Let Us Prey premiered at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on 17 April 2014.

The Irish Film Board and Creative Scotland jointly produced the film. But lots of other companies were involved with the production. And just about every country had a different distributor. No one distributed it in the United States, as far as I know.

The title “Let Us Prey” is clever in the abstract. But it is a lousy title for this film. The Portuguese-language title is Aprisionados (Brazil) and Encarcerados. They both mean roughly “The Imprisoned.” That’s much better. The French-language title is Colère Divine (“Divine Wrath”), which isn’t great but is certainly much better than the English-language title.

It is one of my favorite horror and religious films. Pollyanna McIntosh plays Rachel, a new police officer working her first night. Liam Cunningham plays Six, a mysterious man held in jail on vagrancy charges. So there’s your Scottish-Irish connection!

Everyone else is just awful. It has the feel of Dante’s Inferno. And that makes sense. Six is actually Satan, come to town to collect souls. But he is not what modern Americans normally think of. Satan is more like he is in the Book of Job. He is the prosecutor.

But Let Us Prey does not stick to the Bible. The subtext is that Yahweh and Satan are having a disagreement. Yahweh is all about mercy. And Satan is all about justice. And given the characters in this film, we side strongly with Satan.

The overall story is that Satan is lonely, and he has found a woman he can love. The police station ends in a blaze of fire with all the bad people killed. But in that context, we get one of the most romantic endings to a film I’ve ever seen.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough. If you are a horror fan, you need to watch it. But remember what I said about the Inferno. It’s no more disturbing. But it’s also no less!

Other April 17th Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• William Holden (1918-1981): Hollywood legend in movies such as Sunset Boulevard, The Wild Bunch, and Network.
• Olivia Hussey (1951-2024): Actor in, among others, Black Christmas.
• Roddy Piper (1954-2015): Actor in Hell Comes to Frogtown and They Live.
• Sean Bean (1959-): Great actor in countless films including Silent Hill.
• Jennifer Garner (1972-): Elektra in Marvel films.

Films:

• Things To Come (1936): Humans rebuild after a century of war; based on the novel by HG Wells.
• The Strange Case of Dr Rx (1942): Police search for a vigilante killer but it turns out to be a mad scientist.
• The Lady and the Monster (1944): A rich man’s dead brain controls people telepathically because why not.
• Gamera vs Barugon (1966): The flying turtle takes on a big lizard.
• Macabre (1980): A woman who accidentally killed her lover is out of the mental hospital and seems to be having an affair with the lover.
• The Watcher in the Woods (1980): An American family moves into an English manor and the two daughters discover an occult mystery; it stars Bette Davis.
• Caveman (1981): Silly caveman comedy starring Ringo Starr; also starring Dennis Quaidand Shelley Long.
• Delicatessen (1991): A landlord murders people and sells the meat to his tenants; directed by the men who brought you The City of Lost Children.
• Summer Camp Nightmare (1987): Campers revolt and take over the camp but things go wrong.
• Major League: Back to the Minors (1998): A washed up pitcher becomes the manager of a triple-A minor league team.
• Suicide Kings (1998): A group of upper-class young men kidnaps a mob boss to save a kidnapped friend; it stars Christopher Walken.
• Paulie (1998): A parrot searches for its original owner.
• Mind Morgue (2008): A writer struggles with visions from his latest book.
• The Morgue (2008): A small group of people get trapped in a morgue for the night; you’ll never guess the twist — unless you’ve watched more than a dozen horror films.
• Blood River (2009): A newlywed couple’s car breaks down and they walk to a ghost town where they meet a mysterious stranger.
• Unfriended (2015): Online friends are harassed by an account of a dead friend.

Let Us Prey (2014) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

On this day, 16 April, in 1889, Charlie Chaplin was born. I remember reading a quote from Woody Allen talking about how he preferred Chaplin’s films to Buster Keaton’s. And he admitted that Keaton made better films (as film). This is true. Chaplin’s films really do suck in terms of cinematic art. Basically, he just set up a camera and shot the whole scene in a long shot. In other words: he was filming plays.

But I’m with Allen. I admire Keaton. But I almost never watch his films anymore. But I own both The Gold Rush and Modern Times. And just recently, I watched The Kid. And City Lights is an outstanding film.

It’s not even that they are funny — even though they still make me laugh. They are just so sweet at the same time that they are subversive. The Little Tramp is not exactly a believer in the American Dream. He’s just trying to get by.

The Little Tramp Begins

Charlie Chaplin’s first film was made in 1914. Think how late that is: 1914! The Great Train Robbery was released in 1903. That was pretty much the first film that used the editing technique of cross-cutting: cutting between two locations to indicate that what is occurring is going on at the same time. (People claim it isn’t the first example, but no one has ever shown me anything earlier.)

Just one year after Chaplin’s start would come The Birth of a Nation — probably the first thoroughly modern film. So Chaplin’s career in film started pretty late, which probably explains partly why they live on.

I had always thought that Charlie Chaplin’s first film was, Kid Auto Races at Venice. It is a little six-minute film in which the Little Tramp keeps trying to get in the picture of some guys trying to film the races.

There really is nothing more too it. It’s funny for the same reason the Little Tramp was always funny: his arrogance despite his low stature in society.

The First Chaplin Film

But that was not Charlie Chaplin’s first film. That was the first film in which the little tramp starred. It came out a whole five days later than his first film, Making a Living.

Making a Living is a far more complex film. Kid Auto Races at Venice was just an improvised film. It has no real plot — just a single gag done over and over. The director pushes the tramp out of the scene at the end, but he’s done that several times before and there is every indication that it will continue on as it has.

In Making a Living, Charlie Chaplin pretends to be a gentleman, out and about. He stops a passer-by and they chat. But it is all a setup to ask for money.

Then, inexplicably, Chaplin gets a young woman to agree to marry him. While telling her mother, the same man comes by and proposes, but she refuses. Chaplin and the man fight. And so on. It actually has a very nice comedic narrative until it, like all Mack Sennett films, just stops.

My Favorite Charlie Chaplin Film

But let’s end this with my favorite Charlie Chaplin Film: Modern Times:

Other April 16th Anniversaries

People:

• Barry Nelson (1917-2007): The first James Bond in the 1954 made-for-TV Casino Royale, as well as the Overlook Hotel manager in The Shining.
• Peter Ustinov (1921-2004): Actor in Blackbeard’s Ghost, Logan’s Run, and other odd films.
• Edie Adams (1927-2008): Comedic actor in various films like It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Up in Smoke.
• George “The Animal” Steele (1937-2017): Pro wrestler who played Tor Johnson in Ed Wood.
• David Graf (1950-2001): Cadet and then Sgt Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy films.
• Billy West (1952-): Voice actor who works widely including as Philip J Fry and many other characters on Futurama.
• Ellen Barkin (1954-): Actor in Buckaroo Banzai, The Big Easy, and Switch.
• Jon Cryer (1965-): Actor in lots of zany comedies, but here because of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, where he plays Lex Luther’s nephew.
• Martin Lawrence (1965-): Actor in the Bad Boys franchise and much more.
• Lukas Haas (1976-): Actor in films like Johns and Brick, but I most like him in Mars Attacks!
• Claire Foy (1984-): More of a serious actor who was in Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal, which I really like.

Films:

• Horrors of Spider Island (1960): A dance troupe crashes on an island with a deadly spider that infects their manager.
• Beast in the Cellar (1970): Thoughtful horror film about army personnel being murdered by an abused young man.
• Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971): Children turn to witchcraft and grow fur for Satan, which is way better than it sounds.
• Killer Workout (1987): Slasher in a gym where it turns out it isn’t who you think it is; and then it is!
• Hard Boiled (1992): Chow Yun-fat is a badass who takes on a mobster.
• The Thirteenth Floor (1999): VR-based mystery similar to the other 1999 releases, eXistenZ and The Matrix.

Charlie Chaplin via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Hans Conried was born on 15 April 1917. He long suffered from heart problems and died at 64 on 5 January 1982.

He started working in Hollywood in the late 1930s. Although he worked a lot, he performed mostly very small roles. This improved through the 1940s and 1950s. And in the mid-1950s, he moved to television. He did still make some traditional films like The Monster That Challenged the World.

Conried had a very distinctive voice. As a result, he did a lot of voice work. This included radio through the 1950s. He also formed a long collaboration with Jay Ward. Most notably, he was the voice of Snidely Whiplash in “Dudley Do-Right” and Professor Waldo P Wigglesworth in Hoppity Hooper. He also did a lot of work with Dr Seuss.

Like most TV character actors, he worked extensively but (as far as I know) never as a lead actor. So despite dying relatively young, he racked up hundreds of credits. Still, he tended to steal any show he was in. A good example of this is the season two episode of Lost in Space, “The Questing Beast.”

In it, he plays a kind of Don Quixote character questing after a red dragon. It turns out the dragon is a woman. The episode ends with the two in an almost romantic relationship. In addition to Conried’s excellent performance, the episode is notable for two things. The first is that the dragon is voiced by iconic voice actor June Foray, who worked with Conried on “Dudley Do-Right.” The second is that it introduced the spectacled Basset Hound that showed up almost randomly in later episodes.

Other than providing a playlist of Hans Conried’s animated work (which you can easily find on YouTube), let’s watch this episode of Lost in Space!

Other April 15th Anniversaries

Filmmakers/Scholars:

• Elizabeth Montgomery (1933-1995): star of Bewitched (1964-1972) and made-for-TV films like The Victim (1972), Mrs Sundance (1974), and The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975).
• Robert Walker Jr (1940-2019): played the commune leader Jack in Easy Rider, the hippy Herby in The Happening, and perhaps most notably the title character in the Star Trek episode “Charlie X. His actor father played the villain in Strangers on a Train, but died of a mishap following a psychiatric incident.
• Michael Kamen (1948-2003): film composer for many psychotronic films, including The Dead Zone (1983), Brazil (1985), Lifeforce (1985), Highlander (1986), Die Hard (1988), and many more.
• Craig Zadan (1949-2018): producer of Footloose (1984) and Hairspray (2007)
• Glenn Shadix (1952-2010): actor in Beetlejuice (1988), Demolition Man (1993), and Planet of the Apes (2001).
• Tom Weaver (1958-): Film historian and author of numerous books about films and filmmakers with a focus on horror and science fiction.
• Emma Thompson (1959-): actor in Nanny McPhee (2005) and Stranger than Fiction (2006)
• Seth Rogen (1982-): actor and director of films like This Is the End (2013) and The Interview (2014); he was also the voice of the title character in Paul (2011).
• Emma Watson (1990-): besides the Harry Potter films, she was in This Is the End (2013) and Regression (2015).

Films:

• The Monster Maker (1944): a mad scientist film featuring Glenn Strange.
• Devil Bat’s Daughter (1946): an evil psychiatrist uses his skills to kill his wife and frame a patient.
• Stage Fright (1950): Hitchcock film where Jane Wyman tries to prove a friend’s innocence; Marlene Dietrich is a femme fatale.
• Crack in the World (1965): scientists crack the crust of the Earth while drilling to the core to create thermal energy and must fix it; starring Dana Andrews.
• Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966): a spaceship crashes on a prehistoric planet with giant monsters that turns out to be Earth; featuring John Agar and a young Stuart Margolin.
• Curse of the Crimson Altar (1970): AIP film about a man searching for his brother who was killed by a cult; starring Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, and Barbara Steele.
• Horror House (1970): Another API film about young people in an old house getting murdered one by one; starring Frankie Avalon.
• The Evil Dead (1981): Young people on holiday unleash demons that take over humans.
• The Resurrected (1992): Dan O’Bannon directed this film based on Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
• DarkWolf (2003): A cop needs to protect a half-werewolf woman from a full-werewolf man who wants to mate.
• The Amityville Horror (2005): Ryan Reynolds stars in this remake of the 1979 film.
• The Curse of El Charro (2005): A demon with a machete harasses four young women on vacation for a familial wrong; Danny Trejo is the voice of the Demon.
• The Curse of Lizzie Borden 2: Prom Night (2008): A museum worker kills students at a local college during prom.
• Orville (2009): A man “tames” his wife via torture.
• Scream 4 (2011): The last of the Wes Craven-directed films in this franchise.

Hans Conreid via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.

Gerry Anderson was born on 14 April 1929. He died the day after Christmas of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 83.

He, along with his wife Sylvia, created a number of iconic television shows based on marionette puppetry. Thunderbirds is by far the best known.

Many of my childhood friends loved this show! I wasn’t a big fan. I’m not sure why. I am amazes when I watch them now. They created such a finely crafted show! And it is loads of fun.

What I now most like about Sylvia and Gerry Anderson is Space: 1999. See thorough discussion of the show. They used their abilities with small-scale special effects to combine with an excellent cast to create quite an enjoyable series.

Space: 1999 starred Martin Landau (Rounders) and Barbara Bain plus a bunch of other notables including Barry Morse (Asylum) in the first season.

But what I most love about the show is how scientifically illiterate it is. If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know that one thing I hate is listening to lame science-sounding justifications for bizarre plots. No one cares! It’s great when it’s plausibly done like in The Andromeda Strain. But otherwise, skip it! I glory in the ridiculousness of Space: 1999.

Other April 14th Aniversaries

Filmmakers:

• John Gielgud (1904-2000)
• Henry Freulich (1906-1985)
• Valerie Hobson (1917-1998)
• Joseph Ruskin (1924-2013)
• Rod Steiger (1925-2002)
• Liz Renay (1926-2007)
• Gloria Jean (1926-2018)
• Bradford Dillman (1930-2018)
• Arlene Martel (1936-2014)
• Julie Christie (1940-)
• Lothaire Bluteau (1957-)
• Peter Capaldi (1958-)
• Robert Carlyle (1961-)
• Tom Dey (1965-)
• Anthony Michael Hall (1968-)
• Adrien Brody (1973-)
• Rob McElhenney (1977-)
• Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977-)
• Abigail Breslin (1996-)

Films:

• Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
• Terror Aboard (1933)
• Beauty and the Beast (1934)
• It’s a Bikini World (1967)
• Edge of Sanity (1989)
• American Psycho (2000)
• Scary Movie 4 (2006)
• Fear the Forest (2009)

Gerry Anderson image cropped from one on GerryAnderson.com under Fair Use.

Ron Perlman was born on 13 April 1950.

You can’t really say that you know his work. He works a lot. On IMDb, he has almost 300 listed credits. And that includes a single credit for 79 episodes of Sons of Anarchy and another for 55 episodes of Beauty and the Beast. His first major role was in Quest for Fire.

But I first noticed him in The Name of the Rose. He played the mentally-challenged hunchback Salvatore. His performance was shockingly believable. I later saw him in The City of Lost Children and assumed he was French! Later, I was shocked to see him in Happy, Texas. He plays a gay Texas Marshal. who gets one of the best lines in the film. “Admire him, son. That is one big dicked cop!”

But he stars in a lot of psychotronic films. He’s great in Alien: Resurrection. He has a small but important role in Blade II. And he does a lot of voice work for animated films and video games. But like I indicated, he works so much it is hard to keep track of.

I know him best for the Guillermo del Toro Hellboy films. I’m not even that fond of them. But they are fun and always worth revisiting.

Other April 13th Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Howard Keel (1919-2004)
• Don Adams (1923-2005)
• Stanley Donen (1924-2019)
• Beverley Cross (1931-1998)
• Lyle Waggoner (1935-2020)
• Edward Fox (1937-)
• Paul Sorvino (1939-2022)
• Charles Burnett (1944-)
• Tony Dow (1945-2022)
• William Sadler (1950-)
• Peter Davison (1951-)
• Ricky Schroder (1970-).

Films:

• The Boy and the Pirates (1960)
• The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978)
• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
• Iceman (1984)
• Serial Mom (1994)
• Carmilla, the Lesbian Vampire (2004)
• Disturbia (2007)
• My Name Is Bruce (2007)
• Creature of Darkness (2009)
• Haunted Airplane (2009)
• The Final Storm (2010).

Ron Perlman by Miguel Discart under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Cinemation Industries released the Ralph Bakshi film Fritz the Cat on 12 April 1972. It’s best known for being that animated feature that got an X rating from the MPAA.

You might think that would mean it was pornographic. But it isn’t, of course. It’s just the usual nonsense of the MPAA trying to save us all from seeing anything upsetting. That this: upsetting to a middle-class middle-aged white person who never had an original idea in a lifetime of opportunity.

What’s most interesting about Fritz the Cat is that despite its trappings of the counterculture (sex, drugs, and profanity), it’s actually quite a reactionary film. I don’t especially blame it. This seems to be the natural result of filmmakers who have never thought seriously about politics who are determined to be “edgy.”

It’s always easy to mock the silly people who are part of a group. But that doesn’t result in good satire. “Many people are silly” is not a brilliant insight. Normally, satire needs to come from the inside so that the creator understands the group well enough. Bakshi comes at the subject from a sneering outsider.

But the execution is exceptional. I like Wizards more. But it too has thematic problems. But I’m a big Cheech Wizard fan and Avatar is clearly a rip-off of him. Also, there’s Susan Tyrrell’s amazing voice! But today, it is Fritz the Cat! And here’s a good print to enjoy:

Other April 12th Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Ann Miller (1923-2004)
• Alvin Sargent (1927-2019)
• Charles Napier (1936-2011)
• Ed O’Neill (1946-)
• Tom Noonan (1951-2026)
• Andy García (1956-)
• Magda Szubanski (1961-)
• Shannen Doherty (1971-2024).

Films:

• Black Friday (1940)
• Dr Cyclops (1940)
• House of Seven Gables (1940)
• Dead Men Walk (1943)
• Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)
• Cat’s Eye (1985)
• Ladyhawke (1985)
• Fear (1996)
• Frailty (2002)
• Cave Women on Mars (2008).

Fritz the Cat (1972) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Lions Gate Films released House of 1000 Corpses to US audiences on 11 April 2003.

It was Rob Zombie’s first feature film. Before that, he made a number of music videos. They are all visually interesting so nothing in his feature film catalogue is too surprising. But his Ozzy video is kind of boring. Still, it shows how well he understands different visual styles.

I’m not a huge Rob Zombie fan. I admire his work. But he clearly doesn’t make films for me. I wrote about House of 1000 Corpses, “This film is everything you expect from a Rob Zombie film: visually gorgeous, plenty of gore, good performances, and a lame script.” They guy just doesn’t care much for characters and plot. Everything is in service to the visuals. And that’s fine. Like I said: I’m not exactly the target audience.

But I do appreciate the visuals, gore, and acting — especially in 1000 Corpses. And he gave Sid Haig some of best roles he got later in his career. He brought in other greats for this one: Bill Moseley, Karen Black, Walton Goggins, Tom Towles, Dennis Fimple, and Michael J Pollard.

House of 1000 Corpses is inspired primarily by Two Thousand Maniacs! But I’ve never heard anyone say this. Obviously, the plot is closer to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, itself inspired by Lewis’ classic. But while Chain Saw is realistic in its black comedy, Corpses and Maniacs are very blunt. And while Chain Saw features characters you can remember, the other two don’t. That’s not a criticism, of course. All three films work.

So, on this 23rd anniversary, let’s watch House of 1000 Corpes!

Other April 11th Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Norman McLaren (1914-1987)
• Howard W Koch (1916-2001)
• Joel Grey (1932-)
• Duane Jones (1937-1988)
• Louise Lasser (1939-)
• John Milius (1944-)
• Peter Riegert (1947-)
• Bernd Eichinger (1949-2011)
• Vincent Gallo (1961-).

Films:

• Scarecrow (1973)
• Critters (1986)
• The Toxic Avenger (1986) — general US release
• Anaconda (1997)
• Grosse Point Blank (1997)
• The House That Screamed (2000).

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Embassy Pictures released Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter and Billy the Kid vs Dracula as a double feature on 10 April 1966. They premiered together on 30 March 1966 in New Haven, Connecticut.

I avoided seeing both these films for years because they have arguably the silliest titles in the history of film.

Okay. Maybe Octopussy is worse. Of course, I’ve never seen it. I don’t much care for Roger Moore period Bond. But that also indicates why the title doesn’t matter. It’s a bond picture. They could be numbered. Who knows what to expect from Billy the Kid vs Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter?

Well, it isn’t hard to guess if you think like a filmmaker. After all, Dracula lives forever. So why not turn Billy the Kid into Van Helsing? Frankenstein doesn’t live forever, so we get his granddaughter (despite the title).

The films were shot back-to-back. William Beaudine directed both. He had been directing since the silent era. In total, he directed hundreds of feature films and television shows including 80 episodes of Lassie.

I like both films, but I prefer Billy the Kid vs Dracula — probably because of John Carradine’s over-the-top performance. I also like how the start of the film is a bit of an homage to Stagecoach. And I like the happy ending.

You can find Billy the Kid vs Dracula online but the prints range from fairly bad to unwatchable. Last year, KL Studio Classics released what is probably the best version we will get on DVD and Blu-ray. They both come with a commentary track by writers Lee Gambin and John Harrison. If you want to get Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Elite Entertainment produced a good version on DVD with a Joe Bob Briggs commentary track.

But you don’t need to buy either since both these films litter the internet. Here is a decent print of Billy the Kidd vs Dracula:

And here is a so-so print of Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter:

Other Anniversaries for April 10th

Filmmakers:

• Harry Morgan (1915-2011)
• Chuck Connors (1921-1992)
• Max Von Sydow (1929-2020)
• Omar Sharif (1932-2015)
• Steven Seagal (1952-)
• Orlando Jones(1968-)
• Haley Joe Osment (1988-).

Films:

• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• Blood and Black Lace (1964)
• Multiple Maniacs (1970)
• Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
• Excalibur (1981)
• Knightriders (1981)
• The Howling (1981)
• Subway (1985)
• Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
• FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
• Sleepwalkers (1992)
• Species II (1998)
• Dr Horror’s Erotic House of Idiots (2004)
• Skin Crawl (2007)
• Dragonball Evolution (2009)
• Vampiress: Lady of the Night (2010).

Billy the Kid vs Dracula (1966) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use. Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Universal Pictures released Family Plot on 9 April 1976.

It was the last film that Alfred Hitchcock directed. And it was a good swan song. It is a whole lot of fun.

Of course, Hitchcock shows his usual attention to detail. The special effects are quite bad. He uses rear projection throughout and it is dreadful. And he uses an under-cranked camera in the runaway car sequence that doesn’t really work. It’s shocking that a director so known for his care and control took so little care with these things.

But the runaway car sequence, despite its obvious problems, is extremely effective. And the acting by Barbara Harris and Bruce Dern makes it hilarious.

The overall film is uneven in regard to comedy. But that’s a choice. The screenplay establishes one of the plot lines as a comedy and the other as a drama. Hitchcock has done both successfully in other films. And the contrast works well here. It does make me wonder why he didn’t direct more comedy. He clearly understood it. Just watch any episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I was slightly disappointed that the script didn’t find a way to save Karen Black. The plot set this up. But the film is already over two hours long. And screenwriter Ernest Lehman showed an admirable tendency to end films quickly. And saving black would have complicated the simple and sweet ending.

Family Plot will never displace Shadow of a Doubt or The Birds in my personal list of essential Hitchcock. But Hitchcock shot those films in my hometown. So I grew up thinking of them as iconic. And he did a better job making other films. But I don’t think you can find a film that is more entertaining from start to finish.

So let’s celebrate this golden anniversary by watching the film. If you haven’t seen it, you will enjoy it!

Other Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Paul Robeson (1898-1976)
• Marty Krofft (1937-2023)
• Brandon deWilde (1942-1972)
• Dennis Quaid (1954-)
• Fred Dekker (1959-)
• Cynthia Nixon (1966-).

Films:

• And Soon the Darkness (1970)
• All the President’s Men (1976)
• Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)
• The Back Lot Murders (2002)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004).

Family Plot (1977) poster via Wikipedia under Fair use.

Cinépix Film Properties released Rabid in Canada and New World Pictures released it in the United States — both on 8 April 1977.

It was David Cronenberg‘s second feature film. (He made two hour-long films to start his career but most people don’t consider them features.) His first film was Shivers, which did well at the box office. Rabid did even better.

The story is bizarre. But if you know Cronenberg’s work, you will find it straightforward. After an experimental surgery, a young woman (Marilyn Chambers) becomes infected and grows a kind of sexual organ under her arm. She is compelled to use it to suck victims’ blood. She gets nutrition and the victim gets the virus that basically turns them into zombies.

The film is explicitly political. The second half of the film shows Montreal under martial law. But mostly, the film is interesting because of the body horror and the action.

This period of Cronenberg is typified by a lack of control in terms of setting. He just didn’t have the kind of budget to create the kinds of cinematic worlds that we get in later films like The Fly or Spider. But despite this limitation, he makes these films work. He just has a great eye. He holds the viewer’s attention without being flashy.

But for all its excellent rendering, I’m more interested in the writing of Rabid. Cronenberg does something very unusual. He creates a monster that is very pleasant and at first doesn’t know that she is a monster. We do get to enjoy her infecting the creep in the movie theater (Miguel Fernandes). But the “will she or won’t she” with her friend (Susan Roman) is almost unbearable (in a good way).

So on this 49th anniversary of the film’s release, let’s watch it! (If you’ve already seen it, there is a version with David Cronenberg’s commentary.

Other April 8th Anniversaries

Actors:

• Mary Pickford (1892-1979)
• Tim Thomerson (1946-)
• Kane Hodder (1955-)
• Robin Wright (1966-)
• Patricia Arquette (1968-).

Filmmakers:

• John Madden (1949-).

Films:

• Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
• Demon Seed (1977)
• Bad Dreams (1988)
• Leprechaun 2 (1994)
• The Players Club (1998)
• Day of the Dead (2008).

Rabid (1977) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.