Sad to wake-up to the news of Heather Menzies' passing. Must be especially tough for a family to lose a loved one at this time of year. Heather will no doubt always be best known for playing one of the Von Trapp kids (Louisa) in THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), but I will most remember her for appearing in two great low-budget 70s horror flicks - the very strange SSSSSSS in 1973, and Joe Dante's 1978 cult gem PIRANHA. She was also the female lead in the short-lived LOGAN'S RUN television show, which ran for 14 episodes between 1977 - 78. My wife Marneen stunt-doubled for Heather in the LOGANS RUN episode "Turnabout", where her character Jessica 6 takes a tumble down a sand dune. She remembers her as a nice person filled with a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm.
Menzies was married to actor Robert Ulrich from 1975 until his early death from soft tissue cancer in 2002. It was a loss that clearly devastated her and she spent a lot of her time since raising awareness and funds for research into that rare form of cancer. She passed away from brain cancer yesterday at 68. Re-united with Robert.
One of the reasons why I jumped straight away on Stephen Bissette's latest tome CRYPTID CINEMA - apart from my interest in the subject and the fact that Stephen is a very knowledgeable and entertaining writer - was the magnificent piece of cover art, which is also by Stephen and reminded me so much of his classic cannibal cover for the Volume 2/Number 7 (1993) issue of Craig Ledbetter's legendary (and much-missed) EUROPEAN TRASH CINEMA magazine. I had Steven sign my copy of this magazine ("To John...Eat Up!") when I was lucky enough to meet him (and writer Joseph Citro) for a lunch at the Hartland Diner in Vermont back in late-2014.
Beautiful cover art aside (not to mention the title font used, which has the feel of a classic 70s/80s horror paperback novel), CRYPTID CINEMA is a massive volume examining the depiction of cryptids in cinema, both mythical creatures like the North American Bigfoot and purely cinematic creations such as EQUINOX (1970) and the great southern swamp monster ZAAT from 1971. Television, paperback pulps and comic books are also covered. Some of the material has been previously published in various forms, and it's not (and doesn't claim to be) a comprehensive filmography, but rather a loving and informative celebration of this rather neglected cinematic sub-genre. When it comes to cryptids the author absolutely knows his stuff, and this beautifully illustrated (B&W) book had me eagerly collating a list of "must-see" films before I was barely a few pages into it.
As a kid I was fascinated by faux documentaries like THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS (1975) and episodes of IN SEARCH OF that were devoted to Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster. That kid in me loves CRYPTID CINEMA for the sweet nostalgic pangs that it elicits, while the adult me appreciates the astounding amount of work and research that Stephen has put into this big hairy beast.
An essential purchase that fans of outre cinema will love and refer to for a long time to come. Available from Amazon here: CRYPTID CINEMA
Written and directed by – as well as starring –
Finnish-born Saara Lamberg, INNUENDO (2017) is not
only a remarkable film on its own merits, but serves as an emphatic calling
card, heralding the arrival of an impressive and original filmmaking auteur (while Lamberg has directed a
handful of shorts since 2013, INNUENDO is her first feature).
With a
complex story structure that takes place not only in different countries but
during different periods of time, INNUENDO follows the physical and emotional
journey of Tuuli, a disassociated young woman who escapes her stifling
childhood in Finland to find a liberated new life as a nude art model in
Melbourne, Australia. Strangely disconnected but seemingly at ease with her new
life amongst the city’s alternative art culture, Tuuli forms a relationship
with Ben, a rather rough-edged stoner artist who creates sculptures with his
chainsaw, and is a far cry from her previous boyfriend (for want of a better
word), a nerdy university student.
As the
relationship develops and Ben prods for more information on the mysterious
Tuuli’s life experiences and beliefs, it slowly emerges that she is one very
troubled and disturbed young woman. Interwoven throughout the narrative are
frequent flashbacks to Tuuli’s childhood in Finland – the verbal, physical and
sexual torment she suffers at the hands of her strict, religious parents and
the isolation of living in the shadows of her more-loved, identical twin sister
Suvi. As Tuuli begins to have strong hallucinatory fantasies that involve
killing the various artists who are hiring her to pose for them, it’s only a matter
of time before her mental defragmentation begins to dissolve the line between
reality and fantasy altogether.
Playing the central roles of the adult Tuuli/Suvi,
Lamberg inhabits her characters so completely that its easy to forget that the person
we are watching onscreen is the same one who also wrote and directed what we
are seeing. It is a true tour de force from
Lamberg in all respects, and she is both comfortable enough as an actor and
accomplished as a director that she never allows her performance to overshadow
the work from those around her. Though Lamberg and her Tuuli character are
clearly the centrepiece of the film, she gets fine support from a roster of actors,
in particular Brendan Bacon as Ben. Also effective is Saga Tegelberg, making her
debut as the young Tuuli/Suvi, who manages to convey the behavioural elements
that would go into making the adult Tuuli. And Lamberg really does know how to
cast male faces that may not be classically handsome but are unique and very character-defining.
Combining Euro arthouse sensibilities with the psychological
horror of early Polanski, as well as a feel for the classic Australia cinema of
the 1970s, INNUENDO has a cold dreaminess to its visual style which gives it a
continual atmosphere of creeping dread, broken by moments of dark humour and outbursts
of jarring violence (both real and imagined). Benefiting the film immensely is
the wonderful, often subtle but always haunting and effective score by Charly
Harrison, and the stunning cinematography by Michael Liparota (both of whom
have worked with Lamberg on her earlier shorts and clearly have a good creative
chemistry with her).
Brave, disturbing and beautiful,with
multi-layers and characters with depth, INNUENDO has the
power to stay with you long after the final credits have rolled. Images,
moments and music from it are still rattling around in my head after several
days. That is always the sign of a great movie to me, and INNUENDO makes a
strong late play for one of the best of 2017. I am looking forward to Saara Lamberg's next
film, WESTERMARCK EFFECT, which she also be wrote, directed and starred-in, and
is currently in post-production.
Looks like I have a bit of a milk moustache but it's part of the appropriately psychedelic-tinged mood lighting used at the launch of GIRL GANGS, BKER BOYS AND REAL COOL CATS at the Grub Street Bookshop last night. I am reading a passage from Ray Stanley's lurid 1970 paperback novel THE HIPPY CULT MURDERS, one of the Charles Manson-influenced titles which I write about in the book.
Getting my first look at the completed book, it looks stunning. A fantastic achievement that I am proud to have contributed to.
Hanging out with my lovely helper at the Movie Market at the Astor last Saturday afternoon. Considering I was selling mostly toys, it seemed fitting to take the table by the Christmas Tree. This Movie Market was a little bit quieter than the last few, possibly due to it being so close to Christmas. You can never predict these things. But as always we had a fun afternoon talking to people, and meeting friends old and new. Having Marneen there with me certainly helped make it a lot more fun, and still managed enough sales to make it more than worthwhile. Another great effort from organizer Stuart Simpson.
In recent years, I started wondering if I would ever live long enough to actually read those words. After cheating the executioner when the death penalty was revoked in California in 1972, Charles Manson would go on to outlive not only the man who first walked on the Moon just a couple of weeks before he sent his “Family” out on their unbelievably vicious killing spree, but the prosecutor who successfully had him sentenced to death in the first place. Manson the man was starting to appear as in-killable as the myth.
I was too young in 1969 to remember or have even been aware of the case, but I was at exactly the right age to be terrified and haunted by it when the HELTER SKELTER TV mini-series first aired in Australia in 1976. The mini-series of course was accompanied by ample TV and newspaper coverage looking back at the real-life case which it was based on, and though I was already a burgeoning film buff it was the first time in my young life that the lines between reel horror and real horror became intertwined and blurred. To a twelve-year-old boy, it was absolutely a horror story and a true nightmare that stuck with me and kept me awake at night for a long time.
Over the ensuing years I have read (and collected) more Manson-related books and magazines and watched more movies and documentaries on the subject than I could ever possibly remember, and have also written several published pieces relating to the case (mostly regarding the movies influenced by it). Though I am fascinated with the case mostly from its psychological angle and the impact it has had on history’s perception of the 1960s, I still grapple with understanding that fear that was ingrained in me while sitting in front of the family TV set back in 1976.
Though Manson himself was never actually convicted of murdering anybody, he was just as responsible and guilty as the people who actually drew blood on his command. I can never celebrate anyone’s death, but I hold no sympathy for Manson upon his passing. He not only enjoyed a bizarre celebrity status behind bars but got to live decades longer than all of those who were killed in his name, and he got to die in a lot more peaceful and compassionate manner also. Most would say that was a lot better than he deserved.
Eckhart Schmidt’s 1982
West German thriller DER FAN (THE FAN) would have to rate as one of the unsung
European genre masterpieces from the eighties. The film does have it
supporters, and it has recently received a lovely Blu-ray/DVD release from
Mondo Macabro, so it is not a total obscurity, but nor is it as anywhere near
as well-known as it deserves to be. I myself was pretty much unaware of the
movie until I read a compelling review of it by Michelle Alexander, who was
kind enough to lend me the Mondo Macabro disc, which I sat down to watch last
night and was instantly drawn into and mesmerized by.
From the moment the opening credits appear against bright red
background, the first two acts of DER FAN pops with a beautifully slick
early-eighties style that clearly reflects the burgeoning music video landscape
of the day, and the soundtrack (provided by German group Rheingold) makes for
some excellent Euro new wave listening. As the themes of the film turn darker
in it’s final third, so too does the colour palette diminish and things become
more stark and shadowy, and the music more unnerving. On paper the sudden tonal
shift would sound jarring but under Schmidt’s assured
direction the transition works beautifully, making the climax of the film a
true surprise.
DER FAN works on so many levels – as a thriller, a horror
film, a musical document and a compelling look at the dangerous extremes of
fandom. It’s an ultimately sick but oddly moving gem, and one which is
absolutely worth unearthing and admiring.
