Dennis Wheatley Podcasts

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shanedwyer
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Post by shanedwyer »

Come, come into the circle. We're all here: me, you...the Goat of Mendes!

Jaja, that was very enjoyable. Cheers Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

Dr Clare Makepeace is a cultural historian of modern warfare who, during the WW1 centenary year, lectured on the previously little-discussed aspect of the Great War - the extensive use of brothels by the Tommies.

If you have read DW's memoirs then you will be familiar with his frankness of his own experiences.

Dr Makepeace gives an hour long lecture on youtube on the subject, titled SEX AND THE SOMME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlIvE7OdQbk

Inevitably our hero turns up after 20 minutes. :smt058
Regards,

Darren.
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Post by Darren »

Another couple of TDRO film podcasts.

Mass Moviecide UK, episode 128 came out on 21st June. They discuss Horror of Dracula and TDRO in a Christopher Lee trubute show. No research at all, not one for DW aficionados - I don't recommend it. http://massmoviecideuk.podbean.com/e/ep ... rides-out/

The Body The Blood podcast, episode 6 (out on 22nd June) is a little more interesting in that it is a couple of American Christians that view the film (and the book) from a Christian perspective. It is a fairly long episode devoted to TDRO and after reviewing the film (which is the boring part) they begin to discuss the Christian aspects of the book and film. At one point they discuss whether Satan would actually appear to the satanists or whether he would send a lesser demon - the curious point is that they seem to discuss it as if Satan actually exists. It has interesting moments in the discussion, but, personally, if you've got something better to do then I'd give it a miss. http://thebodytheblood.com/podcast-epis ... rides-out/

The main reason for mentioning these 2 podcasts is that TDRO clearly still attracts a lot of attention after all these years (whether film or book). These 2 came out last month, one day part, on either side of the Atlantic.
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

Hi folks,

There are a couple of new podcasts that are worth mentioning.

The Castle of Horror podcast series has recently had a series of Christopher Lee retrospectives following his passing. The latest episode is about The Devil Rides Out. I quite enjoy this series, and the host, Jason Henderson, is very likeably and enthusiastic.

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/castle- ... e-40018525

I also wish to mention the latest episode of Professor Cushing’s Crypt of the Macabre (episode 33) that reviews The Creeping Flesh and Schizo. Following the review there is a fascinating discussion of Christopher Lee’s life where you will find out about his amazing contribution as a soldier in WW2 – he was a member of the squadron that was the forerunner to the SAS.

And to top it all the episode includes music by our very own ericmocata. Now this is very creepy. I was listening to the podcast as I was walking through the field towards my village at midnight on the way home from the pub. I’m not usually spooked but, when listening to ericmocata’s music, I repeatedly had the urge to look over my shoulder. I felt like the lead character walking back to his lodgings in MR James’ “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Ladâ€￾ (anyone familiar with the story will know what I mean). :smt105

Thanks, Eric, it was a memorable walk home - I did enjoy your music very much, and it is haunting.

http://cryptofthemacabre.blogspot.co.uk/
Regards,

Darren.
ericmocata
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Post by ericmocata »

Thank you kindly, Darren. That's pretty much what we were going for. The entire album has a legend/mythology theme to it. We chose titles that we felt fit each piece that dealt with some legend or dark part of history. None of it is really uplifting, happy stuff.

Your comments remind me of how Night of the Living Dead made me feel when I was young. I have never been one who found a movie scary, despite my love for horror. Night of the Living Dead was the closest a movie ever came to scaring me. I remember watching that one so many times as a kid and watching it late at night when I was 12 or so. I remember going up to my room afterward and just having that creepy feeling, you know the one that keeps telling you somebody, or worse, something, is watching you from the shadows. Although, that being said, I doing remember getting really caught up in the Phantasm movies to where I would almost forget they were just movies. That, to me, is a truly amazing thing for movies (or books) to do.

Also thanks go to Darren for the introduction to the highly enjoyable Professor Cushing's Crypt of the Macabre. I look forward to each episode, as well.

Speaking of the great Sir Christopher Lee, although I think this has been touched on before, what are everybody's thoughts of the revamped version of the Devil Rides Out versus the original? I haven't been able to watch the Blu-ray version, but I can watch the DVD on my computer with no problem. I thought the changes were pretty tastefully done. They were not intrusive and actually might have improved the movie in some way, although the original will always have the charm of being the original version. Either way it's an excellent movie, in my view. Although, I would still love to see a more faithful adaptation if for no other reason than to see Simon in that silly get-up he wears during the Stonehenge section of the story. Great, now I want to re-read the Devil Rides Out.

:(
So many books, so little time.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

I've just finished the whole of the Castle of Horror podcast mentioned in my last post. It is well worth a listen. The contributors are clearly intelligent people, including an attorney who is not into horror films and acts as an "independent". They bring out points in the film (and hence the book in most instances) that I hadn't thought of before. They discuss, for example, how would we react if it was set in 2015, with the Duke punching Simon and kidnapping him after he gate-crashed what would be ragarded as just one (of many) modern cult movements.

There are many other discussions and once they get into the debate it is quite riveting listening.

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/castle- ... e-40018525
Regards,

Darren.
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Post by Darren »

FOR THE LOVE OF HORROR is another horror film podcast series that I recently discovered. In episode 6 (December 2015) they had a Dennis Wheatley double bill, discussing both TDRO and TTDAD.

The review of TDRO is simply a summary of the film, BUT I did learn one interesting little gem. Gwen Ffrangcon Davies (Dame Commander of the British Empire and plays the Countess in the film) was once painted by Walter Sickert. One of the most exciting books I read as a teenager was Stephen Knight's Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution in which Knight proposes that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper.

Gwen Ffrangcon Davies' portrait by Sickert is on display at Tate Britain: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sic ... nce-n04673

I recommend the Stephen Knight book as a great entertaining read (although it is over 30 years ago since I read it). One of Sickert's paintings is called Jack the Ripper's Bedroom (Ken, Mary, Bill - note this picture is currently hanging in the Centre for Contemporary Arts, in Glasgow). http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=550&page=8 (Scroll down get the full picture).

Back to the podcast. Their discussion on TTDAD is very good. They don't simply provide a summary but attempt to explain why, when so much about the film is wrong and doesn't work, they can't help but love the film and think it is great - as do I.

You can access the podcast via http://fortheloveofhorror.co.uk/episode ... -daughter/
Regards,

Darren.
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Post by ken68 »

Thanks for the heads up on the pic, might take a trip along and view that. Don't think bill comes here very often so might get in touch and see if he fancies meeting up for it and some lunch. I also read a book about the ripper/sickert connection, don't think it was the same one. Sure it was a female author.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

I include the attached podcast because the guest is Mark Gatiss, he starts to discuss DW at 15 minutes. They have a discussion about why his popularity ended when he died and how hugely successful he was. Mark Gatiss acknowledges DW's importance but generally has a downer on him as an author and a person ("he's a monster"...?????).

He includes an amusing quotation of Christopher Lee and impersonates him as he says: "I'm glad Dennis is dead - because he would have been so appalled at what's happened to this country."

https://www.acast.com/bookshambleswithr ... ark-gatiss
Regards,

Darren.
shanedwyer
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Post by shanedwyer »

Thanks for the link Darren. An interesting broadcast- the inevitable bien pensant scoffing at DW notwithstanding.
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Post by Darren »

And another podcast about TDRO film.

This one is rather annoying, the podcast series is titled YOUR STUPID MINDS: Bad movie podcast and review.

It's a US series, and in this particular episode they spend about 45 minutes ridiculing and taking the p*** out of the movie. It's annoying because it seems so pointless. They constantly laugh out loud along at their own analysis which is bizarre because it is so devoid of humour, and talk as though I, the listener, agree with their ridicule. I can't work out who their target audience is - clearly not me.

And then at the end they provide their final summary and claim it to be a good film and that they enjoyed it. :smt017

http://www.yourstupidminds.com/search?u ... -results=7
Regards,

Darren.
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Post by Darren »

This is a fairly recent podcast, again from the US, about the film To the Devil ...a Daughter.

It is fairly lengthy and I was concerned when it started with a lot of nervous giggles. But, the young presenters soon relaxed and I was surprised at how good, in-depth and thoughtful the podcast is.

Please note - this is a podcast from the point of view of young American kids (well - probably in their 20's) looking at a film made a long time before they were born.

And they rate it very high, and are knowledgeable about much of the film's history and problems, and discuss it purely from a horror film perspective, contrasting it with their own horror film experiences.

Not much on DW, but interesting to get a fresh view of a highly under-rated film (IMO) from a group outside the Wheatley camp.

https://www.podcat.com/podcasts/9EDTZj- ... oh-special
Regards,

Darren.
shanedwyer
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Post by shanedwyer »

Interesting as always.

Thanks for that Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

And another podcast from the US about the film, TDRO.

You can watch the presenters recording the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgjn6DTPLM8

Or you can listen to it as a usual podcast (as I did - I haven't seen the youtube version): https://gb.ivoox.com/en/s3e11m-the-devi ... 672_1.html or type S3E11M into your own podcast search engine and it should bring it up.

Again - they rate the film very high, but you won't learn anything. It's interesting that a couple of them decided to read the book as well for contrast.
Regards,

Darren.
shanedwyer
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Post by shanedwyer »

Thank you very much for the links Darren. The YouTube show was very entertaining. As you point out, they do speak very well of the film, but some of the occasional negative comments are rather funny:

Host: What about the Goat of Mendes? How do you feel about that effect?

John: That Goat...I'm sorry, but it looked ridiculous...like something on Captain Kangaroo.
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