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Episode 417 - Don't Look Now - Part 2 (Patreon)

Published:
2018-08-24 22:03:17
Edited:
2025-05-18 02:28:41
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Join us as we conclude Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier!

Special thanks to ace reader Barbara Ford!

We'll be back in September with Copping Squid by Michael Shea, featuring guest Patton Oswalt!

Comments

Mandy Reznor (She/It)

...Well, THAT just happened. While I overall really loved the ending, I have to say it does wear suspension of disbelief somewhat thin. There's a world of difference between the bodily proportions and gait of a child and somebody with dwarfism; you'd think something would have seemed off about the girl's movement either time he saw her. More disappointingly, when I hear "murderer," "throat-wounds," and "little girl" together, all I can think of is an underage vampire. If only the hard left turn were, instead, a little girl chomping down on his throat and sucking him dry like Claudia (from Interview With a Vampire) or Babette (from Skyrim). Oh, well. Maybe we'll get some weird fiction on this show with murderous children who are ACTUALLY children later. (How many years does Stephen King have left?) Still, great tale overall. I really need to see the film, now.

Richard Horsman

The trains that go into ferries have existed in the last 20 years for sure. In one of his radio lectures Mark Steel mentions ending up on one in Europe (I forget where) and finding it totally surreal.

Jason Thompson

I'm glad she changed the original title, "John Dies at the End"

Forrest Rush

Probably you and everyone else are right in how you are seeing this and that does require a big old heaping cup of belief suspension that someone would be that obtuse regarding a dwarf and an actual child but I always thought those were psychic visions of his daughter trying to warn him of the danger. The problem being, as it so often is whenever seeing across the veil is involved especially for a novice or uninitiated, that the message is muddled. I also have to mention that lack of clarity is a du maurier staple. Practically no one in her works really has any idea what is ever going on internally or externally. I think that's why Venice is the perfect setting for this story. Even without specifically stating an Eric Zahn like atmosphere she achieves as Venice is famous for its spooky side streets that seemingly go nowhere and gondolas wandering the canals lost but not. Thanks guys great story and hope there will be more Daphne in the future.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I guess I just couldn't get beyond the associations this brought up with aTales from the Crypt episode: The Ventriloquist's Dummy. If you haven't seen it, well, I guess go see it. It's on YouTube. It has Bobcat Goldthwait. It has Don Rickles. It has a, er, twist ending..?

Nadia Astorga

Meh. It looked promising, but ended with a small sigh. I totally get a LeFanu vibe here, ”The Familiar” with the murderous leprechaun, or whatever it was.

Markus Lauerer

Chad made an interesting point when talking about how we tend to expect all the clues in a story to come together in some kind of final synthesis at the end. Really though, randomness is one of the central characteristics of our everyday lives. Now that's not to say that literature has to mimic this lack of causality in order to be successful, as it operates by its own rules. I find it funny, however, that we tend to equate stories with perfectly explained causalities with the realist tradition, when really they're as artificial (and hence untrue to our everyday experience) as can be.

Steve

When I was doing Inter-rail with my brother, back in the distant past (1983), we got a train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. It was a night train, which we often did to avoid playing for hotels. We woke up and it was dark and the carriage was empty apart from us two. Also the train was swaying from side to side. The next few compartments were empty too. Where was everyone?! And then, as we searched around we realised that the train was on a boat and we were in the hold. So we went up on deck and watched the rest of the short trip from there. Apparently you can still do this: <a href="http://exploreforayear.com/travel/hamburg-copenhagen-baltic-sea-train-ferry" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://exploreforayear.com/travel/hamburg-copenhagen-baltic-sea-train-ferry</a>

Petter Sjölund

Has anyone mentioned Paul Shrader's The Comfort of Strangers already? I can recommend that for everyone who can't get enough of weird movies inspired by this story. The Harold Pinter dialogue adds extra weirdness on top.

Pearce Duncan

I've seen the movie four times, but this is the first time I read the story and I was also amazed at how faithful the movie turned out to be. Word is that there's a remake in the works by the producers of some Liam Neeson action movies, which could be hilarious if they cast him in full Taken mode.

Jimmy Bruun

Hey guys. Great and funny show as always. I actually only knew the Roeg adaptation (I had no idea that it was based on a du Maurier story) and watched it, when I was a teenager and it scared the bejeezus out of me, especially when I still thought that the red-hooded figure was a child ghost ala in Dark Water. When the reveal came, it gave me a distinct giallo, Argento-like vibe. A bit silly, but scary nonetheless. Regarding alternative titles for the film in foreign markets, the Danish release was titled "Rødt Chok", meaning "Red Shock" in English. Not the worst title, I'll grant you, but still one in a long tradition of Danish "translations," where the Danish version had nothing to do with the original title. One of the worst offenders has to be the Danish title for the Eastwood/Sheen cop movie The Rookie, which was called Cold Lead and Hot Beatings in Danish. Yeah... Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next Patton Oswalt outing.

Darth Pseudonym

Talking about how the police are always presented as helpful in old Spiderman comics, that was actually a specific requirement under the Comics Code Authority (which Marvel didn't really start bucking until the 1970s). "Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority."

nils hedglin

Listening to this episode gave me a very uncomfortable feeling, and not the tingly kind I usually get when in listen. About half way through part 2, I realized I'd heard/saw the story/movie somewhere before. The 1st appearance of the twins seemed familiar. Then when the "kid" in the pixie hood appeared, that really was familiar. Finally, when he was riding the water taxi after his wife left, I suddenly had the idea he was going to see his wife with the twins again. And he did. Very bizarre and surreal. I never remember actually seeing or reading the story, but I do have some very strong mental visuals in my mind from somewhere. It's like it was on in the background while I was in a fevered state. Even after finishing the episodes, and wracking my brain all day, I still don't know how I came into contact with it. Very creepy.

Brandon Neff

Just finished the episode. I am a relatively recent listener/subscriber and a huge fan already. Have you ever considered some Dennis Wheatley? Specifically, The Devil Rides Out. There's even a movie, but the book has a twist at the end that the movie lacks. Definitely worth consideration!

Erick W Mertz

Loved the book, but the film is a bit busy for my taste. Act I of the film loses the attempt at recreating breezy and playful between the mourning couple. Julie Christie is an elegant performer but Donald Sutherland is too boorish.

Ethan Cordray

Thanks for this one, a book and movie that I hadn't been aware of before. Personally, I'm affected by strong anxiety over not knowing where a loved-one is (for example, if my wife were to go out somewhere and she didn't tell me, and I couldn't contact her, or if one of my cats gets outside and I can't find them). It's a primal, irrational fear response, and this story evoked some of that. Especially toward the end, when the husband thinks he knows his wife is back in England, and then sees her on the boat but can't communicate with her. That was a very effective moment of that dislocated, uncanny feeling of that comforting illusion of knowledge being peeled away.

Nadia Astorga

I forgot to add this to my original comment. If you’re looking for female writers there’s Vernon Lee, I’m reading her ”Phantom Lover” at the moment. It’s a really bizarre and creepy story. Her collection of horror stories is titled ”Hauntings”. Her life was fascinating, she was openly gay during her time, IIRC. Another one that is more in the Lovecraftian tradition is CL Moore, queen of pulp fiction.