Publishers/Editors: V.

Vole and Andrea Juno

Guest Editor: Jim Morton of "Trasholo Nowslottor"

Guest Associate Editor: Boyd Rice

Monoging Editor: Francisco de Oliveira Mottos
Production Supervisor: Catherine Reuther
Photographers: Bobby Adams, Ana Borrodo
Copy Editor: Scott Sunwnerville
Layout: Gino Vanlue, Susan Stella, Lorry Fleming
Writers: Colette Coleman, Margaret Crone, Prox Gore,
Richard Prelinger, Mark Spainhower, Mark Pauline
Contributors: leslie Pollock, Aaron Noble, C. Morrinon, Hilary Cross
Book Design: Andrea Juno

Special thanks to Michael Weldon and Eric Scheie.

ISBN No. 0-940642-09-3

All contents copyright '<'1986 by Re/Search & respective contributors.

3rd printing, July 1987

BOOKSTORE DISTRIBUTION: Subco, PO Box 10233, Eugene OR 97440 (503) 343-6324.

RECORD STORE DISTRIBUTION: Rough Trade, 326 6th St, San Francisco CA 94103 (415) 621-4102.
U.K. DISTRIBUTION: Airlift, 14 Baltic St, London EC1 YOTB, U.K. (01) 251-8608
GERMANY DISTRIBUTION: 235, Spichernstr. 61, 5000 Koln 1, W. Germany

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25 for 3 issues ($35 air overseas/$40 for Australia/ Asia).

Printed in Hong Kong

RE/SEARCH PUBUCATIONS, 20 Romolo #B, San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 362-1465.

Front cover: The Mask.

Back cover: film unknown.
Photo on page 1 : lncreciiWy Strange Creatures.
Photo on lost page: The Mask
Photo above: Guns Don't Argue
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4 FILM ESSAYS

172 YOUNG PLAYTHINGS

INTERVIEWS ..,,...... �

175 WIZARD OF GORE

FRANK HENENLOnER 8 .,, M..tt l.,.l.....wor
lty Andrea Juno
177 GOD TOLD M£ TO
HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS 18 ..,....._,,,_
llty AMroe Jlltfto en4 Merle Paulino; aoyd ateo
178 BlAST OF SILENCE
RAY DENNIS STECKLER & CAROLYN BRANDT 3b .., ...... -.

179 DAUGHTER OF HORROR

TED V. MIKELS 58 ..,,..._

181 SPIDER BABY

RUSS MEYER 7b ..
,,..._

182 GEORGE ROMERO

DICK BAKALYAN 88 llrM_..Ipel....wor
lty aoyd aice

JOE SARNO 90
DIRECTORY
DAVID FRIEDMAN 102
186 A-Z OF FILM PERSONALITIES
..,,..........
DORIS WISHMAN 110
lty Andrea Juno

LARRY COHEN 114 MISCELLANEOUS

lil;y Andrea Juno and Vale

206 QUOTATIONS FROM MOVIES

I
GENRE ARTICLES
212 FAVORITE FILMS UST

BIKER FILMS 140 214 RE/SEARCH CATALOG PAGES

lty Jim Morton

J.D. FILMS 143 217 BIBLIOGRAPHY & SOURCES

lty Jim Morton

BEACH PARTY FILMS 14b 218 INDEX

lty Jim Morton

LSD FILMS 148

It, JiM Motto"

WOMEN IN PRISON FILMS 151

by Jim M.non

MONDO FILMS 153

.,, ..r4ako

SANTO 157
by Jim Morton

ED WOOD, JR. 158

lty JiM Morten

SEXPLOITATION FILMS lbO

lty Jim Mortoft

EDUCATIONAL FILMS lbb

lty Jim Morton

INDUSTRIAL JEOPARDY FILMS 169

lty •lchr.t ProUnpr
 his is a functional guide to territory largely neglected by the film-criticism
est tshment-encompassing tens of thousands of films. Most of the films discussed
test the limits of contemporary (middle-class) cultural acceptability, mainly because
in varying ways they don't meet certain "standards" utilized in evaluating direction,
acting, dialogue, sets, continuity, technical cinematography, etc. Many of the films are
overtly "lower-class" or "low-brow" in content and art direction. However, a high
percentage of these works disdained by the would-be dictators of public opinion are
sources of pure enjoyment and deligbt, despite improbable plots, "bad'' acting, or
ragged film technique. At issue is the notion of "good taste," which functions as a filter
to block out entire areas of experience judged-and damned-as unworthy of
investigation.
The concepts of "good taste" are intricately woven into society's control process
and class structure. Aesthetics are not an objective body of laws suspended above us
like Plato's supreme "Ideas"; they are rooted in the fundamental mechanics of how to
control the population and maintain the status quo.
Our sophisticated, "democratic" Western civilization regulates the population's
access to information, as well as its innem1ost attitudes, through media-particularly
film and video." The power to literally create desire, fashion, consumer trends, opin­
ions, aspirations and even one's very identity is expressed through film and \ideo. This
force-power through persuasion-reaches deep into the hackbrain, rendering more
brutal, physical control tactics· obsolete.
Since the sixties, film has ceased being a popular creative medium. TI1e whole
sixties' avantgarde filmmaking, from Brakhage to Conner, was based on the cheap
availability of l6mm t1lm, cameras, etc; many of the films in this hook were originally
shot in 16mm. After this became too expensive, Super-8 became the medium of
choice. Several years ago, the major manufacturers began de-emphasizing professional­
quality Super-8 cameras, film stocks, etc, saying, "People don't really ·want it. Editing is
too hard for most people, and everyone's switching to video, anyway." TI1e result: the
number of low-budget films being produced has dropped drastically.
 1l1e value of low-budget films is: they can be transcendent expressions of a single
person's individual vision and quirky originality. When a corporation decides to invest
S20 million in a film, a chain of command regulates each step, and no one person is
allowed free rein. Meetings with lawyers, accountants, and corporate boards are what
films in Hollywood are all about.
So what makes films like Herschell Gordon Lewis's The �Vizard of Gore or Ray
Dennis Steckler's The Incredibly Strange Creatures \.Vho Stopped Lil,ing and Became
Mixed-Up Zombies worthwhile? First of all: unfettered creativity. Often the films are
eccentric-even extreme-presentations by individuals freely expressing theh· imagi­
nations. who throughout the filmmaking process improvise creative solutions to
problems posed either by circumstance or budget-mostly the latter. Secondly, they
often present unpopular-even radical-views addressing social, political, racial or
sexual inequities, hypocrisy in religion or government; or, in other ways they assault
taboos related to the presentation of sexuality, violence, and other mores. ( Cf. George
Romero's Dead trilogy which features intelligent, problem-solving black heroes, or
Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! which showcases tough girls outwitting-and
even physically outdoing-sexist men.) 'l11irdly. ocotsionally films are made of such
unique stature ( Cf. Daughter ql Hon·or) as to stand \'irtually outside any genre or
classification, thus extending the boundaries of \vhat has been done in the medium, as
well as proYiding-at best-inexplicably marvelous experiences.
It is all too common-indeed, a cliche-for otherwise \veil-read. thoughtful people
to deplore "violence'' depicted in movies such as the ones discussed here. Yet there is
no direct eYidence that the mere viewing of a film causes crime; in fact. a film may well
act as a ''safety valve" pretJenting its occurrence. In any case, viokncc cannot he
eliminated through repression of its reprcscntation; in fact. there is e\·idence we han· a
primal need to express ourselves violently, just as we do so-involuntarily-in our
dreams. \Vhen there's an accident on the highway, our immediate. uncensored instinct
is to stop and stare. But ... thert.' is a crucial difference hern·t·en the artistic representa­
tion of violence ancl its \Villful commission against another person in actual life:.
Balinese have for ccnturies enacted. e.Ytreme�}' vioit'nt dramas touching on primal
social issues. yet historically they are among the most peaceft.il peopk on earth.
Obviously these dnunas have served a cathartic as well a."' poetic function. In \X1estl'rn
civilization, the history of painting (from early medi<.:,·al depictions of martyrs and the
allegorical landscapes of HierOI1)1Tius Bosch up to Goya and Francis Bacon) is replete
with torturl's and hloody dismemberments. TI1e Bible itself depicts almost e\·cry kind
of atrocity and sex crime-yet dol'S one go out and rape and kill after reading the Bible?
In our society. the conditions that create rapists and murderers do not stem from the
creative interplay of our fantasies-tor well-balanced people there is an enormous
difference between a.fantas,y and reatizv. Murderous inclinations already in an indh·id­
ual are not triggered by viewing one film-that is far too easy an explanation. Film
censorship is a simplistic, backwards approach to profound problems in our society; it
is much easier to bandage the symptom than to cure the deep-rooted disease. 'fhe
sickness of the rapist-murderer may stt:m from a number of causes-economic repres­
sion (ghettos), violence in tht: family. t:ven biochemical imbalance. But whaten·r the
causes, film censorship is not the cure.
This volume focuses on ulihailed tllmmakers whose work dates primarily from the
sixties and seventies. Most of the films mentioned are classifiable into f'\:\'0 genres: gore
(violence) and sexploitation, although the best transcend such facile labeling. Certain
sexploitation or gore filmmakers (such as David Cronenberg. who already has had rwo
books written about him) arc absent because of previous publicity or inaccessibility.
Many wonderful, more mainstream t1lmmakers, such as Bunuel. Polanski. Keaton, Fritz
Lang and Val Lewton-and even entire gt:nrcs such as Surrealist/Dada films andfi/m
nniJ·-are not detailed for similar reasons. This is not a completist's volume-many
other American movies. plus a \vhole other \vorld of films from Hong Kong, thc
Philippines, Mexico, Spain, etc. remain to he explored and experienced. Harher. it is a
presentation of the continuing creatil•e dilemma, with specitk emphasis on the
problems of artists counter to the status quo. Ht:rc the filmmakers themsdvcs articu­
late their philosophies and histories while offering views and insights applicable to any
creative medium. rn the world of lmv-buclget filmmaking, it is still possible for the
imagination to reign supreme.
-V. Vale and Andrea Juno, San Francisco, 198')
I N T E R V I E W:

1 elate New York filmmaker Frank Henenlotter has made

one excellent horror feature, Basket Case. Undoubtedly he
Spielberg's latest. Double features are a thing of the past: it
costs too much money to ship two films. And that used to be
the joy of the '60s-when I was going to the movies you

deserves funding to make many more, but at present he

alu•ays saw tu'O pictures. Even 42nd Street now i� sho\\-ing
too much mainstream. The only excitement I get lately is
works as a graphic designer at an ad agency.He is included
from what's being released on \ideotape. O f course I'd much
here not for the magnitude of his creative output, but for
rather see something in a theater, but-now I'm buying
his thought. Henenlotter's views on the entire process of videocassettes like crazy. Yesterday I bought 01RJ' of the
independent filmmaking include careful consideration of the Dead and She Freak. The week before I picked up Ted V.
moral aspects of presenting violence, gore, and sexual devi· Mikels' Corpse Grinders.
ancy; his analysis of this prickly area of aesthetic ethics But it's not like I can just go to a theater and sec Corpse
forms an important core of the following interview. Grinders. I'd much rather see films in a movie theater with a
Additionally, Frank Henenlotter is a broadly knowledge­ group of people, especially in the IOnd of run-down flcabags
able film historian whose perspective on obscure movies that played them-somehow the more peeling paint, the

provides some surprising correlations.He's also a film memo·

rabilia collector, trivia expert and the possessor of an
extremely quick, enthusiastic wit behind his low-key, unas· H's a stra1.. concept: .. these obscure films
suming facade. Besides other unusual interests, he collects that I would have risked iftiury cnl death to
antique surgical tools-even possessing an authentic violet see (literaly, in 101M of those theaters) an
ray machine, complete with scarce accessories ...
now availallle at your local clean video
Andrea Juno interviewed Frank Henenlotter in his East
Village apartment, which was neatly decorated with movie
stonl
posters, an impressive collection of books and videotapes,
and the original aasket Case dummy sitting alone in a
more smell of urine, the more exciting it seemed to be! But
corner ...
I'll take it where I can get it. I'm certainly not going to bypass
Corpse G17nders simply because it's on videotape!
I didn't want anything to do \\-ith videotape when it first
came out; the only films available were Sound ofMusic and
Hello Do/�r-give me a break! But once you saw Blood Feast
• A}: U"1Je11 U'ere you last in San Francisco? being sold, that"!> when you knew: ub-ob. bere it comes.
• FH: About ten years ago-it's probably a totally different That's when everybody I knew had to rush out and buy a
city-totally different planet now. I got off at the Greyhound VCR. We never anticipated the amount of the stuff that was
bus terminal and the first thing 1 did was go to Market Street going to come out. For awhile I was getting a lot of bootleg
and-! can almost smell sleazo movie theaters-see Battle tapes from people. but you don't need to anymore because
Beneath the Earth. Cannibal Girls, and Rau• Meat: It was it's all going to be released!
perfect-l'd nC\·er been in the city before. It's a strange concept: all these obscure films that I would
It reminded me so much of '"I 2nd Street (or what 42nd have risked injury and death to see (literally. in some of those
Street used to be-no t.t • they're getting rid of it). That's theaters) are now available at your local clean video store!
where I have my fondest memories of seeing oddball films at It's a little unnerving. I'm wholeheartedly in support of this,
oddball hours. like, I saw Blackenstein at 12:30 Saturday but I'm still not used to the fact that these films that I spent
night during the height of a snowstorm. There were only a my whole life trying to see are now consumer items.
few other people in the theater and they went nuts seei ng • A:
} People u•ho used to search for rare occult books get a
the film-the star had a square afro. Every time the monster similar sense of dismay when tbey become at•ailable in
appt:arc:d I thought Lhc: bakony was going to come down­ cheap paperoack editions-
people were just screaming! • FH: Sure. Now I can watch spider Baby anytime I want.
• A}: Do you see a lot of fli ms? On the positive side, I love to show these films to people. I
• FH: I used to. I'm less of a junkie now, only because of the used to have a hard time dragging people to those theaters.
unavailability of so many of them. When I \vas growing up on Now, fme-1 can sit here and run a tape for them. It's a lot
Long Island there were drit>e-ins. still. And there used to be easier!
lots of sleaze theaters that played horror films. One of my • A:} Although . . I first sau• Dat"io Argento "s Suspiria on
.

favorite ones is now just hardcore porn. There were three in uideotape-turice. But u•hen /finally sau• it in a theater. it
one town; now there's none in that town. I hate going back was like seeing a complete�)' different fli m-
to Long Island because evel)thing I used to love is dead. • FH: -and hearing a different film-the soundtrack is
The few drive-ins left in this country are playing Steven outrageous.
• A: } But there ll'£�·e also aspects rele�•ant to the plot that
u'f!re blocked out in the tideo-like a unman in the back­
ground of one scene u•hom I had net1er noticed before. Also.
the color changes assume much greater significance on a
large screen.
• FH: The video you saw may have been a bootleg, although
that doesn't mean it'll be better when they officially release
it. Deep Red (also an Argento film) is out, and the cropping of
that film is quite poor. blowing a key scene at the beginning. I
really dislike that sort of thing. especially with a director like
Argento who makes full use of the screen.
I have Herschell Gordon Lewis's Something Weird which
is in wide screen, and they letterboxed it-kept it wide
screen, which is great. They also left in all the scratches and
breaks and the dirt! lf it's a wide screen let me see the whole
picture-I can live with the top and bottom framed. And in
the print I have they even discolored the top and bottom for
the LSD scene!
• A:
} Can /look at your film collection?
• FH: Sure. Here's some of my collection; a lost genre-sex·
hygiene films. One called Tomonvu•'s Children (from
19 :H) is for sterilization.l11e highlight of the film is where a
guy's getting a vasectomy-he's a real lowlife, sneering and
insulting the doctors as they're doing it. But that's the only
w.ty to have one!
• A}: l lm•e dril'(!t'S' edfilms like Safetybcl t for Susie: and Red
Asphalt, and other �Jpes like St!{ety in the Shop. Some of
them are so gmy.
• FH: Anything that's dogmatic like that-l love watching.
That's why those sex-hygiene films are so marvelous. Back
then, the only way you could see a taboo subject-a naked
woman's breast or legs, or see a film where a couple actually
goes to bed together of{screen-\VJ.S to suffer through aU this
morality and educational footage, and a doctor standing
there with a pointer saying, "This will happen to you if ... '"
The only way you could see a woman's private parts was to
see a baby in blood burst forth. What a nice twisted world it
was!
• A:
} Guilt ll'ith titillation Belial (from Basket Case) in Henenlotter's New York apartment.
• FH: Exactly.One that's now available in videotape is They
Must Be Told, which is marvelous. A girl sleeps with some·
one and then gives V.D. to her husband. who goes blind.And,
the baby's probably going to be horn dead.What a significant
guilt trip for the audience. who sit there knowing that if they
...they're going to go home with V.D. I imagine a lot of those people imagining what they might see! And the promoters
films are lost now, but hopefully they're going to be found would clean up. Of course, you could onJy have two shows,
and put out on tape. Everybody's seen Reefer Madness, but because once word of mouth got out about what a dog the
there's plenty more like that out there. maybe not as funny or film was, you'd be long gone to the next town.
as wack)'. but if they're morbid and depressing that's fine Allegedly, the promoters would have a reel of nudity they
with me! would show if they could get away with it; if they realized
I can't imagine what it was like in the '30s and '40s when there were no authorities in the place. But the birth-of-the·
baby footage was the nice big shocker. And many of these
films had a short running time because they had a person in
..,...., that's d•..ltlc • • • I loH attendance (like, a woman dressed as a nurse) selling books
like 7be Facts of Life or a little illustrated V.D. pamphlet
.., ..... that's why thele ...,.••
. fh •
which you would take home and then go, "Wow!" All that's
... --..... ... ..... .. ..., .., lost today. But the films aren't lost, I hope.
yeu ..W ... a talleoltllll•d--a .... • A]: You know a lot about obscure films and directors-
• FH: just as a hobby. Usually they all live up to their
...... �nast .. ...., ... .. . ... .....
reputations. Seeing Orgy of the Dead was a delight after
. ..... actualy .. to .... ,...... off ·
hearing about it for so many years, owning the pressbook,
....-•• to .,. ...... this and finally, not being disappointed when I saw it. It was

written by Edward D. Wood, Jr. [t's just a terrible nudie film

••r••t _.. ......._. footlle• with a bunch of girls dancing (supposedly "interpretative"
dancing, but it's really awful, which onJy adds to it). Poor
they would segregate the audience. I've got this great press· Criswell plays Bela Lugosi who was !ong dead by then, but
book for something called Sins of the Father. Like many it's all wonderful ... There's terrible dancing which finally
other fiJms (e.g.. Mom a n d Dad) they would segregatt: tht: stops for great Ed Wood dialogue which goes on and on and
audience: women only at 7:30. men only at 9:00. They would on, without any plot or beginning or middle or end. You
go into these small towns, and if the town didn't have a know it's going to continue like this until they run out of film,
theater they'd set up a tent. Think of the anticipation of and then it'IJ have a fast finish.

9
• A}: Did you et1er meet Ed Wood?
• FH: I met Herschel! Gordon lewis-he once sat where
you are and sang the theme song to Tu'o 7housand Maniacs
one: night. I had Edward D. Wood. Jr.'s phone number and
address. A friend went to see him and said, "There's a guy in
.
New York who really wants to meet you. . Ed by then was
quite an alcoholic but dying for any attention. and he said.
"Really? He knows my films?" But by the time my friend
returned and I had made the call. he was already dead. I
missed the man 'live' by a couple of weeks.
• A}: Sometimes these directors don't real�)' mulerstand
that on a tme let�/ u·e could like and actual�)' lotoe their
films.
• FH: Sometimes they think the films aren't very good and
wonder if you're the one that's bent-I mean. does it count if
your IQ is zero and you like their film!'!
Hopefully. with the way videotape is making money,
maybe £�'f!t)1thing will come to the surface. They're actually
running out of "product," so they're going to have to dig
deeper anu deeper. and maybe the exploitation films will be
re-released. For me, there's only a few horror films left that I
haven't seen, but there's absolutely no source where I can get
sexploitation films from the '50s and '60s. and I love them.
Unfortunatdy. with porn the big seller. why would a com·
pany release some cute little thing that shows you nothing,
especially in black-and-white. etc? But hopefully they'll
market them for film buffs, rather than as sex films. Then we
can all sit around and wallow in that filth and to me they're a
lot dirtier than any porno is today. because they had such
unhealthy overtones, plus usually very ugly !XOple. too. I
have one trailer with a bc:autiful girl next to a hideous fat man
with hair all over his shoulders and back (he's also probably
one of the backers of the film).
I'd love to see more nudist camp films, too-another dead
art. In the one I saw, all the strategic areas were coverc:d by
convenient bushes. It had a very artificial look as everybody The Tingler.
was very obviously posed. When they walked they onJy
walked 2 or 3 feet, because that's where the bushes stopped.
lots of tush. but even when somebody bent down they had to
bend down t•e1y carefully. And again, there were some aston­ \iewing in hiology classes-just put a little educational foot­
ishjngly ugly people (mayhe those were the only people who age in front. And both of those films I saw when I was about 9
would take off their clothes in those days). But that's part of (usually your favorite tllms arc ones you saw as a child) and
the delight-you're seeing naked people you would net·£�· I'm sure both of them severely traumatized me.
want to see with their clothes off if you saw them in the When I saw 7be Tin[<ler I went to a showing where th<:y
street. It's like Catholic guilt-if you're going to see these had the buzzers under the seat. My �eat did not \ibrate.
people naked, then you're going to be instmtt�J' punished! thankfully. or I would he dead now. I was petrified: I
Did you see Mesa of Lost Women? It's one of those films accepted every moment of that film; from the heginning until
during which you're constantly cominced you're halJucinat­ the end I never laughed. I figured what Vincent Price wa:.
ing, or. you must have fallen asleep for a long stretch and telling us was the truth. no doubt about it. At that time my
missed some important plot devices. because it's a different parents were telling me they didn't want me seeing this kind
film from 10 mjnutes ago. It's very confusing and great. of "crap." so seeing one-actually going into a tht:ater­
really meant a lot. Seeing adults actually leaping up from their
scats ·whc:n the vibration was triggered and laughing while I
was convinced my life was going to be taken any second-I
,.. ...., ................... in came out of there a drajned rune-year-old child who couldn't
Wai•IY .._ 1-t put a little -.cational wait to see more .. . and shortly thereafter saw Circus of
footage In "-'· HonYJrs. too. But. those are famrites of mine that I just
wallow in; I can't defend them.
You might say the films I'm attracted ro most are ones I
haven't seen yet! Like. I have a pile of lobby cards from
• A}: Who are your famrite directors? women's prison pictures. oddball items (all from the ''iOs).
• FH: I don't have favorite djrectors. I just have favorite I'll never be satisfied until I see every sleazy film ever
films, and I don't have one favorite. I like 1be Tingler and made-as long as it's different, as long as it's breaking a taboo
Circus of Ho nvrs-god knows why. I don't know how to (whether deliberately or by misdirection). There's a thou­
defend either one of them. They're just so loony; such untypi­ sand reasons to like these films. A film can be exciting
cal horror films. They're slick-they're not the kind of films because it deals with an impolite subject. whether it's a
we've. been talking about-not obscure. But some of the SC\'Cre taboo or a mild one. ln most horror films-just killing
wackjest plotting-a mad plastic surgeon's hjding from someone is an impolite enough thjng to do. Often, through
authority. so how does he hide? By running a circus. What!?! bad direction. misdirection. inept direction. a film starts
"Wow, what a great cover! Nobody'll ever suspect'" And 7be assuming surrealistic overtones. taking a dreadfully cliched
Tingler's the first LSD mO\ic. The Tingler should be required story into new frontiers -you're sitting there shaking your

10
head, totally excited, totally unable to guess where this is what's happened is: England and Germany (Germany-the
going to head next, or what the next loony line out of most barbaric country on earth) are now saying horror films
somebody's mouth is going to be. Just as long as it isn't the are bad! Obviously, World War II started because someone
stuff you regularly see ... must have seen 7be Wolfman and said, "I just saw a horror
I won't see any film that's a major release anymore. I won't film; let's go persecute Jews now." So in Germany now
see any film that Stephen King's name is attached to. I don't there's an index; films are put on a list, and if a store wants to
want to see Firestarter. I don't want to see Gremlins. I just sell porno or horror films. no one under 17's allowed into the
don't care about them. I'm sure I'm not missing anything store! It's not a question of renting it or buying it-they're
I've seen too many. I don't want to go back. But promise me not allowed into the store. This is creating a whole red-light
some ob�cure nudist film from the '50s and I'll go way out of district in the industry. And in England there were police
my way to catch it. officers literally confiscating copies of E11il Dead.
• A}: Rece11t films fil.
..•£• Tem1s of Endearment and Back to • A}: But that's such a sil/)t.film.'
the Futurt> are saturated ll'ilb plxmy t>erisimilitude. ll'ilb • FH: Yes, the police were protecting young people and old
"ordinmy" people:� "real" litoes e.,pressing neu• deptbs of people from seeing such an offensive, morals-destroying film.
Jake emotion. \f1)((f<'t'£'1' indil>iduality or creati1>ify tbe That's not an issue yet in this country, but I'm sure it will be!
director or //'lifer presumah�l' once had can effortless�)' be lne distributor of my film Basket Case gives out free surgical
obsc/1/Y!d in tbese megahuck cmporate productions- masks. It's on the radio spots: "Free surgical masks-to keep
• Fll: Of c·ourst:' 'T11at's why your video store's selling She­ the blood off your face!" And there are stations that won't
Vet >its 1m \f1Jeels.' With the first frame of that film you knew play it! I mean, come on, folks-who are they protecting?
Herschdl wa� behind the camera.You knew that girl would This is what kids love! The only ones to be offended are the
leave the house. get into that car, dose the car door. start the people who won't go see this film anyway.
<:ar and the car would drive around the hlock, all in ont> long } And th�y·re not bannin[!. Miami Vi<:e or Dynasty-
• A:
continuou� �hot -you knew that. And \\11erc <:1st: could you • FH: Is there anything more corrupting than those!?!
get such a theme �ong? I sit thcrt' with a hig grin enjo}ing • A}: Or tbe Friday the 13th series.
every mom<:nt of that. I certainly woukl not he ha,ing a good • HI: It's an easy solution: why are we having socio·
time· scTing Cat:� /;)•c•-it was horing just watching the /miter economic problems? Obviously it's because of what's on TV
for that. or what's in the movies. or it's the books people read or the
musk they listen to! I'm not surprised Germany's having this
problem. given their past. If in the past they blamed every­
1'1 ,., lie satisfied until I SH every slecny
...
thing on the Jews, why not now on horror films? I guess
flm , made as long as it's difftrent, as
, ., horror films made by Jews would really be a problem, folks!
long as it's breaking a taboo (whether When Palace Video bought Basket Case they wanted a
gorier version, with even more blood than we had. They
..ibtrately or by misdirection). There's a asked if we had outtakes of blood and gore they could put in
thousand reasons to like these films. A film the film! Six months later, they said, "Guys, we're in a lot of
can lie exdting blcaust it deals with • trouble. We're going to have to send the film to a censor, and
we're going to have to release it cut." So. I don't know what
impolite sullied. In most horror flms-lust
version's playing in England-which bothers me because it
killing someone is • impolite enough thing was a hest-seller and I don't know what's missing. I don't
to do. want to watch it to find out.
• A}: \flbat about the tlf!rSion ami/able in the USA?
• FH: It's all been restOred.It's all there in the videotape and
• A}: \Vbat do you tbink about Larry Cohen? the ones playing the theaters. I mean, there are prints missing
• FH: He'� an indepcndt'nt director but at least his films scenes because collectors take them, but ...We had a print
have been rele�ed by mainstream companies.His originality which clearly revealed a projectionist with a fetish, because
and hb own ,;sion does shine through. I lol'e his stuff. he had taken one or two frames-it couldn't have been much
• A}: GO<.I Told Me To knocked us out. more-out of all the nude stuff at the end. Every time there
• Fl-1: Absolutely.In one shot Andy Kaufman plays a cop. And was a naked breast, there were two frames missing. It was

where elSt' would you find Sandy Dennis (whom I love) in a very nicely spliced-of course it made mincemeat out of the
horror film? 111c economics of the industry are such that they soundtrack, but-1 wonder what he did with these frames?
can't take chances; that's why Spielberg is a god. Herschell Did he sit there at night with a little flashlight holding them
Gordon Lewis couldn't make films today, because he up to his eye. going ...I don't know, but I don't really want to
couldn't afford to. Film costs (lab costs, film stock) have find out, either!
escalated Sf!llf!re�)', and he couldn't get the distribution.The Hopefully (I don't know the economics of it), but what
same avenues aren't open for him; the traditional way he may happen is: a lot of the low-budget and gore films may
would distribute the film-those theaters are gone now or start to be made directly for videotape. I don't know if that's
they've changed to a whole different market. So it's not the feasible now. I do know that the quality of videotape is really
same anymore. Nowadays you have newspapers that will not piss-poor compared to film, but ...IfI were to make strictly a
run an ad for your film if it doesn't have a rating on it. Herschell Lewis type of gore film now-call it Gore Film and
•A}: �fib)' 1101? just pull arms and legs off ladies- I would shoot just for
• FH: I think they're afraid of offending people's sensibili­ videotape. because there would be no theatrical market. But,
ties. Now they equate "X" with sex. When the rating code I don't like working in videotape-yet. I'm sure it will
first came out, X meant an adult film (but not exclusively a change!
se:nmlly e::-.plicit film). If was X, Medium Cool was X, Mid­ •AJ: What's your film background?
night Couoboy was X, and these were mainstream films that • FH: I started doing 8mm films with magnetic soundtracks.
weren't junk. They've all been re-rated "R" now. I don't know You dub everything in later on, which you also have to mix at
why horror films fall into that category; it's quite obvious the same time. If you were doing music you'd have one hand
·you're showing blood and gore, not sex. I don't understand on the record needle ready to spin and have everybody
what they're pretl!?nting. hovering around this chintzy little microphone. My films
The pendulum's swinging the other way now to where sex were all at least an hour long and all very heavily plotted.To
is good but blood and gore is unhealthy. Internationally, me they were "movie" movies-sick mixtures of comedy and

11
horror; you were never quite sure what.I'd sit and write what they look like as long as we're having a good time pla}ing
I thought was really funny comedy. but everybody would \Vith them!
think it was just really morbid ... • A]: Are you u'Orking on a film nou•?
I like a gag next to a bloodshed-it keeps everybody • FH: The monsters are being made now. A guy upstate
unnerved; you get the sense that the film is desperately out of named Dave Kindling, who started as a make-up artist but got
control.And-if you miscalculate, so u•lx1t? I mean. half the detoured, makes fabulous mechanical parts; he's making
time I didn't know how an audience would react ...but who these radio-controlled eels. The stuff he can create is scary as
cares? You still get a reaction. You're doing a film low-budget hell. He's asking me. "Do you want the eyes to do this, and the
enough so you've made your market anyway; the weight of mouth to do that?" and I'm sa}ing. "Yeah. sure. great!"
the film doesn't rest on whether this gag gets a laugh or a Strange vocation.
scream. So what the hell? • A]: So you'1•e got the script and the fundinM?
I've got films dating from 1964. There's a lot of folks in • FH: The whole thing. of course. is getting the money.
them who are now dead. which is pretry creepy. I've put That's all that maners anymore: u•here do you get the
them all on videotape-it's such a drag setting up the projec­ money? It used to be different when there were ta..x shelters
tor and screen and all that.I don't show them, but I also don't and you could ask your local dentist for money. I have no
want to part with them. stomach for sitting down with people who have access to
rich folks, so ...Luckily. the distributor of Basket Case. Roger
Grod, sent the script to some video companies who are
offering ridiculous sums of money-good ridiculous sums.
Oft-, through ..... tlnctiori, lllillion,
lled It's still mind-boggling to me that people can raise S800.000
Inept ......., a ,.. st.ts aaut•• and make a monster mo'ic out of it. But, of course this is the

_...o ..tk w....._, tc*lng a........, real world where they make them forSI2 million, so what am
I talking about!?!
clkhid story Into new frOIItlen-you're I don't want to do another Basket Case. meaning. I don't
littina .............. ,.. ...... totaly want to do another film that technically crude.There were
just too many compromises. I'm not anxious to crank out
•dhd, ...., ...... .. .... .... ... .
films.I have no interest in just directing; I'd rather direct my
... ....... JIUt. Oll'n bad scripts than somebody else's. People occasionally
call me up on the phone with this "real exciting" slasher plot.
and I think, "Get out of here." I have nothing against slasher
• A]: Hou• did you get the money to shootyourearlyfilms? films-certainly nothing against killing teenagers, or gratui­
• FH: When 1 was shooting Bmm it didn't maner. 16mm \vas tous \'iolence-cenainly nothing whatsoever against blood
another problem-you had to be very cautious.With Basket and gore. But. I certainly don't want to do another formula
Case it was insane-! didn't have the footage to worry about work: "Ten years ago. these babysitters were ..." and tht:n
the acting being more believable or more sincere. We'd flash to a summer camp. You sit there bored to death for 89 of
begin a day and it was never a question of "What scenes do its 90 minutes just to sec a total combination of maybe one
we shoot today?", it was: "How much film do we have for minute of R-rated gore-effects that have been severely cut. I
what we hcu•e to shoot?" We had to do a lot of fast rewriting; mean. what kind of a mo\ie is that?
scurrying around and cramming things in: "One take-right, One producer brought me a very boring script \\11ich she
folks?" wanted me to rewrite. She admitted it was too much of a
The costs started doubling while we were making the film. formula plot. but she liked the characters. Instead of
We shot it in 16mm and blew it up to 3Smm. I was real rev.Titing the script-! wasn't going to waste timc-1 started
dissatisfied with the blow-up-it carne out very dark. On the
other hand, when I was resplicing all the gore back into the
film (after that sleaze outfit that first had it went under). all
the gore footage had been printed in England and it was
beautiful; all the light and colorwas back and it wasn't dark at
Henenlotter's collection of early Super-8 movies transferred to video.
all. But, I would not do that again.
He also designed the covers.
The cost of the blow-up is comparable to shooting it all in
3Smm. Except, you ha,•e to rent the 3Smm equipment which
is really expensive, and you have to deal with ugly things like
unions and teamsters.Younger people I know who are start·
ing in film always say, "Do it in 16mm, because you always
know someone who owns the equipment!" It's still cheap to
edit in J6mm; you can edit in your bedroom, and everybody
knows someone with a 16mm camera. 3Smm is a whole
different problem, but that's the only way /would go next: I
just want a better image-same rotten stories, but a better
technical gloss' I would like to be able to move the camera
around, too. We had to create pace in the editing-an old
Russ Meyer trick, but I would have liked to have moved the
camera just a little bit, folks ...
• A]: Basket Case did okay?
• FH: It made more money than it had any right to make!
While it's not exactly a household word, it's gonen more
comment than I would ever have expected.
I �ve no sense or concept of money. but you have to have
common sense. If I only have this much film and I have all
these people here. I don't want to look like a damn fool and
not get around to their scenes. Now, it's a pleasure to be able
to pay to have decent monsters made. I don't even care what
writing treatments of it-you know, a thousand different "fun"-terrible, "terrible"-terrible.It'spain to actually be asso­
ways to go with the story. Every one was getting rejected. ciated with films like that.
Why? Because I was changing too much from the formula. Unfortunately, the majority of people would still rather see
What it came down to was-what she really wanted was Christine or any new Stephen King film than The Corpse
funny dialogue-giving the characters funny names and Grinders. But I think there's enough people bored with
having them say witty things. But how many times can you mainstream so that when something comes out that's a little
have a teenager wittily say, "Let's get laid! (and fast, because offbeat, they'll stroll to see it. But the economics of how
we're gonna get killed)!" So, I have no desire to make a film Corpse Grinders could play all those drive-ins just doesn't
just for the sake of making a film. exist today.
• A]: That's the sad thing-it's almost as if this were a lost
art-
• FH: It won't be lost as long as people talk about it, write
about it, and as long as it's on a videotape.
• A]: But bow can this be replenished?
• FH: Anybody who comes in here, if I end up getting
friendly with them, and sit them in front of a TV set and put
Corpse Grinders or lisa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks or
Wanda the Wicked Warden or half a dozen of these others in
front of them, is going to end up getting turned on and then
tum somebody else on to them.
• A]: Yes. But sadly, bow many of these offbeat films will
come out in 1985 or 1986? That's why it's !leY)' encouraging
to bear your story1-bow you just went out and got a
The irony is: the script we are going to do is certainly the camera and did it.
most outrageous one I've written. When I was writing it, at • FH: It's also encouraging that we have two major video
that point I didn't see any hope of making another film, so I companies who want to put up the money for this next one.
didn't care what I was writing and it really flowed and it was It's mind-boggling because: the script reads as an X; in both
funny-I was sitting there typing and cackling. But it looks cases I have to be held to an R rating. But what's interesting
like we have funding now. is, both video companies said, "Still, go ahead and make an
• A]: How much did Basket Case cost? un-rated X," because they may want to release both versions
• FH: The total must have come to SI60,000. But the film on tape. They want theatrical R so it will make enough money
had to be shot for less than SSO,OOO. We didn't have any at the box office to make their investment worthwhile on
money when we were shooting it. All the money came in videotape.
later in post-production, so I was able to edit the film with One problem is: how do you give out sleazy, shlocky
decent equipment and put decent sound into it. Shooting it gimmicks on videotape? I wish I could cram a surgical mask
was: no money available for anything! I would have loved to into every box of Basket Case. I wrote a great 3-0 film I
walk into it with S 160,000, instead of walking into it with wanted to do, but again, the economics of doing a 3-0 film
S7,000 and saying, "Well, I hope we get another <.·ouple of proved unworkable-there's no ancillary rights, no one will
hundred next week!" put up the money to do one, etc.
• A]: Was this your first film? I wanted to do a film that was partial 3-0 and partial flat, so
• FH: My first commercial one. But I had done lots of things whenever we switched to 3-0 I wanted everybody in the film
before in 16mm. All I'd intended to do was another film in to put on 3-0 glasses. Because I have a hard time with 3-0
16mm, but it just got larger and larger. I never thought it anyway-it's hard on the eyes, so give me half and half. That
would have any significant commercial release; videotape reminds me-l have Paradisio on tape! It's an early nudie
had never occurred to me as a market. I just figured that if we 3-0 movie; when the guy puts his glasses on it switches to
could get it playing on 4 2nd Street someday, that would be a bad-bad 3-0 and nude girls. And the big gag in the film was:
kick. And it still hasn't played there. I laughs I Probably by the when he gets drunk, a girl sits down, and she has 3 breasts ...
time it'll be ready to open there they'll be tearing the last • A]: 1/ozJ(! gimmicks like that ... How will you handle the
theater down .
·

. . X/R rating problem on your next film?

• A]: Do you do commercial film jobs like script rewriting • FH: I'll send the goriest version I have to the MPAA any­
or editing? way, because they're totally against any independent, totally
• FH: No. But it's such a small community in New York that against any· horror film.They saw Basket Case, they gave me
you get to know people, and people ask you for favors, and an X.
you end up working on a film or helping out, etc.
I don't want to make a movie to pay the rent.! don't mind if
it does later on, but I don't want to say, "Jesus, I've gotta go
out and make a movie today because I need some money."
.... .. ,...... ...... .. ..... .., ..
Because then, what do you have? I do not want to make a .. .... . . .... .. ..... .. .... ..
career out of directing or making films, unless they're my ........
own films. (As dubious a career as that might be, that's fine
with me!)
• A]: Hou• do you support yourself? •AJ: Wby?
• FH: Unfortunately, in advertising. To talk about it any • FH: That never should have been an X-they were pissed
further would just bore us both to tears! The only thing to off that it had been playing midnight movies and they hadn't
come out of it was that I was able to slap a poster together been consulted; that we'd already had a theatrical release. So,
very fast! And I did all the newspaper ads overnight. the best thing to do is to give them hours of footage; give
But, once I look at film as a 9-S job, the magic is over­ them a 4-hour version with nothing but blood and gore;
forget it, I'll do something else. That's why when I'm asked to throw in autopsy footage, slaughterhouse footage, and keep
cut a trailer for somebody, usually the answer is no. But also, cutting until you get your R.And they cba18e you J1 000 or so
nobody's ever come to me with a good film and said, "Hey, to do this each time. You have to pay them for the honor of
you want to help out?" It's always been just terrible, and not hearing them say, ''We hated your film, by the way. We just

13
Scene from hsket Case.

want to let you know that even though it got an R, we really moments. When it flows it's like stream-of-consciousness­
thought it was terrible." But you need that little R. The just spewing out, and you have no control over when that's
newspapers will say to you, "We're not allowed to advertise going to happen! Afterwards I spend the nexl couple of
any un-rated films.Do you mind if we put an Ron it?" You say, weeks trying to put what I just �crihhlt'd out into the Engli!>h
"No, we don't mind, as long as we don't know about it." lt's a11 language, grammatically correct. \X1len I sit d0\\11 at the
bullshit, it's all nonsense. Theatrical distribution is still a typewriter I'm usually in re-writing.
carnival sideshow, with aJI the cheap petty criminals and
thieves tearing at your pockets.
• A]: Do you eoer write fiction or nonfiction? Anything that mak• you think can't be bacl
• FH: I just sit and write scripts. I'm really into that now to If you watCh a cat being mutilated cmd read
the point that when I start writing, I really enjoy it; I look
forward to it. I can't write 9·5 because I'm working, but I
to It, you're going to think about why you
make sure I sit at the typewriter at least an hour every night. I ... reacting to lt. No -·• going to sit
actually look forward to weekends, not for going out or there cmd lust get off on It (if you are,
seeing friends, but to sit at the typewriter.
•AJ: How do you write?
you're such a lick tuck that It doesn't
• FH: It's like solving a jigsaw puzzle where you're putting ......, whether they put it on tape or not­
all the pieces in and you're making it all work. I love figuring yeu're a lerlc cmyway).
out ways to get out of plot problems and figuring out how to
get out of this and that. I aJways carry paper and pencil with
me because I'll be sitting on the subway and all of a sudden • A]: Hou• long does it take to do a soipt?
the solution hits, and if you're not ready for it -well, you have • FH: It takes me about a year to tum a vision of a demented
to be ready real fast to write it down! Or, I'll be watching horror film into a script that an ordinary person could sit
another film which has nothing to do with it whatsoever, down and cackle over. But, I still don't understand how
and-1 don't know what triggers it, but all of a sudden I'll scripts ever came about, because boll' can you unte a script
have to write it down, write all the notes and that stuff. first? It's like going to a painter and saying. "We won't buy
• A]: Do your dreams ever provide solutions? you the canvas or the paints until you first tell us what your
• FH: No. I constantly dream but I've never been able to painting will be, in a 75-page essay.We'll read it first and sec if
tum a dream into a visual. But, solutions come at unexpected the painting should be that, and then ... "
 In other words, you have to go through the process of for weeks after! Nevertheless, horror films should be at that
telling your story in two totally different, separate mediums. frontier.
On white paper it has to average about a minute a page; There should be films that combine hardcore porn with
there's a certain format it's got to be in, etc. The trick it's the most repulsive images of death, using music, plot, every­
taken me awhile to learn is how to write a script that reads thing. That's what I would like to see, although that may not
like a script without me being around. So that somebody who be what I'd like to do. I was hoping Galg
i ula would be a hit,
doesn't e'-en know me can chuckle and say, "Hey, this is because I liked the idea of a legit film with porno throwa­
funny. This is gory." ways, mixed with blood and violence. What I'm talking about
In a way you're lying to them, because you're convincing here is defeating all the formulas and traditions, which is not
them they're being let in on this great little story, even going to happen-why kid myself? But that's what I would
though-how can you describe blood and gore on paper? I like to see. Maybe a film that totally defied every taboo could
don't know. You allude to it, but you can't disgust them with be made for video so you wouldn't have the usual commer­
it. You don't use words like "entrails" or "bloody stump," you cial hassles.
try to write so that anybody could pick it up and read it and • A]: Still, there's that problem of distribution.
think it's great. I'm not crying, because if anybody gives you • FH: Yes, I had to send away to Kansas for that SPK tape.
5800,000 to make a horror film, that's totally ludicrous to [address: Fresh Sounds, PO Box 36, Lawrence, KS 66044]
begin with. So, I'm sitting there cackling as I'm typing: "If I get What I liked about the SPK tape was: there was no heavy
money out of this one, U'Ou•.'" pompous narration like in Faces of Death. They didn't offer
any good, bad or whatever, just "here's a visual of this. If you
can't take it, leave the room or speed it up." They didn't say
whether they embraced it, or were commenting against it;
But as a t.n-year-old kid I •• the
they weren't saying, "Oh, look at these horrible things in the
.,.._. t.tw... a real.- ... a 111Gb- world," or "look at these great things in the world." That was
believe IU'L C....._ especia1y _.. tt. first the brilliance of the video, and that's where horror films

OMS to k.w the tlffennce. So, I ....t

should be. Films should be able to push our responses to
violence, our responses to death.
know who people_.. prot� wt.l they Why are we fascinated by death, blood and gore? Do we
censor films. They'n not protecting the like only fake blood and gore (like me)? Or can we deal with
chilchn; I thWc they'n protecting their own real blood and gore? Is knowing it's fake the difference? Why
was I repulsed by those severed heads? They looked fake, but
...,.ow INI*ing, now. I knew they were real. But how did I know they were
real-they didn't tell me they were real. Why is autopsy
footage so repulsive to me; why is it repulsive to anybody?
When you finish the film and send it to the company they • AI \flould J'OU eti(!Y use real footage in )'OUr own films
say, "Godalmighty, look what we have to put out on video­ just to push your ou•n boundaries?
tape; this is just hideous. But it'll probably sell at least 25.000 • FH: I don't see how I could, commercially. I wouldn't do a
units right otT the bat." So, it's all a con job, right? Just to get film that called for a prolonged autopsy; I wouldn't want to
everybody interested. they put bloody advertising on horror kill somebody and then start pulling things out.But, I'm more
films that have no blood in them. But that's the appeal of like. interested in having a good time. I'm not saying I wouldn't do
Dr. Butcher-a totally pointless film that offers you nothing it, but at this point I have far too many problems I can't cope
but loads and loads of lovely. gratuitous violence. Not very with to burden myself with more. Because I have to lick those
convincing, but who cares-it's great. problems first: deciding what bothers me, what repulses me,
A totally different approach was on this videotape, Despair, and why. Despair is not a tape I casually watch; I certainly
done by a British music group, SPK. have never sat through all of the cat mutilation [even though
• A]: Yes. that shou•s footage of an actual autopsy set to
music.
• FH: When I saw the video I thought, "What a fabulous
thing; what a strange way of using music. Who would make a
music tlideo to such horror-with actual severed heads ...
• A]: Did seeing that autopsy footage repulse you? Henenlotter's apartment.
• FH: TI1at autopsy absolutely repulsed me. If you were
stoned, that video could do damage to you! But, whether I
like it or not is beside the point-I was exdted by it.
I like being in touch with things that repulse me. That's

I
why I used lO search for snuff films, too. When Roberta
Findlay's Snuff appeared in the late '70s, 42nd Street then
burst forth with a lot of"authentic" snuff films in peep shows.
None of them were real, but if there were a real one I'm sure
it would be out there selling like hotcakes.
Faces of Death is now a big seller; basically it's a snuff
documentary about how we deal with death. Almost all the
scenes are obviously faked, but that doesn't negate the sick
beauty of a film that is a fake snuff documentary! There is
some real video footage of a woman commiting suicide at a
distance, of a plane crash with pieces of bodies lying all over
the street. There is some obviously faked (though enjoyably
sick) footage of somebody getting the electric chair, eyeballs
bleeding and bubbling out .. .
I have no trouble watching the execution of human beings.
But I really can't watch the killing of animals-some poor
little guinea pig or cat or baby seal,forget it. I'll be depressed
the cat was already dead ] . and I probably never will! film. especially since I wasn't sure how I would deal with a
Anyway, if they are selling hardcore pornography to house­ real snuff film. I figured I'd deal with that when I actually saw
wives in this country; if the average family is taking hardcore one, but how do you real�)' deal with it?You're just looking at
porno into their homes; if it's now socially acceptable:: for a shadows of light, but can that make you an accomplice to
murder?
Real life horror, like taking a child and murdering it while
filming it, is not a horror that any of us want to deal with. I
I have trouWe watchil�g the execution of
no
certainly wouldn't buy that on videotape . So there are boun­
......._ ...... But I really can�t watch the daries. I will not watch concentration camp footage- I can't
lcllng of anlmals-Mme poor little .,�nee� cope with that and I never will. So right away there's a
pig or cat or ..., seal, forget it. I'H be problem: push it, but don't push it too Eu- fm not the one to
solve these questions .
....s., ed for weeks after! • A]: From earliest times our creatit!f! imaginations hat!f!
unleashed rau•, /fiolent imagery, just as our dreams do.
&1/inese. u•ho are a tJf!l)'peacefulpeople, lxu 'l!for centuries
woman to walk into a video store and say, 'Td like to rent traditional�)' enacted dances and trance 1itua/s that are
Talk Dirty to Me, Part Two, then maybe we can push the
i
lJf!r)' t •iolent. Ear�) ' recorded l 'sual art like tbe Lascauxcat!f!S
boundaries of horror like that - take all that horrifying stuff or Pompeii murals document rtlll'. /liolent (and sometimes
and expand upon it. blatantry• sexual) imageJy. So theres a u•hole let'l!l ofartistic
• A]: Wbat do you think abou t the ef
fects of hoiTOr? expre sion and drama that bas functioned in society as
s
• FH: Anything that makes you think can't be bad! lf you catharsis. A n_yu •ay, society cannot police the imagination;
watch a cat being mutilated and react to it, you're going to imagine censoring Bosch or Goya or Frands Bacon.
i
think about why you are reacting to it. No one's going to sit &tscally, no one has been able toprol!f! a causa l connection
there and just get off on it (if you are, you're such a sick fuck between artistic expression and "actual " uiolence.
that it doesn't matter whether they put it on tape or not,
you're a jerk anyway). lf it's upsetting you, you're gonna
wonder why you're getting upset. 1hat autopsy absolutely repuhed ..... If you
I get upset, especially at real life violence-who could
... stoMcl, that video could clo ...... to
possibly cope with real life violence? I once had a gun put to
my head. I n the aftermath it was exhilarating, because I
youl But, ......_ I Ike it or not is beside
thought in terms I'd never thought before! But as a ten-year­ the ..._. was excited by lt. I Ike being In
old kid I knew the difference between a real gun and a teuch with fhinus that repulse .....
make-believe gun; I knew that the girl in Orcus of Hotrors
who got stabbed in the throat didn't really die. Children
especially are the first ones to know the dillerence. That's • FH: As long as we know it's in control, or it's imaginary, it's
why you loved the Three Stooge s-you knew damn well they okay. The real stuff I'm always attracted to, but I don't want it
weren't getting hit on the head with a hammer. So. I don't dropped in my lap! I really wouldn't know what to do with a
know who people are protecting when they censor films. videotape of a real murder . . . but I bet I'd watch it . . .
They're not protecting the children; I think they're protect­ What we're really talking about is: being responsible for
ing their own narrow thinking, now. your imagery'. I'd rather be irrespon sible abour it. I'd rather
So, I like things that upset my thinking. I like things that just have blood and gore and have a good time. That may be
really screw me up, that I can't come to terms with. It's not a corrupt and wrong. but I don't care. Having the police confis­
comfortable feeling, but-boy, it shakes you up and it's very cate copies of Ertil Dead was a wonderful tribute to Sam
exciting. Raimi; he should be proud of that, even though he probably
When I saw those snuff films in the peep shows, they lost a lot of money . . .
weren't real but it didn't matter. There was something Today, with the cheapness ofvideotape. it would be nice to
unclean about me making this obsessive search to see a snuff see what we liked in fi lms pushed to boundaries thar would

Henenlotter's apartment.

16
Henenlotter's refrigerator.

bother us. Not that it has to be real, but push it to the he would display such intelligence and affluence. All the
boundaries. Whether it's a rock band or a bunch of artists or fraud charges that were attributed to him he claims are
some weird Ed Gein character, somebody should do it. The untrue, yet I secretly hope they were true! I hope someday
irony is that half the films we talk about already disturb the he'll come out and say, "Hey, folks, I really did do all that."
normal person . . . I asked Herschel! where he was going to take horror,
• A]: But it s an odd process. in that what was 'X" 10 years because the market was catching up to him. Gore Gore Girls
ago is nou• "R" today . . . was such an astonishing film because he had never combined
nudity with horror before, let alone with that level of pro­
longed on-camera viciousness, although what he did was no
I hne ...... againSt ....... ••• worse tha-n cutting off somebody's leg or tongue .
...., ...... against � ,•••....,., • AJ: What did be say?
• FH: Well, he didn't have an answer . . .
. .-�..... ...... ....... ....... • A]: Your film Basket Case is a minor classic. You're a
....... ..lost Wood ...t ...... W, I filmmaker who on one le11el, achietl(!d-
�-·· tloll't -- to .. ...... ,...... • FH: Stress what a small, insignificant level it is, because
werta ''Yen ,... ... these ......
.,. .,. I'm really embarrassed by the amount of hype Basket Case
has gotten. It's not an important film-
_.. . . ."
• A]: But it's representatitl(! that a film can be made now
u#h a kind of genuineness.
• FH: Have you seen Herschell Gordon Lewis's The Gore • FH: But that was four years ago-it was made i n '81 and
Gore Girls? It's a good example of something that's blatantly released in '82. You should interview Sam Raimi, because he
phony, yet very effective. Didn't that go a lot further than you made Evil Dead which was an important, independent gore
expected it to? Sticking a fork in an empty eye socket-you film as well as a monster hit. Even magazines like Film
know what I mean? Cutting off nipples . . . the fact that it was Comment said nice things about Evil Dead. ( I 'm sure that
blatantly phony helped you enjoy it. That was done in '72, but depressed him, but . . . ) He got the money to immediately
today no one comes close to that amount of viciousness . . . make a second film, Crime Wave, which hasn't been released
Herschell's a delight. Before I had met him, I figured (just yet. They're hyping Evil Dead ll . . . He's the one who's made
on the basis of films) the poor guy's probably a poverty­ an important, independent gore film. 1 should be a footnote
struck old man living above a deli somewhere. I didn't think with an asterisk! •
17
 I N T E R V I E W:

was reading Robert Browning and leading what I thought

Se lf-desc:ribed as "the guru o f gore-the first diredor to

show people dying with their eyes open," Herschel! Gordon
was the good life. One day somebody offered me a job in
advertising. As you may know. most academicians have a
profound contempt for anybody who works for a living-/
Lewis invented the genre of Intensive gore films in 1963 did! I felt the peculiar sense of dedi<.:ation you have when you
with Blood Feast. It featured a Playboy brunette whose have les
s responsibilities than you'll ever again have in your
brains were scooped from her skull, a blonde whose tongue life. because the one marvelous thing ahout teaching school
was pulled out while still olive, and other memorable dis­ is that you teach school. and the nex'l year you come back
and look at your lecture notes and teach it again. Whereas in
memberments filmed in "Blood Color." The film was
the world of commerce you live on your wits1
instantly successful-causing a traffic jam-and Lewis went
I got into radio and then television in the early days ofTV. I
on to make other gore classics including 2000 Maniacs, the
became a producer at WKYY at Oklahoma City. pushing
artistic Color Me Blood Red, The Gruesome Twosome, buttons and playing God-you push a button and screens
She-Devlh on Wheels, the philosophical Wizard of Gore change in tens of thousands of homes, and you feel you have a
and lastly, in 1972, The Gore Gore Girls-a satire on the sense of cosmic destiny! From there I went hack to Chicago
genre. (Interspersed throughout the making of the gore as the television director of an advertising agency. When I
films were other nudies including Linda and Abilene, a had been at Oklahoma City we'd produced some 1V shows
nudie western filmed in 1969 at the Spahn Ranch just a few which I had thought were worthy of syndication called the
months before it became famous for hosting the Monson "Chuck Wagon Boys." They simply sang and played guitars
and string bass. When I got back to Chicago I got the notion
family.) Then, disgusted by the financial chicaneries inherent
of using those same fellows. We made a hunch of television
in the film business, he become a successful dired-moil
shorts together. In the course of production I became
marketing consultant-which he remains to this day.
friendly with the fellow who owned the film studio. His
Born June 1 5 , 1926, Lewis was an English professor with a partner had left for greener fields. so he '\vas casting about for
Ph.D before being lured to filmmaking. In the late '50s he another partner.
teamed up with Chicago producer David Friedman and made • A}: Was this Da1•e Friedman ?
The Prime Time, a nudie-cutie featuring teenage girls in • HGL: No. this was a guy named Marty Schmidhoft·r. We
bikinis, juvenile delinquents and a beatnik artist. He mode formed a company called ''Lewis & Martin Films"; "Lewis &
several more nudies before stumbling upon the gore for­ Schmidhofer" would not have fit on the building• l11is was
mula. As he put it, " Blood Feast is on occident of history. We long hefore Dave Friedman. So. I got into the commercial
end of the film business. I was shooting television commer·
didn't deliberately set out to establish a new genre of
cials. business films, government films- the usual flotsam
motion pidures; rather, we were escaping from an old one."
and jetsam that the typical commercial studio makes.
These days Herschel! Gordon Lewis lives near Fort Lauder­
• MARK PAULINE: W1Jat year II VIS that?
dale, Florida in a modern stucco house on the edge of a lake.
• HGL: Oh. we started that in 19S2 or 19S3. One day ( I 'd
He owns four cars including a Deloreon and a white, right­ hcen doing this for 6 or 7 years. occause in 19S9 we made 7be
hand drive Rolls Royce. There are rumors that he might Plime Time) somebody asked me. "How do you make any
return to film with projeds such as Blood Feast II or money in your· business?" ( I had been complaining [as I
Galaxy Glrh, but for now he seems more than content to usually did I about the company overhead. the cost of equip·
enjoy his leisurely life. ment, the failure to make payroll. or whatever happens to
In the following interviews, initially Boyd Rice talked with people in that business.) I said, "l11e only way to make

.flerschell Gorclon Lewis on the telephone. Subsequently money in the film business is to shoot features." He said .
"Why don't you shoot a feature?"
Andrea Juno and Mark Pauline visited the Godfather of Gore
I really had no answer for him. That it didn't make sense to
himself in his lush Florida paradise, just before his afternoon
shoot features didn't occur to me; that I had no background
tennis game . . .
in distribution didn't occur to me, because again. in the
happy ignorance that you have not knowing what's going on
in the world, you have what is called the Horatio Alger
syndrome: ''I'll do something brilliant and everyone will
notice it1 Some multi·millionaire will stop me on the street
• ANDREA JUNO: How did you stm1 filmmaking ? I read and say, 'You're a bright young man and I must have you!
tbat you bad an academic background- Whatever you want, it's yours!' " Unfortunately, life doesn't
• HERSCH ELL GORDON LEWIS: -Which, as you probably run along such straight lines. But fortunately, sometimes one
know, is of no value in trying to earn a living! Years ago, going can emerge from this cauldron with scar tissue, but without
back to the year 1831 [laughs). I was a teacher. I taught being killed• It's really a crap game; sometimesyou get killed.
English and the humanities at Mississippi State which is not sometimes you just get wounded. As you may know. where
one of our major centers of culture. But, it was stimulating; I you have scars the skin is stronger than where you just have

18
Scum of the Earth.

ordinary skin. ( I'm getting deep into allegory!) director's chair yelling, "Roll it!" and "Cut!" -that's a lot of
Anyway, I started to make features, and I shot two of them. malarkey! It's a positive way to waste money, and many
The first was called 7be Prime Time: the second was called people do it: waste money. And half of the time their films
Litling Venus. In the case of 7be Prime Time I made the don't even get finished.
typical, classic mistake that everyone makes when he is more On the first film I made I was the producer, not the
concerned with his image than with making money. This, director. I went to a studio in Chicago named Fred Niles [sic]
again, is where scar tissue becomes helpful, because later on and they really took me for a ride! I was unioned to death. I
you don't feel you're losing face by helping the crew sweep hired a guy named Gordon Weisenborn to direct; he got his
up at the end of a shoot . This business of sitting in the jollies directing this film. And we produced a film in glorious

19
�rnJI[9J ME BU?Oll rnJ�IDJ
Drenched in CRIMSON COLOR

� :

black and white that was largely unplayable. But one thing I found that being producer on the independent production
learned from that experience was that a powerful campaign level is a meaningless piece of title-passing. I laugh some­
can make up for an imperfect picture. times looking at film credits and seeing something like "Unit
• A]: What kind ofpicture was it? Manager"-what in the heck is a Unit Manager?! And after a
• HGL: I can best describe it as a nothing picture! Fred while, just to give somebody who worked on the crew a
Niles had a friend who claimed to be a screenwriter named credit, we'd call him a "Unit Manager"-he wouldn't be
Robert Abel. ( Later, it turned out that Robert Abel had no quite sure what he had done! Or. "Production Designed
screen credits, but Fred Niles believed he was a screen· by"-that always appeals to me! What does that mean: "Pro·
writer. ) He wrote this screenplayabout a young girl who is wild, duction designed by"?!
looking for thrills and kicks. In today's marketplace the • A]: Did you u,.;te your ou>n films, too ?
picture doesn't have anything in it that would even cause it • HGL: Many o( them, yes. With Lilling Venus, I bought a
to rate a PG, except that somebody gets shot. It's closer to a half-finished screenplay from a guy named jim McGuinn, and
G. But project yourself back in time 25 years. There was
nothing about it that had any box-office appeal. One of the
things you learn when you cease being an "auteur" and I ._,, ..._. _. ... suffenll tn. lack of
become a commercial filmmaker, is that you care less for
....... It .. tl 1st the crude pow• of a
impressing your cronies in the screening room than for
impressing the yahoos out there in the theater! ..., 11r 111.,._ as ..,.... to a p1lllll
• A}: So that s more U'batyou bad in mind U'ben you U'(!T'f! ..., 11r S1ph1dls.
making thesefilms: bow to make tbe maximum amount of
money ?
• HGL: Well, whathappensisan evolutionaryprocess. With then finished it. I wrote many-! wrote 2000 Maniacs, I
the first film, I had no idea what I was doing. Il's easy to say wrote Color Me Blood Red. I'm making it sound more
that I was at the mercy of forces larger than myself- I had a impromptu than it really was. With Blood Feast, for example,
film distributor, I had a film studio, I had people pushing and which was our biggest winner of all, we gave somebody on
shoving, each of whom had a vested interest which was the crew credit for writing that film because I didn't feel it
peripheral to the commercial success of the picture. I looked good to usurp all the credits-that makes it look like
learned that only after I made the second picture, Lil'ing a home-movie!
Venus. a much more hard-boiled picture which I directed I still object to that when I see other people doing it:
myself From that point forward. I directed all the films. I "Produced by joe Glutz! Directed byjoe Glutz1 Music byJoe

20
Glutz! Director of Cinematography: joe Glutz! Starring Joe weren't (on paper) in terrible shape. In reality, the company
Glutz!" Well, if the film is su<:cessful. it's a miracle because then folded and I was left to my own devices, realizing, like
Joe Glutz, like Woody Allen, often loses his viewpoinl altoge­ the Ancient Mariner, "a sadder and a wiser man he rose the
ther and begins to appeal to a coterie. Woody Allen got away following morning." Sadder and wiser, I went back Into the
with i1 because he has a larp.e coterie, but he has made some arena, like the fellow who wrestles alligators and has just lost
rotten films that are beyond human understanding. And that his left arm but still has his right arm, so back he goes the
wouldn't have happened if he'd had someone there with a next day-it's only a flesh wound.
set of brains saying, "Hold it! The people in the audience will Gradually I learned that there are trigger mechanisms that
not understand this dark symbolism you are suddenly inject- work on a motion picture audience. You can literally force
the rats through the maze. What are the limitations? Number
one, I had no budget. Not ever did I have a budget. Once I
� I ._,_. that tllen an .,._.. was through with those first two pictures I never shot

_..._. that •orlc .. a motion picture another film with a union crew, which is one reason we were
able to compress so much inlo a film without spending a lot
...tlence. You am ..._., force the rats of money. I remember screening Moonshine Mountain for
through the .... AVCO Embassy, and the fellow said to me, "What do you have
in this film?" I said, "Under 5400,000" and he said, "Oh yes,
uh huh." They don't know! I didn't have I/IOth of S400,000
ing into what is supposed to be a comedy!" in that picture, but even at S400,000 it's still embarrassingly
In my case. what happened was: the distributor of those cheap for AVCO Embassy!
first two films went bust. Oddly. those films would not have • A]: Hou• much Ul(lS Blood Feast?
been a commercial disaster if he hadn't gone bust. But • HGL: What did it cost to make? You're immortalizing
because he owed the production about S 100,000 at the time these things, aren't you'
he went under. and that was about what we had in them, we • A]: Actually. there's an inverse pride in bow much these

Tht sacrifice of lshtar in alood Feast.

 pictures cost!
• HGL: Don't gauge anything by Blood Feast. It cost $24 ,000
to make and it was shot in 35mm color. And that's not much
money considering we shot in 35mm color. The reason we
were able to do it is: neither then, nor ever. did we shoot a
rehearsal. I see people in the industry today talking about
take 24. What is the logic behind bating take 24 other than
salving somebody's ego? Why rmuld you need 24 takes? It
means that for the first 23 takes the actors weren't well­
rehearsed.
Actors are very shrewd. If they don't like a take they'll start
to swear and then you must yell, "Cut!" Sometimes they do it
quite deliberately to force you to yeii "Cut!" so you won't use
a take they don't like. but not on my pictures they didn't!
That's because we work as a team, and we would end the take
where we had to and pick it up with a close-up on somebody
else if we were that deep into it. But in a typical picture, if you
have a take of 4 5 seconds and 40 seconds in they blow the
take, they'll start again from ground zero. We never did that.
but that's a technical refinement.
The point is, that for a film that ran between 7-8,000 feet at
90 feet-per-minute (so a 90-minute picture is 8, 100 feet ). we

--···i ng
would only buy 1 5 - I 7,000 feet of film. Seldom was it over a
2:1 ratio. And we'd use part of that for trailers; sometimes we
outblocked ourselves. Lucky Pierre, which was our first hit.
BETTY CONNELL
ran exactly 70 minutes, because in those days. if you were
NANCY LEE NOBLE under 70 minutes you had trouble getting a theater to book
you as a top feature -it would be regarded asafeaturette. So
it had to run 70 minutes, which is 6,300 feet. We only bought
8,000 feet of film. We cut the slates off and there wasn't
enough to fill a little 400-ft can! In fact, we had to go out and
duplicate footage to make a trailer.
I don't want to Otl(?rstate the commercial aspects of film­
making, nor am I trying to justify making films for almost no
money. l read your William Burroughs Re/Search and it
seemed to be a thoughtful and literate piece of journalism
which one doesn't often find, so l suspect that some of the
finer philosophical points will not be lost on you. as they
would be on a more crass-mass level. There arc a couple of
problems that pertain to independent film production. and
unless you face and dispose of those problems,sinequa non,
there is nothing else. One is, I was self-fi nanced. I didn't have
some main office I could call to say, "Well, I need another
$ 1 .000.000 to finish the picture!" I didn't have any angel; I
didn't have any sugar-daddy. I had hard-boiled partners in
some cases; I had no partners in others. In every case. the
success of the film was directly related to my ongoing life·
style. or lack thereof. That's an overriding factor.
There's a big difference between a couple of hoodlums
who hold up a gas station because it gives them a thrill, and a
fellow whose baby is starving and he has to have a loaf of
bread and fle takes it all to the grocery store. In making
independent films, I was not about to ignore the lessons I had
learned so hard, so bitterly, and so expensively. Those lessons
being: I ) there is a way to get people in the theater; 2 ) there
is a way of shortening the odds; 3 ) the ability to cram
production value into a low-budget picture is a peculiar
talent I happen to have, and I might as well exploit it!
let us suppose that in the middle of all this, somebody
from one of the Hollywood major companies had noticed
what was going on, because our films U'f!re making money.
( Invariably they were making money, invariably they were
commanding playing-time. ) They were never in trouble
because the investment in them was so low. I think that the
most I ever spent on a film was between S60,000-S70,000.
Suppose someone had said, "Hey fella. you seem like a bright
young man. Here's S 1,000,000. By our standards, that's nick­
els and dimes; by your standards it's a Croesus'fortune. Spend
this money wisely, my son. Go forth into the world and make
a picture with good production values." Now what would I
have done? What I would have done is: I )pet·haps. hired less

22
 inept actors. Number two. I was not on the West Coast.
• A}: Weren 't most of them your friends ? • A}: You made your films here in Rorida.
• HGL: Oh. no. On occasion someone would say. "Why • HGL: I made 70'X. of them here in Florida. I made some in
don't you put me in one of your pictures." and I'd say. "All Chicago and 4 or 5 i n California. But most of them were made
right." but I wouldn't give them a lead. This myth -that our here in Florida, yes.
films were badly acted -in my opinion is just that: a myth. • A}: Do you hat!(! any other fat'Orite filmmakers or any
Because I have seen the Halloll'eens and the Pride�)• the 13ths filmic fo undation for your U'Ork ?
of this world, and their acting isn't any good either. What they • HGL: No. I'm not a student of film. The guy to talk to about
have is polish. all that is out in California. Alex Ameripoor. who cut a
I don't think our films suffered from lack of polish. It was number of films, and he was Assistant Cameraman on a
almost the crude power of a play by Aeschylus as opposed to number of films. He lives in Tarzana. Alex was a perpetual
a polished play by Sophocles. The audience knett' that what­
ever happened was going to be brutaL because that's the
way these films were shot. But the acting le,·els generally ..... .. ..,, .... It .. ......, ..
were reasonably adequate. The reason they sometimes had
the look of half-baked was because we would settle knou•­
.... .. .....d tllat could lll .......
ing�)' for imperfect takes. Somebody quoted me in print once ........, ····- ..... ......, .. .

as saying. "Nobody ever walked out of the theater because of

a ragged pan," and that quotation was accurate; I firmly
believe it. student of film. He could tell you every cut in every john
What happens is. you're panning the camera. and-yeah. Huston film ever made! I took a more calloused. casual view
we shot in 3Smm; I had a Mitchell NC with a blimp that of the medium. So the answer t o your question is: I don't have
weighed roughly 2,000,000 pounds. Alex Ameripoor, my any favorites of that type.
assistant cameraman. and I were the only two people who I startled someone by saying that I thought that War
could lift that camera on any crew we ever had. And in the Games was a weU-made film. He said, "WHAT! The pot­
blimp it took the two of us together. grunting and heaving, boiler!" I don't understand that reaction. Is it necessary, in
and if we tried to put it on a wooden tripod it would crack the order for a film t o be considered first-rate. that it be a ) not
tripod legs regularly. Even in our times the technology had entertaining. and b ) obscure? This cult, that seems to be
gone beyond it, but that uras the equipment ure had. If our growing in the land like the creeping blight. says that a film
sound recorder developed a hum we'd wrap it in Reynolds that is easily understood can't be any good. What happens in
Wrap. which would tend to insulate against line-bleed, but it film, as in fine art, is that these people spawn others who have
rea lly wasn't sohing a problem; it was putting a bandaid over the same arrogant condescension toward the rest of us that
it. Professional filmmakers laugh at this procedure. they have. So they wiU give awards to films that if they're
• A}: What uYmldyou hat'(? done ifyou had been git!(!n an hand-held and shot with existing light. they're 2/3 of the way
unlimited amount of money ? there to winning an award! You see, my films fell in the in
• HGL: Well. i f I had had more money. I would have made betu•een. We used lights. and they weren't hand-held. So they
the same kind of picture. but perhaps on a more extensit '(? didn't qualiJJ'.
basis rather than on an intensit•e basis. And the difference And, we used actors, we didn't use friends, so we didn't
would not have justified the additional expense; rather, I qualify there. And we shot them in 35mm, not I6mm, so we
would have preferred to take that money and form a perman­ didn't qualify there. So instead of being the extension of
ent production company which would have put a floor under somebody's personal ego, they were the bottom end of the
what we did and enable us to own equipment of a better commercial film world, and that may be another reason why
technical level-to have had film editors, for example, fuU­ nobody grabbed me off the street. But another problem was

time. instead of saying, "Who's available to cut this picture?" that I really was not looking to be grabbed. I wasn't haunting
( forcing us to begin our own educational process time after people's offices saying, "Please hire me, " which is what you
time). I would have used the money simply to stabilize the do if that is your goal. You see, I always had a great good time
operation. Because spending 20 times as much on a film does making these films. and I never felt that this was. as appar­
not mean you're going to get 20 times as much money in; nor ently will happen. what they would put on my epitaph. so the
does it mean you're going to have 20 times the impact on the joke is ultimately on me!
people out there. • A}: Hou• did )'OU get into the ttiolence ? You did Blood
Feast in 1963-
• HGL: Dave Friedman had worked for the film distributor,
Irwin joseph ( Modern Film Distributors), who went bust.
His background was that he had been a publicist, l think with
Paramount. He and I became quite friendly. I fe lt that Dave
was a master of campaigns. Dave and I literally taught each
other the business, because I had no fear of the technical
aspect of filmmaking. Nothing puzzled me; if a camera quit
running, I'd take it apart and make it run. If we needed a wipe
and didn't want to pay a laboratory SSOO to do a wipe, we'd
do it with a shirtboard. The dissolve mechanism on the back
• MP: In ttiew of the fact that your films clearly were of the Mitchell camera was 30 years out of date, but I used it
successful in tenns of making money, and ooer a long in every film 20 times over, usually with good luck. If a Ught
period of time, too (iturasn 't like an "underground" thing, it meter didn't work, we'd guess at the exposure and it'd
UICIS out there and the public 1110... seeing it), why didn 't a usually be within a half a stop. Nothing bothered me in the
major company come and offeryou a deal? It seems rmus­ shooting of films.
ua/ that it didn 't happen In the campaigning of films, although my background had
• HGL: As far as they were concerned, I uras an under­ been in advertising, it hadn't been in that kind ofhard-boiled
ground filmmaker-/ assume. I don't know the answer to rock-em sock-em slam-bang advertising, as Dave's had. So
that question. I have never discussed it with anyone: "Why Dave taught me campaigning, I taught h i m how to technically
didn't you call me'" Number one, ! wasn't knocking on doors. make a film, and the marriage worked out very well.
• A]: Wbat doyou mean by campaigning: the distribution ? Gore was easy, because it was obviously the kind of subject
• HGL: No, the I mean the one-sheets and the posters, and that could be handled intensively rather than extenSively. If
the advertising impedimenta that goes with a film, and later I'm going to shoot 1be Life of Marco Polo (god help me), I
on I did it aU myself because Dave moved out to California. need costumes, I need Venice in the 14th Century, I need
He and I made a couple of films almost on contract. Lucky props I could never possibly get. ( But I don 't need scholar­
Pierre was one. People came to us because we were able to ship; that's a mistake a lot ofpeople make when dealing with
makefilms cheap. So if somebody wanted to make a film, and historical subjects! They say, "I am dealing with an historical
didn't know how or what, but he knew that Lewis and subject, ergo, I am a scholar." Bull! Let them have their little
Friedman could make film at a fraction of the cost of anybody fantasies. ) But withgore, you need one person, and you get in
else, including himself . . . . dose on that person, so you don't need a whole battery of
So we made a bunch of harmless, we used to call them lights. For the independent filmmaker, scrambling for his life
nudies, but again , in today's marketplace they weren't nudies like a bunch of women mud-wrestling (the last one left is the
at all because nothing was bared below the top half, and they winner), or a demolition derby may be a better way of
were completely innocuous, although in context there was a describing it; for us, it was quite a logical conclusion.
certain amount of daring to them. Right at that time, a fellow named Leroy Griffith who
Lucky Pierre was the first one of these things shot in owned a theater here in Miami, and another man named Eli
35mm. There had been two or three before, but they were jackson who lived in Cincinnati, decided to make a film. They
shot in 16mm. Gradually we became aware (the market told were going to make a nudie starring Eli Jackson's wife-a
us, if nothing else), that one of two things was going to woman who had, so help me (or so advertised), a 48-inch
happen: we eithe r were going to have to strengthen the kinds bosom. And that's all she had. I felt that Virginia Bell was a
of films we were making, making them less and less "socially freak, but freaks also are a reason for making films. She was
acceptable," or do something else. some kind of a burlesque star, but again, that's an area that I
And we sat down one Saturday afternoon, because it was don't pry into or care about. If Eli jackson felt that her name
getting cold in Olicago (which meant it was time to shoot a on the marquee would sell some tickets, god bless Eli jack­
film ). That was part of our motivation. I don't have that down son. I'm the hired Hessian; I come in and kill and then go on
here any more, but in Chicago in January or February, you can to the next war, assuming I'm still alive myself!
think of a thousand reasons to come to Florida and shoot a So, we came down to Miami to shoot this film for Eli
film! We sat down and made up a list of the kinds offilms the jackson and Leroy Griffith ( Leroy lived in Miami), and we
major companies either could not make, or would not make. decided to shoot Blood Feast while we were here. ( I say
And on the list, staring us in the teeth, was gore. "here" as though Miami and Ft. Lauderdale were one com-

Two Thousand Maniacs.

24
munity, which obviously they aren't, but they're both here in is a pyramid and a sphinx! Which is why they call it the "Suez
South Florida. ) We had no time to cast the picture, so half the Motel." If it were called the "Gotham," they'd probably have a
cast of Blood Feast were the same people who were in the fake Empire State Building. If it were called the "LA. Special,"
cast of Leroy Griffith's picture ( I don't remember the name­ they'd probably have hop-heads sitting on the curb-I don't
oh yes I do! ) Bell, Bare and Beautifui-"Bell" for Virgi nia know! Or if it were the "Olicago" they'd have a replica of AI
Bell! It turned out, by the way, that we had to shoot the Capone smoking a cigar!
picture in a hurry, because Virginia Bell was pregnant. I said, • A): just by being inspired by the decor, you made up the
"My gosh, a woman with that pectoral achievement being story?
pregnant! It's like shooting a game of bumper pool!" So we • HGL: Yes; driving into the motel, trying to think of what
had to shoot it in a hurry before she showed too much. A would seize an audience as being weird. In fact, the title I
lunatic notion! Again, that's why I say much of what we did gave that film was Something Weird; I loved the title Some­
was done with high good humor. thing Weird and later on ( I guess it was five years later), I
used that title on another picture; we called a picture Some­
thing Weird. But because Blood Feast was so obviously
superior a title to Something Weird, we used that.
'lhll cult • . • ..,.
.... . ... .... .. _,
The film opens with a shot of that fake sphinx outside the
•derstooct .-•t .. _, ...... .... ....... Suez Motel. And then we start pouring blood all over the
In ...., as In fine .-t, il tllat .._. people place. There again I proposed to do that with an optical

spawn others who llawe the ,... ••OfPII effect, and every optical house in the business said, "You can't
do that. If you're going to have an optical in color, you have to
......._ towed the Nit of us that shoot it against a blue background." I said, "Not true.' If you
tWy haY.. make a mask, the mask will be black; therefore I'U give you
the mask for it." And we did it, and it was perfect ­
accidentally, perhaps, but it turned out that way.
Those people ( e e cummings, the poet, had a marvelous • MP: To create a broader base ofappeal to your audience,
word, those people) don't understand how you can have a did you think it was necessary to temper the hardness of
good time and stiiJ make a film, because they regard film as pure violence with some kind of humor?
something that should be treated with reverence, deadly • HGL: Most astute question! Actually, as you know, we
serious. Unfortunately, I don't march to that tune-never did, began to parody ourselves in the later films. 7be Gore Gore
and now that I am in my dotage ( ! ) probably never will. Girls is ajoke, although it's full of violence. I think part of it
• A]: Rght
i now the French are taking an academic interest was because I refuse to take the whole genre seriously. In
in your films, writing long, semiological, serious exegeses. Blood Feast, which was our first, there is no humor-well,
Wbat do you think of this new interest? there is, really, because we treated it with broad strokes.
• HGL: Well, I'm delighted to gradually find out what I Fuad Ramses drags one leg. It's really funny, because there's a
really meant to do. It's odd when the analysts start to take chase scene at the end. These police are chasing him, and
over. T.S. Elliot once made the remark, when someone was he's dragging one leg, and they're never the right distance.
analyzing one of his poems, "I'm very interested to find out They passed him once because they didn't get the instruc·
what I really meant by that!" To be worthy of further study, tions straight!
like some loathsome disease, is, I guess, an honor. But very • A]: So it's inadvertently funny, in retrospect ?
few of these people bother to ask me. as you are doing. They • HGL: l don't share that view. The reason I don't is this: I'm
just draw a conclusion. Why do they draw the conclusion? not a film historian. I'm the kind ofjerk who sits in the theater
Well, they draw the conclusion because this happened, it was watching the audience, and if they react, that's aU I care
the first time it happened, therefore it is a matter of great about. I don't care about someone who is writing l'histoire
historic moment. They don't want something to get past du dnema, attributing motivations that aren't there.
them. Whoever invented the wheel is lost in history. I'm not. • MP: Do n 't you think that when people saw Blood Feast,
They don't want this to happen again' And just in case this is a they thought it was a funny film ?
wheel, they want to make certain it's thoroughly docu· • HGL: The hell they-well they certainly did not. I quote
mented. Dan Krogh wrote a book, 7be Amazing Herschel/ you Charlie Cooper from the Englewood Theater in Chicago,
Gordon Lewis- which was in the middle of a black section, 63rd & Halsted.
• A]: Wbat did you think of that book ? He played Blood Feast and he said, "The picture opens up,
• HGL: Ha ha! An interesting work offiction ( I shouldn't say
that)! Dan means well, and John McCarty, his co-author, is
well-versed in film. I'll tell you my opinion which may not
We had to shoot thlt picture In a hurry,
please you; I think it was too reveren t a piece of work. That is,
/ like it, because it puts me on a pedestal. But for someone ...__ Virginia W was ......... I 18111,
who's truly interested in what went on, it lacks that slight "lly ... . ·- .... ..... .....
cold-blooded reportorial approach that might have made that
...... ...... ... ........ w• ••
difference. I may be stating this poorly because I do like it. I
was pleasantly surprised by everything except the cover; the shootiag a - of lru11tplt pool"
cover was designed to sell a few books, so I can't disclaim the
thing. And I admire what he's done. Dan remembered things
I'd long since forgotten, so I must hand it to him there. and these guys are hootin' and hoUerin' and slashing the
Anyway, going back to Blood Feast, we used half the cast, seats, firing bullet holes at the screen, then on comes that
the same crew, and I think we started shooting it within three "tongue" scene, and all you can see in that theater is a bunch
days after we had finished shooting the other picture. In fact, of white eyeballs!"
because ofthem, we shot Blood Feast. We were staying at the We pull them up short. because just when they think
Suez Motel at 182nd St. & Collins Avenue in North Miami they've got it, they don't have it. That's the thing about a gore
Beach. The Suez Motel was typical ofa whole string of motels film. I have seen enough of my own gore films, sitting nondes·
that tine that north beach. It's a so-so kind of place: not cript in an audience, to know that, yes, there are those who
particularly fashionable, but it's not a fleabag. But, outside feel that they must take a condescending point of view.
the Suez Motel, in all its glory, standing about 5 or 6 feet high, Because there's never a question of this being an expensive

25
film. I think Return of thejedi is an inferior film. It's a poor get that overtime!" That makes a difference. I grant you. I'm
Walt Disney film. But, they spent a lot of money . . . therefore, talking about the fiduciary aspects of filmmaking. hut that
reverence. So you see, people tend to admire the wrong enters into it. Because nobody's ego is on the line. That's why.
thing, or what I regard as the wrong thing. in our productions, it vvas important that at the end of the day
In 2000 Maniacs, you're never quite sure until that first we'd all go down tO the film lab and look at the rushes from
thumb comes off, and from that moment, we'vegot em! That the previous day. It made it afamily affair. The other point of
audience doesn't know what to do! We have them! How having no one's ego on the line ( people feeling secure
many films are there where the production keeps the enough so they don't try to insulate themselves from the
audience in such an unsettled state that the audience Jjterally public, which is a terrible mistake in any theater) is that
doesn't know what to do. They're afraid to leave their seats suggest ions tend to come in, and you can pay attention to
because that's a sign of cowardice. They're afraid to watch them. Many of the good things in our films. the good things
because they're afraid of what they'll see. But the one thing being those which titillated the audiences. came from some­
that does happen is they leave the theater not feeling body on the crew or in the cast who said, "Why don't we . . ."
cheated!
• MP: �v don 't people make films that reatzv work,
instead of spending money on something that looks like a
WhM we Dplnld .... ..... we had vomit
film but doesn 't really work like a film should work ?
• HGL: Beats me! I read in this morning's paper about llags, anc1 • tllat .. printed on thMn was
Sylvester Stallone, going to make First Blood II. That's the "Y• 111aJ .... tWs wliln you .. llood
ultimate joke -First Blood II. It's like saying old New Mexico!
Feast!" And ....... ...W - lust to get
It just doesn't work together. This will come right after
Rocky 34! the llagll
• MP: ��· do audiences etl(!n accept this now?
• HGL: Wait a minute- there's only one way to keep score
in the film husiness: it made money, it lost money. Somebody In a classic circumstance, that person is afraid to even make
made Heatl(!n 's Gate. Now, his name escapes me at the that suggestion. Or if he does. he'll make it to the TI1ird Assist·
moment. but he spent S30-S40,000,000 for an unplayable ant Director. who will make it to the Second Assistant Direc­
picture. Did he do it alone? I don't think so-that's too much tor, who will squelch it before it gets to the First Assi stant
money for one person to control alone. Somebody saw some Director. But we operated on the hasis ofdemocracy. It was a
dailies. Somebody saw a screenplay. Someone went to a necessary technique because that way. everyhody would
preview, and of course, the preview is what killed the pic· grab a handful of cables when we were through shooting.
ture. Someone, somewhere. in a system of checks and balan· which you don't have when you ha\'e a hierarchy: !deep
ces, should have said, "This will not work for those people. I voice ! "That's his job"!
tried vainly, on three occasions, to watch Reds. I once made it • A}: Were you a hJPnotist also .?
35 minutes into the film, and I fel t heroic, and then I said to • HCL: I was a member of the Society for Clinical and
myself, "What kind of test of will-power is this? Why are you Expe(,imental Hypnosis, but I haven't been a member for
doing this to yourself? TI1e purpose of paying Home Box years. I don't know where you heard that little tidbit; it has
Office to deliver this picture to your home is so you'll be nothing to do with filmmaking!
entertained. " • A]: Well, what I was relating it to was tbe whole notion of
leading the audience; in a sense. the wholeforce-psychology
that you UI(!YI? talking about. I'd like to knou• ifyou 'tl(! er'(>r
Since I couldn't have u:plotlng clothing and cma�vzed the processes in your films-hou• you push the
couldn't cleave somebody in half with a buttonsfor reaction, and hou• you do go about ' 'leading the
audience. " manipulating the audience to stay tcmtalized. I
Japanese scnurai sword what I did
• • •

thought that maybe ifyou were a hJfmotist. !bat it ll'<mld

illsfead WGI to llg info IOIIII.Ddy cnl help!
actualy pul the stuff ClpiWf ancl ...... it • HGL: It's the St oengali syndrome. but t he audience refuses
ancl let the v-.a ..... to play Trilby to your Svengali. It's really a tug-of-war. a hattie
of wits, and nobody is very well-armed in a battle of wits' I
think that it is much more basic than most people accept as
If I want to test myself, I'll go jogging or bicycling or go to being basic.
some health studio and see how many push-ups I can do. I What I always ·tried to do was to say to that faceless
won't see how long I can sit into a film before I become so creature looking at the screen, "You're going to walk out of
.
restless that I say. "Oh, please! " In our films, that problem this theater talking to yourself . That was the key. I maintain
doesn't exist, but that isn't necessarilygeneric in that kind of that any filmmaker who keeps that in mind won't wind up
film, either. Maybe it's a sixth sense that we developed after a making a Heatl(!n s Gate. What happens is. in order to be a
while, because I've seen other films of that type where I the seat-of-the-pants psychologist, you can't assume the road is
filmmakers I just thought. "Okay. we'll cut up a few people," paved with gold. It is not: whatet'er I nwke, tbe y '/1 accept.
and it didn't work. You've got to lead the audience-it's like You have to project yourself into the position of the person
the stations of the cross. Unless you're here. you can't go watching. You can't say. "Public be damned!" If you're going
there. to say "Public be damned !", be a poet! Starve in a garret
• MP: It seems like the kind of success your films batJI? is somewhere in Greenwich Village! Be at the window with a
usually associated with a strong independent company sponge, in impotent outrage at an unhappy world!
i definitely leading . . . where you don't
u•bere someone s • A]: You were talking about campaign schemes ll'ith Dati(!
bar!(! a lot offaceless decision-makers. Friedman; did you etoer bear of Ray Dem1is Steckler· and
• HGL: I'll tell you what else we don't have-we don't have some of his campaign schemes? Like u•hen he shou•ed
somebody who says, "I won't be in this picture unless my Incredibly Strange Creatures, he had monsters come out
hairdresser comes with me!" We don't have someone who into theaudience u•hi/e the mouie ll'(lS being shou•n. dressed
says. "Only shoot me from the left side:· We don't have like in the mmlie and-
someone who says. "It's 5:00, therefore if I'm going to load • HGL: When was this?
that magazine, I'm going to do it very slowly so I'll be sure to • A}:: Amund '66-
 A TOWN of MADMEN .. CRnZED for CARNAGE!
BRUTAL . . EVIL . . GHASTLY BEYOND BELIEF!

_,£ ..

Starring
CONNIE MASON
P/oyboy·s fo•orit� Playm<Jie
••,� THOMAS WOOD

JEFFREY ALLEN

• MP· -in the Los Angeles area. we going to shoot today, fellas?" But it never did quite the
• A}: He wo uld do things on the level ofthe Tingler morlie business Blood Feast did, and one reason was the censor
which had "tinglers " under certain theater seats. boards were waiting for us. With Blood Feast we caught
• HGL: That was William Castle, wasn't it? them unawares; there was no sex in it. Tiley were all geared
• A}: Willam
i Castle did that; Ray Dennis Steckler did low for sex; they weren't geared for blood. By the time we came
budget gore m01lies, too. I was wondering ifyou had any around the second time, they had amended their statutes and
marketing schemes like that? their attitudes. But of all the films I've made, I think the best
• HGL: We often did. The idea of live monsters we had early was a picture called A Taste ofBlood, a Dracula film. It seems
on. We often had a casket, not in the lobby, but outside the to have vanished foreve r! Losing a film is like your children
theater. When we opened Blood Feast we had vomit bags, leaving home, and then you read in the paper that one of
and all that was primed on them was "You may need this them was elected President of Andorra, but you never hear
when you see Blood Feast!" And people would come just to from them. That's the way I feel about Taste of Blood.
get the bags! It's astounding what motivates people. So, yes, I • Af: Wbat kindofmovie wouldyou make today. consider­
regard all of that as showmanship, and I'm very much in favor ing that there is a huge leap in the level of violence that
of it, because it preconditions someone to accept what people can accept right now, as opposed to what they could
you're going to show him before he sees a foot of film. accept in 1963 ?
• MP: Haw people ewr done live protests against your • HGL: I would probably get into some of these prosthetic
films? devices that have become so popular; not because I'm an
• HGL: Somebody in San Diego once organized something. admirer of that particular technology, but because I revere
We got a flood of mail, and we knew it was organized verisimilitude, the appearance of truth. And it's certainly
because they all referred to us as "you wreckless men"' It better than breaking off a mannequin's arm, which is
reminded me of Woodrow Wilson; once he was approached obviously a stiff and unyielding piece of plaster. It would be
by some labor leader who said, "Sir, I would never vote for better to have the fingers fluttering a little! Or when we take
you." Wilson said, "Sir, I would be highly outraged if you did!" an eyeball out, it would be kinda nice to have some reactions
The same thing is true-I don't want to be admired by in the tissue around it! So probably what I would do, is to use
someone who spells wreckless with a w! some of this technology.
But generally we didn't generate that white-hot kind of The second thing I would do. would be to give myself the
reaction. We did catch the world unawares. I saw that as the pure luxury of somebody bleeding on the carpet, instead of
difference between Blood Feast and 2000 Maniacs. 2000 having a piece of plastic under them. We always shot on
Maniacs, in my opinion, is twice as good a film from every location, so protection of the location became paramount,
viewpoint- technical, acting, plotline (it was heavily sometimes to the detriment of the effect. / wouldjust let 'em
scripted ), where Blood Feast was more like. "Well, what are bleed! •
• BOYD: Wben we star1ed unrk on this book bare�)' • BOYD: Educational films?
anyone was aul(lre ofyour films; nou• you seem to be the • HGL: On occasion, but educational film companies are
most intenlieu'f!d litling director- pretty specialized and are usually self-producers, like Ency­
• HGL: Yeah, I'm a cult figure, if posthumously- ! say that as ciopaedia Brittanica Films or Coronet. The films I made
a joke. Some people think I died years ago. would on occasion have some dramatic content. but they
• BOYD: I'm glad you didn 't. were basically films paid for by someone else. "Sponsored
• HGL: [laughs] Maybe at the box office, but not in person. films." you might call them.
• BOYD: I first sau• Gruesome Twosome abo ut ten years • BOYD: Did any of the e.l.fJioitatiOII pioneers hat'<' m1
ago and thought it u>cts one of the best mouies I'd er•er seen. impact on you? Did they influence your attitude tou •ard
• HGL: Good, good! Wish I could see Gruesome 7il'(Jsome filmmaking or inspire you?
again-that one I can't seem to find. It apparently has van· • HGL: Not that I can recall. I'm not that easily inspired by
ished into the night, but I'm sure these films will all start other people's work. I'm a better critic, I think. than I am a
surfacing again. About two months ago somebody sent me a [stops to rephrase his statement J . . . What I do best i!> critic·
videotape ofjustfor the Hell ofIt, which I thought had been ize other people's creati\·e work. This inspiration comes on a
lost forever. so it shows just how cloudy the crystal ball can negative rather than a positive level. You see what somebody
be. else did wrong and you say, "Hey, what if this wen: done
• BOYD: Wbat happens to f ilms? nght ?" When I shot Blood Feast and we started making
• HGL: Negatives tend to vanish and then suddenly reap­ money with it, I said. "Wow! Look how rotten this picture is.
pear. I have a film called Moonshine Mountain ( not really a What if we made a good oner So we shot 2.000 Maniacs.
gore film, it's more country music; there are one or two gore which from a production point of\iew is far superior ( both
effects. but not many because basically it's a family film ). and technically and theatrically) and it never made the money
the negative of that simply disappeared. It was not in the Blood Feast did. This is all part of your professional
laboratory where it was supposed to be. About two or three education.
months ago. a man in California named Jimmy Maslin was • BOYD: You did somethi11g nobor�)' else had done. l)id
buying the rights to some of the old films ( he now owns that just "happen ""?
Blood Feast and 2.000 Maniacs ). He was going through • HGL: 1l1at certainly was not accidental. 1l1at wa:-. an abso·
somebody's vault in Chicago and came across the negative of Iutely <:old-blooded decision. We went through a whoh: list
Moonshine Mountain. The owner of the vault had never had of possible topics and procedures that the major companies
any relationship to that picture. made no explanation as to would not ( or could not) mak<.·. and that"s how we settkd on
how he got it. expressed some surprise that it w;t� sitting gore.
there ( though it was clearly labeled ). Meanwhile I had been • BO>V: Some of your aciJiel' ements seem as yet rmsw··
raising hell all over the country tl")ing to find thb negative. passed. er•en though producers today budget mi/limts for
So, it merely proves that the film business is an odd business special effects. W"by?
indeed. • HGL: Because they don't linger as I did. I went for inten­
sitY! gore rather than extensit •egore and the rationale behind
,

that is quite simple: I didn't have any budget. Since I couldn't

We had effects in tt.e that I ...,..., was have exploding clothing and couldn't cleave somebody in
.._., aftaicl of: when we fnnch.frled. that halfwith a japanese samurai !)WOrd, and since I couldn't show
an alien creature leaping out of somebody's chest ca,ity ( any
girl's face when we cut off the girl's
• • .

one of those effects would have cost more than my v.t101<:

nlppl11 hnl out of .. a.e .... ...t out film cost ), what I did instead was to dig into somebody and
of the other chocolate .... ,. I hit that actually pull the stuff apart and fondle it and let the ,;scera
was the ultilnate in lllack humor, but there drip. And that is where the impact came. hen today. no film
producer I know of has the courage ( "courage" is perhaps
..... thole in the ...... who the wrong word; maybe "Jack of taste?" ) to linger on the
cldn't ...... . . . shots the way we did.
Recently Jimmy Maslin vel")· graciously sent me a ,;deotapc
of Blood Feast which I hadn't seen for a long. long time . ( I
• BOYD: Ho u• many of those films ar-e gone foret>er? had seen <'I bootleg \ideo of it which was almost without
• HGL: You want an opinion? They are all still someu•bere. color; it looked like it had been soaked in beer; half the:
but I lost touch "\'\ith them when I moved out of Chicago. I effects had been chopped to pieces. and there was a heavy
have no idea where they are. My proprietary interest in those scratch through i t . ) So. to see this tape in pristine condition
films has long since ended, so I don't really care that much. It was like having my child reborn. We had just screened some­

pleases me that Blood Feast has gone into re-release and that body else's film-Hallou•eet1 or P17day the Thirteenth Part
these films are coming out on videocassette. But it pleases 37. or something like that-and the people in the room said.
me emotionally rather than financially. because there's "God, their film is nothing compared to this!" So- proud
nothing in it for me. parent. you know'
• BOYD: That 's too bad. • ROYn: JJn you think you 'rejust more sincere than they.
• HGL: Oh well, these films owe me nothing! more cler>er. or both?
• BOYD: Ho u• did you get interested in filmmaking ? • HGL: No. Sincerity doesn't enter into it. It's more a matter
• HGL: My initial interest in films was purely mercenal")'. I of showmanship than sincerity. Do you think there's any
had a commercial film studio in Chicago doing tele\ision sincerity at all in exploitation film production? I don't.
commercials, business films. films for the government . . . • BOYD: Well. some.films seem mm·e personal than others.

28
Blood Feast.

It seems like a great deal of crea tit 1ty U'f!11t into yourfilms. that these are robots. automatons at the typewriter. The
• HGL: That's because they were more auteur-<>riented. same is true of the scripts and the direction ofthese films; the
But. when someone decides to be a one-man gang ( produce, directors are often more concerned with the camera shot
direct. perhaps write the film. and be on camera; even write than with the ef
fect on the screen.
part of the music-and I've done all of these ), the problem • BOYD: Movies seem more and more like formulas-
often is: that individual begins to lose viewpoint and begins • HGL: Well, they're coming out of U.C.LA. film school and
to make a personal statemf!11 t. And that statement may well lord knows what they teach them there. I'm certain I'm not
be. "Public be damned. If you want to appreciate me, come lionized in those quarters and that bothers me not at all,
up to my level. I am telling you my position." Instead of because I believe positively, absolutely, that a motion picture
saying, "Hey, I'm going to entertain you, or frighten you, or should appeal to the people in the theatre and not necessarily
charm you"; instead of thinking in terms of audience to the person who made it. People are making films for
reaction. themselves rather than the people in the audience. But there
That's what's missing today: no one thinks in tenns of are bodies out there!
audience reaction They make films like Heat'f!n 's Gate. They You walk into a videotape store and there's shelf after shelf
choose impossible, stupid titles; the titles alone would keep of titles. Some you won't even look at because the title
people out of the theaters. They'll say, "Oh well, if it bombs at sounds so dull. Some you'll watch for a few minutes and just
the box office, we'll still have videotape and cable and foreign can't bear-too slow-moving. And some films grab you and
saJes." They don't think in terms of showmanship. Some of hold you. The ones that grab you and hold you are the ones
the campaigns I see look like they were written by half-wit that the producer, the director and the writer have thought
oysters. about in terms of who's sitting there looking at it. Not who
On Fridays, when films are advertised, you see a bunch of was in the screerung room at Paramou nt, saying what a bright
ads in any paper. Some of the ads attract you, some of the ads fellow you are . . .
repel you. But some of the ads leave you saying, "Ehhh . . . " I • BOYD: Blood has pla)'f!d a l.lf!1J' important role in your
have no quarrel with those that attract or repel you, but those success as a film maker. 1broughout history. blood's role in
that elicit "Ehhh" are often written by teams ofpeople, each many of rrutn s rituals was of key importance. In andent
of whom makes $200,000 a year. This shows me (once again ) Rome. bloodletting was almost a national pastime, and

29
Leftovers from Fuad lamses' feast (aloetl Feast).

even today the most violent episodes in history exert the •BOYD: No.
most profound fasdnation on people. What's the connec­ • HGL: Okay, good. I would ner>er say that.
tion betu¥?en your films and the bloodletting rituals of •BOYD: But there is c1 strong connection betu•een the tu'(J.
bygone days? • HGL: There's a strong connection between shoelaces and
• HGL: Well, as a matter of fact Blood Feast was a recapitula­ peanut butter. but I don't know what! Other than they are
tion of a bloodletting ritual of bygone days. Yes, blood is the both items. Horror and humor are allied in that one can
ultimate symbol. It's the one symbol everyone understands. spring from the other. 7bat, I started to do. We were creating
You squash a bug-if it happens to be a mosquito that has caricatures and parodies of our own films. In a picture such
recently gorged itself, instead of being just a yellow mess as 7be Gore-Gore Girls. horror and humor were intermixed,
there will be some blood in there and you'll recoil. There is and that was done not only to confound the audience. but
power to blood. It has emotional impact unlike any other also to have them say, "Oh, this isn't real."
substance on earth. •BO>V: �y?
• BOYD: Do you think the public is bloodthirsty? • HGL: Because we had effects in there that I myself was
literally afraid of: when we french-fried that girl's face ...
when we cut off the girl's nipples (and out of one came milk
and out of the other chocolate milk). I felt that was the
..... . ..... .... .... ........... �
.

ultimate in black humor, but there were those in the

........., w1th it, l.llll· lkt .,.... Look audience who didn't understand, and didn't see-well, they
... ,..... ... ...... .., ,...,. ., .. .... saw what I intended, but they thought it was a desecration to

. .... ...,., have chocolate milk come out of a ... [laughter 1.

•BOYD: Your films seem to have a great deal of black
humor.
• HGL: More and more, yes. We are devolving ... I think • HGL: Oh, sure!
society is slowly going back to the jungle. Everybody has a •BOYD: You called Gruesome Twosome the most bar­
gun. It's macho to wound somebody and to carve baric humor since the guillotine went out of style.
somebody-the term, in fact, is waste somebody. We have no • HGL: Yes, that's in the campaign.
regard at all for our fellow man; we are statistics. So if •BOYD: Do you think your humor is at odds uith the
someone happens to squash a statistic, so what? general public 's?
In these ftlms, what I do (or did) was to destatistidze the • HGL: If, by "general public" you mean Jerry Falwell or the
circumstance. We didn't wipe out a row of people. One by people who live in Sedalia, Missouri. the answer is ''Yes!" If,
one. se/ectirJely, blood spurted. That has much more impact by "general public" you mean people who are moderately
than killing off a whole battalion of soldiers. literate and who have been exposed to many facets of our
•BOYD: It's been said that horror and humor are the same civilization, the answer is no. The other day I read a little
thing. Do you agree? booklet that someone quickly published following the
• HGL: Who said that-am I quoted as saying that? screening of that 1V movie, 7be Day After. Based on how to

30
live in a post-nuclear society, it's black humor from front to phies and ideas. For example, you're familiar with the
back. There will be those who are amused by it, and those dynamics of hypnotism-
who are disgusted. There's a paperback called /0/ Uses fora • HGL: Yes, I am.

Dead Cat [laughs]; some people think that's funny,cat lovers • BOYD: I u'Os u'Ondering hou• that shaped your films,
won't. That's part of being in the marketplace-you position where thi ngs are not what they appear to be-
yourself. You cannot appeal to all the people all the time. • HGL: That's especially true in a film such as 1be Wizard of
• BOYD: I loued Gruesome Twosome. allhough the rest of Gore. If so, it's subliminal, but you can raise an interesting
the people in the theatre didn't seem tofind it tJf?l)•amusing point. I was, and am, and probably always will be interested in
• HGL: Well. they came in' what I call force communication ... which is causing the rats
• BO>V: I real�)' like all the sound/racks you'toe done. Did to go through the maze the way you want them to. And that
you hat'<' any musical /mining? understanding undoubtedly has to seep through (by osmo·
• HGL: Some. I played the violin when I was a child, like sis. if nothing else) into the creative product.
everyont· else did. I still play the piano. I would not call myself • BOYD: Rats, eh?
a professional musician. • HGL: Of course, I don't mean rats as rats; I mean rats as
• BOYD: W'hen you U'(>re younger. uoere you a joker? people. [laughter]
• liGL: No. no. I was a serious student. • BOYD: W'hy did you choose to go into mail order market­
• B0>7J: Many of your films deal ll'ilh unusual philoso- ing rather than continu e as a film maker? Weren't )'OU

A woman admires the wares at a wig shop in TIM OruMome TwOHIIM, unaware she is about to join the display.

100% HUMAN HAIR

forSA--.
riding high financially with The Gore-Gore Girls? looking out over the water behind my house, and there's
• HGL: Not necessarily. There are several conclusions birds out there, and I'm going to play tennis this afternoon,
reached: one, there are more scoundrels per square inch in and life is good.
the film business ... people who swipe negatives, people • BOYD: Great ... some people imagine that your films
who cheat you on box office receipts, people who cheat you u•ere the product of a person much closer to his subject
on distribution receipts . . . I grew weary of the game. For matter than. say, an Alfred Hitchcock mouie-
example, there was a time when I enjoyed arguing with car • HGL: It's closer-if only because of the physical tech·
dealers over the price of a car. I don't enjoy that anymore; I'm nique of making the films with a smaller crew.
tired of that kind of negotiation. Furthermore, in the mail • BOYD: In yourfilms. you allou•people to enjoy expen·en­
order business ( actuaUy, I'm a consultant and writer rather ces normally deemed "honible." And that s taboo in our
than really being in the mail order business), I am making a culture: to be able to enjoy something that's horrible.
tremendous amount of money and working less than I ever • HGL: That may have been true when we first started
have before. I would be foolish to discard that in favor of a making films, hut not anymore-today it's an accepted tech·
murderers' row of circumstance, in which I'm dealing with nique of filmmaking.
people who have the morality of a bunch of siding salesmen • BOYD: Yes, but its altogether different u>ith you. I see
So that really was the reason.I can still make a film; I'm talking you as more of an alchemist. You take these different
to some people now ... not aggressively, but rather passively. emotions-base emotions-and blend them togetht?l· to
When they'n: ready, I'm ready. create something else.
• BOYD: So you might make a film again? • HGL: I turn gold into lead!
• HGL: Yep. I could-like Dracula-rise from the grave! • BOYD: I really do think you create a different quality of
• BOYD: A lot ofpeople still beliet•ethe u•orstrnmorsabout e:xperience, u•here you take d�[(erent emotions and blt:nd
you- them into one another. You get grotesqueness i11tegrated
• HGL: I myself have heard a few: that I was rotting away o n with humor, and repulsion and elljoyrnentbotbat the same
a Georgia chain gang, that I had died and hadn't necessarily time.
gone to heaven. Stories just appear. as though someone is • HGL: Good theory. I think you ' ve hit it exactly dead
looking for a controversial ploy, just as D. W. Griffith ·was center ... •
accused of being a racist. But I'm alive and well, and I'm

Climactic scene from The Gruesome Twosome.

32
FILM PRESSBOOK SYNOPSIS

SHE DEVILS ON WHEELS

Karen, a quiet and reserved girl during the week, on weekends is a
member of The Man-Eaters, a wild gang of female matorcyde riders
headed by the beautiful and vicious Queen.
Each week The Man-Eaters stage a cycle race down the length of an
abandoned airport runway. Queen, Karen, and the huge, tough Wlitey
are usually the top contenders. Wimer of the race gets first pick of the
"stud line"-a strange bunch of men who are The Man-Eaters'
playthings for the weekend.
Karen wins the race. As Top Mama. she gets first pick, and as usual,
picks BiU, a good -looking stud who is unusually clean-cut for his type.
Next day, Queen calls a meeting of The Man-Eaters, excluding Karen.
At the meeting. all voice their resentment: Karen picks Bill week after
week, in violation of The Man-Eaters' code. Haney-Pat, young mascot of
the group, is dispatched to instruct Karen to be at the airstrip that
night. Karen arrives to find the others waiting. They have brought Bill,
tied and beaten, and Karen has a choKe: she either drags lim around the
cement runway behind her cycle or will be forced out of the group. In
tears, Karen nonetheless agrees; Bill, tied to a rope behind Karen's cyde,
is dragged around the strip until he is literally in shreds.
A few nights later, Honey-Pot, the only one of the group regarded
with affection by all, undergoes her initiation: all the "studs" are
invited to participate, to Honey-Pot's delight. To celebrate, the gang
rides through the town, spreading terror and destruction; but, because
no one will testify, the police can only tlweaten.
Arriving at the strip the following weekend. the girls are outraged to
find a bunch of hot-rodders using the runway for auto drag-races. A
bloody fight ensues, with The Man-Eaters victorious; the bays' gang.
headed by the mean and cakulating Joe-Boy, is left gasping and
bleedi ng on the ground.
Karen is called by Ted. the decent bay-friend whom she abandoned
when she joined The Man-Eaters. Ted has heard about the fight. He also
has had word that Joe-Boy's gong has sworn vengeance, and he warns
Karen to leave the group before there is violence that will leave her
permanently marked. She thanks him for his interest, but says that she
is in too far and cannot leave The Man-Eaters.
When the girls return from the next race, Karen is horrified to see Ted
in the stud-line. She chooses Ted. and he forces her to leave the building.
which, he has learned, Joe-Boy's gang will attack that night.
However, Joe-Boy has another idea: he will destroy The Man-Eaters
one by one, starting with Honey-Pot. His gang sneaks up on The
Man-Eaters' house late at night and manages to kidnap Honey-Pot.lt is
done with stealth. and the others are unaware; Karen, returning late
with Ted. sees nothing awry.
In the morning. Joe-Boy's gang returns Honey-Pot. She has been
attacked and beaten, and a ring. jammed through her nose, holds a note
carrying the threat of future similar acts against all The Man-Eaters.
Queen' s rage leads to instant vengeance. She leads the gang to the
bar at which Joe-Boy's gong usually hangs out; and only after she has
beaten up the bartender with her belt-a motorcycle chain-does she
agree that Joe-Boy is nat hiding there. Ultimately the girls track dawn She DeYHs On Wheels.
Joe-Boy's gang. In brood daylight, the fearless Whitey, along with
another Man-Eater, approaches and slashes the tires of Joe-Boy's prized
hot-rod. Spraying Joe-Boy's face with insecticide, the girls leop on him tenderly, then wa•s aver to the gang. One by one, they lock eyes
Wlitey's big motorcycle and ride off at top speed. Deliberately, they with her. She walks to her cycle, a.nd as she sits on it she realizes that
have left the other cyde. Joe-Boy jumps on it and follows them. she can't go back. The girls ride off, and Ted, alone in the field whkh
But the girls have strung a wire across the rood, neck high. From just surrounds their house, listens to the diminishing roar of the motorcycle.
beyond it, they taunt Joe-Bay as he approaches. Too late, he sees the The police have found Queen's belt, and as the girls return to the
wire. It slashes through his neck, decapitating him. A.s the girls duster scene of Joe-Boy's death. they are arrested.
around Joe-Bay's body, Queen inadvertently drops her chain-belt. The end? Not for The Man-Eaters.. The picture encls with the gang,
Bock at their lair, the girls are about to ride off when Ted drives up. free once again for lock of concrete evidence, tearing down the
Ignoring Whitey's taunts and Queen's threats, he calls to Karen. She highway, cut-out mufflers belching an ear-splitting roar. Queen and
dismounts, and when she wa•s over to him, he pleads with her to quit Wlitey tell the camera of their future plans and ride off into the
the gang-to walk aver and tell the others she is tlwaugh. She kisses clistonce.

33
 knownst to her, Ramses plans to use the feast as on invoca­
tion rite to bring the goddess lshtor bade to life. In the bade
room of his delicatessen stands a statue of lshtar, which
resembles a thrift store ma�•..., in painted gold.
To invoke lshtar, Ramses goes around town collecting
bocly parts from various living women. One woman has htr
legs cut off, onother loses her brains, and in one of the most
memorable scenes Ramses lweaks into the apartment of a
woman and rips her tongue out with his bare hands.
...... FOIIII was a hit. People queued up and all ov• the

H enchell Gordon lewis made films like no one else­

filled with grisly violence and black humor, morally
country th.-e were seas of white eyebalh and open mouths.
People stared, aghast at the onscrMI'I carnage. Some
fainted; some threw up. Somt wondered why it was okay to
indefensible-which is probably why they are so good. portray extreme violence but not sex.
Lewis' back.ound sheds liHie light on his originality as a lealhing they were onto something, Lewis and Friedman
filmmaker. He aHended a midwest•n university wh.-e he quickly mode 2000 Maniacs, which, despite the fact that it
obtained a Ph.D, taught English at Mississippi State Univer· didn't match the success of llootl FMII, remains Lewis'
sity, then switched to adv.-tising and mcrketing. During the favorite film. A group of Northern tourists encounter a
'50s, he made industrial films in Chicago. small Southern town ctlobrating the centenntal of the Civil
With Chicago produc• David Friedman, Lewis stcrted War. Eventually the tourists learn their role Is to "help" the
Mid-Continent Films. Soon they released Tile Pr11M TIMe townspeople even the score with the "Yankees." One
(which Lewis produced and Friedman publicized), the story woman has a boulder •opped on her; another man is *awn
of rebellious youths and a mad beatnik crtist. Only moder· and quart•ed and his remains barbequtd that night.
ately successful, the film is best remembend for featuring Another man is put in a barrel lined with nails ond rolled
the first sa"" appearance by actress Karen Black. down a hill. BetwMI'I bloodlettings a bluegrass group, The
Lewis and Friedman's next film, Living YIIIUI, depicted Pleasant Valley Boys, sings rural folk songs.
the rise and fall of a girlie rnagcnine. Though risque, the film Next Lewis ond Friedman mode Color Mo llootllled.
was devoid of frontal nudity. Court rulings on a nudist film about an egocentric artist striving to find the perfect shade
called ._.... of lden mode nudity less risky, so they next of red for his paintings. During the filming the two parted
made The Adv...._.. of Lucky Pierre, shortly after Russ ways, and Friedman ended up finishing the film and then
Meyer released his box-office smash The 1m....,.. Mr. Teas. returning to sexploitation. Lewis split the rest of his car..
Despite the fact it was little more than a s.-ies of vigneHes betwMI'I gore and sex.
featuring Chicago comedian BiUy Falbo, Lucky Pierre made Like other exploitation pioneers, Lewis bui•t up his com­
a 1111 profit. pany by buying completed and uncompleted films and releas­
Next Friedman and Lewis improved upon the nudie genre ing them under new titles. He bought an incomplete Tenor
by selecting allractfyo people to play the sun wonhippers. at Halftlay, shot a few connecting scenes, add ed narration,
Daughter of the Sun starred the delectable Rusty Allen as a and released it as MOMtw A Go-Gel Besides featuring an
woman who is summoned to defend h.- nudist practices. The
film used the unusual device of showing the scenes outside
the camp in block-and-white (the mundone world), while al
the scenes insicle the camp were in color. The film did well, so
they followed up with Nature's ....,.,...._ Goltllodu
and the Three .... and W. .... anda..tlfuL
Two standouts dir«ted by Lewis during his "nudie"
period wereiiOIII-II-GI and Scum of the l..eh.IIOIIWI-01
chronicled the exploits of would-be filmmakers trying to
Hend'ltll Gordon Lewis ot home holding up the sound track of lloecl Feast.
shoo t a sex film, with their final product being just what
their distributor want..l-an atrocity. Scum of thelarth,
a mean little tale about women forced to pose for a porno­
•aph•, was one of the earliest examples of the
"roughies"-films released during the '60s that mixed sex
with violence.
When the demand for nudie films diminished, Lewis and
Friedman sat down and made up a list of possible topia that
would selL They narrowed the list down to one: gon. Not
your ordinary bloodletting, but lluckots of blood, spilling
from the mouth, running from the nose; exposed raw meat,
bone and .-istle • • •oyes gouged from the sockets, limbs
hacked oH, faces pouncled to mush.
The duo started their sanguinary experiment with llootl
FMII, the story of an Egyptian named Fuad lamses who
runs a catering operation in Florida. When a woman asks for
"something special" for h.- daughter's birthday, Ramses
suggests an authentic replication of the "Feast of lshtar" (a
pcrticularly bloodthirsty godcless of oncient Egypt). Unbe-
 outstanding theme song, the film stcrred Henry Hite ("the �Dev• on Wheel s and Jlfd for tile Hel of ft.
tallest man in the world") as an astronaut who returns to H. G. lewis ended his filmmaking career with his goriest
Ecrth a giant.lewis also bought a British roadshow feature, film ever: The Gore Gore Girts, about the murder of
added "birth of a baby" footage and released it as Sin, strippers who work for a nightdub owner (played by Henny
Suffer, anti Repent, Youngman). In one scene a woman's nipples are cut off; one
In 1966, Lewis made a low budget rip-off of I, A W0111an breast squirts white mi• while the othw yields chocolate
entitled Alley T,....... It was produced by Thomas Dowd, milk. In another, a woman is stabbed while blowing bubble
owner of the Capri Theater in Chicago and sponsor of many gum; the bubble fills up with blood. Besides more violence
of lewis and Friedman's ecrly ventures. During this same the film featured more naked flesh, thanks to the strip joint
period lewis released two of his most atypical films: Jimmy, locale of much of the movie.
the Boy Wonder and (Santa VIsits) The Magk Land of At this point, Lewis suffered a series of business setbacks
Mother Goose. that forced him to close up shop in Chicago. Amidst vcrious
1967 was a banner yecr for Henchell Gordon Lewis. He rumors he disoppeared completely for awhile. Some said he
released three sexploitation films (Sulllu riNan Roulette; The left the country; others thought he was in jail.
Girt, The Body, and The Pill; and lllasf.GH Girls), and In 1977 H. G. lewis surfaced as the foundw of Communi­
three gore films (Something Weird, A Tillie of Blood and Comp, a direct-mail marketing agency , and now he is consi­
The Gruesome Twosome). For its intense gore and goofy dwed one of the foremost authorities in this field-a long
humor, The Gruesome Twosome is outstanding, chroni­ way from Blood Feast. Being happy , successful and prosper­
cling the attempts of a demented old woman and her ous, he has little desire to return to the uncertain financial

retarded son to keep their wig shop supplied with fresh realities of filmmaking. No matter; his position in the world
scalps. A�t er he finished editing it, Lewis found the movie too of unique/ extreme cinema is assured. •
short, so he quickly shot a prologue featuring two styro­
foam mannequim with faces painted ccrtoon-style. This
addition was one of the most memorable scenes in the film.
A favorite genre of H. G. lewis was the "Hillbilly Movie," PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
which provided for him (and many other exploitation direc­
tors) an ideal context for vcried sex and violenc.-usually as Dllllnoa:
One Shocking Moment, 1965
more violence than sex. Besides, he liked the music. In Moon­
1M Prime Time, 1960
shine Mountain the hillbillies battle revenuers, dumping
Uving Venus, 1960
the bodies of dead federal agents into their still. In This
1M Adventures of Lucky Pierre, 1961
StuH'II KW Ya', two college girls are aucified and another Daughter of the Sun, 1962
woman is stoned to death. Nature's Playmates, 1962
When Biker Movies became fashionable, lewis released BOIN-N·G, 1963
She Devils on Wheels, about an all-female motorcycle B� Feast, 1963
gang called "The Maneaters." Only Blood Feast macle more Goldilocks and the Three Bares, 1963
money than this one. In one scene, a man is dragged on the Bell, Bare and Beautiful, 1963
ground behind a speeding motorcycle driven by his ��� Scum of the Earth, 1963
2000 Maniacs, 1964
frien• In another scene a young woman is beaten to a
Moonshine Mountain, 1964
bloody pulp and a ring put through her nose. Unlike most of
Color Me B� led, 1965
his films, "goodness" did not win out in the end-the female
Monster A Go-Go, 1965
bikers, arrested for cutting a man's head off, ere set free for Sin, Suffer, and lepent, 1965
lack of evidence. Jimmy, the Bay Wonder, 1966
In 1969 lewis opened a movie theater in Old Town, Alley Tramp, 1966
Chicago, called "The Blood Shed," which featured many of An Eye for an Eye, 1966
his gorier films and similcr films macle by others. The theater (Santa Visits) The Magic: land of Mother Goose, 1967
also staged live shows filled with gory moments a Ia le Suburban Roulette, 1967
Theatre du Grand Guignol. Sadly, The Blood Shed wasn't Something Weird, 1967
A Toste of Blood, 1967
economically feasible, and closed within a few months. How­
1M Gr uesome Twosome, 1967
ever, the little stage shows lewis produced there provided
1M Girl, the Body, and the Pil, 1967
the impiration for his next gore film, The Wlz.d of Gon .
Blost·Off Girls, 1967
Of all his films, The Wizard of Gon may be-if not his She-Devils on Wheels , 1968
best-the most purely H. G. Lewis of all his films. It tells the Just for the tiel of it, 1968
story of Montag, a magician who invites women from the How to Make a Doll, 1968
audience to participate in his ad. One is sowed in half, 1M Psychic:, 1968
another has a spike pounded through her head from ecr to 1M Eatasies of Women, 1969
ecr, two more get swords rammed down their throats. Aftw Undo and Abilene, 1969
the ads are over, the womtn appear to be good as new­ Miss Nymphet's lop-In, 1970
1M Wi:lord of Gore, 1970
for about half an hour-whereupon they sucldenly revert to
This Stvff'l Kil Yal, 1971
the gory mess they were onstage.
Year of the Yahoo! , 1972
Throughout the film Montag tosses off wonderful
Blade Love, 1972
speeches concerning topics such as mankind's lust for vio­ 1M Gore-Gore Girh, 1972
lence and the question of illusion vs. reality. Much of the
power of this film derives from scriptwriter Alison louise Note: An Homage to Herschel Gordon Lewis (Smm film) is available
Downe, Lewis' long-time cohort and author of many of his from Daniel Krogh, 4-F Films, 520 North Lincoln Ave, Box 444, Chicago, ll
best films including Blood Feast, The Grvesome Twosome, 60614. (312) 929-4194.
 I N T E R V I E W:

R
So to me, I just don't get along with the people in this town.
I'm not a coke freak, so already I'm t:liminated from 95% of all
ay Dennis Steckler is a fast thinker and fast talker; he
the social parties here. And at the same time. if I come up
makes films quickly and efficiently-but with sardonic wit with an idea of something I want to do, they think I'm nuts. So
and inimitable style. Before the age of 24 he had produced, I'd rather just be on my own.
directed and starred in The lncndJWy Stra.... Creatures I've been in Vegas for 10 years. The funny part is-I'm
Wllo Stoppecl Living aMI a.c.... Mixed-Up Z0111W... well-known, but I'm unknown. I have everything anybody
The fint monster musical ever, I01111Wes was shot in only 11 could ever want in Vegas: I've got 10 movieolas, 15 cameras,
days on a budget o f $15,000 for lob costs, $6,000 for everything. And in Hollywood it's S5 a square inch just for
editing, $5,000 for cast, $5,000 for crew, $1,000 for score, space, with no parking! Hollywood is a situation where it

and $6,000 for rentals. Ray often accompanied the film's really is all money-

premiere in different cities, playing one of the monsters that

• BOYD: And no content. It seems like the u•bole set-up in
the movie industry is geared toward inhibiting creafil'ity­
come out and attack the audience at a critical point in the
• STECKLER: You're trapped! In Hollywood you spend all
film. Since then, he directed the psychopath·dassic The
your time trying to survive: lOO'X,. You have to do all kinds of
Thrill KDien, the Batman-and-Robin-ish ... Hlnk a Boo things you'd probably never even think of doing. In las Vegas.
.... the Bowery Boys-like Lemon Grove Kleis Meet the at least, if I walk out my back door I've got nothing but desert.
Monsters. and diverse others-no two films alike. It's a good feeling to just get on a motorcycle and go! In
Steckler once remarked, "When someone asks, 'How do Hollywood, you get on a motorcycle and you get smashed at
you make movies, Ray?'-well, I just talk to the cast." Of all Hollywood and Western!
the directors in this book, Steckler may be the most extem· I like the feeling of independence. Stanley Kubrick could

poraneous. Musical director Andre Brummer, who has been never work in Hollywood; he had to get away. I don't feel

with Ray from the beginning, once remarked, "[From the

first film on] I began to admire Ray because he could take
any situation and make it work. Ray is marvelous-he raw only nll1llous ...... latlhit. I -. I
thinks very quickly and doesn't let anything become a prob­ ccm conform to ..., tiNatioft, IIUf whln It
lem. Once I was shooting with him on a beach scene and a
gets to bulshit, I ccm't .._.. It, ...t tt..e's
do, Ray?' He said,
too much of it In llelpood. llollody w.m
heavy fog came in. I said, 'What will we
'We'll change the story.' So we changed the story to match
the fog-Ray can do that very well.'' to lust sit dnm ...t say, "lien's what ••

Boyd Rice first interviewed Ray Dennis Steckler in Las t.ve to do ..a let's do it."
Vegas; lofer a second interview took place with Ray and
actress Carolyn Brandt. Steckler's mast recent work-in-pro·
gress is The Hollywood Strangler Goes to Las Vegas. comfortable around so-called Hollywood people; never did
and never will. It's always a big show, it's "Look at my new
Mercedes!"
After I moved to Vegas I bought a brand new pickup truck.
A producer I know said, "For the same money you could have
bought a Cadillac to impress people." I said, "Yeah, but I can
• BOYD RICE: Are you an outsider in Holfyu•(X>d? put my camera in the back of the pick-up and shoot, and do all
• STECKLER: I don't think I'm allou•ed in Hollywood-! kinds of other things. I'm not in the Cadillac business, I'm in
have to sneak in and out! I had a lot of opportunities, but I just the movie business." End of short story.Tells the whole thing.
did not fit here; I don't know why. It's the people in You should buy tools for your trade-for what you want to
general-! don't get along with them. It's their attitudes ... do. I buy cameras and all kinds of equipment. Those are
I'm not saying I'm a great filmmaker or anythin g; I try to important to me-not a new suit. (I've got new suits, but
just be different, not to be like everybody else. That's all it is. they're not important.) It's important to have film in the
It's so ea!>)' to copy someone else, and I just don't do that. refrigerator (I always have 20 or 30,000 feet) and to be ready
As I get older maybe I'll get more money to make bener to go when I get an idea. So I don't change my mind, see?
films; then I can do what I really want to do.In the meantime I Too many great filmmakers have gotten great ideas, started
believe: get an idea, go make it. just do it. It's not easy to on them, then never got them together and never made
make any film. Even if you have 20 million dollars, you've them. They gave up because they didn't have all the elements
got the same problems as some kid with SIO,OOO. There's to make a film. Obviously, they need great talent, but there'sa
never enough money; you never get what you want. And the lot of great talent that's never been exposed and never will. A
more money you have the more pressure you have. At least lot of kids don't get breaks. (But look at some that do­
that kind of pressure I don't have! they're on television every night! How did they ever get

36
 ··rhe
INCREDIB

WHO STOPPED I.!VING I

�ORGAN-STECKLER Producllon �ND BECAME 1

MIXED·up ,
ZOMBIES'' 'I
SlARRll'<v

CASH FLAGG
IN TRO DlJC I NG

CAROLYN BRANDT GEORGE J. MORGAN

"RDDliC££1 4NO DIRECT [I) f.IY RAY DENNIS STECKLER A FAIRWAY I NTERNATIO A N L SHOCK RELEASF
\

Filmed in 1ERADRANIA and EASTMAN I:DLDR

in-how'd they even get on the location?/ That's 7bf! Crealltm has now been re-released, and a couple

• BO>'D: Huu- did you get ini'Oit¥!d in .filmmaking?

Hollrwood!) other ones are 1>'taning to pop up, like Blood Shack, a little

14
film about an old house out in Death Valley that was haunted
• STECKLER: I staned making Rmm movies when I was by a mysterious killer (Ron Haydock). That one we made in
or 15 year� old back in Reading. Pennsylvania. In fdct I �till about three days. The Hol�)'U'Ood Strangler Meets the Skid
have them and thqere pretryav.ful. Kid:. in the ne ighborhood Ro11• laslx>r and Ret¥!nge of tbe Ripper wiU be out as well.
were my mo'ie stars; we'd just make things up. We did a little These are all films made years ago; all of a sudden everyone

• BO>'D. \fm you in any of ti.Jese?

pirate film; a little Western at a place called Daniel Boone's want!> tO sec them.

They were just fun things. Today. kid1o r .. or 15 are out with
Homestead
• STECKLER: I was in Ret¥!1tge of the Ripper. It was the last

• BO>'D: Were you the Ripper?

\ideo cameras making epics. but in those days an Smm thing I did.

• STECKLER: You'll have to see that to find out! Oh, Body

camera w� very expensive-just to shoot film was expen·

Fet>er is
si,·e. At that timt:, it �'llS all fun and games for me.
Then I went into the army where I studied photogr<�phr. I another one that's coming out on \ideotape. They're
went to Korea and worked as a cameraman, then came back all coming around; I can't explain it. They're not really great

S38,000.
to New York Ciry where I studied phot�aphy for a year. films, but I never had any real money to make them with. The

• BOW: 811t you hacl great actors ut/th interesting .faces.

Then I got a call from an army friend who needed a camera· biggest budget was on The Creatures:

I
man for Fnmzy. starring Tunothy Carey. I shot for him, and
that was mr first move into the mo"ie business out in Califor· • STECKLER: You see that in everything do: I go for faces,
nia. I worked on many miscdlaneous mo,ics. I shot a mmie etc. I should ha,·e been making mo\ies in Europe: I think
called .'W!cn!t File: Hol�)'lt'OOd. but couldn't get screen credit that's where I missed it. But now. all of a sudden my films a re

director of photography inDrit'(!T'S in Hell; I also wrote part of \f'J�J·?

on it hec.:au!>C I \\'llSn't in the union at the time. Then I \\"aS starting ro show in Europe.

screenplay and had one of the lead roles. From that I

• BOYD:

directed \f'ild G11itm·. and that's when I met George). Mor·

the • STECKLER- Over in Europe. when they see a movie like
The Creatures or even 1be Len1011 Gror¥! Kids they say. "Hey,
gan and we put together The lmn.>dib�)' Stmnge Creat11res. that's really interesting. that's different." because their atti·

37
tudes arc ditfercm. The Lemon Gror�e Kids was actually made
for kids, but ewer there it has a "British" humor with the same
kind of crazy stuff they do in En gla nd only spicier.
,

There's a crazy short I did that people are dying to get­

god, I must have had a hundred phone calls for it. It was the
first thing I ever did in Hollywood, called Goof on the Loose.
After 20 years l still think it's great. We did the whole thing a t
Echo P-.trk i n Hollywood; it's a little Buster KeatOn/Charlie
Chaplin-rypc short that nms about 8 minutes . It would have
run 10 minutes, but we got cha�d out of the park!
• BOYD: Do you control all the videocassette releases?
• STECKLER: The only one I don't have control of yer is
Creatures: George has to make the decision as to where he
wants that to go. The rest I have control o n. We're trying to
get into the midnight movie circuit in LA. now.
everything) in amber, and it really holds up-l'm amazed! . . .
I .

As I lit ohW mayflll11 8lf mort � $� to moft!J

; Where d.id y ou see Creatures?
• BOYD: At a tbeat(?l' in Scm [)lego called the Califorrlia.
where tht')' had tbe people in masks ami-
make better flmsl then I c. do what I
• STECKLER: The whole gimmick?
really ·w•t t6 do� In flit ri.lantim. I Wfive: • BOYD: Yeab. And llt't>nt back to tbe Calrfornia to seeThe
... • W.., 11 IINIIke lt. Just do it. Maniacs arc Loose, but I went to u nwtinee and tbey only
i
had lllllll �tcs in tbe audience for tbe midnight slmu•. Ulll
et�en tbat was grem. IJecau.�e people u•ere looking.for numi­
Rat Pftllk i s one picture that should play thai circuit, c auSt
' · acs an d there werc>n't fill)'.
they're always picking up otlbc:u films. I think we can do it; I • STECKlEH: I lr.tn:lc:d with it for a couple: of months.
just made a brand new 3Smm print and did a lot of tinting There:: was a point ·when I would jump out of the screen with
which I think really enhances it a 101 (it was origina lly shot in a f.tirl just likt· in the movie, and we used to just/7111 'nn nut of
black-and-wh.ite ). We did all the night scenes in blue, and the the t:hcaters. But one time near Sacramento someone shot
Rat l>tink scenes (when he shows up in his cosn1me and me with a pcllc:t gun -I th ink that's wht:n I retired.

Stec:k..r doing his Hunh Hall imitation in Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsten.

38
 In Glendale we had a packed house. And "i rears ago on • STECKLER: Boyd, go see the Brazilian movies! I've seen
Hollywood Boult:Vard ncar Wilcox some big movie was play­ Bye, Bye Brazil 20 times. And go see Sonia Braga fyou want i

ing and doing av.ful husine�. \X'e put nJe Creatures on at to see something special-whew! lllere's one Brazilian film
midniWlt and had to run 2 �hows: they were !>L:tnding i n line e2lled Xica: catch iL It has the flavor of 7be Incredibly
to M:e it. And applause! God. tht·r applauded for 1 S min utes Strange Creatures Wbo Stopped Ur!{ng and Became Mixed-
afler the mmic. What I thought was great was: almo
st all the
people in the audience were in the industry: acto�.
. ,eS, etc.
actrC!>.
All my t-ameramen han� gont· on to the bi ggt st mmies in
·

the hu�inc�. The�>re all great guy�. all of them. It's amazing F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S
how many people you work with go on to higger and bt·tter
thing�. But all these guys had great talent ·when they were
working ,,;th me. THE THRILL KILLERS
The whole key was: when I wa� making those films. we
wanted to do it. we liked doing it. wc wercn't in it for the
money. it wasfun. You wanted to let everyone ha\'c a chance Dfnnis KMdokion (ATlAS KINGI, a traveling solHmon. is enroute to
to conw up with something. You'd tell the gur who \\as Los Angtles lo dose a businHs transaction when � �rs over his cor
pla}ing the hunchback. "Go make up your O\\n wardrobe radio that thrre homicidal monio<s han escaped from a nearby insane
and then t ome out. Let's sec what )Oil cando... You'd tell the
·
cnylum. He pays t� broodcost lillie attention as he stops to pick up a
girl who was pla�ing the g)�)' (she \\'3..' Susan Hayward·� hitchhiker, who turns out to be the notorious Mort "Mod Dog" (lick
Mand-in for rca� but never got a mo,·it- mle during I S years (CASH FLAGG), brother of Herbie, one of thr asylum escapees. Mod Dog
in Hollywood umil I let her par
l the: b'YP�Y woman ). "Just do brutally slays Dennis, steals t� soiHmon's cor and drivH into Los
.. Angeles.
what you can do: come up with �omcthi ng. She came: out
\\ith a ·wart on ht·r cheek ( and 1 hisgirl wa� a l(lx ): she \\Till in That night, at the Brentwood home of would-be movie star Joe

there and made herself look u�·ird. loday- just ask Barhara Saxon (BRICK BARDO) and his wife Liz IUZ RENAY), a wild and riotous
Eden 10 put a wart on her check' Rut it was fun: really it was a orgy is in full swing. J� has thrown t� girls-galore party to influenc:r

lot of 1\111. film produ<er George J. Morgan IHIMSHFl into giving him thr lead role

lf.J'(III can't Jxu•e rmyfun don't make a mrwie. It s h:trd '

in Morgan's next picture.

work and if you don't like doing it. then . Mmics today-if Meanwhile, Mod Dog stalks the late night streets of downtown Los

they didn't haw special effects they'd dk I'\'C nner had one Angeles and meets a shapely young brunelle named Erina (ERINA

special effect in anv film I\·c t:\·cr done One reason wlw ENYO). They go up to her apartment. After making love to �r. Mod Dog

�
nJrlll Killers did ,-e · well dmm South \\'3.'> hc:causc som� �s berserk, IXcusing Erino of being o sholl'ltiHs tromp. In his roge he

critic �id. "�1y god!" -he'd nc\'er S<.·en �uch horrif}ing and uizH a pair of scissors and fiendishly murders her. He flees the bloody

!>Carr !>n·ne!>. yet practically CYt:f}1hing \\as shot in the day­

scene as neighbors react to Erina's screams and phone t� police.

timc. Every horror mmie rou :.<:e-it'� always in the J� and Liz SoJton have on argument the next day over ali t� money

nightimc . spent on the party-money t�y cannot afford-and Liz f'\lns off to

I'll tell rou what happened to one of those actors. Herhie

SH her cousin Lindo (LAURA BENEDICT), who operates a roadside cafe in
Robins. who was the k-ader of the �ang. He worked day and
TOpanga Canyon. At the cafe ore Ron and Carol IRON BURR and
CA.ROLYN BRANDT), who plan to marry the next week. They go to look
niAht with a group of stri ctly imprmi�tional a ctors in
at on old house in the area which they orr considering buying ond fixing
impro'i�tional M:enes. Ten yt-as
r in Holl�wood and he: had
ne,·er done a mmic. Two day� heforc lhe mo\ie \\"JS sup- up.
At I� house, while searching for the owner, t�y mret up with the
three H<oped maniocs. Herbie, Ktith and Gory (HERB ROBINS, K£1TH
O'BRIEN and GAilY KENT). The mod men maliciously ossoult Ron and
It's _. _, te .... _, ..._ I... If ,.. Coral. finally lopping Ron's head off with on axe ond dealing Carol a
.... $20 ••• ···= .. ,..,.. - .. similar fate.
- .. ,
... • - ... .... $10,000. Joe Saxon and producer Morgan show up ot the roadside cafe.
Morgan tells Liz he's going to use Joe in his nut production. The thrre
.... . ..... ..... . .., ,.. ... ...
. moniou burst into the cafe, assault Liz and Lindo and terrorize Joe and
.... ,.. --'· ... ... _.. . ., ,..
. Morgan. A frre-swinging. axe-hurtling fight breaks out. Joe and Mor­
.... ... -. ..••••• ,_ line. At llall gan subdue Keith os Lindo poisons Herbie's coffee. Gory chosH Liz up
into the mountains, with J� in pursuit.
.. . ..., .....
... .... .. .....
Gory ollocks liz atop a mountain peak as Joe orrivH on the scene.
Joe and Gory engage in a hand-to-knife combat while Liz escapes, only

posed to sun, Herbie was beaten upverybadlyand put in the to fall into the evil hond1 of Mod Dog Click, searching the oreo for his

hospital. His ey-e was all puffyand closed. and he was CT)ing­ brother. Gory plunges a thousand fret to his death and Joe rO<H off to

not because he was beat up, but because he felt he couldn't rescue liz from Mod Dog.

do the mo,ie (we were going to start the neX1 morning). I The police orrin to aid Joe. Liz breaks owoy from Mod Dog by a
dever ruse and the police dose in. Mod Dog enc:ounters Officer Tra<y
said, ''Why are you crying? What are you worried about?" He
(LONNIE LORDI and after using him as o hostage, puts a bullet in the
said, "I know I'm out ofthe film." I said, "You're not out ofit.
valiant officer's brain.
Use your eye the way it is." So the next time you watch that
Mod Dog kills on iiHlO(ent ronc:her ond steals his horse. The police cut
movie, watch his face. You can sec the way his eye was, but it
looks like a nervous d1sordcr. I think he still has it to this day. off Mod Dog's OVMUf of tS(Cipf hut the kill-crcny Iunati< chorgH
through the blockade. Motorcycle policft!IOn Fronk WHt !TITUS MOEDE)
Recently he played a small part in Tobt: Hooper's Funbouse.
is ordered to pursue the deranged Mod Dog. After a perilous, breathless
a BOYD: I dldn 't see that. I don't see many newftlms; they
chose between motorcycle and horse through trecxhtrous Topo:ngo
usually don't seem to have anything for me.
mountain trails, Officer WHt copturH Mod Dog. In a titanic kill-or-be­
a STECKLER: I watch all the old films and I watch all the
k�led gun bottle, Officer Wtst is forced to shoot Mod Dog in the head,
European films. 1\<-e seen aU the Brazilian movies-that's my
killing him and thereby bringing to a shod!-dlorgtd tnding the reign of
ldck now. That's where I'm at, completely. You ever see
terror in<ittd by THE THRill iCILURS and ltoving producer Morgan frre to
Brazilian movies?
cuff Jot, Liz and Lindo in his new movie.
8 BOYD: No, but-

39
 ombies, the kind of thing I go for. Remember Black
up Z
Orpheus? I looked at that film ahom a hundred times
last month. Basically. Black Orpheus had a lot 10 do with
Creatures-! probably wouldn't have admitted that in '63.
I'm a fanatic about carnivals.
• BOYD: Me too!
• STECKLER: Whenever there's ll carnival. I'm there. When­
ever there's gwsies, I'm there. When I ·was a linle kid I was
always around them. Ferris v.11eels, anything like that-that's
for me. So when I made The Creatures I had all those ele­
ments in it. I think I had a little bit of Black Orpheus in me.
and I think I stiU do. We're all involved. at times, with some
film in our mind. Ewn the guy who made Orpheus (Marcel
Camus) had seen films where he scm· something
I'd always wanted to do a film with Sunset Carson, the
cowboy star, and i t just never happened. Ulst week I looked at
five of his movies, and I was thinking about him. YeSterday I
was at U.S.C. and neryone ·was talking ahout him: then I came
back lO my motel and he called me: "Hi, Ray. this is Sunset!" It
was a great feeling!
We all have our idol!., because we're in rune with some­
thing they did; they ga,·e us an impression that inspires us to
do other thin�s somewhere dov.n the line. Suuset Carson
was 6'4": he was young, clean-cut. manly; had everything
going for him. Then in the '40s there were no more West· Esmerelda and her hypna-whHI in The lncretiWy Strange Creatures.

erns. The guy didn't make a mmie for 30 years, but that
doesn't mean he's washed up. I think he's in his prime now;
he kept himself in shape and look!. great -60 years old. Most
guys at 60 are out to here I traces an imaginary pot belly]:
done for. I think he alv.:ays knew he'd get another turna·
round. You've got to have that feeling: if I didn't feel that other: \\ithout words-just what you see.
some day I could make the mmies l li'llllt to make. I probably • BO>'O· I liked the ronumlic plot of Wild Guitar: I espe­
would have given up a long time ago. But the one thing you cially likl?d !'>ancy Czar-
musn't lose is the em:rgy. You lose l11e energy. you're done • STECKLER: You know the stOry about her, don't you?
for. • 80}7): What stOIJ'?
• BOYD: \flbat tl'as it you alu•ays uunted to do ' \Vhat • STECKLER: Do you remember when ali thOSt' kids on the
fantasy? Olympic ice skating team were killed when they went 10
• �TICKLER: \X'eU. '1\c'hen I \vas a kid I was affected in1mt:nse- Europe and the plane went down? She was the g.irl \Vho
missed the plane.
• BOYD: Wou•! Hnll' did you bappeu to find her?
• STECKLER: I had wanted to find a little extra "kicker"
I iusf don't get along with the people in because I felt that Arch Haii,Jr. wasn't strong enough 10 <:arry
[Holywood]. I'm not a coke freak, so the mo,ie. I said, "It would be nice ifwe had a girl v.-11ohad a
talent we could use in the movie-somell1ing entertaining." I
already I'm elrninated from •.s% of all the remembered that she had come in for an kc skating inter·
social peaties ......
. And at the ..... time, if 'iew, so I said. "Let's use her."
I come up with ... idea of ..,..... I w•t When we were shooting Wild Guitar. there was a scene
\\'here 2 people were ice skating (with no one else in the
to do, they tWI* I'm nuts.
skating rink) and I said, "Let's usc the spotlight." The camera·
man, Vilmos Szigmond, said, ''You can't use the spotlight
because there's no source for it. .. I said. "listen, we're:going
ty hy Bogart's tlms.
f Salxtra was one of my favorites-that to use the spotlight, and someday you're probably going to
desen. Now I'm a desen rat-1 lon: the desert. I didn't live v.in an Academy Award for your lighting." Well, I had to fight
there ·when I first saw Sabam. I lived in Reading. to do it then. but now v.nen you see the lighting in Gose
Pennsylvania-there's no desen back there! But more than Encounters (when those spaceships come in), remember
that, there was something about the situations and charac­ that Wild Guitat' was the beginning of his use of spotlights
ters that Bogan always played In almost every movie he's a and backlighting and everything. And sure as hell he won an
rebel, a nonconformist. I \V3S like that as a kid, so I identified Academy Award. But he wa.<> already a great cameraman: he
with him. That went into my personality and my making of was bon1 to be a cameraman . . .
movies. lf l could have made a movie with Bog;m, that would • BOYD: Otle of my fat>arite actors in the world is Atlas
have been great! But it's never going to happen unless I make King-be had such an unusual accent. lflbatet!(>r happened
one up there . . . I points toward heaven ) to him?
1 like the 10\'e triangle in Casablanca. I still think it's the • STECKLER: I just . . . don't know. I don't know if he etY!r
greatest-a real. honest, love triangle. Today it's all bullshit; mastered the American language or not.
they can't have a love triangle without the girl sining on a • BOYD: He uru so sincere.
. toilet seat v.'hile the guy Sa)'S, "Keep the door open while I • STECKLER: He was okay. He was super. A very unusual
watch." person. One thing about Atlas I'll never forget: right in the
The secret to a lot of movies is called.film chemstry.
i You middle of shooting The Incredibly Strange Creatures I wa..;;
kt�ou• ifa film has chemistry-and Casablanca was the great­ running short of money (every day, probably!) and I turned
est film about chemistry that was ever done. I mean the around and Atlas put S300 in my hand. I looked ( I don't know
rapport between people, cuning back and forth to each where he got the $300: he probahly sent tO Greece for it) and

40
he said, ''TI1at's for you. You don't owe me nothing, just keep
going." And he walked away. That's never happened tO
again. Never.
me
ATLAS KING
On the last day of shooting on the beach, I said to him,
is

%
"Atlas. the movie's almost over. I can always add something;
can you think of anything you want ro do at this point?" And
he said, "One time, let me run through the water!"You know
that scene at the end where he runs through the water­
that's it. He did it, and it was great, really super.
• ROYD: \f'by was Atlas KinR killed off so early in Thrill
Killers?

Itold 'the girl who •• playillt tNt lftllt

"Just • whc,tt you am do; '-- .. witll
........
.. ._.. She � 08f _.atla a wart •
._ cflek (and this .,. -. a fox); -. willt
.. .... .. ...... ....... ._. .....
Today-lust Cllk ._INaa Edii.a to p,ut �
a �art
.

. ... � .

• STICKLER: Let me think-why did I do that? I guess

o
s mebody had to be killed i n the beginning, and King was
just the person I picked! That was probably the only part I
could slip him in. People didn't understand that he couldn't
speak very good English; we had to teach his lines to him,
then he would do 'em by ear. Just as, if you were in Japan
acting in a movie and couldn't speakJapanese, you'd have to
say the words from memory. You could never learn the
language quickly enough.
• BOYD: n"bat was bis rea/ name?
• STICKLER: Something like "Dennis Eusteckean"; a long
Greek name.
• BOYD: Atlas King is such a great !U'me. Always won-

PROTECTIVE to
CAROLYN BRANDT
Atlas and Cash in The lncr..Wy Strange Creatures.

SENSITIVE

BRILLIANT

UNUSUAL
Arch Han Jr. sings his hit sang. "Vickie," in WJW hit•. The dancer is Sttdcler's farmer wife, Carolyn Brandt.

detY!d about him . Did you bar•e any probletns with the Those boots I w� wearing-my boOt�-wt·re put on the
unions? dummy \X'e set it all up. had the dummy fall off the rocks, and
• �TICKLER: There wa<., one union guy who chased me it completely went to pieces and noated out tn sea So when
around for years; ru nncr forget him. When we were shoot· " e were setting up the next scene I a..'ked. "�'here's my
ing CrwJ/tltY!S in Glendale he somehow found out where we h<>ot:.;" and they said, "Oh, right. your boots. Well . . they're
.
were We were several floors up in this old temple. The place Mill l'>n the dummy. . I said. "Where's the dummy?" and they
wa:. loaded \\ith people. cxtras. lights and �1,-we had ro told me it was somewhere out in the ocean: it had never
hobt the sets up from the Mreet and put them together in rhe returned. \X'e couldn't use the scene at all, and I had lost my
temple ( because that whole midway scene was just a set. you boot� besides!
know ) All these people dmin� by had been �cing these sets So then we had to find another pair of boots like tho�
goin� up into the air So. '\"I.Tiile we \\ere filming we put before we could do another scene. We :.earched high and
lov. . all over, until finally we managed to find an almost
identical pair-in Oxnard.
They didn't fit-you'll notice I looked a linle pigeon-wed
... ... . .. .. CIIIIIe out. n. ... in that scene on the rocks. They were a �ize and-a-half too
.. [........,) a6d ... Mlllk .... ... small. The thing I remember ro this \'Cry day is how cold that
..., but the guy who did tile titlel .._ water was-it \\'liS like icc. The cameraman. OldJoe Michelli
( how the hell could he hear "Cur!" above the ocean?) just
1p1l1d ft cnl l couldn't afford to llawe ­ kept it running. and-
N111ne, 10 I left ft. • BOl'D: You stayed '" the uoater so lor�g I wondered
• STECKLER: If I had died, that would have given us an ex'tnl
40 seconds in the movie!
warning signs on the el<.·vators. like. "Danger." "Out of • BOYD: Do you hat'f! any more stories nbouttbe making
Order." The union people showed up looking for us and of Incredibly Strange Creatures?
couldn't find us. They didn't think anyone could go up in the • STECKLER Originally I had picked a girl named Bonita
ele\'ators. so they left Jade to play the lead. She had a Spanish-Italian look to her.
• BOYD: 1bose boots you wore in t}xll mot'ie u•ere so She was only 17 yean. old at the time; �he couldn't even walk
dlslinctitlf!·IOOking straight or an}1.hing. But I liked her face and saw some
• STECKLER: ln that la.<.,t scene in CreatwY!s. on the rocks potential there.although I've nen:r seen her �ince. ( Actually.
where I faU off into the ocean. we had a dummy dressed like I saw her two yean. after the mo,ie: she walked up and
me so we'd be able to 1>how the actual fall into the \\'liter. handed me a book on Antonioni, said, "Read it!'' and walked

42
away- l've never seen her since ) Deep Tbrf><tt of horror mO\ies! So Tim got the money to
Now . . we had just shot all the dance numbers. and rou malce his one and only mO\ic:-never could put another one
know that -.cene where the girl� come our one by one together after that.
through all those: d<)()rs; I had -.hot that and wasgetting ready Ttm and I got along real we:II because I was a rehel and he
to :-.hoot the first scene "'ith Bonita I V�ralked over to her and liked that. He and James Dean used to pal around a lot. too.
'iaid. ''Oh boy, you're on:· And !'>he said. 'Thh. could we do He said James Dean wasn't from this planet anyway and just
my '><.'t:nc.: tomorrow?" ( Thi!. W:t!> the carnival sc:t. mth aU the got called back early!
pt:oplc.: on the midway-extra.' and eYef)thing.) I said. • BOl'D: l't'm still didn't say boU')'Otl met Carol)"' Brandt:
"Wc.:ll. no. all the: n:uas are h<:rc.:. E, ef)1xxly's ready tO go."
· U'OS it througb Timotby Can:>•?
She !'>aid. "But my boyfriend wants me to be with him tonight; • STECKLER: Oh, is that how we got here? No. There was a
he's got a gig. he's a drummer." I said, ··What?! You're 1V pilot. starring Tommy Rettig caJied The Magic ofSinbad.
Marring in a mottie. Bonita, you've been waiting for S weeks She was on the flying carpet with Tommy Rettig and I was on
to . ." She whined. "J knnu•. hut come on. Ray. he'll he the set. and I met her. (She was actually one of the genii's
tmful�l' upset. " I said. "You mean he can't drum \\ithout maid' or something, ) Then I got her a pan as a dancing girl in
you>" . he -.aid. "Well . . . he likes m<: there." l said. "But you're Secret File: Hollyuvxxl. a film I photographed. Then she W35
Marring in a mmie. .. ( Evef)-body's standing there looking at in Wild Guitar, on the dance ramp.
Carolyn and I got jobs a!. ushers at the: lvar theater I talked
the people there into letting me use the set. 'cause I W35
directing \f'i/d Guitar and ushering at the same time. It was
1he by was: .._ I ._ Mllkillg
whole crazy. And while we were there the union came in: I'll never
those ...., we w_... to clo It, we .... forget that. One guy took a roll of film right out ofthe can and

doilll It, we ..,..., In It for the .,_..,, It threw i t down the street- we lost a reel of film! We went
after them but then dropped the case. i t 'VI'3Sn't really worth
was fun. it: they suspended the guy from work rather than have us sue.
(You don't really want to malce enemies. ) The budget on
Wild Guitar v.-as something like S 12,000. On Rat Pfink I
us ) Just at that moment another actress. Sharon. walked by think we put in maybe S8.000 on the whole mo\ie.
in her striped cosrume. And l w<:nt like this [reaches behind • IJOYD: Rat Plink is an odd motJfe; there's such a contrast
him without looking[. grabbed her hy the \'.'liSt and said. "I betfl'een the first part u•bere the stars are such ''beat,•"
.
thtnk you\ e got the: pan. Sharon " She said . \.f'hat pan? I just cbnrncters. atuJ the second JXtrf tl'bere all these "goofy"
did the number." I said. "No. you're: now going to play the SC£'1/eS happen.
.
pan of the star. . She said. "But I can't do that: I just did the • STECKLER: I know; I don't know f
i I did the right thing
numlx·r1" I said, "Oh yes you can! Come on." We changed there or not. I just got halfv.'3}' through the movie lstans to
her hair and I .;aid. "This i!> it." And Bonita stood there. I said. laugh[ and . . . Ron was sitting in the chair with his guitar
"(,o to your drummer." She !><t - id. "\X'ell. I can do it tomor· singing this song. and it was so bad; Titus was playing with
rm., " I said. "GO TO YOL"R DRllMMF.R." To this day she the ice cubes. and I said !more laughter ] . "If you went in that
h:L..,n't done a m0\ic1 And that's how Sharon got the pan. closer and came out as Batman and Rohin, l wonderwhat thr
• /JOlD: When did you first meet Cnro�)'n Brandt? audience would say."
• STECKU�R: You know. we'\'e been married 16 years-we
go u•ayhack . . . I had just finished photographing a mo,ie for
Timoth) \.arey l.'lllled Frenzy. which was later released a.o;
The \'f"orld's Greatest Sinner·. Timothy Carey v.<IS in Stanley
Kubrick'� 7lx• Killing. he's the guy who shoots the horse at
yhe was one ofthe 3guys
the: r.tl.'e track. And in Paths ofG/or
thq executed: he played the big guy who smashed cock·
roal.·he!> on a table or something-great scene. Anyway. he
AT LASr A NEW KIND OF H()lUt.OR MCNIEi
met me: in New York. then gaw me a call and asked if I'd like
to shoot a film for him. ! laughed ( because I had just seen his
movie ) and said, "WeU, you're too big for me to talk back to."
MOH� COME R£Alf ClA�It g�mEN!
I mean. he ·wa.o, a monster. I said. "What ifyou don't like what
I 'ay-you'll crw;h me like that cockroach." He said. ''You're
I�VAbE AUDIENCE- A�])UCf <illl.9 F��
right!" 3·0
So I went to Long Ik."ach to shoot this mo,ie V�ith 200
ext ra' smashing up the Coliseum: it was wild. and we did
M>me crazy things. ( If you C\'c.:r get to see the mO\ie. you'U
'>(:<.: ) But it was not a great mo,ie by any means. Timothy
Carey had some great ideas but he lacked technique; he
didn't know how to put them rogether. But it was good
experience. because I met other people and worked in the
business from that point on.
He got the money from Mike Ripps. who had made Poor
Wblte 7rash. Very successful film! Mike took a mmie that
nobody wanted. added 3 minutes of a girl running through a
swamp semi·nude. and called it Poor \.f'IYite Trash. Three
week.' later he released it and the theaters were packed! lt
just goes to show that if you have an Idea, you can stiU puU it
off
• BOlD: \f1XJt um the mode originally en/led?
• STECKLER: 7be &lyou. The leading actor was Peter
Gr.tves from Mission Impossible: Carey wa.
' in it, too. After
Ripps renamed it Poor WbUe Trash. for years it was like the
 l'hcrc:fore, Batman and Robin (or Rat Pfink and Boo Boo ) teacher, Ray!" Then she said, "WeU, I have to tell you some·
came out. The film was ca1Jed Rat Pfi'lk and Boo Boo. but thi ng. All my life I dreamed of being a mo\ie star, but I never
the guy who did the titles misspeUed it and I couldn't afford had the guts to go out and do it." I signed her on the spot. It
to have them redone. so I left it. was the only movie she ever did, but she \\-'35 great. The movie
• BOYD: Tbats great! Such a perfect title: Rat Pfink a Boo was produced by a 65-year-old woman, Dorothy Sunny.
Boo. • BOYD: \VIxlt u�s the plot?
• STECKLER: He wanted another S'>O to change it. so I said. • STECKLER: Basically your "girl who was in love with her
"Never mind!" Two things I liked about Rat P fink and Wild Cather" story, but weird and complex, because I had a couple
Guitar are those 2 numbers on thc beach at the end. And wc of very fine writers. One, Mon Fine ( he wrote 7be Pau.,,.
did 'em in like 2 hours each-both of them. We just went to broker) came over tO see it, and after he saw the film he
the beach with no plans. no props. no money fo r anythi ng, grabbed me around the neck and said. "Nobody in America
had a good time for 2 hours and left_ And those 2 numbers. I could make a film like that but you." He was overwhelml"d.
think. am hold their O\\n anrwherc1 Major studios make aU The film kept going into flash-forwards where she would get
kin� of preparations to go out and do beach party scenes. older. and go into the ne>."t stage. and the next stage. You'd
and they don't come up with anything better Come to think ha,·e thought it was a low-budget Bergman film' It \\'3Shorri·
of it. I ended 7be Creatures on the beach; and even nmu . inating at the same
tying, extremely horrif)ing. and yet fa<;e
Kiflers bask<llly ended on the water. when I rolled dov.n the time. That was the word Mon used. fasdnating. You
hiJI and fell into the water. couldn't take your eyes off the image�. And the musical score
R BOYD: Tlxlts right! was great. The same guy does all my music: Henry Price.
• STECKLER: The first time I rolled down the hiiJ I said. lne only problem was: I had no control over the film
because I didn't produce it; a sorry lesson I learned. I made a
film I really cared about, yet they took it away from me and
changed it. I swore I'd ne\'er do that again.
...... . 17 ... ... ... ...... .. ..., R BOYD: An> you u'Orlling o" any scripts nnu·?
., .. . ....,. ..... ... . ,.... ...... • STECKLER: I'm working on a script in\'ohing g)psies and
a movie star who runs away from HOII}wood (she C2ll't
.... .....
. .... .... .. ... .. ...... ..
handle it) up to lone Pine. California. She rents a bungalow
d•• .... "' ... ..._.. .. ... ..., and he's tbrough v.ith Hollywood. you know. But this pro­
- ... .... .. ...,..... ,.. __., .... ducer cons her into coming back to makejust onemorefl i m.
His \\ife doesn't want her coming back because she wants the
.. - . ... ....... "' ... .• .... .. part. The actress meets these g)psies who warn her what not
.... ....,,. • wet, ..,..,. tO do. and you have these mind trips. She goes back. the
producer has her stay in this house, hut something's \'\TOng
because years ago something happl>tzed here. And she keeps
gettin� :&II these Oa!'h-forward_.,, seein� tierself in visions
"Let's do this again, I want to fall into the water." And they where she doesn't know what's what In the meantime she's
said, "Thcre's no water here!" I said. "Well. we're going tO been taking a lot of 'ludes and she·s not !lure if she really is
make it .. We went to a nearby Bor Scout camp and got seeing what she sees. or if what's happening s
i happening. A
buckcts and huckets of water and Don Russell ( he was the supposed killer comes back to the house and so forth. but
hunchhack in Creatures) dug the ditch And ( 1'11 never what people don't know is: there's another killer coming to
forget) ht: said. 'TU get a hump for sure doing aU thi'i the hotL.� to kill her besides the suppo!\ed killer: the wife.
digging!" That's how we did it. who's going to kill for the pan. no matter what. That's my
R BOYD: . . At the beginning of set!('T(I/ diffenmt f lms,
i little tribute to Hollywood!
you siJOu• Hol�)'ll'OOd. the stars on the sideu'Q/k. and the That's probably going to be my next film. The costumes for
Capitol Records building- the g)psics are being madc right now. I'm going to shoot in
• STECKLER: Yeah. I did that in Wild Guitar. Rat Pfink and Death Vallt-y; I'm going to Zabriskic Point for one shot. My
7brlll Killers. Oh weU . ._ tribute to Antonioni!
I made a ffiO\·ie for some people in Texas that I can·t get a • BO>V: Were JY>II shooting foowge of Ho/�J·u·ood &Jule­
print of anywhere. lt was caUed Sinthia· 7be /Jettit s Doll. It t'(1rr/ for this film ?
rl>ally was
an intriguing mmic: then they made me add 3 • STECKLER: For abom 3 years I've been compiling footage
scene� I didn'twant to add. They were afraid it was too for a little film called Hol�ru-eird. putting different scenes
"European" for audiences, so they put in a psychiatrist to aside. I want to dedicate it 10 HoUywood and \\iSh 'em luck
explain my movie! I got reaUy pissed off. took m)' name off Good title. huh' I see it eve11· week in the .\'ntional EnquitW
and put a phony name on it. You \\ill really like Carolyn Brandt in 77Je HoiiJ'll'OOd
That film contained the best photography I everdid. It did Strangler. She doesn't sayone word; in fact there'sonlyabout
pretty well for them. I understand. A girl who had lots of S Lines of dialogue in the whole fslm. E\'Cl]bo<:l)�s screaming
potential played the lead. Here was a l)pical Hollywood at me for not putting in any dialogue. but it just doesn't need
story; l'\'C got to tell you this. it. I want tO see if I can make a 72-minutc. silent horror
Her name was Bonnie Allison. A stage director named Ted mo,ie!
Roter was to play the girl's father; he's Hungarian and "'-as R BOYD: Do J'Oll alu�ys script uut your mol'i�?
perfect for the pan, even though he wasn't an actor. I asked • STECKLER: You ha\'t: to, although I didn't write Wild
him to come to my office. At this point T'd intel'\iewed 200 Guitar: that was Arch HaU's script. I went preny much with
girls for the lead and couldn't find one, I wanted a girl that what he had. but I added the kidnappers and stuff like that for
had a little bit of innocence. because she's supposed to be a fun because I thought the script \\'35 kind ofhokey. But I liked
12-)-ear-old girl who grows up. ( It's \'Cry hard to be 21 years it; I liked Junior-he was a nice kid. He wasn't a great actor
old and play a 12-year-old. unless you do a "surrealistic" but he had a clean. wholesome personality. And we had
scene. )An)way. he caUed me up and said his car broke do\\TI, nothing. no money. to make the mo,ie If we had pizza it was
but somebody's gi.\ing him a lift. finally he walks in with like going to hea\·en'
Bonnie. a school teacher. As soon as I saw her I said, "Come • BOYD: You u'f!re great as a ''beat')•"bztbat: didyouenj(�)'
in; I want to talk to you. You're just what I want. exactly. playing that type of character·?
You'd be perfect for this movie."Tedsaid, "But she·saschool • STECKLER: Wel l. this is a long story. I went to l..os Angeles

44
City College and studied acting with a gigantic, fantastic, to play the character with a lot more class, but I made the
black actor. I don't know whatever happened to him, but his character a little sneaky, deliberately . . . a little money­
name is Eddie Rowey and I always wanted to work with him making guy protecting his boss's money. And that's when the
in a movie. I took Eddie to Arch Hall and said, "Arch, Eddie name "Cash Ragg" carne out.
would be great to play the heavy, 'Stake.'" And he said, ".All I didn't make up the name "Cash Flagg," because at the
right." But at the last minute he chickened out because Eddie time, in Hollywood, I had a little reputation that I wouldn't
take checks from anybody. I would say, "Pay me in cash or
don't pay me at all." So the nic.knarne "Cash" started to come
,_ ....... ..., ..... ,., ,... tradl ,., around, little by little. I would say, "Arch, if you don't have any
what y• wMI to do. I lluy ._.. _. . money don't give me a bad check, just pay me cash." So the
next thing was "Cash Flagg" (I'm not sure where the "Flagg"
kinds of ....... those .. lsa.ort.lt to
name
.

came from). When I made The Creatures I used that .

--- · -- suit. Arch and I were always kidding about this; until the day he
died he was fascinated by the name "Cash Flagg."
Anyway, I used "Cash Flagg" in Wild Guitar, Incredibly
was black, and he was afraid he would lose all his bookings Strange Creatures, and 1brill Killers. And I used it once more
down South. (This was 1962; remember I got flak down in Revenge of the Ripper, which will be coming out in
south with Rat Pfink just for having the black guy get in the another 6 to 8 months- maybe. I shot Revenge in '72, and I
back of the truck.) So anyway, I said, "What are we going to said I wasn't going to edit it for tO years. Well, I just edited the
do? We're shooting in the morning." He said, "Well,you play first 2 reels last month. Not many people can do that: make a
it." I didn't want to direct my first movie and act in it, so I movie, put it on the shelf for 10 years, and not even edit it! I
said, "How can I play the part?" (Arch Hall outweighs me by shot it at a festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico and I'm going to
40 lbs, he's taller than me, and I've got a fight scene with him start out the movie saying, "The year was 1974 . . . " and
at the end; for Christ's sake, you don't want the hero beating people are going to say, "Wow! he sure did a lot of good
up a little squirrel! ) So I had to play him slimy so that no one, research! "
in my mind, would be offended at the leading man beating up The star of Revenge of the Ripper is great; he's something
a little guy at the end. Originally, Eddie Rowey was supposed else, that guy. He's a little upset that I waited 10 years, though.

Cash Flagg (lay Dennis Steckler) does the biclcling of Esmerelda in this scene from Tlle l....lllly ........ Cr•l•.._
Carolyn Brandt relaxing in a scene from The lncr...IWy ltran.. c....tures.

I said to him , "I told you ahead of time that it was going to be DrlL!f!rS In Hell, re-released as Wild Ones on Wheels. In Wild
10 years until this picture gets out." I knew it right then and Guitar you can see the poster for it right on a table; the movie
there, and I probably will do that in the future with some was made right before Wild Guitar. I loved making it; nice
films. little film.
I'm in another movie that I can't get a print of called • BOYD: Is that about a gang that terrorizes a family

46
drltilll( througb the desert ? you know what I mean? I had all these kids coming In, and this
• STECKLE R: Yes, they're in sports cars and they kidnap a one guy had been bugging me for about a year ( I won't
guy and hi� wife: in a jeep. For Dn'wrs In Hell I was head mention his name ) who said he really wanted to work for me.
cameraman; then they decided they wanted me to play a part Finally I said, "I'm gonna take a chance and give you a role and
in it as well. It's easy enough to act in a film when you're the do it." Third day into shooting, he started to tell everyone
director, but when you're supposed tofilm a movie as well as what to do. (The guy had never made a movie; I had sent him
be in front of the camera playing a role about SQ'X, of the time, to Max Factor, got him a hairpiece, I got him everything.)
that's some trick! Anyway, he said, "You've got to do it my way, j>ecause you've
already shot for 3 days" ( and we had spent a lot of money ). I
said, "What do you mean I have to do it your way?" He says,
Originally I had picked a girl ......., Bonita "You can't go back and re-shoot all those scenes." l said, "Oh
Jade to play the lead. I saw her two ,.... yes, I can!" and grabbed the hairpiece off his head and put in
on myhead. I told the makeup woman. "We can make it fit,"
after the movie; .._ walctd up and .._...
and said to him, "You're fired! Out!" To this day he hasn't
• a book AfttenlonL said, ''ltad Itt"
on done a film. And I made the movie. I may have made a mistake
.... ...... awar-l'v• ntv• ... ..... linea. because I don't think I was right for the script, but t don't like
anybody putting pressure on me! I hate that.
So now I'm playing the detective and all of a sudden I'm
• BOYD: What about some of these other films. Uke "the looking at the footage and saying, "Ub ob. " And I thought,
last miginal 8 mottfe"? "Either start over with a new actor or just do it and get it over
• STECKLER: Oh, Body Fetler. That never saw the light of with." I checked the money I had and said, "Let's go with
day anywhc:re. but I just sold it to England and they loved it. what we have; see what comes out of it, and do the best we
The guy called me and said it's being dubbed into Spa nish; can." In a way, I'm glad I did, because I look at it every 2 or 3
and he's got a deal for Ireland and all the Scandinavian years and there are 2 or 3 scenes that are probahlyas good as
countries. lne reason being: The Creatures had been sold to anything ever done in the movie industry.
England 7 or R months earlier, and all of a sudden everybody There's one scene in particular that was not in the script.
wanted to StT movies I had made. So England took Body We had finished the last day of shooting and Ron I laydock
Fet 'er, 7be Lemon Gt'Ot•e Kids, Blood Shack and Hoi�)'U 'OOd and I had gone to the Hollywood Ranch Market to get some­
Strangler. thing to eat. When we came out we saw this guy lying in the
• BO>rD: Wlxll 's Body Fever about? gutter. I said, "That looks like Coleman Francis."
• STECKLER: I had my office at 9100 Sunset and I wanted to Now I don't know ifyou know Coleman Francis or not, but
make a little detective movie but I didn't really want to make he was an old-time actor who did a lot ofwork. Coleman was
a detective movie but I did want to make a detective movie- in my Lemon Grove Kids; he played Mr. Miller, the old man

Carolyn Brandt with killers in The Thrill KAlen.

C•olyn Brandt with lon Haydock i.n aleM IMck.

who carne out. chased the kids, and got hypnotized. I said, morning, there will be enough light coming in . . ." H e said,
"What are you doing, Coleman?" (it was Saturday night, by the "All right." And I told Coleman ( I had seen him and he's a
way, and I was so glad the movie was over). He said that he derelict, right?), "Now this is just an advance," and I put S20
hadn't worked, and had no place to go. I offered him S20 and in his pocket. He said, "Thank you, Ray, that'sdif
ferent. I'll be
he said, "I don't want the money. I'm an actor; I want a job." there. What time do you want me?" I said, "9:30."
And I'll tell you, my stomach and my heart . . . he was sitting The next morning we got there about 8:30 and set every­
there and it was cold, man. I said, "Well, how would you like thing up. 9:00 carne; nothing. 9:15 carne; nothing. And Ron
to work tomorrow? We've got one more day left on this said, "Well . . ." I had envisioned this scene about a derelict
movie," and Ron looked at me (we had just been celebrating working in a laundromat, making it up as I was waiting. All of
the end of the movie, and I knew I had made a dud to start a sudden I see this guy coming across Sunset Boulevard­
with; no one was going to accept this picture ). So I said, "Tbat's him!" He was dressed in a sport coat, not new but
"Meet me, uh . . ." and I had to think fast because I didn't have clean; clean clothes, dean-shaven, his hair shaped up and
any money to shoot. I remembered once shooting near this everything. He'd used the S20 to go to a used clothing store
laundromat right around the comer at Sunset near the free­ or some place where they sell sport coats for 6 bucks . . . He
way, and I said, "Meet us at this laundromat." said, "I wanted to be presentable." I hadn't told him what to
Ron was looking at me, but-one thing I liked about him wear; it was really my fault, but I'd assumed that because I had
was, he never asked me questions in front of people; he'd seen him in such terrible shape the night before, the next
wait until afterward. Then Ron said, "What are we going to morning he would look the same. But I will never assume
do?" I said, "Let's shoot a scene down there because it's anything about an actor again. He came in ready to go to
deserted; it won't cost us any money. If we shoot in the work, looking the best that he could look for S20. ( He didn't

48
 Tht: difference is. he's so much into himself; he's complete()'
into him�df in all his films. Woody bases evel)1hing on some
FI L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S
personal, exaggerated experiences, whereas I make up

THE LEMON GROVE KIDS experiences and use them.

• BO>D: \f'ere you actunl(l' in Eegah!?
• STECKLER: Yes. I was the cameraman and I mad<: my
acting dt:hut. We were at this count f)' club where they had
To settle their differences, SLUG, GOPHER and THE-lEMON GROVE KIDS this grc.:at IX>OI and someone said. "Somebody should throw
agree to participate in a cross-country race with their neighborhood someone in the pool.'' I voluntc.:c.:rcd, so Richard Kiel threw
rivals, KILLER KRUMP and THE EAST LEMON GROVE KIDS. But DUKE us in. Richard Kiel. who p l ays "Jaws" in James Bond movies,
MAZARATII, formerly a member of Slug's gong and now working for played Eegah. At the time he was another starving actor and
BIG ED NARZAK, local book1e, has plans to make a lot of money on the Arch actually wrote the screenplay for him because he used
race. He tokes bets on Slug's gang to win the race while secretly placing to rent a room from Arch and I guess he got behind in the
his own money on Killer Krump's group, even though it is Slug's boys rent. �caus<: Arch said, "I'w got to make this up somehou•"
who ore the better athletes of the two teams. Duke is confident of so he made the movie Eegah! That was a fun movie ro make.
making a pile of money on the race because he has hired THE SABOTEUR, l'\'<: got to tdl you this stOI)' . . .
who can fix anything. to fix the race against Slug and The lemon Grove Wt: were making Eegab! in the hot summer, I 20 degrees
Kids. It's a riotous race through city, beach and desert as the lemon i n thc.: P'J im Desert. At that tim<: Wilos Gapaniks, who's done a
Gravers heroically overcome the many plots hatched against them by lot of hig movies recently, was tht· director of photography.
t\,e notorious Saboteur and race to the finish line, neck in nedc with Arch Hall asked me if I wanted to assist him a nel l said, "Sure!"
Killer Krump's Kids. ( I had just finished lf'orld 's Greatest Sinner: I had met Wilos,
and really liked him. ) So. we went out ther<:. In daytime you
load film in a hlack changing bag; it was so hot that my hands
takt: the.: S20 and buy him�t'lf a boule; he rook it and made were melting in the hag. In the heat the film got toerysoft, and
himself look good. ) I sw<:atecl a lot, so it wasn't easy to load in the magazine. And
We.: impro,·bnl thb �<.:c.:n<: in the.: laundromat. and Herb we had no air-conditioned vehicles or anything.
Robin� ( who wa� in 17.11ill 1\i//et:� ) came down to do the Arch had told us earlier that we were on private property,
:.�:c.:m:, too. I haw to tell you: that �ene is so good and he is so and if anyhody came up to be careful about -wnat we said,
greu in that part that. tht· fc.:w time� wc.:'\'e screened the hecaus<: he didn't want to spend any money to rent grounds
picture.:. it blows c.:wrybody'� mind. It's \'c.:ry �impk and yet or an}1hing out thc.:rc.: in the: dntTt. While.: I was changing the
tdb the wholc.: story about what we \Yere tf)ing t o do in the tilm all of a sucldc.:n !>Omeont· can1c.: up and said. "What are you
mmic.:. doing�·· I turned around and saw this guy with curly hair,
You know, �omc.:rimc.:� you don't do what you sc.:t out to do. about ""'0 yc.:ar� old. And I said, "Oh, we're just making a little
Had I shot that �xne flr�t before I made the mo\it·. it would educational film down thc.:re." He looked down there and
have.: been a compktdy ditkrt·nt 1110\'ie. But that w;ts the last asked. "\X1lat's that guy doing \\ith the clubr I said some­
:.<.Tnt·. In a way. it's almost out of context in the pkturt· and thing like.:. "Oh it's just a . . . " ( I was reaching for words. ) And
yet in another way I'm not sure.:. lne only people ·who can he's smiling at me. (At this point I was a little naive ahout how
judgc.: it art· peopk who look at it. you ha\"t: to hustle to steal et•et)'lbhtf.: in the mmie business.)
Cokman Franci� wa� .�n·ot. lie pas�<:d away not too long
after that. I just saw him in a mmie opposite Rock Hudson.
Tuil(�bt for Ibe G
ods. I did a lot of tinting which I think really
It'� amazing what Hollywood can do to �omc.:one. Coleman
•hances it a lot (it was originally shot in
wa� a profc.:ssional. Hc.: may have bc.:cn drunk on his own time.
but h: wa�n't dnmk on my �c.:t -know what I'm trying to say? black-and-white). We aid aU the night scenes
I f<'und out latc.:r that a lot of people wouldn't touch him in blue, and the . Rat Pfink scenes in ....,._
bc.:c.:ausc.: he was drinking a lot. I said. "Yes. but does he drink
ancl it really hOlds up-l'm amazed!
\\1lik hc.:'s working'" ll1at's thc.: whole key: does he cbink
wbile be:5 u m1dnM ? ll1ere are great stars that drink too
much and there are great star� who're on too much elope. But And he said. "You're making a horror movie or something,
somc.:how they manage not to screw around when they're aren't you?" I said, "Well . . . yeah, son of." He said, kind of
working; they stay away from it, or else they wouldn't work. politely. "That's my land, you know that?" I said, "Oh really?"
Anyway, ht· was a fine actor; I'm glad he worked for me on 2 He said. " I used to make a few mmies myself once in a while. I
or 3 mo\'ie�. In Lemon (,'rnt•e Kids he was th<: ht:acl gangster. know what you guys are doing. Ilut it's okay; be my guest!
Big Ed Narzak . . Hav<: fun. kid. Good luck in your carec.:r." and he got in his car
• BOYD: \f'ho else ll'as in Body Fever? and drO\'C.: away. Arch came clo·wn because he saw him talking
LER: I had th<: creator of Hogan s Heroes. Bernie
• STECK to me and <L<;ked. "What did he say'" and I said. "It's okay.
Fine, who \>:as the big guy in the Sgt. Bilko shows. He asked Arch. e\'ef)th ing's under control. He said it's okay; we can
me:. "What name do I ha\'t: in the film?" and I said, "Big Mac" shoot here." Arch said. ''Vou know who that was. don't you'"
( hecause at that point in this countf)' the "Big Mac" had I said, "Well, he kind of looked familiar: he said he was in
come: out ). He said, "Steckler, you're crazy!" I said, "You mo,ic.:�. hut I couldn't place him. I didn't recognize the
were great in .\"MI. Bilko. so gi\'t: me a break." Then I got the voice." He said. "Of course not-that was Harpo Marx1" It
guy who strangled Steve McQueen in Lol'e uith a Proper u•as- 1'11 he a son of a gun. I mean. my heart went . . .
Strcmger ( or one of tho!>e movies); he was the heavy. So I had I tell you. of all the guys that I as a kid loved- I couldn't
thesc.: 2 gigantic guys- I mc:an really big -and I had some believe I'd met Harpo Marx. He was putting me on all the
other weird fac<:s I found around town. After I fired the actor way, hc.: had me going and Iowd evef)' second of it. 'Cause
playing the detective ( \"\110 had looked good against these he'd have: been the first on the hill making the movie if it had
people ). all of a sudden I 'm playing the role, and it's Like half a been thc.: reverse situation. know what I mean? Those were
step above: Woody Allen! the guy� that had the energy! They l011ed their work. That day
But the last thing I want is to he compared to Woody Allen. was really exciting. Anyway, that was my really great
Yet people sometimes do- because of looks and evef)'thi ng. moment. And I think I've mc.:t ev<:ryhody from Troy Donahue
And my attitude is son of crazy like his, I guess, or \ice versa. to Gardner MacKay.

49
• BOYD: I recently met Gardner MacKay. I went there once and I don't know if I want to go a second
• STECKLER: I met Gardner 20 years ago. I liked him, liked time. You've got to go through the dogs and up the mountain
his personality. He's very nice to be with. I met him at a party and into it. Once there you look around and he's got every·
and we had a great talk one night, after his series was finished. thing; it's another world. The world of T.V. Mikels.
What's he doing now? • BOYD: 1bat 's amazing.
• BOYD: He 's a playwright. Hejust went to the East Coast • STECKLER: The legend.
where a couple of bis plays are being done on Broadway. • BOYD: f't'e beard so ma ny u>eird things about him.
After that be 's going to Europe to get awayfrom everything, • STECKLER: He's got about 8 wives, I know that.
and get some uriting done. • BOYD: At the same time ?
• STECKLER: How's he look? • STECKLER: At the same time, living with him there.
• BOYD: Great; be still bas the same sort of boyish good • BOYD: . . . Weren 't soundtrack records from Creatures
looks. and Rat Pii nk released? On what label?
• STECKLER: That's fantastic. He never did any more films • STECKLER: I can't rememher-1 think it was REL
after that series, did he? Records. I can't tell you where they are roday; I have no idea
• BOYD: He made a film called I Sailed to Tahiti With An whatsoever. One of them was out of Chicago, hecause Ron
All-Girl Crew. had a record out of one of the songs he sang in Rat P
ftnk.
• STECKLER: Right! That should be a classic little cult film • BOYD: Did be record under the name of Ron Haydock ?
somewhere. It's a man's dream to go across the ocean with a • STECKLER: He picked the name "Yin Saxon"; I don't know
boatful qf girls. why. He made one record.
• BOYD: "Vin �txon " and "Lonnie Lord"-
• STECKLER: Yeah, those were his names; he made them
l llllll a iMYie tor .... ...... ... ... up. He was a writer, too; he wrote the original screenplay for

cc6d ...... . Tile ...... .. It naly 1be Deprat1f!d. It takes you right up to the point when we
decided to go zonkers and had Rat Pfink come out of the
... . ....... .... ...... they ... .... closet.
..W 3 _ 1 ....'t w..t to add. 'lhey • BOYD: So that U'as the original title of Rat Pfink?
._.. altaid it was too n1....,... .. for • STECKLER: 1be Deprat'ed [ laughs]. To this day I don't
know why I did it, and I don't really care! You just get an
......._, so they put In a psychlaltlit to impulse: "If you came out of that closet as Batman and Robin
aplain illY movW I •' naly pissed oH, . . . " So we got an "R" and some long underwear; Titus had a

took illY - off .... put a ....., - • Halloween costume with some lights that lit up . . . only u •e

could ever d o it!

it.
• BOYD: What films UIQS Ron Haydock in?
• STECKLER: He played one of the cops that got killed in
1brill Killers, that was his debut. Then I starred him in Rat
Back in the late '60s I tried to put a couple of films together Pji11k, and then in Blood Sback. He has a small scene in
with Troy Donahue but I couldn't. I aJways thought Troy had Lemon Gr()lJe.
a lot more talent than was expected of him in Hollywood. I • BOYD: WbatetJf!Y happened to him?
thought he could have gone farther, but he was in that • STECKLER: He was ki lled in an automobile accident
system. But without that system he wouldn't have been Troy about 5 years ago.
Donahue, either, and he would never have gotten the break. • BOYD: . . . Wbat was Face of Evil?
Another actor I like (believe it or not, he's so stereotyped • STECKLE R: Face ofEvi/ was the original title, concept and
now) is Dennis Cole. He's trapped by his good look
s and screenplay for The Creatures. I didn't like it, but it wasn't a
everything, but I think he's got a lot more going for him than bad title, though .
he's getting. At some point I hope he gets a break. Stuart
Whitman's another actor; those are some of the guys I like. Of
course I met them so I got to know them a little bit person·
ally, just enough to feel that I'd like to work with them. I don't
know how anybody can make a movie -be stuck with some·
one for 3 or 4 weeks-and not feel some sort of rapport. I
mean it's hard to live with a person for one day. So anyway, I
hope all 3 of them eventually grab something, somewhere. RON
• BOYD: I wanted to askyou: u!Qsn 't lzi Renayfr
esh out of
jail when you cast her in Thrill Killers?
• STECKLER: Yes, I think she was in Chino. Joe Bardo, who
played in 1brill Killers, had told me that she'd be getting out
of jail soon and had to find some work immediately. I said,
"HeU, let's shoot a movie with her. I'll put you both in it, let's
do it." So she came over, I met her for the first time, and we
started shooting the next morning (she had just gotten out of
jail the day before. ) And we made this movie. I told you the
Herb Robins story, didn't I?
• BOYD: He was the guy who got beat up afew daysbefore
you started filming.
• STECKLER: Yeah. You'd find him a very fascinating guy.
He directed and starred in a movie called The Worm Eaters.
• BOYD: Did be? I thought Ted V. Mikels did that.
• STECKLER: Ted produced it.
• BOYD: Do you know Mikels?
• STECKLER: I know him very well. Ted lives in a real castle
here. And I tell you, it is spooky to go into that castle at night.

50
• BOYD: Didn t
' Columbia sueyou u•ben you szt titcbed the Variety
title to Incredibly Strange Creatures? Col Waves Legal article
• STECKLER: [disgustedly] Oh, that was so crazy. Kubrick doted
was making a movie called Dr Strange/oue Or Why I Stopped Stick; l n d i e Drops April 2,
Wonyin.R and Leamed to LOrJe the Bomb, and I had adver­ 1963.
tised my picture as The Incredibly Stran.Re Creatures Or W1.ry 'Mixed Up' Title
I Stopped Lir fing and &came a Mxed
i Up Zombie. But i t had A ftcr t h reatcn i n g If' ga l art ion,
nothing to do with his picture. In fact the last thing I would Columbia has rccch·ecl assurance
have wanted to do was steal something from Kubrick, who I o
from Morgan-StccklC'r P r d s . lhat
had met a few times; we had gotten along real well. title of la tter' � prnpn;;ed i n d ie,
"The I ncredihlv i Strang£' Crf'alure:
As I recall, he was still shooting Dr Strangelove after I had
Or W h y I Stor pecl Living And BC'­
alrear�v shot my movie. I called Columbia and said, "What's came A M i x ed - U p Zombie'," would
the big problem? Can you get Kubrick on the other line so we be changed, accord ing to Co l at­
can work this out?" And they got Kubrick on the other line, torney Sey m o u r !'. Steinberg.
but not where I could talk to him-it was relayed. (Now Studio contended "Creat un'' tag
infri ng-C'cl on S ta ni C' y I( u h r i c·k"s
remember, this litigation had been going on for months. But
"Or. SrangC'IovC' : Or ! l ow I i.!'anH·ci
if all of a sudden you get everybody together, you can resolve To Stop Worrying A nd Lm·e TIH•
something so quickly. And this is a town where they never get Bomb," now lensing in London for
together.) I said, ''Vou ask Mr Kubrick if I change my title Col release.
from The Incredibly Strange Creatures etc. to The Incredibly II
St1wige Creatures Who Stopped Lilling and Became Mixed­
Up Zombies, would that be alright?" (Just remember: 5 It's probably better that I didn't use that title in the long
minutes earlier they were going to sue me for S5 million. You run, 'cause ( like I say) I wouldn't want anybody to think I
can imagine how much the attorneys got paid on this; stole that crazy title from him. What's crazy about having a
imagine how much money was being spent to prevent me long title? People thought I was nuts when I came up with it.
from using that title: on a picture that cost 538,000.) And They'll think I'm nuts someday when I make Creatures Part
Kubrick says, "fine; that's good. Okay. Wrap it up. Back to II.
work." End of story. In other words, once we made contact it • BOYD: You think you will?
was over in a flash. • STECKLER: Yeah; just for fun I'll make it. I'll use the gypsy
But, I could have made S movies on what they probably wardrobe that's left over from my next movie and start again.
spent trying to figure out how to stop me. I would have Just last week I found a girl who looks almost exactly like the
changed the title if they had just asked me politely. But it was original girl who played the gypsy, Bette O'Hara. She could be
the way they went about it: letters and subpoenas and all that her daughter! I'm already looking for faces who resemble
crap-crazy. So there you are-big deal. people.
• BOYD: Recently, at the plasma center in San Francisco, I
saw a young Cash Ragg lookalike.
• STECKLER: Walking around? Did you know they sold
Scene from Blood Shack. Cash Flagg masks for years?
• BOYD: Ohmigod!
• STECKLER: Yeah, I had one, but recently I pulled it out of
the box and the rubber had just deteriorated after all these
years. See, we used them in the drive-ins. They would have
guys running around looking like me. I got them from the
same guy who did Bela Lugosi and all of them-Don Post.
He's probably still got the mold. Do you think you were at the
theater when I was there?

for -.twen Ill lltl I was head

can••nan; then they cllddecl they wanted
•to play a part. It's easy enough to ad in
a ,.. when you•re the clrector, but when

you're suppottd to flm a movie as well as

._ in front of the cCIIMra play'"a a role
,
·about 500Jo of the time, that's .- trkkl

• BOYD: I wish.
• STECKLER: Because I went with a lot of 'em. It was great.
One time a woman collapsed and they had to take her to the
hospital; it'd scared the shit out of her. At another theater
they'd planned an afternoon showing and I asked, "We're
going to do this at a matinee ?" Well, a lot of little kids
showed up; I jumped out, and 20 or 30 ran straight out to the
street! Jesus! I didn't realize the effect it had in those days.
• BOYD: If you do Creatures 11, where will you find an
amusement park? Santa Cruz?
• STECKLER: I've already compiled a lot of great footage of

51
the ferris wheel. etc. I've been putting things aside. They have
carnivals in Vegas once or twice a year; if I shoot at night it
will look great. I've already got the gypsy motor home. I'm
slowly putting it together; I haven't figured out bow I'm
going to do it or just what, yet. I <..<m' t find many members of
the originaJ cast; I don't even know where they are anymore,
or where to begin to look. I tried but they're aU gone; they
disappeared. I have no idea where Atlas King went; I never
saw him again after The Thrill Killers. ( Oh, I did bump into
him a year or two later, but I don't know what happened to
him.) The hunchback? No idea. I know the kid who played
Madison Clarke is a lighting technician who works here
somewhere. I don't know where anybody is, to tell you the
truth; after 20 years people go. But it would be interesting to
get a few back. I figure that with a little publicity a few will
call I've already had about 10 calls, because they're running
clips from it in It Came From Hol�ywood.

To thk day I ...., know why I clcl Ito You

1-f get • ....,.... "If you _. out of
that cloMt as lahtMM cnl IoWa " So we o • •

•' .. ''I" ..... ...... ..... ......... ;. Titus

111111 a Wow... costume with 10111e lghts
that It .. 0 • 0 only we could .... do itt

• BOYD: What's that mortie like?

• STECKLER: It's alright . I enjoyed it because I look at old
movies and clips aU the time, an}way. There were a couple of "Zombies" on the loose in The hte....lllly Strange C....tures.
scenes I'd never seen before from Edward D. Wood, who was
supposedly the "worst" filmmaker of all time. But maybe they
should re-evaluate his work a little more, because I don't
think they see all the underlying currents there.
• BOYD: Exact�>'· By letting superfidal 'Judgments " and
"standards " keep them (and their reade�-s) mmyfrom cer­ fa<Kinated. I said to him, "Why did you write about Rat P.fink
tain films. most "film critics " bm't! cheated tbemseltJes and if you'd never seen it?" He said, "Well, it was mainly the title."
others out ofamazing e.'\periences. They neoer rectify see the In his book he called it "the worst title ofall time." But when
substance of rl'lxtf's really going on in a lot offilms, espe­ he actually saw the film, his words to me were, "Ray, if I had
cially lower budget films. seen this movie before I had written this book, the things I
• STECKLER: Harry Medved, author of The Golden Turkey would have said in there would have been . . . " He really Liked
Awards, saw alJ my movies except for Rat Pfink and he was the picture, really got carried away with it.
But even so, how can you write about something you've
never seen? It's not fair. Even if you write something good
about a film you've never seen, you're still misleading the
people you're writing for.
• BOYD: Rat Pfink a Boo Boo is a great title; it could mean
anything. And it does com.>ry a certain feeling. l\'l'ben people
use tenns like ''bad" or "worst "-tbe�·r criteria are always
F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S suspect.

RAT PFINK & BOO BOO

• STECKLER: What do you think of Roger Corman's films?
• BOYD: I like Bucket of Blood and a feu• otbf!I"S, but I'm
not crazy about him. I think be manages to acbiet'e some­
tbi,zg interesting because be's afast.!Juck artist doing things
as fast as possible, and also because be doesn 't think too
When CEEBEE BEAUMONT, girlfriend o f singing idol LONNIE LORD, is
much about some aspects of what's be's doing.
kidnapped by THE CHAIN GANG, Lonnie and his friend TITUS TWIMBLY
• STECKLER: He's a super-intelligent guy and I think he
swing into action. They become the mighty costumed superheroes RAT
knows just what to do in order to get the job done. He did
PFINK and BOO BOO. Champions of Women and Children Everywhere.
nice work in those Edgar Allan Poe films- 7be Masque of the
Between rock & roll songs at wild watusi go-go parties, Rat Pfink and
Red Death was super. Finally, he tried to make a movie he felt
Boa Boa search for Ceebee in their Ratcycle. After many harrowing
was important: horror movie with William Shatner about a
a

bigot down South-the best thing Shatner ever did. It was

escapes they finally rescue Ceebee and end The Chain Gong's reign of

originally called 7be Intruder. He got slammed down badly.

terror-only to face the fanged fury of KOGAR THE APE, escaped from
a jungle compound. But Rat Pfink saves the day as well as Ceebee from
After that he never tried to make another film. He didn't even
the escaped ape and all zing over Ia the city-wide parade held in their
try to release it; he gave it to someone else to release. You'd
honor, as once again Rat Pfink and Boa Boo prove that Crime Does Not
think American International Pictures would have jumped in
Pay!
and tried to help him out; I don't know what went wrong. But

52
the movie was great. They put some really terrible title on it. whole thing: "My, name, is, Harry. " What do you do, Harry? "1,
Talk about low-budget movies where somebody tried to do murdered, fifty, women, last, year; they, did, not, like, my,
something really unusual - he did it. And got slammed down! looks." Oh, okay, Harry. Now if you did a silent movie and
• BOYD: Harl{! JX>U seen the Mondo Cane films? Harry's fact; came on with a subtitle that said, "Harry mur­
• STECKLER: I only saw the very first one, but I read an dered 50 women last year," whoaaa is what you'd think.
article about the filmmaker which said the reason he made it Because you'd never know that when he opens his mouth
was because he and his girlfriend were in an automobile he's a turkey.
accident, and she was killed. He was so bitter at the world • BOYD: I wanted to ask JX>U if JX>U hat.!{! always been
that he went out and made Mondo Cane! When he killed all rebellious.
the cows and showed that other {shocking) footage, he was • STECKLER: I'm only rebellious around bullshit. I mean, I
taking it out on the attitude of the world. I think it was a can conform to any situation, but when it gets to bullshit, I
drunk driver who hit him-you know, something that never can't handle it, and there's too much of it in Hollywood.
should have happened. So he made that film. • Nobody wants to just sit down and say, "Here's what we have
Last night I went to Zuky's out in Santa Monica. It used to to do and let's do it." They don't know those words. It's like,
be the place where aU the kids from the Santa Monica "Okay, let's figure out how we're going to do this, and how
Theater hung out. It was late ( close to midnight), and I much money we can take and put in our pockets."
wanted to get something to eat. And, I wanted to see how the They hire production managers who are supposed to save
place had changed since I'd been there 10 or 20 years ago. money for the company, but all they do is get kickbacks
Guess who I opened the door for? Linda Blair. I said, "Aren't everywhere they go. ( Not etleiJ! one of them-but too many
you that girl in those horror movies?" and she looked at me of them.) In other words, everybody's out for their own
and just smiled and started to walk away. I said, "I hate people benefit; nobody gives a shit about making a really good
who make horror movies." She did a triple take with her movie. European filmmakers get out there; if they say to an
girlfriend, like What s u'ith thisguy ?The waitress said, "That actor. "Stand here, it's raining, and don't move until we get
was Linda Blair," and I said, "I know, I know. I was just putting the shot," he stands there in the freezing rain until they get
her on . . . " the shot. In Hollywood, you aren't going to see a star standing
Once I worked at Universal as a grip on the Alfred Hitch­ in the rain-none of them. They're all wet, anyway! •
cock Presents show. You know what A-frames are? They are
big heavy A-frames that you clamp on flats that are I 2 ' long,
with wheels on both sides, and you wheel them around.
Anyway, I got this flat and they told me, "Get it out of here and
take it over to the other set." And when you're working as a
grip you move very fast. ( I did; I don't know what they do
today. ) So I got this thing and started wheeling it I makes race
car-like noises) n?n?n·. Just as I got to a corner I missed
Hitchcock by that much! And he was like this (Ray jumps to
his feet and stands in profile assuming the classic Hitchcock
pose, perfectly mimicking his posture and facial expression] .
If I'd hit him I'd have knocked his head offi And he went over
to this guy and whispered in his ear and he looked at me and
the guy looked at me . . . I said, "Don't say it; I'Ll go get my
card, / knou•. " And I walked over and punched out and went
home. I knew I was going to get fired ( and I was right )
because I'd been going too fast. I thought, "What if I had
kiLled Alfred Hitchcock?!" Of all people, you know? Ah, it wa�
great!

I 111111 a c..ll .... ... IIUf ,....., I .......

It - ef .... ... ..... .... ....... had lust
........ ..... . ..... ,..... . ..
.... ..._ Ill the *i•Hns. 'IIIey would haY•
.,. ...... ....... ....... .. ...

• BOYD: When you make films do JX>U improvise much?

• STECKLER: AJI the time, because when you work with
amateurs you reaLly have to be ready to get the best out of
what you can get. Those kids weren't trained actors at all. I
don't know how good that is: to get actors who have no
ability. A lot of kids who study acting aren't worth shit, and
are never gonna be worth anything! And just because you
study doesn't make you good, either.
You might find a guy walking down the street who could
have more impact than a professional actor-if he's used
correctly. In Europe in the '20s ( silent movies) they found all
their actors in the streets. Nobody had to take acting lessons
back then; that's why there were so many great faces.
DOORS OPEN
Because even if a guy couldn't act, they could make use ofhis CALIFORNIA
� THEATRE • 4TH AND C 1 1 :30 PM TONIGHT & SATURDAY
face. 9:30 A.M. SAT. MORNING
- - - -
234 82S9

Today an actor has to talk, and if he talks he can blow the

•BOYD RICE: You've been in nearly all of Ray's films, Santa Monica Boulevard. A friend let him take showers at his
from Wild Guitar up to the latest- apartment. My family didn't know about it, but every morning
• CAROLYN BRANDT: When we started out in films there I would get up early and make him an egg, onion and mayon­
was a joke among our friends that I was always either stabbed, naise sandwich on French bread and deliver him breakfast
abducted by an ape, or had my head cut off . . . Friends used to before I went to dance class.
say, "Carol, Ray's trying to tell you something. Beware! Are Even in the last couple years there've been times when
you sure he really likes you?" But eventually (in films) I took things were really tight: when he'd be down in Hollywood
the other side and turned bad-/ started doing people in. It's going to the lab and would sleep in the van because cash was
fun! I figured I'd taken enough abuse and punishment- I'd short. A night's stay in a motel could mean the difference
give a little bit back. . between an extra roll or two of film. So he'd sleep in the van,
• BOYD: In somefilms you seemed to get killed offearly � even though I'm sure it's not all that comfortable. But at least
• RAY: I had to have somebody around to do the makeup; there's more space than in the first car he slept in, which was
the sooner she was killed off the sooner she could . . . a little Nash Rambler!
• CAROLYN: There was a scene in Body PePer where I'm • BOYD: Oh, I'd always imagined he slept in thai station
sitting behind a desk. In between takes I was also keeping wagon he drove in Incredibly Strange Creatures.
script; it was there in the drawer. In front of the camera it's • CAROLYN: No. As a matter of fact, when you look at
not as easy to do that as on the sidelines. That was one of the Creatures it's the old yellow Rambler that's in the back when
most mini-crew films we worked on. he first walks out of his apartment. It's the one Atlas King was
There were times when there'd be u j st the two of us working on when he says, "I can't get this pile of junk to
working crew. When we were in Santa Fe doing Blood yja c
k work."
there was one time when Ray would set up the scene and tell • RAY: That was a true scene. When we left that place we
me to push the button on the camera when he walked by. left the car there.
Now that's mini-crew! • CAROLYN: We couldn't afford to have it towed. lf you
• BOYD: Bloody jack? follow our films you get to know the scenery. ( The only other
• CAROLYN: Ray, are you finishing that one up, dear? person I've seen do that is Claude Lelouch, who directed A
• RAY: That's the one where at the end they put me in jail. Man andA Woman; I've seen him use the same apartment in
I've been waiting 12 or 14 years to shoot the additional a couple different films.) Anyway. that flying saucer we used
scenes; in another year I'll shoot them, put it all together, and in Lemon Grove Kids-we had to get rid of it before we
when I flashback they'Ll say, "What a makeup job! What a set! moved. We called this junk dealer and he came and saw the
That really looks like 1972!" Nobody's ever done anything saucer and then saw all these bent-up 35mm film cans we
like that before . . . were a.lso getting rid of. He asked if we were in the movie
business. It turned out that this junkman just happened to be
the first black movie producer; in Hollywood, everyone's in
� the industry! He had gone back into his first business, the
... . ....... ... ... .... ...... .. . junk business.
��ire ••• _. tn.• that I .. always It was even funnier when we first moved to Lemon Grove
Avenue-nice, lovely middle-class couples, and in come the
..... ...... ....... .., - ..., .. ...
bohemians! The first thing we do is put our flying saucer in
., .... .. off . . . ....... ... .. .,, the front yard. The next thing we do is start filming. Into this
-c..l, ..,.• ..,.. .. .. ,.. ...,...... very nice middle-class neighborhood in the mid-sixties we
..... brought a mummy running around, a gorilla running around,
the Lemon Grove kids running all around the area, and the
first blacks they'd probably ever seen above Franklin Street at
that particular time. It was another year before they'd let our
• BOYD: How'd you two meet? kids play with their kids.
• CAROLYN: I was a harem girl in a thing called The Magic • BOYD: Were those your kids running around Atlas
of Sinbad. Ray came in with a friend of his, probably to do King's yard in Thrill Killers?
some of the filming. He walked in, saw me, and chased me for • CAROLYN: Our kids and our crew's kids. We couldn't
3 months. I finally agreed to go out with him. I don't know always get babysitters so we just stuck the kids in the film.
why I didn't before-1 think I was being very "career­ Incidentally, the cameraman for the Lemon Grot!(! Kids
oriented." Finally I gave in and went out with him and was filmed the jonestown massacre.
stuck from then on. A friend of mine who was an astrologer • RAY: It's hard to make a movie, Boyd It's so hard. There are
said, "There's a definite link between the two of you." And always some people who get a lot of money to make a movie
we've never been able to get rid of it, no matter what we try and that's great-but there are a lot of young people out
and do! [laughter] there making a movie on nickels and dimes, and it may be the
• BOYD: Didn 't Ray live in a car in his early days in only movie they ever make. There are a lot of people who put
Hollywood? up their homes and things and bingo -that's it. You've got to
• CAROLYN: Yes. His buddy that he bunked with got a really want to do it.
girlfriend, and Ray wound up living in a parking lot right • CAROLYN: I guess that's one way you might explain some
around the corner from the studio where we'd first met, on of Ray's films. They really are organic. Because what the

54
 The dream sequence
from The ln«...Wy
......... en.t.,
...

original script i�. is very rarely anything close to the final the mmie only ran for something like 63 minutes.
product. That'� hccause he's always gone with the flow. I tried to give all the touches I could to the kid. Arch Jr is a
Things happen-you adjust. nice kid, and he was a good singer, but he didn't seem to have
• BO>rD: I ca n 't imagine too many other directors in the his heart in it; never seemed to really care. It was all just
ear�v sixties hm•ing an attitude that uould a/lou• them to handed to him on a silver platter. And I always felt, to be
improt rise and make radical detriationsfrom the script, just honest, that Arch was just attempting to re-live his youth
following their instincts. through his son. It was a big disappointment that his son
• RAY: Well. I don't know any other ftlmmakers in Holly­ didn't want to continue in the business. The minute his son
wood who have enough guts to go out and make a feature stopped making movies, Arch stopped making movies. He
movie without a script, and pull it off and get it out, doing didn't have the desire to go out and tackle the industry
everything from Mart to end. You have to have a love of what without his kid in the picture. But I can understand that. You
you're doing to make these kind of movies, because you'll have to have a lot>e to make these kind of movies.
never get rich. Even when you make a movie that makes a lot • BOYD: Wasn 'I A rch Hall a test pilot?
of money, everybody else gets the money! I'm a perfect • RAY: Yes, and they made a movie about him: The Last Time
example I laughs!; all the money I've made in the business is I Sau' Archie. Robert Mitchum played Arch Hall, and it was
through pure persistence and hounding people, just hound­ written by Arch's roommate in the army, Bill Bowers. Bill
ing them. TI1e nicer you are. the more they'll cat you alive! wrote it, it was a hit novel; the only problem was that he had
It seems like the movie industry likes to destroy bridges to have permission to use Arch's name. He told him that he'd
rather than build them, until eventually there's nothing left. take care of him, and Arch signed a paper. Of course, Arch
• BOYD: / noticed something odd in Thrill Killers: there's a never got a thing for it; the studio never gave him anything.
party scene u•here George]. Morgan appears as George]. Mitchum played Arch Hall to a "T". They got together for
Morgan. and Arch Hall appears as Arch Hall, but the credits dinner a few times and Mitchum watched how Arch acted.
only list George]. Morgan. / thought maybe it u•as because Arch had that lazy walk, lazy attitude, very lazy. Like he had to
Arch U'tlS such tm obnoxious dnmk in that scene that be make a real dedsion to get up and get a glass ofwater-reaUy!
didn 't Ul( l11f to be credited. If you ever see Eegah!, watch him running across the desert
• RAY: He was playing himself! I always do these little in his shorts. He used to make sure the lens would only cover
things. Ofcourse George had a larger role n i that, throughout a small area so h e wouldn't have far to walk. Then he'd sit
the picture. down.
•BOYD: I thought that maybe after Arch sau • it, be said, • BOYD: � don 't any Arch Hall movies ever show up?
"Hey, I don 't uYmt to be credited asplaJring myself, because I What happened to all of them ?
look like a dnmkard. " • RAY: I don't believe I've seen a group of Arch's films show
• RAY: No, not really. In fact he had a great time that night. up on 1V since 1964 or '65. His wife sold the rights to all of
Arch Hall was a strange guy. I met him right after I did Drivers his films to some guy in New York.
in Hell. Actually, he had a bit part in Secret File: Holly wood, • BOYD: So they'll all be re-released?
which is where I first met him. Then he asked me to do the • RAY: I don't know. I don't even know who got them. Did
second unit photography for Eegah!, and that's how I came to you ever see The Choppers? That was his first movie. Then
work for him. After that he asked me to direct a film for him came Wild Guitar, then The Sadist which was later re-named
with his son, Wild Guitar. And he said, "Now, you mustn't do 7be Profile of Terror. Then he did Eegah!
anything to distract from the script. You must do exactly • CAROLYN: I think that was about the time junior wanted
what the script says." But since I'd never directed a movie, I to get his wings and fly.
figured I'd better do the best I could. When I added in the • RAY: junior got married. Married a nice Vietnamese girl.
early Lemon Grove kids to the movie, Arch didn't like them at He's out there somewhere, probably still playing his guitar,
all; he thought they detracted from the story. So he cut out all sitting on a hill in Boulder City overlooking the Dam. He's
the scenes with them: the kidnapping, everything, and then probably an old man by now . . . •
 knife. Later the escapees terrorize (and eventually kill) a
woman while a narrator recites on the radio a grotesque
parody of Little Red Riding Hood!
Of all Steckler's movies, none is better cast than T11e
Thrill Killers. A lead role featured Liz Renay, a Hollywood
glamour girl who gained notoriety for going to prison
rather than testifying agaimt her gangster boyfriend.
Other outstanding performances were by Herb Robins, Gary
Kent and Keith O'Brien, who play the three escaped lunatics.
Steckler's films are schizophrenic. The Incredibly

T he films of Ray Dennis Steckler are weird, individualistic,

and radical. Sometimes they seem out of control, largely due
Strange Creatures suspends its tension for occasional song­
and-dance numbers; The T11rill Killers starts with the story
of a Hollywood hanger-on and ends with a shoot-out and a
to his penchant for working without a completed saipt. The chase on horseback! But of all his films, none is more
fad that he stars in many of his films (under the pseudonym Rat Plink a Boo Boo.
schizophrenic than the unbelievable
"Cash Flagg") makes them that much better. At times this film seems to be writing itself-the plot
Steckler got his start as a director thanks to Arch Hall, Sr., changes suddenly, continuity is non-existent. It's hard to
who was making Wild Guitar, the story of a young man imagine what audiences thought upon viewing this film for
named Bud Eagle who comes to Hollywood in search of the first time back in 1966.
fame and fortune. On his first night in Tinseltown Bud It begins as a straightforward thriller. Three hoods, after
gets-through an incredible set of coincidences-the oppor­ attacking a woman in an alley, decide to get their kicks by
tunity to perform. The boy is quickly mapped up by a shifty terrorizing the girlfriend of rock star Lonnie Lord. After a
recording agent (played with frightening conviction by Arch
Hall, Sr.), and eventually learns that fame and fortune are
not as important as the girl he loves.
While Wild Guitar may not win any awards for plot
originality, it does give Steckler a chance to display his
curious talents. The film also marks the first appearance of
Steckler's alter ego, Cash Flagg, who plays "Steak," a slea1y
strong-arm man who works for the recording agent. He
gives the part a schi1oid dimension-shifting in an instant
from boredom to maniacal intensity. Carolyn Brandt today. Photo: Boyd Rice
Steckler's next effort remains his best known: The
Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Uvlng and
Became Mlxeci-Up Zombies. It's the story of Esmerelda, a
sideshow gypsy fortune-teller who likes pouring acid on
men's faces and locking them up in her secret cages. With
help from her sister Carmelita and companion Ortega, she
hypnotius a young freeloader named Jerry (Cash Flagg)
and forces him to commit murders. When he no longer
proves useful to her, he too is given the acid treatment. No
explanation is ever offered as to why the fortune-teller
keeps acid-scarred men caged in her tent, but none is
needed-from the moment the film begins it's obvious
we're no longer in this universe. The world of The lncredi­
Wy Strange Creatures exists outside the bounds of logic
and reality.
Originolly Creatures was released in "Hallucinogenic Hyp­
novision." Before the film starts, "The Ama1ing Armand"
warns the audience they will see "actual flesh-and-blood"
1ombies. This gimmick was achieved by ushers wearing
"Cash Flagg" masks who waved rubber daggers at members
of the audience. In urban theaters this novelty proved more
frightening for the ushers than the audience-several
received black eyes and sore jaws while attempting to
frighten the wrong people.
Ray Dennis Steckler's next film, The T11rlll KUiers (also
known as The Maniacs are Loose!) is his mast technically
proficient. Steckler (under the name Cash Flagg) plays Mort
"Mad Dog" Click, homicidal maniac. Three escapees from an
insane asylum (one of whom is Click's brother) terrorize
people at a roadside diner and elsewhere. In one particularly
effective scene Click stabs a prostitute to death in her
darkened hotel room, while outside the window a neon light
flashes on and off in perfect counterpoint to the plunging
few anonymous phone calls, they kidnap the girl. Up to this moments, but poles beside his earlier efforts . . .
point, Rat Pflnk a Boo Boo is fairly aeepy-the hoodlums Steckler began his film career as o photographer (taking
ore genuinely frightening and the situation tense. Suddenly, movie stilh) for Timothy Carty on World's Greatest
as if by whim, lonnie lord and sidekick Titus Twimbly decide Sinner; other assignments included being camwoman on
to save the girlfriend by fuming into Rat Pfink and Boo Boo, Saeam of the autterfly, 1't.. Velvet Trap and The lrotk
a pair of low-budget superheroes. From this paint on Rat Atlventures of Plnocchlo. He also worked on music videos
Plink drops the melodrama, turning into a slapstick comedy for various singers and rock groups, including a rarely seen
that ends with an interminable chase. video of the llau singing "Open My Eyes."
Whatever its faults, Rat Pflnk a Boo Boo represents Currently living in Las Vegas, lay Dennis Steckler con­
filmmaking at its freest. It's hard to imagine what Steckler tinues to work; he recently began shooting The Survival­
had in mind when he made this movie; often absurd, occa· Ists (tentative title; after o conflict with producers the film
sionally tedious, it is never predictable! was completed by Ted V. Mikels), and one of his future
During this period Steckler also made his "lemon Grove Tt.. lna'ecltWy s,..... Creatures.
projects is o sequel to
Kids" films: low budget take-offs on the Bowery Boys, short We hope he never stops making movies his way • • .

and silly stories about the misadventures of o gong of

misfits. later he compiled them into one incoherent, over­
long movie: The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters,
featuring the same out-of-control wockiness that chorac·
terites Rat Pflnk a Boo Boo. Cosh Flagg appears again, this
time as o perfect imitation of Hunfl Hall. In one scene the FILMOGRAPHY
films actually overlap, with Rat Pfink and BooBoo making
on appearance in o retake of o scene in their film! Drivers In Hell aka Wild Ones on Wheels, 1961
Although his output slowed, Steckler continued making Wild Guitar, 1 962
films during the '70s. He started off the decode withSupel' The lnuedibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped living
Cool, o hard-boiled detective story starring (who else?) and le<ame Mixed-Up Zombies, 1963

Cosh Flagg. Unlike most of Steckler's films, Supel' Cool (also

Sinthia: The Devil's Doll, 1968
lot Pfink a Boo Boo, 1965
known as Body Fever) seems to hove o carefully structured
The lemon Grove Kids Meet The Momters, 1 966
plot.
Sinthia, The Devil's Doll, 1968
Steckler's other films during the '70s ore less inspired.
Bloody Jack tfle Iipper, 1972 (unreleased)
Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher is on Super Cool (aka Body Fever aka The last Original
amazing title, but the film-essentially o silent movie with B-Movie), 1969
narration-is little more than o curiosity piece. Blood The Chooper (aka Blood Shack), 1971
Shack (also known as The Chooper) hos o few Stecklerion The Holywood Strangler Meets the Skidrow Slasher, 1979

lay Dennis
Steckler today.
Photo:
Boyd lice

57
I N T E R V I E W:

toward her. Of course that affected her whole life, in her

T ed V. Mikels has
to be remembered
one

as
obsession: making mavies. He'd like
"a hell of a filmmaker who did 28
relationships with men, husbands, and so on. Anyway. that
movie was made as the result of the way we choose to live,
which is very moral and very decent. It may not be easy for
hours a day, 10 days a week towards the making of films . . . everyone to comprehend, but we don't go around trying to
always conceiving, concocting new ideas for stories." And as · make people understand every single thought, concept and
he put it, "Anywhere somebody will fund my mavies, I'll belief we have.
• BR: So many people hat� one idea they beliet!f? in. one
go."
During a recent film shoat near Death Valley (he volun­ thing that s theirfatiOrite. and so on earned to et 'l!'J' fet,el of

teered to be Director of Photography to help out his old

their life . . .
• TVM: I constantly have this conversation with ladies; they
buddy lay Dennis Steckler), the barrel-chested Mikels
ask, "Why not a one-to-one relationship? How can you have
worked under a blcning 105° sun from 6 AM straight
setl(!n women sharing your life?" I say, "The purpose in life
through to 7 PM without stopping, rarely even pausing for usually is to fulfill ourselves and achiet!f? our goals. If ladies
water. And it was hot (a st'"'t motorcyclist fainted from together can have a place to stay where they can learn and
sunstroke). Ted's supportive presence and constant humor­ develop an ability in a certain area; where they can achieve
oft• in different accents-smoothed out a lot of interrup­ their goals in life through this commingling of personalities,
tions inevitable during any film shoat. talents and abilities; then it's an advantage to them." There
Born Theodore Vincent Mikacevich to Croatian emigrant are no demands on them; psychologically they're totally free.
parents, in early childhood Mikels began mastering magic There are no recriminations.
We do have an agreement, and the agreement is that the
and psychology. Originally involved in theater, he's been a
ladies who live and share their lives with me do not sleep
movie scriptwriter, cameraman, director and producer for
around. They are not obligated to sleep with me, but they are
the past three decades, creating classics such as The Astro
obligated to accept this agreement. If they want to be with
z...
w.s, The Corpse Grtntlers, and The Dol Squad on someone else, then let them be with someone else; let
budgets below belief. His fihns explore unconventional terri­ somebody else take care of them if they want. It's a matter of
tory, from brain transplants to witchcraft to polygamy to a choice.
women's hit squad . . . If they no longer want t o be here (or if I don't want them
Although recently relocated to Las Vegas, Ted V. Mikels here), I don't say, "Leave." But I'll say, "Well, if it's not
lived for the past twenty years in a genuine castle just working, then don't prolong it." What uorks uorks; u•hat

outside Hoftywood. Possessed of seemingly endless reserves doesn 't u10rk doesn 't work. If they're here and they're happy,
moving toward the direction of fulfi llment at a stronger or
of energy and enthusiasm, he demonstrates a constantly
faster pace than they would elsewhere, then obviously it's to
philosophizing outlook immersed in saturnine humor. Boyd
their benefit to be here. And if I can help them learn some­
lice interviewed him in a castle roam filled with dueling
thing, they in tum can help me: answer phones. xerox
swords, masks and other colorful memorabilia ... scripts, work in the editing room with sound effects, etc. I
can teach them many things; I probably have started 400-600
people in film, just in various categories. It may be something
simple, like showing them how to make apple boxes for the
grip department. And then they get enthused, and first thing
• BOYD RICE: Ray Dennis Stecklersaidyou have 8 wives- you know they're learning how to handle lights. I've had
• TED V. MIKELS: "Wife" is a restrictive term; we say "Cas· people start as grips and end up being First Cameraman . . .
tle Lady." And the magic number is seven; I told Ray that We have enough activity to keep anyone busy, in every
seven was the precise number; otherwise we'd have to find realm of the audio-visual entertainment field: from music to
another castle and start seven more there. motion picture feature films, which is essentially what I do. I
• BR: W1.ry seven ? write, direct, produce, edit, promote, and distribute (on an
• TVM: It's very simple: seven is my magic number. When I international level ) feature films. ( Then I try to find a way to
was in high school I was told that there are seven females on get the money back.) And my preference in films is for
earth for every male, and I want my seven! So, I'm willing to action-drama, adventure-action drama. I've made a number
take care of them, and teach them what I know best , which is of horror films, and I do that when I have some coiled-up
filmmaking: any area from scriptwriting to still photography. rolls of leftover film and a dozen people who say, "Hey, let's
One of my ladies went on to do her own picture: as writer, make a movie." Even though there's no movie to make, we
producer, director, star and editor! I started her out as an create one to do.
assistant script girl. And she made a woman's picture::, cover· Over a period uf 30 years doing films, many times I've had a
ing in retrospect a woman's lifet ime after having a nervous whole house full of people, living with me just to suroive.
breakdown at an airport. It reflects on her childhood, living And I've found that men, once they live with you, don't get
with her futher, and how her futher made sexual advances out and do what they need to do. Whereas uomen can put all

58
starring

SEAN KENNEY MONIKA KELLY SANFORD MITCHELL

• •

J. BYRON FOSTER Produced and Directed by TED V. MIKELS

•

A T.V. MIKELS FILM PRODUCTION • RELEASED BY GENENI FILM DISTRIBUTING CO .. INC.

their intensity into a family-type relationship. In my book it which was an enormous pleasure to me. I've never lost that
doesn't work when it's communal and there are men and same feeling: making a film is the greatest pleasure. People
women- I don't need that! I have to be somehow or other in ask me why I don't ever take a day off. Well, my greatest day
total leadership of whoever's with me. I don't expect other off. so to speak, is making a film. It's a greater pleasure than
men who are working toward their own family success to anticipating a vacation in Tahiti, although I want to do that,
work under my wing. But females, on the other hand, can too!
move fo rward in their lives, achieving what they want to • BR: I've always felt that Astra Zombies or Corpse Grind­
achieve, because polygamy has always worked since the ers were different because thepeople involved really wanted
beginning of time. to do them. Most films-it 's like a factory put them out.
Every animal you see, no matter what it is, is polygamous. When somebody genuinely wants to do something, theyput
Only the human animal has this concept of monogamy, but more of themse/zl(!S into it, and it shows.
then, as often as possible, they break it! A lot of my friends • lVM: The camaraderie and the fun we had doing Corpse
have monogamous relationships, but tomorrow they'll have Gn'nders, for example, was phenomenal. I don't think there
another monogamous relationship with another lady, and so were more than one or two people who'd ever been around a
on, and the female will do the same thing. So they're living a film production before. The script girl had never seen a script
lie! I don't accept that; I don't like it. in her life, and so on.
I was at a studio where a lot of people were coming in from
other states trying to get signed up. Now if I were doing a
W. llult a corpse•inding machine for picture where people were getting paid, I would be very
IIIIII
IJ I $3lo If a ltullo WWI building selective, in order to get talented, experienced people. But if
I was doing a picture with relatively zero dollars, then I
...... ••• that, $31 wouldn't ev• lluy
would pick people who had a willingness, who had some
the coffll they'd ... ..... ...... the form of transportation, who had their own place to stay, and
..-.... (which would ........, cost who could go a month or two without compensation. And
$1 31,000)o the compensation, when and if it came from the theaters,
would come later.
That's how Corpse Grinders was made. Almost everyone in
If I have a lady with me, we have a basic understanding: be the whole production had never been around a picture
a responsible person, keep agreements, and don't sleep before. The cameraman had done some 16mm. but on the
around. Do what you wish, go anywhere, do anything, but first day of shooting (over at Cecil B. DeMille's residence on
just be responsible. If you say you're going to be back at 10 DeMille Drive ) he yelled out, "Hey, Ted, teach me how to
pm, if you're not here we expect a call. and so on. It's just load this camera !" This is opening morning; there's forty
being responsible. Then they can choose the path of life they people milling around! Everybody was learning their job: the
want to move forward to. accomplishing things in life ( espe­ sound man had never run a sound recorder. some people
cially with some guidance or teaching). When the dollars are were putting on make-up for the first time, and so on. And it
ample, we have a little extra fun-maybe take a little boat was fun.
trip to Catalina. And when the dollars are tight (which they We ended up making the biggest grossing picture I ever
most often are), it's a real belt squeezer. made [laughs!. And it's still going strong; some people claim
• BR: What got you interested in film ? it's a little classic in its own right. It happened to be finan·
• lVM: I grew up an entertainer. From the time I was five cially successful as well, doing box office • 1 1 of the top 50
years old I was doing magic for neighbors-string-and-bean grossing pictures that particular week. And it was made with
tricks; by the time I was seven I had a 20-minute show, and by no money; baloney sandwiches with no cheese, a little bit of
the time I was twelve I had a 45-minute show." By the time I mustard and a lot of heart and soul.
was fifteen I was selling a 21h-hour show to all the school • BR: In your life, it seemsyou 'l'e managed to do exact�yas
systems. I did ventriloquism, accordion solos, and I'd always you please-
have some pretty girl as a specialty dancer ( maybe a tap­
dance routine or Arabic dance ) during an intermission to
give me a break. I did everything from escaping straitjackets
I did •••'*ldquisnl, auonlion solos I did o o •

to you-name-it -even fire-eating . . .

At the age of seventeen I started touring the country with
•eryt•• from ...-.. straitiackets to
the very well-known and famous Mandrake the Magician. y....--e ...;t v• fin eating.
When I returned to college after a summer tour with him, my
show became larger and more involved, with perfectly coor­
dinated music, etc. But it always seemed pathetic that when • lVM: My idea of success, I haven't achieved yet. A lot of
the show was over, after you'd worked so hard, there was people ( even fifteen years ago ) have said to me, "If in my
nothing left but a memory . . . whole lifetime I make as many movies as you've already made,
So I started filming, and discovered that with the camera I'll feel I've really accomplished something." But I don't look
you could stop motion, snap your fingers and make things at it that way. I've got over 100 picture credits, of which more
disappear like that! I had lots of fun! I always wanted to do a than 30 are features, but I don't really feel I've begun.
feature film called just plain MAGIC Number one: I've never looked for, nor found, financing. I
• BR: When did you first shoot film? just do my pictures any which way I can. ( However, I have
• lVM: When I was ten or twelve I developed film in the friends who've been looking for financing 20 years and have
bathtub-did all the still stuff. But movies started when I was never made their first picture ! ) So, it's just as tough to find
a late teenager. I started filming shows . . . financing now as it ever was . Doesn't matter how many
I made educational films, sales films, training films, fun pictures you've done, you have to have the right combination
films, half-hour melodramas, any which way I could. I bought of being at the right time and place with the right financial
short ends of outdated film and did anything and everything seed to get it going. And there's no easy v.ray-at least f'tte
to be able to put a film together. And I enlisted the help of a never found one.
lot of people. By the same token, if I dido't have to spend 90% ofmy time
I learned that to many people, making a film is exciting! I'd trying to put bits and pieces together (a tittle loan here, a
have as many as fifty people in a weekend working on a film, little loan there, a few dollars from a bank, laboratory credit,

60
 • BR: / like tbe idea ofpeople knowlng they can actually go

F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S out and do something like that, without a million dollars.

• 1VM: Anyone can!

THE CORPSE GRINDERS • BR: People have this mystical reverence for films. Most
people's attitude is, "Ob, I could never do something like
that."
• 1VM: But there is a method and procedure. That Castle
Sudden, inexplicable attacks by cots on their human owners resulting
lady I mentioned could not have made her own picture until
in death and mutilation. surge through a metropolis. A young hospital she was here and saw what it was all about. After we shot the
intern, Dr. Howard Gloss (Sean Kenney) and his nurse assistant Angie
footage, in the editing room she could see, "Oh, that's how
Robinson (Monika Kelly) seek the answer when her own pel feline
this comes together. Now I know why you did that with the
assaults Glass without provocation. They theorize that on exotic camera." Somehow they've got to have the opportunity to
conned col food could be the cause after learning a fatally bitten
team. And very few of these opportunities are available in the
woman's pet and Angie's ate the same brand. The food hos turned
colleges.
partaking cats into man-eaters!
When people come from a college to work on a picture, it
Sleuthing eventually tokes Gloss and Angie to a dingy factory where seems they have only a theoretical concept ofwhat it's like to
the cot food is manufactured by two diabolical partners, Landau
really make a film. Practical, day-to-day filmmaking without
(Sanford Mitchell) and his greecly aicle Maltby (J. Byron Foster). The total financing is so different, that they're usually at a loss.
basic ingredient consists of cadavers supplied by on a<Commadating but Therefore, they have to become production assistants, where
disreputable cemetery caretaker Caleb (Warren Boll) and his wife Cleo they're picking up permits, racing around delivering checks,
(Ann Noble). It is in the factory that shirring power saws, red stained buying Marks·A-Lot pens-that sort of thing. Because even
chopping blocks, ominous cauldrons and a vociferous grinder transpose though they might have five years at an accredited motion
human flesh and bone into pussycat puree. picture college, they still don't have anypractical knowledge.
Desperate for fresh supplies of human flesh, Landou and Maltby ply
Places like A.F.I. [American Film Institute I offer a bit of an
skidrow alleyways to fill the demand. For good measure they include opportunity to jump in, but usually in a situation where
the caretaker when Caleb insists on payment for his raw stock. there's 500 or 1 ,000 people who want to get involved, and
Gloss and Angie arrive at the factory on a ruse to get food samples
room for only 5 or 6. Maybe only 5 or 6 people are required­
for laboratory analysis, but are outsmarted by a suspicious Landau. A most of these are 16mm or Super-8mm projects. Also, the
cletermined Angie nevertheless on her own returns late at night, sneaks logistics of their situation ( time, locations of their homes and
in, but is trapped by Maltby, who, in the absence of Landou, is about to so forth) won't allow it.
abscond with his withheld shore of profits. All the more this points up how, in a period 25 years ago, I
Angie is stropped on the conveyor leading into the grinder. Maltby's had my housefilled with sleeping bags and people who were
lecherous advances halt when Londou .unexpectedly oppeors. A startled eager and anxious to make a film. I had to take care of them:
Maltby acciclentolly hits the controls, is dragged onto the running feed them, fix their flat tires, get them new spark plugs when
conveyor ahead of helpless Angie toward the flashing tips of the they needed tune-ups, and so on. I found that by keeping all
grinder knives. Meanwhile, Gloss has alerted authorities. While he and these people close we could hang together with our energy
the police, sirens screaming. converge on the factory, a maddened, and our intensities to create a picture. But when they all
fiendish landau proceeds to aid his partner's demise. A freed Angie scatter and go to their own homes, you've got to get on the
attempts to evade Landau's clutches as he himself is ironically cough! phone, and if everybody's calling everyone else 20 times a day
and heocled for the grincler, only to be clevoured by a bond of ravenous saying where to meet and how to get there (with people
cots. Gloss releases Angie. • saying, "Gee, I haven't got any gas," etc)-that's how the
concept of the Castle ladies originated. 1bey can adapt
themselves, whereas a man wants to lead his own situation or
people who are willing to work in exchange for being taught, command his own clan, whether it be his wife or whatever.
and so on ), I'd be more productive. It's a tough way to go and Actually, I don't believe in running anybody, but I also don't
still compete on the world market with pictures that some· believe in letting anyone run me. Running, manipulation,
one has spent a million or S 10 million ( let alone S30 million)
on, yet we do one with four nickels that's got to compete.
And when you get a review in the paper, they don't care Scene from
whether you've spent 2 nickels on it or S2 million. They rate ...... OrtiY ef
it and compare it the same as any other picture made at any .... ...... .. ...
other price. They say the ingenuity and creativity of the film is
what they compare, yet when the creator of one film is
working with S20 or $30 million, the comparison is really
unfair.
We built a corpse-grinding machine for maybe S38. If a
studio were building something like that for a psychological
terror picture or whatever, S38 wouldn't even buy the coffee
they'd drink while making the machine (which would proba·
bly cost S 138,000 ). Our corpse-grinding machine consisted
of lawn mower blades which had been scrapped, plus odds
and ends-some red lightbulbs that were 39c, a piece of
discarded plywood, things like that. [laughs]
However, the total concept of entertainment is ( li.ke in
magic): If you can make someone believe something, and
make them enjoy it, they really don't care whether you've
spent S38 or S 138,000 on a corpse-grinding machine. When
they see this siJiy contraption-a tube, and a body with
clothes on (presumably a cadaver) sliding in one end and
coming out the other end as hamburger, they laugh, and
that's what the whole thing's about.

61
domination, as well as jealousy, possessiveness-all that even the ones I made without money. But you can't get your
doesn't work. And when you're making a film you face all the hands on that money.
psychological shortcomings and aberrations of every person I'm not a joiner, I don't join anything. ( I am a member of
and personality in the company. But in college "psych" was the Motion Picture Pioneers of America, but that's an honor­
my major before I left to make my living in the entertainment ary organization you're asked to join if you've served the
world. And I feel I have a great deal of practical knowledge motion picture industry 25 years or more . ) I'm not in the
from having a large family. You know, 14 grandchildren, six Directors' Guild, not in any guild. I just don't want anyone
kids . . . [laughs) telling me what to do, or what I cannot do.
•BR: You have 14 grandchildren ? But, I know that hundreds of thousands of dollars out there
•1VM: Yes. I don't let them call me "grandpa" until they change hands, without any returns to us so we may continue
come over and exercise with me. Because I exercise very to make films. The biggest rip-off is videoc assettes around the
hard-as hard as I did when I was 18 years old, or harder. I world, whether by projections, or stolen tapes that go into a
don't feel any older than when I was about 20. I think there's country and are duplicated by the tens of thousands and sold
something about doing what you love to do that keeps you without any copyright participation. I'm a firm believer in
out of this tunnel that leads toward old age. Everyday I think: free enterprise, but a videotape recorder that allows anyone
the drudgery of doing something you don't want to do is to copy any picture with the push of a couple buttons, giving
destructive. them an income . . . !
•BR: Doing only what you want to do keeps you from •BR: Andyou don 't har1e a squad oflawyers to track these
falling into someone else's context where you just- down . . .
• 1VM: Drift away! The only detriment or shortcoming I
can see is: when you're not financed, it's tough. And getting
'lhere1s sompthing Gbouf. doing· what you lovt
money back from a film after it's made is just as tough as
getting the money to make it with. Tough! You get ripped off to do that ._.. y� o..t .of thiS t.....a that
all over; there's piracy everywhere in the world. Just from leach towcnl· old age. Every day, I thWc ihe
knowing what I do about gros ses and theaters and box offices
........, of doin,g ,...ing
..th you don't want
and television and videocassettes and so on worldwide, I'Ll
tell you that the handful of pictures that I still own and
to do is' �..
control have literally grossed tar in excess ofstOO,OOO,OOO-

The Doll Squad.

 Diego, at the Balboa Theater. Was that actually the world
premiere ?
• TVM: It maybe was San Diego is a good test city. Did they
.

print the title?

• BR: They did.
• TVM: We found newspapers everywhere refused to print
the title. Silly little title; a little witchcraft picture that's really
very innocent. They might have called it BloodDevils or 0'8)1
of the Devils, but to my knowledge no place, at the time of
the release, would print the full title, Blood 0'8)1 of the She
Devils.
A little horror picture is lots of fun to make; you work hard
making it. On the other hand, pictures I enjoy the most are
like Doll Squad, the forerunner of ( and made 4 years before)
Charlie 's Angels. When they made Charlie's Angels they used
some of the names (like "Sabrina") out ofDoll Squad. Here
we have eight girls who work for the C.I.A., and they're like
James Bonds, all working under the guidance of Francine
York, who's the top one. Early in the movie a couple get killed
(puts the rest on their toes), then they wipe out Michael
Ansara's garrison on an island. All of his 300 troops-sixgirls
wipe 'em out! (laughs) It's a fantasy, it's escapist.
In 1972, when we first finished it all the networks wouldn't
touch it because they said it was too violent. Yet it was
tongue-in-cheek violence. The girls give somebody a drink,
he stands up and explodes-completely disintegrates! To me
that's a joke, that's not violence. It's too preposterous, too
incredibly unbelievable.
• BR: On 1V there areprograms that use the sameformula
Lil Iaborin plays Mara, evil incarnate, who challenges
Lucifer, the devil himself in Blood 0111Y of the She DevRs.
every week, and it's: one week beautiful showgirlsare being
murdered, next week models are getting murdered, the next
week beauty contest entrants-it's always beautiful girls
being murdered.
• TVM : Like they say, there's only 7 basic story lines, and
those 7 mixed and intertwined create 49, and those 49
intermixed make that many more, and so on. But basically my
feeling about dramatic action is that there's more op­
portunity there for sheer artistry.
• BR_: What was your first picture?
• TVM: My first picture was Strike Me Deadly. Unfortu­
• TVM : That's right. But I'm not too great a supporter of nately I did it in black-and-white-it nevergot offthe ground.
attorneys- they cause more downfallen projects than they At that point I had no idea of the "Hollywood" point of view
assist. And they take so long to do things; I cannot move in as to what should be made and what shouldn't; or what
that slow of a time frame. They'll take four-day weekends off would sell. That film expressed purely the part ofme that was
to go play, and come back Monday at 1 1:00, and at 3:30 if directing plays and making short films, putting my feelings
somebody wants to have an early dinner or late lunch then and interests into a story. It's a very simple story of a young
nothing urgent, so . . . man and his wife who are college teachers spending the
I'm sure there are some very hard-working attorneys, but I
call them the "Monday, Wednesday, Friday, nextweekboys."
It's always "can't get to it 'til Friday''; Friday, it's "sorry,
... ...., ., .. ... .... .. a
Monday' '; Monday, "Wednesday''; Wednesday it's "check me
at the end of the week"; and at the end of the week they're witchaaft story. And ...., .... .. ......
gone! And that goes on month after month. ....... ....... .. ...... ......., .
• BR: A lot of businesses operate that way- ...... .. cakhing .. ... It .. aaost
• TVM: Like with a laboratory-you may have to wait 3th
• If .._. ... wltdlcraft prasant.
weeks to get your sound transferred. So what do you do for
those 31h weeks? You wait. While your interest goes on and
you owe thousands of dollars more on the money you bor­
rowed, but, you know, that's the problem the creator faces. summer working for the U.S. Forestry Service in a lookout
Almost nobody who finances pictures wants to go into a tower. On his first day the guy witnesses a murder, and the
risk venture. There are people who do, but theywant double, murderer chases him through the forest, starting a forest fire
triple, quadruple collateral back-ups, interest and payable to destroy the evidence, and so on. There's action: planes
monthly. These people have no concept of what the crea­ dropping borade on the forest fire, flames everywhere; the
tive person goes through in trying to generate money on that guy's trying to find his wife and she's out feeding squirrels
money. All they know is that they want it collateralized and instead of staying back at the tower. There's a chase through
covered so there is no risk to lose apenny. While the creative the rocks and the lava beds and the waterfalls . . .
person puts his neck on the chopping block every time. I had thought of redoing it, but now they can change
That's why I've sometimes made pictures likeAstro Zombies black-and-white (on magnetic tape ) to color! So I hope to
and Corpse Grinders with no money. transfer that film and release it to aU the magnetic markets of
• BR: I meant to ask you-/ went to what was advertised the world. After we find S9S,OOO to change that black-and­
as the worldpremiere of Blood Orgy ofthe She Devils in San white negative to a color magnetic master so we can make
63
copies in every format, somebody else can get their hands on
it and make copies for free!
We've got a number of other action things like Operation
Overkill and I Crossed the Color Line, the original title of
which was 1be Black Klansman. Although the film's promo·
ters advertised it was made in complete secrecy in the deep
South and so on, it's still very gutwrenching -quite an in·
depth story. !At this point a Castle Lady walks past noisily,
bringing the conversation to a halt. When Ted informs her
she's interrupting an interview, she assumes the stance of an
animal, emitting hisses and growls. Ted smiles, saying,
"Thanks a lot, honey," and the interview continues.)
In Girl in Gold Boots we tried to do a picture that was

non-violent and clean-no nudity, no anything that would

keep it from afternoon matinees or daytime television. And it
was so tame [laughs] that audiences wouldn't support it,
even though it had beautiful dancing girls. It was a typical
story of a young girl from the Midwest coming to Hollywood,
meeting good elements, some bad elements, and being
exposed to a choice. After seeing a lot of the undesirable
aspects of the "great life" in Hollywood, she chooses to lead
the clean, simple life and leaves the area. So it had a moral; a man who actually lives in the Utah desert with 14 wives, and
something to offer there. what they do with their life. It's a nicely done, very warm
Then I did a story called Alex and His Wil--es. It's a profile of story of a family-a big family. For some reason, the people
who created the concept for the picture disappeared from
the face of the earth.
After that came a couple of martial arts films, the most
PRESSBOOK TIC KET -SELLING recent being Operation OrJerkill.
I'm putting my "Doll Squad" into outer space in a picture
PROMOTI ON S U G G E STIONS called Space Angels. One of my friends is a good animator,
Robert Maine, and we've done preliminaries-created space­
FOR TH EATERS ships, videotape of our own ships in flight, and so on. The
work looks rich and elegant, and it's all done- rear screen,
front screen projection, everything-in our own facilities.
1 . AMBULANCE i n front of theatre with sign "For those who can't toke
space Angels involves a planet of beautiful females that's
the horror and shock of 'The Corpse Grinders'."
invaded by a bad guy. All the females on his planet are sterile,
2. NURSE in lobby of theatre with cot with sign "Our nurse is available
so he sends his bad queen to kidnap the good queen and take
for our patrons who ton' t toke the shock and terror of 'The Corpse
over her planet. Of course, the fe male planet is non-violent­
Grinders'."
they can't fight back in the same manner as the more violent
3. MAN walking on street with head covered by long overcoat giving
impression of being headless with sign "I lost my head to 'The Corpse
planet that sent its warriors and soldiers to take over. �
obviously there's got to be some sort of hero, and the hero s
Grinders'."
been marooned on another planet after a big war with the
4. MAN pulling donkey with sign on each side of donkey reading "I'm
bad guy. The girls in search of their kidnapped queen happen
going to miss 'The Corpse Grinders' at the Theatre . . . and you
to run into him on an island v..nere people get eaten by
___

know what I om!"

spiders as big as a house. He gets them out of there, they get
5. Run ads in the tlossified columns. Here is suggested copy:
their queen back, and there's a happy ending and so on . . .
WANTED! Shock-proof people to see "The Corpse Grinders" at the
I've got a big project that's been my pride and joy for about
Theatre.
27 years: Beou•ulf We've shown the script to major studios
___

WANTED! People with guts who dare see human bodies ground
and they say, "It's going to cost S60 million dollars." Well, it
before your very eyes by "The Corpse Grinders" machine!
would cost them S60 million, but I could do it for SS million,
WANTED! People who dare sit thru the bloodiest-weirdest film ever
and it would be an epic that would bring in money for 40
mode, "The Corpse Grinders" now at Theatre.
years. ( But where do you go to get SS million?) It's in the
---

WANTED! Nerveless humans to view the sha<ker of the century, "The

realm of Conan, but Scandinavian in origin, and part fact, part
Corpse Grinders," now at the Theatre.
fiction-meaning there's some basis to believe that the hero
___

b. HAVE AN AD INVITING first 10 people who dare sit thru midnite

actually existed, around 600 A.D. It's based on that great
screening of "The Corpse Grinders" in pitch block theatre as guests of
piece of English literature, the Beowulf poem, about the
the man who grinds human bodies to shreds before your very eyes in
tremendous strength and capabilities of a super-human war·
"The Corpse Grinders."
rior with the strength of 30 men in one arm , who was a
7. NO PATRONS dare be seated during the film until after the first
champion of the people, a folklore hero.
human body is ground by the corpse grinding machine.
• BR: Do you usually batJe ser,eral projects going at once?
8. Hove man in Santo Claus costume walk in street with sign reading "I
• lVM: You have to! We have a project going on in almost
just hod to come bock to see the sha<ker of the century 'The Corpse
every type of film. I've written one to be done here in the
Grinders' OR "I just couldn't wait till next Xmas to see it!"
castle, but they don't allow you to film in your own home­
9. WHERE FILM ploys in hot weather hove man in raccoon coot and ear
the number of ways a creative person can be stifled is stagger­
muffs on street with sign "The Corpse Grinders left me freezing with
ing! You have to go down, file a permit, pay them $200 a day,
fright. Chilled me to the bone."
but we might be starting the whole motion picture with only
1 0. Hove sound truck hove record of grinding noise played thru
5200-that's to buy a few roUs of short ends of film, and a few
speakers with announcement "YOU ore hearing the shocking sounds of
baloney sandwiches. On top of that, we're supposed to hire
human bodies being ground to shreds in the blood-curdling ghostly
policemen, firemen, etc. So it's prohibitive.
machine in 'The Corpse Grinders' now at theatre. Do you hove the
You have to get away from here to areas where people are
__

courage to see this gory sight? On the screen before your very eyes!" •
still fascinated with the creativity involved in making films,

64
and aren't out to take you . . . where people might offer you .
in the broth . . So I sold out to him. I'd known him for a long
their homes and vehicles and ranches and so on. Then you time before he came to me with the concept; he wanted to
get support. direct and so on, and I wished him well. But that was only one
When a dedicated filmmaker finds a way to make a film, he picture filmed here. Next week we have a company bringing
needs all the support he can get (it might take 20years to pay in a Bengal tiger and everything else! That is, if their plans
for a camera). Imagine you were an artist with your easel set don't change. As you know, plans for picture production
up to paint a picture somewhere, and somebody comes along often change.
and says, "What's that thing made out of? Sticks? You can't • BR: I meant to ask you about 'JUra Satana-howdidyou
have that on this beach." Then someone else comes along meet her?
and says, "That paper you're painting on is flammable; we • TVM: I was flying with some friends from central Oregon
don't want any fires here," and takes that away. Then some­ down to Mazatlan for about the last vacation I ever took­
one else comes along and says, "What are you doing on this that was I959 [laughs]. On the way we stopped in Vegas.
beach; don't you know it's private property?" (laughs] Any­ When I first saw her she was an exotic dancer; what a
way. the restrictions are tremendous. gorgeous. lovely lady! I didn't meet her until seven years later.
Once we were shooting a picture with people who theo­ I was about to do Astro Zombies, and an agent mentioned
retically had survived a nuclear holocaust-mutants. Well, Tura Satana. I said, "Wow! I remember her from Vegas." So
the actors in make-up and beards looked so bad that neigh­ she came in for a reading, and I revamped the part especially
bors called the police. Now, police keeping an eye out for for her, to make her a "Dragon Lady," and promptly feU in
shady characters is one thing, but when they come and shut love with her ( and aU that).
you down, that's another. She was also in my Doll Squad picture. She is a very good
lady, and I still consider her a very close friend. And the same
with the rest of her family: her daughter Kilani, her daugh­

1he ..twortrs wouldn't tOuch it becaure fhiW ter's husband and their kids. You become very close when
you make films- I don't believe I've ever done a picture
said It .. too violent. Y-et It was ....... where the people involved aren't to this day good friends.
chHic Yiollnce. 1he girls fiv• sqnlliloclr a She just moved back to Hollywood after living out in the

drink, he stc.lds up and explodes con....,ay Valley for years. I don't think she wants to stay out of the
public eye; if I had the right picture for her we'd be back in
clsint•atesl To me thafs a IOJce, that's nOt production together again. I was smitten with her the first
....... time I met her, and I've loved her ever since.
• BR: Tura Satana should be a household name!
• TVM : Yeah! There are those of us who love the characters
I've always said that making a film is the easy part. From she's very capable of creating. And she's still very beautiful.
, ,
writing producing, directing lighti ng, cinematography, edit­ She did have an accident that caused a lot of grief-she was
ing and so on, making a movie should be simple! The hardest hit full on in the side of her vehicle, and for the past two years
part is: ( 1 ) getting the money to make it; ( 2 ) getting the has been out of commission with those injuries. But I under­
money back after it's been made. Last is: making the film. stand she's better. Anyway, she's good, and I enjoy making
That's the way I look at it. that type of film.
• BR: 1bat film uith the mutants; was that Aftermath? Astro Zombies was made with practically no money. When
• TVM: Yes; we did it here on the castle grounds. you realize we had people like Wendell Corey and john
• BR: And it was done by Steve Barkett? Carradine in the studio, I'm almost aghast when I think what
• TVM: Yes. tiny, tiny pennies we made that picture for. Everything was a
• BR: Somebody said that he wrote, directed andstan-ed in creation from nothing. One prop was just a painted plastic
it, and that it took him fiue years to finish. thing with little lights flashing underneath . . .
• TVM: Yeah, it can take a long time. We started the project One story about the making of Astro Zombies: I had some
as a joint venture, but sometimes having two or three cooks lots I was buying on Mount Washington {later I had to

Tura Satana relaxes

' and thinks up new

evil deeds in
' Tlte AJtn.I....W.S.
 There were no reasons for fires that started by themselves
F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S out of nowhere. like, somebody in the prop department
would get burned, and . . . It got to be something that the cast

O B A DIAH 18 and crew would wonder about: "What is this?" [laughs] In

the past I'd spent about 2 years researching parapsychology,
attending seances, etc, yet I could find no reason for the
things that took place.
The story you are about to see is true. The names have nat been For example, we burned a witch at the stake, and it hap­
changed to profert the innO<ent. The film is based upon O<tual incidents pened to be a lady very close to me. We had her on top of a
and played by the people they happened to-Alex Joseph and his wives. wood pile chained to a huge post, and I had instructed the
All 105 minutes of (Oior adion were shot entirely on IO<ation in effects people to build the fire on a paUet which could be
southern Utah-where it really happened. Never before has o drama pulled away with ropes in the event ofa problem. (You get
with these ingredients been brought to the sueen. the fire started, then pull the paUet away and cut to a close­
All this was Q((omplished without the (ooperation of any federal up, with flames from a different source ). WeU, aU of a sudden
bureau. The story was netessorily filmed under armed guard ond (Orried the wind changed and we almost really burned her at the
forth despite the attempts of the U.S. Pork Servite to deny the right of stake! [laughs] That was hairy!
Q((ess to publi( lands during filming. In almost every picture, things like that have happened. In
In all respeds "OBADIAH 18" is o unique testimony to Ameri(on Operation Overkill we had explosions that wouldn't
ingenuity. explode, because the weather in Reno was too cold. The
"The man who has raised the notion's eyebrows with his flaunting basic explosion would go off but everything else would just
of the establishment, the man who doims 10 women-young, ottro(­ fall down in white flakes. ( laughs]
tive, intelligent women-as his wives, the man who dares to do bottle I was a stunt man in a picture:: caUcd Indian Fighter, with
with the government . . . " Kirk Douglas and Alan Hale. I played a barebacked Indian
Now (Omes the true story of Alex Joseph, the one-man revolution shooting flaming arrows. Years before, in central Oregon, I
whose devil-be-damned (OUrage has arrested the attention of domesti( had shot flaming arrows just for the heck of it. I got on the
and international press. Set to the long-striding po(e of o man who good side of the effects people because I had developed
walks through the world as though he owned it, the movie is filled with flaming arrows that would stay lit in flight. (Whereas the
Joseph's romontes and dlollenges, his friends and enemies. This man props department just had arrows with a big, dumb-looking
lives more in o week than most people do n
i o lifetime! The movie is glob of orange phosphorus on the end that didn't even look
lo(ed with the adventures and es(opodes of the people who look for like fire. ) I shot 'em into flagpoles; set wagons on fire; and had
Joseph. Some of them ore (Omi(ol, some are deadly serious-but they . a lot of fun.
all find out that whoever thinks he has on eye on Alex Joseph should • BR: How did you make flaming anuws?
look over his awn shoulder to see who's really doing the looking . . . • TVM: I used pitch! They don't think about pitch in Hotly­
An amazing portrait of on outrageous and beautiful family . . . This wood, but in central Oregon it's everywhere; you gather it in
true story is more inuedible than any fidion. In outrage or admiration little cans from trees where it oozes out. That's what you start
of this revolutionary polygamist lifestyle, you will be left wondering­ your fire with at night. With pitch plus turpentine, I was able
what will they do next? • to create a mixture that would stay lit. However, you have to
remember that the modern hunting bow shoots so fast that it
would put out any fire. So you have to use a true Indian long
bow that just lobs the arrow so it stays lit. They're accurate;
Y• llan to .. .. a.. •aMi ca a ....us
. you just have to use a different elevation.

....... �, w. the - with ...,... Years before, I had won some archery contests. I used to
shoot bow and arrow every day; I used to hunt with bow and
,_ ,.., ...t to ...__. in. arrow. I stiU have all my hunting gear.
• BR: By the way, do you happen to know Cresse and
Prost?
• TVM: I knew Bob Cresse reasonably well twenty years
surrender them because I used them as collateral on a pic­ ago; I don't know what he's doing now.
ture). I was filming up there on my own property, and out of • BR: I heard he was shot in thestomach and had to leave
nowhere came the fire department and the police the country.
department-they just converged on me. I had about twelve • TVM: I heard that, too. He was involved in a different type
people there. What was funny was: we just ntrned the came­ of film than I was! Lee Frost -he's stiU around; in the past year
ras on them and used the footage in the film! We edited it in I've run across his credits in a film somewhere. I'm sure you
and it looks like part of the movie-it's great! For a long time can find him; check the laboratories.
that was our private joke. • BR: What do you look for in a film ?
• BR: Wasn't something burning ? • TVM: I look for the creativity of the maker. Then, how
• TVM: Well, we had a little bit of a smokepot. I appreciate much I am taken with the story: am I entertained, or am I
the fact that someone was concerned enough to immediately turned off? I'm often asked in interviews if I have somebody I
come out, but it was just a tiny smokepot. There was an old try to emulate or imitate. And I say, "God, no!" I don't pay any
wreck on the property that we'd turned into a car that had attention to what anybody else does; I do what I feel. If
just crashed over an embankment, containing a body that was someone else wants to copy me, fine, but I do not copy. I've
theoretically just kiUed-the astro zombie- and the never copied.
demented doctor who was collecting body parts had to get But I am guilty, a little bit, of using stereotypes. For exam­
to that body quick so he could take parts out of it. So, it was ple, ifyou need a "doctor" inabitpartwho has t o rush on,do
kind of delightful to see aU those police cars pouring out of something and then leave, you're almost obligated to use a
nowhere onto the property. It made our scene! stereotype so that people wiU instantly accept the person as a
• BR: Any other fire stories ? doctor. But even that stereotype changes from time period to
• TVM: Blood 0rRy of the Sbe Devils was a witchcraft story. time period. Now, a 28-year-old bearded man wearing faded
And every time we turned around someone was getting denims maybe a doctor. You'd accept that today, but 15 years
burned, or something was catching on fire. It was almost as if ago you had to have a man in a 3-piece suit, graying hair and
there were witchcraft present, in fact . . . bifocals with a little satchel. So, if I've got to "seU" a part

66
 A TERRIFYING,
SCREAMING
PLUNGE TO THE
DEPTHS OF HELL!

MARA·
QUEEN OF THE
BUCK WITCHES, COLOR
AND HER WOLf-PACK
OF VOLUPTUOUS

•
VIRGINS
INVADE SATAN'S
TORTUR£D REAL"'
OF THE
UNKNOWN'
• ···� ,,
' .......
... l•arr. N·D�Pr
� •.• &
\"· _..J ,,,.., �· . ,... ..�., ..�
.

li!j ZabOtln . Tom Pat� · ll':S;Iif �.:Rat: . v CIO! Ira'I . 't\!lild"''' Ri!r-·1Ar.J ltc1 v � f.:!:I"; A.-T�tl't Sa na\ CJf z,nrtr � �f'j v ,, �f' � F, 1'1 F'roductlon . Relf'ase: Hy GenerH filf"' Ot�illbu1•ni lo Inc

efficiently and quickly, I use a stereotype. But other than that, It would be nice to be able to just hire someone and have
I do not copy. all these bits and pieces done. In a way it's an advantage to do
If you want to be a filmmaker, it's like: if you want an it yourself, but it's also a disadvantage because it takes so
automobile and all you've got is a junkyard full of parts and much time. You start with writing, end up with your first
pieces; if you don't have anyotherwayto get it, you build it. If answer print, and it's a year out of your life. How many
that means you have to learn how to paint the car when it's pictures can you make?
through, you do that, too. It's the same with making a film: I I've seldom ever started two films in a year. I'd love to; I'd
don't like having to write, produce, direct, raise the money, love to start one every 90 days. To do that you'd have to hire
shoot, be director of photography, cameraman, work with post-production, hire an editor, hire a sound effects com­
the drama teacher, do the make-up and special effects, do all pany, have someone writing so that while you 're working on
the editing, put on every sound effect, do all the music, one film another one's being written. Actually, I've probably
handle it through the answer print, then start out with the
film under your arm, selling it . . . I don't do that because I
want to; I do it because sometimes there's no other way. / do .... is ....... the ... .....
the .......
whatever it takes. � ..... is ...... � ....,..., the
•BR: You do the music, too?
second ...,.._ is ...... It .....
• 1VM: I taught music when I was younger. But I do not do
the scoring. I may take a Library and do the scoring; however,
I have a composer friend who's absolutely fantastic and got 6 projects in various stages of preparation at this moment,
well-talented, Nicholas Ga.rras. He's done most of the music besides scripts being drafted and so on.
in my films for about 28 years. He composes; then we rent the • BR: WhatS your taxidermist script about?
studio and go in with anywhere from 18 to 30 musicians and • 1VM: Taxidermist is unusual, to say the least. I can't really
record. Later, when he's already scored it, he sits at the give away the plot because I don't own the story; it was

movieola and times it along with a click track. If there's created by a relative and close writer/friend of Francine
something happening that calls for a sting at, say, 14.3 York. It has to do with family wealth in the deep South, the
seconds, he knows exactly when that sting should hit. Garras rivalry that takes place, and revenge. Without giving away the
is brilliant that way, and that's how pictures are scored. plot, I'd say some very startling things take place, because

67
 taxidermy's not limited to animals! [laughter) But that's just
one; I've got a lot more stories I want to do.
F I L M P R E S S B O O K SYNOPSIS Finding the wrap-up dollars for a picture is sometimes

BLOOD ORGY OF
more difficult than fmding the initial dollars. All your costs
escalate as you go along. You start out making a picture for
28c, and if your project looks like it's headed for a successful

THE SHE-DEVILS
conclusion, you keep requiring more and more money to
dress it. Like, it's one cost to use canned music tracks out of a
library, and another to have a talented man like Nick Garras
write it and score it. It's one thing to do a sound mix at a tiny
Mora (Lila Zoborin) a "block" witd1, proditioner of the occult, block stage on some back street in Hollywood, as opposed to one of
magic, and evil imamate, is the leader of a coven of voluptuous, the houses where they've got $20 million invested in Sound
S<ontily dod beautiful young women who vent their sadistic love and transfer equipment. So you keep upgrading as you go; as your
passion for pain on helpless vidims as they perform the bloody ritual of o enthusiasm develops, so does your budget.
hideously macabre dome of death, carrying aloft flaming toHhes and Very seldom do pictures bring back the money unless
plunging spears into their human mole sacrifices in a gory ceremony to there is the control that only the major studios can exert.
titillate their pulsating pleasures and sondify the evil desires of this 1bey can collect the money. An independent like myself

queen of the Witches. cannot enforce collections anywhere. You've got to have
Mora is opproa<hed by Rodonnus (Ray Myles) enemy agent of a legal departments and offices in many cities; you've got to do
foreign power, accompanied by his hemhmon, Borth (Paul Wilmoth) things in order to collect money. Just because your picture
with the request that on Ambo.ssodor representative to the United grosses a lot at the box office doesn't mean you get any. There
Notions from another country be eliminated by means of her magic are too many places where your money's taken: for promo­
powers. During this meeting. Rodannus demands proof of her mystical tion, for print costs, for every reason under the sun including
power and she causes a wine glass to shatter in his hands. When the a bad date that's rained out that you've got to pay for, adver­
enemy agent leaves, Mora keeps the bloodied handkerchief he hod used tising, etc.
on his cut hand. You may get money due you from one theater, whereas a
Lorraine (leslie Md!oe) a newcomer to Mora's coven, persuades her theater in an adjoining town had a storm and all the money
boyfriend. Mark (Tom Pace) on unbeliever, to attend a seance. for advertising was lost, so the money made from one town
Astounded by the results, during which Mora has conjured up two spirit pays for the losses in the other. I've had reports from 30
guides and a ghost and worried about Lorraine's involvement, Mark theaters, many of whom did excellent business, where
�ides to consult Dr. Helsford (Vidor lzoy) a "white" witch or
instead of getting S500 in film rental for each theater, I get a
wariO(k, and on expert on psychic phenomena. bill for SSOO. Doesn't always happen, but it happens often.
After Mora has caused the Ambassador's death at a party, Rodannus • BR: 7bat 's nuts!
fears thot she may turn her powers against him, and he sends Barth to • lVM: It is nuts!
kill both Mora and her high priest, Toruke (William Bagdad). Borth also • BR: It's hard to imagine that sort of thing happening­
kills a young girl Roberto (Linn Henson), but she manages to snatch his • lVM: Remember when I said the easiest thing is making
face before she dies. the film? The toughest thing is getting the money, the second
Meanwhile, Dr. Helsford agrees to help Mark. By means of witch­ toughest is getting it back. Of those 3 things, making the film
(fOft, Mora has caused Borth to kill a rot instead. She now restores is the easiest, as well as the only thing which goes forward on
Toruke to life and using Rodonnus' bloodied hondkeHhief and Barth's schedule, providing you've got a dollar allocated for doing a
suotched skin from the fingernail porings of the dead girl, Mora certain job.
eliminates both Barth and Rodannus in a macabre and bloody manner. • BR: Everyone's heard about people who have a 7bp 10
Mark and Lorraine are to attend another seance at Mora's residence music hit, yet netJeT' see any moneyfrom it.
and they discuss with Dr. Helsford the possibilities of age regression
under hypnosis which Mark is to undergo. The �tor warns them of the
dangers of dabbling in the block arts. He psychometrizes an amulet
Lorraine is wearing which Mora hod given her as protedion ogoinst
unfriendly demons.
After the poir leave for the meeting. the disturbed Dr. Helsford, Dancing beauties in Girl In GoW ......
sensing an evil aftermath, enlists the aid of three other scientists
interested in psychic phenomena and they decide to visit Mara's home
where the meeting is to be held. During regression, Mark is shown to
hove been killed by Indians in a previous life as a frontiersman and now,
drugged by Mora, he is to be offered up as a human souifice in an effort
to conjure up Lucifer, the Devil himself.
Mora and her coven of witches are soon terrrified as an unseen
presence tokes over. The building rumbles and trembles as utter chaos
reigns. The unseen terror possesses the bodies of the young witches who
turn against Toruke and kill him, and they then turn against each other.
Outside, Dr. Helsford fights the evil within by means of exorcism and
manages to restore order and sanity, driving the evil unseen presence
away. When the quartet of scientists enter the building. all is death and
destrudion. Mark, Lorraine and all the others ore dead. Only a bot dings
to the ceiling and dislodging it, Dr. Helsford, knowing its true identity,
kills it and throws it on some burning cools. At last, Mora poys for the
consequences of evil, as her translucent, vaporous form floats upwards
in a raging. screaming death. •
• lVM: I can trunk of a lot of big pictures that have grossed • 1VM: A creative person can hold up many ends of busi­
millions, with the producer never having seen a penny. No ness, but they can't hold up every end. Anyway, most film­
one I've known has ever found a way to successfully monitor makers don't deal with aU that -collecting money and so on.
theater receivables. Maybe the big chains can, because they I'm a firm believer in "all things come to he who waits." One
deal with mass volumes and gross revenues. But if you have a of the outstanding things about our business is that the
play date somewhere in the Midwest, if your picture did amount of money you spend making a film has no relation to
$3,200 for one week, theoretically 25% is supposed to come what you can expect to make in return. On the other hand,
back to the distributor. Of that S800,S200 is kept bythe local the more money you spend telling the world it's a great
distributor. Then your S600 gets hit with a lot of charges, and picture, the better chance you have ofgetting a bigger return.
you might get your share anywhere from 3 months to 2 years A film may only cost S 1 million to make, but it may cost 5
later. And, there is no commitment on anybody's part that times that much to tell the world it's a marvelous film, so
they're really going to pay you, except that they're in busi­ they'll go see it. And that's not uncommon: to spend far more
ness, and you assume that sooner or later they have to pay to promoting the film than the film actually cost.
stay in business, otherwise no one's going to give them any • BR: Your films should have a bead start. because the
films. titles are so good.
• 1VM: I've been told I have a unique ability there; that's
part of being a showman. You do your best magic trick, you
don't use your crummiest one. You use the ones that have the
greatest flash, the greatest audience-pleasing ability. You
choose music that is most moving, and so on. It's just part and
parcel of the game.
You choose titles like Operation Overkill-action
oriented, ClA, martial arts. 7be Doll Squad dolls are pretty
girls; mix that with James Bondish-type artwork and you have
an all-female James Bond film. Blood Orgy ofthe SheDevils is
almost like it sounds. And Corpse Grinders -the corpse
grinders are hoodlums who grind corpses into cat food for
"Cats Who like People." It has to be very simple; how are you
If we knew a picture played a chain of 100 theaters, for going. to reach an audience if you can't say what it is in a few
example, and these theaters gave us the box office gross words-you can't give them a dissertation! If you said, "A
receipts, we could figure out a net film rental. But that chain Story About a Man Who Chased Bears," you've said it all. /
might have 4 theaters in another state which spend more Crossed the Color Line is a story about a man who passed for
money on advertising than they should, so the money you white, and of course hls blood was not. He went on to take
might be getting from the first state will be taken to cover vengeance on the Klan for killing his little 3-year-old daugh­
those theaters in the other state. It's funny the way it works; ter in a church bombing. In 7be Astro Zombies, "astro" is
difficult. And if the theater or circuit doesn't do it to you the futuristic, like astral space, and zombies are dead people that
distributor will, or the sub-distributor, or master distributor. really can't die again, right? So I concocted the title Astro
We formed our own distribution company, but you still can't Zo mbies 20 or 2 5 years ago, long before there was ever any
keep track. It's almost come to the point where you have to such thing as heart transplants . . .
deal directly with the theater on a theater-to-theater basis. If As with Astro Zombies, I'm usually accused of being a few
you can't, you really don't have any protection against what years ahead of whatever's going on. I'm always three or four
will happen, from the time people pay their money to get in years ahead, but many times I don't find the money until it's
the theater, to the time you receive it (or don't receive it). I too late. The concepts are there, but concepts get ripped off.
didn't have gray hair when I started; I didn't have any gray Just by presenting screenplays to anyone, they get ripped off.
hair. A lot of people are not creative thinkers, they're copiers. And
• BR: You really have to want to makefilms, given all the so I'm blessed with being able to re-create-if somebody
obstacles- copies something, I can in 2 seconds [snaps his fingers] come
• lVM: You have to be as obsessed as a religious fanatic! up with a different idea. I get calls constantly from people,
Actually, it's the same with anything you really want to saying, "I've got a hell of an idea for a movie," and I stop them
succeed in. MaJting films is magic; there's something very right there. They say, "Don't you even want to hear it?" I say,
fulfilling about it. It's also something that's very easy to "Yes, in a way I would, but tell me-most importantly, have
become obsessed over. That's why when people ask me why you got the money to start it?"
I don't take vacations, I say, ''Vacation from what?" MaJting a
film is my recreation, profession, vacation, vocation, every­
thing! It's fun! The only time it gets tough is when money is
too scarce, and then many times survival is at stake. In fact,
very often. And that's when it's not so much fun. [laughs] You
may have pictures all over the world that are feeding thou­
sands of people; you may have 10 different films playing at the
same time, yet go a year without seeing a dime. That's the It doesn't matter what the ideas are, I get an idea a minute.
nature of the business. In five minutes I could write more titles for viable film
• BR: Again, that's nuts. stories-very realistic film productions-than I could make
• lVM: It is nuts. And I don't know of anyone who can in the rest of my life. So I don't want to hear that there aren't
change it. I tried very diligently, but I wasn't able to. Maybe that many really new ideas. Anyway, I've got all the ideas I
on this newest picture, Operation Overkill, I'll let someone need, plus I have an enormous investment in screenplays that
else handle all the legal manuevering, merchandising, pro­ are the result of previous ideas. They're ready to go. Why
motion, collecting the money and so on-people whose come up with more stories and screenplays when you've got
business is just doing that with finished pictures. I'll see if to make films out of the ones you've already created?
they have better luck than I did. • BR: Corpse Grinders expressed the idea of cats eating
• BR: It's bard to be a creative person anri hold up the human flesh and then attacking people-/ haven 't seen that
business end. particular theme used too often.

69
 F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S

ASTRO ZOMBIES
Multilotion murders occur with increasing savagery i n a city. The
nature of these murders-vital organs ripped from the victims'
bodies-leads the C.I.A., headed by Holman (Wendell Corey) to the
conclusion that the former chief of the Astro Space laboratory, Dr.
DeMarco (John Corrodine) has succeeded in creating on Astro-Mon, a
zombie with a defective brain!
DeMarco, missing since his dismissal from the Space Center, has
secreted himself in on old mansion on the outskirts of the city; there he
continues experiments on human bodies with the aid of a deformed
assistant. Foreign agents from hostile governments ore also trying to
locate DeMarco to force him to put his knowledge in their hands. The
exotic and voluptuous Solano, working with two vicious killers,
reduces the competition by torture and threat, brutally massacring
some of Holman's men.
The subsequent multilotion of a beautiful technician at the Space lob An Astro-Iombie attacks! (The Astro-lomWes)
leads Holman to set a trap for the zombie, by planting another girl as
boil. The suspense tightens when the zombie attacks the girl after
Holman's men ore gone. After a desperate fight the zombie is tracked
down, bock to DeMarco's mansion. who's 18 or 19. It turns out she's the daughter of one of his
Meanwhile the spies ore embroiled in ever-deepening intrigue, but college buddies who gets incensed that the man has a fascina­
manage to find DeMarco's lob with a frequency rectifier. An explosive tion for his daughter. He doesn't realize the little daughter
finale is inevitable. Holman's men surround the mansion, trapping has a fascination for the man. Maybe they both work
Solano inside with DeMarco and the zombies. A bloody gun bottle together- maybe they both do helicopter rescue missions,
follows, with the zombies butchering indiscriminately. DeMarco is shot and one guy has a choice of letting the other fall off a cliff
down by Sotono, but not before he throws the master switch that during a rescue operation. I can dream up these things
deactivates the zombies forever, burying his secret under a moss of forever, you know . . .
electronic rubble. • I dreamed up a story based on this old, beat-up castle I live
in, called Castle Rc�y. There's a guy living here a bit akin to

myself- he's got a beard and moustache; and there's a l i ttl e

mystique about the building-there's lots of secret pas­
sages . . .
I sold •.ytWng to buy the tint to make the • BR: Are there?
film to ...... with. I sold my boule, ,_., • lVM: There are some places between the wall here, and
......., ICIXophone, the lots I had, everything. so on. And the castle is on two acresoftreesso it's hidden. I'd
put it into a period piece, somewhere around 1890.
• BR: How can you do that?
• lVM: I Jove special effects l ighting; I claim a great capacity
• lVM: When I say there aren't that many original ideas, there. I don't know many directors who are really capable of
what I mean is, every time someone calls on the phone lighting. I can do things in this place to make it look scary in
saying, "I've got an idea for you," I say, "But I don't need any ways beyond. Meaning: taking lights out, putting up gas
more; I've already got so many ideas." But actually, that lamps, using mattes on the windows in order to project an
depends on the mood I'm in. If I'm just finishing a picture and ocean and cliffs out there, instead of trees . . .
haven't got the pressure of something waiting, then I don't I'm going to take advantage of all I've learned in 30 years of
mind listening. But whenever someone calls up with an idea, filmmaking right here. I've got a screenplay on castle Ray,
most of the time all you can tell them is to do a synopsis. Got and I've got screenplays on a number of other things. Strike
an idea ? Do a story treatment. Then let's find out how viable Me Deadly I sat down and wrote in about 3 weeks on a little
the story treatment is toward making a film out of it. patio like this, then started filming days later.
• BR: How can you detennine viability of a story • BR: Don't you think people could appredate Strike Me
treatment? Deadly in black-and-white ?
• lVM : Well, to me that story about 2 guys who grind • lVM: Let me tell you what I face. When someone puts the
human bodies into cat food-that's viable! The Girl in Gold videocassette in and watches it, they love it and nobody
Boots, about a girl who comes to Hollywood and is faced wants to tum it off. But when we're talking about buyers from
with making a choice, to me that's viable. A man with 14 the Middle East, buyers from the United Kingdom, buyers
wives and how he makes his life work-to me that's viable. from Scandinavia, buyers for theaters, buyers for cassettes in
Operation Overkill, the CIA using martial artists to over­ this country or it doesn't matter where, the minute you say
power terrorists and suppress illegal shipments of weapons, "black-and-wh ite" you're shut off. Not interested. Nobody
that's viable. from any country wants to buy a black-and-white film from
I could sit here and dream up a hundred ideas in five America; no TV stations, nobody. Pay cable? "Black-and­
minutes. The mind is a marvelous computer; all you've got to white-forget it, we're not interested." They don't even want
do is tune in and say, "Hey, I want to make a new movie. What to know what it's about . . . or whether it's a good film or a
do I make it about?" Every few seconds [snaps fingers in bad film . . . and they don't want to look to find out, either.
quick succession ] you'll come up with a thought! That's why I'm going to change it to color. We've got bears,
Since I've had very young girls in my life, I can think of a birds, geese, ducks, waterfalls, airplanes dropping borade on
story about that: gray-haired dude, 50 years old, meets a girl billowing red flames-all that's spectacular to look at. Redo-

70
 ing all that in color should bring a whole new world of
receptivity to that film, because it's very enjoyable, full of
F I L M P R E S S B O O K S Y N O P S I S
outdoor excitement and action. There's no swearing, no
nudity; it's just a good all-American film . . .

THE WORM EATERS At Goldwyn Studios - I had an office there until about
'75 - Gol dwyn was looking to play host to about 1,700 Boy
Scouts and Eagle Scouts. And from all the films they had to
choose from, they chose Strike Me Deadly to entertain them
In the town of Melnick, California on old clubfoot hermit lives near a
on a Saturday night ( theoretically, one of the high spots of the
semi-dried up lake and forest. His nome is Hermann Umgor. The corrupt
convention ). Why, I don't know. Maybe because it's out­
city courKil leoder, Mayor Sunny Melnick, has decided to condemn the
doors, action, clean, warm, touching, gripping, and there's
old lake and forest where Umgar lives and re-zone to build
enough excitement and enough things happening. So, the
condominiums.
film will open a new market -but not as black-and-white.
Inside Umgor's SO-foot-toll wooden water tower ore rooms filled
The only reason I made it in black-and-white was because I
with tanks of worms. Umgor talks to them, sleeps with them and grows
sold everything to buy the film to make the film to begin with.
them bigger and fatter so that they will on command eat all the crops
I sold my house, car, drums, saxophone, the lots I had,
of Melnick and bankrupt the town so he con save the beauty of the
everything. But I couldn't put together enough nickels to buy
trees, lake and forest from the greedy Mayor.
color film; I could only buy black-and-white, which was 2'h
In various scenes Umgor kisses, feeds and sings to his Tenyo worms
times cheaper than color, 2 'h times cheaper to process, and
while the secret M Society attempts to burn, hong. and blow him up.
21/2 times cheaper to print. The difference in the price would
A complication arrives at the lake in a silly rich family and two
have kept me from shooting. Had I to do it over, of course I
beautiful teen-age girls who decide to stay at the lake for a vocation.
would have shot color. As that was my first film, what did I
The pretty young daughter, Penelope, who is always sunning herself in
know?
a bathing suit, is horrified by Umgar's clubfoot and grotesque looks.
• BR: By having theframe of reference they've been given
The two teen-age girls complain, "The old creep don't even hove any
tojudgefilms by, mostpeoplefocus theirattention in such a
hot dogs around here. It's un-Americon!" The mother Mildred screams
way as to miss much of what's going on right in front of
at Umgor, "I wont eggs with no goo in them and my cream-filled
them. 1be films I like have a lot of extra things going on
fudgies, you idiot!"
which people miss, because they aretj't viewing thefilms on
Suddenly one night Umgor is surrounded by the horrifying sight of
the films' own terms, ifyou foaow me.
three worm-like men standing over his bed. They ore the Champion Boss
• TVM: I've always related making films to magic. Making a
Fishing Club men that disappeared in Lake Melnick many months before
film is creating illusion, and magic is the same thing: causing
and were assumed to be dead. The leader Bucky says, "We ore not dead.
someone to believe they see something they're not really
We ate some of your worms that were in the fish we caught and we
seeing. Somebody might be in a little pool by this patio, but if
were transformed into a new glorious breed of holf-mon and half­
the camera only shows water and a little raft, and you tell the
worm. We live under the Red Tide in the lake and no longer wont to be
audience they're in the middle of the ocean, then that's
like the greedy men we were. But you must bring us worm women to
where they are. We're doing the same thing: we're doing
mote with so our civilization under the Red Tide will grow." Umgor
magic . . . camera magic.
agrees to feed his worms to women to give to them and they will help
• BR: You mentioned 7, your magic number. Do you have
him eat the crops.
any actual interest in the occult ?
A dumb waitress named Heidi eats some of the worms in spaghetti at
Umgor's tower and becomes the first worm woman. Umgor builds a

cage and makes three more worm women with worms in fudgies and
hot dogs for the rich mother and teen-age girls.
Bock in Melnick the city council votes to re-zone the lake. The young Mara the witch shows a member of her coven what the future halds­
rebel Phil presents a note to the concil from Umgor that the old hermit deathl In BlocHI Orgy of the She Devils.
does hove a deed to the lake. A fight breaks out and Phil escapes.
Bock at Umgor's tower he hears a radio news announcement that
the city courKil is going to build condominiums and he screams, "I will
kill them with the deadly Ana worms! They will not destroy my
beautiful trees and mountains." He goes to town and puts the deadly
Ano worms in the following foods: triple deck hamburgers, fried
chicken. chocolate molts, ice cream. chewing tobacco and Tequila. The
city council dies one by one.
Umgor arrives bock at his tower to find the Mayor waiting for him
with a gun. A fight breaks out and the Mayor gets sucked into the cage
filled with worm women and is eaten to death.
The next morning Umgor's neck is pierced by a fishing hook and he is
pulled down to the lake by a fishing line held by the leader of the worm
men. They feed Umgar his own worms and then go to town to capture
tree women in beds, kitchens and showers. In thrilling scenes that
follow we see Hermann Umgor the worm man crawl over forests and
dried river beds toward the crops to eat all of them by himself. He dies
horribly by being splat across a diesel truck windshield in one of the
most horrifying messes ever seen on film.
Believe us. folks, a hell of a lot of worms and food ore hysterically
eaten in the above-mentioned silly, laugh-a-minute motion picture. •
• TVM: I did lots of research into the occult; in fact we • TVM : Used footage ?
caHed the production company for the witchcraft picture • BR: Didn't you say that on the phone?
Occult Productions, Inc. The occult is interesting, but every­ • TVM: Oh, no' I said I was going to use usedfilm. By saying
thing has to have its proper place and perspective. I'm inter­ "used film" I really should have told you I was going to use
ested in everything there is to be interested in, and that film that's already been put into the camera. But, the unused
means a11 things! I like to think I don't go overboard in any portion of it is re-canned and stuck in a dark bag, and I'm
direction; I believe action-adventure is the top pursuit for me going to use that again. But it's not been previously exposed.
as a filmmaker, because that reaches the greatest market. And • BR: Oh! 1l1at's u•hat you meant.
in reaching the greatest market, theoretically you have your • TVM: I said it as a joke.
greatest return. • BR: I thought you u>ere going to get your bands on a lot
• BR: Back to the number 7- of footage, and splice it together, composing a story
• TVM: It's always sort of been my magic number. I have a somebou•.
thing about numbers: l 's, 3's, 5's, 7's. When I do my exer­ • TVM: Oh, no; I wouldn't do that. I don't redo anyone
cises, which I do every day of my life, everything's got to else's work. I do what I feel is expressing my own creativity; I
come out to Ts-1 can't tell you why. If I do fencing lunges, wouldn't for a minute consider using someone else's. Like, I
I'U do 25, 50, 75; after I do 75 I'll do more, because 7 and 5 even shoot my own stock footage. If I need Las Vegas, if I need
added together is 12, and 1 and 2 added together is 3. and so forest fires, I go shoot it myself.
I'U do 4 more to make another set of 7. It's kind of a "thing"
for me: everything is 7 or 3. like, with a spoon that's been in
soup, I would never tap it just once, I'd tap it 3 times. [laughs I If you want to be a ,.,.,....., it's like: if
little idiosyncrasies, you know!
• BR: For some reason. everywhere I go. '3,.keepspopping you want an automollle and • you've got is
up in some important context. It's always been a l>et)' a iu'*Yard ful of ,..ts and pieces; if you
important numberfor me; I have no idea why, or how this don't have any other way to get it, you
started.
• 1VM: Well, "7" is a very magic number for me. I didn't build it.
even think about it, but aU ofa sudden I realized that for years
I had 7 big cables. I could think of7 in a lot of other ways, like
the idea of having 7 Castle Ladies, and so on. I don't know I've got other ones starting. too; I've got Silent Rage, Sud­
why 7 seems to hold such a magic for me, but everything I do den Death that I'm doing. I'm a fine cameraman, too. You
( not everything, but a lot) is related to 7's. And particularly know, I'm bragging a little bit, but I've spent my life making
in exercise, where I do 7 sets of dumbbell curls everyday. films- I've taught a lot ofpeople how to be cameramen. A lot
Don't ask me why, but I have to do 7. It kind of drives me. of work out there, I've shot; on a lot of pictures playing
There's no real reason for it at all. [Talk turns to Ted finding around the world, I've shot the camera. I don'tjust write,
the wrap-up money to finish project OtJerki/1 I. direct. produce and edit and so on. Part and parcel ofbeing a
• BR: Didn 't you tell meyou u•ere making this mol'ie out of creator is having the total concept or the creativity, meaning:
used footage? if you're going to expose film, you'd better be able to tight it.
You'd better be able to put an actor in front of the camera
who's going to be able to perform; if he can't, you'd better
help him. If he doesn't look right, you'd better be able to do
T.V. Mikels on location. Photo: Yale
the make-up. If you need a gunshot to go off near his head and
make a chip in the wall. you'd better be able to know how to
do it, or do without it. That's my whole belief: you learn to do
u•haterJer it takes, to do u •hat you want to do. You want to
climb a mountain?-you put one foot in front of the other
and start climbing. Whatever that means.
• BR: It means a lot.
• TVM: It means to me that I make films.

In Independence CA, Vale conducted a short interview with

T.V. Mikels during a break in the shooting of the movie The
Survivalists that he was directing.

• V
ALE: You recently left your castle?
• TED V. MIKELS: We left the castle after living there 15
years; I bought a house in Vegas with a pool and extra houses
on about 1 '.4 acres. It took 14 trips over the mountains to
move everything, but now it's all set up, with cutting rooms,
etc. The reason I moved was: my money people said they'd
finance my films and build studios for me if I'd move to
Vegas. So I moved!
• V: What do you wear around your neck ?
• TVM : A boar's tusk. When I direct a picture I've always got
my director's finder, a contrast glass, light meter, etc. around
my neck, plus the tools on my belt. So when I'm not directing

72
a picture I feel naked- I think that's where this [boar's tusk] created the circumstances for it to function. But if there is
came in. any sort of a deficiency in the cycles of the power, or any sort
• V: Could you update us on your last two mo11ies ? of problem in the soup, or any sort of problem on a meter . . .

•nrM: Ten Violent Women -a fun film-is sold in almost although. if you've put a few million feet of film through a
every country in the world; it's on video now from World camera you have confidence. So I have confidence in what
Video. Fortunately I selected a company that builds beautiful I'm doing, but something can always go wrong.
full color jackets, not black-and-white with a little splash on • v.- Would you ez1er produce someone else's film again ?
ir. So you can get Corpse Grinders, Doll Squad, Ten Violent • TVM: After my experience with AJtemu�th, I decided that
Women, Blood 01-gy of the She-Deuils, Girl in Gold Boots. never again in my lifetime would I allow anybody else to
Astro Zombies and I don't know what other pictures I've direct a film where my money is involved. It was the end of
done, on \ideo. my producing-only, and the solidification of my intent to
Operation Overkill is in a stalemate. About eighty percent always direct-and-produce.
of the filming was finished in Reno. The plot is: disreputable Now theoretically, if I'm paid Sl O,OOO a week as a Director,
weapons manufacturers are supplying guns to terrorists for or S7SOO a week as a Director of Photography, and I'm going
use around the world, and the CIA (because they can't use to go ten weeks on a picture, it seems reasonable that the
federal government troops ) brings in martial artists to try to compensat ion would be ample. But it seems like every time
fe rret out the terrorists and blow up their training com· you get involved in a thing it's a freebie or a near-freebie, and
pounds, etc. There aren't any women in it, it's nothing like those are the ones that kill you. They destroy your art history,
they destroy your soul, because you fight to stay alive while
you're trying to be creative.
There are circumstances where I would produce for
Ittakes your guts and your •trals cnl
somebody; right now I'm doing this with Ray out of warm th
your fOUl to make a flrn. It takes everytNng and friendship, but normally you can't-you can't afford to!
you poaea within youl And Ray will tell you the same thing- I'm sure Ray would
never produce a picture for anybody unless they compen·
sated him properly. Because it takes your guts and your
Doll Squad: all my pictures are different. It's what you'd call a entrails and your soul to make a film. It takes everything you
pure action picture, like Force of One where Tiger Yang possess within you! •
decimates 20 guys at once. But not chop-saki; when he hits
you. you go do wn He's two-times world champion; he's got
a hall on the back of his hand about as big as this glass.
Earlier we went to do a picture in South Dakota with
Tiger. He picked up a big river rock in a creek, and I saw him
chanting, sitting crossed on his haunches. I thought, "He's T.V. Mikels. Photo: Vale
not going to hit his hand on that rock, is he?" So I walked over
and asked, "Tiger, what are you doing?" He replied. " J break.
I break." I said, "Tiger, we've got a picture to do-if you hit
your hand on that rock you'll smash your hand and we'll
never make a movie." And he said, "No, I break, I break. " He
sat there for awhile and finally I said, "Tiger, you're going to
smash your hand-DON'T DO IT!" He ignored me, hit it
once real hard and nothing happened. I thought,
"Ohntigod." But he did it again and he cracked that rock in
three pieces -a big river rock. I put the pieces in the trunk of
my car and took them home. It had to be something here
( points to forehead ), not the force with which he hit that
rock. Incredible.
• v.- You told Boyd that you helped one of your Castle
Ladies completely make a film-
• lVM: That picture was entitled Knee Dancing. A lovely
woman who has four sons who are out of school now and on
their own is the writer-producer-director-editor and star. ��
It's a good story about a woman having a nervous breakdown
at an airport. Her whole life flashes before her . . . as a child '' \.-·
to:; , '

molested by her father, the effect on her relationships with •

men for her entire life, etc. I did the photography for her.
She's gotten several awards-in fact they flew her to Paris
not long ago to accept an award for it. Her name is Doreen
Ross.
I've spent a great portion of my life making films like
that-that I don't consider my pictures. I did the photo·
graphy and worked like a son of a gun on 1be Hostage which
was one of the only picn1res where I got to shoot and play
with light; that picture got critical acclaim for the lighting.
Of course my gaffers jumped in and took the credit in the
magazine interviews, god bless 'em!
• V: Any problems on this curren t film shoot ?
• lVMS: I worry. I worry that my meter might get kicked,
because I'm working down at light levels that are unheard
of- at very few foot -candles . . . I don't worry providing that
all of the mechanical equipment is functioning as I have

73
 cameraman on feature films, he's made dozens of educa­
tional and documentary short films, trailers, television spots
and commercials including music-rock videos in the late
sixties.
As a feature film director-producer, Mikels got his start in
1960 when he sold everything he owned to finance Strike
Me Deadly. Although no box-office smash, it sparked his
career. He worked as cinematographer on The Hostage and
that same year directed The Black KlaMman.

T eel V. Mikels has been a motion picture writer, director,

and producer for over 30 years. Until recently he lived in
The Black Klansman did well at the box office. Released
in 1965-a time when public interest in civil rights was at its
peak-the film is about a black man who infiltrates the Ku
Sparr Castle (boasting a dungeon, secret passageways and Klux Klan trying to learn who killed his daughter. In true
23 rooms) in the Verdugo Mountains near Glendale, Ca. with exploitation fashion, the film features plenty of interracial
seven women. With his goatee and Dali-esque moustache, he bed-hopping, and was successful enough for Mikels to start
resembles a sideshow magician-which he once was. his own distribution company: Geneni Film Distributing.
Since childhood Mikels traveled extensively, performing in In 1968 he directed and released Girl in Gold Boots, about
hundreds of shows as a magician, ventriloquist, solo accor­ a young couple who, trying to escape the draft, gets caught
dionist and acrobat. At the age of 19 he was presenting a up in the world of crime. That same year also saw the release
2'12-hour magical extravaganza called "Open Sesame." An of the classic Astro Zombies.
expert fen<er, weight-lifter, archer and horseman, from If he never made another film, Astro Zombies would
1950-1958 he appeared in numerous films as a stunt man assure Mikels a niche in film history. Dealing with cryogenics
and bit player. In 1952-55 Mikels covered Oregon as a and transplanting frozen human parts, the science fiction­
newsreel TV cameraman, and from 1953-1963 he either horror plot features a mad scientist and his even madder
directed and/ or was lead performer in numerous stage plays assistant who create half-human, half-robot creatures out
such as The Diary of Anne Frank. Besides working as of dead bodies. When one of the Astro Zombies loses its

Doll Squad.

74
solar-power pack at night, it makes its way home by press­ Women, an action-psychodrama about women taking
ing a flashlight to the solar cell on its forehead! Thrown into women's lib to a aiminal degree and ending up in jail;
this stew is a subplot of enemy agents trying to steal the Devll's Gambit, a martial arts undercover drama involving
secrets of the Astro Zombies. The agents are led by dark­ two large oil and energy conglomerates and featuring Tiger
haired, fiery-eyed beauty lura Salona, whose presence con­ Yang; Kill The Dragon. a martial arts adventure partially
tributes immeasurably to the film's appeal. shot in Spain; Space Angels. a galactic space fantasy of
In 1972-a banner year for bizarre films-Mikels futuristic intrigue; and Open�tion Overkill. again featur­
released his magnum opus The Corpse Grinders which hit ing Tiger Yang in a CIA campaign agaimt terrorists. He
#1 1 on the weekly Top Fifty box office list. It's the story of a recently finished directing a film which Ray Dennis Steckler
cat food company that uses human corpses in their product. started, The Survivalists (tentative title) and is planning
Unfortunately, this secret ingredient causes cats all over many more movies • . • •
town to attack their owners. The premise is weird enough,
but the cast is even stranger-what an assortment of
misfits!
Wanting to release The Corpse Grinders on a double bill,
Mikels chose a film he had picked up the rights to called The
Undertaker and His Pals (1966}. 1t stars a mortician who, PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
enlisting the aid of two brothers-one of whom wants to be
AS DIRECTOR-PRODUCER:
a surgeon-drums up business by creating customers. The
Strike Me Deadly, 1963
brothers, when they're not helping the undertaker, run a
The Doctors, 1 963
restaurant. The three have a very equitable arrangement:
One Shocking Moment (aka Suburban Affair}, 1964
after dispatching the victims, the would-be surgeon is The Black Klansman, (aka I Crossed tfle Color Line), 1965
allowed to practice on the cadaver by removing certain The Astro Zombies, 1967
parts. Those parts wind up on the restaurant menu the next The Girl in Gold Boots, 1968
day; the rest goes to the undertaker. Not without a sense of The Corpse Grinders, 1972
humor, the murderers choose their victims carefully. A Blood Orgy of the She Devils, 1973
woman named Ms. Lamb has her legs removed-you can The Doll Squad (aka Seduce and Destroy), 1974

guess the next day's luncheon special . • .

Alex Joseph & His Wives (aka The Rebel Breed), 1978
Ten Violent Women, 1982
Originally The Undertaker and His Pals featured exten­
Devil's Gambit, 1982
sive gore, borrowed (as a cost-cutting measure} from old
Space Angels, 1985
surgery films. Mikels found this solution to be a bit strong, so
Operation Overkill, 1985
he removed most of the surgery footage. His final cut of the
film runs barely sixty minutes. AS PRODUCER:
The Corpse Grinders/The Undertaker and His Pals The Undertaker & Hi> Pals, 1965
double bill proved to be Mikels' most popular release of all. The Worm Eaters, 1965
He followed it with Blood Orgy of the She Devils, about Cruise Missile, 1980
witchcraft, exorcism and reincarnation among a group of Kill the Dragon, 1983

witches in California. Many newspapers refused to advertise

Note: Mikels served as cameroman on Jungle Hell (1956), Day
the film's full title . . .
of the Nightmare (1965), Night of the Beast aka House of
1974 sow the release of The Doll Squad (aka Seduce
the Black Death (1965), The Hostage (1966), Agent For
and Destroy} about an elite group of female CIA undercover
H.A.R.M. (1966). Catalina Caper (1967), Snow Monsten (n.d.),
agents. Mikels is convinced his film was the source for the Ghouls and Dolls (n.d.), Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
popular TV show, Charlie's Angels. Partly for her exotic (1972!, and other film1.
looks and partly for her knowledge of karate, Mikels again
cast lura Salona in a leod role.
The Astro-lombles
Besides writing and directing, Mikels has produced almost
all his own films and a few by others. His most notorious
production is The Worm Eaters, about an old eccentric who
turns people into monsters by feeding them worms. They're
supposed to be giant worm-creatures, but they look more
like people stuck in their sleeping bags. The film stars and
was directed by Herb Robins, a talented actor familiar to
any fan of Ray Dennis Steckler's films. It's a comedy, but
Robins' sense of humor is so askew that the film resembles a
horror movie for three-year-olds.
Another film Mikels produced is The Aftermath, a low­
budget feature shot around Los Angeles. After a disastrous
premiere, Steve Barkett, its director/star refused to release
it. Briefly, the film is about an astronaut who returns to
Earth and finds civilization shot to hell. He adopts a boy and
teaches him to be muy macho, and the boy repays the favor
by helping the man blow away villains and bad guys.
Other films T.V. Mikels has produced or directed (or both}
include Cruise Missile, an action-adventure spy thriller shot
at German, Italian, Spanish and U.S. locations; Ten Violent
I N T E R V I E W:

P
scene color corrections. It will show at festivals like the
Cint:mathequc Francais or the National Film Theatre in Lon­
robably the best-known filmmaker in this boo k i s Russ
don; already I've been invited to a number of them. So it will
Meyer-the Washington Post called him "pradically an be my song. I think the unique thing about the film is that to
American institution." Classic films he's made include Mu4- my knowledge no filmmaker has ever made a film of himself.
MMJ, Lorna, ..yond the Valley of the Dolls and Faster •JM: Probab�)' not intentionally, anyu'(ly.
hssycatl K• K• His 1959 movie The Immoral Mr. Teas • RM: No, not even intentionally or unintentionally. It will
singlehandedly paved the way for the entire nudie-cutie have a ring of truth about it and, I think, also interest and
genre and the later hcrdcore films that continue to this day. entertainment value. Usua.lly films about a director follow a
format; it's generally: get six or seven of)ohn Huston's asso­
As a force for advancing sexual freedom of expression, Russ
ciates together and we'll shoot 'em and they'Ll tell little
Meyer has ...ned his fame.
vignettes from his life, and then show the beauty of john
Some of the lcrgest-breasted women to walk the earth
Huston's story-some great film clips. The beauty of George
appear in Meyer's movies, distracting viewers from the fad
Stevens is not his military footage or his friends, it's the great
that his films often present serious socio-aitical content and film clips. I have great film clips (which aren't clips, they're
complex moral cilemmos. Chcraderized by extreme behav­ condensations of all my films) but I have more-my own
ior approaching mythic proportions, his films consistently particular brand of humor . . . World War II footage . . . foot­
reveal a sense of humor sometimes crass but usually age of me revisiting the places, photographing friends that
insightful. I've known through the years. Instead of having them stare at
Russ Meyer was born March 21, 1922 in San Leandro, the camera-if the guy's a farmer or if he's a painter or if he
selb hamburgers, I photograph him doing that while he's
California. When he was 14 his mother bought him a movie
reflecting and talking in voice-over. It's an amazing picture;
camera and that immediately launched an obsession that
it's mindboggling to think of the number of scenes I've shot,
stretched into a life's career. ln World War II he worked as a
in addition to compressing 23 films down to 1 0- 1 5 minutes
photographer and cameraman, and after the army photo­ •

each.
graphed Hollywood films (e.g., Giant, Guys and Dolh) until
his "break" in 1959 when he direded The Immoral Mr.
Teas, immediately reaping a fortune. To date Meyer has I refuse to stop fishing cmd ........ cmd
made more than twenty features. Recently he remarked, "I having epkurean meals and ...._.., having
have to pay homage to the women in my films and the
a good time, so it11 be ready ..._ It's
success they've given me."
luss Meyer was interviewed at his Hollywood home which
ready .

was filled with shrines to friends living and dead, and his
own movie posters in languages from Tagalog to Danish. Jim
•JM: So the film will be almost like a book ?
Morton asked the questions.
• lt\1: Exactly. I'm writing my song. Curiously, a German
chap-l'vc known him for a long time-had obtained an
assignment to do a book on me and came over and spent a
long time here. I've got ninety volumes of clippings (which
we built this cabinet for). But I'm afraid he didn't do a very
good job- I'm rewriting it. He was incorrect in the synopses
•JIM MORTON: I'Lie heard a lot about The Breast of Russ and like most Germans he has no sense ofhumor. He also did
Meyer. �trbat's that? a little bit of the "Philadelphia Enquirer" ( which we had an
• RUSS MEYEK: Twelve hours of unfettered beauty, great underManding wouldn't be done) in that he assassinated a
history and humor! I've been working on it for five years, I've number of characters in the film-friends of mine-for the
got a million and a half dollars of my own money in it, and it's sake of trying to get into the Teutonic mind something that's
going to be a sensational film. But I refuse to stop fishing and sensational. I think it's really bad, so we have levied upon
womanizing and having epicurean meals and generally hav­ them: publish it and be forewarned! [laughs knowingly]
ing a good time, so it'U be ready when it's ready. I estimate in Anyway, that's the end of the story.
about two to three years-there's a big job ahead of me yet . However, the point I'm making is: it's going to be a good
•}M: Is it going to be released as a mouie or a uideo ? book. I have three publishers who want it: one in France, one
• RM: It's too long-it's 1 2 hours. Sec- I'm making a film in England, and one here in the 'States. rm doing all the
for myself. It's an enjoyable position for a filmmaker to be in; synopses and I'm writing them in a very florid style that I
to make a film just for himself. What I mean by that is: I don't didn't think I could pull off- the writing is like the films, with
have to make any money; it's not necessary. It will make a lot adjective upon adverb, unending punctuation, dots, dashes,
of money in video, but that is so far off, just with what it takes etc. What I've been doing is in a sense writing the narration
to make a video master the way I go through it, with scene-by- for my big film. So it has value . . .
lura Satana in action in Fader Pussycat, Kill KHII

•JM: Yourfilms usually hm>e fairly heavy narration. •JM: Educational and industrial films can be quite
• RM: That's because I have a very strong background in wonderful-
documentary films. After the war, I worked for four years • RM: They don't seem to make them like they used to.
doing-we can call them documentary. but they were more They're too loose now; I think television has had a lot of
employer-relations films for oil companies, paper mills, rail­ influence. The older ones were really marvelous; well struc­
roads. things of that nature. I worked for a producer in San tured, maybe hambone by today's standards. A lot of my stuff
Francisco, and it was a great training ground for me. I've seems almost unintentionally funny now.
always loved the documentary format with the serious, inton­ •JM: john Ford directed an old "training "film called Sex­
ing narrator. And generally at the end there'll be a scene ual Hygiene.
where we try to straighten everything out by reviewing the • RM: I'm familiar with it -remember the guy with the soft
film and pointing out where a character went wrong, or chancre in his throat! It was always dreadful to look at. In the
point out the characters' shortcomings and frailties-things army they would terrorize us with that- remember the short
of that nature. It adds to the whole tongue· in-cheek aspect of am1 and the chancres and the guy in the crib: "Honest, doc, I
the movies. won't do it again!" I often thought it would make an interest-

77
 Haji in action in MotOI' Psycho.

ing film: to take that and intercut it with my IOnd of drama, others that someone will recommend to me. They're not easy
then cut to these [venereal sores]. I'm afraid, though, the to find; in fact, I'm arduously searchjng for two more. I've got
military wouldn't release it to me for that purpose. five superwomen in the new film intercut throughout the
•JM: You could show lots of terrible slides interspliced operung which is seventy-eighty minutes long. and I need to
with Playboy bunny pictures. Incidentally, where do you fmd two or three more. Hard to find. very difficult.
find your women? I walk down streets all the time and •JM: 7bey also have a certain larger-than-l(fe quali(y to
never see anybody quite like- thern. I remernher watching Faster Pussycat and you had
• RM: There's only a very few, and I've been fortunate to Susan Ben1ard. the Playmate, in it and she looked like a tiny
fmd a few of them. Those that I find and can't use, it's either dinky thing compared to Haji and TUra.
because of a difficult bo)friend or a husband who doesn't • RM: She was a little squirt, very defirutely. In Playboy,
when you get that fo ldout, it's pretty hard to tell how tall
anybody is unless you look at the spec's. By and large women
rwe •• lo•ecl tfle �ary 'ormat . ·· ­ are not that tall, you know. If you get a woman that's five foot
seven, that's pretty tall for a lady. In the instance ofThra, she
narritor: At. ·the
·

with the ..-ious, lilt

...t thtn'l .. :a _... -::.... we ttY to ·
�- was wearing boots and she was so voluptuous-big hat, big
pair of hips, big boobs -a great juno-esque looiOng lady...
•JM: She takes on a kind of mythical quality in thatfilm.
·

straightM anrythiiag out 'r reviewing the

flm and ..,.... o.t � a dat.cter · � • RM: A lot of people draw all sorts of conclusions about it
. . . "Gotterdammerung" . . . "Right of the Valkyries." She's
went ......., or � Out the chalad.Fs' part Cherokee and part japanese; her father was a well­
w· ·�
� and &aitties. "
' .;f !�
�
known chef in a restaurant in Chicago. That was one of the
few times I've really lucked out in casting a role-1 couldn't
have found another girl that had the configuration, and really
want the bird to flee the nest, as it were. That's the most­ knew judo and karate and was as strong as a fuchlng ox. and
asked question in interviews. That, or, "Does your mother had never acted before. She'd been a stripper. Another time
have big breasts?" They IOnd of go even-Steven. was when we found Z-man who played SuperWoman in
By and large the girls are from the show business world ­ Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. We could never have found
premiere strippers that make four or five thousand a week, or another man who would have done that whole Shakespea-

78
rean shit and the whole works. He still to this day believes Trouble is, with girls-generally I use them once and not
that I ruined his career-he didn't have much of a career to again. It's almost like having a wondrous affair, even though I
begin with, but-he's another one. I don't mean him any might not have one- I have an affair with the camera with
disrespect, 'cause he made that part. them. I think I've extracted all the vital juices that are availa­
And again with Charles Napier, the guy with all the teeth ble for a given film, and I think there's a great shot in the ass if
who was in Supervixens-without him, the film wouldn't you have someone new to work with for the next picture. But
have had anywhere near the kind of success it had-I'm in a supporting role it isn't quite the same thing. I've only
certain-in spite of the big boobs and seven girls. Napier, I used Haji as the main lady in one film-Motor Psycho. The
think, has a qualiry that few actors possess: Wallace Beery, others she was always in a secondary position.
Borgnine, Alan Hale. There can be just a thin edge separating The girls often don't have the same kind of freshness and
evil and humor, and they can work both sides of that line. newness; often they don't have the same kind of dedication.
Napier's got that qualiry: smiling on one side of the mouth There's a tendency to not take it as seriously the second time.
and sneering on the other. He's had his good shot now with a Maybe they're thinking a little too much; maybe they're
picture called Rambo, and I think he maybe offand running. listening to too much pillow talk- I don't know what it is.
He wants very much to be Clint Eastwood but I think he's just That's a tough one for a director that's dealing with matters
a great character-rype. Who knows? Who would have known sexual-to fight off that pillow talk when they go home at
that Bronson would have such great success? night. The "ace" I call it-the husband or boyfriend who is
terribly insecure himself and has got to give them a lot of
advice. ln the morning when you start up again you can sense

z...... played� SuperWOft!\* in �y- llle that someone's been feeding that chick's computer, and
you've got to try and work around it -listen and discard
YllleJ ef 1M Doll. Wt'·couki MYw hove things.
found ....._ ..... who would have ._ Anyway, to put it very simply: it's a miracle that these films

that whole ..�... shit _, the are ever completed. just a miracle. I mean the emotional
problems, the insecurity, the loss of interest after three or
whole worb.-· Jii stll te this daY W.v four days, and all the cajoling and bullshitting and ass-kissing
that I ruined his a..-. and ass-licking-it's a miracle the films are finished­
certainly mine.
•JM: Is that yourfirst camera there?
•JM: It was a rather long time before be rru�de it, too. • RM: No; I have a couple of shrines in this house. This
People always talk about your women, but I notice that house was bought to film Beneath the Valley of the
certain rru�/e characters shou • up in your films, like Napier lRtra l!ixens- you can see some scars on the ceiling. I bought
and- it because of this room-we built all the sets in this room. It
• RM: Stuart Lancaster. I have a band of players. Ul.ncaster did not have that big bookcase, it was just a completely big
was in Mudhoney: Uncle Luke with the bad heart, kindly and room and then I converted it into an office and a work area
totally good. always rising to the defense of his niece. He and now it's my second home. I stay here occasionally and
played the narrator on lRtrat>ixens which was a take-off on edit films.
Our Town -remember the man who would sit at the corner That shrine there is for a Chinese chap (an American); he
of the stage and say, "Well, I don't know what's going to and I shot movies together when I was 1 4 or 1 5 years of age;
happen. We'll see what's going to happen tomorrow when he recently passed away. He was instrumental in my getting
the sun comes up." I didn't use him exactly that way, but that my first job before World War II. His wife gave me this
was what it was patterned after. Super guy, but never having camera and that's my little shrine for Henry . . .
done anything, largely because he inherited a fortune from his Over there I have another camera that belonged to an old
mother. But she was wise enough to set it up in a trust so he
gets. I think, S8,000 a month. He spends it every month. If he
had gotten all the money, he would have made/produced
200 bad plays-he's really into theater. Dave Friedman said
that the first sum of money he got was S400,000, and it all •yond the Valley of the Dolt.
went in like two months, producing plays.
•JM: Another male character that comes to mind is Hal
Hopper-what a sleazy guy!
• RM: Poor Hal, he's passed on. Hal wrote an all-time great
song, "There is No You. " He was one of the Modernaires. It's
hard to imagine him sitting there by the microphone singing
. . . He was brought to my attention by an actor named james
Griffin. Hal made a great nasry son-of-a-bitch . . . but he was
also the guardian of little jay North of Dennis the Menace. So
here's this whole other side of him. He's gone now, regretta­
bly. In Mudhoney he had no redeeming qualities; at least in
Lorna he did an about-face-he realized that he had met
more than his match. I wanted to use him again in Beyond the
Valley ofthe Dolls but he was very ill. I've always felt comfor­
table using certain people, like Haji-she'sbeen i n a lot ofmy
films; she's just a great standard-bearer. Even today she really
looks great.
•JM: She's one of the feu• women characters that crop up
again and again in your films.
• RM : She's been in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls; Motor
Psycho!; Faster Pussycat. Kill! Kif/.1; Good Morning and
Goodbye-very substantial part in that. She was in Supervix­
ens and Up/ With some of these people I feel comfortable.
anny buddy who just passed away, who was more brother­ • RM: Edy Williams plays Edy Williams better than anybody
like than just about anybody I've every known. The one lower else in the world! She did a pretty good job with Seven
with an exposure meter in it is for the camerman who was in Minutes. The film wasn't so successful because I was told I
the service with me, who shot a lot of series like 'Twilight had to have an R rating (and when 1 say X, I mean an MPAA X:
Zone" and "Hatari," and he also shot my Seven Minutes. He not hardcore but softcore ). It just doesn't have the content,
was a combat cameraman in the Spanish Civil War. and people do react to it in a poor way, but Edy did a pretty
They're my little shrines-at their husbands' behest their good job on that.
wives have given me these things because we were so terribly We were married for four years or so. I think the best thing
close. It's nice to walk by them and stop for a moment and she ever did (and not just because I was involved) ·was
reflect on the individual. Displayed is the one object-or Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. She gets a great reaction in
objects-that really represents the basis of our friendshi p­ the theater every time it's shown. She's been in a lot ofother,
the one indentifying thing that can bring it to a point imme­ much lesser films, but I have to admire her-she's in there
diately. I think of Henry- I think about that camera. trying all the time and does her publicity and-here's a
recent picture-she still manages to look very good. But I
couldn't have used her as leading lady because you've got to
.. the inl
t... of Tura, .._ was ...... have a little more control over a person than your wife.

lloots ... ... was so voluptuous-big hat, 'There's a tendency for things to not go as smoothly as when
you're working with a stranger.
Wg pair of lllps, Wg boobs a peat Juno­ I have to take one exception: that's my wife Eve­

..... ..... ...,. wonderful lady whom I lived with for 1 2 years. She was killed
in Tenerife in a terrible airplane crash. We did ErJe and 1be
Handyman together. There were just four of us: the guywho
•JM: U:'ben did you get your first camera ? played the handyman, my assistant, and Eve, and she cooked
• RM: I think I was 14. My mother got me a Univex-it's the for us and we really had a tight thing. She said "Okay, half of
camera that probably did more for home movies than any­ this is my money, I Like the idea ofdoing it, and let's do it," and
thing Eastman Kodak ever came up with. It sold for S9.95 and she broke her ass-there was never any static from her. She
the film was 6� a roll- orthochromatic Single-S ( meaning just said, "Look, whatever you want t o do, let's do it, okay? I'm
sprocket holes down one side). The projector was S 14.95. By here, I'll get up early in the morning and I'll look right" and so
today's standards that might be fifty dollars, but it was the on. She was special in that area and in many other areas as
thing that got me by the short hairs. I tell you, when I got that well, but with her I could do it, you know.
camera, from then on every nickel I could get my hands on But I would never have given Edy a shot at being a lead­
went to upgrading and so on. It got me into the services as a there would have been head problems, definitely. There's a
G.l cameraman, simply because of my very strong amateur tendency to have a wife take advantage of her position, and
background. I'm not just talking about her, but I'm sure any filmmaker­
•JM: Getting back to the leading ladies, Edy Williams- there have been occasions where they've used their wives

lura Sa1ana again.

Scene from c........ Law CaWn.

and it's not been a good idea. I guess that's one of the reasons she liked it, she liked that whole thing of turning on people; it
why I've tried to be at arm's length with the leading lady and was a big game and it was fun, you know. She neverhad any
not have any hanky-panky; a couple of times I did-three real big aspirations of becoming some kind of "actress" or
times, four times-and it really wasn't best for the picture. anything like that, but she did fine, she did very well. She
came equipped with what I need for a leading lady more than
anything else. She had a great body and she had done a lot of
.. ..... .......�G .. fucking in her time, so she knew all the positions and every­

.. .... ........ .... ....

thing in the way of turning on a guy-two necessary prereq­
uisites for the success of any leading lady's performance in
,..
... �-• •• .. fine, .._,., .... .. a one of my films. But, when you get that passionate intimacy,
- · - ····�· - · there's a tendency (I think) that either person will take

.. ... ..... .. ..... advantage of the other. Best to be at arm's length, I've found.
A great lady I really cared for-we'd been together quite a
. .
..ldal .. .... while-played the deaf-mute in Mudhoney. Very pretty lady.
We had become intimate years before when I was in Ger­
many shooting Fanny Hill- that's where I met her, and then I
The last lady was Kitten Natividad-we were very close, brought her over. One night she decided she didn't want to
we lived together for four years and she was fine, because she appear naked in front ofthe whole crew, and no matter what
was a total sex object and a sex machine and she knew that I said, like: 'You did it in Berlin and there were fifty Germans
what we were doing was going to be beneficial to her, and it's hanging around," she would reply, "Well, it's different now."
proven to be because she was able to get more money. But I ended up very angry. There's an example of being placed

81
Publidty shot from Flnden Keepen, Loven Weepers.

in a position where you're gt:tting your nuts wTUng out. Sure. One; as Time said. "it opened up the floodgates of permissive­
you could do several things-you could punch her out and ness as we know it in these United States." Teas simplywasan
then you fuck up your picture. and I ' m not prone to punching idea which I scripted out in a document and we shot it in four
women out anyway. Or. you can have a giant fight, somehow days. I knew exactly how it was going to begin, I knew how it
managing to force her to do what you wanted and not getting would be in the middle, and I knew how it would be in the
the results-the only best way then is to break your ass and end. It was based on my experiences doing stills for Playboy.
do the hest you can . . . Anpvay. it worked out. but it affected There's a lot of stuff on the girl-next-door, the common man,
my feelings toward the lady for as long as we were together the voyeur-little nude photo essays. So Teas was a film that
from there on out, because it represented a down deep solid was imitated by so many people-/ imitated it, in a sense. I
lack of tmst . . . did Et ,eand tbe Handyman and I made other nudie films, but
Teas was a huge. huge success and it's still a collector's piece.
Teas came out in 'S9 and it's still kicking.
[ pointing to photo of man] He's up in Frisco. I've done
some filming with him; we were a tight group. He was in the
army with me; he was an army photographer, so we see each
other as often as we can-a friendship extending past 40
•JM: \\"hen you u'Ork tl 'itb a person all day long. and !ben years. In fact next week I go to Philadelphia, and we'll have a
come bome at nigbt and see lbf?ln tbere as ll 'ell. reunion in Bloomington. Delaware, then have one down
sometimes- south. I'm kind ofa ringleader-historian. All those guys played
• RM: No, no, the women I've known have been wm-ons. a pretty heavy role in my life and in my films, too.
I'm lusting all day for them. Even if I'm not having them I'm •JM: 7here's a certain almost "G./. " quolity to your
lusting for them-it's very healthy to feel that lust. TI1ey're bumor-
great enough-we can bear witness that it's difficult to tire • RM: Best time of my life, I'll tell you that. Never had a
them early in the game. Unless you're a fuckin' wooden better time- I was sorry to see the war end. People say,
Indian . . . "What�" but I was sorry to see it end; I was ready to go to
•JM: W'hen you started making films did you come up Japan. the whole shot. you know-the damn bomb interfered
y and say, "Hey. this u'Ould make a great se.,ploi­
witb a stor with all that. 'Cause I had a feeling like, "Son-of-a-bitch, I'm
tation mouie ?" having such a good time, I'm doing just what I want to do, it's
• RM: I didn't know what sexploitation UI(IS. 7be Immoral exciting; what kind of a job can I get when I get out? How can
Mr. Teas was the first breakthrough film in the sense that it I get some kind of a job?" And it worried me: "God, what if I
popularized and established the "nudie." It was Number have to go back to that same job I had before?" I liked very

82
much that whole living by your wits, with each day being a but it was about two or three years too late with its slavery
new piece of excitemenr. I had mixed emotions about com­ aspect. It played mainstream houses.
ing home; I probably was the only one in my group who felt Hardcore has always been at some shadowy little place
that way. Everyone else wanted to go back to Alabama and where you skulked in and out, with the exception of Deep
start a family and all that. Not me. I just: "Gung ho. let's do it 7broat-womcn went to that because it became so popular­
again!" Just like I feel about my art now: I'd like to start it all ized. The others were all guys in raincoats. That's one good
over. thing about hardcore now-people can take it home. You
•JM: \flben you got out of the anny you u•ent to don't have to parade into a theater.
Hol�) 'll'OOd? •JM: 1 '1¥! been to a feu• adult theaters; they 're kind of
• RM: I just got off the train here. With the other guy that depressing
was with me-just fishing-we went over to the studios. We • RM: Now they're realJy falling by the wayside-folding
went to the union to see about getting a job and they said, very fast. Video, of course, is killing them off. People can rent
"Forget it, we got guys that are gonna get their jobs back." So I it rather than go to the theater. But still there's nothing like
went home to San Francisco/ Oakland - 1 even went back to looking at something-! don't care what it is-on a big
my old job for about a month. Then I managed to find this screen in a dark auditorium-it's great! And until they get
industrial job which was great for me. However, I have the video in some size you're going to always have that compari­
feeling that I would not have given i n - that I certainly would son. People like to sit at home and be lazy and look at video,
han: been persistent. but it doesn't have the q uality. My stuff I dub from the
negative, with scene-by-scene color corrections, but even so
there's nothing to replace something being projected on the
screen. TI1is Breast wi ll be a monster, just considering the
Iwould MYW have giYen Ecly a shot at scenes there are in it.
being a lead there would have been head •JM: Are you going to hat!f! somebody else playing
problems, .Winitely. There's a tendency to yourself?

hawe a wife take adw•tage of her position. • R.M: Oh no. it's me. Throughout I introduce the films in a
kind of P.T. Barnum way, and it's not bad. If it's me and I'm
doing it, it works, you know- I'm a type, I'm a character, I'm
not acting-l'm just introducing. In the beginning I'm driving
•JM: Well, your memorabilia here is a testa ment to that. a car and I go to Europe and retrace my steps from Ireland to
• RM: You haven't even seen the other room yet, with props England to Normandy, Omaha Beach and so on. I'm driving a
from each picture. As fast as I find something that I want w Mercedes, then I cut to my black-and-white GI footage. And
put on a plaque, I will. I'm starting to put them on the ceiling there's always a girl like Kitten in the back seat playing with
now-great ceiling for that purpose, slanted like thar. My herself naked, but I'm not aware of it. And I have a narration
films are having a great rebirth in Germany, France and (which I haven't written yet ) which has got to be unpreten­
England now. tious, just matter-of-fact-not trying to be funny or
•JM: Tbere's a French book on yourfilms. anything-just reflections. I've got some pretty good photo­
• RM: It's a book by my distributors; Jean-Piern: Jackson graphy of me driving the car, stopping and looking, and then I
·wrote it. TI1e captions are all wrong, but otherwise it's great! move down to the city . . . go down the road and there's
There was one photo of that great big black woman. June Tammie Roshea- now there's some cups! Great lady-she's
�lack, titled "Erica Gavin." intrigued watching the Mercedes go by. She represents the
That·� why I'm so concerned about this mO\ic I 77:Je Breast guardian angel. Then you cut to a room/window and there's
of Russ M�'er]; it's damn well going to be right. I like the Candy Samples doing something to herself. It's for the
'ideo aspect of it, too- projectionists can no longer cut audience to realize that they are in the right theater. There's
scenes out of it. Projectionists are great slide collectors­ this referral, this new stu� all the time.
they cut out two or three frames and then crudely splice it so
the action goes WHAAAP! and the soundtrack ends up harsh.
But in video you can't do that. You buy it. and you can go over 'llle •••ral Mr. T- •• the first
the juicy roles over and over again.
•JM: V ideo seems to be opening up a u•ho/e neu• market
lwec*through ,.. In the - that it
for sexploitation films from the '60s. popularized and ....... the "...... .
• Ri\1: For me there aren't many that hang i n there. Fortu·
natc:ly I have a big. strong follo�ving and it grows. Not many
softcore -not many hardcore films. for that matter, have •JM: Tammie Roshea-did you use her in any films?
become real classics. You can count six or seven hardcore • RM: No. She's a great stripper; I met her through Kitten.
films that are steady sellers- Radley Metzger's stuff (he goes She's got a great body; she'll be awesome in the picture.
under the name of Henry Paris or something like that ), and •FI·f: /just got a magazinefrom France called Nostalgia. It
Deep Tbroat, of course. which is like Mr. Teas: it started the seems like the French picked up on what you were
doing
"'hole shooting match. quicker than the Americans.
•F•·f: 7be
hardcore pretty much drot¥! out the softcore. • R.M: Yeah, but they had a lot of time to get ready. If it
• RM: I ne,•er suffered, but of course there wasn't really wasn't for my distributor- a real film buff-1 don't think
much good softcore except mine. There were some things we'd be playing as well as we play. He was a schoolteacher; he
like jonathan Demme's Caged Heat and so on -films that got out of schoolteaching and decided he wanted to distrib·
prefer not to be called soft core, but there's nudity, a plot and ute these films because he believed in them so strongly. Now
whatever. we get calls from people wondering if there's any others
When hardcore came in I was over at Fox making where the rights have not been given to Mr. Jackson . . . so I
S I 50,000 for five months' work and doing a couple of films. owe him a great deal.
All those other guys were jumping in there making these .
•JM: . . 7ttra Satana is a woman that et¥!rybody likes­
hardcore mO\ies and I was making a film that was so-called • RM: She appeals to gays, lesbians, the whole bag, every­
big time, you know. When hardcore was
at its strongest I body. She has a very strong folJowing now with young people.
made a picture called Blacksnake! which was the only Musicians look upon Pussycat as a remarkable film; Warner
unsuccessful film I ever made. I thought it was a great idea, Bros wanted to use an excerpt for some new female group on

83
MlV but I turned it down, period. It's gratifying to have probably punch me out.) She did something where she's
young people today see and hear it-1 get phone calls, sitting up on this peak, nude, and her father shouted, " MAH
"Where can I get the soundtrack?" or "I heard there were GOD, SHARI!" -you could hear it all over the auditorium.
T-shins," and so on. Tura's developed into a real heroine, or She retorted, "I told you you weren't supposed to come see
anti-heroine; whatever. the film!" She could handle it, you know. I never met the
•JM: A group called The Cramps does a cover version of family. but they probably would have stoned me or
Faster Pussycat. . . . There s
' something abou t Shari Eubanks something.
that really appeals to me. Shari was gung-ho; there was never an ounce of trouble
with her-she just loved doing what she was doing. We
always had a lot of privation, difficult conditions-no show­
•••., ••••.., w11at rn achln.. • • ers, sometimes-and she was there-she carried water, car­
.... ... .. ... ...... ...., .......... ried the battery up the road. I'll take my hat off to her.
.
. ..... .. .., . .. .. ....__. __ .. Ushi Digart's another great trouper. She was in a number of
films-very special lady. I've really been privileged to know
• ...... iOisaU .. 1hat'1 tile -., I .. some great people.

lt--l .. . .... .., � ..., - . ....

Most filmmakers are generally not one-to-one on a project;
.
.... .. ...,...... .... 1 1-t .... they have a lot of people who are sharing responsibilities.
Whereas I've always done a kind of one-man band, where
.. .- .. ... .. ..... ..., • .. there's something like an umbilical cord tying me to one or
two of the people, where you have that tight feeling and that
• RM: She wasn't so outrageous in her body (although she dependency on one another to make the whole damn thing
had a great body and a real presence), but . . . She got in with work-and I think how fortunate I've been to have had
some guy that kind ofscrewed her around, but she did end up people like Shari Eubanks or Ushi Dlgart or Kitten Natividad.
pretty well-she inherited an awful lot of money from her All these ladies and I had a communion, a marvelous com­
family. I admired her; I Liked her very much. She had balls, she munion, and a meeting of the minds. It went beyond just
had real guts. being an actress in some kind of little television show,
We were traveling, promoting the film in the Midwest ­ because we were doing so many Little things together. It was
her home was Farmer City, 01. I had to go to Milwaukee and I like qualifying for the Olympics every day-it was the 440
remarked, ''well, they got an opening in Cllampaign" and and the high hurdles and everything all rolled into one. And
she said, ''I'U go." I said, "That's awfuUy near to your home, they performed, they did it with a minimum of complaints,
isn't it?" She replied, "I might as well" and went down there and rebounded at night when we had dinner and enjoyed the
and it turned out a huge share of the audience knew her. evening, then got a good night's sleep and got out of bed at
She sat next to her father (who is an ex-G.I.) and I said, five o'clock in the morning and they're putting on body
" God , you got guts." (I didn't want to sit next to him, he'd makeup, you know . . .

lrother oncl sister conserve water and have fun doi,. it in YlxH.

(
�--

84
 Once we were up in this cabin where I had shot Wxen; we buffalo-wonderful. wonderful stuff.
went back to do Up! Makeup always has kind ofa heady odor, •JM: ! think "erotic " means it giz>es you a hard-on.
and I walked in and both Ushi and Kitten were naked • RM: Exactly. The Germans and the French -it's not the
(Ushi just sleeps in the raw; she had a great body), and I same feeling. i get tired of them when they talk about, "Well
said, "God, it smeiJs like breasts in here!" It broke them up; this isn't really erotic.'" Ma)'be "erotic" is sick or something!
they n�r forgot that line. There was something about this Give me the good ol' American way. with lots of grunts and
musk odor that was permeating the entire room, and here cum in cunts-you know, get in there and whale away at it.
were these two women with giant tits making them up and so I have a girlfriend now that's that way-no foreplay.
on and I was smeUing breasts-sounds like a W.C. Fields line. nothing. just climb on and do it. That's wonderful. You feel
great about it . . . I say you need a girl who just yells.
I told this one lady. "I read where women need something
like four minutes to get ready for sex," and she says, "Well.
I'm more like 22." And even now she'll do it; she'll call, "22!
16! 1 2!" You're walking upstairs with a hard-on. and she's like
"

a ,;scous sponge. She's so in tune with her whole mind­

remarkable lady to get laid. And that's transferred to me as a
person. So I'm living a film fantasy right then and there. It's
marvelous to have that kind of union with somebody, where
you just I:Jat•e each other and then you ( e xhales deeply) say,
"Okay. let"s do something else here. take a swim.
.
This umbilical cord thing- I don't know if I explained it 't:vhatever . . . .
quite the way I feel it. I've always been my own man, but •JM: Were any of the uomen in these films difficult to
when I worked at Fox I was dealing with an a-wful lot of make motifes with?
people, trying to outwit an avvfuJ lot of boyfriends and out­ • RM: Every one of them had a moment of some difficulty.
side influences, and I was in town -which made it very just a.-; I'm sure I carne offas being one son-of-a·bitch at times.
difficult to isolate these people from bad influences, because When I said earlier that it's been a miracle that every one of
they go home at night. You can't sequester them there on the these films was finished. well, every damn film I ever made
lot. When I'm in Miranda, Ca, we have an arrangement : no had monstrous problems. there's no question about it. For
boyfriends come up, no husbands come up. We're up here, example. after three days of filming I was looking at one girl
we're going to do it in three weeks; hang in there until we get through the reflex and she stuck her tongue out at me-not
the film done, okay? And that's what I meant by becoming in a jokey "'-ay. but reaJiy pissed off. And I remembered what
close (and I don't mean it in a purely physical sense ): work­ Preminger told me one time: 'You treat these actors like
ing together, arguing, fighting, cooking, eating good food, cattle-don't treat them like human beings." And from then
having a drink, swearing, whatever -"God, my feet hurt," and on I was really a very difficult guy: never said anything
all that . . . nobody to really cater to them and kiss their ass as rewarding about the performance, never complimented her.
they do in these major productions. It brought out the best I bart"ly spoke to her. I would use my assistant to say. "'111is is
and the worst in all of us. what we're going to do." And that girl did such a better job:
•JM: Sounds like good times. she bccamt" so apprehensive about me. and whetht"r or not
• RM: You just felt it down there in your own scrotum when she was pleasing me from the standpoint of doing a good job
you're shooting a scene. I know when I was shooting W xen. on the film. See-it worked. It 't\'"3Sn't a master stroke hut I
the scene with Erica Gavin and her brother was the best of bad to do something: I knew I w-as losing grip there.
them all. She reaJiy displayed an animal quality that I've never Sometimes people get a little too merry or too funny.
been able to achieve ever before -the way she grunted and laughing it up. so I'll have to say. "C'mon, we've got to be
hung in there and did her lines. It was a reaUy remarkable job; serious about it. I want you to break your ass; now stop
I have to point to her always. I've done a lot of jokey screwing, it -enough of this lunch break!" So each woman presents a
but there's something about Erica and her brother there that problem -no question about it. and they wouldn't be special
was just remarkable. Nothing made the adrenalin flow like ladies if they didn't ha,·e some sort of problem to present. Lf
that-that was a great experience. they ..vere some kind of mush-bag that you could . . .
•JM: 7bat whole morlie seemed more intentionally erotic; One time I had a girl quit in the middle of a film. She quit
your other films are more like ribald humor. because she couldn't handle the privations-she was used to
• RM: I wonder about the word "erotic"; a German I know Miami Beach.
uses the word all the time. I said, "Do you mean filming Ushi Digart -we threw her into Cheny. Han yandRaquel.
through a bunch of dirty wine bottles . . . people caressing and we used her as a wraith-like character who ran through
each other?" Europeans have a kind of feeling for this kind of the scenes and did strange things. A guy named Cohen, who is a
eroticism; it's totally unlike what I feel, I know. critic for Women s Wear Dai�v. wrote. " I can't explain the
When I was rewriting the synopsis on Wxen I'd just fin­ presence of Ushi Digart cast in the role of 'Soul' . . . but thank
ished that particular part about her brother and I said, "Stran­ God she's there!" [laughs) That was exactly right. I mean. he
gely enough, what I've achieved on film with her and her said what I felt so much better than I could have ever said it.
brother really represents the kind of way I like to screw- 1 So they all present a little bit of a problem. there's no
mean like a football scrimmage. That's the way I like i t - 1 question about it. Actually. Shari Eubanks is one person that
don't want any funny stuff o r aJI this cocksucking and every­ never presented a problem-1 ha,·e to say that in her behalf.
thing else- I just want to get in there and whale away at it." rather than to say. "Well. such-and-such was a real bitch at
And this is what her brother was doing. If you're going to times." In the final analysis we were always able to look at it
thrust at the woman [knocks rapidly on the table), I want her square in the face and kind of joke about it and laugh and say.
to meet me halfway! You know-just strong physical fucking. "Well. wt" did it. it's okay, everybody's friends." But Shari
And here it is, and that's the thing that I like-it's part of me. never let me down. she was a super lady. and Ushi was the
When you see her in that scene when she's hanging onto same . . . l'shi never presented a problem. she would extend
the iron bedstead ( I love the iron bedstead because that herself beyond the limit. So I have to say those two ladies are
really represents the basic workbench in Life, with the rungs abm·t" and beyond any woman I've ever worked with who are
you can hang onto ), and she was just grunting almost animal­ 100 percent.
istic, like the mating of the wildebeest and the water Anyway. I haYe to go. •
 ore enough. The wife needs more but cannot tell her husband. One
day, after hubby has gone to work, Lorna encounters an escaped
convict in the woods. The man rapes her, but Lorna doesn't mind­
at least it takes him more than two minutes to come. The fugitive
returns with Lorna to her house and they engage in more sex play.
When the husband comes home the battle is joined, and in the
confusion Lorna is killed. Throughout the film a preacher paps up,
spouting the Gospel and warning people of their impending doom.
Lorna was a hit and, like The Immoral Mr. Teas, opened the
floodgates for o host of imitators. It marked the beginning of
sexploitation's noir period, with the "gosh·l'm-being-naughty"

R uss Meyer is probably the only sexploitation director to garner

ocdaim from mainstream critics without abandoning the fans or
ambience of the nudie-cuties replaced by a meaner, more sadistic
attitude. Although Meyer's primary reason for shooting in black·
and-white was monetary, it matched the subject matter
the field of sex films. His movies return us to the days when men perfectly-had Lorna been shot in color, its impact might well
were men and women were wet dreams. Meyer likes to describe the have been diminished.
women in his films as "pneumatic." An odd word to use for human Meyer's next film was Fanny Hill, o color 1 8th-century period
flesh, perhaps, but Meyer doesn't deal in flesh-he deals in fanta· piece shot in Berlin ond starring Miriam Hopkins. The elegant
sies. The narrator in Mondo Topless says it best: "Until now you've costumes and sets seemed out of place in a Meyer film-in fad, two
only dreamed there were women like these. But they're real! days before the end the producer, Albert Zugsmith, took over the
Unbelievably real!" film and did the final edit. Meyer doesn't coMider this movie his
Meyer got his first camera at the age of fourteen and promptly own.
began filming everything. At the outbreak of World War Two he Bock in America, Meyer next filmed Mudhoney (1965), another
used the military to pursue his love of film. Assigned to the 166th block-and-white profile of rural low-life: Missouri in the '30s. This
Signal Photographic Corps, he ended up in Europe filming General time the sexual interloper is not an escaped convid, but one who
Patton's advance toward Germany. Thirty years later, footage by has served his time and seeks to rebuild his life. The husband is not a
Meyer ended up in the film PaHon. well-meaning dolt but o vicious miscreant-outstandingly por·
After the war Meyer tried getting a job in Hollywood but, frayed by Hal Hooper. The wife is (as usual) a gorgeous blonde with
finding the way barred by tight union control, he moved to Son excess cleavage. Mudhoney is even bleaker than Lorna. Resem­
Francisco and worked as an industrial filmmaker. At the suggestion bling a cross between Tobacco Road and The Ox-Bow Incident, it
of army buddy Don Ornitz, Meyer began shooting photos for rails against American morality and religious hypocrisy.
pin-ups and girlie calendars, and his early work remains some of the Meyer next explored the genre of the motorcycle film with
best in the field. Several of his photos appeared in early issues of Motorpsycho (1965), about three "bikers" (riding on mopeds!)
Playboy and graced the walls of gas stations and garages all over who go around raping and murdering in a small town in the
America. California desert. After they kill one man's wife, the husband
While working as o photographer Meyer met Pete DeCenzie, an seeks-and gets-revenge. Especially notable for the time is the
Oakland burlesque owner who convinced him to return to filmmak· characterization of the lead heavy as o psychotic Vietnam vet who,
ing. Meyer started by shooting a burlesque film starring stripper in the final conflict, suffers flashbacks that he's killing Vietcong.
extraordinaire, Tempest Storm. By this time, however, the The most talked about-and best-movie from Meyer's sex and
burlesque films of the early fifties were already giving way to violence period is easily Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (1966) The film
nudist movies. DeCenzie wanted Meyer to shoot a nudie, but Meyer stars lura Satono, a woman whose extreme sexuality and menoc·
was reluctant, for nudies lacked two elements important to him: ing screen presence are unrivaled. The story concerns three go-go
outstanding bodies, and eroticism. dancers who release their tensions after work by driving fast
In 1959 Meyer began filming The Immoral Mr. Teas, casting as sportscars out to the desert and laughing a lot. A squeaky dean
lead an army pal, Bill Teas. Meyer introduced the perfectionist square challenges Varia (lura Satano), the leader of the pack, to a
trademarks his training had engendered: razor-sharp cinemato­ race. After beating him, she-much to the horror of his young
graphy, parallel montage, excellent sound, and percussive editing. girlfriend-ends up killing him by breaking his back. The trio then
The Immoral Mr. Teas broke box office records everywhere; abducts the girl and retreats to a secluded ranch owned by a
the Wall Street Journal estimated it hod inspired 1 5 0 imitations crippled old lecher with two sons: one a mental midget with the
within o year. For most people this was the first time they hod seen body of a Hercules, the other a scholarly milquetoost. With the
o naked womon on the screen. The plot concerns itself with the arrival of the women the fireworks begin.
misadventures of a dirty old man whose peculiar biological gift is Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! has a rhythm and feel to it that
the ability to see every woman in the world naked, whether she is defies description. The dialogue rings in the ear like beat poetry,
or not. The women in it ore gorgeous; the narration bawdy yet and some scenes, such as the shoving match between Varia's
straightforward . . . and the "nudie-cuties" were born. Porsche and the brawny simpleton, are unforgettable.
Meyer continued in the some vein with light-hearted, innocuous At first Varia appears to be nothing more than a sadistic bitch,
films like Eve and the Handyman (starring his then-wife, who but by the end of the film she seems almost supernatural. The plot
became his associate producer), The Immoral West aka Wild Gals mechanics of the film are similar to those of a monster movie, with
of the Naked West, Erotica, Europe in the Raw and Heavenly Varia the monster. We know she is evil and will die, but we can't
Bodies. All were characterized by another Meyer trademark: the help rooting for her; next to her, the "heroes" are a washed-out
deep-voiced, authoritative (and ironic) narration. Immoral West and bloodless lot.
was an oddly stork abstraction-almost like o Beckett play-of After Faster Pussycat, Meyer shifted back to color with a
the cliched elements associated with the "Wild West"-the quick· documentary on large-breasted women entitled Mondo Topless,
draw gunfight, fist fight, etc, all tied together by a liquor-drinking his only non-fiction film. In it, his camera takes a look at the
narrator. When the box office for nudie-cutie films began to wane, "topless" craze that was sweeping the notion in the mid-sixties,
Meyer took a big step: if sex alone wouldn't sell a film, how about a while a narrator offers hilarious insights into what this "new
dash of violence to spice things up? movement" is all about.
Lorna (1964) was the first in a series of outstanding films in By now Meyer had established a standard for quick-witted,
which the bright colors and ultra-pink flesh of earlier efforts is sardonic screenplays. Good Morning . . • and Goodbye (1967)­
replaced by the starkness of black-and-white. Likewise, the story Meyer's study of impotence in marriage-is outstanding for Alaina
abandons the earlier happy-go-lucky optimism in favor of a more Capri's merciless upbraiding of her husband, and Hoji's role as a
realistic and downbeat mood. femme fantastique existing in the sex-fevered imagination of the
Lorna is an Erskine Caldwell-like story of a rural couple. The husband. Common Law Cabin (1967), set at a rundown, isolated
husband, handsome but dumb, loves his wife but doesn't appre­ tourist resort, also starred Alaina Capri as a voracious sex huntress
ciate her need for sex; for him, their monthly two-minute tumbles with deadly wit, but Babette Bardot ((f. her primitive fire-dance

86
and dive from a spectacular rodd is equally memorable. Finders murder), incidentally falling prey to several super-females along
Keepers. Loven Weepers (1968), inspired by Don Siegel gangster the way. Scenes such as the placing of a stick of dynamite between
movies, is about a robbery attempt in a go-go dondng bor that a bound Supervixen's spread legs marked Meyer's return to his
gets out of hand. Memorable parallel montage sequences include a tried and true mixture of sex and violence.
couple making love underwater (in the bor's pool) cut with a Up! (1977) was a direct descendant of another Meyer film,
demolition derby, and other erotic scenes cut with footage of a Cherry, Harry and Raquel (1969), Meyer's lost film before ven·
little girl and boy in 1 8th century costume playing and the colored turing onto the Fox lots. Set in a dusty Arizona border town, CH&R
fountains of Century City! In this story, the eruption of violence is depicts double-crossing drug smugglers involved in power strug·
the logical result of promiscuity in an insular group. gles, interspersed with various sexual encounters both hetero- and
Vixen ( 1 968), Meyer's next film, was a straightforward narra­ lesbian. The film is wildly edited-in one instance switching from a
tive of a bush pilot and his oversexed wife who live in the Canadian lovemaking scene in the desert to a hospital gynecological exam.
wilderness. Into their lives are thrust several people, including a Up! tries for the same accumulation of delirious scenes. At the
block conscientious objector, a militant Irishman and a Royal Cana­ beginning, Adolph Schwartz, a homosex uol Ncni, pays a young man
dian Mountie. By the end of the film, Vixen (played spectacularly to sodomize him aided by three large-breasted women. After­
by Erica Gavin) has mode love to almost everyone, induding a man wards, he tokes a both . . . and a gloved hand releases a carnivorous
and his wife, the Mountie, and even her own brother. fish into the both which attacks his vital organ and then eats him.
In many ways Vixen is the progenitor of modern porn. The Abruptly the next scene depicts a young woman running down the
storyline-something about racism and Vixen's sociopolitical street who is picked up and roped by a man who drags her into a
awareness-exists to give the film the "socially redeeming" value river . . . etc.
necessary (at that time) to stove off prosecution on pornographic In 1 9 7 2 , Deep Throat hod initiated the collapse of film censor­
grounds. But Meyer, saving the political chatter for the end, first ship, yet Meyer steadfastly (to this day) refused to depict hordcore
lets the raincoat crowd see what it come for. sex, arguing that it negated sustained interest in the plot and
Vixen was a hit, shifting the focus away from '60s violence mise-en-scene while deactivating the imaginations of viewers. Mey­
bock to more straightforward sex. It cost $76, 000 and returned er's healthy cult following kept him afloat during the seventies,
more than $7.5 million at the box office. Upon noticing these but his movies of this decode ore problematic: the elements are all
figures, a major studio, Twentieth-Century Fox, hired him to do a there-outrageous bodies, bizarre dialogue and extreme plots,
sequel to Valley of the Dolls, a moderately successful film based on spectacular comerowork, perfect editing-but the films seem more
Jacqueline Susann's roman a clef about the Hollywood underbelly. like parodies of earlier works.
Roger Ebert, a young film critic, was hired to write the screenplay, Meyer's last theatrical release, Beneath the Valley of the
called Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Ebert showed a strong Uhravixens ( 1 979), starred Kitten Natividad, his most overdeve­
affinity for Meyer's rampaging sexual excesses, and together they loped discovery of all. The story chronicles the problems of a man
come up with the most "Meyeresque" film ever mode. When Susonn who, much to his wife's horror and disgust, finds sexual satisfac­
threatened a lawsuit the characters and action were changed, but tion only in anal intercourse. His "sickness" is eventually "healed"
the nome remained the some; a disclaimer denied any similarity to by a local radio evangelist whose bustline is hardly less impressive
the previous movie. than Kitten's. Although occasionally too reminiscent of previous
If there is such a thing as a perfect motion picture, Beyond the plots, BVU represents the extreme limit of Russ Meyer's sexual
Valley of the Dolls is it. In a world of Hollywood glitz it combines parody.
elements of sexploitotion with experimental comerawork; and Currently 1 3 of Meyer's films are available on videotape (write
narration worthy of the best educational film with the bouncy PO Box 3748, Hollywood, CA 90028). For Winter '86 Meyer is
good nature of a Beach Party movie. It has sex and violence, rock preparing the video release of 11 "Grand Luxe Preview" of his
'n' roll, drugs, Nazis, hermaphrodites, lesbians, cripples, blacks, autobiography, The Breast of Russ Meyer, as well as Mondo
pathos, bathos, and a woman giving head to a .4S automatic . . . Topless 2. In retrospect, Meyer's 23 films to dote stand as a
Meyer's next two features were in striking contrast to his formidable achievement of true originality. •
previous work. The first was The Seven Minutes ( 1 9 7 1 ), based on
Irving Wallace's indictment of the censorship process. The title
referred to the overage amount of time it takes a woman to
achieve orgasm. The film implied that all the people in favor of
censorship ore old, ugly and corrupt, while the people against
censorship ore young, beautiful and relaxed. While centered on the
trial of a man incited to commit rope after reading a "pornogra­
phic" novel, most of the movie concerns the search for the author
(who of course hod written the book under a pseudonym). Locking
Meyer's exuberant sense of humor, the film's commercial failure
coincided with the end of his relationship with Fox.
Marking a return to independent productions, Blacksnake!
(1972, aka Sweet Suzy), tried to mix two genres: sexploitotion
and blaxploitation. Set on on imaginary 1 9th century Caribbean
island and featuring a white lady plantation owner who rules by
sex and by the whip, the film begins with the arrival of a British Foster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!, 1966
agent who hos been sent to find the lady's husband who myste­ FILMOGRAPHY
Mondo Topless, 1 966
riously disappeared. After numerous episodes of torture and whip­ Good Morning and Goodbye, 1967
ping of slaves interspersed with interracial affairs, he discovers the The French Peep Show, 19.50 Common-Law-Cabin, 1967
husband was turned into a zombie. Finally, the slaves revolt and
The Immoral Mr. Teas, 1959 Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers, 1968
burn down the plantation, killing the tyrannical slaveowners.
This is My Body, 1959 Vixen, 1968
Despite beautiful color cinematography and some memorable
Eve and the Handyman, 1960 Cherry, Harry and Roquel, 1969
scenes (including a snake in a bathtub, and the white villainess's
Naked Camero, 19tiJ Beyond the Volley of the Dolls, 1970
comeuppance at the end), the film didn't please blocks because of
Erotica, 1 961 Seven Minutes, 1971
its sexploitation, and didn't please whites because of its
The Immoral West, 1962 Blacksnake, 1972
blaxploitation.
Europe in the Raw, 1963 Supervixens, 1975
After two years of false starts in other new directions, Meyer
decided to return to his familiar-and successful-comic-strip ele­ Heavenly Bodies, 1963 Up!, 1976
ments: the isolated community, top-heavy women, promiscuity, Lorna, 1964 Beneath the Volley of the Ultrovixens, 1979
etc. Supervixens (1974) detailed the picaresque adventures of a Fanny Hill, 1964 The Breast of Russ Meyer, Foil 1986
young man who, wrongfully accused of having killed a woman, is Mudhoney, 1965 Mondo Topless 2, Fall 1986
running from the crooked policeman (who actually commited the Motorpsycho, 1 965 Blitzen, Vixen and Harry (forthcomin g)
D
clique, the guys you hung out with, was called a "gang." You
had to have an identification with a group, otherwise you
uring the late fifties, dozens of films concerning the were all alone. Unfortunately the media glamorized the gangs
perils of juvenile delinquency were released. Anyone who has in such a way as to imply you had to be a reaJ bad dude to be
..... some of these has almost certainly seen Dick Bakalyan. in one. And that's why you've got so much trouble on the
Almost forgotten today, Bakalyan holds the record for punk streets today: most of these kids are just trying to emulate
portrayals in J.D. films. what they've seen in films!
lakalyan gat his stc.-t in 1957 with The Delinquents, a I'm trying to remember how many of those we did . . .
good, low-budget film made in Kansas City by aspiring juvenilejungle, Hot Car Girl . . . I remember shooting those
films in 10 or 1 2 days; The Delinquents took maybe 5 weeks.
filmmaker Robert Altman. Bakalyan's portrayal of a
In those days the word got a lot of press: "delinquency." In
hoodlum in this film set the tone and style for most of his
the beginning my mom would always say, "Why can't you
later efforts. That same year he again played the heavy in
play nice guys?" especially after she saw Delicate Delinquent.
Jerry lewis' fint solo film, The Delicate Delnquent, and in I said, "Ma, there's no money in it. It'scrime;crlmepays. "She
the Sal Mineo film, Dlno. said, "What will the neighbors say?" "Hey, rna, what do I
lakalyan's beady eyes and smart-ass smirk helped make care?"
him the quintessential delinquent. In 1958 he hit his J.D. • BOYD: Hou•'d you dedde to go into acting ?
peak with Juvenile Jungle, Hot C. Girt and the anti­ • BAKALYAN: I'd been a boxer; was in the service, got out.
marijuana classic, The Cool and the Cruy. In the latter Me and my wife came to California. I got a o
j b parking cars in

film, lakalyan is teamed up with the only penon rivaling his Beverly Hills, went to U.S.C., just grabbing a o
j b here and
there wherever I could. I couldn't figure out what I was
record for hooclum performances, Scott Marlowe.
going to do-l didn't know how to do anything except box,
The sixties saw the end of the J.D. films along with the
but I couldn't do that anymore.
birth of the Beach Party movies. lakalyan's saeen Laura Brooks, an acting coach, asked me to study with her.
appearances were considerably diminished. During this For about 3 months I became involved in her workshop.
period mast of his work was in television, where he often There was this linle theater-in-the-round called Players Rink
reprised the thug roles he had previously created. He did get and if you did anything in that theater, every>One sawyou -aJI
one mare chance to play a teenage heavy on the silver saeen the people from Central Casting, producers. I was lucky
in Pank In the Y•r Zero, an "after the bomb" film enough to catch a part as a J.D. (juvenile delinquent) in a
stc.-ring Ray Milland as a man determined to save his family, thing caJied "Mrs. Goodwin's Boys," and from that time on
no matter what the cost. work came.
• BOYD: Does your acting careeraffect howpeople react to
In Los Angeles, Dick Bakalyan was interviewed by Boyd
you?
lice.
• BAKA.LYAN: People think I am who I play. Sometimes it
works to an advantage; sometimes it's a disadvantage. The
disadvantage is when they underestimate you; they think
you're what I call a "dis-dat-dem-and-dos-er." But those guys
• BOYD RICE: Tell us about the early days of }llt 1enile arefun to play! Most of the leading men I know-most of my
Delinquency films. friends-would love to play gangsters and/or the bad guy,
• DICK BA KA.LYAN: The Delinquents was my first expe­ 'cause that's the meat.
rience in films. Two weeks after that I was signed to do 7be In the service I was involved in psychological warfare; it
Delicate Delinquent with Jerry Lewis-the first film he made taught me how to get the message across in more subtle
without Dean Martin. Then I believe I did Dino. Sal Mineo ways. and that has helped me as an actor. The great thing
was good in that; I could relate to a lot of the people in that about being an actor is that things are constantly changing
film. and there's a constant flow. I mean, in this business I have
ThoSe kind of pictures were a lot of fu n! The writers friends that range in age from 18 to 70. So my life is a lot of
thought they were making some kind ofstatement, but they different things. Most people my age ( 5 1 ) are stuck some­
really weren't-they were just doing them hoping the kids where, in with their own little clique and that's their world,
would run to the drive-in's to see them! Although, a picture you know! My world is still out there; every day I'm waiting
like Dino SAID something, you know. It was about a troubled for the next chance to do what I do. It's aJways, "Quick!
kid and his problems; I played a gang leader but I wasn't a bad What's next? Let's go! Action!"
gang leader. This was not a gang that went out and raped • BOYD: What would you like to do next ?
women or killed or stole; in those days there were gangs • BAKALYAN: I'd like to do things for kids that deal with
because it was part of "the thing." When I was a kid etJery­ integrity and self-respect. We don't have that in our country
body was a member of a gang. today. Kids try to be like television heroes, but that's not what
• BOYD: You were in a gang ? it's about. There was a time when if you gave someone your
• BAKA.LYAN: We all were -you did it to survive. Your word and didn't keep it, you were a villain, no matter what

88
 Bakal yan in The Cool and the Crcn:y

side of right or wrong you were on. Today. that means said, "Huh? Te ll him I'm an actor; we're here making a
nothing to people. I talk to a lot ofyoung people and they just movi e." The cop said, "Nobody makes movies in Kansas
don't care. City!" We laughed about that, later.
When I did Delica te Delinquent, nobody was wearing long I've been stopped lots of times in different cities. You see,
hair. But I let my hair grow long (by today's standards it cops look at pictures of "wanted" people before they go on
wasn't long, but by 19S6 standards it was long). The attitude duty. They see a face that's recognizable- Boom ! They make
was, "Hey, what the hell do I want to get a haircut for? I'm a move on you.
gonna be drafted. I'm gonna be killed in some war. So let 'em It's been fun being a character actor. People will recognize
cut it when I go in the service." And that was the attitude of your face and stop you and say hello. It's nice because (at this
this character-that was the key to this character. It's not in exact moment a man passing by recognizes Dick and greets
the script, but it's what you bring to the character. Now the him excitedly as though seeing a long-lost friend ). See! Peo­
audience doesn't grasp all of that. but they notice a round­ ple you've never seen will stop you just to say, "Hi." It makes it
ness or fullness in the character. nice. Some people think I work with them: "Don't I know you
You can neverdivorce "you" from you. You've got to bring from work?"
you to the role. Alul(lys. First, there's physical presence: • BOYD: What kind of neighborhood did you grow up in?
you're going to be cast according to how you look. Then it's • BAKALYAN: A tough neighborhood in Boston. I was little;
what you do to try and make it for real. that's why l became a fighter. I never really liked to fight but I
• BOYD: Did you actual�)' get arrested on location for The was good at it-you had to be if you were small. That's the
Cool & The Crazy because of your wild haircu t ? only way the big guys would leave you alone: if you could
• BAKALYAN: It was 7he Delinquents. Peter Miller said to scuffle, they respected you. I never went out lookin • for
me one day, "Come on, we're gonna go get a lemon ice cream beefs. Today, if someone did the wrong thing, I'd go over the
soda." I'd never heard of a lemon ice cream soda. I thought table after them. My brother's always sayin', "Dick, you're
"All right," and we went into this soda fountain in the base­ going to get sued." It's just my nature (thank god for it), that
ment of his apanment building in Kansas City. I wasn't there a attack thing. I'm not afraid to do anything, I'll do whatever. If
minute when this cop came in and spun me around and it's absurd, we'll talk about it first. Then, if it's justified, we'll
threw me up against the counter. I thought, "What is this do it. Some guys get cute and I have to set 'em straight.
shit?" and started to laugh 'cause I thought Peter had put him • BOYD: Well, you have to deal with nutsany timeyou step
up to it - 1 thought it was ajoke. But the cop went bananas out the door! But all in all, it sounds likeyou 've had a good
hecause he thought I was laughing at him. 27 years in the business.
People were staring. Evidently some guy had escaped from • BAKALYAN: I feel really lucky to have been in this busi­
somewhere and was wearing the same color shin or was ness. I feel like a youngster, always looking forward to what's
about the same size. and the cop thought it was me. When I happening next. It's exciting. Of course there are slow times,
found out it wasn't a joke I got nervous and said, "Pete, tell when you wait to be called and you go bananas because there
him who I am." And Pete said, "l don't know this guy; he iust isn't anything to do. But what else could I do? Be a
followed me in here. I've never seen him before in my life!" I crook? •
I N T E R V I E W:

D
that time; I couldn't have dropped that bomb. I never
dropped one bomb on civilians; the war I fought was against
uring the past three decades Joe Sarno has made
guys with guns who wanted to kill me.
approximately 200 feature films-so many that he's lost
• VALE: Self-defense!
count. Although generally classified as "sexploitation," • SARNO: In a left-handed way. And when I went to war 1
these films often reveal archetypal and moral dimemiom knew nothing about who the Japanese were. We were the
not usually found in the genre. A former psychology major last "innocent Americans." I went into the war a teenager
at New York University, Sarno has never ceased exploring and became an old man overnight!
the behavioral conflicts engendered by individual desire vs.
social reality.
Additionally, during hiJ long career Joe Sarno has made
educational and industrial short subiects, documentaries,
commercials, music videos, children's films, news programs
(from a helicopter he filmed the aftermath of Mt. St. Hel­
em), etc. He currently works as a "film doctor," revising and
repairing other people's imperfectly realized projects.
Dividing his time between Sweden and Manhattan, Joe
lives with his wife Peggy (actress and multi-talented assist­
The last person I voted for was Lyndon Johnson because
ant on many of his films) and son Matthew in a comfortable,
he promised he wasn' t going to get involved in Vietnam­
book-lined apartment near the Museum of Modern Art. The
and he got involved. When Nixon came in, I lived for 2 1/l
following conversation took place over a gourmet pasta years in Sweden! Now. any country that can elect somebody
dinner which Joe himself prepared. Vale and photographer like Reagan-! listen to some of his statements, and I'm
Ano Barrado askeCt the questions . . . floored I look at some of his old movies and think, "This guy
can not he President- God! He had both legs cut off in
King 's Rou•!"
• VALE: Reagan's a blinding example of media control-
• SARNO: But it can work the other way, too. By his death
one guy was responsible for Nicaragua going to the Sanda­
nistas. An American journalist went up to show his press
ALE: How wouldyou describeyourselfas afilmmaker?
• V papers and some government guardsmen blew his brains
• JOE SARNO: Categories are set up by' people who are out-but that was all on camera. Practically as soon as
basically part of the "in crowd:· with all the attendant think­ people saw it on TV. Somozawas out-he had to get out. The
ing and definitions, so it is difficult for me to answer that U.S. had to get rid of him. Now, I'm not a big leftie, but I think
question outright. I was born a rebel. In film, I got outside of that just like we did in Vietnam, we've backed the wrong
the acceptable framework as often as possible. I think that is people in Latin and Central America.
what a filmmaker's goal should be- to get outside of what, at • VALE: . . . Hou• long have you been making films?
the time, is the established framework. I think the estab­ • SARNO: Since the '40s.
lished ( the word " establishment" is overworked.) thinking is • VALE: Do you ou•n copies of et'elJ'lhing you ·,,e done?
always to be gone beyond. I went beyond the framework; I • SARNO: No, I \.\.ish I did. Once I stop a film, I start
said things that were not always acceptable, and that's one of another- ! never have time to tarry, I'm so overloaded with
the reasons I did feature films: I wanted to say things that work. And to begin wi th, I've done so many films-
were not. at the time. acceptable. • VALE: 200 or more. right?
I have a great affection for the Navy in which I served, but I • SARNO: Yes.
almost became an expatriate because of the war in Vietnam. • VALE: Hou• did you get started? You jletl ' u•ith the Nauy
That war was wrong from the outset. My Navy and the during World War II: did you see combat ?
Marine Corps, the US Anny -all the might of America-was • SARNO: Oh yes. In the Pacific, the MarshaUs, the Gilberts,
thrown into crushing a people who had struggled for free­ the Marianas, the Solomon Islands. That was a thousand years
dom for over 200 years against the Chinese. Japanese, and ago.
French. I thought Korea was wrong, but not like I knew • VALE: I 'm glad you suntived to makefilms.
Vietnam was wrong. • SARNO: I survived, that's all. Back to film: in the Navy I
In Sweden, people inteniewed me and asked me about knew very little about it but I was brought m to assist in a
being in World War II and I said I fought against fascism. But training film based on a low altitude bomb sight invented by
young people sometimes don't understand; some of the Warrant Oftker Johnson and used by me in combat. I fell in
people in Sweden said, ''Vou're against this war now, but you love with the realm of film forever.
weren't against Hiroshima." But I was long out of the war by ALE: So that's hou· you broke into film?
• V
 the
sensation partners
1n
•

clubs !
pleasure !
/"

wild
bottle
parties !

the whole scandalous story . . .

shock by shock !

Star<Jn& ALICE LINVILLE • W B. PARKER • AUDREY CAMPBELL • LAHNA MONROE P•odJCed by Bur1on BRADLEY • Wr�tten and Drrected by J� SARNO • A Jovrn Folms Relme

91
Britt in a photo from Young Playthings.

• SARNO: Yes, quite by accident. called Sin in the Suburbs. An extraordinary film. Again, it was
• VALE: Do you hat1e a filmography or biography based on fact. It was very carefully researched, and had great
available ? people in it. There were a couple of quick flashes-scenes in
• SARNO: No. I've never done a biography on myself even which you saw Audrey Campbell's body. She was a very
looking for work, because I've been a freelance film director beautiful model at the time-in her forties, but beautiful.
all these years and I've never been out of work. But I went She was a nude model, had acted a little and she wanted tO be
from one area of film to another, sometimes burning the in a film. Woody Parker, a very good actor, was also in it,
ships behind me. For instance, I went from commercials, along with Alice Linville.
training films and industrial films that got me a reputation Flash forward: several years ago, a secretary called me up
early on to those features with sexual themes. And I always and said, "Listen, if you can get me a copy of Sin in the
succeeded in burning my ships behind me. Suburbs I'd be eternally grateful." I said, "Well, I'm not sure; r
• SARNO: In 1959, I had just come back from Europe. A don't know where any copies are." She said, "Please try,
friend of mine asked, "Look, you want to make an exploita­ because my boss was in the picture and we want to surprise
tion film?" I said, "What's an exploitation film?" He said, him!" It turned out her boss was Neil Bogart who lived in San
"Well, it's got sex in it." I said, "Will I get arrested?" ( I didn't Francisco and started Casablanca Records. Neil was in the
even know what it was, then. ) He said, " I want you to do picture and he was a good young actor in those days; he also
something based on a magazine article you did." had a music group and he was the vocalist. Anyway, Andrew
ALE: You were writing as well ?
•V Sarris loved the picture. It was counter-establishment and all
• SARNO: I had begun writing when I went to college - I the other critics hated it, but Sarris saw what was good in it.
started college before the war, then came back after the war ALE: Which friend suggested you make it?
• V
a little worse for wear, got my degree and began writing • SARNO: George Carmen, a film editor who was much
mostly on psychological and historical subjects. along with older than 1-he died a few years ago. I already had a back­
some short stories. In those days there were a lot of ground of documentaries and commercials, so . . . H e read
magazines-if you were different you could sell your stuff. the story in the old Coronet magazine ( a small format maga­
Today it's not so easy. zine in '46 or '47) and I wrote the script. I've got a copy
Anyway, this man brought me to someone, and I did a film somewhere-actually, I'm not sure I do.

92
 Over the years you lose everyth ing; I don't keep very good events as long as I preserved the anonymity. And it worked
files. just now Steve Bono was on the phone; he wants me to marvelously as a film-it was black-and-white but very cine­
do a script for a feature called 7be Witch of Hominy Hill, a matic because it was all a matter of shadows . . .
country-and-western film. He and I were going to do this • VALE: So you filmed the actual people ?
several years ago-he's a union production supervisor on big • SARNO: No! I filmed actors. I had robes tailored for them
films. Well, I bad a script but l can 'Ifind it, so I'm rewriting and we went through the entire thing. It was a big tum-on for
it-which is sort of difficult because I've really forgotten it. the actors, too, because of the kind of contact itself. Even
I made little money out of Sin in the Suburbs for a very though the cameras were moving-we did a lot of free,
curious reason. George Carmen's friend who produced the hand-held shooting -it turned out to be a very good film.
film was a vice-president of the 9th Federal Savings & Loan, a The whole thing had been the idea of the ringmaster and
big bank here in NYC. I did a second film for him, a comedy his wife. They were "swingers" and they got others involved.
called Pandora's Box which was not very good. I was cutting The ringmaster's wife was the one who started the idea -she
was the one with the imagination. By putting her husband in
a position of power it gave her power over these people. At
the beginning she went around to the women, mainly, and
lly .... of .. .. ...... Of .... always
got them to participate. I must say there were homosexual
tro. tile ._., point of view; the fairy contacts also, especially among the women.
talel tllat ., a.. .. based from
on are • VALE: 7be thrill of making sexual contact without the
disaduantage of identity-
the ••••'• ..... of view. I stress the
• SARNO: Exactly. They wore masks and all kinds of weird
efficacy of •- for thentselves. In things. There was no problem of dialogue- everybody was

...... . .... . the .... ....... . groping around. And the crux of the story ( and it was actually
true) was that one woman discovered that her 17-year-old
...... . . .. . . . ....... hav. much MOn
teenage daughter had been in the thing from the very
......_....._ .._ _. l think sex is beginning- unbeknownst to her. That was really the
....... to .. . lot of fun. denouement of the story as it was told to me. When the film
came out it was a sensation-catholic bishops denounced it
from the pulpit.
the second film at 1600 Broadway when all of a sudden two The main problem the film dealt with (just like in Moon­
tall guys come in with Texas accents, wearing the hats and lghting
i Wives) was: bow did she get these women to come
the whole thing. ''You joe Sarno?" 'Yeah ." It was the FBI! into this life?
"Where's Earl Bradley?" "Jeez, I don't know." ( I didn't know, Moonlghting
i Wives elucidates and explains how Of\e
but he was in Tangier.) They said, "Do you realize that Earl woman persuaded these other women. Actually it was very
has been peculating" ( I had to look the word up, because I simple. To begin with, she found that a lot of the women
thought it was a dirty word ) "money from the 9th Federal were gambling ( playing the horses ), so she went to these
Savings & Loan?" I was stunned - ! didn't know anything women gamblers first. She thought, "These people really
about this. have a drive; I'm going to explore it." Money only means one
It ended up that any money that I might have been entitled thing to a gambler: they can gamble it. So the young women
to was eaten up by the government, the insurance company who were gamblers were her first and most willing recruits.
and so forth, because he had been peculating almost After she had her business going, she had bankers who were
S400,000 plus interest over a matter of five years. And that's coming in and using her girls, so she'd find out who in the
why he went into the film business, because he figured it area was behind on their mortgage-who was having
would bail him out- and it almost did. The film was very trouble.
successful. If he had been able to curb his appetite for young
women long enough he would have had enough money, but
he met a Miss Denmark in New York, ran off with her, and Often in mowies the ._.v. m. the
wasn't covering himself at the bank. That's why he was
caught. Consequently, I didn't do well on that film.
Yictoricm • or the '301 Is: if you enloY so
• VALE: So Sin in the Suburbs was based on an article you you get Idled, ....-.., if you're a .......
urote ?
• SARNO: My article was on drinking among women in the
suburbs; in those days "alcoholism" wasn't ever brought up. The curious thing was: for most of the women it became
One of the young women whom I was interviewing said, not the money but the adventure of the whole thing. Even
"usten, you think that's a story- I've got a story. "As a side­ after it was clear that their debts were settled, they were not
light I wrote this little bit (which was part of a series) about dropping out, because it was exdting. They'd meet other
how people get involved in fantasies . . . how they a/lou• guys; they'd meet other women; they had lesbian situations
themselt>es to become involved in fantasies. and everything else that they could never have thought of in
The story happened in upstate New York- I'm not going their housewife lives. And they didn't have to commit their
to give you the name of the town. These men and women­ identities to it. It was a living fantasy, after which they went
all comparatively wealthy people-wore black hoods and back to their kids and husband . . . The film had a lot to say; I
cloaks (but were naked underneath ) and would have group feel the same way about Young Playthings.
sex without knowing who their partners were. For light all Moonlighting Wives made a lot of money. ! didn't, because
they had were these huge candles-very occult! Curious I didn't have a percentage of it, but I got a good fee plus
thing: there was a guy like a ringmaster-he had on a ring­ bonuses.
master's suit with top hat, whip, the whole thing ( although • VALE: How did you come to do Moonlighting Wives?
there was no full-fledged flagellation-at least none that I • JOE SARNO: That was based on an actual incident. A man
know of). who had been a vice-president of United Artists came to me
These people were all married couples; it was a throwing and said, "joe, listen-would you do a script for us?"
the key into the ring type of thing. Nearby was a motel that I did the research and groundwork and came up with a
got big business because some people ( who nobody knew) story based on a young woman living in the suburbs who with
were from out of town. I was allowed to witness one of these her girlfriend were freelance stenographers -they went out

93
and did typing and so forth. The girlfriend was very sexual, Sweden is the way it is . . .
and it seemed like every time they went out they had sex' Not • VALE: So you fashioned the concept and the script?
for money either, just for . . . ! So the first woman said. "Wait a • SARNO: The concept I did, but I had a lot of help. Many
minute-we're gilling it away. But we could probably rum people from different parts of Sweden told me their version
this into something." So she went out and recruited a oft he story as they knew it: "Oh no. that's not how it goes-it
number of housewives-attractive young women. ( Not all of really goes this way . . . " I tried to make a version in betu•een.
them were attractive, so she sent them to Slenderella so and naturally I updated it -it supposedly happened in 1848, a
they'd be more attractive and appealing. ) In the afternoons time of unrest in all of Europe.
while their husbands were away, they went out ·'on call" as • VALE: Again. you did a lot of intenliews before u•riting
stenographers. the scnpt?
Finally a policeman got really bugged that all this "filth" • SARNO: I always do! Whenever I do a film. I always find a
basis-a psychological basis or a basis in an old story. And my
point of \·iew is more or less always from the woman's point

Sweden is more or less the mother of ofview; the fairy tales that my films are based on are from the
woman's point of view. I stress the efficacy of women for
women's independence d,aey're few ahead of themselves. In general, I focus on the female orgasm as much
us psychologicaly. The Vlcing philosophy was as I can . . . women have much more imagination than men! I
think sex is supposed to be a lot of fun, and-
matriarchal to a peat degree, and perhap$
• ANA: Well. u•omen like it too-
that's partly why Sweden is the way it is. • SARNO: Exactly-that's £he point. And £hat's what my
fi lms usually are about. The toymaker is a woman and at the
same time she also appeals to the women in the rela£ionship.
could go on under his nose. He was an Irish Cathulic -really
against all this kind of activity. and he busted the young
woman. But the interesting part was: she had in her posses­
sion a little black book. This book had names and phone
numbers of politicians, prominent attorneys, local puhlic
relations people and executives from the defense industry
based nearby.
Finally this young woman got off without any fines or
anything; she got off completely. She had been sending the
girls out as stenographers, and had paid withholding taxes
and social security on them. so when the income tax people
came in they couldn't get anything on her. But this didn't
appear in the picture- the producers thought otherwise. In
the movie she loses everything, but that's not the way the
real. true story ended.
• VALE: How did the policeman find out?
• SARNO: He was a vice cop. The way it was really broken
was: a young woman got involved with a guy who beat her;
the neighbors called the police. and that's how they tracked
things down and discovered she was working for this
woman. etc.
• VALE: So you intenlieu,ed the actual people inmlt'ed? dig
• SARNO: Yes, I interviewed many people including the that
judge who finally sentenced her- I didn't include that mate·
rial in the film. Then I wrote the script based on all that.
body
• VALE: It's too bad you couldn 't ha11e gotten au•ay zl'ith chemist�y!
the real ending for Moonlighting Wives.
• SARNO: I couldn't have at the time. The people who )
financed the film knew where they wanted to play it-it was a
very big fiJm at the drive-ins which were a large market at that
time. The young British actress who played the lead really
was a dancer-she was working as a dancer in Las Vegas then.
Moonlighting Wil'es was produced and financed right here
i n New York.
Then there was Young Playthings which was based on a
Swed ish story. sort of a fairy tale; it wa..o;; in the puhlic domain. I
listened to people talk about it -everybody told the story
differently. It was about a young woman toymaker who could
entrance people. The Swedish woman who played the
toymaker-a maroe/ous, intelligent young woman- never
did a film after that. She became a missionary; she went with a
Swedish mercy mission to Biafra and worked there ( actually,
I don't think she truiy became a missionary'). The other ... or how to
long-legged young woman, Christina Lindberg, is now a jour­
alter your ego!
nalist working for major magazines; some of what she writes
is sexually-related. As you probably know. Sweden is more or

, ,
...VERONICA PARRISH SONNY LANDHAM
less the mother of women's independence -they're far
,
• Enc Edwards Cris Jordan
ahead of us psychologically. The Viking philosophy was ".. ,. , .. Joe Sarno
..,... o
. • Sidney Ginsberg Peter Kares , ,. Joe Sarno
matriarchal to a great degree. and perhaps that's partly why
Scene from The Lowe Merchant.

knowing that the men are more difficult to deal with. to bring arrested in Russia!
them into her fantasy. That'!> what the whole film's about: the • l't<l.LE: Hou•?
toymaker brings them into ber world. • SARNO: We flew directly from Sweden to meet Peggy's
• PEGGY: joe said: "Thjs is their fantasy. trus is what they parents in the Soviet Union. Peggy took along these little
want to he." We discussed the make-up. You don't think photos of the make-up she'd done, to show her mother (but
about it, but most people don't realize how much eyebrows the girls had their breasts showing). The state police grabbed
make the person. When you put whiteface on someone and Peggy and said, "This is pornography!" They were so upset
take away their eyebrows. they have nothing-they're just you wouldn't believe it. She demanded, "Give me back my
eyes staring at you-notbing ( We never trunk about it things!" but they \"\'anted to keep them. I thought for sure we
because we bal' e eyebrows and they are automatically used were headed for Siberia.
as expressions of whatever we feel.) But you can make the • PEGGY: That film realJy \"\'aS a group effort. The people
actors angry. happy. risible-an}thing you v.'ant-with eye­ were inspired by the concept of this toymaker getting people
brows. From studying Italian Renaissance paintings I had into make-up and workjng out different things, so they were
already decided what I wanted. so then it was e\'en harder- quite excited about their costumes and make-up and they
• VALE: Because ofpreconceit •ed notions.' really enjoyed it. And you could really feel it-when that
• PEGGY: Because when I wanted a certain expression or happens on a film and you film it, it's there forever. Because
feeling to go with a costume, I had to drau• it on the face. It the people really liked each other and they wanted to work
was a small crew, so the same people turned into many for the film.
different costumes/characters. And '"'hen the people turned When I was putting on make-up I was so tired, because I'd
into those characters that were painted-there were many stayed up all night. But everyone put up with me with great
different layers . . . senses of humor-like every time I put the wrong eyebrow
I remember doing the make-up in the day and making the on someone . . . But it was a group effort. We had no pressure
cost umes all night. I never slept -it was the long Swedish from a producer-we had a marvelous producer from the
night which never got dark; at 12 o'clock it would get a little West Coast. Seymour Borde, who would just send joe money.
dark but by I o'clock it was bright again. I was so far behind People would say to him, "You're crazy, just sending him
because I'd set myself such big tasks. I was script and make­ money. You don't know what he's going to do with it."
up as well. so I \"\'aS really exhausted. Because most people would take the money. eat out, take
• SARNO: She did everyt hing-she desig ned the girlfriends around the world, and with the rest of it make the
production. film. But joe isn't that way-never was that \"\'a}'. and Seymour
• PEGGY: We went to Leningrad right after that and I think I felt this, somehow.
slept through every play we went to. • VALE: So the films are done with a small, almost tele­
• SARNO: That's right-Young Playthings almost got Peggy pathic staff?

95
... .... ..... .. ......

• PEGGY: Very small. We made Young Playthings in early who's going to take advantage of them. So they have long
june, '72, in ten days or less. Sven Grankvist was the on-set discussions about the character before, and they see that
producer, Gunnar Westfelt was the cameraman, his son Lasse Joe's really a legitimate person who's interested in filmmak­
Westfelt was the assistant director, and the man he lived ing, and that's why he's gotten such good performances out
with, Jimmy McGann, helped me with make-up and cos­ of young amateurs.
tumes. There was also a sound man, Rolf Kings; an editor, lf you could see this movie Jnga, Maria Liljedahl was
Lasse Grankvist; and that was the crew. All the people really extraordinary-she's since given it up. She was an extraordi­
wanted it to go, and worked very hard-and it wasn't easy for nary find- a young ballet dancer; I think she was fifteen when
them in English. we used her first. Such a sexual person you have never seen!
Lasse Westfelt's father had a summer house on an island But also potentially a very good actress, and the combination
outside of Stockholm, and we went there to film. Since Joe's was unbelievable.
the editor and the director and the writer, he knows just An}'Way, I'm glad that for a long time we worked in Europe
what he's going to do, what he's going to shoot and who he rather than here, because by the time we came back, here it
needs. And if he has a good producer who gives him free rein was pornography in a really different way. In those early days
(so that he doesn't have to hire the producer's girlfriend, or it wasn't pornography-all the people who worked really
whatever), he can hire a person whom he feels something wanted to make their character so real, and the sex was part
with. of it and came out of it. But once you start working with
lf it's a young girl, usually she trusts him, and that's very porno people it's different - they're very involved with their
important: they don't feel they're working with someone bodies, and it's not the same.

96
 We did so many European films between 1%7 and 1971- heart quite by accident. This film more or less is about
we did one called Daddy, Darling made in Denmark-again persuasion. just like Young Playthings was. There are a lot of
a very psychological story. The Swedish actress in that had a Freudian symbols in both films.
great tragedy-her husband had died earlier ofa heart attack, o SARNO: Another film made in Sweden was called Laura's
and her two children later burned up in a fire. Toys. I think Playboy bought it for cable television. It deals
Those days, when we made Young Playthings -those days with an American archaeologist looking for runes, runic
are gone. The man who was the assistant cameraman is now a stones. He's got his wife with him and an assistant (a young
postman. We still give him great hugs when he delivers the Swedish woman who was a music conductor. This was the
mail . . . first film she'd ever done, and she was fantastic). The story is
about this triangle. The wife is jealous of the young woman
because she demands so much of his time-they have no
1he cwious thHtg was: fOI':.-st of the; affair, but the wife's jealousy pushes them into one . . . as well

..... if � not the money� llut the as pushing her into an affair with the young woman, to the
point where she actually falls in love with the young woman
....... . of the whole thing. 1My'd fnHt because-you know, if you say to a kid, "Don't touch that!"
other ...,., they'd meet other w,....-; they , the kid rouches it' Same thing. The exteriors filmed in the
.... ....... lituationi ancl ••erythillg .. Swedish islands were so lovely, adding to the eroticism; the
acting was superb. The jealous wife has this background:
that they ceuld nevw haY• fhoulht of in
when she was at Swiss boarding school, she was sort of
thllr hou•wlfe hell And they ....,, have controlled by this other woman who now appears on the
to COSLBIIIt ... ldlntifies fo If. If was a scene-the fourth person, Karen.

lvilll •••..,, 4ft. ..... they -- bade 0 VALE: What were Laura 's toys?
o SARNO: The people. The two young women who were at
.. ... ... ... ...... the Swiss Boarding School were the only two kids who wer�
left alone. The other kids' parents would take them away on
vacation, but they were left there because their mothers had
0 VALE: Do )IOU do any improt lising during the making of too many things going for themselves to care about the kids.
the films? So the kids grow up and get to be so close that one couldn't
o PEGGY: The films are totally scripted. But when things go go to the toilet without the other going, too.
well and get carried away, joe will write more scenes. The story follows in a line from these two women; this
B SARNO: lf I see that the chemistry's good, I'll say, "Oh closeness permeates all the relationships that Laura enjoys. It
jesus, let's add something here," knowing that you have starts with her reciting all the sexual things they used to do
somebody good who will produce for you. lf you've got when they were young. This recitation, periodically, pushes
people who don't go along with the flow, then . . . They must forward the story, because things happen parallel with that.
go with the flow, or it's no dice. In the end Laura breaks the relationship with Karen com­
0 VALE: Which films did you improtlise on " pletely. even though I<Aren seerned to be the one who had the
0 SARNO: Not Young Playthings. The people were so upper hand.
involved in it that you didn't need any improvisation, because Power is a theme in many of my films: people have power
they became the characters rather than themse/ues. You see, over others just by force of will and their overwhelming
improvisation sometimes permits people to be themselves personalities. I'm a great believer in the force of will. And I
too much. What people should be is the character, but believe in "the force." Combat pilots try to develop this force.
filtered through their own personality. You know: "flying by the seat of your pants" -when the pilot
B VALE: Who casts the people? must react so quickly that the reaction in a split second
B SARNO: I do. I find out where they live, as it were, and means the difference between life and death . . . when a
determine how to put them with other people. microcosm of seconds, an almost infinite time that's nothing,
B PEGGY: Wherever he was, even when people couldn't means survival. When I saw Star Wa13 my hair stood on end
speak English,Joe always found good people. Nadja in Veil of because Lucas defined what I recognized as the force that
Blood-she s marvelous. One German actress had a fire in
' vibrates within all of us to be developed or repressed by each
her home-her father was burned and died-but she came of us. In my films I often tell about people who have this
to work despite that, and finished the film. tremendous power and who use it to dominate others, who
Veil of Blood was a Dracula kind of film shot in an old use their personal magnetism and drive to achieve whatever
castle; one of three "flesh" films which we did in Germany good or evil they will.
outside of Munich; the others were Wall of Resh ( not a bad 0 V
ALE: Also, yourfilms often portray people dscovering
i
film) and one called Butterflies ( not sure what the English their own true unconsdous desirf!s.
title is) with Harry Reems who was the doctor in probably 0 SARNO: Yes, this is the big thing in living-most people
the most infamous of all hardcore fil ms -Deep 7broat. He don 't recognize their own truest feelings. That's why when
administered the "deep"! they see them on film they don't say, "jeez, I'd like to do that,"
Veil of Blood was retitled in Germany 7be Re�,enge of the even though they would like to do that: But they do get
Black Sisters. It was about four people who become stranded caught up and empathize with the people on the screen.
during a storm-naturally-at a castle. The housekeeper o VALE: 7bere's a realm offreedom these people discover
believes she is waiting for the return of a young woman who when they surrender their identities and willfor awhile to
is a vampire that has died (but being undead they don't really somebody else.
die). 0 SARNO: Absolutely true. I found that in Sin in the Suh­
One of the young women who comes in becomes involved urlJs. I used to sit in the theater and then listen to people after
psychologically in being this vampire-almost through self­ the film; I was curious as to what people thought. And I
hypnosis she believes she is this vampire, and everyone else would talk to them-! wouldn't let them know it was my film.
believes it . . . So she goes through the entire "thing" and And women especially would identify with the people, and
fmally in the end she has to be killed because now she is the some would say, "This is the kind of thing that if I had the
vampire. In the denouement when she's about to inflict guts, I would do it."
herself on the other young woman who is her friend and B VALE: All guts is, is will.
partner, she is killed by a wooden stake that goes through her B SARNO: Most people don't permit themselves to exercise

97
their fantasies . . . or even their imagination. Consequently • SARNO: Their morality became the morality of the young
they wiU identify with a picture like Sin in the Suburbs but toymaker, which was not to be violent, but to flaunt in the
they'll say, "Oh, but nobody ever does that." face of the establishment the law that was for the "haves" not
In movies often the hangover from the Victorian age or the the "han�·nots.'' They would use any means to get money.
'30s is: ifyou enjoy sex you get killed, especially if you're a short of robbery with a weapon.
woman. That was such a hare-brained concep t to begin with. • VALE: After your Sll'edisb period u•hat films did you
In Spain there's a famous true story about a Swedish doctor make in New York ?
and his wife who were i n an automobile accident and were • SARNO: I made a black-and-white film on Fire Island
thrown from the car. The wife was lying in the street bleed­ called 7be Beach House, about people using sexuality to hide
ing and the doctor ran over to her and said, "My god, I hope their own fear of sexuality . . . One called Abagail Leslie Is
she isn't dead!" And one of the bystanders said. "Don't worry. Rack in 7ou•n was based on something that had actually
senor, at least her dress didn't go over her head!" happened . A young WOffii\0 r�t\lrn� tQ hH hom\' town ilfiH
The world has such a distorted view of sex-and a dis­ ha�ng left in disgrace because she had an affair with another
torted priority regarding sex-and political awareness is woman's husband. She tries very hard to show the people
often correlated to people's ideas about sex. My films present that they're no better than she is, and she succeeds to some
degree . . .
I'd love to get a copy of 7be Suritch. which was a comedy

..... . .. .. ....L.. a.M out it w• a

_...._ CuiLolc "*•ps ......._. it from
All the Sins of Sodom
.. ........

sex without violent endings, and I think that's one reason my

films have had a market-they're satisfying, without murder
endings. I never go for violence i n my films; the most '�olent
film I've ever thought up has been a script for urban
guerrillas -it ends in a shoot-out.
I've written a script about urban guerrillas-terrorists­
that is based on the Weathermen who in the '60s used to
make bombs and plant them in places. Finally they killed
themselves in an explosion right down on lOth Street. The
Weathermen were largely led by women- Kathy Boudin,
Kathy Wilkerson and 8 or 9 other young women who had all
gone to upper middle class schools and who finally were on
the wanted lists. The FBI thought they were just nuts.
What happened was: there were 16 bank robberies netting
about 8 or 9 million dollars, and the FBI had no idea who
had pulled them off. ( They said tht>y did. but they had no
idea. ) The robbers had done things that the mob would
never have thought of. Now, over the years the [ '60s ] "revolu­
tion" had gone away, disappeared. And these girls were so

upset that the revolution had just frittered away that they
decided the thing that would help the Black uberation Army
or the Sandanistas most was money. So they robbed these
banks.
Now whenever there's a robbery. why are the people
always caught? Because they spend the money. But not Kathy
Boudin, Kathy Wilkerson and those people-they shipped
the money away. 7bey lived like cockroaches, believe me!
They slept on pallets in lofts, they took jobs as dishwashers.
and nobody could ever point to them. They had a way of
getting the money away- 1 won't go into exactly how, it's too
long-winded -but there was a Swedish national doctor, a
young woman, who helped them get the money away to the
third party, Cubans or whoever handled it.
To make a long story short, the young woman who led this
became so frustrated that there was no focus on the revolu­
tion, that she decided there had to be some blood. And there
was. They killed 3 cops and now they're all under arrest.
That's the story, but nobody will do it because they feel it's
too close to the real story; the people are on trial, and the
trial's gonna last a hundred years.
• VALE: You did lnten!l'ews for that project, too ?
• SARNO: Yes. I think they held a view of an Amazon
society. Interesting story; I've got the script and am hoping
somebody would like to do it . . .
• VALE: In Young Playthingsyou badpeople who bad relirt­
quisbed their former "respectable" occupations ll'hO were
now pickpocketing and srt!aling for a titling-but not
violently.
with very good people in it like Ray Serra and Kathy Chris­
topher. It's a very funny film about a spinsterish chemistry
professor who makes a potion that she believes is going to
change her, like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. She takes it and she
does change, but she changes sexually-when she's under
the influence of the potion she goes after sex, and she really
goes after it! Ray Serra who always plays Italian gangsters-
• VALE: He was great in The Honeymoon Killers-
• SARNO: In Tbe Switch he plays the part of a stevedore
whose wife is al ways hounding him for sex, but he's too busy
watching "Duke" Wayne films. He talks with such a heavy
Brooklyn accent that you can hardly understand him.
• VALE: You don't have a complete listing of these New
York films?
• PEGGY: I started compiling a filmography, but I never
finished it. He did so many films a year, low budget black­
and-whites as well as color. I don't Like the comedies Like 1be
Switch as much as I like the "exploitation" films, because the
latter were like "Eugene O'Neill exploitation"-there were
all these psychological "things" that made the characters act
the way they did. In films Like Young Playthings you also had
the right chemistry, like between the toymaker Margareta
and Christina Lindberg-and that's luck. Because if there's
one person very uptight about sex, then . . .
AU those years, Joe wanted the real feeling and spirit. And
some of these sex people were used to just faking it-and
they overdo the faking. They would just give the "uh, uh"
sounds and think that was it. And he would say, "You call it in
on the telephone to me, because I'm not interested."
• SARNO: Another good film was called What They Say
About Young Stuff That's not my title, but it's a good film
with some very good acting in it. A film I did for Les Baker.
• PEGGY: We used to do a film in a week, two weeks.
• VALE: Can you always get funding ?
• SARNO: I can get funding ordinarily if I want to make a
film in this milieu: a little on s e -not heat')' on the
the sex id
sex side, but a little. But I haven't done anything in years
because I've been so busy on documentaries and so forth- I
make a great deal of money being a "film doctor." Right now
I'm working on something for cable television. There was a
hardcore film made a couple of years ago called Inside Seka
and now we've made a soft version. I'm cutting it a little more
to make it even more palatable for cable.
Several rears ago I did a film called Confessions ofa Young
American Housewife which included somebody who-in • VALE: Great title- was that during the psychedelic
her 40s- Iater became a hardcore porno superstar: Jennifer sixties ?
Welles. ( I knew her when she was a chorus dancer on • SARNO: Early sixties. A young woman who was married
to Richard Burton had one of the first discotheques in New
York, it was an "in" place. The film featured The Four Kings,
.. • ..,•• date .... ...... ,.., ..... Ronnie Dante who now produces for MlV; it was a fun thing.
We ust
j did a documentary on the Nolan Sisters-they're
...... ,,.. .. ...........,. .. n..y .. 10 Irish, had number one hits in England and Japan but they're
...- y• wouldn't llllleYe lt. She ......., unknown here. I do work for Video Shack- they're one ofthe
"Gift - ..... ., ...... .. but ...., ....... biggest video retail outfits in the world-and they had this

to ... -. . ........ .... .... .. ... in-store promotion by Duran Duran for their new videocas­
sette. That was a mistake! They figured they'd have a few
....... .... ....... hundred kids, but 4000 kids showed up trying to get into the
store all at once-it was a riot! They had the riot police out; it
was on television.
Broadway. I also knew Georgina Spelvin who went by the • VALE: What happened to Step Out ofYour Mind?
name of Chelly Graham when she was also a chorus dancer­ • SARNO: I don't even know.
she became a superstar for being in Tbe Det!/1 in Missjones.) • VALE: Whats another film you did in New York?
These films were aU written from the woman's point of view. • SARNO: In 1963 I did a black-and-white film called Resh
I did another "inside" picture called /n sidejennifer Welles and Lace which was also interesting, with a young woman
which we just cut for cable. I've gone from commerdals to who'd worked in Hollywood and came to New York and
big documentaries which I still do, to architectural films, to wanted to do a film with me. But I wouldn't know where you
children's films. I used to work with Chuck McCann who's could get a copy of it. It wasabout a toy store, but the toy
now an actor in Hollywood-he used to have a children's store owner was really a collector for the mob. He used i t as
show and that was great fun. But basically I haven't really a front for gambling and so forth; he was the "banker." This
focused on any one spot in this business. I've done rock 'n' strange young woman wanders in who's homeless; she has no
roll films-I did a thing called Step Out Of Yo ur Mind. place to go. So she stays in the store and she becomes

99
involved with the toys, because she's simple ( not simple­ know how many films. When someone hired Joe they knew
minded but simple) and this is her refuge-she almost that he had the freedom to choose his crew, write his story,
doesn't want to go out again because she's afraid, so many and choose his actors. So he had great freedom at that time.
things have happened to her. Another guy who befriends her It was that same kind of o
j int effort that people talk about
uses her-he finds out that this is \vhere the money goes. and in the young days of film: when money didn't matter. when
he uses her to rob the store in the middle of the night. And you worked because you really believed in it-you believed
he's killed by the rather good guy-the guy who's a collector in the stOr)', you believed in the film, and it wasn't just a job or
for the mob is rather a good guy! (With my partial Italian just the money. That camaraderie and that feeling really does
background, I believe that not all the mob guys are bad guys. ) show up on a screen. Whether it's a multi-million-dollar film
or a S2SO.OOO film-the money doesn't matter.
By 1967 I had moved in with Joe. 1l1en this producer said,
Pow• is a of my filnls:
tt.. in -.y "We'll go to Sweden." I wasn't working as an actress on the

p11pla haft pow• ower others Just by force film and they didn't want me coming. So I worked unpaid
because I was his girlfriend, making sets and costumes. The
of w• _. their ov•whelmil• penonalities. second film I got paid for, and then I worked with him­
r. a ..... .....,. in the force of wiL never as an actress again. On small films you have to do
et1etything I had to be yelling at the people-Joe's too
soft-hearted-and I'm like a German general, I am.
• V
ALE: 7bese were films that you had artistic control • SARNO: Peggy's been in a number of films. She was a star
over? in Adolph Mckas's Hallelujah the Hills.
• SARNO: Oh yes; I don't want someone sitting over me. • VALE: So its not just luck that your filmmaking team
What happened with Pandora s Box was- the same guy who functioned so ef
fident/y-
went to jail said, "Now you'Ll make /hs
i film for me. "He wrote • SARNO: No! It's not an accident. You choose it. I think by
the script and everything- terrible! Good people in it -but a force of \\ill ( back to the "force" ) you avoid things and
terrible film. people that don't fit in.
I did a fun film called Wann Nights andHot Pleasures. but For example, there are many people who shouldn't be
it wasn't that unusual. It was the story of three girls who doing pornographic films, or who are doing them for the
come to New York on different careers- they had gone to wrong reasons. The right reason is one that is not commer­
college together and the whole thing-and it ends up that cial: because they like to perform in front of people ( in a
they are really in competition; the intensity of their competi­ sexual way or otherwise); because they're turned on by
tion almost destroys them. I knew three people who went doing it. Otherwise they shouldn't be doing it. I tell people
into a commune in the '60s; they wasted a great part of their they shouldn"t be doing it, or that they should be. For exam­
young lives trying to live an inadequate ideal ple, Annie Spri nkle should be doing it, because she loves to
• VALE: Have producers el'er changed your films? and is so involved in this whole feeling of sex. She is so crazy
• JOE: I made one film, Etlf!r)' Afternoon, with a British and sweet and nice it kills you . . .
actress, Diana Dors. It had good people in it, but the producer 1l1c big thing with films-a film s i the result of u bumun
screwed it up. I didn't have the editing rights on it and he relationsbip, and when you write it to begin with, it's got to
actually added in scenes and wrote new material for it. The be about a real human relationship. Each actor or actress
basic story was about two people meeting in the park-a must filtn the character through their own personality. And
young guy and a young woman-back to fantasies! The young that's the whole secret of the thing. Without that, you have
woman is in a ballet outfit-practice clothes-and the guy is nothing
wearing "pilot's wings," and he tells her he's a pilot. Well.
neither one of them is-he works at an airline loading cargo
and she is a prostitute who reads a lot, etc. Each day they I'm glad that for a ... tM we worbd ill
meet and they have this tremendous fantasy. Europe rather tlal -., ...._ br tile
Finally he finds out who she is. He's given a birthday party
time we came back, ._. it w• pornographr
and a girl is brought there, and she's the girl. Then they avoid
each other for a long time, but finally they meet again in the in a really different war. In those ..e, days
park and they carry on the conversation. She now knows that it WCIIII'f pomographr-al the pllpla who
all he is is a freight handler, but they talk as if he's still an
worked r.., w..ted to IIICIIb tllllr
airlines pilot and she's a ballet dancer. It\ one of those: weird
little stories that could have been beautiful, but the producer
character so real, _. the •• wca peri of it
totally wrecked it. It should have been a small film but he and came out of it. But once y• stc.t
tried to make it a big one. The little sensitive story was lost . . . working with porno people Ws .........
Producers are always a problem-usually I don 't have
problems with producers, but on this one I did.
• VALE: Peggy, when did you meet joe? • VALE: What most interested you when you studied
• PEGGY: There was a Joe Sarno repertory company in ew psycbolo!{y?
York, and I joined around '65. I worked with him first as an • SARNO: General motivations and behavioral patterns. I
actress in 3 or 4 films. "Repertor)'' means that the same wrote a lot on beha,ior patterns.
group of people would play different roles in different films. • VALE: I'm afuoays anutZed at the process of belief-how
lf he knew that you were going to be in his film, he would people u·i/1 select (or not select) what they befietJe in, and
write a part for you and change the script according to what hou• people uill lit ¥! out their lives based on beliefin some·
your potential was, what your limitations were. These were tbing totafZ>' unsubstanti
ated or arbitrary.
not pornography; we did e:xploitation-as much a!> I saw • SARNO: They select to believe in what's safest or easiest
Elizabeth Taylor do in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for them 10 believe in. The Catholics say, "Give me a child
From '65 to '67 we worked with the same people-not until he is six and I'll give you a Catholic on his deathbed."
only the same actors, but the same crew. Bruce Parks always 1l1at's probably true of any religious belief, pretty much.
shot the films, Bobby Balin was always the assistant camera­ Each society encourages the beliefs that will make the
man, Jimmy Lynch was always the sound man, Kemper Pea­ society function to the benefit of the few who uoant it to
cock was the editor, and we all worked together for I don't function that way! •

1 00
Joe Sarno on the set. Joe Sarno today. Photo: Ana larrado

PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY Wall of Flesh

Passion in Hot Hollows
1962 Nude in Charcoal The Beach House
Lash of Lust lnga
Sin in the Suburbs My Body Hungers
1963 Sin You Sinners 1968 The Odd Triangle
Pandora's Box The Layout
1964 Warm Nights and Hot Pleasures Karla
The Naked Fog Desire Under the Palms
Moonlighting Wives Marcey
The Lace Rope 1969 Indelicate Balance
1965 Flesh and Lace Daddy Darling
Step Out of Jour Mind lnga II
The Swap and How They Make it 1970 The Young Erotic Fanny Hill
1966 The Love Merchant 1971 Any Afternoon
The Love Rebellion 1972 Young Playthings
The Bed and How They Made it 1973 Deep Throat II
The Sex Cyde Confessions of a
Anything for Money Young American Housewife
Deep Inside Veil of Blood; Bibi
Red Roses of Pauion 1974 The Switch
Bed of Violence Butterflies
Skin Deep in Love Abagail Leslie is Back in Town
Come Ride the Wild Pink Horse 1975 Misty
Scarf of Mist Thigh of Satin Laura's Toys
The Mogic Touch 1977 Karleks On
1967 Vibrations 1978 Fabod Janteix
All the Sins of Sodom 1983 Wolf Cubs
 on them-they were art theaters. They became sex houses

D avid Friedman is a sexploitation movie pioneer and the

producer of Herschel! Gordon Lewis's first three gore films.
because the art films later moved more and more into the
mainstream. Now you've got pictures like n1e Gods Must Be
Crazy that play for years in one theater. Today, if you've got a
Here he chronicles, among other topics, the development of picture like Das Boot, a company like Columbia picks it up
sexually liberated cinema in this country. In Hollywood, Jim and the minute they put their label on a film, it suddenly
Morton asked the questions . . . attains a new respectabiliry it doesn't have if an independent
handles it.
I became partners with a really fascinating fellow, Kroger
Babb, who had been involved with everything from the fam·
ous "birth of a baby'' films to a spook show. Dr. 0Jasm 's
hasm of Spasms. Kroger just passed a\'.>ay a few years ago.
C
He was one of the great geniuses in motion picture exploita­
•JIM MORTON How did you get started in se.\ploitation tion; one day I'm going to do a book about him-in fact 1'\·e
films? got the title: Country Boy with a Shoeshine. He \'.'aS from an
• DAVID FRlEDMAN: I was too young to work and too era of Americana that should be chronicled: a combination
nervous to steal! This was the ohly other thing I could do . . . flim-flam man, P.T. Barnum, and W.C. Fields . . .
I've been i n the motion picture business all my life. God Babb was a big imposing guy who used to drink like a fish
knows X-rated or adult/exploitation films have been around (he could drink a bottle of whisky at one sitting); came from
as long as there have been movies. After getting out of the a miserable liltle town in the middle of Ohio: Wilmington.
army I was with Paramount, then I decided I'd better get into His real name was Howard W. Babb. Back east there was a
something for myself So I went into independent film distri· chain of grocery stores called Kroger stores; he worked in
bution which soon came to mean skin dependent film distri·
- one so all the other kids called him "Kroger" Babb. He k.inda
bution, because the only pictures which were available to liked the name and kept it.
independents were foreign films and cheap little pictures
that flashed a tit-something you couldn't even do in those
days.
A lot of the theaters that became nudie or pomo theaters
originaiJy were art theaters. We used to call them "coffee"
Nobody was buyillg 1....- ...... for ..
houses because all the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals creativity or because .. •• a .,.at •
would go in to see foreign films with subtitles and would sip director; they .... buyi11g it ..__ ..
coffee and talk about how Bunuel is doing this and that, and
now he's in Cahiers du Cinema -aU of that bullshit. Around
showed some ass cmd -- tits!
1955 And God Created Woman came along, starring Brigitte
Bardot. Suddenly these nice little coffeehouses that showed
these pictures with the subtitles had lines around the comer.
The theater manager said, "My god, what happened? Where His story started when he was managing the Checkers
did all these people come from?" Well, they'd all come in to circuit of theaters in Ohio. He was traveling through a little
see Miss Bardot's bare ass! town and saw two carny types, Cox and Underwood, \vith a
Then there was another French film called The LOt 1ers. And show called "Dust to Dust." "Dust to Dust" was a copy of
a few distributors found out that the French weren't the only Br]nie Foys' old picture Hgh
i Schc-al Girl with a "birth" reel
ones; the Swedes were making films with a little kin. too. and a ''clap" reel added. He went in and watched this produc­
That's where One Summer of Happiness and Naked Night tion and ( they've got 'em lined up all around the block) he
came in. Nobody was buying lngmar Bergman for his creativ­ said, 'You guys got something great here. All you need i:. one
iry or because he was a great film director; they were buying thing." They asked. "What's that?" He said, "Me. " They asked.
it because he showed some ass and some tits! "Why do we need you?" He said, "Because I'll show you how
•JM: So theseforeign films influenced Americanjilmmak· to sell it."
ers tOu'Cird showing more skin? So the three of them started a partnership going from tO\Vll
• DF: I've always said that Russ Meyer's Immoral Mr. Teas to town ( down south) showing the birth reel. the venereal
was nothing more than a cheap American ,·ersion of Mr. disease reel and selling the books- Babb always figured one
Hulot's Holiday. He said that well. it influenced him a lillie. thing: no matter what the subject was, have money coming in
but . . . from a book sale. Of course this was a book on sex.

•JM: Back then an e;).p/oitation film would play an "m1" They got into Indianapolis. Kroger went out to lunch after
theaterone week, the next week it wouldplay agn'nd house. the first show and came back and the theater manager was
1 remen1ber going to see Ulysses and seeing a trailerfor Love about to have a duck: "Ohmigod, Mr. Babb, Marilyn Hom \vas
Camp Seven playing next week - just here and she was just infuriated. She thinks it's the worst
• DF: That's why so many adult theaters have the word "art" thing she's ever seen and she's going to have us closed

1 02
 You Don't Have to
Assault a Groupie...
You Just Have to
Ask ! . .

A DAVID F. FRIEDMAN
WILLIAM ALLEN
CASTLEMAN

PRODUCTION

A FAR OUT TRIP THRU A HARD ROCK TUNNEL

in COLOR from EVI IRL !.��:�!��. -�.-1 .... ..

Starring KIPP W H I TMAN • DENNIS BURKLEY • CON N I E STRICKLAN D

CAROL SPEED • DIANE LEE HART • DAVID AN KRUM • DAVID BUCHANAN
Produced by David F Friedman & William Allen Castleman • • • • Directed by William Allen Castleman
•••••• Distributed by Entertainment Ventures, Inc.
down. " And Kroger said, "Who the heU is Marilyn Horn?" Babb, America's fearless young showman, announces that his
"Oh, Mr. Babb, for god's sake she's the reviewer for the next film will be Father Bingo, an expose of gambling in the
Indianapolis newspaper. You don't understand, Mr. Babb. parishes!" I learned a lot from Kroger-he had a superb
her uncle is the Catholic bishop of Indianapolis; her father is command of the language and could write an ad that you
the Chief of Police; her brother is the captain of the Vice couldn't believe. He would plant these little stories in the
Squad; and her aunt is the Mother Superior of the nunnery paper, claiming that he had played a town a few weeks before
here. She's a very devout Catholic girl; she's the reviewer for and the mayor had written him:
the Indianapolis News which is the biggest afternoon paper "Dear Mr. Babb,
in town, and she is mad!" To make a long story short. at the "Before your show came into town I opposed it, and I did not want

end of the week when Babb was leaving town, Marilyn left to give you a license to play the picture. But the common council
outvoted me. But, I was deliglued to see that the film was everything
you said it was: a fine. educational attraction. As a matter of fact, it
probably saved the life of one ofour fine young high school students,

[How lid I tt.-t in exploitation finis?] I •• a young girl who found she was in trouble.
"She did not know where to tum; she could not tell her tt'llchers
too young to worlc ....t too MI"YOUS to ,_. and she didn't dare teU her parents. Her friends suggested she go sec

1hk WCB the Ollly otW tNng I aMIIId do. your movie, which she did. From that came the courage to tell her
parents. The parenrs understood. The girl had the baby which has
been placed for adoption, and I want to thank you . . .
"P.S. l11e girl was my daughter."
town with him! And sht: lived with him for 30 years until he That's the kind of thing that Babb could do!
finally did marry her. And she's now his widow. Talk about a •JM: What did he do after Mom and Dad?
salesman! This guy could charm the birds out of the trees. • OF: He tried everything. After Mom and Dad came Prince
They aJI got to Oeveland about the beginning of the War. of Peace, with which he was selling a beautiful, four-color
And Babb came up with an idea: he is going to make one great litho of "jesus Christ Our Savior" and a miniature Bible.
"birth of a baby" picrure and he's got the title: Mom and Dad. There was a Passion Play down in Lawton, Oklahoma, and he
And Marilyn has written it; she's even named the lecturer: went and filmed it. He had discovered a little girl in Atlanta
"Eliot Forbes, America's foremost hygiene commentator." named Virginia Prince and he was going to make her into
Cox and Underwood wanted to take their money and they another Shirley Temple. WeU, that never came about.
did; Underwood went back to Kentuck-y, became a big horse­ I ran into Kroger one night at a variety club in Atlanta
breeder and never surfaced until years later with a pirated \\there he'd opened Prince of Peace and the audience had
copy of Uncle Tom 's Cabin which he made a fortune with. simply walked out. I asked him, "What the hell happened,
Uncle Tom 's Cabin was made by Universal just before sound, Krog?" He said, "I don't know. Will you go out and take a look
with Raymond Massey playing Lincoln. Underwood put a at it?" I said, "Yeah, I will."
soundtrack on it and traveled through the South, making a lot Well, the Passion Play normally is done in pantomime; you
of money. don'L nt:nl tht: words tx::caust: we all know them from the
Kroger came out here, madeMom andDad, and from then Four Gospels. But these guys were mouthing the words. So
on school was out! The film got a lot ofheat from the Catholic when it came to the scene ofthe Last Supper,jesus said in his
church; it was on the condemned list. Kroger was the only Oklahoma voice, "Wei-ll, one o' y'all's gonna betray me to­
m:�n to fight back: he'd run ads in the trade papers: "Kroger naight," and Judas lscariot yelled when the Romans came in,

Friedman satirizes the

Hollywood image in the
softcore film, St..tet.
Friedman makes an
appearance in this movie,
playing himself.
"D-at's him! Dat's him ovah 'deh1" I said. "You better redo the
soundtrack." So we dubbnl English into English; I got some
radio voices from Atlanta and we laid down a track where the
people at least were speaking \Vithout any trace of an Okic
accent. Babb stayed up about 5 nights drinking martinis and
came up with this beautiful campaign of Christ on the:- Cross:
"Kroger Babh pre:-se:-nts TI1e Pri nce of Peace:· and school was
out on that one!
1l1en he had one on alcoholism. One ff)() Afany. starring
Ruth Warrick. One HJO Many is a lost picture. It v.·as about
the e\·ils of alcohol and women getting drunk-a real
preache:-r movie -it wasn't that great and the book didn't sell
well. In the middle of that Bahb got involvt>d with a picture
called The Secrets '�{ Beau�)'. where for S 1 0 he was selling
women a make-up kit and a hook on how to he heautih1l.
Secrets rif Beauty also didn't work because in those days
nobody had S I 0 to spend; most of the girls who saw the
movie went to Woolworths for their cosmetics. ll1at was
before Revlon and all the fancy cosmetics lines.
She Shou/da Said No ( about marijuana) was originally
called 1he Deuil's
Weed. Kroger made this picture right after
Lila Leeds was arrested in a bust with Robert Mitchum­
they were both smoking some joints. He did about six
months at the county fa rm; the judge let her go because she
was a good-lookin' blonde. We had Lila out on the road
telling about the evils of dope. hut unfortunately she was
hlowi ng the operators and hlowi ng the stagehands and mess­
Ecstasy on Lover's lslantl; one of the many films released by Louis Sonney
ing around with the ushers. and we were getting closed up
and son.
on morals cha rgt·s because of her . . .
Kroger never stopped. He was something unique; a combi­
nation medicine show man. carny. tlim-tlam man. what have
you. 1\·e always said there are four generations of exploita­
tion films. and I am a senior citizen of the third generation.
Babh would have been in the second generation: Bahh was over where all you had to do was play two or three and you
20 years older than me. Dan Sonney's father. Louis Sonney. made enough money to last you for a year.
would have been in the first generat ion- they're all forgot­ The only thing Babb did after that- after Babb had shot his
ten; those are the guys who came right after Edison. The wad with Karimoja, he and I brought to the U.S. an early
se:-cond generation V.'aS with the Forty Thieves, the Sonneys. lngmar Bergman fi l m starring Harriet Anderson. We played
around and came up with a campaign: "Monica: The Story of a
Bad Girl." Babb got his share of the profits for years and years;

Normaly the less talented you are, the finally, that too came to an end. But I'd see Babb quite a bit;
we remained very good friends until he passed away ..
biggw ego proiMm you have!
. _

•JM: Tell us about your involvement with Herschel/ Gor­

don Letl1is.
• DF: Herschell and I made Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs, and
Pappy Golden, Dwain Esper, StC\·e Foys, Kroger. Russ Meyer, Color Me Blood Red. Then he and I split up and he went on.
Herschell lewis and I arc in the 5rd generation. And all these But before that, we had made Daughter of the Sun, Lucky
kids today who are grinding out porno- that's the fourth and Pierre. BOIN-N-G!, Scum of the Earth, and about 6 or 7
last generation. In my generation I would have to put Roger nudist colony films filmed in Miami.
Corman, Sean Cunningham. a guy in England named Peter •JM: What inspiredyou to make yourfirstfilms together?
Walker- I don't know if you've ever seen any of his stuff. I had • DF: I owned a drive-in theatre in Joliet, Illinois that was
the rights to one film called Resh and Blood Shou•. pla)ing a lot of junk on the weekend. One day I said, "Christ, !
•JM: Did you Ll'Ork for Babb ? can make a better picture than that!"
• DF: Babb and I were parmers in a Chicago company caJled So. Herschell and I made a couple of pictures in Chicago.
Modem Film Distributors with a fellow named lrving)oseph. One was called The Prime Time and the other was called
How this came about was: there were four "birth of a baby" Living Venus. Neither was too successful. I was on a road trip
pictures. lrv wrote one called Because of E1te. A fellow in Toledo, Ohio and Rosa Rose, a famous old stripper who
named Floyd lewis owned one called Street Corner. A char­ had a burlesque house, said to me, "I could sure use some
acter named TaJley down in Texas owned one called Bob and shorts with some pretty girls showing their tits!" So I went
Sally that was made by Universal; that was really the best. back to Herschcll and said, "Let's you and I make some shorts
Then, of course, there was Mom and Dad. for the burlesque houses." We kicked it around and ended up
These guys used to fight each other tooth and naiL One day writing 4 or 5 little sequences. I said, "Why don't we just put
I was sitting playing cards with joseph and I said, 'You guys 'em all together?" and that became Lucky Pierre, which was
are crazy. The four of you should get together." SoJoseph and released in 1959, the same year that Russ ( Meyer) made The
I brought the other three into Chicago and it was agreed that Immoral Mr. Teas. The whole nudie-cutie craze was then on.
we would operate out of Chicago, it being more centraJly That's how I got lucky and drifted in, like everybody else.
located. And where a guy played Mom and Dcul this year, At the time we made Lucky Pierre, New York State had a
next year he would play Because of Ev e. the next year Bob censor board. And a man had come up there with a picture
and Sally, the next year Street Corner. We kept the West he'd made down in Tampa, Florida called Garden of Eden.
Coast kind of an open city, because you didn't have to play New York State's Supreme Court told the censor board that
that many dates out here; there were beautiful dri\·e-ins all nudity was an accepted form of life and was not obscene, and

1 05
 \.AtF YOUR WAY TO THE BANK
WITH THESE SMASH HIT SPECTACULARS
FILMED IN

UNCONCEA LED COL OR

BOX OFFICE HIT NO. 1

2 V I B R A N T LY V I S U A L
VERSIONS
ONE FOR SPECIALTY HOUSES
ONE FOR GENERAL RELEASE

*
A Positive Plethora of Pulchritude! Prized
and Prime Princesses Pleasingly, Provoca­
tively and Prismatically Presented For
Pleasure and Profit!

*
IF YOU CAN STAND TO HEAR. THE CANNON GO
OFF, SMELL THE SMOKE AND SEE THE FLAMES,
THEN THIS IS THE SHOW FOR. YOUII/

BOX OFFICE SPECTACULARS INC.

Produced by
DAVIS Fltii:II:MAN Dlreeted by LII:WIS H. GORDON

IT BECAN WITH BARNUM!

they had to okay the picture. So everybody ran into New York bright idea to shoot Blood Feast. We made it in 4 days; it cost
Ciry with a nudist colony picture. Dan Sonney had a couple of S26,000. l11at was the first of the blood-and-guts films; the
old ones; he had one made in 1933 called El)'sio that was forerunner of Friday the 13th, The Texas OJainsau•
made by Bryan Foy who was one of the "Seve � Little Foys." Massacre-all the slice 'em and dice 'em, smash 'em and
So Herschell and I immediately went down to Florida and mash 'em films that ever came down the pike. Herschell and I
started grinding out nudist colony films. The first one we followed that with 2000 Maniacs. During the last one we did,
made for ourselves wasDaughteroftheStm. That girl was so Color Me Blood Red, Herschell and I got into an argument
gorgeous it wasn't even funny. Then Tom Dowd, who was an and I finished it. Then he went his own way and I went mine.
exhibitor in Chicago, wanted to make some. So we made In the last year we ldnda got back together and we might
Goldilocks and the T1Jree Bares, Nature's Playmates - we make Blood Feast TU'o together.
ground those things out like sausages! Then we made one for •JM: A lot ofpeople lxwe this concept of the director as
"auteur"-that the director does etl(!t)lthing and the jJro­
ducer is just the shmuck that hands out the money. But
•• got the ........ .... to shoot ...... u•henever Herschel/ Gordon Lewis talks about the mot lies
you did U7.th him, he alU' ays uses "we. "
..... .. ..... it in 4 days; it cost • DF: Herschell and I have had many ups and downs. Her­
$26,000. 1hat was the first of the lllood- schell is probably the single smartest individual I ever knew

....-...m ....., • the ... .... and ... 'em, in my life . First of all, he has a Ph.D in English Literature ; he
was a professor of English. He could write faster, quicker and
__.. .... and mash ... ... that .... better than anyone I've ever known. If he sees somebody
-- down the pike. doing something, \'\1lether it's maldng an automobile or per­
forming brain surgery, he can do it; he's unbelievable. On
Lucky Pien-e he was doing the camera and I was doing sound;
Leroy Griffith called Bell, Bare and Beautiful starring Virgi­ there was just one kid to help us pick up. That was the whole
nia Bell. Virginia was married tO Eli jackson who was a crew; we did everything together. We did the campaigns
partner of Griffiths, an old friend of mine- they were together; we distributed together; it was the greatest team
burlesque and carnival people. since Barnum & Bailey. I learned an awful lot abtmt produc­
While we were down there shooting that, we got the tion from Herschell . . . I already knew something about

1 06
sound, and I knew how to handle a movie camera- l've had cameraman in the world, Ferd Sebastian-he's the easiest
cameras all my life. man in the world to work with. And there's the cameraman
Herschell and I did everything together; we could antici­ who started with me, Laszlo Kovacs, who was the cameraman
pate each other. Lucky Pierre, Daughter of the Sun, Nature 's for Daughter of Fanny Hill and Smell of Honey.
Playmates -we would write 'em together. I would dictate •JM: I heard that Cresse got shot in the stomach-
and he would type for a couple of pages; then he would • OF: Yeah, he got shot. I was in Australia at the time. Cresse
dictate and I would type, etc. We knew who all the characters always liked to carry a gun. One night he was in a bookstore at
were and everything else. That's how we wrote the scripts: Hollywood and Western. He looks up and there's 3 guys
•JM: You knew Bob Cresse and Lee Frost. u•ho made many beating the hell out of this broad. They got her down on the
sexploitation films together- ground and they're kicking her. Cresse runs over and goes to
• OF: Well, Cresse was a weird, weird kid. I first met him his car and takes his gun out and holds the gun up, saying,
when his father was on a carnival with me in Allentown, "Stop! I'm calling the police! Stop or I'll shoot !" And this guy
Pennsylvania one week, and his father brought the little whirls on him and says, "We are the police, motherfucker!"
monster out to visit the show . . . and shot him twice right in the stomach. And then the guy
•JM: I no ticed that Frost filmed Love Camp Seven. shot his dog He almost died . . . and he never really recovered
• OF: Frost was the director; Cresse was the producer. from that, mentally. IAPD-they're "Dirty Harry's" down
Cresse was very domineering. That whole thing was Cresse's here!
idea; Cresse really wants to be a Nazi more than anything else After working with Herschell, I came out here and started
in the world, that's his whole thing. He really believed he was grinding crotch-hoppers. I resisted explicit sex almost to the
end; I didn't get into that until '73 or '74. I had a lot of fun with
the soft things: Trader Hornee, Zonv . . .
... . .... .... ......, . ... out •JM: I' d really love to see The Defilers, but there's no
... _. st.tecl ...... crotch-. ...... I theater u1here you can see films like that.
• OF; They have no value today; the video people don't even
,...... apldt - az•st to the end; I want them. 1be Defilers was not a bad little picture; I made
...., t ... .... tllat watll ' 73 or '74. I had a that in '64 with Lee Frost, who had been working with Bob
lot of ,_ .... ... 10ft ....., ......., Cresse most ofthe time. One I made after that, that I like even
better, was called A Smell of Honey, A Swallow ofBrine! I
....... ...... wrote the story for Stacey Walker, whom I met when we
were shooting Fanny Hill. I t was a pretty fair little film. Those
a Nazi. But Cresse handled Frost like a fine violinist would pictures were kinda like the Roger Connan films oftheir day.
handle a Stradivarius. Cresse would say to the industry as a •JM: Maybe the Playboy channel will show them.
whole, "Lee Frost is the best; there is no one who can • OF: What Playboy's doing is almost unbelievable; they're
approach him. He is the finest." And that's all Frost wanted. · buying X-rated films and then cutting all the sex out of them
Cresse didn't need topay Frost; he just told him howgood he and just playing the story part, which in a lot of these pictures
was . . . That's sad but true! you can get rid of in I S minutes! [ laughs]
•JM: I remember seeing Love Camp Seven and thinking. •JM: 11 seems like a bad idea. I wrote them begging them
"Gosh, there 's wall-to-wall flesh, yet no pubic hair!" not to do tlutt and tojust shou• the old sexploitation films
• OF: I know the scene you're talking about . Remember the instead.
scene when they put the girls on that bloody sawhorse? That • OF: They would be better. But, at least they've been show­
was Cresse's bright idea! ing 7be Erotic Adventures ofZorro. There is a very good cool
Cresse and I would always talk: "What are you gonna do, version of both OJorus Call and Seven into Snowie, and they
Cresse?" "I'm gonna do a warpicture!" "Well, then I'm gonna were showing both of those. But most of the stuff that
do a sea picture." "Well, I'm gonna do . . . " So, at the same Playboy has programmed themselves has been pretty sorry.
time we both get the idea we're going to do a western. His •JM: Do you know anything about a film entitled How to
was called Hot Spur. mine was called Brand of Shame. We Undress in Front of Your Husband?
don't say anything, and then we both announce it at the same • OF: Chris Warfield made that. Did you see that compila­
time. We both said to Vince Randolph ( who owned the tion film I did with Arthur Knight on the Playboy channel - i t
Pussycat Theaters-he just passed away), "I want to be first." had footage from HO U' to Undress in Front of Your Husband
Randolph, being smart, said, "Look. You two guys are my in it-no. I used Virgin Bride. It also had a lot ofold footage in
most important suppliers ofpictures. Without you two guys I i t like 1be Girls from Lorna Lorna. The compilation film
couldn't run this chain. I'm not going to get in a fight with we're doing now, Sex and Comedy, is even better.
either one of you, because you 're both insane. You both work •JM: How did you get involved In the project for cable ?
it out and you both come to me together and tell me who's • OF: lhe project that Arthur Knight and I have been work­
going to play first. Otherwise, I'm not going to play either one ing on was originally to have been a feature documentary film
of them! Here's the two dates: I got a date in july and a date in called 7bat's Sexploitation! We've been working on this at
August. You either both come to see me together, or send me least 7 �ars. We accumulated films for years doing this, but
a letter that both of you sign." we never could get a major company to listen to us; we never
So, Cresse and I went at it: "I was first!" "Bullshit, I was ten could get Playboy to listen to us. And Arthur even writes that
minutes ahead of you!" ''you stole my idea!" "I didn't even continuing series in Playboy.
know you were making it -how could I steal your idea?" •JM: /'tlf! got Playboy magazines from the '60s with his
"Well, my picture's better than yours!" "Who says?" I said, " I film articles in them.
got beautiful blonde girls i n mine; you don't . . . " So i t went. • OF: Do you remember Connie Mason? She was playmate
Lee Frost was one who believes that auteur theory. of the year in june of 1962. Then she made Blood Feast and
Although Lee and I worked very well together on Defilers, I 2000 Maniacs, the Alpha and Omega of her screen career.
still felt he considered the director superior. But I'll tell you Herschell and I used to argue over her; she couldn't act at all.
who I consider the superior person in all filmmaking: the I said, "Herschell, she looks great, and she's got a bit of a
writer. That's where it starts from! Although . . . the writer following; a bit of a name." She was a great-lookin' gal.
Byron Mabe was impossible to work with . . . but maybe Byron •JM: WhatetJer happened to her?
Mabe isn't that talented. Normally the less talented you are, • OF: I saw her about 1 S �ars ago at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
the bip,ger ego problem you have! Take the most talented She was lying around the pool. She still looked gread •

1 07
 show, he brought with him a collection of wax figures of
desperados from the Old West, including the outlaw Elmer
McCurdy. After dismantling the Crime show, he sold McCurdy
to a wax museum at The Pike, an amusement park in Long
Beach. When the wax museum folded, the figure ended up at
the Laughter in the Dark Funhouse in LA. There it mouldered
until one day, during the filming of an episode of The Six
Million Dollar Man, a technician found that the body was
real. It was discovered that years ago Sonney had bought
the body from a traveling carnival show and coated it with a

Fe w men have done more for sexual freedom in this

country than David Friedman. From the earliest days of
layer of wax. Eventually it was shipped to Guthrie, Okla­
homa (McCurdy's home state) for a proper burial.
The late sixties were "Golden Years" for sexploitation.
nudist films he has been an integral part of the adult film Sex films symbolized the new sexual freedom sweeping the
industry, not only as one of the better producers, but also as country. As the Supreme Court swept away more and more
a collector and historian of early exploitation films. restrictions, the industry flourished. During this time, Fried­
Friedman's history is a colorful, hyperactive one. As a man worked with many top talents such as director Lee
young man he worked at various jobs in carnivals and even Frost. They made The Defilers, a dark and moody B&W film
owned one. He graduated from Cornell with a degree in loosely based on John Fowles' novel The Collector. It fea­
electrical engineering, wrote speeches for a former governor tured a man so obsessed with a woman that he kidnaps her.
of Alabama and worked as a craps dealer in Phenix City-a A somewhat more humorous Friedman movie was St•let,
town so sleazy they made a movie (The Phenix City Story) the story of an actress's climb to the top. The film trashes
about it. After World War II, he worked as a press agent for every Hollywood myth, from All About Eve to Valley of
Paramount Pictures before striking out on his own in the the Dolls. The studio portrayed in the movie, Entertainment
world of independent film distribution. Ventures, is the real name of Friedman's company, and
He worked with Kroger Babb-one of the most outrage­
ous and ingenious men in the history of exploitation films­
traveling around the country with "birth-of-a-baby" films
Ciesse always raked fo carry a gun. One
like Mom and Dad; pretending to be "Eliot Forbes, famous night he was in a bookstore at Holywoocl
hygiene commentator"; and selling pamphlets like "Secrets and Western. He looks up and there's l guys
of Sensible Sex." beating the hell out of this lwoeid. Crepe
In the late fifties, Friedman teamed up with Herschel!
runs over and goes to his car and takes his
Gordon Lewis to make nudist films, including Daughter of
the Sun, about a school teacher forced to defend her nudist
p out and hOlds f1:ie gun up; SCiying, "Stop!
practices against bluenoses; and Bell, Bare and Beautiful, I'm callitlg the police! Stop' or I'U shoot!" And
a vehicle for former strip-tease queen Virginia Bell. The this guy. whirls on him and says, "We are
Adventures of Lucky Pierre was one of the first "nudie­ the police, motherfudcer!" and sllot him
cutie" films to appear after Russ Meyer's The Immoral Mr.
twiCe right in the st� LAPD-they're
Teas. Other early Friedman-lewis efforts include BOIN·N-G!,
Scum of the Earth and Goldilocks and the Three Bares.
"Dirty Harry's'' clown here,!
But the films Lewis and Friedman are best remembered for
are the world's first gore films: Blood Feast, Two Thou· Friedman appeared in it playing himself!
sand Maniacs! and Color Me Blood Red. Most of Friedman's movies feature screenplays either
While filming the latter, Friedman and Lewis had a falling written or co-written by him, which may explain why most
out. (Whatever the reasons, they have since buried the of his films "are as rigid as a medieval morality play: a
hatchet.) Lewis continued to explore the world of gore, heterosexual scene, an S-M scene and a lesbian scene . . .
while Friedman went back to sex, distributing titles like something for everyone." Well, not really everyone­
Trader Homee: A Smell of Honey, A Swallow of Brine! mostly lonely men. Friedman continues, "I must admit the
and Thar She Blows! carny in me plays on that most basic emotion that conmen
About this time Friedman teamed up with the sons of one use-loneliness."
of the earliest exploitation pioneers, Louis Sonney. An Ital­ Besides producing and screenwriting, Friedman occasion­
ian immigrant, he gained fame in 1919 for capturing a ally acts. Easily his most outrageous appearance is that of
notorious railroad bandit, Roy Gardner. Sonney took the the Nazi commandant in Love Camp Seven. The irony of
reward money and started Sonney Amusement Enterprises, such a portrayal is not lost on him, but Friedman is a man
in 1921 releasing the film The Smiling Mail Bandit based who realizes a little outrageousness is good for the soul.
on the story of-Roy Gardner. Sonney went on the road, Interestingly, the film was made by Olympic International, a
appearing in person to talk about his capture of the bandit, rival company to Friedman's Entertainment Ventures. (How­
and warning against a life of crime. When "The Dangers of ever, the rivalry was always friendly.)
Crime" theme began to wear thin, Sonney switched to "The The advent of hardcore sex fihns in the seventies killed the
Dangers of Sex." Altogether he produced nearly 400 market for softcore. At first Friedman rejected the anatomi­
movies-all dealing with the dangers of various exploitable cal explicitness of this new breed of film, as he preferred the
evils. plot-oriented sexuality of sixties sexploitation movies. But
Friedman is full of stories about Louis Sonney. When Son­ the "raincoat crowd" was taking its business to the porno
ney was touring the country with his "Dangers of Crime" theater across the street. Reluctantly Friedman followed the

1 08
A scene from Love Camp Seven.

PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY Love Camp 7, 1968

The Pick-up, 1968
AS PltODUCEit: House of a Thousand Dreams, 1969
The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, 1961 Starlet, 1969
Nature's Playmate, 1962 MatinH Idol, 1984
Daughters of the Sun, 1962
BOIN·N·G!, 1962
Bell, Bare and Beautiful, 1963
Blood Feast, 1963 market and began producing hardcore films, among them:
Goldilocks and the ThrH Bares, 1963
Chorus Call (an erotic rip-off of Chorus Une), Seven Into
Scum of the Earth!, 1963
Snowle (an erotic rip-off of Snow White and the Seven
Two Thousand Maniacs!, 1964
Dwarfs) and most recently, Matinee Idol.
Color Me Blood Red, 1965
Friedman has no illusions that his films are great art, but
The Defilers, 1965
The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill, 1966 he does think they're entertaining. "Most people are making
A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine!, 1966 pretentious garbage," he says. "I make funny garbage."
She Freak, 1967 Indeed, Friedman's films are notable for their hokey, rib­
Brand of Shame, 1968 poking humor. In Trader Hornee he parodies virtually every
The lustful Turk, 1968 jungle movie cliche-the lost treasure, the white woman
Starlet, 1969 raised in the jungle, the girlnapping gorilla. In The Entlc
Thor She Blows, 1969
Adventures of Zorro the hero is a flaming gay by day and a
Trader HornH, 1970
womanizer by night-a concept George Hamilton borrowed
The Erotic Adventures of Zorro, 1971
for his film Zorro, The Gay BlaM.
Seven into Snowie, 19n
Chorus Call, 1978
With the rise of the videocassette market stimulating
MatinH Idol, 1984 demand for almost anything obscure, perhaps films like The
Defilers, The Aclcl Eaten and Daughtw of the Sun will be
AS anoR: re-released. And, whatever comes from Entertainment Ven­
Bell, Bare and Beautiful, 1963 tures in the future will surely be worth watching. •

1 09
 I N T E R V I E W:

F
you finish the film. Then ofcourse you have the edge because
you know where to go.
or the past thirty yecws Doris Wishman has kept a low
• A]: Did you have film crews ?
profile, making hw nudist and exploitation low-budget films • DW: Yes, but I did pretty much everything myself. Except
with almost no aitical attention, much less acclaim. Yet her for camerawork and editing, because I'm very clumsy with
films-difficult to obtain and view-are indicative of a my hands . . . !
spontaneous playfulness and Wlinhibited imagination all too • AJ· How didyou know the nudists? Didyou search them
rare. When Andrea Juno interviewed her she seemed out? Were you a nudist back then ?
genuinely surprised. ev• skeptical, that anyoM could find • DW: No, I wasn't. In fact I was rather astonished when I
h• work worthy of study, probably because at f'wst glance first went to the nudist camp, although the people were
hw films often reveal such trademark low-budget production wonderful. The woman who ran the camp said that every­
body in the crew had to be nude, and I said under no
values as doclgy lighting and interion resembling rundown
motel rooms. Yet behind hw economically deprived visuals lie
a wealth of the imagination: wilcly improbable plots, bizarre
"method'' acting and saipts yielding freely to fantasy.
Even though she says she's no feminist, Doris Wishman is
definitely a positive woman's role model, penisting as she has
in a field saturated with men. Somehow she simultaneously
uses the exploitation gerwe and transcends it, as wh• she
came up with the bizarre idea of implanting a spy camera in
Chesty Morgan's 73" man•ICII"ies in the film Doullle a.-.
73.
Despite •v• having gotten rich, Doris Wishman continues
drcumstances! So we weren't nude. But of course the
to work in her field of choice: independent filmmaking. The
nudists were. It was an interesting experience; everybody
following interview took place in her film editing studio in was very nice and very cooperative.
New York City's warehouse district. • A]: How didpeople think about you, a woman, working
in a veryr male domain ?
• DW: At first everybody was rather surprised, and it was a
novelty. Of course, now women are in it as much as the men.
I found it very exciting, very challenging. And I am a frus­
trated actress, so that helps. But really, there's nothing more
to say except that I've been working very hard. I don't
consider myself successful because I haven't made very
• DW: As I said, my life really isn't that interesting- much money, and that's how I judge success at •tlls point.
• A]: 1be fact thatyou 've been making these films is inter­ • AI Bad Girls Go to Hell when was that done?
-

esting enough. When did you start? • DW: It's an oldie . . . about 7 years ago.
• DW: About 20 years ago. My first films were nudist camp • AJ: Do you know where a lot ofyour films are?
pictures. Then I went on to do other things like dramas and • DW: No, I really don't because I've sold most of them, and
comedies. Now I'm making my first horror film. I can't say I once I do that I have no more interest in them.
was very successful with comedy-on the contrary I wasn't, •AI Who do you usually sell them to ?
so of course I won't attempt that again! • DW: Distributors
• Af: How did you get into nudist films? • AI You haven't made much money on these films?
• DW: Well, I was in distribution. Then, when my husband • DW: I did until I made a comedy; then that was the kiss of
died, I decided I wanted to do something that would be so death! I won't make any more comedies, that's for sure!
different that it would keep me occupied every second. I • AJ: What's most profitable for you ?
didn't know.what I was doing when I started production. Of • DW: Exploitation films.
course when I was finished with the first film, then I knew • A]: Do you invent the scripts yourself?
where to go, but making it was very difficult. I really didn't • DW: Yes, I write them myself. Then I direct them, choose
know what I was doing! the casting, crew, location -almost everything, although I
• A]: That's the opposite of a lot of filmmakers-they don't edit. I know what I want. And I can't use a camera; I
know bow to make a film but they don't know bow to wish I could.
distribute it. • AI Double Agent 73 . .
. there was something so wonder­
• DW: The thing is, I felt that since I knew distribution, ful about the concept!
production should be simple, but it doesn't work that way. • DW: Chesty Morgan was very difficult to work with. She's
They're completely different; there's no connection until made a lot of money because ofthis picture-she appears in

1 10
nightclubs and earns a great deal of money.
• AJ: Hou• did that film help ber? just hy gitting her
exposure?
• DW: Sure! That film made money. And actually. if not for
the comedy, I'd be all right now.
• AJ: What year was Ibis comedy?
• DW: About five years ago. We thought it was funny but
nobody else did. The people working on it-we all thought it
was hilarious, but obviously we were wrong! That's part of
the game. I wish I could tell you something more interesting.
• A}: Beliet!f! it or not, ths
i is interesting: thefact thatyou 're
doing these films, you'l'e clone them by yourself and hm 'e
tbe motit•ation and drit•e to do them . . . . Hou• many films
did you nutke u>ith Chesty Morgan?
• DW: Two; one called Dead�)' Weapons. That wasn't as
good as Double Agent.
• A}: What u•as the plot?
• DW: Chesty Morgan's lm·er is killed by some gangsters,
and she seeks them out and kills them by smothering them
with her breasts. It's a gimmick. Because there's no sex in
either picture, you have to have something.
• A]: Yes . . . so she can constantly shou• her breasts. Nou•
you 're doing A Night to Dismember?
• DW: Yes, I'm just finishing it, but I'm changing the title.
How did you hear about it? I'm not through with the film;
I've changed it about 4 different times.
• A}: \tl'ben did you starl it?
• DW: About two years ago. But I'm surprised that you ..d Girts Go To Hell
knew the title!
• A]: By the u•ay. did you et1er use any pseudonyms? Did
you urrite screenplays under the name Dau 'll Whitman?
• DW: What picture was that7 I can't remember.
• A}: The Amazing Transplant. Did you u•rite that
screenplay?
• OW: Yes, that was mine.
• A}: That was great! Did you direct it as uoe/1? feel that women are as capable as men.
• DW: Yes, I do the same with each film: I write. direct, and • A}: \tl'bich areas?
so on. But I used another name because it looks bad; it's not • DW: It depends. I don't think I should speak this way,
wise. because I'll have the women down on me! I think men are
• AJ: That 's u•hat Herschel/ Gordon Leu>is does. more enterprising; I think women are much more cautious,
• DW: Sure, everybody does that. What other films do you because they have to be, I suppose. I don't believe in
have written down? Women's Ub, I really don't.
• A:.f: Another Day, Another Man did you do that?
- • A}: \tl'bat does Women's Lib mean to you?
• DW: That's not on video. Where did you get that? • DW: Women are coming into theirown-iftheycandoa
• A}: Michael Weldon, U1ho s i u•riting a hugefilmography man's job, I feel they should be paid for what they cando. But
I don't always think they can do a man's job. But then, by the
same roken, a man can't always do a women's job, so it sort of
equalizes.
'lhen's a lot of blood in this, IIUt that's • A}: Then hou• do you feel about u•hat you're doing ?
Because traditionally, a lot of men U'Ould say that u'Omen
what the pullllc •...., .... if ,..... in the
business y• have to .;we tMm what they
should not direct se:xploitalion films.
• DW: You say "sexploitation," but that's not quite true
...., if ,_ haft the courage. because these days those films are not considered sexploita­
tion. Double Agent and Deadly Weapons haven't any sex.
7be Amazing Transplant has very little sex. So they're not
sexploitation. Anyway, as far as sex is concerned, men and
for Ballantine Books, catalogued this. You knoll'. certain women are on the same level , so that has no bearing! What
obsessitJe people go around and do research. I'm doing and what other women are doing-anybody can
• DW: But I can't imagine where he got that, because I do if they have that talent, it has nothing to do with sex. But I
didn't sell it to video, and it's an oldie. don't feel that women can do everything that men can do in
• AJ: I don't know. But The Amazing Transplant- the business world. Especially where pro wess is concerned.
• DW: That was sold to video. Do you have any other films But anyhow, I have other problems; I'm not interested in
listed there? women's lib. I'm really not.
• A}: No. Your film company is J.E.R.? • A]: Are you married?
• DW: J.E.R. is a distribution company that isn't mine. My • DW: Not right now.
company is J.U.R.I. Productions. • A}: You 're pretty much on your own?
• AJ: But jerry Balsam distribtlles some of your films ? • DW: Oh yes, very much so. I like it.
• DW: Most o f the time. • A]: \WJat u•ere your budgets like? \tl'ben )'OU did The
• A]: What do think of the role of women in films these Amazing Transplant how much did that cost?
days? • DW: That was only about $250,000, I think. Which is
• DW: Of course it's very exciting, but in many areas I don't considered very low. but that's because I do everything

111
myself, and I don't take an actual salary, I just take what I wonderful story, I think, called In a Dark Comer.
need. • A}: Is it romance-gotf?ic, or horror?
• A]: How about A Night to Dismember? • DW: It's not horror. It touches the Hves ofmany people, has
• OW: That will be more costly; at this point I'm not sure, a most unusual ending-a fantastic ending, very different,
because I'm not finished. and it's just-1 can't really describe it, it's not horror. You cry
• A]: Do you have spedal effects in it? a little bit, and yet it's not drama. There's some love story,
• DW: Oh yes; these days you have to, unless you're making naturally, some sex (which I find very difficult to write, I
a terror film. There's a difference. There's a lot of blood in don't know why), and it's just good, I think- naturally, or I
this, but that's what the pubHc wants, and if you're in the wouldn't write it.
business you have to give them what they want, if you have • A}: How long haue you been working on it?
the courage. • OW: Oh god, a long time. About two years. But I don't
• A]: You think of the plots yourself? work on it all the time. And sometimes when I do have the
• OW: Oh yes, you know-it's just imagination. And then time I just can't think, so whenever I get in the mood. I don't
you develop it. Sometimes you just get a title, then you work know if it'll ever get published, but I'm going to try an)�1ow. It
would make a great film, but it would have to have a very
costly budget, a very high budget. And I find it difficult to find
investors; I don't like to ask for money even though it's an
I .. ,..._ -......... whM I fiist went to investment.
. ...... .... . ...... who .... tht • Aj: How do you get money?
..., said tfaat ••,..., ill • &nW had to • OW: I've used my family's money, my friends', and some of
my own. And then I get a lot of credit because I have a good
.. ..., ... . .... .... - drcu.-t--a reputation, thank goodness. And that's about it . . . you're
5o we ...'t .... .. of CC1U1W fht waiting for me to talk but I really have nothing to say!
...... .... • A]: You 'tJe said quite a bit. Do you have any other
bobbip� ?
• OW: Right now, I'm just working, thinking. And I've writ­
ten some scripts.
around the title, which I've done many times. It's ridiculous, • A}: Do you e/!er send them out?
of course, but that's how I work. • OW: No, I'm keeping the scripts, because when I finish
• A]: Can you name a title? this I want to work on the others- I have two other scripts
• OW: A Night to Dismember: I got the title first. TbeAmaz­ that are great. I'm really busy writing when I have any free
ing Transplant . . . well, most of my films. time.
• A]: Do you think people could tell ifa woman had done • A}: Do you ever watch any films?
your films? • OW: Strangely enough, no. I don't go to movies if I can
• DW: Oh no. They know whether they like it or don't, or help it, and I should.
whether they think it's good or bad, but how can they tell? • A}: Why not?
• A]: How is softcore sexploitation currently marketable,
now that there's a whole market for hardcore?
• OW: I don't think there is any market for softcore, frankly,
and I don't know what I'll make after this. I haven't the
l'na doing ancl wiMd other ...... ..
What
vaguest idea. I'm not thinking about the future; I just want to cloiftt-aaYbocly -. do If they have that
get finished with this film. But I really don't think there's a tahint; it has nothing to do with su. But I
market for this sort of film anymore. don't fMI that •-- at do .,_,,...
• A]: Would you do bardcore ?
• OW: No. Not that I disapprove, but I don't think I'd be
that men can do ill tht ....._. world.
capable. Well, I could. At first I thought it was horrible, but
it's not. Ifyou don't want to go see the movie, don't -they're
not twisting your arm. Ifyou want to see a hardcore film, fine. • OW: Because I become too critical. And if I'm with
But I couldn't make those films. anyone I think I become annoying, because I see things that
• A]: So if this is successful, you'// stick uritb horror? they don't see, and it bothers me. For example, in the Lind­
• DW: I don't know. I haven't the vaguest idea at tllis point. bergh kidnapping case which they had on last week, it was a
Normally I'd be thinking of about ten other films, but this is three-hour 1V movie . . . [disruption]
one time where I'm not going to until I'm finished and know • AJ: How did you know Herschel/ Gordon Lewis?
which way to go. Because the market changes constantly, and • OW: He's in the industry; I met him someplace, I can't
truly I don't know what's going to happen. Speaking ofhorror remember where. Do you know Dave Friedman? I think I met
films, there are millions of them out, and I don't know how him through Dave Friedman.
long they'll last. • A]: Do you know how to get in contact with Dave
• A]: Do you still take a hand in the distribution? Friedman ?
• OW: Not ifl can help it. I do because I have to sometimes, • OW: No, it's been years since I saw him. He's in Los
but I don't Hke to. I don't like distribution. Angeles as far as I know.
•AI That's where you started, though. • A]: Haveyou euer seen theHersche/l Gordon Lewisfilms?
• DW: And that's where the money is, too. The distributors • DW: No, have you?
generally don't invest anything, so they have nothing to lose. • A}: Yes, they're great and quite witty.
Let's assume your picture cost S500,000. By the time you've • DW: Which?
gotten your money back, ifyou've gotten it, they might have • A]: The Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast . . .
made 11 50,000. Whereas you might not have gotten your • DW: What is Blood Feast about?
money back. So actually, the money is in distribution. But I • A]: It's about an Egyptian man who worships thegoddess
don't Like it. This is more of a challenge, more exciting. lshtar (a dummy they dressed up and painted gold). In
• A]: Do you have any interests besides films? order to worship her be bas to provide a feast ofbodyparts.
• OW: Well, I'm writing a novel, and right now that's my So basically there's a series ofkillings in preparationfor this
hobby. Every time I have a spare minute, I write. It's a "Egyptian feast, " and-it's great.
112
• DW: I never saw it; I should see those films. A..,.t 73. Chesty Morgan is best known for her upper torso
• A]: There's probably a market in cablefor yourfilms- appointments: a ful 73 inches of mammary excess. In
• DW: I don't think in cable; maybe in video. I don't think so; DetNiy Weapons (a title whose meaning the attentiwe
I may be wrong. reader may well discern), Chesty turns in an exquisitely bad
• A]: 1bere's a lot of film festil'als nou• det'Dted to more performance-so crippled that in her next film, Deville
obscure films.
Agent 73, her voice is dubbed.
• DW: I haven't heard of any. You mean devoted to horror
Supremely tacky, Doullle A..... 73 makes Pink ,......
films?
• A]: 7be older exploitation and horror films . . . By the
goes look almost genteel. And the film does not merely
uv:ty, are there any other pseudonyms you 't>e used, other strain credulity-it tears it asunder. Chesty plays an agent
tban Dau•n Whitman? assigned to ferret out and eradicate members of a elope­
• DW: Maybe, but I don't remember- I didn't even smuggling ring. To learn the identities of her victims aftw
remember Dawn Whitman until you mentioned it. I doubt it. dispatching them-no need, apparently, to know ...,_.
hut I don't remember. hand whom she's kiHing-Chesty snaps their photos. The
• AJ: Hou• do you feel about your u•ork? camera is implanted-really quite routine, medically-in
• DW: Well, I think I'm good'
her left breast. Naturally, every time she wants a photo she
• A}: And do )'DU like your films?
must first remove her clothes. Moreover, agent Chesty is
• DW: Yes, otherwise I don't make them. I have to think
working under a lethal deadline-she must complete her
they're marvelous, great, and wonderful. otherwise 1 don't
get involved. Of course they may not always tum out that
assignment by a certain time or the camera will exploclel
way, but I have to feel that. It's a challenge, it's excit ing, and I
Ms. Wishman, n i addition to directing films, also wrote
enjoy what I'm doing, and that's \'Cry imponant. several movies under the pseudonym "Dawn Whitman." Hw
• A}: Your films are good. and tastes are cbcmging- best effort is The Amazing Transplant, the story of a
• DW: [softly] Well, I don't know how good they arc. but- sexually frustrated young man named Arthur who wishes he
• A]: Tbey are, because they reflect a creatit'i�)' that 's spon. could be more like his satyric friend. Felix. When felix dies,
taneous and nait>e and uniquely affecting-qualities you Arthur-hoping for a virility boost-forces a doctor to
usually can't find in the midst of a 520 million budget. I transplant his friend's penis onto him. The operation is a
think people are really cradng that nou•. "success." Arthur turns into a sex fiend, traveling around
• DW: You really think so?
the city raping women. When his girlfriend Mary calls him
• A]: There's a small but growing community of people
"sick," Arthur strangles her and goes on the lam; finally he's
around the world U'ho realize that almost all big budget
films like Star Wars are sterile. It's obt4ous that a corpora·
tracked down by his uncle, a New York police detective who
lion made this film, and- assures him that his problems are psychasomatic. Arthur
• DW: Doesn't have that personal touch. reluctantly agrees to turn himself over to the authorities,
• A}: You 're also inte1Y?Sting in anotberdimension-it took and the movie ends in Lady Or The Tiger fashion-the
a lot of courage to do this on your ou•n. outcome is left to the vieww.
• DW: It's not easy, but I guess most things that are wonh· Doris Wishman's style is all her own. Only Jean-l.uc Godard
while aren't that easy • can match her indifference to composition and framing; if
two people are talking and one is partially obscured by a
post, so be it-the camera will nat change its angle. Some­
times we are treated to static shots of feet-or torsos, or
hands-while voices talk off-screen. At other times Ms.
Wishman will trade off shots in such a way that we never see
the person who's talking-instead we watch the listenw, his
head nodding thoughtfully to words from a speaker we
can't see. Often her camera imitates a human eye roving

D uring the early '60s hundreds of entrepreneurs and

filmndlen jumped on the sexploitation bandwagon and
restlessly around the room, occasionally allowing insignifi­
cant obiecfs to hold its attention. for example, the camwa
might follow a persan to a dresser, then stop to dwell on the
began to crank out nudist films. Some, like Russ Meyer and various items (obiecfs completely irrelevant to the plot) it
Herschel! Gordon Lewis, became famous. Others were regu· finds there.
larly ignored, one of whom is Doris Wishman. Unlike the performances in the films of Henchell Gordon
When nudist films first surfaced, Ms. Wishrnan was there Lewis and Russ Meyer, the acting in Doris Wishman's films is
with Nature Camp Confidential and Blue St.-r Goes usually underplayed; half-balled, even. This, coupled with
Nudist. And under the pseudonym "Doris Wisher" she hw singular camwa technique, gives Wishman's worll an
appeared in a Herschel! Gordon Lewis film. Later, when the unmistakable look and feel Some filmmakers work on the
thrill of watching naked people play volleyball wore off, periphery of accepted styles, but Wishman is w• beyand the
Wishman added the novelty of plotlines. She continued mak­ fringe. No hints here of Hawks, Welles, or Eisensteln-in
ing nudist films until the mid-'60s when, like virtually every fact, no hints of an� seen before; and because of this,
other sexploitation director, she switched to themes of critics and viewers hove hastily-and unfortunately­
violence, vice and death. It was during this period that Ms. shunted aside the work of this uniquely inspired filmrnakw.
Wishman directed the superbly titled lacl Girts Go To Hel. The sexual freedom of the '70s-unkind to many other
Whether the film is as good as its name is difficult to sexploitation directors as wei-hurt Ms. Wishrnan's car...;
say-like many sexploitation films, prints of it are difficult as hordcore films took over the market for softcore dried
to find. up. In 1983 she began work on a slashw film entitled A
In the early '70s Wishman teamed up with sex star Chesty Night To Dlsmem... While nat reiecfing the possibility of
Morgan and directed two films that assure her a place in the making more movies, Wishrnan is pessimistic about her filmic
history of strange films: Deadly Weapons and Double future. We wish her luck. •
 I N T E R V I E W:

0
stances, or maybe they're just able to concentrate better in
their homes.
.. of the most politically aware, sardonic, and resource­
It's like having your books in the public library; people'll
ful directon in this publication is former New Yorker larry read the book, but you're not going to make any money. But
Cohen, whose films ovw the past 15 years all bear anti­ you can't worry about it, you just go on and make your next
authoritarian, anti-religious or other socio-critical themes. picture.Revival houses are the same thing; the pictures play,
His films God Told Me To, Q and It's Allvel question com­ but they change the picture every day, so ... You get your
monly held assumptions about God, aliens, religion and chance to make money when the picture comes out theatri­
family ties, while other efforts such as his saHI'Iplay for I. cally thefirst time, and after that it's artfor art's sake. I like
The .lvry (which linlo the CJ.A.to sex-aimeassassinationsof the fact that my films keep surfacing. They're like people;
they have a life of their own. They go out into the world and
political radicals), and The Stuff (aitiquing the f.D.A.and
make friends on their own.
corporate/governmental collusion) round out a career
• A]: Have you experienced any resurge11ce of critical
devoted to destabilb:ing the status quo ...
acclaim?
On a wcwm fall afternoon Andrea Juno and Vale inter­ • LC: As time goes on, more and more people-whether in
viewed Larry Cohen at his old Spanish ranch-style mansion off France or England or wherever-discover the whole succes­
Coldwater Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills, once the home of his sion of pictures. I knew that if I made enough films that
friend, director Samuel fuller. Posters in many diffwent would happen; sooner or later somebody's going to see
languages from his movies, flyers for his theatrical produc­ them, someday.
tions, photos of friends and his five children, as well as a Although ... my fLlms were all made in the commercial
Y.a.ty sheet listing It'sAhel as top-grossing movie of the marketplace of Hollywood. They were financed by commer­
cial companies that expected to make money on the pic­
week, lined the walls of his office. At the end he brought out
tures, and in most cases they did. The only one that didn't was
wonderful memorabilia, including props such as the It's
The Private Files of]. Edgar Hoover, and you never can
Alvei babies and bird models from Q.
tell-something might happen with that, someday.
Soft-spoken, hospitable, and very fumy, Cohen freely The reason I got to make so many pictures, one after
offered his philosophy, political and religious views, ccweer another, was because they made money for people. They
history, industry overview, and many anecdotes in a four­ were low-budget and able to make back their investment
hour conversation over a kitchen table, interrupted only by with substantial profits for everybody, even though they
apple pancakes suppli ed by his daughter Melissa. weren't what you'd call blockbuster hits. (Except for It's
Alive! and Black Caesar, which were top of the list for
awhile.)
• A]: Was Hoover a personal indulgence?
• LC: It was not in my usual cycle of horror or sci-fl. I just
wanted to do it because Hoover was a flamboyant and unus­
ual character, and because no one else would make it and
• ANDREAjUNO: Why do you preferfilming in New York? thus risk incurring the wrath of the FBI and causing a lot of
• lARRY COHEN: I like filming there-I like the streets, trouble for themselves.
the activity, the texture of the city.There's always something • AJ: Did you get in any trouble?
happening-there's always life going on. Here in Los Angeles • LC: No! They knew I was oblivious to any pressures they
the streets are devoid of people-there are cars going back could apply. Being an outsider, I wasn't subject to the same
and forth, but you don't see people. And you don't see the pressures or fears that somebody else in "the system" might
contrast in architecture that New York has, where there's have been afraid of. And the picture didn't tum out to be too
brick, glass, an old building next to a brand new one ... Here derogatory to him, anyway. It was a picture where everybody
it's like looking at a blank, clean sidewalk, as opposed to one was bad, everybody was a little bit crooked. He was just one
that has aJI kinds of cracks in it and levels of steps, where more phenomenon of the system which encourages a lot of
everything looks like some kind of multi-layered piece of art. hypocrisy. RooSt:Vel t didn't come off we11, and neither did the
It's more fun to shoot that. Kennedys or johnson; everybody came off as kind of
• VALE: Your films are multi-layered, yet accessible-the unscrupulous.
audience can get simple messages right away, but other, Hoover didn't come off any worse then anybody else in the
more complex implications are there. picture, which was the truth of the matter. Those who liked
• AJ: Do people get mad at you becallSe they can't put a Hoover were fairly satisfied with the film. I had more trouble
simple label on your films? with people like Arthur Schlesinger who felt that we slan­
• LC: They don't get mad at you, they just ignore you-if dered Franklin D. Roosevelt. He wrote in the Saturday
they can't get a "fix" on you they ignore you. But cable video Review some nice things about the picture, but withheld his
and the videocassette stores are a wonderful thing, because approval because of the shabby way we treated President
people see your pictures years later under different circum- Roosevelt.
 We took a big chance on that; people felt there was no
market for a picture like that, and when they think this they
can make it come true. If the distribution department of a
movie decides beforehand that a picture is not going to be
successful, they will put it in the wrong theatres, give it bad
play dates, won't spend any money for advertising or 1V
advertising, so inevitably the picture will fail. Then their
pre-judgment is verified and they go on thjnk.ing, "See, we
really knou•if a picture's going to make it or not'" On]. Edgar
Hoot'er they didn't think it would have any market, and they
made sure it didn't. But it still has slipped onto 1V and into
repertory theaters, and I get inquiries about it all the time.
You never know where these films can turn up.
• A}: Your mouies don't seem to have pat, dogmatic polit­
ics. They haue complexity. they can't be pinned doum to
simplistic "Left" or "Right" messages. And yet they all hm1e
under(ying anti-authoritarian themes.
• V Yes. they seem to be anti- "Control Process" ...
• LC: That's true. 7be Stuff is an indictment of the food
industry, mass market advertising and the cynical way it's all
handled by the U.S.Government Food and Drug Administra­
tion. In the end of the picture, they uncover that "the stuff'' is
a poisonous food that takes over people's minds and kills
them, so they finally get it off the market, destroy the factory
and blow up the franchises. But then the people who are
merchandising it just re-emerge under another name. They
dilute it, saying their new product contains only 121h% of the
stuff-the rest is "natural dairy products" -and put it out
under a new name with a new advertising campaign.
That's what they always do, right? like with saccharin­
now it's Nutrasweet. lf you examine the label you'll probably
find the product has just as much saccharin as before, but
they just put in a little drop ofNutrasweet so they can feature
that on the label. giving the impression there's no more
saccharin in it. But all they did was add the Nutrasweet
without taking out the saccharin.Now you really don't know
what you're getting!
They'll sell you anything. Ford Motor Company'll sell you a
car that goes out of control and runs you over. They know
about the defect, but it's easier for them not to do anything
about it and pay off the lawsuits than to recall all the cars.
Even though a few people get killed-so what? When they
larry Cohen with his two monster babies from 11"1 AHve Part I & II and
find it's a defective part that makes the cars go out of control
newly hatched killer Mayan bird-god from Q.
and kill a few old ladies, they say, "Oh u•e/1. if you bring the car
back we'll fix it for you."
with into the city water system, a violation of the law. But it
was cheaper for them to do it and pay the fine than to dispose
of it properly.
•A J: That's just one or two executive salaries a year for
them. A drop in the bucket, so to speak.
• LC: See, they don't put anybody in jajl. lf they started
putting people in jail there would be a change! But they don't
want to put a few "nice persons" in jail when all they did was
poison a few hundred thousand people ...
There was a recent story about someone putting pluto·
nium in the New York City water supply. But after a couple of
days you didn't hear about it; imagine the panic if they went
What should happen is-they should be forced to refund on the air and told 8 million people they're going to die! They
the entire original purchase price of the car. I don't care if just dropped it: "Keep on drinkin' it, folks!" So, my movies are
I've driven my car 20,000 miles-if it was defective to start definitely an understatement. They're not exaggerations;
with, they should give me back the wholeS 10,000 I originally they're conserva tive/ They don't go as far as they should. And
paid. Then they wouldn't put defective cars on the market! probably no one would believe it if you told the real truth.
But try and get that passed. It would be "bad" for American • v- Why u•as the title of God Told Me To changed to
industry; we'd have to start loaning money to Chrysler to Demon?
keep them from going out of business ... (laughs] There is • LC: Well, nobody could remember the title; they kept
nothing as bizarre in my movies as what happens in real life. I saying, "God Made Me Do It" or "God Told Me To Do It."
think all my pictures are understatements. Finally Roger Corman said, "We'd better change the title to
The whole system is amazing. Recently Sparkletts Water something people can remember." 7be Omen had been out,
Co. here, who put out "natural, pure, clean bottled water," and I thought that Omen spelled sideways is Demon, so ... !
were given the biggest fine in history, SSOO,OOO, because they • A}: Did it work?
were caught pouring the paints they use to paint their tanks • LC: Oh, I don't know. It didn't tum it into a blockbuster.

115
larry Cohen with Broclerkk cr-ford on the set of Tile Prfy... .... •f J ......, HMYer.

but the picture played and was distributed by Roger Corman. enough, and you've had enough tragedy in your Life, for some
• A]: Did it make money? people the only alternative to giving up completely is finding
• LC: Yeah, it made money-for us, anyway, who made the something to put their faith in.
picture. Money still comes in on a regular basis from foreign But it would be better to put your faith in nature, and go
sales and things like that. All these pictures bring in money out and pray to a big tree, or the clouds which are beautiful,
every quarter or every year, just like a songwriter getting or go out into the woods somewhere where God really had
royalties on some hit song he wrote twenty years ago. something to do with it. Forget about all those stained-glass
• A]: God Told Me To wassuch a bleak statement about windows which are pretty, but ...
religion. What do you feel about religion, God, etc? I guess I got the idea for God 1bld Me 7b from going to the
• LC: I don't relate to anyone who is a professional religion­ National Gallery in London. I was walking through it, looking
ist ... who has the ego to tell us that they know God's will, around and thinking, "Jesus, they talk about movies being
and can tell us what God thinks and what God likes and what violent-look at aU these paintings. This saint has 77 arrows
God is, and how God feels about integration, South Africa, in his back, this guy's got his head over here and his hand
and AIDS. Everybody's got a different idea what God thinks; there, and here are all these women being raped and ravaged.
the crazy guy on the street corner knows about as much as Look at this scene and think what it would cost to reproduce
the guy in St. Patrick's Cathedral-none of them know it: a big canvas with bodies strewn from one end to the other;
anything. here are babies with spears through them. And it's a religious
People say, "Reverend Moon-what a crook!" and I say, painting."
"But what about the Pope?" It's all the same; anybody who Jesus, there's nothing as violent as the Bible. God kills
starts telling you what God thinks should be locked up everybody-drowns the entire .world, destroys the cities of
immediately! Get them off the streets because they'll cause a Sodom and Gomorrah, burning people to a crisp. "This is a
lot of trouble for everybody. I don't want anybody telling me tough guy," I said. "Boy, if he ever came back, look out! Talk
that so-and-so's going to heaven but not this guy. I'd hate to about GodziJia-what if God ever walked in here and took a
get there and find a line of people with reservations; they give look around? He's one tough cookie. This man is strict."
you a number Like in a bakery and you're standing there, then So that gave me the basic idea for this movie: what if a
they call your number and some guy comes over and says, messiah came back, bringing with him the kind of ethic that
"But you're not wearing a necktie!" really is the basis of our relig.ion, which is: kill and destroy
I think heaven, the way it's depicted, would be too hor­ anybody who doesn't do EX4 CTIY what you tell him to do.
rendous to imagine, with everybody up there telling you Why should the Angel of Death fly over and strike down every
who's good enough to get in and who's not good enough to firstborn male child of the Egyptians who didn't do anything
get in, like some kind of a club. I think it's really sad when I except be born; why should those little babies have to die?
see all these guys on television "healing" people and asking This is an unreasonable, mean person. Right? This is not a
people to send their money in. I find it hard to accept that nice guy.
anybody falls for this. But then, I guess if you're desperate Back in the '20s when Cecil B. DeMille was making sexy

116
comedjes and sexy movies about philandering wives with big �were to actually paint in a naked woman performing ase:x
orgy scenes. the Motion Picture Board ofRC\iewcame down act on a religious figure in a painting-that might be consi·
and said. ''You cannot make these kind ofpictures anymore." dercd "obscene"; we wouldn't necessarily have any right to
So DeMille decided he would make Biblical movies, because deface a painting or change it in anyway. But just to .show the
in that context he could have orgies. he could have aU these painting seems to me like showing Mt. Rushmore. I didn't
·women taking baths, he could have all this infidelity; every•· have the time or legal fees to get into it.
tbfng he was no longeraiJowcd to do he could get a�'llywith. Anyway, I thought all those violent religious paintings
because he was invoking the name of the Lord. Ifyou h;ne the would tie the whole thing together and solve the problem of:
Bible you can get a�y with anything. The Bible is a book how <.-an I bring "aliens" into the plot? Aliens are like an
that's full of sound and fur,y sex and '�olencc. and the best· alternative reljgion-the belief that aliens arc going to show
seUing book of all time, you know. up. There's probably a better chance that aliens will show up
• V.· However. tbe author net'<-.,. got any royalties. than jesus will appear! "Make your bets now on who's com·
• LC: That's what you tltink; we don't know who wrote it! ing first-ET or jesus!"
Betieve me, religion is a big business-bigger than the movie • V: Tbe National Enquirer periodically runs stories about
business. that's for sure. Before movies came along, people tiny mc.:>t1ln crashed space capsules being found. Maybe Ibis
had to go somewhere on the weekend so they went to the actual�)' lxtppened
church. And if they had a good minister who ranted and raved • LC: Probably just as many people say the Virgin Mary
and created a lot of exdtment- appears and tcUs them to go do something. All these Cant<�·
• V.· And pt1inted illusions- sics! There are so many interlocking things people believe
• LC: -With heU and damnation, where you could see aU in-stories in the Bible. ancient drawings and carvings sup­
those people consumed by fire-boy. that was bot stuff! posedly depicting "spacemen" with antennae coming out of
the helmet-you've seen OJariot of the Gods.
There's some of that in God 1bld Me 7b-the idea that
.., ...... ..,,•••Dr•• •• -.. ancient aliens may have founded our religion. In the movie
trus guys an alien and he's here on earth. lf Superman were
... .. ...,..., .... .. ....
real-if there really were a Clark Kent, and Mr & Mrs Kent
..... ....... .. ... .. .... . .. found the baby in the space ca'"psuJe and brought him up ,
•••••• • I Slllllllt ....... when h e reaches the or six }'ears old h e doesn't know who he
is. right?
He starts to go to church. they tell him about jesus Quist
• V: 1bey prey on all those fear emotions. and he thinks, "I can sec through walls and I can fly; I have
• LC: Sure. Now you'\e got different people doing it, like superior powers. I look like a man, but I'm not one of
that guy in Oregon-Rajneesh. On a recent news program thc:m-l'm sure of that. I must be jesus Christ."
you could sec these people going crazy when he arrived, He's not going to think he's Superman; he's going to think
chanting. screaming. hollering. having virtual orgasms of he's Jesus because we have a religious belief that says God
delight. Now, because of AIDS. when theyhavesex theyhave comes down to Earth looking like a man but with superior
to wear plastic gloves. and they?rc not allo�-ed to kiss. and powers. So he doesn't go to Metropolis and become a repor·
they have to w<.-ar prophy1actics during intercourse. He's got ter; he starts a religion. The alien in this movie could easilybe
them cominccd ( tike ochers have done before) that C\"Cry· deluded into thinking he's God, just by the fact he's oot a
body's goi� to rue in a nudcar holocaust if they don't go to human being. lf you're not a human being. who are you?
some out-of·the-�r place. Also, he's got his sect beliC\iOg My mmies aren't so different from what was done all
they will be the only survivors when the plague of AIDS through ancient societies. So many of the ancient books and
sweeps America and the world. and everybody else dies but play-s are based on gods appearing in human form; the Mino­
them. You can get people ro believe anything! taur is half·human. half-beast . God's always coming down and
• V: A doOnlS€1ay scenario bas been tm essential part ofso having sex with a woman, and she gives birth to a child who's
many of these religious moveme11ts through the ages. half-human and half-monster. That �s the principal CJass A
• LC: Well, everybody's expecting the "last judgment"-the entertainment in those days; today that's an exploitation film!
whole church is based on the belief that some day Jesus will Some people ask. "How can you make a picture where
return and the "last judgment" �II come. If you look at the people give birth to a monster baby?" I as in Its Alit-e!] Well,
painting "The lal.'t Judgment" by Michelangelo-talk about it's not the first time this story's been told. Mythology has
horror mo,ies. there's a guy holding somebodys skin in his loads of monster babies; I mean, in those ancient days it was
hands! I got a print of that when I was at the Vatican. Michel· unusual if your kid was born without a tail. Often you see the
angelo painted himselfactuaUyas the skin; thisman'sholding combination of oun-beast people-the head of a man with
his outer skin all hanging do�n. but it's Michelangelo's face. the body of a beast and vice-versa.
For all-time gruesomeness you don't need Rick Baker or "The For example, in Egypt there's Anubis with the head of a dog
Thing" -just go look at some reljgious paintings! OriginaUy I and the body of a man. These kind of monsters are not new,
wanted all the main tjtJes of God 7bld Me 7b to be religious but they al�ys have some religious connection to them. And
paintings of exquisite violence. in andent times people thought that malformed children had
• V: \�y didn't you do that? some kind of religious sjgnificance. In some societies they
• LC: WeiJ, I'd gotten all these slides from differ ent muse· worshipped them. and in others they sacrificed them. But
urns, but wt: didn't ha"·e the rights to reproduce these paint· they aiV. 'll}''S thought they were in some �y God-like or a
ings, and I was afraid, afert we shot it, that we'd be involved manifestation of God.
with all kinds of litigation with museums across the country. • A}: Were you tblnking about tbfs whenyou did It's Alive!?
• V.· Those pait�llngsfrom the 16th or 17th cmturies aren't • LC: To some degree. I didn't think Its AliL'l?! was aU that
public domain? different from a picture that came out years later called The
• LC: I don't know. I think you could argue you have the Elephant Man It wasn't the same story progression, but I was
right tO usc a painting like the Mona Lisa that's been around trying to create the same feeling of a compassion for some·
so long it's just become part of our society, there's no owner· one who is different.
ship to it. Just like the Sphinx and the Pyramids have become It's funny. because today Tbe Elephant Man is sold just like
part of our culture. the Elephant Man was sold when he really existed. You show
Merely showing the actual painting should be okay. But if him in the: ad �th a caf tan on so rou can't see his face, and

117
you tell everybody to go to the movie and pay five dollars to kid who's a werewolf. (Ever read lntenJiew with the Vam­
get in-to see what be looks like when they take it off, right? pire? In it there's a little girl who's a vampire-she never gets
Just as in an old-time freak show.And It's Alive! is the same any older. Werewolves and van1pires never age; they stay the
thing. The audience almost gets a look-we hardly show it, same age forever.) The kid's a teenager in high school who
but they get a little glimpse.But on the same token, both It's becomes a werewolf; then he goes away-he doesn't want to
Alive! and 1be Elephant Man are trying to tell a compassion­ bite anyone in his hometown. Twenty years later he comes
ate story about feelings. back and of course aU the kids he went to high school with
If's A/ilJC! tries to tell about parents' feelings for a child are middle-aged. but he's :.<ill seventeen.
that's different. In today's world it could be anythb1g wrong So he goes back tO the high school posing as his own son.
with the kid-psychologically or physiologically-and yet His ex-girlfriend is now a forty-year-old woman, his best
parents bave to come to terms with their feelings for t11e friend is now the forty-year-old Chief of Police ... They
child. At the time J made the picture. people were afraid of always say wereuull'es change-the full moon comes out and
their children because their kids were wearing their hair they change into a wolf-but he's changed less than anyone.
long, smoking grass, and fucKing. All of a sudden they were In the past rwenry years all these nice. idealistic sweet kids
taking acid, fathers were shooting their teenage sons in the have become these hideous people; he's less of a monster
house because they couldn't control them anymore, and than they arc.
there was a general fear of the younger generation by the So it reaJJy was a picture that was about something: also.
older generation-they were suddenlyafraid. This was a big, kind of a fun picture.Again, this is what I ·was talking about:
prevalent feeling at the time, and I felt that the story fitted in. how people change so much. In a ten or twenty year period
This was a picture of that time: the early seventies. they change totaJJy into different people. That's why people
get divorced, I guess; t11ey marry one person and find out ten
years later they're living with somebody else. But the pic­
tures, like my were"volf, stay the same!
• A}: How about you� What were you like ten years ago?
• LC: The same. I never got into anything, so I never
changed. I never got into any of the fads in terms of clothing,
drugs, or anything. I just did my work. lived my life and kept
out of all those mings.I believed in certain things politically
but I wasn't out on the street throwing bags of shit at the
police. I didn't beliC\·e in that.
• V: Too ineffectual for you?
• LC: Yeah.When I lived in New York we went for training
in Civil Disobedience to close down nuclear power plants.
It's funny how things even out as time goes by. Tilese etc. We went to a course in that, but I didn't like being
movies become a part of the culture or the subculture and manipulated; I felt that the ones running the \vhole tlling
they're there. but everything else changes. The hairstyles were manipulating and brainwashing people just like these
change, the compulsions change, the political things change. religious people do: giving them dogma. You weren't
The people stop marching in the streets, and they get jobs, allowed ro think for yourself; you had to do it the way they
and get on the pension plan, and they get conservative ... wanted you to. there were no questions asked. You were
people go through the big drug thing ... then they get off the supposed w lie on the street and let yourself be dragged
drug thing, and then join the gym and the healthclub and they down the block.
jog and eat wheat germ and take colonic enemas-these are I didn't want to become a drone, no matter what the cause
the same people that were wasting their bodies years before. was. I've never been able to get into any of those things. You
The world changes but the movie srays the same: it's just do what you can, but without becoming part of a mob or
there. It's made in one culture and emerges ten years later in group or movement.
another. And sometimes it's understood better by people Strangely enough. if you stand back it aU kind of goes away.
who are no longer in the culture mat the picture was about. The people aJJ change; usually they become tOtally hypocriti­
Ten years later they've changed into different people; they cal, like all those guys who were the "great leaders" in the
sec the picture on cable and say, "Hey, this is very good! Why anti-war movement-Jerry Rubin ... Woodward and Bern­
didn't we like this when we first saw it?" stein. who were such great media heroes-such "wonderful
You can see how the world is changing constantly. I know guys" turned out w be a couple of assholes!
all these people who once were ·wild, crazy kids, and you You've just got to stand back, look at it all and say: Ibis too
meet them now and tht'}�re older than I am. What happened will JX.ISS away. Because that's tl1e truest statement r,·e ever
to them? [laughs] How'd theygetso old? And now, you've got heard. truer than any Biblical statemcnr. I don't know if it's
kids running around with the spiked hair-orange, pink, and from the Bible, hut itsounds like it is: This too willpass away.
blue. It's great, but wait and see these same people ten years Whether it's success or failure, or misery or whatever. if you
from now-you won't recognize them. They',·e got to get i t Stand back it will pass away, it will change. If you're a big
all out o f their system now. success-don't worry, you won't be for long! If you're
All that rebellion they'll get out of their system by dying Number One-don't worry, somebody else will take it away
their hair green or red or purple, without ever dealing with from you. If you're madly in love-don't worry. i t will pass
anything mentally. So that when mey're all through with it, away. If you can't stand someone-that's all right. it will go
the)' can become the same boring people that their parents away too-hate also goes away. Everything will eventualJy
are.Meanwhile we go on making the movies. It's like painting pass. Your great success or great depression will go away,
on the walls of the cave-years later another sodety discov­ eventually. That's what 1 think when I see all these people
ers those paintings and says, "That's what things were like in coming up who k11ow all the answers and-
those days." Those movies really have something to do with • V.· Have all the 'bip· attitudes, like hate Reagan-
the time in which mey're made. • A]: Or love him.
Full Moon High (points to poster I was made about seven • LC: Yeah, they know it all. Reagan's a phenomenon like
or eight years ago. Two weeks ago a picture came out called everything else. 1 think that at the end of his speeches they
Teetl Wolf which is basically the same film but not nearly as ought to come on and say, ''The part of the President was
funny.Full Moon High was really about something-about a pl.ayed by Ronald Reagan." I mean. he's good casting for this

118
It's Alive!

part. All the President:- han· bc<:n terrible: disappointments Churchill ·was ahle to function so well because e\·cry day at
... including Kennedy. .�:00 he took a nap. and Kennedy did the same. And it wasn't
• V: He fooled a lo t off.X'O{Jie. just lying down on the couch, he put his pajamas on and got
• LC: \X'dl. IK· fooled them because he \ va s attracti\'e and into bed for onc:: hour.\X'hat he didn 't tell everybody was: the
had thc: media on his side-they'd finally found the first real rea..� n WinstOn Churchill went to sleep at 3:00 "WaS because
Tdc:\'ision President. Eisenhower h<:fore him \vas an old man. he was dnmk-e\'t'IJ' afternoon he got drunk on brandy and
He: was a World War If hero. hut in tc:rm:-; of spc:c:-ches h e passed out. and they had to put him to hed. And the reason
w�L,n't \·c:ry good on tel evision . But Kennedy wa..'i made for Kennedy went to hed was bc:cause there was aiWJ)'S a broad
the n· tube. He lookc:d so ex'temporaneous and so rc:laxed heing brought in at .3:00PM. Th<.se are the tme facts' You get
and so casual, and could answer any question, and charm and the famous statemt'nt. then twe nty years later you get th<.·
make jokes. and act sexy to the women. He: loved his kids. and true facts. You can imagine what absurdities arc:- going on
today-w�;'ll only know in about twenty years. So what's
next'
No•, you'vegotki*nn .. ..... wriththt"' • Af: God Told Me To u•as 11(>1)' ftlmfc, with your use of

spiked hair AI that r.ta.lli6n'they'(18f out

• • •
camera rmgles and particularly your use of sound.
• V: Yes: u •hy did you dedicate the film to flemard
of their system by dying their hair ...., or Herrma1111?
red or purple,..JWithottt _.., ..... With. • LC: He "'"as supposed to do the music for thc:: film . but he

c.ything menially. So 1hat when fheVre • died before he could. He wa..'i a good friend of mine. Actually.

through with it, they can become the same

we had been together the night before he passed away; we
had run th<.· film for him O\'er at Golden Studios. Then he and
boring people that their p�ts ..... his "iJe and my "-ife and I went out to dinner. The nc:xt
morning we got a call from his hotel sa)-ing he had died in his
sleep. \X'e had been "ith him till about 12 midnjght. and then
lovc:d to walk on the bc:ach; always had a kid or a little boy he died a few hours later. So of course:: he couldn't do the
undt·r his desk (making all the decisions: people didn't rc::al­ music. Frank Corddl. a good British composer who had
ize that ). lie: was a wonderful guy-beautiful ""ife and every­ knO\\TI Herrmann. wrote the music.
thing. They didn't mc:ntion that nery day at �:00 PM there • V· The sound editing U'tlS incredible. ll'ifh layers upon
was a hooker <:oming into the \X-'h ite House:: ... k�yers of smmd.
If you read the speeches Kennedy made:: they're: really • A}: Thefilm has almost a timeless quality. like a morality
amazing in the context of what rt'ally was going on. He ::;aid play or an opera tbat makes it mucb more thanjust a strny
that he: and Winston Churchill had somc:thing in common: set in Nell' York.
• LC: There were a lot of things going on at once in the
story. with the religious choir and the parade music and the
score.
• A]: A lot oftimes at the end ofcertain scenesyou bad the
music swell, and somehow that lent the quality of a Nob
play or something very styli
zed.
• LC: We mixed it at Golden Studios wruch is the best
mixing place in Hollywood We had a guy who worked for
Roben Altman who often is complimented for good sound
and good sound mixing. The mixer was Dick Portman, "no
has won an Academy Award for some of the work he's done.
• V: But didn 't you tell him what you wanted?
• LC: You always tell them what effects you want, for sure,
and for the most pan you get �t you ask for. Sometimes
you don't: then you have to stop in the mix (wtuch is very
expensive) and find an effect that the studio has available on
cassettes. Sometimes you have to create them right there at
the soundstage.
God Told Me T
o WdS a New York picture and it bad a lot of
real street sounds and street noise, recorded live. Some of it
you can't keep out of a picture because it's on the dialogue Parade scene in Gocl Told Me To.
tracks. If they don't want that extraneous noise in, some
�-rudios will then "loop" the scene. But NewYork street noise
is like the New York "look "- i t has a texture to it. I usually
feel that reality is the best thing you can give people i n a Irish-American groups there. I told them we were going to
movie. re-stage the St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown. We got a
•AJ: A lot of times a director worts on an intuitive let Jel permit, and all these groups came and brought their bands.
that s
i not logicalZv thought out at the time . . . Howdidyou They came in costumes and marching clothes. and that's
do that parade scene? where we shot all the stuff v.ith the guns real�)' going offand
the blood squibs. We matched that footage into the footage
shot in New York so it looked like it was aU-in-one. But we
netJercould have had all that carnage and chaos in the middle
of the real St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City!
• V: I u'Ondered: I thought the parade scene alone must
have cost a million.
• LC: It would have because you would have bad to have
,

thousands of extras. and you really would have had to shut

down the entire Fifth Avenue, and they never would have
gone along ""ith that. As it wdS, I'm sure to this day they're
trying to figure out how we managed to do that in the middle
of their parade and get away with it! Anyway, we got the
• LC: Well. we actually shot part ofit at the real St. Patrick's sequence . But if it hadn't worked out. I just would have done
Day Parade in New York. something else. that's all.
• V: You had your actors tbere in the parade? Now I have to figure out how to get the Masons' parade
• LC: Yeah; that scene was one of the first things we shot. I into a pkture. I'd love to see a gun fight in their parade.
thought, Wouldn t it be great ifwe could have ashootout in
" ' because if a few bullets go into some of those balioons and
the middle ofthe St. Patrick's Dayparade"11ich is next week? they start popping or dragging aU the people up on those
But it's not in the script, so I don t bat->e to deliver the scene. If
' strings, then . . . ! Parades are fun - you get a million free
it doesn't work out, I -won't be penalized by people saying, extras, and it looks very rich and opulent because you have all
'Hey, you didn't get that big parade, so we don't want to give these people marching along. They're all there, anyway!
you the money for the picture because you didn't give us the • A]: W11at tl'as your budget?
picture you promised."' I thought. "But if I can bring this 6ff. • LC: Oh God. 1 don't even remember. They're all low
it will add a big, spectacular scene to the move. i " budget films-a million this or a million that. In those days a
Whatcould be more ftm than to have the police looking for million dollarswas more than it is today. You'll notice prices
one particular cop in the middle of a big parade where never go doU'TI.'
there's SOOO policemen? So we went d0\'\'11 there wearing • AJ: Remember the silt'er scandal?
badges like we were covering the parade for a newsreel • LC: That's right. The price ofsilver went up so they raised
company. We had three cameras and three crews. and v.-eput the price of film. Then the silver market collapsed, but they
Andy Kaufman in the parade (who played the guy with the didn't lower the price of filin; they kept it high and that was
gun). It was the first thing he ever did in a film. by the way. that.
We told him, "Get in there with the police officers!" So he got Everything costs more money; wages are more and benef­
into the formation and the cops who were there played
. itS are more. So even if your budgetS go up, a good ponionof
along with it. They probably thought we were allowed to do that raise is eaten up by inflationary costs. and you still don't
it, anyway. have any more real money to make your picture with than
• A]: Were you? before. You're still working on basically a limited budget. no
• LC: No. We had no permits w shoot an actual mO\ie, we matter what.
only had permits to shoot a nonnal newsreel of a parade. But sometimes, imagination i s required to come up with
They didn't know we were going to have people falling something ..,.,-hen you can't squander money aimlessly. You
do"'l1, running around, pulling guns and stuff like that! But may end up doing something cleverer than you would if you
we didn't actually fire off any guns there. had all the money in the world. If we had staged the St.
Later. we came back to Los Angeles and contacted all the Patrck s Day Parade like a normal movie studio, it might not
i '

120
have been as good, because it never could have been the real All these guys were up there pumping machine gun blanks.
parade. But we had the real parade -nothing could be better We had mostly off-duty policemen; we had a police sergeant
than that. and we had all the permits, but when the Daily News decided
If you set out to do something like that, you have to enter to lead this crusade, then Mayor Koch called up the lady
into it with a great deal of trepid ation: "Am I really going to who's in charge of the Motion Picture Division and bawled
be able to bring this off? Is something going to go wrong?" her out. Then she called me in and said, "You're not going to
Because remember, they only hold the parade once. They be allowed to shoot any more scenes on the streets. You can
start off walking from 4 2nd Street up to 86th Street, and finish your picture here but you can't shoot any more chase
when they get there that's the end ofthe parade. Ifyou don't scenes or scenes that will disrupt the streets. And no guns are
get the scene by the time it's finished, then . . . to be fired in any scenes, period. No gunfire." But, at least we
We were running our asses off! We had to keep getting got the key scene with the people in baskets hanging from
ahead of the march each time. We'd shoot them going by and the Chrysler Building.
then we'd have to run our asses off and get up ahead of them
in enough time to set up the shots, set up the camera, get the
readings and focus and be ready when they came by again.
And you'd be carrying aU that equipment -batteries, extra
loads of film, running Like crazy. It was like covering a real
news event.
• AJ: But it had that "spedal feeling ": a kind of gritty
feeling of reality.
• Y. In both Q and God Told Me To you have similar
scenes showing death coming from above. Did you use
some of the identical footage in both movies (ofpeople
falling down after they'd been killed) ?
• LC: Yes. I didn't have much footage ofpeople falling-you
know, the shots from overhead. We didn't have many shots of
a massive number of people running around and falling
down. I got thrown out of New York and I couldn't get any
more footage. That was after we fired the machine guns from
the top of the Chrysler Building' • A]: How can you hire cops as actors?
• A]: How did you get the Chrysler Building as a location • LC: We hired off-duty cops. They show up in their own
for Q? uniform, whereas if you hire an actor you have to pay them
• LC: We were able to rent it from the management because for the day, and send them to Western Costuming ( and that's
they didn't know what we were going to do. They didn't another S7S for the costume), and you have to rent them a
know we would bring actors, cameras and crew aU the way gun and a badge, so by the time you're through you've spent
up those ladders into that skinny Little needle at the top of the over SIOO just on wardrobe. But ifyou hire a regular cop, they
building, and that we'd have helicopters flying around, and come in their costume. Everybody does it!
guys firing machine-gun blanks off the building. Every time you see a movie made in New York the cops are
When we got up there they were doing repairs, so there the same cops who are members of the Screen Actors Guild.
were these little metal baskets hanging off the building that They work in movies on their days off-they make a lot of
steeplejacks work in. We got the idea of putting the police money that way! Plus, they know the procedures ofhandcuf­
with machine guns in those baskets. We hired the steeple­ fmg or searching somebody, so they do that in a realistic
jacks, dressed them up in police uniforms and taught them marmer.
how to f1re the guns, because no normal people wiU go into • V: In Q it looked like you used a genuine police
those baskets and hang off the side of the Chrysler Building. headquarters.
Even stunt people don't want to do that-it's really scary. • LC: We rented a police station. You can rent police sta­
tions in New York just Like you can out here; if you go to any
city they cooperate with you because it's good for the econ­
omy of the city. UsuaUy they'U give you police cars and
policemen for very little dough.
When we made the second It's Alive! picture in Thcson,
they gave us the whole police department. Actually, there I
overdid it-1 used too many policemen. When the protago­
nists came out of the back of the hospital the entire Thcson
police department was waiting for them-it was immense!
They give you everything in these cities; everybody wants to
They fired the machine guns, and of course the shots get in the movie.
carried- unfortunately-down into the streets. The Daily • A]: What's your situation now with New York ? Can you
News Building is down the block, so the Daily News sent over go back there and shoot?
a camera crew and photographers and put a big headline in • LC: Oh yes, I've been back since. The business has
their paper that said, "HoUywood movie crew terrorizes New changed. The lady who was there is not there anymore. I told
York!" Then they wrote an editorial saying, "It's time we stop you everything changes, everything passes away. She's now a
allowing movie companies to come in from Hollywood and production manager herself and she came to me for a job!
frighten our citizens" -they said people were running for The guy who used to be chief of the Police Liaison Squad left
cover and that old ladies were terrified. Of course it was a the police department and became an Assistant Director!
total Lie. I had a camera crew down on the street to try and The guys who once gave you a hard time being hard-nosed
get footage of people's reactions in case there really was a cops- a year or two later they've retired from the force and
panic, but no one ran away! That's why I had to use footage they're working for you as production guys. As I say, you
from God Told Me To: I couldn't get footage of anybody shouldn't reallyworryabout things for too long, because it all
running because they all just stood there and looked, that's changes. And you meet the same people over and over again
all Nobody thought there was anything dangerous about it. in different contexts.
• A]: How did you get the idea for Q? • V: But he's got it in him, because when he scat-sang with
• LC: I don't know . . . I got the idea from looking at the the piano-
Ouysler building with all those bird motifs on it, thinking it • LC: Well, he wrote that song. That's another thing; we
would make a great nest for a giant bird to go up into. I always were on the set and in between takes he was sitting around
took at that building-it's gorgeous, particularly when the listening to a Walkman. I said, "What are you listening to?"
sun hits it in a certain way-it's the most beautiful building in and he replied, "I'm listening to these songs I wrote." I said,
New York. I thought, "jeez, the Empire State Building gets all "Let me hear them." I put it on and I said, "That's good, and I
the attention, what with King Kong and all. But this is a much like the one about an 'Evil Dream.' I'll tell you what we should
better-looking building." Then I had to figure out some way do: this guy shouldn't just be a little street punk, he wants to
to get a story out of this-a story with a character. Then I got be better than that. He wants to be a singer, he writes songs,
the idea about this little punk who learns the secret of the and he wants to get a job playing the piano in a club. We'll
bird's hideout; for ten rrunutes he becomes somebody impor­ make up a scene where he goes to a club and tries to get a job,
tant. Then he's gone again. But for ten minutes he has his and they reject him. 1ben he'll go along with the robbery."
glory. So we can see that if only they had given him the job, he
• A]: Butyou ended the film with a title card: that be sued would not have gone on the robbery! He would not have
and won the million dollars-taxfree-he'd beenpromised been up in the Chrysler Building, he would not have found
for revealing the giant bird's location. the nest -none of this would have happened if they'd just
• LC: That enrung title wao;n't on the original prints, but given him that job! But they don't. And he gets rejected in a
after the picture opened in New York and I went to the very insulting way when the guy turns the jukebox on.
theater, I thought, "You know, the auruence would like it So we went down, rented a club in the East Village and did
better if he got that money at the end." that scene. All that wasn't in the script, but that's how things
• AJ: Yes, it makes everybody feel triumphant! happen in the making of a picture. You ruscover something
• LC: He's such a punk, but so likable that you feel it would about the actor or the character that leads you off in a
be great if he got the money at the end. So I said, "Let's make direction different from what you'd originally anticipated. I
up a title card and stick it on, and we 'II cut my credit down by thought the nightclub audition gave him a lot more character
a few frames." But that was all an afterthought. and made him a lot more interesting person than if we had
• V: What research did you do to write the screenplay, just had him be a little crook. And he loved the fact that he got
Quetzalcoati - to sing one of his own songs!
• LC: I got a couple books on Aztec history, etc, but there • A]: Q again had the same kind of theme as Demon and
was a lot we rudn't put in. uke, when the Sparush came to the It's Alive! u>ith the gods coming back-
Aztec temple in Mexico, they found about 18,000 skulls • LC: That's true, rough cookies . . . picking people up off
there- 18,000 human beings had been executed and their rooftops for no reason! Like I say, God just knocks people in
hearts cut out in that temple ofQuetzalcoat/. Think about all airplanes right out of the sky for no reason! They're just flying
the people who were victims of that human sacrifice! But I along, all these men, women and children, on their way to
didn't want to get too gruesome and inaccessible; a little Kansas City or somewhere, and he knocks that plane into a
suggestion of it was enough. mountain. And you say, "Why does he do such things? Does
Plotwise, there had to be some reason why that bird he have a reason for this?" But he's just like that bird -he's
showed up there; there had tO be something that brought it flying around and notices you down there: ''Oh! There's Larry
Cohen!"
• v.- Splatt.
• LC: Don't be up on the roof when Quetzalcoatl's flying
•• .._. the �te�pi•IDdcs. •••••• tt.. • • by!-that's the whole thing. People go to church and the}�re
.... ...... ... ...... t'- how to fln making a mistake. They say, "Hey God! Look at me! Hey, it's
me here, Sam. I'm praying!" And God says, "Oh . . . Sam, I'd
... ...... ...... ... ....... ...... .. . forgotten about him . . . no plague on him lately? Well, let's do
..... ..... ...... .... ..... oH the ... .. the something about it! Give me a report on him. Children: how
Cllryll1r lul•n1, IYM sNit ...... don't many? Too many children! Burn his house down!"
Don't call attention to yourself. It's like being in the army:
...t to do that It's ..., ...,.
you never look at anybody, you never look the sergeant in the
eye, you just never make eye contact with anybody. Pretty
girls who walk down the street and don't want to be talked to
there. I had to find a way to tie all the pieces together-the don't make eye contact. Look away/ Wear sunglasses, wear a
human sacrifices, the bird, the Moriarty character-and Sony Walkman, don't look at anybody! Don't call attention to
bring everything together at the conclusion. The last scene, yourself when you're dealing with God, just keep a low
when the "priest" tries to get Moriarty to say the prayer profile and maybe he'll go away. I just think: It's not so much
before sacrificing him, brought the whole thing back full "God help me," but "God leave me alone!" Q was just like all
circle. the other gods-indiscriminate and brutal!
• V.· 7bat was brilliant when Moriarty refuses to pray! • A}: 1bat was Dauid Can-adine in it?
• LC: Near the end of the picture I made up that scene and • LC: Of Kung Fu. It was nice of him to do that part for me.
we more or less improvised on it-it wasn't in the script. I He was in Cannes with a picture he had directed himself. I
said, "Tell him to say a prayer" and he said, "Fuck you! I ain't got him on the phone and said, "Listen, I'm going to start
sayin' any of your fuckin' prayers!" Michael Moriany's good making this picture in a couple of days, and I've got Michael
about those things -if you give him an idea on the spur of the Moriarty and Candy Clark, and I've got a part for you ." He
moment and he's in character, he'll put the idea right into the says, "What do I play in it?" I said, "Do me a favor, just come
character. on back here and do the part. I promise I'll write you some
• V.· 1bat 's one ofthe closest marriages I've seen between a good stuff; I'll write you some funny scenes. just come back
written character and an acted character. and do it."
• LC: And he's not that way at all , in reality or in person. ln So he arrived the same day we're shooting the scene with
his other movies, like Pale Rider, Bang the Drum Slowly, Michael Moriarty playing the piano in that bar. He called up
Holocaust, 1be Glass Menagerie with Katherine Hepburn­ from the hotel and I said, "Put a suit on and come down
he's nothing like that. It was a total acting job. here." When he got there we were already shooting; I said to

1 22
him, "Here's what you do: you come in and sit at the bar. The • AJ: Is that why most actors seem so sterile?
guy's going to say to you, 'What's new? Did you find that guy's • LC: Well, actors are like everybody else-they go to work
head yet?' And you say, 'Oh, it'll turn up!'" So he says, "What's every day! Except you get up earlier, because you've got to be
this about? What does this mean?" I said, "Well, it's too long a there at 8:00 AM in make-up and costume, so you get up
story to explain, but you're looking for a guy's head that was around 5:30, and the actresses get up even earlier because
chopped off or something." So he does the line. they've got to do their hair and make-up. They get there and
Later on (after the picture was finished ), he told me, "I had work aU day, 10 or 12 hours, and then go home and learn the
never worked in a situation where I didn't know what I was lines for the next day. It's a ob
j - a hard job.
doing beforehand. I didn't know what my character was or Most of the time they had a good career on Broadway and
what I was supposed to be doing i n the picture, l didn't know then came out to Hollywood and got into 1V or movies and
what the story was, I had never read the script, I had just made good money, bought a house, and now they can't afford
gotten off an airplane from Europe, I had no idea what was to go back to Broadway anymore because they have a "life­
happening. I go down there and you tell me to say these lines. style." So they have to take almost every job they're offered
As soon as I did the scene I was so upset I went out into the because, in order to live i n the style they've become accus­
street and threw up!" I said, "Well, you never would have tomed to, they have to work.
known it -you did fine." He said, "Well, I liked Moriarty So every day just becomes the routine, going-to-work situa­
playing the piano-that relaxed me. But I still didn't know tion. Once in a while they get a part that has some life to it, or
what was going on." It was wonderful that he was a good they meet somebody who tries to make the filmmaking
enough friend to come all the way over and do that for me on experience fun for them. 7ben they're able to do something
faith. Of course, that night he got to read the script and it was other than give you the routine performance they can give
you in their sleep.
Most actors can give you their routine performance in
their sleep, because it's the same performance they give in
_., ... ....... .. ,...... .... ,..... every picture. The director will say, "Okay, we need a guy to
..... I wltii God, ... ..... . ... ..... ... play a general. Let's get so-and-so -he always plays a gen­
eral." So you see the same guy come in and play a general
I ,.. .... . ..., . ... IM:& Wa ... .
guy
.

Another guy always plays a District Attorney, another

... .... ..... ..,, .. ,.. .._. _ always plays the Chief of Police . . . So if you don't want a guy
......r . .. .... . . ... ..... ... .
to play the part the same way, you've got to make up some­
...... 1..... ... ...... thing so that he'll play it differen tly.
• A}: There 's complidty all around in a system that keeps
perpetuating the stereotyping-
• LC: Well, it's simpler to hire somebody you've seen play­
all right after that. 4
ing that part n a previous episode of a 1V show, than to hire
• A}: He bad one of the best roles. someone new. Movies are usually better than 1V, if only
• LC: He got a chance to be funny. Usually he's so stoic, because you find new faces and people you haven't seen
having played "Grasshopper" for so long, where everything before. Like in 7be Year ofthe Dragon, you get to see a lot of
has to be cloaked with an inner meaning and a higher interesting new faces -all these Oriental gangsters.
implication -you know what I mean, too serious. That pic­ But when you get someone like David Carradine who is an
ture was unpretentious and he was unpretentious in it. He established actor, who is known for a certain kind of perfor­
ended up having a great time. mance, you try to give him something different he can have
When you work with somebody like Moriarty who gives so some fun with. You try and loosen him up and let him do
much, who takes chances and is willing to really mug and do things that are a bit more fresh.
stuff, and who acts with his whole body, then you see that and The main thing is-you always hire competent actors who
think, "Gee, I can do that, too. I can use my whole body, I can could give a performance even if you weren't there. And for
use my head, I don't have to look so good, I don't have to play some things a director isn't necessary. Everybody knows that
the handsome leading man." Carradine said that he learned you're going to shoot a close-up of this guy, and then a
something from doing the picture, because it loosened him close-up of the other guy, then an over-the-shoulder-shot,
up as an actor. then an over-the-shoulder shot of the other person, then an
• A}: Hou• do you elidt more from your actors? entrance to the room, exit from the room - 1 mean, a compu­
• LC: I give them things to do all the time; I give them new ter could direct the picture! There's no need to have a human
lines, new pieces of business. So when they come to the set being there to do this. And you're hiring actors who have all
they already know from previous days that they're not going played the same parts before, so they don't need to be told
to do just the things they studied last night. They're not going what's required of them.
to just go through the motions like they do on a television­ Most directors are just traffic cops: "You stand here . you
. .

type of show. where they have a script, they go to the set, they stand there . . . on to the next scene!" The difference is: ifyou
know the lines, they stand here, then they go there, and . . . can give people something different, and caJI on different
Whereas I'll come in and say, "Wait a minute, I got another muscles to be used so they can't do their same old act, then
idea. Let's make up a thing: you're talking to him, and then they can't revert to giving you the same old performance.
just as the waitress comes over you'll say something vulgar Actors can't help it; they'll give you the easiest performance
like 'Fuck!' and she'll look at you and you'll be embarrassed." they can give you. You want to make things more difficult so
We'll make up something like that right in the middle of a they'll have to call on something spedal. And in doing so it
scene, and that breaks it up with the actors because some­ will kind of wake them up and make them interested in the
thing new is going on. picture.
• V: In tbatone scenetheu •aitress wasgreat, because when When we're making pictures, often the other actors want
the character swore she kind of smiled tolerantly, but as to watch what's going on. Whereas on most sets the actors
soon as she left her expression changed to disgust. are all in the comer, reading the sports page. They're there
• LC: You see, you make up things that make the day an for the job, but often they don't read any scenes they're not in.
enjoyable experience for the actor. because something's When they get the script they look for their part, circle their
happening. Rather than just coming to work and going lines, and never read the rest of the script -it's just ajob. But I
through the ritual of it. like to turn it into something that they're involved in-with

123
an element of the unexpected. Also, it makes it more pleasu­ In the meantime I got a call from American International
rable for me, otherwise -if it were just a matter ofdoing it by who said they wanted me to do a black project. Thanks to
rote, it would be better to let someone else direct the Sammy Davis, Jr., I happened to have the outline! So I gave it
picture, and l'U stay home! to them, we made the deal right away and I went off and made
• V: Do you use friends as actors in minor roles? the picture. It was easy as pie-we just happened to have the
• LC: Some people have been inso manyofmypicturesthat right thing at the right time.
they've become friends. But they're aU actors. But it wasn't a typical black exploitation picture. Usually
• V: How about the guy with the heavy Italian accent the black guy beats up all the white people, gets the white
working in the produce market in God Told Me To? girl, becomes successful, and it's kind of a victory of the black
• LC: Yeah, he was working as stage doorman of the Golden over the white society. But Black Caesar is a picture about a
Theater in Manhattan when I went to meet my friend Ben guy who tries to live this dream but is destroyed by it. He
Gazarra. He said, "You're making a picture? I'm an actor­ doesn't win , he loses-he loses his own girlfriend who's a
how about giving me something to do?" He wasn't just your black girl, things don't work out with the beautiful white
usual person, he was a type, so I thought, "Let's give him a woman, and he tries to buy the white people's apartment and
line." live like they do-in short, he tries to be a white man and fails.
I pick up actors, but usually they're professional actors. He tries to take his mother who's a maid and turn her into a
Like Andy Kaufman-l'd seen him at the Improvisation Club. lady, but just makes her very unhappy. He fails in trying to
I asked him if he'd ever done a movie and he said, "No," so I resolve his relationship with his father; he fails on every
said, "I think you're going to be a star. I tell you what: I'll give count.
you a part just so I can say I gave you your first part in movies."
And it was true! But usually it doesn't work out to use people
who are friends or just off the street. I prefer actors who have
been in picture after picture, whom I can rely on, so that if I .... ...... ... .... •••fftc ... ,. ...... .

get into a problem I can say, "I need some help; can you try ... . ..
and get us a hotel where we can shoot in the lobby this
. , ..... .
••• •r·. • •"••... ••• . .,.. r/lft ,••,..
afternoon?" .-.. ..
If you work with people over the years, they become kind �······· ...... ....
of like Assistant Producers. Again, it's because they want to
,.. .. . .......
hang around even when they're not working. As long as
they're there, you may as well give them something to do that
-... .. ... .... _ . ..,...,. .. .... ... _
,.
..._. ...
makes them part of the production. So I ask them to help me ...... ..
out with this, that, and the other thing. .... ......
_ . ,
Usually I send the actors off to buy their own wardrobe: .. ...,
"You know what this character would wear; go out and buy a ....
The film's more .. like Public Enemy or Little Caesar, where
suit he would wear, and here's some money." They go out, you ..,the guy rise and fall. The flaw in his dream is that
... see
and now they're not just acting, they're involved. Instead of when he reaches a certain point there's no place to go but
handing them something, saying, "Here-wear this!" and down, because he has never resolved his personal problems.
they say, "Gee, the character wouldn't wear that; he wouldn't He has never resolved himself. he's just killed a lot of people
feel comfortable wearing that." If it's something they pick out and gotten into a position of power, and now everything's
themselves, it helps them to get into character while they're going to be taken away from him.
doing it. You use any device you can to bring people into the At the end of the picture he ends up betrayed by his
production as participants, rather than making them feel like girlfriend -double-crossed, shot by a policeman and stagger­
they're outsiders. ing through the slums in Harlem to the building where he
• V: I was impressed by theperformances of the blacks in grew up, now a big empty wreck with broken windows. He
God Told Me To - comes back to where he began, as james Brown sings, "Down
• LC: We shot those scenes in a real pool hall up in Harlem. and Out in New York City."
Those were aU actors. You tell 'em you want black actors, It's a good picture, but it's not a black exploitation picture.
they send you black actors. Believe me, the door opens and The title Black Caesar was almost enough to make the
they parade in-there's a lot of 'em out there. The guy who picture a big hit. At the beginning he starts off as a shoeshine
was the ringleader was a model, but he looked right for the boy and works his way up to the top, and in the end the
part so we used him. I don't think he wanted to be an actor crooked police captain finally gets the gun on him, saying,
and I don't think he's ever done anything since, which is "Before you die I want you to do one last thing for me. I want
amazing. you to shine my shoes." And he makes him get down on his
• AJ: How did you happen to do the two blaxploitation knees and do it. But then Black Caesar getsthe gun away from
.films? him and, taking the black shoe polish, tells him, "Before I ldll
• LC: The first picture I did, Bone, had Yaphet Kotto, a very you I'm gonna make you a nigger first." Then he blackens him
fine actor. I showed that picture around and then American up and ldlls him. This is a really good scene -operatic. It all
International called me up and said, "Listen, we want to make happens under an American flag; I really made the whole
some pictures with black casts, and you know how to direct picture just to do that one scene.
those black actors." ( One black actor in the whole film and I wish I could remember the name of the guy who played
"you know how to direct those black actors" ! ) the villain. He was a great big powerful guy who used to be a
I'd been approached by Sammy Davis, Jr.'s manager, who singer back in the forties -he was a band singer who had a
said they would payS 10,000 if I wrote up a movie treatment. I couple of hit records and everything. In the film we had him
had suggested making an old-fashioned gangster picture like sing " Mammy," and the totally black audience went wild! It
Warner Bros used to make with James Cagney and Edward G. was a total catharsis; black people were getting aU that anger
Robinson, but do i t with a black cast, because the black out of their system while enjoying the film at the same time. I
underworld was pretty active in New York. The idea was the went to the theater in New York where it was playing-
rise and fall of a black gangster called Black Caesar ( instead • V: 42nd Street?
of Little Caesar.) He said, "That's a great idea." I wrote the • LC: No, no, it played the Cinerama on Broadway. The film
outline and gave it to the guy, but no $10,000. I kept chasing started at 9:00 in the morning and ran all night long-it was a
him for the money but couldn't collect. big hit. People would say to me, "How can you go in there;

124
Black Caesar.

you're the only white people in the whole theater!" I'd say, "It made the film, but that's what happens when greed gets in
doesn't matter; the audience has such a good time that when the way!
they leave they're the most peaceful, friendly people-if • V: Your greed ?
anybody bumps into you, they say, 'Excuse me.'" • LC: Yes, mine. If I didn't want to do it, I didn't have to. But
I went there almost every day for awhile and never saw any greed sometimes takes control, and . . .
hostility whatsoever. But that's exactly what people have • V.· Tell us a little more about the good scenes-
always done with movies: get out all their suppressed anger, • LC: Anything we could think of, we did. We had an under­
suppressed sexuality, and live out fantasies up on the movie water sequence with frogmen; a chase through Times Square
screen-so you don't have to do it in real life, you know. That and up through the theater district where the guy strangles
picture more or less gave everybody what they needed­ the girl in the alley behind the stage door of the Majestic
nobody left wanting to kill or hurt people, and still at the end Theater. We had a long chase that was a good idea. 1be bad
it wasn't a cop·out. It didn't have one of those fake happy black guy is trying to get away, and the hero, Black Caesar,
endings where he ends up with everything-he ended up chases him to the airport but arrives too late-his prey is
losing everything. The moral of the picture was: he tried to already on a plane to Los Angeles. So he runs across the
play the white man's game, and he lost. He should have been airport to TWA and gets the next plane to LA. The bad guy's
true to himself on American Airlines, and in the middle they both sit there
But then we made a mistake: we made a second Black for five hours, drinking, smoking and watching the movie.
Caesar picture. The first was such a hit that the producers When the planes land, the chase starts all over again in the
called me up: ''We have to have another picture right away; LA Airport. The bad guy gets off his plane and is waiting for
we have to have a sequel!" I said, "Well, the actor's going off his luggage while Black Caesar runs across the airport and
for a year to make another picture; we can only get him ifwe catches him in the luggage area-he's chased him 3000
shoot right away. I could start shooting next week, but we miles! I thought this was unusual, and fun.
don't have a script, so we'll just have to make the whole • AJ: ! wanted to touch on tbe wbole subjectofviolence­
picture up as we go along. " 'Which is what we did-and it • LC: Well, in England they give X-ratings for violence. But
looked it. here there's no such censorship; you see terribly violent,
The picture was a conglomeration of scenes that you gruesome things in movies here.
probably would like individually, including some of the best • A]: There 's no overt censorship, but ifyou don'tget an R
action scenes I've ever done. There are good chase scenes, rating it 's dif
ficult to distribute your movie.
good action scenes, but it's a mishmash of exposition-like • LC: But look what you can do with an R-rating-look at
an hour-and-a-half montage. Instead ·ofhaving a gradual de­ those Friday the Tbirteentb pictures. They stick knives in
velopment of character, things kind of just jump from one people's eyes. They invent newprosthetic devices to do Grand
action scene to the next; there weren't the necessary scenes Guignol gruesome tricks-right on camera they can cut
in between which develop a picture. We shouldn't have somebody's nose off. The more they're capable of, the more

125
they do; then you get really unpleasant horror where people • A]: You 'r ea genre directorandperhaps that'spartofwhy
are totally dismembering other people-chopping them up. I you haven 't gotten more widespread recognition. But in the
don't like that kind ofstuff myselfl sixties it seemed there were more "mainstream " directors
• A]- I read that you and the main actor in I , The Jury who were genre directors, like Howard Hawks and Sam
complained to Warner Bros- Fuller-
• LC: We complained to Twentieth Century-Fox ( who dis­ • LC: Sam used to live here-this used to be his house. He'sa
tributed the picture domestically) about the scene where the good friend of mine; a few months ago in Paris we saw each
twins were stabbed to death- it seemed very unpleasant and other almost every night. He and his wife live in Paris.
unnecessary. I felt it ruined the picture-took all the fun out • A]- Really ?Because itwastheFrenchwhoftrstpointedout
and made it too gruesome. And that scene where the guy gets that what Howard Hawks and Sam Fuller were doing was
fried on a hibachi grill- it's no good if you just throw a guy "art. " Onlyafterwards did Manny FarberandAndrew Sarris
down and bum hi m, unless there's been a big fight first and he's echo that in the U.S.
got a few licks in, too. Nobody minds when Indiana jones • LC: Nobody paid any attention to Sam Fuller for years. It's
shoots down the guy with the sword- it's fun because there's stiU tough; he's stiU trying to find people to let him make
been some build-up to it. But if it's done abruptly, it becomes movies. It hasn't changed; every picture's a struggle. This was
just an act of violence that is unredeeming-also it takes the his house in the late fifties, but he'd sold it long before I moved
fun out of it. So ifyou can't do the whole scene, doing only the in here. But that's how I met him.
end of it becomes just mere brutality. I found some empty cases in the basement that said "Samuel
• A]: In yourfilms violence is usuaUy implied rather than Fuller" on them. Then John Ireland, the actor, was here one
overt. Like in God Told Me To when thej
udas charactersticks day and he said, "l was here before; this used to be Sam Fuller's
his head in an elevator shaft- house." Then I met Sam Fuller at a party at the Beverly Hills
• LC: We didn't show his head coming off. Some people Hotel and said to him, "I think I own the house you used to live
would do that-if they could afford to build a false body and in on Coldwater Canyon Drive." Then he got to be friendly; he
crush it, they wiU. and his wife came up a couple times and spent the evening.
• A]- Ifyou could afford to, wouldyou ? Recently I was in Paris and found out where he was, called him
• LC: I'd probably do it the same way I did. But after The up and they were delighted to see me. So I spent almost every
Omen, which was the first time somebody got decapitated night with them. He's a wonderful guy-a great man to talk to;
( the scene where the sheet of glass cut off the guy's head), he's got so many good stories and great anecdotes to tell.
then everybody wanted to do a scene like that. So in horror But, you know, the genre I'm working in is the most popular
pictures there was a whole syndrome of heads flying off, genre of this time: science-fiction and fantasy. All the big
because they had found ways to make these prosthetic heads success pictures now are science-fiction/fantasy, and usuaUy
more realistic. they're big budget, S25 million dollar films. My pictures play,
We had a little gore in Q when the guy cut the other guy's and all I can do is hope people will go to see 'em and like 'em.
chest open, but I didn't have him stick his hand in and pull the And if they don't see 'em in the theater, then they see 'em on
heart out so you can see it pulsating-which other people cable where they watch films they ordinarily wouldn't. And
have been doing lately. I don't do that-it's too unpleasant for hopefully they'll say, "Hey! This is good; I like thisbetterthana
me. The picture should be fun. lot ofbig budget pictures." So, then your picture's being seen,
• V.· But in Qyou also had a flayed human body lying in a and that's all you can ask . . .
bed- Cable is "The Great Equalizer," and so is the
• LC: It was gruesome, but it wasn't that awful. vide ocassette-people can go to a store and choose whatever
• V: Andyou did show a guy's skin beingpeeled off- movie they want to see tonight. They don't have to worry
about whether or not it's playing . . . So it's becoming a
democratic process, and that's why pictures like mine will get
a chance to be better seen.
Cable's different-you already paid for it, and ifyou don't
want to look at it that's your hard luck, so finally you end up
even looking at pictures you didn't expect to, 'cause the damn
picture's on so many times. And if it turns out to be good,
you're surprised. Then word gets around, and people want to
rent it on cassette because they missed it on cable, and you've
created a life for the film other than the theatrical life.
lf I were a writer I wouldn't care whether people read my
book in hardcover or in paperback, just as long as they read it.
• LC: [ laughs] You've seenpeopleon1Vorin movies like 7be To me, cable and cassettes are like paperback, and theatrical
List ofAdrian MessengerpuU latex masks offtheir face - that's release is like the hardcover. So if I'm a paperback novelist -so
nothing. But in context the audience thinks, "Oh, he's skin­ what?!
ning him alive. That's really horrible." But it really wasn't • A]: Wbat kind offilms influence you ?
anything! It wasn't like bringing out a gory heart with veins • LC: Oh, I see almost everything.
hanging out and having it pulsate in somebody's hand. • V.· You 've et.>en seen Dynasty-
I like to show 'em very little, but make 'em think they're • LC: Once or twice. lfyou go over to somebody's house, it's
seeing a lot. That's more fun. But of course, with the prepon­ inevi table-like my mother has to watch it . . . But I can't sit
derance ofhuge budgets as in john Carpenter's version of The through it or any other episodic series week after week. I do
1bing, people want to show every possible piece ofgore . . . like to watch old Warner Bros or Fox movies with the big
which isn't nearly as satisfying as the original version, which bombastic musical scores.
shows you nothing. • A]: Were any filmmakers a big influence on you? Or
• J'lf: The same with Invasion ofThe Body Snatchers- genres, like film noir?
• LC: The first one was so good. The second one wasn't bad, • LC: Black Caesarwas film noir. I used to like crime movies,
but for that story the smaU town atmosphere seems to be police movies, but I never was abig readerofsciencefiction­
better. It's easier to believe these aliens could take over a smaU I don't like to read books that are 800 or 900 pages long and
Northern California town than the whole city of San where the characters have long names. And I don't like to read
Francisco! books that have a chronology of characters with arrows

1 26
showing whose son is who . . . where I have to go through six dismally dull. And Frederic Forrest, who's a very good actor,
generations to find out what happened to someone. had no charisma at all in that part, the lethargic way he was
A5 far as movies go, I like them aU. When I grew up, the big directed . I've heard of "sleepers," but this isoneyou can really
event was going to the movies twice a week-everyweek the sleep through! But if I go to the movies and don't like the
Loews and the R.KO theaters would have new double-features. picture, I fall asleep immediately!
• AJ: Wbere was tbis? • V.· 7be sleep curefor boredom.
• LC: New York. Usually the second feature was bad, but • LC: Usually I say to the girl I'm with, "Listen, I can dream a
sometimes it would be a little gem. In my neighborhood we better picture than this one, so I'll go to sleep." I can let myself
onJy had one theater that would run fo reign movies, and they go to sleep almost instantly- I'm gone, and that's it until it's
ran the original French Diabolique and Wages ofFear-great over and I can leave.
stuff-and Rififi. a robbery picture which was one of the first The same thing with stage plays: if the play is no good, I faJJ
foreign movies to make any impact here, before A Man And A asleep. But then I'Ll feel guilty because it cost so much money
Woman or the Truffaut pictures came along in the sixties. I to get in- thirty or forty dollars a ticket! Sometimes I prefer to
like to go to the movies, but I don't want to make homages to buy standing room, because then ifI fall asleep, I'm standing in
people or remake their pictures . . . the back of the theater and I full down and it wakes me
up-"Wha? Huh? Oh yeah, here I am-oh shit!"
I go to everything . . . I go to most movies. ActuaJly, no, I'm

...... sqy, "ln.- MoOn wliat a �� lying- ! stopped going to most movies. I used to go to
everything, but now I don't go to movies about teenagers!
.... . ..,, "BUt What _..... the ,.,.,, ' There are too many of them, and they all seem the same.
They're always telling you about how somebody finally gets
laid. And now they got 'em about kids making inventions.
• AJ: How about books ? These are all Spielberg-clone movies- they take a form ula that
• LC: I always read four or five books at the same time- I've works for him and they try to do it. That doesn't interest me.
got them all over the house, a different book for each room! • V: You don 't have anyformukls, do you?
• A]: Has any book changedyour life? • LC: Me? I just have to be outlandish enough so that people
• LC: No one book has changed my life. Take a best-seller like will know it's my picture.
1he French Lieutenant's Woman-I didn't think it worked as • V.· Yourfilms always critidze some aspect ofthe "status
a movie, but Fowles wrote it in such a way that you can see the quo. "
writer at work while you're reading-for that reason it's an • LC: Well, that's true.
interesting book. • A]: 7be art of screenwriting a really good story, with
At one point he thinks he should give these cha.racters a subplots, subtexts and characters that are complex and
break-give them a chance to have a happier life, so he aliv e-that seems to be a lost art these days.
changes the story right before your eyes. You're put into the • LC: Well, when you try and put a scene in that doesn't have
author's mind. I can identify with that because it happens to anything to do with the central story, you have a hard time
me when I'm writing a script. I'm thinking, "Maybe we should keeping people from cutting it out. Particularly ifthe releasing
give this a happy ending. I like this character; maybe he company has any power over re-cutting the picture. Ifthey see
shouldn't die." something that isn't integral, they think it should be cut.
Uke with Q, in the original script the Moriarty character • V.· But that 's neverhappened to you, bas it?
gets killed by that zealot at the end. But that would have been a • LC: On 7be Stuff they cut out ten minutes-a couple of
disaster, particularly as he turned out to be so lovable. So I had funny scenes that were not essential to the plotline of the
to improvise that scene with the prayer in it. But when I first picture. But they were funny, though -/ enjoyed them.
wrote the story, I had no idea this guy would turn out to be • V.· Was that thefirst timeyour creative independence was
such a lovable character. impinged upon ?
A film can come to life when an actor like Michael Moriarty • LC: Yeah. I wouldn't say they damaged the picture,
appears; when he does it, you realize how funny some of the because they made a few cuts I thought were improvements.
material is. I knew we'd get laughs, but I didn't know Moriarty So you have to take the good with the bad. But they left a few
would end up being as innocent as he did. He came out as kind sloppy holes in the picture that would have been worth the
ofa soiled innocent- he had a childish sort ofblissabout him, extra ten minutes. In the long run it would have been a better
so we couldn't kill him. film if they had just left it alone.
After I read books, it takes time to decide which one was • A]: Is tha t the first time that happened to you?
good, in retrospect. If you ask me next year what my favorite • LC: Yeah. I've had people before who wanted to cut
book was this year, then I'll be able to tell you. When I'm scenes out and I could taJk them out of it. Or, I've had
finished with some books I can't remember anything, I know I suggestions and agreed with them: "It's a good idea to make
went through 400 pages, but . . . like john Le Carre -when that cut; I think you're right ." Or, "That scene would work
Smiley's People was over, I didn't have any idea what the plot better if it were placed later in the picture . . . or, "this scene
was, or what happened to anybody, or why. And I can't read any would work better earlier in the picture."
of Robert Ludlum's books. Sometimes they're right, but in this particular case they
• A]: Ever read Timothy Harris? He's like a modern-day wanted to take out a few "romantic" or "relationship" scenes
Raymond Chandler; be wrote a good book called Goodnight that "slowed the picture down," because "the kids" would
and Goodbye that was somewhat similar to your I, The jury rather get on with the action.
script. A couple years ago we discovered the mystery writer • v.- Did previews prompt these cuts ?
jim Thompson-be's incredible. • LC: You preview a picture, and if you don't get a good
• LC: I used to read the LewArcherbooks by Ross McDonald. reaction, the producers faJI apart. Generally I feel that you
Recently I picked up an old Dashiell Hammett, but I don't like can preview horror pictures, but you shouldn't give out
to get too involved with things like that- suddenlyyou end up response cards. Because if a picture's outlandish like It's
writing scripts with names of obscure characters from old Alive!, no matter how much they like the picture they're
Dashiell Hammett books, or you put in hot little homages or going to write wise-guy remarks on the card, like "This
somehow connect yourself to some person you idol.ize. picture needs diapers!"
I would like to have made the movie Hammett because I Years ago when we previewed It's Alive!, the audience
could have made a much better movie-that picture was seemed to really enjoy the picture and screamed or laughed

127
in aU the right places. But when it came time to write the having to have a whole bunch of employees working for me.
cards they wrote these terrible responses. And the Warner Because that's a lot of hassle-just dealing with all those
Bros people were so disheartened they almost killed the people, and everybody has to be paid. and you gotta send in
picture. Fortunately they released it and it turned out to be a tax forms, and send in this and that. and then people file for
big hit, but if they had just followed the cards they would unemployment insurance. and you have to send in forms for
have given up and thro\VTI it into a hole somewhere. them, and your whole life is-
People who want to be clo\VT!s or comedians are going to • A}: Do you haue to do all that?
write something funny on the cards, or something wise­ • LC: Well, after you finish up a picture and let everyhody
guyish. Basically the same thing happened with 7be Stuff go, all sorts of paperwork starts popping up that you hadn't
The audience laughed and seemed to enjoy the picture, but anticipated. If you don't have anyhody to do it for you. you
wrote negative things making fun of the picture because it's have to do it yourself.
about a food product that kills people; they wrote wise-guy A.tter everyhody goes away, you get hills that people han:
cards. I say we should never have given them out in the first forgotten . . . then you get some more bills. The whole pic­
place. ture's closed do\VTI, but then the letters for workman's com­
pensation arrive. Finally that goes away. Then finally no more
bills, no more employees, no more hassle, no more mail and
it's so peaceful right now-nobody to be responsible for but
H I w... a writer I wouldn't _.. ....._. yourself.
....... ...... ., ..... .. ....... .. .. As soon as you start another picture, you've got to do the
v.11ole rigamarolc again-ha\ing to deal v.ith all these peo·
....... .... . .... . ..., ,..... it. Yo ..,
pie, and schedules. and people not delivering things on time .
... ... cauett• .. .. ....... ...
and not doing things on time; having to be the boss and the
thlaltiwl ,..... .. .. the .......,... So if disciplinarian and the sergeant and the captain and the gen­
I'• a ....... nowelst-so whclltl eral. By comparison, writing the script is so peaceful -you go
into a room and do it all by yourself, and you don't have to
have anybody else around you.
• A}: You once said you fimll)' helietl(! that people dream
• V: What did the producers cut out? dnematically.
• LC: With producers, it's very hard to get good, rational • LC: I think that people do dream like a movie; they see
judgment when there'sfear involved. So, the scenes they cut shots and angles - 1 dream like that. I'm not sure if I dream in
out are not even really noticeable, but there was one very color or black-and-white, though. But as I say, I can dream
funny scene where the character was reciting part of "The better movies than some of the pictures I see. I mean I close
Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe I could persuade my eyes and go off, and I don't always remember what I
them to let me restore it for the video. dream but I know it was more satisfying than the picture that
Sometimes the scenes that really make a movie work are was playing there.
the little scenes that have nothing to do with advancing the Actually, there should be a theater v.11ere you go and
action, but just add a little something. The scene where there's no mmie playing; everybody goes into the theater, sits
Michael Moriarty auditions for a job as a singer has nothing to there and goes to sleep, and evef)body dreams their ov-.11
do with the monster on top of the Chrysler Building. but . . . mmie. Then nerybody gets up and goes home and tells each
That's exactly what they did with 7be Stuff-they cut out other what they saw: "Oh, I saw a great movie!"
scenes that would have enriched the endeavor. Or maybe they could just play the mmie music on the:
• A}: Do you have more control Ol!(!t' your pictures than screen while you sit there in the dark and dream your o\VTI
most directors ? movie. Then you come out and go to coffee and discuss the
• LC: Sure. They leave me alone when I'm making the pic­ movie: "I dreamed a great comedy'' or "I dreamed this West­
ture, and they leave me alone when I'm cutting it. On low­ ern." "Hey, nobody's dreamed a Western in years!" "You
budget pictures they don't bother people too much because know what I dreamed? I hate to tell you-1 dreamed a
they're usually too busy with problems and responsi bilities low-budget picture!" "No! You could've dreamed anything­
relating to their high-budget pictures, which take up most of you could've dreamed a S30 million picture. a S40 million
their time. They figure, "Oh well, we're going to make our picture. What did you dream?'' "I dreamed this low budget
money back anyway just from certain ancillary sales." picture where these people were trapped in a dark house.
At the same time they don't consider the pictures impor· What did you dream?" "I dreamed this great big galactic
tant enough to spend advertising on them. And again, if you fantasy with spaceships coming down from an enormous
don't get the advertising, you don't get the box office. So it space station; explosions were going off-it was wonderful.
has its pluses: freedom of direction, but it has minuses in that And you dreamed a low budget picture?" "I don't know
they don't want to allocate any time or personnel to work on what's the matter with me!"
your picture. So in terms of getting any attention, you get a • V.· Actually. bou· do you u 'Tite? You don 'tjustget an idea
t>ery short shrift. out of thin air. do you?
• A}: But don 't you prefer low budgets ? In one article you • LC: Yeah! Sometimes I just wtite and don't know what I'm
said you probably wouldn 't spend that much anyway. writing, then it starts to come to me . . . I just jump in and start
• LC: Believe me, if you had the money you could spend it! writing a scene. and as you're writing the characters start to
I'd like to have had more special effects in Q-to have had talk, start to take over, start to play their part. Sometimes you
more sequences with the bird. The effects we had were want it to go this way but the characters want to go another
good, but they could have been better. I had many more way, so you let them go, let them keep talking and see where
inventive ideas but we just didn't have the money to do them. they're taking you.
But the things we did do looked good, so . . . Writing is a process of discovery; it comes to life. Once it
• A}: What are you doing next ? starts coming to life. it becomes t 'ery interesling like I said. if
• LC: I'm writing some scripts. In about two or three weeks you read that book by Fowles, you'll get that feeling he
when the scripts go in, they'll decide which one we're going captured -that feeling of the characters starting tO take life
to make. I always make something every year, anyhow! into their ou'Tl hands. The characters start to take over and
I'm reaJiy enjoying this particular time now-just being speak in their O\VTI sryle and rhythms; each character starts to
home, working for a few hours every day writing, and not have his O\VTI w-.1y of talking.
 Uke with painting, there an:: two ways ofworking: you can The Immaculate Conception, which is entirely different,
make a pencil or charcoal outline that you can see, then fill i t rests on the premise that since the Garden ofEden, everyone
i n with paint. Or, you can go in with paint and a blank canvas on earth is born with Original Sin. Only one person was ever
and start making this shadow and that shading, and rubbing born u>itbout Original Sin, and that was Mary who was

this and that. And you think. ''This looks like a terrible mess." absol\'ed in advance so she could be born pure and be the
1l1en all of a sudden it starts to come together; you step back mother of jesus. So Mary s birth is the Immaculate
and see something you didn't see before: people and back­ Conception.
ground and trees and- where's it all coming from? It's com­ Nobody knows this, including all these people who think
ing out of that brush. they know about religion. They always talk about it. but they
And then other people buy a kit that says "green there, red don't know anything. We all talk about evel)thing that we
here. blue over there" and it looks like a horse when you get have no information about!
finished ! And you go. "Shit. that does look like a horse, • A}: Were you raised in a religion ?
doesn't it?" • LC: Part of my family's jewish and part of my family's lrish
• v.- 7be last li'CI)' is lxm• most Hoi�J'll'OOd mou ies are Catholic, but nobody practiced anything. It was kind of a

made- Mexican standoff-nobody did anything, then nobody's feel­

• LC: No!-the way a Hollywood movie is made is this \.vay: ings got hurt. So basically I became afilm maker asa religion!
you paint a picture that's supposed to be a pasture. Now How about "filmmaking as a Religion" as a lead for your
there's one guy who paints good horses, so he's brought in to story'
paint the horse. Another guy does grass; another guy does You ha,·e to have your own faith, your own belief. just
good trees; and then you bring in Sam who does beautiful because you don't go to a recognized church doesn't mean
clouds. Now. because this guy's the best painter of horses, you don't have any faith in God, or a belief in some higher
this guy does the best clouds, and this guy does the best trees, power, or something that you just worship in your own way
you should have the best picture, right? Certainly better than or that you just let be.
the slob who's running around slopping paint on the canvas! I think it would be very selfish of me. in my state of
Well, I must admit my pictures can be a little sloppy at times, affluence, good health and good fort une, to be trying to
but I think there's something on the canvas at the end attract God's attention when there are so many people who
that's- are in need of a good meal, or crutches, or anything else.
• V: -unique . . . One ofyour best scenes is the deteclit oe s What right do I have to pray to God that when my movie
inten>ieu• Ll'ith the father u•ho hasjustkilled his children in opens next Friday, it's going to be a hit? I mean. there are
God Told Me To. 7bat summed upperfectly what s repulsiL� people out there, you know!
about religious fanatidsm. How about when people win the Academy Award and they
• LC: Robert Drivas played that. Again, I thought it was say, "I want to thank God for my winning this award." l guess
much better to do it this way than to show the overt violence. the other 400 people who were up for it just weren't good
Tobe Hooper ( Texas OJctillstiU' Massacre ) would have enough- God smiled on her and those other people are shit!
shown the husband shooting the kid in the back, killing the Ever think about that? "God said Sally Field should win!" "Oh,
wife. and then getting the little kid to open the bathroom thank you. Lord." 'Yeah, she did the Flying Nun years ago­
door so he can blow the kid's head off. complete with head let's give ber the award." Two Academy Awards-God must
and si..'UII fragments flying! I chose to do i t by the less cine­ really be crazy about this girl; everybody else is a piece of shit.
matic method of having the husband recount the story, Paul Newman never won-even after all his nominations.
because people killing their children was just too horrible to God just must not like Paul Newman! The nonsense of an
show on the screen. actor getting up and thanking God . . .
• A}: But that scene is so chilling; it's beller- • V: I still can 't believe that prayer precedes the Presidents
• v.- He s so psychotic-the ll 'll) ' he smiles; his e.>.pressions- speeches-
• A}: - 7bat peaceful bliss. like religious people telling • LC: I think that if people want to, they should be able to
about their faith and COI/Ioersion. say a prayer (or not say one ) - ifthousandsofpeople want to
• LC: Well, it's in the Bible! I got the idea from Abraham and drop down to the sidewalk and pray, let them do it! What
Isaac when God said, "Go out and sacrifice your son!" Then kind of a thing is this: if they catch you praying, you get
He said. "All right, you don't btu� to do it! I just wanted to see expelled? like. "I got caught praying in school today."
if you'd do it or not!" ''God, you mean you just teased me?!" If these parents want their kids to pray, they should tell
them to go to school and 'Just go in there and pray, and pray
loud. Let 'em try and stop you!" They break into the
bathroom and find all these kids praying: "All right you kids,
'llle IIIOI'CII of .... C•••• was: ._ trW to OUT! I GOTCHA!" If you want to pray, you pray. The way you
play the white .-•s ...-, _. ._ lost. He get thi ngs done in this country is: do 'em, that's all. That's

should haft .... trw to ........ how you effect change; all the talk in the world means
nothing.
They talked about Ovil Rights for years, but until they
started boycotting the buses and sitting-in in restaurants,
• V.· You know the Bible pretty well. they got nowhere. When they did something about it, change
• LC: I always have to explain religion to people who have occurred. So if you want prayer in school. evel)i>ody should
had a religious upbringing but don't know anything. Some­ send their kids in and tell 'em to pray their fuckin' heads off!
body was describing to me the film Agnes of God: "There's • V.· 7bere w as a line in Q that the creature was prayed
this nun who has a baby, and they think it's an Immaculate back into eustence.
Conception," etc. So I said, "No, you're talking about a Virgin • LC: Well, I guess that high priest thought he did it. I'll tell
Birth. Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth are two you the truth-/ don't know how that bird got there, unless
different things." They said, "No, no, what are you talking maybe it flew all the way in from Mexico.
about?" I said. "jesus being born is not an Immaculate Con­ Originally, we were going to have a whole scene about
cept ion. it's a Virgin Birth. Don't you know the difference?" bringing an egg up in a truck from Mexico and putting it up
Nobody knows the difference! there, but I dropped it. I said, "listen, if anybody wants to
The difference is that the birth ofjesus without his mother know how this fuckin' egg got in the top of the Chrysler
ever having had intercourse with anybody is the Virgin Birth. Building, they can figure it out for themselves, 'cause I don't

129
know the answers to these things. I don't know why the It s better than any of my movies! I think some ofthat S I I million
Alir>e! baby was born; I don't know all the answers to every very well may have gone to places it shouldn't have; 1 don't
one of these questions." know. But it seemed to me that the thing wasbeing operated in
People are always saying to me, "How come there are so a very strange way, and 1 was better off not being involved.
many holes in your stories?" Well. I don't think it's necessary • V: You real�}' changed theplot from the original not •el.
to know all the reasons behind a legend or fantasy; how can • LC: Nothing was the same except the opening scene with
we know everything about it, anyway? The mystery is what the shootingofthe guy"'rith the missing arm, and the last scene
makes it interesting. with the woman psychiat rist.
Again, religion is full of mystery. Priests or ministers say. • V: Did you film any scenes ?
''Well, if all the facts were there for you, you \vouldn't hm.oe to • LC: Not a one.
believe, would you? The Lord doesn't tell us everything • V: You u•eren 'tfired tu'O u.oeeks after shooting began ?
because He wants to leave that room for doubt so that you • LC: No, I was only there six days. I shot in wide screen
can have a belief." That's what they always tell you, right? Panavision and the picture was reshot in 185, so theydidn't use
Well, that's what I say to the audience: "Don't ask me ques· any of my footage.
tions, just beliet.oe. If you can believe what they're telling you • V: I was shocked when it turned out to be a real guy
in church, you can believe my movies." without em am1!
• V: I like the idea of ''sleepers " in your script of I, The • LC: Well, 1 cast the guy. I cast all the actors with the
Jury-people who hat.oe been in mental hospitals where they exception of Alan King and the actress who played his friend's
u>ere programmed to- widow-1 don't know where they got her! An awful, terrible
• LC: -commit political crimes and stuff like that- actress-she was so homely. too. I had shot that scene with
• V.· -disguised as outrageous sex crimes. somebody else who was very good, and when they went to
• LC: WeiJ, people always think that all these ass
assins came shoot that scene again they used this person.
about that way. It's a good idea, isn't it? Anyway, I cast all the pans including the guy without the
• A): How comeyou didn 't direct it? arm, and I picked most of the locations and stuff. But I just
• LC: I couldn't get along with the company that was making didn't think the picture ended up very good.
the picture. They bought the script and then it waschaos; they • V: But theplot was good.
were going bankrupt, which they did after the picture was • LC: Well. the idea of the government using psychopaths to
finished ( Fox bought the picture in a bankruptcy sale). The commit murders, and using a sex clinic to find the psycho­
picture ended up costing S l l million and it didn't look any paths so they could program them-that was all good.

David Carradine with adversary in Q.

130
• V: I thought that was very stro ng stuff! outgrossed their picture; their picture cost S 1 1 million and
• LC: And having Mike Hammer being manipulated also­ ours cost about $2 million. So it all worked out okay in the long
he's kind of a psychopath himself, a little crazy . . . a nut! run.
They're sending him around killing people also. so he's just But I don't like to ever have problems or conflicts like
one of the psychopaths, though he never realizes it. that -it's unpleasant. It's a uteird experience to be captain ofa
• AJ: /nyourmot,iestheheroesarealso anti-heroes-they're ship one day and not have anything to do the next . . . and to see
net'eT'quite real heroes. everybody going to work on what had been your film. Also, I
• LC: This was a subt,ersion of the Mike Hammer character. had a girlfriend who was in the picture and naturallyshe had to
like when Barbara Carrera gives him a psychiatric report. he gotoworkeveryday andbe in it, and I had rohearabout it every
reads it, but in the movie they don't specify what was in it. But night!
the report was supposed to state clearly that this guy had a I'd see the blue pages and the pink pages coming in on her
hang-up on him. So then you've got a verygood dramatic scene script, and I'd think, "Oh God! Now they're changing the
where Hammer fi nds out that his best friend all his life has had whole script! Don't show it to me-l don't want to read it or
some kind of sexual ideas about him, and what a repugnant know what's going on, because it'll just depress me." And
thing that is for someone like Mike Hammer who is Mister they'd say to her, "Don't let Larry Cohen see anyofthese new
Macho, fucking all these women and everything! It was great pages. In fact, we'd appreciate it ifyou wouldn't evenseelarry
stuff. but they destroyed it. Cohen while you're working on thispictu re!" - thus terrifying
the poor girl who just wanted to act . . .
• A}: Which role did sheplay?
• LC: She played the secretary, Velda.
11111
11 1 ... ••- tllat ,.., -*e a ...
••
• V: What inspired your t'ersion of l, The jury?
._.. the little - that have nothing to
.. • LC: I read the book and then I had totigure outhowtokeep
. witll ....... tlle � llut � add a certain elements, which were the beginning, the ending, and
the sex clinic which I felt was an important element (in the
little ••····· novel she was a woman psychiatrist ); I changed it tO a sex
clinic.
• A}: Actually, Velda was a great character-she was gutsy.
• V: What else did they change ? She was the one with theguns, whoshapedhimandtook care
• LC: I n their version of the ending Hammer brings his ofhim. Also. she was very strong
friend's prosthetic arm to the girl in a bouquet oftlowers - 1 • LC: Yes, it was a very nice part. But for me it was a weird
didn't write that. In our version h e takes i t with him to the experience to have gone through. But it all worked out for the
climax with the leading bad guyand beats him to death with it! best; Q might not have been made otherwise, and cenainlynot
That was like my shoeshine scene in the other picture-a very with Michael Moriarty at that particular time. So it all happens
bizarre touch where a dead man's arm is used to kill his killer. the way it happens . . .
Anyway, once I was offthe picture the new people came in • V.· Where did that CIA plot detl(!lopment come from ? Do
and just mangled it up; they did what they wanted with it. What you hatoe cmyparticularpoint of viett' on CIA operations?
could I do? I went offand made Q. so I think I ended up better • LC: Well, I think they're into a lot of things, for sure. We
off. know the FBI in the past has operated brothels and things like
• V: So l, The Jury gatte you the money to make Q? that to get information on people. The Russians do it in
• LC: No, I got the money from backers. I had been very Russia -they have houses of prostitution to get information. I
depressed when /, 7bejwy fe! ' :ooart, and I felt, "Oh my God! would imagine that psychiatrists could be used to get
Now I'm off this picture and eve:, ybody's going to think I got information.
fired !" The only way to keep going is to make another picture Psychotics are often used, like the guy who shot the Pope
right away. otherwise you're going to be sitting around for six ( the so-called Bulgarian Connection ) where the guy talks like
or eight months with everybody saying, "Oh, that Larl'}•Cohen a complete looney-so he probably is a psychotic. The ques­
got tired and now he can't get a job!" ticn is. were the Russians and the Bulgarians involved in
I was still in the same hotel in New York where eve rybody getting him to shoot the Pope? If so, they probably did exactly
from /, 7be}UTJ' was still living, making the movie. And every what we talked about in the movie: they had a secret intelli­
morning they'd all get up and go off to work while I'd be in my gence agency making use of mentally ill people to carry out
room looking out the window, thinking, "Gee, this is weird!" killings they're inclined to do anyway.
Because last week I was directing this picture, and this week Take somebody who has an inclination to kill an authority
all the actors I hired are all working, but I'm sitting here doing figure -that's their psychological make-up. Then you pro­
nothing. gram them to kill the particular person you want them to kill,
Then, as fate would have it, I ran into Michael Moriarty in a and in /, 7bejury it's supposed to look like hideous sex crimes.
restaurant on the corner. We chatted and then I said, 'You I think that most of the elements of that picture were
know, I've got something you might Like to do." I showed him overlooked. I don't think people could focus in on the plot,
the script for Q and he said, "I like this part!" Then I said, "Wait because most of the time they were just trying to understand
a minute! Maybe I can make this picture!" I called up David what the leading actor was saying-hisdiction was so unintel­
Carradine (who I told you was in Cannes ) and said, "Listen, if ligible. But in the original script, what was going on was very
you'd come back and be in this picture. and Candy Clark will clear.
do it, maybe I can get money put up and I can make it right The people who took over the film were more interested in
away." Carradine said, "Sure! I'll come back and help you out." action scenes: blowing up limousines, staging an elaborate
I went out and got the money, which took about two weeks. chase sequence with shooting and fighting in trucks-stuff
So about three weeks after I was off/, 7bejury I was shooting Q. like that. That to me is not important. The important thing is to
Then /, 7bejury ran into all their problems; I caught up with have an unusual angle about everything and an unusual look
them and passed them and we ended up finishing the picture at the psychosis of the detective.
almost the same day. A picture like 7be Maltese Falcon, which people can see
Then, as fate would have it, six or eight months later both over and over again, doesn't have a single car chase or gun
pictures opened in New York on the same day on opposite fight; there are no chases over rooftops, no fist fights. Bogart
sides of the street! Fortunately for me, Q did three times as gets knocked out one time. I t all happens in a couple ofrooms;
much business as /, 7be}UTJI, so I was vindicated. My picture there's a lot of talk, interesting characters, but no so-called

131
production values in the picture. Nelson Rockefeller who loaned us his limousine for a scene in
Now if somebody were to remake 7be Maltese Falcon the picture. So we got Rockefeller's limousine, and we got
today, they'd say, "Okay, we've got to have Sam Spade in a car permission to shoot here, and there, and wegot in everyplace.
chase-it's San Frandsco; how can you not have a car chase? • v.- Do you think thefilm's an indictment of Hoover?
Sydney Greenstreet'll be driving one car, and- !" That's what • LC: It's not; the film shows good parts ofhim and bad parts
they'd do. Again, /, 7bejwywould have been a better picture if of him-it's a fun picture. I tried to make it look like an old
there had been less money spent on it and it had been left Warner Bros picrure from the '30s and '40s, with Miklos
alone. Rozsa's music and the color and everything. It looked like a
pulp movie. Whereas 7be Stuff-the reviewers call it "junk
food." One Playboy guy said, "It's as enjoyable and nutty as a

... ....... II a y.-y private thing, _. it Snickers." How about that -other people are making movies;
I'm making candy bars.
- • ._.._ ef privacy to ._ to haft a • V: Wasn 't the ad campagn
i c/xmgedfor It's Alive!? Didn't
... ......., - · .... apleit tllat for the second campaign feature a little claw coming out of a
..... . ... ,.. ...., ... ,...... .... "
.
baby carriage?
• LC: The first campaign ads featured the dead body of a
_,...._ ....... to y-. lt's ,... ..... woman on the:: ground with blood all around it. saying, "What­
ever it is-it's alive!" I said. "This is a terrible campaign.
because it doesn't teU you what the picture's about. Where
• A]: Do you bar'(! afavorite movie ofyours? does it say it's about a monster baby?" Theysaid, "Our research
• LC: I guess I like 7be Private Files of]. Edgar Hoover-not shows that women wiU not go to a movie about a monster
necessarily the picture, but the experience ofhaving done it. baby. It turns the women off."
That was fun because we went to Washington, D.C. and shot it I said, "I'm sorry, but you people bought a picture about a
at the F.B.I. headquarters, and the F.B.I. training school at monster babyand that'swhat it's about. lfyou don't advertise it
Quantico, and we had all these old actors like Broderick for what it is. we're not going to sell anytickets." So they went
Crawford- out with their campaign and didn't do anybu�inc::�s. TI1c::n they
• V: Hou• didyou get him? tried my campaign, and they did a lot ofbusiness. It turned out
• LC: Broderick Crawford wasn't hard to get, because after that most of the audience were women; the picture did very
all, he's an older actor and they don't get many offers for well with the female audience. So what can I tell you? They
leading parts - today there are very few parts written for older were wrong.
actors, especially good parts. So he was very happy to do • v.- &1ck to hOU'J'OU u•ritea script-
it -there was no problem there. • LC: Sometimes I'll get an idea and just jump in and start
We also had Dan Dailey in the film. Most of the people who writing a scene that happens in the middle. Then I'll go back
were cast were happy to be in the picture, because it was an and write something toward the beginning. I don't write in
important subject and there were good acting roles for them. chronological order because it's too orderly-there's not
But the main problem was ifwe could get permission to shoot enough surprises. you know. If I get bored with the direction
or not. of the script, or get a block and can't figure out where it's going
At first I thought it would be best to keep everything real next, then I'll jump off into a scene some\vhere else in the
quiet so we wouldn't create too much attention. But sure story.
enough, the first day we shot in the restaurant in the May­ Sometimes I'll make up a scene that isn't even going to be in
flower Hotel, the hotel called their publicist and their publi­ the script, just to keep going. Because in the course ofworking
cist caUed the newspapers and the newspapers came down on something I'll think ofwhat I need; I'll discoverwhat I need
and took all kinds of pictures, so it was spread all over town to get out of the corner I've painted myself into. Then, if the
that we were making the film. The cat was out of the bag. script runs 130 or 140 pages. I'll cut it down to the 103 or 104
Then we got lucky. Ford was President at the:: time:: and his page::� it m�t be. But the best thing is to just keep going.
wife Betty Ford was a former chorus girl. And she loved Dan Occasionally I'll write two or three scripts at the same time.
Dai ley, who used to be a tap dancer anda hoofer in movies wi th so that if I get tired of writing on one -after a couple ofhours I
Betty Grable, etc. So we got a call at the hotel that President get tiredofthat - I'll just jumpoffinto the other one and it gives
and Mrs. Ford would like to invite Dan Dailey and Broderick me kind of a renewed energy.
Crawford to lunch at the White House the dayaftenomorrow. • A]: Do )'Oll force yourselfto u't'ite ei'eTJ' single day?
I thought. "Oh my goodness, I've got to close down a whole • LC : I try to write every day because I feel better if I do
day? The crew and everybody's onper diem and salaries, and something every day. But today is the interview -when you
there's nothing to shoot ifthey're not around. But if I don 't let people get through with me I'm not writing anything! This is
them go to the White House, I'll have two actors who are so straight work-enough for one day!
pissed off I'll never be able to live with them. So I've got to let • A]: I read that at age II or 12 you UJ(!re ll'riting scripts-
them go." • LC: I just saw movies and then I wanted to put on shows. but
Then I got an idea: "Wait a minute; this is a good time to call I dido 't have any cameras or anything. Somebody had bought
up and try and get locations." So I called up the F.B.I. and said, me an overhead projector; you put on a comic book and it
"I'd like to shoot at your offices, but I can't tomorrow, because projects a huge picture of Aash Gordon or Batman; the whole
the stars are going to be having lunch with President Ford. But wall will be Batman. I would find a postcard or picture and
I'd like to shoot the dayafter tomorrow." I got. "Please hold the project it on the wall, put on a costume, stand in front of it like
line" . . . then they carne back on and it's, "What time would it was a set. and act out a scene. To get kids in school to be in it
you like to be here?" with you, you'd have to bribe other kids to come see it
So that was it. I called up all the locations and always ( because:: they didn't want to). You'd do something like
managed to mention that the actors were going to be at the announce that everybody who comes gets a free comic book,
White House, and they'd always check to see if I were telling just to get 'em in there, to have an audience. I'd make up my
the truth. and then come back and give:: permission. So that stories and give the kids their lines and put on these little
ended up being the best thing that happened to me! productions.
Again, it was one of those things that looked like a detri­ When I was old enough to get my father to loan me his Smm
ment, but ended up making things much better for us in the movie camera, I started running around the park (or wher­
long run. That opened up all the doors; in fact Crawford met ever ) shooting movies. I had to bribe kids to be in them.

1 32
Generally you had to cut these movies in the camera; there was • LC: o. no. it depends on what my day's going to be like. I
no facility for cutting. So you'd do a close-up of this one, then try to get in a block of time, and if I don't do it during the day
nm around and do a close-up of that one, return to where you then I'll have to do it at rught.Just like at school when a kid says,
were, then do an over-the-shoulder shot -everything had to "I've gotta do my homework, but I'm going to go play ball, and
be planned that way. As soon as it came back from the lab it was then I've got a date and a movie, but I've gotta do my home­
all finished and ready to show-all made inside the camera. work even if I have to stay up all night, because it has to be
• A}: Didn 't Hitchcock do that? done." So I know that if I don't do it now, I'Ll have to stay up all
• LC: Oh, they all say that, but it's not true. He said that so night and do it -/'uegot toget it done. I use a t}pewri ter, I use a
many times in interviews that he came to believe it himself. But tape recorder.
he covered everything just the way everyone else does. If you • A}: Do you use a u'Ordprocessor?
interview any of the actors who were in his pictures, I'll bet • LC: No, no. 7bat I would never do. I think that writing is a
the)'d say that he covered all the angles and everything. He did wonderful art form and all it requires is a pencil and a piece of
a take of Ingrid Bergman, then he djd a take ofGregory Peck, paper.
then he'd do the dolly shot in-the elaborate shot and maybe Now they're trying to change it into a system where you
that would be the one he'd end up using. But I'm sure he did have to have a S2500 piece of equipment in order to write. All
the other coverage, too. these young people are going to grow up thinking, "J can't
It's just too dangerous not to do the coverage on the people, write -I'm helpless-unless I have my S2500 word proces­
particularly with good actors like Gregory Peck and Ingrid sor." I wouldn't want to be dependent on that. I think it's
Bergman who give it so much. I would assume he shot like wonderful that you can write on on the backofanenvelopeor
everybody else when he shot Rebecca and aU those pictures. a yellow pad or anything - it's wonderful freedom ! You can
There may have been certain key sequences that he had all take that with you wherever you go.
worked out a certain way. But the dramatic scenes and the • Y. But you do dictate u'Ords into a tape recorder.
romantic scenes he probably shot just like everybody else. He • LC: Sure; then I have a typist rype it up. Iftheycome upwith
used to tell stories so many times he'd get to believe them a word proces
sor you can talk into and it types out the script,
himself. TI1at's what happens if you get interviewed too then I miglH get one. 7bat might be ruce to have; I'm sure that'll
much-ifyou get interviewed to death! happen -that's another step forward. But I still Like to know
that I can go out and do it the old way.
People say, ''Veah, but if you had the word processor you
could take that paragraph at the bon om and move it right up to
SaMtlku•s I lust write c.ud don't ._. what the top if you wanted to." I go, "Well /ook-1 can take this
'
rm wrilil:g c.ud as you re wella. the
• . .
arrow and go like that (mo\'es paragraph up ). And if I want to
ch.aden st.t to tt6, start to take ower, get rid of the words on this line I go like that ( crosses them

start to plaY their pcwt. out).

You sec these manuscripts ofgreat books and plays that have
been preserved in museums, and you see the way people
write-it's in the margins, up on the corners of the page with
• A}: You do get heaui�)' inl'olt•ed in your editing ? arrows going down here, and the whole page is crossed
• LC: Oh yes. I'm to blame for that. I usually stand over the off-it's delightfully sloppy. Just like if you go into a painter's
poor editor and newr give him a moment's peace. They always studio, it's a mess-there's paint all over the place. The same
tell me. "The scene won't cut. There's no way we can make it with a sculptor's studio. Art is mess /You want to get in there
y

work." and I have to figure out some way to make it work. It's and get it all over you. I don't like the idea of sitting in front of
like a puzzle; there's always one u•ay that it'll work. Then I say, one of those sterile things pushing those buuons and watch­
"I tell you what : suppose we take the Line at the end and put it at ing the words come out on television. I don't think that's
the beginning. 7hen it'll work." He'll say, "Yeah, but then great-maybe I'm in the wrong century!
you're rewriting the scene!" I say. "Well, what's the difference • V: When you u•ere making God Told Me To u•ere the,·eany
as long as we make it work7" He says. "Well, I can't do majorproblems to so/t oe on-set?
that -you have to do it. J'm onJythe editor, I'm not the writer." • LC: The big problemwas that Tony lo Bianco. the star. was
Basically you have to stay there and do it, because nobody in a play and had to be off at 6 o'clock every night. Also. he
else is going to do it but you. Sometimesyou have to reorganize couldn't work on Saturday- there was a matinee-and he
the scene to make the cutting all work, if for one reason or couldn't work on Wednesday which was a matinee. We only
another it doesn't work the way you planned. If you want to had the guy three or fou r days a week. So he's not in halfof the
take out the whole middle of a scene hecausc it goes on too scenes: it's a double. But you'd never know it -and to this day
long, you might find the people are in the ·wrong place. Then he'll swear h e was there, in scenes that he wasn't in! He's seen
you've got to figure out somt' way to get them back in the right the picture a few times so now he's sure he was there, but h e
place. Sometimes you can do it by running the scene wasn't there. Sometimes even I , when I look a t it, have trouble
had:wards-playing the first part of the scene baci..·wards so rememht' ring that wasn't him, that was the double. There
that the people say the things out of order and then the)�re were certain locations he was never even at. So, that was the
hack in the right posi tions by the time the second half of the major problem in that picture.
scene has to come on. Or sometimes the second half of the But I enjoyed it - I enjoyed the pou•er, that I was taking the
scme plays first and the first half of the scene plays second. leading actor and putting him into scenes he v.'l!Sn't even in!
Editing is fun, because it's like writing, in a way. But instead Talk about man ipulation - the plasticity of film is such that
of moving words around you're moving images around. At you can make a picture with an actor who isn't even there ! And
least you're not surrounded by 30 or 40 technicians and all have him convinced that he was really in the movie.
that time that is so expensive -camera equipment, lights, • A}: Wbat a special effect. Actual�}'. can you tell us about
lo<:ation rentals. e,·eryt.hing. At least editing is done in a little yourmot'ie ofthat title?
room somewhere. quietly, at leisure. You take your time-it's • LC: Speda/ Effects is an old script I wrote a long time ago. It
like writing in your room. It's not as pressurized a situation as was the first thing I wanted to do, before Bone. even. It was one
the actual shooting of a picture which is expensive -you have of the only scripts sitting in the closet that I hadn't sold to
to keep something going because the clock is ticking. anybody over the years. about a movie director who has a
• V: \f1hen you're u•ritinga script. do you start U'Orking at a crack-up and accidentally kills somebody and then decides to
regular time et•efJ' day.? make a movie about the murder, and have the real people play

1 33
The reincarnation of a Mayan bird-god takes on the Chrysler building in Q.

themselves in the picture. waiting to be let out.

I got the idea from a movie called In Cold Bloodwhere the Then this company asked me, "We have some money to
production company went and rented the actual house where make a picture; have you got anything?" So we made it. But I
the family was murdered, and shot the scenes in the actual updated it a bit; I made the director like a Michael Cimino or
rooms where the murders took place. I thought, "That is really somebody who's just made a S25 million picture that's a total
gruesome!" -to have those people killed all over again in the disaster; he can't get a job in the industryanymore because he's
rooms where they were actually murdered. made these high-budget pictures that have been flops. He's
• V.· W1.ry is that gruesome? trying desperately to find some subject he can make a movie
• LC: It's just something weird. Being murdered is a very about . . .
private thing, and it seems an invasion ofprivacy to me to have a His whole bedroom has been rigged up with cameras, and
movie company come in and exploit that for profit. I mean­ one ofthem happens to have been rolling when a murder takes
you died, and you're dead. If anything belongs to you, it's your place. He decides to make a picture about this and involve
death. They're taking something from you. some of the real people. He'll have somebody play the part of
Just like sex is a very private thing-ifyou were having sex, the girl victim, but when the time comes he'll actually mix in
you wouldn't want somebody to run in and take pictures of real footage of the murder with the fictitious footage.
you and then project them on a screen, claiming they have the Bit by bit he creates such a reality that the people involved
right to do it. Well, dying is also very private. I just think it's a start to believe what's happening themselves; they start to
tremendous invasion of decency and privacy for the purpose change and get into his mind and act out his fantasy. Then the
of making a profit-making venture. footage gets destroyed, and he has to recreate the murder
Anyway, I wrote this script and nothing happened. After the again.
Polanski murders occurred people said, "Oh, you based your • V.· Interesting idea involving illusion vs. reality-
script on that!" I said, "No, no," but people didn't believe it. So • LC: Right. The main character keeps running these shots of
the script sat in the closet for years . . . fidgeting around, Oswald killing Ruby back and forth . . . run it one way, you kill

134
him: run it the other way and you bring him back to life. Liberty. and they'd say. "Oh. this must have been the god that
The picture's got a lot of interesting ideas about current they prayed to." Just like some statue discovered in ancient
cekbrini10od in America. where you go out and make a S I 0 or Greece: "That must be their god, Aphrodite."
1 2 million dollar mmic about Dorothy Stratton. who newr • V You also takeadt't'mta�eoftransient et>ents toprorlide
did anything The only thing she ever did was to get herself in terestin� locations, likeparades orfairs-
murdered. That makes her an instant celebrity? • LC: In God Told Me To we went down to shoot at the St.
On the other hand. you·n� got jessica Lange as Frances Genaro's Fair where they ha,·c processions. floats with reli­
Fanner who was not an actress of any real note or repute; gious figures and crosses on them, etc. It was a street fair so
hardly anyone knows \\110 she was. Her onJr claim to fame is: they had ferris wheels. rides and merry-go-rounds. It provided
she went insane and was put in a mental institution. So that's an interesting free location and it all fit together. The film also
what stardom is today: insanity. suiddeand murder! That's the contained the St. Patrick's Day Parade which is at a totally
essen<.:e of stardom- it's bizarre. but that's why these people different time of the year, but who's going to know?
are "interesting." • A}: Films c!Y!ate their ouon sense of time and space,
Nobody's interested in somebody unless they get decapi · anytl'll)'.
tated in some horrible accident or took poison or committed • V: Can you tell usabit moreabouthou•.voucametomake
suicide like Maril)�l Monroe. Ifyou li1>e. you just get forgotten films?
complct<:ly. Your movies get forgotten, and nobody knows • LC: Nowadays everybody takes film classes in school; then
who the hdl you arc! You have to really die in a bizarre fashion they do MTV. documentaries, commercials. news and special
or go mad or something to maintain your celebrityhood events-there are all kinds of jobs for people in the visual
forever. 17x•n you're really a star! So . . . that'swhat this picture media other than just making entertainment movies. Probably
says. the majority ofpeople \\ilo go to fi 1m S<:hools end up worki ng
• A}: I tY!ad you U 'C're u•atchin� Vietnam atroci�J'footage. in the business in one way or another.
flippinR back and forth to The Big Valley Ll'ben you u•ere • V l>idyou�o tbefilm scbool mute?
maJtin� SJX·cial Efkcts. • LC: I went to New York City College: there was a film
• LC: l11ere was something about that in the picture-about school there. \X'hile there I began writing scripts and submit·
make-believe violence and real \iolence. �11en you're watch­ ting them to television shows in New York. I started selling
ing the 6:00 PM news on TV and there's bodies l}ing there,and right away. because if you can writeyou can u•rite!
the next show comt·s on and there's bodies lying there. that The easiest way to break in is through writing. because it
juxtaposition negates the difference. Bodies mY! bodies! doesn't cost anybody anything to read it. I mean, ifyou want to
Peopk never used to see so much death before. Now it's direct even a little movie, somebody's got to give you about
"Run out there and gct a shot of that corpse; we want it for the SSO,OOO. But ifyou want to write something. your investment
six o'dock news." Everyone wants to be as graphic as is30 pages of paper and their investment is the half-hour i t
possible- show 'em t·verything! We were talking about that in takes them to read i t . And i f they don't like i t , they're going to
movies: if you can figure out how to knock somebody's head tell you right away, and it doesn't cost anybody anything.
off or chop their arm off and make it look real - that's great But I would suggest that if anybody writes a script, they try
movie magic. b{:caust: people want to see all that graphic stuff. and put some good scenes at the beginning. Don't expect
They'w sc:cn evcryt hing. and now they want to see more. everybody to read 30 or 40 pages to get to the good stuff. Put
something at the beginning to make 'em want to stay. The
same with a movie-you have to give them something inter·

I got the idea frorn a movie cc6cl Ia Celli esting to start with.
It was a waste of time to go to college. but who knew? I t was
..... when the production eo111p1my went the thing ro do- to go to college.
cmd rented the actual house where the ,_., • A}: Why u•as it a u•aste of time?
was ........, cnl shot the scenes in the • LC: Well. I think I could have gone out into the world and
started selling material \\ilen I was sixteen, rather than having
actuai i'OOIIII ....... the murders took place. I
to spend four years in college. lf I'd done that. I would have
thought, "that is ,.., .,....., been selling stuff sooner and I would have been making
movies earlier.
'lhc first n' series I wrote for was Tbe Defenders. a very
• V: I like that scene in Q u•bere the uindou•-u •asber gets popu lar courtroom series about lawyers. etc that won the
decapitatedpeeting in to that shoes tore tl'itha/1 those racks of Emmy a\.Yard; E. G. Marshall was in it. The show already was a
shoes. big hit when I submitted an episode, "Kill or Be Killed." I
• A}: You hmoe all sorts ofjokes in yourmo(!ies. ln onescene went down and they were nice; they gave me a chance to
in It's Alive. tbetx<5 a sign near tbe killer babies tbat reads: write for the show. They liked the first scripts, gave me
"Children At Play. " another assignment. and before I knew it I'd worked on it
• LC: When making a mO\ie. you can never tell ll'hat you'll for three years. I was about 22 years old at the time.
find. You set· a vehicle go by that says. "Danger! Children," and Then I came out to California and I was "hot" because 7be
you say. "Quick! Run up the block and give that guy S2S; we Defenders was a top New York show. equivalent to Hill Street
want to use his tmck for a minute." And you bring i t back and Blues today. I started getting work immediately. and then
use i t . hut a minutebefore youhadn't though tofit. You just see someone asked. "Do you have any idea'i for a TV series?" I
these things as you're going along and you say, "Wow! That said. "Yeah," and one of the ideas was Branded, about a guy
would be good- Jet's grab that and put it i n the movie." who was court-martialed in the U.S. cavalry for cowardice. It
• V Yott 'l>e found some g!Y!al symbolic locationsfor your was a humiliation series; every week at the beginning of the
films. like tbe u•mY!bouse ll' ith theminialllreStatueofLiberty show they court-martial him -tear off his epaulets and break
on the roof- his sword. Then he has to ride around trying to redeem
• LC: l11at's real. I thought, " lf we've got to go to a ware­ himself-prove he's a hero to dispel the fact that everybody
house. let'sgotoonewith theStatue ofLibertyon the roof." It's thinks he's a coward. That was on for a couple of years.
an icon. like the Chrysler Building with the gargoyles, or the Then there was 7be ln t'Ciders, another series like 7be
top of the temple the creature in Q finally lands on which is lnti(ISion of the Body Snatcher-s. Aliens who look like h urnan
shaped likc a p)Tamid. Ifour society was unearthed 2000 years beings infiltrate our society and this guy knows about it and
from now. what would people: find? They'd find the Statue of tries to comince people. etc.
• V: 7bey can 't bend their little finger- means getting up and leaving the swimming pool." I had
• LC: That's right. They could do everything else-they already become successful in television and was writing
could fly hundreds of thousands of light-years through the air screenplays; I had already bought this house.
in their spaceships, but they couldn't bend their little fingers, • A]: In your tuvmties ?
which was really illogical. • LC: Yeah. It was easy. Then I saiO, "Oh god, now I gotta get
• V: You created the concept for both of these sen·es ? up at six o'clock in the morning and go running around ."
• LC: Right. I used to write scripts in such detail (with all the camera
• A]: Branded was really about black-listing, right? 7bey angles and everything) that the directors would get angry
didn 't really know that, did they? and deliberately change everything, just because they felt
• LC: No. And 1be /nz!(lders was like a witch-hunt; a para­ they had no position unless they changed everything. It was
noia series. Kind of like everybody running around accusing like following a very detailed blueprint; the picture was
other people of being a communist. I didn't have much to do already almost pre-cut, pre-directed and everything in the
with the show once it got going; gradually they turned it into script. So they'd change things arbitrarily for no reason. and
a rather simple-minded program. then find out that it didn't make any sense. I had to stop
For instance, it would have been more interesting if the writing the scripts in such detail.
invaders weren't all bad. But, at least we did have Michael So directing the scripts became the only way to do it, I'm
Rennie as the leader, who you remember from 1be Day the afraid. Unless you have a partner who directs-you write, he
Earth Stood Still. We had some fun with it, but it was more or directs and you have an understanding or something.
less running around doing stuff that had been in other • V: How did you get money?
science-fiction movies, but doing it for television. This was • LC: I knew people who hired me and were accustomed to
when 1be Outer limits was on; '67-'68. paying me a lot of money for scripts. So I went around asking
Then I wrote three screenplays, Daddy 's Gone a-Hunting them for money for a whole picture, that's aU.
which was directed by Mark Robson, a Western called FJ • V.· Didn 't they say, "Well, you 'tJ(! nezl(!r made a mol'ie
Condor, and another one, 1be Return of the Magnificent before. so . . . "

Seven with Yul Bryoner, which is not really the script I wrote • LC: No, there's always people starting out, particularly in
(but I got credit for it, anyway ). They screwed that one up; the low-budget area. They're not going to get Robert Wise
they cut out the whole middle of the picture, saying there directing their low-budget pictures; Robert Wise directed
was no development in it. low-budget pictures at RKO for Val Lewton, but then he
After that I thought, "This is a waste of time. If you want began directing big-budget pictures like Sound of Music.
'em to turn out like you want, you gotta make 'em yourself. It There always has to be somebody coming along to make the

Mk..._. M.n.rty receives • lecture frotn C.IMiy a-k In Q.

low-budget pictures. People get started going to places like there was no need to go to work every day! I was making
American International or Roger Corman. Beliet >e me. cu�r­ movies hut I didn't have to leave the house; it was a nice
body u•ho u>ants to get started uri// get started. It may not be compromise.
now or next year, but sooner or later, if they're going to stick That picture got a minor release from a small distributing
with it they're going to get it done. It's just the way it happens. company. Jack H. Harris Enterprises. whose prime claim to
The people who give up weren't meant to do it in the first fame was: they had made and distributed a small picture
place. Because it's a hard business-even after you write the called 7be Blob. The owner was known as Jack "The Blob"
picture and finish it. then you have to run it for these Harris.
people- people who don't like it because they don't under­
stand it, or who advertise it wrong, or who open it on a
weekend when the World Series is on -there's a million
heartbreaking things that happen.
If you don't have the resil iency to stay with it and keep
going-a lot of people just withdraw; they can't stand the
pressure and the sense of defeat. So the best thing to do is:
just keep going on to the next picture. When you finish one,
be ready to do the next one, or be working on scripts for the
next one -have something on your mind so you're not going
to be plunged into hopelessness.
• V: Do you think you 're a/u>ays two or three m01ries
ahead? It was my first experience with someone who liked the
• LC: Yeah. It's a wonderful business. though. People do let picture for the wrong reasons. He thought, "Oh boy. this is
you go off and play-act your dreams . . . going to be another Superjly! or Shaft! I said, "Jack, this
• V: So basically, it u•as disgust at tbeabuse ofyour screen­ picture's not a drama, it's a comedy. " He said to me, "Usten,
plc�vs that brought you to directing ? am I going to stand in the aisle and tell them not to laugh?" I
• LC: I was being paid well for the abuse. though, so I didn't said, "If you advertise this picture as a drama. they're not
get that uppiry about it. But I wanted to find out if I could going to know what to make of it. If you pay to see a drama
make a good picture. I had written that script for Special and it's really a comedy, you're not going to be happy." He
Effects. hut I couldn't find anybody to fund that. Then I wrote said, "Well. you know, leave it to me-l've been in this
another one, Bone (the title was later changed to House­ business since 1900."
urife ). and I got the money from somebody to make my first Anyway, it was released as a drama and got reviews like,
film. They always change the titles; If I made 13 pictures I "The most unintentionally funny movie of the year." Hor­
have 26 pictures to my name. That gives me more posters to rendous. Then he said, "/ know what to do." Next thing I
hang on the wall. knew, he's changed the title to Houseurife and now it looks
Bone is about an affluent family who live in Beverly Hills. like a porno-what the idle housewife is doing in the after­
He's a super TV car salesman and she's his bored wife; they noons. Beautiful. great.
hate each other. They have a son they claim is a prisoner-of­ However, that led to me being called in to do that black
war in Vietnam. but really he's in a jail in Spain for smuggling exploitation picture, Black Caesar, which was a big hit. And
drugs. But they tell everybody he's a Vietnam War POW so shortly after that I made It s Alit>e!
they can look better. • v- Where'd you get the concept for It's Alive!
Into their midst comes a black thief who breaks into their • LC: I think I had the idea of a super-monster baby when I
house to rob them, only to find out they don't have any was a kid. I thought it was an interesting idea, and that we
money. They have this big house, swimming pool , Rolls­ could could get all the suspense through the implied pres­
Royce and everything. but they owe money to everybody; ence of something you didn't see.
they're absolutely bust. In searching the house the thieffinds • V: It s ambiguous; you feel sympathetic tou,ard thebaby,
a hank hook listing a S5000 savings account that the wife but you also fear the baby.
doesn't know about-the husband's holding out on her. So • LC: That's right. And that was a big hit, so I had two big
she's furious, screaming at him. The thief says. "I'll tell you hits. After that people are always looking to see if you'll have
what. You go into town to the bank. get the money, and be another big hit, so you get financing.
back here in one hour. J'll stay here with your wife. If you're The second It s AlitY?! picture did okay, but not as good as
not back in one hour, I'm going to rape her, kill her and the first. Then the business changed a little when American
everything else." International went out ofbusiness. It was a good company for
He goes into town to the bank. and then says to himself, me because they kinda let me make anything I wanted to. But
"Why should I go back? I hate that bitch." So he takes off. He they sold the company, the new company went out of busi­
meets a hippie girl-this picture was made a long time ago ness, and that was the end of that. Then I had to make my
when people used to get Blue Chip stamps at gas stations­ pictures wherever I could find a company that was
he meets this girl who makes her living by finding unlocked interested.
cars and stealing the Blue Chip stamps in their glove com­ Ocasionally I still write a script for somebody if I like the
partments. They take off for the afternoon to have a little sex. idea or the people I get to work with. Uke, I wrote Dr.
Meanwhile the burglar is waiting for the husband to Strange in conjunction with Stan Lee, who's the Marvel
return. but he never shows up. The wife gets drunk, and Comics guy. We enjoyed working together, and now he
before you know it a relationship evolves between them and wants me to do something else with him, so I will. He's a very
they realize how much they have in common, etc. It's a nice guy and one of the really greater people; he created a
comedy. And they fall in love, and then join forces to go find whole new look in comic books which revolutionized the
the husband and kiU him for his insurance. So it's a wacky, comic book industry. Now Marvel's way ahead ofSuperman
satirical movie about affluent people in Beverly HHls. and DC in terms of sales.
We made the picture and I thought it could be controlla­ • V: Back to your filmography. You did It's Alive in 1973
ble because it had a small cast. and God Told Me To in 1977, but what didyoudoduringthe
• V: Did you film it in this bouse ? four years in between?
• LC: Yeah, we did. It was my first picture; I decided to use • LC: I know I did something during that time! I lived in
my own house-the pool was in it, too. This made it easy; England for a year- I guess that was 1975-and wrote a stage

1 37
play called Motive. There were two productions of it, one crack in the door seeing the murder take place. It was a three
with Honor Blackman, the other with Carroll Baker. Then I week shoot -an economical little picture, and I had a good
came back and made Hoot>er, which I think was made in '76 time doing it. working with a lot of these new East Village
but released in '77. people who have a whole kind of subculture society. And
• V: You wrote a set--eenplay. Success. they're good actors.
• LC: That was in '80 or '81, before Q. It was a cute script • Aj: W1Jen u•e1Y! you horn ?
that had been laying around for years; I didn't have anything • LC: July IS. in Manhattan. I don't like to tell budgets of
to do with making the picture. Then I did a play in New York films or birthdays.
caJied Trick. • A}: \l"hat 's )'Ow·famrite fX111 r�f the piclillY! ?
• V.· Hou• come you ne1•er turned that into a film ? • LC: Well, my favorite part of en�ry picture is probably just
• LC: Oh, I don't know . . . it was too deep! It was so serious; going to the theater and watching it after it's been released.
at the time it was too heavy for a mo,ie, maybe not now. I becaust: then I'm safe -it's otoerl •
aJways think about rewriting it, but I never get around to it. I larry Cohen
think maybe the experience of ha\ing done it on Broadway holding
was enough; I suffered enough with that one. so maybe I promotion
better not suffer again! tontainer
• V: That takes us up to Perfect Strangers. of The StuH
for his
latest movie.

" ... society .. ....... 2000 ,.... from

.., what would ,..... find? they'd find the
Stat.e of ....,..., cmd they'd say, "Oh, this
.... ..... .... the .... that they prayed to."

• LC: Perfect Strangers is a little mo,ie we made in conjunc·

tion with Special Effects. The deal was to make two pictures
back·to-back. Perfect Strangers stars a two-year-old child; it
was kind of an experiment in manipulating the audience into Photo: Yale

believing that a two-year-old child could act. Since he can't

talk, it has to be a non-speaking child.
Anne Carlisle ( who was in Liquid 5;ky) is in it. And Special
Effects has li:>e Tamerlis who was in Ms. 45. I made these
pictures with these underground movie queens in the Soho
section of New York. It was fun! I had nothing else todoat the
time. and it gave me something to do for six months while we PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
were raising money for 7be Stuf
f AS WRITER:
Perfect Strangers is about a liule boy and his mother. Anne
One Shoc:king Moment
Carlisle, who's separated or divorced from her hushand.
The Defenders (TV series)
raising a kid. The kid witnesses a murder in an alley behind
Branded (TV series)
the house. The killer, an attractive young guy, is haunted by
Invaders (TV series)
the fact that the child may be able to identify him. But then,
Cool Million (TV series)
the child's only two and can't talk.
Nature of the Crime
He starts following the mother and child around the neigh­
Motive
borhood to see if the child reacts to seeing him, because he
Suuess
isn't sure if the child can actually recount what he saw. The
I, the Jury,
mother sees him following them around. and thinks that he's
Dr. Strange (saipt)
interested in her as a girlfriend. They meet and strike up a
Daddy's Gone A Hunting
relationship, and he's convinced that the kid doesn't
Tritk
remember him.
Dr. Strange
He starts hanging around the house, taking the kid out, and
El Condor
they become like a family. Gradually he becomes aware that
Return of the Magnifitent Seven
the child does remember him and knows exactly�11at he did.
There's a policeman hovering about; the people who hired AS DIRECTOR:
him to commit the murder are pressuring him to kill the One Shoc:king Moment, 1965
child, and Anne Carlisle's like a feminist who run afoul of her Bone aka Housewife aka Dial Rat for Terror
feminist friends because she's taken up with this boyfriend. Black Caesar, 1973
Meantime the husband wants his kid back and tries to kidnap Hell Up In Harlem, 1973
it. Naturally she gets the kid back, but we know that the only It's Alive, 1973
hope it has of surviving is if the father comes around and God Told Me To (aka Demon), 1977
abducts the boy. Everything's working at cross-purposes. The Private files of J. Edgar Hoover, 1977
Anyway, there's a surprise ending which I'm not going to It lives Again (aka It's AJive II), 1978
ruin the picture by telling you. Basically it's a kind of love full Moon High, 1981
story with a convoluted suspense plot. but a little different Q-The Winged Serpent, 1982
from the usuaJ run-of-the-mill "child witnesses murder" sto­ The Stuff, 1985
ries. It was made before Witness, which has some of the same Perfec1 StrangCif's (aka Blind Alley), 1985
exact shots we have, with the little child looking through a Spetial Effec:ts, 1985
 •
•

B Y J I M M 0 R T 0 N

script written by Griffith, author of some of Corman's

T
'W"aS

of Blood and 7be Little Shop of

best films. including Bucket
hroughout 1965, Hell's Angels had been the targets of HonYJrs. Corman wasn't completely satisfied with the script,
countless news reports, magazine articles and pieces of fic­ however, and turned it over to his young production assistant
tion. Most of the press was negative, overblown, and substan­ for extensive rewri ting. For an added touch of realism, Cor­
tially inaccurate. By the end of the year an Angel couldn't man employed the Venice chapter of the Hell's Angels as
even go to the local tavern for a beer without a journalist or extras. Corman required that ali the actors who played bikers
TV crc::w noticing. in the film know how to ride a Harley. and when lead actor
• In January of '66, "Mother" Miles-leader of the Angels' George Chakiris asked for a stunt double to do his riding for
Sacramento branch-died, and when his comrades geared him, Corman booted him from the film. replacing him with
up to attend the funeral, the press was ready. Every Angel in the man who was to play the second lead: Peter Fonda. By the
the state of california turned out for the event, as did nearly time it hit the theaters, the title of the movie had been
every other motorcycle gang, rival or not. The procession changed from Allthe Fallen Angels to 7be Wild Angels.
was spectacular: wall-to-wall Harley-Davidsons rumbling • 7be Wild Angels is less a story than a series of misadve n­
down the highway as far as the eye could see. Strangely, the tures. Peter Fonda plays "Heavenly Blues." a brooding young
death of "Mother" Miles sparked the beginning of a new kind misfit and leader of the motorcycle gang. Bruce Dern plays
of cinema: The Biker Film. "Loser" -so named because of his uncanny knack for getting
• While thumbing through an issue of Life magazine, the short end of the stick. Wl�en Loser is shot by the police
producer-director Roger Corman came across a picture of while trying to steal a motorcycle. his friends decide to bust
the Miles funeral. Struck by the graphic power of the photo, it him out of the hospital ( figuring it would be easier to get him
occurred to Corman that the Hell's Angels would prO\ide out of the hospital than out of prison ). Naturally, without
good subject matter for an interesting and profitable motion proper medical attention, loser dies shortly after he is
picture. He and scriptwriter Charles Griffith paid a visit to abducted. A funeral is held, and Blues attempts to express his
a gang of Angels, and after an evening of drinking and "frustration with society" to the minister. Failing, he and th<.:
exchanging stories, Corman and Griffith walked away with Angels disrupt the funeral, raping loser's wife and turning
the material they needed for a screenplay. the service into a free-for-all. At the end of the film Blues is
• The movie was to be called All the Fallen AnRels. The left alone. feeling his role as a biker is played out, and won-

Jade Nichohon, Harry Dean Stanton (background) ond friends go for o spin in Rebel Rousers ( 1 967).

1 40
dering what lies ahead. S I million dollars. but after years of dickering they settled for
• The Corman film did little to enhance the image of motor­ S300.
cycle gangs. portraying the Angels as being only slightly • 71;e Wild Angels was a hit, especially in the South and
brighter than your average circus hear on a bike. Upon seeing Southwest - traditionally the market for exploitation and
the film the Angels felt they'd been betrayed, and sued Cor· action films. Much to the chagrin of some American officials,
man for defamation of character. The original claim was for the film was chosen to play at the Cannes Film Festival.

Russ Tamblyn laughs maniacally and displays the dead bodies of three of his victims in AI Adamson's classic, Satan's Sadists.
America was ready for bikers; the slapstick Erich Von Zipper • The market for these ftlms was teenagers, so combining
image of the motorcycle menace in Beach Party was being the motorcycle gangs with another favorite teen genre -the
replaced by a more malevolent image. Outlaw gangs were no horror film -seemed a natural. The resulting films are hardly
longer something to laugh at-they were a real and present scary, but certainly worth watching. The first attempt was
danger, and the public flocked to see them. Wereuoltlf?s on Wheels, a film about a gang that crosses paths
• As is always the case in Hollywood, a successful film is seen with a witch and ends up as werewolves. Barf bags were
as a successful formula, and the race was on to produce biker handed out at the door when the film first opened. A more
films. First out of the starting gate was Devils Angels. uke 1be intriguing blend of monsters and motorcycles was Psycho­
Wild Angels, it was produced by AlP and had a screenplay by mania, also known as 7be Death Wheelers. It tells the story of
Charles Griffith. AJP had wanted Roger Corman to direct it, a British motorcycle gang led by an o<:cult fanatic who prom­
but he was busy working on 1be Trip. Detli/'s Angels starred ises the gang memhers immortality if they kill themselves.
John Cassavetes as an aging biker who leads a pack much They do. and get their wish, but are eventually undone. The
younger than himself. Cassavetes as a gang leader was an odd nan1e of the gang is ( logical ly) "The Uving Dead," and the
and clever piece of casting. At the time he was busy directing creature they worship is a bullfrog. Psy chomania is one of
independent features, and took the part in Detli/'s Angels to the few biker films to come out of Britain, and definitely one
fa.ise money for his own projects. During the '50s Cassavetes of the weirdest.
had made his mark as a gang leader in a television drama • A belated attempt to combine Harleys and horror w-as
called Crime in the Streets (later made into a movie by Allied Northuille Cemetery Massacre, made in 1977 and set in a
Artists). and playing a gang leader again twelve years later small redneck town that decides to solve its biker problem
added a touch of pathos to both parts: the grown-up delin­ once and for all. The gang fights back and the tt.ro warring
quent with nowhere left to tum. parties meet in the local boneyard. The townspeople make
• Devil' s Angels is a better-than-average biker film, but its mincemeat of the bikers, but by the end of the film, they learn
box office draw was nowhere near that of Corman's films. the futility of their hatred . . .
The big hit of 1967 was Hell s Angels on Wheels, produced by • Herschell Gordon Lewis, who carved a career from the
joe Solomon. depiction of extreme violence, added his own twisted brand
• Biker movies were good to a lot of producers, distributors of filmmaking to the genre in the form of She Detlils on
and actors. They were quick to make, required minimal Wheels: the story of an aU-female motorcycle gang that takes
scripting, and made few demands on anyone's talent. And of on-and demolishes-a rival male gang. As with all Lewis
the people who profited from biker films, none profited films, the stage blood is not spared. Another film, Sisters in
more than joe Solomon. Leather, explores the concept of an all-female gang in a
• By the time the biker craze had rolled around, Joe similar and even more exploitative manner.
Solomon was a seasoned expert in the field of exploitation. • 1970 marked the beginning of the end for the biker genre.
As a child he had made theater signs working in his father's America was growing tired of the shenanigans of these
print shop, and later he became the advance publicist for the motorcycle maniacs and, as if to drive the final nail into the
infamous Mom and Dad. After several ups and downs in the coffin, Avco-Embassy released CC and Company, a worth­
movie world ( including a failed venture making black light less ftlm starring joe Narnath as a lone biker who defends
movie displays ), Solomon invested everything he had in Ann-Margret against William Smith's gang. 1970 was also the
Hell's Angels on Wheels The film cost 5200,000 to make and
. year Black Angels was released; the first ( and last) blaxploi­
pulled in several million at the box office.Joe took the money tation biker flick. Producers sought new ways to pump life
and invested it in another biker film, Angels From Hell, and into the dying genre, and one of the goofiest attempts was
yet another, Run, Angel, Run . . until he had enough money
. 1be Losers, the story of Hell's Angels who are recruited by the
to start his own company: Fanfare Productions. President to rescue soldiers in Cambodia. In addition to an
• Hell s Angels on Wheels is one of the best of the biker films. idiotic premise, the story saddled the bikers with dirt bikes,
It starred jack Nicholson as a loner who meets upwith, joins, and 7be Losers met with scant approval from press and
and then splits from a group of Hell's Angels. uke The Wild public.
Angels, this film has very little plot and features real Hell's • By 1973 the biker film had virtually disappeared, but New
Angels, including Sonny Barger, their current leader. Unlike World Pictures tried one more time to revive the moribund
the Corman film, the Angels liked and endorsed this film-a genre with Bury Mean Angel, which tells the story of a young
gesture few critics could figure out. The director of Hell s woman setting out to avenge her brother's death. The film
Angels on Wheels was the talented (if self-indulgent ) stars Dixie Peabody-a woman who can ride a Harley better
Richard Rush, but the real star of the film was cinemato­ than she can act. It's also the only biker film written and
grapher Laszlo Kovacs. Kovacs (who has since gone on to directed by a woman, Barbara Peeters. Probably the best
become one of Hollywood's most sought-after cameramen) thing about this film is its advertising, which, i n a shameless
pulled out all the stops for this film. Sometimes fluidly, burst of alliteration, proclaimed: "A Howling Hellcat, Hump­
sometimes jerkily lopsided, his camera zooms ahead of the ing a Hot Hog, on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge."
Angels. • Several factors led to the demise of the biker genre. Alta­
• Another film that fared well that summer wasBom Losers. mont, billed as the "Woodstock of the West," turned into a
It told the story of a half-breed Vietnam veteran who comes series of bloody confrontations between former allies the
to the aid of a young woman being raped by a gang of bikers hippies and Hell's Angels. The federal helmet law ( since
and gets thrown in jail for his troubles. The film was directed repealed) took much of the joy out of motorcycle riding for
by "T. C. Frank," a pseudonym for the film's star, Tom many bikers, although most gang members tried to compen­
Mclaughlin. The character Mclaughlin played was called sate by wearing helmets shaped like those used in Nazi
"Billy jack." Later he would resurrect the character for the Germany. Gas prices drove the highway speed limits down to
execrable Billy jack and its sequel, 1be Trial of Billy jack. 55, making a true rip-roaring highway run a thing of the past.
• The biker films released in 1967 did well at the box office. Several states passed laws aimed against choppers. Size lim­
Over the next two years no less than ftfteen more biker itations on forks, handlebars, and wheels-plus countless
movies were released, and many talented actors used the other nit-picking details-kept some beautiful machines off
genre to keep bread on the table. A few actors played in so the road for good. Finally, the genre simply did not offer
many of these that it's hard to find a biker movie without at enough variety to sustain the public's interest, and the biker
least one of them: William Smith, Robert Dix, Jeremy Slate, film, like the motorcycle gangs they helped promote, quietly
Bruce Dern, Scott Brady and Jack Nicholson. dropped from view. •
A fter World War Two was finally over with, evt:ryone
thought they were ready to face the future. They thought
the future meant vacations on Mars, 200 mph highways, and
nuclear-powered cars. No one foresaw the development of
the electric guitar and rock 'n roll and the binh of a new kind
of movie for a new kind of teenager: TI1e J.D. Film.
• Films dealing with the problem of juvenile delinquency
had been around long before the fifties. ln 1921 As the
World
Rolls On chronicled the exploits of a gang of young hoods. A
year later 7be Angel of the Crooked Street became the first
film to tell the story of a refom1 school girl. In 1937 Leo
Gorcey, Huntz Hall and several other young actors made "I call her Mother only
their debut as a gang of street-smart kids in Dead End, a because I don't know
what else to call her."
stagebound but entertaining film about a big-time hood com­
ing home to visit his mom. The "Dead End Kids" were so MY FATHER­
popular they soon appeared in another film, and another­ "Now there's always
each succeeding film a little less carefully crafted than the some woman at the
last, until by 1957 the boys were cranking out some of the house-he says they
,. 'just drop in' I"
most consistently goofy movies this side of The Three
Stooges. Along the way they changed their name to "The MYSELF-
Bowery Boys." "A l l I k n o w is- n o
• Early efforts to portray juvenile delinquency were matter what I do it's
markedly different from the J.D. films that came later. Usually
the delinquency was based on the dehumanizing effects of
urban life, or on some wrong tum made by the protagonist as
a child. From this point of view it's not inconceivable for one
boy to grow up to be an upright citizen while his brother
turns to a life of crime. as in Public Enemy Number One. Oty
Across the Ritl(?r (based on Irving Shulman's gritty novel 7be
Amboy Dukes) was one of the first films to blame delin­
quency on the parents, even though the parental neglect was
caused by the high cost of living in the city-forcing the
parents to work all the time. It's the city that's seen as the
villain, and for most of America juvenile delinquency was
strictly an urban problem.
• All that changed in 1954 when Marlon Brando and his gang
roared across the screen in 7be Wild One, a film ba�u un an
actual event in a small California town.
• The bikers in 7be Wild One were a bit too old to be
considered jml(?nile delinquents, but their antics, attitudes
and slang ponrayed a colorful archetype for would-be rebels
across the country to emulate. Unlike the young thugs in
urban dramas, the rebels in 7be Wild One weren't out to
became big shots or millionaires-they broke the rules just
for the fun of it . . . because they were there. When 7be
Wild
One demonstrated that even the smallest town could be
overrun by toughs, delinquency becan1e etJer)'body's
problem.
• 1955 was a banner year for teenagers. Until then, popular
music meant Perry Como and Patti Page. Your Hit Parade and
7be Dolly Mack Shou• offered television viewers a chance to
see current hit songs acted out in pantomime by Giselle

GINGER ROGERS · MICHAEl RENNIE

MacKenzie and Snooky Lanson. Songs like "How Much is
That Doggie in the Window" ruled the airwaves. But a new
kind of music began to force its way into the national con­
and lhree slars al lhe lulure
sciousness -a raucous fusion of black rhythm and blues and
white country and western that some people thought was Mildred Natwick BETTY lOU KEIM · WARREN BERliNGER· DIANE JERGENS
the Devi l's Music; most just called it rock 'n roll. Because this ?rod.tti �, CHARUS �RACK[TT · DrKttt by f0f11UNO tOUlOING · !J!tl')llr by WAlnR Rf!SCH ,oj CHARlfS RRACKHf
new musical spirit and juvenile delinquency arose at approxi­ used in films to come: it was the first mO\ie to portray
mately the same time, many parents and teachers blamed teenage hoodlums in a suburban setting. James Dean's
wailing electric guitars and pumping pianos for the rising character-the misunderstood "good" kid- would crop up
crime rate among teenagers. again in many motion pictures. including /nmsion of the
• When director Richard Brooks decided to make a movie Saucer-Men and 7be Blob, and it was also the first movie to
based on an Evan Hunter book about the problems ofjuvenile feature the game of "Chicken." The number of subSt:quent
delinquency, he included "Rock Around the Clock" as part of films featuring variations on Chicken is staggering. Usually it
the soundtrack -a song that teens loved and parents loathed. was used as a device to get rid of the "bad" kid-teens lost
The film was Blackboard jungle, and not since Birth of a their lives dri\ing over cliffs, nmning into trains, smacking
Nation had a film raised such controversy. After an advance into walls and colliding with each other. The creati\'c abili­
screening of the film, U.S. Ambassador Clare Booth Luce ties of Hollywood scriptwriters were sorc:ly taxed as they
declared that if Blackboardjtmgle wem to the Venice Film struggled to think of new ways to destroy the youth of the
Festival, she would not. Ms. Luce, an influential and head­ nation.
strong woman, won the battle but lost the war; her outrage at • As alway:., producers -hot on the seem of profits in the
the supposed degenerate nature of the film only served to new teen market -scrambled to cash in. None scrambled
spark people's curiosity-Blackboardjungle was a hit. faster than S.1 m Katzman, nicknamed "Jungle Sam" because
• The \flild One started the ball rolling, Blackboardjungle of his work on C.olumbia'sjungle jim serials. His specialty
gave it momentum; then came Rebel Without a Cause. Origi­ was producing mO\ics quickly on very low budgets. Just
nally Rebel Without a Cause was intended as drive-in fare, to weeks after Rebel Without a Cause was released, he hired his
be filmed in black-and-white on a limited budget. The direc­ fa,·orite director, Fred ). Sears, started filming, and hit the
tor, Nicholas Ray, had managed to sign an up-and-coming theatres \Vith Teenage Crime Wal't!. Over the years Katzman
young actor named James Dean to play the lead role. Warner added many more teen-oriented films to his filmography.
Bros, sure of the film's success after seeing MGM's profits including such favorites as Rock Around the Clock. Don "t
climb with Biackboardjungle, had Rayscrap his footage and Knock the Rock and Ca�ypso Heat Wat•e.
start over in Cinemascope and color-thus destroying much • Nobody took better advantage of the burgeoning youth
of the film's potential impact. Rebel Without a C,nuse is a market than American-International Pictures (AlP). Started
borderline J.D. film- Dean hardly seems like much ofa rebel. by a lawyer ( Samuel Z. Arkoff) and an ex-theatre manager
appearing more befuddled than delinquent. A better title for Uames H. icholson ). A l P aimed at the teen market exclu­
the film might be Cause Without a Rebel. The film did, sively. Many critics at the time decried A l P's movies. accusing
however, establish certain J.D. conventions that would be them of pandering to society's basest elements in shameless

Dick Bakalyan, caught in the act in Juvenile Jungle.

144
Bakalym� (with cigarette) and friends pour on the friendly persuasion in JuYenU. Jungle.

pursuit of the fast buck. Arkoff and Nicholson were vism of urban polyglots has become the American norm. Later, the

undaunted, and soon AlP was one ofrhe most successful film ghastly nihilism that life alfords nothing ofvalue greater than a "kick"
is asserted. explicitly and defiantly, in an existentialist "poem"
companies in Hollywood. In retrospect, AlP gave us some of
recited for no story-line reason. Its purpose seems to be to pro,ide a
the very best J.D. films of all, including 1be Cool and the "philosophical" rationalization for bop-jabber. juvenile delinquency
Crazy, Refonn School Girl and Hot Rod Girl. and dope addiction.
• But Sam Katzman and AlP were by no means the only ones · Lewis, who seems to be in his early twenties, recently married the
taking advantage of the teenage film market; two other film 1 3-year-old daughter of a cousin, five months before his divorce from
companies, Allied Artists and Howco-lnremational, also his second wife became final.
released many films similar in content and style to those of • The J.D. films are, in some ways. the direct descendants of
AJP. Allied Artists (formerly Monogram, a long-time institu­ thefilm nuir of the fonies. The heroes arc usually outcasts or
tion in Hollywood ) kept itself afloat during the fifties with misfits, and the stories do not always have happy endings;
films likejoy Ride and Roger Corman's classic 7eenage Doll. indeed , even the happy endings are tinged with feelings of
• Much smaller than either Allied Artists or AlP, Howco­ doom and despair. Only rarely, though, does a J.D. film
lntemational joined the teenpix race with 'll!enage 1bunder exhibit the moody photography and sophisticated dialogue
and Carnival Rock. They also released, among other of his of the film noir. Miniscule budgets and two-week shooting
films, Ed Wood, Jr.'s jail Bait. schedules prevented much in the way of artistic indulgence.
• By showing a side of life most Americans preferred to Besides, sophisticated dialogue had no place in the world of
ignore, the J.D. films annoyed and angered many people. See "cool, man," "Crazy, Pops!" and "Hey, Daddy-0." Most were
this review from Films in Review: filmed by directors like Ed Cahn, who worked at breakneck
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL speed shooting fifty set-ups a day. Nig_h r shot.'\ were filmed
Were this ami-social film merely a poverty-row amorality made by "day for night," and chiaroscuro was replaced with a flat grey
fast -buckers for the titillation of morons and would-be criminals,
tone. Most of the movies of the fifties were filmed this way;
FILMS IN REVIEW would take no notice of it. Instead, it was made
you could call them film grls.
for. and distributed by. a reputable company ( MGM ); it utilizes
• By the end of the fifties, America's teenagers were suffer­
well-known actors and actresses; and its producer, Albert Zugsmith,
protests it is an expose of a social evil ing from J.D. burnout. They had had enough switchblades,
This film is itself a social evil. chicken runs and reform school girls. Oluck Berry was in jail,
It begins with Jerry Lee Lewis· banging out the rock-n-roU beat on Elvis Vl.'llS drafted and Buddy Holly was dead in the ground.
a piano as he "sings" a monm;yUabic "lyric" suitable for the imelli­ Also dead was the feeling of the fifties; it was time for some."
gence of a baboon. Gathered about him are seemingly wholesome thing new-something as different from the fifties as they
high school boys and girls. Their juxtaposition to Lewis is deliberate, had been from the previous decade. It was time for Beach
and plant� the suggestion. later explicitly reiterated, that the primiti-
Party. •
 •
•

B Y J I M M 0 R T 0 N

I n the early sixties teen-agers were bored with the grease­

and-leather look spawned by Marlon Brando in 1be Wild
up with tiki gods, tonga torches, hula hoops and women in
muu-muus and leis.
• Along with this came a sport that had long been popular on
One. The new look was clean, scrub-faced and wholesome, the islands: surfing. There had always been a few eccentric
with bikinis, bright colors, hula shirts and bleeding madras devotees on the California coast, but now surfing was hot.
pants. Amid a prospering economy these kids weren't the Kids took to it with a fervor formerly reserved for cars, sex,
social misfits of the previous generation; they all planned to and rock 'n' roll . . .
go to college and settle down into well-paying jobs someday. • A new culture headquartered on the beaches of America
But before they did they wanted to have One last fling. sprang up. Spurred by songs of the Beach Boys and other
• The hedonistic happiness and antics of this new breed of California bands, the kids of America went surf-mad, and
teenager did not go unnoticed by Hollywood. Tee.ns com­ Southern California became the place to be. Strange new
posed a sizable portion of the movie-going public, so Holly­ words like "gremmy," "ho.<faddy," "hang ten" and "cowa­
wood scrambled to find the type of film these new kids bunga!" crept into the language.
would flock to. They came up with "Beach Party'' movies. But • An early film examining this phenomenon was Gidget,
why? Let us backtrack to August 21, 1959, when Hawaii starring Sandra Dee as a young beach bunny caught between
became a �.ate. The entire country went Hawaiian; women childhood and maturity. In the airheaded plot, Gidget
took hula lessons in dance schools across the nation. Albums becomes a kind of mascot to a group of beach bums whose
of Hawaiian music sold out in record stores and super­ strange ideas and lingo she finds intriguing. Gidget was so
markets. People held "luaus," and suburban backyards filled popular it spawned several sequels (each with a different

leach Bunnies display their charms in Wild Wild Winter.

..
. ... �,:..
.. -
""'�..,
. · .;--

' ... . �
...
woman playing the lead), a 1V series starring Sally Field, and • United Artists attempted to join the fun with an uneven
at least one parody Oonathan Demme's Gidget Goes 1b Hell). film starring James Darren and Bob Denver, entitled For
• In the east, meanwhile, thousands of college students on Those W1x> 1bink Young. Aside from Denver's clever ho·
Easter vacation would head south to Ft. Lauderdale for some daddy routine and the initial screen appearance of Nancy
fun in the sun. The streets of this small Florida beach town Sinatra, the film has little to offer.
would overflow with boisterous students drinking, stagger· • Director Lennie Weinrib attempted to recreate the
ing around, shouting, singing, throwing up, trying to over­ ambience of AlP films with his film Beach Ball, a movie about
turn cars or taking their clothes off in public. Ten or twelve an all-guy band pretending to be an all-girl band. By using pop
occupants to a motel room was not uncommon, and sex-or stars in guest appearances, Weintraub felt he could improve
at least the desire for it-was rampant. As usual, the news on the Beach Party formula. Whether Beach Ball is an
media proclaimed outrage at the unrestrained antics of these improvement is arguable, but the film does provide an oppor·
drunken youths. tunity to see some now-established stars in their formative
• In 1960 MGM decided to capitalize on this annual Florida stages, including a young and nervous-looking Diana Ross
pilgrimage with Where 7be Boys Are, the story of four female and the Supremes.
students (played by Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Yvette • Producer-Director Maury Dexter tried to infuse the beach
Mimieux, and Dolores Hart) who head south during spring genre with drama and relevance-almost a contradiction in
break to meet boys and have fun. Some do, some don't, and terms. The result was films like SurfParty and Wild on the
Connie Francis sings a few tunes. Beach, and though they're worth seeing, they lack the pop­
• W7R4 wasn't a musical, but it seemed like one. It had a giddiness of their predecessors.
happy-go-lucky air that many people found appealing. Pclula • Action in the AlP films was, to put it mildly, wacky. Scripts
Prentiss and Jim Hutton were so popul.ar in this film that were like something out of Mad magazine, bordering on the
they-as a kind of lowbrow Myrna Loy and William Powell­ edge of surrealism. For example, dancer candy johnson has
were teamed again in Bachelor In Paradise, 7be Love the power to knock men over just by shaking her hips. Erich
Machine, 7be Horizontal Lieutenant and Looking For Love. Von Zipper learns the secret of "The Tibetan Finger Tech·
• However, it took American-International Pictures {AlP) nique" and constantly puts himself-accidentally-into a
to do it right. In 1963 AlP hired pop idol Frankie Avalon and state of suspended animation. Frankie Avalon often turns to
former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello to play Frankie and the camera and addresses the audience concerning events in
Dee Dee in Beach Party, the story of a breezy young couple the film. A derelict sitting in the comer of a local coffeehouse
whose entire life is spent on the beach. With them was the turns out to be none other than Vincent Price, exclaiming,
rest of their gang: Deadhead, Animal, Candy, Donna, johnny, "Where's my pendulum? I feel like swinging!"
and others. Together they would twist their lives away, exist· • None of this seems to bother the beach kids. As longas the
ing in a world of perpetual summer. sun keeps shining, the music keeps playing, and the supply of
• Into every life a little rain must fall, and in the lives of the Dr. Pepper doesn't run out, they're happy. The only thing
Beach Party kids it appears in the form of Erich Von Zipper bothering Annette is Frankie's bohemian outlook and resist·
and his gang ofbackdated motorcycle hoods,"The Rats" ( and ance to marriage. The ensuing problems form the backbone
their girlfriend auxiliary, "The Mice.") The Rats do every­ of the beach-film plots. The issue of marriage is never re·
thing in their power to disrupt the lives of the beach people, solved, but they do manage to sing a few songs about their
but they aren't very successful; The Rats are a bunch of dilemma.
morons, and their fearless leader, Erich Von Zipper, is a • Most of the singing is done by Frankie and Annette, either
monument to ineptitude. as a duo or separately. The rest of the singing chores were
• Von Zipper (as played by Harvey Lembeck) is an inspired mostly handled by Donna Loren, truly the forgotten star of
invention. With his black leather jacket, motorcycle ( with the Beach Party movies. Her happy-go-lucky air epitomizes
trophy tied to the handlebars), and tough-thug way of talk· the spirit of these films. Her singing was not so bad, either;
ing, Von Zipper effectively parodied the rebellious style of firmer and less breathy than Annette's. Donna achieved some
the fifties-a style the surfers totally rejected. Von Zipper popularity during the mid-sixties, appearing regularly on 1V
was 7be Wild One gone to seed: Marlon Brando played as a shows such as Hullaballoo and Where the Action Is. Unfortu·
stuttering cretin. The most memorable moments in the nately AlP wasn't interested in promoting her career, and
Beach Party films can be attributed to Von Zipper and his aside from singing one or two songs in most of the Beach
cronies, with lines like " You-stupid," and "Uh-oh, the Boss Party movies, Donna did little more than stand in the back·
gave himself the finger." The character of Von Zipper ground and smile on cue.
appeared in no less than seven of the Beach Party movies, • Most of the AlP Beach films were directed by William
outlasting Frankie, Annette, and the whole surfing crew. Asher, a fine low-budget director who is best known for I
• After the initial success of Beach Party, Hollywood Love Lucy. The rest were directed by a diverse line-up of
scrambled to imitate this new breed of film. In 1964 no less people, including horror director Mario Bava (Dr. Coldfoot
than seven films were released, all dealing with the joys of and the Girlbombs) sleaze filmmaker Stephanie Rothman
,

partying in the sand. Three, produced by AlP, were sequels to (It's a Bikini World), classic 'B' filmmaker Norman Taurog
Beach Party. In Pajama Party Frankie Avalon was replaced (Dr. Coldfoot and the Bikini Machine), pedestrian hack
by another ex-Disney star, Tommy Kirk, who played Go·Go, a Don Weis (Pajama Party and Tbe Ghost in the Invisible
Martian sent to spy on earthlings in advance of a future Bikini), and Don Knott's favorite director, Alan Rafkin (Ski
invasion. ( Strangely, Kirk would play an almost identical Party). It is Asher's films, however, that remain the most
character in another film, Mars Needs Women.) 1964 also lively and engaging of the lot.
saw the release of the first Beach Party horror film, HorrorAt • By 1967 Beach films had just about died out; surfing no
Party Beach -a logical synthesis, since the two genres longer held the magic for the younger generation it once had.
appealed to largely the same crowd. The times were changing; the ultra-dean look was a thing of
• Along with AlP's films came a host of imitators and also­ the past, replaced by the shaggy and the unkempt; colors
rans. For surfing, the best of the bunch was Ride 7be Wild went from bright to black-light and Day-Gio; stripes and
Surf, filmed in Hawaii at Waiamea Bay where waves occasion­ plaids changed to paisleys and wild patterns; the trebly sound
ally reach heights of 100 feet. For sheer zaniness, though, of the surf guitar was replaced with wah-wah and fuzztone.
Ride 7be Wild Surf couldn't compare with the AlP films. The action moved from the beach to smoky dance halls with
When the characters weren't surfing, the action stopped loud bands and light-shows on the waUs. Surfing had been
cold. replaced by pot and LSD. •
 B Y J I M M 0 R T 0 N

truction of their lives. The classic example of this plot is

Drugs have long been a favorite topic of exploitation

films. They allow the illmmaker to include the seamiest kinds
Reefer Madness.
• long before it became popular, LSD was mentioned in
William Castle's 1959 film, 1be 7ingler, which starred Vin­
of sex and violence, while maintaining a facade of moral cent Price as a doctor who discovered that every time a
righteousness and social concern. Drug movies date back to person gets frightened, a centipede-like creature begins to
the silent film era, when cocaine was still a new thrill and grow along the spine. The only way to subdue this creature is
opium was smoked in the hidden dens of Chinatown. An by screaming. In the film, Price attempts to experience "The
early example is Douglas Fairbanks' 1be Mystery ofthe Leap­ Tingler" firsthand by injecting himself with LSD. Price's bra­
ing Fish, which depicted both drugs in use-and with little vado performance while under the influence stands out as
retribution. the first acid freak-out in cinema history.
• Regardless of the drug involved, the plots of most of these • In the mid-sixties, when the world at large discovered the
films follow a general pattern: young Dick and jane are joys of LSD, people said they saw monsters, flew to the moon
nagged by their "friends" to try a certain drug that is "the and touched the hand of God. Filmmakers attempting to
rage." Being "good kids," Dick and jane resist at first but recreate these images came up with a wildly creative new
eventually yield to peer pressure, resulting in the total des- movie style that could be termed "garage surrealism." Fish-

TASTE A MOMENT OF .

THE SOUND OF PURPLE

come where the PLEASURE LOVERS are
��
I

;
 Feminist singer Holly Near "grooves out" with Jorct.l Christopher and frienck in Angel. a,...a. Down We h.

eye lenses, painted women, op-art patterns and multiple Sadstic

i Hypnotist), lesbians again get the treatment, this
exposures became de n'gueur for any fJ.lrn illustrating the time as sadomasochistic leather freaks who have the tables
effects of acid. turned on them after being forced to take the drug.
• Once the drug became a household word, there was no • No-budget filmmaker Andy Milligan managed to include
stopping filmmakers from exploring its possibilities. In Tbe practically every sexual activity imaginable in Deprtwed!­
Add Eaters, a gang of office workers shed their establishment climaxing the film with a girl, high on LSD, leaping from a
guises every weekend and hit the road in search of cheap window (a favorite pastime ofgirls on acid). In the '70s, john
thrills. Their quest is fi nally fulfilled in the fonn of a ftfty-foot Waters paid homage to this singular type of suicide in his
tower of LSD! 'TUrn On, 'JUne In, Drop Out was Timothy parody, 7be Diane linkletter Story.
Leary's how-to guide for trippers seeking maximum spiritual • The best "trip" movie is also the best known: Roger Cor­
enlightenment. And Ben Van Meter's Acid Mantra; Or man's classic Tbe 7Hp. Written by Jack Nicholson and star­
Rebirth ofa Nation showed what happens when you give a ring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper ( acidheads
stoned hippie a movie camera. all), 1be 7Hp chronicled the adventures of a young director
• The hilarious Hallucination Generation starred George of TV commercials who, feeling that his life has no meaning,
Montgomery as a boozy guru of a flock ofthrilJ-scekers. The takes a hefry dose of LSD and spends the rest of the film
film was shot in black and white, but director Edward Mann hallucinating his brain away. Connan, to better understand
heightened the effectiveness of the "trip" sequences by film­ the subject, actuaJiy took acid before making the film. Along
ing themin color. with 2001: A Space Odyssey, The 7Hp became required view­
• Tbe Weird World of LSD aJso examined-purponedly­ ing for anyone into LSD .

the dangers of LSD, but lacked funds for much in the way of • With the advent of acid came the hippie movement, cen­
special effects. In one scene, a man hallucinating that he's tering upon a small neighborhood in San Francisco called the
flying on the wings of a great bird is shown lying on a couch, Haight-Ashbury, next to Golden Gate Park. Hippies advo­
grimacing madly, as a crude drawing of a chicken is superim­ cated long hair, exploring inner space, a return to nature,
posed over the scene! and-most important to exploitation filmmakers-free love.
• The mind-altering potential of LSD provoked much specu­ Porno filmmakers wasted no time In exploring this aspect.
lation: what secret depravities hidden in the libido might he The first "docudrama" on the Haight-Ashburywas titled Tbe
released? In Alice in Acid/and. a young woman discovers the Evil Pleasure, a rarely seen scxploitationer that takes a
joys of lesbian sex after taking the drug. In Wanda (7be "mondo" look at some kinky aspects of hippie living. Blonde

1 49
Scene from Mowlo lt•r, Amoric11n Style, or, UD, I H..o You.

on a Bum Trip casts a similar (but kinkier) glance at New substance. "It could be your son or daughter!" the headlines
York City's hippie community in the East Village. Along the screamed. "It could even be you!" In 7be Dean 's Wife, a man
same lines, Wild Hippy CftiD• purported to show what really commits suicide after being slipped the drug and confronted
went on in those Hashbury crash pads. Produced by a group with his wife's nymphomania. In Wild in the Streets, the
called "Pot Heads' Experimental Films," Wild Hppy i Orgy entire U.S. Congress unknowingly gets stoned. LSD is used in
was double-billed with an even wilder feature titled Psy­ 7be Big Cube to put Lana Thmer out of commission. And in
chedelicsex Kicks, which featured nude body-painting, love­ Otto Preminger's strangest film, Skidoo, we get to see the
making in a baUoon-filled room and a woman of Russ effects of acid on Groucho Marx and Jackie Gleason.
Meyerian proportions making lewd gestures with a python. • All sorts of horrible acts, from robbery to murder, were
Together, these films ran a total of eighty-one minutes; "epic" attributed to LSD. The rarely shown Mantis in Lace (aka
they weren't. Lila ) is the story of a topless dancer who turns on and
• Occasionally revived at midnight cinemas is 7be Hippie becomes a mutilation murderer. In SCItan 's Sadists, motorcy­
Temptation, a made-for-1V one-hour documentary on the cle thugs dose unwitting girls and then rape them. Russ
Haight-Ashbury, showing interviews with key founding fig­ Meyer-always attuned to the times-joined in the fun by
ures, a concert with light show, a visit to the Psychedelic including the LSD-induced crack-up of "Z-Man" in the cele­
Shop ( the first hippie store in the world, selling the I Ching, brated Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
yarrow sticks, incense, love beads. and books on meditation. • The '70s saw a decline in the use of psychedelics. Ingre­
the tarot, palmistry, astrology, etc. ), a visit to a crash pad, and dients like strychnine and speed often turned up in hallucin­
other archetypal hippie phenomena. ogens, making each trip a new and dangerous experience.
• Psych-Out, produced by Dick Clark and directed by The electric madness of the '60s was replaced with a blander,
Richard Rush (Hell's Angels on Wheels, 7be Stunt Man ), more "mellow" attitude. But acid had one good film left in it:
starred Susan Strasberg as a deaf runaway searching for her Jeff Uebennan's Blue Sunshine, released in 1 976. It detailed
hippie brother in San Francisco. Arriving in the Haight during the misadventures of a group of ex-druggies, now respected
the "Summer of Love," she enlists the help of a ponytailed members of the community, who suffer from a 10-year
jack Nicholson to find her missing brother, played by-in his delayed reaction to a bad batch of LSD which turns them into
usual weird way-Bruce Dern. With music by Strawberry psychopathic killers who lose their hair along with their
Alarm Clock and The Seeds, Psych-Out is the definitive fable minds.
of the Hippie Movement. • LSD and psychedelic music-often called "paisley"-are
• Reports of people freaking out after being given the drug currently enjoying a speckled resurgence in popularity.
unawares began to crop up in the news. Filmmakers leaped Whether this will lead to any new films remains to be
to exploit the situation. Now no one was safe from the seen . . . •
.
 girls" of the silver screen were fading, replaced with more

T he appeal of Women in Prison films ( hereafter referred

to as WIP films) is difficult to explain. Films dealing with men
adventuresome role models. Goodbye Oara Bow; hello
Uluren Bacall.
• Caged ( 1950) is the movie that founded the WIP genre,
behind bars are unifonnly grim and depressing, yet the same providing archetypes and a primary theme. Eleanor Parker
stories with women replacing the male roles are much more plays a timid woman whose involvement with a robbery was
amusing. The appeal is not merely sexist; women enjoy them passive and unaware. Once in jail she quickly learns that only
as much as men do. In most films women are presented in the strong survive. In spite of attempts by the warden (Agnes
more genteel surroundings exhibiting "ladylike" behavior, Moorehead ) to keep jail from corrupting her, by the end of
while in WlP ftlms women are hard, mean and take no shit the film Ms. Parker is as callous as the rest of the women in
from anybody. Perhaps in this "breaking of the rules" lies the the pen.
beauty of these films. • Caged was successful both critically and financially; Elea­
• The WIP film, in its current fonn, began shortly after nor Parker and Hope Emerson received Oscar nominations
World War II. While the men were away in Europe learning for their performances. But the film was not perceived for
about violence (and sex), the women of America were busy what it was: the first ofa new kind ofmovie. To most people it
working, assembling hand grenades and building planes. was just another crime-drama. But the exploitational aspects
When the war ended, America's values and perceptions were not lost on Bryan Foy, producer of dozens of exploi ta­
would never again be the same. tion ftlms.
• Women no longer submitted to the role of housewife, • In 1955 Foy released Women � Prison; the critics didn't
mother, inferior being. Meanwhile, men had discovered that like it but it did well at the box office. 1lle film tells the story
the bawdy, good-natured sexuality of the French was infi­ of a cruel warden (spectacularly played by Ida Lupino)
nitely preferable to the puritanical guilt/shame prevalent in whose sadistic practices provoke a riot. Outstanding perfor­
the States. This shift in attitude is well-chronicled in the mances by jan Sterling and Cleo Moore continually spark
movies of the times; especiallyfilm noir. The vivacious "good tension, but Ida Lupino's role as the sadistic warden remains

Prison Matron Stella Stevens attempts to maintain order in Chained Heat.

151
the definitive performance for all W l P films to follow. Si :Kteen • More sympathetic to "the system" is Concrete jungle,
years later. Ms. Lupino reprised her role in Bernie Kovo.-alski's directed by Tom DeSimone. In it, a young woman ( Tracy
made-for-T\' mo,ie. Women in ('hains. Bregman ) is set up by her boyfriend to take the rap for a coke
• The most popu lar type of\\1P films durin� t he fifties were bust. When the authorities try convincing her to incriminate
the om:� <.kal in� with teenagers. A.., each year more and more him, at first she refuses, but eventually she agrees to help
ended up in juvenile hall. kids readily identified vo.ith films them. This was DeSimone's second W l P film; his first, Prison
about them. TI1e same year C
aged was rdeased. l'nitcd Girls, was filmed in 3-D and chronicles what happens to five
Artists rdea�ed So Hm ng. So Had: th e story of four �i rb female convicts while on a two-day furlough from jail. This
incarcerated in a ··co rrective homt.: for �iris:· More film� film is softcore sexploitation at its worst. Tom DeSimone
\\Tre to follow: amon� them: Girls ill Plisrm and Girl's 7imn went on to direct several porno features, mostly gay. before
• By the start of the sixties fi l mmakns appt.:ared to be mn­ venturing into the world of R ratings.
ning out of ideas for \X'IP films. In 1962 (flgC!d was remade as • Although WlP films continue to hold their own at the box
1/ouse £�/' Women This re make was <.: nte rtain ing. but inferior office, there hasn't been a glut of them as with other genres,
to the original. partly because their market is smaller, and because they're
• By 196';. the genre had been taken m·er by sexploitation relatively costly to make. It's easier to film vacuous teenagers
films. TIK· t.:mphasis no longe r was on l egitimate penal insti­ being slaughtered i\1 the woods-aU you need is a knife, a few
tutions hut on co/ 'ert ones: most commonly white-slavery bad actors and two gallons of stage blood. To make a prison
ri ngs. In films like Olga 's Girls and House of 1.000 Dolls. film you need sets ( although most WlP films suffer from such
women are forced into slm·ery in prison-like s urrounding�. minimal set design they look like Nob plays).
• Durin� the Iauer part of the six'lies. the majority of all W I P • Most of the genres discussed in this book are either dead
films were com ing fro m Europe . .Jc..·ss Franco. kn<mn for his (e.g. L5D or Beach Party movies), or have degenerated into
prolific output and de\iant sensibility. joined the ranks of inferior forms (like sexploitation and gore films). Happil y,
\XlP filmmakers with titles like 99 \fhmen. Wa nda tbe WlP films are still going strong. Recent pictures such as
\flcked Warden and /ladJed \\"ire Dolls. OJained Heat, Hellhole, and Concentration Camp For Girls
• By the t.:nd of the sixties the archetypal roles of the W I P are as enjoyable as their older counterparts. In OJained Heat,
films had been established. i . e . : ll1e Queen &·e: dominanr linda Blair plays the "new fish" in a prison where the warden
female prisoner who lords it over the others. Th e Nnv Fbh : (played by ever-slimy john Vernon) makes videotapes of
usually the lead actress. in jail for the first time. TI1e Sadistic himself fucking the prisoners in his hot tub. Hellhole follows
Warden: more often than not the one who proves to he the a slightly less traditional path by changing the setting to a
root of all C\il and unreM in the prison. ·me Hooker vo.i th the mental institution, where the chief doctor (Mary Woronov)
Heart of Gold: a street-smart dame who know'> the ropes and conducts secret experiments on patients, attempting to per­
'ew Fbh. for better or worse. lne Dyke Guard:
befriends the fect the world's first chemical lobotomy. Concentration
..
sometimes named .. Ruhy : no W I P film would be complete Camp For Girls is a Hong Kong production featuring guards
\Vithout one. wearing both Nazi and US uniforms, plenty of torture and lots
• In 1 y- 1 . din:cwr .Jack Hill rook most of t11ese elements of bruised skin.
\\ith him when he "e nt to the Philippines to film the first • Whatever their faults, WIP films are remarkable for being
WIP film made hy Roger Corman·., . ew \X'orld Pictures. 7be consistently unusual entertainment. They show no signs of
Bg
i Doll /louse concerned the misadventures of sewral fadin g and hopefully will continue to be made well into the
women held prisoner in a steamy jungle penal colony. Even­ future. •
tually the womt.:n escape. but cannot t'\·ade their ill-fated dc'>­
tinics. The film cost S 12';.()00. and g roo;scd millions. Corman
followed \\i th \fi"nuen in Cages. which did even hetter. Over
the next ten years , <:w World continued producing \Vl P
fi lms. relc:a-.ing such classics as 77Je Hot /lox. T7X! Big 8ird
Cage. TJx• 11(� Bust-Out. Caged Heat and Terminal Island.
:\lost of these films were made in the Philippines. and in
Roger Corman fa..,hion intersper�ed social commentary
hetwct"n tilt.: sex and ,;o lcnce.

• Hm\ evt-r. one of the ht.:st Philippines-\X'IP films WlL" not a

.'Jew \X orld picture at all. .'w·eet Sugar was released by
Dimen�ion Pictures and directt"d by 1\lichael Levesque. who
"how� a certain talent for low-budget film making. The title
charactt'r of tilt.: fi lm is a yo un� woman busted on a marijuana
frame-up Rather than go to prison. she agrees to work in the
cane tklds Sugar soon discowr-. the men in charge of the
cane fidd� are nery hit as brutal and sadistic as those in the
prisons. As in most \X' IP films the women arc tough: in spite
of the male guards· repeat ed attempts to break them. the
women newr k0\\10\\'. If an�1hing. they get stronger.
• S<x-ietal anarchy pemtde s the \X1 P films. If the prison
e�tahli�hmcnt s�mholizes gm·ernment (which it has to. for
these films to make any sense at all ). then the message of the
films u�ual ly fa,·ors revolution and social upheaval.
• The len·l of corruption \':tries from fi lm to film. In Caged
f/C!at. the l'ntire system is rotten. The warden ( i n tensely
portrayed by Barbara Steele ) is a crippled woman. full of
anger and sexual repression. We catch hits of infom1a tion
that indicate she wasn't ah\'ays wheelchair-hound. but d i rec­
tor Jonathan Demme never gi\'e� us enough to arouse sym­
pathy. A.' in all of Dcmmc·s films. the focus is on the quirky
personali ties of the social misfits.
T he year was 1963. Across the country, movie theater
screens began to throb with insects, blood, natives, transves­
• Unusual rituals are a prominent feature of nearly all the
Mondo films. Movie footage from a small town in Italy docu­
ments people who fill a garage with food and drink for an
tites, strippers, and various distressed animals. A new world annual feast. Part of the celebration calls for the men of the
opened up to film-going audiences, unlike any they'd pre­ town to smash through the garage doors using their heads as
viously known. Some elements of this strange new world battering rams. Some begin to bleed from the ears and
were: mouth, go into convulsions, and have to be carried off. Even­
living insect jewelry tually the door is smashed in and the anxious villagers rush
meals of cooked insects inside to eat until they're sick.
a town populated by the distorted look-alike des­ • In a more solemn ceremony, a crowd of churchgoing
cendants of Rudolph Valentino women wash down the parish steps using their tongues. As
an annual celebration in which men smash in a garage the cleanup progresses, their tongues become raw and the
door using their heads steps are covered with streaks of blood. Although the per­
religious fanatics washing a stairway with their tongues formers of this task are undoubtedly sincere, it's difficult to
a chicken who smokes cigarettes imagine how they possibly think that covering something
• If such subject matter seems too farfetched to be credible, with saliva and blood could be a cleansing process.
it's probably because the people, places and things just de­ • Another area often given generous coverage is the world
scribed are all real. Mondo Cane brought to neighborhood of animals. A visit to a pet cemetery can be both touching
theaters around the world a huge variety of unusual informa­ and ridiculous; pet tombstones that humans weep over can
tion disguised as entertainment. soon be matter-of-factly peed upon by visiting dogs. In
• Mondo Cane 's documentation of strange behavior-bi­ another part of the world we are shown a restaurant in which
zarre customs, rituals and pastimes-was hugely successful, patrons select the dog that will provide them their next meal.
spawning a deluge of sequels and copies that comprise the Elsewhere, snakes are picked from cages, skinned alive and
"Mondo" genre. By way of introduction, what follows is a sold (stiU twitching) to housewives. Still elsewhere, well­
sampling of representative themes characteristic of the dressed sophisticates order expensive plates of fried insects.
genre: l}'ing in with the bugs-for-the-rich theme is footage of enor-

TIMES FilM
PRESENT$

. ·� ., GIUSEPPE MAROTTA
omtoo .JRANCESCO DE FEQ .THEQ USUELLI
�•• < • tnEASTMANCQLQR
mous beetles with jewels glued on their backs, crawling willingness to put himself directly in the path of almost
about on elegant women as a sort of living accessory. Tres certain agony denotes a high degree of courage, not to
chic! mention a great sense of honor. Whether this courage and
• If these films return again and again to the animal kingdom, honor are much comfort to a man hospitali7.ed with severe
it's because there's apparently no limit to the indignities Internal injuries Is open to question.
animals can be subjected to at the hands of man. Geese are • Modern art- long a source of irritation to the general
force-fed quantities of grain fu.r in excess of their total body public-shows up repeatedly in the Mondo movies. Legend
weight to produce pate. Olicks are dyed dl1ferent colors to has it that French artist Yves Klein bribed Jacopetti and
make cute holiday surprises for children, but after being Prosperi to include him In their Mondo documentary. Not
sealed in plastic eggs and sent through the mails, the surprise that bribing was necessary, as his use of paint-covered nude
may not always be a pleasant one. women as living brushes was already controversial in the art
• Of course, not all the coverage ofanimals involves abuse by world.
humans; some depicts the opposite. One hilarious scene • Another featured French artist's output was primarily old
shows the famous "run of the bull" in Pamplona, Spain, automobiles crushed down into cubes. For the general pub­
where people see how dose they can actually get to a ram­ lic, finding out what such "artworks" sold for was probably
paging bull. Many spectators do get safely away, but the real fu.r more distressing than footage of animals being skinned
fun is watching those who don't. It's a black-humor expe­ alive, or natives bludgeoning each other to death.
rience to watch a man openly flirting with death: one • The rituals and lifestyles of primitive cultures receive
moment he's doing a sillydance to attract the bull's attention; extensive coverage in nearly all the Mondo films. One shows
the next moment be's helpless in utter horror as the hull's a tribe which abstains from meat for one year, while fattening
horns rip into him, toss him up and slam him to the ground! hogs for an all-out annual feast i n which the animals are
• Another show of bravery, also involving a bull, makes the bludgeoned, butchered and devoured in one day-long spree.
Pamplona run look tame in comparison. Intended to demon­ Elsewhere the camera focuses on members of a cargo cult
strate the readiness of noble young bullfighters to unflinch­ sitting along the edge of a dirt runway they've created, gazing
ingly face death, this ritual often fulfills that potential. A toward the sky and awaiting the cargo plane they think will
single-file line of 6 or 8 matadors slowly approaches the bull carry them to the next life.
to see just how dose they can get before retreat is necessary. • However, the footage most favored by Mondo filmmakers
As a rule, by the time it's necessary, retreat is out of the is that depicting the more brutal side ofprimitive life. Scenes
question- the bull smashes into the line of matadors and showing unusual games in which participants inflict and
slams them to the ground like so many dominos. The first receive painful wounds provide a highly emotional viewing
man in line is invariably a casualty. Presumably, the matador's experience. In one "match," two natives smash each other

Young women vie for the title of "Miss Spaghetti" in Might w...... This rarely saeened film by Claude Lelouch was
.....,_ in France when first released.

1 54
Scftle from Mondo Puzo.

over the head with logs, each taking turns until one drops Mondo 7bpless and a rash of others have no connection with
unconscious. Another competition involves natives throw­ the genuine documentaries except a title bearing the word
ing huge rocks at one another. Each stands perl'ectly still as a Mondo. a word which has come to imply bizarre beha\ior.
sizable stone smashes into him and bounces off, apparently • While many Mondo films present genuine documentation.
with no ill effect. This particular "game" appears to have even the authenticity of others is questionable ( though no less
less point than the previous one. although it no doubt fascinating ). Mondo Cane is comprised of nearly all genuine
teaches the natives something basic about the nature of pain. material. hut its sequel. Mondo Cane 2. is only partially
Natives of New Guinea dive hundreds of feet with only a vine authentic. with an abundance of patently false scenes added
tied to their ankles to break their fall, but sometimes they for comic effect.
break their necks instead. In many of the sports and games • Later films such as /Hondo Bizanv arc almost entirely fake.
devised by primitive cultures, those who lose the game may with only a few real S<:enes S<:atten:d throu�hout in a vain
also lose their life . . . attempt to provide credibility. Filmed in and around Los
• Most Mondo films have limited their documentation to Angeles. Mondo Bizanv gives us a close-up look at Freder­
strange behavior and unusual customs. Such was the case ick's of Hollywood. teens who flock to Laguna Beach each
with Mondo Macabro, Mondo Nudo, Mondo lnfame, Easter to live it up, a "crazy" artist who photographs a topless
Mondo Pazzo, Mondo Bolordo, Ecco, Taboos of the World, model while doing a frenzied dance himself. a Nazi play, a sex
Secret Pains. Go Go Go World, and of course the original slave auction. a bizarre voodoo sacrifice ritual. a "special"
Mondo Cane. Other Mondo films focus on areas that are massage in Tokyo. a man eating glass in a posh restaurant. and
especially topical or of special exploitation value; Mondo more. Mondo Bizann viaS put together by Cresse and R.L
Teeno and Mondo Mod explore the odd rites of teenagers. Frost ( who were responsible for Lmoe Cnmp Set,en ). Frost
Mondo Hollytl'ood was also released as Hippie Hollywood: also shot additional footage for Witchcraft 70. a Mondo film
the Add Blasting Freaks, and boasted an appearance by which focuses on the occult, purporting to document the
Bobby Beausoleil, an actor and musician best known for his widespread existence of practicing witches. At the time of its
associat ion with Charles Manson. One very specific Mondo release it was rumored to contain hidden camera footage of
documen tary focused solely on the Manson family; it was the Manson group ( actually. it contains film of another "hip·
appropriately tit led Manson. pie" family). Whether the bulk of the film is authentic or not
• Not suprisingly. the most popular theme is sex. Mondo is hard to say. but \Vith R. L Frost in tow it's doubtful.
Oscentia, Moudo Rocco, Hollyu'OOd's World ofResh, Holly­ • Evt:n Mondo CLine. for all its credibility. contains scenes
wood Blue. Mondo Daytona, and Mondo Exotica are all that arc suspect. One sequence about the effect of DOT on
films that purport to explore changing mores. The exploita­ eggshells shows turtles making their trek from the sea 10 lay
tion circuit saw a deluge of sex films containing "Mondo" in eggs in the sand. For emotional impact. the S<'qu<.·n<.-c ends
the title, alt hough Mnndo Keyhole. Mundo Depravados, with a confused turtle who cannot find the ocean and some-

155
how ends up on her back. Unable to right herself, the turtle down to the waterfront to watch a suicide's corpse being
struggles helplessly, and the camera marks her progress from pulled from the icy waters of the San Francisco Bay. Though
death throes to carcass to skeleton. How the turtle got on her Mondo America proved quite successful and was fairly inter­
back is cause for speculation -more than likely through a bit esting, it lacked the spark of its predecessors. Sadly, most of
of creative intervention, not unlike the Pulitzer Prize­ the other Mondo films of the '70s received such poor distri­
winning photographer who always carried a child's doll in bution that only a handful of people ever got to see them.
his car to toss down in the foreground of his "documenta­ Films such as Catastrophe, Days of Fury. and Mondo Magic
tion" of disaster scenes. are already all but forgotten.
• One of the first movies ever made, In the Land of the • For awhile it appeared that the Mondo breed of film had
Headhunters is an obviously fake documentary with a con­
, outlived its shock value and was on the brink of extinction.
trived p1ot. Fake documentaries actually flourished in the All of that changed with the release of Faces of Death.
early days of film; some might even be considered true Narrated by a doctor, aptly named "Francis B. Gross." Faces
forerunners of the Mondo genre. The jungles of Africa were ofDeath presents all kinds of death, both human and animal.
(and still are) a source of great mystery and speculation, Although much of the footage is obviously faked, many people
usually involving native girls and gorillas. Dangerous jour­ found the film so shocking that it was removed from the
ney, a 1944 documentary, actually depicted bizarre savage shelves of dozens of video stores around the country. A
rituals and ceremonies, but was surpassed in sensationalism sequel titled Faces of Death Part Two continues Dr. Gross'
by Ingagi. Produced by Congo Pictures Ltd, Jngagi spliced study of death with the same combination of exploitation
old documentary footage of Africa and South America to and edification. Another film that explores death in a similar
suspicious-looking footage of a tribe of completely naked manner is 7be End. which has yet to be released in this
"ape-women" sacrificing a black woman to a gorilla. country. The primary outlet for these movies is the Far East,
• Unfortunately, official investigation forced the film to be yet most of the films are made by Italians. In Hong Kong and
withdrawn from the market, after it was discovered that the japan people queue up to catch the latest installment in the
nude ape-women were actually actresses in black face, and black comedy portrayed by the human race. Violence U.vi
that the locale was a California zoo, not the Congo. The lurid shows the rest of the world how we in the States treat each
mixture of sex and ritual death would have been other. Man Man Man takes a particularly cynical view of
acceptable-even educational-had i t indeed been docu­ human nature. with scenes of executions. whale-slaughters
mented �t some faraway place, but California was a bit too and the Viet Nam War.
close to home. Not that anyone who saw the film ever • Faces ofDeath was the first in a resurgence of the genre, in
doubted it was a sham; the narrator, a Sir Hubert Winslow of which even more blatant forms of abuse to both animals and
London, had no trace whatsoever of a British accent. humans are depicted. 7be Great Hunting 1984 has been
Although only on the circuit for about a month, lngagi was ( allegedly) banned from the U.S. due to its violent nature.
the talk of the town wherever it played, consistently breaking Scenes depicting the slaughter of an entire herd ofelephants
house attendance records and often doubling them. Of in three minutes, or goats thrown into water to be eaten alive
course, what packed the houses wasn't the drive to be accu­ by sharks, don't exactly recapture the humor of the early
rately informed, it was the desire to see a group of naked jacopetti and Prosperi films. But then agai n. they aren't
women murder someone (whether it was real or not didn't meant to. Grainy, supposedly real Super-S footage of a white
matter). hunter shooting Amazon Indians like fish in a barrel from his
• Exploitation pioneer Kroger Babb exhibited a pre­ seat in a low-flying aircraft is not exactly amusing. The new
"Mondo" film in the forties when he came across footage of a breed of Mondo films are gorier and more explicit. no doubt
tribe in the Congo that, among other things, cut the throats of keeping pace with changing times.
cows and drank the blood as it oozed out. Another choice • An exception might be the recent film, Dances Sacred and
scene shows the members of the tribe rubbing themselves Profane. which documents roving photographer Charles
with animal excrement for protection against evil spirits. Gatewood as he \isits contemporary American subcults and
Babb saw potential in the footage, re-edited it, and gave it the unusual rituals-a Miss Nude America contest. the Hellfire
exotic title Karimoja. The theaters bulged with audiences Oub in NYC, etc. The most memorable footage features a
hungering for a glimpse of sensational goings-on, and they real-life piercing master, Fakir Musafar, enacting a genuine
got what they paid for, to the extent that some viewers even Sioux Indian "Sundance" ceremony. complete with steel
threw up. hooks through chest muscles. The Faki r also stages the Hindu
• Although Mondo Cane didn't match Karimoja on the rite known as Kavandi Beari-ng, in which some 80 spears are
nausea meter, its early ad campaign implied the promise of a stabbed into his back through an awkward frame which he
truly sickening spectacle by offering the audience free Mal de then carries up a steep mountainside.
Mer pills ( Dramamine), in case the film should prove to be • The transvestites that seemed funny or shocking back in
too much. Needless to say, most audiences were far more '63 are now part of the scenery in most size cities. Even the
fascinated than nauseated. In fact, at the time of its release, sex change operation in 1984's Shocking Asia wouldn't raise
Mondo Cane was so popular that its theme song, "More," many eyebrows, were it not for the technique demonstrated.
became one of the most popular songs of 1963. gaining the Careful sex-change surgery is fairly routine, but actually see­
film an Academy Award. ing'power drills clearing the way for vaginal implants is
• Embodying a unique and profitable concept Mondo Cane
, considerably less common. So in this sense, there are still
soon became widely and blatantly ripped-off, giving rise to an exotic sights left to be seen . . . exotic because of their
entire genre. For years anything with "Mondo" in the title unfamiliarity.
was hot box office; the mere term guaranteed a built-in • There are countless other worlds existing concurre ntly on
audience. Unfortunately, the golden age of Mondo films this planet. So long as humans insist on adhering to strictly
peaked in the sixties, a decade which saw the release of more codified values and beliefs. there will be other sets of values
than 20 such films. The seventies was a far less prosperous and beliefs that are incomprehensible (and therefore of
time for the genre -with the falling away of old taboos, interest ). Also. there will always be those who ( for whatever
behavior that had once seemed outlandish now seemed reason) exhibit behavior different from one's own estab­
conventional. A good example is Mondo America, one of the lished norms. Given such circumstances, it's likely that
few Mondo films released in the mid-seventies. True to its Mondo movies will remain a permanent part of the world of
title, Mondo America explores various aspects of life in cinema, playing the curious dual role of documenting and
America: from a dildo factory to a Vegas cathouse and then feeding the public's appetite for unusual behavior. •

1 56
 carado II," but when the original El Murcielago Enmascarado

. xi co's history is a litany ofatrocities -forced Catholi­

cism, repression, guilt, cultural schizophrenia and an obses­
protested the use of his title, Rodolfo had to find a new name.
He chose "EI Santo."
• El Santo wore a silver mask. When fighting masked oppo­
sion with death that borders on necrophilia. Not surprisingly, nents the rule was: whoever lost would have to take off his
when the Mexican movie industry sets out to make a horror mask and shave his head. El Santo never lost. He successfuly
l
movie, the results are so singularly "Mexican" they baffle defended his title from 1942 until the late fifties when­
stateside viewers. feeling he was losing his touch-he retired from the ring and
• Not content merely to ape American horror movies, Mex­ went into movies.
ico has created its own gallery of monsters. Instead of an • Santo was an odd sort of character; his mask made him
Egyptian mummy, Mexico created The Aztec Mummy, an look more like a bum victim than a superhero. 1llere were
ugly-looking creature capable of assuming any form it other wrestlers making movies who also had intriguing
pleases. While the vampires appear as standard variants of masks, sometimes better builds, as well as interesting stories.
Lugosi's Dracula, they often have powers never bestowed But Santo always had unpredictable timing, unlikely plot
upon Hollywood bloodsuckers. In 1be World of the Vam­ elements, and most important-a charisma hard to define;
pires the Count is able to tum a man into a werewolf simply among the Mexican audience he was the most popular of the
by playing the organ ! wrestling superheroes. More of his films were translated into
• One creature unique to Mexico is La Uorona, the crying English than anyone else's.
ghost. La llorona is the spirit of a woman doomed to search • During the seventies and early eighties, Santo toured Mex­
forever for her lost children. In Mexico it is believed you can ico as part of an entertainment review. During a show in
hear her in the arroyos at night; searching and piteously February, 1984, he complained of chest pains and died of a
crying. Some say the sound of her crying can drive men mad, heart attack shortly afterwards. •
but this claim has never been scientifically documented. La Santo and friend.
llorona, on her own, is slim material for a movie, but ( like
their North American counterparts) the Mexican film indus­
try is not above tampering with a legend if the need arises.
• Of all the variations in the horror genre, the most uniquely
Mexican is the Horror-Wrestling movie. In these, various
popular wrestlers take on the forces of evil and pin them to
the mat, figuratively and literally. Wrestling in Mexico
(called Lucha Libre) is not very different from wrestling in
the States-there are heroes and villains and the audience
always knows who to root for. The wrestlers always wear
masks and each wrestler has a mask uniquely his own.
• One of the first wrestlers to enter the world of Mexican
cinema was Wolf Ruvinskis. He plays a character caUed Neu­
tron who wears a black mask with lightning bolts on it. like
all the wrestling superheroes, he battles evil both human and
supernatural.
• Neutron proved so popular that many similar films, featur­
ing other wrestlers, soon followed. Among the wrestlers to
join the cinematic ranks were Blue Demon, a supernatural
fellow who often teams up with other wrestlers to help
combat evil, and Mil Mascaras ( now wrestling in the States ),
who wears a vividly ornamented mask which he removes at
the start of each match, only to reveal an even more impres­
sive mask beneath.
• But the undisputed champion of filmic Mexican superhe­
ros is Santo, who wears a silver mask and drives around in a
little white Aston-Martin. When not in the ring protecting
his title from would-be usurpers, he is helping the local
police commissioner solve crimes. Santo works out of his
own laboratory, a Batmanesque-place filled with impressive
futuristic machines.
• Santo was born in Thrlandngo, a small town in Hidalgo,
Mexico, on September 13, 1915. His real name is Rodolfo
Guzman Huerta. Rodolfo started his wrestling career under
the name "Constantino," but first gained attention as "Hom­
bre Rojo," a bad guy-one of the ones you're supposed to
boo. For a short while he wrestled as "EI Murcielago Enmas-
E
• Wood's most personal film is Glen or Glenda- really two
films in one. The first is the story of a man who enjoys wearing
ccentric and individualistic, Edward D. Wood, Jr. was a his fiance's clothing. He is faced with the problem of telling
man born to film. In the face of studio indifference, lack of her about his obsession before they are married; then she
funds and few Hollywood connections, Wood made must choose between her love for him and her revulsion
movies-almost all black-and-white. Among them, a western toward such deviant behavior. The second part of the film
( Crossroads Avenger); a crime melodrama Uailbait, aka concerns a man for whom cross-dressing is not enough -he
Hidden Face); two sexploitation films ( Glen or Glenda and wants to be a woman. Through the miracle ofsurgery he gets
7be Sinister Urge); and a few low-budget science fiction his wish. The two stories are tied together by a psychologist
efforts (Bride of the Monster aka Bride of the Atom, Plan (played by Bela Lugosi ) who throughout the film explains
Nine Prom Outer Space and Night ofthe Ghouls). Even after the difference between a transvestite and a transsexual.
the market for low-budget quickies dissipated, Wood con­ Lugosi's role has long baffled critics; he seems to represent a
tinued his fiJmmaking career in the porno field with fiJms like negative voice as most of his statements are in conflict with
T
ake it Out in 'Jrade and Necromania. Lesser men, if forced the tone of the film. Sometimes he is referred to as "The
to make movies under the conditions Wood faced, would Devil," but a more accurate title might be "The Moral
have thrown up their hands in defeat. Majority."
• His best-known film, Plan Nine Prom OuterSpace ( 1959 ), • The film was released under several titles: I Led Tw o lives;
has been dubbed "the worst movie ever made" by many I Changed My Sex; He or She: The Transvestite. Additionally,
critics. Yet Plan Nine is one of the few motion pictures from at least two versions exist: one print released as I Omnged
the fifties regularly appearing at repertory theaters. If there is My Sex contains a sequence in which a woman does a strip­
a "worst film ever made" it is one that is boring-a sin Ed tease and then is tied up and raped by the devil.
Wood, Jr. is rarely guilty of. Some people point out the flubs • If the first half of Glen or Glenda seems unusually pas­
and continuity errors in his films, yet these same people are sionate, it is because Wood was a transvestite. He often wore
Likely to become angry when you point out the numerous women's jumpsuits and was obsessed with cashmere sweat­
flubs in such favorites as E. T. and Star Wars. ers. A Marine during World War U, Wood claimed to be

Tor Johmon returns from the dead in Ed Wood's most famous film, Plan Nine from Outer Space.

1 58
wearing a bra and panties under his uniform during a landing which are written the words "Good Citizenship," "Self Res­
in the Pacific. In Watts . . . 1be Differrmce (an erotic novel traint," "Politeness" and "Loyalty." The girls sneer at the
written by him) Wood describes in vivid detail the joys of sentiments as a narrator intones: "1ltis is the story of vio­
cross-dressing and apparel fetishism: lence. A violence born of the uncontrolled passions of adol­
• Angie: starll:d laking her clolht
-s off. ar first. slowly. hur as escent youth, and nurtured by this generation of parents . . .
h is moaning g)Talions on lhe srudio couch increast"d. so did those who, in their own smug little world of selfish interests
her mo\'ements. She couldn'r help bul pennil some of his
and confused ideas of parental supervision, refuse to believe
�xual hear to filler lhrough her. She stepped out of her
today's glaring headlines."
panlies which she tossed 10 a chair wilh her orher things, and
• ln 1961 Wood made his last feature film, 1be Sinister Urge
a.'Sumeu "hat she thought was an appropriately sexy pose i n
(otherwise known as 1be Young and the Immoral or Hell­
front o f him She lowered her left breasr 1 0 an inch above his
M:arching lips. Suddenly wilh a sa\'age lunge and a girlbh bam.) Ostensibly an attack on pornography ( the plot: a
squeal from his rhroal. he look her hreasl into his mourh for psycho kills porno models), the film was really just a way of
Ihe hricfc�t of an insrant. I hen rearing his own clolhes from getting racy material past the bluenoses in charge of the
his body. he flew acros.
� the room. There was nothing lefl to country's morals. As the demand for 8-movies evaporated ­
hb shon� or hb shirt hy the rime he gor through wilh them. usurped by television-Wood found it increasingly difficult
But in the moment the last of his male au ire slipped away, so to obtain financing, and turned to the emerging sexploitation
did his spceu. With e\'ery care. with caressing joy, he put on
market.
Angie's clothes. lie saved the sweater for last and rook a greal
• OrRY of the Dead, made in 1965, was written but not
lengrh of time i n felling it slip do'l"ll over his head. Then he
moved 10 hb de�k and pushed a hidden hullon. A great wall
directed by Wood, and starred his old friend Criswell in
mirror came into being from a hidden panel. He rook a color. Criswell was a true character, every bit as fascinating as
it wilh rhe
blonde "ig from hi� dt'ltk and carefully adjusled Ed Wood. He had previously starred in Plan Nine, but was
mirror for hb guidt·. Th�:n he took a long rime adjusting the better known as a 1V prophet and author of the book Cris­
sweater O\'er the �kirt until il was 10 h b liking. He turned back well Predicts. Among his prophecies: that by the eighties
to Angie. only after h�: was sure the nylon Slockings were there would be cities entirely composed of homosexuals;
straight The only thing he couldn't get into were Angie's
that the U.S. Government would give all ofNew Mexico back
shot.os. hut he had a remedy for Ihat also. Behind rhe mirror he
to the Indians; that an interplanetary convention would be
had a well-Mocked wardrobe from \vhich he sclecred a pai r
held in Uls Vegas. In Orgy of the Dead Criswell plays the
anu put th�:m on. It w� apparent from thai poinl on he
''"antcd to bt· admirt·u for hb fl:malc self 'Tm called Ginger,"
Master of the Dead whose job was to mete out punishment to
hc said. sinners once they have passed over to the great beyond.
• When it came time to cast the part of the transvestite in the • As the sexploitation market shifted toward more explicit
film, Wood not surprisingly ended up playing the role him­ depiction, Wood followed. His first effort toward true porno­
self, using the pseudonym, "Daniel Davis." graphy was Take it Out in 'Jrade, an innocuous ftJm that
• Glen or Glenda might never have been made were it not barely qualifies as hardcore. More down and dirty was his
for George Jorgensen, who made headlines in the early '50s next feature, Necromania (aka Necromancy), a supposedly
by taking part in a series of hormone experiments, culminat­ hardcore porn film in which Wood appeared as a wizard. He
ing in a visit to Denmark to undergo a sex-change operation. made a few more pomos, but the exact number is unknown;
Clanging his name to Olristine Jorgensen, George became most were shot in 8mm and used as loops or sold through
the most notorious transsexual of all time. The resulting magazine ads. lt remains for some diligent researcher to
furor over "The Olristine Jorgensen Story" provided Wood unearth the full extent of Ed Wood's filmic and written
with the perfect opportunity to tell the world it's all right for achievement.
men to wear women's clothing, if that's what makes them • In 1978, on the eve of a rebirth of interest in his films, Ed
happy. Wood, Jr. died of a heart attack in Hollywood. •
• However, the film for which Wood is best remembered is
Pian Ninefrom Outer space. like all his movies, it was made
on a budget that barely paid for film and equipment. In order
to complete the movie, Ed Wood cut comers wherever and
'1'\'tlenn·er he could; e.g., hubcaps and paper plates hecame
flying saucers! Sometimes his cost-cutting borders on Dada,
as when two men dressed as pilots sit in front of an almost­

bare wall and pretend they are in the cockpit of a plane'

• Wood's lead actor, Bela Lugosi, died a few days after shoot­
ing began. Determined to continue, Wood replaced Lugosi
with a friend ( a chiropractor), assuming that as long as the
man kept a cape over his face no one would notice it wasn't
Bela. Unfortunately, everyone noticed-the fact that the chi­
ropractor was a fuJI head taller than Lugosi might have had
something to do with it . . .
• Wood was also a prolific writer (his novels include It
Takes One to Know One and Killer in Drag) and script­
writer. He wrote all of his own screenplays, plus some for
other directors. In this capacity he is without peer. If his
dialogue is sometimes laughable, it is because in reality
people are rarely as candid as they are in his scripts. When the
spaceman in Plan Nine exclaims, "You see? You see? Your
stupid little minds! Stupid ! Stupid!" � laugh, but at the same B E L A L U G O S I I/#IIttJ��
time not without agreeing with the spaceman's sentiments. VAMPIRA
• ln 1be Violent Years ( 1956), although credit must be
given to William M. Morgan (or Franz Eichorn ) for direction, LYLE TALBOT
it is Wood's dialogue that grabs you. A girl gang led by a
A J. Edward Reynolds Production
spoiled rich girl terrorizes a small community "just for kicks." Produced �nd Oire<.te<l by Edw•rd 0. Wood, Jr. Rl!lmed by DCA
At the beginning, each member walks by a blackboard on
S ex and skin have always been a part of cinema. Explicit
porn films date from the beginning of the movies; now they
so shocked people that white bars were painted across the
film to protect the public from viewing something they
might enjoy. The effect is somewhat like watching a belly
are reissued as historical curiosities on videocassette. It's safe dancer performing behind a picket fence.
to say that the history of cinema is one with the history of sex • By 1908, along with the proliferation of movie theaters
in cinema. across America came the censor boards. Soon every major
• When the nickelodeon, precursor of the movies, was city had watchdogs objecting to movies on the grounds of
invented (you turned a crank and serial photographs simulat· "no social or moral values." The basic argument was: it is
ing continuity of movement flicked by), the public flocked to "wrong" to glorify and celebrate that which is immoral and
see them. Soon "concerned citizens" were voicing outrage at illegal. Quick to agree, exploitation producers cloaked their
the inevitable introduction of latently sexual content -in products in a mantle of false piety, and the "square-up reel"
18�H. a peep show featuring a belly dancer named "Fatima" was born.

Scene from Muntlo DepriiYCMios.

• This term referred to the final reel of a film in which the
"good" people are rewarded while the "bad" people go to
Hell, so to speak. Of course, the preceding reels are filled
with every variety of vice and corruption. "This is what will
happen to you if you follow the Road to Ruin!" the ads
shouted. People lined up around the block to see the out­
come of a life of sin.
• Besides sex and drugs, the most popular early exploitation
theme was white slavery. Sparked by Universal's 1913 hit,
Traffic in Souls, films like China Slaver, 7be Unguarded Girls
and 7be White Slave vividly portrayed dangers lying in wait
for the carefree single young woman. An outrageous exam­
ple of white slavery exploitation is Trapped by Mormons, in
which Mormons are depicted as kidnapping fiends who lure
young woman into their polygamous harems. On grounds of
libel the Mormon Church succeeded in getting the film
withdrawn from circulation.
• During the initial decades of filmmaking, independent
producers were little more than a minor nuisance to legal
authorities, the real culprit being Hollywood. Following the
invention of the movie camera, the inventors, Edison and
cohorts, had set up a monopolistic trust on the East Coast,
the Motion Pictures Patents Company, which made illegal
the making and exhibition of films by anyone other than their
members and affiliates! If they heard of anyone making or
exhibiting a film who was not affiliated with them, reportedly
they would send in goons to destroy the equipment and film.
Consequently scores of early filmmakers moved as far away as
possible-to the Los Angeles area, which was conveniently
accessible to Mexico in case flight to avoid prosecution was
Burlnque stripper, "Justa Dream." Note phony black lace inlced in to obscure
required, and began making their "illegal" films. Thus was
Justa's ample charms.
Hollywood born.
• Early films by beginning companies like Universal and
Columbia often featured gorgeous actresses in skimpy outfits
and questionable situations. A frequently used plot involved a
young girl going to Hollywood, being "discovered," and "Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of
enjoying a fabulous career as a movie actress. In reality a few America" was formed, appointing as its President former
girls did go to Hollywood, perhaps got a bit part in a movie Postmaster General Will Hays in 1931.
(but little else ), then turned to prostitution to support them­ • Hays is often portrayed as an intolerant bluenose, but in
selves. When arrested by the police they might list their truth he was not-he was a nothing man. A political stooge,
occupation as "actress," and the newspapers-always eager he was chosen for his ability to run an organization without
for a cheap thrill- would proclaim: "Four actresses busted in rocking the boat. The fact that he looked like a hick from the
bawdy house raid." America began receiving avery unflatter­ sticks didn't hurt. His image was one of "jes' plain folks" who
ing view of what was going on in Hollywood. knew what the public wanted.
• The press discovered that the "wild" life of famous motion • One of the first acts of The Hays Commission was to start
picture stars (e.g. Theda Bara and Rudolph Valentino) sold Central Casting, a talent-screening agency for would-be
newspapers. Sensational copy-more suggestive than actors and actresses which in effect made it impossible for all
substantial-became the daily bill of fare, and straitlaced but a select number of people to "get a break" in motion
citizens began complaining that something had to be done pictures. Films about young women going to Hollywood and
about the movie world, lest it corrupt all good Americans. finding fortune and fame were replaced by films about young
• The turning point came in 1921, during a party at the St. women going to Hollywood and finding tragedy and despair.
Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Popular comedian Roscoe The partywas over; Hollywood closed its doors for good.
"Fatty" Arbuckle took a young actress named Virginia Rappe • Nevertheless, the public clamor for an end to sin in the
up to his hotel room where she died of a ruptured spleen. cinema continued. Billy Sunday, a popular evangelist a t the
Weird rumors began to fly-Arbuckle was accused of intro­ time, led a crusade against Hollywood that the movie indus­
ducing a coke bottle into the girl, or of forcing ice into her tryhad to pay attention to. Hays wasted no time in drafting up
vagina, and other related atrocities. Eventually he was found a stringent production code for the movie industry to follow
not guilty by three different juries, but too late to save his (e.g., brutal killing shall not be presented in detail; the tech­
career-he never appeared in another major movie. nique of murder shall not be presented in a way that inspires
• With that the national press turned its full scandal monger­ imitation; illegal drug traffic must never be presented; seduc­
ing attention on movieland, and everyone became fair game. tion or rape should never be shown by explicit method; sex
Hollywood reporters became obsessed with tracking down perversion or any inference of it is forbidden; white slavery
any little bit of filth they could sniff. Popular celebrities (e.g., shall not be treated; miscegenation is forbidden; children's
Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart" who scandalized the sex organs are never to be exposed; complete nudity is never
nation by divorcing Owen Moore so she could quickly marry pern1itted. Repellent subjects included: actual hangings or
Douglas Fairbanks; director William Dean Taylor-killed electrocutions; "third-degree" methods; brutality and possi ­
possibly by a drug dealer) were accused of everything from ble gruesomeness; branding of people or animals; apparent
debauchery to trafficking in drugs. The nouveau-riche cruelty to children or animals; and surgical operations. ) Hays
motion picture industry began to fear that the government also created a bureau, The Office of the Motion Picture
would step in and impose laws on them; at aU costs they Production Code, to see that the rules were obeyed. The man
wanted to protect and control their golden egg. Quickly the he chose as head was joseph Breen. The Breen Office is what

161
A pagan girl in Barry Mahon's Pagan Island.

most people meant when they referred to the "Hays native life in darkest Africa. Usually they were shot some­
Commission." where just north of San Diego, with the African "natives"
• The Hays Commission restrained Holi)'Wood's depiction appearing in a remarkable variety of shades. Often a man in a
of sin, but it didn't stop independent filmmakers from places gorilla suit makes an appearance, stealing the tribe's comeli­
like Chicago, Aorida, New jersey, New York, and Texas. The est maiden. There were several such films, all with similar
thirties and forties were golden years for exploitation. plot Lines. Among them: Bowanga! Bowanga! ( 1938),
Because most theaters preferred to abide by the restrictions Ingagi, ( 1930) and Love Life of a Gorilla ( 1937).
imposed by Hays, independent producers often ended up • When movie houses refused to show films like 7be Naked
screening their films in tents, strategically placed just outside Truth ( a sex education film) and 7bmorrow's Children
city limits. Without intending to, the Hays Commission gave ( about the sterilization of a family regarded as degenerates ),
independent producers something money couldn't buy: the distributors found other venues. A5 impromptu movie theat­
exclusive ability to offer the public that which was veriJoten ers burlesque houses were a favorite choice; occasionally
in Holi)'Wood. even bars were enlisted.
• This was the heydayof"The FortyThieves"-a loosely-knit • During this period the term "square-up reel" took on a
gang of independent producers. Many of these exploi tation new, opposite meaning. Road agents, always at oddswith the
filmmakers had a "carny" background (and a "carny" law, carried two versions of their films- one tame and one
philosophy-usually they thought of themselves as quite sizzling. lf the police showed up, the agent made sure the
roguish ) . Often an independent producer would send a road tame version was projected. lfthe police left early, the agent
agent out with a print of a movie (sometimes the only print in would end with a reel filled with nudity and depravity. This
existence ) who would travel from town to town, showing reel became known as the square-up reel; partly because it
the movie an)'Where he could, on the so-called "road-show ''squared things up" with the audience, and partly as a code
circui ts." In the case of the smaller independents, the to throw the authorities off the track.
producer-director-distributor (one person) would travel • In the early fifties public attitudes began to shift. Both
around the country showing his latest creation. These men Holi)'Wood and independent filmmakers began to push the
were considered by most to be only a cut above snake-oil limits of the Production Code to see how much they could
merchants and grifters. get away with. The censors' efforts to crack down just made
• Independent producers usually exploited sex by pretend­ them look more ridiculous, as when Otto Prerninger's 7be
ing to warn of its evils. Another favorite approach was to Moon Is Blue (1953) was refused approval because the
present a fake documentary film, in which it was acceptable words "virgin" and "seduced" were used in it. Preminger
to show bare breasts -as long as they weren't white. Conse­ released the film anyway as "Adults Only," and perhaps
quently several movies were made purporting to depict because of this billing the film made handsome profi ts. Peo-

162
pie who expected to see something lewd were • 1be Immoral Mr. 7eas broke box office records every­
disappointed -even by the standards of the day, Tbe Moon Is where. For more than two years it ran continuously in Holly­
Blue is deadeningly chaste. wood. In New York it was so heavily cut that Meyer had to
• For awhile the term "Adults Only" took on a patina of film a three-reel short subject called 1bis Is My Body to fill
respectability. Exploitationists dusted off old prints of their out the bill. Maryland banned the film completely. Numerous
films and presented them again. Tell Your OJildren, a campy legal battles ensued, but Meyer and DeCenzie were making
anti-drug film from the thirties, was re-released as Reefer enough money to cover any court costs. The legal rulings on
Madness. A 1934 film titled OJildren of Loneliness was exhi­ Tbe Immoral Mr. Teas varied from state to state and city to
bited in 1953 as 1be Tbird Sex. The film tells the story of a city, but enough legal ground was won to open the way for
woman who, after a frightening childhood encounter with a hundreds more nudie-cutie films.
man, grows up to be a lesbian. Exploitation pioneer Kroger • Out of the woodwork came dozens of aspiring skinpix
Babb put his "birth of a baby" classic, Mom and Dad, back producers. From Chicago came 1be Adventures of Lucky
into circulation with profitable results. Pierre ( 1961 ), directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and pro­
• The downfall of the Hays code had other causes, central duced by the dean of sexploitation, David Friedman. The film
being the widespread change in sexual attitudes that fol­ cost !45 ,000 and was one of the more expensive films in the
lowed World War I I . After living in Europe, many American genre. Bob Cresse-who did for sadomasoc hism what Russ
soldiers discovered their puritanical outlooks were by no Meyer did for bosoms-produced Once Upon a Knight
means universal. On the home front, women had been work­ ( 1961 ). Jack Harris, after raking in the dough for his previous
ing at jobs previously considered "man's work," all the while smash hit, Tbe Blob, added a new twist to the field with
broadening their concepts of identity. The old attitudes Paradisio ( 1962 ) the first adult film made in 3-D. Numerous
.

regarding virginity, sex roles, and even technical basics such other lesser-knowns were churned out.
as the "French " kiss, oral sex, foreplay, and the orgasm • By 1963 the novelty of nudie-cutie films had worn out. As
(words scarcely in the common vocabulary) would never be their box office sank, producers and filmmakers sought
the same. something new. Chicago's David Friedman hit on a solution:
• The fifties also spawned another blow to the Hays Code, If we can't include more sex, we'Ll add violence. Friedman
the "burlesque" films, which are little more than documen­ went down to Aorida with his partner, H. G. Lewis, and on a
taries of their predecessors, the real burlesque shows. The budget that wouldn't pay for film stock today created the
camera remains static, and little is attempted to make the gore classic Blood Feast. The story of an Egyptian caterer
films interesting or even watchable. Besides the strip-tease who practices the ancient bloody rites of lshtar in his spare
acts, the films often featured many up-and-coming (or down­ time, Blood Feast was gorier than any movie previously
and-going ) comedians. For example, in Dance Hall Racket a made. The duo made two more movies together (Two Thou­
young Lenny Bruce appears, slapping the dancers and insult­ sand Maniacs! and Color Me Blood Red) before parting
ing the audience. Burlesque films are important because they ways. Lewis continued making gore films, while Friedman
helped spawn the more daring Nudist Films, which eventu­ further explored the combination of sex and violence.
ally led to everything. • From 1964 to 1970 a tlood ofsex-and-violence filmshit the
• Actually, the nudist films of the fifties were a revival of the grindhouses of America. The films were referred to by the
documentaries of the nudist craze which originally started in trade papers as "ghoulies," "roughies" and "kinkies,"
the early thirties and quickly spread world-wide. In 1932, a depending on the ratio of sex to violence. Lorna was consi­
film entitled 7bis Nude World examined nudist camps in dered a "roughie" because people get treated "rough" in it.
France, Germany and the U.S. with a sympathetic eye. The Blood Feast is a "ghoulie" for obvious reasons. Love Camp
following year producer Bryan Foy released Elysia, which Seven is a good example ofa "kinky'' -it depicts perversions.
also dealt with the joys of nudism. like their predecessors • During this period Friedman's talents as a producer came
two generations earlier, the ftfties' nudist films also used an to the fore, but there were others of similar ability. Bob
educational approach to "get away with" displaying all that Cresse teamed up with director R L. Frost to make a number
skin. of sadistic masterpieces, including the infamous Love Camp
• For the most part, nudist films are among the most boring Seven ( 1968 ); husband and wife team Mike and Roberta
movies ever made. These accounts of what supposedly goes Findlay became Julian Marsh and Anna Riva and brought out
on behind the gates of the world's nudist colonies consist of the Resh trilogy ( The Touch of Her Resh. 1be Curse of Her
little more than endless games of volleyball. Any activity that Resh and Tbe Kiss ofHer Resh) three rarely-seen but often­
,

could possibly be construed as sexual is debarred. Rarely do talked-about movies of hitherto unparalleled depravity.
people touch each other, and they never kiss or hug. While joseph Mawra's Olga movies (Olga's Girls, Olga 's Massage
the burlesque films are cinematically dull, the nudies are just Parlor and White Slaves of Chinatown) were so violent and
plain vapid, offering little more than endless shots of nude sleazy they alienated even diehard S/M funs.
people having "fun in the sun." • As the nudie-cuties lost their audience, even Russ Meyer
• If the nudies are important at all, it is for legal reasons. felt the pinch. His happy little bounce movies began to lose
After a lengthy 1957 court case involving Garden ofEden-a money. As others had done, he solved the problem by adding
particularly boring nudist film-it was decided that nudity, violence. For Meyer it was the last piece to the puzzle; the
on its own. has no erotic content and therefore is not films he created during this turbulent era of sexual frustra­
obscene. tion and violent eroticism are among his best. Considered
• For filmmakers, the next step was to combine the two the first of the roughies, Lorna ( 1964 ) depicted the story ofa
genres of burlesque and nudie films. The resultant light­ sexually frustrated housewife who encounters an equally
comedic farces were called "nudie-cutie" films. The first one pent-up escaped convict.
was directed by Russ Meyer: 1be Immoral Mr. Teas ( 1959). • Nudist and nudie-cutie films, by themselves, were not the
• Made on a budget of S24 ,000 scraped together by Meyer sole forces Liberalizing America's censorship laws. While
and burlesque house owner Pete DeCenzie, Tbe Immoral Russ Meyer was introducing the subject to Middle America,
Mr. Teas is the tale of a man who, after undergoing anaesthe­ experimental filmmakers were using sex-sometimes very
sia, develops the power to see aU women stark naked, no graphic sex-as part of their art. Filmmaker Kenneth Anger
matter what they're wearing or doing. Teas ( played by an old shocked the art world, college campuses and the censors
army buddy of Meyer, Bill Teas) is at first delighted by his with his fetishistic films illustrating homosexuality, leather
new power, but eventually it wears thin as it complicates his and drug fantasies. George Kuchar used seedy images asso­
life more and more. ciated with low budget cinema to poke fun at the sexual

163
mores of the time. Andy Warhol managed to shock even
cosmopolitan New Yorkers with films like Blue Movie and
Blowjob. Whether these efforts were any more artistic than
exploitation films of the same period could be debated, but
experimental films coming from the prestigious "art world" FROM SHOCKING START
added a new point of view to the question of censorship and
helped considerably to erode the facade of an antiquated TO SURPRISING END . . .
morality. Two desperate men
• Foreign films also did their part to strip away U.S. inhibi­ and one helpless
tions, appealing to both the "art film" cineastes and the girl, with a woman's
raincoat crowd. Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, only weapon of
besides introducing millions to Brigitte Bardot, also intro­ defense . . . S£X/
duced a vision of a more sophisticated, less-guilty sexual
lifestyle. I, A Woman, a blockbuster hit which played for
years, was instrumental in spreading the idea that a woman's
"The

CKED
sexual pleasure was also her right. The early films of lngmar
Bergman (e.g., Summer with Monika, 7be Virgin Spring)
shocked American audiences with their display ofbrutal lust
and shameless sensuality, although they had the usual
retribution .endings. Roberto Rossellini's early Italian neo­
GO TO

H ELLr
reaJist films (e.g., Open City) showed women walking
around the house in their slips with bruises showing on their
legs, etc-hitherto not a common sight. Later, films like Iam
Curious, Yellow ( 1968), and its sequel, I am Cu rious, Blue
were instnunental in getting hardcore films out into the
open-the films reportedly depicted actual sexual inter­
course, even though most of the film is devoted to the
characters having serious discussions about politics. The
"Curious" films played for years.
• The end of World War Two saw an increased use of
the I6mm film format, but mostly in industrial and educa­
tional applications. In the sixties, the previously expensive
I6mm movie cameras began turning up in pawnshops; at the
same time they became significantly cheaper through mass
production. Filmmaking took a new turn- hundreds of peo­
ple gained access to a medium previously restricted to a
privileged few. The generation that grew up with the movies
could now make their own, and they wasted no time explor­
ing ( and exploiting) this new gift. Experimental and stag
films flourished.
• At the end of sixties Alex DeRenzy of San Francisco
released his notorious classic, Censorship in Denmark: A
New Approach. DeRenzy went to Denmark and filmed Sex
69, a trade show devoted to the business of sex. Included in
his movie are scenes inside a porno movie club, where he
filmed a hardcore movie directly from the screen as it was sex films. America was in the final throes of the post-World
being shown. ln tills way he could defend the material by War Two sexual revolution. "If it feels good, do it!" was the
explaining he was not making a porno film-he was making catch-phrase of the day. The ultimate blow to censorship
an objective documentary about porno films. came iil 1972 with the release of Gerard Damiano's Deep
• DeRenZ}' followed the successful Censorship In Denmark 1broat.
with an even more daring experiment: A History of the Blue • Deep 1broat tells the story of a young woman whose
Maule. Starting with A Free Ride, circa 1915, Blue Mortie is a clitoris is in her throat, making fe llatio her preferred activity.
brilliant compilation of classic stag clips, among them She goes to a doctor who "treats" her, then she has sex with a
stripper Candy Barr's less-than-enthusiastic introduction to few other men. etc. The negligible plot accounts for about
oral sex in Smart Aleck, and a film titled 1be Nun 's Story, two minutes; the rest of the movie is non-stop sucking and
which is considered to be the first stag film with a cum shot. fucking. As a movie Deep 7broat is not cinematically out­
• A History of the Blue Mottle was a big hit and spawned standing; there were other films before it just as graphic and
several imitations. One of the best was Hollywood Blue, obscene (e.g.. Bill Osco's Mona). But Deep Throat became
produced by the Prul Spector of pornography, Bill Osco. important as a legal issue when the authorities in New York
Osco's film was not nearly so interesting or complete as pounced on it, making it the most talked-about movie of the
DeRenzy' s. but it does include Apple Knockers and Coke year. While the couns battled over the legal ramifications,
Bottle, a film that supposedly featured a young Marilyn Mon­ people everywhere were lined up to see it. Audiences no
roe ( it wasn't). longer were composed of old men in raincoats; couples ­
• During the seventies stag films came out of the Elks Clubs some in dinner jackets and minks-showed up fo r the film.
and into the theaters. Daring filmmakers like DeRenzy and Porno chic was born.
Osco found supporters among the post-ruppie young genera­ • The law came down hard on Deep 1broat. The theater that
tion and the members of the Sexual Freedom League. In San first exhibited it in New York was fined !3 million, the judge
Francisco ( later to become a major porn movie production calljng the film "a feast of carrion and squalor." ( Later, the
center), the Sutter Street Cinema and the Mitchell Brothers verdict was overturned. ) Despite legal battles in cities all
Theater drew socially "hip" people to their opening parties, over the country, Deep 1broat was a hit, and no amount of
playing their part in introducing the middle-class to explicit moralistic outrage seemed to be able to stop hardcore films

164
Bondage and sadism; common themes in the sex films of the sixties as exemplified in this scene from '111• alum Ones.

from being made or shown. "smokers" -those crude and nasty little films reserved for
• The advent of explicit pornography in theaters was the late-night showings at Elks' clubs, firehouses, and fraternity
death knell for sexploitation. Filmmakers who had previously parties. Uke a spermacious juggernaut, the hardcore film
invented unusual plots and situations to showcase their non­ burst into daylight, derailing a sizable portion of the exploita­
anatomically-graphic sex found it harder and harder to find a tion train.
market for their talents. Some, like Oa\�d Friedman, reluc· • The problem with hardcore films is their plotlessness, all
tantly accepted the inevitability of hardcore's supremacy in activity being generally centered upon a succession of
the sex film market. Others, like Joe Sarno and Doris Wish­ interchangeable anatomical close-ups. In fact the identical
man, rejected it and continued making movies of a less close-ups are often used in many different films. Talk (as well
explicit nature, with genuine plots and characterizations. as ideas) is minimized or banali7..ed; any art and discipline
But by 1977 the market for softcore films had virtuallydisap· normally associated with "acting" is simply non de rlgueur.
peared in America. • Some of the better hardcore films of the past decades
• Curiously, a small number of softcore films were very include Tbe opening of Misty Beethoven, Pretty Peaches,
commercially successful during the seventies. Filmed in Night Dreams, Randy the Electric Lady, Derl/1 in Missjones,
Europe with exceptionally pretty actresses, lavish sets, plots, and Take Off (7be Picture ofDorian Gray retold in a porno
dialogue, continuity, suspense, and even some eroticism), film). There may possibly be a few more worthwhile expe­
these films may be categorized as softcore Euro-chic. They riences, but it remains for other intrepid souls to chart
include Tbe Story of 0 (starring Corinne Clery) and Emmo­ through this territory.
nuel/e (starring Sylvia Kristel ). These films were made by Just • With the rise of the home video market, the porno theater
)aeckin, who in his filmic approach curiously appears to be may soon be as obsolete as the nickelodeon. Already most
imitating Radley Metzger, who in his movies was imitating porno "theaters" are merely large-screen video projection
French new wave filmmaking-art imitating art imitating rooms, or are subdivided into small 25-cent video booths.
life . . . Perhaps with the advent of home video and the increase of
• There is no true continuum from early exploitation films couples watching the movies (women may insist on the
to modern hardcore porn. Exploitation films, no matter how restoration ofgenuine entertainment values ). there will be a
explicit, were always intended to be shown in theaters. shift away from endless movements of limbs and organs back
Hardcore, on the other hand, was spawned by the to more plot-oriented films. •
0 ver the past decade film historians have focused a great
deal of attention on genres-and on actors and directors, as
Why, it comes from u•heat; America's most important food
source." Or: "It's important that we all learn to conserve
water. Thoughtless water use is harmful to us all. Let's see
well-who have, in the past, gone unheralded. Exploitation, why!" Often these odd little pieces prove to be better than
sexploitation, 'B' and 'Z' movies are all examined and the movies that preceded them.
reviewed in fanzines, newsletters and film books. Gore and • Unfortunately, a good many instructional films are boring;
porno movies show up regularly at repertory theatres. And most of us retain memories of these. But some instructional
directors such as Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis and films get better with age, especially those dealing with social
Roger Corman are no longer viewed as anonymous hacks. and sexual attitudes, like Dating: Do s mul Don 'ts, or Good
Even the antics of The Three Stooges have taken on a patina Grooming for Girls.
of respectability. Yet in spite of all the attention now given to • Fear films take a different tack-instead of trying to teach,
previously overlooked films, there is still one genre that they attempt to instill fear, warning of the consequences of
remains ignored: The Educational Film. not obeying. In the right (or wrong ) hands, an educational
• Most of us sat through them in high school, if not in grade film can instill a fear of anything. They are predominantly
school as well. On the days when the science teacher didn't shown in high school, where teaching often takes on a "you'd
feel like teaching class, we would be treated to Dr. Frank better do as I say, or else " tone. Nearly all safety and drivers'
Baxter discussing the inner workings of the heart in Hemo ed films fall into this category.
the Magnificent, or one of the other wonderful films by Bell • While the instntctional films attempt to appeal to our
Laboratories. And few ever forgot the gory films shown in minds, fear films aim straight for the viscera. You do not team
drivers' education classes at high schools across the U.S.A. anything/rom them; you respond to them. They are intended
• Because educational films were never regarded as impor­ to indoctrinate, not educate. A classic exan1ple of a fear film
tant (either artistically or historically), little has been done
to preserve or examine them. These films rarely have any
credits, so finding out who did what can be a near-impossible
task. Too bad, because some of the best filmmakers around
have made educational and industrial films. Anwng them,
Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Frank Capra and Edgar
G. Ulmer.
• Basically educational films fall into two categories: instntc­
tional films and fear films. Each type has its strength.
Through (often inadverte ntly) demonstrating now­
outmoded social mores and behavior, instructional films arc
more likely to develop into good camp, eliciting nostalgia or
ridicule. Fear films offer a better barometer of what's
"wrong" with society. Any person who has gone through
America's public school system has been exposed to plenty
of both types of films.
• The instructional film. most often shown in grade school.
is the more common of the two. Into this category falls the
industrial film -made by large corporations to improve
their public image. Often it attempts to impart a sense of
drama and wonder to drab subjects such as wool and soy
beans, usually starting with a boy engaging in some everyday
activity (eating breakfast, turning on the lights, etc. ) when an
off-screen voice says to him, "Say, have you ever thought
about where that comes from?" Or, "Have you ever stopped
to ask how that works?" The narrator proceeds to explain
where milk for the child's breakfast comes from or how we
get electricity into our homes. Often the boy will, by some
miraculous transport, end up at the dairy or the power plant,
or he will travel through time and learn the whole story of
electricity or pasteurization.
• During the early days oftelevision. instructional films were
a staple of prime-time programming, but the rapid rise of
Made-for-lV programs forced them out. At present the only
time one airs is in the wee hours of morning, when the
late-late show falls short of its slot and one is inserted to fill
out the hour. As you slowly nod off, a voice asks: "Have you
ever wondered where that bread you're eating comes from?
aimed at grade school children is Lunchroom Manners. ln it, of a man who woke up one day to discover what it was like to
a boy named Phil sees a puppet show featuring a slovenly live under a communist government. The film was intro­
character called "Mr. Bungle." Mterward a narrator follows duced by Jack Webb, playing a reactionary version of Rod
Phil to the lunchroom, explaining to the audience the Serlin g. Made in deadly earnest, thirty years later it stands as a
thoughts going through Phil's head. "Phil would l.ike to cut camp-political classic. The film was recently resurrected by
ahead of his classmates," the narrator intones. "But he Rhino Video, with its title changed to Tbe Commies are
doesn't want to be a Mr. Bungle. "[!] Coming/ 1be Commies are Coming.'
• Walt Disney Studios produced many fear films aimed at • 0\:c of all the types of fear films, the ones seen most often
grade school children. With the help of)iminyCricket, Goofy are, of course , drivers' education movies. For many young
and Donald Duck, Disney kept the kids entertained while people, they were the first really gory films seen.Tbe Educa­
warning of the dangers ofplaying with matches, or forgetting tional Film Locator says i t best in their description of gore
to look both ways before crossing the street. Disney raised classic Signal 30: 'You are there when the blackened and
the fear film to a level of fine art. Who else could take a brittle, mangled and bleeding bodies of what once were
mundane concept like Insects as Carriers ofDisease and turn living, breathing and laughing human beings are pried from
it into a mini-epic in which the forces of Nazism and Commu­ their motorized coffins." Many a high school cheerleader lost
nism are repelled by good hygiene and health care? her lunch at the sight of this movie and others like Red
• ln terms of paranoia taken to the point of obsession. fear Asphalt and Mechanized Death.
films reached their peak during the ftfties, when the Ameri­ • Most highway safety films are little more than a catalog of
can government went all out to persuade the public of the catastrophies-Red Asphalt made no attempt to tell a story
dangers of communism . Titles like Communism At Our or construct a plot. In Wheels of Tragedy, the filmmakers
Back Door and Communist Blueprint for Conquest pro­ took real accidents and used actors to reinact the events
vided indoctrination, not education. The best-and most leading up to them, switching to the grisly realities for the
outrageous-example was Red Ni
ghtmare. It told the story aftermath. In one of the film's most memorable scenes, a

167
black man loses his head (literally) while arguing with his made by Walt Disney for the Kimberly-Clark Company.
passenger instead of watching the road. • The middle grades are also the years students are intro­
• Another common approach is to follow the last few days or duced to drug films. The intent is to discourage youthful.
hours of someone's life, ending the film with a horrible experimentation, but the effect is often quite opposite. Many
accident. Although seldom as grisly as the "catalog of death" youngsters who saw the infamous anti-drug film, LSD-25,
approach, the film nevertheless can be quite unsettling. In consequently tried the substance. The intent of Curious Alice
the classic 1be last Date, a carefree young woman ignores was to warn about the dangers of various drugs, but most
her better judgment and goes for "a quick, fifteen-minute viewers found their curiosity aroused by Alice's "psyche­
spin" with the local hot-rodder (played by a young and delic" journey. As a result, the film is rarely shown and has
unctuous Dick York). The woman survives, but her face is so been removed from virtually all eduational film catalogs.
horribly disfigured she smashes her mirror to avoid seeing • In America, sex-education films are generally shown all
her reflection. the way through high school, with the usual audience reac­
• During the late sixties, the shock-treatment approach to tion one of nervous laughter. Older sex-ed films get the
drivers' education came under fire. A more instructional strongest laughs, partly because they are unavoidably camp­
approach was sought (and found) in the crash test footage ier (because of changes in fashion ) and partly because sexual
shot by researchers at Stanford University, who rigged cars mores have changed so radically since the 1950s. One such
with anthropometric dummies and sent them on collision unintentional comedy is Invader, a cmdelyanimated histOri­
courses with walls, other cars, etc. Cameras were placed cal overview of venereal disease. A narrator elicits laughs
both inside and outside of the cars. The resulting footage, with lines like: "When Columbus came back from America,
while far less gory than the "you are there" films, is neverthe­ he brought back more than trinkets and jewelry; he brought
less mesmerizing. For example Safetybe/t for Susie starts back 1be aap!" SmaJI wonder that these films have had little
with a happy family on a trip to an amusement park, and ends effect on curbing adolescent sexual activity.
with endless shots of dummies hurtling in slow motion • The United States Military is a good source for some of the
through windshields and into steering wheels. most extreme exploitational films ever made, perhaps in
• Equally i llustrative of anatomical misadventures were unconscious counterpoint to the rigid, retrograde military
industrial safety films. The format was usually the same: a mentality. In one film a young sailor takes LSD and is attacked
worker ignores the rules and pays for it with a horrible by a giant caterpillar. In another, Jack Webb narrates the
accident. These films were relentless; people lost limbs and story ofa soldier who discovers the girl he is about to marry is
lives with great regularity. A favorite film among woodshop a commie spy. But the films best remembered focus on
students was Safety in tbe Shop. Made in 1944, this may be combat first-aid. These films are as gory-ifnotgorier-than
the first gore film ever made. Within five seconds of the the most gruesome highway safety films. Few could ever
beginning a man loses the tips of his fmgers in a planing saw. forget a film like Sucking OJest Wounds.
Later a fellow is impaled on a board because his co-worker • But of all films shown to men in the military, the most
didn't follow proper safety procedures. infamous was Sexual Hygiene. After World War One the top
• The neglected gerue of eye safetyfilms contains some of brass became aware of a pressing need to educate young men
the most traumatic footage ever presented. Straght i Talk on to the dangers ofvenereal disease-our boys returning to the
Eye Safetymay not sound too thrilling, but don't let thatfool States often brought back nasty cases of syphilis and the clap.
you. You Bet Your Eyes and Don't Push Your Luck are just Hollywood director John Ford was summoned. His film chro­
two of numerous films developed to promote eye safety in nicled the misadventures ofa greenhorn soldier who, after an
industry, pointing out specific eye hazards in shops and evening at the local brothel (his first fling), acquires a severe
plants. 7b Live in Darkness (1947) is a US Navy film with case of syphilis. The film then graphically illustrates what can
dramatized incidents showing how three plant workers lost happen if the disease is allowed to progress to the advanced
their sight through carelessness. How Much Are Your Eyes stages. It probably never stopped any soldiers from engaging
Worth ? (1975) shows an eye operation- inspiring most in illicit sex, but they almost certainly enjoyed it less.
viewers to shudder and look away; the promo for the film • At some point, educators began concluding that as a film's
suggests a preview before showing to a group, to allow for entertainment value increased, its instructional value dimin­
"viewing preparation"' ished, especially in the case of fear-type educational films. If
• In between the "let's all visit the farm or factory" films people laugh at a movie meant to shock them, then some­
shown in the primary grades, and the "if you ignore this thing is wrong. So when educational films began to be per­
message you will die" approach used in high school, are the ceived as "camp," they were taken out of circulation, or like
middle grades. In Junior High School, when kids' bodies race Red Asphalt, remade in more contemporary terms. As a
to maturity before their minds, the hygiene films are shown. consequence, "outdated" educational films by the thousands
• For the boys, the content of hygienefilms is usually res­ were tOssed into institutional and industrial wastebaskets,
tricted to what constitutes cleanliness and good grooming. with little or nothing done to save them. Of course, solely
Meanwhile, across the hall, the girls are finding out why some from the standpoint of entertainment these films should have
of them are beginning to leak blood. been preserved. A film like Invader may fail at its original
• Menstruation takes on almost mystical proportions in jun· purpose of convincing kids of the dangers of gonorrhea, but
ior high. Girls are shown films, given booklets and free it's far more amusing than nine out of ten recent comedies.
samples offeminine products, and are thus initiated into the • However, finally there is some increased interest in educa­
secret society of womanhood. They are given knowledge tional films. One Bay Area cable channel regularly shows
never intended for male eyes. The booklets, secreted away in them as filler between rock videos. The makers of 1be
the backs of dresser drawers, are often discovered by snoopy Atomic Cafe created a popular movie simply by splicing
older brothers who show them to their friends. together previously existing short films (about the atom
• It's unfortunate that boys are not shown the menstruation bomb ) in a clever fashion, establishing an editorial viewpoint
films; the stigma surrounding menstruation might be through careful editing. Reportedly they plan to release a
negated, and certain taboos created by male ignorance might similarly,structured compilation based on "dating" films of
disappear. Guys should be given a chance to see classic films the forties and fifties. If efforts like these continue, perhaps in
like Growing Girls, a 1957 film about a girl's initial reaction the future there will exist widespread awareness of these
to her body's changes; Molly Grows Up ( 1953 ), which man­ neglected films, giving us the opportunity to view them in
ages to tie menstruation to the importance of a happy home their original form- not on videocassette, but on the big
life, and 1be Story of Menstruation, a 1943 animated film screen. •
F or every one of the 50,000 features made since the intro­
duction of sound on film, six "factual" films were produced.
lings and automobiles to show the effects of atomic weapons.
• Safety Beltfor Susie ( 1962 ) produced at a time when seat
,

belts weren't yet legally mandated as standard equipment in

They were made for industrial, advertising or educational American cars, aims to show the importance ofbelting child­
purposes, and junked as soon as the products or ideas they ren into their seats. It tells the story of Nancy, a toddler who
promoted grew old. No part of American culture and indus­ won't go anywhere without her life-size doll. Susie. A subtly­
try was untouched by these films, but almost all of them are woven storyline shows Nancy bringing her doll to the amuse­
now lost. Few are remembered, except by their producers. ment park, as the girl and doll are about to be separated for a
• It i n't surprising, then, that factual films often look into week. Nancy's parents, on the way to pick her up at her
territory largely untouched by mainstream filmmaking. grandparents, sit Susie in the back seat of the car. Naturally,
Almo t all were produced to weed out the unusual or anom­ they experience an accident on the road, but escape with
alous, to free consumers and students from mental obstacles minor scratches. The doll, however, is seriously injured
standing in the way of the sale or the diploma. Extensive ( " Suppose it had been Nancy!"). The film then shifts to
series of films exist ( the "Mental Mechanisms" series; the documentary footage of crash tests shot at UClA in the late
"Industrial Arts" series; the "Discussion Problems in Group fifties, showing what happens to dolls driving without seat
Living" series; the "Direct Mass Selling" series) all created to belts. Skillful slow-motion photography, in which dolls'
systematize human knowledge and experience with a high white shoes smash against fisheye lenses mounted within
degree of efficiency. One of the richest veins of experience, automobiles as they collapse, dramatizes the seriousness of
treated in depth by factual films, is jeopardy. the seathclt situation while complying with the taboo
• Although gore and other exploitation genres flirt with ( which not all factual filmmakers observe) against
jeopardy in all its forms, factual films systematically explore infanticide.
morality, shock, accidents, danger, death and the afterlife. • In When You Are A Pedestrian, model people and cars on
Dramatic films overflow with premonitions of ( and some­ primitive felt boards show conceptually gory accidents in an
times disguised wishes for) danger; some of the best show elegant ( though naive ) way. The model cars simply bowl
the awful consequences. Factual films seek to rationalize down the model pedestrians and leave them lying across the
and organize an infinite number of dangers, a world filled dotted chalk lines. The expense of filming potentiaJiy dis­
with jeopardy, into orderly categories. tasteful accidents is simply avoided.
• As with other private jokes, this pretense doesn't last long.
• DO'S AND DON'TS FILMS ( or "Goofus and Gallant" films,
With the first title card in Play It Safe ( 1954 ). telling us the
after the famous characters in Highlightsfor Children maga­
film was produced by the Peninsular Grinding Wheel Com­
zine) work with time-honored images of good and bad, right
pany, we can imagine dangers far more disturbing and anar­
path vs. wrong path, reward and tragedy. Take Your Choice,
chic than the bland title suggests. When You Are A Pedestrian
filmed in the early 1960s in Detroit's Mumford High School,
( 1948 ) starts immediately with an accident, happening so
counterposes the pleasures of sports and outdoor activities
fast it's almost invisible, followed by pre-war stills of dead
against an empty future spent sitting in a room with dark
children on morgue tables, automobiles crushed by street­
glasses, all to convince students to wear their safety glasses in
cars. etc. Anatomy Of An Accident ( 1962) takes us into
chemistry lab. Let's Be Safe At Home ( 1948 ), a brilliant,
suburbia, guided on our Technicolor trip by a dead man
little-known film produced on an extremely slim budget,
whose wife and children ( not to mention the auctioneer
shows \'arious children's activities through double-exposure
who is liquidating his favorite armchair) cannot see or hear
( the film is actually wound back within the camera and
him.
re-exposed ). A boy, hailed by a friend who is standing on the
• like most genres. jeopardy films follow well-traveled
front lawn with his pet rat, stands poised at the top of the
paths. The categories most prevalent follow.
stairs, ready to run down ( or walk safely), as the case maybe.
His "ghost" remains on the landing while his other image
• SHOCK FILMS These are the famous films most of us have
.
somersaults down, receiving grave injuries. Later, two boys
seen. Some, like Signal 30, Red Asphalt and Wheels Of play with their father's gun; the pair freeze and watch their
Tragedy are mentioned elsewhere in this book. They're not "ghosts" play a deadly game in which one boy is wounded
confined to the highway. Industrial safety situations, where and falls to the floor. ( In the "safe" version, the bullet simply
films play to a highly distracted audience, have encouraged hits the wall, making a small, neat hole.)
the use of "shock" imagery as an attention-getting device. • Sometimes the images are innocuous and danger is simply
Films such as It's Up to You ( 1960), showing extreme close­ suggested, as in Safety In Winter( 1952) where the narrator
ups of Eddie Briggs' eye surgery under a cynical narration intones, "It's not nice to throw snowballs with rocks or
( "Now, Eddie's not getting an anaesthetic here") vie for iceballs inside of them."
supremacy with the military V.D. training films, too many to
be named, which feature numerous close-ups of male genita­ • PARABLES AND EXAMPLES. We are led to identify with stories
lia in the late stages of syphilis and gonorrhea. of ordinary victims who have been led into jeopardy, usuaJiy
• "Shock" imagery often works through substitution, dou­ by their own missteps or carelessness. These films number in
bling, models, or schematics. Atomic tests in Sumival TOU'11, the thousands, and are perhaps best exemplified by the
USA ( also known as Doomtou•n. USA ), newsreels and Chi! portentous Days Of Our Years ( 1955 ). produced for the
Defense films ( 1955 and later) used dumm ies in real dwel- Union Pacific Railroad. Using the standard device of a trilogy,

1 69
each episode more heartbreaking than the preceding one, pleads his case with an unseen judge. His advocate is not
the film argues that people are responsible for abridging successful, and Joe is sentenced to time in purgatory as a
their own happiness and shortening their own lives. guardian angel for other careless drivers.
• A minister ("My parish is in a railroad town") walks • Safe As You 7bink ( 1950) shows a bureaucratic heaven,
through what appear to be the outskirts of Los Angeles ( the all fitted out in art deco, where armies of clerks compile
set for many hundreds of safety pictures), recounting stories statistics on fatalities and injuries on earth. The walls,
of wasted lives. Joe, a young railroad worker, waits to marry covered with totalizers and meters, look like a network
his girlfriend Mary, a waitress in a luncheonette. As he shaves newsroom on election night. A bricklayer, about to be killed
his neck in the morning he thinks about her. He stops by the by a breaking rope, is taken to heaven ( again by an advocate
restaurant to give her a good-morning kiss. Staring at her who wishes to plead for his life ) but the plea for intercession
reflection in the toaster, she fantasizes about their dream is not heeded, and he must take his punishment.
wedding and life together. The toast pops up rudely, and the • Outside these more or less established genres, jeopardy
day is on. Joe performs his job (as road electrical foreman) strikes in many unpredictable ways. bplosion: Danger Lurks
with dangerous speed. In a hurry to get back to Mary, he flips ( 1949), produced by the Watts Regulator Company, brings
his truck, breaking his neck. Though Joe lives, there is no hundreds of engineers and executives into a New England
dream wedding, and in fact Mary has to stand on her toes in meadow to witness hot-water heater explosions. Pressures
the empty church to kiss him, since his neck brace prevents within ordinary hot-water heaters sometimes rise to millions
him from bending down. of pounds per square inch, and these heaters shoot hundreds
• "Not all trips to the hospital are unhappy ones," says the of feet in the air. As in Doomtown USA, many small buildings
narrator, as a young welder brings his wife in labor to the are destroyed.
emergency room. The doctors send him back to work, where • Safety In The Kitchen ( 1969) shows the threat that ordi­
he awaits a telephone call. Receiving his call, he proceeds to nary kitchen utensils and primitive elements ( fire, water)
pass out cigars in the shop. "One can forgive Frank for passing pose to a housewife's well-being. At the exact moment she
out cigars on company time," says the narrator. Last cigar in contemplates an unsafe act ( carrying a pot of boiling water,
hand, Frank slaps a welder on the back who, startled, wheels cutting the wrong way with a knife, plugging in a wet electric
around, accidentally blinding him! (The effect is shown by a cord ) , the screen breaks into a kaleidoscopic pattern that
melting frame of film . ) Cut to the yard, where Frank sits on whiplashes in and out, shocking the eye. Warned, presuma­
the stoop wearing Roy Orbison-like sunglasses, groping bly, by this optical effect, the actress never makes a mistake,
around the crib for his child. "There is nothing more to say; and the web of safety isn't broken.
he has said it all a million times. Frank has never seen his son." • Although jeopardy is an important ingredient in medical,
• ln an early film, Bicycling With Complete Safety ( 1938 ) , veterinary, mortuary and agricultural films, accident and
reckless riding carries heavy penalties. Wi11ie, riding and chance take second place to experimentation. As more is
eating popcorn at the same time, wipes out. Flanking his known about these obscure films, though, significant exam­
hospital bed, his parents wonder where they'll get the money ples may emerge.
to pay his medical bills. They finally decide their Christmas • The importance of films of jeopardy is proportionate to
savings will have to go to the hospital, "and Willie knows their naivete. Major breaks in the continuity of life (injuries,
what that means." accidents) and major social problems ( 50,000 traffic deaths
a year in the USA ) are depicted by cinematically-primitive
• HEAVEN. Finally, of course, almost everyone ends up in "mom and pop" producers. There is little attempt to obscure
heaven. In most jeopardy films, though, heaven isn't usually the economic interests that lie behind so many of these films.
paradise, but instead a place ofjudgment. In the wartime film They usually avoid philosophizing, or in trying to do so turn
XMarks The Spot ( 1944 ),Joe Doakes, a reckless driver in life, common sense and logic on their head. Attempting to make
rises from a huge white "X" ( magically appearing in the sense out of mere chance, they illuminate that area where
intersection where he meets his death) through the clouds repressed violence collides with the expressed wish for
to a supernatural traffic court, where his "guardian angel" safety, security and order. •
Y oung Playthings is an obscure masterpiece relegated by
its softcore format to late-night viewing on cable 1Vs "Esca­
Gunilla to share an apartment where she will ready Gunilla
for the threesome.
• It is in the new apartment house that Gunilla and Nora
pade" or the "Playboy'' channel. Ironically deceptive, the encounter Britt, a mysterious loner who earns her living
titillating title lures the audience with the prospect of a collecting broken discarded playthings which she restores
libidinous romp. But this unique sex film penetrates other and sells to collectors. While seeming detached and reclu­
realms. Seducing the mind as well as the senses, it conforms sive, Britt is strangely charismatic. She first appears before
externally, yet transcends the limitations of its genre. Flesh Nora and Gunilla at the base of a flight of stairs on the
fondling is not the supreme concern. Rather, sexual experi­ threshold of her slightly ajar door. Such sudden appearances
mentation is presented as healthy and indispensable to the at crossroads by strange creatures recall the classic role of
urtderlying goal, which is the rejection of conformist mores, the psychopomp in hero journey myths. Heralds signaling the
and liberation from socially conditioned sexual attitudes. call to adventure, they beckon the vacillating explorer, offer
• Radically different from contemporary films of its type, encouragement. and act as guides in the quest for
Young Playthings treats women not as exploited objects, but knowledge.
as central characters seeking their own sexual identity. • Cinematic clues reflect Britt's function. Her chthonic
Women are neither subservient to men, nor dominated. They nature is suggested by her focused, confined space. Vertical
are not depicted as vapid sex kittens, victims of Sado­ and up-and-down shots of corridors leading to Britt's room
Masochists, nor fetter-bound slaves of DiscipHnarians. Psy­ suggest both the aspiration for a higher goal, and the need to
chological motivation is of paramount interest; jungian delve deep within.
symbols abound, replacing the vocabulary and humorously • Another ambiguous character plays a major role in the
transforming the apparatuses common to most "hump" story although she is never seen. We do not know for certain
movies. Cognizant of eternal links with universal ancient if she exists. Britt's sister Julia is depicted only briefly ( in a
rites of passage, joe Sarno presents the hero's journey and portrait with her sister) as a clown in Columbine make-up. A
utilizes fairy tales as devices for dealing with sexual poet, Julia composed and narrated stories which Britt has
confusion. recorded and uses in her pantomimes. According to Britt,
• Written, directed, and edited in 1972, Young Playthings Julia ran away with a man, nearly breaking her heart. When
was shot in Sweden featuring amateurs and an English script. Julia tried to return, Britt refused, and Julia went mad. The
Sarno draws upon a legend familiar to modem Swedish Orphic or Dionysian reference is obvious; julia is the unseen
society despite its nineteenth century origin. As the titles voice, Britt the silent interpreter of Julia's fantasies. Julia is
run, a quintet of rigidly joined wooden toy soldiers marches perhaps Britt's alter-ego, symbolizing the irrational side of
briskly across the screen, evoking at once connotations of human nature.
battle and memories of childhood play with soldiers like • Britt is a mentor with her own circle of adherents. Anala­
these. Thus in the first seconds of the film Sarno presents a gous to the restoration of broken antiques and toys is her
visual image which symbolizes and presages a fundamental rescue and resuscitation of society's casualties. She invites
concern: here are playthings marching mechanically to an Gun ilia to view her toys, and performs for her a pantomime of
ingrained tune. The drum corps precedes troops in battle. one of Julia's poems replete with stage, costume, make-up,
Appropriately these drummers announce a campaign replete and narration. Gunilia is mesmerized and soon convinces her
with warrior-lover imagery. friend Nora to take part.
• The five soldiers in the preamble foreshadow their human • Henceforth, the plot focus centers on the fairy tales
counterparts. )ana is a traveling businessman in a minor enacted in Britt's room. These fantasy episodes are con­
supporting role. He initiates little action, appearing primarily trasted with outdoor scenes in real time. The dichotomous
as a foil for the two women he loves. Gunilla, his wife, juxtaposition of fantasy and reality gradually diminishes. What
patiently endures his prolonged absences, unaware of his is normally perceived in the outside world as acceptable and
secret liaison with Nora, her oldest, closest friend. real proves duplicitous and hollow in Britt and Julia's con­
• Gunilla's sweet demeanor projects an aura of innocence trived theatrical realm. Society's conventions foster disguise
and purity emphasized cinematically by numerous shots in and mutation of the true self. Under Britt's direction, com­
which she holds a spray of luminous white flowers. Yet prehension emerges through make-believe, replacing
Gunilla is no simpleton. By means of an eloquent iconogra­ accumulated bourgeois mores.
phic device, Sarno hints at her quest for understanding; • Shortly, Nora and Gunilla become players in Britt's reper­
Gunilla is often depicted gazing at her reflection in a mirror. tory and eventually meet her other followers. The initial plot
Her self-perusal is motivated not by vanity, but by an inquisi­ device standard in many porn films, the seduction and cajol­
tive, self-examining nature. ing of an "innocent" ( Gunilla) into a menage a trois, introdu­
• Nora is single, extroverted, and sexually adventurous. But ces the theme of initiation, here expanded to include an
she tires of her duplicity and confesses to )ana her feelings of entire group under Britt's spell. Britt presides as mistress of
guilt. )ana loves both women and is unable to choose. Nora ceremonies over a sort of mythological sexual encounter
suggests a menage a trois, butjana questions his wife's amen­ group. Providing fantasies for her pupils to play out, she
ability. Nora assures him that she will overcome Gunilla's makes learning fun.
reticence and devises a scheme. )ana is to depart on a ficti­ • In these episodes Britt engenders a return to a childlike
tious business trip, and in his absence Nora will persuade openness. Through make-beHeve, the players are transported

1 72
Young Playthings.

to another dimension, cleansed of the fears, attitudes, and responsib il ities in favor of livelihoods compatible with their
defenses accumulated in adult life. Donning costume and new-found quest for freedom. The release of the self for these
disguise, becoming diverse characters, they shed the masks people is predicated on the rejection of socially inherited,
they have clung to. The choice of archetypal figures from unconditionally accepted mores.
antiquity in Western culture engenders the transportation of • The ensuing scene in Britt's little theater features Nora and
the group ( through similar experience ) to a sublimated GunilJa as the Red and Blue Duchesses. From the nineteenth·
state. century setting of the Captain's tale, we journey to the Medic·
• Each successive make-believe session takes place in an val period. The wood nymph Pan teaches the Red Duchess to
epoch chronologically more remote. The temporal regres· dance. The Blue Duchess ( Nora) considers herselfa superior
sian towards the idyllic Golden Age parallels the psycholog· dancer and wonders how her rival has learned to dance so
ical transformation of the group members as they uncover well. When she learnsofPan'spart. she begs to be taught. The
and adopt an instinctual awareness ( much like a newborn' s), two duchesses cavort with Pan and we are told that those
untainted by modem accretions of sexually repressive atti· who have tasted the honey of the nymph's tongue thirst ever
tudes and conformist obeisance to society's dictums. Addi· after for its sweetness and dance to the tune of its pipe.
tionally, each parable features a character with whom the • The pipe certainly connotes Orphic mysteries. Pan in
various personalities can identify, and offers pertinent Classical m}1hs was a goat herder, human to the loins, with
instn1ction to each. References to Orphic, Dionysian, and goat legs. ears, and loins. He was associated with forests,
Hermetic mysteries and doctrines pervade the pantomime caves and lonely places, and made flocks fertile. He was also
sequences. the son of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Hermes in
• The first pantomime concerns the story of a captain who medieval times was the mystagogue an d psychopom p of the
abandons his regiment for a white maiden he adores from Alchemists. These connotations in mind, it is plain that Britt,
afar. Britt applies androgynous features with theatrical white· as Pan, imparts sexual wisdom.
face. Donning a tri-corn captain's hat and flowing cape over • In the tale of the Peach and Plum Queens and their daugh·
her nude form, she plays the role of the captain in front of a ters. Britt plays Puck, whose namesake is the famous trickster
crudely executed backdrop ( reminiscent of a carnival set) from Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream." Puck
encrusted with stars and moon. Gunilla only observes this wants to play with the Peach and Plum princesses. But they
scenario, but actively participates in the next. are timid. and their mothers are present. Puck knows that
• Gunilla plays the white maiden ( symbol of the soul). In queens like to ride, so he produces a strange horse with no
this, there are two recurring motifs, the abandonment of a heads, two rumps and two dildoes on its back. The queens
regimented milieu, and the theme of disguise. The soldier . mount the horse and gaJJop in endless circles of delight, as
gazes longingly at the white maiden, but is too timid to the two princesses and Puck make love. Puck tires and flees
approach. Sensing this, she assumes the role of a bandit in a into the forest; the two princesses wander in search of a
conqueror mode. Union is effected through role reversal. strange horse.
The two women disguised as a man and a woman now ldss • The horse symbolism, mounting and riding, is sexually
and fondle each other erotically. ( l ronicaJly, Nora's calcu· explicit. Further, horses provide transport to another place.
lated attempts to seduce Gunilla have brought about the One controls the direction of the horse; here, the horse takes
erotic friendship with Britt. Her sexual antics with a new control. The queens abandon their regal decorum, and sur.
lover sent Gunilla, lonely, embarrassed and excited, running rendering, achieve pleasure. The strange horse recalls the
down the stairs. At the Landing she encountered Britt and Centa urs a tribe of wild beast-like monsters usually thought
,

accevted her invitation to see her toys. ) of as being half-human and half-horse. They live in woods or
• The soldier's abandonment of milieu and the white maid· mountains, and for the Greeks, represent wild life, animal
en's transformation into a bandit prefigure the antics of desires, and barbarism, although the most famous centaur,
Britt's group of fo!Jowers. They also abandon their stations in Chiron, was the mentor of divine children.
life. Respectable professionals become pick-pockets and • There are intriguing associations with other horse divini·
thieves in order to participate in Britt's games. All disguise ties in antiquity. The dualist personas of Britt and Julia, Nora
themselves and reject their no longer relevant affiliations and and Gunilla. and the Plum and Peach princesses and queens

1 73
recall Castor and Pollux, who lived half of the time in Olym­
pus and the other half below the earth. (Compare the des­
cent to Britt's room, a chthonic image-delving into the
subconscious.) Castor and Pollux had a cult in Uicadaemon
where they were symbolized by the "do-kang" -two upright
pieces of wood connected by two crossbeams. They are
often identified with the constellation Gemini and are caJied
"riders on white steeds." Their Greek counterparts, the Dios­
curi, were connnected with the Phrygian Cabiri, who pro­
moted fertility and protected sailors. Phallic rites connected
their worship with the more familiar cults of Hermes, Deme­
ter, and Dionysus.
• The Hermetic reference is reiterated in the story of a
sorceress whose attempts to unlock the mysteries of the
universe are interrupted by the warriors of two rival queens.
The sorceress gives them a magic potion which causes them
to be drawn amorously together, thus ending the rivalry
between the kingdoms.
• )ana has now joined Nora and Gunilla in their vacation flat.
The trio spend days and nights in sexual exploration. Nora
and Gunilla ask for and receive Britt's permission to intro­
duce )ana to the group. In the midst of one evening's fantasy,
Julia's taped voice orders the players to place Britt on a
vibrating dildo surmounting a wooden horse: "Show her no
mercy. Put her on the horse. If you hesitate, she will destroy
yuu all as she destroyed me." The tape runs out and the
players stare in silence as Britt rocks savagely on the contrap­
tion. Nora begins to laugh; hesitantly the others follow suit.
Gunilla is at first shocked, but eventually joins the others in
Nora and Gunilla in Young Playthl.._s.
their mirth.
• The following day, we learn that Britt is very ill . She claims
that her insane sister Julia has escaped from a mental institu­
tion and is pursuing her. All the players except Gunilla search
the city frantically for Julia. Nora demands why Gunilla
abstains and Gun ilia replies: "There is no Julia."
• ''you think Britt is insane."
• "I think Julia is a character that Britt has created."
• Nora asks why she doesn't just pack up and leave, and
Gunilla responds that she can't tear herself away: "I am as
hung-up as the rest."
• But Gunilla senses an irrational undercurrent. She tells
Nora that she and )ana wiJI not be oiningj in the evening
fantasy, but are leaving instead. Nora rushes to inform Britt,
who silently hands her a knife. Nora returris to her flat, and as
Gunilla rushes up apologetically, stabs her. Gunilla screams
and collapses.
• Nora returns to Britt and recounts the deed. Britt announ­
ces a change in the evening's exercises, playing instead, "The
Saga of the Red Witch and the Scarlett Countess." The tale
concerns a "tree of sexual fulfillment" which a terrified
princess tries to destroy. Her enraged friend then kills her.
The taped voice orders the players to thrust the scarlet
princess ( Nora) on a vibrating dildo. The voice drones:
"eternal to rment . . . eternal pleasure . . . eternal torment . . .
eternal torment, eternal pleasure, eternal torment for the
woman who killed her friend. Drive her out of her mind so
that she will forever be an inmate of our group."
• Nora faces the same predicament which she found so
amusing when Britt was the victim. But Britt's pleasure­
torment was martyr-like; she became ill the next day, having give up their respectable lives in exchange for the pleasura­
taken on the burdens of the group. Her enforced orgasm ble: pun;uit of knowledge. Nora is punished because she has
resembled the Dionysian frenzy of a Maenad; she herself shown herself to have changed little since joining the group.
demonstrates a lesson she has been trying to impart: one She is still a pseudo-sophisticate who thinks she is liberated.
must relinquish control, accept role reversal, undergo con­ Ever mindful of her own gratification, most recently she has
flict, even be victimized, in order to learn. The captain is shown herself still obsessive. Her punishment is apt.
united with his white maiden only when he abandons his • While Nora endures her pleasure-torment,Jana cradles his
regiment and she exchanges her demure persona for that of stricken wife. Picking up the knife, he discovers that it, too, is
an outlaw. The sorceress resumes her lofty pursuits only after a toy. Britt has released Gunilla from her circle because
transforming two warring factions into amorous allies. The Gunilla is the least innocent of all; she understands the
Plum and Peach Queens experience pleasure when they are duality in nature, the relation between pleasure and torment,
oblivious to regal status and dignity. Britt's followers gladly reality and make-believe, the rational and the irrational. •

1 74
\\ I am Montag. master ofillusion . . . defier ofthelau•s
of Reason. A magician, ifyou u'ill . . . but then, u•hat is a
jack remains skeptical and unimpressed. After leaving the
theater still arguing, they come across a crowd gathering
around a restaurant-a woman has just collapsed in a booth,
magician ? A person lt •ho tears asunderyour rules ofLogic? intestines spilling out onto the floor. The corpse's dangling
And crumbles your u•orld of Reality? So that you can go hand brushes against Sherry, staining her hand wi th its blood.
home and say. 'Ob, u•hal a cle11er trickster he isl What a sly • Later, Sherry returns to the theater hoping to persuade
decei1'erl ·-and go to sleep in the secun'ty ofyourown 'real' Montag to appear on her show. At first he haughtily refuses,
uvrld . . . w hat is 'Neal?' Are you certain you knou• what but when he sees the bloodstain mysteriously reappear on
reality is? Hou• do you knou• that, at this second, you aren 't her hand, he relents. Attracted by the latest newspaper head­
asleep in your bed, dreaming that you are here in this line: "Psycho Murder in Restaurant," jack recognizes the
theater? I knou• . . . it all seems too real . . . well, bal'en 'lyou victim as the woman Montag sawed in haJJ with his chainsaw,
ever bad a dream that seemed so very real . . . tillyou woke and goes to the police with his suspicions. The police, typi·
up? Then again, hou• do you know thatyou e11er really did cally unimaginative and conservative, are of no help what­
wake up ' In fact, perhaps u•hen you bad thought that you soever in preventing Montag's subsequent volunteers from
were u•aking up. you had actual�)' just begun to dream? meeting similar fates. ( I n the meantime, Montag has been
You see u•hat I mean. don 't you . . . ? All your life, yourpast. stealing the corpses of his victims. for unexplained reasons,
your mles of u•hat can and cannot be . . . may all be pari of and dumping them down what looks like a laundry chute ( ! )
one long dream from which you are about to awake. and located i n a deserted cemetery.)
disc01 'er the uvrld as it really is . . . /" • When at last Montag appears on Sherry's TV show, he
-THE WlZARD OF GORE hypnotizes not only those in the studio but et'eryone viewing
• The act of viewing a movie enlists the individual into a the show ( " . . . hut first, let us link our minds," he intones
symbiotic relationship with the film itself, founded on the ominously, looking straight into the camera). Wisely, jack
audience's willing suspension ofdisbelief. A "good" movie is has averted his gaze-thus escaping being hypnotized. Fro­
identified with verisimi litude-if we do not "believe," then zen in trance, all the audience within transmitter range sport
the movie was "bad." "Bad" movies are commonly qualified the bloody stigmata on their hands. Montag's final illusion is
by one or more of the following components: 1 ) a concep­ revealed to be the immolation of his entire audience, and he
tual or actual element which conflicts with the belief proceeds to lead Sherry, the studio crew, and all viewers to
parameters of its audience, 2 ) a noticeable lack offunds, and their deaths in a flaming furnace. At the last instant Jack
3) "bad" acting. What different groups or individuals believe bursts in and pushes Montag into the flames, thus breaking
to be "true" always varies widely, but all film audiences want his evil spell.
to beliet'e in the movie they've come to see. When an • As the film ends, Jack and Sherry are wondering just how
audience is presented with a film outside the boundaries of Montag could have performed his heinous deeds. Suddenly
their "logic,'' the symbiosis between the film and the Jack peels off his mask, revealing himself to be Montag in
audience dissolves. disguise, and tears into Sherry with his bare hands. She,
• The Wizard of Gore defies the notions oflogic, reason, and however, laughs in his face and announces to him that he was
restra int with carefree (or careless) abandon, stopping at her illusion a U along, and transports him back to the film's
nothing to trap our attention. The camp elements cannot he beginning, fating him to "start his little charade all over again
ignored, but the careful viewer will realize this is one of the . . . " Fin.
most intellectually provocative films ever to emerge from the • In Montag's performances throughout the film, heady
depths ofgore cinema. Complex notions of Time, Space and theoretical phrases such as "tearing asunder the rules of
Logic are presented in the midst of some of the wildest logic" and "crumbling the world of reality" are bewilder­
flaunting of cinematic "good taste" ever to appear on the ingly substantiated by extreme gore atrocities. The actors (as
screen. well as their dialogue) are amateurish, often to the point of
• Viewers expecting potent metaphysical themes to be pres­ hilarity; an exuberant hamminess shared by the cast predates
ented in a subdued, restrained manner would be better off the flamboyant emoting of John Waters' players ( Lewis was
elsewhere. Of Lewis's films, The Wizard ofGore is easily the one of Waters' major influences/inspirations. )
most outlandish in premise, if not in execution. To synopsize • Montag's character is particularly droll. Given to punctuat­
the story, Montag is a magician whose ghastly specialty is the ing his performances with cheerfully morbid patter ( " Isn't
violent dismemberment of female volunteers from the there one lady among you who is considerate enough to
audience-sawing one in haJJ with a chainsaw, hammering a satisfy her fellow human beings' lust for blood?"), he often
railroad spike through the skull of another, blasting through plays the jokester. When displaying his chainsaw, he remarks,
another's midsection with an industrial punch press, and 'You were expecting a mere handsaw? And a covered
forcing two more to swallow wicked-looking swords. Leav­ wooden casket? Oh, no . . . that's the old-fashioned way of
ing the stage apparently intact, his volunteers always suffer sawing people in half. Today, magicians are mechanized,
delayed reactions shortly after leaving the theater-Montag's too!" Later, his predilection for updated industrial technol­
illusions become fatal realities. ogy is further evidenced by his unconventional application of
• In the audience is Sherry Carson, hostess of the daytime TV the punch press.
show. "Housewives' Colfeebreak," and her sports V�-Titer­ • The film's notions of plot and continuity are remarkable­
boyfriend,J ack. Sherry is amazed by Montag's illusions, while blatant non-sequiturs abound. Montag's motivation for these

1 75
grisly murders is never explored, nor is the source of his victim placidly enduring assault as though in trance, juxta­
powers revealed. The significance of the bloody stigmata posed with the sight of the victim becoming gore. Particu­
appearing on everybody's hands during the mass 1V hypnosis larly eerie is the aftermath of the sword-swallowing scene.
remains a mystery. The grave-robbing forays seem to exist for where the rwo victims stand calm and erect on either side of
no reason at all. The list goes on, but such trivial considera­ Montag, sword handles protruding from open mouths, inter­
tions are far beside this movie's point-or as Montag himself cut with scenes where they dangle from their bonds like
puts it, "What makes you think you know what reality is?" broken puppets, crumpled and bloody, while Montag takes
Part of The Wizard of Gore's unique chann is predsely that his triumphant bows between them.
element ofchaos: "Never explain, never complain" seems to • The film's conceptual denouement takes place in the final
adequately summarize Lewis' philosophy of plot. scenes where jack peels off his face in front of Sherry's
• When aiming for his audience's reactionary jugular. Lewis horrified eyes. revealing himself to be Montag before he
is deadly accurate. As the progenitor of the blitzkrieg-gore proceeds to disembowel her with bare hands. Sheri")�S reac­
approach. he was singularly aware that movies need not be tion, however. is to brush her guts off her chest and laugh in
expensive or have "serious" content; his films succeeded by his face-as startling an event for Montag as it is for the
sheer imaginative force and by breaking taboos of decency audience. She tauntingly informs him that she, too, is a
and propriety-people paid money simply to see them "dealer in illusion." Then the hostess of "Housewives's Cof­
broken. feebreak" transports herself and Montag back to the film's
• The Wizard of Gore is singular for consciously acknow­ beginning. dooming him to repeat endlessly his cycle of
ledging the idea of Gore As Entertainment. Indeed, the illusion and murder, while in the audience Sherry remarks to
entire plot revolves around the concept of people paying jack as the film closes, "You know what I think? I think he's a
their money to passively observe a maniac subjecting young phony!" The turn of the screw is complete: Reality and
women to spectacular tortures. ( When an interviewer once IUusion have finally become an indistinguishable blur, even
grilled him on the misogynistic aspects of his films, Lewis to their very manipulators. A radical concept. indeed . . .
snorted that he would just as readily have killed off males as • On a multitude of levels this film constantly challenges its
females. had he believed an audience existed for such films. ) audience to examine what is "true" or "real, " forcing them to
• The implications are obvious as Montag matter-of-factly acknowledge ( rei uctant ly or otherwise ) that these supposed
comments: "Torture and terror have always fascinated man­ truths are merely human tnlfbs-therefore subjective. We
kind . . . perhaps what made your predecessors see the as humans are capable only of perceiving dimly what brilliant
sadism of the Inquisition and the gore of the gladiators is the chaos extends beyond our puny laws and sciences. As john
same thing that makes you stare at bloody highway accidents Barrymore cunningly remarks in St1engali, "You would do
. . . and thrill to the terror of Death in the bullring . . . " well to remember that there are more things in heaven and
Montag, like Lewis, is consummately oblig.ing of his audien­ earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy . . ." The asser­
ce's desires. tion of sophisticated, abstract concepts in such a consum­
• The average moviegoer will certainly be mortified by The mately crude film will doubtless provoke derision in that
Wizard of Gore 's extreme sadism, as well as the "seedy" intellectual "elite" which accepts themes of metaphysical
quality which pervades all of Lewis' films. Absent are the content only when clothed in genteel surroundings.
sophisticated latex prosthetics of Tom Savini or Dick Smith, • In all its shoddy glory, The Wizard of Gore serves as an
which, while technically virtuosic, appear merely slick and wwsual reminder that the mysteries of the cosmos extend
facile next to the crude and vicious carnage of the animal­ themselves as readily into the gutter as they do to the stars,
innard school which Lewis himself pioneered to hideous implying a vast realm of similar film experiences antithetical
extremes. In this film, Montag displays a special fondness for to the promoters and consumers of mass media "Reality" and
mangling the victims' organs with bare fingernails, gleefully "Illusion." Regardless of whatever intentions he had, in 7be
kneading them as though dough before the appreciative eyes Wizard of Gore Lewis succeeding in creating a total effect of
of the audience. demented cosmic anarchy. The Wizard of Gore is a film
• His illusions are shown in a series ofjump-cuts, alternating which is tnt�)! perverse, and in all the best possible defini­
between two distinctly separate realities-the scene of the tions of that word. •
E S S A Y 8 Y M A R G A R E T C R A N E

0 ne clue connects a series of killings: the killers all

confess. "God told me to . . . " In the film written and directed
convey the presence of a hostile God overlooking his flock. A
happy throng at the Saint Patrick's Day parade is reduced to a
terrified mob when a marching policeman opens fire on the
by Larry Cohen. police detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo crowd, causing mac;s hysteria.
Bianco ) discovers God to be the wrathful diety of the Old • Screaming crowds are common elements in films. They
Testament transplanted to contemporary Manhattan. This is are generally portrayed negatively as the result of terror
the God who calls the powerful to liis side while he slaugh­ (crowds fleeing hostile ants or hostile armies). Viewed
ters the masses in the streets. His messiah is a hippie named through the anarchistic vision of GTMT, chaos becomes
Bernard Phillips whose mother immaculately conceived by life-affirming and mob scenes are elevated to exhilarating
the divine light of a spaceship. When this God looks down on spectacles. When the journalist glorifies chaos, he articulates
the world, run for cover. the perspective of classic mythology in which chaos is an
• Peter Nicholas. the good cop, becomes a visionary hero as indispensable element of the world cycle, destroying the old
his investigation reveals that both he and Bernard are divine order. Chaos is an essential aspect of the eternal round of
beings. the children of virgin mothers and extraterrestrials. destruction and regeneration.
The New York locations. urban sounds and vivid true-to-l ife • Religious imagery appears grotesque in contrast to scenes
characters fade into a mythic landscape as Peter and Bernard of mayhem. A bloody crucified Christ looms over Peter as he
compete in an epic struggle for power. prays. At a street fair he kneels before a neon altar which is
• God Told Me To appropriates the structure of detective significant as a pretty, glowing theater marquee. Peter is a
films, but this is no formula movie. Larry Cohen alters the devout Catholic, but the symbols of his faith appear either
formula, depicting disorder as a catalyst to expand the hero's sinister or meaningless. Although separated from his mystic
role toward irs archetypal fulfi llment as the bearer ofchange. reclusive wife, Martha ( Sandy Dennis), he returns to her
The hero's work, according to joseph Campbell, is to journey often to express his devout nature. Her suburban home is an
into thl" unknown and there slay the tyrant, ogre or cor­ oppressive cloister filled with religious rctlics. Beneath a
rupted god, and so Liberate the earth from the domination of print of a suffering Jesus, she consoles him, "You really
the old order. believe, hut where is the joy?" Spiritual decline, empty sym­
• The iconoclastic universe of G7MT condemns dogma and bols and rising violence define the parameters of the known
organized religion. posing the question: If God and religion world.
are ideas conceived by man, what would happen if these • Peter's investigation leads him closer to Bernard. Wit­
concepts rook form and turned against their creators? All hell nesses describe seeing a hippie with "no face" talking with
breaks loose when the malevolent manifestation of the Chris­ the killers before the murders. One of the killers' mothers
tian "God" combines with the notion of UFOs and "gods states, "Anybody who walks barefoot around New York has
from outer space." The film takes the position: you made it got to have something wrong with him."
up, nou• you hat>e to liz•e with it. • When Peter enters Bernard's mother's apartment build­
• In myths, heroes appear when society is in decline. The ing, Mrs. Phillips appears. knife in hand. They struggle on the
killings in the film create a crisis which tests the validity of dark stairs and she falls, gagging as she dies on the word
authoritarian figures and institutions. Religion, law enforce­ "God." From this point on, interiors become dreamscapes
ment and the social microcosm of the family are all revealed and hallways passages to enlightenment. Peter descends in
as corrupt. God -the ultimate authority figure-is stained an elevator to confront Bernard Phillips in an infernal boiler
with blood. The police. rendered ineffectual by their concep­ room. His adversary appears wreathed in flames, the simul­
tual conservatism, fu tilely attempt to impose order by taneous incarnation of Christ and Satan.
suppressing information. A father exercises his "divine right" • Now on a quest for his own identity, Peter follows a
over his fami ly and in a testimonial to blind faith describes
, labyrinth twisting through New York, leading to his mother
how he shot his wife and children. When asked why he did it, ( Sylvia Sydney) who gave him up for adoption. She
Dad concludes (smiling beatifically), "Because He gives me enlightens him as to the secret of his virgin birth. At this point
so much and asks for so little." he renounces his religion and realizes his power before the
• Whose side is God on, anyway? Consistent with history, labyrinth leads him back to Bernard.
God's elect in GTMT are a small groupofwealthyand power­ • The stairs of an abandoned building lead Peter to his
ful men, seemingly representing the "New Right" and funda­ long-sought confrontation with Bernard. who confirms what
mentalist government politicians. In an impressive board Peter suspects . . . they are of the same origin, but different.
room, they await exalted positions in the new millennium. Peter is superior, not only as the new avatar, but genetically
One of the powerful expresses concern over the fate of the as well. Bernard explains, "In me, all that is you became
dying masses. Another sums up the inequity of a religion recessive." He exposes a multisexual orifice on his side ( a
based on guilt when he replies, "The only way He has ever sexualization of Olrist's wound) and invites Peter t o mate
communicated is through fear." It appears ill-advised to trust with him. Peter's refusal, an affirmation ofhis power, signifies
those who believe they have a direct line to God. Bernard's death. The vanquished messiah assumes a gesture
• "I love chaos. Out of chaos comes reason, and out of of benediction as flames envelop him and walls collapse. The
reason, science." So says the science editor of a New York destiny implicit in the myth is fulfilled . . . making way for a
tabloid before he breaks the suppressed story of the killings. new miJienium.
The disintegrating city is observed from above as aerial shots • When the press asks Peter why he killed Bernard, Peter

1 77
answers, "He told me to." always be a new order waiting in the wings to overthrow the
• The film ( but not most videotapes ) ends with a conclud­ old.
ing line stating that Peter was sentenced to a mental institu­ • The message of the film is greater than the fate of its hero.
tion. The ending is left ambiguous: will the new messiah be Larry Cohen utilizes the mythic possibilities of film to its
dismissed as a crazy killer, or wiU he orchestrate the dawn of fullest. The hero's journey into the realm of darkness corre­
a new age? In a mythic sense, the film ends appropriately sponds to an individual's process of psychic growth. God
open-ended. G7MT is an unfinished chapter in a larger sys­ 1bld Me 1b explores and explodes the major delusions
tem which celebrates transformation, but also poses a warn­ underlying our culture's religious beliefs; it is an exorcism of
ing: today's hero becomes tomorrow's tyrant. There will hypocrisy. •

•
•

E S S A Y B Y P R A X G 0 R E

B last of Silence is another exceptional film disguised as a

low-budget gangster movie. It looks cheap; it sounds cheap;
might trip you up"). This tension is an inversion of normal
movie conventions which dictate that you're supposed to get
nervous when the character is committing a crime, and relax
it's great. when he's socializing. When Frankie's doing a crime, he's ice
• The plot is straightforward: Frankie Bono, independent hit cold.
man, is hired to knock off a crime boss. He contracts with a fat • Sometimes the voice is simply an emotional barometer, as
friend to buy a gun with silencer. He trails his mark. He runs when it alerts Frankie, ''You're nervous, your hands are hot,"
into and falls forsome skirt he knew from his orphanage days. or "You're comfortable, your hands are cold."
The fat gun supplier wants more dough, so Frankie offs him. • Even though the most memorable srylization of the film is
Then he knocks off the target. When he goes to collect his the constant narration, there are exceptionally visual scenes
fee, he gets gunned down by men hired by his employers. such as when Frankie is dancing in the living room with the
This may all may sound somewhat familiar. The plot, how­ girl he used to know. She is relaxed, gazing at the ceiling
ever, is only a vehicle for fleshing out the character of the ( toward the distant romantic horizon or back to fond old
paranoid, existential, post-adolescent-loner Frankie Bono. memories?) when out of nowhere he tries to rape her. Then
• The first indication th�t this is not an ordinary crime there's the scene when ( with great difficulry) he kills the fat
thriller comes with the oi>ening shot and voice-over. A tiny guy, initially employing a fire axe . . .
spot of light in the middle of a black movie screen grows until • There's also a memorable scene in a cocktail lounge where
it hecomes the ooenine of a tunnel into Grand Central Sta­ we see Frankie's prey and girlfriend sitting at a table ( he's
tion. The voice-over (which sounds like Uonel Stander, greasy-looking; she's a gold-digger). Laughing, she gives him
although no one is given credit) begins, a big kiss. Then a live black jazz band appears with a singer
You were born with hate and anger built in. Took a who plays congas, singing about how he's "dressed in black
slap in the backside to blast out the scream. Then you a-all the ti-ime" -a plaintive tune furnishing a subtext
knew you were alive. B ibs, 5 oz. Baby Boy Frankie appropriately reflecting Frankie's thoughts. Then the singer
Bono. Father doing well. Later you learned to hold goes "over the top" relating the saga of "trying to find (his)
back the screams and let out the hate and anger in baby iq this torrid, torrid, town."-one of the most uninhi­
other ways. bited performances ever captured on film.
• This voice-over is constantly informing us ( and Frankie) • In another classic scene Frankie is walking through Har­
what is going on. Rather than revealing privileged insights, it lem, the camera tracking alongside him. As he walks, the
appears to be Frankie's trained, conscious image of himself people hanging out on the street stare sullenly back at the
talking, reminding him how tough he is, and nagging him camera, refusing to be faceless extras. This documentary
when he gets soft. sequence makes Frankie seem unimportant, while these
• Eventually the film becomes a somewhat schizophrenic unknown "real people" steal the scene, generating genuine,
experience as this disembodied voice increasingly grows uncomfortable emotional tension.
stronger than Frankie, whose own voice is high, soft, nasal, • The ending, filmed in a horrific wind and rain storm at an
and badly recorded. Toward the end Frankie almost isolated summer cottage landing, ranks as one of the bleak­
disappears-the high-contrast grainy photography reinforc­ est, even among noir films. This low-budget masterpiece
ing the decline of his character. involving exceptional locations, casting, narration and film­
• The voice frequently stresses Frankie's need to be alone, ing is credited to "Allen Baron" ( screenplay, director and
and in fact the only real tension in the film occurs when he star). The modem composer Meyer Kupferman composed
talks to the girl ("you're making a fool of yourself, buddy''), and conducted the score. None of the other names in the
or making contact with other humans ("watch out, they credits were recognizable. •
 tor/"demon" who possesses her soul-leads her through a
''You . . . you out there. Do you know what horror is? graveyard and shows her scenes from her childhood, some of
Smug, confident, secure because you're sane. Do you know them most bizarre and imaginative.
what madness is, or how it strikes? Have you seen the demons • The woman re-lives the night she murdered her father
that surge through the corridors of the crazed mind? Do you who had just killed her mother. The tableau is set in a
know that in the world of the insane you will find a kind of cemetery, with living room and bedroom furniture arranged
truth more terrifying than fiction? A truth that will shock amidst the tombstones. Her father ( resembling thf: police­
you!" man who came to her aid in the alley) is an abusive lush. Her
• So begins john Parker's strange 1953 classic, Daughter of mother, clad only in a black slip and lying on a couch next to a
Horror. Originally filmed MOS (without sound), Daughter tombstone marked "Mother," is eating chocolates from a
of Horror is augmented by a music soundtrack and a narra­ box. She appears low-class and amoral. When the father gets
tion by Ed McMahon. With its long shadows and lonely home, his attempts at sex with his wife are repulsed. lben he
figures, the film's visual style resembles that of the painter De notices a cigar butt in an ashtray. Incensed by his wife's
Olirico. cavalier attitude and the apparent evidence of her infidelity,
• The movie begins in the hotel room of a young woman he shoots her dead. As he stares at the body his daughter
suffering from recurring nightmares. Awaking from one, she comes up from behind and st.abs him to death.
gets out of bed, walks to her dresser, takes out a switchblade • The scene in which the woman is being led through the
and pockets it. On her way out she sees police talking to her cemetery will be recognized by many, for Daughter of Hor­
neighbors, and though we can't hear what they're saying, it's ror is the movie the teens are watching just before 7be Blob
apparent that a drunken man has just beaten his wife. invades the theater. Seeing this scene years later in the origi­
• The young woman ventures out into the darkened city nal context can produce a strange deja vu.
streets-probably Venice, California. The location, along • The woman snaps out ofher reverie in time to leave the car
with the noirci nematography, gives the film a visual similar­ and follow the fat man to his upstairs apartment. Inside, the
ity to Orson Welles' Touch of Etlil. Responsible for the film's man sets her aside temporarily for a bite to eat. She watches
moody look is William Thompson, an excellent cinemato­ in disgust as he stuffs his face with food, greedilypuUing meat
grapher whose work includes the films of Ed Wood, Jr. from chicken bones with his teeth. For sheer prandial gross­
• The woman buys a newspaper from a dwarf which pro­ ness, only Le Grande Bouffe can match this scene.
claims: MYSTE RIOUS STABBING. Smiling, she throws the • After finishing his meal the fat man tries making a pass at
paper away, but it begins to roll along the ground after her. the woman; she rebuffs him. He pulls a wad of bills from his
She runs down an aiJey and the paper lands on her feet; a slash
of light illuminates the headline: MYSTERIOUS STABBING.
This time the guilt is explicit.
• These scenes reveal genuine directorial finesse. Unfortu­ Daughter of Horror.
nately john Parker, possibly stung by critical reaction (or
lack of it ), abandoned filmmaking. Daughter ofHorror is his
only known picture.
• Next the woman encounters 5everal winos in the alley.
One tries to force her to take a drink, but she resists. Sud­
denly a police car pulls up; a plainclothes cop emerges and
begins to beat the man. The woman looks on, laughing
gleefully.
• Wandering away from the brutal scene, she encounters a
greased Lothario who stops to buy a carnation from a flower
girl, pins it to his lapel, and then converses with the Daughter
of Horror. Because the film is silent we cannot hear what he's
saying, but it's obvious he's attempting to persuade her of
something. Eventually she nods and smiles, seemingly in
acceptance. They stop to light cigarettes and a newspaper
brushes against her feet: MYSTERIOUS STABBING. She kicks
the newspaper away; it tumbles into the street and is run over
by a car. The car stops. From the backseat a fat man peers at
them.
• The Lothario walks over to the car and, after talking to the
fat man and accepting some money, beckons the woman
over. She gets in the car; he doesn't. The woman and the fat
man (played by stock heavy Bruno Ve Sota) spend the even­
ing traveling from club to club.
• While driving through the city, the woman fades into a
memory of the past. A faceless figure -presumably the narra-
pocket and approaches her again. This time the woman light on her as she runs. Suddenly she encounters the flower
smiles, but when he tries to kiss her she pulls her knife and girl and by an impulse places the dismembered hand in the
stabs him. He stumbles backwards through a window and basket ( much to the girl's horror), then continues flight.
falls six stories, his money trailing behind him like confetti in • Finding herself trapped in an alley, she ducks into a door­
the air. way behind which a jazz band is practicing. Immediately a
• Shocked at her deed, the woman runs down the stairs to man bolts the door behind her to keep the police from
the street. Near the body of her victim she pauses to cry. entering. He provides her with a satin gown and they enter a
"Guilty!" the narrator scolds, "Mad with guilt and the demon basement nightclub, where Shorty Rogers and His Musical
that has taken possession of your soul." Giants-an actual band-play bebop before an audience of
• Suddenly she realizes she has lost her pendant -the fat hipsters and lowlifes. This scene provides a rare glimpse into
man grabbed it as he fell, and now it lies clutched in his the jazz underworld that thrived in the early fifties. Later­
lifeless hand. Vainly she tries to pry the pendant loose from due largely to the efforts of Jack Kerouac-these hipsters
his rigid fingers. Pulling her switchblade out once more, she became known as the "beat generation," or "beatniks."
severs the man's hand. At this point she appears to be sur­ • The woman begins dancing to Shorty's music, and an air of
rounded by people watching her, but the people have no normalcy resumes. All too soon a police officer arrives. Saun­
faces. The narrator informs us they are the "ghouls of insan­ tering around the club, accepting payoffs from various
ity," real only to the Daughter of Horror. patrons, he at ftrst ignores her; but slowly, slowly he works
• The police appear and begin to chase her, shining a spot- his way to the front of the stage, where she stands.
• At the window another policeman kneels beside the fat
man, who-very much alive again-points at the woman
with his bloody stump. The people in the club look at the fat
man, then turn and point at the woman. The policeman holds
up a pair of handcuffs, the fat man laughs and the people
surround her. She looks down and sees the pendant around
her neck. As the theme song reappears. mingling with the
jazz of Shorty Rogers, a montage of faces spin in and out ofher
._.Iller of Horror.
vision-her mother, her father, the fat man and the
Lothario-all of them laughing. The pendant spins before her
eye� and giant waves crash down upon her as she runs.
• The movie ends where it began, with the woman arising
from her bed. "Only a dream," the narrator tells us. "Or was
it?" She notices a gold chain hangingfrom her dresser drawer
and opens it. Inside, still clutching the pendant, is the fat
man's hand. Again and again we hear her scream as the
camera pulls away from the hotel and out of her life.
• Daughter of HonYJr was first released in 1955 under the
title Dementia. Critical response was underwhelming, and
the film quickly disappeared. It resurfaced briefly in 1956.
again without much notice. During the seventies the film
gained stature among horror fans as one of the strangest
.novies ever made, with many considering it an overlooked
classic. Unquestionably it deserves far more attention than it
has received to date.
• One of the most memorable aspects of the movie is its
haunting. repetitive score. The theme song. written by
George Antheil and sung by Marni Nixon, is repeated in
variations throughout the movie. The only time we don't
hear it is when Shorty Rogers plays; even then, Shorty doesn't
play long before the theme music comes swelling back,
ascending through his jazz in a mad cacophony. Composer
Antheil -who first gained fame for his unorthodox scoring of
Fernand Leger's Ballet Mecanique-was obviously influ­
enced by Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound. The singer, Marni
Nixon, rose to prominence by dubbing vocal parts for many
actresses appearing in musicals, among them Natalie Wood
in West Side Story and Deborah Kerr in 7be King and I.
• Daughter of HonYJr is not an easy film to analy-£. Its
depictions of murder, resurrection and dismemberment ­
all common elements in horror films- are presented as the
hallucinations of an insane mind. Despite the noircinemato­
graphy and depictions of pimps, payoffs, and venal police,
Daughter of HonYJr is not a crime movie. The original title,
Dementia, probably reflects the film's essence most accu­
rately. In a conventional horror film the terror comes from
the outside, with the central figure a victim in a world gone
mad. In Parker's film the horror originates from the inside, as
an aberrant mind turns upon itself.
• For three decades ignorant critics and a somnolent public
kept Daughter of HonYJr in obscurity. Now, looking at the
movie so many years later, we can only wonder at what
prevented them from seeing it as the remarkable film it is. •

1 80
D espite late-night TV and local revival theaters, each year
obscure films are lost -some irretrievably. Only an arbitrary
Ralph, who, being the oldest, is the most regressed-a six­
foot toddler. The children are watched over by Bruno, the
family chauffeur, who made an oath to Titus Merrye to take
fraction achieve the cult status necessary for survival. care of the children forever.
• If any film ever deserved cult status, it is jack Hill's unique • Two distant cousins of Titus W. Merrye, Peter and Emily
Spider Baby, which defies classification. Untited distribution Howe, arrive with their lawyer and his secretary. The Howes
and bad marketing, including misleading title changes to 1be plan to claim the Merrye inheritance, including the mansion,
Lit'er Eaters (no livers are eaten) and Cannibal Orgy ( there for themselves. It's obvious this is all Emily's idea, Peter being
is no orgy, cannibal or otherwise) contributed to the film's a soft-spoken, likable fe!Jow who seems only along for the
neglect. Fortunately it was rereleased on videocassette, but is ride.
still seldom seen on the big screen. • At times Spider Baby is like a television sitcom directed by
• spider Baby was released in 1968, but was made in 1964 or Luis Buiiuel. In one scene the interlopers are served a dinner
earlier in Los Angeles. The film opens with Lon Chaney, Jr. prepared by Bruno and the children. The main course con­
"singing" about vampires and werewolves, neither of which sists of a "rabbit" caught by Ralph ( it's really a cat, and for the
has anything ro do with the film. But the song, with its eerie guests only; Bruno and the children are vegetarians); mush­
accompaniment. does set the mood. rooms picked by Virginia ( "She has an uncanny knack for
• The film tells of Merrye's Syndrome, a rare disease affect­ picking only the non-poisonous varieties" ); and a slimy black
ing only members of the Merrye family. This illness causes its stew only Virginia will eat ("Oh, no, sir!" Bruno warns Peter,
victims to regress mentally to a pre-infantile state ofsavagery "You wouldn't want any of that!"). When Ralph grabs the
and cannibalism. In the large fantily mansion, the only survi­ "rabbit" and begins gnawing on it, Peter asks if Ralph isn't
vors are the children of Titus W. Merrye: Elizabeth, who also a vegetarian. "Oh yes," Bruno replies with unfathomable
dresses like a little girl and wears her hair in pigtails; Virginia, logic, "but Ralph is allowed to eat anything he catches."
who fancies herself a spider and likes to eat insects; and • This remark is typical ofSpider Baby. All the characters -

Spider Baity.

1 81
even the "normal" ones-are odd, yet unaware that others • As in most horror movies, the monsters (in this case, the
consider them odd. Only Bruno seems cognizant of the children) are damned from the start; we know the kids are
conflicting realities held by the "children" and the intruders. going to die. But death, when it comes, has no sting. It is met
• Part of Spider Baby 's appeal is due to near-perfect casting. by the children with naive anticipation, and by Bruno with a
Lon Chaney, Jr.-whose acting was usually somewhat shrug. The shrug sums up the prevailing philosophical atti·
substandard -is brilliant as Bruno, giving the character just tude of Spider Baby- as Bruno says near the beginning of the
the right qualities of compassion and desperation. Carol film, "Nothing is very bad."
Ohman, once touted as Hollywood's hottest new sex sym­ • jack Hill, who wrote and directed the film. made dozens of
bol, seethes like a frustrated dominatrix. Jill Banner's perfor­ movies for Roger Corman and other Hollywood producers
mance as Virginia, the Spider Baby, is perfect; her character and worked with some of the industry's most talented actors.
evokes just the right amount of sex, naivete, and menace. However, none of his other works is as unusual as Spider
Beverly Washburn as Elizabeth is only slightly less effective. Baby. Probably because the film did so poorly at the box
Sid Haig, who has since become a successful Hollywood office, Hill never made anything remotely like it again.
character actor, is almost unrecognizable as the bald cretin, • Categorizing this oddity is no easy task; spider Baby is a
Ralph. Quinn Redeker, another character actor who special­ horror-comedy, but lacks the buffoonery and dumb jokes
izes in nervous nerds, gives the movie great comic moments. that most comedies rely on. It has been referred to as a black
The only weak characterization is Karl Schanzer, who, as comedy, but as such it lacks the cynicism and sophistication
Schlocker the lawyer, appears too young for the bloated, of typical humour noir. It is macabre and grotesque, but in an
self-important role he portrays. offbeat, fun-loving way. In offering bizarre situations and
• Spider Baby 's visual impact may be attributed to Alfred weird ethical dilemmas the film rebuffs the simplistic
Taylor, who gave this black comedy the chiaroscuro look of response. Contradictory emotions abound.
film nair: the shadows are deep and the lighting melodra­ • With the increased exposure that video distribution
matic. Except for a day-for-night chase scene, his cinematog­ affords, spider Baby will perhaps receive the attention that
raphy is faultless. Throughout there are clever touches; when has long been its due. If not, the film remains one of the best
Elizabeth announces she has devised a plan for dealing with examples of extreme, idiosyncratic cinema both witty and
unwanted visitors, her face literally glows with malevolence. macabre. •

G eorge Romero's infamous trilogy of "Dead" films­

Night of the Litling Dead, Dawn ofthe Dead and Day of the
ror the film remains unparalleled; even though two decades
have passed, its nightmare imagery retains the ability to
appall an audience.
Dead-have provoked not just visceral response but serious • The movie begins with Barbara and Johnny. a sister and
critical debate, and for good reason. Not only are these brother who've driven to an isolated Pennsylvania cemetery
movies capable of inflicting dizzying levels of tension and to place a cross on their grandfather's grave. As the skies
paranoia, they all carry a heavy freight of potent psychologi· darken, Johnny remembers how as a child Barbara had been
cal elements and tribal, group-behavioral and political afraid of the cemetery, and begins to tease her: "They're
concepts. coming to get you!" Noticing a man staggering toward them,
• The films in this "survivalist" series-which span 1 7 years he cries, "Look! Here comes one of them now'" Ap·
between them-share the common themes of territorial propriately enough. the stranger suddenly attacks her.
defense, self-defense, and the invader within. Each movie johnny rushes to her aid, is immediately killed, and the
depicts the efforts of small groups ofhuman.ity to secure their attacker pursues her to a farmhouse where she locks herself
lives and environments against hostile armies of animated, in, only to find the building deserted and the phone out of
flesh-eating corpses. order.
• Ever-present is the tense awareness that each living body is • In the meantime, other blan.k-eyed strangers have joined
a potential zombie; hence the continual foreboding that Barbara's attacker outside in ominously circling the building.
boarded-up windows, camouflaged elevator shafts and At the top of a flight of stairs she stumbles on a 1-}alf-eaten
underground military fortresses are ultimately futile gestures corpse; screaming with terror she flees outside straight into
against a ravenous, inexorable enemy capable of surfacing the glare of a truck's headlights. Ben, a young black man, gets
under your l'eTJI skin . . . Romero's masterful handling of out and pushes her back inside the farmhouse, locking the
pacing and action, combined with his ironic wit and pro· door. Desperately he asks, Does she live here? Is there a key to
found sensitivity for the mechanics of fear and paranoia, have the gaspump in front ? How many of those "things " are out
earned for these three movies a unique stature in the annals there?-but Barbara has retreated into catatonia, shocked
of horror cinema. out of her wits.
ght of the LitJing Dead ( 1968), Romero
• In the first film, Ni • Ben proceeds to board up the windows and doors of the
communicates raw paranoia untarnished by sentiment, pro­ entire house (discovering a rifle and ammunition in his
jecting a vision of pure nihilism-all at the expense of the search for tools), and informs her that the phenomenon
horrified audience's sensibilities. For sheer, unrelenting ter- seems to be happening everywhere-people are being

182
attacked and killed for no apparent reason by people who Coolly and dispassionately Romero's camera reveals carnage
seem to be in a trance. Suddenly, a door to the cellar swings in a grainy aura of apocalyptic, dreamy horror, economically
open-five other people have been hiding downstairs as sketched . . .
well: the Cooper family ( Harry, Helen and their injured • Throughout the trilogy Romero maintains a radical purity
daughter, Karen) and two teenage lovers, Tom and Judy. of vision, declining traditional reliance on romantic entan­
• Immediately a conflict arises: Harry scoffs at the makeshift glements, "happy'' endings, pseudo-scientific "explanations"
barricades, insisting that "the cellar is the only safe place," or any other of the cinematic cliches so common to films of
while Ben maintains that by remaining upstairs, they're bet· this genre. There are no "explanations," just as there are no
ter able to anticipate and forestall attackers. Finally Ben "solutions," Begrudging hints at a connection between the
declares, "You go be the boss in the cellar-/'m boss up zombie phenomenon and a recently returned space mission
here." thus splitting the group into two factions. are dropped, but the subject of cause-and-effect is bypassed.
• The full horror of the situation is revealed when the group Instead, Romero concentrates on action and atmosphere,
finds a television and learns that all over the country bodies of graphically delineating what horror can actually mean, and
newly dead are coming back to life, killing and eating the here it means your worst fears, the most terrifying and insane
flesh of any victims they can find. Outside, the zombies gain events imaginable-being stabbed, roasted alive, devoured,
in number while their prey desperately barricade the house etc. Here, horror need not explain itself to exist; existence
against imminent siege. itself is sufficient justification.
• In the cellar they discover the keys to the gas pump • Romero made the film for S I I4 ,000 and peddled it to
outside. Tom and Ben volunteer to fill Ben's truck with gas various distributors-some of whom offered to release it
while Harry throws Molotov cocktails from the upstairs win· only if it were seriously censored and reshot with a "happy''
dow as a diversionary tactic. As they unboard the doors,Judy ending. Happily, Romero declined. The film was released in
suddenly bolts, C!")ing, "I'm going with them!" 1968 and has been in circulation ever since. As part of the
• The three drive to the pump. fending off ghouls with Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, Nght
i of the
torches and gunfire. Unfortunately, gas splashing onto the living Dead immediately set new standards for the aesthetics
truck is ignited by a clumsily-dropped torch-incinerating of horror.
Tom and Judy. This abortive escape attempt provides a canni· • Originally a student filmmaker who directed 1V commer­
balistic feast for the living dead in a scene so disturbing it cials and industrial films before forming his first production
continues to be regularly excised from televised screenings. company, Latent Image, Romero remains a regional film­
• Ben manages to make his way back to the house, only to maker, preferring to pursue his obsessions in the relative
fmd himself locked out by the cowardly Harry. Breaking his obscurity of Pittsburgh. far away from Hollywood.
way in, Ben secures the door and then vengefully beats Harry • Romero's subsequent films include two curious forays
into submission . . . The power fails, and the siege begins outside the gore genre ( The·re 's Alu>ays Vanilla, a 1972
again in earnest. with the zombies now inside. As boarded-up comedy, and Hungt)' a 1973 tale of suburban
Wit,es,
windows begin to splinter. Ben lays down his rifle to bolster witchcraft- both box-office failures). In 1973 he returned to
the rapidly disintegrating barrier. Seeing his chance, Har!")' the themes of paranoia and invasion with The Crazies. Similar
grabs the rifle and tells Ben, "You want to stay up here-you to Nigbt, the plot concerns bunglnJ Army m:rvc:: gas c::xpc:ri·
..
can. Ben grabs the gun away and shoots Harry, who tumbles ments which turn the inhabitants of a rural Pennsylvania
downstairs into the cellar. community into homicidal maniacs- "Why are all the good
• The zombies' attack is gaining in force and vehemence. people dying?" was the question posed by posters for the
Finally all hell breaks loose as the makeshift fortress of Bar­ film. The Crazies, too. failed at the box office.
bara, Helen and Ben crumble under the zombie onslaught; • Martin (1976 ) was a considerably more provocative
our shock and dismay deepen as the living are methodically departure from the "Invasion" format. Set in the subur­
destroyed one by one. The once-dead Johnny returns for his ban/industrial wastelands of Braddock, Pennsylvania, the
sister Barbara, dragging her into the frenzied melee of story centers on Martin, an alienated young man ( interest·
ghouls; Helen is butchered with a garden spade by her now­ ingly portrayed by John Amplas) with a disturbing penchant
zombie daughter; and Ben, the final survivor, is mistaken for a for murdering young women and drinking their blood. The
zombie by a posse of redneck gunmen who blow his brains film attains a surprising ambience of murky, perverse eroti·
out. The nihilism is complete: the dead have "won." cism. While not a box office smash, Marlin enjoyed an
• Some critics have pointed out the film's psychological and extended run as a midnight feature, and received much
thematic inheritance from '50s "Invasion" films, e.g. lm,ad­ critical acclaim.
ers jrom·Mars. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, lnttisible • Martin also marked the beginning of Romero's association
Jm,aders, et al. Others have tied in the EC horror comics of with Tom Savini, who invented some of the most eye­
the same period. Just as these cultural relics illuminate the popping gore effects ever to splatter across a screen.
Cold War climate of that era, Night's cinematic images of • Night is completely resolute: it is difficult to imagine an
invasion, paranoia, cannibalism, matri· and sororicide, etc, as ending more ironic or a sequel capable of surpassing its bleak
as well as subtexn•al leYels of inarticulate racism, were widely message. Romero wisely let up on the acute claustrophobia
discussed as metaphors for the turbulent and unprecedented and introduced elements ofdarkest humor with Daw n ofthe
social upheavals of the mid-sixties. Meanwhile other, more Dead ( 1978).
predictably outraged critics (such as Roger Ebert. whose • The most visually luxurious of Romero's films, Dawn
disparaging polemic appeared in the June, 1%9 Readl>l<� expands the investigation of territoriality to unexpectedly
Digest) saw nothing but gore, gore, gore. satiric extremes by confining the action within a suburban
• A moral ambiguity suffuses the film: while the gore is shopping mall. Here the four "heroes" ( two renegade SWAT
indeed hideous, it lacks actual sadism. Far from being gratui· cops -one white, one black; and a helicopter pilot and his
tous. the carnage is simply there, a byproduct of opposing girlfriend) establish their terrain against the ever-advancing
biological imperatives . . . zombies, who have significantly increased in number.
• Romero wields violence with swift determination, accel· • Once secured, the four proceed to surround themselves in
erating the film's inexorable pace to a plateau of panic when bourgeois material splendor. Idly ransacking the various
the escape attempt ( i tself a marvelously executed and stores, inspired as much out of boredom as greed, the heroes
choreographed sequence ) ends in the incineration of the while away the long hours alternately mowing down the
teenage lovers, whose unlikely status as victims is the first zombies and enacting a hilariously morbid satire on an uJti·
intimation that something unspeakable was in the offing. mate consumer fantasy: goods for the taking.
• Their American dream of material largesse is interrupted experts and officials televised in Dau•n ( at one memorable
by the abrupt intrusion of a tribe of bikers who proceed to point, a grotesque. one-eyed, overweight commentator hys­
loot stores and trash zombies right and left, spraying them terically insists that the populace nourish itself on the flesh of
with seltzer bottles and tossing cream pies in their uncom­ the zombies-an idea which suggests a remarkably efficient
prehending faces . . . before they, too, are overcome. The food chain).
gore is even more explicit than in Night ( thanks to Savini ) . • At the end of the trilogy we find one lone. playful Dr.
yet somehow absurd-this movie has some ofthefunniest Frankenstein tinkering with the "dumbfucks," using
gore around. While not quite upbeat, the ending of Dau'11 is behavior-modification techniques and performing quaint
not as depressingly nihilistic as Night- Romero does allow surgical experiments on the rotting housewives and con­
his two survivors ( the black cop and the woman-easily the struction workers, in an attempt to domesticate the savage
most sympathetic of the fou r ) to escape intact. dead . . . The result is "Bub." the Friendly Zombie ( well.
• In the tri logy, especially noteworthy are racial almost ). Not only can Bub play a tape deck. thumb through a
implications-not only does each movie features a black Stephen King paperback, and salute his commanding officer,
hero, but black characters ( as well as women ) are shown to he's quite a good shot with a pistol. too . . .
be intelligent, resourceful, effective human beings-as • Initially portrayed as murderous machines, the zombies
opposed to the sniveling Harry Cooper in Night, or the white become progressively more droll with each sequel as the
cop in Dawn whose gung-ho attitude ultimately gets him police/military become more vicious. Day brings us Rome­
killed. This type of social comment is not usually associated ro's most caustic depiction of military "intel ligence" to date,
with the gore genre. in the deeply unattractive person of Captain Rhodes. who
• Romero's political consciousness is most acidly expressed commands an equally bestial platoon of subhuman oafs ( all
in Day uf the Detlfl ( 1985 ), the saddest, most cynical of the of whom get what they so richly deserve ).
three films. Isolated in the dismal cinderblock gloom ofa vast • The fascistic Captain Rhodes is hostile to the point of
underground military installation, only a handful of the living psychosis-at one point threatening to shoot the heroine, a
remain, miserable and barely sane ( no shopping sprees for no-nonsense scientist, when she refu.ses to obey his order to
this unlud:y group). Above ground the zombies have tri­ sit down. One assumes his hostility towards her is at least
umphed, inhabiting entire cities and outnumbering the liv­ panially due to her gender-for she is easily the strongest
ing by some 400,000 to one. Within the cavernous member of the scientific team ( even her wimpy boyfriend
installation, internal power struggles pit a civilian scientific acknowledges at one point, "We all know you're stronger
team researching zombie-control against macho military than anyone else. So what-so fucking u•hat. ). Rhodes"

personnel there to guard them. In his most merciless depic­ finally murders her rwo colleagues. including the loveable old
tion of the primit"ive gunman-mentality to date, Romero doctor ( who is caught literally red-handed treating Bub to
brings us Captain Rhodes, a notably despicable redneck the remains of the Captain's deceased comrades). and is
defender of law and order. churlishly discouneous to the vel')' end-screaming "Choke
• Yet a third faction exists. removed from the idiotic clash of on it!" as the zombies greedily tear him limb from limb. The
ideologies by their situation and common sense: a radio heroine's monally-wounded boyfriend has let the zombies
officer and a black helicopter pilot who dream of a place into the compound; whether his motives were heroic or
where a normal life can be resumed. They favor the total merely spiteful is left to the viewer to decide.
abandonment of scientific or military methods of dealing • Day ends in much the same manner as Dau'11- Romero
with the zombies. By far the most reasonable and sympa­ allows his most sympathetic characters to beat a hasty retreat
thetic of Day's characters ( with the exception of a female via helicopter to parts unknown. At the film's end we find the
scientific researcher, mentioned below), their markedly heroine. the pilot and the radio officer lounging on a tropical
apolitical sensibilities are emphasized by their environment. island ( reminiscent of the backdrop in their underground
While the rest of the personnel huddle in depressingly ste­ haven ) . . . yet again, the triumph of the zombies is implicit.
rile, prison-like quarters, these rwo have transformed their No one has conquered them, nor won any real victol')·-the
part of the cave into an oasis of human warmth ( complete living have managed to survive only tentatively. In the mean·
with backdrops depicting tropical splendor)- the only emo­ time, will the zombies learn how to sail boats?
tionally cheering space within the entire cavern. Yet their • Romero's effect on horror/gore cinema is
arguments are unheeded, and the futile experiments of the comprehensive-from the oven plagiarisms of Zombie.
scientists continue. C
hildren Shouldn't Play With Dead Tbings. Night Of 7be
• Notewonhy in Day is the development of three separate Comet Dr. Butcher, Gates ofHell. et at. to the subtler, more
,

groups: the zombies, whom Romero has grO\vn progressively intell igent homage paid by filmmakers such as Wes Craven.
more sympathetic toward; the military gunmen, whom D;tvid Cronenberg. and even John Waters. Where Herschell
Romero disparages; and media personalities, who have ulti­ Gordon Lewis first chaned the perimeters of the newborn
mately disappeared. As a former video technician, Romero territOI')' of gore, Romero's films defined their aesthetic
displays a knowingly wicked flair for depicting TV at its most standards. and in the process nearly invented a genre-that
surreal-witness the cornball commentators and unbelieva­ of the cannibalistic living Dead. Regrettably. the Dead tril­
bly bizarre interviews in Nght,
i or the bellowing, fatuous ogy is now closed. •
 Murphy held the top spot ). At a Hollywood shindig he met
and later married Shirley Temple. They appeared in a few
The film personalities interviewed in this book represent films together, but by 1949 the marriage was falling apart­
only a fraction of persons worthy of inclusion. Many out­ Agar had developed a bad drinking problem. By 1950 he was
standing figures are no longer available for interview­ no longer sought out for 'A' movies, so he turned to making
some have died, the whereabouts of many are unknown, drive-in fare. During the Late sixties he appeared in Curse of
and at least one has fled the country in fear of his life. Would the Swamp Creature and Zontar, 7be 7bing from Venus,
that we could give every person mentioned here as much made by his friend Uirry Buchanan. In 1970 Agar dropped out
space as Herschel! Gordon lewis or Ray Dennis Steckler, but of acting and became an insurance salesman. Although he
appeared in a few films during the seventies-including the
we can't. We can, however, do this much: we can salute
atrocious remake of King Kong he never tried to become a
them.
-

full-time actor again.

..... .......

The most talented of the recent crop of Italian horror film

directors, Dario Argento knows how to create suspense and

... ....... deliver one hell of a shock in his slickly designed films. like
his American counterpart, Brian DePalma, he shows a defi­
AI Adamson's films feature low budgets, acting passable to nite llitchcockian influence. Argento is best known for his
awful, and dialogue full of non-sequiturs. His first movie was strong use of color which in Suspiria almost bleeds off the
Psycho A Go-Go! ( Los Angeles, 1965 ), about a gang of jewel screen. This, combined with a maddening musical score by
thieves (including a Vietnam vet with a brain mplant
i that Italian jazz-rock group Goblin, turns the movie into an over­
makes him crazy) trying to recover the booty they lost. whelming assault on the senses. Argento's innovative color
Additional footage featuring John carradine was added later, usage seems less striking now than it once was, thanks largely
and the title changed to 7be Fiend with the Electronic Brain. to music videos and modern television commercials.
In 1971 more footage was added and the title again changed • Classic films by him include 7be Bird with the Crystal
to Blood ofthe Ghastly Hon-or. The film also appeared as 7be Plumage, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Cat o ' Nine Tails, and
Man with the Synthetic Brain. Deep Red. Also of major interest is his trilogy about three
• In 1969, Adamson teamed up with producer Sam Sherman witches called "The Three Mothers." The first, Suspiria tells
to form Independent-International Pictures. Their first the storyof"The Mother of Sighs.'' Inferno is the story ofthe
release was Satan's Sadists, ahout a ·group of vicious hikers. "The Mother of Darkness." The third film (yet to be made)
The film co-starred former dancer Russ Tamblyn as the wiJI tell the story of "The Mother of Tears."
leader of the gang, and Regina carrot, Adamson's wife. • Recently Argento has released Inferno, Creepers (Pheno­
Released during the height of the biker craze, the film made mena), Unsane ( 7imebrae), and produced Uimberto Bava's
enough money to fmance several more movies. Demons- L Bava is the son of Mario Bava. Of his latest efforts
• Adamson's best-known film is Dracula vs. Frankenstein, the stand-out is easily Inferno, which bears a physical
the story of a mad scientist operating out of a carnival fun­ resemblance to Suspiria but is even more surrealistic-it is
house. The film stars J. carrot Naish, Lon Chaney, Jr and one of the closest film interpretations of a dream (or a
features Zandor Vorkov in what is undoubtedly the worst nightmare ) in the history of cinema.
Dracula performance by any actor alive or dead (or undead ).
like most of Adamson's films, Dracula is full of choice dia­ WIWAM UIIIa
logue, and also features former Famous Monsters of Film­
Asher directed most of the Beach Party films, including
land editor Forrest J. Ackerman in a cameo appearance. Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Muscle Beach, Beach Blanket
• Adamson's other films include Blood ofDracula s Castle,
Bingo, How 1b Stuff A Wild Bikini, and more. He also
Five Bloody Graves. Hon-or of the Blood Monsters. 7be
directed hundreds of episodes of I Love Lucy, and now
Female Bunch and Brain of Blood. spends most of his time working in television. Although he
has devoted a large part of his career to situation comedies
and lighter fare, he is equally adept at suspense. His recent
... ....
film, Night Warning (aka Butcher, Baker, Nightmare
Maker), is one of the few decent films to emerge from the
Leading actor who reached his height of matinee popularity
slasher film glut of the early eighties.
during the fifties, when he starred in dozens of great horror
arantula, 7be Mole
and science fiction films. Among them: T
People, Brain from Planet Arous, Attack of the Puppet Peo·
· KllHUaaaa
ple, Invisible Invaders and Hand ofDeath. Agar got his start Exploitation filmmaker extrordinaire, whose showmanship
in pictures when he received media attention for being the and style remains unequaled. For more information see the
second most-decorated man in World War 1Wo (Audie David Friedman interview.

1 86
 FRANKIE AVALON . ANNETTE FUN ICELLO
FABIAN · CHILL WILLS
A CURVE ANY CURVE !----- ...

fROM
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL

PANAVISION�nd COLOR
IN

,-----also starrm��: --------,

HARVEY JULIE
LEMBECK . PARRISH . wiLLiAM ASHERand LEO TOWNSEN D . wiLLIAM ASHER. j;\t,1'[s''H. NICHOLSON and SAMUEL Z. ARKOFF . ,. '6u'R'i TOPPER

stride during the early days of Hollywood when studios were

less devoted to big-budget productions and more interested
Hungarian aristocrat who is said to have put over 600 young
in getting as many films as possible out to the American
girls to death because she believed bathing in the blood of
public. In those days, a western had an immediate audience;
virgins would keep her youthful. Her story has inspired sev­
if it was a western, it could not fail. These took anywhere
eral films, including: Countess Dracula, Daughters ofDark­
from two days to two weeks to make. Beaudine dutifully
ght, Im­
ness, Tbe Female Butcher, 7be Detlil's Wedding Ni
churned them out, rarely lavishing much attention on any of
moral Tales and La Comtesse Pemerse.
them. His films, along with those of Uunbert Hillyer, must
account for two-thirds of all the westerns ever made!
IIAitiO IIAYA
• One of the ways Beaudine kept his costs down (and his
Italian director who started his career as a cinematographer. speed up) was by avoiding retakes whenever possible. He
The first film he directed, Black Sunday (starring the queen became so notorious for his refusal to reshoot a scene that he
of mad love, Barbara Steele) was initially panned by Ameri­ earned the nickname "One-shot" Beaudine. If a boom mike
can film critics, but later achieved its rightful recognition as a dipped into the frame, if a cowboy started to fall before he
classic horror movie. He followed this with Black Sabbath; a was shot -oh well. Only the most glaring errors and serious
trilogy of horror stories hosted by Boris Karloff. Other films gaffes could induce him to retake a scene.
by Bava include Planet of the Vampires, a stylized science • But it was not a western that gained Beaudine his greatest
fiction film with supernatural overtones; Blood and Black notoriety, it was a film called Mom and Dad. First released in
Lace, an early slasher film stylistically similar to the films of 1949 and later in 1955, Mom and Dad caused an unprece­
Dario Argento; and Twitch of the Death Nerve (aka Bay of dented furor. The film is-to a certain extent, anyway-a
Blood), which was heavily plagiarized by the makers of Fri­ postwar primer on sexual relationships: in it, a young couple
day the Thirteenth, Part Two. Uke all Italian filmmakers, Bava falls in love, has sex, the girl becomes pregnant, the couple
directed his share of low budget exploitation films. Among weds, and a baby arrives. In that order. Purporting to be a
them: Hercules in the Haunted World, Beyond the Door II, plea for adequate sex education, the film indeed does its bit
and Dr. Coldfoot and the Girl Bombs. In the final analysis, for sex education by showing an actual live birth. At some
Bava never made a movie as good as Black Sunday, his first. screenings, men in the audience fainted during the birth
scenes. (At that time, few men in America had ever witnessed
childbirth; additionally, theaters were under orders to tum
WIWAM IIAUMR
off their ventilation during premiere screenings). After
Few directors, fi any, have made more films than William someone passed out, promoter Joe Solomon would make
Beaudine, and few have weathered more criticism. He hit his sure the press was there when the ambulance rolled up.
1 87
Solomon knew the power of the press -Mom and Dad was a soon as he could, he headed for Hollywood, where he
bit. As with 7be Exorcist, people went to iC to find out what all worked both as an actor and assistant director for George
the fainting was about. Cukor. Returning to Texas, he made Naughty Dallas, a film
• After Mom and Dad, Beaudine began to slow down. The about the popular night spot owned by Lee Harvey Oswald's
heyday of the western was over, and he wasn't much inter­ assasin, Jack Ruby.
ested in making the teen fare that took over the low-budget • During the latter half of the sixties, Buchanan was hired by
field after the war. AlP to make eight made-for-television movies-for which he
• All but forgotten today, William Beaudine's effect-for is best remembered. The first, 7be Eye Creatures, is a remake
better or worse-on low-budget filmmaking, particularly of the Ed L. Cahn sci-fi comedy, 7be Invasion of the Saucer
cheap westerns, cannot be underestimated. Curiously, he is Men. Most of the subsequent AlP-Television films were also
one of the few directors in this book who has succeeded in remakes of previous AlP films; among them: Creature of
getting a sidewalk star at Hollywood and Vine. Destruction (a remake of The She Creature). Year 2889
(reprising Corman's 7be Day the World Ended), and the
unforgettable Mars Needs Women (oddly, a serious remake
Out of the current crop of Hollywood actresses. Unda of the teen comedy Pajama Party).
Blair stands out as the premier star of exploitation movies. • These fil ms were made on the lowest budgets conceiva­
Her portrayal of the "new fish" in Chained Heat, coupled ble. Some of them (Creature of Destruction, It's AlitJf!! and
with outstanding performances in Savage Streets and Hell Curse of the Swamp Creature) used the same rubber mons­
Night, assure her stature. Other classic appearances include a ter costume. The most memorable is Zontar, 7be Thingfrom
reprise of her role in 7be Exorcist in john Boorman's screwy Venus, a remake of Corman's 1956 classic, It Conquered the
sequel, E:r:ordst II: 7be Heretic. and a television J.D. film World. Zantor starred john Agar (in one of his last roles) as a
called Born Innocent, in which she gets raped with a broom
handle. Unlike other stars who used exploitation ftlms to
further their careers and then denounced them (e.g., Jamie
Scene from They Saved Hitler's Brain (aka Madmen of Mandorasl
Lee Curtis), Blair continues to give her fans what they want.
Her style and appearance are too idiosyncratic for the main­
stream market.

David Bradley's career started as a director of "tasteful" and

pedestrian films like Treasure Island and Peer Gynt; he also
received favorable comments for filming stage productions
ofMacbeth and julius Caesar. But critics quickJy turned their
backs on him when he switched from Shakespeare produc­
tions to exploitation films. He made the shift gradually: first,
there was Talk About a Stranger, a mildly amusing item
about a foreigner who becomes the subject of malicious
gossip. The film starred Ronald Reagan's wife, Nancy Davis.
Soon after, Bradley made Dragstrip Riot, a classic J.D. film
that unfortunately was overshadowed by 7be Cool and the
Cmzy, the film it was released with.
• In 1964 Bradley made his ultimate film: 1beySaved Hitler's
Bmin; the title says it all. The shift from Peer Gynt to 7bey
Saved Hitler's Brain is astounding. David Bradley made rela·
tively few movies, but the list of his films betrays either a man
of remarkable complexity, or callous indifference . . .

To. ......

Some might object to including Browning, a successful Hoi·

lywood director, in this list. He is best remembered for the
original Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. However, at the time it
was released, Dracula was laughed at (there exists eye\\<it·
ness testimony to back this up). Here Browning gets menti·
oned for his other classic: Freaks. Even today, Freaks packs a
punch.

.... ......

Texas-based director best known for his psycho·killer classic,

Don't Look in the Basement, about a young nurse who goes
to work for a mental hospital unaware that the hospital
director is really a patient. Other ftlms include Keep My
Grave open and Poor White Trash II. The latter film has
nothing to do with the original; instead, it tells the story of a
Vietnam vet killing hillbillies.

UIUlY IIUCIIUQ

Filmmaker Larry Buchanan grew up in Dallas, Texas. His

father, a Texas Ranger, died when Buchanan was four, and
the boy spent the rest of his youth in a Baptist institution. As
 A stripper performs in Jack Ruby's nightclub in the Larry Buchanan film, Naughty Daftas.

man trying to stop an alien creature trying to take over the are for L(wing the best is The Abductors, about a gang of
planet. kidnappers that specializes in training abducted cheerlead­
• Buchanan is noteworthy for his paranoia. A firm believer in ers to become bondage sla\'es for wealthy men. Caffaro
almost any conspiracy theory, he's made several movies pur­ brings to the role a tOugh. slut()' charisma.
porting to tell the "truth" about subjects that the government
(or Hollywood ) ha\'e hushed-up. Among them: TheTrial of
Lee Han•ey Osuoald, Goodbye Nonnajean and Down on Us. D L CAD
The latter- Buchanan's latest- manages to tie the deaths of
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison into a weird It wasn't until 1955 that Ed L Cahn hit his stride. He was
anti-rock conspiracy plot. hired t o dire.ct a low-budget shocker about a gangster who,
with the help of a mad scientist, gets even with his enemies
Gllll CAffAIO
I by using reanimated corpses to murder them. The film was
titled Creature Witb the Atom Brain, and it stands today as a
Blonde buxom actress noted for her role as Ginger-a female classic example of fifties science fiction. Unforgettable is the
spy who specializes in horizontal espionage. As Ginger, Cat­ scene in which police banle to the death with wmbies in
faro appeared in three films: Ginger; TheAbductors and Girls from of the scientist's house. The "creatures" in the film wear

1 89
business suits and ties, and aside from the stitches in their terparts: the men who make the horror-wrestling films so
foreheads, appear quite normal Yet their mundane appear­ loathed by Mexican cineastes and enjoyed by everyone else.
ance makes the monsters all the more frightening. Cahn must Ofall these men, none is better at his job than Rene Cardona,
have realized he was onto something with these grey flannel Sr.
creatures, since he used them again a few years later in • Cardona began his career as an actor but made his greatest
Invisfble Invaders, the film that inspired George Romero's impact on world cinema directing movies like Santo, Wres­
Night of tbe living Dead. tling Women vs. tbe Aztec Mummy, Doctor ofDoom, 1be
• Creature Wfth tbe Atom Brain was a big success. During Brainiac, and Night of the Bloody Apes. His films are fun to
the late fifties and early sixties Cahn was one of the most watch.
prolific directors in Hollywood, making anywhere from six • like his father, Rene Cardona, Jr. makes exploitation
to ten movies a year! Although he made several westerns,J.D. movies. Unlike his father, however, he has crossed the border
films and crime dramas, he is best remembered for his horror with his films, in part by using both Hollywood and Mexican
and science-fiction films. Among them : 1be She Creature, actors. His most successful film to date is Guyana, Cult ofthe
Voodoo Woman (which featured the She Creature's body Damned, based on the mass suicide of People's Temple
with a different head), Invasion of tbe Saucer Men (a sci-fi members in Guyana. The names have been changed Qim
teen comedy starring Frank Gorshin ), and It! 1be 'R!rror Jones becomes Jim Johnson), but the story, in a lurid way, is
from Beyond Space (the original version of Alien). essentially accurate.
• lacking most in the films of Rene Cardona, Jr. is the seedy
reality displayed in his father's films.

Slimy-looking lead actor who appears in dozens of films;

mostly AlP releases. Among his performances: Cell 2455,
Ofall filmmakers in this book, none has exploited his craft as
Death Row (in which he plays killer Caryl Chessman ), Blood
well as William Castle. During the late fifties (when movie
Bath (which casts him as a vampire artist ), and Francis Ford
attendance was down), William Castle managed to draw
Coppola's Dementia /3.
people to the box office with a variety of gimmicks: every­
thing from inflatable skeletons to shock-inducing electrically
wired theatre seats.
American exploitation filmmakers have their Mexican coun- • William Castle's gimmick mania was born during a stormy
night in Hollywood. Seeing a long line of people waiting • During the seventies Roger Corman abandoned directing
patiently in the rain to see Diabolique, Castle was struck by and started his own film company, New World Pictures. As a
an insight. People were waiting in the rain to see the film, he producer he has given several talented directors, such as
reasoned, because they had beard it was scary. Whether it Michael Pressman and Ron Howard, their first opportunities.
really was scary or not was almost beside the point; as long as
people were promised thepossibilityofbeing frightened out wu ....
of their wits, they would take their place in the ticket line. He
Director who shocked the world with his grimly realistic
contacted Uoyds of London and devised a plan whereby
portrayal of killers in Last House on tbe Left. His next film
everybody who went to see his film, Macabre, was insured
was the classic Hills Have Eyes, about a middle-class family's
for $ 1 ,000 against death by fright. Thanks largely to this
struggle for survival when their car breaks down in the desert
"fright insurance," the film was a big success.
and they're attacked by an inbred barbarian dan. Although
• After Macabre, Castle never missed an opportunity to add
talented, Craven is disappointingly uneven. His horror film
a new slant to his pictures. In House on Haunted Hill,
Deadly Blessing could have been a classic, but lacked a
theatres were equipped with inflatable skeletons that
needed dimension of outrageousness. Next he made Swamp
wheeled out over the audience at the crucial moment. For
7bing, which right from the beginning held little promise.
Zotz! thousands of plastic "Zotz" coins, similar to the one in
Surprisingly, Craven turned around and made a classic, Night­
the movie, were handed out. For 13 Ghosts, everyone enter­
mare on Elm Street, the story of a dead child-killer who
ing the theatre was given a pair of "ghostviewers" that
returns in the dreams of teenagers to haunt and kill them for
allowed you to choose between seeing and not seeing the
the sins of their parents. Recently, Craven has turned his
ghosts (as though anyone would choose not to look!).
attention to television, directing several (disappointing) epi­
• One of Castle's most interesting gimmicks was employed
sodes for the new Twilight Zone series.
in Mr. Sardonicus, the story of a man who, after robbing his
father's grave, suffers a strange affliction which turns his face
- Citllll
into a horrible, grinning mask. At the end of the film, the
audience was allowed to choose whether Sardonicus would Producer Bob Cresse is responsible for some of the sleaziest
live or die. Thiswas done with cards depicting the notorious films to come out of the sixties. Along with director R Lee
thumbs signal used by ancient Romans to determine the fate 7be Ravagers, Love Camp
Frost, he gave us such classics as
of gladiators. Depending on your whim, you could give Sar­ Seven and Mondo Bizarro. Sadism is a key ingredient; at some
donicus a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" gesture. Audien­ point in all of his movies a woman finds herself on the
ces almost never chose to let the man live, and the film is now receiving end of a whip. Not one to ask his actors to do
exhibited with the "thumbs down" ending. something he wouldn't do, Cresse appears in several of his
• In terms of gimmickry, T1:H! Tingler is William Castle's own films and is, happily, just as slimy as his scripts. And what
magnum opus. The film features a host of novelty effects: he lacks in acting talent he makes up for with enthusiasm.
lights go on during the showing of the film and Vincent • In Love Camp Seven Cresse plays the commandant of a
Price's voice is heard admonishing people to scream as Nazi concentration camp for women used as brothel whores
loudly as they can. The Tingler attacks a movie projectionist for SS soldiers. That some of the men who play Nazis are
and suddenly we are treated to a blank screen while the Jewish adds a strange aspect to the affair.
shadow of the creature marches across it. Although most of • At last report, producer Cresse has fled the country after
the film is in black and white, in one scene we see bright red being shot in the stomach.
blood pouring from faucets and a bathtub filled with red
blood. But most ambitious was the use of "Percepto," a CRIIWBL
method of shocking members of the audience by means of
Prophet, soothsayer and good friend of Ed Wood,Jr., Criswell
tiny motors attached to the bottoms of selected theater seats.
appeared in three of Wood's films: PlanNine from Outer
• As the sixties wore on, Castle's films became less and less
space,Night of tbe Ghouls (aka Revenge of tbe Dead) and
gimmicky. He began producing films rather than directing
Orgy of tbe Dead. He has published several books of his
them, gaining a certain amount of mainstream credibility as
prophecies and was once a television favorite in the Los
the producer of Rosemary's Baby.
Angeles area. Among his predictions: that entire cities will
• His last attempt to add a gimmick to a film was Bug!, the
one day be populated by homosexuals; that the laws of
story of giant cockroaches that spit fire from their tails. Castle
gravity will stop working and icebergs will float through the
planned to install little brushes beneath the theatre seats,
skies, making air travel impossible; and that the entire human
which would, at certain times, brush against the calves of the
race will go "pleasantly insane."
movie-goers. He nixed the plan when theater owners com­
plained it might cause panics. Besides, Castle figured, most of
eaw. ca•••••••
the theaters showing the film would be providing their own
live roaches for free . . . . David Cronenberg manages to make films cerebral enough
for the loftiest of critics, yet bloody enough for the most
.... -···
jaded gorehounds. His first major film, 1bey Came From
Corman began his career as a screenwriter, but was soon Within (aka Shivers), is about a condominium infested with
directing more films than almost anyone else in Hollywood, slug-like parasites that cause wanton sexual behavior. It is
dividing his time and talents between Allied Artists and one of the few outstanding examples of "venereal horror."
American international. Working with ten-day shooting • All of Cronenberg's horror films arc biological. ln Rabid, a
schedules on limited funds, Corman was adept at making young woman ( Marilyn Chambers ) undergoes experimental
movies that appealed to youths and critics alike. A common skin graft surgery which turns her into a sort of vampiric
Corman technique was to take a male role and script it for a 'JYphoid Mary. In Scanners, a drug used by pregnant women
woman! causes their children to develop acute psychic powers.In
• Although his early output was mostly westerns and crime­ Dead Zone, Cronenberg's only film based on someone else's
dramas, Corman is best known for his horror films, in particu­ story, the protagonist gains precognitive powers after a
lar the ones based loosely on stories ofEdgar Allan Poe . Some serious car accident puts him in a coma for five years.
of his best films were scripted by long-time cohort Omck • Cronenberg is at his best when at his most personal.
Griffith, who wrote such favorites as little Shop of Horrors, Before working on 7be Brood Cronenberg went through a
Bucket of Blood and Wild Angels. nasty divorce; the effects of which show up on screen. Basi-

191
loberto Fincloy appearing as "Anno liwo" in llelly ef • ........

cally the film is about a man trying to save his daughter from for the film was handled by jack Pierce, the man responsible
his mad wife, who has the abiliry to give birth, via exterior for the makeup in the classic Frankenstein. While neither a
womb sacs, to dwarf-like creatures. The creatures, which live critical success nor a box office smash, Giant did well
only a short time, seek out and bludgeon to death anyone enough to keep Screencraft Enterprises afloat, convincing
who gets in the woman's way. Eventually the man solves the Astor Pictures to continue bacldng the filmmakers.
problem by strangling his wife. After seeing the movie an • Cunha decided to forge ahead into even more exotic
outraged San Francisco critic compared the experience to locales. She Demons tells the story of a band of shipwrecked
that of watching concentration camp documentaries. people who find themselves on an uncharted island inha­
• Even more outrageous is his 1983 release Videodrome, the bited by beautiful dancers and fugitive Nazis. The Nazis are
story of a cable 1V executive who, while watching pirate led by a man who, attempting to restore the face of his
videotapes broadcast from a mysterious "snufffilm" channel, beloved wife, performs weird experiments on the dancers,
undergoes a weird biological metamorphosis. During the turning them- temporarily-into ugly "she demons." When
film we see things as the protagonist sees them; by the end it Irish McCalla ( best known for her 1V portrayal of Sheena,
is impossible to tell where fantasy begins and realiry ends. Queen of the jungle) stumbles onto the island, the Nazi
The film did not do well at the box office; Cronenberg's quickly loses interest in his wife and begins making passes at
hallucinogenic approach left movie-goers be-wildered. Irish. The situation is resolved when a timely volcano erupts,
• Now that David Cronenberg is working in Hollywood, it offering the heroes a chance to escape. like most truly
remains to be seen whether he can sustain his intensiry. wonderful films, She Demons is a combination of the sub­
Reportedly his next project is a film adaptation of William S. limely ridiculous and the unusually imaginative.
Burroughs' pioneering cut-up novel, Naked Lunch, to be • After She Demons, Screencraft Enterprises was disbanded,
filmed in some of the actual locationswhere W.S.B. Iived and Cunha joining forces -with Mark Frederic to form U!yton
wrote. Productions. The first film was Frankenstein � Daughter, the
story of one Oliver Frankenstein, a descendant of the original
monster-maker.
The films of Richard Cunha, though few in number, are • Cunha's next film is the one for which he is best remem­
legendary. As did many low budget filmmakers, Cunha began to the Moon. Astor Pictures approached him
bered: Missile
his career by making industrial films. During the early days of with the idea of remaking
Cat Women of the Moon. Uke Cat
television he worked for Toby Anguish Productions, writing Women, Missile to the Moon was made on a low, /ow budget.
and directing episodes for 1V shows. When Anguish decided To its credit (or lack of same, depending on your perspec­
it was time to retire, Cunha and long-time friend and asso­ tive ), the Cunha film budgeted more for special effects than
ciate Arthur jacobs bought Anguish Productions and started the original did. The script is somewhat sluggish, but the
their own company, Screencraft Enterprises. Gumby-like rock monsters and a description-defying spider
• Their first film was titled Giantfrom the Unknoum, about puppet make the film a joy to watch.
a very large Spanish Conquistador returned to life by a bolt of • Since 1962 Cunha has eschewed the big screen in favor of
lightning. The giant was played by 7' 7" Buddy Baer. Makeup the small one, directing hundreds oftelevision commercials.

1 92
 ... -.ntll hubby is lounging, thus evening the score.
• But the best-known death scene from a Findlay film occurs
David Durston's two films (I Drink Your Blood and Stigma)
at the end of their infamous Snuff Ironically, however, the
seem very different from each other, yet are really quite
Findlays had nothing to do with it-the scene, in which an
similar. I Drink Your Blood is the story of a group of hippies
apparently unwi lling actress is killed by some "filmmakers,"
who come to a small backwoods community, give an old man
was tacked on later. Snuf
f. originally titled Slaughter and
LSD, and in revenge are fed rabies-infected meat pies. Soon
based on a script by Michael Findlay that Roberta described
afterward they are reduced to a band of frothing murderers.
One of �e only v.rays to fend off the maniacs is by spraying as "really awful," v.ras shot in South America MOS (without
sound ), thereby saving a bundle on sound set-ups and retakes
them With v.rater (hydrophobia, get it?).
of flubbed lines. Findlay figured he could dub the voices
• Stigma is a different story, but Durston again shows his
when he got back to New York, and everyone who saw it
concern over the effects ofcontagious disease. In it, a young,
would then assume it was a foreign film dubbed into English.
black doctor (played by Miami Vice star Philip Michael
He was almost right.
Thomas ) takes up practice in a small coastal town where
• The film he came back with was judged worthless and
syphilis is rampantly destroying the lives of people. This time
quickly shelved. But after reading an article in the New Yom
Durston heightens the impact by showing a few choice shots
Times about the possible existence of a "snuff' movie
of actual V.D. victims. It turns out the cause of the epidemic is
smuggled into the U.S. from South America, Alan Shackleton
none other than the Sherifi's daughter, whose syphilis was
of Monarch Releasing Corporation had a brainstorm: with a
�ongenitally acquired. The last shot shows her fervidly kiss­ little reworking, the Findlay film might lend itself to the snuff
mg her father, thus reinfecting the source of her disease.
scenario quite nicely . . . The faked film made a small fortune.
• Shortly after Snuff was released the Findlays split up.
._ ...
Roberta Findlay began her career as a porno director, achiev­
The � ther of modern exploitation is Dwain Esper. During
_
t�g notoriety when an American film critic announced pub­
_
the thtrttes, when the Hays movie code was strictlyenforced, ltcly that her Angel Number Nine was directed by a man; the
Esper circumvented it by showing his films at burlesque name Roberta Findlay was "obviously a pseudonym." Michael
�hows and road houses instead of movie theaters. By adopt­ Findlay fared less well. On his v.ray to Europe to demonstrate
mg a tone of moral indignation and candid righteousness, he a new, portable 3-D camera, a helicopter slammed into the
got av.ray with presenting controversial, racy material. His roof of the Pan Am building, decapitating him and destroying
films include Maniac; Marihuana, Weed with Roots in Hell; the camera.
and How to Undress in Front of Your Husband. The latter • Roberta Findlay still lives in New York and continues to
stars Elaine Barrie, wife of john Ba.rrym ore. The films all work in film, having recently released Game ofSurolval (aka
feature glimpses of nudity and displays of moral turpitude. 'Rmement). Preferring privacy to publicity, she generally
• Esper defended his films and supported the movie code as declines interviews.
well, reasoning that adults could see adult fi lms and then
ascertain whether a film should be seen by children. It is COliMA• ....cal
ironic that the very code Dwain Esper defended would even­
During the forties and fifties this actor-director usually
tually cause the deterioration of the adult movie industry.
appeared in westerns. In the sixties Francis fulfilled a long
cherished ambition-he wrote and directed the immortal
...... .. .... .....y Beast of Yucca Rats, the story of a Russian scientist who
defects to the U. S. with top-secret information. After a
The most notorious filmmakers in the annals of sexploitation
high-speed car chase, American and Russian agents shoot it
filmmaking are the husband-and-wife team of Michael and
out while the scientist (played by Tor johnson in his last film
Roberta Findlay. Their films include scenes of graphic vio­
appearance) escapes through a nuclear testing site. Expo­
lence and sadomasochism, as well as some of the most
sure to an atomic blast turns the scientist into a monster who
bizarre and imaginative methods of murder ever commited
likes to kill men and take women back to his cave to drool
to celluloid. In their early films Roberta Findlay often played
over. A sheriffs deputy is sent out with orders to "shoot first
the leading role; later, as she took on more technical duties
she moved to smaller parts, and eventually settled into th � and ask questions later." Unfortunately the deputy starts
shooting at the wrong person, causing much confusion.
role of cinematographer. Michael Findlay continued as a
Eventually aU is resolved, with retribution descending from
director throughout his career. In the early films they used
heaven in the form of bullets fired from a police airplane, and
pseudonyms: he was Robert West and Julian Marsh; she was
the film ends with a particularly poignant scene featuring a
Anna Riva. One of their earliest films v.ras Satan s Bed star-
' dead Tor johnson and a bunny rabbit.
ring the then-unknown Yoko Ono.
• Beast of Yucca Flats belongs in that strange sub-genre of
• Their most notorious work in the sixties was the Aesh
The Narrated Horror Movie. Apparently filmed without
Trilogy: 1be 7buch of Her Resh, 1be Curse of Her Resh and
sound, the film is narrated throughout, with occasional
1be Kiss of Her Resh. The films chronicle the exploits of an
e� misogynist named Richard jennings, a man who has a v.ray �
voices obviously du bed in. The words are sparse and enig­
_
matic; e.g. at one pomt there is talk of people being "caught
With murder. In 7buch of Her Resh he kills a woman with a
up in a web of technology," but what this has to do with the
poisoned rose: she dances to a frenzied death in the night­
plot is a mystery.
club where she works. In Kiss ofHer Resh a pair of earrings is
• Coleman Francis made two more films after Beast (1be
wired for electricity. 1be Curse ofHer Resb features some of
Skydivers and Night 7rain to Mundo Fine) but they were
the most relentlessly imaginative death scenes ever con­
comparatively mundane.
cocted; in one, a woman dies when jennings takes her cat,
• By the end of the sixties Francis had fallen on hard times.
dips its paws in poison and drags the animal across her
He appeared in a few Russ Meyer films (Motor Psycho,
stomach.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls) and showed up briefly in Ray
• Bizarre death scenes became a Findlay trademark. In A
Dennis Steckler's Body Fever (aka Super Cool) before he
Thousand Pleasures a man is suffocatedby a woman's breast·
in Shriek of the Mutilated a woman, after being stabbed : died.

drags herself and a toaster across the floor of her apartment .

... .....
Upon reaching the bathroom the mortally wounded woman
plugs in the appliance and throws it into the tub where her One of the most prolific and controversial directors worldng

193
in exploitation today, jess Franco makes his films quickly and of rear-screen projection, lots of mattes ( a method ofplacing
seemingly with little regard to production values. Neverthe­ an object or person, by means of an optical printer, amidst
less his films have a definite style and flavor. His overuse of surroundings they're not really part of), and a few postcards.
the zoom lens is notorious. Multilingual, Franco has made • Gordon's first excursion into the realm of brobdingnagia
films all over Europe in many di.fferent languages. Usually was a rarely shown item titled Serpent Island. His lowest­
heavily dosed with sex, most of his films are in the horror budget production, this film substitutes talk for special
genre, and several concern the exploits ofwomen in prison. effects.
Among his better efforts: 7be Awful Dr. Orloff; jack the • His next effort, King Dinosaur, is the story of an inter­
Ripper; Venus in Furs; De Sade '70; 1be Diabolical Dr. Z; Kiss planetary encounter between a giant gila monster and an
Me, Monster; La Comtesse Pr!roerse (about Elizabeth armadillo. The film was successful, so Gordon decided to
Bathory); Necronomicon; justine; Vampyros/Lesbos; Night tackle even more ambitious material. In Beginning of the
of the Blood Monster; and Eugenie . . . 1be Story of Her End, a horde of giant locusts attacks Chicago. In one memor­
journey into Pr!roersion. Because of their "sexism" and "bad able scene, the insects are shown climbing the side of a
taste," his films are sometimes loathed by even staunch fans building. Upon reaching the top, several of the creatures
of weird films. continue crawling into the sk1• and out of the frame!
• Bert Gordon is best remembered for his 1957 classic Tbe
•. Lll ....., Amazing Colossal Man. about a man who catches the full
blast of an atomic bomb and ends up growing 50 feet tall! The
Of the many sexploitation directors who started during the
film was so popular it spawned a sequel, War ofthe Colossal
sixties, R lee Frost is one of the best. He directed several
Beasts.
movies and was cameraman on numerous others. Frost had a
• During the sixties Gordon suffered a dry spell- atomic
special knack for showing as much skin as possible without
monsters were "out" and sex was "in." He was never wont to
giving the audience the slightest peek at genitalia (a severe
explore that subject, a fact that leaves The Amazing Colossal
taboo during that era).
Man less of a movie than it might have been! He made a
• During the sixties most of the films Frost worked on were
couple of fantasies ( 1be Boy and the Pirates and The Magic
produced and written by Bob Cresse -it's impossible to
discuss the career of one without mentioning the other. The
team worked well; Cresse had an obvious affinity for sadism
and Frost knew how to film it and make it work.
• Their peak production was the 1968 classic Love Camp Movie bosed on the mass murderer Ed Gein.
Seven. Supposedly based on fact, the film told the story of two
female Allied spies who allow themselves to be captured by
the Nazis. They are taken to a special concentration camp
where they're forced to have sex with German officers.
There is much degradation and torture, most of it meted out PRETTY SALLY MAE
by the camp commandant ( played by none other than DIED A VERY UNNATURAL ;
Cresse ). When the movie was released, trailers advertised:
"From the people who brought you Hot Spur and Mondo
BizaTTO comes another movie of this fine caliber." They
weren 't kidding'
• During the seventies, Frost drifted away from the porno
film world and now works as an editor at a film laboratory.

Gaffney made few films, but one of them was the outrageous
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, the story of a robot
spaceman named Frankenstein who helps save the world
from losing all its women to creatures from another planet.

·-

In the fifties, this mass murderer who lived on an isolated

farm in Wisconsin manufactured various household items
and pieces of apparel out of the body parts of his victims, who
were mostly passers-by. His curious practices have served as
the basis for several movies, among them: Psycho, Deranged,
7bree on a Meathook and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A
20-minute video based on interviews and close-ups of old
photographs was filmed, hut the definitive documentary has
yet to be made.

Bert Gordon not onlywrites and directs most of his films, but
also creates the majority of his special effects. This in itself is

1'1�-��"�
nothing new-Herschell Gordon lewis went so far as to
formulate his oum brand of stage blood-but Bert Gordon's
attempts at special effects, both in scope and imagination, go
far beyond those of other low-budget filmmakers. During the COLOR ,. �.,., MOVIELAB
.• ,. "
fifties, when atomic monsters were all the rage, Gordon ROBERT PAT
convinced his backers he could make movies. about giant ROBERTS BLossoM - cosmE LEE - MICKI MOORE wARNER - oRR
monsters at negligible cost. And he did so-by extensive use
"'""' """'TOM KARR • "'''"'', JEFF GILLEN
• ., ALAN ORMSBY · w•. ,.,., "' ALAN ORMSBY
R�rlt!ne:d t, AM(RICAN lfifHRNAHONAI.

194
Sword) and a couple of thrillers ( 7brmented and Picture tale of drug dealers, ripoffs, and murder which st2rred Wil­
Mommy Dead), but his best effort of the decade was Village liam Kerwin) and Death Curse of Tartu, ( 1967; ancient
of the Giants, yet another film about his favorite subject. monster seeks revenge for being disturbed ), but so far he's
• By the seventies Gordon's films were beginning to look never produced a truly wild movie.
suspiciously alike. Village of the Giants is basically an
updated version of H.G. Wells' novel, Food of the Gods. In ...y ...
1973 he used the same subject matter again, but this time
jerry Gross is better known as a producer. He beg;an his
Food of the Gods. In 1977 he remade
under the book's title,
career in 1964 with a film titled Vice Girls, Ltd. In 1966 he
his locusts movie: Empire of the Ants features an army of
turned out his fll'St attempt at directing: Girls on a O:laln
giant ants which are not only big, but smart.
Gang. Purported to have been shot under extremely adverse
conditions in the Deep South, the film was actually made in
.. ......
New jersey. Next Gross directed 7eenage Mother, a fiJm title
Some directors make dozens of movies, but never anything that needs no explanation. By the end of the sixties, Gross
memorable. In 1959 Tom Graeff made only one movie, Teen. had abandoned directing completely in favor of producing.
agers From Outer Space, but it's enough to earn him a place The name jerry Gross has become associated with low­
in this book. It featured giant lobster shadows and "alien" budget horror oddities such as I Drink Your Blood and 7be
teenagers in silver jumpsuits and motorcycle helmets. Boogey.man.

._ L IUII'r •••�n •-
Another one-film wonder, john Grant entered the sexploita­ The technique and style of 7be Weird World of LSD ('67)
tion market with 7be Sexterminators, a film about a group of suggest that Robert Ground is primarily an educational film­
women who take it upon themselves to rid the world of maker. The film may be more of a happy accident than a n
"o,·ersexed" people. In true "roughie" fashion, the movie outright attempt a t deviant cinema.
ends with a castration.
AltCII MLL, ...
WII&IAII ....
In 1960, most no-budget independent filmmakers either
Grefe is a director who never quite found his niche. His worked for distributors like AlP and Allied Artists, or went
indifferent morality and slapstick approach to violence were the sexploitation route, establishing shoestring distribution
demonstrated in films like 7be Hooked Generation ( 1968; a companies to peddle their products. Arch Hall, Sr. formed his

Young Swingers in the Jerry Gross film, THIIago Mott...

distribution company before making films. Although he did film. Curiously, the ultimate Arch Hall movie is one in ·which
make one sexploitation film (Magic Spectacles), most of his he neither appears nor had anything to do with producing.
movies are cypicaJ sixties dth'C-in fodder-in other words, Titled 7be Last Ttme I Sau• Archie, the film \'\'aS directed by
great. Jack Webb and chronicles the misadventures of Arch Hall
• To begin his career Hall wrote, produced and directed 7be (played by Robert Mitchum) as seen through the eyes of his
O:Joppers as a showcase for his son, Arch HaJI, Jr. The film close friend, screen....,Titer Bill Bowers (played by jack
depicts the acth.-ities of a gang of young car thieves. Junior, Webb). HaU comes off as a likable con man with an inordi·
when he's not stripping cars for parts, takes time out to sing a nate amoum ofchutzpah who succeeds in becoming a gover·
couple oforiginaJ songs he wrote, "KongoJoc:" and "Monkey nor on the ·way to the Presidency.
In My Hatband." The film did well, enabling Hall to finance
two more films.
• The first, Eegab! was again directed by Hall; this time
Starting as an art director at AlP, Daniel Haller is noteworthy
under the pseudon}'m "Nicholas Merriwether... He also
for creating the e,·ocative atmosphere in many of Corman's
appears in the movie using the name "William Watters."
"Poe'' films, including 7be Pit and the Pendulum and 7be
Eegah! tells the story of a teenage caveman found in the
Premaltlre Bun'al. The first film he directed was DieMonster
desert near Palm Springs. The second film, Wild Guitar, is a
Die!, about a town full of radiation-deformed people. Based
more subdued tale of a young rock singer's rise to fame and
on H.P. l.ovecraft's TJ>e Colour Out ofSpace. it starred Boris
fortune. and the girl who loved him when. (Incidentally, this
Karloff. like Connan's Poe films, Die Morzster Die! is atmos­
was Ray Dennis Steckler's directing debut. ) In both films
pheric to the poim of other-worldliness-a dry-ice fog cov·
Arch HaJJ, Jr. serenades us with several tunes.
ers the ground in almost every scene.
• Although he neither wrote nor directed it, Arch HaJJ, Sr.
• Haller's next effort as a director was DetJ/I's Angels, an
also produced an amazing film called 1be Sadist (aka 7be
excellent biker film following the traiJ blazed by Corman's
Profli e of Terror). Here Junior gave his best performance,
7be Wild Angels. But after a few more films of little note, he
playing a demented young man with a \icious hatred of
drifted inro television, where he achieved some success
teachers. The film was written and directed by James umdis,
directing episodes of Kojak and Ironside.
and once seen is never forgotten.
• Arch Hall, Sr. worked with Landis on two more films (7be
Y1CJM & IDW... ........
Nasty Rabbit and Deadwood '76). but in 1966 he stopped
producing films. ln 1979 he died while teaching a class on These two brothers were early exploitation filmmakers: Vic·

Arm HoD Sr. in Whtlt's U�t Front.

tor directed and Edward produced. Their earliest and best star. Halfway through the movie Steckler turned it into a
known horror film, White Zombie ( 1932), was a successful comedy about two bumbling superheros, changing the title
attempt to cash in on a popular New York play. The star was to Rat Pfink and Boo Boo. A typographical error turned the
Bela Lugosi. For its time, White Zombie was remarkably lurid, film into Rat Pfink a Boo Boo In the film, Haydock stars as
.

featuring pre-Hays code scanty costumes. A few years later singer "Lonnie Lord." Haydock was formerly the leader of a
the Halperins tried to squeeze a little more money out of rockabiUy band called Ron Haydock and the Boppers, so not
their zombie hit by making a sequel, Revolt of the Zombies. surprisingly he sings all the songs, many of which were
The sequel met with less favor. Other horror films by the originally released by Haydock's band on 45's from ChaCha
brothers include 7brture Ship, Supernatural and Burled Records. Besides helping Steckler, Haydock was an avid hor­
Alive. ror movie fan, contributing often to the f.mzines Famous
Monsters of Film/and and Monster 1fmes. In 1977, while
trying to hitchhike back to Los Angeles from Steckler'shome
in Nevada, he was hit by a car and died.
An unusual filmmaker who began his career making experi­
mental films, Curtis Harrington's initial efforts include 1be
!MI •
• •,.
Fall of the House of Usher, Picnic, Dangerous Houses and
1be Wonnuood Star. His first commercial fllrn was Mght The director who shocked everybody vvith his 1974 classic,
7ide, an outstanding film fantasy about a lonely sailor who 1be 7exas Oxlinsaw Massacre. 1bis film, about a fun.ily of
falls in love with a sideshow mermaid. Harrington also gave cannibalistic killers, set the standard for all future slasher
us Queen of Blood (about a hemophiliac Martian vampire), films. What's remarkable is how funny it is-although It
and a "sick" film, 1be Killing Kind, about a psychopathic kid takes several viewings to truly appreciate the humor. Next
who, while living with his mom, kills people. Hooper made Eaten Alive (aka Death 7mp, Starlight Slaugh­
ter, and Legend of the Bayou), a garish tale of a man-eating
crocodile. With this film he seems to have taken pains to
avoid any resemblance to O:Jainsaw; Eaten Alive is filmed on
Starand screenwriter for several Ray Dennis Steckler films. stage sets with stylized lighting and a chase scene where the
Steckler and Haydock first teamed up on 1be Deceivers, a victim actually gets away. Unfortunately, each successive
tense drama about the kidnapped girlfriend of a popular rock film (Salem's Lot, Funbouse, Poltergeist), is progressively
197
worse; the latest (lifeforce) being the worst yet. Whither to Martian sent to spy on earth people. 1\vo years later he
now, Mr. Hooper? appeared in a virtual remake entitled Mars Needs Women!
• Without a doubt, Kirk's strangest film of all is Mother
Goose a Go-Go, the story of a young newlywed who faints
every time someone reads to him from Mother Goose. The
Lumped together here are sometimes marvelous, sometimes
man's problem is solved after a psychiatrist sprays him with
inept Italian directors who over the past few years have
LSD while he is sleeping.
collectively created dozens of all-too-similar horror movies.
They are: Umberto Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato,
Sergio Martino, Luigi Cozzi, Antonio Margheritti, and Fran­
cesco Martino. This photographer-publisher made dozens of short films for
• The most prolific is Lucio Fulci, who, showing less talent America's sexual underground during the tat� forties and
than many of the others, makes up for it in sheer volume. early fifties. He started his career as a Manhattan photo store
Ruggero Deodato is easily the most bizarre; often his films are owner, and soon discovered there was a potential gold mine
extremely sadistic and realistic in their gore. CannibalHolo­ in "girlie" pictures. At first he specialized in pin-up photos,
caust is the classic of the cannibal genre (a singularly Italian the kind U.S. soldiers used to hang up in their lockers.
genre, spawned by Romero's Dawn of the Dead). Umberto • In the late forties Klaw began emphasizing themes of
Lenzi displays a certain amount of technical talent; as does bondage, with a marked penchant for spike heels and black
Antonio Margheritti, the "old-timer" of the bunch listed nylons. Despite his racy themes, Klaw's ftlms apotheosize
here. Sergio Martino has yet to prove his individuality as a indifferent cinematography-little, if anything, is attempted
director. Luigi Cozzi is better known to American audiences in the way of artistic or directorial control . Often the
by the name "Lewis Coates." His version ofHercules, starring actresses stare past the camera, obviously receiving unheard
Lou Ferrigno, is one of the funniest examples of sword-and­ instructions, and sometimes they laugh when they're trying
sandal cinema. to look serious. Jump cuts abound.
• These men are the Italian equivalents offifties exploitation • In 1963 Klaw demonstrated, once and for all, his indiffer­
directors. Before a movie gets made in Italy, the director ence to his art when, threatened with a jail sentence, he
must answer the question: "What's it like?" -originality burned an entire collection of photographs and negatives. In
being a worthless commodity. However, from time to time spite of this indifference (or maybe because of it) Klaw's
these directors manifest a few choice moments of brilliance films are compelling; the actresses (there are no men in his
all their own. films) appears genuinely nonchalant and unpretentious.
They seem to be truly enjoying themselves.
• Although tame by today's standards of anatomical explicit­
·&., ness, Klaw's ftlms are still fun to watch and are treasured by
Ray Kellogg's first film, 1be Giant Gila Monster, is a classic of fans of bondage and the bizarre. His effect on the field of
the atomic monster genre; the story of a boy who sacrifices exploitation-especially during the sixties, when themes of
the thing he loves most (his new hot rod) in order to save his violence were prevalent-cannot be ignored. Everything
town from destruction. from Barbarella to Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! shows the
• The Giant Gila Mo nster was released on a double bill with influence of Klaw's little movies and photos. He is best
another Kellogg film, 1be Killer Shrews, a work that took remembered for his photographs of pin-up and bondage star,
filmmaking into a realm seldom entered nowadays-the Betty Page.
monsters are dogs with fake fangs and carpets strapped to
their backs! Such i.r.lprovisatory genius could not long
remain ignored; small wonder John Wayne chose Ray Kel­
logg to help him direct his outrageous The Green Berets.
This underrated director made the classic J.D. film Hot Car
Girl, about the story of a }'Dung hoodlum (played by Dick
Baka1yan) who ignores the pleas of his squeaky-clean girl­
Comic actor who started his career with Walt Disney films, friend to clean up his act. After a drag race in which a cop is
appearing in such favorites as Old Yeller, 1be Shaggy Dog, The killed, the young hood becomes a fugitive from justice,
Absent-Minded Professor, and the standout Monkey's Uncle engaging in several robberies before he is gunned down by
in which he played "scrambled-egghead" Merlin jones, col­ the police.
lege whiz-kid. After leaving Disney, he joined Annette Funi­ • Kowalski's next film, 7be Night of the Blood Beast, is a
cello at AlP, appearing in Pajama Party where he played a favorite among fans of fifties sci-fi/horror movies. His follow-

Typical examples of the photos sold by Irving Klaw.

Two coupiM engage in strange games in Radley Metzger's The Lickerish Quartet.

up was the even more incredible, more low-budget Attack of Blackboard jungle, Young and Wild, and Riot in juvenile
the Giant Leeches, which featured Bruno Ve Sota at his slimi­ Prison.
est, Yvette Vickers at her sultriest, and a host of poorly­
costumed leech monsters. Both films were produced by ....... ....
Roger Corman's brother, Gene.
The infamous star of Herschell Gordon Lewis' first two gore
• Ironically, Kowalski's career as a movie director is oversha­
films, Blood Feast and Two 1bousand Maniacs. Her talent
dowed by his work in television. Many episodes of Perry
for overacting is unrivaled. When asked where he found her,
Muson were directed by him. He also directed episodes of
Lewis replied, "Under a rock!" like many exploitation
Ikmacek and Rat Patrol, and is the executive producer of
actresses, she began her career as a ffayboycenterfold-see
Barret.ta
the june, 1963 issue for details.
• Other ftlms by Bernard Kowalski include Krakatoa, East
ofjava; Stiletto; and Sssssss, the story of a scientist who turns
his daughtt:r's boyfrit:nds into snakes.
Of aU the sexploitation directors, only H.G. Lewis and
Michael Findlay rival joseph Mawra's talent for screen
A Russ Meyer discovery who, like most Meyer discoveries, sadism. Mawra is best remembered for his "Olga" films. Olga,
bas faded into obscurity. Her first film, Lorna, the story of a the madame of a brothel, runs a white-slavery ring and
sexually frustrated housewife in rural America, is her best indulges in every form ofsadism. Unlike most film villains she
effort. She appeared in two other Russ Meyer films, Mondo rarely gets her "just desserts," usuaUy managing to escape
7bpless and Mudboney, as well as two films by Dale Berry, scot-free. Mawra's films include: Olga's Girls, White S/aves of
Hip, Hot and 2 I and Hot Thrills and Warm OJills. O:Jinatoum, Madame Olga's Massage Parlor, Olga's House
of Shame, and Oxlined Girls.
MDn MA.. WI

A moody young actor who made an immediate splash as the

heavy in AJP's teens-and-drugs classic, Tbe Cool and the Director-producer whose films tread the line between sex­
Crazy. He had a knack for portraying disturbed young men. ploitation and "art." Metzger got his start as a film cutter at
Later he would claim this led to an inability to get parts in janus Films; he also worked as an editor on independent
Hollywood movies. Marlowe's outstanding films include features including Tbe Flesh Eaters, a low-budget horror

199
 Sc- from TIM L...hlng w...... (Radley Metzger).

movie about amoeba-like parasites that attack a group of • Durin� the seventies, when the sex market shifted to
island castaways. harcicore, Metzger adopted the name "Henry Paris" and started
• In the early sixties Metzger formed his own company, making pornography. Uke his softcore, his porn films are a
Audubon Pictures. At first he was little more than a film cut above those ofhis peers; Tbe opening ofMisty Beethoven
broker, buying foreign films and dubbing them into English. is one of few hardcore movies that bear repeat viewing. In
The films he released were invariably erotic, and if a film Tbe Punishment of Anne he treads between hardcore and
lacked sufficient sexual content, Metzger would add some. softcore, with scenes of bondage and discipline so intense
For Tbe Twilight Girls he added a sex scene starring Georgina they are painful to watch.
Spelvin. For Tbe Fourth Sex he added an orgy scene. • Currently-after attempting to make a successful
• As a film distributor, Metzger made his biggest splash with "straight" feature, a remake of 7be Cat and the Canary­
/, a Woman, a Swedish/Danish coproduction intended for Metzger continues to direct porno films with his characteris­
the European sexploitation market. The film, about a nurse tic visual elegance.
who rejects her strict religious upbringing in favor of sexual
freedom, made millions and inspired two sequels.
.. ...
• During the late sixties Metzger realized his destiny as a
director. Because he filmed in Europe utilizing large estates Olaracter actor in literally hundreds of films, like 7be little
and castles, his movies have an elegant appearance far out­ Shop of Horrors, Not of ThisEarth, Sorority Girl (a J.D. film),
shining their budgets. In many stylistic ways his films resem­ and Carnival Rock-a 1959 rock 'n' roll remake of 7be Blue
ble those of French "New Wave" directors. His films include Angel. He got his start during the heydey of AlP teenpix,
Camille 2000, a futuristic remake of Dumas Camille, and
' playing characters on both sides of the law. His best role was
1berese and Isabelle, in which a character wanders through in Roger Corman's 1959 classic, Bucket of Blood, where he
an empty schoolyard encountering scenes from her past. In played Walter Paisley, a talentless nebbish who dreams of
Tbe lickerish Quartet-a standout Metzger movie -the someday becoming a famous artist. Paisley's wish comes true
characters find themselves trapped on film, being watched after he accidentally discovers that murder can directly
by the people they had been watching on film earlier. Thus, inspire the creation of sculpture .
the film folds in on itself in a never-ending series of • Miller is still making movies, often appearing in cameo
convolutions. roles. He has, of late, attained a certain cult status in some

200
horror movie circles. (badly) into English and sold them to television. Most Ameri­
cans got their first glimpse of Santo on television thanks to
Murray. Besides the Santo films, he also distributed virtually
all the Mexican vampire movies, as well as those featuring the
One of the most controversial directors of all is Staten
Wrestling Women. Glances are: if it's a dubbed horror film
Island's Andy Milligan, who boasts of never having made a
from Mexico, K. Gordon Murray is responsible.
movie for more than S 10,000-quite an achievement, con­
sidering that most of his 23-plus films areperiodpieces with
costumes, etc. ( However, he reuses the costumes over and
over.) Some critics have dubbed him the "world's absolute Virtually unknown in America, Paul Naschy (born Jacinto
worst" director, while others consider him a genius whose Molino) is the number one horror film star in Europe. He
singular vision only a few can appreciate. No one is neutral does his own make-up, creating dozens of characters much
on the topic of Andy Milligan. like Lon Chaney did; sometimes he is referred to as ''The
• Milligan's films are classic studies in no-budget moviemak­ Spanish Lon Chaney." Ofhis many films, the few that made it
ing. The key to his money-saving technique is talk- Milligan to the States are so badly dubbed and edited as to be virtually
long ago having realized that talk is cheaper to film than unwatchable.
action. His films usually feature a brief bit of gore at the • Naschy also wrote the screenplays for many of his films.
beginning (to keep the audience from leaving too quickly), His most popular creation is Waldemar Daninsky, a Polish
followed by several scenes of conversation (a man and a werewolf known in Spain as F1 Hombre Lobo. One of his best
woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, several films is Dracula s Great Love, in which he plays a lovesick
people, and so on), followed by a bit more gore -low­ vampire who would rather die than spend eternity without
budget, but always effective. the woman he loves. Other standout Naschy films include /A
• Milligan's filmmaking career began in the early sixties with Marca del Hombre Lobo (released here as Frankenstein 's
a film titled liz; producer William Mishkin saw it, had him Bloody Terror), La Orgia de los Muertos, F1 Retorno de
insert some sex scenes, and retitled it 7be Promiscuous Sex. Walpurgis, House of Psychotic Women, Night of the How­
It did all right, so Mishkin offered him money to film a horror ling Beast and F1 Transexua/.
subject titled 7be Naked Witch, which also did well. A5 in all
ofhis movies, MilJigan used his own 1 6mm camera and did all ..... IUriYiaM
the photography.
Yet another Russ Meyer find, Kitten appeared in Meyer's
• It would be three years before Milligan made another film,
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens. Of all his starlets, Ms.
but once he started, there was no stopping him. In 1967 he
Natividad easily possesses the biggest bust of the bunch, and
released 7be Degenerates and 7be Depraved. The following
that's saying a lot! Although no great shakes as an actress,
year he made 7be Ghastly Ones; Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me;
what she lacks in talent she makes up for in enthusiasm.
Seeds; and Tricks of the Trade. In 1969 he released Gutter
Always fun to watch.
Trash; in 1970 Bloodthirsty Butchers; 7be Body Beneath;
Guru, 7be Mad Monk; and 7be 1brture Dungeon. ..-nY Mel
• Milligan's films usuaJiy fall into one of two categories: sex
Actress/model who, thanks to the efforts of Irving Klaw,
or horror. Sometimes they can be tedious, like 7be Rats Are
became the archetypal fe male bondage and domination sub­
Coming! 7be Werewolves Are Here! ( 1 972). But all of his
ject. She appeared in dozens of films for Klaw, none longer
films display his style -summarized by writer Bill Landis as:
than fifteen minutes. Upon watching her old films, one can
"period piece settings; sometimes grainy 1 6mm blowup pho­
easily understand her popularity. She was extremely pretty,
tography; plots thin yet convoluted; violence ranging from
with a near-perfect figure to match, and she obviously
graphic to obviously fake; utilization of horror movie icons
enjoyed her work- never losing her spontaneity.
like mad priests, vampires, werewolves and hunchbacks; and
• Betty Page got her start as a pin-up in the late forties; soon
finally, elements of camp humor." ( Fangoria •20)
she was very popular. Klaw, whose primary source of income
• With the rising cost offiJm, it is doubtful anyone will ever
was pin-up photos, was quick to realize her potential in less
again be able to make a movie for less than S 10,000, but if
acceptable erotic forms. Her shiny black hair and expressive
anyone can, Andy MilJigan can.
eyes lent themselves to Klaw's domination films. Whether
playing the role of master or slave, Betty acted out her parts
WIWAII M·--
with enthusiasm, and never a frozen expression.
Producer-distributor William Mishkin is legendary for having • Ms. Page's whereabouts today are unknown. She is
been one of the first to introduce foreign sex films (called, at rumored to have married and moved back to her home state
the time, "art" films) to the American public. He is also the of Tennessee , possibly without comprehending the scope of
man who produced most of Andy Milligan's films. her influence on the sexploitation industry.

CIIIY
IT ...... ... ......

An aptly named nightclub entertainer and actress whose Director John Parker has only one known film to his credit:
breasts measure a fuJI seventy-three inches. She is better Daughter of Horror which is discussed at length elsewhere
known for her posters and photos in "tit" magazines. Two in this book. It's too bad critical reaction to his film was so
films she stared in, Deadly Weapons and Double Agent 73, lethal; his talent-which was never again displayed-is
are legendary and incomparable. In Deadly Weapons she indisputable.
plays a woman who uses her breasts to kill people-a con­
cept that doesn't take much suspension of disbelief. In Dou­ .. .. ._
ble Agent 73 she plays a secret agent who has a camera
Exploitation fiJmmaker joel M. Reed makes films that offend
implant ed in her left hreast. Her a'isignment: to kill the
the most jaded moviegoers. His most notorious film, Blood­
members of a drug smuggling ring and take their pictures.
sucking Freaks (also known as 7be Incredible 1brture
Show), managed to draw protesters in Ne w York Oty. When
._ __ _...y
it played in St. Paul, Minnesota, it was billed as a horror
Murray is less a producer than a film broker. During the movie. Several unsuspecting parents took their thirteen-year­
sixties he bought several films from Mexico, dubbed them old sons to see it, only to find out it is mostly a sex film .

201
• Bloodsucking Freaks is a mean, sleazy, misogynistic movie followed this with The Unguarded Moment, portraying an
with no socially redeeming values. It should not be missed by obsessive young man who attempts to ruin a teacher's career
any fan of devi�t cinema. Reed makes his movies on what­ because she spumed his advances. When Hollywood began
ever money he can beg, borrow or steal. Considering how losing interest in him, Saxon moved to Italy, where he has
low-budget they are, his films-notably Career Bed, Sex By made literally dozens of films, including Evil Eye, The Ni
ght
Advertisement, and Night of the Zombies ( 1981, starring Callerfrom Outer Space, Queen of Blood, Cannibals in the
Jamie Gillis in a non-porn role )-are unusually well-filmed, Streets, R/(}()d &!ach, and Tenebrae.
sound-recorded and edited.
•..
. ... n..�

Throughout the sixties, Barbara Steele was the undisputed

French sex/horror film director who specializes in erotic Queen of Horror. Her eerie good looks-with more than a
vampire movies. In France he is somewhat of an institution. hint of madness in her exceptionally expressive eyes­
Over the past fifteen years he has churned out several movies, matched perfectly the Poe-inspired films so popular in those
all with similar themes. Among them: Levre deSang, Le Culte times. She herself admitted, "I love witchcraft, the supernatu­
du Vampire. Le Frisson des Vampires, Les Femmes Vampires, ral, all that's intuitive. I don't like people who are too
Vierges et Vampires and La Vampire Nue. Of these films, few rational." Her horror career began with Mario Bava's classic
have been dubbed into English, and these are rarely Black Sunday, in which she plays a beautiful reincarnated
screened. judging from reports, Rollin's films capture just the vampire. Subsequent roles in The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, The
right balance of sex and blood, eroticism and horror. Pit and the Pendulum, I Lunghi Capelli della Morle, and
Nightmare Castle fleshed out her legend as the "acknowl­
..... ...... edged queen of some of the finest unworldly, eerie films for
Canadian director who directed only two films: The Blood
y nearly a decade." Recently she appeared in Piranba. David
Brood, about a gang of psychotic, beatnik dope-dealers who Cronenberg's 71.xry Came From Within. and Otged Heat.
feed a delivery boy ground glass just for the fun of watching
him die; and The Mask, an extraordinary 3-0 film about a ... ...YII
mask that enables the wearer to see into his own psyche-at An actor-dancer with impish good looks, Thmblyn was a
the risk of his sanity. popular actor during the fifties. He started appearing in fi lms

... .... 1••

in 1950, at the age of sixteen, but did not receive much
attention until 1954 when he appeared in Seven Bridesfor
The numero uno producer of horror films in Mexico is Abel Seven Brothers. Throughout the rest of the fifties Thmblyn
Salazar; it would be difficult to find a horror movie made in appeared in numerous light-hearted films, most notably West
Mexico he didn 't produce. Salazar often appears in them and
sometimes writes the screenplays as well. His talent is appar­
ent; the films he is involved in are a cut above the average Barbara StHie
south-of-the-border product. His films show a strong Univer­
sal Pictures influence, but his Mexican outlook gives the
movies a special atmosphere. Some titles: Vampire's Coffin,
The Witch's Mirror, The Brainiac and Curse of the Crying
Woman.

laiCIC UIITAIA
IAili
Canadian director responsible for a small masterpiece
entitled Decoyfor Terror ( also known as 7be Playgirl Killer).
The film stars actor extraordinaire William Kerwin as an
artist whose frustration with models who won't stay still
leads to a chilling solution: he puts the models in deep freeze
while painting them. The film "features" Neil Sedaka, who
only appears in the first half-hour before "leaving for a trip"­
but not before he gets a chance to sing a song titled "Water­
bug." A classic example of the "Mad Artist" genre; this film is
not to be missed!

,.. .. ......

An exotic-looking, half-Japanese woman whose dark beauty

and chilly portrayals of strong-willed women have left lasting
impressions on anyone who has seen her films. She first
apeared in the movies, oddly, as Suzette Wong in Billy
Wilder's Irma La Douce. But it is her full-throttle perfor­
mance in Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! for which she is best
known. Her only other screen appearances are in The Astra­
Zombies, Ted V. Mikels' no-budget tale of cyborgs and
espionage; and in The Doll Squad, another MikeL-. film, this
one about an all-female team of counter-terrorists. Ms. Satana
has retired from films and is currently living in Reno.

.. ....

Leading actor whose "creepy" good looks are well-suited for

roles both as hero and villain. Saxon got his start playing
Sandra Dee's beau in the teen film, The Restless Years. He

202
Tura Satana

Side Story. During the late sixties Thmblyn began experi­ ..... ....
menting with drugs, and parts in Hollywood became harder
French director who created a furor by introducing America
and harder to find. After becoming friends with independent
to Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman, and the
filmmaker AI Adamson, he appeared in many of Adamson's
opportunity to see all of jane Fonda in the sci-fi comedy,
best movies, including Satan 's Sadists, Dracula Vs. Franken­
Barbat"ella. Vadim can be tedious-as with Pretty Maids All
stein and 7be Female Bunch.
in a Row -but has still given us some great movies. One of
his best is the rarely screened Blood and Roses, an erotic
WIWA11 C. NO......
retelling of Sheridan LeFanu's Carmi//a. Other standout films
Cinematographer whose fine camerawork appears only in include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 7l!stamentof0rpheus, Of
the lowest-budget movies. Thompson's noir lighting in flesh and Blood and Vtce and Virtue.
Daughter of HoTTOr is responsible for most of the film's
impact. His work for Ed Wood, Jr. is less impressive, but has ........
its moments -can anyone forget Tor johnson rising from the
Horror show hostess during the fifties and star of Ed Wood's
grave in Pkm Nine From Outer Space ?
legendary Plan Nine From Outer space. She also appeared in
other films under her real name, Maila Nurmi. During the
fifties, Ms. Nurmi spent a lot of time running around with
The actress whose performances as Nazi leader Usa Koch James Dean. After his death, she claimed to be in contact with
make !/sa, She· Wolf of the S.S. and Harem Keeper of the Oil him. In a published article, she said Dean would caU her on
Sheiks as good as they are. Other films featuring Ms. Thome the phone even after the wires had been cut. Reaction to her
in more subdued roles include Love Me like IDo ( sexploita­ claims was hostile; these days she remains silent on the
tion ) , 7be Erotic Adventures ofPinocchio (she played a fairy subject. After her creation of the character Vampira, some
godmother), and most recently, Hellhole, in which she pale imitations cropped up, but none can hold a candle to the
played a deranged mental patient. originaL
 glimpse of the clapper as it pulls out ofthe frame. Manos, 7be
Hands of Fate was his first and last attempt at filmmaking.
Pug-ugly, fat character actor who usually plays heavies
because of his menacing, bad looks. His list of credits include
some of the best horror movies ever made-a Bruno Ve Sota
film festival would be highly entertaining. His films include
Daughter of Horror, 7be Alligator People, 7be Undead, Producer-director-distributor specializing in ultra-low
Attack of the Giant Leeches, Wasp Woman, Night Ttde, budget films, including Mt:xican imports. Unlike fellow
Attack of the Mayan Mummy, Creature of the Walking importer K. Gordon Murray, Warren eschews dubbing in
Dead and Wild World of Batwoman. favor of narration-often radically editing the films he
imports to avoid dubbing whenever possible. His films
include Tenurofthe Bloodhunters, Creature ofthe Walking
Dead, Curse of the Stone Hand and 7be Wild World of
Artist/underground filmmaker whose tawdry explorations Batwoman. A lawsuit forced him to change the latter title to
of New York's "in" crowd (e.g. O:Jelsea Girls, Blowjob, My She Was a Hippy Vampire.
Hustler, and Vinyl) tread the line between exploitation and
art. Many Warhol films were done in collaboration with (or
were directed by) Paul Morrissey.
Zugsmith started his career producing low-budget films,
moved to mainstream, and then returned to the world of
.... .....
exploitation. Although better known as a producer, he tried
El Paso fertilizer salesman whose Manos, 7be Hands ofFate his hand at directing with College Confidential, Sex Kittens
is a cult legend. Manos portrays what happens to a young Go to College, Confessions of an Opium Eater, and others.
couple after they miss a turn in the road and end up at a • Zugsmith's first production was the reactionary classic
strange house where they meet "Torgo," a spastic hippie who Invasion, USA (1952). A group of liberals, drinking in a bar,
guards the place when the master is away. After forcing their are hypnotized and shown the danger of their way of think­
way in, the couple become frightened by weird goings-on. ing, and how easy it would be for the commies to take over
Eventually "The Master" shows up along with his bevy of the USA. In 1985 the film was remade starring 01Uck Norris.
wives. There is some talk of other dimensions, a catfight, and • During the fifties, Zugsmith worked for Universal­
Torgo loses his right hand and his job. International and Allied Artists, producing some excellent
• Manos, 7be Hands of Fate is a joy to watch. It is a true mainstream films such as 7buch of Evil, Slaughter on 'Rmth
rarity: a film completely devoid of Hollywood influence or Avenue, Written on the Wt'nd and Tarnished Angels.
conventional filmmaking technique. Jump cuts abound; con­ During the sixties, Zugsmith plunged into sexploitation. In
tinuity is non-existent. The editing is leaden; it's doubtful if 1965 he worked with Russ Meyer on Fanny Hill, not one of
any film ended up on the cutting room floor. If the actors Meyer's better efforts. Later he added his own directorial
have difficulty remembering their Lines, the camera stays on touches to the genre with 7be Incredible Sex Revolution, On
them until they do-no matter how long it takes! Warren was Her Bed of Roses and Movie Star, American Style, Or, LSD. I
so stingy with his footage that in one scene we catch a Hate You! •

The hunt for a

rapist leads cops
into the world of
beatniks in The
Albert Zugsmith
production, The
.... Generation.

204
 never be able to make a living.
ANGELA: Oh, mother!
This is the universe. To the maggots in the MOTHER: If you try to build a life with him, you'll
cadaver, the cadaver is infinity. And to you: be miserable.
What is your world? How do you know what ANGELA: Really, Mother! You're way ahead of me.
is beyond the beyond? I iust have fun with Jerry, that's all.
-Mondo Bi%arro (hom honking)
-Incredibly Strange
Creatures
You don't have to know a man to live with
him • • • but you have to know a man like a
brother to kill him. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence; the
-Blast of Silence word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in
a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still
remains sex.
Total chaos; that's what I like! Out of chaos -Faster Pussycat,
comes reasofl. Out of reason, science. Kill! Kill!
-God Told Me To

Aren't those crimes horrifying. And yet-so

I died for you . • • Now why shouldn't you fascinating!
return the favor? -Daughters of Darkness
-Deathdream ��------���

Even dying is an act of eroticism.

I must experience the greatest act of the -They Came From Within
human mind: to take another life! -------

-The Mask
JERRY: Hey, are things that bad you gotta
wash your own car?
Ever drop a canteloupe from 40 stories? MADISON: Things are rough all over.
-Q JERRY: Yeah, the world's in a state of depression.
-Incredibly Strange
Creatures
MOTHER: I don't see how you can prefer Jer'l
to Phil when Phil is such a nice boy.
ANGELA: I like Jerry. Phil just isn't my type. Give this man satin undies, a dress, a sweater
MOTHER: You're fascinated by Jerry because he's and a skirt, or even a lounging outfit, and he's
different. He isn't like any of the boys you know. the happiest individual in the world. He can
ANGELA: Mother, Jerry's fun-he's exciting. We work better, play better, and he can be more
go places I never dreamed of before. of a credit to his community and his
MOTHER: You're right at the age when you could government because he is happy.
make a terrible mistake. -Glen or Glenda
ANGELA: And you think Jerry would be a
mistake?
MOTHER: Yes, I do. Jerry has no education. He'll

206
Going Steady

I've always thought the profession of llutcher What is real? Are you certain you know what
is an honorable one. What would we do reality is? How do you know at this second
without them? They have chosen the profession you aren't asleep in your bed, dreaming that
that is beneficial to us all. They slaughter and you are here • • • ?
chop up their vidims so that the rest of us -The Wixard of Gore
have the wherewithal to live.
-Snuff

Let a man or woman venture from the well­

The Axtecs identified flayed skin with the new beaten path of civilization, let him cross the
garments of young vegetation • . .
threshold of the limited intelled, and he
-Q encounters amaxing and wondrous things: the
unknown and terrible. If he escapes with his
life, he will usually find he left his reason
JERRY: Angie, baby! • . • How's college?
behind him.
MADISON: Fine. You should try it some time.
-Mesa of Lost Women
JERRY: No, thanks. The world's my college.
-Incredibly Strange
Creatures

How cm1 you run from a dead penon, unless

A man runs. Somebody shoots at him. you're dead yourself?
-Beast of Yucca Flats -Venus in Furs

207
 suicide; that's what stars are made of today.
-Special Effects
Torture and terror have always fascinated --
--�--
----
----
---- --------

mankind. Perhaps, whatever made your

predecesson see the sadism of the inquisition After Mr. Edison made these tintypes gallop, it
and the gore of the gladiators' arena is the wasn't but two days later that some
same thing that makes you stare at bloody enterprising guy had his girlfriend take her
highway accidents and thrill to the terror of dothes off and that's how exploitation began.
death in the bullring. Today, television and -David Friedman
films give you the luxury of observing grisly
dismemberments and deaths without anyone
actually being harmed. You were bom with hate and anger built in • • •

-The Wizard of Gore took a slap on the backside to blast out the
scream •and then you knew you were alive.
. •

-Blast of Silence
The chief enemy of creativity is 'good' taste.
-Pablo Picasso
Shared love knows no bounds • • • but it's so
degrading!
She was beautiful, even though she was dead.
-Daughters of Darkness
-Venus in Furs �--
----
---
-----
-----
--

Despite Brett's inquiries about what Martin had

seen in the spacecraft, he avoided specific
I was disgusted, but I was fascinated, too . • • I details for fear of disturbing her more than
didn't want to watch, but I couldn't help it. she was. If the truth were known, Martin was
-The Amazing Transplant more than a little disturbed himself.
-The Creeping Terror

You've only dreamed there were women like

this, until now. But they're real! Unbelievably This is a story of violence . . a violence born
•

real! of the uncontrolled passions of adolescent

-Mondo Topless youth, and nurtured by this generation of
�--
----
----
----
---
parents-those who, in their own smug little
world of selfish interests and confused ideas of
Thy form is fair to look upon, but thy heart is
parental supervision, refuse to believe today's
filled with carcasses and dead men's bones.
glaring headlines.
-lorna
-The Violent Years

I'm going to awaken you from this earthly

You can't get blood out of an illusion.
nightmare awaken you to the sweet repose
• • •

-The lickerish Quartet

of • . . death!
-The love Butcher
The tarantulas began to yield amazing
results-they grew as large as human beings.
Show me a crime and I can show you a pidure
They began developing new reasoning powers
that could've caused it.
and I found I had the telepathic power to
-The Sinister Urge
--- communicate with them. Then I reversed the
process, transplanted the control substance of
This is the age of the non-entity. The the insect back into the human body. Doctor,
glorification of the nobody. As long as they're look at this girl-1 call her Tarantella If we
• • •

vidims. look at the virtually non-existant are successful, I shall have a super-female
careers of Dorothy Stratton, or Frances Farmer. spider!
What makes them worthy of a ten million -Mesa of lost Women
doUar eulogy on film? Murder, madness,

208
No • • . No . • • You can't do these things! You're Torture! Torture! It pleasures me!
tampering with the work of the Creator! -Orgy of the Dead
�-
- -
- -
You're-evil!
-Mesa of lost Women
Every case history tells the same story. A story
that's a tragic pattern of men and women's
lives. The cause: mariiuana. This harmless
You must remember-blood must be given looking cigarette is doaked in many innocent
willingly for the gods to appreciate it. disguises. But light the match, and inhale the
-Q smoke, and it becomes an invitation to your
own murder. This killer and the man who sells
it have no respect for anybody. His victims are
-It wouldn't be the first time in history that
any lost souls; it matters not to whom the
a monster was mistaken for a god.
souls belong. The seller's method of operation,
-1 doubt if New Yorkers would take it as a god.
Simple: keep the mind from thinking. The mind
-Why not, if they come to fear it enough?
thinks; the world becomes a real thing, with
-Q
troubles and problems without the answers.
But he has the answer. Escape! Sell the dreams
Do you believe the whole world runs by the people want to dream. Keep them from waking
few laws of the sciences we have been able to up. Because once they do, you're out of
discover? There is more; much more. But people business. Of course, the rich can afford to pay
are satisfied. They know so much, they think more for their dreams. It's a profitable game.
they know it all. And when boredom sets in, heroin, cocaine and
-Martin opium are always the next steps; at higher
prices. If you live that long.
-She Shoulda Said No
Sacrifices to your god are nothing new. Why
are you looking at me like I'm the first?
-God Told Me To

I am Criswell! For years I have told the almost

The only way the lord has ever successfully unbelievable, related the unreal and showed it
disciplined us is through fear. Kill a man and to be more than a fact. Now I tell the tale of
you impress a few people who already believe the threshold people, so astounding that some
anyway. Kill a multitude and you can convince of you may faint!
a nation. -Orgy of the Dead
-God Told Me To

Regrettable . . • I was hoping for a colleague,

but at least we have another experimental -Say, uh •.. where's the kid that was born?
subiect . • .
-Oh. Why the baby died. Didn't I tell you?
-Mesa of lost Women -No. No one ever tells me nothin' around here.
-We did our best.
-Well, that's alright. One less mouth to feed.
-Tomorrow's Children
-Why can't you get married and have a home
of your own?"
-Because I've never found a man I'd want to
marry. The ones who'd make good family men are
so dumb I couldn't stand them. The ones I like are Ah, the curiosity of youth. On the road to ruin!
so worthless I'd starve. May it ever be so adventurous!
-Mad Youth -Orgy of the Dead
���--
----
----
-

209
It is said on clear nights beneath the cold light
of the moon, howl the dog and the wolf; and MOYIE POSTERS QUOTES
creeping things crawl out of the slime. It is
then the ghou'ls feast in all their radiance. Her other love is God • • . Within the walls of the
-Orgy of the Dead convent of Monzo, our Sister Virginia was violated
. • . She fell in love like any other woman.
-The lady of Monzo

From penthouse to playgirl: she was a lady . . .

Here you are, folks-the biggest bargain to hit but wanted to be treated like a tramp.
the midway. They'll thrill you. They'll kill you. -The Agony of Love
�----
-- �
----
� �-
- ·�
You'll even ask for more. Twenty beautiful
girls. Supple as a serpent; twisting, writhing
Sex-starved girls forced to use their guns
and twining. ..The most spedacular show to hit
• • .

and bodies to satisfy the man who owned

the midway!
them . he even seduced his own sister!
-The Incredibly Strange
. •

-The Dirty Dolls

Creatures

Norma had a way with men . . . and they with

her!!!
-Norma

Hollywood, California. The man you're looking

at is Joe Saxon. He's one of many caught in
the web of non-reality. Non-reality. This is the
reason he is here in Hollywood-land of the From the shadows of their sordid haunts . • .

stars. Joe's ambition is to be one. A star-a they slither like predatory beasts to stalk their
star of motion pictures-that world of make­ prey! Hell is their only address and they offer
believe. So far Joe has had very little success, you a cheap substitute for fulfillment in
for that road to stardom can be a long and exchange for your soul! Depraved . . • Demented
hard grind. Unfortunately, Joe has refused to . • . Loathsome . • . Nameless . . . Shameless . . .
accept the world of reality and has found These are the-
himself trapped amongst the monthly payment -Scum of the Earth!
plans. He's got a new house, a new car, a new
TV set, swimming pool. Very impressive to the
people here in Hollywood. But unless the
monthly payments are kept up, there won't be Mad creatures of the night existing only for
any TV sets or swimming pools. sensual sadistic moments of HUMAN SLAUGHTER!
Time to call his wife and give her the news of -The Ghastly Ones
today. This is Joe's wife Liz, former actress
turned artist. She gave up the business a long
time ago. The insecurity was too much for her, Nothing has ever stripped your nerves as
but then she met Joe and love won out. But screamingly raw as-
love can also wear out, and the bills keep -The Gore Gore Girls
coming and the stomach starts to get hungry.
But Joe has another hunger-to be a movie
star, even if he has to play make-believe all
day, iust for himself. Joe Saxon • • . caught in If I were to describe in detail what goes on in
the world of non-reality. 'lnga', I'd get arrested.
-The Incredibly Strange -Robert Salmagg,
Creatures WINS Radio

210
Mondo Blurro

1 ) When you come back from the fields tonight,

I'm going to give you the beating of your life!
See the rack-thumb screw-iron maiden torture
2) They said I could go off with her to Perkin's
drugs that make men slaves. Bizarre human
Motel and she'd be real cooperative!
sacrifices-today! An authentic catalog of
3) Nellie-the town's plaything. She passed for
cruelty. Actually filmed in the Dark Corners of
white and they loved it!
This Sick World!
-Girl on a Chain Gang
-Sadismo
�------� --------�

A thousand thrills crammed into one hundred

minutes! Bizarre, barbaric sights never before
put on film! Violent beyond belief • • • yet Nothing so appalling in the annals of horror!
beautiful beyond comparison! Ask your You'll recoil and shudder as you witness the
friends-they can't stop talking about it! An slaughter and mutilation of nubile young
incredible orgy of Sights and Sounds! girls-in a weird and horrendous ancient rite!
-Ecco (An Admonition: if you are the Parent or
Guardian of an impressionable adolescent DO
NOT BRING HIM or PERMIT HIM TO SEE THIS
It's the film that starts where the other MOTION PICTURE.) More grisly than ever in
MONDO pictures chickened out! BLOOD COLOR!
-Taboos of the World -Blood Feast
�-----

The dead are hungry • • • and they're coming to An entire town bathed in pulsing human blood!
eat you alive! Madmen crazed for carnage! Brutal • • • evil • • •

-Night of the Zombies ghastly beyond belief! • • • Gruesomely stained

�-----
in Blood Color!
-2000 Maniacs
The film that uncovers the lid of small town �--
----
----
----
-
hate!

211
This list, compiled by Jim Morton and Boyd Rice, represents
just a fradion of movies worth seeing. Thousands more
await your viewing pleasure!

Abducton, The (1972) Curse of Her Flesh (1968) Gun Cra'ly (1949)
Abominable Dr. Phibes, The (1971) Curse of the Doll People (1960) Guyana-Cult of the Damned (1980)
Acid Eaten, The (1968) Curucu, Beast of the Ama'lon (1956) Having a Wild Weekend (1965)
Ad of Seeing With One's Own Eyes D.l., The (w/Jock Webb, 1957) Hellhole (1984)
(1972) Damaged lives (1933) Hercules (1983)
Amcning Transplant, The (1970) Daughter of Horror (1955) High School Confidential (1958)
Astro-Zombies, The (1968) Daughter of the Sun (1962) Honeymoon Killers, The (1970)
Attack of the Robots (French, 1966) Daughters of Darkness (1971) Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962)
Atom Age Vampire (1961) Day the Earth Fro'le (1959) Horror of Party Beach, The (1964)
Atomic Cafe (1982) Decoy for Terror (1970) Horrors of the Block Museum (1959)
Baby, The (1974) Defilers, The (1965) House of Whipcord ( 1974)
Basket Case (1982) Dementia aka Daughter of Horror Human Duplicators (1965)
Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) (1955) Hypnotic Eye, The (1959)
Beat Generation, The (1959) Depraved! (1967) I Dismember Mama (1972)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) Deranged (1974) I Drink Your Blood (1971)
Big Doll House, The (1971) Devil Doll, The ( 1963) I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)
Black Jesus (1971) Devils, The (1971) lisa; Harem Keeper for the Oil Sheiks
Black Shompoo (1976) Don't Go In The House (1980) (1975)
Black Sunday (1961) Double Agent 73 (1974) lisa; She-Wolf of the SS (1974)
Blast of Silence (1961) Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1969) Immoral Tales (1974)
Blood Feast (1963) Dragnet (1954) In the land of the Headhunters
Blood Mania (1971) Dragon Zombies Return (1983) Incredibly Strange Creatures, The
Blood of the Virgin (Mexican) Eaten Alive (1976) (1964)
Bloodsucking Freaks (1978) Eegah! (1962) Inferno (1980)
Bloodthirsty Butchen (1970) Eighteen and Anxious (1957) lnseds as Carriers of Disease (1945)
Blue Sunshine (1978) Endless love (1981) Invader (1955)
Body Fever (1970) Equinox (1967-71 ) Invasion of the Blood Fanners (1972)
Brain That Wouldn't Die, The (1959) Eraserhead (1977) Invitation to Ruin (1956)
Brood, The (1979) Exorcist II; The Heretic (1977) It's Alive! (Lorry Buchanon, 1968)
The Bubble aka Fantastic Invasion of Eyes Without A Face (1959) It's Alive! (lorry Cohen, 1974)
Planet Earth (1966) Faces of Death (1981) It lives Again! (1978)
Bucket of Blood (1959) Faces of Death II (1984) Jailboit (1955)
Cafe Flesh (1982) Far Reef, The aka Beyond the Reef Juvenile Jungle (1958)
Caged! (1950) (198 1 ) Kitten with a Whip (1964)
Ccrnival of Souh (1962) Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (1965) land without Bread (Bunuel, 1932)
Cat Women of the Moon (1953) Female Butcher (1972) last Date, The (1950)
Chained for life (1950) Female Trouble (1974) Last House on Dead End Street (1977)
Chained Heat (1983) Freaks (1932) last House on the left (1972)
Cherry, Harry and Raquel (1969) Froun Dead, The (1967) last Prom, The (1954)
Child Bride (1941) Garden of Eden (1954) let Me Die a Woman (1932)
Chi...en, The (1980) Girl Can't Help It!, The (1956) lickerish Quartet, The (1970)
Cobra Woman (1944) Glen or Glenda (1953) little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Color Me Blood Red (1965) God Told Me To aka Demon (1976) live Fast, Die Young (1958)
Cool and the Cra'ly, The (1958) God'lilla (1954) lorna (1964)
Corpse Grinders, The (1971) Gore-Gore Girh, The (1972) love Butcher, The (1975)
Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) Great Hunting 1984, The love Camp Seven (1968)
Creeping Terror, The (1964) Gruesome Twosome, The (1968) love Me Deadly (1972)
loved One, The (1965) luss
LSD-25 (1967) Tamblyn
Macabre (1958) in
Mad love (1935) ........
Maniac! (1934) s.nm.
Manitou, The (1978)
Manos, the Hands of Fate (1966)
Mantis in Lace aka Ula (1968)
Marihuana-Weed with Roots in Hell
(1935)
Martin (1977)
Mask, The (1961)
Mechanized Death (1961)
Mesa of Lost Women (1952)
Mr. Rellik (drivers' ed film)
Mr. Sardonkus (1961)
Mam and Dad (1948)
Mondo Balordo (1964)
Mondo Bizarro (1966)
Mondo Cane (1963)
Mondo Hollywood (1967)
Mondo Mod (1967)
Mando Pano (1965)
Mondo Teeno (1967)
Mondo Topless (1967)
Mondo Weirdo (1965)
Monster a Go-Go (1965)
Moonlighting Wives (1966)
Moses the Lawgiver (1975)
Mothra (1962) Scream, Baby, Scream (1969)
Motor Psycho (1965) Sex Hygiene (1942) Vampire and the Ballerinas, The (1960)
Mudhoney (1965) Shade Out on 101 (1955) Vampyres, Daughters of Dracula (1975)
Mutations (1972) She Freak, The (1966) Veil of Blood (1973)
Night of the Bloody Apes (1968) She-Devils on Wheels (1968) Venus in Fun (1970)
Night of the Ghouls (1959) Shock Corridor (1963) Vernon, Florida
Night Tide (1961) Shock Waves (1977) Violent Years, The (1956)
Nightmcre Alley (1947) Shogun Assassin (1974) Vixen (1968)
Octaman (1971) Shriek of the Mutilatecl (1974) Wall of Flesh (1967)
Of Unknown Origin (1984) Signal 30 (1959) Watts Monster, The aka Dr. Blade,
Orgy of the Dead (1965) Something Weird (1966) Mr. Hyde (Blaxploitation, 1976)
Peeping Tom (1960) Special Effects (1984) Werewolves on Wheels (197 1 )
Pink Flamingos (1974) Spider Baby (1964) Wheels of Tragedy (1963)
Plan Nine From Outer Space (1959) Star Pilot (Italian, 1966) White Slaves of Chinatown (1964)
Point of Terror (1971) Sugar HiD (Blaxploitation, 1974) Wild Guitar (1962)
Poor White Trash (1957) Supervixens (1975) Wild in the Streets (1968)
Private Parts (1972) Suspiria (1976) Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield,
Psychopath, The (1973) Swinwner, The (1968) The (1968)
Punishment of Anne, The Taboos of the World (1965) Witchaaft Through the Ages (1921)
Q (1982) Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) Wizard of Gore (1970)
Rabid (1977) Terrified (w/Rod Lauren, 1963) Woman Eater, The (1959)
Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) World of the Vampires (1960)
Red Asphalt These are the Damned (1961) World's Greatest Sinner, The (1962)
Reform School Girls (1957) They Came From Within (1975) Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec
Repulsion (1965) They Saved Hitler's Brain (1963) Mummy (1965)
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) Thirteen Ghosts (1960) Xanadu (1980)
Robot Monster (1953) This Nude World (1932) Young Playthings (1977)
Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, The (1959) Thrill Killers, The (1965) Zontar, The Thing from Venus (1966)
Sadismo (1967) Thunder Road (1958) MAIISOII FaMS
Sadist, The (1963) Tingler, The (1959) ....._ .a.-tty ...... on Mc.t1011)
Safety Belt for Susie (1963) Tomorrow's Children (1934) Heft• Skelt•, 1976
Safety in the Shop (1944) Trip, The (1967) The Hitchikers, 1972
Salon Kitty aka Madame Kitty ( 1 976) Two Thousand Maniacs (1964) Manson, (clocumentary, 1975)
Santo in the Wax Museum (1963) Undead, The (1956) Manson Massacre, 19n
Satan's Sadists (1969) Undertaker and His Pals, The (1967) Sweet Saviour, (Troy Donahue, 1971)
Scorpio Rising (1964) Unseen, The (1981) SnuH, 1976
 E/S E A RC H ATA LO G
R c
2 N EW B O O KS

• RE/SEARCH RE/SEARCH CLASSICS

# 1 1 : PRANKS. REPRINT SERIES.

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the film-critiosm esta blishment, who in 1 967 predicted Rea­
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Russ Meyer, lorry Cohen, Roy novel Love & Napalm: Export 8
Dennis Steckler, Ted V. Mikels U.S.A ( 1 972) as "profound A
and others-who hove been and disquieting. The nonsexual L
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tos of gore and sexploitotion with a surgeon's precision. This
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enterto1n as well as illum1note illustrated porn." long interv1ews
theory. Includes biographies, on many top1cs; key writ1ngs '------'""
genre overv1ews, filmographies, bibliography, quotations, on A-Z of film and rare short stories; a biography; bibliography; dlustrot1ons, etc
personalities, lists of recommended films, sources, etc. 81hx 1 1 ", 172 8 1hx 1 l " with over 1 25 photos, 1 76 pages. Beoullfully des1gned. $ 1 2
photos, 224 pages. $17 ppd, $18 seo moil ($24 air overseas). ppd, $ 1 3 sea moil ($ 1 6 air overseas). ISBN 0-940642-08-5
ISBN 0-940642-09-3.
 • RE/SEARCH #4/5:
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS,
Essential library reference B R I O N G Y S I N ,
guide to the deviant performance artists THROBBING GRISTLE.
and mus1cions of the Industrial Culture: Interviews, scarce fiction, essays: this
""ILo.lAM. I
Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, is o manual of ideas and insights. �
T�o.l• ttC.GRI�T! F
SPK, Non, Monte Cazazzo, Johanna Strikingly designed, with rare pho­
�
Went, Mark Pauline, Sordide Sentimen­ tos, bibliographies, discographies,
tal, R&N, and Z'ev. Some topics dis­ chronologies, startling illustrations,
cussed: new brain research, forbidden etc. 8112x 1 1 ", 100 pp, with 2 new
medical texts & films, creative crime & photos by Bobby Adams.
interesting criminals, modern warfare & $ 1 2 ppd ($16 air overseas). ISBN
weaponry, neglected gore films & their 0-940642-05-0
directors, psychotic lyrics in post pop
songs, ort brut, etc. With discographies, chronologies, bibliographies;
lists of selected books, films, records, etc. Over 1 20 photos. 81hx 1 1 ",
1 4 0 pages. $ 1 2 ppd, $ 1 3 sea moil ($ 1 7 air overseas). ISBN
0-940642-07-7
ideas. Gysin talks about his
years of colloborotion with Wil­
liam S. Burroughs, the Beat
Hotel, etc. Chapters on psychic
warfare, Moroccan magic and
mus1c, early experiments with
tope recorders & the cut-up
method, the Dreomochine and
much more. Texts & introduction
• SEARCH & DESTROY: by W.S. Burroughs. 80 rare

incendiary interv1ews, passionate photos, 8112x5'h'', 304 pp. $ 1 4 postpo1d ( $ 1 8 Olfma1l overseas). ISBN

photographs, art brutal. Corrosive 0-940642-03-4

minimalist documentot1on of the only

youth rebellion of the seventies:
punk rock ( 1 9 77-78). The philo­ • HERE TO GO hardbounds. Limited edition of only
sophy and culture, before the 1 00 copies lor libraries end collectors. 304 pp. Gray covers.
moss media takeover end inevitable $27.00 ppd. ($35 air overseas). ISBN 0-940642-04-2
cloning. (Issues # 1 , 5, 9 & 1 0 ore
only available in the complete set.)
• ME AND BIG JOE: by Michael Bloomfield. Poignant
encounters with some of the lost living Amencon blues artists, esp Big
Joe Williams. Entertaining. $5 ppd. ($7 Olf overseas). ISBN
0 #1 -The first issue, o collector's item. Not available.
0-940642-00-X
0 #2-Devo, Clash, Romones, lggy, Weirdos, Patti Smith, V1v1enne
Westwood, Avengers, Oils, etc. $4
0 #3-Devo, Damned, Pott1 Smith, Avengers, Tom Verlo1ne, Beef­
heart, Blondie, Res1dents, Alternative TV, TG. $4
• RE/SEARCH: Deep into
the heart of the�Control Process.
0 #4-lggy, Deed Boys, Bobby Death, Jordon & the Ants, Mumps,
Preoccupation: Creativity a n d
Metal Urbain, Helen Wheels, Sham 69, Patti Smith. $4
Survival, post, present & future.
0 #5-Sex Pistols, Nice, Crisis, Screamers, Suicide, Crime, Tolking These ore the early tabloid issues,
Heeds, Anarchy, Surrealism & New Wove. Not available. 1 1 x 18", full of photos ond innova­
tive graphics. Issues It 1 & 3 only
0 #6-Throbbing Gristle, Clash, Nice, Talking Heads, Pere Ubu,
ovoiloble in complete set os they
Nuns, UXA, Negative Trend, Mutants, Sleepers, Buzzcocks. $4
ore extremely rare.
0 #7-John Waters, Devo, DNA, Cabaret Voltaire, Roky Erickson,
Clash, Amos Poe, Mick Farren, Otis, Vermilion and more. $4
0 # 1 -J.G. Bollard, Cabaret Voltaire, Julio Cortozor, Octavia Paz,
0 #8-Mutonts, Oils, Cramps, Devo, Siouxsie, Chrome, Pere Ubu,
Sun Ro, The Slits, Robert K. Brown (Editor, Soldier of Fortune), Non,
Judy Nylon & Patti Pollodin, Flesheoters, Otis, Weirdos, etc. $4
Conspiracy Theory Guide, Punk Prostitutes, and more. RARE Not
0 #9-Deod Kennedys, Rockobilly Rebels, X, Winston Tong, David available.
lynch (Eroserheod), TeleviSIOn, Pere Ubu, DOA, etc. Not available.
0 #2-DNA, James Blood Ulmer, Zev, Abong1nol MusiC, West Afn.
0 #1 0-J.G. Bollard, William S. Burroughs, The Feederz, Plugz, X, con Music Guide, Surveillance Technology, Monte Cozozzo on Po,sons,
Russ Meyer, Steve Jones, etc. Not available. Dione Di Primo, Se 1/sdo, German Electron1c Mus1c Chart, Isabelle Eber­
hardt, and more. $5.00
0 # 1 1 -The all photo supplement. Block and White. $5
0 #3-Felo, New Brain Research, The Rattlesnake Man, Sordide
• SEARCH & DESTROY: INCOMPLETE SET: For $ 1 7 Sentimental, New Guinea, Kathy Acker, Sodo-Mosoch1sm (Interviews),
we ore otfe'"'9 oil thr• S&Ds EXCEPT Nm 1 , 5, 9 , & 1 0 Joe Dante, Johanna Went, Surgical Penis Klinik, Flipper, Physical Modifi­
cation of Women, and more. RARE Not available.
Oversea' 01r $30
0 Add $ 1 .00 lo each for overseas moil.

• SEARCH & DESTROY: COMPLETE SET: EXTREMELY • SPECIAL: SET OF RESEARCH # 1 , 2 & 3 - $ 1 00
RARE. A collector's 1tem. $ 1 00. Overseas O l f : S 1 1 5 Over,em air: S 1 10. Extremely RARE.
 V I D EOCASSETTES BOOKS D I ST R I BUTED BY RE/SEARCH

h!tlfilli:@fii����o��·!��!!!tb�
• HALLOWEEN by Ken Werner. A classic photo book.
Startling photographs from the "Mardi Gras of the West," Son
RE/SEARCH editor A. Juno, probing the Francisco's adult Halloween Festivities . limited supply; 9x12" hardback,
motives, methods and manias of indus/rio/ per· block covers, $12 ppd. ($20 air overseas).
formonce artist, Mark Pauline and his Survival
Research laboratories, whose anarchist inven·
Edited by Ed Hardy. This issue
lions fuse machines, corpses, explosives ond
. ..._ __ _ .. examines oil facets of magic & occult. Tottoo
oviotion-tech into new prototypes and orche· ----·--

-----
-·----...

------
-·- -· .... - symbolisms around the globe ore explored in this
types appropriate for a war universe. .._ .. - - ·--
-·----

dazzling compendium, filled with rare full-color

Entertaining! 30 mins. $30 plus $3 shipping
photos and illuminating articles. $ 1 2 ppd.
(air foreign $35) USA NTSC V H S only.
($15 oir overseas).
• SRL VIDEO: "Virtues of • TATTOOTIME #3: MUSIC & SEA TATTOOS. Edited by
Negative Fascination": Ed Hardy. Deluxe double book issue with over 300 photos, examining
5 Mechanized Performances 1 985-86. aquatic themes from Japan, Pacific Islands and the West; plus
Beautifully shot & edited, with excellent comprehensive coverage of tattoos associated with music (emphasis:
interview footage. BO min, NTSC VHS london and los Angeles). And much more. $17 ppd. ($21 air
Only. $42 ppd. ($45 air) overseas) .
• SRL VIDEO: "A Scenic • TATTOOTIME #4: LIFE & DEATH. Edited by Ed Hardy.
Harvest from the Kingdom of Deluxe FINAL double book issue with fantastic photos, examining
Pain." Footage of 3 one-of·o-kind trademarks, architectural and mechanical tattoos, the Eternal Spiral,
1983-84 destruction shows plus interviews . Exciting! 60 min, USA NTSC o Tattoo Museum, plus the gamut of Death imagery. $ 1 7 ppd.
VHS Only. $42 postpaid. ($45 air foreign) . ($21 air overseas) .

• SRL VIDEO: • SIDETRIPPING. Unforgettable deviant-fringe photographs by

"Seven Machine Performances," 1 979-
1982. The early legend-making explosive shows! 60 min, USA NTSC Charles Gatewood, deep-locus commentary by William S. Burroughs. A
VHS Only. $42 postpaid . ($45 air foreign). classic photo book, long out of print, available here in o limited offering.
9x 12", $22 ppd. ($26 air overseas).
• BAITED TRAP: Powerful film nair video by Jon Reiss (who shot
the 3 previous SRL videos) with o nightmare machine sequence by SRL .
1 3 mins. $ 1 9 postpo,d. ($22 air foreign). GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE
IN ANY AMOUNT SPECIFIED

SOME FORTHCOMING RE/SEARCH PROJECTS: • DANIEL P. MANNIX ANTHOLOGY. A compendium

(Not necessarily i n this order) surveying hordcore history, naturalism, and social deviancy from the
writer of Those About To Die, The History of Torture, The Hell-Fire Club,
etc.
• MODERN PRIMITIVES: Tattooing, scarification, piercing and
• INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS, Vol. II. Further
other body modifications, modern and historical.
investigation of the territory which Vol. I highlighted, with many photos,
• INCREDIBLY STRANGE MUSIC. A for-ranging survey
much philosophy and reference material.
exploring the relationship between imagination and music. Morfin
• RE/SEARCH CLASSICS REPRINT SERIES. Mo ny crucial
Denny, Musique Brut, sound effects & film soundtracb, Muzak, easy
writings remain out-of-print, os though they hod never existed. A vast
listening, subliminols, Einsturzende Neubouten, John Cage, plus o host
territory of inspiration, knowledge and psychological truth remains to be
of unknowns.
rediscovered .
• INCREDIBLY STRANGE PEOPLE: A series of interviews
• SURREALISM: Neglected Writings.
with illuminated eccentrics.
• SITUATION!�: Selected Graphics and Texts.
• JEFFREY VALLANCE. The master prankster whose life and
work vindicates the word "art". Hilariously funny, insightlul. • Re/Search: SEX & CONTROL.

:»Ut)::
U .. Kit)� 1'0 REISEARCH.
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0
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G I F T C E R T I F I C A T ES A V A I L A B L E WRITE FOR O U R CATALOG & NEWSLETTER

BOOKS Slecrzoid Express, PO Box 7 79, Peter Stuyvesant Station, NYC NY 1 0009
Adam Film World Directory of Aduh Films. Knight Publishing, 1983 Splatter Times, ($9 sub) 603 S.W. 35th St. #3, Palm City, FL 33490
Aduh Movies. Pocket Boolcs, 1982 Trashola t ( 1 981-1985; legendary film/weird culture newsletter
The American Film lnstitvte Catalog, F6:1961-1970. R.R. Bowker, 1976 produced/ distributed free by Jim Morton) A few incomplete sets
& Connoisseur'sGuide to Contemp.
Bolun, Chos. Gore Score ($4) available: $25 from J.M., 1449 Woshington #4, SF (A 94109
Homlr Films $5 from C.B., 8452 Carnegie, Westminster CA 92683
Castle, William. Step Right Up! G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976 SOUNDTRACK$
Cross, Robin. The Big Book of B Movies. St. Martin's Press, 1981 Angels From Hell, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Lollipop Shoppe,
De Coulteroy, George. Sadism in the Movies. Medical Press, 1965 Ted Morckland. Tower, 1968
DeGraxia, Ed & Newman, Roger. a-ned Films. R.R. Bowker, 1982 Beach Blanket Bingo, Donna Loren. Capitol, 1965
Dellar, Fred. NME Guide to Rock Cinema. Hamlyn Paperbacks, 1981 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, The Sandpipers, The Strawberry Alarm
di Franco, J. P. Movi
e World of Roger Corman. Chelsea Hse, 1979 Clock, The Carrie Nations. 20th Century Fox, 1970
Dilauro, AI and Rabkin, Gerald. Dirty Movies. Chelsea Hse, 1976 Blood Feast/2000 Maniacs, Herschel! Gordon Lewis. Rhino, 1984
Dowdy, Andrew. Movies are Better than Ever. Wrn. Morrow, 1 9 7 3 Cheny, Hany and Raquel, Bill Loose. Beverly Hills Records, 1970
Educational Film Locator. R.R. Bowker, 1980 Golden Turkey Awards, Rhino Records, 1986. (Highly recommencled)
Ehrenstein, David and Reed, Bill. Rock on Film. Delilah Bks, 1 982 Ride the Wild Surf, Jan and Dean, The fontostic Boggys. Liberty, 1964
Fernett, Gene. Poverty Row. Coral Reef Publications, 1973 Riot on Sunset Strip, The Stondells, The Mugwumps, The Sidewalk Sounds,
Glaessner, Verina. Kung Fu; Cinema of Vengeance. Bounty Bks, 1974 Debra Travis, The Mom's Boys, Drew. Tower 1967
Hogon, David. Who's Who of the Hon-ors. Bornes, 1980 Ron Haydock and the Boppers, (songs used in Rat pflnk a Boo Boo and
House of Horror: The Complete Story of Hammer Films. Lorimer, 1984 The Thrill Killers). Rock and Country Records, 1979
Kah, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. Perigee Boolcs, 1979 The Trip, Mike Bloomfield and the Electric Flog. Tower/Sidewalk, 1967
Knight, Arthur and Alpert, Hollis. The History of Sex in the Cinema Thunder Alley, Annette funicello, Fabian. Sidewalk Records, 1967
Playboy Magaxine, 1965-1 969 Vixen, Bill Loose. Beverly Hills Record Company, 1970
Krogh, Daniel with Mcfarty, John. The Amcning Herschel! Gordan Lewis.
Fantaco Enterprises Inc, 1983 BOOKS BY ED WOOD, JR
Lees, David and Berkowih, Stan. The Movie Business. Vintage, 1981 (all out-of-print; check used porno bookstores)
Lenh, Harris M. Science Fiction, Hon-or & Fantasy Film & TV
Censorship, Sex and the Movies
Credits, 2 vol. Mcfarland & Co, 1983
Diary of a Transvestite Hooker
McCarthy, Todd and Flynn Charles. Kings of the B's. E.P. Dutton, 1975
h Takes One to Know One
McGee, Mark T. and Robertson, RJ. The J.D. Films. Mcfarland, 1982
Killer in Drag
Maltin, Leonard. TV Movies. Signet, 1986
Orgy of the Dead
Milner, Michael. Sex on Celluloid. Macfadden, 1964
TV Lust
Morgan, Hal and Symmes, Dan. Amcning 3-D. Little, Brown and Co, 1982
Watts • . • The Difference?
Murphy, Michael J. The Celluloid Vampires. Pierian Press, 1979
Watts • • . After?
Newman, Kim. Nightm•e Movies. Proteus Books, 1984
Ragan, David. Who's Who in Hollywood; 1�1976. Arlington Hse, 1976
Rimmer, Robe.-t H. X-Rated Videotape Guide. Arlington Hse, 1984
Sarris, Andrew. The American Cinema. E.P. Dutton & Co, Inc, 1968
Saxon, Martha. Jayne Mansfield and the Fabulous F'rfties. Houghton
Mifflin, 1 9 7 5
See, Carolyn. Blue Money. David McKoy Company, Inc, 1974
Singer, Michael (ed). Film Dlrecton: A Complete Guide. Lone Eagle, 1985
Stanley, John. Creature Features Movie Guide. Warner Books, 1 984
Starks, Michael. Cocaine Fiends and Reefer MCICMess. Cornwall, 1982
TurCK�, Kenneth and lito, Stephen. Sinema. Praeger Publishers, 1974
Turner, George CX'Id Price, Marshal. ForgoHen Horrors. Cranbury, 1979
Tyler, Parker. Underground Films. Grove Press, 1969 SONGS
Waters, John. Shock Value. Delta, 1981 (Title in parentheses indicates movie title if different from song.)
Weldon, Michael. Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film. Ballantine, Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill"., The Bostweeck
1983 (•essential•) Monster A Go-Go, The Other Three
& T. Vahmogi. The American Vein. E.P. Dutton, 1979
Wicking, C. Spider Baby, Lon Chaney Jr.
Wood, Edward D., Jr. Censorship, Sex & the Movies. Gallery, 1973 That's the Way It's Gat to Be (Frankenstein Meets the Space
Ziplow, Steven. Film Maker's Guide to Pornography. Drake, 1977 Monster), The Poets
Toys of Our Time (Cheny, Hany and Raquel), The Jacks and Balls
PUBLICATIONS VIcki (Wild Guhar), Ardl Hall Jr.
(Note: publications listed with a dagger <tl are no longer in print.) The Zombie Stomp (Horror of Party Beach), The Del-Aires
Adam Film World
ChiiMn of the Night, ($4) 7450 Village Dr, Prairie Village, KS 66208 VIDEO SOURCES
Confessions of a Trash Fiend t (1982-1984) (Many bixarre, wonderful movies ore available on videocossette. These
Fangoria, 475 Park Ave South, NYC, NY 10016 sources were chosen for their prices and selections. Endose a SASE.)
Fe• of Darkness t (1981-1983) VIDEO YESTERYEAR (catalog $1.75), Box C, Sandy Hoole, CT 06482
Gore GaxeHe, c/o Sullivan, 7 3 N. Fullerton Ave, Montclair, NJ 07042 NILES CINEMA, 1141 Mishawaka Ave, Box 70, South Bend, IN 46624
($13/yr US; •recommended•) BVM VIDEO (Catalog $1), 11 S Stanton St, Ripon, WI 54971
Mogick Theatre, ($12 sub) P.O. Box 0446, Boldwin, NY 1 1 510-0129 HORROR HOUSE, 720 West 27th St #337, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Midnight Marquee, ($4) R. Svehla, 4000 Glenarm, Baltimore, MD 21206 SINISTER CINEMA, 583 Manor Dr. Pacifico, CA 94044
Monster Times t (1973-1974) MICHAEL BURGUJIAN, 15-35 1 46th Place, Whitestone, NY 1 1 3 5 7
Nostalgia (formerly known as Heretic) MORCRAn FILMS, 8 3 7 N . Cohuengo Blvd, Hollywood, C A 90038
Abogo/1 leslie Is 8oclc In Town 199, 204 Big Bird Cage, The (film) 1 5 2 192
(film) 9B Attock of the Mayan Mummy Big Bust-Out, The (film) 152 BOIN-N-GI (film) 34, lOS, 1 08 ;
Abductors, The (film) 1B9 (film) 204 Big Cube, Tlte (film) 1 SO poster, 107
Abel, Robert (screenwriter) 20 Attack o f the Puppet People Big Doll House, Tlte (film) 152 Bane aka Housewife (film) 1 24,
Acid Eaters, Tlte (film) 1 09, 149 (film) 186 8lg Valley, The (TV show) 135 137
Acid Montr,o, or Rebirth of a Audubon Pictures, 200 Biker Films (genre) 140-142; Boogeymon, The (film) 195
Notion (film) 149 Avalon, Frankie (actor) 147 Hell's Angels, 1 40-142; "Mother" Boorman, John (director) 1 8 8
Ackerman, Forrest J. (ex-editor, AVCO Embassy Pictures, 21, 142 Miles' funeral as reported In tile, Borgnlne, Ernest (act·or) 79
Famous Monsters of Fllmlond) 1B6 Awful Dr. OrloH. The lfllml 10A 140; Sonny Barger, Hell's Angels Born Innocent (TV movie) 188
Adamson, A I (filmmaker) 1B6 Bobb, Kroger aka Howard W. leader, 1 42; stars of, Include Scott Born tasers (film) 142
203; forms Independent­ Bobb (filmmaker) 102, 104, l OS, Brady, Robert Dix, Jeremy Slate, Bowongol Bowongol (film) 162
International Pictures, 1 86 1 08, 1 56, 163, 186 William Smith, 142 Bowers, Bill (screenwriter) SS,
Adventures of tuclcy Pierre, The Bachelor In Paradise (film) 147 Bikini Beach (film) 186 196
(film) 22, 24, 34, 1 OS, 1 08, 163 Bod Girls Go to Hell (film) 1 10, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Boy and the Pirates, Tlte (film)
Aflermotlt, The (film) 65, 73, 75 1 1 3; still, 1 1 1 The (film) 186 194
Agor, John (actor) 1 88; marries Boer, Buddy ( actor) 192 Birth of a Baby Films (genre) 9, Bradley, David (director) 188;
Shirley Temple, 186 Bagdad, William (actor) 68 35, 102, 1 04, 1 OS, 1 08; see also films by, Include Treasure Island.
Agent For H.A.R.M. (film) 75 Bokolyon, Dick (actor) 88, 89, Mo!7' and Dod Peer Gynt, Macbeth, Julius Coeso
Alex Joseph And His Wives aka 198 Birth of a Nation (film) 144 188
Tlte Rebel Breeds (film) 64, 75 Boker, Rick (make-up) 1 1 7 Bizarre Ones, Tlte (film): still, 165 Braga, Sonia (actress) 39
Allred Hitcltcoclc Presents (TV Bolin, Bobby (asst. cameraman) Block Angels (film) 142 Brain From Planet Arous (film)
show) 53 100 Block Caesar (film) 1 1 4, 124, 186
Allee in Addfond (film) 149 Boll, Warren (odor) 61 125; sequel, 1 2 5 Brain of Blood (film) 1 8 6
AII tlte Fallen Angels: see Ballantine Books, 1 1 1 Black, Karen (actress) 34 Brolnlac, The (film) 1 90, 202
The Wild Angels Bonner, Jill (actress) 1 8 2 Block Klansman: see I Crossed Brand of Shame (film) 107
All tlte Sins of Sodom (film) : Bora, Theda (actress) 1 6 1 Tlte Color tine Branded (TV show) 1 35, 136
stills, 96, 98 Borborelfo (film) 203 Black Sobboth (film) 1 8 7 Brondo, Marlon (actor) 143, 1 46
Allen, Rusty (actress) 34 Barbed Wire Dolls (film) 1 5 2 Block Sunday (film) 1 87, 202 Brandt, Carolyn (actress) 36, 39,
Allen, Woody (filmmaker): Bordo, Joe "Brick" (actor) 39, SO Blackboard Jungle, The (film) 43, 44, 54, SS; pix of, 56
appeal of, 2 1 ; basis of films by, 49 Bardot, Brigitte (actress) 1 02, 1 44, 199; based on Evon Hunter's Breast of Russ .Meyer, The
Alley Tramp (film) 35 164, 203 The Blackboard Jungle (film-in-progreu) 76, 83
Allied Artists, 142, 1 9 1 , 195, Barkett, Steve (filmmaker) 65, Bfoclcensteln (film) 8 Bregman, Tracy (actress) 1 52
204; formerly Monogram, 145 75 Bloclcsnalcel (film) 83 Bride of the Monster aka Bride af
Alligator People, Tlte (film) 204 Boron, Allen (filmmaker) 178 Blair, Lindo (actress) 53, 152, tlte Atom (film) 1 58
Allison, Bonnie (actress) 44 Barr, Candy (actress) 164 188 Brood, Tlte (film) 1 9 1 , 192
Altman, Robert (director) 8B Barrie, Elaine (actress) 193 Blast o f Silence (film): review, Brooks, Richard (director) 144
Amazing Colossal Man, Tlte (film) Barrymore, John (actor) 176 178 Browning, Tod (director) 1 88
1 94 Basket Case (film) 8, 1 1 ; pix of Blost-OH Girls (film) 35 Brownrigg, S.F. (director) 1 88
Amazing Herscltelf Gordon tewls, Belial, 9; still, 1 4 Blaze Storr Goes Nudist (film) Brummer, Andre aka Henry
Tlte (book) 25 Bathory, Elizabeth (aristocrat) 1 13 Price (composer) 36, 44
Amazing Transplant, Tlte (film) 187, 194; films Inspired by, i nclude Slab, Tlte (film) 1 44, 163, 180; Bruce, Lenny (comedian) 163
1 1 1 , 1 1 2; plot, 1 1 3 Countess Dracula, Daughters of Jack Harris (Jack H. Harris Brynner, Yul (actor) 136
American International Pictures Darkness, The Devll's Wedding Enterprises), distributor of, 137 Buchanon, Lorry (director) 1 86,
(AlP) 52, 1 24, 1 37, 142, 147, I BB, Night, The Female Butcher, Immoral Blonde on a Bum Trip (film) 188, 189
190, 1 9 1 ' 195, 196, 198-200; Toles, to Comtesse Perverse 149, ISO Bucket of Blood (film) 52, 1 40,
started by Samuel Z.. ArkoH and Bottle Beneath Tlte forth (film) 8 Blood and Block lace (film) 1 8 7 1 9 1 , 200
James H.. Nicholson, 144, 145; AlP­ Bava, Lamberto (director) 186 Blood and Roses (film) 203; Bugl (film) 1 9 1
Television, 1 8 8 8avo, Mario (director) 1 47, 1 86, based on Sheridan Lefonu's Summer! (film): poster, 1 03
Amplas, John (actor) 1 B 3 187 Cormilla Buried Alive (film) 197
Anatomy o f An Accident (film) Bayou (film): see Poor White Blood Both (film) 190 Burr, Ron (actor) 39
169 Trash Blood Beach (film) 202 Burroughs, William S. (writer)
And Gad Created Woman (film) Beach Boll (film) 147 Blood Feas t (film) 8 , 20, 27, 28, 22, 192
102, 1 64, 203 Beach Bfonlcet 81ngo (film) 186 lOS, 106, 108, 1 1 2, 163, 199; first Bury Me on Angel (film) 142
Angel, Angel, Down We Go Beach House, The (film) 98 gore film, 18, 34,- shooting of, 24, Butterflies (film) 97
(film): still, 149 Beach Party (film) 1 42, 145, 147, 25; the role of blood In, 29, 30; Bye, Bye Brazil (film) 39
Angel Number Nine (film) 193 186 plot of, 34; stil'ls, 2 1 , 29, 30 CoHoro, Cheri (actress) 1 8 9
Angel o f tlte Crooked Street, Tlte Beach Party Films (genre) 146, Blood Feast II (film-in-progress) Caged (film) 1 5 1
(film) 143 147; see also William Asher 1 8 , 106 Caged Heat (film) 83, 1 5 2 , 202
Angels From Hell (film) 142 Beast of Yucca Flats (film) 193 Blood af Dracula's Castle (film) Cohn, Ed L. (director) 145, 189
Anger, Kenneth (filmmaker) 163 Beat Generation, Tlte (film): still, 186 Caligulo (film) 1 S
Ann-Margret (actress) 142 204 Blood Orgy o f the S ite Devils Calypso Hear Wove (film) 144
Anotlter Day, Another Man (film) Beaudine, William (director) (film) 63, 66, 69, 75; poster, 67; Camille 2000 (film) 200; based
111 187, 1 8 8 produced by Occult Productions, on Dumas' Camille
Ansoro, Michael (actor) 63 Beausoleil, Bobby (actor) 1 SS Inc., 72; stills, 6 1 , 63, 7 1 ; sypnosls, Campbell, Audrey (actress) 92
Anthell, George (composer): Because of Eve (film) 1 OS 68 Campbell, William (actor) 190
scores Fernond Leger's Ballet Beginning of tlte End (film) 194 Blood Shack aka Tlte Chaoper Cannibal Girls (film) 8
Meconlque, 179; influence d by Bell, Bore and Beautiful (film) 25, (film) 37, 47, SO, 57; stills, 48, S 1 Cannibal Holocaust (film) 198
Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound, 179 34, 106, 108 Blood Shed, The (theater) 35 Cannibals in tlte Streets (film)
Antonlonl, Michelangelo Bell, Virginia (actress) 24, 106, Bloodsucking Freolcs aka 202
(director): book on, 42; tribute to, 108 The Incredible Torture Show (film) Copra, Fronk (director) 1 66
44 Beneath the Valley of the 201, 202 Cardona Jr. & Sr., Rene
Apple Knockers and Colee Bottle Ultra-VIxens (film) 79, 201 Bloodthirsty Butchers (film) 201 (filmmakers) 190
(film) 164 Benedict, Laura (actress) 39 Bloody Brood, Tlte (film) 202 Career Bed (film) 202
Arbuckle, Roscoe "Fatty" (actor) Beowulf (film-in-progress) 64 Bloody Jack the Ripper (unreleased Carey, Timothy (actor) 37, 43,
161 Bergman, lngm or (director) 102, film) 54 657
Argento, Dorio (director) 8, 1 8 6 lOS; films of, mentioned, Summer Slaw Job (film) 164, 204 Carlisle, Anne (actress) 138
A s the World Rolls On (film) 1 4 3 With M011llca, TlteVirgin Spring, 164 Blue Demon ( wrestl er/actor) Carmen, George (film editor) 92,
Asher, William (director) 1 47, Bernard, Susan (actress) 78 157 93
1B6 Berry, Dale (director) 199 Blue Movie (film) 164 Cornivof Roclc (film) 145; remake
Astor Pictures, 192 Beyond the Door II (film) 187 Blue Sunshine (film) 1 SO of The Blue Angel, 200
AJtro Zombies, Tlte (film) 58, 60, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Bob and Sally (film) 105 Carpenter, John (director) 126
63, 65, 66, 69, 74, 75, 202; stills, (film) 76, 78, 79, 80, 87, ISO, 193; Body Beneath, The (film) 201 Carrodine, David (actor) 122,
65, 70, 75; sypnosls, 70 still, 79 Body Fever aka Super Cool (film) 1 23, 1 3 1
Atomic Cafe, Tlte (film) 168 Bicycling With Complete S afety 37, 47, 49, 54, 57, 193 Carrodlne, John (actor) 65, 70,
Attock of the Giant leeches (film) (film) 170 Body of a Female (film): still, 186
Carrera, Barbara (actress) 131 (film) 167 1 36 Demon: see God Told Me To
Carrol, Regina (octreu) 186 ComnMHtlst Blueprint for Conquest Dolley, Don (actor) 132 Demons (film) 186
Corson, Sunset (actor) 40 (film) 167 Damiano, Gerard (director) 1 64 Dennis, Sandy (octre.s) 1 1 , 177
CosobloMo (film) 40 COMentrcrtlon Camp for Gw/s DoMe Hall ltocket (film) 163 Denver, lob (actor) 147
Cossovetes, John (actor) 142 (film) 1 52 DoMes Socred and Prof- Deodoto, Runero (director) 191
Castle, William (filmmaker) 148, COMrete Jungle (film) 152 (mondo film) 156 Depraved (screenplay): Me
190; gimmicks of, 27, 1 9 1 ; contacts Confessions af a Young American Dangerow Hcwses (film) 197 acrt Pflnlc G 8oo 8oo
Lloyds of London, 191; producer of H041Hwife (film) 99 Dangerow Journey (film) 156 Deprcrvedl (film) 1 49, 201
ltosemory's Baby, 1 9 1 Confessions of An Oplvm Eater Darren, James (actor) 147 DeRenzy, Alex (director) 1 64
Cat and tile Canary, Tlte (film) 204 Dos Boot (film) 102 Dem, Bruce (actor) 140, 142,
(film-In-progress) 200 Congo Pictures Ltd., 156 Dating: Do's and Don'ts (film) 149, 150
Cat o' Nine Tolls (film) 186 Cool and tile Crcny, The (film) 166 DeSimone, Tom (director) 152
Ccrto/lno Caper (film) 75 88, 89, 145, 188, 199; still, 89 Daughter of F-y Hill (film) 107 Devil In Miss �. The (film) 99,
Ccrtostroplte (mondo film) 156 Cordell, Frank (composer) 1 1 9 Doughter of Horror aka 165
C.C. and Ccrmpcmy (film) 142 Corey, Wendell (actor) 65, 70 Dementlo (film) 203, 204; Devl/'s Angels (film) 142, 1 96
Cell 2455, Decrtfl /tow (film) 190; Corman, Gene (producer) 1 99 compared to De Chirico, 1 79; Devll's Gambit (film) 75
based on killer Caryl Chessman Corman, Roger (producer) 52, compared to le Grande 8ouffe, Dexter, Maury (producer) 147
Censorship In Denmark: A New 105, 1 1 5, 1 1 6, 137, 140, 1 42, 145, 180; compared to Touch ol Evil, l>lobollcal Or. Z, flte (film) 194
Approach (film) 1 64 1 49, 152, 1 82, 1 88, 1 9 1 , 1 96, 200 179; contains Jock Kerouac-type l>lobo/lcrue (film) 127, 1 9 1
Chained Girls (film) 1 99 Coronet Film, 28 characters, 1 80; review, 179-110 l>lone llnlcletter Story, T lte (film)
Chained H-t (film) 152, 188; COTpse Grinders, The (film) 8, 13, Daughter of the Svn (film) 34, 149
still, 1 5 1 58, 60, 63, 69, 75; corpse grinding 105, 1 06, 108, 109 Die Monster Diet (film) 196;
Chokirls, George (actor) 140 machine, 61; poster, 59; promotion Davis, Nancy (actress) 188 based on H.P. Lovecroft's The
Chambers, Marilyn (actreu) 1 9 1 for, 64; sypnosis, 6 1 ; Dowrl of the Dead (film): review, Colour Out of Spoce
Chaney, Jr., Lon (actor) 1 8 1 , Cox and Underwood (carny 1 82-184 Dlgort, Ushl (actress) 84, 15
1 82, 186 men) 102, 1 04 Doy After, The (TV movie) 30 Dimension Pictures, 1 52
Chariot of tile Gods (film) 1 1 7 Cozzi, Luigi aka Lewis Coates Day of the Dead (film): review, Oirto (film) 81
Clte/s- Girls (film) 204 (director) 1 98 1 82, 184 Doakes, J- (actor) 170
Children of loneliness: see Craven, Wes (filmmaker) 184, Doy of the Nightmare (film) 75 Doctor of Doom (film) 190
The Third Sex 191 Day the forth Stood Still, The Doctors, The (film) 75
Children Sltcw/dn't Play With Crawford, Broderick (actor) 132; (film) 136 Dol/ Squad, Tlte aka Seduce and
Dead Things (film) 75, 184 plx, 1 1 6 Days of Fury (mondo film) 156 Destroy (film) 58, 65, 69, 75, 202;
Chlno Slover (film) 161 CrcrzJes, The (film) 183 Days of Our Y-rs (film) 1 69, compared to James Band films, 63,
Cherry, Harry and ltcrqve/ (film) Creature of Destruction (film), 170 69; forerunner of TV's Cltcw/le's
85 1 81; remake of The Site Creature De $ode '70 (film) 194 Angels, 63; still, 62
Cltooper, The: see Blood Shock Creature of tile Walking Dead Dead fnd (film) 143 Don't ICnock the aock (film) 144
Choppers, The (film) 55, 196 (film) 204 Dead End Kids, The (actors) 143; Don't look In tile Basement (film)
Cltorvs Cal/ (film) 107, 1 09 Creature Wi th tlte Atom Brain later the Bowery Bays 181
Christopher, Kathy (actress) 99 (film) 1 89, 1 90 Dead Zone, The (film) 1 9 1 Don't Puslt Your luck (film) 168
Cltvck Wagon lays (TV show) 1 8 Creepers (Pite-nal (film) 186 Deadly 8/esslng (film) 1 9 1 Donahue, Troy (octor) 49, 50
Circus o f Horrors (film) 10, 1 6 Cresse, lab (producer) 66, 106, Deadly w-pons (film) 1 1 1 1 1 3, Dors, Diana (actress) 1 00
'
City Across the ltlver (film) 1 43; 1 07, 1 55, 1 63, J 9 1 , 194 201 Dotty Mack Show, T he (TV show)
based on Irving Shulman's The Crime In tile Strec.-ts (TV drama) Deadwood '76 (film) 196 143
Amboy Oukes 142 Dean, James (actor) 43, 144, Double Agent 73 (film) 1 1 0, 1 1 1,
Clark, Candy (actress) 122, 131 Crime Wave (unreleased film) 1 7 203 1 1 3, 201
Clark, Dick (producer) 150 Criswell (actor) 9, 1 9 1 ; author of Dean'sWife, The (film) 150 Dowd, Thomas (producer) 35,
Clery, Corinne (actress) 165 Crls-/1 Predicts, 1 59 Death Curse of Tortv (film) 195 1 06
Cobra Woman (film): still, 7 Cronenberg, David (filmmaker) DeCen:de, Pete (burlesque Down on Us (film): d-ths of
Cohen, Lorry (director) 1 1 4, 138, 1 84, 1 9 1 , 192 owner/producer) 86, 163 Janis Joplin, Jlml Hendrix and Jim
177, 178; films of, 138; Frank Crossroads Avenger (film) 1 5 1 Decoy for Tenor aka The P/ayflllr/ Morrison In, as conspiracy, 189
HenenloHer on, 1 1 ; 1 1 4-138; on C rvlse MluJ/e (film) 75 «Iller (film) 202 Downe, Alison Louise
Alfred Hitchcock, 133; pix of, 1 1 5, Cukor, George (director) 111 D-, Sondra (actress) 1 46, 202 (scriptwriter) 35
1 1 6; writes scr-nplay (Success), Cunha, Richard (filmmaker) 192 Deep lted (film) 9, 1 86 Dr. lutcller M.O.(film) 15, 184
138, produces play Trlc.k, 138; Cunningham, s-n (producer) Deep Tlwocrt (film) 83, 97, 1 64 Dr. Chasm's Chasm of Spasms
writes play, Motive, 138 105 Defenders, The ( TV show) 135 (film) 102
Cole, Dennis (actor) 50 Curious Allee (film) 161 Defilers (film) 1 07-109; based on Or. Ooldfoot and tile 8Hclnl
Co/lege Confldentlo/ (film) 204 Curse of Her Flesh, The (film) 193 John Fowles' The Collector Machine (film) 147
ColOT Me Blood /ted (film) 18, c- of tile Crying w-n (film) Degenerates, The (film) 201 Dr. Oo/dfoot ond the Girl Bomh
20, 1 05, 1 06, 108, 163; David 202 Delicate Dellnqvent, The (film) 88 (film) 147, 187
Friedman and Herschel! Gordon c- of tile Stone Hand (film) Delinquents, The (fUm) 88, 89 Dr. Strange/ave, Or Wily
Lewis part ways during filming of, 204 Dementlo: see o-ghter of Stopped Worrying and 1_,_, To
34; poster, 20 Curse of tile Swamp Creature H«rcrr love tile 8omb (film) 51
Columbia Pictures, 5 1 , 102, 144, 3(fllm) 186, JIS o--ttlo J 3 (fllm) 1 90 Draw/a (1931 film) 1 11
161 Czar, NOMy (actress) 40 DeMille, Cecil I. (director) 60, Drawler vs. Franlcensteln (film)
Common law Cabin (film) 87; 1 1 6, 1 1 7 186, 203
still, 8 1 Daddy, Darling (film) 97 Demme, Jonathon (director) 13, Drawlo's � love (film) 201
Communism A t Our lack Door Daddy's Gone a-Hunting (film) 147, 1 52 IHogstrlp ltlot (film) 188
Drlvas, Robert (actor) 129 Fonda, Jane (actress) 203
Drivers In Hell (film} 37, 46, 47, Fonda, Peter (actor) 140, 149
55 F� of rite Gods (film) 1 95;
Durston, David (filmmaker) 193 based on H.G. Wells' food of tlte
"Dust to Dust": see Hlglt Sclt-1 Girl Gods
ECJr.n Alive aka DeCJtlt TrCJp aka For Tltase Wlto Tltlnk Young (film)
Legend of tlte BCJyou aka StCJrllgltt 147
SICJugltr.r (film) 1 9 7 Force of One (film) 73
Ebert, Roger (critic) 87; review Ford, John (director) 77, 168
of Nlgltt of tile Living DeCJd In Forrest, Frederic (actor) 127
lfeCJder's Digest, 1 83 "Forty Thieves, The" (gang of
Ecco (mondo film) 1 55 Independent producers) lOS, 162;
EutCJCy on Lovers IJICJnd (film): Includes Dwaln Esper, Steve Fays,
still, 105 Pappy Golden, the Sonneys, etc.
Edison, Thomas (inventor) 1 6 1 Foster, J. Byron (actor) 61
EducatiOtKJI Film LocCJtor, Tlte Four flies on Grey Velvet (film)
(book) 1 6 7 186
Educational Films (genre) Fourtlt Sex, Tlte (film) 200
1 66-168 Fowles, John (writer) 1 08, 128;
EegCJitl (film) 49, SS, 196 larry Cohen on Tlte Frenclt
Eichorn, Franz CJkCJ William M. LleutertCJnt's WomCJn, 1 2 7
Morgan (director) 1 59 Foy, Bryan (producer) 102, 1 07,
fl Condor (film) 136 1 5 1 , 163
El Hombre Lobo (film) 201 FrCJnces (film) 1 35
El lleto..- de Wolpurgis (film) Francis, Coleman (filmmaker)
201 47, 48, 49, 193
fl Trunsexuol (film) 201 Francis, Connie (actress) 147
Elliot, T.S. (poet) 25 Franco, Jess (director) 152, 193,
Elysia (film) 1 06, 1 6 3 94
Emerson, Hope (actress) 1 5 1 frCJnkensteln (film) 1 92
EmmCJrtUelle (film) 165 frunkensteln Meets tlte SpC>ce
Empire of rite Ants (film) 195 Monster (film) 194
End, The (mondo film) 156 FrCJnkensteln's DCJugltter (film)
Entertainment Ventures, 108 192
Enyo, Erina (actress) 39 FreCJks (film) 1 8 8
Erotic Adventures of Pinoccltlo, Frederic, Mark (producer) 192
Tile (film) 57, 203 free lllde, A (film) 1 64
Erotic Adventures of Zarro, Tlte FrldCJy tlte 1 3 tlt films: 1 1 , 1 06,
(film) 107, 109 125, 126, 1 87
Esper, Dwain (filmmaker) 105, Friedman, David (producer) 26,
193 79, 102-109 1 1 2, 1 63, 1 65; films
Eubanks, Shari (actress) 84, BS of, 109; team of, and Herschel!
Eugenie . . . Tile Story of Her Gordon lewis, 18, 23, 24, 34
Journey Into PerversJon (film) 1 94 Frost, R. lee (director) 66, 107,
Eve and tile HCJndymCJn (film) 80, 108, ISS, 163, 1 9 1 , 194
82, 86; still, 87 Fulci, Lucio (director) 1 9B
Every AfterrtCJon (film) 100 Full M-n Higlt (film) 1 1 8;
fvl/ DeCJd, Tile (film) 1 7; compared to Teen Wolf, 1 1 8
confiscating copies of, 1 1 , 1 6 fuller, Samuel (director) 1 1 4, 129, 133, 135, 1 37; review of, Hall, Arch Sr. aka Nicholas
Evil DeCJd II, Tlte (film) 1 7 126 177, 178; still, 1 2 0 Merriwether aka William Watters
Evil Eye (film) 202 Funltouse (film) 39, 197 Godard, Jean-luc (director) 1 1 3 (filmmaker) 44, 45, 55, 56, 195,
Evil PleCJsure, Tile (film) 1 49 Funlcello, Anne"• (actress) 147, Golden Studios 1 1 9 , 120 196
Exorcist, Tile (film) 1 88 198 Golden Turkey AwCJrds, Tile Hall, Huntz (actor) 143
Exorcist II: Tile Heretic (film) 188 Gaffney, Robert (filmmaker) 194 (book) 52 Hallelujah Tlte Hills (film) 1 00
fxplosJon: DCJnger Lurks (film) GCJICJxy Girls (film-in-progress) Goldilocks and the Three Bores Holler, Daniel (art director) 196;
170 18 (film) 34, 1 06, 1 08 directs Kojak and Ironside, 196
Eye CreCJtures, Tlte (film) 1 88; GCJme of Survival aka Tenement Good Grooming for Girls (film) Hallucination GenerCJtion (film)
remCJke of Tlte Invasion of tlte (film) 193 166 149
SCJucer Men GCJrden of Eden (film) 34, 105, Good Morning CJnd G-dbye Halperin, Victor & Edward
163 (film) 79, 87 (filmmakers) 1 96, 197
fCJCe of Evil: see Tlte Incredibly Garras, Nicholas (composer) 67, Goodbye Norma JeCJn (film) 1 89 Hamilton, George (actor) 109
Strange Creatures Wlto Stopped 68 Goof on the loose (film) 38 Hammett (film) 127
Living and Became Mixed-Up Gates of Hell (film) 1 84 Gorcey, leo (actor) 143 Hammett, Dashiell (writer) 127
Zombies Gatewood, Charles Gordon, Bert I. (filmmaker) 194, Hand o f Death (film) 186
fCJCes of DeCJtlt (mondo film) (photographer) 1 56 195 Harem Keeper of the Oil Sltelks
15, 156 Gavin, Erica (actress) 85, B7 Gore Gore Girls, The (film) 17, (film} 203
faces of DeCJtlt PCJrt II Gein, Ed (murderer) 1 94; films 18, 25, 30, 32, 35 Harrington, Curtis (filmmaker)
(mondo film) 1 5 6 Inspired by, Include Deranged, Gorshin, Frank (actor) 190 197
facts of Life, Tlte (book) 9 Psyclto, TexCJs CltolnsCJw MCJssacre, Graeff, Tom (director) 195 Harris, Jack (producer) 137, 1 63; see
Fairbanks, Douglas (actor) 148, Tltree on CJ MeCJtlt-k Graham, Chelly: see Georgina also The Blob
161 GltCJstly Ones, Tlte (film) 201 Spelvln Harris, Timothy (writer) 1 2 7
Falbo, Billy (actor) 34 Gltast In tlte Invisible Bikini, Tile Grankvist, Sven (producer) 96 Hart, Dolores (actress) 1 4 7
Foil of tlte House of Uslter, Tlte (film) 147 Grant, John A. (filmmaker) 195 Hawks, Howard (director) 1 2 6
(film) 197 Ghouls CJnd Dolls (film) 75 Groves, Peter (actor) 43 Haydock, Ron aka lonnie lord
fCJnny Hill (film) 8 1 , 204 Giant (film) 76 Great Hunting I 984, Tlte aka Yin Saxon (actor) 37, 39, 43,
fCJster PussycCJtf Killl Kllll (film) Giant From the Unknown (film) (mondo film) 1 5 6 47, 48, SO; loader of Ron Haydock
76, 78, 79, 86, 202; The Cramps' 192 Green Berets, The (film) 198 and the Boppers, 197 (album
cover of title track, 84; soundtrack, Giant Gila Monster, Tile (film) Grefe, William (director) 195 cover, SO); contributor to Famous
83, B4; stills, 77, 80. 185 198 Griffin, James (actor) 79 Monsters of fllmlond and Monster
femCJie, 8unclt, Tlte (film) 1 86, Gidget (film) 146 Griffith, Charles (scriptwriter) Times, 197
203 Gidget (ioes Ta Hell (film) 147 1 40, 142, 1 9 1 Hays, Will: appoints Joseph
Ferrigno, lou (actor) 198 Gillis, Jomle (actor) 202 Griffith, D.W. (director) 32 Breen, 1 6 1 ; creates the Office of
Field, Sally (actress) 147 Ginger (film) 1 8 9 Griffith, leroy (theater owner) the Motion Picture Production Code
Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers Girl In Gold B-ts (film) 64, 24, 25, 106 (aka the Hays Commission), 1 6 1 ,
(film) 87; still, 82 74, 75; still, 68 Gross, Jerry (producer) 195 162; forms Central Casting, 1 6 1 ;
Findlay, Michael and Roberta Girl, Tlte Body and Tile Pill, Tlte Ground, Robert (filmmaker) 195 president of Motion Picture
aka Robert West/Julian Marsh and (film) 35 Growing Girls (film) 168 Producers and Distributors
Anna Rlva (filmmakers) 1 S, 1 63, Girl's Town (film) 1 52 Gruesome Twosome, Tile (film) Association of America, 16 I ;
1 92, 193 Girls Are For Loving (film) 1 89 18, 2B, 31; campaign for, 30; plot Hayward, Susan (actress) 39
Fine, Bernie (CJctor) 49 Girls From LomCJ Lomo, Tile (film) of, 35; stills, 3 1 , 32 HeCJven's Gate (film) 26, 29
Fine, Mort (scriptwriter) 44 107 Guru, Tlte Mad Monk (film) 201 HeCJvenly Bodies (film) 86
Fireball 500 (film): poster, 187 Girls In Prison (film) 152 Gutter TrCJsll (film) 201 Hell Night (film) 188
Five IJI�y Grcrves (film) 1 8 6 Girls On CJ Chain GCJng (film) 1 95 GuyCJnCJ, Cult of the Damned Hell's Angels on Wheels (film)
Flagg, Cash: see RCJy Dennis Gleason, Jackie (actor) 1 SO (film) 1 90 142, ISO
Steckler Glen or GlendCJ aka He or Site: Guys and Dolls (film) 76 Hellhole (film) 152, 203
fleslt CJnd BI-d Sltow (film) lOS Tile Transvestite aka I CIICJnged My Homo the Magnificent (film) 166
F/eslt CJnd Lace (film) 99 Sex aka I Led Two Lives (film) 158 Haig, Sid (actor) 182 Henenlotter, Fronk (filmmaker)
fleslt ECJfers, Tlte (film) 199 Go, Go, Go World (mondo film) HCJjl (actress) 78, 79 8-17
flesh trilogy, The (films) 163: us Hale, Alan (actor) 79 Henson, linn (actress) 68
Tlte Curse of Her fleslt, Tlte Klu of God TCJid Me To akCJ Demon (film) Hall, Arch Jr. (odor) 40, 44, SS, Hercules (1983 film) 198
Her fleslt, Tlte Touclt of Her flesh 1 1 , 1 1 4 - 1 1 7 , 1 1 9-122, 124, 126, 196 Hercules In the Haunted World
 (film) 187 Black Orpheus, 40; filmmlng of, 42; Kiss of Her flesh, Tlte (film) 193 Lucas, George (director) 97
Herrmann, Bernard (composer) lawsuit over, 5 1 ; original title, Klaw, Irving (photographer) Lugosl, Bela (actor) 9, 158, 159,
119 Face of Evil, 50; plot, 56; poster, 198, 201 118, 197
High School C011fiden tlal (film): 37; sequel, 57; soundtrack, 50; Klein, Yves (artist) 1 5 4 Luncllroom Monners (film} 167
review, 1 4 5 stills, 40, 4 1 , 45, 46, 52, 55 Knee Oonclng (film) 73 Luplno, Ida (actress) 1 5 1
High Scltool Girl (film) 1 0 2 Indian Fighter (film) 66 Knight, Arthur (writer) 107 Lynch, Jimmy (soundman} 1 00
Hill, Jack (director) 1 5 2 , 1 8 1 , Inferno r'The Mother of Sighs"J KoHo, Yaphet (actor) 124 Mobe, Byron (screenwriter) IUO,
182 (film) lB6 Kovou, Laszlo (cameraman) 107, 107
Hills Have Eyes, The (film) 191 lnga (film) 96 142 Macabre (film) 191
Hillyer, Lambert (director) 187 lngogi (film) 156, 162 Kowalski, Bernard (director) Mack, Ju- (actress) 83
Hlp, Hot and 21 (film) 199 Insects as Carriers of Disease 152, 198, 1 99 MacKay, Gordner (actor) 49, SO
Hippie Temptation, The (TV film) (film) 167 Krakatoo, fast o f Java (film) 199 Madame Olga'I MOSJage Parlor
150 Inside Jennifer Welles (film) 99 Krlstel, Sylvia (actress) 165 (film) 199
History of the Blue Movie, A Inside Soko (film) 99 Krogh, Dan (author) 25 Mogle of Slrtbad, The (TV pilot)
(film) 1 64 Interview with the Vampire Kubrick, Stanley (director) 36, 43, 54
Hitchcock, Alfred (director) 32; (novel) 1 1 8 43, 5 1 Mogle Spectacle• (film) 196
almost kil led by Ray Dennis Invader (film) 1 6 8 Kuchar, George (filmmaker) 163 Mogle Sword, The (film) 194
Steckler, 5 3 Invaders, Tho (TV show) 135, 136 Kupferman, Meyer (composer) Maitland, Lorna (actress) 199
Hite, Henry (actor) 35 Invaders from Mars (film) 183 178 Malte1e falcon, The (film) 1 3 1 ,
Hollywelrd (film-in-progress) 44 Invasion of tho Body Snatchers La Comtesse Perverse (film) 194 132
Hollywood Blue (film) 15S, 164 (bath films) 126, 1 8 3 La Marco dol Hombre Lobo (film) Man And A Woman, A (film) 54,
Hollywood Stran!Jior Goes to Las Invasion o f tho Sauce r Men (film) 201; rel•ased a:J franlf.enateln 's 127
Vegas, The (film-in-progress) 36, 44 1 44, 1 90 Bloody Terror) Man Man Man (mondo film) 1 5 6
Hollywood Strangler Meets Tho Invasion USA ( 1 9 5 2 film) 204 Lo Orgla do Los Muortos (film) Maniac (film) 193
Skid llow Slasher (film) 37, 47, 57 Invisible Invaders (film) 183, 1 86, 201 Maniacs Are Loose: •e rite Thrill
Hollywood's World of Flesh 190 La Vampire Nuo (film) 202 Killen; poster, 53
(mondo film) 155 Ireland, John (actor) 126 Lancaster, Stuart (actor) 79 Mann, Edward (director) 1 49
Homage to Herschell Gordon Irma Lo Douce (film) 202 Landis, Bill (writer) 201 Manos, The Hands Of fate (film)
Lewis, An (film) 35 It Came From Hollywood (film) Landis, James (director) 196 204
H011eymoon Killers, The (film) 99 52 Lange, Jessica (actress) 1 3 5 Man10n (film) 1 SS
Hooked Generation, The (film) ltf The Terror from Beyond Space Lost Date, The (film) 168 Monson, Charles (murderer) 18,
195 (film) 1 90 Lost House on the Loft (film) 1 91 134, 1 55
Hooper, Tobe (filmmaker) 1 29, It's a Bikini World (film) 147 Last Time I Saw Archie, The (film) Mantis In Lace aka Lllcr (film) 1 SO
197, 198 It's Alive (film by Lorry 55, 196 MargheriHI, Antonio (director}
Hoover, J. Edgar, 1 1 4, 1 32, 138 Buchanan) IBB Laughing Woman, The (film): still, 198
Hopper, Dennis (actor) 149 It's Ali ve! (film by La"y Cohen} 200 Marlltuano, Weed Wltlo llootw In
Hopper, Hal (actor) 79 1 1 4, 1 18, 122, 127, 128, 1 32, 135, Laura's Toys (film) 9 7 Hell (film) 193
Horizontal Lieutenant, The (film) 137; compared to Tho Elephant Lazar, John: see Z:-Man Marlowe, ScoH (actor) 88, 199
147 Man, 1 1 7, 1 1 8; still, 1 1 9 Lo Culte du Vampire (film) 202 Mars Need• Women (film) 147,
Horrible Dr. Hitchcock, The (film) It's Alive Ill (film b y Lorry Lo frlsson des Vampires (film) 198; remake of Pajama Party, 1 8 8
202 Cohen) 1 2 1 , 1 37 202 Marshall, E.G. (actor) 1 3 5
Horror At Party Beach (film) 147 It's Up to You (film) 169 Leeds, Lila (actress) 105 Martin (film) 183
Horror Of tho Blood Monsters lzay, Victor (actor) 68 Lelouch, Claude (director) 54, Martino, Francesco (director)
(film) 1 8 6 Jack the Ripper (film) 1 94 154 1 98
Hostage, The (film) 73-75 Jackson, Eli (producer) 24, 106 Lembeck, Harvey (actor) 147 Martino, Sergio (director) 198
Hot Box, The (film) 152 Jackson, Jean-Pierre (writer) 83 Lemon Grove Kids Meet The Marx, Groucho (actor) 1 5 0
Hot Car Girl (film) 88, 1 9 8 Jacobs, Arthur (producer) 192 M011stors (film) 36, 37, 47, 50, 54, Marx, Harpo (actor) 49
Hot Rod Girl (film) 145 JocopoHi, Gualtiero (filmmaker) 57; still, 38; sypnosis, 49 Mascaras, Mil (wrestler) 1 5 7
Hot Spur (film) 107 154 Lenzi, Umberto (director) 198 Ma1k, T he (film) 202; 1tlll, 202
Hot Thrills and Warm Chills (film) Jade, Bonito (actress) 42 Les femmes Vampires (film) Mason, Connie (actress) 107, 1 99
199 Joockin, Just (director) 165 202 Ma1que O f The lied Death, The
House of I ,000 Dolls (film) 1 5 2 Jail Bait aka Hidden Face (film) Les LIGisons Dangereuses (film) (film) 52
House of Psychotic Women (film) 145, 158 203 Mossey, Raymond (actor) 1 04
201 J.D. Films (genre) 143-145; see Let's Be Safe A t Home (film) 169 Matinee Idol (film) 109
House of Women (film) 1 52; remake also Dick Bakalyan Levesque, Michael (director) 152 Mowra, Joseph (director) 163, 1 99
of Caged Jeopardy Films (genre) 169, 170 Levre de Sang (film) 202 McCalla, Irish (actress) 192
House on Haunted Hill (film) 1 9 1 J.E.R. (distributors) 1 1 1 Lewis, Herschel! Gordon McConn, Chuck (actor) 99
Housewife: see Bone Jimmy, Tho Boy Wonder (film) 35 (filmmaker} 10, 1 1 , 18-35, 102, McCarty, Joe (author) 25
How Much Are Your Eyes Worth? Johnson, Tor (actor) 193, 203 105, 106, 108, 1 1 1-1 13, 142, 163, McCurdy, Elmer (outlaw) 1 0 8
(film) 168 Jones, Jim (cult loader) 190 175, 1 76, 1 84 , ; co-owner of Lewis McDonald, Ross (writer} 127
How To Stuff a Wild Bikini (film) Jorgensen, Christine & Martin Films, 1 8; films of, 35; McGuinn, Jim (screenwriter} 20
186 (transsexual) 1 59 founder of Communi-Camp, 35; Mclaughlin, Tom aka T.C. Fronk
How To Undress In Fr011t Of Joseph, Irwin (distributor) 23, member of Society for Clinical and (filmmaker} 142
Your Husband (film) 107, 193 105 Experimental Hypnosis, 26; pix of, McMahon, ld (norratOf') 179
Howco-lnternotional, 1 4 5 Joy Ride (film) 1 4 5 34 McQueen, Steve (actor) 49
Hullaballoo (TV show) 1 4 7 Jungle Hell (film) 75 Lewis, Jerry (actor) 88 McRae, Leslie (actress) 68
Hungry Wives aka Jack's Wife J.U.R.I. Productions 1 1 1 Lickerish Quartet, The (film) 200; Mechanized Death (film) 167
aka Season of tho Witch (film) 183 Just Far The Hell Of It (film) 28 still, 1 99 Medium Cool (film) 1 1
Hunter, Evon aka Ed McBain "Justo Dream" (stripper): pix of, Lieberman, Jeff (director) 1 5 0 Mekas, Adolph (filmmaker) 1 00
(writer) 144 161 Llfeforce (film) 198 Mesa O f Lost Women (film) 1 0
Huston, John (director) 23, 76 Justine (film) 194 Liljedahl, Marla (actress) 96 Metzger, Radley aka Henry
HuHon, Jim (actor) 147 Juvenile Jungle (film) 88; stills, Linville, Allee (actress) 92 Paris (director) 83, 1 99-200
I, A Woman (film) 1 64, 200; still, 144, 145 Linda and Abilene (film) 1 8 Meyer, Ruu (filmmaker) 1 2 , 34,
171 Karimoja (film) 1 05, 1 50 Lindberg, Christina (actress) 94, 76-87, 102, 105, 108, 1 1 3, 1 50,
I A m Curious, Blue (film) 164 Korloff, Boris (ac:tor) 1 87, 196 99 163, 193, 199, 201' 204
I Am Curious, Yellow (film) 164 Katzman, Sam aka "Jungle Sam" List of Adrian Messenger, The Mid-Continent Films 34
I Crossed The Color Uno: original (producer) 144,145 (film) 126 Midnight Cowboy (film) 1 1
title The Black Klansman (film) 64, Kaufman, Andy (actor) 1 1, 120, LIHle Shop of Horrors, The (film) Mikels, Ted V. ( filmmaker) SO,
69, 74, 75 1 24 140, 1 9 1 , 200 57, 58-75; forms Genenl Film
I Drink Your Blood (film) 193, Keep My Grove Open (film) 1 88 Living Venus (film) 19, 20, 34, Distributing, 74; member, Motion
195 - Kellogg, Ray (director) 198 105 Picture Pioneers of America, 62;
I Love Lucy (TV show) 147, 186 Kelly, Monika (actress) 61 Liz (film} 201; re-releosed as The office at Goldwyn Studios, 7 1 ; pix
I Lunghi Capelli della Morto Kenney, Sean (actor) 61 Promiscuous Sex of, 72, 73; stuntman for Indian
(film) 202 Kent, Gary (actor) 39 Lo Blanco, Tony (actor) 133, 1 77, fighter, 66
I Sailed to Tahi ti with on All-Girl Kerwin, William (actor) 195, 202 178 Mllland, Ray (actor) 18
Crow (film) 50 Kiol, Richard (actor) 49 Looking for Love (film) 147 Miller, Dick (actor) 200-201
I, The Jury (film) 1 1 4, 1 30-132 Kill The Dragon (film) 75 Loren, Donna (singer) 147 Miller, Pete (actor) 89
If (film) 1 1 Killer Shrews, Tlte (film) 198 Lomo (film) 76, 79, 86, 163, 1 99 Milligan, Andy (director) 1 49,
lisa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Killing, The (film) 43 Losers, The (film) 142 201
Sheiks (film) 13, 203 Killing Kind, The (film) 197 Love Camp Seven (film) 1 02, 107, Mlmleux, YveHe (actress) 147
lmmarol Mr. Teas, The (film) 34, Kindling, Dave (special effects) 108, 163, 1 9 1 , 194; still, 109 Mineo, Sal (actor) 88
76, 82, 86, 1 02, 105, 108, 163 12 Love Life of a Gorilla (film) 162 Mishkin, William (producer) 201
In Cold Blood (film) 134 King, Alan (actor) 130 Love Machine, The (film) 147 Mlulle To The Moon (film) 192;
In tho Land of the Headhunters King, Atlas (actor) 39, 40, 4 1 , Love Me Like I Do (film) 203 remake of Cat Women of the Moon
(film) 156 52, 54; publicity pix of, 4 1 Love Merchant, The (film): still, Mitchell, Sanford (actor) 6 1
Incredible Sex Revolution, The King Dinosaur (film) 1 94 95 Mitchum, Robert (actor) SS, 105,
(film) 204 King Kong ( 1 976· film) 186 Lov• With A Proper Stranger 196
Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Kirk, Tommy (actor) 147, 198 (film) 49 Modern Film Distributors 23, 105
Stopped Living and Become Mixed­ Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (film) Lovers, The (film) 102 Moede, Titus (actor) 39, 43
Up Zombies (film) 36-39, 43-45, 54; 201 LSD-25 (film) 168 Mole People, The (film) 186
campaign for, 26; compared with Kiss Me, Monster (film) 1 94 LSD Films (genre) 1 48-150 Molly Growl Up (film) 168
Mom Jbtd Dad (film) 9, 104, 105, 191 Pit and tlte Pendulum, The (film) 45
108, 142, 163, 117, 188 Nicholson, Jack (actor) 142, 149, 196, 202 Revolt of the Zombies (film) 197
Mona (film) 164 150 Plan Nine From Outer Space lllde The Wild Surf (film) 147
Monarch Releasing Corporation, Night Caller From Outer Space, (film) 158, 1 59, 1 9 1 , 203; poster, lllfHI (film) 1 2 7
193 The (film) 202 1 59; still, 1 5 8 lllot In Juvenile Prison (film) 1 99
Mondo America (film) 1 56 Night Dreams (film) 165 Planet of tlte Vampires (film) 187 Ripps, Mike (producer) 43
Mattdo BhGrro (film) 1 9 1 , 1 5 5 Night Of The Beost aka House of Play It Safe (film) 169 Robins, Herb (filmmaker) 39, 49,
Mattdo Bolordo (film) 1 5 5 the Blaclc Death (film) 75 Playboy (magazine & channel) 50, 75
Mondo c- (film) 1 53, 1 5 5 , 156 Night Of Tlte Blood Beost (film) 78, 82, 86, 97, 107, 1 32, 199 Robson, Mark (director) 136
Mondo Cane 2 (film) 1 5 5 198 Poe, Edgar Allan (writer) 191; lloclc Around rite Cloclc (film) 144
Mondo Daytona (film) 155 Night Of The Blood Monster films bosed on stories by, 52, 196 Roclcabllly Baby (film): still, 139
Mondo fxotka (film) 1 5 5 (film) 194 Poltergeist (film) 197 RoHman, Julian (director) 202
Mondo Films {genre) 1 53-156 Night Of The Bloody Apes (film) Poor White Trash (film) 43; Rollin, Jean (director) 202
Mondo Hollywood aka Hippie 190 original title, Bayou Romero, George (filmmaker)
Holywood: Tlte Acid Blasting Frealcs Night Of The Comet (film) 184 Poor White Trash II (film) 188 1 82-1 84, 190; forms Image 10, 183
(film) 1 5 5 Night Of The Gltouls aka Revenge of the Portman, Dick (sound mixer) 120 Rose, Rosa (stripper) 105
Mondo lnf- (film) 1 5 5 Dead (film) 158, 1 59, 1 9 1 Post, Don (mask-maker) 5 1 Roshea, Tammie (actress) 83
Mondo ICeyltole (film) 155 Night Of The Howling Beast (film) Premature Burial, Tlte (film) 196 Ross, Doreen (filmmaker) 58, 73
Mondo Macabro (film) 155 201 Premlnger, OHo (director) 85, Rossellini, Roberto (director) 1 64
Mondo Magic (film) 156 Night Of Tlte Living Deod (film) 1 50, 162 Rater, Ted (actor) 44
Mattdo Mod (film) 155 182-1 83, 1 90 Prentiss, Paula (actress) 147 Rothman, Stephanie (filmmaker)
Mondo Nudo (film) 155 Night Of The Zombies (film) 202 PreHy Maids All in a Row (film) 147
Mattdo Oscentia (film) 155 Night Tide (film) 197, 204 203 Rowey, Eddie (actor) 45
Mondo Pcruo (film) 1 55; still, Night To Dismember, A PreHy Peaches (film) 165 Rozsa, Miklos (composer) 132,
155 (unreleased film) 1 1 1 , 1 1 2, 1 1 3 Price, Henry: see Andre 1 79
Mondo Rocco (film) 155 Night Train To Mundo Fine (film) Brummer Run, Angel, Run (film) 142
Mondo r- (film) 155 193 Price, VIncent (actor) 10, 147, Rush, Richard (director) 142, 150
Mondo Topless (film) 86, 87, 155, Night Wamlng aka Butclter, 1 48, 1 9 1 Russell, Don (actor) 44
199 Balcer, Nightmare Malcer (film) 186 Prime Time, The (film) 18, 19, 34, Ruvlnskls, Wolf (wrestler) 157
Monlcey's Uncle (film) 198 Night Women (mondo film): still, 105 Sadist, rite: see The Profile of
Monroe, Marilyn (actress) 135 154 Prince of Peace (film) 104 Terror
Monster A Go-Go! (film) 34 Nightmare Castle (film) 202 Prison Girls (film) 1 5 2 Safe As You Thinlc (film) 170
Montgomery, George (actor) Nightmare Malcer (film) 186 Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, Safety In tlte K itchen (film) 170
149 Nightmare On Elm Street (film) Tlte (film) 1 1 4, 1 1 5, 132 Safety in the Shop (film) 9, 168
Moon Is Blue, Tlte (film) 162 191 Profile of Terror, T lte aka Safety in Winter (film) 169
Moonlighting Wives (film) 93 Niles, Fred (producer) 19, 20 Tlte Sadist (film) 55, 196 Safetybelt for Susie (film) 9, 168,
Moonshine Mowotaln (film) 2 1 , 99 Women (fllm) 1 5 2 Promiscuous Sex, The: see Liz 169
28, 35 Nixon, Marnl (singer) 1 79, 180 Prosperi, Franco (filmmaker) 154 Sahara (film) 40
Moore, Cleo (actress) 1 5 1 Noble, Ann (actress) 61 Psych-Out (film) 1 50; poster, 148 Salazar, Abel (producer) 202
Moorehead, Agnes (actress) 1 5 1 Northville Cemetery Massacre Psycltedellcsex ICicles (film) 150 Salem's Lot (film) 197
Morgan, Chesty (actress) 1 1 0, (film) 142 Psyclto (film) 1 94 Samples, Candy (actress) 83
1 1 1 , 1 1 3, 201 Not Of This Earth (film) 200; still, Psyclto A Go Go! aka Blood of (Santo VIsits) The Magic Land of
Morgan, George J. (producer) 1 90 the Ghastly Horror aka The Fiend Motlter Goase (film) 35
37, 39, 55 Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill, With the Electronic Brain aka The Santamaria, Erick (director) 202
Moriarty, Michael (actor) 122, The (film) 107 Man With the Synthetic Brain (film) Santo (wrestler/actor) aka
123, 1 27. 1 28, 1 31 N1111's Story, The (film) 164 186 Constantino aka Hombre Rojo aka
Morrissey, Paul (director) 204 O'Brien, Keith (actor) 39 Psycltomania aka The Death Huerta aka El Murclelago aka
Mother Goase A Go-Go (film) O'Hara, Bette (actress) 5 1 Wheelers (film) 1 4 2 Enmascarado II, 1 57, 201; pix of,
198 Obadiah J B (film): sypnosis, 66; Publi c Enemy Number One (film) 157
Motion Picture Board of Review, see also Alex Joseph and Hi s Wives 143 Sarno, J o e (filmmaker) 90- 1 0 1 ,
1 17 Of Flesh and Blood (film) 203 P1111sl hment of AIVIe, The (film) 1 65, 1 72; films of, 1 0 1 ; pix of, 101
Motion Pictures Association of Ohmart, Carol (actress) 182 200 Sarno, Peggy (actress) 90,
America (MPAAl 1 3 Olga's Girls (film) 152, 163, 1 99 Q (film) 1 1 4, 1 2 1 , 1 26, 1 27, 129, 95-100
Motion Pictures Patents Olga's House of Shame (film) 1 99 1 3 1 , 135, 1 38; based on legend of Satan's Bed (film) 193
Company, 1 6 1 Olga's Massage Parlor (film) 163 Quetzalcoatl, 1 22; stills, 1 30, 1 34, Satan's Sadists (film) 1 50, 1 86,
Motor Psycltol (film) 79, 1 93; Omen, The (film) 1 1 5, 126 136 203; still, 141
still, 78 On Her Bed of Roses (film) 204 Qu-n of Blood (film) 197, 202; Satana, lura (actress) 65, 70,
Movi e Star, American Style, Or, Once Upon A Knight (film) 163 poster, 197 75, 78, 83, 86, 202; pix of, 203
LSD, I Hote You! (film) 204; still, One Shoclcing Moment aka Rabid (film) 191 Savage Streets (film) 1 8 8
150 Subur,_ AHalr (film) 75 Rafkin, Alan (director) 147 Savini, Tom (special eHects) 1 76,
Mr. Sardonicus (film) 1 9 1 One Summer of Happiness (film) Raimi, Sam (director) 1 6, 1 7 183
Mudhoney (film) 76, 79, 8 1 , 86, 102 Randolph, VInce (owner, Saxon, John (actor) 202
199 One Too Many (film) 105 Pussycat Theaters) 107 Scanners (film) 1 9 1
Mundo Depravados (film) Ono, Yoko (actress) 193 Randy tlte Electric Lady (film) Schanzer, Karl (actor) 1 8 2
155; still, 1 60 Open City (film) 1 64 165 Schmidhofer, Marty (producer)
Murray, K . Gordon (film broker) Opening o f Misty Beetltoven, Tlte Rappe, VIrginia (actress) 1 6 1 18
201 (film) 165, 200 Rat Pflnlc a 8oo 8oo aka Scream Of The Butterfly (film) 57
Musofor, Fakir (performer) 156 Operation Overlc/11 (film) 64, 66, Rat Pfinlc and 8oo 8oo (film) 36, Screencraft Enterprises, 1 92;
Muscle Beach (film) 186 69, 72, 75 38, 43, 44, 45, 50, 52, 56, 197; formerly Toby Anguish Productions
My Hustler (film) 1 64 Orgy of the Dead (film) 8, 9, how title got changed, 44; original Scum Of The Earth (film) 34, 105,
Myles, Ray (actor) 68 1 59, 1 9 1 title The Depraved, 50; soundtrack, 1 08; still, 1 9
Mystery of the Leoplng Fish, Tlte Osco, Bill (producer) 1 64 50; sypnosls, 52 Sean, Fred J . (director) 144
(film) 148 Outer Limits, The (TV show) 136 Rats Are Coming! The Sebastian, Ferd (filmmaker) 1 07
Pace, Tom (actor) 68 Werewolves Are Here!, The (film) Secret File: Hollywood (film) 37,
Nadjo (actress) 97 Pagan Island (film): still, 162 201 43, 55
Naish, J. Carrol (actor) 186 Page, BeHy (actress) 1 98, 201 Ravagers, The (film) 191 Secret Pains (mondo film) 155
Nalced Gols of the Golden West Pajama Party (film) 147, 1 98; Raw Meat (film) 8 Secrets of Beauty, rite (film) 105
(film) 86 remake, 188 Ray, Nicholas (director) 144 s-ds (film) 201
Nalced Lunch (film-in-progress) Pandora's Box (film) 93, 1 00 Reagan, Ronald (actor) 1 1 8; both Serpent Island (film) 1 94
192 Panic in tlte Year Zero (film) 88 legs cut oH In ICing's Row, 90 Serra, Ray (actor) 99
Nalced Night (film) 102 Paradislo (film) 13, 163 IIebei Rousers (film): still, 1 40 Seven Brides for Seven Brotlters
Nalced Truth, Tlte (film) 162 Paramount Pictures, 23, 102, IIebei Without a Cause (film) 144 (film) 202
Nalced Witch, Tlte (film) 201 108 lied Aspltolt (film) 9, 167, 1 68, Seven Into Snawle (film) 107, 109
Nalced World (mondo film): Paris, Henry: see Radley 169 Seven Minutes, Tlte (film) 80
poster, 153 � Metzger Red Nightmare aka The Commies Sex '69 (film) 164
Namath, Joe (actor) 142 Parker, Eleanor (actress) 1 5 1 Are Coming! The Commies Are Sex and Comedy
Napier, Charles (actor) 79 Parker, John (director) 1 79, 1 80, Coming! (film) 167 (film-In-progress) 107
Naschy, Paul (actor) 201 201 Redeker, Quinn (actor) 182 Sex By Advertisement (film) 202
Nasty Rabbit, The (film) 196 Parker, Woody (actor) 92 Reds (film) 26 Sex Kittens Go to College (film)
Natividad, KIHen (actress) 8 1 , Parks, Bruce (cameraman) 1 00 Reed, Joel M . (filmmaker) 201 204
83, 84, 85, 201 Peabody, Dixie (actress) 142 11-fer Madness (film) 9, 148; Sexterminators, The (film) 195
Nature Camp Confidential (film) Peacock, Kemper (film editor) formerly Tell Your Children, 1 63 Sexual Hygiene (film) 77, 168
1 13 100 Reems, Harry (actor) 97 Shackleton, Alan (producer) 193
Nature's Playmates (film) 34, P-ters, Barbara (director) 142 Reform School Girl (film) 145 Shatner, William (actor) 52
1 06 Perfect Strangers (film) 138 Renay, Liz (actress) 39, 50 She Creature, The (film) 190;
Naughty Dallas (film) 1 88; still, Phenix City Story, The (film) 108 Rennie, Michael (actor) 136 remake, 188
1 89 Pickford, Mary (actress) 161 Restless Years, The (film) 202 Site Demons (film) 192
Nec.._ma aka Necromancy Picnic (film) 197 Retig, Tommy (actor) 43 She Devils on Wheels (film) 1 1 ,
(film) 158, 159 Picture Mommy Deod (film) 195 Return Of Tlte Magnificent Seven, 18, 35, 142; poster, 22; still, 33;
Necronamicon (film) 1 94 Pierce, Jack (make-up) 192 Tlte (film) 136 sypnosls, 33
New World Pictures 142, 152, Piranha (film) 202 Revenge Of The Ripper (film) 37, Site Frealc (film) 8
Site Sltoulda Said No aka Tlte Swamp Tltlng (film) 1 9 1 1 26, 130 159
!>evil's w-d (film) 105 s-t wgar (film) 1 52 Twilight Girls, Tlte (film) 200 World of tlte Vampires, Tlte
Sheena, Queen of tlte Jungle Swltclt, Tlte (film) 98, 99; poster, Twlllgltt Zone (TV series) 1 9 1 (film) 157
(TV show) 1 92 94 Twltclt of the Dead Nerve aka World'• Greatest Sinner, Tlte
Shennan, Sam (producer) 1 86 Sydney, Sylvia (actress) 177 aery of Blood (film) 187 (film) 49, 57
Sloocklng Asia (mondo film) 156 Szigmond, Vllmos (cameraman) Two Tloousond Maniacs aka 2000 Worm Eaters, Tlte (film) 50, 7 1 ,
Shorty Rogers and His Musical 40 Maniacs (fllm) 18, 20, 26, 27, 28, 75; sypnosls, 7 1
Giants (musicians) 179, 1 80 Taboos of tlte World (mondo 105, 106, 1 08, 163, 199; plot, 34; Wormwood Star, Tlte (film) 197
Slwlek af tlte Mutilated (film) 193 film) 155 poster, 27; still, 24; theme song of, Woronov, Mary (actress) 152
Signal 30 (film) 167, 169 Take It Out In Trade (film) 1 58, sung by Herschel! Gordon Lewis, Wrestling W-n vs. tlte Aztec
Silent llcrge, Sudden Death 159 10 Mummy, Tlte (film) 1 90
(film-in-progress) 72 Take OH (film) 165; based 200 1 : A Space Odyssey (film) Written on the Wind (film) 204
Sin In Tlte Suburbs (film) 92, 93, on Oscar Wilde's Tlte Picture of 149 Vadlm, Roger (director) 164, 203
97, 98;' poster, 91 Dorian Gray Ulmer, Edgar G. (director) 166 Valentino, Rudolph (actor) 161
Sin, Suffer, and Repent (film) 35 Take Your Cltalce (film) 169 Ulysses (film) 102 Vamplra (actress) (real name
Sinatra, Nancy (actress) 147 Talk About a Stranger (film) 188 Uncle Tom's Cabin (novel) 1 04 Malia Nurmi) 203
Sinister Urge, Tlte aka The Young Talk Dirty to Me, Part Two (film) Undead, Tlte (film) 204 Vumplre's Coffin (film) 202
and the Immoral aka Hellborn 16 Undertaker And His Pals, Tlte Vampyras/Lesbos (fllm) 194
(film) 158 Tamblyn, Russ (actor) 186, 202, (film) 75 Van Meter, Ben (filmmaker) 149
Sins Of Tlte father (film) 9 203 Urtfl"arded Girls, Tlte (film) 161 Ve Soter, Bruno (actor) 1 79, 199,
Slntllia: Tlte Devll's Doll (film) 44 Tamerlls, Zoe (actreu) 138 Unguarded Moment, Tlte (film) 204
Sisters In Leatlter (film) 142 Tarantula (film) 186 202 Veil Of Blood aka Tlte ltevenge of
Six Million Dollar Man, Tlte (TV Tarnished Angels (film) 204 United Artists, 93, 147, 1 5 2 the Black Sisters (film) 97
show) 108 Taste of Blood, A (film) 27, 35 Universal Studios, 53, 1 0 4 , 105, Velvet Trap, Tlte (fllm) 57
Ski Party (film) 147 Taurog, Norman (filmmaker) 147 161 VertC�s In furs (film) 194
Skidoo (film) 150 Taxidennist (film-In-progress) 67 Umone (T-brae) (film) 186; see Vernon, John (actor) 152
Skydivers, Tlte (film) 193 Taylor, Alfred (cinematographer) also r-brae VIce and vw- (film) 203
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (film) 182 Up! (film) 79, 85 VIce Girls, ltd. (film) 195
204 Taylor, William Dean (director) Welnrlb, Lennie (director) 147 VIckers, Yvette (actreu) 199
Smart Aleck (film) 1 64 161 Weird World of LSD, Tlte (film) Vldeodrome (film) 192
Smell O f Honey, A Swallow Of Teas, Bill (actor) 86, 163 1 49, 195 Vlerges et Vampires (film) 202
Brine!, A (film) 1 07, 108 Teenage Crime Wave (film) 144 Wels, Don (director) 147 VIllage of tlte Giants (film) 195;
Smiling Mail Bandit, Tlte (film) Teenage Doll (film) 145 Weisenborn, Gordon (director) based on H.G. Wells' Food of the
108 Teenage Motlter (film) 195; still, 19 Gods
Smith, Dick (special eHects) 176 195 Weldon, Michael (author, Tlte VInyl (film) 1 64
Smith, William (actor) 142 r..nage Psycho Meets Bloody Ptycltotronlc Encyclopedia of film) VIolence USA (mondo film) 156
Snow Monsters (film) 75 Mary (film): poster, 43; also 111 VIolent Years, Tlte (film) 159
Snuff (film) 15, 1 93; original released as Tlte Incredibly Strange Welles, Jennifer (actress) 99 VIrgin Bride (fi lm) 107
title, Slaughter Creotures Who Stopped Living and Werewolves on Wlteels (film ) 142 VIxen (film) 85, 871 still, 84
So Young, So Bad (film) 152 Become Mixed-Up Zombies West Side Story (film) 180, 203 Vood- Woman (film) 1 90
Solomon, Joe ( producer, Fanfare Teenage Rebel (film): poster, 143 What Tltey Scry Aboelt Young Stuff Vorkov, Zandor (actor) 186
Productions) 142, 1 8 7 Teenage Tltunder (film) 145 (film) 99
Something Weird (film) 9 , 25, 35 Teenagers from Outer Space What's Up front (film): sti ll, 196 Wages of feor (film) 1 2 7
Sonney, louis and Dan (film) 195 Wheels of Tragedy (film) 1 67, Wal ker, Peter (producer) 105
(producers) 105, 106-108; starts Ten VIolent Women (film) 73, 75 169 Walker, Stacey (producer) 107
Sonny Amusement Enterprises, 108 Tenebrae aka Unsane (film) 202 When You Are a Pedestrian (film) Wall Of fle11t (film) 97
Sorority Girls (film) 200 Terminal Island (film) 152 169 Walt Disney Productions 26, 168,
Space Angels (film) 64, 75 Terror At Halfday (Incomplete Where tlte Action Is (TV show) 198
Special Effects (film) 133, 135, film); see Monster A Go-Gal 147 Wanda (The Sadistic Hypnotltt)
137 Terror of the Bloodltunters (film) Where tlte Bay• Are (film) 147 (film) 149
Spelvin, Georgina aka Cheily 204 White Slave, The (film) 161 Wanda the Wicked Warden (film)
Graham (actress) 99, 200 Testament of Orpheus (film) 203 White Slaves of Cltlncrtown (film) 13, 152
Spider Baby aka Cannibal Orgy Texas Clooinsaw Massacre (film) 1 63, 1 99 War Gamet (film) 23
aka Tlte Liver Eaters (film): review, 106, 194, 197 White Zombie (film) 197 War of the Colossal 8ea1ts (film)
1 8 1 , 182; compared to a Bunuel Thor Site Blows! (film) 108 Whitman, Dawn: see Doris 194
fi lm, 1 81 ; still, 1 8 1 Tltere's Always Vanilla (film) 183 Wlshman Warfield, Chris (filmmaker) 107
Spielberg, Steven (director) 8, Tlterese and Isabelle (film) 200 Whitman, Stuart (actor) 50 Warhol, Andy (filmmaker) 164,
11 Tltey Came from Witltin aka Wicked Go to Hell!, Tlte (film): 204
Sprinkle, Annie (actress) 100 Sltivers (film) 1 9 1 , 202 poster, 1 64 Warm Nlgltts And Hot Please�res
Sssssss (film) 199 Tltey Must Be Told {film) 9 Wild Angels, T lte (film) 1 9 1 , 140 (film) 100
Stallone, Sy lvester (actor) 26 Tltey Served Hitler's Brain aka Wild Guitar (film) 37, 40, 43, ... Warner Bros., 83, 124, 126, 1 2B,
Standing, Lionel (actor) 178 Madman of Mandoras (film) 1 88; 45, 54, 55, 56, 196; still, 42 , ..
Star Wars (film) 97, 1 1 3 otlll, 1 aa Wfld Hippy O'lJY (film): Warren Hal (filmmaker) 204
Starlet (film) 1 08; still, 104 Tltlng, The (1982 film) 1 1 7, 126 produced by "Pot Heads" Warren, Jerry (filmmaker) 204
Steckler, Ray Dennis aka Cash Tltlrd Sex, Tlte aka Cltlldren of Experimental Films, 150 Warrick, Ruth (actress) 105
Flagg ( filmmaker) 26, 27, 36-5B, L-finess (film) 163 Wrld In tlte Streets (film) 150 Washburn, Beverly (actress) 182
73, 75, 1 93, 196, 1 97; films of, 57; I 3 Gloosts (film) 191 Wild on tlte Beaclt (film) 147 Wasp Woman (film) 204
pix of, 57 This Is M y Body (film) 163 Wild One, Tlte (film) 143, 146 Waters, John (director) 149,
Steele, Barbara (actress) 1 52, This Nude World (film) 163 Wild Ones On Wlteelt: see 175, 184
187, 202 This Stulf'll Kill Yaf (film) 35 Drivers In Hell Webb, Jack (filmmaker) 167,
Step Out of Your Mind (film) 99 Thomas, Philip Michael (actor) Wild Wild Winter ( fi lm): still, 146 1 68, 1 96
Sterling, Jan (actress) 1 5 1 193 Wild World of Batwoman aka X Marks the Spot (film) 170
Stevens, George (director) 76 Thompson, Jim (writer) 127 Site Was a Hippy Vampire (film) Xlca (film) 39
Stlgmo (film) 193 Thompson, William C. 204
Stiletto (film) 199 (ci nematog rapher) 1 79, 203 Williams, Edy (actress) 80 Yang, Tiger (actor) 73, 75
Stann, Tempest (stripper) 86 Thorne, Dyanne (actress) 203 Wilmoth, Paul {actor) 68 Year 2889 (film) 188; reprise of
Story of Menstruation, Tlte (film) Tloousand Pleasures, A (film) 1 93 Wisher, Doris: see Doris Tlte Day the World fnded
168 Tlwee on a Meatltook (film) 194 Wlshman Year of tlte Drasron, Tlte (film)
Story of 0, Tlte (film) 165 Thr- St-ges, The (actors) 1 6 Wlshman, Doris aka Dawn 123
Stralgltt Talk on Eye Safety (film) Thrill Killers, Tlte aka Tlte Maniacs Whitman aka Doris Wisher York, Dick (actor) 168
168 are Loose (film) 36, 38, 39, 4 1 , 44, (filmmaker) 1 1 0-1 13, 165 York, Francine (actress) 63, 67
Strasberg, Susan (actress) 150 45, 49, 50, 52, 54-56; still, 47; Wltclt Of Hominy Hill You Bet Your Eyes (film) 168
Stratton, Dorothy (actress) 135 sypnosls, 39 r,
(film-ln- rogress) 93 Young and Wild (film) 1 99
Street Corner (film) 1 OS Tingler, Tlte (film) I 0, 27, 1 48, Wltclt's M rror, Tlte (film) 202 Young Playtltlngs (film) 93, 94,
Strike Me Deadly (film) 63, 70, 1 9 1 ; still, 10 Witchcraft '70 (mondo film) 155 96, 97; poster, 99; review, 1 72-
71, 74, 75; poster, 64 To Live In Darkness (film) 168 Wizard of Gore (film) 18, 3 1 , 35, 1 74; stills, 92, 1 73, 174
Stuff, Tlte (film) 1 1 4, 1 1 5, 127, Tomorrow's Cltlldren (film) 9, 162 1 1 2; review, 175, 176 Youngman, Henny (comedian­
128, 1 32, 138 Tormented (film) 1 9 5 Wolf-, Tlte (film) 1 1 actor) 35
Stunt Man, Tlte (film) 150 Torture Dungeon, T lte (film) 201 w_, In Cages (film) 152 Your Hit Parade (TV show) 143
Suburban Roulette (film) 35 Torture Ship (film) 197 Women in Chains (TV movie) 152
Sucking Chest Wounds (film) 168 Touclt of Evil (film) 204 Women In Prison tWIP) Films Z-Man aka Superwoman (actor
Super Cool; see Body fever Touch of Her flesh, Tlte (film) 1 9 3 (genre) 1 5 1 , 152 John lazar) 78, 150
Supemate�ral (film) 197 Trader Hornee (film) 107-109 Women's Prisort (film) 1 5 1 ; still, Zaborln, Lila (actress) 68
Supervlxens (film) 79 Traffic In Souls (fllm ) 161 1 52 Zombie (film) 184
Surf Party (film) 147 Trapped By Mormons (film) 161 Wood Jr., Edward D. aka Daniel Zontor, the Tlting from v..,us
Survival Town USA aka Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, Tlte Davis (director) 145, 1 58, 1 59, (film) 1 86, 188; remake of It
Daomtown, USA (film) 169, 170 (film) 189 1 91, 203; d-th of, 1 01 Frank Conquerecl the World
Survivalists, Tlte (film) 57, 72, 75 Tricks of the Trade (film) 201 Henenlotter an, 9; Ray Dennis Zarro, Tlte Goy Blade (film) 1 09
SCispirla r'Tite Mother of Siglts"J Trip, Tlte (film) 142, 149 Steckler on, 52; books by, Include Zohl (film) 1 9 1
(film) 8, 186 Turner, lana (actress) 150 Watts • . • Tlte Difference, It Take1 Zugsmlth, Albert (producer) 145,
Svengall (film) 1 76 20th Century Fox, 83, 85, 87, One to Know One, Killer In Drag, 204