TIKI CULTURE

Mod Movie Monday: The Wizard of Oz, 1939

I think we’d be hard-pressed to find anyone over the age of 12 who hasn’t seen (and loved) The Wizard of Oz. So this week’s Mod Movie Monday isn’t really a recommendation for something you’ve probably already seen, it’s a celebration of one of our favorite movies of all time. Dig some trivia, a story or two, and some groovy pix and video here at Tiki Lounge Talk. From 1939, here’s one of our top favorites,

The Wizard of Oz

Back in the old days, ya know, the 70’s, when there were only three networks and a few UHF stations on the tube, TV stations would show old movies just once a year, and they’d make a big deal about it (remember?). Every Thanksgiving my parents would drive us up to Philly to have a giant Italian Thanksgiving dinner with our giant Italian family. Football would be on the TV in living room until eight o’clock, when my uncles would be shooed away to the upstairs bedroom so the rest of us could watch that spectacular of spectaculars, The Wizard of Oz.

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A Collection of Fun Old Scary Movies for Halloween

The Halloween Season is a very busy one for Ole Tiki Chris P. I’ve been going bananas decorating every day for our big Halloween bash, and have been too beat to lay down some groovy stories. So I’m cheating a little…here’s a kool post from last year with some great movie ideas. Tomorrow I’ll post two new horror flicks and a couple of drink recipes too!

If you’re into old movies, I don’t have to speil about the wonders of the original Dracula, Frankenstein & Wolfman. You’ve probably seen them, or they’re already on your list. So here’s a few creepy flicks that may have escaped your radar…some you’ve heard of, but maybe never got around to witness. Some you’ve probably never heard of, but take it from this kat, they’re fun to watch and might even give you the heebee-geebees. I’ve included the IMDB link so you can get more info. So here goes, in no particular odor (I mean order. Damned spellchecker.)

The Haunting (1963) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/
One of the first ghost stories I ever saw as a kid, this black & white thriller sets three unsuspecting volunteers in a secluded, creepy mansion with a scientist conducting an experiment on sleep deprivation. Secretly the well-intended scientist believes the mansion to harbor spirits, and his volunteers have been selected for their apparent sensitivity to the spirit world. The spirits come. It’s krazy. A well-crafted movie from a well-written book, you’ll want to watch this one with the lights off and some spiked hot chocolate.

The Uninvited (1944) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037415/
Ray Milland leads this Noir thriller centering around a haunted house on the English coast. He and his sister move into the lovely old home only to find there are skeletons lurking in every closet. A well-written and well-acted movie, this one is at the top of my ghost movie list.

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/
Jack Nicholson at his craziest/finest. Stephen King may have hated this adaptation, but there’s no denying this is one of the creepiest, scariest, most disturbing movies ever made. From blood pouring out of the elevators to butchered children to eerie music from a not so distant past, The Shining will leave you with chills and craving for more. The sets of the Overlook Hotel are so evil and creepy looking that the hotel itself becomes one of the main characters (as intended). Even the opening credits are scary!

A Bucket of Blood (1959) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052655/
Beatniks, jazz, pretty girls and ‘innocently’ unintentional murder for the sake of art. This early Roger Corman film is as dark as dark comedy can get. Creepy, BW & even an actual bucket with blood in it. This is one of those movies where you’ll be saying “They got away with THAT in 1959?”

House of Wax (1953) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/
No Paris Hilton, but plenty of Vincent Price at his best. Murder, wax and insanity. Need I say more?

Mark of the Devil (1970) (aka Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065491/
Hot 60’s European chicks getting tortured as witches. Amazingly realistic and gory for the time, the plot centers around Inquisitors using their power to satisfy their sadistic lusts. Pretty damned disturbing, actually. The American version is dubbed pretty well, so you don’t have to read subtitles. Lots of torture devices, dirty villagers, and torture of pretty medieval women that borders on a snuff flick. Don’t let the kids near this one.

Young Frankenstein (1974) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/
It’s not easy to pull off a really great spoof of a really great movie, but they really nailed it with this one. Mel Brooks in his heyday with Harvey Korman, Peter Boyal, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn, a cameo by Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder at the reins. Wilder plays the grandson of Victor von Frankenstein. He refuses to believe his grandfather’s work had any merit until he visits the ‘old country’ and finds his journal. When he decides to try the experiments himself, hilarity ensues. Shot in black and white with the same techniques as movies from the 30’s (and with some of the same sets as the original “Frankenstein”) this flick is timeless, with great gags, great writing, and Teri Garr looking like a real honey.

The Exorcist (1973) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/
Speaks for itself. If you ain’t seen it, see it. It’ll blow your mind. Scary, evil, disturbing. Interesting note: Max von Sydow played Father Merrin, the old priest. He was only 43 at the time. He also played the role of Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Director Burgess in Minority Report (2002). Talk about a career!

The Changeling (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/
Probably the best Ghost Story I’ve ever seen on film. George C. Scott stars as John Russell, a music composer who moves to a secluded vintage mansion outside of Seattle, hoping for some peace and quiet. What he gets are strange noises, visions, and visitations. As he unravels the mystery he gets drawn deeper into the web of the strengthening spirit. I don’t want to give anything else away! This has been one of my favorites from when I first saw it as a kid. Even though it was released in 1980, it has that old 60’s-70’s production style that makes it even creepier than any of the newer flicks can go for. Sure, new movies have great effects, but when they’re too slick they just don’t have that gritty creep factor.

Ghost Story (1981) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082449/
What happens when you get Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks and John Houseman together in their retirement years? A very creepy ghost story, that’s what. Add Patricia Neal, Alice Krige and a 50 year old bloody secret and you’ve got the makings of a very spooky film. 80’s production values are laughable, but if you can get past that it’s a fun flick to watch.

Christine (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085333/
“She’s Death On Wheels” was the movie’s slogan. Another Stephen King adaptation, this time by John Carpenter. Nerdy teenager finds a beat to hell ’58 Fury “That’s uglier than he is”, spends all his time fixing it up and driving it, all the time becoming possessed by the demon car. It follows the book fairly well, but the way Carpenter translated the story to the screen has become legend. There’s even a Christine Car Club dedicated to restoring and preserving ’58 Plymouth Fury Christine clones (and a few real movie cars). With no computer graphics to help them, 25 Plymouths were used in the film, with about 15 of them being destroyed (which brought car guys like me to tears). It was later said that many of the destroyed cars were junkyard dogs anyway, didn’t run, didn’t even have engines, and were just painted rustbuckets used for the shots. A little Trivia: When my family and I went to see this in the movies around Christmas, 1983, we drove to the theater in my father’s ’64 Caddy. When we came out, people were pointing at his finned car and yelling, “It’s Christine!”…even though it was powder blue and didn’t look anything like a Fury! A few years later my Dad and I bought a ’59 Plymouth Savoy (with a ’58 front end on it) with the intention of making a Christine Clone. Turns out the motor was shot, and it was too much trouble to do it so we sold it back to the guy we bought it from for the same $200 we paid for it.

Creature Double Feature Movies for Mod Movie Monday: Satan’s Cheerleaders, 1977 and Cheerleader Camp 1988

It ain’t often I recommend a move I haven’t seen yet…but I truly dig Satan’s Cheerleaders, and needed another cheerleader horror flick to complete this week’s duo. I searched around and found a flick that looks like it will be a 10 on the cheesy, so-bad-it’s-good meter: Cheerleader Camp. So kats & kitties, without further ado, here’s

Satan’s Cheerleaders from 1977

and Cheerleader Camp from 1988

What can be better than watching dim-witted cheerleaders get partially naked and wind up dead?

Satan's Cheerleaders

How about them being victimized by a Satanic Cult-leading Lilly Munster? I first came across Satan’s Cheerleaders after discovering “The Cheerleaders” sort-of-trilogy from the ’70s. Satan’s Cheerleaders wasn’t part of it, but continued the cheerleader movie tradition in a very wicked way. It’s one of those late-70s, low budget movies where you just know the cutest girl was given and extra fifty bucks to do a topless scene. It features John Ireland and Yvonne De Carlo along with a small part by John Carradine, along with a bunch of jailbait that will make you wish the cheerleaders at your school were really like them. The special effects aren’t very special, and the movie doesn’t take itself very seriously which makes it lots of fun to watch. Poorly written, poorly acted, who cares; the girls are hot and you’ll be screaming at the ridiculousness of it all!

Cheerleader Camp

Now this other flick, Cheerleader Camp…Haven’t seen it yet but I know it’s going to be a blast. It’s got a rating of two stars on IMDB which insures its absurdity. But how could you not enjoy a movie with Leif Garret and Teri Weigle (the porn star) from 1988? I would imaging the cheerleaders are loose and wear leggings even in the summer. Reviews point out that there is plenty of flesh and plenty of blood, and the plot is so bad you’ll have it figured out in the first five minutes…so you can sit back and enjoy the ’80s silliness without worrying about a plot!

Food & Booze: The cheerleaders at my high school drank Peppermint and Peach Schnapps, so I’d say take a shot every time someone gets slashed. Or your can try this recipe for

The Bloody Cheerleader

1 oz  Peach Schnapps
1 oz  Coconut Rum
1 oz  Silver Rum
Cranberry Juice

Fill a tall glass with ice and add the shots of peach schnapps and rums. Stir lightly, the way you’d softly touch a cheerleader on the third date, then add the cranberry so it looks like blood gushing in. Garnish with a cherry, of course.

For food, I’m thinking camp stuff…hot dogs, burgers, pop corn, fries, maybe grill the dogs over an open fire. Finish things off with Devil’s food cake, of course. Or Devil Dogs. Or Deviled eggs. You get the idea.

Here’s the trailer for Satan’s Cheerleaders:

And for Cheerleader Camp (AKA Bloody Pom Poms, of course)

Lilly Munster trying to be evil

- Tiki Chris reporting from the alter concealed behind the wall of the Tiki Bar.

Tiki Lounge talk, you’re Halloween Headquarters for spooky movies all through October.

Note: For the bloodiest, most disgusting murdered teenage cheerleaders ever put on mainstream film, see House of 1000 Corpses.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses for Mod Movie Monday!

Continuing our Creature Double Feature series from now until Halloween…Here’s two of the most horrific films ever made:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1974

and

House of 1000 Corpses, 2003

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was done on a shoestring budget by a group of mostly inexperienced film makers who wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before 1974: A truly gruesome horror film. Because of the low budget and other factors…like the type of film they got cheap, the fact that the couldn’t afford plastic prop bones and were trying to get a PG rating…the film turned out to be an extremely realistic, disturbing movie with visuals that will stick in your brain for years.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

House of 1000 Corpses is Rob Zombie’s ode to Chainsaw. Using digital technology and an additional 25 years of film-making expertise, he recreated the style right down to the over-exposed daylight scenes and realistically insane characters…just  not with a low budget. Chainsaw was over-the-top and disturbing in 1974…Corpses blows by it without any stops, quintupling the gore, blood, insanity and fantasy in such a realistic way you’ll be believing in monsters by the end.

House of 1000 Corpses

There are more similarities between these two movies than just the style. Chainsaw is about a group of young friends traveling through Texas that get unintentionally drawn into world of a family of insane, inbred wackadoos that torture, kill, etc etc. Corpses is about a group of young friends traveling to discover the truth behind the legend of famed murderer, who unintentionally get drawn into…ok, you get the picture. The main difference between the two is how Zombie went all out, with dead cheerleaders, carnival freaks, intense violence and gallons of blood, whereas Chainsaw is more focused, more direct and down to earth about the horrors.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Some interesting notes on Chainsaw: Because of the low budge the film makers couldn’t afford plastic prop skeletons. Instead, they bought real human skeletons and bones from India. There are also a lot of animal bones, feathers, etc. in the film. These are real. They acquired remains from animal shelters and burned the carcasses in the back yard where they were filming. The black cloud of smoke and the stench caused the sheriff to close off the highway near the filming location, and almost got the film closed down with it. Oh, and by the way…the money used to make this film was basically laundered from the profits of Deep Throat. Ain’t life crazy?

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

My take: I didn’t get to see chainsaw until I was in my 20s. I’m glad I didn’t see it sooner. I’m pretty sure I would have had nightmares for years. I was actually afraid…yes, afraid…to see Corpses in the movies when it came out. I had to psych myself up for months to watch it on DVD, and it still disturbed the hell out of me. The imagery is so intense, so out there that unless you’re a seasoned horror film addict it will probably blow your mind.

A funny note: I actually saw Texas Chainsaw II on HBO not long after it came out in the early 1980s. It was nothing like the original. The fact that they had a decent budget worked against them, and it just turned out to be another run-of-the-mill 80s slasher flick. HOWEVER…I just happened to be watching while making a pot of my famous Texas Chili for an upcoming Halloween party. Here’s the funny part: Chainsaw II is about the nuts using human meat to make Chili for a Chili contest, and as I was mixing up my Chili, they were mixing up theirs. Needless to say, I’ve served Texas Chainsaw Chili at every Halloween party since.

House of 1000 Corpses

Food & Booze: Well, what else…Chili. Made with people, if you can murder yourself some young chicks. For drinks I’d recommend a nice Chianti. As for Corpses…you’re not going to want to eat anything while watching this flick. If anything, you’ll want to have a bucket handy.

-Spooky Tiki Chris reporting from the barbecue pit behind the smokeshack at Tiki Lounge Talk, the hep & happenin’ joint for Halloween-lovin’ kats and kittens.

Bucket of Blood, 1959 & House of Wax, 1953 for Mod Movie Monday

Double click to open full-size...read the comics, they're great!

OK Swingers, the leaves are falling, the air is turning chilly (for most of you kats) and Halloween is just around the corner. So you know what that means… It’s time for some vintage horror flicks! So from now until Halloween, Mod Movie Mondays will feature some creature double features to get your blood flowing…possibly into the fangs of a vampire…Let’s kick it off with one of my favorite B&W dark comedies,

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Staring Dick Miller (You’ll know him when you see him) as a mildly mentally-handicapped busboy working in a Bohemian cafe, who learns somewhat by accident that he has a talent for sculpture. But his talent, you’ll see, isn’t as amazing as one might think, as this modern-era Michelangelo sort of…well…cheats.

Beatniks, jazz, pretty girls and ‘innocently’ unintentional murder for the sake of art. This early Roger Corman film is as dark as dark comedy can get. Creepy, BW & even an actual bucket with blood in it. This is one of those movies where you’ll be saying “They got away with THAT in 1959?”

The idea and outline of the film was developed in one day, and the whole thing was shot in less than a week on a very limited budget, but Corman’s concept to stray from mainstream horror films of the time and create a dark comedy routed in Beatnik culture puts this film as one of my favorites as a truly enjoyable, kookie and fun flick from one of our favorite eras.

House of Wax, 1953

In 3-D! Starring Vincent Price, this classic horror flick embodies the spirit (all puns intended) of the movies we love. A far-out story, creepy effects and VINCENT PRICE. Plus it was the first mainstream studio film to be made in glorious 3-D, opening up a trend in movie making that would have its highs and lows and finally come full-circle 50 years later when the technology finally caught up with the idea.

Even if you don’t watch it in 3-D, its such a gory flick for the time that you’ll be amazed, once again, that they got away with this stuff in the puritan ’50s. As a point of trivia interest, this film and the above-mentioned Bucket of Blood share some story ideas…and an actual line: “(He sure) knows his anatomy.” Crazy.

-Tiki Chris P. swingin’ in the balcony of the movie palace down the block from the Tiki Bar. Dig it, Daddy-O!