DESTINATION PLANET NEGRO! screening Feb. 16

There's a new Kevin Willmott film that's coming... and no, I'm NOT talking about JAYHAWKERS... yet. Maybe in a few months.

This was a stealth project of sorts, shot a year prior to JAYHAWKERS, and closer in tone to CSA.

Trailer: It should be hitting festivals and various screenings later in the year. Bring it to your town!

GUILTY... OF BEING WHITE! SESSION ONE - MANDINGO

... and it's a life sentence.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Court is now in session...

We present the first exhibit in evidence... MANDINGO.

 

   It's kinda like shooting fish in a barrel to lead this series off with this title, which is far more notorious than seen, at this point. Shawn Edwards, a critic in Kansas City had this as part of his 'Soul Cinema' series at the Mainstreet Alamo Drafthouse, and it tied in perfectly with my intent - unfortunately, weather scrubbed my trip into seeing this bigscreen (and an actual film print), so out came the DVD copy for another look. 

  Quite a bit has already been written about the film, which has undergone a push towards critical rediscovery and reappraisal (among the first being Dennis Cozzalio of SERGIO LEONE AND THE INFIELD FLY RULE, and NOT COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU). Although the perception of the film, as lurid, trashy button-pushing melodrama that embarrassed everyone involved is not too far off the mark, the fact is that MANDINGO was a big hit for the studio and Dino DeLaurentiis at the time of its release. Critical reception to the film was very bad in the U.S. (it fared better with critics overseas), which caused the studio to have issues with it after it was made. There was no embarrassment on the part of the filmmakers, who took the subject very seriously.

  Yes, the movie IS trashy melodrama, like the book that it's based on... there's no way around that. But the reason why the book became such a sensation (spawning ghost-written sequels, and an unsuccessful adaptation on Broadway) was that amidst all the melodrama and the sex, there was also the presence of what I term, "the stink of Truth". The intent of the author, Kyle Onstatt, might have indeed been to just write a trashy novel, but he was born at a time (1887 - MANDINGO was published when he was in his 70's!) when slavery's end was just a generation behind, but direct survivors were still around... and a good portion of the most outrageous behavior depicted has indeed been verified by accounts.

  Even by the 70's, depiction of that time in the Black American experience was pretty limited on-screen, at least in America - foreign producers did finance the first hard looks at that period, and you may well notice the name of MANDINGO's producer...  but this was, for an American studio, really the first time to tackle such a subject as a major motion picture. And for most of the audience, to see depicted explicitly the punishment of slaves, black children used as furniture, the slaveowner sleeping with his female slaves, was probably just too much to take, except as seen through the eyes of 'camp'. Of course, the bit that EVERYONE remembers who watches the movie is the coupling of slave owner wife Susan George with Ken Norton's title character.

   But past all the luridness and sexual hijinks depicted (which were actually toned down for the film, believe it or not), is the hypocrisy that is present at the core of slavery, which the movie does confront unflinchingly; and that may be the real reason why this film gets under the skin of so many - there's no sentimental look at the Old South present here, only the goings on of what can happen when one group of people treat another group like property.

  Olive Films finally released MANDINGO on DVD a few years ago, remastered but with no additional material for context... for that, you can refer to Paul Talbot's MONDO MANDINGO, a thorough look at the entire world of MANDINGO, from book to movie - and for a more direct comparison of book to film, blogger Greg Bunche took the plunge, scrounged up a copy of the book and tackled the bastard like a man.

Ruling: GUILTY!!

  

Happy 2013

OK, it's been awhile. I'm quite aware. Things have settled down, and we're back on the horse again. We'll start out with a project that I started to do sometime ago - but as things worked out, it's probably good that I procrastinated.

Court will be in session this week... you've just been served.

A Few Minutes At A Todd Akin Campaign Rally in Central MO...

Apologies to Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt.

In Memorium: Clay McBride

photo courtesy of Sam Park

   I was planning on returning to 'business as usual' posting; some oblique references to my experiences this past month, mixed in with some reviews of what I've seen - but I was informed by a mutual friend that the aforementioned Clay McBride had left this world on Sunday, much too soon - and at the very least, I owe a few words towards his memory.

   I knew his younger brother better - Ian was a classmate of mine who also left this planet way ahead of time; that these siblings have this in common is a bitter pill to choke on. Clay was a few years older, and had left Cape Girardeau for better things in Hollywood by the time I started to get to know Ian better. But his influence was certainly around the house, and Ian had picked up on a few things... and on his occasional visits to town, he'd have plenty of stories to tell - one favorite memory of one of his visits was when he came to a class that Ian & I were both in, bringing with him storyboards he'd done for THE BEASTMASTER. At the time, I wasn't aware that he had a small circle of friends also interested in films and filmmaking (which included Larry Aeschlimann [son of one of the high school teachers, and makeup artist who'd work on things like ROBOCOP, among others], Sam Park, and Jim Uhls [future adaptor of FIGHT CLUB to the screen]). Looking back at that listing, that's a pretty solid group of friends.

   High school ends, college starts and bonds start to slowly slip away... I knew that Clay was writing scripts in L.A.; Ian was in Texas and I end up in San Francisco, trying to get my foot in the door. I did end up in L.A. for a short time, working on a feature film in the early 90's, and did reach Clay by phone, but never had the time to meet up with him. 

   Lost track of Clay when I came back to the Midwest; the Internet helps me find him again; first through a conversation with Sam Park on the Classic Horror Film Board Forum, whereupon I discover Clay to be his writing partner, and several projects in the fire - none which came to bear fruit, unfortunately - no LUKE CAGE movie for us! - and through Facebook, which put me back in touch with Clay directly. 

I find myself in the same bitter mindset as before, with Ian's passing... back then, I wrote a small piece about Ian, that I wouldn't have chosen the path that I've been on, if someone hadn't told me way back when about some other kid who had the same interests that I did. I can say the same of Clay - who, thankfully, wasn't an older brother dick to his younger brother's friends... well, at least not to me... and did show me that it was possible to actually do this wretched, wonderful thing called making movies. Would've been nice for both of them to know. Would've been even nicer to have actually gotten to the point of possibly working with them both at some time... but that wasn't to be in this lifetime, and I made my peace with that long ago.

R.I.P. Clay. 

Condolences to your family and friends; and say 'Hi' to Ian when you see him.

 

Back in the Merry Month of May...

So much has happened, so much to share... and yet, what to start with?

Well, a beloved family pet died on Friday. Luci had a long life - almost 20 years, if not exactly 20... the date when she was actually born is sort of not exactly known, but it's around there. I had fully expected her to not make it last Christmas, but she did, and then some; so I look at it as extra time we got with her.

She'll be missed.

I took a break from updating due to a project that shot in January, THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL, the debut feature from Blake Robbins (of whom you'll recognize from RUBBER, 'the sock guy' in a Hanes commercial, and other appearances). The project is currently in post-production, but will pass along news as I hear it.

From there, straight into work for the AMC Theatres 2012 Kansas City FilmFest - bumped up from a 'screener' to 'programmer' this year, specifically for the Narrative Feature selections, and doing some blogging for the FilmFest site... and now, on the cusp of starting another film shoot later in the month, more of which to come much later...

NAILBITER has been getting great reviews and awards at festivals and there may be some good news to share shortly... Kevin McKinney's CORPORATE FM made its premiere at FilmFest - both will be screening in Lawrence at the Free State Film Festival next weekend, along with other local work.

So... I changed the look of the blog. It was long overdue - older posts are more easy to find now, plus I like the template... it fits more with the blog's namesake.

And, of course, lots of material watched and waiting to be commented upon these past few months - but it'll have to wait just a tad longer... until the next post, at least.

You Better Watch Out...

Christmas Season is with us yet again, and with it comes the onslaught of holiday specials, songs, and what not to get you to, dammit, BE HAPPY. And Buy Things. 'Cause Santa, and his pal, Jesus, they LOVE Happy Shoppers!

OK, a bit overstated, but as much as one can appreciate the good things about the season, it's very hard to ignore the cynicism that's not quite as hidden as it is for most of the rest of the year. Which is why, as much as I do appreciate the true spirit of the season, I tend to gravitate towards alternative Christmas ephemera - BUMMED OUT XMAS and Mojo Nixon's HORNY HOLIDAYS get as much play as the soundtracks from HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, and A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. And as far as seasonal viewing goes, the only traditional Christmas movie I tend to like is the Alestair Sims headed A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Everything else seems to try a little too hard; and attempts to bring more modern programs into play are too hardsell (I like A CHRISTMAS STORY, but a full 24 hrs every year causes me to like it less and less; I don't even want to get started with ELF or FRED CLAUS, which I just loathe for various reasons).

So, who can I turn to, to satisfy the Cynical Monkey on my back, to justify my bad attitude and suspicion of the season?

The Europeans. As I stated last year, Santa Claus is a far, far more complicated figure in Europe than he is in America. The American Santa is pretty much sanitized and homogenized "for your protection" and to be able to push product quickly & with no questions asked.  Overseas, in the 'old country', the Santa figure is a bit tougher - hell, even the English 'Father Christmas' supplies weaponry in the family classic THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

Which makes it a great moment when there are TWO movies currently out and about where the whole concept of Santa is turned 180 from what we expect, and both have great fun in the twisting.

RARE EXPORTS, which had a theatrical run last year, is now on disc, just in time for the holiday - and it's one that the older kids can actually watch. Inspired by two short films made about the concept, the feature film is actually the prequel and fleshes out some of the background and material featured in the short films (which are included with the disc, and of course, should be watched AFTER the main feature).



It's lots of fun, with its twisting (or rather, untwisting) of the Santa legend, and adults can probably see a smidgen of commentary on commercialism and how even the most horrible things can be adapted to make an entire cottage industry. Older kids can like it because the hero of the film IS a kid, who proves to be much more on the ball than his adult counterparts. And even though things can get a bit... intense, the tone and level of scariness/violence is comparable to the original GREMLINS.

For much older kids and cynical bastards, there's SINT - it hadn't yet made it to the States after doing massive business in its native Netherlands when I mentioned it last year. IFC Films picked it up for the U.S. and has been making the rounds in limited release and VOD for the past month (it premieres in Kansas City as I write this). SAINT (English spelling) is another twist on the Santa story - one where the original Saint Nicholas wasn't that great a guy to begin with.


This 'St. Niklas' roams from village to village during the Middle Ages with his crew of brigands, pillaging and laying waste to whatever's in their way, until a group of peasants decide they've had enough and they put an end to the gang - or so they think. In revenge, St. Niklas and his crew return from beyond the grave to destroy the village (now called Amsterdam and having grown considerably) every full moon on Dec. 5th, which comes about every 32 years... which happens to be NOW.

If, while watching SAINT, you happen to be reminded of certain films of John Carpenter - say, like HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, it's not accidental. In fact, I wish Carpenter had directed something like this instead of THE WARD or that 'Masturbators of Horror' crap. It's deliberate homage that director Dick Maas treads, while also adding his black humor to the horror. Anyone who can handle the subject matter of a murderous zombie St. Nick and his minions, making it both scary AND funny but not stupid is a man to be reckoned with.

Maas isn't a well known name in the U.S., but his work is -- his previous films AMSTERDAMNED, THE LIFT (which he remade for the U.S. in 2001 with Naomi Watts, titled THE SHAFT) are a mix of horror/thriller leavened with black comedy. And he directed videos for Golden Earring - "Twilight Zone" and "When The Lady Smiles", which continue that mix. SINT is definitely NOT for the kids - and the tone will be off putting to some, but it'll be catnip for quite a few. There's a strong possibility that SAINT 2 will be coming down the road soon - and Maas already has a new thriller/comedy, QUIZ, that will premiere next year.

Pretty much the only alternative Christmas icon left untouched is Krampus (though THE VENTURE BROTHERS was the first American program to mention it, followed by SUPERNATURAL)...



... though I'm not sure that it'll ever be big in the U.S. The spirit of it, many could get behind; but it may be a bit too gruesome for Americans, who like their Christmas icons (and their politicians), to be squeaky clean and good-looking. Although, there was an attempt at an American Krampus, of sorts.
The name NACKLES will probably not mean anything to a lot of you, but for a select few, some will know that it's a short story by Donald E. Westlake (writing under the pen name 'Curt Clark') published in the early 1960's. Go ahead and read it - it's a pretty nifty piece of Christmas Chill.

When THE TWILIGHT ZONE was revived in the mid-80's, the story was planned for adaptation for its Christmas episode, to be written and directed by Harlan Ellison... but of course, things didn't go as planned, the episode did not get made, which led to Ellison walking off the show - an entertaining and complex story which is merely nutshelled here; Ellison did do an essay for TWILIGHT ZONE magazine about the entire affair, which also printed the original story and Ellison's teleplay -- all of which (The NACKLES Affair) can be found in the paperback edition of SLIPPAGE, a collection of Ellison short stories. Although we'll never see that teleplay performed (*sob*), you can, though the magic of The Internet and YouTube, get an idea how it could have looked, albeit 'Old School TZ'

A group of high school students adapted the story for a class; unfortunately, YouTube has blocked the concluding segment (due to copyright - song use, I'd guess).

And to all, a good night...