The Bizarre Connection Between Ghost, Marijuana, and the Movie Zardoz

October 27th, 2015 at 12:30pm
Axl Rosenberg

You all know Amoeba Music’s What’s in My Bag? video series, where they send a notable musician into their store to buy a bunch of shit and then talk about the shit they bought, right? We’ve covered it before when they’ve had members of Between the Buried and Me and Liturgy on, so I’m gonna assume the answer is “right.”

ANYWAY, I mention because on the latest episode of the series, the guest is one of the Nameless Ghouls from Ghost. And the entire seven-minute video is worth watching, but, for better or worse, the very best part comes right up front, when the Nameless Ghoul reveals his first purchase: the movie Zardoz.

Zardoz, for those of you not familiar with it, is a 1974 science-fiction/fantasy movie that was written and directed by John Boorman, a filmmaker who would probably prefer you remember him as the helmer of Point Blank and Deliverance. Legend has it that Zardoz was born as the result of Boorman’s frustration over not being to get a Lord of the Rings movie made; apparently in the mood to do something fantastical, he eventually just said “Fuck it, I’ll make up my own story that takes place on some weird world or whatever” and made Zardoz. Unfortunately, the flick was expensive for its era, and it tanked at the box office. Fortunately, it tanked at the box office for a good reason: it’s awful.

The silver lining, though, is that Zardoz is awful in a really hilarious way.

How hilarious? This is how Boorman made his star, Sean fucking Connery, dress for the movie:

So, yeah. Star Wars this ain’t.

The Nameless Ghoul’s attachment to Zardoz would be endearing enough on his own (like a dyed in the wool nerd, he doesn’t profess a fascination with a famous bad movie like The Room or Battlefield Earth, but instead goes with a lesser-known, completely unique bad movie), but adding to my desire to give this dude is a hug is story about what the phrase “Zardoz” came to mean to him and his friends. Hint: weed.

Watch The Nameless Ghoul discuss Zardoz below. I’ve left some other assorted Zardoz goodies for you down there, too.