Zardoz (1974)

Zardoz lingers in the public imagination as an unintentionally hilarious creative misfire. It was written, directed, and produced by a supremely confident John Boorman, fresh off a succession of creative and commercial triumphs. It features Sean Connery skulking about in both a red diaper and a wedding dress. This first ten minutes of the film showcases a floating stone head that lectures people about how the penis is evil before it vomits rifles at them. For some, Zardoz is a cautionary tale about artistic hubris. For others, it ranks alongside Troll 2, The Room, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Birdemic as a perennial for their bad movie night. Ryan is joined by Cheryl for an in depth deconstruction of this widely ridiculed dystopian sci-fi feature. The film's muddled cinematography, bizarre storytelling decisions, superfluous nudity, and goofy attempts to pontificate upon the human condition are among their discussion points. Zardoz is compared to Planet of the Apes (1968), Barbarella (1968), Logan's Run (1976), and Time Bandits (1981), each of which are much better films that can execute their outré concepts and aesthetics much more effectively than Zardoz is capable of. Ryan spends a good deal of time ruminating upon the thematic motifs that Zardoz struggles to say something about; this includes civilizational decadence, the wealth gap, overpopulation, environmental collapse, and using religious beliefs to manipulate the masses. A big fan of Sean Connery's screen presence, Cheryl was eager to finally get around to watching Zardoz for the first time. She is still overwhelmed by the movie's clumsy weirdness while the recording for this episode is underway.