5.17 /// Shocking Film Revelations... Pt2

On this episode of Infinite Prattle allow me to take you on a journey through some of my cinematic favourite shocking moments.  I kick things off with a heartfelt homage to "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," a film that not only rescued the Star Trek series for many fans but also etched an emotional scar on my childhood with the unforgettable demise of Spock. I delve into the unexpected impact of Spock's death, a narrative twist that left me yearning for more of his story in the Star Trek universe. 

As the episode unfolds, I talk about the unexpected moment in "The Mist" and its gut-wrenching conclusion, not to mention Thomas Jane's compelling performance. The conversation then shifts to the iconic horror classic "Alien," where I recount the jaw-dropping chestburster scene that solidified Ridley Scott's reputation for unnerving authenticity. Through personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes trivia, I celebrate these films' enduring impact and the genuine emotions they elicit. Join me as I wrap up with a sincere thank you to all listeners, encouraging you to keep the spirit of thoughtful conversation alive and to never stop exploring the fascinating world of cinema.

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Chapters

• 0:05 Movie Revelations and Emotional Impact
• 12:12 Cinematic Shock and Surprises
• 19:38 Podcast Sign-Off

Transcript

Stephen: 0:05

I have been, and always shall be your friend. Join me on Infinite Prattle for the most shocking film revelations.

Stephen: 0:14

part two Hello and welcome to Infinite Prattle, Unscripted, unedited prattle on everything Hosted by me, Stephen, Listen like, share, subscribe and enjoy the show.

Stephen: 0:40

Hello, welcome to Infinite Prattle. Thank you very much for joining me and live long and prosper. If you understood that intro, we can definitely be friends. So, yes, today I thought I'd do a follow-up to something I did a few episodes ago. It wasn't too long ago, but I enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed talking about things I like, obviously. So, yeah, so, film revelations. So if you, if you understood the intro, yes, we can be friends. And two, um, I hope it pulled on the heartstrings as it did me. Uh, because that is the line that spock says in star trek 2, the wrath of khan, when he dies. Oh, by the way, spoiler alerts, um, yes, because there will be lots of spoiler alerts today.

Stephen: 1:22

That's my spoiler alert alarm. That's the alarm I use for everything to be fair. Yeah, so there will be spoilers. I just spoiled one before telling you that. But you knew. You knew that that's an old film. Now, it's an old film. If you didn't know that and you like Star Trek, then what have you been doing with these cells? I'm dropping everything out and gone. Oh, excuse me, it started well, yeah so Star Trek the Rathacarn, Star Trek 2 should I say the Rathacarn? One of my ultimate favourite Star Trek stories films brilliant. I just love it. One of my ultimate favourite Star Trek stories films Brilliant. I just love it. In fact, talking about it makes me want to watch it. It's ace For me it has made everything.

Stephen: 2:17

It was the film that kind of saved the franchise in some sense, because I think the motion picture fell on its arse a bit and there's a thing about the even-numbered ones being the best ones out of all, out of all of them. Uh, in some sense it does run true, but you know, I like them all. It's star trek anyway. So in star trek, the wrath of khan, it sees the character of khan um resurface and there's a whole story there. I'm not going to go into it, you know, if you've seen it, you've it. If you haven't, you haven't. Basically, karn is a genetically modified human and had been banished and he gets found and basically managed to steal a ship and oh, there's a whole thing and basically Kirk and him have a grudge match. Kirk doesn't realise Karn's alive and they have a grudge match. Kirk doesn't realize Karn's alive and they have a fight in a nebula and there's a Genesis device which can repopulate planets and completely, like a dead planet, regenerate it and bring it back to life, and basically Karn kind of detonates this device and is trying to destroy the Enterprise, basically, and the Enterprise is terribly, terribly damaged and there's a warp core breach and they're looking at evacuating the ship and Spock being the hero that he is, without Don in a radiation suit, which probably wouldn't have saved him anyway, because I think Scotty says there's no hope. We have to evacuate anyway because they think even people who have been trying to save it have still been injured. Spock just climbs in, uses even people who have been trying to save it have still been injured. Spock just climbs in, uses his superior logic apart from the fact he's going to die from radiation poisoning and basically fixes the problem and contains the warp gopreach and saves the Enterprise. But the amount of radiation that he sustains is too much, basically. And he says to Kirk's an admiral. At that point he says do not grieve, admiral, it is logical. The needs of the many outweigh and Kirk says the needs of the few. And then Spock says all the needs, all the one, yeah, and then they have. They have like a lovely little moment and basically Spock says the line that I said. And then they have like a lovely little moment and basically Spock says the line that I said at the beginning of the podcast there and it just gets me like the emotion on the faces and seeing like William Shatner's, like William Shatner's never been pegged, really, as probably an amazing actor. He does what he does well, but as the character of of, of kirk, you know, in that moment you, I think you could really see the emotion in and what was his friend dying in front of him?

Stephen: 4:57

Um, yeah, and for me as a kid watching it, I was like they can't kill spock. What really they? They seem to have killed him. And then you're almost expecting, like a twist, um, that he's gonna come back to life. Like you know, he's a, he's a vulcan, he's not human. Um, he's died too young really for a vulcan because they, they live a lot longer than humans do. Um, and you're almost expecting, like, towards the end, them say oh, you know, we thought he had died, but he regenerated and now he's back alive again, but he's just a bit ill and he's in intensive care or whatever. And then it ends with his funeral and you're like, oh, he's dead.

Stephen: 5:37

I mean, spoiler alert, he comes back in number three, but as a thing, that was probably one of the earliest revelations I saw as a child, that that I didn't see coming, and I was like shocked and I was like I need to see the third one now. What the hell's going on. Um, yeah, because he's you'd never see that in films really like such a major character being killed off in such a you know, in such a way, uh, you always kind of expect them to be resurrected. But yeah, that really shook me as a kid seeing him die and the emotion of it. And yeah, it's a big thing.

Stephen: 6:19

And me and my mate Scott love Star Trek and there's an episode I think it's back in Series 2, maybe Series 1, when I started having guests on. Scott was one of the first people I had on. We talked about this and we would say that, uh, he's, he's spock to my kirk and I'm, um, I'm riker to his picard. Uh, that's how geeky we are. I don't care, I do not care because I'm more the kirk captain and he's more the picard captain and I'm more the the riker first officer and he's more the Spock First Officer and we're okay with that. But yeah, that's the first shocking one that I remember as a kid and the second one is again spoiler alert is the film the Mist.

Stephen: 7:01

The Mist is a weird, weird film. I've never read the books. I've never read the novelization that spawned the film. It's a Stephen King story and basically, from what I can remember and quickly Googling, basically a mist descends on a town and it's near some military compound and weird creatures are in the mist and they're killing people. And I'm not even sure where these creatures have come from, whether they've come from another dimension or it's some experiment gone wrong. I can't quite remember. I'm sure you guys know better than me.

Stephen: 7:31

But basically what happens at the end of the film and this is probably different in the novelization and the novelization leaves the end a bit ambiguous and has a longer driving sequence at the end. But the main character basically drives away. He's got his wife and his son in the car and they run out of fuel and they haven't managed to get out of the mist. So they just know at some point the monster's going to come for them and they won't be able to defend themselves. And he's got a gun with him but he only has two bullets. So he basically they make an agreement that he's going to have to kill them, basically, and then he'll sacrifice himself to the monsters. It's the only way to do it, rather than he doesn't want his child to go through a horrible death Same with his wife. So you see the outside view of the car and you see just the muzzle flashes through the steamy, misty imagery and it's really shocking. I wasn't expecting that.

Stephen: 8:28

Ending Now again kind of misty kind of imagery, uh, and it's really shocking. I I wasn't expecting that, ending now again kind of like the spock, when I was like, oh, they've got away, like they'll just drive and they'll meet some military people or they'll end up getting to like a safe place or, um, some last human kind of, uh, safeguarded area. And uh, they do not. They quite literally die at the end. And I think, what's worse, they don't all die because he shoots his son. Well, this is the order I presume he does it.

Stephen: 8:59

He shoots his son, then he shoots his wife to save his son, seeing his wife die. So you see the two shots go off and then he gets out of the vehicle or he's going to get out of the vehicle and then he sees lights in the mist and the mist starts to clear and there's a whole load of military people there and all the military basically there to rescue him. And he gets out of his car and he's like, oh right, the military's here. If I'd have just waited like 10 minutes, we'd have been saved and he just is like screaming because he's obviously just right, the military's here, if I'd have just waited like 10 minutes we'd have been saved. And he just is like screaming because he obviously just shot his family and it's just. I think that's worse than him just shooting. I think that's worse than just having him shoot himself as well. It's just like he's just had to shoot his family, thinking he's going to die as well and he'll, like you know, possibly be reunited in any afterlife that could be, and um, no, um, dead.

Stephen: 9:51

Now, from reading online, apparently, the ending of the actual book, there's like a longer driving sequence, when they're in the, when they're in the, when they're in the car and they have other people with them, I believe, I think I don't know, I've never said, I've never read it uh, just get a quick synopsis off the internet and they they're heading towards some sort of hotel which they think might be a safe place, but then it kind of leaves it a bit ambiguous. By the sounds of it it's written from a writer's point of view, very much like a HG Wells kind of story, yeah, and then the book ends, but obviously the director came up with this new ending and apparently Stephen King basically said he wished he'd thought about it. So I got this little bit off. I think it was off IMDB. I think it was about the Mist. I think it was off IMDB, I can't quite remember now I just Googled it so it'll be on the internet somewhere. So credit to I didn't write this, credit to whoever wrote it. So it said the Mist based on Stephen King's novel Frank Darabont, who wrote and directed the Mist Darabont Darabont he directed the Mist changed the ending to one so staggering that King probably wished oh no, he says probably wished he'd written it himself. So maybe Stephen King didn't say he wanted to write it himself. I've mixed up the facts in my own brain there from reading it earlier.

Stephen: 11:19

David he's played by Thomas Jane, he was the Punisher and there's been loads of other things. His son and a few other escape the store in the car. David shoots them all and then runs out of fuel when they run out of fuel but it's one bullet short, so David gets out of the car to finish himself, to give himself to the creature. I can't read. So basically, yeah. So maybe in the film there's other people in the car. I only remember the kid and the woman being in the car, the mum. So it says, david shoots them all when they run out of fuel, but he's one bullet short. So david gets out the car to give himself to the creatures, but as he does, the mist clears, military trucks full of survivors pass him and he falls to his knees in utter shock and despair. And it says the book book ending is ambiguous to the longer driving sequence which they basically heading towards a hotel. But I've not read it. But yeah, but yeah, that's. It's horrific really, isn't it? And I remember that really shocking me.

Stephen: 12:12

I watched that when I was in my early 20s. I was probably in my early 20s when it came, maybe late 20s when I watched it. And I'm not a massive fan of horror films, but I kind of liked the actor, thomas Jane. I thought he was great in the Punisher and a few other things I'd seen him in. So I thought, I thought I'd give it a try and, yeah, I really enjoyed it. And then was completely blown away by the ending and in some sense when I watched it it kind of spoiled it for me because I was hoping they were going to survive, because I kind of liked the characters and especially him. I kind of wanted them to win and I think that he kind of did in some sense because he didn't die and was saved. But then he has to live with all that but he um the emotional baggage of basically murdering his family, thinking he was doing the right thing.

Stephen: 13:00

Crazy, crazy, crazy Good film. If you haven't seen it it's worth going to watch, even if you know that ending it's worth a little watch. It's quite a good film. It's not the best but it's pretty good. It's pretty good.

Stephen: 13:10

And then the last film is kind of like another section of a film I did on the last one, which is alien. You know I love alien and aliens and all the franchise stuff around it spoke about enough on the show. Um, sorry if you're not an aliens fan, um, but this is basically from the film aliens. The last time I spoke about like the reveal kind of the end of the aliens on the narcissus, the lifeboat, and uh has actually sneaked on there before ripley even knew and has kind of tucked himself away or herself or them, I don't know, I don't know what they are. Alien has tucked itself away, um, and this bit is more about the uh chest burst scene. Now I, before I watched alien, I'd seen aliens and I'd seen the chest burst scene in aliens. I knew there was a chest burst scene in alien because it's quite a famous reference, it's like referenced in space balls. Because it's quite a famous reference, it's referenced in Spaceballs, it's been referenced on British comedy. So I knew that thing.

Stephen: 14:05

I'd seen clips of that scene where John Hurt has the beast, so to speak, rip out of him, but not in full. Never seen the build-up to it, never seen that whole breakfast is it breakfast or dinner? Scene to it. Never seen like that whole, like breakfast is it breakfast or dinner scene? Or I don't even want meal or eating, um, I've never, never seen that in its entirety.

Stephen: 14:23

So when I did watch it in full, I was, I was genuinely shocked because it was so convincing, like, even though that film was like out in 1979, it was such a convincing scene for me I was just like oh, my god, like that's terrifying. Like when the alien runs off, the effect aren't as good. Um, I think that's that's the only bit that lets it down for me. But the actual the, the chest bursting, how, how john herp starts to choke and everyone's like, oh, what you're doing it's because you've been eating too quick and stuff, because he says he's starving, um, and how he starts convulsing and then how the thing bursts out of it. It was honestly insane. So I've got.

Stephen: 15:03

I've got this little excerpt, because I think the reason it was so convincing and I found out this years later, uh, being a fan, um, I knew this is because the cast didn't really know what to expect. So I've got this little excerpt and this was from imdb trivia, so it says here the rumor that the cast, except for john hurt, did not know what would happen during the chestburster scene is partially true. Everyone had read the script, which explicitly stated that something would be coming out of kane's chest, but they did not know specific details. For instance, veronica carwright did not expect to be sprayed with blood, so her reaction is completely genuine and in rough footage of shots of that scene it shows her slipping over on the blood and then getting up again without breaking character. Sigourney Weaver related that they suspected that something dramatic was about to happen, but when they got to set, transparent screens were set up and the crew were wearing raincoats. Tom Skerritt admitted years later that he was the only one besides her that knew exactly what was coming. He had been following director Ridley Scott around to learn the process of filmmaking and he'd been present during some meetings where the chestburster effects were being discussed in detail. And he was, of course, requested to keep this and the specifics to himself in order to elicit genuine reactions from the other cast members.

Stephen: 16:22

And a lot of directors are known for doing stuff like this. I think Ridley Scott does this quite a lot in his films, I think James Cameron does it, and a lot of directors do this, where they try and keep things secret from the actors so that when they shock them, it is a genuine shock. So they'll say, right, this is going to happen. Then this is going to happen. And I want you to be shocked, stay in character, make sure you stay in character, and then they'll do something different and they're actually saying you must stay in character to know what happens. And it does get an amazing impact from that scene.

Stephen: 16:56

The blood spray I mean, like Veronicaonica car, right, you can tell that she wasn't expecting to get blood in the face and um, yeah, they're just all completely like what the hell just happened? Um, I can't think of, can't think of the character's name, I can't. Um, god, what's he called? I can't think of the character's name brett. I can't think of the actor's name Brett. I can't think of the actor's name. I wish my brain would work more. Let me get the name up. Give me two seconds Alien. There we go, so we've got. So yeah, harry Dean Stanton played Brett and he just looked like what the hell just happened. He seemed like really impressed.

Stephen: 17:42

And then Yafit Kota, that played Parker. I think his reaction is probably like one of the best he is. Just, he literally looks like he's just stood there going what the fuck like? What the hell is that thing? And I think that's the best thing about it like is a. There's literally the fact that our reaction, their reaction, is mirrored by the watcher, because the watcher of the film knows there's gonna be some sort of alien, but they have no idea it's gonna burst out of some guy's chest. They have no idea what this creature is gonna become and I think that's the genius of it. It's, absolutely it's it.

Stephen: 18:18

But it's one of the shocking things in that film for me. Is is one is that it is. I won't cover this in a second, I'll go through this now. Um is is the actual alien, uh, facehugger, jumping out the egg. That's like what the hell's going on.

Stephen: 18:33

And when they bring you back to the ship, you're like what the hell is that? And then it's the, the actual chest burster. And then for me it's a narcissist scene where you're thinking I don't know where this is going now, because have you killed the monster? Are you gonna make an escape? I don't understand. How is it? How's the film gonna end?

Stephen: 18:50

Then it kind of like, oh, the monster's in the ship, oh, yes, fair enough, um, but yeah, an amazing, an amazing film, um, with multiple things that shocked me, maybe because I was a child when I watched it, or not mature enough, as I was a teenager. So maybe I wasn't mature enough to see these things coming, but I've been shielded enough from it to not know what the exact details of the film were. But, yeah, amazing, amazing stuff. Again. If you've not seen any of these films, they're still worth a watch, even though I'm spoiling the shocking bits, um, yeah, so what are your like? Films that shock you? Do you have any? Let me know, comment and let me know. Um, do you agree with my selections? Do you think, uh, did I? Did I cop out on odd alien twice maybe. Um, it's just such a good film, yeah. So thank you very much for listening. If you liked the episode, give it a share. Really appreciate it. But until next time you've been listening to Infinite Brattle, I've been Stephen. Take care of yourself and remember, keep on prattling.

Stephen: 19:55

You've been listening to Infinite Dreadful.