In Remembrance: Betsy Palmer

Published June 3, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Those who were lucky enough to meet actress Betsy Palmer, who died at the age of 88 this past weekend, in person, often found themselves inundated with delightful information. Mention her role in a production of Countess Dracula in 1979, at the Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, and she’d blush with love for that particular character and then swiftly reminisce about how she had to make the quickest and most difficult costume changes ever imagined during its run. Producing a leggy, cheesecake photo for her to sign, would elicit a remembrance of how all the young starlets in the 1950s, no matter how serious their intentions, were required to pose for such seductive publicity images. Inquire about her long run as a game show guest during television’s golden years and she’d reveal how she never got to see herself in any of those productions as they were all performed live.

For those who didn’t make Ms. Palmer’s acquaintance, and even for those who had, director S. Shane Marr does the world a great service with Betsy Palmer: A Scream Queen Legend in Her Own Words. Marr, who worked with Palmer on Bell Witch: The Movie, was so enchanted by Palmer’s show biz stories that he ingeniously decided to have her sit before his camera and talk to it as if it were an eager new friend.

We get the familiar Friday the 13th story. Palmer’s car broke down and needing the $10,000, she accepted the role of Mrs. Voorhees even though she hated the script. Palmer delights in the irony that while this killer mommy is her best known role, her decision was initially made because she thought that no one would ever see the film. It is interesting to watch her make sense of her place in film history and hear her analyzing the appeal of her most popular character.

More than that, we learn of Palmer’s humble beginnings and her gradual indoctrination into an acting career.
She regales us with stories of working with famed director John Ford and the behind the scenes controversies of one of her earliest, best known films Mister Roberts. We are, also, told that she actually got along with the combative Joan Crawford on the set of their film Queen Bee. One of the most interesting stories is about her adventures making the obscure, low budget The True Story of Lynn Stuart with Hawaii Five-0′s Jack Lord. Apparently, the real Lynn Stuart visited the set and brought more attention to her presence by elaborately masking herself then if she had just shown up and silently observed.

It would have been nice to have learned something about Palmer’s other genre credits (1999’s The Fear: Resurrection and 2005’s Penny Dreadful) yet she does speak glowingly of the Bell Witch: The Movie and of her then hopes to be involved in any sequels.

Overall, Marr allows us to see Palmer as she truly was – warm and sharply inviting. Here, she, ultimately, proves herself to be that lively aunt or grandmotherly figure that has lived a life that most could only dream of. It’s a visual document that makes her passing all the more bittersweet.

Betsy Palmer: A Scream Queen Legend in Her Own Words is available for free viewing on YouTube and for purchase from Amazon in various formats.

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

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Lezlie Deane: When Johnny Was Tarzan and She Was Jane!

Published June 1, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

The wrong reputation can get you in a lot of trouble. As the adorably mischievous Jane Kinney on The Worst Night of Your Life, a 1987 episode of 21 Jump Street, the always eclectic, truly awesome Lezlie Deane (Freddy’s Dead, 976-Evil) discovers it can, also, get you a really hot date!

Prom Dress Montage!

Wrongly accused of some sparky damage at her all girls school, Kinney-Deane finds a champion in compassionate series regular Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete) who gets her hooked up with Johnny Depp’s Tom for a night of awkward, fiery prom mayhem. Who wants to be the (slightly) bad girl, now?

Besides, Deane’s endearing appearance, this episode also boasts a surprisingly acidic turn from the (normally) sweet Kerry Remsen. Remsen, best known to terror fiends as monster bait in such flicks as Pumpkinhead, Ghoulies II and Appointment with Fear, gives it her all here as the nasty Tracy, a vixen that none of the clean cut detectives on this seminal series would have ever wanted to mess with.

Remsen Revving!

Be sure to keep up with Deane and her kick-ass rock band, Scary Cherry & the Bang Bangs at https://www.facebook.com/scarycherry.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: The Peanuts

Published June 1, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Peanuts and soda pop can upset your stomach. But put The Peanuts together with an atomic monster and you get music to soothe the soul.

As the singing fairies that shared a psychic connection with Mothra, twins Emi and Yumi Ito made quite an impression on Kaiju lovers, everywhere. As pop vocalists, in the 60s and 70s, these two, also, conquered Japan, Germany and even made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Thankfully, their cute antics are still being celebrated today, as well. The two are featured on the recent collection Nippon Girls 2 and the internet contains plenty of footage of their charming, totally winning appearances, too.

Crack ’em open, boys and girls. You won’t be disappointed.

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

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Help Out Bucket O’ Blood Books!

Published May 28, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

This is so simple. You could even do it while fighting off a zombie apocalypse or that lecherous neighbor. (Six of one, half dozen the other, right?)

Chicago’s awesome Bucket O’ Blood Books has been offering up scary literature frights and punk rock madness to the willing denizens of the Midwest for awhile. Now, they have an opportunity to make their frightening dream even bigger with a Mission Main Street Grant.

They need 250 votes to apply, though. That’s where your easy version of assistance comes in. Click on the link, below, and show ’em how generous terror lovers can be.

https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/b/25549

You can find out more information about this wordy institution at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bucket-O-Blood-Books-and-Records, as well.

Thanks…and until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Reunited: Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart!

Published May 27, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Reunited – and it feels so good!

Lee and Cushing. Karloff and Lugosi. Price and Lorre.

There have been plenty of famous male partnerships in the history of horror. But the teaming of the divine Kelli Maroney and the exquisite Catherine Mary Stewart in 80s horror-dramedy Night of the Comet produced one of the only significant female duos in the universe of terror, making them both highly beloved by progressive audiences, everywhere.

This two beauties recently reunited, in late April, for an episode of the Maroney co-hosted podcast Rick’s Martini Bar – and the enthusiastic cries of those fan boys and girls, worldwide, was overwhelming.

You can download the episode (and others featuring such guests as Kristine DeBell, Barry Livingston and Tony Dow) at http://www.mccartymetro.com/podcast.html.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music To Make Horror Movies By: Brigitte Nielsen

Published May 24, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Got the penitentiary blues, but, somehow, you’re still feeling the heat?

Well, then statuesque B-Queen Brigitte Nielsen (Chained Heat II, 976-Evil II, Galaxis, Body Count) may just have your soundtrack all worked out.

In the 80s, Nielsen collaborated with Euro wonder Falco on a saucy track entitled Body Next to Body, with both offering up assurances that a little warmth can penetrate any cellblock you may find yourself quartered in.

Be sure to keep a lock and key on the divine Ms. Nielsen at http://www.brigitteneilsen.com and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brigitte-Nielsen.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Chasing Pavement

Published May 23, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

H-m-m-m…Just when I was considering emerging out from between my rusty guillotine and my bloodied Kander and Ebb dolls and attempting the dating scene again, I watch director-writer Matt Doyle’s potent Chasing Pavement.

Detailing a few days in the life of Elijah (Remy Mars), an African American bareback porn star and escort, as he contemplates the possibilities of several new relationships, Chasing Pavement keenly examines both the loneliness and the resiliency of the human condition.

After being left in the lurch by a vengeful roommate, Elijah decides to rent his spare bedroom to Takeshi, a kindly employee at his favorite takeout palace. Trying to secure a firmer foothold in this country, the shy Takeshi soon finds himself inundated in Elijah’s existence, ultimately bringing a sweeter variation on Robert Altman’s Three Women to the piece.

Meanwhile, Elijah finds himself drawn to Bryson (Antonio Biaggi), one of his macho clients. But a friendly dinner party soon brings everything into sharp focus. As secrets are revealed, Elijah may, abruptly, find himself alone, once more.

While definitely a conversationally philosophical affair, Doyle often lets tender moments of silence inhabit this world, as well. He, also, brings a surprising sensitivity to Elijah’s seemingly sordid profession, and, finely, invents a very full world for gay characters of color, a rarity in cinema.

Nicely, competent performances are eked out from everyone involved, with particular kudos going to Tokio Sasaki. Sasaki’s quiet Takeshi brims with hushed layers, making this character a truly endearing one. Here, he and Doyle (and the others) prove that it is our own fears and insecurities (and lost dreams) that are often the scariest things to face up to in this winding roller coaster called life.

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

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Shark Bait Retro Village: SST: Death Flight (1977)

Published May 22, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Mad, mad, mad Maharis!

Never piss off a gay man! Or more importantly, never piss off a character being played by a gay man!

In his eclectic life, George Maharis has been a television actor, a singer, a Playgirl model and a celebrity whose homosexuality was publicly rumored at in a bygone era. In 1977’s SST: Death Flight, one of the many television films made in the wake of the popularity of the Airport series and such disaster flicks as The Towering Inferno, he also plays Les Phillips, a disgruntled engineer who sabotages a new-fangled high-powered aircraft. To make matters worse, a doctor played by the distinguished Brock Peters, who gamely played gay in the 1962 British drama The L Shaped Room, has brought a sample of a toxic flu onboard. Due to Les’s machinations, the virus is leaked and the deadly traumas facing the varied cast are doubled.

Milner and Strasberg

Besides Maharis, such boob tube stalwarts as Martin Milner, Bert Convy, (the notoriously closeted) Robert Reed and Lorne Greene appear here. Early appearances are also logged in by Billy Crystal as a kindly flight attendant and John De Lancie as a one part of a young couple. Of course, Broadway baby Susan Strasberg, whose genre credits include The Manitou, Bloody Birthday and Sweet Sixteen, brings taut nobility to the proceedings while a sexy stewardess, played with feminine focus by Tina Louise, reacts sensitively to the possibility of a renewed romance.

Convy and Rowe

The best soap opera plotline here, though, involves Hee Haw’s baby voiced Misty Rowe, who also appeared in such schlock as Meatballs II, Goodbye, Norma Jean and Double Exposure, and Convy, who must decide whether to keep the child she is carrying. The womanizing Tim Vernon (Convy) doesn’t want to settle down while the softly determined Angela (Rowe) hopes to change his mind.

Will facing near extinction make Tim-Convy appreciate the glories of new life? Will Les-George pay for his sins? Will disaster stalwart Burgess Meredith steal the show from all the other performers with his wrinkly antics?

The answers: yes, yes and yes!!!

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

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The Backside of Horror: Hide and Go Shriek

Published May 19, 2015 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.

Underwear. You want them on when a fire breaks out in your apartment (and you have to get away quick) and, according to 1987 slasher Hide and Go Shriek, they are also the perfect accessory for a death scene.

Here, both boy faced lothario Shawn (Scott Fults) and macho John (Sean Kanan) meet their maker in their skivvies. John even, in full on protector mode, chases the killer throughout the furniture department store in which film takes place, in nothing but his under-roos. I guess this proves that dusty pair of boxers may be good for some divide and conquer tricks, as well.

Featuring a queer killer, Hide and Go Shriek, also, gives the boys and girls something to squeal about with a quick glimpse at Kanan’s healthy posterior while Brittain Frye, as wild and sexually adventurous Randy, takes a withdrawal out of the bubbly flesh bank, as well.

Slashers: Catering to the masses, y’all!

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

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Cherie Currie’s Reverie

Published May 17, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Introspection has been the theme for a couple of female music powerhouses of late, producing two of 2015’s best recordings, thus far. Indie country artist (and Academy Award nominee) Allison Moorer explores her recent divorce and her son’s autism on the beautifully emotional, ultimately hopefully Down to Believing.

Cherie Currie, meanwhile, deals with her wild-child past in The Runaways and her current state of well fought for grace on the uniformly excellent Reverie. Combining glittery rockers with well combed pop ballads, Reverie finds Currie sounding better than ever, vocally, while also allowing her to serve as a well traveled life guide for listeners, as well.

The opening track swells with psychedelic dreamscapes while positively asserting that “There is nothing I can’t be inside my reverie!” Further hope is expressed in such vibrant numbers as I’m Happy and Another Dream. But the orchestral beauty of Believe makes it the one of the most resonant numbers here, ensuring it will serve as an inspiring track to anyone whose doubts trickle down their bed sleeves in those early morning hours.

Currie’s collaborators are significant, as well. This recording marks famed producer Kim Fowley’s last (and truly heartfelt) work while fellow Runaway Lita Ford adds raucous energy to joyful reboots of American Nights and Is It Day or Night? Currie’s son Jake Hays, also, proves to be an excellent foil to his mother, contributing deeply powerful vocals to their duet, Shades of Me, ultimately, making it another one of this collection’s stand-out tracks. This song, also, emphasizes what seems to be Currie’s prime theme here. Everything changes, including traits of your own personality and, while occasionally traumatizing, it is, also, a necessary and, ultimately, beautiful thing.

A duet with an undead Ozzy!

Nicely, Currie, who co-starred in such genre offerings as Parasite, Wavelength and Twilight Zone: The Movie, appeases her terror loving fans with a couple of fun lyrical references, as well. In the breezily compelling Inner You, she describes herself as the “she wolf creature from the black lagoon” and the truly propulsive Queen of the Asphalt Jungle mentions “zombies” who are “riding the vampire road”.

All in all, it’s a deeply satisfying recording, one that makes her fans, worldwide, hope that it is far from her last.

You can purchase Reverie via ITunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/reverie/id976269503.

You can, also, keep tabs on Currie at http://www.cheriecurrie.com and https://www.facebook.com/CherieCurrieOfficial.

The divine Currie and BGHF!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan