Name That Trauma :: Reader Dennis H. on a Domed Town Trauma
Long time lurker, first time poster. It's truly amazing how much stuff you guys have made me remember from my own childhood that I thought I had forgotten. Keep up the good work!
So anyway, I've been hearing a lot about the new STEPHEN KING book, Under the Dome. The thing is, KING's new door-stopper of a novel sounds like a movie that scared the crap out of me as a child. It was about a small town that had what looked like a Plexiglas dome placed over it by aliens. The townspeople all behave semi hypnotized for a good chunk of the film, just like the THE STEPFORD WIVES. Turns out there is this building in the town that has an entirely black room with only a plastic chair in it. One of the main character's friends sits in this chair and ALL KINDS OF '60s BAD ACID TRIP HAPPENS!
The guy starts mumbling and a theremin starts playing. Then all sorts of bad latex Halloween masks start flying around. But what really got me as a kid were the disembodied leprous hands waving around in the camera frame. After a few minutes of this trauma the guy snaps out of it and is now acting just like the townsfolk.
For the life of me I can't remember the title of this flick that fueled many of my childhood nightmares. I leave it to you and the mighty readers of Kindertrauma to help me place a name on this fear factory.
UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Special thanks to Reader MercurialM for being the first to chime in with THE BUBBLE (a.k.a. THE FANTASTIC INVASION OF PLANET EARTH.)
The Blue Bird (1940)
When I was little I came across the 1940 SHIRLEY TEMPLE movie THE BLUE BIRD several times on television. It's sort of the poor man's THE WIZARD OF OZ with SHIRLEY playing the part of a girl named Mytyl who along with her brother Tytyl embarks on a journey through the past and future searching for happiness in the form of the title bird. The children are aided by their dog Tylo and their cat Tylette, who thanks to some fairy magic, have taken human form.
Based on a 1908 play by MAURICE MAETERLINCK, there's plenty to find alarming about THE BLUE BIRD. The children's journey begins in a vast graveyard, their dead grandparents show up to pelt them with guilt, trees transform into vigilantes and finally they end up in some weird limbo place where unborn children in togas howl and cry about how short their time on Earth will be. Personally I was unmoved by any and all of the insanity on display except the unfortunate and fiery death of my favorite character, the cat lady Tylette.
As I watched THE BLUE BIRD again recently as an adult I can see that much of it flew over my head as a kid, most notably the fact that Tylette the cat is clearly drawn as a sinister, mischievous presence and that her demise is meant to be somewhat deserved. Was there something wrong with me as a kid that I would automatically gravitate toward this malevolent malcontent? Before you judge, look at how awesome she is…
To be honest, even as an adult I have sympathy for this devil. She knows that if the children were to discover the blue bird of happiness that she would have to revert back to her former self and remain a "dumb slave to man" forever. So what if a couple tykes have to die in order for her to remain master of her own fate? Let's face it; with names like Mytyl and Tytyl, those kids were bound for hard times anyway.
Tylette is brought to life by Oscar-winner GALE SONDERGAARD, who would go on to appear in several UNIVERSAL horror films like THE BLACK CAT (1941), THE SPIDER WOMAN (1944) and THE SPIDER WOMAN RETURNS (1946) (in which, again, GALE's death is caused by fire.) She was originally cast as the wicked witch in THE WIZARD OF OZ who was first conceived as a sinister glamour-puss similar to the evil queen in Disney's SNOW WHITE. When it was decided that a more haggard version of the witch was the way to go, GALE split and in came MARGARET HAMILTON. (HAMILTON nearly abandoned WIZARD herself when her costume caught fire and she was severely burned.) SODDENGAARD's career was seriously hampered when her husband, director HERBERT BIBERMAN, was accused of being a communist during the infamous red scare of the early ‘50s; she died in 1985
You know, as unhappy as I may still be with Tylette's fiery fate, there's no way around the fact that her death is the most exciting part of the film. In fact, the movie kind of looses its steam as soon as she departs. I know we are meant to learn from this tale that happiness can only be found at home but if you ask me, without an evil, self-serving sociopath like Tylette to share it with, happiness is for the birds.
CREEPY NOTE: During the filming of THE BLUE BIRD four year old actress CARYLL ANN EKELUND was burned to death off set when her birthday dress (or Halloween costume, depending on your source) caught on fire. She was buried in the clothes she wore in the film.
ALSO: I feel I should warn you that THE BLUE BIRD was made into a musical in 1976 starring JANE FONDA, ELIZABETH TAYLOR and a tiny PATSY KENSIT as Mytyl. Believe it or not, this American, Soviet Union co-production was directed by legendary director GEORGE CUKOR. It could very well be one of the worst movies of all time and masochists can find it on Youtube. In this version, Tylette is portrayed by CICELY TYSON. CUCKOR accused TYSON of using voodoo to curse the film.
MORE CREEPY: No joke, I was in a thrift store yesterday and this song was playing on the loudspeaker…(yes, I've double checked the smoke alarms)
Night of the Creeps (Director's Cut DVD)
In our recent LOOK BACK ON 2009 I mentioned some DVD releases that I was particularly happy about. Ever since I have been kicking myself (like ALICE, it's my favorite sport) because I neglected to mention a couple of other really great titles. There's MESSIAH OF EVIL (thanks to Reader Taylor for reminding me of that one) PHANTASM 2 (Phinally!), and the great THE GATE (whose remarkable effects look even more remarkable on DVD) and most importantly… NIGHT OF THE CREEPS!
How could I forget N.O.T.C.? Well, I didn't really forget it, I just hadn't bought it yet due to moths in wallet syndrome but that sad glitch has been fixed. Unfortunately, yet another bricks and mortar video store in our area is closing but not unfortunately, I was able to vulture a half price copy of CREEPS right off its corpse! So now it's mine, all mine and I couldn't be happier because it's a super awesome jam packed director's cut DVD.
We already reviewed CREEPS way back WHEN so I won't go into the plot, suffice to say it involves aliens, zombies, sorority girls and TOM ATKINS. That's really all ya' need to know and if you haven't seen it yet, you simply have to, particularly if you dig eighties horror. CREEPS is like RETURN OF THE LIVING BREAKFAST CLUB, you just can't find a better time capsule.
So I'm not crazy about the cover art or the comic book menu design, but the extras shine like a KOJAK dome polished with Crisco. Two, count 'em two commentaries; one with director FRED DEKKER (who also helmed the lovable MONSTER SQUAD) and one with the film's cast which includes JASON LIVELY of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUROPEAN VACATION and the cutest girl who ever lived JILL WHITLOW. There's a superior alternate ending, a tasty trailer and a gratifying plethora of mini docs that go into great detail about the making of this cult classic.
The high point is seeing the core cast reunited, there's obviously real affection on display and it's always an honor to hear any word ATKINS utters. I can't fathom how N.O.T.C. avoided becoming a hit upon release. From what we learn from director DEKKER it sounds like the studio did a crappy job of supporting and distributing the film (times sure have changed, haven't they?) Oh well, as I told my golfing buddy TIGER WOODS, "It's better too be loved deeply by a few than cheaply by a slew." The important thing is, this fun, effervescent, endlessly quotable gem is finally getting the presentation it deserves and passionate new fans are an inevitability.
Kinder-News :: FatherOfTears on Caroline Munro Turning 60!
UNK SEZ: CAROLINE MUNRO turned 60 yesterday and our pal FatherOfTears wants to celebrate and wish her well, take it away Father…
Yes, the British actress who was in such memorable movies as DRACULA AD 1972, CAPTAIN KRONUS: VAMPIRE HUNTER, MANIAC, SLAUGHTER HIGH and many others turns the big 6-0! CAROLINE first started out as a model, had a few bit parts in some late '60s movies and became the face for Lamb's Navy Rum for a ten year period. This got her noticed and she was cast as the dead wife of Dr. Phibes in the two VINCENT PRICE DOCTOR PHIBES movies. Yep, she played a stiff which meant she had to-um-play dead in her scenes. Not so easy as she was allergic to the feather boa she had to wear causing her to sneeze at times and requiring some scenes to be reshot! Soon she signed a "long term" contract with HAMMER FILMS (one year). She did DRACULA AD 1972 but she turned down DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL and an unmade VAMPIRELLA movie as they contained nudity. She would do CAPTAIN KRONUS which is a personal favorite of mine. The movie's writer, BRIAN CLEMONS of THE AVENGERS (T.V. show) fame then got her the big break by having her cast in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD as Margiana, the slave girl.
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD was my first CAROLINE MUNRO film as I saw this movie in a theater in the mid-'70,s at the age of 7. Now, at that time I was more interested in the stop motion monsters that were used in the movie but that would soon change. SINBAD would give her other big roles including AT THE EARTH'S CORE (Which probably provided kindertraumas for some with the pig faced half human creatures who "talked" by making grunting/barking sounds) with PETER CUSHING & DOUG MAcCLURE plus she had a guest starring role in THE NEW AVENGERS episode "The Angel of Death" complete with her getting into a fight with Purdey. In the late '70s she would get her biggest role as Naomi the helicopter pilot in the James Bond Film THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. To be in that film she turned down another big-time offer: To be Ursa in the late 70's SUPERMAN movie! Imagine if she did that and the sequel instead of SARAH DOUGLAS!
However, not everything she did was pure gold. She took the lead role in the badly done sci-fi movie STARCRASH (How MST3K missed this, I don't know). She would also do some "slasher films" in the 1980's with MANIAC, THE LAST HORROR FILM and SLAUGHTER HIGH. This would help getting her the "Scream Queen" tag. She would also have a singing career plus she would be featured in ADAM ANT's video of "Goody Two Shoes" as the reporter (and a possible Sarah Palin prototype!) There was also talk of having her be in a proposed but never filmed DOCTOR WHO movie as the Doctor's companion…which is when I learned her name!
By the '90s CAROLINE would cut back on her work to spend more time with her family (but she would have a role in the film TO DIE FOR). She has done some T.V. interviews about horror films plus she can be found at an occasional comic book/sci-fi fan gatherings held across the globe signing autographs.
So let's celebrate CAROLINE's milestone birthday. Watch CAPTAIN KRONOS, MANIAC or THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD on DVD or watch, and perhaps laugh, at her video performance in "Goody Two Shoes." Hell, if you have that MST3K "Shadowrama" sticker that sticks to T.V.s, stick it on your T.V. screen and riff STARCRASH.
Traumafessions :: Reader Kirsty D. on Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)
I was wondering if there were any traumafessions yet about MAKING CONTACT (a.k.a. JOEY)?
There was just something about that dusty dummy opening its eyes that disturbed me when I saw it as a kid. I remember when I was 13, my parents had my grandparents' tapes after their house was burned down. We were watching one of the movies, I didn't know what it was, and it ended up being this movie. I forgot all about it until that scene when the dummy comes to life. At that point I jumped out of my skin.
(AUNT JOHN SEZ: The offending dummy comes in around the 5:35 mark. Also, who's JOEY's interior designer? I want those RETURN OF THE JEDI sheets!)
Then there was this ending which was freaky:
I've been having dreams about a giant head, and I think this may have something to do with it. It always disturbed me when the dummy burnt to death at the end too.
Kindertrauma Funhouse :: Amity-Calamity
Hey, Look! I grabbed a shot from each and every AMITYVILLE HORROR film. Can you tell which image is from which movie?
Lake Mungo
Just when I thought I was too jaded to appreciate the sub-genre of faux-reality horror, in slinks the not very creepy sounding but very creepy indeed, LAKE MUNGO. My little MUNGO is such a well-crafted film that its unauthentic nature becomes absolutely irrelevant. Seriously, this is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, who cares if it's not real? Who needs "real" anyway? Art has been cleaning up reality's mess since the beginning of time. Feel free to quote me on this; art is reality's janitor. Why am I talking about art? Because that's what this MUNGO film is, that's why.
I blame part of my abhorrence towards PARANORMAL ACTIVITY on envious outrage. How dare that film dispense creep-cookies to everyone who stood in line except me? I like to get spooked too ya' know. Well, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, I don't need you or your stinkin' creep-cookies, I found a less shaky fake-y with characters deeper than a Petri dish, a story that took more than five minutes to conjure and egads, something to say besides "boo!" and yea, it deigned to feed even little old me some delicious creep-cookies. In fact, it pretty much shoveled creep cookies down my throat and I liked it…I liked it! I liked it like Carrie White's mama likes whiskey breath.
LAKE MUNGO takes the mockumentary approach (think CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH rather than THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) while telling the tale of the Palmer family (DAVID LYNCH fans, that surname is no accident!) who have lost their daughter to a drowning in the lake of the film's title. Through interviews and the presentation of assorted memorabilia we get an intimate front row seat as the family's surviving members concurrently fight to accept their loss, speculate that her spirit may still remain and discover ugly truths about the deceased. MUNGO goes back and forth suggesting that the supernatural may or may not be involved but it hardly matters, as the Palmers are truly haunted in every other aspect. In fact, the film's coda seems to be, "You don't have to make this crap up…look around you!"
This is the type of rare horror film that actually has the cajones mas grandes to look death in the eye. Whatever unseen entity may be shadowing the Palmers, the family has much more profound things to express to it than, "Get off my lawn!" When we are made privy through diary entries to the dead daughter's precognition that something is getting closer and that she may be circling life's drain, the atmosphere literally floods with existential dread. Ultimately, first time director JOEL ANDERSON understands that a picture is worth a thousand words and we are shown one image near the film's close that is such a doozy that all thousand of those words is "Yikes!"
Usually the biggest hurdle for a film that portends to be real to jump is the acting, nothing bursts the reality bubble faster than an over enthusiastic ad libber and plot progressing behavior that simply doesn't ring true. MUNGO's cast skates by these issues with ease, nobody is less than authentic and ma and pa Palmer are pretty damn astounding in their shell-shocked lethargy. Now, to be honest there are several pieces to the overall puzzle that do not fit in as smoothly as the rest, but by the time the credits roll the overall sensation it leaves you with overpowers any quibbles. I don't want to curse this movie with too much praise but if you're looking for a highly original ghost tale and you appreciate your scares whispered in your ear quietly rather than dumped in your lap like a plate of spaghetti this is for you.
LAKE MUNGO has been selected as part of this year's AFTER DARK HORRORFEST and I recommend you go see it if you can. Being that it deals with accepting tragic loss rather than posturing and preserving one's haul, I doubt it will find as wide an audience as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY did; but yeah, I'm saying that it's a far superior, vastly more satisfying film. You may not feel an affinity with all of the sorrow and grief on display, but isn't it the biggest creep-cookie of all to know that inevitably someday you will?
Traumafessions :: Reader Juturne on Munchers: A Fable
I need to mention the most horribly disturbing claymation dental hygiene film they made us watch at school.
I have hunted it down and found it here…
Just wait until you see Jack Sweet… I swear this scarred me for life. Even worse I LOVE animation and manga, etc. It's practically all I watch and read as an adult but I've had the worst fear of claymation ever since those days…. I can't even watch the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman stop motion X-Mas specials to this day. In fact, you might want to add those to your list as well. They're quite creepy too…
I guess the only positive is that I have lovely teeth today…. but at what mental cost????
I'm very happy to have found you and to get this off of my chest.
