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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!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

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

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Joanna Newsom

Published June 10, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

With her unique viewpoint and sharp, childlike phrasing, celebrated arthouse musician Joanna Newsom seems an unlikely choice to be a horror movie balladeer. But that is probably what makes the inclusion of her delicately punctuated Sprout and the Bean, used in both 2008’s The Strangers and this year’s The Strangers: Chapter 1, so cinematically effective.

In both films the song plays as the heroines of each piece, Liv Tyler and Madelaine Petsch respectively, celebrate a moment of solitude in a secluded home. Thus, the sweetness of the tune functions as a wonderful red herring. It is a calming lullaby that, ultimately, leads to an evening of twisted torture and bloody despair.

With talent running deeper than a knife slash, Newsom’s strange sonic world has definitely developed over three more albums — Sprout is featured on her simpler yet evocative first recording, The Milk-Eyed Mender. As 2006’s Ys and 2010’s Have One on Me are considered by many discerning critics to be modern classics, now seems the perfect time for the uninitiated to take a deep dive into her singular catalog.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Death Becomes…Us!

Published June 3, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

In her 2010 documentary I Am Nancy, actress Heather Langenkamp examined why the male monsters in horror, specifically Freddy Krueger, receive the lion’s share of fandom, including merchandising, while iconic heroines, such as the character she portrayed, are often given short shrift. As a gay horror fan, who definitely feels intense kinship with the sensitive yet thrifty survivors of these bloody epics, I have often felt the same sort of dejected curiosity. It’s definitely a straight ghoul’s world. Even when there is alternative abundance, it is often tempered. As part of the writing team of McFarland’s upcoming Queer Horror: A Film Guide, I excitedly found gay characters and lavender subtext throughout decades of film, but overwhelmingly, the LGBTQIA characters were often not at the forefront of the action.

There are victories, though. 1992’s diva-licious, camp-tastic Death Becomes Her, a favorite among queer horror fans and creators, has recently been adapted into a musical, with a Broadway opening slated for the fall of 2024. It’s pre-White Way try-out in Chicago, garnered enthusiastic reviews & fueled awareness that the book writer (Marco Pennette) and the lyricists (Julia Mattison & Noel Carey) are well attuned to what crowd has kept this thirty some year old cult property in the public consciousness. From the jokes to the musicalized rhymes, this is a show for every queen who worshipped at the fabulously catty altar laid out by Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep in the Robert Zemekis film.

Anyone who feels like they missed out by not witnessing the glories bestowed on the theatrical world by such age-old Tony winning powerhouses as Ethel Merman, Mary Martin and Pearl Bailey will find much satisfaction here, as well. From the opening moments of the show, Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams electrifies, bringing a Diahann Carroll meets Eartha Kitt energy to the stage. As Viola Van Horne, a more prominent take on the film’s Lisle Von Rhuman (Isabella Rossellini), she emerges from glittery cocoons and ancient sarcophagi, compelling viewers to follow her every magical move.  Megan Hilty, taking over as Streep’s self-indulgent Madeline Ashton, and Jennifer Simard, doing a crisp take on Hawn’s Helen Sharp, meanwhile, bring out all the delightful, irreverent, vengeful and awesomely (aka DIVA) fun aspects of the script. Their 11 o’ Clock duet, Alive Together, is a phenomenon – easily achieving and/or surpassing the heights reached by similar female-centric songs in shows like Wicked and Side Show.

So, yes, there may be 12 celluloid variations of Friday the 13th without a single fey gent in sight – but we do finally have this potion-perfect example of a musical to call our very own!

More information on the production and it’s upcoming run in New York City can be found at http://www.deathbecomesher.com.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Va-Va-Villainess: Alison Arngrim

Published May 26, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

This took me decades to realize, but it’s so crystal clear now that I am almost embarrassed about my obliviousness. Some aging, glitter flecked homosexual had to have come up with the costume design for Little House on the Prairie‘s drag queen inspiring, all time champion baddie Nellie Oleson. This 19th Century troublemaker looks exactly like the twin to Bette Davis’ iconic Jane in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Sealing the deal, portrayer Alison Arngrim intuitively followed the flavor trail of those tresses and dresses, creating an indelible, much beloved (or is that hated?) character.

This perfect combination gave Arngrim’s rich and spoiled Nellie a nearly 7 year-run as the self-admiring tormentor of House‘s enduring heroine Laura (Melissa Gilbert). Her professional commitment even imbued a number of follow-up credits. Variations on Nellie’s saucy naughtiness can be found in Arngrim’s lingerie clad hooker on an episode of Fantasy Island and as a champagne swilling operetta actress in I Married Wyatt Earp, a 1983 television film. 

Of course, none of those enjoyable gigs hit the delirious brilliance of a manipulative (yet helpless) Nellie bouncing down a hill in a wheelchair, another visually reverential reference to Jane, in one of House‘s most famous episodes.

So, over the past 2 decades. Arngrim has smartly embraced her bewigged past – writing a book and performing a one woman show, nationwide, about her most famous creation entitled Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. With pitch perfect humor and startling insight, she weighs in on how Nellie’s nastiness has ultimately not only enhanced viewers’ lives, but her own, as well. A recent pitstop in Chicago even included a reenactment of her most famous exchange with Gilbert:

For information on further showings of Confessions and any other project announcements, be sure to follow Arngrim at https://www.instagram.com/alisonarngrim/ and/or https://www.facebook.com/AlisonArngrimFanPage,

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Shark Bait Retro Village: Strike Force – Fallen Angel

Published May 20, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

After being terrorized by Scott Jacoby’s Bad Ronald, in the cult classic tv film of the same name, one would think that actress Cindy Fisher would be a bit leery around charismatic, misunderstood strangers. I would further assume that this would especially apply to mysterious figures played by actor Judson Scott, a man whose piercing blue eyes and knife sharp cheekbones always spelled imminent and inexplicable celluloid danger. But, hey, a job’s a job…and playing a questioning spirit named Sunset on the Fallen Angel episode of the short lived, early ’80s series Strike Force had to be a fun one.

For those uninitiated, Strike Force, a rare failure for the Aaron Spelling conglomerate, specialized in bringing a sleazier, Dirty Harry vibe to Friday evenings on ABC in the 1981-82 season. Plotlines, over the first few entries, revolved around revenge fueled families who gruesomely decapitated their victims & perverted, low-class charmers who kidnapped, raped and murdered beautiful, unsuspecting women. Led by stern jawed Robert Stack, the regular (crime solving) force also included the prolific Dorian Harewood, former Australian pop star Trisha Noble, the handsome Michael Goodwin (who went onto the even shorter-lived nighttime soap The Hamptons) and favored character actor Richard Romanus, often utilized as the team’s comic relief. 

In accordance with similar outings, Fisher’s moneyed Sunset is sensationally whipped by Scott’s Johnny Lee here, after refusing to take part in a Manson style massacre he orchestrates. Fleeing him and his devoted cult members, she soon holes up with the Stack’s crew on a small farm. As Johnny and his associates wage war upon them, further casualties mount. (The handsome Shannon Presby, best known as the lead in Sean Cunningham’s The New Kids, plays a sadistically reverential follower who is arrested by Noble and Goodwin.) 

Of course, after the bullets stop flying, Sunset and the show’s regulars, unsurprisingly, have survived the opposing onslaught. But as the end credits fade, it remains ambiguous, a la Patty Hearst, to what degree the show’s shamed heiress with have to pay for her initial involvement with these sadistic degenerates. Nicely, the emotional resonance of this question is amplified by the work of Fisher, who brings both vulnerability and edge to her creation. *

* (Fisher would play a more traumatized version of this character a few years later on an episode of TJ Hooker. In Trackdown, a 4th season episode of the show, her young married is captured by Richard Hatch’s sadistic criminal, giving her another showcase role and a place of note in ’80s television entertainment.)

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

Ship of Ghouls

Published May 13, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

Time is strange, right? I know decades have flown by, yet it seems like it was just yesterday that I was watching the shows of my youth. This was a golden age for appearances by faded filmdom greats. Performers like June Allyson, Van Johnson and Joan Fontaine were my regular living room guests then. Now, these folks are long gone, never to do the overpriced photo op treatment at some local nostalgia festival. 

Yet they seem so near – a mere streaming service or DVD away.

I was especially reminded of this duality while watching Ship of Ghouls, the 1978 Halloween The Love Boat episode, centering around a famed illusionist referred to as The Great Alonso (the legendary Vincent Price). This segment of the show also featured the misty charms of three celluloid goddesses, Joan Blondell, as Alonzo’s devoted companion, and Iris Adrian and Bibi Osterwald, as his overly ardent fans.

Of course, Blondell’s loyalty is put to the test as Alonso begins to ignore her in deference to his newfound coterie of fawning females. Naturally, by the final credits, time and the show’s wise and ever present Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLoed) bring the estranged lovebirds back together again.

Otherwise, there is much to enjoy decoratively and costume-wise — dig Ted Lange’s Frankenstein’s Monster and that All-Star Pumpkin band – with this seasonal offering.

Interestingly, while Price is the horror giant here, his femme counterparts also have some macabre credits flitting, bat-like, among their filmographies. Blondell, by far the best known of the three, had major roles in Death at Love House and The Dead Don’t Die, well-regarded ’70s television films. Adrian, known for playing comedically inclined moll types in the ’40s, logged appearances in such classic capers as Horror Island, Bluebeard and (crime mystery) Lady of Burlesque. Osterwald, meanwhile, did latter day duty via guest appearances on such shows as Werewolf and Tales from the Crypt.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Flashback Interview: Catherine Mary Stewart

Published May 6, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

Often as a journalist, particularly with online pieces, you discover that your writing has been archived or has vanished completely. Thus, I thought it might be fun to, occasionally, revisit some of my favorite work that was done for other publications. The below interview with Catherine Mary Stewart was conducted at a Horror Hound event in the spring of 2010. Originally running on Horror Society’s site, this blast from the past seems as freshly contemporary to me as Stewart, herself.

As an actress, Catherine Mary Stewart has faced down juiced out zombies (Night of the Comet), sexy serial killers (Psychic) and intruders from space, both friendly (The Last Starfighter) and not so friendly (Nightflyers). But her professional beginnings as an actress on soap opera Days of Our Lives were just as scary – and there were no worlds gone wild or dead men named Bernie hanging around either!

“An hour show a day is difficult. My very first day on the set was humiliating. It’s my very first scene as Nurse Kayla Brady and I had to name every single character. I got everybody’s name wrong! Everyone was like, No – I’m Maggie and this is Hope!”

As for the most exciting thing that happened during her short tenure (1982-83) on the beloved soap?

(Laughing) “I lost my virginity to my brother! Josh Taylor was playing Chris Kositchek at the time and I lost my virginity to him. Now he’s back on the soap, playing Roman Brady, Kayla’s brother. So, I lost my virginity to my brother!”

Of course, after her stint on Days, Stewart became known to many horror and science fiction fans for her exemplar, tough as nails work in films such as Dudes and in the very popular, above mentioned films.

“Night of the Comet established me as a strong woman. And, let’s face it, this business is surface and one dimensional, so I got cast as more of a tomboy after that.”

But Stewart did find herself thrown into the occasional glamorous role on such mini-series events as Sins (with Joan Collins), the legendary Hollywood Wives and on the lighthearted, early ’90s attempt at a long running series, Hearts are Wild.

“You know, while I didn’t mind the idea of a steady gig, the character on Hearts Are Wild started out a lot darker. But…it turned into a commercial Love Boat type of thing.”

Darker emotions also played into one of Stewart’s first roles after her familial based hiatus. In 2007, she appeared in a supporting capacity in the horror film based on celebrated novelist Jack Ketchum’s book, The Girl Next Door.  (As many know, the central character, Ruth Chandler, tortures and abuses her young female ward.)

“The Girl Next Door gave me a lot of pause. They wanted me to read for the lead. I just couldn’t. I had to ask myself, Are you scared because it’s challenging? Finally, I decided yes, it’s challenging…but it’s just too tough. This was the movie to get back into it all and I just wanted to get the wheels turning. I did not want to play that part.”

Of course, since those tentative returning moments, Stewart, much to the delight of her ravenous fan base, has not only been working non-stop in film, but has been hitting the convention circuit and has set herself up a home base, not only on the web – http://www.catherinemarystewart.net -, but on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/catherinemarystewart -, as well. She’s also found an emotional connection with many of the viewers of her past celluloid achievements.

“So many young women have claimed I instilled a sense of power in them. I love that! I can’t tell you how much I love that!”

In closing, when asked to use one word to describe Penelope Spheeris, the, yes…powerful and acclaimed director who guided her through the rough terrain of Dudes, Stewart responds:

“Oh, man! She was just so cool! So. Cool! I so wanted to be even half as cool as her!”

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Looky-loo

Published May 3, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

I know not to make contact with the delirious, searching eyes of the unfortunates on my early morning train rides. Disaster assuredly lies there. It’s probably why I can’t stand watching true crime broadcasts. Something bad really can happen to me at any moment in time and I, for one, don’t want to dwell on my imminent demise unless I truly have to. 

In an artful way, Jason Zink’s Looky-loo takes us into the heart of this fear. A feature length travelogue of a serial killer’s journey throughout the neighborhoods of a city, done entirely through their point of view, this experimental exercise reminds viewers of how vulnerable they really are. What is especially interesting here is how Zink allows the everyday objects this stalker comes into contact with – a welcome mat, bathroom products, kitchen utensils – to really come to life here. The heightened colorization and savage utilization of these ordinary items really illustrates a true invasion of personal space, resulting in visual takes that remain in the consciousness long after the film ends.

Zink should also be commended for always taking risks with his art. While 2014’s Night Terrors celebrated more traditional horror. his 2019 feature Straight Edge Kegger was a gritty, punk infused exploitation flick. Looky-loo, which might be more at home in a museum of contemporary art than a movie theater, continues that determined evolution with varied, almost Warhol-ian results. 

Learn more about Zink and his work at https://www.facebook.com/weirdontoppictures.