We're talking 1983's The Being, and drinking Hop Diggity Double IPA from Mother Earth Brewing. Mother Earth has a brewery in Idaho, potato country, where this film is set.
The radio DJ in the open, breaking down the doings in Pottsville, ID, where the film is set feels like the trailer for the movie.
A teen, running for his life through a construction yard, junk yard, landfill (?) steals a car. As he speeds away, the Being runs him down, jumps on the roof, punches through and tear his head off. The Being seldom displays these epic powers again.
Our "hero," Det. Mortimer Lutz, played by producer Bill Osco, is billed here as Rexx Coltrane and Johnny Commander. Bill spent four million on The Being, but zero on his acting lessons. We opine about where the money went. We have our theories.
Lutz isn't a very good cop. He's actually very bad. Several people have gone, will go, missing in this little town, and he's really bad at investigating.
More voice over, this time we're in Lutz's head, hearing his thoughts, and they're really boring. And he shows little interest in the mechanic who went missing.
Martin Landau in the house as Dr. Garson Jones! He subscribes to the theory that the way to disperse nuclear waste is to dilute it in aquifers! We can't imagine how that can go wrong.
This film has two people who at the time had Oscars - Jose Ferrer and Dorothy Malone - and a future Oscar recipient, Martin Landau.
The origins of this movie are just strange.
Maybe the budget was used up getting the rights to a Fleetwood Mac song?
For a film written and directed by a woman, women are not treated with any respect. We come back to this again.
Multiple viewings did nothing to make the Being more coherent.
This is a real product of its time. Shot in 1980, it takes from ecological disaster films of the 70s, Jaws, and Alien.
This is big potato country, the mayor is a potato farmer, and whatever the heck is going on, Lutz's investigation better not mess with the potato business!! Shades of Jaws, with the corrupt mayor.
The movie being shown at the drive-in looks like it might be more interesting than the actual Being.
Michael got a particular kick out of the stoners.
The Being's constantly morphing powers confuse us. As does most of this film.
Lutz goes to the drive-in and displays his profound lack of detective skills yet again. This is where we connect digging and 'Diggity.' We're plowing through these 'Hop Diggitys,' and enjoying them.
The Being's hiding at Lutz's, and once more displays inconsistent powers.
The Easter Egg Hunt! Will they break a huge horror film rule and kill a toddler? No. They just confuse us more.
Dr. Carson chews the temple tip of his glasses very thoughtfully. He's going camping at the site.
Lutz is a bad boyfriend to Laurie.
The dream sequence. What. The. Hell.
Garson finds some serious stuff out at the creepy site.
Lutz shows up four hours and fifteen minutes late to pick up Laurie, and she waited. Another disrespectful treatment of women.
Laurie proves more capable than anyone else in the film.
"Potatoes. Around here, that means big money." A favorite line.
The Sweeper Committee for Sweeping out Smut. A random subplot that quickly escalates to arson.
It should have been called The Beings, because there are clearly several.
Ruffled shirts at the white people party. Jayson noticed this. When were ruffled shirts and tuxedos a thing?
The mayor does not want to return to the party, and discovers a Being in the garage, so he books it.
The treatment of women is touched upon, again.
Garson has figured out a year's worth of info in a couple days.
Laurie once again displays the most heroism and quick thinking. Her reward? She's locked in a jail cell by Lutz, for her 'protection.'
Lutz and Garson display some wonderful incompetence, then share a psychotic laugh when a cat spooks them.
The warehouse showdown: Straight lifted form Alien. Huge tanks labeled Cyanide. Why? Garson won't leave the cat in the warehouse. Sound familiar?
Garson gets it. Lutz flees. The Being smacks him around, but doesn't display any super powers. Lutz opens the cyanide tanks, when all he needs is a strong light. Cyanide doesn't work, so he throws random jars at it, then beats it with a pipe. The warehouse full of cyanide does not harm Lutz.
Lutz emerges on the roof victorious.
They finish with a nod to American Graffiti, telling us where the characters went after this. Hint: The men go on to better things, the women stay stuck. Pretty sad view of women.
This movie is Michael's fault. He can't recommend is, unless you're trying to find a horror movie for the Easter season. Thank god we had Mother Earth's 'Hop Diggity,' because this was a tough one. Jayson definitely can't recommend it, but he's been through southern Idaho and toured a nuclear testing lab.
Jayson has some interesting theories about the origin of the Being. He may have spent too much time with it. This makes Michael feel worse.
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain]. Outro music Very 80s by Emanuele Dentoni (Story Blocks Audio subscription)
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