ALL NIGHT 80’S HORROR MARATHON (SATURDAY SEPT 10)
All night Horror Marathon. The first one of these that Quentin threw, we had Vincent Price, Fulci and I collected a caterpillar woman from the floor of the Dobie that QT threw out at dawn. Oh – and there was LEGEND OF THE WOLF WOMAN – possibly one of the greatest cult exploitation films I’ve ever seen.
Tonight will be a bit different. It’s All Night 80’s Horror. I’ve seen all of these, I believe. Now, how I saw them all was as individual films and not all in a lump, without Quentin’s introduction which tends to always fire you up exactly right for the movie. This first film… PSYCHO II – is something that I haven’t seen in forever. I seem to remember liking. it more than the original PSYCHO. But I’ve always been insane that way.
Tim League hits the stage and goes into a rather serious bit. Apparently at TELLURIDE recently there was a little ‘ta do’ regarding “SACRED SPACES”. Not a film, but an actual zonal reverence. Telluride’s officials had deemed THEATERS as SACRED SPACES – with a zero tolerance for talking, cel phones and the like. And in enforcing this “SACRED SPACES” policy, they found themselves up in the faces of some purty famous folks – and a big stink was raised, and suddenly it all felt very un-TELLURIDE, which is known for its laid back coolness. “Well, this is Texas and FUCK THAT – This is a Sacred Space – you talk, your cel phone goes off, we’re throwing you the fuck out!” Immense cheers erupt from the rowdy audience.
Tim was extremely passionate about this – and continued in with the films tonight. He loves the subject of 80’s Horror, the subject of tonight, and credited EVIL DEAD 2 with changing his direction in life. He asked that the Audience please do not TALK BACK to the films, but rather to enjoy them for what they are. He also wanted us to look around us because some of those in the room would be LOSERS and leave before this night was done. “I’m sure you LOSERS are nice people and all, but you’ll still be a big fat loser if you leave!” doing an “L” symbol on his forehead.
Then he introduced Quentin Tarantino he came bounding down the right aisle of this Sacred Space in a black CABIN FEVER t-shirt to hit the stage and take the mike laughing. “Tim, that was a really fucking eloquent introduction, now how many of you out there think you’re gonna be here around 8,9, 10 this morning?” A really weak response comes back.
“Oh come on, that was really weak, especially for this early in the evening. Come on, how many are gonna make it all the way through?”
A really loud response comes back.
Quentin does a patented QT, “Alright alright, we’ll see.” Sorta thing. Then reinforces what Tim was saying about 80’s Horror and the respect that he hoped to see out of tonight’s audience. “Laugh when its funny, not to prove you’re superior to the movie.” You see, there’s a whole segment of the “Horror” audiences that fucking drive me nuts. They seem to like to sit back and either denigrate the characters on screen or just laugh at the really tense moments (This Really Fucking Drives Me Insane) What Quentin said next is just dead on – “Just Give yourself to the movie. Then at some point in the film you’re realize that you really fucking care about these characters and you’ll ask yourself when did you start to fucking care. They’ll sneak up on ya. By the way, you can laugh at MAUSOLEUM, its fucking funny!”
Quentin then went into a thing where he said, “Here’s the thing about 80’s Horror for me. I saw more movies in the 80s than I ever did at any point in my life. I found that if I even half liked a movie in the 80s I was watching it 2 or 3 times. Now the problem with 80’s films is that they don’t fucking hold up. I look back at some of those films I watched 2 or 3 times and I can’t believe I fucking liked those things. You see, in the 80s every film had that wimp out ending, where they’d take back everything in the last 15 minutes. Nothing ever counted. The one genre exception was 80’s HORROR. 80’s HORROR ruled. The 80’s fucking invented the SLASHER FILM which is one of my favorite genres period.” Quentin went on to say something that I completely fucking agree with, which was that the 80’s kept us horror fans alive through the terrible 90s when horror fucking sucked and on through to the last 4 or 5 years when we’ve had a very real revitalization of horror from the indie and foreign markets. At this point, I’d (Harry) like to personally nominate MAY as the best horror film of this decade thus far.
At this point Quentin began to talk about the first film of the marathon, PSYCHO II. “I’ve always been a big fan of PSYCHO II and a huge fan of the director, Richard Franklin who did ROAD GAMES and PATRICK before this. Those films are why Universal brought him over to do PSYCHO 2 which was a very big deal.”
“Also, I feel that PSYCHO 2 has the very best performance by Anthony Perkins of all time. I completely care about Norman Bates in this thing and that’s fucked up. I remember at the time with friends saying if they’d just fucking left him alone he’d been ok, Alright? If that fucking Vera Miles bitch had just left him alone, he’d been fine! He was really trying to be good, and they all got what they fucking deserved!”
He then went on to talk about Meg Tilly and how this was right before her BIG CHILL blow up, and I’d just like to formally put out there… WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU MEG TILLY??? We want you back on film again! My God – she’s just so fucking good in this movie, and did I say HOT! She’s just scrumdiddliumptious! Oh wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Quentin told us that Vera Miles is back and she’s a fucking bitch. “A friend of mine pointed out, and I’m not spoiling this, it’s been out forever, but when Vera Miles is stabbed in the mouth, this friend of mine was like, ‘But she’s a Fucking Big Mouth,’” Quentin begins laughing.
He then went back to Norman Bates saying that his fall was kinda heartbreaking, cuz Perkins really convincingly shows he’s making the effort.
Then he told us to watch Dennis Franz in this. That this was prior to his NYPD BLUE days, back when he was essentially that guy showing up in all the Brian DePalma movies.
Quentin, unable to escape the deliciousness of Norman Bates and Anthony Perkins’ performance, tells us that PSYCHO 2 has one of the all time great line readings in history. He couldn’t remember the exact line, it is more around the reading of a word, so he made up a sentence. Perkins and Meg are sitting down for a sandwich and Bates asks if she’d like some “Cutlery”, and he said that that line reading trumps all the Hitchcock shit right there.
Quentin then leaves this time tossing the microphone gently ‘up’ – I’d give this a 6 for flamboyance, but still not the reckless mayhem and gleeful destruction of a 10.
The first trailer up was for PSYCHO II – great moody trailer.
DRESSED TO KILL – fucking amazing trailer. Completely makes you think Angie “Use Me” Dickinson is the star of the entire film. Brilliantly done. I love this movie. The shower scene in this is the one that convinced me that heterosexuality was for me. And damn Nancy Allen was scrumptious.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME – trailer didn’t do much for me, but the birthday cake – somehow – that Birthday cake made me want to see the film. Weird how the brain works.
FRIDAY THE 13th Part 2 – I love the “kill countdown trailers” of this series – which honestly I feel is the best thing to come out of this series. I’d love to have the countdown for the entire run of films all edited together in one big 30 minute play out. It’d rule.
Ok – now PSYCHO II.
Like Tarantino, I greatly prefer PSYCHO II to the original. I’m not sure if it’s just that like with SUSPIRIA for me, the film came with such an authoritative “Best Slasher Film Ever” or “Best Horror Film Ever” credence that I just sort of came at the film from a “Prove It” stance, but honestly – I don’t think so.
To me – I love Herrmann’s score, the shower scene, Mother, The House and Norman Bates, but I have never been a particular Vera Miles fan, nor do I give two shits for John Gavin. Also – this is the film where Hitch used his TV crew from the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS show, and as a result, I’ve always thought the film felt flat and uncinematic. The characters are some of the least developed characters in the history of Hitchcock and ultimately the only real plot to the film is the twist… and I hate the epilogue.
Whereas in the sequel – Richard Franklin is embracing the persona of Norman Bates and doing something that we just never see in the genre – which is adding a layer of the Larry Talbot, WOLF MAN persona – which is to say… Norman Bates doesn’t want to kill again. He wants to be a good boy, but he knows what he’s capable of – and he truly does wish to be done with the killing.
This film has so much going on with it. I love that you legitimately don’t know exactly what’s going on till near the end. I love that Dean Cundey’s cinematography just pops. I love the physicality of Perkins. This was who was born to play Ichabod Crane. His impossibly gaunt wisp of a muscular man look is just so damn disturbing. The way he’s shot in the film makes him look 7 ft tall. His twitch, his constant hesitation, as if to always be doubting what and why he’s doing anything. He’s like a dog that’s been beaten every time he’s taken a shit for the last 6 years finally starting to take a shit, wondering if the newspaper was going to come in, and from where. It’s classic.
Then there’s Meg Tilly. Had she fucked Norman Bates – this could have been the greatest film of all time. I don’t know what it is about girls that love and care for sick deviant fucks that makes me go gaga, but this Meg Tilly character is the girl that Hannibal Lecter deserved. She’s like Vulnavia or Edwina Lionheart. A girl to kill with and live with. Is there anything more delicious? I think that’s why I’ll always have a crush on Mallory Knox, but this Meg Tilly character – when she’s stabbing on Norman and he’s just continuing to come towards her… that’s a fucking love scene! There’s love in both their eyes, and this is the extent of Norman’s capacity for love, he’s giving himself over to her to kill. This is how he wants to go, at the hands of the only woman to ever truly care for him.
Vera Miles though. I hated her in the first film, and in this – she’s a 100 times worse. She’s just a dried cunt of a character. No soul, no understanding.
Robert Loggia and Dennis Franz are both absolutely awesome in the film. I miss this Dennis Franz… the sleazy prick. Nobody does it quite as icky as he. However, after Perkins and Tilly, my favorite character of the film is Hugh Gillin’s Sheriff John Hunt. There’s something just awesomely authentic about him. When he’s talking to Meg at the swamp and he’s confronting her about what gives her and her mother the right to fuck with Norman, she says something like “Norman killed people” – and the Sheriff shoots back, “Norman was crazy, what’s your excuse?” and it’s just such a “Fucking A!” from the sheriff you just want to cheer. And at the end – the sheriff’s explanation of everything is just fucking classic.
The audience just ate the film up. PSYCHO II has a delicious flavor to it. It just feels naughty in all the right ways. This film has aged fantastically.
Next Quentin comes out to introduce FUNERAL HOME by William Fruet. Now – at this point I’d just like to say that my notes become a little scattershot, because I was just getting into the evening primarily instead of being the living reporter/journalist that you’d all like me to be. Ahem. That’s right, I was just geeking out.
Having Quentin host 80s Horror Night – I just feel everybody should be in pajamas and that at some point a pillow fight should erupt where Quentin begins unleashing hither to unknown pillow wielding prowess as he beats some geek the point of feather explosions. It’d be grand.
Quentin asked how many had seen FUNERAL HOME – I think one other person than me, had seen it. “We got a lot of cherries to be popped then.” QT went into how this film is basically PSYCHO. Not PSYCHO II, but PSYCHO. That about 20 minutes in you’ll realize that it is in fact PSYCHO, and then the joy becomes – are they going to go all the way with it, and Quentin wouldn’t say whether or not they would, but I knew they would. Also – we would be getting FREE PIE with this screening compliments of the wondrous Jasmine and her start up PIE company – WILD PIES – which will be starting up at www.WildPies.Com, which isn’t up yet, but will be soon.
Quentin also went into a thing about how he recently had been going back through all the Slasher films that he had missed and FUNERAL HOME was one of those. Does this mean his GRIND HOUSE chapter will be his SLASHER FILM? Hmmmmm… I’d bet yes. He says that after BROOD and RABID, that FUNERAL HOME is his favorite Canadian Horror Film. He then stated that if you really know your SLASHER films – that you know that half of the best ones came out of Canada, like PROM NIGHT, FUNERAL HOME, MY BLOODY VALENTINE and BLACK CHRISTMAS – which I’d say is my favorite Canadian horror film – I’ve just watched it compulsively my entire life.
Then he went on to say that William Fruet was one of his fave out and out genre directors of Canada. Mentioning how much he loves HOUSE BY THE LAKE, that Fruet did the best episodes of the FRIDAY THE 13th television series, which Quentin is a big fan of and that Fruet did a giant monster flick with Steve Railsback called BLUE MONKEY that he liked quite a bit.
Quentin really seems to like all the remakes of PSYCHO to the actual PSYCHO. He prefers Gus Van Sant’s shot for shot remake, generally because he feels that it’s more real. That Van Sant was, within the constrains of the script, making it all real. Not really sure if I agree. I get the idea of shot for shot remakes as being treating a screenplay like a play, and just reperforming it, but if you are taking on that exercise, don’t go shot for shot – dare to reimagine the look of the piece almost entirely, and not just in color.
That’s why I love the DePalma remakes of Hitchcock. Cuz he abandons the confines of the times that Hitchcock worked in. PSYCHO/DRESSED TO KILL, REAR WINDOW/BODY DOUBLE, VERTIGO/OBSESSION – I just love his versions to death – though I do prefer REAR WINDOW to BODY DOUBLE, I do prefer OBSESSION and DRESSED TO KILL to Hitch’s.
He gave props to Lesleh Donaldson and Harvey Atkin and the lady playing his girlfriend, “One note, but totally hitting it!”
His last note on the film was that it had one of the creepiest cats in the history of creepy cats. “That’s a go good fucking cat. If I ever need a creepy cat, look no further, Canada’s got some creepy fucking cats!” He told us that this was one he felt could be a sleeper hit… and with that, he gently tossed the mike (5).
Then came the trailers…
First came Tobe Hooper’s THE FUNHOUSE – great little trailer and an unappreciated film of Tobe’s.
THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW – I fucking love this movie.
GALAXY OF TERROR – and I love this one even more.
THE HITCHER – this trailer just kicks unholy ass. Interspersed with shots of Soulman picking up Roy Batty for a ride are shots of the horrifying mayhem that Rutger is about to unleash on C Thomas Howell’s pathetically boring life… ending with C. Thomas saying, “My mother told me to never do this.” And smiling. AWESOME TRAILER! God I love the original HITCHER!
FORBIDDEN WORLD – cheesy Alien knock off that looks kinda fun and kinda dreadful.
DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE – ok – now this movie. This is one of the sickest most fucked up horrifying, they really killed people movies that I’ve ever seen. Quentin showed this years ago and it really fucked me up. The whole trailer I was having flashbacks to the stuff they’re not showing and twitching. This movie beat me.
So – What’d I think of FUNERAL HOME? Well, I first saw this on cable a billion years ago – and dismissed it as a shitty remake of PSYCHO, a film I didn’t like the first time – and as I’ve matured into the film geek that I am today – I can say that my fondness for this film has grown about equally to my fondness for the original PSYCHO. Which isn’t saying a whole lot. What I like about Hitch’s PSYCHO – I like much better than I do this. You can’t beat Herrmann’s music, that house or Anthony Perkins and that dead sculpture of mommy. BUT – the quirky as hell Canadian cast for this flick is pretty damn endearing. The cat is fucked up, but I prefer the cat from PET SEMATARY – if only I had a gray cat like that one that fucking creeped me out, that I buried in a pet cemetery as a kid that fucked my shit up. “Gray Molly” we called her. My sister fed it DRANO. And folks wonder why I call her Sister Satan.
I really like Barry Morse’s character in this. If only that I liked trying to remember where the fuck I remembered him from. I came up with SPACE 1999 – Dad, being the old fart that he is, came up with the original FUGITIVE TV show.
Kay Hawtrey was just disarmingly folksy, but I don’t think there’s ever a doubt she’s the fucked up one. They throw out a lot of loose leaders in the film, but she’s just the mark. Though, it’d been cool if the ‘tard had been the bad guy.
Next – Quentin came out for SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT – and I haven’t seen this since I was like 14. I don’t remember liking it. Quentin calls this, “SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, The First One, The Only One!” He then went into how there have been a lot of killer Santa Claus movies, but this is the one! Now, he never saw this in L.A. and is convinced it never played there. The commercials freaked people out and Siskel and Ebert trashed it so TriStar just dumped it. He never really thought he’d missed anything, but then he saw it and, “If you’re like me and love to see young actors traumatized onscreen, then this is the movie for you.” As he was watching the opening scene for the first time, he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t seen it sooner. He now calls it one of his favorite opening scenes ever. And when he started talking to Robert Rodriguez about it, Robert took on the old grand pa’s voice and did the entire scene word for word – turns out that it’s one of Robert’s all time favorite monologues – then Quentin did, “If you see Santa Claus BOOOY, You better run for your life!”
Quentin particularly likes how the film 100% focuses on the killer – and by god – when he starts killing, Quentin said, “The earth got what it fucking deserves. He’s just reaping what God sowed.” Cuz this kid went through shit. After the intro Quentin did his best Mike toss yet. 7.
Trailers came – THE BURNING – ok trailer.
DEAD ZONE – “The Ice… is gonna break!”
HELL NIGHT – QT vet flick.
SILENT RAGE – fucking brilliant Chuck Norris film. Best film he ever made and just a great fucking movie. I love this film. I recently introduced this film to Edgar Wright Jr - who flipped for it!
Then came SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT – and folks – this is just a fucking blast. That opening scene… Holy Shit – that’s so much more intense than I remember it. If the film had ended with that boy in the snow – I’d pay to see it over and over. One of the great traumatizing works of cinema. The next segment – is pretty rough, but I kinda needed to see the Nun strapping the boy. At this point, my Dad leaned over and said we need to show my Nephew this film. And you people call me sick.
They guy playing Billy as a grown teenager is just one of the creepiest cherubic faced actors I’ve ever seen. The thing that is kinda insane about this flick is this. Once the kid begins his psycho spree… he’s just really really good at it. Alcohol doesn’t affect this kid like alcohol has affected anybody on the planet Earth.
There’s a few bits of him stumbling, but once he kills that first guy with the Christmas lights and the one arm strangulation… I just thought – DAMN THAT’S EFFICIENT. But here’s the thing. At this point, Billy just killed a rapist prick. And the girl he saves, she looks at Billy – and is she thankful that Billy spared her from a Christmas Eve rape? Oh no, she starts going nuts on his ass, till he finally has to kill her. Then, well, then he’s committed to doing what it is that Santa Claus does.
The girl that puts shorts on, but remains topless to open her front door to let the kitty in – I love her. That is so exactly right. Leave the tits out. But as I watched Billy’s further mayhem, I just thought how humiliating it’d be to be wiped out by a cherubic teen Santa catholic school boy. There’s no respect in that death.
The film had the audience going really really good. This one holds up really well.
Next Quentin came out to introduce BEYOND EVIL with John Saxon and Lynda Day George. Quentin starts off by saying that this film is a little bit better in every category than it ought to be and that we were switching to the Possession Genre. He then says the film has a bit of that CARMILLA vibe, but without the Lesbian overtones. AWWWW MAN! I’m getting a bad vibe at this point. CARMILLA without the lesbian overtones is like getting laid without the woman – you’ve just got a strong right hand.
Speaking of which, he begins talking about John Saxon, aka MR COOL. He says Saxon has “a soft cock role” as the husband of the possessed woman in the film. And he feels Saxon just brings the role a believable sensibility and a human heart. While Lynda, he feels, gives the best performance of her career – to which LARS ( the Alamo Drafthouse’s Something Weird Wednesday programmer) shouts out PIECES! To which Quentin laughs, “PIECES is crappy, but I liked it.” Continuing on Lynda, he says she’s older than in her young hottie roles we all remember her for, but though she’s a little older and very matrony – you just get the feel that she’s an Allison Anders character trapped in a horror movie.
He reminds us that Michael Dante was the pedophile from Sam Fuller’s NAKED KISS.
Then he tells us that the film was set in the Philippines, and how you have to love it that the film begins with the dancing of the Tanikalang. I don’t know what that is, but ok. And limply tosses the mike. (4)
TRAILERS –
BLOW OUT – God, I love this film. Might very well be my favorite DePalma film.
VENOM – I’ve never seen this. Stars Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson, Sterling Hayden and Susan George and features a killer Black Mamba. And after looking it up online it seems it was co-directed by Tobe Hooper. HOLY SHIT I NEED TO SEE THIS! Yes! It’s on DVD – and is ordered.
VIDEODROME – gets screams from the audience, cuz it owns.
VISITING HOURS – really cheesy trailer.
OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN – here’s another that I want to see. It’s directed by George Cosmatos, whom I love. Stars Peter Weller and Jennifer Dale and it’s on DVD! I have you now!
BEYOND EVIL?
Well, I kinda really didn’t care that much for this one. I like John Saxon, Lynda Day – but I just kinda felt the film wasn’t enough for me at this hour. Had this been the first film of the evening, I think I could have enjoyed it more. Some of the fire dances interested me, but that dopey devil statue caused yawns and I notice about 1 in 3 people were dozing instead of watching the film – and that shows you where I was, if I was noticing 1 in 3 dozing. Including Rav, who I’ve never caught dozing in a film.
Lynda was quite beautiful in this, and John is very good for what he has – but this is a just miss for me. It really made me tired.
Quentin comes out – his energy still at peak levels – and that kinda reinforced me a bit. He’s out to introduce MAUSOLEUM – a film I remember as being really really dumb. “MAUSOLEUM is quite similar to BEYOND EVIL, a totally fucking dumb movie that’s really fucking fun. “ He tells us that Bobbie Bresee is in the film and she got a surprisingly good body and gets naked a lot, which is really what we all need right now. That’s a good thing. He tells us that about halfway through the movie her constant nudity starts to charm Quentin. This gets good laughs from the audience.
Then he tells us about Normon Burton, who plays the Doctor in this film. He’s played the Doctor in tons of films, but this is by far the biggest role he’s ever had in a single film and he’s got a cool authority kinda going on. By the end, Quentin tells us that he’s completely taken over the lead role.
Then – he tells us that what we’re really waiting for in this film are the Snapping Breasts. That it’s the only thing that they didn’t do in SHAME OF THE JUNGLE and how MAUSOLEUM is about to correct that fact with SNAPPING BREASTS! This really gets the audience going. We’re all in need of snapping nipping biting breasts! QT does a nice little mike toss, that felt exceptionally loud. (7)
Trailers:
AMITYVILLE 2: THE POSSESSION – I honestly feel this is my second favorite possession film after THE EXORCIST – note – haven’t seen Emily Rose yet. Fun trailer.
DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE – they say that too much.
CREATURE – fun trailer.
SILENT SCREAM has a pretty great trailer.
HE KNOWS YOU’RE ALONE – cheese!
So – What’d I think of MAUSOLEUM? I really fucking loved MAUSOLEUM. A lot of that has to do with Bobbie Bresee’s Tracy Lords-esque upturned tittage. Which is always a very big plus. This film also has a fucking great gardener – reminds me a bit of Moriarty.
However, no matter the amount my penis wanted to fuck Bobbie Bresee and her wonderful snapping breasts – no amount of little head dedication, could keep my love of LaWanda Page’s performance of the maid. You may remember her from ZAPPED! Or as the hotel made in MY BLUE HEAVEN or her hysterical turn in SHAKES THE CLOWN or as the old lady in FRIDAY – but her GUARANTEED improv in this role is just amazing. Everybody in attendance would have loved it had she been the main character. It would have been the greatest movie ever. The shit coming out of that woman’s mouth just had me in hysterics. I believe she actually said, “Great Googily Moogily!” “No more grieving, I’m Leaving” and my personal fave, “THERE’S SOME STRANGE SHIT GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE” and here skirt’s limitation of her stride in getting the shit out of that house made for the funniest walk I’ve seen in some time.
Snapping Tits were worth the wait and glorious.
This film energized the audience – and I think is the genuine sleeper of the night. Not saying it’s great, but at the butt-crack of dawn, it was the light that brought us home.
Then – some cruel bastard, whom I’ll refer to as Tim League, played at 40 gigabels this fucking bizarre rap/performance piece about being trapped in a closet – that was the scariest fucking thing I’ve seen. Remember the Soulless Singer from AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON – imagine if he changed with the times and became a rapper. It was like that… but it hurt in a funny way, like breaking your leg trying to take off your pants.
Then giggling in a no longer fresh CABIN FEVER t-shirt, Quentin took the stage one final time to introduce the final film of the evening. MADMAN MARZ. He instantly apologized for screening a film that we’d already screened here. Tim League and I screened MADMAN MARZ at CAMP HACKENSLASH – where it played like tits at a truck stop. And like tits at a truck stop, this film was welcomed back.
