Eye On Horror
Eye On Horror
Island Escape Writer/Director Bruce Wemple
This week, drama unfolds as Correia j'accuses Jacob of telepathically telling him to watch the live action Guyver movies but then Jacob j'accuses Correia of bringing up 1995's Major Payne too much. Also, the boys review Talk to Me, Haunted Mansion, They Cloned Tyrone, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Blu-ray reviews of Claydream, The Cramps/Mutants at Napa State Tapes and The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. Once THATS done,
The boys welcome writer/director Bruce Wemple to discuss his new movie Island Escape, while avoiding as much spoilers as possible. If you like Predator and Star Trek, don't miss out on Island Escape on VOD 8/8, In select theaters on 8/12, and Bluray 9/12! Its all new on EYE ON HORROR!
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Welcome to Eye On Horror, the official podcast of iHorror.com. This is episode 110, otherwise known as season six episode 11. I am your host James Jay Edwards and with me as always is your other host Jacob Davison, how you doing Jacob?
Jacob Davidson:Doing well good to be back and ready to talk about all the movies I've been watching.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, let's we'll get started. But not before we introduce your other other hosts, Jon Correia, how you doing, Correia?
Jonathan Correia:I'm doing good. But I had a concerning event happen in the last week. So you know, when you're like, when you're, when it's the evening, right? And all your work is done. And you and you look through your collection, you're like, What am I going to watch tonight? And, you know, if you're if you're a collector like me, or just or just even with all the streaming services, there's a lot of choices. And it's and it's overwhelming sometimes. And I am j'accusing Jacob of of telepathic abilities and getting into my head and going watch The Guyver you have to watch The Guyver because I don't I can't explain any other reason for me to just pull that one off the shelf, and watch The Guyver for the first time. So Jacob, that was terrifying that you did that. But thank you. Because The Guyver was so much fucking fun. Like, it's Brian Yuzna produced co directed by Screaming Mad George. And it's got Mark Hamill in it. It's got Jeffrey Combs plays Dr. East in it. Like there's a lot of Good Times references a lot more way more than I ever thought were possible to happen in a anime and, you know, live action adaptation done by the React team behind Reanimator. But yeah,
Jacob Davidson:It was directed by Brian Yuzna. And basically, you know, they were just trying to cash in on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze. But, ya know, I think it's pretty fun. Like I remember watching it on the Sci Fi Channel. So it's a movie I'm fond of.
Jonathan Correia:No, It's a hell of a good time. And the sequels were a lot of fun too.
Jacob Davidson:Oh, yeah, Dark Hero
Jonathan Correia:Mostly for that third act with the suit fighting was incredible.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, in a UFO.
Jonathan Correia:So much fun. Like the first two quarters, or two thirds of it feels like a 90s sci fi original movie. But, man, it's worth it
Jacob Davidson:It's just funny because it played on the Sci Fi Channel.
Jonathan Correia:Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:Before we get started into the well, before we continue, I should say because you guys already have kind of given a Guyver review. Before we get started into movies we've seen um, let's talk Barbenheimer. Which isn't really horror, but I think it's worth talking about. Have you guys have you guys done the Barbenheimer experience?
Jacob Davidson:I saw them on separate days, but I did see Barbie and I did see Oppenheimer.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, I did them on separate days. See, I'm a victim of what the studios did to the press, which is in most markets, they screen them on the same night, and neither studio would budge. And there's speculation that Warner Brothers did this purposely to Christopher Nolan because they're pissed at him. But I don't know why. But I had to choose. And I chose Oppenheimer for the press screening because they showed it to us in 70mm. And as far as Oppenheimer goes, I think it's a little long, I'm stoked that Chris Nolan finally found someone who knows how to do sound, or he learned a little bit about sound because the sound is amazing. And the sound for his movies is never amazing. It's always actually really bad. It's a little long in the tooth, it what it's about, it's about Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb. And once they do the atomic bomb test, about two thirds of the way in, it's a three hour movie. So about two hours in, they test this bomb. And then from there till the end of the movie, the last hour is really good. It's just getting to that I think is a little long.
Jacob Davidson:Well, I was lucky I got to see Oppenheimer in IMAX 70 millimeter at the Sid Grauman's Chinese Theater. And I wasn't really sure how I was going to feel about it. But you know, I've never felt three hours go by so fast. It was very enthralling thanks in large part to its amazing ensemble cast. You know, because it's a thing it is just more of a biopic. So it does focus squarely on Oppenheimer himself as a person and also his works and also kind of presenting kind of the philosophical repercussions of what he, what he did. So it ya know, I find it very interesting and also just wild to me because you know, the exploit-- the Trinity test explosion was all practical that was not CGI. Yeah, that is an IMAX sound system definitely made it feel that way.
James Jay Edwards:That's what Nolan does he doesn't do CG I mean like if he if he wants to flip a semi he flips a semi if he wants to crash a plane he crashed the plane. And if he wants to blow, I don't think he used an atomic bomb, but if he wants to simulate an atomic bomb
Jacob Davidson:well, used *a* bomb
James Jay Edwards:he blows some shit up. About the ensemble cast you're totally right because it's like it's...how do you say Cillian? Is it Cillian Murphy?
Jacob Davidson:"Kill-ian" Murphy Its Killian Murphy as Oppenheimer and then Emily Blunt as his wife and then Robert Downey Jr. is one of his cohorts. But then you're watching the movie. You're like, oh, Florence Pugh's in this? Oh, Casey Affleck is in this? Oh, Matt Damon is in this? You're like, the whole time through. People are coming through and you're like, Oh my... Wait, he's in this? She's in this? Yes. But my favorite had to be Gary Oldman as President Truman. A total asshole.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, totally true. And yeah, it's, yeah...
Jonathan Correia:It's so true, man
James Jay Edwards:But did you see either of them Correia?
Jonathan Correia:No, Lindsey was out of town. I did have a little bit of the Barbie experience because a buddy of mine. We went to go see Dial of Destiny finally. At like an 11pm showing on Friday and the theater was packed with Barbies. Everyone dressed in pink like the whole lot was filled. Our screening had like five people in it, but it was just like, oh shit, we are in a Barbie world, aren't we?
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, I was gonna say like, I thought you meant that the Indiana Jones screening was packed, which I thought would be odd in that scenario, but yeah, that makes more sense. And yeah, like every time I've been to the movies lately, people are dressing up for Barbie with like pink night gowns and hats and cowboy outfits. It's, it's an event.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, I went to, I saw Barbie. Because I couldn't see the press screening I tagged along with my wife and her girlfriends to go see it. So I guess I was the, not even the Ken, I was the Alan. To their Barbie excursion. But I really really loved Barbie. I liked Oppenheimer. I loved Barbie. And here's all you need to know about why I love Barbie. It has strong Josie and the Pussycats vibes. It's that same type of satire, except instead of taking down consumerism, it's taking down like the patriarchy. And but it's also you know, you're talking about Oppenheimer has this existential crisis that he's having. Barbie has some serious existential crisis too. I mean, if you think about it, it's about these dolls. And, you know, it's not spoiling too much to say that like basically Barbie and Ken go to the real world, and, which is exactly what I was hoping it would be. But once they see the real world, they start questioning their reality of Barbie land. And oh, it was amazing. I freaking loved it. What do you think of Barbie, Jacob?
Jacob Davidson:Oh, I loved it. I thought it was great. And, again, amazing ensemble cast from Margot Robbie to Kate McKinnon. And, ya know, just a it was an interesting take on it. Because you know, like, it's a movie about Barbie and it goes, went surprisingly deeper than that, like that whole opening, a 2001 A Space Odyssey parody blew me away.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, it is in the movie?
Jacob Davidson:It is in the movie.
James Jay Edwards:And he was very beginning. It echoes 2001 at the beginning, echoes the opening scene it's so hilarious.
Jonathan Correia:Fuck me, dude. I, yeah I know, it seems like the perfect level of camp and someone on Twitter said that this is the closest thing we'll get to someone doing it like Richard (Robert) Altman's Popeye. And as soon as they said that, I went. I know exactly what that movie is. And I'm beyond pumped for it. So I fucking love that Popeye movie.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, no. Yeah, you got to see it is. It's amazing. It's in like, like Jacob was saying, the ensemble cast. Alexandra Shipp plays one of the Barbies. So that was a fun, you know, familiar face. Michael Cera is Alan. And an amazing, Alan. But it's funny because...
Jacob Davidson:the only non Ken
James Jay Edwards:you don't realize, you have to be of a certain age, which I am, that a lot of these products were really products that they marketed towards kids. And at one point I had said to my wife, I'm like, Oh, I'm a where's Earring Magic Ken? And then sure enough, frickin Earring Magic Ken.
Jonathan Correia:Here's how deep they go. Because I've been seeing a lot of reaction videos and someone pointed out that they had because there was a Ken, where their outfit was based on like 80s or 90s like club life, which is very...
James Jay Edwards:that's Earring Magic Ken.
Jonathan Correia:The one with the cock ring?
Jacob Davidson:Yes, is the same one.
James Jay Edwards:Yes, yes, a pink mesh shirt and a purple leather vest. Okay, he doesn't have a cock ring in the Barbie movie.
Jonathan Correia:No, it's the necklace
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, he has a necklace that says that says Barbie and here's the thing and maybe if any of our listeners know what I'm talking about, please let us know. I remember Earring Magic Ken, it was put out in like the early 90s And I could have sworn he had a rainbow pride necklace. It was like a chain with these little rainbow loops that form a rainbow. But whenever I look at pictures of it now, it's a necklace that has, well for lack of a better word, a cock ring on it.
Jonathan Correia:Well, and that's, I admit I got it from TikTok, a TikTok video but like it's because like you would have the ring you would wear the ring as a necklace as like you know a sign of that's what you're into and stuff and so but because they didn't know that's what it was I just thought it was a cool necklace thing they fucking had a cock ring on the rest of the night
James Jay Edwards:I could have sworn and if anybody can tell me what because I've been looking ever since I ever since I kind of went down an Earring Magic Ken... this sounds really weird but I went down a Earring Magic Ken rabbit hole because I could have sworn he had a rainbow pride necklace. And it's funny because they were like saying they didn't mean to make Earring Magic Ken, the gay Ken but it was embraced by the gay community, I mean, his earring is in the, back then, the correct ear to be straight. I mean, so he wasn't but I mean, he's wearing a pink mesh top and a purple leather vest on, and he had the cock ring necklace. But I could have swore you on a Pride necklace. So if anybody knows what toy I'm thinking of that was like probably a Barbie size male doll, but I looked at like the New Kids on the Block, the Nsync ones, the Vanilla Ice the, you know, the Ricky Martin dolls, and none of them had this, but I swear one of them had this Pride doll necklace. So if anybody knows what that is, please let me know. Because it's driving me mad. Okay, but anyway.
Jacob Davidson:Oh, I saw Talk to Me yesterday.
Jonathan Correia:Oh!
James Jay Edwards:I was I was gonna say let's move on to something more horror because we talked enough about Barbenheimer, let's talk Talk to Me. What did you think? Did you love it? Or do you love it?
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, I loved it.
James Jay Edwards:I loved it.
Jacob Davidson:I don't think it was quite as scary as a lot of people make it out to be I mean, I thought it was scary. But you know, I feel like it's getting a bit of that kind of hype backlash because I mean if I was really scary it was great. Just yeah, it wasn't as intense as I thought it was gonna be but still it's an amazing movie and probably, you know, just in general I think it's an amazing modern update to the classic'kids are fucking around with Ouija board' type of movie.
James Jay Edwards:That's totally, that's what I was saying. It's like a Blumhouse script but an A24 treatment. It's yeah, like like you said it's, because it's not an Ouija board it's that porcelain hand
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, exactly. It's a medium, an embalmed medium's hand but, I mean, it's the same principle. You know, Ouija board kids are messing with the dark arts for a laugh and of course it backfires.
James Jay Edwards:I want to see more about that hand, I want to prequel about the hand. Did any of you guys see The Haunted Mansion?
Jacob Davidson:I haven't yet.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, yes. I saw it in 4DX.
Jacob Davidson:Nice.
Jonathan Correia:Which let me tell you, is like the ultimate like gimmick and I was even sitting there because, Jay you've talked about it before, like when they do the 4DX to trailers. It's insane because trailers are mostly action shots and that what happened with The Meg 2. It was just thrashing us around and misting us for the entire trailer it was insane. Jacob you're coming up to NoHo and we're gonna go see The Meg 2 in 4DX in a week or so.
Jacob Davidson:Okay
Jonathan Correia:But anywho I did have a moment like in the first five, because after getting thrashed around and being like, oh fuck what did we just get ourselves into, two hours of this? And then I was like, why Haunted Mansion? Why are we seeing Haunted Mansion in 4DX? Why did, we why are we doing this to ourselves? So then I remembered, oh, it's based on a park ride. So it makes sense to do this and it was a lot of fun. Especially since like with the 4DX, yes, the chairs move around. Yes, they mist you. For some reason, they have like a punching mechanism in the back of the chair that just like trying to hit every work injury I've ever had in my back. But the, my favorite bit, is they had a strobe lights and whenever, like, on the upper left corner of the theater, so when lightning struck it would like it felt like old timey like fucking Corman theater antics and
Jacob Davidson:You mean William Castle?
Jonathan Correia:Or William castle. There we go. Thank you for correcting me
Jacob Davidson:He's the one who put the skeleton in the House on Haunted Hill.
Jonathan Correia:Yep. But I mean, so yeah, 4DX I think it's worth it with Haunted Mansion, but the film itself is so much fun, like as a Haunted Mansion ride fan who's obsessed with it and its history like they nailed including all the mythology of it all. The different parts of the right but then they also some of the set pieces felt like, Oh man, this would have been a part of the ride if they could have pulled it off when they built the thing, or was like an extension of it. It was. I had so much fun with it.
James Jay Edwards:It's the, the thing is the people who were disappointed with the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion because it wasn't close enough to the ride. This one pretty much has everything that you could want from the ride in it. Yeah, I mean, and I knew that pretty early on in the movie. They looked down a hallway and that the candlestick is you know, the ghostly candlestick is going back and forth. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, this is it. This is and it only got better from there. They even have references to the Doom Buggies.
Jonathan Correia:Yeah! Oh, the chair scene?
James Jay Edwards:Yeah.
Jacob Davidson:Oh Boy.
James Jay Edwards:I mean, the plot is pretty is you're pretty stereotypical, you know, haunted house exorcism scene. I mean, you pretty much know where it's going. Yeah, but um, but just the fact that it's in this house and Ito it just embraces everything about the ride is so much fun.
Jonathan Correia:The people will complain about like the plot or the story of it being tropey. It's like, that's fine. That's okay to do that sometimes. As it's what you do using that as a jumping off point. And that's where I think it's like okay, so yeah, it's your typical haunted house exorcism thing, but the characters, everyone seems to be having a blast and on their A game, I feel like Danny DeVito was given like one scene of dialogue...
James Jay Edwards:He was awesome!
Jonathan Correia:...Which was the hibachi scene where he actually like has to explain some like ghost shit, and then the rest of the movie is just him just being Danny DeVito unhinged in the scenes because there's, there's like, one bit where LaKeith Stanfield is giving this really good monologue about his dead wife. And he's crying and it's like, really emotional. And he's talking about like, she went out to go get tater tots, you know, because she loved tater tots. And she was picking up ice cream and you know, we would go on runs and she'd eat a cheesecake. And then all of the sudden Danny DeVito goes, what was the cholesterol on her? It was perfect. The humor was on point when Jamie Lee Curtis first in the flashback with her outfit. I was living for that moment. Like, uhh!
James Jay Edwards:That's the thing. We got to talk about the cast to this because Danny DeVito's in it and Jamie Lee Curtis plays Madame Leota. So she is like in the crystal ball.
Jonathan Correia:She's everything
James Jay Edwards:Then Jared Leto plays the Hatbox Ghost, she's kind of the big baddie.
Jonathan Correia:That was that was the only one where I was like, Was that necessary?
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, well, the thing is, you can't tell it's him. I guess maybe the voice.
Jonathan Correia:There's like one picture where it's like, this is what he looked like before he died. And it was Jared Leto but it's a super cartoon. It's it's it goes to the hatbox. It looks exactly like that, and that they modified his voice too, it was one of those things where it's like, well, what was the point of having Jared Leto in that
James Jay Edwards:The name Jared Leto, the name Jared Leto. But you also got LaKeith Stanfield and Tiffany Haddish and Rosario Dawson.
Jonathan Correia:So good.
James Jay Edwards:This cast, yeah, it's got an ensemble that almost puts Oppenheimer to shame. No, not really. But it is good.
Jonathan Correia:I think so.
James Jay Edwards:A lot of good ensemble cast movies are out right now.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, and then the Dan Levy cameo is like, two seconds long, but he fucking steals it, him and Danny DeVito in this movie, are have these really good bits where they'll do a joke. And then like, the scene continues, and they're not like in the scene, they're off screen. And they just say you hear them say something in the background. And it's the funniest thing ever.
James Jay Edwards:I can tell you my favorite scene, and I don't want to spoil anything. So I'm just gonna say the police sketch artist. That is, when you when that scene is when you see that scene come up, you're gonna die because I did.
Jacob Davidson:Yeah, no, I definitely am gonna try and check it out in 4DX
Jonathan Correia:put some skin on it. Yeah.
Jacob Davidson:You know, get thrown around like a ride.
Jonathan Correia:And also with cast. There's a lot of like names in it, but the young actor Chase W Dylan. Yeah. Wow, that kid has a future and that few days that did give some of the best face reactions to things like it right off the bat in the beginning when the when Rosario Dawson's like we're gonna light this vanilla candle and everything's gonna be okay. He's like, but is iot? like, man, that kid is so good. I really hope he blows up.
James Jay Edwards:Did any of you guys get around to They Cloned Tyrone?
Jacob Davidson:Yes, I did see that at Alamo, a week or two back.
James Jay Edwards:It's on Netflix now. So, did you see it Correia?
Jonathan Correia:Not yet. It's on my list though.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, I think you need to see it because it has real strong Sorry To Bother You vibes.
Jonathan Correia:Ooh
Jacob Davidson:I pitched it to my friends as kind of Black Dynamite needs John Carpenter's They Live.
Jonathan Correia:Sold
James Jay Edwards:It has serious Sorry To Bother You vibes, because it's basically, the setup is this this drug dealer gets... Played by John Boyega...yeah by John Boyega and he gets killed, but then he comes back and all of his friends are like dude I saw you die I saw you die. So him and a pimp and a and a prostitute go investigating this I don't want to spoil too much but there's there's a lot going on and you could tell they cloned Tyrone, you know, he did come back from the dead because you could tell because he's cloned. But there's something there's it's funny because like, it's a serious movie, but there's some parts of it where I'm like, where you're just like, come on, like at one point they're they're going into this lab and you know, this is getting into spoiler territory, but um, they see a guy like in a suit and they want to go undercover. So his name's Fontaine Boyega's character). He goes, he says to this guy in the studio "where can we get some of those suits?". And the next shot you see they're walking in these suits. It's like, oh, yeah, like he's gonna just hand those over. But it's, it's a trip. It's a trip of a movie.
Jacob Davidson:And it's a great cast because the pimp's played by Jamie Foxx, the prostitute named Yo-Yo is played by Teyonah Parris. Yeah. And, ya know, they just they make a really great trio. And, yeah no, it's just funny because like, it does hit on a lot of social satire, blaxploitation tropes, conspiracy theories. So it all comes together and makes a very, very unique movie.
Jonathan Correia:Well, and if you do like Sorry To Bother You, Boots Riley's show I'm a Virgo is on Amazon Prime and it is phenomenal, highly recommend it. I know you guys, I feel a little more pressure to do the Barbenheimer thing, but I'm busy. I got these two amazing Blu-rays in.
Jacob Davidson:Oh boy.
Jonathan Correia:What I've talked about before, it's the blu ray from Oscilloscope for Claydream. It's a documentary about the Vinton animation studio, blu rays out now. And I can't recommend it enough because they actually have the entire collection of animated shorts, not not their commercial work. So there's no California Raisins on here. But it's all their short films on there from closed Monday all the way through like a Christmas Gift and the in The Little Prince. Just that collection alone is worth it. But the documentary is fucking fantastic. And the thing that has been almost playing nonstop in our house is The Cramps and The Mutants at the Napa State tapes. And if you if you don't know about this, but back back in the you know, Jay might know a little bit more back in the day, during the big punk scene, there were people that were recording all of this and like so now there's all these live performances and what have you. And now there's there's Institute's that are restoring and preserving all of these tapes. So the performance is it's The Cramps and The Mutants performing at an actual like State Hospital, psychiatric ward, and they're just out in the open. It's the smallest stage. And it's broad daylight because it was in the middle of the day. And they're just performing for the staff, the you know, the patients and a few friends who are apparently on acid and it is great. It's early video. So the quality is here or there the audio is eh. But it doesn't matter because the energy is there you have patients hopping on the stage and dancing and miming with, you know, with The Cramps and it's just, it's it's beautiful. They have both performances, which were previously only available in like VHS separately, and they're very rare. These are restored, and it includes a documentary. That's 30 minutes. That's all about what went into that happening because it was It wasn't just like random, like, you know, they got together they ate how it came together. Why they did it going into like the history of state hospitals, because this was pre Reagan, because of course Reagan shut it all down because any problem from the last 40 years stems from fucking Reagan. But it they have a lot of documentaries and special features about the hospital itself. And it's it's if you're if you're a punk rocker or into anything rock, it's a must own. The Cramps and The Mutants at Napa State Tapes is just
Jacob Davidson:Alright. Keep that in mind. And speaking of blu ray releases, Did either of you watch the Venture Bros on Adult Swim?
Jonathan Correia:I've seen a few episodes, but I never got into it. I was always more of a Metalocalypse guy.
Jacob Davidson:Well, funny enough that's going to tie together in a minute but basically
Jonathan Correia:No to draw lines like you could be a fan of both.
Jacob Davidson:Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I'm a fan of both. But yeah, so yeah, both media Venture Bros. The series got canceled a few years back, but they were allowed to do kind of a A final conclusion movie, and it's called The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. And I've been a fan of the movie for shit like 20 years. And I'm really glad that it was able to get this kind of condensed but still great series finale, although they leave it kind of open ended in case they come back in some form. But yeah, it's fun. It's it takes place where kind of the last season left off and goes into kind of a lot of the deeper lore and kind of characters from the series. And it's got Clancy Brown has a supervillain named Red Death, who's like this. Giants cyborg skull man, which is really cool. And he's also got a cyborg horse named Daisy. So that's just and that's just like one facet of the Venture Brothers and this movie in particular. So if you're a fan of show, I'd recommend that and he's been my other point. Metalocalypse, which was also canceled years ago, is also getting a proper conclusion movie called The Doomstar Requiem. Yeah. Which I don't remember exactly when it's coming out, but I think it's coming out like next week or so. So there you go. You get two series canceled before their time getting proper conclusions.
Jonathan Correia:Well, Doomstar Requiem. That was the previous that was the opera they did. Oh, wait, you're right. The new one is like Army of the Doomstar.
Jacob Davidson:Army. Okay, there was my confusion. Yeah.
Jonathan Correia:No, I had a moment of like, No, Doomstar Requiem. And I have that entire hour long special memorized. Like, that's not what it's called. But it's something similar. Yeah. Um, so
Jacob Davidson:My mistake.
Jonathan Correia:No. Metalocalypse we're not only getting a movie, but we're also getting Dethalbum 4
Jacob Davidson:Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Correia:Yeah, I'm so sad that I'm missing actually.
Jacob Davidson:That's coming out August 22. So keep your calendars marked August 22. for Metalocalypse
Jonathan Correia:Oh, yeah. I'm sad. I'm missing a Dethklok and Baby Metal performing an
Jacob Davidson:Oh, yeah. One, I would want to see that. I have good reasons. Apparently, friend's wedding. So they better appreciate my presence that day. No.
James Jay Edwards:Now let's bring in our guest. Today, we've got Bruce Wemple, who is the writer and director of the upcoming Island Escape. How're you doing, Bruce?
Bruce Wemple:Good. Good. Thanks for having me.
James Jay Edwards:Thanks for being here. The question I always like to start off with people is how did you get started on your on your filmmaking journey?
Bruce Wemple:Oh, that's a good question. The I don't know if there was like, one specific moment or thing. I think it's just a progression of different projects and learning experience and everything. But yeah, I went to film school ish sort of program and then after that, started doing a lot like training videos and everything. And yeah, the training is were awesome. Because you know, it's a lot about making your day and just, you know, you get a lot of experience just actually making things and editing and doing and everything and like, ah, like, anyone will tell you, if you do a short film or whatever you're making, it's gonna probably be bad. And then you get to, you know, learn from those mistakes and so on. And then it was, you know, fast forward, maybe eight to 10 years after that we started, we kind of like, got some people together and we made a, like an absolutely no budget by no budget. I mean, like, maybe a couple grand, but we made a Bigfoot movie called Monstrous and like I was on my rooftop painting like in Brooklyn on my rooftop painting a Bigfoot costume people were walking out confused why there's like this big furry thing. We went to the middle of woods into a cabin, shot this Bigfoot movie and you know, a horror distributor dug it and they were like, you want to make some more with a little bit of cash get a lot of money, but like Absolutely 100% So we just after that we had a spell of about three horror movies that we made with the same distributor and then after that, it was kind of like alright, now this is what we're doing we've kind of have a model that we can keep making these fun horror movies and you know, there's a little bit of money to be you know, to spend on it so we can actually like it's just making movies and so that's kind of how it started. I guess.
James Jay Edwards:When you say you went through like a film school ish program. We've all been through film school and I think the most valuable aspect of film school is getting your hands on equipment and actually doing it when you say an ish program. What What do you mean by that? Did did you actually get to make movies or was it more of a analysis kind of thing?
Bruce Wemple:No, it was 100% a production track
James Jay Edwards:Okay, great.
Bruce Wemple:I always talked about film school though. It's weird. I think it's what you give to film school. I think what you get out of it. I think you can coast by film school without getting that much out of it if you want to, you know if you go there and but you do have access to all the equipment. And so if you meet the right people, and you just want to make things and you just want to learn From that, that's kind of what I was saying. When I said ish, the programming, I was this production track, but there was also pieces of it that were more broadcast oriented and that kind of thing, but also a lot of film and that kind of production. So it was kind of a wide base net of different video and film production. So I That's say film schoolish, wasn't strictly like, Film, film film, right?
Jonathan Correia:Sounds a lot like my program, but it was a lot of like, alright, so you got to do that. But you also got to do your base classes, your sciences and all that.
James Jay Edwards:Like, yeah, it sounds a lot like my film school as well, where we would, if you wanted to work in the TV aspect of it, that was there, there's a studio if you wanted to work in the film, there's all the equipment to check out. I mostly concentrate on sound design. So I was the guy checking out the boom mic and the recorder. Like, you know, you, you're right, you get out of it, what you put into it, and it's a good way to figure out what you want to do, I think, you know, because there was a lot of guys in my film school who were like, I hate being on set, I just want to write and then there are the guys who are like all Yeah, give me the equipment, you know,
Bruce Wemple:whatever sign and you get to, like, collaborate so much without you know, the very low risk, there's there's no stakes, and they just have access to all the gear and yet, you know, actors there, because it was also an acting program that you just have all these people available that just want to make things and you have time too to do it. So it's great. Yeah.
Jacob Davidson:And I was looking through your letterbox profile. And I noticed that a lot of your movies involve a revolve around monsters, including your debut with Bigfoot. So I was just wondering if there's any root in that? Or do you have a particular interest in monsters or something that inspires you?
Bruce Wemple:It's fun. I mean, so I did a movie before that. Two movies technically Altered Hours and Lake Artifact. And again, those were like, kind of exactly what I was talking about earlier, a bunch of friends and me going to whether it's a cabin or some sort of location like that. And you know, my buddy who's a composer, ran the audio, I was DPing and directing that sort of thing. But and then the Bigfoot debut that was I didn't wanted to make I was always in love with Bigfoot growing up and my dad kind of was really into Bigfoot. I remember, he had from when he was a kid, just like tons of newspaper articles that he would collect about different Bigfoot sightings and everything. So I was always had a curiosity to do it. But um, so when the chance came, a friend of mine actually had written the screenplay and had a monster and we're like, Could this be Bigfoot? We worked it out. And it was super fun. And then from there on, it's like, it's super fun. It's I think there's so many stories to tell about with monsters and around where monsters in it. And the other thing like just from I guess, more business it's really hard to get these movies made. Without obviously like celebrities or movie stars or anything like that. Having a monster. You know, I first of all, I love doing it. But second of all, like, that becomes kind of your headline movie star, if you will. The monster in the movie. And so you know, and there's so many stories to tell around monsters and there's just you can go from any which angle you know, we've done movies that are like these very serious sort of, you know, introspective character studies that also have, you know, a monster that's pushing the narrative forward. And then we have something like Island Escape, which is kind of like a fun bloody shoot 'em up action sort of thing. And, you know, it just it's fun and it helps these movies you know, recoup a budget and so it's great.
James Jay Edwards:Bigfoot is the one trope if you will, but I never get tired of I love Bigfoot movies. I will watch any Bigfoot movie there is. So I yeah, I love Bigfoot. Um, let's talk a little about Island Escape. Where did the genesis of the idea come from? Because it's almost like when I was watching I was kind of thinking it was almost like, like a Predator kind of a thing where you're sending all of these bad asses into this thing, but at some point, it becomes more than that because the island itself is is mysterious and I don't want to spoil anything because I never watch trailers and I think that's part of what made Island Escape fun for me is not knowing going in what's going to happen you know, I I don't want to spoil anything but basically, it's basically like Predator But on a more mysterious scope. There's you know, there's something else going on. Where did the genesis for this idea come from?
Bruce Wemple:So the, if you look back through like the movie I did with it before, Island Escape is what we call The Tomorrow Job, which is a kind of a time travel heist movie. And that's always been a fascination of mine along with monsters is just like, not sort of time travel is like a big idea but more of like as a cinema cinematic thing, and just like I love any movie that even has a hint of time travel, I'm game or that kind of thing. Maybe it's not time travel, maybe it's a time loop maybe to little sort of like Star Trek wormhole, the sort of whatever that sort of mystery where, like, you know, time and the perception of events and stuff is going to be messed with. I'm game I'm game, whatever it is, you know, and sometimes they're great. Sometimes the movies aren't good, but it's still if it's going to kind of go into that territory. I'm very excited. So that was always, you know, an interest. And you can see in other movies, we've we've, you know, kind of put our feet in the water, but the, but we knew that we wanted that. And then we also kind of wanted to make it a fun movie. We just made a couple of more serious movies. And we just like, we, as a crew, we were talking about what kind of movie with all of us want to watch if we had to conclude combined the monsters along with and we just started talking about these old movies that we use, you know, the movie, the John Carpenter, like the Escape movies or the Predator, definitely. And talking about you know, those badass is like, what what if we took that and also gave it a little bit this sci fi cerebral twist to it. And so that's kind of where it started. And then it just kind of expanded from there into into Island Escape.
James Jay Edwards:Have you seen The Endless by Benson and Moorhead?
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, I love it. I thought it was great.
James Jay Edwards:It kind of has the, you know, again, not spoiling anything, but it kind of has that same feel. You know, now now we are getting into spoiler territory because it's a similar like, you know, like you said, not really time travel, but time looping. So, I was just, I was just wondering.
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. No, and, you know, and yeah, no, I think Endless was another thing. Like we were talking about the spoilers, like, I didn't know anything going back going into it. So once it does start getting into that territory, it's very exciting. And if you don't know what's coming, it's even better. And then so yeah, that I agree with you. Yeah. Escape Island hopefully has a little bit of that. mysteriousness to it that if you don't know the coming, if you haven't watched any of the trailers, you've never done anything like that. It definitely hopefully can surprise you, when it does start getting into that more. You know, mind bendy territory, because it's, it's, it definitely sells itself at least in the beginning as just like, this is a shoot 'em up action movie. And that was that was the intent is to set it up, like you get the feeling across, like, Oh, I've seen this movie before. You know, I've seen this movie with a bunch of badass mercenaries going to an island, they're probably all gonna get picked off one by one, that sort of feeling do it, you know, like, get the audience comfortable with, with that premise and the tropes and everything. And then once they're settled into that, then start introducing these other mind bending sort of concepts.
Jonathan Correia:Start getting into Star Trek territory, but without adding super complicated scientific words in front of stuff. Right
Jacob Davidson:Or red shirts.
Jonathan Correia:You did a great job of avoiding the it's like the quantum blah, blah, blah. Oh, you mean like a slingshot? Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:As someone who didn't watch the trailer and just dove right in, I think you did a great job of that. I mean, because I because when it started, I was just like, Okay, this is, you know, this is Predator, where's the monster, you know? And then as it unfolds, what's happening? I'm like, oh, wait a minute. There were there were a lot of Wait a minute moments in this, you know, you're like, wait, okay, wait until you figured out what's going on. You're like, Wait a minute.
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, that's awesome that you got that experience. Because like, I think, you know, hopefully, we get other people that are just, you know, able to watch it completely, you know, no knowledge of anything. It's hard to do that. But that's really hard to do right now. You know, how do you find a movie without that, but if that can happen, that's awesome. So
James Jay Edwards:I always make a point of doing that, you know, I don't watch trailers. You know, I love going in cold. So
Bruce Wemple:I would say you know what the worst is I was I just remember whenever that came out last year, we went to saw the Batman and my buddy had avoided every single trailer leading up every every we sat down, and they had this like, five minute promo for the movie, right before the start of the movie. And I'm like, why are they doing this? You know, like,
Jonathan Correia:I hate that. Especially when I've been avoiding trailers. And then I go to the movies and it's like, no, wait the trailers but you know, I can't avoid it. Yeah, Evil Dead. I had to I had to limit myself. I was like, alright, we can only watch the trailer for Evil Dead Rise once or twice. And that's it. We can't watch it anymore. Like let's get let's get a taste of it. Forget about it for months
James Jay Edwards:For Hereditary I didn't want to know a dang thing about that movie going in. And I learned what the beginning of the trailer looked like because this was also the fat years of movie pass. So I was going to the movies all the time and When I would see that A24 that I knew was Hereditary, I would go to the restroom, and I would come back. I did not want to see this trailer, this movie's gonna be too good.
Jacob Davidson:And I just actually came from seeing Oppenheimer and they had the trailer for the new Exorcist movie, which, I mean, I was interested in seeing, but at the same time, it's like, yeah, they showed probably a bit too much in that. So it's a double real double edged sword.
Jonathan Correia:But I do that same for Island Escape. It does show a little bit more of like, the, the, you know, the after Predator bits, but like, there was still plenty to go, oh, oh, shit. Okay, like I definitely, especially getting towards the end of like, how is this gonna work out? What? Wait, and then like something else came up? And I'm like, Oh, wait, shit. That's right. Because this got me. So like, if you've seen the trailer, you haven't seen everything for this movie. Just Just know that.
Bruce Wemple:Yes, I agree. I agree. There's a lot left. It's it's tough. Yeah, I just, I went and saw Mission Impossible last week. And I remember, there were not one but two making of featurettes. Before the movie of scenes in the movie, which, again, I love the movie. But I'm like, this is way more than I wanted to see, before actually just just sitting down and watching the movie clean
Jonathan Correia:before you watch this movie, for the first time in theaters. Show you a making of all the big action sets that you're about to see completely? No, like after let's do an after thing.
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, no, I know.
Jacob Davidson:And something else I wanted to ask. I noticed that a lot of the cast have been in previous movies you've done. So I was wondering if, like they're friends of yours, or it's just you've kind of assembled a kind of family cast? Or like as that has become a family to you. And that you've been working with them several times.
Bruce Wemple:Yeah. So all of them, I met via some sort of acting sort of like, either, you know, they audition for something from ours, or something like that. They're all you know, and then since then, you know, we've become friends. But I think, for me, it's, it's, you know, we're never working with huge budgets at all, or even even, you know, they they're always really small. So it's, I love the idea of when we get on set, we're trying to outdo whatever we did from the previous movie, and it's easier to do that when, you know, you have someone who's been in the trenches with you before, of the previous movie set, and especially enough to go through all their good actor and you know, you know, you have the shorthand is getting better and better. So yeah, any chance I can to bring them into another movie, I'll take just because, you know, we're just trying to outdo ourselves, that's all you can really do on these movies, it's just tried to do your best work and try to outdo whatever movie did whatever work you did before that, and they're great. And so, you know, it's, they get on set, and they, we all kind of know what's expected of each other, and how we're going to, you know, approach to this and how we're going to make it and we all stick together. And that's what it's like, like you said, it's a little bit like a family, like a musical school sports team to I would call it like, the way you know, we're all supporting each other, and we're all there to just, you know, make the best thing we can possibly make. And, and no one's there just for themselves. So that's really kind of the mentality behind that.
James Jay Edwards:Now having having kind of like a family or a team, as you say, of people that you work with repeatedly, do you find yourself writing for specific actors? Like when you wrote Island Escape? Did you think okay, this part would be perfect for so and so in this parts for so and so?
Bruce Wemple:Yeah. So I mean, this project specifically, I started putting the pieces together. And I knew that knew the tone I wanted. And as I was, I was like, okay, so and so would be perfect for that that'd be for and then I didn't know if they were all going to be available, but I'm pretty sure for that main group of mercenaries. It was first choice of like, the people I knew for every single one, like and so that was really fun. Because there was already kind of in their voices. It was, you know, it was written for them. So yeah, absolutely. And sometimes you don't get that or sometimes you're like, This is a part that we just don't have or you know, we've maybe You've overdone this thing with this person a little bit or something like that. That's happened sometimes. But for this one, I I also knew it was going to be a hard shoot, there's a number of things in there stunt esque sort of things. And also like there's a you know, there's a fight on top of a mountain which I knew the only way to get to that was, you know, the cast and crew had to hike up a mountain there was certain things I'm like, I can't have someone brand new that I'm not sure is going to you know, be game for these sort of things. Especially with the budget we had and everything we didn't have a lot of time so I needed to make sure whoever you're bringing was was ready to do that sort of stuff. So yeah, I totally write for those people. When I'm when I'm doing it.
Jonathan Correia:Definitely want to talk about the filming location. Were you shot. So there is a like you said, there's a fine mountain, you're in the woods a lot. There's ocean shots. What was? What was that experience? Like? And where did you guys film it?
Bruce Wemple:A lot of it was filmed around the upstate New York. Kind of Adirondack ironic region. I'm originally from upstate New York. And so we but it was a number of different places just because like you said, there's the kind of more ocean Islandy stuff. And then once we're in the woods in the mountains, we kind of had to split it up a little bit. The we were getting into production. We knew like it was all happening. I don't want to spoil but there's a set piece at the end involving a boat. And it is I guess, someone is going to escape the island.
James Jay Edwards:I was wondering about that stunt was was that actually a practical stunt?
Bruce Wemple:Oh, yeah. Everything, Yeah. I mean, not, not the sky, obviously. But other than that, yeah. Yeah. So that was crazy. The, the thing was, we knew we were shooting and it was about near early September, we're like, okay, we're making the movie. We the the, the money was in place, and the people were placed everything. So we're like, okay, pre production starting, well, we'll shoot in late October, November, that time of year, because I really also just loved the look of the leaves changing everything. It's cool. But we realize we can't do that stuff in November, that's insane. The water is going to be you know, freezing and beat, you know, so we're like, Okay, we have to do that we have to get that in the can first. So that was actually the first thing we shot was that set piece at the end. And we, it was a blast. I mean, everyone was game and everything was safe. But it was wild when I'm in one boat with the long lens shooting into the other boat, and we're both kind of going parallel to each other. And they're, you know, they're having the fight on the on the on the boat. And third, it was very chaotic. And it was super fun. The way that you know, we're doing the boat drags and, you know, the combination of it was it was pretty intense. Especially for like, Okay, this is how we're starting the shoot, which is the first thing and the good. It was honestly though relief to get that in the can and then like really, when we cut it together, like okay, this works. We have this this is like probably the hardest thing we're gonna do. And so getting that done was was was fun. But it was it was definitely a weird way to start the shoot. You know, first day, two people sitting across from a table to having a chat. That's what you want on the first day. It's like, sort of do over the shoulder as a wide shot be done with it.
James Jay Edwards:When you say to him, you're like, oh, it's only gonna get easier from here. Yeah,
Bruce Wemple:right. You're still with me now? We're going to be good for that. Yeah. If you haven't left already, we're good.
Jonathan Correia:It's the Major Payne thought process. Right? Oh, you think that that hurts? Okay, cool. Now we can move on, because it's not gonna hurt as much as this
Jacob Davidson:I swear Jonathan, you will take any opportunity to bring up the movie Major Payne.
Jonathan Correia:Yes. Yes, that movie has had a profound effect on me.
Jacob Davidson:And back on monsters. I was wondering if you could talk a bit about who did the practical effects or how you kind of went into the designs?
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, we actually went through a couple of different phases. We, that actually that first shoot, we had one makeup artist, and she did a great job. But it just once we kind of got into the edit. We're like this, this isn't quite what we're going for it and it was just we knew at that point, we had to shift the look a little bit. And just, it just, we kind of all realized like this has to be bloodier, crazier. It has to have that that texture of just like that feeling of just not only the prosthetics not only the eyes, not only all of that, but it's got to look bigger, and just kind of bloodsoaked the whole time just just as we got to that. So we ended up having we went through a couple different phases and different artists that kind of came in and out. But Jesse Hydrolock actually came on the end and I hadn't I worked with her, like 2015 on a different project. And we just kind of she did her thing. And then we're looking for new makeup artists. And she posted an Instagram literally like the second we're like trying to like scan for like, different people. And I was like, Oh, I forgot about this course I gave her a call because she was I knew she was somewhat local to the area we're shooting and she's like, Yeah, I'm available. So that was actually that came together very quickly. And then once we once we kind of figured out okay, there was the prosthetics, everything, the muscle suit all that and then just kind of making sure the blood soaking was always there. There was always some sort or have dropped something dripping off of them at all times that chaos, which, in hindsight, I didn't realize how complicated for the prosthetics was going to be because those some of those prosthetics tend to soak up water soak up blood a little bit. So there was a little some complicated it was very complicated, obviously, because, again, this is spoilers, but there's a several scenes where you have a monster version and a human version of the character that actually have to interact by whatever it is. So that, you know, that created a number of headaches on set that we had to kind of work around.
James Jay Edwards:Do you use the same actors for that? Or were there doubles? I mean, was there camera trickery that you have to have somebody fight themselves
Bruce Wemple:Yeah, we tried to use every trick in the book just to kind of not you know, make sure it doesn't always feel like it's one same will do the same trick so it's there's a couple comp shots in there where you know, you have the the two in which took some planning and then there are doubles that we had pretty much for every I mean, some of the doubles switched over to different actors, but every actor had some sort of double for certain shots. And yeah, and then some of it is just you know, eyelines and you just make you having to keep track Okay, with that you were staring there then once we do switch the makeup that they have to be standing whatever position to match up the eyelines and just making sure it all comes together some of the scenes what was actually helpful was we would actually do film the whole bite set piece whatever it was, quickly get the dailies into you know, editing and then cut together a version of it really as fast as we could just like a very rough assembly of it. And so we could identify exactly where the spots were that we needed our monster coverage and shoot a little based on that plus a little extra but that was actually a really helpful tool was having those edits done really quickly and we could you know have the text placeholders or whatever there and then we could you know, be shooting the monster with a little more intention you know then because it gets tough when you're having to remember okay at so and so was standing there for that scene and everything because also it's it's a few hours in a makeup chair so there's a lot of planning involved when when it comes to that. Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:the beauty of digital cinema you can watch the dailies very quick.
Bruce Wemple:Oh, yeah, no, we we are not sending this to a lab or anything. You yeah, that's an instant Yeah, it was Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I don't know that you know, 10-15 years ago,
Jonathan Correia:but it looks great. And I'm sure the actors had a lot of fun playing those multiple versions as well go do being able to do flip sides there was a I again don't want to spoil too much about the about the doubles and whatnot. But there was definitely like an animalistic like, primordial like energy to them. That was very, it was very fun. Especially dripping everything. Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:And it's gotta be fun to be able to fight yourself. You know it you know, when they look at the finished product, they're like, oh, yeah, that's me kicking the crap out of myself.
Jacob Davidson:Again, very Star Trek.
James Jay Edwards:I always think Brady Bunch when I see that, that that double thing I was that, you know, you know Peter with the Dracula.
Jonathan Correia:See its Parent Trap for me.
Jacob Davidson:Ya know, I was thinking of that one Star Trek where Kirk got an evil transporter clone of himself and could tell he was evil because he like would do that shifty eyes thing when this camera would zoom on them.
Jonathan Correia:I haven't gotten to that one yet. I did just get the one where they found it was a second Riker. That was a fun episode.
Jacob Davidson:Oh, well, that was TNG. Yeah. There's a lot of cloning in Star Trek.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, you're talking about original series. Sorry. Yeah. I
Jacob Davidson:was talking about Kirk Shatner. I spaced
Jonathan Correia:out a huge Next Gen kick we we said that we weren't I wasn't allowed to bring up Trek anywhere on this.
James Jay Edwards:I don't remember saying
Jacob Davidson:that. Yeah, I didn't say that either.
Bruce Wemple:We've been. We've been Next Gen binging lately. We had a newborn like 12 weeks ago. So thank you. Thank you. And so my wife and I pretty much TNG was on the TV constantly. We've been binging a lot.
Jonathan Correia:You got to start them off early. You got to get those you know, the Star Trek morals. They got to know that the first duty of every officers that is to the truth right, you know,
Jacob Davidson:the Prime Directive. Yeah.
James Jay Edwards:Thanks for joining us this this morning. The movie Island Escape it. The theatrical is next weekend, which is the weekend after this post. But VOD is on the eighth correct on August 8.
Bruce Wemple:Yes, correct. Yes.
James Jay Edwards:So the day after this post so if you're one of the one of our subscribers and you listen on the first day, Island Escape We'll be on VOD the next day on Tuesday the eighth? Where can people keep up with? Do you have you have the social media that people want to keep up with what you're doing next?
Bruce Wemple:Sure I have@BruceMWemple on Instagram, I guess would be the best spot or@377films on Instagram too that has more strictly just the whatever projects we're working on some kind of stuff. So either one of those, check it out.
James Jay Edwards:Great. As for us, you can find us at Eye On Horror on all of the socials. Actually iHorror.com You can also find us there and they need some help with Twitter. I guess the Twitter guidelines have changed and they need subscribers and they're doing some cool contests. So any listeners who want to win some cool stuff? Head on over to iHorror on Twitter
Jonathan Correia:Are we Eligible? Jacob isn't, he'll win.
James Jay Edwards:Automatically. He would he would win if he was. Our theme song is by Restless Spirits. So go give them a listen. And our artwork is by Chris Fisher. So go give him a like and go and watch Island Escape. So that the writer director Bruce Wemple, thanks again for joining us. And we will see you all in a couple of weeks. So for me James Jay Edwards.
Jacob Davidson:I'm Jacob Davison.
Jonathan Correia:I'm Jonathan Correia
Bruce Wemple:and I'm Bruce Wemble,
James Jay Edwards:keep your eye On horror.
