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.




 

Rob Zombie's Return to Horror With Ambiguous Trailer.

Rob Zombie has said that he's done making horror films.  Maybe the well is dried in that department for him.  However, many rumors have recently circulated about another Halloween film.  Halloween 3D. I can't say I'm elated to see it, but I'm a fan of Zombie's work.  If the rumors turn out to be true and he is making another Halloween movie I'll go see it.

With all that said, the topic tonight is on Rob Zombie and a new find from his website.

Here is a trailer for Rob Zombie's next film, 31. I'm not sure what the hell it's going to be about but I'm intrigued.  Fans are encouraged to sign up for his email list to get more info on the film.

This trailer is ambiguous and doesn't give us much to sink our teeth in.  What is 31?  What does it mean?  Will it tie into the Halloween films somehow?  Clearly the image is of a clown.  Will Sid Haig return in some sort of prequel, or spin-off, and reprise his role as Captain Spaulding?  Is this an entirely new film with original content and characters?  Will Sherri Moon-Zombie play Gacy?  Okay, that was a joke but at this point your guess is as good as mine.

Here it is.  You decide!

www.robzombie.com