The Near Departed by Richard Matheson

**(out of 4 stars)

Another short from the collection, I AM LEGEND.

Written by:  Richard Matheson

Originally published in 1987

(It's so short that I talk pretty openly about the ending.  Read it first before reading this.)

I've reviewed and gave my opinions on some short stories, but The Near Departed is extremely short.  About three pages long.  Whew.

The characters:  The small man and the mortician.

Plot:  A small man (that's all we know him as) walks into a funeral parlor.  He's making preparations for his wife's funeral.  He wants everything perfect.  Just perfect.

The mortician assures him that everything will go smoothly and not to worry.  The little man repeats himself about how important that everything be ready and set for the tragic occasion. "Everybody loved her.  She's so beautiful.  So young.  She has to have the very best.  You understand?"

The mortician continues to assure the little man.

The great thing about these stories is the punch line.  The final daggar.  That last sentence.

Finally satisfied that everything will go as planed, the small man exits, and the mortician asks, "When did she die?"

Not to be too loud, the little man replies quietly and more to himself, "As soon as I get home."

It's the final sentence that will make you go "ohhhhh".  I kind of chuckled myself.  I think it's pretty brilliant.

The underlying theme is about marriage and what it can do to someone. I'm assuming the little man and his wife have had a pretty long and sustainable relationship.  The sparks die, and can't be rekindled.  The small man gets fed up and basically offs his own wife.

But what if the little bastard gets home and his wife has something in store for him?

The story is so short that you can go anywhere with it.  That's what makes it fun.  We bounce into the lives of these characters, not knowing too much into the past.  We just arrive.  So, we can have fun and go in our own direction.  That's the brilliance of a well-crafted short story.

Prey by Richard Matheson

****(out of four stars)

I read this story from I AM LEGEND

Written by:  Richard Matheson

Originally published in 1969

Long before films like Chucky, Demonic Toys and half of Full Moon Entertainment's catalog of films, there was a little short story gem written by Richard Matheson called, Prey.  

You've probably seen Trilogy of Terror, an anthology film based on three of Matheson's works.  The final episode, the one where Karen Black is terrorized by the Zuni fetish doll is based on this very short. 

The story starts with our girl, Amelia, coming home after purchasing a Zuni fetish doll as a present for her boyfriend.  She opens the case and examines the doll.  Matheson describes it having a skeletal body with an over-sized head. The mouth is home to razor-sharp teeth, and he's grasping a long spear in his hand. A gold chain is with the doll, and a scroll that reads, "This is he who kills.  He is a deadly hunter."  

Weird gift.  Anything to impress the BF.

She talks to her mother, who is overly possessive, a bit jealous, needy and annoying. Amelia is a 33 year old treated like a teenager. Apparently she lives on her own but keeps a room at her mother's house, who constantly reminds her that she doesn't visit enough. Arthur is her boyfriend, he's an anthropologist. Amelia likes him, obviously, but mother, not so much.

The doll manages to fall off the table resulting in the gold chain slipping off.  This is a pivotal part in the story, because this chain offers some protection.  Once off, the doll comes to life and is ready to... you guessed it, hunt.

What follows is the doll terrorizing Amelia for the rest of the story.  She tries her hardest to conquer the damned thing but she just can't get the upper hand.  As she kicks, and screams and writhes for page after page, I'm thinking back to the very beginning - before she walks into the apartment.  

From what Amelia says, she sees the thing in a store, and since Arthur is an anthropologist, she thinks he'll just love the doll.  Amelia is ready for the next commitment in her life.  She's away from her over-bearing mother, and Arthur seems like the guy she wants to be with for the foreseeable future.  Amelia seems like a woman who would do just about anything for some attention.  Attention given to her by somebody other than her own mother.  Maybe she has friends, but I highly doubt she has many.  She's probably a virgin and Arthur is probably her first real serious boyfriend.  She must stay balanced with his needs and her mother's. That's probably a real chore.  

Amelia's heart seems to be in the right place, but her gift, that she so eagerly sought out in hopes of impressing her love, will inevitably be a bad decision.  The doll doesn't die.  It can't die. Amelia ends up fighting a losing battle the entire story.  (Just like the battle with bf and mom.  One will get sick of the other, which will prove to be cancerous to both relationships and Amelia will be the one who loses the most in the end.) Once the doll's essence is released, it consumes Amelia's spirit and takes over.  

And who is the first person Amelia calls to come hang out?  

Mother.  

I loved this story for many reasons.  I loved the vulnerability of Amelia.  She's written so naturally. You feel as though you know people like this - starving to be wanted and loved, yet having to release themselves from the umbilical cord.  The Zuni fetish doll is interesting too.  It hunts right away.  It's a gift for a person who studies human behavior.  And one thing about us humans that can't be denied throughout history is our hunger for blood lust and violence. We've been killing each other since the dawn of time.  

We're the hunters.

We're the prey.

  

JAWS: Book vs Movie

I can't remember the first time I saw Jaws.  I do remember it was at a very young age.  The film was a favorite of mine when I was a younger man browsing the video stores of my town.  I swear that I rented that film a dozen or so times in the late eighties and early nineties.  There are so many vivid scenes that stand out in my mind.  Scenes that we stick me even if I never, ever watch the movie again.  The first scene with the first victim; how she swam out into the dark ocean, carefree and adventurous.  Nobody except her unconscious boyfriend knew she was out there.  All of a sudden there's a tug from beneath the waters.  Her expression terrified me.  Her jutting gasps of air still ring in my ears to this day.  Then, she's gone.  The last shot lingers on the cold, dark water.

I was scared shitless. 

Quint's death has never left my mind either.  One of my favorite scenes in film history.  The shark launches itself onto the boat, and chomps down into Quint's abdomen.  The agonizing screams, the panic.  He fights to no avail.  The way he's taken under; arms sprawled and descending down into the murky, mysterious waters.  

Okay, enough gushing!  Back on topic.

I just finished the book last week.  I was so excited to see what the source material had to offer.  I knew going in that there were some differences.  I was curious about those differences.  The film omits much that the book offers to the reader.  Give the producers of Jaws credit for cutting out the dramatic stuff.  They wanted an adventure story straight through.  None of this mafia business with Mayor Larry Vaughn.  The affair with Brody's wife, Helen, and the handsome Matthew Hooper is a glaring, but appropriate omission from the film.  Helen's character is like night and day.  She's much more prominent in the book.  In the film she's not nearly as important. 

The Shark

Let's start there.  He's the central character in the book and film.  Reading Peter Benchley's description of the shark made me feel, at times, like I was reading an academic book about sharks.  He admits having an immense interest with the animals and studies them vigorously.  His passion for sharks certainly seeps through the pages.  The shark is portrayed as a mindless killing machine, same as in the film.  The shark, although mindless, definitely has an agenda.  He won't go away.  The impulse to feed is unbearable.  The victims grow in numbers. Those damned beaches of Amity.  He's a monster so huge, that even God himself is saying, "What did I create?"

Because of mechanical malfunctions the mechanical shark didn't always work for Spielberg on set.  Verna Fields had the intuition to deliberately give the shark less screen time, thus amping up the scares for the unknown, unseen horror.  It worked well.  If you would see the shark more in the film those scares would diminish over time.  You would be able to tell that it was a fake shark crafted by the hands of a human.  Less is always more.  The POV shots are incredibly genius.  The camera is under the kicking feet and the thrashing arms.  The presence of the shark is felt without seeing him on screen.  There are times when you do see the shark; mostly the fin rising above the surface and giving chase, or the massive jaw with rigid teeth rising out of the water in hopes of devouring something.  And what about the anthem of the great fish? Whenever we hear that iconic music we know the shark is damn close.

The Characters

Police Chief Martin Brody.  He's the character I have the most sympathy for in both book and film.  He's a man with so much on his plate.  If it's not one thing it's another.  Martin Brody in the book is worse off than he is in the film.  He realizes from the very first shark attack that the beaches must be closed until further notice.  Mayor Larry Vaughn and his money hungry business partners think otherwise.  Although Mayor Vaughn seems to be a completely selfish human being, he's really got a great point.  The town of Amity just can't thrive without the summers financial income.  The decision to close the beaches is similar to slicing the throat of the town.  Brody comes under the scrutiny of the townsfolk because their businesses dry up.  He overrides his better judgment (after being threatened termination by Vaughn) and opens the beaches.  That means more fish food for the killer shark.  The shark does continue to feed. Meanwhile, Brody has to deal with his cheating wife, Helen.

The book version of Helen is very unlikeable.  At times there are moments where you may find some fine line to sympathize with her, but as the story progresses and you see inside her mind. She comes off as nothing more than a spoiled housewife.  She has a longing for her past.  She's feeling old, useless and miserable.  She doesn't find her husband attractive anymore, and she's quick to spark a fling with Matt Hooper, who is just as easily unlikeable.  In one scene in the book she has a dinner party and invites Hooper.  The entire party she flirts with him while Brody tries to keep his cool.  This scene alone made me despise her.  The affair doesn't last long, and Helen does come to regret what she did.  The affair was so pointless.  But if Hooper had lived what then?

Matt Hooper of the film is one of my favorite characters, but in the book I can't stand him.  Part of the charm is Richard Dreyfuss, who plays Hooper perfectly.  In the film there is a camaraderie with Hooper and Brody, while in the book they butt heads constantly.  The definitive similarity is the fact that Matt Hooper is a shark expert who wants nothing more than to know and understand the animal.  He wants to study it rather than kill it.  Matt Hooper's death in the book comes because of his curiosity.  He gets what he wants, the chance to get close to the shark, to see it with his own eyes.  The shark also gets what he wants.

And Quint.  Quint is Quint not matter how you slice it.  He's cantankerous. He's got a dry sense of humor and wit.  And he's got enough stories to know that he's been around or a long time.  He knows what he's doing.  He's determined to catch the big one.  In the film Quint is played by Robert Shaw.  This performance is one of the finest in the movie, if not, the finest.  Robert Shaw echoes what my first impressions of Quint are:  He's as mysteries as the water he travels on.

Harry Meadows is a prominent character in the book.  He's a newspaper man, who uncovers truths about Mayor Vaughn's association with the mafia.  He gets Matt Hopper involved by hiring him, after going against Brody's decisions to close the beaches.  He tries to be helpful to the town and assists in doing what he can to get rid of the shark.  He's obese and is one cheeseburger shy from a heart attack, but manages to outlive most of the characters in the book.

The book or the film?  I like them both.  The film is a straight up adventure story with great, compelling characters that are fun to revisit twice a year.  I love Benchley's voice.  I wasn't a fan of the mob stuff and the affair.  They slow the story down.  I'll always go back to the film.  I grew up with it and it's one fine piece of genius cinema made by a then 26 year old kid named Steven Spielberg.

While they're out there fighting for the town of Amity - the people, the victims and the safety of the community - that's where I had the most fun.


      

  

The Driller Killer (1979)

Some film lovers believe that the 1970's was the best decade for movies.  They felt real, gritty, and dirty.  An upsurge of movies came out by directors who were making them cheaper.  It was also the decade where top echelon filmmakers would be putting their art out there for the world to see.  Scorsese, Coppola, Speilberg, Lucas and DePalma were all young aspiring filmmakers traveling on a new course, with a new destination.  Whether out on the sea, or wars in deep space, the films were more ambitious, bigger and exciting than ever before.

Talk about real.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the best films ever made and the raw imagery makes it feel like a documentary.  The Exorcist is still scaring people to this day.  And every kid with a few bucks and a computer is trying to replicate what Carpenter did with Halloween.  Horror films in the seventies was a truly defining decade.  The monsters of the seventies were pulled from the headlines; likely somebody you'd run into on the street.  Vampires, werewolves, and creatures from the deepest depths weren't nearly as scary or vivid any longer.

Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer is one of those films you have to experience a few times to get a full grasp on it.  That's not a bad thing either.  Great films command that from the viewer.  Returning a few times may shed some light on something missed the first time around.  To understand what exactly is supposed to be happening and why we may descend into madness is to also understand the character and his development, or lack thereof.

From the start of The Driller Killer we know that the character, Reno (billed as Jimmy Laine, but actually played by director Ferrara), just isn't right up in the head.  There seems to be a few screws loose.  In the very first scene he walks into a church and is mesmerized by a crucifix.  An old man with shaggy hair and a beard stares at him and then grabs him.  Reno runs for his life, out of the church and into the awaiting squalid streets of New York City.  Religious overtones run rampant in Ferrara's films.  I'm not sure what this first scene is supposed to tell us.  My first guess would be that Reno fears Jesus, and that the old man would be Jesus.  Perhaps calling him home; death is knocking and Reno just isn't ready or fears he'll be sentenced to burn.  I believe that those thoughts would be swirling in Reno's deranged mind.

He's a struggling artist, testy with the people in his life, especially his girlfriend.  His apartment is filthy.  He's got no money.  And now he's being driven even more insane by a punk band that lives in his apartment.  The Roosters, headed by singer, Tony Coca-Cola, play the same tune over and over again, with the same groupies hanging on and the same drugs being passed around.  I like these scenes.  Ferrara is giving us a glimpse as to what the early punk rock scene looked like in New York City.

The streets of New York City offers no escape for Reno.  He watches as a man is stabbed in the back and robbed.  The stabbed man is bloody and writhing on the littered streets as on-lookers just... look.  Reno is fixated by this abrupt act of violence.

Derelicts line the streets.  Reno sees them as nothing more than skittering cockroaches.

His slow descend into madness is amped up by the fact that he lives in the city.  The city is the real bad guy.  Reno is just a rain drop in the storm.  From one scene to the next, Reno descends deeper and deeper into madness.  Meanwhile, the Roosters continue to play loud and sloppy tunes at all hours.  Reno just can't finish his god awful buffalo painting.  His art begins to struggle, as if it hadn't already.

All throughout the movie Reno verbally assaults his girlfriend as she stares at him with little to no expression.  I had to chuckle when her first outburst came from him devouring the greasiest pizza I've ever seen.  This pushed her buttons, obviously because he hadn't saved her a piece with green peppers. 

Reno is forever prisoner in his mind.  There's no escaping his abyss.  He snaps.  What triggers it?  I'm not sure.  Like I said, from the very first frame of film you can tell he's operating on less than what is needed to function like a normal human being.  Reno is Travis Bickle.  They're from the same mold.  They smolder in the chaos of New York City.  Fueled by some inner rage that flickers, only for the moment, then explodes instantaneously.

His course of violence is long and brutal.  He goes straight for the weak; those derelicts lining the filthy, disease-ridden streets.  With his handy drill he mutilates victim after victim.  In one particularly gruesome scene we see the drill enter a man's forehead, with no cutaway shot, and continue to burrow into his brain, lobotomizing him.  That scene is impressive for the special effect.  Reno hunts mercilessly.

Unsurprisingly, the film made its way onto the Video Nasties list and was banned in the UK.  It's an originator in the slasher sub genre of film, with a high body count and some pretty good violence.  The difference between this and other slashers is it takes a while for the killing to begin.

It's slow-moving but eventually gets to the goods and holds nothing back.  It's real, raw and uncompromising.

Starring:  Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day
Written by:  Nicholas St. John
Directed by:  Abel Ferrara
1979
96 min
   



    

Lords of Salem (2013)

**** (out of 4 stars)

Rob Zombie's latest film, Lords of Salem, is quite frankly, superb.

Setting aside the incessant negative criticism that Rob Zombie has received, Lords of Salem is a masterpiece.

I'm talking every single frame of film.  From the dreary setting of Salem, Mass., to the unsettling score by Zombie guitarist, John 5, to the exceptional cinematography by Brandon Trost. Even the acting, especially by the lead, Sherri Moon Zombie.  She plays Heidi, a nightly radio DJ.  After receiving a record by a band named The Lords, she starts to experience ghastly visions that she cannot fathom.  Visions of a hairy behemoth bathed in red light, or Satan himself - a little disfigured monstrosity, naked witches with sagging flesh and rotten teeth, or tentacled creatures that don't resemble anything earthly.

We're on this odd journey with Heidi.  We sympathize with her.  We jump on and go for the ride because that's what good acting allows.  We're put in the situations; we feel alone and vulnerable.  We're left in the dark because the oddities and horrors that take place are unknown.

Zombie starts to pull back the curtain after a little bit.  We start to get little morsels of information about what the hell is really going on.  It seems as though there's a three hundred year old grudge.

The real witches of Salem were condemned and killed; approximately 20 people.  There was no evidence that anything supernatural was going on.  They were killed because of anger, fear, jealousy and ignorance.  Nothing more.  But the witches in Lords of Salem are brewing some nasty stuff.  They're evil, make no mistake about it.  The equally reprehensible Reverend Jonathan Hawthorne kills Margaret Morgan and her coven of witches.  As they're cooked and charred on the stake, they vow to avenge themselves by placing a curse on the generations of women to come in Salem.

The camera moves in and out.  A lot.  It's taking us on a tour with the characters and their surroundings.  The apartment that Heidi lives in, especially the dreaded room 5, is a character itself.  Those slow moves with the camera give the hallway a creepy vibe, much like what Kubrick did in The Shining.  It's like slowly walking to death's door.  Embracing the unknown.

Zombie's direction, the pace of the editing, the uncompromising score, makes this one hell of a compelling film to follow.  Every scene is building a new layer, yet revealing something more.

There really is no defending Halloween II but I'd say that Zombie has built a strong filmography since his debut, House of 1,000 Corpses.

Understand that whenever we see a new movie it's always paying homage to something that came before it.  That's how it's always been with film.  Nothing will be completely new or original.  Yes, some come closer than others but in most cases cinema will rely on what it has given us.  And even though you shed some old ideas and pick them back up, you must mold them into your own.

I see tons of Kubrick, Polanski and Russell in Lords of Salem.  I see the similarities that I'm sure were put there purposely.  That doesn't mean the movie is any less good.  It stands on its own two feet, and I do believe that one day it will be considered a modern classic.  How many good films are out there about the Salem witch trials?  This is the best.  Fictional or otherwise.

The horror genre, much like Heidi, isn't doing too well these days.

Lords of Salem is that rare gem that pretty much went unnoticed when it came out.  I'd take that over some of the garbage being put out regularly.

It's like a shiny gold nugget on top of a pile of steamy excrement.

Starring:  Sherri Moon Zombie, Meg Foster and Bruce Davison

Written and directed by:  Rob Zombie

2013

101 min



    

Confessions From An Angry Artist #5: Making Three Lives Come Together Perfectly!

When you attend the New York Film Academy's 12 week program you are required to complete three film projects.  The first is a continuity film.  I wrote about this experience in another post a few months back.  It was my short film called, Russian Roulette.  After that first project I was really depressed and questioned many things.  Should I even be doing this?  Am I cut out for this?  Filmmaking takes time and dedication.  When you work with a crew it's all in or nothing.  But on Russian Roulette everything seemed to fall apart.  The actor I casted stood me up the morning of the shoot.  My other actor, Adrian, got sick and went home after Sid's shoot and Annie was difficult to work with behind the camera.

Should I have given up?  No.  Never.  That is not an option.

The first piece of great news came on the night that we actually reviewed all of the continuity films.  For all the drama and bullshit that played out during the making of Russian Roulette, it was actually well-received by my classmates and instructor, Billy Tyler Smith.  Aside from a few gripes everyone really liked it.  That feeling was quite good and it lifted my spirits immediately.  I took something that I didn't think had a chance to be glued together and made it my own.  And having others say positive things about it was even better for my confidence.  

The second piece of good news came after class when Billy told us that he'd be changing up the groups.  This meant that Annie was no longer in my group.  It was for the better.  We just didn't gel at all.  Fortunately, Sid and Adrian would be sticking around.  Taylor, another girl in the class took Annie's spot.  I was still kind of worried that Adrian would flake out again and come up with a million different excuses why he couldn't finish the full day's shoot and all the projects.  

Nonetheless, our second project was a music video.  Not a band playing to their music, but a video with the music telling the story.  Billy stressed that we tell our story with image and music.  Being a death metal fan I immediately went to something dark and heavy.  My first choice was Six Feet Under's Braindead, from he album, Bringer of Blood.  I wanted to shoot an autopsy scene in a hospital with the song telling the story.  My shooting and editing would've made this perfect because this was the style I was going for.  With time restraints, and location problems this just wasn't feasible.  You have to remember we only had a few days to prep for the project, because not only were you prepping for yours, but you were prepping for the others in the group too.  

I was always a huge Donnie Darko fan and fell in love with Gary Jules' version of Mad World from that soundtrack.  I listened to that song over and over again the ideas immediately started to brew.  My wife Jackie, and I, started bouncing ideas off each other.  We began storyboarding, and soon this story about three very different people living three very different lives began to take shape.  The outcome for these three lives would all be the same:  heartache, dispair, failures, addictions, and loss.

I wasn't about to retrace my first mistakes and depend on people who I knew I couldn't trust to show up and help.  This time I would use real people and challenge myself as a director.  I used Sid once again, because he was just so menacing in Russian Roulette and I knew he was dependable.  I used Jackie's cousin, Pam, and her father, Willie.  Jackie was a gimme because she was already trained as an actor from guess where?  

Did you guess New York Film Academy?  

Then you're correct.

On the first day of shooting we snuck into the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  Jackie and I had a specific location:  her father's head stone.  I loved shooting in the cemetery because it was April on an overcast day, and it just looked so beautifully bleak.  Adrian ran the camera while I just concentrated on direction.  This was perfect for me.  Adrian and I got along so well.  The first thing I noticed on this shoot was how much more relaxed I was without Annie involved.  It was just me and my little crew doing what we love best: telling stories. 

Jackie was completely natural in her ability to act.  She did go through the real loss of a loved one.  So she knew how to act and react in the scene.  She's beautiful in it.  She's also extremely organized where as I'm the opposite.  So when I got lost, she'd put me back on track and helped me keep my mind on the project.  I get Jackie's loneliness.  It seeps through the screen.  I can feel the anger, sorrow and regret through her performance.  

Willie is credited as The Guitar Player.  Jackie's father was a guitar player, as is Willie, so this was another natural element to the film.  Raw and real is what I wanted.  Shooting Willie was a breeze because he really didn't have to do much.  Looking back, I'm so honored that he was in this because he was just so good.  His scene really gets to me because for me it is really happening.  I hope Willie realizes the talent that he possesses. 

After wrapping up the shots in the cemetery we head straight to our next location, Pam's bedroom.  Pam plays the struggling artist who just can't kick the addiction or maintain self control.  She never acted before this (that I know of anyway) so I was unsure of how this would turn out.  Pam is a truly gifted artist and the work you see in the film is hers.  When I shot Pam, we used minimal lighting.  I didn't want it to be bright in that room, because the character's life isn't bright at all.  She took direction well and seemed to know the character in and out.  She was usually one or two steps ahead of me.  She knew what was going on at all times on set.  She was ready each and every time I called action.  Maybe her true calling is acting.  

That night I went home to watch the dailies and was delighted at what I saw.  I knew right then and there that I had something good.  I just needed to finish up the film with Sid's shoot in the city.  

I chose to shoot Sid right in front of the NYFA building down in Union Square.  The reason was because we didn't need a permit and had every right to shoot there.  So I just made it easy and hung out there.  Sid plays the bum in the film.  It's funny because you can see people just staring at him, and they have no clue I'm running the camera.  At one point he was actually holding out his little can and asking for some change.  Sid was method during this shoot.  He was extremely convincing.  I love the scene where he pulls out the apple from the dumpster and takes a desperate bite.  That one pulls the heart strings just a bit.  We shot different endings for Sid.  For one ending I had Taylor give him some money and he mouthed the words, "thank you."  Once I edited the film it didn't make much sense because he would've been the only character with any closure.   

I finally wrapped and went into the editing suite to finish up.  My first edit wasn't too good.  The lives of the three people didn't mesh properly.  I showed the editing teacher and he said I should cut the film again.  "This time make sure you tell the story of the three people," he said. In the first cut, Jackie's character was in it more than the others.  I re-edited the film, this time,  giving each character their time.  The second cut weaves through all three characters naturally.

It was done.  I was excited; I wanted to show it off to everyone.  I hurried home and showed Jackie that night.  I could see how proud she was of the film.  It just came together so natural and perfect.

When I showed it to the class they all agreed that it was better than Russian Roulette.  Billy had a few odd remarks about the film.  He asked about Willie's character.  Evidently, he thought he was some pervert prowling around in the graveyard.  Most of us rolled our eyes when he made that remark.  I think it's pretty obvious what Willie's character represents.  Maybe Billy wanted to see something different, I'm not sure. Other than that he thought it was a good film. One kid, two seats down, said nothing after the film ended.  At first I thought he didn't like it.  After his long, dramatic pause he whispered, "That was beautiful."

I knew then that we made something incredibly special.  Just based off of that single remark. 

This shoot was the best one for me.  It was so easy, and everyone involved just gave me 100% of their time, dedication, and talent.  This is a piece of time I'll never forget and will always appreciate.  I still get many compliments on it today.  I, along with the rest of us, deserve them.

   

Under a Nightmare - Monsters 89 - Album Review

*** (out of 4 stars)

"Now the Armageddon's here.

They've got your sister.

The dead walk the earth.

You'll never see that bitch again"

- Blood on the Wall

Track Listing:

1.  Intro

2.  Can't Wait Till Halloween

3.  Blood On The Wall

4.  She's A Banshee

5.  Monsters 89

6.  Boneyard Road

7.  Lost

8.  Become The Stranger

9.  Ghost Town

10.  Shelly & The Vampire

11.  Into the Unknown

12.  Frankenweenie

13.  Take It To The Grave

14.  Devil's Dragstrip

15.  Curse of the Living

16.  Wish It Away

17.  Lay Upon The Dead

18.  Beneath

19.  You Haunted Me

20.  Between Madness

21.  Make Me A Zombie

22.  The Rotting

23.  Dead Youth 

Under a Nightmare is based out of Pittsburgh, Pa.  They formed in October 2002 and have been unleashing hell ever since.  The line up for Monsters 89 is:  Coffin Keenan - guitars/vocals, Marky Madness - guitar/vocals, Jordy Coroner - bass/vocals and The Cubscout - Drums.

Under a Nightmare's 2007 release, Monsters 89, is the perfect love child from punk and grudge.   In fact it's some of the best horror punk I've heard.  As a person following the band for many years, I've watched them grow from afar.  There's a perfect simplicity to Under a Nightmare that I really adore.  The catchy sing-a-long choruses, the guitar work, fast punk drums, and the howling of the bands guitarist/front man, Coffin Keenan.  Keenan has one of the better voices in the genre.  He reminds me of  T.S.O.L's Jack Grisham.  His vocal range keeps the band interesting and makes you want to hear the lyrics that he's singing.

Monsters 89 is packed with twenty-three songs.  Can't Wait Till Halloween starts the album off as a fast-paced, in your face, punk song.  I love when the bass comes in and really sets the tone for the tune.  From there, Blood On The Wall kicks in.  This is the song that made me want to purchase this album.  I love the opening guitar riff, and I love the solo later on.  This is one of the best songs on the album.  The title track, Monsters 89 has a great feel to it, and another great guitar opening that turns into a relentless horror punk attack.  My favorite track probably has to be Make Me A Zombie, a track near the end of the album.  Catchy all around.  A song I go to often when listening to the album.

But the above-mentioned tracks are just a sample taste.  There are so many other songs that are really great.  Frankenweenie is a return to the early days of The Misfits with all the Whoa-oh-ohs. Take it to the Grave starts off slow and groovy, then hits you the face with a hammer.  Never fear because for those of you who want mood, just check out the next to last track, The Rotting, where the acoustic guitar and keys are the driving point.  Keenan's vocals and lyrics for The Rotting are haunting too.  The last track of the album is Dead Youth, a great song, but a depressing reminder that the album is done.  Dead Youth is a great way to finish off.

Although Under a Nightmare has been prominent in the 2000's, I could easily see them finding success thirty years ago.  They sound like a band that could have came from the late 80's early 90's. Overall, this album is really great.  If you're a horror punk fan, do yourself the favor and pick this CD up.  They're currently working on a new record with some great material.  Anything you can purchase will help the band out.

Top five songs on the album:

Can't Wait Till Halloween, Make Me A Zombie, Blood On The Wall, Dead Youth, Monsters 89

Weakness:

Bass seems to be lost in the mix for certain songs, while others it's prominent.

Favorite Lyrics:

Make Me A Zombie

Get their music here:

http://kunaki.com/mSales.asp?PublisherId=138213

UAN's facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Under-A-Nightmare/139709342455

  

  

Lust For Sacrilege by Calabrese - Album Review

***1/2 out of 4 stars

The blood brother trio is back yet again with another hard-hitting, gut punching album.  The new album, Lust for Sacrilege delivers something darker and more sinister than their previous records.  The opening track, The Dark is Who I Am is an indicator to this.  The track is dark, much moodier and atmospheric.  Much like Danzig's more mature endeavors after the Misfits, Calabrese is growing into a sonic monster that lurks in the shadows.

In fact the entire album is really impressive.  There really isn't a weak track.  For me the memorable tracks are Down in Misery, Teenage Crimewave, Serpentflame, and my favorite, Lust for Sacrilege.  Gimme War will take you back to their older, more punk-oriented material.  While a song like Drift Into Dust is undeniably somber.  New York Ripper and Lords of the Wasteland are the heavy hitters that are seriously bombastic and unforgiving.

I hear many compare this album to Danzig's 4, and while I agree to an extent, I hear the influence of Lucifuge too.  With that comparison aside, Calabrese has their own sound; adding more metal into the mix this time around. This album really has a lot to offer to the loyal followers of the band as well as the new listeners.

This is a band who has continued to prove that they only get better with age and experience.  The work on Lust for Sacrilege is a testament to all that.  I'm anticipating a new record because Calabrese is always busy with studio time and touring.  I'm looking forward to anything they put out in the future.

The brothers consist of Bobby on lead guitar and vocals, Jimmy on bass and vocals and drummer Davey.  The trio continue to kill it.

Track list:
1.  The Dark Is Who I Am
2.  Down In Misery
3.  Teenage Crimewave
4.  Flesh and Blood
5.  Lust for Sacrilege
6.  Wanted Man
7.  Serpentflame
8.  Gimme War
9.  New York Ripper
10.  Lords of The Wasteland
11.  Drift Into Dust

Confessions from an Angry Artist #4 - Kindness for Weakness - Acrylic on Canvas

Acrylic on Canvas 11 x 14

such a nice man

he'd give the shirt of his back

to bad he's kind

they all attack

Confessions from an Angry Artist #3 - Celestial God - Acrylic on Canvas

Acrylic on Canvas 11 x 14

The April Witch by Ray Bradbury

**(out of four stars)

Love.

It takes years for some of us to find it.  For others it's as easy as breathing.  Some never find it.  But all of us eventually need it.

For Cecy, love isn't an easy thing to acquire.  She wants it so badly.  It's her only true wish.  But she's not one of us.  She's different.  She's a witch  A witch from an odd family, with parents that warn her never to marry normal folk because she will lose her ability to travel by magic.  Cecy's ambition and desire to find her one true love out weigh the possible consequences for disobeying her parents.

She takes flight into the Illinois spring.  She will find love vicariously through someone else. Her ability to transform into anything will help her in her quest.  She spots a young, beautiful woman standing at a water well.  As a leaf, she falls into the dark well.  From there she's a water droplet, being raised back into the light by her future female vehicle.  The girl drinks Cecy; her plan begins to blossom.

Ann Leary is the host.  And when Tom rolls up in his truck, she's not pleased to see him.  We're not exactly sure why, but Ann shows very little interest in Tom even though he seems to be over the moon for her.  Meanwhile, Cecy is controlling her thoughts.  The moment she sees Tom she knows he's the one for her.  Tom asks her to the dance but Ann refuses.  Inside, Cecy is going nuts, but her hold on Ann remains. Eventually, she caves in and agrees to go to the dance.

Tom realizes that his chances with Ann are very slim.  Cecy, however, decides that her chances are pretty good.  She uses Ann to get a future date by scribbling her address on a piece of paper.  Tom agrees that, one day, he'll visit the girl who really loves him.

So, will Cecy find love?  She's odd, and will lose her magical powers if she falls for ordinary folk.  To never experience love is her biggest fear.  She also realizes that the ones who have the ability to love freely take advantage of it.

Why is Tom and Ann's relationship strained?  They're young with a long life ahead of them.  Why is she so resistant to him?

Although I found myself asking this question while reading the full 8 pages of this story, I quickly came to the realization that it really doesn't matter.  This is Cecy's story and Cecy's alone.  She's nothing like the rest of the girls.  She's gifted, magical, and truly unique.  Yet, she's prohibited from normal love.  The only other question would remain:  What if Tom had the ability to see her for who she is?  Would he love her back?  His love with Ann isn't reciprocated.  Would he act that same way towards Cecy?

They say love is blind.

I feel as though Tom and Cecy would do just fine.  True love has no boundaries, rules or prejudices.

The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury

 

***(out of four stars)

Men are monsters. Monsters are men.  How do we co-exist?

Some men are born monsters.  They cause great pain and detriment to our society.  Other monsters are myth and legend; born from one's imagination.  Most of the time monsters do harm.  Whether it's intentional or not. But they can be misunderstood too.  They can be a product of scientific experimentation.  Or they can come back from the dead and eat human flesh.  The possibilities are endless, really.  

Monsters come in all different shapes and sizes.  

But the scariest of all is the unknown.  

So, I ask again, how do we co-exist?  How do we communicate with fear? 

What lurks beneath the gentle waters of the sea?  What ageless beings from a forgotten time still inhabit the vast blue abyss?  You might think we're talking about a Lovecraftian tale, wouldn't you?  

We're not.  

Ray Bradbury's The Fog Horn is an epitome for loneliness.   Two men work at a remote lighthouse, hidden away from the world, connected only by a lonely stretch of road that is barely traveled during the winter months.  McDunn and Johnny are our two characters.  We quickly realize that McDunn has been working at the lighthouse longer.  He's Johnny's boss.  He's had certain experiences with the wide sea that surrounds the lighthouse.  One that involves a monster that lurks beneath the surface.  He really wants Johnny to experience seeing this monster too.  He philosophizes about life and loneliness and how we communicate with the unknown.  He understands that when the fog horn sounds, the monster will answer.  

Johnny is the narrator and conveys his experience to us, the reader.  They sound the fog horn and wait. Soon they begin to see something coming toward the lighthouse.  Something previously seen only by McDunn's eyes.  The creature is described as looking like a dinosaur, or something prehistoric.  

The monster reacts violently to the fog horn and destroys the lighthouse, leaving McDunn and Johnny buried in the rubble.  The monster is so close they can smell his pungent stench.  They can see his skin.  However, they are unharmed and the monster retreats back to the sea never to return again.

The reason?  Because he doesn't need to.  The monster is looking for something familiar.  The fog horn blows and he thinks that it's one of his own.  Just as we see the sea as a mystery, the monster shares the same opinions about land.  For him the sea hasn't changed or evolved.  It's been the same for years and years.  He's the last of his kind, and just the thought of that is depressing.  The fog horn isn't a long lost friend, it's a reminder that although there's nothing for him up here, there's still nothing down below either.

Published in 1951, the story had a different title, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  Bradbury changed it  to The Fog Horn after a film using a similar title was released.  It was inspired by a walk Bradbury took on a beach where he saw a demolished roller coaster.  The coaster resembled the skeletal remains of a dinosaur.

I read this story from The Golden Apples of the Sun.  

Last Man Standing

Last Man Standing

 by R.K. Hook

What ever happened to the video rental business?  How could a business so popular and widely appreciated just fall off the face of the earth overnight, as though it were hit by some unknown plague?  So many of these little rental stores were scattered around the small, modest town of Berwick, Pennsylvania in the 80's and 90's.  At that time in Berwick there were more video stores than grocery stores.  I specifically remember a few right off the top of my head: Take One Video, Front Street Video, West Coast Video (later known as Powerhouse), Blockbuster Video, and last but certainly not least, Hollywood Video.  That is only naming the few.  There were others, but of all them, Hollywood Video is the only one still standing and operating for business.  The rest have all dried up, long since gone; a distant memory.

Hollywood Video is special.  You always feel at home when you walk through the doors.  You're always greeted with kindness, and the men who work there know most of the customer's by name. When you walk into that store, you're greeted not only as a patron but as a friend.  And you're always apt to find what you're looking for with a smile and hospitality.  There are over 10,000 titles to choose from, most of them book-ended because you wouldn't be able to fit that quantity on the shelves otherwise.  Many video stores stock films by categories.  For example, popular comedies, Dramas, Action and Horror.  But Hollywood carries this concept a bit further having specific sections for more esoteric categories such as the Classics, Cult Classics, Film Noir, Westerns, Professional Wrestling, and even a designated spot for the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

Nick Miller, owner and operator of Hollywood Video (not the chain) in Berwick, Pennsylvania is above all else:  a hardcore movie fan.  You'll usually find him standing behind the counter wearing a Hawian-style shirt, khaki pants, and sometimes sporting a handlebar mustache, while some classic western is playing in the background on the screen.  His brown hair is shoulder length, his posture is confident, and he's usually smiling from ear to ear.  At the door, a bell sounds, and one hundred percent of the time, Nick's attention is always at that door, waiting to greet his next customer.  With a soft voice and a keen memory of film, you can be in his store for hours just talking about movies.  He's apt to know what director you're looking for, what actor or actress you want and how many Oscars they've won.  His mind is a film projector, constantly spinning reels of film forever within the walls of his mind.

In addition to the store itself, Nick has a personal collection of over 3,000 movies, an extensive knowledge of film and a pinch of business sense.  He's successfully run Hollywood Video since August of 2007.  "I've loved movies since I was a kid," says Nick Miller.  "My favorite movie is RoboCop.  There's a great story there, and to this day the special effects hold up."  He adds.  "My main desire in high school was to work in a video store.  My love of movies is endless.  I need to be around them everyday."

To understand Nick's story, or that of any other video store owner we must go back a few decades.

The VCR is the father of video stores.  In 1977, RCA was busy manufacturing the very first VCR's for the general public.  Customers had to dig deep into their pockets to pay the $1,000 that those initial machines had cost.

Once the VCR, although expensive for the average person, became readily available, video rental stores were peppered throughout the United States.  In L.A. Video Station was one of the very first stores opened.  And soon many others would follow.  The business was rapidly spreading like wild fire.  Mom and pop video stores continued to grow at a very fast rate.  When studios allowed easier access to their films, fans from all over the world could now see their favorite movies in the comfort of their homes.  Previously, you'd only have a chance to see the films in theaters, or play high prices for VHS tapes.  Some of those tapes averaged a hundred dollars or more.  From the late 70's, and all through the 80's, video stores thrived and grew in communities.  Instead of being out late on a Friday evening, people where at home, on their couches, with friends, or a date, taking in a movie.  Another big time competitor tore its way through the competition to become the corporate staple of the video rental business.  Blockbuster Video would eventually move into those small towns, driving the independent mom and pop shops out of business.  In 2004, at the very height of their success, Blockbuster Video employed an astronomical 60,000 employees.  Around that time Nick Miller was one of those 60,000.

In 1999 Blockbuster Video opened a store in Berwick.  But the town already had its fair share of video rental stores and most of them were independently owned.  Take One Video, Hollywood Video, and West Coast were the heavy hitters in town.  With the addition of Blockbuster, the market was quickly overcrowded.

Nick Miller's stint with Blockbuster Video started in 2003.  He remembers it well.  "It was fun at first, I loved that I was able to work with movies."  The fun wouldn't last too long and soon his opinion on his situation changed.  "Once they told me I wasn't gonna be anything more than a cashier I lost interest in working for them."  Nick wanted more than just another meager cashier position.  Management or even a shift leader would have been satisfactory, but his superiors disagreed right away.  "They said I had no business sense.  What it boiled down to was that I didn't ram the sales down the customer's throats."

His disenchantment with Blockbuster soon lead to his venturing out and looking for something new.  Their lack of commitment and drastic schedule changes, including shortening his hours to a mere fifteen a week finally drove that wedge between them.  With an undying passion for films, Nick wanted to stay in the same line of work.  He went to Bonnie Sweeney who, at the time, owned Hollywood Video.

After explaining his situation to Bonnie, she offered him a job.  Bonnie couldn't compete with the salary that Blockbuster paid, but she assured Nick that he'd have at least thirty hours a week with her.  Within a few days Nick's role at Hollywood was more demanding, and satisfactory than he'd experienced at Blockbuster.  He quickly became Bonnie's number one employee.  "I was the one that didn't have two jobs so she gave me more hours.  I learned a lot more with her than I ever did with Blockbuster."

Nick would soon realize that Bonnie was actually grooming him for future endeavors.  Under her tutelage, Nick was being modeled into a business man.  Most, if not all the responsibilities were being placed on Nick's shoulders.  Early on Bonnie started to drop hints that she wanted him to buy the store.  At first the hints seemed like a joke, but after about a year of employment, Bonnie and her husband started to really show interest in selling the store.  Bonnie loved his ambition and passion for not only the business side of the store, but his vast knowledge of the films within the store.

Nick Miller became the official owner on August 1st 2007.  It was a personal victory for Nick and one that he takes great pride in.  With him is his co-worker and fellow movie buff, Steve Havlish.  The two have been flipping schedules and manning the store on their own.  They compliment each other in film knowledge - what one doesn't know the other will - and a mutual respect for customers looking for new releases or hard to find gems.  Steve was employed with Bonnie but remained with Nick through the changeover.

With his success, Nick still has certain reservations.  "At first I was very intimidated by running my own store.  After awhile, it just becomes second nature.  It's like anything else you do in life.  You live, you learn, and you either succeed or fail.  Giving up isn't an option."

When he bought the store in 2007 some of the competition was showing signs of weakening.  Powerhouse was struggling, only grabbing the "big box office titles", and had a weak back catalog.  They were never a threat to Nick.  "I did my best to emphasize my stores strengths over theirs.  I brought in as many "B" titles as I could get because I knew they weren't making any effort to bring any in their store."

Blockbuster was more of a concern.  It had two advantages over Hollywood Video: games and copy depth.  Game sales were keeping them alive, barely.  They also had more titles of a particular new release.  While Hollywood lacked in some areas, it excelled in others.  "What they [Blockbuster] didn't have was a selection of older titles.  So that's what I focused on," says Nick.  "The classics.  The hard to find gems that other stores didn't carry."

In September 2010, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy.  This was primarily due to two other new competitors, Netflix and Redbox.

Netflix began in 1997 and launched its mailing services in 1999.  This was now more convenient to the customer because the movie would arrive in the mail.  By 2007 Netflix gained over 1 million subscribers.  Blockbuster couldn't adapt to this online streaming monster.   Netflix slowly started to gain an advantage with customers around the United States.

Redbox, a subsidiary of Coinstar, was started in 2002.  After garnishing a following, they began installing kiosks on college campuses and around supermarkets.  The two important factors that led to victory for Netflix and Redbox were money and convenience.  Their movies were cheaper to rent and neither company ever charged you a late fee.  You had the liberty at all hours of the night, and at your own leisure to return or rent a movie.  Today, there are only about 500 Blockbuster stores left in the United State ( as of January 2014 Blockbuster has closed up all stores).  Netflix and Redbox are still serving millions everyday.  They're considered the best option, for most, to rent a move.

So how does a little, independently owned video store out live the corporate machine and keep up with the more convenient Netflix and Redbox?  There are a few answers.

Hollywood Video gets their new releases 28 days before Netflix and Redbox.  The major studios:  Warner Brothers, Fox and Universal have deals with Redbox and Netflix stating that if they wait twenty-eight days, they'll get more copies at a drastically lower rate.  Netflix's selection is constantly fluctuating due to contractual obligations with studios while Hollywood Video will always have thousands of titles to choose from.  Blockbuster used to send customers to collection agencies for late fees.  Many have said that this was a devious ploy for customers to pay those late fees.  It turned many customers away.

The digital age has all but swept the days of old under the rug.  Many people don't even have to leave the comfort of their homes to purchase anything.  Everything, even a grocery list, is just a click away on your computer.

What does this say about the future of our society?  It says that we've become socially inept and just plain lazy.

Is this all just a mundane argument.  Absolutely not.  Yes, it is only renting a movie, but why is walking into an establishment to rent a film such a thing of the past?  Have we become afraid or too lazy to leave our houses?  To have human interaction and to deal with people on a human level?  I've mentioned numerous advantages of Hollywood Video over Netflix and Redbox.  Is it really a money issues?  A laziness issue?  Or just convenience?

One thing is certain.  No matter how you obtain them, movies aren't going anywhere.  Movie viewing experiences are a pastime.  Will the digital age wipe out physical copies?  Yes.  But I don't believe that will happen anytime soon.  Not as long as guys like Nick Miller continue to thrive.  He may be in the minority, but he's still standing tall and providing entertainment to Berwick, Pennsylvania.

"I'm hoping to be around another ten years," says Nick.  "You can never tell, but I have a felling I'll be around for a while.  Just last year [2012] I had my best year financially in this store.  This economy is very unstable and has been for the last few years, so you can never tell what tomorrow will bring.  If you told me ten years ago I'd own a business and beat all the competition I'd laugh at you.  But here I am and I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon."

Humphrey Bogart once said, "The only thing you owe the public is a good performance."  Maybe the secret to Nick's success is in his hospitality.  Treat every customer like he or she is potentially your last.  Make them want to come back.

Certainly, whatever the case, or secret, six years later, Hollywood Video's doors are still open for business and still serving a world of entertainment to movie lovers of all kinds.

Ed Gein's Impact on Horror and Its Notorious Characters

The heinous crimes of Ed Gein have been the subject of documentaries and narrative film since 1957.  From the time of his arrest, up until now, he's been the focus of many of the great modern day horror films.  Many of the characters that have become staples in pop culture have been inspired by the shy, mild-mannered ghoul from Plainfield, Wisconsin.  Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill are three out of the very many who have scared horror movie-goers for decades.

The youngest son of George and Augusta Gein, Ed was a shy boy with very few friends.  Many of the townsfolk thought he was weird, but harmless.  Augusta was despotic; a woman who despised women, their sinful ways, and sexual desires.  She would let her two young sons have no part in any of it.  She dictated the household and considered her husband an utter disappointment and due to his constant shortcomings with job ventures and alcoholism she deemed him a failure.  Because of his overbearing mother, and her decision to move the family in isolation, Gein had no one else in the world.  His father would end up dying of heart failure.  A few years later his brother Henry died after he and Ed went out to burn brush in the woods.  A fire broke out and became uncontrollable.  But the younger Gein was the only one to emerge from the accident.  Later Henry's body was found face down, but there where no burn wounds on his body.  There were bruises on his head, which brought up some red flags that pointed to Ed having had something to do with it, but otherwise it is documented that Henry died of asphyxiation from the smoke.  Augusta was the last to go.  She died in 1945 of a stroke.  This crumbled Ed's world.  He would never be the same again.

Far from the typical serial killer, Ed Gein admitted and was found guilty for killing two women.  

His first victim was Mary Hogan, a tavern owner, who went missing in 1954.  His second victim came three years later.  Bernice Worden, a hardware store owner also went missing.  Her son Frank Worden was the deputy sheriff and quickly Ed Gein became a prime suspect from both an eye witness and a receipt found in the store, proving him to be the last known customer in the store before Bernice's disappearance.  After a hasty investigation at the Gein residence, a grisly scene was discovered in the woodshed behind the house.  There, the body of Bernice was discovered, hung upside down and dressed out like a deer; the head missing and the body eviscerated.

Inside the home were more, barbaric, and gruesome discoveries.  A belt made from human nipples, skulls used for soup bowls, lampshades from human skin, a box full of noses.  The entire house was squalid from floor to ceiling.  The only room in the entire house that was immaculate was his mothers.  That room hadn't been touched since her death years prior.  Most of these body parts, or "souvenirs" were from the graves of the recently dead.  Ed would read the obituaries to find fresh graves and at night he'd set out to go grave robbing.

In 1968 Gein was tried and found guilty of first degree murder, however, he was considered to be legally insane and was sentenced to spend the rest of his years in a mental hospital.  The reason why he was only tried for one murder had to do with monetary budgets.   

Gein had an insatiable appetite for reading books on cannibals and the Nazi atrocities.  Many knew Ed as the weird guy, but he was hardworking and earned his keep.  Often he'd even babysit the local kids.  No one knew, truly, the horrific things he was doing.  Or how his mind spiraled into madness.  That is, not until his macabre and twisted experiments with death surfaced in the isolated town of Plainfield in '57.

Norman Bates

Robert Bloch sat at his kitchen table and read the daily newspaper, only 25 miles from Plainfield.  The details of the Ed Gein crimes were splattered in black and white.  It was then that Bloch began writing his masterpiece.  Psycho would be born and read by the masses.  His character Norman Bates is the template of Ed Gein.  The parallels between the two are undeniable.  Bates runs and operates Bates Motel.  His domineering mother lives up in the big, old house behind the motel.  Norman has to take care of her because nobody else will.  Mother hates women and hates the thought of Norman living in sin with any of them.  And soon mother has to take up a new hobby to protect her son.  Murder.

It's no secret that Norman's mother is dead.  Norman preserves her; keeps her bedroom neat and tidy, dresses like her and even speaks for her.  Ed Gein did the same things.  Moreover, he was extremely interested in the first sex change and often contemplated getting one himself.    The body parts of middle aged women, who strongly resembled Augusta, were dug up by Gein and preserved.   

Psycho is considered the god father of slasher films.  It is most certainly Alfred Hitchcock's best and most celebrated film to this day.  Anthony Perkins was almost born to play this role, even though in the book Bates is shorter, heavier, and wears glasses.  Perkins is interesting in the fact that although he's deranged, he earns your sympathy.  After all, he is doing everything that his mother commands of him.  He lives vicariously through her.  He's psychotic, reclusive and lost without the love of his mother.  It's the only woman in the world who really meant anything to him.  

Always remember, "A boy's best friend is his mother."

Leatherface

There's a false notion out there in the Internet land that Tobe Hooper's classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is actually based on Ed Gein.  The films ideas are in question but without a doubt Leatherface is taken right from the Ed Gein crime lab.  Leatherface was a hulking retard, who wielded a chain saw like a madman, served as the family servant, and donned a mask made of human flesh.  In the original film leatherface wore three different faces.  The first mask we see is the Killing Mask. This is the mask when... you guessed it... Leatherface is doing all the destruction and killing.  The second is the Old Lady Mask.  This mask is worn when he's home playing the made and doing the chores, like cooking and cleaning.  The third mask, which he wears in the third act of the film is the "Pretty Woman Mask", this is where he looks prime and proper for dinner.  These masks are worn to show his personality on any given day.  

Leatherface is a man of very few words, outside of the occasional grunt.  After Kirk is killed and Pam ventures into the old, dilapidated farm house, she's caught in the clutches of the massive, over-sized behemoth and carried back to the kitchen. As he carries her with ease you can hear him sometimes laughing hysterically or grunting in frustration.  Pam's end comes when Leatherface hangs her on the meat hook.  She screams as her blood drips into a bucket below her.  All the while Leatherface is prepping Kirk, with his chain saw roaring, cutting flesh, and getting the sausage ready for dinner later on in the evening.  He acts on compulsion, doing what he thinks is right.  He's clearly insane and hasn't a rational cell in his brain.  He's also protective of his family and when these young kids come snooping around he has no idea on how to control the situation.   When he kills Jerry, he panics and starts beating his head with the birdcage out of rage and frustration.  Why are these people are invading his home?  

Leatherface isn't a human being.  He's a monster, a bastard of the universe, a horrible mistake gone terribly wrong.  This is the movies, where monsters scare and entertain us.  Where we can have fun, and know that when we turn the lights on and the TV off, things will return to normal.  Life will go on as it does.  

Ed Gein is a real monster.  And our society is full of them.

Buffalo Bill

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) had a snowball effect.  It wasn't a huge success at first.  Gradually over time many of the actors and filmmakers started to earn acclaim from reviews and mover-goers.  Most of the reviews were positive which led to many claiming that the film should rank with other horror classics like: Psycho and Halloween.  

Ted Levine played Buffalo Bill, a character who kidnaps, murders and skins women.  He dresses like a woman because he hates himself and wants nothing more than to change his appearance.  He admires their skin and wants them to be apart of him.  Much like cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer did when he consumed his victims so they would never leave him.  Buffalo Bill is interesting in the fact that he reflects another serial killer, Ted Bundy.  His modus operandi was similar to that of Bundy's.  Playing off that he had a broken arm, or other heath issues, he gained sympathy from his victims, luring them into his trap.

The film went on to win a bunch of Oscars and became one of the few films in history to win all five major categories including, Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.  Where the positive criticism came the negative would follow.  It was also criticized for being sexist and homophobic.  

Was Buffalo Bill gay?  

Director Johnathan said no.  He was just a tormented guy.  Does it really matter if he was gay or not?  

Was he sexist?  Yes.  He killed women.  He was a sadistic person.  Enough said. 

Ezra Cobb

In 1974 Deranged was released.  Roberts Blossom plays Ezra Cobb, a replicate of Ed Gein.  He lives at home with his oppressive mother, has very few friends and is considered a bit odd by the townsfolk.  After the death of his mother, Ezra digs her up and keeps her.   He also takes up grave robbing and uses body parts as decoration around his house.  Once that becomes a bore he resorts to killing women and quickly morphs into a serial killer.  One thing that Ezra does in the film that Ed Gein vehemently denied was taking pleasure in necrophilia. 

The film depicts isolation and loneliness very well.  Again all the characters have one thing in common, without the love and guidance of family (particularly their mothers) they have no reason.  And sometimes loneliness and depression is a recipe for disaster.

Other notable film based on the crimes of Ed Gein

Motel Hell (1980) a farmer and his wife kill people and plant them in their human garden.  Later, they're rounded up and made into Vincent's Fritters.  I'm sure it's beef jerky to die for!  Don't take the film too seriously.

Three on a Meathook (1973) here is a link to a review I wrote of the film back in 2011.  http://somethingslurking-hook.blogspot.com/2011/07/three-on-meathook-1973.html

Ed and his Dead Mother (1993)  Horror/comedy about a man who wants to reanimate his dead mother.   

Roadkill:  The Last Days of John Martin (1988) - a short film by director Jim Van Bebber. 

Ed Gein (2000)  Steve Railsback nails the performance.  The story is pretty true to the facts.

Ed Gein:  The Butcher of Plainfield (2007)  Odd casting choice putting Kane Hodder as Ed Gein.  There's quite a size difference there.  Nonetheless a great effort and really shows Hodder's acting chops.

Following his arrest there was a media frenzy.  In his own right, Ed quickly became somewhat of a notorious celebrity.  Media surrounded the old farmhouse, Ed's '49 Ford sedan was auctioned off, and later put up in a local fair.  The car was dubbed "Ghoul Car", the car used to transport the dead bodies from the cemetery to Ed's farmhouse.  Many people paid a quarter just to get a quick peek inside the car.

March, 1958, Ed Gein's farmhouse was burned to the ground.  No arrests were ever made.

"Just as well," was Ed's response after being told of the fire.

His final years were spent in the Mendota Mental Health Institute.  He enjoyed life in the facility and many staff members said he was a perfect prisoner.

Ed died of cancer in 1984.  He was buried next to his mother, in the same cemetery he once prowled. 

   

Samhain Live 1984 Stardust Ballroom DVD review

After the Misfits and before his solo career took off, Glenn Danzig fronted Samhain.  With the smooth blend of horror, punk and metal this is by far his most criminally underrated musical endeavor.  Filmed by Al Flipside, the image and audio quality are poor, but that is necessary in making you feel as though you were there. Apparently that's the way Danzig wanted this dvd represented.  Filmed in the now non-existent Stardust Ballroom, the band is complete energy and you can tell by the ruckus crowd.  Danzig is right down there with them, fist pumping in the air, and sweat pouring and flying from every pore as he belts out classics like: Samhain, Black Dream, Archangel, and I Am Misery. The band also throws in some Misfit tunes such as: Die, Die, My Darling, Halloween II, and Horror Biz.

If you're a fan of anything Danzig has done do yourself a favor and seek this one out.  It's got all the grit, horror and sonic violence you desire.  You also get yourself a neat little sticker.   I've had my copy since its release in 2005 and watch it frequently.  The running time is 48 mins.  So if you do hate it, it's only less than an hour of your life.

A complete list of songs:

Samhain
All Murder, All Guts, All Fun
Die, Die, My Darling
The Shift
The Howl
Black Dream
I Am Misery
Halloween II
The Hungry End
Unholy Passion
Horror Biz
He Who Cannot Be Named
Archangel
Moribund

Interview with filmmaker, David Stagnari: "People going through an emotional conflict and looking for answers really understand the film. It's not for those in denial."

In 2006 I saw Christopher P. Garetano's low budget documentary about low budget filmmakers called, Horror Business.  As an aspiring filmmaker myself I've always found it fascinating how filmmakers struggle to make good, efficient films with little to no budget.  It turns out that one of the directors featured in that film was struggling to complete his own film.  David Stagnari's Catharsis is one of the many films talked about in Horror Business.  Catharsis continues to challenge and inspire me each and every time I watch it.  In order to completely understand Catharsis I had the great opportunity to speak to its maker.  The insight he delivered was more than what I expected.  In the interview we talk about his love of movies, the origins of his idea for Catharsis, and some anticipated projects coming up in the future.

You can purchase Catharsis here: http://www.catharticcircle.com/filmMENU.html

Another link to an article I published on this blog:http://somethingslurking-hook.blogspot.com/2014/05/speaking-to-subconcious-look-at-david.html


At what age did you realize you wanted to become a filmmaker?

My love of film began around 5 or 6 years old.  But I was 12 years old when it dawned on me I could actually make a movie.

What were some of the films that inspired you as a child?

It's hard to answer that.  Many movies obsessed me.  The triple features at the drive in theater was an amazing place for a film education.  I kept a book of all the movies I saw in the movie theater.  I started writing it when I was very young.  Here is a portion of the first films I saw, in the order and year I saw them.  You can get a sense of the variety.

1969 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1970 Patton
1971 Bed Knobs and Broomsticks
1971 2001 A Space Odyssey
1971 The Anderson Tapes
1971 The Andromeda Strain
1971 The Beguiled
1971 Mary Queen of Scotts
1971 Evel Knievel
1972 Tales From the Crypt
1972 Pinocchio
1973 Fantasia
1973 Paper Moon
1973 The Mechanic
1973 Live and Let Die
1973 Planet of the Apes
1973 Dillinger
1973 The Neptune Factor
1973 Tora Tora Tora
1973 The Stone Killer
1973 West World
1973 Tales That Witness Madness
1973 Asylum
1973 Soylent Green
1973 Don't Look in the Basement
1973 Last House on the Left
1973 Dirty Harry
1973 Magnum Force
1973 High Plains Drifter
1973 Billy Jack
1973 M.A.S.H
1973 Panic in Needle Park
1973 Dracula vs. Frankenstein
1973 Frankenstein's Bloody Terror
1973 The Day of the Dolphin
1973 Cisco Pike
1973 take The Money and Run
1973 Horror Express
1973 Death Wheelers
1973 The French Connection
1973 The Seven Ups
1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974 Blazing Saddles
1974 99 44 100% Dead
1974 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1974 The Devil's Nightmare
1974 Bambi
1974 Freeble and the Bean
1974 The Super Cops
1974 Bullitt
1974 Papillon
1974 The Laughing Policeman
1974 The Man with The Golden Gun
1974 Mr. Majestik
1974 Badge 373
1974 The Longest Yard
1974 Phantom of the Paradise
1974 The Taking of Pelham 123
1974 The Parallax View
1974 Death Wish
1974 Night of Bloody Terror
1974 Night of the Strangler
1974 Macon County Line
1974 Joe Kidd
1974 Vampyres - Daughters of Dracula
1974 Young Frankenstein
1974 Airport
1974 Earthquake
1974 UFO Target Earth
1974 The Devil's Triangle
1975 The Devil's Rain
1975 The Getaway
1975 Walking Tall
1975 Junior Bonner
1975 Aloha Bobby and Rose
1975 Breakout
1975 White Line Fever
1975 Sleeper
1975 Serpico
1975 Jaws
1975 Vanishing Point

What were your experiences like in film school?

The year I went to SVA was very disappointing.  I felt more productive and inspired before I went to film school.  Teachers constantly cancelled classes, equipment didn't work properly, and there was a feeling that high school was continuing instead of a serious college and artistic study.  But of course I did learn a few things, such as recognizing underlying themes and secrets which I feel are important to good filmmaking.  And I made a few lifelong friends.

What prompted you to make a film?

After years in the music business I realized all my inspiration for music came from film.  I had been away from filmmaking for a long time and wanted to return to it with a maximum effort and see if I could make something interesting.  That's when I wrote Catharsis in 1998.

Speaking of Catharsis, it's been out for many years.  How has the response been to the film so far?

I made the film without intention of anyone seeing it.  I never had an audience in mind.  So getting amazing responses to the film has been beautiful.  I've had some people get violently angry about it and some that called it artsy-fartsy crap.  It's not everyone's cup of tea.  People going through an emotional conflict and looking for answers really understand the film.  It's not for those in denial.

I see your point.  It's a very challenging, yet fulfilling movie.  Can you tell me what inspired the idea for "Catharsis"?

I believe it started with that insecure voice in your head that sabotages your ideas with negativity.  Then I thought about the idea of emotionally running away and the mental journey of where you go to avoid those emotional obstacles.  Then the images of the thing you're running away from following you and making a film about the entire conflict and resolution.  So the final inspiration was to turn a thought process filled with sadness, artistic impedance and loss into a physical journey of confronting fear. Humans are strange in that we run away from traumas we think we can't deal with.  But emotional obstacles are always there and they want to be confronted.  The more we run the more they present themselves in our subconscious or even physically.  The very thing we run away from, when faced, is the thing that frees us.

Dylan Murphy portrays that sadness so impeccably.  Was he your first choice?

No.  A photographer, named Jack Roman, who worked on the production, was my first choice.  But a set of strange occurrences brought Dylan Murphy to the role.  He was not an actor but I think he did a great job.  He understood the character.

How difficult was it to try and tell a story that almost entirely has only one character?

It was challenging.  I looked for answers to the character in his face.  He had to look like a nice, well dressed, together person in complete denial.  His hair and clothes had to look the direct opposite of what he is going through emotionally.  Sometimes when dealing with emotional trauma you feel a sense of isolation.  In the script the character was referred to as THE WANDERER and GOD'S ONLY MAN.

I was going to ask what you called the character.  That's fascinating.  I love that because he does really feel isolated throughout the entire film.  How many drafts of the script were there?

I think there were 30 different drafts.  The script was only 13 pages.

Was the internal dialogue part of the script or was it something that you experimented with in post production?

It was there from the beginning.  It was a poem I wrote when my Mother died in 1994.

It's no secret that Catharsis is a work straight from the heart and it took a few years to complete. First, was finance an issue?  And second, how difficult was it as an artist to stay idle during those periods when the film wasn't in production?

I didn't have a lot of money but I wanted Catharsis to look as polished as possible.  David Lynch said, "You don't have to sacrifice quality because you lack money.  There's always a way."  That became a mantra.  Even when selecting the crew.  You don't have to take the wrong people.  You can find talented people that will work for nothing.  The gaps between shooting can be tough because you feel you don't have any control.  There are shots in Catharsis when the main character is walking and there's a cut and it's a year later.  But those gaps afford you the opportunity to over prepare and perfect upcoming scenes.  When I make my next feature film I want to shoot the whole thing in 45 days!   

What were some films that inspired you during the making of Catharsis?

I remember watching Alexander Nevsky, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Begotten during shooting.  But I don't think there were any particular films that inspired me during that time.

Let's talk about some of the locations because they're beautiful.  My personal favorite is in the cemetery.  It's just our one character filled with nothing but white tombstones all around him.  This is the most loneliness of all the scenes.

Thank you.  All of it was shot on Long Island and Westchester.  The locations were heavily photographed prior to shooting and then every shot was storyboarded.  But I don't think I looked at the storyboards once during the entire shoot.  I left myself opened in case a better shot presented itself.

What are some of your memories working with the director of photography, Stephen Panariello?

We got along great.  He's very talented and a great human spirit.  We inspired each other artistically and still do to this day.  He was the third DP I interviewed.  The first one read the screenplay and threw a chair against the wall in anger.  I learned later that he was in denial over a death in the family and the script touched a nerve.  The second was interested but seemed, in the phone interview, he would be very difficult to work with.  Then, when Steve read the script he threw the script in the garbage pail in anger.  In the middle of the night he pulled it out of the garbage and re-read it.  He called me and said, "I have to do this movie."  He was willing to go on the emotional journey we all were on.  I'm very happy he did.  An early meeting with Steve was on his boat.  He took the time to hang pages from the script all around the boat that inspired him.  I was immediately impressed by the artistic gesture.  He's a dear friend and we both look forward to working with each other again.

The visuals are stunning.  No doubt about it.  The score compliments the visuals beautifully.  

It took an entire summer to score the film and create the sound effects, which, I consider part of the score as well.  I wrote 44 pieces of music on a Roland sequencer and various synthesizers.  Many of the pieces I liked but didn't work properly with the scenes in the film.  I remember watching the final scene with the piece of music that's in the film for the first time.  I welled up with tears.  I knew it was right.

And how long did it take you to cut the entire film?

Principle photography began in October 1999 and was completed in April 2001.  Editing and sound was completed October 11th 2002.  Credits and color correction completed February 7th 2003.

When you saw the final cut was there any fears with the pacing?

The pacing was deliberate.  I was going for a dreamy, mysterious atmosphere and felt the ending wouldn't work without establishing a substantial journey.

I love the final scene of the film where the character is reborn.  That must have been a messy shoot.

I wanted three days to shoot it but the bathroom was located at a Catholic school and the priests only gave me one.  And they had no idea what I was going to film in that bathroom so there was always fear someone would walk in at the worst moment.  So we arrived at 9am and shot until 5am.  the bathroom had to be cleaned and then re-shot four different times.  Those twenty hours went by very fast.  And we left that bathroom cleaner than when we arrived.  It was tense and beautiful.

Christopher P. Garetano's documentary, Horror Business introduced me to Catharsis and yourself.  What was the experience like and how important was that documentary for helping spread the word about your film?

I was happy to be a part of it.  Chris put so much heart and soul into that film.  It was a great success for him.  If it wasn't for Horror Business, many people would not have seen Catharsis.  For that I'm grateful.

Was the final cut of Catharsis what you envisioned?

It was very strange seeing scenes come to life exactly how I imagined them.  There's always moments in the final cut you wish were different.  I haven't watched it in many years but overall I'm happy with the end result.  The film cost $7,000 but most of that money didn't end up on the screen.  Much of it was transportation, food, post production, and equipment rentals.

What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?

Challenge your taste.  Watch a variety of films.  Strive for originality and perfection.  Pencil into the schedule that some days you will feel insecure and lack inspiration.  It's part of the process and a temporary feeling.  Don't give up.

Do current films still inspire you?  If so, who are some of your favorite directors working today?

I marvel at Martin Scorsese still making compelling, youthful films in his 70's.  He's the last man standing of his generation of filmmakers.  I'm a fan of Nicholas Refn, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jonathan Glazer.

What are some projects that you have in the works?

I've spent years trying to secure a few million dollars for a feature length horror film I wrote.  I came close a few times but it didn't happen.  It's a shame because It was so scary and very deep.  It took a long time to let go of it.

I spent a few years shooting a documentary about an autistic painter taking over an abandoned gas station to create an art school for special needs children and war veterans.  I just showed a portion of it this week at an autism awareness event and the audience loved it.

I have another documentary in the works I might do.  But I'm very excited to start shopping an original screenplay I've been working on over the last 15 years.  It's not a horror film, but all I can say is... it's surreal.

David, it was an honor and thank you for taking the time to chat with me.

The pleasure is mine.  Thank you for your interest and kind words.