Dagger Cast Divas!

Published November 22, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Davette

As with many of us, I am tired of straight white men controlling the narrative. Therefore, I was thrilled by the two latest guests on Dagger Cast, the horror based podcast that I co-host with The Cell Phones’ dynamic Lindsey Charles.

Our Halloween show centered around Davette Franklin (above), a young black theater artist who curates an annual horror play festival. November’s show, meanwhile, finds me be very thankful for Sarah Yeazel (below), a comic book loving gay woman who is writing a series of essays about how cinema has shaped her life and sexuality.

You can listen to both episodes on Soundcloud (below) and other outlets like Spotify and iTunes.

Sarah

Happy aural journeys..and until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Lissie

Published November 17, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Haunt

Rob Zombie never sounded so beautiful! Acclaimed singer-songwriter Lissie’s cover of Zombie’s Dragula is one of the prettiest metal re-imaginings ever. You can take my word (but not my soul) for it! Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods obviously agree as they use this version to play over the end credits of their fun 2019 horror throwback Haunt.

Of course, when she isn’t providing perfect movie mood music, the divine Lissie is always possessing sonic dreamscapes at http://lissie.com/.

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

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Va-Va-Villainess: Linda Hayes

Published November 14, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Linda Hayes

Decades after her cinematic reign, the irreplaceable Linda Hayes was featured in the popular art house film Brooklyn. While that was definitely a tribute to her talent, Hayes made an even more potent impression as the duplicitous Margaret Forbes in 1941’s The Saint in Palm Springs.

Here George Sanders’ adventure seeking Simon Templar (AKA The Saint) is momentarily lured in by Forbes’ beauty and grace. But with a sense of soft intrigue, Hayes soon reveals Forbes’ true intent. While trying to steal a priceless stamp from Sander’s suave adventurer, she meets a deadly end. But until then, Hayes is obviously having a good time playing all the flirtatious, two sided aspects of her character.

Unfortunately, Hayes left the world of performing behind in 1942. But eagle eyed cinema buffs are sure to recall her grace and glamour in the glowing embers of the midnight hour, as the shine of late night television wavelengths lulls them off to sleep.

Horror Hall of Fame:

While Hayes had no horror credits on resume, her daughter Cathy Lee Crosby, with whom she shares a great facial resemblance, starred on an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker and the 1979 creature feature The Dark.

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

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Mario Martz

Published November 10, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Thinking you’ve been needing a little queer, horror inspired dance music in your life? Well, look no further. The delightful Mario Martz has you covered – in blood and beats per minute. His very fun EP Slasher will get you happily moving in a variety of thrill centric ways. It’s perfect music for the club, gym or for whatever you dream up while either wearing a sheet or gyrating beneath one!

Check it out on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/4b0xKouW7yFo13R8SYvT58?si=z0foFXMu.

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

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Sharkbait Retro Village: Mysterious Two

Published November 7, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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If the idea of having the aristocratic Priscilla Pointer (Carrie, Nightmare on Elm Street 3) as your Alien Queen appeals to you, the 1982 television of the week film Mysterious Two will be right up your alley. Always adding social flair to his material, here writer-director Gary Sherman (Death Line, Poltergeist III, Vice Squad) took the dangerous reality of the Heaven’s Gate cult and gave it some otherworldly twists. Founders Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite are reimagined as true planetary presences, embodied by the soft speaking Pointer and the eternally recognizable John Forsythe.

Popping in and out of the action, these two lure a group of disillusioned seekers to a small desert town to await their eventual ascension to another world. Of course the loved ones of those following He and She, the characters portrayed by Pointer and Forsythe, are none too happy and try desperately to interfere with those plans with increasingly futile results. Mysterious Desert scene

Ultimately more of strange character study with Asmovian elements than out and out science fiction, Sherman still works creepy magic here. The scene of a senior male wandering worriedly through a dusty oasis of fallen bodies is beyond chilling. Dread also seeps in through the frames as one realizes that none of He and She’s determined followers are going to escape their shadowy fates.

Adding to the effectiveness, Sherman also gets multilayered performances from such character actors as horror giant Robert Englund, with whom he also worked with on Dead and Buried, Robert Pine and Vic Tayback, who offers up a portrayal that is far removed from the antics of Alice’s Mel, his definitive role.

Mysterious Robert As more and more obscure projects are finally seeing the light of day on DVD and Blu-ray, one hopes that Mysterious Two will eventually get a decent release. Until then the too dark copy available on YouTube and other outlets will have to suffice.

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

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Review: Who Killed Joan Crawford?

Published November 4, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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William Castle fiends take note. If Strait-Jacket era Joan Crawford is your thing then you better rush your cult film worshipping selves to the Athenaeum Theatre for the final performances of Glitterati Production’s beyond fun Who Killed Joan Crawford?

Taking place on Tony Awards night in 1993, this engaging and campy thriller revolves around the backstabbing antics of a group of longtime friends. Of course, the fact that all the players are dressed in various forms of Crawford drag does eventually limit their mobility as various weapons are brought out for purposes of bloody dispatching. There is also the small problem of their mysteriously missing host.

Directing Michael Leeds’ cattily inventive script with flair, director John Nasca highlights the material’s expected, much loved murder-mystery tropes with zeal. He and Lana Whittington, who designed the show’s more physical interactions, also skillfully help denote the fact that this ensemble of characters are not experienced drag performers, but grown men indulging a friend’s grand birthday wish.

Importantly, those various versions of Joan, focusing on everything from her early treks into stardom to her latter day romps in psycho biddy territory (note the Straight-Jacket reference above), are delivered with exquisite, recognizable skill by Nasca. He is grandly assisted by Robert Hilliard, who puts a definite, celluloid stamp on the wide variety of wigs used.

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Bringing this brisk 75 minute romp fully into the pleasure zone, though, is it’s very agreeable cast. Compromised of newer talent and seasoned veterans of Chicago’s professional theater scene, the ensemble joyfully gives their characters a sense of specificity as a whole. It’s truly a nice balance of personalities, with John Cardone and Patrick Rybarczyk, in particular, giving an arch urgency and playful verve to their calculating, frequently divisive interactions. Nicely, Michael Hampton, as the seemingly loving and emotionally convincing Stewart Fry, truly commands attention here, as well. His character is perhaps the most well rounded of the lot, and he makes the most of every occasionally contrary, frequently whimsical moment.

More information on the show, which runs in Chicago until November 10^th, is available at https://www.facebook.com/events/2804610532934028/.

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

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Dead and Buried

Published November 3, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Director Gary Sherman has always displayed a sense of social urgency and class in his work. In 1981’s Dead and Buried, he examined the destructiveness of totalitarianism amid the face melting special effects and bloodshed. He also showed true style by using big band tunes to underscore some of the more realistic mayhem. Of special interest to songbird aficionados, he chose Doris Day’s beloved rendition of Sentimental Journey to compliment a joyful moment with Jack Albertson’s magnetic William Dobbs.

Day, who died in 2019, and Albertson, who finished out his long film career with Dead and Buried, definitely are a smart team-up. Both appeared together in 1961’s Lover Come Back to Me, making this fun, macabre mash-up all the more meaningful.

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

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Va-Va-Villainess: Patrice Wymore

Published October 29, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Her obituary in 2014 highlighted her role as Errol Flynn’s wife (and mother to his daughter), but true cinema fans know there is much more to the glorious Patrice Wymore. In particular, she displayed much grace and beauty as an actress in projects such as Tea for Two and I’ll See You in My Dreams (both with Doris Day).

Significantly, this distinguished beauty also gave the world its first incarnation of Poison Ivy. Almost 15 years before the DC universe introduced their own misguided floral enchantress, Wymore brought Ivy Williams to vengeful fruition in 1952’s She’s Working Her Way Through College. Nicknamed “Poison” by the other characters in this collegiate musical, Wymore invests Williams with a silken determination and steely focus. Jealous of the attention that Virginia Mayo’s sassy burlesque queen Angela Gardner is receiving on campus, Ivy threatens to reveal her brightly spangled past to the conservative college officials. Naturally, blackmailing Gardner backfires, but Wymore’s destructive Ivy pretty much steals the show here. Her icy concentration contrasts perfectly with Mayo’s chummy warmth.

Unfortunately for cinema buffs, caring for the ailing Flynn took Wymore away from the silver screen, prematurely, and she spent her senior years on a plantation in their beloved Jamaica. Still, anyone lucky enough to stumble upon the handful of successful projects she appeared in, is sure to fall in love with her obvious charms.

Horror Hall of Fame:

In a rare latter day credit, Wymore appeared as Vivian in 1966’s fun, star studded Chamber of Horrors.

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

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Virginia Mayo

Published October 27, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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One of the first to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk Fame, the dazzling Virginia Mayo added gleeful zest to such projects as White Heat, (the award winning) The Best Years of Our Lives and (the truly fun) She’s Working Her Way Through College. Her finely tuned acting antics also found spooky purchase in a diverse array of macabre settings. Her performances in Castle of Evil, Haunted, Evil Spirits and an episode of Night Gallery understandably brought her great acclaim.

Some lucky appreciators also got a chance to see her perform onstage in such shows as No, No Nanette, Good News and, perhaps most importantly, Stephen Sondheim’s Follies.

The Follies clip is especially notable as it gives people a chance to actually hear Mayo’s singing voice. While her characters often silkily warbled tunes in her movies, she was almost always dubbed, allowing people to concentrate fully on her smooth dance moves as opposed to favoring her dulcet tones.

Mayo, who died at the age of 84 in 2005, also made appearances in such cult films as Midnight Witness, the notorious Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, and The Silver Chalice, which featured an oft-robed Paul Newman in his first major role.

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

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Review: Cabaret

Published October 24, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Cabaret

Examining the impact of the Nazi party on Berlin in the 1930s, Cabaret is a much loved musical with elements that are distinctly horrific. Nicely, in Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company’s current production, directors Marc Lewallen and Brad Younts highlight this fact by adding a decidedly Mary Shelley slant to If You Could See Her, one of the show’s most amusing, ultimately gut crushing numbers.

In keeping with that spirit, this show genuinely smashes expectations across the board. The naive protagonist Cliff, usually rendered as a bland collegiate soul, is given life and personality by Scott Sawa’s engaging portrayal here. He even gives this frequently colorless figure a sense of soft humor, allowing the show’s devastating ending to reflect not only the murderous intent of Hitler and his minions, but the loss of personal innocence, as well. Meanwhile, Anthony Whitaker not only sings the role of Herr Schultz with ecstatic sweetness, but gives him a delightfully romantic heart, as well, providing an endearing ingredient that other revivals have overlooked.

Of course, all of this would mean nothing without the perfect Sally Bowles and Caitlin Jackson is damn near that. Giving the character the expected oomph and sass, she also provides her with a lived in aura that makes her distinctly believable. Merging her natural sexiness with a sorrowful sense of humanity, she gifts audiences by revealing a character who is truly a victim of her own reckless desires, providing another contrast to Schultz, The Emcee (a fine Kevin Webb), Bobby (a joyful Josh Kemper) and the other members of the Kit Kat Club who are all finally victims of a sadistic regime. Jackson’s take on the title number, as well, is not only in earthy contrast to the assorted ingénues who usually brightly perform it, but a great indicator of the complicated emotional underpinnings of Bowles, as well.

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The decision to stage this version in the upstairs bar at Chief O’Neill’s in Chicago is also a wise move, allowing audiences to revel in the atmosphere that is being skillfully created here. One can truly feel the punk energy in band member Aaron Smith’s rhythmic drumming and deliciously partake in the motivations behind every wicked arch in Sydney Genco’s seductive eyebrows as she happily manipulates as the determined, vengeful Kost.

Cabaret, which obviously comes highly recommended, runs through Friday October 25^th at Chief O’Neill’s in Chicago. Tickets are available at https://cstccabaret.bpt.me/.

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

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