All language subtitles for The.Core.S01E05.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Mickey: This week on The Core...
What's real?

What's only in your head?

Who's really in charge?

Mary Harron, director
of the unique and bold

"American Psycho"
is going to teach you

how she manipulates her audience
for the maximum effect.

Then we've got
a bona fide mentalist

to really scramble my brains.

As Patrick Bateman might say,
he's utterly insane.

Today's guest is a master
of impending doom.

She keeps her audiences
in a constant state of dread.

We know something bad's
going to happen,

just like lifting
this piano here

is not going to
end well for somebody.

You know it, I know it,

but that's the fun of it --

something terrible
is coming down the pipe,

or is it?

Can we truly believe
what we see on screen?

Let's find out.

Mary Harron is
a ruthless manipulator,

and I mean that
as a compliment.

Whether it's the social horror
of "American Psycho"

or the High school anxieties

and vampire social horror
of "The Moth Diaries"...

Sex, blood, and death.

Harron's work feels
like real life,

only exaggerated
and injected with

surreal unease.

Her characters are lost,
unsure of reality

even as they perpetuate
unhinged behavior.

Behind the puppet strings
of every perfect cut,

angle, voice-over, and possessed
ATM, we have Mary Harron.

Marry, thank you so much
for being on "The Core."

You have brought a level
of prestige to our show,

and I am very thrilled to start
talking to you about your work.

Right off the bat,
"I Shot Andy Warhol,"

"American Psycho,"
"The Notorious Bettie Page,"

you seem to have this
fascination with outsiders

and people who don't,
necessarily, quite fit in

to what society
deems normal.

Can you tell me about
your fascination

with that subject matter?

A lot of the decisions
you make are irrational,

they're just intuitive

and although the subjects
of all my films

seem to be very different,
they all have that in common.

They're all about outsiders,

partly because maybe I grew up
in different countries

with a kind of
traveling childhood.

I think that might be
at the root of it.

The thing that I adore
about your films

is this true insistence
on a sense of ambiguity

and a sense of what's
possibly real, what's not.

Bateman: There is an idea
of a Patrick Bateman,

some kind of abstraction,
but there is no real me.

That's a really, kind of,
bold choice,

especially with a character
like Patrick Bateman

to toy with the audience.

Is it important for you
to have the audience

make up their own mind

about what the outcome
of everything is?

Yes. And actually
Quentin Tarantino

says a great thing
about this.

He tells people in question
and answer sessions,

"If I tell you
what it means,

I take away half
of the experience

of the film from you."

And I really believe that, that
the audience is contributing

their whole 50 percent,
what do you think it means?

That's fine, that's the film.
That's your film.

That's your version
of Patrick Bateman

or any of my films.

Don't you know who I am?

I'm not Davis,
I'm Patrick Bateman.

Definitely in the day
of kind of Twitter

and directors engaging
with their audiences

and basically explaining
their films to them,

do you think that
that is detrimental

to the way that
we make movies?

You mean by giving them
answers?

By giving them
answers, sure.

Yes, I think so,
but I think that's also

what's in the script,
what's in the story.

After I did "American Psycho,"
I got sent a lot

of serial killer scripts
and murderer scripts,

and you would read them, and
they're all kind of gripping.

You go, mm, mm, page turning,
oh, this is pretty good.

And then you come to the end
and it's like,

"Oh, it was
his sister-in-law."

"Oh, oh,
it was the neighbor."

That's it,
it's just a puzzle,

and then once you know
the answer to the puzzle,

you're never going
to return to it.

It's just a trick,
there's nothing more,

but if it's ambiguous,

and it's really about
not just the answer,

but about certain
emotional issues

or psychological issues

that you'll never quite
get to the bottom of,

then you'll return to it.

Right, and I think
what's so interesting to me,

especially with a film
like "American Psycho,"

every single time I watch it,
I get a different sense

of what could possibly
be going on.

Was that a sticking point
where it's like,

we are not going
to know for certain

certain elements
of this movie?

The one thing I would say
about "American Psycho"

is that there is a point
after which

it becomes more surreal, which
is after he's at the ATM.

Yes! Yes.

It's kind of a giveaway
when the ATM says

"Stick a kitten in me."

It's like, hm,
maybe that's not real,

or maybe that's in
his head.

But it's important
that you not be sure,

because in some ways,
it's the mind of a madman.

It has to be the play between
what's real and what's not,

because part of what's going on
in "American Psycho" is,

and I would hate
to lose this in the theory

that it's all in his head
or it's all a dream,

is that this society
is so uncaring.

He can be committing murders
and no one notices

because no one cares
to find out.

Did you get my message?

Jesus, yes!
That was hilarious.

That was you, wasn't it?Yeah, naturally.

Bateman killing Allen
and the escort girls.

That's fabulous.

Every movie is hard, every
movie is kind of traumatizing,

but to stick to your guns
and have your voice exist

throughout
all of these films,

what was the most
challenging one to make?

I think the most difficult film
was "The Moth Diaries."

We had a couple of scenes
that were very challenging.

One was the huge rain
of blood.

Man: We will have
45 gallons of blood.

-45 gallons of blood?
-Yes.

Which was done
in a practical location

with spinning shower
heads in this kind

of architecturally
valuable building.

We had tanks and we were trying
to put plastic everywhere,

and it worked great, except that
the shower heads blocked.

You know we needed
time to reset.

Sometimes you just don't
have enough time to do it

absolutely the way
you want to.

I think that's a really
stand-out scene,

and although you needed
more time or you wanted

to have another day,
I think it's very effective.

And on the subject
of kind of ambiguity,

there is that razor blade
that's left over,

and how important was it for
you to kind of really insist

on leaving it up
to their own interpretation

of whether that happened,
whether not?

With "The Moth Diaries,"

it's a little bit like
"American Psycho."

This is, again,
a film where,

"Is this all in
this girl's head?"

This is a young girl played
wonderfully by Sarah Bolger,

who is having suspicions
and paranoid fears

that this other girl
is a vampire or a succubus,

and is it all in her head?

And suddenly it turns
from a normal scene

into this rain of blood,

and then suddenly all
the blood vanishes

and there's just a razor blade
on the table.

Now if the razor's there,
that suggests that Ernessa,

because there was
no razor there before,

that Ernessa has left
the razor blade there.

And you can turn the story
one way or another.

If you don't have
the razor blade there,

then it means it's
all in her head.

Right.
What it suggests

is that Ernessa has appeared,

has created this
rain of blood

to make her crazy basically,
kind of gaslighting her.

Do you feel the director's job
is to gaslight their audience?

Well, yes.

I think that there is
a sadistic element

in all directors, especially
people who deal with

thriller or horror
or suspense,

and part of it is we're
trying to make the audience

agitated and suffer
and freak them out.

And one way to do this
is, "Where am I?

What's real? What's not?

And we have such primal fears
about that insecurity.

What's real? What's not?

Where am I?

Nothing that I trust
is solid.

I think what you truly are
a master of is the ability

to set up this sense
of dread

and also focus on something

that is very kind
of mundane and normal,

and very human in real life.

What draws you so much
to that technique?

I love having a comic element
in almost everything,

and a certain element of black
comedy, and like, aah-ha!

Like, you're scared but you're
laughing, a little bit of that.

Now, I think in the case
of "American Psycho,"

people didn't know whether
it was okay to laugh.

So it was the mixture
of comedy and horror

that was really confusing,

and it took a long time.

People say, no, it's okay,

these sections that are meant
to be funny,

and these sections that
are meant to be scary.

I like to dissect girls.
Did you know I'm utterly insane?

Great tan Marcus,
really impressive.

Where do you tan?A salon.

And you're kind of being
lurched back and forth

between a kind of safety zone
and a danger zone.

And I think that is
very effective,

much more effective
than just danger

and scares all of the time.

The other thing that
I think is great

is the social comedy
of banal conversation.

If the conversation and the
information being exchanged

in the conversation
was too significant,

then you would forget
about the bad stuff

and just think about,

oh, this is a dramatic
and interesting conversation.

It has to be about
something trivial

so the audience can keep the
two tracks going in their minds.

I guess you could say I just
want to have a meaningful

relationship
with someone special.

I want to go back,
and I just want to talk about

what got you into film
making in the first place.

I have to say growing up, I did
not know of any women directors.

I thought that maybe I would
write screenplays,

and I had this idea of
maybe coming to Hollywood

and writing screenplays.

As a teenager,

I was growing up in London,

and I got really interested

in going to
the National Film Theatre

and going to see old movies.

Hitchcock heroines were
like a beacon for me,

because they were smart
and they were daring,

and they just offered
an exciting...

Especially these women
in the 1930s and '40s,

they offered
a role model to me.

They weren't docile
or conformists.

They had character.
So I got interested

in old movies
at a young age.

So let's check out
some of your influences

by watching
a couple clips.

Yes, please.

Are you really
going away?

Sure, tonight. You can
have the place to yourself.

I'll take you there now.

All right, so let's
talk about "Frenzy"

and why this is one
of those that's

on the list for you.

Well, it's a kind of
comedy about Britain,

but it's a truly
frightening

and alarming portrait
of a serial killer

who seems like just
a cheery, nice guy.

There is an extremely
graphic rape and murder in it

that is much more graphic
than anything else in Hitchcock.

It's very shocking,
even now,

and I think it shocked
Hitchcock's audience.

What we see here,
though, is Hitchcock

as the master of what
is not shown.

Sometimes it's worse
if you're imagining it,

and what it shows
is behind closed doors

this horrible murder
is happening

and then the camera's
coming down the stairs

into a very innocent world,

past the law office
where our hero works,

who's going to get
blamed for this murder,

and then we pull out,
and suddenly,

we're in a normal street.

And nobody knows
what's happening upstairs.

The horrifying scene,
the banality of normal life.

We've got two Hitchcock
clips back to back.

Why does this scene
particularly stand out to you?

It's the use, first,
of silence, and then of sound.

What makes this scene
so frightening

is that you're
in a corn field somewhere,

so what could be frightening
is nowhere to hide.

Very often in a Hitchcock film
the hero

is left completely
betrayed and alone

and no one trusts them.

And you talk about
the outsider,

they're left
completely exposed.

And also a very
extended sequence,

because when somebody's
exposed like this

you can really play it out.

It doesn't have to be
scare, scare, scare.

-And then...
-Aah!

And I think that's
the fascinating thing, too,

because you're waiting
and you're waiting

and you're waiting
and then you do get

this massive explosion
of a payoff.

So Rear Window, he does the
complete opposite, 180 almost.

Now it's completely contained,
almost claustrophobic in a way.

This is one of those movies
with the classic set up,

the hero who can't move.Right.

A lot of times in film
making, it's really great

to have a necessary limitation
so we can only see so far.

He can only see so far
through the windows.

So it's kind of
like this perfect,

sort of dramatic premise
of you only have

so much information,
and terrible things

might be happening as soon
as someone exits the window,

but you're just sort of waiting.
He can't move.

If he calls for help,
no one will hear him.

You can only see
what the eye can see.

Hitchcock was obsessed
with the camera as voyeur,

and he's very open about it.

This like, yes,
we are voyeurs,

and the director likes
to torture people,

not only to watch,
the director likes to torment.

So I think Hitchcock certainly
owned the sadistic qualities,

but also the voyeuristic
qualities.

The legendary
"Peeping Tom."

Let's talk about how
powerful this scene is.

Scorsese says this is the best
film about cinema ever made.

That it says everything
you need to know

about cinema
and being a director,

which is kind of critical
of directors in some ways,

but the camera as
the voyeur, as the eye...

So there we are,
camera as hunter.

The audacity of throwing
the audience

directly into the point
of view of the killer

is something that is
so radical.

We haven't even seen
his face.

No.

But this film,
one of the questions,

why did it kill
Michael Powell's career

when "Psycho,"
which was released

the same year
was a big success,

one is that the sort of
sexual perversion element

is much more blatant
in this,

where as in "Psycho,"
you could say,

"Well, it was someone who had
a terrible mother complex,

or he was an abused child."

I've heard a lot
of filmmakers argue

that the biggest mistake
of "Psycho"

is that tail end scene where
it explains what happened.

Do you agree with that or are
you satisfied with that ending?

I think it's kind
of ludicrous,

but I have great sympathy
for Hitchcock,

and that's why
his career wasn't ruined.

And also he learned
from Michael Powell,

he didn't let
the critics preview it.

So this was previewed
by the critics?

And slaughtered.

And eaten alive?

So "The Notorious Bettie Page,"
I love black and white so much.

What lead you to that?

It made the movie
very hard to finance,

shooting in black and what,
because people said

if people switch to it
on television

they're going to think it's
an old movie and not watch.

But I just saw the movie
in black and white.

I couldn't explain why,
but I was adamant

that it had to be
black and white

except for a few scenes
in Miami

that would be shot in
very beautiful Technicolor.

I realized afterward that
if you had shot this in color,

in a sort of modern way,

it would have seen more,
just, like porn or something

or titillating,
whereas the black and white

gave it a distance
and it said if you

shoot black and white film,
it will look like the 1950s,

because the film stock
hasn't changed.

-Right.
-One of the things

that we were riffing on was
that in some of these

photo clubs, sometimes
they wouldn't even

have film
in their cameras,

because they were so excited
and it was so amazing

to see a girl in her underwear
in the 1950s.

Right.
You know,
people would travel

out to the suburbs
just to look,

not even get
the pictures.

Bateman: You like Huey Lewis
and the News?

Tell me everything about
how this thing was made.

Well, my brilliant DP wanted
to shoot it in this very moody,

beautifully lit
Polish film school way,

and I had to put my foot
down and say no,

I want it to be as brightly lit
as a bathroom.

Yeah.

I want all the lights on.

When we were doing rehearsals,
or before we rehearsed it,

Christian said to me,
I think I'm going to moonwalk.

And when he
did it in rehearsal,

I literally fell
off of my chair.

I thought it was so funny.

I love how
the furniture's covered.

I do love what
the art department did.

What they got
was Patrick's

sort of obsessive
compulsive neatness,

which is a sort of
hilarious aspect of him,

but then it's so messy and gory,
and he's so out of control.

We didn't have a lot
of time to shoot,

and I remember
this wonderful moment

that the blood had hit
one side of his face

so that when he sits down,
he looks almost clean,

almost like normal.

Mickey: Some critics, wrongly,
I feel, called it misogynistic

which I think is very strange
considering it was adapted

by a woman,
directed by a woman,

and I just wanted to ask
your thoughts on that.

A lot of what was great
in "American Psycho"

was that it's an exploration
of misogyny,

and very critical of
this macho male culture.

And we saw it very much
as a satire

on this ridiculous
competitiveness

and posturing
of these Wall Street guys.

So as a woman,
as an audience member,

I want to know the truth

about the dark recesses
of men's minds.

Men should learn the truth
about the dark recesses

of women's minds.

This is art.
It's not real life.

We're allowed to play
and explore ideas.

Is it very important
for you

to just tell interesting stories
about interesting characters,

and let the audience
choose whether they like

the protagonist or not?

Yes. When Ed Pressman,
the producer and I,

were pitching "American Psycho,"
everybody brought this up,

"How can you make a film
about such a terrible person?"

And someone said, "Are people
going to leave the theater

feeling the world
is a better place

for having seen that movie?"

And it's like, no.

I didn't want redemption,

because that screws up
a lot of movies,

having to put in a redemptive
moment when it's not earned.

If someone has earned
redemption, great,

but if you're Patrick Bateman
and you're a serial killer,

there is no good end.

He's not going to
get better.

It's a monster movie
in a way.

It's about a deformed
human being in a world

that should have found him out,
but doesn't care to.

So what do you do?

Well, murders
and executions mostly.

Well, most guys I know
who work in mergers

and acquisitions
really don't like it.

How can you make anything
so full of terror?

Well, it's all about controlling
the point of view.

So here we are.

Here we are.

So we're shooting
a dinner scene right now

with three different
cameras,

from your perspective,

assuming you are the protagonist
of this episode,

do you think that the way
that you select camera angles

is priority to convey
the protagonist,

or do you think it has
more to do with editing

and where you hold
and where you pause?

Well first it starts
with a script,

like what is the script
saying about

who the protagonist is?

But then I mean,
who's holding the camera,

and who's looking at who?

So am I a potential victim?

In which case,
you can move the camera

so that suddenly you're
very big in the frame

and I'm kind of small
and cowering here.

And then when you do
the flip and reverse

and find out
that I'm the victim...

It could be your point
of view of me looking at you,

and I might say something
to you like, "You nervous?"

Why, do I look nervous?

No, no, I just wondered.

You seem nervous.

It's funny.

What are you nervous about?

And it could be asked
very innocently,

but once you bring in doubt,

like, why are you nervous,

then suddenly you've
changed

the power dynamic.

Is anyone in danger
in this scene?

I'm not sure.

Good steak.

And that's the moment when
I find out these are poisoned.

Yes.

One thing that's interesting

is if you compare
shooting normal,

sort of presentational,
which is dead on, medium level,

and then do something
that Hitchcock would do,

or certainly Orson Welles always
did and just lower the camera.

Things often seem
more interesting

in a lower angle anyway,
just as a way of shooting them,

but suddenly looking
up at someone,

if you want to make them
seem intimidating

or in some way threatening,
it's a perfect way to do it.

You can also put the camera
outside of the window,

and that creates this kind
of feeling of surveillance,

which automatically produces a
certain anxiety in the audience.

Who's watching them?

Why are they standing
outside the window?

That feeling of someone
spying on them,

physically, the camera
is like somebody watching,

but standing apart and just
watching the two people,

and you don't know
who it is.

Or you can try
a tracking shot,

and the great thing about that

is the camera is traveling

which creates
a sort of unease

and a gradual build
up of tension

because it's moving
towards someone,

but you don't know why.

The cheapest way
to create tension

is not through special effects
or fancy equipment.

it's just by using
different camera angles,

sizes, close or far,
low or high.

In the arsenal,
you can do it with an iPhone.

Absolutely. Mary, thank you
so much for being here today

and sharing with me
all your amazing knowledge.

Unfortunately all good things
must come to an end, so...

Fuck!

While Mary uses film technique
and the magic of cinema

to control the emotions
and reactions of her audience,

my next guest uses mathematics
and psychology to control his.

He's also strikingly
handsome.

Thank you.

Did you make me say that?

Yes!

World renowned mentalist
Kevin Viner.

Sir, how are you?

Doing really well.
How are you?

Good. Good.
Let's get right to it.

What the hell
is a mentalist?

What is a mentalist?

I like your shoes by the way.

I have the same pair
at home.

Really?
Well, you've got good taste,

because I like your shoes
and your socks.

Thank you very much.

Are you making me
compliment you right now?

Well what's interesting,
and this will tie

into what a mentalist does.

A magician detracts people
with sleight of hand, right?

Sure.

A mentalist,

we use some facets
of magic,

but we're really more concerned
with how people think.

So for instance, issuing
a compliment to somebody,

it's about creating
a familiarity there.

So when I tell you
I have the same shoes,

it makes you feel like,
okay, this guy has taste,

and then you compliment me back,
you reciprocate that.

We start creating
a rapport and a bond,

and that's a lot of what
a mentalist's job is to do.

I have to make you
comfortable with me,

or I won't be able
to get in there

and manipulate
what you're thinking.

It sounds almost like what
it takes to direct a movie,

like making the actors
very comfortable

and making the crew
do what you say.

There are a lot
of parallels.

A director,
they want people

to follow their instructions,
but they also want trust, right?

And so another thing you might
be noticing I'm doing

is if you look at our
body language right now,

I'm mirroring your body
language exactly,

and you may not have
even noticed that.

I did not.

Most people
don't realize that,

they don't see
small nuances,

but it's kind of like
a game of poker.

I noticed that you brought
a whole lot of things.

Walk me through it.
What are we doing today?

Let's try something.

You okay with trying
a little experiment?

Well, you've already made me
compliment your style

and your appearance,
so yes, I am.

Let's look back and think
about somebody from the past,

and this may have
been somebody you

already have locked
in your mind,

somebody who passed away
too soon,

and you can get a name
in your mind, correct?

Yes.

And you didn't share this
with anybody.

Grab any one of those
colored pencils

if you don't mind.

Jot down the initials
of that person,

show it to the camera,
don't let me see it.

I'll look away.

And when you're done,
fold that slip

a few times so you lock

those initials inside,
okay, Mickey?

Cool, yes, for sure.

Good, and then go ahead
and crumple it up

pretty small for me.All right.

Give me your hand.

I want you to just
stare at it

and focus on
that person's initials,

think about that okay?

Ohh.

Do you see the initials?
Maybe in the ash somewhere?

No, not really.

Let's try this then.

Just think about
their initials.

Okay.

If you look on my arm...

Stop it!

You can actually see
there's a "J"

that starts to form
and then 'M'.

Do the initials JM
mean anything to you?

They do.

They do, now I want you to think
about who this person was.

Actually visualize
their name,

see it right here
in front of you.

You're imagining
Jim Morrison right now.

Is that accurate?

Yes. Yes, it is.

Without giving it away,
obviously, how?

Well, you may remember
I had a chance

to talk with you a little bit
backstage before we came here.

You're inside of a club,

and there's really loud
music playing

and all of these things
are swirling around

and you see some doors
in front of you,

and you take those doors
and you swing them open.

You walk outside,
and it's silent.

I told you to imagine that
you were in a music club

and I asked you to imagine
the doors opening.

So you put music
into your mind,

I tried to assess what kind
of music you might like,

what you might be
interested in.

Once I have an idea
of how you think,

now I'm going to try and implant
that suggestion into your mind.

So I mentioned
implanting The Doors,

and after you were able
to think of a person,

I said go ahead and shut
the doors on that person

to lock them
into your head,

and that influenced you
to go for Jim Morrison.

Jesus Christ. Let's just
talk about the psychology

of the human mind, because you
kind of brought up suggesting

and leading me along
to that kind of answer.

Where does it all start?Everything starts
in the brain.

Let's say that I want to
plant something

in your mind and make you think
that you really care about me.

Okay, I can ask you
to do a small favor.

It might be something as simple
as I'm carrying something in

and you see a stranger,
and you go,

"I'm really sorry,
would you mind giving me

a hand bringing this in?"

What scientists have found

is that by asking somebody
to do something for you,

it actually endears you
to that person more,

and the reason is,
that person has to go,

"Why am I doing this for
this stranger right now?

Well, it must be because
I like this person."

That's the way our brain
reasons things.

So let's talk about
the process of kind of

like reading people in a way.

Are there common,
telltale signs of body language

that people convey that kind of
lead you towards something?

It depends what
you're looking for.

So for instance,
lie detection,

polygraph tests have
historically been ways

that people try to detect
if you're lying

or telling the truth.

The problem with
a polygraph

is that it's also
very inaccurate.

Take a serial killer,
okay?

A lot of times
serial killers

will have issues with
polygraph machines,

and the reason is that
they don't really

feel a lot inside, right?

They're acting like
they feel things,

but a lot of times
they're really numb inside.

So when you take somebody
like that and put them

under a polygraph,

their behavior doesn't
change that much,

and they're not going to
get that rapid heartbeat,

because that's all based
on emotional responses.

-Right.
-So, for me,

if I'm watching
somebody on stage,

and I'm asking them
questions

and trying to do
a lie detection routine,

I'll look for a change
in the way that the person

is responding to me.

Do you find that
it's different when

it comes to crowds as opposed
to individual people?

Is there ways to...?

Whether you're performing
for 7 people

or 777 people,

it doesn't matter how many
people you're working for,

the rules of engagement
kind of stay the same.

It's about creating a personal
connection with people.

It's not always about how
do you fool them the best,

it's how do you
entertain them the best.

Let me actually
ask you something.

If I had you

commit to a number
from, like,

one to a thousand, you have
one in your mind, right?

I do, yes.

Okay, and what
I want you to do,

just let me know
what's that number

you're thinking about
right now?

13.
13.

And let's try this, did you
have maybe another number

in your mind,
a number that you had set

on that you had
kind of committed to,

that you thought about?

Yes, yeah.

What was that number that
you were also thinking about?

That number was 7.

Really?

Yes, I swear to God.

Okay, that's interesting,

because remember a little
while back,

about audiences and I said it
doesn't matter if there are

7 people in a room or 777 people
in a room, right?

So that's a way
to prime people,

and a way to get people
to think in the direction

that you want them to go.

Sure.
Do you mind if we do
another experiment?

Please, no absolutely.

So I want you to think
about a word

that I wouldn't have
been able to guess,

something that you don't think
I could guide you to say.

Got it.

Go for it,
just call out a word.

I was actually thinking
of the word dictionary.

Dictionary.

We'll try one last thing.

I'm going to have you
imagine that you are

surrounded by a color.

Now here's what's
interesting about this,

there are 31,178

different colors out there.

What's the color that you
were picturing yourself

being surrounded by?

Blue.
Blue.

So a few things that I want
to point out to you

that you may not
have realized, okay?

Since I've been here,

I've been trying to avoid
the color blue with you.

So if you look around, from the
shirt to the vest, to the shoes,

to the markers,
if you look around here,

you'll notice the only
real color missing is blue.

We have red,
we have a silver balloon.

So the interesting thing
about that number, 31,178,

if you look at it upside down
it actually is blue.

You can see that, blue.

Now, inside of that balloon,

you'll see that there is
a little slip of paper.

Do you see that there?
Yeah.

There is a small pair
of scissors in there.

If you could grab
those scissors for me.

Take the balloon, put it down
onto the table and go ahead

and just puncture that.

Okay,
there is a slip of paper.

Okay, you see that?

Yeah.

-I'm freaked out.
-I am too.

Mickey, check this out.

You committed to a few pieces
of information.

You named a couple
of numbers,

you'll notice also that
that's a blue slip

that had a blue
paper clip around it.

I knew that you were
going to go for blue,

but not only did I know
you would go for blue,

I also wrote down
a couple of different things

that I thought
you would do.

Mickey will say the numbers
13 and 7,

and say dictionary.

I don't like this one bit,
and I'm terrified now.

How the fuck
do you do that?

You know what? Some secrets
are better kept unsaid.

My mind's been
successfully blown.

I've learned a lot.Thank you.

Thank you so much
for being here.

My honor.

Sam, old buddy, old pal,

I have been waiting
all day to say this

and have it actually
make sense.

I have to return
some video tapes.

"American Psycho,"
very good.

Thanks,
I've been practicing.

I've got some stuff
for you today.

Lay it on me.

Hitchcock.
Love him.

Big influence on everyone.Yes.

Big influence on Mary Harron,
who you spoke to today.Oh, yes.

Let's talk about some
of the best films

directly influenced
by Hitchcock on Shudder.

My favorite subject.

All right, we've got
an Italian double feature,

and some new-school
suspense favorites.

First up, "The Evil Eye,"
Mario Bava.

The godfather
of Italian horror,

and really the progenitor
of the Giallo, "Evil Eye"

is the first Giallo.

It's alternate title is
"The Girl Who Knew Too Much,"

a direct rift on Hitchcock,

and it's just this fun,
black and white,

elegant thriller about a girl
who loves crime books,

she loves pulp,
and she gets caught up

in a murder mystery
herself.

There are great foot chases,
there are great twists,

there is everything you want
in that sort of world

as the Italian style
starts to establish itself.

Next up, "Cat o' Nine Tails."

Headquarters is here.
The DA's here, too.

How much they
get away with?

Nothing, as far
as they can tell.

The best.

The best.

So this is similar because

we've got someone caught up

in something bigger
than themselves,

one of those great
Hitchcock motifs.

This is a bit more
of a conspiracy thriller,

but it's fun and it teases
you out the whole way,

and again, you're starting
to see the flair

and the flourish
of someone like Argento

inject into what is otherwise
a classical thriller.

It's awesome.

I can't wait.Now we're going to
go to Spain

for one of my favorite movies
of the last couple of years,

"Shrew's Nest."

This is a great thriller,
actually produced

by Alex De La Iglesia
of "Day of the Beast"

and "Witching and Bitching"
fame.

Okay.
So this is his really
stunning period thriller

about a woman who is
agoraphobic and overbearing.

She takes care of her
younger sister,

and their neighbor
falls down the stairs.

She takes him inside, and there
is a little shades of "Misery,"

she brings him in,
she's half-taking care of him,

half-keeping him hostage.

So what you have is
this tense,

amazing movie where three people
are stuck in this apartment

and they all have to maneuver
around each other.

There is "Rope" in there,
there is "Rear Window" in there,

and it spills over
into such a bloody,

Grand Guignol,
operatic piece of work.

I love it so much,
I think you will, too.

Well, I'm excited.

Clem: Keep looking.

That's the entry wound

of a Rochester .47 automatic

with scope laser aim
and silencer.

Now, "Grand Piano."

Great movie.

Isn't it?
It's amazing.

And it's so much fun.

It's so cheeky,
it's beautiful.

Elijah Wood plays
a concert pianist,

he has to play every note
correctly, or he will die.

Can't get more
Hitchcockian than that.

I know, it rules.

And again, someone's caught up
in something bigger,

there is something else
at play here.

And the movie just plays.

It has so much fun with itself,

with its actors -- You've got
Alex Winter from "Bill & Ted"

and "The Lost Boys."Which is so random,
but awesome.

I think you're going to have
so much fun with this,

even though you've seen it,
watch it again.

How could you not
have fun with this?

Hey, I'm going to reorganize
the identity crisis section.

You want to hang out?

I have to go return
some video tapes.

Where?

That's it for "The Core."

I want to thank Mary Harron
for showing us

the cinematic tools
of manipulation,

and Kevin Viner
for scrambling my --

Scrambling my...

Hm, I seem to have
forgotten something.

Something that could have
dire consequences for me

or those around me.

-Hey, good job Mickey.
-Hey, thanks!

-Let me get your mic.
-Yeah, sure, no problem.

-Just over here.
-Right there.

Cool.
Great show today.

Thank you so much.

See you tomorrow.

Hey, man, have you
seen my car...keys?