Hey folks, Harry here... If you don't understand how cool it is to have the chance to see both Warhol Monster movies with Udo Kier in person... Then I weep for you! First off, Udo Kier is just cool as hell, but he's also the only guy I can think of that played Dracula, Victor Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!!! I'm there, you better bloody believe it, and you should too!!! This is why the Alamo Drafthouse Rules!!!
He's worked with everyone from Paul Morrissey, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Dario Argento, Lars Von Trier and Gus Van Zant all the way to sidekicking for Pamela Anderson Lee and Ace Ventura. To some he is the most handsome man in the world, to others he is a vile, repellent creature. None can argue, however, that he has known life and has indeed "f**ked death in the gall bladder."
We love him. We fear him. It brings tears of overwhelming joy to host the man, the myth, the legend, UDO KIER, in Austin Texas for a special midnight cinematic feast.
Udo will be here for 2 nights, Friday and Saturday at midnight. Each night, we will feature a series of video clips (different each night) of Udo's finest shining moments, a Q&A with Udo and a 35mm presentation of an Udo classic feature.
Friday December 6th midnight is
Flesh For Frankenstein in glorious 3-D!!!!
(REAL 3-D, not the red-blue crap! This baby will be presented iin all of its eye-popping splendor, with polarized glasses, silver screen, the whole nine yards).
With Andy Warhol lending his name as "producer," longtime filmmaking associate Paul Morrissey (FLESH, TRASH, HEAT) turned in the first of two uncompromisingly idiosyncratic convention-shattering interpretations of classic horror tales starring the suitably demented Udo Kier, who was previously unknown to American audiences. Dr. Frankenstein (played straightfaced and earnestly deadpanned by Kier) pieces together male and female monsters, eventually lacking only the perfect "Serbian nasum." Frankenstein lives in false marital bliss with his detached and malcontent wife-sister and two sinister children, perpetually peeking in on the forbidden experiments of Frankenstein and the equally forbidden sexual liaisons of Mme. Frankenstein with the local peasant stud (Joe Dallesandro).
When Frankenstein and his blithering assistant steal the head from a local peasant, their carefully laid plans run afoul, no thanks to the interference of the peasant’s friend (madame’s lover). Filmed in the famous cinecitta by a crew of Italian master filmmakers, FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN is suffused with the crumbling glamour of old Italian films, paying homage to while simultaneously parodying the earnest and stark visual and psychological beauty of the old horror films on which it is based. Morrissey’s patent Warholian sense of ironic detachment gives FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN a modernity and beauty all its own. - Rotten Tomatoes
TIDBITS
FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN was originally released as a 3-D film, rated X.
Arno Juerging, who plays Frankenstein's assistant, was brought to Andy Warhol's Factory by his mother, who demanded that he be in one of Andy's films.
The intestines used in various scenes of the film are actual animal intestines and had been on the set for days as a result of various delays. By the time the scenes that required the intestines were filmed, they smelled so bad that Udo Kier was almost unable to shoot the scenes.
FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN had a budget of less than $300,000 and was shot in three weeks.
Saturday December 7th at Midnight is
Andy Warhol's Dracula!
Udo's personal favorite film role, and a sex./gore classic in any self-respecting film lover's book!
Andy Warhol collaborator Paul Morrissey followed up on the international success of FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN with his unique interpretation of another classic movie monster. In this version, Dracula travels to Italy in search of a virgin bride. The great Udo Kier (Frankenstein in Morrissey’s FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN) plays the count as a sickly and hypersensitive shut-in who stumbles across the supposedly virginal DiFiore family with the help of his domineering assistant, Anton. Unfortunately, the DiFiore daughters are less than virginal because of Mario the servant's (Joe Dallesandro) determined efforts. While the sets and cinematography are elegant and evocative, Morrissey brings his shambling, Warholian style to the script (which was written as the film was shot) and the acting (each actor has a different accent and most lines are read in a slow and drawling deadpan). The sex and violence are tinged with ironic humor as Kier goes from one daughter to the next, desperate for the virgin blood he needs to save his life. Some not-so-subtle social commentary is interwoven as the DiFiore parents care less for their daughters' future-well being than for the survival of their own wealth and palatial estate. The shocking sex- and gore-filled ending neatly closes Morrissey's new-fangled monster diptych and cements his place as a cinematic inventor.
TIDBITS
BLOOD FOR DRACULA started filming on the same day that Paul Morrissey finished FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and featured virtually the same cast and crew.
Vittorio de Sica's part in the film is so small because there was only room in the budget to hire him for three days.
Udo Kier was asked by Paul Morrissey to lose 15 kilos for the part of Dracula.
BLOOD FOR DRACULA was filmed in Italy, the filming lasted three weeks, and the budget was under $300,000.
