Friday, November 30, 2007

Dawn of the Dead

     This is the infamous sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Dawn of the Dead was a bit more mainstream than its predecessor, mostly due to George Romero trying to outdo Night of the Living Dead after it became such an unexpected success. 

      The storyline supposedly takes place the following day, even though it's obviously not, due to the different, more modern clothes and hairstyles. Anyway, the dead are still being resurrected for some as yet unknown reason (it was hinted as space radiation in the first film, but never confirmed) and are outnumbering the police and military, and eventually starting to overrun the planet. At a television station, people are panicking and abandoning their jobs as TV informants and are heading for who knows where. 

      A helicopter pilot, his girlfriend, a military buddy, and his friend take to the skies, trying to figure out what the hell to do next. They come across a huge shopping mall (another storyline continuation discrepancy since they didn't have malls when the original film came out in 1968) and land on the roof. There are a few zombies roaming around, but not many. They soon realize the benefits of staying there for a while. They rid the mall of the few zombies it has in it and blocks off all the entrances to the mall with freight trucks. 

      Finally, after getting some sleep, they milk the mall for all it's worth, which is quite a lot. Food, clothes, televisions, radios, and ammunition as far as the eye can see. While placing the freight trucks, one of the men gets bitten on the leg by a zombie. Three days later, he dies, then comes back, then dies again, and is buried in the mall garden courtyard. 

      All goes well for a while until the mall is raided by a gang of motorcycle bandits. In fighting for what he has claimed as his, the helicopter pilot flips out and fights back. He ends up wounded and then attacked by zombies, dies, resurrects, and comes after the only two remaining live people he knows of. The rest of the zombies follow him and bombard the upstairs sanctuary they've created, leaving the military guy and the pilot's girlfriend to escape in the only way possible... straight up. They fly off in the helicopter (thankfully, he taught his girlfriend how to fly it) and that's the end. 

      I have to say that I was a little disappointed when it ended. There were just too many unanswered questions. Near the beginning of the movie, we find out that the pilot's girlfriend is pregnant, but she's like 18 months along at the end when they fly away. Also, where the hell did they go with almost no fuel left? I guess it was so that they could make another sequel (which they did, and much like this one it differs greatly in time discrepancy). The movie basically ends right where it began, so it makes a good transition between part one and part three. 

     The movie seems to be making a statement about consumerism, seeing that the zombies are attracted to the mall because it's what they remember from their life before dying and the need to buy stuff.  The message from the first film was that if everyone had worked together and not been fighting continuously, they might have actually survived.  This movie was recently remade and unlike the great majority of movie remakes, this one is actually pretty damn good. Scary as hell, mostly because the zombies could run and were a hell of a lot more threatening.


The Children

     The Children is another wonderful yet practically impossible movie to find. It's one of Troma's least popular movies (at least in comparison to "Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'em High).  I can't imagine why because it's a jewel of a movie. It's a totally classic film featuring Troma's most patented story plot, the side effects of nuclear waste. 

      A school bus is bringing happy singing kids home and passes through a suspicious yellow cloud. We learn that a nearby nuclear facility has had an uncontainable leak of toxic waste. The bus and children do not arrive home as scheduled and when the school bus is finally located off to the side of the road, the bus driver and all the children are missing. 

     Pretty soon, the youngsters are seen walking around in a trance-like state and have mysterious black fingernails. When parents go to hug them, the parent begins to smoke, burn, and are eventually reduced to a blistered pile of goo that only sort of resembles a human. The children hug and melt parents, siblings, babysitters, etc. for most of the movie (very cheesy special effects that are really side-splittingly funny). 

      Pretty soon the problem is recognized and the children are exterminated. All seems well, but soon afterward when one of the main characters' wives gives birth... the child has mysterious black fingernails. Much like the movie "Village of the Damned", this film has a special kind of creepiness to it because it uses innocent-looking children as murderous monsters. One of Troma's better films and well worth seeking out!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Killer Condom



     This is another gem from Troma. A little different though, it's in French, thankfully with subtitles, and actually had an air of quality to it that most Troma movies lack, due to the fact that H.R. Giger (artist, most popular for having designed the creature in the high budget film Alien) was recruited to design the Killer Condom. 

      Anyway, the story goes... a man in a sleazy motel gets his penis bitten off and the woman performing fellatio on him is the presumed culprit. She's soon exonerated due to many other attacks on different men's penises around town. Inspector Mackaroni, a gay chain-smoking sleuth with one testicle is on the prowl for what's attacking men all over town. 

      They soon discover vicious, hungry organisms that look like condoms and are biting off weenies left and right. That's right, it's the rubber that rubs you out. The condoms are hilariously fanged and can even run. Inspector Mackaroni soon discovers that these creatures are being genetically manufactured by a woman scientist with a hatred for men, especially gay men (I guess if one penis makes her mad, then two penises really pisses her off.) It's a very funny film with a lot of laughs and definitely worth seeking out.

Class of Nuke 'em High

     Class of Nuke 'em High is one of Troma's greatest hits. For those of you who don't know what Troma is... it's a production company that for a while had its own actors that repeatedly starred in most of its early films. Troma also buys and reproduces old and otherwise lost cult films. They're also known as the Troma Team. Some of their more recent self-produced films have been beyond awful, even for cultfiends like us.  They certainly do have a few very entertaining movie gems though, but the rest look like they were filmed with a simple camcorder and have some of the worst acting ever. As always, it's a matter of taste. But the fact remains that Troma has an undeniable cult following and deserves its rightful position among the strangely elite. 

      Class of Nuke 'em High is a great movie with a really fun plot. As with most of Troma's movies, this one centers around the topic of nuclear waste. A nuclear plant that is next door to Tromaville High School begins to leak toxic waste and starts turning teenagers into violent thugs. 

      A certain gang of drug pushers starts selling pot that is grown out of toxic chemical waste and when a high school preppie named Warren and his girlfriend Chrissy smoke a toxic joint at a party, they start undergoing strange changes and bizarre happenings. Warren turns into a green drooling sort of disgusting superhero, that is compelled to fight crime and his girlfriend Chrissy belches up a weird worm-like creature that gets flushed down the school commode and ends up in a barrel of toxic waste where it grows to an enormous size. 

      When a gang of thugs known as The Cretins gets kicked out of school for violence and drug dealing, they take revenge by trashing the school. Unbeknownst to The Cretins, there is a huge, tall, slimy, worm thing in the school basement that seems pretty pissed off (maybe because he's protecting his "mommy" Chrissy). 

      The worm thing eats Cretins left and right and when it gets its tentacles on Chrissy (Mommmiee...), Warren finds a laser and beams it at this wormy thing. It lets Chrissy go and everybody gets out (well, almost everybody). Moments later, the worm monster explodes, and the school explodes too and creates a lot of really happy students (school's out!!!) Reading, writing, and radiation! Great fun!


Saturday, November 24, 2007

Motel Hell

     This campy little classic has grown in cult status over the years. At first, it was hard to find but eventually, a DVD of it came out both on its own and as a double feature, coupled with a film based on the exploits of Ed Gein called "Deranged". 

      It stars an almost ancient Rory Calhoun as Farmer Vincent, who along with his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons, most known for her role as Coach Balbricker from Porky's) runs the famous (at least locally) Farmer Vincent's Smoked Meats, the tastiest barbecue and beef jerky in the south. 

      Vincent has all sorts of booby traps that he uses to ensnare hapless victims who are then buried up to their neck in a sort of human garden, have their vocal cords severed so they can't scream (just gurgle a lot), and are kept there with bags over their heads until they are "ripe for the picking". He then cleans them, smokes them, and sells them to the greater southern populace who loves his meats and keeps coming back for more. His basic philosophy is "Meat is Meat and Man's Gotta Eat". 

      Eventually, Vincent traps a couple on a motorcycle, plants the boyfriend in the "garden", tells the girlfriend that he died, and since the girlfriend is pretty, Vincent decides to keep her, not exactly sure why because he treats the girl more like a lost puppy than a scared young woman. Vincent's brother (conveniently the sheriff, and one of the biggest cannibals in the whole county) also falls for the newcomer, but to much amazement, she decides that she wants to marry Vincent (what could a pretty young blonde in her 20s possibly want with a 75-year-old Rory Calhoun?) 

      Anyway, eventually, she learns the secret of Vincent's marvelous meats, appropriately disagrees, and is put on some type of meat-slicing machine alive, all the while Vincent and little brother Sheriff have a chainsaw duel (Vincent wears a pigs head, really creepy), just to have the damsel in distress be saved by the lovelorn sheriff at the last moment. 

      As for Ida... well, one of the "garden people" gets loose, releases all the others, and together (massively gurgling the whole way) hunts Ida down and buries her in the garden... upside down. It's funny, at the end of the movie there's what appears to be a poignant moment when Vincent is dying and explaining his horrible actions to his brother, which you think would be remorse for forcing cannibalism on his unknowing customers, and yet his most horrible action of all... he used preservatives.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Evil Dead

     The Evil Dead was the first movie collaboration with Director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell. It spawned two more sequels making it a trilogy, plus a remake and a sequel to the remake. 

      The story starts as a group of 5 young people takes a vacation in a deserted cabin deep in the woods, far from where anyone can hear you scream (sounds like the ideal getaway doesn't it). During their mundane partying, they hear noises in the basement (which appears to be about three times bigger than the house itself) so they investigate. They find a tape recorder, a strange dagger, and a book (Noturam Demontos, book of the Dead). As they listen to the tape recorder, a man describes how the reciting of the passages of the book can awaken the evil beings that haunt the forests and dark bowers of man's domain. The man on the tape recorder recites the passages and before long the forest starts to come alive. 

      One by one, the happy vacationers are possessed by evil demons and start killing and eating each other. The main character "Ash" is for some reason, never possessed, but has to deal with his sister, girlfriend, best buddy, etc... all getting possessed and turning into vigorous flesh-eating evil possessed creatures. 

     Unfortunately, they can't leave because the surrounding forests seem to be possessed also. One girl tries to escape and is actually raped by a tree. Poor Ash goes through hell just trying to survive the night because hopefully, the demons will recede back into the forest when the sun rises. Until then, he has to dismember and bury his girlfriend (which doesn't really work). He gouges eyes, chops up friends, and gets lots of blood splattered everywhere. 

      When he finally becomes the only non-possessed, non-dismembered person there, and it's almost dawn, he thinks he's gonna be alright...not in this film.  In this, the first entry in the Evil Dead franchise, the movie seems to be trying to be as scary as possible but comes out a bit humorous.  Then in the second entry, it's meant to be humorous but oddly comes out much scarier.  Then part three came along and was just full-out Three Stooges comedy.  Not appreciating such slapstick humor, I didn't really like part three at all.  Stick with this one, it's by far the best of the lot.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Strait-Jacket

     This little gem starring Joan Crawford is a must-see. It covers all the essentials... campiness, a stupid plot, bad acting, and an aging Hollywood superstar with nothing else to do but try desperately to save her failing career. This film was made by William Castle (House on Haunted Hill) who had always used gimmicks with his movies (buzzing theater seats for "The Tingler" and a flying skeleton for "House on Haunted Hill").  He was told that he couldn't use gimmicks anymore (why not, they were such fun?) and then stumbled upon the perfect gimmick of all time when he found Joan Crawford. She had been making movies for a hell of a long time, with a hit here and there, but it appeared that she was losing ground as an actress. "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" made Joan Crawford a hot item once again, but it didn't last for long. This film followed soon afterward and really is a pretty good performance on Crawford's part, proving that she could still be an incredible actress when she wanted to (can't say anything good about anyone else in this movie though). 

      Alright, so the movie opens when Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) comes home early from a trip and catches her husband screwing an old girlfriend. She takes an ax, chops them to bits, and is carted off to the loony bin. Their daughter witnesses the entire event. Fast forward twenty years, Lucy is finally released from the asylum and goes to stay with her daughter. All seems fine... the daughter is a pretty young woman now, is a sculptress, and is engaged to a handsome young man. 

      Things couldn't be going better... until Lucy starts to have nightmares about the murders and wakes up next to two severed heads and hears an eerie nursery rhyme about herself repeated incessantly (Lucy Harbin took an ax and gave her husband forty whacks and when she saw what she had done, she gave his girlfriend forty-one) which is set to the tune that was originally made up for Lizzie Borden. 

      Strange events begin to happen and people start disappearing. Everything points to Lucy, of course. We also learn that the gentleman that Lucy's daughter is engaged to be married to is the son of a wealthy, prominent, businessman. Lucy's daughter Carol is positive that her fiances' parents are not going to allow their son to marry a woman whose mother is a certified but rehabilitated lunatic. So she assumes that having her mother recommitted (and out of the picture) is the only solution. 

      Lucy, herself actually walks in on someone who looks just like her in the process of committing an ax murder. A scuffle ensues and the "other" Lucy Harbin has their mask pulled off. Surprise, surprise... it's Carol. Having made the mask from a sculpture she had created of her mother's face. Including the severed heads that Lucy found in her bed.  All done by Carol in an attempt to drive poor Lucy over the edge again, so she can have her stupid fiances parents like her. Kinda dumb, but still very entertaining.  

     Joan had some rather difficult policies that she enforced on set that everyone else had to just grin and bear, simply because she was the obvious star and knew that she was gonna get her way.  She insisted that the temperature on the set be kept at basically below freezing because she believed that this kept her face taunt and wrinkle-free.  Joan never did handle aging very well.  William Castle used her in a few more movies but soon gave up on remaking her into the star she once was.  Maybe he just got tired of always being so damn cold all the time. 

Divine

     Divine. The name says it all. One of my favorite actors/actresses in the entire world. Born Harris Glen Milstead in Baltimore Maryland, he grew up with childhood friend John Waters. The two became synonymous for quite some time, at least until Divine died from sleep apnea in 1989 (the result of years of carrying excessive weight). John Waters and Divine created some of the best cult films ever made. Divine starred in all but one John Waters movie (Desperate Living, in which Divine was slated to be in but had to pull out due to his touring schedule) until his untimely death shortly after starring in John's biggest hit "Hairspray" (which spawned an actually pretty amusing musical on Broadway in which Harvey Fierstein very appropriately played Divine's role as Edna Turnblad). Right on the brink of actual stardom, Divine was gone and the world truly did mourn.

      Divine remained with John Waters for 90% of his career making cult classics like "Pink Flamingos" and "Female Trouble", but in the late 70s/early 80's when he began to gain some actual fame, Divine began to spread his wings a little and starred in a few plays such "The Neon Woman" and also starred in other motion pictures like "Lust in the Dust" with Lainie Kazan and Tab Hunter. Divine also had a strenuous singing/touring career as a disco queen, and actually had some pretty big hit songs like "I'm So Beautiful" and "You Think You're a Man". She was no ordinary drag queen, Divine was a drag terrorist. She sent the best of them running (in six-inch heels), screaming for their lives. 

      Even though it was her trademark, it was also to be her downfall... excessive weight. Divine had been overweight for the majority of his life and eventually began to have some difficulty breathing and soon developed sleep apnea. When Divine (who was well known for his professionalism and punctuality) didn't show up for work one morning (when I say "work" I mean that Divine failed to show up for his first taping on the show "Married with Children" where he was to star as a regular guest character), I think most everybody's heart began to sink. 

      Divine was dead, but far from gone. Thankfully, his amazing talent was all caught on film and he left us with some of the most bizarre, hilarious, outrageousness we'd ever seen. She was bold, she was beautiful, she was... Divine. As a humorous footnote to the story, when the "Married with Children" show sent flowers to Divine's funeral, the card read "If you didn't want the job, all you had to do was say so".

Monday, November 19, 2007

Siouxsie and the Banshees

     I don't usually include real people on Cultarama because it's about cult films, but every now and then I will make an exception if that person managed to achieve stardom through word of mouth, much like a cult film can do. Siouxsie and the Banshees were a punk/goth band that formed in the late '70s. The lead singer Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Ballion) formed Siouxsie and the Banshees with Steven Severin and drummer Budgie. It was a rough start, but by the early '80s, some actual hits began to come out. 

      Siouxsie and the Banshees began to get bigger and bigger and racked up more and more hits, with each album becoming more successful and popular than the previous one. They weren't quite as mainstream as their counter band, The Cure. But instead kept their own style and were rather original.  

     Siouxsie, with her wild hair and severe makeup, became an 80's signature look and before long the band was all the rage. From albums like "Kaleidoscope"," "Ju Ju" and "Tinderbox" came some even bigger hits like "Happy House, ", "Spellbound" and "Cities in Dust". 

      In the late '80s, Siouxsie and the Banshees produced an album called "Peepshow" featuring the hit song "Peek-a-boo", which quickly rose to the top of the charts and reached #1 in Europe. In the early '90s, Siouxsie and the Banshees changed their image a little. Siouxsie's makeup and hairstyle had been tamed quite a bit and for once we saw how beautiful she actually was. Their new album "Superstition" was much tamer than previous albums, but was still another great success, with its #1 hit "Kiss them for me" (a ballad to Jayne Mansfield). The band was bigger than ever and was asked to be one of the performing bands at the first Lollapalooza Festival along with bands like "Living Color", The Jesus and Mary Chain" and "Jane's Addiction". 

      When the movie "Batman Returns" was being made, Siouxsie was approached to play the part of Catwoman. She declined, stating that she was a singer, not an actress. Instead, she composed the movie's theme song "Face to Face" and the part went to Michelle Pfeifer. This was to be their last big hit and sadly, their follow-up album "The Rapture" failed to deliver any hits, and by now, the band was frankly getting kind of old and facing extinction. 

      Siouxsie and the Banshees called it quits after over 20 years on the Billboard charts. Siouxsie married the band's drummer Budgie and started a new band called The Creatures. Not much success there, most likely due to the constant comparison to the Banshees. In 2003, the band reunited for a filmed concert called "The Seven Year Itch" in which despite the amazing performance that it was, it was quite apparent that Siouxsie was losing her voice. High notes in songs became flat and painfully low baritone. It would appear that this was the end of the story of Siouxsie Sioux and her Banshees. 

      Then a surprise. Siouxsie (alone, no Banshees or Creatures) had a new album coming out in November of 2007 called "Mantaray". I'm not sure if she regained her voice or if it was just some studio magic, but she sounded great. A hit song and a vibrant new video to accompany it was released for a song called "Into a Swan", with Siouxsie looking her gothic best. Sure, she's a little older, but as they say... "Like fine wine". Siouxsie tours on her own now and though she's in her 60s, she seems to be doing great, and many of her fans are truly thrilled to see her again!  Welcome back Siouxsie!! We missed you!!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Night of the Living Dead

     This movie probably has the largest cult following of all time. Most Cultfiends know it word for word (and I'm sure that it would make for some interesting karaoke). This is another film that was made on a shoestring budget and definitely not expected to be an Oscar winner, but instead, has very much become art personified and still delivers a frightening punch that is truly scary and still very effective. 

      I have an admitted obsession with "living dead" movies. I'm not sure why, I guess it's because of having been through mortuary school and worked in funeral homes, I just find the subject to be most disturbing, terrifying, effective... and also wonderful! Anyway, this is also another movie to be recently colorized by Off Color Film, very interesting. 

      Ok, so Johnny and Barbara are at the cemetery putting a wreath on their dead father's grave. In a joking manner, Johnny teases his sister saying "They're coming to get you, Barbara." and "Look, there comes one of them now". Barbara notices a man stumbling towards them and wants to apologize for her brothers' rudeness but instead, he attacks her. 

      She barely gets away with her life which is more than I can say for her brother. She makes it to an old farmhouse (the owner turns out to be a meat salad at the top of the stairs) and holes up there with a man who manages to get to the farmhouse just as his truck runs out of gas. He tells her about other attacks going on outside, she slowly loses it and becomes hysterical and then is basically mute for the rest of the movie. 

      Soon we learn that there are people hiding in the basement. A young local couple and an obnoxious man and his barely tolerant wife. Their kid is also downstairs and is sick due to being bitten by one of those "things" out there. 

      One gripping aspect of this movie is the dynamics between all the people in the house. They fight and bicker over everything, but if they'd only gotten along and helped each other, they might have made it through the night, but instead, they all pulled in different directions, and eventually, everybody is killed sooner or later.  Calm nerves are now a distant memory, having been replaced by shattered ones now that creepy walking corpses keep banging their way through the windows and doors. 

      This film was the beginning of the careers of two of the most respected people in the movie industry... George Romero and Tom Savini. George Romero went on to have a hugely successful directing career and Tom Savini is one of the largest names in the special effects department for more movies than I can count. 

      Night of the living dead has spawned multiple sequels and had countless copycat movies made, including a remake by Tom Savini himself in the early '90s. But who better to do a remake than someone who was there from the beginning? Most remakes are really bad, but I can honestly say that it was actually really well done and stuck to the original script except for an interesting new twist ending.  

     Night of the Living Dead was also credited for being the first movie to have a black man as the main hero of the film, which didn't happen much in the 1960s.  George Romero has addressed this by simply saying that he wasn't really trying to be revolutionary, Duane Jones just happen to be the best actor out of all our friends.  This is as classic as they come. A must for any Cult fanatic!


Lipstick

     This is another one of those movies that had huge expectations that couldn't possibly have realistically been met. As was typical in movie making, the powers that be chose one of the biggest and most popular faces of the time (the late 70s) the incomparably beautiful Margaux Hemingway (Ernest's granddaughter) to be the lead character. Margaux, who was never really shy about taking on challenges, was offered her first chance at acting and even though she hadn't taken even one acting lesson in her life, she jumped at the chance to be in a film. The producers figured that her incredible looks were enough to carry a movie, but just in case, they hired veteran superstar Anne Bancroft and newcomer Chris Sarandon. Margaux's little sister Mariel even got a part in the movie as what else...Margaux's little sister. 

      Margaux Hemingway plays a model (I guess they thought that putting her in a familiar environment would enhance her acting performance) named Chris McCormick who is introduced to her little sisters' school music teacher (Chris Sarandon). Apparently, it was common to have music playing in the background of modeling sessions and this teacher thinks he can maybe use Chris as a way to get his music noticed. One day he comes to her apartment to let her listen to his music and possibly have it used during one of her modeling sessions, but unfortunately, it really sucks (irritating no-beat screechy techno mixed with whale song). It's obvious that she doesn't like it and being a model, she's very busy and usually in a hurry. The music teacher becomes irritated when she finds more important things to do than listen to his shitty music, so he becomes enraged and gets revenge by violently raping her (which is very realistically depicted and extremely hard to watch), he then trashes her apartment before finally leaving. 

      He's soon caught and the whole thing goes to trial, but he insists that Chris wanted him to do this to her in some sadomasochistic fashion because that's what turns her on. The court (for some unknown asinine reason) finds him innocent (despite a great performance by Anne Bancroft as Chris McCormick's attorney). He walks free and now the totally defamed Chris is hemorrhaging modeling contracts at an incredible rate. Due to her severe trauma, she can't even concentrate on the few modeling jobs that she has left. 

      Anyway, soon afterward, Chris has a modeling session to do and her little sister Cathy goes with her. The actual modeling session proves pretty boring for little Cathy so she goes roaming around the large building where the session is being held. She stumbles upon Mr. Stuart (the music teacher that raped her sister) who is there giving a musical presentation of his work mixed with lasers and dancers (underage students that are mostly Cathy's friends since they were all in the same music class). He lures Cathy into a dark area and makes some very inappropriate advances toward her. She runs, he catches up with her and rapes her as well. Cathy stumbles, beaten, and half-clothed back to her sister's modeling session and when Chris sees this she completely flips. She grabs a shotgun from her jeep and runs to find Mr. Stuart (all in a beautiful red beaded fabulous couture that's to die for) and proceeds to blast off every appendage he has. With a final shot to the crotch, her rage is beginning to fade. She's handcuffed and carted off to jail for his murder. 

      The one-minute epilogue is a shot of Chris back in court being acquitted of his murder. I bought this film because I'm very much in love with Margaux Hemingway (even though she died in the early '90s). At first, this film really pissed me off, because it was as though Chris McCormick just couldn't win, even when the odds were totally in her favor. In fact, the producers and directors were sincerely trying to get the topic of unreported rapes out there so the public could walk away with renewed courage to be able to report more sex crimes, but ultimately this just left me pissed off. It felt like an exploitation film, with the rape scene taking center stage in the most tasteless way possible.  

     The movie tanked at the box office, Anne Bancroft was ridiculed for being part of such a bad film when she was always known for being in Oscar-winning movies.  Poor Margaux got terrible reviews, and unfortunately, her sister Mariel managed to steal the show with an unknown talent for acting and went on to have a pretty lucrative career, while Margaux basically lived out the fate of her character, losing modeling jobs left and right.  Before she took this acting job, Margaux Hemingway was the highest-paid model in history, scoring the first million-dollar job as the official model for Faberge perfume.  But after the film came out, the modeling jobs disappeared and she was forced to take roles in cheap B-movies that went nowhere and barely paid the rent.  A woman who managed to make the cover of every high fashion magazine in the world, including the cover of Time, became an overweight alcoholic, making a living by endorsing a psychic hotline, before ultimately committing suicide.  Such a shame that one bad movie would rob us of one of the most beautiful women ever to walk this earth.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Village of the Damned

     This movie is particularly creepy, mostly because the evil villains in this film take the form of innocent-looking children. The movie begins when the small town of Midwich falls under some sort of mysterious blackout. People, as well as animals, all fall into a deep coma. Anyone that goes near Midwich instantly falls down unconscious. Scientists and the military surround the town. After a few hours, the coma lifts but the blackout is never explained. 

      Shortly afterward, all of the women in Midwich are soon discovering that they are now pregnant and that the date of conception goes back to the day of the mysterious blackout. From the beginning, the pregnancies are strange. For one thing, one of the women was a virgin when she got pregnant. Since this phenomenon hasn't gone unnoticed by the military, they set up a base in town to monitor these bizarre events. 

      The babies are all born on the same day (fully developed after only 5 months) and all have very similar characteristics, almost as if they're siblings from the same set of parents. They all have white hair (some really cheap-looking wigs), elongated fingers, and very strange eyes. They also grow very quickly and are extraordinarily smart. They also seem to be telepathic and can read people's minds, and if one child learns something, the others somehow immediately know it as well. By the age of three, they have the appearance of children about ten years old and have strong enough minds to be able to read anyone's thoughts and can force people to do their will. 

      The military eventually learns that other "blackout children" have been born in other locations around the world. Determined to discover the source behind this phenomenon, the military and scientists disregard the children's growing powers in order to continue studying them. 

      A cheap but effective camera trick is used when the children stare and use their eyes to control other people. The film negative was flipped over just the eyes of the children, making them appear to glow a bright white (or bright blue if you like the colorized version). When it's learned that the other cities with "blackouts" have been destroyed by the children who now want to disperse and likely "grow" others like themselves. They must be stopped!! It's obviously gonna take a suicide bomber for this job!! 

      Very creepy mindfreak of a movie that spawned a relatively weak sequel called "Children of the Damned" which had "blackout children" from every country you can name, come together for what seems like nefarious reasons but actually just want world peace.  Village of the Damned was remade in the early '90s and even though it got bad reviews, I personally thought it was very well done, by none other than famed horror director John Carpenter.  It stuck to the original story, had cool special effects, and was coincidentally Christopher Reeve's last film before his horse riding accident that eventually took his life.  A line spoken by the children that always stuck with me was them calmly stating "We know what you're thinking"

The Gore Gore Girls

     This is one of H.G. Lewis' better movies. The acting is slightly improved (but still pretty bad). The jokes are funny and the characters have more depth than most of his other movies. This is my personal favorite among H.G. Lewis' gore films because of the incredible amount of humor that was poured into it. 

     Anyway, as the story goes, Go-Go Girls are being mutilated all over town, one gets her face smashed into a vanity mirror, one gets her butt pulverized with a meat tenderizer (very effective use of red jello, I might add), y'know the usual. 

      An overzealous reporter seeks out one of the snarkiest and most sarcastic detectives of all time to help her solve the case of the Go-Go Girl killer after a somewhat famous stripper named Suzie Creampuff is murdered. This film gives a whole new meaning to "Live Nude Girls"! After all, they're a lot more fun than all those dead nude girls that permeate this movie. 

      Watch for the cheesy striptease contest where even the reporter gets into the act (after downing quite a few cocktails, that is). Great fun! Keep an eye out (no pun intended) for a special appearance by Henny Youngman.

Color Me Blood Red

     This is the third (but not at all final) installment in the H.G. Lewis "Blood Trilogy". Color Me Blood Red has a tamer story than most of his other films but with a much more interesting idea. A frustrated artist is obsessed with finding the right shade of red. He tries many mediums but none of them quite have the perfect red that he's been seeking as the one element that will make his artwork into true masterpieces. 

      One day he accidentally cuts himself and notices how beautifully red his blood is. He smears the blood on a canvas and finally finds what he's been looking for. He starts cutting himself repeatedly to obtain more of that beautiful blood red. After a short time, he notices that he can no longer use his blood, as there isn't enough of it and you can only cut yourself so many times before it becomes an issue. 

      By now his paintings are actually starting to sell, but unfortunately, he no longer has a healthy blood supply to satisfy the ever-growing demand for his new and wonderful artwork. So he starts luring vapid and unassuming models to his home for some bloodletting ...oops sorry, I meant modeling.

      His artwork, with its brilliant use of the color red, is now greatly sought after (which confuses me because blood turns brown when it dries, doesn't it?) Strangely, the whole movie is framed in a comical "Annette Funicello beach party type" setting, with young people dancing in the sand and enjoying various water sports, which is an odd yet interesting contrast to the goriness of the plot. 

      An interesting note is that when these movies were finally released on DVD, the producers enhanced the color of all the blood seen in the films, so it's REALLY REALLY red and has a striking contrast to the rest of the movie's color. My television can barely handle the enhanced red blood, but it's a great idea to go with since all H.G. Lewis' movies are filled with lots and lots of blood. Great fun!

Bettie Page

     I've said before that I don't usually incorporate people into the cult phenomenon, but there's no denying that some people throughout history have acquired a huge cult following. One of the biggest and certainly one of the most beautiful is the lovely Ms. Bettie Page. 

      Bettie was born in Nashville Tennessee into a poor and abusive household. She left home for the bright lights of New York with hopes and dreams of becoming a great actress. She won a few beauty contests, but unfortunately, fame as an actress eluded her. 

      While walking on the beach one day, she was spotted by an off-duty police officer named Jerry Tibbs with a hobby in photography. After doing some modeling for him, they became close friends. He also suggested that she change her hairstyle by adding bangs. This style would become her lifelong trademark. 

      Soon she began modeling for local camera clubs and was eventually introduced to Irving Klaw and his sister Paula. The Klaws ran a very successful photography and modeling operation that produced celebrity photographs as well as their own photos using hired models. The Klaws also specialized in a new form of fantasy photography including various forms of bondage. As risque' as this was at that time (mid 50's) Bettie seemed unconcerned and was quite comfortable with this form of modeling. Because of these photos, Bettie began to gain some special attention in the modeling world as somewhat of a dominatrix. This couldn't have been farther from the truth. After all, it was just modeling and it was all completely pretend. To quote Bettie herself "I've never whipped anyone in my life!" Paula did the tying up and always made sure that the ropes were loose and comfortable. In the 1950s, bondage was still seen as a taboo and soon Irving and Paula Klaw were facing some distribution difficulties. 

      Bettie loved the beach and when things got a little hectic in New York, she would always return to her beloved Florida. While there, she met another photographer named Bunny Yeager who was a rising star in the photography side of the modeling world. From this union came some of the most famous of Bettie Page's photos. She even made the prestigious centerfold of Playboy, a magazine that was very new and very classy. Bettie was the second Playboy model ever (Marilyn Monroe was the first).  

     Although Bettie gained much notoriety for her cheesecake, burlesque, and bondage shots, fame (as an actress) and fortune continued to elude her even though she was a dedicated acting student. After a few close calls with stalkers and the lost enthusiasm from the continuation of non-profit modeling. Bettie Page called it quits and disappeared... literally. No one really knew what happened to the missing pin-up queen. Rumors were that she had committed suicide, was rubbed out by the mob, etc., etc. The truth was far less shocking. Bettie had moved to Florida permanently and tried marriage and family (children from her husband's previous marriage, Bettie never had any children of her own). 

    After a few of life's mishaps landed Bettie in a mental hospital for many years due to her suffering from schizophrenia, she eventually gave her life over to God and became a Christian Missionary. She didn't just keep a low profile, she quite literally had disappeared and kept herself entirely away from the public eye. And for being as famous as she had become a full disappearance did raise some eyebrows as to what had actually happened to her. For years and years, no one knew what had become of Ms. Bettie Page. All sorts of wild assumptions had popped up to explain the case of the missing pinup queen.

      Although she herself had vanished, her pictures certainly had not. Unbeknownst to Bettie, a huge cult following was evolving around her. Her pictures became more and more popular and her fame continued to grow at a rapid pace. Paintings, postcards, calendars, statues... soon Ms. Page was everywhere and more adored than any model in history. 

      After decades of seclusion, Bettie was finally located through the show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". She was found living in an undisclosed location in California with her brother Jimmie. When she was rediscovered, Bettie had absolutely no idea that she had become so famous and was actually quite shocked. She was 84 years old at the time and preferred to stay out of the public eye, wanting only to remain the young beautiful woman she left on film so many years ago. When the show aired, she only let her hands be seen and her voice heard. Having had her image used by practically everyone and not seeing a dime in royalties, it was Hugh Hefner who came to her aid and made sure that Bettie was well taken care of financially in her final years.  

     Dear Cult fans, it is with deep sorrow that I bring some terribly sad news. The eternally beautiful Ms. Bettie Page has passed away. About nine days ago, Ms. Page suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. She never regained consciousness and was taken off life support at 6:41 EST Thursday, December 11th, 2008. A private ceremony will be held this Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at an undisclosed location. She will be laid to rest in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Anyone who took the time to get to know the real Bettie Page (beyond their own masturbatory fantasies) knew that she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. A beautiful soul through and through, she will be deeply missed by so very many. On a lighter note, we all know how religious Bettie was and I find great comfort in knowing that she finally gets to meet Him. On a personal note... I love you Bettie, rest in peace, beautiful. You own the key to my heart.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

She Devils on Wheels

     First of all, I was shocked to find an H.G. Lewis film that had no gore in it or even a shred of horror overtones. With this in mind, I really didn't know what to expect. Basically, we have an all-girl biker gang called the "Maneaters" that act like they have more testosterone than Mike Tyson. 

      The mostly female cast seems to have had some trouble acting butch enough for this film because it comes out so forced and scripted (which is terribly funny to watch these over-actresses at work, because they so weren't feeling it). Despite their incredibly lesbian qualities and overtones, they race motorcycles to see who gets the privilege of picking a "useful stud" from a lineup of men from who knows where (that's never really explained). They sometimes make references to "roping in a Philly" but it never really happens. 

      This was quite a change from anything H.G. Lewis had done before. When She-Devils was made, it was right when he was busy making his gore movies. He may have just been trying to make some money and sexy biker chick movies were very popular at the time. 

       Even though there's no gore (except maybe a small decapitation scene near the end) H.G. Lewis fans will still enjoy the atmosphere, the absurdity of it all, and the cheap crap that H.G. Lewis was all about. A funny tidbit about this movie that still makes me laugh... after every intense scene, there's a painting of a colorful she-devil biker that spins around and around making one almost sick, but hey, H.G. thought this was cool, and maybe it was for the time, but its camp value today is completely priceless.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

     Although the title implies that this is a sequel to Valley of the Dolls, it really isn't. A sequel was in fact written for "Valley" by its original writer Jaqueline Susann but was rejected. I guess it wasn't tawdry enough.  Legendary breast mogul and 60's movie producer/director Russ Meyer got his hands on the opportunity to direct a sequel-esque film that had many of the same elements of the original. So the movie was made, but not without a disclaimer at the beginning stating that this is definitely NOT a sequel to "Valley of the Dolls" and is a completely separate film entirely. 

      It has basically all the same elements as the original... sex, drugs, and all the downfalls that come with various sorts of fame. Three young women (and a wimpy manager that's the lead singer's boyfriend) in an all-girl band called "The Kelly Experience" set out for New York and all the seedy elements therein. They soon gain fame when they are introduced to "Z-man" Barzell, a more than eccentric record producer that constantly talks like Shakespeare. Soon Z-man replaces their former manager and renames the band "The Carrie Nations". The former manager/boyfriend is left in the dust and attempts suicide on national television while the band is appearing on a talk show. 

      This movie is without a doubt, the Queen of Camp. Freaks, Kooks, Swingers, Fruits, and every other 60's cliche in the book. More colorful than an LSD trip, with an ending that is nothing short of bizarre. "This my happening and it freaks me out!!!

Basket Case

     Duane Bradley is a meek and somewhat odd individual who carries a basket around with him wherever he goes. What's in the basket? Well, it grunts and groans eats hamburgers and hot dogs, and has a sort of telepathy with Duane. 

      Duane and his basket have rented a room at a seedy motel and have "as yet unknown" reasons to seek out two particular doctors. We soon learn that Bradley was born with a severe deformity where a not quite developed conjoined twin is attached to the left side of his body. They name it Belial (ironically after one of the fallen angels) and call in the docs to remove it. Duane and Belial are actually quite upset that they are going to be separated, especially since Belial is not much more than a blob of flesh with arms, eyes, and a drooling mouth. 

      Anyway, when Duane finally has the means, he tries to locate the doctors that separated him from his mutant twin and want them to reattach what should never have been removed in the first place. They're not entirely successful and Belial escapes, leaving an obvious and convenient opening to the sequel. 

      This has way more comedy than horror and I'm sure many people have trouble putting it in any one of those categories. It's a great film though, it's lots of fun, and has some really cheesy special effects, leaving us with the knowledge that this film was definitely made on a shoestring budget but despite this fact it actually made some unexpected profits, spawning two sequels. 

      Creepy as it is, this idea is based on an actual condition known as a "fetus in fetu", where during the development of twins in the womb, one fetus is stronger than the other and develops around the weaker fetus, essentially consuming it. Later in life, the weak inner fetus begins to develop much like a tumor, and is often discovered due to the assumption that a tumor is all it is. Then surprise, the tumor has arms, legs, hair, fingernails, etc. If left untreated, this parasitic twin starts to develop outside of the host twin's body, leaving a person with legs and arms growing out of their abdomen. Unlike the movie, 99.9999% of all parasitic twins are born with little or no brain at all.

Two Thousand Maniacs

     This is the second installment of H.G. Lewis' "Blood Trilogy". It attempts to out gore its predecessor "Blood Feast" but the story is so damned boring that you hardly notice all the extra blood. 

      A small town is celebrating the 100th year anniversary of the Civil War. To celebrate, the townsfolk trap people by putting detour signs along the main road, to lead hapless victims to their quaint little town of terror. They then kill these people in odd and tortuous ways (all of which are totally hilarious to this town of weirdos). A woman gets crushed by a boulder in a dunking booth-type contraption. A man is rolled downhill in a barrel lined with nails. It's all in good fun though, and later there will be a huge feast... on a beautiful blonde. Apparently, blondes are a delicacy in the South. 

      Some of the trapped "tourists" manage to figure out what's going on (which is a pretty hard concept to grasp, considering how incredibly nice everyone is) and try to get the hell out of there. Almost all of H.G. Lewis' movies are pretty gory and disturbing but with a tinge of humor to the whole thing. The humor in "Blood Feast" seemed very accidental. Maybe H.G. recognized this and just went with it because it showed more and more with each movie he made thereafter. Intentional humor certainly abounds in this sick little flick.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Valley of the Dolls

     Valley of the Dolls was initially expected to be a top box office smash. It had some decently big names like Susan Hayward and Patti Duke, as well as newcomers Sharon Tate and Barbara Parkins. Built from Jacqueline Susann's fantastic novel, it centers around three young girls, who among the bright lights of fame, tumble and fall many times and in many ways. Jacqueline Susann always seemed to have a trio of elements present in most of her novels... drugs, sex, and fame. 

      Anne Welles is an elegant lady who leaves her hometown for the excitement of New York and gets a job as a secretary for a law firm gauged for entertainers. A client comes in one day, spots her beauty, and signs her to a modeling agency and Anne is instantly thrust into the role of Supermodel. Neely O'Hara is the little kid from Nowheresville that comes along and blows Broadway right out of its socks with her incredible talent. Jennifer North is a beauty queen with a body to die for, but alas... she is totally devoid of any talent and soon learns that having a body is all you really need... as long as we get to see every inch of it. 

      All of these women are friends and go through some pretty vicious ups and downs. Thank God, there are always those wonderful "dolls" (pills) that wake you up, put you to sleep, ease the pain and make life a lot better, at least temporarily. 

      This movie was made in the latter '60s and it, by all means, dates itself. It's incredibly campy, colorful, and often quite tacky. This movie has tons of great trivia about it. For example, the premiere of the movie took place on a ship, during a cruise. Unfortunately, the video and sound were off and the whole film was unintentionally sped up and sounded ridiculous.  Jacqueline Susann hated the movie and said blatantly that this was NOT her novel. Soon after its release, Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. Judy Garland was originally signed to the role of Helen Lawson (very appropriate casting, because she pretty much WAS the character Helen Lawson (a role that ended up being played by Susan Hayward) but left the project, due to a multitude of reasons. Judy had a drug problem, she was becoming harder and harder to deal with and would often be late or intoxicated on the set. The producers working on "Valley of the Dolls" were becoming as displeased with her as she was with them and a mutual dismissal was agreed upon. She then soon went on tour and did in fact take much of the wardrobe with her and was spotted wearing many of these same outfits that ultimately had to be remade for Susan Hayward.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Glen or Glenda

     This was Ed Woods' first real attempt at movie-making and as many movies as he ultimately made, you'd think he would have learned something about it along the way. Umm, no. Ed's last movie was just as bad as his first. For those who don't know... good 'ol Ed was a transvestite with a particular liking for Angora. 

      When Christine Jorgenson (one of the first and definitely the most famous) transexual ever, announced that she was once a man and had his sex surgically changed to that of a woman. The world was a bit shocked, but this story struck a chord with Ed and he auditioned to be the director of the Christine Jorgenson movie that was set to be shot soon. Christine Jorgenson got wind that a movie was being based on her story and wanted money for it, but money was one of the many things that eluded Ed Wood for most of his life. So they just decided to make a sex change movie anyway with a fictionalized story. 

      Ed Wood got the role only because he was able to produce the practically embalmed screen legend Bela Lugosi to be in the film. Ed took this as the perfect opportunity to reveal his own transvestitism and played the main role of both Glen and Glenda. It's Ed's story, truer than we ever wanted to know. A boring documentary about whether or not to tell his girlfriend why her pink sweaters are always so stretched out. Only the last five minutes deal with the topic of actual sex changes. 

     Bela Lugosi (who is totally out of place) plays a sort of mad scientist role that pulls the strings (sorry... Pull De Strink!) The movie has an overall uplifting (yet narratively annoying) facade until it cuts to Bela, then we see lightning and hear thunder and for the moment at least, it's a horror movie (without much horror). After the doom and gloom dissipate, then comes the happy Glenda turning down homosexuals in rude ways, letting us know that transvestites are definitely not gay. 

      It's got bad acting, cheap sets, nonsensical characters, and a terrible editing format. Which of course means that you'll love it. This by his own accounts, Ed's true story, the bizarre makings of Edward D. Wood Jr.

Daisy Chainsaw

     Some people find it difficult to integrate music into a category like cult classics because the word "classic" tends to strike people as meaning "old". This is sooooo not true here at Cultarama. You see, "Cult" is the keyword, meaning the campy, the fun, the shocking, the intriguing, and anything that isn't really mainstream or something that took word of mouth to gain popularity. The word "classic" therefore doesn't mean "old", it means distinguishable. People, I feel, should not be excluded from this category, and people can pretty much fit into any category.  In this case, it falls under the category of music, so here we go. 

      Daisy Chainsaw was a really fun band that sprang up in the early '90s, fronted by the lovely but truly bizarre Katie Jane Garside. This woman can do the strangest things with her voice. Honestly, though it isn't for everyone, nothing ever really is. Katie always wears dirty, tattered dresses with dead flowers in her hair and is usually barefoot. She smashes her head into drumsets, and basically has little regard for her welfare, at least on stage.  

     Daisy Chainsaw only had one full album "Eleventeen", which was a huge hit on the hard rock, grunge, goth, riot girl scene, even though technically they didn't really fit into any of those classifications. People tended to group them together with other girl bands like Hole, L7, and Bikini Kill, but I found that insulting because there was nothing else out there like Daisy Chainsaw.  They created the mold and when they were done with it they broke it.  Their sound is extremely gritty, tinged with hilarious lyrics, backed up by a thrashing energy. Only one single from the album made the charts, a song called "Love Your Money" about how record companies are only about profits, no matter how your music sounds. 

     Unfortunately, the band did officially break up in the mid-'90s and Katie Jane Garside along with former Daisy Chainsaw member, and guitarist Crispin Gray formed a new band called Queen Adreena. And with albums like "Taxidermy", "The Butcher and the Butterfly", and songs like "Medicine Jar" and "Pretty Like Drugs", that hint of Daisy Chainsaw is still there. It's a new band, but essentially it includes everyone that we liked from Daisy Chainsaw and is still fronted by Katie Jane Garside. It may not be Daisy Chainsaw, but it's an incredible facsimile.

Blood Feast

     Blood Feast is hailed as the first gore movie ever made. And is the first of the "Blood Trilogy" by H.G. Lewis. even though he came out with several more gore films, including The Gore Gore Girls, The Wizard of Gore, and Gruesome Twosome.

     This is supposed to be a horror film and if it weren't for all the blood and gore, it would be an outright comedy. The acting is probably the worst ever caught on film and for me, a person who thrives on movies with terrible acting, that is saying a LOT. The sets are cheaper than cheap, and the dialogue is wooden, calculated, and downright stupid. In short, it's very unintentionally hilarious. 

      Fuad Ramses is a creepy little dude who runs an Egyptian catering service. Coincidentally, he's also a faithful follower of an evil Egyptian goddess named Ishtar. Apparently, the time has come to serve up a religious "blood feast" in order to bring Ishtar back to life. So he goes around town murdering young women and stealing certain parts of their bodies to cook up and serve to a dimwitted mother who is throwing a party for her daughter and hires Fuad Ramses to cater it. 

      The fact that nobody finds this guy really weird is disturbing, because he completely leers at you when speaking to you, has a pronounced limp (that changes between legs throughout the movie), and talks in a very slow and suspicious way, as though he's trying to keep you from noticing that he's holding a severed head behind his back or something. Any normal person would be terrified of him.  

     The guy who plays Fuad is obviously a younger actor wearing old-man makeup. Why they didn't just get an older actor is anyone's guess. There's a two-minute scene where he doesn't wear older-looking makeup (not even playing a younger version of himself but playing another person entirely), but still has the huge painted-on eyebrows that he usually sports, they're just black instead of gray.  But seriously, was that two minutes really worth wearing old-looking makeup for the entire film? I guess the eyebrow paint was important because he also stares at people a lot (supposedly hypnotizing them). This crap has to be seen to be believed.  Definitely a "so bad it's good" type of film. I loved it!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Carnival of Souls

     This movie made such a huge impact on me. I just couldn't get it out of my head for the longest time, because it is just so haunting and so completely unnerving, but in such a subtle way. The story it tells gets into your head and makes you question everything you may have believed about life and death. For this reason alone, I hold this film in higher regard than I do most cult films because it isn't just some campy piece of shit filled with bad sets and terrible acting, it's really a true work of art. 

     Mary Henry is in a car with two other women when another car full of guys pulls up next to them and wants to drag race.  Mary isn't the driver and doesn't look too happy about the proposition, but the driver in her car is eager to accept the challenge.  While going over a bridge, the car full of guys hits them from the side, causing the car Mary is in to have an accident and fall into the river below. Later we see Mary crawling onto the shore soaking wet where she is met by police and paramedics, She's asked about the other women but she doesn't seem to remember. 

     Ever since the accident though, her life seems somewhat altered. We assume she's just mildly traumatized from the crash.  Mary is a paid organist who has decided to make a new start after the accident by relocating to Utah and taking a job as the organist for the local church. She's a very cold individual, very much a loner, and doesn't seem to have much emotion for anything.  Even though she is an organist who plays for a church, she is devoid of any religious views and regards her job at the church as nothing more than just a job.  Since the accident, she also seems to be haunted by an eerie pale-faced man with dark eyes who appears to be following her and she almost has an accident while driving to Utah when she sees him peering through her car window. Also along the way to Utah, she passes the Great Salt Lake and sees a desolate pavilion out in the distance.  Mary becomes more than a little obsessed with this old pavilion on the lake and thinks about it often. 

     Mary checks into a boarding house once she reaches town and soon even stranger events begin to happen. There are times when it seems that no one can hear or even see Mary and won't react to her in any way despite her desperate attempts to be noticed.  During these episodes, the only sound that can be heard is the spooky organ music that is almost a character in itself and is present throughout most of the movie.  

     Mary continues to be haunted by the pale-faced man and is sure that he's been following her since she left for Utah.  After a few incidents where she seems to be unable to be seen or heard and starts to feel as though she has no place in the world and is becoming more and more frightened by this creepy man that she's sure is stalking her, she finally sets out to solve the strange events that now plague her constantly. 

      Believing that the answer somehow lies in the old pavilion on the lake, she goes there and faces the ghostly truth behind her own existence. Once there, she sees more pale-faced people, coming out of the water and dancing.  She then envisions herself dancing with the pale-faced man that she has been seeing everywhere and we notice that she also has a pale face and dark eyes just like he and all the other people there have. She screams and they all begin to chase her.  She runs out to the shore and collapses in the sand as their corpse-white hands surround her.  

     Afterward, we see police examining a set of footprints on the beach that mysteriously stop right where Mary had collapsed.  We then witness the police pulling a car out of the water with three deceased girls in it...and one of them is Mary.  Apparently, along with the other women in the car that had crashed and landed in the river, Mary had drowned.  She's been dead this whole time.  This explains why she is sometimes not able to be seen or heard and might suggest that the pale-faced man is some kind of collector of souls or maybe even death itself.

     After watching the movie, some may say that there's an awful lot of easy-to-understand symbolism in it, but a great story nonetheless.  Frankly, I found this ending to be very unexpected and when you realize what's taken place, it forces you to take it all in at once, creating a lot of built-up tension that the movie has achieved to be internalized in one single moment.  I don't know if the filmmakers knew how emotionally invasive this movie was gonna be, but that's how it felt, and it sticks with you, just like really fine art does.

     Candace Hilligoss who plays Mary Henry is an actress who has the ability to seem cold as ice, even when she smiles, quite appropriate for someone who is basically playing a dead person. As far as I can tell though she didn't do much else as far as acting goes which is a shame because she was wonderful at it.  This true classic was made on a shoestring budget but was still an instant hit, and has gone on to gather followers of the cult for years. I can still hear the creepy organ music that permeates the film like the stench of death and becomes a character of the movie just as much as the main actress herself.  Carnival of Souls has since been restored and colorized by Off Color Films, who did an excellent job, but it's the black-and-white version that really has the more haunting impact. Both versions are now available on YouTube.  This movie makes a great conversation piece, due to the different ways the symbolism can be interpreted. Was Mary a ghost when she could see people but they couldn't see her?  Were the people that could see her dead as well?  And who exactly was the pale-faced man, Death personified?  A wonderfully artful film that reaches inside you and possibly makes you question your own belief in the soul.

Desperate Living

     Desperate Living was John Waters's fifth movie and by his own admission was the first movie he made after quitting drugs (smoking pot to be precise). You really wouldn't know it though, because it's just as weird, wonderful, and hilarious as his other films and completely decimates the assumed theory that drugs were the reason his earlier movies were so strange. 

      This one ranks among his greatest, even with the unfortunate absence of Divine, who was originally slated to be in this film, but due to his new success as a disco queen, was not able to be in the movie because he was on tour. This is your typical strange and trashy John Waters film but presented in the form of a fairytale with a complete lesbian overtone, which totally managed to piss off the lesbian community, for how could a man make a successful movie about lesbians.  Maybe they forgot that John Waters was gay and I'm positively sure that he had plenty of lesbian friends. 

     Anyway, Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) is an utterly over-the-top neurotic suburban housewife, currently on an experimental visit home from the hospital, who along with her maid Grizelda kills Peggy's husband and both are exiled to the land of Mortville, where the population lives in constant mortification for something bad that they've done. A really shitty place to be but is still better than jail, but honestly not by much. Mortville is a "shanty town-like" village (complete with tourists!) that's ruled by the Evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) and her gang of soldiers who are all clad in black S&M leather gear. 

      Peggy and Grizelda seek shelter with a tough-as-nails lesbian named Mole (the role that John Waters originally wanted Divine to play) and her girlfriend Muffy (the mildly famous Liz Renay).  Mole pretty much hates everyone and everything (the perfect role for Divine) and therefore a suburban snob like Peggy gets on her nerves like few others can.  Peggy and Grizelda's arrival is noticed by Queen Carlotta and are taken to her castle for an ugliness makeover so that they can better fit the role of a Mortville resident.  

     Meanwhile, the queen's daughter Princess Cuckoo is currently salaciously in love with the local garbage man from the nearby nudist colony. Every time I watch this film I always feel so bad for the actors who had to play the nudists because for some reason John Waters always filmed his movies in the bitterly cold winters of Baltimore Maryland and even the actors wearing clothes look like they're about to die from hypothermia.  

     Anyway, because Peggy Gravel is a naturally vicious person Queen Carlotta begins to take notice, and when Princess Cuckoo is stripped of her royalty due to dating a common trashman, Peggy is appointed the new princess and her first royal duty is to spread rabies to everyone in Mortville.  She manages to infect Princess Cuckoo but her evil plans are foiled before she can carry out Mortville's new "vaccination requirement" by a fullout lesbian attack on the castle by Mole, Muffy, and all the other town lesbians.  Grizelda probably would have helped but she was killed when the shack she rented from Mole collapsed on her (really, it was made of cardboard?!?) 

     Peggy is killed with a gunshot wound to the ass, the queen is killed and the residents cook and eat her, and the good Princess Cuckoo dies in a pool of rabies mouth foam.  Since Muffy is known as the most beautiful woman in all of Mortville, she is crowned the new queen and they all lived happily ever after (remember this is supposed to be a fairytale).  This is definitely one of Edith Massey's funniest performances, which almost makes up for Divine not being in the film. A total scream!

Polyester

     This was John Waters's sixth full-length feature film and by the time Polyester came out, John Waters was doing considerably fewer drugs and his movies began to move in a more mainstream direction. Waters managed to sign a minor star like Tab Hunter to the cast and Debbie Harry (Blondie) to do the soundtrack. This movie is much tamer than his earlier films but still retains that wonderful unique sense of humor that John's movies have always had, and was the perfect prelude to Hairspray (his first truly mainstream success).  

     Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a hopelessly humdrum housewife with a husband that owns a XXX theater and prefers the company of the dog over his wife. Her daughter Lulu is the epitome of an oversexed "bad girl" and her son Dexter is heavily abusing drugs and roams around Baltimore stomping on people's feet for the fun of it. 

     Francine's husband runs off with his secretary which causes her to become a serious alcoholic. But better times are on the way when Francine meets Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter). Todd is flashy and rich and sweeps Francine off her feet. Lulu's bad influence boyfriend dies, she has a miscarriage and has now become a good girl obsessed with macrame'. Dexter is arrested for being the "Baltimore Foot Stomper" and is released on an insanity defense. Everything looks rosy until it all comes crashing down when we learn that Todd and Francine's total bitch of a mother are planning to frame Francine for her husband's murder, admit her to a mental institution, sell her kids into sex slavery, and run off with the money from selling her house and all her belongings. 

      Edith Massey makes a great comeback as Francine's best (and only) friend Cuddles. Mink Stole is another one of John Waters's original "Dreamlanders" that makes a reappearance as Francine's husbands' slutty secretary and mistress. Sadly, most of his early actors had died off due to AIDS and drug overdoses by the time Waters made this movie. Mary Vivian Pearce and Cookie Mueller also make VERY small guest appearances. Mary is a nun at the unwed mother's home where Lulu has her miscarriage and Cookie plays the role of one of The Baltimore Foot Stompers (Dexter) victims.  

     A fun gimmick that went along with this movie is that it was filmed in "odorama". When the movie was released, a card with twelve scratch and sniff numbers on it was given to the audience members. When you saw the number flashed in the lower corner of the screen, you scratched and sniffed the corresponding number on your card to experience the same smells that would be experienced by the characters. Unfortunately, the smells are terrible... gasoline, a fart, stinky sneakers, etc. Tying this into the theme of the movie wasn't hard due to the fact that Francine was obsessed with nice smells, and air fresheners, and apparently had the nose of a bloodhound. Polyester wasn't nearly as shocking as his earlier films, yet was still packed with all the hilarity that emanates from the genius that is John Waters.