Qt3 Movie Podcast: Blood Quantum

Tom Chick and Kelly Wand welcome Bruce Geryk for a discussion of this zombie apocalypse movie with a Native American twist. With Geryk’s help, we even figure out the title.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2020/05/18/qt3-movie-podcast-blood-quantum/

Bruce has made me want to watch Embrace of the Serpent again. I love that movie.

I wish that this movie wouldn’t have had a jump forward in time. I was quite enjoying everything before the jump ahead 6 months. I realize that’s not the story that the director wanted to tell, but I think that’s the movie that I would have enjoyed.

Oh, is there a movie to watch for the next podcast?

It did kind of split everything into two acts, didn’t it? Outbreak movie, then post-apocalypse survival movie. I’m also partial to outbreak movies, but you’re right that Barnaby’s story would fit into just an outbreak movie.

Not as of yet. But I think we’re on track to keep going bi-weekly for now. At least we managed to get back into the email account, so I’ll make a point to give folks advance notice for what movie to see and to hit y’all up for email comments.

-Tom

Cool.

Also, watch Jojo Rabbit.

I don’t think it’s available on VOD outside of North America yet which is a strike against, but Capone seems like an interesting one to talk about.

Looks like I can watch this for free. Haven’t listened to the podcast yet and don’t want to be spoiled. Should I watch it?

I’d say so. It does enough stuff that’s unique and interesting that I’d recommend it to pretty much any horror fan. But Geryk preferred the director’s first movie, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, so he’d probably tell you to watch that instead.

-Tom

Thank you, Tom. I listened to the last 15 minutes of the Blood Quantum episode about a dozen times trying to find this out. I thought I was just missing it every time. You should know, this would not be out of the question. I am easily distracted.

Yes. While I have a problem with the plot of the movie, it’s still worth seeing. It’s very Romero faithful in my mind, in terms of tone/themes/etc being very human focused and how we’re our worst enemies. The story is well told (the most important part honestly), except for the one thing. I missed that the podcast covered this so I’ll have to listen.

I was so thrilled to see how clever the tribe was about everything it did. The rope that was used to trip zombies coming out of a building, making for easy initial kills when clearing a location. Designing the compound the way they did. Embracing melee weapons with reach. The methodical approach to going after supplies.

Except, you know, the one big thing. It simply doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t be visually inspecting every survivor they take in for bites. They were demonstrably smarter than that, so I was disappointed that the movie had to hinge on this particular plot point.

I think my disappointment with the jump was that there wasn’t really time to explore any other themes that go along with the PA setting.

Just a comment to about the title - in the podcast you guys spend a while discussing “quantum”. The key fact you’re missing is that “your blood quantum” is a number, a measurement, of “how native” your blood is. You need a certain quantum to qualify for benefits as a native. (At least in Canada where I live).

So - that missing fact, that Blood Quantum is a somewhat fuzzy bureaucratic ruling if you’re really a native or not - a policy that many people feel is arbitrary and unreasonable - (you can be robbed of your heritage for one blood point too few). That might have helped quite a bit with your reading of the film.

Anyway, love the show keep it up fellows!

That’s a cool little tidbit, @marctaro. I live in Canada and I didn’t even know that. Is each First Nation that would set what the number should be in order to be able to claim to be a citizen or do the Feds have some standard number that everyone uses?

Well I don’t know for a fact, but I assume it’s managed by the feds. As a way to ensure nobody gets an extra penny’s worth of benefits!

Is this really gonna be the last podcast movie? Maybe we could have a donation drive episode again? I feel like making you guys watch Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe or something. I’ve slowly been watching every podcast movie and then listening to the show for it, and I didn’t intend to ever catch up…

Unfortunately, it’s still a strain on my voice when I talk for any length of time. I can’t tell you how much I miss doing the podcast – and I know Kellywand feels the same – but given my current state, it’s not possible for me to do podcasts or streaming. I’m still working out some issues with my health care coverage, but once I get a new doctor, I’m hoping there will be options to make it easier for me to talk.

But, yeah, for now it looks like Blood Quantum will be the last Qt3 Movie Podcast. :(

-Tom

It was a beautiful ride. Thank you for the memories. And thank you for introducing me to my three best virtual friends. I hope you are feeling better soon, Tom.
Much love and admiration to you and Kelly.