Father Geek sees SPIDERBABY and SWITCHBLADE SISTERS under the stars!

A little after 6pm March 15th, Harry and I pull to a stop on a deadend side street 2 1/2 blocks from the multi-stored GSD&M parking garage upon whose roof we would be watching the next installment of Jack Hill films at SXSW. Tom Joad and Annette Kellerman pulled up behind us as we got out of the car. Father Geek here had been looking forward to this night ever since it was announced weeks ago, for you see SPIDERBABY would be screening and it's the only one of the Hill flicks that I've never seen on the big screen with an audience. Quentin Tarantino was slated to give one of his patented pre-film performances, and Jack Hill & Sid Haig were going to answer questions afterward.

Suddenly, out of nowhere on this dark and lonely stretch of Austin roadway, under a canopy of leafless 60 foot trees a shadowy, desperate, bearded figure charges toward us, arms outstretched. OH MY GOD!!! IT"S... It's... it's Louis Black, editor of The Austin Chronicle, a board member of the Austin Film Society, and one of the people incharge of throwing SXSW. What the Hell? Where'd he come from? (The entire area surrounding us is under construction and enclosed by 8 foot fences topped with barbed wire.) What could he want? Why that manic look of tortured hopelessness etched across his face? (Although the temperature was only 43 degrees sweat was bursting forth from his furrowed forehead.)

"Quent... Quentin's still in LA... He's... He's sick and can't be here to do his introductions... Harry... Harry can you do the talk before SWITCHBLADE SISTERS (the second feature)... can you, please?"

"Sure!" Harry responds as the five of us all begin to walk toward the show site.

"We've distributed over 4000 tickets for tonight's show...and I... I have to face them... I have... I have to tell them... Quentin's not... he's not going to be here!" Louis continued as we round a corner to see a line of several hundred people leading to the garage entrance, still a block away and a hour and a half to show time. Louis swallows what little moisture remains in his mouth and says, "You all follow me... you're doing me a big favor." We begin passing the queue and as we do people begin to fall in step behind us. Louis turns to look over his shoulder, "Harry... how many... Harry you've started a damn parade!" By the time we reach the gate that was our goal our numbers have swollen from 5 to 50. A disappointed 43 are exiled to the swelling line's rear and the original group, plus Johnny Wad & Quint, pass through security.

With much effort we began the 5 story stairwell climb to the roof. This was tough. You see less than 30 minutes before our crew, lacking Louis, had been stuffing our faces, as well as the rest of our bodies with platters of Mongolian Bar BQ and Sesame bread, Eggdrop soup and those cute little Asian Dumplings, giving no thought to the idea that there would be no elevator to lift our bloated carcasses to the rooftop theater . After an agonizing 90 foot ascent we stumbled out on to the roof. Within seconds Jack Hill was there shaking our hands and greeting us. It would be another 20 minutes before any of the line-people would be allowed access to our lofty perch. We visited with Jack & Sid and a few other VIPs, and examined the fantastic 35mm projector set up on one end of the roof. At the other (north) end of our man made mount metal scaffolding was erected another 35' high and 60' wide. Workers, like spiders, hung all over it preparing to hang a massive motion picture screen. We scored some black brew, the screen was unfurled, and the masses began to flood onto our sanctuary in the stars. We had staked-out our domain down front with Joad's dustbowl Indian blankets a little earlier, so we just leaned against the south wall and watched the throng gather. As their numbers swelled Louis grew more nervous. How would they respond to the bad news he had for them? We knew many had never heard of these movies or Jack Hill, and were only there because Tarantino's name fronted the advertising. We all feared for the worst, even though the event was free.

Finally the river of bodies slowed to a mere trickle. The lights went out. The spot shot a Caligarian shaft of radiance onto the screen. Louis' time of reckoning had arrived. He stepped near, but not into the stark white illumination and began to speak. The 2000+ took the news well, a few moans, but no riot, no mass exodus, no rain of makeshift missles. Bolstered, Louis stepped into the light and began to enthusiastically introduce the crowd to SPIDERBABY. The temperature had dropped to 40, mercifully there was no wind. Orion rested high in the clear southern sky, Venus and Jupiter lay near each other off to the west. They had the best seats in the house. The projector's arc light began to flicker...

Lon Chaney, Jr.'s voice filled the crisp night air with the opening title's song. The screen filled with B & W imagery. Still no mass departures, no cat calls. 2000 souls breathed as one. Man, I love this town. Jack Hill shot SPIDERBABY in 1964. It is his classic black-comedy. He did the re-write of the script in 2 days and spent another 12 days shooting it. In addition to it's star Chaney, Hill cast longtime black character actor Mantan Moreland, Sid Haig, Carol Ohmart, and Mary Mitchell in major roles. The feature is a semi-spoof of the Spend-A-Night-In-A-Creepy-Old-House genre. It is a Horror-Comedy in the same vein as 59's BUCKET OF BLOOD and 60's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. If you like those two then you'll love this one. I don't want to give too much away, but there is a hilarious bit that has Sid, playing a simpleton, chasing a Betty Page type babe dressed in black hose and a Fredericks of Hollywood bra, panty, and garter belt outfit around the house and it's grounds. Like other movies of Jack's, "baby" was released repeatedly on the Drive-in circuit under several different names. Some of these are CANNIBAL ORGY, THE LIVER EATERS, and THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD. Jack said that some distributers would change the name to avoid paying royalities on the films. Also when I was talking with him before the movie started he told me that it has such a cult following that in 1994 he, Sid, and some of the other stars attended a "Spiderbaby Convention" simular to a Trekkie Con. Haig said that when he was a kid he loved all of Chaney's films and watched them whenever he got the chance. Then when he found himself working with his idol he just couldn't believe it and that he would just sit there and listen to Lon tell stories during ever break in filming. Sid also said the "Ear" was off the head of one of the Grips. He said that they would go out drinking and this guy would rip it off and drop it in girl's drinks to get their attention. Jack stated that the car Lon drives in the film cost more to rent each day than Chaney's pay. After the Q&A people started to leave, the temperature was resting somewhere in the upper 30's. It was suppose to be a hour break between features, but Louis approached Harry and asked him to start his spiel.

Everyone was standing, milling around, trying to decide weather to stay or go. Harry had to convince them to forget the cold, the hard concrete, and to set down and watch a really fun flick with us for another couple of hours. Tough job! He starts off with the true story of our first viewing of SWITCHBLADE SISTERS in August of 1996 at the Dobie Theater with Mike Judge, Richard Linkletter, Tarantino and about 197 others. Harry told the crowd how we were watching Fulchi's THE BEYOND 1st when suddenly the Mall's alarm goes off, strobing lights in the theater's darkness, ear piercing sonic blasts, it just wouldn't stop. The manager runs down the aisle, there's been a Bomb threat, everyone must leave the building. Bummer! People rush for the doors. Harry tells the now very attentive group under Orion's watchful eye how he and I held back keeping our seats until the theater cleared, we simply didn't believe it was real. You could hear a pin drop on the parking garage floor. Harry had them hooked. He went on to tell that in the back of that theater 3 years ago we spotted Judge, Linkletter, and Tarantino also still in their seats and decided then and there that if the Gods declared that we should die in a theater with these 3 men watching a great Italian horror film, then so be it, it was a good day to die! The rooftop erupted with cheers and the crowd began to take their seats, the exodus had stilled, only about 25% had left, most of those before Harry started talking. He now shifted gears. He was a coach firing up his team at half time, there was almost constant clapping and cheers, no one was going to leave during the next film. He wraps his talk and steps out of the light, off to the side Louis gives him a bearhug, the movie begins to roll...

They're "The Dagger Debs", the wildest, sexiest badass teenage gang to ever stalk the mean streets of urban America. They're the bitch'n-ess babes you'll ever see, they're the SWITCHBLADE SISTERS !!! This is Jack Hill's 1975 Tough-as-Fingernails exploitation actioner that pre-dated the modern cycle of gang films by 4 years. Hill cast Robbie Lee as the girl-gang leader out to keep her man at any cost. You may know her from BIG BAD MAMA. Some of the honeys that surround her are: Monica Gayle, Marlene Clark, Kitty Bruce (Lenny's daughter), and Joanne Nail. "Sisters" has some nice gunfights and the climatic knife fight is down right great. This was a gorgeous color print restored and remastered from the original negative by Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures. It's easy to see why Quentin chose to invest in this motion picture. It rocks!!! Earlier in the day I was talking to QT's mom and she told me about taking him to see it as a kid when it first came out, COOOOOOOOL. She braved the cold Monday night to see it again. Jack told us during his Q&A after the flick that that old Volvo station wagon that plays a key role in the film was his personal car at the time. He also said that he deliberately worked elements of Othello into the story line and that parts of the finale where inspired by the ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. You'll know those when they happen. Like his other work this one has been seen under several different names, like THE JEZEBELS, or THE PLAYGIRL GANG.

Well that's it from Father Geek tis time around. I'll send you some more SXSW reports as soon as I have time to write them up. Until then, stay cool.