kindertrauma

The Keep

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I always think I'm going to enjoy 1983's THE KEEP a little more than I actually do. I have such fond memories of reading F. PAUL WILSON's novel that I forget just how little of it actually properly made it to the screen. At least a good half of MICHAEL MANN's adaptation thoroughly convinces the viewer that they are witnessing something outstanding but where it fails, it fails hard. I'm not sure how much can be blamed on MANN's artistic tunnel vision and how much can be blamed on clumsy studio interference, but THE KEEP is a sometimes extraordinary looking achievement with massive, cavernous, jaw-droppy flaws. I'm rather in awe of the singular mood it achieves marrying gothic, fantasy and borderline sci-fi elements, but the story is not so much lost as blindfolded and assassinated and the acting swings from woodchip bland to absurdly clownish. I even had a sacrilegious thought during my recent viewing of THE KEEP, its rubber-suited monster made me wonder if CGI was such a bad thing after all.

The story finds a bunch of Nazis crashing a castle in Romania and setting up shop. The castle's volunteer custodian warns that staying the night is not advised. The Nazis, being bossy, pooh-pooh all cautions and end up all kinds of dead. We come to find that the massive stone structure is in actuality a prison housing a supernatural force whose nature is unclear. To some it is a vampiric like soul-sucker, to others it may be a protective, vengeful Golem. A mysterious purple-eyed stranger (SCOTT GLENN) shows up who is linked to the entity and a showdown between the two climaxes the tale.

WILSON's book has an expansive, mythic feel and speaks of the danger and temptation of fighting evil with evil that the film, for the most part, ignores. As intimidating as the castle's dark inhabitant may be, there's a seductive quality as well. You understand why someone might be compelled to swallow its untruths in a way absent from the film. I guess what's glaringly AWOL is the human element; the Nazis though well cast (JURGEN PROCHNOW & a young GABRIEL BYRNE) are flat caricatures, GLENN is a zombie and the father daughter team of IAN McKELLEN and ALBERTA WATSON are routinely unconvincing. The film is almost good looking enough to get away with its crater heart but not so gorgeous as to get away with a midstream switch from backstroke to doggie paddle. Multiple viewings help, but a hole is a hole.

THE KEEP has developed cult devotion over the years and I don't blame anyone for being utterly fascinated by this beautiful malfunction/gorgeous mistake. It's currently available on NETFLIX streaming and I recommend anybody who digs highly stylized eighties flicks to give it at least a look-see in its proper ratio as it has never been released on DVD. As a visual journey it succeeds in wowing the eyes and the counterintuitive soundtrack from TANGARINE DREAM is occasionally spellbinding.

I find myself with a bit of a love/hate attraction here. There's something so frustrating about watching this incredibly unique mood develop and then just dissipate before your eyes like smoke. Even though it loses steam and falls apart at the seams (and the monster often looks silly), it's distinctive enough (good luck finding another movie that mashes up German expressionist imagery with XANADU lasers) to be worthwhile. Gee, you know I'm getting frustrated just writing about this movie. Is it OK to appreciate something that fumbles regularly and not be ironic at all about it? I kind of like this movie and it kind of doesn't deserve it and that's the best I can explain it. What I can't explain at all is how MANN was able to milk such a wretched performance from IAN McKELLEN. That is between MIKE and IAN.

NOTE: There is a graphic novel written by F.PAUL WILSON and illustrated by MATTHEW DOW SMITH that visually captures the book without betraying the story and it's a must read if you ask me. It's crisp, clean and ends up as another reminder of what the film could have been. Rumor has it that there is a three hour plus director's cut of this movie in the universe too and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that I would purchase and watch it the day it came out. I need help. You wanna talk films that deserve a remake? I'd put THE KEEP right on the top of my list.

Traumafessions :: Mike of What I Watched Last Night on The Child Molester

Posted on By unkle lancifer

What I was about to experience was so frightening that it would seem like a punishment. Mom was concerned about what we were both about to go through and it showed on her face. We were there to see a movie about two little girls who took candy from a stranger and got into his car. The ending was the most horrifying thing I had ever seen; the girls' bodies lay, sprawled on the ground, looking like lumps of bloody meat wrapped in children's clothing. The tiny actors were dressed like real murder victims, whose bloody crime scene photographs were used. The bloodied childrens' corpses drove home the point that THIS WAS NOT JUST A MOVIE, it was real.

I was never sure if this actually happened or was one of the frightening dreams I was prone to until I found it by accident on the Internet. My recollections were correct, even down to the clothes the children wore. The movie was called THE CHILD MOLESTER, a public service announcement made by the Highway Safety Foundation in 1964 and shown in elementary schools around America for several years to educate parents and children about the dangers of talking to strangers.

NOTE: For the expanded version of Mike's traumafession check out his blog WHAT I WATCHED LAST NIGHT!

UNK SEZ: Mike, thanks for your traumafession and for informing us about this scary public service movie. I made the colossal mistake of watching it HERE and it's one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. I can't believe they showed this movie to kids!

I can understand them showing it to parents as a way to ensure they talk to their children about these matters, but showing that movie to kids is insane! The images at the end are completely indefensible. From what I read, you are part of a small unfortunate club as the film was pulled from circulation by the HIGHWAY SAFETY FOUNDATION shortly (and rightfully) after its release.

Now, thanks to you, I must now watch an episode of THE GILMORE GIRLS to counter the effects of what I have witnessed.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Wes. H. on a Hammered Head PSA

Posted on By aunt john

Hey guys,

I'm a regular visitor to Kindertrauma, but this is my first time to write in.

Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to track down and re-visit pretty much all of my childhood traumas. There's just one trauma I have never found, and I'm hoping someone can help me.

My trauma was either a PSA or commercial that I saw several times as a kid. It aired sometime between 1983 and 1986.

There was a black silhouette of a child's head (maybe an infant's head and shoulders) against a totally white screen. I'm not sure if the silhouette was a cartoon or not, but I think it was more like a real shadow cast against a white surface. The shadow of a hammer would come down from the side of the screen, causing the child's head to crack down the middle with an eerie, eggshell-smashing sound. Then the silhouettes would fade and words would appear against the white background.

The silhouette reminded me of my younger sibling, and I remember thinking that this was a commercial for a special hospital that would repair a child's head if you accidentally cracked it open with a hammer. The ad didn't horrify me so much as my own interpretation of it did.

I've looked through hundreds of PSA's from the early ‘80s and never found it.

— Wes H.

Traumafessions :: Peter of The Flicks That Church Forgot on The Mad Death

Posted on By aunt john

Hi,

Thank you for your fantastic website. I love it, and it reassures me that I'm not the only one who loves spooky stuff from my childhood!

I have a Traumafession of my own. Not sure if anyone will remember this, and I haven't seen it since it was broadcast in 1983 (I was nine at the time), but this was a BBC Scotland mini series called THE MAD DEATH. It was about a rabies outbreak in the U.K. which was in the news at the time. I remember a guy catching the disease from a fox and becoming hydrophobic. He kept staring at a decanter of water in someone's house and was just terrified of it.

I remember being really scared at the idea that something so mundane could become a source of such horror. Also, the opening titles (I wish they were on YouTube!) have stuck in my memory, even after 27 years. It was a fox's head on a black background, but the face was sort of swirling and pulsating. I'd love to see it again, to check if it is as scary as I remember it.

Another thing I thought I might mention is that I just produced an episode of my podcast on the 1973 T.V. movie DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. I know that's the sort of thing that traumatized many kids! I'm an ordained Baptist Minister from the U.K. who presents a podcast on horror. A little odd I know, but I basically review a horror film, and then offer a sort of spiritual reflection on it.

Anyhoo, I thought I'd mention it in case you thought it might be of interest to your readers. (The religious commentary bit is in a separate episode to the film review so people can just skip that stuff if they're not interested).

You can find it at www.theflicksthatchurchforgot.com

Thanks again for a great site,

Peter

UNK SEZ:: Thanks for the traumafession Peter and thanks for introducing me to THE FLICKS THAT CHURCH FORGOT! I spent the better part of last weekend listening to your podcasts and I was thoroughly impressed! They're informative, funny and brimming with fresh insights on films that I thought I had heard every possible take on!

I admit it, when you said you were an ordained minister I prepared myself for something dry and preachy and I couldn't have been more wrong. You do an incredible job capturing just what makes movies like CARRIE, THE HOWLING and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME so special and your two-parter on HOUSE OF THE DEVIL was spot-on brilliant! I found the three part series reconciling Christianity and Halloween not only fascinating but imbued with the type of rational, common sense that the world could use plenty more of.

Horror fans, listen to your Unkle Lancifer: No matter your religious views, if you're looking for an original perspective on the horror genre look no further than THE FLICKS THAT CHURCH FORGOT!

The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

THE INITIATION OF SARAH (1978) may be wearing CARRIE's hand me downs but I don't think that's such a damnable thing. There are worse fates than knowing exactly what to expect from a movie and can there ever be too many stories about psychic nerd revenge? Being born for television broadcast prevents SARAH from going hog wild or stomping on too many toes. You'll find no skewering of religious fanaticism here; pigs blood is replaced by mud (and rotten tomatoes) and a sweaty work out will have to do as a stand in for sex. BRIAN DePALMA's classic needn't fret being usurped by this imitator anytime soon but let's be real here, there's only one movie in the world that features the unsinkable SHELLEY WINTERS and employs two of the world's most notable MORGANs (We're talking FAIRCHILD and BRITTANY.) Yes, this also-ran may as well be titled THE IMITATION OF CARRIE but it endures thanks to its fetching cast.

KAY LENZ (who will later star with CARRIE alum WILLIAM KATT in 1986's HOUSE) is our wallflower Sarah. She's a real uggo I guess on account of she wears oversize sweaters. We understand that Sarah is special from the first scene when she stops her more socially acceptable stepsister Patty (BRITTANY) from being raped ten feet in front of her on a beach. Rather than merely yelling "Hey, stop raping my sister in front of me!" Sarah uses her crazy power to knock the guy on his ass. INITIATION may fall infinity short of the emotional depths to be found in BRIAN DePALMA's take on STEPHEN KING's novel but the relationship between these two sisters, one with the opportunity for larger acceptance and one without, is actually pretty interesting in a BASKET CASE kind of way. In fact, Sarah's interactions with others may be what ultimately rescues this movie from the superfluous retread zone.

Once in college, Patty is accepted by a highfalutin, snobby sorority lead by tweezer-faced glamorpuss Jennifer (the FAIRCHILD) and Sarah is relegated to a dumpy sorority of theoretically drab outcasts. We're lead to believe that Patty is the fortunate one in this scenario, but I beg to differ. I admit that the idea of FAIRCHILD forcing me to don hobo drag and beg for change has always been a fantasy of mine but I still think Sarah receives the better deal. She gets to live in a gothic mansion helmed by creepy Mrs. Hunter (brilliantly insane WINTERS) and her roommates include Alberta "Mouse" (Italian horror staple TISA FARROW of ZOMBIE & the underrated says me, THE GRIM REAPER), butch, Izod clad Allison (slick chick TALIA BALSAM of the underrated says me THE KINDRED), and groovy Barbara ( Yay! Plunger gal NORA HEFLIN of the BLAIR-tastic BORN INNOCENT!) For all of Sarah's supposed awkwardness, she's also often seen canoodling heavily with dreamy assistant teacher Paul Yates (future MY BODYGUARD director TONY BILL.) Add to all that gravy the fact that Sarah has coveted psychic powers and I'm hardly convinced that hers is the sticky end of the lollipop. All Patty gets is the opportunity to watch Jennifer manipulate DONNA PESCOW's future squeeze ROBERT HAYS. (Yes, that's an ANGIE reference. Holla, Philly!)

Anyways, Patty and Sarah's sororities have a long history of hating on each other and it puts a giant wedge in their once simpatico relationship. Eventually Sarah starts developing a backbone and throwing grand pianos at her sister and dunking bitch Jennifer in a fountain. Her new found moxie is an inspiration to her sorority sisters and to her house mother who wisely decides to harness Sarah's hate to put an end to the rivalry but unwisely decides to use beloved Mouse as a human sacrifice in a garden maze ritual. Ultimately many things catch on fire and FAIRCHILD's face gets crusty.

If you are looking for simple entertainment, INITIATION is a fluffy success. It's a veritable late night classic and the scene involving FAIRCHILD's fountain comeuppance is highly memorable and plenty o' fun. Still, it's unquestionably undercooked and rough around the edges. I'm convinced that SHELLEY's character is, in fact Sarah's real mom, but for some reason that revelation is never exploited or properly addressed. I'm also of the thinking that SHELLEY's witchcraft is the cause of an injury that befalls "Mouse" but we're never allotted any acknowledgment or evidence in that area either and that would have helped too. Unable to fall back on gore or sex, the television movie's major strength comes in the form of characterization and story and these needlessly dropped threads leave a major dent.

This is a fun movie but there's no reason why it couldn't be more effective too. Unlike CARRIE's ultimate end, SARAH's feels strangely unfinished and substantially less satisfying. INITIATION may know whom to follow but it doesn't seem to understand why or where. As I said though, you do get WINTERS and two, count em', two legendary MORGANs and that ain't hay. Too bad SARAH is so oblivious to just how good she's got it.

NOTE:: This review is an important part of a nutritious breakfast AND it's a part of the FINAL GIRL FILM CLUB. For more on SARAH look HERE!