All-Time Great Late '80s Video Funtimes
One of my all-time favourite horror flicks, eagerly rented from the
late lamented Vision's Videos when i was but nine years old, to
revel in the fun, the gore, and - yes, oh yes indeedy! - the scenes
where the lovely Deborah Foreman is chained up and whipped into a
frenzy of sweaty ecstasy by the Marquis de Sade. Powerful stuff indeed,
which had a profound effect on my hormonal adolescent self, producing
very powerful sensations in my brain and body.
A great cast for those of us who waded through many an '80s fantastique
flick at the time: Zach Galligan of "Gremlins" fame, Dana Ashbrook,
soon after to star in "Twin Peaks" and "Sundown: the Vampire in
Retreat", the aforesaid vision of loveliness that is Ms. Foreman, also
a "Sundown" alumnus as well as the brilliantly cheesecore "Lobster Man
from Mars", Michelle Johnson of "Werewolf", and David Warner and
John-Rhys Davies, both from... pretty much everything!
We are treated
to a gourmet feast of horror tropes: the mummy, a werewolf, Count Dracula and his
alluring vampy brides, "Night of the Living Dead" zombies, and a
standout performance from J. Kenneth Campbell as the Marquis de Sade
himself, as well as the late lamented Patrick MacNee appearing as the guiding Sir Wilfred, part Van Helsing and part Dr Everett von Scott in his motorised wheelchair.
I defy anyone who's seen seminal scare spoof
Carry On Screaming (can such creatures exist?) not to cry 'Frying tonight!' at Warner's waxy demise.
The old video box called it 'more fun than a barrel of
mummies' and i really can't put it better than that myself. Genius.
('Taste the whip, in love not given lightly / Taste the whip and bleed for me...')
I can't help feeling that one reason for the decline of this sort of film is the easy accessibility of free internet pornography.
ReplyDeleteY'know, your mum doesn't sound like the kind of woman who'd let you watch this stuff. How come she wasn't washing your mouth out with soap?
It's not pornography - it's art! Anyway, the Sadean sequence is highly erotically charged, without showing any nudity whatsoever. You just don't get the same kind of frisson of sensuality from porn.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was bizarrely lax in the stuff she'd let us watch. I'd have seen 'The Last House on the Left' when i was six if my dad hadn't come in and switched it off. It was nearly twenty years before i saw the second half. Longest. Intermission. Ever.
Oh man, I will remember to send you that SAE when I have some money. I have a memory that is totally drug fried >_< Anyway, I never actually ever saw Waxwork the original. Just the sequel many times. So I look forward to seeing it now... one day.
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