The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview

Body Horror to the Extreme With ‘Overlord’ Director Julius Avery | Interview (Ep. 96)

November 9, 2018/ 45 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan trace the body-horror canon, then Sean talks to Julius Avery about making the Nazi-zombie war movie Overlord.

33 films across 2 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

What makes good gorewith Chris Ryan

The Thing 1982

Ryan's platonic ideal: Carpenter marries atmosphere to the worst thing that could happen in the worst place for it.

Overlord 2018

The Bad Robot war movie that pushed Sean to book the conversation; starts as Saving Private Ryan, ends up somewhere much grosser.

Suspiria 1977

Argento uses violence as color; they bring up Guadagnino's new remake as the weekend double bill.

Deep Red 1975

Also cited as Profondo Rosso; the Argento slasher where color carries a metaphysical charge.

Jaws 1975

Quint's death as the moment the slight-of-hand drops and you see what being eaten actually looks like.

The Raid 2011

Gareth Evans; the face-cutting Ryan can watch without flinching.

Apostle 2018

Evans again, with Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen; the torture scenes sit right at Ryan's edge.

The Last House on the Left 1972

The over-the-line subgenre they say has mostly disappeared.

Cannibal Holocaust 1980

Their example of the most grotesque, in part for the real animal killings.

Alien 1979

The chestburster works because it's about what's happening, not because it repeats four times a movie.

Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981

Gruesome once you get to the Ark; the phantasmagorical streak Overlord shares.

eXistenZ 1999

Cronenberg, whom Ryan calls a better influence than a frequent watch.

A History of Violence 2005

The later Cronenberg mode Ryan actually returns to.

Cloverfield 2008

Overlord was rumored to join the mythology and ultimately didn't.

The Cloverfield Paradox 2018

The hiccup in Abrams's whole-cloth universe-building.

Avatar 2009

Floated as the next franchise built from scratch, if it ever ships enough product.

Julius Avery on ‘Overlord’

Julius Avery on

Avery's note to himself halfway through the red-paper script: completely bonkers Indiana Jones on acid. Shot in-camera and practical, with a first-person plane-bailout long take he had no coverage for.