Shark Bait Retro Village: The Cover Girl Murders

Published March 3, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

CGM Jennifer Knife

Iconic supermodel Beverly Johnson doing her best imitation of Lana Turner’s The Bad and the Beautiful breakdown in a motor vehicle… Jennifer O’Neill brandishing a knife against Lee Major’s whiskered throat…Adrian Paul exploding in a fiery crescendo… The 1993 USA Network made for television thriller The Cover Girl Murders offers up all of this and so much more.

CGM Bev CrazedHere a series of down on their luck models join Major’s Rex Kingman, a sleazy publishing patriarch, and O’Neill’s secretive Kate, his efficient and concerned editor, on a remote and tropical photo shoot from hell. Kingman manipulates each of the beauties into awkward scenarios, often pitting them against each other…and their own best interests. But is he the one responsible for their mysterious and violent deaths?

Functioning as a bit of Ten Little Indians mystery with a dash of April Fool’s Day, the lovelies expire via poisoned water, suspicious suicide, a gunshot wound and questionable equipment errors. Fairly bloodless in application, director James A. Conter (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Shark Swarm) does keep this enterprise jaunting along at a frisky pace and he is aided by the soap operatic elements that highlight the script. Nicely, the teleplay is written by none other than The Fall Guy’s Douglas Barr, known to the terror troops for his appearances in such quirky horror offerings as Deadly Blessing and The Unseen.  CGM Crowd

Of course, the cast has plenty of genre credits, as well, adding to the viewing fun. O’Neill graced such projects as Scanners and The Psychic while Majors, who recently added comic flair to the second season of Ash Vs. The Evil Dead, started off his career in the uncredited role of Joan Crawford’s philandering husband in William Castle’s Strait-Jacket.

Besides Johnson, the bathing beauties are represented by Showgirls’ Bobbie Phillips (Evil Breed, Carnival of Souls) and Weird Science’s Vanessa Angel (Sabretooth, Puppet Master Vs. Demonic Toys). Naturally, Angel, playing O’Neill’s jealously vengeful younger sister, gets the best lines. Even more enjoyable, perhaps, the fact that her accent is decidedly British and O’Neill’s is not is deliciously ignored here.

CGM Bev Staircase

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Carol Lawrence

Published February 25, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

carol lawrence summer of fear

Best known for her career defining performance as Maria in the original Broadway production of West Side Story, the exquisite Carol Lawrence also cavorted, gracefully, across television screens on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, Hawaii Five-O and General Hospital.

As other urbane divas before her, Lawrence showed her horror roots by flirting with danger in the 1978 made for TV film Summer of Fear (AKA  Stranger in Our House). Directed by the legendary maestro of terror, Wes Craven, here Lawrence found herself being threatened by the supernaturally enhanced Lee Purcell. Nicely, this beloved cult piece that offered Linda Blair a place to hone her act as a feisty damsel in distress, has recently been given a deluxe Blu-ray release by Music Box Films.

That is reason to celebrate, as Lawrence did in 1965, that some people do understand our needs as horror fans…and that they most certainly “got rhythm”!

www.carollawrence.com

carol lawrence pants

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Printsploitation 3

Published February 24, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

Printsploitation3

If one needs evidence of the diversity of the horror fan, they have to look no further than the latest issue of Printsploitation magazine. A combination of a comic book, fine art publication and a more traditional genre magazine, this brain child of artist Scott Miller, features drawings from a number of influential indie genre artists devoted to various decades of terror cinema.

Nicely, in the third volume, the glorious black and white artwork is balanced out by a terrific article on the posters of ‘80s sexploitation flicks (and fun reviews of the films themselves) by Heavy Metal Movies author Mike “McBeardo” McPadden and a celebration of acclaimed yet obscure VHS box artist CW Taylor by Dr. Jose.

The art, itself, is an amazing display of eclectic interests and themes. From Don England’s take on Peter Cushing to Putrid’s detailed reimagining of the (much maligned) 1979 monster film Prophecy, this volume has surprises on every page. Favorites here include Corrine Halbert’s darkly innocent take on Michael from the epically trashy Euro horror Burial Ground and the beautiful rendered power profiles of such icons as Susan Tyrell, Debbie Rochon and William Girdler by Klon J. Waldrip.

Capped off by Halbert’s hypnotically quirky take on 1962 indie masterpiece Carnival of Souls on the cover, this beautiful tribute is a must have in the collection of any serious fan of the scare scene.

Printsploitation Issue No. 3 is available for purchase from

www.corinnehalbert.com and

http://printsploitation.bigcartel.com/.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Sue Saad and The Next

Published February 18, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

sue saad main

Kim Carnes may have included the track on her 1982 Voyeur LP, but the underrepresented Sue Saad actually sang the theme to the 1981 science fiction thriller Looker on the film’s soundtrack. Along with her band The Next, Saad received a lot of critical acclaim. Unfortunately, the praise didn’t result in album sales. Thus, the band’s self-titled 1980 release was their last to receive major distribution.

The track Young Girl moves from edgy pop to a more Jamaican rhythm, strong proof of the band’s eclectic nature.

Two of Saad’s band mates, James Lance and Tony Riparetti, meanwhile went on to work, extensively, with cult film director Albert Pyun.

sue saad looker.jpg

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Failing Grace Trailer

Published February 16, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

failing grace

The official trailer for Concept Media’s upcoming thriller Failing Grace has been released. Rumored to be inspired by director-writer Ryan Stacy’s first year of sobriety, this intense peek into the film has a compelling, queer friendly vibe and makes one intrigued for more information about this soon to be released project.

https://www.facebook.com/failgrace/

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror Hotel: Valentine’s Day Edition

Published February 15, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

hotel 3

Love is slicing through the air today. Of course, romance was always in style for such classic Aaron Spelling shows as Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. These productions featured television names of the era and many faded silver screen legends making their way through a variety of romantic trials and tribulations. Hotel, another of the legendary producer’s creations, took these elements to a more dramatic height, focusing on such issues as rape, mental imbalance, racism, child abuse and (even) homosexuality.

Nhotel 4aturally, many performers known for their work in horror films, made their way down the glitzy corridors of Hotel, offering many sensory delights for true fans of terror. Significantly, the amazing Adrienne Barbeau tears through Tomorrows, the 14th episode of the show’s first season. In full on Billie-mode, she rips up the scenery as a well-to-do mother caught in the thrall of her drug dealer. There is nothing quite like the sight of Barbeau slamming cocaine in her arm or watching the snarly way she takes down her man once she realizes her son is in danger. Sadly, her son is played by the handsome and talented Timothy Patrick Murphy. Murphy, best known for his roles on soaps like Search for Tomorrow and Dallas, who died at the age of 29 due to complications from AIDS.hotel 5

Interestingly, the premiere season also featured an episode entitled Faith, Hope and Charity that concentrated on a lesbian playwright with the astonishingly hip name of Zane Elliott, sensitively played by Carol Lynley (Bunny Lake is Missing, The Night Stalker, Dark Tower). Coming out to her college friend, portrayed by the crisp and classy Barbara Parkins (The Mephisto Waltz, A Taste of Evil, Circle of Fear) proves to almost be disastrous for their relationship. Horrified by the revelation and even questioning her own sexuality, Parkins’ Eileen Weston enters into a loveless one night stand.  Of course, the two friends eventually reclaim their compassionate equilibrium, but not before Lynley gets a little (femme) action herself. (Her character, unapologetically, winds up sleeping with one of the establishment’s pert fitness instructors). Thankfully, these issues of prejudice and misunderstanding are actually addressed with an even handedness unusual for the early ‘80s (when the show was filmed) here. Nicely, the same episode features a jaunty turn from soap actress DeAnna Robbins. Robbins, best known to slasher fans for playing the seductive  Lisa in 1981’s Final Exam, nicely puts the screws here to co-star Scott Baio – a fate the notorious, scandal plagued Republican probably deserves in real life – as a rich kleptomaniac with daddy issues.   

hotel 2

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

                                                                 

 

 

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Bananarama

Published February 11, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

Bananarama

Unlike contemporaries like Blondie or The Divinyls, Bananarama never appeared on the soundtrack for A Nightmare on Elm Street flick. That’s unfortunate because the exuberant trio, well known for their cover of Venus, definitely showed more than “pure desire” with tracks like Cruel Summer and Dance with a Stranger.

In fact, the haunting Stranger, which appeared on their best selling 1986 album True Confessions, hints at possible suicide and/or deadly repercussions due to a broken heart.

The beloved group, currently alternating between a longstanding duo and the original line-up, is still making music as of this day, though, so Krueger fans may eventually get a longed for sonic paycheck.

http://www.bananarama.co.uk/

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

 

 

Book Review: Queer Stories for Boys

Published February 8, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

queer storiesGenre enthusiasts may know writer-director Douglas McKeown best for The Deadly Spawn, the 1983 cult classic that has garnered deserved love from monster kids, worldwide. But McKeown has also spent substantial time as a teacher and a theatrical artist, often directing and designing for the stage. He is also the facilitator of the Queer Stories for Boys workshop, which resulted in an outstanding self-titled 2004 collection, from Thunder’s Mouth Press.

Carefully edited by McKeown, this book shares a wide offering of experiences from a variety of gay men, ultimately, showing the diversity and strength of the community, as a whole.

In particular, Brad Gretter’s stories about growing up legally blind resonate with a wild sense of self-humility and otherness. His recounting of a childhood accident in a grocery store is hysterically funny while his tale about finding his sexual power in a leather club as an adult is both humorous and profound, offering up hope for anyone with self-doubt or esteem issues.

James Campbell’s Miss Betty, meanwhile, is story of pure beauty, elevated by the narrator’s sense of surprise and humbled discovery of how understanding and loving a true family can be. Miss Betty, herself, meanwhile emerges as a colorful character that all readers wish that they had gotten to know.

Activism (highlighted by Ronald Gold’s tales), sexual longing (presented in extremely relatable levels by David Ferguson and Rich Kiamco) and struggles with sports (nicely accentuated by Harry Schulz’s self deprecating memories) are some of the other topics tackled here, as well.doug deadly spawn

McKeown, himself, ably narrates a couple of tales, too. Liza’s Kiss is a truly enjoyable retelling of his straight brother’s ecstatic encounter with LGBTQA icon Liza Minnelli. Children of the Night, though, will probably resonate with lovers of horror and macabre the best. Here, he tells of his childhood adventures as the neighborhood terror, disguising himself as classic monsters to terrorize some unsuspecting locals. The final moments of this accounting linger the most, though. Anyone who has ever regretted an exchange with a loved one will be haunted by the sorrow expressed by the angry exchange that is documented between the author and his mother…a witness to how powerful (and necessary) this collection is, as a whole.

While Thunder’s Mouth Press, unfortunately, no longer exists, copies of Queer Stories for Boys can still be found on Amazon. McKeown, meanwhile, is active on the web at https://www.facebook.com/The-Deadly-Spawns-director-Douglas-McKeown-91628635424/.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

 

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Hilary Shepard

Published February 4, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

american-girls

There were a number of ‘80s girl groups featuring actresses. The Pin-ups, Lisa London’s (The Naked Cage, Sudden Impact) group, had a minor hit with Just About a Dream. Big Trouble, fronted by Bobbie Eakes (The Bold and the Beautiful, All My Children), were produced by the legendary Giorgio Moroder and had a song featured on the Over The Top soundtrack.

American Girls, highlighted by the co-lead vocals of Hilary Shepard, was probably the most musically diverse of the three. With layered musicianship, their single album release on IRS Records was compared to The Go-Go’s, their label mates. But their songs, while pop, were actually a bit more complex than the fun New Wave stylings of their more famous counterparts. This can be evidenced in the harmonic structures of American Girl, which also found a place in celluloid-verse, being featured in the Anthony Michael Hall feature, Out of Bounds.

The striking Shepard, meanwhile, may be better known to genre fans for committing some aggressive antics in Scanner Cop, one of several sequels to David Cronenberg’s horror classic, Scanners. She also made notable appearances on the A Cup of Time episode of Friday the 13th, the Series and Anthony Perkin’s lone directing credit, the horror-comedy Lucky Stiff.

hilary shepard Scanner-Cop-06

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Shark Bait Retro Village: City Killer

Published February 1, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

City Killer Heather Mad

Naturally, Heather Locklear’s got the perfect feathered hair…the perfect apartment…and her stalker is of the handsome picture perfect variety that ‘80s television executives loved to provide for their perfectly eager audiences. City Killer was probably the perfect title to get audiences watching back in that soap-centric decade, as well. Riding high on the successes of Dynasty and TJ Hooker, here pixie cute Locklear faces down the wrath of a lovelorn demolitions expert while, simultaneously, finding romance with a moustache sporting daddy.

City Killer AudreyNicely, clear eyed viewers will also spot noir icon Audrey Totter as a secretary in Locklear’s office. Here, Totter provides some old school Hollywood rational amongst this television film’s ridiculously over-the-top offerings.

Built around stock footage of major buildings collapsing in unison, things reach a highpoint in this thriller when swarthy Terrence Knox’s deranged Leo Kalb brings an entire urban oasis to its knees with his demands. Of course, Locklear’s compassionate Andrea is one of them and there may be nothing that the concerned Lieutenant Eckford, played with rascally compassion by Simon and Simon’s Gerald McRaney, can do to stop him.City Killer Explosion

Highlighted by an action packed ending and by the awkward visual fact that none of the actors are actually anywhere near the rumbling destruction detailed, City Killer is, nicely, also bolstered by a solid, tempered performance from Locklear. Particularly in her first confrontation scene with Knox, Locklear shows, precisely, Andrea’s fear, frustration and anger. In this #metoo generation, harassment perhaps is no longer a flyaway plot point for cheesy entertainment, but here Locklear is able to show that, even in less aware decades, there were always strong emotional repercussions to this kind of abuse.

City Killer Heather HorrifiedLocklear, of course, made other genre-centric appearances in such projects as the big budget Stephen King adaptation Firestarter and the charming (very low budget) Return of the Swamp Thing. Interestingly, in a complete turnaround from his work here, Knox wound up playing a concerned father in 1992’s Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice. (Heads up: it wasn’t.)

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

City Killer Terrence.jpg

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan