The B.E.E. Podcast - 11/1/21 - Halloween Timewarp - SILVER
Added 2021-11-02 00:30:00 +0000 UTCBret reviews the entire Halloween film franchise from its beginnings in 1978 all the way through the freshly released Halloween Kills. We then revisit a super spooky classic BEE podcast conversation from 2014 with a modern horror auteur.
Comments
Lots of whiners. I am not one of them. Do as you do.
Antonio Primavera
2022-01-01 17:41:02 +0000 UTCnah, I'm just a working class stiff writer of sorts
Joseph A Aisenberg
2021-11-28 07:46:40 +0000 UTCI hope you're a film professor or FS major because if not, I really need to up my cinematic knowledge if this is how "regular " folks see movies. I'll be rewatching with these things in mind. Ty.
K.D.F.
2021-11-26 19:02:40 +0000 UTCI loved this monologue. Thanks Bret
George Barnett
2021-11-20 22:01:11 +0000 UTCYou get 75 minutes of Bret talking about Halloween films for the price of a coffee. Bargain all day.
Peter Walker
2021-11-16 09:36:58 +0000 UTCYay to franchise-focused monologues. In other news, former guest Sam Outlaw has a new album out! Spreading the word in here in case there’s any fans.
P Smoke
2021-11-14 16:06:43 +0000 UTCI dug it. The kills were obviously the highlight and in that department it didn't disappoint.
Joseph Orlando
2021-11-14 12:54:29 +0000 UTCIt's my favorite of all the sequels!
Billy Schafer
2021-11-13 23:19:04 +0000 UTCFavourite fact: the actor playing Michael Meyers in the first Halloween was paid $25 a day!
Dan Zilic
2021-11-13 22:03:16 +0000 UTCMaybe I have poor taste, but I genuinely enjoyed Halloween Kills more than the previous installment. I agree with Bret that the supernatural aspect makes it less scary, but I'm not watching slasher sequels to be scared. HK had some of the best kill scenes I've ever seen in a horror movie and I'd put it at #3 on my list of the best Halloween franchise films, behind the original and part 2. Another guilty pleasure of mine is Halloween 6 (the producers cut).
Klintorious
2021-11-13 20:27:07 +0000 UTCIf Halloween producers hadn't had the chutzpa to call their film Halloween no one would care about Michael Meyers. It so boring. Bret's opinion that the best horrors are those left unexplained tends to be true when there is some non-human supernatural element at work, but in the case of Michael Meyers it's the problem, not a feature. The why and how of his powers begs for clarification, and no writer has managed to come up with a justifiable and compelling origin for it. The franchise was right to attempt moving on from the Meyers character but the 80's loved their magazine cover slashers and here we are, stuck with yet another installment of the snoozeworthy Michael Meyers drama- a guy who cannot be killed because.... nobody knows.
BrienPiechos
2021-11-11 17:00:57 +0000 UTCLOL, I second this. Sing it: LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAINNNNN
Dirk
2021-11-11 06:18:17 +0000 UTCLOL'ing at BEE saying the killing is 'gross'. Though I agree with his sentiments on the film--this is the man that wrote American Psycho! LOL "Disgruntled psychotic boomer" HAHAHAHA P.S. Rob Zombie is terrible. He thinks his version is great. He doesn't get the character at all--or what makes things scary for that matter. His version reminded me of pro wrestling.
Dirk
2021-11-11 04:59:34 +0000 UTCloves the commentary on halloween and maybe im in the minority but i sort of like halloween 4
Collin Myers
2021-11-09 22:51:28 +0000 UTCAbsolutely enjoyed this podcast. A fan of the Halloween films, I agreed with most of your comments. Thanks!
Nick B
2021-11-06 16:26:24 +0000 UTCThat's true, it's likely not breaking anyone's bank, but I think the main point is that we've been consistently getting time warps for a good while now, not just a month or two so the guys could regroup and recharge, it appears as if its become a major crutch to get out of delivering actual episodes and putting the real effort into making the show. Everyone is welcome to their opinion and vote with their wallet how they see fit, but I feel like this time warp thing has been around consistently for about a year and it doesn't seem like it is naturally going away.
Alex Waller
2021-11-06 00:23:11 +0000 UTC$10 a month is not a lot of money lol
Ashley
2021-11-05 23:52:54 +0000 UTCyeah, I understand everyone is free to unsubscribe but I don't want to do that. But the time warps have been an issue for a year now and it seems like the problem isn't going away. I think that's the problem. I wouldn't pretend to know what's going on but it seems like it was a bad habit picked up as a result of the pandemic where it was obviously understandable, although that seemed like a great opportunity for some remote interviews since everyone was at home, and it just became easier to put less effort into the show. From 2018 to early 2020 we never had this problem. A big reason why they're still happening is because people excuse it all the time and want to be the cool person who tells others to lay off Bret.
Alex Waller
2021-11-05 16:08:00 +0000 UTCI go through a lot of shitty things, but like Bret I’m a small businessperson with clients that pay me and would fire or sue me if I didn’t, and they wouldn’t ask me ‘hey man, how’s things?’ before doing it. You do your job or don’t charge $. That’s a think people’s point, and they’re free to drop the show. I personally don’t mind these now and then particularly after hearing his new book read as it was being written all in all I find over the months it’s worth my few bucks. And the Zombie interview gives me a kick because I was working on CSI: Miami at the time he directed his episode, and to listen to him talk about it kills me it’s so accurate. It was even worse than he described in terms of the series regs not caring…they didn’t even READ THE SCRIPTS. They’d just get their pages for the next day’s work learn their lines, do it and get out without even knowing what the episode was even about. And they made 250-500K an episode (guess who got 500.) Nobody was really running the show everyone was rich and so over it. It was a shitshow. He could not have picked a worse show to dip his toe into the waters…😂😂😂
MikeE
2021-11-05 06:42:23 +0000 UTCTeam BEE charges $$$ for the podcast because of the time and effort put in. This started a few years before pay for podcasts were really a thing like they are now. I never had an issue forking over the money because I thought it was totally reasonable to expect some compensation for a really great product, plus it helps ensure you get listeners who will actually care. But at the same time it's only fair to ask what's up if we're continually getting recycled content that many of us have already paid for. The time warps could be tolerated during the heart of the pandemic for obvious reasons, but we're past that (fingers crossed). I'm not trying to make it all about money because it's not, but at the same time these episodes aren't being given away for free.
Alex Waller
2021-11-05 05:18:10 +0000 UTCWow, Bret just finished his insane year long serialization of novel and went through what seems like some personal turmoil in his relationship and people are complaining? Maybe he’s just taking it easy for himself, he is human after all. Sheesh! I really enjoyed this pod and all his pods I find something interesting and compelling in.
Ashley
2021-11-04 18:09:43 +0000 UTCI was jostled by Crossroads and had to skip pages towards the end because I was so worried about a character— also I don’t mind the reruns (I listen to them anyways) and I like the fast read monologues
Seneca Garcia
2021-11-04 03:36:00 +0000 UTCPlease don't go!
Jorge Espinha
2021-11-03 19:58:57 +0000 UTCTo be honest, this was a great episode. And a very good early monologue.
Brian Rooney
2021-11-03 16:18:23 +0000 UTCI wrote Franzen a fan email and he said he would go on the pod if Bret’s team reaches out … Maybe Franzen was pretending to be Mr. Flexible but I think it can and should happen… The new novel is great and I really do think it’d be the best episode of the pod if it were to happen …
Brian Rooney
2021-11-03 16:15:50 +0000 UTCIts more than occasional
Alex Waller
2021-11-03 16:13:45 +0000 UTCI was sure hoping for foreshadowing like that myself ! While O’Neill is probably more keen than anyone to stress that you can’t draw conclusions from his book - given that probably his nightmare is to be dismissed as a tinfoil hat crank - after reading it, you can’t really go back to the mentality Bret and Rob Zombie have in the discussion in 2017.. Manson family as a nightmare Michael Myers Halloween, supernatural evil and killing for no reason.
Keith campbell
2021-11-03 15:00:00 +0000 UTCI actually read that Tom O'Neill book over the summer. It's definitely a compelling read, but keep in mind O'Neill himself admits that conclusions can't be drawn using the book itself. I think he said that on the Joe Rogan Podcast. I'm hoping Bret may have post this particular episode as a kind of foreshadowing of addressing the Tom O'Neill book though that's probably a long shot. I think an episode like that would get the comments section fired up!
bpvalentine
2021-11-03 11:35:19 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed the Halloween rant - exactly the kind of the thing for the Bret treatment — who else would do this?? — as I can’t imagine actually watching all 8 of these movies and assembling a narrative thread about them. I haven’t seen any of them. Hilarious how Jamie Lee Curtis tried to turn the late ones into wokester manifestos. Is it just me or is it interesting that he would repost the Zombie / Manson podcast given that everything we knew about the Manson murders is out of date after Tom O’Neill’s magisterial investigative book ?
Keith campbell
2021-11-03 11:20:29 +0000 UTCGuys, I think we lost Richard on his run.
bpvalentine
2021-11-03 10:21:35 +0000 UTCBret's going through a pretty shitty time now from the sound of things. I think he could be forgiven for the occasional rerun, all things considered. I do like the idea of Bret doing a deep dive into certain works of other writers. I was particularly thinking about the new Stephen Crane biography Paul Auster wrote.
bpvalentine
2021-11-03 10:20:15 +0000 UTCWell, I've been with him since day 1. I'm not worried about losing 2 dollars over a time warp.
Ben
2021-11-03 05:05:09 +0000 UTCThought the same thing. That is the most compelling version of the Manson/Tate story I have ever come across.
Maxh
2021-11-02 21:00:20 +0000 UTCI wish you'd try and get Max Landis on here again. I made a post summer 2020 alluding to his appearance after he told me he was going to be on. But he never was -- and now I'm embarrassed.
Chase
2021-11-02 20:01:52 +0000 UTCAgree about finding writers. The modern world is a hellscape of corporate diversity agendas and bland mediocrity as the goal of corporate art, and they are winning. I enjoy spending a few hours with Bret in his reverie of a more exciting and inspiring time, even if it gone. There are those of us who see this as a time of consolidation and believe a new age of heroes is on the horizon. I am always grateful when he brings up a great film I may have missed because at least there's a chance I enjoy it, compared to anything I'll find browsing Netflix for an hour.
BrienPiechos
2021-11-02 16:31:09 +0000 UTCThe talk of the Manson murders made me think Tom O'Neill would be an excellent pod guest
E
2021-11-02 15:56:50 +0000 UTCThe Timewarp episodes are a bummer, however I'm going to extend a little patience as Bret seems sort of lost post Shards and all he's been dealing with the "Millennial". I feel like for the rest of the year there are atleast some movies coming out that should peak Bret's interest enough to give him material for interesting movie review monologues. I am completely fine with a Bret monologue and then Q&A when they don't have a guest. It would be cool if Bret could land some more interesting authors to have on, they are almost always great conversations. Tao Lin, Franzen, Sally Rooney, Tommy Orange, Emma Cline, Ben Lerner, etc etc.
Charlie C
2021-11-02 14:23:49 +0000 UTCam going to listen on my run. will say more later, after my run
richard owain roberts
2021-11-02 14:20:07 +0000 UTCI was hoping for this Bret. I just re-watched most of the franchise in the last 10-14 days. This will be fun to listen to
Brian Borough
2021-11-02 13:22:35 +0000 UTCI am hoping Bret that you can somehow land Franzen as a guest. I am loving the new novel and I have seen him interviewed in NYC and he's a great conversationalist. I think you two would make for a really compelling interview. I know he lives in Cali now, so maybe that could happen?!
LPR
2021-11-02 11:54:30 +0000 UTCAlthough I don't always like these rerun episodes, your essay on Halloween and all of its many tedious sequels was completely worth the price due to the wit and insight. I agreed completely with what you said concerning what was good about the original, the roving camera, the framing compositions, the way Micheal is used as a Jack-in-the-box-now-you-see-him-now-you-don't figure of menace hidden away in suburban normality, the embodiment of the fear lurking in the everyday. I'd only add that the film is rather more influenced by Carrie than you noted, and possibly Polanski, not only the use of PJ Soles, but the walk home from school, the repressed dowdy heroine, the searching camera work and the use of background and foreground dynamics which create such a marvelous split perspective in Carrie and to a lesser extent in Halloween--down to and including the English Class Scene in which the movie's themes are spelled out for us. My main bitch is with the thematic aspects of the film, actually. The sex repression which is supposed to link Laurie Strode at some deep level to Michael, so that his killing her friends is an expression of her prissy hostility doesn't work, it doesn't go with Curtis' performance, and confuses the creepier point of fate versus happenstance. Is Destiny a religious expression of the war of good against evil or is it just a fact of the natural order of things reducing all to mere chance--Halloween weirdly has it both ways. Isn't this what's behind the idea of the film's structure: Laurie drops some keys at Michael's old place, he happens to be there, sees her and just starts following both her and the little boy with her. Michael as the monster Id from within saps the the potency of this Hitchcockian narrative gambit, I believe. And yet the movie finally really does work. Anyway I want more witty essays like this Halloween one, please!
Joseph A Aisenberg
2021-11-02 11:47:39 +0000 UTCAs a fan, I'll forgive Bret for not always being up to the extremely high standard he's set for himself throughout the podcast. Personally I'd like more book writer interviews.
Alex Bielovich
2021-11-02 07:38:57 +0000 UTCYou’ve set the bar pretty low. I’m paying BEE because I understand and value the time and effort he puts into creating a well-researched and thoughtful episode. As the poster said below, every now and then is fine, but it’s becoming too frequent. Also, with such a niche and loyal audience chances are the majority of listeners have already heard the podcast one episodes (like myself) and don’t place a monetary value on revisiting them.
RFR
2021-11-02 06:51:03 +0000 UTCUnfortunately I’m very close to just canceling my subscription here as the quality is at a down point. I can even hear it in BEE voice. He’s fed up with this podcast himself…!
Knokkel knokkel
2021-11-02 06:21:59 +0000 UTCI'm mostly sick of time warps myself. I was a subscriber for podcast one too and I don't think its right to be charged twice for the same content. Obviously there's lots of effort that goes into the podcast. If something comes up once in a while where some filler is needed then that's fine, like in comics where they sent out reprints if the books missed their deadline. But it's become far too frequent. I'd even be cool with an extra half hour on the monologue. I can kind of see it if the interview is really good. The Matthew Weiner one was really interesting and had a really nice flow to it, and I've never even watched any of his content. This interview definitely didn't need to be replayed, though, and the same can be said for many of these time warps. Rob Zombie definitely has his positives as a person and a musician but I don't think he's an interesting filmmaker and the content in his films is so predictable for a dude from a metal band. I'd much rather hear about how the dude from Limp Bizkit ended up directing a The Longshots.
Alex Waller
2021-11-02 04:29:57 +0000 UTCI like the time warps. I've already forgotten the podcast anyway. It's fun to revisit them.
Ben
2021-11-02 02:44:21 +0000 UTCIt's better than canceling entirely.
Ben
2021-11-02 02:42:18 +0000 UTCAt least we get something.
Ben
2021-11-02 02:39:11 +0000 UTCEnough with the timewarps!
RFR
2021-11-02 01:53:15 +0000 UTC
