CineSavant Column
Hello!
A nice announcement from MVD today, on behalf of Arrow Films: back in the early 1980s this notorious art/violence film helped put Abel Ferrara on the map. His grunge horror Driller Killer never did much for me — I remember Sherman Torgan of the New Beverly asking me to justify its existence — but the edgy thriller Ms. 45 had just the right combination of exploitation elements. And Zoë Tamerlis was a hot item for a spell. Larry Cohen starred her in a murder mystery.
Why does it work? We’re not sure. It’s an opportunistic thriller sensationalizing faux Feminism and offering a side order of rape, with the image of New York streets as a lawless hell. Its ugly revenge pitch is more like Death Wish than Taxi Driver.
Ferrara’s film became a minor emblem-of-its-time, like Slava Tsukerman’s Liquid Sky. The print at the New Beverly was a mess, and it didn’t look much better when shown on The “Z” Channel. There must have been prior video releases but this the first I’ve been aware of. And in 4K ! At least it’s in 35mm. Actually, the quality in the promo clips is almost too good.
We don’t mind plugging it, FYI:
We’ve been trying to pry more column stories from the archive of friend Bill Shaffer. An impressive film sales brochure in his collection provided a great launch for a colorful CineSavant article back in 2021, Where Were You in ’62, A.I.P.? Bill’s childhood was spent in Kansas, where his father managed movie theaters, and enjoyed a national reputation as a promoter and salesman for new features.
That experience created a giant ‘Shaffer’ repository of movie pressbooks, posters, and other errata related to exhibition, which Bill sometimes taps for us. We’re trying to get him to tell the story of his dad winning a 1956 exhibitor’s contest, where he was flown a publicity event with a big star; the episode is reportedly documented with stills and trade paper articles.
I of course have tried reader patience with an article about my entire upbringing on Air Force bases and their terrific repertory movie system, in this older article (that needs to be updated). We’re letting Bill slip through with this minor but telling memory from 67 years ago, when very young kids could do things like play in their front yards, wander freely on their bicycles and (gasp) see movies by themselves.
The little story brings to life a newspaper clipping Bill recovered, from a Sunday in August 1958. It makes me think that I could map out my young moviegoing life by going through microfilm back in the San Bernardino Sun-Times. Bill can’t be too much older than I was … I could attend shows alone because I lived on a ‘safe’ air base, while he, because of the family trade, had the run of more than one movie house in his home town.
How many ’50s kids had this same experience, more or less?
My Curse of the Demon story…
On August 10th, 1958, I was heading to downtown Hutchinson, Kansas with my dad. I had full intentions of seeing the sequel to The Curse of Frankenstein at my beloved Strand Theatre – the downtown grind house where all of the great B- thru Z- movies played. It was opening that afternoon and I’m pretty sure that was the day I went to see it. The attached newspaper clipping is exactly what I remembered seeing that day. My Dad’s office was in the Fox Theater, several blocks away. He had to open it for the Sunday show. That means that I was likely way early for the target double bill I wanted to see.
Once showtime hit, I dashed down to the Strand, tread lightly over the carpet strewn with popcorn and plopped down into my seat to watch the co-feature which was to come on first: Curse of the Demon. Just five minutes in, the fiery demon from Hell as big as a house scared the pooey out of me and I dashed for the exit! Once daylight hit me and I was out in the open air, I made a beeline back to the Fox.
It was a very short afternoon of horror in Hutchinson. I totally missed my chance to see The Revenge of Frankenstein in a theater. It’s still my favorite Hammer Frankenstein film. In the years since, both movies have become favorites, but this is a confession of a kid who was only six years old. I figured sitting in a dark theatre with a snorting, burning demon at my back or on screen was not going to be my afternoon activity! – – Bill Shaffer
Well, no boasting here, because I also remember the feeling of panic in a movie theater, all by myself. I was a couple of years older, too, when I barely made it through Caltiki the Immortal Monster, both thrilled and scared to death. Wow, this double bill played in Hutchinson for ‘4 Big Days.’ The newspaper ad that Bill found came off microfilm, which accounts for the scratches. It can be enlarged, of course, to catch the small print, the misspellings, etc.
But Hey, the Strand Theater is already promoting Peter Cushing as a star, so the ‘grind house’ gets our vote. Bill says that his accompanying snapshot of him standing in the Fox Theater lobby ↗ was taken a couple of years later, when he was much bigger. I’ll do my best to get Bill to unearth more interesting items from his archives.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson