02x06 - Nine Nightmares

[bunniefuu]

male narrator:
I'm Eli Roth.

I want to introduce you
to nine uncategorizable films

that pushed the boundaries
of horror...

[terrifying music]

Nine films that tell us
dark truths about society

and ourselves.

[screams]

narrator:
Nine films filled with fear...

and fun.

[screaming]

narrator: Nine nightmars
you'll never forget.

[tense music]

[screams abruptly]

[eerie music]

♪♪

[screams]

[chainsaw revving]

narrator: Horror is the
outlier genre of cinema.

Some people fear it.

Others don't respect it,

but that renegade status
lets it go places

no other genre can reach.

Great horror films
entertain us and provoke us.

They put society
under a microscope...

Sam?

narrator: Making us questn
not just what we fear...

[bell rings]
- [screams]

narrator:
But why we fear it.

[suspenseful music]

And there's
no better recent example

than Jordan Peele's "Us."

♪♪

In , Jordan released
his first film, "Get Out,"

an Oscar-winning
commercial and critical hit

satirizing racism in America.

♪♪

The Armitages are so good
to us.

What you experienced
in your first movie is, like,

to come up
with the Academy Award,

to make a movie that is, like,

probably the most culturally
significant horror film

since
"Night of the Living Dead,"

and then you're like,
"Now I have to follow that up."

The expectations
were a bitch.

As you know, you, like...
you kind of have to say,

"Okay, well what got me here
in the first place?"

looking at "Get Out"
and imagining

what people are expecting.

[ominous notes]

[heart pounding]

If I can kind of start
to understand or pinpoint

what I think people
are expecting,

I can start to plot
how to suvert that.

♪♪

[deep ominous notes]

♪♪

There is a Black family
vacationing in Santa Cruz

at their summer home,

basically the only
Black family you can see

on this beach.

So it speaks to isolation
almost immediately.

And over the course of a normal
evening, the young son, Jason,

realizes there's
a family standing outside.

♪♪

[dramatic musical sting]

And once the family breaks
into the house,

we realize
these are doppelgangers,

that everyone who's broken
into the house

is a mirror image
of this family.

♪♪

You know, I think both films,
in a strange way,

are about losing your identity
and sort of who you are...

like,
what the external world sees

and what you are on the inside.

Both of these movies
became clear to me

when I decided
to be vulnerable

and... and... and
look... look within.

[shouts unintelligibly]

[pants wheezily]

Asked myself
what really scares me,

asked myself
what I'm not ready to face.

What are you people?

Which felt related to what
we're not ready to face.

[hoarsely]
We're Americans.

[ominous music]

What would it be like
to see someone

who looked exactly like you?

Who is that person?
What does that mean?

Are they taking something away
from you,

or are you taking something
away from them?

- [hoarsely] Run!
- [yelping]

narrator:
At first,

the film seems to be about
one family in peril...

[roaring]

narrator:
Then we discover

everyone has a doppelgangr
living underground,

invisibly tethered to their
counterparts on the surface.

Now, our tethered twins
have emerged

to m*rder us.

[sharp musical sting]

[suspenseful music]

I remember you telling me after
we sh*t last year

that you were gonna go
sh**t something

that felt like "Lost Boys"

♪♪

Yeah,
we're in the same place...

Santa Cruz Boardwalk...
the exact same location.

Did you hear the line
about "Lost Boys" in there?

You know, they're filming
something about a carousel.

You should see
if they're looking for extras.

[screams]

[shouts unintelligibly]

[dramatic music]

But I always thought
this idea of "Lost Boys"...

that there's a monster
up here,

and so I thought,
with that same location,

what if there's a monster
underneath as well?

- Mm-hmm.
- On the opposite side.

Yeah.

[hoarsely]
They created the Tethered

so they could use them
to control the ones above.

[unsettling music]

Like puppets.

I was thinking
about, uh, incarceration.

I was thinking about class.
- Mm-hmm.

I... I was thinking about
the term "us and them,"

the... the idea of "us and them"

and the... the... the division

when... when you
sort of identify an "us."

You create a "them."
You create an other.

Don't waste your strength.
Don't try to fight it.

You can't stop the inevitable.

Much like "Get Out,"

this is a... a systemic monster
we're dealing with.

It really does appear to be,

on a fairly
straightforward level,

a story about the haves
and the have-nots.

[pleasant orchestral music]

♪♪

Sort of existing
with a privilege

and... and a privilege
that many of us enjoy

is a violent act.

And that's... that's
the central theme of "Us,"

is this idea that,

when we look at the mirror,

both individually
and collectively,

we might realize, well,

it's not as simple as,
"I'm the good guy."

You know,
we're all part of a system.

There's a story
behind everything we enjoy.

There's a factory.
There's a... a line.

There's... there's somebody
working overtime,

you know,
to... to try to make us happy

if we can afford it.

♪♪

Our little pleasures
are coming

at the cost
of invisible people

that we really don't want
to acknowledge or see

because it's inconvenient.

[ominous notes]

narrator: The family
at the center of the film

are better equipped
to handle the Tethered

than most horror fim
protagonists...

[shrieks]

narrator: Partly becaus,
as Black people in America,

they are always on guard.

Let's make some traps
or something,

like some
"Home Alone"-type stuff.

That way if she comes...

Tell me you did not
just reference "Home Alone."

Well, having
a Black protagonist

in... in a horror movie,

as a writer, is a trap

because you can't have them do
the stupid response.

They have the upper hand.

This is the time to run,

not to be sprinkling
Micro Machines on the floor.

What are Micro Machines?

What's "Home Alone"?

It's... it's partly
a satirical comment,

but partly very grounded
in real... real life.

This country is... is a...

is a horror show...

- Yeah.
- For Black people, you know?

This is...
we're in a horror movie.

[eerie music]

I try and access

what I'm actually afraid f
or what I'm... you know.

Mm-hmm.

And that... part of the process
of making these movies,

I swear, I kind... I...
I overcome my fear.

[match snaps and hisses]

[rasping]

narrator:
Race and class divisions

can turn everyday lives
into horror movies,

but what about people

in the most privileged
position in society?

What nightmares stalk
the ruling class?

[screams wildly]

narrator:
In the year ,

Christian Bale gave
an unforgettable performance

as the antihero
of "American Psycho"...

[chainsaw revving]

A dark satire
of human behavior

at the top
of the economic ladder.

[suspenseful music]

"American Psycho,"

based on the notorious novel
by Bret Easton Ellis,

is about a young,
wealthy businessman

who seems
to have a perfect life.

I work on Wall Street.

So he's, uh, very handsome;

he has a perfect apartment;

he has a...
you know, a high-paying job.

So it's about someone

whose life is full
of perfect surfaces

and who is so filled wi,
sort of, rage and emptiness

that he disembowels
young women.

I like to dissect girls.

Did you know
I'm utterly insane?

Uh... [chuckles]

Uh, great tan, Marcus.

I mean, really impressive.

Where do you tan?
- Salon.

[musical sting]

"American Psycho" is one f
the best satires of all time.

You can always be thinner,
look better.

To me, it really, really
caught what the ' s was about.

♪♪

Suddenly,
metrosexuality came in

and men became obsessive
with grooming products,

skin care, waxing,
tanning booths.

What beautiful skin
you have, Mr. Bateman.

And what suits
you were wearing,

the kind of expl*si*n
in fashion and commerce

and restaurants and status.

It was just
this Wall Street world.

Gene, great jacket.
Matsuda?

Valentino Couture.

It's really a satire
of consumerism...

Where did you get
that overnight bag?

[car trunk slams]
- Jean Paul Gautier.

You know,
American vulture capitalism

at the end of the th century.

And it's all expressed
in this person who looks good,

but is actually a monster.

[hollowly]
I guess you could say

I just wat
to have meaningful relationship

with someone special.

I wanted Bateman
to be the object of fear.

[tense music]

When Christian and I
were in preparation

for "American Psycho,"

we talked about him
as being like a... a Martian...

someone from another planet

who doesn't know how
to be a human being.

♪♪

So when Bateman's going
to have sex with someone,

he watches a p*rn movie.

[chainsaw revving
and woman screaming on TV]

If he's gonna, uh,
commit a m*rder,

he's gonna watch
a... a faous horror movie.

[chainsaw revving
and woman screaming on TV]

The fact that it was
directed by a woman, I think,

ws such an interesting
counterbalance to the book.

Even though he's doing all
of these crazy things,

there isn't this misogynist,

anti-woman, kind of gross tone
about the movie.

Jean?

Sorbet?

When we were filming
"American Psycho,"

I realized that

the fear a woman has
of going on a date

or going to a guy's apartment
and something bad happening

or him suddenly transforming

from one kind of person
into another

is...
is a very strong female fear.

Can we go now?

We're not through yet.

Movies are a way
of exploring those fears.

[chainsaw revving]
- [yelps]

[wet impact]
- [screams]

We don't want to admit it,
but all of us...

there's a part of us
that is like Patrick Bateman,

that is obsessive,
that wants things.

It's like this personification
of all the greed

and the vanity
and the consumption

and the vapidness...

all the stuff
that we suppress;

that we say we don't have;

that we say,
"That's just other people";

it's all reflected
in Patrick Bateman,

but we're watching him

and there is a part of him
that's in all of us.

[laughing]

I...
[gasps]

Just have to k*ll
a lot of people!

And um...

[tense music fades]

[stutters and sniffles]

I'm not sure I'm gonna get awy
with it this time.

He's not punished at the end,

so you're not giving
the audience that satisfaction,

actually.

But I felt like the...

the satirical
and also of the moral point

of Bret Easton Ellis's book

was that
he wouldn't get found out

because society didn't care
to find him out.

I chopped Allen's
(bleep) head off.

The whole message I left
on your machine was true.

Excuse me.
I really must be going now.

Society just didn't care

as long as he conformed
to the perfect, you know,

surfaces and perfect, uh,
stereotypes

of... of
the successful businessman.

No one would bother.

This confession
has meant nothing.

[unsettling music]

[musical sting]

narrator: Faced with the
emptiness of consumer culture,

many turned to the spiritual
comforts of religion.

...accursed!

♪♪

narrator:
But there can be a fine line

between a religion
and a death cult.

- No!
- No!

narrator: Most religions
teach the way of peace,

yet religious differences
have led

to an almost unthinkable
amount of bloodshed.

He brought you up
to be a pagan.

[eerie music]

narrator:
This paradox is at the heart

of two films about faith...

[musical sting]

"Midsommar" from ...

and "The Wicker Man"...

[all gasp]

From .

♪♪

"The Wicker Man"
has the reputation

for being the greatest British
horror film of all time.

[goat shrieking]

It was one of those movies
I didn't see until late in life

because I would look
at the video box and go,

"What's scary
about a wicker man?"

Oh, God!
Oh, Jesus Christ!

[single drum b*ating ominously]

I finally saw it,

and it's one of those movies
that changed my life.

[organ playing hymn]
all: ♪ In pastures green ♪

♪ He leadeth me ♪

It has to do with
Christianity versus paganism.

[tense music]

A police inspector is sent

to this remote isle
of Summerisle

to investigate the
disappearance of a young girl.

[chalk scraping]
- Rowan Morrison.

And he's
this repressed, uh, Christian

coming to grips
with this society

that is the total opposite
of everything he believes in.

I find degeneracy,
and there is brawling in bars.

There is indecency
in public places.

Open sex and wild dancing

and all this uninhibited
craziness that he's not used to

and he has a hard time
adjusting to that.

Can I do anything for you,
sergeant?

Oh, I doubt it...
seeing you're all raving mad.

And the fun of the film

is watching him getting
taken down a notch or two.

They do love
their divinity lessons.

But they... they are...
are naked.

Naturally.

It's much too dangerous

to jump through the fire
with your clothes on.

Oh, Christopher Lee did that
picture for almost no money

because he liked the pat
so much.

And I think it was
his favorite part

of anything he'd ever done.

[peaceful music]

It's a truly weird, pagan,
fascinating movie.

It's almost a musical.

I mean, it's got all
these Paul Giovanni songs.

[pianist playing slow song]
- ♪ She took the tinker ♪

♪ By the hand ♪

They created a score

that are folk songs integral
to this island

to tell the story

of their religion
and their culture.

together: ♪ For patching ♪

♪ And plugging is his
delight ♪

[echoing musical sting]

The lyrics
of these songs are so...

everything's a double entendre
and everything's sexual.

[musicians playing upbeat
folk music]

And it's a very,
very subversive, sexual movie.

[raps loudly on bar]

[music stops]

This police officer
is unwittingly being led,

thinking he's
on an investigation,

thinking he's gonna catch
the k*ller of a little girl,

until he realizes

that he's been a sucker
this entire time.

[ominous musical sting]

It's about faith

and how faith doesn't really
pan out for you.

There is no sun god!

There is no...
goddess of the fields!

I wouldn't say it's
on the side of the pagans,

but it certainly comes close,

because as devout
as the hero is,

it doesn't save him.

No! No!
Think!

Just think what you're doing!

[words echoing]

Think what you're doing!
Think!

The reason "The Wicker Man"
has such staying power is

you look at this cult

that believes that burng
and sacrificing a virgin

is going to bring back
the crops.

That makes perfect sense
to them.

pagans: [together]
♪ Summer is a-comin' in ♪

To this other person,
it's absolutely insane

because everything he believes

is from a Christian
perspective...

pagans: [together]
♪ And blows the mead ♪

And these are coming
from a pagan perspective.

What is totally normal
to one person

is absolutely terrifying
to another,

and I think there's something
very real about that.

[suspenseful music]

The culture clash
captured by "The Wicker Man"

was a big influence
on my film "Hostel."

So I visually paid tribute
to it.

♪♪

And you can see elements
of both films

in Ari Aster's "Midsommar."

♪♪

In the wake
of a devastating loss,

a young woman joins
her self-absorbed boyfriend

and his fellow grad students

on a trip
to the Swedish countryside.

They've been invited
to witness

an annual folk celebration.

[locals whoop]

The writing of "Midsommar"
was pretty therapeutic.

I was going through a breakup
and was looking for, uh,

kind of an angle
on a breakup movie.

♪♪

What's, like,
the evil version of that?

[echoing scream]

narrator: The students enter
what at first appears to be

a peaceful community
of nature-worshipping pagans.

[bell dings]

I love that it is,
like "The Wicker Man,"

set in this isolated,
very h*m* community

that is supposed
to signify safety...

[gasps]

And then have it
completely turn around.

- No!
- No!

[gasps]

The Americans are trying
to be cool,

and they want to be open
and they want to embrace it

and they want
to understand it

and they don't quite get
what's going on.

What's going on?

[claps]
[ethereal whooshing]

But they get caught up
in the ritual

and the pomp
and the circumstance

and they don't want
to offend the culture

and, you know, they wind p
paying the price for it.

[blows]

♪♪

narrator: The film's
protagonist is gradually drawn

into what turns out
to be a death cult...

♪♪

And the other travelers
are ritual sacrifices.

She ends up finding,
in this community,

what might be a home.

You are the family now, yes?

Yes, you are the family!

And of course,

the irony is that they are
a eugenicist community

of murderers.

[shrieking]

But they're also
much more empathic,

they're... they're much more
compassionate.

[all wailing]

And that's why people
join cults.

[eerie music]

People don't join cults because
they want to be mass murderers.

[ominous droning music]

♪♪

They join cults because
they need connection.

[peaceful droning music]

♪♪

narrator: "Midsommar"
was a slow-burn film

that built
to a fiery conclusion.

But horror can also go way
over the top to make a point.

[rushing music]

narrator: When you think
of a morality tale,

you might picture something
like this.

[speaking Swedish]
Amen.

others:
Amen.

[suspenseful music]

♪♪

I hope you rot in hell.

narrator:
But in horror,

stories about suffering
terrible consequences

for your poor behavior
can be scary and fun,

like "Creepshow."

"Creepshow"
was a horror fan's dream.

It still is.

It's the combination
of George Romero,

Stephen King, and Tom Savini.

Me,
as a -year-old horror fan,

knowing that this
was the director

of "Dawn of the Dead"...

♪♪

This was the guy that did
all the gore

in "Dawn of the Dead"
and "Friday the th."

[intense string music]

And Stephen King writing
these stories?

This was gonna be
the greatest movie ever made.

[sparse ominous music]

♪♪

Well, my first thing
with George was he said,

"Why don't we do
a number of stories

like 'Tales from the Crypt'?"

And I went, "Yeah,
let's... let's do that."

- It's a comic book.
- What?

- It's a comic book!
- It's a comic book!

[musical sting]
- Look.

Because really,
what is a comic book?

It's a storyboard
for a movie, right?

narrator:
"Creepsow" is presented

like an EC comic book
from the s,

with five macabre stories...

♪♪

[shouts]

narrator:
And an all-star cast.

Stephen King himself

plays the doomed hayseed,
Jordy Verrill.

♪♪

I'm a goner already, Daddy...

ain't I?

♪♪

narrator:
Each story was a moral tale

in which sinners were rewarded
with ironic deaths,

and sometimes,
ironic afterlives.

The teenaged Greg Nicotero
was a frequent visitor

to the "Creepshow" set.

I remember seeing them
sh**ting the actors

with the colored lights
in the background.

I got my cake.

All of a sudden, like,
there's a bunch of guys

on dimmers, and they'd go...
[imitates electricity]

- [screaming]
- Happy Father's Day.

Then they would turn it
and the lights would change.

They were trying to immerse
you into the comic book world.

♪♪

narrator: One of my favore
stories is "The Crate,"

where
a henpecked college professor

comes into possession
of a vicious animal...

- ...a couple of emeralds!
- Don't!

narrator:
With a thirst for human blood.

[screaming]

[laughing deliriously]
I don't even know what it was.

And it's Hal Holbrook
and Fritz Weaver

and Adrienne Barbeau
and this old crate,

and you're just waiting
for Fluffy.

[roars]

I remember, as a kid,
I read "Fangoria" magazine

and I saw pictures

of the monster
that they called Fluffy.

And when that thing comes out
of the crate...

♪♪

The fun is inventing how
to do this stuff.

♪♪

You know, the script, kind of,
is sometimes very vague.

"We see a flash
of fur and teeth."

[dramatic tense music]

Well, I gotta create
a creature from that

that comes out of a crate

underneath steps
in "Creepshow," you know?

Something shiny.

I had never built an
animatronic creature before.

So I called Rob Bottin
on the phone.

Took me to his house.

He tore the skins off
to show me

how the mechanisms worked
in the heads,

the fake heads
that he was making.

[suspenseful music]

As great as "The Crate" is,

nothing quite prepares you
for E.G. Marshall's performance

as Upson Pratt.

"This is Upson Pratt,
the Upson Pratt."

Well, I found another
cockroach this evening, George.

Oh, no.

One of those big ones

right here in my $ , -a-month
penthouse apartment.

♪♪

narrator: Upson Pratt is a
wealthy and vicious germaphobe

who treats everyone
like vermin.

You might go far, boy.

I've noticed that,
in service jobs,

people like yourself often do...

people of color.

You know, the Marshall story
does represent

a lot
of the sociopolitical things

that were going on at the time,
you know,

with him being
a blatant r*cist character

who is trying to live

in this sort of protected
white bubble, literally,

in his compound,

and he's terrified

of other things
getting into that world.

[bugs squeaking]

Damn bugs... ugh!

Bugs! [shouts]

Now you'd have
a digital cockroach.

Back then, you really had
to do it with cockroaches.

Cockroaches.

They were everywhere, Eli!
- Yeah.

Those cockroaches
were everywhere.

[ominous music]

[cockroaches chittering]
- [screaming]

And when we did the
final scene, where the b...

he just sort of explodes
with bugs all inside him...

everybody was, like, right...

nervous, scared to death.

It could be one take.
- Yeah.

That's the only thing
you could do.

There were, I,
, cockroaches

and they were gonna blow 'em
through this... this tube.

Quiet on the set,

get the cockroaches ready.

[chuckling]
You know, cue the cockroaches.

[eerie music]

♪♪

[screaming]

And it was perfect

and everybody in the ple
just exploded into applause.

It's one of the...

it's one of the great,
great moments in movies.

[cockroaches chittering]

"Creepshow" was...
was way ahead of its time

in terms of George
and Steve King's

sort of love letter
to EC comics.

[cackles]

[thunder booms]

Doing "Creepshow" reay
was... was their opportunity

to pay tribute to the stuff
that inspired them.

[tense musical sting]
- [screams]

narrator:
In "Creepshow,"

bad people are punished
with gruesome deaths.

The v*olence upset audiences

expecting a
lightweight comic book movie,

but to really upset Americans,

do what Brian De Palma did:

make a horror film about sex.

[gasps]

[dramatic music]

[gagging]

narrator: Few things
provoke audiences more

than sexual v*olence.

It's a taboo region

that horror films
are uniquely able to explore

because horror goes
where the timid fear to tread.

[screams]

narrator: And even
a comically bad slasher

can carry a surprising message
about toxic masculinity.

Where did this filth
come from?

[grunts]

[screaming]

"Pieces" is one of the
greatest WTF horror films

of all time.

[saw scraping]

[telephone ringing]

For me, it might be

my favorite horror movie
of all time

after all these years

because it just defies
every rule

of what you're supposed t do.

[dramatic synthesized music]

[weeps]

It is so absurd

that, if you put it on
with a room of people,

you will guarantee to have

the whole audience come ot
of it going,

"That's the best movie
I've ever seen."

[dramatic music]
- [screaming]

[mirrors shattering]

Horror is the genre that
gave us the idea of bad-good.

[screams]
[chainsaw revving]

Like, there can be
a really great horror movie,

and that's fun to watch,
but a really bad horror movie

can be fun to watch too.

[shrieking]
Bastard!

Bastard!

[suspenseful music]

Bastard!

[booming musical sting]

narrator: The plot of "Piec"
follows a campus stud

and an undercover policewoman

trying to catch
a mysterious chainsaw k*ller.

[screaming]
[chainsaw revving]

It's got all the classic
tropes of slasher movies.

[chainsaw revving]

You!

They have these
beautiful Spanish girls

that always get naked right
before they're chopped.

[dramatic music]
- [gasps]

The deaths
are so over-the-top.

♪♪

At the end of the film,

the police catch the k*ller

and they're about to leave

and they open the door
and the body falls out.

Really...

[screaming]

[screams]

And you realize

this guy's been making
a human jigsaw puzzle.

It's an incredible
shock moment.

[screaming]

[sobbing]

And then at the very end,

Ian Sera comes back
'cause he forgot his coat

and the hand of the body
comes out

and just rips
his genitals off.

[screaming]

[flesh squelches]

You can watch the move
on one level

and go, "This is a grade-Z
slasher movie."

Or you could say,

"This is a subversive
work of art

"by a master director
who's making a comment

on this character who uses
women like pieces of meat."

These girls are then k*lled

and the body...
is the residual anger.

The anger of these girls

and the resentment
of these girls

of being used by this guy
all boils up

and they castrate him
at the end of the movie.

narrator:
You don't expect great depth

from a movie like "Pieces."

More confounding to critics
is when a brilliant filmmaker

deliberately challenges
an audience

by fusing sex and v*olence
with high cinematic style.

♪♪

Exhibit A: Brian De Palmas
"Dressed to k*ll,"

a provocative film

about the corrosive effects
of sexual repression.

"Dressed to k*ll"
is an interesting juxtaposition

of two women's expression
of their own sexuality...

one being
a conservative housewife

who is oppressed
by her sexuality

and one being
a young sex worker

who is empowered
by her sexuality...

and the man who
is a psychiatrist

who is his own worst patient

who's trying
to draw the bridge

between his own relationship
with his sexuality

and these two women.

narrator:
Sexually frustrated Kate,

played by Angie Dickinson,

acts the part of
the perfect wife and mother,

but she yearns
for a more stimulating life.

Kate confides her feelings
to her psychiatrist,

arousing his own
secret desires.

[sweeping music]

Would you want to sleep
with me?

Yes.

[tense dramatic music]

[gasps]

[screaming]

♪♪

narrator:
Then, in a shocking twist,

Kate is brutally m*rder*d

by a mysterious
black-gloved k*ller...

[screaming]

narrator: A crime witnessed
by the movie's other heroine,

Liz Blake,
played by Nancy Allen.

I think my nightmares
on "Dressed to k*ll"

really started when they did
the... [imitates slashing]

[soft eerie music]

It's so strange
because it's all so technical.

♪♪

But emotionally,

it really does...
somehow, it gets in.

At least with me,
it gets back in there.

♪♪

Maybe it's all "Psycho's" fault
for making me so scared.

["The m*rder"]
- [screaming]

narrator:
Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"

famously kills off
its protagonist

more than half an hour
into the film.

♪♪

"Dressed to k*ll" both updates
and parodies "Psycho."

De Palma turns
the trail blazed by Hitchcock

into a slyly satirical
boulevard,

going places
Hitchcock couldn't in .

[soft ominous music]

narrator: The second half
of "Dressed to k*ll"

is a detective story

led by two amateur sleuths:

Liz Blake
and Kate's adoring son Peter,

played by Keith Gordon.

Every scene is enhanced

by De Palma's vast knowledge
of film technique.

♪♪

Obviously,
the story involves

a lot of double and mirror
and two people looking alike

and, you know, having
two personalities and splits.

[tense music]

Really good visual directors
will find themes

and then they'll continue
to find places to inject it

where maybe they hadn't
even planned ahead of time,

but they keep
seeing opportunities.

When I speak
of transsexuals,

I tend to speak
of male-to-female

because there are
a whole lot more of them

than the going the other way.

The scene I remember the most
is the television

where Donahue
is interviewing someone

and Michael Caine
is watching it.

Just the... the lighting,
the way it's photographed,

and as kid,
split screens drive me crazy.

You're like,
"What am I supposed to watch?

What am I supposed to watch?"

But you just
sort of give over to it.

It's got a very,
very interesting effect

on the audience.

More than that, I've alwas
been a devout heterosexual.

[chuckles]

The interview
with the transsexual woman

signals to the audience
that Kate's psychiatrist,

played by Michael Caine...

is also the k*ller.

The cinematography
is absolutely gorgeous.

It's breathtaking.

So it's unfortunate

that I... it sits on a foundation
of transphobia

in a really big way,
in a really blatant way.

It played into a lot
of clichés.

I mean, there were, you know...

trans people as being weird,

being dangerous, being other,
being crazy.

Because "Dressed to k*ll"
came out at a time

when trans people were
still thought of as illegal,

making us murderers
made perfect sense.

It wasn't a big stretch

to think that we would go
from jail to k*lling someone.

[eerie music]

I don't think
that's what Brian's intention

of making the film was about.

Doesn't mean it's cool.

I mean, you know, I mean,
that part of the film,

I feel like yeah,
that has not dated well.

narrator:
In ,

far more people were upset
by the character of Liz Blake,

a sex worker the movie
never judges or shames.

Well, hi.

I'm Lz
from the escort service.

I love Liz Blake.

She's smart.
She has a sense of humor.

She's comfortable
with her sexuality.

She's not afraid of it

or feels like she has
to cover it up.

She just... she's a free s...
kind of free spirit.

Do you think
you could put together

a... a coffee break
and a hot lunch?

For tomorrow?

Yeah, I need a thousand dollars
for my mother's operation.

Which was somewhat reflective
of my own personality,

but not completely, you know?

I am a child of the ' s.

So I do have that repression.

[chuckles] Liz still lives
in me a little bit.

Thank God straight (bleep)s
are still in style.

♪♪

That's why the film doesn't
smack of misogyny to me...

because it feels like

Brian De Palma
trying to understand

why people are so hung up
on their sexuality.

♪♪

And it is designed to get you

to question
your own relationship

with your sexuality.

narrator:
In the hands of a master,

graphic scenes of v*olence
become stylish explorations

of the language of cinema,

but film can also
be a blunt instrument...

[screams]

♪♪

narrator:
Using violent horror

to make us face
the worst parts of ourselves.

♪♪

[screaming]

narrator: My great love
is Italian horror.

[screaming]

Italian horror, as opposed
to American horror...

they're like horror movies
with no rules.

There were no limits on gore.

[indistinct chatter]

[dramatic music]

[gasps]

[screams]

narrator:
In the ' s and ' s,

directors like Mario Bava,
Lucio Fulci,

and Dario Argento...

[sobbing]

narrator:
Took the conventions of horror

and dialed them up
to operatic intensity.

[intense dramatic music]
- [ries out]

They didn't know
you weren't allowed

to have eyeballs exploding
and eviscerations,

whereas American movies or
Canadian movies like "Scanners"

had one big moment
or a couple of big moments.

[loud pops]

[howling bestially]

The Italian movies,

it's just like one after
another after another.

narrator:
Dario Argento's debut film,

"The Bird
with the Crystal Plumage,"

took the brutal Italian
crime genre called giallo...

[horn honks]

narrator:
And turned it into high art.

[screaming]

[suspenseful music]

So there was certain tropes
you had to follow

for it to be a giallo.

You had to have red herrings.

You had to be guessing who the
k*ller was the whole movie.

The k*ller had to wear gloves.

♪♪

Dario Argento rewrites
the rules

with "The Bird
with the Crystal Plumage."

[shrieking]

It's got all of
the signature things

from Argento and the mot
fantastic score by Morricone.

The black-gloved k*ller...

that, most of the time,
was Dario Argento's hands

'cause it had
to be done right.

[screaming]

Penetrating the victim
with a Kn*fe...

[shrieking]

But very, very stylish.

[intense music]

"Bird with the Crystal
Plumage" really announces

the era
of the modern horror film...

♪♪

narrator: And was a big
influence on Brian De Palma.

You look at
"Dressed to k*ll"

and you look at "Bird
with the Crystal Plumage"...

you could put the movies
on top of each other.

♪♪

narrator:
But the most groundbreaking,

provocative Italian horror
film of all time...

Is Ruggero Deodato's
"Cannibal Holocaust."

♪♪

Deodato apprenticed under
two master directors,

Sergio Corbucci
and Roberto Rossellini.

Francesco!

Francesco! Francesco!

Think of the v*olence
and the realism

of "Rome, Open City"...

[g*nf*re]

Mama! Mama!

♪♪

And the v*olence and
politics of Corbucci's films.

[g*nsh*t]
- [shouting and moaning]

And you combine them
and you get Ruggero Deodato.

[people chanting]

You're about to witness
an ancient ritual

never before seen
by civilized man.

And that's why "Cannibal
Holocaust" is so effective.

It's no accident.

[music rushing]

♪♪

Today is, uh,
Saturday the th.

If I were in New York
right now,

I'd probably be out shopping.

"Cannibal Holocaust" is
the first

kind of found-footage movie.

[wailing]

[cries out in Spanish]

♪♪

"Cannibal Holocaust"
starts out

with a group
of documentary filmmakers

who went down to the jungles
of the Amazon

to make a movie about cannibals
and never returned.

"Cannibal Holocaust" narrator:
Are they still alive?

And if so, where are they?

They've disappeared

and we don't know
what happened to them,

so then Professor Monroe
goes through

and kind of retraces
their steps

and finds all these clues

until he finally finds
the skulls of the people,

and they're dead and there are
all the film cans there.

♪♪

[eerie whirring]
- Okay.

The second half of the moe

is him back in New York City,
watching the footage,

and what he sees is shocking.

[intense ominous music]

♪♪

You know this
is gonna make us famous.

Yeah, you think so, huh?

- Yeah.
- How famous?

Real famous and real rich.

[g*nsh*t]
- Die!

But Professor Monroe
discovers

that it wasn't that these
documentary gr... filmmakers

were preyed on by cannibals
and eaten by cannibals.

They were actually
te manipulators.

[Riz Ortolani's
"Love with Fun"]

[slow upbeat music]

♪♪

narrator: Deodato has said
the film was a reaction

to the media's
sensationalized coverage

of Italian t*rrorists.

[eerie music]

But for many viewers,

the political message
was overshadowed

by the film's
extremely realistic v*olence.

[tragic music]

Everyone thought
"Cannibal Holocaust" was real,

and this was years before
"Blair Witch."

"Cannibal Holocaust"
was so shocking

that Ruggero Deodato was
brought up on m*rder charges.

♪♪

But when he actually
ended up in court,

Deodato was acquitted
on the... the human k*lling

because he actually brought
out the actors and said,

"Okay, you...
you think these guys are dead.

Here they are."

[indistinct shouting]

narrator: "Cannibal Holocau"
deeply affected me,

so much so that I had
to make my own cannibal movie.

[all shrieking]

The documentary

that the kids in
"Cannibal Holocaust" are making

is called "The Green Inferno."

So I named my movie
"The Green Inferno"

as a nod
to "Cannibal Holocaust."

[man screaming,
flesh squelching]

This was the feature-film
version of that.

[man screaming,
flesh squelching]

[exclaims in language]

narrator:
Some artists are compelled

to challenge their audience,
but how far is too far?

For me, "Cannibal Holocaust"
is right at the edge.

For others, it's way over it.

I really think it's a movie
that is so offensive

and so horrific

and really has something
to offend everybody.

[dissonant music]

It's supposed to be shocking.

You're not supposed
to just watch it

and then move on
to something else.

You know,

if you can get through
"Cannibal Holocaust,"

you see some
of the most incredible,

incredible filmmaking ever.

♪♪

[eerie music]

narrator: Horror is where
our nightmares come to life.

It reveals humanity
at its best and its worst...

♪♪

What we desire
and what we dread,

who we are...

[g*nsh*t]

And what
we're afraid we might be.

[grunts]

narrator:
If we have the courage

to face our nightmares,

we can conquer
our deepest fears.

[creaming]