Entertainment

All posts in the Entertainment category

My Facebook

Published November 19, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

“That sounds fancy…”

Horror shorts are a variable bunch – some have great effects, others have a great concept. Many don’t come together as one delicious whole, though.

But with My Facebook, written, directed, edited and scored by the openly gay Carl Kelsch, viewers soon discover that something that starts with a fairly traditional opening can, ultimately, contain some gruesome, comic gold.

Acted with winking restraint by Christina Marie Thokey and Laurence Thokey, Jr., this tale of a first date overrun by one participant’s social media obsession is fun, clever and contains an ending that will make your very follicles bristle with delight.

Be sure to check it out at:

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Stalking Ilan

Published November 17, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

ilan-1

Aw…all he really ever wanted was love. Indeed, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, best known as Wyatt, part of the awkward duo that helped create a magically scintillating temptress in the popular science fiction comedy Weird Science, ended his quest for the perfect woman with his final acting role on a steamy episode of the syndicated series Silk Stalkings.

The television version of the straight-to-video thriller that clogged the HBO and Showtime airways throughout the ’80s and the ’90s, Silk Stalkings was a weekly Femme Fatales magazine come to life. Featuring gorgeous women who plotted and connived and/or who were often the victims of savagery and twisted sexual domination, Stalkings, as with much exploitation fare, also featured a tough, take charge female at its heart. Here it’s in the form of Mitzi Kapture’s razor talking police sergeant, Rita. Kapture often narrated the episodes with a ’40s gumshoe vibe and successfully got away with the show’s most humorously sarcastic lines.

mitzi_kapture_001 In this particular episode, entitled Men Seeking Women, a bevy of beauties are being viciously annihilated, with their fingernails being pried off during the death throes. Rita and her partner Chris, played by the unbelievably handsome Rob Estes, soon determine a serial killer is at work, targeting females who have posted in a singles magazine. Rita sets herself up as bait and, unwittingly, allows Mitchell-Smith’s nervously quiet Gabriel Evans access to her home address. Indeed, playing against expectations (but without any real surprises), it is the meek Evans who is the culprit here and Rita is soon fighting for her life, with Chris, eventually, rushing in to aid her in her desperate battle. ilan-2

What is surprising is that, despite top guest billing and the fact that his character is the focus of the proceedings, Mitchell-Smith is absent from most of the episode. He appears in two brief scenes – his first meeting with Rita and his attack on her. Instead, much of the episode is devoted to Chris’ budding romance with an exotic dancer and his struggles to deal with her profession. It does, perhaps, add a bit of ironic appeal – contrasting the tough-ass too sensitive to accept his girlfriend’s exhibitionism with the meeker underling who makes a more violent display of his discontent. Still, Mitchell- Smith radiates essential goodness in his first appearance and a more pathetically destructive essence in his final moments, allowing fans to wish that he had continued in the profession a bit longer.

Currently, a professor of Medieval Literature and an enthusiastic gamer, Mitchell-Smith’s tweets prove him to be a fun and honestly liberal presence, deserving of following at www.twitter.com/IlanMS.

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

Www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Leif Garrett

Published November 13, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

leif

He spent more time with a staple in his belly, as a teen centerfold pin-up, than your ever average Playboy bunny. More importantly here, Leif Garrett, that prime representative of androgynous, messy blonde boyhood, also graced such horror epics as Devil Times Five, Cheerleader Camp, Party Line and The Whispering, throughout his decade’s long acting career. deviltimesfive

He was also, as so many male idols before and after him, a pop star of questionable yet, temporarily successful, note. Although, his vocals were often more layered than a Patti Page novelty number, his recordings are so fun and indicative of a certain era that they are, perhaps, enjoyable for reasons beyond nostalgia.

Indeed, his biggest hit, I Was Made for Dancing, is propulsively catchy and the video below shows he can wear a pair of black stretch pants like nobody’s business, surprising no one, that he effectively enacted drag scenes, not only as a child in Devil Times Five, but as an adult in Party Line, as well.

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

cheerleader camp.jpg

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Zine Review: Aversion

Published November 12, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

aversion-photo

If famed exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco had been a young, queer Midwest writer then Aversion: A Zine of Therapeutic Vignettes may have been something that he might have dreamed up. But it is the talented Aaron Eischeid who actually offers up the first chapter of a very spooky and hallucinogenic world here.

In the first segment of this ongoing series, Eischeid introduces us to Owen, a confused youth who finds himself encountering a possibly lethal librarian type, a monstrous eye, a dead deer and an extremely invasive therapist. Presented as a stream of consciousness study of the horrors of conversion therapy, Eischeid finds wonderful details to concentrate on here – a fascination with a mother’s pearls, for example. The sudden surprise of Owen being caught in a sexual encounter with a classmate is delivered both with real life poignancy and bit of the fantastic, as well. All these elements add up to something original while retaining the bizarre and dreamlike structures of the Euro cinema of Franco and so many others.

Featuring potent yet simple artwork by Oats Redding, this first installment is printed out almost diary style, in what seems to be Owen’s own handwriting. Creative touches such as these should make readers of this newfound adventure eager for new chapters.

Aversion is available for purchase at:

https://paradigmshiftprods.wordpress.com/

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Jackey Neyman Jones: Bonding with the Daughter of Manos

Published November 10, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

jackey-photo

Jackey Neyman Jones may rival Troll 2’s Michael Stephenson as the child actor in the worst film ever made. As Debbie in Manos: The Hands of Fate, one of the most popular spoofed movies on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Neyman Jones found herself encountering long desert drives, lost pets, billowing cult members and overwhelming gray couches in one of the most notoriously awful (yet quite enjoyable) cult films ever made. Appointing herself Manos’ official historian, she has recently published a book, Growing Up with Manos: The Hands of Fate, about her adventures on the film and how it has impacted her life. Nicely, in a move that proves the enduring legacy of the film, Neyman Jones is also readying the world for the decades-in-the-making sequel, Manos Returns.

How did you get involved in Manos, Jackie?

My dad was doing community theater in El Paso. (Manos director) Hal Warren was a supporting actor in a number of plays. My dad often played the lead. At that moment, he was playing the lead in Henry IV. Hal was in it and John Reynolds (“Torgo”) was the stage manager. I believe William Bryan Jennings (“Cop”) was in it. That’s where Hal got his cast and some of his crew. They were all from that particular play. My dad came home, after he agreed to be in Hal’s movie, and they needed a little girl. He asked if I wanted to be that little girl. That’s how I got involved because I always wanted to be with my dad. I wanted to be where he was.

Cool. I did my first professional show in summer stock with my dad, too.

Oh, is that right? How old were you?

It was between the summer of 2^nd and 3^rd grade. I had always wanted to act. So we both got to perform with our fathers. That’s cool.

That is cool. A little later, when I was 9, my dad was the male lead in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The theater director had raised funds and brought Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon) in to play Jean Brodie.

I love her!

Me, too! I got to meet her, in person, at Crypticon. I told her that she was in my book. I bought her book and that experience was in her book, as well.

I thought I had read about that in her book. So, you were in the show with her?

Yeah, I was one of the schoolgirls. That was the second time that I got to be a part of something that my dad was a part of. All my life, I wanted to act with my dad. Now, with Manos Returns, it’s pretty exciting. I got to pull him into that project. jackey-newman

Was the infamous Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode the first time that you realized that Manos had a cult following?

Manos was something that I held onto and nurtured. I told stories to my sons. But it was gone. We didn’t have a copy of it. We never saw it again after the premiere. Nobody wanted to talk about it – (Laughs) except maybe me. So, 27 years go by, and my dad calls me. He lived in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast at that time. I was in Northern California, married with a young child. He called me and said, “You’ll never believe what I just saw on television!” It was January 1993 and it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was a big fan of the show. He watched it every Saturday. There he was, dozing off, and he heard something familiar. He opened his eyes and was just astounded.

Naturally!

Even then, I had no idea that there was a cult following. Since I missed seeing it that day, I did some investigating. I knew it was on Comedy Central. I knew there was a 1-800 number on the screen. I called that number. The guy that answered said that he was at the HBO offices in Manhattan. I told him that they had just shown a film that my family was involved in and that I had been looking for it. Now, after all these years there it was and I wondered if there was any way that I could get copy. He asked me what the name of the film was. I said Manos: The Hands of Fate. There was this long pause and he says…”Oh, my god! Are you Debbie?” (Laughs) That was literally the first time that I realized that anyone knew anything about this film, but me. From there… the internet was just beginning, we were still on dial-up…but I got online and kept running across little things about it. So, I began looking for things and started to set up my position as the person to kind of clean up all the Manos mythology. (Laughs) There was a lot of it. No one knew anything. They thought all the cast and crew were dead. Nobody knew anybody was alive. They didn’t bother to look for us. I started putting it out there. We were very much alive –

…And thriving!

Right…and thriving! I started cleaning that stuff up. Then I wrote a blog for awhile, just to see if anybody was interested in what I had to say. I also had to see if I could write, sustainably, and not just in little bursts. I ended up getting a pretty big fan following. I was surprised. I was getting about 3000 readers a month. Then I decided to write my book. That took me 16 months. So, I just focused on that. I couldn’t write the blog, too. manos-debbie

Now, there’s a sequel in post-production, as well. I love that the project is being created, pretty much entirely, by women. There’s you, Rachel Jackson and amazing indie film director Tonjia Atomic.

She’s amazing. It really is the will of Manos with the way that the right people have come together. They have passion and respect for each other and talent. It’s remarkable. I love Tonjia. We’re so thrilled about how this came about. Along with Rachel Jackson, we wrote the script. Well, mostly, they did. (Laughs) They keep giving me first billing which isn’t fair. I love Manos Returns. I love the story. I love the angle. Tonjia and Joe Sherlock, the director of photography, have both been making independent films for awhile, but with zero budgets. We were so excited to give them a budget, as small as it is. It’s just incredible. I know there is a lot of people out there who think that we are intentionally making a bad film. But I, honestly, think we are going to get a lot of notice because our budget is so tiny and yet it looks and sounds so good. That’s all because of the passion and how much talent that people willingly brought to the table.

It’s all part of an incredible and unlikely legacy!

I was born to be Debbie in Manos. The fan base for the film has the coolest people. They are really awesome, intelligent, innovative and creative people. I just couldn’t think of a better place to be. I want to do more of it.

If you are located in the Midwest, be sure to join Jackey this weekend in Chicago for two incredible events. On Friday, 11/11/16, she will be at the Music Box Theatre for a screening of Manos and on Sunday, 11/13/16, she will be appearing at a book signing at Bucket of Blood. More info follows, below:

https://www.musicboxtheatre.com/events/manos-the-hands-of-fate-actress-jackey-neyman-jones-in-person and https://www.facebook.com/events/981307258645825/

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: The Pixies

Published November 6, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

The weather is unseasonably warm…still dry leaves skitter down streets with a desolate gasp…and lonely paper skeletons, corners frayed from nightly winds, dangle, discontentedly, from the trees where they were hung, many moons before, in childlike celebration. Halloween has been over for a week, yet it still feels like anything could happen. – Something mysterious, something sad, something otherworldly…and as always, in times like these, the Pixies are the perfect background soundtrack.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Zombie Broads

Published November 5, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

zombie-broads-2

Ladies and gentlemen, I know you’ve been a bit worried, but at last…my butt has been fully restored. Yes. After sitting through countless half-assed productions, often scribbled out by established playwrights, at such venerable institutions as The Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf –Be honest. How many times have you thought to yourself, “Now, why the fuck did they spend all that money to do…that?!?” – I have been posteriorly redefined by some good old fashioned, gnawingly eviscerating storefront theater.

Factory Theatre’s latest production is a horror comedy that goes by the name of Zombie Broads. The title is a reference to a book club featuring many of the show’s female characters, but it is also indicative of the fact that playwrights Corbette Pasko and Sara Sevigny have focused the mayhem here around a series of powerful and resourceful femmes. It’s a nice contrast to The Walking Dead, World War Z and other popular forms of undead entertainment that, granted, contain some awesome female characters, but are seemingly more focused on the male perspective in times of apocalyptic crisis.

Here, former cosplayers turned survivalists, Maxine and Marco, are bringing up Shelby, their exasperated daughter, in a shelter style environment. Shelby, certain that a ghoulish uprising is out of the question, just wants a cell phone, a normal job and to be able to spend some less secretive time with her boyfriend, Alex. But sometimes the folks are right, and when Shelby finds out the dead actually can have real bite, she is glad for all the preriquisite training. If only she weren’t feeling so strange… zombie-broads

Nicely, all of Maxine and Marco’s battle minded compatriots are women and the involved and inventive fight choreography by Matt Engle shows these actresses and, therefore, their characters off to strong intent. Indeed, the audience emotionally connects with all of them.

But if I must choose a favorite…I have decided that I want the divine Haley Rice to be my best friend, in real life, forever! Her subtle, slightly bored take on Isabel, the saucy custodian who starts off the crisis, is comic gold. I! Love! Her!

Granted, the second act does lose some of the zippy breeze established in the first, settling into much more nihilistic vibe. Tone-wise, it’s a bit jarring, as is the semi- cliffhanger ending. But the uniformly enjoyable cast is always a treat and it would be damn hard to find original scripting as zanily courageous and heartfelt, amplified by Janice L. Blizt’s flinty direction, as this anywhere else.

Zombie Broads runs at The Factory Theatre in Rogers Park in Chicago through November 26^th. More information is available at https://www.facebook.com/factorytheater/ and www.thefactorytheater.com.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Fan Boy Blues

Published November 3, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

fan-boy-2

I was recently asked to submit some interviews to a fledging publication. One of the pieces was going to be a revised question and answer piece from a year ago. The subject asked to sign off on the article. I sent off the newish result for approval…and despite a couple of contact attempts…never heard back. I was nervous about it going to print. Did this person like the piece? Was all the information correct? Would there be some kind of an uproar when it was published? So, I was actually relieved when I was, eventually, told that the issue was overlong and this particular article was not going to be used. Flash forward to my email inbox yesterday…and this personality is, suddenly, enquiring when the magazine with their interview will be available. What? I was honestly confused, having had assumed, for awhile, that this celebrity had forgotten all about the piece or maybe had hated what I had done with it and had lost all interest. I mean, they had never responded back to me. Thus, I, nervously, spent half the day composing a response email to this individual, hoping that I wouldn’t offend or upset them…chewing over the possible outcomes in my mind. Even today, after all is said and done, I find my nerves a little wracked.

I realize if this had been a colleague of mine from another field, I would have still felt a little bad and awkward about the situation. But, troublingly, I also realize that my feelings here were definitely compounded by the fact that this person has appeared in a number of films that I love and that, as a result, I have placed their opinions above my own and the people I hold most dear to me in my everyday life. I have a feeling that I am not the only one that this is true for. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed beer swilling bro-types hanging slavishly on to every word of some aging horror legend as he, bluntly, describes a female co-star’s breasts…something that I find both disturbing and sexist, but I guess that’s another story for another article. But, right now, I do think it’s time that I find a more emotionally healthy way to fan boy.

Granted, it can be very hard to keep our feelings for these personalities in perspective. So many emotions revolve around them. They have been a part of our lives, sometimes for decades. They represent our first dates in high school and all night viewing parties with deceased parents. They remind us of the first time we kissed that rebel in the alley outside of the theater and certain of their films completely encapsulate entire beginnings and endings of so many portions of our lives. How can it not matter if they don’t like us when we meet them? How can their lack of approval not hurt? But they are human, not gods and goddesses. Is it really so much more important when one of them follows us on Twitter as opposed to some super cool, indie start up horror femme fatale from the gut buckets of Indiana? Are their thoughts really more valid than your super smart scientist friend whose ideas truly could bring about a better world? fan-boy-1

Obviously, a major part of this site has been about my slavish (and over-the-top, hopefully humorous) love for these folks, but this recent incident has been a good reminder of where my focus really belongs. I should care more about those 25 pounds that I want to lose, the book I want to write, that zombie musical that I am co-writing than what some possible terror icon thinks or doesn’t think of me. Especially as we enter an era where the prices of autographs and photos are at an all time high, where it’s more and more obvious that certain convention attendees care more about making money than making a connection. It seems like the perfect time for me, and so many others, to enter a period of more self respecting, less reverential fandom.

I’m starting today.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Mimi Craven at Hollywood Palms

Published October 28, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

mimi

She portrayed a nurse for Nancy, but perhaps most importantly, the divine Mimi Craven was also the mother of Freddy! Married to director-writer Wes Craven during the creation of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, Ms. Craven, a former actress whose other credits include Vampire Clan and the kid-gone-murderer epic Mikey, will be heading to the Hollywood Palms Cinema, in Naperville, IL, this weekend to discuss the behind-the-scenes magic of one of contemporary horror’s most enduring classics.

Appearing for one night only, October 29^th, 2016, this gregarious lady is sure to have plenty of stories to share with many a besotted terror loving Midwesterner.

More information for the two special showings, one at 7:15 pm and the other at 9 pm, is available at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1203228113069317

https://www.mapado.com/en/naperville/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-with-special-guest-mimi-craven.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory

Published October 23, 2016 by biggayhorrorfan

werewolf_in_girls_dormitory_poster

As if college studies aren’t hard enough…some poor Italian lasses had to deal with a maiden slashing lycanthrope in the 1961 cult classic Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory.

Of course, The Fortunes’ opening credit (entirely groovy) rock ‘n roll song Ghoul in School must have eased those troubled (ever nubile) students’ bruised feelings, just a bit.

werewolf-in-a-girls-dormitory-2

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