MAG110 - Case #0121403 - Alexia Crawley
Statement regarding their involvement with the last film of an acclaimed director.
The Magnus Archives tells the tale of an accomplished cinematographer and the worrying obsession of a renowned Hollywood direction with producing a horror story of strange provenance.
Content Notes: Human corpses, spiders, trans discrimination
Starring: Martin Blackwood - Alexander J Newall; Basira Hussain - Frank Voss; Melanie King - Lydia Nicholas
Writer: Jonathan Sims
Director: Alexander J Newall
Editor: Alexander J Newall, Elizabeth Moffatt, Brock Winstead
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I love how Martin got mad at Basira for calling him out on giving everyone tea and not two seconds later he offers Melanie tea. I love him so much, so wholesome!
He's such a sweetheart 💖💖💖
I'm convinced now that his love language is giving out tea lmao
She probably gave him the biggest side eye 👀 in the world after that.😂😂😂😂
And he realized what was happening but couldn't find an off-ramp.
This podcast: *references a book within 9 yards of a central plot point* Me, automatically: LEITNER
this made me realize that spiders themselves are a central plot point
the books were there before they owned him for a short while
I see you. I see your profile image.
@@charlied6649 I was going to address you as "brother" but I actually have no idea how that particular family tree works
Lil Hal pfp 👀
Realizing that Leitner is connected to yet another statement is like the TMA equivalent of "Dinkleberg......"
mans put it into words, well, memes, but my point still stands
And _here's_ where I'd put my well-documented, securely-contained library of Leitner books... IF I HAD ONE!!!!
Leitner had collected over 900 books by the time his library was burned, and that wasn't even all of them!
Sometimes a family can be a lifelong homeless man, his monster-murderous adopted niece, and the head of Max Mustermann.
You're on the wrong episode but you got the spirit
auto play's worst enemy
* me folding laundry peacefully as i listen to this horror podcast * Martin: book * stands up straight * LEITNER
Same!
We've been trained like Gerard Kaey to look out for suspiscious books
Lol I'm folding laundry too, had the exact same reaction!
ASMODAI! OUR ASSUMPTIONS ARE CONFIRMED!
WHAT
"glad Jon didn't have to read that one" oh Martin,, that was his first thought? it's equally tragic he's wrong here ;-;
wait, is he wrong? jon didn't read this one, right?
@@f_mva he didn't read this statement, but he read the book the movie was based on
@@humanname99 right, i think that's what martin was referencing tho? he's glad jon didn't have to read the statement because he knows about the book? maybe idk
@@f_mva I think he just knows how much Jon hates spiders, it's possible he means the book though
I’m pretty sure they are 2 separate spider related books
its very funny hearing Alex (martin) the director, talking shit about directors
Came here to comment on this! Even funnier: The _writer_ _had_ the director talk shit about directors. :D (Kind of appropriate, given the Entity of the episode. Hmm, wonder if that was intentionally meta.)
@@EVind-xz8km Yeah I thought that too, that was quite funny lol
Martin is getting less and less scared of the statements? Feel like this is the second one where he was like "Oh that wasn't so bad" 🤔
Interesting observation especially with the fact that compared to when Jon started he got increasingly more disturbed with each new statement
I mean, it was about spiders and I think he liked them or smth
On one hand, he’s probably just getting used to it, since he has to read them fairly regularly now. I’m sure he still feels them, but at this point he at least knows what to expect. And on the other hand, I’m sure the subject matter is also a factor. The last statement he read was Lonely. Martin is relatively comfortable with that. No spoilers, but he’s not had an easy life, and tends to isolate himself. So at least it’s familiar territory. This statement is Web. Martin has said himself that he rather likes spiders. Especially big ones. He thinks they’re cute. So while I’m sure he can empathise with the statement giver’s fear, it’s not something he’s naturally afraid of, so I’m sure that helps as somewhat of an emotional buffer from feeling the statement’s full effects. But that’s just my guess. ☺️
The ones he seems to be most okay with she ones concerning the Lonely and the Web. I think both suit him in different ways. At this point in the story he's pretty much alone emotionally, he doesn't connect too well with any of the assistants especially since Tim is an increasingly loose canon. We also know he's very good at planning and maybe even manipulating, doing things in the background like stockpiling extinguishes in places Jane/the worms might not find them and organizing s2's intervention while trying to keep the Archives together. Both Fears suit him pretty well.
@@TheNitpickChick❤
damn jonathan sims REALLY doesn't like tarantino also loved the bit abt how underrated cinematographers are, it's so true!
I imidiatly thought "huh this guy sounds like a twighlight zone Quintin Tarantino" when listening.
God this episode was literally just a massive collection of Magnus Archives red flags. I mean spiders, needing to use digital equipment, famous people who aren’t real, a book with supernatural powers, people going mysteriously missing, people feeling like they’re being controlled by something, a human taking on a different appearance after getting an obsession, and so much more. It’s just like a collection of all the things that make you go “oh no, I don’t like where this is going”
"There is no protagonist to speak of, just vignettes of people living lives under The Shadow of the Spider, slowly, calmly walking into It's waiting maw." Clever.
I love how this podcast seamlessly integrates diversity into the statements and characters. It is not forced, but also not really a big deal. Just normal, like it is with people overall. Yet another plus point.
Its kinda forced when half of the characters are gay
@Ash S yeah like %1, maybe %2
@@TransilvanianHunger1334 Pepe icons don't get a voice
@@TransilvanianHunger1334 This is a universe with paranormal ghost creatures, magic books and all sorts of other assorted shit and you're more concerned about the realistic statistic proportion of LGBT+ people in the main cast?
@@AbandonedYetHereToo But reEeaLiiIsM
martin's emphasized affinity for spiders is... Concerning
Luckily he leaned into other things more
Y e s
He's only interested in spiders the little scuttling things not what the spider truly represents. The mother of all puppets, the web. Marten isn't the scheming type
@@Thisone109 Isn't he? He planted fire extinguishers in a spot not hidden from him, just from Jane's worms, and before that he carried around a corkscrew knowing it would be better for eventual extractions. He saw Jon potentially stalking Tim and organized an intervention. He lied about his age, education, and work history and maintained that deception until accused of murder.. He wants to help people, he's a caregiver, but he's very good at doing things behind the scenes someone wouldn't notice unless they were watching him, like Jon. In s1 Jon calls him out on not knowing Latin, but his Polish checks out. We have no idea if Martin just Googled it or if he actually speaks Polish well enough to know a specific word like "cauterize". I think there's a decent amount of Web in Martin.
We stan Web!Martin
A passing comment about the statement giver being trans had such an effect on me. Sometimes hearing that other people know you exist is enough.
Honestly same, especially when it showed the realistic struggles of bias and discrimination
Wait where was it? I missed it :(
I wonder if there’ll be any nonbinary representation in the future, that’d be nice!
@@matthewhaggar I think the voice actor who plays Basira is nb.
@@matthewhaggar I'm pretty sure the wiki states that the avatars of the Spiral (Michael and Helen) are genderless. Not sure if that counts, but it's something
I know it isn't that big of a deal but for some reason the trigger warning of spiders and transphobia is the funniest damn combination to me?? I don't know why but its like that one episode where the only trigger warning was fascism
Wait a moment, where even was the transphobia?
@@oliverandreassen8388it's very briefly mentioned, the statement writer is transgender and she (I believe those are her pronouns) mentioned being dropped by other studios bc of it
@@sascharuler Oh alright I didn't notice, thanks for the clarification
i wonder what would happen if one of the actors was as immune to spiders as the rambling guy from ep100 was to the spiral lol "oh those are some good decorations, is that a cobalt blue tarantula? my younger sister used to keep one", makes me wonder if all the entities let people go if they just don't care
I think there are some people that they can't feed off of. There was also the subway girl that accepted being crushed to near death and was suddenly let go.
there was also sebastian skinner who was so oblivious that they brought him back a second time and forced him to see what was going on lmao
I think it's got something to do with the fact that they need to feed off of people. When we can't provide, they basically just dip to avoid wasting effort lmao
@@lydiac9118 i maintain my theory that if you have adhd you're immune to the shenanigans
I think it has to do with fear. The one's who weren't afraid escaped.
I love how the Web and the Eye are just kind of lurking in the background for the early run, and then you just get more and more of a feeling of their influence as the show goes on.That feels... appropriate.
Hmmm, this makes me wonder of their truce is only temporary. Similar to the distortion? "Yeah, once we've knocked the other entities down a few pegs, we go back to being enemies." "Sounds fair."
I think the best part of Elias’s powers from a horror standpoint is that he’s not watching a l l the time, but he could be watching at ANY time. It really adds to the suspense
ikr, i kinda love his powers a lot
I love how they wrote all of the different abilities we see avatars display. The Hunters supernatural sense of smell. Jon doesn't even _begin_ to use his compulsion to the extent that he could. Being able to ask _ANYTHING_ and get a guaranteed true answer is _so_ powerful. Not just for the previously shown blackmail but you could learn financial information. The Lonely can make a person invisible! And, I'm sure Simon Fairchild can defy gravity in some way.
Martin’s head is full of love and tea, not a single thought to be had
And not spiders. Not many spiders. Probably no spiders.
A film adaptation of an unnerving book, using strictly analog and older technology... I guess we should be thankful there aren't many more adaptations of Leitners. Makes me curious about what else could happen adapting them to other mediums. Magic books on tape could be an issue, if reading them is what causes their effects.
Well, Leitner himself said that the book doesn’t even have to be read aloud in order to use its effects. Entirely possible that simply listening to the book without the text there in front of you wouldn’t do much of anything.
Hmm, I would guess depending on the book's effects a recording of it being read may or may not do anything, then.
Is anyone else worried about Martin accidentally becoming an archivist? (I’m also ngl Michael before he was Michael reminded me a lot of Martin and I’m genuinely worried our boy is going down a bad path)
hearing a character being written so casually makes me so happy, it's realistic, and human. it was well written, as a trans man, this made my day ovo
Hold your chin up high king, you must seek your queen
TRANS RIGHTS! I'm only at the opening but I hope nothing too bad happens to Alexia by the end of all this...
Her being trans gives her no reason to NOT suffer a fate worse than death at the limbs of mister spider
@@jamesmortimer4016 are you joking or....?
Public disgrace is a shame, but given what she'd brushed up against, probably the best outcome
@@remuslupin2795 James is (probably) just saying that being trans doesn't automatically provide protection. Although, they definitely could have been a bit more... tactful with their phrasing :/
@@remuslupin2795 i think the joke was the no matter ones gender identity, we all deserve cosmic oblivion at the hand of the entities. I get why it sounds... weird tho.
the spider must have been so hype about this 'omgomgomgomg they're making it into a movie!! throw all our best people at it!'
I love how the assistens get together for plotting. I hope Tim joins them too
Elias in his office using Beholding's power to spy on the assistants, watching them meet up in the break room and discuss how to kill him for the fifth time this week: 👁️👄👁️
@@lydiac9118And it’s only Wednesday
Being from Redondo Beach I can confirm that the corpse shows up every year
👍
What, that's real?????
Deadass??
yup, I can verify
i used to live there!
This is the 2nd case in a row by Martin relating to theatre. Interesting...
I know this was a year ago, but he was asked to research anything relating to theater or circuses
@@Verte7 being caught up, it could also be foreshadowing
Soooo, it is the book Jon read as a kid, isn't it? I mean, it sounds familiar but the book itself isn't described enough in this episode for me to be 100% sure (I think, in the other episode, it was described as looking more like a children's book, and at the end you're pretty much guaranteed to die if you do as you're told but that's not mentioned at all here), though I guess it would be weird for two of Leitner's books to be so similar if they're not the same. It would also explain the comment Martin says about Jon thankfully not being here to read the book or something along those lines I'm not sure if I heard well. I sort of wish Jon had been the one reading this one as it would have been interesting to see his opinion on this particular story, since he nearly died from the Mr spider book and all...
Could be. But there are hundrets of these books out there so it only makes sence that there is more than just one dedicated to the Web.
Yeah... I mean, it could be, but at the same time it wasn't the same killing method that John described. There's still a door, but this book didn't have the direct hypnose that lead you to knock on the door, get pulled inside and die. Now, if it's indeed the same book, maybe that's why the girl didn't get killed by the spider ; she haddn't knock?
considering leitner had a whole library, it would make sense if there was more than one book about the spiders. and unless the director became the avatar of the web, i think if he read the book when he found it, he would vanish without a sign because mr. spider would have eaten him
@@HyacinthoIgnis thing is this podcast doesn't just have coincidences that large, I mean the horror could have been about any other bug, but they went with spiders and so far it looks like Leitner only had one book per primordial fear, we have never seen two books that are alike. So I think it's the same book
@@ashisnotok7106 That seems like an odd conclusion to jump to. Why did you think Leitner only had one book per fear? Jurgen himself seemed to imply that he had many books, or at the very least more than 14. And it's been shown that there are books out there that even Jurgen Leitner didn't get around to collecting and marking. Plus, we do see multiple books per fear. Whether they've been marked by Leitner or not. (There's several examples, multiples of books from the Flesh, the End, and the Buried at least, but it's hard to remember what's been shown at this point and I don't want to accidentally spoil anything so I'll just use the one example I know for sure has been shown so far) Leitner used The Seven Lamps of Architecture to change the tunnel walls, and entomb the not!Sasha which is a Buried book, and then there's that book that compels the reader to dig, which is also Buried. So, basically, I have no doubt that there is more than one book of the Web. If Mr Spider is literally the ONLY one out there, I would honestly be very surprised. And the book described in this statement is different enough from Jon's description of Mr Spider that I'm 99% sure it's a different book.
Trans woman makes every correct move including eliminating a major source of horror by burning the book and halfway planned to track down its owner and she still loses in the end due to transphobia. Honestly I dont think I could have written a more accurate trans experience myself
Is that a flower covering your face or is it your massive ego
So this guy was just Quentin Tarantino.
And he ended up serving the entity with the most feet.
And Neil Legorio is definitely Stan Winston.
@@loki1456 Legorio reminded me of Fangoria and their love of fx.
Basira: Tea isn't good enough Matin: Tea isn't all I can do Basira: prove it Martin: ok Melanie: hello Martin: *TEA!*
"Glad Jon didnt read this one" hahahaha suuuure, he totally didnt read it
I'm honestly really worried about everyone. I wouldn't put it past Elias to pretend he couldn't see something, he's already proven himself to be manipulative
My pet theory is that Elias can't lie, after all, he is an avatar of knowledge and the truth.
I think jon realised because elias had no idea leitner was in the tunnels and then it just got around
Elias couldn't See Leitner even when he was sitting talking to Jon in his office. Leitner had used a book called "A Disappearance" that Gertrude got for him. It seems to have the power to block the Eye's sight of the reader and might be of The Lonely. Some of the books incorporate more then one of the fears like "The Key of Solomon".
This is my third time listening through this podcast and only just caught that Alexia was trans. Love that for her. Love that we get *casual representation* this way. Ace and gay and trans and dwarfism and so very many others and I'm just...I'm just so happy to have this, fellas
What I love is that it isn't forced for the sake of representation of inclusivity, but it actually benefits the story through different ways, especially the gaslighting, fuck the gaslighting.
wait i just realised, the book is probably the spider book that jon got as a kid. it has a spider as the antagonist, and there is no clear protagonist, just characters that one by one get killed by the spider. since the movie is just based on the book, it could very well be the same one
It could be, I suppose, but there were a LOT of Leitners out there, and some books that even he was never able to collect and mark. I can’t imagine there being only one book dedicated to The Web. Also, Mr Spider takes and eats the reader. I don’t see how the director would have survived reading it if it was the same book. Instead of killing the reader, some Leitners, like the Bone Turner’s Tale, corrupt the reader and shape them into an avatar of whichever entity it is, provided the reader has the right... temperament? A natural inclination towards the entity? That’s why Jared became the Bone Turner, and not the librarian who originally found the book. Or how Mike Crew used Ex Altiora to join the Vast, but his childhood friend from “Pageturner” was only put in danger by it. But that’s just conjecture on my part. There’s no way of telling for sure one way or the other. 😅
@@TheNitpickChick It seems sometimes people targeted by entities survive the ordeal if they give in and become an avatar for it instead. Maybe Mr. Spider caught him, wound him up, then set him loose to spread the fear? Then again, you're right, there's probably all sorts of Leitners that are unaccounted for.
"Better yet, I found the book its based on." *Oh, so thats what we're doing today*
Somehow I don't think Melanie mentioned her repeated attempts to murder Elias.
honestly these people just mention something related to a book and my mind instantly jumps to Leitner
All the Mr Spider episodes are comedic gold, as well as excellent horror. The Guest for Mr Spider was a horror reverse of the Black Books "Elephant and the Balloon" writing process, plus bringing in the idea of a "Leitner's Early Reader Book". This episode, among other great things, is a horror spin on a "the book was better" trope, and I love it
Japanese version of a guest for Mr. Spider, but bigger?
A GUEST FOR MR SPIDER: THE MANGA
outed as trans,, that was so real,,, gosh
as soon as i heard spiders, i knew what book it’d be about and i was so relieved that jon wasn’t making this statement
Damn this one was interesting to me because I LOVE the art of filmmaking, and especially horror filmmaking, and with some of the weird occurances on sets of horror films such as The Omen or Poltergeist in mind, this one's an instant classic for me.
Okay but I actually wouldn't mind watching that film if it existed?
KJ You’d die lol. Leitners can affect you without just being read, film adaptations probably work if being read aloud does.
A Tarantino kaiju movie with created effects by Stan Winston...Sign me up
"A Kaiju movie with effects by Stan Winston" sounds like it was practically gift wrapped for me. With a big red bow.
@@tylerasw5103 "You'd die" SIGN ME RIGHT THE FUCK UP
Aside from jon, martin reads the most statements, something about that is changing him, firstly hes not as scared secondly hes kinda almost becoming more like jon
trans!! character!! yay!!
oh wig creature feature is a good band
It’s also an old term for monster movies
Creature feature slaps
yesss
was hoping somebody would comment this
When the director mentioned a book I said out loud "fucking leitner"
Somehow "trans discrimination" is the most concerning content warning I've seen for this show
Bad Basira! Martin has empathy for Melony! Martin wants to help! Martin makes damned good tea. He thought about the tunnels! Hug him now!
alexia: the spider film me: oh fuck here we go
director: i found the book it was based on :-) me: OH FUCK HERE WE GO
Martin: book The fandom: OMG ITS LEITNER
That comment about the person being trans put a smile on my face for the rest of the video! Represention👏🏻matter!👏🏻 Love magnus archives!!
Martin is still so precious.
Martin: oh no morgan lighter book. John wouldnt like that. John earlier: oh no spider Martin wouldnt like that.
I think Martin was glad Jon didn’t have to read a statement about spiders, since Jon understandably doesn’t particularly like them after Mr Spider. Martin has actually stated that he rather likes spiders. Particularly big ones where you can see some fur on them. He thinks they’re cute. lol In season 1, Jon was concerned about Martin finding out he killed a spider because he didn’t want to be lectured, again, about their importance to the ecosystem. 😊 (also, it’s Jurgen Leitner, not Morgan Lighter. I’m not sure if that was an intentional joke, but in case it wasn’t, just wanted to let you know. 😅)
@@TheNitpickChick yeah I didn't realise that until later haha
So...Dexter is Tarentino.
Seems like it. Although Tarantino can write dialogue
And Neil is Stan Winston
minus the foot fetish it would seem
@@bramstoker1290 Given the subject matter, maybe Dexter had a vore fetish instead.
@@bramstoker1290 then again, maybe his greatest love had EIGHT feet!
Quite unrelated but I was quietly listening to TMA while doing homework stuff, like I was completely silent, then I checked at what episode I was at I did let out a very audible gasp at the title Because we're dealing with a Creature Feature fan who's been obsessed with the band for over a year lmao
I have listened to this series all the way through MULTIPLE times and it took my girlfriend two seconds to put together: Transgirl who works in film... named Lexi. Jonathon Sims stole my life story! I deserve financial compensation! Never mind the fact that I was born in 95 and didn't come to accept my own transness until a few years ago!
oh my god my grandmother had Parkinson's. Technically I believe she died from pneumonia, but she, too, was bedridden for at least a month before her death, though the slow decline makes it hard to pinpoint when we stopped putting her in the wheelchair. Could barely even open her eyes at the end. At the funeral my aunt said she had managed to say "[she] knew" after my aunt said, "I just want you to know how much we all love you." Could have only been a couple weeks before she died, cuz my cousins came up during our winter break to say goodbye. She died December 30th -- didn't quite make it to the new year. My grandfather still wrote her name on the Christmas hong bao; that -Chinese- Lunar New Year was the first time it wasn't there, even though she couldn't have written it for years. Just surprising to hear this rarer disease mentioned in a piece of media. I guess I want to say this because I haven't properly, publicly yet. Most my teachers and friends don't know, and certainly not at this level of detail. My math teacher knows the basics b/c I left class for the burial. I missed all of English but I don't think that teacher knows -- same with Chinese. My SS teacher knows a little because we're friends with his family. I told my friend who lives in another town. But I'm not sure I even told any/most of classmate-friends. It was too expected and I didn't know her well enough for it to be worth it I guess. (Fairly certain very few of them know my mom has cancer too. Weird b/c I'm very clearly prone to oversharing (hence this). Just don't want to hassle of explaining how it's not as bad as it seems I suppose.)
Dear, that sounds very difficult. I’m glad that it seems like you’ve got a bit of a support group, even if you don’t broach these specific topics with them. Like Jon, you can’t cut yourself off, especially with issues this close to your heart. It sounds like your friends are lovely and would catch if you stumbled though. I’m wishing you and your family love and strength, though it seems like you already have plenty of that
Well, I would like a cup of tea from Martin!
"That's not fair!" *Sound of cup of offending tea being put down* Oh Martin, his statement readings are really good too! Also throughout I kept remembering that awful/genius 360 indie game with the iconic line: I AM THE SPIDER! BRING ME A SNACK, OR I'LL DESTROY YOU
Wait a minuet Is John afraid of spiders because of A Guest for Mr. Spider? because if so, *_ouch_*
So this was the first one to get to me. After the story, I wrote about my dead grandmother, listened to the end conversation, and got ready for bed. But Martin saying, "That one wasn't so bad" made me think about what part of it was scary, so I ended up thinking about the original movie in bed. Turned on my light, read a little, was still scared. (Fun tip: if you're at the age where you still have stuffed animals but don't really pick them up when they fall off your bed, false comfort still works surprisingly well against false fear.) I've watched one old Japanese film (_Rashomon_) and somehow that was enough to get really good visualization on it. A opening scene after the beginning credits where a man is walking through the woods, similar to the one in Rashomon. Where that one was weird and boring, in a horror movie the same overly-long sequence is terrifying. Slowly, the spider's theme music -- which isn't unsettling in itself, though it has lots of unusual percussion -- weaves itself into Bolero, disguised as just another movement. Shots from the bushes. The man in the woods lowers his hunting tool. We haven't seen what he's walking toward in some time, so we assume it's just forest when we get our first shot facing him in a minute or so. Then you see the legs. Side shot that makes you wonder what else is hiding in the bushes. See the spider. Spider music overtakes Bolero, unsettling in its calmness. The spider is terrifying and ugly and just sits there as the man walks into its mouth. Shot as what he sees as he walks in. Once faded to black, sickly green letters form the words "THE SPIDER EATS" in native language of film studio (Japanese, in the podcast). Black screen again. A SCREAM. Drone shot of remote rural town that isn't very modern. Happy village music. Children playing. People talking. A little girl jumps rope. We come to the edge of the town. It's the spider. Sitting there. Watching. It doesn't move. The notes of the happy village music begin to draw out and sharpen. A lone boy walks into its mouth, dropping a stick. The spider chews him. It's not gory, but there's something very creepy about how the shadows of the forest seem to be a _part_ of the spider.
Ooh, this is excellent!
Statement ends
So if Dexter Banks is our Tarentino expy, Neil Legorio is definitely Stan Winston, right?
Honestly the part about the statement author coming out and immediately losing connections she had in the industry, only just luckily landing a spot as a cinematographer but being tied to that position and director hits close to other stories i hear about trans folks. Unless you got big before coming out, and even then no guarantee, the place you worked would stifle you until you gave up or somehow painfully persevered workplace ostracism
I have been on a rest from tma for few months now. Oh how much I missed it.
Huh.... the use of film as stand-in for the spider's Web, here, is interesting. Mostly because of it being a nice little piece of foreshadowing for a later reveal.
Trans rep trans rep!
the casual rep makes me so fucking happy ,,,,,
Me when Arizona got mentioned: 🤠
Is the book a guest for Mr spider? Also, it's fun when you listen to the episode outside and see a spider
All I could think about during this episode was Quentin Tarantulino from Bojack Horseman
martin's right!! tea always helps!!
[CLICK] MARTIN Martin Blackwood, archival assistant at the Magnus Institute, recording statement number 0121403. Statement of Alexia Crawley, given March 14th, 2012. Statement begins. MARTIN (STATEMENT) It’s hard to put my relationship with Dexter Banks into words. It was a complicated thing, built on well over a decade of disdain and interdependence. In many ways I was closer to him than his wife - not that I ever touched the odious little freak. And while those film obsessives that insist I basically directed all his films do us both a disservice, it is true that without me he would never have reached the fame and high regard he enjoys. Enjoyed. “Cinematographer.” Such an ornate term, yet still so vague. I often wonder if that’s to blame for how overlooked we are as a profession. Or even worse, that dry title, “Director of Photography.” But we are the true artists. A director may quite literally call the shots, but it is the cinematographer that makes them. We choose the angles, the lighting, pretty much everything that you see on the screen. The camera is a brush, and we are the hand, the arm, the eye. The director’s basically just the mouth, making pointless noise while the hand does the actual work. Almost every famous director that you know who has a distinctive visual style has simply managed to lock down a talented DoP. I first worked with Dexter back in 1997, working as a cinematographer on Red Ronin. It feels odd to say now, but I was genuinely excited to work with him at the time. I’d seen some of his earlier work - Wasteland 7, Dolores, maybe a couple of shorts - and I remember thinking how refreshing it was going to be working with a director who really got film. Who was steeped in that history, and drew inspiration from forgotten corners of the medium. Even some corners that should have stayed forgotten. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the only thing he understood. You see, Dexter Banks lived movies. As far as I could tell, every single aspect of his life had revolved around them. His dad had owned a small cinema near Fairfax Avenue, and as a teenager he’d bounced between working there and a small rental store that specialized in foreign films - specifically Italian horror movies and East Asian martial arts. I never met anyone who knew as much about films, and as little about anything else. Working with him, it soon became clear that all he was interested in doing was recreating things he had seen. Taking scenes and music that he loved from those old, obscure corners of cinema and then constructing whatever patchwork narrative would allow him to shoot his own versions of them. Whatever dialogue he didn’t repurpose and had to write himself was stilted and slow. Trying to mirror the stylization that surrounded it, but failing utterly. I once mentioned to him the idea of working with a writer. I didn’t do it again. Red Ronin, for instance, was based on a Japanese film from the early 70s called Blade of the Avenger. It hit on the same dynamics and scenes as the original, but was set in modern-day Arizona following a nihilistic ex-marine in the fictional town of Funnel. It wasn’t strictly a remake, though. Because Dexter would constantly call me into the screening room to show me some other samurai or Western that I’d never heard of, before jumping up at the appropriate scene and shouting, “that was it, we do that.” And I did. I’m very good at my job. I’ve been doing it almost 30 years now - five at the BBC before crossing the Atlantic - and I know exactly what I’m doing. Turns out that I have a talent for capturing the feeling of older movies, mirroring them while still keeping the shots fresh. Who cares if it bored me to creative tears - it was exactly the sort of bull that critics loved, and Red Ronin was the first of Dexter’s films to get an Oscar nomination. Alhough it ended up losing out to The English Patient. Not really surprising, it was too genre for the Academy anyway. I didn’t realize it, but by that point I was already locked in with Dexter. I’d held some ambitions about directing myself one day, but it soon became obvious that that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if I’d got a feature under my belt before I was outed as trans, it might have been different, but as it was, that revelation burned too many bridges. And when the dust had settled, it was made abundantly clear to me that I was never going to get a movie of my own, and it was either cinematography, or nothing. So I stayed. I was in a bad place for the next couple years, and blindly accepted the DoP position on two more of Dexter’s films: Hell’s Company and Leroy Slate. Both were big hits, and by the time I properly felt myself again, I had ended up with my career so tied up in Dexter’s that chasing other gigs wasn’t really an option. I still have no idea how intentional it was on his part, but he was definitely aware that it was my work that elevated his films above simple homage. His periodic bouts of petty jealousy and snide bitterness had made that abundantly clear. Five years and three movies in, it was clear that we needed each other almost as much as we hated each other. I don’t know when he first mentioned his spider film. He didn’t bubble out into a full obsession until two years ago, but I know he talked about it plenty before that. Whenever arguments over a project would last late into the night, and if he was very drunk, he’d get kind of quiet, and then he’d ask me, yet again, if I’d ever seen Kumo Ga Tabeteiru. I think that was the name, anyway - something like that. He was normally slurring quite badly when he said it. He thought it translated to “The Spiders That Devour,” but a Japanese friend once told me it was actually closer to just “spiders are eating.” According to Dexter, Kumo was an old tokusatsu movie, which he believed had come out sometime in the mid-to-late-60s. It was about a spider - just the one, despite the title - that grew to a colossal size and terrorized a small unnamed island off the coast of Kagoshima. What struck him about it, though, was the utter absence of anything resembling a hero or protagonist. No one fought against the monster. And although there were vignettes in the lives of those under the spider’s shadow, they all ended the exact same way: with the character in question marching slowly and calmly into its waiting jaws. Whenever Dexter described this, his eyes would widen and he’d start trying to recreate the sound that they made as they were eaten. He always claimed he wasn’t doing it right, but the noises he ended up making were unsettling enough. As far as either of us could determine, the film never existed. At least, not in any form that left a traceable record. Dexter had followed it up in a lot more detail than I had ever bothered to, and had checked with collectors of obscure film paraphernalia and long-defunct Japanese production studios. He actually showed a pretty surprising aptitude for the language. But it was just dead end after dead end. I ended up watching half a dozen different giant spider movies with him over our time together, and none of them were right. He’d just watch, muttering under his breath “no, no, no,” and chewing on the back of his thumb. It wasn’t something I ever really minded. Of all the many and varied quirks of Dexter Banks, his minor obsession with a Japanese spider movie that may or may not have ever existed was one of the least unpleasant. At least, until I got the call about his final project. He told me over the phone that he was producing a new film, that he was going to be his masterpiece. Then he started to describe it, and I don’t know how much of what I felt was deja vu, and how much was just dread. I asked if he had found a copy of the film, or the script, but he just laughed. “Better,” he said. “I found the book it was based on.” Then he hung up, and I was left sitting there, feeling this gnawing apprehension that I just couldn’t place. I realize what had disturbed me later. It was such a small thing, but it really nagged at me. It was the idea that Dexter would ever describe a book as better than a film. That sounds like I’m insulting him, but you need to know him to understand. Film was everything to him. Other media might as well not have existed. Regardless, he went into production. He called it “Widow’s Weave,” and while the script pages he brought were apparently based on this unnamed book of his, the shots were drawn from his memories of the first film version. Assuming it existed anywhere outside of his head, of course. Part of me secretly assumed Dexter had simply dreamed the movie up and this book was… eh, it didn’t matter. Not really. There wasn’t any question about whether or not I was working on it. It was a Dexter Banks film! And my name was basically on the credits already. The crew were mostly regulars he’d worked with before, but weirdly for him, he seems to take almost no interest in casting at all. He asked Debbie Connor, our casting director, to get him as many no-name, untested hopefuls as the script needed. Bear in mind that at this point, any A-lister would have killed to be in a Dexter Banks picture. But he didn’t care. For all he kept telling me about how this was his dream project that he was electrified to finally be making, he seemed to have almost entirely checked out of the process of actually making it.
There was one exception to this. He claimed to be working with Neil Lagorio to make the spider. Now, you might never have heard his name before, but I guarantee you you’ll have seen his work. From the mid-70s right into CGI, Lagorio was the name in practical creature effects. Suit work, stop-motion, animatronics - whatever the method, he was the master. If you’ve watched any genre films at all from before 2005, there’s basically no chance you haven’t seen one of his creatures. His early work was strictly horror, but in his prime he worked on basically any blockbuster that used practical effects for monsters or aliens. I’d had the pleasure of working with him way back in 1989 on Orbit, a medium-budget sci-fi vehicle for some aging action star. Neil was working on a 12-foot-tall animatronic robot that featured heavily in the climax. The picture was, unsurprisingly, a flop, but I still remember his work. How he brought a lump of wood and steel to life, the huge intricate mechanisms that allowed his crew to puppet it into motion that was so natural you could forget that the back of it was completely hollow. Out of all of the odd changes with Dexter’s behavior, his excitement over working with Neil Lagorio was the one thing that I shared with him. Not that I got a chance to do anything with that excitement. Once production started, Dexter became secretive and jumpy. He told us he’d set up a workshop for Lagorio and his team in one of the larger empty spaces on the lot. But no one except him was to go inside, or make any contact with the practical effects department. It was odd, but everyone knew better than to argue. Once Dexter had an idea in his head, he would throw you off the set for trying to change it. When it really needed to happen, people generally looked to me to do so, since I was one they considered un-fireable. And this time, I did, saying that I’d worked with Neil before, and would love a chance to catch up with him. Dexter curtly explained that Neil had become reclusive in his retirement, and had only agreed to work on this picture on condition of absolute privacy. I didn’t push the issue. It didn’t seem like the battle to waste my energy on. And there were certainly plenty more battles once shooting began. If you’re wondering how easy it is to recreate shots that only exist in the hazy memory of an eccentric, or to frame scenes when you only get the typo-riddled script the morning before, I can tell you: not easy. Not easy at all. And Dexter’s constant outbursts didn’t help. Throwing people off the set over the smallest imagined offenses, or throwing away a whole day’s shoot because “it just didn’t feel right.” We were burning through money and goodwill faster than I had ever seen, even on the most slapdash of his earlier projects. The cast really impressed me, though. Most of them were fresh out of drama school, with maybe a couple of ads under their belt, and a few older faces who’d clearly spend most of their life hurling themselves at closed doors until now. Most impressive to me, though, was a guy called Brandon Omar. He was playing the closest thing the film had to a protagonist, a homeless ex-Methodist minister who’d found himself on the island by chance, and served as a connecting thread, wandering between the scenes and the vignettes of the inhabitants after each ended with their march to the spider. Brandon took to the role immediately, with a gravity and a weariness that I don’t think could have been entirely feigned. He was the only one who didn’t seem excited by the movie, and spent his off hours smoking and reading quietly in one of the trailers. It was a shame, because for whatever reason, he also seemed to be the only one that Dexter would listen to. I only saw them talking once or twice, but every time, Dexter would be rapt, nodding at whatever Brandon might have to say. Of course, I never really had time to think on it. I was finding it an almost impossible task to get even the most basic of shots, with Dexter constantly demanding the whole setup be changed for no reason. Like I said, I’m excellent at my job, but giving him what he wanted from the camerawork relied on him actually knowing it himself. There was a frenzied nervous energy to his instructions, and if I didn’t know any better, I might have even said that he wasn’t just afraid that the shots might not work, he was afraid of the idea. And so it was, for the first few weeks. Dexter clearly wasn’t sleeping. He had insisted on using old equipment, and avoided digital almost entirely, to the point where several of the crew were using pieces of kit they’d never even seen before. This meant that a work print had to be made manually for the dailies, something he refused to let anyone else do. Once shooting wrapped, he’d be in the editing room for hours, preparing dailies, although they shouldn’t have needed editing at all. And when we watched them, I’d often noticed that certain shots were missing, stuff I was certain that we’d filmed. I brought this up with him once, and he called me a liar to my face. I only interrupted him when he was preparing dailies once. An actress who was slated to be shooting the next day had taken violently ill. The crew needed his sign-off to change the schedule. No one else dared to go in, so once again it was down to me to head into that tiny room alone. It was dark inside, lit only by what spilled in through the open doorway. I could hear a sound like turning of an old film reel, but I couldn’t say where from. I stood there, unable to step inside, not because of fear, but because this space inside was threaded all over with film strips. Up and down, one side to the other, wrapping around and through each other. I gingerly reached out and touched one. And as I did, Dexter seemed to emerge from the darkness. At first I thought he was taller than usual, but then I realized that he was suspended ever so slightly by the strips of film, his feet a good couple of inches off the floor. He was very calm as he asked what I wanted, and when I stutteringly explained the situation, he just nodded and said we should feel free to rearrange however we liked. Then he closed the door, and I left. Trying very hard to convince myself that he had only had two arms. Shooting continued, but there was a growing awareness throughout the crew that we had still seen nothing from Neil Lagorio. No one had met him on set, or spotted him or his team entering or leaving the workshop where the spider was supposedly being constructed. No one had heard the sound of work being done in there, and the rumor was that Dexter had finally lost it, and the workshop was empty. We had run through all the scenes that could be done without it, and everyone was getting really impatient. Finally, Dexter announced it was time for the unveiling. For the spider, for kumo, to make its appearance. We were all excited as we assembled outside the workshop, but there was a nervous energy in the air that day. It was about as cold as it ever gets in LA, but the shiver that passed through us when he told us it was time was something else entirely. Dexter told us the actors would see it first. He gave no reasoning for this, and silenced the outcry from a couple of the crew with a vicious glare. He then gathered up the cast and, with Brandon leading them, took them through a small door in the side of the workshop. And they disappeared inside. I’ve thought back over those minutes so many times, trying to decide if I’d heard or seen anything that might have explained what happened inside that building. But in the end, I have to admit that I didn’t. Minutes passed, then half an hour, as we waited impatiently for Dexter or the others to return. It seems like a sick cosmic joke that that was the day the press broke the news of Neil Lagorio’s death. Half an hour after the cast walked into that building, one of the grips stumbled across the news story whilst idly checking his phone. Lagorio had been privately suffering from Parkinson’s for almost a decade, and had been bedridden in his Connecticut home for the last year. We knew then that, whatever was going on inside that building, it was not Neil Lagorio debuting a new animatronic creation. Once again, all eyes turned to me. I’m still not entirely sure what I saw on the other side of that door. I probably saw nothing, like the cops who arrived shortly afterwards. The place was entirely empty after all, just as the rumors had always said. But I wouldn’t be here talking to you if I thought that was true, now, would I? Because I remember that first moment - that instant of looking up when I first entered. I saw it, perfectly interwoven with a hundred cocoons, writhing and dangling, stretching out far above me. And in its center, those black and shining eyes that focused on my entrance. The legs that worked so fast as to be a blur. The fangs that dripped their poison onto Dexter Banks. Then, in a moment, it was all gone - scuttling up and into nowhere, pulling its impossible web behind it. I never knew how to describe my relationship with Dexter, and I still don’t. How he was complicit, and how much he was simply caught in his own neuroses and fears, I don’t know. I know he didn’t deserve what happened to him. I found the book, by the way. And I burned it. If I ever track down the man who used to own it, I might just burn him too.
MARTIN Statement ends. I think Alexia might be a bit too late for that. I mean, I think it sounds like a Jurgen Leitner book. About spiders. Hm. Good John didn’t have to read this one, anyway. I know he’s not a fan. Although, this one wasn’t too bad, actually! I - yeah. Anyway. This is, I suppose, one explanation for the disappearance of Dexter Banks, along with almost a hundred cast members, back in 2012. There’s not a lot I can really add that hasn’t been already dissected by a hundred different tabloid magazines and mystery shows. Even the, um, arachnid angle has been covered, as it seems that when we weren’t a lot of help, Alexia Crawley told her full story to the press. She was not treated kindly, and refuses to discuss the events any further. Poor thing. Yeah, but Basira did manage to get hold of a few things from recent LAPD files that haven’t been released to the public yet. Though she’s a bit cagey as to how she she got them. Apparently, over the last five years, every February a corpse is found washed up on Redondo Beach. It’ll be a shriveled husk, with all moisture and internal organs apparently removed. These corpses are usually unidentifiable, but the one that washed up last year was confirmed to be Chadwick Frazier, an aspiring actor who went missing in 2012, and whose IMDB page lists a final credit for Widow’s Weave. Um. Th-that’s it. [CLICK] [CLICK] MARTIN - no, that doesn’t make sense! Can he even do that? BASIRA I don’t know. I guess so. MARTIN So, what, he can just reach into your head and put something in there?! BASIRA I don’t know. I guess so. MARTIN I mean. Does it even have to be a true thing? Do we, do we know for sure he’s not lying, like, like magically lying? BASIRA I don’t know. MARTIN Right, right, right. Sorry. I just - it’s a lot to take in, you know. BASIRA Mostly for Melanie, yeah. MARTIN Oh, of course, yep. Sorry. BASIRA Look, I’m not the one you need - [sigh] We can’t just ignore it. MARTIN Well, yeah, but what do we - we didn’t even know that that was something he could do! What if there’s other stuff he could do to us?! BASIRA We are not letting him get away with it. MARTIN I didn’t say that. BASIRA Look, Martin. I know you care. I know you do. But caring isn’t enough. You can’t just stand next to someone with a cup of tea and hope everything’s gonna be all right. MARTIN That’s. Not. Fair. You don’t even know me. BASIRA Prove it. We need to do something. Because if we just let him - MARTIN - oh, h-hi! Hey, hey Melanie, uh, can I get youuuu - a… cup… of… tea? MELANIE So, she told you, then? BASIRA We need everyone, if we’re gonna have any chance. MELANIE Right. MARTIN What about Tim? MELANIE Tim is… BASIRA Elias is watching him too closely. MELANIE He’s probably watching me, too. MARTIN We could, uh, we could try the tunnels! John says they might help! MELANIE Right. BASIRA Or maybe… when he’s not paying attention. Distracted, like during your, um, your performance review. MELANIE Wait, what do you mean? MARTIN Yeah, what? BASIRA Well, I was heading out, and Martin, you remember you knocked over that huge stack of papers? MARTIN I, I, they shouldn’t have been there in the first place! Besides, I cleaned them up! BASIRA But not in the right order. And when I brought them up to Elias yesterday, he asked why they were messed up. MARTIN Y… You didn’t tell him it was me…? BASIRA That’s not the point, Martin. The point is - MELANIE He wasn’t watching you. He was busy. BASIRA Yep. MARTIN Hang on… BASIRA Not here. The tunnels. MARTIN Right, right, right. [PAUSE] MARTIN [voice echoing in the tunnels] Melanie, I’m, I’m really sorry you… I’m just sorry. MELANIE [voice echoing in the tunnels] Yeah… [CLICK]
lol this episode comes for Quentin Tarantino's fucking soul. Also: Trans Rights!
The idea of a guy reading a Leitner and translating it into a 70's Kung-Fu movie is astounding. The psychological malfunction of a weeb.
I swear I hear one person say "book" and I just hear myself shout "goddamn it Litner!" 😂
I like how a lot of these comments are about hearing the word book and instantly thinking “Leitner”
Martin and his tea 😂
Statement Giver: "The Director is a mouth making pointless noise" *Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick and literally every other director has entered the chat*
Cinematographer: "I am the EYE"
I wonder if that book the movie was based on was A Guest for Mr. Spider. People just willingly walking into a spider's mouth? Although there were almost 1,000 known ones, it could just be a very similar effect
A GUEST? FOR MR SPIDER???
I"m really happy he's back!!!
more like a hundred of them
I love Martin
also this episode in general was really good
My theory from this episode and what we know so far: This was an interesting episode for me, mostly for the whole part of a film that may or may not have existed. The director was obsessed with that film and was constantly trying to find it in order to recreate it, 'cause his memories were not that clear. It got me thinking, what is the real deal about it? Was the film, just like the Leitner books, a "manifestation" of the Web? If yes, then why did he survive when he first saw it? And also, if yes, then that is also tied with that episode about a rumored video on the internet that we have heard a statement about where, once the video is downloaded, a guy is shown eating slowly his computer and you can't escape the video, it is shown in every screen you see and only you can see it, until it's over. I mean, now that I'm writing this down, there *is* indeed a connection between the entities and also videos. And there have been people who have seen videos (or films) that were part of an entity, but the videos appear to not be as strong as the books. I mean, the director was haunted by pieces of that film for his whole life but he was still alive until he came across the book. Was the film actually produced by another victim of that specific Leitner book? If yes, why wasn't the film registered anywhere or somehow found when the director and the witness were searching for it? Or, was the film non-existent in reality and the memories the director had about seeing that film and the scenes in it where actually been put by the Web? I mean, we already know that the Web is a psychic manipulator, so I do think that it can also implant memories and thoughts inside people's minds. But even if the film was indeed non real, I still think that the entities also have videos related to them but they are not as strong as their (Leitner) books are. As for the Leitner book itself in this episode, it's clear that the actors the director casted to be the spider's victims were, indeed, selected to be the spider's victims. It seems like the director was transformed by the Leitner book like Jared was transformed by the Boneturner's tale. But why was he not sparred to be the spider's meal, that I don't know; maybe he didn't fully meet all the criteria? I also found interesting the mention of an ex-Minister in a Web's book, 'cause it really sounds familiar. Specifically, in the episode about that house related to the Desolation and the Web, where Agnes was living there for a while when she was a small kid with a *church-person* (I don't remember exactly what he was, but he was working supposedly for the church) who was, as it turned out, working for the Web. So, was the mention of the ex-Minister in the Leitner book a homage to that person? Or is his role through out the years a part of the Web, as the "Archivist" is for the Eye? Finally, the gang talking about doing something against Elias without him finding out but then being recorder by the tape recorder implies that either Elias will be aware of their plans, once again, and something will happen in the future about it or that Elias won't have any idea of what is happening after all and then truly the tape recorders are not a part of the Eye that wants to work with the Eye, if you know what I mean? So, maybe Gertrude after all? (I really wish that Gertrude is still somehow "alive" to be honest :3)
I just wanna say, as a first time listener but honestly this is my genuine appreciation overall, I really look forward to seeing in the comments section, like I literally love you!❤️😭Not only u help me review the thoughts and knowledge I already know but your theories are interesting and detailed and sensical. Wherever u r, I hope u r doing well❤️🫡
The Tarantino roast is real
"dexter banks" is a really weird way to pronounce Quentin Tarantino (who's clearly the inspiration)
Wtfffffffffffff I live near Redondo beach
:3
ikr I lived there most of my childhood so I was like !!! Magnus archives! somewhere I'm actually familiar with!! local spooks!!!
I saw a book at a lil charity thing for a quid and the book had no title, no apparent author and no blurb My first thought was Leitner lmao I got it, its just plot summaries of other stories I think, looks pretty cool
This is my favorite kind of statement, the creepypasta adjacent, lost media kind of story hit close to home and it’s so much more enjoyable to me compared to the ones about war and things like that. Obviously every statement is written masterfully but I like the ones that are a little bit campier more.
huh... re-listening after it's all done...... Webs of film strips...... the 'quiet whirring of the camera' .... god damn it. The spider twist is so obvious and I didn't have a clue.
It's not just casual rep- it's so real. I've MET her you know?
Real life has no shortage of brilliant trans women living in the shadow of men whose success depends on them. On every scale.
TRANS CHARACTER TRANS CHARACTER
Martin is getting used to reading out statements, since they keep showing us that I feel like that will become important later
...oh hey, my hometown gets referenced in this episode! Sweet! Also, I do wonder if Dexter Banks is supposed to be a parody of Quentin Tarantino, lol.
oh that crackling at the end.... elias definitely heard that.
And so we begin Basira assuming that she’s the only one who knows what’s going on, when for MONTHS, Martin and others asked her for help, but she was busy sitting on bookshelves geeking out over trivia. This woman’s self denial is truly impressive.
Yeah, I hate this sort of guilt power tripping. The person always acts like their plan is best and any lack of enthusiasim is a sign of treason or weakness.
“I found the book it was based on” Me (immediately): GOD DAMN IT LEITNER
The comment section is so in love with Martin no one talking about the coffee problem. Simp blindness is real
This particular statement is a favorite of mine. I guess it's mostly because I really want to see the theoretical movie that was talked about in here, sounded like a really cool idea.
Its mistah spihdah inniht
i read this in jon's voice aslfjjfwl