Presented today for your viewing pleasure is an international collection of posters and lobby cards for director Leonard Kastle's gritty, gripping 1969 film, The Honeymoon Killers. While the giallo-esque Italian posters are alluringly sleazy, I think the Mexican lobby card, with its raw, bold design is my favorite. I can only imagine how stunned audiences were after seeing this film upon its original release...the stark, poker-faced grimness, the stripped-down, no-bullshit, almost-documentary vibe...and more than anything else, Shirley Stoler's steely, frightening performance as real life Lonely Hearts killer, Martha Beck.
Lonely? Lovesick? Looking for a Lothario? Join Aunt Carrie's Friendship Club today!
Here's a clip of Talking Heads performing "Psycho Killer" on the UK music program, The Old Grey Whistle Test in January 1978. Mr. Byrne is at his tightly-wound, Norman Bates best here and the ferocious, extended dueling-guitars showdown at the end of the song is a fucking scorcher. The band would release their second (and finest) album, More Songs About Buildings and Food six months later in the US. Under the influence of Brian Eno's production, they found their previously-minimalist sound fleshed out and enriched dramatically, and it's fascinating to hear how differently they approached playing their signature song in this performance just one year following its original release in '77.
For years now, writer Dennis Dermody has been unleashing his hilarious, sharp and refreshingly unpretentious takes on horror, cult and exploitation films upon the world, regularly for PAPER Magazine and occasionally elsewhere. He's appeared in documentaries about James Bidgood (The Queer Reveries of James Bidgood) and longtime friend John Waters (the excellent Divine Trash) and - reaching all the way back to 1981 here - can be seen in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance as a patron hastily exiting Mr. Fishpaw's raided porno palace in Polyester. A regular go-to guy for when a knowledgeable voice on the seamier side of cinema is required, Dermody's moniker of Cinemaniac is richly deserved. When he really loves a movie, you know it...you're already adding the title to your Netflix queue before you've even finished reading his review. I can't begin to list how many gloriously warped movies he's pointed me towards via his writing, but it's high time for an anthology of his reviews and essays to be bundled into a book.
Here's a fun 2007 clip, produced by PAPER Magazine, featuring Dermody conducting a guided tour of his movie and mayhem-memorabilia-packed NYC apartment. Dig those beautiful framed Tenebre and Let Me Die a Woman posters!
You can visit Dermody's frequently-updated Cinemaniac blog over on the PAPERMAG site....his recent reflection on the heyday of 42nd Street's movie houses (wherein he recounts - accidentally - sitting on a live cat in one darkened theater, as well as someone trying to set his hair on fire (!) during a viewing of Invasion of the Blood Farmers in another) is a wistful, filth-caked love letter to the Deuce's grimy glory days.
It's back! Crazy 4 Cult, Los Angeles' ongoing exhibition of cult film-inspired artwork has returned to Gallery 1988 in the all-new Crazy 4 Cult 3-D show, up now and on display through August 8th, 2009. Featuring 100 artists working in media ranging from painting and illustration to plush toys, sculpture and beyond, this third installment (while a bit heavy on Big Lebowski tributes....am I really the only person in the world that doesn't slavishly worship this overrated, endlessly-gushed about film?) is a worthy successor to its two predecessors and a definite must-see if you're in the L.A. area over the next few weeks.
Here's a small sampling of what you'll see adorning the walls of Gallery 1988 during the exhibition. Carlos Ramos' Showgirls piece, as well as Lauren Gregg's heartbreaking Dawn Weiner tribute are undoubtedly my favorites.
Jeff Ramirez
"Mouth" oil on panel 10 x 20 inches (Blue Velvet)
Justin Parpan "They Live Customizable Monster Kit" digital print on archival paper (They Live)
Lauren Gregg "Wienerdog" acrylic on wood 18 x 22 (Welcome to the Dollhouse)
N.C. Winters
"I Am Jack's Broken Heart" acrylic and resin on wood panel 16 x 20 inches (Fight Club)
Mari Inukai
"MILK" 17 x 21 inches, framed oil on canvas (A Clockwork Orange)
Lauren Gregg
"Harold" acrylic on wood 16 x 22 inches (Harold and Maude)
Shark Toof "Shark Toof's Chainsaw Massacre Starring Jessica Alba and Mike White" screen print on archival paper 24 x 36 inches
Carlos Ramos
"Showgirls" 48 x 24 inches cel paint on wood (Showgirls)
Eric Fortune
"Rising Son" acrylic on watercolor paper 15.5 x 22 inches (Army of Darkness)
Dave Perillo
"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" giclee print on archival paper 16 x 20 inches (Pee-Wee's Big Adventure)
Julian Callos "Class Dismissed" (from Crazy 4 Cult 2) giclee print on archival paper 11 x 14 inches (Battle Royale)
Without a doubt, one of the more comprehensive and awe-inspiring film books released in the past few years is Stephen Thrower's mammoth 2007 volume, Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents (FAB Press). At over 500 pages, and spanning the key 15 years of the American exploitation film genre (1970-1985), Thrower's exhaustive, entertaining history is unmatched in its ambition and scope.
As explained in the book's preface, a mere 500 pages (as well as five years of research) just wasn't enough to cover every film and director he'd wanted to; amazingly, a second volume is in the works, with over 120 more films yet to be covered. Thrower's knowledge of (and admiration for) the films he writes about is vast, and despite Nightmare USA's encyclopedic heft, things are kept moving along at an engrossing, engaging pace throughout. Containing twenty five exclusive interviews with cult filmmakers - including Douglas McKeown (The Deadly Spawn), David Durston (I Drink Your Blood), Joseph Ellison (Don't Go in the House), Gloria Katz and Willard Hyuck (Messiah of Evil) and Robert Endelson (Fight for Your Life) - and over 175 films reviewed, Nightmare USA is the ultimate exploitation film afficiando's bible.
Besides having previously edited the horror cinema magazine Eyeball: The European Sex and Horror Review, as well as authoring one of FAB Press' other finest titles, Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci, Thrower also spent many years as a member of British experimental group Coil, co-authoring two tracks ("Solar Lodge" and "At the Heart of It All") on their 1984 debut full-length, Scatology.
Upon the release of Nightmare USA in 2007, Thrower curated a UK-based film festival in Hammersmith themed around the book and a handful of the films contained within. In this episode of Alex Fitch's I'm Ready for My Close-Up (originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM), Thrower is interviewed, among other topics, about the festival, the history of the American exploitation film, the marketing of horror movies and the room-clearing powers of a well-timed Herschell Gordon Lewis DVD.
This appears to be a Spanish commercial for satellite provider DirecTV with a holiday theme and some very special celebrity appearances. That's about all I know about it, other than that it's completely fucking genius, as well. No, it's not one of those disgusting American DirecTV ads wherein Sigourney Weaver or someone else you used to love dessecrates the memory of one of your favorite movies of all time or anything. This is something else entirely. The gift-bearing Samara is my favorite.
Welcome to Hot Monsters. Classic Grindhouse Cinema Culture. Weird Art. Horror, Cult and Exploitation Films. Rock Music. Black Jellybeans. Torrid Trailers. Sleazy Typefaces. Cinematic Monstrosities. Fresh Mutations. Strange, Scintillating Cultural Rumblings in Los Angeles and Elsewhere: Circa Now!Meet me in the projection booth during the last reel, I brought some candy cigarettes and Mad Dog 20/20.
