Hugh Grant, Amanda Donohoe, and Peter Capaldi star in Ken Russell's nutso 1988 horror cult classic The Lair of the White Worm. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the plane sex dream sequence, if Lady Sylvia Marsh lives in the snake basket, all the phallic imagery, the rules of the white worm's followers, Amanda Donohoe's amazing performance and costumes, if the butler was weird or just British, and so much more. Buy our "Snakes and the City" shirt design HERE.
Hugh Grant, Amanda Donohoe, and Peter Capaldi star in Ken Russell's nutso 1988 horror cult classic The Lair of the White Worm. Paul, June, and Jason discuss the plane sex dream sequence, if Lady Sylvia Marsh lives in the snake basket, all the phallic imagery, the rules of the white worm's followers, Amanda Donohoe's amazing performance and costumes, if the butler was weird or just British, and so much more.
Buy our "Snakes and the City" shirt design HERE.
[00:00:00] Paul Scheer: It's Snakes on a Plane. I mean, actually literally it is. But it's also snakes in a lot of other places, like a Downton, uh, in a pit. Uh, there's a lot of snakes. We saw Lair of the White Worm, so you know what that means.
[00:00:15] Music: [Intro Song]
[00:00:16] Paul Scheer: Hello people of Earth and welcome to How Did This Get Made. I am Paul Scheer, and today we are kicking off spooky season with the 1988 cult horror film, The Lair of the White Worm.
[00:00:27] The plot of this one, uh- Tricky, tricky-
[00:00:31] Jason Mantzoukas: Good luck.
[00:00:32] Paul Scheer: ... tricky, tricky. Uh, I, I really should introduce you to then try to break this down-
[00:00:36] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:00:36] Paul Scheer: ... but I'll do it by myself.
[00:00:37] Jason Mantzoukas: The, the, the plot synopsis for this i- would be very difficult.
[00:00:40] Paul Scheer: Okay, so there's this archeologist, Angus Flint, played by Peter Capaldi. Now he is-
[00:00:45] Jason Mantzoukas: Like a kid. Kid Capaldi ...
[00:00:47] Paul Scheer: Kid Capaldi, kid Doctor Who. He's digging up-
[00:00:49] June Diane Raphael: Who by the way-
[00:00:50] Paul Scheer: Yes ...
[00:00:50] June Diane Raphael: At one point in the movie, I thought, I thought Hugh Grant was playing both characters.
[00:00:56] Paul Scheer: Yes. Hugh Grant is in it, and I thought the same thing.
[00:00:59] Jason Mantzoukas: Hugh Grant is in it, and Peter Capaldi has classic, early Hugh Grant floppy hair- aKA Jessica St. Clair's, uh, college haircut.
[00:01:09] Paul Scheer: There was a, a wide shot of them walking into the house and I could not tell either of them apart.
[00:01:14] June Diane Raphael: Similar bone structure, similar teeth. Like it was really-
[00:01:20] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah ...
[00:01:20] June Diane Raphael: Confusing at once.
[00:01:20] Jason Mantzoukas: No, they look like brothers more than the women playing sisters look like sisters.
[00:01:25] Paul Scheer: Well, this is a good point. Brings us to the next plot point which is, uh, this archeologist, Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi. He is, uh, digging up, uh, the backyard of this B&B run by these sisters, Mary and Eve Trent. Now, Eve Trent is dating Hugh Grant. Not Hugh Grant, the actor, but this young lord- Uh, James.
[00:01:47] Jason Mantzoukas: That would be awesome.
[00:01:49] Paul Scheer: Uh, she's dating this young lord, and, um, basically, uh, Hugh Grant's family is associated with this bizarre local legend that says his ancestor slayed a giant white worm centuries prior. Now, the movie's villain is the Trent sisters' seductive neighbor, Lady Sylvia Marsh, uh, who is amazing. I mean, she's A+ in this movie for me.
[00:02:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh- Yes ... incredible stuff. And she is an immortal being who's been alive for centuries, um, helping to maintain... So this is like all the folktales rolled into one, essentially.
[00:02:30] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:02:30] Jason Mantzoukas: So with a little bit of the occult thrown in.
[00:02:33] Paul Scheer: And she's also a snake, right? I mean.
[00:02:35] Jason Mantzoukas: She's a snake as well. Yes. Uh, I believe that is how she is immortal. Um, and she is-
[00:02:40] June Diane Raphael: Also, we don't ever see her as a snake.
[00:02:42] Jason Mantzoukas: No.
[00:02:43] Paul Scheer: Well, we get her blue.
[00:02:44] June Diane Raphael: We see her ph- we see her blue, and we see her physicality as a snake. But when she is in the basket- ... where I think she sleeps-
[00:02:54] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes.
[00:02:54] June Diane Raphael: ... by the fireplace.
[00:02:54] Jason Mantzoukas: Guys, we gotta talk about the basket We got to talk about the basket.
[00:02:59] June Diane Raphael: At one point she's charmed by the music that Hugh Grant is playing from his manor out of giant red speakers on the roof.
[00:03:07] Paul Scheer: Right, giant red speakers that look like indoor speakers that were somehow-
[00:03:11] June Diane Raphael: Yes.
[00:03:11] Paul Scheer: ... uh, you know.
[00:03:12] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, that, I mean, the, the butler says that he had the men hook it up like that, like, as per Hugh's request.
[00:03:18] June Diane Raphael: Okay, so we'll get into the, that tech element in a second, but when she-
[00:03:22] Jason Mantzoukas: I mean, imagine you're their neighbor. That's like being, like, living next door to a TikTok house.
[00:03:27] June Diane Raphael: When she's slithering out of the basket-
[00:03:30] Jason Mantzoukas: So funny.
[00:03:30] June Diane Raphael: ... and she's doing such incredible physical-
[00:03:34] Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah.
[00:03:34] June Diane Raphael: ... snake work, incredible stuff, but she's a person, so my question is, if we were to open that basket at any point during the movie, would a snake be in there?
[00:03:46] Jason Mantzoukas: You know-
[00:03:47] Paul Scheer: Oh, no.
[00:03:47] June Diane Raphael: Or would a lady be in there?
[00:03:48] Jason Mantzoukas: I don't, I don't know if I...
[00:03:50] So the movie doesn't answer that question because there is the white worm, the big, like-
[00:03:54] June Diane Raphael: That's the big snake.
[00:03:56] Jason Mantzoukas: ... prehistoric snake worm element that is in the cave, in the cavern at the end.
[00:04:00] June Diane Raphael: Who's also a god, maybe the devil.
[00:04:03] Paul Scheer: Well, yes and the white worm is kind of still alive centuries past because he's going through tunnels underground in this English countryside. Um, but funny fact that I found in researching it, uh, the white worm is the hood of a VW Bug that has been painted.
[00:04:19] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, that's really funny.
[00:04:21] Paul Scheer: So that mouth-
[00:04:22] June Diane Raphael: The actual white worm?
[00:04:22] Paul Scheer: That, yeah, that mouth that is in the-
[00:04:24] June Diane Raphael: Oh, cool.
[00:04:25] Paul Scheer: ... cave coming up is just a-
[00:04:26] June Diane Raphael: Well, that was very well done.
[00:04:27] Paul Scheer: It was very well done.
[00:04:28] Jason Mantzoukas: Every, I will say, and I mean, you know, I think, you know, this movie, does it deserve to be on the show? Absolutely. There's so much to unpack and talk about, uh, from this movie, but this is a proper Ken Russell film, you know? Like, this is- There's a-
[00:04:41] June Diane Raphael: This movie is a success-
[00:04:42] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:43] June Diane Raphael: ... as far as I'm concerned.
[00:04:44] Jason Mantzoukas: Absolutely.
[00:04:44] June Diane Raphael: It is exactly what... When I saw, we watched it on Prime Video, and when I saw-
[00:04:52] Jason Mantzoukas: Not a plug.
[00:04:53] Paul Scheer: Not a plug.
[00:04:54] June Diane Raphael: N- not, not a plug. This is where we saw it.
[00:04:55] Paul Scheer: Yes, we have an upcoming show on Amazon Prime. It's not a plug, though. It's not a plug.
[00:05:00] June Diane Raphael: No, call it Prime Video, baby. Call out Prime Video.
[00:05:02] Paul Scheer: Prime Video, sorry, yes.
[00:05:03] June Diane Raphael: I'm starring in a Prime Video series.
[00:05:04] Paul Scheer: Sorry, so sorry. I'm so- Prime Video series.
[00:05:06] June Diane Raphael: First season is out, but you c- you, when you turn it on, there is a big sticker that, or there's a sticker on top of the icon that says cult classic or cult, cult horror or something like that. And I was like, "Oh, well I guess we'll see about that." But as soon as it started, I, and from beginning to end, I was like, "This is absolutely successful in every single way."
[00:05:31] Jason Mantzoukas: Agree. I agree 100%. I mean, it's a nutso magutso movie. This to me, and it's so funny that we're doing this so close to The Legend of Billie Jean, only in as much as both of them for me are iconic VHS boxes for rent-
[00:05:46] Paul Scheer: Oh, absolutely.
[00:05:46] Jason Mantzoukas: In the video store. The Legend of Billie Jean I rented 1 million times, but The Lair of the White Worm I didn't because it was like R-rated, and even from the box alone, I was like, "I know there's boobs in that. There's definitely gonna be boobs in that movie." And guess what?
[00:06:03] Paul Scheer: So many boobs.
[00:06:03] Jason Mantzoukas: There was.
[00:06:04] Paul Scheer: So many boobs, and by the way, there was gonna be, uh, some, some dong in there as well, but the guy that she, uh, attempts to kill in the bathtub got nervous on the day of the shoot and refused to take off his swim trunks.
[00:06:16] Jason Mantzoukas: Aw.
[00:06:17] June Diane Raphael: That's okay. He was quite young.
[00:06:18] Paul Scheer: He was quite young. By the way, these voices that you're hearing are Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. Okay. But you all know that.
[00:06:23] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, whoa.
[00:06:23] Paul Scheer: Hi.
[00:06:24] Jason Mantzoukas: For new listeners.
[00:06:25] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:06:26] June Diane Raphael: Uh, here's the thing. W- here's what I was confounded by. The, when we meet the Trent sisters at their Airbnb and they are sort of portrayed as, like, real country bumpkins. But when we meet them-
[00:06:39] Paul Scheer: Fun.
[00:06:40] June Diane Raphael: ... well, when we, we meet them, they're in a great mood.
[00:06:43] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:06:44] June Diane Raphael: They're doing bits. They're jaunty. They're, you know, uh, giggling, having fun, taking the piss.
[00:06:53] Paul Scheer: Out of Angus. They're calling him-
[00:06:55] June Diane Raphael: Out of Angus ...
[00:06:55] Paul Scheer: Well, they call him, like-
[00:06:56] June Diane Raphael: And by the way-
[00:06:56] Paul Scheer: Mr. Smart. They, you know, they, they, they go, "How do you know that, Mr. Smart?" But- But he is a archeologist. He should know some of these things.
[00:07:03] June Diane Raphael: Well, but we will come to find out that their parents have disappeared.
[00:07:09] Paul Scheer: Only a year ago.
[00:07:10] Jason Mantzoukas: Like, a year ago, yeah.
[00:07:11] June Diane Raphael: Within the year.
[00:07:12] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. Locally.
[00:07:14] June Diane Raphael: Look, feet away?
[00:07:15] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:07:16] Paul Scheer: I mean, doesn't-
[00:07:16] June Diane Raphael: And I'm like, wait, that doesn't necessarily line up with those two women that I saw.
[00:07:23] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:07:23] June Diane Raphael: I also couldn't figure out, the time it took me to figure out who's Angus. Actually, I still don't know. How, how are they connected to Angus?
[00:07:30] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, I, that's what I don't know either. I don't know, they, at first I thought he was just a guest at the Airbnb who's an archeologist who decided to excavate the backyard.
[00:07:40] But then he so quickly finds the fossilized skull of a snake, of a giant snake, that they're conjecturing is a dinosaur, or he's also uncovered Roman era coins and so forth. Um, so does he know that stuff? He's digging right where all this stuff is. Does he know something?
[00:07:58] Paul Scheer: I think he says that he is digging on the site of an old convent.
[00:08:02] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh.
[00:08:02] Paul Scheer: And I, and I, I don't know if this is what they do-
[00:08:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, that makes sense-
[00:08:05] Paul Scheer: Like, an apprenticeship
[00:08:05] Jason Mantzoukas: ... for the end of the movie.
[00:08:07] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:08:07] Jason Mantzoukas: When she's trying to kill-
[00:08:09] June Diane Raphael: But Paul. Yeah. Yes, but Paul, how does he know that?
[00:08:13] Paul Scheer: Well, this is a great question, 'cause I'm imagining that, you know, when you're a young archeologist, they, they go, "Okay, now your final project, not write an essay, just go out into the field, dig your own pit by yourself and see what you can find." Because he does seem to be doing this without, there's no reason to have dug, dug up anything, and it just seems like he's just out there-
[00:08:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, now that you say that about the convent, it, I guess it does make a little sense to me. 'Cause he knows there's a thing there, and at the end of the movie when, um, Eve is kidnapped by her ladyship, um, her ladyship is like, "I've known y- I've known you for centuries.
[00:08:49] Reincarnation is real. You, I've met you before. You used to be a nun. How, and you and your, your coven, or your con- You built a convent on the site of my whatever."
[00:09:00] June Diane Raphael: Mm-hmm.
[00:09:00] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? So he knows the convent was there. What he doesn't know is that the convent was part of this other-
[00:09:06] Paul Scheer: Right, because the snake thing is-
[00:09:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Whole occult version snake thing.
[00:09:10] Paul Scheer: Now, what I will say is this.
[00:09:12] June Diane Raphael: Hmm.
[00:09:12] Paul Scheer: Um, it's one of the very few movies that I watched the first five minutes of and I said, "I don't understand anything, but I'm not worried about it." Yeah. And I, and I think if you can really just check out, there's a lot of talking there. And, and in almost mad cap talking, like 1940s kinda like- Yeah ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. It's like-
[00:09:38] Movie Audio: Found the missing link or something.
[00:09:38] Don't worry, it's only an old fossil. It won't bite. Sexy beast, isn't he? The caveman, I mean.
[00:09:45] If that's a primitive man, it looks like a dinosaur sat on him.
[00:09:48] It is a dinosaur, I think.
[00:09:50] Oh, go pull the other one.
[00:09:53] Our dad had a cow look like that once, called Bessie. I reckon that's Bessie.
[00:09:57] Silly moo, that's not a cow. It's got no horns.
[00:10:00] Oh, me spotted dick.
[00:10:01] Paul Scheer: And it, it is, I think, meant to put you off balance, and I feel like, to your point, Ken Russell is constantly doing this, right? Ken Russell, if you don't know, was known for, like, a movie called Altered States. He made Tommy. Just a, a filmmaker who could, uh, make something genuinely beautiful one minute and completely insane the next. And I feel like-
[00:10:22] Jason Mantzoukas: Like a real, uh, avant-garde provocateur-
[00:10:26] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:10:26] Jason Mantzoukas: ... um, filmmaker of that era, so, you know, all of the crazy psychedelic stuff that's part of, like, the visions people are having when they get bit by the snakes, that to me is vintage Ken Russell, as well as-
[00:10:39] Paul Scheer: Which I loved.
[00:10:39] Jason Mantzoukas: ... Oh, loved all of it, as well as all of the religious stuff, you know? That, like, that so much of it is a battle between the followers of Christ and the rejected followers of some snake god, you know?
[00:10:52] June Diane Raphael: Yes, but can I just say, though, the followers of Christ don't seem to be very religious.
[00:10:57] Paul Scheer: No, they s-
[00:10:59] June Diane Raphael: Aside from having a crucifix up-
[00:11:01] Jason Mantzoukas: Aside from, yes.
[00:11:01] June Diane Raphael: ... Which is like, seems like a remnant of their parents, they don't go to church. They don't seem to call on any sort of higher power for comfort or faith or anything. They don't seem, they just seem to be living on top of an old convent.
[00:11:18] Jason Mantzoukas: I, and I do think that's part of it, is they were living on this site and are the, the reincarnated versions of the nuns who lived there. I think-
[00:11:26] June Diane Raphael: Okay.
[00:11:27] Jason Mantzoukas: ... I think it is cumulative.
[00:11:28] Paul Scheer: Oh, wow.
[00:11:28] June Diane Raphael: Okay.
[00:11:29] Jason Mantzoukas: You know, I, again, I'm, I might be reading this wrong. I'm going by just the speech that her ladyship gives to Eve when Eve has been abducted.
[00:11:37] Paul Scheer: Well, now I'm also thinking that there's a thing where you have the Order of Christ, but then Romans, I th- I'm gonna group them together because the Romans are also very sex, uh, forward, I would say, a- as we see in that orgy scene. Like, the Romans are, are basically having an orgy under Christ on the cross. That's happening, too.
[00:11:58] June Diane Raphael: Uh, I wouldn't say an orgy. I would say the Romans are pillaging and raping all of those nuns.
[00:12:03] Paul Scheer: Okay, got it.
[00:12:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes.
[00:12:04] Paul Scheer: Okay, got it.
[00:12:05] June Diane Raphael: So that seems like an important distinction.
[00:12:06] Paul Scheer: I, thank you.
[00:12:06] Jason Mantzoukas: And my, my guess is that those soldiers are from the rebellious leader who is the statue in-
[00:12:16] June Diane Raphael: Yes.
[00:12:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Her house. So she-
[00:12:18] June Diane Raphael: I think that's right ...
[00:12:19] Jason Mantzoukas: She follows a, what it, what, what was he called? The rebel emperor or something like that.
[00:12:26] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:12:26] June Diane Raphael: Mm. Mm-hmm.
[00:12:26] Jason Mantzoukas: She follows a bad guy, and I think those Romans are the Romans that were part of her ladyship's group of people, 'cause she's, talks about having been alive at that time.
[00:12:38] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:12:39] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:12:39] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? Her lover was that emperor, you know?
[00:12:42] Paul Scheer: Now, I will say that there is a, a, a British tale about, uh, the Lambton Worm, which is kind of like a, not even, I wouldn't say an urban legend. It's more of like a, a fairy tale about a young boy who goes fishing, and he catches a worm, and then The worm kind of continues to change.
[00:13:01] Somebody can really set us straight, but not that we, we need to know everything. But this is kind of based on some old folklore, and then it's also based on this other book that he read but he hated, and he wanted to kind of just really, uh, celebrate Bram Stoker's Dracula. So he kind of combined... Oh- and he also combined some of his neighbors. So Ken Russell's version of the events here are a little bit of Bram Stoker's-
[00:13:27] June Diane Raphael: That's funny ...
[00:13:27] Paul Scheer: Little bit of Dracula, little bit of his neighbors, little bit of an old- ... an old tale.
[00:13:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, what I did like about it was even though there is... It's small in scope in terms of, like, it's, uh, English countryside-
[00:13:40] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:13:40] Jason Mantzoukas: English manor, all that stuff, but there's not that many people in it. But you do really get a sense of this oddball, small English town. It's-
[00:13:48] Paul Scheer: I think the scene with the cops-
[00:13:49] Jason Mantzoukas: Like a-
[00:13:50] Paul Scheer: ... the cop was really great
[00:13:50] June Diane Raphael: ... so much so-
[00:13:51] Jason Mantzoukas: Ernie the cop. Yeah, great.
[00:13:52] June Diane Raphael: Peter the butler, and b- who by the way- I wanted to talk about Peter the butler for a, a long time.
[00:13:58] Jason Mantzoukas: Let's get into it.
[00:13:59] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:13:59] June Diane Raphael: Cause Peter the butler, both Paul and I thought for most of the movie that he had already been bitten.
[00:14:04] Paul Scheer: Yeah. He looks to me- he looks to me off.
[00:14:07] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, no, he's just British.
[00:14:08] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:14:09] Jason Mantzoukas: He's just- That's-
[00:14:09] June Diane Raphael: But Jason, why was he-
[00:14:11] Jason Mantzoukas: You have to, you have to forgive, you s- you have to, you have to watch it through a lens that is British people.
[00:14:15] June Diane Raphael: Okay, but why was he, first of all, making so much noise that morning-
[00:14:20] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes.
[00:14:20] June Diane Raphael: ... when Hugh was sleeping?
[00:14:22] Jason Mantzoukas: Like, he, he is the, he... My guy is too old.
[00:14:25] June Diane Raphael: So much. So much noise. But then every time Hugh Grant would say something, like, a- about what was going on or what wa- he was preparing or what... or the, or the lady, he was having these reactions and these eyes, big eyes, small, big, back to big eyes, small look, almost looked straight to camera. It felt like so much was going on with him that we didn't know anything about.
[00:14:54] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:14:55] Jason Mantzoukas: ... so I agree with that. I agree with that. He was also very sweaty all the time. Um-
[00:15:00] Paul Scheer: It was hot there.
[00:15:00] Jason Mantzoukas: ... And also he seemed like... I kept being like, "Does Peter have more to say?" Because every once in a while he'd be like, "I remember your father said... did this thing." And I'm like, "Oh, whoa, whoa. Did his father have information that Hugh Grant needs to defeat the white worm? Does, like, Peter have inside info, uh, for, uh, Hugh Grant?" But no, the answer is no. But, um, like, I kept being like, "Oh, he seems to have information from the past about how Hugh Grant's dad might have dealt with it."
[00:15:29] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:15:29] Paul Scheer: Do you think that that's a British thing, like he won't really, uh-
[00:15:33] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, too polite?
[00:15:34] Paul Scheer: Uh, yes, too polite.
[00:15:37] June Diane Raphael: Now, one of my only critiques of the movie is that we didn't make the Trent sisters, like, the protagonists and the heroes of the movie. I mean, I thought that was so bizarre. But, but when Hugh Grant is li- he says he's just come into the inheritance, and he's living just like an aristocrat, and there's housemaidens, and he, there's a butler, and I, I, I kept on asking myself, "What year is it?"
[00:16:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, it's modern. I, I- It's contemporary to the '80s. They have cordless phones.
[00:16:13] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:16:13] June Diane Raphael: No, but there were, there, the way he was living and, with Peter, was, it felt like so
[00:16:22] Jason Mantzoukas: June, British I agree.
[00:16:23] June Diane Raphael: British.
[00:16:23] Jason Mantzoukas: But I, here's, here's what, here's the horrifying news I'm gonna tell you. These people are still living like that.
[00:16:28] Paul Scheer: Well, we could-
[00:16:28] Jason Mantzoukas: Like, we could make a show right now-
[00:16:31] June Diane Raphael: It's crazy stuff
[00:16:31] Jason Mantzoukas: ... and it's, it's the same.
[00:16:32] June Diane Raphael: But he felt very Downton Abbey-
[00:16:33] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:16:33] Paul Scheer: Well, but then, but then they would have, like, incongruous things like, uh, the band playing there. That, that was very 1988, but then also he's going through his record collection, like his vinyl record collection, and that also felt 1988. But it was in a room that feels like it hadn't been updated since Downton, right? Like, uh-
[00:16:51] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:16:51] Jason Mantzoukas: I, I mean, I agree with you 100%. I do feel like the, the lives of the aristocrats don't look very different today-
[00:17:00] June Diane Raphael: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:00] Jason Mantzoukas: From 1988, from 1948 to 1928.
[00:17:04] June Diane Raphael: Okay, it's a good point because, correct me if I'm wrong, Hugh does not have a job in this movie.
[00:17:11] Jason Mantzoukas: No. His job is to be a snake killer. Event-
[00:17:14] June Diane Raphael: When he puts-
[00:17:14] Jason Mantzoukas: Or, or worm killer.
[00:17:15] June Diane Raphael: ... but when he puts on his aristocratic finest and he goes over to the lady's house, what is his... And he says, "I just heard you got a, a-" A snake "heard your snake-"
[00:17:25] Paul Scheer: Well, because I think he is- his ancestors killed the worm, so I think now he's like-
[00:17:30] June Diane Raphael: I guess I'm just saying he put on a uniform as though he was a part of the military or as-
[00:17:34] Paul Scheer: Right, to go get that s-
[00:17:34] June Diane Raphael: ... as though he was a part of a larger organization. And I was like, "What are you?"
[00:17:37] Jason Mantzoukas: I agree with you there. He's wearing that uniform at the party, too.
[00:17:40] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:17:41] Jason Mantzoukas: And so that led me to think like, oh, might he be a soldier? Or was he-
[00:17:46] June Diane Raphael: Yes.
[00:17:46] Jason Mantzoukas: ... Some sort of military man? It doesn't get really referenced, and it's not like the- I- ... he has any expertise in battle that is helpful to fighting the snake or the worm. That's not the case.
[00:17:57] Paul Scheer: I almost feel like he is the rich person of the county, and if there's any problems, he kind of, he's like the mayor. Like, so he's coming out and he's checking in.
[00:18:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, and it's his land. Right. That's the other thing he's saying is this is, it's his land. He owns her house, and he's basically, "I heard you had some trouble," you know?
[00:18:11] But, um, he is so good at being this kind of fancy, uh, uh, without a care in the world. Like, there are multiple people who've turned into vampiric snakes in his home, and he's on the phone being like, "You know, I think there's more reptiles here. It's cool."
[00:18:30] June Diane Raphael: He keeps it casual.
[00:18:30] Jason Mantzoukas: He doesn't hold the sword.
[00:18:32] June Diane Raphael: He doesn't ever-
[00:18:33] Jason Mantzoukas: He's, yeah.
[00:18:33] June Diane Raphael: Raise his voice. He -
[00:18:35] Jason Mantzoukas: He's never shocked by anything.
[00:18:37] Paul Scheer: But he is, too.
[00:18:38] June Diane Raphael: He's so casual.
[00:18:38] Paul Scheer: Look, this is, this is, I think, what is hard to parse. It's the Britishness that is bizarre because when that cop, who is doing a full-on comedy scene, and I do believe that there are scenes in this movie that are being played for co-
[00:18:50] Jason Mantzoukas: Which, which scene?
[00:18:50] Paul Scheer: The scene where he's like,
[00:18:51] Movie Audio: Hello, Charlie. Ernie here." I'm up at Temple House. There's an intruder on the premises. Get over here as quick as you can.
[00:19:01] How can I? You got car.
[00:19:04] I know I've got the car. Get a taxi.
[00:19:06] No, arrested him for drunken driving.
[00:19:09] You've locked him up for drunken driving? I don't believe it.
[00:19:15] I'm having me dinner.
[00:19:17] I don't care if you are in the middle of your supper.
[00:19:19] But me takeaway will be ruined.
[00:19:20] Fuck the Kilkenny fried turkey and get on your bike.
[00:19:23] I can't, me pump's broke.
[00:19:26] I see. Well, you can take your bicycle pump and shove it up your arse.
[00:19:32] Paul Scheer: But you know, like, they're, they're doing a whole scene, right? Then he sees this woman in the middle of the woods, and she is dressed to the nines, and she's in white, and she looks great. He doesn't take her in as being odd, um, or anything. Like, and now I, I-
[00:19:45] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, he knows her ...
[00:19:46] Paul Scheer: Okay, so he knows-
[00:19:46] Jason Mantzoukas: It's her, it's her ladyship. She's like-
[00:19:48] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:19:48] Jason Mantzoukas: ... the, the, the boss of, of this, you know-
[00:19:51] Paul Scheer: So she'd been dormant.
[00:19:52] June Diane Raphael: Yes, but she's not there all the time.
[00:19:53] Jason Mantzoukas: She's not there because she hibernates, she says.
[00:19:55] Paul Scheer: Well, that's, so I think she's in that basket, right? So she's come back, so he, he sees her, but then-
[00:19:59] June Diane Raphael: She's in the basket the whole time.
[00:20:01] Paul Scheer: ... I think she's in the basket the entire time.
[00:20:02] Jason Mantzoukas: Something like that, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, like, I think the basket is her coffin.
[00:20:07] Paul Scheer: I, yeah, 'cause I-
[00:20:07] Jason Mantzoukas: Like, or her Dracula coffin ...
[00:20:08] Paul Scheer: I, I think when he unearthed the skull-
[00:20:11] June Diane Raphael: That shook her up ...
[00:20:11] Paul Scheer: I, well, then I'm like- I think so ... but then how would he know her? '
[00:20:15] June Diane Raphael: Cause I, that's the thing. I don't think he knew her, and I don't think that Hugh knew her.
[00:20:18] Jason Mantzoukas: He refers to her- He, when she's, he gets bitten by a snake on his foot. We don't see that.
[00:20:23] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:20:24] Jason Mantzoukas: He goes to the ground. Even though- She walks out.
[00:20:25] Paul Scheer: ... it seems like it's in the same scene ...
[00:20:27] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes. We, she walks out from behind the s- the tree and says, "Excuse me, are you okay?" And he says, "Your ladyship, I didn't know you were here."
[00:20:34] Y- there was a, and she says, "Don't you know? I change cars all the time," and blah, blah, blah. Um, she says, "I won't call him Ernie. I, his name is Ernest to me." Like, I feel like-
[00:20:43] June Diane Raphael: Oh, yeah, that's right.
[00:20:44] Jason Mantzoukas: ... he knows who she is.
[00:20:45] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:20:45] Jason Mantzoukas: 'Cause- Not, not well. You know what I mean? Like, I think she's just the woman that lives in that house.
[00:20:50] Paul Scheer: Got it.
[00:20:50] Jason Mantzoukas: You know?
[00:20:50] Paul Scheer: All this to say he knows her, he doesn't know her. He doesn't seem to be a good cop at all because when-
[00:20:56] Jason Mantzoukas: No.
[00:20:57] Paul Scheer: ... she is sucking that poison out-
[00:20:59] Jason Mantzoukas: Not at all.
[00:20:59] Paul Scheer: ... I, yeah, he does not seem to, he's not put off by-
[00:21:02] Jason Mantzoukas: You don't even have to wait until then.
[00:21:04] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:21:04] Jason Mantzoukas: He is a bad cop, like f- ... like, from the jump. But again, I, I, what I loved about the movie is, like, to your point, Paul, that these are his neighbors.
[00:21:13] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:21:13] Jason Mantzoukas: Like, this is a real, like I was talking, I-
[00:21:16] June Diane Raphael: There's 12 people-
[00:21:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes.
[00:21:17] June Diane Raphael: ... in the, you know-
[00:21:19] Jason Mantzoukas: He's, it's any of those-
[00:21:20] June Diane Raphael: ... 50 miles ...
[00:21:20] Jason Mantzoukas: um, like Agatha Christie kind of mysteries where Poirot has to go to the country manor to solve the murder. There's always an ineffectual cop who's just a buffoon.
[00:21:32] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:21:32] Jason Mantzoukas: And this guy is that archetype to a T.
[00:21:35] June Diane Raphael: It's just so funny, though, because he's that archetype, and that's great, but then you kind of want the Trent sisters to actually want to find their parents, and at times they do. I mean, Mary is heading off on the search with the search party in the cave, but in the same breath, she's, when she goes out again with the archeologist and, uh, Hugh Grant And they try to draw some connections on what could have happened, how the wa- she's like, "That can't be possible. You're crazy. You guys are crazy. We need to give up now. None of this makes sense." Well, this is the- "What are you talking about? A loch ness monster?" She's so unwilling-
[00:22:15] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah ...
[00:22:16] June Diane Raphael: To investigate what might have happened. It's-
[00:22:19] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, not only that.
[00:22:20] Paul Scheer: Well, this is why her parents have been gone for a year. She probably didn't even, she probably didn't even go looking for them. She's like, "Let's-"
[00:22:25] June Diane Raphael: It doesn't seem that, that she has.
[00:22:27] Paul Scheer: Yeah. Well- She's not worried ...
[00:22:28] Jason Mantzoukas: I, I felt like the person that I wanted to hear more from was Eve, 'cause Eve had the visions when she touched the crucifix-
[00:22:38] Paul Scheer: But she didn't remember them ...
[00:22:39] Jason Mantzoukas: Had the vision. She... Oh, she does... Oh, she doesn't remember.
[00:22:40] Paul Scheer: Right. She says, "I didn't remember them." Oh. So she does have a very clear- Oh, okay, okay ... vision in a filter that allows her like, she has some sort of Instagram filter over her vision, but she doesn't... But then we see that whole thing, she's kinda repelled back, but then doesn't remember it, which is a tricky thing for a movie to do, to give a character insight and then take it away.
[00:23:00] Jason Mantzoukas: 'Cause I, I kept wanting for, because she's been touched by the worm, I kept wanting her to ha- like, the closer they got, for her to become more disturbed-
[00:23:10] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:23:10] Jason Mantzoukas: ... or more, m- have more visions or whatever, so that, so that we would be able to track their progress. Because you're right, I couldn't figure out the, the who, where, and why of their parents, you know?
[00:23:21] June Diane Raphael: And that is what's hard about the movie. And again, I loved every moment of it, but there, the rules of the white worm are hard to-
[00:23:30] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:23:30] June Diane Raphael: ... understand. It seems sometimes if you get just close to her, to the, to the lady worm, you're under the spell. Sometimes she needs to tou- just touch you and then you're under the spell. Sometimes you need to be bitten, and then I think you become a worm.
[00:23:43] Paul Scheer: Well, I think when you-
[00:23:44] June Diane Raphael: So it was just hard.
[00:23:45] Paul Scheer: ... but when she, when she bites people, she freezes them to be fed to the big worm. That's like kind of like her, that's like her-
[00:23:51] Jason Mantzoukas: If you're a virgin. If you're a virgin.
[00:23:52] June Diane Raphael: Oh, that, yeah, that's only virgin stuff.
[00:23:54] Jason Mantzoukas: This is all very analogous, I think, to vampires.
[00:23:57] Paul Scheer: That's it.
[00:23:57] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? All the-
[00:23:58] Paul Scheer: That's the, that's the Dracula thing.
[00:24:00] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah ... all the glimmering, all the captivating, all the turning people-
[00:24:04] Paul Scheer: Yep Medusa even. You know, there's like... Yeah.
[00:24:06] Jason Mantzoukas: ... And sometimes a vampire feeds on someone and they die, and sometimes a vampire feeds on someone and they become immortal, other vampires, you know? It goes both ways.
[00:24:13] June Diane Raphael: And that's why at the very end when that woman, we cut to that woman in the research center who was talking to Angus about the, you know, serum that was fucked up, I thought she was a snake lady.
[00:24:29] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, I thought so too, but mostly 'cause she kind of looked like the other woman.
[00:24:33] June Diane Raphael: Very much so.
[00:24:33] Jason Mantzoukas: This is just similar British faces. That's what's her name from, um, Notting Hill.
[00:24:38] June Diane Raphael: You can't explain everything by just saying they're British, Jason.
[00:24:40] Paul Scheer: Everything is British.
[00:24:40] Jason Mantzoukas: Just remember, British.
[00:24:42] Paul Scheer: Well, I mean, look, there's a couple things-
[00:24:44] June Diane Raphael: But she was giving... If, is this British? 'Cause she was giving, much like Peter, way too much to us.
[00:24:50] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes, especially for someone who just was hired in a scientific capacity to analyze, uh, a serum-
[00:24:56] June Diane Raphael: Why even cut to her? Just, if she's nobody, put her on the phone and let him listen.
[00:25:00] Paul Scheer: No, she is working. I have thought that she was a snake in the city.
[00:25:02] June Diane Raphael: Saint.
[00:25:02] Paul Scheer: Which is also my sequel to this, Snakes in the City, about a bunch of hot ladies in the city dating, making snakes.
[00:25:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Guys.
[00:25:09] Paul Scheer: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding.
[00:25:11] Jason Mantzoukas: Samantha. Samantha, you're so bad.
[00:25:20] Paul Scheer: I have a couple questions that, uh, take away from the mythology of the movie, 'cause I think we'll stay a long time breaking this down. Is this the most, uh, drab B&B we've ever seen? I, I, I think that these, this is not a place I wanna stay.
[00:25:34] Jason Mantzoukas: It took me, it took me multiple instances of people mentioning that they had visitors-
[00:25:38] June Diane Raphael: Where were they?
[00:25:39] Jason Mantzoukas: Or staying there, and I was like, "Oh, whoa, right, this is a hotel?"
[00:25:42] Paul Scheer: This is a terrible hotel.
[00:25:43] June Diane Raphael: And they never got, they never got their hot water bottles at night. They're freezing at night. You know there's no, like, central heating.
[00:25:48] Jason Mantzoukas: They're terrible. And, and a B&B is w- even more involved. The hosts have to be even more involved.
[00:25:54] June Diane Raphael: Oh my goodness.
[00:25:54] Jason Mantzoukas: They have to make breakfast in the morning.
[00:25:56] Paul Scheer: They're barely home.
[00:25:56] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? And these two are-
[00:25:58] Paul Scheer: They're going out and staying out all night ...
[00:25:59] Jason Mantzoukas: They're going to parties. They're, they're getting lost in the woods.
[00:26:02] Paul Scheer: They don't even seem like they have food in the house. It, it, it, like, there's a moment where there's a shot in the kitchen. There is nothing on the wall, it looks like nothing. It looks like the house is abandoned.
[00:26:11] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:26:11] Paul Scheer: And, uh, they, I, you know, there's a part where I'm like, I, I don't know what's going on here from a business standpoint, and then I'm starting to make other connections to this world where I'm like, okay, now I look over at the, the lady's house.
[00:26:25] Uh, you know, Lady Sylvia Marsh's house, and I'm like, and I'm really trying to make heads or tails of that bathroom. Because her bathroom-
[00:26:31] June Diane Raphael: I love that bathroom.
[00:26:33] Paul Scheer: ... with that bathtub. Sure, I love it, but it's a waste of spa- it's a too, it's-
[00:26:36] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, in a house that big?
[00:26:37] Paul Scheer: I mean, I guess, have, is that a normal style of a bathroom where you would have, like, three balconies leading to a singular tub?
[00:26:44] Jason Mantzoukas: I mean, it's similar to a tub I saw at Hogwarts.
[00:26:46] June Diane Raphael: Yeah, and listen- there was a time, and I, what I agree with you about is that that's, that bathroom looks like a remodel. Like, someone made that in 1984.
[00:26:54] Paul Scheer: That is a 1980s. But, yes. That's like a cocaine, Wall Street kind of bathroom remodel.
[00:26:58] June Diane Raphael: And, and I'm gonna be honest with you guys.
[00:27:00] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, it's a Scarface bathroom?
[00:27:00] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:27:00] June Diane Raphael: I miss, I miss, there was a time in interior design and architecture and homes where we used to, like, present the tub-
[00:27:09] Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah.
[00:27:09] June Diane Raphael: ... as though it was an indoor pool, and that is a perfect example of it, and I miss those days.
[00:27:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, it's this thing where I feel like tubs became so dominant. Big soaking tubs-
[00:27:21] June Diane Raphael: Ugh.
[00:27:22] Jason Mantzoukas: With jets and all this stuff.
[00:27:22] June Diane Raphael: Where you'd walk up a flight of stairs to get to it.
[00:27:24] Jason Mantzoukas: And then people were-
[00:27:25] June Diane Raphael: Or down a flight of stairs ...
[00:27:26] Jason Mantzoukas: I think people correctly were like, "I don't use this-
[00:27:29] June Diane Raphael: Well, I do.
[00:27:30] Jason Mantzoukas: ... enough for how much real estate it has in my bathroom."
[00:27:33] Paul Scheer: No, but it get, it gets a lot of, like, I feel like people were, you're right, trying to spa-ify their bathrooms.
[00:27:39] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:27:39] Paul Scheer: Now, all I'm looking at it as is like, it's cold in the UK. People are gonna be getting out of that bathtub all wet, they're gonna be slipping on marble, there's gonna be a lot of broken necks. She doesn't even need to g- uh, bite these guys on the dick.
[00:27:52] June Diane Raphael: They'll go on their own.
[00:27:52] Paul Scheer: By the way, why on the dick? Why bite him on the dick?
[00:27:54] June Diane Raphael: Why not?
[00:27:55] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, what a g- I loved it.
[00:27:56] June Diane Raphael: Why not?
[00:27:56] Jason Mantzoukas: I loved that move where she goes down like she's gonna start blowing this kid, and then chomp. I was like, uh, that is the moment-
[00:28:04] June Diane Raphael: It was so great.
[00:28:04] Jason Mantzoukas: ... where this movie announces what it is.
[00:28:06] June Diane Raphael: Took off. Yeah.
[00:28:07] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:28:07] June Diane Raphael: Took off.
[00:28:08] Paul Scheer: Well, she- And I was like, "Oh." She, I mean, everybody I think understands ultimately what this movie is on some level.
[00:28:12] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah.
[00:28:13] Paul Scheer: But I will say that she-
[00:28:14] Jason Mantzoukas: Incredible.
[00:28:15] Paul Scheer: ... brings another level. Like, every time the camera's-
[00:28:17] June Diane Raphael: Oh, she's excellent.
[00:28:18] Paul Scheer: ... off her, I'm like, "I'm not interested as much. I wanna see her."
[00:28:22] Jason Mantzoukas: The scene that I think is dynamite, just vis- from a visual standpoint, and this is again why I, where I was like, "Oh, right, this is not just a crazy movie that we do on this show. This is a very good director." Is the forced perspective scene when she enters, Lady, Her Ladyship, um, enters Peter Capaldi's room and finds the snake skull there.
[00:28:45] Paul Scheer: Oh, yes.
[00:28:45] Jason Mantzoukas: We know that the skull is, I don't know, two or three feet long. You know, th- you can hold it in a hand-
[00:28:51] Paul Scheer: He's held it in his hand.
[00:28:52] Jason Mantzoukas: ... in your hands, you know.
[00:28:52] Paul Scheer: It's, like, on a garbage can. Like, we see it, yeah.
[00:28:54] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, it's like, it's like two or three feet long. It's, it's, it's, you know, it's not huge. But the way they've used forced perspective is when she enters the room, the snake skull dwarfs her. It's gigantic in the frame, and she is teeny tiny, and she's walking up to it. And then she finally holds it, and it is the right size, but it's been this... It creates such an uncomfortable feeling and gives such weight and import to the skull. I was like, "Fuck, this is great."
[00:29:19] June Diane Raphael: It was great.
[00:29:20] Jason Mantzoukas: I love this.
[00:29:20] June Diane Raphael: And by the way, uh, uh, her costume, she's incredible. She's unbelievable.
[00:29:25] Jason Mantzoukas: Incredible.
[00:29:25] June Diane Raphael: But her costumes in this movie Are so good. When she's sitting on the tree, in the branches of the tree and talking to that... By the way, you know that other actress who played the virgin, Catherine Oxenberg-
[00:29:39] Jason Mantzoukas: Is from Dynasty ...
[00:29:41] Paul Scheer: Is Dynasty Right?
[00:29:41] June Diane Raphael: Yeah ... Dynasty, but also was featured in that NXIVM cult because her daughter was-
[00:29:47] Jason Mantzoukas: Right ...
[00:29:47] June Diane Raphael: A member, and I think is still one-
[00:29:50] Jason Mantzoukas: Whoa.
[00:29:50] June Diane Raphael: Of the women who's, like, outside what's-his-face's jail cell-
[00:29:54] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, wow.
[00:29:54] June Diane Raphael: In New York. Yeah. But anyway- But- But her costumes were so fantastic.
[00:30:01] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:30:01] June Diane Raphael: And that's where the movie is really elevated at points. Like, you just... Visually, I could not get over what she was wearing from head to toe.
[00:30:11] Jason Mantzoukas: And not just, not just how she looked and how good she looked, but to your point from earlier, June, her, all of her movement was-
[00:30:19] June Diane Raphael: Amazing.
[00:30:19] Jason Mantzoukas: Electric to watch because she's so, um, s- I, I mean, snake-like. I, I don't know how to describe it otherwise.
[00:30:26] June Diane Raphael: There's no other way to say it.
[00:30:27] Jason Mantzoukas: She, she truly is using that movement throughout all of her action and all of her activity in a way that is so effective when juxtaposed with a bunch of, you know, uh, English countryside bumpkins. You know, like, like, is her-
[00:30:43] Paul Scheer: Well, yeah, 'cause she's, like, elevated and sexy and-
[00:30:46] Jason Mantzoukas: She's sophisticated. Yeah Yeah ... and she's wearing sunglasses at night and, you know, barely s- When, when- It's so... Uh, she's so graceful in, in ways Yeah ... it's great.
[00:30:52] Paul Scheer: When the guy played the mouth harp, the young virgin- and she started dancing, and she had to kind of slap it out of his hand because... I mean, again, I didn't know mouth harps could charm a snake, but be that as it may-
[00:31:02] June Diane Raphael: Did you know that-
[00:31:02] Paul Scheer: ... when she's dancing-
[00:31:03] June Diane Raphael: ... bagpipes could?
[00:31:04] Paul Scheer: Yeah, I guess you're right. Music soothes the savage beast, right? I mean, but we d- I, I thought that, like, it was much more of a, a flute thing.
[00:31:11] June Diane Raphael: I thought it was a very specific flute kind of-
[00:31:14] Jason Mantzoukas: I thought so too, but it seems like-
[00:31:16] June Diane Raphael: Anything.
[00:31:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Almost any music.
[00:31:17] June Diane Raphael: I... Now, when she- I lo- And, like, when pulled out her earplugs
[00:31:20] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh my God. I was really hoping... Wait, did the mongoose pay off at all?
[00:31:26] June Diane Raphael: No.
[00:31:26] Paul Scheer: He released it in the house.
[00:31:27] Jason Mantzoukas: Capaldi he releases a mongoose in the house, but I didn't see anything then happen.
[00:31:31] Paul Scheer: It didn't seem to come back.
[00:31:33] Jason Mantzoukas: Okay, that's fine.
[00:31:33] Paul Scheer: I mean, but I will say that when she pulls out the earplugs And I know what we're working with here. Um, the fact that she had no paint in her ears really made me laugh.
[00:31:41] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:31:41] Paul Scheer: She's completely blue. Now then I was like, which made me think, wait, did she paint herself or has she become blue? Now if she painted herself, then that's totally fine, but I couldn't quite tell if the movie's saying she painted herself or she's now blue.
[00:31:54] Jason Mantzoukas: That's, that's a perfect example, Paul, because I noticed that too, and that's a perfect example of a, of a moment in a movie that we would do that if the movie is bad-
[00:32:04] Paul Scheer: Right ...
[00:32:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Unenjoyable, I would be like, we would all I suspect be like, "Ugh, and what, you can't even paint the inside of her ears?" You know? Or-
[00:32:12] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:32:12] Jason Mantzoukas: You know, like, or does it create what you're describing, this logic problem. But in this movie I was like, yeah, who cares?
[00:32:17] June Diane Raphael: Doesn't matter.
[00:32:17] Jason Mantzoukas: I don't care if she's blue, I don't care if she's painted blue.
[00:32:19] Paul Scheer: I kind of, I kind of like it better-
[00:32:21] Jason Mantzoukas: I don't care.
[00:32:21] Paul Scheer: ... I, I kinda like it better that she painted herself blue, 'cause she's just like getting psyched. I mean, this is a movie that also, uh, the dick image... Yes, there's boobs in this, but there is dick imagery here, and that is phalluses.
[00:32:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Phalluses. There's not actual-
[00:32:33] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:32:33] Jason Mantzoukas: ... there's not actual dicks. There's like-
[00:32:35] Paul Scheer: Right. Yes. Yeah. Imagery, yeah. Sorry, like I mean, it starts-
[00:32:37] June Diane Raphael: Well, it does, she does look like she's wearing, Lady Snake, a giant dildo.
[00:32:41] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, like a big strap-on.
[00:32:43] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:32:43] Jason Mantzoukas: It's real pointy.
[00:32:44] June Diane Raphael: A big strap-on. A very pointy, and, and-
[00:32:46] Jason Mantzoukas: It looks like it's been like scrimshawed.
[00:32:48] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:32:49] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes. But-
[00:32:50] June Diane Raphael: I was like, oh, I, I thought they were gonna go all the way and have our snake lady f- fuck-
[00:32:57] Paul Scheer: You kinda want that. You kind-
[00:32:59] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, Eve.
[00:33:00] Paul Scheer: Yeah ...
[00:33:00] June Diane Raphael: eve, that's right, Eve. But they don't because she has to. But, like, I didn't know what that moment was like. Well, why put on a strap-on?
[00:33:07] Paul Scheer: Was she diddling the other one?
[00:33:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, the other thing that I couldn't figure out- ... was, I don't... Wait, the, which other one?
[00:33:12] Paul Scheer: When, when she said, when the other one is, when one of the sisters is taking off her clothes, and she says, "Stop right there. Come forward," and she's got the dildo-
[00:33:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah, she's checking if she's a virgin ...
[00:33:18] June Diane Raphael: She's, that's where-
[00:33:19] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:33:19] June Diane Raphael: ... she checks if she's a virgin. That was an upsetting scene.
[00:33:21] Paul Scheer: Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right. I, I didn't know if she also was, like, doing that with the, with the strap-on. It was so one-handed. She, uh...
[00:33:26] Jason Mantzoukas: No, she's doing it with that, with that implement.
[00:33:28] Paul Scheer: So she's able to tell, like, she's able to tell-
[00:33:30] Jason Mantzoukas: Listen, man, I, I don't know.
[00:33:31] June Diane Raphael: ... 'cause I think she started bleeding. I don't know.
[00:33:33] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:33:34] Jason Mantzoukas: I, I don't know.
[00:33:34] Paul Scheer: Okay.
[00:33:35] Jason Mantzoukas: She saw something.
[00:33:36] June Diane Raphael: I don't know.
[00:33:36] Jason Mantzoukas: She saw something, and she-
[00:33:37] Paul Scheer: I'm just saying that, like, look-
[00:33:38] June Diane Raphael: She felt something in there ...
[00:33:39] Jason Mantzoukas: I trust her.
[00:33:39] June Diane Raphael: ... She felt the hymen.
[00:33:40] Jason Mantzoukas: I, I trust Lady Silvia.
[00:33:41] Paul Scheer: Like, I, I... Look, that's all I wanted. I, I understood something was going on there. I just didn't understand how much- ... like, how much we got, how much touch sensitivity we got on that thing.
[00:33:48] June Diane Raphael: Well, but, but it was interesting, though, because, like, she does go up to her when she's, when Eve is strapped and right before she's about to be a sacrifice, and it does look like she's going to penetrate her with that thing.
[00:33:58] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, there's, it's the shot that is through the legs of, if it's basically through the thigh gap of Eve, it, to, um, uh, Lady Silvia with the strap-on right behind her coming right towards her crotch. So I'm like, " Oh, whoa." In that moment, I was like, "Oh, is Lady Silvia gonna fuck her with this implement, and then she becomes the worm?"
[00:34:21] June Diane Raphael: Okay.
[00:34:21] Jason Mantzoukas: Is Lady Silvia the w- the, the w- Like, I didn't, I couldn't figure it out because I was like, "Oh, if she's doing the fucking, not the, not the worm, not the, you know-
[00:34:30] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:34:30] Jason Mantzoukas: ... what, the, the being to be worshiped, maybe she is the worm." And it didn't-
[00:34:34] June Diane Raphael: Well, it didn't seem that way 'cause she doesn't do it. But, but-
[00:34:36] Jason Mantzoukas: No.
[00:34:37] June Diane Raphael: But then I was like, "Wow, I guess she's just wearing that strap-on for ceremonial purposes."
[00:34:42] Jason Mantzoukas: I guess so, or maybe it comes into play later at a time when-
[00:34:46] June Diane Raphael: It's that British.
[00:34:46] Jason Mantzoukas: ... we just didn't, when we didn't get back to that part, when we didn't get to the rest of the ceremony.
[00:34:50] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:34:50] Jason Mantzoukas: But yeah, she does put... I, honestly, I think it's just Ken Russell is like, "This looks great."
[00:34:56] June Diane Raphael: And it did.
[00:34:56] Jason Mantzoukas: It looks great with you walking around naked, uh, with-
[00:35:00] June Diane Raphael: And it did.
[00:35:00] Jason Mantzoukas: ... a giant phallus. Uh, it, like, incredible stuff.
[00:35:03] Paul Scheer: Now, did you like that phallus better than Hugh Grant's sex dream where a marker represents his phallus, and when he is watching-
[00:35:10] Jason Mantzoukas: That was so funny ...
[00:35:11] Paul Scheer: One of the funniest moments-
[00:35:12] June Diane Raphael: Oh my God.
[00:35:12] Paul Scheer: I've ever seen, which is like he is watching the worm woman kind of make out with other, the, the sisters on the plane.
[00:35:19] June Diane Raphael: Well, they're fighting, but yeah, they're both flight attendants ...
[00:35:23] Paul Scheer: And he is getting just-
[00:35:24] Jason Mantzoukas: He's hold, he's all tied up. He's all tied up, but he's holding a magic marker, and every time it cuts back to him, the marker just c- starts to elevate more and more like his dick rising. And I was like, "I can't believe they keep cutting back to this so many times just to be like, 'Do you get it? Do you get it?'"
[00:35:42] Paul Scheer: And by the way, I also hated the marker because it had too much of a tip. It looked like a dog's penis. It had too much of a-
[00:35:47] June Diane Raphael: I didn't like that.
[00:35:47] Paul Scheer: ... Yeah, it had a- Ugh, for any number of reasons it had a little bit of that, like that energy of a dog's penis there.
[00:35:55] Jason Mantzoukas: What do you think? It seemed to me like that dream somehow explained something to Hugh Grant, that he woke up with some understanding of, like, what he was supposed to do. And I didn't clock that.
[00:36:08] Paul Scheer: He's connected- he's connected to his ancestors.
[00:36:10] Jason Mantzoukas: Right.
[00:36:10] Paul Scheer: I think that that's a big thing. Going into the cave, also, I'm remembering this now, he is serving earthworms with aspic. There, as, in the, that opening scene where they're at the party and everyone, and that, and Peter Capaldi has, like, all those, like, worms coming out of his mouth. I feel like he is the keeper of, like, h- his job is to protect this area-
[00:36:30] Jason Mantzoukas: I think you're right.
[00:36:30] Paul Scheer: Of Scotland from-
[00:36:31] Jason Mantzoukas: Something like that.
[00:36:32] Paul Scheer: Yes. Yeah. From-
[00:36:32] June Diane Raphael: Can I ask-
[00:36:33] Jason Mantzoukas: His ancestral home.
[00:36:35] Paul Scheer: Yeah ... yes, that his whole thing is about worms.
[00:36:37] June Diane Raphael: Why, though, what I couldn't understand is why, during the big moment when he's, when what's her face, Eve's about to be sacrificed, when the worm comes out, where is Hugh Grant? What is he doing in that other cave?
[00:36:53] Jason Mantzoukas: I couldn't figure that out at all.
[00:36:54] June Diane Raphael: With the band. I think those were the band members.
[00:36:56] Jason Mantzoukas: I did not understand why he wasn't-
[00:36:59] June Diane Raphael: What was he doing?
[00:37:00] Jason Mantzoukas: Part of it. Not only that, he's at the other entrance with that, he's dropping gas into something or other, and he's looking over at the smoke where the explosion has happened, um, where the main action is, and he's basically like, "Huh, what do you think's going on over there?" And I was like-
[00:37:13] June Diane Raphael: Why get-
[00:37:14] Jason Mantzoukas: "What? What?"
[00:37:14] June Diane Raphael: ... pulled away from the action?
[00:37:16] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, why are you suddenly sidelined? I couldn't figure that out either.
[00:37:19] Paul Scheer: Well, I think what he is doing is I think he thinks, "I'm gonna go into this cave, rescue the kidnapped girl, and destroy the monster." 'Cause I mean, like-
[00:37:30] Jason Mantzoukas: Something like that. He knows bec- he says, this is just what he says.
[00:37:34] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:37:34] Jason Mantzoukas: He says, "I know because her parents were l- missing by the Lady Silvia's house, but his watch was found in this cavern. That means there must be some passage between these two places." So he's dumping toxic chemical into the fissure In the cave hole from his painting and his dream.
[00:37:55] Paul Scheer: Yes. And so I think, so I think that he is active, like when it's smoke is coming out of the house, he's like, "Job well done. We did it." Like, I think he pushed the snake up too early.
[00:38:05] June Diane Raphael: Think- Well, didn't, didn't this, that snake get conjured by our, uh, lady snake?
[00:38:09] Jason Mantzoukas: I th- I think so.
[00:38:11] Paul Scheer: No, too early. Too early because the, the main snake lady looks like, "No, no, no. Too soon, too soon, too soon." 'Cause I think she was supposed to have sex with her.
[00:38:20] Jason Mantzoukas: Ah.
[00:38:20] Paul Scheer: And then the blood was gonna go into the cave to, like, activate the snake, but I think Hugh Grant in another location is pumping gas there.
[00:38:27] June Diane Raphael: Oh.
[00:38:27] Paul Scheer: Activates the snake too early, things get messed up, and that, like, so he is-
[00:38:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Got it ...
[00:38:32] Paul Scheer: I think-
[00:38:33] June Diane Raphael: Okay.
[00:38:34] Paul Scheer: That's what's going on. Now, does anyone say this? No.
[00:38:37] Jason Mantzoukas: I don't think so, or if they do, there's so much going on, uh, that I, it's, it, it jumped past me. And I, I'll be honest, it, again, I'm being very forgiving on this m- on this movie-
[00:38:47] Paul Scheer: Oh yeah, I don't care.
[00:38:48] Jason Mantzoukas: Just because I enjoyed it, and it's, it, this is a vibes movie. You know what I mean?
[00:38:52] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:38:53] Jason Mantzoukas: This is the kind of movie that is on in the background at a bar you're at that you're like, "What the fuck is this movie?"
[00:38:59] Paul Scheer: Oh, I'm, i'm just-
[00:39:00] Jason Mantzoukas: "This looks incredible."
[00:39:01] Paul Scheer: I'm into just watching a video cassette of Lady Silvia, like, kind of giving a blowjob-
[00:39:06] Jason Mantzoukas: Doing everything.
[00:39:07] Paul Scheer: To a real snake.
[00:39:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. I'm, oh my God.
[00:39:09] Paul Scheer: ... like, I mean, that's, like, a weird moment too. I'm like, "Well, all right, great." Like-
[00:39:11] Jason Mantzoukas: That was great.
[00:39:12] Paul Scheer: ... and who taped it?
[00:39:13] Jason Mantzoukas: And, and, and the mom is just sitting there watching it.
[00:39:16] June Diane Raphael: And by the way-
[00:39:17] Jason Mantzoukas: Just rapt.
[00:39:17] June Diane Raphael: ... I didn't know where the dad was. I thought maybe that's our sequel. To me, he was a real loose end.
[00:39:22] Paul Scheer: Well, no, we already got the sequel, Snakes in the City, June.
[00:39:24] June Diane Raphael: Oh yeah, I guess that's Snakes in the City.
[00:39:26] Jason Mantzoukas: I would pay, I would pay money, I would go to the theater and pay good money just to watch a sequel where Lady Silvia just plays Snakes and Ladders.
[00:39:33] June Diane Raphael: Oh my God, Snakes and Ladders. By the way, the fact that Hugh does not question the two glasses that are by the fireplace.
[00:39:43] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. Oh, yeah
[00:39:44] June Diane Raphael: And the setup of that game.
[00:39:46] Jason Mantzoukas: He has clearly interrupted something going on, and is, like, just immediately like... Well, again, he's so good at being like, "Everything is mine. I belong everywhere."
[00:39:56] Paul Scheer: Yeah. He's like-
[00:39:57] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? ...
[00:39:57] Paul Scheer: he's almost too- Yeah ... like, it's also, this is a movie about culture, right? This is a movie about- like, class. Well, it's about class. Like, you know? Right, yeah, class.
[00:40:04] Jason Mantzoukas: In, in that British way, it's about class.
[00:40:06] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:40:06] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, it's a real upstairs downstairs.
[00:40:08] Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah. I mean, th- Like, now, by the way, wouldn't it have been great if Downton Abbey actually had a worm in the... You know, then you'd have upstairs downstairs, and then downstairs to the downstairs.
[00:40:17] Jason Mantzoukas: It would've been awesome if Downton Abbey waited until, like, season five to reveal that there was, like, an occult element to its story.
[00:40:25] June Diane Raphael: You know what I really appreciated about Angus? That he got dressed in his full Scottish bagpipe gear to play.
[00:40:33] Jason Mantzoukas: And that he brought all of that stuff to-
[00:40:37] June Diane Raphael: To a dig.
[00:40:38] Jason Mantzoukas: This Airbnb, uh, to this, uh, B&B rather, uh, to, so he could do his archeology dig. He was like, "You know, should I pack my, my sweater and my pipes?"
[00:40:47] June Diane Raphael: You never know when you're gonna need it.
[00:40:48] Paul Scheer: By the way, I think that when you're working hard as an archeologist, you just wanna sit out on the porch at the end of the day, blow into a big old bag, get those, uh, you know, get those out there.
[00:40:58] You know, just do it. Uh, Scott brings up that the mongoose also was in his kilt. Didn't seem like the mongoose was being carried.
[00:41:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, he seemed to have some sort of fanny pack in his kilt that I couldn't quite make sense of.
[00:41:07] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:41:07] Paul Scheer: I mean, again, these are things that we don't wanna question. I will question one thing, though, which is We're building up to the sexy virgin sacrifice, which we know is like, you know, this is where we're going. And I, I just feel like the tighty whities really took me out of the final moment, uh, of our, of our-
[00:41:25] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, interesting.
[00:41:26] June Diane Raphael: There were tighty whities?
[00:41:27] Paul Scheer: Yeah, there were two granny panties for me. I'm like, "Let's change it up a-"
[00:41:30] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, I liked it.
[00:41:30] Paul Scheer: Let's shake it up. Yeah. You liked it? You guys liked it though?
[00:41:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, I liked it. I li- I liked that. I liked that, that-
[00:41:34] June Diane Raphael: Sorry she wasn't in a thong, Paul.
[00:41:35] Jason Mantzoukas: ... yeah, I mean, like-
[00:41:36] Paul Scheer: Hey, hey, hey.
[00:41:36] Jason Mantzoukas: She was running in her BVDs. It wouldn't have made sense if Sl- Lady Silvia was wearing them, but I mean, like that, if for-
[00:41:42] Paul Scheer: I thought that Lady Silvia would be like, "These are your special sacrifice panties."
[00:41:45] June Diane Raphael: No, she wanted her to look virginal.
[00:41:48] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, she's-
[00:41:48] Paul Scheer: Oh ... yeah.
[00:41:49] June Diane Raphael: Granny panties.
[00:41:49] Paul Scheer: So the white, the white worm is like, "Oh, I'm white, I like these tighty whities, and this is clearly a woman who's never had sex." Like, that's what the white worm is like-
[00:41:57] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes
[00:41:57] Paul Scheer: ... thinking on those. I've got it. All right. Snake's smart.
[00:41:58] Jason Mantzoukas: But, but we, you, you bring that up and I just wanna...
[00:42:01] We haven't talked about one of my absolute favorite scenes in the movie, and again, which gets at that you would be f- you, it would be understandable if you were watching this movie as we talked about earlier and were like, "When is this taking place?" But then there is a scene that takes place in a room that's only has a tanning bed in it. And-
[00:42:20] June Diane Raphael: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.
[00:42:20] Jason Mantzoukas: ... and I was like, "This is incredible." All, the, all of the light in this scene is from the tanning bed. It's so, the, the weird modern element of this tanning bed juxtaposed with like this ancient woman and this ancient house and all of that.
[00:42:36] Paul Scheer: I thought it was great. Well, she needs that tanning, she needs that tanning bed 'cause snakes need heat, right? Like, the, uh, they're cold-blooded.
[00:42:42] Jason Mantzoukas: I assume so, yeah.
[00:42:42] Paul Scheer: Right? So I imagine that like she's not in there to get a tan, I don't think.
[00:42:45] June Diane Raphael: Well, she's not getting tan. She's so pale.
[00:42:47] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:42:47] Paul Scheer: So she did bring it... We, we are agreeing that the, there was an interior designer brought into that house to redo the bathroom and add some amenities like the tanning-
[00:42:55] June Diane Raphael: Here, here and there.
[00:42:56] Paul Scheer: Like she basically created like a death spa in her house just to kind of-
[00:42:59] Jason Mantzoukas: For sure.
[00:42:59] Paul Scheer: ... yeah. I like that. I like that.
[00:43:00] Jason Mantzoukas: Hey, if you're gonna be immortal, at least be comfortable.
[00:43:02] Paul Scheer: You have to. I always am saying that.
[00:43:05] June Diane Raphael: Now, here's my question. I don't wanna have to go back to the mythology of it all, but I know there's the great big worm, but, um, what about the head that Angus finds in the beginning? What worm was that?
[00:43:21] Jason Mantzoukas: I don't know, and that's such a good question because that worm is very clearly smaller than the worm in the cavern.
[00:43:29] June Diane Raphael: The other worm's head-
[00:43:30] Jason Mantzoukas: The worm in the cavern looks like a, a whale.
[00:43:31] June Diane Raphael: ... is the size of a VW Bus. Yeah.
[00:43:33] Jason Mantzoukas: You know? Yeah, it looks like the size of a whale or something, you know? So a great question. I don't know.
[00:43:38] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:43:38] Jason Mantzoukas: Maybe there were baby worms, more baby worms for a time. Maybe, like, the parents, uh, the mom given long enough turns into like a long worm. I don't know.
[00:43:47] Paul Scheer: Well, because I think that this idea that, I mean, I also have to, I wanna get into that psychology of Hugh Grant because his ancestors supposedly killed this worm, and now he's like, "They didn't do it, so what am I?" You know, he's like looking at himself, too. I feel like. '
[00:44:00] June Diane Raphael: But he's looking at himself, but you know what, Paul? With the energy of like, "It's all gonna be okay. There's nothing. He is never worried. He, he is never stressed out
[00:44:13] Jason Mantzoukas: Never ...
[00:44:13] June Diane Raphael: He's never uncomfortable.
[00:44:14] Jason Mantzoukas: He's never scared. He's never scared.
[00:44:17] June Diane Raphael: He's never scared.
[00:44:17] Jason Mantzoukas: The lights go out his butler is murdered. There is a, there are snake people in his home and he is like, "Ugh, I guess I'll go to the police station and tell them what's up."
[00:44:27] Paul Scheer: Oh, and, and he also has such a, a cavalier attitude. Like, when they see those cave paintings of, again, uh, erect penises and naked women running around, like, it, he...
[00:44:36] Like, the way that he even takes in history is so funny. He's like, "Oh, look, I guess they had sex ed classes back then. Oh, women's lib is alive and well."
[00:44:44] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah.
[00:44:44] Paul Scheer: It's like, wow, all right. Wow.
[00:44:45] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah. He's so just comfortable, nothing- un-flappable, nothing surprises him. He's quipping everywhere. Yeah, I mean, they're in the cave. By the way, that cave looks great.
[00:44:57] Paul Scheer: I love that cave.
[00:44:58] June Diane Raphael: I love that cave.
[00:44:58] Jason Mantzoukas: Just the-
[00:44:58] Paul Scheer: I wanted to be there.
[00:44:59] Jason Mantzoukas: ... the visual value-
[00:45:00] June Diane Raphael: It was beautiful.
[00:45:00] Jason Mantzoukas: ... of having that real cavern that they go into.
[00:45:03] June Diane Raphael: Oh, it was absolutely stunning.
[00:45:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Cool as hell.
[00:45:05] Paul Scheer: And I also could tell that in this movie they were so cold. Uh, like, there was, there was, like, a moment, like, they're in those jackets. They shot the, the beginning and end at the, uh, at the same exact time, I feel like, 'cause it... But it's like-
[00:45:17] June Diane Raphael: And by the way, that's another thing Hugh does in the cave, is he asks for a cup of tea.
[00:45:21] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:45:22] Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah.
[00:45:22] Jason Mantzoukas: Right.
[00:45:22] June Diane Raphael: You know, and, and by the way, at the end when we realize that Angus is, you know, the poison, there was no antidote, I didn't even feel worried about Hugh in that car.
[00:45:32] Jason Mantzoukas: Not at all. Not at all. He sees the marks on Angus's leg, and the look on Hugh's face isn't, "Oh no, I'm fucked." Yeah. It's like, "Guess my job's not done."
[00:45:42] Paul Scheer: Yeah. Well, like, I, I I mean, maybe this is just the way-
[00:45:46] June Diane Raphael: So funny.
[00:45:46] Paul Scheer: ... Shit goes down in small towns. I mean, that, you know, that's the other thing, too. Like, maybe we would never hear about it. There's not a lot... Like, the police force-
[00:45:53] Jason Mantzoukas: What was Edgar's movie that was like-
[00:45:55] Paul Scheer: Oh, uh.
[00:45:55] Jason Mantzoukas: ... everybody in town is-
[00:45:56] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:45:57] Jason Mantzoukas: ... um-
[00:45:57] Paul Scheer: It was the third one of the, uh-
[00:45:59] Jason Mantzoukas: Yes
[00:45:59] Paul Scheer: ... the Cornetto trilogy.
[00:46:00] Jason Mantzoukas: ... of the Cornetto trilogy, yeah.
[00:46:00] Paul Scheer: Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:01] Jason Mantzoukas: Anyway, that I feel, that movie I feel like is riffing off of this. Right. You know?
[00:46:06] June Diane Raphael: One of my favorite, one of my favorite details in the movie is when- Peter wakes up Hugh to show him, and he puts the newspaper on his bed. By the way, Hugh does say, "Draw me a bath." So he is bathing.
[00:46:19] Paul Scheer: Right when he gets up.
[00:46:20] June Diane Raphael: British people are bathing- right when he wakes up-
[00:46:22] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:46:22] June Diane Raphael: ... In the morning. Which is fascinating. But, um, he shows him the cover of the paper, and it's a picture. It says that the, the search for these two, the dead parents, or the dis- the parents who've disappeared is off. But I laughed so hard that they all took a picture together, the search party.
[00:46:39] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:46:40] June Diane Raphael: Just took a photo.
[00:46:41] Jason Mantzoukas: Just here they are.
[00:46:42] June Diane Raphael: One last photo.
[00:46:43] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. And, and the paper sent-
[00:46:44] June Diane Raphael: All of them just look-
[00:46:44] Jason Mantzoukas: ... a photographer to take a picture of the searchers who were not gonna go searching.
[00:46:49] June Diane Raphael: Not, by the way, not in action, not while they're searching.
[00:46:52] Jason Mantzoukas: No.
[00:46:52] June Diane Raphael: Just together.
[00:46:53] Jason Mantzoukas: No, 'cause the search has been called off.
[00:46:54] June Diane Raphael: Arm in arm. Yeah.
[00:46:58] Jason Mantzoukas: We need a picture to show that they've called it off.
[00:47:00] June Diane Raphael: It made me laugh so hard.
[00:47:01] Paul Scheer: I mean, selfies have been happening. This is... I, I, I, I, but now I guess the end of the movie is Hugh Grant's gonna die, the women are gonna attack everybody in the city, and the snake has won.
[00:47:12] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. The, the thing seems to me to be a little bit like, well, actually John Carpenter's The Thing, which is-
[00:47:17] Paul Scheer: Right.
[00:47:17] Jason Mantzoukas: You think, oh, they've done it. They've ended this line of, um, snakes But no, uh, Peter Capaldi remains, uh, infected and alive, and I'm assuming will be the next iteration of Lady Sylvia.
[00:47:32] June Diane Raphael: And the Trent girls are also infected, aren't they?
[00:47:35] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, I guess they are too, because the, the, only Eve-
[00:47:39] June Diane Raphael: I think only Mary. Well, Mary's blood is s- Mary's bite is sucked from-
[00:47:43] Jason Mantzoukas: Correct. He sucks the venom out of Mary's bite, so theoretically she would be okay.
[00:47:48] June Diane Raphael: I guess maybe she's okay.
[00:47:48] Jason Mantzoukas: But Eve's, Eve was given the serum-
[00:47:50] Paul Scheer: The fake one, yeah ...
[00:47:51] Jason Mantzoukas: So, which turns out to be fake, so m- I would say-
[00:47:54] June Diane Raphael: But I don't think she was ever bitten.
[00:47:56] Paul Scheer: No, she is bitten. She, 'cause remember he like, that's why he has to inject her. Oh. Or he inj- He was like, " Okay."
[00:48:01] June Diane Raphael: He injects her, but he says like, "Just in case some got on you,"
[00:48:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Essentially. You might be right. Maybe she didn't bite her, she just like glimmers her or whatever that is.
[00:48:07] Paul Scheer: I don't know.
[00:48:08] Jason Mantzoukas: Uh, what, what do vampires do?
[00:48:09] Paul Scheer: I think it has something... oh, yeah, gli-
[00:48:11] Jason Mantzoukas: Is it glimmer? Is it glimmering?
[00:48:12] Paul Scheer: I know that that's what Steven Seagal does.
[00:48:14] Jason Mantzoukas: Glamouring?
[00:48:14] Paul Scheer: Glimmer Man. Uh, but no. Anyway ... like, yeah, like it's kind of like a hypnotist, but it, but it, but he said-
[00:48:19] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah, she hypnotizes Eve.
[00:48:21] Paul Scheer: I think that she's-
[00:48:22] Jason Mantzoukas: And is like, "Take your clothes off and blah, blah, blah." Yeah And does all that stuff, but I don't, I don't remember her biting Eve. I'm not sure, though.
[00:48:28] Paul Scheer: Well, okay. I, I did look online, and not that this is the end all be all. You can get a, a direct bite or evil influence, uh, and/or venom can all work together with the white worm.
[00:48:41] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:48:42] Paul Scheer: So it could be the glimmering, uh, or the glamming. Uh, it c- yeah.
[00:48:46] Jason Mantzoukas: It's t- it's tough because you're like, you're like, "Oh, I, I guess maybe I'm wanting more rules," but I also think rules would have hampered the fun of the movie-
[00:48:55] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:48:56] Jason Mantzoukas: If they had to kept stopping down to be like, "Well, no, wait a minute. I guess that means if you get bitten or if you get hypnotized-"
[00:49:02] June Diane Raphael: Right, right, right.
[00:49:02] Jason Mantzoukas: "... then you're under," you know? You start to pull at it.
[00:49:04] Paul Scheer: This crew does not have any... This, this crew has no, uh, desire to get to the bottom of it more than We must kill the thing. And honestly, uh, like what kind of rules does Jason have at the end of the day? Like Jason Voorhees or what. Yeah, there are a couple rules, but all of a sudden he can walk under water, he can do this, he can do that. At a certain point, we're just like, "Eh, fuck the rules." Like w- this, we gotta kill the thing.
[00:49:23] Jason Mantzoukas: If you're enjoying it, which I think we all were, then I'm, I, I'm not gonna falter or, or, you know, get hung up on, "Well, wait a minute. That's not quite the same as what happened earlier," or whatever. I don't care.
[00:49:36] Paul Scheer: I, I wanna play you guys a clip, uh, 'cause I think this is worthwhile just to hear it as we've kind of talked a lot through it. Um, this is Hugh Grant on Marc Maron- Oh ... talking about The Lair of the White Worm.
[00:49:48] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, lock the gates.
[00:49:49] Marc Maron: The Lair of the White Worm fall in?
[00:49:52] Hugh Grant: I'm very fond of that film.
[00:49:53] Marc Maron: That's great.
[00:49:53] Hugh Grant: Have you seen it?
[00:49:54] Marc Maron: Yeah, of course. It's a fucking trip.
[00:49:55] Hugh Grant: Yeah. Well, people who take a lot of drugs do love it.
[00:49:58] Marc Maron: Well, Ken Russell's a wild man. How about... It must have been great.
[00:50:01] Hugh Grant: He w- he was. He was a wild man, and he was... I mean, he was very talented, but he w- by that stage, he was also very fond of a good lunch, let's just say.
[00:50:10] Marc Maron: Yeah.
[00:50:10] Hugh Grant: So it was already a fairly wild film in the mornings.
[00:50:14] Marc Maron: Yeah.
[00:50:15] Hugh Grant: By the time he'd had a lunch with two bottles of wine-
[00:50:18] Marc Maron: Uh-huh.
[00:50:18] Hugh Grant: It was really a different story and, and you know, his style of directing became ever more eccentric. So he would say... I remember there's a scene in that film where I have to pick up a big sword-
[00:50:30] Marc Maron: Yeah
[00:50:31] Hugh Grant: ... and cut a lady snake monster in half.
[00:50:36] Marc Maron: Yeah. Right.
[00:50:38] Hugh Grant: It didn't feel quite right, and I said, "I can't. I, I, I... Th- this shot doesn't feel quite comfortable for me."
[00:50:43] Marc Maron: Yeah.
[00:50:44] Hugh Grant: And his immortal words to me were, "Well, fuck how it fucking feels. Do it how I fucking showed you, you cunt." And that is not, uh, out of the classic directorial handbook.
[00:50:58] Paul Scheer: Alright, great. We can stop that there.
[00:51:00] Jason Mantzoukas: Ugh. I get that note so often on Percy Jackson.
[00:51:05] June Diane Raphael: But you know what I love? I actually noticed in that scene, after, after... and I wonder if he did it because Hugh complained, but after he takes the sword and cuts her in half, the camera stays on him, and he falls back from the momentum into a bunch of other stuff.
[00:51:24] Jason Mantzoukas: Into a drum set.
[00:51:25] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:51:25] June Diane Raphael: Into a... Excuse me, you're right. Into a drum set, a red drum set.
[00:51:29] Jason Mantzoukas: A red sparkle drum set.
[00:51:31] June Diane Raphael: And I was like, oh my God. N- another director would not have left that in.
[00:51:34] Paul Scheer: No.
[00:51:34] June Diane Raphael: They would just have had the motion of the cut and made him a hero in that moment.
[00:51:38] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, it's such a great story because it really highlights something that I feel like now is just absolutely evident, which is, a- like, even the actors were confused by what they were being asked to do.
[00:51:50] Paul Scheer: Yes.
[00:51:51] Jason Mantzoukas: But Ken Russell did not care. He was like- But like- ... "No, just do this. Trust me."
[00:51:55] June Diane Raphael: By the way, more props to Amanda Donahue, because her performance is crystal clear.
[00:52:01] Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah.
[00:52:03] June Diane Raphael: You know?
[00:52:03] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, yeah.
[00:52:03] June Diane Raphael: And so, um, self-possessed that I, I'm like, wow. More, even more props.
[00:52:10] Paul Scheer: Well, can, can I tell you what she said? She has two good quotes here which I really like.
[00:52:14] She said that she picked the role because it gave her the opportunity to play a woman who is basically a fantasy woman. There are no boundaries. Therefore, I could do exactly as I chose with that lady. I did not want her to be some sort of vampire bimbo. I wanted her to be an incredible, sophisticated, and ageless woman.
[00:52:31] Now, I love films that have a real oomph to them and say something about life, and I'd just been on this string of films in the last two years, all pretty heavy stuff, and I thought, why not just do a film that doesn't mean anything at all?
[00:52:43] Jason Mantzoukas: Hmm.
[00:52:44] June Diane Raphael: Interesting.
[00:52:44] Paul Scheer: And I do think that like, but that's the ener- the, she's like, she is 110%, like, in this choice. It doesn't feel like she's embarrassed there. She feel... And that's why I think that she honestly feels the most confident, even though there's other people in this movie that are doing stuff. Like, I feel like she is-
[00:53:02] Jason Mantzoukas: Well, I will say-
[00:53:03] Paul Scheer: ... unshakeable ...
[00:53:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Her performance grounds, I, I mean, w- what an insane thing to say, grounds-
[00:53:10] June Diane Raphael: It's true, though.
[00:53:10] Jason Mantzoukas: This insane movie. How confidently she is depicting this very crazy, strange, interesting snake woman character is, is so fascinating and engaging to watch and so actualized that it is hypnotic like the snake is, you know?
[00:53:30] Paul Scheer: Yeah.
[00:53:30] Jason Mantzoukas: And without her performance at the center, I think the movie would really fall apart.
[00:53:34] You know-
[00:53:34] Paul Scheer: Oh, it, there, yes.
[00:53:35] Jason Mantzoukas: ... It would feel weighted too much in the English countryside folk world. You know?
[00:53:41] Paul Scheer: It feels like in a weird way by committing so big, like it's an interesting choice to make. By being that big, she makes the movie better. Like, if you just give a seven, it might just be a, a weaker movie. Like, she had to give a 10. I, I will say, uh, this other thing, I don't know if either of you heard it, but she does say when she throws the Snakes and Ladders into the fireplace-
[00:54:04] Jason Mantzoukas: Ugh ...
[00:54:04] Paul Scheer: Rosebud.
[00:54:05] Jason Mantzoukas: Rosebud.
[00:54:05] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:54:06] Jason Mantzoukas: Loved it. So funny.
[00:54:08] Paul Scheer: I mean-
[00:54:08] Jason Mantzoukas: She's got jokes ...
[00:54:09] Paul Scheer: Susan Kay, she's got-
[00:54:10] Jason Mantzoukas: She's got jokes.
[00:54:10] Paul Scheer: ... jokes.
[00:54:12] Jason Mantzoukas: You know?
[00:54:12] Paul Scheer: Oh, man.
[00:54:13] Jason Mantzoukas: Uh, she's got jokes. She's got jokes for the hitchhiker, virgin boy. She's got jokes-
[00:54:18] Paul Scheer: Mouth harp.
[00:54:18] Jason Mantzoukas: ... for Ernie. Um, yeah, I mean, she is, it is a performance that is incredible, and it remi- it also reminded me of, did you guys, do you guys know who Ann Magnuson is?
[00:54:29] She's, uh, she's an actor and avant-garde, like, musician and artist from this era who has a similar look that you would recogn- she's American, though.
[00:54:37] And for a brief moment when she appeared on screen, I said, "Oh, whoa, is that Ann Magnuson?" And it wasn't, but I was like, oh, it's, it's giving me that kind of a, a vibe. Anyway. And, uh, that just popped in my head.
[00:54:46] Paul Scheer: Well, I will say this. You know, there are... I, I'm not gonna sit here and read a bunch of Amazon reviews 'cause I think a lot of people are in on the joke, but there is one person who had a different opinion than us.
[00:54:57] It is now time for Second Opinions.
[00:55:05] Music: [Second Opinion Song]
[00:55:05] Paul Scheer: I only pulled one because, you know, this is... We get into this territory when you have a movie like this where everyone's doing their bits and jokes. But PF Darlington wrote this in 2005, and the title is "You Yanks Can't Do This Stuff."
[00:55:21] "Mind, I could get it on DVD or VHS back in so-called enlightened Europe, but I had to go to America to buy it and then chip my machine in order to even play it. Thankfully, the UK is not really Europe, or will ever be. It's an especially pagan island archipelago, and that's what gives us this advantage when it comes to making films like this, Wicker Man, et cetera. It seems that you fellows value the diversity of UK and Europe better than we do. Ken Russell in general, and this movie in particular, explores the viewer's cranium for hangups. If you have any, he will find them, and he does find them. It's not your problem, it's his. All the actors are brilliant in this movie. The essential ingredient is Amanda Donohoe. In this, she is delicious. It might well be that she inspired the movie. She really may be the reincarnated snake god's priestess. She does it so well, and you never know on those pagan islands what strange forces well up. Ken has successfully managed to hijack a couple of UK national icons into this bargain, namely Concorde and E-Type Jag. That's quite a feat for a budget movie. I might summarize by hijacking one of your phrases I heard over here. Ken gives you a great bang for your buck, so enjoy this movie with great big google eyes. Five stars."
[00:56:47] Jason Mantzoukas: Huh. Okay.
[00:56:48] June Diane Raphael: Okay. Yeah. Uh, okay.
[00:56:49] Jason Mantzoukas: Sure. Why, why not?
[00:56:50] June Diane Raphael: Yeah I guess.
[00:56:51] Paul Scheer: I guess it's the sort of saying like, "This is true. This is true, and Ken is here to challenge you as well as entertain you."
[00:56:59] Jason Mantzoukas: I'm looking at her IMDb, which, you know, we don't have to trust, uh, completely always. But, um, they worked together again a couple of years later, 1989, The Rainbow. Um, another Ken Russell, um, like erotic kind of thriller, uh, 1900s England looks like.
[00:57:17] Paul Scheer: I love this. Jason, do, do you recommend this movie?
[00:57:19] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:57:20] June Diane Raphael: Yeah.
[00:57:20] Paul Scheer: I mean, right? It's great. It's fun to watch. I think the later you put it on, I think especially now in spooky season, this is a fun one. You can get everybody around to enjoy this one.
[00:57:28] Jason Mantzoukas: This is vibes. This is what a blast, you know?
[00:57:31] Paul Scheer: And by the way, go into your Halloween, uh, costume bag, put together one of these characters. This would be a great, uh, team costume.
[00:57:37] Jason Mantzoukas: Oh my god.
[00:57:38] June Diane Raphael: Oh my God. Absolutely.
[00:57:38] Jason Mantzoukas: You want a good couples costume? Uh. Uh, somebody where a, a military officer's uniform and somebody a big white worm.
[00:57:44] Paul Scheer: Somebody bring out a mouth harp and play that virgin, and someone play, uh, Lady Sylvia or play the cops. There's so many things you can do here. Uh- ... bring out your Snakes and Ladders game.
[00:57:53] Jason Mantzoukas: Uh, y- a good couples costume is the two big red speakers on the roof.
[00:57:57] Paul Scheer: I do wanna make a shirt for this show, uh, Snakes in the City with the s- it's just The snakes and the poses of the Sex and the City characters, I think it would be pretty great.
[00:58:06] Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah.
[00:58:06] Paul Scheer: Snakes and the City, uh, presented by Ken Russell. If we can get that in, uh, if we can get that going, you can definitely find that, uh, on our website. Uh, if you wanna add any corrections or omissions here, you can leave us a voicemail by going to SpeakPipe.com/HDTGM or write to us on our Discord at Discord.gg/HDTGM.
[00:58:23] Now, um, I let you guys know that June and I are doing a brand-new show for Prime, not Amazon Prime, but for Prime Video. Uh, and we're taping those shows in Burbank on October 2nd, 7th, 10th, 16th, 21st and 24th. Each show completely different, improvised based off of audience suggestions. If you wanna come, uh, you can just, uh, hit the email right on our webpage or DinksRSVP@gmail.com.
[00:58:48] Just tell them what days you wanna come, and they will hook you up. Uh, we also made an official How Did This Get Made mini league in this year's Vulture Movies Fantasy League. Uh, to join our mini league, it's like fantasy football but for movies, just go to Vulture.com/HDTGM and just click on, uh, the link in the episode notes if that's too hard for you.
[00:59:04] Jason, June, anything you wanna mention?
[00:59:06] Jason Mantzoukas: No, not really.
[00:59:07] Paul Scheer: All right.
[00:59:08] June Diane Raphael: Um, yeah.
[00:59:09] Paul Scheer: All right. Well, listen, if you listen to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please make sure you are subscribed to our feed and have automatic downloads turned on in the show settings. It helps us, and we appreciate it a lot. You can follow us on Instagram, see some clips from our live shows @HDTGM, and, uh, a whole lot more great content.
[00:59:24] Uh, lastly, I have to give a huge thanks to our behind-the-scenes team. I'm talking about our producer, Scott Sonne, Molly Reynolds, our engineer, Casey Holford, and our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum, and we will forever be grateful to the one and only Avaryl Halley. That's all I got, people. We'll see you next week on Last Looks.
[00:59:38] Bye for now.