Party Monster

There are three versions of this story, all of which are amazing. In the early 90's when the club kid craze was at it's peak, a club kid named Michael Alig (the crowned prince of all club kids) committed murder and even though he bragged about the killing, everyone just thought that that was just Michael being Michael, a well known drug user who would lie and swindle Jesus Christ if he thought it could get him some drugs. James St. James (self proclaimed original club kid) was a close friend and sometimes roommate with Michael Alig, and was therefore present for most of the inside story. In fact, it was James St. James that started this ball rolling. He wrote a wonderful book called "Disco Bloodbath, a Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland". It's a must read. Anyway, they made a documentary on the whole affair, including footage from all the key players in this bizarre story. Before his downfall, Michael Alig was a huge success as a party promoter, mostly for a club in New York called "The Limelight". Drugs flowed freely and the weirder you were, the cooler you'd be. It was a nonstop psychedelic world of color that was very intriguing and fun and even spawned a celebrity or two (RuPaul was a club kid). They also made the talk show circuit for a while, appearing on shows like "Geraldo" and "Sally Jesse Raphael". His favorite tactic was an impromptu surprise party held in anyplace from small McDonald's restaurants to subway stations. He made the news all the time and was a strong personality on the hippest of scenes. Eventually, the more drugs that Michael took, the more grim his party themes became. My favorite being the "Blood Feast Party" featuring every gruesome sight imaginable. Alig and his friend Freeze were all strung out one day when Mr. Pissed Off Drug Dealer Angel Melendez shows up and demands money which of course they don't have. A fight erupts, Angel is hit on the noggin with a hammer, dragged to the bathtub by Alig and Freeze, injected with Drano and smothered with a pillow. Michael dismembers Angels body and stuffs it in a large TV box and uses it for a coffee table. They also feel the need to hastily paint most of the walls red and blame a mysterious stench on screwed up plumbing. Eventually the smell becomes overwhelming so Michael and Freeze dump the box with the body in it into the river. The body is found and put into a freezer with a misidentification of race (he was listed as Asian, and Angel was Hispanic). If it weren't for Michael Alig bragging about it, he probably would have gotten away with it. When Michael Alig told his stories of killing Angel, everyone thought it was a joke because Michael always joked and was a notorious liar. Rumors started to circulate that Michael was not kidding when he bragged about killing Angel and certain people close to the situation started to come forward with their stories to save their own asses. Eventually, it all caught up with him and he and Freeze were convicted of first degree murder. A big budget movie has just been made that is the documentary verbatim minus the documentary narration, feel and look. Macauley Culkin plays Michael Alig with stark precision. Seth Green plays James St.James. Marilyn Manson and Chloe Sevigny also have notable parts in the movie. It's a colorful flick with a fantastic soundtrack which is somewhat nostalgic for those of us who watched the club kids and dared to be like them. It truly is a fabulous tale about murder in clubland.

Satanis and Sinthia

Satanis is a self made documentary by Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan. You would think that a documentary about Satanism would contain some shocking footage of some kind, but it's nothing like that at all. It's actually rather comical as Anton LaVey expresses his belief system while wearing his horned hood with his arched eyebrows. He looks more like a cartoon character than a satanist. People who follow LaVey's teachings are as comical as he is. His neighbors describe him as a very interesting individual and their only bitch was that he had a pet tiger. His masses always included a naked woman on the altar and it's surprising to see how many women were actually auditioning for this role. Filmed in 1970, Satanis still retains a very 60's feeling. Pretty much a live and let live attitude. People are always scared of the unknown and I think this is actually a very well made documentary that let's you know the goings on inside the Church of Satan. There's no orgies, animal sacrifices, murder, etc... all the things people assume are part of Satanism. Unlike Christianity, Satanism praises sex as healthy and natural, which was enough for many people to consider a change of religion, especially in the time of free love. The only thing annoying is Anton LaVey's sense of self righteousness. He was very proud to be himself and wasn't afraid to tell the whole world how he single handedly built the Church of Satan from the ground up. He claimed thousands of followers in spite of having obviously few attendees at his masses. When it came to religion, LaVey kinda made it up as he went along. Whatever. This documentary has been released on DVD, coupled with a very very bad movie called "Sinthia, the Devil's Doll". Made in the 60's and obviously meant to be watched on drugs, Sinthia doesn't really have a story. It's mostly psychedelic sex scenes with a girl named Sinthia going on about how she wants to have sex with her father. This movie never really made it and was only coupled with Satanis as a vehicle for release.

Cannibal Holocaust

This is another "video nasty" that was banned for years and is making a comeback via new interest and DVD releases. Cannibal Holocaust is pretty convincing, and although there was a tremendous belief that the footage is real, it most certainly is not. Some of the cannibals really are actual native people though, mostly from South America. The only real and ultimately most distressful footage is of some live animal killings. A muskrat gets gutted alive, a turtle get mutilated, a monkey has his head chopped off and a pig gets shot in the head. Being an animal lover, I can say that this is the only thing that I found disturbing about this film. The rest really isn't too bad. The director of this film says that the animal killings are the only thing he regrets about this film, despite being arrested under the belief that it was a real snuff film. Anyway, the story goes as such... A team of scientists are going into the deep jungle to find and study cannibals. The two missions before them never returned, yet these snotty adventurers think they have what it takes. Two months later they are classified as missing (well, duh). A new research team is sent in to find these people. They find traces of them here and there, some of their clothes and equipment, some rotting bodies, etc. They also stumble upon the film canisters from their expedition. Upon returning to the states, the films are watched and reveal a rather stupid group of people that frankly deserve to be cannibalized. Instead of research, they use the cameras to record orgies, the raping of native women and totally disrespect the tribes in every way by eventually burning down their village. The last canister reveals them finally getting their comeuppance as they are all butchered and eaten by the cannibals. Yum!

Let Me Die a Woman!

This a very in your face documentary on the topic of sex changes and transgenderism. And I mean that truly, it literally takes you from start to finish, into the nether regions that not so many of us wanted to see or know about (I can't say "all of us" because there's something for everyone). It was made in 1978, not long after Christine Jourganson went public with her successful new life as a post operative transgender, male to female. She pulled it off (no pun intended) rather well, appearing very feminine with little to no masculine reminders of her previous gender. Sex changes began to emerge in different forms, pre-op, post-op, half-op, hormone treatments, plastic surgery, etc, etc. This documentary explores them all... at a range, so close you can almost smell it (I'm so sorry, don't worry God'll get me for that) We're shown, the ins and out, the missing and the added, all narrated by a doctor that noticeable flinches every time he mentions the words "cut off". We're even shown demonstrations of sex with transgender people that are very unexpectedly pornographic, but are still being narrated like a documentary (...and here we see the North American Humanus Pervertis in their natural habitat). There is also a Puerto Rican transexual that does a lot of the narration, who is actually very attractive and intelligent and tells of her difficult life growing up transgender in a poor and intolerable society. The rest of the people (all transgender) in this documentary seemed like they were reading from a cue card or something. Their dialogue seems very scripted and wooden, and they all appeared to be "attempting" to act. Probably because they were transexuals and not actors (oh don't worry, they are proven without a shadow of a doubt to be transexuals). It's very campy, mostly due to it's age, and I'm quite sure that today we've come a long way in surgical advancement when it comes to fine tuning a medical procedure like a sex change, since this was filmed. But whether you're genuinely interested in the subject or just desire 87 minutes of sheer weirdness, this Bud's for you. Definitely not for the squeamish, weak of stomach (or worse... homophobic).

Glen or Glenda

This was Ed woods first real attempt at movie making and as many as he did, you'd think he would have learned something 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 transvestive with a particular liking for angora. When Christine Jourgenson (one of the first and definately the most famous) transexual ever, announed 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 for the director of the Christine Jourgenson movie that was set to be shot soon. Christine Jourgenson wanted money and money was a thing 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 transvestisism 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 about why her pink sweaters are always so stretched out. Only the last five minutes deal with topic of actual sex change. And 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, the we see lightening and hear thunder and for the moment at least, it's a horror movie (without much horror). After the doom and gloom comes happy Glenda turning down homosexuals in rude ways, letting us know that transvestites are definately 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 is his true story, the bizarre makings of Edward D. Wood Jr.

Reefer Madness

This movie was filmed with the most honest on intentions trying to discourage people from the evils of marijuana, but instead it ended up entertaining pot smokers rather than preventing them. The acting is deporable to say the least. Originally titled "Tell Your Children!", it is presented as part documentary and part movie to explain the absolute horrors of the demon weed. According to the narrator, it's compared to and considered worse than Morphine, Cocaine and Heroin combined. The movie is a dim plot consisting mainly of dim people who peddle pot to teenagers, resulting in crime, murder and sheer and utter Madness!! Originally in black and white, it has recently been colorized by Off Color Films, who cleverly made the smoke come out in multiple colors.