July 24, 2005
Color Him Sentimental
Just gotta share this gem of an e-mail with fellow Herschell Gordon Lewis fans! Forty years later, Color Me Blood Red casualty Dan Faulkner remembers his paddle-boat demise:
As I sat reminiscing in front of my computer some 10 days ago, I recalled the movie I had played a part in many years ago -- while a student at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida -- but had never seen. I Googled Color Me Blood Red.
Yesterday's mail included the "time capsule." I watched for the first time as I peddled the waters of the Gulf with that lovely young lady only to be struck down in my youth by the mad artist in his boat.
The special effect props as I most clearly recall were cow lungs from a local butcher which I grasped to my chest wound in feigned agony. It's a wonder I didn't get eaten by a shark! (I still wear the ring that can be seen on my right hand in those scenes.)
I think I received $35 for the work but I remember that I read for the part with my shirt on but when it came time for the shoot my beer gut was revealed much to somebody's dismay.
Everyone on the set was very nice as I recall.
It is one of my favorite memories.
Dan also included a newspaper clipping which I've transcribed:
Film being made on Longboat Key
MOVIE CREW USING 'HAUNTED HOUSE'
By Harris Williams
Sarasota Herald Tribune (February 1964)
At a lonely spot just off Gulf of Mexico Drive on Longboat Key stands a ghostly grey house, its sides treated harshly by pounding surf and winds. Trees nearby have been uprooted by the elements but thick undergrowth almost completely hides the house.
Late Monday night there was a shotgun blast inside the house. Screams followed. Not one person, but many. Boys and girls, men and women, all giving off noises associated with a violent death.
Longboat Key's lone policeman drove by -- only a couple hundred yards away -- but smiled and kept going,
A movie was in the making.
Moving into the "haunted" house last Friday was the filming crew of Friedman-Lewis Film Co., out of Chicago plus actors and actresses from all over the northeast.
Heading up the filming are Dave Friedman, a former resident of Sarasota and Herschell G. Lewis. Friedman is the producer and Lewis is the director.
The two were in Orlando recently filming a picture and happened on the Longboat site because, "we had to have a lonely home with a deserted beach area. We saw this house, it was perfect and we have it leased until the film is complete," said Friedman. He added the company would spend about $30,000 a week here.
However, all scenes aren't in the house. Last Sunday the company put in 12 hours at the Longboat Key Art Gallery and Friedman said, "I have never had as much cooperation as the people at the gallery extended to us."
Other scenes will be shot in Gulf of Mexico waters.
Playing the male lead is Gordon Oas-Heim, a 37-year-old Chicagoan who recently starred in a movie titled The Parables. It was sponsored by the National Council of Protestant Churches and will run for two years at the World's Fair. He also had a part in That Kind of Woman starring Sophia Loren. The majority of his summer months are spent directing plays at his own theater, O'Hare Inn, located near the airport.
In the movie, Oas-Heim is a painter who in the process of the picture goes insane. His model is played by shapely Elyn Warner of New York. She is 21 years old and her work to date has been in television spots and off-Broadway shows, plus plays in the Miami area.
Also playing a feature role is Candi Conder, a Florida (Sanford) girl who was given her chance in movies after she won a beauty contest in the central part of the state.
Locals hired for the show are Scott Hall, 8025 Midnight Pass Road and Dan Faulkner, Ringling Art School.
In the movie Oas-Heim is a rich painter who likes to be left alone, thus the reason for his lonely beach house. However, a group of teen-agers invade his property for a party and eventually Miss Warner makes her way to the house.
While she is working as a model-helper, she cuts her finger on a nail. She carelessly wipes it on a canvas and Oas-Heim discovers the blood (The title is Color It Red) is the most beautiful color he has ever seen.
One thing leads to another and one murder leads to another until Oas-Heim decorates a painting with blood instead of oils and art critics rave.
However, his fame is short lived as he is found on the devastating end of a shotgun blast.
A Friedman and Lewis movie, Blood Feast, recently came in for much publicity in Sarasota when it was banned here by an injunction taken out by a dozen residents.
Legal action is still pending in the case but Friedman says his company is not involved and that the suit is being handled by the Florida State Theater attorneys. The movie chain is contracted to handle all Florida showings and Friedman and Lewis aren't legally concerned with the direct action.
Friedman said he was puzzled by certain aspects of the injunction but his own feeling was that "we make the picture and let the people themselves decide if they want to see it. I don't feel we should dictate what can and what can't be shown. Our movie was no worse than the horror films they show on the late show but these we just laugh at."
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 03:27 PM
| Comments (0)
July 18, 2005
Comic-Con: Post-game report
Pant. Pant. At last, after four delirious days, it's over. San Diego Comic-Con International, truly the Super Bowl of Geekdom, dazzled upward of 100,000 pop-culture consumers this year and yours truly lived to tell its tales. Barely! Get my schlockified take on what Hollywood had to offer in this post-game podcast. Listen using the handy Online DVD Talk Radio Player or download the complete schlockcast (24 mins, 14 mb).
OTHER COMIC-CON SCHLOCKCASTS
- Devil's Rejects Premiere
- Lance Henriksen interview
- DVD Talk Roundtable
- Bruce Campbell panel
- David Cronenberg panel highlights
- New Line's comic books
- Dealer Delirium (very rough)
- Preview podcast
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 10:15 PM
| Comments (1)
July 16, 2005
Comic-Con: The Devil's Rejects premiere
DOWNLOAD MP3 (15 mins, 9 mb)
Join your representative among the leering press on the blood red carpet at the Comic-Con premiere of The Devil's Rejects. Sid Haig. Sheri Moon Zombie. Ken Foree. Bill Moseley. Hear from 'em all! Well, except for Rob Zombie. Tough break there. But, hey, 2001 Maniacs director Tim Sullivan was a dern good sport when quizzed about his potentially blasphemous Herschell Gordon Lewis update. Listen to the schlockcast (15 mins, 9 mb).
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 11:18 PM
| Comments (0)
Comic-Con: Lance Henriksen interview!
You know him, you love him, he's CineSchlocker idol Lance Henriksen! As previously noted, Lance spends his off-set hours on another, more hands-on form of artistry, which has wrought some amazing Alien vs. Predator-inspired pieces. Sideshow Collectibles recently began brokering his clay creations so Mr. Henriksen was on hand to celebrate the relationship, greet fans and share some insights on his work with yours truly in this exclusive interview (5 mins, 3 mb).
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 03:20 PM
| Comments (0)
July 15, 2005
Comic-Con: Masters of Horror party
Blood. Booze. Bruce! All hail the Masters of Horror, baby!!! The House of Blues hosted a Friday-night wingding saluting Showtime's upcoming series of 13, one-hour episodes directed by such horror hounds as Stuart Gordon, John Landis, Don Coscarelli and Mick Garris, each of whom were in attendance. Their fellow masters include Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Takashi Miike and George Romero.
Gotta admit, I was the most starstruck by comic-book legend Stan Lee.
Stuart Gordon wants to do a Re-Animator sequel set in the White House, so Herbert West can revive Dick Cheney and Donnie Rumsfeld.
When there's no more room ... at the bar. Call Ken Foree!
Don Coscarelli epitomizes the notion that the nicest guys work in horror.
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 11:57 PM
| Comments (0)
Comic-Con: DVD Talk Roundtable
Yours truly is joined by DVD Talk regulars Tom, Mike and Jason for a half-time report from the Super Bowl of Geekdom. We talk costumed crazies like our Halo'd friend from Red vs. Blue. Compare notes on all the nifty stuff we'd seen in the dealer room, such as Land of the Dead action figures. And share a collective moment of trepidation about Saturday's non-stop slate in Hall H -- the 6,500 seat vortex of Hollywood hype. Join the roundtable (19 mins, 11 mb).
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 07:58 PM
| Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
Comic-Con: Day One
11:30-3:00 -- Lots of fun wandering the exhibit hall and still only covered about half of it! Forgive this dealer-room diary (19 mins, 11 mb) as it's very rough audio and exposes my frightful fascination with action figures. Highlights include:
- Rediscovering Full Moon Entertainment -- it's been reborn as Wizard Entertainment. Production honcho Joe Dain promises more puppetry! (See photo below.)
- Chatting with the folks at Blue Underground about their restoration of Fire and Ice.
- Checked producer Cliff Broadway's feet and, sure enough, they're just as furry as you'd expect for one of the documentarians behind Ringers: Lord of the Fans.
Oh, that's Christy Marie striking a luscious Leia pose. Does that make me Jaba? Other snapshots ...
3:30 -- B-R-U-C-E!!!!!! Phenomenal. Nobody can say it better than the man hisself -- so here's his whole goldang Q&A session (43 mins, 25 mb).
4:30 -- Boy, do I ever feel sorry for the guy who had to interview David Cronenberg. Just wasn't David's milieu, maybe? He mustered flashes of enthusiasm for A History of Violence, but not in the typically effusive "Hollywood" way. More like a professor who's quietly pleased with his star pupil. Consequentially, Cronenberg can come off sounding cold. Cruelly sarcastic even. But there's usually a sly grin there too. Fascinating fella. Here's a quick highlight reel (3 mins, 1.8 mb) in which he intellectualizes his flick's flashes of graphic violence, reveals a bit of his directorial philosophy and fields praise from a Fly fan even more elated than myself about the upcoming special edition DVD!
6:00 -- Caught up with William Christensen, editor-in-chief of Avatar Press, who has scored three hit comics in collaboration with New Line Cinema. Click for a convention-floor Q&A (6 mins, 3.4 mb) about Leatherface, Freddy and Jason's grisly off-screen exploits.
SCHLOCKCASTS
- Bruce Campbell
- David Cronenberg
- Dealer Delirium
- New Line's comic books
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 10:05 PM
| Comments (0)
July 08, 2005
Comic-Con: Preview schlockcast
It's nigh upon us! San Diego Comic-Con International. The nation's largest pop-culture conclave and Hollywood's one-stop buzz builder due to the irresistible allure of more than 80,000 geeks of all ilks in one locale. Every major studio will be there in force and so will YOU thanks to your intrepid representative among the leering press!
In this podcast preview of the 4-day geekfest (July 14-17) find out who I'll be birddogging and which flicks will receive an early ogle -- Bruce Campbell! Underworld: Evolution! David Cronenberg! King Kong! Roger Corman! The Fog! Ray Harryhausen! The Devil's Rejects! Listen using the handy Online DVD Talk Radio Player or download the complete schlockcast (23 mins, 14 mb).
Attending Comic-Con too? Wanna participate in DVD Talk's roundtable podcast? Of course you do! Then drop me an e-mail! We'll meet at 6:45 p.m. Friday outside Room 21 on the Upper Level (adjacent to Ballroom 20).
Stay tuned for complete coverage!
COMIC-CON PRIMER
- Last year's coverage
- This year's schedule: Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
- Autograph opportunities
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 08:49 AM
| Comments (0)
July 04, 2005
Twin Trioxin terrors
Zombie fever rages with Return of the Living Dead sequels lensed back-to-back last summer in Eastern Europe. (Ah, cheap undead labor!) Even the websites are joined at the rotting hip, though careful not to snooze out whilst reading the plot blurbs. CineSchlockers may be slightly more heartened by the photo galleries (Part 4: Necropolis, Part 5: Rave to the Grave). But, beware, there be Zombie BORG about ...
Why, oh, why couldn't they just reanimate Julie? She was taken from us much, much too soon. (And where's that Unrated disc!?!)
Oh, and if you weren't confused enough about the Lineage of the Living Dead, check out this bewildering family tree.
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 11:16 AM
| Comments (0)
July 02, 2005
Some Schlock-keeping
A few items of which I'd be remise not to apprise CineSchlockers.
Foremost, The Fly is -- at last! -- being lavished with a Cronenberg-blessed special edition. Two discs worth! It was just a year ago when yours truly's interview with Mr. Cronenberg had Fly fans buzzing as he hadn't yet been approached regarding the then rumored special edition. Thankfully, it appears his transfer concerns have been addressed, as he's recorded a commentary!
No cover art just yet, but many know my zeal for the much-maligned sequel is nearly certifiable in severity, so this more than pacifies ...
Huzzah to Fox for having the good sense to fire off a two-disc special edition of The Fly II as well!!! Both sets street September 27 -- otherwise known as The Greatest Day in CineSchlock-O-Rama History! (Wonder if Mr. Cronenberg will make good on his promise of a second, Fly-focused Q&A with yours truly?)
In the near term, I reckon CineSchlock-O-Rama's Most Wanted has the impending Dukes of Hazzard * theatrical bow to thank for rooting Soggy Bottom U.S.A. out of VHS oblivion. Look for it July 12. Also, the capture of Andrew Robinson's Liberace biopic will be celebrated August 9. Sadly, while recently sighted, The Late Shift will remain on the lam until August 30.
Finally, my sincere thanks to every CineSchlocker who has endured my fledgling forays into schlockcasting! Listening's just gotten easier for those of you with iTunes 4.9. Simply type "DVD TALK" into the new podcasting search field and subscribe to DVD Talk Radio! It's free and it's as easy as listening to any other MP3!
* You didn't really think I'd pass up a chance to salute Ms. Simpson ...
So delish that Tinseltown gets a pass for turning Daisy into a blonde!
Posted by G. Noel Gross at 05:01 PM
| Comments (0)
