Rob Zombie hosts cult flicks on TCM!

[Buford T Pusser]

When I checked the TCM site it just mentioned Plan 9 and Bride, not Old Dark House. So I only tape the first two. When did they show Sid, Jack, etc.?

[Suprmallet]

I'll definitely be catching Faster, Pussycat, Kill Kill! To date the only Russ Meyer film I've seen is Moto-Psycho. But I did actually see that one on film.

[Buford T Pusser]

You need to see more Russ. I have all of them on video and now dvd.

[Mondo Kane]

Originally Posted by Buford T Pusser

When did they show Sid, Jack, etc.?

After Zombie's outro for Plan 9.

[Damfino]

I didn't watch the Ed Wood films since I already own them, but I did record Rob Zombie's intros & outros and I thought He did an excellent job.

[Giles]

Originally Posted by Buford T Pusser

You need to see more Russ. I have all of them on video and now dvd.

supposedly select Region 2 special editions of Russ Meyer's films have some exclusive extras - do you own any of those SE's?

[Kudama]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

This is an superb, little known gem. Doesen't fit in with the other titles though - a moody, slow-paced character study, with no horror/sci-fi/genre elements. Worth watching or taping.

One of the things that I really enjoyed in this one were the live action versions of a few scenes that they paid homage to (or straight up lifted) in the opening sequence of Akira.

Spoiler:

Like the bike that flies through the diner window.

[Buford T Pusser]

Originally Posted by Giles

supposedly select Region 2 special editions of Russ Meyer's films have some exclusive extras - do you own any of those SE's?

Yes. All of them. Some great extras. I don't have three of the last DVDs to come out but those don't have extras. I still need to get those. CDWow never got them.

[Buford T Pusser]

A reminder for tonight.


Two Russ Meyer classics!


Friday, October 20
2:00 AM Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (’65)
3:30 AM Mudhoney (’65)

[DJLinus]

I'll be recording them. Never seen a Russ Meyer movie.

Hooray for boobies!

[Buford T Pusser]

Did anyone watch the Russ Meyer flicks? Whaddya think?

Reminder that there will be more in a few hours.

Friday, October 27

2:00 AM Night of the Living Dead (’68) own
3:45 AM The Crazies (’73) own

[brianluvdvd]

Other than Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, I had never seen another Russ Meyer film until Faster Pussycat & Mudhoney. Of the two I thought that Mudhoney was more interesting but both disappointed me (though it was nice to see boobies on a non-premium cable channel...why can't AMC be like TCM?).

I am definitely going to check out every cult film they show though. I think it is an excellent idea and would suggest to those of you that like it to email TCM. I plan to send them a nice email thanking them for not only showing cool, rare & different programming but also showing them unedited and in their proper aspect ratio. If only there was an TCM-HD!

[Mondo Kane]

Originally Posted by brianluvdvd

Other than Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, I had never seen another Russ Meyer film until Faster Pussycat & Mudhoney.

Likewise, but I wasn't able to finish Mudhoney because I passed out. I had a GREAT time with FPKK though!

[William Fuld]

Mudhoney was pretty good but it could've used a few more extreme close-ups of cackling hillbillies.

[brainee]

I had never seen Mudhoney before (BTVotD and FPKK were the only other 2 I've seen). I enjoyed it, in a sleazy, grimy, low-budget, exploitation kind of way. I can see a lot of recurring themes in the 3 movies (like sexual violence, innocence lost, and moral retribution). I was surprised at how graphic it was -- since FPKK was made after Mudhoney (and Dolls a few years later) I assumed Meyer was getting "harder" as the years went by. But with all the rape, beatings, blouse-rippings, cathouse escapades, and general topless cavortings, this is still a very strong "R" by todays standards. And yes ... there's just not enough cackling hillbillies If I was around that cathouse, I'm not sure the daughters would be worth it on the chance that the mom would pop in and start laughing ( or even worse ... god forbid ... decide to join in).

Hadn't seen FPKK for about 10 years, so I gave that a rewatch. Still fun and fast-paced. Meyer really does a lot with minimal money, sets ... B&W photography looks really good. Tura Santana steals the show as Varla, and Sue Bernard was a cutie. Interesting to hear that it was a bomb in its day (since audiences went to Russ Meyer movie expecting some topless women).

I'm very familiar with the Romero movies, so I'm passing on this week (though might want to give Crazies a rewatch -- it's DVRed in case I change my mind).

Zombie's doing a good job, but I have one big complaint. He gives WAAAAAY too much plot information about the movies at the start. Like for Mudhoney, he pretty went through the entire plotline, ruining it if you wanted any surprise element (I quickly fastforwarded it on my DVR when it became apparent what he was doing, and rewatched the intro after I saw the movie). He should save detailed spoiler discussion until after the movie. After all, these are obscure cult movies and many people haven't seen them before. I didn't watch the Ed Wood movies last week (have both on DVD) so I don't know if this is something Zombie is doing consistently, or it just happened to be especially bad for the one movie I hadn't seen before (Mudhoney).

[Buford T Pusser]

At 2 AM tonight is "Sisters", a good flick by Brian DePalma.

They're showing "Peeping Tom" after but it doesn't have anything to do with Zombie.

THE GIST

The first film of New York based filmmaker Brian De Palma to receive a wide theatrical release and attract favorable notices from mainstream critics, Sisters (1973) is an audacious mixture of psychosexual thriller and Alfred Hitchcock homage infused with a wicked sense of humor. Certainly, De Palma had already established himself as a director to watch with such promising indie efforts as Greetings (1968) and Hi, Mom! (1970), two improvisational, anti-establishment satires, both of which starred a young Robert de Niro. But Sisters is the film that set the tone and style of De Palma's "thriller" oeuvre which blossomed with Carrie (1976) and peaked with Dressed to Kill (1980). Bursting with creative energy and visual experimentation, the film is a virtuoso sampler of his strengths (and weaknesses) and a lot more fun than some of his later work which often verged on self-parody.

In the tradition of other mystery thrillers about twins where one is good and one is bad (The Dark Mirror [1946], Dead Ringer [1964]), Sisters tops that plot device with a kinky twist: Danielle (Margot Kidder) is a former Siamese twin, separated from her psychotic sister, Dominique. She becomes the object of a police investigation when a neighbor, aspiring journalist Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt), witnesses a murder in Danielle's apartment. When the police fail to find any evidence that would convict Danielle, Grace conducts her own private investigation, hiring a detective (Charles Durning) to monitor the suspect's apartment while she tries to unravel the strange relationship between Danielle and her creepy ex-husband, Emil (William Finley), who continues to stalk her. It all ends in a madhouse, appropriately enough, with Grace strapped to a gurney and completely at the mercy of Emil, who is revealed as the doctor who performed the separation surgery on Danielle/Dominique.

While De Palma's detractors have always accused him of plagiarizing Hitchcock, Sisters is actually an inspired homage to the British master of suspense, with De Palma enriching the narrative with situations and elements from key Hitchcock films. The film's voyeuristic nature and the nosy neighbor who cries murder is inspired by Rear Window (1954); Emil's attempts to control and dominate Danielle mirror James Stewart's behavior toward Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958), the unexpected early murder of a sympathetic character audiences had assumed was the protagonist harkens back to Janet Leigh's shocking demise in Psycho (1960). The other Hitchcock connection, of course, is the film's music score, composed by Bernard Herrmann, one of Hitchcock's most famous collaborators (The Trouble with Harry [1955], The Man Who Knew Too Much [1956], North by Northwest [1959], etc.). De Palma strikes just the right note of freaked-out paranoia with the opening credit sequence featuring Herrmann's frantic orchestration which is like an amphetamine-fueled version of his Psycho overture. Yet, despite the pervasive Hitchcock influence, Sisters has a distinctive style all its own with De Palma employing split-screen techniques, alternate points-of-view, dream sequences, frenetic editing, ominous tracking shots and dashes of graphic gore to give the film a feverish rollercoaster momentum.

Scratch the surface, however, and you might notice a feminist subtext which has been noted by many film scholars, among them Robin Wood who wrote in his chapter on Brian De Palma in Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan...and Beyond: "Sisters analyzes the ways in which women are oppressed within patriarchal society on two levels, the professional (Grace) and the psychosexual (Danielle/Dominique)." Even if you don't buy that academic jibber-jabber, Sisters is a true reflection of its troubled era, marked by the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War and the emergence of the women's movement. It's also easy to see how some reviewers believed that De Palma was creating a feminist horror film since both Danielle and Grace are the real victims of Sisters, both of them thwarted in their attempts at independence by men. Danielle is constantly manipulated by Emil and the prescription drugs he administers while Grace is at first humored by the police, then dismissed and eventually silenced as the film's potential heroine. At the film's conclusion, she has returned home to her mother's care in a post-hypnotic state, docile and subservient.

On the other hand, some critics consider Sisters misogynistic, an accusation which has followed De Palma throughout his career. Remember the cruel fates awaiting Angie Dickinson in Dressed to Kill and Fiona Lewis and Carrie Snodgress in The Fury (1978), their deaths rendered with an almost sadistic glee? One could argue that Sisters has no sympathetic female characters. Danielle could just as easily be viewed as a dangerous psychopath, a castrating avenger who alternately seduces and destroys men. As for Grace, De Palma occasionally exploits her character for humor in scenes where she bungles her own investigation and comes off like a nitwit (such as the scene where she drops the birthday cake on the cop's leg). The fact that Sisters can be viewed as both a feminist film and a movie by a misogynist makes it one of De Palma's most fascinating works and one that compliments the film's schizophrenic nature.

Without a doubt, Sisters marks an important turning point in De Palma's career. It looks back toward his early films with its loose, freewheeling, try-anything style of filmmaking and the presence of William Finley and Jennifer Salt who appeared in some of De Palma's first movies. It also anticipates his rise as a Hollywood auteur with its more traditionally structured plot, visual stylization and prominent roles for Margot Kidder and Charles Durning, both of whom would go on to greater success; Kidder for box-office hits such as Superman [1978], The Amityville Horror [1979], and Superman II [1980] and Durning for Oscar®-nominated supporting roles in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas [1982] and To Be or Not to Be [1983]. For some however, Durning's shining moment may be the final closing shot in Sisters, one of the great comic fadeouts of all time and the perfect setup for a sequel.

Producer: Edward R. Pressman, Lynn Pressman, Robert Rohdie
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenplay: Brian De Palma, Louisa Rose
Cinematography: Gregory Sandor
Film Editing: Paul Hirsch
Art Direction: Gary Weist
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: Margot Kidder (Danielle Breton), Jennifer Salt (Grace Collier), Charles Durning (Joseph Larch), William Finley (Emil Breton), Lisle Wilson (Phillip Woode), Barnard Hughes (Arthur McLennen).
Color-92m. Letterboxed.

by Jeff Stafford

[Mondo Kane]

Is it me or are Zombie's intros getting longer with each week?

[Buford T Pusser]

Last night he only had one film so maybe he doubled it.

I haven't watched it yet.

[parker63]

Posted a question about Sisters in another thread...in case anyone has any answers...

DePalma's Sisters....explanation of ending?

[Buford T Pusser]

I saw the movie a few years back and only watched his little bits. So far I've seen everything shown and just done that.

But I noticed he mentioned the siamese twin aspect before the show. Was that know before the ending?

[Mondo Kane]

Just wrapped up my first viewing of Electic/Blue.
That last shot just blew me away

Spoiler:

No pun intended

LONG LIVE UNDERGROUND!

[Buford T Pusser]

Damn. I forgot to tape last night. Why didn't someone bump this?????

I'd never seen Electra Glide in Blue.

[dhmac]

I was a bit disappointed with Electra Glide In Blue. It was visually stunning, with all the great footage of Monument Valley, and Robert Blake was good in the lead. But some of the supporting actors went over-the-top, IMO, particularly the woman at the bar in her little dance scene. I still liked the movie, overall, but I guess I was expecting it to be better than it is (especially after all the praise Rob Zombie heaps on it in his intro).

One surprise, though, was the movie immediately afterwards called The Outfit that I recorded on my DVR because I mistakenly thought it was part of the Cult Movie Showcase. That was a surprisingly good, old-fashioned heist/mob movie in the spirit of movies like The Asphalt Jungle and The Killers. It starred Robert Duvall, Joe Don Baker, and Karen Black and is definitely an overlooked gem of the early-'70s.

[Mondo Kane]

I watched Outift afterwards too. It had played at one of Tarantino's festivals a few years back so that got my interest in checking it out. A slow start, but it began to build up nicely. And man, what a cast!

[Giles]

I hate to admit this, but I really didn't find the time to enjoy this series, but I did DV-R Electra Glide In Blue to watch at some point this week/weekend.