One Step Beyond with Joan Fontaine!

Published December 24, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

What I leave in my wake are cookie crumbs and a body outline composed of potato chip wrappers. They don’t call me Messy Baby for nothing!

Joan in The Women.

Fortunately for celluloid geeks, the elegant Joan Fontaine (1916-2013) left behind a legacy of classic films including such suspense masterpieces as Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941) and that forever catty call to arms The Women (1939). Genre enthusiasts can thrill to her distinguished portrayals in projects such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and The Witches (1966), as well.

Another of her interesting fantasy style roles occurred on a 1960 episode of the para-psychological series One Step Beyond. As Ellen Grayson in “The Visitor”, Fontaine brings a weary worldliness to her portrayal of a recovering alcoholic. Recuperating at a snow capped cottage, Fontaine’s Ellen has determined she must get out of her long dead marriage. Her husband, played by Warren Beatty, 20 years younger than Fontaine at the time, is not so happy to hear this, though. Storming out into the night, he crashes his car.

It is then that the show takes its ghostly turn. Fontaine is surprised at her home by the appearance of a handsome stranger whom eventually turns out to be the younger version of her husband. (Beatty, again, but without the previous gray-face that he had been sporting.) After some heartfelt revelations, he disappears to Fontaine’s horrific shock.

Will what he revealed save their dormant relationship? Or will Fontaine/Ellen drown her surprise in several Molotov cocktails? Whatever the case, Fontaine’s dignity and beauty add much to this sentimentally supernatural enterprise. She was – and forever will be – a Cinema Queen!

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

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Asia Argento, “Total Entropy”

Published December 22, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Everyone looks better in pink vinyl! Euro horror legend Asia Argento proved she was no exception with the release of her musical soundscape Total Entropy earlier this year.

With every track creating a moody and dark (yet dance worthy) vibe, this seductive femme proves she knows her fan base. Even the backing to a song like CheeseAndEggs (which details the emotional routines involved with breakfast consumption) seems like it belongs behind the action of a grimy George Romero flick. Vampy concerns a girlfriend who is a “lesbo vampire” while the song with the most interesting title My Stomach is the most violent of Italy is actually one of the most musically complex, as well.

Placebo fans will rejoice at Argento’s collaboration with Brian Molko, a fun reimagining of Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime moi non plus while others will definitely want to join this chameleon-like chanteuse at the Sexodrome, pronto!

Until the next time – keep your Asia love going strong by following her at
https://twitter.com/AsiaArgento — and SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Review: Christmas Dearest

Published December 21, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Mona, one of the kindly lesbian prostitute nuns who raised me, was ashamed of some of the stag films that she did in her dwindling years. But it did get her elected as den mother to a gang of derelict Webelos – so it wasn’t all bad.

Similarly, a bunch of us terror freaks LOVE Joan Crawford NOT for her Academy Award gyrating in Mildred Pierce (although that’s mighty fine, too) but for her controlled hysterics in such cult classics as Strait Jacket (1964), Berserk! (1967) and Trog (1970).

Nicely, Chicago’s illustrious, fun Hell in a Handbag Prductions is currently presenting Christmas Dearest, their version of A Christmas Carol as seen through the diva-like eyes of Crawford. Amazingly articulated by the incredible David Cerda, Joan is given the Scrooge treatment, here, with hilarious results.

One of the show’s true pleasures is its homage to Joan’s later career moves. With a brilliantly sodden Ed Jones, momentarily standing in as the elder Crawford, Cerda (who serves as playwright, as well) takes us to the set of an imagined Sci Fi Monster flick, a perfect stand in for all of our favorite celluloid goddess’ final screen credits. With drunken fervor, Jones’ Joan saves the day – but special notice should be given to handsome Michael John Lea who nicely captures the nuances of such (much younger), late career Crawford love interests as Lee Majors and Ty Hardin.

Featuring exemplary work from Steve Love as the younger, career hungry Joan, Cerda also offers up the final word on the Christina-Joan rivalry, here, making this the perfect holiday stage treat for film lovers of every sort.

Christmas Dearest runs in Chicago through December 28th, 2013. Further information can be gathered at http://www.handbagproductions.org.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

The Backside of Horror: Marc Blucas, “Animals”

Published December 20, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Let’s face it, half the fun of horror and exploitation is seeing some hot bodies frolicking around in the buff. And while I worship the female form, I believe exploitation definitely veers into the exploitive when only gorgeous women are on display while their male counterparts remain chastely buttoned up. Therefore, The Backside of Horror salutes the filmmakers and actors whom even up the score a bit by showing us instances of hot and juicy male flesh in their bloody celluloid fantasies.

In those dirty hours just before the Nair stops having its fully deserved effect, there is NO ONE that I want to see me in the buff.

Thankfully, former Buffy stud Marc Blucas does not have the same worries. As Jarrett, a down on his luck construction worker, Blucas shows us quite a lot in a kitchen side romp with a mysterious beauty. Soon, though, those primal tendencies take our butt baring hero down more ferocious lanes.

Based on a John Skipp and Craig Spector book, Animals got a huge push at some 2008 Fangoria conventions, but with a quiet direct-to-DVD release in 2010, this adaptation has received little to no attention.

But, a little masculine flesh on the countertop always deserves a second look, no?

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: growgirl

Published December 19, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Sometimes the only way to get through the daily battle between that heinous cackling wizard of fate and that vengeful witch of emotional destruction is to put your head down and just barrel through it.

Actress/author/all-around-adventuress Heather Donahue pretty much does just that as, sharply, described in her illuminating memoir growgirl. Donahue, whose terror stained credits include such fun, cheesy efforts as Manticore and The Morgue, of course, is best known for her incisive work in The Blair Witch Project. Here, though, she describes her efforts to create a life for herself after her career in Hollywood stops holding any fruitful fascination for her.

Gamely facing the terrors of the Manticore!

The answer to her quest is probably a bit less typical than you might imagine. Retiring to a small West Coast community, Donahue begins a career farming medical marijuana. With self deprecation and tart humor, she describes her year-long adventure in a seemingly harmonious community that, ultimately, has as many double standards as any societal unit.

Winningly, Donahue is as tough on herself as any of the people she encounters on her journey. From physical comedy to self aware acknowledgements of her propensity to bang when knocking softly would suffice, she writes with humbling candor. Her on-the-target observations about the community’s inability to escape from basic patriarchal grandstanding are leavened with detailed descriptions of those masculine elders’ honest heartaches and profound commitments, as well.

Best of all, for those who aware of their own uncertain stumbling through life, Donahue’s narration provides plenty of relatability. But, we can only hope that our experiences contain half of the honest, poetic beauty that Donahue describes so potently in growgirl.

PS: For dog lovers, Donahue’s loving descriptions of her bounding pup, Vito, make him one of the most fascinating literary characters in recent years.

You can purchase growgirl at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/k434ttr and you can keep up-to-date with Donahue at http://www.heatherdonahue.com, as well.

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

Hey!! Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, too.

Review: Red Caps

Published December 18, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

It’s amazing to consider that, one day, gay high school prom kings and queens may be the norm. Standing at the mid-point of history, when our queer baby brothers and sisters are still being bullied yet becoming a more recognized scholastic force, Steve Berman’s collection of new young adult fairy tales, Red Caps, hits at exactly the right moment. His stories contain proud, out college bound sophisticates whom still are fighting off the rigid strains of homophobia and the prescribed doctrines of public acceptance – all with a fantastical twist, of course.

With a release date of February 14th, 2014, many of Berman’s sweetly magical tales concern love. Love thwarted, love longed for and love, in its delicate first moments of adventure. You get the still relevant tales of youths fighting to free their significant others from the dangers of the closet (Only Lost Boys Are Found) and those fighting for breath within the sticky strings of monogamy (Bittersweet). Berman, also, perfectly nails the tentative nature of all emotional entanglements. No one ever quite escapes the nervous energy associated with a new crush or an unrequited obsession, making stories such as Most Likely and The Harvestbuck relatable to all.

Berman mixes all these common day realities with a sense of the punk (Red Caps is an indie band mentioned in several of the stories) fantastic, though. All Smiles power-blends the conventions of sexy hitchhiking bad-asses, back breaking reform school programs and mysterious clans of demon hunters into a bloody, hypnotic literature smoothie. Three on a Match suggests that tragedies like teen suicide and the strains of life-at-large can find a bit of relief in the imaginary and supposed magic.

Berman excels in smaller moments, as well. He writes of familial relations, particularly the interactions between siblings, with tart truth. Indeed, a late-point revelation about the lead character’s sister in Only Lost Boys Are Found is one of the most simple, yet poignant moments in the collection as a whole.

Funny, honest and mystically misty, Berman proves here, without a doubt, that the mysterious and the wonderful do exist in our everyday lives, making Red Caps an appropriate gift for funky kids of every age.

Further information on Berman and Red Caps can be gathered at http://www.lethepressbooks.com and http://www.steveberman.com.

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

Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well.

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Jessica Walter, “Why Can’t You Behave?”

Published December 15, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Oh, the double standards! Its okay for the 95 year old with the elk tattoo on her stomach to parade around the lobby of our building in a Dracula string bikini- but not me!!! What??!!??

Walter, going crazy, in Misty!

Similarly, it seems its perfectly acceptable for the divine Jessica Walter, perhaps best known to some as Arrested Development ‘s caustic Lucille Bluth, to cause massive amounts of mayhem in genre projects like Play Misty for Me (1971), TV Christmas slasher Home for the Holidays (1972), Doctor Strange (1978) and Ghost in the Machine (1993) – but introduce her to one wayward gentleman and she wonders why he can’t behave!

Yes, in the “She Can Do It All” sweepstakes, the eclectic Walter sang the role of Bianca/Lois Lane in a 1968 television production of Cole Porter’s classic Kiss Me Kate, which was also released as a limited edition LP. This proves, at long last, that Belinda Carlisle’s theory is true. Heaven is a place on earth!!! (Bloody Jessica Walter walking earth!!!)

Delicious Walter as the delicious Morgan LeFay! Doctor Strange

So, worship that red dress and — Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Be sure to follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well!

Book Review: Out in the Dark

Published December 14, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

The lesbian prostitute nuns who raised me were far more concerned about my love of all things gory as opposed to my sexuality. Well, they were lesbian prostitute nuns. Thankfully, writer-director-sassy bon vivant Sean Abley handles the whole queer horror loving vibe much better with his essential new book Out in the Dark: Interviews with Gay Horror Filmmakers, Actors and Authors.

As the force behind Fangoria’s late, lamented Gay of the Dead, Abley got to pepper us with stories from the most important bent figures in the terror scene. Here, he compiles (and updates) those pieces while adding some new ones into the mix, as well.

Importantly, while Abley interviews the actors involved with gay familiar fare like The Lair, he also spends plenty of time diving, deeply, into the works of such important independent filmmaking voices as Alan Rowe Kelly (The Blood Shed), Bart Mastronardi (Vindication), Jason Paul Collum (October Moon, Screaming in High Heels), JT Seaton (George: A Zombie Intervention) and Armando Nunez (They Have No Shame). Big timers like Dan Mancini (Child’s Play) and Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination) stop by, as well.

Ryan Metzger in Eulogy for a Vampire.

Interesting factoids abound everywhere. Former TV heartthrob Wesley Eure (Land of the Lost, The Toolbox Murders) talks about how Hollywood homophobia and the AIDS crisis made significant impacts on his career. VHS enthusiasts may be surprised to discover that Tim Kincaid, the director of Mutant Hunt and other low budget goodies, is actually famed porn maker Joe Gage. Actors like Ryan Metzger and David Moretti, also, reveal that it is not only writers and directors who love terror (on a personal level) – Moretti talks of sneaking looks at Fangoria as a kid while Metzger maintains that a good death scene can seal the deal on a proposed project for him.

Above all, the passion and strength of all these creative individuals shines through, a testament to their own inner drive and Abley’s fun, incisive questions.

Out in the Dark is published by Lethe Press. It can be purchased from their site at http://www.lethepressbooks.com or from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/mch3dsl.

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

Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well!

Bloody Wonderful Burlesque with The Fischer Bodies!

Published December 13, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

As hard as I’ve begged those (elitist) winos in my alleyway to come up to my studio and watch me as bop around in a blood leather thong to my vinyl collection of terror film soundtracks – they ALWAYS refuse.

Probably because, unlike the astounding Flint, Michigan based, horror courting burlesque troupe, The Fischer Bodies – I have NO talent. But this amazing group of individuals, included ultra-fantastic gyrate legends like Dish DeLish and Twiggy Boylust, are full of gothic-tinged wonder. Past shows have included zombie mash-ups and this weekend marks their Rocky Horror Picture Show holiday show. For more information be sure to follow them at http://www.facebook.com/thefischerbodies !

Gorgeous (and charismatic) company member Dish DeLish, also, has her own FB page. Be sure to follow this Pinup Creations winner (Ms. November 2013) at https://www.facebook.com/DishDelishPinUp, as well!

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

Be sure to follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well!

The Glorious Wonders of Dance Macabre Online!

Published December 13, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

DM’s issue 75 cover.

If holiday spending has left your pockets corpse cold, then you’ve got to hand it to editor Adam Henry Carrière. His dark and delicious online publication Danse Macabre is totally free!

The current issue (#76) has a quirkily festive theme with an amazing re-examination of (a convertible driving) Red Riding Hood (created with puck and sass by the distinguished Peter Wortsman) and the brilliantly comical LiteralVille (imagined with sharply humorous overtones by Ed Coonce), thrown in for good measure.

You can check out all the limb flowing goodness at:

http://www.dansemacabreonline.com

Issue #77 of Danse Macabre will be available in January 2014. In the meantime, you can purchase tons of colorful back issues (many with queer friendly themes) for the low rate of $2.99 each!

Meanwhile, acclaimed New Zealand based poet Mercedes WebbPullman, a frequent contributor to the awesomeness that is Danse Macabre, has a truly entertaining entry in another online publication with a sweetly grisly moniker, Bone Orchard Poetry.

Be sure to enjoy that at the link, below, as well:

http://boneorchardpoetry.blogspot.com/2012/02/mercedes-webb-pullman.html

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan