Horror

EATING RAOUL (1980)

October 3, 2023

Preface

I previously posted about EATING RAOUL but do not feel like I did the film justice, so I hope you enjoy this revisitation.

The 80s were an inflection point for deviant indie films, perhaps best encapsulated by John Waters and POLYESTER and HAIRSPRAY, but also surprise hits like EATING RAOUL. These were films that pointed the limelight on the disenfranchised folks living on the sidelines of society, especially those who were more sexually divergent and kinky.

Writer/director/actor Paul Bartlel’s piece is a brilliant work. EATING RAOUL is a perfect encapsulation of what indie films can be: they call out the hypocrisy of heteronormative people, of personal repression, but by having the protagonists — Mary & Paul Blank (yes, not a subtle surname. Also, the protagonist couple are played by mainstays Paul Barlet and Mary Woronov and retain their real first names for this work) — staged as a post-WWII TV version of couples, even down to the single beds.*

“Yet so popular with the broken and destitute.”

To quickly summarize: Paul & Mary are a very straight-laced couple, living in a building mostly inhabited by swingers. They have dreams of ditching their respective jobs as a liquor store employee and nurse in favor of opening their own restaurant. In order to do so, they have to raise $20K (later $25K) to buy the Victorian abode they want to house it.

Given their current jobs, they realize that’s not feasible. So, Mary posits herself as a dominatrix and they start murdering her clients and stealing their wallets to help fund their restaurant.

“And whatever they want to do? Stop if it draws blood.”

They start fretting about the security of their apartment and enlist the help of a security specialist, Raoul, who eventually shows his true colors as a thief. Mary becomes entwined with him, and matters escalate.

“I don’t mind paying cash for gash as long as it’s class.”

It is worth noting that EATING RAOUL did become somewhat of a mainstream hit, partially because of its sensationalism, but I like to think it’s mostly because of its wit and performances.

“We like B&D but we don’t like S&M. We met at the A&P but we don’t like labels.”

I cannot overstate what films like EATING RAOUL did for the youths of the 80s and 90s. These were eye-opening films that presented a completely different world, films that eschewed heteronormativity, films that allowed misfits like myself to feel seen and accepted, all while being enthralled and laughing the entire time and never shamed anyone, even the norms. Sadly, that era seems to be over, but like with everything, the pendulum will inevitably swing back.

“Mary, I just killed a man.”

“He was a man, honey. Now he’s just a bag of garbage.”

  • As someone who is 1) an extremely light sleeper and 2) as someone who has dealt with abuse so I’m always on high alert, I don’t love the visual shorthand of two beds as sexual repression, because sleeping in separate beds can actually be a great thing for all parties involved, however: the message here is succinctly conveyed.

PROM NIGHT III: THE LAST KISS (1990)

October 2, 2023

PROM NIGHT is one of those franchises where several of the sequels are better — or at least more interesting — than the original. The first PROM NIGHT is a rather by-the-numbers slasher centered around, naturally, prom night. It’s perhaps best known for a barely post-HALLOWEEN Jamie Lee Curtis as final girl Kim Hammond who has a rare nude scene, as well as Leslie Nielsen as Kim’s father. That said, it’s visually more striking than most slashers of its time.

HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT 2 is probably regarded as the best in the series, as it is far more inventive while having a sense of humor about itself. It has some fantastic set-pieces and stellar performances from Lisa Schrage as Mary Lou and Michael Ironsides as the cop investigating a series of murders.

However, I believe PROM NIGHT III: THE LAST KISS (PROM NIGHT 3 going forward) is woefully underrated. It goes full horror-comedy while managing to straddle both expertly. PROM NIGHT 3 continues the murderous, wanton adventures of one Mary Lou Maloney (Courtney Taylor) haunting the same high school, and she finds herself obsessed with Alex, an attractive school bum who has aspirations to become a doctor and marry Sarah (Cynthia Preston), his high school sweetheart.

Mary Lou has a sort of succubus quality to her, and Alex finds her irresistible, and the two fuck almost immediately. (Yes, this is a very horny film, even for a high school slasher.) Mary Lou becomes extremely possessive, using her somewhat vague supernatural powers to elevate Alex’s school standing while killing off anyone in the way of his dreams, or her obsession. Matters escalate, becoming more and more outlandish, culminating in what can only be described as a Ripley-esque confrontation.

The gory set-pieces are in the vein of Sam Raimi — there are a number of shots that ape the first-person racing camera perspective he leans on so much, although there’s one scene where Mary Lou is absolutely crashing through doors; windows shatter, and it’s incredibly effective.

The film still makes time to pepper in dialogue that you’d expect to hear in a dark comedy like JAWBREAKER:

“Alex, she wasn’t a person. She was a guidance counselor.”

They also utilize the high school’s PA system to intersperse quite a bit of irreverent, silly but pointed announcements.

Granted, despite receiving a theatrical release in the production’s home country of Canada, it does have that cheap video sheen to it. Nonetheless, the makeup is great, the effects above-average, and it’s a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, finding a copy of the original version of PROM NIGHT 3 can prove to be difficult. While the VHS version was the same theatrical edition Canadians watched, the U.S. DVD release was heavily edited. There’s a copy of the uncut version on YouTube that you can seek out, as this is not the kind of film that benefits from an ‘edited for content’ version.

“I don’t get mad; I bake.”

GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990)

October 1, 2023

The first GREMLINS takes place in the sleepy town of Kingston Falls, home to young bank employee Billy Peltzer and his girlfriend and waitress Kate Beringer. Billy receives a cuddly creature named a mogwai as a Christmas present and he names it Gizmo. He is then given the following care instructions:

1) Keep the mogwai away from sunlight.

2) Don’t allow the mogwai to get wet.

3) Never feed it after midnight.

Predictably, almost immediately, both the second and third rules are broken, and which result in Gizmo quickly reproducing a number of twisted creatures that are the opposite of Gizmo’s cute and friendly demeanor. They quickly take over the town and matters escalate.

For years, film studio Warner Bros. wanted a sequel, as the first film was rightly a huge success, but Dante waited six years to make it, requesting and receiving full creative control, and he made the most of it.

GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH sees Billy and Kate in New York City, both working for billionaire Daniel Clamp who is the CEO of a wide-ranging company named CLAMP. Billy is a commercial illustrator while Kate has the far less glamorous job as a CLAMP tour guide.

Gizmo is brought into the CLAMP building by one of two twin CLAMP scientists. Billy discovers Gizmo thanks to hearing someone whistling Gizmo’s unique tune and he reclaims the mogwai. As you might suspect, Gizmo immediately gets wet and chaos ensues. Unlike the first film, apart from one scene, the gremlin antics take place solely in the CLAMP building. Also unlike the first film, Dante completely leans into his love of cartoons and slapstick and self-indulgent silliness — the film even opens with the classic Looney Tunes opening, complete with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

The ‘new batch’ of gremlins are absolutely bonkers and not nearly as cooke-cutter as the first time. The gremlin designs are absolutely wild and even include an ‘electricity gremlin’. There’s an entire KEY & PEELE skit about how the ‘Hollywood Sequel Doctor’ helps shepherd the unhinged the gremlins to life. You may want to wait to watch until the GREMLINS 2 credits roll, but it is classic KEY & PEELE.

“Okay, you guys know that none of that is going to be in the actual movie.”

All of that is in the actual movie.

GREMLINS 2 is certainly unbridled Joe Dante at the height of his powers and laser-focused on everything he loves. He even weaves in Christopher Lee and character actor and creative Paul Bartel (who will pop up again in a future Horrorclature post)! The creature effects by Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studio are absolutely mesmerizing, and feature a number of scenes that are as visually packed as a MAD MAGAZINE illustration!

Sadly the film flopped, which is a shame, but as demonstrated by the KEY & PEELE sketch it has found a cult audience, of which you can watch it and join the GREMLINS 2 admiration club.

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAIN SAWS (1992)

September 29, 2023

Carol J. Clover’s MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAIN SAWS is an extraordinarily influential collection of feminist academic essays centered around cinematic horror. It cannot be overstated how it clarifies so much of the subtext of horror films and how men and women relate to the horror genre, especially the slasher genre. Hell, she coined the term ‘Final Girl’, crystalizing that trope.

First, it’s worth noting that the essays were penned in the early 90s, so this is very second-wave feminism in that there is a definite line drawn in the sand as to biological gender. It’s also worth noting that author Clover did not believe she’d get this amount of attention, and the recent editions of the collection include an introduction stating as much.

Nonetheless, MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAIN SAWS is not only one of the most insightful looks on the more lurid modern horror works, but also for an array of academic essays, it’s immensely readable.

Clover focuses mostly on the major slasher films: HALLOWEEN, the FRIDAY THE 13th series, the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series (although she skims over the extremely gay barely subtext of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2) and TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. She also rightly spends a lot of words on THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, which — as I’ve previously detailed — was penned by respected feminist Rita Mae Brown.

While I said it’s very readable and accessible to those outside of the academic world, it is extraordinarily dense, and I know this write-up does not do it justice. All I can say is that, if you consider film as a serious medium, and/or you are a fan of horror, this will be an eye-opening read that will imbue depths into these works that you may have not otherwise considered.

You can — and should — purchase it via Matt Zoller Seitz’s excellent book store:

https://mzs.press/Men-Women-and-Chainsaws-Gender-in-the-Modern-Horror-Film-Paperback-NEW-p477184242

PERPETRATOR (2023)

August 26, 2023

CAVEAT

This was a while ago, but I did take video art classes from PERPETRATOR director/writer Jennifer Reeder back in my college days. She wouldn’t know me from Adam now — I’m simply noting it out of a sense of responsibility. She’s a great teacher who now teaches at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and I will never forget screening my first extremely personal and intensely overworked short video piece in her class, which one fellow student exclaimed after viewing it: “That gave me a migraine.”

I also saw PERPETRATOR at the Chicago premiere, with a ton of the crew in the audience, as well as with a post-film Q&A between the always awesome Katie Rife and Reeder, so I can’t deny that the entire audience was completely on-board for what they were about to see.

I will try to keep this short and succinct for once, because this is one of those rare films that I feel requires a second viewing, but it’s rolling out on screens this week and I want to boost it!

Director/writer/auteur Jennifer Reeder loves genre conventions, but is also firmly ensconced in experimental works. Her prior feature — KNIVES AND SKIN — is very much about teen girls and high school and cliques and being pursued, but also embraces how these girls get to know their bodies and everything that entails, including how others view and abuse them, and she films all of this through a teen haze; events happen around and to you and they don’t often make sense, but you just roll with it because you don’t know any better. While it shares a lot of DNA from TWIN PEAKS, it is still its own thing.

PERPETRATOR follows in the same vein, but it’s far, far bloodier, far more disturbing, and features far more orifices than her prior film. It’s disturbing, certainly, but it does what I think horror does best: detailing the confusion of body and personality transformation but also how folks simply adjust and accept or reject it. While it is fundamentally a narrative genre feature, it is not afraid of diverging into more surreal and nebulous areas.

I know I’m not doing the film justice with this post. (I will circle back with a later post detailing the rest of the cast and crew!) Hell, I may even be misrepresenting it; it’s that kind of film. I’m a huge fan of her and still I went into this film knowing nothing about it and I’d suggest doing the same. It’s a shocking, provocative, singular film that feels like nothing else out there.

Nonetheless, here’s the trailer, and if you have a SHUDDER subscription, you can watch it there soon, or if you live in NYC or LA or Chicago, you can catch it on the big screen, which is really how you should see some of the puckering.

MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE (2018)

August 23, 2023

MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE is and it isn’t exactly what it says on the front cover. Yes, it’s a collection of 48 essays — some shorter than others — helmed by Christian Ackerman about memorable horror films from the eyes of those who are horror industry insiders.

That said: every. single. one. of these films are films they watched as youths.

These are all tales of pre-teen or teen experience, and there’s a surprising number of overlap. While HALLOWEEN, THE EXORCIST, Romero’s original DEAD trilogy, and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE are all represented multiple times, there are a handful of lesser-known films in there, such as the MST3k-featured classic DEVIL DOLL and THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. Also, JAWS — not necessarily a film one thinks of as a horror classic but more of a thriller — repeatedly pops up.

These are all films that spurred an infatuation with horror in their pre-teen brains, films that would lead them towards a career in what is arguably one of the most unfairly least-respected genres.

Some essays are more astute and passionate than others, especially a paean to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, while others feel almost perfunctory and penned out of obligation. There’s one essay that I will not name that is very obviously the author trolling the audience in a very distasteful way.

While reading this, I was wondering what my favorite horror film would be. Unlike everyone else in this collection, I didn’t latch onto modern horror until my mid/late teens, and even then they were not exactly the films you’d expect: GOTHIC, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, GINGER SNAPS, WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE, etc. That said, I was and still am a devoted Universal horror fan, especially of James Whale’s work.

However, while I have a handful of rotating favorite dramatic films ever which include Kieslowski’s BLUE and Peter Greenaway’s THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER (arguably a horror film), I simply can’t choose a favorite horror film. Perhaps THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Maybe TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME. Possibly GREMLINS 2, or another sequel: FINAL DESTINATION 2. Tempted to note NIGHT OF THE COMET. However, none of these films — apart from perhaps FIRE WALK WITH ME — had the seismic impact that these essayists felt when watching their favorite horror movie.

Consequently, I feel like I’m missing out a bit. Even though I am a hardcore horror fan, I came about the genre late-in-life. Also? For many personal reasons, I am not a fan of slashers, which consist of most of the creatives’ selections. And that’s fine! Horror is a surprisingly personal genre — hence this collection — and the fear these works instill hit different people in different ways. (For example: see MEN, WOMEN AND CHAINSAWS as well as the collection of essays in LAURA’S GHOST.)

I will note that one major recurring theme throughout these essays is how much these horror creatives and fans appreciate humor in their works. From THE EVIL DEAD to CREEPSHOW to PUPPET MASTER, folks love laughs with their thrills. Why shouldn’t they? Every great work — horror or otherwise — leans on humor and jokes to take a bit of the sting out of all of the shit that is going on around them. It may consist of slapstick, absurd situations, or barbed quips, but every piece should make you laugh at least once.

Yes, this is a qualified recommendation. The insiders are pretty tightly-knit — there are a lot of folks who have been involved with FANGORIA and you see a lot of the same production credits as you go through the work — but almost everyone’s heart here is in the right place, and their effusive love for their favorite films is absolutely infectious. I’ll never tire of hearing people pontificate about what they love and why they love it, and MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE certainly exemplifies that sort of glee.

MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE Vol. 1 is available here, and there are two more volumes, of which I’m sure I’ll get to sooner rather than later.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT: ON A DEADMAN’S CHEST (1992, S04E03) [RERUN]

August 12, 2023

Reposting this, as I believe it was my first exposure to the recently departed William Friedkin, but not my last. It’s not a great episode, but I will never forget it, just like I’ll never forget Friedkin’s work. The man knew what he wanted to do, and he was unwilling to compromise, and he will be missed.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT: ON A DEADMAN’S CHEST (1992, S04E03)

YELLOWJACKETS (2021-)

June 23, 2023

PRELUDE

I just want to note: 1) I haven’t read anything from anyone about the second season yet, although I do know it has been divisive and 2) this post contains no spoilers.

Crashed plane, lonely island, a bunch of scared folks just trying to survive; then a bunch of flash-forwards to the survivors that made it off the island, and how they’re living years later.

It’s not LOST, but wouldn’t blame ya if you thought I was describing that epic. It’s YELLOWJACKETS which — on the surface — looks a lot like LOST but replace the folks with the members of a tightly-knit, but very combative, girls soccer team.

Like LOST, YELLOWJACKETS occasionally suffers from issues attempting to straddle both character stories and lore and, like LOST, YELLOWJACKETS opts more for the former as opposed to the latter and I love it for that. I love these fierce misfits, even if more than a few of them are murderous or have severe issues.

These characters are ferocious, no matter the year. They are hardcore. They bite, they cut, and they aren’t afraid to bleed. These are not your normal TV female protagonists, and I love the show for leaning so hard into that. It’s not just the cannibalism; they’re all raw around the edges, and we need more depictions of that sort of thing.

Hand-wave the lore issues away. If you don’t care about the characters, there is no show; it’s just a set of puzzle pieces that you want to shoehorn together to fit you.

It is worth noting that YELLOWJACKETS lacks the velocity of LOST. It’s not pulling a rabbit out of its hat (or hatch) every week. It’s more grounded than that, but it is still propulsive.

However, like LOST, it has some fucking fantastic needle drops. As an old-school fan of riot grrl bands, this is catnip to me. If you grew up in the 90s, damn, strap yourself in because this show knows what you want, and knows when you want it. There’s an especially brilliant use of ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN’s ‘The Killing Moon’ in the second season finale. (While it’s technically not 90s, the show opening with SHARON VON ETTEN’s ’Seventeen’ is extremely inspired.)

I have to say: YELLOWJACKETS has one of the greatest modern title sequences. It absolutely perfectly lays out the conceit of the show, down to the division of time, drops a lot of visual hints, but also features a banger of an original backing track — no, not a riot grrl deep cut from the 90s! (although half of the act is comprised of 90s cult music staple THAT DOG) — that absolutely encapsulates the anger and frustration and confusion and trauma of the characters, while wrapping it in a worn VHS haze (and keenly switches from 4:3 to 16:9 at specific times). This is one of the few title sequences I blast as loud as I can when no one is around, and then I rewind and watch it again.

Lastly: S2 has a brief scene where one of the survivors is running a VHS rental store, and this is modern day. Don’t scoff: there’s one not too far from me! VHS will only die when the tape disintegrates. I’m burying the lede here though: there’s a scene that recreates a scene from THE WATERMELON WOMAN but the queer owner presses a VHS tape to the other queer woman regular customer, noting that she should watch THE WATERMELON WOMAN and my face lit the fuck up. Few mainstream shows would even think of writing that, much less take the time to shoot that scene. (The chef kiss would be if they’d brought in Cheryl Dunye to direct that episode but, sadly, no.)

“You can do fucking anything.”

I’ll note: I’m ride-or-die with this show. It just cuts too close to the quick for me; it hits every single one of my quadrants, despite the fact that 1) I was never a teenage girl; 2) never was part of a heralded sports team; 3) have never crash-landed on an isolated island 4) have not consumed human flesh. Nonetheless, I cannot be objective about it as I’m almost always able to look past its flaws and feel too hard while I’m watching it.

“Half of your wardrobe is Sleater-Kinney tour shirts!”

(Guilty, as charged.)

“It’s just that … everyone in here? Has been been dumped in one way or another. […] I joined up after I dissolved a subscription horsemeat service that started with my brother-in-law.”

(That is one hell of an amazing way to summarize a character.)

This is a show that absolutely knows what it wants to do, knows what it’s capable of, and doesn’t give any fucks about its audience and I unabashedly love it. I cannot wait for the third season.

“It’s you and me against the whole world.”

ADDENDUM

I’ll note that the high school I attended? The sports teams weren’t called Yellowjackets, but it is quite adjacent: they were named the Hornets.

FROM HELL (1999-ish)

June 22, 2023

Dovetailing with the prior post about Julia Wertz’s TENEMENTS, TOWERS & TRASH, here’s Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell’s vastly detailed exploration of late-19th century London through the eyes of detectives, prostitutes, and one serial killer.

I’m not going to lie: I have been to Whitechapel. I’ve attended one of the many Ripper tours. I’m really not into that sort of thing — true crime doesn’t hold much of an allure for me — but I’ve found off-beat tours are often the best ways to discover the delights of an unfamiliar land. (If you’re ever in New Orleans, definitely indulge yourself in one of their many tours, especially those that feature cemeteries!)

FROM HELL is an astounding achievement. As Alan Moore often does, he manages to intertwine the personal with the political, the social, and the spiritual. While FROM HELL is, at the heart of it, a tale of a disturbed person who murdered more than a few prostitutes and also about those tasked to attempt to bring him to justice, it’s mostly about London itself.

I first read FROM HELL while in London — I still have a copy of the map I picked up at the Imperial War Museum that I used as a bookmark — and I cannot recommend a better guidebook to the city apart from an A-to-Zed map. It made me understand and see and pay attention to the city so much more than I would have without it. It imbues so much with Campbell’s visual details and focus on landmarks, often without calling it out in the text itself.

One major example is their detailing of Cleopatra’s Needle, which plays a bit of a role in the book, and whose significance would have mostly been lost on me if I hadn’t read this graphic novel.

Like I said with TENEMENTS, TOWERS & TRASH, illustrated works are astounding guiding compasses when you’re on unknown soil or concrete. Rick Steves is great and all, but if you’re a misfit, if you bristle at being called a tourist, these are the roadmaps you’re looking for.

I’ll note that there is a FROM HELL COMPANION, which is a deep dive into, well, FROM HELL, from both Moore and Campbell. It’s informative, but it is mostly text and copies of scripts and I find the original work to be a better guide; the companion sketches more into it, but will not help you navigate the city.

(Lastly: skip the film.)

THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959)

June 16, 2023

I’m not sure how many folks remember William Castle nowadays, given that he did most of his most intriguing work in the 50s and early 60s but, if you are a horror fan, you are probably aware of him (and you’ve probably watched Joe Dante’s love letter to his sort of theatrical gimmicks via his brilliant film MATINEE).

That said, myself and a friend went to my favorite movie theater — Chicago’s Music Box Theatre — to see a 35mm print of Castle’s THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL that also promised to involve Castle-esque gimmicks, such as actors roaming through the audience and skeletons.

Reader: they did two screenings and the one I attended — at 9:30 on a Thursday night, nonetheless — was sold out.

I’ve seen THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL more than a few times. Vincent Price is exceptional in it, as always, and it’s chock full of schlock, including all of the standard ‘haunted house’ tropes, such as falling chandeliers, senseless locked doors, and plenty of fake-outs. (It definitely owes a debt to James Whale’s THE OLD HOUSE (1932), which Castle remade later in his career.) Is it a great film? No. Does it make much sense? No. Is it populated by B-grade actors not quite giving it their all? Yes.

Is it a memorable film? Fuck yeah. It has a fantastic set, serviceable lighting, and striking set-pieces.

I realize I’m extremely lucky to live in a city where my favorite film palace loves to show horror, and even luckier that they go to the trouble of recreating gimmicks. They even talked to Castle’s daughter to get points of reference and her blessing. These folks are doing the work.

While THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL is a blast under any circumstances, seeing it in a fully sold out thousand-plus seat theater with a group of very-game audience members who were all very well-mannered while still being appropriately rambunctious was one of the best post-pandemic screenings I’ve attended. It reminded me of the controlled chaos of The Vic’s Brew ’n View (R.I.P.) where everyone’s there to have a good time and respond to the screen appropriately, be it laughing, clapping, or blurting out something legitimately funny (instead of play-acting MST3k).

I know I often say this, but nothing can recreate the feeling of seeing a movie in a theater, and when you encounter these very sort of specific circumstances, it’s extremely special. The Music Box created an experience that those who were there will be dining out on for years, and they deserve every accolade. I only hope that you can find a similar theater that you can call a home-away-from-home.