 Hello, and welcome to Release Date Rewind. My name is Marc J. Parker, and I am a film lover, filmmaker, film celebrator. And normally this is an audio podcast, wherever you get your podcasts on your favorite apps. But thanks to Portland Media Center, you are about to watch the video component of this show, where I celebrate movie anniversaries with my friends. Each month, I usually talk about two different movies that I love with different friends. And we talk about the making of the movies, trivia, any fun memories associated with them. So I hope you enjoy, because now it's time to rewind. All right, everybody, I'm so happy that my friend from the podcast that I love, Back to the Blockbuster, my friend, Gaius Bowling, is on the show with me today to talk about some spooky stuff. Hello, Gaius. Happy almost Halloween. Yes, almost Halloween, the best time of the year. Yes. We love spooky season. We love spooky season. Gaius and I were just chatting for a few minutes before we even hit record about all the good stuff out right now. We just just to recap real quick, we were talking about Halloween ends. We're talking about smile. It sounds like Gaius, you liked smile. And I didn't like it. Yeah. Yeah. Did you like? I liked it a lot, yeah. Yeah. So that I can't wait to see. Did you like Barbarian? I did see that one. What did you think of that? I did love it. And you know what? I love that I went in kind of blind. Like, I think I saw one. I saw one trailer for it. And that didn't really tell me enough. And then someone, someone, because I just started writing for a CBR and they were like, Hey, like, don't like watch anything else. Like if you don't watch anything else from it, don't watch another TV spot. Just like, he saw it before me and he was just like, just go in and completely blind. You're going to love it. And I like, I saw with my brother and we were over like mouths on the floor, like what the hell are we watching? It was like so cool. It's so like, like, but I had no idea it was going to go. It felt like I totally agree. I love the first act, which is what was heavily shown in the trailer, which I agree. I only saw it once. And then I was like, but that's been me lately because trailers, especially with these Halloween movies, I feel like gave away so much that I'm like, I'm only going to watch the trailer once. I think for scream five, which Gaius and I talked about on his show almost a whole year ago, I might have seen that trailer twice just because obviously I'm such a scream nerd that I'm like, okay, well, I can't hold it. I have to go back again, but I only really watched the trailers once because yeah, I just feel like why, why, why ruin anything for yourself? Just go in as blind as possible, you know? And even like, I didn't want to like really see too much of the trailer. I'm like, let me just see how this goes. Did you watch Hellraiser on Hulu? I did. I did. I did watch it. You know what's funny is that like I posted that trailer on G rules, but it was one of those things where it was like an auto post. I didn't even like watch it. That was like something that was like I planned ahead and so I didn't even even know I was excited to see the movie. I didn't watch the trailer before I actually watched the movie and actually actually helped a lot I think. Yeah, I told a friend I was like, I was like, Hey, this is like, this is the best one since like the first one, if my friend loves and hates those movies, like he loves the first two and then like, he's like the rest is like, he's like the rest is like a hot mess. But he was like, is that really saying a lot? Because like the sequels aren't that good. I know. Right. I know. That's faint praise. But like it is still the better the best one we've had in like, yeah, really, really long. It was a good movie. And I don't love that franchise. There are very few like slasher franchise franchises I don't love. And Hellraiser I've never loved. It's a little too gory for me. It's just and yeah, I thought it was good. I was it was still pretty gross. But I haven't seen the first two films in a long, long time. But Hellraiser might honestly have like the most movies in a franchise because there are so many like direct to video sequels and some don't even star Doug Bradley as pinhead. There's someone else I'm like, I truly can't keep up with that franchise. What's crazy is that Scott Erickson who directed like Sinister and like Dr. Strange like he directed he directed Inferno that was like his first like Hellraiser was his first movie. And I was like, good for you. I was like, good for you. He's like, how you got out of that? And like, but if you but honestly, if you if you go back and watch Inferno, then watch something like Sinister, he was like honing some of his like, whatever creative stuff he had on that. And then he uses it and like stuff like Sinister and I and a black phone as well, which I also love. Yes, another good horror movie from like the summer. Like I so I saw the black phone last year at Beyond Fest. And we're like so excited to talk about it. I was like, I just can't wait to talk about it. This one was going to come out in like January of this year. Right. And then we got an email. We got an email they're like pushing to June. But I mean, I think it benefit. I think I think it benefited them in the end, though. I mean, it played pretty well during the summer. And like we were saying before we started recording, like this is like a good time to be like a horror movie fan. Totally. We have some good stuff out and not even theatrical like I this week and I just watched Piggy this new Spanish horror comedy, which was great. I don't know. I've heard good things about it. Check it out. It's really it's really interesting. But yeah, we have lots of good stuff. I feel like there's more that I have to watch. And of course, the shows we have Dahmer and Now the Watcher and Oh my God, I can't keep up. Yeah. Yeah, it's a spooky season is here. Gais and I are loving it. So before we get into Candy Man, which I can't believe this is 30 years of this iconic slasher, this other hook man, it's hook month, everyone. Just so you know, Gais is on my show to talk about Candy Man. And I will be talking about I know what you did last summer later this month on my show. But before that, I'm going to be on Gais's podcast talking about that gem of a movie that I love, love, love. So it's hook month, everyone. But before we get into that, tell me Gais, tell me what's going on in your world. I know you're in California. You write for a few different sites. Tell us like all the cool things that you do because it's always so impressive. Ah, God, I feel like it was funny too. Like when I got this new job with like CVR, like my friend messaged me and he was like, don't you feel like you're already like doing enough? Are you adding more to your plate? But if but if you if you're loving what you're doing, then it doesn't really Oh, totally. You'll make time for it. Right. Yeah. It was a job of like three years. And I was grateful to like, I got a lot of good opportunities through them. And like, I was grateful for it. But like, they were wanting me to write different things that I wasn't like, they want to be to do more like pop culture stuff, because it was like, it gets a lot of hits. So like, all of a sudden, I was all of a sudden, I was writing about like, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. And I was like, I don't want to write about this. Right. So I was like, all right, if I have to do this, then I need to find somewhere else. I can do what I really want to do if I want to like, I need to bounce it out. The cool thing about CVR is that like, they reached out to me. And like, I'm covering like the things that like, I used to look like I love just talking about like movies and TV. And not just, you know, not how many times it as we're Miller get arrested or something like that. It gets like, it gets like, it becomes less fun. So like, the cool thing about them is that like, there's so many writers on that site. I'm not, I'm not tied down to a certain schedule with them. I can log in and write as I please. They already have like, they pick like, the stories from like the day, like any industry story, they put them on this like message board and we kind of just go in and like, Hey, I want that one. I want that one. Just grab whatever you want. Yeah, it's really, it's a really cool, like cohesive, like, even though there's so many people there, everyone's just really nice and very like, you know, helpful, like, helping you kind of learn how to write in their style and like, do all that. It's cool. That's having a good time doing it. Great. It's making me love doing this again, making me love doing it again. And like, I was like, you know, if I have to, I was like, I have to balance these things out. If I like, feel like I'm like, all right, I'm not too happy doing this kind of thing. So it's like, I get to do a little bit more of that with you guys. And it's actually helped me help me build up the G-roll stuff more too. And like, they're very supportive of me having like, like my own thing. And like, hey, like, you, we love your Instagram stuff. Like, we love like podcasting. Like, we encourage you to be like, this is what we want. We want the people who are fans of this stuff. And like, he's like, whatever, whatever, like pushes your creativity, like that's what they kind of want. And that's a really good thing to have if you want to be right here. Oh, yeah. The more stuff you do on the side, like podcasting, like, Gaius has a great Instagram, tons of movie news, which you're one of my few people. Now I just go to him like, Oh, cool. I don't even have to look at the real articles. I just look at Gaius as awesome host. He's got a great following G-reels on Instagram. But yeah, the more you do that kind of stuff, the more likely that people will go to the site to read your articles, to read other articles. So yeah, it makes total sense. So tell tell me real quick about I was a guest on your podcast. Thank you very much. I'm going to be on, like I said, very soon. So how long have you been doing the podcast now? It's been, has it been a year or more than a year? So our first, I actually looked on Apple Podcasts, our first episode was posted on November 10th of last year. Wow. It's crazy. It's almost been a year. And like, it was one of those things that was like, I got approached because of G-reels. They were like, Hey, like, we want you to do a podcast, but like, you can do whatever you want. There was no like, basis of like, they knew it would be movie related, but they were like, you know, just you build it, you build a show. How many, how many people you want to have on? Like, it's all you. And we'll like, we'll, they take care of like the editing and all that stuff. So I always feel bad because like, I feel like, I mean, you're putting in the work during like, the research and stuff on things. Well, I do feel bad that like, other people are like editing it. I mean, I do get like, fine nail cut on stuff. But like, I know that you, you know, like it's Oh my God, the editing is the worst part. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things like, when I was like discussing it with like, my buddy Owen about doing it, I was like, yeah, it sounds like fun to do this. But like, that, that part about cutting stuff and doing all it's time consuming. And like, you're as you know, I was like, I already got like a ton of stuff going on. Like I don't know if I have the time to do it. I respect everyone that does it. I mean, I was like, I guess on like a buddy show and like, he cut the thing like so quick. I was like, I don't know if I could, I can know if I could like, it was like that day where he like put it on. I was like, Oh, I thought you're gonna need like a day or two and he was like, Oh, no, I was like, Jesus, like, I know I would like, I'm also too like much of a perfectionist. Yeah, I would try to be like really, it would take me like, it'd be a year until our like our second episode, I think if I was if I was the one doing it. But yeah, yeah, you've been on a couple of times actually, both about horror movies, I thought was yeah, great. And like, it was a really fun environment. Like the thing I love about doing it, even though I like doing it with my friends, like, it's cool meeting other people who were doing this where it's just like, you're just connecting, connecting on like, Twitter and Instagram, just like, Yeah, hey, I like your show. Like, Oh, hey, you seem like you like this, like, do you want to be on our show? Like, it's totally it's really, it's like, it's it's an interesting thing. Because you're like, these people, like, they're kind of like friends. No, like, you talk to them almost every day. Like, oh, yeah, it's like, you don't you don't want to call each other like colleagues. And yeah, friends is maybe a little bit funny, because it's not like we know each other that well, you know, or like we hang out. But totally, like, we, it's great. That's one of the great things about podcasting and being part of just sort of social film is, yeah, you get to meet cool people and like, chat and every now and then do a podcast together or something and just like, keep up on like, what's going on and share thoughts. And I love it. It's great. Right? Yeah. Yeah, I think the hardest part, the hardest part, I think is like matching up schedules. And I know, like, for some reason, every cool guest that I've had a relief head owner show, none of them are from the West Coast, like no one's in my time zone. Like everyone, everyone is like, oh, like three hours ahead. You're like, all right, well, I'll do whatever works out for you. Because I know it's later on. That's so funny. That's been the hardest part, like trying to like, you know, line up like the timing to do all this stuff. I'm in LA, but not in like LA LA. So that part's nice. The only time I have to go to LA LA is like for work, like every press screening is in like Burbank or somewhere really far, an hour and a half away. Yeah, I bet you enjoyed being able to do like remote like interviews with stars because I know you post a lot where you can just be what looks like from home, right? That's probably nice and easy. I kind of thought in my head, like even even in COVID, like when it's subsides and like things go back to like more normal, I was like, I think these celebrities are cool with just like not going to a location and like getting all their hair and makeup done from their like hotel or their house, then they're like, they can crank a bunch of them out. Yeah, they don't have to go anywhere. It's actually really good for us too, because we can crank a lot of them out too by just like sitting at home and doing it. I mean, I guess, I mean, I guess like the sucky part is like, I guess you want to be in person with you. I would love to be in person with so on. So right, I think I think I would take like the amount I get to do over like being in person with them. Like I get to do a lot of them in a day. And I don't think I could do that. I couldn't do that if it was like an in person thing because I was told like that, that schedule is like really hard. And like really like, you know, if you think you're only like stressed about four or five minutes from your house, like they're like, imagine like being on camera in a room and try not to be intimidated. Oh, totally. Oh, yeah, because I used to before when I lived in New York, at least in the early years, I used to work in like film publicity for Fox Searchlight and different places. And yeah, like those junkets and everything. It's a whole production, as you know. So it's nice, actually, I bet some days at least, like you said, yeah, of course, you might want to be there. But some days it's kind of nice to just be like, okay, I'm going to log on and I'm ready whenever you are. I'm hitting record. And it's cool, too, because you become friendly with like the companies that are organizing it, too. Like when you're like in, you're like basically in like a waiting room on zoom and all the people that are organizing it, they recognize you. They're like, oh, it's so good to see you again. Like you start to chat with them. It's like a nice little like easy to do up a bit before you go into like the actual virtual room to talk to like whatever celebrity it is. And right. Yeah, it's nice. Like everyone's like super supportive and really cool and nice. I haven't had a bad one yet. Someone told me that someone told me that you might one day. Yeah, I'm like, I'm sure, you know, I just I don't know. And watch it be so on. I like love to like, they say never meet your heroes. I was very lucky and happy. When I got Tom Holland, it was like eight o'clock in the morning. I was one of his first. So I was like, and he was like, he complimented all my posters and I have on my wall background. Like he was like, I was like, God, I'm glad I got you like at first thing in the morning and not like mid day or at the end of the day. Even even something someone that's charming and British is him probably like gets annoyed by the time he's like, I feel like it's inevitable, right? After you do 10 of them, it's like, oh my God, like my, you know, like when you fake smile all day or like when you're just saying the same things. Yeah, I totally, totally understand, but that is like you're getting like the same same questions over and over again. They're probably already already did this. Oh, totally. But that's cool. I love it. Well, keep up the great work. It's so awesome to see. But so now, Gaius, let's leave that in modern times and let's rewind. Okay. Let's rewind 30 years ago to October 1992, everyone. Ooh, October 16th, 1992 is when Candyman was released wide in the US. So before we get into why we like this movie, all the little details, I'm just going to tell Gaius and you all what fun things in pop culture were happening at this time. I thought it was pretty fun to see. Okay. On the TVN music side, the kind of worlds colliding here. Just earlier this month in 1992, October 3rd was when Sinead O'Connor famously ripped up the picture of the Pope on SNL during her performance. I remember that. That's pretty cool. She gave us that nothing compares to you and then like messed it all up. Oh, Sinead, I know. Wow. What a moment. And also, same day, same weekend apparently. Another badass female singer, Madonna, had premiered her erotica video on MTV, which of course, you know, put everyone in a home thing. Yeah. In a tizzy. That was a whole thing. Yes. Big tizzy between Sinead and Madonna. So that was going on. End of the Road, the song End of the Road by Boys to Men was number one for weeks and weeks and weeks from like late August even into November. I think like 13 weeks. I think it was like it was the longest. I think it was like at the time was like the longest like number one on the Hot 100. And then like and then they broke and I think they broke their own record later with like Mariah Carey and One Sweet Day. Yes, I think you're right. 16 weeks at number one. So we're also a time to be alive when like Boys to Men rule the chart. Right. How cool. I know it's so funny because End of the Road is, I feel like nowadays it's a little cheesy that I'm like that was really number one for that long but hey, it worked and everyone loved it. So that was hugely popular. And then on the movie side, of course, Candy Man came out. But before Candy Man came to the box office, we had, and even during, we had Under Siege with Steven Segal back when he was a star. Right. We had The Last of the O'Higgins. We had The Mighty Ducks and Captain Ron with Kurt Russell, which I thought was fun. Those were all very popular movies at the time, a mix of action and comedy and all that. And here comes Candy Man, which it's funny. Candy Man I saw was never number one. It opened at number four and it got to number three but it never really made a massive splash but it obviously made a massive splash culturally and in the horror genre because here was the birth of a new slasher and a black slasher, which I'd love to hear your thoughts about at some point in this conversation because I know some people were worried and some people were totally cool with it. So, yeah, here is a whole new, you know, in the in the in the Clive Barker vein of horror because of course he already had three Hellraiser movies by this time and Night Breed had come out two years prior. So in this fantasy, you know, violent horror sub-genre now is Candy Man. So before I say more, I'm going to throw it over to you, Gaius. Tell us in your own words, for anyone out there who is in the dark, what is Candy Man about? Candy Man. It's a supernatural horror film starring Tony Todd. Yeah. The best, the best voice in horror. I would say. Totally. I was, you know, for a long time I was under the impression that Clive Barker directed this for so long. Right. And it's actually, I just like, it's based on his like short story, The Forbidden. Yeah. And it's a Virginia Madsen plays like a Chicago graduate student and she's competing like a thesis on like urban legends and like folklore and then that's how she kind of stumbles upon the whole like Legend of Candy Man. And then that becomes like, for those that don't know, Candy Man is the ghost, like an African-American who it's killed for, like because he's like falls in love with like, you know, someone who's wide and like, yeah, there's this whole, there's a, there's a lot of like deeper things about race relations and then like that. Oh yeah. But I think that is like, actually makes this movie better than like most horror movies. Like I'm, you know, I will just to say this really quick, like when I covered the new one for our website when I talked to Vanessa Williams who was in this first one, she's also has a cameo in the new one. We talked a lot about how like horror movies, especially horror movies, touch on these like deeper themes than like a lot of other genres do. And then this one really really did. And I don't know if like in 1992, like if people appreciated it as much. Right. That's interesting. Yeah. I don't, I don't know if they did, but I think like over time, like what this movie is about and like all of its themes have become like a much bigger thing as like the movie kind of gained like popularity over the years. Have you ever heard of Candy Man? And if you look in the mirror, you say his name five times. In cities everywhere, Candy Man, they whisper his name. Right. Candy Man. It's just a story. Candy Man. Candy Man. Just a goose story. Candy Man. You know, it was like, I remember my mom actually, because my mom, horror movies hit or miss with her. Sometimes she did. Oh yeah. Sometimes she, sometimes she can handle them, sometimes she can't, but I just remember this one just hit her so deeply, even though this is like a, you know, of course it has all the elements that we love in horror movies. It can be a little gory, it's a little violent, it's that scary. But like, it was one of the first horror movies that she, all of the, it's the story and the themes of it actually hit her a lot deeper than like she even, they would, and she also wanted me to understand that as I was growing up watching it, that what, it was about something much more than like, you know, being something that's just based on like a Clyde Barker, you know, story. Like this is a, like, please pay attention to like, you know, what the movie's trying to say. Yeah. It's one of those movies too, it's funny because like, even though Clyde Barker didn't direct this, I feel the same way about this movie that I do like Hellraiser, where when I watch it, each time I watch it, I gain like a new appreciation for it. Like, and like, I watched it again for this like last week, and I think the last time I watched it was right before the new one came out. The new one, yeah. And like, yeah, and like it is one of those, like it doesn't happen with a lot of movies but it's one of those horror movies I think that gets better with each viewing, I think. I agree, because I've probably, you know, I first saw this movie, I had always heard about it, but I actually saw the sequel, the first sequel, which I believe was Kimmy and Farewell to the Flesh. Farewell to the Flesh, yeah. Right? I saw that one first. I actually had seen clips of course of the original of this film, but I had never seen it in full until much later in life. I was in my 20s living in New York and my sister I think was living in New York at the same time because I remember we went to see a screening of it, oh my gosh, it must have been, oh wow, like maybe 15 years ago, maybe it was the 15th anniversary of the movie because Lincoln Center, film at Lincoln Center was showing it and so we saw it on the big screen and whoa, like I knew it was scary, I knew it was bloody, you know, the hook man and everything, but whoa, I mean it is disturbing. There are some, there's blood in this movie, but it's not, you know, and as someone who doesn't love gore, you know, obviously blood comes with the territory and I'm all for it, but I, you know, like how we were saying like Hellraiser can get a little too gnarly for me, this is okay, like I can handle it, I think many people out there can handle it, but it's just so shocking and so visceral that it, it definitely came at a good time because of course we know with the 80s we had the heyday of Freddy and Jason and Michael Myers and even Leatherface Chucky, so we saw a lot of slashers, but this slasher hit differently, you know, where not only like you and your mom were saying like that, there are themes that hit us, but just also the scares and the sounds, great sound effects, I wrote in my notes, amazing sound score and effects, uh, such a good movie and I agree. It's even the simple thing, yeah, it's like the simple things too, like I mean like I don't think as a, even as a 37 year old man now, like I don't really feel comfortable saying candy man five times from here, I think I still stop myself and like no, it might happen. Yes, you know, when I love how whenever someone says it in this movie, they always stop at four and the, and the opening, the opening is great with the babysitter of course, she says even to her boyfriend no one ever got past four but when she, then she says at the fifth time when Helen, Virginia Madsen, um, says it, you know, it's always a delay before that fifth time and it's like, you know, it is scary, even still 30 years later it is creepy, that silence between that fifth time, yeah, between each, yeah, yeah, you're right, we all know like, oh, it might, he might not appear right away, but he's coming for you, you know, yeah, it's one of those things too, because you feel like you're in it with him, yeah, like you're watching, when you're watching them say, it's almost like, uh, someone told me this and I never really thought about it this way, like when you watch the ring for the first time and like, you, you, you watch the video, right, you're watching the video as like a viewer, so it almost makes you feel like you also have like seven days until whatever is gonna happen, it happens and like that's kind of how you feel watching this, where it's like, you're sitting there just like, yeah, if you say it, if you say it and like it might, it might happen behind me, I don't know, like, yeah, and that's a good thing for like an award movie to do that, to make you feel like you're like in it with them, yep, that's how I kind of feel and like, you know, like I said, like I'm being 100% seriously, I don't, I've never completed saying it, I was, I just wow, yeah, it's just a thing, I mean, just in case, you know, yeah, well it's funny because we have Bloody Mary and we have Candy Man, two very similar, sort of like, I don't even want to say urban legends, because different stories, but of extremely similar, basically the same way to summon them, but Bloody Mary is three times, right, in the mirror in the dark, while Candy Man is five, right, so really just the number is the only thing that's different, but I love that you said that great point, it feels like we are in the room with these characters, and if they continue watching or continue saying it, we, the viewer, is in the room, yeah, right and how funny that you bring up the ring, because that also has a milestone anniversary tomorrow, yeah, because Candy Man, as of this recording, Candy Man's anniversary was yesterday, I know what you did last summer, the other hook man came out on this day, and then the ring came out 20 years ago tomorrow, so what an amazing trifecta of like, sort of urban legend, scary stories, right, so good, all three, what a trio, but so now, before we get to work. Thank you for reminding me about that. Oh yeah, no worries, yeah, totally. I was like, I'm like looking at my nose, like I got a post about the ring. Yeah, and now we're gonna, now we're gonna be like trying to beat each other to the post, I have to post before Gaius does, yeah, oh yeah, that's, hey, really state rewind, that's what I'm here for, right, thanks so much for watching, next week we'll be part two of this discussion, and in the meantime, please follow Release Date Rewind on Instagram.