COLLECTING JAWS

My latest article for Australia's Collectables Trader magazine is a look at JAWS memorabilia, to be published in their Nov/Dec issue.

 

 

MANIAC (2012)

Franck Khalfoun's 2012 remake of William Lustig's 1980 grindhouse classic Maniac is a terrific example of a horror movie being successfully reimagined and not requiring a big studio budget to do so.

 

Possibly realising that it would be impossible to recapture the grimy Times Square seediness of the original, Khalfoun sets the remake in Los Angeles and gives the film a more digitally clean sheen, but the oppressive world of the lead character Frank Zito (Elijah Wood) and his rapid descent into psychosis is effectively captured by filming the majority of the movie from his point of view, so the only times we actually get to see the lead character on screen - a apart from a few brief isolated sequences - is when we catch his reflection in a mirror or on a television monitor. This POV style gives the film something of an early De Palma feel. The violence is brutal and startling, just as make-up maestro Tom Savini's notorious scalping effects shocked and outraged in the original.

 

Elijah Wood, so creepy in Sin City, is not as physically repulsive or intimidating as the late Joe Spinell, making his Zito more of a Ted Bundy type, in that females seem to find him attractive and safe to be around. And the relationship between Zito and young photographer Anna (Nora Arnezeder) is certainly more fleshed-out and believable than that between Spinell and Caroline Munro. Nice ambient score by Raphaël Hamburger, though not as memorable as Jay Chattaway's 1980 score. I liked the clever visual reference to the lurid and controversial poster art used to promote the original film. Lost its way a little bit towards the end, but overall I found this to be a rare remake that pays due tribute to the original while still managing to stand creatively and dramatically on its own.

 

 

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET?

Been revisiting Allen Coulter's Hollywoodland for the first time since it was released in 2006. Such a terrific and underrated portrait of the life and mysterious death of George Reeves, the troubled star of the 1950s Superman television series. Was his 1959 death a suicide (the official verdict) or murder? Through the eyes of Adrien Brody's down-at-his-heels private eye character, the movie presents several plausible explanations for his demise, but ultimately this will forever remain one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries. Ben Affleck really does shine in the role of George Reeves, his mannerisms and accent are often uncanny. This was the movie that started me rethinking my opinion of Affleck's talents, and I'm really keen to see how he takes on the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the upcoming Batman/Superman crossover film (though I still think it's a bit early to reboot Batman after the Chris Nolan/Christian Bale trilogy). The set design and costuming in Hollywoodland are beautiful, as is Diane Lane, who plays the part of the older woman, married to a powerful studio boss, who takes Reeves as her kept lover (ironically, Lane recently played Clark Kent/Superman's earth mother in this years disappointing Man of Steel).

 

 

GRAVITY...HOLD ON TIGHT!

No matter how big or hi-def a TV you might have sitting in your lounge room, if you don't make the effort to go and see Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity in IMAX 3D then you are depriving yourself of one of the most spellbinding, exhilarating and intense cinematic experiences in years. Cuarón makes the soundless vacuum of space absolutely terrifying. Despite this, I want to go into orbit now more than ever. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, not amongst my favourite actors, deliver nice performances that ground the film (so to speak) and prevent it from becoming just another special effects showcase. And so refreshing to see a film of this scale that - like the classic sci-fi films of the 1950s - only runs for a brisk 90 minutes.

 

 

THE WITCHES

Cyril Frankel’s The Witches (aka The Devil's Own, 1966) is a Hammer production I had not previously seen, so it was something of a treat to watch the new local blu-ray release of the film. Based on the 1960 novel The Devil’s Own by Peter Curtis (aka Norah Lofts), it’s an occult thriller that may not reach the lofty heights of the studio’s masterful The Devil Rides Out (1968), but its first two acts contain some terrific moments of atmosphere and creeping unease, as well as one jarringly brutal sequence (when the local butcher skins a real dead rabbit on his shop counter, right in front of horrified lead Joan Fontaine). The film also contains a fairly blatant reference to menstrual blood, which I found kind of surprising for the time. Unfortunately, Nigel Kneale’s screenplay gets a bit hysterical during the climax (not helped by Ingrid Boulting’s unconvincing hypnotic gyrating), which undoes a lot of the good tension and intrigue established earlier on. It’s kinda nice to see a Hammer genre film from this period that doesn’t have a roster of familiar faces in its cast. Fontaine makes a great (and great-looking) mature female lead, and the film even gives hints of a sapphic attraction between her schoolteacher character and Kay Walsh’s journalist. Fans of 1970s UK comedy television will recognise a young Michele Dotrice from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em in the cast. Like most Hammer productions from this period, it looks sumptuous and beautiful, though the blu-ray’s 1080i transfer is a little soft and tends to mute the film’s colours. Only extra on this BR/DVD combo release is the original trailer, though the UK release of The Witches contains the new 45 minute doco Hammer Glamour (which in Australia is instead included on - more suitably - Frankenstein Created Woman).

 

 

HALLOWEEN IS A-COMIN'

Pretty crazed Halloween mask I bought from one of the bargain shops down Chapel St yesterday. I love some of the Halloween stuff that these local cheap discounts stores get in around this time - some of it has a similar feel to those classic monster rack toys that companies like Lincoln and AHI produced in the 1960s and early-70s. I chose this mask because I was drawn to its colourful lurid gaudiness, the hippie hair gives it a touch of Charles Manson and Rob Zombie, and there's definite traces of Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth in the face design and colour scheme. If only there was a screening of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies playing somewhere locally that I could run up and down the aisles during...

 

 

THE GRADUATE

Spent an enjoyable evening at Her Majesty's Theatre last week watching the fabulous Jerry Hall put on a star turn as Mrs Robinson in the stage play adaptation of The Graduate. Mike Nichol's 1967 film is not amongst my fave movies from that very fertile and creative period of American cinema of the late-60s/early-70s, but the story translated to the stage fairly well, and kept its 1960s setting (with the requisite soundtrack of songs from that era, of course). While the film featured a great and powerful ensemble interplay between Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katherine Ross, here it is all about Jerry (in Bancroft's role). With her sexy strut, boozy flirtations and smoky Texas drawl, Hall is outstanding, just lots of fun to watch in a role that could have easily descended into self-parody in the hands of a lesser talent. It's no coincidence the play drags just a little in the second half, when Hall is on stage less. Nice effective minimalist set design.

 

THE IDEAL JAWS

Finally snagged myself a vintage 1975 Ideal Jaws game to add to the collection! The old store sticker on it (J. M. Fields) gives an original price of $6.49. I paid slightly more for mine, but still got a pretty good deal on it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRANKENSTEIN'S FEMME FATALE

Watching the new Australian Frankenstein Created Woman blu-ray release has certainly given me a new appreciation for Terence Fisher’s 1966 film, possibly the most unique (not necessarily best) entry in Hammer’s Frankenstein series. There’s something much more... grim and baroque about Frankenstein Created Woman , right from the evocative opening sequence that shows a young boy watching on as his alcoholic father is beheaded by guillotine on some barren hilltop. The screenplay by the (recently deceased) Anthony Hinds (writing as John Elder) injects some science-fiction elements and touches on some deep subjects like religion, metaphysics, psychosexuality and the existence of the soul. Of course, all of this is delivered in pure pulp fashion, but it still manages to ask some interesting questions. Another terrific performance from Peter Cushing as the Baron. The three arrogant (and doomed) young toffs, in their top-hats and tails, bring a strange sense of flamboyance to the film. There’s even an element of doomed romance that is nicely played and rather affecting. The moments of horror are not amongst Hammer’s most graphic, but they are rather brutal and chilling nonetheless, and seem more horrific because they are delivered not by some grotesque monster but by a beautiful young blonde woman (in the form of enigmatic Austrian model and Playboy Playmate Susan Denberg).

 

THE NAKED PREY

Having finally gotten around to buying the Criterion DVD release of Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey (1966), I can finally ditch the fuzzy old VHS tape I recorded off late-night television nearly twenty years ago (the last time it was televised locally on free-to-air to the best of my knowledge). What an astonishing film this is, and watching the Criterion disc is like discovering its beauty and uniqueness all over again. Wilde, a former matinee idol, not only produced and directed The Naked Prey but also stars as an ivory hunter who is chased across the harsh (colonial era) African landscape by a group of natives who have been offended by the party’s refusal to hand over some trinkets in exchange for safe passage. The deceptively simple screenplay earned co-writers Clint Johnson and Don Peters an Oscar nomination. There is some incredibly strong imagery on display throughout the film, not all of it pleasant (the authentic archive footage of elephants being slaughtered for their tusks is tough to take), and it reflects elements of the notorious Mondo genre at times (the shot of natives actually crawling about inside the carcass of a deceased elephant is both fascinating and repulsive). Scenes of a man being covered in clay then roasted over an open fire still manage to disturb nearly half a century later. At age 52, the fitness-conscious Wilde is in terrific shape (though he later admitted that the draining physicality of the role took a toll on his health). Filmed in Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe), the vistas look stunning on Criterion’s release, and the authentic African tribal chants used on the soundtrack help bring a real sense of urgency, authenticity and tension to the proceedings.

While I’ve only ever sat down and watched it a handful of times over the years, The Naked Prey remains a defining moment from my early years of discovering cinema. I couldn’t have been more than eight or nine when my mum came into the bedroom one late Saturday evening, woke me up out of a dead sleep, and told me "there’s a movie coming up on TV that you might enjoy". It was The Naked Prey. Whether my mum sensed that there was an emerging film buff in me I’ll never now, but it - like the film itself - is a memory that has stuck with me ever since.

 

 

　

RUSTY SAW

Finally caught up with the recent Texas Chainsaw (aka Texas Chainsaw 3D  in the US), which has just received a belated release in Australia. Having watched it, I can see why it went straight to disc over here. Another in a growing list of un...inspired modern horror sequels/remakes, filled with the usual unsympathetic young adults who do incredibly dumb things. The female lead (Alexandra Daddario) looks really cute in a 'Joan Jett meets a 70s giallo femme' kinda way, but geez is her character short on common sense. She choses the most ludicrous places to hide from Leatherface, and her eventual 'metamorphosis' makes Linda Blair's transformation into a crossbow-toting, skin-tight leather wearin' avenging angel in Savage Streets seem emotionally resonant and grittily realistic in comparison.

There are a few frights scattered throughout, but most of them are predictable and mostly just rehash similar set-ups from Tobe Hooper's classic 1974 original (which will never be touched). Blatant gore replaces the clever perceived graphicness of the original (which brilliantly conned many viewers into thinking they had seen a lot more blood and entrails than they really did). I liked the ideas of warring southern clans and vigilante justice, but they are given no weight or excitement here, just cliché upon cliché. I couldn't imagine 3D adding anything of value to the film. It also throws Hooper's own 1986 sequel on the trash heap in terms of series continuity.

The film's one genuinely unnerving and original moment is a brief scene where we see exactly what Leatherface puts himself through in order to attached that human skin mask to his face.

"Incredible! A perfectly terrifying follow-up to the original" - this quote from Tobe Hooper on the back cover of the DVD initially mystified me, until I realized Hooper's name was also in the film's credits as an executive producer.

 

 

(NOT SO) SAVAGE STONE

Caught up with the recent Oliver Stone film Savages on Blu-ray yesterday. Based on the novel by Don Winslow, it is a kind of new age romance/thriller/crime drama about a violent Mexican drug cartel trying to muscle in on the turf carved-out... by a couple of hip young Californian pot growers. There's some moments that recall the Oliver Stone that penned the screenplay for Scarface (1983), but overall I found it a rather cold and ultimately uninvolved experience. The 'we three are one whole' polyamorous relationship of the trio of leads (Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) seemed very forced and the bland performances of the three didn't help. As usual, Salma Hayek (playing a drug cartel boss clearly modelled on Griselda Blanco) is stunning to look at, but she doesn't really convey any real depth or sense of ruthlessness. John Travolta does little in his small role as a corrupt DEA agent. Only Benicio del Toro creates any kind of genuine impact, not because his role as a cartel enforcer is anything original or especially well-written, but he at least creates an impression of genuine sleaze, repulsion and tightly-strung violence just waiting to explode. The ending of the movie was very manipulative and pissed me off.

 

BRAIIINNNNSS!

Received my very cool Return of the Living Dead Tarman mask and shirt from Fright Rags last week - limited to 500 sets, they contain a two-sided shirt featuring a new design by William Stout (who worked on the original 1984 film), and a plastic mask designed by sculptor Monte Ward, all packaged like one of those classic old Ben Cooper dime-store costumes from the 1960s/70s.

 

 

MANSON ON THE RACK

New issue of the great Crime Factory magazine (#14) is now out, featuring my article on vintage Charles Manson related pulp magazines. Ordering details on the magazine's website (you can also download a free PDF of the issue as well):
http://www.thecrimefactory.com/2013/09/crime-factory-issue-14-is-out/

 

 

BLOCH'S PSYCHO

Having recently sat down and re-watched all four movies in the Psycho series, and before I plough into Stephen Rebello’s book on the making of the original, I decided to re-read Robert Bloch’s 1959 source novel for the first time since I was about 15. It still holds up as a great little pacey read, chilling in parts even though the story and twists are all so familiar by now. What impresses me the most is the way Bloch brings the character of Mother to life, making her an integral and seemingly legitimate part of the story without ever actually asserting that she is a real physical presence. It’s classic horror pulp and one can easily see how many thought Hitchcock was committing career suicide, just as easily as one can see what Hitch found so compelling and potentially cinematic about it. The shower sequence is just as much a story-twist shock on paper as on celluloid (though in different ways – sustained on film but incredibly blunt and abrupt on paper). I kinda wish Gus Van Sant had attempted a more faithful interpretation of the novel when he directed his 1998 remake, rather than the shot-for-shot ‘homage’ he inflicted upon us. Re-reading the novel has also made me long for a good bio/biopic of Calvin T. Beck, the editor of Castle of Frankenstein magazine on whom Bloch supposedly based much of the Norman Bates character (along with infamous Wisconsin ghoul Ed Gein).

For more on the Calvin T. Beck/Norman Bates connection, read Tom Weaver’s terrific article on the subject at the following link:
http://www.bmonster.com/horror29.html