Saturday, November 6, 2010

i'm looking for seventies horror novels

and i have no idea what to look for. i remember covers from the seventies and eighties, not so much with the titles or authors. i did remember 'the funhouse' by owen west (eighties) and 'midnight' by john russo (also eighties, i know, sorry) but i'm blanking on other stuff.

hmm.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

a lot of the time i watch movies that

i would never bother to do if it weren't for the fact that i was bored.

so tonight i watched alien vs. predator: requiem. i seem to recall reading bucketloads of hate directed at this film by eager fapping fanboys wanting to see aliens eat predators or vice versa, and i also recall that it got really shit reviews.

well, what for? it's a FUCKING MOVIE ABOUT ALIENS AND PREDATORS. this is not rocket science, nor does it even need to make any sense. it is a monster movie, and being of the times it needs to be a monster movie where a lot of shit gets ripped up or bleeds or dies violently or something happens that makes you think 'ew. that’s fucking sickening.' or what have you. which this movie has in spades.

it had: a dad and his kid getting facehugged and chestbursted, a lot of stupid teens dying in exciting (not bloody enough for me) ways, a saucy scene wherein the lead teen entices another teen to the local high school for a torrid night swim (which is then interrupted by a bunch of aliens wanting to, perhaps, get their freak on) a dad getting lunched out on in front of his screechy kid, a bunch of bums getting facehugged, a cop getting skinned and hung from a…do i need to go on?

it would be a very good movie to get drunk to at the drive-in, and it would be a very good movie to get bored with and end up balling in the back seat to. i would do either of these things quite happily, and if i had been so lucky to see it at the drive-in, i would have done all three with the utmost zeal. i am that sort of girl.

speaking of drive-ins, when i first started watching gore and horror thanks to the mom-and-pop video store which had opened next to my house, i went on a herschell gordon lewis kick. said kick was fairly extreme, and i ended up weeping over the fact that the store owner wouldn’t sell me his copy of she-devils on wheels, and he really should have, because it never got rented, but i digress. one night i brought home 2000 maniacs after school. i was likely about 15 or so.

i sat down, popped it into the trusty betamax and my mother strolled in. 'something new, honey?'

yes, mom. leave so i can enjoy the naked ladies and the bad acting and the super-duper awesome gore in peace, please.

she sat down. moms never do what you want them to.

'you know, i think i’ve seen this. it was when your father and i were dating.'

sure you have. go away. go get drunk. go eat a ham.

'in fact, i know i have. there’s a very disgusting part coming up. they’re going to stick one of these men in a barrel and then hammer it full of nails and roll it down a hill. i made your father leave at that point.'

not only had she actually seen it, she had spoiled it.

but it made me smile, somewhere deep down. perhaps i had been conceived at a herschell gordon lewis film? stranger things have happened, you know.

anyhow, watch alien vs. predator: the sequel if you’re bored, or if you don’t care, or if you have a migraine. it’s all good.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

i'd like to speak frankly about something very important and also repellent:

namely, that i LOVE the movie wild orchid. i love it from the very moment it begins. i love the splash screen for the title. i love the shitty font they use. i OWNED THE SOUNDTRACK. i’m not ashamed of this, although my favorite song in the movie wasn’t on the soundtrack. i relate my total and UNDYING DEVOTION to this film in the hopes that i might convince some of you as to the utter rightness of this fucking piece of work.

thing to love number one: carre otis’ character gets on a greyhound BUS to go to NEW YORK CITY at the very beginning of the film. she is actually leaving from the middle of NOWHERESVILLE, a fact evidenced by the sight of her bus’ first destination: KANSAS CITY. the very notion of someone on an empty, dusty road boarding a bus about to take them to the fantastic metropolis of kansas city--which then takes one to the really big city--is a cinematic trope, if you will, that i had never thought to see.

thing to love number two: my friend shannon’s sister kelly called this film ‘wild orchard’ repeatedly, for no reason that we could figure. kelly also thought that going to red lobster meant that you had to dress up.

thing to love number three: i saw this movie one night at the west seneca mall with the aforementioned shannon and my friend tracy. we were the only teenaged girls in the theater. everyone else was there to surreptitiously jerk off, i think. after we saw it we went to antoinette’s for ice cream sundaes. but back to the movie.

thing 4: this is THE MOVIE where mickey rourke has a nervous breakdown and begins to believe that he is in fact a dude who should wear too much eyeliner and get lots of plastic surgery and REALLY IS mr. “i am untouchable damaged dude” and can’t open his mouth when he speaks and should become a boxer and ride harleys with ape-hangers while sporting a red bandana like a golden retriever for the rest of his life because don’t you know that harleys and bandanas are the coolest? i truly believe you can trace his downfall to precise moments in the film. like the sex therapist scene in the limo. which i’ll get to. or like when he decided to eat the german orange tanning pills instead of bothering to lay in the sun.

thing 5: carre otis has to watch a lot of black people having hot wilding animal mandingo buck sex up against walls of abandoned hotels. throughout the course of the film they just act as this greek chorus of animalistic fuck activity. i think this ‘wakes her up’ sexually and makes her more amenable to mickey rourke and his weird-assed talk-freak desires.

thing 6: a lot of people stand around in the movie with barely any clothes on for no reason. like at restaurants; they stand just behind you while you eat your dinner. I WANT TO EAT DINNER IN THAT PLACE.

thing 7: there is so much crazy-assed dialogue courtesy of zalman king that i don’t even know where to begin.
“tell me about their wedding night.”
“they went to a grand hotel. (PAUSE) on a tropical beach somewhere. (PAUSE) they made the reservations by phone, not knowing it had fallen to ruin. (SMALL PAUSE) he hated it. (PAUSE) she liked it. (PAUSE) it made her feel(PAUSE)(PAUSE)(PAUSE)…”
“what?”
(EXTREME PAUSE) “decadent.”

thing 8: as well as half-naked people, there are naked people standing around everywhere for no discernible reason. if they are ladies, their breasts are always heaving. well. it is rio.

thing 9: jacqueline bisset’s partner or sometime boyfriend or whatever the hell he is is played by the same actor who essays the role of the driller murderer in the also excellent slumber party massacre.

thing 10: mickey rourke takes carre and their new, convenient german friends to a “special place” so that the german lady can experience the thrill of almost being raped by drunken sweaty navy men. then, he takes the opportunity to pull a bruce lee on said navy man, and gives him a swift kick to the solar plexus in what can only be described as an extremely heavy scene. action follows fast and furious as the german lady in question is then assaulted by a thug desirous of her swank jewelry, so mickey rourke runs in and saves the day by actually RIPPING HER TOP OFF and then RUNNING AWAY. if you don’t believe me, rent the fucking movie. then they all have a group psychofuckfreak in the limo on the way home, with mickey as the sex therapist. carre otis actually has the decency to look woodenly disgusted at all this, as well she should. i mean, she has a german couple she knows nothing about balling on the seat next to her.

then he tells her that the people in the limo are not having sex, they are making love. “there’s a difference.” HEAVY.

thing 11: something very amazing is predicated on the notion that you should believe that carre otis has a passable portuguese accent. let me ask—-do you think she does? after the amazingness, mickey rourke watches her get fucked by a guy named jerome through the window of jerome’s hotel room. he has an appropriately angsty expression on his face. meanwhile, up in the room, jerome has a big string of drool hanging off his chin while he semi-rapes carre otis.

thing 12: carre otis and jacqueline bisset dress up like ‘twin’ men for carnival. actually, they dress in the same outfit for most of the movie so i don’t know why it’s so important that they do so for carnival. jacqueline bisset left a dress behind for carre otis to wear the first night she meets mickey rourke. i’m sure it all MEANS SOMETHING but i can’t say what. we learn that jacqueline is obsessed with mickey rourke. also that he was an orphan who stuttered so badly as a child that he could barely talk. and some long bullshit story about her dressing like a maid and some other crap.

thing 13: carre otis mildly yells (woodenly) at jacqueline bisset “i strongly advise you to tell them. if you don’t, it’s MISREPRESENTATION!” i don’t really know what the hell she’s talking about. i think mickey rourke is behind it all somehow.

thing 14: shockingly, there is a PIL song played on the soundtrack during carnival. i cannot express to you how FUCKING BLOWN my mind was at seeing/hearing johnny rotten/lydon’s voice snarking out at me in the theater. it was great. (PAUSE) but really surprising. (PAUSE) i mean, johnny rotten and zalman king? think about that. john must have needed some scratch, right?

thing 15: mickey rourke not only wears red bandanas when the mood strikes, he also chooses to go without a shirt for most of the film. sans german tanning pill orange, this would have excited me more than it does. sometimes he wears a rosary as a necklace. he reminds me of a scary pro wrestler.

thing 16: everyone in this movie forces carre otis to stand around and watch them balling, or listen to them talk about balling, or to just flat out disregard her when she says she doesn’t want to be involved in their nauseating balling performances/discussions. still, if i were her i would have probably stuck around too. it’s a weirdo scene, and i like weirdo scenes.

thing 17: let me say again, HARLEYS WITH APE HANGERS ARE NO GOOD. riding said harley with a leather vest on (shirtless o.c.) with a purple bandana tied around your neck AND a rosary AND about three gold watches on one hand is OVERDOING THINGS.

thing 18: near the close of the film, a black midget in a bellhop costume appears. why? is he supposed to be like a lawn jockey? WHY IS HE THERE?

thing 19: at the end, we learn that mickey rourke can “go to any restaurant [he] wants and sit at [his] own damn table but that [he] can’t swallow [his] food.” or however i should have written that. and that carre otis is very beautiful but that she’s “gonna disappear.”

thing 20: who cares if they really had sex or not during the big “making love” session? MAYBE they did! WHO CAN BE KNOWING? i get to watch orange mickey rourke (post cheek implants) having wild orchard sex on the floor of a vegas style ‘opulent’ hotel room for five or six minutes before they ride off into the sunset on ape-hangers and then carre gives us the thumbs-up.

it’s disturbing to me, because he really does look like blaine a.k.a. the invisible boy. like, i get a little squeamy. the only thing that saves this from being completely fucking weird like angel heart, where they are DEAD FUCKING RINGERS, is the cheek implants. for once, thank god for cheek implants.

if you think i write this from a place of irony, you are sadly mistaken. i am dead serious in my love for this film and everyone should see it.

p.s. i really wanted to add a lovely photo from somewhere in the film but as most of you know there’s not much going on other than TITS-A-PLENTY. sorry.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

this isn't a really stupid movie

except for the parts where it’s really stupid, like every time stephen lack opens his mouth, but i try to put that out of my mind and concentrate on the good bits.

scanners is, as david cronenberg will freely admit, a mess. it was his tax bracket movie. he had no real plot. he did, however, have the good sense to cast patrick mcgoohan in a somewhat pivotal role, and this is good enough for me. the paddy is always at his best when he is acting sort of like an confused, uptight, weirdo asshole i think, and he does that very nicely with his opening line, which is:

'you’re 35 years old mr. vale. why are you such a derelict? such a piece of human junk.' seriously, all he needs to do is open his mouth and the awesomeness comes forth. it’s that weird, no-man's-land accent and the diction and the delivery. he is literally spectacular.

it's sort of like when he's the warden in escape from alcatraz, always grooming his fingernails with this weird tight smile on his face, or when he has his freakout as number six in 'the prisoner', ripping off that ape mask and leering at himself in this positively fucked up manner, or when he's playing red in hell drivers and pasts stanley baker a good one just for fun, or even when he's longshanks in braveheart and pitches his son’s no good lover out a window. he's just good that way.

he also makes some odd acting choices, like slouching whenever he can, but you know, people do those things sometimes, and in the context of the scene where he's slouching, i think it makes sense. he's annoyed by these consec tools. he knows that the scanners will break your fucking backs, and he's simply having to reiterate said position for what is probably the eight thousandth time. so he's a bit sleepy about the whole thing.

in the book 'cronenberg on cronenberg', there’s this awesome bit about scanners where d.c. admits to the fact that it's basically a piece of shit, and then goes on to talk about what a coup it was to have gotten the paddy to act in it. he talks about how he'd aged so magnificently, how absolutely wonderful he looked. you'd almost think he wanted to hump the paddy in much the same way i do, but i digress. he also talks about how the paddy one day confessed to him on set that not only was he terrified that he would fuck up on camera, but also that he was terrified that if he wasn't drunk enough, he’d kill someone.

why didn't i work on this film? god is patently not my friend. i would have gone out and gotten good and fucked up with the p. whenever he wanted me to, and i would have taken my clothes off for him at the barest hint of a request.

but anyhow, scanners: one massively lovely head explosion, one actor who can't act to save his ass even under duress (stephen lack), lots of nosebleeds indicating psychic strain, one actor eating hunks of scenery at pertinent moments in the film (michael ironsides), one script with some loose ends and an unnecessary death (the paddy's), but honestly, one of the best roles patrick mcgoohan had in the eighties. he gets to be the 'luke, i am your father guy', he has a heroic meltdown right before his death, he gets to be a snarky fucker. all the good stuff, and all the stuff he was the best at.

am i saying anything i haven’t said before? likely not. but i had to get drunk tonight, and this is what you get when i’m drunk—-epiphanies about the unending glory of patrick mcgoohan.

the good doctor, paul ruth: