Episode 164 - The Wraith: LIVE!

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Tim Baltz (Shrink, Bajillion Dollar Propertie$) and Eliza Skinner (The Late Late Show with James Corden, Angry Little Goats) join Paul and Jason to discuss the 1986 action-horror film The Wraith. Recorded live from Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, they’ll talk about Charlie Sheen barely being in the movie, Gutter Boy and Skank, lights becoming a Dodge, and much more.

 

 

 

LA: Come check out the HDTGM Art Show over at Gallery 1988 (www.gallery1988.com).

Check out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepublic.com/user/howdidthisgetmade

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

Paul’s new comedy Drive Share is available on Go90. Paul can be seen on Veep. 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 House, The Lego Batman Movie, How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Great live ep!!!

 

3 Omissions:

 

* After The Wraith kills the first gangmember his right hand metallic brace disappears but when he goes to the shop/barn to trash it the brace appears again

 

* Nick Cassavetes slits his left palm and the wound disappears from then on

 

* In Randy Quaid's last scene he staking out Sherilyn Fenn house, but then does nothing but slowly roll up his car window (with a sad face) after she and Charlie leave town in his dirt bike

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

I haven't listened to the actual episode yet, but I was scoping the IMDb trivia and saw this:

"Johnny Depp, who was then dating Sherilyn Fenn, was present during filming and was living in the film crew's hotel with Fenn."

 

Is there ANY extremely attractive actress in film from the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s who could not, at one point, be described as, "who was dating Johnny Depp at the time"? That guy got around.

[Smigg 1488]

Jason and Eliza talked about Sherilyn Flynn's boobs, and make a "Twin Peaks" joke. Believe it or not, there's a Hooters style "Breastaurant" with that very name.

 

 

I think you should shake them down for some ad revenue.

[Herself 107]

Oh my god, Paul pronounced Roberto Benigni's name correctly!

[pscudese 701]

Building on Tim Baltz's point (that Keri should feel guilty she has fallen in love with Jake, not knowing he's Jamie,) I'm surprised that Jamie wasn't at all pissed that his former girl was so quick to move on and fall for this random guy who she's barely gotten to know. As noted, Keri has not shown any sadness for her dead lover. There should have been a scene where Jake tried to kiss Keri and she would pull back to say she's not ready to fall in love because she lost someone so dear to her.

 

Also did anyone else find it crazy that Billy just writes off his brother's dead to possible drifters or smugglers?! And if this is a true issue with this town, that travelers are passing through and killing innocent kids, then why isn't Billy concerned Keri is now interested in Jake. A guy who just comes out of nowhere on a dirt bike w/ no helmet. Billy should be shaking Keri and reminding her of what hell happened not too long ago!

 

Cheers,

Pete Scudese

[Groucho 5]

I caught the first few minutes of this this morning and have my doubts of the claim that Charlie Sheen was supposed to play the murder victim in flashbacks but couldn't because he had to go shoot Platoon.

 

The reason I think this is inaccurate is because The Wraith is actually a (loose) remake of Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter, which also uses the mechanism of a vengeful ghost who looks similar to how he looked in life but is played by a different actor.

 

Also, did anybody else notice how many people in this movie are related to more famous people?

 

-- Charlie Sheen (Martin)

-- Nick Cassavetes (John)

-- Randy Quaid (Dennis)

-- Clint Howard (Ron)

[pscudese 701]

You all have to check out this movie poster.

 

First of all, this poster fully supports the group's comment that back in the day, movie executives knew that you can also lure kids in with a good soundtrack.

 

But the main thing I want to ask, is what movie is this poster promoting? Cause it sure as hell not the piece of crap I just watched.

 

This poster is telling me that there are four kids who are freaked out by something in the distance... possibly that glowing light in the background. And these aren't just four kids, they seem like friends, because they are huddled together and sharing the same emotion of fear.

 

Now who are the four friends.... They are Keri, Jake (not Jamie/The Wraith), some random guy in a duster who I don't recall ever being in the movie, and fucking Packard... the God dam villain of the film.

 

What the fuck is going on!!

 

 

All the best. Thank you

 

Pete Scudese

[pscudese 701]

I was so sure that Randy Quaid was going to be the mastermind behind the evil gang.

 

Reason being, is that in the opening seconds of the film, the balls of light cause major destruction to the sheriff's billboard.

 

 

 

So this tells me that whatever has come back, is sending a message to this particular person that they are back and that they are fucking angry.

 

In fact I thought this idea was going to be paid off when the sheriff showed up unannounced at the gang's warehouse. It's via a POV shot where the viewer is lead to believe it's The Wraith; come to get vengeance on Packard. But it's the sheriff and I thought he was gonna yell at Packard for drawing too much attention to their set up where the gang is winning all of these cars and stripping them down for parts to sell on the black market. I mean Billy even mentions the town has issues with "smugglers" killing kids. So this town is not so innocent.

 

And to further this backstory, what if the last "second opinion" was right and Jamie made a deal with The Devil to trade his soul for those gang members. And if Jamie was in fact not a good person to start with, maybe he was part of the original gang that chopped up cars. My theory in this universe, is that Jamie grew a conscience when a person he raced died in a crash. Now that he doesn't want to race cars anymore to strip for parts, the sheriff tells the other gang members to kill and dispose of the body.

 

What are your thoughts Paul?

 

Cheers,

Pete Scudese

[pscudese 701]

Paul - Other then a person born four days ago... what is a "four day virgin?"

 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

An altogether much cooler and more efficiently-told tale of "Teen" Killed in Car Crash and Out For Revenge and To Rescue a Sexy Late With Ghostly Car and Superpowers is the French DJ Kavinsky's video for "Odd Look." For those unfamiliar with Kavnisky, he's great, and probably best known for his song "Nightcall," which appears on the 'Drive' soundtrack.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT0iQRjHbW4

[CPiz 232]

A 2010 interview with the director pretty much confirms the plot of the film laid out in the Amazon review that Paul read in the episode.

 

Also, in the interview, the director mentions that an accident during filming killed a crew member, left another a paraplegic, and badly injured a few others. After the accident, they had to rush production to finish the film.

 

Johnny Depp was indeed in Sherilyn Fenn's hotel room throughout most of the filming. The director didn't even know he was there.

 

The original script had a whole subplot for the Randy Quaid character, with him enlisting the "psychic connections of a prairie witch" to help solve the Wraith's crimes.

 

The whole article's a pretty interesting read:

http://www.dreadcent...lks-the-wraith/

[Cam Bert 8145]

Paul - Other then a person born four days ago... what is a "four day virgin?"

If you follow the syntax of the phrasing "'~~' virgin" it means one hasn't experienced the proceeding action or noun. I.E. "I'm a Disneyland virgin" means I have not experienced Disneyland. Now if you are talking about a person and their lack of sexual experience virgin no longer modifies what precedes it. Thus if you were twenty and still sexually inexperienced you would not say "I'm a twenty year virgin" you would have to say "I'm a twenty year old virgin." By modifying virgin with a time you now are indicating how long it's been since that action has taken place or more accurately how long since you last experienced it. In the case of the movie he means that he hasn't had sex in four days. Nothing exceptionally deep to be had just a corny line.

[Cam Bert 8145]

In movies and stories like High Plains Drifter in which a ghost/spirit is brought back to avenge their death all end in the same way. Once vengeance has been served the ghost will then leave and go back to the world of the dead like they were never there. It's a simple formula. There was some debate over whether or not at the end of the film Jake/Jamie goes back to the afterlife, and this is simply can not be the case. How do we know that? Because he gives the car to his brother! By the mere fact he can pass it over to his brother means that the car is a real physical object. We see the car being created by the spirit orbs in the beginning making it seem like a ghost car. This would explain why it can do the weird things throughout the movie. Yet if it's a ghost car how can he give it to his brother? Wouldn't it just disappear the moment Jamie goes back to the afterlife? At the end of the movie the car has suddenly become a real physical object through Jamie's vengeance. Would this not also imply the Jake is now real as well. Otherwise his spirit comes back to the world of the living with a special ghost car that becomes real while his spirit goes back to the world of the dead. A car created out of thin air is now real, but the ghost that created it is not? That's nonsensical even for a nonsensical film such as this.

 

This all begs the bigger question of what made Jamie so special. How come other murdered people aren't coming back from the dead with magical items all the time? Is this some weird world in which if you are murdered you can come back to life if you're successful in your vengeance or create special ghost items for those you loved?

[Smigg 1488]

You all have to check out this movie poster.

 

First of all, this poster fully supports the group's comment that back in the day, movie executives knew that you can also lure kids in with a good soundtrack.

 

But the main thing I want to ask, is what movie is this poster promoting? Cause it sure as hell not the piece of crap I just watched.

 

This poster is telling me that there are four kids who are freaked out by something in the distance... possibly that glowing light in the background. And these aren't just four kids, they seem like friends, because they are huddled together and sharing the same emotion of fear.

 

Now who are the four friends.... They are Keri, Jake (not Jamie/The Wraith), some random guy in a duster who I don't recall ever being in the movie, and fucking Packard... the God dam villain of the film.

 

What the fuck is going on!!

 

 

All the best. Thank you

 

Pete Scudese

 

 

What in the living fuck is the guy on the right wearing?! And why does it look like the title is "Wraith The"

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I'm only halfway through the episode, so maybe it gets brought up, but based on listening to the trailer alone, I thought "Ghost Rider". Also, if Johnny Depp was up for a role in this, he scenes may have ALSO ended up being very limited, because he too got hired for "Platoon".

[Strong McPunchface 1]

Mad Max's car is also called The Intercepter I wonder if this is a direct rip off or does that count as homage.

 

Also my read on the "Jacobs Ladder" of it all is that Jamie and Keri both die in the attack at the beginning and Billy concocted the revenge fantasy scenario to cope with the trauma of loosing his brother and his brothers girlfriend in such a traumatic way and giving them a happy ending, sort of like Atonement with a supernatural revenge elements, spoilers for the movie Atonement. This could be the reason his character acts like such an exposition dump, he's literally telling you the story.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

So, Mike Marvin wrote "Hot Dog" and then got to direct "Hamburger"? He's like a regular Joss Whedon, as those were truly the "Avengers" and "Justice League" of screwball 80s titty comedies! I'd argue that he may be one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

[pscudese 701]

 

 

What in the living fuck is the guy on the right wearing?! And why does it look like the title is "Wraith The"

 

Yeah, the layout of the title is weird, but consistent with the opening title in the movie.

 

As for the random dude... I love that he's in a crop top, some kind of reptile pattern jeans, and possibly two, open button down shirts.

 

Long live the duster

 

[pscudese 701]

If you follow the syntax of the phrasing "'~~' virgin" it means one hasn't experienced the proceeding action or noun. I.E. "I'm a Disneyland virgin" means I have not experienced Disneyland. Now if you are talking about a person and their lack of sexual experience virgin no longer modifies what precedes it. Thus if you were twenty and still sexually inexperienced you would not say "I'm a twenty year virgin" you would have to say "I'm a twenty year old virgin." By modifying virgin with a time you now are indicating how long it's been since that action has taken place or more accurately how long since you last experienced it. In the case of the movie he means that he hasn't had sex in four days. Nothing exceptionally deep to be had just a corny line.

 

 

Yeah but when you have sex or visit Disneyland... you are no longer a virgin. In the end we can all agree, it's just sloppy ass writing.

[Smigg 1488]

I just looked at the soundtrack for The Wraith, and not only does it have a song by Ozzy Osbourne, which is always a plus, it also has a song by a guy named Stan Bush.

 

You should all know who Stan Bush is, because Stan Bush is the man who brought us...

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ4XHW5Q4gU

 

KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE!

 

[NutRumpus 23]

Holy shit. I haven't listened to the episode yet. But if I was an alien and I watched this movie without knowing anything else about Earth, I'd think the 80s were just complete and utter chaos.

[Give Me Your Baby 2 22]

I just looked at the soundtrack for The Wraith, and not only does it have a song by Ozzy Osbourne, which is always a plus, it also has a song by a guy named Stan Bush.

 

You should all know who Stan Bush is, because Stan Bush is the man who brought us...

 

KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE! KU-MI-TE!

 

 

And also the theme to the Transformers cartoon movie, which is fucking awesome. That movie is also HDTGM worthy. As I have suggested previously.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSh73d3TZcA

[jakekesey 6]

I had tweeted Paul and the HDTGM twitter accounts literally for years trying to get this movie watched. Why? Because I remember as a kid watching it and it being just as terrible as it is now, but for some reason I still love it.

 

I would like to point out a few things...

 

This movie is basically The Crow meets the Fast and the Furious. This movie came out in 1986 and the Crow was written as a graphic novel in 1989. Clearly we have the Wraith to thank for that...just as clearly as the bitchin cars in this movie could account for the "Fast" series. Just like in the Crow, if you're going to come back from death to avenge your own demise, you're most likely going to do it one at a time. What fun is it blowing them all up at once?

 

Also, I don't know if it was pointed out, but I thought it was funny that Packard was a little too happy to pull a knife regularly. Let's see...what is Packard known for? Driving a Corvette with a weird helmet and fingerless leather gloves, maybe hitting the canyon springs in full shirt, leather vest and jeans...oh and pulling a knife out every 20 seconds. How did Jamie die again? Seems like someone could have put two and two together. Loomis is a terrible cop. The guy is walking around and brandishing the murder weapon through the entire film...but as Billy said, they never found his brother's killer.

 

Thank you for watching this movie. I have always loved the show, but this one felt very special to me. Now I am going to bother you until you watch Freejack.

[jakekesey 6]

In response to the guy in the duster in the movie poster...

 

If no one pointed it out...the guy in the duster is Auggie...otherwise this is definitely a ridiculous poster..

 

Also, everyone was great, but Eliza was especially hilarious in this episode..smart decision..