Dear Movies, I Love You — Episode Summary

Episode: "Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)! Plus, Johnny Pemberton!"
Date: October 28, 2025
Hosts: Millie De Chirico & Casey O’Brien
Guest: Johnny Pemberton
Main Theme: A deep-dive discussion of the cult Japanese cyberpunk film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), reflections on horror, body horror, film subcultures, and a special segment on non-actors in film.

Episode Overview

This Halloween-themed episode closes out the podcast’s month of horror, with Millie and Casey embracing the wild, gritty chaos of Shinya Tsukamoto’s experimental cult classic, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The conversation is energetic, irreverent, and loaded with personal anecdotes — from grad school days to Halloween playlists and notorious “shithead” phases. Later, comedian and actor Johnny Pemberton joins for a thoughtful (and hilarious) breakdown of non-actors in film, grounding the conversation in both industry insight and Midwestern camaraderie.

Key Discussion Segments & Timestamps

1. Halloween Kickoff: Costumes & Favorite Halloween Songs

[01:40–10:50]

• Millie is dressed as an Italian plumber, Casey as a skeleton; lighthearted banter about costumes and the practical challenges of fake mustaches.
• Nostalgia and hot takes about the 90s Super Mario Bros. movie.
• Favorite Halloween Songs: The hosts set rules (there are none), dig into what makes a song “Halloween,” and offer their personal top 3.

Millie’s Top 3:

1. “I Put a Spell on You” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) — “Hard to dispute... and you will lose if you try” (Millie, [08:57]).
2. “Halloween” (The Misfits) — “All their songs are horror-themed for the most part... The entire Static Age album should be a Halloween album as far as I’m concerned" (Millie, [08:31]).
3. “Werewolves of London” (Warren Zevon) — "There’s this line... 'I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect.' That makes me laugh all the time.” (Millie, [07:09])

Casey’s Top 3:

1. “Egyptian Shumba” (The Tammys) — “It’s kind of about getting... wooed by a mummy. It’s fun and dancy” (Casey, [10:15]).
2. “Graveyard Girl” (M83) — “About a girl obsessed with a graveyard... kind of goth-angsty” (Casey, [09:43]).
3. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (Bauhaus) — “It gets me in the mood. It’s very droning... spooky, gothy” (Casey, [09:19]).

Notable Quote:

“Some Halloween songs that have been ushered in through the years... suck.”
— Millie De Chirico, [04:57]

2. Life Updates & Film Diary

[16:20–29:48]

• Millie reflects on the chaos of buying a house as a single woman (“They don’t make it easy... America,” [17:56]) and shares Halloween event stories.
• Both hosts talk about horror film marathons, raising “Halloween kids,” and the joys of spooky traditions.
• Film Diary (“It is heavy. I’m a plumber, but this is also really hard work.” – Millie, [20:16])
  • Millie:
    • Re-watched The Shining ([21:08]) and shares grad school stories, paper on “modernist time traps,” and her love for horror hotels.
    • Saw EF (2024): “It is wonderful. The pacing is great... just so pleasant” ([24:10]).
  • Casey:
    • Children of the Corn II: “Everyone was telling me this is better than [the first]. I disagree...” ([25:29]).
    • Don’t Look Under the Bed (Disney, 1999): “Complaints from parents... actually too scary for Disney. Real monsters under the bed stuff.” ([27:14])
    • Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995): “Very 90s, clever dialogue, kind of hinted at the Illuminati using Leatherface…” ([27:32])
  • Both reinforce the value of watching horror sequels, with Millie advocating for Exorcist III ([28:45]).

3. Tetsuo: The Iron Man — Deep Dive

[32:39–69:13]

Introduction & Cultural Context

• Shinya Tsukamoto’s journey from basement shorts to cult classic.
• Film described as “horror, science fiction, cyberpunk, experimental... transhumanism, industrialization, body horror” ([34:03]).
• Notable: The production was grueling; collaborators dropped out due to physically demanding, gross effects ([34:57]).

Personal Connections

• Millie: “Classic shithead phase movie.” Film-school parties, “living like trash, making art with trash.” House with wall of broken TVs and condemned conditions ([39:16]).
• Casey: Giddy cyberpunk fan. “I want to see a human being destroyed by technology!” ([37:27]). Cites love for The Fly, RoboCop, Johnny Mnemonic.

“Bruce Sterling called cyberpunk ‘low-life high tech.’ That genre of, like, kind of trashy criminal people, but there’s like high tech stuff going on. I love movies about this sorta stuff.”
— Casey O'Brien, [36:08]

Plot Breakdown & Memorable Moments

• Opening: Body horror from the start—man inserting metal pipe into his leg (“It gets juicy real quick.” – Millie, [43:49]).
• Transformation: Salaryman’s body slowly consumed by metal, surreal and experimental visual style (“Imagine a Nine Inch Nails video with just shit hanging down from the ceiling... trash... space trash.” – Millie, [51:06]).
• Fight scene & chase: Subway sequence where another commuter transforms into metal-creature; the early stage makes for “cute couple’s Halloween costumes” ([47:10]).
• Favorite Scene: Drill-dick sequence:

  “He starts kind of rapidly changing to the point where... his dick turns into a giant drill. And this is fun for me to see.”
  — Millie De Chirico, [52:29]

  • “This was cinema." – Casey [52:54]
• Sex & Destruction: Girlfriend initially “down to clown,” until killed by drill-dick.

  “You live by the drill, you die by the drill. That’s kind of what happens.” – Millie, [55:36]

• Finale: Oozing, goopy chaos, with a metal-cat, everything transforming, and the revelation of interconnected trauma between characters.
• Interpretation:
  • Technology/consumption run amok; “What would happen if your body just got taken over by all your shit... by all your technology?” – Millie, [64:00]
  • “The human experience is becoming digitized and optimized. We are becoming attached to technology... This movie feels applicable to now.” – Casey, [65:01]

Style & Influence

• Industrial/noise soundtrack; “clang, clang, clang... If you’re into kraut rock or experimental music, this is your jam.” ([57:09])
• Cites comparisons to The Fly, Hellraiser, Nine Inch Nails videos, and punk/industrial subcultures.

Notable Quotes

• “It’s easy to watch in the sense of time.” – Casey, [40:40]
• “I was preoccupied with chaos, so I was trying to integrate the horror with the science fiction that I had within me.”
  – Tsukamoto quote, shared by Millie [67:47]

4. Area of Expertise: Johnny Pemberton on Non-Actors in Movies

[70:09–99:29]

• Johnny, a son of Minnesota, talks Vikings and hometown roots before diving into the main topic.
• Topic: The art and impact of using non-actors in films (“when you see someone in a role who’s clearly not an actor, but they’re being used as an actor” – [72:20]).
• Midnight Run’s diner scene as archetypal; "This woman works at the diner... It's the most honest performance with the worst performance" ([72:33]).
• Importance in authenticity: “It grounds it more... brings some sort of reality to it” ([77:37]).
• Drawbacks: Sometimes it can highlight the unreal qualities of professional actors (e.g., Frances McDormand in Nomadland—“she's supposed to be salt of the earth but she radiates ‘movie star’ energy,” [78:07]).
• Non-actors in Coen/Safdie brothers films; musicians (Dwight Yoakam, Tom Waits) as standout examples.
• Fun stories about accidental casting, actors “too beautiful” for realism, and the blurry lines between acting and simply being.

Notable Quotes

"If you're around Margot Robbie, are you just— you can't look at her? Are you turned to stone?”
— Johnny Pemberton, [80:51]

“I just eat it. I just have to eat it and remember that... sometimes I’m really lucky that a lot of the stuff I’ve worked on is extremely collaborative.”
— Johnny Pemberton, on being in creative projects he doesn’t love ([95:05])

5. Employee Picks & Recommendations

[99:46–104:56]

• Casey:
  • Recommends Crimes of the Future (2022, Cronenberg)

    “What their body wants is to eat plastic. I think about microplastics... people becoming machine-like. It summed up that fear well.” ([99:46])

• Millie:
  • Recommends Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)

    “Watch it with a live score if you can... kicks it up a notch. One of the classics of world cinema.” ([102:12])

6. Closing Banter

[104:56–end]

• Reflecting on the end of "Horror Month," the joys and judgments of being spooky all year, and the value of keeping Halloween spirit alive.
• Advice for listeners: Send film advice, gripes, regrets, or “consensual film gropes” to dearmovies@exactlyrightmedia.com ([105:45]).
• Next week’s teaser: Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another.
• Playful exit: Mario hats, competitive Mario Party with nephews, tough love Halloween energy.

Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

• "I was like convinced that this movie was so deep and esoteric and had all this messaging about who knows what... I want to live in trash and make art with trash." (Millie, [40:44])
• "I want to see a human be destroyed by technology!" (Casey, [37:27])
• On Halloween elitism:
  "I remember telling a group of people... we watch a horror movie every night of October. And they said, 'Just in October?' And I was like, I don't want to speak to you ever again." (Casey, [105:18])
• On live scores:
  “A long time ago in Atlanta, I watched the Passion of Joan of Arc with Cat Power doing the live score... she left halfway through the movie and never came back.” (Millie, [104:12])

Tone & Delivery

The episode is irreverent, enthusiastic, often self-deprecating, and deeply film-nerdish but never stuffy. The discussion is packed with asides, personal stories, and a sense of camaraderie—between hosts and with the audience—treating cult cinema as something to love, laugh about, and revisit with fresh eyes. The hosts celebrate both the artistic seriousness and the high-camp, gross-out fun of Tetsuo, and Johnny Pemberton’s guest segment provides a uniquely candid look into the world of character actors, authenticity, and those brilliant accidents that make film strange and wonderful.

For New Listeners

This episode is a living, breathing invitation to both love movies deeply—warts and metal-drill dicks and all—and to always keep a little “shithead phase” in your cinephilia. Whether you’re a die-hard horror/arthouse fan, a curious neophyte, or just someone who loves weird stories, you’ll find humor, heart, and an appreciation for all things offbeat and beautifully strange in cinema.