Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Episode 457, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Time for another tribute episode. We’ve only gone a couple weeks since we’ve done our last five, so great. We thought we would do another one today because the guy who died this time around really, uh, was a person that I recognized quite well and really respected and loved to see in lots of movies.

Uh, this is Terrance Stamp, an English actor who started out in London on. Stage and then very quickly moved into film. Did the collector in 1965 about a, a man who abduct a woman and brings him into her. His, his basement kind of keeps her captive, which, uh, won the canned film festival award, uh, for best actor for him.

He got a Gold Globe award for his American film debut, Billy Bud, in 1962. But I remember him from the old, uh, Superman films in the 19 78, 19 80 Superman one and Superman two. He was General Zod. And much. I mean, this guy’s been in several movies a year ever since then. He was in Star Wars episode one, young Guns and Wall Street, Disney’s the Haunted Mansion.

He always just, you know, played like villains most of the time. Usually. Yeah. And he’s this’s got this face that’s just totally recognizable. I remember him way, way, way more as an older man. Then as the younger man that we see in this film and this film that we’re doing is 1960 nine’s Spirits of the Dead.

Well, 1968, but it was released in the States in 1969. It goes by a couple other names too, because this is a joint French and Italian production and is three different segments that are directed by different. Very famous directors. Federico Fellini does one. Uh, Louis Malay does one, and Roger Vadim, and it has quite a few other stars in it too.

You’re talking Jane Fonda, Bridgette Barau, Peter Fonda’s in here a little bit. I thought this movie would be interesting enough for us to do because as far as horror movies that he’s done, we did the Company of Wolves and he was in that as well. But we’ve already done that, so we thought. Well, let’s go with this one.

And we haven’t done an older film in a while, and I know this is right up your alley, Craig. So, uh, we’re gonna talk about it today and well, I guess we could talk about the three segments. Separately, right? Like, uh, just kind of walk through each one. Right. But yeah, obviously I’d never seen this. I’d never heard of it before.

It is definitely your very classic movie from this era put together because movies like this were popular at the time. Oh, what do you call ’em? An anthology, not an, yeah, like an anthology basically. Yeah. Based loosely on tales from Edgar Allen Poe. I don’t think I’d read any of the stories. No. These three movies were based on No, none of these were familiar to me at all.

They’re not your typical Yeah, I, uh, I’d never heard of it. Orson Wells was supposed to actually direct a segment in here, and he backed out. He was gonna do one on the cast, ofdo and 

Craig: well, and there was a, another famous distinguished actor who was supposed to be in it, and I can’t remember who it was.

Peter, I, I won’t be able to think of it. It, it was in the trivia, but I think Terrence Stamp ended up replacing. Whoever it was. Hmm. I can picture the guy in my head. We’ve seen, we’ve done movies with him in it, but I just can’t think of his name. Yeah, I had never heard of it and I didn’t even know what it was and like I looked it up on IMDB and there were a couple of different movies with the same title and I wasn’t sure which was, and I was like, I kind of hope it’s not the first one and it is, 

Todd: nah.

Craig: Sorry, but at the same time I was thinking, well, it’s one of those Egg Grow Poe movies, those Old Egg Grow Poe movies. You know, we’ve done Vincent Price Egg Grow Poe or two, and those are usually, there’s usually something interesting to talk about. But like you said, I didn’t recognize any of these stories and they must be fairly loosely based because the third one seemed.

Far too modern for like I, I don’t 

Todd: know. The third one, even in the credits, it says like very loosely based on 

Craig: the Edgar 

Todd: Ground Post story or something like that. 

Craig: And that’s the one that Terrance Stamp is in Uhhuh. And of the three, that was my favorite one. I have no idea what the fuck was going on. Right.

But it was. Interesting to look at. Yeah. The other two. Yeah, like I, I think that I appreciated them more in chronological order. Like I did not like the first one at all. The only thing that I liked about the first one was seeing Jane Fonda, oh God, I have no idea how old she was in 1967, but she couldn’t, I mean, she had to have been in hurt.

Early twenties, and she’s a stunningly gorgeous woman now at 80 something. Like she looks amazing today. Yeah. Life did her right man. Oh man. Yeah, and like she had the good work done. Like she never, she was one of those women who was smart, who allowed herself to continue to age and just did some little tweaks here and there.

She didn’t like give herself a whole new rubber face that looks weird. Yeah. Um, she still looks like herself. She, she looks young for her age at 80 something. Anyway. Yeah. The point is in her early twenties, she’s just one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Like, yeah. Just, just stunningly beautiful and, and these piercing, piercing eyes and a very commanding presence.

Yes. Very strong. That, that She still has, I mean she, yeah, she, I, she seems like, because I think she is a tough bitch. Yeah. You don’t wanna mess with 

Todd: her. She had just go