kindertrauma

Year: 2011

Stream Warriors :: Carriers, The Offspring & Candyman

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Ugh, I hate the name "Stream Warriors" it makes no sense. What was I thinking? Here are three more movies currently available on Netflix streaming which you can watch if you want to.

CARRIERS

Thank God my friend STEPHEN KING texted me about this movie (or wrote about it in EW-who remembers?) otherwise I would have never given it a proper chance. It is the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine-a-lly ready to forgive PIPER PERABO for COYOTE UGLY. If you are already missing THE WALKING DEAD and you don't mind a movie that seems like a zombie movie but has absolutely zero zombies in it than this is for you. CARRIERS made me really care about its characters even (and in particularly) PIPER and that is nothing to sneeze at. If you feel that you must sneeze at it though, please wait for me to put on my hazmat suite. Read more HERE.

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM

I always knew this fellow as THE OFFSPRING but if wants to go by this title, I'll try to support it even though now I'll have THIS ICICLE WORKS song stuck in my head all day. I guess it's better than "Keep ‘Em Seperated" in the long run. Here we have another horror anthology and don't you just love those? Alright I don't remember all of the stories here but one is the Readers Digest version of CHILDREN OF THE CORN and one stars CLU GULAGER and you can't even tell it's him because he's such a chameleon. The syrup on this stack of flapjacks is a wrap around soiree featuring VINCENT PRICE and my own personal Jesus SUSAN TYRRELL. I don't have to sell you on the PRICE, you either adore him or you're bonkers so let me just say that any movie with TYRRELL in it must be watched. If she didn't become a horror household name after her performance in NIGHT WARNING I guess she never will, but in this fan's head she sits on a throne. If you like the idea of an AMICUS style treasury dipped in a little eighties flavored squish, it's time to head to the wacky town of Oldfield. Read more HERE.

CANDYMAN

Just as in the case of VINNIE PRICE, I know I'm preaching to the choir by throwing CANDYMAN into the bag. The question isn't whether you've seen CANDYMAN but when was the last time that you did so? Did you know this movie gets better every year? It's like wine or cheese or that Q-BERT game. Contrary to what you may have heard February is Black History Month. Why not spent it with somebody who has a hook for a hand and bees swarming out of his mouth? For a more complete Black History Month experience eat a peanut butter sandwich while watching the film. Peanut butter was invented by Geroge Washington Carver who was also black but without the hook and bees thing. Read more HERE!

Traumafessions :: Reader wellyousaythat on British Public Information Films

Posted on By aunt john

I was frightened by the old British Public Information films of the seventies. They told of a world where not only stepping out of the front door meant entering a world of danger, but they emphasised that staying in could lead to electrocution, sudden death by slipping and that frankly it wasn't worth getting out of bed in case you died.

Thanks,

— wellyousaythat

AUNT JOHN SEZ: To read more by wellyousaythat on British Public Information films, be sure to check out his blog posting HERE.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Director CHARLES B. PIERCE, who happily spoiled some slumber in my youth with ‘72s THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, is also responsible for sibling pseudo-documentary THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN. I have to give praise to PIERCE, he did so much with so little and his influence on horror films directly or indirectly is mucho grande. I sometimes wish that TOWN was more traditionally structured than it is, but who is to say how much of its hemming and hawing contributes to the segments that auspiciously burn? I'll be honest with you, my brain has a slight tendency to fog and twiddle its mini brain-thumbs when subjected to police procedurals and this movie spends a smidge too much time with the men in uniform for my taste, but when it indulges the weird workings of its "Phantom Killer," it hits a raw primal nerve. Horror fans weaned on the actions of silent, masked eighties killers may find the scares here borderline commonplace but I pity the poor souls who saw this one in a drive-in in 1976. What a ride home that must have been.

TOWN is loosely based on the true story of the "Moonlight Killer" who murdered five people and scared the crap out of countless more in Texarkana, Arkansas circa 1946. Although the film isn't a slave to the facts it presents itself as a documentary with a voice over and a statement that only the names have been changed. Ingeniously the film breaks from its doc-identity whenever the hell it pleases and it's almost like having someone telling you a story and then pushing you into the room where it is currently taking place.

PIERCE tends to walk an indirect line and I'm not sure if all of the film's multiple back and forth tonal changes work for me. The director himself, in the role of patrolman "Sparkplug," plays foil to BEN JOHNSON's straight shooter Capt. Morales as quirky comedy relief (or perhaps to illustrate the sweet natured goodness of the town) but once you get a taste for the movie's darker talents, the levity can be distracting. In the end though, that may just be a matter of my own taste. Because it could, I'd rather that the movie just drag the viewer through the mud but I'd hate to pull a card and watch the whole house come down. As is, the film delivers when it needs to and perhaps it is its sometimes-sunny disposition that makes the moments of terror feel like such authentic invasions on everyday tranquility. Indeed PIERCE may have known exactly what he was doing. How else to explain the clever casting of perceived "girl next door" DAWN WELLS (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND's Mary Ann) as a victim? What better way to cut to the chase when visualizing the heart of a small town being attacked?

Anyway, my impetus for this post is really to point you as soon as possible to the fact that THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN is on YouTube as we speak in rather amazing looking widescreen form. Rumor has it that some nice gent grabbed a French DVD and the sound from an English language VHS tape and mashed them together to wondrous effect. T.T.D.S. has never been on DVD and the VHS edition is croppy/crappy and excessively dark in places so this may be your best shot at viewing this movie adequately. I know YouTube is not the best way to watch a movie but it's the best way to watch THIS movie right now. If you've only seen the VHS you will be impressed by the film's sharpness and the fact that PIERCE really does have a good eye for composition. Scenes previously hard to decipher are now sufficiently clear. Turn off the lights, hook up earphones or a speaker, press the "Full Screen" option on the right corner of the YouTube frame and sit back and enjoy HERE. Who knows when it'll get yanked?

Due to trauma-stalgia I think I might enjoy the swampy styling of BOGGY over DREADED but there's much to appreciate in PIERCE's later film too. Both films have that legend-being-told-over-a-fire vibe and capture a recognizable quiet night community-shared paranoia. As I said I feel this one jumps the tracks at intervals but there is an overall sense of mystery (the killer was never caught) and a wonderful lost in time rural landscape to consider too. Plus the killer, with his eye-holed sack hood looks an awful lot like one of the genres most famous horror icons…John Merrick. Ha, you thought I was going to say Jason Voorhees in F13:P2 didn't you? Curve ball!

Traumafessions :: Reader Grimpressions on Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone" Video

Posted on By aunt john

The video for MICHAEL JACKSON's "Leave Me Alone" was in heavy rotation on MTV when I was a kid. I wasn't old enough to be in charge of the remote yet so whenever I heard the music start for it, I knew I had at least a minute to get away from the T.V. and find something else to do. The part that freaked me out about it when I was a kid was when MICHAEL dances with the Elephant Man's skeleton. My Mom had told me that M.J. bought the Elephant Man's bones which she said was pretty morbid. At 8 years old, I also thought it was very strange.

I didn't know who the Elephant Man really was. The only frame of reference for a man that resembled an elephant I had was my Snout Spout figure from the HE-MAN/SHE-RA cartoons. To think that there was an actual 6-foot-tall man with the head of an elephant walking around at one time and now MICHAEL JACKSON had his bones at his house really disturbed me.

Years later, I saw the movie THE ELEPHANT MAN with my Mom. I remember feeling sorry for him and thinking how silly I felt believing the Elephant Man actually had the head of an elephant as portrayed in the video for "Leave Me Alone." It also turns out JACKSON never actually purchased the bones, although he did make an offer to buy them.

— Grimpressions

The Visitor :: Five Favorite Things

Posted on By unkle lancifer

The OVIDIO G. ASSONITIS (TENTACLES, MADHOUSE, BEYOND THE DOOR)-produced THE VISITOR from 1979 is just too much for your Unk to handle all his own, so I have elicited the help of both AUNT JOHN and our good pal AMANDA BY NIGHT of MADE FOR TV MAYHEM. As far as I'm concerned, the movie is spectacularly daffy enough to be absolutely critic proof so the question I posed before them and myself was simply, "What are your five favorite things about THE VISITOR?" All three of our answers are below…

First up, AMANDA BY NIGHT's FIVE VISITOR FAVES:

1. JOANNE NAIL – this enticing actress' portrayal of the put-upon mother with the crazy ass womb is one of sympathy and grace. And her wardrobe is simply to die for. When you think about it (I mean, really think about it), has anyone else made being thrust through glass look so elegant? I could say the same about her chain swinging badassary in SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, but alas I shall save that for another day!

2. Ice Skating as the Deadliest Sport in the World – In a movie almost all about whacky set-pieces, one of the most fantastic scenes features our creepy little traumatot Katy luring some slightly older boys into a game of survival of the fittest. They fail on every possible level but it's so much fun to watch!

3. Crazy Cameos – From GLEN FORD to SAM PECKINPAH, someone had the goods on a few of the more prominent people of Hollywood society. Also, there hasn't been a pairing as cool as JOHN HUSTON and SHELLEY WINTERS since, well, since they were first featured together in TENTACLES just two years before! Wow, were those guys an item?

4. The Power of Pong – Not only is the game shown often, it's used as a device to create suspense… and it works! All of this terror is brought to us via the crazy 1979 version of awesome home theater. Remember those curved large screen TVs which flooded images with the help of those giant red, green and blue lights coming from something called "front projection." Yeah, 1979 ruled! You had to sit in just the right spot to actually see anything, but it reminds me of the first high-tech store my childhood town had. It was called Video Concepts (which was eventually bought by Radio Shack and closed down… lame) and this odd, curvy TV was all the rage. They make good use of it in THE VISITOR and it brought back every single little kid mall memory I ever had… now that's scary!

5. THE VISITOR as a symbol for the chaotic incoherence of life – No, I am not joking. Is THE VISITOR in any way reminiscent of real life? Even '70s high-tech real life? Nope. But I think sometimes confusion in films works because confusion has to work in our everyday lives. I mean, we've got a little girl who is driving her mom nuts and hates her babysitters. Sound familiar? I guess that's the core of this movie and through the warped bewilderment of film as a mirror of our lives, we also get straight up escapism. I guess if you needed to write an academic paper on THE VISITOR, you could pull all kinds of crap out of it (especially with that ending!), but you can also completely shut down and watch the pretty lights. It's nice.

Now let's talk to AUNT JOHN:

1. THE HAWK
What was it about the ‘70s and the falconry fad? It seemed like everyone and the their mother had one of those padded leather hand mitts and a scary bird to match, but in THE VISITOR, Squeaky the hawk (or was it a falcon?) had free range to fly all over the place. Who in their right mind let's their child keep one of these things in the house?

2. THE HOUSE
From its railing-less, open back stairs to the strangely ornate cement work surrounding its pool, the Collins' house is truly something to behold. Bonus points for the incongruous 7-Up Tiffany style light fixture hanging in the kitchen.

3. THE HOUSEKEEPER
SHELLEY, SHELLEY, SHELLEY! She is in maybe three scenes, and she steals everyone last one of them because who can really compete with the force of nature that is WINTERS? Was it W.C. FIELDS who said he would never work with kids or animals? Well, kids and animals should probably never work with SHELLEY WINTERS based on the masterful bitch slapping she delivered to PAIGE CONNER.

4. THE HUSTON
Throughout the film, it looked to me like JOHN HUSTON knew less about what was going on than I did, but there is one scene towards the end where he makes the strangest face after conducting an impromptu light show on the top of a skyscraper. The eye roll says it all.

5. THE HOTTIES
Bald is beautiful and the brigade of follicly challenged bruisers were like a big bag of confusing eye-candy. Apparently they are angels but you would have never known it from the menacing looks on some of their faces.

Last up UNK:

1. THOSE GLASSES!

I'm not one to be too observant when it comes to fashion but these are some spectacular spectacles and if I understand the movie correctly, they have the power to manipulate basketball players like KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR by remote control. O.K. I admit it, I did not understand the movie correctly.

2. LANCE HENRIKSEN

HENRIKSEN followed up roles in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and DAMIEN: OMEN 2 with his part in THE VISITOR which is kind of like starring in peanut butter and then starring in jelly and then starring in GOOBER GRAPE. It's always nice to see early HENRIKSEN and note how even at a young age, he stood out of the pack as an offbeat presence. If I were speaking of any other movie besides THE VISITOR I would be able to say that he was the most otherworldly effect in the entire film, but this is a movie that throws a blonde wig on aquamarine-eyed FRANCO (DJANGO) NERO and sells him as Jesus Christ.

3. AHEAD OF THEIR TIME VISUALS

I realize now that logic and sense can go peddle its papers elsewhere for all I care if a movie can stun me enough with its visuals. THE VISITOR's arresting surrealism not only looks cool but also foretells the direction that movies will steer towards once music videos become popular in the early eighties. The bit on the rooftop with the nonsensical shadow hands flapping behind sheets seems ripped right out of a MTV mainstay years away from THE VISTOR's 1979 release. Let's hear it for proper presentation too, this title may have seemed like a throwaway on VHS but given the space to reveal all of its charms on DVD it transforms into a keeper. Strangely enough THE VISITOR's director GIULIO PARADISI was the assistant director on FELLINI's 8 1/2 !

4. THE SCORE

Holy crap FRANCO MICALIZZI's score is utterly fantastic and better than Earth deserves. It's epic and galaxy dwarfing and in complete denial about the nonsense unfolding on screen.

5. PAIGE CONNER

Little PAIGE may have been in over her head starring in this insanity but she fares no lesser than the seasoned professionals that surround her. Foul-mouthed tots are a post EXORCIST horror staple, yet CONNER's Georgian accent adds an extra kick to her profanities. CODE RED's recent DVD provides an interview with PAIGE today. She's looking damn good and shares that STRASBERG-trained SHELLEY WINTERS didn't hold back when slapping her across the face within the movie. Why does that not surprise me? PAIGE may not have gotten laurels thrown at her at the time of this film's release but all I know is that when she reacts to accidently shooting her own mother in the movie with a shrug and a "shit happens" grimace, I totally believed her.

Thanks to AUNT JOHN and AMANDA REYES of MADE FOR TV MAYHEM for helping a rendered nearly speechless bro-ogger out! THE VISITOR, you really are something else.

Name That Trauma :: Marie of Agent Lover on a Patchwork Man

Posted on By aunt john

Hello comrades!

I have always thought about writing you guys about this certain movie I saw when I was probably ten or so (I'm 29 now) that really weirded me out. I've Googled until my hands have bled and asked numerous people everywhere, even via my blog if they know what the eff I'm talking about but NO LUCK! I'm beginning to think I dreamed this up…but I know I haven't!

So here it is…

It was this movie where a man was locked up in some kind of room for observation. He skin was stitched up of all kinds of different shades, sort of like a Patchwork Man (which is what I always thought this movie might be called but my research has come up with NUTHIN'.) If I remember correctly he was supposed to be "the answer to racism." I think he was screaming or crying in this mental hospital looking environment.

That's all I remember! I hope you guys can help put my mind at ease after ALL THESE YEARS!!

— Marie

UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Unk has this one sewn up with MR. STITCH!

Stream Warriors: Cold Prey, Suspended Animation & Spellbinder

Posted on By unkle lancifer

UNK SEZ: It's time for that new feature that tells you for better or for worse the stuff your Unk finds appealing on Netflix streaming!

COLD PREY (2006)

I may have mentioned my love for 2006's COLD PREY (FRITT VILT) a couple zillion times before but I'm going do it again because now is the perfect time of year to watch it and right now it is on Netflix Streaming. All right it's the dubbed version, which is not preferable, but I doubt you will care a lick in the end. COLD PREY illustrates everything the slasher film is still capable of achieving if given half a chance; it's thrilling, provides the scares and delivers a believable human element as well. In my book, lead INGRID BOLSO BERDAL as Jannicke is worthy of walking the same horror halls as biggies WEAVER and CURTIS. Geez, just talking about it makes me want to watch it again and I've seen it at least a half dozen times. It's just one of those reliable movies that gets better the more you visit it. Seriously if you're a fan of old school slashers, it's a crime to miss this one and don't even get me started on the equally sharp COLD PREY 2. More HERE!

SUSPENDED ANIMATION (2001)

Holy crap, this movie is already ten years old, how'd that happen? I feel a smidge sorry for this one, its title must throw people off and its advertising art is a bit useless. Wait I get it, this is one of those hard to categorize films and so everybody wants to beat it up. Directed by JOHN D. HANCOCK, who was swell enough to concoct LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH, this is a movie that changes major gears mid way through and perhaps that can be blamed for some viewers' frustration. The set up will have many anticipating a WRONG TURN meets MISERY flick but instead we dive into the aftermath of violent crime and the obsessive reaction of a victim trying to process what they've experienced. It's a sharp turn but I personally enjoyed not knowing where I was being led and was truly shocked by one of the film's surprises. Also it's got scary old ladies in it which always works for me and it stars that guy from the PAPA DON'T PREACH video who murdered everybody in WILLIAM FRIEDKIN's RAMPAGE. If you're the type who enjoys psychological thrillers just as much as straight-on horror, this one is unusual enough (and snowy enough) to be well worth the trip.

SPELLBINDER (1988)

I'm so happy to see this one available on Netflix Streaming because it never made it to DVD and I want all my fellow humans to see it. This movie just perfectly captures the frivolous spirit of late night eighties cable viewing to me and it brings to mind all the fine couches and remote controls I have known in my life. From what I can tell the way that cats feel about tuna is how I feel about witch-cult movies and finding a post seventies witch cult movie is a joy in and of itself. I'm enamored with the entire cast and although this is miles from a success in the serious scares department, it is always fun and dark-camp entertaining. Maybe it's trash but life without trash is garbage. I was wondering if I could get through this recommendation without mentioning AUDRA LINDLEY and I guess the answer to that is no, I can't. Read more HERE!

Now it's that time again to close out the show with a smash pop hit!

Name That Trauma by Proxy :: Frank via John Kenneth Muir on a Tar Beast

Posted on By unkle lancifer

UNK SEZ:: In Kindertrauma's mail bag we discovered a letter from one of our favorite people, JOHN KENNETH MUIR of the excellent REFLECTIONS ON FILM/TV, check it out:

Dear Unk,

I recently received this intriguing reader e-mail at my blog, and frankly I'm stumped. It's from Frank and reads:

"I wonder if you could solve one of the great mysteries of my life. About 1978, I saw the scariest show I've ever seen. I was 14, and the next day I asked if anyone had seen it.

No one had, although one guy had said that his brother had seen it and that he had told him his hands had been shaking the whole time. So had mine. It was on CBS at 10:00 Eastern time on a Friday night and I never heard of another episode being shown here in Miami.

I'm pretty sure the name was THE NEXT STEP BEYOND. I read your interview with JOHN NEWLAND. He didn't seem to have much good to say about this series. It begins with a man telling how he had died and been brought back, but now had a connection with the dead who sometimes sent him to help their survivors. He finds his way to an isolated cabin (on an island?) and, I believe with the help of a diary, figures out how the scientist who lived there came to a violent end from a man he had created out of tar. It then comes after him. Does this ring a bell for you? I've looked up synopses and never come across this one, although it's been a while since I really gave it a good shot and certainly more and more information is come out on the net. That's how I found your site. I've only seen two of the original ONE STEP BEYOND's. They were on a video CD. One was with CHARLES BRONSON as a boxer. They were great.

I'd sure love to know if what I saw was indeed The Next Step Beyond, and if there was any way to see it again. I've even thought about making a pilgrimage to NY to check out the Museum of Television and Radio to see if I could find it, or at a least reference to it.

Thanks for any help you can give.

— Frank…"

Anyway, does that sound familiar to you, Unkle Lancifer? There is a NEXT STEP BEYOND episode entitled "The Return of Cary De Witt" (September 13, 1978) set on an island, involving a man coming back from the dead following surgery…and astral projecting. But nothing about a Tar man, or helping other survivors. And the show aired in syndication, I believe, not on CBS.

So if you can, please help Frank and me figure out what the heck this was. I've ruled out, I think, QUINN MARTIN's TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED (1977) and GHOST STORY/CIRCLE OF FEAR (1972) and THE EVIL TOUCH (1973) as well. All too early for Frank's remembrance; and no synopses appear to fit on first blush.

Thank you,

John Kenneth Muir

UNK SEZ: Thank you JKM! I'm happy to say that I actually do know this one on account of we've gotten a Traumafession on it BEFORE. It's gotta be the THE WORLD BEYOND/ THE MUD MONSTER from 1978 starring GRANVILLE VAN DUSEN and POLTERGEIST's JO BETH WILLIAMS. As soon as I learned about this frequent traumatizer I had to track it down and you can find my full review of it HERE!

I found it pretty darn effective and had no problem understanding why it left such an impression on folks. Thanks for sending Frank's inquiry to us JKM and all you other folks out there make sure you drop by REFLECTIONS ON FILM/TV!