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Queer Actors in Horror: Mathews and Palillo

Published September 7, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

The Thoughtful Moods of Mathews!

Kerwin Mathews:

Ker-winning! Best known as the swashbuckling Sinbad in the Ray Harryhausen epic, the handsome Kerwin Mathews spent the majority of his latter-day career doing television and lower budget B projects. He did provide some Hollywood glow to the early Hammer thriller Maniac and in Dan Curtis’ Dead of Night, as well. His professionalism also rose above such material as the notoriously bad Octaman, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, and a true cheapie called Nightmare in Blood, his final credit. Much like George Nader, another similarly built gay actor, Mathews had a long-term relationship with a man named Tom Nicholl and died, hopefully very contentedly, at the age of 81 in 2007. 

The Finite Raptures of Palillo

Ron Palillo:

Love Shack. Beloved to ’70s kids as the dimwitted Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter, actor Ron Palillo also had some significant horror action on his theater heavy resume. Most notably, he staked a sharp claim as Jason’s first graveside victim in Friday the 13th Part 6. A few years later, he was one of the leads in the direct-to-video Hellgate – a project best remembered, perhaps, for his booty baring love scene. Partnered for 41 years, in an amazing testament of devotion, to a fellow actor named Joseph Gramm, Palillo died from a heart attack at the all too young age of 63 in 2012. 

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Jaclyn Smith’s Diva Vu

Published August 28, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

If the marketers back in the day had any sense, 1985’s Déjà Vu would have been renamed Diva Vu and they would have circulated ads for it in all of that era’s top gay magazines.  For this is the rare film that features (extremely complicated) acting legend Shelley Winters locking lips with a bewigged Jaclyn Smith, fairly fresh off her 5-year run as the glamourous, self-sufficient Kelly Garrett on Charlie’s Angels. Throw in a regal Claire Bloom, costumed with refined elegance and dripping with purely evil joie de veuve, & you have a minor gothic horror that is a perfect fit for those of a certain age and a particular preference. 

Plotwise here, we find a successful novelist named Michael (Nigel Terry) becoming fascinated by a long dead ballerina named Maggie (Smith). While doing research on her, he becomes convinced that he and Brooke (also Smith), his American actress fiancée, are the reincarnated versions of Maggie and her lover.   His encounters with a Russian psychic/hypnotist named Olga (Winters), an eccentric woman who claims to have known Maggie well, seem to reinforce this belief. But when Michael begins receiving threatening letters and spooky answering machine messages from Eleanor (Bloom), Maggie’s decades-deceased mother, he knows he is either losing his mind or that something sinister is afoot. Of course, when Brooke surprises him with a visit, during a break in filming her latest project, his deadliest fears become reality, and a fiery showdown is assured for all involved.

Lushly directed by Anthony B. Richmond, the cinematographer of such modern classics as Don’t Look Down and The Man Who Fell to Earth, the project’s biggest flaws seem to reside in it’s editing. There are times when the characters’ odd actions, specifically with Winters’ Olga, are not fully addressed, resulting in some awkward storyline issues. As the film reaches it’s end, it almost feels as if scenes are missing, as well, especially in reference to the deadly transformation of Smith’s Brooke. Otherwise, in one particularly amusing moment, a very naked Terry suddenly grows a pair of bright blue speedo-underwear — without even lifting a leg!!

But the true joy here is watching the leading ladies tear up the scenery. Smith, whose speaking voice already feels like a knife on velvet, is especially effective as Brooke descends into pure evil. Meanwhile, Winters and Bloom are simply dreamy in whatever situation that the trio of screenwriters slip them into. Whether Winters is demanding a vodka from an unwilling host or Bloom is coolly accessing a rival, their screentime is pure, queer heart capturing gold.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: Bonnie Tyler

Published August 18, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

I truly enjoy how randomly connected life can be at times. A couple of weekends ago, after years of casually looking, I finally found an almost pristine copy of Bonnie Tyler’s Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fires in the dollar bin at Reckless Records.

Then this past Saturday, settling in for a lazy morning, I threw in my DVD of Urban Legend. I found myself delightfully surprised as I, sleepily, consumed my oatmeal and Ryze shake, having completely forgotten how much Tyler’s classic Total Eclipse of the Heart dominates the film’s incredibly memorable opening scene. How I ever wiped out Natasha Gregson Wagner’s ear shattering warble as she sings along to the tune in headless abandon, I’ll never know…but there you have it!

Of course, Tyler, notable for her distinctively gruff vocalizing style, had only a couple degrees of separation from the horror community to begin with. Her most lauded work, including Heart, was produced by the very dramatic, often bombastic composer Jim Steinman. Steinman, naturally, came to fame as the co-creator of Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf’s masterwork. Loaf, of course, is worshipped by terror kids for his dynamic take on Eddy in the legendary The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Wales’ most famous export, meanwhile, hasn’t been a slouch when it comes to other forms of gothic representation, herself. It’s A Heartache, her second most identifiable tune. is featured in Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City while Heart along with Holding Out for a Hero, her other smash, have been used to stylistic effect in projects like Scream Queens, Fall of the House of Usher, Dead Snow 2 and The Wraith. 

This may not be enough to appoint her the Official Scare Kids All-Time Favorite Soundtrack Diva — but it definitely puts her in the running.

Nicely, Tyler is still going strong – as witnessed at http://www.bonnietyler.com. Thus, there are hopefully many more spooky sonic treats to come.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Lou Reed

Published August 12, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

I stumbled upon Simon Doonan’s book Transformer: A Story of Glitter, Glam Rock, and Loving Lou Reed this past spring at the Book Table in Oak Park. The exotically slim volume detailed how Reed’s poppy, gender stretching tunes supplied a shot of freedom and joy into the arm of the burgeoning queer community of the early ’70s. The book emphasized that while the troubled, often violent Reed was probably not a role model in his personal life, his artistic vision was definitely revolutionary for many.

Furthering his lavender outreach, one of Lou’s muses for many years was a Trans woman named Rachel Humphries. Throughout their often-volatile relationship, Rachel figured, importantly, in Lou’s art. She was the featured illustration on the back cover of 1974’s Sally Can’t Dance and inspired multiple songs on 1976’s Coney Island Baby and 1978’s Street Hassle.

Naturally, as both rock and horror are filled with rebellious creativity, Reed’s music has been featured in a number of terror-based shows, as well. Sweet Jane was a significant force in the recent Fear Street series, a 3-film project that thrived, importantly, on a Sapphic pulse. Titles such as Fear the Walking Dead, Zombieland, Suck and Blade: Trinity have also been lifted up by the inclusion of some of his most popular tunes. 

But for me, his creativity reaches its most nostalgic heights with 1989’s New York. This offering was my college age equivalent of Transformer, offering a suite of tunes that acknowledged the AIDS ridden, yet eternally magical LGBTQIA community as it stood then.

Unsurprisingly, almost 11 years after his death, Reed is still a guiding force for many – including a fictional serial killer. A poster of him appears, prominently, in the gothic lair of the titular Longlegs, this summer’s critically lauded tale of generational horror.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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The Supreme Reign of Batty Connie

Published July 31, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

Nothing makes me happier than a femme identifying slasher as the primary character in some ghoul stained epic. Horror has a number of them – with Pamela Voorhees from the original Friday the 13th, naturally, leading the top of the list. More recent additions include the titular subjects in projects like Lisa Frankenstein, Abigail and MaXXXine. These cinematic vixens have been completely unafraid to shed a little blood to get exactly what they want. 

Nicely, soaps have also given us a few of their own twisted ovarian baddies over the past couple years. 

Currently, the legendary Colleen Zenk has been careening her way across Genoa City on The Young and the Restless. After burning down a prison and pushing a recovering alcoholic (played by talented soap hopper Brian Gaskill) into the path of a moving vehicle, her demented Aunt Jordan has wound up with a huge casualty list. On that other network, Alley Mills deservedly won an Emmy for enacting Heather Webber’s latest reign of terror on General Hospital. As the poison wielding The Hook, she carved her way through both day and contract players alike with a Michael Myers sized abandon. 

Days of our Lives has not been idle either. In 2023, comedienne Kim Coles threw a dramatic twist into her resume by playing the murderously delusional Whitley King. King kidnapped the show’s longstanding hero Abe Carver (James Reynolds), nearly killing him and his beloved daughter (Sal Stowers) before she was apprehended. This summer, meanwhile, Julie Dove’s zany Connie Viniski is striking fear into the hearts of male Salemites, in and out of Horton Square. While Connie had made a couple minor appearances previously, recent surprise plot revelations have placed her squarely behind the knife that killed the suave Li (Remington Hoffman) over six months ago. 

Joyfully, her reign of terror has just begun. In order to keep her dastardly secret, Viniski recently stabbed the show’s (hopefully) resilient police commissioner Rafe (Galen Gering) in the back. That this crime took place over an open grave in a cemetery only added to it’s delightful macabre intensity. Now Connie seems to also be targeting Robert Stein (Blake Berris), her wicked co-conspirator, and Gabi (Cherie Jimenez), Rafe’s manipulative businesswoman sister. Of course, Connie is sure to talk over any plans she might make with her favorite conjured entity. The ghost-like apparition of Li is now a permanent resident at her breakfast table.

Importantly, despite her often-delusionary actions, Dove has added an almost chirpy innocence to Connie’s increasingly malevolent personality here. This little something extra has certainly endeared her to audiences – even as the character cuts a swath through the heart of their favored city. In fact, if Dove continues to add this sense of quirky charm to the role, Viniski will certainly become one of the show’s most memorable modern-day villainesses.  

At the very least, the weeks ahead are sure to be sparkly, bloody fun – particularly for those, like me, who relate to the subtle flourishes of insecurity that percolate throughout Viniski’s vengeful exterior!

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Rhonda in the Beyond

Published July 22, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

My boyfriend in Chicago in the early ’90s was best friends & occasional roommates with a talented actress named Rhonda Reynolds. Rhonda and I weren’t incredibly close…horror films made her physically squirm in discomfort…but she once acted in a short play that I wrote, and we had many of the same musical likes. In fact, I still have the L7 shirt that she got for me when she saw them open for The Beastie Boys in Chicago. Her future husband Robb was also a talented bassist. Robb and I spent one Saturday evening, in the Wicker Park apartment that I shared with Kelly – the afore mentioned boyfriend, pouring through my CDs and cassette tapes, listening to the latest Fugazi and other alt-rock/punk gems.

In 1994, Wreck, Robb’s band, released an LP on C/Z Records and they went on tour. I went to the kick off show with Kelly and Rhonda – procuring another band shirt that I had for decades. Rhonda, herself, soon took off for Los Angeles, landing a prominent gig opposite Lloyd Bridges in a sexy TV film about a small-town scandal called Secret Sins of the Father.

Going the way of many first relationships, Kelly and I broke up that fall. We did keep in touch for a handful of years after that, though, and I learned through him that Rhonda was landing other nighttime gigs, here and there. But my ears really perked up when I found out that she secured a job playing a ghost on an episode of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, a syndicated anthology series that was many a young genre fan’s entree into the macabre. I never could figure out when her episode was airing, though, and as the years passed, it became just one of the many interesting factoids that decorated the background of my existence.

Of course, as I age, nostalgia is ever nipping at my heels and, in a flush of newfound determination, I recently found her segment online. As you can see from the photos alone, she played her character, an apparition warning a family against impending dangers, with an ethereal potence. Of course, my viewing was amplified by my experience with her in my theater salad days and my sincere gratitude for having lived a life surrounded by so many uniquely creative individuals. But you can judge for yourself at….

A Spirited Update:

All these years later, Robb and Rhonda are still continuing their artistic journeys  — this time through the culinary arts. Their restaurant Masa, a celebration of Chicago style Deep Dish pizza, in East-Central Los Angeles is a smashing success with both locals and the city’s many visitors. 

https://www.masaofechopark.com/

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Cyndi Lauper

Published July 15, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

The recent announcement of Cyndi Lauper’s final concerts sent me traveling down memory lane.

One summer day in 2002, I discovered that I had some time to kill. As I biked around Lincoln Park, I recalled that Lauper was doing an instore mini concert & signing at the (late, lamented) Tower Records on Clark in Chicago. I decided to fill up a bit of my morning by attending. 

Little did I know that side trip would turn into an all-day adventure. 

After purchasing her (then) new EP Shine – which served as my ticket into the show, I was sent outside to wait. Two hours later, we were led back into the building…and there she was on a hastily constructed stage! It was truly awesome to see her perform in such close proximity. She even broke down & shed tears of joy when some of her hard-core fans began singing along with her on latest ballad called Water’s Edge – probably one of my favorite concert moments of all time. 

We then were put in another long line to meet her. I, honestly, thought about leaving, but I figured I had already put in a lot of effort & time. When I got to her at last, she happily signed my CD….but just as we were about to take a photo, one of her handlers approached her & told her that she could no longer personalize the signatures as they had to leave soon for the United Center (where she was opening for Cher — coincidentally, for that icon’s own never-ending, inaccurately entitled goodbye tour.)

“Oh,” she cried, “I don’t want them to hate me! I have to let them know!” A very sweet notion – & a moment captured forever by the employee who was taking our picture. The first shot here is of her getting the news & the second is of her addressing the crowd. I suppose I could also look at the experience as a lesson in life’s eternal sense of balancing expectations. My photos with her are kind of funky…but I did get the last personally addressed CD!

One song that she did not sing that day, but one that ultimately served as the opener for her set in the 2007 True Colors shows, was Hole in my Heart (All the Way to China). Taken from the soundtrack to Vibes, the bizarre ’80s comedy that saw her playing an eccentric psychic opposite Jeff Goldblum’s equally odd clairvoyant, this number is an underground fan favorite. 

Of course, in this critically maligned offering that phenomenon was played for humor. It would be decades later before Lauper, playing a Broadway musical loving private detective, would fully enter the world of horror in the Sweeney Todd inspired The Horrors of Dolores Roach. 

A Land of Terror Tunes:

Additionally, Lauper’s quiet storm ballad All Through the Night was used to grand effect in the well-regarded Netflix spook show The Haunting of Bly Manor. Her almost 300 soundtrack credits also include spots on such horror adjacent television programs as Ghost Whisperer, Bones and Medium, as well. 

Tom Drake: A Queer Horror Cyclops!

Published July 8, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

1957’s The Cyclops is one of the coolest Atomic Era fright flicks ever made. Definitely influenced by society’s growing fear of radical alteration delivered via a blast from a foreign power, this Bert I. Gordon classic takes place in an expansive Mexican valley where giant lizards, swooping aviary nightmares and a muscular one eyed human Kong rule the land. The distorted, almost ambient nature sounds provided by effects maestro Paul Frees and composer Albert Glasser also aid greatly in giving this piece a strange, spare mood.

Unsurprisingly for this fare, the plot is a straightforward affair. A determined woman, searching for her long-lost husband, teams up with one of his colleagues and a duo of shifty ne’er do wells to track him down. Of course, a forced landing of their plane finds them facing down the afore mentioned giant critters, including one that has a striking similarity to the leading lady’s lost love. 

Bolstered by the presence of celebrated fright femme Gloria Talbott (Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, The Leech Woman) as the heroine, the supporting players also provide a celluloid smorgasbord for the happily invested. Lon Chaney, Jr., as one of the nefarious hired hands, hits entertainment gold with one of his animatedly bugged out performances. As his partner in crime, Tom Drake, the eternal boy next door, also shines with booze-soaked gruffness. 

Interestingly, there are several debates, online, about whether Drake was a deeply closeted gay man or a bisexual in real life. (He was briefly married to a woman at the beginning of his career.) Personally, any degree of speculative lavender in a old school matinee idol is good with me and Drake, whose credits include Meet in St Louis (with Judy Garland), Cass Timberlane (with Lana Turner), Mrs. Parkington (with Greer Garson), Maisie Goes to Reno (with Ann Sothern) & Raintree County (with Elizabeth Taylor), was certainly that.

Even though projects like The Cyclops, much to the joy of genre fans, became more of his bread-and-butter fare in the latter part of his career, Drake continued to associate professionally with golden greats. 1971’s House of Black Death found him sharing the screen with Chaney again, along with such terror stalwarts as John Carradine and The Beast with Five Fingers‘ Andrea King. His co-stars in The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974), meanwhile, included Cesar Romero, House on Haunted Hill‘s Carol Ohmart and Robert Walker, Jr. 

Ultimately, those mini-budget epics may not have captured the zany impact of The Cyclops, but they definitely provide interested viewers with a queer genre king for the ages.

Television Horror Hall of Fame:

Drake also guested on episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Project U.F.O. and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. His Night Stalker episode featured two of the show’s recurring guests – monster-in-a-suit maestro Richard Kiel and Piranha’s Keenan Wynn.

Va-Va-Villainess: Jayne Meadows

Published June 24, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

Often revered for her comic antics, the surprisingly creative Jayne Meadows was also a decorated feminist. She often played creative thinkers like Margaret Sanger and Elizabeth Barrett Browning on PBS’ Meeting of the Minds, which was created by her husband Steve Allen, exposing society to important female historical figures. MS Magazine even paid special tribute to her upon her death (at the age 95) in 2015.

The other surprising side to the eternally glamourous Meadows has to be the aptitude she had for playing characters who embraced the underside of society. Emphasizing her youth and looks, many of her first film roles in the ’40s found her playing spoiled society types. There, she threatened the happiness of such stalwart cases as Katherine Hepburn (in Vincente Minnelli’s moody and gothic Undercurrent) and Anne Baxter (in the more lighthearted The Luck of the Irish). The whimsical Enchantment (1948) was a nice detour in that more seductive course. This feature allowed her to play a stern, uncompromising type against David Niven, the project’s charming lead.

A veteran of 6 Broadway shows before her screen debut in 1946, one of her most highly praised early roles, though, was in the inventive noir Lady in the Lake (from that same year). Here, her dexterity with language was revealed, as she often cut away at her dialogue with a clipped antagonism. Her character here was also more of a deadly construct. While her other roles hinted at the possibility of evil deeds, this project found her committing them with vigor and resolve.

Nicely, her latter-day work contained certain diabolical elements, as well. While her kindhearted madame on an episode of Matt Houston (1983’s The Beverly Woods Social Club) was merely rouged a bit around the jawline, her self-involved cosmetics queen on Murder, She Wrote (1986’s Murder by Appointment Only) allowed her to employ her way with a quip and an arched eyebrow. Catty and demanding, she simply steals the show out from under such experienced performers as Robert Culp and even series star Angela Lansbury, herself.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Merle Oberon, Gothic Goddess

Published June 17, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

The gothic femme has had many celluloid idealizations. Off the top of my head, Vampira in Plan 9 From Outer Space, Carroll Borland in Mark of the Vampire, Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice & Fairuza Balk in The Craft all come to mind. My favorite morbid beauty may not be as obvious as those choices, but her classic countenance and illustriously macabre credits make her the ultimate queen of the creaky mansion in my cobweb strewn book.

This divinity is classic movie goddess Merle Oberon. In her multi-layered career, the singular Oberon not only enacted the tragic Cathy opposite Laurence Olivier in the idealized ’30s version of Wuthering Heights, but also faced down moustache twirling types in two popular films from 1944. Dark Waters found her amnesic heiress plunged into damp despair as a middle age grifter couple tries to kill her for her inheritance. Aligning with slightly brighter hues, her pertly happy Kitty Langley faced down Laird Cregar’s Jack the Ripper-like Mr. Slade in the fog strewn The Lodger. 

Interestingly, even one of her more traditionally romantic pictures has a moody patina about it. 1948’s Night Song saw her Cathy Mallory, a distinguished society belle, pretending to be blind in order to lure a sightless composer, Dana Andrews’ bitter Dan Evans, into her heart. Of course, even in post-50s Hollywood, this must have seemed like an ignorant screenwriting choice. Still, Andrews and Oberon give their characters a bit of regal undercurrent, especially as Evans discovers Mallory’s deception and, forgivingly, offers his affections to her in the final moments.

Adding a slight scent of danger to her celluloid allure, Oberon also enacted variations on the noir baddie. Deliciously conniving in 1946’s Temptation, she proved even deadlier ten years later as the seemingly innocent Jessica Warren in Universal Picture’s pulpy The Price of Fear.

Her own life story, though, may be the most tragic component of her artistry. A bi-racial child of rape, she hid her Asian ancestry in order to find success in Hollywood – a fact that only come out after her death from a stroke in November of 1979. The moody internal trauma this denial must have caused her adds to the texture of her celluloid legacy. The sorrow she embodied shows in her greatest performances, a lasting gift to movie lovers everywhere.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan