VHS Classics

Summary

Episode Summary: VHS Classics Dear Movies, I Love You with Hosts Millie De Chirico and Casey O'Brien Released July 15, 2025

---

Introduction

In this nostalgic episode of Dear Movies, I Love You, hosts Millie De Chirico and Casey O'Brien dive deep into the beloved era of VHS tapes. Celebrating the tactile and sentimental aspects of physical media, the duo explores personal memories, iconic VHS covers, and the enduring charm of analog film consumption.

Film Diaries

Millie and Casey kick off the episode with their recent movie experiences:

• Millie's Picks:

  • Coal Miner's Daughter (1980): Millie revisits this emotionally charged musical biopic starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones, highlighting its heartfelt performances and memorable soundtrack. "It's really good," she affirms at [10:29].
  • Missing (1982): Directed by Costa-Gavras, this political thriller grabs Millie's attention with its tense narrative and stellar cast, including Jack Lemmon and Melanie Mayron. "Great hair in the movie," she notes humorously at [12:21].
  • You Hurt My Feelings (2023): A modern comedy featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Millie praises its portrayal of a good marriage and the nuanced performances that diverge from her initial perceptions of actor Tobias Menzies.

• Casey's Picks:

  • Pee Wee as Himself (2025): A documentary that moved Casey deeply, reflecting on Pee Wee Herman's influence and his personal connection to the character.
  • 28 Years Later (2025): Casey hails this sequel to 28 Days Later, commending Danny Boyle’s return to a mixtape-style filmmaking approach and its vibrant soundtrack.
  • Drowning by Numbers (1988): A Peter Greenaway film that Casey admires for its quirky atmosphere and unique storytelling, comparing its style to Wes Anderson’s films with added elements of sex and death.
  • New Rose Hotel (1998): Directed by Abel Ferrara, Casey describes this cyberpunk corporate espionage thriller as vibey and moody, featuring standout performances by Asia Argento, Christopher Walken, and Willem Dafoe.

Main Discussion: VHS Classics

Embracing their shared love for VHS, Millie and Casey reminisce about the golden days of video rentals:

• First Memories:

  • Millie recalls early video store visits on military bases, specifically the limited selection at BX in South Carolina. She fondly remembers the Blackwell Video store in Marietta, Georgia, comparing its vast selection to a modern-day Blockbuster [26:32].
  • Casey speaks of Mr. Movies, a Midwest chain that played a pivotal role in fostering his love for films, despite its closure in 2009 [30:09].

• Iconic VHS Covers:

  • Millie highlights the American release cover of Dario Argento’s Phenomena (titled Creepers in the US) as a formative image, describing it as "Jennifer Conley being devoured by bugs" [31:07].
  • Casey shares his fascination with horror covers like Child’s Play 2 and Killer Clowns from Outer Space, noting how they intrigued and scared him simultaneously [39:53].
  • Both hosts discuss the peculiar and sometimes misleading nature of VHS covers, such as Alvin Purple’s minimalistic design and the humorous depiction of Cheech and Chong as babies in The Corsican Brothers [37:50 - 39:05].

• Personal VHS Classics:

  • Millie cherishes her copy of The Cutting Edge, which she watched over 20 times, and We Married an Axe Murderer, appreciating its SNL-adjacent comedy [46:57].
  • Casey considers Jurassic Park (1994) a quintessential VHS classic, lauding its iconic cover and widespread presence on rental shelves [48:36]. He also fondly recalls renting Heavyweights and Ghost Dad with his family [51:28].

• VHS Collection Revival:

  • Casey shares his renewed passion for collecting VHS tapes, attributing it to the analog charm and the tangible connection it offers to movie culture. He mentions the practical aspects, like the inclusion of trailers and the ability to own a physical copy independently of streaming platforms [57:21].
  • Millie echoes the sentiment, emphasizing the role VHS played in shaping her love for film and recounting her hands-on experiences with VHS editing and personal camcorder recordings [64:02].

Film Advice

The hosts transition to their popular segment, answering listener questions with insightful recommendations:

• Question from Rose [64:56]:
  "Have you ever had the opportunity to be a judge for a film festival? If so, what are some best practices or any overall advice that you can give to a first-time film judge?"

  • Millie's Response [65:03]:
    She recounts her experience judging at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, alongside notable figures like Edgar Wright. Millie advises first-time judges to "pace yourself" and approach each film with an open mind, free from preconceived notions [65:47].

• Question from Ange [71:06]:
  "What are some horror films suitable for an 11-year-old who loves all things spooky without exposing them to adult themes?"

  • Casey's Recommendations [72:15]:

    • Ernest Scared Stupid: Combines humor with spookiness, suitable for young viewers.
    • Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019): A modern take on classic spooky tales.

  • Millie's Recommendations [73:04]:

    • Flowers in the Attic (1987): Combines gothic elements with child protagonists facing evil.

  • Additional Suggestions:
    Return to Oz (1985) and Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) are recommended for their atmospheric and supernatural horror without excessive violence [76:16].

Employee Picks

Millie and Casey share their personal must-watch recommendations related to the episode's theme:

• Millie's Pick [89:31]:
  The Little Mermaid (1989): Not for its narrative, but for its infamous VHS cover rumored to feature a concealed image—a playful nod to VHS-era urban legends. Millie humorously points out the leaked clips depicting unexpected adult moments in the beloved Disney classic [90:04].

• Casey's Pick [92:16]:
  Local Hero (1983): A heartwarming film that emphasizes community and light-hearted storytelling, perfect for uplifting one's spirits during challenging times.

Closing Remarks

As the episode winds down, Millie and Casey hint at their next discussion focusing on the 30th anniversary of Showgirls (1995). They express excitement over unpacking the film's legacy, its controversial reception, and its place in VHS history.

Notable Quotes:

• Millie [10:29]: "It's really good." – Praising Coal Miner’s Daughter.
• Casey [39:53]: "What is that? What is going on in there?" – Reflecting on puzzling VHS covers.
• Millie [46:57]: "I wore it the fuck out." – Describing her obsession with The Cutting Edge.

Conclusion

This episode of Dear Movies, I Love You is a heartfelt homage to the VHS era, blending personal anecdotes with critical reflections on how VHS culture has shaped modern film appreciation. Whether reminiscing about first video store visits or debating the merits of iconic VHS covers, Millie and Casey provide an engaging exploration of a beloved medium that continues to hold a special place in cinematic history.

For more nostalgic discussions and film insights, follow Dear Movies, I Love You on Instagram @dearmoviesiloveyou and tune in weekly on your favorite podcast platforms.

Transcript

[Millie Decherico]

This is exactly right.

[Casey O'Brien]

At Designer Shoe Warehouse, we believe that shoes are an important part of, well, everything. From first steps to first dates, from all nighters to all time personal best.

[Millie Decherico]

From building pillow forts to building a.

[Casey O'Brien]

Life for all the big and small moments that make up your whole world.

[Millie Decherico]

DSW is there and.

[Casey O'Brien]

And we've got just the shoes. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love at brag worthy prices at your DSW store or dsw.com Member Week is here at Lowe's. Don't miss your chance to get up to 40% off hundreds of items like paint, faucets, vanities, doors and more. Shop our exclusive deals happening in store and Online now through July 18th. Not a member. Join Milo's Pro Rewards for free today and get ready to save more lowes. We help you save loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. [e-mail] Terms subject to change.

[Millie Decherico]

Huddle up.

[Casey O'Brien]

We got one play. Everything we work for comes down to this.

[Millie Decherico]

Quick question.

[Casey O'Brien]

Speaking of workouts, how would you rate your athletic program? Bro, we're in the middle of the state championship. Oh, so like a B then? Dude, get out of our huddle. Well, at holmes.com we leave it all on the field to get you detailed information on local schools. Off the field. Off the field.

[Millie Decherico]

Copy. All right, go.

[Casey O'Brien]

How did he even get in here? Homes.com. we've done your homework.

[Millie Decherico]

Hey, Casey. Sorry, I'm a little. I got something going on right now.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wait, what's going. What's going on?

[Millie Decherico]

I'm so. The short version is that I saw that my stepmother is an alien. Is was playing on Comedy Central and I decided to record it off the tv and so I had to find a tape in my parents tape basket. And I feel like there's some episodes of Days of our Lives on there. I don't know what's on here. It's my mom's tape, but I don't care. She doesn't touch it. So I just.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, she's not gonna be mad that you're taping over using one of her tapes. There's nothing precious on there. You're positive about that?

[Millie Decherico]

I mean, like I said, she's got like 10 episodes of days on here. I don't know if this is. She hasn't touched this tape in a couple weeks. So I. I just had to put a piece of scotch tape over the little square so I could record because I really want to record this movie. I haven't seen it in a long time. And so now I'm Rewinding it and it's taking forever.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, it does that. It does that. You need to get one of the. You know how they used to have the VHS rewind machines that were outside of the vcr? Because rewinding. They said rewinding with the VCR would kind of like screw up the vcr. Do you remember those?

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, I do remember those. Because my neighbor can't say this without laughing. This is a true story, by the way. My neighbor has one in the shape of a Corvette. Whoa.

[Casey O'Brien]

Because it's fast.

[Millie Decherico]

They got at a flea market.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, my God. That's incredible.

[Millie Decherico]

I know. I wonder if they still have it. I don't know. I haven't talked to that neighbor in, like, three decades. But.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, make sure once this is done rewinding and it's taking a very long time, once it's done, make sure you press the little. The little button on the tape that locks the VHS tape so that you cannot record over it.

[Millie Decherico]

I know I'm going to have to take the tape off, but here's the thing. I recorded it in slp, so it's going to take a while. Oh, we might actually. Well, it might be done, but then I have another. I have another tape I've got to rewind. So I don't know if we're gonna be able to start this episode on time is all I'm saying. Basically, I'm trying to. My next move is that I gotta tape the MTV footage from Lollapalooza93. So I'm gonna have to find another tape. I might actually go to Circuit City and just buy a three pack of Max Maxell.

[Casey O'Brien]

Nice.

[Millie Decherico]

Is it Maxcel or Maxwell?

[Casey O'Brien]

I think it's Max L. Okay. Yeah, right. That sounds good. Well, Millie, we have. So this is a great episode. I'm thrilled to be talking about VHS's. Because today's episode is all about those VHS classics that we grew up with. There's no anchoring film in this episode. We're just talking about all the classics that we enjoyed as young cinephiles. And I can't wait to just dive in. I can't wait to hear what your VHS classics are.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, I can't wait to hear yours, too. Because I know that you've recently become a VHS collector again. Is that true?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. I was going to just. I. Yeah. You know, I have six VHS's here. I have Fargo Delicatessen, Dazed and Confused, Hook, Austin Powers International, man of Mystery, and the Empire Strikes Back.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

So we're Building. And it's a very fun enterprise and it's a cheap enterprise. So, yes, I'm excited to see where this all goes.

[Millie Decherico]

I agree. We'll probably talk a little bit about VHS culture, which I know there's a lot of people that have talked about VHS culture over the years. It's kind of back, baby, but, yeah, I can't wait to. To dive into it.

[Casey O'Brien]

And then we got film advice after that. So we do.

[Millie Decherico]

We have.

[Casey O'Brien]

Get ready for that.

[Millie Decherico]

There's a lot, A lot of film advice, A lot of film advice that needs to be taken care of.

[Casey O'Brien]

So, Millie, is your tape done?

[Millie Decherico]

Yes, it's done.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay. Well, stay tuned, everybody. You are listening to your favorite movie podcast, Dear movies, I love you. Dear movies, I love. And I've got to know if you love me too. Yes or no.

[Casey O'Brien]

Check the box below.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, hello there. You are listening to Dear Movies, I love you. This is the podcast for people who are in a relationship with movies. My name is Millie Decherico, and I'm Casey o'.

[Casey O'Brien]

Brien.

[Millie Decherico]

And yeah, this whole episode is gonna be about those. The clang, clang, clang of the big.

[Casey O'Brien]

Rectangle black boxes, Those big clunky VHSs that we loved so much. You know, a lot of, you know, not just renting VHS tapes, we were alluding to taping things off the tv, but my grandma used to tape movies off the TV all the time and then give them to us to watch. And I watched a lot of movies that way. And you kind of become accustomed to the commercials that are taped too. You kind of, like, look forward to those as well. At least that was my experience. So. I have a deep love for vhs.

[Millie Decherico]

You know, I used to have this, like, very, very sensory almost. I would say it's an ASMR type of feeling. Anytime I got to put the new stickers on the new tape. So there's the one that went across the side, the long strip, and then there was the square, the more rectangle strip that went in the center. And if you didn't line them shits up properly, you were in trouble.

[Casey O'Brien]

Throw the tape away, frankly.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. Because once you set it down, if you try to peel it back off, like, if it. If you waited more than 2.5 seconds to try to peel that label back off, you're ripping it.

[Casey O'Brien]

I also would get pissed off in. If I was writing something on one of those tapes, and I, like, messed up because. And I wrote it. Would write it in pen, and I messed up on the labeling of that. I would Go absolutely insane. Oh, same with. Same with cassette tapes too. This was a problem with, like, mixtapes as well.

[Millie Decherico]

There was a point because when you would buy a new tape, they would only give you, like, one label a piece. They'd give you the long one and the square, more square, rectangle one. And I was like, this is some up. Like, I need more. So I did. I went to, like, Office Depot and I found. Or whatever, the Office Max or whatever, found these, like, mailing labels that kind of would fit perfectly, but you had to put two side by side. And it just looked messy.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's not right. That's not the same.

[Millie Decherico]

It's not the same. But it gave me an option to mess up with the pen if I had.

[Casey O'Brien]

It was like a net for a trapeze artist.

[Millie Decherico]

But I knew people who were extremely dedicated to cataloging, like, where they would write. They would, you know, usually they'd have these little check boxes on the side that was like. I don't know, sometimes they would be like, check this box. If this is whatever, you know what I'm saying, on the labels. It was like a checkbox for, like, the speed that maybe you taped it on or whatever. Yes, I do. People who filled out all that information. Wow. Some people who were typing it on a typewriter, like, would put the little label through a typewriter. Oh, yeah. My. My neighbor's dad did that. Anyway, so that's. I was extremely finicky about that. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, we'll get more into that as the episode goes on. But first we must open up the film diary, and we need to talk about the movies we watched in this past week. Millie, I have, like, 800 movies. I watched a ton of movies. Oh, my God.

[Millie Decherico]

I didn't really watch a ton. I, I. So I technically watched like a movie and a half. I did one of those halvesies again. I had kind of a chaotic week. I had family in town and stuff, so I didn't get down to much, but I actually just turned on TCM and started watching Coal Miner's Daughter from 1980 starring Sissy Spacek.

[Casey O'Brien]

I've never seen it.

[Millie Decherico]

What?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, that.

[Millie Decherico]

I mean, I. I try not to show outrage because I know it makes people feel bad, but.

[Casey O'Brien]

Makes me feel bad.

[Millie Decherico]

You gotta say it. It's really good.

[Casey O'Brien]

I bet it. I'm. I love Sissy Spacek. Tommy Lee Jones. He's in it, right?

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, yeah, he's great in it. She sings all the songs.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's great.

[Millie Decherico]

I've seen it many times, actually. Have a. Somewhere in my closet, I have a. A movie poster of Colmeiter's daughter. But anyway, that was on when I turned the TV on, and. Because I gotta be. If you. If you want, like, full disclosure, I'm. I've been watching the Dodgers like crazy. So.

[Casey O'Brien]

You're wearing a Dodger hat right now.

[Millie Decherico]

I know. Because, you know, Shohei's pitching. Did you know that?

[Casey O'Brien]

The way Shohei Ohtani is, he's not only hitting, he's not only looking handsome and tall. He's pitching now, too.

[Millie Decherico]

Right. Because he hadn't pitched in was a couple years because he had Tommy John surgery or something.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, like two years or something.

[Millie Decherico]

And the craziest thing. So he's only. He's only been pitching, like, one inning. He'll pitch like, the first inning and then they'll take him out. But the craziest thing is that he's the leadoff hitter. So it's the. So he has this moment where he, like, leaves the mound and then immediately puts on his hitting stuff.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, he's incredible.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. And it's. Anyway, I love my boys, so I've been watching them pretty much every night. So unfortunately, that kind of clips into my movie time. Sure. So I watched half of Coal Miner's Daughter. Then I watched a movie that I'd never seen before afterwards. And it's this movie called missing from 1982. And it also stars Sissy Spacek. I reckon they were doing a Sissy space at night on tcm. And it is a. It was a movie that was directed by Costa Gavras, whom everybody knows is a. He made Z, amongst other things. He's like kind of a. I don't.

[Casey O'Brien]

Know if everybody knows that. I didn't know that.

[Millie Decherico]

Come on. He does a lot of. I mean, he's like a political filmmaker. I think everybody would say that about him. But, you know, Z won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. And I feel like Missing also. I think it won an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adapted Screenplay. But anyway, it was like a little political thriller based on this disappearance of this American journalist in the 1970s. And it starred Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, as I mentioned, Melanie Mayeron was in this movie. That's what really got my attention, to be honest, because, you know, Melanie Mayron, star of the movie Girlfriends, which were fans of. On this podcast, and then John Shea, who, if you see him, you know who he is. He's. He's one of those actors. He's been in a shit ton of movies, but he plays Charles Horman, who was the journalist that was. That disappeared in Chile. So anyway, it was good. It was a really, like a really good tense political thriller. Great hair in the movie. Not to be petty, but it was great hair.

[Casey O'Brien]

You know, I don't want to go into this because I could really go off. We have a hair problem in modern cinema. Everyone's hair looks too good. We have a serious hair problem. Watch Dune 2. Everybody's hair looks gorgeous. It's an issue. Anyways, we should dedicate an episode to this. I don't want. I can't get into that right now.

[Millie Decherico]

We gotta do. It should be like an episode about teeth and hair.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, this is good. Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. And about how. I'm gonna sidebar real quick because this was something else that I was. I was watching on tcm. I actually did a screen grab of this. So I was watching. There's another moment this week where I didn't put this in the film diary because I literally watched like five minutes of it. But because I actually don't really like this movie very much. But you know that movie, It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, I do. And I also kind of hate that movie.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

I watch it a bunch as a kid and I was like, I don't like this. Anyways, continue.

[Millie Decherico]

I might have missed a mad in there. I don't know if there's. I think there might be four or five, and I think it's four. There is a scene where it's definitely Spencer Tracy and another guy who. I forgot his name. And it's literally them just talking and. But they're similar in age. I mean, so basically, this movie, if you haven't seen it, 1963. It was basically like a collection of all of the old classic film stars. They're, you know, in a madcap, farce type of thing. This happened a lot in the 60s. Hollywood, like, was like. Who was popular in the 30s and 40s. Let's put them in a badly lit, unflattering farce.

[Casey O'Brien]

Let's shoot him out of a cannon.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes. That sometimes will make them accidentally take lsd. Like, it was just like, let's bring out these old fuckers and put them in a shitty, weird ensemble cast movie where they look like shit and then they're, like, sweating and they're having to deal with the counterculture. That's kind of like what I would call these movies. But there was a scene between Spencer Tracy and whoever this other similarly aged actor was. They looked so fucking old to the point I mean, they look. I mean, you could see, like, dirt lines in their skin. Like, there was, like, tobacco stains, like, all over their hands. And I was like. I kept thinking to myself, there is no fucking way in hell they would let people be this old.

[Casey O'Brien]

They.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, in a movie.

[Casey O'Brien]

I feel like they had let people have long nose hairs in movies back then. Like, that would. No one would ever allow such a thing.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, they got, like, pit stains. I mean, they just were like.

[Casey O'Brien]

They didn't give a shit.

[Millie Decherico]

Insane. I mean, the. The best that they would let is, like, 80 for Brady or whatever the fuck. They have these beautiful, flawless, airbrushed old stars or like, some kind of, like, Pacino meet the Fockers scenario. Or, like, you know, where they're just, like. They're technically old, but they don't look old. This is an era where they. They looked so old. And I was like. I was shocked. Like, I was like, these. These people look so crazily old. And Hollywood would never let this happen, ever.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, Yeah, I know.

[Millie Decherico]

Anyway.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, very good. Is it my.

[Millie Decherico]

I guess it's your turn.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is it my turn?

[Millie Decherico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

Very good. Thank you. No, I think that was all very important stuff we were just talking about, and I hope we touch upon it later. So I had it. Like I said, I had a huge week, and all fabulous movies. Number one, watch the documentary Pee Wee as himself from 2025. I laughed. I cried. So inspiring. Pee Wee had a huge influence on me as a little kid. I used to watch Peewee's Playhouse all the time. There's this photo of me dancing and running in circles, and on the TV was Pee Wee Herman, because I would just go nuts when the Pee Wee's Playhouse theme song would come on. So I love Paul Reubens, love Pee Wee, and I really enjoyed that documentary. I went to the cinema this week and I saw a movie called 28 Years later from 2025. This movie rocks. It rocks. I thought this was great. I loved it. It ripped. And I feel like Danny Boyle really got back to his kind of, like, what I call mixtape style of filmmaking, where it's, like, fun, a good soundtrack, a lot of, like, random images taking big swings. I just thought this was awesome. I thought it's, like, right up there with 28 days later.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, yeah. Let me ask you this. Is there any, like. Is there any reference to or cameos by.

[Casey O'Brien]

Killian?

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

No. Okay. But I didn't know this. This is the first of a trilogy, and apparently Cillian Murphy is going to be in the next One.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

And will be prominently featured in the third one. So he is coming back because he's an executive producer on 28 years later. Ah. So I thought it was awesome.

[Millie Decherico]

Do you remember when that first movie came out and everybody went crazy for him because he had that, like, fucked up hair that was, like, bandaged. Everyone's like, man, he looks so hot with that, like, shaved under shave.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

Good look.

[Casey O'Brien]

All I'm saying, good luck. And that movie was shot on, like a mini DV and it looks like shit. And they shot 28 years later on an iPhone. So there's sort of. But it looks amazing. So it's kind of interesting.

[Millie Decherico]

You can't even really see the first one. I feel like Danielle and I try to do it for.

[Casey O'Brien]

They're doing a re. A 4K re release, which is very funny because I don't. You can't make that movie into 4K because it was shot on, like a camcorder.

[Millie Decherico]

Right, right.

[Casey O'Brien]

They're doing some sort of release, but I don't think it's streaming anywhere right now.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

Then I watched a movie by the director Peter Greenaway from 1988 called Drowning by Numbers. I loved this movie. I'm a big Peter Greenaway fan, even though I've only seen the cook, the Thief, His Wife and her lover, which I also really love. But he creates just such a fun, quirky atmosphere. And his movies kind of feel. They actually sort of feel Wes Andersony. But there's a lot more sex and nudity and death in his movies. But really enjoyed Drowning by Numbers. I'd never seen it before.

[Millie Decherico]

I am extremely undereducated about Peter Greenaway.

[Casey O'Brien]

Me too. I mean, this is only the second movie I've seen of his. So I want to dive in.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Head first, but not drown. Then I watched a movie by abel Ferrara from 1998 called New Rose Hotel. This is a cyberpunk future corporate espionage thriller with Asia Argento, Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe. And I thought this movie ripped also. It gets a little messy in the end. It's like, what are we doing here? But I thought it's very vibey. It feels very. This would make a good double feature with the movie Demon Lover by Olivier Esaias, which is also kind of a corporate espionage movie about tech. I don't know. I like New Rose Hotel.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay. That movie I have not. And I am putting it on my list.

[Casey O'Brien]

It was on the Criterion channel for a little bit. I think it's off there now. But I thought it was cool. Very vibey moody.

[Millie Decherico]

Walken and Dafoe together.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, they're great. They're a great combo. And then to cap things off, I watched a movie by the great Nicole Hollis center from 2023 called you hurt My Feelings with Julie Louis Dreyfus.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

This movie also ripped. I thought this was so good. Nicole Hollisner, I love her. I love her movies. This is a very, like, fun, easy comedy about a good marriage. And basically, Julia Louis Dreyfus overhears her husband talking about her latest book that she wrote, and he's like, I don't like it. But he's been telling her that he likes it, and it causes all sorts of problems, but it's a delight. And Nicole Holluf center movies have this wonderful feel to them. And I just, I thought this was so, so great. Have you seen this one?

[Millie Decherico]

I have. I actually saw it in the movie theater. Cause I remember I watched this movie at the same time I was watching that show the Crown. Remember the Crown?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

And at that point, I had only seen Tobias Menzies, the actor that plays her husband, who is great. Who's great. I had only seen him in the Crown as Prince Philip the ghoul. The ghoulish. Yes. Grim reaper esque Prince Philip. And I hated him in that, in that show. And so when I saw him playing, like, a modern person, I was like a modern American. Yeah, I was like, oh, it's Prince Philip from the Crown. But then I was like, actually like him a lot. He's actually not this character that I thought he was.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is that funny how that works? Hey, you know, he, he, but yeah, he was great in this. Everybody's great in it. I love, I loved it. I loved it so much.

[Millie Decherico]

I love her, too. She, Nicole Hill, off center. I've talked about so many times on the old podcast, but, like, I make people my age or when you, when you're moving from your, like, late 30s to your early 40s. I'm. I always tell people to watch Friends with Money or movie Friends with Money because I feel like it's the most accurate portrayal of this era of our lives.

[Casey O'Brien]

I, yeah, I, I, I love that movie. Also, this. You hurt my feelings. And Friends with Money has a weird connection in that it both has characters. It has characters that are both obsessed with good socks. It's like, there's a man in Friends with Money who's, like, obsessed with good quality socks. And the husband in you Hurt My Feelings is also obsessed with quality socks. It's like a character trait in Both those movies.

[Millie Decherico]

Are you. I'm really into socks.

[Casey O'Brien]

I am not.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

I wear them on my feet.

[Millie Decherico]

Listen, I'm a huge fan of socks. Not to be quirky, but I just want good, good ones that are not going to, like, make my feet sweat and. Yeah, yeah, so I hear you.

[Casey O'Brien]

I have no. I, I. It's not one of my passions, but that's it. That's our film diaries. Let's close it up.

[Millie Decherico]

Close them. Jeez Louise. Again.

[Casey O'Brien]

All right, moving on to our main discussion, which is VHS Classics. This is going to be a little bit more Loosey goosey conversation.

[Millie Decherico]

I mean, the Loosey Goosey.

[Casey O'Brien]

Very loosey goosey. Because this show is usually so uptight, regimented, ordered. And now we're just going to kind of let our hair out and talk about VHS and that.

[Millie Decherico]

That's all you, Capricorn. I know.

[Casey O'Brien]

That is me.

[Millie Decherico]

If it was up to me, we would be doing this podcast in your bathrobes and being real lackadaisical. We'd be going four hours. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I'm wearing a tuxedo right now. Sometimes I wonder how I would be in the military. I'm sure you would thrive, and I don't like that. I don't like that thought. I don't like going down that road. Anywho. Millie.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

What was your video store growing up? What was your, or like, what was your, like, first memory of going to the video store and getting a vhs?

[Millie Decherico]

Okay. So if you want to take it way, way back, my first experience, like, very, very early days of going to video stores were actually on military bases. Interesting, because my father was, is, is a retired Air Force guy. And I don't know, military brats weigh in on this, if this was your experience. But my dad to this day is obsessed with like, the bx, which is stands for the base exchange. It's also called a px, a post exchange, I think if you're like in the army or something like that. But it's basically like a variety store meets department store that has all the things that you would need, I guess, if you're a soldier or something. And so there's like, clothes. There's also the commissary, which is the grocery store. That's a separate thing. But basically the BXPX is like a place where you can get like, it's like a little mini Target, except definitely not as cool as a Target. And so it was like. But you could also get like, uniform stuff there. You could get housewares, clothing, shoes, CDs and DVDs. And then they had. At the one that I remember going to when we were living in South Carolina, they actually had a video. A tiny little video rental desk where you could rent VHS tapes. And so I remember going there and their selection was pretty bad from what I remember. It was very, very small.

[Casey O'Brien]

Was it all like military related movies?

[Millie Decherico]

No.

[Casey O'Brien]

Private Benjamin. Well, the major pain.

[Millie Decherico]

The reality is now if you, if you go to like a BXPX and you go to like their DVD section or something like that, it's all like Marvel stuff. It's like, what do soldiers want to watch? Like Marvel Fast and Furious, like whatever. You're not going to find any Peter Greenaway movies, I can guarantee it. But then, you know, we started going to our local video store in. When we moved to Georgia. And it was this place called Blackwell Video. If you were Marietta, Georgia kid, you remember Blackwell Video and like the Blackwell Square shopping center. This place was fucking huge. Like, it was huge. It was like the size of a, like a Blockbuster Video. And this was the store that like really formed me. Like really formed my VHS consumption. And I, we. My parents were obsessed with renting videos. Cause they like I said they never wanted to go to first run movies. They thought they were too expensive. There was actually next door to the video store there was a 50 Cent movie theater.

[Casey O'Brien]

Whoa.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes. Which is where I saw Ernest Ghost Camp, among other things. Yeah, it was like a little two screen called Blackwell Cinema. 50 cents. My parents were obsessed with that. They Love, they love a dollar movie theater. They were like a 50 Cent movie theater. Even better. So we spent a lot of time in that shopping center between the 50 Cent movie theater and the. And Blackwell Video.

[Casey O'Brien]

My first video store. Growing up, the big video store was Mr. Movies, which I've talked about on previous episodes. It was kind of a chain in the Midwest, like Minnesota and Wisconsin. I think there was several locations. But the one, there's one in south Minneapolis and that's where my mom, you know, created chicks pics.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow. Yeah, she was her little suffragette. Era of the video store. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

But it was just. I still, I can close my eyes and see the layout perfectly. Still to this day. I think it closed in like 2009, I want to say.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

I mean that's really where, you know, the love of movies was born at that video store. Well, maybe we can transition into another topic of conversation, which is VHS covers. Because so much a part of the video store experience and the vhs. VHS experience is like walking down the aisles and, like, looking at the covers and being like, ooh, what is that? What is that movie? And being intrigued and wanting to see these movies based solely on the covers or being frightened or tantalized by these covers. But do any VHS covers come to mind for you from, you know, early on that kind of were tantalizing?

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, yeah. I mean, I have gone on record. I've gone on record with some of these choices, and we've talked about this.

[Casey O'Brien]

To some degree in the past, but this is our official discussion.

[Millie Decherico]

So the one that immediately pops to mind. This is. I've gone on record of saying this many, many times. Very formative for me was the American release of Dario Argento's movie Phenomena, and it was called Creepers in America. Right. And the COVID of Creepers, the American version, was essentially Jennifer Conley, a painting or an artist rendering of Jennifer Conley being devoured by bugs and half of her face is missing. Ooh. And, I mean, I don't know. This isn't inherent to my experience. This is. I mean, there's entire books written about this, about kids from my generation who would go to the horror section of VHS rental places. And, like, we were, like, traumatized by the covers.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

In a good way, by the way.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

It, like, formed us. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely. A lot of my vh. You know, the tantalizing VHS covers are horror.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. Yeah. And I. I think it's because. Yeah. I mean, you're just like a young person and you're, like, in this forbidden area, and you know that you're like, I'm probably, like, 9 or 10 years old, and I'm like, oh, Like, I can't be in the. My parents will never let me rent. You know, Happy Birthday to me.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

But am I gonna stare at the COVID of it with the guy getting the shish kebab put in back of his brain or whatever? Like, through the mouth, like. Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

And yeah. It's like one of those things where you're like, oh, I don't want an adult to see me, like, staring at this cover because I might get in trouble for even looking at it.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, and I'll tell you, like, so between Creeper's Happy Birthday to Me and April Fool's Day. Right. Because there was the COVID of April Fool's Day with the girl that had, like, the noose braid. Did you ever see that one?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Millie Decherico]

So there was, like, these very simple horror covers that really made an impact. Another one, huge one for me. Was hello, Mary lou Prom Night 2, which was the sequel to Prom Night. I was obsessed with the COVID of hello, Mary Lou Prom Night two. I thought that woman who was on the COVID of it coming out of the locker was one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my life.

[Casey O'Brien]

Fascinating, okay.

[Millie Decherico]

And I wanted to look like her. Like, I was like. I don't know, she was obviously, like, demonic or whatever. But, like, I was like, this is. I mean, if you were growing up in, like, 1987 and you were a girl and you were obsessed with the idea of maybe going to prom, this was your era, because this was like, the era of, like, Jessica McClintock dresses. And, like, you would get a copy of, like, Seventeen magazine or something like that, and you would see, like, the prom episode, the prom issues, and it would be like, all these fantastic, huge 80s dresses. Like, Jessica McClintock, Zum, Zum. Like, all these, like. And it was basically like, her look was like, my ultimate 80s, late 80s prom chick look. And I was like, I want to be hello Mary Lou Prom Night to lady. So there was the horror section, right? Yes. All those that I've mentioned then. I didn't know if your video store had this. Now, this was, again, something that was prevalent, I would say, in these, like, mom and pop type places, because as the decade wore on, as, you know, the blockbusters and the video updates and the movies, all these, like, big chains were taking place.

[Casey O'Brien]

Hollywood video was a big one.

[Millie Decherico]

Hollywood video was huge. So this kind of fell out of fashion, I would say. But, like, Blackwell Video had the curtain in the back that had, like, the porns.

[Casey O'Brien]

We did not have that. I think that that. Because Mr. Movies was technically a chain.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

But I think, like you said, that happens at the mom and pop shops. The horny mom and pops want their porno videos, you know, and it's so.

[Millie Decherico]

Crazy because then you would. I feel like we talked about this on I saw what you did or something. Or like, we were talk. We talked about this some. At some point, you would see, like, the dads from your neighborhood, like, kind of look around and then maybe like, take a little peek back there. I'm like, yo, Jeff's dad's back in the. In the curtain section. What's up with that? But the craziest part was that. And from what I remember at Blackwell, before you got to the curtain, around the curtain were, like, kind of the, like, sexy comedies that weren't, like, rated X. Oh.

[Casey O'Brien]

So almost. It's like sex is permeating from this area that it's spilling into the normal sections.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes. So there was a V. So there was a couple of VHS tapes that were hanging out in this like sexy comedy section that was like, basically like the buffer zone between the X rated stuff and the regular stuff. And there was this, this cover of this movie which I've never seen. And apparently it's Australian, but it's this movie called Alvin Purple from 1973. And the COVID was literally just a picture of two people's feet. One is a man, right. With big giant feet. And the other one, I assume is a woman with smaller feet.

[Casey O'Brien]

And she's looking at it right now.

[Millie Decherico]

She's in between him, right?

[Casey O'Brien]

And it says he puts more than a little color into girls cheeks.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, yes. Seems very sexy. But in my mind, I. I looked at that cover and was like, I think those people are having sex. Because why were their feet. Why would their feet be like that?

[Casey O'Brien]

You know, Jackie Weaver's in this movie.

[Millie Decherico]

Huh. I've never seen it. I. It seems like I probably wouldn't like it, but just because I don't like stuff like this. But, you know, but so there was that movie. And then very similarly, I can't even say this without laughing, there was a. Next to Alvin Purple, it was the COVID of this Cheech and Chong movie called Cheech and Chong's the Corsican brothers from 1984. And it was basically a fucking. One of those, like Police Academy drawings of like Cheech and Chong as babies. And they're being held in the arms of this woman with huge boobs. And I was like, stunned when I saw that. I was like, why are these grown men with beards? Why are they babies? And why are they like, grabbing this woman's breasts? So that is literally like the covers that I remember is that they were always horror and like sex comedies.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I Basically my categories fall into the same thing. Because it was like, not. Yeah, because basically I. There was like the sexy covers, like for me at the time, there was the Nicole Kidman movie To Die For. I was like, ooh, what's going on here? And then of course, my beloved Pam Anderson with barbed Wire. The barbed wire cover. I would be like, hello? Yeah, so those were two. I kind of floated around, you know, checking out. But the other category of VHS covers that really had an impact on me and really scared me were I would describe this genre as like, silly, stupid things that are scary.

[Millie Decherico]

Sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

And that includes Child's Play 2, specifically. That cover really scared me. Like, Chucky really Scared me as a kid. Oh, yeah. And I was like, really horrified at what that movie could be. And the other one was Killer Clowns from Outer Space because that's also a horror movie that, that's like rated R. And I'm like, but this looks silly. It's supposed to be funny. Clowns are supposed to be fun. But this is R rated and they're killing people. And so I would be very scared and intrigued by those covers as well. And then I would say the third category is like, weird looking guy in profile. So for example, Gummo, I was like pretty young when that came out, but the COVID of that with the kids, the side of the kid's head, you know, he's looking. And then also the COVID for the movie the City of lost children from 1995, it's like that weird looking guy with the contraption on his head.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I mean, all of these were very. These movies. You'd see these covers and you'd just be like, what could this possibly be about? You couldn't even construct a movie in your head to figure out. It was like too horrifying.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

To even be able to put together my own mind. So it's just totally, you know, I, it was like in one of my. In my. When like I had like an ongoing list in my head of like, when I'm old enough, I'm gonna watch that because I need to know what's going on in there. Well, so those were some of the covers I was most intrigued by as a youth.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, well, and like, if you put the covers of Gummoe and City of Lost Children next to. It feels like it's the same person. It's kind of a gaunt looking person. And then with City of the Lost Children, there's like some kind of crazy like steampunk, Nine Inch Nails, the downward spiral shit happening. Which I could, as a kid, I could tell you these are. These would be terrifying.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, totally. So, yeah, so those are the covers that I would just like, I would be like, what is that? What is going on in there? And it's exciting to have these feelings of like unknown and mystery and horror, you know, await you. So those are the covers. But what are some of, like, what are some of the VHS classics? Like the classic movies? Maybe we can each do like three or four. Like. How do you define a VHS classic, I guess is the first question. Then what are some of the movies that fall under that for you?

[Millie Decherico]

So I think it's either two things. I think it's either number one, a movie that you rented over and over and over again.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure.

[Millie Decherico]

Right. Which there were several. Some have made it to this list, some haven't. The other is, like, movies that you owned and would watch. Because that, I feel like, is a separate thing. It took. It's actually really funny if I think about, like, my parents. Spending habits when it comes. When it comes to physical media. Okay. They were so random because my parents have no. I've. I've joked about this before. They have, like, no allegiance to literally anything. Like, they don't buy things. Like, they don't care about a thing to say. No, they really don't. Like, I'll even say politically, they don't. They have. They never have a firm foothold in literally anything ever. I feel like recently that's changed. My dad absolutely hates Donald Trump, but if you had talked to him in any other decade or any other iteration, he would literally, like, couldn't tell you who he voted for. He's just not like, yeah, you know, which is a parent thing. I guess that's all I'll say about that.

[Casey O'Brien]

But they were different generation.

[Millie Decherico]

Different generation. And they were just completely agnostic when it came to, like, any movie, any album, anything. Like, they, like. My dad would, like, watch something on TNT like the Mummy Returns and be like, that's my favorite movie of all time. I'm like, there's no way, like, or whatever. He'd watch, like, something on TV and be like, that's the funniest movie I've ever seen. Euro Trip. And I'm like, come on. Which is why I'm, like, the way I am, I guess. But, like, if you would go through their DVDs, the. Like, you would look at, they would. They only had, like, 20, and it'd be like, some random. And I don't know why they would buy it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

But when the VHS was popping off, VHS's were really expensive.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, when they first would, like, be released, like, a movie would first come out on vhs. And if it was a popular movie, I think it would be like, 30 bucks.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like, it's like, it was expensive.

[Millie Decherico]

It was expensive. It was the kind of thing where, like, if you were a kid and you, like, wanted to buy VHS tape, you would have to, like, ask for one for Christmas and that's the only present you're getting or something.

[Casey O'Brien]

I got Free Willy on vhs and that was like, the big gift and had just come out, you know.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, I was gonna say this during the Pee Wee love that you gave earlier So I owned. I think I still have it. I might not, to be honest, but, you know, they put out the Pee Wee's playhouse collection on VHS.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

And there was like, I don't know, 10, 15 tapes. And then the sides all. It was basically one huge graphic of Pee Wee. If you put all the tapes side by side in order to. So on your shelf, it would just look like a cool Pee Wee Herman, you know, figure or whatever. My parents to this day were like, remember when we bought you that Pee Wee Herman collection? You know, much money we spent on that. Like, they were like, if you don't. If you don't have this for your. For your ancestors to sell on ebay one day I was like, mom, everyone had that, so don't worry about it. But they were like, oh, we spent like $200 on this whole collection. And, like, it's almost like they had paid for, like, some kind of huge gift, like, where they were like, they're.

[Casey O'Brien]

Not going to give you a wedding gift now because they paid you. They bought you the Pee Wee Herman. Yeah. Box set.

[Millie Decherico]

But to that point, that's how expensive these shits were. So back when my parents were deciding on whether or not it would be worth to buy a VHS tape, they would be like, we. If we. If we buy this tape, a, it'll be on sale, but B, it'll also be something that we want to own. Yeah, it was a huge deal to own. I think back at least at the very beginning.

[Casey O'Brien]

So there was sort of an understanding. It's like, this is. It is sort of for practical reasons, like, we're going to watch this over and over again. So it's just better if we own it. It's an investment, you know?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, and that's exactly what happened. So I was obsessed with that movie, the Cutting Edge.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, boy.

[Millie Decherico]

I talked about this before. What year did that come out? 19.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's a bit of a Minnesota connection to that, too.

[Millie Decherico]

Is Doug Dorsey from Minnesota? Is that why.

[Casey O'Brien]

I believe he is.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, my goodness. Listen, I've gone on record talking about how much I love this movie. In fact, D.B. sweeney wrote to me personally and told me that he heard me talking about how big of a crush I had on him. So I was so fucking obsessed with the Cutting Edge that I was like, this is the movie I want to own.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure.

[Millie Decherico]

I was like, buy it for me. Like, I don't care. Like, I'll. Christmas and birthday. That'll be my gift. So I got a copy of the Cutting Edge on cassette and Wore it the fuck out. I watched it probably like 20 times. So that is a huge one for me. Like I would consider that to be a VHS classic for me.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

Then I think there were like. Here's the other thing too. I'm gonna caveat what I just said about the two about owning and renting. There also were movies that were just so that they came out in the high era of VHS that I feel like everybody owned type of thing.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. That is its own category. I feel like that also falls under VHS classic. Like every house you went to had this.

[Millie Decherico]

It's kind of like. Is it the Jerry Maguire thing? Isn't that like a thing we talked about?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, there's like. I don't know, you'd call them a film collective, an art collective called Everything is Terrible in Los Angeles. And they have this like exhibit where they're basically collecting Jerry Maguire. It's like a. They had like a pop up VHS store of only Jerry Maguire VHS tapes. Yeah, like thousands of them.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. So that like I would consider that kind of a VHS classic because everybody 100%. But for me, I think my VHS classics were definitely stuff like the cutting edge Dirty Dancing. Huge in our house was. So I Married an Ax Murderer. We watched the fuck out of that on VHS constantly. So my. Most of my rentals were always because my parents like an SNL adjacent comedy. So it was all that stuff for me. VHS classics for me were very heavily influenced by Saturday Night Live movies. So. So I married Ax Murder, Wayne's World.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

That kind of stuff. I don't know. I feel like I've been talking a long time. I want to hear a little bit more about your. What you think is a classic and what are some of your classics?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, well, you know, we weren't owning. I feel like we did buy some vhs, but we were such a heavy rental family. Like it was like we were renting all the. That I don't know if we just didn't feel the need to buy as much. You know, like we were gifted them, but it's like we didn't like seek out buying VHS tapes that much. I think we owned Hook, Steven Spielberg's hook. I think we owned Jumanji. You know, we had some Disney ones, but I don't really feel. I feel more connected to the ones we like repeat rentals. Not just with my family, but like friends too. And one of the, I mean one of the ultimate VHS movies I think is Jurassic park from 1994. Just because that movie was such a big Deal when it came out and the, the poster is so good and the VHS cover is so iconic and it just, it looked great and I just feel like people, everybody had that on their shelves at that time. So I would include that as a VHS classic. Then I would say, you know, it's like just think about the movies that we rented all the time as a kid. One, it was heavyweights. We rented that movie a lot as children. We also we would rent this movie with Bill Cosby called Ghost dad all the time because it was like we kind of like sort of. It wasn't really scary but there was like sort of a horror element to it. A terrible film. But like we thought that it's just funny when you like grow up and you learn that these movies are like so bad and were like total bombs but were like really popular.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

In your own house. Did you have any of those that were like really vital and important to you but you're like, oh, that was bad.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like it.

[Millie Decherico]

Nothing but trouble. Speaking of like dead acroid. Oh my God. Like we watch the out of that. And I was like, oh, this is a masterpiece. No it's not. It's actually critically panned.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's like everybody hates this movie.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, well, and here's the thing too. There was like. I don't know if you want to make this distinction or you're about to make this distinction, but there was like kind of two big eras for me. My personal consumption. So there was childhood VHS rentals and light purchases. And then when I got to college, like high school and college now VHS was still being used when I was in college. So I went to College in like 97 and I was, was still renting VHS tapes from my local Atlanta video store, Blossom Video. Right. I don't remember renting DVDs until much later. I don't know why, but we were still fucking with VHS back then. I also worked at Tower Records for a brief period and I would actually use my employee discount to buy VHS tapes there. So there's like this whole new era of, of my life after I left my parents house where I was like buying my own tapes a lot of times, like going to thrift stores and finding tapes. And there's this one. I'll show it to you actually.

[Casey O'Brien]

Please.

[Millie Decherico]

There's actually two. So very, very early days of when I was in the film program at gsu. I was starting to get into exploitation film and I found this VHS tape that is a movie called Crazy Fat Ethyl 2.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, Crazy Fat Ethel 2.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Didn't know there was a one released.

[Millie Decherico]

By a company called Video Treasures. Now, the warning. There's a warning label. I loved warning labels. Don't you love those warning labels?

[Casey O'Brien]

That's a beautiful cover.

[Millie Decherico]

Beautiful. The warning label says, warning, skull and crossbones never come between Ethel and a well stocked refrigerator.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, now, that warning is, I guess, warning the viewer not, if they encounter Ethel out in the wild, to not get in between her and a refrigerator.

[Millie Decherico]

I suppose I thought it was going to be, like, warning, this video will kill you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Whatever.

[Millie Decherico]

They're like, don't watch this movie unless you're ready to die. Or some kind of, like, you know, Faces of Death scenario. No, it's really just. The warning is that Ethel is fat, essentially, which is so crazy to me. But so I saw this at a, like, a antique store for $5, and I was. So I have no reference for this. And again, this is like, 97. I hadn't even seen the first movie yet, so I was like, I have to buy this because this is just so insane. And then I watched it and was like, this is the one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. It was, like, pretty much shot on camcorder. I found out later that this is actually a sequel to a movie that was made much earlier called Criminally Insane. And it's literally a movie about a murderous fat woman. And it's like a, like, trash, like no budget classic. In fact, this entire. There's a whole mythology around Ethel and Criminally Insane. I was just skimming the fucking surface with crazy fat Ethel, too. I didn't realize that there was, like, a whole bunch of other movies that the director made with this actress, Priscilla Alden, who plays Ethel.

[Casey O'Brien]

Is it. Now, does she prefer fat Ethel or is she is.

[Millie Decherico]

I don't think she prefers any of it, honestly. But, like, here's the thing. So I pick up this VHS tape expecting, like, oh, this is gonna be some weird thing. And then I fell down a rabbit hole of wonder and excitement. Amazing that I just did. I did a commentary track for the re release of Criminally Insane with Elizabeth Purchell, my friend Elizabeth Perchell, who is also a film critic and a film historian. But buying this tape essentially changed my life, and I had no idea why. It just did. So anyway, this is an obviously huge classic, VHS classic for me in my adult era. And then the other ones are just sort of like this. I'm holding this up and none of you can see it. The clamshell of Blood Feast Herschel Gordon Lewis's Blood Feast that has. I don't know if y' all remember clamshells, but it's basically the giant VHS tape that was basically like. Can you hear this asmr?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, A little squishier.

[Millie Decherico]

It comes in a plastic. It was basically a VHS tape coming into inside of a plastic tray into a much bigger box. And I. That was like early VHS technology. Or alternately would be the old Disney clamshells where it'd be like the white case where you opened it up.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, that's what I remember. Yeah. My Free Willy VHS tape was in a clamshell, I recall.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, what made you want to collect them again?

[Casey O'Brien]

That's a great question. I think partially I live in a house now and I have room to just buy junk, whereas before I was in apartments and I didn't want to move with that stuff. And I also think there's something about. I've been sort of interested in really getting away from streaming technology. And there's something very exciting about like, sort of the analog quality of a VHS tape. Like, it's like the physical tape itself. And maybe I'm preparing for an apocalypse where we don't have the Internet and I want to be able to watch movies on a little tv. And I don't know, it's an, you know, there's like the trailers are attached to it. It's a whole thing. It feels like more of a movie production than even like a regular Blu Ray DVD does now. And also they're cheap and that. That's enticing for me as well.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

In collecting them so well.

[Millie Decherico]

And like, to your point, like, I mean, I'm not going to get on a soapbox about this because we've talked about this so much with Brian Sauer, who we had on the podcast, and, you know, just the. The common wisdom as to why you should even own physical media at all, which is that it's reliable physical presence of something that you can own and watch whenever you want to and you don't have to rely on the cloud or the fucking whims of the industry to take shit away from you. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

We were just talking about 28 days later. Yeah, gotta buy it.

[Millie Decherico]

I mean, there are things where. There are times where, I mean, I even have this, like, instinct about. I see something on the Internet, I'm like, damn, I wish I could just record that onto a VHS tapestry. So I'd have it. Because it's almost like that was what it felt like to, especially to record Things off of television was that you just wanted a physical copy of something because you're like, this is never gonna play again. Or, I don't know. I'd have to. Especially when it came to stuff like MTV and things that felt a little bit more. Less kind of like television appointment viewing and more just kind of ephemeral experiences where I'm like, I wanna watch all these, like, weird bumpers in between music videos.

[Casey O'Brien]

Totally.

[Millie Decherico]

You know, Or I want to watch, like, commercials or something or especially award ceremonies. That was a huge thing that I used to record, like, the MTV Movie or Music Awards or whatever. So I was just thinking, like, even, like, times where, like, there are moments from, like, awards ceremonies that were, like, so funny and weird that you're kind of like, oh, if nobody recorded it, how would you even see it? You know?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

Like, I. Even now I think about, what was that time that Travolta pronounced that woman's name? Adele Dzezim.

[Casey O'Brien]

One of my favorite things of all time, the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem. And it was supposed to be, See, he says it's so wrong. I can never remember the original name. Del Dazeem. What's her real name? Adina Menzel.

[Millie Decherico]

Adina Menzel.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. And she. Her face is like, what did he just say?

[Millie Decherico]

But, like, that is the. That, like. Like, makes. Like, that was like a something that I'm like, oh, if you could find, like, nuggets of these things, like, and you have it. If you have it recorded. I mean. I mean, the Internet is different now. You can watch Adele Dazeem anytime you want.

[Casey O'Brien]

You can watch that.

[Millie Decherico]

But, you know, end of the day, if something that. That happened, you're like. It was like the time where I was, like, obsessed with. There was the time where Howard Stern was fartman at the MTV Music Awards and Luke Perry grabbed his ass cheeks. But, yeah, I was like, luke Perry is grabbing a guy's ass. I need that on V. Like, who recorded it? Can I come over after school and watch it over and over?

[Casey O'Brien]

So, I mean, that just goes back to kind of the ephemeral nature of, like, television and movies before. Because, like, if you missed your favorite show and you weren't able to catch it on rerun or whatever, you're like, fuck, it's gone. I missed that episode. I just gotta watch next week. I gotta be there on time, you know?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, and, like, we all sit here in the modern era thinking that we'll never feel that again. We're like, oh, well, everything will be available all the Time and we won't. We won't have to worry about it. But then it's like we were just talking about 28 days later. It's like, what's.

[Casey O'Brien]

You can't actually stream now. I'm sorry I lied about that. But there was a long time where you could in.

[Millie Decherico]

Right. Or like, remember my name, you know?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, exactly.

[Millie Decherico]

Once that goes off Criterion Channel, maybe it has already as of this recording, I don't know. But where you gonna watch it? It's that kind of feeling. So, yeah, that's the case of collecting things again. But vhs, I feel like, is very special to, I guess, both of us, obviously. But like, yeah, for me, you know, it was definitely like, the biggest way for me to even get into film as a young person. Even though I said, like, I said my parents were so, like, loosey goosey about renting VHS tapes, they didn't care. But obviously it really imprinted on me, the culture of it and shit. I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for vhs.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. So thank you, vhs.

[Millie Decherico]

Is there anything else we should say about.

[Casey O'Brien]

No, I think we covered. I think we covered everything. I love VHS's. I love the messy nature. It's an interactive kind of format where you're like. You are recording things off the TV and owning it. I don't know. That's like, kind of cool. Like, it reminds me of when I used to record songs off the radio, you know, it's like you're a part.

[Millie Decherico]

Of it, you know? My very first film production experience was when I was in high school and I was in like an AV club type of thing. And we were still recording things on va. Like, we were still using camcorders, editing deck to deck with a video toaster. And I'll never forget that. I'll never forget record, like editing two VHS tapes together. Like, they used to do it on, like. Like. I mean, I just remember felt like I was in broadcast news or something. I'm like, this is so old school.

[Casey O'Brien]

I had to do that in film school too.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. And I have so many VHS tapes of literally, like, me and my high school friends, like, running around being stupid, like reenacting Reservoir Dogs.

[Casey O'Brien]

So release the tapes. Release the tapes.

[Millie Decherico]

You might. You. You might on our social media, see a bunch of goth kids running around a high school pretending to be in Reservoir Dogs while a man or astroman song plays the background.

[Casey O'Brien]

All right, we're back with you for some film advice where we, your advisors, give you advice on how to live your Life and how to approach movies correctly. And we have a voicemail for our first one here and I'm going to play it for you right now.

[Millie Decherico]

Hi, Millie. Hi, Casey. I had a question for you guys.

[Casey O'Brien]

For film advice.

[Millie Decherico]

Have you ever had the opportunity to.

[Casey O'Brien]

Be a judge for a film festival? If so, what are some best practices or any overall advice that you can.

[Millie Decherico]

Give to a first time film judge? Thanks.

[Casey O'Brien]

Love you lots from Rose. Thank you, Rose. We love you lots too. Millie, you. I can't answer this question, but you can. Can you help Rose?

[Millie Decherico]

I can. First of all, I have to say, if you have a film festival and you need judges, please contact [e-mail] Love.

[Casey O'Brien]

To be a judge. Being a judge, I would love to be a judge.

[Millie Decherico]

So I was in fact a judge. No, I was actually a judge more than one time. I think it was 2014. Either 2013 or 2014. I was a judge at Fantastic fest, which is the film festival in Austin, Texas that was put out by Alamo Drafthouse and attended and performed the same one.

[Casey O'Brien]

Not at that one we were at, but a different one.

[Millie Decherico]

I was gonna say, wouldn't have been crazy if we were at the same one and we didn't know and we.

[Casey O'Brien]

Bumped shoulders and I'm like, move it.

[Millie Decherico]

I know. And then they made a movie about it called Past lives with the director Slain song. Okay, so the, so the, the category was like best new filmmaker or something. So it was basically like first time horror genre filmmakers. And that year was insane. Like, well, first of all, it was insane for a couple reasons. Number one, I was on the jury with two other guys, one of whom was Edgar Wright, the director, Edgar Wright, which was kind of cool and memorable if you're into Edgar Wright. But the, the movies for the year that we watched were ins. Like, they were so good. Like, I don't know what happened that year. There was just like a lot of great movies. The most memorable of them was the movie it follows.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

So that was the movie that won everything. But I remember watching that. We watched that movie as part of the jury, which meant you watch it so early. I mean, like, that's the thing that's cool about film festivals is that a lot of times you're watching things before they become like huge. Yeah, right. Because a lot of times if like you're an independent filmmaker or something, you're taking movies out to the festival circuit to see if you can get distribution. So that's the thing is that you're watching stuff like Way, way early. And it's awesome for that reason. That's why I want to be on juries. But I've been a juror for the Buried Alive Film festival, which is a horror movie festival in Atlanta, the Atlanta Film Festival. So my advice is that a lot of times you have to watch a lot of movies, especially if you have like a big category, like first, you know, like something like me that I had at Fantastic Fest, which is like a first time filmmaker category. Pace yourself is my advice. Don't watch every movie like two days before you're supposed to turn in your submissions.

[Casey O'Brien]

Sure.

[Millie Decherico]

So that. So I'd say pace yourself with the movies. Also, like, try to come in with like an open mind and not have like preconceived notions about things because that, especially if you're on a jury of like, where you know the filmmakers or you sort of like kind of know the vibes of the people who are making the films, you're gonna want to, you know, say, oh, well, I didn't really like his last film, so let's see what this shit's about. Like, try to like empty your brain of all that stuff and just watch each piece for what it is. And that's really, I would say the big two is to just pace yourself with watching everything. Watch everything. Watch everything. Like you should watch everything. And I know this is a little tea that I'm about to spill, but I know people who basically hire people to watch things for them. Not naming any names, but I'm just.

[Casey O'Brien]

Saying, our insider, you know, wow.

[Millie Decherico]

Like they'll, you know if there's interns at the film festival and be like, hey, will you watch all this stuff and tell me what you think? I have not reached that level of game where I'm, you know, basically, I don't have a research staff. Yeah, I'm still watching everything. But yeah, I, I think they're. It's really, really fun and enjoyable. A lot of times you get like, obviously free badges and free accommodations and stuff, which is another reason film festivals are fun.

[Casey O'Brien]

So, yeah, film festivals are fun. There's such a great energy at film festivals. It feels like a little mini retreat or something. I don't know. They're great.

[Millie Decherico]

It's like a summer camp. That's what fantastic summer camp feels like, is a summer camp.

[Casey O'Brien]

Summer camp is a better, better than retreat. Doesn't feel like a retreat. It feels like summer camp. That's a much better way of saying it. Fabulous Rose. Let's move on to our next question from Our helpless listeners. Thanks, Rose. Movie advice request from cringy millennial with the spooky kid title. Kind of says it all right there. Dear Millie and Casey, day one listener. Because I was obsessed with Millie back in the olden days of her podcasts. Alabama girl here who lived in Decatur. Marta, shout out. I don't even know what that means. For years. And I. I adore you, Casey. Hey. Oh, wait, no, I said that wrong. Let me say this again. Sorry, Alabama girl. Okay. For years and I adore you, Casey. Casey. I feel like you would have been my best friend or unrequited crush in high school. All right, here we go. Very positive. I love this.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, I need more of this.

[Casey O'Brien]

You need to boost me up more. Anyhow, you both rock. I humbly come to you today for your sage advice. My man's 11 year old is a horror girly. Yay. Like the rest of the fam. But I struggle to find films that are appropriately scary. She's clocked things like Annabelle, Pet Sematary, creep show, poltergeist, etc. And I'm running out of ideas. Six years in, we don't worry so much about blood or gross effects, but so many films have adult themes she's not ready for. And we love watching films together but are trying not to traumatize her more than we naturally do. She's getting used to my bug collection. She said parenthetically. So do you have any wrecks for an 11ish year old with a love of all things spooky and scary that won't land me in her therapist's office 20 years from now?

[Millie Decherico]

Help.

[Casey O'Brien]

PS scary doll slash toy slash ghosts are always a favorite. Love y' all heaps. Ange from Ohio, what are your thoughts?

[Millie Decherico]

Unrequited crush?

[Casey O'Brien]

Few. Well, you know, Ernest Scared Stupid. That's got some jump scares in there that an 11 year old I think could handle. You know, I don't know if I feel like this movie wasn't like Beloved, but I thought it was kind of fun and sort of scary and a kid could watch it. Scary stories to tell in the dark based off the scary books. I thought that movie was pretty good. That came out in 2019. I think that was a pretty good and like a spooky movie. That's sort of one that came to mind immediately.

[Millie Decherico]

Mm.

[Casey O'Brien]

What about you?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, I'm glad that Ange did a little PS about the scary doll toy ghost thing, because I actually think that's kind of right on. I would say gothic horror is kind of Like a nice little launch pad for, you know, people like 11, 12, 13 year olds. Anything that's kind of more. A lot of times those movies are like PG13 or less. They're kind of atmospheric and creepy, but they're not like super violent. And they don't really have like a ton of like. Like adult themes. Of like. Sure, I don't know, whatever. Fill in the blank.

[Casey O'Brien]

Abortion.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, abortion. Or like, you know, like, I don't know, matricide or patricide or something. You know, it's like the stepfather or something.

[Casey O'Brien]

Who am I here?

[Millie Decherico]

Who am I here? But the. The one that immediately came to mind, and I mentioned this recently in an episode was Flowers in the attic from 1987.

[Casey O'Brien]

Hell, yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

Because it's kind of like. It almost in a weird way is kind of like a kids movie in the sense that the protagonists are children and they have to like, go up against like an evil grandmother. Like, those are. Those types of things are good. And it's. It has very scary moments. I mean, that movie scared the out of me when I first watched it. But it's also not rough. It's not like super duper bloody or anything like that. Yeah, you might have to deal with like, affairs and some light incest, but whatever, it's not that bad.

[Casey O'Brien]

Light. It's light. It's only kind of alluded to. It doesn't play out, you know, in real time.

[Millie Decherico]

But another thing I was thinking is that kind of like psychological kind of horror too. Like, there's a movie from 1971. Now, this is a little. Little artsy. I don't know if. If this is something that. But it does. It's super vibey and it's like very spooky. But there's this movie called let's Scare Jessica to Death. And it's basically like. I mean, it's kind of like not what you think it is. It's not a woman named Jessica being scared to death. It's really kind of more. Yeah. Spoiler alert. It's more nuanced than that, but it's, you know, basically like a little old school. But it's very creepy kind of supernatural feeling. I mean, honestly, like, I think about a movie even like Suspiria, the old Suspiria, which is violent, but it's not like really hardcore in that way. Like, it's kind of. I don't want to say it's like artsy violence, but it's like. Like, I don't know, something like that. And then if you really just want to go like Lost Boys type of stuff where it's like, teens, vampires.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

You know, I don't know. Eve's Bayou, I was one that I would consider a part of. That kind of let's scare Jessica to death thing. It's kind of like a children's but supernatural and, you know, I don't know.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay. I actually have two other ones here.

[Millie Decherico]

Great.

[Casey O'Brien]

Return to Oz. Did you ever see that from 1985, return to Oz? I think it's Walter Murch, the famed sound designer's only directorial effort, but it's freaky as shit. Yeah, it's scary.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And it's a kids movie, but it's frightening. So I highly recommend that one. And then there's this one from 1981 called Dark Night of the Scarecrow, which is like sort of a kids horror movie, but it's scary. And it's got some great actors, like Charles Durning in it.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. So, yeah, I feel like when it comes to horror, it's kind of this weird scale because there's certain. You know, I was, like, completely unfettered. I could watch literally anything I wanted because I had no parental supervision. So I was 11 and watching stuff like Suspiria and Phenomena and that kind of stuff. But your kind of mileage may vary type of thing with it. But I do think that, like, Gothic supernatural, kids in peril type of horror tends to be, like, less violent, less. I mean, mostly PG 13 and below and.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. The Good Son with Macaulay Culkin.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's a spooky one.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I always. I thought that was kind of scary. You know, Millie, we have very different movie upbringings because my parents were not strict, I would say, but they were very strict about ratings.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh. Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

So, like, I was not allowed to Watch R or PG13s until, like, the appropriate ages.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah. As we heard in the Prince episode, you weren't able to listen to Erotic City or something.

[Casey O'Brien]

I wasn't allowed to listen. Dirty motherfucker. I believe Dirty MF Is what the sexy. Oh, sexy mf. Sexy mf Sexy motherfucker. Yeah. I wasn't allowed to listen that when I was 8 years old.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, look at you now. I mean, you're completely normal.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm a complete pervert. And. But it took me a long time to get into horror movies. I feel like I was very activated and frightened by horror movies all the way through college. And now I embrace them and love them.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

But it took me a while.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Because I wasn't I wasn't introduced young enough, I think. So it's good she's getting introduced to horror movies at a young age.

[Millie Decherico]

I think so, too. And actually, it's interesting because I know so many people that actually hate horror movies. Like, there's. And I'm talking about people my age, but especially younger. Like, people who won't let their kids watch any horror. Like the cameras. Candace Cameron lady, most recently.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. What did she say? She's like, I don't. I don't allow that, because that's opening a portal to evil.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

What the fuck?

[Millie Decherico]

It's basically like a portal to hell in her mind. Which, yeah, I'm not saying I know people who have her religious beliefs, but they also believe that horror movies are satanic and evil. And I'm just like, what?

[Casey O'Brien]

I also think there's still a lot of people that think horror movies are, like, those aren't real movies. Those aren't good movies, you know?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, you're missing out on some cool shit, y', all, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, well, thanks for that question, Ange. We have one more here, Millie, and it's like a bunch of questions, so let's maybe do a little bit more rapid fire in this one. Okay. Here we go. This is from Rachel. Thank you. I know it's hard to start a new thing, but I love this podcast. Thank you for showing up every week. Here's to many more years. Yeah. Millie and I are going to do this well into our 60s.

[Millie Decherico]

I hope so.

[Casey O'Brien]

I have movie questions and scenarios. One, let's say someone is going on their third date. A date at one of their houses. What's a great movie to watch to ensure an interesting and fun night?

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, Rapid fire.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, Rapid fire. Let's go.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, so my number one first choice for third date movie. I think the only option. Well, actually there's two options, but one for me would be phantom thread. I feel like after the third date, if you can show phantom Thread to somebody and be like, what's your take?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. Would you like to be poisoned with mushrooms? Or would you like to poison me with mushrooms? How are you feeling about that? You know, it's a good barometer.

[Millie Decherico]

It's a really good barometer. I actually think it's extremely romantic. Be like, I love you so much, I'd let you poison me. Cool.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. It's an unbelievably romantic movie. I love that movie. We gotta do that.

[Millie Decherico]

We gotta do. We've been talking about it forever. So it's either that or Cronenberg's the Fly. I will say.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, okay.

[Millie Decherico]

Another very romantic movie in a lot of ways.

[Casey O'Brien]

You've got kind of like. You're like, putting people to the test on the third day. You're like, what do you think? Are you cool or are you not cool?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, that's why I don't date people, because I have, like, these extreme rules. I suppose nobody wants to make it to a third date because they're like, I ain't trying to watch the Fly with this woman.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I'm just gonna say, third date. That's what we call the makeout date, baby. So I would put on something that I do not need to watch again and is kind of, like, silly and don't need to pay attention to at all. I would put on, like, the Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. We don't need to watch that. We know what's going on. It's just kind of a vibe setter in the background. So that's what I would put put on.

[Millie Decherico]

Very interesting, your technique. You think that the third date is.

[Casey O'Brien]

The makeout date, by the way, that's the makeout date. You're at someone's house. Well, yeah. Let's put on a movie. Yeah, sure.

[Millie Decherico]

So you're telling me not to watch the fan thread.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm just saying we have very opposite approaches to the third date.

[Millie Decherico]

Listen, this is why you're married with a child, and I am single. So I think we know who wins.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, number two, let's say I've lost my gusto. What's a great movie to remind me that the world is a place I'd like to engage in? Maybe a movie that reminds me I can be better.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, so my choice for this, I'm going a little bit more trad, considering the last question. I'm gonna go for a movie, which is a wonderful film. It's called sounder from 1972.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, I've never seen this.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, my God. It's lovely. It stars Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield. It is uplifting. It's horrib. It's like a story of, you know, these Southern sharecroppers. Very, very poor black family, but they have this incredible familial bond. And it's just. I mean, it makes me cry buckets, like I am. There's a scene in particular where Cicely Tyson is running towards her husband who's come home. I can't even talk about it. Like, I'm feeling tearful right now, and it's so beautiful. And I don't know, I thought about this because I was like, okay, there's so many of these movies that I've watched over the years, like to kill a mockingbird, Mr. Smith goes to Washington. This kind of purely good, uplifting. And I just was thinking about the times that we're in and what kind of movie that would make me immediately feel better about the world. And I'm like, sounder. There's no way. It's so good. It's so good.

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't know if this quite fits the description, but this is a movie that really makes me feel good about community. And maybe sometimes life can be so heavy at times and so even positive if something good happens, it's a heavy experience. And sometimes life should be light. It should be light and kind of, like, nice. And there's this movie called local hero from 1983 by Bill Forsyth. It's about a guy from Houston who's going to this small town in Scotland to basically buy the town to drill for oil. And he gets kind of embedded in this community. And everyone's just sort of quirky and fun, and it's just sort of a light, happy world. And it just makes me feel good, and it makes me feel good about community and. Because that's, like, the one thing that you can kind of hold onto in these really hard times is, like, a sense of community. Your friends and your family. It's like, that is something that can maintain throughout the hardship and show you that things are not awful all the time. I mean, I. You know, like, there's so much terrible things going on right now. And it's. It's fun. It's nice to feel life. It's nice to feel when, like, your existence is a little bit lighter, you know? And I feel like this movie accomplishes that. I love Local Hero.

[Millie Decherico]

Yeah, good one.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay, number three. What's a movie that makes me. What's a movie that will make me poop my pants? Not that I actually want to now. I don't really. There's no context for this question. What's a movie that will make you poop your pants? Millie.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, so this movie is the absolute opposite of the movie that I just recommended. I would say in every single way I was taking this. This question to mean, what is, like, a movie? What is one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen in my entire life?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

To the point where it made me feel physically ill. And I dare. I dare I say that I don't even know if I recommend Anybody watching this movie? I'm just saying it to answer the question, right? It was this documentary from 2007.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, God. A documentary called Zoo. Oh, I know Zoo.

[Millie Decherico]

You know Zoo, right?

[Casey O'Brien]

I know Zoo.

[Millie Decherico]

I don't recommend anybody watch this. I mean, honestly, I feel okay. It's a very, very, very complicated documentary because it's essentially about bestiality, but it's done in this very. The presentation of it is very artistic, I guess is the best way to put it. It's like a tasteful. It's basically like an attempt at making an artistic, tasteful documentary about this extremely taboo subject. Right? And I was in my shithead phase when I watched it because I totally, totally had heard about it forever. And me and April Richardson and a bunch of my friends watched it and it was like so unsettling and disturbing that I felt gross. Like, I felt disgusting watching it. I mean, I felt like I was gonna puke.

[Casey O'Brien]

Your pants?

[Millie Decherico]

Well, not my pants. Coming out the other end. I was like, oh, I don't. I feel like I'm gonna vomit. Like, it just was not. It just was so too much that I was just like, you know, I mean, if I. If I scope out and think about what a filmmaker would like, a filmmaker who is trying to do something like that, like trying to take this extremely macabre subject material and like making something artistic out of it. That in and of itself is an interesting kind of thought experiment. But I just felt like it was. I could not too much.

[Casey O'Brien]

Too much. I've never seen it.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I don't think I will see it.

[Millie Decherico]

I mean, like I said, I. I don't want. I don't want to tell people not to see it in the sense that, like, you should watch the things that you are curious about. Right. But. Well, I would never watch this again. Like, I would never watch it again. But that. To answer your question, that is the answer. Does that make sense? Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, absolutely. My recommendation, not even Recommendation, is a 2006 movie called Taxidermia. It's a Hungarian film. It's like a three part movie about one family's throughout. One family throughout the years. And one part of the stories is this speed eater in the Cold War. And the last chapter is about a modern day taxidermist. This is one of the most disturbing and disgusting movies I've ever seen. There's a lot of vomiting with the speed eating. There's a lot of body horror, body dismemberment, people getting eaten by cats. It's crazy. But it also feels Sort of fantastical. It feels like Amelie kind of. So it is a wild movie. And buckle up. It's got one of the most shocking endings of a movie I've ever seen.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

Including taxidermy.

[Millie Decherico]

Wow. So we both went kind of fucked up.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, we did. Well, thank you all for your questions for film advice. I hope we helped everybody out there. I think we did. Millie, it's time for employees picks. What is your film recommendation? Based on the theme of discussion today.

[Millie Decherico]

So I'm gonna recommend. I'm gonna recommend something that's just so fucking stupid because I must. And this was a huge thing for my childhood. So I'm gonna recommend the Little Mermaid.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow.

[Millie Decherico]

I'm gonna unexpected recommendation and the only reason why the Little Mermaid. So the Little Mermaid came out in 1989. Okay. If you remember this, you'll know exactly why I'm recommending it. Because there was this.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think I know urban legend.

[Millie Decherico]

About how there was a dick on the COVID of the VHS tape for the Little Mermaid.

[Casey O'Brien]

I remember this. Well, yeah.

[Millie Decherico]

Huge scandal. And I simply typed in the Little Mermaid penis into Google and immediately Reddit came up. It was like I just found. It was somebody's. Like, I just found a cover of the old. The rare Penis Tower VHS case. And I'm looking at it going, I can see why people think it's a dick, but also it doesn't look like a dick. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, 100%. But also I believe in that movie there's a part where a priest gets a boner. Do you remember this part about the Little Mermaid?

[Millie Decherico]

Is this the same one? No, I'm thinking of Aladdin where it's that young teenagers take off all your clothes whispering, yes, it's sort of a similar thing.

[Casey O'Brien]

But there's a part where somebody gets a boner in Little Mermaid.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes. Because there's a YouTube clip of it that I'm looking at.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. Little Mermaid erection. I'm looking around. Yeah, the. Yeah. And you do see. I mean, it looks like this priest gets a boner. And I remember, I remember rewinding us, me and my friends trying to find that and finding it on a VHS tape. This one is more damning, I would say, than oh my God.

[Millie Decherico]

That just doubles down my recommendation to watch a little. The Little Mermaid. I can't believe that this is a 3 second looped YouTube clip that you can just watch. So that's my recommendation. 1989's The Little Mermaid for obviously several reasons.

[Casey O'Brien]

Now I think there was also In Lion King, when Simba hits some dust and it spells sex.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes. That was okay. That was the other one I was thinking of. So there was like the Triumvirate. There was the Little Mermaid, Dick, Aladdin, Young teenagers, take off all your clothes. And then the sex cloud in Lion King. Yes. Wow.

[Casey O'Brien]

The mighty Triumvirate. Very good. I'm going in a slightly different direction and I'm recommending a 2021 film called Censor and it is set in 1985 and the main character works for the British Board of Film Classification during the height of the video nasty controversy. Now, the video nasty controversy was like a lot of censorship of story. Low budget horror and exploitation Films in the UK distributed on VHS.

[Millie Decherico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

Tapes in the early 80s. And this movie is a really good, I thought horror kind of vibey horror movie, but it also kind of explores that time and what was going on with the video nasties and sort of VHS culture and subculture. So I thought it was a really Fun movie from 2021. Sensor. It's by the director Prano Bailey Bond, and they wrote and directed it and I thought it was really good.

[Millie Decherico]

Great. That sounds amazing. Right up my alley.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, my goodness. Millie, we're all done. Thank God.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, thank God. What an episode.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, indeed.

[Millie Decherico]

I am still rewinding tapes as we speak.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie Decherico]

If you want some film advice from us, that is, if you want to be mentioned by name, if you want to leave a voicemail, these kinds of things, please email [e-mail] Like I said, we'd love a film gripe. Where are those film gripes? Also, again, if you want to leave a voicemail, all you got to do is just record it on your phone, make sure it's under a minute, and email it to us at the aforementioned email address.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's correct. You can follow us on our socials. Ear Movies, I love you. On Instagram and Facebook. Our letterboxd handles are cecileobrian and Decherico. And you can listen to Dear Movies, I Love youe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Millie Decherico]

Oh, my God. Next week's episode. I feel like it's a bit of an anniversary, maybe. Is that true?

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't know.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay. It feels. Well, anytime I watch this movie, it feels like someone's anniversary.

[Casey O'Brien]

We're coming upon the 30th anniversary.

[Millie Decherico]

Okay, so next week we're coming upon an anniversary of a very important film.

[Casey O'Brien]

A VHS classic, I would say maybe for you.

[Millie Decherico]

I saw it on television on Showtime.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay.

[Millie Decherico]

But it is a movie that has delighted, polarized, scandalized, aroused. Aroused. Certainly made people want to have sex in pools. It's the movie Showgirls from 1995, directed by Paul Verhoeven. We're going to just go super hard on it.

[Casey O'Brien]

The theme is Showgirls. Yeah, the movie.

[Millie Decherico]

We're going to talk about it. It's all of its implications, all of its isms. We might get into the filmography of Verhoeven just, you know, placing this movie upon his other masterpieces. But I do think it's worth just like talking about only because it is 30 years old. It would be interesting to compare and contrast this to stuff that is happening like now, like things that are out now and sort of like, I don't know, the, the persistence of this film over the years.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, super interesting lot to unpack. I can't wait to talk about it. And I can't wait to watch this again.

[Millie Decherico]

I watch it annually. Maybe it's playing actually at the Rep Theater in my town very soon.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. Fabulous. Yeah, wonderful. Well, that's all we got, Millie. I can give no more.

[Millie Decherico]

Well, I will say I enjoyed this episode. I think you are wickedly talented and I was really excited to hear about all of your VHS classic picks, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

Me too. To you, Millie. You're also wickedly talented.

[Millie Decherico]

See you next week. This has been an exactly right production. Hosted by me, Millie de Chirico and produced by my co host, Casey o'. Brien.

[Casey O'Brien]

This episode was mixed by Tom Breifocel, our association. Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain. Our guest booker is Patrick Cotner and our artwork is by Vanessa Lilac.

[Millie Decherico]

Our incredible theme music is by the best band in the entire world, the Softies.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you to our executive producers Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark, Daniel Kramer and Millie de Chirico. We love you.

[Millie Decherico]

Goodbye.

[Casey O'Brien]

Be kind.

[Millie Decherico]

Every business has an ambition. PayPal open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide. And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo pay later and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up when it's time to get growing.

[Casey O'Brien]

There's one platform for all business.

[Millie Decherico]

PayPal open grow today at paypalopen.com loans subject to approval in available locations with.

[Casey O'Brien]

Comprehensive reports on local schools you won't find anywhere else. Homes.com is the only place to find the in depth info Home shoppers want very in depth info. Curious about where a school ranks in the state? Look no further. Percentage of teachers in their first or second year? We've got it. Lowest student teacher ratio? No problem. The best cafeteria lunch in the district for your nine year old food blogger. Would it surprise you if we said yes? Homes.com we've done your homework. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway.

[Millie Decherico]

It's Oral Care Month, which means you can earn four times points on all your favorite oral care brands. Now through July 15th. Shop in store or online for items.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like Colgate Toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash, Crest Mouthwash.

[Millie Decherico]

Or Toothpaste Sensodyne Toothpaste, hello, Toothpaste or Gum Flossers and earn four times points.

[Casey O'Brien]

Points can be redeemed for future discounts on gas or groceries.

[Millie Decherico]

Offer ends July 15. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.