strong women

All posts tagged strong women

Great Performances: Visiting Hours (1982)

Published April 15, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

Awardees: Lee Grant, Linda Purl and Lenore Zann

Michael Ironside has rightfully gained a lion’s share of praise for his truly vile and understandably sadistic portrayal of Visiting Hours’ villain.

He definitely radiates eternal evil as he comes after Lee Grant, draped Sasha Velour-like in stolen jewelry, in the first third of the film.

But as all horror loving feminists and true connoisseurs of celluloid grit know, it is the three main women in this piece that truly make it a mini-classic of the 1980’s.

For those here unaware, Lee Grant plays a feisty, outspoken news anchor who earns women-hating Ironside’s wrath. After a first attack upon her life fails, Ironside’s character begins to stalk Grant in the hospital she is stationed at – putting many patients and (of course) plenty of nubile, full fleshed nurses in danger.

Grant brings a natural flamboyance and power to her role with her anger, fear and humility coming off as Actor’s Studio-natural. Even her more outlandish moments ring true as they fit her very visible character, a true queen of the power play. She also works well off the strong Linda Purl as her prime caretaker and a surprisingly subdued William Shatner as her boss.

Purl herself brings a clipped strength and a light vulnerability to her character, making her one of the most fascinatingly layered and relatable female characters in the slasher cannon.

Meanwhile, Lenore Zann, as one of Ironside’s ‘luckier’ victims, gives more recognizable motivation with her body language and a seductive glance than many Oscar nominees are capable of.

All three women ultimately make the harsh, often misogynistic violence of Visiting Hours serve a strong emotional purpose – and this is the rare horror extravaganza that will have you rooting for all three women until its bloody, gasping outset.

Originally published on the Horror Society website with minor revisions done for this reposting.

The Bat – An Appreciation

Published March 1, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

1959’s The Bat is often lumped in with Vincent’s Price’s other mid-period, lower budget horror extravaganzas. But, unlike many of those efforts, Price actually takes on more of a supporting role here. His Dr. Malcolm Wells plays into the proceedings in an ancillary way and he ultimately emerges as more of a red herring, disappearing from the proceedings for major periods of time. Nicely, this means that the fourth adaptation of Mary Robert Rinehart’s The Circular Staircase, a popular mystery, finds the singular Agnes Moorehead in the foreground – resulting in a old school film with surprisingly feministic overtones.

Seemingly based on Rinehart herself, Moorehead plays world famous Gothic writer Cornelia van Gorder. As the show opens, van Gorder has just rented a summer home, known as The Oaks, in a small town. Long rumored to be the site of multiple horrors, The Oaks soon becomes a true crime spot. Money from a recent bank heist may be hidden in the house, with the notorious and blood thirsty Bat soon targeting the manse in his hunt for the fortune. Naturally, this puts the distinguished author and her devoted maid (and de facto personal assistant) Lizzie, portrayed by the divinely funny Lenita Lane, in his jagged crosshairs, as well. But as spooky nighttime invasions increase in frequency and bodies begin to pile up. Cornelia and Lizzie refuse to be frightened out of their temporary lodging.

Joining forces with two determined local women, Dale (Elaine Edwards) and Judy (Darla Hood), the quartet eventually smoke out the assailant. Willing and, perhaps, even eager to put themselves in danger, it is definitely the viewer’s joy to watch this firm foursome take control of the situation. In the decades to follow, other celluloid divas would add psychotic color to the proceedings with a variety of classics. But those projects would emphasize femme hysteria and unbalance. The Bat, thankfully and needfully, concentrates on Susan B. Anthony-style rabble rousing instead.

Long the dominion of public domain screenings, The Bat can be readily found for viewing, in various states of quality, online.

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

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Retro Sharkbait Village: Scream, Pretty Peggy

Published June 14, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Scream Pretty Peggy Main

Folks, just listen to Bette Davis. Okay? She’s lived and she knows a lot of shit and she really means it when she tells you to go away! There’s a reason at work there.

Of course, if Sian Barbara Allen’s determined Peggy had listened to Davis’ abrupt Mrs. Elliot in the 1973 ABC Suspense Movie Scream, Pretty Peggy, we would have lost about 60 minutes of film time…and that ridiculous ending carved from the static of Robert Bloch’s mind would have been lost forever, as well! So there is that to say for not listening to a wise traveler’s advice. Scream Pretty Peggy Bette

Indeed, this creepy mansion based time warp, bred from the same cloth as William Castle’s Homicidal and Bloch’s Psycho, may not fly, politically, today. But Allen offers a very determined heroine and while the character’s reckless stupidity is paramount, the enthusiasm with which the actress attacks the role almost verges on making Peggy a feministic heroine. Doubtless, this character’s strong willed nature was surely what drew this busy actress, who also enacted the rites of fear in the psycho-chiller You’ll Like My Mother, to the role. Well, that and the pay check, of course!

Scream Pretty Peggy SianMoodily directed by Gordon Hessler (Scream and Scream Again, The Oblong Box, Cry of the Banshee), this sadistic potboiler, focusing on Peggy playing housekeeper to a distinguished yet mysterious artist and his secretive family, is obvious enhanced by Davis’ presence. But eagle eyed partiers will also recognize Tovah Feldshuh (as the first victim here) and Claude Rains’ daughter Jessica as an snarky employment agency worker.

Readily available on YouTube, this twist back in time is definitely worth a rainy afternoon (or morning) of any happy nostalgia buff’s time.

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

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Suzanne Somers

Published July 8, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

Suzanne Ants!

Nothing quite stings like the heartbreak caused by romantic rejection. Well…except for maybe the bites of hundreds of extremely poisonous ants. Indeed, the radiant Suzanne Somers suffered, gamely (and glamorously), at the machinations of these insistent creatures in the classic made for television animals-gone-wild horror fest known as It Happened at Lakewood Manor (AKA Ants!) .

Of course, if Somers had only shown those vicious creatures “a new attitude” – as she did a few years later on a fun television special – the fate of her character may have been a bit different.

Somers, a true Renaissance woman who was also Seduced by Evil and made a deal with Lucifer in Devil’s Food, is always showing the wisdom of her ways at www.suzannesomers.com, as well.

seduced by evil

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

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