MURDER-SET-PIECES I
In the Hot Takes episode of Nick Palumbo’s Murder-Set-Pieces (2004), Danny, David and Pappy are pretty exhausted. Exasperated? That’s more accurate. Sure, it’s shocking. But for all the wrong reasons.
A hairdresser, her young daughter and a sadistic misogy-Nazi serial killer walk into a bar during the Character Sketch. You can guess which one makes it out alive. In very exciting news, the fellas unveil a brand-new segment: The Three-Minute Drill. At the start of every Hot Takes episode, one of them will get three minutes to summarize the movie's entire plot. It’s a point-based game, one that might eventually ruin the podcast and test friendships. Danny is up first, and he delivers a worthy inaugural effort. In Plot Holes, Pappy is ready to pounce on missed story beats, levying fair and objective deductions to Danny’s overall score.
There’s plenty to chat about in Themes. In fact, one could argue there’s too much to talk about. Murder-Set-Pieces feels like the result of Nick Palumbo typing “write me a movie with the most fucked up themes” into the first chatbot ever. And, instead of editing a single word from the script, he decided to go with whatever garbled mess it spat out as an initial draft. So, get your “upsetting-themes” bingo card and your dabber ready: nazism, 9/11, oedipal complexes, misogyny, exploitation and much more all jockey for position in this incredibly scattered narrative. After laying it all out on the table, Danny, David and Pappy sift through each incomplete theme to the best of their attention spans. The most poignant revelation of the entire discussion? Danny might not know he’s already broken.
In Who Would You Be?, character assignments are handed out fast and loose. Danny is Charlotte because he, too, has a history of bringing uninvited weirdos to the party; David is Jade for obvious reasons; and Pappy is… the… serial killer? David makes a good case, given how quickly Pappy was to kill the torture beast in Martyrs. Pappy is soon reappointed as the porn shop owner, played by none other than Tony “Candyman” Todd.
It’s unanimous at the start of How Did It Make You Feel? Everyone was surprised when a butthole flashed on the screen. The unflinching shot of a stripper’s nether region quickly leads the fellas to speculation about how many buttholes have been seen in the history of non-pornographic cinema. Next, David and Pappy give Danny a reality check that his expectations for these movies are far too high. This realization, however, doesn’t stop him from raging against the directorial efforts of Palumbo. Competing perspectives on the film’s sexual violence, the thoughts and motivation of the actors, Pappy’s disdain for the blatant shock factor and, of course, the Schadenfahmly Baby Scene are all discussed.
Accountability obviously starts with a glaring question: who put a real baby in this movie? Nick Palumbo and nearly everyone else associated with this movie's making are scrutinized. Finally, Danny, David and Pappy ask What Would Your Mom Say? The answers are exactly what you think. Finally, everyone gears up for how they’re going to tackle the next episode.
Timestamps
Character Sketch
00:00:00—00:04:43: A Sadistic Neo-Nazi Serial Killer, a hairdresser and a younger sister
Three-Minute Synopsis
00:04:44—00:10:18: Danny and the Adventures of the Misogy-Nazi
Plot Holes
00:10:19—00:13:58: Terrorizing a baby, the doll-as-talisman and Charlotte dies
00:13:59—00:17:33: “80 minutes of garbage.” –Danny
00:17:34—00:17:59: Scared isn’t the goal of these movies. Mostly disgust.
Themes
00:18:00—00:23:20: Nazis, 9/11, misogyny, exploitation, oedipal complexes and more.
00:23:21—00:28:43: Incomplete theme #1: Nazism & Eugenics
00:28:44—00:33:10: Incomplete theme #2: 9/11
00:33:11—00:38:16: Danny might not know he’s broken
00:38:17—00:46:11: Narcissism, Exploitation & Awful Sounds
Who Would You Be?
00:46:12—00:47:39: Danny is Charlotte because he brings the weirdo to the party
00:47:40—00:50:41: David is Jade, and Pappy is… the Serial Killer? No, he owns the porn shop
How Did It Make You Feel?
00:50:42—00:53:17: Surprised by the butthole
00:53:18—00:55:25: Danny’s expectations are… too high
00:55:26—00:59:36: Danny rages against the Palumbo machine
00:59:37—01:02:47: The sexual violence got David and Pappy
01:02:48—01:07:17: What are the actors doing in this movie?
01:07:18—01:10:53: Pappy hates all the shock factors
01:10:54—01:17:50: The Schadenfahmly Baby Scene
Accountability
01:17:51—01:19:12: Who agreed to put the baby in the movie?
01:19:13—01:27:44: Nick Palumbo
01:27:45—01:36:03: Nearly everyone else associated with the movie
What Would Your Mom Say?
01:36:04—01:37:55: Exactly what you think
Prepping for Next Week
01:37:56—01:40:31