When Big Gay Horror Fan wakes up screaming in the night because he believes that his body has sprouted copious amounts of fur (a la Chaney Jr.) or is covered in stinking rolls of yellowed bandages (courtesy of reruns of Karloff’s The Mummy), it only brings home the favored fact that we horror fans truly relate to our mutant, eternally haunted and often misunderstood monsters.

Maniac Films latest production, Sloppy the Psychotic, acknowledges this emotional bond while, also, bringing on the twisted humor and unrepentant bloodshed that made their first film, Deadly Detour, such an enjoyable horror ride.

When man-child Mike (understatedly played by co-writer and director Mike O’Mahony) is fired from his job (and life long passion) as a professional clown due to a moment of passionate defense, his world soon unravels. Sex partners, wisdom spewing bums, cocky bosses and eventually a yard full of birthday partiers fall prey to his murderous impulses in shockingly fun displays.

All along this entertainingly chopping ride, though, O’Mahony allows our lonely inner geeks to surface upon, and ultimately truly relate to, Sloppy while allowing our most demented fantasies some filmic reality, as well. Who hasn’t wanted to eviserate (or, at the very least, take a piss on the chair of) a miserably tyrannical employer – or take a gun, gangland style, to a continually screeching child in a restaurant? Here, those darkest wishes come to hilarious life.

In fact, in Sloppy’s most vulgar massacre, everything that is special about Maniac Films comes to bloody light. (SPOILER ALERT). With total disregard for correctness of any kind, O’Mahony and crew slaughter the  participants of a family birthday party with poisonous glee. Children are done away with as heinously as the adults, resulting in a spectacle that rivals the violent antics of the Road Runner cartoons. The sight of a squealing child thrown onto and then entombed in a fired up grill still gives my giggle machine a start every now and then – proving that O’Mahony and Maniac Films are serious contenders in the world of transgressive horror.

To follow the adventures of Sloppy as he travels the convention and film festival circuit, check out:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sloppy-the-Psychotic/146088812136075

And, until next time, Sweet love and pink Grue – Big Gay Horror Fan!

Big Gay Horror Fan used to dance around his teenage bedroom to such alternative stalwarts as Patti Smith, the Psychedelic Furs and Warren Zevon, imagining life on the verge and supposedly shunning gay stereotypes forever. For Judy Garland, despite her awesome 1939 rendezvous amongst evil flying monkeys and a psychotic green witch, was for bitter drag queens and vengeful alcoholics and Joan Crawford and Bette Davis – even in their hag horror prime – well, the dogs could chew, mightily, on all their ragged celluloid bits, thank you very much! But, as I am entering my own frayed (yet still hopeful) dowager stage, I am finally beginning to understand and fully embrace what were, perhaps narrowly, referred to as the women’s pictures of old.

Now, there is something totally thrilling and gothicly horrific to me about the desperate, murderous measures a still regal Bette Davis descends to in 1946’s opera-esque Deception. (This rich gem, also, features a gloriously elegant turn from The Invisible Man‘s Claude Rains that is worth the price of your soiled panties, as well!)

More specifically, I can also relate to the mind burned dreamer played by Linda Darnell in the much less known This Is My Love from 1954. Living with a vengeful cripple and a glamorous sister, Darnell’s Vida Dove spends her days composing over the top romantic novels while subscribing to a lackluster romance with a devoted blue collar local yokel. Too shy to fully succumb to the advances of handsome stranger, Vida realizes he is her fantasy ideal just as he catches his eye on her luscious sibling and Dove’s world is torn asunder.

Darnell , who was menaced by esteemed heavy Laird Cregar in 1945’s Hanover Square and survived several surprisingly vicious yet imaginative murders at the hands of Rex Harrison in 1948’s Unfaithfully Yours, was still a star when This is My Love went into production but her glory was on the wane. Co-star Rick Jason, a strongly handsome and extremely masculine charmer, was grateful to get the okay from Darnell to appear opposite her and found her charming and beautiful throughout the shoot. Unfortunately, in a recent interview, Jason revealed that the script was often reworked, if not completely thrown out, and that it, ultimately, did not set the box office on fire effectively ending Darnell’s top tier reign. (Although, she did go on to give Karen Black some skilled airport training by playing a pilot’s wife who is forced to take over the controls of a plane in fun 1957 disaster epic Zero Hour.)

The idiosyncratic nature of This is My Love’s script is most felt by the strong change of heart Jason’s character has towards Darnell’s. In the first half he seems too enamored of her to treat her with the callous, manipulative disregard that he sends her way in the second half. Yet, these harsh actions draw us into Vida’s world and make Darnell a recognizable character to the wounded heart of gay men everywhere. Ridiculed consistently by those closest to her, we follow Darnell’s dark path to poison and still love her despite the crimes she eventually commits. In fact, the tangled emotionality that heroines such as Darnell’s produce ultimately provides an alchemy that, while not versed in traditional notions of horror, find much in common with the writing of the Brontës (considered the original horror queens in some literary circles)and Daphne Do Maurier and the more subtly scary films of Hitchcock.

That the film features genre regular Faith Domergue (The House of Seven Corpses, Legacy of Blood, Cult of the Cobra, It Came From Beneath the Sea) as Darnell’s lusty sister is the dark cherry on top of a very crimson cake.

1970’s Tam-Lin (AKA The Devil’s Widow and other various titles) is another rare film featuring a murderous damsel at the helm. A still gorgeous, grandly draped Ava Gardner plays Michaela Cazaret, a mysterious and wealthy woman who surrounds herself with a cult of young mods wherever she settles. When her young lover, played by Ian McShane, falls in love with a sweet local girl, it is soon established that all of Michaela’s swains have met a very deadly end when their eyes (and other rigid body parts) have gone wondering.

Here a Shelley-Byron esthetic mixes with swinging 60’s culture, modest folk balladry and taut horror (particularly in a gruelingly beautiful final act that features McShane being hunted through a swampy grove by Gardner’s drugged and vengeful followers).
Directed with a knowing wink and leveled skill by iconic Roddy McDowall (who seems to place an exaggerated version of himself in the film via Cyril Cusack’s loyal helper), Tam-Lin also features British horror queens Stephanie Beacham (Dracula A.D. 1972, Now the Screaming Starts, Horror Planet, The Nightcomers) and Joanna Lumley (The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Corpse Bride).

You can catch a peek of the magic of Tam-Lin at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8NGI0lFxOo

And until next time – Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Growing up, Big Gay Horror Fan never got over the fact that my younger sister insisted on naming the black cat she got, one Christmas morning, “Midnight” as opposed to something totally cool and much less obvious as – say, “Vincent Price” or “Karloff-as-the-Monster!”! Now, all these years later, the pussies are coming back to haunt me, in the most delightful way, with Lonnie Martin’s smart and sassy horror short Cougars.

Chronicling the teenage disgust that bright student Sasha feels over her sexy mother’s constant bedding down with younger men, Cougars plays with adolescent angst and the humorous potential of its title with a finely tuned sense of awkward sexuality and comedy that soon turns into smoky found liberation. Highlighted by the expressive brown eyes of Rebecca Hausman as Sasha, director Martin’s beautifully shot 15 minute scenario reminds one of such classics as Cat People and recent indie phenomenon Teeth while remaining its own beast, entirely.

Currently entering the festival circuit, this Ningen Manga production, also, features fine performances from Kendra North as Sasha’s rebelliously sexy, extremely youthful mother and Charlie Dreizen as Stuart, the confused teenage boy who finds himself in face-to-claw with the pair’s predatory nature.

To get a peek into the world of Cougars, check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jML8FiFcxw

As always, Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan

And, until next time, make sure to avoid immediate contact with any purring Nastassja Kinski look-a-likes!

On Valentine’s Day, the only sweet thing that Big Gay Horror Fan was craving was nutella crepes, so off I went to the local all night diner. Unfortunately, the most memorable part of the whole evening was not the sticky calories I consumed, but the fact that my young waiter kept calling me ‘sir’ with a tone that lingered somewhere between deep respect and quietude. Well, I’ve long learned that feeling 22 and looking 22 are completely different matters – but this kid’s reverence was still a bit much!

Interestingly, Tad, the young lead of Lee Allen Howard’s visceral short horror story Stray views his momentary, 30ish savior in much the same light as my twink server viewed me — although, a bit more bitterly. Which is understandable as the battered Tad believes he is going to have to trick with his companion for bus fare. Of course, what Tad ultimately finds is definitely a bit more animalistic and crueler than some bruised knees and a sore jaw.

Howard’s descriptions of the sour, predatory apartment that Tad is taken to have true moments of brilliance and the erotic bloodshed he depicts is quite original, as well. In fact, Stray leaves one wondering what Howard could do with a longer work of fiction and more opportunity to develop his characters, which is a true highlight of the story’s overall impact and its forceful yet poetic ending.

Stray is available, cheaply (and occasionally offered up for free), in a Kindle edition on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Stray-ebook/dp/B0059BWDEQ/

You can, also, discover more about the inventive Howard at:

www.leeallenhoward.com

Meanwhile, another respected gay author, Owen Keehnen (the Starz series, Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow) is offering his acclaimed debut horror novel Doorway Unto Darkness at half off its cover price of $15. Exploring the emotional torment (and the black humor involved therein) when a man begins to suspect that he’s a notorious serial killer, Doorway is a twisted, quickly enjoyable read.

In fact, I was lucky enough to interview Keehnen about the book and our mutual Karen Black obsession this past fall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1mOW4_Oil4

To purchase a sale copy of Doorway Unto Darkness, you can contact Keehnen on Facebook or at owenkeehnen@yahoo.com.

And until next time – Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan!

There aren’t many people that Big Gay Horror Fan will risk losing his (almost) beauty sleep over, but the cool folks at 1901 Gallery Theatre in Chicago are so sweetly awesome that I am facing the terrifying prospect of losing quality z’s for their blood chilling Sleepover Cinema “The Wicked Winter Edition, taking place this Saturday, beginning at 8pm and going on until the wee, wee wicked hours.

In fact, I have been honored to be asked to co-host and will be presenting two retro terror flicks with some queer style content.

There can’t be anything stranger than truck driving mush mouthed Joe Dallesandro frolicking across bleak European landscapes in Paul Morrissey’s outrageous Blood for Dracula. There isn’t anything quite as beautiful, either, and Dallesandro definitely gives all the women and inclined gents plenty to look at in this bizarre and slippery feature.

,

Frank Hennenlotter’s Brain Damage not only stars handsome (soon to be soap stud) Rick Hearst (Herbst) but also features a scene in a transient hotel with specific gay overtones. As Hearst spirals quickly downward, due to the brain sucking mechanisms of a creature named Elmer, he encounters a naked muscle man showering in the communal area of the desolate hotel he is hiding out in. The bicep ridden stud tells a nervous Hearst that he has nothing fear from him, obviously referencing that the area is a cruising ground for men – and, eventually, for  lovers of terror, as well.

So, here’s hoping that we can share these moments and more together this weekend – and if not then – soon!

And, as always, Sweet love and pink Grue – Big Gay Horror Fan

Big Gay Horror Fan has long thought his life truly began once he threw down his pom-poms and left all those brainless football players behind. That hard won victory is, also, shared by singer-actress-acclaimed choreographer Toni Basil. After the astounding success of the 1983 song and MTV video “Mickey”, in which Basil cavorted about like the world’s most buoyantly skilled cheerleader, our multi-hyphened sonic adventurer brought her flamboyant presence to two fairly obscure terror flicks, 1988’s Slaughterhouse Rock and 1990’s Rockula. Basil, who had previously played roles in such classics as Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces, was not offered challenging roles in either of these pieces, but her vivaciousness stands front and center in both.

1988’s Slaughterhouse Rock is a low budget horror effort with a charmingly ridiculous premise ultimately marred by its visual blandness (even Playboy model Hope Marie Carlton who brightened up such projects as A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Warriors, Slumber Party Massacre 3 and Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College comes off as innocuously drab here) .

A handful of friends take off for the abandoned Alcatraz prison (where the flick was actually filmed) because of one of the group’s supernaturally enhanced nightmares. Easily accessing the hard boiled compound (the one guard is later found dead), the friends are soon separated from their beleaguered leader who finds himself face to face with Basil’s undead pop star, Sammy Mitchell. Mitchell, of course, is the person responsible for his ghost flecked nighttime anxiety and ultimately leaves him with a special musical present in the film’s cute denouement. (Although, Basil, herself, doesn’t sing until the film’s closing credits.)

Slaughterhouse Rock does feature music from Devo, one awesome head smashing murder and some handsome jock types (who all went on to some success in such prime time events as The Young Riders), but it is truly Basil’s show, as she fills all her scenes with quirky energy and flippant sass.

Basil brings those same qualities to Rockula, a film that definitely has more cult pleasure to offer than Slaughterhouse. Here Basil plays the eternally young, glamorously flamboyant mother of meek musician vampire Ralph, Summer School’s Dean Cameron. Doomed to watch his true love die every one hundred years, Ralph finally decides to step up to ‘bat’ and save her this go round. To win his songstress love away from her demented mentor, Ralph decides to become an instant pop music sensation, with the help of cult icon Susan Tyrell and legendary musician Bo Diddley, known as – you guessed it – Rockula.

Cameron eventually faces down a zealously demented Thomas Dolby (who apparently survived when the aliens ate his Buick) in a scene revolving around a cryogenic casket. Director Luca Bercovici (Ghoulies, Parasite, Convict 762) gives the film the gloss of the music video and seems to revel in the film’s rampant ridiculousness while Basil gets a vampy production number “The Night” which she performs in front of an uncomfortable Cameron and his baffled lady love, played by the luscious Tawny Fere – whom, like so many of our beloved genre babes, had a number of cult credits (Angel III: The Final Chapter, Under the Boardwalk, Convict 762) before quietly fading away.

Basil, though, is still at it – choreographing, advising and gloriously networking at www.tonibasil.net.

Until the next time – Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan

(This interview with the superior Caroline Williams originally ran on the original Big Gay Horror Fan blog in November 2010. Since we are a week into February 2012’s rollickingly spectacular Women in Horror Month, I thought now was the perfect time to re-run this bouncingly informative interview with one of frightdom’s most powerful heroines! Enjoy!)

Spending time with actress Caroline Williams is like basking in healing sunshine. Down-to-earth with a salt-tinged humor, Williams has never looked better and her life’s lessons have left her percolating with vocabulary and wit. Primarily known to the horror community as Stretch in the uber-chewy Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and as a well-regarded Terror Sequel Queen (with delicious work in films like Leprechaun 3, The Stepfather 2 and Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2), Williams career arc is, both, long stretching and extremely eclectic. Emphasizing this point, Williams recently took some time to talk with Big Gay Horror Fan about some of her detailed work in varied films such as Louis Malle’s violence accelerated racial examination, Alamo Bay, the fast paced action-adventure Getting Even (which is graced with some nice science fiction-horror ascetics) and the big budget Tom Cruise spectacle Days of Thunder. And while Getting Even’s Joe Don Baker would have obliterated Dallas due to Williams’ explosively chunky demise, after reading this exhilarating interview,you will know why BGHF would take on the whole world for a single harmed hair on Williams’ ever lovely head.

BGHF: So, Caroline, what primary word would you use to describe working on Alamo Bay with Louis Malle (the director best known for Au Revoir Les Enfants, but also the force behind Black Moon, ‘the apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland’ starring Joe Dallesandro)?

CW: Terrified. It was my first theatrical role. I was so young in my career and Louis Malle was a god to me.

BGHF: And that was the film that Ed Harris and Amy Madigan met on, correct?

CW: They had met previously and were already married. Alamo Bay was their honeymoon.

BGHF: A rather intense honeymoon, but so cool!

CW: I was just hopelessly intimidated. I was still a party girl – a singer. I had been following Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings around. I sat in with the bands. Texas belonged to the youth in the 70’s. It was excitable, combustible. I knew there was a direction there for me and I embraced it. I only had 6 months of acting classes behind me, though. I was still an amateur. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. Louis Malle liked non-actors, though. He hired me for my rawness. He was enormously spiritual and so patient. When he smoked up the set he used frankincense and myrrh. He wanted the scent to permeate the set.

BGHF: And you’re so good in the film!

CW: Louis Malle talked me through it. He catapulted me into a different actor. I didn’t know that measure of growth would happen to me.

BGHF: And this led you to other films such as the truly fun Getting Even starring legendary Joe Don Baker and the sumptuous Audrey Landers (of Dallas and such modern noir epics as Deadly Twins).

CW: Oh, I had to ride a horse in that – and horses despise me! But, that was Dwight Little and I did both that and The Legend of Billie Jean around the same time and they were both smashing experiences! I got to wear this stunning party dress for one scene. It was my first glamour scene and I had a zit! All I could think about was that zit! I was mortified.

BGHF: Well, fashion is murder! Do you have any other memories of that set?

CW: Joe Don Baker’s character spied on me while I was in the bathroom and I had to step out of the shower and let my ass show! I never thought I would go naked so early in my career!

BGHF: Well, you looked gorgeous! (And now Amazon.com is going to be flooded with VHS requests, based on that info alone!) – So, you were still based in Texas, then?

CW: Yes, I was still based in Texas. Getting Even was shot in Dallas. In fact the original name was Operation: Dallas. I’m so glad they changed it, right?! –

BGHF: Definitely!

CW: And Jimmy White, the fabulous make-up artist, was one of the reasons why I moved to LA. We were in the house we shot at and Jimmy was covering me in body make-up. I’m stark naked – and Audrey Landers is helping him make up my body! She was putting foundation on my body and was so admiringly supportive. She was touching my ass and saying, so sweetly, you have such a beautiful ass! It was all so innocent – that noncompetitive female admiration. That togetherness and that cohesiveness is what I love about film and another reason why I moved out West. I haven’t found it on every project I work on, but it’s what I search for. Joe Don Baker was so nice to me. He took me aside and said, “You should be LA. But I hate to tell you that. They’ll ruin you!”

BGHF: Well, you definitely keep your own special essence and raw originality with every performance, though.

CW: Well, thank you! I try. Joe Don is my neighbor now. He lives around the corner from me. I haven’t seen him yet, but we share the same lawn person. He says, “Joe Don knows you.”

BGHF: And moving led you to such opuses as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Days of Thunder!

CW: Days of Thunder kept me on the payroll for 11 weeks! Don Simpson was the last of the show off’s, those big time mogul filmmakers. He wanted to put the money on the screen. Every car was specifically built for the racetrack. Nothing was mocked up or cheated. I told the costume designer, I have my own underwear. She said, “No, Don insists. You are the wife of a race car driver. You wear only the best.”

BGHF: Method acting at its most intricate!

CW: Yes! – And Don loved to have parties. At one event, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were the band! But, he was also caring, kind, incredibly generous. He was a hearty partygoer and, unfortunately, with his early death, I think that’s primarily what people recall about him – that reckless nature. But he was so much more!

BGHF: That’s nice to hear.

CW: (Director) Tony Scott was also amazing. He has an inner momentum that you can’t resist! I like being directed and to have my performances predicated by others’ inspiration! I go to a comfort zone and I like to be challenged – even if it’s by a question from the costume designer or make-up artist, I love it! And that’s what I got from Tony!

BGHF: Now, you may have lost a round with Terry O’Quinn in Stepfather 2, but you did gain photographic composure with a stint on the glossy television soap, Models Inc.

CW: Oh, my God – is that on my IMDB?

BGHF: Yep.

CW: Well, first of all, it was a soap coming out of the 80’s, so it was all about designer clothes and shoulder pads. Secondly, we filmed in this wonderful old house. Emma Samms (General Hospital, Dynasty, Humaniods of the Deep remake) was just gorgeous and was already segueing into her next career, so we talked a lot about decorating. She was finding these ancient doors in England and shaping them into these beautiful headboards. They were just amazing.

BGHF: Cool. In her Tales of the Crypt episode she plays an antique dealer, as well.

CW: Then they completely re-wrote the scene and I was freaked out! I do a lot of prep and always learn those lines! So, I didn’t know what to do. But, I let it go – and the magic descended. It just flowed. It was then that I realized I was a quick study.

BGHF: That’s an awesome story. And from art house films to horror shenanigans to prime time episodics, you have had such an eclectic career, as well.

CW: Well, thank you so much. I like to think so.

BGHF: Considering that then, out of all you’ve done, has there been a specific project or career moment that has truly stood out for you?

CW: Well, I don’t know if it is a moment or specific project, but, you know, it’s almost like the 70’s again. There is this creative impulse going throughout film today and only technology could release it. Now truly creative filmmakers can afford to make their projects. It’s just an extraordinary period of filmmaking.

BGHF: Is there anyone particularly inspiring you?

CW: Alan Rowe Kelly, Anthony Sumner, Bart Mastronardi.

BGHF: They’re all amazing – and Bart’s Vindication (with Clive Barker’s gracious endorsement) and Alan’s A Far Cry From Home truly speak to the queer community, as well.

CW: Yes. But beyond that, Vindication spoke to me. It spoke to me as a mother. It spoke to me about family. Family chosen. Family given. It truly exceeded everything that it could have been!

BGHF: True. And Alan and Bart have really created a community for themselves on the East Coast.

CW: Yes, I feel a sense of envy of them. They work together all the time. They have such a rich company of players. They have a need to work.

BGHF: You’ll be working with them on the upcoming re-imagining of Don’t Look in the Basement, as well, correct?

CW: Yes. I knew I wanted to work with them. They just amaze me. What Alan Rowe Kelly did, as an actor and director, with A Far Cry From Home in 40 minutes is just amazing! He took off his shoes, literally and figuratively!! I was like – You took off your shoes!! – Like I said, it’s just an extraordinary time for filmmaking.

BGHF: And your enthusiasm for it is contagious, as well!

CW: Well, it’s like that Chuck Workman film Precious Images. Have you seen it?

BGHF: No.

CW: Well, you should find it out online, because this era of film is definitely a Chuck Workman moment!

BGHF: I will! Thanks so much, Caroline.

Check out the filmmakers and films, our favorite maverick Caroline mentioned at:
www.alanrowekelly.net
www.rsquaredfilms.com (Bart Mastronardi – Vindication)
www.slicesoflifemovie.com (Anthony Sumner)

All hail, amazing Tara Cardinal. Empress of the gritty jailhouse!

Whenever Big Gay Horror Fan sits down in front of a video camera and begins a monologue, it is pure vanity (or justification for still owing $6000 in loans for a degree in theater. Take your pick.). But the same actions by the prime character in Skip Shea’s smart horror short Microcinema, prove to be pure evil. Sporting a white mask and poetically reveling in a plan to cause harm to a young woman, this psycho is calmly rational, quivering with menace – and may, unknowingly, be in for quite a surprise.

Rightly hailed by many in the horror press as one of 2011’s most unique pieces, Microcinema is tightly directed, well acted and gleefully turns the predominance of misogynistic torture porn on its nipple hacked head.

'Ps-s-s-t! Watch this thing. You'll see a lot more of me than you think!" (Wink.)

You can watch this exciting bit of terror for a mere 99 cents at:

www.watchmicrocinema.com

Meanwhile, Blood Sisters continue to do it for themselves! Or, at the very least, they gruesomely band together to help produce some metaphysically grim horror with Wraith of Crows. This haunted prison flick features three of low budget terror’s brightest lights, Tara Cardinal, Debbie Rochon and Tiffany Shepis, and is sure to give Roger Corman’s 1970’s Philippines’ epics a torn t-shirt run for their money.

So, this is where horror queens retire to. Nice!

To see if I am exaggerating or not, check out the trailer at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufNhpxFg-nU

Lastly, proving that the real horrors are the ones that occur in everyday life, the kind folks at Scares That Care are producing terror based products to help raise money for a variety of worthy causes. Check them out at:

www.scaresthatcare.org

And until the next time – Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan

Possessed Marlena (Days of Our Lives' proudest moment!)

A paper route and McDonalds. Those were Big Gay Horror Fan’s first real jobs. Lucky others such as David Mason Daniels (Capital, One Dark Night), Karrie Emerson (Edge of Night, Young and the Restless, Evils of the Night, Chopping Mall), Kelli Maroney (Ryan’s Hope, Night of the Comet, Chopping Mall), Tracy Bregman (Days of Our Lives, Young and the Restless, Happy Birthday to Me), Brian Matthews (Young and the Restless, Santa Barbara, The Burning) Eileen Davidson (Young and the Restless, The House on Sorority Row) and Deanna Robbins (Young and the Restless, Final Exam) to name just a few, began their careers with first jobs on soap operas and horror films. (Hate them!) This is one of the reasons that daytime dramas and terror flicks are always so closely linked in my mind. Although, the frequent afternoon tales of ghostly apparitions, underworld cities, freezing death rays, clones, evil twins and peeping tom like psychos might have something to do with it, as well. In fact, in the late 90’s, (long gone sudser) Sunset Beach even featured a slasher film plot line where all their young leads wound up on a deserted island stalked by a wild killer. One of the valued victims in that bloody scenario was perennial nice guy Mark, played by major yummy Nick Stabile, who went on to star in Bride of Chucky.

Yes, my friend! We all want to see your 'Chucky'!

Of course, now that the mid-afternoon suds have been reduced to four (with beloved, long running shows such as Guiding Light, As the World Turns, All My Children and One Life to Live all being cancelled in the last few years), executives are trimming down on the more outlandish plotlines and concentrating, more and more, on legacy characters and family conflicts. But, I still find it odd that (NBC’s lone soap) Days of Our Lives (which gained tons of publicity in the mid-90’s due to a major demon possession plotline) doesn’t at least have a friendly practicing witch or a premonition plagued heroine or even a local psychic to help their lovely teens through a romantic crisis or two. This is a show that takes place in a town called Salem, after all, folks.

Granted, prior to the fall 2011 changes (when the show went through a major overhaul) Days had sunken a bit into the muck with tales of forced prostitution (which was pretty much a nasty rape scenario), evil doppelgangers created by megalomaniac madmen (another instance of perverted rape as the anti-heroine paired with this character had no idea she was sleeping with someone else), sexually threatened female teenagers, drug addiction and unconvincingly all powerful villainesses. Bringing back fan favorites has helped the structure of the show (with the exception being a recent episode featuring two of the main female characters distraught over having had drunken, coerced sex and the reintroduction of a manipulative pimp as a new age health guru– aren’t these shows written for women’s entertainment, folks?!), although I must admit I kind of miss the days when a blonde fan favorite’s (Melissa Reeves, Summer Camp Nightmare) heart can be ripped out of her chest (by prime soap villainess Robin Mattson, also known for such drive-in classics as Bonnie’s Kids, Candy Stripe Nurses and Wolf Lake, nonetheless) and then be immediately and successfully replaced by an often shirtless doctor (Shawn Christian, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, Birds of Prey) and his young daughter (Molly Burnett, who made a guest appearance on the second season of True Blood).

Freddie Smith's Sonny. Patiently waiting for Will to figure it out!

But, while I may long for the time when two major characters were, spookily, held captive in a crypt, the show is getting its gay angle right with a young college stud named Sonny (Freddie Smith) and the eventual coming out of his cohort and show mainstay, Will (Chandler Massey). Sonny is a confident world traveled athlete who fearlessly dove into the fray when his friends were kidnapped by two gun toting maniacs in a (truly quick and absolutely ridiculous) campus gambling story arc. Meanwhile, the show’s writers and producers have been playing Will’s slow coming out story for almost a year now. This is the way stories used to be strung out in the 70’s and 80’s and makes for emotionally gripping, exciting drama as Will is dumped by a girlfriend for sexual inattentiveness and is now, painfully and mischievously finding his path.

And if all else fails, I can sit back and recall the numerous genre credits of it’s perfectly pretty cast during the moments the serial tries to redeem its most significant feminine offender by having him mention that he is now in therapy. (Aw-w-w!) So, in no particular order:

Christie Clark (Carrie Brady) – Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Children of the Corn 2

"And - here's another stigmata I want to show you!"

Patrick Muldoon (Austin) – Starship Troopers, Ice Spiders, Stigmata and more low budget science fiction-horror-thriller hybrids than I’ve had sexual partners – and that’s a good thing!

"Renee, is that you?!!?" - Terror Within 2

Renee Jones (Lexie) – Friday the 13th, Part 6: Jason Lives, Deadly Lessons, The Terror Within 2
Arianne Zuker (Nicole) – The Last Resort
Joseph Mascolo (Stefano) – Jaws 2
Allison Sweeney (Sami Brady) – 2 episodes of Tales From the Darkside
Peggy McCay (Caroline) – The Irish Vampire Goes West, Amityville: The Evil Escapes

In other geek highlights, the show’s mainstay (pictured, top, with the glowing devil eyes) Diedre Hall (Marlena Evans) played Electra Woman on the epic 70’s Saturday morning delight, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, and smooth and handsome crooner Eric Martsolf (Brady) recently enacted egomaniacal hero Booster Gold on the final season of Smallville. Save me (from myself), Martsolf!

The only Booster shot I'll ever need!

Meanwhile, one of mini-genre legend Catherine Mary Stewart’s (Night of the Comet, Nightflyers, and Psychic) first major roles was playing compassionate nurse Kayla Brady on Days. She, graciously, allowed me to interview her at a Horror Hound convention in March of 2010. In an unusual turn of events (yeah, right!), the paper I interviewed her for folded and I re-worked the piece for the Indianapolis Examiner website. Since, I am pretty certain no one saw it (except for those I was holding captive at the time); I am including it here as a pink and chewy postscript. Don’t you just love a beautiful, gun wielding babe?!

Nothing more need be said!

Reaching Maximum Cool in Indianapolis with Last Starfighter’s Catherine Mary Stewart

“A lot of young women have come up and told me that I instilled a sense of power in them. I love that! I can’t tell you how much I love that,” enthused the ever beautiful Catherine Mary Stewart, the actress behind some very strong and powerful characters in motion pictures such as The Last Starfighter, Night of the Comet, Dudes and Weekend at Bernie’s, during a recent convention appearance at the Marriott Indianapolis East. “One young fan told me I saw you in The Last Starfighter and I thought you were cool. Then I saw you in Night of the Comet and I knew you were cool!” And just how did that maximum cool become an established ingredient? “Night of the Comet established me as a strong woman. And let’s face it, this business is very surface and one dimensional – so it’s easy to get typecast.”

“The Last Starfighter was my first movie in State,” the Canadian bred Stewart continues, “and the whole experience was pleasant and joyous. It established me in L.A. I was doing “Days of Our Lives” at the same time, but I have great memories of the whole process. It was a trickle down thing with (director) Nick (Castle) being so calm at the helm. Lance Guest was just a consummate professional. He was a trained theater actor and was very interested in developing the characters together. It was a valuable lesson and we became really good friends.”

“I love Westerns, though, so that would kind of be my ultimate role and I got to portray that in Dudes. I loved director Penelope Spheeris. She was one cool chick. She was very pale and walked around using a parasol. She wasn’t abrasive, but she knew what she wanted. I got to ride a horse, but during one scene it was supposed to turn right, but it didn’t. I wound up flying into this car and I broke my arm. I remember going back to the trailer to change and putting some weight on my arm and it just blew up!”

Luckily, Stewart was almost completed filming on the project, and with follow-up roles in Weekend at Bernie’s, Nightflyers and other fan favorite projects, the only thing that truly exploded was her fan embracing career. Now, after a break to concentrate on motherhood, Stewart is back, full swing in the entertainment circle, and she, as well as her devoted fans, couldn’t be happier.

“I love acting and ultimately all my characters are very different and each character I love in a different way,” this proud mother and consummate professional states in closing, a true testament to why she has endured in moviegoers’ particular hearts for all these years.

( To keep abreast with the talented Catherine Mary Stewart, visit her energetic website, www.catherinemarystewart.net.)

And a link to the continuation of the interview at the astounding Horror Society website: http://www.horrorsociety.com/2010/07/16/catherine-mary-stewart/

Until next time, Sweet love and pink Grue, Big Gay Horror Fan