When I was a kid, there was an urban legend that Lee Majors moved to a small town outside Youngstown, Ohio because the locals didn’t care what a big star he was. Everyone had an encounter with him, but many found his wife Farah Fawcett to be off-putting. I don’t know if these stories are true, but I want them to be. I do know that Lee and Farah did inspire the song “Midnight Train to Georgia,” though.
Let me sum this one up in short sentences: Priceless emeralds. Hidden jewels. Hungry piranha. Model shoot. Late 1970’s decor. Suspicion. Jealousy. More piranha.
Other than Lee Majors, this film is a cavalcade of my favorite stars. Well, maybe not favorite. But close. Karen Black is here! And there’s Margaux Hemingway, who is as good at being a supermodel as she is bad as an actress. And here’s James Franciscus as the main guy you’re supposed to hate. And is that the doctor from Total Recall, Roy Brocksmith! Former NFL quarterback, NHRA drag racer and December 1980 Playgirl centerfold of the month Dan Pastorini come on down! Wow! It’s Anthony Steffen from The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave! And finally, it’s the man whose The Sixth Sense ruined the syndicated episodes of Night Gallery, Hour Magazine host Gary Collins, the bane of my childhood!
This whole mess is directed by Antonio Margheriti, who we all know and love as the creator of perhaps the finest movie ever made, Yor, Hunter from the Future.
This is more caper than Jaws rip-off. But hey, how many movies have Lee Majors sitting in a limo with a cane that has a crocodile’s shrunken head on it, much less him swimming through piranha?
John “Bud” Cardos been behind so many movies that others would spit upon, such as The Darkand Kingdom of the Spiders. Now, he’s back with a movie for the hip now generation. It’s time to talk about solar energy. It’s time to talk about the world after this one. It’s time to be bored senseless.
The Williams family has moved to the Sonoran Desert to get away from the dangers of urban life. There’s Grant (Jim Davis, who many would know from TV’s Dallas but around these parts, we know him from being in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’sDaughter), the grandfather. And then there’s his wife, Ana (Dorothy Malone, who won a Best Supporting Actress for Written on the Wind and had to suffer through this film), son Richard (Chris Mitchum, who we know from Bigfoot), his wife Beth and their kids, Steve and Jenny.
The mysteries of this film start small, like the news talking about a triple supernova and glowing things behind the barn. But soon, we learn that that supernova has torn a hole in the fabric of reality, unleashing UFOs and shutting down the electricity in the Williams home. And before you can say “stop motion” there are miniature lizard creatures that look like they came straight out of Laserblast walking around.
All manner of creatures begin attacking the family, who take refuge in their barn. Then, they’re all beamed up in a UFO and taken thousands of years into the future. The film ends deus ex machina style with the grandfather saying that the domed city in the distance is why they must have survived…THE DAY TIME ENDED.
You know when you see Charles Band’s name on a movie that there are going to be all manner of stop-motion characters. This one delivers. And delivers. And…you get the picture.
If you want to see this yourself, prepare your brain for pure ennui. Then you can either watch it on the new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 or order it from Full Moon.
Imagine a movie that starts with a fourteen year-old girl being killed by a faceless maniac wearing a black leather glove with razor-tipped fingers. If you’re ready for that before the first credits roll, then you’re ready for The Demon.
That very same killer then kills a trucker, steals all his money and gets a place in a sleazy hotel in Johannesburg. Emily’s parents are frustrated by the police and turn to Bill Carson (Cameron Mitchell, the whole reason why I picked this movie), a psychic detective who was once a U.S. Marine. Of course.
Emily’s mother just wants to know if her daughter is alive or dead. Her father, though, wants revenge. Carson replies that its best for the Parkers if they don’t find the killer, telling them that he’s pure evil. I mean, you should believe a dude who can tear up a bed like this.
The killer has moved on to an American schoolteacher named Mary (Jennifer Holmes, who was on TV’s Newhart before being replaced by Julia Duffy). She first sees him outside her classroom window, as he can seemingly appear and disappear at will. And when she’s not seeing killers, she’s hanging out with her South African cousin who is dating Dean Turner, a rich American playboy that Mary hates.
Jo is out having fun and poor Mary is stuck at home, getting phone calls with heavy breathing and menacing knocks on her front door. Is it the killer? Or is he happy to be at home grunting, groaning, doing push-ups and shredding porno mags?
The Demon also likes to go out and try and pick up ladies. And where does he go? Boobs Disco! Yes, this was a real place. And yes, it was really called that.
We even get to hear some of Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown” in this scene, as the killer is stopped from raping a girl by two motorists, one of whom is slashed and the other gets his motorcycle blown up real good.
Meanwhile, Cameron Mitchell is getting the most out of his ten minutes of screen time. I guess that’s all the producers could afford. He creates a faceless sketch of the killer and tells the Parkers where the man lives. He warns Mr. Parker one more time, but the guy just can’t listen and gets his neck snapped pretty much immediately, then thrown off a balcony.
Children are playing in the woods when they find Emily’s remains, which brings Carson back to Mrs. Parker, telling her that he’s sorry, but the time of The Demon is drawing close. She accuses him of being behind all of this to keep his career going as a psychic and shoots him in the face. Well, that had really nothing to do with the other half of this film, which is becoming a riff on Halloween.
Mary and Jo go out on dates that night while The Demon gets ready for them. Mary tells Bobby, her man, that she’s been getting stalked late at night. And she’s right — The Demon has, for reasons known only to him, broken in to kill Jo and rich guy Dean, then hide in the house.
You know, if I had a cool razor glove, I wouldn’t suffocate people with a plastic bag like The Demon. But hey — I’m just a writer on a web site.
It’s time for this movie to go full Halloween, with The Demon chasing Mary all over the house — up and down the stairs, through a closet, into the attic and finally through a hole in the roof. She finally makes it to the bathroom, where she builds a trap with scissors, the shower and shampoo. That’s right — The Demon is the first masked killer I’ve seen that is basically killed by slipping in the shower.
If you’re watching this movie based on the description Mill Creek gives, you’re going to be disappointed. Cameron Mitchell never gets to be the Australian Dr. Loomis, instead being felled by a housewife with a handgun. And I know that I give generous berth to the transfers on these, but even I was amazed by how long scratches would appear on the footage.
If you enjoy scenes that having nothing to do with the overall film being given the same importance as major facts, then let me recommend The Demon. Come for Cameron Mitchell, stay for Boobs Disco.
John S Berry says that he’s a pretty low key guy. He has a few articles on the Rupert Pupkin Speaks site. I asked him to tell me a little more about himself and he replied that he loves bargain bin horror movies, his cat Walter, Terry Gordy and most people.
One of my favorite themes in any version of storytelling is the duality of man. Nothing is absolute, Tony Soprano was a charming guy but he was also the same guy that killed a guy on his daughter’s college scouting trip. I love that feeling when you can spend years, seasons or most of a movie hating a character then you feel sympathy and compassion for this at times awful person. I felt absolute heartbreak in the UK office when David Brent says, “please don’t make me redundant.” After so many episodes of cringing and total jack ass behavior I suddenly felt for this jerk. Similar feelings came into play for me with Reno in The Driller Killer.
Ironically, after writing this opening paragraph I just blew up myself. I am usually calm (I think but wait did Reno think the same?) but after a nine-hour day and four hours of commuting I just snapped at everyone in the house. Of course, I usually cool off after a walk and it is not a walk where anyone is murdered by a drill (and I said my apologies just not in painting form).
Reno is a struggling, stressed out artist played by Abel Ferrera living with Carol and her girlfriend who seems to be strung out. Carol seems to be slumming or pretending to be outrageous when actually she is an ex-airline stewardess who has a milquetoast of an ex-husband that she knows will take her back unconditionally. Bills are due and the pressure seems to be on Reno who is trying to create his masterpiece which involves a bloody buffalo.
Watching Ferrera as Reno Miller I wish he would have acted in more films as he has a very interesting presence and jawline. I waffle between thinking he is funny to kind of scary (the dream lighting of him shaking the blood out of his hair is amazing)to a narcissistic asshole back to funny.
On the surface this film seems to be a straightforward plot; boy has girls, tries to make a masterpiece, loses mind and kills bums with a drill. But a little bit of research (not too much ruins the magic) the story has more depth to it and it kind of richens the experience of the movie.
The old man at the church in the beginning is supposed to be Reno’s derelict dad that is why he had Reno’s name and number on a slip of paper. Reno bails on the family reunion but is shaken by it and perhaps this encounter started the journey into his madness. Further odd research I found the actor who played the old man in the church was James O’Hara who was in Gunsmoke and The Quiet Man. I am not sure if he is a super method actor or he had really fallen on hard times but he certainly looked the part of wino deluxe.
Watching this film, you are treated to two types of ghosts; those images of the surely dead by now winos and what Union Square once looked like. This movie is a great example of we don’t need no stinking permits and mixes in shots of actual bums and crew members stunting as bums. They do a remarkable job, especially the bum at the bus stop (Ferrera friend/actor) and it is often hard to tell who is legit.
Reno at times shows an odd sense of compassion to the bums in his neighborhood early in the film. He has an almost pep talk about his dad with one passed out wino. The scene that Ferrara really kind of made me shift back into he is not that bad of a guy mode was when talking with a bum on the street asking him about his old lady and my favorite line: “How come you are on the street and not with the people that love you man?” He further shows some heart as he hides with the wino as another bum runs by being chased by hoodlums. Sadly, for Skid Row Reno’s attitude and approach would change soon.
The pressure of it all starts to get to Reno and his new neighbors The Roosters do not help his mental stage. The character of Tony Coca Cola again is another case of no way is that guy an actor. He really seems like a Dead Boy/ Stiv kind of guy. But fooled again he is an actor (and writer, director etc.) One great realistic moment is when Reno is struggling with his vision painting and he says not in an angry way “Come on guys it’s 2 in the morning.”
Reno continues to work on his masterpiece and tries getting an advance from an art dealer who is a total pompous creep. Tony blows up several times and lashes out at Carol only to later apologize in crude painting form. He keeps promising once this painting is done we are set, well…
Reno starts to go on his rampage when he finally reaches his breaking point at a Roosters show where they are playing songs he has already heard in every stage already numerous times. There is not a ton of context as to why he was so drawn to the power drill belt commercial but hey it is a cool title and look. But I suppose the rapid killing spree helps with inspiration and soon he is finishing his buffalo AND a Tony Coca Cola portrait (it’s rumored that the buffalo is in a museum in New Mexico, wonder where Tony’s ended up?)
The painting is finally done and Reno is ready to get paid. The dirtbag art dealer comes to see this masterpiece and poor Reno sitting there with a blank look and a tie take a verbal beating and you can just feel the sadness in the air. We just watched this guy brutally murder people and now I feel bad for this guy who has really worked and given his all to his vision only to have someone disrespect it.
Then Carol has decided she has had enough of this artist lifestyle and splits on Reno. In a sad scene Reno chases after her and pleads with her to stay. Reno has anger but then goes sad sack as he is sitting there with her suitcase calling after her (“Come back man. You need your stuff”).
This pushes the switch in Reno over there is no looking back. Sure, he probably is not going to end up like his old man in the streets drinking rotgut but that would have been a better path. There is a lot to process in the last act and I appreciate the fact that not everything is tied up with an absolute outcome (just watch and make up your own story I say).
The good folks at Arrow just recently put out a suped up version of the film, but I really think the first time to view should be with all the scratches, grainy picture and red boxes. It just feels right that it is on the Chilling Classics compilation (and about a million other bargain bin compilations that I love). The Driller Killer is tribute and homage to the old scary, gross New York City and the sleazy good old days.
Before Ms. 45, The King of New York and Bad Lieutenant (a film that rivaled The Car for my grandfather’s affections), Abel Ferrara directed and starred in this film, which was classified as a video nasty. It’s also fallen into the public domain, which is why it’s on the Chilling Classics set.
Reno Miller (Ferrara, using the name Jimmy Laine) and his girlfriend Carol start the film inside a Catholic church, as an elderly homeless man kneels at the pulpit. The man approaches Reno, who suddenly flees, unaware that the man is his father.
Despite his bohemian artist existence, Reno has pressing real world issues, like paying for the huge electricity bill for the Union Square apartment he shares with Carol and her drugged out lover Pamela. But the masterpiece he is painting is going to change all that — if he ever finishes it.
After fighting against the noise of a band called Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters playing all night one door away and seeing a vision of himself covered in blood, Reno hits the streets, avoiding gangs and telling himself that he can’t end up like the homeless walking dead.
Reno tries to tell his landlord about the band playing all night, but the authority figure — such as it is — has been bribed and only wants his rent money. He gives Reno a dead rabbit, which he decimates as he hears voices and has a vision of Carol with no eyelids.
That night, Reno kills his first derelict and then tries to see a show with the band from next door. Their music makes him even more upset, so he leaves as his roommates make out. His next murder spree sees his kill the homeless all over New York City.
Tony Coca-Cola barges further into Reno’s life, kissing Pamela and blasting his guitar while our hero — well, the protagonist — paints him for the rent money.
The final stage of Reno’s madness occurs when an art gallery owner declares his masterpiece unacceptable and Carol leaves him when he has no emotion. She moves back in with her ex-husband as Reno goes wild, killing the art gallery guy with his drill. Pamela finds the dead body and runs as Reno grabs her. We’re left unsure as to what happens next.
Carol and her ex-husband have already fallen back into their routine as lovers when Reno intrudes, killing the man while she showers. She doesn’t notice his dead body and gets into bed, thinking her ex-husband is under the covers when it’s really Reno. And just like Black Christmas, another 1970’s slasher that doesn’t have a definitive ending, we cut to black.
From its buzzing soundtrack to religious iconography, punk rock aesthetic and scenes of brilliant red blood drenched murders, Driller Killer is a grimy, scuzzy and noisy blast of strangeness hidden within this box set. It’s unlike anything else on it, a slasher where nude women are safe and the most marginalized of all citizens, the homeless, are destroyed left and right by a man who wants to wipe out his father and himself. Hell, it’s unlike almost any other movie you’ll watch ever.
There was talk in 2007 that David Hess (Last House on the Left and House at the End of the Park) would star in a remake of this film, created by Robert director Andrew Jones called Driller Killer Redux. The rights were never cleaned up, Hess died and the project never became a movie.
You can find this streaming on Shudder and for free on the Internet Archive and on Amazon Prime. If you want to own a physical copy, you can either get the Chilling Classics box set or buy the Arrow Video release, complete with new commentary from Ferrara, at Diabolik DVD.
Sam Kellog (Sam’s favorite actor ever, John Saxon) was a cop, but now he’s a bounty hunter. Working for Bill Schwartz (Keenan Wynn, Laserblast, The Devil’s Rain!), a bail bondsman, he brings in lowlifes for low money. His biggest frustration is that his ex-wife is going to cut off visits with his daughter over missed alimony. Then he gets the chance to earn $20,000 from his old boss, Lt. Kruger.
The mark? Victor Hale (Rosey Grier, former football player, needlepoint expert and the man who subdued Sirhan Sirhan), an ex-con who is suspected in the murder of his former prison guards. While he was in the joint, they used a five-pound, leather and steel riot glove to brutalize him. Now, someone — probably him — is using it for revenge.
The movie switches between Kellog and Hale. Kellog’s life is a mess while Hale is beloved by the people who live in the section 8 housing alongside him. He’s a jazz musician and has found his place in life, even if he is killing all those old guards.
Finally, our protagonists battle one another, with Hale even giving Kellog the glove to use. Their fight is a draw and they both collapse. Hale then rises and helps the bounty hunter to his feet, only to be shot by Kruger, who says that the bounty was for bringing in the man dead, not alive. Hale’s neighbors surround the evil cop and murder him.
The result? Kellog gets the bounty anyway and spends the day with his daughter.
Bill Van Ryn from Groovy Doom/Drive-In Asylum explained this movie short and sweet: “It’s like an episode of Kolchak: the Night Stalker without Kolchak.” It’s also about the press freaking out about an eight-foot-tall alien who is killing people who eyebeam lasers in the dirty and dingy streets of Los Angeles. It was originally about an autistic child who never met people before. It was also originally to be directed by Tobe Hooper. Things kind of didn’t happen that way.
John “Bud” Cardos (Kingdom of the Spiders, Gor II) stepped in to direct. And realizing that his movie now had an alien instead of a child, he hastily put together an opening narration that talks about electric eels and Venus fly traps. If our planet has those, what about other worlds? What that has to do with the rest of the film, well, your guess is as good as mine.
What we end up with is a monster that beheads people while someone chants, “The dark! The dark!” William Devane (Greg Sumner from TV’s Knot’s Landing) and a TV anchorwoman (original Wonder Woman and That’s Incredible host Cathy Lee Crosby) finally figure out how to catch the monster. Oh yeah — there’s also an ancient psychic who believes that a young actor will be the next to be killed, so we get some 70’s Hollywood parties along the way. Casey Kasem shows up. Keenan Wynn and Richard Jaeckel, too.
Roger Ebert referred to this movie as, “the dumbest, most inept, most maddeningly unsatisfactory thriller of the last five years. It’s really bad: so bad, indeed, that it provides some sort of measuring tool against which to measure other bad thrillers. Years from now, I’ll be thinking to myself: Well, at least it’s not as bad as The Dark.”
I really didn’t think it was that bad. It’s not the best movie ever, but I was certainly entertained. Not riveted. But entertained. But how can you hate a movie where a giant alien shoots laser beams out of his eyes and rips peoples’ heads off so that the coroner can put them in body bags (along with mini head bags)?
According to It Came from the 80s!: Interviews with 124 Cult Filmmakers, Tourist Trap was originally going to be directed by John Carpenter. However, co-writer J. Larry Carroll was unhappy with how much he wanted, so he nominated his writing partner David Schmoeller (Puppetmaster and the movie that led to Please Kill Mr. Kinski, Crawlspace) to direct. Along the way, they brought in Charles Band to produce and he demanded that there be telekinesis in the movie. Why? Who knows!
Eileen (Robin Sherwood, Death Wish II), Woody, Becky (Tanya Roberts, The Beastmaster), Jerry and Molly are traveling crosscountry when Woody’s car breaks down. He enters a deserted gas station but is soon killed by a metal pipe thrown by a mannequin that comes to life. This scene is frightening in its shuddery intensity and it’s not the half of the wildness that this film is ready to attack you with.
As the rest of the gang arrive, they decide to go skinny dipping — as you do. That’s when they meet Mr. Salusen (Chuck Connors, TV’s The Rifleman and one of only 12 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played both Major League Baseball and in the National Basketball Association), who matter of factly chats them up while they’re all nude.
Soon, the tourist trap lives up to its name, with mannequins coming to life, a man with a mask chasing everyone and someone yelling, “We’re having a party! Your world is dark.” Yes, Tourist Trap is a veritably insane film, one that departs nearly instantly from anything approaching reality. There’s talk of twin brothers, the modern world destroying old fashioned businesses and oh yeah — people being turned into wax figures.
The strangest part is that Slausen is able to make the dead alive and the alive dead, sometimes within the same scene. And somehow, this film was given a PG rating. Seriously — this is one of the darkest, most depraved PG films I’ve seen since, well, The Baby. There’s never been a movie like this one, before or since, and that’s a shame. But it’s also a big reason for you to watch this.
Zombi 2 has nothing to do with Dawn of the Dead, which was re-edited by co-producer Dario Argento, rescored by Goblin and released in Italy as Zombi. It was a huge success and nothing succeeds like more, more and more. As Italian copyright law allows any film to be marketed as a sequel to another work, producer Fabrizio De Angelis quickly decided that it was time to make that sequel.
Originally, Enzo G. Castellari (1990: The Bronx Warriors, Warriors of the Wasteland) was asked to direct, but he didn’t feel like he was the right director. The second choice was Lucio Fulci, who had handled violence so well in Don’t Torture a Duckling, and screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti, who had worked with Fulci on The Psychic (and would go on to write nearly all of Fulci’s most famous films).
Under the working title of Nightmare Island, the story was intended to be a mix of The Island of Dr. Moreau and classic zombie movies such as I Walked with a Zombie. What emerged was a frightful force of nature that takes Romero’s film, jettisons the political undercurrents and gives viewers exactly what they want: more zombies, more gore, more blasts of pure insanity. In short: more, more, more.
The film begins a zombie being shot in the head, letting you instantly know that this film is not going to wait around and take prisoners. That’s followed by an effective on location New York shot, as an abandoned sailboat bumps and drifts before being boarded by harbor police, who discover that only one somewhat living creature remains: a zombie who kills one officer before being shot and falling overboard.
The owner of the boat, Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow, The Initiation of Sarah), is questioned by the police about the whereabouts of her father, who she hasn’t seen in months. Meanwhile, at the morgue, the dead cop begins to stir.
Upon meeting Peter West (Ian McCulloch, Doctor Butcher, M.D.) she decides to follow her father to his last known location: the Caribbean island of Matul, sailing there with Brian (Al Cliver, The Beyond, Endgame) and Susan. This is where the movie goes from slow first gear to pure menacing rollercoaster. It’s also where sanity leaves the production, as a zombie battles a shark, an effect achieved by feeding shark tranquilizers and having shark trainer Ramón Bravo play the zombie. This scene was created by producer Ugo Tucci and shot without Fulci’s approval by Giannetto De Rossi.
On Matul, Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson, Beyond the Door, The Comeback) is running a hospital but also researching voodoo, leading to his wife Paola (Olga Karlatos, Murder Rock and Prince’s mother in Purple Rain) flipping out on him. But don’t get too attached to Paola, as she soon is snuffed out by a zombie in what is this film’s most celebrated and reviled scene, as a zombie sneaks up on her and smashes through a door, jamming a wooden splinter into her eye. Any other film would show this in shadow or off camera. Here, Fulci descends to his basest form and takes the window of the soul and pierces it for all to see.
Menard soon tells Anne that her father is dead before asking everyone to check in on his wife. Of course, she’s dead. But even worse, zombies are eating her corpse, a scene rendered in loving detail that seems to go on forever. They escape to a graveyard of ancient conquistadors who rise from the ground in another astounding sequence. Susan’s throat is torn out and the three survivors battle their way to a hospital where they face off against a zombie horde — a scene insisted upon by the producers.
Only Anne and Peter escape, locking the zombified form of Brian below deck. As they approach New York, they learn that the city has been overcome by the undead. We see zombies slowly walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, effectively bringing us back to Dawn of the Dead all over again.
Zombi didn’t just make money. It made more than the film that inspired it and led to a wave of 1980’s Italian gore shockers, as well as giving Fulci the cachet of the goriest director of them all.
Even the music in this film stands out, thanks to the work of Fabio Frizzi, who was influenced by Caribbean music and the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.”
I can’t be objective about this film. I realize Fulci’s shortcomings but it’s such an effective shocker, unafraid to punch you repeatedly in the face. Loud, bombastic, brutal and ridiculous — that’s why it’s a movie that gets played in my blu ray player every few months. Just look at that ad campaign — WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU! — and know that this is a movie made to entertain on all levels.
I am in love with film. It inspires me every single day. And so does rock and roll. I have a few rock and roll rules that rule my life and I’ll share one with you: if you don’t like The Ramones, I really don’t trust you.
Sure, you can tell me every Ramones song sounds the same. And I’ll tell you that you’re an asshole — Bonzo Goes to Bitburg sounds nothing like Pet Sematary and those two songs sound nothing like Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. The Ramones got me through my first year of advertising, keeping my sanity as I worked eighty hours a week and I will forever be in their debt.
This movie makes me insanely happy because it posits a world where The Ramones are the biggest band in the world, big enough to cause a major stir when they come to town. Roger Corman originally wanted Cheap Trick or Todd Rundgren for this, but come on. Only one band could make this work.
The students of Vince Lombardi High School are as good at driving educators insane as they are bad at actually learning. Foremost among their number is rock and roller Riff Randell (has P.J Soles ever been lovelier?) who dreams of writing songs for the Ramones and meeting Joey Ramone.
When new Principal Togar (has Mary Woronov ever not been great in a film?) takes her ticket to the concert away from her, she and her best friend Kate have to figure out how they’ll get to meet their heroes, win true love and escape the drudgery of high school.
There’s a moment here where Riff imagines Joey in her bedroom singing “I Want You Around” to her. It breaks my heart in the best of ways — pure teen worry and angst and then there’s Joey — geeky, gangly, goofball Joey — the hero who comes to her room and there’s this pure puppy love bliss. No other band could have been in this film and communicated punk rock swagger and danger while still having this tender sweetness.
I love PJ’s clothes in this film. That may be because the low budget of the film meant that they couldn’t afford decent clothes for her, so she spent her entire salary on her outfits.
Between Don Steele, Clint Howard, Dick Miller and Paul Bartel, the only members of my favorite actors club not in this film are weirdo Italian gore icons like John Saxon, Ivan Rassimov and George Eastman to make it perfect. Fuck that — this is perfect. The end of the film, where Miss Togar snarls at Joey, “Do your parents know you’re Ramones?” makes me get up and cheer out loud.
Talk about punk rock — The Ramones were only paid a total of $25,000 for acting in this, so they had to play shows every night to make up for it. Meanwhile, Dee Dee fought a roadie, OD’d in jail and woke up in the ER with a $3,000 medical bill. But that’s OK — Dee Dee was such a shitty actor in this that he only got two lines: “Hey, pizza!” and “Hey, pizza! It’s great! Let’s dig in!”
There’s also a giant mouse and mouse children that somehow go to this school for some reason. Who cares!
I love the end of this movie, when the school violently explodes as The Ramones rock out and Screamin’ Steve Stevens goes wild. It’s absolutely, totally perfect — and makes me wish that in my teen years, when no one in my high school knew or cared who The Ramones were, that Dee Dee would come and get me so high I’d wake up in the emergency room with one awesome story. Gabba gabba hey, indeed.
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