit. But you also don't, but like there's moments where you feel bad for Renfield. And so I think, yeah, it's not super scary. There are some creepy moments, but when you put it in its context, you're like, oh man, this must have been an experience to watch this back in 1931.

SPEAKER_04 17:10

Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about this in comparison to the Cadme of Dr. Caligari, which we've also reviewed. And man, this would have been an absolute menace to audiences. It's almost in moments giving Jack the Ripper. You know what I mean? Like think about like a foggy London street and someone just getting absolutely wrecked in an alley. There's a lot of things in here that traveling back to the 1930s, you'd be like, fuck shit. Okay, yeah, that's I I see now why we do things this way.

SPEAKER_09 17:39

Yeah, you're hitting great points. Like I can only imagine this one being pretty dark and pretty frightening for people in 1931 for sure. I mean, this is a very dark movie, like it it is a little spooky, right? Especially for its time. Like everything about it is really dark. And I'm not just talking about the lighting, like it is just a dark film, it's a dark story, it delivers some spooky folklore, it creates a dark and eerie atmosphere to really indulge in and creates a monster, right? The likes of which we had never seen before. Like we we've seen Nas for Atu, but this is a different type of monster, right? So wow, I don't find this mut this movie particularly scary myself. It's something that I can acknowledge was probably pretty frightening for its time, and I think it sets the perfect spooky mood. Like when we're thinking about just something that you want to put on that really kick starts whatever vibe you're trying to get, whether you're trying to get into the spooky season, you're trying to get into the Halloween spirit, or you just want something that's gonna hit that inkling that you have for some spookiness.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

I think understanding like context of this time is really important when considering whether or not this is original in some way, because there were other vampire movies before this. Sure, there was more than one Dracula adaptation, and maybe one just survived and the other one didn't, which is unfortunate for historical purposes, right? But like people were into this, people were doing this. However, which one lasted the test of time? And it's this one. Which one basically laid the foundation for multiple horror genres, but definitely for vampires afterwards? It's this movie. And so the fact that it is the archetype, I've got to give it the originality credits because it didn't necessarily need to do it first, it just had to do it best.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Absolutely. I mean, just think about what this movie does for everything that follows, and the fact that it's an adaptation of an adaptation. We have covered movies in the past that were old versus new, and we've covered adaptations of adaptations, and they get a little loosey-goosey, they get a little wild. This one though, I just cannot understate what a wild experience it is to know Dracula and still feel surprised in this movie and just appreciating the differences there. I really wish I could have seen Dracula on stage in Broadway. I've never seen a Broadway show in person, but what a fucking wild experience this must have been for audiences back in the day. But even then, to just consider movie versus play versus novel, and then to think about the ad libs, like there are things that Bella Legosi says in this movie that then get added in to the stage play, that then get added into movies that come after it. So to go back and really see it at its core original root, what a fucking mind-blowing experience.

SPEAKER_09 20:21

Absolutely. Can you imagine being able to witness this like stage play? I can't even imagine what that would be. That would be so cool. But yeah, this is original. Like, yeah, it's an adaptation, it's an adaptation of an adaptation. Dracula has been told before, but it is original for a number of reasons. It's been done before with Nosferatu, which is, you know, I think you kind of alluded to it, Mac, but Nosferatu was like ordered to be destroyed, and after being sued over like copyright infringement, but some negatives made it out alive, and thank God it did because it is an absolute classic. But what Bella Lagosi brings to this character, it has to be original. He brings charm and charisma, he creates that Hungarian accent and really creates his own version of Dracula, which has now lasted the test of time. It's just really incredible. It just makes it original, and it's just amazing to what you're all saying. It's something that people have been influenced on for nearly a hundred years. Nearly a hundred years. That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

I mean, I'm right there with you. I don't think there's anything else I could add other than you know, it's something when I'm watching this movie, and I think, damn, even Stephanie Meyer took a page from Dracula and made like Twilight and and New Moon specifically was the one that I thought of, but I just gotta add that. I'm sorry, I had to. We were just talking about Hultal Transylvania and B sides, like it's just crazy the amount of things that have been impacted by this movie. So I'm right there with you all.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

Impact aside, one of the most surprising things I found about this movie. Was just its take on the ending because once again, I think about the 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula. I think about the ending of that movie. I think about how this story concludes every other time I've seen it. And there was something that just hit different about this one.

SPEAKER_09 22:16

It is surprising for sure. It just hits in a certain way, but it it wraps up fairly quickly. Sometimes, in some ways, it might be surprising in how quickly it wraps up. I think it could have been cool to have gotten a little more out of the ending, if I'm being honest, but the way it ended is totally fine. Like it's an it's an older film, and this feels about right for that era. It's straight to the point, and overall, I'm not mad at it by any means. When when something is so good, you just don't want it to end. I think that's really what it is. But I do think looking back on other Dracula films and what they did with those films and how those films ended, yeah, this one does surprise you a little bit. And there are things here that were purposely taken out of the film because of politics or whatever was going on at the time that may have also kind of added to some of the effects of this ending. But overall, I think it's it's a solid ending. I think it ends in the way that you know that it should, and I'm not mad at it, but I do think it would have been cool to get a little bit more out of the ending.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

I think what struck me here is that when you first watch, it's like I just did, the ending can kind of seem anticlimactic, and the rest of the movie's really dramatic, so it's a little bit surprising. But I think that's also because we are very used to this different type of I forgot the name for that pyramid, fry tag, fray tag, something like that, where it's like how a story develops. And so by the time you get to the denouement, current movies, like you gotta go crazy at the very end. You've got to be explosive, and then boom, you end the movie. And that was not always the case. It was okay to have your climax be the high part, like it's literally supposed to be, and to kind of settle down from there. And I think that's what you get here is yes, it's the ending, and somehow it seems more settled than the climax, but like, yeah, that's normal. And we're kind of living in now a new normal in comparison. So yeah, for a minute I was just a bummer. I was having for a little bit more drama at the end there, but then it's like, well, it's not really necessary here to end the story. It is, like you mentioned, over pretty quick, and so you can't look away while things were happening. You have to pay attention when you get to the end of this movie.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

I did have to go back and restart the ending because I was convinced I had missed something. And now, granted, my app had suddenly quit. I was watching it from my digital movie library on my computer and it had quit like just moments before the actual end of the movie. So I was like, something feels a little off here. But it was something where going through that experience and just thinking about, even from a story perspective, the choices that are made and how things are resolved, it's familiar and still different. And that's where I think a lot of my feelings on this movie come from. It is the how do you see the familiar? How do you see the thing that you've seen a hundred times, but yet somehow still feeling fresh for being 92 years old? It's just fucking insane. But listen, I can't wait to get into our ratings because I'm sure that we have a lot of good things to say. But before we get there, Sean, how would you describe the gore score for a film from 1931?

SPEAKER_09 25:19

Well, there is absolutely no gore in this movie. There's literally no blood in this movie. Dracula doesn't even have fangs in this movie. And I know that sounds crazy, right? But think about what they were able to do without any of that. And it's truly incredible. And even though this one is getting a non-existent gore score, it's perfect just the way it is.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

And what about the animal report? The children of the night are all safe. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Then Dracula from 1931. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_09 25:52

Well, I'm gonna go ahead and kick this one off because this film is a fucking classic. What can I say? I've said so much already, so if you don't know what my score is gonna be by now, you probably weren't listening, but this is the film that kick-started the universal monster flicks, and for good reason. This film sets an amazingly spooky atmosphere. Belle Lagosi, Helen Chandler, Dwight Fry, Edward Van Sloan, like all deliver amazing performances, really bringing these characters to life. Todd Browning and Carl like Freund really give us something special with the cinematography. It's truly incredible. This film gives you all the right vibes. It's spooky, it's eerie, it's atmospheric, it has story. And to take a page out of the Hauntings book, it stood for 92 years and it's gonna stand for 92 more. There is a reason why this Dracula has been so influential even up to this day. Dracula 1931, it's a no-brainer. It's an eternal slash.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Could you imagine if Sean had hacked that shit? Oh, wild. I would have said he's been possessed. That would have been too funny. Well, since I'm already talking and you mentioned the haunting, I'll go ahead and go next while I can somehow speak. So revisiting this movie as an adult, I can't help but wonder like if the changes to our attention span can like affect your perception of a classic film, right? You get me? Because like I really want to say that sometimes just because it's a classic doesn't mean it's an automatic slash, don't kill me, Sean. And again, like I can see how our attention spans are different. We need like score and and music and loud sounds and all these different things. But for me, I found that there was very little issue here because the performances, I'm about to say a hot take, are by far and wide sometimes more than often than not better than some of the acting that we've seen today, okay? Like within reason. But I don't know something about this movie. I was really surprised by their performances, and I think that's what helped make the movie so engaging despite all the moments of silence where you would typically be bored and be like, what the hell's happening? Like, let's get to the next thing. I found it to be really great and very engaging. And for me, I just found it to be fun, and like I already mentioned Renfield being the real fright and like what really captivated me the most. And how are you gonna say no to an hour-long film that made absolute history and was actually really fun to watch? So without a doubt, it's definitely a slash for me.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I want to focus on something you said there, and that's about the performances in this movie, because I expected, I think, what I ended up getting. The actors here are very physical and their movements could be seen from probably hundreds of feet away. Their voices are clear and you can understand what they're saying, and that's not something you get in modern films. We go for this supernatural, super realistic feel now where everybody is mumbling and you need subtitles. People are barely moving, but the effect that you get in this movie is everything has a presence to it. The actors have this presence as if they were on stage because they are classically trained stage actors, I assume. For I'm sure the rest of the cast as well, but Bella Lagosi, absolutely. And so something as simple as a look is so incredibly effective. But everything else is also very effective. I had no trouble really understanding what was going on, which is not always the same thing when you're watching a movie these days. And it was kind of a nice break from all of that. I could just look and watch and hear and understand clearly what's happening. I can understand the emotions that they wanted me to feel. It was all very clear. But as a movie, it's great. It's a great movie. Like I mentioned earlier, it's not a slow pace, it's a smooth pace. So if you're, yes, like you mentioned, Banks, if you're if you're worried about your attention span, just settle in and let it happen. And it is truly watching art on screen. And Carl Freund, this is Carl Freund, but like held back, restricted by the director. Because the director, of course, has a certain look he wants to go for. But even then, he was still able to deliver a cinematography that was fantastic. The lighting we get here in most cases is so much better than lighting you get decades later. It's incredibly impressive. And even though the cinematography was still somewhat restrained, again, somewhat better than stuff we got decades and decades later. So it's not just it's a classic because it's old. It's a classic because they did just so much stuff correctly. And it just makes the movie really enjoyable and thus a slash.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

Listen, the biggest thing about this movie is that within it, everything feels grand. The craftsmanship is unparalleled, the artistry and its performances, again, unparalleled. And save for maybe two small details, this movie feels like it has aged like fine wine. Just two small details. And honestly, it's a nitpick at best. This is a movie that I find is such an easy watch that it has completely jumped up in the rankings of my like favorite vampire content. And Bella Legosi is Dracula walked and Plastic Bat flapped his wings so that we could have what we do in the shadows today. And that pipeline, honestly, it's fucking tremendous. Absolutely love it. I am hard pressed to find anything that I would change about this movie. In fact, I think as I lie awake at night attempting to drift to sleep, I think I'm actually gonna put this movie on again. It is, in keeping with Sean's theme, an immortal slash. And with that, Dracula from 1931 is a universal slash. Now you can find this movie available for purchase or rent online. You can check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it right now. But then join us in the second half so we can continue unpacking this classic together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

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SPEAKER_04 33:34

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Dracula from 1931, which is earned a Universal Slash. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, Sean, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_09 33:47

Man, for having no gore in this film, it still delivers 13 kills in this movie, which is a fitting number, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 33:56

They get really spooky and creative, too. It's honestly terrific.

SPEAKER_09 34:01

It's just a yeah, that's just a great number to land on for this kill count. Now, there are a few to talk about here, so let's talk about them. What were your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_02 34:10

I'm going to go first because I feel like it must be said, flower for your buttonhole girl, deserved justice. And I do love that the scream sounded exactly like the sirens that were going on. I thought that was very clever. But flower for for your buttonhole, come on, guys. Come on.

SPEAKER_09 34:27

Well, it's so good. The girl's just sitting there, flower for your buttonhole, sir. Man, you just brought attention to yourself, and that's why you went down. Dracula couldn't help himself.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

He needed a flower for his buttonhole. I think Renfield is my favorite kill. Because I think it's the most dramatic death of the entire film. And I appreciate that because I feel like Renfield deserves a dramatic death if he's gonna get one here. Just tumbling down those stairs all the way down and focusing on him once he reaches the bottom there was just a fitting way to go for such an important character in this movie.

SPEAKER_09 35:01

It was super dramatic, but super effective. You know what I mean? Like I think we all felt for Renfield in that moment. Like we all wanted Renfield to survive, right? I mean, in a way, like we had some kind of sympathy for him. He wasn't the worst kind of guy. He's just trying to survive.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

He wasn't the worst, but I honestly didn't really give that much of a fuck about him. Like he was a great part of the movie, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't that invested in him living. I think Nicholas Holtz is my Renfield. I think that's what it is. My favorite kill, 1000%, is the captain of the Vespa, formerly known as Demeter.

SPEAKER_08 35:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Really, I see now why, Sean, you were so upset by the removal of the captain. Because I I understood that, and I know hey, that would piss me off if I loved this book and I I love this movie, and such a critical part of it was changed. But to see how fucking excellent the shadow looked, to see that they roll up and you see how gruesome that is, and then you actually get and I just I I'm blown away by this moment. It's the fact that they cut to the newspaper and they describe it as being manned by a crew of corpses. Absolutely fucking chilling.

SPEAKER_09 36:15

It's so good. It's so good. I love that we got just that shot of the shadow. Like what a great thing to think of, like putting forward in this film, right? They could they could have easily not shown it. They could have, I don't know, maybe tried to put together some shitty visual of some dead corpse hanging on that thing, right? But just the thought of putting just the shadow right there in that visual, what an effective moment that was. But yes, Chris, 100%. Don't take that away from me. How dare you?

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Listen, I'm not saying I'm retroactively hacking the last voyager of the Demeter, but my slash is retroactively softer.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

So the captain was your favorite kill, even though we didn't get two and a half hour backstory to his death, just splice in Voyager the Demeter there. Sean, what was yours?

SPEAKER_09 37:06

It it was the counts. I I know, like, look, there there's other kills in this movie, right? We we see body bags or whatever, if you will, of like the crew members on the ship. We talked about the flower girl, obviously Lucy Weston, Dracula creeping in and attacking her in her sleep. I mean, arguably the same with Mina, even though she was revived as a vampire and then brought back to life, you know, by the end of it. But the counts because I think you're watching this film, and if you try to think of it, you know, just from purely coming into this film with a fresh perspective, maybe even not even reading the book, whatever it is, right? Like you're just watching this film for the first time and you're going through the whole progression of this story, and yeah, we know like protagonist, antagonist, all this thing, battle of good and evil, and especially for this time, you're not really gonna see a whole lot of evil triumphing over good and things like that by the end. But I think of it from that perspective, and I'm like, man, I really just wasn't ready for the count to die. You know what I mean? Like, I just wasn't ready for that, and I think, man, it it was just all of that leading up to it. I and I'll talk about it in in scenes later and stuff too, but it's the counts, it's the stake hammering right into his heart, it's the little bit of groaning that we get from that death, even though you don't see the whole picture there, and even though they cut out some of that audio for whatever political reasons or whatever they had, some bullshit, but I just love that kill as well. You know, kind of landed the plane and ended the film and it went out with that bang. You know what I mean? It it it added to that feeling of like, wow, this is it.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

I will say that I wish he had gone out in a slightly better way. Just a little bit, just a little bit.

SPEAKER_09 38:52

Just the classic. Yeah, I know. I get ya, I feel you. I wanted more too, I wanted a little more too, but you know, it is the classic way for the vamp to go.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

And it's not even that I needed more from him as a viewer. I think it's more that I just think he deserved more. All we really got from him was biting a couple chicks and then smashing a mirror. That's really the extent of the violence.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

That's true. At this point, we do love to see Dracula on a rampage before he gets taken out. And the end here, like you mentioned, it's a fitting end for Dracula because too many times he would flee and then we'd be sequel baited and we'd be like, all right, get ready for Dracula 2 or whatever. But it's like, no, the story here is he's gotta get staked. I I think I was also expecting a little bit more, but that's because that's what we get, right? That's what we get now. You have a vampire who gets staked and they explode or they come flying at you or whatever it is. And so we've been kind of ruined, I think, by modern vampire deaths. I was expecting at least for him to like sit up and maybe put a hand out in desperation, but the sounds that he makes are almost better in a way, because you kind of feel bad for him. Like he doesn't sound angry, he just sounds like, oh no, like this really hurts. That's the feeling I got from it.

SPEAKER_09 40:09

Yeah, for sure. But you almost feel some empathy for him.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

I just feel like he's such a prominent man. And there are so many amazing quotes he had, but there's one in particular that I'm thinking of where he says, for one who has not lived even a single lifetime, you are a wise man, Mr. Van Helsing. To think about how many lifetimes he has lived through to then get taken out in a box by that goofy motherfucker, because we'll talk about Van Helsing later. Love the character, a big Van Helsing fan in general. This motherfucker looked goofy as hell. His facial expressions, the way he leaned when he stood, he was just a caricature. However, while I did find it lacking, his entire death experience, the craftsmanship on that coffin, how amazing the cellar looked, thinking about even his castle, which was basically a petting zoon with the possums and the armadillos, it was giving Texas. So much of this movie looked absolutely stunning. And I just think about even that shot of the carriage approaching the castle, and we have similar to what we saw in the birds, right? Where we see actual film put together with some sort of painting or a matte painting. It was just brilliant. The engineering, and this is why people fall in love with cinema, right? The absolute innovation that comes in with being limited by things and the means that are available to you, but still putting out this level of art, fucking stunning.

SPEAKER_09 41:40

It's truly a work of art. It's truly incredible. I mean, you just think of like what you just said, right? The painting of it and like putting it on glass and and putting live action shit over that, and however they did that, the engineering you're talking about, and and then you just think about some of the films we still get today and the absolute horrendous special effects or CGI or bullshit we get. We're a hundred years basically. I mean, give or take, we're 92, whatever the fuck you want to say, whatever. We're so far advanced from this time frame, yet it feels like sometimes so far behind.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Were you thinking of the nun two when you said that? I mean, you know, bits and pieces. It's okay, you can be honest.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Okay, well, the tall stairs that Renfield runs up and later on gets thrown down. My favorite visual of this movie.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Man, that's my favorite visual too. Not because he falls down the stairs, but overall the stairs. Because I think like that first establishing shot when he comes in and like Dracula's just in the distance, like sets the tone for how fucking massive this place is. I just think it's really beautiful. It's unfortunate that he takes a tumble down the stairs, though.

SPEAKER_09 42:54

Yeah, that is crazy. Man, there's so many good visuals in the film, but I think Chris, you you were talking about it. It it's the set design, and you talked about it, Binks, too, the castle and how massive it is. Just the way the set looks, whether we're in the castle, that underground crypt area where all the coffins are, there's spider webs everywhere. It just sets the mood so perfectly. The lighting is on point too, right, Mac. You said that. I just think, man, there's just something about it that it's the ambiance, it's the atmosphere. There's just something to be said about this set design that just really brings you into the film. It it is another entity in this film, right? The actors bring it, yes, but like this set, along with that, it's just unparalleled. It's so good.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

It brings you in just as much as that lighting technique on Bella Lagosi's eyes where they shine two pinhole lights on his face to just bring you in as everything else is dim. It's hypnotic.

SPEAKER_08 43:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:54

Every inch of this movie is intentional, and I absolutely love it. And really, we talk about that vibe. We talk about that atmosphere. I felt like the atmosphere was never more atmospheric than in the beginning of the movie for me. My absolute favorite scene, and it is Renfield's journey and subsequent arrival to Dracula's Castle. Because, okay, first, so much comedy. There's a moment where he looks out just to see a bat flying over the horse. And every time I saw that goofy ass bat, I was laughing but enjoying it and soaking it up. Not laughing at it, but just enjoying the moment. It also just looked so good. This is when we're really exposed to the quality set design. This is when we see the creepy crawlies, we see the creatures in the castle. But it also bookends with then the conclusion of this scene, which is Renfield being knocked out, Dracula comes in from the window, waves his wives off, fog rolling in from the back. It was just fucking beautiful. So many moments happened after this movie that are also beautiful, don't get me wrong. But man, this opening scene really set the tone, and I absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

It's interesting. I gravitated towards a scene that involved the protagonist, really. And I guess both protagonist and an antagonist, but that honestly is when Dracula tried to glamour Van Helsing and realized that he couldn't because his will was too strong. And I don't know why I loved it, but there was like a good amount of pausing, and it was almost uncomfortable pausing, but they kept it moving somehow. And I think that actually made it kind of effective because the entire time we're thinking, oh, is he going to? But that's Van Helsing. And it looks like he kind of is, and then he steps back.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

And he realizes that his will is too strong. And I was like, I love this dynamic between them. Even if you think he's goofy or whatever, I love this Van Helsing so much more than I love a a werewolf angel Van Helsing or whatever happened in that movie.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

My favorite scene also involves Van Helsing and Dracula. Because I actually like Van Helsing and his goofiness because quite frankly, I feel like he uh commands the room and is like, I know shit, and none of you do. One particular scene where that felt very evident was when Van Helsing's confidence like really is executed talking to Dracula by showing him the little box and the bitch slap that Dracula gave when it w there was a mirror inside and he said fuckata. And then Van Helsing immediately afterwards just starts caressing his chin like, I got you, bitch. I just felt like what a standoff moment. It's like really the smirk on Van Helsing's face was a solid 10 out of 10. And I don't know, even so much so that Dracula was like, damn, you're a wise ass bitch. The whole thing was just kissed to me.

SPEAKER_09 46:41

It was so good that whole progression. Him having to feel like he has to fill the void and be like, I dislike mirrors. Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

And the best part is afterwards when he says, like, I dislike mirrors, I'm sure Van Helsing will tell you why.

SPEAKER_09 46:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

Yep, he's about to tell you why because you're a fucking vampire, you clown.

SPEAKER_09 47:00

Got him. Man, it's so many good scenes in this film, so many good, like small moments in this film. I I talked about the scene where Dracula is sneaking into like Weston's room, but also like the scene where Dracula sneaks into Mina's room while she's sleeping, that slow walk to her with the hands, it's that stalking, menacing approach to Mina, and then that awful grin closing in. What a menacing face that he was able to provide in that moment.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

That reminded me of the cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

SPEAKER_09 47:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

When we have César.

SPEAKER_09 47:35

Absolutely. It's so good. There's just so many great moments, too, like the scene where, you know, after that, right, the next day or whatever, and Mina is explaining her dream and being attacked, and Van Helsing finds the bite marks on her neck, and Jonathan asks, What would do this to you? And then as that happens, they announce Count Dracula as he enters the room. It's just such a perfect moment.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

It's excellent timing, really. I also though love this connection between Dracula and Mina. There's also this moment of Count Steal Your Girl, Dracula, because he fucking beckons her, opens up his cake, and welcomes her into his embrace. Granted, obviously he's making her drink his blood from the vein in his arm. I get it. But move over, Jonathan Harker. You can't keep her.

SPEAKER_09 48:24

Yeah, it's the lure of the vampire. It's great. I talked about it too when we're talking about favorite kills, and I'm talking about Count Dracula's kill, and it's just the moments before that, too, when Van Helsing, they're down there and he finds the coffins in the basement or whatever it is, the crypt of the Abbey, and he opens the coffin and finds Dracula. I just thought such a great moment, also kind of comical, right? Where he opens it and he sees Dracula and he's like, Oh, I'm gonna slowly shut this. This whoops. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. Just a great moment, too. There's so many great moments.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Yeah, that is straight up you accidentally stumbled into the final boss without saving, so you gotta like back out real quick so you can go eat some food, build up your resources, reset your cell spell slots, and then command S, then go.

SPEAKER_07 49:11

There it is. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

I will be honest, I had to rewatch that a couple times. I looked away because the ending is so short. I looked away like briefly and I was like, wait, how is Dracula not a problem? He's still around, and didn't even realize that he had killed him because I looked away right at the wrong time. Yeah. And yeah, and that and that was a bummer.

SPEAKER_04 49:30

Yeah, sometimes these things just happen so fast.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

Yeah, I did. And this Van Helsing that we get here is very different from iterations we get in the future, especially when we talk about like Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a very different type of character. And I never realized that he was supposed to be like a professor. I always thought he was just like this wild gun that showed up to kill vampires anywhere that he could. And this was kind of a surprise for me because he's just like a scientist, doctor, professor, dude. And then he's like, Oh yeah, by the way, I know a lot about vampires, and we gotta stake them, you know? And it's like, where what is your other specialty aside from vampires? Is it like he's a professor of like dental stuff? I don't even know. It's kind of wild.

SPEAKER_04 50:13

He's a renaissance man, really. Fun employed.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Yeah, I mean, because he apparently knows about psychiatry as well.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

Yeah, I mean, I think there are so many different iterations of NHelsing that are pretty cool. This one, I again, it's not that I dislike him at all. He's just so goofy, and I almost find it like eccentric old dingbat. That that's the vibe that I'm getting. Okay, ducktails. We we are all familiar with duck tails. You remember the old scientist?

SPEAKER_07 50:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:42

There's a old kooky scientist duck. That's the vibe that I was getting from Van Helsing.

SPEAKER_09 50:48

It is a little kooky, right? Like he's a little strange, a little over the top, but I feel like super fitting, especially you're portraying a character like this in 1931. If you have somebody that's like super invested and and just all knowledgeable about something that most people are gonna think is a myth or some kind of just story, right? You gotta be a little kooky, right? And I think a lot of these characters bring performances that feel very stage theater-like performances. And I just think, yes, I get all of those vibes, but I also just love, and we've talked about the scenes already. I did it's just the dialogue that he has matched with Dracula in these films. I feel like the just really good chemistry together. We talked about the mirror scene and everything, and in all of that dialogue that took place, it's just so perfect. I feel like it's really hard to think of somebody else in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

I love that we get a Van Helsing here who can tell Jonathan Harker basically that he's an idiot and to just like stay out of the way. Because when I think of Jonathan Harker, all I think about is Keanu. And it kind of ruins it for me, right? I mean, like, loved it. I I absolutely still love that movie, but the character of Jonathan Harker is kind of in the way.

SPEAKER_04 52:01

I'm actually realizing now, as I consider every variation of Dracula I've seen, I don't even like Jonathan Harker.

SPEAKER_09 52:09

I don't think you're meant to.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

I mean, yeah, I guess. I feel like he's just kind of like someone that people might be able to root for. I don't know. I'm just I'm not a fan. And I think it's because of watching the Jonathan Reese Myers Dracula series, where great actor playing Jonathan Harker fucking hated Jonathan Harker in that show. Absolutely trash.

SPEAKER_09 52:30

I just think it in these types of films, Dracula, Frankenstein, I'm not rooting for protagonists very often. And so Jonathan Harker, fuck him. I don't care. Like, I I'm not saying he did a bad performance as an actor by any means, but I definitely think it was intentional in this film not to make him the star of the show, right? He wasn't supposed to be the person that you're rooting for. Mina, maybe Van Helsing, possibly, but there's no way that I'm rooting for Jonathan to overcome anything in this film.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Extra big fuck you to Jonathan when he is suddenly distracted from all of Mina's problems by her vampiric glow-up. Oh, it's just so good to see you this way. Yeah, she's a hottie, because now she's a vampire.

SPEAKER_08 53:15

This is true.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

I will say a character that I felt like I was rooting for was Renfield in this one. Definitely what a wild motherfucker. I loved him. He was great. And I think even from the beginning, I think Chris might have mentioned this earlier, like the confusion and shock he has when he looks outside the carriage and there's no one there, and just like a bat just leading these horses. I loved it because at first you're thinking it's silly and you're laughing because Yeah, what the hell just happened, right? But also for a slight moment I'm almost thinking, like, is he uh now believing what he was warned about in terms of the villagers? Like, just ever so slightly. There's a moment of like, oh my god, is it was this what they were telling me, or what just happened in confusion. I think the scene was done really well, and Renfield in general, I think, was such a standout. I've said this before earlier, but like really was rooting for him, even though he was absolutely bonkers.

SPEAKER_09 54:09

Yeah. He was. Renfield, he comes in at a close second to Bella as far as performances go for me. He right at the top. He he does such an amazing Renfield, and some of the moments we get with him, even when they're on the ship and they're uncovering the bodies and they hear something and they open it up and he's at the bottom of the stairs just with that crazy laugh, right?

SPEAKER_02 54:34

That's the scene I was talking about that I found like that scene right there, that moment right there. Yeah. It's better than like most of the things that we've seen in in some movies recently.

SPEAKER_09 54:43

Absolutely. Such a great performance.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

And I do want to mention actually how fascinating it is that the lore of about vampires has changed over time. Something that was mentioned that caught me off guard. I don't think I ever I certainly, of course, wasn't gonna catch it when I was a kid, but they mentioned that vampires used to actually change into wolves. And it's so interesting, like over time, how it's just become bats.

SPEAKER_05 55:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

You know, is what was typically associated with it. So how fascinating. And then like think about let's take it like a step further where I was gonna say toilet again.

unknown 55:14

Fuck.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

Whatever. It's the whole werewolves versus vampires thing and underworld. The underworld, thank you. Underworld, massive. Mac mentioned it earlier. Van Helsing even being a werewolf himself or some stupid shit. Like, that's just crazy to think how did this get here when originally vampires just changed into anything they wanted in terms of animals.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

So Bram Stoker is the one that started the whole bat thing. Himself. So you're welcome, the world of vampires before this, they just did wolves and stuff. And but not before this movie, but before Dracula. Right. And then Dracula comes around and is like, yo, they like to turn into bats sometimes. I wonder if people read that and they were like, ooh, that's new and spicy.

SPEAKER_02 55:51

Yeah, and you see, like, I I don't even remember that. I remember in the book, one thing is like that his hands are very hairy and stuff like that. But I didn't remember the explicit thing that they just turn into bats, so I guess that part in the movie caught me off guard.

SPEAKER_09 56:05

Yeah, no, it it is interesting because even what you mentioned there and how they portray Dracula in the book, right? And and it's very much a much more monstrous warlord type character, right? Very menacing, right? And and and it's just so interesting to see, as much as this is an adaptation of the book, an adaptation of the stage play, it's very interesting to see the direction they went in with this Dracula character. It's very interesting to see what Bell Lagosi brings to life in this character of Dracula and what he does, because this is a Dracula that you know you see him transform in into a bat, yes, but you don't see him in a very monstrous form, right? You don't see he has no fangs. I said it before, he has no fangs in this film. He's very much a very cunning, very charming, very I don't know what the word for it is, but he just brings this charisma to the character, the faces he makes, that glaring stare, the accent that he brings. There previously was no accent. He brought the Hungarian accent to this character, and it has standed the test of time now.

SPEAKER_04 57:19

I think the youth call that Riz.

SPEAKER_09 57:21

Is that what the kids are calling it?

SPEAKER_04 57:22

I don't know. Things were for charisma. I've recently learned.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

Dracula's got Riz. That's honestly, he is the count of Riz.

SPEAKER_09 57:29

Man, it just speaks to what Bella was able to do with this character, with this film, his investment and passion for this character. I know that there was a lot of drama happening with this film, right? And I think arguably, even to the director and in the drama, he he wasn't even the first choice. He wasn't even the first choice for this film, right? Like they wanted Lon Cheney to be Dracula and he died. He died in 1930 or whatever. I I forget, maybe cancer, I something like that. And then Bella was considered for this film. And just to think like what this film would have been without Bella Legosi and would it have done as well as it did, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

Famed back burner, Bella Legosi.

SPEAKER_09 58:14

It's crazy to think about, it's really crazy to think about. And I love the fact that like Bella would be found literally pacing on set between filming, just wearing his cape, repeating, I am Dracula. Like he was so invested in this fucking character, and I love that about him, and I I love that passion shows in this film. And it's also crazy to think that like Bella only played Dracula one other time, right? Like I he played Dracula in the stage play, great. He played Dracula in this, but in film cinematography, right? He played Dracula here, and he played Dracula and Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein in 1948, and that was it.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

That's all she wrote.

SPEAKER_09 58:51

That was it. I mean, he did play Dracula type, vampire type characters in various other films, but he never ever did the role of Dracula outside of those two films.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

So, Sean, this actually brings me to my worst part of the film, and that is that you mentioned earlier, wanting more. Specifically, wanting more time in Dracula's castle and wanting more time with Dracula in the finale. And yes, it's literally just nitpicking, whatever. But when I realized how fast we were out of Dracula's castle, I was actually really bummed because I was looking forward to seeing him in his own environment just a little bit more. It doesn't need to be like three hours long, like Bram Stoker, the 1992 version or anything, but like just like a couple more minutes, maybe like 10 more minutes. That would have been a bit more satisfying.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

You mentioned Nipicky, and I'm gonna say that it's kind of shocking. I love the acting, just one small little piece, sometimes some of the performances and like the way that they were acting as if it was a silent film. So like again, kind of overcompensating for the spaces and the moments where that were silent, and so the timing felt a little bit off. Which to like an average person that's checking out this film, that it might like break them out of it, they might laugh and find it silly and dramatic. So I feel like that's the only part that like I wish I would have tightened up a little bit, but I mean let's give them some credit. Again, this is 1930, how many actual no, actually not really, any sound in terms of film yet, so it's not necessarily fair to nitpick that per se, but just something I noticed that I was like, wish that was a little bit better.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:29

Yeah, yeah. I think the only thing that stood out to me, and it wasn't obviously this is the only option available. There's a moment where there is the classic video game, it's dangerous to go alone, take this, and it was the woman giving Renfield a cross. And she asked him to take it for his mother's sake, which is a very sweet gesture, but it was long freeze frame on the cross. Just take it in, count the pecks on Jesus' abs. It was just a lot, it was a lengthy moment. But I again I say that just because this is one of those things where, you know, listener, if you wanted to get through this movie that's 92 years old, but you still haven't watched it yet and you want to, you're gonna run into some shit like that, and it's fine. If that is the worst part about this movie, this movie is doing just fucking fine. It's still a great time.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:20

It is, and I actually I love that you touched on that because the worst part for me would be the fact that the original cut featured an epilogue with Edward Van Sloan, who is Van Helsing, right, speaking to the audience about what they had just witnessed, basically telling people that vampires are in fact real, but was cut in 1936 during its re-release and is now soon to be lost forever because of fear that it would offend like religious people, right? Like it's just the time, right? You're looking at the time, right? Like the fact that they had an epilogue talking about like, hey, vampires are actually in fact real, that might be offensive. So it was cut, and I feel like that sucks because I would have loved for that to stayed in the film. It's either that or the fact that it's also rumored that there's an 84-minute cut of this film, but I don't think that exists anymore either, or if it was ever released to the public. So we're talking about nitpicking worst parts, and those two aren't even in the film that we're watching, but that's the worst part for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

It's funny that only 50 or 60 years later people were then worried about satanic panic. Decades and decades later. So yeah, I mean, it's not surprising that back then they were like, people might believe in this stuff if you if an actor tells them on a on screen in front of a movie about a freaking vampire, they might believe that it's real. Because apparently 50 or 60 years later, they still believed that this stuff could affect them. It's kind of wild. But 92 years, and I think this has aged well. I think this is still definitely the type of thing you could put on any time in the background, or like you want something easy on the brain to unwind, or maybe you get your hands on a projector and a popcorn machine and you want to put something classic up there. I think this is worthy of a rewatch for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:12

100%. I'm gonna watch this again just as soon as I get off of this recording and start crawling into bed. Shit's going back up on the TV. And maybe this is just the power of Sean's influence in my life. This will be a every October watch.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

I think you're gonna have to see exactly how many movies you have in your October watch list that's gonna be as long as Sean's already.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:33

Yeah, that's fine. I mean, for as many times as I rewatch all the different variations of the Halloween timelines, I have some room to spare.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

That's fair.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:42

Yeah, for me, I figure why not?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:43

Like, why wouldn't you spend an hour of your time for the culture and watching something that's great? It just seems like a no-brainer to me.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:52

Yeah, absolutely. I this one has a ton of rewatch value, if nothing less than something you can watch to get in the spooky spirit for Halloween. I personally love watching this one all year round. I own this one naturally, and and I'll probably continue to watch this film until the end of my days on this earth.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

Sir, you're immortal. That's not gonna happen. But what is gonna happen is max factor fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:14

Number one, we have this film to thank for many films, including Knight of the Living Dead from 1968.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:22

That seems odd. Maybe? I don't know. I'm gonna say fiction.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:26

It's a really short statement. I mean, it's a hard one to answer because it's super like it's influential for sure. It came before Knight of the Living Dead, for sure. Did it have influence on the film? Possibly. Was it responsible for the creation of the film? I don't know if it was responsible for the creation of the film, so it's really tough to say. It it really is. I I also want to go fiction, but it had influence, so I don't know. I'll guess I'll stick with fiction because of how broad the statement is.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

It's a tricky one for sure. So Richard Matheson, who wrote I Am Legend, said he got his idea for that novel after watching this movie. Because if one vampire is scary, what if the whole world is full of vampires, right? Knight of the Living Dead, inspired by that novel. There you go. So without Bella Legosi's Dracula, we'd never have gotten Knight of the Living Dead, Last Man on Earth, Omega Man, or of course Will Smith's versions of I Am Legend.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:22

I just want to point out that this is six degrees of Max Bullshit. This is fantastic. Great approach.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:28

I'm just linking the dots together, okay?

SPEAKER_09 1:05:30

Listen, it's a it was really good. That was a really good one because, like, yeah, I acknowledge the influence for sure, but yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:38

I would have never been able to foresee the I Am Legend connection there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

It's a big one. It's kind of like one of those things where, you know, my chemical romance wouldn't exist if it weren't for whatever, so six degrees of whatever. But uh let's move on to number two. When Bella Logosi died, he was buried wearing his Dracula cape, which of course was one of his dying wishes.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Sounds like Cap. I'm gonna say fiction.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:03

That one is fiction because while he was, from what I know, buried with a cape, it was not the cape he wore for this film, as that one was attempted to put on auction by his son, which failed, and then later put in a museum. So while he did die with his cape, it was not this cape.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

Completely correct. This is indeed a fiction. He also did not ask to be buried in a cape. His son and his ex-wife decided that he would be buried in one of his cell capes. It was not the one that he wore in Dracula. They tried to auction it for the starting bit of $1.2 million. And so, like you mentioned, they ended up just donating it later on because that's a little bit too much money. Maybe today, with NFTs and stuff, but not a decade ago.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:42

I feel like Rob Zombie would have purchased it if he had the Oh you know it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:47

And then he would have used it in a movie starring his wife.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

Bro, sorry, I'm just thinking about the fact that this shit's about to hit public domain soon, and Rob Zombie's definitely gonna fucking make Sherry Moon Zombie Mina Harker. God damn it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

Oh god. Number three, critics in Hungry panned Lugosi's performance as Dracula. And audiences would even mock the film while watching it to the point of the theater exploding into full laughter.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:14

Damn. What? That's kind of mean. I'm gonna say. Man, I keep saying fiction, but I feel like this one might actually land. Yeah, it's hello fiction.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:22

I actually believe that this might be a fact.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:25

Are you shitting me?

SPEAKER_09 1:07:27

I think it's a fact. I do think it was mocked in in Hungary. I I believe. I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I do believe that it was heavily laughed at in theaters and mocked in the theater. I I think I remember reading that somewhere. So facts.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:42

Yes. What the f it is a fact. And that's his people, man. That's his gente, okay? And they didn't like it. That's his homeland, and they didn't like it. And that's really sad.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:53

That is sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:53

Number four. The scene in which Renfield and Dracula go into the dining room was delayed thanks to an unpleasant odor from the crew throwing trash into the fire.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:02

I'm gonna change it up because clearly me saying fiction is not working. So I'm gonna say fact for this one.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:10

I really have no idea on this one. This is a really strange fact or fiction. So I don't know. But trash in the fire, it's not, I guess, unheard of. You gotta burn it, but who knows? I don't know this one. I'm gonna go fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:24

Correct answer. It is a fiction. However, there was a delay because the fire was super duper large and the crackling sound was messing with the sound recording.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:33

Ah, okay. That makes sense. That sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:37

I can't believe that the one time that I switch it up is when it was right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Well, we'll give you one more shot for number five. Renfield crawls toward the maid after she faints to eat a fly that landed on her.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:48

Okay, I really want that to be Canon, so I'm gonna say fact again because I feel like that would be really great.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:54

I don't know. I'm gonna go fact with you just to see, because I actually don't I don't recall, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

Alright, so this is a fact, but you can't see it in the film because it's not in the film. It was edited out. But if you were able to find the Spanish language version, you would see it. So the finished product that we get, it just looks like he's being violent or aggressive towards her. But in reality, he wanted that delicious little morsel of a fly.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:18

Delicious fat, juicy spiders.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:20

That fast forward becomes Jeff Colton.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:22

It's the prequel. And that's been Factor Fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:25

Well, there you have it, folks. Dracula from 1931, the man who started it all, has earned a universal slash. Now we've certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:36

We want to know what you think. Where does this movie stand in your favorite Dracula lineup? Sean would say it would be first. But you can let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:50

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider joining our new blood drive and becoming a member of the family. Visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:02

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, there are far worse things awaiting men than death.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:08

To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

So, pinks.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:23

Doing alright over there? I don't know. Do I sound alright? I don't know. This is actually not too bad considering I've like tried to stay as silent as I possibly could have leading up to this recording.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

Yeah, it's giving Crypt Keeper, is it?

SPEAKER_09 1:10:36

Oh yeah, really.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:37

Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:38

It's giving Bride of Dracula. Not Mac being like, really?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:43

It's giving $9.99 per minute. $9.99 per minute.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:49

So it's $666 per minute, and you know damn well. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:53

Well, if it is giving that, then run me my cash.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:59

Famously, sick episodes of Hacker Slash are the best episodes of Hackerslash.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:05

What's your security code?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:08

It reminds me of like I think in a past episode, I can't remember which one, but we brought up Dane Cook and that bit where he's like pickles. It's like, what did you say? The cheeseburger with the pickles. I feel like that's what I sound like now.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:31

Did you get too into the vampire thing and you wanted them to like bite your neck, but they bit all the way through to your tonsils or something? Is that where we are?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:38

Yeah, right into the larynx. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:40

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:40

Yep. Wow. Too much in character.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:43

Well, the good thing is that you've never sounded better. Good for you.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:47

Thanks. And that's I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but we're gonna take it. Everyone's into something, I guess. Now, obviously, we've done a lot of Dracula this year.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:57

We've done a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:57

I'm actually really excited because we have four different versions of Dracula on our poster in honor of the Dracula content. It's so much Dracula, but no problem with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:06

I don't have an issue with it either. I think it's been a lot of fun. It's one of those classics that you just can't you just can't get away from and you don't kind of want to either. Everybody loves Dracula. Come on.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:16

I'm gonna think that next year we need to make it the year of the Frankenstein just to make up for this shit.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:21

Oh yeah. Yeah. We gotta have themed monster years.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:25

Well, we also kind of did Mummy last year in December and Bubba Hotep in January.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:30

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:31

Okay, yeah, we're working through 'em.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:33

Yeah. Well, wait, how many mummies did we do though? Just the one.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:35

Yeah, just the one.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:36

You know.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:37

That's all you need. And then we had Bubba Hotep, who was Mummy.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:40

Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that's two. Okay, alright.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:43

I see it. I see it.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:44

That's really one and a half.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:46

Okay, that's one and a half.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:48

We had two mummy movies. We have four Dracula movies. Now we need six Frankenstein movies.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:54

Are there any other queer-coded classic universal monsters?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:57

Werewolves, wolfmen.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:58

Oh. Yeah. You're the wolf coming up.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:01

Oh plenty of wolf movies to choose from.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:04

Hello, ginger snaps. Yeah. That's kind of absolutely terrific. Not super gay, but definitely terrific.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:12

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:13

I mean, it's just sisters.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:14

Oh. I don't know why I thought maybe I don't know. Nowadays.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:18

Because of feminism, honestly. You see anything that's that's feminist and you think angry lesbians, even though they're just sisters, kinda like frozen. Feels gay, but is sisters.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:27

Well, no, uh it the ginger I thought was like, I don't know. She kind of gave off maybe that energy a little bit. Maybe not. Yeah, so does Ryan, so here we are. There we go. That's probably what it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:39

Sisters, sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:44

Oh, Mackie little perv.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:47

It's a song. Goodness.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:49

Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. It is wild though to think about like, okay, this is however is it 92 years that we're traveling back in time on this episode. So the beginning of most modern Dracula is obviously we had Nosferatu before this, but it's wild to just think about like how much Dracula has evolved and also not evolved at the same time.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:10

It is actually really wild when you think about it because you go back to 1922 or whatever with Nosferatu, and that Dracula is very much a monster, right? Like that's very much a monster, and then you go into flash forward 10 years or nine years or whatever it is, and you've got Bella Lagosi's Dracula, and this is very much not in the appearance of a monster. You know what I mean? Like it it's very interesting, just that evolution between the two, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:39

Also think about like just later on, years later, the way that they kind of portray both in terms of like Dracula looking like a hot snack, and then also very monster-like within the same film.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:54

So I think just like overall how they address him has changed.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:58

Yeah, they kind of try you get the Dracula that's like charming and nice looking, but transforms into the monster.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:06

Okay. Listen, y'all have a whole fucking episode to talk about Gary Oldman, okay? We can leave that out of this shit tonight. We couldn't help it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:14

Did you s did you uh gather how I subtly brought that up?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:18

The looking like a snack? I dare say, from some angles, in some shots, I would take Bella Lugosi's Dracula over Gary Oldman's Dracula in terms of appearance and attraction. Sure. Okay. I can stand behind that. Sure. That was a little too easy. That was I think it's just because your voice is fucked. You just don't feel like arguing.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:38

I think it's interesting because you really think about it, Bella Lagosi's Dracula is really the standard, like, even to today. Like it's wild to think that since 1931, like we've seen variations of Dracula, sure. Like we've seen a lot of movies imagine or reimagine their own versions of Dracula. But when you think of Dracula, most often than not, whoever it is is seeing some form of Bella Legosi's creation.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:08

Yeah. I mean, I'm still thinking about this kid I know who thought Dracula was just the bli blah blih guy from Hotel Transylvania, but I guess even that is watered down and descended from Bela Legosi.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:19

It is. It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:21

Does that mean that really Hotel Transylvania is the only Dracula that we have left that we need to review? Well, aside from like Nosferatu and all these other ones, maybe. But like, does this mean that we have to do Hotel Transylvania?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:35

I think one year. We could. One year we will do a kid-friendly hacker slash spooky season where like our extra content is just like family-friendly horror. Maybe we can do that.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:46

Yeah, there's enough of that floating around. We can definitely do. There's some fun ones.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:50

I think my best friend is a vampire's PG.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:53

Damn, that's a movie. Do I need to watch that again?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:58

I think so. It's not Dracula, but it's vampire.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

So it's It's vampire and it's cute. It's Disney, adorable.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:05

The little vampire?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:07

The little vampi Wow. Alright, alright.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:09

I wonder if Bellelagosi could have imagined when he was portraying Dracula that one day there would be a chicken nugget fashioned in his liking. With the widow speaking all.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:21

A chicken nugget.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:22

The McDonald's Halloween shit?

SPEAKER_07 1:17:24

Yeah, I'm sure he I I'm sure he could not fathom that. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:28

Wait a minute. What the fuck are we talking about?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:31

What do you even mean? You know like the classic Halloween back in the 90s, McDonald's had these little Halloween things. And it was like chicken nuggets. Chicken and nuggets.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:41

Dracula. Dude, the 90s was so great. There were so many dumb things that they did.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:47

Oh yeah. I thought you okay, I swear to God, I thought you meant that they really made the chicken nuggets look like vampires. And I was like, did I just eat them so quickly that I didn't even realize they look like vampires?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:01

No, this is like the little toy chicken nugget.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:04

Yeah, no, I remember this now.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:05

I'm a f I'm just being an idiot. Just like that's his legacy.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:08

I just can't imagine Bella Lagosi turning to somebody and saying, You better hold on tight, Spider Monkey.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:15

He could have. He absolutely could have.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:17

I mean, listen, I think he loved this character enough.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:20

He absolutely did. He was very tied to it. Can I confess though that this is not my first Bella Lagosi film?

SPEAKER_09 1:18:26

What is?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:26

Which I think this is probably the proper way. My first Bella Legosi film is actually Plan 9 from Outer Space.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:32

Oh wow, cool. I love that.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:35

I love that.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:36

Binx, what are you doing? I feel like you were shocked. No, I'm not, actually.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:40

It's my throat. She's just suffering.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:42

Just su yeah suffering a little bit, yeah. Suffering, got it. I thought I had said some wild shit that you're barely maintaining your composure over.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:50

I'm the one here thinking that McDonald's literally made a nugget in the shape of a vampire, okay? I have nothing else to comment. I'm the fucking idiot.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:58

But why didn't they? They could totally do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:00

Thanks, Mac, for having my back. I don't think it's that bad of an idea. It's really not at all.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:06

I mean they make dinosaur nuggets. They can definitely make vampire-shaped nuggets of some kind.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:11

I bet they may already make bat nuggets.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:13

Bat nuggets, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:14

Bat nuggets, they definitely do. Ooh, that's cute. I don't even know. Would it look like little fangs or something?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:21

Okay, Tyson makes spooky nuggets. Ooh. Or at least they did last year. Pumpkin, ghost, and bat.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:28

That's fair. Close enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:29

I'm actually looking at that right now, and that it's kind of impressive the shapes they were able to get. We're like, that pumpkin looks like a pumpkin. The bat looks like a bat. And the ghost is a it's something.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:40

I'm sure it doesn't look like that on the plate.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:43

It never looks as good coming out of the bag.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:45

Now give me a Bell Lagosi chicken nugget, and I'm down.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:49

Yeah, give me a chicken nugget with that really great glare in those eyes.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:53

I'm thinking of is it cavity colors or creepy company that have a whole fucking Bell Lagosi line?

SPEAKER_09 1:20:00

Oh. Ooh, that's a good I don't remember.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:02

He is Creepy Company.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:03

Creepy Co. It's absolutely amazing. Yeah, Legosi. Here it is. I'll give y'all the link. Some great m fucking merchandise for this man who only made $3,500 for this fucking movie. Insane.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:16

It's kind of crazy to think like just from 1931, we went from Bella Lagosi and then into the 70s we got Count Chocula. Like what happened in those 40 years that that that's what happened to Dracula?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:28

The Great Depression ended in capitalism.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:31

Yeah. I I say I've seen this shirt a a couple of times. I really love the that first one. Do it that just with the shadow. Oh my god. So good. Do it. Back in stuff. Amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:43

Sean, I mean, I obviously you have a deep love for this movie.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:48

Do you remember your first Dracula experience?

SPEAKER_09 1:20:50

My first Dracula experience? It's hard to like remember the first like instance that Dracula was introduced, but it I mean it's obviously watching this with my grandmother because we watched all of the Universal Monsters together. It was just a thing that we did, especially on Halloween as a kid and stuff like that. Like we would always have these movies playing. It would be this, it would be Frankenstein, The Mummy. It's it's just always something that I just remember those moments. I don't remember the very first moment. And it's interesting because none of these films like frightened me as a child. There's plenty of films that I watched, horror films that I watched as a child that like really fucked with me and scared me. But for some reason, maybe it was because I was with my grandmother during these moments or whatever. But these were always just movies that I just remember them as being really warm, you know what I mean? Really near and dear to my heart, right? But who knows, maybe when I was a little kid the first time, maybe I was scared, but maybe I was comforted in that moment, and maybe that's why I have that feeling. I have no idea, but it's hard to remember back because I mean we're talking, I don't know, six, seven years old probably.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:58

Yeah. You say that, and you're talking about like that warmth and just watching old movies with a loved one, and I'm wondering if it's the same feeling that I had watching, like, for example, bringing up baby and old ass Cary Grant movies and Dorstein and Rock Hudson with my sisters. Maybe. Then again, I was like also fucking five years old watching Children of the Corn for some god's forsaken reason.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:20

So yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:22

Yeah, most kids were watching like The Mighty Ducks and being like, I want to go play hockey, and you're like, I want to be a child of the corn.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:29

Not even. It was everything crazy about that movie. I don't know why I have this distinct memory of it as my first movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:35

One of the movies that I remember being really I mean, I've talked about me with Tim Burton, but just general movies that I think is really funny. It's one of the first movies I remember watching was Night at the Roxbury. That's like that's in here. It's one of my favorite movies. That's great. What is Love is one of my favorite songs. So look, even at a young age, we all watch some questionable things.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:56

I love that song, but I've never seen Night at the Roxbury.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:59

Oh my gosh. Literally playing at my party.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:02

Yeah, you know I didn't pay attention to the surroundings. I was so distracted by the people. That's fair. And I still only talked to like a fraction of them. That's also fair.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:10

This is like one of those films that I could absolutely see Star Trek characters watching. Star Trek, for whatever reason, they only watch black and white, and I think it has to do with licensing. I'm sure for the show it was just like super cheap to get black and white movies. And they also take comfort in watching older horror movies. They'll be like, ooh, the 1931 Dracula is playing in the bar, whatever it is that they watch a movie, and they're like, okay, let's go see it together. And they're sitting there and they're like enthralled watching a black and white movie when they literally have a holodeck. Then it goes to show anything. I think that that kind of feeling that you'll have while watching this, it's gonna carry forward apparently.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:44

It just hits different. It just hits different. That's why you watch all of these other horror movies over the years, and so often you see scenes in these modern horror movies where the background is playing a classic horror movie. It just sets the mood, it's the vibe.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:00

Yeah, the big D does hit different.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:02

The big D is really hitting you hard.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:05

Is it? This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:11

It was so thick.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:13

The paranormal paramour, Binx.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:15

Like his, only smaller.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:17

And the Superfly Space Guy, Mac.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:20

After what's happened, I can't bear to look at it.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:22

Oh, it's a perfect progression.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:24

This shit's about to be long as fuck. I damn it know. That's not what I meant.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:31

And yet it still goes together.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:35

I've probably seen this one, I don't know. Maybe I'm stretching it, but I feel like it's been over a hundred times. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:41

I love this so much for you, Sean, because in particular, this is your era for horror, and that specifically is my era for rom-coms. Did not extend past the 60s. I just want to say how great it is that two other people have brought up Twilight before I brought up Twilight. I feel like progress.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:02

That's personal growth.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:04

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:06

Dr. Renfield, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:10

Sorry. Sorry, continue. Sorry, there's just a massive fucking roach here. Jesus Christ. It's so hot warm in my house right now. This thing is fucking massive. I'm gonna keep doing this while you talk. Whoa, fuck, it's huge! There's still a dead roach on my phone.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:28

Are you telling me that there's already a dead roach that you haven't removed from your home?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:33

No, I killed it earlier.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:35

She killed it moments ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:37

Like like today? Like tonight?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:39

Yeah, when we were recording.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:40

Yeah, you were away from the you were away. It's behind the posters. Continue. We're gonna be here all night if you don't continue. I will pop back in. I just need to be on alert to smash this fucking thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:51

On fucking alert. This is one of those this is one of those mom sorry, Mac. I'm sorry, last comment. This is one of those moments where where I wish we were recording video.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:02

I don't. I need to hide my shame forever. I'm very fortunate. The roaches knew, hey, she's cutting us a break tonight. We can show up. This is not the first time this has happened on this show.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:16

Yeah, it's softer. Listen, I don't care what anyone says. It's a that that that voyage was a hack. It was a hack. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:23

It wasn't a hack. It's just flaccid at best. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:26

Don't get me started. Don't ant me up. You know what I mean? Don't ant me up.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:29

Yeah, let's not. Let's not do that. You know what really grinds his gears? Boat captains.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:35

You know what really butters my biscuit? It's my new line.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:41

Well, wouldn't that be a better thing? I guess it depends on if you're the biscuit or the butterer.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:46

I don't know. It just sounds fun to say.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:48

It just does sound fun to say. You know what I was thinking of just now, actually? It was like you have this kind of feeling about um about Voyager that Demeter. I have that feeling about Renfield, even though I gave it the softest slash. But what we can both align on is what's coming tonight. 92 Dracula baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:13

That's true. Get the fuck out of here. Mackie, I think you're abandoning me for that episode, and I'm gonna demand some backup.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:21

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:22

Maybe you actually slashed that movie. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:24

I did. I did slash it. So.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:26

Oh, fuck all you.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:29

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:30

For the nostalgia.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:33

Hold on. Roll back the fucking tapes to earlier where the listeners aren't gonna fucking know that exists in our Google chat when I fucking found a clip from that movie Spawn that you and Mac spent so much fucking time telling me I had to watch. That was the dumbest looking shit I've ever seen. I will put the link in the fucking show notes to the end of this movie. It looked like bad pre PlayStation 1 graphics. Absolutely fucking horrific. And yet with all that technology, all that fucking money, and they couldn't fucking do something better than Dracula's castle. Fuck that. Listen, man. We're here. We're here. The moment has come. Hoisted by your own petard. Wait a second, wait a second.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:18

Did you j why'd you have to drag PlayStation into this?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:21

I'm saying pre-PlayStation 1 graphics, right? I know, but that was Just think about how those graphics used to hit back in the day. This shit doesn't even look like that. This is like and I think someone actually even commented on that fucking video. The sprites that you see in the background of Mortal Kombat combat games on fucking Super Nintendo are suddenly just the people like fucking chanting in this fucking audience. It was horrendous.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:48

Yeah, hold on, hold on. I'm sorry. Now I'm watching it. What the fuck? What the fuck, guys? What is this?

SPEAKER_07 1:28:55

Listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:56

What is this? You're trying to was you're this is Army of Darkness all over again. What's happening here?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:01

Okay. Gotta watch the rest of it.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:04

Listen, alright. Listen. Yes, I I make this point, right? That went down this rabbit hole. There are still fun movies out there that are just, you know, there's some shitty moments in them, but the rest of that movie isn't complete garbage. You're talking about you're talking about some special effects in hell. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:23

Bro, I have now seen a blue pig faced bitch played by John Lenguazama, who I love John Lenguazama. This isn't about him. But the first thing I ghouled from this movie was shit. And now the second thing I happen to run into on the internet, total shit. I'm not watching this movie.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:38

Wait, hold on. Oh, oh, so you haven't watched the film.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:41

No, I saw this shit.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:43

Yeah, alright. Listen, that's all that's it.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:46

I'm looking at this.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:47

We don't even have to carry this any further because you have no full perspective until you've watched the film.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:52

I don't need the perspective. This is what it is. I don't need to see that. I don't fucking need to watch that. He said, you don't have the full perspective too. As if as if I need more than what we see here. This fucking 1991 fucking adaptation of Anakin Skywalker and Mustafar meets Mortal Kombat, meets Kung Lao, soul sucking some bitches. No, this is terrible. I'm not watching this movie.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:20

It doesn't all take place in that whatever you're watching. That's just moments of the film.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:25

I will watch a Rob Zombie movie before I ever watch that bullshit.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:30

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. This is now becoming about spawn, but I have one last comment I have to make. Are you telling me right now that Guillermo Navarro Solaris, who won Best Cinematography for Pan's Labyrinth, did the cinematography on this movie? Am I reading this right? I know my voice is kinda gone, but are my fucking eyes fucked?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:53

Hey, listen, cinematography is not PlayStation graphics. Just listen to this.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:59

I'm I Mac, do you have anything to say here?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:02

I feel like nonetheless, you're telling me an Oscar an Oscar winner? Oscar winning. Oscar winning on this map? On what I just watched?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:11

So you're you're both just refusing to expose yourselves to something amazing. Oh my god. Something dated. Yeah, sure. I'll give you that. But something truly amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:22

No. No. Absolutely not. Is this a horror movie so that we can review it and I can hack it?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:28

Uh it's an action movie, but it's maybe horror adjacent. That's horror adjacent, you know, with the with the genre.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:36

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:37

We'll get we'll get it in.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:38

We'll get it in.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:39

Uh no. Superhero film.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:42

We'll wait till Chris is like sick one week and we'll be like, yo, we should plug this in, and you'll be like, all right, yeah, we'll do it, alright. And then we'll get it in.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not that you're gonna wait for me to not be on the episode to review it.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:56

You're just gonna The one episode Chris isn't on.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:59

Yeah, no, never gonna fucking happen. Now that I know that that's what's on the table, I was thinking about maybe I'll take a vacation one day. But no, now that I know that it's that is vacation or spawn makes it onto this fucking show, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:11

Well, they're supposed to remake this at some point, so hopefully that one will be good. But then we'll have to do an old versus new, so. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:19

No, it's not gonna be a horror movie, bro. No.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:21

No, we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:23

We're doing Gone Girl before we do Spawn.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:25

A24 could pull off Spawn. Just saying.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:28

Chris is weaponizing Gone Girl, and I don't like it.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:31

Weaponizing? No. I'm just saying the day will come that we do Gone Girl long before we ever fucking think about doing a spawn. Is it me? Or was that entire scene a fucking awkward tinder or grinder date between the two of them?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:48

Ugh, I don't drink wine.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:50

It's really good to see you. I am Dracula, I bid you welcome. The blood is the life. I trust you've kept okay, here's what it was. I trust you've kept your coming here a secret. I followed your instructions implicitly. I hope you will find this comfortable. Yeah, no, they are totally down to fuck. Like that's this is what's going on here. It's it's I know that we get this like, well they won't they, from Guillermo and Andor in what we do in the shadows. But this was tension. And you mean to tell me that the second that he cuts his finger and he's sucking his finger that that was not erotic tension? It absolutely was.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:26

Oh, for sure. Are you saying that Dracula didn't have to glamour or hypnotize him because he dignotized him?

SPEAKER_04 1:33:33

That is precisely what I'm saying. That's that's true. But all jokes aside, between the hilarity hilarity of this moment, between the comedy of that got him.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:45

Got him hard. Wait, what?

SPEAKER_09 1:33:51

Throw coat. Uh and there it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:56

You know, I'd like to think that Bella Legosi, may he rest in peace, when he passed through the Pearlie Gates, you know, we guess we can think about uh every rendition of Dracula ever to be puts a film up in the Pearly Gates with him. I imagine one of them saying, Bella, where the hell you been, Logan?

SPEAKER_07 1:34:14

Oh, here it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:15

There's the reference, finally.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:17

Yeah. Also, I just want to point out that as we record this episode, it is now Bella's birthday. Not Bella Legosi, Bella Swan. I'm done. Done.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:27

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:30

Well, I never Banks. I don't know how you did this tonight. Holy shit.