Episode 159 - Sleepwalkers

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Lauren Lapkus (With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus, Wild Horses, Crashing) joins Paul, June, and Jason to discuss the 1992 Stephen King horror film Sleepwalkers. They’ll talk about whether Charles Brady and Mary are really mother and son or just creatures, adult people acting terrified of tiny cats, Stephen King’s cameo, and much more.

 

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

Paul’s new comedy Drive Share is available on Go90. You can see June and Paul on NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU. June stars in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, as well as Lady Dynamite alongside with Jason.

 

Jason can be seen in The Lego Batman Movie, How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

[ClamJamGalaxy 72]

A non-live show AND an amazing guest??? Its an end of March miracle, you guys!

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

i too would have paid €1404.17* to watch this with June

 

 

 

 

 

 

*currency conversion correct at time of posting

[A Gentle Soul 18]

Six and a half minutes in and June, my favorite host, is quoting Bianca Del Rio from my favorite tv show: RuPaul's Drag Race

 

 

BEST EPISODE EVER!!

 

Also, June's mental gymnastics to deny the incestuous nature of the mother/son relationship? And Jason's commitment to proving her wrong?

 

DOUBLE BEST EPISODE EVER!!

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

i loved that second opinions theme. great work hannah

 

 

also, there's a cinefamily reunion for this on youtube:

 

[Royboy 430]

First off, the new opening and second opinions themes? Terrific!

 

Second, I am super-pleased that Lauren finally is on this show. I'd love to know why it took this long!

 

And this is totally this year's Monkey Shines for June.

[ChunkStyle 1160]

I think part of what makes the world building in this movie so poor is that King seems to want the sleepwalkers to embody both the vampire myth and also just be their own weird species. There definitely seems to be a sire type relationship between the mom and the son like she created him the way vampires do. Because they seem to be locked into an emotional age that matches their human form. But I think we're also supposed to assume that sleepwalkers are "naturally occurring" and we're supposed to feel some sympathy for them up until Charlie takes his villain turn.

 

My biggest question is how have they made it this long (presumably hundreds or thousands of years) when they are this stupid? Charlie presents transcripts that are clever fakes to get into high school. Except he makes them from a town that doesn't exist? And when Charlie is having his joy ride run from Andy and Clovis he attempts to run down children getting off a school bus as a cherry on top. The sleepwalkers are all gone now because Darwin was right.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Six and a half minutes in and June, my favorite host, is quoting Bianca Del Rio from my favorite tv show: RuPaul's Drag Race

I'd like to personally welcome you to the boards because if you love otters and Bianca Del Rio then you are exactly the kind of person we need here!!! Welcome!!!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

LAUREEEEENNNNN!!

 

 

She's another one I had to double-check to be sure she wasn't on a previous episode because it seems CRAZY that it's taken this long for her to be on.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

I'd like to personally welcome you to the boards because if you love otters and Bianca Del Rio then you are exactly the kind of person we need here!!! Welcome!!!

 

But unfortunately, by Forum Law, that does mean someone has to go.

 

CakeBug, we'd like to have a word with you...

 

 

And welcome to the boards, A Gentle Soul

 

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

there was alot of familiar faces in this. i missed ferris bueller's parents but it made me happy when paul said it.

 

and it took me way too long to realize alice krige was the borg queen

 

 

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

CakeBug, we'd like to have a word with you...

 

Oh. But... Oh. Okay.

 

[RyanSz 3140]

As a devout lover of horror movies I can easily say that I have never seen a final girl do so much to act against her own safety and the safety of others. After the sheriff has broken into the house and shot the mom, the female lead is literally dragging her feet and grabbing onto everything her hand touches in order for her and the sheriff to be caught more easily. The only thing that she didn't do was grab his sidearm and shoot herself in the leg.

 

Question:

 

I apologize if this is covered in the episodes but I usually do my first comment on an episode before I hear it while I have thoughts on the film fresh in my head. Was the creative writing teacher intimating that he wanted to fuck the son in order to remain silent that he had falsified his transcripts? It seemed like that was what he was about to say after the kid said he had no money, but then his hand was ripped off.

 

Also did you guys realize that the Fugees sampled part of the end credit song by Enya for their version of "Ready or Not?" I thought I was losing my mind when I heard that humming as the cats ran around a burning corpse but when I looked it up there it was. So at least one good thing came from this horrible movie and we have an amazing song with a fantastic backing track.

[dickhoff3 81]

I totally thought Charles Grady was going to be a sympathetic character in this. He kind of seems like he's a kid who really just wants to settle down, make friends, have a girlfriend; basically just the normal teenage experience. Then he basically goes Freddie Krueger on her in the cemetery and starts cracking jokes, "Cop Kabob!" Weird movie. The dance scene at the end was actually really terrifying though. I vaguely remember seeing it on TV as a child and was pretty traumatized.

[dickhoff3 81]

@ Ryan Sz, I do the same thing. I should probably listen but I totally got the same impression that the teacher wanted to blackmail the kid for sex. And I also kept waiting for Lauren Hill's vocals to kick in.

[MattGnosisLoxley 64]

My favorite movie character of all time Clovis the cat. Great ep!

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

Also did you guys realize that the Fugees sampled part of the end credit song by Enya for their version of "Ready or Not?" I thought I was losing my mind when I heard that humming as the cats ran around a burning corpse but when I looked it up there it was. So at least one good thing came from this horrible movie and we have an amazing song with a fantastic backing track.

 

That's enya's "boadicea". Pretty sure it's from the 80's. It was used throughout the movie. I started to think they were trying to get the same effect from it as Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" in the exorcist. It was also used in a very memorable opening to an episode of criminal minds ... also involving fire

[dickhoff3 81]

This movie was totally a love letter to cats I feel like. They're the undisputed heroes of this film. They really get a bad wrap in life and I, as a cat owner, am kind of tired of hearing it form Dog people. This movie posits that it's basically the mission of all cats to protect virgin women from shape-shifting werepeople. That's right, while they spend most of their days shitting in a box, eating, and lounging on the floor within that one sunbeam that penetrates your kitchen window, they are always on the job, protecting us from Sleepwalkers.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

Then he basically goes Freddie Krueger on her in the cemetery and starts cracking jokes, "Cop Kabob!" Weird movie. The dance scene at the end was actually really terrifying though. I vaguely remember seeing it on TV as a child and was pretty traumatized.

 

Anyone else get a "The Evil Dead" vibe about the cemetery scene? ... the over the top acting, the cheesy one liners, the make up and the editing .. this was a weird movie and I really had fun watching it ... except the mother/son sex stuff.

 

June's reaction to it is amazing. She must be the only person who watched this and came up with a logical way of getting around the creepiness of that relationship. And June's theory does make sense but I don't think coked up Stephen King went that deep. He just went for the creep

[Cameron H. 23786]

It's weird that the definition for Sleepwalker at the top of the movie says that they are "Nomadic" when (according to Charles Brady's short story anyway) the reason they move around so much is because they are chased out of town. Wouldn't that be like saying, "My wife discovered the torrid affair I was having with the pool boy so I immigrated to the La Quinta Inn?"

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Also did you guys realize that the Fugees sampled part of the end credit song by Enya for their version of "Ready or Not?"

To be fair, Boadicea was released in 1987 so there's still a decent possibility that Wyclef wasn't inspired by Sleepwalkers.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Is the girl from the "Fade" Music video a Sleepwalker??? Is this Kanye West's favourite movie???

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxGvm6btP1A

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

I love June's refusal to believe they are mother and son. I wonder if she is thinking, like how with vampires, they often have a maker who isn't their literal mother but is sometimes called mom. (Or in those annoying vampire books, sire and childe with an e, for extra e).

 

I feel like relying on cats to fight shapeshifting creatures is going to be tough. They are going to decide you haven't given them enough attention and let your lifeforce get sucked out, then pee on your clothes.

[Jamie Power 224]

I think part of what makes the world building in this movie so poor is that King seems to want the sleepwalkers to embody both the vampire myth and also just be their own weird species. There definitely seems to be a sire type relationship between the mom and the son like she created him the way vampires do. Because they seem to be locked into an emotional age that matches their human form. But I think we're also supposed to assume that sleepwalkers are "naturally occurring" and we're supposed to feel some sympathy for them up until Charlie takes his villain turn.

 

My biggest question is how have they made it this long (presumably hundreds or thousands of years) when they are this stupid? Charlie presents transcripts that are clever fakes to get into high school. Except he makes them from a town that doesn't exist? And when Charlie is having his joy ride run from Andy and Clovis he attempts to run down children getting off a school bus as a cherry on top. The sleepwalkers are all gone now because Darwin was right.

 

I also thought that 'mother' and 'son' were used in the vampiric sense, and that at some point in the past she turned a human man into a sleepwalker. If I remember Buffy and Angel correctly Darla sired Angelus, but they also had a romantic relationship and went to bone town on a number of occasions.

 

But then they were worried about being the last of their species. If they reproduced through 'siring' then they could just go out and make more sleepwalkers. My current position is that they are in fact mother and son, and they show familial affection in ways that seem very sexual from our narrow human perspective. Maybe we should judging these poor animals just for having a bit of innocent mom 'n' son cuddle time.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I'm only halfway through, so I'm going to potentially be one of those annoying people that comments on something the gang corrects in the last half of the episode.

 

But Glenn Shadix' character in Beetlejuiceis Otho ("oh-tho" with an unvoiced "th") and not Otto. He's not a mechanic in the 50s