Navigated to Episode 5: Alucarda and Satanico Pandemonium - Transcript

Episode 5: Alucarda and Satanico Pandemonium

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1

You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.

Speaker 2

Welcome back to the Wildside, the Official Monda Macabre Podcast.

My name is Ryan Verel.

You may know me from The Disconnected or Someone's Favorite Productions with me as always mister Chris Haskell.

Thanks for being here, Chris.

Speaker 3

Hello Ryan, how are you doing well?

Speaker 2

For those that don't know Chris's other stuff, he is from They Live by Film and Punk Vacation, the Unofficial Vinegar Syndrome Podcast.

We are excited to be here on the last Monda Micabre, you know, episode of our podcast for the year.

This is a big deal so we can recap a little bit and talk about what's coming.

We got two titles to dive deep into today.

How do you feel about the year there, Chris?

Speaker 4

I feel good.

Speaker 3

Ryan.

Speaker 4

You know, have you ever seen those videos going around of people that have set up basically like content farms, and mostly in China as the videos I've seen where it's just rows and rows of people on camera giving podcasts and like, that's how I imagine, that's how you must feel.

Especially there's days where I feel like that I can only imagine how you feel.

But I'm being released from my work for the year, so I don't have another podcast recording on the book until like early January, so I'm gonna take a couple of weeks and just decompressed and just watching movies for fun.

Speaker 3

And rest your voice, of course.

Speaker 4

Rest this voice, Drink some honey, get ready for another year.

Speaker 2

Bear warning to everybody now, since we are in the throes of the holiday season, we both have families literally calling us as we record this, so this is likely going to be a fairly short episode, but we still want to give you all the goods.

So we're gonna We're gonna recap some of the titles that came out this year, and then dive deep into the two that we brought up last month, which is Al Jukarta, one of the oldest Mona Macabro physical media releases, and then of course Satanico Pandemonium, which has since gotten a Blu Ray upgrade.

And we'll go into some of the details of those later, but first from this year, Chris, you want to share the titles that were released?

Speaker 4

Yeah, so I think I hope we got this right.

So first, you know, because they ship some of the twenty twenty three titles all the way through kind of the earlier part of the year.

But I think the official releases for this year starts with Special Silencers, Doctor Jekyl and the Werewolf, then Death Squad, Fedo, MORGANA Sex Apocalypse, The Warrior Collection which is three Warrior movies, the Max Peakers Collection, and The Hungry Snake Woman, The Killer Is Not Alone and Took a Goa a Sex Band, and then some of the new titles that were announced like Cafe Flesh are going to be Girl Slaves and for morgana La Fay, those are going to be released I mean get to us in early twenty twenty five.

But or it is The Warrior only two movies?

Maybe The Warrior is only two, but that's that's my I don't have the disc in front of me.

Speaker 3

I can't.

I'm just trying to believe it's a trilogy.

Speaker 4

It's three.

I'm almost positive it's three.

I'm just trying to picture the disc in my head.

But though that's my my personal favorite release this year, I just you know, I'm a little bit of a homer for Indonesian cinema anyways.

Between that and Hungry Snake Women, like just being able to see those and I was one of my like surprising moments of the year was when Jared was mentioning how they actually didn't do anything to the transfer that was like the original TV you know footage that they had, which is crazy to me because it looks so good.

But yeah, beautiful looking movie.

Same with Hungry Snake Women.

They it just looks beautiful on disc.

Super fascinating stories.

Indonesian folklore is so it's just built for horror in such a in such a crazy way, like the stories are so already kind of they're just horror adjacent to begin with, and so they play so well on screen.

And the Warriors just fun.

Who doesn't love a Ricky Oh kind of you know, Ricky Oh light kind of story.

So I loved it.

Speaker 2

It's a great choice.

If I'm going with any I got to go with Tokugawa Sex Band.

This was a year that has brought a lot of titles that people have been asking for for a long time.

Speaker 3

And this is one of them.

Speaker 2

A lot a lot of the other larger labels had some surprises, but this is one that big genre fans were extremely excited to have released, and once again Mondo Micabro delivering very high quality release, looks, great, sounds, great, good special features, hell of a disc.

Speaker 3

Glad we got it.

Speaker 4

There was a Sam Degan had asked me to do eight tarot is she films, and obviously Tokogawa Sex Band is not a Terroischi film, but it's in that same genre of like bad things that happened to people in Japan and the Tokugawa Shogunate, and so it was.

It was fun to watch that movie as I was doing research for this other episode.

And by the way, I guess I should plug it.

If you don't listen to Sam's podcast, Arrows plus Massacre, you should, even if you don't want to listen to my voice.

Speaker 3

Again.

Speaker 4

She has a lot of really great guests on there.

But that episode was a ton of fun, and seeing those two kind of so close together was fun because it just kind of built that Laura up even more.

Yeah, that's a great choice.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I'm so glad that you were able to be on those episodes with her.

Her podcast has been an excellent addition to everybody's players over twenty twenty four.

Yet another exciting thing that we got access to this year.

Speaker 4

That's right.

Speaker 2

Jared had mentioned that he might be able to come on before the end of the year, but he was not able to make it unfortunately.

We will get him back early in twenty twenty five, and we are talking to get Pete Toombs on an episode soon.

I know he does not do a lot of things like this, so it's going to be a very fun conversation.

Hopefully you've enjoyed some of the stuff that we've done so far, including bringing on Tim Paxton for our Bollywood episode, and we'll be doing more stuff like that moving forward.

We got some special people for some of these releases that I think you will be very happy to hear from, considering they are the experts on some of these films for sure.

Speaker 4

Absolutely.

Speaker 2

Last month we had brought up that we were going to be covering two films in our next episode, and we decided on a couple of wonderful Mexican films that are let's see, what is the best way to say.

Speaker 4

This, Well, I was so the initial joke was that these were the closest thing that Mana Macabra has to Christmas films.

That's right, because they were kind of you know, about the church and Christmas, not not even Christmas adjacent let's be very clear.

They simply had the Christian stuff in them, and so that was the closest we were going.

Speaker 3

To get that.

Speaker 2

These movies are both about spreading a lot of love, you can say that for sure.

There's also a whole lot of blood.

So the color red runs the red release.

Speaker 4

And they both are verdant, and they're both very like.

They take place in a lot of beautiful outdoor scenery and very green.

So red and green.

There you go, bloody, bloody, verdant movies, just like Christmas.

Speaker 2

So I will go through the honor of introducing our first title, which is al U Karta.

This is a title that came out from Anto Micabro literally more than two decades ago.

This is a very old DVD.

This film is from nineteen seventy five.

It is a joint USA Mexican production directed by Juan Lopez Mukasuma much.

Speaker 3

Anything like that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, this movie is intense, to say the least.

This is a really unique entry into like this nunsploitation genre that a lot of people have tried to mine a little bit over the last couple of years with releases from places like Seven Films and a couple from VS and some others.

But this movie, the DVD release first off, should mention is a unique one from Monda maccatt Roue as well because it has two DVD releases, one from the UK, one.

Speaker 3

From the US.

Speaker 2

And what's interesting is there actually different.

The US one is listed as a special edition and has quite a few more bonus features on it.

Both of these have a digital transfer from the negative documentary on the film's director, and then we have a documentary on Mexican horror movies.

And the US release also includes an interview with Ghermo del Toro, which, funny enough is says interview with Hellboy director Gheramo del Toro, because that was the main hot thing when this was coming out.

Speaker 4

Of all the things that he's known for.

Speaker 2

Right now, yes, don't need to say anything about Mexico or horror hell Boy director Guielmo del Toro.

We've got a text interview with the film's director.

We've got a Monto Micabro preview like we always get, and there is just so much that I want to say about this film.

This is about a friendship between two young girls named Justine and al Jukarta, and their relationship is destroying the lives around them in a torrent of blood, death and damnation.

According to the back of the DVD release, But this movie, this movie is superlative and so many different sentences, sensins, There's so many different ways you can describe this because it is a beautifully scenic film.

It is bloody beyond belief.

There is some genuine, like really classic imagery that you will see referenced in many other pieces.

I've seen people compare this to like if Ken Russell's The Devil's Met something like I don't know, Andy Milligan in a back alley and somehow that was beat up with somebody else that was almost like El el Topo type of fantasy land in this because it's such a unique input into all these genres.

What is a big takeaway though, is this is a English language film sant in Mexico with very little dialogue.

And even though I say very little dialogue, there's a lot of we'll say, vocals throughout this film.

Because the the most memorable part of this film for some people is that this film starts screaming a few minutes through and pretty much doesn't stop till the end.

Speaker 4

What's that?

What's that?

Movie?

With with what's shoot, what's the guy's name, the guy from the main guy from the American TV show of the Office, The Quiet Place?

Speaker 3

Oh, yes, yes, is it the Quiet Place?

Yes?

Speaker 4

Okay, this they would both be dead immediately immediately if they're in the Quiet Place.

Speaker 1

No.

Speaker 4

But actually I did want to just quickly, I did want to mention It's it's interesting that you brought up al Topo because Juan Lopez Marktezuma was tied in pretty closely with Yodrowski yep and produced Fandoi Liz and al Topo.

So they were, you know, he was he gave some money to to Yodorowsky, but also helped as a producer.

And the interesting thing was, you know Yodorowsky was he surrounded himself with artists, and so I think the fact that they were connected shows in this film.

I do think the you know, comparisons to Ken Russell are correct, like the comparisons Toerodorowsky are correct, Like this is there are moments in this film that have very surrealistic, striking images that that are quite beautiful, and it's it's interesting to have that happen at the same time as this, like these tortured souls that are getting kind of you know, taken over by the devil and put into like a convent.

And I don't know, it's an interesting way that he tells this story.

It's like it's very much a piece of art as much as it is a movie, I think, And so in that way, I do think it fits in with those masters very well.

Speaker 3

Fully.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I completely agree with that.

I watched this movie with my wife for the first time in twenty twenty three, not the first time I had seen it, but it was the first time she saw it, and the yelling is something that she had stick with her.

But other than that, I really want to point out how actually religious this movie is.

Like they actually have so much more than just the go to like exorcism scenes.

There are actual references to like the way that people handle themselves, rights that people acted out all the time, certain temples built the way that you see referred in many other pieces of doctrine.

This movie is like an intensely great piece of art for this whole Mexican wave of like Catholic horror in a way, and I am so happy that Mona maccapproll got their hands on it.

Speaker 4

Oh yeah, I think the devil.

And so the basic kind of setup, right is that Alokarta, her mom dies and so she's taken in by this convent and kind of raised in this convent.

But there's a there's a important moment when the mom dies where the devil comes in and basically is going to like protect her, right and so this sort of weird tie happens early on that as she gets older, I don't think, as she's a child, like, they don't really see signs of that or anything.

But then there's a moment as a teenager where there's another young woman who comes in named Justine, like you said, who comes into the convent, and they bored together and they instantly kind of form this really tight bond eventually, I mean quite quickly fall in love and make a life packed together essentially.

Speaker 3

Like a blood pack.

Yeah, blood packed.

Speaker 4

You don't see a lot of blood packs with blood from the breast.

I don't know if that's like a thing, I you know, But anyways, the devil is portrayed as this sort of like am I am I going crazy?

He's like a fawn, right, Like he's like the body of a man and the legs of a horse.

Speaker 3

Right something like that.

Speaker 4

Yeah, maybe he doesn't have four legs, but at least has like a hairy leg like at least like like I'm thinking almost of the guy from Narniah.

Speaker 3

Played by Tumbness, played by James McAvoy.

Speaker 4

Yeah, Tumbness, that's right, I'm almost maybe it's like that.

I can't remember anyways, I should remember, as rewatched this two days ago.

But he's kind of like guiding them this whole way, right and leading them down this path and it just spirals so so fast.

Speaker 2

It does, and again a lot of this, you know, we the spiraling so fast and like the building a fast bond.

What's crazy is the pacing in this movie.

This movie does not let up at all, because it's legitimately only seventy four minutes long, and they have so much crammed in that amount of time that it feels like it goes by at such a brisk pace that it's hard to.

Speaker 3

Keep up with a little bit.

Speaker 2

But I mean the visuals there are are astonishing, so you're brought in in every scene.

I mean, even like some of the individuals from you know, like the elders of the temple that they're in are are wearing these unique things that essentially it's like and it's not like normal robes.

It's gaze, but they're matted with blood, and so they're all the striking visuals that are just beautiful to look at.

Very bloody movie.

Speaker 3

This is one of the.

Speaker 2

More like, I don't even know the right way to say this, like well worn pieces of Mexican film history, because this one is so well known and yet so few have yet to see it that I know that we don't have a Blu ray yet.

I'm hoping someday either Mando or someone else is able to rescue the elements, but this movie deserves to be archived in every single way.

Speaker 3

Love this film.

Speaker 4

Yeah, I do think it's good to talk about the blood a little bit, because the interesting thing is, you assume when you first start the movie, you assume the way that it kind of goes into it goes into the plot.

You assume that Alokarda is gonna sort of take over this role as like the devil or like or she's going to be the ringleader.

And for sure, like to some extent, she is.

But I think as I watched this again, I was noticing that the arc of this film kind of lies even more in Justine, even though it's called Alokarta, because I think I was seeing it in a way where Alcarda sort of takes over.

Is she plays that like steady kind of force that's been She's given herself to the devil already, like that's done, so she's just kind of doing his bidding now.

But Justine actually has like a bit of an arc as the story goes on, and then I guess, I don't know if we spoil, but as the story ends, she ends up having the biggest transformation out of out of the lot, right, because they do try, like the church tries to contain them, like they try the what's it called exorcism route, and they try like these different things as they notice these, because there's a really important scene right before the exorcism where they basically call out the name of Satan and they are both in the room running around like like they're out of their minds invoking the name of Satan, and the and the everybody freaks out.

Uh, And then they put them through this exorcism and they basically just come back stronger and in a really interesting way.

Speaker 2

So so one thing that the blood is a big part of that I really wanted to bring up here is I mentioned how the actual like religious power structure power structures come into play in this film, because a lot of times when you're seeing an unsploitation film, it literally is leaning on that exploitation part and less on the non part.

And I feel like this is one of the best balanced versions of this type of story because we get actual references to like self flagellation and like you mentioned, the church sort of pulling them back to the exorcism and focusing on the sexual repression and everything else that is going on through these scenes that we can make out through all the screaming essentially.

But most of the time these movies really only give us the sexiness or they only give us the blood, and it's how many pairs of breast can we get on screen at the same time as somebody's spitting up blood in the background.

But this is actually like, no, there's like satanic reasons that we're going into every single one of these scenes.

And I really think this mixed with satanic and pandemonium that we're about to talk about, are two of the better entries into that and this is probably one of I mean, especially the fact that they do this on scene, the way that they film this is so perfect for the subject matter.

Speaker 4

Yeah, and I would even argue or proposed to you, I want to see what you think about this, that this is not purely an non exploitation film in the context of how the John is typically portrayed.

It's like a combination of a folk horror film and an exploitation movie.

Absolutely, Okay, Yeah, because I think Santantico Pandemonium not to jump ahead too much, but that plays a little bit more like an exploitation movie.

Yeah, and this one leans a little bit more into like the folk corps genre.

I just looked up pictures.

It's not that he has hairy legs or a goat or anything like that.

He's just a her suit individual.

Speaker 3

The devil.

Speaker 4

So he just has a hair like he just kind of has hair everywhere.

But in my mind it was anyways, But so it's not.

But he's the one thing I do kind of want to call out.

And the reason I was, I was kind of going here in the beginning and I got distracted.

But you know, this is in that folk horror genre, and both of these movies also have very much of a fairy tale quality to the way they begin, and I think that's an interesting choice.

Like they're they're very like I feel like both directors, but here we're talking about Maktazuma.

But I feel like they both really understand how to set this up in a way of almost making you feel safe and it's like serene and sweet and you have no idea of how messed up this is going to get in like forty minutes thirty minutes.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and that leads to all of the screaming that we hear throughout this entire film.

Speaker 3

And again, like.

Speaker 2

There's some very intimate scenes in this of course, but just some intimate imagery too to talk about.

I mean, even our two main characters we see literally like married by this goat headed figure, and all of these scenes are pieced together with actual religious imagery that I don't know.

This movie hits hard if you've never seen this for that first time, especially if you grew up close to any sort of like religious symbolism or studying any aspect of either Catholicism or just even really any Abrahamic religion.

Speaker 4

You know, since since the world is just a bunch of heathens now, it's probably worth mentioning some basic tenets that may not be obvious to people watching this now, But in Christianity, the goat has been linked to Satan, and a lot of that comes from the when Christians kind of got started the pagan worship at the time worshiped the goat God, and so was like that was viewed as like the opposite of kind of where they were going.

So that's rooted in the culture, I think as much as anything, but that symbolism has kind of stayed on beyond, beyond the teachings of Catholicism and Christianity and those things.

So the fact that he's a fond creature goat, and then like you said, there's an actual goat that comes in at some point.

I think it's the same character, right, I think it's just different visualizations of the same Satan character.

Speaker 3

Yep.

Speaker 4

But that's very rooted in the teachings of the church.

And then the idea of a marriage officiated by the devil is also a very powerful image in Catholicism that's offensive on like seven different levels.

In that scene, you know, you could probably argue even to women, to Catholics in the seventies would be offensive but the fact that they have blood on them, the fact that it's that it's they mix the blood and not only each other, but also the blood of this satan Fit character.

Like, there's a lot of things going on in that scene that would all be seen as quite controversial when they were released.

I'm trying to think if there's any other like core like Catholic or Christian tenets that would need to be called out.

I will say that one other thing that I like about this movie a lot, and I think this is I'm trying to remember now.

I hope I'm not getting these confused.

No, this one more than the Satanico.

The nuns are pure in this one, right, They're not evil like they're not.

They're not trying to get anything out of their relatively sincere nuns as far as I.

Speaker 2

Yeah, they're not like sexy nuns trying to get one over on the young virgin that just came into.

Speaker 3

The temple or anything like that.

Speaker 2

On that note, I think it's probably a good time to transfer over to Satanico Pandemonium, which is a much much more basic nonsploitation film.

But I mean this one, I don't know, it leans very heavily on some other references that we haven't brought up yet, like obviously the Devil's is something that you can see, you know, comparing to this easily, but one that you know, we don't really bring up enough with talking about nunsploitation films, especially ones that are as I don't know, as blatant, blatant or as explicit as this as this one.

But we got to go all the way back to Black Narcissus for many of these.

I mean, the references to that film are off the charts.

I mean you can see in very specific shots.

You can see it in the way people dress.

There are lots of ways that that laid the foundation for something like Satanico Pandemonium to be made.

What's interesting is this came out the exact same year, also in Mexico.

Manto Micabre had released this on DVD and then eventually released this on Blu Ray.

Speaker 3

I believe the Blu ray was twenty nineteen, I think something like that.

Speaker 2

This one is directed by Gilberto Martinez Solaris and it is only eighty nine minutes, So this is a hell of a double feature to take in less than three hours.

Speaker 3

If you really want to you want to tell us about this one?

Speaker 4

Yeah, no, this one is really interesting because not you know, there's a couple of different things that I think are worth mentioning.

One is that Alokarta, it kind of makes sense coming from a director like Maktezuma, who is tied in with a lot of those serialist movements and kind of outsider or movements that that probably wasn't as big of a surprise for him.

He had a more limited filmography.

He's only credited for directing six pictures or something like that, and most of them are horror, like it makes sense in his of wir or his catalog.

This one is a huge outlier for Gilberto Gilberto Solatis though.

Yeah, like it was not the beginning of his career.

He has one hundred and sixty two total movies that he's credited for as a director, So this is an extremely prolific studio director.

He's done everything from romance films to action films, but they're all very publicly sort of commercial like that's what he was known for, and there's an interest.

There's another interesting thing that I learned from catalinjer and Sam Degan on the commentary, which I think is super interesting.

The guy that played Satan in Satanico Pandemonium was famous for playing Christ in Mexico, and so you have this weird mix of like this commercial director think of like I don't know, like what a good example, just like a just like a boring standard, you know, studio director, right, just making all these kind of pictures that is sort of a nondescript name, and with a star who's actually played Christ coming out with this, which is like, you know, this is a this is a more interesting, nuanced attack on the church.

And there's a lot of hypocrisy in this film that's all over the place, and there's there's a huge discussion I think around the repressed nature of people inside like a what's like a nunnery or like a inside of a you know, a home like this, and it's just it just feels like it really came out of left field for Solaris, and it was two years before al Lakardo's, so there was no blueprint for this.

This was just a movie that came out and it was a bit random, and you know, like I think at the time, I don't know if really the Mexico population knew what to do with this.

It was not a hit, and so Larrics continue to work.

I mean, he was making movies to the year two thousand, so he was fine.

But yeah, this is just one of these gems that, like, I mean, we're about to get into it in just a second, but this is one of these gems that has no real logical reason for being made, and it's just so cool that it was no But I just think the thing that's the most interesting to me about Satanical Pandemonium other than kind of what I just said, I guess is, you know, they they expose this weird subculture of Catholicism that you could even make a link, like a dotted line link to this all the way to some of the stuff that's come out about like the depravity and the Catholic Church.

You know, there's like a there's this weird undertone of just repression.

And I don't even know if the women in Satanical Pandemonium are necessarily lesbian.

I mean there's portrayed that way, but I think you could read in a way that they're just horny and they repressed, and like they're just they're impressed by the character that comes in.

And yeah, I don't know, Like I just think it's like a it's a it's a different it's a different movie.

It's a very it's a more scathing movie, I think in some ways than a Lakarta, which is just a fun like not possession, but like satanic kind of gore fest, and this one, to me feels like it's trying to make more of a point.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that.

I guess we technically have not gone through the plot of Satanical you want to go in and share what actually is happening here, because this one's a little more dreamy.

Speaker 4

Good point.

So the thing that I think is interesting here at the beginning is that sister Maria is portrayed as this extremely wholesome character, like we see her in this almost like a with like very soft lighting, almost like like when they put vasiline on the edge of the frame, you know, like this extremely soft lighting.

Beautiful color.

I don't know if it's I don't know if it's like a what's technicolor, I don't know if it's quite there, but it's this beautiful color, very beautiful.

She's outside, she's in nature, and she's met immediately by this guy who we assume.

I mean, I think, I don't know how you felt, but right away I kind of felt like this was probably Satan who meets her in the garden and kind of tempts her and she runs away, and so you see her as somebody who's like not interested in whatever he was offering.

But then you also see her almost immediately in the first like ten minutes maybe start with self flagellation and some of her darker desires coming out.

He realized there's more to her than is shown at first, and the movie becomes I think, what what separates this in my mind from Alakata is where Alokarda and Justine were like all in on Satan.

They're like, hell, yeah, this is the way to go this movie.

It's it's it's very much a struggle I think between the two, and I think you really see this kind of struggle go back and forth throughout the film with Sister Maria and the nuns around her.

Are they just don't have they have no idea what to do with her because she's she's falling, but it's obvious that she's she's trying not to.

Speaker 2

Yeah, And that's where the cover on the Blu Ray actually, I think is a really good one.

The the funnel cover, because of course it is reversible.

It's got this hooded figure that is holding a funnel into a woman's mouth and then pouring something in, and it's really like, I don't know, like palpable imagery that is used for this movie, and so much so that the individual from Satanico is the one that inspired Sama Hayek's character and from Dust Till Dawn.

Speaker 4

Well that I mean that's yeah, that's her name, right, and yeah, is Satanical Pandemonium, Yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but obviously the look and all that, there's so much from this that I don't know if I still feel like there's so many people that are still yet to discover this, because this movie's great totally.

Speaker 4

No, I mean it's both of these movies are are excellent.

Like maybe we're not if that's not abundantly clear in the way we've been talking about them.

These are both exploitation masterpieces, Like they're they're right up there for me, both of them.

I love them.

I think the one that the personal struggle in Satanico is interesting, and the devil as he's portrayed again as he's portrayed in Christian and Catholic sort of theology is a trickster, right, And I think in Satanico the it's not so much of a like a SI trickster like it is in Alakarta, where he almost comes off as I don't want to say comical, but he almost has that little bit of like kind of whimsy to him.

He's like a goat looking dude and like, you know, but this one is much more He's just portrayed as like a human but he's tempting and the there's the way the movie ends is like the ultimate trick and I don't know, I guess we shouldn't get into spoilers, right, It's yeah, but it's a really it's a really good ending, and it's it's worth The movie's interesting all the way through in and of itself because it has everything that somebody looking for exploitation wants like it has.

I think this one's a little more sleazy than Al Lakarta, and like there's like a lesbian scene and there's like a you know, there's like a it's more sensual as opposed to just like a possession thing.

But there's also torture in this one, so it kind of has like everything that somebody who's really looking for these exploitation movies would want, but at the end it has this twist as well, so it's kind of it's entertaining throughout and it has everything you'd want if you're seeking out really interesting, weird exploitation movies.

But then it also has a really interesting ending that I actually rewatched three times because I was trying to figure out there's like certain moments that are critical for the way the movie ends, and I like, if you look away, like you this is a movie that you don't have to pay attention every half second, Like it's okay, like it kind of flows easily.

But then the ending, there's like a few critical moments where you really have to be watching to understand how she goes from I don't know, I mean, is it is it a spoiler or say she starts to even become a murderer.

I mean, I think that's a pretty critical part of this, right, that's not really a spoiler, right to go as she descends into becoming a pedophile, into becoming a murderer, and like all these things into then the way the movie ends, I was like, wait a minute, I miss something so I had to go back and walk watch it a few times.

Speaker 2

Well, even the Mono Macabro, the cover for the DVD kind of displays that in a way because it shows her ripping her robe open and the devil coming out of her essentially.

But what I mentioned earlier about these two is like a double header because of the runtime.

I kind of wanted to express that in a different way because there is this school of thought for programming film obviously that you have to think about with many of these, and these two are truly like a really great like eight o'clock and then midnight movie type of viewing back to back, because the first is a little bit more of like this broad understanding of the church through this almost nonsploitation type of feeling that feels dark and sinister but doesn't quite go there.

And then Satanico Pandemonium is like the sleazy older brother that comes in, focuses on the nonsplitation side and deliver and spade some of that stuff that al Jakarta was great for and did some excellent imagery with, but Satanico delivers on more of like a I'm gonna watch this one with the lights off and feel kind of skeezy about it.

Speaker 4

Speaking of is this the only time?

I was trying to rack my brain to think of another time where an older woman has like a sexual relationship or attempted sexual relationship with an underage boy.

I mean, I'm sure someone's gonna call out, like ten examples, it's certainly not as common.

If you think about a pedophilic relationship, it usually doesn't work that way in.

Speaker 3

Movies, I would agree, Yeah, especially.

Speaker 4

When the boy's not into it because like he doesn't want it, so it's kind of like a sexual assault as well.

And then anyways, I'm trying really hard not to get into spoiler.

There's so many things I want to say, but like that, I think you watch her, you watch her get caught up in this moment of like the way the movie portrays it, I think, get caught up in this moment of evil, right, and then immediately kind of recoil and realize what she's done.

And it's like it's this tension that I think makes it more than just an exploitations film.

It's also the actor's name.

Her last name is Pizzett, Caroline Pizzett, or she's Cecilia Pizzet and I think she does a fantastic job in this because she really has to show like an internal struggle, and I think she pulls it off.

From my side, she pulls it off.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, honestly, as far as pulling it off, the only thing I could say from these two films back to back that doesn't pull it off.

There's maybe a couple scenes in al Y Carter that leaves a little bit to be desired as far as acting, which almost feels like soap operas, telenovela type of acting, But honestly, it kind.

Speaker 3

Of just fits the vibe.

Speaker 2

It didn't pull out or anything I feel like, to be honest, both of these films are really well cast and deliver what they need to deliver.

When al Karta's asking the two leads to scream uncontrollably for seventy five minutes, man, do they do it?

Speaker 4

That's a really interesting way to think about it.

What are these movies promised?

Like if you haven't seen these films and we're gonna say, like, this is what you should expect from these movies.

I think for me, Satanical Pandemonium delivers on like more of what you would think of from an exploitation film, like it has a lot of the different elements of like like I think you summed it up perfectly a few minutes ago, something where you turn the lights off, watch it by yourself, turn the volume down a little bit, even if you're alone, and like and enjoy this this sleazy part of it, but also like a really well made, beautifully shot, constructed film from a highly seasoned filmmaker who was extremely technically kit competent.

And al Lukarta is a bit more of like a work of art, like a bit more of like a modern art piece, a bit more of like tied into the folklore and getting into more of like a it's almost like it almost feels pagan at times to me a little bit with the way it's engaging with nature and the goat character, and it has like a little bit more of that focus.

Still a lot of exploitation, but I don't think Alokarta is sensual almost ever.

It's more the sexuality and it is almost more tied into like the the not the possession.

I keep wanting to say possession, because it's not possession.

It's just like it's just tied into the way they're like descending into Satan's grasps, right.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, it's like the the integration of that into their lives as they get closer and closer to each other.

And honestly, I mean you can almost look at it from that point of view.

The intimacy is in kind of just the relatelationship and not like in a sexual relationship, but literally a bond, as they literally made a pact to each other, and so that's that's where that intimacy happens.

Speaker 3

But yeah, you just mentioned.

Speaker 2

The last thing that I wanted to bring up about the two is the main difference is to me when I look back on these is sort of the setting because al ju Karta is very natural nature like trees, blades of grass in some of these settings, cave type feeling on some and then Satanico is literally like inside the belly of a temple or like castle type grounds essentially while you're looking at it, and it gives a very different feeling for the two.

But again like two very complementary sides of the same coin.

Speaker 4

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree it it.

I don't know why I have this desire to like separate them a little bit, like they're two different experiences but one hundred percent they're a great double feature.

Like, there's no doubt they're a great double feature.

And I think just because they're different enough, it gives you like something interesting to latch onto, right for for each one of those.

Speaker 2

Yeah, anybody into film programming, you'll you don't want to play like two identical movies or movies that have the same vibe or anything back to back.

And these are quite different, even though you know we're listening that they're both in the non exploitation genre and whatever they I mean, different vibes altogether.

Satanico is much quieter than aw Yu Karta, and not just because of the screaming.

It's it feels a little more humble at least in how it's developed.

The way that they approach it is through you know, nature versus the inside of this temple is completely different.

But it's it's definitely, uh, two films that will keep your attention if you if you're into this style of film or have never watched it.

I think it's something that will be appealing to you to watch back to back.

I think those are two really good entries into nounsplitation too.

Speaker 3

I mean I kind of agree.

Speaker 4

I think when most people think of nun exploitation, they probably think of what like German films.

Yeah, for the most part.

I mean there's a few from the UK.

There's a few from Japan, although the non movies from Japan go in a whole different direction.

Speaker 3

But those get cloistered.

Speaker 4

Exactly.

Maybe Italy has a bunch, but like it's European basically, right, Yeah, this is like a nice it has like it adds that extra layer of like Mexico culture and Catholicism and that brand of Catholicism.

Speaker 3

So yeah, I agree, good good, good good.

Speaker 2

Next month, we want to highlight the two films we're gonna be covering.

We're bringing back somebody that we both have shown some appreciation for in the past, but we got two titles from Anto Macabro that are going to be exciting to discuss.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

I think for me, I talk a lot about my love for Japanese movies, and the other day on the on the Vinegar Syndrome discord, we got into ranking countries by by like the best films they've produced, and Japan for me was either second or third.

I think it was second, but or maybe it was even number one because I think the cool thing about Japan is that like it, just they don't.

You don't know about it as much if you're if you're kind of getting into it.

But no matter what genre of film you want to go down, they've got they have an incredibly deep pool of rabbit holes you can go down in like any genre.

And one of the genres that is really interesting in Japan has been this experimental almost like industrial kind of punk like or maybe even like steampunk kind of esthetic.

And the leader of that, or at least one of the more international names of that, is Shinya Sukumoto.

And obviously a lot of people know him by Tetsu with the Iron Man, or at least have heard of that movie, even if he's not a household name.

But Mondo has put out two of his movies, correct, yep, So yeah, let's do those.

I think the one that I had picked, which I would love to love to go over, it's just I hate to say it's one of my favorite films from him, because everyone's gonna think I'm a weirdo.

But to be fair, like liking Sukumota already kind of put you in the weirdo camp to begin with, but.

Speaker 3

That is true.

Speaker 4

Huko a Goblin is like one of the older blue rays from them.

Speaker 3

And then the other one that they've got is Gemini.

Speaker 2

And these are films that don't get brought I mean, Hiroku maybe is one that now gets brought up a little more when discussing Sukamoto, but of course everybody's talking about essentially one film with Sukamoto, and we really want to dive into something else, to not just labor one filmmaker for one title, because that does happen often, and they have a full filmography that we really should give some attention to.

Speaker 3

So yeah, that'll be in January.

Speaker 2

We will get that recorded and out sometime in January, unless we have some sort of delay, but that is the plan at the moment.

These were a really fun way to end the year.

But other than that, we'd love to hear from you what you're thinking about this.

You can leave a review on iTunes of course, or rating on Spotify, any of the social media posts where Monta Micabro posts these, or we post these under someone's favorite productions that there's a new episode up.

We'd love to hear what you're thinking about the show, anything that you'd like us to integrate.

We can do our best to make that happen.

When the bundle comes out in January.

Chris and I have talked about this.

We may do two of those new titles for February.

We just don't want to spoil them too much for people because we're all kind of getting in on that first wave and so we want to give people time to watch them and get to know the new releases.

But other than that, you got anything you want to share with everybody?

Speaker 4

Chris, No, I mean I want to like to add on to what you said, Like, we especially want to hear from people because there's a ton of y'all that listen to this, So like, thank you.

First of all, I'm constantly surprised there's there's a ton of all that tune in and listen to this every time we put one out, So thank you.

That's amazing.

And like I'd love to hear what you think because the thing that always surprises me and this is just more reflection on my own insecurities than anything else.

But like, I just expect the numbers to drop over time, and like they don't really like I like, people really tune in and seem to like this show, so I'd love to know, like what you want to hear more about, if there's any ideas you have that just just to repeat what Ryan said, I mean, it's obviously Mona Micaper has a huge brand, so I'm extremely honored to be a part of this as like any kind of an official capacity with Jared and Pete and obviously you Ryan, we were so intertwined at this point.

But it's a nice way to reconvene with you once a month and before usd to talk for an hour or two and no, I just like just thank you.

I mean, it's the end of the year, so I'm in a very contemplative mood to begin with, and I've got family over, so there's an undercurrent of being annoyed already because they're all busting in and making noise.

I'm but no, I'm just feeling very appreciative, and I really I want to love this community.

But I don't know who you all are, so make yourselves known and let us love on you.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we are loving what we're doing and can't wait to share more of the next year.

We're looking to innovate some of those things in twenty twenty five and keep delivering some of these retrospective titles, because again Monta Micabroo has been around, as we showed tonight, for decades literally, and some of these releases have for some people been belabored to death, but for other people they're just discovering them for the first time.

And so if we can do a little bit of diving into some of these and inspire you to watch one either again or for the first time, that's all we can hope for.

All Right, for myself and Chris Askell, thanks for your time.

We'll see you again in January.

Thanks to Pete and Jared and enjoy taking a deep dive in the wild side of cinema.

Speaker 4

Thanks veryan, Thanks Ryan.

Speaker 5

Hello, this is Matt and Emily from Scarecrow Video in Seattle, Washington.

Did you know that we have the largest video collection in the world.

We have over one hundred and forty six thousand titles and grow.

That's over three times more than Netflix, Amazon Max, and Hulu combined.

Speaker 6

Plus a Scarecrow now offers rent by mail service throughout the US, so check out Scarecrow Video dot org for details.

You can catch Emily and I or Matt and I.

If that was going to be you saying that on our biweekly YouTube show Viva Physical Media for video recommendations and so much more.

Speaker 3

CEA bye e.

Speaker 1

Thank you for listening.

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